Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox

by Rakoon1

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Violence, Twilight Sparkle, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Other, Romance, Original Character
Length: 437072

Star Knight will live his own adventure that is growing up with something evil inside of him whose power he will have to master if he wants to stop another plan of the Lord of Chaos to conquer the Pony Reality.

With the Lord of Chaos trying to get all the Tailed Beasts to bring an ancient force that almost destroyed the Enchanted Forest, the Lord of Order is forced to make a decision that will have consequences to Twilight and Blue Sword's son, Prince Star Knight. In order to protect the balance and the security of the Pony Reality, he orders that Kitsune, one of the Tailed Beast, is sealed inside of the young prince. With a great power inside of him, Star will have to master it unless he wants that power destroys everything he loves. While he does that, Star will also try to connect with Kitsune while he tries to deal with the troubles that having a monster inside brings.

Note: This story is based on the series Naruto, having terminology that belongs to that series, like "Tailed Beasts" and "Jinchuriki".

First story: The Life of a Young Colt
Second story: Twilight and Blue Sword
Third story: The Light Kingdom
Fourth story: The Taking of Tartarus
Sixth story: The Island of Tambelon
Seventh story: Light and Darkness - The Shadow of Midnight
Eighth story: The Hidden Prince
Nineth story: Aventures in the Bermikun Triangle
Tenth story: The Elements of Virtue
Eleventh story: The Prince of the Cursed Kingdom

Published 2016-05-13 17:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-10-26 20:10:24 UTC

How to Make a Jinchuriki

In the Light Kingdom, Twilight and Blue were walking through the corridor, when Golden Paladin appeared in front of them, saying:

"I'm sorry to disturb your good mood, Your Highnesses, but we have a situation."

Twilight sighed again and asked:

"What is it this time? Another villain alert?"

But Golden Paladin didn't reply, merely watching them seriously. Blue realized what that look meant and asked:

"It's pretty bad, isn't it?"

"The Lord of Order awaits in the throne room" Golden Paladin said. "You better not leave him waiting."

And he started moving and Blue and Twilight followed him. Along the way, Twilight asked her husband:

"What is so serious that the Lord of Order is involved?"

"Apparently, the Lord of Chaos is planning something new" Blue replied. "However, the Lord of Order does not know what it is and sent the Generals to stay attentive to anything. I just didn't tell you because he ordered us absolute secrecy. But, if he wants to talk to us, it is because the Lord of Order discovered what his brother is up to. It's not so Golden?"

"Let's just say you're not far from the truth" he replied. "Don't worry. You’ll just know everything when we get to the throne room."

They then continued to walk until they arrived to the throne room. Upon entering it, they saw the Lord of Order accompanied by the other Generals.

"I’m glad you're here" the Lord of Order said. "We have a lot to talk about and steps to take."

"The way you talk, your lordship, it seems that this is serious" Twilight commented.

"More serious than we can imagine" the Lord of Order said. "I found out what my brother is up to and his plan is far worse than everything he ever done."

"Come on, what could be worse than trying to fill the original star seed with darkness?" Heartbeat asked.

"He wants to bring Ten-Tails back" the Lord of Order replied.

When they heard that, everypony were shocked, except Twilight and Blue.

"But is he crazy?!" Heartbeat asked and, realizing what she just said, she added. "Crazier?!"

"I have to agree with Heartbeat" Mirror Coat said. "The last time it walked out, the Enchanted Forest was nearly destroyed. Only a mind completely devoid of common sense would do something like that."

"That's not the point" the Lord of Order said. "The point is that I think he found a way to control it."

"If this actually happens, if the Lord of chaos gets the control over Ten-Tails, then it will be the end of everything" Golden Paladin said.

"I'm sorry" Twilight said. "I think I speak for myself and Blue when I ask: what is the Ten-tails?"

"The Ten-tails was the major headache of this reality before the Lord of Chaos" Purple Smoke said.

"It was created by a mass of wild energy in the Enchanted Forest" Leaf Mane explained. "Because of this, Ten-Tails had no conscience, only a destructive instinct. It was too powerful it couldn’t be defeated and, as it was energy, it could not be destroyed completely."

"So how was he defeated?" Blue asked.

"I beat him" the Lord of Order answered. "At that time, I didn’t have any Generals stationed in the Pony Reality and I couldn’t allow Ten-tails to destroy the Enchanted Forest and move for the Pony World. So I used my power to subdue it and then I pulled out its energy and divided into nine parts. Each part created a new beast, each one with a different number of tails. I gave them conscience and names, but things didn't go as expected. Conflicts between the Tailed Beasts and the inhabitants of this reality appeared and that attracted my brother."

"That means that if the Lord of Chaos want to resurrect the Ten-tails, he will have to take the other Tailed Beast" Twilight said.

"Precisely" the Lord of Order said. "Somehow, he has managed to obtain Ten-Tails’ body that I sealed to make sure it didn't come back. The only thing he needs is the energy that I took from Ten-Tails and used it to create the Tailed Beasts."

"The location of each beast is known" Mirror Coat said. "Many kingdoms captured them and sealed them to use their power, most of which belong to the Enchanted Forest. But we don't have to worry. At least for now."

"Mirror Coat is right" the Lord of Order said. "The preparations to resurrect Ten-Tails takes time. Possibly years. This is our opportunity. My brother will need all the Tailed Beasts. If we prevent that he gets one, so we can save time to disband this plan of his once and for all."

"That is easy" Twilight said. "We can ask the kingdoms that captured the tailed Beasts to turn them over to us."

"It's not an easy task, princess" Golden Paladin said. "The beasts represent for them the defense of their own kingdoms. Ask them to hand it over would cause conflicts."

"So what do we do?" Blue asked.

"There's only one solution" the Lord of Order said. "We must inoculate the only Tailed Beast that we have at our disposal."

When they heard that, the Generals were a little tense.

"Are you talking about him?" Melody asked, a little worried.

"It makes sense" Mirror Coat said. "Eventually, the Lord of Chaos is going after him."

"He who?" Twilight and Blue asked at the same time.

"Someone that you already know" Golden Paladin replied.

Twilight pondered for a while and then she realized:

"Kitsune. He is a nine-tailed fox."

"Yes" Melody said. "Although Kitsune is the name that the ponies of the Pony World gave him. He is best known as Nine-Tails."

"The Tailed Beasts are called according to the number of tails they have" Purple Smoke said.

"But it shouldn't be like that" the Lord of Order said. "They have names, names that I gave them. I wanted all my creations to live in harmony, regardless of their origin. It was the mistrust and hatred that attracted my brother and made Nine-Tails to go to the Chaos side."

There was an awkward pause, where Twilight couldn't believe she was seeing a side of the Lord of Order that she had never seen. It seemed like he blamed himself for the fact that Nine-Tails was serving the Lord of Chaos.

"But we cannot now express regrets" the Lord of Order said. "We have work to do. First, we have to take Nine-Tails from Tartarus."

"But wouldn't it be better for him to stay there?" Blue asked. "I mean, Tartarus was made so that no villain couldn’t escape."

"I could further strengthen the security" Golden Paladin said, who agreed with Blue. "Or I could move the prison to another realm or even to a different reality."

"Tartarus can be impenetrable from the inside, but from the outside is another thing" the Lord of Order said. "Don't forget that my brother got in once. That does not mean that he can’t do it a second. And if that happens, there is no guarantee that he's going only for Nine-Tails. He can release the other villains and, if that happens, my brother's victory is almost assured."

"The Lord of Order is right" Twilight said. "Remember when the Lord of Chaos released them when he took Tartarus?"

"Not to mention that our master is right about the safety not being the best" Heartbeat said. "I mean, I get in there and Cerberus doesn’t even notice my presence."

"And what do you do getting in Tartarus?" Golden Paladin asked.

Heartbeat hesitated to answer, because she knew how hard Golden Paladin was with the security rules. She then admitted:

"When I get bored I go to make fun of the bad guys."

"Teasing caged villains isn't something you do" Golden Paladin said. "That just makes them angrier and more motivated."

"Wait, Heartbeat, you didn’t make fun of Kitsune, do you?" Leaf Mane asked.

"We're about to get him out of there" Melody said. "I don't think it would be nice to have a mad Tailed Beast out of Tartarus."

"At first I did, but then I stopped" Heartbeat said.

"Why?" Purple Smoke sked. "You don't seem like the type to give up something you like to do."

"He seemed to not even bother" Heartbeat said. "I think it's because he doesn't want to serve the Lord of Chaos anymore."

All exchanged glances when they heard that.

"What did you say?" Twilight asked.

"That's right" Heartbeat replied. "I didn’t tell, because I didn't want you to find out I was going to Tartarus, but I did feel that Nine-Tails no longer had much interest in following the Lord of Chaos again. I think it's because he realized that serving him only led him to be arrested and that the Lord of Chaos just used him as a source of power and nothing more."

"Wait, does that mean..." Blue started.

"No, he's not coming back to our side" the Lord of Order said. "At least while he continues to hate ponies and everyone else who tried to capture him by his power. That is why we must confine him."

"So you want to bring him in here to the Light Kingdom, right?" Twilight asked. "After all, the dungeons of the castle was where the villains were kept before the creation of Tartarus."

"No, he will be stuck in the Light Kingdom" the Lord of Order. "But not in a physical prison. We will use a host."

The Generals were shocked by their master’s declaration, except for Blue. He and Twilight didn’t understand why they were so shocked.

"You want to create a Jinchuriki?" Mirror Coat asked. "I don't know, my lord. Handle a Jinchuriki, especially one that have Nine-Tails insed, is quite complicated. The last time was already enough."

Some of the Generals looked at Heartbeat who replied:

"Hey, in my defense, that stupid fox is quite annoying and always insulting. It's not my fault he got away."

"I believe that, by your conversation, a Jinchuriki is the host, right?" Twilight said.

"Yes, Princess, is the only way to contain and control a Tailed Beast" Golden Paladin said. "Many kingdoms in the Enchanted Forest and in the Pony World sealed the beasts in hosts called Jinchurikis."

"In the past, we also sealed Nine-Tails in a Jinchuriki, but he managed to escape" Leaf Mane continued.

"And that host was Heartbeat?" Blue asked.

"Yes, but her unstable personality allowed him to escape" Mirror Coat said.

"You say that because you didn't have to live with him" Heartbeat said. "Even you would lose patience."

Golden Paladin turned to the Lord of Order and told him:

"My Lord, I know you want to use the best way to hold Nine-Tails, but to seal him in a host, we will have to return at least half of the energy I and Leaf Mane sealed. It's pretty risky to have Heartbeat with him."

"Heartbeat will not be the Jinchuriki this time" the Lord of Order said. "We will use another one."

"But what qualities it takes for someone to become a Jinchuriki?" Twilight asked.

"For the other Tailed Beasts, anyone can become their Jinchuriki" Mirror Coat responded. "But Nine-Tails got more energy than any other Tailed Beast and, apart from us, just the most powerful species of pony can have him: alicorns."

"If that’s so, then I volunteer myself to be a Jinchūriki" Twilight said.

"Twilight, no" Blue said. "If neither Heartbeat was able to restrain him…"

"I'm sorry, Princess" the Lord of Order said, interrupting Blue. "Volunteering yourself is noble, but the light of the original star seed within you will never allow it. In addition to the fact that the host has to be an alicorn, there is another factor that must be taken into account: the compatibility. And almost all the alicorns do not have that compatibility, except one."

"And who is that alicorn?" Twilight asked.

The Lord of Order didn’t respond immediately. It was then that he did it:

"Prince Star Knight."

When they heard that, Twilight and Blue were shocked. The other Generals were shocked too, but not as much as the parents of the little foal.

"No, not my son!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, your honor, but it is out of the question!" Blue said.

"We will not put inside our son that nine-tailed monster!" Twilight said.

"I think that's too much for a little foal, master" Golden Paladin said.

"It’s the only solution" the Lord of Order said. "Only he can take Nine-Tails. But you have nothing to fear. When Nine-Tails is sealed within Star Knight, he will be contained and cannot do anything. After all, contention is Golden Paladin’s specialty. He will make sure that Nine-Tails will be kept sealed until this threat pass."

But the prince and princess still didn't seem to want to access to the Lord of Order’s suggestion. Golden Paladin then addressed to Twilight and Blue:

"If you allow me, Your Highnesses. I give my word of honor that I will ensured that your son does not run any risk. I’ll make sure that Nine-Tails stay secure. In addition, I will help Prince Star Knight to control his power. And I'm sure my brothers will help me in this task."

The two regents looked at the other Generals who waved them, confirming what Golden had said. The couple exchanged looks and then Twilight said:

"Very well, so be it."

In Tartarus, which was overflying the Pony World, the villains were dealing with the fact that they were arrested and that probably they would never leave. However, not everypony shared this thought. The Trix did failed attempts to escape, launching their attacks against the bars of their cells. Stormy was the one who casted the most violent attacks, as she was the one who was more frustrated. Despite Icy and Darcy have given up, she continued to attack.

"Stormy, stop" Darcy said. "These bars will never give in."

"I'm not going to stay in this dirty cell for eternity" Stormy said, while continuing to launch attacks that failed.

"I think we have no other choice" Icy said. "Those Generals have this place pretty well protected."

"We've got escape from various prisons" Stormy said. "I'm not going to allow ourselves to be hold like rats."

It was then that they heard a laugh that came from the Nine-Tails’ cell, who was quietly laying.

"What's so funny, filthy fox?!" Stormy asked, whose cell was on the opposite wall and above the Nine-Tails’.

"Do you really think you and your sisters will get out of here?" Nine-Tails asked. "Many of us have tried and we are much more powerful than you."

"This is Fox who lost against a nature lover and a pony-dog" Stormy said, making her sisters laugh.

"You wouldn't laugh at me if you knew how I was in the old days" Nine-Tails said. "Ponies ran and screamed when they saw me."

"Sorry, but it's a bit hard to believe that someone like you was so terrible" Icy said.

Nine-tails began to grunt and rose up, what made some villains to be scarred when they saw that.

"You can say all you want, but, like the rest of us, you are here because you were use by the Lord of Chaos" he said. "He used us and threw us out like rusty tools."

"Now, now, Nine-Tails, moderates the words when you address to the Lord of Chaos" the Dragon King said, whose cell was near Nine-Tails’. "You may have lost faith on him, but many of us still remain loyal."

Nine-Tails, though, held a certain respect for the Dragon King and returned to lay down grumpily. The Dragon King then turned to the Trix and told them:

"You should be careful with what you say to Nine-Tails. He's right, since I met him when he was at his best."

"Thanks for sticking up for me, but I don't need a big fire-breathing reptile to defend me" Nine-tails replied.

"You should be more grateful" the Dragon King told him. "Anyway, you will be us for a long time."

"Until I get out of here" Nine-tails said. "Patience is a virtue and I know that, sooner or later, this prison will not contain me."

"You must be crazy if you think you will go back to being what you were before" the Dragon King said.

But the conversation didn't last long, because they heard the doors of Tartarus openning.

"If it's that small size General again, I guarantee you she will swallow all the insults" Stormy said.

But it wasn’t Heartbeat who entered, but Golden Paladin. All the villains went silent when they saw him passing. He advanced through the Dragon King's cell, and, using his magic, made a pillar grow below him, what lifted him up to the Nine-Tails’ cell. He, seeing Golden Paladin, said:

"But who would have guessed. I have the privilege of receiving the visit of the big gun from here. To what do I have this honor?"

"I came to get you out and take you to another place, Nine-Tails" Golden Paladin said.

Hearing that, some villains were greatly surprised. Nine-Tails, on the other hand, sketched a smile.

"Hey, why is that he can leave and we don't?" Stormy asked.

"Yes, that's not fair, Goldy!" Fire Punch protested.

Looking annoyed, Golden Paladin used his magic to invoke gags which could only be removed by him in both and said:

"First, he's not going to be freed, only transferred, what is not your business. And, second... Don't call me Goldy!"

He then turned to Nine-Tails and said:

"Let's go."

"Before we go, may I ask the reason for my sudden departure of my cell?" Nine-Tails asked cynically, rising up.

"Don't pretend you don't know" Golden Paladin said. "Probably you already knew this would happen. Or are you going to tell me you didn't know what plan the Lord of Chaos would use now that his plan to use all his villains went down."

"How will I know what plans the Lord of Chaos will use?" Nine-Tails asked. "After all, I don't know what he thinks."

Simply giving to Nine-Tails a cold look, Golden Paladin made a golden chain emerge from the floor of the cell and wrap around the fox’s neck. Then the tip came off the ground and was held by Golden through his magic. After that, he made the bars of Nine-Tails’ cell disappear and said, while increased the size of the column:

"Come on, don't waste my time."

And Nine-Tails got out of his cell. After the pillar descended and reached the floor, Golden Paladin and Nine-Tails began to go to the exit of Tartarus. The Dragon King, seeing that, asked:

"But what is happening?"

As it was agreed, Twilight, Bue and the other Generals were waiting in the vicinity of the Light Kingdom, where Nine-Tails could be. Sleeping peacefully in her mother's lap was the small Star Knight. Little did he know that his life was about to change.

There was then a yellow light and Golden Paladin appeared with Nine-Tails.

"How interesting" he said, seeing the ponies present. "It came so many ponies just to say hello?"

"Shut up, Nine-Tails" said Golden Paladin. "It's time to reseal you."

"Do you really think you want to do this?" Nine-Tails asked. "After all, the last time I was sealed in a Jinchuriki, things didn't go so well. It's not true, Heartbeat?"

She smiled and replied:

"Whenever I remember our time together, I get the urge to vomit. I'm glad that I won't have to deal with you this time."

"What do you mean?" Nine-Tails asked.

"This time, you won't be sealed in Heartbeat" Golden Paladin answered him.

"How so?" Nine-Tails asked, not liking the way things were going.

"Do you really think we would make the same mistake twice?" Golden Paladin asked. "This time, the Lord of Order chose a host that, for you, will not be very easy to handle."

Nine-Tails looked and then noticed the little sleeping prince.

"Don't tell me that... you will seal me inside that child" Nine-Tails said.

"Precisely" Mirror Coat dsif. "An innocent that cannot be handled by you, since he doesn't know anger and hatred."

"You're mad" Nine-Tails said. "Are you really thinking in seal the great Nine-Tailed Fox, the strongest and most powerful of the all Tailed Beasts, in a kid who's still wears diapers? He will not be able to hold my power."

"That's why I will only give you half of your power" Leaf Mane said. "It will be enough to seal you within a host."

"And I will be with the key of your cage" Golden Paladin said. "Just in case you decide to play smart."

Nine-Tails’ plan had not worked out as he hoped. He thought that only Heartbeat was compatible with him. Knowing that soon the Lord of Chaos would want to resurrect Ten-Tails, Nine-Tails would use the fact that the Lord of Order would want to put him in a Jinchuriki to escape. For the seal, Leaf Mane would have to return the energy she sealed and, as he knew Heartbeat quite well, it wouldn't be very difficult to escape again. But the emergence of a new candidate to be his Jinchuriki had ruined his plans.

"Bastards!" Nine-Tails exclamed.

He began trying to break free from Golden Paladin, but he then conjured more chains that involved his body and arrested him on the floor.

"Leaf Mane, let's get this over with quickly" Golden Paladin said.

"Very well" she said.

Using her magic, Leaf Mane invoked a tree that stood high and mighty. A strange red glow radiated from it, like the trees in the Oasis of the Heart. Nine-Tails could feel it. It was his energy. They really would through with that plan. Nine-Tails turned to Twilight and Blue and asked them:

"Are you going to let them seal a monster inside of your own child? What kind of parent are you?"

Twilight and Blue knew that Nine-Tails was just trying to manipulate them to stop the ceremony, but the idea of having him within Star was something they didn’t like too. Twilight was more reticent about that idea and it looked like she was about to give in to pressure, when Blue replied:

"The idea of having you in our son doesn’t make us happy, but it is necessary to prevent that the Lord of Chaos destroys everything. Moreover, you should know that we will protect Star of any danger that approaches him, including you."

Twilight, hearing her husband’s words, couldn't do anything but smile. Blue had given her the strength to continue with what was being done. She turned to Leaf Mane and Golden Paladin and said to them:

"Proceed."

They waved and Leaf Mane turned to the tree that she invoked and accessed to her magic.

"You're going to be sorry for what you're doing" Nine-Tails said. "You can be sure of that."

But Twilight and Blue didn't responded. Leaf Mane began the process of transferring half of Nine-Tails’ energy to him. Red energy began coming out of the tree and moving to Nine-Tails. When it started going in, the fox began to increase in size, with Golden Paladin’s chains adapting with the growth. While this was going on, the tree was been turned smaller. The process then stopped and Leaf Mane made the tree disappear.

"Everything is ready to seal him" Golden Paladin said. "Your Highnesses, put the young prince on the floor and step back a little bit."

Twilight then landed the small infant on the floor and then retreated a little, along with Blue. Then, Golden Paladin made his magic aura become more intense, while he put all his concentration on his sealing spell.

The ends of the chains that held Nine-Tails dropped the floor and began to move in Star Knight’s direction. Getting to his edge, they went to his belly, penetrating it, something that made Twilight a little shudder. But the penetration was not physics, so there was no physical damage in the foal. The chains then began pulling Nine-Tails in Star Knight’s direction. He tried to resist, but he couldn't fight the power of Golden Paladin’s golden chains.

The process, as it progressed, began to cause great discomfort to the baby colt who started crying. Twilight had to fight strongly against her maternal instinct to not go to her baby. Not wanting to watch more, she embraced Blue, turning her face to the other side. Blue comforted his wife.

"You're going to pay for this!" Nine-Tails exclaimed when he was too close of Star Knight. "This will not stand! This colt won't contain me forever, you heard me!"

It was then that the chains have increased their strength and pulled Nine-Tails that began to enter in Star Knight, who cried harder. The Nine-Tails got inside him and, when that happened, Golden Paladin ceased his magic and staggered back. He almost fell, but was supported by Mirror Coat and Purple Smoke.

"It's done" Golden Paladin said.

Twilight went quickly to her son and used her magic to hold him. She began to calm him down, cradling him and comforting him. The baby eventually stop crying and went back to sleep. Twilight hoped only that all this wasn't in vain.

Watching the scene from afar was a Changeling in disguise. Before that, he walked away to go tell to his Queen.

The Lord of Chaos was sitting on his throne when the image of Chrysalis appeared in the reflection of one of his mirrors.

"My Lord, I bring news from the Light Kingdom."

"Talk" he told her.

"One of my scouts saw the Generals sealing Nine-Tails into Princess Twilight’s son" Chrysalis said.

"I see" he said. "They created a new Jinchuriki to Nine-Tails. And that Jinchuriki is the young prince of the Light Kingdom. That's unexpected."

"Do you want us to do anything?" Chrysalis asked.

"No" the Lord of Chaos said. "That baby will be under great surveillance and it will be impossible to capture him for now. Furthermore, we need to finish the preparations."

"As you wish, my Lord" Chrysalis said. "But know that I will be happy to attend to your order, in case you change your mind."

And, having said that, her image disappeared.

"It was a good idea to seal Nine-Tails inside that colt, brother" the Lord of Chaos said. "But this will not prevent my plan. I will capture all the Tailed Beasts, including Nine-Tails, and the Ten-Tails will destroy this reality once and for all."

The Power of Seeing

A few years passed and the young prince became a young colt. Despite being still young, Star showed great interest and potential in magic as his mother, in addition to also have interest in the Royal Guard that his father had.

In general, the life of this colt was pretty quiet and happy. His life, which was limited to the castle, seemed to be quite satisfactory. In addition to having at his disposal a comfortable life with a lot to learn, either through books as through his parents and the Generals, he also had the love of his family that, over the years, has been growing.

When he was five, Twilight gave birth to a pair of twin unicorn fillies. The older had a naples yellow coat, an amber mane with sunglow and maize streaks and eyes that were equal to those of Blue and Star. Her name was Sunlight Blaze, although they called her Sunny. The younger had her father’s coat, her mother's mane, but with moderate purple streaks, and eyes. Her name was Midnight Shine. They admired their older brother immensely and he, despite sometimes found them a pair of little brats, he loved them and took care of them.

In addition to his sisters, Star also had a new cousin. His uncle Shining Armor and his aunt Cadance had had a second child with approximately the same age as the twins called Topaz Blade. He was a unicorn that had a golden coat, a dark phthalo blue mane and his eyes were just like his father’s.

However, although Star felt happy, there was something that always bothered him. Whenever he and his family get out of the castle to visit the Light Kingdom, he could see the light ponies congratulating him and his family eagerly. However, he could feel the enthusiasm that was directed to him was somehow forced. Whenever they passed by these ponies, he could feel their distant and cold looks headed to him. In addition, Star could feel that they didn't like him very much. There was a mixture of fear and revulsion that he couldn't understand its origin. Of course this had an explanation that he ignored.

Somehow, the news about the fact that their beloved princess’ older son had become the Jinchūriki of Nine-Tails had spread and soon everypony knew about that. They knew that, in the past, Heartbeat, the former Jinchuriki of Nine-Tails, had failed in her mission to contain him and they feared that the same could happen with Star Knight.

Getting to know this, Twilight addressed to her citizens, saying there was nothing to fear, since Nine-Tails was completely sealed, even more than when he was within Heartbeat. To ensure that his son grew up without knowing of the terrifying truth, Twilight has decreed that they could never talk openly about this subject. And so it was. The light ponies never again mentioned the subject of Nine-Tails and Star grew up without knowing what was inside of him, although he always felt that the ponies of his own kingdom didn't like him very much.

But that was the least, as something much bigger watched the little alicorn in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to attack. This was the Lord of Chaos. Although he put aside for now the fact that Nine-Tails was within the Light Kingdom, just out of his reach, to concentrate on preparations for the capture of all the other Tailed Beasts of tail and the resurrection of Ten-Tails, the Lord of Chaos did not fail to be aware of everything that was happening.

He then got in touch with one of his followers who were helping him in his new master plan: Pandora.

"My Lord" she said, making a bow after encountering the image of her master.

"Hello, Pandora" the Lord of Chaos greeted, sitting on his throne, while talking with Pandora through one of his mirrors. "Tell me, did you do what I tell you to do during these years?"

"Yes, master" she replied. "How could I not? I gathered dark magic enough to serve you."

"Very well" the Lord of Chaos said. "Now, before going to do your special mission, you're going to use your dark magic for help Chrysalis in her mission."

Saying this, he noticed that Pandora had been quite uncomfortable.

"There is something wrong?" he asked.

"With all due respect, my lord, but I don't like the idea of having to work with a parasite like Chyrsalis" Pandora said. "It's revolting."

That made the Lord of Chaos to give a little laugh.

"What's so funny?" she asked, confused.

"I just find it amusing that villains hate each other more than heroes do" the Lord of Chaos replied. "I mean, the relationship between heroes is very good, between heroes and villains has some spark, but, when it's between villains and villains, it is, in most cases, like a time bomb. Of course between you and Rothbart things are different."

"Rothbart is tolerable" Pandora said. "After all, we've been working together for centuries. But with Chrysalis things are different."

"You know, Pandora, I don't care about your personal problems with Chrysalis" the Lord of Chaos said. "She has something you need to be successful in your mission and you have a quality that can help her get what she wants. So I suggest you come together for once and make sure your missions are successful!"

She shivered when he heard the Lord of Chaos starting to increase his tone voice and said:

"Yes, my lord."

And her image disappeared. The Lord of Chaos then said, looking at his nails:

"Works every time."

Pandora addressed to the Desolate Zone and entered in the Changelings’ nest. She was disgusted to see Changelings taking care of the combs where the young Changelings were developing. Then, she saw Chrysalis sitting on her throne and the Changeling Queen said, seeing Pandora arriving:

"Pandora, my dear, welcome to my humble home."

"Spare me the reverence, Chrysalis" Pandora said. "Let's finish this once and for all so that I can leave this depressing place."

Chrysalis left her throne to fly and landed in front of Pandora saying:

"Be careful with your words, my dear. After all, this is my home."

"So the sooner we finish with this matter, the better for both of us."

"It's all up to you, my dear" Chrysalis said. "After all, it was agreed that it was me who would be favored first in our partnership."

Pandora then accessed to her dark magic and, using astral projection, she projected her spirit, with her eyes becoming white from the spell. She traveled through the Desolate Zone and then through Equestria until she reached Canterlot. Once in Canterlot, she went to the Castle where she sought in all divisions until she found what she wanted: an old chest that was locked safely in the vault, guarded by two guards. She returned to her body and then said to Chrysalis:

"I found what you wanted. And I have to say, Chrysalis, those things are an abomination, even being what they are."

Chrysalis didn't like Pandora’s comment and just asked:

"Where are them?"

"In Canterlot castle" she replied. "Inside the vault and guarded by elite guards."

"Typical of Celestia" Chrysalis said. "She keeps everything in her castle."

"Now, if you don't mind, Chrysalis, I want the thing why I'm here" said Pandora, extending her hoof.

Chrysalis smiled and then lift her hoof, apporting to it a jar where there was a purple substance inside.

"Here it is" she said. "My royal jelly, a substance that allows my larvae to acquire shapeshifting powers. Of course for you, just put on your body and, if you combine it with your dark magic, you will be able to hide your presence and even penetrate in the Light Kingdom, since as you were once a follower of the Lord of Order and still have some light inside of you."

Wasting no time, Pandora took the royal jelly with her magic and Chrysalis said:

"You could say, at least, thank you."

"You didn't do me any favors, Chrysalis. This is just a transaction of favors and our master's idea” Pandora said. "Now that I have your royal jelly in my possession, I can finally reclaim what's mine."

"Without wishing to criticize your mission, Pandora, but you don't think you're risking too much?" Chrysalis said. "After all, you're about to enter the kingdom which is prohibited for villains and is full of light and joy and protected by Princess Twilight and her Generals of Order, just to get a box that is well kept in the dungeon of the castle."

Pandora just looked coldly to Chrysalis and responded darkly:

"It's not just a box. It’s my box!"

And, having said that, she showed for brief seconds her hideous face and then Pandora left the Changelings’ nest.

"She takes things very personally" Chrysalis commented, turning to her soldiers. "Listen to me, my children, it's time for a small squadron to be prepared. We have to go to Canterlot, where three of your siblings are eager to return home."

Pandora teleported herself to the limits of the Light Kingdom and then applied the royal jelly on her body, using then her dark magic. When she found herself, she had become a Royal Guard of the Light Kingdom with a luminous coat.

"Perfect" Pandora said, with a different voice. "With this disguise, nopony will recognize me and, thanks to this light layer, I will be able to enter in the Light Kingdom and neither Heartbeat will be able to recognize me."

And, having said this, she got in the boundaries of the Light Kingdom, moving to where no villain was allowed.

In the library of the Light Castle, Twilight was tutoring her eight-years-old son. Since Star began to control his magic, Twilight realized that she and Blue Sword should help him to control his magic. For now, they wanted to be responsible for him and make sure that Nine-Tails didn't try to do anything.

At that time, Twilight was teaching his son a few topics on the History of Magic, speaking more specifically of the greatest conjurer who ever lived in Equestria and that was the great idol of the princess of the Light Kingdom: Star Swirld the Bearded.

"Wow!" Star exclaimed, fascinated, while he saw the book he and his mother were reading. "I can't believe that Star Swirld created all those spells, mommy."

"But you can believe, Star" Twilight said. "Star Swirld was arguably the most powerful conjurer of Equestria. He managed to create several types of magic. With this, he managed to earn the respect of all ponies."

Hearing his mother saying that, Star couldn't help but remember the cold looks that the ponies launched at him whenever they saw him. He said, sighing:

"I'd like to have ponies respecting me as they respected Star Swirld."

"What are you talking about, son?" Twilight asked. "I'm sure all the ponies respect you. Mainly me, your father, your little sisters..."

"Yes, but you are my family" Star replied. "I'm talking about the others. It seems that they don't like me very much. I'd like to be as powerful as Star Swirld to make them all taking me seriously."

Twilight had her heart tight seeing Star so distressed. It seemed that he had already realized the way everypony secretly looked him, rejecting him for the simple fact of being a Jinchūriki. By what Twilight heard from her Generals, Jinchurikis used to be marginalized simply because they contain within them Tailed Beasts. The alicorn princess and her husband did everything to make sure that Star grew up as happy as possible, but it seemed that he was very depressed because he thought everyone hated him. However, they knew that, to counter any attempt of Nine-Tails to use his son’s darkness to escape, she had to make Star grew up full of love.

"Star, my dear, I want you to hear me very well" Twilight said. "You don't need power to be able to make everypony respect you."

"But Star Swirld was powerful and everypony respected him" Star said. "And you, mommy, you're also powerful and everypony respect you."

"Power is not everything" Twilight said. "If you don't use it properly or if you use it for the wrong purpose, it becomes a poison for the wearer. Many ponies allowed themselves to be seduced by power and were corrupted. But you know what? Ponies don't respect me just because I’m powerful. They respect me because I respect them and because they know they can trust me. They know I use my power to protect them, to ensure that their life is not in danger. Do you understand?"

Star mused in his mother’s words. She was right. He has seen Twilight and saw how she treated her subjects with love and respect, giving them comforting words and ensuring their safety. But it wasn't just her. His father, Blue Sword, guarantee the security of the kingdom in conjunction with Golden Paladin, in addition to ensure that the Diamond Heart would remain stable so that the kingdom did not sink. All this meant that all the ponies respected them immensely. If he wanted the same respect, he had to deserve just like them.

"But how do I do it if I have no special gift?" Star asked.

"Star, all you need is kindness, compassion, courage…" Twilight said. "These qualities are more powerful than any gift. Furthermore, all ponies have a gift that has its own importance. I'm sure you will find it."

There was a break where Star thought what their mother had just said. Twilight then closed the book and, using her magic to put it in its place, she said, rising up:

"Now, if you don't mind, I have to go see how are your sisters. After that, I have to do everything that still needs to be done, if we want to go visit your uncle, aunt and cousins in the Crystal Empire."

She gave a kiss on Star’s forehead and told him:

"Why don't you go find your father? I think he must have returned from his trip to the Diamond Domain."

"Yes, mommy" Star Knight said.

Using his wings to take a short flight to the door, he went out. After he left, Twilight said:

"You can leave your hideout, Purple Smoke."

And purple smoke appeared, approaching Twilight and then Purple Smoke appeared, making a bow to her.

"I see you got pretty skilled in the ability to sense our presence, Your Highness" Purple Smoke said.

"I still have difficulty sensing the presence of Golden Paladin and Heartbeat, but this is something that eventually I will dominate" Twilight said. "I assume you were watching Star."

"After all, princess, he's a Jinchuriki" Purple Smoke said. "And not just a Jinchuriki. He is the Jinchuriki of Nnine-Tailes. We have to be very careful."

There was a pause and then Twilight asked:

"Purple Smoke, can I ask you a question? And I want you to answer me as General of Talent."

"Of course, princess" he replied.

“Star Knight wants to know what his gift is" Twilight said. "Do you think that his attempts to discover this gift can bring some consequences on the seal. After all, before he was a Jinchuriki, he is an alicorn and alicorns often have very powerful magic."

"You don’t have to worry about that, Your Highness" Purple Smoke said. "The seal Golden Paladin used on the little prince takes into account his power and adapts to it. Furthermore, the gift of his son is more intuitive than a physical power. It's similar with Heartbeat’s empathy and that's why he's so compatible with Nine-Tails. No other living alicorn has this kind of capability."

"That's why the Lord of Order chose Star to be Jinchūriki" Twilight concluded.

"Precisely" Purple Smoke said.

"And what this gift is, Purple Smoke?" Twilight asked.

The General of Talent just made a slight smile and said:

"Why not wait and see? Maybe you’ll be more fascinated if you see it for the first time in person."

That only aroused Twilight’s curiosity on what her son’s gift was.

Star Knight advanced through the corridors until he got close to the foyer, where he knew the secret passage that led to the Diamond Domain was. He then met with Blue Sword.

"Daddy!" he called, running to his father.

Blue Sword extended his forelegs to catch him and, in doing so, he raised him in the air for a few seconds before hugging him and putting him down:

"How's my champion?"

"I'm fine, daddy" Star replied. "I just had a class with mommy."

"I see" Blue said. "And did you learn something."

"A lot!" exclaimed Star. "Mommy knows a lot."

"Yes, she knows” Blue said. "Mommy is pretty smart."

"Daddy, can you give me a lesson on how to be a royal guard?" Star asked.

"Let me think about that" Blue said, making a fake pensive air, before drafting a broad smile. "Of course! How could I refuse a lesson to my best student."

He misaligned his son’s mane who responded, while arranging his mane:

"I'm your only student, daddy."

"Of course you are" Blue said. "Daddy was just kidding. What if we went to the gardens?"

"Yes!" Star exclaimed.

Father and son prepared to go to the gardens, when Pandora, in disguise, went through them, heading to the dungeons, following the power that emanated from her box and she could feel. When passing by Blue and Star, Pandora, to keep a low profile, made them bow before proceeding.

When Star Knight put his eyes on Pandora, he was petrified in horror, when he was able to see behind her cover, getting to see her face. But that was not all. He could feel an immense darkness behind the light layer that Pandora was using to go unnoticed. That darkness was what scared Star Knight. The fear that gripped him was such that he was completely petrified. Blue, noticing his son’s scared air, asked:

"Star, what's going on, my son. Are you all right?"

But Star Knight didn't say anything, simply staying with the same air.

"Star, say something" Blue said.

But seeing that his son didn't say anything, Blue carried his horn with magic and call Twilight and the other Generals. It wasn't long before they arrive.

"Star!" Twilight exclaimed, reaching the edge of Star Knight and hugging him. "What's going on?"

"He doesn't say anything" Blue said. "It just stayed like so suddenly."

"Let us take care of it, Your Highnesses" Golden Paladin said to Twilight and Blue, turning then to Heartbeat. "Do what you know best."

Heartbeat nodded and then she turned to Star and put her hoof on his shoulder. When she did this, the young prince awoke from his shock, panting a lot. Seeing his parents by his side, he exclaimed, hugging them:

"Mommy! Daddy! "

"It's all right, my dear" Twilight comforted, while she and Blue returned the hug. "It's all right."

After the hug, Blue asked Star:

"But what happened, Star? You were right, but from one moment to the next, you became pretty scared."

"It was horrible, daddy" Star said, with tears in his eyes. "Her face was horrible."

"Who are you talking about?" Blue asked, remembering then the guard who went through them. "Son, that was one of our guards and he is not a she."

"But I saw it!" Star exclaimed. "The face was horrible and I felt a chill, as if I had been swallowed by the darkness. Mommy, I don't want to be swallowed by the darkness!"

And he embraced her strongly and Twilight hugged him back, saying:

"Don't worry, my dear. It's not going to happen."

Blue turned to the other Generals and asked:

"What do you think happened?"

"Honestly, I don't know what to say" Golden Paladin said.

“Golden, Prince Star Knight is a young alicorn with his magic in development "Mirror Coat said. "Maybe this is a manifestation of his special gift."

"But he's so young" Melody said. "Do you think it's possible?"

"Of course it is" Purple Smoke said. "Normally, the gifts of the alicorns manifest by the time they get their Cutie Marks."

"You said that the gift of my son was a power similar to Heartbeat’s empathy" Twilight said, while continuing to comfort Star Knight. "Do you think he saw something...?"

"It's possible" Purple Smoke said.

"No, it's not" Golden Paladin said. "Anything dark can’t enter the Light Kingdom without permission and, even if something entered, it would be detected."

"Not if protected" Mirror Coat said. "Don't forget that those who have served our master and have come to worship the Lord of Chaos still have a faint light in them."

"Do you mean that villains who have betrayed us to join the Lord of Chaos can use that light to infiltrate here?" Leaf Mane asked.

"If all this is true, then we must find this intruder" Golden Paladin said.

"I can handle that" Heartbeat said. "My empathy may not work now, but if I know who is invading us, I can do a more thorough search."

She then turned to Star Knight who turned to her.

"Star, I need to know what you saw" she said. "If you let me, I can see. Don't worry, you're not going to be afraid. I'll not let that to happen."

Using her empathy to convey a sense of security to Star, Heartbeat made the young prince allow and then she put her hoof on his forehead and tried to see what he saw. It was then that the image Pandora’s horrible face arose in her mind. Seeing her, she broke the connection.

"Pandora" she said. "It’s Pandora. She's here."

That information left Twilight and Blue a little restless.

"Did she came..." Twilight started, thinking she should be there for Star.

"I don't think so" Golden said. "She was very close to him and did nothing. She wants something else from here."

"But what else could she want?" Blue asked.

There was a silence and then Melody exclaimed:

"The box! She wants her box!"

Realizing that Melody was right, the Generals began to quickly go to the dungeons, including Blue. Twilight wanted to go too, but first she turned to Star and told him:

"Stay here, my son. Don't come after us, okay?"

And, having said that, she also began to go to the dungeons.

Pandora, still undercover, came down to the dungeons and followed the corridor to the cell where her box was. Her excitement grew in every moment she neared her box. Breaking the spells that protected it, Pandora entered the cell and approached the box.

"Finally, my box..."

"Pandora!" a voice exclaimed.

Pandora turned and faced with Twilight and the seven Generals who were outside the cell. It was Golden who had spoken and he continued:

"Step away from the box."

Pandora smiled and said:

"It seems I was discovered. Very well."

And, having said that, she undid the spell and returned to her true form.

"You managed to penetrate into our defenses and trick Heartbeat’s emphatic sense" Mirror Coat said. “I have to say, it was not bad at all."

"Thank you" Pandora thanked cynically. "It is clear that this would not have been possible without Chrysalis. Despite the Changelings are disgusting creatures, their Queen served me well."

"Royal jelly" Mirror Coat realized. "Now it makes sense."

"You had so much trouble to pick up your box in vain, Pandora" Golden Paladin said. "We're not going to let you get it back."

"I want to see you try" Pandora said.

Heartbeat tried to use her speed, but, anticipating this, Pandora launched a shock wave that made the General of Affection be thrown back.

"No way, Heartbeat" she said, turning to the others. "And that goes for each and every one of you."

She used the same shock wave, doing it with quickness, hitting Twilight and the other Generals before they could do anything. Taking advantage of this, Pandora moved into her box and, after unlocking it, she was able to open it. Darkness left and involved Pandora, before being absorbed by her.

"What sweet sensation!" she exclaimed. "Finally I recovered my old power."

Golden Paladin and Blue Sword rose up quickly and tried to attack, but she was quick and, using his magic, she picked up Twilight and placed her in the line of fire of the two Generals.

"No way, my dears" she said. "If you want to reach me, you will have to go through the princess as well."

"Don't worry about me" Twilight told them.

However, they couldn't hurt Twilight, even if it meant reaching Pandora. She looked like she had everything in control. It was then that...

"Mommy!" a voice exclaimed.

Star Knight arrived and saw Twilight hostage of Pandora.

"Star!" Twilight exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"

"Star, back up!" Blue said. "Hurry!"

But Star Knight just started advancing, with his eyes on Pandora. He could see her dark, deep darkness, but, after that, he could see a bright and pure light. The essence that Pandora used to have before being corrupted.

Seeing his son coming up increasingly, Blue said:

"What are you doing, Star?! I said..."

He tried to get close to his son, but Heartbeat prevented him from advancing.

"What are you doing, Heartbeat?! I have to get my son."

"No, Blue, she's not going to hurt him" Heartbeat said. "Besides... I think we're about to witness something amazing."

Blue Sword looked to the other Generals and saw that they were of the same opinion that Heartbeat. With no other choice, he observed.

Pandora, watching Star Knight, said:

"Well, look who he is. I was planning to go after you when you were older, but as you're here."

"Don't you miss it?" he asked.

Hearing that question, Pandora asked:

"Miss what?"

"The light, the one you suppressed to have this darkness that you have in your heart" Star replied.

Hearing his words, Pandora felt as if they reached directly in her core.

"What are you doing?" she asked, without her smile. "How do you know that?"

"I can see it" Star said. "Your light. She continues to shine, despite being completely surrounded by darkness. It seems it’s looking for a way to be free."

Star’s words continued to affect Pandora who eventually freed Twilight.

"Stop it" she said, stepping back, while Star approached, and getting to see a strange distant light in Star’s eyes. "Stop looking at me like that!"

But Star continued to approach, with her retreating. It was then that she had no where to retreat and saw Star getting closer to her.

"No!" she exclaimed. "Stay away!"

Everyone was standing around, while they saw the young prince arriving at the edge of Pandora and closing his hoof of her face. He then touched her forehead and Pandora then was invaded by memories. They were memories from her past before being corrupted. She could see how happy she was, how much she enjoyed playing with her sister and the pride she felt when she was chosen by the Lord of Order himself to protect the box that contained the darkness of the Lord of Chaos.

Rediscovering her old self made Pandora realize how much she missed those moments. But the darkness inside of her started acting, trying to regain control over her, returning to cover up those memories. However, Pandora didn't want that. She didn't want to forget. That desire made her light shone stronger. It became so strong that scattered the darkness and her body acquired the same luminous coat that the light ponies had. Darkness got out of Pandora and went back inside the box that was locked again.

After this, Star felt very tired and fell to the ground. Twilight went to him and held him, saying:

"It's okay, Star, mommy's here."

Then a light came from Star’s flank. Twilight looked and noticed a Cutie Mark. It was a flaming torch which had balance dishes in balance.

"I can't believe..." Twilight said, with tears of pride appearing in her eyes. "Star... go his Cutie Mark."

That surprised Blue who asked:

"But how?"

"His talent is to make others find their true selves" Purple Smoke said. "I believe he did the same thing with Princess Twilight when she was dominated by Heartbeat’s light when she fought against Scale. Now, she did the same with Pandora."

"Yes, he saved me..." Pandora said, turning to everypony, smiling, with a sweet and kind look, not the evil and cold one that she had before. "Thanks to him... I'm back to my older self."

Star woke up and saw his mother.

"Mommy, what happened?"

"What happened, my dear, is that you just did something amazing" Twilight said.

She motioned to his flank and Star saw his brand new Cutie Mark.

"My Cutie Mark!" he exclaimed. "I got my Cutie Mark, mommy!"

"I know, my dear" Twilight said, embracing Star. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Star Knight" Pandora thanked, making Star turn to her. "Thanks to you, I could go back to my older self."

Star Knight returned her smile and replied:

"You're welcome."

It was then that Pandora's body began to fade.

"What's happening?" Star asked.

"The Lord of Chaos’ darkness was what allowed her to live during all these centuries" Golden Paladin said. "Now that it's gone…"

Realizing what Golden meant, Star said:

"No, it can't be. Not now that she was..."

"It's okay" Pandora said, smiling. "You don't have to worry about, little prince. I've never felt so free and at peace. Since I can feel that again, nothing else matters. Just do me a favor. Never stop being who you are, because that's what makes you special."

Star had tears in his eyes, while listening Pandora’s words, and beckoned her. Then she disappeared. After this, Star embraced his mother who returned the hug. Blue approached and hugged his wife and son. Although that moment was of great happiness for Star getting his Cutie Mark, he could not feel happy because Pandora disappeared after finding her light.

The Lord of Chaos was sitting on his throne when he felt something he realized immediately.

"Pandora, what disappointment" he said. "But it doesn't matter. I may have lost a follower, but I won three more. "

And, with a laugh, he turned to the mirror, seeing the image of Chrysalis’ nest. She was sitting on his throne when a pair of Changelings brought her a chest they landed in front of her. She got up and, smiling, opened it and saw three Changeling eggs. They were the mutated eggs that had been stolen from her decades ago.

"Hello, my dears" she said to the eggs. "Mommy missed you."

She turned to the workers who were nearby and told them:

"Begin their developing process immediately."

And so they did. While she watched, Chrysalis smiled, trying to imagine Celestia’s face when she got to know that the eggs had come back to her.

In Canterlot, Celestia, in the throne room, received the news about the theft.

"What do you mean they are gone?!" she asked. "How did that happen?!"

"I don't know, Your Highness" the royal guard said, nervous. "It seems that some Changelings managed to infiltrate and, somehow, managed to steal the chest with the eggs."

"No, it can't be" said Celestia. "Those eggs were the reason Changelings almost invaded Equestria decades ago. We lost a great soldier to get those eggs."

She leaned back in her throne and said:

"It seems now we have another big problem between our hooves."

Gloomy News

In a volcanic zone, Rothbart waited at the foot of a volcano with a large bag at his side that moved and made muffled noises. It was then that he heard somepony approaching and saw that it was Medusa, using the hood of her cloak to hide her snakes, downing from the volcano.

"Oh, what a refreshing bath!" she exclaimed. "The Lord of Chaos was absolutely right. I feel a lot stronger, in addition to having a great skin. It's seems I can do anything without my sisters."

"I hope so" Rothbart said. "I hate to be paired with somepony useless."

"Oh, that's right, you and Pandora used to be a team" Medusa remembered. "I heard you two did great things. You must have been pretty shocked when you heard that she had defected back to the Lord of Order."

"Don't pretend to know me, Medusa" Rothbart said. "You don't know anything about me. Pandora was a colleague. I don't care what happened to her."

"Okay..." Medusa said.

Rothbart grabbed the bag and said:

"Let's test your new power."

He opened the bag, revealing a stallion who was tied up and gagged. He released him to Medusa’s feet and told her:

"Petrify him."

"With pleasure" she replied.

She turned to the stallion who was full of fear and look on her face and their eyes met. Medusa triggered her power and her eyes sparkled with a red glow. Looking at those eyes, the stallion simply turned into stone. Given this, Medusa exclaimed, quite happy:

"Yes, I did it! Finally I have the power to petrify without my sisters’ help. I became much stronger than they are and I don't need them anymore."

“Good for you" Rothbart said cynically, approaching the petrified stallion and destroying him with his hoof turned into a talon. "But it's time to leave. We have a lot to do."

And he started walking away.

"Maybe during the way I petrify ponies just for fun" Medusa said.

And she followed Rothbart.

It's been a few days since Star got his Cutie Mark and reformed Pandora. At that time, Twilight and Star were at the Light Kingdom station, waiting. The Light Express arrived and stopped. While waiting for the doors of the carriages to open, they heard a big mess inside.

"But what the..." Twilight started.

When the doors opened and the ponies that were in the train began to leave, a small pegasus colt also came out flying, immensely happy. He had a light grayish persian blue coat, dark grayish phthalo blue mane and moderate cerise eyes. Shortly after, Rainbow Dash got out of the carriage flying quickly and got the colt, saying:

"I got you, your fugitive."

"It seems that little Gust has a lot of energy for a three-years-old colt" Twilight noted.

"Well, what can I say?" Rainbow asked Dash, landing. "He takes after his mom."

"Ah jest hope he hadn't take tah his mom when it comes tah modesty" Applejack said, leaving the train, too.

On her back there was a little four-years-old pegasus colt. He had dark grey coat, light brilliant amaranth mane and brilliant orange eyes.

"Please, Applejack, Gust is the son of two great Wonderbolts" Rainbow Dash said. "I don't think you have to worry about that."

Twilight giggled at the sight of her friends argue that way. It brought her memories of the old days.

"I'm glad you came” Twilight said approaching with Star. "And how things go with this little colt, Applejack?"

"Li’l Apple Storm is every day more like his father" Applejack said, turning to Rainbow Dash. "Yer cousin was always so fussy when he was a colt?"

"You could say that I wasn't racing alone" Rainbow Dash said.

Apple Storm started flapping his little wings to fly, but he was caught by Applejack who said:

"No way, mah boy, jest fly in a controll’d space."

After Applejack, Jonagold got out and, just like Star Knight, he was no longer a baby colt. The two had become good friends, although they lived away from each other. Seeing Star, Jonagold approached him and said:

"Star!"

"Jona!" Star exclaimed, going to meet his friend.

The two bumped the hooves and Jonagold asked:

"How are ya? Ah heard ya got yer Cutie Mark."

"Yes, although the circumstances weren't the best" Star said.

"Well, ya tell me how ya got yers and Ah tell ya how Ah got mine" Jonagold said, showing his brand new Cutie Mark that was three apples, one was only half.

"You also got your Cutie Mark?" Star asked. "Congratulations, man."

"Thank ya" Jonagold thanked. "’though Ah expect’d that Ah would follow the family business."

"And Cherry Blossom?" Twilight asked, watching Jonagold. "She didn’t come?"

"She and Big Mac had a lot of work" Applejack said. "But Jona wanted to come, so I brought him."

Then Fluttershy got out of the train.

"Hello, Twilight" she said with her sweet voice.

"Fluttershy, it's so good to see you" Twilight said approaching her shy friend.

She then noticed the filly that was behind her.

"Hello, Moonlight, it's so good to see you again."

"Hi" she replied, sheepishly.

Star noted Moonlight’s presence and called her:

"Moonlight, here!"

Listening Star calling her, Moonlight blushed a lot. Her mother encouraged her:

"Go meet your friends, sweetheart."

Moonlight so did. Upon reaching the edge of Star and Jonagold, she said with the same shy voice that your mother used to use:

"Hello, Star. I heard you got your Cutie Mark. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Moonlight" Star thanked.

Finally, Rarity and Pinkie Pie also left the train, and both had a baby in a baby carrier, where in Rarity’s there was a three-year-old unicorn filly with her coat, dark grayish brown mane and golden eyes and in Pinkie’s there was a four-year-old earth filly with a brilliant amber coat, her mane and grayish violet eyes.

"Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed, greeting Twilight with her usual strong hug. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"Yes, I'm also happy to see you, Pinkie" Twilight said, trying to breathe. "But could you..."

Realizing what Twilight wanted, Pinkie dumped her and said:

"Oops, sorry."

"Pinkie Pie, it seems that you’ll never change" Rarity said. "Even after motherhood. Poor little Winesap Apple."

"I don't understand why you say that, Rarity" Pinkie Pie said, while giving caresses to her filly. "Winesap loves when I do big parties for her. All babies love. That is, until they start crying for no reason and they just shut up when you pour flour on you."

"My Silver Wind is a sweet baby" Rarity said, caressing her daughter. "She almost does not give any work. Of course, when she's angrier, I can always count on Shadow Claw."

"And none of your husbands wanted to come?" Twilight asked.

"Soarin was invited to teach a class for young foals in the pegasus flight camp" Rainbow Dash said.

"Cloud Chaser had tah stay ‘cause of the work" Applejack said.

"Bushel to" Pinkie said. "He stayed to help Big Mac at the farm since Applejack is not there. Of course you know that, due to the fact Applejack is here with us now."

"Thunder Night stayed to rest" Fluttershy said. "He had a tiring night of work. In addition he and day don't mix very well together. I'm just glad that Moonlight has resistance to sunlight, because otherwise she couldn't come either."

"And Shadow Claw has a lot of work in the gym" Rarity said, referring to the gym that Shadow Claw opened a few years ago in Ponyville.

"It's a shame" Twilight said. "That way Blue would have someone to talk when he had backed to the kingdom, while we put up."

"And where is he?" Rarity said.

"He and some of the other Generals are following some clues of villains of the Lord of Chaos" Twilight told. "But we better go to the castle to talk better."

And so everypony advanced to the castle. While crossing the citadel, the light ponies made bows to Twilight and her friends.

"You know, I kind of would get used this" Rainbow Dash said, seeing the light ponies bowing.

"Well, it's true that we help’d liberate them from their stone slumber, but it doesn't take so much reverence" Applejack said, turning then to Rainbow Dash. "And ya don't have to like it too much."

"Light ponies enjoy who contributed for their freedom" Twilight said. "They are all the same, there's nothing to do. Don't worry. Gradually you get used to."

Star was talking happily with Jonagold and Moonlight when he started noticing the cold stares that some light ponies launched to him. Those cold stares that seemed to dislike his presence. He didn't understand why they looked to him like that, after all he was the son of their beloved princess and heroin, in addition to that he never gave them reasons to not like him. So, to make his friends not to notice his concerns, he ignored the stares, but Moonlight was able to repair how Star was bothered and understand the reason for it.

When they arrived at the castle, Twilight called:

"Heartbeat!"

And, in a second, Heartbeat showed up with her speed and asked:

"Yes, princess?"

"Would you take the little ones to the gardens for them to play with the twins and take care of them?" Twilight asked.

"Okie dokie lokie" she replied. "I love taking care of foals. After all, they identify with me. By the way, Pinkie, I hope you don't mind I used one of your catch phrases."

"Of course not" Pinkie Pie said. "By the way, I love your book How to Understand What Foals Want. It helped me a lot with my daughter."

"Oh, thanks for the compliment, Pinkie" Heartbeat thanked.

"Wait, when did you publish a book?" Twilight asked Heartbeat. "I haven't heard anything about it."

"Last year" Heartbeat replied. "It was a best-seller in Las Pegasus."

"You have to start paying attention, Twilight" Pinkie Pie said. "First it was my book about the importance of piñatas and now Heartbeat’s book about foals. It looks like you're not fond of books as you used to be."

Twilight rolled her eyes and, trying to end the conversation, she said to Heartbeat:

"Just take the kids to the gardens."

"All right, Your Highness" Heartbeat said, using her magic to get the babies, while their mothers said see you later to them. "Come on you three."

And Heartbeat moved away. Star, Jonagold and Moonlight followed her.

In the dining room, where Twilight was taking tea with her friends, she told them what had happened with Pandora.

"Wow!" Applejack exclaimed. "That means yer son manag’d tah reform one of tha greatest villains of tha Lord of Chaos?"

"That is amazing" Fluttershy said.

"It's more than amazing!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in her enthusiastically was. "It's fantastic!"

"You must be proud of Star, Twilight" Rarity said. "He is clearly following the same steps you and Blue did."

"Yes, of course I'm very proud of him" Twilight said.

"If you ask me, Pandora didn't deserve all this effort" Rainbow Dash said. "Have you forgotten what she did as a villain?"

"Rainbow, as Twilight said, she prov’d tah be sorry" Applejack said. "Everypony has tha right tah repent for the evil needs they did. Even a villain like Pandora."

"And don't forget that Discord also managed to change" Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, I think Discord is not a good example, Fluttershy" Rainbow Dash said.

"So it is better tah take Princess Luna as example" Applejack said. "After all, she has repent’d of her actions and return’d to be the princess she was."

Rarity looked at Twilight and noticed in the concerned air that she had.

"Is something wrong, Twilight, dear?" she asked.

"It’s just..." Twilight started. "I'm quite concerned about Star."

"Why, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"He got very upset when Pandora disappeared" Twilight said. "I could feel that he felt himself guilty."

"Maybe it was the shock of seeing somepony disappearing" Rarity said.

"Yeah, Twilight, don't worry" Rainbow Dash said. "Your son is strong."

In the garden, while Heartbeat played with the foals, Star Knight told to Jonagold and Moonlight how he got his Cutie Mark.

"Wow, man, that was amazin’!" Jonagold exclaimed.

"You were very brave, Star" Moonlight said. "You fought one of the greatest villains of the Lord of Chaos."

"Actually, I don't know if it was courage" Star said. "I just felt I had to do that. At first, I was terrified when I felt Pandora’s darkness. But when I felt the light that she still had within herself, I felt a need to make it shine."

But remembering what happened to Pandora after having released her from the darkness, Star became a little saddened.

"What's up Star?" Moonlight asked.

"I can't stop thinking about what happened to Pandora" he said. "She disappeared soon after I saved her. What is the point of having a gift like this, if the ponies I help will eventually disappear?"

"It's not like that" Heartbeat said, approaching.

"What do you mean, Heartbeat?" Star asked.

"What I mean is that you've used your power before" the General of Affection.

"Seriously?" Star asked. "I don't remember."

"Of course not" Heartbeat answered. "You were almost a year old when it happened. That was when Perfect Scale tried to take everything. Your mother got out of control when she absorbed my light to defeat Scale, but your power helped her maintain control."

"Seriously?" he asked, not wanting to believe.

Maybe his talent wasn't so bad.

"Looks like ya're a hero" Jonagold said. "Ah bet ya mest be famous here in tha Light Kingdom."

When Jonagold told that, Star remembered the cold stares the light ponies gave to him. Those eyes were not from who looked to a hero, but to something they wanted to disappear.

"Excuse me, my friends, but, if you don't mind, I'm going to my room" he said sadly, starting to go into the castle.

"Star!" Jonagold called.

But he was caught by Moonlight who said:

"No, Jona."

"But what does he have?" Jonagold asked. "Did Ah say something wrong?"

Despite having been unwittingly, Jonagold's words had a great effect on Star. Moonlight understood the reason for him to have stayed that way. She noticed the way the others looked at him.

Back to dining room, Twilight said:

"But there is another thing that bothers me."

"What is it?" Fluttershy asked.

"The way Pandora how entered here" Twilight replied. "If she did it, probably other villains will try to do it too. This time, Pandora came because of her box, but what if, next time, they come for Star? For the thing that's inside of him?"

Her friends got quiet when she said that. Of course they knew Star’s condition as Jinchuriki, having promised not to tell anypony about it.

"Don't worry, sugarcube" Applejack said. "Ah'm sure this will all work out. We will ruined another plan of the Lord of Chaos."

"Yeah, that’s what always happen" Rainbow Dash said. "He always tries to conquer everything, but it always backfires to him."

"Of course, that's what happens when you play with fire" said Pinkie, starting laughing then. "Did you get it? Backfire, playing with fire?"

But everypony looked at her seriously. Realizing she was the only one laughing at her own joke, Pinkie said:

"Awkward!"

Ignoring Pinkie’s comment, Twilight said:

"It's not just the Lord of Chaos. It’s the simple fact that Star has Nine-Tails in him. A large part of light ponies hate my son because he has that monster inside him. It hurts my heart to have to watch my son to be despised. To make matters worse, he realized that."

Twilight's friends traded looks with each other and then Rarity told her:

"Look, Twilight, we know things aren't easy for you and your family, but I want you to know that you can count on us for everything. Than relying on us, we won't let Star grow up without friends."

The others waved, confirming what Rarity said. That made tears appear in Twilight’s eyes and she said, with a smile, as she wiped the tears:

"Thank you, girls. That means a lot to me."

After a few moments, the doors of the dining room opened and a guard appeared, saying:

"I'm sorry to disturb your quality time with your friends, Princess Twilight, but Princess Celestia just came in and she said she had something urgent to tell you."

That made Twilight switch serious looks with her friends.

Celestia awaited her in the throne room. The doors opened and Twilight came in, followed by her friends.

"Princess Celestia, but what are you doing here?" Twilight asked. "I wasn't expecting a visit."

"I bring news that are not very good" Celestia said.

"What kind of news, Yer Highness?" Applejack asked.

Celestia took a few seconds and then said:

"Before saying them, first I have to tell you something, Twilight. It's about your grandfather, Star Shield."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"As you know, a few decades ago, I sent him on a mission to fight a possible Changeling invasion" Celestia said.

"Yes, I know that" Twilight said. "My grandmother told me about it. It was when he lost his life."

"That's correct, but no one besides the guards who participated in this mission know what it really was about" Celestia said. "When I heard about the preparations that Chrysalis was doing to invade Equestria, I managed to get a rather disturbing information, something that could take her plan to success."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Chrysalis had laid mutated eggs" Celestia replied.

Twilight and her friends were caught by surprise with that. Rainbow Dash then giggled and asked:

"Chrysalis wanted to invade Equestria with mutated Changelings? That is so lame."

"It is not as lame as you think, Rainbow Dash" Celestia said. "These mutated Changelings would be fairly more evolved than normal Changelings. They would be superior in strength and power. The most likely was that Equestria would barely survive to the attack."

Upon hearing that, Rainbow Dash’s smile came down and she said:

"That doesn't sound so good."

"Yes, I can imagine how would these mutants be?" Rarity asked. "Probably would be hideous-looking creatures."

She then noticed everypony staring at her and Rarity said, with a laugh:

"Of course that the fact that they are immensely dangerous is also horrendous."

Celestia then continued:

"Your grandfather has managed to obtain the eggs, Twilight, and sacrificed his own life to ensure they arrive safely to Equestria."

"Yes, my grandmother used to tell me and Shining when we were younger that our grandfather protected Equestria with everything he had, no matter the cost" Twilight said. "But what bad news is that you have to tell us?"

"The eggs..." Celestia started. "They were recovered by the Changeling."

That made everypony stay pretty worried.

"How did they..." Twilight started.

"Somehow Chrysalis managed to know where the eggs were and managed to recover them" Celestia said.

Twilight thought for a bit and then remembered something that Pandora had said.

"Pandora managed to enter into the Light Kingdom using Changeling royal jelly" she said. "Maybe she got it by helping Chrysalis locating the eggs."

"That makes sense" Celestia said. "Pandora was one of the best to dark magic users. She could easily find the eggs."

"So it looks like we have new enemies to fight" Rainbow Dash said. "I can't wait to give these mutant Changelings what they deserve."

"But that's not all" Celestia said.

"There's more?" Twilight asked. "What else happened?"

"Hey, maybe this isn't such a bad thing" Pinkie Pie said. "Maybe it's something so good that will let us immensely happy and will take us to throw a big party to spread the joy we are feeling."

"Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie, this is not the case" Celestia said.

"Oh, buck" Pinkie Pie said, disappointed. "I was already planning the cakes we'd serve for the party and the games that we’d play."

"What happened, Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked.

"My guards informed me that ponies were turned into stone" Celestia said. "Witnesses ensure that these ponies were transformed by a mare that had snakes as mane."

Twilight didn't have to think much to realize who it was.

"Medusa" she said. "But I don't understand. Alone, she doesn't have the power to petrify. She needs her sisters for that."

"She seems to have managed to strengthen her powers" Celestia said. "Now, she is as powerful as if she had her sisters by her side."

Upon hearing this, Twilight became worried. It seemed that villains were becoming increasingly powerful. Possibly, it was to make sure that their master’s plan to resurrect Ten-Tails was turned real.

A Glimpse of the Fox

Star had finished making his case and was at that moment entering the carriage that was going to take him to the academy where he would spend the next academic year. To accompany him was Melody, Purple Smoke and Heartbeat (the latter had insisted), so he tried to say goodbye to his parents and sisters.

"Farewell, my son" Twilight said as she hugged Star. "Good luck at the academy."

"Thanks, mom" Star thanked, finishing the hug. "I'm going to miss you."

"Let everypony know what you got, champ" Blue said.

"I will, dad" Star replied.

Midnight and Sunny weren't too happy to see his brother leaving.

"We don't want you to leave" Sunny said.

"Yeah, we want you to stay" Midnight said.

"I know, but I have to go to be able to learn a lot of things" Star said. "But don't worry. I come back home on the weekends and holidays. You’ll see, it will be as if I had never gone."

He hugged his dear sisters and then said to his family:

"Goodbye."

And then he went into the carriage. Before it left, Golden Paladin said to his three siblings who were with the young prince in the carriage:

"Take care of him."

"Don't worry, Goldy” Heartbeat said. "Everything will be fine."

"I hope so" Golden Paladin said. "I'm counting on you three."

"Well, come on" Purple Smoke said. "It's better we get to the academy in time for the opening ceremony."

Star waved to his family one last time and they returned the gesture. The carriage then began to move forward. Seeing the carriage moving away, Twilight was very tense. Realizing this, Blue put his hoof on her shoulder and said to her:

"Everything will be fine."

"I hope so" she replied. "I really hope so."

The carriage advance in the direction of the Enchanted Forest. While advancing, Heartbeat asked Star:

"Nervous?"

"A little bit, yes" Star admitted. "I've never been so far away from my parents and from the Light Kingdom for so long."

"You don't have to worry about, Prince Star Knight" Melody said. "We'll be around if you need us."

"Yes, and if you have a problem with the classes, all you have to do is come to me" Purple Smoke said. "After all, your faculty adviser."

"Yes, but don't forget that I'm a teacher, dear brother" Melody said. "That is far more important."

Purple Smoke was going to respond, but Star said:

"You know, I'd like to know why you three are coming with me to school. I have a feeling that is more to take care of me."

The Generals tried to find an answer, then Heartbeat said:

"You know your parents, Star. They care about you. They just want to ensure that you are well and, when they knew that there were vacant posts at the academy, they decided that Melody and Purple Smoke should occupy them."

"What about you?" Star asked.

"You know me, I would never leave my best friend. Besides, I like the Enchanted Forest. It is quite beautiful and... enchanted. Not to mention that it is quite difficult to prevent me from doing what I want."

Star thought in what Heartbeat said and then said:

"Okay."

And he turned his attention to the landscape. With a whisper, Heartbeat said to her brother and sister:

"And this is why I’m coming, to ensure that everything goes as planned. I think this makes me even more important."

That made Melody and Purple Smoke glaze over their eyes.

Soon it was then they went in the Enchanted Forest and then get to the academy. The entrance was filled with students, new and old, who were ready to begin a new school year. Star left the carriage carrying his case and looking around. Seeing so many students in the academy and how they don't even noticing him, except his luminous coat of light pony and the fact he was an alicórnio, Star felt completely comfortable, more than he would ever be in the Light Kingdom. Don’t have to see the cold looks that the light ponies gave him was something that Star really needed. It was then he heard a familiar voice calling him:

"Star!"

He turned and saw Jonagold approaching, bringing with him his bag.

"Jona!" Star exclaimed, overjoyed, approaching his best friend and bumping hooves with him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Ah knew ya'd come tah this school, so Ah ask’d mah folks an’ they, knowing from yers how this school was, they decid’d tah enroll me" Jonagold answered.

"I'm glad you're here" Star said. "It will be much easier to settle with a familiar face beside me."

"Prince Star Knight" a voice said.

Thistlewit approached, making him a bow, and said:

"I'm so glad I found you. On behalf of myself and of my sisters, I would like to welcome you."

"Thank you, Miss Thistlewit" Star replied with a nod.

"Well, here's your schedule and the key to your dorm" Thistlewit said, waving her wand and making a piece of parchment and a key with the number thirty-five on it to appear. "I hope you have a great year full of knowledge and joy."

"Thank you" Star thanked, getting his schedule and key.

"And don't forget" Thistlewit said. "Once you settle in your room, there will be a reception for the new students in the Great Hall."

And Thistlewit moved away. Jonagold noted his friend’s key and said:

"Damn, looks like we won't be roommates. Mah room is the forty-three."

"What a coincidence" a voice said. "Mine, too."

The two friends turned and saw a young griffon of their age who had brown coat, light amberish gray head feathers with grayish amber tinges, dark gambogeish gray wing feathers and talons and brilliant gold eyes.

"Gunter?" Star asked, recognizing the young griffon. "You’re here too?"

