The End of All Things

by Boltstrike58

Rating: teen
Tags: Storm King, Thriller, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, Adventure, My Little Pony: The Movie, Violence, Alternate Universe, Grogar, Tirek
Length: 46924

Grogar's return, aided by the all non-reformed enemies of Equestria, threatens all that Twilight Sparkle holds dear.

The feared, legendary sorcerer Grogar has returned to Equestria, plotting to reclaim the land of the ponies for himself. To accomplish this, he has recruited all the villains who have rejected friendship, and now this villainous league will fight to bring down Twilight Sparkle and her best friends.

My take on the Legion of Doom. And no, Discord won't turn out to be Grogar.

Published 2021-01-31 20:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-12-31 00:27:58 UTC

Chapter One: The Gathering

The depths of Tartarus had been suited to be a prison long before ponies had come along and begun to use it as one. The kind of creatures that lived inside it knew little besides chaos and destruction, viciously attacking one another whenever the opportunity presented itself. Those who the ponies chose to place inside were protected by the cages they were trapped in, but still felt terror creep into their hearts with every sound. All they had for company (besides each other) were the howls and screams of monsters.

Two such prisoners, Lord Tirek and the filly Cozy Glow, opened their eyes yet again, waking from the slumber they'd managed to get. Tirek stretched his arms and yawned, mentally preparing himself for another day of the exact same thing that'd come before.

"Oh, golly, a new day!" exclaimed Cozy Glow, fluttering her little wings, zipping around her cage. "I can't wait for all the possibilities! Can you, Tirek?"

Tirek groaned. "Yes, so many opportunities," he grunted, the sarcasm palpable in his voice. "Will I sleep on my left side or my right when I finally fall asleep again? Honestly, Cozy Glow, why do you ask such ridiculous questions?"

Cozy pouted. "You're supposed to have lively conversations with your friends! That was one of Princess Twilight's lessons!"

Tirek folded his arms, sitting down on his back legs. "Sometimes I wish you'd paid less attention when you were trying to figure out how to manipulate those ponies," he grumbled.

Cozy opened her mouth to respond, but what she said would remain forever unknown. The interruption took the form of a faint wave of shadow-colored light, rising up from the ground beneath her, engulfing her entire body in about a half-second. When it had faded, the pegasus was gone.

Tirek blinked, surprised, only to see the same light emerging from beneath his hooves. He barely had time to say "What?" before the darkness enveloped him, taking him away as well.

Not long ago, just hearing the name of the Everfree Forest had been enough to send shivers down the spines of ponies. It had naturally occurring weather, something unheard of in Equestria, dangerous creatures living inside it, and was generally unsafe. Nowadays, thanks to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends, who'd gone on many adventures inside the forest and come out relatively unscathed, ponies didn't fear it as much, but most still preferred to stay away.

That suited former Queen Chrysalis just fine.

At the moment, the deposed changeling monarch was sitting inside a small clearing, using her magic to carve a chunk of wood into the likeness of a pony. She wasn't particularly skilled at the act, but the carving did bear a resemblance to Starlight Glimmer. Setting down the sharp rock she'd been using, Chrysalis levitated her creation onto a nearby tree stump.

"Perfect," said the changeling. Then she charged her horn, firing a blast of green energy into the carving, completely obliterating it.

Chrysalis threw back her head and cackled. "That was for stealing my kingdom, Starlight Glimmer!" she laughed. "Now I shall inflict the most painful tortures possible on your friend Twilight Sparkle, and—"

The former monarch was so lost in her dreams of revenge, she didn't notice the wave of darkness coming over her until it had obscured her completely. When it faded, she was gone.

The tunnels beneath the Crystal Empire were probably the least frequented spot in the entire area. The only reason the crystal ponies ever ventured down there was to mine for rare crystals that were difficult to find on the surface.

However, the tunnels held a special purpose for a particular individual today. They were where the connection was strongest.

A stick was levitated upwards, and began to draw on the ground. However, instead of simply drawing lines in the dirt, the point of the stick left blue, magical lines inscribed, which soon began to come together to form a symbol that would only be recognized by some of the most brilliant pony mages.

The symbol of a necromancy spell.

Once the runic sigil was complete, it flashed blue once, before turning a dull grey. A jagged, black crystal suddenly stabbed out of the ground, followed by a haze of darkness. Inside the darkness, two blood-red eyes with green sclera opened, followed by a curved red horn.

The vault of Canterlot was a place where the most dangerous items the Equestrian government had ever come across were kept. These included magical artifacts, such as the Alicorn Amulet, and other such deadly objects. The security of the vault was near impenetrable, in order to make sure no pony ever claimed the items.

However, there was one pedestal that held something out of place. It was a simple pile of obsidian rocks that looked extremely unremarkable. A magical scan would provide no further clues as to why they were there, as they were indistinguishable from ordinary stones. If one looked closely at them, they could see what appeared to be features, such as fingers and even some traces of a face, but they would likely dismiss that as a trick of the eyes.

A creeping shadow slowly passed over the stones, covering them completely, until it abruptly disappeared, leaving the empty pedestal.

With a flash of black light, Tirek and Cozy Glow reappeared, though this time, their surroundings were completely different. The chamber they sat inside was mostly made out of wood, with a throne topped with a horned skull sitting above a small flight of steps. From the sounds of water rushing around outside, they guessed they were in a swamp.

The questions only increased in number when Chrysalis appeared a short distance from them.

"Lord Tirek?!" she exclaimed. "And a pony?! How dare you drag me to this...this...wherever this is?!" She hissed, baring her fangs at them.

Cozy Glow flinched, diving behind Tirek's legs. "We didn't bring you here!" she insisted.

"The pony speaks the truth, Queen Chrysalis," said Tirek. "We were brought to this location as well."

Chrysalis closed her maw, actually looking a bit surprised. "Well then, if you aren't responsible, who is?"

As she finished speaking, two more flashes of the black light occurred in the chamber, before dissipating. One left a pile of obsidian stones, and one left what appeared to be a swirling cloud of darkness with green eyes and a curved red horn. However, the cloud soon collapsed, revealing a black unicorn stallion, dressed in royal regalia. He immediately began examining his body, poking and prodding himself.

"King Sombra?" asked Cozy Glow, peaking out from behind Tirek's legs.

"Indeed," replied the king, barely sparing a glance at the pegasus. "Hm. So it would seem I am flesh once again. How can this be?"

"That would be my doing."

Four heads turned to the source of the new voice. From the far end of the chamber came a new figure, with dark blue hair, curved horns, and cloven hooves. Around the neck hung a collar, dotted with golden studs, and a link where something could be hung, though it was empty at the moment. The eyes where what caught everyone's attention, however. They seemed ordinary enough on the surface, being the color of butter, with horizontal pupils. But there was something in those eyes, something ancient, something powerful, that made fear begin to creep up the spine of the formidable King Sombra.

The ram trotted past the four, as though they were insects beneath his notice. Turning to the pile of stones, his curved horns lit up with yellow light, and the rocks glowed the same color. They levitated upwards, stacking on top of each other, fitting onto each other like pieces of a puzzle. Soon, the statue was reformed, creating the image of a tall satyr with what seemed to be crown-like horns, and black chest armor with a symbol in the middle. The ram then closed his eyes, as the magic in his horns intensified, before shooting forward and stabbing into the statue. Color began to seep into it, as stone became skin and hair once more, and soon, the Storm King reared back and coughed.

"Oh, geez," he gasped, before hacking some more, "being turned to stone is such a pain in the neck. Everything is stiff now!" He examined his body, only growing more displeased. "And they let me get all dusty!"

The ram ignored the Storm King as he had the others, marching over to a nearby table. With another pulse of magic, he conjured up a heavy glass orb, which contained an image similar to one of his eyes.

"Now that we are all gathered together," he said, "I will explain your presence here. First of all, you may address me as Grogar."

The room went so silent you could hear a pin drop. King Sombra almost bit his own tongue in surprise. Cozy Glow nearly fell out of the air.

"The Grogar?!" asked Tirek.

"You're real?!" exclaimed Chrysalis.

"I thought you were just a scary bedtime story!" said Cozy Glow.

The Storm King simply blinked. "Um, who?" he asked. "Listen, not that I'm ungrateful for you breathing life back into my shattered body and all that jazz, but I have no idea what anyone's talking about. Who are you, and what's going on?"

Apparently, he'd said the wrong thing. The other four turned on him, with expressions ranging from shock to sheer horror. Cozy Glow was frantically waving her forehooves, as if to tell the Storm King to shut his mouth before it was too late.

"Grogar is ancient," King Sombra hurriedly spoke up. "He is one of the most powerful sorcerers of all time. The first ruler of the land that would one day become Equestria, thousands of years ago. He created some of the most terrifying beasts to ever walk the earth. You, you simple oaf, stand before the Father of Monsters!"

"Indeed!" chimed in Tirek. "Even as a child, I heard tales of the mighty Grogar and his power."

Cozy Glow nodded. "Every filly knows the story of Grogar and his battle with Gusty the Great! I just never thought it could be true!"

The Storm King simply scoffed. "Well excuse me! I'm not even from magic pony land! How am I supposed to know this stuff?"

"Neither am I, and yet I know of his terror!" Tirek snapped back. "Perhaps you're simply an ignorant beast, Storm King!"

Grogar slammed one hoof on the table, immediately cutting off the conversation and drawing everyone's attention once again. "It matters not whether you have heard of me, Storm King," he announced. "I am here, before you. I have given you life once more, along with you, Sombra. Tirek, Cozy Glow, I have freed you from Tartarus. Chrysalis, I have picked you up from your pitiful position, wandering the forest. I have done all this for one purpose: So that we, under my command, may work together to finally reclaim Equestria from those pathetic ponies. In particular, so that we may destroy Twilight Sparkle and her friends."

Cozy Glow poked her head out from behind Tirek. "Um, Mister Grogar, sir? You might wanna reword that—"

"Excuse me?!" demanded the Storm King. "Do you not understand who you're talking to? The Storm King! KING! You know, as in ruler! I don't work for anybody, especially some old goat!"

"Neither do I," said King Sombra. "I am the rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire. I will not be used as a tool so that another may rule."

Grogar merely sat on his haunches for a few more seconds, staring at the two kings who'd openly defied him. Without another movement, his horns lit up, firing a bolt of black lightning at each of them, engulfing them in the electricity. Both Sombra and the Storm King screamed in agony as Grogar's magic ravaged their bodies, levitating them a bit off the ground. Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis could only stare in horror as the two continued to suffer. Finally, Grogar canceled the spell, causing the two kings to drop to the floor with a thud.

"Does anyone else have any objections to serving me?" he asked. Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis shook their heads like their lives depended on it. "Sombra, Storm King. You would do well to remember that I returned you from death. I can easily inflict a fate worse than that on you."

Both kings got back up, shivering as they felt the lingering pain of Grogar's spell. Neither one spoke, likely because they knew that doing so would result in more punishment.

"I have watched your attempts to conquer Equestria for yourselves," Grogar continued, "as well as all of your humiliating defeats at the hooves of six simple ponies. Pathetic. But we shall use their own strategy against them. We shall be a team, with myself as leader, of course, and grind those ponies to dust."

"Er, Lord Grogar?" Chrysalis began, raising her hoof. Grogar motioned for her to continue. "Well, how exactly can we beat those six ponies? They have the power of the Elements of Harmony backing them, along with the infinite power of Discord. Even together, how can the six of us match that?"

Grogar smiled. "I already have plans for dealing with Discord, I assure you." He waved his hoof over the orb, shifting the image to show Discord's rule of Equestria. "One of my more flawed creations, I must admit. He will be disposed of. As for the Elements—"

"Uh, hold up, hold up," said the Storm King, raising his hand. "Just what are these 'Elements of Harmony,' anyway? Look, if you want me to be part of this little team up, fine, but you gotta give me all the important info."

Grogar sighed, and it was obvious to anyone watching that he was beginning to regret raising the Storm King from the dead. Nonetheless, he gestured to the crystal ball on the table. The image inside changed, showing the Tree of Harmony.

"The Elements of Harmony are Equestria's biggest weapons. Six powerful, magical stones, capable of cleansing evil and even overpowering the Lord of Chaos himself, Discord. They can only be utilized by ponies who embody their virtues, and right now, they are attuned to Twilight Sparkle and her friends. They are Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, and Magic. While they only work if all six are present, they are extraordinarily dangerous."

The Storm King actually gagged. "Oh you gotta be kidding me. I mean sure, I knew these pastel ponies were sappy, but honesty? Laughter? Kindness? Those are their biggest weapons?!" He retched again, covering his mouth as his face turned green. "The cuteness is making me sick!

"If you'd ever been on the receiving end of the Elements, you wouldn't be treating it so lightly!" Tirek snapped.

Grogar's horns lit up again, and a portal of pure darkness appeared to his side. From inside the portal came six black stones, which floated down to the table's surface and rested in front of each of the villains.

"It has taken me millennia to forge these," Grogar continued, "and I have woven the darkest magic possible into them. These are the Elements of Disharmony, and they shall be our trump card. We will use these to destroy the Elements of Harmony and rid the ponies of their greatest weapon. They are Greed, Deceit, Betrayal, Despair, Cruelty, and Doom."

"Wow," said Cozy Glow, picking up her own Element and turning it over in her hooves. "I'm not sure which one I embody, but I'm not complaining!"

"You will also require additional power to complete my plan," said Grogar. The studs on his collar lit up, and he created two gold spheres of magic in one hoof. Then his horns activated, pushing one over to Tirek and the other over to the Storm King.

Tirek wasted no time, immediately devouring his sphere. With a flash of white light, he transformed from a thin centaur to a muscular one, his red coat becoming much brighter in color, and his horns growing. The Storm King, however, watched the demonstration with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, and looked back down at his sphere.

"You want me to eat solid magic?" he asked. "Is that sanitary? This isn't gonna give me indigestion, is—"

Grogar's horns began sparking again, electricity racing down them.

"Eat it. Now," he commanded.

The Storm King flinched, but obeyed, stuffing the sphere into his mouth and swallowing it. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened. But then a faint, blue spark began to trail down the Storm King's arm, followed by more. He held up his hands in amazement, as bolts of blue electricity began to zap between his fingers. As realization dawned on him, he pointed to a far wall of the chamber, and an explosive burst of lightning blasted out of his index finger, blasting the wall and leaving a dark scorch.

"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me!" he exclaimed. "Now I can shoot lightning?! This rules!"

He immediately began pointing with both index fingers, sending bolts of electricity flying all over the chamber, hitting everything in sight, as he bounced up and down, waving his tail. Cozy Glow dived for cover under Tirek's legs, while Tirek, Chrysalis, and Sombra immediately threw up shields around themselves. Grogar simply looked unamused.

"Zappity zap! Zappy, zappy, zappa dappa ding dong!" sang the Storm King. "Zap-a-dee-doo-dah, zap-a-dee-ay—"

"ENOUGH!" Grogar roared, with a stomp of his hoof. The Storm King froze, unfortunately doing so while standing on one foot, leading to him toppling face-first to the ground. "Remember, Storm King, your new powers exist to serve me. Defy me, and I'll return you to the stone you once were, and this time, I'll leave you intact, and you'll be aware of everything around you for eternity. Understand?"

The Storm King climbed to his feet. "Yeah, I gotcha," he replied.

Grogar then created another sphere of magic, sending this one over to Cozy Glow. The filly took the sphere into her forehooves nervously, but obeyed the unspoken order, devouring the magic. She grunted as it permeated her being, before her wings suddenly grew bigger, and a jagged horn, formed of pure magic, emerged from her skull.

"I'm an...alicorn?" she breathed, as though she couldn't believe it.

"Not a true one, that is beyond my power," Grogar admitted. "However, you will be very close in power to an alicorn."

Cozy Glow grinned wickedly. "Alright! I'm ready to take down those ponies!"

Grogar's smile returned. "Excellent. Then we will begin preparations immediately. First, we will need to retrieve my bell from the place Gusty the Great banished it to. Storm King, we will need to seek out those in your army that remain loyal to you. You will all need to learn how to use your new Elements. Soon, Equestria shall be ours!"

He threw back his head and cackled, while the other five laughed along with him, but with fear in their eyes.

Author's Note

I'm not someone who hates Season 9, in fact I like it, but I do admit, Grogar turning out to be Discord was a lame twist. I know this idea has been done before, such as in StarlightisVERYCute's The Ending of the End - Love and Tolerance Edition, which you really should check out, but I wanted to try it for myself. Also, I've never seen anybody put the Storm King in the Legion.

Chapter Two: Preparations

Princess Twilight Sparkle found dragging herself out of bed that morning to be more difficult than usual. It wasn't that she didn't want to rise to the challenge of ruling Equestria—okay, maybe part of her didn't—but it was mostly the fear of doing so. She couldn't stop her brain from kicking into overdrive, thinking of how she could possibly screw up ruling of an entire country, and how that would lead to disaster for all creatures across Equestria, and how it would be all her fault. She loved the land of Equestria, and she wanted every creature to live in safety and happiness. She just didn't know if she could ensure that.

Twilight groaned as she trotted down the halls of the Palace of Friendship. Her eyes were heavy from staying up late, re-reading every book she could think of that might've been helpful in running a kingdom. Not to mention all the checklists she'd been making, trying to arrange things so that everything would be just right when she did end up leaving. Starlight would run the School of Friendship, naturally, and would care for the Palace of Friendship. Her best friends would all have their lives to continue with, but she'd be certain to establish them as a council that advise her in hours of need. Plus, there were arrangements to be made concerning Spike's status. He would be her closest confidant, as he always had been.

With a sigh, Twilight pushed open the door to her dining room with her foreleg, not wanting to even use her magic. She hoped Spike had made breakfast already, because she was starving, and it would be—

"SURPRISE!"

Twilight nearly fell onto her rear at the blast of the confetti cannon in her face. She managed to catch herself by waving her forelegs and spreading her wings out, before slowly settling down onto her hooves once again. Mentally, Twilight chided herself for not being ready, but not too much. Even after all these years of knowing her, Pinkie Pie remained unpredictable.

"Really, Pinkie, you didn't have to go to all the trouble of throwing another—" she began, but stopped upon actually looking in the room.

As expected, her best friends were all there. Pinkie stood by a large cake, alongside Rarity, Applejack, and Starlight. Spike, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were all flying above the room, holding up a massive banner. However, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Flurry Heart, and Discord were all there as well. Plus, the banner didn't read "Happy One Day Closer to Becoming the Ruler of Equestria Party," like Twilight had expected. Rather, it said "Happy Coming Closer to Becoming the Ruler of Equestria and Also We're Sorry Party." Twilight, after briefly wondering how Pinkie had managed to fit that all on one banner, stared in confusion.

"Um, not that I'm ungrateful for the party, but this is more ponies here than I would've expected. Also, what are you sorry about? Nopony here has done anything bad recently."

Most of the others blinked repeatedly. Clearly, they hadn't expected this reaction.

"See? I told you she wasn't angry about it," said Discord, helping himself to a slice of the cake. "Twilight's the epitome of 'It was my fault, not yours.' If anything, she probably thinks she should've been more accepting."

"More accepting of what?" asked Twilight.

"Well, sugar cube," Applejack began, "the thing is, we got to talking to each other after what we said when we found out you were gonna be the sole ruler of Equestria soon. We started to realize that we basically told you your concerns were...well, meaningless, even though we just meant to be encouraging. We feel like we might've pressured you into more Twilighting, which is pretty rude, to be honest. So we wanted to apologize for that."

"And we wrote to the Princesses about it," Fluttershy added. "After they thought it over, they decided they might've sprung this on you a bit unfairly."

"Fluttershy is correct, Twilight," said Celestia. "We do intend to retire, but we're concerned that doing it right away, giving you only a few days to prepare yourself to take over, was unfair. After spending so much time with you, we know how much you like to plan ahead. So we came over to ask if you want us to change our arrangements."

"Would you like us to wait longer?" asked Luna. "I promise, it won't be any trouble. We haven't announced our retirement to anypony not in this room."

"We're just here for moral support," said Cadence, as she levitated Flurry Heart over.

"I'm just here for the food," said Discord. Upon the resulting glare from Fluttershy, he hastily added, "I mean, to provide more support! Yes, that's it!"

Twilight took her niece in one leg, giving Flurry a small nuzzle, as she mulled over their words. It was true, she would like to get more time. But did that mean she was abandoning her duties to Equestria? After all, Celestia and Luna had ruled for over one-thousand years, they deserved a break. Was it really fair to make them wait longer just because she was nervous?

However, this time Twilight shook those doubts away. Both princesses had promised they had no problem with it, and they wouldn't lie to her. There was nothing to be ashamed of in waiting until she was truly ready for the task of ruling Equestria. And it wasn't like she would use the extra time to just Twilight (she really didn't like that verb) some more, she'd use it to make the changes that were needed before she left.

"If we could maybe push it back just a week or so?" she asked. "I want to be certain everything is all nice and organized before I take over." She took a moment to look around at all her friends. "I'm not afraid to run the kingdom, I know I can do it with all your help. And I'm not mad at anypony in this room for what they did, especially when they were trying to be nice. But I accept the apology anyway."

Spike visibly sighed with relief. "Thanks, Twilight. It's good to know we didn't just brush you off again." He shivered, clearly thinking about the want it, need it incident.

Discord, currently doing the backstroke through the air, let out a big yawn. "Well, at least I'll have more time to pick out exactly what I'm going to do for Twilight's coronation."

Rarity shot a rather annoyed look at him "And what, pray tell, were you considering?" she demanded.

Discord held up his mismatched hands innocently. "I was just trying to decide what kind of firework display I was going to add. What, did you think I was gonna pull some crazy stunt like suddenly turning evil again, forcing you to defeat me, then revealing it was all a ruse to boost Twilight's confidence?"

"That would be pretty rude," said Pinkie.

Twilight gave Flurry Heart another kiss before passing her back to her parents. "I know, I get nervous over a lot of things, but in my heart, I know for certain that I can do this as long as I have my friends by my side." She ignited her horn, pulling her six best friends from across the room to her and they all shared in one big hug. "There's nothing we can't overcome if we don't work together."

Celestia, Luna, Starlight, Cadence, and Shining Armor all let out a big "Awwww" at the display. Discord actually found himself blowing his nose.

"The cuteness...it burns!" he whimpered, collapsing to the ground like a limp hose.

Twilight felt truly content where she was right now. Surrounded by loving friends and family, about to settle into the role Princess Celestia had seen her fit for. It would be hard to manage all of Equestria, and she was certain she'd miss Ponyville, but it wasn't like she'd never see her best friends again. She knew they'd adjust, and their friendship would last forever.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well," came a familiar voice from another entrance.

Twilight opened her eyes, searching for the source, until she found it. A tall, rather imposing looking, orchid-colored unicorn, with a scar over one eye, and a broken horn. She no longer wore the armor she once had, merely settling for a black one-piece draped over her back, and a grey scarf around her neck.

"Tempest!" exclaimed Twilight, rushing over to her former enemy and hugging her as well. "Or do you prefer Fizzlepop?"

The larger unicorn shrugged. "I've gone by Tempest so long, you can call me either name." She looked over Twilight, making eye contact with Pinkie Pie. "Sorry I'm late. Celaeno had to take a detour to get me back here."

Pinkie shot her a wide smile in return. "It's okay, Fizzlepop! You made it here, and that's what matters!"

Starlight Glimmer approached Tempest. "So, you're the Tempest Shadow, huh? We've never had the opportunity to be introduced. I'm Starlight Glimmer."

"Oh, you're Twilight's first friendship student!" said Tempest, shaking her hoof. "I've heard a lot about you. I assume you've heard some...not so great things about me."

Starlight waved it off with one hoof. "Hey, whatever you've done, I probably did worse."

Rainbow Dash flew over to the grouped ponies. "So Tempest, how'd your travels go? I heard you were spreading word of the Storm King's death to the lands he conquered."

"About as well as I'd hoped," said Tempest. "I still have a lot of work to do rebuilding some places he abandoned, so I'm headed back out right after Twilight's coronation. A lot of people aren't willing to forgive me until I help them put their lives back together, but I don't exactly blame them."

"Well, darling, before you leave, you simply must allow me to design you some new clothes," Rarity insisted. "I know black is your color, but I believe we could bring out your eyes with a nice shade of green. Perhaps chartreuse."

Tempest chuckled to herself. "You don't have to do that, Rarity, but thanks, anyway." She looked up at all the decorations and refreshments for the party. "It's been so long since I've been to a celebration like this. Especially considering I helped ruin your Festival of Friendship."

With a sudden popping sound, a plate with a clean-cut slice of cake appeared before her. Tempest blinked in surprise, before Discord suddenly wrapped the length of his body around her neck.

"Just dig in, Fizzlepop Berrytwist," he announced, happily sipping his drink. "If there's one thing I've learned about friendship, it's to always take part in one of Pinkie's parties."

Tempest laughed again, this time joined by the other ponies.

Once upon a time, the Typhoon had been the greatest in the Storm King's fleet of airships. Heavily armed and crewed by many of the Storm Creatures who'd sworn their loyalty to the king, it was a deadly transport and a fierce symbol of the Storm King's conquering crusade. Creatures trembled in fear of its approach, as it cast its shadow over the land.

Nowadays, it was the only ship left from the once massive fleet. The Typhoon had been the flagship for the attack on Canterlot, headed by Commander Tempest Shadow. Now that Tempest was no longer with the Storm King's armada, and the Storm King himself was dead, the chain of command had collapsed, leaving the scattered Storm Creatures who controlled the ship blindly flying across the land. The group had barely managed to flee Canterlot in the wake of the invasion's failure, but they knew the Equestrian government was looking for them. All they could think to do was flee further and further away from the ponies' eyes, and hope they'd remain undetected. With the armaments they had onboard, they could wreck some havoc, but nothing that would last.

At the moment, the Typhoon was busy hovering over a desert canyon not far from Klugetown. The Storm Creatures had managed to restock some supplies at the town, reasonably sure that the citizens wouldn't bother to inform the ponies they'd been here if asked. Of course, that left the task of getting the stuff actually on the ship.

"Move the rest of the cargo below deck!" barked the de facto leader of the creatures in their native language. "We have to move on from this spot before the day is out!"

The one who held the position of second-in-command for the day, exhausted from hauling the crates around all day, collapsed to the ground with a thump. "This is pointless," he groaned. "Why not just turn ourselves over to those ponies? They let Commander Tempest get away with it, maybe they'll be nice to us?"

His superior slapped him across the face. "News flash! Unlike Tempest, we didn't turn on the Storm King at the last second! We go back to the ponies, they lock us up and throw away the key! Now shut up and do your job!"

The second Storm Creature groaned in frustration, but moved to follow the order, until something caught his gaze above the ship.

"Uh, boss?" he ventured, poking his superior.

"What is it now?" came the annoyed grunt.

The second creature pointed. Looking up, the leader saw what appeared to be a small, white and grey object falling towards the Typhoon. What was even more shocking, of course, were the bolts of electricity coming off the object as it approached faster and faster.

"COVER!" screamed the leader. "EVERYBODY DIVE FOR COVER—!"

While they weren't the brightest bunch, the Storm Creatures knew the signs of danger when they heard them. They scurried away from the object's estimated impact site, whipping out their anti-magic shields to protect themselves.

The object slammed into the Typhoon's deck with a burst of electricity, stray bolts zipping off of it and electrifying all metal objects onboard the ship. Fortunately for the Storm Creatures, their shields were strong enough to protect them from the magical lightning. They cautiously poked their heads out, looking at their new arrival.

And promptly fell into bows.

The Storm King rose to his feet, electricity arcing across his body and lighting up his eyes. He promptly groaned, lifting up each leg with his arms, rubbing his calves.

"Oh, boy, you guys were right about that landing!" he complained, as he felt the bones of his legs for damage. "Terrible for your knees. At least it looked cool."

Grogar, Cozy Glow, Tirek, Sombra, and Chrysalis all floated up alongside the ship, sitting on a chunk of land levitated up by Grogar's magic.

"We tried to warn you," Cozy Glow noted, rolling her eyes.

The Storm Creatures noticed the new arrivals for the first time. With a roar of "For the Storm King!" they all drew their weapons, preparing for battle.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" yelled the Storm King, snapping his fingers and creating an electrical pop. "No! Bad minions! Did I order you to attack?"

The Storm Creatures immediately stood down, bowing before their king once more.

"Okay, glad to see we all know who's in charge here," said the Storm King. "Now, my loyal subjects, these are our new business partners. You obey them as you would me. Understand?"

All the Typhoon's crew hastily nodded. A few quiet grumbles were heard about taking orders from a tiny pony like Cozy Glow, but everyone present already knew that they would lead to nothing.

