The Cybersquad and friends continued to run deeper into the Everfree Forest after they had managed to lose the army of Zachbots and Mannequins chasing them by diving into one of the many bushes. Once the coast was clear, they carefully stepped out of their hiding spot and continued deeper into the forest.

They already established that the second crystal was somewhere deep in the forest since Hacker and so many of the villains had their robots search the woods, so they kept an eye out for anything that could lead to its reveal. But as they continued even deeper, they still had no luck.

"Are we there yet?" Peter tiredly asked. He had been asking that repeatedly for the past few minutes, and it was already starting to get under everyone's skin.

"No, not yet." "Probably not." Matt replied, coming off as a little aggressive.

"How about now?" Peter continued.

"No." Martin reluctantly sighed.

"How about now? Are we there yet...?"

"Oh, for Celestria's sake Peter! Can ya please knock it off?" Apple Jack shouted, finally having enough.

"What?" Peter asked.

"Repeating that! Can you please stop?" Inez frustratedly asked..

"Repeating what? I don't know what you guys are talking about?" Peter shrugged, trying to play innocent.

Stewie sighed, before deciding he's had enough. "I swear to God, if you don't knock it off, I swear I'm going to..."

"Okay everyone, let's just calm down for a bit!" Inez intervened. "I know this is all stressful; there's no need for any of us to fight or argue; let's just..."

"Of course now's the time to fight and argue! It's the perfect time for that!" Pinkie Pie shouted, completely out of character for her to do. "Because not only are all our friends, as well as all of Equestria, in huge trouble, but we're currently on the run from the villains, while also looking for some magical crystal that's literally under our noses, and yet we still can't find it!"

"Pinkie? Is everything okay?" Fluttershy quietly asked. Moving closer to her.

"No It's not!" Pinkie grumbled, stomping her hooves in frustration.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them started to crack and rumble before collapsing completely. The only thing that could be heard was the echo of their screams as they plummeted deep into the giant, newly created hole. After they landed at the bottom of the hole, carefully climbing off of each other and trying their best to ignore the pain, they noticed that they appeared to be in some sort of old stone labyrinth that was wearing away, with cracks forming all around the ceiling and floor, almost similar to what Matt had found when he obtained The First crystal.

Now, the Everfree Forest was also known for the many abandoned castles that were found there, but this was something none of the remaining Mane 6 recognized, when asked.

Matt couldn't help but chuckle quietly to himself, "Wow Pinkie, it's just what you said, that the second crystal would be found literally under our noses."

Pinkie however, did not seem too amused. "The Author better not be using me as a plot device." She quietly mumbled, crossing her hooves.

"Hang on, are we really sure that this is the place where we find the second crystal?" WordGirl asked skeptically. "I mean, what are the odds that we'll find it here?"

"Well, I guess maybe we should look around." Matt replied.

"I don't know if that's a good idea!" Digit interrupted. "This place is like a maze! it's going to take forever!"

"And we don't have that much time! The villains could be here any moment now!" Chris said worriedly.

"Maybe if we split up, we'll find it faster!" Inez suggested.

"Split up?" Martin looked at her puzzledly.

"Well, it did work the last time!" She replied.

"I don't think that's a good idea! What if we get lost?" Digit worriedly proclaimed.

"Well then, how about we follow the bright green light? Maybe it can help lead us to the crystal?" Pinkie Pie suggested.

"Bright green light?" Jackie asked, turning to the others, who were just as puzzled as her.

They all turned towards where Pinkie Pie was staring, but they quickly shielded their eyes, as they were almost immediately met with a bright flash of green light. They began to follow where the light was coming from, which led through hallway after hallway made up of the same worn out stone and moss that covered the structure.

After some more running, and completing a very basic puzzle to open a large stone door, they were led to a big room. The walls and ceiling were decorated with old vines, with small waterfalls of flowing water on either side. In the middle of the room was a pedestal, on which the second green ruby floated, similar to The First Crystal.

This time, Inez felt obligated to walk over and grab the crystal, while the others stood back and carefully watched her. When she grabbed it from the pedestal, something different happened. Matt was half expecting a hologram of Sapphire, who was the one who welded the crystal's powers, to appear out of nowhere and congratulate her for finding The Second Crystal.

Instead, for a brief moment, a line of bright green text appeared on the wall behind the pedestal where the second crystal once stood, revealing one single word:

"Farlands?" WordGirl asked as she read the text out loud. "What does that mean?"

"I have no clue!" Martin said. The others also had trouble deciphering its meaning.

"Well, whatever it means, my best guess is that we'll have to go somewhere far a'way." Apple Jack replied.

"Far away?" Matt scratched his head. "Where exactly is far away?"

"You know! Far away from here!" Pinkie Pie smiled, trying to help him.

"I know what far away means; I mean, where exactly are we supposed to go?" He restated.

"Oh, I don't know!" She shrugged.

"I have a feeling that we'll have to travel far away from Equestria." Fluttershy quietly replied.

"You mean from far away from this universe, I'm guessing that all the other crystals are going to be found in other different worlds!" Stewie replied.

"What makes you say that?" WordGirl asked.

"Well, considering that The First Crystal was found in Calamore but the second one was found here in Equestria, it's most likely the third crystal is located somewhere in another world, perhaps in someplace called the Farlands."

"Well, at least we know where we need to go next!" Matt said happily. "Let's head there right now!"

