After passing some corridors, Gusty and Glory finally encountered Crunch. They slowed down and immediately hid behind a wall. Glory took her head out a little to scan their surroundings and assess the best course of action to take. At the end of the corridor, Glory noticed a door that led to a courtyard they hadn´t been at before.

“Look.” she quietly indicated Gusty with her hoof. “We need to get there to send the signal. How do ye think we could do it?”

Gusty put her hoof on her chin in thought. After a few seconds, she scowled determined. Instead of giving Glory a verbal response, like she expected, Gusty directly jumped to action.

“Wait!” Glory tried to grab her tail, but it slipped from her hooves like butter. Funnily enough, Gusty pulled hers seconds afterwards.

“Heeey, you big ugly ball of stone!” Gusty cried out to Crunch while shaking her hooves. I´m right here!”

Crunch´s ears perked up before turning around.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!” he said with fiery eyes.

Like a bull, he pawed with his right foreleg and went straight towards the two unicorns. Gusty waited until he was pouncing on them to teleport herself and Glory forward, using Crunch´s crash against to their advantage to both gain time and get farther from him.

“What was that?!” Glory asked upset as they ran away as fast as they could from Crunch.

“I´m sorry, it was the only way we could pass him.” Gusty apologized.

While they were speaking, Crunch got up and went back to chase them. Gusty and Glory finally arrived at the courtyard. The most peculiar aspect, and perhaps the most dangerous as well, was that it was elevated from the ground, being sustained by a short tower. Despite of not being such a tall fall, a pony could get seriously injured if they slipped from the edges. That was why Glory advised Gusty to slow down.

“Careful, careful...” she whispered to her.

Seconds later, Crunch broke the door that led to the courtyard. Gusty put herself between Crunch and Glory.

“Give the signal, hurry!” she ordered her.

Glory nodded. She ignited her horn and threw a magical ray to the sky for everpony to see and hear. When it exploded, it produced a bright ball of light, as well as a huge bang. When it faded, Glory repeated the same process all times necessary.

Meanwhile, at the corridors of the castle, Posey stopped running abruptly as soon as she heard a loud noise. She ran to the nearest window and looked through it, seeing the beautiful light spectacle.

“The signal!” she warned everypony, causing them to stop and for Majesty and Lancer to turn around. “They´re in that small tower!” she pointed at the window when Majesty and Lancer arrived at her side.

“Everypony get ready to teleport!” Majesty commanded.

In the meantime, Gusty and Crunch glared at each other.

“Don´t you touch her!” Gusty ignited her horn harder.

“Nah, let her call all your little friends.” Crunch replied smugly. “As if that would have any effect on me! But I´ll say, it was due time you faced up to me, you coward.” he teased her.

“Don´t flatter yourself. I was just biding my time.”

Crunch laughed amused.

“You think you´re so snarky, aren´t you? If you really are, why don´t you start the fight already?!” he kicked his chest with both paws at the same time. “Or you´re foolishly trying not to escalate the situation? Because it´s already too late!” he stomped his paw as hard as he could, shaking the ground a little and making Gusty shiver in fear a little. Nevertheless, she still stood with her head high.

“Funny you tease me for that, because look at what happened between you and Sarama for not being able to control your anger!”

Crunch clenched his teeth enraged. Without any warning he went to punch Gusty. The unicorn conjured up a force field for herself and Glory, closed her eyes, and braced herself for impact, thinking he would break through it like he did before. Strangely, she didn´t notice anything. She opened her eyes and widened them when she realized that Starswirl held his paw with magic, as if it was a rope. At the same time, he was being held by the earth ponies, who at the same time were being held by Lancer, Fizzy, Buttons, Majesty along some of her soldiers. Crunch tried to get that magical rope off.

“Let. GO!” he hit the ponies with his free paw, swiping them all off as if they were flies.

The ponies hit the floor or the wall. Angry that he hurt her friends and taking advantage that his chest was uncovered, Gusty took aim at the centre. Unfortunately, Crunch quickly noticed her intentions so when Gusty zapped, he grabbed his sword and used it to divert the attack to Glory, who jumped away to avoid getting hit.

“DON´T YOU DO THAT AGAIN!” he screamed at Gusty.

