I almost didn't finish this chapter and technically, it's not even done. I wanted to do more with this chapter that I will have to do In part C. I didn't want you guys to wait so here it is.

Chapter 19 B: The hunt begins

Death Fire overlooked Canterlot as his army marched out of the city towards the north. He closed his eyes and breathed calmly, thinking to himself as time went on.

"One million soldiers to face an entire country, Five-hundred thousand machines to mow down obstacles, two-hundred and fifty thousand pounds of supplies, one hundred thousand elite forces, three-hundred mile distance...one nation unfit to exist."

He reopened his eyes only to see his entire army had vanished into the darkness of the night.

"I have decimated all of your allies, made your people suffer, took everything away like you did to me, yet you have not submitted to me or gave up despite my efforts."

Death Fire looked to the moon as it shined brightly in the sky, as if waiting for something.

"You cannot hide forever, Celestia...I will make sure of that."

Several days before the fall of Zebrafica.

"The gryphon kingdom is not to far off from here, maybe about another twenty miles." Cadence said, walking a bit further before sitting down. "We should rest before we continue, it's nothing but open space from here on out."

"So no more trees for cover or protection from the weather I take it." Lightning Dust asked.

"Right, so might as well sleep while we can. Celestia, if you will."

Celestia nodded before creating a small, transparent heat bubble around the group, melting away all the snow so they could stay warm for the night.

"Yes, my favorite part of the day, nap time." Rainbow declared, flopping onto the floor and instantly snoring.

Pinkie, Applejack, and Endershine did something similar of the sort while Rarity, Enderpearl, and Blueblood found a more "civilized" spot to sleep. Cadence and Lightning both found a comfortable spot and decided to rest there, but Fluttershy on the other hand, couldn't do either of the three.

"Is something wrong, Fluttershy?" Luna asked, looking concerned.

"I haven't been able to sleep well ever since Twilight...ever since she…"

She was about to shed tears until Luna confronted her by nuzzling her face.

"There is still hope, you know that."

Fluttershy nodded slowly as her lips quivered.

"Now try to get some rest, you need it." Luna whispered, placing her glowing horn on her head.

"Ok...I'll...try…" Fluttershy replied with a yawn before lying on the floor and closing her eyes.

Luna waited several moments to make sure the spell worked before turning to her sister.

"I will manage the spell tonight, sister." She whispered.

"You will do no such thing." Celestia responded. "You haven't slept in three days."

"Neither have you."

"This isn't a matter to discuss, Luna. You need sleep as much as I do if not more."

"What do you mean by that?" Luna asked, somewhat offended.

Celestia sighed heavily, looking away for a moment.

"I have this feeling that something is about to happen."

"Like what?" Luna asked. "Is something following us?"

"I don't know, Luna. Just trust me on this."

"It's never easy to."

Two hours passed after the conversation, leaving Celestia the only one wake in the dark. She was struggling to stay away as he eyes begged for rest, but she didn't give in. She would put more power into the heat spell every ten minutes to make sure it didn't falter in the middle of the night. The more she kept it up and resisted the more tired she became. At one point she started to hear voices that soon turned to soft but disturbing screams. The screams grew louder and louder, filling her ears with cries of fear and agony until she suddenly found herself in the middle of a battlefield.

"You thought you could escape. You thought you could win and reclaim your land, but you were mistaken." Death Fire said with an emotionless look.

Celestia looked around to see that Luna, Cadence, and everyone in her group were captured and being hauled away towards huge, metal ship.

"You resisted despite each loss you suffered. Pushed forward as if the false gods would bless you with power. Yet here you stand and it is here you will meet your end."

The group was pushed forward as several soldiers marched out of the ship with loaded weapons, aiming them right at their heads.

"And so...this is how it ends."

Death Fire raised his hoof into the air as Celestia heard the crying of her friends. She looked around her to see the the elements of harmony grouped together and hugging each other as they shed tears, knowing this was their final moments. Cadence slowly cried as she looked down into the ground while Blueblood hugged her tightly. Celestia slowly looked to her sister, who in return, looked back at her with a hopeless expression.

"It's over….we've lost…"

"No…no this isn't how it ends!" Celestia screamed. "This wasn't suppose to happen!"

"READY!" Death Fire yelled as the guards aimed down the sights of their rifles.

"This is a lie, a trick! I refuse to believe this is our fate!" Celestia cried out.

"AIM!"

"This can't be it...it can't be!" She whispered, slowly starting to cry. "Enough….please...stop this…"

"FIRE!"

