Crimson returned to his home while he was wearing a satisfactory smile. “That was easy. Here I thought I was gonna play a bigger role but oh well. ‘Anna, I’m home! Did you prepare any banana bread yet?”

To his confusion, he received no answer from her. “Babe, are you home?” Again, he heard nothing. He rushed to the bedroom, and she wasn’t there.

“Hmm, she usually returns home from work around this time. Is she working late?” he asked himself. “I gotta check in.”

He left the house and trotted his way to the secret banana factory. As he entered the front doors, he was greeted by Mr. Pulp and the rest of his associates.

“Ah, Mr. Wool. A pleasure to see you. What can I do for you?”

“Mr. Pulp, is my girlfriend still working here at this hour? I was worried that—,”

“She’s fine…for now. She’s occupied at the moment, so you will have to check back later,” Pulp replied.

“But can’t I just check on her really quick before I go? We haven’t spoken to each other all day, so I just want to make sure she’s doing alright. That’s all,” said Crimson.

Pulp and the other workers looked at each with blank stares until they turned their attention back towards Crimson. Pulp stepped out of his way and pointed his hoof toward his office.

“She’s in there.”

But before Crimson could take a few more steps forward, Pulp laid his hoof on his shoulder with beaming red eyes. “By the way, Lord Axor left a message for you.”

Crimson then gazed at him with a surprised look. Endocarp and Epicarp likewise emotionlessly stared at him with red eyes—not blinking even once.

He was not given time to process this situation as he heard a haunting beeping sound coming from Pulp’s office. Gulping, he slowly trotted to the area while he continuously looked behind his back.

As he entered the office, he saw a large monitor hanging in the air all by itself. That was where he saw a red dot in the middle of the screen making that sound. At that moment, something horrible caught his left eye—the frozen green statue of his girlfriend.

“No! ‘ANNA!!!”

He grabbed her head and saw a tear frozen solid on her cheek. “What happened to you?! Babe?! Babe, can you hear me?! Who did this?!”

Then the monitor played itself and showed a video of Sunny laughing like a maniac. Crimson looked on in horror as he watched Sunny transition to her alicorn form and shoot magical beams. Then she evilly laughed again before she morphed into a monstrous beast.

The monitor was automatically turned off. Crimson stared at the floor in shock; after he wallowed himself in emotional pain for about 90 seconds, his sadness quickly shifted to anger.

“I knew she was trouble from the start, but this—she’s gone too far now. Twilight Sparkle’s evil seems to flow in her veins. For that…she will pay for this,” growled Crimson.

Then he rushed out of the office and walked past Pulp without turning his face. “Tell our master that I’ve been notified of his message. Tell him…I will have a word with the town of Maretime Bay.”

The Mane Five stood their ground while Toffee raised his mutated arm weapons in the air. He swung his mace at them, but the ponies jumped out of its way.

Sunny activated her alicorn mode and cast multiple spells directly at him. However, Toffee opened his chest so the magical beams could fly through him; then his chest formed back into its place.

Pipp witnessed this with a look of disgust. “You’re made of goo?! Yuuuuccck! How can you live with yourself?!”

Toffee sliced a humongous chunk of ground where he and Sunny were standing on in a circle. Afterwards, the ground flew high up above the city—dropping dozens of rocks and debris down below.

“Watch out!” Izzy alerted.

Sunny’s friends were able to immediately move out of harm’s way before any of them were struck by the debris. Then they looked up to see their dearest friend alone with their deadly adversary.

“We have to help her!” Hitch shouted. Sparky squealed in agreement.

“She’s an alicorn, remember? She can beat him easily!” Izzy reminded.

“She’s right! Sunny can do this! We have to trust her!” added Zipp.

“What if she can’t?! If that guy can disable magic so easily, then Sunny will be in big trouble!” Hitch argued.

“Well, I’m sure Sunny can still defeat him regardless…right???” Pipp replied, worried.

Back at the hovering piece of land, Toffee condescendingly chuckled at Sunny.

