Twilight and Flash were brought back to the dead Tree of Harmony by Bulk Biceps. Tirek looked unamused at their return. There was a blue minotaur standing beside him. She knew right away that this had to be Iron Will. To Tirek’s left was Fluttershy. She had one of the Plunder Vines wrapped around her hand like it was a pet.

“Speak, Twilight!” Tirek nearly shouted. “Do you have something to offer me?”

Twilight looked at him and spoke. “Yes, I do. I offer you the Elements of Harmony.”

Everypony's eyes widened. Flash’s own jaw even dropped at this. This was her idea! He leaned closer to her to try and ask what she was really up to, but Tirek didn’t give him time.

“Really?” he questioned as laughter began to rise within his voice. “You plan to offer me the Elements of Harmony.” Soon he laughed aloud. The other joined in soon. But they all went silent upon seeing him raise his hand. “The Elements of Harmony have been missing for centuries now.”

“I know, and I know how to find them. I suggest an alliance. You let us go and we find them for you.”

Tirek raised an eyebrow at her words. He lifted his hand and waved it. “Pray tell, how will you find the Elements of Harmony?”

“I think you misunderstand me. I don’t plan to find the Elements but the Element wielders instead. Once that is done, the Elements should reveal themselves,” she answered.

He smirked. “Impossible, the new ones have yet to show themselves and the old ones are long dead.”

She looked to Fluttershy. “Actually I’m looking at one right now.”

“What?!” He looked to who she was looking at. “My second in command? Fluttershy?”

“Yes. She is an excellent symbol of kindness is she not?”

He looked at Fluttershy. And she looked at him. “Well when I first broke free of Tartarus, there was no magic at all to eat. I wandered endlessly until she found me half dead in the wilderness. She nursed me back to health and I made her my second in command.”

Twilight looked to Fluttershy. Her assumptions were correct, the mare still was kind-hearted. She looked back to Tirek. “And that isn’t it. On my journey, I have ran into a pegasus with incredible loyalty to her friends. And a unicorn who was extremely generous.” She held her hands up and her arms out. “That is three ponies that are easily worthy enough to wield three of the Elements of Harmony.”

He looked to Twilight trying to figure out her point. “And what of it. It’s not like you can find the remaining nin--” suddenly he was interrupted by smoke that began to fill the room. Soon the entire room was covered. Tirek looked in confusion, but Twilight and Flash knew who it was.

******

Meanwhile, miles away above the CD ruins was the massive airship Andross. The ponies scattered upon seeing the massive airship. The prince stood in the center of several control stations. The area he was in looked like a circle and several rings of light that surrounded him. “Activate Andross's arms,” he said.

The ones at their stations began typing on several buttons. Soon heavy gauntlets covered in wires descended from the ceiling. He stuck his hands into them as a hologram of the city surrounded him through the rings of light. He lifted the gauntlets and outside the ship and what had looked like pieces of the engine, began to move on their own. They lifted from the ship and began to move like arms. Nexus Star lifted his arms up and the ship’s giant arms followed.

“Activate communication,” he said as more began to press buttons. Soon one waved their hand, signaling him to talk. “Ponies of these ruins.” The ponies looked up to the massive airship in horror as a hologram descended from the ship. “You have one hour to evacuate every building and hand over Twilight Sparkle before I begin wiping you all out of existence. These hands are built with high-powered lasers that will vaporize any in its sights.”

Down on the ground behind some ruins was Cheerilee, Rainbow Dash, Soarin and the Cloud Rebels. “What are we going to do?” asked Soarin.

“We can’t give into his demands,” answered Rainbow Dash.

“But there are children here,” said Cheerilee as a foal cried in her arms.

Rainbow Dash looked at Cheerilee. “Cheerilee I want you to take the children as far away as possible. Fleetfoot, I want you to gather any well-bodied adult and get them ready.” She then looked at Soarin. “Soarin contact the Dark Rebels and anyone else you can.”

Soarin looked at Rainbow Dash. “But what if they can’t reach us in time?”

“Then contact the Cave Rebels and hope they answer,” she replied. “Meanwhile the rest of you get ready to fight.”

******

Back under the castle of the Two Sisters a rescue was under way. “That is enough Tirek,” said ‘F’ as the smoke cleared revealing Tirek now in chains. Now standing in the room beside Twilight and Flash were ‘F’, Discord and Big Macintosh. Bulk Biceps, Iron Will, and Fluttershy had also been grabbed. Tirek tried to struggle as he saw the chains. “You’ll find that harder than you think to break. Those are the same chains that you used to hold SS.” He ceased struggling upon hearing those words. “Like I thought, the chains are covered in special runes, that's why SS couldn’t break them. Which means if he can’t, then you definitely cannot.”