"I SAID ENOUGH!"

Celestia abruptly awoke and almost screamed, but a black hoof silenced her.

"I read that only the most powerful wielders of magic could see into the future...but I had no idea it would be so hopeless." A voice whispered. "But that is not why I am here."

Celestia recognised the voice as Nightmare Moon's, but she had no idea how to react.

"If I was here to harm you I would have brought the others or destroyed you myself. The fact that we have fought each other before does not help the situation either. Believe me or not, we have changed, we want to end this senseless violence and war...but we have to work together or we will both share the same fate as your dream."

Nightmare released her hold on Celestia, ready to defend herself if she tried to attack.

"What do you want?" Celestia whispered.

"Chrysalis is under a curse…I believe you are the only one that can help her."

Memories of Chrysalis' invasion flooded her mind as well as memories of what she did to support Dark Fire in the past, sprouting distasteful emotions from within her.

"Why…do you need my help?" Celestia asked out of both concern and spite.

"Because she will die if you don't, so if you're even half the leader your ponies make you out to be then you will at least try."

Celestia went into deep thought, waging her chances until Nightmare stomped her hoof.

"The longer you take the more time is wasted. Choose."

"I will need to wake my sister?"

"She would only attack, I know her more than you do."

"I beg to differ." Celestia whispered. "So I have to go alone."

"You don't have to do anything, Tia. It is your heart that will decide."

Celestia's suspicions grew even more, but for some reason, she could see something different in Nightmare. She sensed pain and sorrow emanating from her, she could even hear it in her voice and see it in her eyes. The war had taken it's toll on everyone in all shapes and forms, breaking the wills of even the purest and corrupt. If she refused to go she would potentially throw away someones life and perhaps extinguish an entire race along with it. If she went, her life, along with her friends lives, could be in peril danger and if they fell...the world would fall with it. In the end, Celestia's bold nature came forward and answered.

"Take me to her then."

Nightmare lead her to a dimly lit cave and stopped at the entrance, forcing Celestia to stop.

"None of them know that I have sought you out to help us, if they try to retaliate I will step in." Nightmare whispered. "It is recommended that you don't speak to them, their hearts still bear the scars and memories of your judgement on us."

"They gave me no way...surely they know this by now." Celestia replied.

"There is always a way…"

They entered inside the cave slowly and cautiously. Once inside, Nightmare took a sharp left turn and was greeted once again with a horrible sight of pain. Celestia soon followed in and was without words. In the middle of the room, next to a fire, was Chrysalis, riddled with holes dripping green, acid like substance on the floor as she shook with pain. Even with her back turned, Celestia could see the poor creatures bones showing as her flesh slowly but surely melted away as a result of the curse. The only thing that kept her alive was magic and the care of her friends that were attempting to heal her.

"Why would someone do this." Celestia whispered.

Sombra's ears twitched as he heard her voice. He turned around and stared directly into Celestia's eyes.

"Have you come here to gloat now that one of your enemies is dying, or have you finally decided to act after all these years."

Before Celestia could respond, Nightmare stepped forward.

"Sombra, this is no time to bring up the past. She's here to help."

"OH, you mean like how she always does? She might have tried to help before and even during Death Fire's transformation, but she only wants to destroy us. Even if we had stopped it, she would have banished us back to our prisons permanently."

"You don't know that, Sombra." Nightmare retaliated.

"She and all of her alicorn kind are the same in my eyes. They only care for themselves and nothing more!"

"Did you forget, I'm an alicorn to." Nightmare interjected. "One that was made from miasma itself, yet here am I, risking it all to help our friend. Do you want to be the one responsible for her death!"

"Sombra, let me help her." Celestia said, stepping towards him.

"I won't let you harm her! I WILL BLAST YOU INTO OBLIVION IF YOU HARM HER!" Sombra screamed.

Celestia never thought she would see the day that Sombra would care for someone so much, in fact, it gave her relief and hope that they really had changed.

"Your bickering will not save Chrysalis from her fate." Discord finally said. "We must make a choice if we are to make a difference."

"Then we should find out now." Sombra stated.

"Agreed." Nightmare said, walking to Chrysalis and coating her in blue, healing magic.

"Celestia, I need you to answer me this question." Discord said, walking to her with his arms behind his back. "Are you here to help or are you here to make a difference?"

"You should know the answer to that already. I promised to make a difference before and so I will do it again if needed."

"Then prove it."

"Step aside."