"Excellent. You there!" Storm King pointed to the leader of the creatures. "What do ya got on this ship?"

"We're thirty strong, Your Excellency," the creature replied. "We've got a couple of obsidian grenades left, and the ship's weapons are fully functional."

"Wait, you can understand those growls?" asked Sombra.

The Storm King shrugged. "Had to learn how when I hired these goons," he replied. He turned to Grogar. "That gonna be enough for your plan, boss?"

The ram nodded. "These will do nicely. Order them to hand over the obsidian grenades, just in case. Besides that, tell them to turn this ship around and begin heading for Canterlot, but to stay out of sight. Then have them standby for further orders. Tell them to prepare the ship for combat."

Storm King relayed the orders. Soon, the grenades were retrieved and passed the Grogar. The Storm King then jumped onto the floating chunk of rock with the others.

"So now what?" he asked.

"Now," said Grogar, "We must acquire the next item needed for my plan." He lit up his horns with black and gold light, creating a portal of darkness in the air. "Come. To Hollow Shades."

He trotted through the vortex, and the others followed obediently.

The Well of Shade, the dark cistern in which the evil Pony of Shadows had been banished, was a foreboding location. Even with the beast of darkness long gone, no ponies dared to venture to the dark shrine, as they were understandably fearful. The air around the well made one's hairs stand on end, feeling as though they were being stalked by a fearsome creature that would like nothing more than to consume them. Fear was in the atmosphere around the shrine, and no creature liked it.

Grogar was an exception.

The ram strolled down the halls of the cistern with a smile on his face, passing by the columns carved with the words of ancient ponies, as his five allies followed in his wake. The group did not share their master's confidence, nervously glancing from side-to-side, even behind them, feeling nerves begin to creep down their spines. Even the mighty Tirek found himself shivering, probably wishing Grogar had granted him more power just for safety's sake.

"Um, Grogar?" asked the Storm King, as his tail quivered back and forth. "Could you...remind me why we're here again?"

"Because this is where the last portal to Limbo was opened up," Grogar answered, not even bothering to turn his head. "Thus, this is where the connection is strongest."

The Storm King opened his mouth to ask another question, but Chrysalis shot him a look. One that said "Stop talking before he gets angry." The Storm King grumbled, but nonetheless said nothing and kept walking.

The group continued their journey in silence, before finally reaching the mural at the end of the chamber. Grogar looked up and ignited his horns. He could feel the remnants of the Harmony Magic that had cast the Pony of Shadows into Limbo. As he probed the atmosphere, faint sparkles of rainbow light appeared, along with what looked like a white crack in the air. Grogar smiled wickedly.

"Master Grogar, sir?" asked Cozy Glow. "If we open a portal to Limbo, won't that mean that the Pony of Shadows will return?"

"The darkness is weak without a host," Grogar replied. "If it does make an appearance, I am prepared to deal with it. Now..." He levitated up five of the Elements of Disharmony. "Prepare to use your Elements as we practiced. Remember to focus on the aspect of your particular Element."

The other five nodded, as the stones latched onto them, transforming into black, spiked necklaces with grey gems in various shapes embedded in the center. The Storm King's was a lightning bolt, Cozy Glow's was a rook piece (like her Cutie Mark), Tirek's was a clenched fist, Chrysalis' was a dragonfly, and Sombra's was a diamond. The final Element levitated up to Grogar's head, before suddenly morphing into a black, jagged crown, complete with gem shaped like a bell.

Each member of Grogar's legion then closed their eyes, each of their Elements glowing with black light. They began to levitate off the ground, and a line of solid black swerved out of each necklace, connecting to the other Elements. Once the line was established, all five Elements fired into Grogar's. Pure dark magic swirled around the Element, and Grogar closed his eyes, firing a thick, black blast into the white crack.

The crack in reality split open with a thunderous blast of noise. The resulting shockwave knocked the other five out of the air, but Grogar remained standing. Inside of the crack was a large vortex, leading to a world completely covered in black, with only the vaguest of lights to illuminate it. Grogar lit up his horns again, casting a probing spell.

"Ah, there it is," he cackled. "So careless, Gusty. You really should have hid it better."

The studs on his necklace began to glow again, forming a ball of gold light at his throat. Grogar gestured with one hoof, and the orb darted forward, suddenly transforming into a pair of thin, golden arms and hands of pure light. The fingers then inserted themselves into the black hole, poking around inside of Limbo, until they found what they were looking for.

Grogar beckoned towards himself, and the hands pulled back, carrying with them a small object. As the fingers came into view, the object was revealed to be a bell, colored dull green, with various arcane markings adorning its surface. Several cracks ran down the length of the bell. Grogar eagerly raised one hoof, accepting the bell into his grip, and attached it to the hook on his necklace.

"Finally, it is returned to me," he mused, an evil smile gracing his features. "It could never be destroyed, and now I shall—"

"Uh, maybe save the evil speech for later?" interrupted Tirek. "Because we've got a problem!"

He pointed at the still-open vortex leading to Limbo, prompting everyone else to follow his gaze. A giant mass of darkness, like moving liquid, was beginning to slither out of the hole, and take on a cohesive shape. The form it took was that of a giant, pitch-dark alicorn with glowing white eyes, and a maw full of jagged teeth.

"Finally!" roared the Pony of Shadows. "I shall be free once more! This land shall be shrouded in darkness and—"

A black and gold bolt of magic from Grogar's horns cut it off, forcing it backwards. Grogar advanced on the Pony of Shadows, horns and necklace flaring with pure power.

"I have no use for you at the moment, beast," growled the goat. "And without a host, your power is negligible. Return to Limbo, and remain there."

The Pony of Shadows' only response was another howl of rage. It reached forward with both front legs, pushing against the ground as it attempted to pull its entire body out of the portal. The other five villains assumed fighting poses, but Grogar held up his hoof, signaling them to stand down.

Grogar's horns lit up once more, along with the studs on his necklace. The magic coalesced around the tips of his horns, before firing a pair of black and yellow beams at the Pony of Shadows. The beast responded with a powerful blast of pure darkness from its maw, and the two attacks collided in midair. The two magic attacks struggled against each other for a minute, but soon, it became clear that Grogar's power was winning. Soon enough, his attack punched through that of the Pony of Shadows, hitting it directly in the chest.

"NO! I WON'T BE TRAPPED! I WON'T—" was all the creature had time to scream before it was forced back into Limbo by the sheer power of Grogar. With another pulse of magic, Grogar sealed the portal shut, cutting off the Pony of Shadows' only escape.

"Did he...just crush the Pony of Shadows...without half-trying?" Cozy Glow whispered to Tirek.

"I think that's what just happened," replied the centaur.

Grogar turned on his hoof, strutting past his minions as though he didn't have a care in the world.

"Now that we've completed the groundwork for my plan," he said, nonchalantly, "I will instruct you on what we must do. We will bring down all of Equestria."

"Master Grogar?" asked Sombra, as the Legion began to follow their leader. "If you don't mind me asking, what does that bell actually do?"

Grogar chuckled to himself. "The bell, King Sombra, is a key. The key to Tambelon."

Chapter Three: Siege

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long. I went on an editing binge of my old stories.

Chapter Three: Siege

Twilight had been so busy, she nearly fell asleep on the train to Canterlot. Thanks to the agreement she'd reached with Celestia and Luna, her coronation wasn't due to happen for another few days, but there were some things she wanted to take care of in Canterlot before actually becoming the ruler. Plus, Rarity had to check on her Canterlot boutique, so it worked out. Rainbow Dash had joked that Twilight wouldn't rest until she'd completely reorganized the castle, optimizing the placement of every single room. Of course, the purple alicorn had laughed it off, but that had, once upon a time, been a serious consideration of hers.

"Thanks for coming with me on this trip," she said, as she and her six best friends disembarked from the train. "I don't know what I'd do without you around to keep me grounded."

"Oh, that's nothing to be ashamed of, darling," Rarity insisted. "You just like to have all the details locked down before you do things, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah, and what sort of friends would we be if we didn't help you out with that objective?" asked Spike.

Twilight smiled again, but it faded as she looked up at Canterlot Castle. Even after all these years, the sight was still an imposing one. It would be her home soon, and would bring with it many new challenges. Sure, Twilight had (with help) saved Equestria several times over, but there was a difference between preventing an evil from conquering and/or destroying a kingdom, and managing that kingdom every day, keeping its citizens safe and happy. Twilight swallowed nervously.

"You okay, Twilight?" asked Rainbow, flying above the others. "You still seem kinda on edge."

"It's just nerves," Twilight replied, deciding to be honest. "I know, I'll always have all of you to consult if I need help, but it's still a lot to take in. Back when I applied to Celestia's School, I never would've thought this was the direction my life would take. Not that I'm unhappy about it, of course."

"You sure you don't want to ask the Princesses to give you another week or two?" asked Fluttershy. "I'm sure they'd be willing to do it."

Twilight shook her head. "If I put it off any longer, I'm just gonna spend that extra time worrying. It's better to get it over with."

"Fair enough," said Applejack. "So where's our first stop? Are we going to the castle?"

"Nope." Twilight led her friends down the street. "First, I wanna visit my parents."

The small household on the east side of Canterlot wasn't hard to find, considering Twilight had spent a good portion of her childhood in it. The six ponies and one dragon strolled up to the door, and Twilight slowly raised her hoof, knocking three times.

They didn't have to wait long, as the door was enveloped in unicorn magic, and pulled open.

"Yes, how can I help—" Night Light began, before stopping upon seeing who was at the door. "Twilight?"

"Hi, dad," said Twilight. "Is mom home? I really wanted to talk to both of—"

She didn't get to finish, as her father's magical glow pulled her forward, into his embrace.

"Honey! Twilight's here!" Night Light shouted back into the house, while simultaneously hugging his daughter.

Spike and the other ponies couldn't help but laugh as Twilight Velvet came down, and Twilight Sparkle was smothered by both of her parents. The purple alicorn spared only a second to shoot a glare at her friends, before returning the affection

It took several minutes of hugs and kisses before Twilight managed to wiggle free. She didn't blame her parents, considering she'd barely had time to spend with them since becoming a princess. Soon enough, they did give her some room to breathe, and the group gathered in the living room, where Twilight soon told her parents of her upcoming promotion.

"Princess of all Equestria?!" exclaimed Night Light, magically pulling his daughter into another hug. "Twily, we're so proud of you! You've come so far since you were a filly!"

"I know, it's amazing!" added Twilight Velvet. "Though I must admit, it's a bit sudden. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are retiring? Just like that?"

"It was a shock for me, too," admitted Twilight. "Growing alicorn wings is one thing, but this is the next level. Still, after thinking it over, I've come to accept it. Even if I won't be living in Ponyville anymore, I'll still have my friends by my side, and that's all I need."

"You can count on us to support your daughter," Applejack added. "Just like we always have. This ain't nothing but another challenge for us to overcome."

Twilight Velvet nodded. "Thank you, girls. And you, too, Spike. Knowing Twilight has such good friends by her side makes me feel wonderful inside." She had a brief chuckle. "Look at you and your brother, Twily. Princess of Friendship and Prince of the Crystal Empire. Living the dream of every foal."

"Mom!" Twilight protested. "This is very serious!" But her tone betrayed the fact that she wasn't actually angry.

"You didn't have another...moment, did you, sweetie?" asked Night Light. "I know you tend to get overwhelmed, and sure, usually there's nothing to worry about, but—"

"I did get a little nervous, dad," Twilight admitted. "Who wouldn't when they're being told they're going to run an entire kingdom?"

"Admittedly, we may not have handled the situation the best way," Fluttershy confessed, sounding a little ashamed of herself. "The good news is we talked it over, and got Twilight into a place where she's much more comfortable with it."

"We helped her go over all the arrangements that need to be made before she takes the throne," added Rarity. "The School of Friendship will be properly cared for, along with Ponyville itself. Your daughter's eye for details always did impress me."

Night Light and Twilight Velvet smiled proudly. "That's our Twilight," said the stallion, "always knowing how she wants everything to go. It always was one of your biggest strengths, sweetie."

"Some would say it's my biggest weakness," Twilight mumbled, "considering how often it's made things unnecessarily complicated."

Twilight Velvet placed a comforting hoof on her daughter's shoulder. "It doesn't make you any less of a good pony," she insisted. "Besides, all it means is that you care about details. It doesn't mean you're a crazy pony or anything."

Twilight smiled, blushing at the compliment. "Thanks, mom. It beats Shining Armor calling it me going Twily-nanas. I know he's kidding, but I wish he'd take me a little more seriously."

"To be fair, he only called you that when you were obsessing over Hearth's Warming," said Pinkie. "As we learned, there's no need to do that."

"True," replied Twilight. She got off the couch. "We've got some more errands to run around town. I'll see you guys later." She stepped forward to hug her parents once again. "Thanks for supporting me."

"That's our job, Twilight," said Night Light, returning the hug alongside his wife.

The others made a collective "Aaaaaw," at the display, Pinkie Pie quickly snapping a picture before they left.

After a quick stop at Rarity's boutique to make sure Sassy Saddles wasn't having any troubles, the group headed back towards the castle. Twilight wanted to have a talk with the castle staff before she took over, so she could have all their schedules memorized and know all the ins and outs that went on inside. When she'd been Celestia's student, most of Twilight's time had been taken up by studying, so she hadn't had the chance to pick these particular things up.

Rarity gave another content sigh as they approached Canterlot Castle. "No matter how many times I see it," she proclaimed, "this remains to be the most gorgeous building in all of Equestria!"

"Even compared to the Crystal Empire Palace?" asked Spike. "I know how much you loved that castle."

"True, but it is possible to go overboard with the glittering and the glamorous, darling," replied the unicorn. "Canterlot has, in my opinion, just the right balance."

"It is nice," said Twilight. "I lived here for a pretty long time, but I guess I never really picked up all the high society things you love so much, Rarity. Kind of a shame, since you were so keen on them when we met."

"It's not an issue, darling," insisted the unicorn. "Your friendship is worth more than all of those things."

"Thanks. Now, we better hurry. I don't want to keep the castle staff waiting."

As the group continued to trot, Twilight glanced off to the side, discovering a familiar unicorn waiting for them. Tempest heard the clopping of their hooves and turned to face them, smiling when she saw them approached. The scarred unicorn approached, and Twilight gave her a friendly nuzzle.

"Are you sure you want me here?" asked Tempest. "After what I did to this town, I could understand not wanting me anywhere near it."

"That was the old you," Twilight insisted. "Besides, you told me you were interested in serving in the Royal Guard once you were done cleaning up the Storm King's messes. You might as well learn what you can while you're here."

"Can't argue with that."

The conversation would've continued, had Pinkie not gasped loudly enough to draw everyone's attention. Twilight turned around to ask her friend what was wrong, only for the pink earth pony to point at what appeared to be an approaching mass of black clouds. The clouds soon parted, revealing the hull of a familiar airship hovering just over Canterlot. Twilight's eyes went wide at the sight, unpleasant memories surfacing in her brain.

"That's...that's the Typhoon! That's the Storm King's flagship!" yelled Tempest.

But nobody had time to process Tempest's words, for the cannons of the massive airship soon began taking aim at Canterlot Castle. Twilight barely had time to scream the word "NO!" before the first shot was fired, blowing off one of the many spires. The sound of the blast was deafening, and the resulting quake nearly knocked everyone off their hooves.

A ramp descended from the side of the Typhoon, slamming into the Canterlot ground so hard it shook the very city. Beneath a massive banner depicting the Storm King's smug face, a group of Storm Creatures were gathered, armed with spears and shields forged of anti-magic metal. One of them roared something in their native language, before they all charged forward, sending ponies galloping away in fear.

"Oh, not again!" complained Rarity.

"It doesn't matter!" declared Twilight. "We beat them once, we can do it again!"

"Sounds like fun to me!" chimed in Rainbow.

The seven ponies and one dragon broke into their own gallop, as Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow took to the air with their wings. Knowing her mystical blasts would be useless against the shields, Twilight instead levitated up a chunk of rubble laying on the ground and pitched it into the crowd of Storm Creatures. Several of their enemies were knocked over by the improvised projectile, but the rest pressed onward.

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Tempest, diving forward as her horn sparked with electricity. "Not this time!"

One of the creatures took a swipe at her with its spear, but the scarred unicorn was far too skilled to be hit by such a clumsy attack. She ducked under the weapon, before bucking upwards with her back legs, knocking it free of the creature's grip. Tempest then used her momentum to leap onto the creature's head, wrapping her legs around it and pulling the entire body to the ground. Applejack rushed to her aid, bucking the creature in the side of the head and knocking it unconscious.

"One down, wish I knew how many more to go!" said the farm pony.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy, despite charging head-first into the fray alongside the others, was beginning to shake, clearly terrified. Sure, she'd been through a fight very similar to this before, but that didn't mean she wanted to do it again. Plus, one of the Storm Creatures suddenly took notice of her and made a beeline in her direction, making her quiver with fear.

"I've got you, Fluttershy!" came Rarity's reassuring voice.

The unicorn raced up to her friend, a length of fabric levitated in her magical grip. She sent the fabric flying forward, where it slapped against the Storm Creature's face, blinding it. With the beast distracted, Spike took the opportunity to spew an emerald fireball at him, which blasted the creature off its feet.

"You alright, Fluttershy?" asked the dragon, flying over and landing beside the pegasus.

"I'm fine," she replied, but she was looking down, seemingly depressed. "Thanks for saving me, but I can't just stand by and be useless."

She spread her wings, taking off despite Rarity and Spike protesting. Fluttershy flew downward, landing on her hooves in front of another group of Storm Creatures. Bracing herself, she pulled her neck back and thrust her head forward, giving the most intense version of the Stare she'd ever done. The Storm Creatures froze in their tracks, dropping their weapons and shields, utterly at the mercy of Fluttershy's Stare.

That gave Rainbow Dash ample time to fly into the group of creatures, ramming into them and scattering them like bowling pins.

"Thanks for that, Fluttershy!" called the blue pegasus, as she zipped back around. "It definitely makes 'em easier targets!"

"You're welcome, Rainbow!"

At the same time, Twilight was busy dodging shots fired from the Typhoon. Fortunately for her, it seemed Celestia and Luna were aware of what was going on outside, as a magical barrier had been put up around the castle, preventing more collateral damage. Unfortunately, the Royal Guard hadn't mobilized yet, meaning Twilight and the others would probably be on their own for a while longer. She'd made attempts to return fire with her magic, but of course, the hull of the airship was coated with more anti-magic metal, rendering her blasts useless.

"So is there a way to disable that thing?!" she yelled, flying down next to Tempest. "Because it's really getting on my nerves!"

"We'll have to take out the crew," replied the larger unicorn. "Can you get me up there? I can deal with them from inside."

Twilight nodded, lighting up her horn. Tempest Shadow was engulfed in her magenta aura, and levitated off the ground. Twilight flew alongside her, dodging more shots from the ship's cannons, before depositing Tempest on top of the deck. Spike flew up as well, and the two rushed down into the ship, magic and fire burning. Soon enough, the ship ceased firing, allowing the six ponies to deal with the remaining forces on the ground.

Twilight and Rarity combined their telekinesis, levitating a Applejack's lasso as a massive tripwire. About half a dozen Storm Creatures stumbled over it, before the two mares swung the rope around, tying it in a knot. With the beasts immobilized, it was a simple matter for Pinkie to bounce from head to head, knocking them all unconscious. Only two creatures remained, and one was bucked into the wall by Applejack, while Rainbow rammed the other.

"HA!" yelled Rainbow. "That's twelve, by my count! I totally beat more than you, Applejack!"

"Oh, no you didn't!" the farm pony snapped back. "That one that I bucked into the air and you rammed it was my win, not yours! You were totally unnecessary there!"

"You know that's crap! That one would've just gotten back up if I hadn't got him!"

"From that fall?! He would not—"

"GIRLS! CAN WE FOCUS ON WHAT'S IMPORTANT?!" roared Twilight, channeling some of the Royal Canterlot Voice. That shut Rainbow and Applejack up.

Celestia and Luna were already on their way down from the castle, accompanied by several Royal Guards, having heard the attacks from the airship cease. Tempest, however, had no patience for them. Coming out of the ship, Spike hot on her tail, she marched up to the one remaining creature that was conscious. She grabbed it by the head with her forehooves, glaring into it's eyes.

"What're you doing here? Talk!" she demanded in the creature's native language.

"I have nothing to say to you, traitor," the beast spat. "We are servants of the Storm King to the end, and we—"

Tempest rolled her eyes, then knocked the creature out with a swift punch to the head. She turned back to the mares and Spike, now accompanied by Celestia and Luna.

"They're not gonna explain themselves," she informed them. "My best guess is these idiots were just trying an attack to get revenge for the Storm King's defeat."

"It's a good thing you were around to help halt the assault," said Celestia. "We'll have the Royal Guard round them up and escort them to Tartarus."

"I'm glad it was nothing big, but..." Twilight put her hoof on her chin, deep in thought. "Why would they attack now? We've been looking for this ship ever since the Storm King's attack. Is it possible they heard about my coronation? But why not wait until that day?"

"Well, these guys don't seem particularly intelligent," said Rainbow Dash. "Maybe they just got sick of running away and decided to try getting their revenge."

"Yeah, that Storm King meanie is...broken," added Pinkie, looking a little nervous at the prospect of discussing death. "He couldn't have ordered them!"

"True," said Twilight, "but I can't help but feel we're missing something..."

Spike opened his mouth to add to the conversation, but his words died on his lips due to a sudden interruption. That interruption took the form of a massive sphere of white light that suddenly grew into existence next to the group. Twilight, Rarity, Celestia, Luna, and Tempest's horns vibrated from the sudden magical surge. All nine ponies (plus one dragon) all turned towards the sphere, shifting back into combat positions, which pulsed again with a great load of magical energy. Then the sphere began to collapse on itself, revealing a form deep within. The form was that of a pony, but the surface of its coat sparkled with white stars. Once the light was gone, everyone present gasped as they saw the pony's appearance.

Because, besides the glowing effect, as well as the translucent body, it was a perfect match for Twilight.

The other Twilight opened her eyes, and again, the purple orbs were exactly like the real Twilight's. She spread her wings, and opened her mouth, beginning to speak. Her voice was very close to the real Twilight's, but this one had an ethereal feel to it, as well as echoing, as though she were speaking from across a vast canyon.

"Greetings, Bearers of Harmony," she said. "I have reached out to you in my hour of need. I require your help."

Everyone else blinked in confusion. "Um, what?" said Applejack. "Twilight, did you have a twin sister you never told us about?"

"No, no, I know what this is," the real Twilight replied. "Sandbar told me. The Tree of Harmony communicated with him and his friends others by projecting an image of me." Upon seeing the looks on her friends' faces, she shrugged. "Hey, it's not like I told it to use my face."

Glowing Twilight nodded. "Indeed. I am the avatar of the Tree of Harmony. And my physical form is in great peril."

That got everyone's attention. "The Tree of Harmony is in danger?" exclaimed Fluttershy. "Why? Who's attacking it?"

"I do not know. But I cannot defend myself for long. Please, you must hurry."

"Wait, then that attack..." said Twilight, as the wheels in her brain began turning. "Someone must've been trying to distract us! We have to get to the Tree now!"

She lit up her horn, pulling Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Spike to her. "I can manage one long-distance teleportation spell. Should be enough to get us there."

"Wait, Twilight!" interrupted Celestia. "Let us help you. We can—"

"No! If my friends and I are going to rule Equestria, we need to figure out how to do things without you!" Twilight insisted.

Her horn glowed again, flaring with magic. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, as sparks of magic zapped off the tip of her horn, before there was a massive flash of magenta light. When the light faded, Twilight and the others were gone, leaving Celestia, Luna, and Tempest alone.

"Well," said Tempest, "that doesn't sound good."

Chapter Four: Chaos vs. Darkness

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter Five: Crushing Defeat

The clatter of hooves could be heard above the normal chirping of the Everfree Forest wildlife. Six ponies and one dragon raced through through the forest, even as vines and roots writhed around them, without the Tree of Harmony to mitigate the dark power of the Everfree. Twilight was panting, sweat dripping down the back of her neck, and her magic was flaring as a result of her stress.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad..." she whispered under her breath.

"Yeah, we kinda knew that, Twilight!" yelled Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight, can Discord beat Grogar?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well, from their conversation, it seems the legend that Discord was created by Grogar is true. So...probably not."

"Maybe he can buy us enough time to get back to Canterlot!" said Spike. "I mean, come on, even with the Elements of Harmony, you guys had a hard time beating Discord!"

"Yeah, and speaking of the Elements of Harmony, has anybody else realized that THEY'RE GONE FOREVER?!" yelled Applejack. "Seriously, why am I the only one freaking out about this?!"

"Who said you were?!" Twilight snapped back.

"Not to mention that the Everfree Forest is growing out of control without the Tree!" exclaimed Rarity. Then she screeched in fear as a creeping vine tried itself to wrap around her leg. "How are we going to solve that?!"

"Well, maybe the Pillars can plant another one!" said Pinkie. "How hard can it be to create another magic seed containing the essence of Harmony itself?"

As the group reached the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, emerging near Fluttershy's cottage, Twilight opened her mouth, possibly to reprimand Pinkie for her last statement. But before she could, there was a heavy flash of light behind them, and all the ponies came to a screeching halt, skidding in the dirt. They slowly turned around.

"Does this belong to you?" asked Grogar, levitating Discord's limp, barely-conscious body up next to him. Behind him, the other five villains all grinned maliciously. Discord could only manage a sad look at them, with eyes that said "I tried."

"Well, there goes my optimism," said Spike, dryly.

"Twilight Sparkle," Grogar continued, stomping a few steps forward, "I have returned to claim what is rightfully mine from you pathetic ponies. And I'm starting by eliminating you." One of the vines tried to wrap itself around his leg, but he sliced it off with a quick pulse of magic. "Don't worry, I'll deal with the Everfree Forest as soon as I'm done with you."

Twilight felt fear begin to creep down her spine, and it was reasonable fear. After all, this time, they didn't have the Elements of Harmony, the Rainbow Power, or any kind of magical backup, which had been vital in defeating all of these villains previously (except for Grogar of course). Not to mention, they had some kind of dark version of the Elements of Harmony, strong enough to destroy the tree with the Elements attached to it. What hope did they have?

Looking at Spike, Twilight had a sudden idea. She lit up her horn, firing a bolt of magenta magic into the purple dragon. Spike didn't even have time to yell out before he suddenly vanished in a flash of bright light.

Grogar blinked. "What exactly were you hoping to accomplish with that?" he demanded.

"I sent Spike closer to Canterlot," Twilight answered. "He'll know what to do when he gets there. He'll warn Celestia and Luna about your return, and they'll mobilize everything they have to take you out."

Grogar threw back his head and laughed, joined by the other villains. "That's cute, Twilight Sparkle. You actually think that Celestia and Luna can do something about my plans. Actually, this is rather convenient for me. I have plans to destroy them as well."

"But right now," cackled Tirek, "we finally get to take you six down and have our revenge!"

"And who doesn't like revenge, am I right?" asked the Storm King, his fingertips sparking.

The six mares tensed up, preparing to rush their enemies.

"We don't have much chance of winning this fight, do we?" asked Applejack.

"It doesn't matter," replied Rainbow Dash. "If I'm going down, I'm at least gonna say I went down swinging."

"I would've put it more eloquently, darling," said Rarity, "but ultimately, I agree!"

On both sides, the six charged.

Spike yelped in surprise as he suddenly found himself falling out of the air. He screamed, before remembering his (relatively) new wings, and began to flap them. Fortunately, all his training paid off and he was able to stop himself before he collided with the earth. Hovering gently over the ground for a second, he carefully settled his feet onto the grass.

"Whew! That was close," he breathed. A quick examination of his surroundings confirmed that he'd been warped to the outskirts of Canterlot.

Then he remembered exactly where he had been seconds ago.

"TWILIGHT!" he shouted, frantically glancing from left to right. It was useless, though. Twilight apparently hadn't had the strength to teleport herself or any of the others to Canterlot as well. Spike was there alone.

Spike began to tremble in fear, the thought of Twilight, Rarity, and the others alone with Grogar and the rest of those monsters flooding his mind. He knew, logically, he wouldn't have been much help in the battle, but he would've at least given the mares a numerical advantage. Now, they were left to fight a battle they surely couldn't win. It was enough to make Spike want to fall to his knees and cry.

No, he thought to himself, curling his claws into fists. Twilight must've sent me ahead so I could warn Celestia and Luna. Even if I can't help her, I can at least do that.