"Yes" rGunter replied. "My great-uncle also studied in this school and told my parents that it would be a good place for me to meet new friends."

"Gunter is the son of King Gael and Queen Greta of Griffonstone" Star explained to Jonagold. "I met him when his parents were crowned after King Guto abdicated. We became friends since then. Gunter, this is the friend I told you about, Jonagold."

"Hello, Jonagold" Gunter greeted. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Tha pleasure is mine, Gunter" Jonagold said. "And if we're goin’ tah be roommates and friends, as we are both friends of Star, ya can call me Jona."

"All right... Jona" Gunter replied.

Star was approached by Generals and Melody told him:

"Prince Star Knight, since you got company, we're moving inside. We need to meet with the other members of the staff."

"Sure" Star said, turning then to Heartbeat. "Where do you go, Heartbeat?"

"With them, no" she replied. "I can't wait to explore the surrounding area. It's been a while since I've been in the Enchanted Forest."

"Okay" said Star. "See you later."

And, after the three Generals had made a bow to Star, Melody and Purple Smoke headed to the academy, while Heartbeat moved away with her extraordinary speed.

"Wait, the generals will be our teachers?" Gunter asked.

"At least Melody, if we had Enchanted Music" Star said. "Purple Smoke will be a faculty advisor and Heartbeat… Well, she basically does what she wants."

"Wow, Ah never thought Ah'd get one of tha Generals of Order as a teacher" Jonagold said.

"Yes, neither did I" Gunter added.

"We'd better go put our stuff into our rooms" Star said. "I'm curious to know who is going to be my roommate."

And the three headed to the tower where the male dormitories were and each addressed to their respective room. Star arrived to his room and used the key to open it. When he opened the door, he came across with Bramble at one of the halves of the room.

"Hello" Star greeted. "You're Bramble, aren't you? We met when we came to take care of our enrolls."

Bramble acted timidly when Star spoke to him, but he managed to overcome this shyness and said:

"Yes, I remember you. You are the son of the rulers of the Light Kingdom."

"Yes, my name is Star Knight" Star said, extending his hoof to greet him.

Bramble hesitated at first, but then he eventually bump his hoof with Star’s. After that, the prince deer said:

"I hope you don't mind that I have already chosen a bed."

"Of course not" Star said. "For me, it doesn't matter."

And Star put his case in another bed and then said to Bramble:

"Look, I know you're not very comfortable with who you don't know, but I liked you and I could be friends. After all, we will spend a lot of time together as roommates. What do you say?"

Bramble looked a bit hesitant, but he could see that Star seemed to be a nice pony, so he smiled and said:

"All right. We can be friends."

"Perfect" Star said. "And, as you're my friend, you can also become friend with some of my friends who came to the academy."

Bramble was quite apprehensive. After all, he wasn't the type to make many friends at once, but he knew that maybe he could be less shy in that way.

The two left the room and met with Jonagold and Gunter.

"Guys, I want you to meet my roommate, Bramble" Star introced. "He is the son of King Aspen."

"You're the son of the king of Thicket?" Gunter asked. "Cool. I've heard of him."

"Bramble, this is Gunter, son of King Gael and Queen Greta ofGriffonstone" Star introced. "And this is my best childhood friend, Jonagold. He lives in Ponyville and his parents are great friends of my parents."

"It's a pleasure tah meet ya, Bramble" Jonagold greeted. "Ya can call me Jona, if ya want."

"It's nice to meet you" Bramble said, struggling not to let the shyness get the best on him.

"Personally, I wish Bramble to spent time with us" Star said. "You know, as he and I are roommates and everything."

"Of course, Star, ya know Ah love making new friends" Jonagold said.

"Yes, beyond that it seems that we are a group of princes who are great friends" Gunter said, turning then to Jonagold. "Sorry, Jona, I forgot that you're not a prince."

"Ya don't have tah apologize, Gunter" Jonagold said. "But Ah think ya will be surpris’d tah know that, in fact, Ah am technically a Prince. Mah mom is from another dimension and there she was a princess, so…"

"But who would have thought of that" Gunter said. "So it looks like we are a group of princes.

"A group that was supposed to go to the reception in the Great Hall" Star remembered.

"Yeah, we better get goin’" Jonagold agreed.

And they went to there. Despite not knowing the school very well, they just had to follow the old students and then they arrived to the Great Hall. There, there were already lots of students, new and old, waiting for the start of the reception. Soon the academy staff appeared in the back of the room that was elevated and the three fairies managed to draw the attention of students. Knotgrass said:

"Welcome, dear students, old and new, to another new school year."

"We hope you have a year full of joy and happiness, which can create great memories" Thistlewit continued.

"Without forgetting that we hope you enjoy everything you will learn" Merryweather added.

Students applauded the words of the three headmistresses. When the cheering stopped, Knotgrass said:

"Now the usual ads. School rules are posted on the bulletin board, while we are counting on the older students to warn the new ones."

"Students are also free to visit Leafgreen, the nearby village, in their spare time" Thistlewit said.

"And since today is the first day, we will allow everypony to visit Leafgreen" Merryweather said.

That earned the standing ovations of all students. While all this was going on, Melody called:

"Heartbeat."

And she appeared on the edge of Melody and Purple Smoke and asked:

"What?"

"You stay on watch to Prince Star Knight" Melody said.

"And why does it have to be me?" Heartbeat asked.

"Because Melody and I have work to do" Purple Smoke replied.

"In Melody’s case I believe, since she's a teacher" Heartbeat answered him. "But I don't know what kind of work a faculty advisor can have of so importance when there are no students in the school to counsel."

Purple Smoke was going to answer her, but Melody said:

"Heartbeat, you're the one that wanted to come to school without having any work. So, I suggest you start doing your job as General."

The General of Affection sighed and replied:

"Okay, I will. But just because today is the first day."

So, all the students went visiting Leafgreen. It was a nice little village full of shops and cafés. Ponies and deers were walking through the streets happily, shopping and relaxing on the terraces of the cafés. Star and his three friends looked fascinated everywhere.

“Wow, amazin’!" Jonagold exclaimed. "Not even Ponyville is so agitat’d."

"That's because there are more shops here than in Ponyville" Star replied.

"I think the other griffons in Griffonstone wouldn't be able to hold themselves on, if they saw so many shiny things without trying to get them" Gunter said. "Of course I’m not included in that group."

"It's even more amazing than I had imagined" Bramble said.

That made the others look at him and Jonagold asked:

"You mean you've never been here?"

"Well… no" the young deer replied.

"But your father is the king of this place" Gunter said.

"That doesn't mean that I have visited all Thicket" Bramble said. "To tell you the truth, I'm not an outdoor deer."

"So it looks like the four of us will share the moment of being here for the first time" Star said. "So where should we start?"

And Jonagold, Gunter and Bramble said at the same time:

"Candy store."

"Pawn shop"

"Observe wild plants."

That made everypony exchange glances with each other. Star realized that would be hard to find something they could do together, so he said:

"And if we do what we want to do individually and then meet here?"

The others agreed and then followed their respective paths. Star then headed out to walk through town and see everything despite being more inclined to go to a bookstore. Watching him from afar was Heartbeat that said to herself:

"I can’t believe and stayed with the first watch. I like Star, but I have better things to do than keep watching him."

That's when a sweet aroma caught her attention.

"Wow, what a delicious smell!" Heartbeat exclaimed. "It smells like fresh bread..."

With water in her mouth and feeling a great desire to follow that smell, Heartbeat prepared to do so, when she remembered what she had to do.

"No, I can't!" she exclaimed with great determination. "I am a General of Order and I have to act like one. I can't let me be seduced by the sweet aroma of fresh bread. I have to ensure that Star don't get out of control. I’m strong. I'm tough. I'm..."

But her mind went back to get hypnotized by the sweet aroma and Heartbeat completed the sentence she was saying:

"…completely in love with this delicious smell..."

Heartbeat took a step to follow that scent, but stopped and said:

"But what if something happens in the meantime? Well, what are the odds of that happening?"

She prepared to move, but she stopped again and said:

"Wait, usually when somepony says that, the thing that somepony hopes that doesn't happen eventually happens."

But the desire to follow that delicious aroma eventually dominate Heartbeat who said:

"I think I'll take a risk."

And, having said that, she advanced to the source of that aroma.

After a while, Star met with his friends, but only found Jonagold and Gunter.

"Do any of you know where's Bramble?" he asked.

"I think he hasn't returned from his search for wild plants" Gunter said.

"We can go lookin’ for him, if ya want" Jonagold said.

"No, I do it" said Star. "You can go back to the academy."

And Star pulled away to find Bramble in the woods that surrounded Leafgreen.

"Bramble!" Star called. "Where are you?"

Then, when he reached a small clearing, he found Bramble, stopped and looking to a dead plant. So the young deer opened the barrel that was at his neckless and took from it a hint of a golden dust that he poured the dead plant with. Out of nowhere, that plant simply regained the vitality that it had lost, returning to be green and lush again.

"Wow!" Star exclaimed, approaching, amazed. "It was just... wow!"

Bramble startled, noticing Star’s the presence, hasting to close his barrel.

"Star?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I came for you" Star replied. "It's time to get back to the academy."

"Wow, I think I got distracted a bit" Bramble said.

"Ok, would you want to tell me what just happened?" Star asked. "It’s just this plant was dead moments ago and you just give it its life back."

Bramble was undecided whether he should tell or not, but, feeling that Star was trustworthy, especially being the son of Princess Twilight and Prince Blue Sword, he said:

"My kind has always had two important works. One of them, given that our kingdom is located at the border between the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World, was watching the foreigners who enter in our realm and ensure that they are not dangerous. The other job is to eliminate any anomaly that arises."

"Anomaly?" Star asked, a little confused. "What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about sudden failures in the vitality of the forest" Bramble explained. "Fairies ensure the vitality of the Enchanted Forest with their fairy dust, that they produce from special diamond, but sometimes there are anomalies and it’s up to us, deers, to take care of them."

"How?" Star asked, increasingly curious.

"The powder from our antlers has revitalizing capabilities" Bramble said. "During winter, our antlers fall and that's when we are able to produce a large quantity of powder to use then when spring arrives. But since Falancia, the main kingdom of the Enchanted Forest, was taken by the Lord of Chaos centuries ago, the rest of the realm hasn't been the same. The anomalies began to appear more frequently and the dust from our antlers is no longer enough. It just manages to revive plants, not bring them back to life.

"So, how..." Star started, pointing to the plant that before was undoubtedly dead.

"I used a special dust that my father gave me" Bramble answered. "It's thanks to it that deers have been able to ensure the vitality of the Enchanted Forest, because it comes from the Heart of the Forest."

"The Heart?" Star asked.

"It is the source of all life in the Enchanted Forest" Bramble said. "Without it, this realm would die. The Heart is located in Falancia, that's why it was the main kingdom. But my ancestor, the king of time Falancia was dominated by Chaos, managed to connect to the Heart and thus get its special dust. So, now Thicket is the main kingdom... at least until Falancia is released from the influence of Evil."

"I see..." Star said, impressed with that story. “And I presume that, as future King of Thicket, you will be the next to have a responsibility to get the dust from the Heart."

"I think I have to" Bramble said. "And that makes me nervous. I've seen my dad do it and it is a very demanding process. There must be harmony between us and the Heart and... I don't know if I will be able to do it."

Realizing the insecurity of his friend, Star put his hoof on Bramble's shoulder and told him:

"You can do it. I know you can."

That made Bramble smile and say:

"Thank You, Star. You're a good friend."

It was then that they heard a grunt and a chimera appeared. It was a very frightening creature with the head and the front body of a lion, antlers and the back body of the goat and a serpent as a tail. The creature growled at them fiercely.

"A chimera..." Bramble said, shaking in his hoofs. "We are finished..."

"Relax, Bramble" Star said. "Everything will be fine."

"Chimeras are one of the most bloodthirsty creatures that exist" Bramble said. "They won't quit until their prey is killed."

Star knew that, since he had already read about chimeras. But he had an idea about how to deal with it.

"Bramble, run" he said.

"What?" the deer asked.

"Go to the village and ask for help" Star said. "I entertain it."

"But, Star..." Bramble started.

"Don't worry" Star said. "I'm an alicorn, have you forgotten? I can fly. I have that advantage. Go ask for help."

Despite not wanting to leave Star alone, Bramble knew this was the only way to deal with the situation where they were. He waved.

"Okay, when I say" Star started. "Now!"

And Bramble began to run out of the clearing. Seeing the young deer running away, chimera began running toward him.

"No way" Star said, flying in the direction of the chimera.

But when he approached, the head of the chimera’s snake tail was quite fast and bit one of Star’s forelegs. He felt an immense pain and then was thrown against the ground. Bramble, seeing the creature approaching, was paralyzed with fear. Seeing his friend about to be attacked, Star was filled with despair and anger, and exclaimed:

"NO!"

Quickly, steam appeared around Star, while he got up. The intensity of the steam was such that caught the attention of the chimera that turned to him. Bramble, seeing that, got freed of his paralysis, getting too amazed with what was happening. It was then the steam turned into an intense red energy that surrounded Star in spiral. The force was so great that split the ground around it.

Star directed his gaze to the chimera, but his eyes and his expression were totally different. His eyes that used to be glaucous and filled with light were now red and full of anger and savagery. His pupils were even split, as if they were the eyes of a wild animal. Lines similar to feline whiskers were drawn on his face and fangs appeared. On his hooves, claws appeared, getting similar to the hooves of pony-wolves and pony-panthers. When he found himself, Bramble returned to his state of paralysis, but, this time, was not for being afraid of the chimera, but Star.

Suddenly, the energy released built up in the air and took the shape... a fox head. In addition, the wound that was made by the tail of the chimera began to heal quickly.

In the village, Heartbeat was leaving the bakery after being delighted with a delicious bread, saying:

"This was the best bread I've ever had since... well, ever. I don't think Purple Smoke would do something like that."

And, it was then that Heartbeat was able to feel something. She felt something awfully familiar, a thing of the past. It didn't take long until she realized it was Nine-Tails.

"No…" she said, not wanting to believe. "It can’t be..."

The energy that formed the fox head dissipated, while Star coat ruffled and he started growling and put himself in a position of attack. The chimera, feeling threatened, also put itself in a position to attack. Star then advanced against the chimera with an immense speed. It managed to escape, but Star managed to make a tight curve and reached the chimera. The tail struck again, but Star dodged it, but, in doing so, he allowed the chimera to attack again, but this time with its claws. However, Star managed to catch the claw the chimera was going to use with one of his hooves and, with the other, punched the chimera that was launched far away.

Bramble remained where he was, shocked by what he had just seen. Star had managed to defeat a chimera with his own hooves. However, his appearance was what scared the young deer the most. Star turned to him and his fear grew, fearing he was going to attack. But that didn't happen. Star just stared at him.

Suddenly, Heartbeat appeared between the two of them and she, seeing Star, told him:

"I’m sorry, Star. It's my fault that this happened. But now that the damage is done, it's time to fix it."

And she charged her horn with magic and tried to use her empathic power in Star. Heartbeat could feel the anger around him, the rage that was just giving more power to the energy of Nine-Tails that coming through the cracks of the seal created by Golden Paladin. But her magic proved to be effective, as the anger began to decrease gradually. The changes on Star's body started to recede, while his eyes regained the color they had before.

When the young alicorn prince returned to who he was, the accumulated exhaustion made him to faint. After that, Heartbeat turned to Bramble and, with her empathy, managed to calm him down, although he remained awake. With the problem already solved, Heartbeat turned to Star and said, talking to herself:

"I think I'm in deep trouble."

Author's Note

The chimera that I used is not based on the one that appears in the series, as I was planning to use it with this form before the series use it in "Somepony to Watch Over Me". The scene where the power of the Nine-Tails manifests itself is based on the same scene where the same thing happens with Naruto in his fight against Haku.

The Truth Comes to the Surface

After the incident with Star, Heartbeat dealt with to bring the young prince to the infirmary and Bramble also. The deer prince, although a bit shocked, was perfectly fine, so he was sent to his room.

It didn’t last until Twilight and Blue to arrive, using Mirror Coat’s special teleportation spell, accompanied by him and Golden Paladin.

"Star..." Twilight said, going to bed where Star was, turning to the nurse. "How is he?"

"Don't worry, Your Highness" the nurse replied. "He's just tired."

"Good" Twilight said, turning again to his unconscious son, passing her hoof through his mane.

"I'll leave you alone" the nurse said.

Blue turned to Melody, Purple Smoke and Heartbeat, who were also there, and asked them:

"What happened?"

"Don't look at us" Purple Smoke said, referring to himself and Melody.

"Heartbeat was responsible for watching the prince" Melody added.

All eyes (except for Twilight’s which continued facing Star) fell on Heartbeat. She tried to ignore them and seemed to be able to do it, but then Golden Paladin asked:

"Heartbeat, tells us what happened."

Golden Paladin, in addition to the Lord of Order, was the only one able to control Heartbeat minimally. She, feeling pressured by him, said:

"It's not my fault that the bakery of Leafgreen makes the best bread of all."

When they heard that, the Generals rolled their eyes.

"Seriously?" Purple Smoke asked. "You got distracted because of bread?"

"Hey, that was the best bread I've ever tasted" Heartbeat replied. "And know that it's even better than yours."

That left Purple Smoke obviously offended and he said:

"Take that back!"

"Seriously?" Mirror Coat asked. "In a situation like this, the two are fighting over bread?"

"Tell me about it" Melody said. "Watching Purple Smoke arguing with somepony else other than me makes me feel disconcerted."

Blue Sword approached Twilight, and, putting his hoof over her shoulder, asked:

"How are you, Twily?"

"How do you think I am, Blue?" Twilight asked him back. "Our son is in a hospital bed because of that damn fox."

There was a pause and then Twilight said:

"We knew this would happen. Sooner or later, the seal would weaken and the power of Nine-Tails would arise. Blue, I think it's time to tell him the truth."

"Are you sure?" Blue asked. "If it's because of what happened, Twilight, maybe he won't remember."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Prince Blue Sword" Golden Paladin said, approaching. "Even under the influence of a Tailed Beast, a Jinchuriki can remain conscious. At least to some extent. For what Heartbeat told, only a fraction of the power of Nine-Tails dominated the young prince. He probably can remember what happened."

"And he will certainly ask us about what happened" Twilight concluded. "This only confirms what we have to do. Blue, I don't want my desire to protect him to make him suffer more than he already suffered. It's time to do what's right for him."

Blue smiled at Twilight.

"That's why I admire you so much, Twily."

She gave him a smile and the two exchanged a brief kiss. After that, Star started to wake up, which aroused the attention of all to him. Star opened his eyes and noticed the presence of everypony.

"Dad? Mom? What are you doing here?"

"Hello, my dear" Twilight said, embracing strongly his son.

"Mom, stop, I can't breathe" he said.

Twilight then dumped him and asked:

"Are you okay?"

"I think so..." he replied, while he sat.

"You gave us a big scare, buddy" Blue said.

"What happened?" Star asked, still a little confused.

His parents traded some looks with each other because they knew they had to know if Star really remembered what had happened before telling the truth.

"What do you remember, Star?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know, it's all very confusing" Star said, starting to recall fragments of what happened that began to form little by little a memory. "I think... I just beat a chimera. But that's not possible... is it?"

Suddenly a headache shook Star and he was invaded by memories when he was possessed by the power of Nine-Tails.

"But what happened to me?" he asked. "Mom, Dad, what was that?!"

"Relax, Star, my dear" Twilight reassured. "Everything has an explanation… Although the truth can be quite shocking."

"What truth?" Star asked, getting more and more nervous.

Twilight and Blue exchanged a look. That was the moment to reveal the terrible truth that they have been hiding for about nine years.

The two revealed to Star what had happened when they heard about the plan of Lord of Chaos to get the Tailed Beasts, saying that, by order of the Lord of Order, the Nine-Tails was sealed inside of him. Hearing this, Star was hugely shocked. Get that truth was like bumping into something truly hard.

"You mean..." he started, still trying to find the right words to say. "Do you want to say that I have a monster inside of me?"

He looked at his parents and said:

"A monster that you have placed in me."

"Well, technically, it was Golden Paladin who..." Heartbeat started.

But a rough look from her siblings made her say:

"Ok, I won’t say anything else."

"Son, please..." Twilight started, approaching her hoof to him, but he pulled away, what made the princess withdraw her hoof.

"That's why everypony in the Light Kingdom look at me like that" Star said, recalling what made him hate his home kingdom.

"We had no choice" Blue said. "The Lord of Order said it had to be this way."

"You've to be kidding" Star said, rising up. "I mean, you put a monster inside of me and, because of that, I am hated by the whole kingdom!"

"Star..." Twilight started, with tears beginning to appear in her eyes.

"Besides you hided this from me all my life!" he continued. "And you say you only made it because the Lord of Order told you to do so?!"

"You don't understand…" Blue said.

"No, you are the ones who don't understand!" Star exclaimed. "You don't know what I felt with those cold glances full of contempt following me everywhere."

There was a pause and then Star Knight said, slightly calmer:

"I want to be alone."

And, having said that, he left the infirmary. Twilight wanted to go after him, but Blue put his hoof on her shoulder, preventing her from moving forward.

"Maybe it’s better we leave him alone for a while."

"Blue, our son is hatting us right now" Twilight said, in an exasperated tone. "We have to do something."

"The only thing that we will do is making him even angrier with us" Blue said. "We're going to let him calm down. I think the best we can do is return to the Light Kingdom."

"I think Prince Blue Sword is right, princess" Golden Paladin said.

"But..." Twilight started.

"Don't worry, princess, we take care of everything" Golden Paladin said.

Twilight didn't respond right away because she didn't like the idea of having his son upset with her. But she knew that Blue and Golden were right. She nodded, agreeing. Golden waved to Mirror Coat and he created a portal that Twilight passed through. Before Blue could cross, he turned to Golden, saying:

"I'm counting on you, Golden."

"Don't worry, Blue Sword" Golden Paladin said. "Everything will be fine."

More relieved with the General of Peace’s words, the General of Balance followed his wife. After that, Mirror Coat crossed the portal and it disappeared. Golden Paladin turned to Melody and Purple Smoke and told them:

"You can get back to your business here. After all, tomorrow the school year will begin. And you can tell to the headmistresses that this matter is now resolved."

They waved and headed to the exit of the infirmary. Heartbeat intended to follow them, but Golden Paladin said:

"Not you, Heartbeat. I have something to talk with you."

That made the General of Affection to swallow. A lecture from Golden was something she doesn't appreciate. After Melody and Purple Smoke got out, Golden Paladin said:

"Now us..."

"Before you say anything, Goldy, let me tell you that I admit that what happened with Star was my fault" Heartbeat hastened to say. "I should have watched him and, because of my distraction, the power of Nine-Tails got loose. Probably you will give me a lecture and I don't blame you..."

"Why would I do that when you just did the job for me?" Golden Paladin asked.

That answer left Heartbeat confused and she asked:

"You won’t lecture me?"

"I know you're pretty sorry, besides that this was something that was inevitable" Golden Paladin said.

"Oh..." Heartbeat said. " So, why do you want to talk to me?"

"I just want you to talk to Prince Star” Golden Paladin replied. "After all, you were the Jinchuriki of Nine-Tails before him and you know better how he feels than any of us. In addition that your empathic abilities are another reason for you to be the best choice to calm him down."

"That's all?" Heartbeat asked. "Of course I’ll do that. Actually, I was thinking to do it."

"Perfect. Then do it, because I have something else to do."

"What?"

But a look from Golden Paladin made Heartbeat realize that it wasn't anything to do with her.

"I get it" she said. "I'm going to take care of my mission."

And she went out with her speed.

In Bramble and Star’s room, the deer prince was sitting on his bed, thinking about what had happened. He never thought that Star could have something like that in him.

"Still thinking about what happened?" a voice asked.

Bramble startled and turned to the entrance of the room, facing Golden Paladin.

"You..." he began, standing up. "You are the General of Peace."

"I'm glad to hear that you still remember me, Prince Bramble" Golden Paladin said.

"What are you doing here?" Bramble asked. "Star isn't here yet."

"I know that" Golden Paladin replied. "You're the one I want to talk to."

"About what?"

"You don't have to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. I just come to ask you something."

"What?" asked Bramble.

"I know that you realize that the power that Prince Star Knight used to save you from that chimera has its origin in a Tailed Beast" Golden Paladin said. "After all, your kingdom has its own Jinchuriki who is also the king’s brother and your uncle. Probably, you know how the power of a Tailed Beast manifests and you managed to associate everything."

"So it's true" Bramble said. "Star is a Jinchuriki."

"The Jinchuriki of Nine-Tails to be more precise" Golden Paladin added.

"And you want me to keep this information secret, don't you?"

"I don't think I need to ask this, since you know the discrimination that Jinchuriki suffer and I know you don't want Prince Star Knight to suffer more than he already suffered. No, what I wanted to ask you is something else. I want you to not tell Prince Star Knight that you have an uncle who is a Jinchuriki."

"Why?" Bramble asked.

"Simple" Golden Paladin answered. "We are at a time when it is dangerous to join two or more Jinchuriki at the same place. You don't have to ask why, you just have to trust my words."

There was a pause and then Bramble said:

"I understand."

"Great" Golden Paladin said. "I can see that I can count on you."

And, having said that, Golden Paladin left the room. Then he said to himself:

"I hope he does my request. We can't give the Lord of Chaos opportunities to capture the maximum Jinchuriki possible. Now, I just hope Heartbeat can calm our young prince down."

Star Knight had flown to the top of one of the towers of the academy to observe the sunset. He was still in shock with the discovery of having the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of him. Taking the hoof to his belly, he couldn't help but wonder in that hideous monster inside. Now he understood the reason for the light ponies to hate him. It wasn't him, it was the creature that inhabited his inner self. The hatred felt towards the Nine-Tails was just being projected to him.

But the worst part wasn’t the discovery of what was inside of him, but the fact that his parents have hidden that fact throughout his all life, knowing clearly what he had been through. How could they hide something like that?

"You look like you could use some company" a familiar voice said.

Star recognized the voice as belonging to Heartbeat, who appeared at the top of the tower.

"Go away, Heartbeat" he said, without looking at her. "I don't want to see anypony right now."

"Yes, but I disagree" Heartbeat replied, sitting next to Star. "I think you need somepony to talk to, especially with somepony who can understand what you're feeling."

The young Prince dropped a laugh and said:

"I doubt you can understand what I'm feeling."

"Well, not completely, but I know what it's like to have a monster inside" Heartbeat replied. "After all, what is inside of you had already been inside of me."

Upon hearing that, Star turned to Heartbeat, not wanting to believe.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"I couldn’t be more serious” Heartbeat answered. "For a long time, nine creatures with different number of tails were in this reality. These creatures were called Tailed Beasts and they were feared by everypony. But many wanted their power and managed to capture them and seal them in other beings called Jinchuriki."

"Like me?" Star asked.

"Yes, like you" Heartbeat confirmed. "In you, is Nine-tails, considered to be the strongest of the Tailed Beasts. He was the only one to not be caught for the same purpose as his brethren. He was defeated and captured by Goldy and Leaf Mane and I voluntarily became his Jinchuriki."

"Why did you do something like that?"

"Because I was the only one with the capacity to contain him. But, in the end, I couldn't control his power. We had to put him in Tartarus after having sealed most of his power."

"Until my parents decided to put him inside of me" Star said, sadly.

"Don't say that, Star" Heartbeat said. "Your parents didn't want you to became a Jinchuriki. The Lord of Order ordered that."

"They should have refused to comply with that order" Star said.

"And do you think they didn't want to?" Heartbeat asked, making Star staring at her, surprised. "Believe me, they almost revolted against the Lord of Order, but the Nine-Tails could not continue at loose and he can only be contained by Generals of Order and alicorns and, among these, only those that are compatible can become Jinchuriki. Only you and I have that compatibility and, having regard to my failure in the past, you've been chosen to be Jinchuriki."

"So my parents didn't have a choice?" Star asked.

Heartbeat shook his head and said:

"You know, I've never seen them as distressed as the day we seal Nine-Tails inside you. Although they knew we would only seal that big stinky fox with half of his power and that we would use Goldy’s strongest sealing magic, the knowledge of what you would deal with was as a torment for them."

Hearing Heartbeat’s words made Star to realize how unfair he was to their parents. The General of Affection, realizing this, told him, putting her hoof on his shoulder:

"Your parents love you regardless of what you think of them."

"But I was so..." Star started.

"Yes, I know" Heartbeat said. "But I know that you forgiving them is enough for them. And I can see that you forgive them."

A smile appeared on Star’s face and he said:

"Thanks, Heartbeat."

She nodded in response and then left, leaving Star alone. Shortly after, he returned to his room, where he found Bramble.

"Hello, Bramble..." Star greeted.

"Hello, Star" he replied.

"Look, about what happened..." the alicorn prince started.

"You don't have to say anything" Bramble replied to Star, approaching. "I’m the one who have to say something. After all, you saved me. So... thanks."

Star smiled and said:

"You're welcome. We're friends. It's not true?"

"Yes" Bramble replied.

And the two bumped their hooves, while starting to laugh.

At the entrance of the academy, Golden Paladin awaited. Suddenly, Heartbeat appeared and the General of Peace asked her:

"So?"

"Everything is solved" Heartbeat said. "Star has forgiven his parents. In fact, he was very sorry for the way he treated them."

"That is the least" Golden Paladin said. "It's nothing that a next meeting between them does not work. What is important is that Princess Twilight can now have some peace of mind. I also took care of what I had to do. Now, I will return to the Light Kingdom to inform the prince and the princess about what happened and then I’ll return."

"Why?" Heartbeat asked. "What else can you do here?"

"Something that we need to start as soon as possible now that Prince Star Knight knows his condition as Jinchūriki" Golden Paladin replied. "It's time to start the train so he can control the power of Nine-Tails."

At the Desolate Zone, the Lord of Chaos had gathered his villains. He asked Chrysalis:

"What do you have for me, Chrysalis?"

"I got to know through my spies at the Enchanted Forest that Prince Star Knight just discovered the power of Nine-Tails" she replied.

"Interesting" the Lord of Chaos said. "That means he must now know his condition as Jinchuriki."

"But this should not be a little disturbing, my lord?" Adagio asked. "I mean, that means they can start training him to control the power of Nine-Tails."

"Adagio has a point" Rothbart said. "Even with half of his power, Nine-Tails remains quite powerful. If Prince Star Knight is able to control his power..."

"Are you doubting the power of our master?" Medusa asked, in a mocking tone, to Adagio and Rothbart. "Do you really think a nine-tailed beast can be more powerful than the Lord of Chaos?"

That defiance of the gorgon nagged Rothbart and Adagio, especially the latter, who struggled to not respond. Fortunately, the Lord of Chaos said:

"You must not criticize them, Medusa. They have a point. Nine-Tails is a formidable foe. If not for his power, then for his cleverness. But I doubt Star Knight is able to completely control his power, and that is our biggest advantage. That is why we should focus first on the other Jinchuriki and acquire their Tailed Beasts before he becomes too powerful and a great headache. Oogie Boogie, did you find more Jinchuriki?"

"My Lord, it is with great pride that I say I could find two Jinchuriki" Oogie Boogie said.

"Only two?" Chrysalis asked. "It seems that the Lord of Chaos overestimates your skills, Oogie Boogie."

"You wouldn't say that, if you knew the complexity that is to use the Dream World for a search like this" Oogie Boogie answered her. "Not to mention that it is quite difficult to find the mind of a Tailed Beast in the dreams of their respective Jinchuriki, and I still have to consider Princess Luna. With her watching the dreams constantly, I don't have the same freedom to invade them."

"It's okay" the Lord of Chaos said. "We still have plenty of time. Furthermore, knowing the identity of these Jinchuriki is good for now. Good job, Oogie Boogie. "

"Thank you, my Lord" Oogie Boogie thanked, making him a slight bow.

"The rest of you get on with what you're doing" the Lord of Chaos said to the other villains. "We must continue to get power so that no Jinchuriki, General or alicorns can put obstacles to my great plan."

A Meeting Between Tailed Beast and Jinchuriki

The first week at the academy was passing quickly. Star found a little challenging to get used to the timetables, but he soon got used to. Despite being used to study on his own or with his mother in the library of the Light Castle, Star began enjoying classes with teachers of the academy.

Between the classes he had, Enchanted Music was one of them that was taught by Melody. In those classes, Melody taught how to use magic though sound. Of course this was not a task that anypony could do easily, because, in part, there was a natural ability involved. For what Star knew, his mother and her friends, with Melody’s help, were able to use music to defeat the Sirens, but it seemed that Star wasn't having the same success, although he didn’t stop from trying.

Another class that he had and that was one of his favorites was Science and Magic, that combined science with magic and that allowed Star to apply everything he had learned from his mother. This discipline was taught by a short and frowning unicorn stallion Unicorn with moderate gold coat with a volumetric flask releasing sparks as Cutie Mark, moderate spring bud mane, moderate vermilion eyes and a long beard called Xenon Alchemy. He was a teacher quite feared among students due to his rigid methods, being known for surprise tests and his resilience in passing students in the work, giving to them a lower grade than the one they trully deserved. Very few were those who had achieved an A with him.

There was also History and History of Magic, where the first was about history in general, of the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World as well, while other was about the great events of Magic, like the major breakthroughs or the creation of powerful spells. These two classes were taught respectively by Thistlewit and Merryweather. Knotgrass, in her turn, taught to unicorn students (and alicorn, in Star’s case) Introduction to Practical Magic, where she taught students how to perform basic spells, although Star already had a general domain on them.

In addition to these, there were also the most basic classes such as Gymnastics, which was taught by a deer with dark grayish reddish brown and grayish red fur and moderate pistachio eyes named Ebony, who had a good relationship with the students in general. Also there was Math that was taught by a mare with brownish coat, red and crimson mane and greenish eyes called Yarrow Belle.

Star was fitting pretty well. The news that he had saved Bramble had spread, although without the details of what really happened. That earned him a boost of popularity. Even though he was a colt who enjoyed tranquillity and description, Star couldn't deny that he was enjoying all the attention and admiration, after spending his entire life being despised by the light ponies due to his condition as Jinchuriki.

When the first week was almost over, something happened that would change the new everyday life of the young alicorn prince. During a Gymnastic class, he was with Bramble, Jonagold and Gunter stretching at the end of class, when Professor Ebony said:

"All right, guys, that's enough stretching. You can go."

Star and his friends were about to go take a shower in the locker room, when Professor Ebony called him:

"Prince Star Knight, can you come here, please?"

Star turned to his friends and told them:

"Go ahead, guys, I've got you."

They waved and drifted away. Star addressed the Ebony Teacher who told him:

"Melody asked me to tell you a message. She could have told you in person, but she had business to take care in her studio."

"What message is that?" Star asked.

"The General of Peace requests your presence at the entrance to the academy as soon as possible" Professor Ebony said.

"But why?" he asked, curious.

"I don't know" Professor Ebony replied. "I'm just telling the message.”

“I understand... "Star said." Thank you, professor."

And, with this, Star pulled away.

After taking a bath to relax his body from the exercise done at the class, Star flew to the entrance of the academy and found Golden Paladin waiting. He landed on his edge and asked:

"Golden Paladin, what are you doing here? Did something happened to my parents?"

"You don't have to worry about that, young prince" he replied. "What brings me here is you."

"What do you mean?" Star asked.

Golden Paladin, repairing all the students who there was around, answered:

"We should talk somewhere else. It is not recommended that the subject be known by everypony."

And a yellow light left him, overshadowing Star. When his eyes came back to see, they were in a clearing.

"Where are we?" Star asked.

"Don't worry" Golden Paladin replied. "We are in a clearing near the academy. However, this place has the privacy we need."

"For what?" Star asked.

"The reason that brought me here, young prince, is what is inside you" Golden Paladin said. "I'm talking, of course, about the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Hearing that, Star adopted a more serious look. The name of the creature that inhabited his heart still caused him enough confusion.

"What’s about him?" Star asked.

"You can't control his power" Golden Paladin replied. "Even with my seal, it is inevitable that some of his energy can pass and possess you. This is a phenomenon which I believe you've experienced."

Star recalled the day when he defeated the chimera.

"Although right now these outbreaks are not really of concern, the fact that you can't control the power will eventually weaken the seal and, if it does, the more likely it is to happen the same thing that happened when Heartbeat was the Jinchuriki of Nine-Tails before you."

Heartbeat's words rang in Star’s mind, with her explaining that she couldn't control the power of Nine-Tails and so she and the others had to arrest him in Tartarus.

"Therefore, I will teach you how to control that same energy" Golden Paladin announced.

"I understand…" Star replied. "And I accept. If to keep everypony safe from Nine-Tails I have to know how to control his power, then so be it."

Golden Paladin smiled and said:

"I didn't expect less from the son of Princess Twilight and Prince Blue Sword. So let's start now. That is, if you don't have anything else to do."

"For me, there's no problem" Star replied.

"Perfect" Golden Paladin said. "Then, let's start. First you have to do, is to try to access the surface of the power of the Nine-tails and control it. That way, even unconsciously, you can use it."

"And how do I do it?" Star asked.

"It's easy" Golden Paladin answered. "Through meditation. The concentration is a very important part to control the energy of a Tailed Beast. If you lose it, you can end up being dominated by the energy. But you don't have to worry too much. I'm here and will make sure that nothing bad happens."

Star nodded, understanding what Golden Paladin said. And then the training began. Sitting, the young alicorn prince began to meditate, trying to reach the surface of the power of Nine-Tails. But the process proved to be a lot of work. Star could feel the energy, but for some reason, he couldn't reach it. When he approached it, the energy just walked away. Starting to get frustrated, Star stopped the meditation and said:

"This is pointless!"

"What's the matter?" Golden Paladin asked.

"No matter how hard I try, I can't reach Nine-Tails’ energy" Star said. "It seems that it turns away from me whenever I try to approach it."

"That's normal, young prince" Golden Paladin said. "Trying to control the energy of a Tailed Beast is a fairly lengthy process. It takes years to get it, even for a Jinchuriki. That's why the Jinchuriki are chosen when they are at a young age, so that they and their respective Tailed Beasts can create harmony between them."

"Yes, but I don't think there can be harmony between me and Nine-Tails" Star said. "After all, he's responsible for me being hated by the light ponies."

There was a pause and then Golden Paladin said:

"Ponies hate everything they fear or don't understand. The light ponies know by experience the danger that Nine-Tails represents, beyond that we've had enough problems when Heartbeat failed to contain him. Prince Star Knight, try to understand them. For them, living with the Nine-Tails, even sealed, is the same as for us, Generals, have to live with the villains of the Lord of Chaos."

Golden Paladin’s words made Star trying to see the light ponies with a different perspective. They always ignored and despised him, but knowing what they must have suffered when Nine-Tails was still at loose, made him understand why they were doing it. Even though he is the son of the princess that they admired and that, one day, would rule them, what was inside of him was a monster that tormented them in the past that made them be unable to differentiate the Tailed Beast from the Jinchūriki.

Then Star made a decision. He would prove himself to the light ponies. He would prove them that he was not like the Nine-Tailed Fox and, for this, he would have to control his energy. So, he returned to the training. Watching Star’s change of attitude, Golden Paladin smiled.

At the end of that training, Star was still unable to access to the power of Nine-Tails, but he managed to renew his motivation and, just for that, the trained was worth it.

Until the end of that week, Star continued to train with Golden Paladin, but he had not yet been able to access the power of the Nine-Tails. His friends wondered what would be the reason for his disappearing, although Bramble had a small idea.

Finally, the weekend arrived and many students of the academy decided to go home. Star, knowing that he had yet to officially deal with the disagreement he had with his parents, decided to go spend that weekend in the Light Kingdom.

When the carriage stopped in front of the Light Castle and Star came out, he was soon greeted by two small fillies, Sunny and Midnight.

"We missed you so much, Star!" Sunny exclaimed.

"We're glad you are here, big brother!" Midnight added.

"Hey, I've only been gone for a week" Star said. "If you are already like that, so I don't even want to imagine when I have to stay at the academy during more time."

After his two sisters dropped him, he saw his parents. She could see the nervous air of his mother, although his father continued with his confidence look. He approached them and asked Twilight with a smile:

"So, mom, won’t you go to say hello?"

That made a smile appear on Twilight’s face and she approached Star and gave him a big hug.

"Forgive me, my son."

"Heartbeat told me everything that you and dad felt when the Lord of Order ordered me to become a Jinchūriki" Star said, ending the hug. "I understood that you had no other choice."

"Good" Twilight said, relieved.

"So maybe you can give your old man a hug, too" Blue said.

"Of course, dad" Star replied.

And he went to give him a hug.

During the rest of the day, Star stayed with his family to kill the misses. Meanwhile, Golden Paladin and Heartbeat met at the gardens and the General of Peace said:

"The Prince Star Knight’s training is not having the progress that I expected. We all know how much he is capable and determined. Probably, this has to do with the fact that you used your empathy on him, when he fought against that chimera."

"It makes sense" Heartbeat said, while she smelled the flowers. "There should still be some residues of my magic. This can be a problem for you, but not that big. All you have to do is wait for all the residual magic to disappear."

"I can't afford to wait" Golden Paladin replied. "It is imperative that the young prince start to learn how to control the power of the Nine-Tails right now. It's not just a matter of keeping everypony safe, but is also to give him the tools he will need to defend himself from the villains of the Lord of Chaos."

Heartbeat thought for a few seconds and then she said:

"Well, you can always force him."

"You mean..." Golden Paladin started, realizing what she meant. “Of course, it's the only way. I have to force him to access the power of the Nine-Tails."

"Therefore, you have only three ways to do it" Heartbeat said.

"I know that" Golden Paladin said. "The first would be to release the seal slightly. But at this point, it is out of the question. It would only give to Nine-Tails an opportunity to break free."

"You can also press him emotionally, although it is quite risky because there is a greater risk of him losing control and so Star will not be able to learn how to control the power" Heartbeat said. "Therefore..."

"I have to put him in a situation where his life is in danger" Golden Paladin said. "But it's a little risky and I doubt the princess will accept."

"The decision is yours" Heartbeat said. "After all, you're the trainer. Now, I have to go. I have things to do in the Room of Souls."

And she pulled away, leaving Golden Paladin to ponder on what to do. His duty was to teach Star Knight to control the power of the Nine-Tails. However, time was something precious and it was necessary to compensate as much as possible. Having to wait until Heartbeat’s residual magic disappeared could put a big obstacle in his training plans and, if there was a way to resolve this issue more quickly, so he had no other choice. Beyond that Star would not run any danger, Golden only would make him thinking that he was in danger.

The next day, after breakfast, Star met with Golden Paladin at the gardens of the castle and asked him:

"So we're going to continue the training, Golden?"

"Of course, young prince" he replied. "Although, in this session, we're going to do something different."

There was a yellow light that teleported them to the other side of the kingdom, where there was a large cliff.

"What are we doing here, Golden?"

"No big deal" Golden Paladin answered. "I just want to test a new method. I just need to do this."

Charging his horn with magic, Golden Paladin invoked a rope he used to tie Star’s wings up.

“Golden, what is this rope for?” the young alicorn asked.

"To ensure you don't cheat" Golden Paladin said.

"Wait, what exactly is this method that you are talking about?" Star said.

"I had the confirmation that you will not be able to access the power of the Nine-tails on your own for a while" Golden replied. "But I don't want to wait until you're capable of that, so I will force you to access it."

"How?"

"With danger. If you feel that your life is in danger, I think it will work."

Star was still pretty confused. What was Golden Paladin planning to do?

“Now, young prince, if you don’t wish to die, do something about it” Golden Paladin said.

Having said that, the General of Peace gave a little tap on Star’s forehead. His strength made him fall to behind and Star Knight started to fell in the cliff. Golden just hoped that this method worked or else he had to intervene.

Star continued to fall. Now he understood what Golden Paladin had in mind. Star needed to do something to stop himself from falling. His first instinct was to use his wings, but they were really tied up. Then, he tried to use his magic, but it was not enough to stop him from falling or even slowing down. There was nothing he could do. Would Golden Paladin really help him from falling down? That doubt only made him even more nervous. His heart started bumping faster and faster from all the adrenaline, facing the thought he could die…

When Star found himself, he was in what appeared to be the basement of an industrial plant, with pipes, with some of them leaking, running along the ceiling and the floor, with the latter flooted.

“What?” Star asked, getting up.

He looked around and then Star heard a strong growl. The young alicorn prince followed the growl, walking through a particular corridor. The much Star followed the corridor, the more he could feel it. It was a feeling he had when he fought against the chimera. Arriving to the end of the corridor, Star found a great cage. That cage had a locked with the form of a swirl with golden chains over it.

“What is this?” Star asked.

But he already knew the answer to that question, although it appeared before him. The creature imprisoned in that cage, hidden in the shadows, showed its red eyes which glowed with an intense red glow. Facing that, Star became petrified in terror. It said:

“Come closer, little colt.”

Obeying, Star approached the cage, but the appearance of claws trying to force the exit from the cage, made him to retreat as a reflect.

“You don’t know how wonderful will be to kill and eat you” the creature said. “But this cursed cage confines me. It’s that abominable sealing spell from Golden Paladin.”

“You’re…” Star said. “You’re… You’re… the Nine-Tailed Fox… So this is where you are. To where Golden Paladin sealed you inside of me.”

“Why are you here, foolish colt?” Nine-Tails asked. “What do you want?”

While a little impressed with the fact he was facing the Nine-Tails, Star filled himself with confidence and said:

“Alright, listen me, studid fox. You’re in my body and you owe me rent. So, for payment, I’ll take your energy.”

There was a pause and then Nine-Tails simply laughed and said:

“Well, I suppose I can’t kill you, can I? After all, if you die, I die. Your courage impress me, little colt.”

From inside the cage, red energy get out through the water that filled the floor and got approached of Star Knight. Then, it simply bound Star with force.

“Very well, as a reward for making this far, I will lend you my energy!”

Star returned to the real world, and was still falling off the cliff, but this time he could feel the energy of Nine-Tails flowing inside of him. He charged his horn with magic, with his aura adopting the same color of the red energy of a Tailed Beast, along with his usual color. That aura crossed the rest of his body and the rope Golden Paladin used to tie his wings up simply fell apart, allowing Star to spread his wings. When he did that and started flying up, Star started flying with an immense speed, something he had never done, while leaving a red trail. Getting out of the cliff, he passed through Golden Paladin who was impressed with Star.

"Wow, it seems that this was a truly amazing result" he said, smiling.

Star remained flying for a while, enjoying the speed. He felt pretty good. He felt as if the energy of Nine-Tails allowed him to do things he normally wouldn't be able to do. It was then that he decided that was enough and prepared to land, doing it next to Golden Paladin.

"It seems that this method was a success" the General of Peace said.

"But I almost died, Golden" Star recalled.

"I wasn't going to let that to happen, young prince" Golden Paladin said. "But I had to make you think you were going to die to force you to use the power of Nine-Tails. And it looks like you did it."

"Yes... Although I would prefer that it simply showed up as it was with the chimera" Star said, remembering his encounter with Nine-Tails.

"What do you mean?" Golden Paladin asked.

"Nothing" Star replied, thinking it was better to keep his meeting with Nine-Tails for himself.

"Well, anyway, now you got access to the power of Nine-Tails, you should no longer have the difficulty to access it freely now" Golden Paladin said. "Although it is better to just do it in case of need. In addition, I believe that your magic has fortified after this. I'm sure that you'll be able now to do more advanced spells."

"Seriously?" Star asked. "Well, I'm eager to try them."

"But maybe not today" Golden Paladin said. "We already had too many emotions for a day, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention to your parents that I launched you into a cliff, okay?"

"Rest assured, Golden Paladin" Star said. "I won't tell anything."

"Thank you, Prince Star Knight" Golden Paladin said. "Well, let's go back to the castle."

And, having said that, he teleported himself and Star.

Watching all that through one of his mirrors and sitting on his throne was the Lord of Order. He had observed how Star met with Nine-Tails and how he had given some of his energy to the alicorn prince.

"It seems that the young Prince finally met Nine-Tails" the Lord of Order said. "It was about time. Good job, Golden. It is necessary that Star become more intimate with Nine-Tails. This may be the only way to stop my brother and his sick plan."

One-Tail Awakes

A few weeks have passed since Star Knight began his training with Golden Paladin to control Nine-tails’ power. Despite the progress regarding the control of Nine-Tails’ energy have been put aside while Star couldn't learn the minimum control due to the risk of weakening the seal, the young prince learned to control his own magic that had been fortified since he met Nine-Tails.

With the knowledge he acquired in the library of the academy and the one he already had from their studies with his mother, Star was able to master several spells that many would not be able to dominate. One of them was the duplication spell that was able to create clones that worked just like Mirror Cloat’s glass clone, disappearing when they weren’t necessary or when they were hit. The metamorphosis spell was another of the spells he was trying to master, even it was not his specialty. Although he was able to do it, it was very difficult to keep it for more than a few seconds.

After a training session where Star demonstrated his improved control of his clones, Golden Paladin said, while Star undid his clones:

"Very good, Prince Star Knight. Your control is getting better and better."

"Golden, when will you teach me how to control of Nine-Tails’ energy?" Star Knight asked. "Not that it isn't bad to learn all this, but I'd like to do more."

“I understand, young prince, but learn to control the power of a Tailed Beast takes a long time” Golden Paladin said. "Accessing to Nine-Tails’ energy will only weaken the seal even more, which will give him the opportunity to try to escape. If you're not sure you can control your power properly, I don't know if it's worth it."

"This is all so confusing" Star said. "Why am I training to control a power that it is not safe to use?"

"I know it's not very easy to understand, Prince Star Knight, after all, when it comes to the Tailed Beasts, the information related to their power is not very well known among those whose kingdoms don’t have Jinchuriki" Golden Paladin said. "But they contain an immense amount of energy that can be almost impossible to control completly."

Hearing this, Star realized the complexity about the Tailed Beasts and, if he wanted to use the Nine-Tails’ power and thus ensure the safety of everypony, he would have to know everything about him and the other Tailed Beasts.

"Golden Paladin, could you talk about the Tailed Beasts?" Star sdkrf. "If I knew more about them, maybe I could better understand the one that is inside me."

"I can see that you're pretty committed" Golden Paladin noted. "Maybe I can explain everything in a simple way. Let me see... I think the right thing is to start at the beginning."

After a brief pause to think about the words he should use, Golden Paladin told:

"Before the Lord of Chaos appeared in this reality, a monster made of wild energy appeared at Enchanted Forest, causing destruction."

"Wild energy?" Star repeated.

"As you know, the Lord of Order created everything, so that there was balance" Golden Paladin explained. "Wild energy does that. However, it was inevitable that there was accumulation of that same wild energy, but an excessive accumulation created a destructive creature without conscience: the Ten-Tails."

"Ten-Tails? You mean there are Tailed Beasts with more than nine tails?"

"Not exactly" Golden Paladin replied. "The truth is that the Lord of Order prevented Ten-Tails to cause a major destruction, dividing its own energy in nine pieces and creating nine creatures known as Tailed Beasts. However, the other creations of the Lord of Order, those who became the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest and Pony World, feared or coveted their power. Those who coveted it, tried to control them, but the power of a Tailed Beast is beyond the understanding of ordinary mortals. No one could control them, at least until they started to seal them in living beings."

"Jinchūriki" Star realized.

Golden Paladin waved, confirming Star’s answer. Then, he continued:

"In doing so, they hoped to suppress the power of the Tailed Beast and then use it as they wanted. The ones with a Tail Beast inside are called Jinchuriki, as you know. They have unimaginable power, thanks to the coexistence with the beast they carry."

Before those words, Star Knight though about the other Jinchuriki who existed around, perhaps sharing the same pain that he felt.

"And these Jinchuriki..." Star started. "They were used as weapons?"

"Unfortunately, yes" Golden Paladin replied. "At least, that was their intent when they created the Jinchuriki, but the Lord of Order prevented the wars that happen and, when I and my siblings appeared and created the Light Kingdom, we helped to maintain that stability. Fortunately, things got easier and the Jinchuriki got only the role of maintaining that same tranquility. You got lucky, Star, because the reason why you have Nine-Tails inside you is for another reason."

"Yes, my parents explained that" Star said. "The Lord of Chaos wants the Tailed Beast, right?"

Golden Paladin waved. Star Knight then asked:

"But why does he want the Tailed Beast? I imagine that isn't just to use them as weapons. After all, if that were so, he would only manipulate the kingdoms that have Jinchuriki."

"I must admit I'm impressed with this reasoning of yours, young prince" Golden Paladin praised. "You're right. If it was only for their power, he could just do that. The truth is the Lord of Chaos wants the Tailed to combine them and recreate Ten-Tails."

"What?!" Star asked, not wanting to believe. "Seriously?!"

"Ten-tails threatened the Lord of Order’s perfect creation and the Lord of Chaos intends to use it to concretize that threat of the past" Golden Paladin explained.

Star understood. But then a question popped into his head and told it to Golden:

"But you said Ten-Tails was a destructive monster without conscience. How can the Lord of chaos use it without Ten-Tails turning against him?"

"That we still don't know for sure" Golden Paladin answered. "The Lord of Chaos is a master at creating ways to bring his plans to the success, ways that are completely unpredictable, even for us."

There was a pause and then Star asked:

"How is he going to do that if the Tailed Beasts are sealed in Jinchuriki? How will he extract them? "

"You should know that there were a lot of Jinchūriki over time" Golden Paladin said. "Although each kingdom have used different kind of sealing spells, the extraction was needed to pass the Tail Beast to the next Jinchuriki, when the life of the former were coming to an end. If the Jinchuriki died with the Tail Beast still inside of him or her, so the beast would have a temporary death."

"Temporary death?" he asked, confused.

"Tailed Beasts are made of energy and, as such, they cannot be destroyed" Golden Paladin explained. "It can take some time, but they eventually come back to life. Therefore, it was necessary to extract the Tailed Beast to then seal them back. For this, it was necessary a couple of things: a sealing spell strong enough to counterbalance the power of the Tailed Beast and a lot of time. Between the sealing spells, mine is the strongest to contain a Tail Beast. Many have tried to copy it, but never managed to do it to perfection. But the biggest problem in the extraction is the effects it has on the Jinchūriki who is submitted to it. The side effects can cause major damage to the bodies, depending on the number of tails, as tails represent the amount of energy that the Tailed Best contains. But most of the time…"

Golden Paladin didn't finish, but Star didn't need him to do that, because he knew what would be the last words. The Jinchuriki's death was the most likely outcome. Knowing this, Star Knight felt a slight tremor. His own life was at risk because he had inside the Tail Beast with the largest number of tails, which meant that he would die, if Nine-tails were extracted. It was then he remembered that Heartbeat was also Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki.

"What about Heartbeat? Nine-tails was extracted from her and yet..."

"Heartbeat is different. She is a General of Order, a representative of the actual power of the Lord of Order. You, on the other hand, even though you have ability to become the next owner of the light of the original star, you still do not have the same immortality that we have."

Star Knight fell silent, while processing everything that he had heard from Golden Paladin. Now he understood that he shouldn't take the subject of Nine-Tails too lightly, in addition that the discovery the Lord of Chaos’ true plan was truly scaring.

"I think it's better to stay here" Golden Paladin said. "I've told you many things for you to think, beyond which you must go back to the academy."

Star Knight then returned to the academy. When heading to his room, he met with their friends.

"Howdy, buddy, where have ya been?" Jonagold asked.

"I've been around" Star replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you been gone since school started" Gunter replied.

"Yeah, since our first visit tah Leafgreen, ya haven't been with us that much" Jonagold said.

"I'm sorry" he apologized. "I think I'm too busy."

"You will still tell us what you are doing after school every day" Gunter said.

"Yeah, pal, ya're killin’ us with curiosity" Jonagold said.

Star sighed. Although he trusted in his friends, I didn't want to tell them about the fact that he was taking lessons from Golden Paladin to learn to control the power of a monster that was inside of him. In addition that story sounded too amazing to believe, he didn't want to burden them with a secret like that.

They arrived at Star and Bramble’s room and, when they entered, the deer prince was waiting for him with a letter, saying:

"Star, a letter was left here for you. I think it's from your mother."

Star, using his magic, took the letter and opened it and read it. After reading, he said:

"Wow, this is amazing!"

"What?" their friends asked at the same time.

"It seems my mother arranged a meeting with the pony-panthers" Star said.

"Seriously?!" Gunter asked. "But that is amazing!"

"Why?" Jonagold asked. "What's so special ‘bout that?"

"Because pony-panthers rarely relate with others" Gunter replied. "Something like this happens like… never."

"Yes, it means a lot to the Light Kingdom to relate with our neighbors" Star Knight said. "I mean, the oasis of the pony-panthers is situated in the Golden Desert which is right after the Grand Light Canyon. As the light ponies as the pony-panthers have been limited to their comfort zones. I think, through this, my mom wants to strengthen our ties of friendship."

"Well, that certainly seems pretty important" Jonagold commented. "I think, as I have always lived in Equestria, I never noticed how could still be species that lived separate lives, even though they are neighbors."

"There's more" Star Knight said. "My mom let me invite friends to this weekend, which is the same weekend in which takes place the meeting."

"That means we will be able to see the pony-panthers?" Gunter asked. "Cool! You can count on me. I just have to ask my parents, but I think that there will be no problem."

"My folks won’t rise any problem" Jonagold said. "After all, this is not tha first time Ah sleep in yer castle."

"Bramble, what about you?" Star asked. "Do you want to go?"

"Me, going to the Light Kingdom?" Bramble asked shyly. "But I never got out of the Enchanted Forest."

"One more reason tah go" Jonagold said. "In that way, ya can know the realm where we live."

"Yes, in addition to that we're going to the Light Kingdom to watch a historic event" Gunter said.

"Well..." Bramble, who then began remembered his personal objective to be more audacious. "OK, I accept. Of course, I just have to ask my dad, but I guess he will let me."

"Perfect" Star Knight said. "It will be nice to have my friends with me."

This scene was being observed by the Lord of Chaos through his mirror, while he was sitting on his throne.

"It seems that our dear prince is very happy. And me too. Knowing about this meeting just brightened my day. Oogie Boogie!"

And he appeared at the base of the staircase leading to the Lord of Chaos’ throne room.

"Yes, master?"

"It seems that the pony-panthers decided to come out of the shadows to visit the Light Kingdom" the Lord of Chaos said. "This will be the perfect opportunity to test your infiltration skills. Let's see if they will be enough to get in the great Light Kingdom. In addition it will be good to show those light ponies that, just because they are protected by my brother, they are not immune to my wrath."

Oogie Boogie made a bow to the Lord of Chaos and replied:

"As you wish, my lord."

And, having said that, he disappeared.

At the Light Kingdom, Twilight was dealing with matters of the kingdom with Spike, who had returned from a journey with his brothers. Spike had become a teenage dragon, having grown in size and gaining wings and sharper spikes.

"I’m so glad you're back, Spike" Twilight said. "My professional life without my assistant number one is not the same thing."

"I'm happy to be back too" Spike replied, whose voice had gotten huskier. "I like my brothers, but, after spending weeks hearing them sing day and night, they got a little annoying."

"And where are they now?" Twilight asked.

"Back to the Burning Palisades” Spike replied, referring to the island that belonged to him and his brothers. "I'm glad we found that place. It's perfect to hide during the scale changing."

"Yes, I'd hate if something bad happened since the last time you changed your scales here in the Light Kingdom" Twilight said.

And the two dropped a laugh and then Twilight asked:

"By the way, how are things with Sweetie Belle?"

"It’s fine" Spike replied. "We're going on a date next week. She is now in Manehattan participating in a musical in Bridleway."

"Yeah..." Twilight said, getting nostalgic. "You know, I still remember when our only concerns were only about organizing and cleaning our library in Ponyville."

"Yes, but now you have to worry about a whole kingdom" Spike said. "But of course it's not just that. You also have to worry about the threat of the Lord of Chaos to resurrect a terrible monster that may be able to destroy all the Pony Reality, not to mention that this implies that your own son is in danger for having within him the Nine-Tailed Fox."

That made Twilight roll her eyes, but also drop a laugh. She missed Spike’s tactless with words.

The doors of the throne room opened and Golden Paladin entered. He advanced to the staircase leading to the throne and then made a bow to Twilight, saying:

"Your Highness."

"Hello, Golden Paladin" Twilight greeted. "Tell me, how are Star Knight’s trainings going?"

"I wouldn't say that they're having the results that we wanted, but let's just say we're going on a good path" Golden Paladin replied. "The young prince demonstrates a great willingness to learn."

"Of course he has, as he is Twilight’s son" Spike commented.

"Had you already started training to control Nine-Tails’ power?" Twilight asked.

"If you allow me, Your Highness, I think is still quite premature to think about that" Golden Paladin replied. "Prince Star Knight is still quite young. He still doesn't have enough maturity, not to mention that he does not have yet the necessary capabilities. In my opinion, it's still not safe to open the seal more than it already is."

"So why don't you close it for good?" Spike asked. "In that way, I think we wouldn't have to worry about."

"That wouldn't be a very wise decision to take" Golden Paladin replied. "It would be like putting a dome in the crater of a volcano. Furthermore, if we want to protect Prince Star Knight, he must know how to control the power within him."

"I agree with Golden Paladin, Spike" Twilight said. "We cannot continue to ignore our problems. We have to face them. I figured that out when Star found the whole truth. I'm happy with my son’s progress, Golden Paladin. Good job."

Golden Paladin made a bow and then asked:

"Can I ask you a question, Your Highness?"

"Sure" Twilight replied.

"Is it true that Chief Strongpaw, the leader of the pony-panthers, will come to the Light Kingdom accompanied by a small group for a meeting?" Golden Paladin asked.

"Yes" Twilight confirmed. "With this, I'm counting on improving our relationship with our neighbors."

"I see…" Golden Paladin said. "That means that I have to increase the security of the kingdom."

That statement confused Twilight and Spike and the former asked:

"Why do you say that, Golden Paladin? I thought the pony-panthers were our allies."

"It’s not because of that, Your Highness" Golden Paladin replied. "The problem is that the Lord of Chaos can try anything, taking into account the circumstances concerning Chief Strongpaw."

"What circumstances?" Twilight asked.

"The truth is that Chief Strongpaw... is a Jinchuriki, like your son" Golden Paladin replied.

That information shocked Twilight and Spike.

"What?" Twilight asked.

"You're kidding, right?" Spike asked.

"No, I'm not" Golden Paladin replied. "He's the Jinchuriki of One-Tail."

"I see" Twilight said. "That will be a problem. Star comes this weekend with friends."

"So we have to cancel the meeting" Spike said.

"That won't be necessary" Golden Paladin said. "If we take precautions, there will be no problem. Although it is advisable don't leave Prince Star Knight approach Chief Strongpaw."

"I agree" Twilight said. "I just hope everything ends well."

The weekend arrived and the Light Kingdom carriage came to take Star and his friends. While they were heading to the border between the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World, Star said to Bramble:

"I’m glad you could join us, Bramble."

"My father thought it would be good for me to get out of the Enchanted Forest and see the Pony World" he said. "Although I’m still quite hesitant."

"Don't worry, Bramble, ya will like tha Pony World" Jonagold said. “Mainly tha Light Kingdom."

"Yes, despite everything, it is a good place to be" Star said.

"Wait, what do you mean with despite everything?" Gunter asked.

That question left Star a little flustered. After all, almost no one knew what he did not like on the Light Kingdom. Jonagold, who knew about his friend’s concerns since they were little foals, hastened to say:

"Star is talking about all the light. It is no by chance that it's called Light Kingdom."

Star felt relieved and smiled at Jonagold, thanking him. But Bramble managed to understand the discomfort that Star should be feeling for returning to his kingdom, since he knew how Jinchuriki were marginalized.

The carriage arrived at the border and passed through it. By doing this, everyone felt the feeling of crossing the border.

"Wow, what was that?" Bramble asked.

"It means that we're no more in the Enchanted Forest" Star said. "Bramble, welcome to the Pony World."

Bramble looked through the window and was amazed to see vast plains without a high concentration of trees. On the one hand, he felt a little out of place, but also showed a certain fascination for being in a place he never thought he'd be.

It didn’t last until they reach the Light Kingdom and that's when Bramble was totally speechless. He had never seen anything so beautiful, mostly because it was decorated with star seeds. The carriage stopped in front of the castle, where Twilight and Blue were waiting to receive his son and his friends.

"Mom, dad!" Star exclaimed, going to hug his parents after leaving the carriage.

"Hello, Star” Twilight greeted, embracing Star. "I hope you had a good trip."

"Yes" Star replied, going to hug his father then. "But it feels good to be back."

"Hi, aunt Twilight" Jonagold greeted. "Hello, uncle Blue."

"Jona!" Blue said. "I hope you didn't cause trouble at the academy."

"‘course not" Jonagold said. "After all, how can Ah when Star is around."

That let out a few laughs and then Gunter and Bramble advanced and the former said to Twilight and Blue Sword:

"It's a pleasure, Your Highnesses."

"Please don't be formal” Twilight asked. "After all, you guys are our son’s friends."

"But where are Sunny and Midnight?" Star asked.

"They're playing in their rooms" Twilight said.

"With the meeting with the pony-panthers tomorrow, we're pretty busy preparing everything, so we thought it was best that they don't walked around the castle" Blue said.

"Well, I'll say hello to them and then me and my friends are going for a ride" Star told.

"Whatever you say, dear, but not get in the way" Twilight said. "Things have to be ready by tomorrow."

After having greeted his sisters, Star and his friends walked around the castle, where the servants were busy cleaning up and pulling the shine at the decorative star seeds. However, Star couldn't repair that security was tighter, even more than would be normal for a simple meeting.

"Your castle is awesome" Gunter said, while they were in the garden. "Although I continue to prefer mine’s style."

"Yes, Gunter is right" Bramble said. "I've never seen anything like this."

Bramble was so distracted admiring the beauty of the garden of the castle when he bumped with someone who dropped a few scrolls.

"I'm so sorry" he said.

"It's okay" Spike’s voice.

When Bramble noticed he had bumped against Spike, he was very shocked and said, as retreated:

"A dr… dr… dr…"

"Are you okay, kid?" Spike asked, repairing on Bramble’s paled face.

The young deer was almost screaming with fear, when Star put a hoof on his shoulder and said to him:

"Don't worry, Bramble. You don't have to be afraid. This Dragon isn't dangerous."

"I'm not dangerous?" Spike asked, slightly offended. "Frankly, Star, just because I was raised by ponies and I'm friendlier than other dragons, it doesn't mean I'm less terrifying than them. Have you forgotten that I once faced one of the villains of the Lord of Chaos and helped your mother save Equestria many times? Not to mention that I am the great savior of the Crystal Empire."

"Yes, uncle Spike" Star said, rolling her eyes. "I know that. Sorry, Bramble, but you don't have to worry about my uncle Spike. He's friendly."

"Seriously?" Bramble. asked

"Yeah, ya don't have tah worry about" Jonagold. "Ah've known him since Ah was a li’l colt."

"Uncle Spike is my mother's assistant, even before she became a Princess" Star said.

"Oh yeah, I met him during my parents’ coronation" Gunter said. "But I never dared to approach him."

"I didn't know you were back" Star said to Spike.

"I just got back a few days ago" the dragon replied. "Although my brothers decided to go back to the Burning Palisades, I decided to return to my true home. By the way, how are things at the Academy?"

"Very good" Star said. "The academy is an amazing place to be."

"I'm glad to hear that" Spike said, catching the scrolls. "I'm happy for you. Now, if you don't mind, I have to take these scrolls before Twilight know that I'm holding up the preparations for the meeting."

And, having said that, he moved away.

"That was... unexpected" Bramble said. "I never thought that a dragon could be friendly."

"That's because you haven't met uncle Spike’s brothers" Star said.

The next day dawned and everything was ready to receive the visitors from the Golden Desert. A group of four pony-panthers was already approaching the Grand Light Canyon, led by Chief Strongpaw, who was carrying a bag on his back. He and his pony-panthers companions were on their way, using their speed and strength to cross the desert.

When they reached the canyon which served as a border between the desert and the Light Kingdom, they found Golden Paladin and Blue Sword. Some guards were also lined up there. Arriving at the border, Chief Strongpaw stopped, as well as the other pony-panthers, and said:

"So you're the ones who came to meet us."

"I'm sorry for all this, Chief Strongpaw, but, given to our situation, we cannot afford to let our guard down" Golden Paladin said.

"I see..." Chief Strongpaw said. " Of course, you also have your own Jinchuriki. Who would have thought that after all this time, the Light Kingdom would have Nine-tails under its control again."

"Can I ask you to not to speak about Nine-Tails in that way, Chief Strongpaw?" Blue asked. "After all, his Jinchūriki is my son."

"Of course, Prince Blue Sword, it was not my intention to offend you" Chief Strongpaw said. "Please, take the time you see necessary."

“Golden, you know what to do" Blue said.

Golden Paladin focused deeply, trying to find any threats present. Although his ability was not as refined as Heartbeat’s, he would be able to find any threat in the area. However, he was not picking up anything.

"There's nothing" he replied. "Chief Strongpaw, you and your pony-panthers can pass. We will escort you to the castle."

And so Chief Strongpaw advanced, followed by his companions. The Lord of Chaos watched through his mirror and said:

"Perfect. It seems that Golden Paladin couldn't sense Oogie Boogie. Now, I just wait the magic of the Light Kingdom is not strong enough to disrupt my plan."

Star and his friends were walking through the halls of the castle, eager to see the arrival of the pony-panthers. They arrived at the entrance, where they saw Twilight and Spike, waiting, with guards at their edge.

"I can't wait to see the pony-panthers" Gunter said. "I never saw any."

"Neither did Ah" Jonagold said. "But they should not be different from tha pony-wolves. Ah've seen Shadow Claw on his pony-wolf form. They should be the same, with tha exception of canine traits."

"I just hope they are nice" Bramble said.

"Don't worry, Bramble" Star said. "After all, they are followers of the Lord of Order."

"What are you doing here?" a voice asked.

They got scarred and saw Heartbeat next to them.

"Heartbeat!" Star exclaimed. "You gave us a big scare."

"Are you trying to see the pony-panthers?" she asked.

"Yes, we want to see how they are" said Gunter.

"I understand, but I think it's best to watch them from a distance" Heartbeat said. "After all, this meeting is quite important and it’s better to ensure that everything goes well. I think the pony-panthers wouldn't like being watched from a distance as if they were some entertainment."

