My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic presents

The Dark Stallion

Episode 11: Rescue From The Everfree Forest, Or The Escape From It?

Last time on My Little Pony:

Celestia and Luna had been kidnapped and taken to the abandoned castle in the Everfree Forest. The Shadow Clan wanted to use them to resurrect their leader, the Dark Stallion. In life, he had been initially chosen to be Equestria's sovereign ruler, but was dismissed in favor of the two alicorn sisters, and was banished into darkness when he sought to rise up against them. Their very life force was drained to bring him back to life, but his true magical power had yet to be restored. For that, they would require the Elements of Harmony themselves. Will Twilight Sparkle and her friends be captured for the Dark Stallions sinister purposes?

Thousands of Years in the Past

“My queen, my liege, what is the meaning of this?”

Am armor-clad stallion stood concealed within the shadows of a throne room as he knelt before the royal dais. Upon that dias, sitting upon her royal throne, was Princess Platinum, dressed in her royal regalia. Next to her stood Clover the Clever; and next to her, Starswirl the Bearded. Two royal guards stood on either side of the dias.

Princess Platinum, from atop her throne, gazed upon the stallion. “I regret to inform you, my dear, that what I speak is the truth. Though I had originally considered you for the role of Equestria's sovereign, Starswirl here, in his mighty wisdom and discretion, has found two candidates more suitable for that position.”

The stallion rose from upon his knees and took a defiant stance from within the shadows. “But that honor had been promised to me. How could you so easily revoke it? Have I not served you loyally? Have I not fought in your honor? Have I not won you countless wars and battles?”

The unicorn princess could only tilt her head and close her eyes in sorrow. “You have indeed been a noble warrior, but this new land will need more than mere brawn to lead it. It will require a leader who is as strong in heart as he is in will—a loving heart guided by honesty, loyalty, kindness, generosity, as well as laughter, one that will unite this new kingdom with friendship.”

She gazed at Starswirl, standing next to her assistant, Clover. “Starswirl here has found such a heart in the two alicorn sisters, Celestia and Luna. He and the 12 pony tribe elders have seen fit to prepare them for their new role as Equestria’s royal sovereigns.”

The stallion, less than pleased by this news, drew a sword from his side. “That throne rightfully belongs to me, and I will take it, whether you give it willingly or not.”

He made a mad dash forward and leapt toward the princess, his sword drawn high above him. Before he could strike down upon her, his sword was stopped by two spears, each belonging to the respective guards on either side of her.

The princess merely winced within her throne, her two guards being the only ones keeping the sword from coming down upon her head.

Starswirl took one step forward and struck his staff upon the ground. “You would dare defy your liege, betray your kingdom?”

The stallion took one leap back and swung his sword at the others, pointing at them with its tip. “The only traitors here are you and the others who conspired to take from me what is rightfully mine. That throne was promised to me, and I will take it back for myself!”

Present Day

Ponyville glowed orange with flames engulfing every building and tree. The night sky darkened with billows of black smoke rising into the air, along with the screams of frantic ponies scrambling and fleeing throughout the inferno-engulfed town.

Booming from the sky above like thunder roared a sinister laugh that echoed through the town. From the swirling dark clouds above appeared the image of the Shadow Mare, whom glared down upon Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

“Elements of Harmony, heed my warning,” the Shadow Mare told them, “surrender yourselves, or witness the destruction of all that you hold dear.”

The Shadow Mare resumed her maniacal laughter once more, whipping the towns ponies further into a panicked frenzy, and forcing Twilight and the others to cower under her presence.

Just then, a sudden breeze rushed through the town, and all the buildings ceased burning. They had returned to their original state, almost as if they had never been set afire. The town stood unharmed, untouched, as if nothing had happened to it that cold night.

All the town ponies whom had previously been panicking stopped once they realized all had returned to normal. They stopped dead in their tracks to survey their surroundings, confused and dumbfounded at what had just occurred.

Equally confused were Twilight and the others.

“What—what just happened?” she asked, eyebrow raised.

“Elements of Harmony,” the Shadow Mare bellowed once more, “what you just witnessed is but a vision of what will befall your beloved Ponyville if you do not surrender yourselves to the Dark Stallion. Come to the castle in the Everfree Forest before sunrise, lest this fate come to pass.”

The dark clouds quickly dissipated, and the night sky returned to its cloudless array of moon and stars.

As the other town ponies, bewildered by what had just occurred, returned once more to their domiciles, Twilight and the other remained standing outside, pondering their current situation.

Ninja Star turned to Fluttershy. “The castle in the Everfree Forest?”

“She must be referring to the Castle of the Two Sisters,” Fluttershy replied. “That’s the old palace where Celestia and Luna used to live thousands of years ago. It's where they had stored the Elements of Harmony. Oh, but now it seems as though the Shadow Clan have taken residence there."

Ninja Star nodded with eyes closed. “It appears as though our foes have been hiding right under our own noses this whole time.”

Apple Jack scoffed. “Well, if that’s the case, they’ve managed to hide their scent better than a pole cat hiding out in a compost pile the day Granny Smith dumped out her spoiled three-month-old apple chowder. Ain’t no pony here in town is crazy enough to venture out into those dang woods alone. It’s the most likeliest place for them Shadow Thugs to be hiding out.”

Twilight stepped forward. “Well, it seems like we’re the only ponies crazy enough to venture to that old castle. We did it before when we defeated Nightmare Moon, and we’re going to have to do it again to defeat this new threat.”

Pinkie Pie pointed to where the woods stood. “Looks like Xander’s beat you to the chase.”

Twilight looked to where Pinkie was pointing and saw as the stallion was racing toward the Everfree Forest.

“Xander!” she shouted before blinking out in a flash.

Within a blink of an eye, Twilight appeared before Xander, who reeled backwards in shock.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The mare asked of the stallion.

“Where does it look like I’m going?” The stallion replied, pointing to the Everfree Forest. “Did you think I was going for a midnight stroll?”

“And you weren’t even going to wait for us?”

“What made you think I wanted you to come along?”

Twilight let out an exasperated grunt. The last time she felt so frustrated was when she reached an impasse trying to figure out Pinkie Sense. Had she felt any angrier, she would have burst into flames as well.

“Have you learned nothing from tonight?” she yelled at him. “Have you learned nothing from your time with us?”

Xander remained unfazed. “The only thing I learned tonight is that there’s an evil force lurking within the forest who has taken both ruling monarchs hostage and who seeks to take over Equestria by resurrecting an ancient evil."

“Which is why you need as many ponies as you can to assist you,” Twilight interrupted.

“No I don’t! Those thugs are clearly after you and your friends, and the last thing you need is to practically walk into their trap and give yourselves up. You need to stay here where it’s safe and let me handle this. I spent four years within the kingdom’s most prestigious military academy and graduated from it with high honors. I know you believe in your 'magic of friendship,' but if anyone can handle this on their own, it’s me.”

Twilight was about to interject, but before she could, she felt a hoof upon her shoulder. She turned to see that it was pink, along with the pony whom it belonged to.

“Pinkie?” she asked.

Pinkie pushed Twilight aside. “Let me handle this.”

The pink pony approached the unicorn colt.

“Look buddy,” she addressed him nonchalantly, “I get you’ve got this whole brooding loner shtick going, but if you ever paid any attention in school, you’d know that the loner always succumbs to the help of the group in the end. It’s just one of those unavoidable tropes ya gotta work with, so stop fighting and go with the flow.”

Xander’s expression shifted from serious to confused, his mind unable to comprehend what he just heard. “But—”

Pinkie placed her hoof upon his lip, preventing him from saying another word.

“Up bup bup! No buts! Twilight tried to weasel her way out of the situation when we agreed to help her defeat Nightmare Moon. Now it’s your turn to reluctantly accept out help in defeating this baddie.”

She let go of Xander as she started to bounce toward the forest. The others had by this time caught up to them and followed her lead.

“Now come on and let’s kick some Shadow Clan can-can. We’re the only mares bad enough to rescue the princesses.”

