An Alternate Track

Gregory’s first impression of his new location was that whatever he was lying on wasn’t exactly a comfortable bed of flowers. In fact, it was hard as stone. His second impression was that he felt like shit. Groaning, he forced himself to roll over and lie on his back. Opening his eyes, he saw himself facing a clear sunlit sky. It also smelled like there was foliage around him. He took time to take stock of himself, moving his legs and arms slowly. His entire body was on fire, but slowly the pain went away. After a while, he lifted his right hand. The ring that Grogar had forced on him was now stuck to his index finger and couldn’t be removed. His magic was sealed away permanently.

Eventually, he felt strong enough to sit up, slowly looking around. He was lying on a pedestal with six broken pillars on the edges. In the center of the pedestal was a small circular wall that could have been a pool at some point. Nearby, he saw his now useless magic staff along with the Flash Magnus’ shield. Looking down at himself, the pistols he’d brought were still attached to his holsters as was his leather pouch full of ammo. It took him a while, but soon he was standing and looking around. This location was semi-familiar to him, but he couldn’t determine why. Grabbing his staff, which he could now only use as a walking stick, he hobbled over and picked up the shield. Walking over to the nearest broken pillar, he began brushing away the vines on it.

“Runes…” he muttered to himself as he looked around once more at the strange place he found himself. He’d expected, thanks to Grogar’s speech, that he would be ending up on some version of Earth with Andrew and Stacy, but somehow he hadn’t gone with them. Or they were nearby and he had to go find them.

No, he thought. He tried to think back to the events before he woke up. They had gone through some sort of portal, but he had only grazed its edge. That was the last thing he remembered. He leaned the shield against the pillar along with his staff, using both of his hands to tear away the vines. He was so engrossed in his task that he failed to notice a transparent image of a pony appear on a nearby pillar until a figure of a pegasus appeared on the pillar he was at. Alarmed, he jumped back and looked back at the other pillars.

“Ponehenge…” he muttered, finally realizing where he had ended up. He turned to the representation of Star Swirl who shot a white beam of light from his horn at the center wall. It was surrounded by a black orb and from it emerged a dark shadowy alicorn.

He remembered this scene from the Shadow Play episode, and much like the show, it began similarly. However, the Pony of Shadows didn’t appear. Instead, a familiar looking unicorn pony did. However, when the pony spoke, to Gregory’s surprise, the pony he thought was Stygian was actually a mare. “So,” she said, “this is the thanks and reward I get for speaking out against your own hypocrisy!?”

“Styx, you are a threat to Equestria,” Star Swirl said darkly, “and we must deal with you!”

“Me? A threat? How am I a threat?” Styx stepped forward, but was stopped by a white shield surrounding her. “How am I a threat?” Styx repeated, glaring daggers at Star Swirl.

“You have conspired with enemies of Equestria,” Flash said, stepping forward. “You have also tampered with dark magic!”

“What enemies?” Styx asked. “What dark magic? You can perform any test on me that you want. You will find no dark magic inside me!”

Star Swirl shook his head. “You have taken the artifacts from us as well for your own purposes!”

“I merely wished to make copies of them to help you all!” Styx explained.

“Lies! You have become a true threat to Equestria!” Star Swirl declared loudly.

Styx frowned and glared at him. “No, old friend, it is you six who are the threat!” Styx replied. “After all, Star Swirl, you were the one who performed some heinous experiments on that changeling queen despite my protests! She was a living, breathing creature! And yet, you tormented her because she was not a pony!”

“She was an abomination,” Star Swirl hissed angrily. “She represented a threat to our nation!”

“And the rest of you,” Styx said as she looked around at the transparent representations of the Pillars, “you stood by and did nothing while he did this. Not only that, but you are standing by now! And let us not forget how you six banished three sirens without even attempting to speak with them!”

“They were a threat to our nation too!” Star Swirl retorted.

“Then there were those dragons who you, Flash Magnus, attacked without remorse!” Styx spat on the ground. “It meant nothing to you that you and your group were trespassing onto their territory!”

