The Return of the Dark Lightning Menace

by Israel Yabuki

Rating: mature
Tags: Romance, Thriller, Drama, Science Fiction, Adventure, Alternate Universe
Length: 19260

An old nemises of the Rogues has escaped Tartarus and he wants revenge on the one who defeated him.

It's been half a decade since Eternal Flames had defeated his arch nemises, Thunder Drum, who was then sentenced to 100 years in the Tartarus prison. Unfortunately, the evil stallion had broken out and is now out to destroy the two stallions who wrecked his dream of taking the throne on Rogue Mountain. Will Eternal Flames be able to stop the evil tyrant, or will Equestria fall into a world of destruction?

WARNING: This story contains blood, strong language, and a bit of sexual content.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-12-30 23:20:01 UTC

The Tyrant's Escape

It seemed like an ordinary day at the kingdom of Rogue Mountain. But at the bottom of the kingdom, lies a sealed gateway leading to the dungeon known as Tartarus. It was created by the first rogues who founded Rogue Mountain centuries ago. It served as a purpose to banish any enemy who threatened the lives of the citizens no matter the circumstances. Pretty soon, the gates of Tartarus were being breached from the inside. This caused a tremendous earthquake around the entire lower part of the kingdom making the citizens panic a bit. Finally the gates of Tartarus had been blown wide open and out of the gates came a large amount of black mass and lightning bolts.

Then out of the black mass came a stallion with fur white as fallen snow, brown eyes, and charcoal black mane. He started to chuckle and soon grew into an evil laugh.

"Finally, after 5 long fucking years, I can finally smite my revenge on that blasted ETERNAL FLAMES!!!!!!!" He shouted causing lightning and darkness to shoot upwards into the sky.

Meanwhile, up at the top, king Blue Blaze, the alicorn with white fur and blue mane and scar like birth mark over his eyes, and his fiance Crimson Ruby, a unicorn with red fur and burgundy curly mane were enjoy their time in bed.

"You know something, dear, I was just wondering." Crimson says.

"What might that be hun?" Blue Blaze asks.

"What do you think our child is gonna be? Is it going to be a filly or a colt?"

"It doesn't matter, as long it's a healthy foal."

"Oh, you always know what to say to make me happy."

"I try, Crimson, my dear."

With that, she climbs on top of her fiance and starts giving him the bedroom eyes while he did so in return.

"Now what do you say we make our child now?" Crimson asks in a lustful way.

"Ready when you are, my dear." Blue Blaze says.

Sadly it is cut tragically short as they both heard a loud boom from outside the bedroom window. Blue Blaze peeked out and saw black mass and lightning shooting into the sky.

"Oh shit! Honey, stay here, i'm gonna go check outside." Blue Blaze says, gently lifting his mare off of him.

"Honey, what's going on?"

"5 years ago, my brother, Eternal Flames once took down this stallion named Thunder Drum, who tried to take over the kingdom with an iron hoof, but his plans were foiled with Eternal triumphing over him. Father then banished the tyrant to Tartarus for 100 years hoping it would change Thunder's ways. Now he's escaped after 5 years of imprisonment." Blue Blaze explains as he starts writing a letter.

"But how and why did he escape now?" Crimson asks.

"He must've been training while in Tartarus and he's doing this for one reason and one reason only: He wants to murder my brother in order to exact his revenge for not becoming king." Blue Blaze says, writing the letter to hsi father. Soon he looks out the window and sees Thunder Drum flying away using his powers to do so. "Oh no!" Blue Blaze says, with his eyes widened.

"What's going on?" Crimson asks.

"He's probably persuaded one of the citizens into telling him where my brother is! I have to warn them." said Blue Blaze. Finally he uses his magic to send the letter to Canterlot.

--

Meanwhile, back in Canterlot in Celestia's castle. Royal Blaze, Celestia's husband, was asleep in Celestia's chambers, but she had got called to the Changeling kingdom for a peace alliance. Moments later, Royal Blaze woke up and saww that a magical aura had flown in through the window only to morph into a wrapped up message. Royal Blaze unwrapped it and started reading. His eyes flew wide open after reading the whole letter.

"Father

It's Blue Blaze. I have some bad new. Thunder Drum has escaped from Tartarus! I saw his powers from outside my window. One of our subjects over here must've told him where Eternal Flames is. You must warn my brother and quick. I have a feeling it's going to take more than just one stallion to beat him. There's not much time!

Blue Blaze"

"This isn't good!" Royal Blaze said to himself. He then rushed out of the room and sprinted outside the castle with the guards following him close behind.

"Sire, what's going on?" One of the guards asks.

"I have to get to Ponyville and fast, my son is in danger!" Royal Blaze replies.

"You won't be able to get there in time on foot and plus, we need you to watch over the castle!" Another guard says. Royal Blaze realizes that they're right. He felt defeated but then he had came up with the next best thing.

"Alright, gather a few troops and head for Ponyville and tell my son this: The Dark Lightning Tyrant has returned! He'll know what you mean when you tell him this! Now GO! HURRY!"

"YES SIR!" The guards shout in unison. Half of the troops teleported to Ponyville, while the other half flew to Ponyville.

"If that bastard hurts my ANY of my sons...I won't hesitate to roast HIM alive!" Royal Blaze says to himself angerly, making his fire powers surround his body.

--

Meanwhile, the evil stallion, Thunder Drum wasn't wasting any time gliding through the skies using his powers. His mind still set on destroying Eternal Flames for taking his future away.

"You cannot hide forever, Eternal! When I find you, I'll make you regret the day you EVER heard the name of Thunder Drum! Then maybe after that, I'll drag your brother, Heat Wave, AND your pathetic parents down with you as well! PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A TRUE HELL, PRINCE ETERNAL FLAMES!!!!!!!!!!!" Thunder Drum shouted zooming through the skies where all anypony could see was a black mass followed by sparks of lightning as well. As he zoomed by, a stallion with a brown poofy mane and golden orange-y yellow fur, known as Cheese Sandwich, witnessed this as he was deciding to take a walk to Ponyville and revisit his best friend, Pinkie Pie. Sadly that's where Thunder Drum was heading off to.

"Uh-oh, this doesn't look good. I'd better get to Ponyville and QUICK!" Cheese said, running towards Ponyville. Surprisingly Cheese was a bit faster than Thunder Drum even though Thunder was flying and Cheese was running.

--

Meanwhile, the Mane 6 and the Rogues were enjoying a picnic on a nice Sunday. Ground Dasher was stuffing his face silly with apples that AJ brought from her farm while AJ was leaning next to him. Spark Wave and Rainbow Dash were enjoying some fizzy apple cider, Spike and Rarity were enjoying a nice slice of strawberry cake, never braking eye contact. Tidal Wave was enjoying a side salad with his beloved special somepony, Nurse Red Heart, Twilight was reading a book with Heat Wave while enjoying some hay fries with him, Hurricane Blitz was having some refreshing tea with his marefriend, Fluttershy, and Shadow Force was having a giant chocolate vanilla milkshake with his lovers Lyra and Bon Bon. Eternal Flames, however, was only having a hot bowl of vegatable soup, which he made for himself.

The others couldn't help but notice how they thought Eternal might be lonely. Twilight, decided to talk to him while he was still sipping his hot bowl of soup.

"Hey, don't worry, Eternal. I'm sure you'll find the right mare. Who knows, you might end up getting married." Twilight says.

"I appreciate your concerns, Twilight. But as I already told you, my heart belongs to Sunset Shimmer." Eternal replies.

"Wait, hold on! You're in love with Sunset?" Rainbow asks.

"Well, I'll be, partner. That's nice to hear." AJ says.

"Yes, but I don't believe she'll be returning to Equestria anytime soon, darling." Rarity implies.

"Oh come on girls, I'm sure he'll find a way to be with her." Pinkie says.

"Really, how do you know, Pinkie?" Fluttershy asks.

"I can feel it in my Pinkie instincts. In fact he might actually get married pretty soon!" Pinkie says with a beaming smile.

"Let's not get our hopes up, Pinkie. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm flattered to have your support, but I don't know if I'm getting married anytime soon since I'm still only 18." Eternal implies.

"Well at least ya still got time to enjoy yer youth, partner." AJ says.

Their picnic was shortly interrupted by a group of guards who all headed towards Eternal Flames.

"Young Prince, we have a message from your father." said one of the guards. Immediately, Eternal stood up and looked at the guards with a serious look in his eyes.

"Alright then, tell me. What's the message?" Eternal asks.

"The message is: The Dark Lightning Tyrant has returned." says the guard.

The girls all had a confused look in their eyes, except for the guys, who immediately stood up with a serious look their eyes too, the mane 6 looked at them with confusion. Eternal then started to look angrier.

"Sire, what is it?" the guard asks.

"So that bastard has come back, huh? Alright. I'm heading to Canterlot to meet with my dad. If that tyrant gets here before I get back, evacuate the citizens and don't even let them out of your sight! But for now, just guard the town!" Eternal says.

"Wait, what's going on, Eternal? Who's this "Dark Lightning Tyrant?" Twilight asks.

"An old enemy of Eternal Flames, he goes by name of Thunder Drum." Ground Dasher says.

"Thunder Drum?" AJ asks.

"Yeah, he had a fight with Eternal back when was starting out as a teenager. He wanted to rule over the Rogue kingdom by ripping the crown from his father AND his older brother. But he got his ass handed to him and got sent to Tartarus." Ground Dasher explains.

"But from what we heard just now, Thunder is on his way to exact his revenge." Spark says.

"Eternal, let us come with you!" Shadow says.

"NO! I need you guys to stay here and guard the citizens in case Thunder Drum shows up. This town needs all the protection it can get should that bastard come sooner than we might think." Eternal says.

"But just exactly how dangerous is he?" Twilight asks.

"Let's just say his power could probably overthrow Tirek and Sombra put together." Eternal says. "Guard the citizens until I get back, do I make myself clear?"

"YES SIR!" The guards shout in unison.

Eternal then flew off to Canterlot using his fire powers. On his way there, he started thinking to himself. 'So he's finally broken out of Tartarus after only 5 years huh? Well then, by the time I'm done with him, I'll send his ass back there in a body cast. But if he so much as lays a damn hoof on my family, I'll BLAST HIM INTO OBLIVION!'

That was his only thought before he reached Canterlot.

--

The guards wasted no time in keeping the citizens of Ponyville under guard with the help of the rogues and the mane 6.

"Lyra, Bon Bon, I don't want you girls to get hurt, so stay indoors and I'll let you know when it's okay to come out." Shadow says to his two inseperable mares with a stern look.

"But what about you, babe?" Lyra asks,

"Yeah, what if you get hurt?" Bon Bon asks.

"I can handle a little danger. This wasn't the first time I've dealt with dangerous foes, and it might not be the last." Shadow says reassuring his mares in the best way possible.

"Just promise us one thing." Lyra says.

"Promise us you'll come back to us alive." says Bon Bon

"Yeah, we can't lose the stallion we love." says Lyra.

"Alright girls. I promise. If possible, I'll take you both out for milkshakes." Shadow says. Finally, Shadow gave both of his mares a passionate kiss on the lips before they safely got locked in their house.

"Red Heart, promise me you'll be safe." Tidal Wave says to his marefriend.

"I promise, love. Just promise me you'll be alright." Red Heart replies. They both share a passionate kiss.

"I'll do my best, my darling." Tidal replies. She then proceeds to lock herself up in her house. 'But if I die, then I'll have died for you, my darling Red Heart.' he thought.

The rest of the ponies had gotten the orders to stay indoors, but they weren't inform of the reason why, so as to not cause the citizens to run wild in a state of panic. While this is happening, Twilight decided to head on over to her castle for a brief moment.

"Wait, whoa, Twilight, where are you going?" Heat Wave asks,

"I have to do something real quick, I'll try not to be long!" Twilight replies back while running towards her castle.

"Just what in the hell is she up to? Thunder Drum could show up at any moment!" Shadow asks.

"I don't know, but we need to stay vigilant." Heat Wave replies.