Even though Tirek stopped struggling, he looked to ‘F’ with a smirk. “So you are ‘F’. I do believe this is the first time we have met." He took a deep whiff. "And yet you stink of an old enemy. It's a scent I have not caught in over 3,000 years. So tell me, are the legends true?”

‘F’ eyes widened under his hood. He lowered his head. “Yes, they are true.”

Twilight looked at ‘F’, realizing she might get some truth in what was being said. Tirek looked at Twilight. “Twilight, you dare bring him in my presence? Him, the one who stole his immortality, who robbed from eternity? Him, the thief of gods?”

‘F’ slam his cane. “Enough!”

He smirked at ‘F’s reaction. “No, I SAY ENOUGH.” suddenly vines wrapped around every single one of them as Fluttershy held up her hands. “As you can see Fluttershy has full command of the Plunder Vines. They are her arms and her legs. They are her will.”

They all tried to struggle. “How is she even doing this?” asked Twilight.

‘F’ looked at her. Suddenly unbeknownst to the rest, his eyes blinked and he could see in different spectrums of light. “I see. She has a magical rune upon her head.”

“I don’t see anything, mentor,” answered Flash.

“Ah, so you can see it, ‘F’. Another one of the powers you must have stolen. Yes, a few years ago, the plunder vines began an invasion. To stop it, I imbued a spell upon Fluttershy. It allows her to completely control them.”

“Look, if you let us go, I can tell where two other elements wielders are at,” said ‘F’.

As the plunder vines removed the chains, Tirek raised his hand. “Alright then, let’s say you bring me the Elements of Harmony. How do I know the second I let you go, you won’t double cross me?”

“I heard everything about Twilight’s plan and you have my word that we will honor it and give you the Elements.” he answered.

Tirek smirked, “Really? Do I have your word? All of it?”

‘F’ looked in annoyance. He knew what Tirek was talking about. Or more importantly who. With a twisted ache inside him and a pain in his left shoulder, he knew saying it would put more doubt in Twilight’s eyes than anything else. Summoning all the strength in him, he spoke.

“Fine, then you have my word as the former Host of The False God.”

“Alright then. I accept.”

******

As Twilight and Tirek made the terms of the alliance, ponies in the CD ruins got into positions on towers and behind giant boulders. Rainbow Dash stood ready to command. “Everypony get your guns ready.” They brought out their weapons, and Rainbow Dash grabbed out her board sword. “And FIRE!!”

They began firing upon the ship. Moonchaser looked from his scope. “Most have evacuated the buildings, but still haven’t given up where Twilight is. They refuse to show any sign she is even here. What do we do?”

“Well we bared our fangs and gave them our warning,” said Nexus Star as he lifted the gauntlets and the ship’s arms followed suit. “They had their choice and they chose damnation.” He aimed his left gauntlet at the biggest building. The ship’s left arm followed. The ship’s hand open up and a beam of pure dark magic shot forth. It hit the building head on. They ponies watched in horror as the building was ripped apart. He then lifted the right gauntlet and aimed at another building. The ship’s right hand opened up and out fourth shot another beam of pure dark magic. The building was ripped apart. Soon he moved his gauntlets across the hologram and every building his gauntlets aimed at, the beams hit.

Ponies ran and screamed while others refused to move. Whether out of stupidity or stubbornness they stayed their ground and continued to fire, only to be gone just as quick as the buildings were. “Some refuse to move your majesty,” said Moonchaser.

“Then they have dug their graves,” Nexus Star answered. He continued to shoot until every building was nothing but rubble. Afterward, he removed his hands from the gauntlets as they ascended back to the ceiling. The hologram of the ruins also disappeared.

“Have they surrendered yet?”

“No, it seems they still refuse,” Moonchaser answered.

“Fine then. I’m going out there.” He turned from where he stood and walked away. He went over to a unicorn mare in a black sweater and white velvet dress. “Moondancer, how is the mark 20?”

“It’s working at top specifications, husband,” she said as she walked up to him. He lifted his arms as she unbuttoned his velvet coat. “Now you be careful out there,” they shared a kiss as she pulled the coat off.

“Don’t worry. I will.”

He walked through a special hallway as several machines rose up and attached armor to his body. He got to the end of the hallway as his helmet was put on. At the end of the hallway was his Alphabolts and leading them was a rather tall brown and white griffin, with cybernetic talons.

“How are my Alphabolts, Commander Gryford?”

“They are working at top specifications, your Majesty,” he said with very little emotion. Nexus Star saw this.