Biting back his tears, Spike took off with another flap of his wings, and began zooming towards Canterlot Castle.

It was Grogar who took the first attack, firing more black lightning from his horns. Twilight and the others saw the attack coming, of course, and split up, each mare going in a different direction. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took to the air, while the other four remained on the ground.

"Remember your targets," said Grogar. "And remember to leave them alive for now."

"With pleasure," replied King Sombra, grinning and showing his fangs.

Discord opened his mouth, presumably to scream some sort of warning to the mares, but Grogar simply used his magic to open a small, dimensional pocket, and shoved the draconequus inside.

Satisfied, the ram charged Twilight, who shut her eyes and teleported, appearing behind Grogar. Then she fired a magical bolt at his rear, and though it connected with full power, Grogar was merely staggered for a second. Twilight gritted her teeth.

"This isn't gonna be easy," she muttered to herself.

Tirek was the first to find his target, charging towards Rarity with a sphere of pure power forming between his horns. Rarity, naturally terrified by the sight of a giant centaur charging towards her, dived to the side, just in time to avoid Tirek's beam of magic that obliterated the spot she'd been standing in just a second before.

Rarity climbed to her hooves once more, taking a half-second to glance at the smoldering spot she'd moved from. "So uncivilized," she huffed. "Why do you ruffians insist on being so destructive?!"

"Because we can, you prissy little pony," Tirek retorted, as he raised his fist for a massive overhead smash. "We're going to take everything from your pathetic species and—"

Rarity's horn lit up with a spell, causing Tirek's full beard to suddenly whip upwards, white hairs sticking in his eyes. The centaur roared, and his hands began scratching at his now itching eyeballs. Rarity wisely took the opportunity, levitating out a long length of fabric from her saddlebags, and sending it forward to wrap around Tirek's legs. The centaur was sent plummeting to the ground, where he face-planted. Rarity had herself a haughty chuckle, before rushing over to the fallen Tirek and beginning to punch his face with her hooves.

"Take that, you uncouth scoundrel!" she proclaimed, reeling back for another punch. "That should teach you to mess with a lady—"

Tirek's heavy fist snapped upwards, seizing the unicorn by the throat.

Rarity only managed to get out a panicked squeak before Tirek slammed her into the ground.

Applejack leaped from place to place, dodging the bolts of sickly green magic that Chrysalis fired at her. The changeling queen was relentless, but Applejack's honed muscles let her keep it up. However, the farm pony's stamina wouldn't last forever, and she knew it. She was desperate to find a way to level the playing field.

"Keep jumping all you want, pony!" Chrysalis spat. "There's nothing you can do to stop us this time! No one is coming to save you!"

"You seem to forget you don't have an army backing you this time, bug girl!" Applejack snapped back. "With you alone, I could polish you off with both forehooves tied behind my back!"

"Keep telling yourself that," Chrysalis sneered.

Applejack leaped, but Chrysalis led her next shot, hitting the area directly next to Applejack. While she wasn't hit directly, the force of the explosion blasted her backwards, knocking her onto her back. Grinning wickedly, Chrysalis lunged, baring her fangs to bite.

However, Applejack saw the attack coming, and swung her back legs upwards, smacking Chrysalis directly in the eyes. The changeling queen screeched in pain, covering her eyes and hissing. Applejack, knowing she had to press her advantage, pulled out her lasso, and tossed it around Chrysalis' neck. Then she planted all four hooves on the ground, took the lasso in her mouth, and yanked with all her power.

Chrysalis went flying over Applejack's head, swinging in an arc and hitting the ground so hard she was buried from her head to the middle of her body.

Applejack prepared to pull on the rope once more, planning to swing Chrysalis again, but before she could, there was a flash of green light, and Chrysalis suddenly transformed into a giant, four-armed bugbear. The lasso remained secured around her neck, but Chrysalis merely grabbed it in one of her massive arms and pulled, yanking Applejack off the ground. The earth pony had no defense against the heavy backhand the followed, slapping her and causing her to crash into the ground, dragging a long trail in the dirt.

Rainbow Dash had assumed she'd have the easiest fight when the Storm King sought her out, even though she loved a good tussle with a bad guy. After all, he'd shown no special powers without the Staff of Sacanas, and that was long gone.

Of course, that line of thinking had come to an end as soon as he'd started firing lighting bolts at her. She realized he must've gotten new powers thanks to Grogar. Rather than feel afraid, Rainbow was invigorated. Now she'd get the chance to show off.

The sky-blue pegasus swooped from side to side, dodging each bolt as he fired it.

"Give it up, scumbag!" she yelled. "You'll never hit me, not with that aim!"

"Geez, you're annoying," grumbled the Storm King, firing off a few more bolts. "I'm beginning to think that's some inherent thing in you ponies. You're cute, and you're obnoxious. And I hate both of those things."

Rainbow laughed, but she kept her focus, avoiding every one of the Storm King's bolts, while pondering how she should go on the offensive. A direct, straightforward charge probably wouldn't work, considering how fast lightning moved, and how it only took him a second to fire. Rainbow would have to be clever if she wanted to win this fight.

Then, just out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something. A small cliff, no more than a few hooves off the ground, sat near the area they were fighting, with a boulder resting near the edge. Immediately, an idea sprung into Rainbow's head. Dodging yet another lightning blast, she descended, landing on the ground, with the cliff and the boulder behind her.

"Come on, Storm King!" she yelled, waving her forehooves and sticking her tongue out. "I guess they should call you Light Shower King, because I ain't seeing any storms!"

"Oh, you want a storm?! I'll give you a storm!" roared the deposed king, rearing back. He thrust both hands forward, index fingers pointed, and lightning lanced forward.

Rainbow had anticipated this, however, and leaned backward just as he began to fire, only turning her body just enough to avoid the attack. The lightning continued on its path, into the side of the cliff, blasting it away and leaving nothing to support the boulder anymore. In one more second, the boulder leaned forward, and began rolling forward, on a direct collision course with Rainbow Dash. Except the pegasus had just taken to the air again, leaving the rock with only one target: the Storm King.

"OH COME ON!" he managed to scream, before the rock hit him directly in the face, bowling him over and sending him flying into a tree.

Up above the battlefield, Rainbow laughed. "Well, that takes the wind out of his storm, if I do say so myself!" Then she began directing her gaze around, trying to see if any of the others were in need of her assistance.

But before she could do anything, another lighting bolt whizzed right by her. She looked down, discovering the Storm King climbing to his feet again, looking significantly angrier than he had before.

Rainbow groaned. "I don't suppose you would consider giving up in exchange for me not beating the snot out of you?" The Storm King's only response was another round of lightning bolts.

Rainbow swooped and swerved, avoiding his follow-up assault, before making a sudden u-turn in midair and aiming herself directly at the Storm King. Her wings kicked into overdrive, pushing her faster and faster, as she made quick movements from side to side to avoid more bolts. Her plan was to go into a sonic rainboom, ramming him with everything she had, in one final effort to knock him out.

Unfortunately for her, the Storm King saw the attack coming. He placed his hands together in one quick movement, then thrust them out to the sides in another, channeling lightning through his fingertips as he did so. From his hands came a massive, dome-shaped wall of electricity, expanding all around him. Rainbow's eyes and quick reflexes allowed her to pull up, but the lightning came out too quickly, and she was caught by the attack, zapping her in midair. Rainbow screamed as the electricity ravaged her body, before dropping out of the sky, where the Storm King caught her with one arm.

"Who's laughing now, pony?!" he cackled.

King Sombra gave another howl of pure fury as he fired blast after blast of dark magic, but he only succeeded in hitting the spot Pinkie Pie had just bounced away from. From the impact site, more black crystals stabbed out of the ground, adding the to collection that surrounded the two battling ponies.

"Will you just stand still, you irritating little fly?!" he shrieked. His eyes darted around, trying to keep track of the pink pony, but she was just too quick.

"Hey! I'm not irritating! I'm the super duper party pony of Ponyville!" Pinkie shouted back, reaching into her mane with one hoof. She pulled out a frosted cupcake and chucked it at Sombra, as he turned around at the sound of her voice.

The sugary delicacy splattered onto the dark king's face, blinding him. Sombra's only response was another enraged roar, black electricity shooting up his horn, as he fired a blast at the area Pinkie had been in. Of course, Pinkie was smart enough to get away from that same spot as soon as she'd thrown the cupcake, making Sombra's attack pointless.

Pinkie ducked behind one of the black crystals jutting out of the ground, going over her strategy. She was pretty certain Sombra couldn't throw anything at her that she couldn't dodge, but that alone wouldn't win her the fight. She needed a way to actually knock Sombra out. And she had just the tool to do it.

Pinkie pulled out her party cannon, though where out of, nopony could say. Sombra had just finished wiping the last of the frosting from his eyes, and was now searching the area for his enemy, with his back to her. Pinkie smiled her widest smile. Perfect.

Zooming out from her hiding place, Pinkie wheeled her party cannon alongside her, before lifting it up with her forehooves.

"Hey, meanie pants!" she yelled.

Sombra managed to turn around in one second, but it still wasn't fast enough, as Pinkie jammed her party cannon down over the top half of his body. Inside the cannon, the confused Sombra thrashed and screamed, as Pinkie aimed the cannon at the biggest, sturdiest-looking tree in the clearing. Then she jammed one hoof down on the firing button, launching Sombra (and some confetti) into the tree and slamming his back against it. The dark king slumped to the ground, eyes closed.

"And he's outta here!" yelled Pinkie, dancing for joy. "Wish I knew how many more to go. How are the others—"

She didn't get the chance to finish, as Sombra's eyes snapped open, blaring with purple magic.

Seeing the threat, Pinkie hurriedly aimed her party cannon at her foe, but Sombra was quicker. He fired a beam of magic directly into the barrel of the cannon, just as Pinkie pressed the fire button. The resulting dark crystals inside jammed the cannon, causing the entire thing to explode, sending shards and pieces of confetti everywhere. Pinkie, having the misfortune to be right next to the explosion, was blasted off her hooves, sent into a backwards somersault, and rolling a good distance before finally coming to a stop.

Dazed and hurting, Pinkie placed two hooves on the ground, trying to prop herself back into a standing position once more. But she had no time, as Sombra warped right next to her in a pulse of black light. The king threw a powerful roundhouse punch, knocking Pinkie down again.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this so much more than I should," he laughed, his eyes beginning to glow green.

With another pulse of magic, the silhouettes of his eyes shot outwards, colliding with Pinkie's. Pinkie Pie's eyes soon adopted the same sickly green glow with wisps of purple smoke coming off the edge.

"No...Maud...Twilight...Mom...Dad!" Pinkie screamed, as she was trapped in her worst nightmare.

Sombra just laughed again.

Fluttershy gave another yelp of fright as Cozy Glow fired another bolt of magic at her. The yellow pegasus managed to swerve to the side, avoiding the attack, but her muscles were beginning to ache. She was probably the least athletic out of her friend group, and the least experienced fighter. Cozy Glow may have been just a filly, but now she was some kind of pseudo-alicorn, giving her an obvious advantage.

Then Fluttershy made a wrong turn, and Cozy Glow managed to hit her right between the wings with a magical bolt. Fluttershy let out a cry of pain as she spiraled out of the sky, coming to a stop on her stomach, as Cozy Glow cackled above her.

"Sorry, Professor Fluttershy!" she sneered. "Looks like I took the wind out of your wings! Was that an appropriate display of kindness?!" Then she threw back her head and laughed some more.

Fluttershy struggled to get back on her hooves, rising into a standing position once more. She ground her teeth, starting to feel angry. She and the others had welcomed Cozy Glow to the School of Friendship, treating her as well as they did every student, and here she was now, trying to destroy them. Fluttershy didn't get angry at very many things, besides harming innocent animals, but one thing she absolutely despised was receiving kindness and returning hostility.

Spinning on one hoof, Fluttershy turned to face Cozy Glow, who was just finishing her laughter and descended to her level, though the filly still hovered a short distance above the ground. Taking a deep breath and bracing herself, Fluttershy reared back and gave the most intense Stare she'd ever given in her life, looking Cozy Glow directly in the eye.

The effect was instantaneous. Cozy Glow immediately stopped laughing, her smile running away from her face, and ceased beating her wings, making her drop to the ground. She didn't even blink as Fluttershy bored through her eyes, directly into her soul.

"Listen, you cruel little filly," Fluttershy snapped, "I know you're evil and everything, and you work for the biggest monster in the world, but that does not give you the right to bully me and my friends like this! Now stop fighting and say you're sorry this instant or I'll put you in a time-out!"

Cozy Glow quivered in sheer terror, her eyes beginning to water as her lip quivered. Her whole body began shaking, and she started backing slowly away from Fluttershy.

The kind pegasus, seeing the reaction she'd inspired in her opponent, felt a pang of guilt in her heart.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, inching closer to Cozy Glow. "I didn't mean to go that far—"

That was when Cozy Glow struck.

She fired another bolt from her horn, hitting Fluttershy point blank in the chest, and sending her flying backwards. Fluttershy crashed into a large rock sitting behind her, knocking the wind out of her. Cozy Glow wasn't done yet, as she conjured a long magical rope and wrapped it around Fluttershy, binding her legs and wings.

"I always knew kindness was for suckers!" she laughed.

Twilight let out another scream of frustration as her shield barely managed to hold against another of Grogar's blasts. This was, without a doubt, the toughest enemy she'd ever faced in her entire life. No matter what she threw at him, Grogar could take it all, and dish it right back at her. The fight with Discord didn't seem to have slowed him down at all.

She lowered her shield to conserve her magic, as Grogar stomped forward, that same wicked smile still on his face.

"Now do you see the futility of it all, princess?" he asked. "You don't have the power to defeat me. This is the end of Equestria, and the beginning of my eternal reign. You have lost."

"Yeah, yeah, keep the evil gloating coming," Twilight retorted between pants. "I've probably heard it all before."

She charged her horn, braced her legs against the ground, and took off, beating her wings as she rocketed toward Grogar. The ram made no move to match her, merely standing in place, as black and yellow magic coursed down his horns.

Twilight roared, before pulling her head back and firing one massive, magenta magic beam. It wasn't as much power as when she'd fought Tirek, since she didn't have the magic of Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, but it was fairly close. Grogar ignited the studs on his necklace, along with his horns, and fired a golden beam of similar size. The two attacks collided in midair, Twilight's getting an extra push from her movement, leaving the two in a magic attack clash.

At first, Twilight seemed to have the advantage. Her attack gained an early lead, causing Grogar to slide back a few inches in the dirt. But then the ram gritted his teeth, as though this tussle was beneath him, and leaned forward. Twilight could feel him pouring more magic into the beam, like he was actually trying now. In seconds, the force of his attack increased, and Twilight suddenly gasped in pain as her beam was pushed back, sending numbing shocks down her horn into her brain.

With one final effort, Grogar overcame Twilight's assault, as she ran out her magic reserves, and his magic beam engulfed her body. It was among the worst pain Twilight had ever felt, setting her nerves ablaze and penetrating every depth of her body. Twilight screamed, her limbs and wings splayed out, as Grogar's attack sent her flying to land in a mud puddle, where she landed with a thick splash.

Most of Twilight's head was submerged, blinding her and cutting off her air. In her current state, it took everything she had just to lift her head out of the mud and turn to the sound of Grogar's approaching hoofsteps.

"Now, you're where you belong, Princess Twilight," he declared. "Before I finish you off, would you like to see how your friends fared?"

Grogar clopped his hooves, and his comrades began to emerge from the trees, each with the mare they'd battled against. Twilight, too weak to even scream anymore, could only stare in horror. Tirek held Rarity by her back hooves, as the mare dangled from his grip and blood dripped down her unconscious face. A manticore (presumably a transformed Chrysalis) held a limp Applejack in its jaws, positioned so the teeth weren't piercing her. The Storm King had Rainbow Dash slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Pinkie Pie looked to be the worst off, still enthralled in Sombra's nightmare spell as he levitated her over. Cozy Glow dragged Fluttershy via a magical tether line.

"No..." Twilight whispered. It was all she had the strength to say.

Grogar raised his foreleg. "Don't worry, Princess Twilight. I won't finish off you or your friends just yet."

Twilight dropped her head, not even thinking about trying to dodge. It was hopeless. Without the Elements of Harmony, she and her friends were nothing.

Then Grogar swung his leg, and everything went dark.

Chapter Six: The Fall of Canterlot

"...and then Twilight teleported me outside the city, and I rushed here as fast as I could so I could tell you!" Spike said in between pants.

The dragon had arrived at Canterlot Castle only minutes ago, where Celestia, Luna, and Tempest were overseeing the cleanup from the Storm Creatures' failed attack. He'd immediately grabbed their attention, and relayed his story. How Grogar had been behind the attack as a distraction, how he'd brought back all the villains, how they'd shattered the Tree of Harmony, and how Grogar had apparently defeated Discord. His stamina spent, the dragon bent over, taking deep, heaving breaths. Celestia, Luna, and Tempest could only stare in horror, as their brains tried to process this new information.

"Grogar...has returned?" Celestia repeated, fear creeping into her voice.

"The Element of Harmony are gone?!" exclaimed Luna.

Spike nodded. "And now, Twilight and the others are battling those six villains."

"But if Discord couldn't beat Grogar alone..." Celestia whispered, as though the thought was so terrifying she wouldn't dare to voice it out loud.

Tempest merely swallowed, looking down at the ground. Her biggest fear, upon the initial attack, was that the Storm King had somehow returned from the dead. However, not only had that turned out to be true, it was even worse than that. Tempest knew the tales of Grogar and his power (every foal in Equestria did), and they struck fear into her. The fact that the ram was able to resurrect the Storm King spoke volumes of his strength.

She looked up as Celestia gritted her teeth, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter," insisted the solar alicorn. "We must mobilize the Royal Guard and make our way to Ponyville at once! Perhaps Twilight and the others can stall them long enough for us to get there!"

"Sister..." Luna breathed, making eye contact with Celestia. She didn't have to say the words. If Discord couldn't beat Grogar, what chance did Twilight and the others have?

Spike didn't seem to care, however. "Yeah! We gotta hurry! Maybe there's still time!"

Celestia turned. "Tempest, can we count on you to help?"

"Of course," she replied.

It only took a few minutes for Tempest to gather all the Royal Guards. Celestia, Luna, and Spike all helped as well, knowing how urgent it was. They all armed themselves, though Tempest didn't have her armor from the Storm King anymore. She was confidant she could fight without it, but considering what they were up against, it would've been useful to have.

Now, all the guards were assembled in the courtyard, suited up and prepared for battle. Celestia and Luna stood at the head of the crowd, while Tempest and Spike stood off to the side. Celestia and Luna had put on their own armor, clearly willing to to go to war themselves. Whether or not they could accomplish anything was another matter.

Celestia, being more used to doing so, took charge. "Soldiers," she announced, magically amplifying her voice, "we only have time to give you a very brief summary of the situation. The legendary sorcerer known as Grogar has returned to Equestria, and plans to take the land from us. We have learned that he and his gang of villains that have assaulted Equestria previously have destroyed the Elements of Harmony, defeated Discord, and are now engaged in battle against Princess Twilight and the other Element Bearers on the edge of the Everfree Forest."

None of the guards showed any emotion, as they were trained to do, but Tempest's trained eyes could tell that fear still creeped into them. As previously stated, every foal in Equestria grew up hearing tales of Grogar's tyranny, and now that those tales had been proven to be true, they weren't sure they could take him on. Not to mention that the Elements of Harmony, Equestria's greatest weapons against evil, had fallen. In the past few years, they'd grown so used to the Elements disposing of whatever monster popped up with little trouble. Now, that was no longer an option. Even Discord had failed. Obviously, that didn't do anything for the army's confidence.

"We are unaware of how long Princess Twilight will be able to hold against Grogar," Celestia continued, "which is why we must rush to her aid as quickly as possible. I ask you all to muster your courage, to fight for Equestria as you swore to do, and—"

Celestia was interrupted, as a bolt of black lightning came down behind her, striking the earth with a massive boom. Celestia, Luna, Spike, and Tempest all whirled around to face the impact site, while the soldiers all tensed up, grabbing their weapons.

"Really, Celestia, do you honestly believe your heroic speech will do anything to stop me?" said a frighteningly familiar voice.

Celestia's blood turned to ice. She looked up, discovering six figures hovering above them, cloaked in a black and yellow magical aura. Grogar and his entourage levitated downward, coming to a stop on the ground in front of the two alicorns.

"Grogar..." Celestia snarled, grinding her teeth.

The ram let out a dry laugh. "If it's any consolation, Princess Twilight and her friends did their best. It's just that their best was meaningless against me."

"What did you do to them?!" Spike demanded, panting green flames.

"I broke them," Grogar answered simply. His horns began to glow with sickly yellow light, and sparks of black electricity began to race down them. "Now it's your turn."

"And we're gonna do the breaking," added the Storm King, as he formed a ball of blue lightning in his palm. "You'll be broken into so many pieces you won't even be able to glue yourself back together!"

"You're kind of ruining the metaphor," Tirek snapped, glaring at his comrade.

"Fine by me. I never was a metaphor kinda guy. I mean, why would you wanna metaphorically blow something up when you can—?"

Sombra's horn lit up with purple light, forcing the Storm King's jaw closed. "I swear, you talk almost as much as that pink pony."

"Allow me to show you," Grogar continued, ignoring his minions' banter. He lit up his horns again, opening a dimensional pocket. Out came a large slab of iron, to which Twilight and her five best friends were all chained. They appeared to be conscious, but they were all bruised and bleeding, and their faces clearly looked depressed, especially Twilight.

Celestia tensed up. Her heart was pounding with rage and despair. Grogar hadn't killed Twilight or the others, but he had done something just as evil to them. Looking to her side, she could tell Spike, despite the tears running down his face at the sight, was having similar feelings. For what he'd done, Celestia would ensure Grogar would pay for this.

"You monster!" Luna shouted, a bit of the Royal Canterlot Voice creeping in. "How can you be so cruel?!"

"Not my fault your puny species is too weak to defeats me, Princess Luna," Grogar chuckled. "I'm going to bring Equestria to its knees. Because I can. Because I want to. And there is nothing you can do about it."

"We'll see about that, you old goat!" Tempest shot back, as her broken horn began to spark.

But before anybody could move, Grogar ignited his horns agains, focusing his telekinesis on his bell, and rang it. The sound was hollow, but loud, reverberating across the entire city of Canterlot. Every living creature in the city trembled at the sound, as some sort of primal fear began to creep through their spines.

Above the city, unnaturally black clouds suddenly appeared, beginning to swirl like a violent maelstrom. Lightning bolts zapped between the clouds, and the ground itself began to rumble. Everyone except Grogar trembled at the quaking, and giant cracks began to rise up the side of Canterlot Castle.

Then the cracks arced across the ground, and large, black spikes began to stab out of the earth.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" screamed Celestia, taking off with a flap of her wings.

"Brought my home to you," Grogar replied, with a massive grin. "Welcome, Celestia, to the Castle of Tambelon!"

From the spinning vortex in the sky came a floating island, with a castle of similar size to Canterlot Castle. This castle, however, was very different. It was completely black, and looked partially ruined, with holes in the sides and towers. Cracks ran up the brick wall. Despite this, nobody would want to go near the place, considering it had an aura of sheer terror surrounding it. The spires were pointed and jagged, the fence around it looked like it could impale you, and overall, it looked like a place one would go to die.

Slowly, the floating island descended lower and lower, knocking the towers of Canterlot Castle away and sending them plummeting to the ground. Bricks fell like raindrops, forcing the Royal Guards to rush away to avoid concussions. Celestia and Luna hurriedly put up a giant shield to deflect some of the projectiles, but in the process, they left themselves open, allowing Grogar to blast them in the backs, knocking them out of the sky.

"Princesses!" yelled Spike, flying over to them. Celestia grunted as she rose to her hooves once more, waving the baby dragon off.

Grogar rang his bell once more, and the dark castle stopped its descent. "Don't worry, Celestia. I won't completely crush Canterlot Castle. I'll leave some of it as a reminder of how you ponies belong under my hoof."

Celestia ground her teeth again, before thrusting one hoof forward. "ATTACK!" she screamed. It was all she had left to say.

The Royal Guard obeyed without question, charging the group of villains with weapons primed. Tempest and Spike joined in, with Celestia and Luna bringing up the rear. Grogar simply smiled, then thrust his own hoof forward, directing the others to attack. Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, Sombra, and the Storm King all shared his wicked grin as they charged to meet the opposition.

Tirek was the first to reach them, leaping into the air and coming down to land on all four hooves, along with a heavy overhead smash. From his point of impact, a massive shockwave radiated outwards. The unicorns in the guard were able to throw up shields, and the pegasi took to the air, but the earth ponies had no defense. Tirek's attack bowled many of them over, creating cracks in their armor and sending their weapons flying. The pegasi in the air soon found themselves becoming targets for bolts from Sombra and Chrysalis, who opened fire without mercy. Some of the pegasi managed to dodge, but several were blasted out of the sky. Those that charged through the assault slammed into a massive black crystal spire generated by King Sombra, who laughed at their misfortune.

"STOP!" Tempest roared, as she reared her head back and thrust it forward. From the broken horn, a massive ball of blue lightning came, launching towards the group of villains.

"Storm King," Grogar ordered without moving from his spot. He didn't need to say any more.

The Storm King smiled sadistically, before cupping his palms together and gathering his own magic. He thrust his hands outwards, sending a bolt of lightning towards Tempest's blast. The two electrical attacks collided in mid-air, creating a massive burst of energy and canceling out both. Tempest covered her eyes with one hoof to shield them from the resulting light, then lowered it to glare at the Storm King.

"I was hoping you'd still be hanging around with these loser ponies, Tempest!" cackled the Storm King, as he advanced on his former minion. "You cost me my empire, my life, my EVERYTHING! So now, I think I'm gonna—"

The scarred unicorn suddenly leaped from her standing position, whirled around in the air, and gave the Storm King a roundhouse kick across the face.

"You always did talk too much," she grunted.

The king's hand snapped upwards, seizing Tempest by the tail. With one movement, he flung her into the ground, then struck her with an electrified kick, zapping her and sending her spinning across the ground.

"I'm gonna enjoy this," he growled.

While her comrades were focused on the battle, Cozy Glow departed from Grogar's side, flying over to where Spike was trying to help some of the injured Royal Guards. She grinned, charged up the magic in her energy horn, and fired a single blast at the baby dragon. Fortunately for him, Spike heard the attack coming and ducked just in the nick of time.

"Hey! No fair, Head Assistant Spike!" snapped the filly. "You're not supposed to dodge!"

Spike didn't answer, merely inhaling a deep breath and sending a stream of emerald fire towards the pseudo-alicorn. Cozy swooped to the side to dodge, but this turned out to play right into Spike's claws, as he flew straight upwards and clocked her on the chin with an uppercut.

"Why are you doing this, Cozy?!" he demanded. "Did you learn nothing from those friendship classes?!"

"Oh, yes," Cozy snarled. "I learned that those with the most friendship have the most power." She charged her horn again and blasted Spike in the stomach. "And now, I have the most powerful friends of all. And Equestria's gonna be ours!"

Spike grunted as he rolled backwards to avoid another magic beam. Climbing to his feet once more, he inhaled and spat a handful of fireballs. Cozy executed a quick loop to dodge them all, then returned fire, forcing Spike to take off with a flap of his own wings to dodge.

Celestia and Luna had taken to the air, flying over the center of the battle. They hoped the others could at least keep Grogar's comrades busy while they focused on the ram himself. Though he clearly saw them coming, they didn't hesitate, charging their horns and firing their magic beams. Grogar didn't even bother moving from his spot, merely raising a black energy shield around himself that completely blocked the attack.

Celestia was, naturally, frustrated by this development. She poured her magic into the blast, which began glowing the same color as the sun. Grogar's shield continued to take the brunt of the energy, but inside his barrier, the temperature began to rise. Grogar could feel the searing heat building up around him, and knew that if he continued to do nothing, eventually, Celestia would cook him alive inside the shield.

It took little effort on his part, though. With a pulse of black magic, he teleported away, leaving Celestia's blast to incinerate the grass he'd been standing on. Luna was the first to spot him in his new position, and swung her horn in an arc, launching a crescent-shaped blade of magic energy towards him. Grogar leaped over the attack, and countered with a bolt of black lightning from each horn, which Celestia and Luna barely managed to guard against.

"Surely you two don't believe you can overcome my power?" he asked, canceling his attack. "Even Discord wasn't a match for me. What can you hope to gain by fighting?"

"I don't think even Discord did as much evil ranting as you," Luna groaned.