"Correction...WE need to stay vigilant." Shadow says, jestering to himself and the rest of the gang. "You have to be stay with the others so you won't get hurt. Your dad and brothers love you too much to lose you."

"I never said I was going to fight. I'm going to act as a shield while you guys do the fighting." Heat Wave explains.

"If you guys are done, chatting, we have to get back to our posts until Eternal gets back!" Spike says.

"Right!" Shadow and Heat Wave reply.

The Tyrant's Arrival

Eternal Flames had made it to the castle where his father, Royal Blaze was waiting in the throne room. Eternal wasted no time telling his father about the message he recieved and how his friends were guarding the town with some help from the guards he sent forth.

"Alright, good work son. Now, listen to me. Apparently after Thunder Drum escaped, he must've learned the location of where we currently live after persuading one of our rogue subjects back home. Now he's on his way to finish what he started. Be careful when he arrives and make sure to keep your brother safe. Can you do that for me?" asks Royal Blaze

"Dad, as long as there's breath in my lungs, I won't lose to the likes of him." Eternal replies.

"Good, now head back to Ponyville, while I send word to your mom about the danger."

With that, Eternal ran outside and flew back to Ponyville at blazing speed using his powers.

--

"I just don't understand, why would he want to take the throne? There's more to life than leadership." said Pinkie.

"That's because greed can have a powerful hold on those who seek power." spoke a familiar male voice, making Pinkie gasp.

"No way..." she says, turning around to see a stallion with a brown poofy mane and golden fur. "CHEESE SANDWICH!!!" Pinkie shouts, tackling him and rapidly smooching him on every part of his face. "Where have you been? It's been so long since the last time I saw you."

"I wanted to stop by Ponyville for a while, but I-" Cheese is then cut off by Pinkie placing her hoof over his mouth.

"No time to talk Cheese, there's an evil pony known as "Thunder Drum" who's gonna be coming to town some time soon and he's not gonna stop until he finds the two stallions who took his dreams of being a leader and kill them." Pinkie says quickly. Cheese Sandwich then takes her hoof off of his mouth.

"So that's who I saw in the sky when I came here." Cheese says.

"Wait...YOU SAW HIM?!" Pinkie asks out loud. Apparently, the guards and the rogues heard this and went towards Cheese.

"What's going on here and who's the stallion?" One guard asks, pointing a spear at Cheese.

"Whoa, don't hurt him, he's a friend! This is Cheese Sandwich." Pinkie says.

"H-Hi." Cheese says nervously. Pinkie then explains to them about Cheese and immediately back off.

Eventually, Eternal Flames had made it back. Clearly seeing how the town was still in one piece, Eternal was relieved knowing that there was no damage done. He dismissed the guards to let them get back to Canterlot in case Thunder Drums might show up there. But then immediately, he noticed that Twilight had gone missing. He asked where she was.

"I'm back." Twilight says, making Eternal turn towards her.

"Where did you go?" Eternal asks.

"I had to go get something from the castle." Twilight responds.

"Like what? What did you have to get that was so important that you had to leave your post?" Eternal asks with a stern look.

"She went to get me, Eternal." said another female voice. Apparently he recognized that voice and immediately tilted his head to see a unicorn with light yellow fur and fiery red mane.

"Sunset Shimmer? Is that you?" Eternal asks.

"You see, after my graduation had ended, I saw Twilight coming out of the portal as I was walking towards it. She told about what was going on in Equestria and I immediately followed her back." Sunset explains. "Please don't be so hard on Twilight. She was only doing what she thought might help you out."

" *sigh* Alright, I'll let it slide this time. But I must ask. Was there another reason why you came over?" Eternal asks.

Without saying anything, Sunset walks up to Eternal Flames and holds him in a warm and loving hug. "Well, to tell you the truth. Ever since Twilight showed you the world I was living in, and during your private welcoming party, I sort of took a liking to you after Twilight dared me to...you know." Sunset explains, blushing a bit.

"Y-you mean?"

"Yes, Eternal...I kind of had feelings for you." Sunset replies, still blushing. A few seconds later, Eternal wrapped his hooves around Sunset and leaned in close to where he was about to speak in her ear.

"I was about to tell you the same thing...my love." he whispers.

"Um, I hate to ruin your guy's love fest, but I think we got some company." Rainbow Dash says.

Eternal Flames and Sunset soon broke free of the hug and turned to where Rainbow Dash was pointing. The whole gang looked up to see a strange black mass which was getting closer to the them. When it got too close, all except Eternal Flames got out of the way as it landed straight in front of Eternal Flames. The black mass soon disappeared and revealed a stallion who's fur matched Eternal's in means of color but had brown eyes and black mane. There stood the Dark Lightning Tyrant, Thunder Drum. He and Eternal stood face to face both with serious looks in their eyes.

"It looks like you've grown quite a lot since the last time I saw you, Eternal Flames." Thunder says, with an evil grin.

"I'd say the same thing towards you, but you haven't changed a bit since my dad slammed your ass in the depths of Tartarus. Come back to chase a dream that you can never reach?" Eternal asks, still keeping a serious look.

"Oh, I've got something better than that damn secluded kingdom." Thunder says, making his grin more nasty.

"And just what might that be?" Eternal says, getting more serious.

"Three words: Your...Parents'...THRONE!!!" Thunder shouts, making Eternal snarl at him. "However, that might be a little too much of a giant step so I'll just start easy by killing you first and taking YOUR title, "Prince of Equestria." Thunder says before he chuckles evily.

"Over my dead body, you damn traitor!" Eternal says, slamming his head against Thunder's head.

"Traitor...TRAITOR...TRAAAAAAAITOOOOR?!?!?!" Thunder shouts, blasting Eternal back with his dark powers. The force of his attack made it clear to Eternal that he had indeed improved at bit. Then out of the blink of an eye, Thunder Drum made a quick dash towards Heat Wave and trapped him with his dark powers. Eternal then became angry and was about to run towards Thunder until he extended his hoof out signaling him to stop. "Whoa there, hot shot! Take one step closer and I won't hesitate to kill this squirt!" Thunder said.

"You coward! LET MY BROTHER GO! THIS IS BETWEEN YOU AND ME!" Eternal shouted. His fire powers soon became more and more intense as he kept glaring at Thunder Drum who had his brother in a strangehold.

"How about I make you a deal." Thunder explains. "If you agree to meet me...ALONE...then maybe, just maybe, I'll let your pathetic little brother live. Or else I'll have him joining your dead grandfather! Make your choice!"

"FINE! But don't you dare hurt Heat Wave when I arrive. Name the place!" Eternal says with a snarl.

"Very well then. Meet me all the way up there." Thunder Drum says, pointing to the top of the mountain. "Be there in exactly one hour. But remember, if you bring your friends or any of the guards, your brother will pay dearly for your actions with his LIFE!"

"HELP!!!" Heat Wave shouted.

"I'll get you out of this, Heat Wave, I promise!" Eternal says.

"SO LONG, PRINCE ETERNAL FLAMES!" Thuner shouts as he flies off to the mountain laughing.

Eternal was about to follow Thunder until he gets stopped by Shadow Force and Twilight.

"Wait, hold on, Eternal! It could be a trap!" Twilight says.

"Twilight, I have to do this! I can't afford to lose my youngest brother! Besides, he loves you, and I'm not gonna just stand here and watch him get killed by the god damn tyrant!" Eternal says.

"I'm scared of losing him too, Eternal, but I can't just sit here either!"

"Didn't you hear what Thunder just said?! If I bring anypony with me, Heat Wave is finished! Even if we planned a sneak attack, it'd be useless, Thunder Drum is sharper than he looks!" Eternal explains. "I don't have any other choice, I have to fight him alone!"

This was the last thing he said before he took off towards the top of the mountain.

"Girls, we can't let him fight on his own, he could be killed!" Sunset says.

"I know, but what can we do? Thunder Drum will kill Heat Wave is he sees that Eternal brought back-up." Twilight says.

"I think I might have a solution." Shadows says.

"What do you mean?" Ground Dasher asks.

"While Thunder Drum is distracted with his battle against Eternal, we'll take the opportunity to get Heat Wave out of there. But we'll have to act quick because Thunder's sharp enough to focus on the battle and everything going on outside his fights." Shadow explains.

"Are you sure? What if it doesn't work?" Sunset asks.

"How about we stop focusing on the negativity and put this plan into action? Heat Wave is in danger and right now he and his brother need all the help they're gonna get." Rainbow says.

"Rainbow's right." Spark Wave says.

"We'll have to keep a low profile climbing up there. Thunder Drum can sense our powers from about a couple of miles, so we'll have to do this the old fashion way." Ground implies.

"Alright, everypony...LET'S MOVE!" Shadow shouts.

The Tyrant's Battle Begins

At the top of a mountain, the stallion known as Thunder Drum, was standing at the edge of the mountain cliff, staring down at the town of Ponyville thinking about what he should do with the town if he ever beats Eternal Flames. His hostage, Heat Wave, was trapped in a black mass, levitating above the ground trying to break free.

"Let me go!" Heat Wave shouted. But Thunder ignored him. "I said...LET! ME! GO!"

"Shut the hell up, you little PRICK!" Thunder shouted back, shooting lightning at Heat Wave.

"OW!" Heat grunted. "Why are you doing this? You know my brother is going to beat you. He beat you once, he can do it again!"

"Oh? Then why did he get blown back by my attack? I didn't even use 1% of my power that time." Thunder says with a grin.

"Liar!" Heat Wave shouted, still struggling to break free.

"Oh shut up, you little midget. I'm going to enjoy the pleasure of torturing Eternal Flames and then kill him. The bad news is, you'll have a front row seat, but the good news is, you'll be joining him in the afterlife." Thunder says, before laughing out loud evilly.

"You...MONSTER!" Heat Wave said, glaring at him.

"Why thank you...now...SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Thunder said, shooting a lightning bolt at Heat Wave, knocking him out unconcious. "Soon, my revenge will be complete and I will finally become king...King...KING, I TELL YA!" Not long after his little rant, he heard a big boom from behind him and slowly recomposed himself. "So you've made it at last..." Thunder Drum then turned to see Eternal Flames, engulfed in flames ready for the battle to start.

"Let...my brother...go." said Eternal.

"Not before I show you the pain of what it's like to lose something you hold so dear to you." Thunder says, moving the knocked out Heat Wave towards the cliff.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" Eternal roared.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do!" Thunder Drum snapped back.

--

Meanwhile, the mane 6 and the rogues were nearly at the top of the mountain, despite the height and distance. At the corner of Twilight's eye, she notices a black mass over the cliff. She uses her magic to help her get a closer look and to her shock, her lover, Heat Wave was trapped in it, about to fall to his death. As soon as she saw this, she was about to let out a scream of terror until Applejack intervened so that they don't have their cover blown.

"Shhh! Keep it down, sugar cube!" AJ whispers. "Otherwise he'll hear us!" Twilight nods and AJ lets go of Twilight and they continued to venture up to the top.

--

Back at the top...

"Why...Why are you putting my brother through this? I'm the one you're after, you spineless, cowardly ASSHOLE!" Eternal says.

"You took away my dreams of becoming the greatest king Equestria has ever seen, and you were praised for it! I was blessed with TWO of the phoenix gods' powers while YOU only had one at birth, and yet you STILL beat me!" Thunder explains "But now that I've come back stronger than ever, I'm going to make you suffer! And what better way to start than to send your pathetic little brother, Heat Wave, on a one way trip to the spirit world!" Thunder then cackles out loud.

"Is that all there is to your meaningless plot?" Eternal asks, making Thunder's evil grin disappear. "You don't just take a crown and become a ruler like that, and so what if you have two powers, it's all about how you use them and so far you've used them for your own selfish needs and desires of chasing an illusion. Whatever dreams or goals you had before, they'll forever be out of your reach if you keep up with all of this bullshit and whatnot. Now I'll say this once again: Let go of my brother right the hell now, or I will roast you alive!"

Immediately after Eternal's speech...Thunder Drum snapped. He surrounded himself in darkness and lightning. causing the ground below their hooves to shake.

