We ran into Sandra on our way to confront Neon, and I had to give a little laugh. "The old crew's together for the right moment."

Sandra perked an ear before she glanced down the hallway. "I knew where she was... I got scared, OK. She's thrashing anyone who goes in the same room with her. They tried bumrushing her with about twelve people, nothing but screams, none of them hers."

Dusk moved up beside Sandra and rubbed alongside her. "Well we're not just 'any' person. We're going to settle this. Let's go."

I advanced with my trusted friends flanked to either side of me, and I felt a bit of confidence returning. "Any advice, Cindy?

Cindy shook her head. "Watch out, be careful, and stick to the plan. It's all we have. She's probably full of energy, which she will use against us."

The hallway suddenly filled with light, and the sirens began wailing anew. I broke into a run. "She figured out the power, we're on a timer again."

The door leading to her room was open, practically inviting us. I heard the sound of a whip being cracked and the weak cry of someone who was likely the receiver of the blow. "You thought you could stop me that easily? I know how this all works, and you're running out of people. Where's your 'Princess of Peace' now?"

We charged through the open door to find Neon. Her tongues each shone a different color, almost blindingly bright with how many people she'd gorged on. Her entire body seemed a riot of neon hues that shone with the power she held. "There she is." She turned to face us, tongues dancing through the air. She was able to talk despite their presence without issue, but then, so did I? How did I do that?

Before I could contemplate that very long, Dusk stepped forward. "Stop this, right now. It's not too late. If you just stop that and come with us, everything will be forgiven."

Neon brought a tongue in faster than she should have been able. Dusk brought up a shield, but the tongue slapped against it and pulsed with a bright cyan. The shield exploded in dazzling motes of light. "Who are you to offer clemency? There's no going back! I won't be a slave to the humans, if they even let me live. Ponies must become the dominant race, or stop being a race all together.

I held up my human hands and took a slow step forward. "We're not here to hurt you, not if we don't have to. You've used every dirty trick you condemned humans for. You've shot at us, tried to blow us up, and you're getting ready to set the world on fire. The humans are ready to try peace, are you really settling for being worse than human?"

Her fury redirected to me at my words and two tongues crossed each other in a wild display of sparks. Cindy's shield kept one away, but it dispelled the shield as easily as it had Dusk's. The second coiled around my upper torso's belly and with the power of a hard vacuum, she began to suck the vitality right out of us. I didn't expect it to be so fast. One moment we were fine, the next we felt almost dead. "Your tongues are a pale imitation compared to mine. I am a pure breed, while you, you hybrid chimera of a creature. You've taken everything, but you're no good at any of it."

The sucking sensation suddenly stopped. I saw Sandra wrap one of her own tongues around Neon's and drew from the connection. Sandra shuddered violently, her tongue starting to glow as brightly as Neon's. More tongues came, ready to suck Sandra dry, but she caught them with her own, and the light seemed to pass back and forth between the two, locked in a contest of wills between the tongues as they undulated and writhed against one another.

Dusk's horn began to glow and he pulled one tongue away, allowing Sandra to double team one of the others, pulling power from it faster than it could pull it back.

Sandra smiled despite her full mouth. "I happen to be purebred too. That doesn't mean anything." She started to overpower the tongues, her own glowing brighter and brighter. Her body began to show jagged lightning patterns across it that glowed with the same neon light. "I'm taking it, since you can't use it responsibly."

A tongue curled and lashed in from below at Sandra but I caught it in my magic, even if my entire body felt sore at that point. I slowed it just enough for Sandra to swat it aside with one of her own tongues, advancing on Neon. "You're not dying today, but your reign is." Sandra wrapped two tongues around Neon firmly, squeezing despite the struggles of her victim. Kicks and pulls were to no avail as the power was drawn from her and fueled Sandra. Sandra grunted softly, hitting her capacity and trying to struggle through it.

It was time. I fought through the haze and cast my vision to the other side. I could see Neon's gift, bright and terrible. I shoved against it with all the remaining power I had, forcing it into contact with the tongues it seemed to recoil from actively.

Sandra went stiff as something new rushed down her tongues and into her body. She gasped and grunted, pawing at the ground as she began to grow, painfully swelling out to a stature befitting her new status as a princess. Neon, on the other hoof, collapsed with a weak cry, her tongues fell to the ground and twitched a little, but the fight was taken from her. Her bright patches of fur began to go muted, the color just fleeing her as surely as the rest of her power.