“What’s so funny?” Sunny demanded.

“This is just too easy. Easy enough that it’s laughable,” sneered Toffee.

“Nothing about this is laughable, Toffee. I won’t back down so long as the magic of friendship still remains,” said Sunny, recharging her horn.

“Doubtful,” Toffee scoffed. After he smashed the ground with his glowing tail, the green aurora-like beams skipped across the pavement right towards Sunny—ready to strike her in an instant.

The empowered alicorn flew up again and shot more magical beams at the villain; the latter grabbed each of the beams, drained them of their magic, and then tossed them aside as if they were garbage.

Toffee raised his eyebrow at her, silently judging her combat abilities.

Groaning, Sunny lunged straight at him with her horn raised. But then he nonchalantly stepped away to the right mere seconds before Sunny could impale him on impact. He stretched out his arms quite casually and did a few pushups.

Sunny panted for a moment before she could think of another idea. Ten seconds later, she generated a massive ball of pure magic and bucked them into the air as if it was a soccer ball.

Toffee didn’t even bother looking behind him since he was randomly reading a book. Just in the nick of time, he grabbed the magic ball with his left hand and popped it with his fingertip…without even looking.

Sunny dropped her jaw at the way he dismantled it with unnerving ease. “How are you doing this?! I tried everything!”

“How about calling for backup?” Zipp called out. Sunny looked up to see her & Pipp carrying Hitch & Sparky while Izzy was levitating herself with her own magic before they all safely landed.

“Guys!”

“We won’t let you do this alone, Sunny. We’re with you till the end!” Hitch declared. The others nodded together.

Sunny smiled back at them with confidence. “Thanks, guys. I couldn’t have asked for better friends.”

As they all stood by her side, Sunny glared at the unfazed Toffee. “This is your last chance, Toffee. It’s not too late to surrender.”

“And there’s no way you’ll stand a chance against all of us!” Hitch added.

“Trust me, Sheriff, you’re only brave now because you’re hiding behind your friends. You would whimper in fear without them,” Toffee grinned.

“What?! No, I wouldn’t—! Well…well, I might be a little…”

“Your taunts won’t work on us, monster! So why don’t you give up now?” Zipp interjected.

“No. I’m here only for her; the rest of you are distractions,” answered Toffee.

“You’re not laying one claw on her—not on our watch,” Zipp defied, glaring daggers.

“This is so sad,” Toffee sighed. “You’re fighting tooth and nail for a pony who has no idea how corrupt this whole ‘friendship’ shtick is. And honestly, I truly pity you.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t, Sunny. Because you lack the ability to think critically enough about what you’re preaching,” Toffee stated. “Do you honestly believe that these ponies are friends with each other because they’re sincere about it…or because of the bewitching magic?”

The Mane Five stood there completely confused as to what he was referring to. Sunny, on the other hand, shook off her confusion and powered up her horn. “Whatever it is you’re trying to do, it won’t work! It’s over for you!”

Toffee shook his head at that remark. “Seems like I can’t reason with crazy.”

Sunny hovered over him just as she was fully charged up. At that moment, she blasted her massive magical beam at the unimpressed lizard. The ground on which he once stood exploded on impact, leaving a huge cloud of smoke from the crater.

Sunny opened her eyes and saw that he was already gone. She looked left & right, and there was no trace of him whatsoever on any part of the fractured landscape.

A few moments later, the massive piece of land started to fall from the sky. Sunny used her telekinesis to stop it from falling and slowly lowered it to a safer area beneath. The mutated creatures then ceased to exist, and every frozen guard outside the palace regained motion.

Queen Haven was also unfrozen, and she immediately screamed at the sight of the destruction’s aftermath. “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! That was utterly horrifying!!”

“Mom!”

“You’re okay!”

“*Gasp* Zipp! Pipp! Thank goodness you’re alright!” Haven shouted, embracing her daughters.

Sunny, Hitch, Sparky, & Izzy got off the rocky platform and noticed that the storm was still in motion, sending off its wrathful thundering and lightning.

