Alarming Voiceby Joshua CrapoChaptersTeaser/Cold OpenAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5Act 6Teaser/Cold OpenIt’s been over a year since we scaled Mt. Everhoof and successfully obtained Grogar’s bewitching bell. Ever since we came back to the lair, apparently search parties have sprung up again. The only teammates that have to worry about that now are Tirek and Spitfire. As for me, Aria, Adagio, and Svengallop, we can roam around as we please as long as we don’t cause trouble directly. And that’s a loophole I’m willing to exploit, since I am the most chipper out of all of us. In the area close to the drawbridge at Canterlot, I hide behind one of the tall shrubs on the roadside as a unicorn baker passes by. He has a yellow coat, a blue mane and tail, and a set of chef’s attire. His cutie mark is hidden behind the saddlebags he’s carrying though. I peek out and wave hello. The stallion looks at me and waves back. “Hello there young pegasus, and you would be…” he prompts. I jump onto the road and point to my chest. “Don’t worry about me,” I reply in declination as I turn my hoof to him. “YOU look AMAZING in that chef’s hat!” He looks up and blushes. “D’oh, why thank you there, miss. I’m on my way to the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Two other coronations are actually on the way too. There is SO much baking to do. So what are YOU going to do at the coronation?” “Well…” I fake the appearance of thinking by putting a hoof to my chin as I already know what to do. I just have to get him to fall into… the trap. “I’ve been working on a little something, and you seem like the perfect stallion to provide the necessary feedback.” He looks rather interested in what I have to offer, tilting his head then holding a hoof over one of his ears. That is the perfect cue. I start humming a rather basic and short tune that’s only nine notes and two measures long, making the stallion almost look like he’s about to fall asleep. “Oh what a sweet little ditty… Sonata… I’m… sure it could be turned into something special,” he mumbles in an enamored tone. “Great! Oh, and um, before you go… would you happen to have tacos on the menu for the coronation?” I ask, which confuses him. “I don’t even know what those are.” This prompts me to whisper in his ear what a taco is, and he nods. “Alright. I’ll be sure to whip up something like that soon.” “Sounds like a deal. See you at my place!” I smile when he turns around, and when he approaches Mrs. Cake on the drawbridge, he looks the other way, leaving her confused. “Wow! I can’t believe just how well that worked. That was almost… too easy,” I quietly remark to myself as I start my way back to the lair. “AND I get breakfast as a bonus!” I pull down the air above me in accomplishment. Act 1Returning to the lair, I am greeted as always by the company of human Spitfire, Svengallop, Adagio, Aria and Tirek, the last of whom is the the first to see me. “Ah, Sonata! Another successful field trip, I presume.” “You bet! Spitfire was pretty smart in enlisting me to spread all that hatred. Nobody would be any the wiser!” Spitfire’s forehooves are crossed as she sits with the rest of the group. “Camp Master Chrysalis may’ve been out of her mind that night, but her defense for Aita got me to make sure that wouldn’t happen to any of us in the future.” “No friendship, no MAGIC!” Svengallop notes to all of us. “It’s so obvious when you think about it!” “And being left to our own accord has given ME time to prepare for the next part of our plan.” Tirek gets up and walks over to the drawer Grogar’s bell is in, opening the drawer and floating the bell to his hands with his magic. He then takes a book from one of the nearby shelves. “Grogar’s bell! This artifact can steal any creature’s magic; it holds that magic until it is released by THIS SPELL, which means all the magic inside is ours for the taking!!!” He opens the book and points to the spell that releases all the magic inside the bell, and, after finishing speaking, smooches the bell. Aria hovers and takes it from Tirek. “You’re drooling on the bell.” “Let’s try this bell,” Adagio suggests, taking the bell from Aria and setting it down on the roundtable. “Nobody’s REALLY in charge of this master plan.” “Grab my arms…” Everybody glares at Tirek. “...so that we could ALL be part of the spell, unless you’d prefer I take all the magic myself.” Spitfire, Aria, Svengallop and I reluctantly do as he lightly commands. “Our path stands,” states Adagio, being the last one to do the same as the rest of us. “What we do, we do together. Once everybody here is defeated, we rule alone.” So, Tirek uses his magic to ring the bell to give us its magic. Once all of us are hit with it, Tirek grows to the same size he was when he absorbed everyone’s magic sans Spitfire’s, Svengallop and Spitfire become alicorns and Adagio, Aria and I are now in our true forms. We all laugh maniacally. “Welcome back, everypony!” Adagio exclaims and points to Tirek, who widens his eyes. “What do you say we sap his head off?” Svengallop snickers. “Sounds like a spectacular idea, Adagio!” “You and me both!” Spitfire agrees. Tirek backs away from us as Spitfire floats the bell to point it to him, and with a ring, it absorbs ALL of his magic, him going right back to his old form. At the changeling throne room, Areola and I are at the entrance while Rusty Flashlight, Pane Fall and Carve are on the throne. “Feast your eyes, Areola. Today is my last day on the throne. By tonight, it will be Carve’s.” Areola rests her hoof on my back. “It only felt like yesterday when I recounted to her your rise to studenthood. Now look at her… about to be crowned as your successor.” Areola and I approach the throne, allowing us to clearly hear Carve, Rusty and Pane’s conversation. “And Rusty, Pane, you’ll always be welcome at the hive,” Carve says to them before she sees me. “Oh! Chrysalis, what’s up?” “I just came to show my old teacher how far you’ve come in the past eight years. You have been with me all the way ever since I’ve had my hive back. She’s also volunteered to conduct the choir for the coronation.” Just as Carve and I meet up and embrace each other, a letter materializes in front of me. Areola floats it to me, so I take it with my own magic and read it. Dear Chrysalis, I’m currently home, getting ready for my own coronation as Twilight’s successor, and I have something for you and Cozy Glow. Would you mind coming over real quick so I can show you? Thanks in advance. Yours truly, Aita. “Well, in case you all were worried for me, I still will have plenty of company when I move to Twilight’s old castle,” I remark. “Areola, do you think you can help Carve if she needs you? I must go and see what Aita has in store for me.” “You can count on me, Chrysalis!” While Twilight and Spike are in Canterlot, I’m actually home, George and Cozy Glow keeping me company. In the throne room, I sit on Twilight’s throne while Cozy does a few personal errands, like measuring my head to fit a crown for me, while George is sitting on Fluttershy’s throne of course. “So, uh, how are you feeling about this?” she asks me. “About what?” “Well, it’s not every day the princess of friendship moves out and gives all responsibilities to you.” I laugh. “Right that. I’m feeling pretty good about it.” Cozy turns her head to George as he speaks. “And that’s wonderful to hear, Aita. I can’t think of anyone more worthy to succeed Twilight. You’ve come such a long way since you first moved to Ponyville.” “Well,” I reply. “Twilight did say quite a while ago that I would lead someday, that day finally being today.” Cozy Glow notices two boxes at the center of the map. “Hey, uh, what are these?” “Oh the boxes? I think it’s best to wait for Chrysalis before you see.” I suddenly hear the front door open. “And it looks like you won’t have to wait for long. I’ll be right back, Cozy.” Exiting the throne room, I see Chrysalis in the foyer. “Chrysalis!” I exclaim in excitement, rushing over and hugging her. “Oh, how are you, young Aita?” she affectionately asks. I let go and land back on the floor. “I’m doing great. Cozy and George are in the throne room.” So, Chrysalis and I walk into the throne room together, and Cozy and George wave hello. “We’ve faced so much together, and come out okay. Some of us may be incredibly young, but that has never stopped us from the just as incredible feats we’ve accomplished.” I float the boxes now to Cozy and Chrysalis, who open their own, which each contains a medal. Chrysalis gasps in awe. “Friendship advisor?” “Organizer? What’s this?” asks Cozy as she puts hers on. “These are positions I created for you two. Ever since I moved here, you, Chrysalis, have been by my side, defending me from human Spitfire, teaching me to trail, and comforting me when I needed it most… and Cozy Glow, you and Chrysalis helped me become Sibling Supreme, and you were with me during the whole hunt for my belated birthday present. I wouldn’t be the changeling I am today without you two.” Chrysalis pulls me toward her, Cozy and George coming to us. We all group hug. “Thank you immensely Aita,” Chrysalis softly chokes out with happiness. “You know we’ll always be right with you.” “That’s exactly what I thought you’d say,” I say. “because now that the crown’s been fitted, we have a few errands to run.” I lead Cozy and Chrysalis out of the throne room, but stay behind when George catches my attention. “Do you think Twilight and Spike feel the same way in Canterlot?” he asks. “Probably… just the inverse of what we did.” At the moment, I’m currently in Canterlot, and with my friends - including Spike - with me all around the city. I have a few pre-coronation errands to run. I’m hoping Aita has hers going smoothly, not to mention Carve’s. Over the same street I once saw Cadence cast a peace spell, I see Rarity and Fluttershy coming around the corner. “Ooh! Twilight, darling, you’re just in time!” Rarity exclaims as I land in front of them with Spike behind me joining them on their walk. “Only one more pre-coronation stop. We’re picking up the final touch for your opres’hor d’oerves gown…” “Is that before or after the royal marshmellow-eating-contest gown?” I jokingly ask her. “WHAT?!? I haven’t MADE one of those! You must tell me when they add these sorts of things!” Rarity freaks out and begins floating a quill and paper to write down what I said as I hold back my laughter as much as I can. I lower the paper and chuckle. “It’s okay, Rarity. I was just joking.” “Joking? Day of your coronation? You’ve come a long way, Twilight,” Spike crosses his arms as Rarity briefly faints into Fluttershy’s wings. Once she’s recovered, Rarity leads us to a thread shop; unfortunately, the door appears to be locked. At Carousel Boutique, I try to open the front door with my magic, only to find it locked. I look back at Cozy and Chrysalis and they shrug. “That can’t be right,” I say to myself. “Somepony was supposed to watch over Rarity’s shop while she was away…” “Perhaps they’re in the moment. I can’t imagine why they-” Chrysalis is interrupted when we hear the lock turn and the door open. And at the main entrance is a stallion that I make clear that I recognize with pleasure. “Why hello there, everyone!” he waves, prompting me to press my cheeks with my hooves. “Sorry I locked the door. Force of habit.” “Zephyr Breeze?!? You’re filling in for Rarity?!?” Zephyr nods. “Of course I am, Aita! Now, who’re these two friends of yours?” I point to each friend of mine I introduce. “Chrysalis, Cozy Glow.” “Cozy Glow?!?” Zephyr looks at her and notices the cutie mark. “Ah! So this is who enlisted me to fill in for Rarity!” he notes, approaching her at my side and rubbing her mane. “So, did you hear anything from the blacksmith about Aita’s crown?” Chrysalis asks Zephyr, who shakes his head. “Not a peep, Chryssie. I would’ve gotten a message and shown it to y’alls if I did. BUT there is some good news comin’ from yours truly, Aita.” Zephyr takes us inside and leads us upstairs as he explains the news he has. “Cozies here managed to get the whole FAMILY involved with your dress!” The dress he reveals when we enter Rarity’s workspace is quite unique compared to what Rarity would think of. On the mini-manikin in the center of the room, the dress, while rather basic otherwise with blue and yellow on the back, has flowers sticking out of the back of the collar, and cloud at the end of the short sleeves and the back of the dress itself. “All I had to mention to Cozies was Fluttuh-Buttuh’s history of sewin’, and that’s all it took for her to get Mom and Pop’s help here. Mom was more than happy to lend a couple of flowers, and Pop and I figured out how to properly attach cloud to solid objects! Pretty neat, huh?” Chrysalis walks up to the dress and smiles. “It’s truly impressive, Zephyr Breeze. I didn’t know Cozy Glow’s level of organization extended past field trips. Fluttershy will be proud of you when she sees Aita’s dress.” “But you’re sure Handy Wrench hasn’t written back about the crown?” Zephyr wraps his hoof around Cozy. “Sorry Cozies, but it’s like I said before; I woulda shown ya the first chance I got if he did.” “That’s okay; we can always check for ourselves,” I reply. “We’ll be out picking up some dessert on the way anyway at Sugar Cube Corner, that and checking on the decor and technicals at Town Hall.” “Technicals?!?” a pleasantly surprised Zephyr exclaims. “Girl, you are one step ahead of EVERYPONY! What’re we gonna look at during the coronation, huh?” “Cozy may’ve been up to organizing everything else, but this was something I personally had to oversee. And only two ponies had the material to pull it off during Cranky and Matilda’s wedding.” Everyone’s eyes widen when they realize exactly what I’m talking about. Act 2Rarity struggled for a thread, Rainbow Dash worked alone on Canterlot’s weather, Applejack was getting creeped out by a guard and Pinkie Pie was in a sugar war. Something was definitely off. “Are you sure this is just pre-coronation nerves?” I ask my friends, only to hear a distant voice behind us. Phew! Finally made it up! We all turn around and gasp, going into a hostile stance. “TIREK!!!” “Are you the one that’s been spreadin’ paranoia around here?!?” yells Applejack. Tirek shoots his hands up into the air. “Me? No! I’m not responsible!” Fluttershy bitterly hovers up to his face and pulls on his goatee. “Likely story! You’ve swayed Discord way back when, so it had to’ve been you!” “I concur,” Rarity sternly adds, also getting close to him. I hold my hoof up, stop my friends and approach Tirek directly. “Hold it, everypony. I need you to step back a little. Tirek, my friends are making pretty serious claims, even if what they say is perfectly believable. Are you responsible for all the unease they’ve experienced today?” Tirek shakes his head. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t possibly do that alone, given wits are not enough for such discord to spread so efficiently. But that’s not why I’m here. Those ‘colleagues’ of mine turned against me, even the more tolerable ones, and are on the loose!” When he reveals his current fate, he clutches his fists in anger. Everypony gasps at Tirek’s revelation. I lead Chrysalis, Cozy and Zephyr to Town Hall, where in the main room, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Kevin and Firelight are all helping with the decorations. I lead the former three to the technicals duo. “Hi Muffins! Hi Time Turner!” Muffins and Time Turner turn to me. “Ah, Aita!” exclaims the latter. “You arrived just in time! We’ve finished our installment of the flameless fireworks you ordered.” I briefly jump in the air with my forehooves above me. “Awesome! Thanks for doing this, you two.” “Aw… it’s what we do,” Muffins replies. “Will there be anything else?” Cozy Glow splits off from the two us for a short time, looking around the main room of Town Hall. “Well, I can see the decorations are coming along pretty nicely. We just have two other stops before going back to the castle.” “You may accompany us if you wish,” Chrysalis adds. Muffins shrugs, open to the suggestion, while Time Turner nods. When my friends, Spike and I drag Tirek into Canterlot Castle, we tell Celestia and Luna about the whole situation. “So wait. Tirek didn’t cause this unease from the citizens of Equestria?” Luna repeats. “He’s not guilty on that part at least,” I answer. “But I can imagine he would be on several others.” “Surely whatever I truly did after being summoned has been served with my comeuppance; I never shot down the others’ ideas, and I payed the price. I think the only thing I discouraged was their initial witch hunt on Discord when he revealed Aita’s change of pronoun.” Celestia flies up to Tirek with tranquil fury. “Even still, your actions from before that point are still left unserved! Is there anything else you would like tell us?!?” Tirek extends his arms to each of his sides one at a time. “Would you like the good news or the bad news?” Everyone is shocked that what he’s told us wasn’t even news he called bad. “That wasn’t the bad news?!?” exclaims Luna. “Svengallop, human Spitfire and the sirens share most of Grogar’s magic.” Spike faceclaws at Tirek’s bad news. “So what’s the good news?” “Maybe to you, but my magic is trapped in the bell, along with my share of Grogar’s.” Celestia lands before me and Luna. “Twilight, Luna, we need to make a plan! Maybe it’s not too late to stop this disaster from happening!” I put my hooves below my ears and close my eyes, trying to stop myself from panicking. “I… I need some time to think first.” “Well there isn’t any time!” Tirek rebuts. “They’re probably on their way right now!” Pinkie Pie hops forward. “Then we’ll stop them!” I frantically hover up to my friends. “How?!? Stopping the sirens in Sunset’s world was hard enough! And that was with her help!” Celestia comes by my side and rests a hoof across my shoulders. “Twilight, it doesn’t matter if you receive help from others or not. We believe in you, and we always have.” “Lean on your strengths to counter your weaknesses,” advises Luna. “My strengths…?” I repeat, looking to my friends. I suddenly get what Luna’s saying. “Right! Spike! Send a letter to Ember! We need her army to guard the borders of Canterlot! If the villains are coming for a fight, we’ll have one waiting for them! With Svengallop and CHS Spitfire on the loose, they’ll go after Aita and Chrysalis respectively! Warn Cadence, Shining Armor and Carve! They’re our final line of defense if we fail! The ultimate battle for the fate of Equestria… is coming!” Spike does as I say, grabbing a scroll each for Dragon Lord Ember, Aita, Princess Cadence, and Carve, and writing my warnings on them. I jump in the air at the final announcement. Still in the lair, I stamp my hoof on the roundtable, Sonata and Aria watching unflinchingly. “We’re not going ANYWHERE until you two are away from each other’s throats! Compliment each other IMMEDIATELY!!!” Spitfire groans. “He’s… regal in the new form.” “Svengallop…” I slowly growl. “She… excels with planning,” he reluctantly admits. I put a grin on my face. “There! Now, we were talking about Grogar’s bell.” “Why don’t we take the magic inside it,” Sonata suggests. “We could steal magic for ourselves as a result of what we did earlier.” “But isn’t that ability practically exclusive to centaurs? We already backstabbed the one we had before,” counters Aria. “Then leave it,” I conclude. “If we can’t access the thievery inside, there’s no point. We have a kingdom to conquer anyway.” The five of us stop at the front of the lair. “So, where should we strike first?” inquires Spitfire. “Everywhere…” I chuckle, prompting Svengallop and Spitfire to split off from us, Aria and Sonata staying by me as we all leave the lair. After getting Spike’s letter, I copy and send my own to all the friends I’ve made since moving to Ponyville. Subsequently, I pace in front of the castle soon to be mine while I wait for everyone else to come. The ponies that do arrive aren’t just my set of friends that helped me get the Sibling Supreme crown or Zephyr Breeze, but also Kevin, Granola, Mangle, Bow and Windy. “We got here as soon as we could, Aita!” Bow states, making me sigh in relief. “Good. EVERYONE is here. One of our past enemies is on their way right now, and we need to outnumber them if we can’t overpower them.” As I move through our briefing I cast Refulgo Publicus to demonstrate our enemies, them being apparently just the sirens, Svengallop, and human Spitfire. “Wait. What happened to Tirek?” Sunset asks. “Don’t worry about him,” I answer. “The others sapped him, so that barrs him from causing anymore trouble… I hope.” “We’ll need to coordinate an attack,” Granola notes. Mangle puts his arm to his hip and gives us a thumb’s up. “Our magical powers should cover the attacking, Granola.” “And we’ll coordinate!” declares Lightning Dust to Cozy Glow and Trace Light, the latter getting excited about pitching in for the team. Kevin then teleports in flight goggles for all the pegasi. Once I’ve gathered the royal guard to support my friends for the battle, all of them as well as the princesses and Tirek are lined up so they can see me as I talk to them. “We’ve faced enemies of Equestria before, and we’ve always succeeded! That wouldn’t be possible without all of you. So I ask for your help again today, in what is our biggest battle yet! All of Equestria is at stake, and I can’t do this alone! But I’m not afraid. Because with friendship as our armor, and teamwork as our power, nopony can ever bring us down!” Just as I finish the speech, the throne room’s door bursts open, causing everyone to turn around, even Tirek. “Nice try there, kid. But that speech ain’t gonna reinforce your manpower,” says the one who is presumably the Spitfire from Sunset’s world. I notice something about her pony form is different though. “Superintendent Spitfire?!? You’re-” “Opening fire!” CHS Spitfire unleashes a magical laser from her horn, hitting me point blank on the cheek as I try to quickly soar out of the way. I am sent into my new throne and fall limp in front of it. I groan, prompting everyone to gasp. “Wow! It’s true! Alicorns really are quite versatile!” taunts Spitfire, firing another laser across the room. And so begins our battle with at least one of our foes. Act 3Once the dragon army is established onto the borders of Canterlot, I begin my orders, pacing around with twig in my claws hovering over my shoulder. “Spread out, and stay ready, warriors! Those ponies may be puny, but Dragon Lord Ember is counting on us to protect them!” “Yes, Commander Garble!” the rest of the dragons reply, saluting. In the distance, I can see three sirens in their true form heading straight for us. The yellow colored siren is Adagio, the purple one is Aria, and the blue one is Sonata. “Warriors! Prepare to fire!” We all begin soaring the air, preparing our fire breath. We start shooting when the sirens do, allowing us to block their blasts. Trading hits for ten to twenty seconds, Fizzle - the dragon with white scales and pink underbelly, underwings and spines - manages a good shot at Aria. Fume - purple spins and scales, yellow underbelly, underwings and hair - and Clump - thick body, brown scales, red underwings, blue horns - end up with the best shots on Sonata soon after. All of these potent shots are around where their pendants would normally be, but are absent for some reason. As a result, those two end up going down, but Adagio seems attracted to me, firing the most mouth beams at me. Charcoal - black scales, yellow hair, horn, underbelly and underwings - and I clash one of those beams with our combined fire. We manage to hold for quite a while, and in fact, it may be for a bit too long. Sonata and Aria get up and add to Adagio’s blast against us, knocking me and Charcoal into the rest of the dragon warriors. “Hah, fireproof, but not beam-proof,” Adagio remarks as she and the other two sirens leave the battlefield for Canterlot, us dragons now winded from the fight. After me and my friends had made a plan to contribute to attacking whoever will come our way, Mangle decides to fly overhead, hammerspacing a megaphone so that all of Ponyville can hear. Attention citizens of Ponyville! We urge you to stay inside while we take care of our enemy! We should be clear by the end of the day! Heed my warning or you’re fired! With Mangle taking care of the rest of Ponyville, each one of “us” - that being me and ALL the friends I’ve made since moving here - awaits the arrival of either CHS Spitfire, Svengallop, or the sirens. As soon as Mangle joins back in the group, it turns out the middle choice of our enemies returns for revenge on me. And there is a difference in Svengallop since the last time I last saw him; instead of an earth pony, he’s an alicorn now. “Ah, just the prince of friendship I wanted to see,” says Svengallop as he lands in front of all of us, misgendering me on purpose. This intentional denial of events angers not only Chrysalis, but also me. “Alright! That is enough!!!” I scream at Svengallop, floating him close to me with my magic. But knowing him, he would flail around, so it’s not close enough for him to thump my horn, but still close enough for him to clearly see the sheer amount fury within me. “You can force Coloratura to conform to your standards, exploit Pinkie Pie and Applejack with impossible tasks, even frame Discord for forging a professional letter! I’ve managed to keep my cool around all that, but deliberately calling me ‘prince’ is when I hold NOTHING back!!!” Still in my magic, I slam Svengallop to the ground. Chrysalis quickly jumps to him and firmly presses her hooves on the side of his in the air. “How does it feel, Svengallop?!? Did you seriously think purposefully misgendering Aita would be a wise choice of yours?!? She’s a CHILD!!!” she shouts in his ear. “So that’s what Discord meant as in unacceptable…” Svengallop squeakily mumbles before planting his face to the ground. But once Chrysalis hovers back next to me, he immediately recovers, jumps into the air and dusts himself off. “Ha! As if chitin’s going to stop me!” Before he has a chance to leave for Canterlot, Chrysalis and I point to him, signaling Cozy, Bow, Windy, Trace Light and Lightning Dust to jump up and bring clouds over to shoot lightning at Svengallop. He falls to the ground again, this time having been struck successfully by the pegasi. Starlight, Sunset, Kevin, Chrysalis and I all shoot a beam together, Svengallop dodging pretty swiftly, though haphazardly, considering the charring from the lightning that struck him. He takes off quite quickly, dodging another round of lighting all my pegasus friends have in store for him. Granola then zooms past everyone and sends Svengallop into a tailspin, which he recovers from within just a few seconds. “Darn it! He’s fleeing!” Starlight points out. “Svengallop is headed for Canterlot! We must support Twilight! Come, Aita,” orders Chrysalis before she turns around to our friends. “Wish us luck, everyone.” So, Chrysalis teleports me and herself to the Canterlot Castle throne room. The guards have taken over the battle with CHS Spitfire at the moment while my friends hide behind the throne platform, and I stand with the princesses. The guards are shooting rapid fire lasers at Spitfire, who has encased herself momentarily in a bubble shield. Once she’s at a lower elevation, she opens a portal to the moat of Canterlot as the guards charge her, causing them to fall into the moat on the other side. “Aaaand powerless guards out of the way…” notes Spitfire. “Stand down Canterlot City Spitfire!” Celestia angrily orders, raising and curling a hoof. Spitfire shrugs. “Meh, I could… but I can’t play mental bingo doin’ that! Can I?” She opens fire at us again. Celestia and Luna shriek, and through the shield I generate to block Spitfire’s magic from harming the three of us, I can see Aita and Chrysalis teleport in at the entrance of the throne room, slightly tired from a battle of their own. “Ready, sister?” says Celestia. Confused, I deactivate the shield and look up as the princesses fly and prepare for an attack. “Wait… What are you-” I stop short, but also notice Aita’s sudden shock. “Celestia! Luna! No!!!” she quickly shouts, levitating the two past Spitfire and safely next to her. That’s when they see what Aita saw, shifting from their initial surprise upon levitation to utter relief. From what I can guess, Aita just saved the princesses from getting their magic drained from Grogar’s bell. “Ha! I’m genuinely impressed, prince!” Spitfire remarks, angering everyone currently showing themselves to her. “You’ve actually wised up for once!” “Oh that is IT!” I declare, referring to the depletion of my patience for Spitfire’s manners, or lack there of. I point to Spitfire. “NOW!!!” On cue, my friends show themselves to Spitfire. The first to attack is Rainbow Dash, who stuns her by spinning her like a top, zooming around her at an immeasurable revolution. Rarity holds Pinkie Pie in her magic, who is holding a party bazooka. “SURPRISE ATTACK!!!” Pinkie screams, firing a shot of copious confetti, making Spitfire cough it all out. “Fly my pretties!!!” Fluttershy orders the geese as they gather around her, Aita and Chrysalis joining them and transforming into geese themselves. They all buffet Spitfire. Spike is next to attack, taking full control his aerial fire breath. Everyone continues taking their turn, attacking the former CHS Superintendent until Applejack uses a lasso to bring her down to ground level. The bell falls alongside her, which Spitfire grabs in her hooves, a little shocked she’s actually losing by herself. As soon as my friends and I can corner her though, Spitfire realizes the others are about to bail her out, as the stain glass windows behind my new throne are glowing. As she hovers higher and higher, the windows shatter from a blast by Svengallop and the sirens, blowing everyone else in the room to the entrance, including Tirek, forcing Chrysalis and Aita to lose their goose disguises. Everyone gathers behind me and I initiate a ground shield to protect them. “You think that feeble little shield will deter US?!?” Adagio gloats as she hovers over the shield. “The dragons have been defeated! Your friendship castle is abandoned! Face it, Twilight! You. have. LOST!!!” “You can attack us, and we may fall. But Equestria will still stand, united in friendship, and we won’t stop until we defeat you no matter how many ponies you take down!!!” Tirek taps me. “Um, Twilight…” Spitfire snickers. “Y- you’re serious, right?” “Didn’t you notice something was wrong in Equestria? Spitfire and I were busy!” explains Sonata, rubbing her hooves around the shield, and occasionally pointing to either Spitfire or herself. “She sent me on MANY a-field trip, humming and humming until enough ponies were weary of each other! And because of how I roll, everypony was none the wiser!” Svengallop rubs his hooves together, then swipes them to the side. “You have no backups this time. Consider the friendships within all equinity ERASED!” “Say, do you think this castle could use some finishing touches?” Aria playfully asks, prompting the rest to charge a beam that obliterates the wall and ceiling over the throne platform. “It’s about time YOU learned a life science lesson, Twilight,” Adagio taunts. “EXACTLY!!!” exclaims Svengallop, shooting out the shield, causing it to break. He then floats me to his hoof, grabbing me by the wings. “Because NOTHING, not even friendship, is more powerful than self-preservation!” I avert my gaze from Svengallop as his colleagues gather behind him, charging up an attack to hit me at point blank range with, something that could potentially finish me off. Fortunately, a boulder comes flying onto them, forcing them to throw me into the air and I land on the floor on my stomach. I go sliding on the carpet for a short distance. “Huh?” I look up at everyone in front of the throne, and Aita appears to be the one who threw the boulder, and is straining a bit from all that strength and force, her ears flat, but otherwise okay, smiling about her magic working so well in a fit of adrenaline. Chrysalis pets her twice on the back. I put on a small, brief grin myself, but realize through loud wing beats that our enemies are not done. I get up and gain a little distance from our enemies as they dust themselves off from the physical distraction. They fire another blast together at us, so with my quick thinking, I summon the same willpower Aita used and hold a large flat