Celestia's only response was an enraged shout, as she lit up her horn, causing her forehoof to become engulfed in fire. She zipped down towards Grogar and punched with the burning appendage, an attack Grogar nimbly avoided. Spinning on one hoof, Grogar turned his back towards Celestia and bucked, both of his hind legs connecting with Celestia's head. The solar alicorn was sent spinning across the ground.

"TIA!" Luna screamed, diving down to her sister. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," Celestia grunted, rising to her hooves once again. "I'll keep Grogar busy. Can you do something for me?" She whispered the next few words to Luna.

Luna's ears flattened against her head, but she gritted her teeth and nodded. "I will do what I can," she replied.

Celestia took off again, flying straight towards Grogar. The ram smiled smugly again, before the studs on his necklace lit up, creating a pair of giant arms formed of magic. The hands opened up, before coming down, attempting to slap the alicorn down. Celestia, a strong flyer, managed to dodge the physical attacks, flying straight up to Grogar. Before the ram could raise yet another shield, Celestia clocked him in the face with a roundhouse punch. Grogar's head was forcefully slammed into the earth, but he rolled with it, managing to rise to his hooves. He fired another pair of black lightning bolts from his horns, and Celestia only barely managed to shield herself in time.

"You couldn't even defeat an empowered Queen Chrysalis!" Grogar mocked. "You are no match for me."

"Luna was right, you do talk too much!" Celestia snapped back. She fired another heat beam from her horn, which Grogar narrowly dodged.

While the two were busy duking it out, Luna flew over to where Twilight and her friends remained chained up. The six ponies seemed to still be lost in the throes of despair, but they were at least conscious. Luna was joined by Spike, who'd managed to get away from Cozy Glow for a moment. Lighting up her horn, Luna created a long, curved, magic blade around the appendage, and with a few slashes, severed all their chains, causing them to drop to the ground with pained thumps.

"Ow," said Applejack, flatly.

"Are you all able to flee?" asked Luna.

Five of the six mares struggled to their hooves, clearly wounded by the previous battle. Their bodies were covered with scratches and other wounds, and blood leaked out from several of them.

"I don't know," admitted Rainbow Dash. "I could probably get out of here by myself, but that wouldn't do any good, and I'm not strong enough to carry more than one of you."

Everyone's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a small sniffling sound. Princess Luna and the five mares turned their gaze to the source, Twilight Sparkle. The purple alicorn was sitting on her stomach, her legs splayed out, trembling. Tears slid down her face, and her shoulders shook every couple of seconds as she sobbed. Her injuries didn't look any worse than those of her friends, so it probably wasn't the pain.

"Twilight...?" ventured Fluttershy, reaching a hoof for her friend.

Twilight ignored the pegasus, turning instead towards Princess Luna.

"I'm sorry..." she whimpered. "I failed you...you believed in me, and I failed you..." Then she buried her head again and sobbed.

Celestia blasted Grogar off his hooves with another magic beam, before rushing over to Twilight and the others. "Twilight...?" she whispered.

Twilight could only manage one more despair-filled glance at her former teacher, and croaked out "I'm sorry," one more time. She then put her head back down and cried more.

"Princess Celestia!" called one of the Royal Guards, whose name was Guardian Soul. "You need to flee! We're not going to win this fight and—!" She didn't get to finish, as Tirek fired a massive beam that blasted her off her hooves.

Celestia swallowed, as shame rippled through her. She didn't want to leave the Royal Guard, or any of her subjects alone with these monsters, but even if Twilight had been at full power, and the three alicorns combined their power, they wouldn't have been able to teleport everypony out of here. Grogar was getting back to his hooves, looking as though Celestia's efforts had done nothing more than mildly annoy him. She knew she had no choice.

"Tempest!" she called out. "Get over here!"

Tempest was in the middle of a battle with the Storm King, the two of them exchanging lightning bolts across the courtyard. Upon hearing Celestia's order, the unicorn charged up and fired another ball of electricity at her foe, forcing him to blast it away and giving her time to rush over to the others.

"We're running away, aren't we?" Spike asked.

"Let's call it a strategic retreat," replied Luna.

"Come, sister! We'll need to combine our magic! Fast!" continued Celestia.

Luna nodded, and the two alicorns lit up their horns. Gold and blue light collided, and the magic began to coalesce around their group. Grogar saw what they were doing, and tried to fire at them, but it was too late. The combined spell completely enveloped the two alicorns, seven mares, one baby dragon, and with one pop, they all vanished.

Grogar stared for a few moments, as his minions continued to bring down the Royal Guard. It was clear the ponies didn't have chance.

"A minor setback," he grunted. "We'll hunt them down soon enough."

Chapter Seven: Darkness Rising

The interior of Tambelon Castle was just as horrifying as the outside. Everything was dark and gloomy, and there were numerous metallic instruments, with purposes that were exactly as sinister as one might suspect. It wasn't surprising that the entire thing basically looked like one big dungeon. The castle did have an actual dungeon, into which King Sombra was currently leading the defeated members of the Royal Guard. The shadowy monarch had suggested using his brainwashing magic on them, but Grogar had shot him down, claiming they had no need of additional troops. Sombra somewhat doubted that, but nonetheless obeyed. Exactly what was going to happen to the Royal Guard was unknown to all except Grogar at the moment, but most of the others didn't want to know.

Tirek, meanwhile, was busy hauling a massive cage, formed out of anti-magic metal, up to Grogar's throne room, which led out onto a large balcony. Grogar stood on the edge of the balcony, overlooking the city of Canterlot, which had naturally been thrown into hysterics thanks to his recent actions. Ponies were rushing to take shelter in their homes, and some were fleeing the city altogether. Grogar grinned sadistically, enjoying the havoc he was creating.

"It won't do any good, you pathetic creatures," the ram chuckled to himself with a smug grin.

Tirek carefully placed the cage on the ground of Grogar's throne room, knowing that simply dropping it down would only incur his master's wrath. "Here it is, sire," he said, before remembering to bow. It was a rule Grogar had only just created, as a method of establishing his superiority over the others.

"Excellent. You may depart, Tirek," replied the ram, not even bothering to turn around.

Tirek, not wanting to press his luck, casually stomped out of the room.

Grogar watched for another minute, before finally turning and approaching the cage, while it's sole occupant glared daggers at him.

"I wouldn't bother with the stink eye, Discord," Grogar cackled. "After all, why fight the inevitable? I've already bested Twilight Sparkle's best efforts, it is a certainty that the rest of Equestria will fall before me."

"I wouldn't bet the farm on that!" Discord snapped, gripping the bars of the cage with his mismatched hands. "You may have beaten Twilight and her friends, but you haven't captured them! And when they get back—"

Grogar waved one hoof, lazily sending a pulse of magic into that cage that electrocuted Discord, causing him to scream and cutting off his retort.

"I grow weary of these heroic speeches," complained the ram. "I will admit, Twilight and the others escaping was not part of my original plan. Still, it is a hiccup at worst."

Discord grunted, using his hands to prop himself up once more. "You don't understand, Grogar," he snarled. "Friendship is the most powerful force in all of Equestria. It beat me, it beat all of your minions, and it's gonna beat you. Twilight and the others have fallen before, but they always get back up again."

"It's cute that you honestly believe that," Grogar chuckled.

He then turned his gaze fully onto Discord, as his eyes bore into the draconequus. Discord flinched at the eye contact, squirming back in his cage, but he couldn't bring himself to turn away.

"I was going to leave this fate to Princess Twilight and her friends, but I suppose you will have to do," Grogar continued. "You see, Discord, I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to keep you alive, right here." He thrust one hoof outward, waving it over the panoramic view of Equestria. "You will sit here, completely helpless, unable to do anything other than watch, as I conquer this pitiful land of Equestria. You will watch as I hunt down any pony that opposes my rule and slaughter them in front of you. You will watch as I exterminate your precious 'Magic of Friendship' and drive all ponykind into the darkness of memory. You will watch as I find Twilight Sparkle and her friends and finish them off for good. Then, you will observe my conquest of the rest of this pitiful planet. All the while, you will beg for the sweet release of death from me, and never receive it. My magic, combined with your chaos magic, shall ensure you live forever. That is your destiny, Discord. Despair and hopelessness."

Discord quivered in terror. He knew his father was not bluffing, it wasn't Grogar's style. The fate the ram had in store for Equestria would be a thousand times worse than when Discord himself had ruled the land.

"Father, please..." he begged, the desperation he was feeling creeping into his voice.

"You are my most pathetic creation, Discord. I gave you near ultimate power, and you squander it on pathetic party tricks and jokes. Then, you let these foolish ponies bridle you with their idiotic ideas of 'friendship.' You are nothing, Discord, and I will enjoy breaking your spirit as I broke your power."

Then Grogar turned on one hoof, marching back onto the balcony. Discord merely fell, defeated, broken, as though his whole purpose in life had been extinguished.

Grogar, meanwhile, began focusing his magic, his horns glowing along with the studs on his necklace. Soon, he would begin calling forth the armies of Tambelon, and they would hunt down Twilight Sparkle and her friends, no matter where in Equestria or beyond they fled to. But first, he wanted to send a message. One that would be heard everywhere at once.

Closing his eyes, Grogar tensed his body. From out of his back, a giant black silhouette of his head, complete with horns, emerged, floating upward and rising above the castle. Once it stopped its ascent, it grew bigger, its sheer size eclipsing the most gigantic of dragons. Its blood red eyes shone like stars, enabling it to be seen from all across Equestria.

Then, through the avatar of himself, Grogar spoke with a voice that reached every corner of Equestria, and the surrounding lands.

Citizens of Equestria. I am Grogar, the first and rightful emperor of this land. I'm certain the majority of you have heard tales of my glorious reign, and I assure you, they are all true. In fact, I am more terrible than you believe me to be. Now I have returned to claim what is mine.

Perhaps you pathetic ponies are counting on your precious Elements of Harmony and their bearers to come save you. However, my allies and I have already destroyed the Elements, along with the Tree of Harmony itself, and defeated the bearers in combat. They were no match, of course. Your princesses of the sun and moon have failed to defeat me as well. And I assure you, Princess Cadence, your Crystal Empire is next on my list.

This is not a threat. I have already won. There is nothing you can do to defeat me. To the pathetic ponies that claimed this land in my absence, I bring destruction. You will be systematically exterminated until nothing remains of you. My reign of terror over this world will last an eternity.

And to the other species who think this land may belong to them—the griffons, the changelings, the yaks, the dragons, the hippogriffs, the kirin—you will not be spared. In my world, there will only be room for the fierce and terrifying beasts I will conjure to do as they please. You will meet the same fate as the pathetic ponies who oppose me. A glorious darkness shall settle over this planet and never disappear.

That is all. Enjoy what few moments you have remaining in this world.

A few minutes later, the School of Friendship was in a state of near-pandemonium, having heard and processed Grogar's speech. Every creature in the school was terrified, and Starlight was overwhelmed by students rushing to her to beg for help and safety. The unicorn, unsure of what else she could do, had decided to send everyone back home, assisted by Trixie. The students were still afraid, but went along with it, believing they'd be safer at home with their families. It made sense, since the entire population of Ponyville was busy boarding up in their homes.

"Okay," Starlight panted, as the last train went down the track, "I think that's every creature. Oh, if only I was as good as Twilight at making lists, we'd be certain!"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is pretty sure you got everyone!" chimed in the show mare. "Additionally, the Great and Powerful Trixie made sure to—"

"Will you cool it with the Great and Powerful Trixie stuff?!" Starlight yelled, rounding on her friend. "Twilight, Celestia, and Luna could be dead right now, Grogar is going to destroy Equestria, and you're still stroking your ego?!" Her horn sparked with loose magic, fueled by her rage.

Trixie flinched backwards, and her legs began to shake.Fear was present in her eyes, created in response to the sheer venom in her friend's words. Starlight saw she'd gone too far and stepped back a little, lowering her head in shame. Trixie, apparently feeling safe again, came forward, giving Starlight an affectionate nuzzle.

"You're right, I'm sorry," Trixie apologized. "Although, Grogar didn't specifically say that he'd killed any of the princesses. They might be okay and on the run."

Starlight opened her mouth to counter, but stopped as she processed Trixie's last statement. It was true, Grogar hadn't claimed the princesses were dead, and that seemed like something an evil, Equestria-conquering sorcerer would've said had it been true, in order to break the fragile hope of the population. But he had claimed the Elements of Harmony were destroyed, so that meant they'd lost their best weapon against evil. Then again, Starlight supposed nothing was stopping Grogar from lying.

"Maybe you're right," she finally settled on, "but if they are still out there, we need to find them, and fast. If Grogar really did manage to destroy the Tree of Harmony, then—"

She didn't get the chance to finish, as a wisp of smoke suddenly materialized out of the air. Starlight recognized it as Spike's dragon fire. The smoke began to glow emerald green, before coalescing, and with a sudden flash, transformed into a scroll. Starlight seized the scroll with her magic before it could hit the ground, unrolling it in one fluid movement. She read it as fast as she could, her eyebrows rising with each passing word.

"What? What is it?" Trixie demanded, trying to peak over Starlight's shoulder.

But before she could see anything, Starlight's head snapped upwards, and she folded the scroll up again.

"We have to teleport to the Crystal Empire. Now," she said. It was a statement of fact. "Grab onto me."

Trixie obediently placed a hoof on Starlight's back. "Before we go, can you please tell Trixie—"

Starlight didn't give her the time to complete her question. Her horn glowed with turquoise light, flaring like a firework. With one, blinding flash, the two unicorns vanished from sight.

It really was unfortunate for Starlight Glimmer that she didn't have Twilight's talent for creating checklists. If she had created a list of all the students, she would've discovered that six very familiar ones had been missed in the roundup.

Back at the school itself, Gallus, Silverstream, Yona, Smolder, Sandbar, and Ocellus had gathered in the lobby, having eluded Starlight's gaze. Also, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had joined them. The three fillies had sneaked away from their families, before Sandbar had found them, and asked them to join this little meeting.

"So we're all aware that this is pretty much doomsday, right?" asked Smolder. "I mean, if Grogar himself really is back, than I don't see how things could get any worse—"

She was cut off as Yona smacked the back of her head. "Smolder no say that!" snapped the yak. "That phrase jinxed! Things get worse every time some creature say that!"

"Do you really think he managed to beat Princess Twilight and her friends?" asked Sweetie Bell. "If he did...then Rarity..."

"He's gotta be lying!" insisted Scootaloo. "There's no way Rainbow Dash would go down to a lame old goat like that! Even if he is legendary!"

"Even if he ain't lyin', he didn't say they were dead," added Apple Bloom. "I'd beat my lucky horseshoe that Applejack and the others are still alive! They're probably planning a comeback as we speak!"

"I hope you're right," said Ocellus. "I've heard stories of Grogar and his power ever since changelings started trading with ponies. He'd eat Queen Chrysalis for lunch if they ever fought. In fact, she's probably one of the allies he mentioned."

"Even if they are," said Silverstream, "we've gotta do something too! We helped save Equestria from Cozy Glow, surely we can at least help!"

"How?" asked Gallus. "When we saved Equestria's magic, we had the Tree of Harmony around to channel our collective friendship into power. Now, Grogar's destroyed it."

"Maybe old goat lie about that, too—" began Yona, only for Gallus to shake his head.

"I did a quick fly over to the gorge where the Tree was before Starlight started evacuating. It's gone. There's nothing left but giant crystal shards. Which means the Elements of Harmony are gone, too."

"Well, there goes our big trump card," said Sandbar, gloomily. "Still, Silverstream's right. We've gotta do something."

Smolder shrugged. "Pretty much everybody's feeling defeated already. I saw the ponies in town barricading themselves in their houses. The dragons are gonna be doing the same thing back home, I guarantee you. Everyone's just too scared, which was probably Grogar's goal."

"Rainbow Dash wouldn't stand for that," grumbled Scootaloo. "She'd be up in the air, fighting until the very end, going down swinging, and—"

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Apple Bloom, grabbing Scootaloo with her front legs. "You might be onto something there!"

"Really?" asked the pegasus, blinking in confusion. "I was just saying what Rainbow Dash would do. How does that help?"

"No, no, I get what she's hinting at," chimed in Sweetie Bell. "We just need to spread the word a little."

"What do you mean?" asked Silverstream.

"Well," began Apple Bloom, "Grogar's plan seems to be based around breaking the will of Equestria and all the creatures living in it, and convincing us he's already won, so we won't even try to fight back. The thing is, he hasn't won yet. And if Twilight, Applejack, and the others are still okay, that means we might there's still hope."

Scootaloo nodded her head in understanding. "I think I'm starting to see it."

"I don't know about you," Apple Bloom continued, "but I think we've been relying on the Elements of Harmony too much. It's time we stepped up and saw what we could do for Equestria. And I mean everyone."

The others all realized the implications of what the filly was saying.

"It might work," admitted Gallus, "but how are we gonna go around to all the tribes and convince them? Not all of us can fly."

"I might be able to help with that," said Ocellus. "If I shape-shift into something big enough, like a bugbear, I could carry the grounded ones around. Might take a while, but I don't see what other options we have."

"Yona not seeing any better plan, either," said the yak, "but Yona and friends need to hurry!"

Deep within the dungeon of Tambelon Castle, Grogar's five allies sat in a semicircle, having herded all the Royal Guard into cages. Naturally, their leader's message did not go unheard by them.

"Well..." said the Storm King, fiddling with his hands, "that was something, alright."

"He's going to wipe out the changelings?!" Chrysalis screeched. "I was supposed to reclaim my kingdom!" She rose to her hooves. "I'm going to give him a piece of my—"

Tirek seized one of her front legs, forcing her back down into a sitting position. "Don't, Chrysalis," he ordered her. "Not only would he completely destroy you, we'd lose your Element of Disharmony, which is part of our best weapon against the ponies."

"Do we really need those anymore?" asked Cozy Glow. "I mean, we destroyed the Tree of Harmony, they've got nothing that can possibly match our elements."

"Never assume they don't have another secret weapon somewhere," Tirek replied. "That's what cost me my victory the first time. As long as Princess Twilight and her friends remain alive, they are a threat to us. That's one thing Grogar and I agree on."

"Good point," said Sombra. "They didn't even use the Elements to defeat me. Sure, they had the Crystal Heart, but that wouldn't work against Grogar unless they managed to lure him to the Crystal Empire, and he's smarter than that."

Chrysalis folded her front legs, grumbling and gritting her teeth. "This isn't what I signed up for," she complained. "I thought we were going to conquer Equestria and enslave its population, then divide it amongst us. Grogar seems like he just wants to destroy it!"

"You didn't sign up for this, remember?" chimed in Sombra. "None of us did. But if you want to go and complain to the all-powerful sorcerer, who's capable of raising the dead and who could easily defeat any or all of us, about his plans, be my guest."

Chrysalis made no attempt to get up, but continued grumbling.

"To be fair, completely ruling a place you've conquered is kinda boring," said the Storm King. "You've gotta keep your subjects in line, make sure they don't rise up to try and dethrone you, yadda yadda yadda. It gets old after a while. That's why I always ditched places I took over after a little while."

"That's because you have no aspirations," Tirek groaned.

The Storm King's eyes snapped to the centaur, clenching a fist that began to spark. "You got something to say, beardo?" he snapped. "What was your grand plan again? Absorb all the magic in Equestria, and go around blasting stuff? Didn't you have the power to move the sun and moon for a little while?"

"I had it longer than you!" Tirek snarled back. "All you did was dance around with that stupid staff and move the celestial bodies over and over again!"

The two creatures glared into each others' eyes, advancing on each other, until Cozy Glow got in the middle, pushing each to the side with one hoof.

"Calm down, guys!" she ordered. "Just like you said, Tirek, if one of us dies, we lose the Elements of Disharmony. Plus, if we kill each other, Grogar will probably get even angrier at us! Then he'll resurrect whoever dies and do unmentionable things to them!"

Tirek and the Storm King shot another angry glare at each other, but backed off anyway.

"Well, we can't just sit around and do nothing!" Chrysalis protested. "Grogar's going to destroy Equestria, and there will be nothing left for us to rule over!"

Sombra placed a hoof under his chin, deep in thought. "Clearly, we can't take down Grogar himself, even if all five of us worked together." Then his eyes widened, as if an insane idea occurred to him. "Well...hear me out. Perhaps, if we joined forces with Twilight Sparkle and the others—"

Four sets of eyes snapped onto him. Sombra's face was covered by a nervous smile, as he slowly sank down where he sat.

"I must have something in my ear," said Tirek. "Or did I just hear you suggest we TEAM UP WITH THE ENEMY?!" Cozy Glow hurriedly shushed him before he brought the wrath of Grogar down on their heads.

"Only as long as it's mutually beneficial," insisted Sombra. "The second we're done with Grogar, we can turn around and literally stab them in the back."

"Oh, that's a great idea," the Storm King sneered, sarcastically, "except, the second we turn on Grogar, we'll lose the power of the Elements. Plus, they'll totally expect us to betray them. After all, isn't that what we'd do?"

"I think you underestimate the naivete of ponies, Mr. Storm King," replied Cozy Glow. "After all, they were willing to try and reform a nutcase like Discord."

"I would rather die than ally myself with Twilight Sparkle!" Chrysalis hissed.

Sombra sighed. "Okay, fine. Let us shelve that idea for the moment. That still leaves us with a problem: what are we going to do?"

The others all quieted down. They all decided to consider the exact nature of their goal.

"Well, assuming that, when he does conquer the planet, he divides it up between us, I'd be fine with that," said the Storm King. "But if he leaves us no living creatures to rule over, that would be pretty pointless."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree," remarked Tirek. "I can see some sort of wisdom in exterminating ponies, since their magic is so powerful, but not in the complete extermination of all life."

Then his eyes widened in surprise. He turned over to look at Cozy Glow, who was hovering in the air with her wings, scratching her head and thinking.

"I don't know," added Cozy Glow. "If he says he's gonna wipe out all ponies, how can I be sure he isn't going to do the same to me once I've outlives my usefulness?"

"I doubt any creature would consider me to be a pony anymore," said Sombra. "But one could say the same about all of us. How do we know Grogar won't betray us?"

"We didn't exactly get the time to consider that when he 'recruited' us," said Chrysalis.

"Don't you kinda need love to feed off of?" asked the Storm King. "And doesn't that require creatures who aren't just murderous killing machines?"

"Grogar's magic is sustaining me," Chrysalis replied. "As long as I don't have to commit to that foolish 'sharing love' idea that my former subjects have resigned themselves to, I'm good."

The group was quiet for another minute.

"It would appear," began Sombra, "that, for the moment, our goals continue to align with Grogar's. Additionally, there's the fact that, at the moment, we cannot come up with a plan to defeat him. I would suggest we stay on our current course."

"So...do nothing?" Cozy Glow translated.

"For now," replied the king. "But keep your eyes open. There may be an opportunity, soon..."

"If we do betray Grogar," Tirek chimed in, "we do it together. Then we divide up whatever's left of the world between us. Then we rule alone. None of the friendship nonsense."

"Agreed," replied four other voices.

Chapter Eight: Regrouping

The Crystal Empire was, just the like the rest of Equestria, in a state of deep panic. Grogar's chilling announcement had brought fear and unease to the Crystal Ponies. It had gotten so bad, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor had deployed the Crystal Guard to restore some semblance of order. They'd been reasonably successful, convincing ponies to stay indoors where it was safe, not to mention reminding everypony that the power of the Crystal Heart still protected them, but there was still an aura of terror hanging over the empire. Ponies felt as though this was the end of everything they held dear, which wasn't altogether unreasonable.

The ponies who were the most capable of ensuring that Grogar's vision didn't come to pass were inside the Crystal Palace, strategizing. Well, perhaps strategizing was too strong a word, given everypony's current condition. The former bearers of the Elements of Harmony had all had their physical wounds seen to by the Empire's best medical unicorns, but no magic could do anything about the mental scars. Especially for one pony in particular

Tempest Shadow trotted out of the spare bedroom, closing the door behind her. She moved slowly, her head lowered in something that might've been shame, before she finally reached the throne room. Gathered there were Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Spike, Sunburst, Starlight, Trixie, Flurry Heart, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.

"So how is she?" asked Rainbow, walking over to Tempest.

"Still unresponsive," replied the scarred unicorn. "I tried everything I could think of, but nothing got to her. At this point, all I can suggest we do is give her time, but—"

"Sugar cube, we ain't got time!" Applejack exclaimed. "Grogar's gotta know we'd run here, and he could be coming as we speak! Not to mention he could go for Ponyville, Appleloosa, or anywhere else in Equestria to try and draw us out! We need her up and running now!"

"I was just about to say that, but thank you," Tempest snorted.

"I'm not surprised she's acting like this," said Shining Armor. "Twily's always had trouble dealing with defeat, and this is easily the worst one she's ever faced."

"No one is denying that," said Rarity. "We were beaten, and beaten badly. We didn't even get a chance to try the Elements of Harmony against Grogar. Discord, our best backup, fell like a chaff in a windstorm. But we can't simply sit around moping."

"I don't know what good it would do to attack Grogar," said Fluttershy. "Sure, we wouldn't be caught off-guard again, but we don't have any more power than we did in the Everfree. They'd probably just defeat us again."

"Even if that's true," replied Pinkie, "we can't just let that meanie Grogar have his way with the world! We have a responsibility to at least try!"

Celestia, meanwhile, kept her forlegs folded, resting her chin on her hoof, deep in thought. The conversation continued, with everypony suggesting various ways to try and bring Twilight's spirits back up. Finally, the solar alicorn got to her hooves.

"Let me speak with her," she requested. The others, having no other substantial ideas, all shrugged in agreement.

Celestia's golden magical aura lit up the doorknob, before she pulled open. She moved slowly, not wanting to disturb Twilight more than absolutely necessary. She looked around, finding the room to be relatively undisturbed. The only exception was the bed, where Twilight sat, facing the window, not even bothering to try and pull the covers over her body.

Celestia winced at the sight. There was no denying the obvious truth: her former student was a mess. Twilight's mane was frazzled and messy, and the feathers on her wings were ruffled and uneven. Her face probably didn't look so good, either. Celestia swallowed as she stepped over to the bed.

"Twilight...?" she ventured, reaching up to touch the purple pony on the shoulder with one hoof.

Twilight made no sound, but slowly rolled over to look her former teacher in the face. Celestia tried to prevent herself from cringing at her appearance. Twilight's face was all wet from crying, and her eyes were red. Her nose had clearly been running, as the skin was all chapped. Her expression was stuck in a permanent state of despair.

"Twilight? Are you alright?" Celestia asked, then mentally kicked herself. As if the answer to that question wasn't obvious enough.

Twilight's only response was a mumbled "I'm sorry." She didn't even bother trying to get up from the bed.

Celestia apprehensively reached for Twilight's shoulder. "Twilight, it's okay," she insisted. "You didn't do anything wrong."

She shouldn't have said that. Twilight eyed began to water, and she burst into tears once again. She covered her face with her hooves, as though she were ashamed to have Celestia see her in this state. Celestia flinched back at the sight, unsure of what to do.

"Of course I did something wrong!" Twilight wailed. "You trusted me to be good enough to rule Equestria, and I failed you! I let the Tree of Harmony get destroyed, costing us the only things we could've used to stop Grogar! We can't defeat him now! Even Discord couldn't stop him! Equestria is doomed and it's all my fault!" She buried her head in her wing. "You trusted me, and I failed you...I should never have been made a princess...I'm so sorry..."

Celestia's heart was filled with empathy and guilt as she looked down at her former student. She reached forward again, managing to successfully touch her this time. Twilight ceased her sobbing for a moment, looking up at the solar alicorn, even as her eyes continued to drip.

"Twilight," she began, "the entire time I have known you, you've never let me down. Even when you used the Want It, Need It spell, that was because I failed to adequately inform you of the details of you friendship studies. I did not take into account your anxiety. If anypony is at fault in our relationship, it is me." Celestia looked down somberly. "I didn't believe you at your brother's wedding. I made myself such a distant authority figure that your greatest fear was me abandoning you, which Sombra exploited when you first visited the Crystal Empire. I didn't even tell you about the Elements of Harmony when Nightmare Moon was returning. I was an awful teacher. I thought I was teaching you to be self-reliant, but my methods were wrong."

Twilight opened her mouth, presumably to object to Celestia's self-assessment, but the solar alicorn continued. "Yet, in spite of my failures, you still managed to rise to the occasion every time. You found the Elements all on your own, and found the perfect friends to embody each one. You figured out how Star Swirl's final spell worked, when even I had no clue. You saved Luna and myself when the Tree of Harmony was dying. With Discord's help, you figured out how to unlock the chest from the tree. Nopony understands the power of friendship more than you." She looked down at Twilight, and now there were tears in her eyes. "I've always been so proud of you."