"I think you're right" Star said.

It was then that Golden Paladin and Blue came in, followed by Chief Strongpaw and his pony-panthers.

"Are they…" Gunter started. "Wow, awesome!"

"And scary" Bramble said, repairing in the intimidating air of the pony-panthers.

"I know what you're thinking, but it's time to go" Heartbeat said.

"Okay, we're goin’" Jonagold said. "We just want’d tah see them up close. Come on, guys."

And they began to move away, but before Star would follow his friends, he looked to Chief Strongpaw. There was something about him that intrigued him. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about him that let him nervous. It was then that his look went towards to one of the pony-ponies who accompanied Chief Strongpaw. Suddenly, a certain darkness surrounded him, but before he could see with more clarity, his eyes got tired, and he blinked and, when he came to look, the darkness was gone. Did he imagined that?

"Star, what's wrong?" Heartbeat asked.

"Well... it was nothing" he replied.

And he followed his friends.

"Welcome to the Light Kingdom, Chief Strongpaw" Twilight said. "It's an honor to have you here."

"The honor is mine, Your Highness" Chief Strongpaw replied, making a bow, followed by the others. "It's an honor to visit the kingdom that is the center of all this reality adored by the Lord of Order."

"Please, follow us to the throne room" Twilight invited.

And they all went to the throne room. Upon entering there, Twilight said:

"You don't know how happy I was for you having accepted my invitation."

"With the threat that the Lord of Chaos did to take the Tailed Beasts and being myself a Jinchuriki, I figured it was time for my people to re-establish ties with other ponies se we can help each other" Chief Strongpaw said. "Now, if we may, Princess, we would like to go back to our pony form. Our pony-panther form spends too much energy."

And he and his companions reverted to their pony forms. But all were surprised when Chief Strongpaw revealed his. He had immensely heavy dark circles, as if he hadn't slept for a long time.

"Wow, but what dark circles..." Spike started, being stopped from finish by Twilight.

"It's okay, I understand" Chief Strongpaw said. "It must be amazing to see someone with my dark circles."

"I assume it has something to do with your seal, right?" Golden Paladin asked.

"Yes, the seal allows me to keep in control, since One-Tail has the ability to control his Jinchuriki when the latter is sleeping" Chief Strongpaw said. "So, I developed an insomnia that keeps me from sleeping, but allows me to restore the energy that a night’s sleep usually does."

"It must be hard not being able to sleep" Blue said. "Even though I am a General and I don’t require sleep, I try to do so whenever possible."

"Don't worry, I've got used" Chief Strongpaw said. "Maybe now we can…"

But before he could finish, one of his pony-panthers, the one where Star felt the darkness, suddenly appeared behind him, ready to attack him.

"Look out!" Twilight exclaimed.

But the pony-panther’s attack, before it could reach Chief Strongpaw, hit a wall of sand that came out suddenly from the bag that the leader of the pony-panthers brought.

"What?" the pony-panther said.

And the sand then surrounded him and pushed him against a wall, holding him.

"Are you okay, chief?" another one asked, putting him on the edge of his leader.

"Yes" he replied, turning. “My sand protected me. But the question to ask is what just happened."

Golden Paladin and Blue placed themselves in a position to attack, in front of the pony-panthers, Twilight and Spike.

"I can't believe one of the pony-panthers attacked his leader" Blue said.

"Me neither" Chief Strongpaw said. "That's because he is not one of mine. No pony-panther would attack his or her leader. At least, not completely. Furthermore, every pony-panther knows perfectly well that physical attacks are useless against me because of my power over sand that One-Tail gave me."

Addressing to the pony-panther that was stuck by his sand, asked him:

"Will you stop playing hide-and-seek and puppetry and reveal your real face?"

And an evil smile appeared on the pony-panther’s face and his eyes became red. He said:

"Looks like I underestimated your strength, One-Tail’s Jinchuriki."

A dark aura surrounded him and then ascended. After his release, the pony-panther became unconscious and the aura came down and took the form of...

"Oogie Boogie!" Golden Paladin exclaimed.

"Hello everyone!" the boogeypony said. "How are you?"

"How did you..." Blue started.

"How did I get in your dear kingdom full of light without alerting Golden Paladin and Heartbeat’s danger sense?" Oogie Boogie asked. "It was actually quite simple. The Lord of Chaos increased my power and now I can control my victims’ conscious. This allows me to put them in a sleepwalking stage and turns them into my personal puppets."

"That’s awful..." Twilight said.

"That's why I couldn't detect anything" Golden Paladin said. "The Dream World is out of my limits and Heartbeat’s."

"Well, but now we have him here in front of us" Blue said. "Let's end this ugly."

"I'm already ahead of you, Prince Blue Sword" Chief Strongpaw said.

And the sand that held the pony-panther that Oogie Boogie controlled released him and headed to Oogie Boogie. But he turned up in black smoke and began to wriggle out of the sand.

"How about a little help?" Blue asked, carrying his horn with magic.

And he launched light from his horn which, when touched the black smoke, made Oogie Boogie return to his physical form.

"But..." he started, while Chief Strongpaw’s sand caught him.

"I canceled your magic with my magic of balance" Blue said. "You're not the only one with new tricks, Oogie Boogie."

"And now, I'm taking you where you won't be able to hurt anyone else" Golden Paladin said, invoking the cell blaster that had a life cell prepared.

"Before that, let me tell something" Oogie Boogie said, turning then to Chief Strongpaw. "Sweet dreams, One-Tail’s Jinchuriki."

Having said that, he held his breath for a second and then blew what appeared to be black powder that hit Cheif Strongpaw who inhaled it and started coughing. Losing his concentration, the sand that held Oogie Boogie lost its cohesion and fell to the ground, releasing the villain.

"Seize him!" Golden Paladin exclaimed.

Spike was the first, flying and then coming down catch him, but, with a big jump, he dodged, but after doing so, gold chains created by Golden Paladin emerged, preparing to arrest him, but, changing to his smoke form, he managed to get rid of them. Blue’s nullifying magic hit him again, turning him to his solid form again. With this, the pony-panthers tried to catch him, but Oogie Boogie continued to take advantage of his speed and agility. Twilight, sick of it, exclaimed, while she accessed to her magic:

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

And, using her magic, Twilight managed to immobilize Oogie Boogie and lift him.

"Now you go to where you shouldn't have left" Twilight said.

"I kept a warm cell for you in Tartarus" Golden Paladin, pointing the cell blaster.

But Oogie Boogie started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Spike asked.

"Do you really think you should be more worried about me?" Oogie Boogie asked. "After all, I think your dear leader of the pony-panthers is trying to take a nap."

They turned to Chief Strongpaw and saw that Oogie Boogie was right. He was fighting and fighting, but it seemed that he was about to fell asleep.

"I have... to resist..." Chief Strongpaw said.

"Oh no, if chief falls asleep ..." one of the pony-panthers started.

"One-Tail will take over his body" Golden Paladin said.

"What have you done?!" Blue asked to Oogie Boogie.

"I'll just say what you said to me" he answered. "I also have new tricks, like sleeping powder. Now, what will you do, princess? Are you're going to focus in catching me or prevent that the Light Kingdom is devastated by another Tailed Beast?"

Oogie Boogie had them cornered. Despite his capture wouldn’t take long, they had to contain One-Tail as soon as possible.

"We're not done yet" she said.

"Of course not" Oogie Boogie replied, smiling maliciously.

Twilight freed him of her magic and Oogie Boogie took advantage of that to disappear, saying:

"See ya."

"I still can't believe that he escaped" Blue mumbled.

"Forget him, Blue, we have bigger problems" Twilight said.

And they turned to Chief Strongpaw, who struggled to not fall asleep and contain One-Tail.

Shukaku, the Demon Tanuki

Things seemed to be going from bad to worse. Not only Oogie Boogie had managed to sneak into the Light Kingdom, but he had released sleep powder on Chief Strongpaw, who was about to fall asleep, which would allow One-Tail to control his body and get released.

Chief Strongpaw was struggling to not fall asleep and contain the Tailed Beast, but it was an excruciating task and was giving to the leader of the pony-panthers a lot of pain.

"I... have to... resist..." he said. "Resist..."

But then his voice became hoarse and his eyes were wide open.

"I have to kill…"

And then sand suddenly rose up and headed to Twilight, Blue, Golden, Spike and the pony-panthers. Fortunately, Golden Paladin was able to create a protective barrier that defended them from the sand.

"But what's going on?!" Spike asked. "Why is he attacking us?!"

"The seal is weakening and Shukaku, the One-tail, is trying to control him" one of the pony-panthers explained. "While Chief Strongpaw is fighting, he is acquiring slowly Shukaku’s attributes, one of which is the thirst for blood."

"So the One-Tail’s name is Shukaku" Twilight said.

"Twily, I think that is not important right now" Blue said.

"Yes, you're right" Twilight agreed, blushing slightly. "Golden Paladin, can you contain him like you did with Nine-Tails?"

"I can try" Golden Paladin said, trying to hold the sand that Chief Strongpaw was using to attack.

Struggling, Golden Paladin undid the barrier in order to spread the sand and then released his chains against Chief Strongpaw who began to be restricted by them. Seeing this, Chief Strongpaw's face twitched with rage and he shouted:

"NO!"

And the bag he had on his back turned into sand and then wrapped one of his forelegs, becoming a sort of paw with claws made of sand with dark blue marks. He then pointed that sanded paw against Golden Paladin and it left a stream of sand that hit the General of Peace and pinned him against a wall.

"Golden!" everypony exclaimed.

"I will not let you..." Chief Strongpaw said, gasping. "I'm not going to let you seal me as if I am a fox!"

And the sand that held Golden Paladin started wrapped him, like he was getting involved in a cocoon.

"No…" he said, realizing what was happening. "Don’t..."

"What's going on, Golden?" Twilight asked.

"I'm being sealed" Golden Paladin said, trying to resist.

But he wasn't being able to break free and so the sand began to cover him completely.

"No…" Golden Paladin said, while he was completely covered.

The blue marks went through the sand and, once involved, the chains just fell on the ground.

"No, Golden..." Twilight said.

"What happened?" Spike asked.

"He was sealed by Shukaku’s sealing spell" one of the pony-panthers answered.

"This is bad" the other pony-panther said. "This means that neither the General of Peace can help us now."

"Don't get discouraged" Blue said. "We can still do something."

"But what?" the pony-panthers asked.

"First, we have to get him out of the citadel" Blue said. "We have to fight against him without innocent ponies getting caught in the crossfire."

"You're right" Twilight said. "You and I can teleport him to the outside of the citadel."

"And when we do, I and the Light Guard can try to contain him, while you..." Blue said.

"While I try to release Golden so he can help fight Shukaku" Twilight completed.

"It seems you just read my mind" Blue said.

"And I'm going to help Blue" Spike said. "They may need the power of a strong dragon like me."

"All right, let's do this" Twilight said.

She and Blue advanced, preparing to perform a teleportation spell to Chief Strongpaw.

"You are my prey!" Chief Strongpaw exclaimed, while sand covered the other foreleg to create another sanded paw and half of his face was also covered, with the eye turning yellow with black sclera and pupils in the form of a four-pointed star.

And, using the sanded paws, he launched more sand. Twilight cast a magic beam, that crashed into the sand, making it bounce.

"Now!" Twilight exclaimed.

And she and Blue focused and, together, they prepared a teleportation spell they launched against Chief Strongpaw and so they made him disappear.

"It’s done!" Twilight said.

"I'll go to where we teleported him with the guards" Blue said. "I'm counting on you, Twily."

He gave her a brief kiss and then he headed out of the throne room, followed by Spike. Twilight turned to the pony-panthers and said to them:

"Take your friend to our infirmary. He can rest there. And don't worry, we will stop Shukaku and save your leader."

"Thank you, Your Highness" one of the pony-panthers replied, while they made a bow.

So they got their partner that had been controlled by Oogie Boogie and then left.

"Okay, now I only have to release Golden" Twilight said, turning to the sand cocoon where Golden Paladin was sealed. "But how am I going to do that."

"How will you do what?" a voice asked.

Twilight turned and saw Heartbeat who said, while she looked around:

"What happened here? By chance some desert splashed here?"

"Heartbeat!" Twilight exclaimed, pleased to see the General of Affection. "I'm glad you're here. Golden Paladin was sealed with sand."

"Well, what would you know?" Heartbeat asked. "The pony with the most powerful sealing magic was sealed. What ironic."

"Heartbeat…" Twilight said, in a disapproving way.

"I know, I know…" Heartbeat said. "I will help you to release him. Or rather, Mirror Coat will. Mirror Coat!"

And the General of Knowledge appeared from the closest mirror and said:

"You don't have to yell. I hear perfectly."

But then he noticed all the sand that was spread by the throne room.

"It seems that I am late for a party. What happened here?"

"I tell you later" Twilight said. "Now we need to let Golden Paladin out. Can you do it?"

Mirror Coat turned to the sand cocoon.

"The One-Tail’s sealing spell" Mirror Coat realized. "Don't worry, Princess, I can't undo this. But it will take some time."

"It's better to take your time" Twilight said. "We're in a very tight situation. I'm going to help Blue. He's going to need all the help he can get."

And, having said that, she came out of the throne room. Mirror Coat approached the sand cocoon and prepared to try to break the seal, asking to Heartbeat:

"You're not going to help?"

"Fight a tanuki made of sand is not my idea of fun" Heartbeat said. "I think I'm gonna stay here to see you free Goldy. It's not every day that we see him being sealed. Besides, it's just One-Tail."

"I think you're underestimating him, Heartbeat" Mirror Coat said. "After all, he is still a Tailed Beast. I see Nine-Tails had some influence on you."

But Heartbeat didn’t answer and Mirror Coat focused on breaking the seal that held Golden Paladin.

After organizing a group of guards, Blue began heading to where he Twilight sent Chief Strongpaw. While starting next to him, Spike said:

"I'm going to stop him from advancing to the citadel until you arrive."

"Thank you, Spike" Blue thanked. "But be careful. You saw what that thing did to Golden."

"Don't worry, I will" Spike said, taking off.

Heading where Blue and Twilight had sent Chief Strongpaw, Spike saw him heading to the citadel. Spike started coming down and exclaimed:

"Hey, ugly!"

Chief Strongpaw turned to him and Spike released a torrent of fire. He used one of his sanded paws defend himself, but it turned into glass and shattered, but he used the other to attack. Spike turned, pulling back.

"Of course, sand turns into glass when heated" he realized. "So..."

And Spike breathed deep and released a torrent of flames, creating a line of fire in front of Chief Strongpaw.

"You don’t pass from here" Spike said, full of confidence.

That's when Chief Strongpaw hit hard on the floor with his snaded paw and a great wave of huge rose up.

"What the..." Spike started, alarmed, rushing to rise above that wave of sand.

It reached the fire and put it out easily.

"Of course, sand can also put out the fire" Spike said. "But how did he do that."

Having noticed that he made contact with the ground before invoking that wave of sand, he realized.

"I see, he must have used sand to cause soil erosion and thus create more sand" Spike said. "Damn it, I look like Twilight. Well, never mind, I just have to keep him busy until Blue and his guards arrive."

He went back to flying in Chief Strongpaw’s direction, but he attacked again with his sanded paw. Spike turned and placed himself at a safe distance and said:

"I'm going to try something different."

And, wagging his tail, he shot some of the spikes that had the tip of the tail, where new ones grew again. These spikes were in Chief Strongpaw’s direction that simply defended himself with his paw which absorbed the shock of the spikes and swallow them, much to Spike’s dismay.

"Don't worry, I’ll return them" Chief Strongpaw said to him.

And then he shot the spikes back against Spike. Fortunately, his scaly body protected him.

"Boy, it looks like nothing works against him" the dragon said.

"Your disgusting reptile…” Chief Strongpaw said, before he started to feel terrible headaches who made him give moans of pain.

"This is not good" Spike said, realizing that Chief Strongpaw was starting to give in even more to the One-Tail’s control.

He then saw Blue approaching with his guards.

"Finally, reinforcements" Spike said, more relieved.

"Spike!" Twilight’s voice called.

"Twilight!" Spike replied, while Twilight flew towards him. "What about Golden Paladin?"

"Mirror Coat is trying to release him" she replied. "Now the most important thing is to contain One-Tail until he shows up to seal him again."

"I did the best I could, but it looks like it will be quite difficult" Spike said.

Getting close to Chief Strongpaw, Blue said to his guards:

"Prepare to attack!"

"Yes, Sir!" everypony answered at the same time.

"You weaklings..." Chief Strongpaw said, still trying to resist the pain he was feeling. "Do you think you can beat me!"

And he advanced towards the guards with a lot of speed and then shook his paw, being able to sweep some of them right to the ground, getting out of combat. Before that, Blue created a blade of light on his horn and advanced against Chief Strongpaw. With one swing, he hit him in the shoulder, throwing him against the ground. All were impressed with it, with the guards cheering.

"Wow!" Spike exclaimed, impressed. "Good hit, Blue!"

Twilight smiled before her husband’s doing, but then she noticed Chief Strongpaw. Despite having been greatly struck by Blue’s blow, he started laughing, which made everypony turn to him. The Jinchuriki stood up, saying:

"Looks like I finally found somepony worth to crush."

He stood up and said:

"Now I want more power!"

And so, much to the amazement of everypony, sand began to cover his tail, becoming longer and thicker that was very similar to a tanuki one.

"It's One-Tail’s tail!" Twilight exclaimed. "Blue, look out!"

And Chief Strongpaw advanced towards Blue with even greater speed than before. The General of Balance tried to respond, but Chief Strongpaw was faster and Blue couldn't dodge. But, to his relief, Twilight created a protective barrier that protected him from Chief Strongpaw’s attack, who was thrown back by the force of the barrier.

"Thank you, Twily!" Blue thanked.

Twilight just smiled.

Chief Strongpaw turned to her and said to her:

"You dare stop my attack?! You will regret it!"

And he gave a great leap, heading to Twilight to attack her.

"No, Twilight!" Blue exclaimed.

But Spike put himself in front of her and, with all his forces, he unleashed a torrent of intense flames against him. Surprisingly, he simply went through the flames. It seemed that it had acquired a greater resistance Spike’s fire.

Twilight charged her horn and launched a strong magic beam that hit Chief Strongpaw heavily and pushed him against the ground, making him hit with a loud bang.

When the dust settled down, they saw that Chief Strongpaw was still standing. However, the sand that covered his foreleg just fell to the ground, as had happened to the sand that Spike turned into glass. However, this time, the sand just covered it again.

Taking advantage of that moment, several guards began to attack him with magic beams. Chief Strongpaw, not liking that, shook its tail and swept more guards. Blue dodged from the tail, creating again his sword of light, trying to strike him, but Chief Strongpaw gave a great leap backward to dodge.

"You are giving a good fight, but I see you are nothing without each other" Chief Strongpaw noted.

"What do you mean?" Blue asked.

"What I mean is that to beat me you need of a whole army and still you can't subdue me" Chief Strongpaw replied. "You are weak! You are nothing compared to me!"

"You're wrong" Twilight said approaching. "Maybe you're right when you say that individually we are weak, but, working together, we can be stronger. We can be strong to help you, Chief Strongpaw. Please, fight against Shukaku’s instinct. You're not like that, you are not a monster. You can do this, you just have to believe."

But once again, Chief Strongpaw’s head exploded in pain, when he tried to resist One-Tail.

"It's so hard..." he said.

"You can do it!" Twilight encouraged.

"I can't!" Chief Strongpaw exclaimed, while he felt more pain.

This time, his whole face was transformed, revealing a round tanuki face. And the sand began to cover his torso and the other foreleg again.

"You can't imagine how it is" Chief Strongpaw said. "You can't imagine what it's like to have this voice in your head telling us to do things we don't want to do."

And, with a shaking of arms, he fired sand shots to Blue and his guards.

"Watch out!" the General of Balance exclaimed to his guards.

In spite of everything they did to dodge in the best way they could, some were hit and were soon out of combat.

"Blue, we must attack all at once" Twilight said. "Concentrating our efforts in a single attack."

"Good idea, Twily" Blue said, turning then to the guards. "You heard what your princess said. Prepare yourselves."

"Yes, sir!" everypony exclaimed.

"It's useless!" Chief Strongpaw exclaimed.

And he breathed deep and then blew an intense gust of sand that began to misdirect everyone around. Before that, Twilight used his magic to create protective barriers around Blue and his guards.

"Now!" she exclaimed.

And everypony began to charge their horns with magic, while Spike was preparing to launch the maximum of flames he could.

"What?!" Chief Strongpaw asked, as everyone prepared to attack.

"NOW! " Twilight yelled.

And everyone fired at the same time. These attacks hit Chief Strongpaw with great impact, with the front attacks preparing the ground for the next ones. The Jinchuriki moaned when he was struck. In the end, he puffed, extremely tired.

"Did we do it?" Spike asked.

"I don't know, Spike” Twilight answered. "We have to wait and see."

Everypony observed if their simultaneous attack worked, alerted to any movement that Chief Strongpaw could do. The pony-panthers looked around and then said:

"I’m... so sorry. I think... I can't take it anymore."

And his eyes closed while he gave in to the sleep.

"What the..." Blue started.

"Don't tell me that..." Twilight said.

Suddenly, the sand covered Chief Strongpaw and it built up, built up and built up to have the normal size that a Tailed Beast would have and, from all that a sand, One-Tail appeared completely. He looked like a tanuki with the body made of sand with dark blue marks.

"I'M FINALLY FREE!" Shukaku yelled abruptly, while he let out a roar.

His appearance was not ignored by the light ponies, who were quite agitated at the sight of One-Tail. Star and his friends were at the gardens when they saw the Tailed Beast appearing.

"But what tha hay is that?" Jonagold asked.

"A monster made of sand?" Gunter asked.

Bramble, seeing Shukaku, recognized him immediately.

"Oh no…" he said.

"What is it, Bramble?" Star asked.

"Do ya know what is that thin’?" Jonagold asked.

"It is... the Sand Demon Tanuki" Bramble said. "The One-Tail."

"Are you saying that... is a Tailed Beast?" Star asked.

The young alicorn Prince was stunned, watching Shukaku. So that was one of the Tailed Beasts. In addition to Nine-tails, he never thought he would see another one. But then he remembered that all the Tailed Beasts had been sealed in Jinchuriki, therefore he concluded that the One-Tail’s should be around.

"Wait, can someone explain what's going on?" Jonagold asked.

"Yes, we are not getting anything" Gunter said. "After all, what is that thing?"

"One of the most dangerous creatures that exist in all Pony Reality" Bramble said. "It's one of the Tailed Beasts and believe me when I say that this means trouble for us."

Bramble was right. Despite having only one tail, that Tailed Beast could cause major damage to the Light Kingdom.

Star continued to look carefully to Shukaku and then managed to penetrate in his heart. It was dark, but the sand that covered the ground could sparkle. In the middle of all that, there was only one thing that drew his attention. It seemed like a cocoon made of sand, but it was not complete, as the victim who was caught in it still had the head and front hooves free. Star managed to recognize him. It was Chief Strongpaw in your pony form.

"It can't be..." Star said.

"What is it, Star?" Gunter asked.

Jonagold knew what was going on.

"Ya saw his heart, didn't ya?" he asked.

"What do you mean, Jona?" asked Gunter.

"It is Star’s talent” Jonagold explained. "He can see the others’ heart. That's how he was able to defeat Pandora. Star, say, what do you see?"

But Star did not reply, only saying:

"I have to go there."

"What?!" they friends asked.

"Star, you can't" Bramble said. "You know what a Tailed..."

"I can feel the Jinchuriki" Star said. "He needs help. After all, I'm just like him. I can't ignore that."

And, having said that, he took flight.

"But what was he talking about?" Gunter asked.

"Ah don't know" Jonagold replied.

Bramble was seeing Star getting away, amazed by how he was not afraid of facing a Tailed Beast to help somepony who needed his help.

In the throne room, Mirror Coat continued trying to release Golden Paladin.

"I'm almost there" Mirror Coat said, with his horn full with magic.

"Then you'd better hurry" Heartbeat suggested. "I can feel Chief Strongpaw finally gave in and One-Tail is in control."

And the cocoon that held Golden Paladin shone with Mirror Coat’s aura who said:

"Got it!"

The sand gradually turned into glass and shattered, releasing Golden Paladin, who breathed deeply.

"Good..." he said, panting. "I'm free."

"I never thought you’d put your guard down enough to be sealed" Mirror Coat said. "You're lucky that I know how to break One-Tail’s sealing magic."

"How are things?" Golden Paladin asked.

"Heartbeat just said One-Tail managed to get control over his Jinchuriki" Mirror Coat said.

"Damn it..." Golden Paladin said. "We have to stop him. I have to try to seal him again."

"I don't think that will be necessary" Heartbeat said.

"What do you mean?" Golden Paladin asked.

"I feel Star heading to where One-Tail is to stop him" Heartbeat said.

"What?!" Mirror Coat asked. "We have to stop him. If something happened to him…"

But Golden Paladin remained with his calm air and said:

"Calm down, Mirror Coat. I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"What do you mean?" Mirror Coat asked. "Prince Star Knight still not even started training to control Nine-Tails’s power. He doesn't stand a chance against One-Tail."

"But you're forgetting something" Golden Paladin said.

"The seal of the pony-panthers is still active" Heartbeat said. "If Chief Strongpaw awakes and regains control, then One-Tail will be sealed inside him again. And don't forget what is Star Knight’s talent."

"All that may be true" Mirror Coat said. "But the prince has not demonstrated that power since he prevented Pandora from using the power of her box."

"He's a Jinchuriki, just like Chief Strongpaw is and I once was" Heartbeat said. "Only a Jinchuriki understands another Jinchuriki and just a Jinchuriki will be able to reach Chief Strongpaw at the moment."

"But this is totally illogical" Mirror Coat said. "We can't trust in something as trivial as that."

"We trusted in other situations" Golden Paladin said. "Why not do it now?"

In the battle against Shukaku, things seemed to be going pretty bad, as the Tailed Beast was now controlling his Jinchuriki.

"If you're ready to die, let's do this!" Shukaku exclaimed.

And he inspired deeply and launched a wind that threw all those who were on the ground through the air. Twilight used her magic to catch everypony, allowing some to use the levitation spell to land on the ground, including Blue. Shukaku released more shots, but Twilight used his magic to block them all.

"You ponies and your magic!" Shukaku exclaimed. "It takes all the fun!"

Twilight realized that their situation would only get more complicated. It seemed that Shukaku was becoming increasingly angry and that was bad. But what they could do to stop him?

"Mom!" Star’s voice called.

That made Twilight turn and she saw Star flying in their direction.

"Star?" she asked. "What are you doing here?! Go back to the castle!"

"No, mom, I can help!" Star said, arriving at the edge of Twilight. "You know I can!"

"But, Star, you're..." Twilight started.

"I'm not just a kid" Star said. "I'm the Jinchuriki of the Nine-tails and also prince of the Light Kingdom. I have the right to protect my kingdom."

"Star, that's not what I'm talking about" Twilight said. "You are my son and I can't let you put your life at risk."

Star was going to say something, but he was interrupted when Golden’s voice echoed in his head saying:

"Please, Your Highness, trust in your son."

Those words had been said to Twilight, who also could hear the General of Peace’s voice.

"Golden?" she said. "Are you free?"

"Yes, Mirror Coat freed me from the sealing spell and now he's using his magic to allow me to communicate with you telepathically" Golden Paladin said, who was kneeling in front of Mirror Coat that had a hoof on his forehead with his horn surrounded by his aura. "Now, the most important thing is to concentrate on defeating One-Tail and Prince Star Knight can do that."

"How so?" Twilight asked.

"Remember what your son’s power, princess" Golden Paladin recalled. "With that, we can get in One-Tail’s subconscious and allow Chief Strongpaw to take over again."

"But..." Twilight started.

"Golden Paladin is right, Twily" Blue’s mental voice said, who had joined in thanks to Mirror Coat.

"Blue…" Twilight said.

"We are in a very complicated situation" Blue said. "Star may be our only chance to stop this Tailed Beast before he causes innocent victims."

"Father..." Star said, happy to know that his father supported him.

Twilight turned to Star who told her:

"Mother, please, I can do it. Trust me."

Despite her maternal instincts were trying to stop her to allow it, she trusted Star and wanted his son to know that. She smiled and said:

"Very well, Star, you're good to go."

"Thank you, mom!" he exclaimed, hugging Twilight.

"Do whatever you want" Twilight said. "But promise me you won't hurt yourself."

"Don't worry" Star said, finishing his hug.

He then turned to Shukaku and, naturally, he managed to gain access to his power. When he found himself, he was again at One-Tail’s subconscious, being before Chief Strongpaw. Star approached him and called:

"Chief Strongpaw| Please, you've got to wake up!"

He then opened his eyes and asked weakly:

"Who is calling me?"

"It's me" Star said. "You probably don't know who I am, but..."

"You..." Chief Strongpaw said, seeing Star. "You are Princess Twilight and Prince Blue Sword’s son.”

"You know who I am?" Star asked.

"Yes, I know" Chief Strongpaw replied. "I've heard so much about you, especially about the plan that the Lord of Order has for you."

"You're talking about..." Star started, realizing Chief Strongpaw was talking about Nine-Tails.

"What are you doing here?" the leader of the pony-panthers asked. "How did you get in?"

"Through my gift" Star said. "I came to help you to control One-Tail."

That made Chief Strongpaw give a laugh and then say:

"You know, it's funny taking account my current situation. After all, I spent decades without sleep just to keep the seal that held Shukaku inside me. As long as I can remember, I'm his Jinchuriki and I tolerated his mocking and threats. And now, look at me, I'm his prisoner and all because of that bogeypony."

"You can't give up" Star said. "You can still get around the situation. The only thing you have to do is wake up."

"I envy your optimism, little prince" Chief Strongpaw said. "By the time I start to sleep and Shukaku controls me completely, just an external force can wake me up. But with me inside of him…"

"I understand" Star said. "I already met my Tailed Beast and also experienced the feeling that is having them influencing us, but we, Jinchuriki, also have the control. We can resist them, we just have to want to."

Chief Strongpaw heard Star’s words which were spoken with a determination that really impressed him. That colt had the qualities that his parents had. After hearing what he said, the leader of the pony-panthers felt that maybe he could do what he was asking.

All of a sudden, the ground started shaking.

"Oh no…" Chief Strongpaw said.

"What's the matter?" Star asked.

"You've got to get out of here, my boy!" Chief Strongpaw exclaimed.

And a torrent of sand rose up and attacked Star, securing him. The young prince tried to free himself, but the sand was heavy. And from the sand that covered the floor, a bunch of sand appeared and one of Shukako’s eyes appeared in it.

"But what do we have here?" he asked. "A little insect dared to get inside of me?"

"Release him, Shukaku!" Chief Strongpaw exclaimed.

"I see you still have the strength to give orders, Strongpaw" Shukako said. "But I don't have to obey. At least, not now."

He then observed Star and then said:

"This aura of yours... It’s Nine-Tails’. Don't tell me you're his Jinchuriki."

"So what if I am?" Star asked gruffly.

"Don't you dare to talk to me like that!" Shukaku exclaimed. "I'm already done with your dear fox friend’s arrogance, I will not allow you belittle me, too."

"He's not my friend" Star replied.

"I don't care" Shukaku said. "You are his Jinchuriki. So I will have the pleasure to destroy you and humiliate that stinky fox. He always thought he was better than me just because he has nine tails. I'm going to prove him otherwise."

Chief Strongpaw couldn't let Shukaku do what he wanted. Star Knight was right, he had to take control. He started trying to get out of the cocoon that arrested him. Realizing this, Shukaku turned to him and said:

"Stronpaw, why don't you quit?" Shukaku asked. "You know very well that you're not going to beat me."

"That's what you think!" Strongpaw exclaimed, giving everything he had.

And it was then that he began to step out of the cocoon that held him.

"What?!" Shukaku asked, without wanting to believe. "Impossible!"

"I'm not going to let you to take your way" Chief Strongpaw said, continuing to step out of the cocoon. "All my life, I had to take your taunting and threats. I'm not going to give up now."

Star smiled, seeing that Chief Strongpaw had decided to react. He then managed to free himself from the sand cocoon and, as soon as he did that, he took his pony-panther form.

"Now, I will get out of here, you disgusting tanuki!" Chief Strongpaw exclaimed.

And he advanced against the mound of sand and, using his strength, began to destroy it. After doing so, the sand that held Star released him.

"Great!" Star acclaimed. "You did it, Chief Strongpaw."

"All because of you, Prince Star Knight" Chief Strongpaw said. "Now, I think I can give you a hoof to wake me up."

"How?" Star asked.

After hearing Chief Strongpaw’s plan, Star disabled his power and returned to himself.

"I know how to fight One-Tail" Star said.

"How?" Twilight asked.

"I'm going to have a little help from Chief Strongpaw" Star replied. "However, I'm going to have to get close. Mom, will you and uncle Spike give me back?"

"Wait, you want to get near of that thing?" Spike asked.

"Don't worry, we're on it" Twilight said, decided to trust in his son.

Spike rolled his eyes, realizing he would have no choice but to proceed with Star’s plan.

"Yes, I think so" he replied. "Just say when to move."

Star observed Shukaku carefully, looking for any sign of Chief Strongpaw. Then, at the top of the Tailed Beast’s head appeared the front half of Chief Strongpaw’s sleeping body.

"Oh no!" Shukaku exclaimed, realizing what was happening.

"Now!" Star said.

And, having said this, he started flying quickly in the direction of Shukaku. Seeing him heading toward him, Shukaku realized his intention and exclaimed:

"I'm not letting you do it!"

Opening his mouth, he fired several sand shots. Seeing that, Star worried if he could go through all that, but his mother managed to use his magic to block them all, while Spike was using his fire. Protected from Shukaku’s shooting, Star took advantage of this to get closer.

Seeing him getting dangerously close, Shukaku raised one of his arms to try to hit on Star, but, suddenly, Blue teleported into the air at the height of his shoulder and, using his sword of light, he pierced the Tailed Beast’s arm that fell to the ground, becoming then regular sand.

Star continued to fly, addressing to Chief Strongpaw’s sleeping body, remembering what he told him to do.

Moments before ...

"I'm going to use my strength and my will to make body appear on Shukaku’s" Chief Strongpaw said. "All you have to do is wake me up. No matter how you do it, you can use the force, but do it."

The present...

That was the moment. Star was going to use everything he had to awake Chief Strongpaw. Giving a final sprint with his wings, the young prince arrived to Chief Strongpaw’s body and lift the hoof, gave him a strong punch.

"I've got it!" he exclaimed.

With that punch, Chief Strongpaw's eyes opened, which meant that he had awaken and, with this, he regained control over Shukaku. Feeling himself being dominated by the will of his Jinchuriki, Shukaku exclaimed:

"Wait! I barely got here!"

And his eyes lost their glow, meaning that he had been completely dominated. Star pulled away, while Chief Strongpaw was surrounded by sand, starting to absorb it into himself. It didn’t long until he gets back to normal size, with his bag appearing, formed by some of the sand that was used to create Shukaku’s body. Twilight, Star and Spike landed and the first approached Chief Strongpaw, while Blue and their guards gathered around.

"Are you okay, Chief Strongpaw?" Twilight asked.

A little out of breath, he said:

"I apologize for all the work that I gave you, Princess Twilight."

"It's okay, it's not your fault" she replied. "Fortunately, everything was solved."

"Yes, and thanks to him" Strongpaw Chief said, looking for Star. "You have here a great son."

"Yes" Twilight said, looking to Star with a smile. "I know."

Star returned the smile to his mother and then, when he found himself, he was being acclaimed by the guards. Blue, placing himself next to Twilight, watched his son be hailed with a smile.

When the other light ponies got to know what happened, they also began cheering Star. For the first time, Star wasn't feeling rejected by his own people, but respected, something he had always wanted.

Later, when the sun was setting, Chief Strongpaw and his pony-panthers were ready to return to the Golden Desert. At the foyer of the castle, they were saying goodbye to Twilight and Blue.

"I am so sorry for the inconvenience I caused, Your Highnesses" Chief Strongpaw said, while he and his comrades bowed.

"Nonsense, Chief Strongpaw" Twilight said. "What happened was not your fault."

"If there's anyone to blame, so it’s the Lord of Chaos and Oogie Boogie" Blue said. "After all, they planned this whole thing."

"Besides, I think, in the end, things got a lot better" Twilight said.

"I see..." Chief Strongpaw said, remembering the light ponies’ reaction of ponies light in knowing that Star Knight saved them. “It seems that the young Prince is finally getting the recognition he deserves."

There was a pause and then Chief Strongpaw continued:

"I'm glad that some good has emerged in the middle of all that. But now it's time to get back to our oasis. However, we're sure that our friendship is stronger than before."

"Thank you, Strongpaw" Twilight thanked, while she and Blue bowed their heads respectfully.

And Chief Strongpaw and his companions, after making a bow to the rulers of the Light Kingdom, headed to the exit of the castle.

In the Star's bedroom, he told Jonagold and Gunter the truth about being a Jinchuriki.

"So does that means you have a monster inside of you?" Gunter asked.

"And it was yer folks who put him there?" Jonagold asked.

"It was the Lord of Order that ordered that" Star Knight said. "When I got to know that, I was pretty upset with my parents, but Heartbeat helped me to realize that they had no other chance and that they loved me so much."

"I see..." Jonagold said, turning then to Bramble. "And you knew about this?"

"Just by chance" he said. "The inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest know about the Tailed Beasts and, after the attack of the chimera, I managed to realize that Star was a Jinchuriki. But I didn't say anything because I know what the Jinchuriki suffer because they have monsters inside of them."

"That's why tha light pony..." Jonagold realized. " They are idiots. How can they think you can be a danger?"

"Well, Heartbeat was the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki once and she is not any longer because she couldn't contain him" Star said. "I think they always feared that the same could happen to me. But I won't let that happen. Golden Paladin is helping me to control the Nine-Tails’ power and I'm going to get it."

"That's the spirit, Star" Gunter said. "And we will be here for you."

"Yes, we're yer friends" Jonagold said.

"Friends to the end" Bramble added.

That made Star smile and say:

"Thanks, guys... for everything."

The Fallen Griffon's Rebirth

The Lord of Chaos watched, sitting on his throne, the battle against Shukaku and he saw how Star Knight managed to defeat the Tailed Beast. It seemed that the young prince was getting more and more skilled with his gift and his courage was increasing.

That worried him a lot, since Star could still become quite troublesome when it was time to take Nine-tails. Although the chances of him controlling the Nine-Tailed Fox’s power were low enough, that brat has proven be capable of defying the odds.

"How can I fight somepony who is constantly evolving?" the Lord of Chaos asked to himself, thoughtfully. "Moreover, given the number of Tailed Beasts that exist, I'm afraid my current group of villains isn't strong enough, especially since Pandora resigned my darkness."

He thought for a few seconds, when one of his mirrors began to shine, meaning that some of his villains were trying to communicate with him. Making a gesture, the mirror approached and Chyrsalis’ image appeared.

"What is it, Chrysalis?" the Lord of Chaos asked. "I'm busy thinking about the next step in my big plan. This better be good."

"Believe me, my lord" Chrysalis replied respectfully. "When I tell you what I have to tell, you will be very pleased."

"Okay, so, go ahead" the Lord of Chaos said. "I hope it's not a waste of time."

"It is with great pleasure, my lord, that I announce that my mutants are ready" Chrysalis said, making a bow. "And I'm proud to say they are the strongest Changelings that I ever raised."

"I see..." the Lord of Chaos said. “This will greatly enhance our power in the Pony World and for my great plan. Good job, Chrysalis. I see your little project was finally completed after decades."

"Despite the interference of that captain of the Royal Guard, I guarantee that the results are even better than we expected" Chrysalis secured.

"I'm glad to hear that" the Lord of Chaos said. "You just brightened my day, my dear."

Chrysalis made a bow and her image disappeared.

"At least, something goes well" the Lord of Chaos said. "Although, it would be nice to be able to test the power of these new Changelings. I know, I will recruit more villains. What villains can I recruit? Most of them are still trapped in Tartarus and I'm not going to risk bringing more villains out of this reality."

Turning to the mirror, he began checking where he could find villains that could help. Then the image of the petrified Arimaspi emerged. After years petrified, his body of black stone had been surrounded by ivies and moss.

"Is it worth bringing Arimaspi back?" the Lord of Chaos asked to himself. "After all, he spent centuries disappointing me. Wait, if I remember correctly, he had the help of a young griffon with great potential. It's a shame that he's confined to a cell in Griffonstone. But that can be resolved. Rothbart!"

And Rothbart appeared in front of his master.

"Did you call me, my lord?" he asked.

"I have a mission for you" the Lord of Chaos. "An easy one, but, if successful, can increase our strength."

"What is it?" Rothbart asked.

"Do you remember Arimaspi?" the Lord of Chaos asked. "He tried for centuries to obtain the Idol of Boreas and almost got it a few years ago."

"Yes, I heard about him" Rothbart replied. "I think Prince Shining Armor was involved. Arimaspi’s mission failed and you removed the darkness of his star seed. Don't tell me you want to bring him back. I've always found him to be annoying."

"I understand the logic behind your conclusion" the Lord of Chaos said. "But no. I'm thinking about his little helper: the former captain of the Griffon Guard, Ulysses."

"But isn’t he in jail?" Rothbart asked.

"In jail and full of hatred for who drove him away from the power he wanted" the Lord of Chaos replied. "Your job will be releasing him."

"As you wish, master” Rothbart answered, making a bow.

When he prepared to leave, the Lord of Chaos said:

"One more thing. Even though he's a good candidate, I have to check if he has what it takes. After all, I'm developing a plan that surpasses all others. I have to know what he's capable of."

"So what are you thinking?" Rothbart asked.

After hearing what the Lord of Chaos wanted, Rothbart went to Griffonstone. For his trouble, Medusa decided to accompany him.

"You know, I've never been in Griffonstone" Medusa said, with the hood of her cloak hiding her snakes, while she and Rothbart walked. "It would be nice to be able to add its rulers to my beautiful collection."

"Our only objective is to free the one our master wishes to add to our group in plan to resurrect Ten-Tails" Rothbart reminded. "We don't have time to increase your honey collection. By the way, this mission was given only to me. What are you doing walking behind me?"

"Come on, Rothbart, don't be so rude" Medusa said. "We are teammates and we should treat each other with respect."

"Yes, but look that messing in my personal mission is not showing respect" Rothbart replied.

They finally arrived at the mountain where Griffonstone was located.

"So this is where the proud griffons live" Medusa said. "They really do have their heads in the clouds."

"You stay here" Rothbart said, as invoked a cloak and put him on. "I'll go alone."

"And why can't I go?" Medusa asked.

"You’d delay me" Rothbart replied. "This mission requires description and given that I'm the only one who can transform into a creature resembling a griffon and that your eyes turn anything into stone, I'm going alone."

"You know, you can't have friends being antisocial" Medusa commented.

"Who said I want friends?" Rothbart asked.

And having said that, Rothbart turned into his mutant form, stretching his wings, and took flight in the direction of Griffonstone. When he got there, he landed. The kingdom, although it seems the same, seemed more refined and with more movement. Moving quickly and discreetly, Rothbart went through the kingdom, heading to the castle, located in the highest location.

Getting there, he noted in the position that every guard occupied. He saw that the space for maneuver was almost non-existent. The griffons knew very well how to build a fairly tight surveillance. However, he had something that they didn't have: magic. Using the properties of the cloak he was wearing, Rothbart managed to use the shadows to hide himself completely from the guards and thus he managed to get in.

Once inside the castle, Rothbart advanced through the corridors, looking for the dungeons. While he walked, she felt somepony approaching and hid in the shadows. Gael and Greta, both with crowns on their heads and the first wearing his armor, appeared.

"I got a postcard from my uncle" Greta said to Gael. "Now he's in Oldenmark."

"So he decided to switch the beaches of Las Pegasus by the cold climate of Oldenmark" Gael said. "He's really enjoying his retirement."

"Yes, he only complains of not having your dad around to cook for him" Greta said.

"Well, that can be arranged" Gael said. "I think my father didn't take some vacations for some time. Well, now that I think about it, he never took vacations."

"I believe that when we work with something we like, is quite tricky to get vacations" Greta said.

"Yes, you're right" Gael agreed.

And they moved away.

Rothbart came out of the shadows, pleased that his magic worked quite well. He continued his way, finding the one that would take him to the dungeons.

At the Dungeons of the Castle, doing push-ups on his cell was Ulysses. Despite the time he spent locked, Ulysses had certified that his body didn’t weaken, always keeping in mind his revenge. Thinking of all those who have contributed to his fall just gave him more motivation. And it wasn't just thoughts, but also the scar that Princess Greta did. That scar was the memory of the day of his fall.

Stopping with the push-ups, he went to the door of his cell and told to the guards that were out there:

"Hey, when will you give me something to eat?! I'm hungry!"

"Pity!" the voice of one of the guards said. "Here, you eat only when we give you food!"

"You bastards, you know who you're talking with?" Ulysses asked.

"Yes, with an idiot who thought he could control our race with a one-eyed monster" the other guard replied, laughing with his colleague.

Ulysses, mumbling, returned to the interior of the cell. What he would give to get out of that filthy hole.

It was then that he began to hear a fight out there. It seemed that the guards were fighting someone who shouldn't be there, which sharpened his curiosity. Ulysses approached to hear better, but then it stopped, with the fall of what should be two bodies. Steps proceeded to the entrance of his cell and Ulysses prepared to fight whoever was out there. The door opened of outburst, having been broken, and a hooded figure entered. It was Rothbart.

"Who are you?" Ulysses asked.

"Someone who, depending on your answer, you will be able to get you out of here" Rothbart replied, lowering his hood, revealing his owl face.

"You don't look like a regular griffon" Ulysses noted. "What are you?"

"A sorcerer who can take the form of an owl, although I still retain some of my pony attributes.

"So you're a pony. I don't need the help of a cheap pony to get out."

"So why haven’t you done that yet?" Rothbart asked.

But Ulysses did not respond to that question.

"That's what I thought" Rothbart said.

"What do you want from me?" Ulysses asked.

"I'm not who wants something from you" Rothbart replied. "But my master seems to be interested in your qualities."

"Master?" Ulysses repeated. "Who is this master you are talking about?"

"The same master that your former partner in crime served" Rothbart replied.

That made Ulysses realize.

"So you're Arimaspi’s friend" Ulysses said. "One more reason to finish you!"

And he advanced against Rothbart, raising one of his talons to attack, but Rothbart used one of his to stop the attack and then, using his magic, launched Ulysses around the room, causing him to hit hard against the wall.

"You're such an idiot" Rothbart said, approaching a few steps while Ulysses raised his head. "No wonder Arimaspi easily fooled you. But also, back then, you were just a pawn of a servant of the Lord of Chaos. Now, you have the opportunity to serve him without being through one of his servants. You can be a villain like me and many others."

"A villain?" Ulysses asked, rising up. "Lord of chaos? What are you talking about?"

"You must know that everything that exists is ruled by two entities" Rothbart told. "One of them creates, and the other destroys. Since always, they are in conflict. Right now, these two entities are in a war for the control of this reality. My master, the Lord of Chaos, the one who destroys, would like to give you the opportunity to serve him."

"And what's in it for me?" Ulysses asked.

"Aside from your freedom, maybe your revenge" Rothbart said. "Did I told you that one of the Lord of Chaos’ enemies are the rulers of the Crystal Empire, where one of them is called... Shining Armor?"

Hearing Shining Armor’s name, Ulysses’ anger increased.

"It seems that I've got your attention" Rothbart said.

"O accepted" Ulysses said, rising up. "I do everything to destroy those who put me in this cell."

"Perfect" Rothbart said. "However, there is a little detail you need to know."

"And what is it?" Ulysses asked.

"The Lord of Chaos want to know what you are capable of" Rothbart said. "If you get out expertly, so you can meet him."

And, having said that, Rothbart headed for the exit, saying:

"Good luck."

And, putting his hood, Rothbart ventured into the shadows once more to get out of Griffonstone.

Realizing the conditions, Ulysses headed to the exit. On the way out, he noticed the guards Rothbart defeated. Then, rushing, he went upstairs to get out of the dungeons and, getting to the top, he looked carefully to see if someone was coming. Seeing the empty hallway, he advanced. Using the wings to move rapidly, he soon crossed with a pair of guards.

"The prisoner!" one of them exclaimed. "He got away!"

The two guards tried to attack Ulysses, but he, whose physic had been developed while he was in prison, managed to subdue them. He wanted to finish them off, but, knowing it wasn't late for him to be surrounded by guards, he decided not to waste time, so I kept running. The first guard said, while standing up:

"I have to inform the king and the queen about this."

The fugitive griffon, using the knowledge he had of the castle, was able to take the fastest way to the exit. Given that there was a lot of guards watching the castle from the outside, he couldn't get out from the windows. Along the way, he found more guards, but he defeated them every time. He began to see the exit, but before he could reach it, Gael appeared in front of him.

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

"Well, look at that" Ulysses said. "You've grown a lot, Gael. I can't believe you were able to make a crown to settle in that big head of yours."

"Return to your cell, Ulysses" Gael said. "We don't want to force you."

Ulysses giggled and said:

"I want to see you trying, Gael. You know perfectly well that I've always been stronger than you and, during the time I spent in that cell, I didn't do nothing but strengthen my muscles. Do you think you can defeat me?"

And Gael smiled, asking:

"Who says I have to beat you?"

Suddenly a headache invaded Ulysses. It was unbearable. As the headache raged, his will began to be repressed. He knew that feeling. Someone was using the power of the Idol of Boreas. Turning, he saw Greta holding the idol.

"We don't need to do that when we have something that is able to stop you" Greta said.

"We promised not to use the idol, but we can't afford to have you free" Gael said.

Rothbart watched in the shadows how Ulysses was trying to not be controlled by Greta. Would his will be strong enough to resist the power able to control the griffon race? That's what the Lord of Chaos wanted to know. He knew that Gael and Greta would use it to stop Ulysses and, given that only those with an unwavering desire could overcome the power the idol had, this would be proof of his worthy.

Ulysses was still trying to resist, but it seemed that the power of the Idol of Boreas was too strong. He fell on his knees.

"Enough of this" Greta said. "Now go back to your cell."

Ulysses felt her body beginning to move on its own, like when Arimaspi controlled him. If he didn't do anything, he would return to the dark and filthy cell where I was and he would be humiliated again, not to mention he would be deprived of the revenge that had been promised to him. He would have to endure the fact that Gael and Greta were happy together, while he languished in the dungeons. All the hatred and anger he felt began to full him with forces and so he felt the influence of the Idol of Boreas getting weaker. He began to stand up and say:

"I don't want to... I don't want to go back there!"

And he liberated himself completely, to Gael and Greta’s astonishment.

"Impossible!" Greta exclaimed.

"Your..." Gael started.

And he launched himself to attack Ulysses, but he also attacked and soon pinned Gael against the floor.

"Gael!" Greta called.

"You're still weak compared with me, Gael" Ulysses said. "Now, I'll get my revenge, right here, right now! What if I started by giving you the same scar that your dear Queen afflicted me?"

And he raised his talon, ready to scratch Gael’s eye, but he was caught by someone who grabbed his talon. Ulysses looked and saw Rothbart.

"That's enough."

"Let me go" Ulysses said, setting his talon free. "What are you doing? I'm about to start my revenge!"

"You will have plenty of time for that" Rothbart replied. "You just got to prove yourself to the Lord of Chaos and you earned your freedom. Of course, if you want to go back to where you left, I can do it."

After all, Ulysses noticed that getting his avenge from Gael wouldn't be enough. He wanted everything he wanted to fulfill in the past and that was something he could do if he served the Lord of Chaos.

"All right, let's go" Ulysses said.

"Wise choice" Rothbart said.

And, having said that, Rothbart used his magic to teleport himself and Ulysses with black smoke. Greta approached Gael and asked him:

"Are you okay, Gael?"

"Yes, but I can't rest now" he said. "We have to capture Ulysses before he walks away. However, Greta, you have to tell our allies that Rothbart was involved in the escape."

"Okay" she said.

Medusa waited patiently when black smoke appeared and Rothbart and Ulysses appeared.

"Oh, so you're our new partner" Medusa said. "I have to say, for a griffon, you are quite attractive."

"I don't need praises from an insignificant pony" Ulysses replied coldly.

"I like your attitude" Medusa said, always smiling. "But you should know that I'm more than just a pony."

"We'd better stop talking" Rothbart said. "It seems that King Gael didn't give up trying to recapture our new colleague."

He pointed to the sky, and Gael and some griffons were approaching, flying.

"Ulysses!" he exclaimed. "You're not going anywhere!"

"What a bore!" Ulysses said. "I got him."

"That won't be necessary, Ulysses" Rothbart said. "It's time for you to learn some team work. Medusa, if I recall correctly, you wanted a royal griffon to your collection."

"Get a king to my collection is something that doesn't happen very often" Medusa said, lowering her hood and revealing her snakes. "It will be a pleasure."

Gael, seeing Medusa, recognized her and said to his guards, while covering his eyes:

"Don't look at her eyes!"

Although some of his guards listened in time, some did not and Medusa was able to petrify both of them, who fell to the ground, breaking into several pieces.

"Retreat!" Gael exclaimed.

And he and the other griffons retreated.

"Impressive" Ulysses said, seeing how Medusa had petrified the two griffons.

"Thank you, but this is not the best that I can do" Medusa said, hiding her snakes again.

"We're leaving" Rothbart said. "Our master is waiting to meet his new follower."

And so they disappeared, appearing in the Desolate Zone.

"What are we doing in this place infected with Changelings?" Ulysses asked to Rothbart and Medusa. "I thought we were going to see the Lord of Chaos."

"So this is our new colleague?" a voice asked.

Rothbart turned and faced Adagio, who had also just appear.

"He seems very impatient" she commented.

"Yes, and perfect to serve as a distraction to the idiots of the Order" Oogie Boogie said, appearing too.

"How dare you?" Ulysses asked. "I'm much more than just a distraction."

"So that means you're a snack" another voice said.

Ulysses turned and faced with Chrysalis, who had behind her what appeared to be three Changelings wearing hooded cloaks.

"Believe me, from what I see, you don't seem to be worthier than any other creature that serves as food to me" Chrysalis said, approaching.

"Come on, guys, be nice" Rothbart said. "He has already proved his value to our master."

"In fact, he did" another voice said.

And the Lord of Chaos appeared, making everyone, except Ulysses, bow before him.

"My Lord, as you requested, I brought your new soldier" Rothbart said.

The Lord of Chaos approached Ulysses.

"Kneel before your master."

Despite his proud, Ulysses had to recognize that the mere presence of the Lord of Chaos gave him the chills through all his body and that his look reminded him of all his worst nightmares. When he found himself, he was kneeling before him.

"Good" he said. "It seems that now you know who's calling the shots here. I must say, Ulysses, I was struck by how you managed to resist the power of the Idol of Boreas."

"Thank you, my lord…" Ulysses said.

"Now that I helped you escape from that cell, it's time for you to help me in a little experiment" the Lord of Chaos said.

"Experiment?" Ulysses repeated.

"Chrysalis created new types of Changelings that I hope they can help in my plan" the Lord of Chaos said. "I want to know their strength, but I also want to know what you're capable of too. So... you're going to fight them."

When Ulysses realized it, the villains formed a large circle around Ulysses and the three hooded Changelings who advanced. It was then that they dropped their cloths, revealing their appearance.

Ulysses was caught completely by surprise, because those Changelings were very different from those he had already seen. The lowest had a long curved shovel-like horn and with a carapace like the ones beetles had; another had long antennae and the third, despite being quite similar to the normal Changelings, it had a set of four longer wings, similar to those of dragonflies, and even a scorpion tail, in addition to larger and sharper fangs.

"See if you are able to face my enhanced Changelings" Chrysalis said.

"And I thought they couldn't get uglier" Ulysses commented. "Well, let's do it. See if you have a mop and a bucket because the ground is about to be full of Changeling guts."

The mutants hissed to Ulysses in a threatening way and then the Changeling with antennae and the Changeling with the scorpion tail began to go against him, while the Changeling with the carapace stayed behind. Ulysses also advanced, but, reaching the two Changelings, dodged their attacks and slipped past them, headed for the one behind. Through observation, Ulysses realized that he shouldn't be quite fast due to its carapace and therefore was less dangerous.

However, when he began to attack it with his talons, he realized the great feature that Changeling had was a pretty solid defense and a great resistance. But the most surprising feature was the horn which was used as a lever to lift Ulysses as if he was nothing. When he found himself, the griffon was thrown in the air quite easily.

It was then that the Changeling with the scorpion tail appeared next to him out of nowhere. With those wings of dragonfly, its speed was far superior to any Changeling that he had faced. It gave to Ulysses a strong punch that threw him against the ground with a loud bang. Ulysses looked to see the Changeling descending rapidly and preparing the sting of its tail. With great reflexes, Ulysses rolled and the Changeling’s spike stuck on the ground, holding it. Before that chance, Ulysses prepared to attack it.

However, he was not able to attack, because something hold him and Ulysses realized it was the antennae of the other Changeling, who had stretched it to restrict the griffon’s movements. With that opportunity, the Changeling with carapace started running towards him, preparing his horn.

"It seems that the rookie is done" Oogie Boogie said.

"Don't jump to conclusions, Oogie Boogie" Rothbart said. "The fight is not over yet."

When the Changeling with carapace was almost hitting Ulysses, the griffon gave a boost with the hind legs, which enabled him to take a leap that made the Changeling fail the attack and, at the same time, pulled the Changeling that arrested him, making it crash into the one with carapace. With that shock, the Changeling with antennae dropped him.

"What a surprise..." Adagio said, admired.

"It looks like our new colleague has hidden tricks" Medusa commented. "Your Changelings are having a hard time, Chrysalis."

The Changelings Queen didn't like the comment, but she didn't say anything because the fight was not yet over.

After having being released, Ulysses relaxed a little, but lowing the defense proved to be a bad decision, since the Changeling with the scorpion tail had released itself and tried to attack the griffon with its stinger. Fortunately, Ulysses saw it in time and dodge, with the two of them looking at each other intensely. When they prepared to attack each other, the Lord of Chaos said:

"That's enough!"

And everyone turned to him, with the two fallen Changelings fallen lifting.

"Congratulations, Ulysses, you just passed on my last test" the Lord of Chaos said. "You are officially one of my personal villains."

"Thank you, my lord" Ulysses said, making a bow.

"And as an incentive for you to do a good job, I will give you a gift" the Lord of Chaos.

And he raised his spear, pointing it to Ulysses, and released a darkness that enveloped the griffon for a while and then disappeared. Ulysses then felt a power passing through his body, with that power taking the form of electricity.

"Amazing!" he exclaimed, watching the electricity running through his body.

"You still have to learn to control it, but I believe that we are closer to our goal now" the Lord of Chaos said, turning then to Chrysalis. "As for you, Chrysalis, I'm impressed with your mutants. They came out pretty well."

"Thank you, my Lord" Chrysalis thanked, while she and the mutants made bow to the Lord of Chaos. "But, if I may, I want to introduce them properly. First, we have Crush."

She gestured to the Changeling with carapace.

"He may not be the brightest Changeling and his body isn't up for speed or infiltration, but he possesses a great strength and his body is able to withstand several blows."

Then, she pointed to the Changeling with antennae, saying:

"And her name is Obsidia."

"Wait, that’s a she?" Oogie Boogie asked.

That made Obsidia grunt to him what made him say:

"With that sensitivity, that's for sure."

"Obsidia is perfect for an infiltration mission, due to her high sensory acuity precision and navigation capability. Furthermore, she has antennae that allow her to hold her opponents."

Finally, she turned to the Changeling with dragonfly wings and scorpion tail.

"And this is Scorpio, the perfect combination of speed and lethality" Chrysalis said. "In spite of its constitution, his lightness is what makes him faster in conjunction with his wings that give him more speed and maneuverability in the air. Not to mention his scorpion tail that allows him to perform surprised attacks with great precision."

"I have to admit again that you did a good job raising them, Chrysalis" the Lord of Chaos said. "I can see that creating this mutations of yours was not a waste of time."

"I'm glad to hear that" Chrysalis said, while she and mutants bowed.

"It is good that my brother and his followers watch their backs" the Lord of Chaos said. "Because stop my big plan will not be an easy task now."

Author's Note

The Changeling mutants were inspired from this image: http://orig07.deviantart.net/fef6/f/2013/135/4/8/changelings_character_sheet_by_starbat-d604p7q.jpg

A Holiday in Ponyville

Author's Note

I just want to remind you that the main events relating to the fourth, fifth and sixth season don't happen in this saga.

A Holiday in Ponyville

After one more day of school, Star went to the place where he met with Golden Paladin for one more of his lessons.

"Hello, Golden" Star greeted, arriving. "What are we doing today?"

"Today we won’t do anything, young prince" he replied.

"Why?" Star asked.

"Because I decided to give you a small task that I think will require some time" Golden Paladin replied. "So while you're doing it, our lessons are suspended."

"Suspended?" Star repeated. "But I thought all of this was to help me control the Nine-Tails’ power and you underlined the importance of that."

"Relax" Golden Paladin said. "The task that I’ll give require some… technique. As you know, unicorns use an active form magic, but each one has its own special kind of magic. My siblings and I are a good example of that, not to mention alicorns like you. I want you to develop your own specialty."

"You mean like my eyes?" Star asked, referring to its power to see inside of ponies.

"Your gift can help you distinguish evil, but not all villains that you will face will be so easy to reform as it was with Pandora" Golden Paladin said. "Some of them are truly evil, without any good in them. Therefore, you have to learn something new."

"Are you saying I have to create my own spell? But I'm just a colt."

"But your knowledge in magic is great and you have a lot of potential. I believe that if you use your imagination, you can think of something. Furthermore, without these lessons, you will have more time to concentrate on your studies and your parents will be more satisfied."

That made Star drop a laugh, that didn't take long. Despite the things Golden Paladin had said, Star was a little nervous about inventing his own spell. He didn't know if he would be able to do it.

With the suspension of Golden’s classes, Star found himself with more time to be with his friends who were happy to be able to do things together at last. Also, with the extra time, Star could focus more on studies, although he did not stop trying to get any idea for a new spell. However, the task proved to be quite complicated, because it was hard to think of something no one had thought of or done.

But that changed during the last class of Introduction to Practical Magic before the winter holidays. Professor Knotgrass said to her unicorn students:

"Since today is our last day before your holidays, I decided to show you what we're going to practice for when the holidays are over."

"What is it, professor?" Star asked.

"Something that will require a certain control on your part in your own magic" Knotgrass explained. "But it's better to show than explain."

And so, she grabbed her wand and waved it. Then, to everypony's astonishment, a trail of magical aura appeared from the movements Knotgrass was doing with the wand. Then, using the wand, she began to control the movements of the aura to the great amazement of everypony.

"How can you do that, professor?" the student next to Star asked.

"It's quite simple, really" she replied, while manipulating the aura. "I just leave my magic flow through my wand, in your case your horns, and release it. Of course, the hardest part is to contain it and manipulate it. This is the basis of all magical manipulation, so I hope that, after your holidays, you will work hard enough because a lot of work awaits you."

"Yes" everypony replied.

Star observed carefully how Knotgrass handled the magic trail. He was fascinated by the way the magic trail moved. Then he found himself imagining it spinning on one point and with great density. Finally, he discovered what Golden Paladin want him to do. The question was whether he could do something like that.

After class, Star left the class and met with Heartbeat that was passing by.

"Heartbeat" he called her.

She turned to him and asked:

"What is it, Star?"

"Can you deliver a message to Golden?" Star asked.

"Of course" she replied. "What do you want me to tell him."

"Tell him that I think I did what he asked me to do and that we can restart our lessons" Star said.

"Very well, I'll tell him" Heartbeat said. "Wait here, I’ll be back in a minute."

And, having said that, Heartbeat got away with her speed and, after about a minute, she returned and said:

"I already told Goldy and he said he will be waiting for you in the same place at the same time."

"Thank you, Heartbeat" Star thanked.

So, when the time came, Star headed to the place where he had lessons with Golden Paladin and, upon his arrival, he found him waiting for him.

"Prince Star Knight, I see you were able to accomplish the task that I gave you" he said.

"You can say that" Star replied. "I don't have a fully formed idea, but I think I have outlined the basics."

And he explained to Golden Paladin what he thought during Knotgrass’ class. When he finished, Golden Paladin said, musing on the idea of the young prince.

"I see, concentrating your own magic to then use it in a single blow" Golden Paladin said. "It looks interesting and certainly can create an immense attack power."

"Do you think it will be possible to make something like that?" Star Knight asked.

"Just because it was never been done, it doesn't mean it's not possible" Golden Paladin replied. "This type of spell is typically used in spells of more advanced magical manipulation. But I think it's worth a try. And I can advise on the best method of training."

"Seriously?" he asked, drawing a smile on her face. "Thank You, Golden. What method should I use?"

"First, you need to master the technique of freeing the aura and control it" Golden Paladin explained. "Only then we can think about the next step."

"Okay, I can do that" said Star. "Since we're here, I can use the time we would normally use for our usual training to begin."

Star Knight began to train, carrying his horn with magic and trying to release the aura as Knotgrass made with hers. But the task proved to be more challenging than it seemed. But when Star began to free his aura, the most difficult task was to control it. Star was only able to accomplish that task in the last lesson with Golden before the winter holidays.

"You're doing pretty good, young prince" Golden Paladin congratulated, while he saw Star controlling his aura. "I think we can move on to the next step."

"Are you talking about concentrating it and rotating it?" Star asked.

"Let's focus now on what I think will be easier" Golden Paladin said. "The rotation. Now you can control your aura, you can rotate it at will. When you create a rotation strong enough, I think you'll be able to concentrate on accumulating energy."

"And how do I do that?"

"Try to use something with an elastic surface, but containing within some liquid. If you use the rotation of your aura to circulate the liquid."

"I can create enough pressure to blow the surface like a water balloon" Star concluded.

"I see you've outlined your training for the holidays" Golden noted. "Well, therefore, I will let you focus on your own practice. I hope you have success, young Prince."

And, having said that, Golden Paladin disappeared. Star then realized he still had plenty of work to do. He had been struggling to learn something that his colleagues had not yet mastered only to perform his own spell and the task was rather cumbersome and still wasn't completely dominated. Now, he would have to move on to something more complicated. But he would not give up.

The next day, the students were preparing to return to their respective homes to spend the winter holidays.

"So, how will you spend your holidays?" Star asked to his three friends, while they waited for their respective rides.

"Well, ya already know how will be mine" Jonagold said. "Mah family joins all together tah celebrate the Heart’s Warming Eve."

"And I think we can celebrate together" Star said. "I got a letter from my mother saying that we were going to spend the Heart’s Warming Eve in Ponyville."

"Cool!" Jonagold exclaimed. "It has been some time that ya don’t go tah Ponyville."

"And my mother said you could come with me to the Light Kingdom and then come back with us to Ponyville" Star said. "She already talked to your parents."

"Griffons do not celebrate the Heart’s Warming Eve, but we usually celebrate at this time around" Gunter said.

"Well, we also celebrate the longest night" Bramble said. "That's when the horns of the grown deers fall and we make a celebration, while we gather the horns to then turn them into powder."

"It seems that each one of us is going to have different celebrations" Star noted. "But, anyway, I can't wait for the end of the holidays to meet you again."

He extended his hull and Jonagold and Bramble did the same, putting their hooves over Star’s, while Gunted placed his talon. After that, the carriage of the Light Kingdom appeared.

"It's time to go" Star said, while the carriage stopped.

"Wait for us, Prince Star Knight" a voice said.

And Melody and Purple Smoke appeared. It had been the General of Music to talk.

"We will return to the Light Kingdom with you" Purple Smoke said.

"What about Heartbeat?" Star asked.

"You know her" Melody said. "She does what she wants. Probably she’s already there."

"Ok" Star said, turning then to Gunter and Bramble. "See you after the holidays, guys."

"Yes, have a good holiday" Jonagold wished.

"You too" Gunter said.

"Bye" Bramble said.

The two friends and the two Generals entered in the carriage that started riding as soon as their passengers shut the door. After crossing the border between the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World, they were quick to reach the Light Kingdom, where Twilight, Blue and the twins were already waiting. Spike would also go with them, along with his brothers, who, like him, had wings and bigger spikes and horns. It wasn't long before the royal family board the Light Express, letting the Generals taking care of the kingdom. Spike and his brothers, how could get a little uncomfortable in the train, followed them by fly.

Finally, they arrived at the train station of Ponyville, where, waiting for them, was Cherry Blossom, who carried a baby filly in a baby changer. This filly was Jonagold’s little sister, Apple Flower, who had a year and a half. She was a baby unicorn who had her mother's coat, Applejack’s mane and her father's eyes.

The train doors opened and Jonagold was the first to leave, going to hug his mother.

"Ma! Ah missed ya so much."

“Me too, my dear" Cherry answered, hugging his son. "And your baby sister too."

"Jona!" Apple Flower exclaimed, seeing her older brother.

"Hello, Flo" Jonagold said affectionately to his sister.

"I hope you're doing well at the academy" Cherry Blossom said.

"Of course Ah am, ma" Jonagold said.

Star, his parents and sisters also came out of the train.

"Cherry!" Twilight exclaimed, heading to her old friend.

"Twilight!" Cherry exclaimed, going to hug Twilight. “Thank you for bringing Jona."

"It was a pleasure, Cherry" Twilight said. "After all, he is my son’s best friend and, since we were coming here to spend the Heart’s Warming Eve, we just joined the business with pleasure."

"Wow!" Midnight exclaimed, looking around. "Ponyville is so beautiful during the winter!"

"Yes!" Sunny agreed. "It's all so different from the Light Kingdom."

"This is because the magic of our kingdom, just like in the Crystal Empire, prevents snow from entering" Star explained to his sisters.

"That’s true" Twilight said. "And it's all because of Windigos, who are servants of the Lord of Chaos. They freeze everything around when there is disharmony."

"I'm glad there's none here" Sunny said.

"Yes, things would not be anything beautiful" Midnight agreed.

They heard wings and Spike arrived with his brothers. He was the first to land and said, looking around.

"It feels so good to be in Ponyville again."

His brothers also landed and Flambeau said:

"Wow, so this is where you lived before you go to the Light Kingdom, big bro. Not bad."

"It seems cozy" Nitelite commented.