“I’m so glad it’s all over! I thought I lost you both for a second,” said Haven.

“We’re glad you’re okay too, Mom. I had no idea what happened to you, but you were completely frozen. What happened?” Zipp asked.

“It’s…it’s hard to explain. I couldn’t move or talk…although I was fully aware of everything that was happening around me. That was so…unsettling,” Haven recalled, shivering in fear.

“Well, you won’t have to ever experience that again now that Toffee is gone,” said Pipp.

“Toffee? That’s the creature’s name?”

“I know, right? Who names himself after a hardy sweet? Hey, wait a minute, I remembered I had some toffee this morning! Heh, pretty weird coincidence, I guess,” Izzy giggled.

“None of us will worry about him anymore,” added Hitch. “Sunny took care of that with her timely alicorn power! Right?”

“I…can’t say for certain. There was barely any trace of him on that rock, so he must’ve survived the blast somehow and jumped off,” replied Sunny.

“Well, thank you for your help regardless, Sunny. I’ll have my entire kingdom under heavy security going forward until that monster is gone for good!” declared Haven.

“Sounds like a plan. Come on, guys, we gotta get back to Maretime Bay fast before it starts to rain,” said Sunny.

Later that evening, they all returned back to town. But before they could even set their sights on their Brighthouse, an angry mob was approaching them. The Mane Five then looked to their right and saw another mob approach them as well.

“Uh, is it just me or do they look angry for some reason?” Izzy wondered.

“No, Izzy, it’s not just you. Hold on, are those my pipsqeaks?!” Pipp called out, seeing her own fans among the angry crowd.

Mr. Pulp and his associates were at the center of both angry mobs. He stared coldly at Sunny as he was slowly trotting towards her. “It seems like we have a rogue alicorn in our midst.”

“What’s going on, everypony?”

“You know exactly what’s going on! You froze an innocent pony with your magic!” Poesy accused.

“You’ve turned evil!”

“Explain yourself!”

“What?? What are you talking about? I’ve never done that to anypony! Where is this all—?”

“Don’t play dumb with us, Sunny! We know what you’re up to!” Posey angrily interrupted. “You were pretending to play nice until you can get a chance to strike! Admit it!”

“Sunny would never do such a thing! It’s not in her nature to do something that terrible!” Hitch argued.

Then Endocarp and Epicarp carried a large green rock that contained Bonanza still frozen inside. The Mane Five gasped at the unsightly scene.

“What the—?! Is that Banana Bonanza?!” Hitch shouted, utterly shocked.

“It can’t be!” Sunny yelled out.

“Ah, so you do know her,” observed Pulp. “Then there was surely a reason you did this, right?”

“What evidence do you have to prove that she was the one behind this?” Zipp challenged.

Pulp motioned his associates to present the footage that was discovered in the factory. There, Sunny watched a scene of herself sadistically chuckling while she was blasting at everything and morphing into a monstrous alicorn.

Her friends looked on in horror with their jaws dropping.

“This…is not me! THAT’S NOT ME!” Sunny pleaded.

“And that doesn’t prove anything! Banana isn’t even shown in this footage, so this is hardly evidence!” Hitch retorted.

“This was Toffee’s doing! He has to be the one responsible for this!” Zipp shouted.

“Who?”

“The supervillain we confronted at Zephyr Heights; he was the culprit behind the chaos that occurred in this town with the monstrous ice cream and vines! No doubt he’s trying to frame Sunny for all his crimes.”

“I find that hard to believe. The footage speaks for itself,” Pulp said, arching his doubtful eyebrow.

“Toffee could’ve fabricated it with some immaculate editing skills. I mean, from the looks of it, he seems to be a pretty dang good 🎶editor🎶,” replied Pipp.

“Not helping…” Zipp muttered.

“Sunny was with us the whole time, so there’s no way she could’ve done this!” Hitch explained.

“Is that so?” Pulp doubted. Then he took a look at his watch.