To his credit, Flash looked somewhat ashamed. “We had to get to our comrades sooner-”

“He did his duty!” Star Swirl interjected. “They captured his companions!”

“And his incompetent commander decided to take a shortcut across territory sovereign to the dragons,” Styx bellowed. She then turned to Mage. “And you! You created Swamp Fever on Star Swirl’s orders! To use on the changeling queen!”

Mage looked downcast, but Star Swirl didn’t heed anything that Styx had said. “Enough! You understand nothing!”

“I understand everything!” Styx retorted before raising her horn. “I understand that our harmony is nothing but a falsehood we tell ourselves in order to feel superior to other races! Faust above would be ashamed of who we are turning into! And now, I will do what must be done!” From her brown cloak, a bright blue orb came, a mana core identical to the one on Gregory’s staff. A bright aura began surrounding her as beams of light shot out of the mana core. The beams of light surrounding the ponies. “I tried to help you,” she said, sounding deeply saddened, “I tried to show you that true harmony isn't the exclusion and torment of others. May Faust have mercy on us if your evil deeds stain us. I cannot and will not kill you, but I can do…THIS!”

The aura surrounded the area, catching the six other ponies in its grasp. Star Swirl and the others struggled, but it was no use. “What…are you..doing…?!” Star Swirl demanded, now looking afraid.

“You won’t harm anybody else ever again with your disdain for other species, Star Swirl,” Styx said, “and the rest of you won’t be allowed to spread his influence to Equestria!”

“You’ll be trapped too!” Somnambula shouted.

“A small price to pay…for true…HARMONY!” The darkness swallowed everything, and the scene vanished.

Gregory was left stunned. He had no idea that things would be like this for the Pillars. He looked down at the shield, then picked it up and looked at it contemplatively. He had observed the faces of the ponies during this brief glimpse into the past. Star Swirl had been the most stubborn, but he had seen looks of shame on the faces of the other five. If they could be returned, then perhaps they could be helpful in defeating Grogar.

“No, I’d need all those damned artifacts,” Gregory muttered to himself. He only had the one, after all. “Unless…unless I don’t.” He looked at the middle empty pool. Styx had been the one to trap the Pillars, not the other way around. She had apparently succeeded where the television show Stygian had failed. She had somehow made either her own copies of the artifacts, or had made something stronger.

He looked up at the glowing mana core inside his staff. Within it, he knew the powers of the Windigos were still there, locked away and unable to be accessed by him. Still, he figured that perhaps the Pillars and Styx could be freed.

But should he even try to free them? He looked at the mana core on his staff, then back at the empty pool. Inspiration struck. If the mana core Styx had used was similar in any way to his own, then perhaps…

“Maybe I can free them using this,” he said. “But should I…?”

He looked at the six now empty pillars, then back at his staff, and finally back at the shield. He sighed. “I’ll hate myself later,” he muttered before sitting down and closing his eyes. He had no access to magic at the moment, which meant no magical meditation, but he could at least think back on what he did know about magic. Twilight had spoken often about different magic and he would go over what he remembered in his mind.

Perhaps there was a way he could pull them all out. He would deal with the consequences of his actions later. Right now, he had to bring them out of magical stasis.

But…how?

[Northwest of Las Pegasus]

Outside the casino cloud city two strange beings flew in the air above the mountains. One of them noticed that one of the mountains had a strange concrete structure jutting out from it. “Howard, my senses aren’t picking up any traces of Grogar’s bell or Robbie. Their signatures must be concealed by the mountain somehow,” Clark explained.

“Then we’ll have to tear it down piece by piece until we find them,” Howard said as he flew next to him.

“It will be done,” Clark said as he dropped a crystal ball. Once it struck the ground Scorponok spawned and began tunneling beneath the mountain.

Meanwhile inside a strange place Robbie trotted alongside Bonbon who to many know her as agent Sweetie Drops down a hallway that reminded him of a research facility from a video game.

“So your so-called waifu was Derpy?” asked the agent.

“Yeah,” Robbie replied. “But ever since the attack, I’ve been keeping my sights on others. I don’t know if I’ll find that special one but maybe I’ll be lucky one day.”