slab of rubble to block their fire. Everyone starts to hold the rubble themselves, starting with Rarity. “Twilight! Chrysalis! Aita! Go!!! Get help!!” “We’ll hold them ‘til y’all get back!” Applejack adds. “No!! We can’t leave you here!!!” objects Aita. Fluttershy is next to hold the slab. “It’s our only chance!!” “You’ll come up with something to save the day!!” Rainbow Dash yells. “You always do!!” Pinkie shouts, adding to the counterforce that’s beginning to crowd the area, followed shortly by Celestia, and Luna. “We believe in you!!!” Spike is the last to join in the counterforce before Tirek pushes me close to Aita and Chrysalis, forcing me to let go of the slab. “Fly you foals!!!” he screams, finally joining everyone else who is holding the rubble in place. The decision is unanimous. We have to get out of here. Even the castle is falling apart from all the force being applied here, as it is now raining rubble. Chrysalis, Aita and I reluctantly turn around, teleport and go our separate ways not only from our friends, but from each other in order to get whatever help is available to us more easily. And as we exit, our reluctance brings us - yes, even Chrysalis - to tears, escaping from the castle just in time to miss the overwhelming explosive force of Svengallop, CHS Spitfire and the sirens’ beam attack. Author's Note In case you're wondering, yes this is a two part story. So, three more acts on the way. Act 4In the caves below Canterlot, everyone with even remotely anything that could stop the sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop are now locked below Canterlot with me: Twilight’s friends, Trace Light, Cozy Glow, Lightning Dust, Starlight, Firelight, Sunset and Garble and his army. Each cell is reinforced with a magical barrier like the one Gusty the Great employed against Grogar's bell. Only Tirek is visible to me, but he isn’t locked up like the rest. “Now to finish everyone OFF!” Aria declares, only to be stopped by Adagio. “Now now… I decide the fate of our guests. Let them live. Besides, we should entertain them. You still have that song of ours ready?” “Seriously?” Spitfire questions, jumping up in the air. “We should go after Twilight and the changelings! As long as they’re free, they’re still a threat!” “Sit down, Spitfire,” replies Svengallop. “Just because there’s one pony on the loose doesn’t mean we hunt them down. None of our friends are changelings anyway.” “Yeah!” Sonata flies up close to Starlight Glimmer’s cage. “That fool for a queen only retuned her legacy to allow her magic to work through it again. Those shards still block every other being’s. But where we stand, we’re the most powerful in Equestria! Thanks to Grogar’s bell! Right… Tirek?!?” Sonata pulls a nearby chain, causing Tirek to fall forward, who is bound by this chain. “You won’t get away with this, monsters! Just wait to find out what Dragon Lord Ember will do to you!” Garble shouts across the cave. “This is really bad…” Fluttershy murmurs in one cell with the rest of Twilight’s friends inside, prompting me to look at them. “We gotta find Twilight!” declares Applejack. “She’s probably already figured out a way to defeat them!” “Any idea HOW we get out of here to do that?” Rainbow Dash asks. Spike tries to stick his claw out, but pulls it away the moment the wall shows itself, putting the affected claw in the other to ease the pain. “It’s Gusty’s barrier. There’s no way anypony can get through this.” I put my hoof on my chin, Twilight’s friends turning to me when I speak. “Hm… did they put a shard over my cell?” I look over to Starlight, who is sitting in a cell that is hanging from the ceiling of the cave. She is still pretty furious with me after all I’d done before. “Listen, Stellar Flare. It would have to take WAY more than your help for us to consider freeing you.” Applejack raises her hoof. “Hold it, Starlight. We need all the help we can get right now. I don’t think she’s even tryin’ to make us free her; maybe she genuinely wants to help.” “Actually, there is someone ELSE who could help,” Fluttershy smugly counters. “And that’s because those monsters betrayed him, so there’s nothing left to lose.” Tirek perks up as Fluttershy points to him. “Really… you want ME to help you?!? After all I’ve done?!?” I suddenly get where Fluttershy is going at. “That’s right! Tirek, you were the one who stopped us from mobbing Discord. And you were the only one who stayed in that lair that paid Aita’s change any amount of respect. If anyone were most qualified to help the rest of them escape, it’s you.” “But I let Spitfire and Sonata conspire against Equestria! I helped the rest retrieve the bell! I let you defame Aita! The only reason I went along with the change was because of Discord and his connection with her!” “But that is not the point, Tirek!” argues Rarity. “You can’t let your actions from when you had magic define who you are without it! Question: who were the ones that took your magic?” Tirek strokes his goatee. “The sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop?” “And who were the ones that trashed Princess Twilight’s new castle?!?” Cozy asks. “The ones that got us in here! Would ANY of us prisoners do the same thing if we had the choice?!?” Tirek shakes his head. “I don’t even think Garble would…” He opens his eyes now like he gets it now, then gets up and steps toward those targets with a shard in his hand. “You know… I could always teach you how to get my magic working in you.” Sonata beams at Tirek. “Ooh! Is it singing?!? Please tell me it’s through singing!” “Tirek! No!!!” Spike exclaims. “This isn’t the way to help!” “Well, you’ve made me curious,” Spitfire remarks. “How DOES it work?” Svengallop pushes Spitfire behind him. “Ultimatums are more my speed. Speak or we dispose of the bell!” “He’s lying!!” Adagio points out to her colleagues. “He won’t tell us!!” “Certainly not you!” Tirek replies. “Especially after you betrayed me and took my magic from me along with my share of Grogar’s, you air-bound beast!” “This ‘beast’ can erase you before you inch, so choose your words delicately.” Adagio air quotes what Tirek called her, points to him, and bobs her hoof back and forth three times. Tirek shrugs. “You’re right. Beast is TOO nice for you. How about ‘malicious siren who makes a stink about competition, where’er she goes, for attention.’” Angered at the amended insult, Adagio shoots a beam straight at Tirek, who deflects the beam, sending it every which way - the villains barely able to dodge it - before hitting its target. “Ha! You missed!” Spitfire yells. “Did he though?!?” As it turns out, the beam ricocheted in a certain amount of ways to hit the shard above Starlight’s cell. She floats herself and slices the cell in half, causing the bottom to hit the floor. The villains proceed to rush her with beams, so the only way she dodges is through teleport spam. Once she gets to the cells of Twilight’s friends and the others, they look to her. “Get Twilight, Chrysalis and Aita!” says Applejack. Starlight shakes her head. “No way. They’ve always needed you.” She then uses a magical blast to disable the magical barriers previously in place, but ends up shot in the back once she lands back on the ground. Celestia stands over Starlight with Luna right next to her. “Find Twilight, Chrysalis and Aita! We aren’t completely helpless at the moment! We’ll hold them off as long as we can!” Celestia declares. Twilight’s friends step back to Tirek. “Wow! I’ve just found new respect for you, Tirek,” Spike notes. “We all have. You were willing to gamble your life for us.” “Just save Equestria!” Tirek yells, running to join the team effort that even Garble and his army are participating in, prompting Twilight’s friends, Trace Light, Cozy Glow, Lightning Dust, Sunset, and Firelight to escape. The ten of us come up to an underground entrance, where Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash manage to break the bricks by ramming into them together. When we all get out, we notice a unicorn stallion running toward the school of magic. “Why are you out in the open?!? HIDE!!!” shouts the stallion. “Where is everypony?” asks Trace Light. “The unicorns have been gathering at Celestia’s school of magic ever since the attack! That’s where I was headed when I saw you,” he explains to us. “What about the earth ponies and pegasi?” Lightning Dust asks. The stallion closes his eyes. “It’s everypony for themselves.” “But that’s not right!” counters Sunset. He points to all of us. “Well you can stand out here and debate. I’m going where it’s safe.” And so the stallion flees to the school ahead. I look on in horror. “Sonata was telling the truth. She really has turned ponies against each other.” Fluttershy hides behind Pinkie. “Everypony’s just scared. That’s all,” explains Applejack. “We just need to get to Ponyville and find Twilight, Chrysalis and Aita pronto! They’ll know how to set things right!” After leaving the ruins of Canterlot, we are met in Ponyville with a crowd of earth ponies. The apple family is right in the back of the crowd, Mayor Mare trying to calm them all down. Because Ponyville’s own heroes of Equestria are here to save us!!! And then some!!! “Where’d all these ponies come from?” Applejack asks. “Earth ponies’ve been pourin’ in, lookin’ for someplace safe,” Granny Smith says. “We don’t have unicorn magic to protect us, or a city in the sky to hide us like those cowardly pegasi!” one mare shouts as she approaches us. She has a straight aqua mane and tail, pink coat, and a hairbrush for a cutie mark. Looks like this pony is the perfect earth pony to counter, so I keep a cute and happy face as I walk to her. “Golly, does cowardly mean to face your problems head-on? That’s at least something Aita and Twilight’s pegasus friends would do, and Aita and Twilight know everypony who lives in Ponyville.” Behind all of us, clouds begin rumbling in front of Cloudsdale. “The pegasi are blocking Cloudsdale!” shouts the mare. “Said they don’t want any grounded ponies up in their business!” Lightning Dust is next to talk to her. “Get ahold of yourselves! We know you’re all scared! I can imagine literally every other pony is too! But we are ALL here to help!” A hot pink mare in the crowd with a straight pink mane and tail stands on her hind legs and raises her hoof in the air. “OH YOU’D BETTER FIX THIS!!!” The crowd raises their voices, making me and Lightning Dust back up and regroup with the rest. Applejack looks behind her, alternating between sides to turn her head. “Twilight, Aita and Chrysalis are probably just as worried as everypony else and trying to find a somewhere safe. That’s why I was sure they’d be waiting for us in Ponyville. Where else could they be?” Spike, Sunset and I all think. I have no idea where Twilight would be… but Chrysalis and Aita, yes. I hear Spike snap his claw and Sunset gasp. “Sunset, find Aita! Cozy, find Chrysalis! I know where Twilight is!” As Spike takes Twilight’s friends up north, and Sunset, Firelight and Lightning Dust wink out, I lead Trace Light to the south into the skies of the Everfree Forest. A while after hearing everything going down in Canterlot, I decide to postpone the coronation until the crisis in Equestria is over. I also employed Chrysalis’ army to the front of the land in case Svengallop, human Spitfire, or the sirens decide to target our territory. As I pace around on the throne, Sunset Shimmer teleports into the throne room with Firelight and Lightning Dust next to her. “Sunset Shimmer!” I jump down off the throne and hug Sunset. “Carve, I need to you take us to Wisconsin. I have a feeling Aita is taking refuge there.” “What happened?” I ask. “All we know is that she escaped from Canterlot the same time as Twilight and Chrysalis,” Firelight explains to me. “And they all split up.” I’m in shock at what he implies. “Escaped? You mean Svengallop, CHS Spitfire and the sirens attacked Canterlot?!? Sorry, Sunset, but taking you and the others there could easily lead to overcrowding her. If anyone's going to be there for her, it's Chrysalis or me. Just make sure Twilight's alright at the Crystal Empire. I hope Chrysalis is going to be fine with Tracey and Cozy.” Everypony nods as I wave goodbye and teleport over to where Sophie’s home was last. As it turns out, she is home, as I can see the same car I saw over two and a half years ago in the driveway. The house is still the same, what with a window on each corner of the front, and a door in the middle of the lower level. The siding is the same baby blue it ever was. When I walk up to the doorstep, I knock on the door, getting Sophie to answer. “Wha…” she briefly drops her jaw. “Carve?!? What’s goin’ on?” “I-is Aita here? Where is she?” I ask her. Sophie nods and sighs. “Yes… just follow me upstairs. I-it’s… not good.” I follow Sophie as she heads to Aita’s room, heading straight across the entrance, through the living room to get upstairs. Act 5Trace Light and I have been flying a while, but we finally come across the chasm in front of the Castle of the Two Sisters. There, we land in front of the staircase and can now see the tree of harmony. As soon as the two of us arrive inside the cave the tree is in though, we notice Chrysalis is lying in front of the tree, utterly dejected presumably from the experience in Canterlot. Trace Light and I look at each other with concern. We reluctantly approach her when she notices us. “Trace Light? Cozy Glow?” Chrysalis sits up and pulls us to her hooves with her magic. “You’re here? I-I was so worried when I didn’t see you two in Ponyville. Where are the princesses?” “They started dueling our enemies so we could escape the caves along with Twilight’s friends as well as the rest of Aita’s!” Trace Light explains. “We needed to split off to find you all!” Chrysalis sighs. “Afraid that won’t work since Aita is nowhere to be seen.” “It will,” I casually reply. “Her knowledge of Equestria is extensive for a reason. Maybe she’d gone home.” “But how will Aita be safe in the real world?” Chrysalis’ question confuses us a bit; we thought that world wouldn't be affected by events taking place here. “It’s certainly a lot safer than Canterlot,” Trace Light says, seeming to possess a theory for why she left. “For all we know, even Equestria at this point.” Suddenly, the three of us hear hooves clipping behind us. I remember what this is from the last time I was down here. Looking behind us, we see it’s the same hologram of Twilight I saw just months ago. Good… the spirit flatly says. You are all here. “But I thought…” I start, only to see the spirit shake her head. Chrysalis has come for consolation, to be assured there will always be a safe haven in the heart of Equestria for Aita, who is currently nowhere to be seen. Cozy Glow and Trace Light, you best qualify for such providence. Do you say Aita is located in the real world? I nod at the spirit, who turns to Chrysalis. Aita will be safe there in trying times of her own, Chrysalis. Think back to yours. After your defeat at the hooves of Starlight Glimmer and Thorax, you fled the hive, seeking revenge. But upon your arrival of the Castle of the Two Sisters, there was something unexpected within you. Is that correct? Chrysalis looks up, the spirit looking concerned for her. She tears up now. “I… I was reminded of my changelings upon examining the ruins, since Carve and Carina lived with others who did the same. That’s the entire reason I strived to get my hive back.” And you did earn it back. Those ruins wouldn’t have reminded you of such if they never survived once thrust into the real world. Now it is your subsequent actions that shall help set Equestria on the right path once more. That has been proven with Cozy Glow, who has followed in your example, instead of the much darker path she was once headed; she has given back to her student body back home, led to the acquisition of Trace Light’s cutie mark, and selflessly used her double-edged skill set for the good of her friends… including the young changeling you care most about, Chrysalis. Chrysalis listens to the spirit’s speech, and looks at us when my actions are brought up. She smiles at me once it’s just us and Trace Light. But it also looks like the windigos have arrived about now too. “The… the tree of harmony is right… Aita was right… you