“We will investigate this matter later. I have a meeting scheduled for today. Have a good rest of your day…Sunny Starscout,” he said with a look of contempt.

After they left, Sunny started to shed tears. Her alicorn form disappeared, and she fell on her knees with a look of despair.

“I don’t understand. Why is all this happening…? What did I ever do wrong?”

“None of this is your fault, Sunny. Everything is gonna be fine,” Zipp assured.

“Are you sure? Because based on everything that happened today, I feel like I’m—I’m cursed,” she stuttered, sniffing.

“Don’t let them get to you. They don’t know you like we do,” Pipp said, giving her a comforting smile.

“When did Toffee create this fake footage from the banana factory while simultaneously create chaos in Maretime Bay?” Zipp wondered.

“Perhaps he can be in two places at once? Oh, I think he teleports like a unicorn!” Izzy guessed.

“Hmm, that might explain it. But I still have an itching feeling that Crimson might be involved. But hey, it’s just a theory! I could be wrong,” Zipp clarified, irritated by Hitch’s judgmental stare.

“On a serious note, I have a suspicion that he had some help. But if not Crimson, then who?” Zipp wondered.

The storm was still in motion all across Equestria; a few drops of rain fell on some residents, forcing the angry mob to leave the Mane Five alone.

“Geez, the weather wasn’t even that hot today, and there’s a storm?! *dramatic sigh* Let’s just hope this day ends on a high note. Right, Sunny?” Pipp said before she noticed that Sunny was already gone.

“Sunny?”

“Where did she go?”

“Sunny!”

Sunny went back inside the Brighthouse just before the rain started to pour in full force. Her head was bowed as she trotted across the room and sat on one of the chairs.

She glanced at a picture of her dad holding her as a foal and smiling happily. Then she shed even more tears at the fond memories she made with him.

“I wish you were here, Dad. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

She fell on her face and covered her head with her own mane. But just before she could cry even further, her eyes caught a red light. The light could be seen on the floor, and it darted away to the kitchen.

“What the…? Where is that coming?”

Curious, she got back up on her hooves and followed the red light. It then went straight upstairs to where the elevator can be found, and she found it right inside.

Suddenly, the elevator activated itself and took Sunny up to where the Unity Crystals were. The red light then disappeared right before the balcony, leaving Sunny puzzled.

“Okay, this is getting weird. What just—ah!”

Axor was standing right behind her with an evil smile on his face, lightning flashing in the background. “Hi there, little pony. Feeling alright?”

“Whoa! Who are you?! Where did you come from?!” Sunny demanded, backing away.

“Oh, I’m sorry, forgive me for my lack of manners. My name is Axor, a visitor to your hometown. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you…” he replied, trying not to grin too hard.

“H-h-how can I trust you? Are you a friend of that Toffee guy?! Those red eyes of yours are making me uncomfortable! What are you here for?!” Sunny angrily demanded with blood-shot eyes.

“Wow. My first time coming here, and I already feel unwelcome because I’m judged for my looks. Is that how you treat ponies who did nothing wrong to you?” he asked.

Sunny took a deep breath and sat down. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I’m just stressed out from today’s catastrophes.”

“No hard feelings, my dear.”

“But next time, try not to sneak into ponies’ houses while they’re away. It leaves a bad first impression,” advised Sunny.

“My apologies,” said Axor. “I am an inter-dimensional traveler who has discovered a serious problem with your country. I’m a problem solver, and I’m here to make things right.”

“You are? So…you know about…?

“Oh yes, my friend. I’ve heard about the infamous deeds of Toffee and what he’s been trying to do to your…magic,” replied Axor.

“I don’t understand why he hates magic so much. What could’ve possibly compelled him to terrorize our communities?!” Sunny shouted.

That’s when Axor grew a large devious smile. “I believe it has something to do with your legacy.”

Sunny titled her head in confusion. “What?”

“You see, there’s something you are woefully ignorant about, and I’m here to enlighten you on this…heartbreaking topic. It could answer all of your problems.”