Sweetie Drops grinned. “Maybe you can have Fluttershy.”

Robbie chuckled at that. “I don't think Discord would approve of that kind of competition.”

Just then the place shook like an earthquake as a thunderous boom echoed throughout the place. “What was that!?” Robbie asked in shock.

Then came an alarm and an announcement from a nearby intercom. “This site has a security breach! Full site lockdown initiated!”

Both draconequus and pony agents looked at each other. “I thought you said this place was heavily shielded!” Robbie shouted.

“It is! The enemy is stronger than we thought. You need to get out of here!” Sweetie Drops exclaimed as she pulled up an electronic tablet.

“What about you?”

“I can’t leave yet. If you find Lyra tell her…” she trailed off as she looked at the tablet, her eyes growing wide.

“What’s wrong?” Robbie asked.

She showed her the tablet to see the silhouette of a giant scorpion meddling with what looked like a fuse box. He watched in shock as a massive claw slashed it. Then came another message on the intercom. “This site is experiencing multiple containment breaches! All personnel act on protocols!”

A roar came from down the hall. The earth pony looked up to Robbie. “Go! Either Grogar wants his best creations back or he wants his bell and he won’t have both.”

Robbie nodded. “They’ll follow me even if I teleport. The least I can do is lure them away. Good luck and Godspeed,” he said as he raced down the hall.

Outside was like a battlefield. At first it was two demonic monsters fighting against ponies in suits and armor. Now from out of nowhere, grotesque monsters emerged from within the mountain facility attacking whatever came in their way. Howard grinned as he turned to his partner. “This is almost too easy. Amazing how you were able to trace the call.”

“It wasn’t easy. All we had to do was to let Gregy speak for just a few seconds.”

Then came an explosion and the two looked to see what looked like a car speeding out of the dust. It drifted on the ground for a bit before speeding into the forest. Howard sniffed and grinned. “Cars don’t exist here and I finally sense something big from that thing. Follow that car!”

Clark saluted and took to the sky. “Can’t run forever, traitor!”

The car, a modern day Ford Bronco, charged down the dirt path with the demon following behind. Clark looked to the mountainside. “Lets see you outrun this!” he shouted as he threw a lit stick of dynamite at the rockwall. It exploded and soon rocks were raining down from the cliffs above and the car soon got caught in it and was soon getting crushed. The car then bursted into a bright flash and was now Robbie.

The chaotic centaur was up to his chest in rock as he looked up to the demonic figure now staring down at him.

[Ponehenge - The Same Time]

The scene could be described as quiet as Gregory continued to silently meditate and look back through whatever magical knowledge he had. He tried to think about what he could do to release this Styx from her prison.He placed the shield by the pillar that represented Flash Magnus. While doing that he thought to himself. “Maybe I should’ve asked Stacy if her husband is actually related to him.”

Just then the pillar shot another beam at the center wall. Unlike last time, random objects started materializing out of thin air. They slowly manifested into what looked like furniture then Gregory saw what looked like ghost ponies. Two of them looked familiar and immediately he recognized them as Styx and Stygian. The third pony was completely unfamiliar. She was a brown earth pony mare with white patches of fur, a brighter brown mane and a cutie mark of a sunrise.

The other six ponies he knew immediately as the so-called Pillars of Equestria. Star Swirl, Mage Meadowbrook, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, an unusually young looking Mistmane, and Rockhoof.

“Right, so if there is nothing more to discuss, then I believe this meeting is adjourned,” Star Swirl said as he and most of the other pillars began to turn to leave the area. Only Styx, Stygian and the unknown mare remained.

“The time is now my brother,” Styx said to Stygian. “True Harmony will come. Do you have what I asked you to bring?”

“I still don’t know about this, sister,” Stygian said. “Even Reckless here thinks we might be going a bit far.”

“Who the fuck is Reckless?” Gregory muttered.

“Don’t tell me you two are going to abandon me now,” Styx said, “we’re almost there.”

“Listen to me, old friend,” the brown mare said. “You and I both know this won’t solve anything. Do you honestly believe the problems of this world are just them?”

