Watching the retreating King Sombra and his forces, the citizens of the Crystal Empire were grateful to have both stopped and survived the return of its former leader. However, the tension was still high, especially among Cadence, Shining Armor, Tempest Shadow and the Guardians of the Galaxy, who had led most of the defense.

"She should be okay after a few days," remarked a pony doctor to Shining Armor as he walked out of an examination room, facing Shining Armor, Twilight, Tempest and the Guardians of the Galaxy. "Although I would have her rest on not flying for about a week."

"Cadence isn't going to like that," sighed Shining Armor, understanding the gravity of his wife's situation. "Why didn't she just listen to me and stay put?"

"That's for you and her to discuss," remarked the pony doctor as he walked away. Shining Armor then proceeded to walk into the examination room and there was Cadence, lying on her side with a cast on her left Alicorn wing.

Seeing Cadence injured brought shame and disbelief to Shining Armor, who couldn't believe what he was seeing. The love if life, the mother of his daughter, had been injured protecting her subjects.

"I had to do it, Shining Armor," she said firmly, turning her head towards him. "What else could I have done to protect our subjects?"

"Cadence, I told you Sombra was too dangerous for you to face," groaned Shining Armor, only to be stopped by Twilight. "He could have killed you! Don't you see, Cadence? When I tell you that I don't you want you to fight, I want you to take it to heart!"

Cadence sighed, still believing that what she did was for the greater good. Even Twilight, her sister-in-law, thought so too.

"Either way Shining Armor, Cadence did what any princess would do," said Twilight, firmly looking up at her brother. "If it hadn't been for Cadence to begin with, Sombra would have gone through the gates and into the city."

"And we wouldn't have been able to stop him," added Tempest. "Then again, this is probably part of my royal guard training, isn't it? To live out situations like this."

This made Shining Armor realize that what Tempest said was partially true. He did have her come back for more training and there was no other way to justify it.

"I…I suppose you're right, Tempest," he said, admitting defeat on his words. "But that still doesn't excuse you, Cadence, from not listening to me."

"Hey!" interjected Quill, catching Shining Armor off guard. "Cut her some slack, why don't you? We are at war after all and our loved ones are all at risk of being injured, or worse killed!"

A hushed silence fell on the group for a brief moment. Quill was right, they were at war and many lives were going to be sacrificed for the good of Equestria.

"Peter," gasped Gamora, her mouth dropped open slightly.

"I'm serious, Gamora! We are at war" cried Quill, giving his girlfriend a look before turning towards Shining Armor. "Even though my fellow Guardians and I have been for a short time, we know for a fact that this is a war that is going involve sacrifice. We've been though a war and our souls ending up in a soul stone because of an intergalactic despot in the form of her stepfather, Thanos. We've experienced it on Titan, we'll experience it here."

Just then, Bruce and Dr. Strange arrived in the room, helping some of the wounded and injured into the hospital wing.

"Not a whole lot of injuries, but still pretty significant," said Bruce. "I got to tell you, you don't want to mess with that monster you call a pony."

"A pony is an understatement," remarked Twilight. "King Sombra is a monster, not a pony. They are all monsters, even Cozy Glow, despite the fact she is a filly."

"A little monster," added Dr. Strange. "Who is learning from the most foul creatures in this land. But, we have more important matters to focus on, Twilight."

A look of suspicion befell on Twilight's face upon hearing this.

"What do you mean, more important matters?"

…

Back at Tambeleon, King Sombra returned with the rest of his forces who were still alive where Grogar was waiting for him along with the rest of the villains in the throne room.

"So, you tried to regain the Crystal Empire behind my back, King Sombra?" the demon goat asked. "Normally, I'd have you exiled or fed to Scarface for treachery, but I think we can use your little farce to our advantage."

"My friend, please understand," begged Sombra, bowing to him. "I have been out of the Empire for so long and…"

"Silence, Sombra!" barked Grogar. "You'll get your leadership at the Empire back in due time. But, we must perform our plan in easy steps before we can accomplish what we set out to do."

Walking over to the map, Grogar pointed towards several different locations in Equestria, each one different from the other.

"There is no denying the fact that the Princesses are going to rely on their allies for support against us," explained Grogar. "According to this map, there are five different locations in Equestria that harbor creatures of different types. I want to have these allies of theirs neutralized and unable to help."

The sense of being given the opportunity to attack Equestria's allies gave a sense of satisfaction to some of the villains.

"To this end," explained Grogar. "I want us to focus on Step 1 before we move on to Step 2."

"What…is Step 2, exactly?" asked the Storm King.

"Step 2 is to obtain the Elements of Harmony as well as the alicorn magic of the 4 princesses," laughed Grogar. "Step 3 is to conquer Canterlot and make their citizens become citizens of Tambeleon, that's what."

"Uh huh," remarked the Storm King, still unconvinced as he scratched the top of his head. "Right."

"Now, for what I want to have done," said the Storm King. "I want each of you to lead a platoon and cripple that particular ally, making them unable to help the ponies. Chrysalis, you and General Kuwaga disable King Thorax."

Happy to hear this, Chrysalis complied to this order.

"Tirek, you and Cozy Glow shall take the yaks."

"Sombra, I want you to take the dragons. Your backstabbing actions inspired me to assign you for this job."

Sombra growled in slight embarrassment upon hearing this.

"Storm King, I'll have you lay siege to Mount Aris. Personally, I think you'll be enjoying yourself in picking up where you left off."

The Storm King was delighted to hear such a thing, but there was still one land that needed to be obtained.

"But, what about the Griffons?" asked Cozy Glow.

"The Griffons, my dear, have been through a civil war and thus have rendered themselves completely useless," answered Grogar, much to Cozy Glow's surprise. "Now, go prepare your forces at once."

Heeding his order, the villains all left to prepare their forces. Once they were gone, Grogar summoned Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight into the throne room.

"As for you two," Grogar ordered. "I want you to start preparing the forces that will be attacking Canterlot. I want the best of the best, the most loyal to me fighting in Canterlot. Do you understand?"

"As you command, my emperor," replied Proxima Midnight, her and Ebony Maw bowing to Grogar.

"Very soon, my friends. Equestria will fall and Tambeleon will rise in its place."

…