and I are night and day compared to each other, yet you’ve accomplished as much as I have following my transformation. It doesn’t matter who it is; seeing somepony taking after me is… inspiring.” Chrysalis turns a bit concerned once she gets truly thinking about Aita. “Equestria will have to wait though. Aita needs us.” Chrysalis pulls us under her wings and teleports us to a world much bulgier than ours. We must be in the real world now. When we approach the house in front of us, Chrysalis knocks on the door, which is opened by Carve of all who would answer. “Carve?!?” Chrysalis and Carve embrace each other. “I thought you were awaiting my return at the throne room.” “Not when a changeling needs us.” We all head inside, Chrysalis closing the door behind us with her magic. As Carve takes me, Cozy, and Trace Light upstairs, only for us to find in which is presumably Tim’s room, Aita is laying on the middle of the floor with visible puddles below her cheeks from the tears streaming down her face. I sit down in front of her. “Chrysalis!” Noticing me, Aita gets up and rubs my hoof with her head. “You’re safe!” “Cozy Glow told me you’d be here, Aita. It’s a relief you’re safe as well.” Through the corner of my eye, I can see Cozy thinking, hoof under her chin while looking around the room, then walking over to Aita. “You feeling okay?” “Oh, thank you for asking, Cozy, but no…” Aita answers sadly. “Everypony fell for Sonata’s humming and nopony even noticed! Not Twilight, her friends, Sunset, Starlight… or ANY of us! And Equestria is now in tension because of the sirens’ magic!” Carve and Trace Light look at each other. “I mean that much is clear,” the latter replies. “But knowing us ponies, I know every one of us can get ’em back together.” “But we have no idea where Twilight is!” counters AIta. “And she’s the only one that can fix this!” Carve nods as she comes by my side. “Yeah we do. Maybe not Tracey or Cozy, but certainly the three of us.” “You can’t forget, Aita,” I add. “this wasn’t the first time she took refuge, even if this is the first reasonable instance of doing so.” “Besides, won’t you feel better once we’re all together again? Teaming up and defeating those baddies?” Cozy’s rhetorical question gets Aita’s attention. “We can’t let Twilight and her friends stand alone, can we?” Aita looks up at me, and for the first time since first encountering Svengallop, she smiles. “Thank you, all of you. Sometimes even I will need some motivation… but we’ll still need a plan.” Now that’s the nymph I used to care for. As Aita uses her magic to dry her face, the five of us look to the entrance of the room and see Sophie crossing her arms. “How can I help?” Aita shakes her head. “Afraid to say, but I can’t let you get in harm’s way, Sophie. I could update you on the situation once this is all over with if you’d like though.” Sophie looks impressed by this new side of Aita. She ultimately nods and leaves the room the way she came. Aita begins pacing around the room. “Okay, five of the worst threats, powered up by a magical bell, have taken over Equestria, which has become entirely blinded by distrust and tension, possibly enough to spearhead sightings of the windigos, and it’s up to our circles of friends to put an end to it all.” “And that’s exactly what we shall do!” I respond with drive as we circle around, stacking hooves of ours on top of each other. “For Equestria!” we all shout, put each hoof we used in the air. Once Carve has gone home, Chrysalis and I teleport with Cozy Glow and Trace Light respectively to the Crystal Empire main palace throne room. There, Shining Armor, Cadence and Flurry Heart are present to greet us. “Aita!” Flurry Heart babbles and laughs, flying over and hugging me. “Good, you made it,” says Cadence, floating Flurry Heart onto her back once the hug is done. “Twilight and her friends are off along with the rest of yours to defeat the villains. She’ll need your help.” Chrysalis grins. “Just as we thought. We’ll meet them as soon as equinely possible. You know what to do to get there, right Aita?” I nod. “Yep. Cadence, Shining Amor, keep Flurry Heart safe. Everyone else, follow me.” So, I light up my horn and exit the crystal palace, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow and Trace Light following me as best as they can while I fly at the fastest velocity I think I’ve ever gone, even faster than when I flew away to the Everfree Forest nearly seven and a half years ago. It’s incredible how far my trailing skills have come, since now I can locate my friends from almost halfway across Equestria now. “You think they know we’re here?” Spike asks just as we arrive. And it looks like we came just in time for the baddies to open a portal directly in front of us and step through it. “I’d say they have an idea,” answers Applejack, everyone now either worried or furious. Act 6With the villains approaching, we can spot the bell floating by itself around them. “That bell has Tirek’s magic inside,” Twilight notes before Fluttershy interrupts. “If they use it against us…” “His magic is so unique, he’s the only one that can capitalize.” Everyone looks ahead again when Adagio starts taunting. “You just can’t accept we will dominate you no matter what! Can you?” “You can’t beat us if we never give up!” Twilight retorts, before realizing something. “Wait a minute; that sample of Grogar’s magic in the bell could power one of US up!” “Oh no you don’t!” Svengallop laughs, spinning in the air with his horn charging up for an attack. Chrysalis, Twilight, Sunset, Firelight and I teleport behind a nearby bush to dodge the blast. “We need to get that bell and get Tirek’s magic back,” declares Twilight quietly to us. “My friends, Lightning Dust, and Chrysalis, you’re all with me.” “Sweet!” Rainbow Dash cheers, her hoof pulling the air from above. “I’ll grab that bell in ten seco-” “No,” Twilight interrupts, pointing to me, Spike, Trace Light, Cozy Glow, Firelight and Sunset, much to our confusion. “We’re the distraction. They’re gonna get the bell.” Meanwhile, the villains have been looking for all of us, destroying all the other bushes and rocks. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” taunts Svengallop. CHS Spitfire points to Twilight and the others while Spike and I, as well as the rest assigned to get the bell, step away. “There!” she shouts. With everyone yelling, I lower my ears a bit and press my eyes closed. Twilight and Chrysalis work together to attack Adagio, Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust take care of Svengallop and Spitfire respectively by spinning them out, Rarity and Applejack cover Aria with diamond shields and lassos, and Fluttershy and Pinkie cover Sonata by taming her with massages. Once everyone is lured away from the bell, I charge the bell and jump. “Do they have to be SO ANNOYING?!?” Spitfire vents. “Not annoying! DISTRACTING!!!” screams Adagio, pointing to me while I’m in midair. Aria dives for me, so with lightning quick thinking, I hover and teleport behind her, then wave the rest of my unit on to distract her while I change into a siren of my own. In this form, the only thing I have to be careful of is not to sing, but I take full advantage of what I am free to use: the default mouth beam. I circle around her and attack twice the part where Aria’s pendent is supposed to be. “Cozy Glow! Now!” I call as I now coil around Aria and dodge her blasts. I bite her in the midriff, causing her to howl, only to get blindsided by an attack from behind. I revert to my natural form as I fall to the ground. “Aita!!!” I hear an all-too-familiar voice call out. I can now only watch as Cozy Glow attempts to zoom for the bell, but stops and gasps. I suddenly see a glow coming from behind me, as well as a wave of love knocking down the sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop. “Cozy! Take the bell!” I can barely hear myself shout over the auditory overload going on. Cozy Glow nods, grabs the bell and rings it. Averting my gaze from the brightness of the magic flowing in front of me, I can see a floating cocoon where Chrysalis was that suddenly explodes, revealing a new form of Chrysalis. Instead of near-black, she is bearing a silver carapace, and possesses the same wings Thorax once did as king. Something is off about the form though. Instead of the faded sea green I’m always used to, her eyes glow yellow-green when she first opens them. And if that wasn’t enough, her hooves now have holes in them like they did before she befriended Twilight. Cozy Glow, take the bell. Snap it to the castle. Return as soon as you can. I can somehow hear Chrysalis’ instructions to Cozy in my head, her voice hitting lower than usual pitches, but still sounding normal otherwise. While hearing those instructions, I can see that Cozy’s wings have grown, and she’s also gained a horn. She is an alicorn now. Cozy frantically nods. “Okay!” She nervously but swiftly does as Chrysalis tells her. I struggle to get up while Cozy is gone for the moment as the villains manage to recover before me, and they get back in the battle as she reappears. But just when I am standing, I flatten my ears to the sound of Svengallop. “What happened to the bell?!?” he shouts as he yanks me up close to him with his magic. The rest end up going for Cozy Glow, who joins everyone else in the battle as Svengallop is forced to release me by a green beam to his horn. I skid on the ground and look to see Chrysalis taking on Svengallop and dominating him now. She pins him the same way she did before and glares at him. Unlike last time, he’s flailing his hooves, trying to get her off him. “NOW WHAT DID YOU SAY DIDN’T AFFECT YOU?!? HA?!?” That is a weird effect: hearing Chrysalis through the air AND in my head at the same time. She charges up her horn, causing Svengallop to shriek, only for us to hear Spitfire. “That’ll be enough out of all o’ you!” With everyone else looking to the back of the battlefield in horror sans the other villains, she is holding Spike in her magic, specifically in the torso. “Anymore shenanigans and I’ll open fire!” “No!! Don’t hurt him!!” Twilight desperately orders as the sirens and Svengallop join Spitfire. “Don’t worry about me! Just sa- hmmm!!” Spitfire cocks Spike like a gun, making him gag mid-sentence. While everyone else is looking on even more horrified, the sirens and Svengallop have no objections to this, but a super-enraged Chrysalis charges her horn enough to make sparks fly out of it without a word, yanking Spike to out of Spitfire’s magic and onto our side. As a result, Spitfire plops forward but recovers quickly, her and Svengallop charging a beam while the sirens’ mouths are glowing. “Turns out that life science lesson was correct, wasn’t it?” Svengallop says. Spitfire nods. “Couldn’t be MORE true. Pretty fitting for an ending.” “No matter what, we FACE IT TOGETHER!!!” Rainbow Dash declares. Just as the villains begin their attack, Chrysalis steps in and blocks it with her own that ends up closing in on them. It produces a small explosion that knocks all her targets backward. “Enough,” she coldly says. “You five will never see the light of day once you destroy my friends. This. ends. now!” When I see Twilight and her friends, their eyes all spark when Chrysalis is defending everyone around me. “Just because I let my instincts overtake me, it doesn’t mean I will ever forget the reason those are there in the first place. Two special changelings planted the seeds for who I have become today. The elements of harmony nurtured those seeds even when all seemed lost. But they can’t solve everything alone, which is why we continue to build harmony in new ways. Without the fandom, embrace, stride, forgiveness, inspiration and hope around me, I wouldn’t be where I stand today, protecting the ponies I love!” Throughout Chrysalis’ speech, she performs a special teleportation for Garble and his army, as well as Tirek, Starlight, Celestia and Luna. The bell is also teleported this way. Twilight, Spike and their friends float up to Chrysalis on one side with a white aura, then my friends and I do the same, just on her other side. Both groups proceed to pour out rainbow lasers that combine within Chrysalis, reverting her to her previous form, shooting out a column of magic that vanquishes the windigos then comes back down to rain on the sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop. As a result, Spitfire is reverted to a pegasus, Svengallop an earth pony, and the sirens their base forms. All fourteen of us safely float down to the ground once the villains are defenseless. Soon after, Starlight teleports Celestia, Luna and Tirek close by. Meanwhile, Cozy Glow approaches the bell, then uses her magic to ring it, reverting her to a pegasus. She then turns the bell around with her hooves, pointing it to Tirek, and rings it once more, which just gives him his magic back. Celestia, Luna and Tirek now confront Spitfire, Svengallop and the sirens. “There isn’t a punishment WORTHY of all you’ve done!” snaps Celestia. “Maybe we could…” Tirek walks between the princesses and whispers between them. “Oh! That does seem fitting,” remarks Luna, seemingly agreeing with Tirek’s idea, whatever it is. “Take it away, Tirek.” Tirek steps forward and drains the villains’ magic, growing in size along the way. Everyone unaffected cheers at the result. Chrysalis and Twilight teleport next to me as Celestia turns to us. “Each one of you brought high hopes within me. Going to Ponyville, Twilight; befriending Equestria, Chrysalis; and defeating Stellar Flare, Aita. But nothing could prepare me for how proud I am right now. Equestria is definitely in the right hooves with ALL your involvement. You are ready.” “You know what, I think we are,” Twilight replies to Celestia. “Thank goodness,” Applejack says in relief as she and the rest of our friends come to us. “First question, Twilight: what do we do with everyone here?” “We’re gonna need a LOT more chairs for the coronation!” Pinkie adds. Twilight looks on past Celestia, Luna and Tirek, at Garble’s army. “Actually, as ruler of Equestria, I’d like to postpone the coronation while the castle’s being rebuilt. Besides, we have another to attend.” She then wraps her hoof around me, hinting at which coronation she’s referring to. In Ponyville Town Hall, everyone Aita has ever met is gathered in the main room. She isn’t inside yet, but the coronation has only just started. I currently stand at the same podium I met Rarity at, in front of an isle between the chairs that leads to the main entrance. As I begin my speech, two changelings behind me begin using their wings to play a quiet song I can only guess Aita’s heard before exclusively. “Citizens of Equestria and beyond, when I became the princess of friendship, I was given the mission to make Equestria a better place, but in light of my succession of the royal sisters, it has become abundantly clear that I will need my own: one that will continue my old mission after I’ve moved back to Canterlot to rule Equestria. And the past two years have shown me there is nopony more willing and capable of fulfilling that role than who I have in store. “As we look toward Equestria’s future, I can assure you all she will carry on the principles we have taught her, even learn some of her own to build upon those principles. And everyone here knows she will be up to the task. So for the very first time, may I present to you Aita Bagley-Handy: the new princess of friendship.” On cue, the front doors open from Aita’s magic as she begins walking down the aisle to the podium. As she steps on, the hardware clerk from Canterlot, Handy Wrench, presents the new crown on a pillow and floats it off onto her head. Aita and I hug as the crowd cheers for her as the flameless fireworks begin to go off. “Say something, Aita,” I whisper. Aita steps up to the front of the podium and clears her throat. “Three years ago, I never imagined I would be standing here in front all the friends I’d go on to make. It is an honor to be receiving this title, and all I have to say is… thank you, everypony. Thank you for everything.” And so, the audience cheers Aita on after the short thanks she gives. I wrap my wing around her, knowing that with her, everything in Ponyville is going to be just fine without me.