"You dare tell me what to do? You who wears your grandfather's face? You who crushed my dreams in COLD BLOOD?!" Thunder shouted, causing his powers to erupt into the sky. "The time for talk is over now, Eternal Flames. I have no need for your pathetic little hostage so now I will CUT HIS STRINGS!!!" Thunder then released his hold on Heat Wave who plummeted off the cliff still unconcious.

"NO!!!" Eternal shouted, running towards the cliff, but he is then cut off by a rising black mass wall which also had lighting bolts shooting upwards trapping Eternal on top of the cliff.

"You're not going anywhere! Now you're MINE!" Thunder says with a grin.

Eternal then looked back at Thunder Drum with the look of a cold-blooded predator out for blood. But his attention is captured by the sound of a familiar voice from outside the lightning covered black mass walls.

"HEY, DID YA DROP SOMEPONY?" Shadow shouted asking, holding Heat Wave in his hooves. Eternal then gave him a nod of approval and turned back to Thunder Drum who now had an angry look on his face.

"You...ASSHOLE!!!" Thunder shouted.

"Looks like it's just you and me now, Thunder Drum." Eternal said. He then intensified his fire powers even more, hunching his back, preparing to start the battle. "Now, I'm about to open up a serious can of whoop-ass!"

Eternal and Thunder charged straight ahead and slammed against each other, causing a tremendous earthquake. They backed up and jumped straight up in the air and charged back at each other again, throwing their hooves at each other in a flurry of lightning fast punches and kicks with neither backing off. Their front hooves engulfed in fire, darkness, and lighting, strengthening their attacks and causing them to land a great deal of punches on their faces.

Outside of the mountain, Ground Dasher used his earth powers by slamming his hoof into the mountain causing a big enough platform to appear over the top of the mountain, letting the gang was watching the fight and were shocked at how much the two stallions kept launching blow after blow after deadly blow.

"How's Heat Wave, is he alright?" Twilight asks Shadow.

"He's alright, he's just knocked out. But man, Thunder Drum really pushed Eternal over the edge this time." Shadow says.

"No kidding, mess with Eternal's family, he'll pulverise you into a bloody mess." Ground Dasher says.

"Wait! How far can their powers get from all the way up here? Because it looks like these two might end up causing a power surge that could destroy Ponyville." Applejack says all worried. The rogues immediately got an uneasy feeling after hearing that.

"SHIT!!! Applejack, that actually might happen! Quick, we need to get Heat Wave back to town! Shadow, can you do that for us?" Hurricane Blitz asks all of a sudden.

"Yeah, no problem, the rest of you guys make sure to put up a barrier if they DO end up causing a power surge!" Shadow explains before using his dark powers to fly off to Ponyville. While he was flying down, he heard a groan from under his chin, he turned and saw Heat Wave waking up.

"Where...am I?" Heat Wave asks weakly.

"You're safe with me, Heat Wave." Shadows says with a reassuring smile.

"Where's Eternal?"

"He'll be fine, but right now we got to get you home safely."

"Don't...let...my brother...die." Heat Wave says, still weak.

"I won't let that happen, sport." Shadow says, before finally landing in Ponyville, in front of a house. He knocks on it and a few seconds later he sees Lyra and Bon Bon and they both gasp.

"Shadow, you're okay!" Lyra said.

"We thought you were hurt!" Bon Bon implies.

"I'm fine girls, but this poor guy is in pretty bad shape." Shadow says, showing Heat Wave, who's still barely awake. "Listen, I need you girls to look after him while I go take care an old enemy of mine. Can I trust you two to aid him?"

"You bet" They say in unison.

"Just be careful, Shadow." Lyra says, before kissing him on the cheek.

"Give him hell, babe." Bon Bon says, before kissing him on the cheek

"I will, and thanks again girls." Shadow then flew back to the mountain once again, leaving a trail of black mass before it slowly disappears into thin air.

--

Thunder Drum and Eternal Flames were still launching blow after deadly blow, only this time, blood was squirting out of their mouths and bruises were formed all over their bodies. This goes on for a good 5 minutes until they both land killer right punches and landed back on the ground on all fours. The two stallions were panting and had blood flowing out of their mouths.

"I'm surprised of how much you were able to keep up, Thunder Drum. I'm surprised of how little you've improved. You've even developed a little bit of technique. But that alone won't get you anywhere." Eternal says, with a slight grin.

"I must say, I've underestimated you. You've definetely obtained more technique and strength over the past five years. But anypony can land a few measily punches and kicks. Just wait until you've gotten a taste of the new and improved power that is Thunder Drim." Thunder says, grinning evily and surrounding himself in lightning and darkness. As he charges up, parts of his powers start to form into black massed spears which looked like they could pass through anything.

'Here it comes' Eternal thought.

Soon, Thunder Drum launched his dark spears at Eternal Flames. Eternal manages to dodge most of them, counter some of the others with his own fire spears. But he wasn't quick enough to counter or dodge the last one as it slammed straight onto his face with tremendous force while at the same time, the spear vanished into thin air upon impact. Eternal then sank into the ground and coughed up blood. Thunder Drum laughed at the sight seeing the Prince of Equestria lying on the ground with a serious would. His face was covered in blood from his mouth to the top of his forehead.

"What's the matter, Eternal Flames? Can't take a hit?" Thunder Drum asks, placing his hoof over Eternal's face keeping his head planted firmly into the ground. "Don't even try it!"

"HEY, GET OF HIM!" Sunset shouted from outside.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" Thunder shouted back. "I'm going to enjoy this!"

"COME ON ETERNAL, GET UP!" Ground Dasher shouted.

"DON'T LET HIM OVERPOWER YOU! WE KNOW YOU HAVE THE POWER TO BEAT HIM!" Hurrican Blitz shouted.

"WE'RE RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE TO THE BITTER END!" Tidal Wave shouted.

"YOU BEAT HIM ONCE, YOU CAN DO IT AGAIN!" Spark Wave shouted.

"TAKE HIM DOWN! FOR EQUESTRIA! FOR YOUR BROTHER!" Shadow Force shouted.

"SILENCE!!!!!!!!!!!" Thunder snapped back at them, causing a tremendous amount of force to blow the gang back. Fluttershy nearly fell off the platform but was then saved by Hurricane Blitz.

"Thank you, Hurricane." Fluttershy says.

"No problem." Hurricane replies.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes! I was about to kill yo-" Thunder Drum is then taken by surprise as Eternal wasn't on the ground anymore and thought he instantly vanished. "What the? Why that goddamn SON OF A BITCH!" Thunder then gets hit by a surprise fireball to the face and lands flat on his stomach.

"Like Master Panja always says..."Never let your opponent out of your sight." Eternal says, readying another fireball on his hoof. Thunder Drum then jumped up, turned to Eternal, and prepared a dark electric ball on his hoof.

"Welcome to oblivion!" Thunder Drum says.

The Tyrant's Temporary Retreat.

During the fight between Eternal Flames and Thunder Drum, both stallions summoned a giant fireball and a giant dark lightning ball and proceeded to throw them at each other.

"Welcome to oblivion." Thunder said. As their attacks landed simultaneously, the force became too great and was about to explode. The gang outside the mountain saw this and immediately proceeded to form a barrier around the top of the mountain. Shadow Force, with his dark powers, Spark Wave with his lightning powers, Hurricane Blitz with his wind powers, Tidal Wave with his water powers, and Ground Dasher with his earth powers. The girls proceeded to aid the guys by helping them strengthening the barrier using their combined strength and magical powers as the wielders of the Elements of Harmony. The barrier is soon formed shortly after, but it still begged the question: Will it be strong enough to hold back the explosion?

The force of the attacks had gotten too out of control and immediately exploded, destroying the black mass lightning walls around the cliff at the top of the mountain. The barrier seemed to hold the blast in and made it shoot upwards. However, the team was struggling with all their might to keep it from bursting everywhere. Sadly, the blast became too much to handle, and the barrier broke, blasting the gang back far away from the mountain. The result was the same for the two stallions as the force sent them flying away from each other with so much tremendous brute force.

Then Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy rushed towards Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, who were about to land smack onto the ground surface below the mountain. They caught them in the nick of time, while the rogues were still air born with the exception of Ground Dasher who was caught by Spark Wave.

"Nice catch there, Sparkster!" Rainbow says.

"Thanks, Dashie." Spark replies.

Soon they all flew down and landed safely on the ground. But all too quickly...

"Wait, what happened to Eternal?" Sunset asks all worried.

"Crap, I don't know, he must've gotten caught too close to the blast! We gotta find him!" Shadow replies.

"Let's go everypony!" Twilight exclaimed. Everyone then followed close behind.

--

Meanwhile, both Eternal Flames and Thunder Drum had landed roughly in the rocky plains a couple of miles away from their previous battling area all bruised up in a bloody mess. The two struggled and slowly rose on all fours, panting.

"It would seem that we've matched each other equally." Thunder says, weakly.

"Yeah *pant* I got too careless * and put too much force in that attack." Eternal said, weakly. "You might as well just give up the fight! You're clearly in no position to throw any attacks, much less, a decent light one."

"Shut the hell up with your fucking preaching!" Thunder Drum says, spitting out some blood from his mouth onto the ground. "You may have won this round! But I will not make the same mistake again! I'll be back one day, and come back STRONGER than ever!"

"Why don't you just give up! You're fighting a losing battle over an impossible dream! You have to wake up and face reality. You can't always have your way just because you have more than one power. A real leader doesn't cause harm to others and make them do their bidding, they help their citizens stand together as one! But you can't see that clearly, now can you!" Eternal exclaims.

"I thought I told you to shut the fuck up about your preaching!" Thunder snaps. "A REAL leader should rule with an iron hoof and crush his enemies with strength and power! But in today's modern world, YOU can't even open your eyes to see that. You're too busy chasing YOUR impossible dream of who knows what the hell it is."

"My goal is to become the strongest guardian of Equestria, and if I have to die trying to fulfill that goal, then I die." Eternal says, ignoring the pain and standing tall. This made Thunder laugh but then cough out some more blood.

"Strongest guardian of Equestria my ass! Ponies like you disgust me..." Thunder says, before he sees a group of ponies behind Eternal getting closer towards the both of them. "I'll be back one day...and when I do...I'll be READY!" Thunder then used his dark and lightning powers to teleport him out of there and soon he vanishes into thin air.

"ETERNAL!!!" The gang shouted, running towards Eternal Flames. Eternal turned his head over his should to see the gang and gave a small smile towards them before losing conciousness and collapsed.

"NO, ETERNAL!!!" Sunset shouts, dashing towards him and held him in her hooves. "ETERNAL, OPEN YOUR EYES!"

"Sunset, hold it!" Tidal Wave shouted, running towards Eternal. He placed his ear over Eternal's chest to check his heart beat. It was faint but barely stable. "Shit, we have to get him to the hospital and quick! Twilight, can you teleport us all back to Ponyville? I'm afraid we won't be able to make it on foot!"

"I'm sorry Tidal Wave, but I don't have enough magic in me. We used it to put up the barrier." Twilight said sadly.

"Maybe we can enhance her magic with our powers. It worked before when they powered up the barrier." Hurricane explained.

"Well it is worth a shot, but we'll have to work together on this and quick." Spark Wave says.

"Alright, everypony, focus your minds on Twilight and hold hooves." Shadow says.

Soon everypony joined together in a circle. The rogues used what's left of their powers and miraculously strengthened Twilight's magic enough to send them all to Ponyville.

An Eternal Love

After a heated battle, the beaten tyrant known as Thunder Drum made a hasty retreat. Meanwhile, Eternal Flames was rescued by his friends and taken to the Ponyville Hospital. Immediately, the doctors had begun to treat Eternal to his wounds. Luckily, the valiant young stallion's wounds weren't deep enough to cause any permanant damage to his muscle tissue. The wounds had successfully been disinfected and later on got bandaged up.

The gang was in the waiting room, hoping the prince wasn't in serious danger. Soon, Tidal Wave's sweetheart, Nurse Red Heart and walked up to the gang to inform them about Eternal's condition.