Xander could only stand awestruck and confused at what had just transpired. Twilight placed a hoof upon his shoulder. “She has a point.”

Xander could only grunt and follow Twilight and the others as they ventured into the woods.

Twilight and her friends traversed the Everfree Forest as they originally had when they first sallied forth to confront Nightmare Moon. However, unlike their previous endeavor into the woods, their journey was not as prolonged.

During this trip, there was no sea serpent preventing their cross over the river, no scary trees to impede their progress, no manticore to block their path, and no fleet of Shadow Bolts to cut away the bridge for them. As such, the six ponies (and their two additional stallion companions) reached the old castle more quickly than they had originally, arriving within at least a half hour’s walk.

The eight ponies stood before the tall, dilapidated wooden doors of the castle, which stood equally as dilapidated as when the ponies first arrived many moons ago—if anything, the palace was equally as intimidating within the darkness of the night and forest as it was before.

No sooner had the ponies approached the doorway when the two looming doors creaked open upon their loud, rusty hinges, as if pried open by invisible hands. One could have easily dismissed this as an act of the wind, but the air that night was too deathly still for the wind to take the blame.

Xander leered into the darkness of the darkened hallway opened before them. “It seems as if we’re expected.”

Most other ponies would have turned heel and rushed off into the opposite direction, but these eight were prompted inside merely by duty, and so they entered.

Once the last pony entered with their last footstep stepping inside, the door behind them promptly closed as it had opened. Most other ponies would have been startled by this, especially Fluttershy, but as duty moved them forward, it prevented them from heading back. They were certain to leave with their princesses or not leave at all.

Down the hallway the ponies tread, kicking up dust that had collected for more than a millennia, their hoofsteps echoing off the dilapidated walls, upon which sound had barely echoed for equally as long as the dust had been kicked up. What little light that shone from the moon outside poured through the open windows, illuminating the way forward for the ponies.

Within a minute or so, they reached the end of the hall and entered the mezzanine, equally as empty and in ruin as the hall before it. As its windows were much wider, much more light poured inside to reveal the staircase and mezzanine, along with the many banners hanging from the walls about, their fibers long worn and torn by time.

Twilight cast her gaze about the room. “Where do you think they’ll be?”

Xander charged before her. “Doesn’t matter where they are: they’re going to come here.”

He stood in the center of the room, standing at the foot of the stairs that led to the mezzanine. “Show yourself, cowards. Come out and tell what you’ve done with the princesses.”

His voice echoed off the surrounding walls, and was answered with laughter that soon echoed along with it.

In a swirl of wind and puff of purple smoke, Slash appeared center stage high upon the mezzanine.

“Once again, as the fly falls within the spider’s web, so have you fallen into my most elaborate of traps,” the mantis boasted. “Though it appears as though you have become trapped through your own will.”

Xander refused to remain patient, stomping one hoof upon the floor. “Enough monologing! Where are the princesses?”

Another puff of smoke exploded to Slash’s right, and from it appeared Swoosh, cackling.

“Sorry to disappoints youse guys, but I’m afraid your princesses are in another castle,” the tengu quipped.

Another smoke cloud exploded to Slash’s left, and from it appeared Squish, who also gave a cackle.

“What my colleague means to say is that your princesses are within this castle,” the kappa wizard replied. “But at the same time, they are not all here.”

Xander merely grit his teeth as a vein popped on his forehead. “What is with you evil villains always refusing to give a straight answer and speaking in riddles?”

Squish replied with a smirk. “It matters not what you think, for it is far too late to save your darling princesses.”

Swoosh crossed his arms with a haughty grin. “Youse seese, our boss has finally returned from the other side—if you know what I’m saying?—and he’s come back to claim what’s his, which particularly would be the throne of Equestria, capeesh?!”

Slash likewise crossed his claws. “Unfortunately, though our dear leader has returned, his great power has not been restored. For that, he requires the Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight stepped in from of Xander. “But you lot took the Elements with you when you captured the princesses."

Squish struck his staff upon the floor. “Yes, but the Elements themselves are mere remnants. To achieve their true power, they require the catalysts from which they derive their magic,” he flung his staff forward to point at the ponies below, “by which, I mean you six.”

Apple Jack stood her ground. “And what in the hay makes y’all think we’re going to help you?”

Squish cackled as he returned his staff to its upright position. “Whatever made you think you were going to relinquish your magic willingly? Did you assume that we brought you here for a surprise party?”

Pinkie Pie stepped forward. “As a matter of fact,” she pointed at the three minions, “we very much did, and we are extremely disappointed at the lack of party.”

Within a heartbeat, her demeanor shifted from angry to curious, as she placed her hoof under her chin. “Of course, any party would have sufficed. We could have had a birthday party. Or a graduation party. Or a pool party. Ooh! Even a bachelorette party. But who would be the lucky mare-to-be?”

Slash rubbed the temples of his forehead as the pink pony listed off the many different types of parties. “Ugh! The pink one doeth protest too much.”

Squish waved his staff forward. “Leave her to me."

In a glow of blue light, one of the hanging banners fell from the wall and levitated toward Pinkie Pie, enveloping her within it. Most other ponies would have been shocked by this, but as the banner lifted her off the ground and toward Squish, she merely acted intrigued by the feat.

“Ooh! Is this a magic trick?” She asked as she floated upon the banner in the air like a flying magic carpet.

Squish held out his glowing staff in the direction of the banner, controlling it as one would control a kite by the string.

“Now you see her!” he exclaimed, folding the banner in on itself and concealing Pinkie Pie within it like a bag.

With a flick of his wrist, the banner turned upside down, unfolding to reveal it empty and the pink pony vanished.

“And now you don’t,” he replied with grim grin.

The others gasped in shock to see their friend vanished without a trace.

Twilight bolted forward and threw her hoof forward, pointing at the kappa wizard. “What have you done with her?”

Squish laughed. “The same thing that I will do with the rest of you.”

With another flick of his wrist, he sent the banner flying toward Twilight to capture her as it had caught Pinkie.

When the fabric flew mere inches from the purple mare, Xander quickly intercepted it. With a burst of magic from his horn, he sent a fireball crashing right into it, enveloping it entirely in flame until it quickly became snuffed out in a puff of ashes.

“Everybody, scatter!” he yelled. “This is not a drill.”

Upon his word, the ponies scattered into three different directions. Both he and Twilight turned to bolt through the hallway from whence they came. Fluttershy, Ninja Star, and Rarity fled into one hallway, while Rainbow Dash and Applejack fled into the one opposite of theirs.

Squish raised his staff above his head. “I do love a good chase.”

In a flash, he spun in place and disappeared into a purple whirlwind. The other two did likewise.

Twilight and Xander rushed down the hallway through which they had previously came. What had taken them a minute’s walk had now taken them a half minute’s sprint as they reached the tall wooden doors.

With a glow of his horn, Xander caused the doors to open before them, allowing them easy passage as they raced out the door and onto the bridge that crossed the moat.

Before either of the two unicorns could cross to the other side, appearing at the very end of the bridge right in front of them in purple smoke was Squish.

The kappa wizard promptly raised his staff within the air, and flinging it in their direction, launched a fireball towards them.

No sooner had he or Twilight blinked than Xander created a shield of cyan light, shielding them from the blast, and bouncing the fireball back at the wizard who had launched it.

Squish became enveloped within a burst of flame and quickly dissipated like a wick to a candle. His defeat had come easy—too easy!

Sensing something behind him, Xander turned in time to intercept yet another fireball. This time, he launched his own, which collided with the other and caused the two to destroy each other.

As the embers from the explosions flickered out of existence like the debris from a firework, through the fading smokescreen appeared Squish himself.

The wizard merely stood and smirked at the two unicorns. “As much as I would love to show off my grandiose skill, I have far better things to do, like returning the mare to my master.”

Xander grit his teeth as he stood his ground in front of Twilight, guarding her.