He was about to punch her, but she teleported away before he could touch her. A few seconds later, he felt something rubbing his skin of stone. He looked up and saw many unicorns zapping at him. Growling like a tremendously angry wolf, he picked up big rocks around him and threw them against them, but luckily they were able to break them before it could hit any of them. Leveraging that distraction, Gusty and Glory rushed to attend everypony.

“What on earth were you intending to do back there?!” Majesty scolded Gusty for her imprudence as she helped her up.

“The heart! It´s the heart!” Gusty answered.

“Wha- What do you mean?” Majesty raised her eyebrow confused.

“His weak spot, my queen.” Glory explained. “It is the heart.”

“You figured it out?!” Starswirl asked enthusiastically surprised. “How?”

“Sarama told us.”

“She did?!” Lancer, Buttons, Fizzy and all the earth ponies, except for Posey, asked in chorus.

“Ha! I knew she had a heart.” Posey exclaimed cockily.

“After their showdown, I´m not surprised she ended up doing that.” Majesty confessed. “If I had that wild beast as a husband and the opportunity came to dump him and let him get himself killed, I would too. That doesn´t mean she´s on our side, though. But we´ll deal with that later.”

“So… What´s your plan exactly?” Buttons asked Gusty.

“And how does it involve us?” Alonzo took the opportunity to ask about the earth ponies´ role in the plan. “I don´t know if we can do much against him but we´ll support you in any way we can.” he raised his hoof to his forehead, along the other earth ponies.

Gusty smiled at him. Then she turned to Starswirl.

“That spell you did back there, is it hard to learn?”

“Hm… Not at all…” Starswirl responded with a smirk, knowing what she was planning to do.

Crunch turned around a moment to look for another stone to throw at the unicorns at the tower. He observed the Wind Warrior and company were distracted, which provided the perfect chance to attack them. Fortunately, Shady was able to notice Crunch picking up a big rock. Quickly, she ran towards him, picked up a stone with her tail and span it as if it was a sling, taking aim at one of the eyes. She grunted as she threw the stone, hitting exactly at the target. Crunch´s moan alerted everypony of what was going on.

“Run!” she exclaimed, seeing that he had released the stone and was too busy squirming in pain.

Unfortunately, seconds after saying that, Crunch responded to the offence. He frowned and trapped Shady in one of her paws. The earth pony whimpered, causing Magic Star to stop running and turn around.

“SHADY!!!” Magic Star yelled terrified for her friend.

Crunch pressed his fist as hard as he could, flexed his elbow, and then advanced it towards the ground with all the strength he could. The impact of his fist on the ground was such that he produced a bang and a hole equivalent to a meteorite.

“NOOOOOO!” each of Shady´s friends yelled.

Majesty and the rest of the unicorns widened their eyes surprised.

“That will serve you a lesson.” Crunch said while opening his fist before walking towards the unicorns, revealing a bruised, weakened and struggling to breathe Shady.

The sight of her friend left all of her friends terrified, especially Magic Star.

“No no! SHADYYY!” she exclaimed in tears as she ran to her.

Once she was in her friend´s forelegs, Shady opened her eyes and smiled at her when she saw her face.

“Did you see that?” she struggled to articulate. “I threw a stone to his eye.” she weakly laughed. “I was very brave there…”

Magic Star wanted nothing else than yell and scold her. But the only thing she could do was smiling at her in return.

“Yes. You are the bravest and most daredevil pony I´ve ever met.” she agreed.

Shady weakly chuckled in return.

Crunch´s heavy steps reminded the two earth ponies they still were on battlefield. They turned their heads to him. They saw how the unicorns walked backwards the more he approached them. He went on to catch Gusty, but Glory pushed her aside, letting herself get taken instead.

“GLORY!” Majesty and Lancer screamed in chorus.

Crunch cackled as he saw Glory struggling to get out from his paw.

“I´m afraid you´re not going anywhere.” he said to her. Then, he turned to Gusty. “If you don´t yield this instant, I´ll do exactly as I did to your friend or turn her slowly to stone!”

The word stone reminded Glory of what she saw noticed back when they were at keep tower. That´s when she came up with an idea that perhaps was impossible or could backfire, but she had to try. So, before Gusty could give an answer, or even think of one, Glory activated her horn and closed her eyes. The sound, as well as the light of her magic, caught Crunch´s and the unicorns´ attention. The stone dog laughed at how Glory was struggling to cast a spell, whereas the unicorns were expectant.

