Grogar had played his cards and now the time had come for him to witness the impending results. Just as the six villains were about to leave the throne room to carry out their assigned tasks, a donkey soldier came barging into the throne room at a frantic pace.

"How dare you enter unannounced?" Grogar exclaimed as the donkey soldier came burrowing in and bowing at his feet. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Forgive me, my emperor," the soldier replied. "But, patrol found something that might be of interest to you."

"Well, what is it?" asked Grogar, quickly motioning for his team of villains to return to him. "Show or tell me what it is!"

A pair of Changelings loyal to Chrysalis came through at that moment holding what appeared to a series of multi-colored sticks. This caused Chrysalis to snarl at the site of them.

"We found these near the tree of harmony," said one of the changelings. "They look…rather different from the tree itself."

Noticing Chrysalis looking irritable, Grogar beckoned for her to come forward.

"You seem distressed, Chrysalis," he remarked. "Do you know what these are?"

"Of course I do," Chrysalis snarled crossly. "I know these pieces of wood. They are nothing more than traitors to me!"

"What is she talking about?" whispered the Storm King, scratching his head in confusion. "Did I miss something here?"

Taking the pieces of the wood from the Changelings, Grogar placed them at his feet for Chrysalis to look at.

"I can't believe you found them," Chrysalis growled at her Changeling soldiers. "What were you even doing near the Tree of Harmony to begin with?"

"We were on patrol, your majesty. Honest!"

"It's just that they looked different and…"

Chrysalis was having none of it and prepared to strike at her soldiers.

"Stand down, Chrysalis!" ordered Grogar. "If there is anyone who will be administrating punishment, it's me. Understand?"

Reluctantly, Chrysalis stood down from unleashing her rage.

"Now, why do you call them traitors?" he asked.

"Because I created them to get revenge on Starlight Glimmer," explained Chrysalis. "But, they went behind my back and…"

But before she could go on, Grogar put a hoof to her chin and smiled fakely.

"You wanted to restore your throne, is that it?" he asked the smile quickly turning to a frown. "Well, you won't do it that way! No! I think that these pieces of wood can serve me well more than you, Chrysalis."

Picking up the pieces of wood, Grogar took them from the throne room to his black cauldron with the intention of bringing them back to life.

"Ugh," groaned Chrysalis. "You aren't bringing them back to life, aren't you?"

"Maybe," laughed Grogar. "I can always use more generals to amass my army."

"Uh, there is enough generals here to command all of Equestria," advised Cozy Glow. "Maybe take a break from recruiting for a while."

"My protégé is right, Grogar," added Tirek. "There is a wise saying that less is more."

Grogar didn't take note and instead had Scarface growl at Tirek to silence him and Cozy Glow. Turning his attention back to the cauldron, he was just about to drop the pieces in when he was interrupted again.

"Um, excuse me," remarked the Storm King. "About Mount Aris? Can we…?"

"There has been a change of plans," he replied, stopping himself from dropping the pieces into the cauldron. "In any case, why divide and conqueror while we can bring everything together? In any way, Equestria will call on its allies with the same strength as us. While they build their strength, so will I."

"So, you won't drop them?" asked Chrysalis, but Grogar didn't listen. Instead, he dropped the pieces of wood into the cauldron and chanted the same spell he used to bring everyone else in his ranks back. However, something went wrong and the cauldron suddenly stopped. "I told you so. Those traitorous fools won't listen to anyone."

But, Grogar didn't seem to care. He was determined to bring the souls of the pieces of wood into his fold in any way possible, even if it meant returning to hell and convincing them to join his ranks.

"They will listen to me," he said firmly looking down into the cauldron. "Oh, they will listen to me when I get through with them."

…

At the same time, Fury Swipes arrived in Canterlot to inform the Princesses of what had happened in the Crystal Empire. Darting into the throne room, he looked up and saw the Royal Sisters sitting on their thrones anxiously waiting for any news.

"Your highnesses," he said, bowing to them. "I trust you have read that the Crystal Empire was attacked."

"We have," said Celestia. "What news have you learned?"

"Sombra was driven back," replied Fury Swipes. "But, for how long, I don't know. Not very many casualties to report, but still…"

"That's good to hear," interrupted Luna. "Although I find it hard to understand why Sombra would attack the Crystal Empire alone."

"He must be impatient, Luna," Celestia whispered as she stepped down from her throne. "For 1,000 years he has longed for taking the empire back. Grogar must be furious with him for going behind his back."

"Then we have to take this to our advantage, sister. We have to strike at them while they are regrouping."

"Not quite," interjected Fury Swipes, holding a parchment in his paw and handing it to the sisters. "According to our recent intelligence, he is planning to strike all of your allies so that when the time is right, his goals can be quickly accomplished."

Just then, the doors opened to reveal Jim as War Machine flying into the throne room.

"What is it, Colonel Rhodes?" asked Celestia as Jim landed and removed his War Machine helmet.

"Did some scouting near the tree of harmony," he reported. "And there were two Changelings nearby."

"Changed or Unchanged?" Luna asked.

"Unchanged."

"What do you think they were doing over there?" wondered Celestia, sensing that something wasn't right. "Colonel, explain."

"I didn't see much, but they were carrying six pieces of colored wood."

"Six pieces of colored wood? Near the Tree of Harmony?"

Just then, Celestia felt something come back to her that there was an all too familiar feeling to this whole situation.

"Luna," she gasped. "Didn't Twilight tell us something about possible clones that she and her friends encountered during their friendship retreat a while back?"

"Yes, yes she did, sister."

"Where did they go, Colonel Rhodes?"

"Supposedly, they headed north."

"Towards Tambeleon. Colonel, I need you to track where the Changelings had gone."

"Would it have made sense that went back to Tambeleon?" suggested Luna, looking over at Celestia. "If it had then it would make no sense for Colonel Rhodes to…"

"We need to be sure, Luna. Colonel, go at once and take some of Luna's guards with you for backup."

Acting on this order, Rhodes took to the air and flew out of the throne room, leaving the sisters and Fury Swipes alone.

…

Flying as fast as he could, Rhodes, flanked by two of Luna's guards attempted to track where the Changelings had gone and soon found himself at the tree of harmony where he was detecting heat signatures. Then, he found something else that was out of the ordinary.

"Uh, is it supposed to be doing that?" he wondered as the tree of harmony began to glow slightly black several times over. "Guys, go down there and check it out."

Acting on his order, the night guards flew down and took a careful look at the tree of harmony's rapid changes.

"Their highnesses will want to know about this," one of them said to Colonel Rhodes. "Something must have happened to the tree of harmony."

"Well," sighed Jim. "We know that the Changelings had been here. Let's get back."

So, they flew back, but little did anyone realize that the tree of harmony was not what it was meant to be in any way at all.

The Tree of Harmony was corrupted…