"Because you got him here so quickly, Eternal Flames is going to pull through just fine." Red Heart says with a warm smile. Most of the gang sighed in relief while the others jumped with joy.

"Thank goodness. I thought he was a goner." Sunset says, placing her hoof over her heart.

"It'll take more than that to make Eternal kick the bucket." Shadow says.

"Yes, well he still needs to take it easy. He'll need to take a whole week off before he can even walk again." Red Heart explains.

"Well, can we at least go and see him?" Sunset asks.

"Sure, just try not to ask him too many questions. His room is down the hall, last door on the left" Red Heart explains.

"Oh thank you so much." Sunset then made a mad dash towards the room Eternal Flames was resting in.

As soon as she opens the door, she immediately felt her heart drop. Eternal's whole torse and left hoof was completely wrapped up in bandages while his right hoof was only slightly bandaged. Sunset walked towards him with tears in her eyes and hugged him, but not too hard so as to not injure him further. Eternal hugged her back with his non-injured hoof.

"I was so scared. *sniff* I thought I was gonna lose you! How could you act so reckless?" Sunset says, before she buried her face gently into Eternal's chest, sobbing.

"I'm sorry I made you worry, Sunset. The last thing I wanted to do was make you worry. But I guess I fucked that up." Eternal says, gently rubbing his right hoof in a circular motion over her back. "What about you? Are you okay?" Sunset then lifts her head up and nods to let him know she's okay. "That's a relief. You know I don't want you to get hurt." After hearing this, Sunset lean in and gave Eternal a short brief kiss on the lips. "Hey, could you ask Shadow if Heat Wave is doing alright? I have to know if he's alright too."

"There's no need to ask, buddy." said Shadow, as he walks in. "I just got word from Lyra and Bon Bon saying that Heat Wave is going to be just fine, he only took a slight blow to the face but there's no permanant damage."

"Thank goodness. Thank you, Shadow Force." Eternal says, warmly.

"No prob buddy, and nice job on taking down that bastard." Shadow says before walking out of the room.

--

The week went by a bit faster and Eternal Flames had made a full recovery. Eternal's mom, Princess Celestia had returned from the Changeling Kingdom and had gotten word from both Eternal and Royal Blaze about the evil tyrant Thunder Drum and how Eternal made him fall back into a hasty retreat. Princess Celestia was worried at first because the tyrant had targeted her sons but immediately calmed down as she saw that her boys made it out safely.

Later that night, Eternal Flames had decided to take Sunset out on a date. First they had dinner at the Hay Burger. Turned out Sunset liked hayburgers as much as Twilight did. Eternal witnessed how cute Sunset Shimmer was when she was stuffing her face silly with hayburgers and began to chuckle a bit. After they had dinner, He brought her to Neigh Falls to listen to the sounds of the roaring water as is crashed down on the river. The sound of the waterfall was music to their ears while they watched the moon rise above the night sky.

"Hey Eternal?" Sunset asked.

"Hmm?" Eternal replies.

"Remember how Twilight dared me to kiss you back at the human dimension?"

"How could I not forget? It was definetely one night I'll never forget. Especially since it was my kiss."

"Your first kiss?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?

"Well I kind of thought you had gone out with at least a few mares before you met me and they gave you your first kiss."

"Well, there was only one other mare I use to date. But I never kissed her. She later broke my heart when I saw her cuddling up with another stallion the day before I left my old kingdom."

"Ouch, I'm sorry to hear that. But hey, who needs her, you've found a new life here in Ponyville, and to top it off..." Sunset then proceeds to grab Eternal's right hoof with her left. "...you have me." Eternal then turns to her with a warm smile.

"I'm grateful for that."

For a brief moment, the two ponies stared into each other's eyes. Eternal could see Sunset's eyes sparkling brighter than the night sky, while Sunset saw Eternal's eyes twinkle bit by bit, making the stars in the sky look like their not shining. Before long, the two leaned in closed to each other with their eyes slowly becoming lidded. They soon stopped with their muzzles just inches away from each other.

"Eternal." Sunset says softly

"Sunset." Eternal says softly

"I love you" they say in unison before their lips connected with each other. The two ponies then wrapped their hooves around each other, thrusting their tongues in each others' mouths.

'If this is what love truly feels like, I never want it to end. I love Sunset Shimmer so freaking much!' Eternal thought to himself.

'I've never known what it's like to truly fall in love, but with Eternal, I think I now know. I love you so much, Eternal Flames!' Sunset thought to herself before both of them brake free of the kiss, breathing heavily.

"Sunset Shimmer, thank you so much for helping me get a second chance at finding love." Eternal says, pulling her in a hug.

"You're welcome, and thank you as well." Sunset says.

Later on, it was time to head back home to get some sleep. Since Sunset Shimmer didn't have time to find a house to live in, Eternal offered her to stay at his house. Heat Wave had been invited to spend the night at Twilight's house during that night so Sunset and Eternal had the room all to themselves.

Next door, Shadow Force was in his bedroom, looking at a picture of him and his mother, Princess Luna. He was still a bit upset knowing that his grandfather, King Sombra killed his father, Dark Void, but he was still relieved knowing that his mom is still around. He was then caught off guard to the sounds of moaning from the other room.

"What the hell?" Shadow said to himself. He leaned against the wall to where Eternal's room was, which was where he heard the moaning come from which gave him an idea of what was going on. 'No way, don't tell me Eternal's going at it with Sunset.' The moanings start to grow progressively louder making him back away. "Shit, talk about intense. Good thing I bought those music buds from the store Vinyl told me about a few days ago." While he kept hearing the grunts and moanings, he walked over to his dresser and took out a pair of ear buds and turned on some music, specifically the sound of relaxing piano music. 'I get that Eternal loves her, but the least he can do is keep her from waking up me and the guys. I'll bet the other guys are hearing this right now.' Shadow says before drifting off to sleep.

Hurricane Blitz was downstairs getting a glass of ice cold water. After getting his cup of water, he walked upstairs only to hear Sunset moaning and Eternal grunting and panting. Hurricane obviously knew what was going on.

'Why do they have to be so loud?' Hurricane thought, before he heard the door to Ground Dasher's room flying wide open.

"Hey, who the fuck is making all that noise?" Ground Dasher says, all cranky. Hurricane Blitz pointed towards Eternal's room. Ground Dasher than walked over to the door about to open it.

"You'd better not, big guy." Hurricane said before he locks himself up in his room.

"I don't give a damn." Ground Dasher said, slowly opening the door and peaked inside to see Eternal on top of Sunset, thrusting inwards with a lot of force. He saw the fire in his eyes and the look of pleasure on Sunset's face. Ground Dasher bolted his head away from the door, still hearing the moans and grunts from Eternal and Sunset. 'Okay, I don't need to get turned on just yet!' Ground slowly closed the door without the two of them noticing it and quickly dashed towards his room and locked himself inside.

--

The next morning, the guys were all downstairs playing yet another game of poker with Hurricane Blitz yet again beating the others easily without even trying. Eternal and Sunset both walked downstairs to see the guys at the table playing their usual card game.

"Well, look who finally woke up." Shadow said, looking at Eternal and Sunset with a grin and then looking back.

"If you guys were going to be getting freaky last night, warn us so we can get some ear buds and listen to some music." Ground Dasher says to Eternal and Sunset while still looking at the cards on his hooves.

"Oops, my bad. I guess I couldn't help it." Sunset says with a sheepily grin, looking away, blushing.

"When my rogue instincts kick in, I can't control myself." Eternal says, turning away, blushing.

"Eh, it's all water under the bridge now so- OOH, another royal flush!" Hurricane says, laying out his cards.

"OH COME ON!!!" the other guys shout.

Listening to them argue makes Eternal and Sunset laugh and look at each other.

"Looks like things are starting to get better, huh Sunset?" Eternal asks.

"You bet, babe, and I wouldn't have it any other way." Sunset says, looking at Eternal with her lidded eyes.

"Neither would I, Sunset...Neither would I."

--

Meanwhile in a cave near the rocky plains...

" *growl* Go ahead and lick your wounds while you still can, Eternal Flames...Because by the time I fully heal...I'll make sure to take you down for GOOD this time. Then I will finally take MY rightful place and the true ruler of Equestria!" said Thunder Drum as he let out an evil laugh that echoed throughout the cave.

Preparing for the Gala

It had been almost 2 weeks since Eternal Flames had defeated Thunder Drum and recovered from his injuries. He had started going out with Sunset Shimmer every now and then, whether it was going out to eat, watching a live performance by Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich, or just enjoying the evening, staring at the night sky. There were some occasions when they just spent the night with each other enjoying their passionate love-filled lust. The only problem was trying to keep it down.

However, Eternal knew all too well that his victory wasn't going to last too long as he knew Thunder Drum was still out there, training to get stronger than ever. Eternal Flames needed to prepare himself for when Thunder Drum had returned so he started training his physical strength and his powers.

It was a Wednesday afternoon and Eternal was in the backyard, doing "hay bail squats" using 3 hay bails. He did this for a good hour until finally it was time for him to train his phoenix god powers. So he threw the hay bails off of his back and began to close his eyes, getting ready to concentrate his powers. His trapped himself in his mind in a dark and endless abyss and began to feel the flames intensify around him, strengthening him gradually. But it was all interrupted by splash of cold water.

"Hey! What the hell?!" Eternal shouted, before shaking off the water.

"Forgive me, Eternal, but it looks like something came in the mail." Tidal Wave said, showing the letter wrapped up in a red band.

"Looks like it's a letter from mother and father. Open it up." Eternal says. Tidal Wave proceeds to open it up read the letter.

"Here ye, Here ye

Her grand royal highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot on the 17th of September. Furthermore, her royal highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, cordially extends an invitation to Eternal Flames plus 6 guests of honor."

"Grand Galloping Gala? What the hell is that?" Eternal asks with a raised eyebrow?

"I'm not sure myself." Tidal Wave replies.

"It's a special kind of party that comes around once a year in Canterlot." Heat Wave said as he walks out to the backyard. "From what mom tells me, it always gets interesting every year. What do you say, bro, can we go?"

"I'm not exactly too fond with parties involving snooty stuck-up ponies. But since mother has invited us, I suppose we could check it out to see what it's like." Eternal says with a shrug.

"Wait hang on. Mom says there's a dress code for this event." Heat Wave explains. "Every stallion has to wear a tux while every mare has to wear a nice dress."

"Which is pointless to tell me, since I already have a suit of my own." Eternal says. "What about you Tidal Wave, do you have a suit on you or should we ask Rarity to tailor one for you?"

"No need to worry, I brought my own suit when I moved here with you and the others. Of course, I had Rarity make a few adjustments to it since it was getting worn out." Tidal Wave explained.

"We'll have to let the others know about this. Otherwise, this trip can't happen." Eternal says.

They walked back inside the house and upstairs. They knocked on each door, minus their own, and explained the situation about the Grand Galloping Gala, luckily all the stallions had their own suits. All except Ground Dasher.

"Sorry guys, but I'm way against fancy parties. They're no fun. It's just a bunch of business chit-chat and lets face it, those Canterlot citizens are just plain snooty and uptight. Give me one good reason why I should go with you guys." Ground Dasher says, lying on his bed, with his eyes locked on the ceiling.

"I'll make some nice, tasty food for you to stuff your face silly." Hurricane Blitz said.

"And if I remember correctly, Twilight recieved HER invitation and she's bringing the girls, including AJ." Spark Wave explains. Ground Dashers eyes then flung wide open.

"Okay, you convinced me, where can I get a monkey suit?" Ground asked.

"Well, we can either buy one, or ask Rarity to make one for you." Eternal answers.

"Hmm, I think it's best if I ask Rarity, since they'd probably charge me double at any other clothes store." Ground says.

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go, the Gala is in 4 days." Tidal Wave says.

The guys made their war to Carousel Boutique and asked Rarity to tailor Ground Dasher a suit for the upcoming event. With Spike's help, they managed to complete it in just a a few fours. The front of the vest was apricot colored while the back was all black. The undershirt was a long-sleeved red shirt acompanied with a black neck tie. Ground Dasher tried it on and immediately took a liking to it. Ground Dasher had paid Rarity the money and thanked her with a hoof shake.