“Nice try! But I don´t think magic will save you from your fate!” he said while beginning the petrifying spell.

But seconds later, Glory´s eyes turned white, which immediately dispelled the smile in Crunch´s face. Afterwards, a big flash blinded every creature around. Once it faded, Glory´s appearance was different, leaving everypony amazed. All her body was transparent and sparkling, but Crunch´s paw didn´t go through her body, meaning she wasn´t a ghost. Only one explanation was left.

“Did she-” Knightshade began speaking.

“Turn herself into crystal?!” Fizzy ended the phrase.

Glory opened her eyes and gasped when she stared at her hooves. Though still the same colour, Glory´s eyes changed as well. Her dots were not circular as usual but had other geometrical shapes instead, just like the rest of her body. Having proven her hypothesis right, she smiled cockily at Crunch, who was in shock.

“Don´t you smirk yet you missy!” he yelled at her. “This doesn´t change things for you!”

Crunch closed his fist to turn her to stone, but nothing happened. He widened his eyes.

“Wha- Not again!!!” he shouted frustrated.

He tried again and again, but the result was still the same: Glory still remained moving and glowing.

“Why isn´t it working?!” he asked panicked.

“Oh, ye didn´t study the properties of stone for the spell?” she asked back teasingly. “Because stone is basically formed by various crystals of minerals. Ye can´t crystal into crystal!”

Everypony smiled with pride at Glory, especially Lancer and Majesty, since they have been the closest to her the longest. Though she was the most trustworthy, responsible, and thoughtful pony ever, Glory often thought herself as inferior when it came to being an unicorn for not having accomplished a cutie mark yet at her age. They tried to help her in any way they could, but their knowledge in magic as well as time and resources, were very limited, so they´ve never been able to deepen on the subject as much as they wanted. Nevertheless, they always knew she had a special talent that didn´t show itself yet. Everypony had one, so why would she be any different? They felt so delighted that she finally discovered her special talent and was making the most of it.

Crunch clenched his teeth while growling.

“But crystal can still break, can it?!”

As soon as she felt growing pressure on her body, Glory prepared to teleport away, but it wasn´t going to be necessary, for Lancer zapped at his paw. Having seen this trick before with Gusty when she was trying to protect Magic Star, he tried to resist more time but the burning sensation in his skin of stone was too much to bear, so he ended up releasing Glory. Aware she was more fragile than ever, Gusty picked her up with a small tornado, gently bringing her back to the ground. Once her hooves were touching the ground, all her friends went to her.

“Wooow!” Fizzy´s eyes shone like Glory´s crystal body. “You look so pretty!!” she pressed her own cheeks while admiring her beauty.

“I want to have a crystal body too!” Buttons exclaimed.

Glory looked away flattered.

“How did you know that stones were made of crystals?” Gusty asked her, full of curiosity.

“Well… Once I knew how to read, I read every book that Majesty had available. And one of those books was about the different elements in nature.”

“This is fascinating!” Starswirl exclaimed very enthusiastic. “The only thing is… How long does the spell last?”

And just like that, Glory´s body returned to normal, as if by saying those words Starswirl recited a spell to undo Glory´s. Glory pressed her lips.

“Hm. Not so much.” she lamented. “Maybe it´s because I´m new at this.”

“You´re new at this, but you did things out of an unicornis ex machina!” Knightshade exclaimed.

Everypony stared at him estranged.

“What? Earth ponies know pony latin too.” Knightshade shrugged. “It´s called pony latin for a reason, you know?”

“Um… A little help here!” Lancer called them out, since he, Majesty and her army were busy dealing with Crunch.

“Oh right!” Gusty gently hit her forehead. She took some time to think before continuing speaking. “Hm… Okay. Glory, do you think you could do the same spell for others?”

“I don´t see any reason as to why not, but it might take me a lot of energy.” Glory replied. “And as ye´ve seen, it doesn´t last much.”

“Is this related to the beam rope spell?” Starswirl asked her.

Without the need of words, Gusty´s smirk cleared up his question. But it would fade away when she noticed Magic Star holding the weak and injured Shady in her forelegs.

“How are you doing?” she asked Shady in concern once everypony approached her and Magic Star.