Everyone before her backed away to let Celestia through. Once she was standing only a foot away, Celestia sighed and closed her eyes. Bright yellow magic flowed from her horn and covered Chrysalis' body in it's bright color. The color of the magic soon turned into bright light, forcing everyone to look away. Once it faded, Celestia was still standing there and Chrysalis was still cursed, nothing had happened.

"So even you can't save her then!" Sombra yelled. "Why did we even-

"Sombra! Let her do her best, that's all we can ask for." Nightmare said, cutting him off.

"Who put this curse on her." Celestia asked.

"Death Fire, who else would do something this cruel?"

"There is another curse on her. One that…." Celestia froze up in shock, realizing the obvious before her. "What has Herus done to you, Camellia."

Chrysalis opened her eyes and tried her best to look at Celestia.

"It's been...5,000 years since I've heard my name…" She weakly stated. "But my curse can never be lifted…"

"There's always a way…"

"Wait." Nightmare Moon said, extending her hoof. "We all read the story and we know about the curse. But if it is lifted now...then her immortality will cease...and she would die as a result."

"Not if done correctly." Luna declared, stepping inside.

"Why are you here." Sombra retorted as he stood in her way.

"If you value the life of your friend then you will step aside."

Sombra remained silent as Luna walked past him and stood next to her sister.

"Luna, why did you come here?" Celestia asked.

"I was awake the entire time, I simply followed you to make sure you were safe. I can see now that Nightmare was telling the truth." She said, looking towards her opposite. "You are right about some things, but even you can be wrong, I'm done fighting enemies in the past." Luna said with a sudden increase in confidence. "Now on to the subject at hoof. If we lift the curse Herus placed on her, the curse Death Fire placed would be removed, but she won't lose her immortality if we do this right."

"What are you suggesting." Nightmare asked.

"She was turned into what some would call a monster to prevent anyone from loving her. Why, because if someone was to truly love her, regardless of her appearance, then the curse would be broken. Think of it as an old pony tail in a way." Luna told. "In addition, she would have to love in return, going against the very nature of her curse. But because Death Fire reversed this with his spell, forcing her body to feed on itself rather than love, it would be fruitless for her to love someone else."

"No...it's the other way around." Discord suddenly realized. "She feeds off of love right...then the curse makes it so love feeds off of her!"

"And anyone that cares and loves her is actually killing her!" Sombra yelled in disbelief.

"It was us that was killing her all this time…" Nightmare whispered.

"I'll kill him...I'LL KILL HIM FOR DOING THIS TO HER!" Sombra shouted.

Chrysalis suddenly cried out in agony as more of her flesh started to melt. Celestia's eyes widened as she turned to Sombra while Chrysalis continued to scream in pain.

"Silence yourself! Your emotions will only make it worse."

"If helping her kills her, and if doing nothing kills her, then by the gods I will not sit here and watch as she fades away while we simply talk!"

Sombra pushed Luna to the side and stood before Chrysalis, taking his crown off and throwing it to the side.

"There has to be a way to save you, even if i have to sacrifice myself to do so!" He yelled, charging up his magic.

"SOMBRA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Celestia shouted.

He looked up at her and the others before boldly claiming the next sentence.

"Saving one of my best friends!"

Sombra quickly burst into his massive, smoke form and plunged his hooves into Chrysalis' body before suddenly being sucked in. Everyone in the room was awestruck by what had just happened until Chrysalis' eyes suddenly opened and took the form of Sombra's eyes, slowly floating into the air as if she was possessed.

"He's flooding Chrysalis with miasma!" Nightmare said in both amazement and shock.

"Has he lost his mind! That will kill her!" Luna screamed.

Celestia remained silent as Chrysalis exploded in a dark, purple like aura. Her wounds started to heal, but corruption and hatred soon started to emerge from her from as her power skyrocketed.

"Wait, I know what he's doing!" Nightmare shouted. "Miasma cures all forms of sickness and curses, but replaces it with it's own! We must restrain her or she will try to escape!"

With that said, Discord quickly pinned Chrysalis to the wall as Celestia, Luna and the others shot magic into Chrysalis to keep her body in place and to block out her magic. The result was a now corrupted Chrysalis squirming on the wall, screaming out like a wild animal as she struggled to break free.

"Keep her in place for another minute, not a second shorter." Nightmare ordered.

A minute felt like a century for the group and Chrysalis was growing in power. It wasn't long until Chrysalis started to conjure a dark purple field of magic to surround her form, pushing away their magical blasts and eventually pinning them to the wall instead.