“Besides,” Squish flipped his wrist, “It’s quite apparent that my magic is far more powerful than your own, so why bother testing something that is already proven?”

In a burst of anger, Xander shot a lightning bolt at the kappa, who quickly deflected the attack with his staff, sending the lightning bolt into the direction of a far off tree.

“I have no qualms proving myself,” Xander replied. “Besides, we have a score to settle. You killed my father, so prepare to die!”

Through a narrow hallway lined with suits of armor raced Fluttershy and Ninja Star with Rarity trailing behind, huffing and puffing to keep up with the more agile ninja and pegasus.

Rarity had barely caught up to the two when she felt the floor beneath her revolve almost like a lazy Susan. When her sight had caught up with her other senses, she saw as the wall and floor she was standing on revolved in on itself. Before she could cry out for help, she found herself trapped behind the other side of the wall.

Fluttershy glanced back and nearly ran off to chase after her friend, but a hoof caught her shoulder and forced her to keep moving forward.

“Rarity,” she called out with her hood stretched out.

“No!” Ninja Star interjected. “It is too late for her, we must make our own escape.”

The two continued along the hallway, turning the corner to another one. Light shimmered at the very end, and they saw as it lead outside.

Through the door they escaped, and they found themselves in a closed-off courtyard. In its former days, it very well could have been a garden with blossoming flowers and trees, and water rushing and gushing within the fountain. Now, in its present state, the courtyard merely stood as a cobblestone floor with ivy peaking and creeping within the cracks, with rows upon rows of desolate flowerbeds of mere dirt and rock, and a dry fountain from which no water flowed.

Standing in the middle of this courtyard, the two horses leant upon one another. Fluttershy rested against Ninja Star’s bosom, feeling and hearing his rapid breathing and heartbeat as her own heart fluttered and lungs burned. Though her own racing heart made her feel tired, for Ninja Star, his heart only kept his adrenaline flowing, preparing him for anything else they would come across.

Case in point was the kunai knife flying directly towards him.

He pushed Fluttershy aside, and whipping out his katana, intercepted the knife, swatting it away almost like striking a baseball with a bat.

Fluttershy crouched beside him as they gazed up in the direction from whence the kunai flew.

Standing atop a nearby tower was Slash, his silhouette perfectly framed within the moon shining behind him. Upon one leg he stood with his arms crossed.

“There is no need for us to fight, young swordsman,” the mantis announced. “I merely require the young mare, and if you turn her over, no blood will need to be shed.”

Ninja Star whipped his sword in front of Fluttershy, guarding her. “You have taken away two other mares in my life. Why would I willfully give away another to you? Come down, and I shall willfully shed your blood.”

Slash leapt within the air and summersaulted three times before landing in a fighting stance with his two claws seethed before him like swords.

“So be it.”

Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack raced down an empty hallway. While the earth pony was able to maintain a gallop, she still trailed far behind her pegasus friend.

With a sudden burst of energy within her, she managed to sprint forward at a much faster pace, but before she could reach the rainbow-maned mare in front of her, she stumbled upon the floor, and began rolling down an incline.

A trap door opened beneath her, and she rolled inside like a tumbleweed down a hill. As she disappeared into the floor, her sudden disappearance went unnoticed by Rainbow Dash, who kept her sight forward as she furiously flapped her wings.

The end of the hall opened up to a stairwell up which Dash flew. Being a pegasus meant not having to walk all the way up the stairs and instead flying straight to the top.

She exited onto a battlement which overlooked the decrepit castle. The building had once towered majestically over the forest, but now, most of it lay within ruins, with its towers and walls having since fallen.

Dash landed on the battlement floor and turned to call out for Apple Jack. She was shocked to see no one behind her. Obviously, she was faster than the earth pony, but not fast enough to lose her like this.

Under her hooves, she noticed a shadow passing over her. At the opposite end of the battlement she saw another pegasus land—a pegasus whose glaring eyes she’d never thought she’d see again.

“Sky Wind!”

Dash paced her way over to where the pegasus colt stood. So ecstatic she was to see him that she didn’t notice the sour expression on his face.

“Oh, I was so worried when those monsters ran off with you. I thought they may have harmed you. My friends thought you may have been one of them. They tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen. I knew you were—”

A kick to the face was what she was met with as soon as she approached him. Sky Wind had turned on his forehooves and kicked her with his hindquarters, sending her flying across the battlement and skidding all the way to the other side.

Painfully, she picked herself from off of the floor, and with bruised left cheek, gazed in horrified confusion at the colt she had assumed was her friend.

“S-Sky Wind?” Her head continued to reel from the attack, and her mind raced to comprehend what had just occurred. “What’s gotten into you?”

The colt merely chuckled. “Perhaps you should have listened to your friends. They were right about me.”

Staggering to stand up, Rainbow Dash could only gaze at him in confusion. “W-what are you saying?”

A harsh cackle echoed from behind her. She turned to see Swoosh landing behind her, falling upon one knee and supporting himself with his staff.

“What, is you hard of hearing or somethin’?” the tengu asked. “He’s sayin’ that he’s one of us. He was workin’ for us this whole time, or at least we is workin’ for him, what with him being the prince and all that.”

Dash gawked at the very word. “P-prince?”

“That’s right,” Sky Wind replied. “You’re looking at the son of the Dark Stallion himself, the heir prince to the rightful throne of Equestria.”

Dash shook her head. “Stop playing games with me. This isn’t funny.”

“Oh, he ain’t playing no games, missy,” Swoosh replied. “The only game he was playing was pretending to be yours friend, and if youse still thinks he is, then I’s gots a bridge to sell you, you know what I’m saying? He was acting like our, what do you call it, Manchurian candidate, or something.”

“You’re lying!” Dash barked at the tengu. “Sky Wind wouldn’t be working for you creeps.”

She raced back over to where Sky Wind stood. “Tell him. You’re not one of them. You’re just playing around. You’re one of us. You’re my frie—”

Another kick to the face was received by her, sending her toppling backwards onto the floor. Her eyes stung from the bruises under her eyes, which stung even more with the tears racing down her face.

She tried to painfully lift her head up, but was forced back down by Sky Wind’s hoof pressing her head into the cobblestone.

“Sorry, Dashie, but he’s right,” Sky Wind forced his hoof even harder onto Dash’s head, rubbing it further into the cobblestone, and forcing her face to become wetted more with tears and blood. “That whole time I was down there in Ponyville, nothing but a ruse to spy on you all and track down the amulet.”

His words wounded her more than him actually pressing his hoof upon her head and forcing her face to be scratched underneath her.

“The whole time I was with you and the others, I was merely acting, pretending to be your friend so I could keep a closer eye on you all.”

Even with her head planted against the rough cobblestone, rubbing against her face with the added pressure of Sky Wind’s hoof upon her head, the wounds that hurt worse were those being afflicted by every word spoken by Sky Wind. The pain only caused her to tear up even more, with her tears searing the wounds on her face like rubbing alcohol.

Sky Wind bent over with his face inches closer to Dash’s. “And to think, all this time, you honestly thought we were friends.”

Her bloodshot eyes reddened even bloodier as the anger within them shone through. In a single thrust, she pushed herself off of the floor from underneath Sky Wind’s weight, and in a single motion, kicked him in the face with her back hooves, causing him to fly across the battlement.

As Sky Wind recovered from the sudden attack, he bushed his face, which proved to be bruised less than his own ego. He sucked breath through his teeth, gleaning in a sneer. Across the battlement, he glared at Dash, who returned with a glare twofold harsher.

“No!” Her tears of sadness flowed into tear of rage that glowed red within her bloodshot eyes. “You may say you were only acting, but that time we spent together, the friendship that we shared, that was the real deal. I should know: I’m the Element of Loyalty.”

Sky Wind only smirked, which made Dash glare even harsher.

In a single leap, she thrust herself forward with right forehoove raised. "What we had was real, and I'm going to make you remember, even if I have to knock some sense into you."