“Staying alive…” she lifted her hoof very slightly. Afterwards, she rested her head on Magic Star´s foreleg while sighing.

“I can´t leave her alone.” Magic Star shook her head. “She needs me to heal her. I´m sorry but I´m afraid I can´t help you this time.” she lamented.

“Oh, no need to apologise.” Posey hugged her, along Knightshade and Alonzo.

“It´s okay, you´ve done a lot for us already.” Buttons laid her hoof on her shoulder. “Shady should be your top priority now.” she turned to everypony. “If you all don´t mind, I´ll stay with them too. Crunch might go to them, so they´ll need somepony to defend them.” Buttons winked at the two earth ponies, making them smile.

“By all means! Please do so! We all got this.” Fizzy reassured her. At the same time, everypony nodded in agreement.

“I know this is not the best moment to say it, but Lancer, Majesty and everypony need us.” Glory interjected, looking at Shady with regret, but the earth pony gave her an understanding smile. “So could ye tell us what´s your whole plan?”

Gusty nodded determined.

During the time they were speaking, Lancer, Majesty and the rest of the unicorns fought to keep Crunch at bay, distracting him as much time as possible until they had a plan. Although that time hadn´t been long, for those unicorns it felt eternal, as they feared they would run out of energy for the most important step. On a brighter side, Crunch was feeling the exhaustion too. Progressively and slowly, his blows were becoming less damaging and impactful, but he was still dangerous, as he resorting more to his petrification abilities.

“WHY. WON´T. YOU. HOLD. STILL?!!!” Crunch yelled as he struggled to turn Majesty to stone, since she was constantly teleporting to different spots.

There came a moment Majesty had to take a pause. Using her horn several times, in addition to the stress of having been imprisoned for days and having fought for a long time this day, caused her to have a severe migraine. Crunch saw an opportunity to attack when he realized she stopped to massage her forehead. For her fortune, Lancer jumped in front of her and stopped his petrifying eye lasers with a magical beam. The two beams met and clashed against each other, both struggling to advance forward.

“Thank you, Lancer.” she sighed tired. “Please tell me they all have figured out a plan already, so the nightmare´s over. My head´s killing me.”

“SO DO I!!” Lancer cried terrified, noticing how Crunch was winning the beam wrestling.

Luckily, it wasn´t over for him and Majesty yet, for Posey had come to the rescue. In the riskiest way, that is. Taking advantage of Crunch´s stern focus on turning Majesty and Lancer to stone, the earth pony climbed his body. Confused by their action, his eyes came back to normal.

“Hey, you soulless pathetic stone!” Posey yelled at him while hanging from his ear. “I didn´t know you´d make a great playground sculpture!”

Crunch growled offended.

“GET OFF!” he demanded with glowing furious eyes.

He noticed another thing climbing his front leg. Looking down, he saw Alonzo, who was trying to get on his loin. And seconds afterwards, he felt his tail being pulled. After turning his head back, he found Knightshade was the cause. He giggled nervously when his gaze met Crunch´s.

“I´M GONNA TURN YOU INTO-”

However, he immediately shut his eyes after a bomb full of a red liquid exploded in his face, courtesy from Posey. He yelled in pain as tears streamed down his cheeks and mucus came out from his nose while coughing. The earth ponies leveraged the distraction to get away safely, getting with Lancer and Majesty. What Posey didn´t notice was that some of the other bombs she had fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, every unicorn around stared in shock, almost feeling empathy for Crunch, as he seemed to be in great pain.

“Um… Posey, what did you throw at him?” Lancer asked her.

“Hm… I think it was something made of pepper.” Posey replied, somewhat unsure. “Shady gave it to me.” she pointed at her.

Both Lancer and Majesty arched an eyebrow at her. She replied after drinking with difficulty a potion that Magic Star gave her. She coughed a little before speaking.

“You have no idea how useful pepper is when it comes getting rid of weirdos…” she chuckled slightly. “I call it, pepper spray.”

“How come you didn´t use it until now?” Magic Star asked her playfully.

“I always carry it around but between everything that happened, I forgot I had it on me.”

“Hmph!” Buttons shrugged. “Fair enough.”

Suddenly, Gusty materialized out of nowhere next to Lancer.