Sunny sighed. “Well, if it can help me understand why I feel so cursed today, then fire away. I’m listening.”

Axor cleared his throat. “Toffee is a creature who is motivated by trauma; he was physically mutilated by magic, and he swore an oath that he will one day get rid of it.”

“If you’re wondering if he had something to do with freezing Banana Bonanza, it’s actually true. He did freeze her, but ONLY out of self-defense. He’s a sensitive guy, and Banana was attacking him because he looks like a monster.”

“But…Banana is a kind pony. She would never do that…right?”

“Looks aren’t everything, dear. And Toffee wasn’t framing you for anything; that footage you watched earlier was an illusion of what you will become…if you don’t amend your arbitrary beliefs,” explained Axor.

Sunny then looked at him with a frightful expression.

“Oh yeah. Toffee isn’t really the bad guy here…if you see things from his perspective. And frankly, he’s right. The Magic of Friendship has done nothing but harm to your own people for countless generations, and its dangerous effects have warped the reality of your senses.”

“What?! But how? Friendship is what unites everypony and binds them together in peace! Twilight Sparkle understood that which is why she became the Princess of Friendship!” Sunny defended.

“What if I told you she wasn’t exactly what you think of her? What if I told you…she was the villain?” Axor informed, secretly grinning.

“No…no…that’s not true. D-don’t say that, please,” Sunny weakly responded. “I-I don’t like where this is going.”

“Then I’ll just show you instead,” he replied, raising his right hand. His sharp finger fired a panoramic shot of ancient Equestrian society ruled under Twilight.

Sunny saw herself surrounded by ponies of the past generation. She saw the changelings, yaks, hippogriffs, dragons, and griffons all gathered together at the palace in Canterlot. Suddenly, they fought with the ponies and hurled every single hateful word towards each other.

Sunny could only watch, scared at both the realism of the scene & the toxic behavior from both sides.

“Twilight created the Unity Crystals in order to enforce friendship on everyone. Because of her arrogance and hatred of non-ponies, she felt like it wasn’t enough. Thus, she did the unthinkable: complete annihilation.”

Twilight transformed into the tyrannical Gloam Fall and vaporized all the terrified non-ponies beneath her. General Feisty stood behind her, enjoying the fiery sight of destruction.

“Her darkness consumed her, and she became a far worse tyrant than any of her adversaries could ever dream to achieve. Like all the alicorns before her, she was evil to the core,” Axor finished.

They both wickedly laughed together until the flashback disappeared, leaving Sunny in complete shock & disbelief at what she saw.

“Now you understand the full truth, my friend. Those Unity Crystals were forged by evil…and you have defended them with your life,” Axor continued.

“This…can’t be. This…was all a lie…?”

“Your people were living their best lives separated into different races until you came along and continued your role model’s legacy. That’s why they’re turning against you now. Twilight’s brainwashing is wearing off, and they now realize what you will become if you don’t stop.”

“So…Twilight was never good? At all??”

“Nope.”

Sunny then fell on her knees. “So…throughout my entire life…I was idolizing a monster. A psychopath. The one whom I thought was a hero—Toffee was right. The magic of friendship…IS corrupt.”

Axor triumphantly smirked.

At that moment, she angrily glared at the Unity Crystals. “How could I have been so stupid?! It’s no wonder why everything bad is happening! None of this would’ve happened if those accursed crystals were NEVER found!”

“Sprout wouldn't have destroyed my old lighthouse, and…I wouldn’t have put Maretime Bay in danger last year if it weren’t for those crystals. They. Ruined. Everything,” she growled.

“There’s only one way to redeem yourself, my dear. The one thing Twilight herself could never do—renounce them,” Axor suggested.

Sunny grabbed a picture of Twilight Sparkle looking happy and smiling on everyone. Shedding tears again, she angrily ripped it to pieces and tossed them out the balcony. “I don’t deserve to be up here. I’ve…been so dumb.”