Squish rose his staff in the air. The sapphire at its head began to fizzle with electricity. The electricity formed into ball lightning. When it had grown to the size of a soccer ball, Squish flung it toward Xander.

Without hesitation, the stallion created a magic shield in front of him, bouncing the lightning ball back toward Squish, who in turn struck the ball away from him with his staff, like a baseball bat would a baseball.

The two volleyed the lightning ball back and forth between one another. When it was sent back toward Xander, the stallion zapped a bolt of lightning from his horn, sending the bolt through the incoming ball, thus dissipating it, and straight at Squish, who, having failed to prepare for such an attack, was promptly struck.

Electrocuted, and with electric spark surging along his body, the kappa wizard was knocked off the balcony upon which he had been standing, and sent falling toward the bridge below. His body collapsed upon the stone, and in a puff of purple smoke, disappeared.

Xander should have been pleased by his attack, but deep down, he felt as though the victory was easy—too easy. His feeling was confirmed when he heard Twilight exclaim.

“Behind you!”

Xander turned and saw as Squish appeared opposite of him across the bridge. The wizard had flung his staff forward and unleashed a fireball, which neared Xander as he turned to face it. As the fireball approached him, it quickly dissipated upon striking a magic force field that appeared around him. The flames licked the outside of the shield, which glowed with a purple aura.

Xander was saved, but clearly not by his own doing. His magic was blue. This magic was purple. With a snarl, he whipped his head back at Twilight, who stood, horn glowing.

“Damn it, Twilight, what did you do that for?” he barked at her.

Twilight furrowed her brow. Her horn stopped glowing, causing the force field around Xander to disappear.

“‘Thank you for saving my life’ is usually the more appropriate response,” she retorted.

Xander continued glaring at her. “I already told you that I don’t need your help.”

“Like Tartarus, you do!” was Twilight’s reply.

Xander gazed back at Squish, who snickered in amusement. “This battle is between me and him. I don’t care what mortal danger I get into, I want you to stay out of this and let me handle it.”

Twilight did not reply, but instead took two steps back. Her friendship speeches clearly would not work on him at this point. This was clearly a battle of honor between him and the fiend who had killed his father. To intervene further, she thought, would be dishonorable.

Squish chuckled. “If you’re done squabbling with your marefriend—”

“She’s not my mare friend,” Xander snapped, mouth nearly foaming. “And I’ll take whatever you dish at me. I studied at the most prestigious military academy in Equestria and graduated with top honor.”

Squish rested his staff by his side. “And I studied magic for nearly a thousand years. You’re prestigious military honors are preschool-level quality compared to my magic.”

Not having any of it, Xander rushed forward with horn glowing.

Squish merely chuckled in response, and held forth his staff. “I’ve studied tricks you barely even heard of.”

As Xander approached, the kappa wizard began to reverberate in place, almost like a washing machine on its highest setting, and within a blink of an eye, the wizard began to circle around the stallion. As he did, the wizard began to multiply, until eight images of himself revolved around Xander, who stood his ground and surveyed the clones surrounding him.

Like the planets revolving within the solar system, the eight wizards revolved around the stallion, to the point where it was nearly impossible to tell who the original was. Xander knew only one was real and the others mere dopplegangers, but at this point, he could hardly tell.

As Squish and his doppelgangers revolved around Xander, they rose their staffs in the air. As before, the staff end surged with electricity, readying for an electric attack. Each Squish flung their staff forward, sending forth lightning bolts at Xander from every direction.

Before Xander could be struck, he summoned a magical force field that surrounded him like a dome, just like Twilight’s force field before, but with his blue magic rather than her purple. As each bolt struck the shield, it became reflected and flew right back at the Squish that summoned it.

When each Squish was struck by their respective bolt, all of them burst into purple puffs of smoke except for one. The real one was sent flying back by the impact, and he bounced across the bridge like a stone upon a water’s surface, bouncing once, twice, and three times before eventually skidding to a halt.

Xander dissipated his shield as quickly as he had summoned it. “Was that supposed to be your impressive feat of thousands of years of magical study? We learn that technique in military academy as freshmen. I didn’t even need to know who the real you was. I’d just let your own attack find that out for me.”

He stomped on the ground, summoning a glowing pentagram circle of blue energy. From it rose his signature pole staff with flowing ribbon. He grasped it with his magic and readied it for combat in a fighting pose.

“I don’t care how long you’ve been studying magic for,” Xander said as he rushed toward the fallen kappa wizard with pole staff raised. “My training has prepared me for everything.”

As Xander approached the kappa wizard, Squish rose from the ground using his staff to help prop him up. The wizard twirled his staff before striking it on the ground. His staff soon glowed with a dark blue light, and in a blink of an eye, transformed from a wooden staff to an iron sword.

His staff was not the only thing to change shape. He too began to glow with an indigo aura, and from the head down, began to change shape to that of a stallion.

This sudden transformation caused Xander to stop in his track—not because the magic had taken him off guard, but because of what—or rather, who—Squish had transformed himself into.

Once a kappa, he now stood as a stallion with the same colored coat and mane as Xander’s, though with much grayer hairs, to the point where it made his mane—and also, his beard—look more silver than cyan. He bore a striking resemblance to Xander, though he appeared to be much older. One could even say that he looked like Xander’s father.

Which he did.

Upon landing on his two feet and positioning his two claws before him like swords, Slash made a mad dash toward Ninja Star. In less than four sprints, he had neared his foe and swung his claws at him, only to have them parried by the ninja pony’s katana.

Slash exchanged a series of blows, each of which were parried by Ninja Star without even forcing a single bead of sweat. For nearly a minute, the mantis unleashed a flurry of attacks while the colt merely guarded himself against the seemingly endless barrage that only served to drive him back with every strike.

The mantis pulled back to lunge his claw straight into the colt’s face. Ninja Star jerked his head to the right, the blade of Slash’s claw mere centimeters from his face—any closer and it would have surely left a scarring gash upon his cheek.

Ninja Star spun away from the attack, whipping out his katana forward as he did so, ready to have it strike the mantis as he turned back towards him. Slash intercepted the attack, clashing his claw against the katana.

For nearly ten seconds, the two stood, blade against blade, each one exerting their strength to push against the other's attack. It seemed as though Ninja Star was beginning to have the upper hand, as he forced Slash back, only for Slash to shove against him even harder, sending him toppling onto his rump.

As Ninja Star fell upon the ground, Slash leapt into the air, both claws raised and ready to descend upon the felled colt. Before he could land upon his foe and deliver a fatal blow, the mantis was met with the colt’s hind hooves, which gave him a swift kick in the gut.

Slash flew backwards, but before he could fall onto the ground, his wings began to flutter, and he began hoving several feet into the air. As he flew higher and higher, he crossed his two claws, which glowed with purple energy.

“X-Cross Slash!” He slashed his claws forward, releasing two red energy beams.

Ninja Star had stood upon his feet once more when he saw the two beams racing toward him. He managed to leap up and out of the way, causing them to crash underneath him and tear up the old flooring into a cloud of dust.

As he leapt into the air, he managed to have leapt high enough to meet the mantis face-to-face.

The two once more clashed blades with one another—Ninja Star with his katana, and Slash with his two claws—as the two exchanged a series of blows in midair.

Fluttershy merely stood on the ground watching as the two exchanged blows. To her, their blades moved so quickly that they appeared to be nothing more than immaterial sliver flashes. No sooner had she blinked than the two disappeared.

The filly gasped. Oddly enough, even though the two had disappeared, she could still heard the clashing of their blades--though this time, it was coming from behind her. She turned to see the two continuing to fight within mid-air, but this time, they were hovering several yards behind her.

She blinked again, and once again, the two disappeared. She turned her head to see them fighting midair in the far-off corner of the courtyard. They would disappear and reappear several times more, each time appearing in another corner of the courtyard.

After five times, they reappeared right above her head. This time, she saw as Ninja Star swung at Slash, only for the mantis to dodge the attack, pull back his claw, and plunge it towards the colt’s chest.