“GUYS!” she exclaimed.

“GAH!” Lancer sprang backwards. He held his chest while panting. “Don´t scare me like that!” he scolded her.

“Sorry.” Gusty dropped her ears. “But we need you now, quick every unicorn!”

All the unicorns disappeared together. They reappeared next to Fizzy, forming a crowd in front of Starswirl and Glory, who were standing at a rock.

“Listen everypony!” said Glory. “Crunch might be debilitated by the pepper in his eyes, but we must remember they´re not his weak spot, so its effect won´t last for long. For that, ye must pay close attention to what we are about to say.”

“In groups we are going to hold each of his paws with a beam rope, like I did before.” Starswirl continued the explanation. “It´s very easy to do, all you have to do is imagine it in your mind, cast it and then combine it with others. Like this.”

He tied up the rock he was on with his magic to give an example. After he smiled at them, everypony tried to do the same. Some got it quickly, while others needed to do more attempts to get it right, but at the end, they all managed to do it. They all smiled at Starswirl, proud of what they had accomplished, and the unicorn felt joy as well.

“Don´t worry if you fear that Crunch will petrify you with laser beams. To prevent that, I will try to turn you all into crystal.” Glory informed them. “But the effect fades quickly so I might have to hold the spell, but I don´t know for how long I will be able to do so. In other words, be fast!”

“You heard them, let´s organize in groups!” Majesty commanded.

“We can all do this!” Gusty said to motivate them.

Everypony nodded confidently.

Meanwhile, Alonzo, Posey, Knightshade and Buttons stood at the front, protecting Magic Star and Shady whenever Crunch stood up again. And unfortunately, that moment came sooner than expected. He wiped the tears off his swollen eyes and the mucus from his nose.

“OK, WHAT WAS THAT?!” he demanded an explanation quickly. “IT FELT LIKE A THOUSAND BLADES IN MY EYES!”

“That? That was self-defence and the consequences of your own actions, mon ami.” answered Buttons.

Unfortunately, Crunch noticed the pepper bombs that Posey had dropped accidentally before. He grinned maliciously.

“Oh, in that case this applies to all of you too!” he said before throwing one of them at the ponies.

The bomb landed on Knightshade´s face. The ponies covered in mouths. At first, Knightshade showed no reaction, probably due to shock, but seconds after he started crying and coughing like crazy.

“Oh, it burns! It burns! It buuuuurns!” he yelled as he shrank.

“Oh my…” Alonzo muttered as he tried to help his love.

Crunch was laughing at his pain.

“Now you know how it feels. But don´t worry. I can make the pain go away faster!”

He was about to hit the ponies to turn them to stone, but something prevented his fist from advancing. Not only that, seconds after, the same thing dragged him to the ground. This gave him the opportunity to discover what was the cause. He saw several magical tentacles holding him. Then, he noticed how more tentacles were tying around his other forelegs. He frowned when he saw the unicorns responsible for restraining were smirking at him but also widened his eyes in fear when he noticed their bodies were crystal. He understood how this was possible when he saw Glory keeping her horn activated as much time as possible. The only defence he had left were his hind legs but just about when he was going to use them, these got tied up as well. Glory had explained that the petrification had no effect on crystal but perhaps there was a small possibility it only happened when he touched physically and not on his eye lasers. He tried his hypothesis on a group of unicorns, but these were unaffected. He couldn´t believe it. He was losing.

“No… No, it can´t be!!” he exclaimed, feeling how panic was building inside him.

Then, Majesty and Gusty appeared in front of him.

“Oh, it is.” Gusty bluntly stated.

“I told you, Crunch. Sooner or later, I was going to take back what´s rightfully of my family!” Majesty said to him. Afterwards, she turned to Gusty. “Ready?”

Gusty gave her a confident grin. The two unicorns ignited their horns at the same time and zapped at Crunch´s heart.

“NOOOOOOOOO!” he screamed.

Slowly, the beams cracked Crunch´s stone chest, penetrating Crunch´s heart. When they reached it, a big ball of magic appeared, turning into an expansive wave afterwards that sent everypony on their backs. Once they didn´t feel air on their skin nor heard any sound of magic, they opened their eyes and got up. On the spot Crunch was standing there laid a big hole. Lancer, Starswirl, Fizzy, Buttons, and Posey circled it and looked down. Now, instead of a big muscular dog of stone, there was an unconscious bruised brown bulldog of a smaller size.