“Reckless, you are my best friend so I won’t blame you for being ignorant about the bigger picture here,” Styx said as she placed a hoof on the mare’s shoulder.

“Of course I am, but this won’t solve anything,” the now named mare said. “Me and my platoon protect our home everyday from problems both foreign and domestic.”

“And yet you haven’t done anything to stand up to the hypocrisy of our nation,” Styx said with a frown.

“I’m just one mare, and not well-liked at that,” Reckless said. “What do you want me to do?”

“Be a bigger mare for a start now. So, are you in?”

Reckless paused, indecision plastered briefly on her face as she turned back to the retreating six. More specifically, she focused on Star Swirl. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled. “I will do what I must…”

Styx just watched her leave before turning to her brother. “And what about you? Are you still gonna help? You know how they treat you.”

“I will do what I must to protect this nation,” Stygian said.

“Then help me, your magic is the last thing I need,” she said as her horn lit up.

Stygian lifted his own horn and joined his magic with hers. Reckless stood her ground, closing her eyes. She gave Star Swirl one last look. “Grandfather…I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“Holy shit…that’s Star Swirl’s granddaughter?!” Gregory shouted in shock.

Of course, none of them heard him as the magic from the vision continued to grow. The Pillars paused and turned back. Star Swirl’s eyes widened in alarm. “What are you two doing?!” he bellowed.

Next thing everyone knew both unicorns started hovering above the ground. Reckless on the other hand started backing up in fear as she looked up to the two with worry. Soon the two were surrounded by strange rings that looked like they were made of a black substance. “Doing what we must to stop this madness!” Styx said. The magic then surrounded all three.

Reckless then ran up to Star Swirl. “Grandfather, we have to move!”

However, it was too late. Both Styx and Stygian were now surrounded by blackened magic, magic that could only be Dark Magic. Instantly, the two ponies vanished, leaving the seven behind.

Star Swirl pushed his granddaughter away, glaring at the spot where the two unicorns had been. “They’ve touched darkness,” he growled, “and now they are a threat to Equestria. Come. We must find and destroy them!” And with that, the six ran off, vanishing.

Reckless stood motionless and looked back to the burnt ground where her friends once stood. A tear trickled down her face. “Styx…why?”

The scene vanished as Gregory was once more left alone. “An earlier piece of the history-WHOA!”

The ground beneath him began to rumble as each of the pillars began to shudder, The center of Ponehenge also began glowing a bright white light. Large pillars of light shot out of the stone, shattering them into dust, leaving only quadrupedal figures standing there. Six where the six pillars once stood, and two more in the center. Flash Magnus’ shield returned to Gregory, flying in the air and attaching to his arm. Quickly, he pulled out one of his pistols and looked around.

The Pillars were there. Not in some sort of vision, but they were really there. Not only that. But the two ponies in the center were none other than Styx and Stygian.

Gregory moved fast before any of the ponies could react. He ran over towards where Star Swirl was stumbling to his feet, brought up his pistol, and brought it down onto the pony’s head, immediately knocking him unconscious. He then stood over the unconscious form that was Star Swirl, aiming his pistol at his head. “Listen up!” he bellowed, getting all of their attention. “If any of you move to try and rescue this monster, I will blow his ancient head clean off!”

“No! Shoot him now!” Styx shouted but instantly got slightly hit on the head by her brother.

Gregory half reacted, pulling the hammer back and putting it directly to the unconscious unicorn’s temple. “Are you absolutely sure about that, Styx?” he asked.

“Please forgive my sister, Mr. Graystone,” Stygian said. “All that time in Limbo hasn’t been easy on her mind. Especially the last decade or two.”

Gregory frowned. “How the fuck do you know my name?” he demanded.

“In an afterlife like the one we were in, we can see into the lives of the present,” Mage Meadowbrook explained.

Both of his eyebrows shot up. “Holy shit,” he muttered. He then turned to the other Pillars. “Then you saw how corrupt and nasty your so-called kingdom of harmony became,” he spat.

“Yes, and our plan was all for nothing,” Stygian said.

“DON'T SAY THAT!” Styx shouted as she shook her brother. “It was worth it, no pain no cruelty!” she said with an insane look that reminded Gregory of a creepy version of Pinkie Pie.