Ninja Star managed to pull himself back in perfect rhythm with the claw, moving along with it. Had he remained still, the claw would have certainly pierced his heart.

The two then began to descend towards earth, and Fluttershy managed to race out of their way. She did not wish to interfere. This was Ninja Star’s fight, and his alone.

The two landed upon the ground, each one staring the other down with their swords drawn.

Ninja Star smirked. “It seems as though we are evenly matched.”

Slash chuckled as he slit his eyes into an evil glare. “Then it seems I must multiply my efforts several fold.

The mantis beat his wings like that of a hummingbird and began to fly sideways. He circled around Ninja Star, first at a speed that allowed the colt to rotate upon his hooves and follow his movement, but then at a speed so unimaginably fast that the colt was forced to stop and watch as his foe revolved around him like a slingshot being spun around his head.

Slash appeared as a single blur flying around Ninja Star. To the ninja pony’s eyes, it nearly appeared as if there were several mantises flying around him. Sure enough, as the mantis began to slow down, he revealed that there were, indeed, several clones of him joining in his revolution around the ninja pony.

When Slash stopped spinning, Ninja Star could count at least seven other Slashes surrounding him.

The stallion merely scoffed. “You are not the only one who can create clones of himself. I too have studied in the art of the ninja.”

Ninja Star stood upon his hind legs and cross his forehooves together. “Ninja Art of the Shadow Clone!”

He disappeared in a puff of smoke, which, when dissipated, revealed that he had likewise cloned himself, with his clones surrounding him and their number matching with Slash’s.

“And for every clone that you create, I can replicate twofold.” Upon saying that, his clones likewise crossed their forehooves and disappeared into puffs of smoke, which disappeared to reveal a clone of themselves.

Ninja Star and Slash stood within the courtyard 16 to eight.

Fluttershy could only gawk at the army standing before her, with Ninja Star and his clones clearly outmatching those of Slash.

For a whole minute, everyone stood silently within the courtyard, the only other noise being that of the surrounding trees fluttering with the night air. The silence broke as one clone sprinted forward, and like a chain reaction, caused the others to move likewise, with each clone of Ninja Star lunging toward a clone of Slash.

Purple and rainbow-colored streaks rushed through the night sky above as Sky Wind and Rainbow Dash engaged in aerial combat. From the ground below, the two appeared as comets in the night sky, each one ramming into the other, causing the other to bounce back. When one rammed into the other, the other was sent flying backwards, only to fly back and knock the other one back. The two appeared almost like pendulum balls within a Newton’s Cradle.

Back and forth the two exchanged blows, each sending the other back and back again. Once more, Rainbow Dash flew toward Sky Wind, ready to strike. Before she could, Sky Wind dodged her attack, sending her flying in a straight line before realizing she had passed him. When she turned, she saw Sky Wind flying away.

She grit her teeth in frustration as she came to an immediate mid-air halt before taking off into Sky Wind’s direction.

“Hey, no fair! Come back here, you coward,” she screamed as she chased after him. “That’s cheating!”

Sky Wind glanced back at her. “All’s fair in love and war.”

His taunt clearly angered Dash and caused her to fly even faster, allowing her to catch up to him and fly with him neck-to-neck.

“That depends,” Dash asked. “Is this love, or war?”

Sky Wind snarled at her. “Well, it’s most certainly isn’t love!”

He turned on his back and kicked his hind legs at her, causing Dash to stumble backwards in midair once, twice.

As she regained her upright position, she could not find Sky Wind anywhere in her line of vision.

From below, Sky Wind rushed at her, grabbing her, and carrying her away as he flew straight up. One hundred, two hundred, three hundred feet they rose into the air until Sky Wind flung her away, causing her to fly an additional hundred feet or so. Backwards she spun, once, twice, three times before stopping.

As she began to shake away her dizziness, she saw Sky Wind fly at her. Before he could strike, she dodged his attack, sending him flying several feet before realizing he had missed her.

He stopped in midair to survey his surroundings, looking for Rainbow Dash. Before he could look behind him, a hard knock came smacking him against the back of his head, followed by a kick to the stomach. Rainbow Dash had flown up behind him, punching him in the back of the head before kneeing him in the stomach.

Sky Wind could barely react when he found himself being turned upside-down and grabbed by Rainbow Dash with all four hooves. Wrestling fans would say she had him in a piledriver. The two of them were then sent plummeting to the ground below, the speed of their descent increased with the rapid flapping of Dash’s wings.

The last time Sky Wind was in this position, he was being saved by Dash; now, she was sending him to what looked like his doom.

The two raced to earth, with the castle and ground below fast approaching with every second. They fell at such a velocity that the air around them began to grow heavy and spiral around them, the wind fighting back against them. Simultaneously, Rainbow Dash began to glow with every essence of her polychromatic being. The friction of the air causing her to become engulfed in a flame of many color.

In but a split second, Dash tossed Sky Wind toward the castle while she shot upward in the opposite direction. As she did, she left behind an explosion of rainbow color that spread out over the castle, appearing in the sky like ripples on a water’s surface interrupted by a pebble, and cracking with a thunderous boom.

This was the third sonic rainboom that Dash had ever created.

As Dash flew up and away, a disoriented Sky Wind was sent hurdling toward one of the castle spires. He rammed right through it like a wrecking ball, causing it to tumble down into ruin, while he kept on flying toward yet another spire—this one managed to break his fall, his speed having been slowed by the previous spire.

He crashed straight into the second spire, leaving and imprint of his body before collapsing onto the battlement below.
Rainbow Dash flew toward the opposite side of the battlement facing Sky Wind across the other side, lying within the rubble of his impact.

“I hope that knocked some sense into you,” she yelled. “Now are you going to stop acting and go back to being your normal self?”

Sky Wind painfully lifted his head to gaze at her with a grim-grinning, if not painful, smirk. “Are you still on about that? This is my normal self. The Sky Wind you knew was a lie. He wasn’t real.”

This made Rainbow Dash snarl and race toward Sky Wind, whom she pinned against the wall, or what remained of it, in less than a split second.

“Yes you are,” she yelled directly in his face, with such force that she nearly caused an artery in her neck to pop. “What we had was real. The time we shared was real. The friendship we had was real. I don’t care who you used to be, the Sky Wind I know was a real friend who cared about others, even more so than himself.”

Her body shivered as she continued to force herself against him, pinning him against the wall, against which he hung limp. Her face and head became darker in anger. She had to force herself to continue glaring at him in the eyes, as her own began to water.

“Even if you regained you old memories, you still have to remember the memories we had in Ponyville.” The tears flowing down her face caused her to choke. “You have to remember. Remember!”

One of her tears fell off her face and directly into Sky Wind’s eye. He winced, not necessarily from the tears, but from a sudden flashback of recent memories.

~~~~

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just trying too hard to remember my lost memories,” Sky Wind told Rainbow Dash.

“I know you really want your memory back, but I guarantee you’ll get it back eventually,” she told him.

~~~~

“It’s only because I lost my memories that I met you and the others. Ever since losing them, I’ve been having so many adventures here in Ponyville. So…So sometimes I wonder what will happen if I regain my lost memories? Will I end up losing my new memories? Will I forget about my new friends? Will I forget about…about you?”

Rainbow Dash thought for a second before giving a hearty laugh. “You? Forget me? C’mon! No pony can ever forget a great pony like yours truly.”

She put her arm around his shoulder. “Besides, even if you were to forget about everything, I would still stick by your side to make sure that you remembered once again. After all, if you regain your old memories, surely you could regain your new ones to.”

~~~~

Celestia gazed at Sky Wind. "I know that deep down within even the darkest of hearts exists the smallest glimmer of light, and that no matter how dark that heart is, that light has a chance to shine if only given the chance.”