"Yes, the houses are quite nice" Smokewing said.

"Although I prefer the rocky environment of our island" Hardscale said. "Don't you agree with me, Toothy?"

The youngest dragon, who was always quiet, waved.

"Come on, bros, let's honor Ponyville with one of our amazing songs" Flambeau said. "And the one, and the two, and the…

But before they could start singing, Spike said:

"Maybe it's better to keep your voices to the chanting of the Heart’s Warming Eve. In addition, I do not believe that here there is an audience worthy of your performance."

"You're right, big brother" Flambeau said, while the others waved. "We must ensure that everypony can hear us."

"That and the fact that they wouldn't shut up if I let them sing now" Spike whispered to Twilight, who giggled.

"So, where’s Big Mac?" Blue asked to Cherry. "He didn't come."

"He had to get to work on the farm" Cherry replied. "There is a lot of snow blocking the way to the farm."

"Maybe Ah can lend a hoof" Jonagold said. "Well, Ah have tah go. Bye, Star."

"Goodbye, Jona" Star replied.

And Jonagold, Cherry and Apple Flower moved away.

"And me and my brothers will accommodate ourselves in the caves near here" Spike said. "I don't think there's room enough for all of us in the library. Come, brothers."

The six dragons took flight and moved away too.

Star and his family drove to the place that was once the home of his mother when she was still living in Ponyville: the Golden Oak Library. He barely remembered that place, because it's been a few years since he came to Ponyville, however it felt good to be back.

The family entered the library that was obscured. It was then that the light suddenly came on and they were faced with the library decorated with party decorations and with Twilight's friends and their respective husbands and children saying:

"SURPRISE! "

"I was expecting this" Twilight said. "Let me guess. It was Pinkie Pie’s idea."

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, approaching and embracing Twilight. "As soon as I heard you were coming, I prepared everything as fast as I could. Besides, I wanted to teach little Winesap how to prepare a good party to a friend she doesn’t see for a long, long, long time."

And she pointed to her daughter who was with the other foals talking excitedly with the twins.

“Pinkie, we saw each other last week” Twilight said. “We even took a cup of tea and you taught my chef how to cook the perfect cupcake.”

“Hey, if there’s something that I don’t allow to be less than perfect so those are cupcakes are parties” Pinkie Pie replied. “And a good party can only be good with your friends helping you preparing it.”

"She even convinced me to help" Bushel said. "Even when I had to help Big Mac clear the roads."

"To me happened to me the same thing" Applejack said.

"Don't tell me anything" Thunder Night said. "She even convinced me to go out during the day."

"Well, we all know how Pinkie Pie is" Fluttershy said.

"Yes, she can convince everypony to do what she wants" Rarity said. "She even more persuasive than me.”

"And look that she is quite persuasive" Shadow Claw said, referring to his wife.

“Rainbow Dash didn't come?” Twilight asked, repairing in the absence of her friend, Soarin and Gust.

"Unfortunately they couldn't come" Cloud Chaser said. "Rainbow and Soarin have a show in Las Pegasus tomorrow."

"It's a shame" Twilight said. "I've not seen them in so long."

Star headed for one of the tables with food when he noticed somepony who was watching him from a far.

"Hello, Moonlight" he greeted her, smiling.

Seeing Star smiling at her, Moonlight blushed slightly. She approached and said, timidly:

"Hello... Star. How... are you?"

"I’m good" he replied. "Although a little exhausted from all the classes at the Academy."

"It must be pretty good study in the Enchanted Forest" Moonlight said. "My mother always wanted to go there, but she is always busy with her animals here. And I think that her work will only increase."

"What do you mean?" Star asked.

But before she could say anything, Thunder Night said to Twilight and Blue:

"And we also have wonderful news to give you, right, Fluttershy?"

"Well, yes" she said. "Everyone in Ponyville already knows, but I wanted to tell you when you got here."

"It must be something very important" Twilight said. "You're glowing."

It was then that Twilight realized.

"It can't be!" she exclaimed. "Are you..."

Fluttershy waved gently, while she smiled with one of her sweet smiles.

"Yes, I'm pregnant" she confirmed.

"Oh congratulations!" Twilight exclaimed, embracing her friend.

"Yes, it's excellent news" said Blue, bumping his hoof with Thunder Night’s. "Congratulations."

"Thank you" Thunder Night thanked. "We're pretty happy."

"Wow, you're going to be a big sister" Star said to Moonlight. "You must be very happy."

"Well, yes" she replied. "I always wanted a little brother or sister."

"You're going to like a lot of the experience" Star assured. "Younger siblings can be a headache sometimes, but it’s worth it."

"Thank you, Star” Moonlight thanked, blushing slightly.

"You're welcome" Star replied.

The young prince realized that was a good time to practice his new spell. He addressed to Pinkie Pie and asked her:

"I'm sorry, aunt Pinkie Pie, do you have some water balloon you can borrow me?"

"Of course I have!" she replied, taking her hoof to her mane and taking a water balloon. "I always have a water balloon, in case of a water balloon emergency. Wait, do you want to start a water balloon war. That would be a great idea!"

"No, I just need it for an experience that I'm doing" Star said.

"I see..." Pinkie Pie said, a little disappointed. "It's a shame, because a water balloon war would be a perfect way to liven up the party."

Star used his magic to get the water balloon.

"Thank you, aunt Pinkie Pie" he thanked.

Star turned to her mother and said:

"Mom, I'm going to my room. You don't mind, do you?"

Since his parents had him, they created extra rooms that would serve to him and Spike. However, now that Spike was too big for the library, his room now belonged to the twins.

"Of course not, dear" she replied. '' I understand that you must be tired. After all, we came straight to Ponyville after you arrived from the Enchanted Forest."

"Thanks, mom" Star thanked, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

And he went up the stairs, with Moonlight watching him, disappointed by not being able to spend more time with Star.

Star entered in his room of the library and, as soon as he found himself alone, prepared to train his spell. He lifted the water balloon he obtained from Pinkie Pie and focused. To this part of his training, he had to use the magical manipulation to make the water inside of the balloon spin in such a way that the resulting pressure would blow up the balloon.

Concentrating, he activated his magic, while holding the balloon in one of the hooves. He made his magic flow into the balloon, using the magical manipulation that he had learned to do the water inside the balloon spin. Star could feel the water spinning inside the balloon, but it wasn't enough to blow up the balloon. This continued for some time until Star feel tired of using his magic. He decided to end his training in that day and try again the next day.

During the days he spent in Ponyville, Star struggled to be able to blow up the water balloon, but that seemed to be a very laborious task. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make the balloon blow up. He trained mostly in his room, although he trained in every chance he could when he was walking through the town in Jonagold’s company, who supported him during his training. Of course he had to protect the water balloon with a spell that protected it from the cold.

Sometimes, without them knowing, they were followed by Moonlight, who limited to observe Star by far. Although she didn't know the true nature of his training, Moonlight noticed Star’s effort and wished he could do it.

When the Heart’s Warming Eve arrived, everypony in the village were busy putting the decorations all over the village while singing holiday songs. Star helped his parents and sisters decorating the library, piling up the presents and putting their respective doll on the fireplace. After helping his parents, Star prepared to go to meet up with Jonagold at Sweet Apple Acres, where he, his parents and his sister spent the holiday. When he prepared to leave, Twilight reminded him:

"Star, don't forget to meet us at the theater this afternoon to watch the pageant."

"Sure, mom, I won't forget" he said, while he put his scarf and bonnet. "After all, the Apple will also watch it."

And he left, heading to Sweet Apple Acres, which was covered by snow, with the apple trees devoid of their leaves. Star and Jonagold sat against a tree, doing time until the time of the pageant. The young prince continued his training to blow up the water balloon.

"I can't believe that I'm not getting it" Star said, while the water span in the balloon. "This is frustrating!"

"I'm sure you're going to get it" Jonagold ensured. "I know you well enough, Star. You can master any spell."

"Yes, but this isn't any spell" Star said. "This is a new spell."

It was then that someone approached. It was Apple Bloom. Now a young grown mare, Apple Bloom replaced his big bow by a smaller one in front of the ear and another at the end of her braided mane, not counting with the one at the end of her tail. She also had a handkerchief around her neck.

"So you guys are here" she said. "It's time to go to the theater."

"We were just waiting to go, aunt Apple Bloom" Jonagold said, while he and Star, who had teleported his water balloon to his room, raised up.

"Well, then let's go" Apple Bloom said. "Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara will participate in the pageant. I'm glad Sweetie Belle struggled to make it to the Ponyville pageant, despite the success she's having in Manehatten."

Star followed the Apples to the Ponyville theatre, where he met with his family. In the way, he found Rainbow Dash, Soarin and their son Gus, as well as Scootaloo, whose wings had grown up enough to allow her to fly as a normal pegasus, despite she continued to prefer to use her scooter. The royal family of the Light Kingdom went to their place in one of the boxes. Spike and his brothers were in places further back.

"I can't wait to see Sweetie Belle acting" Spike said. "She is simply amazing."

"Oh, it's so hard to be in the audience when we could be performing on the stage" Flambeau said, while the others agreed.

"I understand that, Flambeau, but you six will see you will enjoy watching" Spike said. "Do you think I like not being on stage? I used to be the narrator. But you will see that you will be like."

The pageant about the Heart’s Warming started with Sweetie Belle acting as Clover, the Clever, and Diamond Tiara as Smart Cookie. Silver Spoon also participated as Chancellor Puddinghead. In the end, all those who attended applauded with energy.

After that, there was a party at the library, which extended to the outside. Everypony talked and laughed while they ate and drank. Star was walking through the party with Jonagold and Moonlight, while his parents talked with their friends of Ponyville, his sisters played with the other foals, Spike was with Sweetie Belle and the dragon’s brothers showed their skills as singers.

During the party, Star noticed Rarity’s cat, Opal, that was playing with a small ball. He saw her playing with a ball. Seeing her spinning the ball from one side to the other, he began to imagine the ball like a water balloon. He realized that this would make the water spin in all directions, which would inadvertently...

"I get it!" Star exclaimed.

"What, Star?" Jonagold asked.

"What did you get?" Moonlight asked.

"Sorry, guys, but I have to go do something" he said. "See you later."

And, having said this, he moved away, while his friends watched him confused.

Star headed to his room and, after entering, he made the water balloon he used to practice go to his hoof and began to use his magic to spin the water in it, as he had been doing, but, this time, he used the other hoof to make the magic spin the water into all directions. It was then that the balloon began to twitch dangerously and eventually blow up, releasing the water.

"Yes!" Star exclaimed, who couldn't be happier. "I did it!"

Finally the young prince had managed to end the first part of his training in the creation of a new spell.

Star Knight's New Spell

With the end of the winter break appraoching, the day Star and Jonagold had to return to the academy was coming.

In the second-to-last day of holiday, the royal family of the Light Kingdom boarded the Light Express along with Jonagold, who was invited by Star to sleep over in the castle before returning to the Enchanted Forest. When they arrived, the young Prince of the Light Kingdom tried to find Golden Paladin to talk about his feat of having broken the water balloon, but he wasn't in the kingdom. According to the other Generals, he and Heartbeat had gone on a mission given to them by the Lord of Order.

The next day, along with Melody and Purple Smoke, the two friends crossed the border between the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World. Upon entering in the Enchanted Forest, the two young colts gasped to find it covered by snow and with the trees without their leaves, as they were accustomed to see its sunny sky and hardwoods. When they arrived to the academy, the two generals headed to the it, while Star and Jonagold tried to find Bramble and Gunter.

"Have ya found them?" Jonagold asked Star.

"Not yet" he replied.

"Hey!" a voice called.

They turned and saw Gunter coming down from the air and landing in front of them.

"I'm glad that I found you" he said. "How were your holidays?"

"Good" Star and Jonagold answered.

"Mine too" Gunter told. "My great-uncle returned to Griffinstone and had told me about his journeys. I think my parents are tempted to take a little vacation too. But I can't blame them, after what happened before the winter break started."

"What happen’d?" Jonagold asked.

"Apparently, a prisoner who was already in the dungeons before my parents got married, escaped" Gunter told.

"To be imprisoned in the dungeons for so long it is because he must have done something very bad" Star noted.

"As far as I know, he was a former captain who tried to dethrone my great-uncle when he was still the regent king and steal the Idol of Boreas along with a monster who was an old enemy of my kind" Gunter said. "Apparently, your uncle, Star, helped stop them."

"My uncle Shining Armor?" Star asked.

"Thanks to his actions, the friendship between griffons and ponies was strengthened" continued Gunter.

"He never told me about that" Star said.

"But that griffon manag’d tah escape?" Jonagold asked. "And I thought that your safety was pretty tight."

"And it is" Gunter replied. "But he had some help from one of the villains of the Lord of Chaos."

That left his two friends, mainly Star, shocked.

"Seriously?!" they asked.

"Yes, I think his name is Rothbart" Gunter said.

"I've heard of him" Star said. "It's an earth pony who managed to acquire magic and that is proficient with self-transfiguration."

"But why would a villain of tha Lord of Chaos help that griffon escape?" Jonagold asked. "Ah don’t thinkit was because of the kindness of his heart. It's weird."

That was a good question.

"Hi, guys" Bramble’s shy voice greeted them, as the young deer joined the group. "Did you have good holidays?"

"Yes, we had" Jonagold answered. "Gunter was talkin’ ‘bout his jest now."

"How about you, Bramble?" Star asked.

"It went well" he replied. "We got a lot of antler powder for when spring start. The only problem was the snow. I think it snowed more this year in Thicket."

"It's not that bad" Jonagold commented, looking around. "We've seen places in Equestria that are completely buri’d on snow at this time of tha year."

"Believe me, there was a bigger snow layer a few days ago" Bramble ensured.

"Hey, why don't we put our stuff in our rooms and then we go for a walk at Leafgreen?" Star asked.

The other three agreed and so they put their things in their respective rooms and went to Leafgreen, getting amazed with what they found. The small village, being covered with snow, looked like a snow globe. To take refuge from the cold of the snow, the four friends headed to a small inn that was crowded with ponies and deers. When they entered, the deers who were there, including the maid, who was behind the counter, made a bow to Bramble.

"Wow, it seems ya can't go anywhere here without havin’ all of yer kingdom bowing" Jonagold commented.

"My father is not only the King of Thicket, but is also the main authority of the Enchanted Forest" Bramble said. "I think it causes others to be very reverent."

"I can relate with that" said Star. "My mom is the Princess of the Light Kingdom and the bearer of the original star seed. She is also quite revered wherever she goes and the same happens to me, even if I am a Jinchuriki."

Star and his friends sat at a table and asked an apple juice to each one of them and, while they were drinking, Jonagold looked over Star’s shoulder and then told him:

"Star, look."

The young alicorn turned and then saw him. Golden Paladin has just entered the inn and looking around. When the General of Peace found Star, he approached him and greeted:

"Hello, young colts."

"Hello, Golden" the colts greeted.

"You and Heartbeat have already returned from the mission that the Lord of Order gave you?" Star asked.

"Yes, we did" Golden Paladin replied. "Prince Star Knight, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk with you… in private."

Realizing that it had to do with his training, Star replied:

"Okay."

Turning to his friends, he said:

"I'll be right back, guys."

And Star got up and went with Golden Paladin to a secluded part of the inn and there the General said:

"Apparently, you completed the first part of your training."

"How do you know that?" Star asked, surprised.

"Believe me, young prince, I have several ways to get to know what I want" Golden Paladin replied. "Now, I wonder if you could do a demonstration."

Having said that, Golden Paladin invoked a water balloon that extended to Star. He then used his magic to get it and drive it to his hoof and made his magic start flowing within the balloon, starting to spin the water inside the balloon, and then used his other hoof to make the water spin in all directions until the balloon eventually popped. Acting quickly, Golden Paladin got the water with his magic and made it disappear.

"Impressive, Prince Star Knight" Golden Paladin said. "With one of the hooves, you spin the magic and with the other you apply it. Tell me, how did you think of something like that?"

"Well, the truth is I have to thank to aunt Rarity’s cat" Star said. “You see, at the Heart’s Warming Eve party at Golden Oak Library, I saw Opal playing with her ball, keeping knocking it back and forward, and I imagined if that ball was full of water and realized that the water would be moving back and forward too, in different directions. That’s when it came to me. My problema was that I was only making the water rotate, but only in one direction, but if it was to burst, I had to make the water rotate in a bunch of different directions until the balloon burst. When I figured that part out, the rest was easy.”

Golden Paladin sketched a smile, as it seemed that Star was advancing pretty well in his trainings.

“Very well, young prince, you have successfully completed the first step” the General of Peace said.

"So what do I do now?" Star asked.

"Maybe it's best we leave it for tomorrow" Golden Paladin said. "There's still things I need to do and you have to rest for the school day tomorrow."

"Okay…" Star replied, a little disappointed.

"Don't be like that, Prince Star Knight" Golden Paladin said. "You're doing pretty well. But we have to take it slowly. You don't want to rush things, otherwise the result may not be what you want."

And with these words, Golden Paladin headed for the exit of the inn and left. Then Star headed to the edge of his friends, following Golden Paladin’s advice.

The next day, the classes at the academy resumed. That day, Star Knight took lessons from Introduction to Practical Magic, where Professor Knotgrass began to explain how to do the magical manipulation. Although Star have already mastered the basics, he had to listen the class as if he don't know. The truth was even that bored him, but, even so, he could learn more about the subject more fully.

Before long, the time of his class with Golden Paladin arrived. Arriving at the place where they train, Star found Golden Paladin waiting for him.

"Prince Star Knight, I’m glad you're here" he said. "How did the return to school went after the holidays?"

"It was okay" Star replied. "So, Golden, you know what will be my next step to master this spell?"

"I think so" Golden Paladin answered. "Catch it."

And, using his magic, Golden Paladin launched a rubber ball Star caught with his own magic.

“A rubber ball?” Star asked.

“I want to see if you can pop that one” Golden Paladin said. “And let me tell you that is more complicated than a water balloon.”

Star turned to the rubber ball and started doing the same thing he did with the water balloon, however, when it came the time to blow, the ball despite having stretched a little, did not popped. The young alicorn realized that was really hard.

"I think you understand what will be the next step" Golden Paladin said. "Now that we have a rotation, the next step is force. That object is solid, there is no water inside and is far more difficult to rotate your magic in there."

“Yes, I can see that” Star agreed.

“Well, it’s up to you to figure that out” Golden Paladin said.

Star looked at the rubber ball. That step would be more complicated than the previous one, since it involved to focus a lot of energy. But he would not be intimidated. During the next few minutes, he tried to pop the rubber ball using the same technique, but trying to increase the intensity of his magic. However, the result was always the same. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pop the rubber ball.

Then something weird started happening. Star's ability to control the flow of his own magic began to decrease, while fatigue was starting to invade his body. Even his hooves began shaking and minor burns appeared on them. When the tingling started to be too unbearable, Star dropped on his own hooves, leaving the rubber ball fall to the ground. He looked at his front hooves and saw them trembling and full of burns because he used them to transmit too much magic to the rubber ball. That was the moment he saw the burns healing quickly to keep a lighter shade and, finally, disappeared.

"Is it everything okay, Prince Star Knight?" Golden Paladin asked, approaching. "It seems you've already exhausted your energy for the day. Maybe it's for the best if we continued this tomorrow. And, please, try not to train without being in these classes. At this stage, we have to be very patient."

"Golden Paladin, can I ask you something?" Star asked. "You see, I had burns because of the training, but they simply healed just like that. How is that possible?"

Golden Paladin took a while to respond, but then he said:

"I think you know the answer to that, don’t you?"

Looking to one of his hooves, Star knew what Golden Paladin meant and then said:

"It’s Nine-tails."

"Those who have the Nine-Tails inside have an ability to regenerate themselves and recover faster than regular ponies" Golden Paladin said. "It was the same with Heartbeat, although they are rare occasions where she got hurt."

"Are all the Jinchuriki like this?" Star Knight asked.

"Not exactly" Golden Paladin replied. "Every Jinchuriki acquires a different capability from their respective Tailed Beasts. For example, Chief Strongpaw, being the One Tail’s Jinchūriki, can control sand. But I believe that, today, we will stay at here. After all, you're already quite tired because of the practice today and you still have school tomorrow."

And so Star returned to the Academy.

During the next few days, Star continued to train. Although the snow have been replaced by heavy rains, that didn't stop him, what forced Golden Paladin to create a barrier around the area where they were so the young prince could train.

After another failed attempts, Star began to feel the effects of the constant use of his magic through his hooves, feeling the trembling. Looking at his hooves, Star realized he needed more force to pop the rubber ball, as the force that he was using was not enough. But what if what he had was not enough?

Suddenly, a great eagerness to surpass himself invaded him. Star picked up the ball and started to apply the maximum of magic he could. While he was applying magic, he struggled to make it rotate as fast as he could. It seemed that all these efforts would end up tiring him faster, but Star continued even so, without showing any signs of wanting to give up.

Giving it all he had, the young alicorn was able to feel the surface of the ball to stretch out terribly in its entire surface, but, in the end, only one hole was opened which quickly emptied the ball. Realizing what he did, a smile appeared on Sta’s face because, after so many attempts,he managed to break the ball, although his purpose was to pop it.

“Well, well, it seems you have made progress” Golden Paladin observed, approaching.

“Yes, but I only made a tiny hole” Star said. “It seems bursting the ball requires more force than the one that I am already using.”

“Don’t worry with that” Golden Paladin said. “You have already come this far and, just for that, you should be happy.”

"If only I knew what I'm doing wrong" Star said. "I'm using all my power, but, even so, it's not enough."

Golden Paladin made a thoughtful air and then said:

"I think when you look at a blank page, it is quite difficult to focus on one point."

Hearing him say that, Star got an idea. He wondered if he wasn't able to do it because he wasn't concentrating properly its magic. Of course he was using a lot of magic, but that's not worth anything if he didn't focus it properly.

At the following trainings, Star already knew more or less what to do, but, even so, the onlt thing he could cause were holes in the rubber balls that Golden Paladin had brought. At one of those attempts, Star concentrated as hard as he could, looking for focus all the magic that he loosened on his hoof in a single point.

Finally, he did feel that he had been able to feel: the magic was spinning and heading to one place. It was then that he began to apply the magic on the ball to make it rotate inside and it simply burst after its surface had stretched horribly. However, the force that was used was such that pushed him back. Fortunately, Golden Paladin managed to stop him, using his strength.

The General, looking at Star’s burned hoof, realized the potential he had was still greater than what he had expected. Even without using the Nine-Tails’s power, he could release a huge amount of force able to throw him back and still burn his hoof more than he would expect.

Star, recovering, sketched a smile. He had managed to finalize that complicated step.

The young Prince returned to his room, where Bramble was lying on his bed reading a book. Seeing his friend getting in looking immensely tired, he said:

"It seems that the training was quite hard."

"Yes" Star replied, sitting behind his desk and bringing up a few books, his quill and ink. "The only thing I want to do now is finish the homework for Math and Science and Magic."

"Are you sure you want to do that today?" Bramble asked. "You're too tired. Besides, tomorrow is the weekend."

"Don't worry, Bramble. I just want to finish the work that I have pending so I can devote my time to training this weekend."

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"It has to be this way" Star said. "I need to develop this spell."

"I know that, but, Star, you need some rest" Bramble said.

The young alicorn sighed. He knew that Bramble was right and that he was truly worried about him.

"So I'm just doing the Math exercises" he said. "These are easy. It's better to do the Science and Magic work when I am well rested or I will risk to suffer a detention from Professor Alchemy."

Bramble smiled, knowing that Star wouldn't overwhelm himself like that.

The next day, Star made the homework for Professor Alchemy after breakfast and then headed to the training place, where Golden Paladin was waiting.

"Today you came later, young prince" Golden Paladin noted.

"Sorry, Golden, but I had to finish my homework before" Star said. "I would have done it yesterday, but Bramble convinced me to rest instead."

"It was a wise decision" Golden Paladin said. "After the training you had yesterday, resting was obligatory, especially taking into account that we may be entering the final stages of the training for your new spell."

"Yes, I am almost there" Star said. "So what do I need more?"

“Well, let me see” Golden Paladin said. “The first step was rotation and the second one was power. I think that now, in order to accomplish the spell that you envisioned, you’ll need to use all the other steps you already learned and maintain it.”

“You mean maintaining the rotation and the power?” Star asked.

“Precisely” disse Golden Paladin. “Applying the other steps, you will create a little typhoon that you’ll need to contain, otherwise… Well, you saw what happened yesterday after you finished the second step.”

"And how do I do that?" Star asked.

"With this" Golden Paladin replied, invoking a small balloon that was filled up to form a ball shape which occupied a hoof and throwing it to Star who got him with his magic.

"I get it" Star said. "This time, rather than trying to pop the balloon, you want me to do the opposite, right?"

Golden Paladin nodded and continued:

"Of course I have more balloons if your first attempt is not as expected."

And he invoked a sack where there were more balloons.

Star began training this ultimate step. Using the previous two ones, he began to concentrate the magic he would need and then applied it in the balloon, while made it rotate. However, when he tried to contain the small typhoon that he created, Star noticed right away that it was extremely difficult to do so, as the balloon popped and released all the magic that was inside.

Star looked at his hooves that were shaking after having tried to contain all that magic. It would take a great control over his power to be able to contain that little typhoon that existed inside the balloon. That step was on a completely different level from the other two. But Star’s determination led him to not want to give up and continued to pick up balloon after balloon to continue his training, although each attempt ended in failure.

This step was so complicated that it was taking time to Star to be able to master it, more than the other two. But he would not give up. He was close to master his new spell that would not only provide him with a greater ability to control Nine-Tails’ power, but also would serve as a way to defend himself from the villains of the Lord of Chaos.

After several days trying, Star still didn't make it. Having given up the balloons, Star started practicing in the surrounding trees, but still the result was the same. Spiral marks had been marked at the places of the trees that Star had hit, but the expected power level was still below of what was expected.

Having lost the breath after training, Star let himself fall on the floor to rest, while reflecting on what I could be doing wrong. It was obvious that the reason for not being to get it was because he couldn't contain the typhoon and, therefore, the result was not as potent as it should be, since the energy used cleared quickly. Keep the rotation during the containment was an easy thing to do, but containing the typhoon at its maximum strength made the task almost impossible. If only there was a way to contain all the energy without worrying about maintaining the force...

Then an idea popped into Star’s head. The solution was so obvious. He only had to share the tasks and there was only one way to do it.

Golden was watching Star, sitting on the branch of a tree. He thought the effort that the young prince was doing was admirable, but he was afraid he wouldn't be able to master the spell. If he couldn't accomplish it soon, then the General of Peace would have no choice but to put the spell aside and move forward with the training to control Nine-Tails’ power.

Suddenly he saw something approaching that was purple smoke, the same smoke Purple Smoke used. It was a message from him. Carrying his horn with magic, Golden made the smoke to approach and engage with his own aura, in order to receive the message. He saw then images of Changelings crossing Thicket, having been successful to get past the deer sentries. But there was something that worried him. Among the Changelings that were invading the Enchanted Forest, there were three that stood out: the three mutant Changelings. That was bad. If they were there to invade the Enchanted Forest with those numbers, that meant that they should be after Prince Star Knight.

Releasing the General of Talent’s purple smoke, he said to Star while climbing down the tree:

"Well done, young Prince, I think it's better to stay here."

"What?!" he asked, sitting. "But I've only just begun."

"Unfortunately, I need to do something urgently" Golden Paladin said. "The training is suspended for now. Now return to the academy."

"But I could continue my training and..." Star started.

"You better get some rest for now" Golden Paladin said. "We can resume practice tomorrow."

And, having said that, he teleported himself. Despite his first intention have been return to the academy, something in Star prevented him to obey Golden Paladin. He couldn't return to the academy, not when he was about to master his new spell.

In a part of Thicket, a bunch of Changelings flew, led by the three mutants.

"The Three Great Fairies Academy is a little more forward" Scorpio said.

"We have to be careful" Obsidia said. "In addition to the Generals, getting the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails can be quite tricky."

"You worry too much, sister" Crush said. "The only thing we have to do is smash everything and everypony that appears in front of us."

And, to make his point clear, Crush went against a tree and, using his beetle horn, he went through it, causing it to fall.

"Show-off" said Scorpio.

It was then that Obsidia said:

"Stop!"

The other did so and Obsidia said:

"We've got company."

"It seems that one of you has a greater perception than the others" a voice said.

And Golden Paladin came up behind one of the trees.

"Finally Chrisalis’ mutants show their faces" Golden Paladin said.

"And you must be the General of Peace" Scorpio said. "What an honor."

"Oh, believe me, I'm not the only one who wants to meet you" Golden Paladin assured.

And Melody and Purple Smoke appeared alongside Golden Paladin. Seeing three Generals before them made the normal Changelings get a little bit intimidated, but the mutants don't let themselves be intimidated.

"You're not going to approach the academy" Golden Paladin said.

"That's what we're going to see" Scorpio said.

And, without warning, Crush began to move in Golden Paladin’s direction, preparing his horn. Melody and Purple Smoke reacted by moving off their place, but Golden Paladin created a barrier to protect himself from Crush’s attack. However, when the mutant hit the barrier, Golden was able to detect the strength that he had used, realizing it was immense.

Melody and Purple Smoke were soon confronted by Scorpio and Obsidia respectively. Obsidia tried to attack Purple Smoke with her antennae, but he always dodged, although he noticed that the speed and precision of the attacks were quite superior to those of a normal Changeling. Meanwhile, Scorpio was trying to hurt Melody with his stinger that, as the General of Music could notice, was steeped in venom.

Golden Paladin continued to endure Crush’s attack as much as he could, but then he noticed that his barrier was starting to crack. If he didn't do anything, the mutant woul be able to pass his defense. So he did his barrier disappear with a burst of light that made Crush be thrown back. Because of that, he hit some Changelings that were there, having been knocked down with immense ease.

The other two generals were having some difficulty with the other two mutants, but then they realized what they had to do. Obsidia and Scorpio had approached each of them for a good reason. Using fast movements, Purple Smoke, after dodging an attack from Obsidia, turned into smoke and, quickly, placed himself between Melody and Scorpio, at the precise moment he was preparing to attack the General of Music.

Scorpio’s sting hit on one of the Purple Smoke’s forelegs by the time he returned to his corporeal form. However, it seemed that the poison was not working, since Purple Smoke was already used to the toxins of his smoke form. Carrying his horn with magic, he launched a magic beam against Scorpio that threw him against a tree with strength. In turn, Melody turned to Obsidia and released one of his supersonic screams. Due to her great hearing sensitivity, she was quickly subdued by Melody.

The Changelings that were there were went to aid their mutants siblings and some tried to attack the three Generals, but they quickly changed their mind, because of the intimidating look of them. The three mutants got up and Golden Paladin said, while Melody and Purple Smoke placed themselves at his side:

"It's good that the three of you and the others leave this forest and tell your Queen to tell her master that he will not put his filthy hands on Prince Star Knight. Not as long as I and my brothers and sisters we're protecting him."

"You cannot protect him eternally" Scorpio said. "You're going to regret it because you are underestimating the power of the Lord of Chaos."

And, having said this, he, his fellow mutants and the other Changelings moved away.

"Purple Smoke, ensure that they leave the Enchanted Forest" Golden Paladin said. "Make sure that none of them remains in this realm."

"Whatever you say, boss" Purple Smoke replied, adopting his smoke form and following the path that the Changelings used.

"Melody, returns to the academy and let the headmistresses to know that the danger has passed... for now" Golden Paladin said.

"Of course, Golden" she replied. "And what about you?"

"I have one thing to do" he replied.

Star Knight remained at the place of training, perfecting his spell. At that point, he was lying on his back on the ground, after having given everything that he still had to continue his training. Around him, there were a lot of trees that had suffered from his training. However, despite the efforts exerted, Star sketched out a smile. He had finally made it.

"I see that you decided not to obey what I told you, young prince," Golden Paladin’s voice said.

That made Star rise up quickly and turn to him. He started to say, clumsily:

"Golden Paladin, I... I’m sorry, but... I couldn't resist. I was so close and I couldn't stop at that moment."

The General of Peace looked at the alicornio prince and told him:

"So don't keep me waiting. Show me what you've got."

That made Star smile and then he turned to a tree that was nearby. He focused and then charged his magic. With a small burst of magic, a clone of Star appeared at his side, which has heightened Golden Paladin’s curiosity. It was then that the clone started to accumulate the magic and rotate at the original’s hoof, who tried to contain the energy and gave it a sphere shape. After this, the clone just disappeared and then Star started running in the direction of his target, holding the sphere of spiraling magic with its hoof and, when arrived to the tree, he hit the sphere at its trunk and an explosion happened, taking a huge amount of dust.

When the dust had settled, Golden was able to see the result and got no words for what he saw. The tree had been completely torn down with the part that had entered into contact with the Star’s sphere completely undone and reduced to small wood chips.

"Amazing…" he said. "How did you manage to do it, Prince Star Knight?"

"Well, after all my failed attempts, I realized I couldn't contain my magic at the same time as the force" Star explained. "So I decided to use a clone."

"A clone to rotate and give force, while you contain" Golden Paladin concluded. "Pretty ingenious, young prince. I am speechless... and proud. Finally you managed to complete this difficult task which was to create this new spell."

"Thank you, Golden Paladin" Star thanked. "That means a lot to me. After all, if it weren't for your help, I don't think I have done this."

"I just gave you some training advice, nothing more" Golden Paladin replied. "Everything you did was for your merit, Prince Star Knight. By the way, what name will you give to your new spell?"

Star also wondered about it. What name would fit this new spell? Remembering the way the magic rotate strongly in a contained sphere, a perfect name arose in his mind.

"How about... Spell of the Spiraling Sphere?" he asked.

"It seems... well to me" Golden Paladin replied.

"Well, Golden, I'm quite glad I managed to finish my spell, but now I really need to go back to the academy" Star said. "I'm exhausted."

And, having said this, he began heading to the academy. Golden Paladin saw him walking away and a smile appeared on his face. Although Prince Star Knight didn't had a delicate control of his own magic yet, he was showing great potential and the fact that he has mastered that spell, meant that he was progressing enough. Therefore, Golden couldn't wait for the next phase of his training.

Author's Note

The spell that Star uses is based on Rasengan from the series Naruto, where I used its literal English name. I’m sorry if I took too much long to publish, but I had started school and I have had a lot to do. I will do my best so the next chapter doesn’t take too long to be published.

The Demon Fox Cloak, Part I

After a harsh Winter filled with heavy rain and cold to make freeze the bones, the time has come when the Spring came, bringing with it the heat, the cheerful colors and the cool breeze.

Star Knight, who never became interested in the change of seasons due to the fact that the Light Kingdom was not very affected by winter, was surprised how the transaction of Winter to Spring at the Enchanted Forest happened. He knew that in Canterlot ponies use magic and in Ponyville they clean the snow and clouds, but, in the Enchanted Forest, everything happened differently, but much more impressive.

On the first day of Spring, several fairies, including the headmistresses, flew over the Enchanted Forest, carrying bags full of pink powder they began pouring over the forest below them. It was then that the real show had started. The snow began to melt at an amazing speed, while fresh grass and fragrant colorful flowers appeared. Soon even the trees got themselves full of splendid green leaves and the dust that was hovering at the sky removed the heavy clouds to let the sun shine. Finally, the animals, with the arrival of Spring, began appearing, some coming out of hibernation.

But that wasn't the reason for Star liking spring. The truth is there were only a few weeks missing for his birthday that would happen on the day before the weekend. So, he would be able to pass it with his friends and family. According to a letter that his mother sent him, she and his father had some business to attend in Canterlot, so they said to him to come there and then they would return to the Light Kingdom to celebrate is anniversary. However, the truth was Twilight and Blue were organizing a surprise party in the gardens of the castle of Canterlot, being a suggestion coming from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

However, at the kingdom of Lord of chaos, Discordia, something was happening…

Seating on his throne, the Lord of Chaos had Adagio to her knees at the bottom of the staircase. Levitating above his open hand, the Lord of Chaos had the pieces of what appeared to be a red jewel. The pieces were enveloped by a shadowy glow and then they were put together to form an octagonal gem.

"Here it is…" the Lord of Chaos said, making the gem levitate to Adagio, who took it with her hooves. "Now, you will have your voice even stronger than before."

"Thank you, my Lord" Adagio thanked, bowing respectfully her head. "I promise I won't let you down."

"Your services have been very positive and that's why I am giving you back your voice" the Lord of Chaos said. "I hope you don't disappoint me."

"I promise" Adagio replied. "I will continue to do my work as I've done so far. And now that I've got my voice back, I will make the Generals shake, especially that damn Melody."

"And how are you going to do that?" a voice asked in a mocking tone. "Singing them a lullaby?"

Adagio turned and saw Ulysses approaching, smiling arrogantly to Adagio. She stood up and asked:

"What did you say?"

"I'm simply saying that they once defeated you" Ulysses remembered her cynically. "What would be different this time?"

"I don't know if you know this, but I've beaten and put under my control three Generals at once" Adagio, who was getting tired of Ulysses’ taunts, replied. "And one of them was the General of Peace, their leader."

"But it was told to me you had the help of your dear sisters" Ulysses continued, always cynically. "Will you be able to do it again this time?"

Adagio showed her teeth, trying to control the anger she was feeling on hearing Ulysses talking about her like that. When she was about to attack him, the Lord of Chaos said:

"No more fights. You must end with these petty conflicts. Don't you realize that we're trying to accomplish my greatest plan ever? If there are divisions among my villains, I'm sure my brother and his followers will take advantage of it."

After hearing those words, either Adagio and Ulysses remained silent.

"Now, I want you to think of a way to use the fact that today is Prince Star Knight's birthday to know how he is maturing as a Jinchuriki. Since Chrysalis’ mutants failed the task last time, we must ensure that the next attempt is more accurate."

"And maybe I can help you with that... my lord" a voice said, after listening the doors of the throne room opening up.

All of them looked to the entry and saw a ram getting in. He had a moderate cornflower blue fur, dark cobalt blue hooves and horns and still red eyes. He had a leash where there was a silver bell.

"Grogar" the Lord of Chaos said, seeing him approaching. "But what a nice surprise. I thought that you were in another place to spread my chaos."

"My lord, when I heard you were trying to achieve the biggest plan you've ever invented, I just couldn't ignore" Grogar said, doing a brief bow to the Lord of Chaos. "After all, to do something like that, you're going to need the help of anyone you can really trust. And I guarantee that these idiots will only be a hindrance."

"Hey!" Ulysses and Adagio exclaimed at the same time.

"You mean you have a plan for what I want?" the Lord of Chaos asked.

"A plan that is virtually foolproof" Grogar answered. "In fact, I might add that my plan is so great that, to do so, a General will help me."

"Don't tell me" the Lord of Chaos, a little interested. "And how are you going to do such a feat?"

"With this" Grogar said, erecting one of his hooves and making a small bottle to appear where inside there was a kind of shiny purplish liquid.

Watching it, the Lord of Chaos realized what Grogar’s plan was immediately and gave one of his evil laughter.

In Canterlot, preparations were being made for Star's birthday party. The area of the garden where the party would be hosted was already decorated with party flags and it even had piñatas and other games, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. She had brought also the birthday cake that the Cakes did and Applejack brought some of the catering, being apple-based food. Twilight oversaw everything, with Blue as her assistant, as both wanted that party to be perfect, but Twilight was the most determined to do so.

"The presents go that way" she said, while some guests arrived.

Among the guests, apart from Twilight, Blue and the twins, included Twilight's friends and their respective families, including Cherry Blossom, Big Apple McIntosh and Flower, Twilight and Blue’s parents, Celestia, Luna, Ingrid and Freeze Burn, as well as the daughter of the latters, Snowflake (who had inherited her father's coat and her mother's eyes, having a mane with light shades of white and blue, beyond which she was an alicorn), who was the same age as the twins. Shining Armor and Cadance also came, along with their children, Gleaming Shield (that got her Cutie Mark, which was a crystal snowflake) and Topaz Blade. Twilight’s uncle and grandmother, Shooting Star and Starlight Sparkle, were also invited, but, unfortunately, they were too far away to attend, and the same was to Dahlia, Blue's sister, and her family.

"I just hope that everything is ready for when Star and his friends arrive from the academy" Twilight confessed, a little nervous.

"Don't worry, Twily" Blue answered her, putting his hull over her shoulder. "Everything will be fine. You are giving all of you to make this party a success."

"I know, but I can't help it" she said. "After all, this is Star’s first anniversary since he learned the truth about Nine-Tails."

"Come on, little sis, you will see that everything will be okay" Shining said, approaching with Cadance.

"Yes, I'm sure Star will give more importance to your effort to organize this party" Cadace ensured.

"Thank you, guys" Twilight said. "Maybe you are right. Maybe I'm worrying for no reason."

"You wouldn't be our beloved Twilight if you didn’t worry" Cadance said.

"Besides, Golden Paladin and the others will be attentive in case some villain decides to show up" Blue said.

As Blue said, Golden Paladin was with the other generals (with the exception of Leaf Mane) at the entrance of the castle gardens.

"Remember, guys, any sign, even the less suspicious, of evil presence must be investigated" Golden said. "Given to the fact that Prince Star Knight will be out of his normal protection areas, it is likely that the Lord of Chaos will use this day to try to capture him."

The others waved and Heartbeat said:

"Very well, then I will investigate if there is an intruder in the party."

"Wait a minute, Heartbeat" Golden Paladin said, before the General of Affection could pull away. "You will patrol the limits, just like us."

"But why?!" Heartbeat asked, looking disappointed.

"First, because Princess Celestia and her sisters said they would be in charge of keeping an eye at the party, so we could concentrate on the outskirts" Golden Paladin replied. "Besides, I know you just wanted to go there because of the cake."

That made Melody drop a laugh, while Melody Mirror remained with his indifferent air. Purple Smoke whispered to Heartbeat:

"It looks like he got you."

"All right, Generals, let’s begin" Golden Paladin said.

And they started walking away. Before Melody could go on patrol, Golden Paladin asked her:

"Melody, do you know where Leaf Mane is?"

"At the usual place" she replied.

In the cave of Leaf Mane’s matrix, she was watering Arbor, the King of Trees who had turned himself into Leaf Mane’s mane, after the other was destroyed by Nine-Tails’ fire.

"Things have been pretty calm" she said. "I'm afraid that means the Lord of Chaos is planning something even eviler than the normal. But don't worry, I and the others will stop anything he tries to do."

The General of Nature sighed and then said:

"I wish you didn't have to endure the task of being my matrix, Arbor. It is a pity everything it’s like this, just when you started seeing the good in ponies. Well, I have to go. Today Prince Star Knight’s birthday. I can't even believe he has now eleven years. Time goes really on the run. Goodbye, Arbor."

And she started heading to the exit. After moving away a little from the cave, Leaf Mane heard a voice saying:

"About time you got out of there."

The General turned and saw Grogar coming out from behind a tree. He continued:

"It sucks that cave is protected against any villain. But I don't blame you, taking into account the mass release of villains of Tartarus."

Observing Grogar and seeing his red eyes, Leaf Mane realized who he was.

"You are a servant of the Lord of Chaos, aren't you?"

"You can call me Grogar" the evil ram answered.

But Leaf Mane wasted no time to talk to him. Accessing to her magic, she invoked roots that proceeded to Grogar. But he didn't seem bothered, actually he smiled. It was then that he, with his hoof, touched his bell. The sound, while reaching the roots, managed to petrify them and then disintegrate them, what shocked Leaf Mane.

"You and your fellow Generals are not the only ones with a strong magic, you know?" Grogar said.

Leaf Mane prepared to make another attack, but it was then she began to hear a voice singing. It was a beautiful but dark voice. The General of Nature knew that voice perfectly, as she, along with two others, Golden Paladin and Mirror Coat, was enslaved by it.

"No…" she said, trying to cover her ears, but it was too late.

An agonizing pain haunted her eardrums, what made her moan and fall on her knees.

"No…" Leaf Mane said, while dealing with the pain she was feeling.

And Adagio appeared, singing and with her pendant on a pendant, followed by Ulysses. She stopped and said:

"Hello, Leaf Mane. Did you miss me? We don’t see each other since I hypnotized you and the other two. Do you like my new voice. The Lord of Chaos was kind enough to increase its power for me."

When the pain in her eardrums disappeared, Leaf Mane tried to stand up to attack, but Ulysses was faster.

"Don't even think about it" he said.

Pointing one of his talons to Leaf Mane, he launched a lightning bolt that struck the General of Nature and made her stay at the place where she was, while causing pain to her.

"Come on, what are you waiting for?" Leaf Mane asked. "Take me prisoner."

"Do you think we've had all this work to find and overwhelm you just to make you a prisoner?" Grogar asked, approaching. "No, my dear Leaf Mane. We have other plans for you."

"What plans?" she asked.

"Nothing important" Grogar replied. "We just need to request your services."

That made Leaf Mane drop a laugh and ask:

"Do you really think I'm going to help you with anything? Not even if the Lord of Chaos started distributing sweets without poison to foals."

"Oh, but you're going to help us" Grogar assured. "In one way or another."

And Grogar invoked the same bottle that he had shown to the Lord of chaos. Seeing the bottle and its contents, Leaf Mane’s face was filled with fear.

"No…" she said. “No, no, no! Please, anything but that!"

But Grogar ignored her, keeping his evil smile. He opened the bottle and unleashed the energy which, conducted by the magic of the evil ram, headed to Leaf Mane, beginning to wrap her.

"No…" she said, while the wild energy wrap her. “No... NO!"

And her body absorbed the wild energy and shone with a black shine, making roots appear from the ground and involve Leaf Mane, forming some kind of a cocoon.

"I don't understand" Ulysses said, approaching Grogar. "Why did we have to turn the General of Nature? We couldn't have done this with another General who was stronger."

"Leaf Mane controls the very nature" Grogar said. "Imagine what she could do if she was evil. Without to mention that Leaf Mane is the only General who is not in Canterlot. In addition, make any other General beyond her would be a lot of work. For starters, Melody is immune to the Siren voice."

"At this moment" Adagio interrupted.

"Because of that, it would be far more difficult to subdue her and control her after" Grogar continued. "Heartbeat may be the most powerful between the Generals, but due to her magic being both good and evil, she is immune to the effects of the wild energy. Purple Smoke's metamorphic abilities make the effects of the wild energy unstable and Mirror Coat, Golden Paladin and Prince Blue Sword would give too much of a fight."

"With me here, that wouldn't be a problem" Ulysses said, making a small electric current pass through his body to prove his point.

"Don't get me wrong, but even with your muscles and your power over electricity, things could not run as we expected" Grogar said. "Believe me, my dear feathered friend, in a war against the most powerful entities, the first thing we have to consider is our possibilities and Leaf Mane is the best way."

Having said that, the roots receded and Leaf Mane appeared. She cas completely unrecognizable. Her beautiful mane full of fresh leaves had become disheveled and having moderate cyan and light brilliant turquoise as colors and his coat had turned gray ceriseish. Ivy run her neck and enveloped her body and her eyes, which before were like emeralds that radiated kindness had become violetish blue black with light brilliant harlequin pupils and transmitted pure evil. An evil smile on his face emerged.

"I present to you to the new and improved Leaf Mane" Grogar said before the astonished stare of Adagio and Ulysses.

In the gardens of the castle of Canterlot, the preparations were over when they heard steps. It could only be the birthday colt. Everypony hid and then Star appeared alongside Jonagold, Gunter and Bramble. It was then that everypony emerged from their hiding places and shouted:

"SURPRISE!"

Star was quite surprised when he saw everypony.

"But..." he began.

Twilight approached and told him, with Blue and the twins at her side:

"Congratulations, my dear."

She gave him a kiss on each cheek and Star asked, still surprised:

"You did all of this for me?"

"Yes" Twilight replied. "After all, it's not every day that you turn eleven, isn't it?"

"Your mother tried really hard to do this" Blue said.

"I just wanted, after all what you went through, for you to have the best birthday as possible" she said.

"Thanks, mom" Star said, smiling at her. "I loved it."

Twilight also smiled, struggling for her eyes not to be filled with tears of happiness.

Outside the party, Golden Paladin seemed a little nervous. Mirror Coat appeared beside him and told him:

"You look worried."

"Leaf Mane isn't here yet" Golden Paladin said. "It's not like her."

"You think something happened to her?" Mirror Coat asked.

"Wouldn't be the first time the Lord of Chaos tried to reach us directly" Golden Paladin said. "He already tried to destroy Leaf Mane’s matrix and he almost succeeded."

"Don't worry, Golden" Mirror Coat said. "She's all right. If something had happened, we would know. "

Despite the soothing words of Mirror Coat, Golden Paladin couldn't stop feeling anxious about the delay of Leaf Mane.

At the Star’s birthday party, he was now talking with Moonlight. She had revealed to him that she had got a few days ago her Cutie Mark, which was a full moon surrounded by musical notes, after discovering her talent for singing.

"I'm happy for you, Moonlight" Star said. "It's awesome that you got your Cutie Mark."

"Thank you, Star..." she said, blushing slightly. "And I know this is your special day, but..."

"Don't be ridiculous" the young prince said. "The happiness of my friends is the best gift I could get."

That made Moonlight smile openly.

At that time, Star’s three friends approached.

"Hey, Moonlight, I think you haven't met our friends from the academy" Jonagold told her. "This is Gunter and this is Bramble."

"Oh... hi” Moonlight greeted.

"It's a pleasure to meet you" Gunter said. "Jona and Star said that your mother is a pegasus and your father is a thestral. Apparently, they were not kidding."

"We've never met somepony like you" Bramble said. "I'm glad we have this opportunity now."

"Thank you..." thanked Moonlight, sheepishly, even more than Bramble usually is.

"Moonlight, I haven't seen your father" said Star. "He didn't come?"

"No, he stayed at home" she replied. "The day is too sunny for him. I think that even with his cloak he wouldn’t be able to protect himself from the sun."

"And you can be under the Sun?" Gunter asked who, realizing the indiscretion of his question, hastened to say. "Sorry."

"It's okay" Moonlight replied. "I can walk under the Sun, although it is at night that I feel really well."

"Moonlight is like the combination of the best qualities of her parents" Star said.

That comment made the pink colour on Moonlight’s face even more visible, which caught the attention of Star’s friends, and then said:

"Thank you, Star..."

Before some of Star’s friends could say something about Moonlight’s behavior, the ground suddenly began shaking.

"But, what is this?" Star asked.

Everypony had been caught by surprise with that earthquake. Cadance and Shining Armor were the first to react, creating a powerful barrier around the children, in order to protect them from any damage. Suddenly, roots sprouted from the ground and began to grow in height, surrounding the area where the party was going on. The growth of those roots was something completely unusual.

Outside, the generals saw it happen.

"What the..." Golden Paladin started.

"Roots?" Mirror Coat asked.

Purple Smoke, Melody and Heartbeat appeared.

“Golden, what's going on?” Purple Smoke asked.

"I don't know" he replied. "But it can't be good."

Realizing the roots were surrounding Prince Star Knight's birthday party, he said:

"The roots are surrounding the party. Heartbeat, try to get in quickly."

And so she did, but she soon return and say:

"I'm sorry, but they surrounded all the entries, including above, and they are able to resist any external force."

"This is bad" Golden Paladin said, worried about the safety of all those who were inside that dome of roots.

Inside, everypony were still caught by surprise with that. Twilight, her friends and the other alicorn princesses tried to cut the roots, but whenever they destroyed one, many others appeared to take its place.

"This is not normal magic" Celestia said. "I can feel some amount of dark power."

"I can feel it too" Luna said. "And it's pretty powerful."

"I'm sure this is some feat of one of the villains of the Lord of Chaos" Cadance said.

"Probably coming after Star" Twilight said, worried.

"But they will not succeed" Blue ensured.

He tried to use his magic to undo the magic that created those roots, but there was something that prevented him.

"I don't understand" he said. "I can't undo this."

"Maybe I can help" Ingrid said. "After all, I was the Snow Queen."

But when Ingrid tried to use her magic, it seemed that the roots knew what was going to happen. It was then that large plants came out of nowhere in the entire area, growing up above the ponies. At the top, a flower button appeared. Watching it, Blue recognized soon those plants.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed.

"What is it, Blue?" Shining Armor asked him.

"Those plants…" he said, noting that the buttons were about to open up. "Don't breathe the spores!"

The plants blossomed and the flowers released so many spores that spread quickly. Breathing them, the guests started to pass out one by one, including Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Ingrid, who were too late to avoid inhaling the spores. Fortunately, Twilight was able to create an emergency barrier that protected her, Blue and Shining. Using then the magic of her barrier, Twilight made all the spores disappear.

"But what was that?" Shining Armor asked.

"Sleeping spores" Blue replied. "I've seen Leaf Mane use them once."

"Wait, are you saying that Leaf Mane is responsible for this?" Shining Armor asked.

But before anything else could be said, Star approached:

"Mom! Dad! Uncle Shining Armor!"

"Star!" Twilight exclaimed, going to embrace her son. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Yes, I'm fine" said Star. "The truth is that spores didn’t affect me."

"What do you mean you were not affected?" Shining Armor asked.

"He was not affected, because they don't want him affected" Twilight realized.

"Well, well, well, looks like we have some more guests for this party" a voice said.

They turned and saw Grogar and Ulysses in another side. It was Grogar who had spoken and he continued:

"Oh, well, we just have to divide our attention as best as we can.

The Demon Fox Cloak, Part II

Grogar looked amused to Twilight, Blue, Shining and Star, while Ulysses remained slightly behind him. His presence was noted by Shining who said:

"Ulysses... I heard the Lord of Chaos helped you escape, but I never thought you'd really join him."

"What can I say?" he replied. "The Lord of Chaos knows how to please a griffon like me."

But Twilight, Blue and Star’s eyes were resting on Grogar, who had a rather sinister aura.

"Who are you?" Blue demanded to know.

"Come on, my dear General Prince, I think we can be more civilized than that" Grogar said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Grogar."

But when he stepped forward, Blue launched a lightning bolt that hit the ground in front of Grogar.

"Don't you dare come near my family!" he exclaimed.

"I'm afraid that can't happen" Grogar replied. "The Lord of Chaos is curious about the development of the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki and I certainly don't like to leave my master in expectation."

Twilight, who had acquired an ability to feel the power of other creatures just for being in their presence, was impressed with Grogar’s. Due to this, she told Star:

"Star, take cover."

"But, mom, I can..." he began.

"No, son" Twilight said, knowing what he was thinking. "They are here for you. We can't let them have what they want."

Despite not wanting to step back and see his parents and uncle fighting for him without help, Star obeyed his mother and retreated.

"If you want Star, you're going to have to go through us first" Twilight said.

"Face the powerful Princess of the Light Kingdom, the General of Balance and a captain of the Royal Guard..." Grogar said. “Interesting. As you wish. Ulysses, I'm going to give you the privilege to give the first blow."

"I don't need your permission to do that, Grogar" Ulysses replied gruffly.

And, using his wings to move quickly against Twilight, Blue and Shining, Ulysses lifted one of his talons and then downed it quickly. His opponents gave a jump back to dodge, with Twilight rising in the air, flapping her wings. Doing this, she noticed Ulysses’ talon and saw it being involved with electricity. Was it possible that...?

"It can't be!" she exclaimed. "Shining! Blue! Watch out!"

But it was too late. Shining Armor, taking advantage of Ulysses’ alleged failed blow, tried to retaliate, however, the griffon launched an intense electric blow that hit the white unicorn on the head and knocked him back. Blue was quick to create a shield that protected him from Ulysses’ attack, that pushed him back. Twilight landed on the edge of the two unicorns and asked:

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am" Blue answered, undoing his shield.

"Me too..." Shining said, rising up. "Tt seems Grogar isn't the only thing new around here. Ulysses didn't have that the last time I saw him."

"The Lord of Chaos must gave that to him" Twilight said. "It looks like things got more serious."

Outside the dome of roots, Mirror Coat analyzed the roots and then said:

"It can't be…"

"What is it, Mirror Coat?" Golden Paladin asked.

"I can feel Leaf Mane’s magic in these roots" he said.

"So it was she who summoned these roots" Purple Smoke concluded.

"But that's impossible" Melody said. "Leaf Mane would never use her magic for something so... evil."

"Not in her normal state" Mirror Coat refuted.

"What do you mean?" Golden Paladin asked.

"What he means is that her magic is soaked with wild energy" Heartbeat replied, touching on a root. "I can feel it clearly."

"Wild energy?" Golden Paladin repeated. "The same energy that created Ten-Tails? If that’s so, then we need to find Leaf Mane as soon as possible. If she's under the influence of wild energy, we have to fight her. Not only for the ones inside of this dome, but also for all the rest."

Twilight, Blue and Shining continued their fight against Ulysses and Grogar, but things seemed to be not going well for them. Ulysses had a fairly high combat ability, something he had acquired during his time as captain of the griffon guard, and when he combined it with his electrokinesis, he became a very dangerous opponent. Grogar, on his turn, remained in the background, only observing his partner dealing with their three opponents, but Twilight could feel that he possessed a strong dark magic, something that was confirmed by the ease that the ram could defend himself from attacks with his bell.

Star also watched everything and his heart beat quickly of excitement and nervousness. He feared that, if things continue like that, his parents and uncle would be defeated. However, he couldn't help feeling excitement, noting Ulysses and Grogar’s strength. They made his desire to enter the fight start throbbing, however Star was able to control himself, striving to obey the orders his mother gave to him.

After an attack that weakened Twilight, Blue and Shining, leaving them breathless, Ulysses retreated to the edge of Grogar and told him, gasping slightly:

"What are you doing, Grogar? You should be helping me. If you fought more, probably we would have won this fight."

"But I thought you could deal quite well with them" the ram replied cynically. "Besides, I know that Prince Shining Armor is the reason for you being in a cell for years."

"Don't remind me of that" Ulysses said. "I will have my revenge from him. And there is no better revenge than liquidate his sister and his best friend in front of him!"

"And there you have it" Grogar said. "They're all yours."

Motivated by the idea of getting his revenge, Ulysses was full of electricity that he launched against his opponents. Twilight, Blue and Shining tried to dodge, but their movement had worn out. They were hit and groaned in pain, while falling on the floor, shaking.

"Mom! Dad! Uncle Shining Armor!" Star called.

He saw Ulysses approaching them, laughing maliciously, while he stood one of the talons and made an electric current pass between the claws. The three ponies tried to get up, but they were still suffering from the last attack. Star, seeing that his parents and uncle were in danger, he realized he couldn't be just standing there doing nothing.

The griffon came to the edge of the three fallen ponies and said:

"I guess this is your end."

But before he could do anything, Star flew at high speed and tackled on Ulysses, shooting him back. Ulysses managed to stay on his feet and said:

"What?!"

Star put himself in front of his parents and uncle, determined to protect them.

"Star, what are you doing?!" Twilight asked.

"Get out of here!" Blue exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that" he replied, looking always to the two villains. "I can't get away and leave you to sacrifice yourselves for me, not when I have the strength to protect you."

"What a stupid kid" Ulysses said, addressing then to the young alicorn prince. "Do you really think you can defeat me, kid?"

"Honestly, I don't know if I can or not" Star replied. "But that won't stop me from trying."

What made Ulysses cut loose a laugh and say:

"I can see stupidity is hereditary. Very well, if that's what you want, then I will be who will hand you your last birthday present."

"Careful, Ulysses!" Grogar warned, adopting a more serious tone. "The Lord of Chaos needs the boy alive. Furthermore, I suggest you to not underestimate him. He still is a very dangerous Jinchuriki."

"I don't need your warnings, Grogar" Ulysses replied, passing an electrical current through his body. "I can perfectly deal with a kid who is barely eleven-years-old."

Grogar said nothing. He knew Ulysses didn't know the importance that was leaving the Jinchuriki alive until the extraction time, but he didn’t intervene. That was the perfect opportunity to test Prince Star Knight’s capabilities. He just had to do one thing first and so he closed his eyes.

"No, Star..." Twilight said, trying to get up.

It was then that roots arose on the floor and made a kind of cage to Twilight, Blue and Shining.

"What?!" Twilight asked, rising up. "No!"

"They arrested us!" Blue said.

"These roots are just like the ones that are surrounding this place" Grogar told them. "So, they are immune to your magic. Why don’t you relax and enjoy the show?"

The three ponies wanted to do something, but Grogar was right. They couldn't do anything inside the cage made of roots.

Star focused, he would show his power to Ulysses and prove that he was more than a simple vessel to a monster. Accessing his magic, he created a clone.

"Do you think that quantity will allow you to beat me?" Ulysses asked, in a mocking tone.

And he started laughing. Focusing, Star began to prepare the Spell of the Spiraling Sphere and its appearance surprised those who were watching, especially Twilight. Once the spell was ready, Star’s clone disappeared and he started moving quickly against Ulysses, using his wings.

"But what is that?!" the griffon asked, while an electric current passed through his body to defend against Star’s attack.

However, when Star came to the edge of Ulysses and hit him with the spiraling sphere of concentrated power on his stomach, the griffon was very shocked to realize that his electric defense wasn't working.

"What?!" he asked.

And the strength of the attack made Ulysses being thrown back, while twirled in the same direction than the spiraling sphere. He went so low by Grogar who seemed not to have reacted, and hit the wall of roots with a bang. Everypony was speechless for what they just saw.

"It can't be..." Twilight said.

"Amazing…" Blue exclaimed.

"Surreal..." Shining added.

"Impressive, young prince" Grogar said, smiling slightly. "I see that you have been making progress in your training with Golden Paladin."

Recovering from the attack that Star afflicted on him, Ulysses approached Grogar slowly. It seemed that his movements had been severely affected and a burn mark could be seen where Star hit the griffon.

"Your brat..." Ulysses said, starting to lose completely. "You're going to pay!"

And, with this cry, the griffon began flying towards Star quickly while he was quite taken by surprise with that sudden attack.

Outside, in the periphery of the dome, Adagio was with Leaf Mane. Using a form of song with infrasonic sounds through her pending, Adagio could keep Leaf Mane under her control without really singing. Via Grogar’s mental link, she had managed to make Leaf Mane perform everything what had happened there, including the root cage that held Twilight, Blue and Shining.

"Everything seems to be going according to plan" Adagio said, satisfied.

"That's what we're going to see" a voice said.

The Siren turned and faced the other Generals, who had found them.

"So you're the one who's behind this, Adagio" Golden Paladin said.

"As much as it pains me to admit, I fear that this plan is not mine" she replied. "However, I'm having fun."

Melody noticed her pendant and said to her General siblings:

"It seems that she has regained her powers."

"Don't worry, sis" Purple Smoke said. "Without the other two, Adagio has no chance against us."

"I wouldn't be so sure" Mirror Coat refuted, analyzing Adagio’s pending. "It seems that pending has more power than before."

"Well observed, General of Knowledge" Adagio said. "In fact, the Lord of Chaos was pretty generous for having increased my power. And now, in the same way that Medusa has no need of her sisters, I also don't need mine any more."

Golden Paladin mused quietly on what step they would have to give. They had to be extra careful because Adagio had Leaf Mane, whose magic was know more dangerous than before, under her control. Not only she could use her as a way to prevent them from attacking, but she could also use her great power against them.

"First, we must free Leaf Mane from Adagio and there is only one way to do that" he said to the others. "Melody, you gotta beat Adagio in a musical battle. The rest of you must help me keep Leaf Mane distracted. Once Adagio is defeated, we can deal with Leaf Mane."

The others waved and so Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat, Purple Smoke and Heartbeat advanced to face Leaf Mane. Adagio tried to use her voice to attack them, but Melody placed in front of them.

"No, my dear. I'm your adversary today."

"As you wish" she replied. "It was because of you that I was sent to Tartarus during all those centuries and I will make sure I don't put in my way anymore."

Things for Star were not running fairly well. After that attack with his Spell of the Spiraling Sphere, he had annoyed Ulysses in such a way that he was attacking with everything he had. The fight, that was being aerial, involved Ulysses attacking Star who couldn’t do more than dodge or defending, counterattacking occasionally. Then, in a sudden movement, in midair, Ulysses managed to grab and subdue Star.

"Star!" Twilight exclaimed, full of concern and with a heavy heart.

"Do you really think a brat like you would be able to defeat me?" Ulysses asked, while electricity ran through his body. "You're going to pay for your arrogance. But before that, I think I'll make you see me to end those down there."

That made Star be petrified. He was threatening his family and friends.

"The question is, for whom I should start?" Ulysses asked, looking for the three ponies trapped in the cage of roots and to the ponies that were under the effect of the sleeping spores. "Maybe one of your friends or one of those hideous foals. I know! And if I started by that ridiculous mare you call mommy?"

It was almost as if it was automatic. Hearing Ulysses threatening and insulting his mother, an immense anger took control over Star, something he hasn't felt in a long time. That's when a red energy began to envelop him, while his teeth turned into fans, whisker marks appeared on his face appeared, along with claws on his hooves.

"Wait, is that..." Blue started, seeing what was happening with his son.

"Oh no, it's the energy of the Nine-Tails!" Twilight said.

"I see" Grogar said. "So that is the energy of a Tailed Beast."

Although surprised by it and the way the energy almost burned just by touching it, Ulysses was not intimidating. He smiled and said:

"Is this what the Lord of Chaos meant? It doesn't look a great deal. But just in case, I'll take care of you first."

And, by lifting one of the talons and filling it with electricity, Ulysses touched Star and used the full charge on him. The young prince started moaning in pain.

"NO, STAR!" Twilight yelled.

She tried to get out of the cage, tackling against the roots, but they were so strong that shot her against the ground.

"Twilight!" Blue and Shining exclaimed, going to see if she was okay.

But Twilight didn't care about her condition, but with Star’s. She saw the red energy dissipating and her son standing still.

"Ulysses, what did I tell you?!" Grogar asked.

"He's still alive, don’t worry" Ulysses replied. "It seems we can rule out the Nine-Tails from the list of Tailed Beasts yet to catch, right?"

And he gave an evil laugh.

Suddenly, something happened. Star suddenly grabbed Ulysses’s neck with one of his clawed hooves and squeezed hard. Feeling suffocating, the griffon reacted immediately and freed himself, pulled then away from Star. The red energy was back and with more intensity. The young prince fell from the air, but managed to land on his hooves without problems. Ulysses also landed at some distance and was watching him. It was then that a terrifying vision happened.

The red energy Star freed, for a moment, seemed that formed a kind of figure and the griffon was amazed to see that it was just like a giant fox with nine tails. The wounds that he had afflicted to Star also began to heal at an abysmal pace. Star lifted his head and then looked at Ulysses with red eyes that caused chills.

"What's going on?" Shining asked.

"The power of Nine-Tails is taking over Star" Blue said.

Twilight didn't say anything, simply observing her child and feeling powerless to help him.

Inside Star’s mind, right in the place where Nine-Tails was sealed, Star was laying seemly unconscious, floating on the red water that filled the floor of that room. On the other side of the bars that arrested Nine-tails, he looked at his fallen Jinchuriki.

“Your runt” he said. “You really are weak.”

And so he laughed and continued:

"You better be grateful to me and to your beloved Lord of Order, who sent Golden Paladin to seal me inside of a twerp like you."

At the real world, the red energy began to change shape, what caught everyone's attention. The energy began to become denser and adopt form. It had a bubbling look and involved all Star’s body, retaining at the base of the tail. Everyone watched in silence what was happening. Ulysses had the imprudence to approach and then said:

"But what the hell..."

With an amazing speed, Star punched Ulysses who was thrown away. Star then looked at himself and become horrified with the dense energy covering him, while Griffin wriggled in pain on the floor. The young Prince began to feel an agonizing pain, something he had never felt, while energy covered him completely, and let out a loud roar.

"What's happening?" Shining asked with a shocked air, looking at his nephew.

"He's in pain…" Blue said, horrified. "My son ..."

Twilight was still saying nothing, simply looking at Star.

Star then put himself in an attack position, while the red energy covered his tail and also formed around the ears what appeared to be fox ears. After that, he roared to Ulysses, who was standing up, like a ferocious animal. With a movement of one of his front hooves, Star released a shock wave so strong that almost overthrew Ulysses. This distracted him enough to allow the alicorn prince to approach quickly and try to attack Ulysses. Thanks to his speed, the griffon was able to dodge, but Star’s claws emerged suddenly, what made Ulysses to use his wings to get away from him as faster as he could.

Grogar watched everything with great care, since, according to what they knew, Star had never gotten to that level.

Ulysses remained where he was. He watched Star with a stunned look. He had never seen anything like that before. It wasn't just the movements, that red aura seemed to have a life of its own. But he wouldn’t get back down, not now. And he started moving as fast as he could and Star did the same. Ulysses released several electric attacks, but Star dodged from them all.

When one of his attacks was successful, Ulysses saw that he didn’t even make him a scratch, seeming that the aura was protecting him. However, as long as he kept the distance, he would be fine. But that idea was forgotten when Star pointed one of his hooves at him and a clawed hand made of red energy emerged from it and addressed quickly against the griffon.

Ulysses took flight, and started to dodge it, until it returned to where it came from. Star took a big jump and then punched in the air, which launched a fist just like the hand before , that hit Ulysses and threw him against the roots. The griffon fell on the floor and, while he was getting up, Grogar approached and said:

"That's enough."

"What?" Ulysses asked.

"We have already collected the data we need" Grogar said. "Our mission is completed."

"Hey, you may be in charge of this mission, but I'm not going to walk away from a fight just because you're the boss" Ulysses replied.

"You're getting exhausted" Grogar argued. "At this point, Prince Star Knight is more powerful due to the power of the Nine-Tails. Do you really want to continue with this fight until he's done with you? Moreover, the Generals found Adagio and it’s only a matter of time for us to lose control over Leaf Mane."

Despite not wanting to flee from fighting, Ulysses realized that there was no other way and consented with the head. The two were surrounded by darkness and disappeared.

"They are gone" Shining said.

"Yes, but we still have a problem" Blue noted.

And that problem was Star, who was still under the influence of the energy of Nine-Tails.

Outside, a musical battle between Melody and Adagio was happening, while the others were distracting Leaf Mane. The General of Music realized that Adagio was quite stronger, even more than before. Normally, she could beat her in a short time, especially her being a Siren without her sisters. However, it seemed that they had reached an impasse.

“I have to take care of Adagio as soon as possible" Melody said to herself.

"Are you tired, Melody?" Adagio asked cynically. "It's a shame. I thought you could give me more fight so I could shine even more. Well, it doesn't matter, it's time to end you..."