Teaser/Cold OpenIt’s been over a year since we scaled Mt. Everhoof and successfully obtained Grogar’s bewitching bell. Ever since we came back to the lair, apparently search parties have sprung up again. The only teammates that have to worry about that now are Tirek and Spitfire. As for me, Aria, Adagio, and Svengallop, we can roam around as we please as long as we don’t cause trouble directly. And that’s a loophole I’m willing to exploit, since I am the most chipper out of all of us. In the area close to the drawbridge at Canterlot, I hide behind one of the tall shrubs on the roadside as a unicorn baker passes by. He has a yellow coat, a blue mane and tail, and a set of chef’s attire. His cutie mark is hidden behind the saddlebags he’s carrying though. I peek out and wave hello. The stallion looks at me and waves back. “Hello there young pegasus, and you would be…” he prompts. I jump onto the road and point to my chest. “Don’t worry about me,” I reply in declination as I turn my hoof to him. “YOU look AMAZING in that chef’s hat!” He looks up and blushes. “D’oh, why thank you there, miss. I’m on my way to the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Two other coronations are actually on the way too. There is SO much baking to do. So what are YOU going to do at the coronation?” “Well…” I fake the appearance of thinking by putting a hoof to my chin as I already know what to do. I just have to get him to fall into… the trap. “I’ve been working on a little something, and you seem like the perfect stallion to provide the necessary feedback.” He looks rather interested in what I have to offer, tilting his head then holding a hoof over one of his ears. That is the perfect cue. I start humming a rather basic and short tune that’s only nine notes and two measures long, making the stallion almost look like he’s about to fall asleep. “Oh what a sweet little ditty… Sonata… I’m… sure it could be turned into something special,” he mumbles in an enamored tone. “Great! Oh, and um, before you go… would you happen to have tacos on the menu for the coronation?” I ask, which confuses him. “I don’t even know what those are.” This prompts me to whisper in his ear what a taco is, and he nods. “Alright. I’ll be sure to whip up something like that soon.” “Sounds like a deal. See you at my place!” I smile when he turns around, and when he approaches Mrs. Cake on the drawbridge, he looks the other way, leaving her confused. “Wow! I can’t believe just how well that worked. That was almost… too easy,” I quietly remark to myself as I start my way back to the lair. “AND I get breakfast as a bonus!” I pull down the air above me in accomplishment.
Act 1Returning to the lair, I am greeted as always by the company of human Spitfire, Svengallop, Adagio, Aria and Tirek, the last of whom is the the first to see me. “Ah, Sonata! Another successful field trip, I presume.” “You bet! Spitfire was pretty smart in enlisting me to spread all that hatred. Nobody would be any the wiser!” Spitfire’s forehooves are crossed as she sits with the rest of the group. “Camp Master Chrysalis may’ve been out of her mind that night, but her defense for Aita got me to make sure that wouldn’t happen to any of us in the future.” “No friendship, no MAGIC!” Svengallop notes to all of us. “It’s so obvious when you think about it!” “And being left to our own accord has given ME time to prepare for the next part of our plan.” Tirek gets up and walks over to the drawer Grogar’s bell is in, opening the drawer and floating the bell to his hands with his magic. He then takes a book from one of the nearby shelves. “Grogar’s bell! This artifact can steal any creature’s magic; it holds that magic until it is released by THIS SPELL, which means all the magic inside is ours for the taking!!!” He opens the book and points to the spell that releases all the magic inside the bell, and, after finishing speaking, smooches the bell. Aria hovers and takes it from Tirek. “You’re drooling on the bell.” “Let’s try this bell,” Adagio suggests, taking the bell from Aria and setting it down on the roundtable. “Nobody’s REALLY in charge of this master plan.” “Grab my arms…” Everybody glares at Tirek. “...so that we could ALL be part of the spell, unless you’d prefer I take all the magic myself.” Spitfire, Aria, Svengallop and I reluctantly do as he lightly commands. “Our path stands,” states Adagio, being the last one to do the same as the rest of us. “What we do, we do together. Once everybody here is defeated, we rule alone.” So, Tirek uses his magic to ring the bell to give us its magic. Once all of us are hit with it, Tirek grows to the same size he was when he absorbed everyone’s magic sans Spitfire’s, Svengallop and Spitfire become alicorns and Adagio, Aria and I are now in our true forms. We all laugh maniacally. “Welcome back, everypony!” Adagio exclaims and points to Tirek, who widens his eyes. “What do you say we sap his head off?” Svengallop snickers. “Sounds like a spectacular idea, Adagio!” “You and me both!” Spitfire agrees. Tirek backs away from us as Spitfire floats the bell to point it to him, and with a ring, it absorbs ALL of his magic, him going right back to his old form. At the changeling throne room, Areola and I are at the entrance while Rusty Flashlight, Pane Fall and Carve are on the throne. “Feast your eyes, Areola. Today is my last day on the throne. By tonight, it will be Carve’s.” Areola rests her hoof on my back. “It only felt like yesterday when I recounted to her your rise to studenthood. Now look at her… about to be crowned as your successor.” Areola and I approach the throne, allowing us to clearly hear Carve, Rusty and Pane’s conversation. “And Rusty, Pane, you’ll always be welcome at the hive,” Carve says to them before she sees me. “Oh! Chrysalis, what’s up?” “I just came to show my old teacher how far you’ve come in the past eight years. You have been with me all the way ever since I’ve had my hive back. She’s also volunteered to conduct the choir for the coronation.” Just as Carve and I meet up and embrace each other, a letter materializes in front of me. Areola floats it to me, so I take it with my own magic and read it. Dear Chrysalis, I’m currently home, getting ready for my own coronation as Twilight’s successor, and I have something for you and Cozy Glow. Would you mind coming over real quick so I can show you? Thanks in advance. Yours truly, Aita. “Well, in case you all were worried for me, I still will have plenty of company when I move to Twilight’s old castle,” I remark. “Areola, do you think you can help Carve if she needs you? I must go and see what Aita has in store for me.” “You can count on me, Chrysalis!” While Twilight and Spike are in Canterlot, I’m actually home, George and Cozy Glow keeping me company. In the throne room, I sit on Twilight’s throne while Cozy does a few personal errands, like measuring my head to fit a crown for me, while George is sitting on Fluttershy’s throne of course. “So, uh, how are you feeling about this?” she asks me. “About what?” “Well, it’s not every day the princess of friendship moves out and gives all responsibilities to you.” I laugh. “Right that. I’m feeling pretty good about it.” Cozy turns her head to George as he speaks. “And that’s wonderful to hear, Aita. I can’t think of anyone more worthy to succeed Twilight. You’ve come such a long way since you first moved to Ponyville.” “Well,” I reply. “Twilight did say quite a while ago that I would lead someday, that day finally being today.” Cozy Glow notices two boxes at the center of the map. “Hey, uh, what are these?” “Oh the boxes? I think it’s best to wait for Chrysalis before you see.” I suddenly hear the front door open. “And it looks like you won’t have to wait for long. I’ll be right back, Cozy.” Exiting the throne room, I see Chrysalis in the foyer. “Chrysalis!” I exclaim in excitement, rushing over and hugging her. “Oh, how are you, young Aita?” she affectionately asks. I let go and land back on the floor. “I’m doing great. Cozy and George are in the throne room.” So, Chrysalis and I walk into the throne room together, and Cozy and George wave hello. “We’ve faced so much together, and come out okay. Some of us may be incredibly young, but that has never stopped us from the just as incredible feats we’ve accomplished.” I float the boxes now to Cozy and Chrysalis, who open their own, which each contains a medal. Chrysalis gasps in awe. “Friendship advisor?” “Organizer? What’s this?” asks Cozy as she puts hers on. “These are positions I created for you two. Ever since I moved here, you, Chrysalis, have been by my side, defending me from human Spitfire, teaching me to trail, and comforting me when I needed it most… and Cozy Glow, you and Chrysalis helped me become Sibling Supreme, and you were with me during the whole hunt for my belated birthday present. I wouldn’t be the changeling I am today without you two.” Chrysalis pulls me toward her, Cozy and George coming to us. We all group hug. “Thank you immensely Aita,” Chrysalis softly chokes out with happiness. “You know we’ll always be right with you.” “That’s exactly what I thought you’d say,” I say. “because now that the crown’s been fitted, we have a few errands to run.” I lead Cozy and Chrysalis out of the throne room, but stay behind when George catches my attention. “Do you think Twilight and Spike feel the same way in Canterlot?” he asks. “Probably… just the inverse of what we did.” At the moment, I’m currently in Canterlot, and with my friends - including Spike - with me all around the city. I have a few pre-coronation errands to run. I’m hoping Aita has hers going smoothly, not to mention Carve’s. Over the same street I once saw Cadence cast a peace spell, I see Rarity and Fluttershy coming around the corner. “Ooh! Twilight, darling, you’re just in time!” Rarity exclaims as I land in front of them with Spike behind me joining them on their walk. “Only one more pre-coronation stop. We’re picking up the final touch for your opres’hor d’oerves gown…” “Is that before or after the royal marshmellow-eating-contest gown?” I jokingly ask her. “WHAT?!? I haven’t MADE one of those! You must tell me when they add these sorts of things!” Rarity freaks out and begins floating a quill and paper to write down what I said as I hold back my laughter as much as I can. I lower the paper and chuckle. “It’s okay, Rarity. I was just joking.” “Joking? Day of your coronation? You’ve come a long way, Twilight,” Spike crosses his arms as Rarity briefly faints into Fluttershy’s wings. Once she’s recovered, Rarity leads us to a thread shop; unfortunately, the door appears to be locked. At Carousel Boutique, I try to open the front door with my magic, only to find it locked. I look back at Cozy and Chrysalis and they shrug. “That can’t be right,” I say to myself. “Somepony was supposed to watch over Rarity’s shop while she was away…” “Perhaps they’re in the moment. I can’t imagine why they-” Chrysalis is interrupted when we hear the lock turn and the door open. And at the main entrance is a stallion that I make clear that I recognize with pleasure. “Why hello there, everyone!” he waves, prompting me to press my cheeks with my hooves. “Sorry I locked the door. Force of habit.” “Zephyr Breeze?!? You’re filling in for Rarity?!?” Zephyr nods. “Of course I am, Aita! Now, who’re these two friends of yours?” I point to each friend of mine I introduce. “Chrysalis, Cozy Glow.” “Cozy Glow?!?” Zephyr looks at her and notices the cutie mark. “Ah! So this is who enlisted me to fill in for Rarity!” he notes, approaching her at my side and rubbing her mane. “So, did you hear anything from the blacksmith about Aita’s crown?” Chrysalis asks Zephyr, who shakes his head. “Not a peep, Chryssie. I would’ve gotten a message and shown it to y’alls if I did. BUT there is some good news comin’ from yours truly, Aita.” Zephyr takes us inside and leads us upstairs as he explains the news he has. “Cozies here managed to get the whole FAMILY involved with your dress!” The dress he reveals when we enter Rarity’s workspace is quite unique compared to what Rarity would think of. On the mini-manikin in the center of the room, the dress, while rather basic otherwise with blue and yellow on the back, has flowers sticking out of the back of the collar, and cloud at the end of the short sleeves and the back of the dress itself. “All I had to mention to Cozies was Fluttuh-Buttuh’s history of sewin’, and that’s all it took for her to get Mom and Pop’s help here. Mom was more than happy to lend a couple of flowers, and Pop and I figured out how to properly attach cloud to solid objects! Pretty neat, huh?” Chrysalis walks up to the dress and smiles. “It’s truly impressive, Zephyr Breeze. I didn’t know Cozy Glow’s level of organization extended past field trips. Fluttershy will be proud of you when she sees Aita’s dress.” “But you’re sure Handy Wrench hasn’t written back about the crown?” Zephyr wraps his hoof around Cozy. “Sorry Cozies, but it’s like I said before; I woulda shown ya the first chance I got if he did.” “That’s okay; we can always check for ourselves,” I reply. “We’ll be out picking up some dessert on the way anyway at Sugar Cube Corner, that and checking on the decor and technicals at Town Hall.” “Technicals?!?” a pleasantly surprised Zephyr exclaims. “Girl, you are one step ahead of EVERYPONY! What’re we gonna look at during the coronation, huh?” “Cozy may’ve been up to organizing everything else, but this was something I personally had to oversee. And only two ponies had the material to pull it off during Cranky and Matilda’s wedding.” Everyone’s eyes widen when they realize exactly what I’m talking about.