“So that is how he actually looks like…” Buttons commented.

“Who would have thought such big beast is just this?” wondered Posey.

“If you take out all the macho stuff, he´s kind of an adorable doggie. I can see why Sarama fell for him.” said Fizzy.

“It doesn´t matter how he looks like.” said Lancer. “What matters is if he´s dead or not.”

“Well… All we know is that the heart is his vulnerable spot. That could mean that either you weaken him or destroy by aiming there.” said Starswirl.

They walked back to Majesty, Glory and Gusty, who were busy with aiding the other ponies. Majesty helped her soldiers up, Glory tended Shady, and Gusty offered a handkerchief to Knightshade, who was still runny and crying due to the pepper. He smiled as a sign of gratitude after loudly blowing his nose. They gasped when she saw them.

“So?” Majesty asked anxiously.

“We don´t know whether he´s dead or he´s just passed out. But I´m pretty sure he can´t do anything against us anymore.” Lancer smiled warmly.

Gusty closed her eyes and sighed in relief while putting a hoof on her chest.

“Thuche. Thank goodness.” mumbled Gusty.

Majesty sighed puzzled while sitting down. She held her chest, almost struggling to breathe.

“Ye made it, my queen. Ye took Trottingham back.” Glory grabbed her shoulders, crying in joy like Majesty.

Majesty started laughing.

“I can´t believe it. After all this time.”

Glory joined in her laughter as she hugged Majesty. Gusty got teary as she observed the scene. As soon as she saw Gusty, Majesty gave her a smile full of emotion. Then unexpectedly, she hugged her.

“Thank you, Gusty.”

Gusty couldn´t believe what she was seeing. It was such a huge contrast to when she thanked her for letting her save her daughters. She came from undoing a hug to starting the hug herself. Plus, this was the most emotional she had ever seen her. Majesty may be all the serious and steady she wants to be, but after all she´s a pony with feelings.

“You´re welcome.” she muttered to Majesty.

“Thank you all for standing with me. This wouldn´t have been possible without any of you.”

Every unicorn joined the hug. The earth ponies, while moved by her joy, they felt uncomfortable, as they weren´t sure she wanted them in. Unexpectedly, Majesty looked at them with warmth.

“Including you.” she said.

They all were left with mouths hanging wide open, especially Knightshade. Nevertheless, they quickly regained their composure and joined them. Magic Star and Shady couldn´t accompany them for obvious reasons, but they shared their happiness for her from afar. Magic Star put her hoof on her heart and then direct towards Majesty, whereas Shady simply smiled.

Suddenly, a tiny yet noticeable flash inside the hug appeared, forcing everypony to undo the hug to find out where it came from. The answer was unexpected but a pleasant surprise, nonetheless.

“Glory! Your flank!” Fizzy pointed out after gasping.

Glory widened her eyes scared and confused at the light on her flank. However, when the flash faded, she noticed traces of purple on her flank, even if it was mostly covered by her armour. Suspecting what it was, she quickly took out that piece of armour. She was breathless when she saw that indeed she had just got her cutie mark. It was a purple crystalline shooting star with two brighter purple tails. A huge gasp came out from Lancer´s mouth.

“I can´t believe it, you got your cutie mark! Congratulations, girl!” he said while hugging and lifting her from the ground.

“I hope you like it, because it´s really beautiful!” said Buttons.

“It is…” Glory said in tears.

However, soon everypony would realize it wasn´t time for celebrations yet. The sounds of grunts, coughs and soil and small stones would alert a certain dog had recovered conscience.

“Oh, he´s alive!” Knightshade said before preparing to reach for his sword, but Majesty pushed it down.

“No, no need to.” she told him

Then, she walked to the hole to talk to the weakened dog face to face. The dog showed his teeth while growling at her and barked aggressively and loudly. But Majesty wasn´t intimidated by him at the slightest. Instead, she calmly shook her head.

“And to think that just minutes ago you were a threat.” she coldly said to him. “But now you´re dog whose bark is worse than his bite. Well, to be honest, you always have been. You always pretended to be this big tough alpha dog that nothing can hurt him, when in reality you´re just a coward.” she turned around. “Arrest him.” she ordered her soldiers.