But before she could say anything else, she received a mental message from Grogar telling it was time to get out of there.

"Oh well, it seems that the show will have to be postponed for another time" Adagio said to Melody. "Bye-bye."

And she was surrounded by darkness and disappeared. Despite Melody being confused by the sudden departure of Adagio, she was very relieved because she didn't know how much longer she could stand fighting against her.

The others continued to fight Leaf Mane, who seemed determined not to give them time to catch their breath. Fortunately, they had Mirror Coat who used his defensive abilities to defend the most dangerous attacks of the General of Nature. After a particularly strong attack that was defended by Mirror Coat, the General of Knowledge began to show great signs of tiredness.

"I can't hold the pace much longer" he said. "We have to subdue her as soon as possible."

"I know, but it's not easy" Golden Paladin said. "At this point, Leaf Mane is fighting using the instinct, which makes her even more dangerous."

When the General of Nature prepared a new attack with roots, sonic waves hit her, leaving her disoriented. It had been Melody. Taking advantage of that moment, Golden Paladin summoned his gold chains he used to restrain Leaf Mane. However, she was trying to break free, using all her strength. Given to this, Purple Smoke released purple smoke against her and she, feeling the toxins, started getting weaker.

"Now, Heartbeat!" Golden Paladin exclaimed.

Using her speed, Heartbeat approached Leaf Mane and told her:

"Don't worry, sis, you're going to get back to your former self."

And then she touched her, starting to use her purifying magic. Feeling Heartbeat’s magic, Leaf Mane started moaning in pain and then the wild energy that she had absorbed started getting out of her, dissipating after, and when it did, Leaf Mane glowed with a green glow and returned to her true form. Regaining consciousness, she looked around and asked:

"What happened?"

"It seems the villains of the Lord of Chaos used wild energy on you to turn you into their slave” Mirror Coat answered.

"Yes, now I remember" Leaf Mane said.

"Now there's no time for talking, Leaf-Mane" Golden Paladin said. "You have to get rid of those roots quickly."

Leaf Mane used her power to remove the roots and the Generals went quickly to the place of Star's birthday party. They were shocked when they found almost everypony sleeping with Twilight, Blue and Shining prisoners of a cage made of roots and Star under the influence of the Nine-Tails’ energy.

"What the..." Golden started.

“Golden, please save my son!" Twilight pleaded.

Then, without wasting more time, he invoked a chain that launched against Star. Although the young prince gave some resistance, Golden made the chain wrap him and absorb the energy he was freeing, while Leaf Mane was undoing the cage. Soon the energy disappeared and Star returned to normal. Golden released him and the young prince fell on his knees. Twilight, when she was freed, went to his son, followed by Blue.

"Star, are you okay?" Twilight asked, while hugging him.

"Yes, I'm fine" Star replied, exhausted.

"Don't worry, champ" Blue said. "We are here with you."

When night fell, almost all the guests had already gone. Star was resting in his room at the Canterlot castle when the door opened and Golden entered and asked him:

"Are you okay, young prince?"

"Yes, I am" Star replied, sitting. "But I still can't stop thinking about what happened. Golden, this time it was worse than the last one. I mean, I was still in control, but…"

"Eventually, this would happen" Golden Paladin said. "I knew it was a matter of time for you to reach by the first phase of transformation."

"The first stage?" he repeated. "You mean there's more?"

"At this moment, you don't have to worry about that, young prince" Golden Paladin said. "It might be better to suspend our training for a few days. After all, it's not healthy to just work, right?"

Star nodded his head slightly, agreeing. Then they heard somepony knocking the door and Leaf Mane and Heartbeat entered.

"Hello, Your Highness" Leaf Mane said. "We are sorry for disturbing your rest, but..."

"But we haven’t given you gift yet, Star" Heartbeat said.

"You don't have to worry about that" Star said. "Seriously."

"But after what happened today, we think it's necessary" Leaf Mane said. "Mainly, because it was my fault."

"That wasn't your fault, Leaf-Mane" Star said.

"I know, but even so, I and Heartbeat were already thinking in giving you this gift" Leaf Mane said.

"You two?" Golden Paladin asked, surprised. "Heartbeat, I thought you didn't like to share the credit of a gift."

"Well, for this particular one, I had to make an exception" Heartbeat said.

"And we've talked with your parents, so it won't be a problem" Leaf Mane said.

"What?" Star asked.

Leaf Mane and Heartbeat exchanged a look and waved to each other. Then Leaf Mane used his magic to summon a few twigs and bits of tree trunk and then arrange them to form what looked like...

"A Timberwolf?" Golden Paladin asked, seeing the wolf made of wood appearing. "That's what you're going to give to our young Prince? I wonder if you forgot that Timberwolves are wild and dangerous."

"Not if I give my personal touch" Heartbeat said, by accessing her magic and casting a beam against the Timberwolf. "Now, it's like a pet."

"Wait, for me?" Star asked, surprised. "You're giving me a Timberwolf as a pet? Cool!"

"Are you sure about this?" Golden Paladin asked to Leaf Mane and Heartbeat.

"Just look for yourself" Leaf Mane answered, accessing to her magic.

The Timberwolf shone for a few moments and then it came to life. Unlike the others, it had white eyes. The Timberwolf looked around for a few moments and, when he saw Star, it simply jumped on him and began licking him affectionately. The young prince started laughing, while saying:

"Stop, that tickles!"

"Amazing…" Golden Paladin said. "I've never seen a Timberwolf acting this way before."

"Timberwolves are in part composed of wild magic, just like the one Grogar used on him" Leaf Mane explained. "That's why they're so... wild."

"But I get to use my magic in the same way I used to save Leaf Mane today, giving it life instead of wild energy" Heartbeat said. "Now, this Timberwolf is as loyal as a pet dog to Star.”

Star was so happy with his new pet that made Golden Paladin be convinced it wouldn't hurt to let him keep that Timberwolf.

"I think I'm going to call you... Timber" Star said to the Timberwolf. "I know it's not very original, but it's the only name I can think that fits you well."

Timber replied back licking the face of its owner affectionately. It seemed that he liked the name.

The Lord of Chaos was watching the scene, sitting on his throne and with Grogar, Ulysses and Adagio kneeling before him at the base of the staircase of his throne.

“For what you just told, Grogar, it seems our little prince is starting to evolve in his training, right?” the Lord of Chaos said.

“Yes, your lordship” Grogar answered. “Prince Star Knight had entered in the first phase of his transformation. Although it was unconsciously and he only acquired one tail, it was obvious he had a lot of power.”

“And now that he just did that, Golden Paladin will train him to control that power” the Lord of Chaos concluded. “If things get their way as they should, that brad should get a reasonable control in two or three years.”

“Sir, why don’t we capture him right away?” Ulysses answered. “With Prince Star Knight out of the way, capturing the other Jinchuriki would be a piece of cake.”

“Are you stupid?!” the Lord of Chaos asked him back, causing Ulysses to quiver a little. “And risking to overload Ten-Tails’ body?!”

“It was… just a suggestion” Ulysses said. “We could restrain him while we didn’t have the other Jinchuriki.”

“Yes, but then Princess Twilight and the Generals of Order would do anything they could to rescue him” the Lord of Chaos said. “Furthermore, capturing him wouldn’t be an easy task, as he is constantly watched. No, it’s better if we continue with the plan.”

Seeing the Lord of Chaos giving a lecture to Ulysses made Adagio to smile.

“Don’t worry, my beloved villains” the Lord of Chaos said. “We won’t have to wait much longer. We will get all the Tailed Beasts and we will bring Ten-Tails back to life. And we do that, everything and everyone in the Pony Reality will be under my control at last.”

A Danger With Four Tails

Author's Note

Dear readers, before reading this chapter, I would like to address to you. I have noticed that the feedback of this story has been dropping, with the dislikes exceeding the likes. I just like to ask you to comment so that I can know what should I improve or know what you like. Secondly, I'd like to tell you that, despite this being an adaptation of the series Naruto series and the story sharing many parameters with it, I can still surprise you and I would like if you deemed the story when it was more developed. I hope you can enjoy the future chapters and that those who do not like it may change their mind. After all, as Fernando Pessoa once wrote: “first it amazes you, then it gets into your veins”. Thanks...

A Danger With Four Tails

Three years had passed and it seemed that the Lord of Chaos had given no sign of his actions during that time. Maybe he thought the best thing to do now was to wait for the moment to attack, which was not reassuring for his enemies.

During that time, Star Knight had become a good-looking teenager colt. At the academy, he was one of the most popular students, not only for his academic curriculum, but also for being a great athlete. If there was something he definitely had was fillies watching him with interest, although he barely paid them any attention. His friends had also become popular also, not only through Star, but also through their own merits.

Jonagold had this way of enchanting fillies with his poetic words, being also the leader of the book and debate clubs; Gunter, just like Star, was an athlete at one of the most appreciated sports at the academy: the Flying Derby, where he usually teamed up with Star; Bramble, by his turn, was very quiet, but that way of being had catch the eyes of young does, and had become a high member of the chess club.

Moonlight had enrolled at the academy at the school year following Star’s eleventh anniversary, something that left her quite happy, since she would be close to Star, for who she already had a small crush since she was little. Despite being a little intimidated by the competition that arose around the young alicorn prince, Moonlight kept hope. She also had obtained a good school success, and her favorite subject was Enchanted Music, where she was one of Melody’s best students. It was also known that she now had a little brother, whose aspect shared the same traits as her sister, having a coat with a darker shade, an azure mane and eyes like those of his mother, but with slit pupils. His name was Dark Cloud.

As Star progressed at the academy, new subjects appeared, while others were left behind. At the end of his first year, Star started not having Introduction to Practical Magic and, at the end of the second year, by choice, he stopped having Enchanted Music, but soon he got more, such as Study of Spells and Charms, which was the continuation of Introduction to Practical Magic and was also taught by Professor Knotgrass. Astronomy was another new subject, being held at night, and was taught by a mare with a dark-blue coat with a telescope and stars as Cutie Mark, purple mane and magenta eyes called Glowing Star. There was also Study and Care of Creatures, which was held at the grounds and taught by a doe with a coat with shades of orange and greenish eyes called Holly who taught about the various creatures and how to take care of them, even showing to the students real creatures.

In addition to the academic subjects, there were also extracurricular activities. Purple Smoke was quite visited in his office by students asking for advice on activities that would be perfect for them. Among these activities, there were several sports, Art, Dance and Theatre. Star had entered in some sports, being one of his favorites Combate, which was coordinated by Professor Ebony, and, of course, the Flying Derby, which were supervised by Coach Gideon, a griffon who was an acquaintance of Gunter's parents, who had dark grayish brown fur, brown head with edges of a lighter tone, very dark tangelo wing feathers and dark gray gambogeish beak and claws. Star and Gunter were one the best teams, perhaps because of their teamwork.

However, despite Star’s school success, he still had to coordinate all his school activities with his trainings with Golden Paladin. Fortunately, the training had passed to the weekend and was no longer so regular, but it happens that things were getting more and more complicated. In addition to trying to improve his skills in spells like the duplication spell and the Spiraling Sphere Spell, Star was now trying to control directly Nine-Tails’ energy and that was quite tricky. To control the energy, he had to have a lot of concentration and endure that energy was not as easy as it sounded, as Star was almost barely focusing and trying to not lose control.

During these trainings, Star was learning to control what Golden called the “demon fox cloak" that was the first phase of his transformation as a Jinchuriki, whose power increased for each tail of energy that appeared. Until that moment, Star had learned to control until the second tail, but even just with two tails, Star could barely control all the energy that was being produced.

Golden Paladin, though, could see the progress that Star had achieved. His control over his magic had improved thanks to the training and this was visible in the way he could handle the two tails of energy. But the question that remained in his head was the limit of energy that the young prince could handle. The General of Peace never dared to release the seal more than what it had already been released, because in that way you would be just giving to Nine-Tails a unique opportunity to weaken the seal even more. When he presented this question to Twilight and Blue in the throne room of the Light Castle, the former rushed to say:

"It is out of the question. We will not give opportunities to Nine-Tails. Sorry, Golden Paladin, despite respecting your training methods, I have to put the safety of my son above this."

“I understand, your Highness, I also don't agree with this idea of mine" Golden Paladin said. "But the truth is that we can't know what the limits of Prince Star Knight are when it comes to controlling the Nine-Tails’ power. Beyond that, if we continue as we are, the time it will take for the young prince to learn to control that energy will be even greater."

“I understand that, but...” Twilight started.

"Maybe we should give Golden’s idea a chance, Twily" Blue said to his wife.

"What?!" Twilight asked. "Blue, are you crazy? Do you want to submit our son to a suffering even greater than the one he has already been submitted with the training?"

"Although I share your concern, Twily, the truth is that we can't protect him forever" Blue said. "He is already fourteen. He's not a young colt anymore."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we're going to put him in danger purposefully" Twilight refuted.

"I know that, but don't think you we should have more faith in him?" Blue asked. "Star proved to us what he is capable of over and over again. It's time we let him decide what he wants to do. If he wants to accept Golden’s idea, the least we can do is to allow him to try."

Although she understood what Blue was trying to defend, Twilight did not seem to want to accept it. She refused to put his own son at the mercy of the monster that was inside him. And what if Star lost control and Nine-Tails took him over? No, she couldn't allow something like that to happen.

It was then that Blue’s hoof landed on hers and Twilight looked at her husband’s eyes. His blue eyes transmitted to her his confidence and the words Blue told only increased that same confidence:

"If you want, I will watch the training and make sure our son stay safe. I and Golden Paladin can control the situation, no way we can fail."

After that, Twilight couldn't say no to Blue and consented with the head and a slight smile.

During the summer vacation, before Star’s fifth year at the academy began, at the day of his training with Golden Paladin, he was surprised when he saw that his father would watch the training. Arriving at the Grand Light Canyon, the place where they used to train in the Light Kingdom, Star asked:

"Dad, can I ask why you're here? No offense, but it's quite unexpected."

"Don't worry, Star, Golden will explain everything to you" Blue answered him.

“The truth, young prince, is that we’re going to step up our training much more” Golden Paladin said to Star. “It will be like an experiment… I don’t even know what might happen. Honestly, I preferred not to do this, but I believe it is essential and inevitable. Are you prepared?”

“Well… yeah” Star answered. “Let’s just do it!”

“Very well, what I’ll do is to loosen the Nine-Tails’ seal just a little” Golden Paladin said.

Listening that, Star became a little surprised, as Golden Paladin has not done that for years.

“I know what you thinking” Golden Paladin said. “Why does he want to do that now? What is the goal of that? The truth is that I want to test your limits and, to do that, you have to deal with more energy than the one you are already used to. But don’t think I’m doing this lightly. I know Nine-Tails cannot be controlled by mere ponies and that’s why I’ve taken the time to make sure. You can retain your own psyche up to a two-tails transformation. We need to know how much farther is possible. But I want to make sure you’re up to the task. After all, opening the seal means that the Nine-Tails’ influence will grow stronger. Are you sure he won’t take you over and run amok?”

That question made Star to become more serious and say:

“Well, I…”

That was a question that not even he knew how to answer. It was true that he has been able to withstand Nine-Tails’ power, but the concentration required for such a feat was immense and the least carelessness could mean losing control, and all that with only two tails.

Blue, sensing his son’s indecision, advanced to him and said, putting a hoof on his shoulder:

"Star, you don't have to do it if you don't want to. But, if you agree to do so, I want you to know that you will have my full support."

"Dad..." Star said, surprised by the words of his father.

"Besides, that's why I'm here. I will help Golden Paladin to control the situation if necessary. It may not look like so, but your old man knows a move or two. However, I have faith that you will be able to do it."

Those words have reinvigorated Star’s spirit and he said:

"Yes!"

He then turned to Golden Paladin, showing him he was ready. The General of Peace sighed and said:

"So let's do it."

He raised his hoof towards Star and accessed to his magic. The hoof glowed with the same aura as the horn and then he said:

“Al right then, let’s begin.”

And gold chains appeared around Star’s torso. There was a pause where Golden Paladin concentrated to only open the seal just a bit and then he exclaimed:

“Here we go!”

And he twisted slightly the hood and the chains moved slightly as well. Immediately, the condensed bubbling energy appeared and covered Star’s body. He felt a slight pain and the energy involved his tail, making also appear another tail made of red energy.

“Two tails in an instant…” Blue said, impressed.

It was then than another tail appeared.

“And there’s the third tail!” Blue exclaimed.

“And it seems he still conscious” Golden Paladin observed, while Star adopted the same changes he got when he was surrounded by the red energy. “Now, Prince Star Knight, suppress the energy immediately!”

Star tried with all his strength to do what Golden Paladin said, but he was using all his concentration to prevent the energy from overpower him and that was causing him a lot of pain that prevented him from concentrating even more.

“Surprpess yourself!” Golden exclaimed.

“I know that!” Star replied.

It was then that he felt something else that prevented him from concentrating beyond pain. It was a stinging sensation. Star wondered what it was. It was a bitter and hateful feeling that could stain in black his inside.

“I’ll cooperate with you” a voice said.

Star then found himself once again, in front of Nine-Tails’ cage.

“You are…” Star started.

“Don’t hold back” Nine-Tails said, staying in the shadows of his cage. “You want power, don’t you?”

The Tailed Beast had said that in a way that suggested that Star was weak and depended of his power, something that made Star become very furious and exclaim:

“Cut it out!” Star exclaimed.

It was then that the water that covered the ground rose suddenly and began getting restless. Star, repairing in that, tried to keep up. Nine-Tails continued to look to Star with his arrogant gaze and smile. Then he said:

“You know, it’s pretty pathetic… They want you to control my power so you can defend yourself against the Lord of Chaos. It seems they think you’re too weak to face them without me… What it’s actually true. You’re nothing more than a brat who thinks is special just because he has a great power that he can control alone.”

“Shut up and go back!” Star said, trying to stay above the water.

But the anger he felt for Nine-Tails made him lose concentration for a moment and the waves swallowed him. Star tried to fight, but the waves were too strong and were taking him to the edge of the cage, while listening Nine-tails saying:

“Idiot… If anyone goes back… it’s you!”

And the fox stretched out one of his front legs through the bars and grabbed Star, securing him then against the floor.

In the real world, that caused an intense burst of red energy that forced the two Generals to use a magical barrier to resist against the force that was being released. Placing themselves on a ledge in one of the stone walls of the canyon, they saw the fourth tail appearing.

That release such energy that made the Lord of Chaos realize something was wrong.

"But what is this?" he asked while sitting on his throne.

He made one of his mirrors come to his front and it began to reflect what was happening at the Great Light Canyon. He gave a slight laugh and said:

"This is quite interesting."

The cloak of red energy that involved Star had been much denser, as if he breathed the energy itself. His eyes were completely red and looked like he was suffering a lot of pain. But the worst was yet to come. His own coat began to be removed slowly, bit by bit, leaving in its place a layer of intense red energy that looked like blood, and being then vaporized by the intensity of the energy.

Star was flooded by black smoke that engulfed him like a cocoon. The two Generals watched that for a few moments and then the cocoon of smoke exploded with a force that nearly made Blue and Golden fall from where they were and, when they recovered, they were shocked by what they saw. All Star's body was covered by the layer of blood-red energy, seeming to be a part of him. Fox ears flapped with the wind, while the four tails were shaking. Savage grunts came out of his mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and his white eyes didn’t seem to show any sign of equinity.

“What… is that?” Blue asked, not wanting to believe.

“That, Prince Blue Sword, is the second phase of a Jinchuriki transformation” Golden Paladin answered. “The energy that is leaking out is seeking stability. It’s trying to assume the complete form of Nine-Tails. This is not the same energy of before. It’s more intense. Far more malevolent. It’s using Prince Star Knight’s body as a medium, what makes him like a miniature Nine-Tails.”

Blue couldn't believe in what his eyes were seeing. He couldn't believe that he had convinced his son to submit to something like that. Sensing what he was thinking, Golden Paladin said:

"Don't blame yourself, Prince Blue Sword. This is not your fault. If there's anyone to blame, then it’s me as it was me who had the idea to release the seal. It was a reckless idea after all. Such a pity. I have to close the seal again, but it will take some time. He never got this far before."

It was then that Blue knew what to do.

"I'm going to entertain him and prevent him from running" he said.

"What?!" Golden Paladin asked. "Don't be stupid! Prince Star Knight right now is very dangerous."

"We cannot allow him to go to the citadel" Blue said. "Don't worry, I can handle this."

Golden Paladin tried to say something against it, but Blue was already downing the ledge where they were and going to Star. So the General of Peace began preparing to close the seal again.

Blue headed to Star saying:

"Star, that's enough! You've got to stop this!"

But he didn’t listen him, staying there roaring and wagging the tails. Star then looked slightly to Blue and wag one of the tails towards Blue. He invoked his barrier to protect himself, but when the tail hit the barrier, it broke it and Blue was pushed a few hooves back.

Realizing that Blue would try to stop him, Star decided to get out of there, but when he was preparing to depart, his father said:

"Don't even think about it!"

And, using his magic of General of Balance, he released a light that, hitting Star, made him stay put. The Jinchuriki roared, feeling himself trapped, and began trying to break free. Blue couldn't believe in the immense force that he had. It wouldn't take long until he couldn’t hold any longer. It was then that Star turned his head to Blue and opened his mouth. When Blue found himself, he was being bombarded with something and shot him hard against the wall of stone.

At that time, Golden Paladin had managed to prepare the spell and chains lifted off the ground and began to trap Star. He tried to get free, but the chains were increasingly tight. The chains began to absorb the energy that was being released and it didn’t take long for the claws disappeared and the intense energy began to retreat, leaving intense burns on Star.

The process seemed to be time consuming and painful for Star, but Golden continued until Star was completely free of the energy and fell to the ground unconscious. After that, Golden hastened to display the chains of the seal and sealed them the way they were before, gasping as soon as it ended, trying to catch his breath. His eyes fell upon the unconscious young prince and then on Blue that, although conscious, was in bad shape after Star’s attack.

The Lord of Chaos, seeing what happened, exclaimed:

"I loved that! Finally some real action! Maybe I should take advantage of this to start the part of my great plan that I have been waiting for. Oogie Boogie!"

And the Spirit of Nightmares appeared before his master, kneeling.

"Yes, your lordship?"

"Have you found the last missing Jinchuriki?" the Lord of Chaos asked.

"Not yet" Oogie Boogie replied. "I've been doing my best, but it seems that this Tailed Beast knows that I’m after it and has been hiding from me."

"It's okay" the Lord of Chaos said. "We still have time. But try not to take to long, because we will start to capture the Tailed Beasts, beginning with One-Tail."

Sometime after what happened in the Grand Light Canyon, Star woke up, realizing he was lying on his bed in his room. When he tried to move, he felt a lot of pain and saw that he was covered in bandages. A good part of his body had already healed, but the majority was still damaged.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Finally, you’re awake!” Twilight’s voice exclaimed, while she approached her son’s bed, relieved.

"Mom?" Star asked, still confused, trying to get up. "What am I doing here?"

Timber, that was there waiting for his owner to wake up, was quite happy to see him and started to lick him.

"Timber, stop!" Star asked, while petting his Timberwolf. "That tickles. I'm also happy to see you.”

"After what happened, Golden Paladin brought you and your father as soon as possible" Twilight said, while Golden Paladin appeared and Timber downed from the bed to then put his head on Star’s lap.

Remembering what had happened earlier with Nine-Tails subduing him, Star asked, very concerned:

"What happened to dad?! Is he okay?!"

"Don't worry, young Prince” Golden Paladin answered. "He's fine. At this point, he is resting in his room."

“But… what happened?” Star asked.

“You went on a rampage and, while I tried to stabilize your energy, your father prevented you from advancing to the citadel” Blue answered.

That answer seemed to have bothered Star. He began to feel guilty about what had happened. If he hadn't been so weak, Nine-Tails would not have dominated him and he wouldn't have hurt his own father.

“If only… I could stand him” Star said, referring to Nine-Tails. “He provoked me and I gave in.”

Golden, observing his reaction, said to him:

“It’s not your fault. I made the wrong call.”

He then turned to Twilight and continued:

“And for that, I ask your apologies, Princess Twilight. I underestimated Nine-Tails and, because of that, both your son and husband are now injured.”

“You don’t have to apology, Golden” Twilight said. “I understand your reasons for doing that and now we know how much Star can endure Nine-Tails’ energy.”

“I held onto my consciousness up to the three tails” Star said. “But I felt this immense power… Maybe if I can master it, I can have the power to stop the Lord of Chaos.”

“Star…” Twilight started, wanting to ease her son from the burden he was feeling as a Jinchuriki and the prospective of being targeted by the Lord of Chaos because of Nine-Tails.

However, Golden Paladin nodded his head to her, advising to not say anything and then he said:

“But for now, I think it is for the best you rest now and stop thinking about that, young prince. You have a lot of recovery to do, now. Laid down and take a nap.”

He then headed to the exit and Twilight followed him, leaving Star alone, petting Timber. When they exited and started to move away from his room, Twilight asked:

“Why did you stop me, Golden? I had to say to my son to not worry about the Lord of Chaos. That we would protect him at all cost.”

“Because he wouldn’t listen, princess” Golden Paladin replied. “He inherited your husband’s determination in protecting the ones he cares about. He knows he will face the Lord of Chaos and his villains in a near future, when they come to take the Tailed Beast inside of him. So, he wants to get stronger to not be captured and by this stop the plan the Lord of Chaos has in mind.”

At that moment, Twilight stopped and she said:

“I know you’d say that, but I cannot stand watching my son sacrificing himself to save us. I should be the one doing that.”

There was a pause and then Twilight asked:

“Golden, could you tell me about what you think about Star continuing his training after what happened today and I want you to be completely honest.”

The General of Peace didn’t answered immediately, but then he sighed and answered:

“I honestly don’t see any problem that can prevent Prince Star Knight from continuing his training, but…”

“But, what?”

“But we have to be more careful” Golden Paladin. “If I didn’t contain Prince Star Knight when he went amok, then the number of tails would grow until there was nine and, if that happens, then Nine-Tails will immerge from the young prince.”

“So that’s how it works…” Twilight said.

“His anger acts like a trigger, for what I could see” Golden Paladin continued. “The number of tails grows along with his rage. It is just like when Heartbeat was a Jinchuriki. When the fourth tail appeared, all that was left in your son was a hunger for destruction. Like I told you before we seal Nine-Tails, the seal will only grow weaker. Probably, that’s the cause for what happened.”

“Yes, I know that” Twilight said. “That’s one of the reasons why you’re training Star to control the energy.”

“And there’s more” Golden Paladin said. “When Prince Star Knight is under the cloak of Nine-Tails, it may seems that it protects the young prince, but the truth is his body is continuously being harmed by that same energy. It appears that, when the fourth tails immerges, his body suffers severe injuries and run amok, covered in blood. Once the cloak disappeared, Prince Star Knight’s internal Nine-Tails’ energy started to heal his body and that’s why he is not as harmed as he really was. But if he continues this cicle of great harm and rapid recovery, his body will pay the price and the span of his life will be shorten, even being him an alicorn.”

Twilight was quite unsettled with Golden Paladin’s explanation, but recovered quickly and then said:

"So we have to make sure that doesn't happen again. Golden Paladin, we can't open the seal again."

"Of course, Your Highness, I wouldn't repeat the feat" he replied.

"And another thing" Twilight said. "If the second tail comes to appear, you need to absorb the energy immediately. We can't take any risk."

Golden waved and then walked away, leaving Twilight alone.

"I'm not going to let anything bad happen to my son, not if I can help it" she said.

One-Tail in Danger

In the busy streets of Manehatten, ponies were going from one side to the other, always in a hurry. This was a city where every second counted and ponies were trying as hard as they could not waste a single second.

Living on the streets and struggling to make money, a young lute-player tried to entertain the ponies that passed with his music. He was a pony with a light yellow coat with a lute with musical notes as Cutie Mark, orange mane and celestial blue eyes. His name was Strings and he was quite talented with his lute, which seemed quite worn.

Everything he wanted was to entertain ponies with his music, while they contributed with some bits. However, this desire seemed it wouldn’t become reality. Ponies were too busy and in a hurry to enjoy his music, much less to reward him with bits.

At the end of the day, Strings looked at the glass where the ponies should put their contributions, but only had a couple of bits. The young lute-player sighed and prepared to go home when a voice said to him:

"You play really well."

He turned and saw a mare wearing a cloak approaching him.

"Thank you" he thanked. "It's a shame the other ponies do not share that view."

"What if I told you they could have that opinion?" the mare asked. "What if I told you that I can help you have the recognition you deserve?"

That made Strings drop a skeptical chuckle.

"And what are you, some kind of manager?" he asked, cynically.

"No, I'm something much better" the mare said, lowering the hood and revealing her face. "My name is Adagio Dazzle and you can believe I will make your dreams come true."

And, having said this, she approached her snout to Strings’ ear and began to sing something for him gently. It was then that his eyes were invaded by a momentary darkness and then an evil smile appeared on his face.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked to Adagio.

"I want you to play your song to a friend of mine" Adagio replied. "This song will be... magical. And when you are finished, I guarantee you're going to have all the glory you deserve."

And Strings nodded.

The next day, the sun was shining in the sky, leaving the Golden Desert with a color even more resplendent. Although it was not part of the Light Kingdom, the Golden Desert certainly wasn't far from its neighbor in terms of elegance. Its landscapes, although arid, were quite appreciated by the travelers… when they brought enough water to cross it.

Three travelers were crossing it, with one of them walking with immense excitement. He was a young unicorn stallion with light vermilion coat with three beetles as Cutie Mark, opalish gray mane and brilliant tangelo eyes. Behind him, were two pegasi royal guards, whose armors were different from the Canterlot guards’.

"I'm so glad to finally get to the Light Kingdom!" the young stallion exclaimed happily. "I will make lots of new friends?"

"Silver Mist, you need to stop being so flashy" one of the guards said. "You're going to the Light Kingdom because the villains of the Lord of Chaos can't go in there."

"Although we are almost at the Great Light Canyon, we cannot draw any attention" the other guard said. "What would your uncle and aunt say if they knew how you're acting."

"Come on, can't I be happy to finally get out of Maretonia?" Silver Mist asked, a little annoyed by the constant reproaches of his bodyguards. "I just want to have fun and make friends and, apparently, to do all that, I have to get out from my under and aunt’s protection."

"They are the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia, which is one of the most important duchies" the first guard said. "Their duty is to ensure the safety of their citizens, including you."

"Yes, Yes, I know why they want me there" Silver Mist said, in a way that made his bodyguards to roll their eyes.

They continued for a few moments until they heard movements around them.

"Did you hear that?" the second guard asked.

"It looks like we're being watched" the other said.

Both guards responded, putting themselves in a way to keep Silver Mist protected.

"Gyus, you know I can fend for myself, right?"

But they ignored him and the first guard asked:

"Who's there?! Show yourselves!"

There was a pause and then a voice answered:

"We should be the ones saying that... strangers."

And, in the blink of an eye, they found themselves surrounded by...

"Pony-panthers" the second guard said.

Chief Strongpaw stood out among the pony-panthers and asked:

"Who are you and what are you doing in the Golden Desert heading to the Light Kingdom?"

The guards didn't say anything, but Silver Mist got out of the middle of his bodyguards and approached Chief Strongpaw, saying with a friendly tone:

"Hello, my name is Silver Mist and I'm on my way to the Light Kingdom to make lots of friends. Hey, will you be my friend?"

And he extended his hoof to Strongpaw who just stared it. The other pony-panthers began to talk with each other, surprised by the attitude of that pony to their leader. The two guards rushed to pick up Silver Mist and returned to where they were.

"Are you crazy?!"

"Do you not know who you were talking to?!"

"Hey, you didn't say anything, so I decided to take the initiative" Silver Mist said.

Strongpaw looked to the young unicorn. There was something about him that was different, and he wasn't just talking about his behavior. He didn't know how to explain it, but he knew that Silver Mist wasn't a pony like the others.

"You're a littled weird" Chief Strongpaw said. "But I can see that your heart has no bad intentions. Our job is to ensure that no one with a heart consumed with darkness approaches our oasis and the Light Kingdom, so please don't get us wrong."

"Don't worry, everything's fine" the first guard said.

"Yes, we understand perfectly" the second guard said.

"They may proceed with your journey" Strongpaw said, while his pony-panthers opened to them the way. "But I advise you to hurry. A sandstorm is approaching rapidly."

And so the two guards advanced, having virtually to force Silver Mist to join them, since he wanted to get to know better the pony-panthers and make friends with them.

When Strongpaw and his pony-panthers began to return to the oasis, he felt the presence of someone else in the Golden Desert beyond those three. However, this presence was different, it was darker. He stopped, causing the others to stop, and told them:

"Return to the oasis, I'm still going to hang around."

"But, sir, a sandstorm is approaching" one of the pony-panthers said.

"I know that, but don't worry" Strongpaw said. "You know sand can't hurt me. Now, do what I tell you."

They then waved and continued their way back to the oasis. Meanwhile, Strongpaw went in a different direction. It didn't take long until he was caught by the sandstorm, but, using his power over sand, he had no difficulty in moving.

Then, suddenly, he began to hear a song. It was a song that seemed to be coming from a stringed instrument. Stronpaw knew that music was coming from the same place that he had noticed. He managed to get out of the storm and then looked around. Then he saw him, sitting on a duma that seemed not have been altered by the sandstorm. Strings was sitting and with his lute in position.

"Who are you, stranger?" Strongpaw asked. "What are your intentions?"

"Who I am doesn't matter" Strings answered. "As for my intentions. Well, let's just say that I'm doing what I was asked to do in exchange for receiving the glory I deserve."

Strongpaw didn't know what he meant, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good.

"I'm warning you, if you have evil intentions, I will not be merciful" he said.

But Strings ignored him and then prepared to play a new song with his lute. He started and then his body began to glow with a dark glow. Seeing it, Strongpaw said:

"That energy... is the evil power of the Lord of Chaos!"

But before he could do anything, strings of dark energy erected and were turned into light bluish gray chains which went in direction of Strongpaw. Reacting automatically, Strongpaw sand began protecting him from the chains, blocking them. However, one of them managed to infiltrate his defense and penetrated Strongpaw’s stomach. He felt a pain, while the chain penetrated more and more inside.

Inside of him, Shukaku, the One-Tail, noticed something strange was coming. It was then the chain appeared and tied itself tight around Shukaku’s neck. Feeling he had reached the Tailed Beast, Strings smiled and changed slightly the rhythm of the song. Red energy began coming out of Strongpaw through the chain.

Strongpaw realized his energy was being sucked, because his power was diminishing. The sand that was still raised fell slowly to the ground. He got the strength to get the chains and try to pull it, but, when he did it, he received an electric shock that made him drop it immediately. Strongpaw looked enraged to Strings, who smiled while he absorbed the energy that was being removed from the leader of the pony-panthers through the chain.

Watching from afar, protected by her cloak, was Adagio. She smiled, as her plan was running perfectly. Why having so much work to capture a Jinchuriki, when someone could extract the Tailed Beast inside and then take it directly to the Lord of Chaos?

Strongpaw couldn’t believe he was subjugated to a magic like that. He was now at the mercy of that lute-playing who wouldn't stop extracting the Tailed Beast inside of him. Inside, Shukaku was trying to handle the power from the chains, but it was then a white mass with the exact shape and size of Shukaku began to be extracted from him, with that mass being extracted by a projection of the chain around his neck that was pulling it out.

A pony-panther who was closed was caught by surprise when he saw what was happening to his leader. Quietly so he couldn’t be seen, he noted how Strings was extracting Shukaku from Strongpaw. He had to do something, but how would he help his leader? Then he remembered he was not far from the Great Light Canyon. He could take a shortcut and get help from the Generals of Order. So, he pulled away as quietly as possible.

Some distance away, Silver Mist walked a bit ahead of his bodyguards, saying:

"It's a shame I couldn't make any friends with the pony-panthers. It would have been pretty cool. "

"This kid doesn't change" the first guard said.

"At least now we can get to the Light Kingdom without further delay" the second guard said.

In the place where Strings was extracting Shukaku, the white mass was about to abandon Strongpaw. Trying to resist even more than what he was already resisting, Shukaku pulled the chain and then let out a roar. This caused Strongpaw to release a red energy that rose in the air as if it was smoke and then explode.

It was at that moment Silver Mist stopped suddenly and looked back. He heard a cry of help, a kind of cry that he knew quite well. His bodyguards approached and the first asked:

"Silver Mist, what's wrong?"

But he didn't answer. At that moment, a pair of green insect wings appeared at the bottom of his back and he took off, moving away quickly in the opposite direction.

"Silver Mist, where are you going?" the two guards asked, while trying to follow him.

"One of our pony-panthers friends is in danger!" he exclaimed.

"What did you say?!" the first guard asked.

“Don’t tell us you’re going to help!” the second guard said.

“Of course” Silver Mist replied, taking more altitude and flying faster, leaving his guards behind.

Strings continued with his task of extracting Shukaku from Strongpaw, making the chain extracting energy to himself.

“This chain…” Strongpaw said, while observing the chain that connected him to Strings. “…doesn’t stop extracting my energy…”

The pain increased and the same white mass that was being extracted from Shukaku started to leave the place where the chain had penetrated.

Silver Mist was flying over the Golden Desert, following the cry of help he had heard and found Strongpaw and started down toward him. Seeing the white mass that was leaving him, he realized.

‘But that is…’ he thought to himself. ‘There’s no mistake. That’s Tailed Beast energy! When the Tailed Beast is extracted, the Jinchuriki’s body suffers a lot of damage. He may die!’

Strongpaw saw Silver Mist approaching, getting surprised by his wings. However, he gave no importance to it and exclaimed to him:

“Stay away! This has nothing to do with you!”

“It does have something to do with me!” Silver Mist shouted back.

It was then that Strongpaw realized. It was because of that Silver Mist seemed to be not like other ponies.

“You’re a Jinchuriki too” he said.

“And that’s why I can feel your pain too” Silver Mist said. “I learned that friends must understand each other’s pain.”

Getting close, he extended his hoof to take the chain that linked Strongpaw to Strings.

“Stop it…!” Strongpaw said.

Silver Mist touched the chain with his hoof, but then he received the same shock that Strongpaw got.

“It’s sucking out my power…” Silver Mist said, while tolerating the pain.

He then fell on the ground.

“Are you all right?!” Strongpaw asked.

Adagio noticed Silver Mist and realized he was another Jinchuriki. He should be the one Oogie Boogie was trying to identify. She didn’t want to believe her luck. She had at her reach two Jinchuriki. She couldn’t lose that opportunity, so Adagio used her voice to send hypnotic infrasound waves to Silver Mist to also catch Silver Mist’s Jinchuriki. He then started playing at the same rhythm before sending the chains agains Strongpaw and another dark string get out of his body and another chain appeared, starting going in Silver Mist’s direction.

“Silver Mist, be careful!” Strongpaw warned, while he was getting up.

He then noticed the chain coming in his direction and took flight. However, the chain followed him and penetrated in his lower back. Once that happened, Silver Mist’s wings disappeared and he fell on the ground.

“Silver Mist!” Strongpaw called.

He started to get up, saying:

“I’m sorry… I think I failed…”

Strings played again and the chain stretched, starting to absorb his energy and causing pain to him. He then proceeded to take the two Tailed Beasts from Strongpaw and Silver Mist. While Shukaku’s white mass of energy was being taking even more, the same was starting to happen to Silver Mist’s Tailed Beast.

That beast resembled a blue armored rhinoceros beetle with six of his seven tails resembling Silver Mist’s wings and the seventh being an actual tail, all growing from the end of his abdomen. His eyes seemed to be covered by a helmet-like skull, from inside of which, an orange glow could be seen. He also had spike protrusions on his shoulders and a row of slits on each shoulder and six legs, three on each side, which were also covered by the blue armor, with the exception of the extreme ends which were green in color. He also had two pincers with three parts on his face, covering a mouth full of sharp teeth and on his back behind his head, it had a large two sectioned horn protrusion.

In that moment, a white mass of energy was also being taken from Seven-Tails. Both him and Shukaku were struggling against the chains as much as they could. Meanwhile, Strings continued to receive their energies, while playing the lute. Adagio watched the scene, smiling. Just a little bit longer and she would have two Tailed Beast to give to her master.

Running to the place where Strings was extracting One-Tail and Seven-Tails, the pony-panther who had gone to take some help was now leading Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat and Melody to there.

“Are you sure this is the way?” Golden Paladin asked to the pony-panther.

“Yes, sir” he answered. “It’s just ahead.”

“We have to be quick” Mirror Coat. “We cannot allow the Lord of Chaos to get One-Tail. If he never gets it, he will not be able to get the others.”

“Let’s just hope it’s not too late” Melody said.

The two Jinchuriki continued to have their energies being stolen by Strings.

“Damn it…” Strongpaw said. “I told you not to come.”

“How can I stay away?” Silver Mist asked. “I think any Jinchuriki would come to save a fellow Jinchuriki if he or she was in danger.”

When he said that, Strongpaw remember Prince Star Knight, who did everything he could to save him when Shukaku took over him.

“Maybe you’re right, but in a situation like this one, it would be a fool thought to do” Strongpaw replied.

The rhythm of the music of the lute increased and the same happened with the intensity of the Tailed Beast energy absorption, which caused more pain to Strongpaw and Silver Mist, pain that was shared by their Tailed Beasts. The pain was so intense that Strongpaw fell on his knees. It was at that moment that Silver Mist had an idea.

He concentrated for a moment, and then accessed his magic. His wings appeared slightly and began to release energy in the form of silk threads involving him and Strongpaw, creating a cocoon of energy. Both Strings and Adagio were surprised by it.

"What's that?" she asked.

The energy cocoon became a real cocoon made of silk with great resistance. Inside of the cocoon, Strongpaw, who had got up, said:

“This is…”

“My power” Silver Mist said. “But it isn’t enough to break these chains.”

In that moment, the red energy that was running through the chains just slowed down.

“So, I’m going to try to buy us some time” Silver Mist continued.

Outside, Strings continued playing and then noticed the energy flow slowed. He realized it was the cocoon that was suppressing the energy absorption. Adagio, who also realized that, started to dislike the way the situation was taking. If Strings took too long, they would risk the pony-panthers to show up... or worse, the Generals.

Inside the cocoon, Strongpaw realized the energy slowed and asked Silver Mist:

“What did you do?”

“I made a cocoon with threads of energy” he explained. “This cocoon is a complicated tangle of super-fine energy threads that weakened the absorption, just as I thought.”

“It didn’t stop it” Strongpaw realized. “The rate of energy being sucked out has definitely slowed down and lessened the pain… But eventually, out Tailed Beasts will be extracted. In my case, I can still survive, as I have One-Tail, but in your case…”

But Silver Mist gave a little laugh and said, while putting is front hooves behind is head, in a relaxing way:

“Negative thoughts aren’t good. I’m sure somepony will come to save us!”

“How can you be so positive?” Strongpaw asked.

“Well, in a situation like this, we kind of don’t have any other options” Silver Mist replied.

“But I’m sure nopony will come to help us” Strongpaw said.

“Don’t say such things!” Silver Mist exclaimed, rising up, and then starting to yell. “Hey! Is somepony out there?!”

Strongpaw sighed and then said:

“Your voice won’t travel through this cocoon.”

Realizing he was right, Silver Mist made a depressive air and said:

“Oops! Darn it.”

But then he filled himself with determination and exclaimed:

“Then I’ll just pull this out with brute strength!”

And he started to pull the chain with all the force he had, but the only thing that Silver Mist managed to do was getting entangled with the chain and fell on the ground.

“I think we’ll have to wait to be rescued, after all” he said to Strongpaw.

“I think that’s very unlikely” Strongpaw said.

“Again with those negative thoughts” Silver Mist.

“My subordinates are very obedient to me” Strongpaw said. “I said to them to go to our oasis while I would come here to investigate an intruder. Probably, they will take some time to realize I am in danger. Furthermore, there are some inhabitants of the oasis who wouldn’t care about what happens to me.”

“Are you serious?!” Silver Mist asked.

Outside, Strings observed they now had no escape and it would be a matter of time until he got their energy. To speed things up, he continued playing in a faster pace.

Inside the cocoon, Strongpaw continued, while Silver Mist was trying to untangle himself from the chain:

“In the past, when I was a kid, the only way I could relate to others was with hate and a desire to kill. Everypony was afraid of me because I was the Jinchuriki and that made me hate them. But then I heard a voice telling me to not hate them, but to show the best of me. That voice belonged to the Lord of Order. So because of him, I became the leader of the pony-panthers. Although the most of them now accepts me for who I am, there are some who don’t and I’m sure they don’t care about what happens to me.”

Silver Mist managed to untangle himself and stood up saying:

"But you still have friends who care for you. You said yourself that now the majority of your people accept you, so I'm sure they will come to save you."

Hearing those words, Strongpaw said:

"Maybe you're right, but even so, our situation is quite precarious. I'm sure this lute-player is working for a villain of the Lord of Chaos. Even though they knew we were here, stop him will not be easy."

"We don't know until we try" Silver Mist said. "After all, he is only one, right?"

Strongpaw was impressed by Silver Mist’s optimism. Was what he said true? Will they be able to be saved?

The three Generals of Order continued to follow the pony-panther as they approached the place where Strongpaw and Silver Mist were. A lute sound began to be heard.

“This is the sound of the lute that the strange pony was playing” the pony-panther said.

Listening the lute, Melody managed to notice something on it.

"But what..." she said. "No, it can’t be."

"What, Melody?" Golden Paladin asked.

"I think..." she started. "No, I'm sure. This lute sound has the Thirteenth Note."

"Wait, you mean the pony who is extracting Shukaku is a Prodigy?" Mirror Coat asked.

"A Prodigy who has been corrupted" Golden Paladin said. "That only increases the urgency of the mission."

Adagio watched Strings continuing to absorb Shukaku and Seven-Tails’ energy, when she noticed Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat and Melody arriving from afar with the pony-panther.

"Damn it..." she said.

They arrived on the scene and were amazed by the fact that there was a cocoon in the place where it should be Strongpaw.

"But that's..." Melody started.

"Yes, it's a giant cocoon" Golden Paladin said. "And that must be the corrupted Prodigy."

It was then the two guards accompanying Silver Mist appeared.

"Who are you?" Golden Paladin asked.

"I know them" the pony-panther said. "We found them while we were doing our patrol. But they were accompanied by another pony."

"We're looking for him" the second guard said.

Hearing that, Golden Paladin pondered for a while and then asked to Mirror Coat:

"Mirror Coat, can you tell if Strongpaw is in there?"

The General of Knowledge invoked a hoof mirror and pointed it to the cocoon. In it, he could see Strongpaw and Silver Mist and then realized something that left him surprised. Both Strongpaw’s and Silver Mist’s respective energy was being absorbed and the two energies seemed to be quite similar, which meant...

"So, Mirror Coat, who is in that cocoon?" Melody asked.

The two guards exchanged nervous glances and then Mirror Coat replied:

"Two Jinchuriki."

"One of them is Chief Strongpaw" the pony-panther said. "But who's the other?"

"The Jinchuriki of Maretonia" Golden Paladin said, turning then to the two guards. "I know you belong to the Royal Guard of Maretonia for your armors and by your looks, it looks like I got it right. The other Jinchiriki is yours."

The two guards placed themselves in an attack position, but Golden Paladin said:

"You'd better calm down. We have no interest in capturing your Jinchuriki. My siblings and I are Generals of Order. We are from the Light Kingdom and we already have our own Jinchuriki. Besides, if we continue losing time, those in the cocoon will lose their Tailed Beasts. And, if I'm not mistaken, if your Jinchuriki lose his Tailed Beast, he will die. The sealing spell that pony is doing is extracting the Tailed Beast energy and ultimately the beasts themselves.”

“Oh no, if that happens, Chief Stronpaw will become very weak” the pony-panther said to Golden Paladin. “We have to save him!”

“And what do you intend to do?” Golden Paladin asked to the two guards.

“Are you going to abandon your own Jinchuriki?” Melody asked.

“Don’t be such a fools and let’s fight together” Mirror Coat said.

“If we act now, we can save them…” Golden Paladin said.

The two guards exchanged a look and then they agreed to collaborate. The first said:

"Please, save Silver Mist."

That made Golden Paladin smile and say:

"Don't worry."

The General of Peace observed the current situation, trying to come up with a plan and then he had an idea that would be able to work.

“From what I gather, that Prodigy’s back is vulnerable” he said. “This is what I come up with. We’ll divide into two teams: an attack team and a rescue team. The attack team will sneak in close and attack from behind, while the rescue team will seize the opportunity and rescue the two. Me and you three…” he pointed to the pony-panther and the guards “will attack the lure-playing Prodigy.”

“Understood” the guards said.

“But I’d like to be on the rescue team” the pony-panther said.

“No, Melody and Mirror Coat are needed for the rescue” Golden Paladin said, turning then to his siblings. “You both know what to do.”

“Very well” the two General said.

“Let’s go!” Golden Paladin exclaimed.

And so, he, the pony-panther and the two guards headed to Strings. Reaching the top of the dune, the two guards prepared to tackle against Strings, while the pony-panther was preparing his claws and Golden Paladin carried his hoof with magic to create a strong impact. However, Strings noticed their powers and, changing slightly the harmony for a few moments, created a barrier around to protect him from all attacks, repelling the attackers.

“What is that?” the first guard asked.

“It’s a defensive spell” the second guard replied. “How can he do that being an earth pony?”

“He is using the music to do that” Golden Paladin answered. “But I have a feeling defense is not the only think this barrier can do, so watch out.”

He was right. With a flash of light, the barrier shot to the air a bunch of light missils that then started to fall over them. Fortunately, Golden was fast and created his own barrier to protect himself and the other three.

While Golden Paladin and the others kept distracting Strings, Mirror Coat and Melody watched closely the cocoon. Mirror Coat watched for a few moments and then carried his horn with magic. He then, using his hoof mirror, managed to detect a point in the cocoon that wasn't as cohesive and, using the magic he had focused on his horn, began to cut that part of the cocoon. That made Strongpaw and Silver Mist to turn and see Mirror Coat getting in, followed by Melody.

However, on the dune, after the shooting, the second guard said:

“Damn it! We can’t get close to him!”

“It’s an impregnable barrier!” the other said.

“At this rate, we’re not helping Chief Strongpaw at all” the pony-panther said.

“No, this is sufficient” Golden Paladin said to them, making them look at him. “Just drawing his attention away will make Melody and Mirror Coat’s job easier. That is what we are here to do.”

Inside the cocoon, Mirror Coat asked to Strongpaw and Silver Mist:

“Are you two okay?”

“See!” Silver Mist exclaimed to Strongpaw, while rising up, enthusiastically. “Someone came to help, after all!”

“How did you…” Strongpaw asked.

“One of your subordinates warned us” Mirror Coat answered.

“He was following you, just for precaution” Melody said. “Tanks to the Lord of Order he did the right thing.”

After this, Mirror Coat used his hoof mirror to see where the chains were stuck and he saw they were penetrating at the main energy point.

“I can see where they are” Mirror Coat said. “Melody, now it’s up to you.”

“Okay” she said, approaching.

“Wait, you know how to get rid of these?” Strongpaw asked.

“This chains were created by a special kind of magic of Music” Melody said. “I may be one of the few beings that can undo this, except for the caster. Let’s see.”

She focused and then she unleashed a set of infrasonic waves that started to interfere with the magic of the chains. Then, the interference was such that the chain that was penetrating Strongpaw stopped sucking out the Tailed Beast energy.

“All right, the flow stopped” Melody said.

“Thanks” Strongpaw thanked.

Melody turned to Silver Mist and say to him:

“You’re next.”

“Okay” he said.

Mirror Coat and Melody worked together to also stop the energy flow of the chains. Once they did that, Strings noted that the flow had stopped flowing and, wondering why that happened, stopped playing.

“The lute-player is acting strange…” the pony-panther observed.

“Yes, something must have happened” Golden Paladin agreeded, smiling then. “And I know what it was.”

“Those two Generals must have done something” the second guard said.

“You’re right, the enemy definitely looks flustered” the first guard agreed.

The chains got loose from Strongpaw and Silver Mist, however they started to act as if they were confused or looking for something. They then withdrew from the cocoon, returning to the place where Strings were. Seeing the chains acting strangely, the pony-panther asked:

“What’s happening?”

“It looks like it’s alive!” the second guard commented.

“That’s creepy!” the other exclaimed.

Golden Paladin, who knew that type of sealing spell, knew the chains would continue to look for the Tailed Beast energy and, at that time, in addition to the two Jinchūriki, there was only one place where they would find it...

The chains became threads of darkness again and wrapped around Strings’ barrier, starting to push hard until they broke it. Finally, they wrapped around Strings, holding him completely. This made him scream, while he felt the energy he had stolen being taken. Strings, along with his lute, fell from the top of the dune to its base.

Watching it, Adagio realized her plan had failed.

"I better get out of here before they realize that I'm around."

And, having said that, she disappeared in a wave of darkness.

Those who were in the cocoon got out and Strongpaw said, looking to Strings:

"It looks like the spell turned against the wizard."

They all approached Strings and Golden asked:

"Why did you attack the leader of the pony-panthers? Why were you stealing the Tailed Beast?"

"It was the Lord of Chaos who sent you?" Mirror Coat asked.

"It seems obvious, don't you think?" the second guard asked.

"We can't affirm he works for the Lord of Chaos without having evidence" Mirror Coat said. "He can have been sent by a kingdom that also wants to have its own Jinchurki."

"She promised me..." Strings began to say, making everypony turn to him. " She promised me I would have the glory I deserved."

"Who said that?" Melody asked. "Who promised you?"

"A strange mare" Strings answered. "She had a strange and sinister voice, but at the same time beautiful, captivating. She said her name was..."

"Adagio Dazzle" Melody said. "Of course. She used her power to corrupt his heart and then used his special power to capture One-Tail."

"And when she noticed the presence of another Jinchuriki, she couldn't resist and sent Strings to capture him as well" Mirror Coat said.

"If you hadn't run away from us like that, all this wouldn't have happened" the first guard said to Strings.

"Maybe not to him" Golden Paladin said to two guards. "But probably it was thanks to your Jinchuriki that we could keep the Lord of Chaos from capturing the first Tailed Beast."

"He's right" Strongpaw, addressing to Silver Mist. "You managed to give us more time until the arrival of Golden Paladin and the others and, for that, I thank you."

"Oh, well..." Silver Mist said, scratching the back of his head and blushing. "You don't have to exaggerate."

"And what do we do with him?" Mirror Coat asked, referring to Strings.

"Let me take care of him" Melody said.

She then began singing a soothing song, which served to illuminate the lost hearts, and, after making sure he was no longer controlled by Adagio, she used her voice again to release him from the dark threats, in the same way she freed Strongpaw and Silver Mist. Then, Golden Paladin invoked his chains to absorb the Tailed Beast energy that was inside of him. After this, Melody used his magic to get the lute and extended it to Strings, saying:

"This is a beautiful instrument."

"Thank you" Strings thanked, getting the lute. "I have it since I was a foal. It was with him that I got my Cutie Mark. I promised myself I would bring happiness to ponies with my music... but it seems that I can’t do even that."

Melody looked at him and then said compassionate:

"What if I told you that you can still do that? I have a music studio in Canterlot. It is open to anypony who loves music. Why don't you join there. You won't have to worry about costs and you will have a roof and food. The only thing you have to do is play your lute the best you can."

Strings seemed surprised by that invitation.

"After everything I've done?"

"What you did you did without having the awareness of what you were doing" Melody said. "But if you want to learn real music, you know where you need to go."

"Thank you..." he thanked.

"Now, I think you could use a bit of shade and water in the oasis of pony-panthers" Melody said, turning to Chief Strongpaw.

"Well, now that we know that nothing bad will happen for a while, I don't see why not" Chief Strongpaw said, motioning to his subordinate who started helping Strings getting to the oasis, and the leader of the pony-panthers turned to Silver Mist and his guards. "If you want, you can also join us."

Silver Mist wanted to accept the invitation, but the guards were the first to respond.

"We appreciate, but we must return to Maretonia immediately" the first guard said.

"What?!" Silver Mist asked. "Why?!"

"After what happened, don't you think you better come home?" the second guard asked him bluntly.

"Thank you for everything you've done" the other guard said.

And, having said that, the two guards moved away, having to force Silver Mist to accompany them. Strongpaw also turned away, following his subordinate and Strings.

"It seems that some ponies still prefer to keep their Jinchuriki in complete secrecy and confined to their territory" Mirror Coat observed.

"Of course, Jinchuriki are created to be the main defense of the kingdom they inhabit" Golden Paladin said, turning then to Melody. "By the way, Melody, I have to express my surprise. I never thought the Thirteenth Note could be used in sealing spells."

"It can be used in several different ways, depending on the Prodigies" Melody said. "Although the Thirteenth Note emerged from my light, I don't even know all its capabilities. Some may have a soothing power, like Sweetie Belle’s, or have other amazing abilities, like Strings’."

"The conversation is good, but I have to report the events to Princess Twilight" Mirror Coat said. "See you later."

And he invoked one of his portals and crossed it.

In Twilight and Blue’s bedroom, Leaf Mane was checking the latter’s recovery, who was in his bed, after what happened with Star. Twilight was watching from a distance.

"Everything looks fine" Leaf Mane said. "With my medicine, you managed to recover quickly, Your Highness."

"Yes, except for this scar" he said, referring to the large scar that he had on his chest, that was where Star hit him.

"It looks good on you" Twilight said. "It only excels your courage."

"Thank you, Twilight..." Blue thanked, smiling at his wife, turning then to Leaf Mane. "By the way, Leaf Mane, how is my son?"

"Well, he's pretty much okay" she replied, while finishing changing Blue’s bandages. "Thanks to Nine-Tails’ energy, he just has now some burns that should soon disappear completely."

"Don't worry, Blue, Star is fine" Twilight said. "Right now, he's playing with the twins and Timber. And I put Spike watching them just in case."

In that moment, the mirror of the room flashed and Mirror Coat got out of it.

"Your Highnesses, news from the Golden Desert" he said, making a bow to Twilight and Blue. "The attempt to capture One-Tail was stopped successfully. We had a few surprises, but nothing that we couldn't deal with."

"Good" Twilight said. "I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if the Lord of Chaos could get the first Tailed Beast."

"I'd like to see his face right now" Blue said.

Adagio returned to the throne room of Lord of Chaos and, when she entered, she faced with the other villains who were also there.

"Look who's back" Ulysses said, cynically, while Adagio approached. "Hey, Adagio, I think you forgot the Jinchuriki."

That made some of the other villains to laugh. Adagio ignored them and moved on to the base of the staircase of the throne of the Lord of Chaos, where he was sitting, kneeling and saying:

"My Lord…"

"Adagio..." Lord of Chaos said. " Adagio... Adagio... Adagio... What a disappointment. After so many successful missions, you come here without a single Tailed Beast, not even the one with only one tail."

"There were some complications, my lord" Adagio said. "The Generals interfered and managed to prevent my plan to extract One-Tail with the power of a corrupt Prodigy."

"I would be surprised if some of your plans worked" Ulysses said.

Adagio used all her self-control to not assault Ulysses.

"For those who lost to an eleven-year-old kid, you talk to much, Ulysses" she said, still kneeling to his master.

That made Chrysalis and Medusa to laugh and Ulysses looked furious to Adagio and intended to attack her if it wasn't for Grogar who told him:

"If I were you, I wouldn't do what you're thinking."

"Despite having failed in the mission to capture the One-Tail, I was able to identify the last Jinchuriki, the one containing Seven-Tails."

"Impossible!" Oogie Boogie exclaimed. "How'd you do it, if I've been trying to do that for years?"

"Actually, it was a stroke of luck" Adagio replied. "While my puppet was extracting the One-Tail from the leader of the pony-panthers, the Jinchuriki appeared to try to save him. I tried to capture the two Tailed Beasts, but it seems he had powers that were able to delay the process long enough for the Generals to arrive and ruin everything. However, despite the outcome that my mission had, it has not been completely unsuccessful."

"In fact, it wasn't a... complete waste of time" the Lord of Chaos said. "Thank you, Adagio. Now we know exactly where to find all the Tailed Beasts. Now, we can start playing seriously."

Author's Note

The Thirteenth Note is something that I took from the series Freefonix.

A Brand New Year

With the end of summer arriving, a new year at the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy was also coming. This was one of the most anticipated moments for Star, how he would return to the Enchanted Forest and be with his friends again.

He, Melody and Purple Smoke boarded the carriage, with Timber accompanying them. The timberwolf started to go with his owner to the academy, but lived in the forest around the academy, going to visit Star in his spare time. Heartbeat no longer accompanied him to the academy, although this was because she was forced by Golden Paladin, as he had other things for her to do.

For Star, returning to the academy was a relief after what happened when he entered the second phase of his transformation as a Jinchuriki. Despite knowing that wasn't his fault, that at that moment, he wasn't aware of what he was doing, Star couldn't help but feel bad for himself for having attacked his father seriously. This feeling of guilt came up whenever he saw the scar on his chest.

The carriage get out from the Light Kingdom at the previous day before the first day of school and advanced in the direction of the Enchanted Forest. Soon, Star got to feel that familiar sensation of crossing the border between the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest and then the young prince was able to enjoy the landscape of beautiful trees that realm had to give.

Finally, the academy came up in his field of vision and, not far away, he could see Leafgreen. The carriage stopped at the entrance of the academy and Star, Timber and the two Generals left the carriage.

"Well, Prince Star Knight, we're going inside" Melody said.

"Yeah, see you at the reception for the new students" Purple Smoke said.

And the two moved away.

Star looked around, trying to see if he could find his three best friends, while he greeted students who passed by him and greeted him.

"It seems that they have not arrived yet, Timber" Star said to his timberwolf.

Timber barked, agreeing.

"If you want, you can go now to the forest. Later I’ll go to the usual place after the reception with the others, okay?"

But Timber seemed not to want to leave its owner alone.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine" Star assured him.

Then the timberwolf began heading into the woods.

After searching for a few minutes, Star found his first friend.

"Bramble!"

"Hello, Star" the young deer greeted, whose antlers were getting bigger. "How was your vacation?"

"It was… good" Star said hesitantly. "But I'll tell you when we're with Jona and Gunter."

"Then ya're in luck, ‘cause yer old friend Jonagold has arriv’d," Jonagold’s voice said, while he approached.

"Jona, I'm glad you're here" Star said. "I bet you had a vacation filled with work on the farm."

"Ya bet well" Jonagold said. "But work on tha farm is a great way tah pass tha time, besides that, Ah could help mah family."

At that moment, Moonlight, who used to accompany Jonagold on trip to the academy, approached and said:

"Hello, Star..."

"Hello, Moonlight" Star greeted. "I hope you had a nice vacation."

"Well, it was nice" she said shyly.

And, having said that, she moved away.

"Well, it seems she remains a filly of few words" Star said.

Bramble and Jonagold looked at each other, still not believing that Star had not noticed the reason for Moonlight’s behavior.

"Hi, guys" a voice greeted.

And Gunter approached his three friends, landing in front of them.

"I hope you had a good vacation, because mine was great!" he exclaimed with a smile.

"For your enjoyment, it seems that it was okay" Bramble noted.

"Are you kidding?" Gunter asked. "During these three months, I was able to travel with my great-uncle Guto. You can't believe to where we travelled. I had a great time. In addition, I was able to be away from you-know-who."

"At least you could refer to me by my name, Gunter" a female voice said. "It's rude to call somepony you-know-who."

Gunter rolled his eyes and turned around, facing a female griffon with pale, light grayish amber fur with dark stripes, grayish gamboge wing feathers, dark grayish scarlet head feathers and moderate orange eyes. Her name was Galena and she was the youngest daughter of a griffon king of a griffon kingdom in the Enchanted Forest called Aeropolis, which stood in the mountainous region of the realm.

Galena was at the same year as Moonlight, being also her best friend and roommate. She and Gunter, since the day they met, began to bicker each other, as all that was due to little rivalry between the griffons of Aeropolis and the griffons of Griffonstone.

"You know, Galena, I was perfectly happy because of the great vacation I had until you showed up" Gunter said.

"And you think I like to come across with your face?" Galena asked rhetorically. "It's bad enough to have to be in the same school as the prince of the arrogant griffons. Good thing we are not in the same year."

And, having said that, she moved away.

"Oh, she always gets on my nerves!" Gunter exclaimed.

"Ah don't know, Ah think ya make a lovely couple" Jonagold replied, cynically.

"You say that one more time, Jona, and I promise my claws will make a visit to your bed" Gunter threatened.

"Wow, you're pretty sensitive when it comes to Galena" Star noted.

"If you had to endure her jokes about your own kingdom, you'd also be sensitive" Gunter said. "She thinks, just because the griffons of the Enchanted Forest never had a story of greed and selfishness, they are better than us, the griffons of the Pony World."

Galena was meeting with Moonlight who, having seen her confrontation with Gunter, asked:

"You had to be so mean with Gunter?"

"Moonlight, he started it" Galena defended herself. "He and all that arrogance of his… It annoys me."

"It's not because you like him a little of it?" Moonlight asked.

"Moonlight, honey, I love you" Galena said. "You're my best friend. But I advise you not to repeat that."

"Okay, sorry" Moonlight said.

"Besides, if we're going to talk about loving someone, then we should be focusing on you" Galena said, with a sleek look.

"What are you talking about?" Moonlight asked, starting to blush immensely and acting clumsily.

"I'm talking about the young and handsome alicorn prince studying in our school" Galena said. "Come on, Moonlight, when will you confess your feelings for Star?"

"It's not as easy as it sounds, Galena. You know I get the shakes and I stammer when I'm near him."

"Yes, and I don't understand why. You know each other since you were little and your mothers are best friends. Believe me, my dear, if you don't hurry, you will lose Star definitely. I don't know if you noticed, but he is one of the most wanted among the fillies of the academy."

"You know what, we better put our things in the dormitory" Moonlight said, trying to change the subject. "I don't want to lose the reception."

"Why?" Galena asked. "We had already seen it three time, including ours. We're not missing much."

But Moonlight still advanced to within and Galena sighed and followed her.

After the reception of the new students, all the students began to enjoy the rest of the day before the start of classes next day. Although most wanted to go visit Leafgreen, Star and his friends went into the forest, where they met with Timber, since Star wanted to tell his friends what had happened during the summer.

"Wait, you've lost control and you hurt your dad?" Gunter asked, after Star had told them everything. "Wow, that's what I call a vacation."

But the looks of Jonagold and Bramble made him to say:

"Sorry, Star."

"It's okay, Gunter" Star replied, while he petted his timberwolf. "You're right. It was a really an intense summer."

"Are ya okay, Star?" Jonagold asked. "Ah mean, after what happen’d, Ah guess it still affects ya."

"A little, yes" Star replied. "This is not something you can forget from one moment to the other, especially having to face my father's scar. But now I'm a lot better. After all, I recover quickly."

There was a pause and then a little concerned Bramble asked:

"But aren’t you afraid that happens again? I mean, Nine-tails is not to be trifled with. He is very powerful and extremely clever. If you try to control more energy than you can..."

"Don't worry, Bramble" Star said. "All of you. I'm going to be able to control Nine-Tails’ power, you can be sure of that."

But Star’s friends didn't seem so confident about it.

"Besides, I don't have any other option" Star continued. "It can’t take too long for the villains of the Lord of Chaos begin to collect the Tailed Beasts."

"Do you think they’ll start soon?" Jonagold asked.

"I know they already tried" Star replied. "A few days ago, I heard my parents talking about an incident that happened in the Golden Desert. Adagio tried to capture Chief Strongpaw’s One-Tail."

"Really?" the other three asked.

"Yes, fortunately, thanks to Golden Paladin and the others, her plan failed" Star said. "But if she tried to capture One-Tail, it just means it's time for them to capture the Tailed Beasts. Although probably they will leave Nine-tails for last, I can't waste time. I need to control his power, if I want to beat any villain the Lord of Chaos sends to capture me."

In the Golden Desert, Medusa was watching a prisoner that she had captured by Rothbart’s request. He was a pony-panther. He was bound and gagged and Medusa was watched him with a wicked smile, something that was leaving the pony-panther extremely uncomfortable.

"You know, I'm thinking the best position for you, when I turn you into stone" Medusa said to her prisoner. "Will you look better on your knees begging for mercy, or in a position more... elaborated?"

The gorgon’s words made the pony-panther swallowing. Despite all the courage he was trying to gather, he couldn't help but fear Medusa, mainly because of her petrifying power.

"Looks like you're having fun with our guest, Medusa" a voice said.

Rothbart appeared, carrying a pair of saddlebags.

"What can I say, you were gone for too long and I started getting bored" she said. "But where have you been? I already captured this pony-panther for a good time. It's rude to keep a lady waiting, you know?"

"I was dealing with my strategy to defeat the One-Tail’s Jinchuriki" Rothbart said. "I can't fail on his capture like Adagio did."

"Don't say" Adagio said. "And tell me, what's your brilliant strategy?"

Rothbart took a hoof to one of the saddlebags and pulled from it…

"Clay?" Adagio asked, while she watched what Rothbart had pulled from the saddlebag. "You're going to defeat a Jinchuriki with clay?"

"Don't underestimate my abilities, Medusa" Rothbart said, while he put the clay back in the saddlebag. "As you can imagine, this is not ordinary clay. I have a plan to defeat the Jinchuriki and it is a very efficient plan I outlined after analyzing his abilities. The only thing missing is access to the pony-panther village. After the last attack, their leader have been restricted to the village and this is where our friend enters."

He turned to the pony-panther and said to him:

"You must think I'm going to torture you until you tell me how to get in your village. But the point is that I know how to get in. Since I heard that your dear leader was the Jinchuriki of One-Tail, I have been working on a spell that will allow me to get in your village, even with the protection of your oasis. The only thing I need is the blood of somepony who has been in it... and that somepony… is you."

Raising a hoof, Rothbart turned it into one of his talons and then scratched the pony-panther’s face, making the talon getting soaked with his blood. After getting enough blood, Rothbart moved away and said to Medusa:

"Do whatever you want with him."

She didn't wait a second, proceeding to turn the pony-panther into stone.

"Very well, I already have everything I need" Rothbart said, while he looked at his talon full blood. "It's time to capture a Jinchuriki."