“Come on Commander, cheer up. Are you annoyed that we may have to fight your old friends, the Cloud Rebels?”

“No, your Majesty.”

“But your sister once led them.”

“Gilda chose her place as I chose mine.”

“And now she is in Tartarus.”

“And the others shall join her.”

“Good.” The prince said as he smirked at his commander's words. “Now have you reviewed the list?” The commander nodded a yes. “Alright, let’s move out.”

******

Back on other side of the Massive Everfree Forest, Twilight and the group were meeting up with the ship. Suddenly the Doctor ran up. “There you five are.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” They all could see the worry on his face. He looked up at them, with shock and terror on his face.

“The Cloud Rebels just got attacked.”

All their eyes widened. “By who?” asked Twilight.

“Prince Nexus Star. He’s hunting you down,” answered Derpy as she ran up.

This was a major problem. They had already planned to go look for Applejack and Pinkie Pie, but now Rainbow Dash and all those ponies were in danger. They couldn’t just leave well enough alone. They had to do something.

“Alright,” said Twilight. “We need to split up.” She quickly looked around to figure out who should go where. “Hmm, Flash, Doctor, and Derpy. You go help out the Cloud Rebels. I’m sure Big Macintosh, ‘F’ Discord and I can handle finding my friends.”

“Alright, looks like we have a plan.” said ‘F’.

Flash walked over to Twilight. “Here hold on to this for me,” he said as he handed her the tracking device.

“Okay?”

“I don’t want to lose it in the battle.”

After he handed it to Twilight, Flash walked a few yards. Twilight looked in confusion. The other that were heading to the ruins Cloudsdale were getting on the titan airship. “Flash, what you are doing?” she said as she tried to walk to him, but ‘F’ stopped her.

“Wait, Twilight. You might want to step back.”

She turned to ‘F’ in confusion. “Why?”

“Because Flash won’t be using the ship. He can get there quicker than the ship can take him. Now stand back, Flash is going top speed.”

Her eyes widened. ‘Top speed’. She got as far from Flash as possible. When she saw the rest covering their ears, she did the same. She looked at Flash.

He took a deep breath, then got in a racing position. He took another deep breath and concentrated. Soon light magic started to swarm around his body like electricity. A loud bang could be heard as he made his first step. He ran and ran. He moved at such speed that he almost disappeared from sight. All could be seen was a bright light.

“Let’s hope he gets there in time.”

Twilight, ‘F’ and Discord got ready to leave when Doctor Whooves called her over. “Twilight I almost forgot to give you this.” He handed her a gem. “It’s a communication gem. Just use some dark magic on it and you can communicate with the titan airship. It's currently connected to the same wave link as the ship. You should receive any messages we send or receive.”

After that, the Doctor and Derpy got on the ship as it took its blue box form and left.

******

Several miles away in the CD ruins, Rainbow Dash and the remaining Cloud Rebels kept shooting at Nexus Star's army of Alphabolts. They refused to give up. However, the cybernetic bat ponies were too tough.

Even though under the cybernetics were living, breathing bat ponies, their outer cyberdized shell was so strong that bullets just bounced off. The army of Alphabolts continued to march as they killed all who got in the way. Meanwhile, in the front was the prince.

Anypony that manage to get close enough to him to attack would find his cyber armor a hard force to get through. And if that wasn’t enough, they would have to worry about the lasers in his gauntlets.

The ponies kept firing, but they knew they would run out of ammo soon. They knew the message had got through to the Dark Rebels, but they would still have to hold their ground until they got there.

“What are we going to do?” asked Fleetfoot as she ducked to dodge the enemy’s fire.

“We hold out for as long as possible.”

“But we are down to just five ponies.”

“Six ponies,” said Soarin as he rolled up carrying more magazines.

“What are you doing here, Soarin? I said all well-bodied adults and you're still in a wheelchair.” Rainbow Dash was annoyed that Soarin didn’t listen to her.

“Well, I couldn’t leave my mare hanging,” he answered. Then without warning, the shooting stopped. They turned to see the Alphabolts were no longer attacking. “Why did they stop?” he questioned.

The Alphabolts still had plenty of ammo. So why did they stop? Why? Suddenly out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash and Soarin were grabbed by cyberdized talons hooked to chains. The talons pulled them away from the group. They were pulled across the ruins.

Meanwhile, Nexus Star smiled in his armor. “Well, looks like the commander did his part. Now for the rest.” He stepped forward and signaled his Alphabolts to move back.

The Cloud Rebels saw this and charged forward. Two jumped at him with swords ready. He lifted his arms and blasted them with his lasers. As he did that, another one charged from behind, only for him to activate his thrust and burn the pony’s face. The prince spun around and blasted the pony as they fell back.