"But—" Twilight started to respond.

"It wasn't your fault that the Tree was destroyed," Celestia insisted. "Grogar has been observing Equestria from the shadows, gathering power, planning this attack for a very long time. He caught us off-guard, but we still live. That means there is still hope."

"Yeah, and we're gonna kick his sorry butt!"

Celestia and Twilight turned to look at the entrance, the former having an annoyed look on her face. Gathered at the entrance of the room were Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Spike, Tempest, Starlight, Luna, Shining, Cadence, and Flurry.

"Uh...sorry," continued Rainbow, scratching her head. "We just....we wanted to support Twilight."

Twilight sniffed, wiping away her tears with one foreleg. "But we tried to fight them," she wheezed out, "and they completely destroyed us. Plus, they have Discord's magic divided between them. How can our friendship win against that?" She trembled and looked down at the ground. "What good is friendship when the world is ending?"

"Twilight, darling," Rarity interrupted, "our friendship is everything. It was friendship that led us to follow you into the Everfree Forest to find the Elements of Harmony. It was friendship that drove you to restore us when Discord corrupted us. It was friendship that made you give up the alicorn magic to Tirek, which ended up saving us. I'd say friendship counts for a lot more than you're giving it credit for."

"If it weren't for my friendship with all of you, I never would've been brave enough to help save Equestria," added Fluttershy.

"Friendship stopped me from being consumed by greed and destroying Ponyville," said Spike.

"Friendship is what brought us together to save Equestria in the first place," said Applejack. "And nopony understands the power of friendship more than you, Twilight."

"It was friendship that brought me back from the darkness," added Luna.

"Same here," said Starlight, "and I wasn't even corrupted by dark magic, I was just delusional."

"You've gone up against impossible odds before," said Tempest. "From what you've told me, you had nothing on your side those times, too."

Twilight seemed to gain a little of her strength back, climbing out of the bed and standing on her hooves. Her face remained unsure, however. "But what if this is the time that breaks the pattern?" she asked. "What if...this time, we lose?"

Pinkie Pie trotted up to Twilight, placing a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Then we'll do that together, too. Like we've done everything else," she replied.

Twilight swallowed, closing her eyes and wiping away the last of her tears. Her vigor seemed to come back to her, bit by bit, as her posture shifted, standing taller. Celestia could've sworn that her coat looked a deeper shade of purple than it had a few minutes previously.

"You're right, everyone," she replied. "Like Rainbow Dash said, if we're going down, we're at least gonna be able to say we went down swinging. We're gonna need a plan."

At the top of Tambelon Castle, Grogar continued weaving his dark magic. After the message he'd delivered to Equestria at large, ponies were terrified and hiding anywhere they could, cowering and crying, as though it would bring their precious princesses back. Grogar smiled wickedly. The despair of this pathetic race was the most amusing thing he'd witnessed in millennia.

Just above Tambelon Castle, the swirling portal of darkness remained. Grogar's plan to call forth the beasts of Tambelon, which would then proceed to lay waste to Equestria and the rest of the planet, was coming along very nicely. Of course, there was still the matter of Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and the other princess to eliminate. The ram angrily stomped his hoof, recalling his frustration after the ponies had managed to escape, ruining his plan to force them to watch as he destroyed everything they loved. Still, he supposed it didn't matter. After his speech, he knew that none of the creatures they'd fought so hard to protect would lift a limb to help them. If they did manage to rally after the humiliated defeat he'd handed them, they'd be alone. No Elements of Harmony, no allies, no Discord, no nothing. They'd never win a rematch.

However, Grogar was never one to shy away from stacking the odds in his favor. And there was something he could do right away to achieve that goal.

Grogar rang his bell once more, and the portal began to shift. From withing the swirl of shadows came a long, snake-like tendril of darkness, which descended towards the earth, only stopping once it rested right across from Grogar. Inside the mass of darkness, two blood-red eyes opened, staring into the eyes of their master.

"Your wish?" hissed the creature in a cold voice.

"Gather the knights," said Grogar, "and prepare them for battle."

Back at the Crystal Empire, Twilight and the others had all gathered in the throne room to discuss how to challenge Grogar. Internally, Twilight still felt a fair amount of terror at the prospect, but the others were right. Even if Grogar did win, they had to at least try to fight back. They couldn't let Equestria go quietly into the darkness.

"Okay, so Grogar created counterparts to the Elements of Harmony," said Celestia, "which he used to destroy the tree. Do we have any idea what element each one of his goons represent?"

"We don't even know what the Elements of Disharmony are," replied Starlight. "How are we supposed to figure out who has what?"

"Well, I'd say it's a safe bet that Tirek's element is greed," said Rarity. "After all, what's greedier than wanting to take all the magic in Equestria for yourself?"

"Yeah, and he came after you during the fight," Applejack added. "I'm guessing that's because it's the opposite of your generosity."

"Hey! Chrysalis came after you too!" Rainbow suddenly chimed in. "And her element's gotta be deceit or something like that. What's more opposite of honesty than deceit?"

"That would explain why they attacked who they did," said Twilight. "So if we go from there..."

"I fought the Storm King," Rainbow continued.

"And your element is loyalty," Tempest replied. "And the Storm King...you remember how he betrayed me as soon as he got what he wanted?"

"That would make him the Element of Betrayal," Twilight continued. "Pinkie, Fluttershy, you fought Sombra and Cozy Glow, right?"

Both mares nodded.

"Sombra plunged the Crystal Empire into a state of despair, and that's definitely the opposite of laughter, which is meant to bring joy. Cozy tried to eliminate all the magic from our world for power, which was a very cruel thing to do. Cruelty is the opposite of kindness."

"So that leaves Grogar," said Shining Armor. "If he's the opposite of the Element of Magic, what does that make him?"

"Doom..." Twilight whispered, feeling more terror at the thought. She remembered the power the Element of Magic alone had unleashed in the dimension Sunset Shimmer now called home, and the idea that there was a pure evil version of that unnerved her.

"Well, okay, we know what element they each have," said Applejack, "but how does that help us? They're just gonna go after the same ponies they attacked they first time."

"Well, if they work anything like the Elements of Harmony," said Fluttershy, "don't they all need to be together to work properly?"

"Not necessarily," replied Celestia. "Luna and I originally wielded three elements apiece, but when she became Nightmare Moon, I was able to temporarily use all six, though not at full power. It's possible Grogar could do the same."

"But the Elements of Disharmony would be weaker then," asked Twilight. "Maybe if we separate them, they'd lose the power of their best weapon. That would at least give us a fighting chance."

"Might work," Tempest added. "And if we all join together, we would outnumber them, though not by much."

"Well, we can't all go," replied Twilight. "Cadence and Shining Armor have to stay here to protect Flurry."

"No, we can leave her with Sunburst," said Cadence. "I'm a princess of Equestria just as much as you. I'm going to fight for it, just as much as you are."

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute!" interrupted Trixie. "What's this all of us business? Trixie never agreed to—"

Starlight lit up her horn, telekinetically closing Trixie's mouth. "Trixie, we need all the help we can get. Besides, you fought the changelings to save Equestria. Why should this be any different?"

Trixie opened and closed her mouth several times, as though trying to come up with a response that would get her out of this adventure, but she found nothing. Eventually, the showmare closed her mouth and sat down on her rear end, looking defeated.

Twilight swallowed again. This would be the fight for the future of Equestria, and they were going in without the Elements of Harmony, or anything like that. She wasn't sure she liked their chances. But if they didn't fight, those chances dropped to zero.

Chapter Nine: Assault

The road to Canterlot wasn't an easy one. Grogar's dark magic had dulled the sky to a fear-inducing black, and the effect only got worse the closer one got to the pony capitol. Plus, no one knew if Grogar had spread his forces throughout Equestria yet, meaning the thirteen mares (and one dragon) all had to stay out of sight. They were under no illusions that they'd manage to surprise Grogar, but perhaps, with a little luck, they might be able to leave him unsure of when they would arrive. And they needed every advantage they could get.

Twilight was perhaps having the worst time out of everypony. Though she'd managed to calm down and put on a brave face for the others, the defeat Grogar had previously handed them still haunted her. The ram's magic was unlike anything they'd ever faced before, and he had the backup of all their old enemies. Plus, now that he'd opened the gate to Tambelon, Grogar might have a whole army backing him up. Without the Elements of Harmony, Twilight couldn't see an outcome in which they won. Still, she remembered the conviction the others had reminded her of. Even if they fell, they had to at least try.

Above and ahead of the walking group, Rainbow Dash zipped between loose clouds, casting her gaze all around. Looking past her, Twilight could see Tambelon Castle floating over the city, the dark vortex continuing to swirl above it. After a few minutes, she flew back down, landing directly in front of the others.

"I can't see anything outside of the castle," said the pegasus. "No guards, no weapons, nothing. It's like he's inviting us to attack."

"My scans aren't picking up any usual magic, either," added Starlight, her horn glowing. "I can sense the magic of the portal, along with the magic of all Grogar's allies, but no traps."

"That's because this whole thing is one big trap," said Tempest. "We knew that he'd know we were coming. It was unavoidable."

Twilight looked over at her former teacher. She could only recall a hooful of times she'd seen Celestia nervous, but unfortunately, this was one of those times. The solar alicorn's confidant, all-knowing smile was absent, and Twilight could've sworn she saw Celestia swallow in fear.

"It doesn't matter," Celestia said, in a level voice. "We promised we'd fight for our little ponies, and that's what we're going to do. No matter what." She turned to look at everyone else. "If anypony...or any dragon...wants to leave now, this is probably your last chance. There's no shame in—"

"No," said Fluttershy. "Like you said, we made a promise. If this is really the end..." She reached out with her forelegs and wings, pulling the others closer to her. "I'd rather be with all of you."

"Me too," added Pinkie Pie. "Even if they take our lives, they'll never take our friendship."

"Sounds good to me," said Applejack, taking off her hat as a sign of respect.

Twilight, meanwhile, only had eyes for one member of their team.

"Spike," she called out, drawing the young drake's attention, "are you sure you want to be part of this? I won't force you to—"

"I'm absolutely certain, Twilight," said Spike. "I may not be grown up, but I still have a responsibility to Equestria." His eyes took on a sad look. "Plus, I can't let you fight this alone again." Twilight felt a small surge of guilt, remembering how she'd warped him away from the Everfree Forest battle, but she shoved it down. Had she not performed that action, they might've lost already.

Trixie looked like she was about to speak up, and judging by her face, she was going to ask about leaving. However, something apparently occurred to her, and she closed her mouth again.

"Well," said the showmare, after a moment's hesitation, "it's not like Trixie will have anypony left to perform for if Equestria is destroyed."

"Good attitude," Starlight quipped, patting her friend on the back.

Luna looked out at Tambelon Castle. "None of us have seen the inside of the castle, so teleporting is not an option," she said. "Perhaps if one of us scouts ahead, we can find another entrance—"

Then a voice come from nowhere, magically projected across the landscape. A very familiar, unwelcome voice.

"You might as well just come up to the front door," said Grogar. "If you take a long time to come to me, I'll be less merciful when I finally finish you."

Everyone was silent for a moment as they processed the words. Grogar not only knew they were coming, but knew where they were at the moment. The element of surprise was completely lost to them, meaning they were left with only the possible numerical advantage.

"Well," said Cadence, "we knew it was a long shot."

The thirteen mares and Spike walked through what had once been the outer field of Canterlot. The grass had been singed to a dull black, and pieces of Canterlot Castle lay strewn about. As before, Grogar hadn't completely crushed the original castle beneath his own, but Tambelon Castle still floated on top of the remains. A ramp had been provided, as though Grogar were guiding his enemies to their doom. Twilight shivered as she felt that thought creep across her mind.

Speaking of the ram, he strolled down the steps, his five allies on his heels. He had a malicious grin on his face, and all his minions looked just as eager to extract their revenge. Tirek and the Storm King cracked their knuckles in anticipation.

"So, you decided to face me head-on," Grogar chuckled. "Brave, although quite foolish." He looked over the group that had assembled to fight him. "Princess Cadence. Shining Armor. I confess I'm surprised to see you two here. I guess you're willing to leave Flurry Heart an orphan?"

"We're not going down to the likes of you," Shining snarled back. "We're gonna make sure you vacate Equestria and never return."

"That's cute," Chrysalis laughed. "You actually think you have a chance. But this won't proceed like our wedding day at all, sweetie."

Shining gritted his teeth and tried to lunge at the changeling, only for his wife to stop him by putting out her leg.

"It's a shame we don't get to destroy you in front of all of Equestria," said Tirek. "I suppose this pathetic chunk of garbage will have to do."

His horns lit up, levitating over the cage that contained Discord.

Fluttershy gasped, before clenching her teeth in fury. "HE IS NOT GARBAGE!" she screamed, attempting to charge at Tirek, but Applejack grabbed her by the tail, restraining her.

"Ooh, the cute pony actually thinks she's gonna do something about our takeover," the Storm King laughed. "Seriously, though, I'm getting really tired of the cute pony thing. Why did I have to invade the land of the annoyingly cute and persistent ponies?!" Sombra and Cozy Glow glared at him.

"Did you forget it was those cute ponies who defeated you before?" demanded Tempest. "All of you. You six being together won't change a thing."

"Keep telling yourself that, you cripple," sneered Sombra. "You've never faced all of us together. Also, you may want to recall our last encounter."

"You caught us off-guard before," Rainbow Dash snapped back. "You won't get that chance again."

"We don't need it," said Cozy Glow, cackling. "You might as well give up now, Headmare Twilight. Equestria is going to be ours."

Twilight swallowed, before stepping forward and spreading her wings.

"It doesn't matter," she declared. "Even if we fall here, our defeat will inspire other ponies and creatures to rise up against you. You can't fight the whole world. Eventually, you will lose."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Princess Twilight," Grogar replied, "but we've already won. The only thing left to do is cement our victory, which we're about to do."

"We shall see, you monster!" shouted Luna.

Grogar's horns lit up with black and yellow light, as electricity raced down both of them. Shining Armor quickly cast his shield spell, encasing all the ponies and Spike in a magenta dome. Grogar's lightning attack blasted against the barrier wall, but Shining's magic held.

"Return fire!" Celestia yelled above the crackling.

The four princesses all charged their horns, while Spike took a deep breath. When Grogar cut off his attack, Shining dropped the shield, and all five of them released their attacks, Spike's emerald flames mingling with the four magical beams. Grogar's team was forced to leap or fly away, but they did manage to dodge the assault. Inside his cage, Discord winced at the sight.

"Show no mercy this time," Grogar ordered. "Wipe them out. All of them."

"With pleasure," Sombra cackled, before he charged his own horn. He fired a bolt of black magic at Celestia, who managed to dodge, although the black crystals that sprouted from the impact site cut into her leg slightly.

"Remember what we planned, everypony!" Twilight yelled.

Applejack produced her lasso, taking aim at Tirek. The centaur was busy firing beams of magic at Rarity, who was playing her part by dodging, keeping his attention. Taking careful aim, Applejack hurled the lasso, managing to get the loop around one of Tirek's horns, and yanked as hard as she could. Tirek, caught by surprise, was pulled off his hooves, slamming side-first into the ground.

"Now, Rainbow!" yelled the farm pony.

Rainbow Dash, who'd been avoiding the Storm King's lightning bolts, immediately changed direction in mid-air, and began zooming towards Tirek. Her wings began beating faster and faster, and the familiar cone of air formed around her front, as she approached Sonic Rainboom speed. Not even Tirek would recover from a Sonic Rainboom to the face.

"Oh, no, you don't!" yelled Grogar, taking notice of the ponies' attack.

He tapped his necklace with one hoof, causing the studs to light up. From the gold light emerged a giant hand, attached to an equally gigantic arm. The arm swung in an arc, coming down and planting itself directly in Rainbow's path. Rainbow tried to pull up, but she was going too fast, and she slammed into the palm of the magic hand, like a fly slamming into a chariot. With the ponies' combo interrupted, Tirek seized the lasso around his horn and yanked, pulling Applejack off her hooves and sending her flying.

The Storm King, meanwhile, having lost his target in Rainbow Dash, had moved on to firing lightning bolts at Spike. The small dragon swooped and dived, but the bolts were coming closer and closer, and Spike wasn't an experienced flyer. Eventually, he knew he'd be hit.

"Zappity zap! Here comes the hurricane!" sang the Storm King, pointing with his index fingers. "Bow down to my badda-ba-boom, baby!"

"This is more annoying than the Maneiac's banter!" Spike yelled. He inhaled and quickly spat a green fireball down at his enemy, but the Storm King avoided it with a nimble jump.

"What's that, lizard breath?" he shouted back. "I can't hear you over the sound of me kicking your butt!"

And that was when Tempest tackled her former boss from the side. Sparks flew from the Storm King's fingertips, burning the ground, as the two rolled across the battlefield, Tempest pounding on the Storm King with her forehooves as they went. Spike, now free from the assault, immediately flew down to help the scarred unicorn.

Unfortunately, he didn't foresee the Storm King catching Tempest off-guard with an electrified punch in the stomach, sending the unicorn flying off of him, and causing her to slam into Spike in midair. Tempest and Spike plummeted to the ground, coming to a rest in a tangle of limbs. Climbing back into a standing position, the Storm King slowly advanced on them, his hands glowing with blue electricity.

"I was worried I wouldn't get the chance to come after you, Tempest," he chuckled to himself, stepping closer and closer, "but it looks like I don't even have to search for you. Now, I can teach you what happens when—"

This time, the Storm King was the one interrupted. That interruption took the form of Tempest suddenly seizing Spike's tail in her mouth and hurling the small drake directly into the Storm King's face, where he collided with a painful crunch. Spike's scales protected him from the worst of the damage, but the Storm King's nose wasn't so lucky.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Spike demanded, as he frantically beat his wings to stop from slamming into the ground again.

"Sorry! I was kinda desperate!" Tempest shouted back. She leaped from her sitting position and spun in midair, bringing her back legs into contact with the Storm King's face. His jaws clapped together, and Spike was pretty certain he saw one of his teeth fly out.

Still, the king wasn't going down that easily. He charged electricity in both palms, then slammed them together, causing lightning to spring outwards in a dome shape around him. Tempest and Spike scurried away from the attack, and managed to outrace it, though just barely.

King Sombra was a formidable opponent, able to shape-shift and dodge blows from enemies and return just as much magical firepower back at them. However, he'd once again met his match in Pinkie Pie, who could still dodge anything he could throw at her. Sombra conjured up a blizzard of tiny black crystals, sharpened to knife points, and fired them at the earth pony, but she managed to contort her body in just the right way to dodge all of them.

"You're just delaying the inevitable, you foal," Sombra growled. "I know your tricks this time. I defeated you once, and I can do it again."

"Oh, you don't know all my tricks," Pinkie responded, swerving to avoid another blast of magic. "I would never reveal my best moves so quickly. Plus, I'm not alone this time!"

Sombra blinked, trying to figure out if she was lying, only for a crescent-shaped magical attack to catch him on the rear. Snarling, he turned around, discovering Princess Luna floating behind him, with her horn glowing with blue light.

The dark king's eyes narrowed. "You really think you are a match for me?" he demanded, stomping one foot.

"Your bark was always worse than your bite, Your Majesty," Luna mocked, charging her horn.

Sombra opened his mouth to respond, only for a small object to smack into the side of his head. From that impact spot, blue smoke began to flow over his face, blinding him. Thus, he couldn't see when Luna launched another magic beam, hitting him squarely in the chest.

As he fell backwards and rolled across the grass, Sombra roared in pain and fury, struggling to climb to his hooves once again. Eventually, he stood up, finding himself facing a grinning Pinkie Pie, a smug Princess Luna, and an azure mare wearing a purple hat and cape he didn't recognize.

"HA! Did you truly believe you could take us on?!" laughed the mare. "Not with the Great and Powerful Trixie on our side! You cannot comprehend—"

Trixie yelped in surprise as she was suddenly snatched up by Luna's telekinesis, pulling her away from Sombra's magical beam.

"Perhaps we should save the gloating for after we actually win, Trixie," advised the Princess.

Trixie gave a sheepish smile. "Trixie concedes your point," she replied.

Luna would've answered, but she was forced to raise a bubble shield to block another attack from Sombra. She flew away, depositing Trixie on the ground, and continued her flight, avoiding more magic beams from the dark king. Pinkie was also a target for Sombra's wrath, but she was smart enough to run in a different direction than Luna, so that Sombra could only focus on one of them at a time.

Trixie, meanwhile, was working on the next phase of their attack plan. She pulled out a stream of handkerchiefs, already tied together, and quickly shoved them into her hat. Then she waved her hooves, trying to attract Pinkie Pie's attention.

Pinkie noticed after a second, and gave a nod. Luna, having been observing the two mares, used her magic to seize Pinkie, lifting her off the ground. She then flew close to Sombra, avoiding a few more magic beams, and tossed Pinkie Pie directly at him. Sombra didn't even have time to react before Pinkie pulled a coconut cream pie out of her mane and shoved it into his face, blinding him.

Sombra screamed again, infuriated at being blinded twice in such rapid succession. Trixe scurried up behind him while he thrashed, and shoved her hat down on top of his head, then yanked it off quickly. The handkerchiefs were now tied around his head in a make-shift muzzle and set of reins. Trixie climbed onto his back, grabbing the reins in her magic.

"I'm no Applejack," she admitted, "but whatever. Giddyup, horse!"

Sombra was, of course, aware of Trixie's little shenanigan, and immediately shifted into his pure shadow form, throwing the showmare off his back. Trixie's handkerchiefs fell to the ground as well, and the dark blob that was Sombra rose up, eyes glowing green and red, with wisps of purple smoke dancing off the edges.

"Oh, dear," said Trixie, picking up her hat from where it had fallen. "I think we made him angry."

Luna responded by firing another beam at Sombra's eyes, but he shifted his form to avoid it. Trixe pointed the opening of her hat at him, and a stream of playing cards launched out of it. The cards smacked against Sombra's eyes, making him shut them for a second, but other than that, they barely slowed him down. It did however give Pinkie, Luna, and Trixie time to avoid Sombra's follow-up magic attack that caused pointed black crystals to erupt out of the ground upon which they stood.

"You can't defeat me!" he snarled at them. "And you certainly won't defeat all of us!"

As he chased after them, they passed by Queen Chrysalis, who'd been hunting Applejack, as she'd previously been instructed to do by Grogar. However, she'd been engaged in battle by a rather angry Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, along with Starlight Glimmer. Considering the changeling queen still had a score to settle with Starlight, she'd decided that someone else could fight the farm pony.

At the current moment, she was dodging beams of magic from all three ponies, chuckling while she did so.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were angry with me, honey" she giggled, shape-shifting into Cadence and batting her eyes at Shining Armor.

"Sorry, but I'm calling off our engagement!" snapped the stallion, unperturbed by her tricks. "No offense, honey."

"None taken," replied Cadence.

"Hey, lovebirds!" yelled Starlight. "Eyes on the battle at hoof!"

The Crystal Empire rulers turned their focus back to Chrysalis. The former changeling monarch hissed, baring her fangs, before the familiar wave of green magic, signaling her shape-shifting powers, washed over her. When it faded, Chrysalis' form was replaced with that of the former Dragon Lord Torch. She was now many times larger than her opponents, and she grinned wickedly down at them.

"Nice trick, Chrissy," quipped Starlight, "but size alone won't save you!"

"It's not the only thing I have on my side, Starlight Glimmer!" Chrysalis spat.

She opened her mouth, releasing a torrent of flame towards the three ponies. They were forced to fly off in different directions, with Starlight levitating herself, and Cadence carrying Shining on her back. Chrysalis couldn't keep track of both of them, so she chose to focus on Cadence, tracking her with the dragon fire breath.

Starlight, meanwhile, floated herself around the back of the massive body, trying to get a clear shot of the neck. Once she got to a good vantage point, she took aim with her horn, and charged it up. She fired what looked like a normal beam of her turquoise magic, hitting Chrysalis in the dead center of the neck, but instead of causing a concussive effect, the magic changed into a long rope that wrapped around the circumference of the neck. Starlight knew she only had a second to react before Chrysalis ripped the magic tether off, so she quickly cast a gravity increasing spell on herself and allowed herself to plummet. The tether yanked on Chrysalis' neck, pulling her along with Starlight's magically amplified weight causing her to flop onto her back with an almighty thump.

"Now!" yelled Starlight.

Cadence and Shining Armor took aim with their horns and fired. Shining created a dome shield around the two of them, but it was enchanted to allow things to pass through the inside of it. Cadence, however, fired her light blue magic directly into Chrysalis' stomach. Instead of a simple magic beam, her attack phased through Chrysalis' body. It was a magical technique she'd been developing alongside Thorax in case Chrysalis ever attacked again. As the Princess of Love, Cadence had a natural control over it in the bodies of changelings. She was going to try to siphon the love from Chrysalis, just enough to weaken her without killing her. She reached down into the depths of Chrysalis' being, and began to pull. Beads of light went down the trail of magic, from Chrysalis to Cadence, while the changeling continued to flail on her back.

For the first few seconds, it seemed to be working. Chrysalis' thrashing grew a little weaker, and Cadence could feel the love coming into her body. Then, Cadence felt a massive clench in her stomach, and the stream of magic turned black. She cried out in pain, nearly falling out of the sky in shock, but she managed to stabilize herself.

"You alright?" asked Shining.

"I...I..." Cadence managed to say between gasps, "I'm not pulling love from her...it's something else..."

Chrysalis grinned, before shifting back into her normal self. "Grogar's been fueling me with his magic, Princess!" she cackled. "Who needs love when I have darkness!"

She changed shape again, becoming a massive kraken. Her tentacles flailed, one of them flying into Shining Armor's shield and smacking the two of them down. Starlight was forced to rapid-fire teleport to avoid the swinging appendages.

Fluttershy would be the first pony to admit that she was anything but a fighter. She knew she was lucky among her five best friends, since Cozy Glow was probably the weakest of Grogar's team. At least she didn't have to worry about going up against somebody like Tirek or Sombra.

That being said, she wasn't exactly equipped to deal with Cozy, either.

The pink filly was currently chasing Fluttershy around, firing magic bolts at her back. Fluttershy was pushing her wings to their limit, flying as fast as she possibly could, and it was just barely enough to keep her safe. Part of her suspected that Cozy was missing on purpose, in order to instill more terror. If that was the case, it was definitely working.

"Come on, Professor Fluttershy!" cackled the filly. "Fight back! It's not any fun if you don't even try to defend yourself!"

Flutteshy wanted to defend herself, but she couldn't think of any way to do so. Whenever she'd been forced into dangerous situations before, she'd either had all her friends by her side, or she'd had the power of the Stare. But, since she'd used the Stare in her last fight with Cozy, she knew it would never work again. Without it, Fluttershy felt powerless on her own. She—

That thought came to an abrupt end when a magic beam finally found her, blasting her in the back of the head. Fluttershy was forced face-first into the ground, and pushed a short distance, leaving a trail of dirt in her wake. She was pretty sure some got in her mouth, and she lifted it up and spat it out.

Cozy Glow howled with laughter as she floated in the air. "Wow, Professor Fluttershy! I had no idea that kindness was so pathetic! Oh wait, yes I did!"

Fluttershy swallowed in fear. She climbed back onto her hooves, but she could already hear Cozy charging up another magic blast. She knew she wouldn't be able to avoid it in time, and it left her wondering if there was even any point in trying. She was the weak link in this team, and she would bring down all the others just like—

Another interruption to her thoughts came in the form of Cozy's magic cutting out, the filly grunting in pain, and some sort of slamming noise. Shocked, Fluttershy spun around to find Cozy Glow lying on the ground, Rainbow Dash pinning her down with all four hooves. Apparently, Rainbow had tackled the filly before she could launch her attack.

"You okay there, Fluttershy?!" Rainbow called out, as Cozy continued to squirm beneath her. Fluttershy was still in a state of surprise, but she managed a small nod.

"You're-urk!-not playing fair, Professor Dash!" yelled Cozy.

"Well, you weren't playing fair from the beginning, you two-faced–" Rainbow started to snap back, only this to Cozy Glow cut her off. This interruption took the form of a magic beam to the face that sent Rainbow flying off of Cozy, upwards in a small arc, to land on her back. Cozy chortled harder as she flapped her wings, taking to the air once more.