"Foolish ponies! You can never win against us!" Chrysalis shouted in a deep distorted tone.

"Keep pushing, give it everything you got!" Nightmare ordered.

"You will suffer like those before me!" Chrysalis spouted out, glowing bright purple and spewing out black smoke. "And die like your brothers and sisters."

Just before Chrysalis could try anything else, her magic suddenly was cut off.

"What! That wasn't suppose to-

Chrysalis looked at her hoof right before she started to scream out in pain. The miasma emitting from her regressed and soon vanished from view, causing Chrysalis to faint. Everyone panicked until Sombra reformed next to her and knelt down before her.

"I managed to destroy the curse, but she will forever carry a little bit of miasma within her for now on. Hopefully, there will be a cure to free her of that as well."

Everyone stayed silent, to shocked to answer.

"Don't worry, she will not turn on us. Unfortunately, the curse placed by Herus is too powerful for me to remove. She may stay like this forever."

"YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN EVERYONE KILLED!" Luna screamed out. "If she had even one more second, she would ha-

"But she didn't, that's what matters." Sombra interjected.

"What you did was bold but also idiotic." Celestia said with a serious tone. "But...I can say I've done the same before."

"Then maybe we have more in common then we previously thought…"

Rainbow was the first to wake up and look around before shivering wildly.

"Hey, why is it so cold?" She said, chattering her teeth.

The some of the others soon woke up, experiencing the same thing Rainbow was feeling.

"Did Celestia sleep on the job again?" Lightning Dust asked.

"I doubt she'd do somethin' like that." Applejack said.

"HEY, will you guys shutup! Im trying to sleep!" Blueblood yelled.

Blueblood was quickly grabbed by Rarity, forcing him to gulp out of fear.

"Listen here you loud mouthed furball, you better be glad Fluttershy takes care of you or I would have "accidentally" dropped you off a cliff a long time ago."

"What in the world did I do to you! I didn't even do anything."

"Didn't...do...ANYTHING!"

"Rarity...please put the poor cat down. He doesn't know any better." Cadence said with a grin.

Rarity casually dropped Blueblood to the ground, "forgetting" her manors for a bit.

"I'm going to forget I heard that." Blueblood said, looking at Cadence. "But why is it so cold all of a sudden."

"Hey, Celesita and Luna are gone." Pinkie pointed out.

"Well that explains it." Cadance commented.

"They must of went to play hide and seek."

"That, however, is just silly."

Endershine soon stood up onto her hooves, yawning softly and noticing the hoof prints in the snow.

"It appears they just walked off, no struggle or anything." She looked to the side and noticed another set of hoof prints. "Someone came here and somehow convinced them to leave, but how."

"It doesn't matter now, lets go look for them." Cadence suggested. "Wake up the others."

"That won't be needed." A voice said behind her.

Cadance turned around to see Discord smiling right at her face. She jumped back in fright, falling onto the ground. The others looked at Discord until Celestia came around and stood before the group. Shortly after, Luna, Nightmare and Sombra appeared and stood before them, gently holding Chrysalis in their magical grasp.

"What did I miss?" Enderpearl abruptly asked, waking up from his sleep.

Several days later

"Open the gates!"

Just like that, huge wooden doors opened up slowly, letting the group of travelers inside the city walls. The first thing that caught their eyes was the huge mountain that the city was build upon, not that they didn't notice it when they approached the city. The mountain was the tallest most of them had ever seen before and the city represented it's beauty in both architecture and design. Almost all the buildings were made of what was presumed to be the rock of the mountain and the snow was the icing on the cake.

"So this is the capital of the Gryphon kingdom…" Sombra whispered. "The great city of Gryphmar."

"I wouldn't speak too loudly, I hear Gryphons like ponies with darker meat." Nightmare teased.

"Then I shouldn't be worried because your fat flank should choke them to death while I escape." Sombra remarked with a serious tone.

Nightmare chuckled lightly at the comment.

"Lighten up, at least we can get some decent rest here."

"I'm not so sure about that." Discord said, carrying Chrysalis on his arms as he followed the group. "Word might have gotten out about us and they will come to their own conclusion. The gryphons are a stubborn race and it will be hard to convince our situation to them if they already deemed us as fugitives or a dangerous threat."

"What of the others and Chrysalis? What if we are sentenced to prison and they forget all about us?" Sombra asked. "She's still in no condition to walk."