~~~~

“Sky Wind,” she called out to him, forcing him to look at her. “Do not follow the evil path laid before you by your mother and father. I know that there is some good in you.”

~~~~

Sky Wind winced in pain as these memories suddenly resurfaced to the forefront of his mind. He slowly reopened his eyes and focused back on Dash, whose face was contorted in bitter sadness and anger. All of those feelings faded away as she saw a concerned expression from Sky Wind.

The purple stallion chuckled painfully. “Now that you mention it, I do remember one thing.”

Dash frowned as she gazed into his green eyes. “What’s that?”

Sky Wind smiled ear to ear as best as he could in his condition. “I remember beating you in our first race together.”

What had started as tears of sorrow soon flowed as tears of joy as Dash hugged Sky Wind, embracing him warmly, as if she was welcoming back an old, returning friend.

Xander stood frozen in place. He had last seen his father alive ten years ago, before Squish, in the guise of a dead thief, murdered him in cold blood. Most would have been happy to see their dead relative alive once again. In this particular circumstance, that was not so for Xander, who stood quivering—in what? Grief. Shame. Disgust. Even he did not know.

Twilight could only raise her hoof to her mouth. She could see the pain in Xander’s eyes, though it did not show as much in his expression.

Xander’s father—or rather, the illusion of Xander’s father—merely chuckled a deep chuckle as he readied his sword, holding it before him. “Did your training prepare you for this?”

Xander did not reply. He could not. He remained standing, polestaff readied, fighting stance readied still. His face may have concealed his inner pain, but his watering eyes revealed his secret.

As one tear rolled down his face, he screamed out in agony, lunging toward what appeared to be his father, and bringing down his polestaff with every ounce of strength within him, only to be stopped by his father’s blade.

“Bastard!” he cried. “You think your magic tricks will distract me? You think I would be afraid to strike my own father?”

With every exclamation, he struck his polestaff against the blade. “It’s only succeeding in pissing me off, and it’s making me fight even harder against you with every fiber of my being.”

Before Xander could strike again, Squish leant right to dodge the attack. In the same movement, he swung his sword up to strike at Xander, who only leant backwards away from the attack.

The two exchanged blow for blow, each one countering the other’s attack. The exchange went on for about a minute or so. During that time, it seemed as though Xander had the upper hand, though it equally seemed as though he were waning in energy. Squish then began to take the upper hand, striking more times than he countered.

As Squish gave one slash forward, Xander leapt back out of the way of the attack. He then took his polestaff as one would hold a javelin and lunged forward.

As the polestaff plunged at Squish, the wizard in disguise leant away from the attack, only to end up stumbling backwards one, two, three times. In a puff of smoke, he returned to his normal form as he rested against his staff upon bended knee.

Xander drew back his polestaff and twirled it several times before striking the ground. “You might have taken his image, but you hardly mirror him in stamina. I should know, because he taught me everything I do know.”

With that, he leapt toward Squish with polestaff raised above his head, ready to strike down upon his felled foe.

Squish merely gazed up with a sinister grin. “Yes, but did he teach you everything he knew?”

The wizard struck his own staff upon the ground. Upon the ground over which Xander flew appeared a glowing white circle with a pentagram underneath him.

Fluttershy could barely comprehend the chaos erupting around her. Alone she stood in the midst of a battlefield upon which fought an army of 24, and yet it remained as a duel between two. She stood underneath the shadow of one of the courtyard statues, afraid to move, lest she find herself in the crosshair of two clashing swords, or in the trajectory of a flying kunai or shuriken.

Everywhere she turned, she could see Ninja Star clashing blades with Slash. Here, Ninja Star sliced right through Slash’s torso as easily as a hot knife would slice through butter. There, he had a kunai pierce through his forehead. And over there, he had wrestled the mantis off of him, and sooner then he had done so, flung a fistful of shuriken stars at his foe.

As each clone was defeated, it swiftly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sometimes, it would be one of Ninja Star’s; other times, it was Slash’s. Within the span of ten minutes, the battle slowly began to die down as its numbers likewise dwindled—having started with 24, then dwindling to 20, then 15, then five, and finally back down to the original two.

Through the entire ordeal, even though each clone of each original fighter was killed off at an equal rate, it was clear to Fluttershy that Ninja Star maintained the upper hand, with his clones outnumbering those of slash two-to-one.

Now the two foes found each other once again standing each other down, each one standing opposite the other, and with each one gasping for breath following their previous skirmish. The sweat on each of their foreheads glistened underneath the moonlight.

Ninja Star sneered. “It seems as though my own strength is twice that of your own. Anything you can do, I can do twofold.”

Slash likewise sneered. He crossed his claws, and two puffs of smoke exploded on either side of him. From the smoke appeared two more clones of his.

“Your youth may give you strength, but my age gives me experience, of which is clearly twice that of your own.”

Ninja Star gasped as he saw the two clones ready themselves within fighting stances.

Slash snickered. “I am just as capable of replicating myself as many times as you can. But while you foolishly expended your chakra by cloning yourself to your maximum, I reserved my own chakra to create as much clones as I only needed. And now that you have expended your necessary chakra, I can easily outnumber you.”

Ninja Star merely stood his ground and readied his katana. “It matters not how many clones you throw at me, I can strike down each and every one of them with ease.”

With that, he made a mad dash forward, his katana drawn, ready to strike any of the two clones than now positioned themselves before the original Slash as if they were his bodyguards.

Continuing his dash forward, he raised his katana overhead, and readied himself to send it down upon the closest clone—but before he could, both clones disappeared into puffs of smoke. This forced him to stop in place, freezing in a pose almost as if he were a statue.

When the smoke dissipated, it revealed that, where the two Slash replicas had stood, now stood two mares—both whom looked all too painfully familiar to the ninja pony.

One was a middle-aged mare wearing a pink kimono whose purple hair was woven into a beehive kept in place with a red pin; the other, a small filly who had equally purple hair tied into two buns on either side of her head, with the left one sporting a cherry blossom.

Whatever pain Ninja Star had endured that evening was multiplied twofold. Merely looking upon the images of the two dead mares forced a trickle of tears from his eyes. His arms ached as he forced them above his head, preventing his katana from falling down upon either mare.

Tsuri looked upon him. “Would you so easily strike me down with your sword, dear prince?”

“Or me?” Hana added.

One, two steps Ninja Star took backwards. His arms ached from steadying his sword, preventing it from falling to the ground, while likewise preventing it from coming down upon either mare’s head.

“Would you take our lives as easily as your adversary had taken it?” Tsuri asked.

“And would you avenge our deaths by bringing them about once more?” Hana added.

Fluttershy covered her mouth with both hooves. She could see the pain reflected within Ninja Star’s eyes as he was confronted by two close friends that he had lost.

From behind the two mares, Slash stood sporting a satisfied smirk. That smirk only fueled Ninja Star’s rage against him.

“Monster!” the ninja pony barked at him. “You think I don't know the difference between illusion and reality? You dare vex me with these images? You would create them in a vain attempt to stay my blade?”

Slash smirked even harder. “Not exactly.”

Before Ninja Star could figure out what his adversary meant by that answer, he heard Fluttershy cry out from behind him.

“Ninja Star-kun, behind you!”

“Hee! I see youse captured the rainbow-haired one, Sky Wind.”

From across the battlement flew Swoosh as he landed several feet away from the two embracing pegasi.

“Let’s go ahead and drag her back to your old lady so that we can—”

His eyes widened as he saw the two release their embrace to turn their attention to him.

“Hey! You wasn’t capturing her, you was hugging her. What gives?”

Sky Wind could only chuckle. “Yes, I was hugging her. That’s what friends do.”

The tengu raised an eyebrow. “Friend? C’mon, Sky Wind, don’t be a kidder. That was an act you was playing to get all close like with them.”

Sky Wind lifted himself from out of the rubble and shook away the dust. “I thought so, too. But then I remembered all the good times that I had with them. I may have had amnesia, and the whole thing may have initially been a ruse, but the feelings that I had during that time, the feelings I shared with them, were all genuine. Rainbow Dash, all of the ponies in Ponyville, they’re my friends.”