"Even you're not a match for me, Professor Dash!" she howled. Her horn began to charge again, a massive magical blast forming in the tip. "I think I'll wipe you out before the Storm King even gets a chance to–"

A hoof smacked into the side of her face, causing her lower jaw to slam into her upper jaw, her teeth rattling against each other. Cozy placed a hoof against her aching cheek, turning towards the source of her attack.

And finding Fluttershy, standing with her front legs raised, in a fighting pose.

"...what?" she asked, bewildered.

"I won't let you hurt her!" Fluttershy sneered. "I won't let you hurt anypony anymore!"

Cozy Glow blinked a couple of times, as though she were completely unsure of how to react. Hesitantly, she began charging another beam in her horn. However, the second the magic began to gather, Fluttershy dived forward, reaching up with one hoof, and seized Cozy's horn. She lifted the filly off the ground by the horn, spun her around, and brought her down hard, face-first into the grass and dirt. Then, Fluttershy delivered an uppercut to Cozy's head, knocking her further back.

"You don't get to be like this and escape consequences!" she snarled, before she threw a few more punches.

Cozy raised her head up. Her mouth was bleeding ever so slightly, and one of the ribbons in her hair had come loose. Still, she stared befuddled at Fluttershy, like what the yellow pegasus was doing was so shocking her brain couldn't comprehend it.

"Whoa....Fluttershy?" breathed Rainbow Dash, who'd risen to her hooves once again. She, too, was gaping at her longtime friend in complete amazement.

Fluttershy gasped when she saw Rainbow's face. The enraged expression faded from her face. "Oh! I'm sorry, Rainbow! I guess I just got angry! It's like that time I became Saddle Rager–"

"No, no! Stay angry! Stay angry!"

Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, but stopped as she saw something behind Rainbow. Gasping, she dived forward and grabbed her friend around the neck, pulling Rainbow Dash out of the way with her. It was just in time, as Tirek's massive orange beam nearly obliterated them both.

"Golly, thanks for the rescue, Tirek!" called out Cozy Glow. She flapped her wings, getting back into the air.

"Don't think anything of it!" Tirek snapped back. "I'm only doing it because we're on the same team!"

Cozy turned her focus back to Rainbow and Fluttershy, only for both pegasi to fly up and grab her by the wings. Working together, the two tossed Cozy into Tirek, where she thumped against his chest. Cozy managed to recover in about a second, but not before Tirek plucked her off his pectorals.

"Don't tell me you can't even take on these two?" he demanded, gesturing to the pegasi. "You're an alicorn, for crying out loud!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" demanded Rainbow, stomping one hoof.

"Oh, gee, when you put it that way," Cozy sneered back, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "How are things going on your end, by the way?"

What Tirek would've responded with is anyone's guess, but no one would ever know for sure. Applejack's lasso came flying out from behind him, coming to wrap around his bicep this time. Tirek looked down at the rope, his eyes following it to the pony holding it.

"You honestly don't believe you'll be able to pull me over again by yourself, do you?" he asked. "Even with your earth pony strength, you'd need—"

A good-sized boulder smashed into his face, enveloped in a bright blue magical aura. While Tirek tumbled like a fallen tree, and Cozy Glow laughed at his misfortune, Rainbow and Fluttershy's eyes searched for the boulder's point of origin, finding Rarity, bent over and taking deep breaths, as her horn glow faded out.

"Wow, Rares," commented Applejack, as she began tying the lasso around Tirek's legs, "I didn't know you had it in you."

"Neither did I, darling," Rarity admitted. "I don't think I should try that again, though. At least for a while."

Cozy Glow finally stopped laughing at Tirek's tumble, and discovered Applejack was trying to bind him completely with her lasso. Annoyed, she fired another bolt of magic, incinerating the rope and leaving Tirek free to climb to his hooves. Applejack just barely managed to dive to the side to avoid the centaur's massive fist that came down where she'd been standing.

"You're welcome, Tirek!" Cozy called out, as she began fighting the two pegasi again.

"It's Lord Tirek!" he snapped back, firing his giant magic beam at Rarity and Applejack.

Grogar stood at the top of a small hill, facing down Celestia and Twilight. The two had sought the ram out as the biggest threat of the six villains, and they knew they'd never win this battle unless they took him down. However, that task was far easier said than done, considering how powerful Grogar was.

The studs on Grogar's necklace lit up, sending dozens of glowing black and yellow hands into the air to try and grab Celestia and Twilight. The two alicorns kept zipping from spot to spot, avoiding the grasping fingers, occasionally firing their magic beams into the hands to keep them at bay. While they were staying out of Grogar's reach, even their enhanced alicorn stamina was being worn down, and they weren't making any progress towards actually defeating him.

As two hands reached up to grab her, Twilight created a bubble shield around her body to deflect them. She knew it wouldn't hold for long, though.

"Celestia!" she called out. "We need to launch some sort of attack! Playing targets for Grogar isn't getting us anywhere!"

"I'm aware, Twilight!" Celestia shouted back, as she blasted another hand away. She flapped her wings a few more times, getting above the hands. She then lit up her horn, conjuring a long, curved blade around the appendage. Then she brought her neck down, causing the blade to slice through several of Grogar's magic hands. Once they were separated from their point of origin, they simply dissolved into loose magic and floated away.

Twilight grunted in her shield as the hands continued to grasp at her. Cracks began to form on the surface, and she could feel the barrier getting weaker by the second. Twilight closed her eyes tight, just in case this didn't work, and began pouring more magic into the barrier. The cracks didn't seal up, however. In fact, they spread further and further, creating smaller and smaller unmarked pockets on the surface. Down below, Grogar blinked in confusion, clearly wondering what exactly the Princess of Friendship was hoping to accomplish.

His unspoken question was answered one second later, as Twilight's shield burst like a firework, sending pointed shards of magic into the glowing hands surrounding her. They stabbed into Grogar's magic appendages, in some cases even slicing through the limbs themselves. Grogar was forced to leap back to avoid a particularly large piece that stabbed into the earth before fading away.

Both Twilight and Celestia were now free, and had good shots at Grogar. They wasted no time in taking advantage of that fact, firing their magic beams down at the ram before he could create more arms. Grogar took both blasts to the face, sending him into a backflip. Twilight and Celestia flew down towards him, knowing they had to keep up the pressure in order to win the fight.

However, Grogar, upon completing his flip, managed to land on all four hooves, coming to a sliding stop. He glared up at the approaching alicorns, before charging the magic in both his horns again. Black lightning lanced from the tips, coming right for Celestia and Twilight, at a speed they would never be able to dodge.

Celestia was quick to act, however, charging up her horn, and firing it right in front of her. The beam stopped just a short distance from its point of origin, before expanding outwards into a swirling vortex. Celestia had just torn open a dimensional portal, through which she allowed Grogar's lightning to pass harmlessly into. Unfortunately, when she used her magic to close it, she left herself vulnerable. A fact Grogar took advantage of by blasting her out of the air.

"CELESTIA!" screamed Twilight, futilely trying to grab her former teacher with her forelegs. Celestia plummeted to the ground, slamming into the dirt and leaving an alicorn-shaped imprint. Twilight rounded on Grogar, her eyes filled with hate. Grogar didn't even say anything, merely laughing at her.

Twilight immediately began beating her wings, flying toward Grogar. As she went, she cast an accelero spell on herself, increasing her speed before the ram could do anything. She slammed into Grogar like a living cannonball, sending them both tumbling head over hooves in a tangle of limbs. Twilight's forelegs snapped upwards, grabbing the bell around Grogar's neck and trying to pry it off.

"Good attempt, Princess Twilight," Grogar cackled, "but not good enough." Then he teleported away, leaving Twilight to roll a short distance across the grass by herself. She jumped back onto her hooves, frantically glancing in every direction to find where Grogar had gone.

She got her answer a second later as a bolt of black magic came flying out from behind her. Fortunately, a golden, diamond-shaped shield of energy surrounded her just in time to protect her from Grogar's attack. Grogar snorted in annoyance, before turning around to find a standing Princess Celestia, her horn alight with it's familiar gold glow.

"You ponies just don't know when you're beaten, do you?" he demanded.

"We've never been beaten before," Celestia shot back. "We won't be beaten today. Not even by the likes of you!"

Twilight gave a small smile. She'd never seen her former teacher go all out before, but she was sure even Grogar couldn't stand up to the full might of the solar princess.

Celestia and Twilight began charging at the same time, coming from two different directions, hoping to ensure he couldn't defend against both of them. Twilight quickly cast the similo duplexis spell, creating a copy of herself to run alongside her. Celestia, meanwhile, created a magical tether on her horn, and tossed it towards Grogar, where it wrapped around both his horns and his neck. She ceased her approach, and pulled, causing the tether to constrict, making it hard for Grogar to breathe.

Meanwhile, Twilight and her copy leaped onto Grogar's back, their horns flaring with magic. They both fired, sending electricity into the ram's body, shocking him while Celestia kept pulling on the tether. Grogar threw his head back and screamed like a wild beast. His necklace studs lit up once more, and his bell rang. But instead of a low, hollow reverb, the bell created an ear-piercing screech sound that forced Twilight and Celestia to slam their front hooves over their ears. It still wasn't enough to block out the noise.

Unfortunately for the ponies, their attempt at defense gave Grogar just the opportunity he needed. He fired a blast of dark magic from both horns that struck Celestia in the chest, shattering her magical tether and sending her backwards. Grogar then created two more magical arms from his necklace that reached over his back, seizing Twilight and her duplicate and pulling them off his body. The duplicate was easily crushed when the hand closed, causing it to dissipate into white stars. The real Twilight was instead swung around like a rag doll, before he casually chucked her forward, causing her to crash into the earth alongside Celestia.

Twilight coughed as she attempted to pull herself together once more. Her entire body ached, and she knew she wasn't going to get the chance to rest anytime soon,. By her side, she could see that Princess Celestia was having similar difficulties. Even worse, all around her, she could see Grogar's minions shoving her friends towards them, herding them all into one spot. Twilight could only think of one reason they'd be doing so: to end this fight. All her allies looked exhausted as well.

"This has been amusing," Grogar growled, as all the ponies (plus Spike) began to crowd together, "but I grow bored of games. I will cement my victory over Equestria now."

His horns lit up, and he rang his bell once more. This time, the artifact released a single, barely audible note, like a gong being rung from miles away. Twilight pondered what Grogar had been hoping to achieve with that act, until she saw the portal above Tambelon Castle begin swirling faster and faster.

"Oh, no..." she breathed.

From within the depths of the portal, smokey, ink-like tendrils of darkness began to emerge, flying down to the battlefield and impacting the earth behind Grogar. There were so many of them, plopping down like raindrops behind their master, and as the darkness faded, the creatures within became visible.

They were porcine, at least in appearance. Bipedal beasts covered from head to foot in black armor, with pig noses and tusks emerging just under their blood-red eyes. They all carried either swords, spears, or massive war hammers, with spikes on the tips.

"These are the Knights of Tambelon," Grogar explained. "They are merely the beginning of the dark forces I will call forth from my home to destroy this world. But first, they will destroy you." The knights all stepped forward, obeying their lord's unspoken commands. "Any last requests, Princess Twilight?"

Twilight swallowed, tears threatening to drip from her face. Everything seemed hopeless. Grogar, Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, the Storm King, and Cozy Glow all surrounded them, looking as eager and ready to fight as ever. And now, Grogar had summoned a small army to finish them off. If there was a way out of this, she couldn't see it.

"Twilight, what do we do?" Pinkie whispered to her. The others all looked to the Princess of Friendship as well, expecting her to come up with some genius plan to get everypony out of this. Twilight didn't know how to break it to them that there was no escape.

There was only one thing left to do.

Twilight directed her gaze back to Grogar, looking him directly in the eye, forcing down her fear.

"You may destroy us here," she said, "but you can't destroy the values of harmony. You can't destroy generosity, laughter, kindness, honesty, loyalty, or the magic of friendship. Equestria will rise up, inspired by our sacrifice, and take you down, Grogar. You will not win this war."

She expected the others to be disappointed in her, perhaps disillusioned with her failure to lead them to victory. However, nopony backed off. Instead, they closed in around her, everypony (even Trixie) putting a hoof on her body, as if to affirm their commitment to going down without fear. Spike wrapped his arms around his adopted sister's front leg, hugging her, while the other five Element Bearers pressed their bodies against hers. Celestia blinked a stream of tears from her eyes, not bothering to wipe the proud smile from her face.

Grogar chuckled to himself. "Admirable, perhaps, but still foolish." He gestured with one hoof. "Finish them."

"It'll be okay, everypony," Twilight whispered, as she squeezed her eyes shut, and waited for the end.

And waited. And waited.

Finally, getting impatient as she prepared for her impending death, Twilight opened her eyes again. The Knights of Tambelon had indeed begun their charge, but had stopped after only a few steps. Instead of laying waste to their enemies, they were looking over them, over the top of the small hill behind the ponies.

Twilight and the others turned around.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long. Like I said in my blog, I had like three contests in a row to work on. However, I'm back, and should be updating this story more regularly.
Also, I went back and edited the end of Chapter Seven a little, mostly because I realized that the rest of the Mean Six being okay with pony genocide wasn't exactly what I wanted.

Chapter Ten: Equestria Assemble

The first thing Twilight felt was the massive disruption in Equestria's magical field. Being an alicorn, she was much more in tune with the ambient magic in the air than unicorns were. She could sense when other ponies were using magic in her general vicinity. However, this was on a level she'd never seen before. Like dozens upon dozens of teleportation spells being combined into one. Part of her suspected exactly what was going on, but she didn't dare to hope she was right. She swallowed, releasing a small whimper of fear. Thankfully, none of her friends heard it.

That whimper turned into an elated shout of joy as she saw the figures coming over the hill. The Wonderbolts came first, naturally, soaring above the grass and punching holes in the cover of black clouds, allowing drops of sunlight to poke through. Then came the other pegasi, followed by unicorns and the earth ponies. Twilight Velvet and Night Light, Sunburst, Moondancer, Braeburn, Lyra and Bon-Bon, Derpy, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, Bulk Biceps, Dr. Whooves, Zecora, the entire families of Pinkie Pie and Applejack, Fluttershy's parents, Rainbow Dash's parents, Rarity's parents, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Daring Do, Cheese Sandwich, all of Starlight's old village, Chancellor Neighsay, and the Pillars of Old Equestria. Everypony gave Twilight's group a reassuring smile as one, before directing their gaze to Grogar.

"Impossible..." the ram muttered.

But it wasn't just ponies. Alongside them came every sapient race in Equestria. The griffons, led by the ever grouchy Grandpa Gruff. The changelings, Thorax and Pharynx at the front, staring down Chrysalis. The yaks, headed by Prince Rutherford, angrily stomping their hooves. The hippogriffs, with Queen Novo and Princess Skystar, soaring alongside the Wonderbolts. The dragons, following the gleam of Ember's bloodstone scepter. The kirin, their eyes tinged with the telltale blue and red fire of their nirik state, led by Rain Shine and Autumn Blaze. Captain Celaeno's pirate crew, along with Capper, Grubber, and several Storm Guards who'd reformed. Among them all, Sandbar's friend group stood, with a representative of nearly every tribe. Every creature that was capable of fighting for Equestria's future was there, ready to do so. There were even some non-sapient beings there, mainly from Fluttershy's animal sanctuary.

If Twilight had been a more spontaneous pony, she would've been jumping up and down and screaming for joy, like Pinkie Pie was currently doing. Instead, she merely watched with the widest smile she'd ever had on her face, feeling the tears just beginning to form in her eyes. The others looked just as surprised as she did, with Rarity and Applejack shaking their heads, as though they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Rainbow Dash was chuckling to herself, like she'd known this was going to happen (though Twilight was pretty sure she hadn't). Fluttershy just let the floodgates open, crying with sheer joy.

Celestia and Luna had the same knowing smiles on their faces, but looking into their eyes, Twilight could see the truth. They had been ready to die for their little ponies, along with every other creature that had become part of Equestria. They hadn't expected every creature to arrive just in time, and their joy was visible in the depths of their eyes. The same expressions were one Cadence and Shining Armor's faces. Trixie looked like she was going to collapse out of sheer relief at the fact that she wasn't going to die, not that Twilight blamed her. Starlight, being far more composed, placed a comforting hoof on her best friend's withers.

"So..." the Storm King began, finally breaking the silence, "what was that about everyone being too filled with despair to fight back?"

"This...this can't be," Grogar stuttered. From his tone of voice, it was clear that he was trying to convince himself. "Why...why haven't they given up? Why are they still—"

"Grogar," came Star Swirl's magically amplified voice, "you have threatened the peace and happiness that is the right of all living creatures. For this, you must be punished. Surrender now, and we shall be merciful. If you continue this cruel campaign of destruction, you will suffer the consequences."

Grogar sputtered a few incomprehensible words, causing his five allies to stare at him in surprise. Finally, he shook his head quickly, then glared back at the massive armada that had assembled to oppose him.

"I'd rather die a thousand deaths than give in to the likes of you," he snarled back. His horns began to glow with golden light.

"Er, Master Grogar?" Cozy Glow whispered. "Are you sure that's a good idea—"

"You will fight them," Grogar spat, "or you will die by my hooves."

The five villains all swallowed nervously. When victory had been all but assured, they were perfectly willing to go along with Grogar's plan, but now the scales were tipping. It was clear to Twilight that they were having second thoughts. Unfortunately for them, they'd long since passed the point of no return. They all charged their respective powers, taking aim at the multi-species army before them. The Knights of Tambelon raised their weapons as well.

Twilight and the others shared a quick look, with some unspoken words passing between them. They all scurried back over the hill, joining together with the massive crowd behind them.

"Thanks for coming, every creature," said Twilight, looking over the group. She turned to Star Swirl and the other Pillars. "Seriously, we were doomed before you got here. Were you the ones that rounded up everyone?"

"Not us," admitted Star Swirl. "We were planning to send you a message asking how we could help, but before we could, they contacted us." He pointed over to Sandbar's group and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Applejack raised her eyebrows at that revelation. "Apple Bloom? You three helped gather all these creatures?"

"Yep!" replied the filly. "We all got together and we realized Grogar's plan was based on breaking the will of every creature in Equestria, but that you guys were still fighting, and if they could all come together, we'd have a better chance."

"So Yona and friends go around and gather the tribes!" chimed in the yak. "Yaks strong and best at smashing, but yaks and ponies and all creatures together stronger and better at smashing!"

"And with the Tree of Harmony and the Elements gone, we figured you guys needed all the help you could get anyway," said Gallus.

"Well, you were right," said Rainbow Dash. "Now, hopefully, we won't all die horrible deaths at the hooves of Grogar!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity snapped, annoyed at her friend's antics.

"It doesn't matter," said Fluttershy. "All that matters is that they're here now."

"Kind of a shame we're in the middle of a war zone," said Pinkie. "Otherwise, I'd throw the biggest party ever right about now!"

Twilight smiled, before she turned to face Grogar once again. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?" she asked. "There's still time—"

Grogar cut her off, not with words, but by actually spitting on the ground in front of him. Twilight sighed to herself.

"Then so be it."

Everyone charged.

Author's Note

Originally, this was gonna be combined with the big battle, but I thought the story flowed better if the Avengers: Endgame moment stood by itself.

Chapter Eleven: The Battle of Tambelon

Tirek was the fastest of Grogar's group, charging ahead on all four hooves towards the multi-species crowd. He charged his magic between his massive horns, before firing his bright orange blast straight into the center of the crowd, looking to take out as many as possible with one shot. However, they easily saw his shot coming and spread apart, allowing the beam to hit the ground harmlessly.

The earth ponies and unicorns continued their charge towards the massive centaur, with the unicorns charging up their horns to take shots at him. Tirek grunted as he shielded his face with one hand. If he could absorb the magic of these ponies, his problem would be solved, but it took time for him to take in magic completely, and these ponies certainly weren't going to just stand there while he did so. Perhaps if he immobilized them—

That train of thought came to a screeching halt, as Flash Magnus and Somnambula flew towards his face. Somnambula took the lead, zipping around his head like an annoying little insect, drawing his fire. Unfortunately for Tirek, he realized too late that this was what they'd wanted, as Flash slammed his shield right between Tirek's horns. Tirek's head rang like a bell, and he swore he could feel his brain rattling around inside his skull.

"Get him, now!" Flash Magnus called out.

The ponies obeyed without question. Big Mac charged towards Tirek's legs, before turning around and bucking one of them, knocking the centaur off balance. This left him wide open for the Wonderbolts to fly directly at him, smacking him across the cheek with roundhouse punches. Other pegasi followed before Tirek could defend himself.

"That's for taking my magic away, you meanie!" shouted Derpy, as she drove a descending kick into Tirek's right eye.

Grunting, Tirek swatted at the pegasi swarming around his head, before charging up the magic between his horns again. However, instead of firing a continuous beam as usual, he focused it into a sphere of pure power, then launched it skyward. The ball would soon come down, and bring with it an explosion of force. Tirek planned to cast a shield around himself, and the blast would take out all his opponents with one shot. The unicorns in the crowd seemed to have different ideas, however.

"Stop that attack!" yelled Moondancer.

Her horn flared, and she fired her magic at the sphere as it plummeted. Lyra, Fancy Pants, Fleur, Vinyl, and Twilight's parents all joined in, along with many other unicorns. Soon, their combined magic beams were succeeding in pushing the ball back up. Unfortunately for them, that suited Tirek just fine, as he prepared another attack of his own and took aim at the unicorns.

Then a heavy object slammed into his abs. Tirek grunted as the air was driven from his lungs and he was forced onto his rear end. Grunting, he got back on his hooves and looked down, discovering that he'd been interrupted by Yona charging and jumping up to ram her head into him.

"Red centaur look strong!" the yak shouted. "But yaks strongest there is!"

Then she charged forward again, this time followed by a large group of more yaks, including Prince Rutherford. As Yona leapt, Tirek caught her in his telekinesis before she could bash him again. More yaks jumped, and Tirek snagged them one by one. But there were just too many of them, and it wasn't long before some got past his grip. Prince Rutherford was the first, jumping into the air and nailing Tirek directly between the eyes.

The massive centaur roared with pain, clutching at his own skull, and unintentionally dropped all the yaks he'd been holding. Free, the horned beasts charged once more, ramming into Tirek's legs and knocking him off his hooves. As Tirek opened his eyes, he saw that the unicorn squad had succeeded in blasting his energy sphere away, pushing up out of the planet's atmosphere. With that distraction gone, they were once again free to take shots at him.

Filled with fury, Tirek charged magic between his horns and fired, blasting the ground in front of him and forcing every creature attacking him to scurry backwards. Then he reached down with one hand and seized Yona, pulling her up until she was face-to-face with him.

"You find this amusing?!" he snarled, squeezing his fingers around the yak. She yelped in pain, though Tirek stopped before he broke any bones. He didn't want to finish her just yet.

"Yona...getting the sense that...red centaur angry..." she wheezed, clearly having trouble talking.

Tirek grinned wickedly. "Oh, don't worry about that. I'll feel much better after I drain you." He looked at the ponies and yaks, who were no longer attacking, clearly afraid of hitting Yona. "If any of you so much as take a step towards me, I'll crush her into paste!"

Satisfied that he wouldn't be interrupted, Tirek opened his mouth, prepared to begin draining Yona's magic, only for a sudden blur to fly into his face, smacking his cheek. He grunted, looking for the source before the blur hit him again. This time, he felt his grip weaken, and Yoan pushed with her own hooves, prying his fingers apart and allowing her to fall safely to the ground. Tirek was only allowed to feel the frustration for a moment before the object collided with his face a third time. Once his vision settled, he looked up to find the source of his new troubles: a turquoise pegasus with a golden mane.

"Sorry, pal," sneered Lightning Dust. "Looks like you'll have to go hungry!"

Chrysalis had thought that her subjects agreeing to that nonsense about "sharing love" and rejecting her as their queen was the most infuriating thing she'd ever experienced. Now, as she faced Thorax, Pharynx, Ocellus, and the buzzing swarm of changelings that stared her down, she could say she'd been wrong.

"How dare you stand against me!" she screeched, firing a laser from her horn. Thorax jumped into the air to dodge it. "If my plan had succeeded, the hive would've had all the love we'd ever needed to feast on! We could've been set for life! And you reject me for all this vile friendship?!"

"We don't need to steal love!" Thorax shouted back, firing his own beam, which Chrysalis nimbly dodged. "We never needed to! And now, the entire hive isn't starving constantly anymore! Why can't you accept that your ways were wrong?!"

"I am the queen!" Chrysalis hissed. "You have no right to question my judgement!"

She would've continued, had not a blast of turquoise magic to the stomach cut her off. However, this attack didn't push her back, but encased her in a large piece of turquoise crystal, immobilizing her.

"That's not how a leader acts," said the culprit behind the attack, Starlight Glimmer. "That's how a tyrant acts. A leader accepts new information that proves their methods are wrong when they receive it."

"She's right," chimed in Cadence, as she trotted up behind Starlight. "You're ignoring reality, Chrysalis! If you don't stop doing this, you'll never be accepted by any creature!"

"Heck, I'd be willing to let you be queen again!" added Thorax. "You know how hard being a ruler is! We'd all accept you back!"

Chrysalis couldn't move inside Starlight's crystal prison. She couldn't even blink. But she could hear perfectly fine, and the things she was hearing only made her angry. Her horn lit up, and Starlight, Cadence, and Thorax quickly took a few steps back as she suddenly transformed, her prison shattering into pieces from her expanding form. In the place of the changeling queen, there now stood a giant ursa minor.

"I would rather die that accept your idiotic choices!" screamed Chrysalis, towering over them. "I will have my revenge on you, Starlight Glimmer! And I will crush all who dare to oppose me!"

With those words, she brought down her enormous paw, aiming to crush the three of them with one blow. However, Starlight was quick enough to grab Cadence and Thorax and teleport away, leaving Chrysalis to smash nothing. Chrysalis swiveled her massive bear's head from side to side, looking for them.

"Oh, CHRISSY!" came Starlight's voice.

Chrysalis spun around, ready to destroy the unicorn who'd taken everything from her. However, she found herself facing about a dozen Starlight Glimmers, each of them wearing a very annoying grin that made her blood boil. She knew exactly what was going on, of course. Her own changelings were using their magic against her.

"Try to find the real me!" sang the Starlights, dancing around and waving their forelegs at her.

Chrysalis grunted and slashed at the Starlights with her claws, leaving deep lacerations in the earth. However, all the unicorns simply leaped upwards and changed back into their normal forms, buzzing away. None of them had been the real Starlight.

A short distance behind her, Pharynx and Thorax had gathered another large battalion of changelings.

"Well, we knew her coming over to our side was a long shot," Pharynx said with a shrug. "Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way. Everyone get ready!"

Thorax swallowed, clearly uncomfortable with this, but he followed his brother, preparing his magic alongside the others. In a few seconds, the changelings had been replaced with a large pack of timber wolves, all of whom charged, baring their fangs. Chrysalis barely had time to turn around before the wooden beasts began to leap, latching onto her fur and sinking their teeth deep into her flesh.

Chrysalis released a pained shriek, attempting to swat the timber wolves off her body. She did manage to knock off a few, but they were quickly replaced by more. While that was going on, she didn't notice Ocellus flying above her head. The small changeling made sure she was directly above Chrysalis, then shifted her form, becoming a large bugbear. Ocellus then flew down and latched onto Chrysalis' head, wrapping her arms around it and covering the eyes. Then she drove her stinger directly between Chrysalis' shoulders.

Blinded and in pain from every section of her body, Chrysalis did the only thing she could think of and shifted back into her normal form. This left Ocellus, Pharynx, Thorax and the others grabbing onto nothing, and they plummeted to the ground. Chrysalis herself managed to avoid doing so by buzzing her wings, though her wounds made it more difficult. Her exoskeleton was dripping with green blood from dozens of tiny wounds, and she didn't know how much longer she could keep fighting like this.

Then she heard more hoofsteps, and saw Starlight and Cadence walking up to her. It was clear that this was the real Starlight.

"There's still time, you know," Starlight insisted. "It's not too late. You can—"

With a furious roar, Chrysalis transformed into a chimera and lunged at Starlight, who barely dodged her claws, as well as the serpent's head.

"Have it your way, then," Starlight replied. Her and Cadence both fired their magic beams.

Sombra had been annoyed when he'd been forced to fight Pinkie Pie. After all, that pony had a way of getting under his skin. This, however, was on an entirely different level.

The dark king had been attempting to finish off Trixie, while the unicorn used her smoke bombs combined with illusory projections of herself to trick him. That fight had been interrupted by the arrival of Ember and her squad of dragons, including Smolder and Garble. Now, Sombra was battling Trixie, the dragons, Shining Armor, and Princess Luna, all at once. He may have been confident in his abilities, but this was beginning to irritate him.