But then Fleetfoot charged at him and managed to get her dagger into a slit in him armor. Oil seeped out of the hole it left. The prince turned grabbed her by the neck. He proceeded to choke her as his armor scanned her. “You quite tough.” Soon his eyes widened. “Hmm, another one.” He raised his hand and shot his laser and she was gone.

While that was going on, Soarin and Rainbow Dash were dragged to a knocked over building. They looked to see who the chained talons were hooked to. It was a griffin. “Oh, hey Gryford, how's your sister?” joked Soarin.

The commander was angered at his words so he threw him. “Soarin!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she tried to struggle free. Soon Nexus Star flew up to them and landed on the building. He walked over, “Well Rainbow Dash, is it?” She didn’t answer. “Look I know the files, so it doesn't matter if you answer or not. Now tell me, where is Twilight?”

She mumbled something. “What was that?” he asked. She mumbled again. “Speak up now!” he yelled as he got closer.

“Heaven, hell, or maybe jail,” she joked.

He signaled the commander and he threw her. She landed near Soarin. Soarin whispered to her, “What are we going to do?”

“How many times are you ponies going to keep asking me that?” she whispered back as she looked away. She knew this was it. If the Dark Rebels didn’t get here now then this would be the end for both of them. Soon she felt Soarin grab her hand. She looked at him, he smiled. He was thinking that at least they would go out together.

“Rainbow Dash I’m glad you're nearby in the end. I will always love you. And since this is my last chance to ask this--”

“Oh please don’t tell you going to ask me now,” she interrupted him. “I love you, but you know I’m not the marrying type.”

Soon the prince and the commander walked forward. This was the end. But something caught Rainbow Dash’s eyes. Her eyes widened. “Soarin, I love you, but,” she lifted her sword and stabbed the ground. “Don’t you dare give up on yourself!” Suddenly the ground cracked and fell out from under Soarin. He fell as he tried to reach for her.

Soon he found himself being caught by a Shadowbolt. He turned his head to see it was Spitfire. Rainbow Dash got up and yelled. “Spitfire, get him out of here!!”

“What are you doing?”

“I told you before, I’m not going to let you get hurt again. Go Soarin, go and live,” tears fell down her face as she spoke. She then charged at Nexus Star and Gryford. Gryford tried to fly after Soarin and Spitfire. But Rainbow Dash threw her sword at his wing, stabbing it and causing him to crash.

She then tackled the prince, knocking him off the building. As they were falling, he teleported behind her. He grabbed her by the head and she flipped and kicked him in the side as they crashed. At the same time, she grabbed the dagger that Fleetfoot had left.

They landed as the prince shot a laser which barely missed her, destroying the remains of the building. Soarin watched as the building fell. He saw Rainbow Dash and Nexus Star fighting as Spitfire continued to fly him away. “Let me go, Spitfire! I have to get to her. I can’t leave her!”

“And how are you going to help her? You’re crippled, you would be useless to her right now,” she said as tears were in her own eyes.

Soon they heard a scream as the prince snapped Rainbow Dash’s arm. He held her by the broken arm as he spoke, “So Rainbow Dash, are you going to tell me where Twilight is or do I need to break another arm?" She didn’t listen as she tried to stab him with the dagger. He grabbed her other arm and stopped her by breaking that one as well.

He then slammed her into the ground several times. “Tell me where she is now!”

“Never!”

He slammed her one final time into the ground. He lifted her and held up her once more. “I admire your loyalty, Rainbow Dash. In fact, loyalty I see as the most powerful thing a pony can have. So I will ask one more time.” He held up his laser ready to fire. “Tell me, where is she? WHERE IS TWILIGHT SPARKLE?!?!”

She spat up out some blood and spoke. “On the winning side.”

“So be it.” He fired.

“RAINBOW DASH!!!!” Soarin screamed as he saw her gone.

Soarin struggled to get free from Spitfire’s grip as tears ran down his face. He tried to scream again when without any warning a flash of light ran past them and hit the prince head on.

It knocked him into several bits of rubble. The other looked in awe as the light cleared to reveal Flash Sentry.

“Jack, you're going to pay for that.”

“Really?” said the prince, annoyed. He pulled himself out the rubble. “And how am I going to do that?”

“In pain, IN PAIN!!” He answered him as he charged forward ready to fight.

******

Author's Notes:

Rainbow Dash!!!!

Nooo!!!!!

Well a lot has happened in this one, from Twilight has gone to find her remaining friends, to Flash going to fight Nexus Star, though still no more info on the mysterious unicorn, well spoiler alert, that up next.