With blast firing from their valiant horns, the forces of the Crystal Empire did whatever they could to try and stop King Sombra from advancing past the borders. Flying through the air, Quill leapt from rooftop to rooftop pointing his laser and firing it at the approaching forces.

"Boom!" he called, throwing a bomb at the feet of several approaching forces and being blasted back by the blast.

But it wasn't enough. Sombra was now less than one mile from the border and he quickly sped himself and his soldiers up using a speed spell. Many of the Crystal Empire's citizens prepared themselves for the arrival of their tyrannical former leader, but neither Shining Armor nor Cadence would give in.

"He will not pass!" cried Cadence, immediately taking to the air much to the shock of her husband and firing a strong blast of magic at Sombra, striking him in chest and pushing him back onto the snowy ground. The rest of the Guardians jumped off

Getting back to his feet, he growled upon seeing Cadence and fired a blast of magic at the Crystal Princess in a counter move. Sensing this, Cadence managed to duck out of the way. Determined to protect her subjects at all costs, she fired another blast of magic at Sombra which he deflected with a shield spell. Sombra then fired a blast of his dark magic at Cadence, striking her in the wing and sending her down to the ground screaming.

"CADENCE!" screamed Shining Armor, who immediately jumped off of the tower to help his wife as she fell to the snowy ground below. Sombra chuckled as he advanced towards the fallen Cadence. Several of the Crystal guards tried to help, but were stopped by several donkey soldiers. Shining Armor tried to get through, but he too was stopped by several donkey soldiers.

Struggling to get back to her feet, Cadence realized that unless she could do something, Sombra was going to kill her.

"Well, well," he laughed, looking down at the wounded Cadence. "Perhaps taking back my throne will be easier than I thought. But first…"

He aimed his horn and prepared to fire a blast of magic at Cadence to finish her off only to be hit himself by another blast of magic right in his chest. Recoiling, he tried to find the source of where it came from.

"Get away from her!" commanded Tempest Shadow, her broken horn glowing as she advanced to protect Cadence. To Sombra, this seemed very amusing to him. However, he soon felt another sharper pain strike him in the side. Recoiling, he saw Drax armed with several knives in each of his hands. The rest of the Guardians followed suit, eager to protect Cadence at all costs along with Tempest Shadow.

"So, I have to defeat all of you to get what I want?" remarked Sombra, once again charging up his horn. "Challenge accepted!"

He aimed his horn at Tempest and the Guardians, which they all managed to duck out of the way. Rocket leapt at Sombra and struck him in the face, scratching him in the face with his claws.

"You like that, huh?!" he cried as he swiped at Sombra. "You like that?!"

Using his magic, Sombra tossed the raccoon into the snow and fired a blast at Quill, who managed to duck out of the way quickly. Drax then threw another knife at Sombra, only to be sent flying back into the snow. Groot then joined the fight using his tree powers to engulf Sombra in vines, lifting him up into the air. Snarling, Sombra broke apart the vines and sent Groot flying back into the Crystal Empire.

Now only Tempest stood in Sombra's way, using whatever magic inside of her broken horn to try and defend Cadence.

"For a wounded unicorn," he laughed. "You are quite a powerful warrior. It's no wonder the Storm King chose you as his second-in-command."

Tempest didn't care for what Sombra had to say and instead charged at Sombra, hitting him in the chest and knocking him back down. She then proceeded to try and push him further down in the snow in an effort to suffocate him. But the much larger unicorn pushed Tempest back. Activating her broken magic, Tempest attempted to try and subdue Sombra again, only to be pushed back again towards the empire's gates. Cadence watched in pain as Tempest and Sombra continued to fight. Racing to her side, Quill and the rest of the Guardians attempted to bring Cadence to safety.

"Come on," Quill cried as they lifted Cadence by her legs. "Let's get her to safety."

"I can…manage," she gasped in pain. But, the Guardians of the Galaxy weren't listening.

…

Just then, a blast of magenta colored magic struck at several donkey soldiers trying to cross into the Crystal Empire. Looking up, they all saw Twilight Sparkle, her face filled with rage as she fired another blast of her alicorn magic at Sombra's approaching army. Before the invading army could figure out what hit them, they were then soon ambushed by the Hulk, letting out a loud roar as he tossed several soldiers around like toys. Those who weren't ambushed by the hulk were then engulfed by hundreds of magical ropes as Dr. Strange also arrived on the scene using a multiple cloning spell on himself to pick the soldiers up and toss them away.

…

Seeing this, Sombra tried to figure out what was happening only for Tempest to kick back onto the ground. Tempest threw several punches and kicks at him and realizing that there was no way he was going to get the empire today, there was only one thing for him to do.

"Get out," Tempest snarled, her broken horn glaring. "Leave and never come back before I kill you, Sombra."

Struggling to get back onto his feet, all Sombra could do was laugh in amusement at Tempest.

"You wouldn't dare kill me, mare," he said. "I will get the Crystal Empire back and Emperor Grogar will take Equestria!"

Using a spell to call back his forces, Tempest and the rest of the Crystal Empire watched while Sombra and his forces retreated.

…

From the viewing globe, Grogar and his fellow villains reflected on what just happened.

"Well, you see why he couldn't do this alone," said Grogar, addressing his comrades. "If he is going to take the Crystal Empire, he will need us to aid him."

"Well, duh!" remarked Cozy Glow. "I tried to become Empress of Friendship alone and…"

"I think they know everything you had told them, Cozy Glow," interrupted Tirek, giving his protégé a blank stare. "So what do we do now, my emperor?"

"We take what we have learned from this fight," Grogar replied, looking down at his map. "We analyze, we study and then we prepare to strike! Of course, if there is one thing we have learned from Sombra's little farce, it is that we have to weaken Equestria's allies."

It was then that the Storm King interjected.

"Um, if you are going to ask anyone who has…I don't know…gone from town to town conquering, I'm your dude."

Hearing the word "dude" didn't bode well with Grogar who merely gave the Storm King a blank stare.

"Foolish satyr," he muttered, walking past the Storm King. "No wonder you were considered an amateur in my eyes."

Before the Storm King could reply, Grogar made his way out of the throne room with the rest of the villains following suit.

"An amateur?" he remarked, left alone in the throne room and staring down at the map. "Is that what he thinks of me as? He'll have himself know that I was the one who conquered Pony town to begin with. Well, he'll be sorry he chose those words to describe me!"