“No!” spoke Crunch. “You don´t get to end this!” he panted. “I am Crunch! I´m The Destroyer!” he yelled while climbing up the hole. “And you´re just a pretender playing kings and queens! I made Trottingham a powerful city and built a powerful kingdom! Grogar even considered me a powerful ally!”

Though he tried to make a mighty speech, what the ponies were hearing was a toddler tantrum. Majesty looked at him with disdain. Her soldiers were shaking her heads or rolling their eyes. Gusty, Starswirl and Glory and Magic Star were frowning angrily at him. Posey was also frowning but more due to confusion and disbelief. Alonzo and Knightshade looked at each other with the same emotions. Fizzy, Buttons and Lancer raised an eyebrow unamused. Shady was too weak to form an expression but her face was clearly one of boredom.

“You should all be fearing me! You pathetic, idiotic, weakling po-GAAAAH!”

Crunch couldn´t finish his phrase, since all of the sudden a blade got through his chest, thus his yell of pain. Naturally, everypony was left in shock.

“ÉPALE!” exclaimed Fizzy.

Shady on the other hoof, was amazed by the sight.

“Whoah!” she softly exclaimed.

“Um… You have something sticking out from your chest, mate.” Lancer said to him, trying to process what was in his eyes.

When Crunch fell on his head, the perpetrator was revealed. Sarama puffed as she gripped her sickle firmly. Behind her, there were Argus and a beagle.

“I told you I´d cut your heart out for making me cry.” Sarama said bitterly. Afterwards, she drew her sickle.

“Sarama?!” Majesty asked surprised.

“The one and only.”

“I don´t understand, I thought you´d be gone by now.” Gusty said confused. “I thought you didn´t want to fight him.”

“I didn´t, but I had to make sure that Crunch was gone for good.” she looked at Crunch´s body. “And now he is.” she turned to Gusty. “Since you´re fighting Grogar, remember that every time you succeed, he´s there seething. Don´t be afraid to do what´s necessary, even if it´s out of spite for something he´s done against you. Spite´s as good a reason to take his power.”

Gusty nodded determined.

“That´s cold! But in a good way!” Posey exclaimed.

Sarama chuckled at her. Shady smiled at everypony, feeling very peaceful. So much that she started closing her eyes. However, everypony was too busy, preparing for what could come.

“Ok, but I have won the battle.” said Majesty. “You´re not attacking me nor any of my subjects nor you´re taking the castle!”

Sarama raised her paws, seeing Majesty preparing to attack her with magic.

“Whoah! Whoah! I have no desire of taking over Trottingham. All I want is for me and subjects to go to Dimondia so I can rule there like I was supposed to. And hopefully amend things in Caninia as well.”

Though still not so trusting of her, Majesty had to admit that Sarama´s plans for the future sounded too logical and real to be a lie. She stopped lighting her horn.

“Fine. But if any of you step a foot in here to harm us, I won´t be merciful.”

“Fair enough. None of us want trouble by coming back.”

“YOUUUU!!!” an undesired voice shouted from afar.

The ponies faces fell long when they saw Gaueko, Gwyllgi, Cavall and the dogs that captured Glory entering through the door that led to the courtyard they found themselves in.

“Well. Almost all of us.” Sarama corrected herself.

“Oh…. Nooo! Not them again!” Gusty buried her face on a hoof. “Just when I thought this was over!”

“Nah. At this point, they´re nothing to worry about.” Starswirl reassured her.

“Oh!” Gwyllgi exclaimed offended. “I beg to di-”

Along every dog, she gasped when she saw Crunch´s corpse.

“CRUNCH, NOOOO!” Cavall yelled in tears.

“You will pay for this!” the golden retriever yelled as he drew his sword.

“Ah ah ah!” Glory stood in his way, accompanied by Lancer, Buttons and Fizzy. The four unicorns had their unicorns activated. “Put that sword back in.”

“Listen to the lady.” Alonzo said after he an Knightshade took out their swords.

The dogs assessed the situation. They might have been able to attack them all before, but seeing how they all managed to weaken Crunch, if they attacked right now, they were very capable of disintegrate them in an instant. However, after realizing Sarama was there, perhaps they could still do something.