With a pulse of his horn, Sombra caused a line of crystals to erupt from the ground, aiming to stab Luna before she could fly away. Just before the final crystal emerged, Shining Armor cast his shield spell, encasing Luna in a bright magenta dome, upon which the crystal shattered. With Sombra's attention taken up, Trixie took the opportunity to jump onto his back and forcefully shove a smoke bomb into his mouth. Sombra's teeth instinctively bit down on the bomb, and as the blue gas filled his lungs, he bent down, descending into a coughing fit.

"My turn!" yelled Smolder, as she flew down towards Sombra, beating her wings furiously. She collided with Sombra's side, striking his ribs with her shoulder. This sent the unicorn rolling over sideways, kicking up dirt and grass as he went. Ember went in for the knockout, aiming to smash Sombra over the head with the Bloodstone Scepter, but just as she brought it down, he shifted into his shadow form, allowing the scepter to pass through a hole in his body.

"I am the king!" Sombra hissed. "I shall strike you down with all my power!"

His horn reappeared on his amorphous body, creating a number of dagger-sharp crystals in the air. With another magical pulse, he started pitching the crystals at his enemies, aiming to impale them.

The dragons were more than prepared for his clumsy assault, however. They spat streams of hot flame all over the crystals, melting them into puddles before they could be harmed. Shining Armor merely conjured a shield around his body to protect himself, as did Luna. Trixie wasn't as adept at shield spells, but she managed to protect herself just fine by zapping the crystals with her magic, turning them into teacups.

"Hah! And Starlight said I overuse that spell!" she laughed.

Luna and Shining ignored the showmare's boasting, focusing their magical beams onto Sombra's shadowy body. Of course, he merely altered his shape to dodge them, and returned fire, but with his attention elsewhere, he failed to see Garble sneak up behind him and belch more flames onto the back of his head.

Sombra screamed and thrashed in place, the fire smoldering on his head and spreading across his body. He shifted back into his normal, pony form and rolled across the ground, smothering the fires into submission. But before he could get to his hooves, Luna blasted him in the side, and Trixie tossed a long line of handkerchiefs in a lasso over his legs, tying him up. Sombra was left lying on his back, with all four legs tied together, and a hole burned into his royal cape. Luna, Shining Armor, and Ember all approached him. They did not look happy.

"King Sombra," Luna announced, a bit of the Royal Canterlot Voice slipping in, "you are a disgrace to ponykind. You are a cruel and wicked creature, causing despair and misfortune among others."

"I'm barely even a pony anymore, you fool," Sombra spat.

"Be that as it may," Luna continued, "you still were a unicorn once. And you inflicted that terrible curse on the Crystal Empire. Now, you've joined forces with the beast known as Grogar, and participated in the destruction of the Tree of Harmony. You are a monster of the highest caliber. And you must be punished for your crimes."

"Surrender, and help us take down Grogar," Shining Armor added, "and we'll show you mercy. More mercy than you ever showed anypony, anyway."

"Mercy?!" Sombra snarled. "By the time we are finished, you will be the ones begging for mercy!" With that, he assumed his shadow form once more, snapping Trixie's improvised rope and forcing everypony back.

"Fool," Luna whispered.

As his lightning drove away the most recent squad of ponies that had decided to attack him, the Storm King dropped to the ground, taking a few very deep breaths to try and regain some stamina. He'd been having a difficult time during this battle, even with the powers Grogar had granted him. The hippogriffs weren't happy about his previous attack on their kingdom, and had decided to use this opportunity to try and extract some revenge. Queen Novo had led a furious attack on him, and he'd tried blasting the flying creatures out of the air, but they just kept coming. Plus, using his lighting tended to tire him out for reasons he probably wouldn't understand. It was times like this that he wished he still had the Staff of Sacanas.

"Somebody getting worn down?" came an irritating voice. The Storm King turned, finding himself facing Tempest, Grubber, Captain Celaeno, Capper, Rockhoof, and Mage Meadowbrook.

"You just can't let a guy have his fun, can you?" he demanded, allowing his lightning to spark and travel down his arms to his hands. "You gotta ruin everything."

"After what you did to us? To all those lands you conquered?" Celaeno snapped back. "You got off easy before, being turned to stone and shattered. This time, we'll make sure you get the proper punishment."

The Storm King didn't bother to reply, instead thrusting his fist at his enemies and sending a giant bolt of lightning at them. Every creature quickly moved to the side, allowing the bolt to pass through the crowd. Tempest retaliated with a burst of electricity from her own horn, forcing the Storm King to raise an electric shield to counter. As he was doing so, Capper, scurrying on all four paws, got behind him and leaped onto his back, covering his eyes with both hands.

"Who wants first dibs?!" he called out.

"Me!" yelled Tempest, springing on her hooves and diving towards the thrashing Storm King. She punched his stomach with one of her forehooves, driving the air from his body. With a roar, he threw out his arms, spraying electricity around him. Tempest leaped backwards to avoid the attack, while the Storm King seized Capper's paw and yanked, pulling the Abyssinian overhead and smashing him back first into the ground.

"I'm gettin' real sick of all this crap!" snarled the king, raising both hands and forming balls of lightning in each one. Captain Celaeno and Tempest grunted, wanting to help Capper, but knowing that if they got too close, they'd simply be blasted away.

That fear held no sway over Rockhoof.

The massive earth pony simply chucked his shovel like a javelin, just as the Storm King fired. The metal in the shovel attracted the electricity, forcing the shot to curve around and follow it. The Storm King groaned in frustration, before Rockhoof suddenly charged forward and rammed into the creature with his shoulder. At the same time, Grubber curled into a ball and rolled forward, crashing into the Storm King's leg. The white conqueror was sent tumbling to the ground with a painful sounding thump.

The Storm King tasted blood in his mouth, and he swore he felt another tooth get knocked loose. Looking up, he saw that his group of attackers was advancing on him again, and even worse, the hippogriffs were coming back. There were enemies on all sides, and the situation looked hopeless. Fortunately for him, the Storm King didn't get to be a conqueror without skills, and he knew there were unique ways for him to use his new powers.

He jumped to his feet again, then pointed his index fingers downwards. The electricity crackled, before shooting out in a pair of twin blasts. The blasts then pushed the Storm King into the air, before any of his enemies could reach him. Once he'd reached the apex, the Storm King redirected one of his hands to point at the hippogriffs, and began firing pointed lightning bolts at them.

"EVASIVE MANEUVERS!" shouted Queen Novo.

Her squadron immediately obeyed her orders, spreading outwards to avoid the attack. They scattered, forcing the Storm King to target them individually, which was far more difficult. Silverstream swooped past his bolts and zipped up to where he was floating, aiming a swipe of her talons at his chest. However, he leaned back at the last second, meaning she only grazed him, and sliced off some of his chest armor.

The force of the blow did manage to knock him backwards, forcing him to drop out of the air. Then he fired his lightning behind him, cushioning his fall just enough to prevent injury. Just as he landed, Captain Celaeno charged at him, aiming a slash at his leg with her saber. Storm King actually managed to catch the blade with his hand, and though it cut into his skin, he shrugged it off and sent a bolt of electricity through the blade, zapping the parrot with a painful shock.

"You leave her alone!" shouted Meadowbrook, reaching into her saddlebags. She produced a small potion vial and chucked it at the Storm King. It shattered at his feet, releasing a cloud of smoke that blinded him, forcing him to release his grip on Celaeno. With the Storm King distracted, Meadowbrook released a swarm of flash bees, then pulled her mask on, leaving the bees with no other target but the Storm King.

The bees began stinging the king furiously, zapping him with their tiny bolts. The Storm King screamed in agony, swatting at the bees with both hands, his fingers leaving trails of sparks in the air as they went. Tempest and the others couldn't stop themselves from laughing as they watched him frantically try to get away.

"I know we're in the middle of a war zone, but seeing him get his comeuppance is the funniest thing I've seen all week!" commented Grubber.

"I agree," said Tempest, "but we gotta get back to business!"

She powered up her broken stump of a horn and launched an electrical charge towards the Storm King, blasting him off his feet once more. The flash bees thankfully had the sense to fly away from him before the attack hit, then flew back to continue stinging him.

Cozy Glow wasn't sure what she was supposed to do in the middle of this insane battle. She was the member of Grogar's legion least suited to be a warrior, even with the increased powers Grogar had given her, but those had been enough for her to deal with Fluttershy and her friends. But she was not equipped to deal with an entire army of angry ponies and other creatures. She was currently flying above the battlefield, dodging fireballs being chucked at her by the niriks.

"Keep going, everyone!" yelled Autumn Blaze, forming another fireball in her hoof. "We've got to bring her down!"

Cozy Glow was getting just as angry as the kirin had to be to transform into their fiery forms. She was returning fire with her horn, but the niriks were blocking her beams with fire, and they showed no signs of slowing down. If she was going to make it out of this fight, she needed to think of something quickly, or else—

Cozy's train of thought came to an abrupt end, as a shape tackled her out of the air. The two tumbled downwards, slammed into the grass, and rolled a short distance, before coming to a stop, with Cozy's assailant standing over her. She looked up, discovering that she'd been attacked by Sandbar, that annoying pony who'd helped destroy her plans the first time.

"You..." she hissed in a low whisper.

"Why are you siding with Grogar, Cozy Glow?" Sandbar snapped, having not heard her. "You're a pony! You know he's going to wipe out all ponies if he can! This is even worse than your whole ‘draining all magic from Equestria’ scheme!"

Cozy prepared to blast him with her horn just to shut him up, but a thumping to her side drew her attention. She discovered that Autumn Blaze and the other kirin, having changed back into their normal forms, were advancing on her as well. If she attacked Sandbar, she'd get pummeled by more fireballs than she could possibly dodge. Thus, she had to think of some other way to get out of this, and an idea came to her immediately: manipulation, her old standard.

"Oh, golly, Sandbar," she whimpered, dialing up the pitch of her voice. She made her lower lip quiver, and her eyes began to water on cue. "I...I don't know what I was thinking. Grogar pulled me out of Tartarus, and he forced me to join up with him! I didn't know what to do..."

So far, so good. The kirin seemed to be buying her act at least a little, judging by the uncertain looks on their faces. She just needed another few seconds, then she'd blast them. Sandbar, however, put that plan to rest as he trotted up to Cozy, reared back, and punched her in the face.

"Don't let her fool you," he told the kirin. He turned back to Cozy. "Did you really think I'd fall for that after what you did? After you tried to have all the ponies in the school gang up on my friends and I? Plus, Grogar wouldn't have saved you from Tartarus if you weren't willing to work for him. It's like Professor Applejack said. You're rotten to the core."

Cozy angrily rubbed the part of her jaw where he'd struck her. There were involuntary tears of pain threatening to drip from her eyes now, but she wouldn't show that weakness in front of her enemies.

"You say I'm a monster?" she snarled. With a flap of her wings, she flew into the air. "Then I'll show you a monster!"

She fired the most powerful beam she could muster directly at Sandbar, aiming to incinerate him. Even with his earth pony physique, he wouldn't be able to dodge in time. Unfortunately for her, life decided to throw another monkey wrench into her plans, this time taking the form of Autumn Blaze lighting up her horn and yanking Sandbar out of the way.

"You know what, little filly?" she growled. With a quick flash of fire, she morphed back into a nirik. "You're one bad pony!"

She took a deep breath, then blew towards Cozy, sending a stream of purple fire in her direction. Cozy Glow was forced to forget her rage and fly upwards to get away. She returned fire with her own horn, only for a squad of niriks to protect Autumn Blaze.

Princess Celestia had wanted to help Twilight battle Grogar again, but the two had become separated as the battle began. She decided she could be more helpful by leading her ponies to battle the Knights of Tambelon, and keep those monsters from helping Grogar's lieutenants. The knights weren't exactly mindless beasts, but they were vicious nonetheless. Celestia wasn't keen on any of them getting to her little ponies, or any of the other creatures.

She fired up her horn, creating a brilliant golden glow. She fired a beam as bright and brilliant as the sun itself, which expanded outwards into a fiery wall of destruction. The Knights of Tambelon she managed to hit actually dissolved into wisps of black smoke as the magic touched them. Celestia realized they were simply creations of Grogar's dark magic, meaning they weren't even technically alive. That suited her just fine, because it meant she could go all out.

With a flap of her enormous wings, Celestia descended to the ground, landing on all four hooves with a powerful thump, scattering more of the knights in the process. Her horn fired up again, creating a long, crescent-shaped blade around the appendage. She swiped with the weapon, bisecting several knights before they knew what hit them. A hooful of the braver monsters tried to stab at her flanks with their spears, but Celestia bucked with her back legs, knocking them aside.

"That's how you do it, Princess!" called Cheese Sandwich. Celestia looked over, discovering that Cheese and Party Favor had somehow created a massive, four-wheeled vehicle out of balloons, and were currently driving through the crowds of knights. Cheese had apparently borrowed some of Pinkie Pie's party cannons, and both stallions were blasting away with them, disintegrating knights left and right.

Celestia smiled. As much as she wanted to protect her little ponies, and shield them from having to deal with any dangers whatsoever, she knew they were more capable than that. It made her heart soar with pride to see them standing up to Grogar's menace. She looked all around her, seeing Bulk Biceps smashing through a group of knights with his shoulder, Daring Do and Zephyr Breeze leading a squad of pegasi to drop heavy objects on the knights from high above, and Zecora bombarding the knights with exploding potions.

"Celestia!" called out a familiar voice. Celestia blasted away another knight, and turned around. She discovered Star Swirl, Mistmane, and Stygian standing in the middle of a crowd of knights, fighting them off with their own magical beams. Star Swirl beckoned Celestia with one hoof, and she hurriedly flew over to help them.

"Here we go again, eh?" Mistmane asked, as she telekinetically lifted another knight, and used it as a flail to smack others away. "I don't think we've had this much fun since we battled the sirens. It seems appropriate, since they were probably Grogar's creations."

"I'm glad to finally be part of the action for once," added Celestia. "We can't let Twilight and the others have all the fun, can we?"

"But do we really have a chance?" asked Stygian. "Even with all this backup, the knights keep coming."

He pointed with one hoof towards the swirling vortex above Tambelon Castle. Indeed, as the ponies and various other creatures finished off more and more of the knights, more tendrils of darkness descended, forming new knights to replace those defeated. The rate of knights being eliminated was higher than that of knights being summoned, but the battle was far from won.

"We have to keep going," said Celestia. "Even if we fall, at least we'll fall knowing we gave Grogar the strongest resistance we possibly could."

"You're right," agreed Star Swirl. "We cannot let that monster destroy Equestria. At least not without a fight."

A loud battle horn drew the ponies' attention once more, forcing them to turn and discover another squadron of Tambelon Knights coming at them with their axes and swords raised. The three unicorns and one alicorn all charged their horns up, and prepared to fire once more. Before they could, however, shadows passed over them. Looking up, they saw a flock of griffons flying towards the newly summoned knights, Gallus and Gilda taking the lead.

"Take 'em down!" Gilda screeched, priming her talons.

The other griffons obeyed, swooping downwards to meet the charging knights. Gallus, Gilda, and Gabby were the first to meet their enemies, aiming slashes of their talons at gaps in the armor, mainly around the joints. They severed off the limbs of the knights, knocking them to the ground and forcing them to drop their weapons.

"Keep going!" Gilda yelled to Celestia's group, as she slashed the neck of another knight. "We've gotta lower their numbers!"

Celestia gave a brief nod, before firing up her magic once more. The knights were formidable, but they weren't a limitless resource. At least, she hoped they weren't.

Twilight's frustration was growing by the second as she, along with her five best friends and her number one assistant, battled Grogar again. These were the best odds against the ram they'd had so far, but even with that advantage, Grogar's magic seemed to be virtually limitless. He was deflecting many of the attacks they threw at him, and the damage they did get in seemed to be doing little to slow him down. The tide of the battle overall was turning in their favor, but it wouldn't mean anything if they couldn't take down the leader of the enemy.

Twilight fired a continuous beam of pure magic towards Grogar, who easily blocked it with a barrier. However, what he didn't realize was that it was a distraction, as Rarity levitated Spike up behind him. The tiny dragon took a deep breath, before releasing a gush of emerald flame towards Grogar's rear. The ram gave a small grunt as the fire singed his hair, but he lit up his horns and levitated himself away before they could envelop him.

"You honestly believe you and your friends are a match for me, Princess Twilight?!" he snarled. "Amusing. Crushing your pitiful hopes will give me great pleasure."

"We're not going down to some overrated punk like you!" Rainbow snapped back in defiance. "You're going down today, Grogar! You can't beat all of Equestria!" She zoomed towards him, beating her wings furiously. Twilight and Rarity combined their magical telekinesis to try and pin Grogar down, but the ram lit up his own horns, and blasted them away. Then he generated a long arm from the studs on his collar, and snatched Rainbow out of the air.

"Oh, but I can," he cackled, pulling the pegasus towards him. "I planned to do so, and all this means is I get to finish off all these pathetic species at once!"

"Leave her alone, you jerk!" yelled Pinkie Pie, throwing a pie towards Grogar's face. It splattered coconut cream against his horns and into his eyes, blinding him and forcing him to release Rainbow. Just as Grogar reached up with one leg to wipe the cream out of his eyes, Pinkie began spinning her forelegs, rapidly chucking cupcakes with ludicrous amounts of frosting at him, leaving him coated in sugary delights.

"Fly, my pretties!" yelled Fluttershy, thrusting her hoof at Grogar.

Her swarm of trained geese flew at Grogar, with Angel riding on one of their backs. They flew into the ram, attracted to the frosting, and began pecking and biting at his skin, creating many small cuts. While he swatted away at them, Applejack snuck up behind him, then suddenly spun around and bucked him in the rear. Grogar pitched forward and slammed face-first into the dirt, his horns digging long trenches in the ground.

"Everyone get him!" yelled Twilight. She flew towards the fallen Grogar, her horn blaring with power, the other six on her tail.

But before they reached him, Grogar's eyes snapped open. He raised one hoof and stomped the earth. From the impact point, a shockwave of dark magic spread outwards in a dome shape, which slammed into all six ponies and Spike. The group was sent tumbling around and landed on their backs, creating pony-shaped implants in the dirt.

"Ooooow..." groaned Pinkie Pie, struggling to lift her head.

Twilight whimpered in pain and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her wings throbbing. If Grogar had hit her a little harder, she probably would've broken them. But she fought against the agony to get up anyway, because she could hear Grogar's hoofsteps approaching. She fired up her horn again, preparing to teleport, but a painful punch to her face interrupted her. Grogar grabbed her by the chin and pulled her up to face him.

"You, Twilight Sparkle, are less than nothing to me. I'm going to destroy everything you care about, and there is no way you can prevent it. I will—"

A pony-sized boulder flew past Twilight's head and smacked Grogar directly between the eyes. Twilight fell out of his grip and landed on her hooves. She'd noticed the boulder had been enveloped in a familiar, blue magic aura, and she turned towards the likely source.

Rarity panted as the magical glow faded from her horn. Her legs wobbled, and her eyes were sunken in ever so slightly. Twilight felt a stab of guilt, as Rarity wasn't the most magically adept unicorn, meaning that lifting that rock must've been quite a strain on her. Twilight stretched out her wings, ignoring the ache, and flew over to her.

"You okay?" she asked, placing a hoof on Rarity's back.

"I'm fine, darling," insisted the fashionista. "We're fighting for the fate of all Equestria! I cannot give anything less than my all!"

Twilight swallowed sadly, but there really was no time to discuss it. Grogar roared with fury as he rose to his hooves once more. His nose was bleeding from the previous blow, and Twilight could've sworn he'd lost a tooth. His horns ignited, and he fired twin blasts of black magic at Twilight and Rarity. Thinking fast, Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her friend and flew away from the attack.

Grogar lifted his head to fire at the moving target, but Applejack came to the rescue with her lasso. The rope sailed through the air and wrapped around Grogar's head. Applejack and Rainbow Dash yanked backwards, trying to pull Grogar onto his back, but the ram was far stronger than they suspected. He activated his own telekinesis and pulled on the rope, causing Applejack and Rainbow to fly off their hooves. They crashed into the earth, with Rainbow landing on Applejack's back. Grogar made a move to blast them, but Fluttershy zipped over and grabbed Rainbow, while Pinkie rushed behind her and scooped up Applejack.

"This game has gone on long enough!" snarled Grogar. With a pulse of magic, he summoned his crown, containing his Element of Disharmony, to his head. "Everyone! We're taking them down now!"

Twilight and the others had regrouped by this point, and the purple alicorn swallowed in fear. If Grogar was busting out the elements, she didn't know what they could do. Those knock-offs had been strong enough to overpower the Tree of Harmony with the elements inside of it, giving it it's full power. She didn't think they had anything that could stand up to that kind of power.

"Twilight," asked Applejack, placing a tender hoof on her back, "what're we gonna do?"

"I...I don't know," was all she could respond with.

"G-girls...girls..." came a faint voice from behind them.

Twilight and the others spun around, finding themselves face-to-face with the metal cage that held the powerless Discord, completely forgotten in the heat of the battle. The weak draconequus was tapping on the bars with his eagle talon.

"Discord!" Fluttershy cried, her eyes beginning to water. She placed her forehooves against the bars, but she could not touch him.

"Listen...listen..." Discord wheezed, clearly drained, "you can still win. Grogar...he made you think he'd already won. But you don't need the elements to defeat him."

"But how?" asked Twilight, as her body trembled. "His elements are too strong! Even with all of Equestria backing us up..."

"Have you forgotten?" Discord continued, "what made you able to use the Elements of Harmony in the first place? What gave them their power? It was those virtues you embodied, and still embody to this day. And it was your friendship, the unshakeable bond you share, that unites you.

"Rarity, you will always be the most generous pony of them all. Applejack, your honesty will always be a part of you. Pinkie Pie, laughter is what you will always bring to everypony you meet. Fluttershy, you will always be the epitome of kindness. Rainbow Dash, your loyalty will always remain strong. And Twilight...Twilight Sparkle. You are the embodiment of magic, and the most powerful magic of all...the magic of friendship.

"And like you said, you will fight to your last breath, with everything you have. And that's something...something Grogar can never take away..."

Twilight couldn't speak. She couldn't breathe. Her brain was trying to process what Discord was saying, to find some way to refute it, but in the end, she couldn't. Because he was right.

Sure, the Elements of Harmony were powerful, but it had been the ponies bonded to them that gave them that power. Grogar couldn't make Rainbow less loyal, or Rarity less generous, or Applejack less honest. They still had those things within them. Maybe it would be enough. Looking at her friends, Twilight saw from their faces that they were all having similar thoughts.

"Come on, girls," she announced. "Let's finish this."

Chapter Twelve: Climax

Grogar could feel his rage reaching what might be called a boiling point as he stomped towards Tambelon Castle. Occasionally, a pony or some other such creature would attempt to attack him, but a quick pulse of magic threw them to the side, where they'd become distracted by the crowd of knights that still remained. His battle with Twilight Sparkle and her friends had wounded him, not severely, but enough to build his fury. He would stand for it no longer.

Looking behind him, he saw his five lieutenants answering his previous summons, looking worse for the wear. Chrysalis had numerous wounds in her exoskeleton, leaking green blood onto the grass. Sombra's royal garb had been burned almost to ashes, and he casually discarded the remains as he approached. Tirek's white beard was torn and shredded, and he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. The Storm King's armor looked like it might fall apart at any second, and he was missing several teeth. Cozy Glow had lost both of the ribbons in her mane, and one of her eyes was beginning to blacken.

"Pathetic," Grogar snarled. "And all of you believed you could conquer Equestria alone?!"

"Well, to be fair," responded the Storm King, who apparently didn't know what a rhetorical question was, "none of us ever expected to be taking on all these stupid ponies, along with all these other creatures, at the same time!"

"SILENCE!" Grogar screamed, the force of his voice nearly knocking all his minions onto their rears. "We are going to destroy all of them with one shot! Either assist me, or die!"

The others all flinched back in fear. Grogar didn't care. He lit up his horns once more, conjuring the five necklaces containing the Elements of Disharmony, and forcefully shoving them towards their respective owners.

"Put them on," he growled. "We're taking this pathetic resistance down. Now."

Twilight and the others rushed back towards the front line of the battle. Grogar had given a signal, prompting the Tambelon Knights to retreat, along with his five lieutenants. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was planning. The multi-species, Equestria saving army had fallen back as well, and were now waiting for something to happen.

"Was Discord right?" asked Applejack. "Can we really utilize the same power we used without the actual elements?"

"It's not a question of whether we can or we can't," said Twilight. "What matters is we have to try. If we don't, this battle—and Equestria—is lost for certain." She turned back to face Grogar's side, where he and his five allies were walking forwards, equipped with their own elements. "Now, try to remember the state of mind you were in every time we used the Elements of Harmony. It might help bring out the power."

"Twilight?" asked Celestia, trotting over to her former student. Her feathers were ruffled, and she had a small cut across her barrel, but she was otherwise unharmed. "What are you doing?"

"We're going for a pretty big gamble, princess," admitted Rainbow. "You might wanna stand back."

"Anything I can do to help?" asked Spike.

"I don't think so, darling," Rarity replied. "But we appreciate the offer."

No one else interrupted, as the six mares settled down, and closed their eyes. They each cast their minds back to their particular Element of Harmony, trying to recall what they needed to summon the magic.

Applejack recalled all the times her honesty had been needed, even when it hadn't been the most comforting option available. Fluttershy thought of kindness, and the many forms it could take, even when it seemed to be cruel. Pinkie Pie reminisced over the laughter she'd brought to so many creatures, and how it could lift their spirits like nothing else. Rarity's thoughts evoked the very nature of generosity, what it truly meant to be a generous pony, giving to others and asking for nothing in return. Rainbow Dash called up her memories of loyalty, and how she would do anything for her friends, even if someone offered her everything she ever wanted to abandon them. And Twilight was left to ponder magic, particularly the most powerful magic of all: the magic of friendship, the force that had united her and her friends in the first place.

As the mares focused, light began to gather around them, shimmering in the color of their particular element. From Applejack's orange to Fluttershy's pink. From Pinkie Pie's blue to Rarity's purple. From Rainbow Dash's red to Twilight's magenta. Princess Celestia, Spike, and the others could only watch in amazement. They could even feel the magic coalescing around the six mares, building in power and burning like a wildfire.

"Wow," Spike breathed.

Grogar had noticed the phenomenon, but it didn't seem to concern him.

"Pull any trick you like, Princess Twilight," he snarled. "It won't make a difference in the end. Without the Elements of Harmony, you are nothing!" His crown began to emit waves of darkness, while a grey thread began to connect the Elements of Disharmony.

Twilight's eyes snapped open. Instead of their usual purple, they were pure white, lacking any pupil or iris.

"You may have destroyed the Elements, Grogar," she replied, "but Discord was right. You can't destroy our friendship! And like we've said so many times before..."

"FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!" called out all six mares at once.

The six began to float in the air as the light around them intensified. They drifted closer together, and joined hooves. The multicolored light blended together into a rainbow of pure energy. At the same time, the threads connecting the Elements of Disharmony reached Grogar's crown. The ram levitated himself into the air, focused all of his magic into the crown, and launched a massive beam of black magic from the Element of Doom, just as a similar, rainbow beam fired from Twilight's horn.

When the two beams collided in midair, it was like somepony had set off every firework in Equestria in the same place, all at once. A gigantic burst of white light blinded nearly every creature present, and when they could open their eyes and look again, they saw the two beams pushing against each other, the magical feedback so strong it shook the very earth itself. Only Grogar, his minions, and Twilight's group seemed unaffected by the flash and the shaking.

"You can't win, Princess Twilight!" Grogar screamed above the chaotic clatter. "Your power is no match for mine!"

Twilight didn't respond. Her and the others kept pouring all of their power into the rainbow. Celestia conjured up a golden shield to protect herself and the others from the magic shockwaves that pulsed out of the beam clash. As the six mares piled on the magic, the rainbow began to push back against Grogar's black beam.

The ram gritted his teeth. "Give me more power!" he shrieked to his minions. "If I fail because of you five, you will suffer my wrath!"

Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, the Storm King, and Cozy Glow all grunted in annoyance, unable to form a full response. Grogar wasn't as dedicated to the idea of teamwork as he'd claimed. Still, they had no other choice. They focused on their Elements of Disharmony, as beads of dark magic went down the black chords connecting them. Grogar's crown surged with more power, and the beam expanded, beginning to push back against the rainbow.

"Good!" grunted thee ram. "You see, Princess Twilight?! You cannot defeat the greatest power in all of Equestria!"