Act 2Rarity struggled for a thread, Rainbow Dash worked alone on Canterlot’s weather, Applejack was getting creeped out by a guard and Pinkie Pie was in a sugar war. Something was definitely off. “Are you sure this is just pre-coronation nerves?” I ask my friends, only to hear a distant voice behind us. Phew! Finally made it up! We all turn around and gasp, going into a hostile stance. “TIREK!!!” “Are you the one that’s been spreadin’ paranoia around here?!?” yells Applejack. Tirek shoots his hands up into the air. “Me? No! I’m not responsible!” Fluttershy bitterly hovers up to his face and pulls on his goatee. “Likely story! You’ve swayed Discord way back when, so it had to’ve been you!” “I concur,” Rarity sternly adds, also getting close to him. I hold my hoof up, stop my friends and approach Tirek directly. “Hold it, everypony. I need you to step back a little. Tirek, my friends are making pretty serious claims, even if what they say is perfectly believable. Are you responsible for all the unease they’ve experienced today?” Tirek shakes his head. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t possibly do that alone, given wits are not enough for such discord to spread so efficiently. But that’s not why I’m here. Those ‘colleagues’ of mine turned against me, even the more tolerable ones, and are on the loose!” When he reveals his current fate, he clutches his fists in anger. Everypony gasps at Tirek’s revelation. I lead Chrysalis, Cozy and Zephyr to Town Hall, where in the main room, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Kevin and Firelight are all helping with the decorations. I lead the former three to the technicals duo. “Hi Muffins! Hi Time Turner!” Muffins and Time Turner turn to me. “Ah, Aita!” exclaims the latter. “You arrived just in time! We’ve finished our installment of the flameless fireworks you ordered.” I briefly jump in the air with my forehooves above me. “Awesome! Thanks for doing this, you two.” “Aw… it’s what we do,” Muffins replies. “Will there be anything else?” Cozy Glow splits off from the two us for a short time, looking around the main room of Town Hall. “Well, I can see the decorations are coming along pretty nicely. We just have two other stops before going back to the castle.” “You may accompany us if you wish,” Chrysalis adds. Muffins shrugs, open to the suggestion, while Time Turner nods. When my friends, Spike and I drag Tirek into Canterlot Castle, we tell Celestia and Luna about the whole situation. “So wait. Tirek didn’t cause this unease from the citizens of Equestria?” Luna repeats. “He’s not guilty on that part at least,” I answer. “But I can imagine he would be on several others.” “Surely whatever I truly did after being summoned has been served with my comeuppance; I never shot down the others’ ideas, and I payed the price. I think the only thing I discouraged was their initial witch hunt on Discord when he revealed Aita’s change of pronoun.” Celestia flies up to Tirek with tranquil fury. “Even still, your actions from before that point are still left unserved! Is there anything else you would like tell us?!?” Tirek extends his arms to each of his sides one at a time. “Would you like the good news or the bad news?” Everyone is shocked that what he’s told us wasn’t even news he called bad. “That wasn’t the bad news?!?” exclaims Luna. “Svengallop, human Spitfire and the sirens share most of Grogar’s magic.” Spike faceclaws at Tirek’s bad news. “So what’s the good news?” “Maybe to you, but my magic is trapped in the bell, along with my share of Grogar’s.” Celestia lands before me and Luna. “Twilight, Luna, we need to make a plan! Maybe it’s not too late to stop this disaster from happening!” I put my hooves below my ears and close my eyes, trying to stop myself from panicking. “I… I need some time to think first.” “Well there isn’t any time!” Tirek rebuts. “They’re probably on their way right now!” Pinkie Pie hops forward. “Then we’ll stop them!” I frantically hover up to my friends. “How?!? Stopping the sirens in Sunset’s world was hard enough! And that was with her help!” Celestia comes by my side and rests a hoof across my shoulders. “Twilight, it doesn’t matter if you receive help from others or not. We believe in you, and we always have.” “Lean on your strengths to counter your weaknesses,” advises Luna. “My strengths…?” I repeat, looking to my friends. I suddenly get what Luna’s saying. “Right! Spike! Send a letter to Ember! We need her army to guard the borders of Canterlot! If the villains are coming for a fight, we’ll have one waiting for them! With Svengallop and CHS Spitfire on the loose, they’ll go after Aita and Chrysalis respectively! Warn Cadence, Shining Armor and Carve! They’re our final line of defense if we fail! The ultimate battle for the fate of Equestria… is coming!” Spike does as I say, grabbing a scroll each for Dragon Lord Ember, Aita, Princess Cadence, and Carve, and writing my warnings on them. I jump in the air at the final announcement. Still in the lair, I stamp my hoof on the roundtable, Sonata and Aria watching unflinchingly. “We’re not going ANYWHERE until you two are away from each other’s throats! Compliment each other IMMEDIATELY!!!” Spitfire groans. “He’s… regal in the new form.” “Svengallop…” I slowly growl. “She… excels with planning,” he reluctantly admits. I put a grin on my face. “There! Now, we were talking about Grogar’s bell.” “Why don’t we take the magic inside it,” Sonata suggests. “We could steal magic for ourselves as a result of what we did earlier.” “But isn’t that ability practically exclusive to centaurs? We already backstabbed the one we had before,” counters Aria. “Then leave it,” I conclude. “If we can’t access the thievery inside, there’s no point. We have a kingdom to conquer anyway.” The five of us stop at the front of the lair. “So, where should we strike first?” inquires Spitfire. “Everywhere…” I chuckle, prompting Svengallop and Spitfire to split off from us, Aria and Sonata staying by me as we all leave the lair. After getting Spike’s letter, I copy and send my own to all the friends I’ve made since moving to Ponyville. Subsequently, I pace in front of the castle soon to be mine while I wait for everyone else to come. The ponies that do arrive aren’t just my set of friends that helped me get the Sibling Supreme crown or Zephyr Breeze, but also Kevin, Granola, Mangle, Bow and Windy. “We got here as soon as we could, Aita!” Bow states, making me sigh in relief. “Good. EVERYONE is here. One of our past enemies is on their way right now, and we need to outnumber them if we can’t overpower them.” As I move through our briefing I cast Refulgo Publicus to demonstrate our enemies, them being apparently just the sirens, Svengallop, and human Spitfire. “Wait. What happened to Tirek?” Sunset asks. “Don’t worry about him,” I answer. “The others sapped him, so that barrs him from causing anymore trouble… I hope.” “We’ll need to coordinate an attack,” Granola notes. Mangle puts his arm to his hip and gives us a thumb’s up. “Our magical powers should cover the attacking, Granola.” “And we’ll coordinate!” declares Lightning Dust to Cozy Glow and Trace Light, the latter getting excited about pitching in for the team. Kevin then teleports in flight goggles for all the pegasi. Once I’ve gathered the royal guard to support my friends for the battle, all of them as well as the princesses and Tirek are lined up so they can see me as I talk to them. “We’ve faced enemies of Equestria before, and we’ve always succeeded! That wouldn’t be possible without all of you. So I ask for your help again today, in what is our biggest battle yet! All of Equestria is at stake, and I can’t do this alone! But I’m not afraid. Because with friendship as our armor, and teamwork as our power, nopony can ever bring us down!” Just as I finish the speech, the throne room’s door bursts open, causing everyone to turn around, even Tirek. “Nice try there, kid. But that speech ain’t gonna reinforce your manpower,” says the one who is presumably the Spitfire from Sunset’s world. I notice something about her pony form is different though. “Superintendent Spitfire?!? You’re-” “Opening fire!” CHS Spitfire unleashes a magical laser from her horn, hitting me point blank on the cheek as I try to quickly soar out of the way. I am sent into my new throne and fall limp in front of it. I groan, prompting everyone to gasp. “Wow! It’s true! Alicorns really are quite versatile!” taunts Spitfire, firing another laser across the room. And so begins our battle with at least one of our foes.
Act 3Once the dragon army is established onto the borders of Canterlot, I begin my orders, pacing around with twig in my claws hovering over my shoulder. “Spread out, and stay ready, warriors! Those ponies may be puny, but Dragon Lord Ember is counting on us to protect them!” “Yes, Commander Garble!” the rest of the dragons reply, saluting. In the distance, I can see three sirens in their true form heading straight for us. The yellow colored siren is Adagio, the purple one is Aria, and the blue one is Sonata. “Warriors! Prepare to fire!” We all begin soaring the air, preparing our fire breath. We start shooting when the sirens do, allowing us to block their blasts. Trading hits for ten to twenty seconds, Fizzle - the dragon with white scales and pink underbelly, underwings and spines - manages a good shot at Aria. Fume - purple spins and scales, yellow underbelly, underwings and hair - and Clump - thick body, brown scales, red underwings, blue horns - end up with the best shots on Sonata soon after. All of these potent shots are around where their pendants would normally be, but are absent for some reason. As a result, those two end up going down, but Adagio seems attracted to me, firing the most mouth beams at me. Charcoal - black scales, yellow hair, horn, underbelly and underwings - and I clash one of those beams with our combined fire. We manage to hold for quite a while, and in fact, it may be for a bit too long. Sonata and Aria get up and add to Adagio’s blast against us, knocking me and Charcoal into the rest of the dragon warriors. “Hah, fireproof, but not beam-proof,” Adagio remarks as she and the other two sirens leave the battlefield for Canterlot, us dragons now winded from the fight. After me and my friends had made a plan to contribute to attacking whoever will come our way, Mangle decides to fly overhead, hammerspacing a megaphone so that all of Ponyville can hear. Attention citizens of Ponyville! We urge you to stay inside while we take care of our enemy! We should be clear by the end of the day! Heed my warning or you’re fired! With Mangle taking care of the rest of Ponyville, each one of “us” - that being me and ALL the friends I’ve made since moving here - awaits the arrival of either CHS Spitfire, Svengallop, or the sirens. As soon as Mangle joins back in the group, it turns out the middle choice of our enemies returns for revenge on me. And there is a difference in Svengallop since the last time I last saw him; instead of an earth pony, he’s an alicorn now. “Ah, just the prince of friendship I wanted to see,” says Svengallop as he lands in front of all of us, misgendering me on purpose. This intentional denial of events angers not only Chrysalis, but also me. “Alright! That is enough!!!” I scream at Svengallop, floating him close to me with my magic. But knowing him, he would flail around, so it’s not close enough for him to thump my horn, but still close enough for him to clearly see the sheer amount fury within me. “You can force Coloratura to conform to your standards, exploit Pinkie Pie and Applejack with impossible tasks, even frame Discord for forging a professional letter! I’ve managed to keep my cool around all that, but deliberately calling me ‘prince’ is when I hold NOTHING back!!!” Still in my magic, I slam Svengallop to the ground. Chrysalis quickly jumps to him and firmly presses her hooves on the side of his in the air. “How does it feel, Svengallop?!? Did you seriously think purposefully misgendering Aita would be a wise choice of yours?!? She’s a CHILD!!!” she shouts in his ear. “So that’s what Discord meant as in unacceptable…” Svengallop squeakily mumbles before planting his face to the ground. But once Chrysalis hovers back next to me, he immediately recovers, jumps into the air and dusts himself off. “Ha! As if chitin’s going to stop me!” Before he has a chance to leave for Canterlot, Chrysalis and I point to him, signaling Cozy, Bow, Windy, Trace Light and Lightning Dust to jump up and bring clouds over to shoot lightning at Svengallop. He falls to the ground again, this time having been struck successfully by the pegasi. Starlight, Sunset, Kevin, Chrysalis and I all shoot a beam together, Svengallop dodging pretty swiftly, though haphazardly, considering the charring from the lightning that struck him. He takes off quite quickly, dodging another round of lighting all my pegasus friends have in store for him. Granola then zooms past everyone and sends Svengallop into a tailspin, which he recovers from within just a few seconds. “Darn it! He’s fleeing!” Starlight points out. “Svengallop is headed for Canterlot! We must support Twilight! Come, Aita,” orders Chrysalis before she turns around to our friends. “Wish us luck, everyone.” So, Chrysalis teleports me and herself to the Canterlot Castle throne room. The guards have taken over the battle with CHS Spitfire at the moment while my friends hide behind the throne platform, and I stand with the princesses. The guards are shooting rapid fire lasers at Spitfire, who has encased herself momentarily in a bubble shield. Once she’s at a lower elevation, she opens a portal to the moat of Canterlot as the guards charge her, causing them to fall into the moat on the other side. “Aaaand powerless guards out of the way…” notes Spitfire. “Stand down Canterlot City Spitfire!” Celestia angrily orders, raising and curling a hoof. Spitfire shrugs. “Meh, I could… but I can’t play mental bingo doin’ that! Can I?” She opens fire at us again. Celestia and Luna shriek, and through the shield I generate to block Spitfire’s magic from harming the three of us, I can see Aita and Chrysalis teleport in at the entrance of the throne room, slightly tired from a battle of their own. “Ready, sister?” says Celestia. Confused, I deactivate the shield and look up as the princesses fly and prepare for an attack. “Wait… What are you-” I stop short, but also notice Aita’s sudden shock. “Celestia! Luna! No!!!” she quickly shouts, levitating the two past Spitfire and safely next to her. That’s when they see what Aita saw, shifting from their initial surprise upon levitation to utter relief. From what I can guess, Aita just saved the princesses from getting their magic drained from Grogar’s bell. “Ha! I’m genuinely impressed, prince!” Spitfire remarks, angering everyone currently showing themselves to her. “You’ve actually wised up for once!” “Oh that is IT!” I declare, referring to the depletion of my patience for Spitfire’s manners, or lack there of. I point to Spitfire. “NOW!!!” On cue, my friends show themselves to Spitfire. The first to attack is Rainbow Dash, who stuns her by spinning her like a top, zooming around her at an immeasurable revolution. Rarity holds Pinkie Pie in her magic, who is holding a party bazooka. “SURPRISE ATTACK!!!” Pinkie screams, firing a shot of copious confetti, making Spitfire cough it all out. “Fly my pretties!!!” Fluttershy orders the geese as they gather around her, Aita and Chrysalis joining them and transforming into geese themselves. They all buffet Spitfire. Spike is next to attack, taking full control his aerial fire breath. Everyone continues taking their turn, attacking the former CHS Superintendent until Applejack uses a lasso to bring her down to ground level. The bell falls alongside her, which Spitfire grabs in her hooves, a little shocked she’s actually losing by herself. As soon as my friends and I can corner her though, Spitfire realizes the others are about to bail her out, as the stain glass windows behind my new throne are glowing. As she hovers higher and higher, the windows shatter from a blast by Svengallop and the sirens, blowing everyone else in the room to the entrance, including Tirek, forcing Chrysalis and Aita to lose their goose disguises. Everyone gathers behind me and I initiate a ground shield to protect them. “You think that feeble little shield will deter US?!?” Adagio gloats as she hovers over the shield. “The dragons have been defeated! Your friendship castle is abandoned! Face it, Twilight! You. have. LOST!!!” “You can attack us, and we may fall. But Equestria will still stand, united in friendship, and we won’t stop until we defeat you no matter how many ponies you take down!!!” Tirek taps me. “Um, Twilight…” Spitfire snickers. “Y- you’re serious, right?” “Didn’t you notice something was wrong in Equestria? Spitfire and I were busy!” explains Sonata, rubbing her hooves around the shield, and occasionally pointing to either Spitfire or herself. “She sent me on MANY a-field trip, humming and humming until enough ponies were weary of each other! And because of how I roll, everypony was none the wiser!” Svengallop rubs his hooves together, then swipes them to the side. “You have no backups this time. Consider the friendships within all equinity ERASED!” “Say, do you think this castle could use some finishing touches?” Aria playfully asks, prompting the rest to charge a beam that obliterates the wall and ceiling over the throne platform. “It’s about time YOU learned a life science lesson, Twilight,” Adagio taunts. “EXACTLY!!!” exclaims Svengallop, shooting out the shield, causing it to break. He then floats me to his hoof, grabbing me by the wings. “Because NOTHING, not even friendship, is more powerful than self-preservation!” I avert my gaze from Svengallop as his colleagues gather behind him, charging up an attack to hit me at point blank range with, something that could potentially finish me off. Fortunately, a boulder comes flying onto them, forcing them to throw me into the air and I land on the floor on my stomach. I go sliding on the carpet for a short distance. “Huh?” I look up at everyone in front of the throne, and Aita appears to be the one who threw the boulder, and is straining a bit from all that strength and force, her ears flat, but otherwise okay, smiling about her magic working so well in a fit of adrenaline. Chrysalis pets her twice on the back. I put on a small, brief grin myself, but realize through loud wing beats that our enemies are not done. I get up and gain a little distance from our enemies as they dust themselves off from the physical distraction. They fire another blast together at us, so with my quick thinking, I summon the same willpower Aita used and hold a large flat slab of rubble to block their fire. Everyone starts to hold the rubble themselves, starting with Rarity. “Twilight! Chrysalis! Aita! Go!!! Get help!!” “We’ll hold them ‘til y’all get back!” Applejack adds. “No!! We can’t leave you here!!!” objects Aita. Fluttershy is next to hold the slab. “It’s our only chance!!” “You’ll come up with something to save the day!!” Rainbow Dash yells. “You always do!!” Pinkie shouts, adding to the counterforce that’s beginning to crowd the area, followed shortly by Celestia, and Luna. “We believe in you!!!” Spike is the last to join in the counterforce before Tirek pushes me close to Aita and Chrysalis, forcing me to let go of the slab. “Fly you foals!!!” he screams, finally joining everyone else who is holding the rubble in place. The decision is unanimous. We have to get out of here. Even the castle is falling apart from all the force being applied here, as it is now raining rubble. Chrysalis, Aita and I reluctantly turn around, teleport and go our separate ways not only from our friends, but from each other in order to get whatever help is available to us more easily. And as we exit, our reluctance brings us - yes, even Chrysalis - to tears, escaping from the castle just in time to miss the overwhelming explosive force of Svengallop, CHS Spitfire and the sirens’ beam attack. Author's Note In case you're wondering, yes this is a two part story. So, three more acts on the way.