The Capture of One-Tail

Rothbart advanced in direction of where the oasis of pony-panthers was located, arriving there when the night had fallen. As he was expecting, he couldn't see anything, but that would no longer be a problem. Raising the talon where the blood of the pony-panther that Medusa had captured, he accessed to his magic and then he was finally capable of seeing it.

The oasis began to emerge before his eyes. Not only the Lake of pure water and the palm trees around it, but everything else. He could see a fortified valley behind rock cliffs, surrounded by more palm trees, where a small water fall was coming out from an opening, being the source of the lake. There was only one entrance to this valley that was a single slit between two cliffs. The village should be located inside that cliff. Rothebart started moving towards the entrance.

At that moment, several pony-panters who were on guard appeared, surrounding him.

"Halt, intruder!" one of them exclaimed. "We don't know how you managed to get through our protective barrier, but you will not come foward."

Rothbart laughed and asked:

"Do you really think that hoof soldiers like you have a chance against me?"

In a blink of eyes, Rothbart transformed both his hooves in talons and went to his saddlebags to get some clay and then, with an incredible accuracy, launched it against the pony-panthers. The small pieces of clay stuck to them, but nothing happened, leaving them confused.

"Wait for it..." Rothbart said, snapping his claws.

The pieces of clay shone with a dark bright and exploded, throwing the guards against the ground while they let out moans of pain. Some were terribly wounded, while others had not resisted the blast. Knowing that it wasn't going to late for more pony-panthers to appear, Rothbart decided to turn into his other form, then taking flight. By air, he passed through the entry and was able to see the pony-panther village.

It was like any other village in Equestria, with buildings made of stucco, with scattered palm trees and a lake bigger than the one at the exterior in the most distant place from the entrance. There was pony-angels, with many of them in their pony form, strolling the streets, without knowing of what was really happening, heading to their homes. There was a big stone building in its center that Rothbart knew it was where Strongpaw, the leader of the pony-panthers and the Jinchuriki of One-tail, was.

Strongpaw was in his office, sitting in his chair watching the beautiful vision of his village when suddenly he noticed Rothbart flying in the sky. Recognizing him immediately, Strongpaw rose up immediately. It seemed that the villains of the Lord of Chaos had decided to try to capture him once again, but this time with a more direct strategy.

Rothbart approached the main building and landed on its roof, however, when he got there, he faced with Strongpaw, with his bag on his back.

“That’s as far as you go” the leader of the pony-panthers said.

Before Rothbart, Strongpaw started to let some of his sand get out of the bag to surround the villain, who smiled and led one of his talons to one of the saddlebags, something that caught the Jinchuriki’s attention. Rothbart tool flight before Strongpaw’s sand could get him and started to move away, with the sand tailing him. Strongpaw was trying to reach Rothbart, but he was very fast, flying.

The villain started to fly through the streets to outwit the sand, but I continued to tail him. Strongpaw was doing what he could to not lose Rothbart. The latter passed through some warriors who as shocked for seeing the villain being tailed by their chief’s sand.

Rothbart was trying to concentrate on the task of charging his clay with dark energy to turn it explosive, but that made him get distracted for a few seconds, which made the sand of Strongpaw show up suddenly in front of him. This made the villain increase altitude, but not even so the sand stopped chasing after him, adopting the shape of three jets. However, the high became too much for the jets of sand that returned to the edge of their master, surrounding him. Rothbart, watching Strongpaw from the air, said:

"No wonder Adagio failed to capture you’re Tailed Beast. He's pretty good. "

It was then that Strongpaw made a gesture and more sand got out of his bag, joining the one that was already out. After that, the leader of the pony-panthers jumped up to it, which managed to sustain him, and Strongpaw rose in the air, in order to face Strongpaw as an equal.

“I can see that you spotted me before, right?” Rothbart observed.

“There is no flying creature in the Golden Desert” Strongpaw replied. “Furthermore, you’re monster form is quite unique… Rothbart.”

“Is that so?” Rothbart asked.

Down there, the warrior pony-Panthers could observe their leader confronting one of the villains of the Lord of Chaos.

"And I was thinking I could capture you quickly and discreetly" Rothbart said. "Well, at least, I don't have to go looking for you."

It was then that Strongpaw lifted the front hooves and the sand that was in the village simply stood up in the air, creating a sort of sand wave.

“Technically, he does have the advantage” Rothbart admitted, impressed with the amount of sand Strongpaw gathered. “This can get messy.”

At that moment, the sand wave became a version of one of the front legs of Shukaku, the One-Tail, which began to try to capture Rothbart. He dodged as much as he could, throwing some of his explosive clay, although exploding with any of the sand was a futile attempt as the sand would only rejoin itself. While he was dodging, Rothbart prepared more explosive clay, molding it this time in the form of small birds. He tried to get close of Strongpaw, but Shukaku’s sand arm acted as defense, prevented him from approaching. Both opponents looked at each other carefully, as if waiting for the next move of the other.

“The real fun is about to begin” Rothbart said to Strongpaw.

And he advanced. The sand arm tried to catch him, but Rothbart dodged. Then, he launched the small birds made of clay that came to life and began to fly over the sand arm, blowing as soon as they came in contact with it and with the sand. Rothbart released more birds of clay that tried to approach Strongpaw, trying to pass through the sand arm, but a smaller arm came out of the larger one, trying to catch and smash the birds of clay.

Strongpaw knew that Rothbart was an earth pony who got dark magic when he joined the Lord of Chaos. Although typically he used his magic to turn into his monster form, it looked like he could use it for other things. Observing Rothbart, Strongpaw managed to understand the form of combat that he was using against him, using explosive devices made of clay that he could drive remotely to his targets. He should charge the clay with dark magic in order to be able to manipulate it and then explode it.

Rothbart started preparing more clay, while Strongpaw kept trying to catch him with his sand arm. The villain had just prepared more explosive clay, molding it to form birds that were different from the previous ones, with a longer neck and four wings. He released them and they started flying in the direction of Strongpaw, passing by the arm.

Watching it, the leader of the pony-panther made the sand around him to try to catch the explosives that were approaching, but these were faster than the previous ones and were able to get close. When they were close enough, Rothbart activated them and they exploded, creating an immense smoke screen.

The pony-angels that watched down there, worried with their chief because of that blast. Rothbart, in his turn, watched with a smile, but not because he had managed to reach Strongpaw, but for the latter’s expertise. It happened that Strongpaw had managed to defend himself from the explosion and that became evident when a sand ball emerged from the smoke screen when it had dispersed.

“It’s like he incased himself inside that cocoon” Rothbart said to himself.

Next to that sand ball there was an eyeball which seemed to be made of sand that was watching Rothbart. He knew that Strongpaw was seeing him through that eye. However, Rothbart's attention was so focused on the cocoon and in the eye that he didn’t noticed the sand arm coming from behind him, ready to grab him. When he noticed it, the hand was already closing on him.

“Well, this certainly isn’t good” Rothbart said.

He tried to get out of hand, but he couldn't get out of its reach and he was caught by the sand that started to involve him, forming another cocoon. Strongpaw, in his cocoon, watched what was happening, having connected the eye sight he was covering with one of his hooves to the sand eye that was out there. The pony-panthers down there were satisfied, thinking that their leader had managed to defeat Rothbart, but Stronpaw didn't share their opinion.

Then, suddenly, the sand cocoon where Rothbart was exploded in a part and the villain took the opportunity to escape, while the sand tried to rejoin again. But the explosion made him return to his pony form and Rothbart started to fall. However, a sand tentacle coming from Strongpaw’s cocoon began to follow him, managing to grab him in one of the hind legs, and then threw him against the cocoon where he was before, which opened, ready to swallow him again.

Acting quickly, Rothbart returned again to his monstrous form, using an explosive clay to escape through the smoke screen. Having started to move away a little, the sand that threw him began to follow him, leaving a hole in Strongpaw’s cocoon, who now watched with his own eyes. The sand of the cocoon that had imprisoned Rothbart also started following him.

“That sand is a real pain” Rothbart commented, watching from the corner of his eye the sand that was tailing him.

The villain continued to dodge the sand swiftly, but he didn't know how long he would be able to keep something like that. Then a tentacle managed to grab one of Rothbart’s talons. Watching it, Strongpaw began to raise one of the hooves slowly and the sand tentacle that had caught Rothbart’s talon started to go along his foreleg, managing to get to the shoulder.

Before that, Rothbart released more explosive clay that he threw like a rope and it adopted the form of a giant centipede which involved the tentacle of sand and then he made it explode, but this had no effect. Realizing that Rothbart wouldn't stop moving to free himself, Strongpaw decided to attack and twisted the hoof, making the sand crush Rothbart’s foreleg. Noticing that, the pony-panthers who were watching began to cheer their leader.

The sand tentacle began to destabilize Rothbart’s balance, causing him to lose altitude rapidly. He had to let go no matter what, so he had no choice but to push and let the tentacle tore his foreleg. When he got freed, Rothbart returned to gain altitude. Looking for the place where before his foreleg was, Rothbart said:

"Looks like I underestimated him."

He looked at the sand that had ripped out his foreleg and noticed that it was faster and more powerful than the common sand of the desert. Then he looked at him, keeping in mind the fact that Strongpaw usually had a sandbag whenever he is not near the village or when facing a strong opponent, what made him conclude that the sand that was there was different, probably because it was infused with One-Tail’s energy. It was for this reason that his defense was apparently perfect and his attacks were extremely fast and lethal.

The sand that had crushed Rothbart’s foreleg tried to attack him again, but Rothbart dodged, while saying:

“I see, so this is your famous Ultimate Defense. Let’s see if I can pass through it.”

Rothbart, observing the hole that now existed on Stronpaw’s cocoon, concluded that the last missing piece of it was the sand that had crushed his foreleg. He consulted his saddlebags and saw that he had only a little clay. He should have brought more, but he never thought that Strongpaw was so strong and skillful. Rothbart started to think about the type of explosive that he should use with the clay he had left.

Down there, it wasn't just the warriors who were watching the battle, as more pony-panthers came out of their houses to watch the fight, including mares and foals, both in their pony form. Noticing it, Rothbart had a malicious idea. Using a big chunk of clay, he molded with his magic a spooky-looking figure, while continuing to dodge from the sand that was still trying to catch him.

Seeing their leader fighting for them, the pony-panthers realized that they also had to act. So, the warriors began to organize themselves, some began to close roads and watching all the sectors of the village in case of existing more hidden enemies, while others positioned themselves on rooftops to help their leader if necessary. Others also began to prepare first-aid kits in case of any residents get injured in the crossfire. Observing all that movement, Rothbart said to Strongpaw, while holding his next explosive:

“I think your friends are about to get in the party. And besides… I’m tired of that look that you’re giving to me.”

He then launched the explosive that, in an instant, got an immense size. The figure opened its arms, preparing for its mission. Repairing the size of that explosive and guessing its destructive power, Strongpaw could predict what would be Rothbart’s move. As he had guessed, the explosive began to descend in the direction of the village.

“That is a more powerful version of all the detonative clay I have been using against you” Rothbart said to Strongpaw. “It has a great amount of dark energy, being that the reason why it expanded, capable of great destruction.”

When the explosive clay was at sufficient distance, Rothbart detonated it and it exploded. The people covered their eyes due to the intensity of the blast, but when the blast and smoke dissipated, it was revealed that the village was protected by an immense wall of sand that protected the area of the explosion. When the ponies, who realized what had happened, acclaimed Strongpaw with great intensity. However, the effort weakened Strongpaw reasonably, making him start to gasp. Rothbart, however, displayed a smile and said:

“Now, you’re in range.”

It was then that Strongpaw noticed a bird of clay that was right by his side. Rothbart should have prepared it and released it while he was defending the village. The villain made the bird explode and an explosion happened, leaving the pony-panthers quite worried. The smoke dissipated, revealing the cocoon was still intact, with the sand that had been attacking Rothbart in its place. It just meant that Strongpaw had managed to defend himself, to the great relief of his people.

Down there, the pony-panthers had prepared catapults with arrows and tried to point them to Rothbart. But he didn't pay attention to them, continuing to look for the cocoon of sand that protected Strongpaw.

“I expected as much. That special sand of his makes such a tight defense” Rothbart said.

Inside the cocoon, Strongpaw tried to catch his breath. That last attack of Rothbart had almost caught him. After all, the attack on the village was just a distraction for him to let his guard down and allow the other explosive to approach. Fortunately, the sand was fast enough to protect him.

Outside, Rothbart smiled and continued, looking for the place where the sand that attacked him was:

“However… that’s exactly what I was counting on.”

Inside the cocoon, Strongpaw began to feel something strange. It looked like something was drilling his cocoon. So he got to see small holes forming and small figures of clay with the shape of ants started to enter inside the cocoon.

“My left foreleg might have been crushed, but I used the opportunity to mix your sand with some of my detonative clay” Rothbart continued. “You doomed yourself from the moment you used that sand to make your defense. And the best part is I planned that way all along.”

“No…” Strongpaw said, not believing in what just happened.

“Now, be a good Jinchuriki… and explode!” Rothbart exclaimed.

And he detonated the clay and it was possible to see the explosion happening inside the sand cocoon. It made everyone down there starting to whisper among themselves about what could have happened to their leader. The cocoon started falling apart, making the sand that was forming it to fall. Rothbart watched with a smile the cocoon crumbling, glad his plan to make Strongpaw use the sand with the explosive clay in his defense have work, endangering the village to make his guard down and allow his hidden explosive to approach.

The cocoon had broken almost completely. Strongpaw appeared, apparently unconscious on his pony form, still surrounded by sand that was keeping him on the air. His own body was full of cracks that was the layer of sand that the involved his body.

“Time to get the prize” Rothbart said. “The Lord of Chaos will get so happy for having the first piece he needs to his great plan.”

The villain began approaching Strongpaw, but, to his shock, the Jinchuriki opened his eyes and began trying to move his hoof. Fearing that he was going to attack, Rothbart retreated to a safe distance. So Strongpaw started moving the hoof, making one-way gestures. By doing so, he began to move the sand that was above the village. That made Rothbart to smile and say:

“Ah, yes of course. You’re using all your remaining power to remove safely the sand to the outside of the village. Such a noble leader. Fighting when it was so much easy to drop it on their heads.”

“You… don’t know… anything… about being… a leader” Strongpaw said, while he struggled to remove the sand.

The pony-angels, not wanting to disappoint their leader who was using the rest of his forces to save them, prepared the catapults and started firing a rain of arrows against Rothbart, who simply smiled and dodged.

“Why do you even bother” Rothbart said to them, in a mocking tone. “Your arrows won’t work.”

But it was then that one of the arrows exploded after Rothbart dodged it. He realized they were using some kind of explosives on the tips of the arrows. That became much more difficult to dodge easily, what also prevented Rothbart from getting close to Strongpaw, who continued to move the sand to the exterior of the valley, while his people was giving him encouragement. The sand started to get out over the village and Strongpaw relaxed gradually his hoof, making the sand starting to fell in the desert. The villagers got very relieved for not being in danger anymore.

However, the effort made Strongpaw to lose his senses and pass out, while the rest of the sand around him fell. The leader of the pony-panthers began to fall. Watching that, the pony-panthers prepared to catch him. However, Rothbart was also trying to do the same, starting to go towards him, while arrows were still being fired against him.

“Taking him down without killing him was much harder than I thought.”

It was then that Rothbart managed to grab Strongpaw through his bag with his remaining talon. Looking at him, Rothbart said:

“My mission is clear.”

And he started heading for the outside of the village. The pony-panthers wanted to continue shooting at Rothbart, but they could not do that as they could hit on your leader. This allowed Rothbart to leave the village and move away.

Rothbart flew to the place where Medusa was waiting, along with the statue of the pony-panther that she had captured for Rothbart.

"Well, well, well, it looks like you did it" she said, seeing Rothbart landing and putting the unconscious body of Strongpaw on the floor.

"Yes, but with a heavy price" he replied, referring to his crushed limb while he returned to his pony from. "I really should had prepared better. But this is nothing I can't deal with. Dispetrify the pony-panther."

"And ruin a masterpiece?" Medusa asked. "You're kidding, right? Sorry, Rothbart, but as much as I like you, I won’t dispetrify him just because you ask."

"In a matter of minutes we will have an army of pony-panthers behind us and we are in position to fight them" Rothbart said. "So, if you don’t want to see me angrier, hurry up and do what I say."

Medusa sighed and then said:

"Whatever. But you could had asked nicely"

She did what Rothbart told her to do and the petrified pony-panther returned to his original state. He was very shocked when he saw his leader unconscious but Rothbart didn't give him time to react to that, because he grabbed his left foreleg and simply ripped it apart, making him scream in pain. After that, he put the ripped limb in the place where the missing limb was and, through his dark magic, made it attach to the rest of the body.

"That's better" Rothbart said, watching his new limb and turning it briefly into a talon. "And the best part is that I also get the strength of a pony-panther."

"You know, you don't stop to impress me" Medusa said, petrifying the pony-panther again.

"You haven't seen anything that I'm capable of doing" Rothbart said. "I learned a lot of new tricks after the Lord of Chaos freed me from the prison-book. But it’s for the best to let the talk for later. We have to take this Jinchuriki to our master quickly.”

And the two, along with Strongpaw, disappeared.

Author's Note

The battle between Rothbart and Strongpaw was based on the battle between Deidara and Gaara in the third to sixth episodes from Naturo: Shippuden.

The Dark Song of Adagio Dazzle

Adagio Dazzle entered the Lord of Chaos’ throne room and, upon reaching the base of the staircase to the throne, she made a bow and asked:

"Did you called me, my lord?"

"Yes, Adagio, I just want to know if you have a plan for when it's your turn to bring me a Tailed Beast" the Lord of Chaos said. "Your last attempt was not a great success."

"I know, my lord" Adagio replied. "In fact, I've already planned my next plan."

"I see… And can I know it? Just in case there's some weakness in that plan of yours. At this stage of my great plan, it is for the best that if the captures are… successful."

"Trust me, master. This plan will please you immensely. As you know, on my last attempt, I tried to use the power of a Prodigy to seal a Tailed Beast. This time, I will use the power of a new Prodigy, one even stronger with a power still unworked. But instead of using it as a weapon, I will use it to increase my voice’s power."

The Lord of Chaos made pensive look and then said:

"Interesting... Corrupt the power of Thirteen Note and use it to further increase your power. Sounds like a good plan… if you choose well the Prodigy."

"Don't worry, my lord" Adagio said. "I know exactly who is the perfect Prodigy for the job. I will use her own darkness to submit her to our will. The only thing I ask is that you raise the power of my pending for my dark song."

"I hope this plan works, Adagio" the Lord of Chaos said, pointing his spear to Adagio. "Otherwise, prepare yourself to feel my disappointment."

And, having said this, he launched to her a black lightning that hit Adagio’s pendant that began to shine with a dark glow that later went to Adagio. She could feel her power increasing tremendously.

The first days of the new year at the academy passed smoothly, at least for the ones who weren't an athlete. It was always in the first two weeks that the main teams of the extracurricular sports were decided, among them the flying derby team.

Star and Gunter felt that would be their year, that they were going to finally become the main team for the flying derby and represent the academy in the competition that year. After all, they had trained a lot for this.

The day where the flying derby team would be decided had arrived over the weekend where the sky was cloudy and there was a light breeze. It was a perfect day for a flying derby race. The derby track was being prepared to receive not only the participants but also the audience, which included not only students but also the participants’ families and flying derby fans.

Star headed to the cafeteria for breakfast, while some of his friends wished him good luck for the event. He sat down at the table where his three friends were and Gunter asked:

"Are you ready for our big moment, partner? This is year we will make to the team.”

"Wow, you're really confident, Gun" Jonagold noted.

"Why wouldn't I, Jona?" Gunter asked. "I and Star trained for this day, I know we're going to make it."

"Gunter, you know that only the two fastest flyers will be qualified" Star said. "There is the possibility of only one of us getting a place on the team."

"Hey, if that happens, then at least we know that this year main team will have decent flyers" Gunter said. "Maybe we can win the Wonderbolts Junior Academy this year."

The Wonderbolts Junior Academy was an academy for young pegasus foals in Cloudsdale that trained them to be great flyers while it also took charge of their academic education. It had been founded by Rainbow Dash and Soarin as a way to find young promises to the Wonderbolts and also help less capable pegasi to improve their flight.

"I'm tired of those self-centered pegasi who are always beating us and bragging about it" Gunter said.

"Hey, watch your mouth" Jonagold said. "My cousin Apple Storm studies there."

"And they have reasons to brag about" Bramble said. "They are in fact great flyers. No wonder, since the headmasters are two of the best Wonderbolts of all time."

"Yes, that may be true, but I know that this year things will be different" Gunter said. "I and Star have been thinking about some tactics to put into practice if we make to the team, right, Star?"

But the young alicorn prince was occupied looking for something in his saddlebag.

"Ah, did you hear anything I said?" Gunter asked.

"Of course I was” Star answered, still looking. "I just wasn't listening carefully. I'm looking for my flying googles and I can't find them."

"You must have left them in our room" Bramble said.

"Yes, you're right, Bramble" Star said. "I'm just going to pick them up."

And he got up and headed to the exit of the cafeteria.

Star started heading the male residence when he began to listen someone singing. He had never heard such amazing voice. It was like listening to the sweet sound of the ocean in a beautiful summer day. Star's mind felt so good... it was as if he had entered in the paradise. Following that voice, Star found himself approaching Melody’s classroom. Opening the door, he looked inside.

Inside was Melody, but she wasn't the one who was singing. It was Moonlight. Her voice was sweet and smooth, singing at a leisurely pace and perfectly in tune.

The nature of that voice fit perfectly in Moonlight’s natural beauty, seeming to be enveloped by a beautiful luminous glow.

Star didn't know how long he just stood there looking at Moonlight, but he woke up to reality when she finished singing. Not wanting them to know that he was peeking, Star closed the door quietly, even though his will was to continue to contemplate Moonlight.

"Very nice, Moonlight" Melody congratulated. "You're getting better."

"Do you really think so, Melody?" Moonlight asked.

"Yes" Melody replied. "Your control over the Thirteenth Note is getting better."

"I still can't believe I'm a Prodigy" Moonlight said. "It all seems so… unreal."

"But believe me that it is all quite real" Melody said. "And, if you ask me, you have an even greater potential than Sweetie Belle. And she has a particularly strong control over her voice. Moonlight, with your voice, not only you can calm the most agitated ponies, but also you can make the deepest feelings of the ones who hears you to come up. It is quite similar to Heartbeat’s power."

"Yes, it's pretty amazing" Moonlight said, getting then slightly discouraged. "It's a shame I can't enchant myself."

Melody, understanding what Moonlight said, asked:

"This is about what you feel about Prince Star Knight, right?"

"I know I have to be brave and tell him what I feel, but..." Moonlight started.

"But it's a task that is not as easy as it sounds" Melody completed.

Moonlight waved.

"I know you're afraid to express your feelings, Moonlight" Melody said. "A lot of fillies at your age feel the same. But if you really want Star to notice you, then it's only a matter of time until you have the courage to confess your feelings."

Although Moonlight was not sure if she would ever be able to declare herself to Star, she smiled to Melody, as if thanking her for her words.

At some distance from the academy, watching it from afar sitting on the branch of a tree, was Adagio with her cloak with hood over his head.

"Soon, the most talented of the prodigies will be under my will and, with her power, I'm going to be more powerful than ever before" Adagio said. "Even Melody will feel the pain that my voice can inflict."

And she dropped an evil laugh.

Star was wandering through the halls of the academy, still thinking about Moonlight and her beautiful voice. With the exception of Melody, he had never heard such beautiful voice. However, he could not understand how her voice affected him like that. His heart was beating as it had never beaten before and he was feeling a knot in his stomach that seemed not to want to disappear. Was he...

His thoughts were interrupted when he crossed with Gunter who told him:

"There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere when you didn’t come back."

"Come back?" he repeated, a little confused. "From where?"

"From your room, where you would take your racing googles glasses" Gunter reminded.

Remembering the reason that led him to cross the Enchanted Music classroom where he heard Moonlight’s voice, Star said:

"Oh yeah..."

Gunter, noting Star’s distracted look, asked him:

"Are you okay, Star?"

"Me?" he asked. "I'm fine... Why do you ask?"

"Well, you seem a little... moony" Gunter replied. "This is not like you."

"Don't worry..." Star started, trying to invent an excuse. "I was so focused thinking about the race that I lost track of time. Don't worry, I'm going to my room in no time. We meet on the track."

And, having said that, he took flight, with Gunter watching him.

"That was weird" he said.

In the flying derby track, students and other guests sat in the tribunes in order to watch the selection of the new team. Sitting in the royal tribune was King Aspen, accompanied by a beautiful doe with a grayish gamboge fur and moderate cerulean eyes. She also had a small barrel on a necklace. Twilight and Blue got there and the former greeted:

"King Aspen, how nice to see you!"

"Princess Twilight, Prince Blue Sword, the feeling is mutual" King Aspen answered, making a slight compliance with the head. "Allow me to introduce you to my wife and Bramble’s mother, Fyr."

"It's an honor to meet the rulers of the wonderful Light Kingdom" Queen Fyr said.

"The pleasure is all ours, Queen Fyr" Blue Sword replied, while he and Twilight sat. "It seems that you decided to come and see who will be the representative team of the academy in the flying derby."

"Aspen has always been a sports lover" Queen Fyr said. "And it's always nice to get out once in a while a little away from all the royal duties."

"I understand you perfectly" Twilight said. "The only thing I hope is that my son Star can finally make the team."

"We feel the same thing about our son" a voice said.

And Gael and Greta landed on the royal tribune.

"After all, they've been training so hard for this" he continued.

"Gael, Greta, I'm glad you could make it" Twilight said. "I guess you still don't know King Aspen and Queen Fyr."

"No, but our son Gunter already told us a lot of your son Bramble" Greta said to King Aspen and Queen Fyr.

"And the same happens with Bramble" Queen Fyr said.

"Hello, Twilight" a voice said.

Twilight looked to where she had heard the voice and saw Rainbow Dash and Soarin nearby.

“Rainbow Dash, Soarin, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

"What do you think?" Rainbow Dash asked. "We came to see the race."

"In my opinion, you have come to see the competition" Blue said.

"Yes, it is precisely that the reason why we came" Soarin said.

"Soarin, try not to turn us in" Rainbow Dash said.

"Sorry, Rainbow, but is a little obvious, given that we are the headmasters of the last year winning team and you're its coach" Soarin said.

"Yeah, yeah…" Rainbow Dash said, blushing slightly. “Well, we better go find seats. See you later, Twilight."

And the pegasus couple pulled away.

The participants began to get in the track, each one starting to warm up to the race. Moonlight, who was sitting next to Galena, couldn't stop looking at Star. To her great surprise, he looked back, what made her swerve quickly.

"You couldn't be any more obvious?" Galena asked to Moonlight.

"What do you mean?" she asked back.

"You didn't stop looking to Star since he went on the track" Galena replied. "If you go on like this, those who have not yet realized that you have a crush on him are going to notice."

"Yes, I guess you're right" Moonlight said. "But I can't help it."

The race was about to start and all the competitors went to the starting line.

"Will he get the place on the team?" Moonlight asked. "I sure hope so."

"Don't worry" Galena said. "Star is a great flyer. The representatives of the last year team have already graduated from the academy and they were the only ones who could be considered competition. It's almost guaranteed that he will be qualified this year to the main team."

"You're right" Moonlight said. "And I bet Gunter will also make the team. He worked as much as Star for today."

"Yeah, I wouldn't count on it" Galena said. "Gunter still has a lot to work to be considered a great flying racer."

"Galena, I know you and Gunter don't get along, but you can't deny that he has a chance to be qualified" Moonlight said.

It was then that Star returned to look at Moonlight and that caught Galena’s attention.

"That’s weird" she commented.

"What?" Moonlight asked.

"Star hasn't stopped looking at you since he went on the track" Galena said. "I guess you didn't notice because, each time your eyes crossed, you swerve. Don't tell me that..."

"What?" Moonlight asked again.

"Is Star interested in you?" Galena asked.

That question left Moonlight overwhelmed, but then she dropped a laugh and said:

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm talking quite seriously" Galena said. "He was looking at you in a way that he never looked before."

Realizing that her friend Griffin was telling the truth, Moonlight began to feel her heart bumping harder. Was Galena right?

The time had come. The three fairy headmasters emerged flying and Knotgrass said:

“Welcome to the flying derby tryout race. As everyone knows, the first two riders to cross the finishing line earn their place in the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy flying derby team. And, without further ado, competitors, on your wings…”

“Get set…” Thistlewit continued.

“Go!” the three fairies exclaimed, while they sent sparkles from their wands.

The competitors took flight and started the race, passing through several obstacles while surrounding the track.

During the race, Adagio appeared in a corner, looking to the stands where her target was. Melody, who watched the race along with the other teachers, noticed Adagio moving away quickly. The General of Music became concerned when she saw her there. Was she trying to capture Prince Star Knight? She couldn't let that happen. The first thing she had to do was to warn Golden Paladin.

The race was coming to an end when the competitors were in the lead approached the finish line. Among them was Star, who held undoubtedly the lead, while Gunter competed the second place with a pegasus student.

"Wow, Star is pretty good" Rainbow Dash said to Soarin.

"Yes, it looks like we will have some serious competition this year" he agreed.

"You know, it is rather ironic that someone so clumsy in flight as Twilight has a son who is pretty good on that" Rainbow Dash commented.

Star eventually crossed the finish line, making everyone cheer for him, especially the fillies of his age. Moonligth was overjoyed to see Star finally get into the main team, feeling that was shared by his parents.

Gunter, however, was still fighting for the second place, but when they were just a few hooves from the finish line, the young griffon prince gave a last thrust with the wings that put him in front enough time to cross the line in second, being qualified for the team, much to the pride of his parents.

The two new members of the flying derby team began to receive major accolades from the public while Knotgrass said:

"And the new members of our flying derby team are... Prince Star Knight and Prince Gunter."

"Well, it looks like Gunter actually managed to make the team" Galena said to Moonlight. "You were right, Moonlight, I gotta hand it to you."

She turned to her friend, but she saw her trying to get out of the bleachers. Galena smiled because she knew that she would finally tell Star what she felt for him. Moonlight was already on the runway, smiling, wanting to go hug Star and confess her feelings, but something made her stop.

Star was surrounded by other fillies, all being fans of him. Seeing that, Moonlight’s courage and hope were virtually wiped out. The young prince tried to get rid of his fans the best he could, but this seemed to be a very difficult task to do.

"It seems that our son is very popular with the fillies" Blue said. "He must have gotten that from his old man."

But Twilight had her attention focused on Moonlight, repairing the way she was looking at Star. The alicorn princess began to feel sorry for her. After all, she knew that Moonlight had a crush for Star and it should be difficult for her to see that.

In fact, Moonlight couldn't handle seeing that and got out from there flying, to great sadness of Galena who observed getting away. Star, seeing Moonlight going away, began trying to get through the crowd around him.

Moonlight landed on a remote area of the academy and tears flooded her eyes. She was about to confess what she felt for Star, just to be intimidated by his fans. Maybe he wasn't for her... or love was an illusion.

"You look so sad" a voice said.

Moonlight shuddered and turned. Adagio approached, with her hood hiding her face partially.

"Such pretty filly like you don't deserve this" Adagio said.

"Who... Who are you?" Moonlight asked cautiously.

"My name..." Adagio said, lowering her hood. "... is Adagio."

There was something different in Adagio. Her ears had turned into red fin ears. Recognizing her as being one of the Sirens, Moonlight started to retreat, saying:

"You... You work for the Lord of Chaos. You're one of the Sirens."

"You don't have to be scared of me" Adagio said, trying to short her distance. "I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I've come here to release you of all your troubles."

"I don't believe you" Moonlight said. "Melody says you're evil."

"Melody don't know anything about me" Adagio said. "And I'll show you ... with a song."

And, having said this, Adagio began singing.

It was a song different from all those she had sung. It was a truly dark song, where each note was full of dark energy. Moonlight tried to protect her ears, but as soon as she started listening the song, a sense of numbness has taken control of her. She felt her eyelids close and her mind getting cloudy.

Star had finally managed to scrounge from his fans and started looking for Moonlight. Flying through the grounds of the academy, Star looked everywhere, but he couldn't find her.

"Where are you, Moonlight?" he asked. "Please, I have to tell you what I feel for you."

It was then that he began to hear something... It was a song with a dark nature which began to leave him drowsy. But his will was such that he managed to overcome its effects. With this, he felt a bad feeling. He felt he had to follow the music.

Adagio was singing her song for Moonlight, which continued under its effect. A darkness began to involve Moonlight, while she let herself be carried away by the music. The Siren finished the song and then said to Moonlight:

"It won’t last for you to see things as they really are. Love is an illusion, only power matters. And you're going to help me have the power that I want and help my master to fulfill his plan."

"What are you doing?" an angry voice asked.

Adagio turned and saw Star, who was shocked when he saw Moonlight under the effect of Adagio’s voice and becoming increasingly involved in darkness.

"Look who's here" Adagio said. "Sorry, my dear, but today I'm not after you."

"What are you doing with Moonlight, Adagio?!" Star asked, with his anger growing even more.

"None of your business" Adagio replied. "After all, I'm not the one who was assigned to capture you."

"What did you say?" Star asked.

And his eyes turned red with slit pupils, while fangs and claws appeared and his coat stood bristling.

"I see..." Adagio said. " You're starting to release Nine-Tails’ energy. But, if I were you, I'd be very careful. I know you don't want to hurt little Moonlight."

Hearing that, Star tried to relax as much as he could, since he didn't want to hurt Moonlight with the power of the monster inside of him, but that wasn't enough to relief the red eyes.

"Good boy" Adagio said.

"Adagio!" a voice exclaimed.

And Twilight landed ahead of Star, with Blue Sword and Melody appearing at her side.

"Step away from Star" Twilight said.

"You won't be able to capture him, Adagio" Melody said.

"Please, as if I were trying to capture him when we still have just the One-Tail" Adagio said. "My aim today is another."

"Twilight, Melody!" Blue exclaimed, pointing.

Twilight and Melody then noticed Moonlight, who was involved completely by the darkness.

"What are you doing to Moonlight, Adagio?" Melody asked.

"Just showing her a better way" Adagio said. "It won’t last for me to have the power of Thirteenth Note and when that happens, no one, not even you, Melody, will be able to stand against my power. And, so, I'll be able to catch a Tailed Beast to my master."

"We're not going to let that happen" Blue ensured.

"But how will you do that?" Adagio asked. "You can't stop me. She is mine... and thanks to your dear son."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Love is a powerful force, that is a fact" Adagio said. "But the disappointment, the fear, the conformity... all that can dim the light of love. Who would have thought that the only thing I had to do was to wait for Moonlight to be in her most vulnerable state, after her love for Prince Star Knight suffered a big blow."

Hearing that, Star was petrified.

"She likes me?" he asked.

"And if it wasn't for you and your dear fans, she couldn't have been an easier prey" Adagio said.

A sense of guilt began to invade Star. It was because of him Adagio got Moonlight.

"Don't listen to her, Star" Twilight said.

"She's just trying to get to you" said Melody. "That's what she does. She messes with the minds of others."

"In part, that is true" Adagio said. "But I don't need that anymore... when I already have everything I need."

And at that moment, the darkness surrounding Moonlight dissipated and she came out. But she seemed different. Her natural and sweet beauty had been turned into a rougher and colder one with fin ears like Adagio’s, but in blue.

"Moonlight..." Star said.

She looked to Star, but her eyes, instead of transmitting goodness, didn't do anything but to show cruelty and coldness.

"Hello, Star” she greeted her calmly and making a little evil smile. "Do you like my new me?"

Everypony got astonish seeing Moonlight like that.

"What did you do to her, Adagio?!" Melody asked.

"I turned her into a Siren… just like me" Adagio answered, while Moonlight placed herself by her side. "And, with the power of the Thirteenth Note, my power will be a lot bigger."

"I'm not let you do this" Melody said, stepping forward. "I'll bring Moonlight back."

"I want to see you try" Adagio said.

And, having said this, Adagio and Moonlight pointed their hooves to Melody and released sonic waves that hit her and threw her back.

"Melody!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I'm okay, princess" Melody said, rising up.

But the truth was that she was very worried. Moonlight was the prodigy with the most powerful form of Thirteenth Note that she had met and, with it, Adagio now could affect her with her voice.

"Very well" Adagio said, turning to Moonlight. "I see you have a lot of potential. I'm glad I could bring you to my side."

Star was boiling with rage and frustration, seeing how Adagio was using Moonlight as a mere weapon. Everything he was feeling was such that the young alicorn prince was unable to control himself anymore. The demon fox cloak began to appear over him, bubbling and glowing with intense red.

"Oh no, he's entering in the first phase..." Twilight said.

"No, Star, you have to control yourself!" Blue exclaimed. "Remember that if you attack Adagio, you’ll also attack Moonlight."

"She's going to pay for this..." Star said, unable to focus on anything but his anger towards Adagio. "She's going to pay for this…"

And the demon fox cloak covered his tail.

Looks like our dear Prince wants to play" Adagio said. "Let's see if a song makes him change his mind."

"Good idea... sister Adagio" Moonlight replied.

And the two started singing a song together.

It was a song even darker than the last one that, when it was heard by the present ponies, began to cause them immense pain which made them take the hooves to their ears, including Melody.

Star seemed to be the most susceptible. The pain that music was giving him was not only agonizing, but was also boosting his anger, as if he was a wild animal being prodded. It was then that the second tail appeared.

"Star..." Twilight said, trying to deal with the pain, while her son was being increasingly consumed by Nine-Tails’ energy.

Adagio and Moonlight ended their song and the former said:

"This is amazing. Finally, I have on my side a power capable of affecting Melody. Now, I will be able to get even for all the centuries I was locked in a cell handling the rantings of Aria and Sonata."

"And I will help you, Adagio" Moonlight said.

"Yes, I know that" Adagio answered.

Unable to control himself, Star was able to recover from the effects of the song and, with a great speed, he advanced towards Adagio and raised one of his front hooves, where the cloak that involved it took the shape of a claw.

Suddenly, golden chains emerged from the ground and surrounded Star, pulling him down and holding him. They all looked and saw Golden Paladin, accompanied by Heartbeat.

"That's enough, young prince" he told to Star. "You're not going to solve things acting this way."

"Golden Paladin..." Twilight said, while she, Blue and Melody get up. “Heartbeat... I'm glad you came."

Adagio, realizing that she and Moonlight could not face the two most powerful Generals alone, said:

"We better get going, Moonlight. It is for the best if we let this battle for another day."

"Yes" Moonlight agreed.

And they disappeared in a wave of darkness.

"NO!" Star exclaimed, with the energy that was involving him getting more intense. "MOONLIGHT!"

Acting quickly, Golden Paladin made his chains begin to absorb the energy Star was releasing. It didn’t last until the energy was absorbed completely and Golden Paladin released Star. After this, his parents went to him.

"Star, are you okay?" Twilight asked, hugging him.

Although he seemed exhausted, Star seemed fine, at least physically. But his heart weighed a lot, after seeing Moonlight being corrupted and taken. Heartbeat, feeling this, approached him and said:

"I know what you're feeling, Star. But you can be sure of one thing: we'll retrieve Moonlight. Don't worry."

Heartbeat's words calmed Star down, but he couldn't help but feel as if somepony had stolen something extremely valuable, as if they had caused a hole in her heart that could not be filled.

Later that day, Star was in his room, sitting on her bed looking out the window, lost in his thoughts. Twilight and Blue were saddened by the their son’s state of mind.

"Son..." Twilight said.

"Mom, can I ask you something?" asked Star, without taking his eyes off the window.

"Sure" she replied.

"Adagio said they captured One-Tail" Star said. "Is that true."

"Yes…" Twilight said. "But don't worry. Chief Strongpaw is alright. We managed to save him in time."

"We wanted to tell you, but we didn't know how you'd react" Blue said.

"I understand..." Star said.

Twilight and Blue exchanged a look. They realized it was better to leave Star alone so he could organize his thoughts.

Watching the clouds moving quietly, while the sun was going down to make way to the moon and the night, Star came to a conclusion: he wouldn't rest until he released Moonlight from Adagio’s control.

In Discordia, Adagio entered in the Lord of Chaos’ throne room, followed by Moonlight, who observed her surroundings quite surprised. They reached the base of the staircase leading to the throne, where the Lord of Chaos was sitting, and they knelt down before him.

"My mission was a success, my lord. We now have a powerful ally, someone with a power that will help me affect even Melody."

"I see..." the Lord of Chaos said, looking at Moonlight. “Good job, Adagio. As for you, Moonlight, I count on your services."

"Of course, my Lord" she replied. "I will do everything for you and for Adagio."

That made the Lord of Chaos let go a laugh. Not only he had another villain to help him in the capture of the Tailed Beasts, as that had also caused a severe blow in Star.

Author's Note

The videos added to this chapter belong to xXxTeaChanxXx.

The Capture of Two-Tails

The news about Moonlight’s corruption reached Fluttershy and Thunder Night, who became devastated by the news, especially Fluttershy. Thunder Night wanted to help in any way he could, but nothing was worth until the villains attacked again.

Star tried to deal with Moonlight’s disappearance the best he could, but it was very difficult for him. Dealing with the school and the trainings was something he could do, but what he couldn't do was to handle the comments that the other students were saying about what happened. As if it weren't bad enough having witnessed everything that happened.

However, in spite of everything, the villains were continuing with their work to capture the Tailed Beasts…

The Kingdom of Aeropolis was a kingdom in the Enchanted Forest located in the mountains, being the kingdom with more altitude. The location itself was a defense mechanism against invaders, since the thin air and the high altitudes to non-adapted beings were not favourable factors. The kingdom itself had a certain similarity to Griffonstone, but the houses were made of stone and had a certain elegance that the Pony World griffon kingdom didn’t have. The castle was obviously what was located on the highest point of the kingdom.

Lots of griffons flew and walked through the kingdom peacefully. Among the inhabitants of Aeropolis, there were also some ponies, who wore caps and scarves because of the cold. In addition, at the base of the mountain where Aeropolis was located, there was a small village of ponies, with who the griffons kept a good friendship.

Galena, having come to spend the weekend at home, was walking through the streets of the kingdom with a quite saddened look. Since the day that Moonlight had been corrupted by Adagio, she didn’t have her best friend to talk and have a good time. In a way, she blamed Star for what happened, but she knew he was suffering as much or more than her, so she just forgot the anger she had for him. However, the missing she felt for Moonlight prevented her from smiling.

"Looks like you need a shoulder to cry on" a voice said.

Galena turned and faced with an adult female griffon with grayish crimson fur, dark grayish crimson wings, grayish brown head and talons and grayish blue cornflower eyes. She had a kind of scarf and headband.

"Aunt Gigi" Galena said.

"What's the matter with you, my dear?" Gigi asked.

"Well, you know..." Galena started.

"Let me guess" Gigi said. "You're thinking about that friend of yours, isn't it?"

Galena nodded her head and said:

"I just can't believe what happened. How is possible that Moonlight can be a villain? She was always the sweetest pony I have ever met, besides being my best friend."

"You know, Galena, we all have a little bit of darkness in our hearts" Gigi said. "It is an undeniable truth."

"It's a really horrible one, that’s for sure" Galena said. "If it were up to me, there would be no evil."

"Don't say that, my dear" Gigi said. “After all, everything has a reason to exist, including evil. But if the light can produce shadow, so there is always light in the darkness. Your friend may be lost in the darkness right now, but that doesn't mean she can't be brought back to the light."

Gigi’s words filled Galena with hope, making her truly smile for the first time in days.

"Thank you, aunt Gigi" Galena thanked. "You're pretty wise."

Gigi giggled and replied:

"Can you say that to your father? We may be cousins, but the truth is that he never listens to my advices."

That made Galena to drop a laugh.

At that time, a female griffon approached and said to Gigi:

"Lady Gigi, a situation arose at the base of the mountain that your cousin, the king, would like to have you to look into."

Gigi sighed and then said:

"It's always the same thing. When I'm on my days off, is when he has things for me to do. Well, Galena, I gotta go. Don't forget, keep having hope.”

"I will, aunt Gigi” Galena answered, with a confident tone.

"Great, this is the Galena I know!" Gigi exclaimed, turning then to griffon who came to warn her. "You can point the way."

And they drifted away. They left Aeropolis and descended the mountain flying into the woods there was down the mountain. Arriving to the forest, the griffon led Gigi for a while in the woods, hiking. After a while, coming to a small clearing, Gigi asked:

"I’m sorry, how long before we get to the place?"

"You don't have to ask that" a voice said.

And, from the middle of the surrounding foliage, Chrysalis appeared smiling evilly to Gigi, adding:

"You're already in the right place."

"You..." Gigi started, getting ready to retreat. "You're the Queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis."

"And you're more than just the king’s cousin, isn't it?" Chrysalis said. "After all, it’s not everyone that has Two-Tails inside."

Gigi gritted her beak. If Chrysalis knew she was the Jinchuriki of Two-Tails, that meant taking her to that place had been…

As if confirming her suspicions, the griffon who brought her to there was actually Obsidia, who returned to her true form and put herself next to her queen.

"You did a great job, Obsidia" Chrysalis said.

"Thank you, my Queen" Obsidia thanked, making a brief bow to Chrysalis.

"So, you're the Jinchuriki I have to capture" Chrysalis said, observing Gigi. "I have to confess, I expected something more impressive. You look like you're not going to last long."

"That's what we're going to see" Gigi said. "Don't underestimate me, Chrysalis. Your master will not take over my Tailed Beast so easily."

And, having said that, she pulled away from there as fast as she could flying, using the trees to hide her presence and to outwit Chrysalis and Obsidia. The latter wanted to follow her, but Chrysalis told her:

"Don't hurry, Obsidia. After all, this is our moment and we have to appreciate it and do it right."

Gigi was flying as fast as possible. She had to foil the changelings and arrive to Aeropolis as soon as possible. She couldn't allow herself to be captured by them. But she was so focused on escape that Gigi didn't notice there was someone watching her, accompanying her on her escape.

Then, suddenly, Scorpio came up, hissing and preparing his fangs to bite Gigi. She, realizing at the right time, dodged him, but she was caught by surprise by his tail. Beating her wings to gain altitude, she escaped nearly unscathed to that attack, because the sting hit a scratch.

Seeing a small scratch on her hind leg, Gigi realized she had to be careful with that changeling, as his attacks were doubled, due to his fangs and sting. But this time, something went against her with such force that threw her against the floor, leaving several branches broken. Rising up slowly, Gigi saw that who attacked her was Crush, who was hovering in the air, watching her with his piercing and cruel eyes. Scorpio placed himself next to him.

‘So they and the other changeling are the mutants I heard about’ Galena thought. ‘As far as I can see, they have deception, speed and strength. I don't think I can just walk away.’

Chrysalis and Obsidia arrived there, walking, and the former told to Gigi:

"Come on, don't complicate things. Come with us without a fight and I promise to let you live. After all, you have a chance to survive the extraction."

But Gigi simply giggled cynically and said:

"You changelings may be able to turn yourselves into Griffins, but you obviously don't know our essence. We may not be as prideful as the griffons of the Pony World, but that doesn't mean that we don’t have pride at all."

And, having said this, Gigi, focusing, accessed to the Two-Tails’ energy inside her. Then, she opened her wings and, with a beat, released a lot of blue flames that formed a vortex around her. The changelings retreated, before those flames. The vegetation found in the blue-flamed whirlwind’s vicinity was immediately incinerated.

"I see…" Chrysalis said. "So this is the power of the Two-Tails’ Jinchuriki. These flames seem to be even more intense than the Nine-Tails’."

And the flames dissipated quickly and Gigi appeared quickly in front of Scorpio and Crush and, with her claws that were even sharper than they were before, gave them a strong blow, what gave an escape way and allowed her to escape. Scorpio fell to the ground, with a scratch on his flank, but Crush landed on his feet, completely unharmed, as his hard shell protected him from Gigi’s scratch.

"I'm sorry, my Queen" Scorpio saind, rising up and taking a hoof to his scratch. "We let her get away."

"Don't worry" Chrisalis said. "Obsidia can't find her easily."

"You can count on me, my Queen" Obsidia said, beginning to concentrate, using her antennae to pick up the vibrations of the air.

However, Chrysalis looked at the place where the blue-flamed whirlwind was. She realized that, in addition to being more intense than those Nine-Tails’, those flames were easily manageable and controlled. And with her species having a certain vulnerability to fire, it was imperative that they captured her before she had the chance to roast them alive. However, Gigi had not yet realized, and to great satisfaction of Chrysalis, she had fallen into her trap already. Now, they just needed a little more time before the plan could take its course.

"I found her" Obsidia said.

"Let's go then" Chrysalis said.

And they flew through the forest, following Obsidia that struggled to track Gigi. Finally, they spotted her getting closer of the mountain, heading inside a cave. The Changelings entered also there and walked-on to arrive at a chamber that had no way out.

"Looks like you don't have nowhere to go now" Obsidia said.

"You were a foul for coming to a place where you'd be easily trapped" Scorpio said.

"Neither I would make a mistake like that" Crush said.

"Come on, children, let's give some credit to our opponent" Chrysalis said cynically. "After all, she wouldn't be able to fly to her kingdom without taking us along. It seems that this Jinchuriki have some concerns for her people, after all."

But Gigi, rather than appearing worried, grinned and said:

“Your idiots. You think you have me trap, don’t you? Well, you haven’t. In fact, I am the one who trapped you.”

And having said this, Gigi threw with the wings some feathers covered in blue fire that hit the entrance and made it collapse, trapping them all in the chamber.

“Now that I know you won’t stop until you capture me, I don’t have any other option” Gigi said.

“It seems we really fell into a trap” Scorpio said.

“It doesn’t matter” Crush said. “She is also trapped here with us. It only makes thinks easier.”

“Crush, don’t forget the master wants the Jinchuriki alive” Chrysalis reminder. “Furthermore, we are almost finish here. Just a little longer and we will have Two-Tails. This is your last opportunity to considerate, Jinchuriki. Surrender now and come with us.”

In that moment, Gigi was surrounded by an intense energy that bristled both her fur and feathers, while her eyes became white. She screamed:

“YOU MUST BE JOCKING!

And blue flames appeared and started to take shape.

“I’ll take that as a no” Chrysalis said.

And before the four Changelings’ eyes, the Two-Tails appeared before them. It didn’t have the same size as the others, but that should be because of the place it was. It was like a giant cat made of blue flames. It also has a right yellow eye and a left green eye without pupils and the two tails shook in all directions.

“Impressive” Chrysalis said. “She was able to turn herself into the Tailed Beast without any problem.”

“I am the Two-Tailed Cat, also known as Two-Tails” Two-Tails said with a female voice. “You dared to search for me to captured me and now you’ll pay the price.”

And she lifted one of her paws and, with it, she hit Crush and threw him against a wall and then, with her two tails, she tried to crush Scorpio and Obsidia, but they were quick to dodge.

"What!" Obsidia exclaimed.

"She even managed to give a hard blow on Crush as if he was nothing" Scorpio noted.

Two-tails turned to Chrysalis and said:

"Now, I will eradicate you and leave the changelings without their precious Queen."

And she began to form a fireball in her mouth, pointing to Chrysalis.

"My Queen!" Scorpio called.

"Watch out!" Obsidia exclaimed.

Two-Tails launched the fireball that went to Chrysalis, reaching her. The clash made part of the chamber to collapse.

"It's done" Two-Tails said.

But when the smoke cleared, it could be seen that Chrysalis had survived, having created a protective barrier with her magic.

"What?!" Two-Tails exclaimed.

"Your power is impressive" Chrysalis commented. "You actually do live up to your reputation, Two-Tails. But it takes a lot more than a fireball to take me down."

"You may have escaped this attack, but, in the next on, you won't be so lucky" Two-Tails said. "Changelings are vulnerable to fire and I'm sure you'll be totally toasted!"

And she prepared for another fireball, this time stronger, but something happened. Two-Tails began to feel her strength waning rapidly, while her muscles started to be immobilized.

"What... is going on?" she asked. "Why I can't... move? Why is my strength… fading away?"

"It's all quite simple in fact" Chrysalis said. "In Scorpio’s first attack back in the forest, he hit your Jinchuriki with his Stinger, despite having been grazed. The truth is that Scorpio’s fangs and sting are impregnated with a poison that immobilizes the muscles, while it poisons the body. I know that you wouldn't have any difficulty in reducing me and my subordinates into ashes, so I had to come up with a plan that could be implemented at your griffon form... and that's exactly what I did. The only thing I had to do was to survive until the poison was able to take effect."

Two-Tails was so weak from the poison that she fell to the floor with a bang. The flames that made up her body began running low until eventually they became extinct and Gigi appeared unconscious. Crush came out of the place Two-Tails threw him and asked:

"What did I miss?"

"Just the fall of another Jinchuriki" Scorpio replied, as he and Obsidia landed. "My poison worked pretty well."

Chrysalis, who had been weakened by Two-Tails’ last attack, let out a groan of pain due to a headache.

"My Queen, are you okay?" Obsidia asked, approaching.

"I just need some rest" Chrysalis replied. "But I’ll do it when I get back. Now, we need to take the Jinchuriki and get out of here before the others know what happened."

And they did so.

Returning to the Desolate Zone, Chrysalis and her mutant changelings arrived to the place that where their new hive was located. It was like being a mountain in the form of Castle whose entries were holes that opened and closed. At the place that seemed to be the throne room, there was a large throne made of greenish black stone.

Chrysalis sat on the throne, while the mutants put Gigi inside of a cocoon of green goo on the ceiling. After that, they left, leaving their Queen alone with the Jinchuriki. The Queen of the Changelings used her magic to bring to her what appeared to be four stones in the shape of scarabs. She placed them on the floor in order to form a perfect square and then those stone scarabs opened their wings and unleashed green energy that linked between each other and a viscous web emerged under them, raising them and joining them. This created a kind of big green screen where the image of the Lord of Chaos appeared.

"I hope you have good news for me, Chrysalis" he said.

"Yes, my Lord" she replied, bowing her head. "I and my mutants captured the Two Tails’ Jinchuriki."

And Chrysalis showed Gigi trapped in the green goo cocoon to the Lord of Chaos.

“And you don’t have to worried” Chrysalis added. “I already extracted Scorpio’s poison from her, so she will be left alive until the time of the extraction.”

"Perfect" the Lord of Chaos said. "I knew you wouldn't disappoint me. And even if you did disappoint me, you would know what your punishment would be."

That made Chrysalis swallowing, as she knew exactly what the Lord of Chaos meant.

"What do you want me to do now?" she asked.

"Now, I will gather the other villains" the Lord of Chaos said. "We will extract and seal the Two-Tails as soon as possible. We can't risk to let happen what happened when we first captured One-Tail. Wait for my next call."

And having said this, the Lord of Chaos ended the call and the screen disappeared, as well as the slimy Web, what made the stone scarabs to return to their original place and break their connection.

An Unexpected Meeting at the Bridge

In Light Kingdom, Twilight and Blue, in the throne room, had just received not very good news Golden Paladin about Star. Spike was there too.

"Are you sure of what you're saying, Golden?" Twilight asked.

"Absolutely, princess” Golden Paladin replied. "Prince Star Knight is not reacting well to Moonlight’s current situation. It's not that he showed it actively, but in recent days he has been very lethargic and the enthusiasm for the trainings also faded. Of course, in the current state we are, I don't dare to submit him to the training with the Nine-Tails’ energy."

"Poor guy, he must be really depressed" Spike said. "That doesn't sound like the Star we know."

"You're right, Spike" Blue said. "Losing Moonlight to the Chaos right in front of him was a great blow. If only there was a way to cheer him up, maybe a trip to clear his ideas."

That made Twilight have an idea.

"Wait, I already know how we can cheer Star up" she said.

"How?" Blue and Spike asked at the same time.

"You’ll see" Twilight said. "But first... Spike, I need to send a letter."

"I'm ready when you’re ready" he replied, taking a parchment and a quill.

Star returned to the Light Kingdom to spend the weekend with Timber at his side. When he got into the castle, he found his parents waiting for him, smiling.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Star asked. "It seems like I've never come home on weekends."

"We have a surprise for you" Twilight said.

"What kind of surprise?" Star asked, with an arched eyebrow.

"Us!" a voice he knew fairly well answered.

It was Gleaming Shield, his cousin, accompanied by her father, Shining Armor, both with saddlebags prepared.

"Gleaming?" Star asked. "Uncle Shining Armor? What are you doing here?"

"Well, your mother and I knew that you were a little discouraged since… Well, you know" Blue said.

"Then I remembered that your uncle Shining and Gleaming were planning to go camping this weekend" Twilight said.

"What do you say, Star?" Shining asked. "Do you want to come camping with your old uncle?"

"I don't know" Star said, while petting Timber’s head. “I'm not really in the mood to camp."

"Come on, Star!" Gleaming Shield asked. "My brother was to come with us, but he got sick. If you don't come with us, it will not be fun."

Twilight approached Star and said:

"I know, my dear, camping can be something that is not on the top of the things you want to do right now, but at least do this for the ponies you love so much."

His mother’s words made Star think about his decision. Although he didn't really have any desire to go camping, he just couldn't refuse an invitation like that. In addition to that, it could be a good opportunity to try to calm his mind from all his worries.

So, it didn’t take long for Star to prepare his saddlebags and go with his uncle and cousin camping. Timber wanted to go with him, but Star managed to convince him to stay, because he knew that his sisters would be really sad for not to see him.

The three campers boarded the Light Express that led them to Manehatten, from where they went to Neighagra Falls. The waterfalls were a fantastic environment to set up camp. It seemed that Star was really enjoying being camping with Shining and Gleaming Shield, especially when Shining began telling stories by the fire. But the part that he loved the most was stargazing, because it was something that brought him tranquility. He managed to find a few constellations and he even saw a shooting star.

When the time came to return home, Star, Shining and Gleaming walked by the path towards Manehatten.

"You were right" Star said. "I was really needing this."

"Thank your mother for having remembered that we were going to camp" Shining replied.

"You need to come more often with us, Star" Gleaming Shield said. "We see each other so few times, mainly because you're studying in the Enchanted Forest."

"Well, I also have had other concerns" Star said.

"Yes, I know..." Gleaming Shield said. “You know, I know... about your condition as… Jinchuriki."

That made Star staring at her, surprised.

"I was the one who told her, Star" Shining said.

"Uncle…" Star said.

"I know the Light Kingdom keeps everything about Nine-Tails in secret, but I think the family overlaps the secrecy" Shining Armor said. "That and Gleaming Shield kept questioning me and your aunt about what was going on with you."

"It all started in your eleventh birthday when those villains attacked Canterlot" Gleaming Shield explained. "And, well, curiosity was growing until I couldn't take it anymore."

"I just hope you don't think I'm a freak" Star said.

"Star, you are my cousin and I love you" Gleaming Shield said. "And you're not a monster, you only have one inside you."

Star smiled and said:

"Thank you, Gleaming. You are such a good cousin and friend."

Shining was happy to see how the bond between his daughter and his nephew was strong.

They then reached a bridge they were supposed to cross but when they were crossing, a voice said:

"Well, but just look who they are."

And, on the other side of the bridge, were Ulysses and Grogar.

"What a coincidence finding a Jinchuriki here" Ulysses continued.

Seeing the two villains, Shining adopted a defensive position, ready to strike if they attacked Star or Gleaming.

"What are you doing here?" Shining Armor asked.

"What?" Ulysses asked. “Can't we just take a walk?"

"Believe us it wasn't our intention to meet you here" Grogar said.

"But I'm glad that happened" Ulysses said, making electricity pass through his body. "Now I can finally capture a Jinchuriki and rub it on Adagio’s arrogant face. She thinks just because she got an assistant she is better than the others."

Hearing Ulysses talking about Moonlight like that made Star’s anger begin to rise. Reacting intuitively, Star jumped on top of his uncle, using the wings, and put himself on the front in an attack position.

"No!" Gleaming Shield said placing herself at his side.

She was surprised when he saw that his eyes had become red.

"Star, take it easy" Shining Armor said. "Don't do anything rash."

"You know, kid, we have a score to settle" Ulysses said to Star. "You're going to pay for what you did to me."

"This is not the right time for your revenge, Ulysses" Grogar said. "After all, we have before us two alicorns, one being the Jinchuriki of Nine-tails, and a captain of the Royal Guard that was the reason of you fall."

"Don't remind me of that" Ulysses said. "Just thinking about that… But now, I can have my revenge, while having some fun while doing it."

Star grinned the teeth, revealing his fangs. The marks on his face also appeared, as well as the claws, with which he scratched one of the wooden boards of the bridge.

“Give Moonlight back” he said, in a lower tone, while his coat bristled. “Give her back.”

A strange feeling was felt by Shining and Gleaming who looked to Star. The red energy belonging to Nine-Tails started to appear, surrounding Star and forming part of the coat.

“So all that rage is because of Adagio’s new sister” Grogar observed. “She really chose someone closed to Prince Star Knight.”

“As if she would come back to you” Ulysses said to Star. “Do you really think a villain would just come to your side. And yes, that’s what she is now: a villain, just like us.”

“Shut up, parrot face!” exclaimed Gleaming, seeing that Star was starting to lose control. “You don’t understand how he really feels! You just understand what the Lord of Chaos tells you!”

“Gleaming Shield, stop!” Shining Armor. “Don’t provoke Ulysses. He is more dangerous when you insult him.”

“You should listen your daddy” Ulysses said to the young alicorn princess. “He knows what he’s talking about. But you know, if your dear cousin wants his marefriend so badly, he just have to come and get her. That is if he thinks he’s up to it.”

Star’s patient reached its limit and, with the great speed that Nine-Tails’ energy was giving him, went against Ulysses, cracking the wooden board he was standing, preparing to give him a blow with a claw of red energy. Star punched him and threw him many hooves, making him hit against the trees of the other side of the bridge, breaking them for a long distance. One of the suspension ropes was severed, as well part of the handrail of the same side. His tail was already covered by the red energy.

The force of that attack made the bridge to shake, what made Gleaming Shield to hold as much as she could. The power released by Star really scared Gleaming Shield, mainly the way how he was covered by the red energy. Star turned his eyes to Grogar. The way he was looking, so coldly and so mercilessly, Gleaming could see that was not the Star she knew.

Seeing that, Shining realized he had to do something. He couldn’t let Star get more tails or else it would happen what happened at the Great Light Cannyon with Golden Paladin and Blue. He remembered what the General of Peace said to him before he, Gleaming and Star departed from the Light Kingdom.

Before Star arrived from the academy…

Golden Paladin addressed to Shining:

“Prince Shining Armor, as you know, Prince Star Knight is not at his best… mood”

“Sure, after what happened to Moonlight…” Shining said.

“And, because of that, I fear that his current control over Nine-Tails’ energy cannot be enough. If, during this trip of yours, he comes across with something that may drive him to his limits, he may release the Nine-Tails’ energy. If that happens, it is up to you to stop that getting worse.”

“And how will I do that?” Shining asked. “I don’t have any sealing spell. And even if I did, I highly doubt it would be strong enough to contain Nine-Tails’ energy.”

Golden Paladin then made a ball of light appear and that ball addressed to Shining and, when it hit him, simply disappeared.

“Now, you can use my sealing spell” Golden Paladin said. “But, be aware that you can only use it once, so use it well.”

The present…

If Shining used now the sealing spell, probably either Grogar or Ulysses would interfere.

“Impressive” Grogar said. “You really have progressed as Jinchuriki, Prince Star Knight. The power of Nine-Tails gets stronger and stronger.”

Listening that, Gleaming Shield wondered how powerful Star really was when using Nine-Tails’ energy.

In that moment, movement was heard coming from the forest at the other side of the bridge that made Star turn his head. Ulysses appeared, with some bruises and with electricity passing through his body. He approached the bridge and said to Star.

“You’re really starting to act as a Jinchuriki” Ulysses said mockingly. “Aren’t you, boy?”

That really let Star affected. Ulysses continued:

“If I hadn’t covered my body with my electricity, I would be much worse.”

“It’s a shame that didn’t happen” Shining Armor said. “In that way, there would be a villain less to worry about.”

Ulysses dropped a chuckle and said, while getting on the bridge:

“You and your big mouth, Shining Armor. You’re so annoying with all that heroic appearance you have. Tell me, do you really need to act as a hero?”

“I just do what I think it’s right” Shining Armor said.

“What’s right and what’s wrong is highly relative” Grogar said. “What is wrong to you, to us may be right.”

“That’s just a way to justify your evil needs” Shining Armor said. “The truth is, independently of the perspective, there is one fact that cannot be denied: the Lord of Chaos con only do evil. And if I have to choose between light or darkness, then I choose light, where I can be who I really am.”

Grogar smiled and said:´

“I have to say, I really have a linking for you, Prince Shining Armor. Actually, we are very alike… well, not in the obvious way, of course. However, we both do whatever is needed to do what we think it’s right and to satisfy our superiors.”

“You can compare me the times you want, Grogar, but I believed that I am not like you” Shining said.

But that didn’t take the smile off Grogar’s face, who replied:

“The line between good and evil can be very flexible. Take Pandora as a great exemple. She was had a pure heart full of goodness, but when she disobeyed the Lord of Order’s orders and opened the box, not only she released our master’s darkness, but she herself was filled with darkness and corrupted, only to be purified again.”

“And your dear friend Moonlight is another great exemple” Ulysses said. “I heard she ised to be very shy and weak and miserable, but when Adagio ended with her… Well, have to say, she can at least do something really well. She really is a great new toy for our master.”

And he laughed.

“You don’t know her…” Star said, feeling his rage rising.

That same rage grew up so greatly and so fast that the second and the third tails appeared at the same time.

“Moonlight doesn’t belong to your stupid master!” Star exclaimed, with the energy surrounding him starting to boil immensely.

The rage and hate Star was feeling it was something he had never felt before. His body was burning like it was in fire and it felt like he was supporting a lot of weigh. The strength at his hooves was such that the wood under them cracked and Star was breathing dark red energy.

“Don’t talk about Moonlight… as if you owned her!” Star exclaimed. “Especially in front of me… YOUR ROTTING BASTARD!

Inside of him, Nine-Tails was behind the bars of his prison, sleeping. Feeling Star’s rage and hate rising up, he opened his eyes slowly and rose up, growing.

The amount of energy was such that released strong shock waves, while it spiraled in the air. Protecting himself from the force generated, Shining said:

“Oh no…”

Gleaming Shield started to get scared with such a sigh. She had never seen such strong energy before. It was so strong that it threated to uproot the nearby trees.

Star stared to Ulysses who stared him back. The intensity of the look was such that there was a moment when Ulysses found himself starring Nine-Tails himself. The Tailed Beast was like bubbling. He stared Ulysses for a moment and then he roared with such intensity that the griffon and dodged the stared, returning to the real world, where the energy abate the place where Star was and the nearby part of the handrail was broken. After this, the energy stabilized.

Shining was starting to get very worried. Star already had three tails and he was close to get the fourth. If what Blue told him about the fourth tail was really as bad as he made it be, then it wouldn’t until Star go berserk. Gleaming Shield, in her turn, was shaking by seeing all that. She never thought Star had all that in him. That energy was too terrifying and she knew nopony could control it.

“Interesting…” Ulysses said.

Listening Ulysses saying that, Grogar realized he would do something idiot, like trying to face Star alone. He couldn’t let him do that, so he tried to access his magic to make him and Ulysses get out of there. However, as if sensing his intentions, Star turned to him and fired a blast of white energy that hit Grogar and threw him to the side that Star and his uncle and cousin came and against the trees. In the between, he hit Gleaming Shield who was thrown down.

“Gleaming!” Shining exclaimed.

That also exploded with the bridge. It started to crumble, with Gleaming’s unconscious body starting to go to the edge. Star jumped to the other side, where Ulysses was, but that was being tarred apart and it didn’t last for it to fall. Ulysses took flight going above the ground level. But a hand made of red energy appeared and tried to grab him, but he was able to dodge. However, that hand attached itself to a tree trunk and pulled, revealing to be Star coming up. Ulysses then flied to the forest and Star followed him, flying too.

Shining Armor hasted to go to his daughter. He grabbed her and then used his magic to create a barrier that was able to secure the part of the bridge where they were, much to his relief.

Ulysses and Star continued their fight, with the latter attacking and the former dodging as much as he could. His attacks were so strong that he practically created a great hole. Ulysses landed in the branch of a tree, where he looked to Star, who appeared in the dust, on the ground.

“Is that all you got?” Ulysses asked.

Star continued to look at him, growing.

“Even with the power of a Jinchuriki, is that all you can do?” Ulysses asked. “For what know, the others are much better than that and they are preys that I can catch easily.”

Hearing all those provocations, Star’s anger reached the limit that he could tolerate, feeling his body in pain and with the fourth tail starting to be formed. The pain was such that Star fell on one of his forelegs. His eyes were completely red and his breathing was heavy.

Inside his mind, Star found himself in the dark, with his hooves in the water. He asked, while looking around:

“What is this place? Where am I?”

It was then that he heard a growl and, after that, he saw somepony walking at some distance. It was…

“Moonlight…” Star said.

And she then walked through the darkness and disappeared.

“Moonlight, wait!” Star exclaimed.

He started to run to follow her, but it was then that the water started to increase and speeding up in a way that didn’t last until submerge Star. Even with all the water, Star still tried to reach Moonlight, but she only got away. The young prince stopped, closing his eyes and feeling all his frustration and guilt, while he started to sink.

All the things he was feeling at that moment were things he couldn’t tolerate, but the worse part was that he couldn’t do anything to stop it, he wasn’t powerful enough. If only he could go back… If only we wasn’t too weak… If only he was stronger… He would do whatever it took to bring her back. He couldn’t let their friendship… and their love to end like that. He wouldn’t let their bond to be broken. He wouldn’t allow it.

And then, Star was in front of Nine-Tails’ cage, where it was, with his eyes glowing. Star knew he couldn’t trust him, but he was too tired and need help to get stronger. He was desperate for power. Star advanced to the bars and passed through them to the inside of the cage. There, Nine-Tails extended his front paws and then he closed them over Star.

With Nine-Tails dominating Star completely, the Jinchuriki started to get in the second phase, with his own coat beginning to be removed slowly, bit by bit, and leaving in its place a layer of intense red energy that looked like blood, and being then vaporized by the intensity of the energy. The Jinchuriki was then flooded by black smoke that engulfed him like a cocoon. Seeing that, Ulysses wondered what was happening now.