In order to stay ahead of schedule, Eternal decided to pay his mom an early visit in Canterlot. 10 minutes after arriving there at blazing speed by flight, Eternal walked up to his mom, who was sitting on her throne, doing paperwork.

"Mother, can I talk to you?" Eternal asked.

"Hmm? What brings you here, son?" Celestia asked.

"You see, since the Gala is coming soon, I need to ask you for a favor."

"Well ask away."

"Would it be okay if Hurricane could help out with setting up the food? I have a feeling Ground Dasher might go on one of his hungry rampages if he can't eat "good food" as he puts it."

"Well, I suppose I could let him help out in the kitchen, but are you sure Ground Dasher's "hungry rampage" is that bad?"

"Trust me, it's a lot worse than you think."

"Alright, I'll let him cook. If he actually does a good job, I'll let him do it again."

"Great, thanks mother. Listen I gotta head back, but I'll see you here at the Gala."

"You're welcome, son, take care."

Eternal then waved good bye to his mom as he sored back to Ponyville at blazing speed.

--

Meanwhile, in the Everfree Forest, Thunder Drum was locked in combat with 5 timberwolves and a Manticore. The stallion wasn't even showing a hint of fear, but more of a look of disgust.

"Is this all this damn forest has to offer me? I've met stronger HOUSEPLANTS THAN THESE FUCKERS!!!" Thunder shouts, blasting them all away with one swish of his hoof, striking them all with his lightning. They get blown back, without even a scratch on any of them. "I might as well end their suffering by sending them all to oblivion." Thunder Drum then wrapped his predators with lightning covered black mass suffocating them from their necks to their tails. He then slammed his hoof onto the ground and crushed their bodies, turning all the timberwolves into pups as they run away, while the manticore had left only with a lifeless head, leaking blood from underneath where it's neck was. "This didn't even feel like a practice round, but by the time I find meet Eternal Flames, I'll make him suffer for humiliating me. But I think it'd be better to torture him then to kidnap his pathetic little brother..." Thunder Drum then laughed to himself. "Yes...IT'S PERFECT!" he continued to laugh, this time, more louder and more evil.

A Message From The Tyrant

The night of the Grand Galloping Gala has finally arrived. The boys had put on their suits getting ready for the big night. Eternal Flames was wearing a red long sleeve tux jacket over his black vest, covering his white undershirt. Around his neck was his white cravat. His brother Heat Wave wore a fancy black and white tux with a hankerchief in his chest pocket. Hurricane Blitz wore a vest that was red in the front and black in the back over his white undershirt that had a teal neck tie wrapped around it. Spark Wave whore a nice white tuxedo with a black trim at the end of his sleeves and the bottom of his shirt. Ground Dasher was already wearing his tux he got from Rarity. Shadow Force partially had the same type of tux as Ground Dasher, but neck tie was white and his undershirt was teal colored. Tidal Wave had on a blue suite with a white undershirt and red neck tie and to make it more interesting, he combed his hair back and made it a bit spikey. With all the guys dressed up and ready to go, they headed out of their house and off to Canterlot. There was still 2 hours before the party as about to start so they had plenty of time to drop off Hurricane Blitz to prepare the food.

2 hours later, the castle was packed with ponies, mostly from Canterlot, and a few honored guests from Ponyville. The gang all showed their tickets to the guards and proceeded to enjoy the party. All too quickly, some of the gang paired up with their dates. Rainbow Dash with Spark Wave, Ground Dasher with Applejack, Heat Wave with Twilight, Spike with Rarity (obviously), Hurrricane Blitz with Fluttershy, and Eternal Flames with Sunset Shimmer. Pinkie Pie proceeded to head over to the ballroom, and to her surprise she saw a familiar face...the same stallion with fur that was brownish gold, and poofy brown mane.

"CHEESE SANDWICH!!!" Pinkie shouted, dashing towards him.

"Well if it isn't Pinki-" Cheese then gets cut off by Pinkie as she tackles him to the ground, smothering his face rapidly with kisses.

"Did Princess Celestia invite you here to do a show to entertain the crowd?" Pinkie asked.

"You betcha! She needed an opening act before they could proceed to start the main event." Cheese explained. "But believe me, THIS opening act is going to last for quite a while and I have loads of fun stuff for the wonderful audience."

"OOH, can I join you in your show? Huh? Can I?" Pinkie asks, widening her smile.

"How can I say no to a cute pony such as yourself?" Cheese replies, but then covers his mouth and blushes after what he just said, hoping Pinkie didn't hear it. But to no avail.

"Aww, you are so sweet!" Pinkie says. Then Pinkie gave Cheese Sandwich one last kiss, this time, he kept her lips pressed against his and soon she thrusted her tongue in his mouth. It lasted for a minute until she broke the kiss. "So when does the show start?" Cheese, not saying a word after having being french kissed, shook his head rapidly to snap out of his love trance.

"Well, the show starts in about 30 minutes. So we got plenty of time." Cheese replies.

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie replies, happily.

In the main hall, Shadow was looking around to see if he could try to do anything fun. But to no avail. He grew bored and decided to head on outside to the balcony, and stare at the night sky. There wasn't much to do after he arrived...until HIS mom arrived next to him.

"My son. You look so down. Why the long face?" Luna asked.

"I'm just bored." Shadow simply says. "the others are having their romantic dates with each other while I'm stuck on my own with my dates to join me."

"Your dates? Who might they be?" Luna asks.

"Lyra and Bon Bon." Shadow replies.

"Ah, I see. Well I think you shouldn't have to worry yourself because they're already here." Luna says.

"Wait, are you saying the girls are here right now? How'd they get so lucky as to come to the Gala?" Shadow asks.

"Celestia knows about all of her subjects and how they live their lives. So she decided to invite them in order to help ease your boredom and make you smile a bit." Luna explains.

"Well thank you aunt Celestia and thanks for telling me, mom. I owe you both." Shadow says, smiling at his mom

"Think nothing of it son. Seeing you smile is enough to make me happy." Luna says, hugging her son.

" *gasp* Princess Luna is your mom?" said another female voice. Shadow tilted his head, only to see his girls, Lyra and Bon Bon. Lyra was wearing a beautiful white dress with a gold trim while Bon Bon was wearing a beautiful dark blue dress with pink trims. "Talk about lucky times three" Lyra said.

"So are you going to dance with us or are you up for some "real action?" Bon Bon asks, but her last two words were said more lustfully, making her and Lyra giggle.

Shadow Force was let go by his mom and he walked towards his beloved girls. When he got close enough, they all wrapped each other in a three-way hug.

"All in good time, girls, the night is still young. So how about we dance the night away and THEN we can get our real groove on later on, what do you girls say?" Shadow asks.

"Deal" the girls say in unison.

30 minutes have gone by since the Gala had started and Cheese Sandwich and Pinkie Pie were performing on stage performing magic tricks that leaves the entire audience speechless. Cheese Sandwich was able to pull Pinkie Pie out of a hat and even performed a behind the curtain disappearing act. Then came a magic trick that left the audience quaking on their hooves: The sawing-in-half trick.

"Okay, for this to work, we'll need a volunteer from the audience!" Cheese says enthusiastically. "Do I we have anypony available in the audience to perform this amazing trick?"

"ME!" Shouted Eternal. The entire audience was caught in a group gasp as they wondered why Eternal Flames, the son of Princess Celestia, would want to be a part of such a dangerous trick. As he stood up, he felt Sunset peck him on the cheek, wishing him luck. Eternal Flames winked at her and proceeded up onto the stage. Cheese Sandwich signaled Eternal to come closer. He walked towards Cheese and leaned in close and had Cheese whisper into his ear. "Hmm, sounds interesting. Let's do it." Eternal said with a grin on his face.

"EXCELLENT, just step into this box, and we'll do the rest!" Cheese says. Eternal then climbed into the box lying flat on his back and had Cheese Sandwich closing it tight. Eternal then looked at the audience and saw that some of them were wide eyed while the others were covering their eyes. He then turned to face the ceiling. "Now watch closely fillies and gentlecolts as I saw our volunteer in half!"

Pinkie Pie gave Cheese Sandwich a giant saw, which she pulled out of his hat.

'I'll never understand how she does that? She and Cheese do make a pretty cute couple, though.' Eternal thought to himself. Cheese walked up to Eternal and placed the saw over the box and proceeded to saw Eternal in half. Then came a horrific sight that left the audience screaming in fear. There was blood dripping from the saw as Cheese was moving it back and forth, still sawing Eternal in half. After the sawing was complete, the audience was shrieking in fear and disgust. But it was soon brought to a grinding halt by Cheese.

"PONIES!!! There's no need to panic. Have a look for yourselves." Cheese says, opening the sawed box to reveal Eternal Flames perfectly unharmed and also revealed a can of red paint leaking from the sawed crack. Finally the audience calmed down and gave the three ponies a round of applause. Eternal stepped out of the box and walked towards Cheese and Pinkie and bowed to the audience. He then shook Cheese's and Pinkie's hoof before stepping off the stage.

After half an hour of the opening act. The audience stepped out of the castle to watch the wonderbolts perform their aerial tricks. Rainbow Dash looked at them with jealousy and happiness while she was leaning next to Spark Wave, who was enjoying the performance as much as she was. Finally, it came time for the dance and everypony had paired up with their dance partners. Octavia and her band had begun to play their beautiful melodies and everypony in the ball room began to dance.

"Ground Dasher, if I hadn't met you, Ah'd have been outside, tryin' to sell apples, and trust me, partner, it did not go so well the first time I tried this, sugar cube." Applejack said, holding her coltfriend as they began to slow dance.

"If it weren't for you, I'd be stuffing my face silly until I passed out. With you by my side, I feel more complete than I ever did in my whole entire life." Ground Dasher replies, looking directly into his lover's eyes. Soon, he and AJ leaned in and shared a short, passionate kiss with each other.

"You sure you're okay with these fancy slow dances, Dashie?" Spark asked.

"Yeah, but only because I got you with me, babe." Rainbow replies with a wink. "If I was still single, I'd probably try to hang out with the Wonderbolts, which did NOT go so well when I first came here."

"Maybe they just didn't know what they're missing out on, Rainbow Dash." Spark said. "It's their loss knowing that they missed out on hanging with the most awesome mare who's 20% cooler than ANY of the Wonderbolts."

"Aww, thanks babe." Rainbow says, slightly blushing and then leaning in to kiss Spark Wave.

Tidal Wave was sitting on a chair, reading a book he brought with him to keep him occupied while he was drinking some tea. He didn't dance with the others since Nurse Red Heart got called in for an emergency. He wasn't too upset since he knows his marefriend had a tight and busy schedule that could easily tucker her out.

"Hurricane, I've never felt such so happy in my life. I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't met you." Fluttershy said, leaning onto her coltfriend, slow dancing. "How can I ever thank you for making me feel so complete?"

"Fluttershy, as long as I have you in my life, and seeing your beautiful smile, I will always feel thankful knowing that I have the most amazing, beautiful, and cutest mare who stole my heart." Hurricane said with a warm smile.

"Shadow are you sure you're okay with dating the both of us?" Lyra asked as she had her hooves wrapped around both Bon Bon and Shadow Force as they did with each other. "I mean, I wouldn't want to put so much stress on you."

"Yeah, you're one of the most kindest stallions we've ever met and you care so much about us. You must feel pretty uneasy having to choose between the two of us." Bon Bon said, looking down, sadly. But then both of the girls are pulled in by Shadow Force in a warm hug as he kept smiling to himself and his mares.

"Hey, don't feel so down about it. I'm at all in the least bit stressed. In fact, I'm overjoyed." Shadow says, making them both smile with tears in their eyes. "It's true I can never choose between the two of you, because you BOTH make me feel like a complete and happy stallion and I will always hold you both dearly."

Shadow then gave both of his girls a passionate kiss on the lips each and proceeded to slow dance with them.

"Twilight?" Heat Wave asked.

"Yes Heat Wave?" Twilight asked back, softly.