Swoosh scoffed. “You don’t needs no friends. Youse is the son and heir of the Dark Stallion, the true sovereign of Equestria. You has royal obligations to uphold, you know what I’m saying?”

Sky Wind shook his head and took one step forward, standing in front of Rainbow Dash. “Not anymore. I thought following in my father’s footsteps and fulfilling his legacy was the only thing I had going for my life, but after living down in Ponyville with the others, I discovered that there was a whole other world waiting for me, a world that would love me for who I am, and not because of some birthright or title.”

He took a look back at Rainbow Dash before glaring back at Swoosh. He spread his wings, almost as a shield to protect his friend, as he took a solid stance. “And I cannot let anyone, not even my father, take that world away from me, to take it away from anybody.”

Swoosh grew even more frustrated at the young prince’s words, which showed in his furrowed brow and grit teeth. “You would dare defy your mother and father?”

Sky Wind took yet another step forward, maintaining his mighty stance. “I would defy anyone who would hurt my friends. I’m willing to fight for them, because—”

He paused to look back at Rainbow Dash and smile, which she gladly returned, before turning back to Swoosh.

“Because I love them,” he finished. “And anypony who would give their soul has the power to change the world.”

Swoosh lunged forward and, in a single swoop, swiped Sky Wind upside the head with his staff.

“What type of saccharine sugar-coated sap is that?” Swoosh exclaimed. “That sounds like something youse would hear from a little girl’s cartoon, am I right?”

Sky Wind retaliated by reeling on his hind legs and pummeling Swoosh with his forelegs. The tengu was kicked back across the battlement and into the air, where he quickly took flight, flapping his wings to keep him in mid-air.

“Youse want a fight?” He asked. “I’llse gives yah a fight!”

Xander felt himself fall back to the ground, though far more quickly and with more weight than usual. He tried to move, but try as he might, struggle as he could, he could not move. His legs and feet felt numb as they stood firmly in place, almost as if they had been cemented to the earth below him.

He gazed at the ground and saw as he stood within a circle of glowing white light with a pentagram drawn within it, with him standing right in its center. About the circumference glowed white letters of an unintelligible language.

Xander turned his gaze back to Squish, who floated nearby, overlooking the circle. The kappa wizard returned a devious grin.

“Impressed, are you not?” he quipped. “You should be. After all, it was your genius father who invented this technique.”

Xander only further gritted his teeth. “My father?”

“You think that one time in your house was the first time I had confronted him?” Squish asked. “Not quite. I had previously run into him long ago during one of his quests for the Amulet. I had confronted him in heated combat, and had nearly overtaken him. Things were looking grim from him until your father did this.”

Xander continued to struggle to move his legs, but they would not budge, not even one inch. They were immobile, as was his entire body. It felt as if he had been transformed into a stone statue.

“Your father was an average fighter, Xander, but he was a brilliant scientist,” gloated Squish. “Who else but him would have thought of creating something like this? This magical circle was just what he needed to keep me at bay while he ran away for safety. Of course, as I exhibit blue magic, I was able to replicate it for myself, with some—modifications!”

Xander had enough strength within him to keep his head lifted and his gazed aimed at the Kappa. “What modifications?”

Squish waved his hand forward. “Observe for yourself.”

The outer rim of the circle began to revolve, almost like a vinyl record beginning its rotation upon a turntable. As the outer rim circled, the shape of the pentagram remained in place, yet started to reverberate within its glow, going from bright to dim, then dim to bright, almost like the light of a broken lightbulb.

From the outline of the pentagram and circle began to spark electrical energy. It sparked and flickered like the light emanating from a bug zapper, and it began to slowly creep around Xander’s legs.

He first began to feel the sparks prick his legs like needles, but then, as the energy intensified, it began to run up his legs and over his body, piercing and stinging him as though her were being stung by a swarm of bees.

“Your father merely invented this technique to trap his foes, but I have modified it to trap and kill,” Squish told Xander, witnessing with glee as the colt squirmed in pain as electricity surged through his body. “Now your own father's invention will be your own undoing, Xander!”

He raised his staff above his head, and shouted, “Ardeo!”

Like an electric surge igniting a gas fire, so too did the electricity surging through Xander ignite him as he burst into flame.

Xander yelled out as every inch of his body became engulfed within a single flame, with his body serving almost as a wick. Any burn he may have previously felt in life was intensified one hundred fold as flames raging across the spectrum from hot red to burning orange and scolding yellow licked his coat and flesh. He could have been doused with boiling water, and we would have been much cooler than he currently was engulfed in flame. His scream of agony was quickly squelched by the smoke rising into his throat and nostrils.

Twilight could only stand as steadfast as Xander as she watched him burn alive.

With his staff remaining raised, Squish gave a shout of, “Conglacio!”

The raging fire engulfing Xander soon died down to a simmering flicker. As the last flame was snuffed out, across Xander’s charred flesh stretched a thin patch of ice, which appeared upon his skin like morning frost on a window. Within a few seconds, he was encased entirely in blue and white ice, covering his body like frosted armor, and making him appear like a frozen statue. Now Xander felt more bitterly cold than he had ever felt before, making any previous instance he was out in below freezing weather feel like the warmest summer day.

One last time, with staff extended, Squish called out, “Attono!”

Once more, electricity surged through the outline of the circle and pentagram, and rushed up through Xander. So intense was this surge of electricity that it cracked his icy armor, chipping it away from his skin. As the ice around his head fell away, it freed his mouth, allowing him to freely shout in pain as the electricity intensified. From his body rose wisps of black smoke as electricity rushed through him inside and out.

With a sudden explosion, the electric surge burst from him. At that point, he could feel his heart stop as he blacked out. The light within the circled died, and with it, the magic that had kept Xander trapped, allowing him to feely fall to the ground into a steaming pile.

“Xander!” Twilight cried out to him.

Ninja Star heard a sharp whistle approaching behind him, causing him to turn around and whip his sword out. He had turned just in time for his katana to intercept an approaching kunai knife, striking it away from him. A few seconds too late, and it would have been implanted into the back of his head.

In another swift motion, he whipped a kunai of his own from out of his satchel and flung it in the direction where the original kunai had flown from. In a blink of an eye, it had struck one of Slash’s clones, which had been hiding within the shade of a far off tree, forcing the clone to disappear into purple smoke.

“Cur!” Ninja Star grunted through his teeth, which he used it to clench his sword. “You think you can distract me with such a trick?”

Slash continued to smirk. “As a matter of fact—”

Ninja Star felt two sharp prangs in his back, forcing him to groan out in pain and release his sword from his grip.

“Yes!”

Fluttershy teared up. “NINJA STAR-KUUUUUUUNNNNNN!”

Sky Wind clashed with Swoosh in the sky as he did earlier with Rainbow Dash. The two flew at each other and ricocheted off one another as pendulums balls. This time around, the force by which Sky Wind struck was weaker than before, with most of his strength having been knocked out of him—literally!—by Rainbow Dash’s piledriver of a Sonic Rainboom. Nevertheless, he persevered.

Swoosh merely cackled during their fight. “Give it up, kid. You can’t defeat me. I’m the ones whose taught ya everything yas know about flying, Capisce?”

Once more, he soared toward Sky Wind. Before he could crash into him, Sky Wind dodged, forcing Swoosh to miss by a long shot. The tengu stopped and turned to look back, only to see nothing behind him. He had stared off into the distance long enough not to notice Sky Wind fly up behind him and kick him upside his head’s backside, sending him reeling a few feet.

Sky Wind gave a hard chuckle. “You may have taught me everything, but I have the youth and stamina to outfight you, old man!”

He lunged right toward Swoosh as he remained reeling in midair. Unfortunately, before he could collide into the tengu, he felt a sharp cramp in his wings. The cramp quickly became more severe as his wings folded backwards on themselves.