Then she looked back at Axor. “I want nothing to do with any of this anymore. Get rid of them if you want…”

She grabbed the Unity Crystals and handed them over to Axor. “Well done, Sunny. You’ve made the right choice.”

Sunny nodded her head. “Thank you.”

Axor sinisterly chuckled. “Oh no, my dear…thank you.”

Once he said this, he thrusted the crystals into his chest where the diamond-shaped red hole was centered. All of Equestria’s magic was corrupted into his image, and all three crystals changed into darker colors. He maniacally laughed as he did this.

The rainbow shattered into tiny atoms and so were all the stained glass windows of the Brighthouse. Sunny then looked at him with shock & utter confusion. “What are you doing?!”

“Doing something useful with these crystals, of course! You look exhausted, my dearest Sunny. Why don’t you flush down your sorrows…ALONE?” Axor taunted.

He opened a portal to a void of darkness and threw Sunny therein. Sunny tried to activate her alicorn powers, but it didn’t work. Fully realizing why that was the case, she screamed through the void until the noises were mere echos. Then…she was gone.

Closing the portal, Axor gazed at his newfound power and relished the lively feeling throughout his veins. “Yes…YES…YEEEEEEEEESSSS!!! The Equestrian Magic is mine once again! And this time, I won’t lose it again.”

“With this new power, I can finally give this accursed place a whole new makeover!” Axor exulted.

He gathered every one of the little thorns he scattered across Maretime Bay and held them high above the Brighthouse with his telekinesis. Then he impaled the roof with those thorns, blowing out the red flames within them.

“I think Sunny ran back inside the Brighthouse. She must be really upset!” Pipp said.

“At least she’ll be safe there. We can’t afford to let those ponies bother her with baseless accusations,” stated Hitch.

“Man, what an eventful day! I wonder what else can go wrong?” said Izzy.

Suddenly, the whole Brighthouse exploded with red flames flying everywhere. The explosion was so loud it shook the entire town, and it was loud enough to silence the storm.

“WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!” Hitch screamed.

Out of nowhere, a massive new structure arose from the ashes of the Brighthouse which managed to cover much more ground than both its previous buildings ever could.

The Mane Five & Sparky shrunk their pupils in terror at the sight of a new building. “Is that…the Brighthouse?” Pipp asked.

“Well, it was,” Hitch corrected.

It was now a 1,250 foot tall clock tower surrounded by a fortress. The clock itself was red, the hour hand was shaped like a sword, and the minute hand was shaped like an arrow.

“This…is so not good,” said Zipp, gulping.

Toffee and Crinson looked up to see Axor’s new handiwork in full display which left them completely surprised.

“That’s the signal,” said Pulp. His workers launched the bananas from their warp cannons. The bananas transformed into a massive puffy purple cloud, covering all of Equestria like a dome.

“What…is this??” Toffee asked.

“Is this what he had in mind? Did I…make the right choice?” Crimson worried.

As for Axor, he laughed psychotically and did a backflip on the rooftop of his new tower. “The time has come! Magic is mine, Sunny is gone, and Twilight’s failure is now complete! Now the multiverse will finally feel what it’s like…to have an unhappy ending!”

His red eyes burned bright as the darkness covered the land.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note

The saga has now reached to yet another hiatus. This was quite a lot of fun to write, and I’m sure you guys got a lot of enjoyment reading this whole story. If I’m being honest, this might be my favorite series to write so far out of all the series I’ve written over the years.

The way I’ve been writing this series gave me a different vibe somehow, and it feels so…unique in a way I can’t adequately describe. Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten better with my writing over the years, but that’s just me.

With that said, thank you for reading this story—both the commenters and the silent readers. I appreciate you both.

Lastly, the sequel will be the final installment of this series, and it’s going to be just as dark as the Amphibia crossovers. I can’t say for sure when it will be released, but it will definitely be posted by summer time.

In the meantime, I’ll be taking a break from making stories until late March when I’ll be making at least one or two one-shots before the big story comes out.

Peace out, folks!