“So tell me then,” Gregory began, putting the pistol closer to Star Swirl’s head, “to the so-called Pillars I see before me. Why shouldn’t I kill this menace to society? Wipe his filth from the world? Get rid of the xenophobic stench he exudes?” He looked at the other five Pillars. “Tell me what good this bastard is.”

“Because he saw the disappointment and was more sad by how the students he considered daughters failed,” explained Somnabula.

“And yet, he pushed away his own granddaughter just because she was an earth pony!” Styx exclaimed.

“He was trying to stop him from hurting her best friend,” Flash Magnus explained to Gregory.

“ENOUGH!” Gregory bellowed angrily as he put his pistol away. “Rain is coming soon,” he added, sniffing the air and smelling the tell-tale scent preceding rainfall, “and we need shelter. Are there any caves nearby?”

“There should be one a short walk away,” said Rockhoof pointing eastward.

“Good. We’re all going to the cave and we’re going to talk.”

“I’m not going anywhere with them. In fact, they are going back!” Styx shouted as her horn charged.

Gregory ran up, now grasping his staff. He brought it down on Styx’s head, knocking her out as well. “Anyone else wanna do something stupid?” he growled angrily.

“We did enough of that already,” Flash said. “Thousands of years ago.”

“No shit, dumbass,” Gregory said as he picked up Star Swirl. He was not gentle as he flung the unconscious pony over his shoulder. “Cave. Now!”

Several minutes later, they were all sitting in a large cavern as rain outside began to fall heavily. The moment they reached said cave, Gregory just dropped Star Swirl without a care, walking over to a corner of the cave, and sat down, clenching his fists and releasing them over and over. He was so angry despite having tricked Grogar into releasing his wife and marefriend. He was magicless, and way too far away to be of any use. He had his weapons with him, but he didn’t think those would be enough. As he sat, he heard one of them come up and sit next to him. Looking up, he saw that he had been joined by the young looking Mistmane. “What is it?” he asked, sounding bitter.

“Just so you know, we believe you and your human friends are more…honorable and respectable than we are. You, the Windigo tamer, the changeling emperor, the Railroad tycoonist, the army girl, and the student of Discord,” Mistmane said.

He scoffed. “Yeah, honorable my ass,” he said. “I killed a man.”

“We know that,” Mistmane said, “but that means he was half right in what he said. No one is fully innocent in war. Only the truly noble are. Flash can vouch for that along with his many descendants.”

Gregory hugged his knees. “Noble…hah. That’s a joke. Me noble? I seriously doubt that.” He looked at Mistmane. “You have no idea how much I want to not only kill Grogar and Howard, but make sure their deaths are slow and torturous. I want them to suffer!” He hit his fist on the wall, wincing in pain.

“Is that really what you want?” the beautiful mare asked, “or is that darkness trying to consume you like it did to our friends?”

He looked over to see Stygian casting some sort of spell over the unconscious Styx. Black mist was rising from her body and being redirected into a small orb that Gregory recognized as a mana core. He looked at his fist, which was bleeding from a few small cuts. “I feel helpless. I have no access to my magic, and I’m too far away to get back home in time.”

“You’re not the only one. I believe your friends are feeling the same way despite not being able to see them at all now,” she said which earned her a confused look from Gregory.

“What do you mean by not being able to see now?”

“When Star Swirl wakes up he has a spell that can help explain it better,” she said, gesturing to Star Swirl. The unicorn stallion was slowly stirring awake.

Gregory pulled out his pistol just in case. Finally, the elder unicorn mare was standing and looking around. When he saw Gregory, the human held up his pistol. “Don’t you dare try anything stupid,” he said with a scowl.

“I was never planning to,” Star Swirl simply said glaring up at the human.

“Smart boy,” Gregory replied. “So, happy with the country you helped to create?”

Star Swirl went from glaring to looking down in shame. “It really is my fault…I had hoped my students and my granddaughter would pick up the pieces and fix my mistakes. But even now my students haven’t changed much and my granddaughter chose a mission over me.”