“YOU!” the golden retriever walked towards her. “You let this happen! You traitor!”

“Careful! You´re speaking to your queen!” the beagle pointed his sword at him.

“Queen?” the dalmatian asked confused. Then, she gasped in realization. “You did that, didn´t you?!” she pointed at Crunch´s wound on his back.

“I knew it! I knew you wanted to kill him!” the bulldog accused.

“You know? As a matter of fact, you´re right.” Sarama straight out admitted. “But I wouldn´t have gotten to that point if he hadn´t done all those crimes against me and my subjects and wasn´t willing to kill me and his subjects for standing up against him if he stayed alive and escaped by any chance. But I´m willing to give you a choice: accept me as your queen or be forever banished.”

Argus giggled.

“Hehehe! Who´s laughing now, you featherbrains?!” he laughed maniacally in revenge to how they treated him.

“Fine, I don´t need you, you heart-breaker!” exclaimed Gaueko.

Every pony and dog stared estranged at him. Posey, on the other hoof, smirked and raised an eyebrow at him.

“…What?” Sarama muttered under her breath disgusted.

“I mean…” he blushed embarrassed. He cleared his throat before continuing. “We don´t need you. We can avenge him on our own!” he said while staring hatefully at the ponies.

“Yeah, try to do so! And find out what happens if any of you dare to lay a hoof on anypony.” Gusty implored him, igniting her horn the most she could.

Gaueko took a step backwards, clenching his teeth in impotence.

“Take your little friends AND GET OUT!!” Majesty commanded aggressively. But then she quickly shifted her frown to a faux friendly smile. “Please.” she said politely, as a mockery of his behaviour.

Gaueko looked down in frustration at Crunch´s collar, picking it up and staining it with Crunch´s blood.

“Retreat! Every dog abandon the building right now!” he said before passing through the door.

And so, every dog left them alone, with serious expressions on their faces and thirst for a revenge they could not accomplish.

“I suppose you have to go as well.” Gusty said to Sarama, offering her hoof to shake as a sign of gratitude.

Sarama nodded and whistled at Argus and the beagle to tie a rope to get down the tower. Then, she grabbed Gusty´s hoof to shake it firmly.

“Good luck, Gusty.” she told her calmly. “Rule your kingdom, queen Majesty.” she told Majesty while turning around. “Rule it well.”

She gave a few steps before turning back to Majesty.

“I hope one day we can discuss matters that could benefit both kingdoms.” she told her.

“Not now. But perhaps one day.” Majesty told her.

Sarama gave her a tiny smile before joining Argus and the beagle down the rope The ponies stared at how they ran away once they were on the ground.

“Wow.” Knightshade said after sniffing his nose. “That was unexpected.”

“I know!” Magic Star exclaimed in agreement. “That was crazy. Right, Shady?”

However, the earth pony gave no answer. Instead, she laid on her forelegs with closed eyes and a serene expression on her face. Magic Star felt her heart stopping the moment she laid eyes on her friend. Knowing what this meant, everypony held their chest or covered their mouths.

“Shady?” Magic Star asked in shock.

A few days after Crunch´s defeat and Majesty´s reconquer or Trottingham, Gaueko, accompanied by Gwyllgi and Cavill, arrived at a glade at night. Nothing could be seen, except for a bornfire that revealed the silhouettes of two figures, one skinny and other large. Gaueko frowned as he got out from the hole.

“A word.” he said after approaching the figures.

The two figures, whose eyes were shining in the dark turned around. The large was the one to get up and walk to him. Once they were standing face to face, he laid Crunch´s collar on the ground.

“Crunch´s dead. It is my understanding that your mother is on her way to Grogar´s castle for a reunion.” he explained to her. “The Wind Warrior is a menace out of control.” he pointed at the silhouette to emphasize his insructions. “So, you´re going to his castle too and give this to Grogar himself. And if he really cares about his empire, he´s going out there and destroying that treacherous snake! Do you understand me, Reeka?"

The black haired troggle covered her mouth with both hands, watching in horror the blood on Crunch´s collar.

Author's Note

Hope you´re not too let down by the last scene with the ponies...

To brighten up the mood, I´ll tell you a little anecdote. So there´s a scene from the series Euphoria that´s trending and it made me rewatch that scene again. And then I realized that the dialogue between 0:13 and