"I just want to say thank you for giving me a chance at finding and experienciing true love in my entire life. I'd probably have grown up a helpless little stallion without anypony to care about me but the guys." Heat Wave says, holding Twilight close to him, slow dancing with her ever so gracefullly.

"Heat Wave, I should say the same thing to you. I'd probably end up living thousands of years never experience true love if I hadn't even met you in the first place." Twilight explains. "You've given me so much and I want to make sure I do the same to you." Twilight looks up at Heat Wave staring directly at his beautiful magenta eyes.

"I love you, Twilight." Heat Wave says

"I love you, too, Heat Wave." Twilight replies as they both lean in and kiss each other on the lips.

"Oh, Spikey. You dance so gracefully. I would've made a foolish mistake not choosing you. Thank you so much for making me the happiest mare in all of Equestria." Rarity said to Spike, as they danced slowly and beautifully.

"I should be thanking you, too, Rarity. You've made me the happiest dragon in all of Equestria knowing that I finally have you by my side to love and care for." Spike replies.

"Sunset, words cannot begin to describe how much you've made my life so much more meaningful." Eternal says.

"Thank you, Eternal. I could actually say the same to you." Sunset replies warmly, leaning against the young prince while they slow dance the night away. "I feel like I'm the luckiest mare ever knowing that I fell in love with a stallion who's not only the kindest, bravest, and loyalest pony ever, but is also a handsome prince."

"Well I can't believe I met and fell in love with a mare who is not only the cutest, kindest, honest, and most beautiful pony, but is also a former pupil of my mom who's worthy enough to treated AS a princess." Eternal says. "I love you so much, Sunset Shimmer."

"I love you, too, Eternal Flames. With all my heart." Sunset replies as she leans in and lays a smooch on her lover.

The dance was going beautifully...until a blast of lightning and darkness shot from outside the castle, landing near the crowd. Everyone inside stopped dead in their tracks, unharmed, but shooken up. Eternal and the guys then ran outside and saw a stallion floating in the air in lightning covered black mass.

"THUNDER DRUM!" Eternal Flames shouted in anger igniting his hooves on fire.

"Relax, Prince! I only come to deliver a message to you!" Thunder shouts from above.

"What message?!" Eternal asked.

"I challenge you to a fight! Tomorrow! In the desert terrain! Go ahead and bring your lackeys with you, but I'm settling this fight between you and me!" Thunder explains.

"Why are you asking for this all of a sudden?" Eternal asks, feeling skeptic towards Thunder's behaviors.

"HEY!" shouted another voice. Eternal turned back to see that it was his father, Royal Blaze. "Leave this party at once, or face the dire consequences of your actions!"

"Shut up! I'm talking to your son, not you!" Thunder shouts back and then turns to Eternal Flames. "Do you accept the challenge, young prince, because if you don't, I won't hesitate to start ridding the ponies' of their innocent lives!"

"I hardly even call that a question!" Eternal replies. "Thunder Drum...I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!" Not long after that, Thunder Drum tosses a piece of paper at him, which Eternal catches with his teeth. He looks at it and sees that it's a map.

"That'll show you where to find me! Come anytime by either the rising of the sun, or the rising of the moon. YOU CHOOSE!!!" Thunder shouts before flying off at sonic speed.

Eternal Flames immediately growled at the sight of Thunder Drum as he left. He then ignited his body on fire as he hunched backwards getting ready to fly.

"Eternal, what are you doing?" Sunset asks as she runs towards him.

"I'm going back home, I'm gonna finish what I started with that bastard ONCE and for all!" Eternal replied.

"No you can't! You could end up getting killed if you fight him again! Don't you remember the last time you both fought? You BOTH barely escaped with your lives!" Sunset says.

"It's going to be different this time. I'm not the same as I was last time. I've been preparing myself. Now that he's back, I'm going to finish what I started last time." Eternal replies, before flying off in a ball of fire. All Sunset could do was watch as her lover went back to town to ready himself for a fight that could end up costing him his life. She began to kneel down and cry to herself. Twilight walked towards Sunset and gave her a gentle hug to comfort her.

"Don't you remember what he said. Even though the battle is between him and Eternal, we can still be there for him when he needs our support, and by the looks of things, he's going to need a lot of it." Twilight explains to the sobbing mane with a fiery mane.

"Sunset, I'm just as worried about my brother as you are. But I'm not about to stay here and let my brother walk out in that terrain and fight without his friends, family, AND his beautiful lover there to give him the support he needs. Now pick yourself up, and let's go." Heat Wave says with a determined look on his face. Sunset then picked herself up and wiped away her tears and got more serious.

"You're right, Heat Wave. I guess I wasn't thinking straight. But now I am. I'm gonna head back to Ponyville to at least comfort Eternal before he goes out there." Sunset says. Her horn then starts to glow and she instantly vanishes in the blink of an eye.

"We'd all best be gettin' back home, too. This is a serious matter." Applejack implies.

"Yeah, any pal of Sparkster's ain't gonna be left alone!" Rainbow shouts, floating above the air.

"Then what are we waiting for, darlings? Let's head back to Ponyville and rest up!" Rarity implies.

After that, the gang all got together and held hooves as Twilight's horn began to glow, teleporting them all back to Ponyville.

--

Meanwhile, Sunset had already arrived at Eternal's house and knocked on the door. Seconds later, Eternal opened it and let her inside before closing the door and locking it. They walked upstairs and entered his room. Sunset locked his door behind her as Eternal sat on his bed looking at Sunset who later joined him.

"I'm sorry, Sunset. But I have to do this. I know you must hate me for accepting this challenge, but I--" Eternal gets cut off by Sunset who places her hoof over his mouth.

"Eternal, please...I know why you're doing this." Sunset says. "You're fighting for Equestria, your family, your friends, and me. I'm just worried that you'll end up getting hurt worse than before."

"I know. But I don't have any other choice. If I let him walk, he's going to destroy so many innocent lives." Eternal says. "I wouldn't even call myself the strongest guardian of Equestria, or Prince of Equestria, or even a stallion if I fail to even try."

"I've been in situations similar to yours, Eternal." Sunset says. "I've had my fair share of fights in the human dimension. But in one of those fights...I was blinded by anger and jealousy."

"Don't think about what happened in the past. What matters is what's happening now: Thunder Drum is back, and I'm going to put everything I've got into this fight." Eternal says, wrapping his hoof around Sunset.

"Eternal..." she says softly, with her eyes lidded.

"Yes, Sunset?" he replies back softly.

"Before you fight him tomorrow...I..."

"You what?"

"I...I want a child."

After hearing that, Eternal's eyes widened.

"Y-You want to bare a child?" Eternal asks, surprisingly

"I do, Eternal."

"But we've only been dating for a week and we see each other every 2 weeks ever since you arrived."

"I don't care about that! All I want is to bare YOUR child! Because...if you die..." Sunset then gets cut off by Eternal's lips as he presses his against hers.

"Don't ever think like that, Sunset. I won't die. But if you truly want to bare my children, then I shouldn't neglect this one request." Eternal says, before he lays Sunset on her back flat on his bed. Eternal then gently and slowly laid on top of her. "Would you like me to help get you started, or shall we proceed to mate?" he asks softly.

"I'm fully aroused right now, but should I help you feel aroused?" She asks, placing her hoof around Eternal's member.

"Hmm...sure, I'll leave it up to you." Eternal says with a smile as he lays down next to Sunset who then gets in between his legs. She grabs his member, slowly stroking it. Eternal let out a slight groan, grinding his teeth together as he started to feel good. Slowly afterwards, Sunset began to take his member and place it in her mouth with her tongue dancing around it. Sunset then took the entire thing into her mouth and slowly bobbed her head. She could feel him becoming rock solid. Eternal couldn't help but groan from this amazing feeling. Sunset then began to bob her head up and down on Eternal's member as if she was trying to milk him for all he had.

"Sunset..." Eternal grunted. "I feel like I'm gonna explode at any minute!" Sunset then pulled his fully erect member out of her mouth and positioned Eternal over her as she laid flat on her back on Eternal's pillow.

"Then let's do this the right way, babe." Sunset says. She then spreaded her legs and Eternal then positioned his member until it made contact with her marehood. Sunset then let out a pleasured sigh.

"Here, I come, my sunshine." Eternal said, as he thrusted all the way inside Sunset, causing her to moan in ecstasy. Eternal then began going in and out of her, slowly picking up speed. They both moaned from the heavenly feeling. Eternal then added more force to his thrust and began grunting and growling like a wild predator rutting its prey. The feeling made Sunset moan louder and she soon wrapped her hinde legs around Eternal bringing him lower as he kept going with his thrusts.

"ETERNAL!!!...I..I CAN'T...I CAN'T HOLD BACK MUCH LONGER!" Sunset moaned.

"NEITHER CAN I!" Eternal grunted.

"Then lets do it together." Sunset whispers in Eternals ear.

Finally, after a while, Eternal thrusted into Sunset one last time with so much force and exploded his seed into her love cave while Sunset's hot juices gushed out of her. Both of them shouted in ecstacy from the feeling until finally, Eternal pulled his limp member out of her and collapsed next to Sunset with both of them panting all exhausted.

"I...I'm finally going to be a mother." Sunset says between pants.

"I promise to be a great father." Eternal says softly.

The two lovers then covered themselves under the blankets getting ready for a good nights rest.

--

Meanwhile, deep in the desert terrain, Thunder Drum stood at the top of a rocky pillar looking at the night sky.

"The time for my revenge is almost upon me. But...if I want to settle the score with that upstart of a prince, I'll do so as an honorable rogue with my own four hooves. No hostages, no bullshit, just him and me." Thunder says to himself.

Arriving to Finish the Job

The morning sun had risen over the town of Ponyville and Sunset Shimmer has finally woken up. As she turns on the bed, she starts feeling the spot where Eternal Flames slept in. Unfortunately, all she felt was the bed covers. Her eyes flew wide open and gasped seeing that her coltfriend had left early, but he left a note on the pillow. Sunset reached for it and read it.

"Dear Sunset,

Forgive me for doing this, but I had to leave a bit early to try to settle the score with Thunder Drum. I didn't want to risk putting you and our unborn child in danger. Please understand that I truly love you. Please keep yourself safe and don't stress out. I vow to to return home as soon as this whole ordeal is finally put to rest.

P.S That's a promise I still intend to keep.

Yours

Eternal Flames."

Sunset then felt a tear drop down her face and began to cry. She buried her face in the pillow fearing the worst for Eternal. The sound of her sobbing caused the door to fling wide open revealing the guys.

"What the hell is going on here?" Ground Dasher asks. Without a word, Sunset gives Ground Dasher the letter Eternal wrote to her. The other guys read it and soon got shocked expressions on their faces.

"SHIT! We have to get to the desert terrain!" Shadow Force says.

"How? We don't have the map, Eternal probably took it with him!" Tidal Wave says.

"DAMN IT!" Ground Dasher shouts. "How the hell are we suppose to find him now?"

"Wait, I know!" Heat Wave says, making the others turn to him.

"Really, how?" Sunset asks.

"Twilight Sparkle has a map in her castle, a BIG one! She uses it all the time whenever there's a friendship problem anywhere in all of Equestria, which means it'll be easier to find Eternal!" Heat Wave explains.

"Then lets not waste any time. Eternal could be starting the battle right now." Spark says. The rogues, along with Sunset, soon made their way out of the house and over to Twilight's castle, but the trip was a bit slow with the fact that Sunset was actually pregnant with at the moment with Eternal's child. After arriving, they told Twilight about the situation and immediately gathered her friends in a matter of 20 minutes. Then they made their way inside the castle and over to the map of Equestria. It didn't take long for Twilight to point out the location of the desert terrain and got the directions. The gang then followed Twilight close behind as they left Ponyville to find their friend.

--

Miles away from Ponyville, Eternal Flames was gliding through the terrain in the air, looking for the tyrant, Thunder Drum. It took him a good whole minute to have the tyrant in his line of sight. He then flew over towards Thunder Drum and landed behind him. Thunder Drum then slowly opened his eyes, not even looking at Eternal or catching a glimpse of him.