Sky Wind let out a harsh cry as he began falling toward earth and the castle below, twisting in air several times during his harsh descent like a plane whose wings had fallen off. Onto the battlement below he crashed, bouncing along the wall once, twice, before skidding to a halt.

“Sky Wind!” Rainbow Dash cried out. She could only sit and watch as she saw her friend lying painful upon his belly, his wings contorted in every way but the proper direction.

Swoosh landed opposite of the fallen pegasi as he smirked to himself. “Heh! Looks like you exerted yourself way too far, especially after that beating your marefriend gaves yah, you know what I’m saying?”

The tengu lifted his staff above his head. “But don’t worry: I’ll gives yah a lift.”

As he flung his staff forward, from it erupted a harsh gust that threw Sky Wind several feet into the air, his body as limp as a rag doll, with his limbs and wings flailing every which way.

With another wave of his staff, Swoosh caused the wind to swirl into a twister which kept Sky Wind hovering in its center several feet above in midair.

Swoosh took his free hand and positioned it before his face with two fingers pointing upward. As he made this gesture, the rings on the end of his staff stood on end and began to glow.

Simultaneously, the wind within the twister containing Sky Wind intensified, beating against the already beaten pegasi with such veracity that the sheer pressure made it impossible for him to breath.

Swoosh grit his teeth. “And now, for the finish move: Tempest Barrage!”

Wind whipped passed the tengu’s body and let loose a flurry of his own black feathers, whose tips glowed a silver glow as they were whipped up into the tornado and passed Sky Wind.

As the feathers flew past him, their tips, sharpened by Swoosh’s magic, slashed at every inch of his body like tiny razor blades, covering him with so many lacerations that his coat almost appeared covered with red ribbons.

The pain would have caused Sky Wind to scream with every last bit of air within his lungs had his ribcage not been completely compressed by the tornado’s pressure. All he could do was scream silently as he felt the innumerable stings lash against his body and unleash his blood.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, watching helplessly from below, was able to scream out, “Sky Wind!”

Ninja Star fell face flat onto the ground. Embedded in his back were two kunai knifes. So implanted were they in his flesh, which unleashed blood like water from a rock, that their handles could barely been seen.

Behind him stood the images of both Tsuri and Hana. Both had their arms stretched out before them. When Ninja Star had his back turned toward them to deflect the incoming kunai knife, they had lunged toward him with kunais of their own, stabbing him in the back.

The two dissipated back into the image of Slash before eventually disappearing into puffs of purple smoke, leaving the real Slash standing.

On the other end standing afar, Fluttershy fell upon her knees. Her eyes were drenched with tears that flowed as freely from her face as the blood flowed from Ninja Star’s back.

Slash cackled to himself and leapt into the air. Both his claws glowed in an indigo light.

“Now to finally finish you off,” he announced as he crossed his blades, having them glow brighter. “X-Cross Slash!”

The mantis unleashed two red energy beams that flew toward the felled swordpony.

Xander lay face down upon the ground, his coat charred with soot and ash, steam rising from his limp body. The magic circle that he had been trapped within was no more, allowing him to freely move—that is, if he could.

He most certainly could not.

Squish cackled. “You certainly put up more of a fight than did your father, but alas, you will met his very same end.”

The kappa wizard lift his staff above his head. The sapphire at its head glowed bright blue with magical energy.

“And now, I shall seal your fate,” Squish exclaimed, flinging his staff before him, and unleashing a beam of blue energy at Xander’s lifeless body.

When the winds keeping him afloat and the vortex entrapping him had died down, Sky Wind was sent falling flat upon the barracks. He lay nearly lifeless upon the stone, which ran red with his own blood. His entire body was covered with innumerable lacerations, allowing his red blood to stain his purple coat. What energy had been knocked out of him through his fight with Rainbow Dash had completely been snuffed out after her alteration with Swoosh.

The tengu remained floating in midair looking down upon the fallen pegasi with sinister satisfaction. “Heh, that’s what you get for betraying your family, kid, and you never betray the family unless you want to be sleeping with the fishes, capisce?”

Swoosh ceased flapping his wings, allowing him to freefall toward where Sky Wind now lay. “Now to finish you off: Tempest Drill!”

As he continued descending, he began to twirl. As he did this, purple energy formed around him, and likewise twirled along with him, creating what appeared to be a purple drill head that was fast approaching the unconscious former prince.

The blue magic rushed toward Xander, but before it could strike him, was reflected into the opposite direction with a bright flash.

Before the magic could strike, Twilight had apparated in front of Xander and created a magical force field, deflecting Squish’s attack.

The force field faded away along with the magical beam, revealing Twilight as she stood above her unconscious friend—or at least, whom she had considered to be her friend.

She turned her gaze at the kappa wizard floating far away opposite of her, revealing a glare that pierced through his very being more painfully than the very attack he had unleashed.

The red energy collided where Ninja Star lay, tearing up the ground in an explosion, and sending forth dirt and debris into the air as a cloud.

Slash landed upon his feet, grinning to himself in self-satisfaction. His grin soon turned into stunned expression of shock as he saw the dust cloud dissipate.

As the dust settled, another silhouette of a pony could be seen standing above Ninja’s Star limp body. The pony guarded the fallen ninja with a bamboo reed stretched before it. As the dust settled, the pony’s wings were made more clearly visible, and it was revealed to be none other than Fluttershy.

The mare had raced before Ninja Star and used her bamboo staff to guard him from the incoming blast. The dust from the explosion had settled into her fur and hair, leaving her more disheveled than usual.

With staff clenched firmly within her teeth, she lifted her head and gazed at the mantis standing opposite of her, glaring at him with a fierce glare that pierced him more painfully than any steel blade.

Before Swoosh could strike Sky Wind with his Tempest Drill attack, he was intercepted by a blue blur with a rainbow trail, knocking him backwards, skidding across the battlement.

When he had stopped, he lifted himself up and brushed away the dust. He saw on the opposite side as Rainbow Dash stood in front of Sky Wind, having guarded him from the attack.

Dash picked her head up and turned her angry gaze upon Swoosh, who likewise returned the gaze.

Fluttershy glared at Slash.

Rainbow Dash glared at Swoosh.

Twilight Sparkle glared at Squish.

All three mares stood steadfast and resolute next to the bodies of their fallen stallions. Thunder roared above them, and lightning flashed as they stared down their respective adversary, who stood opposite of them.

Though an incoming storm was raging above, the storm of righteous indignation raged even more within each of the three mares, all of whom were more than willing to unleash it upon the very adversary whom had dared harmed the pony they loved and cared for.

Rainbow Dash: You Shadow Clan creeps have really done it this time.

Twilight Sparkle: You captured our princesses, and now you hurt our friends.

Fluttershy: We won't ever forgive you, even if you do say you're sorry.

Squish: Hee! You won't get an apology out of us, just a good thrashing.

Slash: You best surrender yourselves now or prepare to face defeat.

Swoosh: Youse guys don't want to end up like your colt friends here, you know what I'm saying.

Dash: Next time on My Little Pony: "No Fury Like A Filly Scorned--Twilight, Dash, And Fluttershy Retaliate!" This one's for Sky Wind!

Fluttershy: For Ninja Star!

Twilight: For Xander!

Author's Note

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and characters © Hasbro and Lauren Faust
Xander © Me
Skywind © ex626AKAKeon
Ninja Star © Ninja-8004
Apperances of the Three Pony Tribe Leaders © Emkay-MLP

Voice Credits

Twilight Sparkle .......................Tara Strong
Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy................Andrea Libman
Applejack, Rainbow Dash.........Ashleigh Ball
Rarity, Princess Luna................Tabitha St. Germain
Princess Celestia......................Nicole Oliver
Spike........................................Cathy Weseluck
Xander......................................Vic Mignogna
Sky Wind...................................Antony Del Rio
Ninja Star..................................Dave Wittenberg
Squish.......................................Samuel Vincent
Swoosh.....................................Derek Stephen Prince
Slash.........................................Roger Labon Jackson
Shadow Mare............................Susanne Blakeslee
Dark Stallion.............................Ron Perlman
Princess Platinum.....................Emilia Clarke
Clover The Clever....................Hynden Walch
Starswirl The Bearded..............Leonard Nimoy