Cindy smiled gently. "See, that wasn't so bad."

Neon hissed, scrambling weakly to her hooves. "Fools, the lot of you! You don't even know how to stop it. It's all for nothing!"

Cindy lifted Neon into the air with her magic. "Tell me, or I'll take the knowledge, and that will hurt, a lot. I don't want to do that, but I will."

The intense gaze Cindy gave Neon unnerved her slightly. She wriggled in the grasp, whimpering with breaking resolve. "You've taken everything. You're going to kill me anyway. I won't make it easy for you."

Cindy drew Neon close and took control of my hands to gently pet over her back and sides. "There there. We're not bad people. Just show us how to save a lot of other people. Show us you're not entirely awful, and you will be spared."

Neon squirmed in the grasp in denial, but she lacked the strength to make any meaningful progress. She sagged, defeated and worn. "Do you promise?"

Cindy nodded. "Cross my heart." Did she have a heart? I supposed she had my heart. Good enough?

Cindy carried her with our body over to the controls and held her carefully over them. "Go on, prove you're not so bad. Millions of people don't need to die today to prove anyone's point."

Neon frowned a little. "You make it sound so petty..." She reached out with shaking hooves and started pressing buttons, and the sirens faded away. She twisted two sets of keys with her tongues and tossed them both to the ground. "There, now go ahead. Kill me. You can prove your true intentions."

Sandra clopped a hoof on the ground. "We're good guys, as terribly cliche as that sounds. We're not going to kill a single person if we don't have to." She lashed out a tongue and brushed Neon with it, sending a little pulse of energy into her. Neon perked up, her basic vitality restored. "We'll protect you. There are a lot of people, some in this room, that would want a piece of you."

"Starting with me." Dust Kicker came through the door, limping a little and looking tired, but determined. "She's killed countless people with her orders. She's a monster, and you helped me see that. I'm guilty too, to a lesser extent, but she was the leader. She deserves to pay!"

Dusk moved quickly to block her. "No! Hurting her won't bring anyone back."

Dust Kicker shoved him out of the way. Weakened or no, she was a far superior combatant than poor Dusk. "Out of my way. You're in no position to forgive her. She didn't hurt you, she hurt us."

Soft murmurs of agreement came from the others in the room, starting to rouse from their drainings. The mood was dark at best as eyes settled on the weakened Neon, ready to see her suffer.

Cindy pulled Neon close and protectively. "Two wrongs don't make a right."

Dust Kicker lifted a hoof, the claws sliding into ready position. "Maybe not, but it feels good, and discourages other people from doing it."

I took control of one hand and reached out for Dust. "Dust, come here." She did so hesitantly, peering with growing suspicion. When she was in range, I softly scratched behind an ear. "You're a good pony, and a great person, Dust Kicker. I want you as a friend, but my friends don't kill people when they don't have to. We won, Dust. We won."

Dust trembled, her eyes welling up with sudden tears. "I believed in her too! I thought she was going to guide us to a better place! Now here you are, promising the same thing, and not even letting me get back at her! She was insane. Did you forget what she did to stop us from getting here?"

Sandra smiled a little. "I have her power, Dust Kicker. She's just a normal, confused, person. She needs our help, not to be beat down more."

Dust looked at Sandra for the first time. "The hell happened to you? You look like a new Neon."

Sandra tilted her head. "Now with 100% less homicidal tendencies. Here." She gently brushed a tongue along Dust's muzzle, restoring her energy. "Now let's get out of here. We have a world to rebuild, and that doesn't involve kicking around someone after they're already defeated."

The word of two princesses proved to be more compelling. Though we weren't actively trying to through any mystical 'weight' around, our words did have some inherently, and with us speaking in harmony, voices began to sway in our favor. Sandra went around the room, helping each pony up to their hooves. By the time she gave back all the stolen energy Neon had taken, she stopped glowing like a little sun, though she remained brightly colored.

Dusk smiled and tapped a hoof on the control panel. "Not bad for a day's work. We stopped a nuclear exchange."

Dust sighed softly. "I suppose I should be thankful for that and stop pouting so much." She clicked her hoof claws into idle position and moved up to Neon, still held in our grip. "You."

Neon looked down at her, ears half-wilted. "What?"

Dust pointed at Neon. "You better start acting like half the pony you claimed you were."

Author's Notes:

And so ends the South American arc.

Like, hate? I'd really like to know how well I did in wrapping this up, so tell me, especially if you spotted a typo.