"So, you're in that much of a hurry to die?" Thunder asks.

"If anypony is going to perish, it's you!" Eternal said.

"Pah, you probably don't have the guts to kill me. I may not know much about you, but I can guess that you've never killed a soul in your entire 18 years and 11 months." Thunder Drum says, confidentally.

"You're right, I didn't kill anypony throughout my whole life, because they either died destroying themselves, left the battle with severe injuries and never bothered me again, AND because I still have a heart and soul." Eternal explains. Thunder then turned around to face Eternal Flames and continued to talk. "A power-hungry jackass like you could NEVER understand what it truly means to be a leader. You hide yourself in the shadows and pounce at your opponents at the last minute when they have nothing left to give. You're nothing but a ruthless, gruesome, spineless, dishonorable, COWARD!"

"SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH RIGHT NOW, YOU TWAT!" Thunder shouts with a snarl. "You have NO RIGHT calling me such treacherous and despicible names! Do you see anypony I'm holding hostage? DO YOU?! TAKE A LOOK AROUND YOU!" Thunder shouts. Eternal didn't need to be asked twice and proceeded to look around seeing only the desert sand, the boulders, hills and mountains.

"That still doesn't change the fact that you kidnapped my brother last time." Eternal says, glaring at Thunder.

"True, but he's not here, is he?" Thunder asks. "No, it's just you and me. Call me whatever you want, but I'm going to settle this with you, one on one, no bullshit, no hostages, no ambushes, or surprise attacks. But one more thing." Thunder then paused for a moment to walk towards Eternal Flames. "Don't...EVER...call...me...DISHONORABLE!!!" Thunder shouts in Eternal's face. Eternal didn't even flinch and instead just stood there still glaring at Thunder Drum eye to eye.

"Then why don't you prove it today by getting this fight over with." Eternal says.

"As you wish...your majesty!" Thunder says, hunching back. Eternal did the same and they both circled around each other. Eternal Flames' fire powers immediately engulfed his body, while Thunder Drum was engulfed in his dark and lightning powers. They circled around each other 3 times until they leaped at each other, clashing their heads.

--

Meanwhile, the gang had wasted no time and made it to the desert terrain. The only problem now was finding the location of where the two stallions were since the terrain was fairly large.

"How the hell are we gonna find that hot head of a leader of yours?" Rainbow asks the guys.

"If I remember correctly, we can pick up where he is if he's using his powers." Hurricane Blitz explains.

"But how can y'all do that?" Applejack asks.

"It's in our blood. We got our powers passed down from our ancestors who got them from the phoenix gods." Spark said.

"It's kinda similar to Discord sensing a disturbance in the magical balance." Hurricane says.

"If we can get at least a slight sense of Eternal's fire powers, we'll know exactly where he is!" Tidal Wave says.

"But what if he's using them now and we don't know about it?" Sunset asks.

"It'll depend on the distance between us and how much of his power he's using. If he's far away, he'd have to be using up a lot of his powers in order for us to notice it." Ground Dasher explains.

"Well let's cross our hooves hopin' he's close by." Applejack says.

The gang kept dashing around the terrain hoping to find Eternal and Thunder Drum. But the efforts weren't getting any good results until finally, they hatched a different plan.

"Shadow, at the rate we're going at this, we might not find his as quick." Twilight said.

"You're right. We'll have to split up into 4 teams." Shadow explains. "Hurricane, Tidal, you two take Fluttershy and Rarity and go west, Ground Dasher, you go along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash and search east, Spark Wave, take Spike and Pinkie with you and search the south, Twilight, Sunset, Heat Wave and I will search the north." Shadow ordered. "If one of our groups find him, shoot out your powers and we'll meet up with you, is that understood?"

"Yes" everypony replied.

"Alright...LET'S MOVE!" Shadow shouted.

Soon everypony split up in each different direction to search for Eternal Flames.

--

Eternal Flames and Thunder Drum were locked in an aerial hoof-to-hoof combat fight over the desert terrain. Their movements became more lightning fast with each passing second.

"So you're taking this more seriously, aren't ya, Thunder?" Eternal grunted, still fighting.

"Like I said, I was fooling around last time, but THIS TIME it's different!" Thunder replied, still fighting.

The fight continued with Eternal Flames launching and blocking blow after blow. Finally, Thunder Drum landed a shot onto Eterna's right side with his left hinde hoof. Eternal grunted in pain and attempted to land a kick himself, but Thunder dodged and uppercutted him far higher into the air, followed him, and caught him in a stranglehold. Eternal then loosened up and broke free. He then landing a blow straight onto Thunder Drum's face with his left hoof in a hook motion. Eternal charged at him and began his assault on him once again. The two stallion weren't letting off, not even for a second.

Then Thunder Drum blew Eternal Flames down onto the hard ground using with his powers sending him several feet away. Eternal felt the pain as he hit the ground head first. He attempts to get up but Thunder Drum was too quick as he flew a lightning speed and pinned him to the ground with his entire body. Eternal coughed up a few droplets of blood.

"You can't escape my grasp this time, "young prince." Thunder says. "Do you even know WHY my goal is to become king?" Eternal didn't really care about his ambitions, but he shook his head left and right to find out why he's doing this. "Think about it, this world is filled with evil and all we're doing so far is sitting on our flanks doing nothing but throwing half-assed parties while the ENEMIES are planning attacks that could cost us all of Equestria. I'm trying to do you all a favor by turning all the weaklings in Equestria into soldiers and finally put to stop to all evil once and for all! What do you think THAT makes me?"

"A moron!" Eternal replies, trying to get up. "The world IS filled with evil, but that's no excuse taking away the peaceful lives of the citizens of Equestria just to force them into war. Their lives are important to us. So tell me this. What will you do if they REFUSE to work for you if you did take the crown?"

"Is that even a question? I'd send the weak-minded traitors to Tartarus! I'll send all the weaklings there and keep the strong, anything else you want to say to that?" Thunder says with a grin.

"See, this is why you will NEVER be a leader." Eternal says, finally kicking Thunder off of him. "Your ambitions sicken me. A true leader fights for the weak. You're just to blinded by the fact that just because you have these powers you think you're above everypony else, but in reality you're NOT!"

"Say what you wish, but I WILL BECOME KING! Now let's finish this!" Thunder says, powering up.

"Yes, lets!" Eternal replies powering up as well. "I'll even show something else I've learned during your absence when you werre in Tartarus, but know that it'll leave quite an impact on BOTH of us."

The Tryant's Last Words

The gang has been on the search for Eternal Flames for almost half an hour, but still no sign of him. Sunset was beginning to fear the worst for Eternal thinking he wasn't going to make it. Heat Wave noticed Sunset getting stressed out and tries to comfort her.

"Sunset, remember, you have to keep calm, Eternal is fighting for all of us, including you AND your baby. He may just be an earth pony, but he's a lot stronger, smarter, and probably braver than us all." Heat wave explains.

"I'm just worried he'll get hurt far more than he did the last time he fought that monster!" Sunset replies, with a tear in her eye.

"Trust me, I'm worried about him as well, but he's been in situations far worse than when he fought against Thunder Drum." Shadow Force says, looking at Sunset with reassurance. "If he beat that bastard once before, then he can do it again. You just got to have faith in him knowing that he's always there your us...and always there for you."

"Thanks boys, it means a lot to me." Sunset says, smiling.

"So how will we know if he's gonna use his powers? He could be miles away from us using up all of his energy. Is there another way that you guys can find him?" Twilight asks the two rogues. Shadow Force and Heat Wave looked at each other and nodded and looked back at the Princess of Friendship.

"Actually there is." Heat Wave says.

"There's one technique Eternal knows that can never go unnoticed to any of us." Shadow says.

"What would that be?" Sunset asked.

--

"You moron, what surprise could you possibly have that could impact the both of us?" Thunder asks.

"You'll find out sooner than you think!" Eternal replies with a grin.

The next thing that happens is the earth shaking beneath their hooves, but both stallions stand still. Soon, Thunder starts witnessing what's going on with Eternal Flames. Sparks of flames starts flashing from the body while at the same time, his body turns a darker red than his mane and soon his entire body ignites in intense crimson flames. Thunder didn't know what was going on, but he felt that his power had been increasing more and more.

"PYRO BURST!!!" Shouted Eternal. He then moved at blinding speed with Thunder unable to keep his eyes on him. Soon, Eternal Flames appeared behind him and knocked Thunder Drum into the air with one swing of his left forehoof. Eternal didn't stop there however as he followed Thunder Drum up in the sky still wrapped up in his crimson flames and then lands a blow to the stomach, making Thunder Drum cough up blood. Eternal followed it up with a flurry of relentless punches and kicks at rapid speed until finally with one swoop from his left forehoof, he swatted Thunder Drum to the ground hard. As Thunder reached the ground, he landed hooves first trying to keep his balance as his body was dragging against the dirt. Finally he came to a complete stop.

The crimson flames around Eternal soon disappeared and his white fur coat came back. He then felt a sudden jolt in his body and grunted to himself in pain.

'Ouch, that hurt' Eternal said in his mind.

Thunder Drum spat out some blood from his mouth and before feeling the pain from Eternal's attack. 'That bastard got me good.' Thunder said in his mind. 'He managed to crack 3 of my ribs! I don't know what that attack was, but I'm not gonna let him get the better of me just because of some cheap tactic he learned.' That was his last thought before he surrounded himself in his powers and flies up to Eternal who he sees grunting in pain. A grin formed on his face and stopped straight in front of Eternal's face. "Oh now I see! You've perfected one of Pyro Judgement's forbidden techniques. Congradulations! Too bad you've sealed your fate too early." Thunder says.

Eternal couldn't get a word out with his grunting.

--

Meanwhile, the others are scattered in different directions still searching for Eternal until finally...

"I FELT IT!!!" Hurricane Blitz shouted.

"So did I and this cannot be good!" Tidal Wave said.

"W-what is it?" Fluttershy asks.

"It's Eternal Flames, I felt his power!" Hurricane replies.

"But how, darling?" Rarity asked. "Is he close by?"

"No, he's miles away from us, but he has a signature move that's noticable in any possible way." Tidal Wave explains. "This technique is called Pyro Burst. Which has the similar effects me and the other guys. My Aqua Burst, Hurricane's Ventus Burst, Spark Wave's Bolt Burst, Shadow Force's Dark Burst, and Ground Dasher's Terra Burst. It allows us Rogues to enhance our strength and speed as long as it's not used for far too long otherwise the user will feel enormous amounts of pain."

"In short, it's like a double-edged sword. A forbidden technique." Hurricane says.

"B-b-but if it's so dangerous...w-w-why do it then?" Fluttershy asked

"He tries to use it less and less, but when the situation becomes too much for his normal strength, he has no choice but to resort to using that forbidden technique." Hurricane explains.

"That's awful!" Rarity exclaims. "We must find him, soon! If he used that technique, surely you guys can point out the direction of where he used it at."

"It came from somewhere in our direction, mostly a little up north. We'd better alert the others!" Tidal says.

Soon, Tidal Wave and Hurricane Blitz stood by each other while Fluttershy and Rarity backed up a bit knowing it'd be too dangerous to stand to close to them when they're going to use their powers. The two rogues then shot a large amount of gusting winds and rising waters into the sky with all their might. Eventually the other rogues picked up on them and headed towards their direction.

--

"Now, why don't we end this little charade?" Thunder Drum asks. "Surrender yourself and maybe...just maybe...I'll make your demise quick and painless and I will see to it that your parents are spared."

"Do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to believe your bullcrap?" Eternal asked, grunting in pain. "You can't fool me with your cheap tricks or your lies anymore. I made a promise to my new home AND kingdom!" Eternal then paused and wiped some of his blood off of his mouth with his hoof and pointed it towards Thunder Drum. "I vow to win!"

"How can a pathetic prince such as yourself hope to win anything in your state?" Thunder asks skeptically unamused. "You've used up too much of your strength to even become an even match against me. Just give up and save yours-" Thunder then got cut off by Eternal.

