Three hours later after Spike made his declaration, Spike had retired to his quarters after having dinner where Queen Novo was waiting for him.

“You really know how to put on a show, Your Majesty~.” she said in a flirtatious manner.

“What do you want?” Spike asked, albeit impatiently.

She simply giggled and said,

“A straightforward dragon~. I like that~. I’ve been thinking about what you did ever since my kind was blessed by your influence~.”

Spike turned towards her and glared.

“Out with it.” he commanded.

“What would you say if I became your queen~? I’m not sure how long you will last by yourself in your physical form, but if you had your own offspring, your reign will last for eternity~. What would you say about that~?” she said, pressing herself onto him and moving her hoof across his chest.

Instead of conceding, he moves himself away from her and says,

“I’ll consider it, but my duties are devoted to exterminating these pony creatures once and for all. Even if it means selling my life to do so. And I already have someone in my eyes.”

Queen Novo simply crossed her arms in disappointment and said,

“There is just no pleasing you, is there?”

The creature took over Spike and said,

“Have they been deployed yet?”

“Yes. They are currently in the Everfree Forest as we speak. I trust that they will work in your favor~.”

“Perhaps. But then I would be down one subordinate for my personal group…” the creature said as it crossed its arms and looked on at Equestria.

…

Meanwhile back at the Crystal Empire, everypony was gathered in the throne room, figuring out what to do next. They were waiting for news to come back from Twilight, who went to resurrect the fallen Princess of Light.

“Does anypony have a clue as to where Princess Luna is?” Starlight asked.

“I have no clue, but Pinkie Pie was just sent out to go look for Princess Skystar.” Applejack said.

“I hope she can make it back alive. With everything that has happened around Equestria, I doubt that one can’t be too careful.” Rarity said in a worried manner.

“Hey, it’s Pinkie Pie. She’ll make it through anything. There’s no doubt in my mind that she can be killed!” Rainbow Dash said, filled with confidence.

“That’s what I’m afraid of…” Cadence said.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.

“After everything that we went through to fight back against this anomaly, I doubt that we can win this time. Ever since Spike went missing, it just started growing more and more.”

“Why would you keep continuing to think that, darling?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah. We may not have seen him since he left Ponyville, but he wouldn’t just up and die. If anything, he could have taken shelter somewhere in Equestria. At least someplace where the anomaly can’t reach him.” Rainbow Dash said, scratching the back of her head.

“One can only hope, Rainbow Dash. But I just have this terrible feeling that we might be already too late.” Cadence said as she looked out the window.

“You worry too much, Cadence. We’ll win like we always do!” Rainbow Dash said.

Everypony cheered and waited further for Twilight to come back with Princess Celestia. Princess Cadence, on the other hand, didn’t share the same sentiment as the others. Something bad was going to happen, and she could feel it coming like a train ready to split off the railway.

“Girls?” Cadence asked.

They turned around and looked at Cadence.

“When did Pinkie leave?”

“A few hours ago. Why?” Applejack replied.

Cadence looked outside the castle and felt sweat run down her head as she felt a chill run up her spine. Just then, she heard a cry.

“Help!” a voice cried.

They all ran off to the balcony to see who the creature was. As soon as they made it, they spotted a unicorn with a broken horn, carrying a sick hedgehog on her back. After running out of the castle, they came face-to-face with the familiar pony they fought before: Tempest Shadow. But Starlight didn’t have a clue who she was.

“Who are you?” Starlight asked, glowing her horn.

Tempest went over to her and said,

“My name is irrelevant. All that matters is that you help him!”

“Calm yourself, Tempest. We’ll see what we can do.” Cadence said, levitating her friend.

“Huh?” Starlight asked as everypony came to help him.

After getting him into the medical area, Starlight looked at Tempest out of curiosity. She had no idea who she was or where she came from. But what bothered her even more was what happened to her horn. To her, it resembled a broken tooth that couldn’t be fixed. She wanted to know, but she didn’t want to be offensive. However, she couldn’t turn her gaze away from it.

“What?” Tempest asked.

“Wha- uh…? Nothing. I was just… counting patients. You never know who might be there.” Starlight said, nervously.

“Hmm.” Tempest said as she turned back at Grubber.