Back at the bridge, Shining was trying to wake his daughter.

“Gleaming… Gleaming, wake up.”

She then started to open her eyes.

“Are you all right?” Shining asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine” Gleaming Shield answered, while holding herself.

She felt then a slight pain at the back of her head.

“Are you sure?” Shining Armor asked.

“Yes, dad, I’m sure” Gleaming Shield replied.

It was then that she noted all the destruction caused by Star.

“What happened here?” Gleaming Shield asked.

“It was Star” Shining answered.

Grogar, sitting where he end after being thrown, was healing himself with his magic.

“I can see why the Lord of Order decided to put Nine-Tails in that child” he said, while tolerating his pain. “He is well suited to prompt all that power to a level that Heartbeat never could, despite everything. I feel sorry for the villain who will try to catch him.”

After knowing it was her cousin who caused all that, Gleaming Shield asked:

“Where is him?”

“He’s on the other side already” Shining Armor answered. “He was after Ulysses.”

Back at the place where Star was fighting Ulysses, the cocoon of smoke condensed, releasing a threat of smoke that was spotted from the bridge.

“What is that smoke?” Gleaming Shield.

Shining was having a bad feeling about that. Did that smoke mean what he was thinking?

At that moment the cocoon exploded with a force that was able to take down the trees nearby, with the scrambles crossing the forest until the bridge. Shining created another shield to protect himself and Gleaming from those scrambles.

Ulysses, who took flight after the cocoon exploded, said, while hoovering:

“The things that colt can do… I must admit, he reached my interest.”

When the dust settled down, Star appeared, now with his second phase form, just like when turned at the Great Light Cannyon, looking like a Nine-Tails in miniature but with four tails, covered by the layer of blood-red energy. He roared with his sharp teeth.

His roar was enough to be heard at the bridge and, with that, Shining was able to get what had just happened.

“The fourth tail must have emerged…” he said. “Damn it.”

Gleaming Shield was confused with what her father said. What did he meant with fourth tail?

Ulysses landed, looking to Star who looked back, growling. The griffon chuckled and lifted one of his talons and then hit it on the ground, making electricity go against Star. He stood over his hind legs and then it the ground with one of his forelegs, causing an explosion whose shock wave was felt even at the bridge, where Shining and Gleaming had to protect themselves. When that shock waved ended, Gleaming Shield asked:

“That was Star’s attack?”

“Yes… Yes, it was” Shining answered.

At the fight, Star raised his forelegs again and hit the ground that started to crack. Ulysses wondered about what he was during when he saw the ground around him cracking. This made him take flight, in time of dodging two great hands with sharp claws. From one the arms, another appeared, opening the clawed hand and making it pursue Ulysses. During the flight, the griffon started dodging the attack attempts.

“Dad, is there something you’re not telling me about Star?” Gleaming Shield asked. “Please, tell me what is happening with him.”

Shining hesitated in doing so. Knowing that Star was a Jinchuriki was one think, but knowing what was really happening was another think completely different. He knew how much Gleaming was worried about her cousin, but he couldn’t put her anymore anxious as she was at that moment.

“Don’t worry, dear, I have something that the General of Peace gave me for situations like these one” he answered. “But I only have one try and it has to be accurate. But with Ulysses fighting Star… I don’t know.”

Ulysses continued to dodge the clawed hand, but then he turned it and, creating a spear of lightning, he threw to it and then bound it to the ground. After this, using all his speed, he approached Star and gave him a punch on the face, throwing him. But, at that moment, energy came from Star, adopting his form that raised the clawed to Ulysses.

Acting as fast as he could, Ulysses conjured his electric armor at the moment that the small replica attacked him, throwing to the other side. Ulysses hit the ground and saw he had a profound wound at his abdomen. Star regain his standing, while his copy returned to the inside of his body. Ulysses standed up, using one of his talons to use electricity to accelerate the coagulation.

At the bridge, Shining and Gleaming were looking to the place where the fight between Star and Ulysses was occurring when they heard steps and Grogar’s voice said:

“You’re probably wondering what’s happening there, aren’t you?”

They turned and saw Grogar coming out of the forest with his major wounds healed.

“Grogar…” Shining said.

“You don’t have to worry about me” Grogar said, stopping. “I don’t have any reason to harm you.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Shining asked. “And making Leaf Mane attack us with plants was not to harm us?”

“All we wanted was to test Prince Star Knight’s skills as Jinchuriki at that time” Grogar said. “Like I said, all I want is to do the Lord of Chaos’ will without doing unnecessary deeds. Why do you think I was paired with that thunderstorm cloud with feathers? Although Ulysses can be resourceful, he is very impulsive and spiteful.”

“Yeah, I kind of noticed that already” Shining replied cynically.

“But the truth is I am really concern about him” Grogar said. “After all, I know the potential of Prince Star Knight.”

Back to the place where Star and Ulysses were fighting, the two faced each other, probably waiting for the other’s next move. It was then that Star raised over his hind legs again and, from his body, he released a great amount of what appeared to be bubble, some blue and others red. Ulysses became apprehensive with what was happening.

Star approached the ends of his four tails, while roaring, and the bubbles approached over his mouth, starting to form a major dark sphere. Seeing that, Ulysses realized that would mean trouble for him. The sphere started to be compressed until it had the size to get inside Star’s mouth, something that released a force that crushed the ground beneath Star himself. Because of that, Ulysses decided to retreat a few hooves with a flap of his wings.

The Jinchuriki then opened his jaw at its maximum and put the sphere inside of his mouth, swallowing it after that. Star vibrated for a moment and then put himself facing Ulysses, who still didn’t know what Star was planning. It was then that Star’s body expanded and smoke started to get out from his mouth. That made Ulysses realizes what he was going to do.

Recurring to all the electricity he had, he prepared to stomp his talons at the moment that Star expelled what was expanding his body in the form of an explosion blast that was against Ulysses. The griffon stomped his talons and created three great barriers of electricity. The blast reached the barriers and exploded. That explosion was seen by the ones at the bridge. At the scene, after the dust settled down, it could see that Star, with that explosion, sank the area even more. Ulysses was lying on the floor with some bruises due to the force of the explosion.

“What on the world just happened?” Gleaming Shield asked, after seeing that explosion.

Grogar knew what happened. They just saw Ulysses’ most effective electric defense being destroyed in a blink of an eye.

At the scene of the battle, the ground started to tremble and then a spear of lightning came from the ground and hit Star on the chest, raising him and throwing. Ulysses raised up rapidly and flapped his wings, revealing being producing the electric spear with one talons, having introduced it under the ground to catch Star off guard. He pulled Star through the forest until the bridge, pinning him against one of the sides of the cliff. The ones who were at the bridge protected themselves from the shock wave.

When the dust settled down, Star appeared and Gleaming Shield became shocked with his appearance, but what was more amazing was that he was grabbing Ulysses’ electric spear as it was nothing and that it couldn’t penetrate the red layer.

“He is closer of becoming the Nine-Tails than never before” Grogar observed.

Listening that, Gleaming couldn’t help but finding her worries about Star reaching their extreme.

“Star…” she said, not wanting to believe that creature was her beloved cousin.

Ulysses tried his best to penetrate even more, with his force pulling Star even more to the side of the cliff.

“Star!” exclaimed Gleaming Shield.

Shining now could see what Blue had seen. Star really looked like a small version of Nine-Tails.

Star then grabbed the electric spear and simply waved it away. Grogar reacted quickly by jumping over it and Shining embraced her daughter and teleport themselves to the same side as Grogar. Ulysses was forced to cease the spear and, due to the tiredness he was feeling, he descended down to the place where he fought Star to recover his strength.

The Jinchuriki roared, with his roar being listened for great distances.

“It’s impressive and he could go so far just to bring his marefriend back” Grogar said.

Gleaming Shield looked to her cousin, with an excruciating pain in her chest. She always knew he was strong, but she never imagined what he passed through to be like that. Now she understood the pain he felt and it was terrible.

“Now the colt is gone and only the monster remains” Grogar continued. “What a pity.”

Gleaming Shield’s eyes were filled with tears, while she heard Star’s grunts. She could see he, at that moment, was suffering… crying. Her tears started washing her face and, without standing any longer, she started running in the direction of Star.

“Gleaming, come back!” her father shouted. “You have to stay away from him!”

But his daughter ignored him and continued running. She passed through Grogar, who was a little impressed by the little filly’s courage.

“Star!” Gleaming Shield exclamed, while approaching her cousin. “Star, stop! It’s okay, I can help you rescue Moonlight! I beg you to stop this right now! Star, please, stop now!”

She tripped, but was able to stand still. That made Star to turn to her. Sensing Star would attack Gleaming, Shining realized he had to act now and so he prepared Golden Paladin’s sealing spell. As he predicted, Star shook one of his tails and hit Gleaming Shield on her shoulder, making her give a scream of pain and fell on the ground.

“Damn!” Shining cursed, as he was not able to complete the spell in time of defend Gleaming Shield.

And golden chains appeared from the ground and started to bind Star and his tails, stopping them from attacking Gleaming Shield again. While doing the spell, Shining started to feel the difficulty in using the spell and keeping it long enough to complete the task. He could feel Star fighting the sealing spell, what just made things even more difficult. Gleaming Shield was lying on the ground, trembling with a wound on her shoulder bleeding. Although he was concern about his daughter state, Shining was relief the wound was not very serious.

Grogar, looking to Gleaming Shield, was impressed with her actions. Despite being the Lord of Chaos’ servant and all the ones who served the Lord of Order were his enemies, he couldn’t help that thinking it was a shame for such pretty filly princess to endure such pain. He started to approach Gleaming Shield. Seeing that, Shining used the power he still had to create a barrier around Grogar, preventing him from advancing. The ram looked at Shining who told him:

“Don’t you dare.”

“You misunderstand” Grogar said. “I don’t have any intention of hurting any of you right now. In fact, it is quite the opposite.”

“What do you mean?” Shining ask.

Making his bell ring once, Grogar made his magic pass through Shining’s barrier, much to the latter’s surprise, and surrounding Gleaming Shield’s injury. It could be seen that it was healing slowly.

“I know that Prince Star Knight really cares about his family and friends” Grogar said. “If he can get like that just because of a filly he has a crush on, I can’t imaging how far he could get if anything happened to you. After all, we want to capture the Tailed Beasts and we can’t do that if their Jinchuriki are too strong, can we?”

Gleaming Shield started to open her eyes and saw her cousin roaring, trying to release himself from the chains. Grogar continued to heal Gleaming Shield, but he saw her wounds were taking too long to heal. At that moment, he received a telepathic message from the Lord of Chaos saying:

“We’ll seal the Two-Tails. Return at once. This is top priority.”

Not having any other option, Grogar said:

“This is all I can do for her. Right now, I have some other things to do.”

And, having said that, he was surrounded by darkness and disappeared, making the barrier created by Shining to break. While this happened, Star started to get freed from the chains and Shining was forced to advance, stopping at the edge of his daughter, and focus harder on the spell. This made more chains to appear and bind Star. Gleaming Shield, recovering her senses completly, raised her head and sat.

The Jinchuriki started to roar in pain and then his claws were retracted and the red layer started to retreat, revealing the burns that it caused on his coat. The red layer retreated from Star’s face, revealing him contorting the face and with his eyes closed, while moaning in pain.

At the place where the fight between Star and Ulysses happened, the latter was lying on the floor, trying to recover his energy. It was then that he felt it returning to him quickly. He opened his eyes and saw Grogar healing him.

“What are you doing?” he asked him.

“Although you don’t deserve this because of your insistence in fighting Prince Star Knight, you need to have your strength back” Grogar said, finishing the healing spell while Ulysses got up. “Our master called us. Chrysalis captured the Two-Tails and he wants us to reunite to seal it.”

“Nice timing…” Ulysses said. “What about Nine-Tails?”

“Forget him” Grogar. “We have much more important things to do. Furthermore, I doubt you would be able to beat him.”

“Hey!”

“Don’t start with your ego again” Ulysses said. “We have to go.”

And so the two disappeared.

Meanwhile, Shining continued to seal the energy that Star was releasing, using everything he had to get the sealing spell even stronger. The red layer start to disappear and then the young alicorn prince was finally released from the energy. While that happening, Gleaming Shield noticed the burns and wounds he had all over his body. When it was all over, the chains disappeared and Star fell on the ground, unconscious.

“It’s finally over” Shining said, relieved and panting.

Listening that, Gleaming Shield rushed to get to her cousin. Once she did that, she put him with his back on the ground and start to use a healing spell she found in one book at the library of the Crystal Castle. The thing was she was very good with that kind spells, being one of her specialties, as her alicorn power allowed her to do much more than a unicorn.

Shining approached, observing her daughter curing Star. The wounds and burns started to heal, but not as fast as she expected. For that, she started to increase the intensity of her spell, but, at that moment, she felt a pain on her shoulder, the place where Star hit her, that Gleaming Shield struggled to ignore. With this, Star’s wounds started to heal quickly until all the body was practically unharmed. At that moment, Star started to open his eyes.

“Star!” Gleaming Shield said, with a smile.

He raised up, feeling his head so heavy. Star then looked around and asked, confused:

“What the… What just happened? Why am I here? I remember going after Ulysses and then… What did I do after that? Gleaming, you’re hurted! What happened to you?!”

“Oh… nothing special, actually” Gleaming said, drying her eyes as fast as she could.

Shining knew Gleaming was trying to prevent Star from knowing what he really did, but the unicorn prince knew it was only a matter of time for him to know everything.

“Let’s go home” Shining said. “There is another way to cross over the cliff. It is for the best if we get to the Light Kingdom as fast as we can.”

And so they start to walk away.

At the edge of Equestria, Grogar and Ulysses appeared in a forest, walking until a desolate part with a stone mountain with a great skull at the highest point.

“Where are we?” Ulysses asked.

“This territory belonged to Arimaspi” Grogar explained. “As so, it also belongs to the Lord of Chaos. Come, they are waiting for us.”

And they get in a cave and walked through it until they arrived to a chamber where Chrysalis, Adagio, Moonlight and Oogie Boogie were waiting. Lying on the ground was Gigi, who was unconscious.

“Finally you’re here” Adagio said. “We were waiting for ages.”

“What happened to you?” Chrysalis asked to Ulysses. “You look awful.”

“It’s not of your business, bug queen” he replied.

“He lost another battle against Prince Star Knight” Grogar replied.

“Grogar!”

“I see, it seems you still don’t have the skills to defeat one little colt” Adagio said.

“Yes, you’re a shame for all of us, Ulysses” Moonlight said.

“Hey, keep it low, newbie” Ulysses replied to her. “You don’t know nothing about any of us.”

“It seems we get here on time to watch the show” a voice said.

The villains turned and saw Medusa and Rothbart, who were using a cape and a hood, entering in the chamber.

“See, Rothbart, I told you we should get here as fast as we could” Medusa continued.

“Hey, Rothbart, why the new look?” Oogie Boogie ask.

“It is not of your concern” Rothbart replied coldly.

“Ok…” Oogie Boogie said.

At that moment, the Lord of Chaos appeared and said:

“Very well, I can see everypony's here. Let’s begin the extraction.”

Painful and Surprising Revelations

After what happened on the bridge, Shining made sure that he, his daughter and his nephew arrived to the Light Kingdom as soon as possible. Getting there, Star went to his room to unpack his saddlebags, while Gleaming Shield went to the infirmary so that she could be treated from her wound. Meanwhile, in the throne room, Shining told Twilight, Blue and Golden Paladin what had happened.

"And so I managed to suppress the Nine-Tails’ power and I brought them back as fast as I could" Shining finished. "I'm glad you gave me this sealing spell, Golden Paladin. Otherwise, I don't know what could have happened."

"I knew that we should be prevented" Golden Paladin said. "At this point, leaving Prince Star Knight get out of the Light Kingdom or the academy without the presence of somepony capable of stop him if he loses the control is a great irresponsibility."

"I can't believe this happened again" Twilight said. "And this time, he attacked Gleaming Shield."

"In this regard, I should have been more cautious" Shining said. "I should have stopped my daughter from approaching Star."

"It wasn't your fault, Shining” Blue replied. "You didn't know you'd find Ulysses and Grogar. And we all know how Star has been quite sensitive about the Moonlight."

"This situation is getting out of hoof" Golden Paladin said. "If Prince Star Knight cannot control the Nine-Tails’ power, I don't see the point of continuing to teach him how to control it."

"So you want to stop everything, Golden?" Twilight asked. "We've been focused on training Star for years, in hopes that he could control the Nine-Tails’ power."

"I know that, princess, but the truth is that I only can teach him how to control the power to a certain extent" Golden Paladin said. "It seems that the time has come to focus now on Prince Star Knight’s own abilities."

"And how are you going to convince him of that?" Blue asked. "He's pretty stubborn."

"Don't worry, Prince Blue Sword, I can handle it" the General of Peace replied.

At this point, Mirror Coat appeared, coming from one of the stained glass windows of the throne room.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I have serious news from Aeropolis" Mirror Coat said.

"Don't tell me..." Golden Paladin started.

"Yes, the Jinchuriki of Two-Tails was captured" Mirror Coat confirmed. "Somehow, Chrysalis and her mutants were able to infiltrate and capture it."

"This is terrible" Twilight said. "We have to do something."

"I wish we could do something, but it's not that simple" Golden Paladin answered. "In the case of One-Tail, we had the cooperation of the pony-panthers due to the friendship between us. But this time, things are not in our favor. Last time, we couldn't approach the location where they were until the extraction was complete. The more likely is it to happen again. But there is another factor. Aeropolis, as well as the other kingdoms with a Jinchuriki are sensitive enough towards them. "

"But why?" Shining Armor asked.

"The kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest don't always get along" Mirror Coat explained. "The reason for this has to do mainly with the choice of the kingdom that would be the overlord kingdom of all the Enchanted Forest. Wars were fought for that very reason."

"Because of this, several kingdoms sought and obtained the power of the Tailed Beasts, sealing them inside Jinchuriki" Golden Paladin continued. "Although the wars ended when Falancia was chosen to host the Heart of the Forest, the kingdoms with Jinchuriki continued to maintain secrecy about them."

"That means we can't do anything?" Twilight asked. "That's awful. Maybe if we talk to the king of Aeropolis..."

"It would take a long time" Golden Paladin said. "The Lord of Chaos and his villains are probably sealing Two-Tails as we speak. Maybe that's why Grogar and Ulysses retreated."

In the villains' hideout in Arimaspi’s territory, they were in the middle of the extraction and sealing process of Two-Tails. Gigi was in the same situation as Chief Strongpaw was, with the energy of her Tailed Beast being extracted and absorbed into the Demonic Statue. The villains were in their positions, on top of the statue's fingers.

"I still can't believe we had to come running just to seal the Two-Tails" Ulysses said. "Couldn't you wait, my lord."

"Do you have a problem with that, Ulysses?" the Lord of Chaos asked.

"The will of the Lord of Chaos must not be questioned, my feathered friend" Grogar said to Ulysses. "I already explained that to you numerous times."

"It's just that I was close of defeating Prince Star Knight and, at this point, we would have the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails at our mercy" Ulysses said.

"And tell me, Ulysses, what use would the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails have to me, if we cannot still seal his Tailed Beast?" the Lord of Chaos asked.

That question left Ulysses unwilling to answer.

"And, furthermore, if I recall correctly, Grogar said your fight against Prince Star Knight wasn't going well for you" Adagio said.

"And the state you arrived only confirms that" Moonlight added.

Those comments from the two sirens made Ulysses look at her dangerously.

"Relax, Ulysses, you don't want to stop the extraction process" Medusa said.

"It's hard enough to concentrate on the extraction during three days in a row, you don't want to make the task even harder" Rothbart continued.

"Stop arguing!" the Lord of Chaos exclaimed. "Concentrate on your duties. I'd hate to have my brother’s servants trying to interfere."

"I wouldn't worry too much" Chrysalis said. "Everyone knows how sensitive the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest are about their Jinchuriki."

"Even so, be alert" the Lord of Chaos advised.

"I have a doubt" Moonlight said. "Why do you want to gather the Tailed Beasts to resurrect Ten-Tails, master? According to what Adagio told me, this creature was uncontrollable."

"It seems that the rookie is trying to stick her nose where it doesn't belong" Ulysses said.

"Just like a certain rookie when he started working with us" Adagio replied, making the griffon look at her coldly.

"It's okay she want to know the reason why we are doing this" Oogie Boogie said. "After all, we don't even know for sure what will happen when Ten-Tails is resurrected."

"The truth, Moonlight, is that Ten-Tails will allow me to conquer all this reality" the Lord of Chaos replied. "Many may think I will make it destroy everything, but the reality is quite different."

"How so?" Moonlight asked.

"There are things about the Ten-Tails that many people are unaware" the Lord of Chaos replied. "My brother did not even tell his disciples about it, afraid that they could use it selfishly. But you shouldn't worry, since nothing bad will happen to you if this happens. Your happiness will be ensured."

And the villains locked at each other, wondering what his master meant by that.

Star was in his room, unpacking his saddlebags when he heard somepony knocking at the door.

"Yes?" he asked.

The door opened and Golden Paladin came up and asked:

"May I come in?"

"Of course."

Golden Paladin came in and said:

"I heard you had a great adventure with your uncle and cousin."

"That’s an understatement" Star said. "Finding two villains was not part of our plans."

"And by the way, I also know that... you lost your temper a little" Golden Paladin said.

Hearing that, Star knew where Golden Paladin wanted to go with that conversation and said:

"I know I'm not supposed to use the Nine-Tails’ power without your supervision, Golden Paladin, but it was something... impulsive."

"Being impulsive isn't exactly something that you should do" Golden Paladin said. "Maybe we should focus our attention completely on your own capabilities."

"But, Golden, I can do this" Star said. "I know I can do this. I may not be able to control the the Nine-Tails’ power now, but..."

"You know, I wanted to talk you out calmly, but it looks like I have no choice" Golden Paladin said. "Listen to me, young prince. The pony who caused Princess Gleaming Shield’s wound... was you, Prince Star Knight."

Hearing that, Star was petrified. He was the one who hurt Gleaming? No, it couldn't be... Knowing that fact made him relive what had happened at the Great Light Canyon, when he get in his four-tailed form for the first time and hurt his father. So all the destruction he had seen had been caused by him…

“So… the bridge then…” he said. “And that giant crater…”

“Yes, it was all you” Golden Paladin confirmed.

“And… Gleaming Shield’s wounds…

“That’s right. She lied to spare your feelings. To protect you from the truth. Your uncle Shining Armor did the same, but only because of her and also because he blames himself for her injuries as well. This is not all on you. The thing is you were only stopped because I was cautious and gave to Prince Shining Armor the ability to use my sealing spell once. I can do that whatever you are not close to me, you don’t have to worry about.

There was a pause and then Golden Paladin:

“But to be honest, I shouldn’t be the one to tell you this, but there is a reason why I did it. There is no question this power will get you stronger, stronger enough to hold against the Lord of Chaos’ desire to get the Tailed Beasts and probably will allow you to get Moonlight back. But the strength you gain from depending on the Nine-Tails is not actually your own. If you continue to rely on that power, not only you’ll hurt yourself, Prince Star Knight, but you’ll be endangering the lives of the ones surrounding you as well. Just as you did today.”

That made Star become even quieter, thinking about Golden Paladin had just said.

“But you knew about this already, didn’t you?” the General of Order continued. “You let your impatience get the best on you and unleased the power anyway. Thanks to my sealing spell, Prince Shining Armor suppressed the Nine-Tails’ power completely now. But listen, if you think that will make you weaker, you’re mistaken. I know what you can do. After all, I have been training you for years. You’re powerful enough on your own and the source of your power is not Nine-Tails’ energy. It’s your own that can put the one that belongs to Nine-Tails’ in check.”

The General of Peace started to go to the exit of Star’s room, but then he stopped and said:

“If you want to save Moonlight, then do it using your own power. If you wish to see Moonlight, then look her with your own eyes, not the Nine-Tails’. If you want to protect your family and friends, forget the fox’s energy. Use your own strength.”

Golden Paladin opened the door and prepared to get out when he heard Star said:

“All right, I’ll do it. If you really think I can get stronger using only my own power, then I’ll do it.”

The General smiled and then got out, closing the door behind him.

Golden Paladin pulled away a little from Star’s room and met with Mirror Coat who commented:

"It's interesting how you were the one who suggested to train the young prince to control the Nine-Tails’ power and now you're asking him to stop."

"You know it's for the best" Golden Paladin said. "Who knows what can happen, if Prince Star Knight continued to use the Nine-Tails’ power without knowing to control it completely. We knew we'd get to a time when we couldn't help him any longer. Now, what we can do is get him stronger until the right time comes."

"I guess you're right" Mirror Coat said. "Besides, this gives us time to concentrate on other things."

"What do you mean?" Golden Paladin asked.

"I just ended processing the information that we obtained from the Changelings’ old nest" Mirror Coat said. "And, believe me, what I found... it is just creepy. Well, it is better for you to see for yourself."

And, having said that, he created a mirror in front of Golden Paladin and began to show him something. Golden Paladin’s expression started to become increasingly surprised until finally, he exclaimed:

"Oh... my... Lord!"

"I know, I was so amazed as you are now when I saw this for the first time" Mirror Coat said. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"Yes, I know, but first I want to confirm this" Golden Paladin said. "We don't know if this could be a way of the Lord of Chaos to confuse us."

"Changing the memories of the reflections is a type of magic that I would certainly feel" Mirror Coat said.

"I know, but the Lord of Chaos is known for being unpredictable" Golden Paladin said. "We have to act. And there's only one pony able to give us the certain of this fact... Heartbeat."

"But she's in one of her trips that to us seem ridiculous" Mirror Coat said. "Who knows when she returns."

"Then we wait" Golden Paladin said.

Mirror Coat rolled his eyes and then said:

"How is it possible for someone to rely more on the General of Affection than in the General of Knowledge?"

He went through the mirror he had invoked that disappeared when Mirror Coat passed thought it.

Three days passed, with Star going back to the academy. There, he found Galena, who, in his opinion, was very saddened, even more when Moonlight was corrupted, although he didn't know the reason.

At the Lord of Chaos and his villains’ hideout, the extraction process was finished with a new iris appearing in one of the statue’s eyes. Without the energy that kept her in the air, Gigi fell on the floor, apparently unconscious.

“Now the Two-Tails has been sealed away as well” the Lord of Chaos said. “Now we have seven more to get.”

“Finally…” Ulysses said, while massaging the shoulder. “I hate staying at once place for so long.”

“I have to agree” Moonlight said. “Staying three days doing nothing except concentrating in this statue is very tiring.”

“Don’t worry, soon you’ll get used to” Adagio said.

It was then that they all heard a moan and saw that Gigi was still moving.

“It seems the Jinchuriki is still alive” Oogie Boogie observed.

“So let me finish her off” Chrysalis said, passing her tong through her lips. “I was the one who captured her, along with my minions. Furthermore, I can smell a lot of love on her, almost as much as the one the former Jinchuriki had.”

“No way, bug” Ulysses said. “I deal with her, as I wasn’t able to kill the other.”

But before the two could have the opportunity to argue any longer, the Lord of Chaos extended his hand to Gigi and launched a dark beam that hit her, making give some mortals in the air and then hit the ground again, with force. This time, Gigi remained completely still, seeming she wasn’t breathing at all.

“There, now you don’t have any reason to argue” the Lord of Chaos said. “Since you all failed to kill the One-Tail’s Jinchuriki, I decided to kill this one myself. Now I think we won’t have anymore survivors. It’s time for you to go. Find the next Jinchuriki as soon as possible, but try to not take any attention.”

And, having said this, he disappeared, taking the Demonic Statue with him. The villains landed and Chrysalis said:

“I better go now. I have a hive and subjects to rule.”

“What about her?” Moonlight asked, pointing to Gigi’s body. “We can’t let her there.”

“Why?” Ulysses asked. “Don’t tell us you still have some compassion.”

“It’s not that!” Moonlight exclaimed, offended.

“We must show some respect, even for our enemies” Grogar said. “Furthermore, I don’t think our master would like to have the bodies of all the Jinchuriki we captured decaying here.”

“I get rid of it” Rothbart said. “I don’t have any important matter to attend.”

“Do as you want, but I won’t get my hooves dirty” Medusa said.

And the villains started to get out, with Rothbart and Medusa staying behind to get rid of the Gigi’s body. Moonlight still gave a last look to Gigi, before going with Adagio.

Heartbeat returned to the Light Kingdom and, after being informed by Golden Paladin the reason he needed her help, she took him to her room saying:

"Wow, what you're saying is pretty incredible. Although I don't believe that is true."

"That's what we'll see about, Heartbeat" Golden Paladin replied.

Heartbeat removed the tapestry that was hiding the door to the Room of Souls and they get in there. The numerous luminous souls illuminated it, while the dark souls offered the contrast.

"Now, summon his soul" Golden Paladin said to his youngest sister.

"I still think that something like this is unlikely to happen" Heartbeat said, while accessing her magic and tried to summon the soul that Golden Paladin had told about. "I mean, I think I would notice if a soul as noble as it became..."

But something appeared suddenly, hitting Heartbeat’s head who exclaimed:

"Argh! But what the... "

And she became astonished when she came across with a dark soul. Heartbeat extended her hoof and touched it and she was invaded by memories of the owner of the soul and then said, not wanting to believe:

"It can't be…"

"Looks like I got the confirmation I needed" Golden Paladin said. "I need to tell Princess Twilight and Prince Shining Armor what I just found."

Just Add a Little Wind

After having requested Shining Armor’s presence, who came along with Cadance, Golden Paladin gathered them together with Twilight and Blue, saying he had a serious issue to talk with them.

"So, Golden, what is so urgent to have summoned my brother and Cadance?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, a journey from the Crystal Empire over here isn't exactly short" Shining said.

"Take it easy, I'm sure Golden Paladin has a pretty good reason for having us gathered" Cadance said.

"Well, this is an issue that started when we went to the former nest of the Changelings with Heartbeat, where I had the idea of making Mirror Coat collect information, just in case of finding something interesting" Golden Paladin told.

"And you didn't tell me anything about that?" Twilight asked. "I should know that."

"I'm sorry, Princess” Golden Paladin replied. "But I didn't see the need to bother you if we hadn’t found anything."

"But you found something, wasn't it?" Blue said.

"Let's just say, after Mirror Coat finished processing all the information, we faced something that has something to do with you" Golden Paladin continued. "Especially with Princess Twilight and Prince Shining Armor."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" a voice asked.

And Mirror Coat appeared from one of the stained glass windows of the throne room.

"Do you always have to appear out of nowhere?" Shining asked him.

"Don't worry, Shining, this is something that you quickly get used to" Blue told him.

"The mere words sometimes are not enough" Mirror Coat said. "Sometimes, it's better to see for ourselves."

Creating the same mirror that he used with Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat showed what he had earlier shown to the General of Peace. It was the old nest of the Changelings and it didn’t take long until they showed up, along with their queen, but they were not alone. Chrysalis sat on her throne and the Changelings launched to her hooves who seemed to be...

"Grandpa!" Twilight and Shining exclaimed, with the former rising from her throne.

"These pictures show what happened to your grandfather when he was captured by the Changelings" Mirror Coat said. "Get ready, because what you're about to see will certainly be a shock to you."

They continued to watch, seeing how Chrysalis was preparing to feed from Star Shield’s love, only to be stopped by the Lord of Chaos. It was then that the shock appeared on everypony's face when they saw the master of all villains corrupting Star Shield and even more when he came out of the darkness the Lord of Chaos involved him. He was different, in fact, he wasn’t a pony anymore. He was… a ram.

"Grogar?!" everypony who was watching it for the first time exclaimed, while they saw one of the villains who was helping the Lord of Chaos capturing the Tailed Beasts appearing at the place where before was Star Shield.

At the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy, Star was having one of his classes of Study of Spells and Charms. However, surprisingly, Knotgrass wasn't alone, being accompanied by Merryweather.

"I bet you must be asking the reason for Professor Merryweather being here" Knotgrass said.

"Well, the truth is Knotgrass invited me to help her in this class, since today you will learn a new kind of magic" Merryweather said.

"What kind of magic?" Star asked, who enjoyed always to learn new types of magic.

"As you may remember from your Introduction to Practical Magic classes, you learn to manipulate and control your magical aura and, with it, you have come to learn various forms of magic handling" Knotgrass explained. "Now, we will learn elemental manipulation, that uses the elements of nature itself."

"In elemental manipulation, you not only learn how to manipulate the elements of nature around you, but you also learn to change the nature of your aura, making it take the properties of these elements" Merryweather continued.

The students began to talk between each other, looking excited with the opportunity to learn something like that.

"Very well, my dears, now calm down" Knotgrass said. "Before using this type of magic manipulation, you need to find out the nature of your own aura."

That left all students staring at each others, confused.

"There are six basic types of nature that the magical aura can adopt: fire, wind, water, light, earth and darkness” Knotgrass continued. "Most of every individual’s auras, including those who do not perform magic actively, follow under each of these elements."

"For example, the villains of the Lord of Chaos have mostly auras with a penchant for darkness, while some of the followers of the Lord of Order have a light nature" Merryweather clarified.

"We, fairies, use this kind of magic manipulation to change nature and keep it in balance" Knotgrass said. "For example ..."

Knotgrass gestured with the wand and the water in a flower pot on her desk stood up in the air, forming a tentacle that danced through the air. Merryweather then moved her wand and created a fireball that put close to the water tentacle. It soon evaporated and, after that, the blue fairy made the fireball disappear. The students looked amazed.

"Professors, it is possible for someone to have two natures?" one of the students asked.

"Of course, with practice and dedication, you can acquire other natures" Knotgrass said. "However, at this time, as your experience in aura transformation is little, none of you has no nature, so…"

With a gesture of her wand, Knotgrass made appear a lot of rectangular pieces of paper that she distributed to the students.

“We’ll find out using these pieces of paper” Knotgrass said, taking then one of the papers. “Like so…”

The students looked at their teacher for a while and it was then that the paper turned to dirt and then crumbled away, to the astonishment of everypony.

“If your nature is earth, then the paper will turn to dirt and crumble away” Knotgrass said.

“If your nature is water, then the paper will become wet” Merryweather, taking a paper and showing that.

“If it is light, the paper will winckle.”

“If it is wind, it splits.”

“If it is fire, it burns.”

“And if it is darkness, it gets dark.”

“These pieces of papers react to your own aura” Knotgrass said.

“They are made from the wood of the dying trees of the Enchanted Forest” Merryweather explained. “When your magic flows through the paper, it shows you the nature of your aura.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Knotgrass asked. “Give it a try.”

The students took their papers and started to flow their magic through them. Star also did and waited for the reaction of his papers. It was then that, on his hoof, the paper just split in two just like that. That meant the nature of his magic was wind. He looked aroud and saw that the others also had their natures revealed. However, he saw he was the only one with such nature.

"Looks like we got some very interesting natures" Knotgrass noted. "Especially here."

She approached Star and said:

"Prince Star Knight, looks like your nature is wind, one of the rarest natures."

"I see..." Star said, realizing now the reason for being the only one with that nature.

"Now comes the hard part" Knotgrass said. "You have to learn how to use and control properly your natures."

"But that can wait for the next class" Merryweather said. "Now, we will just concentrate on theory. Is there anything you would like to know about elemental manipulation?"

Star then raised his hoof, knowing that there was something that he didn't think was making sense.

"Yes, Prince Star Knight?" Knotgrass asked.

"I would like to know if Leaf Mane’s power fits the earth element" Star Knight said.

"The General of Nature’s power, although looks to fit the earth element, but it's actually more than that" Knotgrass explained. "She has a natural inclination for either earth and water and that allows her to mix these two natures and create a new one, in this case the wood nature."

"Another example is Queen Ingrid, who is able to mix water and wind to create ice" Merryweather continued. "This type of magic is totally different from normal freezing spells, which lower an animal body temperature or change the physical state of liquids and gases, or spells that use pre-existing ice."

"What about healing spells or illusion spells?" a unicorn beside Star asked. "What kind of nature they have? Light and darkness?"

"No, these types of spells are not part of the elemental manipulation" Knotgrass replied. "The nature of those spells has something to do with the physical and mental manipulation that is quite advanced magic that is not in the program of your year."

"Now, get your books and read the part that corresponds to elemental manipulation" Merryweather said. "We have some questionnaires for you to do in the second half of the class."

Despite some protests, the students took their respective books and began to read. While reading, however, Star couldn't help but thinking about how he could use this kind of magic. After hearing how Leaf Mane and Queen Ingrid used the elemental manipulation to make their powerful offensive spells, the young prince began wondering if he could do the same.

In the Light Castle, Twilight and Shining were still recovering from the shock of having discovered that their grandfather was now Grogar, one of the greatest and most loyal villains of the Lord of Chaos.

"This can’t be" Shining said. "This can only be a mistake. My grandfather was a Captain of the Royal Guard, a very respectable and honorable one. There's no way he can be one of the Lord of Chaos’ vile villains."

"I don't believe it" Twilight said. "It’s... It's too much."

"I'm sorry, Your Highnesses, but that's the truth" Mirror Coat said, making the mirror disappear. "I don't make mistakes when it comes to undisputed facts."

"Yeah, I don't think this is a good time to brag your skills, Mirror Coat" Blue said.

"I had my doubts" Golden Paladin revealed. "From what I heard, Captain Star Shield was a great stallion, so I asked for help to another specialist: Heartbeat. We went to the Room of souls and she called your grandfather’s soul. If he was dead, it wouldn't show up, since the room is just for the living souls. But, not only it appeared, but it was dark and that only means one thing."

"That the being it belongs to is a being that left itself being corrupt by the Lord of Chaos’ darkness" Cadance completed. "Oh no…"

There was a silence and then Shining said:

"No, it can't be... Not my grandfather…"

"Shining..." Twilight said, approaching her brother.

"I... I need some fresh air" Shining said, starting to head to the exit.

"I think he needs time to accept this information" Cadance said.

"It's understandable, he idolized Captain Star Shield" Blue said. "Everything he is it’s because he followed his hoofsteps as royal guard."

Twilight, although she felt the same sense of incredibility as Shining, she know that the pain was greater for him, who always strove to make their grandfather proud and to prove he was worthy to be his grandson.

"Princess Twilight, if you don't mind, I want to go to the Enchanted Forest" Golden Paladin said. "I promised to meet with Prince Star Knight."

"Of course, you can go" Twilight replied.

Golden Paladin made a bow and left the throne room.

"And I’ll go too" Mirror Coat said. "I've done what I had to do here."

And, having said this, he went to his library.

"Poor Shining" Blue said. "Maybe somepony should go and talk to him."

"I think it’s better to be you, Twilight" Cadance said. "You're his sister and you're the only one who could understand him in this situation."

"I think you're right, Cadance" Twilight said.

And, with this, Twilight headed for the exit. It didn't take her long to find him, looking thoughtfully to the Light Kingdom in the room that controlled the instruments of the towers in the middle of the bridge between them.

"So, are you calmer?" Twilight asked, putting herself at her brother’s side.

"A little" Blue replied. "Your kingdom, seen from here, is beautiful, Twily."

"Yes, I know" Twilight said. "This is one of my favorite places. You should see it how beautiful it is on Recovery Day."

There was a pause and then Twilight said:

"Shining, I know the truth about what happened to grandpa upset you a little bit, but you have to have the strength to face the situation."

"And how do you want me to do it, Twily?" Shining Armor asked. "How do I face our own grandfather?"

"In the same way Star do with Moonlight" Twilight said. "My son is trying to do everything he can to try to save her from the influence of the Lord of Chaos. Maybe we should do the same with him. We can make Grogar go back to being our grandfather Star Shield."

"Do you think we can still do it?" Shining said. "After all, it's been so long."

"Shining, if it was possible to reform Discord, then it is possible to reform our grandfather” Twilight answered.

That made Shining smile and then he said:

"You're right, Twily. And thank you for what you said. "

"Hey, you're my BBFFF" she said. "I could not do otherwise."

And the two brothers exchanged a hug.

Golden Paladin reached the training place, where Star was already there.

"You're late, Golden" he said.

"I'm sorry, young prince, but I had some business to take care of first" Golden Paladin said, finding better not to tell Star the truth about the his great-grandfather being Grogar.

"Well, I had an idea about increasing my power and I would like to know your opinion" Star said.

"And what's that?" Golden Paladin asked.

"At Study of Spells and Charms class, I learned about the elemental manipulation and would like to know if I could apply it to my Spiraling Sphere" Star said.

"I see, but that is something quite complicated" Golden Paladin said, thoughtfully. "Combine the change of form with the change of nature is something extremely difficult and time-consuming. Maybe we could try. Tell me, young prince, do you know what your nature is?"

"Yes, it's wind."

"A natural aptitude for that nature is rare. But I think that’s something I should expect."

"How so?" Star asked.

"Because the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki ends up having the same kind of affinity for wind" Golden Paladin replied. "Like Heartbeat. Don't forget that Tailed Beasts are masses of energy and they also have a nature. Nine-tails has the wind nature, beyond the fire one."

"And what's the One-Tail’s?" he asked, curious.

"Well, that question is a bit tricky to answer" Golden Paladin said. "Unless Professor Knotgrass explained about the mixture of natures."

Star nodded affirmatively and Golden Paladin continued:

"The One-Tail is able to use earth and wind and, with those natures, he can use the magnet nature."

"That's why he can control sand?" Star asked.

"Yes, and I don't know if you noticed, but Chief Strongpaw can still use this same combined nature for being the Jinchuriki of One-Tail for so long" Golden Paladin answered.

"And what's your nature, Golden?" Star asked.

"It’s light. With it, I can create my chains, in addition to other things. You, on the other hand, you have a nature that fits perfectly to combat."

"What do you mean?"

“Wind is a nature perfect for battle because it can rip and cut most of the things in its path” Golden Paladin explained.

"I see..." Star said. “That means, if I manage to combine it with my Spiraling Sphere, I will get a power able to stand against the villains of the Lord of Chaos.”

"Easy, one step at a time" Golden Paladin said. "First, you need to learn to use your own nature. As part of the program of your magic classes at the academy, maybe you'd better take advantage of them, instead consuming time with our training."

"Yes, I think it's a good idea" Star agreed.

In the next Study of Spells and Charms classes, Star and his colleagues trained their ability to use elemental manipulation, with some using the pre-existing elements and others invoking them. Star, in his turn, was trying to create and manipulate wind with its own magic to master his nature. This task was not as complicated as he thought.

After that, with Golden’s help, he start to practice a way to channel that energy in a more offensive way. For that, he started using sheets of paper, trying to rip them of using his wind power. For what Golden had explained, his element had a strong cutting power, being that reason he was doing what he was doing. However, this was not a task as easy as the previous one.

His friends had noticed the way Star was focused on his training between classes and flying derby practice and, realizing the seriousness that he was put on it, they knew the importance of it and gave him their support and encouragement.

In a training with Golden, Star was trying to move forward in his training, but he couldn't do major advances. After another failed attempt, Star approached Golden and asked:

“Golden, can I ask you something? There is anypony who can help me in this? Someone who can give me advice on how to best? I know Heartbeat has the same nature as me, but I doubt she can give any advice regarding training."

"Let me see" Golden Paladin said, adopting his pensive look. "The only pony that I know, beyond you and Heartbeat, who can use the wind nature in the way you're trying to learn is the pony that is able to accomplish any feat."

Star thought for a while and then realized who Golden Paladin was talking about.

At the next day, during the break, Golden Paladin went to that pony’s office and knocked on the door.

"Come in" his voice said.

Star entered, finding Purple Smoke behind his desk.

"Prince Star Knight, what a surprise" the General of Talent said. "What can I do for you?"

And, shorting as much as he could, Star Knight explained the reason of his coming to Purple Smoke’s office.

"I see…" he said. "Golden is trying to teach you how to use the elemental manipulation to improve your Spiraling Sphere."

"Yes, and, as you are the General of Talent, you must know how can I use my element" Star said.

"Well, you've come to the right place" Purple Smoke said. "And I know the right way to help you."

Using his magic, he made a blade to appear and then he made his magic to flow into the blade.

"This blade was design to absorb magic and gets strong with it" Purple Smoke said.

Then he made another blade appear and then he extended it to Star, who took it with its magic.

"Now, try to pass some of your magic to the blade" Purple Smoke said.

Star did so, but he noticed that the aura that his magic freed was different than Purple Smoke’s. The General of Talent’s was flowing steadily and agitated, while Star’s was flowing irregularly.

"It doesn't seem like yours" Star said.

“Try to imagine your aura splitting in two and grinning against each other, as if you were sharping a blade against the two halves of your aura” Purple Smoke advised. “Finely and sharply.”

“I see…” Star said. “But what’s the reason of sharping the blade with the wind aura if it is already sharp?”

“Well, maybe it is for the best if you see for yourself” Purple Smoke said.

He took him to an isolated area of the academy where there were trees.

"When I say three, we launch the blades loaded with wind aura at the same" Purple Smoke said.

"For what?" Star said.

"Just do it and you will see" Purple Smoke replied.

The two then prepared and then Purple Smoke exclaimed:

"Ready? Go!"

And the two launched the blades against the tree. Star’s hit the tree and just stopped, getting stuck in it. However, Purple Smoke’s pass through the tree completely and went against a bolder that was behind it, getting stuck there. Star was amazed with the difference of power that existed between his blade and Purple Smoke’s.

“Amazing…” the young prince said. “It not only passed through the tree, but it also penetrated that boulder behind it.

“And I held back my power just to be safe, otherwise it could pass through the boulder too” Purple Smoke said.

That affirmation let Star speechless.

“When two warriors wearing blades cross them, the sharpest one can determinate the winner” Purple Smoke. “Can you image what somepony knowing how to use wind nature could do using it on his or her blade? Or creating winds capable of cutting anything in their paths?”

“Yeah, Golden Paladin already explained that” Star said. “Thank you, Purple Smoke, you helped me a lot.”

And, having said this, he walked away with Purple Smoke watching him, smiling. It was amazing how foals grow up quickly and try to learn everything they can.

With Purple Smoke’s advice, Star began to be able to accomplish the task of ripping the sheets of paper with more expertise until finally being able to rip them in half. When he showed this to Golden Paladin in the training before a weekend, the General said:

"Pretty good, young prince. You're going in a good way."

"I'm anxious to know what will be the next step" Star said.

"Take it easy" Golden Paladin answered. "All in good time. The next step can only be done in an appropriate place. But don't worry. I know the perfect place in the Light Kingdom. But I warn you that, from now on, it can take a long time."

"But... But I have no time to waste" Star said to Goolden. "I need to be strong as quickly as possible. Not only because of Moonlight, but also because..."

"I know, I know, that's why I've been thinking of the best way to train you" Golden Paladin said. "Don't worry, you're going in a good way. But now, our practices cannot be here."

When the weekend came, Star returned to the Light Kingdom, eager to continue his training with Golden Paladin. Following his instructions, Star headed to the Golden Waterfall, a place in the forest where a part of the Light Kingdom river diverted and ended in a waterfall. The river, in its turn, due to the presence of glowing freshwater algae, displayed a golden color, hence the name of the place. Finding Golden Paladin there, Star asked:

"So, Golden, will you tell me what you think is the best kind of training for me?"

“Of course” Golden Paladin said. “The way I thought to help to reduce significantly reduce the amount of training time you’ll need is the use of the multiplication spell.”

“The multiplication spell?” Star asked. “How can it help me reduce my training time?”

“It is quite simple, actually” Golden Paladin answered. “As you know, the multiplication spell, when performed correctly, can really create a copy of yourself, not just illusions. It allows you to duplicate your real self many times over.”

“Yes, I already know that” Star said. “I’ve been working on that spell for years.”

“But this spell is very complex for regular ponies and the ones who can use it properly cannot create as much clones as you do” Golden continued. “However, this spell also has an unique effect on his user, something that you may have noticed by now. When the spell is released and you restored into your self again, each of your clones’ experiences goes to you, being stored in your memory.”

“I see, that really explains everything” Star said. “That means that, what my clones experiment, I experiment too and becomes part of me. So, if I train with my clones at the same time, I can reduce the train time as much times as the number of my clones.”

“Precisely” Golden Paladin. “I’m glad you’d been able to understand.”

“So that means that you already used this kind of training before, right?” Star asked.

“No, this will be the first time” Golden Paladin replied. “I never tried this method before.”

“But why? You can use the multiplication spell too, right?”

“Sure I can, but like I said before, it’s not everypony that can make as much clones as you can and I am one of them. The reason for this is that I can’t maintain it long enough to put it through an entire training. My magic simply is not strong enough like yours. And the spell that divides my energy into equal portions isn’t good for me as I don’t have enough energy to begin with.”

“Do I really have that much energy than you?” Star asked.

“You’re an alicorn and alicorns have much more energy than anypony else” Golden Paladin answered. “That’s the reason why alicorns can live indefinitely. We, Generals, have our energy from the Lord of Order through our star seeds, but even so it is not as strong as the alicorns’. And, if you were not suppressing Nine-Tails’ energy, you’d have much more.”

“Right, the Nine-Tails…” Star said, starting to get concern.

“Don’t worry about that” Golden Paladin said, sensing his fear. “I know that this train will require you to use a lot of energy and may represent a danger for the Nine-Tails to awake, but I will be here to make sure he is under control.”

Remembering what he did while under Nine-Tails’ influence, Star couldn’t be more relieved when Golden Paladin said that and said:

“I’m counting on you, Golden.”

He nodded and then said:

“Now let’s focus on the next phase of your training.”

“And what will the next step be?” Star asked.

“Well, the next step will be…” Golden Paladin started, turning then to the waterfall. “…to cut the Golden Waterfall.”

“What?” Star asked, thinking he might had listened wrong.

“Press your hooves to the water and cut the flow by slamming it with wind energy” Golden Paladin explained.

“But that is a waterfall!”

“That’s right, and that means, in order to be successful, you’ll need a lot of wind energy. If you are able to put it off, it is something you’ll always be able use in battle.”

“I see, then if I manage to do this, I will master the wind manipulation” Star said. “Let’s do this.”

Golden Paladin created a bridge around the waterfall to where Star climbed into. There, he created nine clones and then they all placed their hooves in the water of the waterfall. Remembering what he learned from Purple Smoke, Star and his clones began to apply the power of the wind, but the power wasn't enough, so they kept trying.

While Star and the clones were advancing with the training, Golden Paladin laid on a tree to rest. The hours went by, while Star continued to try to cut the waterfall. It was then that it started to rain, something that symbolised the approach of winter, but even so, Star didn’t stop training.

"Golden…" a voice called.

He turned and saw Twilight, who was using magic to hold an umbrella.

"Hello, Princess" Golden greeted, rising up.

"Don't you think it's time to stop the training?" Twilight asked. "It's raining a lot."

"Yes, but try telling him that" Golden Paladin said. "Don't worry, princess, the prince is quite hardy. I don't think a simple rain is able to stop him."

"I hope so, Golden" she replied. "I really hope so."

Star and his clones continued with the practice, ignoring the weather conditions. Fortunately, the rain didn't last long. The young prince began to get frustrated, while he failed again and again. That frustration was such that Star increased the number of clones, what made Golden to get even more alert, since it would only increase the chances of Nine-Tails to be released.

When night fell, Star decided to camp at the Golden Waterfall in order to save time. Golden decided to stay there with him.

"Don't you think it was better to go back to the castle, young prince?" he asked. "After all, having a good night sleep is very important for a training as intense as the one you are submitting yourself."

"I know that, but I don't care" Star said, lying down and staring at the sky. "I like camping. In this way, I place training and pleasure together."

"That’s up to you" Golden Paladin said. "I'll stay here with you. After all, you are under my responsibility during your training."

Star sighed and then said:

"This is taking a long time. I wonder if I will get there?"

"Don't worry, it's only a matter of time" Golden said. “You're a colt with a lot of potential."

"Hello everypony" a voice said.

They turned and saw Twilight approaching, bringing a basket with her magic. With her, were Sunny and Midnight.

"Star!" the twins exclaimed, going to their older brother.

"What are you doing here?" Star asked, while receiving a big hug from his sisters.

"We're here to bring you something to eat" Twilight said, while landing the basket and making a sandwich get out of there, delivering it to his son. "After all, since I can’t make you stop from training while it rains or after dark, at least I make sure that you train on a full stomach. In addition, your sisters wanted so much to see you."

"Mom said you're trying to get strong" Sunny said.

"Therefore, we want you to know that you can count on our support, big brother" Midnight continued.

That made Star to smile and then he said:

"Thank you, girls. That means a lot to me."

And he hugged his sisters, while Twilight watched with a tender smile. Golden Paladin also watched, delighted to see that Star was recovering the mood to continue the training.

When the day was barely born, Star returned to his training with his clones, with the body and the spirit renewed. And this continued throughout the rest of the weekend. When it came to the last day, the day he would have to return to the Enchanted Forest, Star was getting tired, as he'd accumulated fatigue by trying to use the elemental manipulation while keeping the multiplication spell.

But he wasn't going to give up. His determination was what was making him to continue with that intense training. Then, when his motivation was at its maximum, Star and his clones were able to finally create enough wind energy to cut the flow of the waterfall.

"I did it!" Star, who couldn't be happier, exclaimed.

Golden was truly impressed, as Star had managed to achieve that high level of elemental manipulation in such a short time. But the General knew that it wasn't just Prince Star Knight’s talent that had driven him to accomplish such a feat. It was also his wish of bringing Moonlight back.

Star and the clones released the waterfall flow and began celebrating their feet, while the clones disappeared.

"Very well!" Golden Paladin congratulated. "Now, we can get ready for the next step."

"Yes, of course…" Star said, panting.

The fatigue that he was feeling was such that the alicorn prince eventually fell on his knees. Moving to his edge, Golden asked:

"Prince Star Knight, are you okay?"

"Yes, I am..." he replied. “I’m just a little hungry."

Golden smiled and then helped Star returning to the castle.

While Star rested in his room, Golden went in, saying:

"Congratulations, young prince, now you're one step closer to completing your training."

"Yes, I can't wait to recover the energy to resume training" he said.

"I think for now it's probably best to postpone our trainings” Golden Paladin said.

"Why?" Star asked. “Golden, I'm almost there."

"I know, but the next step will be more complicated" Golden Paladin said. "It will be better to wait for the winter holidays to focus completely on it. Furthermore, Princess Twilight ordered that way."

Knowing that he couldn’t go against his mother’s orders and finding Golden’s reasoning was fair, Star, against his will, agreed to wait for the winter holidays.

Fortunately, they were quick to arrive. When the studentes were released from the Academy classes to go home and spend their well-deserved vacation, Star returned to the Light Kingdom, where he drove to the Great Light Canyon to restart his training.

"Very well, Golden, I'm ready to resume our training” Star said.

"Before that, I'd like to show you something curious, young prince" Golden said.

"And what is that?"

"You're going to see."

Golden extended his hull and focused. That was when magical energy began to be accumulated, while rotating. Star, watching that, recognized what Golden was doing. When he realized, Golden was doing the Spiraling Sphere.

"Amazing!" Star exclaimed. "You’re doing the Spiraling Sphere! And to top of it, you’re doing it with one hoof. How is that..."

"I spent a lot of time training you performing this spell" Golden Paladin said. "I have to admit that it wasn't as easy as it looked. But this wasn't what I wanted to show you. I didn't do the Spiraling Sphere to show me off. This was just a way to introduce what I want to show you."

"And what is it?" asked Star.

“As you know, the Spiraling Sphere is an exemple of a spell that changes the energy form, taking it to the extreme” Golden Paladin explained. “What we want, is something that combines this with the elemental manipulation. That is something that very few were able to achieve. Thanks to out trainings, you now know how to change the form of your energy and how to use elemental manipulation in an offensive way.”

“So that means I only have to combine them and I will get a new spell, right?” Star asked.

“It’s not that simple” Golden Paladin said, doing the Spiraling Sphere again. “I am not able to combine the Spiraling Sphere’s changing form with my elemental manipulation. Combine these two requires a lot of skill, to be more precise natural skills and intuition.”

Golden Paladin undid the Spiraling Sphere and continued:

“But I know that you, Prince Star Knight, have those skills. However, you have to understand that I can’t teach you anything to help you. You have to discover yourself. But I am certain, as your teacher and friend, that you’ll be able to do it.”

Star looked at his hoof that he used to contain the Spiraling Sphere. Just the thought that he could get this spell that he himself had developed to a new level made him feel an excitement that made the alicorn prince’s heart to jump immensely. But Golden said something like that was something that very few had been able to accomplish. However, this didn’t intimidate him. He would do it, no matter what, so it accessed to his magic, ready to perform the multiplication spell.

He created the maximum number of clones that he could do without that interfere with the task he had ahead of him. Then, the various Stars grouped in pairs.

“Okay, now each team of two will form the Spiraling Sphere and, at the same time, try to add your wind nature into it” Golden Paladin said to Star and his clones. “I know it’s easy for me to say, but there is really nothing more to tell you. This is something you have to master on your own.”

Star and his clones nodded their heads.

“Then you can begin” Golden Paladin said.

And so began. Star and his clones began to execute the Spiraling Sphere, while trying to add the wind element.

“Use my wind energy… to create a spell with changing form… and with my element…” the original Star said, while he concentrated the energy the clone he was paired with was releasing.

“But how do we do that… while keeping the Spiraling Sphere’s changing form” the clone asked him.

“That’s what I want to know” Star replied him.

The task was being quite strenuous for Star and his clones. Soon even some pairs started to give in to fatigue. But they didn't give up and continued to try. It was then that one of the pairs got something. When the one that was containing the energy tried to use the wind energy, he created a sphere of wind was so strong that overthrew all of the Stars, making the clones to disappear.

The original, after that, realized how close it was from the impossible. Just to keep the shape, he needed a lot of concentration to begin with. Add also the wind was like looking in different directions. But he wasn't going to give up until he got it, so he created more clones.

But no matter how hard he tried, he wasn't getting it and that began to irritate him deeply. Suddenly, Star found himself again in front of Nine-Tails’ cage and he told him:

"I see... You're trying to develop a new spell to try to get rid of me. But that won't work."

He laughed and then continued:

"You're not going to get it... at least not without my help. Come closer. Let me give you my power so you can perform this spell."

But Star just stood there looking at the cage that contained Nine-tails. Feeling his refusal, Nine-tails asked:

"What's the matter?"

The water that covered the ground started to bubble, starting to create an enormous amount of orange foam that began to adopt the form of Nine-Tails’ head that said:

"Why do you hesitate? You need my power, isn't that right? So let me give it to you."

“Forget it” Star said, firmly. “Don’t you ever come out, do you hear me?”

Nine-Tails seemed surprised by that answer and then asked:

“What are you afraid of? I’m just trying to help you.”

“You shut up!” Star exclaimed. “Do you think I need your power? I don’t want anything to do with you!

But the Nine-Tails just laughed, as if he was mocking Star, and continued:

“Who was the one who came beg to me for help at every step of the way? You understand by now, don’t you? Without me, you can’t do anything at all. Now, do it! Break the seal completely. If you do, I grant you all of my power and then you can get your revenge on your enemies for taking from you your deer Moonlight.”

Now that Star knew what Nine-Tails’ power could do, he wouldn’t be fooled by him again and said without any doubt:

“I don’t need your power. I can do this all by myself.”

“That’s what we’re going to see” Nine-Tails answered.

And he roared.

When Star found himself, he was being wrapped by the demon fox cloak. The generated force launched the clones, causing them to disappear. Watching that, Golden reacted immediately, invoking his chains involving Star until any vestige of the Nine-Tails’ energy disappeared. Star regained his senses and Golden went to him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes…" Star replied, rising up.

"What happened there?" Golden Paladin asked. "That came out of nowhere."

"It was Nine-tails" Star replied. "He knows I'm trying to become independent of him and started saying that I couldn't do it without his help."

"He's just trying to manipulate you” Golden Paladin said. “You have to be more careful. It is better to reduce the number of clones. We can't give him more room for manoeuvre."

"No, I'm not going to let him intimidate me" Star said. "This will only give him more reasons to taunt me. Don't worry, Golden. I can do it."

Despite knowing that was madness, Golden nodded.

In the Light Castle, Twilight was sitting signing some documents with Spike at his side. While she signed, she shared his concerns with his number one assistant.

"I can't stop thinking about the effort Star is doing" she said. "I mean, he barely came from the Enchanted Forest for the holidays and he is already training intensively again."

"Yes, he is a stubborn, there is no doubt" Spike said, organizing the documents Twilight finished signing. "But you can't blame him, after everything that happened."

"I know you’re right, but you know that a mother is always concerned about her children" she replied.

The doors of the throne room opened and Blue came in, using the armor, and said while taking the helmet:

"It's everything quiet at the borders. The Light Guard and I did not find not even a spy of the Lord of Chaos. Of course, that just means he's busy planning something."

"At least, we can breathe with relief" Twilight said. "We have to enjoy these moments of peace that we have."

But as soon as she said it, Spike barfed and his magic fire made a letter to appear and it was taken by Twilight with her magic. She opened it and started reading it.

"It's a message from Shining" Twilight said. "It seems Rothbart and Medusa were seen wandering at the Crystal Mountains."

"What?!" Spike and Blue asked at the same time.

"He is in need of reinforcements to face them" said Twilight. "This is an opportunity to capture two villains at once."

"Then I will" Blue said. "Golden is training Star and this requires an immediate response. I'm going to quickly gather a handful of guards and then move towards the Crystal Empire with the Light Express."

Although she thought that was too risky, Twilight knew she couldn't dissuade Blue, so she said:

"Okay, but be careful, Blue."

"Don't worry, my love, I will" he replied.

After giving a kiss to his wife, Blue headed to the exit.

"Wow, he really knows how to make a dramatic exit" Spike commented.

Rothbart's Ultimate Spell

At the Crystal Empire, in Shining and Cadance’s bedroom, the first was preparing his armor, arranging his helmet as he looked in the mirror. Cadance entered in the room and asked:

"Are you really sure you want to do this, Shining? We both know how dangerous Rothbart and Medusa are? She's more powerful than her sisters and he managed to defeat Chief Strongpaw."

"This is a great opportunity to capture them" Shining replied, approaching his wife. "They still haven't realized that we found them and we need to use the element of surprise. Besides, Blue and some guards of his are coming to help us."

"I just hope you two are careful" Cadance said. "Blue may be immortal for being a General, but you are not. Please promise me you’ll come home well."

"Don't worry" Shining said, kissing Cadance. "Everything will be fine."

And, having said that, he left. Along with two of his pegasi guards, Shining Pegasus went to the Crystal Empire train station to wait for the arrival of his best friend and brother-in-law. It didn’t last for the light express to arrive and Blue got out, along with two unicorn guards.

"I'm glad you're here, my friend" Shining said, giving a hug to Blue. "I need your help."

"Sorry for the delay," said Blue. "I could have come with Golden Paladin, but he's with Star, training him."

"Don't worry" Shining said. "Just with your help, I feel more confident."

"And where are they now?" asked Blue.

"They are near the Oasis of the Heart" Shining replied. "Fortunately, its magic prevents any villain from approaching."

"Come on then" Blue said. "I don't want to miss the opportunity to capture some of the villains who are after my son."

And they went in the direction of the Crystal Mountains with their guards.

At the Great Light Canyon, Star continued with his training to be able to combine the Spiraling Sphere with his wind energy. However, his attempts continued to result in failure. His clones disappeared after one more failed attempt and Star fell on his knees, gasping and sweating terribly.

He couldn't believe how hard it was to do that task. If he concentrated only on the Spiraling Sphere, he couldn't change the nature of his magic, but if he concentrated on changing the nature of his magic, he couldn't perform the shape changing. With this paradox haunting his head, Star lay belly up, starting to observe the clouds passing quietly. The question about whether he would be able to combine the Spiraling Sphere and the change of nature began to torment him, but then he began to remember Moonlight. Remembering her smile, her voice... and how she was now under the influence of the Lord of Chaos.

That boosted him up and then he summoned more clones to begin the training. While the pairs of clones scrambled to try to run that task that seemed impossible, one of the clones began to be involved by the demon fox cloak. The original, repairing that and the changes his body was suffering, exclaimed to the other clones:

“Be careful, guys! We have another one turning into Nine-Tails!”

The clones moved away from the one that was suffering the transformation, while he roared with three tails. The tails of energy began to wave while reaching the clones that disappeared. The original fell on the floor and exclaimed to Golden Paladin:

“Golden, help us!”

Golden Paladin activated his chains that erupted from the ground and surrounded the clone. With this, the red energy dissipated and the clone vanished, along with the chains. Star sighed with relief, while cleaning the sweat off his face. Golden approached and asked:

“Are you okay?”

But Star decided to not answer his question, but Golden, noticing his silence was the answer, said:

“It’s had been one full day since we started to add the wind energy to the Spiraling Sphere and you are using two hundred clones now. You just achieve what regular unicorns would take days to do. But I guess that’s not enough for you.”

“This training is impossible” Star answered. “I can’t concentrate on my magic control and I feel that two hundred clones is my limit. I think I will not be able to master it. It takes all my concentration to form the normal Spiraling Sphere in the first place. And adding the nature changing to that… It’s just too much.”

“You’re unusually negative” Golden Paladin observed. “That’s not like you. You don’t sound like the Prince Star Knight I know, the one who never gives up from learning a new kind of spell.”

There was a pause and then the alicorn prince said:

“I don’t know. I have no reason to think it’s gonna work this time.”

“You have to do it anyway” Golden Paladin said.

“That’s easy for you to say” Star answered. “Why don’t you tell me this? Could you look to the left and the right at the same time?”

Understanding the problem Star was having, Golden Paladin had an idea and said:

“Oh I see. If you are asking me, I think I can do it.”

That made Star look to Golden, with a surprised air. The General of Piece stood up e accessed to his magic, creating then a clone, and the original said, while looking to the left:

“I’m looking to the left…”

“…while looking to the right” the clone said, looking to the other side.

“This is what you meant, right?” the original asked.

Seeing that, a smile started to appear on Star’s face. That was the answer. How could he had forgotten the answer? After, he already used it once. He got up and said:

“I get it!”

And he created more clones.

At the Crystal Mountains, Shining, Blue and their guards searched until they found what they were looking for. Hiding in the rocks located above, they spied Rothbart and Medusa.

"I still can't believe I let you talk me into coming to the North Pole" Medusa said, while walking behind Rothbart. "Do you know how cold it is? I don't know if you noticed, but I'm part reptile."

"Don't complain" Rothbart said. "You were able to turn some villagers into stone and I could gain more power."

"Just for you to know, that your new magic is disgusting" Medusa said.

"Yes, but I didn't ask your for an opinion" Rothbart replied.

Watching the two villains, Blue asked Shining:

"Do you have any idea?"

"Maybe…" he replied. "I was thinking of using the element of surprise. What do you say?"

"Let's do this" Blue said.

At the Grand Light Canyon, Star returned to try, but this time the attempt was successful. While Star and one of its clones were doing the Spiraling Sphere, a third clone was getting the wind energy. The result was a sphere of wind spinning at high speed in a concentrated way. It could hear a buzzling sound.

“All right!” one of the clones exclaimed.

“I think I’m finally getting the hang of this thing” the other clone said.

“I see…” Golden Paladin said. “So that was your idea. It took of you to do the original Spiraling Sphere: one to control the magic emission and the other to control the changing form. Well done.”

“Right” the clone who was addind the wind nature said. “I realize I would need a second pair of hooves to do add the wind nature. If I can’t look at the left and right at the same time all by myself…”

“…Then I just needed to create more clones and make them do it for me” the other clone continued. “This way I can divide all the responsibility.”

“Then my clone gave you hint, didn’t it?” Golden said, knowing that only Star would have the energy and the skill to do something like that. “That’s what I expected from the future ruler of the Light Kingdom.”

“Thank you, Golden” the original Star thanked, ceasing the Spiraling Sphere and undoing the clones.

"Golden…" a voice called.

He turned and saw Mirror Coat.

"What?" he asked to the General of Knowledge.

"Rothbart and Medusa were seen in the Crystal Mountains."

"What?" Golden asked. "Are you sure?"

"Prince Shining Armor sent a message to Princess Twilight to inform her about it” Mirror Coat said. "Prince Blue Sword went to there immediately with some guards to help."

"My dad?" Star asked.

Mirror Coat waved.

"But what are Rothbart and Medusa doing near the Crystal Empire?" Star asked. "As far as I know, there's no Jinchuriki there."

"It's true, though I prefer not to know the reason" Golden Paladin said.

"I think we'd better give them support" Mirror Coat said. "I don't think they have enough power to defeat them alone."

Golden thought for a bit and then turned to Prince Star Knight and told him:

"Young Prince, what do you say to intensify your training even more?"

Realizing Golden Paladin’s intention to ask that, Star smiled and said:

"Yes!"

"Wait, you're not thinking about..." Mirror Coat began.

"Give us just a couple of hours" Golden Paladin replied. "After that, we’ll move immediately to there."

Although he thought it was a bad idea, Mirror Coat consented with his head and said:

"As you wish."

Rothbart and Medusa continued walking when suddenly the gorgon’s snakes turned back and hissed menacingly. That made her turn around and take a deep breath.

"What?" Rothbart asked.

"Looks like we've got company" she replied.

And then a magical beam was casted against them and the two dodge, but then, out of nowhere, Shining’s guards appeared, ready to punch them. But the villains reacted immediately, with Medusa finding her opponent’s eyes and turning him into stone and Rothbart launching a little of his explosive clay that hit the guard and threw him back with the explosion.

"Crystal Ponies" Rothbart said, seeing the hurt guard he had attacked. "That means..."

"We have a Prince among us" Medusa concluded.

"Medusa, behind you!" Rothbart exclaimed.

She turned and saw Shining appearing, shooting magic beams against her. They were so fast, that Medusa didn't know if she would be able to dodge. Darkness appeared and protected Medusa from Shining. It had been Rothbart, who had concentrated his magic to create a barrier of dense darkness to protect his partner.

"Thank you, Rothbart" Medusa thanked. "Now it's my turn."

Leaving the barrier, Medusa launched her snakes that were in the direction of Shining who dodged them. Approaching the wounded guard, Shining asked, while creating a barrier around them:

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, my Prince, don't worry about me" the guard replied.

Medusa approached, with her snake hair raising her, and she said, while beating with her hair on Shining’s barrier:

"That is not polite, Prince Shining Armor. How dare you to attack a lady in the back like that?"

"I would attack in a different way... if you were a lady" he replied.