"PYRO BURST TIMES 3!!!" Eternal shouts. He once again coated himself in crimson flames and his white fur became a darker red than his own mane color and this time, his power and speed increased even more. He then blasted Thunder Drum with a fireball at close range, sending him flying downwards deep into the earth's outer mantle. Eternal had to end his Pyro Burst shortly since the pain became to agonizing for him to linger it. He turned back into his normal state, panting and grunting. "Hopefully this time, he'll stay down!" Eternal flew down slowly towards the ground and landed softly on all fours. He still felt the pain from his last attack and just stood there, not moving a muscle so that the pain would subside.

Unfortunately, Thunder Drum flew high out of the pit with darkness and lightning surrounding him. This time, he was a lot more angrier than he ever was before. He was covered in bruises and blood stained his mouth. He then landed on top of a tall flat mountain (but not too tall) and stared down at Eternal Flames.

"This shouldn't be happening!" Thunder says to himself. "I don't understand it, I'm far stronger than this little wretch! Now he's sealed his fate, this planet is history! I'll destroy everything...EVERYTHING!!! DO YOU HEAR ME, ETERNAL FLAMES?! YOU ARE FINISHED!!!"

'Uh-oh...this isn't good! I still haven't recovered from the last attack!' Eternal thought to himself. 'Come on, body! Don't give out on me now!' Eternal struggled to try to move, but the pain was still lingering.

Thunder Drum was still looking down at Eternal Flames but then turned to look at his own hoof as he used it to wipe off the blood from his mouth and stared at it in frustration.

"Who does this fool think he's dealing with?" Thunder asks himself. "He's beneath me! I'll show him! I'll show them all! I will reduce this place to ashes!" With that last thought, Thunder shouted out loud, catching Eternal attention even more. "ETERNAL FLAMES, DODGE THIS NEXT ATTACK IF YOU CAN! BUT KNOW THAT IF YOU DO, YOUR PRECIOUS LITTLE PLANET WILL BE GONE!!!" Thunder than started gathering more of his power and then soared high into the sky.

"NO YOU CAN'T!" Eternal shouted.

Thunder Drum finally got into position and began to form a large black sphere with lightning rings surrounding it.

"THE CHOICE IS YOURS, ETERNAL! BUT EITHER WAY, YOU ARE GOING TO PERISH!!!" Thunder shouted, still powering up his strongest attack.

"No, not yet! I'm worn out!" Eternal said to himself. But he knew he had no other choice but to use his attack again. "I...I don't have any time, it's now or never!" Eternal then hunched back a bit. "PYRO BURST TIMES 3!!!" Eternal then shouted and surrounded himself in his crimson flames and fur again. "Let's see how he likes THIS attack!" Then the flames around him started to form what looked to be a phoenix what was gryphon sized. "SACRED FIRE PHOENIX ARTS:....FLAMING..." Soon the ground below his hooves started to shake with small pebbles and rocks floating into the air a bit.

"NOW, ETERNAL...PREPARE YOURSELF FOR OBLIVION!!!" Thunder shouted.

"TEMPEST..." Eternal shouted, still powering up his attack, making rocks fly everywhere.

"LIGHTINING NIGHTMARE!!!" Thunder shouted as he fired off a large wave of black aura surrounded by tiny lines of lightning

"BLAAAAAAAST!!!" Eternal shouted as he fired a wave of large flames.

Their attacks then collided against each other as the two stallions tried to break through their attacks.

--

"Guys, did you feel that?" Shadow asked the others.

"Yeah, Eternal must be in trouble, we have to hurry!" Heat Wave said.

The gang then hurried over to the direction of where they felt Eternal's powers and finally found him. But soon they saw how he was struggling to stay dominant over the attack. Sunset Shimmer saw the danger he was in and immediately teared up once again.

Thunder Drum then saw the others and became quite annoyed, but then kept his focus back on Eternal as they both kept up their attacks hoping to take control of the fight.

"It can't be! His beam is as strong as my Lightning Nightmare!" Thunder said to himself.

Eternal was beginning to slip but bit as he struggled to keep up his attack. Finally he made one decision that was really going to give him one hell of a wallop.

'I've got to take it further!' Eternal thought to himself before speaking out loud. "PYRO BURST..........."

"ETERNAL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? NO!!!" Heat Wave and Sunset shouted in unison.

"TIMES FOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUR!!!!!" Eternal shouted adding more power and force to his attack, being able to dominate over Thunder Drums attack and forced it back further and further towards Thunder Drum.

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Thunder Drum shouted as the attack scorched him and sent him flying deeper into the sky.

Eternal Flames reverted back to his normal state, panting from the exhaustion. He then collapsed on his left side still panting heavily from having to fire off his enhanced attack. While he was down, the gang ran over to him.

"ETERNAL!!!" They shouted in unison.

"You finally did it, bro!" Heat Wave said. "You finally defeated Thunder Drum."

"That took a lot of guts, buddy" Ground Dasher said, patting Eternal on his back. But Eternal gave a slight shout in pain in return.

"Careful, Ground." Eternal said. "I'm still a bit sore from using that last attack."

"Sorry buddy." Ground Dasher says.

"You had me worried sick!" Sunset says, leaning her face closer to her lover's own. "I know why you had to use that attack, but look at you, you're barely breathing! I can't stand the fact that I might've lost you!" Sunset then buried her face into Eternal's neck, sobbing.

"Sunset, please... Seeing you cry makes my heart brake." Eternal says, looking at Sunset. "I apologize for worrying you, but I had to do what I had to do. For your sake...and our child."

"Child?" Twilight asks.

"Didn't you know?" Heat Wave asks. "Eternal and Sunset are going to be parents."

"SUNSET IS PREGNANT?!?!?" The girls shouted in unison.

"Apparently." Spark Wave replied.

Then Spark Wave and Shadow Force felt a sting inside them and stared at the sky above. The others noticed their behavior.

"What's up?" Rainbow asks.

"Thunder Drum..." Spark replies.

"What do ya mean?" Applejack asks. "Don't tell me that their dog gone tyrant is still lingerin' about up their."

"Unfortunately, that's exactly the case, AJ." Shadow replies. "Thunder Drum might've gotten caught in the blast...but there's no way that attack will make him kick the bucket...he's still very muc alive."

Soon the rest of the gang saw what looked like a black mass heading straight towards them.

"EVERYPONY, LOOK OUT!!!" Twilight shouted, teleporting herself and the gang away from the black mass. It soon landed straight into the ground and disappeared revealing the same stallion with white fur and black mane. But the black mass revealed him injured beyond any treatment that was available. Thunder Drum was breathing heavily, covered in blood and bruises and burn marks all around his body unable to use anymore strength.

"Damn...I...I failed again." Thunder said to himself, trying to stand up. Twilight and Sunset both approached him with their horns glowing with magical energy. Thunder Drum stared at the girls with a frustrated frown upon his face, knowing that his time had come.

"This is for what you did to Eternal Flames." Sunset said angerly.

"And for kidnapping Heat Wave along with threatening the innocent lives of everypony in Equestria." Twilight followed through. "Do you have anything else to say before you recieve your punishment?"

"Just shut the hell up and kill me already." Thunder retorted, never braking eye contact. "I'm all used up so you might as well put me out of my fucking misery."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, quirking her eyebrow at what he just said. "When I said "punishment" I was talking about sending you back to Tartarus."

"Bullshit, I'd rather die than to go back to that hell hole." Thunder grunted.

"Even if you were to die, you'd still end up in Tartarus." Sunset replies, still having a mad look on her face.

"I don't give a damn, if you're not gonna finish me off, then just let me die here." Thunder said.

"Thunder Drum..." said Eternal, as he got up, still a bit shaky and injured. "What's with you now?" Eternal asks, walking towards the fallen stallion slowly as possible.

"Shut up, you little wretch!" grunted Thunder.

"I'm starting to think your plans for taking over Equestria were just an excuse for some other reason." Eternal says.

"I said SHUT UP!" Thunder shouted.

"What was the real reason you did this?" Eternal asked.

"SHUT UP!!!"

"TELL ME NOW!!!"

"FINE, JUST SHUT UP AND I'LL TELL YOU!" Thunder then paused and finally spoke in a more calmer tone. "You were always the lucky bastard back home in the Rogue Kingdom. Surrounded by your loving family and your subjects while I was always referred to as an outcast in my own damn home town."

"That's the reason why you threatened the lives of so many innocent ponies...because of your jealousy?" Eternal asked "Thunder Drum, you moron, that's nothing but a-" He's then cut off by Thunder Drum.

"I'M NOT DONE YET!" Thunder shouted. "I was all alone...no family...no friends...and worst of all...no support. I forced myself to compete in the Rogue Colossium to finally get the recognition I desperately wanted! That's when YOU came along and took just about EVERYTHING from me! They all mocked me, they laughed at me...I WAS NOTHING BUT A JOKE!!! I was left with only one thing left that would finally shut them all the hell up and finally get the respect I deserve..."

Eternal then had a shocked expression on his face realizing just how guilty he felt never knowing the truth behind Thunder's Drums recent actions until now.

"I... If you really felt that way..." Eternal paused "Why didn't you just tell me and my father? We would've been more than able to help you out if you hadn't tried to kill all those innocent lives or try to take the throne by force."

"Negotiations meant nothing when it came to my hubris! A stallion like you could never understand!" Thunder replied back with a tear running down his eye.

"Hubris? What does that mean?" Pinkie asked.

"It means he has an excessive pride." Spark replies.

"You just don't understand what it meant to be left all alone!" Thunder said.

"Wrong." Eternal replied, causing Thunder's eyes to shoot wide open and turn towards him. "You probably don't know this, but I use to be left all alone as well. It was a terrible feeling for me as well. I was only 6 years old during that time. Everypony thought I was a menace as well and it hurt me just as much as it did for you. I even made the same mistake you did. I threatened the life of some colt who was picking others as well as me. It's happened a lot during my childhood when my other two friends were being picked on. You can call me a softly all you'd like, but what I say to you right now is the truth."

Thunder Drum wasn't saying a word, but instead closed his eyes tightly, trying to hold back the tears. Finally he opened them slowly and started to speak more calmer than ever.

"There you go again. Always speaking in ways that give you the praise that makes you feel good." Thunder says, finally letting more tears run down his face. "It pains me to say this...but I guess you make a far better fighter...and a far better leader than I'll ever be." Thunder Drum then coughed up blood and Eternal got worried, he tried to pick him up, but Thunder Drum stopped him. "Don't bother! I'd rather spend the rest of my life in the pits of Tartarus rather than live like a failure in the land of Equestria. Besides, I don't think anypony would welcome me after this whole ordeal went on."

"So that's it, huh?" Eternal asks.

"Afraid so." Thunder replies and then looks at the girls. "Well, go ahead and send me back."

"Are you sure about this? I mean, there's still a chance for you to turn around and start over." Twilight says.

"I'm positive, now hurry up and send me back to Tartarus." Thunder replies softly.

Twilight looked at Eternal for his approval and was replied with a nod. She and Sunset then approached Thunder Drum and gathered their magic together and casted a spell, making the ground beneath Thunder Drum open up a vortex and pulled him in. Thunder Drum looked at Eternal with a grin and spoke his final words...

"You truly deserve the titles of "Prince of Equestria"...and "The Strongest Guardian of Equestria." With that, Thunder Drum was out of their sight as the vortext finally disappeared.

Eternal was feeling a bit relieved knowing that he finally stopped Thunder Drum, but at the same time he was a bit saddened about the fact that his old kingdom had treated him so unfairly. That was his last thought before nearly collapsing. But Ground Dasher quickly intervened and caught him and threw him on his back.

"You've done enough for one day, buddy." Ground Dasher said softly. "Now lets get you back home and take care of those wounds, you took quite a beating."

"T-T-Thanks...Ground Dasher." Eternal said softly before falling asleep. The gang then followed Twilight back to Ponyville which was rougly half an hour away. They were able to make it back safely and took Eternal Flames back to the hospital where he had to spend 2 weeks in order to fully recover from the damage he sustained.