“Dear God, but you’re a dense motherfucker,” Gregory sighed. “You treated your granddaughter like shit just because she was a lowly earth pony, not one of the Master Race unicorns!”

“You think she wanted to be a mage? Don’t act like you know everything about my family. Heck, I heard you asked who she was!”

“I don’t have to know everything to know you’re a worthless waste of space who’s xenophobia and speciesism spread to the entire country,” Gregory replied, his eyes flashing briefly with a green tint.

“I loved her! I gave her everything she wanted, even her wish!” he shouted, his anger rising.

“Old friend, Gregory is more right than you know,” Stygian said. “You treated her less than your unicorn grandfoals.”

“Because she was training to be a soldier! I couldn’t give her the same kind of training the captains of that time could!”

“Do you think she wanted to be trained by you?” Stygian asked, approaching Star Swirl calmly. “She wanted a grandfather. You did not treat her like a granddaughter. You treated your other grandfoals well, but you blatantly ignored her often. Her accomplishments, the awards, everything. You can deny it all you want, Star Swirl, but you failed her as family. Even her own mother disowned her because she was afraid of angering you, her father.”

The cave was silent as the words sank in. “You all spent time with her, is that really true?” Star Swirl asked.

The other pillars exchanged looks, then they nodded. “I may be a pegasus, but your granddaughter was a strong fighter. If anything she felt like a little sister to me unlike you,” Flash explained.

“I always admired her curiosity; she even joined me for yoga from time to time,” explained Somnabula.

“Aye,” agreed Rockhoof. “For a little tyke the wee one can break rock like me. I told her she will be a great hero one day.”

After the others spoke in agreement, Gregory walked forward, using his staff as he walked to accentuate his point. “You can’t blame others for your own pathetic failings,” Gregory said, another green glow forming around his eyes as a purple mist came out of his eyes for another brief moment. “Even if my ability to use magic is gone, I can still feel your emotions. You failed not only yourself and your family, but all of Equestria. You think anyone who isn’t a pony is a monster. Time to grow up, little boy.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing for the past centuries?” Star Swirl asked. “I know of the follies in our nation thanks to that friend of yours.”

“Wallowing in your own worthlessness?” Gregory replied darkly, and in that moment, his eyes began completely glowing with dark magic. “Perhaps your little time out isn’t over yet, or perhaps I should send you to meet whatever fucking maker you believe in?”

“Yes yes! Do it!” Styx said excitedly as she suddenly woke up.

Gregory reached for his pistol, his eyes ablaze with the dark magic that had now been released thanks to his windigo magic now being gone. “Perhaps I should,” he snarled, his voice echoing in the cave.

“Sir please! This is the darkness talking to you! Fight it!” Stygian pleaded. “It nearly ate me alive and it ate my sister's sanity!”

“And why should I not punish this bastard for being the direct cause of my wife, marefriend, family, and all of my friends being in danger right now?!” he demanded.

“Because the real danger now is out there causing more problems than you realize!” Flash shouted.

Black mist began to surround Gregory as he pointed his pistol directly at the now terrified looking Star Swirl’s head. “Right now, I see a pathetic worm who should pay for his crimes,” Gregory snarled, but everyone watching saw a single tear falling from his eye. A bloody tear.

“Listen to your heart,” Somnabula said soothingly, “because it's the only thing not corrupted yet. You have a choice. Listen to your heart or prove what he thought about your kind right.”

Gregory stood there, glaring at Star Swirl, who had by now pissed himself in fear. With a roar of rage, a blast of dark magic erupted from him. However, he slowly put the pistol back in its holster, the dark magic within him now receding. The glow of his eyes receded, revealing his arctic blue eyes once again.

“Oh come on! We could’ve been darkness buddies!” Styx said in a disappointed tone.

“Styx, just shut up,” Stygian groaned.

Gregory turned back to Styx, then held up a hand. “As for you,” he said, “that darkness inside you pales to mine. Time to free you.” His hand glowed the same dark green, and a black mist flowed out of Styx, passing into Gregory’s body. As this happened, the darkness madness that had descended onto Styx began to lift until it was all gone. Gregory stumbled backwards, groaning in pain.