"Not so fast! The remote doesn't register worlds to have names, if they even do. Besides, Farlands could mean anything!" Stewie explained.

"Hmmm, this could be harder than I thought." Matt pondered. "There's got to be a way to figure out where to go next. Is there something we're missing?"

"I don't think so, that seems to be the only hint we're going to get." Chris said.

"Wait a second!" Inez said loudly, as she held up the crystal closer to her face. "There seems to be something here!"

"Like what?" Matt asked.

"Look! There seems to be some text here as well!" She exclaimed, pointing to a spot on the crystal.

"Really?"

"What does it say?" Peter asked.

"In a fortress long forgotten... Inez read, "That's it. That's all it says!"

"In a fortress long forgotten?" Digit scratched his head in confusion.

"In a fortress long forgotten... Martin repeated. "What does that mean?"

"Isn't it obvious? We have to go to the Farlands, and look for a fortress long forgotten!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Yeah, but where exactly is that?" Digit asked. "We know where to go next, but we don't know where it's at!" He shouted worriedly.

"Digit! Calm down!" Apple Jack shouted.

"Yeah, Digit, I'm sure we'll figure it out!" Jackie said reassuringly.

"But what if we don't?" He cried. "What if we can't figure it out? Everyone in the multiverse will be doomed!"

"Chill out Digit, let's just..." But before Matt could finish, he was interrupted when the ceiling above them was suddenly destroyed, and Wicked flew down towards them, laughing evilly as she descended.

Then, by the entrance where they came, Zusk burst into the room, piloting a smaller contraption similar to what he used when he tried to cut down all the trees in the Northern Frontier. But instead of axes, the contraption was fitted with white gloves.

"I'll take that!" Zusk exclaimed as he snatched the crystal from Inez.

"What? Hey!" Inez shouted in shock and disbelief.

"Thanks for helping us find The Second Crystal, as well as showing us where to find the third one!" Wicked exclaimed.

"But how? How were you able to find us?" Digit asked.

"And how did you know that we were already here in Equestria?" Matt asked angerly.

"Isn't it obvious, Matthew? We followed you all into the Everfree Forest!" Zusk replied. "Even though we lost you, we have drones flying through the entire forest, and it didn't take long to find you again! Just in time to see you find the crystal's location!"

"As for finding out that you were here, we actually didn't know that until Buzz and Delete told us!" Wicked explained.

"What? How did they know that we were here?" Chris asked bewilderedly.

"They said that when they were checking out Ponyville, they claimed to have seen you. So upon telling us, Zach ordered one of his spybots to find you, and he did! When you were at Sweet Apple Acres, recruiting the Mane 6's help!"

"Speaking of which, what did ya do with them?" Apple Jack furiously asked. "And with the Princesses too while I'm ask'n!"

"Yeah! And where are they?" Pinkie Pie added.

"Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid that your princesses have been decrowned!" Zusk said, pretending to feel sad.

"Yeah, and they've been replaced by ME!" Wicked exclaimed, before laughing hysterically. The others looked at her in shock, especially the remaining Mane 6. "That's right! Your world and all your family and friends are under MY control!" She continued to laugh evilly.

Fluttershy started to shake fearfully, and hit behind the Cybersquad. When Apple Jack saw this, it only made her more furious.

"Anyways, as for your friends and princesses..." Wicked continued.

Behind her, the rest of the Mane 6 emerged, with Princess Celestria and Princess Luna coming from behind Zusk and his machine. Their eyes were glowing red, staring angrily at the Cybersquad. They were wearing matching blackish-gray vests and helmets, with the Varmitech Industries logo printed on them.

"Oh no! They've been mind controlled by Zach!" Chris exclaimed worriedly.

"Not just by him, but by me as well!" Mr. Big declared as he and Zach entered the room, followed once again by Zachbots and Mannequins.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't the Cybersquad and..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Can you hurry along already? You're making this chapter go on longer than it needs to." Pinkie Pie shouted, much to everyone's confusion.

"She's right, let's move on already!" Wicked nodded.

"Right then! Mane 6, Princesses, GET THEM!!!!!" Zach ordered.

"Uh oh! This is bad! There's no way we'll be able to take them on. Especially since they have magic!" Stewie explained.

"And since they're also our friends! I do NOT want to hurt them!" Fluttershy replied.

"Well then, what are we going to do?" Peter nervously asked.

"We have to leave!" Stewie said urgently as he began fumbling with the remote.

"No, we can't!" Fluttershy protested; tears started forming in her eyes. "They're our friends!"

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do." Stewie sadly explained.

Right when the Princesses, Twilight, and the other mind-controlled Mane 6 were about to swoop in and attack, Stewie pressed the button on the remote, causing the Remaining Three and the Cybersquad to disappear in a flash, causing them to crash into each other where they were standing before.

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Mr. Big awkwardly said.

"DRATS!" Zach shouted furiously. "They got away!"

"Don't worry, we'll find them!" Wicked reassured them. "After all, we only have two crystals left to find!" She began to round up the mind controlled Mane 6 and Princesses. "At least we've got what we're looking for!"

"Yeah, but Hacker said he needed all SIX of them!" Zusk replied. "I don't think he'll be happy to find that we only got half of them."

"Yeah! But we also have alicorn princesses!" Zach exclaimed. "Besides, we'll find them sooner or later!" He smiled deviously.