Act 4In the caves below Canterlot, everyone with even remotely anything that could stop the sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop are now locked below Canterlot with me: Twilight’s friends, Trace Light, Cozy Glow, Lightning Dust, Starlight, Firelight, Sunset and Garble and his army. Each cell is reinforced with a magical barrier like the one Gusty the Great employed against Grogar's bell. Only Tirek is visible to me, but he isn’t locked up like the rest. “Now to finish everyone OFF!” Aria declares, only to be stopped by Adagio. “Now now… I decide the fate of our guests. Let them live. Besides, we should entertain them. You still have that song of ours ready?” “Seriously?” Spitfire questions, jumping up in the air. “We should go after Twilight and the changelings! As long as they’re free, they’re still a threat!” “Sit down, Spitfire,” replies Svengallop. “Just because there’s one pony on the loose doesn’t mean we hunt them down. None of our friends are changelings anyway.” “Yeah!” Sonata flies up close to Starlight Glimmer’s cage. “That fool for a queen only retuned her legacy to allow her magic to work through it again. Those shards still block every other being’s. But where we stand, we’re the most powerful in Equestria! Thanks to Grogar’s bell! Right… Tirek?!?” Sonata pulls a nearby chain, causing Tirek to fall forward, who is bound by this chain. “You won’t get away with this, monsters! Just wait to find out what Dragon Lord Ember will do to you!” Garble shouts across the cave. “This is really bad…” Fluttershy murmurs in one cell with the rest of Twilight’s friends inside, prompting me to look at them. “We gotta find Twilight!” declares Applejack. “She’s probably already figured out a way to defeat them!” “Any idea HOW we get out of here to do that?” Rainbow Dash asks. Spike tries to stick his claw out, but pulls it away the moment the wall shows itself, putting the affected claw in the other to ease the pain. “It’s Gusty’s barrier. There’s no way anypony can get through this.” I put my hoof on my chin, Twilight’s friends turning to me when I speak. “Hm… did they put a shard over my cell?” I look over to Starlight, who is sitting in a cell that is hanging from the ceiling of the cave. She is still pretty furious with me after all I’d done before. “Listen, Stellar Flare. It would have to take WAY more than your help for us to consider freeing you.” Applejack raises her hoof. “Hold it, Starlight. We need all the help we can get right now. I don’t think she’s even tryin’ to make us free her; maybe she genuinely wants to help.” “Actually, there is someone ELSE who could help,” Fluttershy smugly counters. “And that’s because those monsters betrayed him, so there’s nothing left to lose.” Tirek perks up as Fluttershy points to him. “Really… you want ME to help you?!? After all I’ve done?!?” I suddenly get where Fluttershy is going at. “That’s right! Tirek, you were the one who stopped us from mobbing Discord. And you were the only one who stayed in that lair that paid Aita’s change any amount of respect. If anyone were most qualified to help the rest of them escape, it’s you.” “But I let Spitfire and Sonata conspire against Equestria! I helped the rest retrieve the bell! I let you defame Aita! The only reason I went along with the change was because of Discord and his connection with her!” “But that is not the point, Tirek!” argues Rarity. “You can’t let your actions from when you had magic define who you are without it! Question: who were the ones that took your magic?” Tirek strokes his goatee. “The sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop?” “And who were the ones that trashed Princess Twilight’s new castle?!?” Cozy asks. “The ones that got us in here! Would ANY of us prisoners do the same thing if we had the choice?!?” Tirek shakes his head. “I don’t even think Garble would…” He opens his eyes now like he gets it now, then gets up and steps toward those targets with a shard in his hand. “You know… I could always teach you how to get my magic working in you.” Sonata beams at Tirek. “Ooh! Is it singing?!? Please tell me it’s through singing!” “Tirek! No!!!” Spike exclaims. “This isn’t the way to help!” “Well, you’ve made me curious,” Spitfire remarks. “How DOES it work?” Svengallop pushes Spitfire behind him. “Ultimatums are more my speed. Speak or we dispose of the bell!” “He’s lying!!” Adagio points out to her colleagues. “He won’t tell us!!” “Certainly not you!” Tirek replies. “Especially after you betrayed me and took my magic from me along with my share of Grogar’s, you air-bound beast!” “This ‘beast’ can erase you before you inch, so choose your words delicately.” Adagio air quotes what Tirek called her, points to him, and bobs her hoof back and forth three times. Tirek shrugs. “You’re right. Beast is TOO nice for you. How about ‘malicious siren who makes a stink about competition, where’er she goes, for attention.’” Angered at the amended insult, Adagio shoots a beam straight at Tirek, who deflects the beam, sending it every which way - the villains barely able to dodge it - before hitting its target. “Ha! You missed!” Spitfire yells. “Did he though?!?” As it turns out, the beam ricocheted in a certain amount of ways to hit the shard above Starlight’s cell. She floats herself and slices the cell in half, causing the bottom to hit the floor. The villains proceed to rush her with beams, so the only way she dodges is through teleport spam. Once she gets to the cells of Twilight’s friends and the others, they look to her. “Get Twilight, Chrysalis and Aita!” says Applejack. Starlight shakes her head. “No way. They’ve always needed you.” She then uses a magical blast to disable the magical barriers previously in place, but ends up shot in the back once she lands back on the ground. Celestia stands over Starlight with Luna right next to her. “Find Twilight, Chrysalis and Aita! We aren’t completely helpless at the moment! We’ll hold them off as long as we can!” Celestia declares. Twilight’s friends step back to Tirek. “Wow! I’ve just found new respect for you, Tirek,” Spike notes. “We all have. You were willing to gamble your life for us.” “Just save Equestria!” Tirek yells, running to join the team effort that even Garble and his army are participating in, prompting Twilight’s friends, Trace Light, Cozy Glow, Lightning Dust, Sunset, and Firelight to escape. The ten of us come up to an underground entrance, where Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash manage to break the bricks by ramming into them together. When we all get out, we notice a unicorn stallion running toward the school of magic. “Why are you out in the open?!? HIDE!!!” shouts the stallion. “Where is everypony?” asks Trace Light. “The unicorns have been gathering at Celestia’s school of magic ever since the attack! That’s where I was headed when I saw you,” he explains to us. “What about the earth ponies and pegasi?” Lightning Dust asks. The stallion closes his eyes. “It’s everypony for themselves.” “But that’s not right!” counters Sunset. He points to all of us. “Well you can stand out here and debate. I’m going where it’s safe.” And so the stallion flees to the school ahead. I look on in horror. “Sonata was telling the truth. She really has turned ponies against each other.” Fluttershy hides behind Pinkie. “Everypony’s just scared. That’s all,” explains Applejack. “We just need to get to Ponyville and find Twilight, Chrysalis and Aita pronto! They’ll know how to set things right!” After leaving the ruins of Canterlot, we are met in Ponyville with a crowd of earth ponies. The apple family is right in the back of the crowd, Mayor Mare trying to calm them all down. Because Ponyville’s own heroes of Equestria are here to save us!!! And then some!!! “Where’d all these ponies come from?” Applejack asks. “Earth ponies’ve been pourin’ in, lookin’ for someplace safe,” Granny Smith says. “We don’t have unicorn magic to protect us, or a city in the sky to hide us like those cowardly pegasi!” one mare shouts as she approaches us. She has a straight aqua mane and tail, pink coat, and a hairbrush for a cutie mark. Looks like this pony is the perfect earth pony to counter, so I keep a cute and happy face as I walk to her. “Golly, does cowardly mean to face your problems head-on? That’s at least something Aita and Twilight’s pegasus friends would do, and Aita and Twilight know everypony who lives in Ponyville.” Behind all of us, clouds begin rumbling in front of Cloudsdale. “The pegasi are blocking Cloudsdale!” shouts the mare. “Said they don’t want any grounded ponies up in their business!” Lightning Dust is next to talk to her. “Get ahold of yourselves! We know you’re all scared! I can imagine literally every other pony is too! But we are ALL here to help!” A hot pink mare in the crowd with a straight pink mane and tail stands on her hind legs and raises her hoof in the air. “OH YOU’D BETTER FIX THIS!!!” The crowd raises their voices, making me and Lightning Dust back up and regroup with the rest. Applejack looks behind her, alternating between sides to turn her head. “Twilight, Aita and Chrysalis are probably just as worried as everypony else and trying to find a somewhere safe. That’s why I was sure they’d be waiting for us in Ponyville. Where else could they be?” Spike, Sunset and I all think. I have no idea where Twilight would be… but Chrysalis and Aita, yes. I hear Spike snap his claw and Sunset gasp. “Sunset, find Aita! Cozy, find Chrysalis! I know where Twilight is!” As Spike takes Twilight’s friends up north, and Sunset, Firelight and Lightning Dust wink out, I lead Trace Light to the south into the skies of the Everfree Forest. A while after hearing everything going down in Canterlot, I decide to postpone the coronation until the crisis in Equestria is over. I also employed Chrysalis’ army to the front of the land in case Svengallop, human Spitfire, or the sirens decide to target our territory. As I pace around on the throne, Sunset Shimmer teleports into the throne room with Firelight and Lightning Dust next to her. “Sunset Shimmer!” I jump down off the throne and hug Sunset. “Carve, I need to you take us to Wisconsin. I have a feeling Aita is taking refuge there.” “What happened?” I ask. “All we know is that she escaped from Canterlot the same time as Twilight and Chrysalis,” Firelight explains to me. “And they all split up.” I’m in shock at what he implies. “Escaped? You mean Svengallop, CHS Spitfire and the sirens attacked Canterlot?!? Sorry, Sunset, but taking you and the others there could easily lead to overcrowding her. If anyone's going to be there for her, it's Chrysalis or me. Just make sure Twilight's alright at the Crystal Empire. I hope Chrysalis is going to be fine with Tracey and Cozy.” Everypony nods as I wave goodbye and teleport over to where Sophie’s home was last. As it turns out, she is home, as I can see the same car I saw over two and a half years ago in the driveway. The house is still the same, what with a window on each corner of the front, and a door in the middle of the lower level. The siding is the same baby blue it ever was. When I walk up to the doorstep, I knock on the door, getting Sophie to answer. “Wha…” she briefly drops her jaw. “Carve?!? What’s goin’ on?” “I-is Aita here? Where is she?” I ask her. Sophie nods and sighs. “Yes… just follow me upstairs. I-it’s… not good.” I follow Sophie as she heads to Aita’s room, heading straight across the entrance, through the living room to get upstairs.