Twilight and her friends all ground their teeth from the effort. The power they'd managed to drag out was strong indeed, but they didn't know if it would be enough to overpower the Elements of Disharmony. Twilight was uncomfortably reminded of how even the Tree of Harmony itself, with all six elements inside it, had been unable to stand up to Grogar's power. Could the magic of her and her friends really surpass that of the Tree of Harmony?

Fortunately, their struggle didn't go unnoticed.

"Sister!" Luna called out above the chaotic clash. "We must aid Twilight and the others! They can't win this fight by themselves!"

"I agree!" Celestia shouted back. "We were connected to the Elements of Harmony ourselves! Maybe we can lend them our power!"

"Wait! Don't forget us!" yelled out Sandbar, as his group scurried up. "We had a bond with the Tree of Harmony! We gotta help too!"

"We want to assist as well!" shouted Star Swirl. The rest of the Pillars of Old Equestria nodded in agreement. "The tree and the elements came from our magic. We must do all we can!"

Celestia gave a nod to all those assembled, before she felt a tiny claw poke her in the leg. She looked down, discovering Spike hanging onto her.

"I don't know think I have a connection to the tree or the elements," he admitted, "aside from Twilight trying to make me the new Element of Loyalty that one time. But I wanna help too! I'll lend Twilight all the magic I have!"

Celestia hesitated, but ultimately, reason won out. They needed every advantage they could get, and Spike's power might tip the scales.

"Every creature!" she yelled again. "Focus on the magic the elements once imbued you with! Draw upon that strength and send it all to Twilight and her friends!"

Gathered into three groups—Starswirl's Pillars, Sandbar's group, and Celestia, Spike, and Luna—everyone obeyed. Faint wisps of rainbow light gathered around them as they pulled all the energy from within to the surface. It was a surprisingly easy task, as if Twilight and her friends' act of pulling summoning the power of the elements had unlocked something inside all of them.

Suddenly, three long streaks of rainbow-colored light, one from each group, lanced outwards, coming together in one specific spot in midair. From that location, a sphere of white magic formed, and six tendrils of pure light emerged, each reaching one of Twilight's group and connecting, feeding them with even more magic. Even as they struggled against Grogar's attack, their bodies processed this infusion of strength, pouring it into the harmony blast.

"Whoa..." breathed Rainbow Dash, feeling her muscles surge with power. "I didn't even know there was this much magic in all of Equestria!"

"Less talking, more rainbow powering, Dash!" yelled Applejack.

The prismatic pegasus obeyed, as did the other four mares. They funneled their new magic towards the rainbow beam, and within a couple of seconds, it began to overpower Grogar's beam of darkness, shoving the collected energy back towards the ram. Grogar wasn't too happy about this particular development.

"MORE! GIVE ME MORE POWER!" he screamed. "I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY MERE PONIES! NOT AGAIN!"

Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, Storm King, and Cozy Glow all pushed as hard as they possibly could, draining every last drop of magic in their bodies, but they only succeeded in pushing the rainbow back for one second. It resumed its assault on them again, even harder than before, if that was even possible.

"We can't!" Tirek shouted over the noise. "We...we have nothing...left!"

"DON'T YOU DARE FAIL ME!" Grogar screamed again. "OR ELSE I'LL...I'LL—"

He never finished that threat. In that couple of seconds, the rainbow pulsed, before the beam of darkness completely collapsed. With nothing left to obstruct it, the rainbow laser shot forward, bathing Grogar and his five lieutenants in harmony magic. Out of the six, only Grogar screamed in agony from the pure magic assaulting his body. Not that the others were untouched, of course. Cozy Glow's magic horn disintegrated into shards, Tirek's muscles degraded as he returned to his original size, and the Storm King coughed up the magic sphere Grogar had given him, which disintegrated. Wisps of magic came out of all six, and flew towards their rightful owner, Discord. As his magic was restored, the draconequus rose into the air once more, and snapped his fingers, his vast power turning the anti-magic cage into pudding.

"Oh, it is good to be back!" he cheered, before teleporting over to Twilight's group.

Not content to end there, the magical wave washed over the Knights of Tambelon, disintegrating them into nothing. Pulses of multicolored light flew into the portal above Tambelon Castle, cutting off the flow and preventing new knights from taking their place.

Twilight and the others opened their eyes once more. They were still floating in the air, still surrounded by the rainbow aura. Twilight looked down at Grogar's team, where the magic was beginning to fade away. Grogar and his five lieutenants had all fallen to their knees, though the ram himself was beginning to struggle back onto his hooves once more. His coat was torn in several places, he was bleeding from his mouth, and one of his horns had broken off at the middle. His bell was little more than several pieces of twisted metal. The others didn't seem to have the strength to stand up. Even Sombra's flowing black mane had become stationary. The necklaces containing the Elements of Disharmony had fallen from their owners, the metal had dulled to a faint grey, and the elements themselves had broken like glass. Even Grogar's crown was battered and cracked.

Queen Chrysalis tried to push herself up, but her legs wouldn't support her, and she hit the earth with a thump. "You think you've won?!" she wheezed, trying to sound as intimidating as possible. "You think your precious friendship will save you?! You—"

She was cut off when Tirek reached over and put a hand over her mouth. "Chrysalis, it's over," he said. "Save the speeches for when we don't all have migraines."

"I agree," grunted the Storm King, as he rubbed his forehead. "Even I know when I'm licked."

The changeling opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, but her brain found no retort, and she finally decided to simply lie there, while giving the evil eye to Twilight. The others followed her example.

Except for one.

"No..." Grogar coughed, struggling to keep his legs from slipping out under him. "Not like this...I will not be defeated like this..."

His struggle didn't escape Twilight's notice. She frowned as she watched him fight through his injuries. His horns lit up with weak yellow light, trying to levitate the remains of his crown.

"Grogar," she called out, using a bit of magic to amplify her voice, "you have lost this fight. Don't try to keep going, you'll only injure yourself."

"But we're not giving up on you," said Rarity. "You can become our friend, like others before you."

"Yeah!" added Pinkie Pie. "Besides, having friends is so much more fun than being a big meanie like you were!"

Grogar's eyes snapped up to stare at the six mares. His brow furrowed, and hate filled his butter-yellow orbs.

"You think I'll submit?" he spat. He managed to draw himself back onto all four hooves once more, though he slouched a little. "You think I'll accept your idiotic 'friendship' and be reformed?!"

"Friendship isn't idiotic," Twilight insisted. "You don't have to be alone. You can be accepted just as much as any creature, even after everything you've done."

Grogar's only response was to grit his teeth even harder.

Cozy Glow sat up from her position on the ground. "Master Grogar, sir? Not to be rude, but we kinda just lost our most powerful weapons, and our army. I don't think we really have a chance to win this fight."

"Besides, the quicker you give up, the sooner we'll get to be free of these stupid friendship speeches," added Sombra. "Come on, we'll defeat them next time."

Grogar didn't listen. He fired up his horns, his rage compensating for his current weakness. The broken remains of the Elements of Disharmony levitated upwards and began circling his head, as he magically reached into the stones, attempting to grasp every last drop of power within them.

"I will not be defeated," he snarled. "I will not accept your pathetic friendship. I am Grogar! I am the Element of Doom! And I will destroy all of you if it's the last thing I accomplish in this life!"

He began drawing the remains of the elements' power, as grey bolts of electricity flew from the stones into his body. His eyes began glowing pure crimson as he levitated into the air once more, and he took a deep breath. His five lieutenants hurriedly ducked, covering themselves with their front appendages.

Twilight swallowed. She knew what they were going to have to do, what Grogar was going to force them to do.

"Girls," she said to the others, "fire away."

The others followed without hesitation, charging up their harmony magic once again. Their magic flowed into Twilight, who again launched the rainbow beam from her horn, just in time to meet the black blast fired from Grogar's mouth. Unlike the last time, however, this was no clash of equals. Grogar's attack was far smaller, and the harmony beam was pushing it back easily. Within a couple of seconds, the rainbow had reached the ram, and attempted to envelope him. He conjured a black, spherical shield around his body, which began to crack within seconds.

"I WON'T SUBMIT!" he screamed over the noise. "I'LL NEVER SUBMIT!"

His magic continued reinforcing the barrier, even as the rainbow pounded on it. What he didn't notice was that the rainbow was slowly beginning to push him back, towards Tambelon Castle.

"GROGAR, STOP!" Twilight called out, having realized what was about to happen. "IF YOU DON'T, YOU'LL—"

"ROT IN TARTARUS, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" screamed the ram.

It was at that moment that his shield shattered. Grogar was caught by the rainbow, feeling it assault his body from every direction, causing him to roar in agony once again. Twilight tried to stop the rainbow then, but harmony had a will of its own, and it was out of her hooves.

With Grogar trapped inside it, the rainbow beam flew towards Tambelon Castle, and began circling the building, growing faster and faster by the second. Soon, the entire structure was surrounded by a multicolored tornado of light, completely obliterating the darkness. Then the castle actually began lifting into the air, off the shattered remains of Canterlot Castle. The harmony magic pushed the structure into the portal to Tambelon itself, until it disappeared from view. With one final pulse of magic, the vortex to Tambelon collapsed on itself, and vanished from existence.

Grogar and Tambelon were gone from this world.

Author's Note

Only two chapters left!

Chapter Thirteen: Wrapping Up

The magical glow faded from the eyes of Twilight Sparkle and her five best friends as they descended back to the ground. Once their hooves reached the earth once more, they all nearly collapsed face-first into the grass, even Pinkie Pie. Nopony would blame them, considering they'd channeled all their magic into one, harmonic blast to defeat the Elements of Disharmony. It was no surprise they could barely stand up straight.

"Are you okay, Twilight?" asked Spike, rushing over to her side.

"I'm fine," replied the alicorn. "Just kinda worn out."

"Could somepony tell the world to stop spinning, please? I'd like to get off," complained Pinkie, wobbling from side to side.

"So, uh...anypony know what happened to Grogar?" asked Rainbow. "I'd kinda like to know if we just killed him. Not that I'm complaining, considering we gave the chance to surrender, but..."

"He's not dead," replied Twilight. "We banished him back to Tambelon, along with his castle. He's just trapped in the dimension of darkness now." She looked sadly over the remains of Canterlot Castle, over which the portal to Tambelon had once floated. "I wish we could've reformed him. Made him see that friendship isn't a waste of time, that's it's better to have friends than to rule the world."

"We gave him a fair chance, sugar cube," said Applejack. "He's the one who rejected it. We can offer friendship to everypony, but we have no control over whether or not they take it."

"It's a shame, but true," added Rarity. "It's not like we can force anypony to accept our ideology. That would make us unjust brainwashers."

Twilight's frown faded a little, but she still looked down at the ground, sadly. She was the Princess of Friendship, charged with spreading that concept and all that it entailed across Equestria. Did Grogar's refusal mean she'd failed? Was she simply not good enough as a princess to convince him to change his ways?

She felt a paw settle on her withers, causing her to look behind her. Discord floated beside her, a somber, but accepting look gracing his features.

"Don't take it personally, Twilight," he told her. "Grogar...father...never really accepted anyone else's ideas. He believed he was always right about everything. I think calling him insane wouldn't be much of a stretch. It was admirable of you to offer him redemption, but it's not your fault he didn't take it."

That brought an actual smile to Twilight's face. She still felt sorry for Grogar, but that didn't seem as heavy to her now.

"Thank you, Discord," she replied, flying up until she was level with his head and hugging him.

Once she settled back down onto the ground, a small cough caught her attention.

"Um, Twilight?" ventured Fluttershy. "I don't want to spoil our victory moment, but before we do anything else, I think we should decide what happens to them."

She pointed with one butter-yellow hoof. Twilight's eyes followed, discovering Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, the Storm King, and Cozy Glow were all still lying on the grass. She noticed their wounds didn't appear to be bleeding anymore, likely a by-product of the harmony blast. Twilight felt relief course through her, happy to know that their enemies weren't still suffering.

The feeling didn't appear to be mutual, of course.

"If I were in your position, I'd execute us as quickly as possible!" Chrysalis screeched, though the effort clearly hurt her. "If you don't, we will be sure to return! We'll find more dark magic, and we'll bring you ponies down until you can't—"

Tirek weakly raised his hand, and covered Chrysalis' mouth again. "Please, shut up," he grumbled. "My head hurts enough already."

"Just send us all to Tartarus already," said Cozy. "I bet my cage is still warm, anyway."

Princess Celestia marched past Twilight, Luna by her side, and glared down at Grogar's five lieutenants.

"Do any of you have any idea what you did?" she demanded. "Grogar wasn't seeking to conquer Equestria, he wanted to destroy it! And the five of you went along with him! Not to mention the destruction of the Tree of Harmony! There is no punishment in this plane of existence worthy of what you have done!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that," said Discord, snaking his way around Celestia's neck. "I can think of a few good ones."

"Hey, it's not like we had a choice!" complained the Storm King. "He said he'd, and I quote, inflict a pain worse than death on us if we didn't help him."

"Now you know how I felt," Tempest growled, earning her a glare from her former boss. "Well, not exactly, but you did say you'd destroy me if I failed you."

"We can build an enchantment to keep the Everfree Forest from overgrowing and covering Equestria," said Star Swirl, "but you still destroyed one of the most powerful beacons of good magic in this world. The severity of that act cannot be overstated."

Sombra groaned. "Are you actually going to sentence us?" he whined. "Or is sitting here listening to you monologue the punishment? Because, if that's it, I'd rather go back to being dead."

Celestia opened her mouth, likely to reprimand the villains some more, but Twilight touched her on the wing, prompting her to stop. The solar alicorn looked down at her former student, and as they made eye contact, a wordless conversation passed between them. Celestia gave a small nod after a few seconds, and took a step backwards. Luna followed her. Twilight was left alone to look down at the villains.

"The others are correct. Each of you have committed your own grave crimes against Equestria, embodying the elements of greed, cruelty, despair, deceit, and betrayal. Even worse, you worked alongside Grogar, whose evil eclipses all of your own. I understand he threatened you, but you could've found a way to get around him, and yet you didn't even try. We cannot allow such evil to go unpunished.

"However," she continued, holding up a hoof to silence any potential interruptions, "as the Princess of Friendship, and the future ruler of all Equestria, it's my duty to spread comradery to every creature across this world, or to at least try. And I won't make exceptions for you five, despite all that you have done.

"Don't mistake this as getting off. You five will still serve sentences in Tartarus. But when you get out, you will be given the chance to redeem yourselves. You will be given the opportunity to accept friendship and become kind and productive members of society. If I were you, I'd take that opportunity. Especially you, Sombra and Storm King. You two were given a second chance at life, something very many creatures dream of but never get. I suggest you use it."

The Storm King groaned and slapped his own forehead, Chrysalis hissed, and Cozy Glow looked like someone had just told her Hearth's Warming was canceled. Still, none of them had any strength left to whine in actual words.

Twilight turned to Shining Armor. "Can you contain them until we can get them transported back to Tartarus?"

"Sure," answered her brother, lighting up his own horn. Magical crystal barriers began forming around the five villains, levitating them off the ground and moving them from their positions.

"We should have enough anti-magic metal to cage all of them," he continued. "I'll post some extra security around Tartarus, just in case."

Twilight sighed in relief, before turning around and walking back to her group. Princess Celestia looked down at her former student, tears beginning to form in her lilac eyes.

"I am so proud of you, Twilight," she breathed. "You've grown so much. We couldn't have chosen a better successor to rule Equestria."

Twilight blushed a little. "Thank you, but I never could've done it alone," she admitted. She cast her gaze over the other five former Element Bearers, Spike, and all the other creatures that had come to their aid. "You taught me the most valuable lesson of all: friendship can overcome anything."

"I'm glad you took that lesson to heart, Twilight," Celestia continued. "You truly are the Princess of Friendship, and all that encompasses."

"We've still got a lot of rebuilding to do before the coronation," Spike pointed out, sadly. "Canterlot is pretty much in ruins right now." He gestured at the massive pile of rubble that was once Canterlot Castle.

"It doesn't matter," said Twilight. "We've rebuilt it before, we can do it again. As long as we all work together, we can do anything."

Discord groaned. "The sappiness of this is killing me..."

"Me too," complained Rainbow Dash. "Still, at least the fight's over."

"Who's up for a 'We Just Saved Equestria Again' party?!" shouted Pinkie, who immediately regretted it based on how the other five immediately pressed their hooves to their heads in pain. "Oops. Sorry!"

Bonus Chapter: What If?

Crystal Empire, Equestria

"We can't just go up against Grogar and the others again. Not with nothing but our wits," insisted Twilight. "We don't have the Elements of Harmony anymore, so we need something to even the odds."

"But what else could we possibly bring to the fight?" asked Spike. "The Crystal Heart only works in the Empire, and I can't think of any other magical artifacts that could overpower someone like Grogar."

"It's not like we can just lure him to the Empire," added Tempest. "There must be something that can match the power of those dark elements."

Twilight thought for a minute, while the others tossed around suggestions but dismissed them just as quickly. Tempest had to be correct, Grogar's power couldn't be absolute. But in all of Equestria, was there anything that could—

An idea hit her like a lightning bolt. There might not be anything in Equestria, but what about beyond Equestria? Plus, they could get some additional aid.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed, taking off with a single flap of her wings. "I know where we can go!"

"Where? What do you mean?" asked Celestia.

"Through the mirror!"

Comprehension slowly rose into the faces of Spike and the other former Element Bearers.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Rainbow Dash. "From what you've told us about that place, it sounds kinda...less magical."

"But Sunset Shimmer's group embodies the Elements of Harmony as well," said Starlight. "Maybe their powers haven't been affected by the loss of the tree."

"Wait, what?" asked Tempest. "Who's Sunset Shimmer? What's this about a mirror?"

"Trixie would also like to know what's going on," said the showmare.

"It's...kind of a long story," said Twilight. "To sum it up quickly, there's a magic mirror back in my castle that is a gateway to another world, where counterparts of all of us live as a species without magic called humans. Oh, and Celestia's former student, Sunset Shimmer, basically moved there."

Tempest blinked a couple of times. "That...is a lot. Seriously, that sounds insane."

"Anyway," Twilight continued, "Sunset and the counterparts of myself and my friends can basically channel the power of the Elements of Harmony. They each have a special pendant that gives them a magical power. Combined, they can equal the power of the Elements themselves."

"Sweet. So we're sneaking back to Ponyville?"

"Definitely. There's a magic journal I can use to contact Sunset in my castle."

Canterlot High, Earth

Sunset Shimmer and her posse charged down the halls of their high school, having rushed out of class the second Sunset's copy of the journal vibrated. A few texts had summoned everyone, and the teachers, used to these seven students having to rush to avert magical catastrophes over and over again, had simply let them go. Sunset had filled them all in on Twilight's message, and the current situation in Equestria. Eventually they shoved open the front doors of the school, arriving at the Wondercolt statue nobody had bothered to repair.

They didn't have to wait long before the portal opened and Princess Twilight, in human form, came tumbling through, only to be caught by Sunset.

"Thank you. Hey, girls," she said to the others. "Hey, me." The spectacled Twilight gave her the thumbs up.

"I got your message," said Sunset, holding up the journal. "Is it true? Grogar destroyed the Tree? The Elements are gone?"

"Pretty much, yeah," replied Twilight. "Please tell me your geodes are still working, at least."

Rarity projected one of her diamond barriers in front of her. "They seem to work, darling," she replied. "Though I don't know if we'll be much help in pony bodies we're not used to."

"Not to mention we have no idea if they'll work in Equestria," added human Twilight. "We still have no idea how much works in this world. Maybe their powers will fade if we go through the portal."

Princess Twilight swallowed nervously. "Well there has to be something! We can't beat Grogar by ourselves! Can any of you think of anything?"

For about two minutes, nobody spoke. They thought, staring around and scratching their heads. All of a sudden, Sunset snapped her fingers, bringing everyone's attention back to her.

"I have an idea!" she announced. Then her face fell a little. "But... Now that I'm thinking about it, it's pretty radical. Risky, too."

"At this point, Sunset, I'm willing to try anything," replied Princess Twilight.

Sunset took another deep breath. "How would you feel about revealing the existence of the portal to everyone?"

*Several phone calls, demonstrations of magic, and one teleportation later*

"So, let me get this straight," said the president. "You're from an alternate universe, which is populated by the same people, except instead of humans, they're magical talking ponies, you're the Princess of Friendship over there, you've been traveling between world via a magical portal in front of a high school, and you're coming to this government for help to deal with a goat who wants to destroy your world simply because he can."

"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds kind of ridiculous," responded Princess Twilight. "Still, that's pretty much it. I'm sorry our first real contact had to be a plea for aid from you, but we're running out of options."

The president sighed, running his hands over his face. "You know, if you hadn't proven that magic exists just a few minutes ago, I wouldn't have believed you." He pointed to human Twilight and Princess Twilight. "I'd be more inclined to believe you two were just twins pulling some super elaborate prank. Now, I don't know what to think." He sighed again. "I never thought my administration would be the first to have contact with aliens."

"I assure you, my world has no problems with yours," said Sunset. "But if Grogar brings Equestria to ruin, and finds out the existence of this world, he'll come for you."

"That's another thing," replied the president. "You're a magical unicorn, yet you've been living among us humans for years. How'd you manage to go undetected for so long?"

Sunset frowned. "It...took a lot of work. I admit, not all of my methods were legal. But can we sort that out later?"

"Sure." The president turned back to Princess Twilight. "Now, what exactly is it you need from us?"

"I didn't have a lot of time to study your human weapons," she replied, "but from what I have seen in books and on the internet, your militaries are quite impressive. We just need some of that firepower to convince Grogar to surrender."

The president swallowed. "Well, I'll see what I can do," he answered. "Though, will our soldiers be of much use in pony bodies they're not familiar with?"

"Leave that problem to us," responded the princess. "I'm sure we can tinker with the mirror to get it to keep you in human form after passing through."

"Alright." The president picked up his phone.

Canterlot, Equestria

Grogar impatiently tapped his hoof against the floor of Tambelon Castle. Twilight Sparkle and her friends, along with any allies they might manage to drag out, should've attacked by now. He'd studied them and their personalities for years, and come to the conclusion that hiding like cowards would've been out of character for them. He'd predicted that they'd make one more futile effort to attack him, even without their precious Elements of Harmony, and he'd crush them, asserting his dominance over Equestria. However, his magical senses hadn't detected them approaching.

"Chrysalis," he barked, "are there any more hidden pathways Twilight Sparkle's team could use to get to Canterlot? Perhaps if they intended to take us by surprise?"

The changeling queen shook her head. "We've searched every possible avenue they might've used to reach this place. If they were on their way, we'd know about it."

"That's what I thought," responded the goat. He rested his chin on one hoof, thinking deeply. Perhaps he'd overestimated their bravado. Perhaps the defeat he'd previously handed them was so great they couldn't muster the will to face him again. If that were the case, he could simply hunt them down and exterminate them, without the need to—

A ping in one of his magical sensors brought Grogar out of his own head. He smirked. "So they're coming after all," he muttered.

He turned his gaze towards the eastern sky. His magic scanning had detected movement in the air from that direction. Grogar had expected the ponies not to approach from the air, considering how easy it would be to spot them, but perhaps they were more foolish than he thought. Now all he needed to do was shoot down the airship they were using, then head to the crash site and pick off the survivors.

His confidant smirk faded into a confused frown as the detected object pushed through the clouds, coming into view. He'd expected a zeppelin, or perhaps a few pegasus chariots Celestia had managed to dig out from somewhere. What he saw was no fewer than twenty-five large, metallic tubes with wings, with flames shooting from their rears, that seemed to be propelling them. In all his years of observing Equestria, he'd never seen any kind of technology like this.

A tapping on his shoulder caught his attention. "Master Grogar?" ventured Tirek, pointing down at the plains surrounding Canterlot.

Grogar had felt his magical sensors below go off as well, and as he looked down, he discovered several large, metal vehicles advancing on Tambelon Castle. They were pulled by no ponies, but seemed to run on their own power, pushed forward by tread-like wheels on either side. A long tube extended forward out of the top of each one, pointing forward, aiming directly at Tambelon Castle. Grogar didn't know why, but they made him uneasy.

"What are those?" asked Cozy Glow.

"I'm not sure," admitted the ram, "but they change nothing. Whatever Twilight Sparkle has brought to challenge me, it cannot compare to my power."

From her position inside the tank, Twilight went over the plan again, praying that nothing would go wrong. Get in, get Grogar to surrender. That was all there was to it.

"Everypony ready?" she said into her microphone. Her and all her friends had been provided with one. None of the soldiers believed they would need to communicate, expecting an easy fight, but she'd insisted on them, just in case.

"We've got no problems so far," responded Rainbow Dash. "Aerial approach is going smoothly."

"Same thing on the ground," added Applejack.

Twilight swallowed in anticipatory fear. She trusted the human soldiers, but that didn't mean she had one hundred percent faith in this operation.

"Sunset, are you absolutely sure about this?" she asked, one more time.

"Definitely," replied the unicorn, patting Twilight on the wing. "Trust me, Grogar has no idea what we're bringing to his doorstep. There's nothing he has that can counter this."

Twilight felt a little better, smiling at her friend before turning back towards Tambelon Castle.

Grogar himself had taken the first few steps out onto the lawn, his five lieutenants hanging back a short distance. All the tanks pointed their cannons at him, though if it worried him, he didn't show it. Twilight used her magic to open the hatch on the tank she was riding in, and floated out with a single flap of her wings.

"Grogar," she called out, using a little magic to amplify her voice, "we have you completely surrounded. You are outnumbered and outgunned. Surrender, and you will be shown mercy."

The ram cast his butter-colored eyes across the force that had assembled before him. Above, the jets were now doing loops around the towers of Tambelon Castle, primed to start bombing should the situation require it. Fortunately, he had no way of knowing that.

"I'll admit, Twilight Sparkle," he began, "this isn't the last stand I was expecting. It is...slightly more impressive. However, it is clear to me you are simply bluffing in an attempt to convince me to surrender, and you will fail in that endeavor."

"You honestly think this is a bluff?" Twilight snapped back at him. "What, you think this is all some kind of magic illusion? Even with all of our magic combined, I don't know if I could create an illusion this elaborate!"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie could," muttered the showmare from inside her tank, only to be shushed by Starlight.

"The exact method by which you achieved this eludes me, I confess," Grogar continued, "but my magic is powerful enough to defeat these forces, even if they were real."

Twilight felt her wings droop a little. He wasn't going to listen, no matter what they did.

"So be it," she said. She ducked back inside the tank, closing the hatch behind her.

"You did your best," said the driver. "He's just too stubborn for his own good."

"So now what?" Twilight asked.

The soldier passed her what looked like a small, metallic sphere. "Pull the pin and chuck it."

Twilight knew what a grenade was. She didn't like this plan, but she supposed there was no other choice. Lighting up her horn, she lifted it in her telekinetic grip, and opened the tank hatch once more. She yanked the pin out, and pitched the grenade as hard as she could towards Grogar, who didn't react. The sphere landed a short distance from his hooves.

"Really? You hope to defeat me by throwing balls at me? What are you—"

The rest of Grogar's evil rant would go unheard, as the grenade burst, obscuring the ram in a smokey explosion. His five lieutenants were far enough away that they weren't hit, but they still reeled back in shock. When the smoke cleared, it revealed Grogar's fallen body, clearly dead.

Twilight poked her head out. "Now, if any of the rest of you want to fight, we will not hesitate to—"

"We surrender!" exclaimed the Storm King, throwing his hands in the air. The other four followed suit, thrusting their forelimbs upwards.

"Oh," replied Twilight, dumbfounded. "Well, that was easy."

"And you beat him that easily?" demanded Scootaloo. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, as well as Sandbar and his friend group, had arrived mere minutes after the surrender, along with pretty much all of Equestria, looking to help in the battle against Grogar. However, they'd quickly learned there was no battle to be fought.

"Pretty much, yeah," replied Sunset Shimmer, taking a swig of her drink.

"Oh," said Apple Bloom, sounding a little disappointed. "We, uh...had a whole 'power of friendship' speech set up and everything."

"Looks like we won't be needing it this time," said Twilight. "Thanks, though. Maybe keep that speech for the next crisis."

Author's Note

Thanks to Sunset_Shimmer83 for giving me the original idea for this. Don't take this chapter seriously, I wrote it as a joke.
You're probably wondering why I didn't address whether or not Grogar's five minions took the offer of reformation. Well, I wanted to leave it up to each individual reader as to whether they reformed or not, or whether some reformed but others didn't.
Anyways, thanks for reading.