"It has been hard for them to accept us and see our side of the story, but if they haven't realized who the real threat is then they will never be able to win this war." Nightmare informed. "It would be up to us if it comes to it. If we are arrested, do not fight back, don't even look to their direction, just follow the orders until we know where their hearts lie."

Meanwhile, Celestia boar a worried look as she walked along the path to the kings palace.

"I hope the Gryphon king hasn't held a grudge ever since the Pony-Gryphon war of Fallen Dawn. Otherwise it might be too dangerous to stay here."

"To...dangerous?" Fluttershy said, getting worried.

"What are you talking about?" Luna asked.

"Not to long after your banishment, Equestria, still recovering from the civil war we fought, was attacked by Gryphon king Saberclaw and his followers, the Fallen Dawn. He was hoping to claim our land for his own, sparing no one that stood in his path. Eventually, it came down to me to stop him and put an end to his cult. I defeated him, but before I could even say one word, one word to change him from his path...he took his life before me. I was forever blamed for murder and the Gryphons haven't forgiven me since, believing he was a martyr for his people."

"Then why are gryphons in Equestria today?" Lighting Dust asked.

"Yeah, I have a friend who is a gryphon...haven't seen her ever since she ran off." Rainbow added.

"It's been almost a thousand years since the war. Many have forgotten about it or moved on, only the kings and those that refuse to move on keep it within their hearts. Until then we have to lay low."

"Hey Celestia, I've always had a question?" Applejack asked.

"And that is?"

"What's with you and things always being a thousand years?"

"Well, you see-

"Thats far enough, ponies."

Celestia and the group looked up to see guards everywhere around them. They were at every corner and they looked ready to kill at any moments notice. The guards were covered with leather and chainmail type armor, all armed with either a bow and sword. Some of the higher ranks wielded crossbows, had two swords or had a double bladed sword, all drawn and at the ready.

"The king would like to have a word with you immediately, the rest of you are under arrest." A gryphon captain ordered.

"Under what charges!" Sombra shouted.

"Destruction of the city of Talos and the murder of over 50,000 gryphon civilians."

They were all flabbergasted.

"WHAT! Where's your proof?!" Rainbow yelled.

"You can't throw us in prison!" Rarity shouted.

"Where's the proof in the pudding." Applejack added.

"Where's the pizza pie!" Pinkie threw in.

Nightmare faced hoofed while Sombra's eyes went bloodshot, still not used to her randomness.

"Pinkie...you never cease to make me chuckle." Discord commented.

"Wait, do we at least get a trail?" Cadence asked.

"That depends on how the evidence and how well you cooperate. Now are you going to come with us without a fight or do we have to force you in. But please, don't hold back on my account." The captain snarled maliciously.

"You have a lot of guts to talk to us like that!" Luna replied back with anger. "Do you even know who we are."

"We know EXACTlY who you are, which is why you deserve every second."

"How dare you-

"We will cooperate." Nightmare said, cutting her off.

"Oh that's a shame...I was hoping for a fight. Very well, Celestia shall follow me while the others will be escorted by the guard. Oh...and welcome to Gryphmar."

"Come on, move it!" One of the guards ordered, shoving Sombra forward.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with do you?" Sombra asked in an angered tone.

The gryphon guard instantly spat into his face and pushed him forward again.

"I said move it!"

Sombra was about ready to bash the birds head like a watermelon until Nightmare and Luna grabbed his hoof and dragged him away while he shouted out profanity to the top of his lungs.

"What is it with stallions always wanting to punch things!" Luna asked.

"It's Sombra, he's always pissed."

Sombra continued to curse, practically drawing the attention of anyone a mile away.

"Will y'all calm him down, he's worse than Mac misplacing Smarty Pants." Applejack stated.

"We're trying!" Luna remarked.

"Maybe some crystals?" Rarity said, taking one out of her bag.

"He's over that...I hope."

"A cupcake?" Pinkie asked.

At this point, Sombra was in complete rage.

"I'LL RIP HIS #&* # OFF AND *#( )*# WHILE I FEED IT TO CERBERUS WHILE * )*#)*( YOUR WIFE! YOU #( # * (*#( )$$*# #* (# AND THEN, OHHH, YOU'RE GOING TO WISH YO-

"SOMBRA!" Chrysalis shouted, still weak to even look up at him. "Please...don't make it worse for yourself."

At that moment Sombra calmed down, making everyone question themselves. What did she do that they couldn't. Regardless, everyone one walked away embarrassed or afraid, not knowing what the next day would behold.