Act 5Trace Light and I have been flying a while, but we finally come across the chasm in front of the Castle of the Two Sisters. There, we land in front of the staircase and can now see the tree of harmony. As soon as the two of us arrive inside the cave the tree is in though, we notice Chrysalis is lying in front of the tree, utterly dejected presumably from the experience in Canterlot. Trace Light and I look at each other with concern. We reluctantly approach her when she notices us. “Trace Light? Cozy Glow?” Chrysalis sits up and pulls us to her hooves with her magic. “You’re here? I-I was so worried when I didn’t see you two in Ponyville. Where are the princesses?” “They started dueling our enemies so we could escape the caves along with Twilight’s friends as well as the rest of Aita’s!” Trace Light explains. “We needed to split off to find you all!” Chrysalis sighs. “Afraid that won’t work since Aita is nowhere to be seen.” “It will,” I casually reply. “Her knowledge of Equestria is extensive for a reason. Maybe she’d gone home.” “But how will Aita be safe in the real world?” Chrysalis’ question confuses us a bit; we thought that world wouldn't be affected by events taking place here. “It’s certainly a lot safer than Canterlot,” Trace Light says, seeming to possess a theory for why she left. “For all we know, even Equestria at this point.” Suddenly, the three of us hear hooves clipping behind us. I remember what this is from the last time I was down here. Looking behind us, we see it’s the same hologram of Twilight I saw just months ago. Good… the spirit flatly says. You are all here. “But I thought…” I start, only to see the spirit shake her head. Chrysalis has come for consolation, to be assured there will always be a safe haven in the heart of Equestria for Aita, who is currently nowhere to be seen. Cozy Glow and Trace Light, you best qualify for such providence. Do you say Aita is located in the real world? I nod at the spirit, who turns to Chrysalis. Aita will be safe there in trying times of her own, Chrysalis. Think back to yours. After your defeat at the hooves of Starlight Glimmer and Thorax, you fled the hive, seeking revenge. But upon your arrival of the Castle of the Two Sisters, there was something unexpected within you. Is that correct? Chrysalis looks up, the spirit looking concerned for her. She tears up now. “I… I was reminded of my changelings upon examining the ruins, since Carve and Carina lived with others who did the same. That’s the entire reason I strived to get my hive back.” And you did earn it back. Those ruins wouldn’t have reminded you of such if they never survived once thrust into the real world. Now it is your subsequent actions that shall help set Equestria on the right path once more. That has been proven with Cozy Glow, who has followed in your example, instead of the much darker path she was once headed; she has given back to her student body back home, led to the acquisition of Trace Light’s cutie mark, and selflessly used her double-edged skill set for the good of her friends… including the young changeling you care most about, Chrysalis. Chrysalis listens to the spirit’s speech, and looks at us when my actions are brought up. She smiles at me once it’s just us and Trace Light. But it also looks like the windigos have arrived about now too. “The… the tree of harmony is right… Aita was right… you and I are night and day compared to each other, yet you’ve accomplished as much as I have following my transformation. It doesn’t matter who it is; seeing somepony taking after me is… inspiring.” Chrysalis turns a bit concerned once she gets truly thinking about Aita. “Equestria will have to wait though. Aita needs us.” Chrysalis pulls us under her wings and teleports us to a world much bulgier than ours. We must be in the real world now. When we approach the house in front of us, Chrysalis knocks on the door, which is opened by Carve of all who would answer. “Carve?!?” Chrysalis and Carve embrace each other. “I thought you were awaiting my return at the throne room.” “Not when a changeling needs us.” We all head inside, Chrysalis closing the door behind us with her magic. As Carve takes me, Cozy, and Trace Light upstairs, only for us to find in which is presumably Tim’s room, Aita is laying on the middle of the floor with visible puddles below her cheeks from the tears streaming down her face. I sit down in front of her. “Chrysalis!” Noticing me, Aita gets up and rubs my hoof with her head. “You’re safe!” “Cozy Glow told me you’d be here, Aita. It’s a relief you’re safe as well.” Through the corner of my eye, I can see Cozy thinking, hoof under her chin while looking around the room, then walking over to Aita. “You feeling okay?” “Oh, thank you for asking, Cozy, but no…” Aita answers sadly. “Everypony fell for Sonata’s humming and nopony even noticed! Not Twilight, her friends, Sunset, Starlight… or ANY of us! And Equestria is now in tension because of the sirens’ magic!” Carve and Trace Light look at each other. “I mean that much is clear,” the latter replies. “But knowing us ponies, I know every one of us can get ’em back together.” “But we have no idea where Twilight is!” counters AIta. “And she’s the only one that can fix this!” Carve nods as she comes by my side. “Yeah we do. Maybe not Tracey or Cozy, but certainly the three of us.” “You can’t forget, Aita,” I add. “this wasn’t the first time she took refuge, even if this is the first reasonable instance of doing so.” “Besides, won’t you feel better once we’re all together again? Teaming up and defeating those baddies?” Cozy’s rhetorical question gets Aita’s attention. “We can’t let Twilight and her friends stand alone, can we?” Aita looks up at me, and for the first time since first encountering Svengallop, she smiles. “Thank you, all of you. Sometimes even I will need some motivation… but we’ll still need a plan.” Now that’s the nymph I used to care for. As Aita uses her magic to dry her face, the five of us look to the entrance of the room and see Sophie crossing her arms. “How can I help?” Aita shakes her head. “Afraid to say, but I can’t let you get in harm’s way, Sophie. I could update you on the situation once this is all over with if you’d like though.” Sophie looks impressed by this new side of Aita. She ultimately nods and leaves the room the way she came. Aita begins pacing around the room. “Okay, five of the worst threats, powered up by a magical bell, have taken over Equestria, which has become entirely blinded by distrust and tension, possibly enough to spearhead sightings of the windigos, and it’s up to our circles of friends to put an end to it all.” “And that’s exactly what we shall do!” I respond with drive as we circle around, stacking hooves of ours on top of each other. “For Equestria!” we all shout, put each hoof we used in the air. Once Carve has gone home, Chrysalis and I teleport with Cozy Glow and Trace Light respectively to the Crystal Empire main palace throne room. There, Shining Armor, Cadence and Flurry Heart are present to greet us. “Aita!” Flurry Heart babbles and laughs, flying over and hugging me. “Good, you made it,” says Cadence, floating Flurry Heart onto her back once the hug is done. “Twilight and her friends are off along with the rest of yours to defeat the villains. She’ll need your help.” Chrysalis grins. “Just as we thought. We’ll meet them as soon as equinely possible. You know what to do to get there, right Aita?” I nod. “Yep. Cadence, Shining Amor, keep Flurry Heart safe. Everyone else, follow me.” So, I light up my horn and exit the crystal palace, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow and Trace Light following me as best as they can while I fly at the fastest velocity I think I’ve ever gone, even faster than when I flew away to the Everfree Forest nearly seven and a half years ago. It’s incredible how far my trailing skills have come, since now I can locate my friends from almost halfway across Equestria now. “You think they know we’re here?” Spike asks just as we arrive. And it looks like we came just in time for the baddies to open a portal directly in front of us and step through it. “I’d say they have an idea,” answers Applejack, everyone now either worried or furious.
Act 6With the villains approaching, we can spot the bell floating by itself around them. “That bell has Tirek’s magic inside,” Twilight notes before Fluttershy interrupts. “If they use it against us…” “His magic is so unique, he’s the only one that can capitalize.” Everyone looks ahead again when Adagio starts taunting. “You just can’t accept we will dominate you no matter what! Can you?” “You can’t beat us if we never give up!” Twilight retorts, before realizing something. “Wait a minute; that sample of Grogar’s magic in the bell could power one of US up!” “Oh no you don’t!” Svengallop laughs, spinning in the air with his horn charging up for an attack. Chrysalis, Twilight, Sunset, Firelight and I teleport behind a nearby bush to dodge the blast. “We need to get that bell and get Tirek’s magic back,” declares Twilight quietly to us. “My friends, Lightning Dust, and Chrysalis, you’re all with me.” “Sweet!” Rainbow Dash cheers, her hoof pulling the air from above. “I’ll grab that bell in ten seco-” “No,” Twilight interrupts, pointing to me, Spike, Trace Light, Cozy Glow, Firelight and Sunset, much to our confusion. “We’re the distraction. They’re gonna get the bell.” Meanwhile, the villains have been looking for all of us, destroying all the other bushes and rocks. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” taunts Svengallop. CHS Spitfire points to Twilight and the others while Spike and I, as well as the rest assigned to get the bell, step away. “There!” she shouts. With everyone yelling, I lower my ears a bit and press my eyes closed. Twilight and Chrysalis work together to attack Adagio, Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust take care of Svengallop and Spitfire respectively by spinning them out, Rarity and Applejack cover Aria with diamond shields and lassos, and Fluttershy and Pinkie cover Sonata by taming her with massages. Once everyone is lured away from the bell, I charge the bell and jump. “Do they have to be SO ANNOYING?!?” Spitfire vents. “Not annoying! DISTRACTING!!!” screams Adagio, pointing to me while I’m in midair. Aria dives for me, so with lightning quick thinking, I hover and teleport behind her, then wave the rest of my unit on to distract her while I change into a siren of my own. In this form, the only thing I have to be careful of is not to sing, but I take full advantage of what I am free to use: the default mouth beam. I circle around her and attack twice the part where Aria’s pendent is supposed to be. “Cozy Glow! Now!” I call as I now coil around Aria and dodge her blasts. I bite her in the midriff, causing her to howl, only to get blindsided by an attack from behind. I revert to my natural form as I fall to the ground. “Aita!!!” I hear an all-too-familiar voice call out. I can now only watch as Cozy Glow attempts to zoom for the bell, but stops and gasps. I suddenly see a glow coming from behind me, as well as a wave of love knocking down the sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop. “Cozy! Take the bell!” I can barely hear myself shout over the auditory overload going on. Cozy Glow nods, grabs the bell and rings it. Averting my gaze from the brightness of the magic flowing in front of me, I can see a floating cocoon where Chrysalis was that suddenly explodes, revealing a new form of Chrysalis. Instead of near-black, she is bearing a silver carapace, and possesses the same wings Thorax once did as king. Something is off about the form though. Instead of the faded sea green I’m always used to, her eyes glow yellow-green when she first opens them. And if that wasn’t enough, her hooves now have holes in them like they did before she befriended Twilight. Cozy Glow, take the bell. Snap it to the castle. Return as soon as you can. I can somehow hear Chrysalis’ instructions to Cozy in my head, her voice hitting lower than usual pitches, but still sounding normal otherwise. While hearing those instructions, I can see that Cozy’s wings have grown, and she’s also gained a horn. She is an alicorn now. Cozy frantically nods. “Okay!” She nervously but swiftly does as Chrysalis tells her. I struggle to get up while Cozy is gone for the moment as the villains manage to recover before me, and they get back in the battle as she reappears. But just when I am standing, I flatten my ears to the sound of Svengallop. “What happened to the bell?!?” he shouts as he yanks me up close to him with his magic. The rest end up going for Cozy Glow, who joins everyone else in the battle as Svengallop is forced to release me by a green beam to his horn. I skid on the ground and look to see Chrysalis taking on Svengallop and dominating him now. She pins him the same way she did before and glares at him. Unlike last time, he’s flailing his hooves, trying to get her off him. “NOW WHAT DID YOU SAY DIDN’T AFFECT YOU?!? HA?!?” That is a weird effect: hearing Chrysalis through the air AND in my head at the same time. She charges up her horn, causing Svengallop to shriek, only for us to hear Spitfire. “That’ll be enough out of all o’ you!” With everyone else looking to the back of the battlefield in horror sans the other villains, she is holding Spike in her magic, specifically in the torso. “Anymore shenanigans and I’ll open fire!” “No!! Don’t hurt him!!” Twilight desperately orders as the sirens and Svengallop join Spitfire. “Don’t worry about me! Just sa- hmmm!!” Spitfire cocks Spike like a gun, making him gag mid-sentence. While everyone else is looking on even more horrified, the sirens and Svengallop have no objections to this, but a super-enraged Chrysalis charges her horn enough to make sparks fly out of it without a word, yanking Spike to out of Spitfire’s magic and onto our side. As a result, Spitfire plops forward but recovers quickly, her and Svengallop charging a beam while the sirens’ mouths are glowing. “Turns out that life science lesson was correct, wasn’t it?” Svengallop says. Spitfire nods. “Couldn’t be MORE true. Pretty fitting for an ending.” “No matter what, we FACE IT TOGETHER!!!” Rainbow Dash declares. Just as the villains begin their attack, Chrysalis steps in and blocks it with her own that ends up closing in on them. It produces a small explosion that knocks all her targets backward. “Enough,” she coldly says. “You five will never see the light of day once you destroy my friends. This. ends. now!” When I see Twilight and her friends, their eyes all spark when Chrysalis is defending everyone around me. “Just because I let my instincts overtake me, it doesn’t mean I will ever forget the reason those are there in the first place. Two special changelings planted the seeds for who I have become today. The elements of harmony nurtured those seeds even when all seemed lost. But they can’t solve everything alone, which is why we continue to build harmony in new ways. Without the fandom, embrace, stride, forgiveness, inspiration and hope around me, I wouldn’t be where I stand today, protecting the ponies I love!” Throughout Chrysalis’ speech, she performs a special teleportation for Garble and his army, as well as Tirek, Starlight, Celestia and Luna. The bell is also teleported this way. Twilight, Spike and their friends float up to Chrysalis on one side with a white aura, then my friends and I do the same, just on her other side. Both groups proceed to pour out rainbow lasers that combine within Chrysalis, reverting her to her previous form, shooting out a column of magic that vanquishes the windigos then comes back down to rain on the sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop. As a result, Spitfire is reverted to a pegasus, Svengallop an earth pony, and the sirens their base forms. All fourteen of us safely float down to the ground once the villains are defenseless. Soon after, Starlight teleports Celestia, Luna and Tirek close by. Meanwhile, Cozy Glow approaches the bell, then uses her magic to ring it, reverting her to a pegasus. She then turns the bell around with her hooves, pointing it to Tirek, and rings it once more, which just gives him his magic back. Celestia, Luna and Tirek now confront Spitfire, Svengallop and the sirens. “There isn’t a punishment WORTHY of all you’ve done!” snaps Celestia. “Maybe we could…” Tirek walks between the princesses and whispers between them. “Oh! That does seem fitting,” remarks Luna, seemingly agreeing with Tirek’s idea, whatever it is. “Take it away, Tirek.” Tirek steps forward and drains the villains’ magic, growing in size along the way. Everyone unaffected cheers at the result. Chrysalis and Twilight teleport next to me as Celestia turns to us. “Each one of you brought high hopes within me. Going to Ponyville, Twilight; befriending Equestria, Chrysalis; and defeating Stellar Flare, Aita. But nothing could prepare me for how proud I am right now. Equestria is definitely in the right hooves with ALL your involvement. You are ready.” “You know what, I think we are,” Twilight replies to Celestia. “Thank goodness,” Applejack says in relief as she and the rest of our friends come to us. “First question, Twilight: what do we do with everyone here?” “We’re gonna need a LOT more chairs for the coronation!” Pinkie adds. Twilight looks on past Celestia, Luna and Tirek, at Garble’s army. “Actually, as ruler of Equestria, I’d like to postpone the coronation while the castle’s being rebuilt. Besides, we have another to attend.” She then wraps her hoof around me, hinting at which coronation she’s referring to. In Ponyville Town Hall, everyone Aita has ever met is gathered in the main room. She isn’t inside yet, but the coronation has only just started. I currently stand at the same podium I met Rarity at, in front of an isle between the chairs that leads to the main entrance. As I begin my speech, two changelings behind me begin using their wings to play a quiet song I can only guess Aita’s heard before exclusively. “Citizens of Equestria and beyond, when I became the princess of friendship, I was given the mission to make Equestria a better place, but in light of my succession of the royal sisters, it has become abundantly clear that I will need my own: one that will continue my old mission after I’ve moved back to Canterlot to rule Equestria. And the past two years have shown me there is nopony more willing and capable of fulfilling that role than who I have in store. “As we look toward Equestria’s future, I can assure you all she will carry on the principles we have taught her, even learn some of her own to build upon those principles. And everyone here knows she will be up to the task. So for the very first time, may I present to you Aita Bagley-Handy: the new princess of friendship.” On cue, the front doors open from Aita’s magic as she begins walking down the aisle to the podium. As she steps on, the hardware clerk from Canterlot, Handy Wrench, presents the new crown on a pillow and floats it off onto her head. Aita and I hug as the crowd cheers for her as the flameless fireworks begin to go off. “Say something, Aita,” I whisper. Aita steps up to the front of the podium and clears her throat. “Three years ago, I never imagined I would be standing here in front all the friends I’d go on to make. It is an honor to be receiving this title, and all I have to say is… thank you, everypony. Thank you for everything.” And so, the audience cheers Aita on after the short thanks she gives. I wrap my wing around her, knowing that with her, everything in Ponyville is going to be just fine without me.