Mage and Mistmane helped him settle down, and Mage Meadowbrook began tending to him, wiping sweat from his brow. Mistmane then approached Star Swirl. “He needs to know what's happening to the world right now. You are the only one who can show him.”

Star Swirl was silent but eventually nodded. He stood up and approached Gregory. “I learned this spell during my time in Limbo. It involves the same kind of magic to help see in some parts of the planet,” he explained as his horn lit up. “Are you ready?”

Gregory nodded as an orb formed between them. Gregory looked into it and slowly images started appearing. He then saw what looked like what he already experienced. He saw Grogar throwing him into the portal leading him here. He then saw another demon approaching him. He recognized it as Clark. The ram turned to him. “Did you at least trace the call?”

“Indeed,” began Clark. “At first Robbie was in Trottingham but suddenly his position changed to a mountain somewhere northwest of Las Pegasus.”

Grogar grinned. “How convenient. I feel there is something even bigger out that way. Find Howard and…deal with Robbie before he causes more problems.”

The two then heard multiple bangs and soon saw a swarm of miniature tanks and two humans with weapons charging into the room and started firing at random places.

Howard then appeared out of nowhere and snapped his fingers causing the intruders to stop and float in the air. All the tanks suddenly disappeared in a flash. “Pathetic,” Howard said. “You two were unfortunate pawns in my scheme but because we helped each other to come here I’ll spare you death and send you two some place where you won’t bother us.” He then snapped his fingers which summoned a portal underneath them. “Thanks for dropping by,” he sneered as he let them go.

Both Andrew and Stacy screamed as they both fell into the portal and disappeared.

Gregory watched in disbelief. “Oh my God… they TRACED OUR CALL!?”

The scene then shifted to what looked like a mountain and there was Robbie. His body looked stoned with his face slowly being taken over by the spell. “This…isn’t…over…Clark.”

Clark held the bell close to him as he looked at Robbie. “The war, yes but you? You are done.”

“Gregory…I tried…” Robbie uttered as his face now got turned to stone.

Gregory stared at the orb, his face becoming mortified. “No…no...NO!” he shouted as he paced back and forth rubbing his hands on his head. “Goddamn it all! Here I am stuck with a bunch of relics and powerless while the world falls apart!”

“Slow down, laddie,” Rockhoof said, placing a strong hoof on his shoulder. “No way you have the energy or power to take on a being like Grogar. He’s like a demi version of Faust.”

“And with the bell, he’s just as powerful as Eris, maybe more,” Stygian added.

“YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT?!” Gregory bellowed as electricity started emitting from his hands and the air in the cave grew cold. He looked at them and panicked slightly as he calmed himself and shook it off. “Not this again.”

Star Swirl approached him carrying a calm expression. “I know I’m the last creature you ever want to trust but believe me when I say we all right now are your best and possibly only chance to help you gain better control. How you managed before was only a temporary solution like fighting a disease that comes and goes. Besides, Grogar is not the only old expert who knows about Windigo magic. Please let me start redeeming myself by helping you.”

“Gregory, I know what he did in the past was bad but please don’t let your stubbornness and your harsh judgment provoke your magic and blind you,” Stygian said, gesturing to the still unconscious but now purified Styx. “Like I said, it nearly consumed me and it fed off my sister’s mind. If you don’t let us help you, your magic will build up again and the effects will be even worse. It’ll be so bad your mortal body won’t take it.”

Gregory took a long moment and stared at the two stallions then to Styx who was still unconscious. He eventually let out a sigh. “Well, at least we’re in another cave like the last one,” he said.

Star Swirl looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “How did you know?”

“I know how these caves feel,” Gregory replied. “Now, since we have all of this time, we need to begin-”

“No,” Stygian interrupted him. “You need to rest. Get eight hours of sleep. You will be more refreshed and ready to learn after that.”

Gregory wanted to argue, but he looked at the sharp horned pony and sighed. “Yeah…yeah…I guess that’s a good idea…” He walked over to a spot on the ground that was flat, lay down, and was asleep in an instant.