***

Meanwhile, Pinkie was scouting around the area of Equestria to see if there were any souls to bring back. She walked further and further to find more as she skipped along outside of the Crystal Empire. While she was exploring, she was thinking about Twilight. She had no idea why she was chosen by Princess Luna and why she was given this suit. Moreover, she started to wonder why Twilight didn’t object to the idea of the former joining her as the Grim Reaper. It didn’t really seem to dawn on her as to why Twilight allowed her to join. As she kept moving along, she suddenly heard a scream coming from Everfree Forest.

“Huh?” Pinkie wondered.

“AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” a voice screamed.

Pinkie immediately recognized the voice.

“Skystar?”

She heard the scream again. It was definitely Princess Skystar.

“Hold on Skystar! I’m coming!”

After making her way over to the source of the screaming, she found Princess Skystar surrounded by a multitude of changelings. Even that Pinkie was aware she couldn’t do anything to fight back, she had to do something before her friend was killed. Seeing a couple of stones, Pinkie had an idea. Picking them up with her mane and tail, she wasted no time in throwing them at the attacking Changelings.

“Hey, you big termites! Over here!” Pinkie shouted.

Hissing and growling at her for that minor attack, the Changelings turned around faced the brave, pink pony. Seizing the opportunity, Princess Skystar snuck away from them and flew, grabbing Pinkie before they could grab her. Wasting no time, the Changelings unleashed their wings and started chasing after the two. Princess Skystar quickly noticed this and started flapping her wings faster, but to no avail as the Changelings were quickly gaining.

“What do we do? They’re getting closer!” Princess Skystar shouted.

Thinking of an idea to shake them off, Pinkie spotted a forest of trees and shouted,

“Down there!”

“What?” Skystar asked.

“Just follow my lead!”

Deciding to take Pinkie on her word, Skystar descended into the forest filled with trees and the Changelings followed suit. As soon as Pinkie and Skystar made it into the forest, they disappeared.

“It’s a thick forest. Do you think we can find her?” a Changeling asked.

“We have to! It’s by the order of the king himself!”

“Silence, grubs! We have a job to do and we will see to it that it’s completed! You take the right and you take left! I will take the center!” the leader said.

“Yessir!” the Changelings shouted as they divided into groups.

After the Changelings split up, Pinkie and Skystar were hiding underneath a tree as they waited for them to pass by. When the Changelings finally disappeared, Pinkie asked,

“What happened out there? What made our friends so angry to become this?”

But instead of answering, Skystar simply chuckled and said,

“We were simply blessed with a gift far better than friendship…”

Just then, Skystar slowly shifted into a changeling, undoing her disguise. As Pinkie was shocked to figure out this treachery, she was suddenly rammed by an oncoming yak, knocking her into the air. As she was flying into the air, she was suddenly smacked in the face by a griffon wielding two maces.

“Homerun!” the griffon shouted.

The next thing that happened, Pinkie was suddenly hit by a dragon with two axes coated with flames. She shouted, “Foul!” followed by another slash coming from a hippogriff wielding two swords attached to chains surround her arms shouting “Nailed it~!”.

As Pinkie fell to the ground crippling from the attack, she was suddenly charged by a buffalo from the rear. The impact sent her flying near a tree, ultimately breaking her.

“So… this is the grim reaper the king spoke about?” the griffon said in a mocking tone.

“Yeah! She looks so sad~. Can I make a smile on that stupid face of hers~?” the hippogriff excitedly asked.

“No. The king wants her alive. He wants to know the secret behind these outfits they wear.” the changeling said.

“Aww~. But I want to play with the pony~.” the hippogriff said in a whiny manner

“Relax, Silverstream. The king said to mangle her, but not too rough. Besides, I wanna see if what he said about her weapon is true.” the dragon said, gripping her axes.

“Yak tired of waiting!!! Yak wants ponies dead now!!!!” the yak shouted, pounding her hooves into the ground.

“There will be plenty of ponies left to kill, Yona. But right now, we have to follow the king’s orders.” the griffon said, cocking his automatic crossbow.

“How right you are, Gallus.” a voice said.

The six of them turned around along with Pinkie and noticed somebody familiar.

“Oh no. Not you…”