And he undid his barrier, doing it in order to release energy that made Medusa tip. Shining took advantage of this to prepare a new shoot, but Rothbart appeared in front of him with one of his hooves, the one that wasn't really his, turned into a talon, saying:

"I don't think so."

But when Rothbart was preparing to give him a blow, the wounded guard gave him a hard shove that threw him to the ground.

"This was for having me blown up!" the guard exclaimed.

Taking advantage of that moment, Shining shot at Medusa, reaching her eyes, what made her take the hooves to them, saying, as she fell on the floor:

"My eyes!"

"Now try turning ponies into stone with your eyes under the effect of a blinding spell, Medusa!" Shining exclaimed. "Now, we only have to deal with Rothbart."

Blue and the two guards were watching everything, hiding from a safe distance. As Shining was a prince of the Crystal Empire, his presence could be somewhat expected by those two villains. But they didn't know that Blue and his guards were also there, to analyze and to wait for the right moment to attack.

"Smart enough" Rothbart said to Shining, getting up. "First, you got rid of the immediate danger: Medusa’s eyes. But the truth is that she only becomes more dangerous when someone hits her weapon of choice."

Shining and the guard turned to Medusa that was erected by her snakes and she said, with an air quite mad:

"You're going to pay for this!"

And she released her free snakes against Shining and his guard, but the unicorn prince created his barrier that protected them. But Medusa’s attacks were so filled with rage that were stronger than before and it didn’t last for cracks to appear on his barrier.

At that moment, Shining felt a tremor in the ground and looked for Rothbart and noticed that the talon he had used to try to beat him was gone. The instinct made him say:

"Jump!"

And Shining ceased his barrier and he and the guard jumped, in time to avoid Rothbart’s lost talon that got out of the ground, ready to attack. Having failed in its surprise attack, it fell and it was revealed that it had gray threads coming out from it connected to a tangle of threads that looked like a beating heart. More threads appeared from it and connected the heart and the talon to the place where Rothbart’s talon was and, after connecting, the tangle brought back the talon, while Rothbart said:

"You, royals, don't stop to amaze. But I also have some hidden tricks."

The tangle entered into Rothbart, while the talon connected itself to Rothbart.

But Shining didn't have time to think because Medusa tried to attack him and his guard.

"You can try to run as many times as you want, Shining Armor!" she exclaimed. "I can still smell you! You and your puppy!"

In one of her attacks, she almost hit Rothbart, but he created a dense darkness, creating a wall that protected him.

"Be careful where you attack with those things, Medusa!" he exclaimed.

Meanwhile, in the Great Light Canyon, there was a huge explosion, which forced Golden Paladin and Mirror Coat to jump up the canyon. Watching a huge crater at the base, the General of Knowledge said, impressed:

"Amazing…"

Golden smiled, impressed with the enormous power that Star had generated.

The young prince was at the center of the crater and, when the dust settled, Golden went down where he approached Star.

“Did you see that, Golden?” Star asked. “I am so close. I bet no villain will stand against me.”

“Probably, but you’ll have to be careful if the Lord of Chaos sends a villain capable of using the fire nature” Golden said.

That made Star become a little confused.

“I think you didn’t learn this because the academy doesn’t teach its students to use their magic offensively, but there are positive and negative relationships between the six basic natures.”

“What do you mean?” Star asked.

“The six natures: fire, water, earth, darkness, light and wind, all have a different way of relating to each other” explained Golden Paladin. “Perharps a diagram will help you to understand.”

He summoned a piece of parchment and a quill with ink and started to draw representative symbols of the elements in circle with the order fire, wind, light, darkness, earth and water, while saying:

“The six main natures can be depicted in a circle like so in paper. Now, if we move clockwise on the circle, the one before has more strength relatively the next one. For exemple, fire is a nature that is superior to wind, however is inferior to water nature. Each nature is superior to one, but also inferior to another in the circle. In this way, no nature can get stronger than the others, in other words, they are in balance.”

“I see, fire can be extinct by water, but why is fire stronger than wind?”

“Well, try to picture on your mind” Golden Paladin said. “With fire, when the wind hits it, it only makes it burn harder, but, on the other hoof, the fire goes out with water. So, if you hit a villain’s fire magic with your wind magic of equal strength, you’ll only create a stronger fire magic against yourself. But, even if wind is inferior to fire, it is superior to light, what means you can use your magic to villains who use light magic.”

“Wait, but I thought the Lord of Chaos’ villains didn’t use light magic” Star said.

“Light is part of natural magic that can be used by every being” Golden explained. “Even if light nature is more common between the Lord of Order’s followers, that doesn’t mean villains can’t use it. Take Ulysses and Princess Luna as examples. Ulysses can generate lightning because he has an affinity for light and the Lord of Chaos used his magic to enhance that. Princess Luna, in her turn, can control the moon and the night, what it is possible thanks to her affinity for darkness nature.”

“I see…”Star said. “That means my wind spells are stronger against that jerk…”

“But don’t forget that advantage is not everything” Golden said. “Our strength can become our weakness.”

Star nodded and then Mirror Coat appeared and said:

“It seems your training is coming along very well, prince Star Knight. Now, are we ready to go?”

“Yes” Star said.

“Wait a minute” Golden said to Star. “We still need a little more time, I’m afraid. There is one more thing I want to try with you, young prince.”

Listening that, Star became quite curious about what Golden wanted to try.

Medusa continued with her blind and violent attacks. It seemed that nothing would stop her from hitting Shining and his guard. It was then that magical shots hit her and shot her back, causing her to fall back to the ground. Blue’s guards appeared, using their magic to create bonds of light to hold Medusa and contain her. Seeing them, Rothbart said:

"Light ponies. Here? That means...”

But before he could finish, he felt an immense pain on his back and then his heart being pierced. It had been Blue, who went through Rothbart’s body with his horns turned into a light sword.

"How...?" Rothbart asked. "I didn't even feel your presence..."

“Sorry about that” Blue answered.

“My magic…” Rothbart said. “I can’t use it… I should had defended that… How could you…”

“I saw everything” Blue revealed. “While Shining and his guards were attacking you, I and my guards were waiting for the right moment to attack. As the General of Balance, I can’t see the nature of every kind of magic and I could see through your magic, Rothbart. The magic you used in your defenses is not dark, but natural. Your nature is darkness, isn’t it?”

“You were able… to see through my magic?” Rothbart said, trying to tolerate the pain.

“If my understanding about natural magic is correct, darkness is inferior to light” Blue said. “It’s not your lucky day, it seems.”

“Impressive…” the crystal guard said.

“Blue sure learned some tricks when he became a General” Shining said, smiling. “But is just good for us. Furthermore, we knew Rothbart was the hardest to defeat.”

The light ponies, however, weren't being able to hold Medusa still. She squirmed, struggling to get free.

"Prince Blue Sword!" one of them called.

Understanding the call, Blue realized that they couldn't contain Medusa for much longer. So, knowing that Rothbart’s heart was too damaged to be cured by his dark magic, Blue take his light sword out, undoing it. Rothbart fell to the ground.

"That was a low blow, Blue Sword!" Medusa exclaimed, still blind and smelling Rothbart’s blood. "You went straight to his heart? I thought you played clean."

"Not when you're the opponent" Blue. said "Now, get ready, Medusa. You're about to be placed in a cell in Tartarus."

Blue prepared to summon the cellblaster when Rothbart appeared suddenly in front of him and gave him a kick so strong that shot him against a rock wall. Medusa smiled and said:

"Well, it looks like you didn't expect that, did you?"

The General of Balance stood up, wondering what had happened. After all, he knew he had reached Rothbart’s heart.

"Let's get this over with, Rothbart" Medusa said to his partner.

"That's the plan" Rothbart said, taking off his cloak.

He took it and revealed to everypony how his body was. His body was covered with stiches and, on his back, there were five masks, each with one of the following colors: blue, red, yellow, grey and green. The blue mask was damaged, and it was there where Blue hit.

To the horror of everypony, the back began to open up, as the masks were trying to get out of Rothbart’s body. Meanwhile, Medusa was able to free herself from the bonds of the two guards. It was then that the stiches just opened and the masks came out, each with bodies made of tangles of threads.

“What are those things?” one of the light guards.

“And why isn’t he dead?” the other said. “We saw captain stabbing him.”

“Knowing this guys and how faithful they are to their master, they can’t no longer surprise me” Shining Armor said.

Medusa put herself on the edge of Rothbart and asked:

"What about starting taking this fight more seriously?"

"For me, it’s all right" Rothbart said, while his back sewed itself and their masks won different bodies of the tangles of threads.

It was then that the blue mask, that was broken, roared, while Shining and the guards adopted a defensive position. But the creature simply fell to the ground and melted, like it was ice cream. Everyone asked to themselves what had happened for the creature to collapse in that way. Blue realized that was the mask that he had reached earlier.

"Medusa, without your eyes, you're too vulnerable, even if you still have your senses of smell and hearing" Rothbart said to his partner. "Why don't you relax? I got this."

"No way" she said. "I don't like when somepony hit me in eyes. In addition, we have already planned how to coordinate our movements."

"Do what you want" Rothbart said.

And, with this, Medusa used her hair to rise up and began to attack Blue, who tried to dodge as much as he could. Then, suddenly, the grey mask appeared and its mouth opened, releasing a strong gust of wind capable of cutting the rock itself. Shining and the guards also felt such power. The prince of the Crystal Empire created a barrier to protect them.

"Blue!" Shining asked, worried about your friend.

The wind stopped and Shining and the guards exchanged glances with Rothbart, while waiting for his next move. It was then that the yellow mask made electricity go through its body.

"Since you are so fond of light, take this!" Rothbart exclaimed to Shining.

"Both of you, help me!" Shining exclaimed to the two light guards.

"Yes, sir!" they said.

The mask fired a powerful electrical current so fast that Shining and the two guards did not have time to activate its magic. But then Blue appeared in front of them and, using his power as General of Balance, tried to negate that attack. He was hurt and weakened because of the wind attack of Rothbart’s grey mask, but he gave his best to defend that attack.

"Blue!" Shining called.

It was then that the electricity stopped. Blue was able to deny it completely, although its front hooves have gotten hurt because of it. He puffed, tired by the effort exerted.

"Are you okay, Blue?" Shining asked.

"Yes…" he replied.

But he knew something strange was going on. From what he had learned with the other Guardians about elemental manipulation, be able to use so many natures was unlikely. The only one he knew that could do that was Purple Smoke, but still Rothbart had already used darkness, wind and light.

Medusa then appeared with her body only slightly hurt, maybe due to the fact of having a hard skin.

"It's amazing how you handled that combination, Prince Blue Sword" she said.

"You were able see beyond my tricks so far, but let's see how you deal with this" Rothbart said, making a gesture.

The red mask began to move and it opened its mouth, releasing a torrent of fire against its opponents. Blue and Shining dodge, along with the guards, but one of the unicorn guards was not able to dodge in time and was burned alive.

"Damn..." Shining said, not believing that one of the guards had been caught.

Medusa directed her attacks again to Blue, who did his best to dodge them. He waged the attacks and stopped on the edge of Shining and their guards, while Medusa kept on the edge of Rothbart.

"This is becoming tiring" Blue asked.

"And they have defeated two of our guards" Shining said. "If we don't do something, they will end up defeating us. And my blinding spell won't last much longer."

"What I don't understand is how Rothbart still stands" the light guard said. "Captain Blue Sword caught him with his light sword. How is him still alive?"

“You’re right” Blue Sword said. “I went straight to the heart. He should be dead already. But, instead, I took down one of the monsters that sprang from his body. I suspect it died in his place.”

“And the way he attacked me and my guard earlier” Shining said, remembering the way how Rothbart’s talon came out from the ground. “He attached his talon with something that looked like a beating heart. And was moving all of its own.”

It was then that an idea came to him.

“Of course, that’s his new trick” Shining said.

“What do you mean, captain?” the crystal guard asked.

“I mean that those dark figures with him, not to mention Rothbart himself, all have separated hearts. And yet, all five are his.”

“But that’s impossible!” the light guard exclaimed.

“You’re right, Shining” Blue said. “And I already destroyed one of them. Now we need to destroy the other hearts.”

“Very observer, once again” Rothbart said. “Each of this hearts belongs to ponies that I kill. This is my ultimate spell, a way to extend my power, to be more than just a pony who turns into a monster. Each of this hearts can be replaced… with your hearts for exemple.”

That made the guards to swallow dry.

“Now I understand” Blue said. “Taking the hearts, you are able to incorporate their natures.”

“Enough talk” Medusa said. “Let’s battle!”

And she advanced towards Blue. That made him to move to dodge her attacks, while doing so, Rothbart advanced towards one of the guards and punched him against a stone. While dodging Medusa, Blue saw the figure with the red mask approaching and firing balls of fire that he was forced to negate, but short before having dodge the red mask, the yellow one appeared and fired a beam of light capable of penetrating the rock. Blue, fortunately, was fast enough to escape. But the grey mask appeared and fired shoots of wind, but Shining appeared and defended Blue with his shield.

Meanwhile, the crystal guard, although injured, managed to tackle Rothbart, but then the green mask appeared, it open his mouth and shoot pieces of roch, fortunately, the light guard used his magic to protect the crystal one and then fired a beam that forced the green mask to retreat. The yellow mask approached and started to fire lightning. Fortunately, the crystal guard had enough energy to take his companion and fly out of the yellow mask aim.

But then Rothbart extended his different talon to catch the crystal guard throat and take him, what made the light pony fell on the ground. The green mask then approached and took the light guard against the ground, preparing to shoot him with his shards of stone. Shining attempted to approach to help them, but the yellow mask appeared on his way. Thinking fast and using his speed, Shining dodge its attacks and made it hit the green mask. With it destroyed, the body collapsed just like the blue mask.

“No!” Rothbart said, while bringing the crystal guard to him. “You’ll pay for that with your heart!”

And turning the other hoof into a talon, Rothbart trew it against the other guard, just like he did with the other, and took him by his throat, bringing him back.

“Just die!”

While he tried to strangle the guards, Shining was being pursued by the yellow mask, while Blue was dealing with Medusa, the red mask and the grey mask.

“Shining!” Blue called. “Change with me!”

He nodded. And then the two made their way to change their adversaries, at least the masks, as Medusa was left confused. With this, Blue started to access to his magic and then approached Rothbart and bumped with his hooves on the ground. Water started to appeared and cover the groud, including Rothbart’s hind hooves. When the yellow masked appeared, Blue teleported away when it launched lightning. That caused a great shock to Rothbart and then Blue appeared in midair and fired a magic beam against the villain, what forced him to drop the guards to use the water magic of the heart he took from the blue mask.

Teleporting away from the masks that were pursuing him, Shining appeared closed to the crystal guard and took him, while Blue took the light guard. After they find a safe place, they put the guards down, who started to cough while catching their breath.

“Are you alright?” Shining asked them.

The guards nodded with their heads.

Rothbart turned to his enemies, while Medusa returned to his side.

“I can’t believe they confused me” she said. “If my eyes weren’t… But they won’t fool me again.”

And she opened her eyes.

“Finally you’re one hundred percent” Rothbart said.

“My blinding spell…” Shining said. “It seems it faded away…”

“Be free to turn them into stone” Rothbart said, while his masks placed themselves behind their master. “Just make sure you left at least two hearts for me.”

“Then I choose the one who blinded me” Medusa said.

And she released her snakes against Shining. He then advanced, and started diverting Medusa’s snakes.

"Shining..." Blue said.

"I’ll try to take Medusa as far as possible" said Shining. "Try to vanquish Rothbart."

And, having said that, he started walking away and Medusa, unable to resist revenge, began to follow him, using her snakes, saying:

"No way, Shining Armor!"

"Always so impulsive" Rothbart said, seeing Medusa moving away.

It was then he noticed Blue approaching, running, and the two started a hoof-to-hoof fight. But Rothbart used his magic to be able to defend himself against Blue’s attacks, who used negating magic to defend himself. However, when Blue realized, he was surrounded by the three masks that still remained.

"Do you really think your friend can handle the Medusa all by himself?" Rothbart asked. "It only takes one look at her to turn into stone. Of course facing me wouldn't be much better. As while I have a beating heart, I can't die. Furthermore, you haven't seen all of my tricks yet."

And, before Blue and two guards’ eyes, the red and grey masks merged their bodies.

"Oh no…" Blue said, seeing that.

"If counting with the original, my body can sustain six hearts" Rothbart said. "Thanks to you, I need replacements. That's why I'm going to take yours. First, I'm taking yours, Blue Sword, to replace the one you took from me."

He made a gesture and Blue heard a mask opening and he realized that was the yellow one. It sent lightning, but Blue dodged, what made the lightning go to the red and gray masks that parted slightly to let the lightning yo pass, returning to merge completely.

But after that, they opened their mouths at the time Blue had dodged and they fired against him with the gray mask giving more intensity to the fire of the red one. Reacting on instinct, Blue teleported to behind a great rock, although he knew that he couldn't keep doing that for much longer.

"You call that hide?" Rothbart asked, knowing where he was.

The gray mask shot a wind that pass through the rock where Blue was hidden. Watching that, Blue teleported in time to prevent the firing of multiple wind that followed. But when he appeared in another place, the red mask was quick to shoot a new fire that struck him.

"No!" the two guards exclaimed.

But the Blue that was in the fire turned into water and evaporated.

"A water clone" Rothbart said. "Very well, Blue Sword. But do you have the courage to show yourself and face me like a stallion?"

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning hit the ground where the yellow mask was, shooting down the ground underneath and Blue appeared quickly, starting to fight hoof-to-hoof with red and blue ones. They turned to him and opened their mouth. With them preparing to attack him, he accessed his water nature, creating a water barrier against the intense fire attack. Despite having slowed the attack, he didn’t ceased it, creating only a lot of steam, but this enabled Blue retreat to a safe distance.

But what he didn't expect was that Rothbart appeared nearby, releasing black threads that hooked up around Blue and started to penetrate into his body, directly on the heart. Rothbart launched him against the ground and then arrested him with his talons.

"No, Captain!" the light guard exclaimed.

"Enjoy the next few seconds, Prince Blue Sword" Rothbart said. "They will be the last that you will have with your heart, since it will have a new owner."

The Price of Power

When Rothbart was almost ready to rip Blue Sword’s heart, he felt a hoof trespassing his body and reaching his heart.

"What the..." he began.

Blue was stunned when he saw Heartbeat, behind Rothbart, piercing his body with her hoof.

"You forgot to say please" she said to Rothbart, smiling. "Don't you know it's rude to take things that don't belong to us without asking."

"The General of Affection…" Rothbart said, panting.

"What are you doing here, Heartbeat?" Blue asked.

"Golden got to know what was happening and sent me to go in the front" Heartbeat said. "Don't worry, he is coming… with a little surprise. About Medusa… Well, let's just say I wasn't the only one to come."

In a more distant part, Medusa had managed to corner Shining.

"Finally, you don't have nowhere to go and none of your light spells will help you" she said. "Get ready to join my personal collection."

And her eyes shone, while Shining was waiting to be turned into stone. Medusa fired her power, but then it hit on some invisible surface and rebound.

"WHAT?! No!" she screamed, as she was hit by her own petrifying look.

Her body began to petrify, while she said:

"No, this can't be happening again... No... NO!"

And she was completely petrified.

"What the hell happened?" Shining asked.

"It was me what happened" Mirror Coat replied, appearing besides Shining.

"Mirror Coat?" Shining asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Apparently, to stop you from turning into a statue" Mirror Coat said. "Thanks for the distraction. This allowed me to intervene without her noticing."

And after saying this, he summoned the cellblaster, where there was already a life cell, and he sucked the petrified Gorgon to its interior. After this, he summoned the prison-book and put the life cell inside.

"And now we have a full set of gorgons in Tartarus" Mirror Coat said, making the book and the cellblaster disappear.

"We must return" Shining, panting. "The others…"

"Don't worry, everything will be fine" Mirror Coat reassured.

Heartbeat still kept her hoof within Rothbart and then smashed the heart that there was there and then launched him against the floor face down. After that, she used her magic to remove the threats from Blue wires then took him to the edge of the two guards.

"Are you all right, captain?" the light guard asked.

"Yes, I am" Blue replied, turning then to Heartbeat. “You arrived just in time, Heartbeat."

"Yes, I know" she said.

But that was not done, as the red and grey masks appeared, with the first launching a torrent of fire that Heartbeat defended with her barrier. While this was happening, the yellow mask passed through them, heading to Rothbart.

"No..." Blue said, knowing what was going to happen.

The figure began to get inside of Rothbart, while his mask broke, and then he stood up.

"This is unexpected" Heartbeat said.

But the most shocking thing was when the red and grey masks also entered into him, making a lot of threats coming out of Rothbart’s stiches, giving him an appearance similar to the figures, not to mention that the threads were also exiting from his mouth.

"You broke three of my hearts" he said. "You're going to pay because you are destroying a spell that took me years to accomplish. This time, there is no escape."

After he said this, threads came out the ground and intertwined Blue, Heartbeat and the two guards. Then, Rothbart took the parts that were underground to the surface and said:

“Blue Sword, I intended to replace the hearts I lost with yours. But I changed my mind. After all, I can find more hearts anytime I please.”

The red and grey masks appeared on the amount of strings and Rothbart exclaimed:

“NOW, DIE!”

And the two masks opened their masks, preparing to execute their conjugated attack.

It was then a voice exclaimed:

“SPIRALING SPHERE!”

“TEARING TORRENT!”

And so a ball of wind surrounded by water appeared and created together a large quantity of water vapour where a strong wind whirls around, turning it into a solid barrier that stopped the intensive fire. When the vapour assented, Golden Paladin and Star appeared in front of the tangled ponies, who were released.

“Sorry if we’re late, dad” Star said. “But better late than never.”

“Star…” Blue said, not expecting his son to be between the reinforcements.

“You sure have a better timing than me” Heartbeat said.

Golden Paladin took a slight look to Blue and commented:

“I never saw you so troubling about an adversary, Prince Blue Sword. Rothbart must be really stronger than before.”

“I can see you brought me another Jinchuriki to take to my master” Rothbart said, observing Star. “And this one doesn’t seem to be in his perfect condition.”

That was truth,Star was covered by bruises by all the training he got.

“Are you okay, son?” Blue asked.

“Yes, I’m fine, dad” Star answered. “Where’s Uncle Shining Armor?”

“He went to take Medusa away from us” Blue told.

“By now, Mirror Coat is already there” Golden Paladin. “Let’s just hope it’s not too late for Prince Shining Armor.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t worry about him right now” Rothbart said. “After all, at this moment, you were nothing but heart replacements for me. Except for you, young Jinchuriki. The Lord of Chaos have other plans for you.”

“That’s what we’re gonna to see” Star said. “Now, you’re dealing with me.”

Noticing how confident his son was on his words and the shape of his body, Blue asked to Golden:

“Did he perfect it?”

“No, it only works half of the time” Golden replied. “Although… we’ll just keep watching. Trust me, he has come a long way.”

Star summoned two clones, ready to execute his new spell.

“Prince Blue Sword, can you tells what we are dealing with?” Golden Paladin asked.

“Rothbart is not using the same tricks he already used” Blue said. “It seems he created a new spell that allows him to split himself into multiple entities. See those two masks? Not only they can detach, but each one has its own beating heart and can act on their own. He originally started with six hearts, but now he’s down to three. We have killed him three times already, and he won’t down until we get rid of the other three. Plus, with that, he can fight in mid-distance, using different natures.”

“I see…” Golden Paladin said. “Prince Star Knight…”

“Yes, I know” Star said, while his clones advanced towards Rothbart, before the others’ surprise.

Seeing that, Rothbart launched his treats, being able to catch one of the clones, but the other appeared from behind and launched a magic beam. Because of that, Rothbart had to dodge, while releasing the other clone that disappeared. After this, he caught the clone and then said to the original, while the clone disappeared:

“Only clones? You’ll never win that way.”

Receiving the information his clones provided him, Star realized he would need three clones for diversion, so he created them. That rose Rothbart’s curiosity, what made him wondering what he was planning. While one clone stood still, the other two helped Star creating his new spell. It appeared just like the Spiraling Sphere he had thrown before, appearing to be a ball made of wind, but at the same time it was differente. Everyone was staring at that, noticing the buzzing sound it released.

“Interesting…” Rothbart commented.

While observing that, Golden Paladin remembered when he asked Star to face his Spiraling Sphere with the his with the wind nature, with the result being the negating of Golden Paladin’s, but also some bruises to his foreleg, that didn’t long to heal thanks to the General of Peace’s own healing spell. But that was without a doubt the proof of Star’s new spell’s power.

But what Star made with that sphere of wind was something that let everypony amazed, including Rothbart. He rose it in the air, while it shaped to get four large points around the core, giving it the appearance of a great shuriken.

“This is my new wind spell: Spiraling Star!”

While he hold the spell, the clones positioned themselves in front of him.

“Okay, let’s finish this!” he exclaimed to his clones.

“Right!” they replied.

And the four started to advance towards Rothbart. Blue intended to go with him, but Golden prevented and said:

“No, stay away!”

“But…” Blue started.

“I know that’s your son, Prince Blue Sword, but you have to understand one thing” Golden Paladin said. “You can get caught on his spell.”

Star continued his way towards Rothbart, who commented:

“So that’s the power of the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki. That power certain suits the beast.”

And the three clones prepared to attack Rothbart. One attacked from above, but Rothbart was fast to grab him with his threats. The second was to behind, while the other was straight to him. This made Rothbart to use his masks. And the three clones disappeared, but they were only distractions so Star could get close enough.

“What?!” Rothbart exclaimed, while Star prepared to hit him. “No!”

Everypony looked, expectant, but when Star was about to hit Rothbart, the new spell simply were off.

“Oh no…” Golden Paladin said.

Star, before the failure of his spell, opened his wings and took flight to move away from Rothbart as fast as he could, but the villain extended his threats and caught him, trying then to go to his heart.

“No…” Blue said, running towards them, while saying. “Golden! Heartbeat!”

“Right” they said.

Golden then invoked a chain that he threw, while Heartbeat used her speed to get close to hit Rothbart. Rothbart got closed to Star, while saying.

“Now, you’re mine, kid.”

But he then noticed the conjugated attack from the two Generals, what prompt him to dodge, distracting him long enough for Blue to cut the threats, take Star and teleport to the others’ side. The two other Generals’ attack made Rothbart to retreat as much as he could to be safe. Golden then retrieved his chains, while Heartbeat returned to the edge of the others.

“It seems you still have a lot to practice that spell of yours, Star” Heartbeat said. “I mean, when I saw it, I really though you would throw it, but you have to run to hit with it?”

“Hey, but it works when it hits” replied Star, who disliked when Heartbeat was so critical.

“This new spells is supposed to be a frontal attack” Golden Paladin explained. “Furthermore, it needs to proper diversion, in this case the clones.”

“But the spell runs out to quickly and only last a few seconds” Blue continued, with Golden nodding his head.

“We’ll never catch him with that time” the crystal guard said.

“Yeah, he is too much fast” the light guard added.

They were right and Rothbart was also able to analyze Star’s spell very well, making him to get to the conclusion that he only had get his distance, not let him be distracted by the clones and keep his eyes on the original.

Star got up and said:

“I’ll try again.”

“What?” Blue asked. “No, Star, no way. He already knows what to expect from your attack and he will only dodge it. Let us help you. We are in numerical advantage, so there is no need for something like that.”

“Dad, please, listen” Star said. “I know I can do this. I have to do this. I have to prove that I can be strong, even without Nine-Tails’ energy. I know teamwork is important, but right now I need to cross this bridge and cross it alone, independently the danger the bridge turns out to be. If I don’t beat this challenge, I will not be able to look to myself. Please, have faith on me and don’t took from me the chance to prove what I can do. You know I can do this.”

Although his parent side was telling him to not let Star go, his words were able to make him see the strong desire his son had, what made him remember his mother’s determination. Blue smiled and got up, asking to Golden Paladin:

“What do you say, Golden?

“Well, my prince, I have to admit” Golden Paladin said, also smiling. “I want to see how much this young prince has changed.”

“Yeah, I agree” Heartbeat said. “After all, growing in body is one thing, but in mind and spirit is another.”

“Very well then” Blue said. “Son, you can go.”

“Right” Star said, starting to advance.

Seeing him advancing, Rothbart realized he had to change to long-raged attacks. And then he started to release from his mouths a lot of threats and the ones that were exiting from his body extended a lot. He collected his talons, reuniting them with his body. With his, Rothbart seemed to have the appearance of a giant spider, what shocked the ones who were seeing that.

“It’s not just a transformation” Golden said. “That’s a huge amount of energy… dark energy to be precise.”

“He’s preparing to Star’s new spell” Blue said.

Star didn’t let himself be intimidated and so he created the three clones he needed. He and two of the clones started to create the spell. When everything was ready, the original said:

“Okay, now!”

And he and the clones started to head towards him, with the clones going ahead. Rothbart also advanced towards them. However, this time, Rothbart jumped over the clones, with his eyes staring the Star that was holding the spell. Then, he threw his threats towards Star, hitting him apparently.

“Star!” Blue called, while he and the others protected themselves from the shockwave. When the dust cleared, it could see Star on the ground, unconscious, stabbed by Rothbart’s threats.

“It is done” he said.

But it was then that Star disappeared, revealing himself to be a clone.

“What?!”Rothbart exclaimed. “Just a clone?!”

He then heard the same noise caused by Star’s new spell. He turned and saw Star flying above and descending while creating the Spiraling Star with the other two clones.

“I see…” Rothbart said. “He hid himself in the crowd.”

“I got you!” Star exclaimed, while he hit the spell on Rothbart. He started to scream in pain, while the spell threw him away a long distance, while ravaging the threads. The central sphere then detonated, producing a vortex of wind. While everypony was amazed, Golden Paladin warned:

“Watch out! The shockwave is coming!”

And that was truth, as the shockwave was so strong that almost took them down. Star and his clones fell on the ground, with the clones disappearing. Star raised his head and watched his own attack slicing Rothbart, who was immobilized in the midair, while his masks were destroyed. When the vortex stopped, Rothbart was still in midair.

Blue was amazed how that attack was divided in multiple ones that were so much and so fast that nopony couldn’t keep up with the pace. He turned to his son, who was patting, exhausted, and then said:

“That is an amazing spell, son. Very well.”

It was then that Rothbart fell on the ground that was now a crater, just like the one Star had created before. The guards became astonished by such thing, as they had never seen such power before.

“I’ll see how he is” Heartbeat said, moving quickly to Star’s side to apply her healing spell.

While doing it, she said:

“I can only apply the first aid. Leaf Mane’s healing spells are much superior to mine. But I have to say, you being among the clones was a surprise to all of us, me including.”

“It’s impressive he was able to do that spell three times in a row” Golden Paladin said to Blue. “Last time, he was only able to do it twice.”

“I guess his desire to prove himself was what prompted him to surpass his limits” Blue said. “He is just like his mother.”

“Well, we have to go” Golden Paladin said. “Mirror Coat must have already taken Prince Shining Armor back to the Crystal Empire. We should go there too. Princess Twilight and the others will meet us there.”

“Yes” Blue said.

He then went to his son and helped him to rise up.

“Don’t worry, son, I help you.”

“Thanks, dad” Star thanked.

He then saw Golden going to the crater.

“What will he do?” he asked to his father.

“Golden goes to take care of loose ends” Blue replied.

The General of Peace got in the crater and approached Rothbart, who was still breathing, but he couldn’t move.

“Defeated… by a brat… incredible.”

“You have lived a lot of centuries, Rothbart” Golden Paladin said. “No wonder you see Prince Star Knight as a brat. But it can be seen on the other way around. And so here you are, dying, hugging the earth like a worm.”

He made a chain rise up from the ground.

“After everything you did, you deserved to die in pain, feeling what all of your victims felt” Golden Paladin. “But I am not like you and I am willing to give you a painless death. Goodbye, Rothbart.”

And, using the chain, Golden Paladin gave the stroke of mercy to Rothbart.

They returned to the Crystal Empire, where Shining was already there, receiving the care for his injuries. Getting there, Blue and the two guards also received medical attention. Star, on the other hand, was taken to a room where Leaf Mane, who had come with Mirror Coat to the Crystal Empire, began to treat him. Twilight, seeing Blue coming out the hospital wing, embraced him, saying:

"I'm glad it went well."

"Yes, and it's all thanks to our son" Blue said.

They finished the hug and Twilight asked:

"How do you think he is?"

"He's fine, Twilight” Blue replied. “Relax. You should have seen him. He was up to the task. He is exactly like you."

"Well, I wouldn't have acted impulsively like him" Twilight said. "In that respect, he's just like you."

Leaf Mane left Star’s room, finding Golden Paladin at the entrance.

"I took care of the prince" she said.

"And the wound on his right foreleg?" Golden Paladin asked. "Did you analyze it already?"

"I need to observer Rothbart’s body to confirm a few things" Leaf Mane said. "I'm glad you brought him. In this way, we can analyze this new spell of Prince Star Knight."

"Be quick" Golden Paladin said. "We cannot afford to lose time."

"Yes, sir" she replied, pulling away.

During the ensuing night, Leaf Mane examined Rothbart’s body, but then she called Golden Paladin to inform him of what he had discovered.

“The examination isn’t completed yet, but I already found out something about his new spell of Prince Star Knight’s” Leaf Mane said. “The damages Rothbart sustains didn’t just come from individual blows no matter of how many they were.”

“What do you mean?” Golden Paladin asked.

“As impossible as it may seem, his entire magic network has been severed” Leaf Mane. “As you know, all creatures possess some kind of magic, even it is latent, like in earth ponies or pegasi. And what is before us can be difficult to believe, but is truth.

“I didn’t realized this wind spell was so powerful” Golden Paladin said.

“The effect on the body is more like a poison than a physical trauma. It’s an incredible precise attack, doing it’s damages at a cellular level. I believe he shapes the wind energy into a blizzard of miniature thorns and systematically attacks every cell on the body.”

“You’re right” Golden Paladin agreed. “It is poisoning indeed. So it would be more accurate to speak in terms of concentration rather the number of attacks. How about Prince Star Knight?”

“Well, it’s there where the problem is” Leaf Mane said. “Golden, whatever happens, don’t let Prince Star Knight use the Spiraling Star Spell again.”

“Is that so serious?” Golden Paladin asked.

“I saw these symptoms in his right foreleg” Leaf Mane explained. “Not a severe, but the same. If he keeps to use that spell, sooner or later, he’ll use the ability to use his own magic.”

That made Golden to sigh and said:

“It seems every powerful spell really comes with risks.”

“When cells are disconnected from the magic network, it’s beyond my ability to restore it” Leaf Mane said. “Make sure Prince Star Knight understands that.”

Twilight was on the edge of her son, who was asleep. Blue entered in the room and said to Twilight:

"Twily, why don't you go get some rest. If you want, I can stay with him."

"No need, Blue, I can stay here" Twilight said. "After all, you've been through a lot today."

"You know that I've faced worse and I still managed to stay awake for days" Blue replied.

That made Twilight to drop a slight laugh, but then she was filled with concern, looking at Star’s foreleg in a cast.

"That spell really is quite powerful and destructive" she said. "From what it was described to me, it outweighs by far a lot of offensive spells ever created, even by powerful sorcerers like Star Swirld or the Generals of Order."

"I see, you’re worried about the effect it can have on Star" Blue said. "Yes, I'm that also concern about that. But, whatever happens, we will be here to support him."

Twilight smiled, nodding.

In the following day, Golden went to Star’s room, where he was reading a book.

"Surprise me that your parents are not here" Golden said, entering.

"They're talking to my uncle and aunt" Star replied.

"Well, it’s good that way" Golden said. "Prince Star Knight, I would like to talk to you about your new spell."

There was a pause and Golden continued:

"There is no doubt you get stronger. What you did was something that even I was not able to do. But no matter how strong you are, the greater the spell, the greater are the risks to yourself."

"Yes, I know…" Star said, looking at his right foreleg on a cast. "I know what you're trying to say, Golden, and I understand. But I know my limits better than any otherpony."

Golden smiled. Star was really strong and was dealing well with the situation, although it was not necessary to have Heartbeat’s empathy to know how frustrated he was by having developed a spell so powerful that he couldn't use at risk of not being able to use his magic ever again. For this, he said:

"Very well, I have an idea that might cheer you up a bit. What if, when you get better, we work on a new kind of spell you can use without problems?"

That cheered Star up who said:

"Sounds good to me!"

Meanwhile, in Griffonstone, the Lord of Chaos appeared in one of the caves located on the mountain where the kingdom rested, advancing to a black statue of a monster with the shape of a goat, covered with moss and ivy.

"I really wasn't counting on Rothbart’s demise and Medusa’s imprisonment" he said. "That Prince Star Knight is getting stronger every day. Therefore, I can't afford to have so few villains at my service. That is why I will give you another chance, though you don’t deserve it… Arimaspi."

And, having said that, he pointed his hand to the black statue. The moss and the ivy that covered it were destroyed, while an empty star seed appeared over the head. It was then that it was filled with darkness, disappearing then. The surface of the statue began to crack and what was stone became fur and Arimaspi came back to life.

"I hope this time, Arimaspi, you don't disappoint me" the Lord of Chaos said to him.

"I will do everything to make sure that doesn't happen again... my lord" Arimaspi said, kneeling before his master.

Two Brothers, a Troubling Past

Night reigned throughout the Pony World and, in Canterlot, several night guards were doing their shifts aroud the capital and the castle, many of them being thestrals, all serving under the Princess of the Night, Luna. In his office, the captain of the Night Royal Guard, Thunder Night, was trying to take care of some paperwork, but he couldn't concentrate at work.

He couldn't stop thinking about his daughter, Moonlight, and how she was still under the influence of the Lord of Chaos. He felt his frustration bubbling inside, as he couldn’t do anything to save her. Through the talks Fluttershy had with Twilight, Star Knight was working tirelessly to bring Moonlight back. That young alicorn stallion was doing what he, as a father, should be doing too.

All this frustration has reached a point that Thunder Night couldn't take it anymore and, with a blow, he threw everything that he had on the table to the floor. Soon after that, the door opened and Princess Luna entered, saying:

"Thunder Night, I would like..."

But then she saw the mess that her captain had just done. Noticing her presence, Thunder Night hastened to say, while starting to get what he had thrown to the ground:

"I'm sorry, Princess Luna, but..."

"I understand" she said. "I understand that you're going through a tough period with everything that happened to your daughter. But, please, Thunder Night, you have to control your emotions. Don't let them control your actions. I know from experience that nothing good comes out of there."

"I know, Princess Luna, and I'm trying to control myself as much as I can" Thunder Night said. "But I just can't accept the fact that my daughter is lost... and there's nothing I can do to bring her back."

"Don't say that, Thunder Night" Princess Luna said. "You don't know what the future awaits. Maybe an opportunity to save your daughter might appear. You just have to have faith."

"Honestly, my faith has seen better days" Thunder Night confessed.

"This world has been through situations that seemed to have no hope" Princess Luna said. "However, they were always resolved, no matter how hard it was. I'm sure the same will happen to you."

Princess Luna’s words worked as a wave of comfort that Thunder Night hadn't had in a long time. He smiled and said:

"Thank You, Princess Luna."

She made a nod and then prepared to leave, but then turned to Thunder Night:

"And, if you don't mind, Thunder Night, I'd like you to clean this mess before any of your guards sees it. It would be quite unpleasant to them to see their captain in a... vulnerable state. "

"Of course, princess” Thunder Night replied with a nod.

And she closed the door. Thunder Night started to take what was thrown to the floor when he suddenly heard a voice saying:

"Wow, and I was thinking Heartbeat’s room was pretty messy."

The thestral turned and faced Golden Paladin.

"The General of Peace?" he asked. "Here?"

"I know that you may look surprised, but I have a reason to be here" he said. "I have an information to give you and a request to make of you. First, I think it's best to start with the information."

"And what is that?" Thunder Night asked.

Golden Paladin waited a few seconds to take a deep breath and said:

"A few moments ago, Hollow Shades was invaded by two servants of the Lord of chaos. To be more precise, by Adagio... and your daughter, Moonlight. "

That information shocked Thunder Night who said:

"What?"

"I know you probably don’t believe in what I'm saying, but it's entirely true" Golden Paladin said. "They appeared there and subjugated all the inhabitants with their voices."

"It can't be..." Thunder Night said, still not believing that Moonlight had invaded and attacked the village where his own father had grown up and where he used to take her when she was a little filly. “Why did they..."

"They wanted information, something that only the elder of Hollow Shades could reveal" Golden Paladin said. "Don't worry, despite being a little shaken, she's fine. But I fear that she has told them what they wanted to know."

"And what was it?" Thunder Night asked.

"This leads me to the request that I want to do to you" Golden Paladin replied. "You see, Adagio and Moonlight are after the Jinchuriki of the Three-Tails and I want you to find him first and take him in."

"Why me?" Thunder Night asked, surprised by Golden Paladin be asking that.

There was a pause and then Golden Paladin replied:

"This may be a bit of a shock, but it turns out that this Jinchūriki... is your older brother, Echo Wing."

That revelation left Thunder Night astonished.

"What?" he asked. "But that's impossible. How is that my brother may be..."

"Well, as far as I know, the Three-Tails was captured by a thestral kingdom in the Pony World" Golden Paladin said. "However, the Lord of Chaos was able to bring it down and the Three-Tails was lost. You were born in Hollow Shades, but the rest of your family was not, was it?"

Now that Golden Paladin mentioned that, Thunder Night began to think better. That was true, his mother had reached Hollow Shades, pregnant and with a four-year-old colt, and she got shelter by the Elder and the other. When Thunder Night was born, she could not survive the birth and he and his brother had to grow up without their mother. They remained together until Thunder Night’s adolescent, when Echo decided to live his own life and let his own brother in Hollow Shades. But, after all, he never bothered to learn more about his family, since that nothing would change the fact of having lost it.

"What you're saying is true?" Thunder Night asked.

"Do you think I would kid about a thing like this?" Golder Paladin counter-asked. "That's why I want you to find him and bring him. He is the Jinchūriki of Three-Tails. With the One-Tail and the Two-Tails now captured, he is next on the list."

"And what's that have to do with me?" Thunder Night asked. "Sorry, Golden, but it would be better if you could send another pony. My brother and I haven't spoken since he left me and I prefer to keep it that way."

"You're still brothers, you are family."

"No, Fluttershy and my kids are my family. Echo Wing doesn't mean anything to me."

"But, still, you have blood ties" Golden Paladin said. "Are you going to tell me you don't care at all that your brother is captured by the villains of the Lord of Chaos?"

With the General of Peace putting things in that way, Thunder Night couldn't stop thinking that maybe the fact that your brother was in danger may disturb him a bit.

"If we stop his capture, we can stop the plans of Lord of Chaos" Golden Paladin continued. "In addition, given to the fact that Adagio and Moonlight are after him, it is quite likely that you will meet with them."

Golden Paladin knew saying that phrase was the key, as Thunder Night sighed and said to him:

"I accepted. Where do I start looking?"

It didn't take long for Thunder Night, at the next night, starting flying in search of his brother. He had a compass that had been enchanted by Golden Paladin with a location spell and that pointed to where Echo was. While flying, Thunder Night couldn't stop thinking about his moments with Fluttershy before embarking on the search for his brother.

A few hours ago…

At the cottage, Thunder Night was preparing his saddlebags to leave in search of his brother. While he was doing that, Fluttershy approached her husband.

"Is Dark Cloud already asleep?" Thunder Night asked to Fluttershy.

"Yes" she replied. "Although it has been difficult to do that. He misses his sister."

"That's why I'm going to find my brother" Thunder Night said. “Golden said Moonlight and Adagio were trying to capture the Three-Tails, the Tailed Beast that is inside Echo. If I find him, I will also find our daughter and I can try to bring her back."

"I don't know if you should go, Thundy" Fluttershy said. "What if something happens to you? I've already lost Moonlight and I couldn't bear if something happened to you."

Thunder Night put his hoof on Fluttershy’s face.

"You know I have to do this. Furthermore, you have nothing to fear. You know it's hard for anypony to be able to tear me down."

Although she know that Thunder Night was just saying that to comfort her, Fluttershy couldn't resist in drop a smile. The two gave a kiss then.

In the present...

Focusing on his goal, Thunder Night proceeded to continue his mission to find Echo Wing. Following the compass, he followed to southwest of Equestria until, finally, a destination sure popped up in front of him: Las Pegasus.

The city, just like Cloudsdale, as located at the sky, glowing with the lights of its extravagant buildings. Even at night, it was possible to envision the bohemian life the ponies of Las Pegasus lived. He was glad Fluttershy was not with him, as she wouldn't want to be in a place so energetic and flashy like that one.

Landing, Thunder Night roamed the city, watching the compass, which guided him to a hotel. Entering there, he walked up to the receptionist and asked:

"Excuse me, I wonder if there's a thestral staying here."

After achieving the information he wanted, Thunder Night addressed the room where his brother was. When he got there, the door opened and a beautiful earth mare came out.

"Hello..." she greeted him with a seductive smile.

And she moved away. That made Thunder Night roll his eyes as he knew how much Echo was a marenizer. Only with that proof, he could predict that his brother hadn't changed anything in all those years. Thunder Night still hesitated, but knocked on the door and opened it.

Sitting in front of a mirror was Echo. He looked just like Thunder Night, but the mane and tail had lighter colors and the eyes were bright green. On his flank, there was a waterspout as Cutie Mark. Despite being older than Thunder Night, he was slightly smaller and didn't have the same musculature that his younger brother had.

"Did you forget something, love?" he asked, combing his mane, thinking that Thunder Night was the mare that had just come out.

"It's amazing" Thunder Night said. "You're still the same."

That made Echo turn and, after watching Thunder Night closely, said:

"Thundy? Is that you? Well, what a surprise. Look at you, you're all grown up. It seems that these years have favored you well."

Thunder closed the door and said, while advancing a little:

"So this is what you've been doing all these years? Going from one side to the other, while involving with a different mare every night?"

What made Echo roll his eyes and then ask, rising up:

"That's why you came to me? To criticize my lifestyle? I don't know if you have noticed, but not everypony can become a captain of the Royal Guard."

"I'm impressed, you know what I do for a living" Thunder Night commented. "I thought you didn’t care that much about me, taking into account that you left me when you barely got to adulthood."

"Come on, Thundy, we're too matured to be reliving the past" Echo said.

"I believe I am the only one who can be called matured in this room” Thunder Night said, continuing then with a grumpy voice. “ And don't call me Thundy. Only one pony can call me that and you're not her."

"I used to call you that when we were kids" Echo said.

"Yes, I know…" Thunder Night replied.

There was a pause and then Echo said, turning his back:

"Well, if you only came here to discharge your accumulated anger for me having abandoned you, then I invite you to leave. After all, we're only a few hours before the sun rises."

Realizing he was giving up to his rage for Echo, Thunder Night took a deep breath. He had to focus on the mission that Golden Paladin had trusted on him.

"Actually, I came for another reason" Thunder Night said.

"Oh, and why else would my dear younger brother come to me?" Echo asked cynically, as he contemplated his mirror image.

"I'm here to take you in" Thunder Night replied.

That statement made Echo turn to his brother and ask:

"To take me in?"

"I know you're a Jinchuriki" Thunder Night said. "And the General of Peace asked me to take you in."

"Really?" Echo Wing asked, seaming amused with what Thunder Night said. "Do you really think you will be able to do it? It’s just, you know, I have absolutely no intention of going with you."

"I don't know if you know this, but the Jinchuriki are being chased by quite dangerous villains" Thunder Night said. "They are hunting the Tailed Beasts and they already captured two and the next one is Three-Tails… yours."

"Well, that sounds pretty scary" Echo said, with a tone that Thunder Night recognized as the way how his brother expressed sarcasm. "You don't have to worry, little bro. I can handle any thug that appears to me."

"You don't understand, these villains are anything but thugs" Thunder Night said. "They are very dangerous and powerful individuals. If they find you..."

"Is that concern what you are expressing towards me, Thundy?" Echo asked. "I am very touched, but it's unnecessary. I can take care of myself. I don't have to be a royal guard to know self-defense."

Thunder Night rolled his eyes. He had to do something, since Echo was underestimating the villains of the Lord of Chaos. Although one of the reasons for accepting that mission from Golden Paladin was because there was a chance to be reunited with Moonlight again, he knew he probably would have to face her and Adagio and that was something he wouldn't like to do. He had to get Echo and take him to Golden Paladin as soon as possible.

"Sorry, Echo, but you're coming with me, whether you want it or not" Thunder Night said.

He intended to move against his brother, but then something grabbed him strongly. When he saw what was holding, he realized it was another Echo.

"What the..." he began.

"You know, Thundy, despite all the drawbacks of being a Jinchuriki, there are some positive aspects" Echo said, approaching. "For example, I now can't use elemental manipulation, something that Three-tails taught me to do. What do you think of my water clone? It is quite useful for attack attempts as predictable as yours."

"You're making a big mistake" Thunder Night said, while trying to release himself from the clone.

"Why?" Echo asked. "Because I don't want to go with you see that General of Peace?"

"No, because you think something like a water clone is able to hold me!" Thunder Night replied.

And, having said this, Thunder Night was surrounded by a dark aura that he freed in form of energy. This explosion was able to launch the clone that was arresting him and then it crumbled in water.

"What the..." he began.

"You're not the only one who knows how to use elemental manipulation" Thunder Night said. "Since a few weeks ago, Princess Luna taught me to release my nature. I may not have a sophisticated elemental manipulation like unicorns, fairies or alicorns, or even you, but I'm sure this is sure enough for me."

At that moment, Thunder Night started a fist fight with Echo. The older brother was trying to dodge the blows of the younger brother, but Thunder Night was clearly faster and stronger, which made it quite tricky to do so. Using all his dexterity, Echo was able to hit with his hoof on Thunder Night’s chest with a force that made the younger thestral backward a little.

"Impressive, Echo, but you need to do more than that to catch me" Thunder Night said.

However, Echo showed a smile and asked:

"And how do you know I didn't do that already?"

That question puzzled Thunder Night, but it was then that he noticed somethingat the place where Echo hit him. It seemed to be a rock formation that, after appearing, began spreading through Thunder Night’s body.

"What is this?!" he asked, pulling back, while the rock was still spreading through his body.

"It's coral" Echo replied, while his brother fell on the ground, with his movements limited. "My specialty as Jinchuriki. I didn't want to use it on my dear little brother, but you gave me no choice, I'm sorry."

After this, he quickly prepared his saddlebags, while Thunder Night tried to break free of the coral that was restricting his movements. After he had packed his things, Echo said:

"Don't worry, the coral will eventually fade away. In the meantime, why don't you relax a little? This room is paid for one more day. In addition, it's almost dawn. Goodbye, little brother."

And, having said this, Echo left.

After leaving the hotel, Echo rushed to fly away from Las Pegasus. He flew to North until he reach a small forest by the river. He landed there, knowing that he would have to camp out there, since the sun was about to rise. However, when he was about to get in the forest to find a place that was completely sheltered from the star of the day, Echo felt a strange presence, followed by hoofsteps approaching, he turned and then somepony punched him in the face, throwing him to the ground.

"This was for having me imprisoned in coral" his younger brother’s voice said.

Echo looked, getting astonished at the sight of Thunder Night ahead of him, completely free from the coral he used to arrest him.

"How did you...?" Echo began.

"How did I get rid of your little trick?" Thunder Night asked. "Actually, it was simple. Golden Paladin gave me a potion that he said I would know when to use it, if you didn't want to come voluntarily. It seems he was right to give it to me. The potion dissolved your coral very quickly. About how I found you… I just used the same trick that I used before. In addition, I am a lot faster than you, Echo. Advantages of having been trained by the best."

"Well, I have to admit, you surprised me, little brother" Echo said, rising up. "But I'm sorry it was in vain. I still don't want to go with you."

"Don't you understand what's at stake?" Thunder Night asked. "You're in danger. You have powerful villains behind you. You're a Jinchuriki, you should..."

"You know, it's because of that I won't go with you" Echo said, with his smile fading from his face. "If you had come with concern for me, maybe I would go. But it seems that this is not the case, isn't it?"

There was a pause and Thunder Night asked:

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you looked for me precisely for being a Jinchuriki, to stop me from being captured" Echo replied. "Probably, you're going to put me in a cell or confine me to a room where I can have all the comfort I want, except getting out. You who are not Jinchuriki cannot understand what I and the other Jinchuriki feel."

There were another pause and then Echo asked Thunder Night:

"Do you know the reason why I am a Jinchuriki, Thundy?"

"Because our family came from a kingdom that had captured a Tailed Beast" Thunder replied.

"I see that you only know part of the story" Echo said. "But there is much more to be told. Did you know that Jinchuriki has always been used as weapons. The Enchanted Forest kingdoms fought amongst themselves to be able to get a Tailed Beast so they could create their own Jinchuriki, and even some of the kingdoms of the Pony World did the same thing. The kingdom where our parents lived, the kingdom where I was born, managed to capture Three-Tails and seal it in a Jinchuriki. But of course, not even Jinchuriki are able to escape death. And when my predecessor was on the verge of death, the king and his council had to choose a new Jinchuriki and they chose me. I had just been born and they decided my fate."

"But… you were just a newborn foal" Thunder Night said.

"In order to have the most perfect Jinchūriki, in addition to compatibility, the Jinchuriki and the Tailed Beast must grow in harmony and the best way to do that is to seal the beast in a young vessel" Echo said. "And, among all the foals, I was chosen just for being related to the King. Yes, we are royalty. Or rather, we were, since the kingdom no longer exists. It is quite common to use Jinchuriki that belongs to the same lineage as the leader of the kingdom they inhabit in order to prevent betrayals. And you can't even imagine how much I hate all those who chose me. Because of them, I had to endure a lot of rejection. Do you know what that does to a colt when he has no friends because they are more concerned to maintain distance, afraid of being attacked by a monster with three tails?"

Hearing Echo saying that, Thunder Night began to feel his heart getting heavier by his brother. He had never thought that Echo could have had such painful foalhood.

"And when our mother told me I was going to have a little brother, I was overjoyed” Echo continued. "After all, I could finally have somepony who could be with me, play with me, without judging me because of something that was inside of me. But then our kingdom fell. Our mother was able to escape with me thanks to the help of our father who sacrificed himself so that his family could be safe. After that, she got to Hollow Shades, where you were born."

"And where mom died giving birth to me..." Thunder Night said.

"Yes..." Echo said. “But, you know, after all, I thought we two could still be a family. That we were going to stay together, no matter what. And that thought was real to me during the years that followed."

"So why didn't you do that?" Thunder Night asked. "Why did you abandon me? Do you know by chance how I suffered when I realized that my older brother wasn't there for me? It made me feel like if you didn't want me in your life."

"You want to know why?" Echo asked back. "I tell you why. It was because of what was inside me. The ponies of Hollow Shades found out I was a Jinchuriki. And if you thought it was hard for me to integrate for being a stranger, so it was almost impossible after they got to know the truth. I endured their scorn for years until I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to take you with me, but I knew you'd be best in Hollow Shades, where you could be anyone. And it looks like I made the right choice, taking into account who you are now."

Hearing what Echo had said made Thunder Night finally understand the reason why he abandoned him in Hollow Shades. After all, it was for the love that Echo had for him that he left him, knowing that he could have the life he had today.

"However, in spite of everything, I can't go with you" Echo said. "I had to sacrifice my happiness with the only family I had to be able to escape all that marginalization. I don't want to go back to it, or else all these years that I've been away from you, little brother, will have been in vain."

"I understand what you're saying, Echo, but you can't run forever" Thunder Night said. "If you do, you will continue to be the coward I always thought you were. If you want ponies to accept you, then you have to fight to earn that."

"It's easy for you to say" Echo answered. "You're not a Jinchuriki. How can you say that if you don't know what I've been through?"

"I may not have experience on how Jinchuriki are treated, but I'm a witness” Thunder Night answered. "I know two Jinchuriki who have struggled to be recognized, despite the indifference and discrimination to which they were subjected. And you know what? They are doing it. One of them is the leader of his people, while the other strives every day to get stronger and defeat these villains who are collecting the Tailed Beasts. You can be like them, Echo, you just have to want to."

Echo Wing mused in the words his brother said and began to realize that he was right. He couldn't continue to run away from his problems, since being a Jinchūriki was a burden he would have to endure for the rest of his life. After all, not all of the ponies were the same and maybe he could find a place to live where he wasn't judged for having something inside him capable of destroying entire populations.

"What are we waiting for?" Echo asked. "Take me to this General of Peace."

That made Thunder Night smile and then he said:

"I'm glad that you made the right decision, Echo."

"But what sentimental..." a voice said.

Thunder Night froze upon hearing that voice. He turned and faced with Adagio and Moonlight a couple of hooves away.

"I never thought you were the type to do motivational speeches... dad" Moonlight said, coldly.

"But, on the other hoof, you saved us a lot of time chasing this elusive Jinchuriki" Adagio said. "Let the show begin."

The Capture of Three-Tails

The situation had changed rapidly with Moonlight and Adagio’s arrival. Now, it would be quite difficult for Night Thunder to take Echo without having to fight his own daughter.

"Finally we will be able to capture the Three-Tails" Adagio said. "Our master will be very satisfied, now that we will be one step closer of our goal."

"Let's get this over with quickly" Moonlight said. "You and I both know that the Lord of Chaos does not like to wait."

"You talk like it's easy to defeat me" Echo said. "I'm going to show you what happens when you mess with the Jinchuriki of the Three-tails..."

But before he could do anything, Thunder Night instinctively prevented him, saying:

"Echo, no!"

"What are you doing, Thundy?!" Echo asked. "I don't know if you noticed, but they're trying to capture me."

"I think he's more interested in keeping you from hurting me" Moonlight said to Echo, then turning to Thunder Night. "Isn’t that true... daddy?"

"Wait, daddy?" Echo repeated, turning then to his brother. "She's your daughter?"

"This is not the time, Echo" Thunder Night said. "But believe me when I say that the best is running away and not face them. I know this may sound strange, but you have to trust me."

Echo looked to his younger brother and saw the seriousness of his words.

"Ok, fine, as you wish" he said. "I will take care of our escape."

"You are not going nowhere" Moonlight said.

But before she or Adagio could do anything, Echo accessed to the Three-Tails’ energy and then a thick layer of fog emerged suddenly, confusing the two sirens, and, when it cleared, both Echo and Thunder Night had vanished.

"I can't believe they escaped!" Moonlight exclaimed.

"Don't worry, we will find them" Adagio aid to. "After all, they can't have gone too far."

She was right. Using the fog, Echo and Thunder Night ran as much as they could in the woods, pausing only recover their breath against a tree.

"This should give us some time" Thunder Night aid. "And I have to admit that fog was an amazing move."

"I just used Three-Tails’ energy to condense the air and create fog" Echo aid. "I could use it to create hallucinations, but I don't think I should do that given that one of them is your daughter. And, now that we're alone, can you explain me that?"

Thunder Night sighed and then told Echo what happened for Moonlight to be now trying to capture him.

"So your daughter has been corrupted by another siren, the one that was with her, and that is why she is now trying to capture me?" Echo asked. "Wow, I have to say, bro, your life is much more interesting than mine."

"The main reason for me to come after you was because I knew that Moonlight and Adagio were trying to capture you" Thunder Night said. "I was hoping I could find her and try to bring her back home. But then I realized that I would have to fight her."

"Don't worry, little bro, if you want, I will help you make your daughter come to her senses" Echo said.

"Thanks, Echo, but I think it will take much time for that to happen" Thunder Night replied.

It was then that Thunder Night’ sixth sense, the one that he had developed as a guard, began to react. He could feel somepony approaching.

"They are close" he said to his older brother.

"Are you sure?" Echo asked.

At that moment, a sonic wave struck the tree where they were and threw them to the floor.

"I will consider this as an answer" Echo said, while he and Thunder Night stood up.

They heard an evil laughter and Adagio and Moonlight appeared.

"We finally found you" Adagio said.

"And now we will not escape us again" Moonlight added.

"Please, Moonlight, don't do this" Thunder Night said to his daughter. "Hurting others is not part of your nature."

Moonlight seemed slightly affected by the words of her father, but the darkness that boiled inside her stopped her from being swayed by them.

"You better save your breath for what follows next" she said. "It’s showtime."

And, after she had said this, she and Adagio began to sing. It was the same song they had sung after Moonlight had been corrupted. Its effects were almost immediate. Thunder Night and Echo began to feel an immense pain, as if their heads were about to explode at any time.

"But what is this?!" Echo asked.

"It's their combined power…" Thunder Night replied.

"Well, I'm sick of it!" Echo said.

And he slammed the hooves on the ground and water flooded it around him and then rose up to create a big wave. Seeing the wave approaching, Adagio and Moonlight stopped singing and began to try to escape it, but it took them and washed them up against a tree. They coughed water, while Echo and Thunder Night rose up.

"My mane is all wet!" Adagio exclaimed, while she and Moonlight rose up too. "Do you know, by chance, how long does it take for me to get it the way I want?"

"If you want to make this fight more physical, dear uncle, then so be it" Moonlight said.

And, together, Moonlight and Adagio launched supersonic screams against Echo, but he made a gesture with the hoof and water appeared in front of him, forming a mirror that captured the reflection of the attacks of the two sirens and then released a copy of those attacks that collided with the original ones, causing an explosion that made the four retreat a little.

"How did he do that?" Moonlight asked.

"It seems this Jinchuriki is quite resourcefulness" Adagio noted. "Direct attacks will not work."

"So let's give them something that they will not be able to defend themselves" Moonlight said.

Realizing what they were about to do, Thunder Night said:

"Oh no, they're going to sing."

He was right. Moonlight and Adagio started to sing again, but this time it was a different song, one even more sinister and powerful. The pain inflicted was even more intense than the last one.

"Please... Moonlight, stop…" Thunder Night begged.

But his daughter didn't hear him, continuing to sing and strengthening Adagio’s voice with the Thirteenth Note’s power. He had to keep calling her, since this situation couldn't go like this. However, Echo was not willing to wait. His limited patience had been exceeded and his anger was beginning to boil.

"That's enough!" Echo exclaimed, starting to rise up while he fought to resist as much as he could to the two sirens’ song. "I'm sorry, Thundy, but your daughter and her girlfriend have to learn a lesson."

"Echo, what are you..." Thunder Night started.

His unfinished question was answered when Echo roared and the red energy of the Tailed Beast that was sealed within him began to cover his body in a bubbly way, just like Star got in the first phase of his transformation. Three energy tails were immediately formed and they involved Echo, creating a shock wave that made Moonlight and Adagio stop singing. They and Thunder Night gasped with what they saw.

Echo had entered in the second phase, with all his body covered by the blood-red energy layer and the three tails waving. Just like how Star adopted some features of Nine-Tails in that form like the ears, Echo had what looked like a turtle shell.

Thunder Night had heard about that form from Fluttershy. As far as he got to know, Prince Star Knight had gone completely out of control and attacked everypony near him, even his loved one. If the same happened with Echo, he could end up hurting Moonlight seriously.

"No, Echo, don't do it!" Thunder Night exclaimed.

He tried to intervene, but one of Echo’s tails came suddenly and hit him, throwing him against a tree. Thunder Night felt a great pain in his shoulder. It seemed that it had been dislocated. He looked and saw his brother ready to fight Adagio and Moonlight.

"Things just got slightly worse" Adagio said.

"So that is the second phase of a Jinchuriki transformation" Moonlight said.

"Yes, so you have to be extra careful" Adagio warned her.

And the Jinchuriki released his tails against his opponents, who began to dodge as much as they could. They returned to launch their supersonic screams and, despite having hit him, it seemed that they had little effect on Echo. He roared again and advanced, raising one of his forelegs, heading to Moonlight. She jumped back in time to dodge it, making Echo hit the ground, where coral appeared. But that didn’t stop the Jinchuriki from continuing to advance against the sirens.

It was at that moment that the sun started to rise up. The sunbeams began to bathe everything in the land, illuminating the night sky. Watching it, Thunder Night hastened to go to the security of the shadows, but his brother, ignoring the fact that the day was beginning, started to be illuminated by the sunlight. Before this, he began to scream in pain and pulling back.

"It seems that our target remains vulnerable to the sun, even in this form" Moonlight said.

"Let's hurry to take care of him" Adagio said. "Things got complicated enough."

And the two returned to sing their new song that started to affect Echo and then they launched supersonic screams that threw him against the ground.

"You're ours now" Adagio said, smiling.

But before they could do anything, Echo quickly got on hi hooves and roared, releasing an enormous amount of energy. It was then that his shape began to change and his size began to increase as well, and, before everypony’s eyes, Three-Tails appeared.

He was just like a giant turtle with a crab-like shell and spikes all over the body and three shrimp-like tails. Under his shell, there was a red muscle-like tissue and, in addition, he had a pair of arms and hands, but no hind legs. His face was concealed between a large forehead and lower jaw, both with spikes. His eyes were red with yellow pupils, with one of them closed.

"Oh my..." Thunder Night said, overwhelmed with such a creature.

"Finally Echo let me come out and play" Three-Tails said with a voice a bit childish. "It's been so long since the last time."

He looked down and noticed Adagio and Moonlight.

"So you are the ones that have been catching my brethren Tailed Beasts" he said. "You're going to pay for it."

And, having said this, he opened his mouth and shot a water blast against them.

"Watch out!" Adagio exclaimed, pushing Moonlight to stay out of the line of fire.

Adagio was hit by the water blast and thrown hard against a tree, getting unconscious.

"Adagio!" Moonlight exclaimed.

"One down, one to go" Three-Tails said, turning then to Moonlight.

Watching that, Thunder Night reacted immediately and, despite the danger that sunlight represented to him, he took flight and went to the front of Three-Tails, ignoring the pain of the burns, and said then:

"Please don't hurt her. I beg you, Three-Tails. She is my daughter and it is not her fault what is happening to your siblings."

"Get out of the way, thestral" Three-Tails ordered. "I couldn't care less what you say. These two have tried to capture me and now they will be punished."

"But you don't understand..." Thunder Night started.

But before he could say anything else, Three-Tails hit him with one of his tails and threw him strongly against the ground.

"Let's finish this once and for all" he said, turning to Moonlight. "I'm going to make the Lord of Chaos regret for his crimes against my kind, killing two of his servants."

Moonlight seemed a bit intimidated before Three-Tails.

"I see that you're afraid of me" the Tailed Beat noted. "You're right to afraid, a weak creature like you don't have a chance against me. Although your voice is powerful, you don't have enough hatred to use against me."

Three-Tails’s mocking made Moonlight remember Star, the reason for her to become a servant of the Lord of Chaos. The darkness inside her began immediately to boil and the fear inside her disappeared, causing her to adopt a cold look, stripped of any positive emotion.

"You just made your worst mistake, Three-Tails" she said. "You pushed my hatred inside of me and that will be your ruin."

And, having said this, she began to sing a new song. It was a different song than those that she and Adagio ever sang. It was a song that conveys a mixture of sadness, disappointment and anger that were created at the time of her corruption.

Three-tails tried to resist, but, to his great surprise, he found himself being affected by the song. An immense pain started to torment him. It was like his mind was being pressed by something immeasurable. He began to feel his arms pretty heavy till he couldn't take it anymore and fell to the ground, while he felt his forces disappearing.

"No... No, it can be..." he said. "My strength... my power... I can't... take it... anymore."

It was then that Three-Tails returned to Echo in the second phase and then it faded away and the Jinchuriki appeared unconscious.

"Now, you're ours" Moonlight said, invoking a grey powder that she launched over Echo and that made strong binds appear on him.

After that, she grabbed him and dragged him to the edge of Adagio, who started to wake up. Seeing Echo unconscious, she said:

"I can't believe... Moonlight, you defeated Three-Tails."

"Yes, but if you hadn't saved me from him, I wouldn't be able to do it" Moonlight said.

"Well, we better get going before something unexpected happens again" Adagio said.

Moonlight nodded, agreeing, and the two prepared to disappear with Echo. Thunder Night, rising with the pain going through his body, saw Moonlight and Adagio preparing to go.

"Moonlight..." he said.

Darkness began to involve them and Moonlight looked at her father, giving him an evil smile that shocked him. And the two sirens and their prisoner disappeared.

Star Knight had just recovered from his last adventure where he defeated Rothbart with his new spell. However, due to the danger that his own spell posed to him, Golden Paladin decided to help Star to develop a new spell he could use without the danger of side effects for himself.

"So, Golden, how can I get more new spells?" Star asked, at their usual training place at the Great Light Canyon.

"Well, young prince, I've been thinking the whole time you've been in recovery and I had an idea that, although unorthodox, can lift a certain challenge for you" Golden Paladin replied.

And, having said that, Golden Paladin summoned what looked like a bell jar. Inside of it, there was a piece of darkness.

"Golden... What is that?" Star Knight asked, a little uneasy.

"This used to be a piece of the darkness contained in Pandora's box" Golden Paladin replied. "Don't worry, it was subjected to a distillation process and now is nothing but a piece of darkness completely free of any malice, as any nature of natural magic."

In spite of what Golden Paladin said, Star couldn't help but be a little restless. After all, it was part of the same darkness that corrupted Pandora and gave her dark powers.

"I understand your hesitation, Prince Star Knight, but believe me, I wouldn't let you use it if it wasn't safe" Golden Paladin said.

There was a pause where Star reflected carefully, but finally concluded that his willpower would enable him to withstand anything. He waved to Golden Paladin and then said:

"What's on your mind?"

Golden Paladin smiled before Star's bravery and then said:

"I thought you could absorb this piece of darkness and control it so that you could be able to master the darkness nature."

"So you want me to master another nature?" Star asked.

"As you know, it is possible for a pony to master more than one nature" Golden Paladin said. "I am an example of that, as I am capable of using both light and water natures. But it is usually something you can get with some time and effort and time is not on our side, so we will opt to go this time by a small shortcut."

"Why do I get the feeling that this is much more than simply mastering the darkness nature?" Star asked.

"Because this is not the real objective of this training" Golden Paladin said. "Its purpose, young Prince, is for you to be able to create your own combined nature."

That made Star load the brow and say:

"Wait, I thought it was necessary to have a natural affinity for two natures to combine them."

"It's true, a normal pony would never be able to accomplish something like what I want you to do" Golden Paladin replied. "But you're not a normal pony, Prince Star Knight. You are the son of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the bearer of the original star seed. As such, your own star seed has the potential to get the same light. Because of that, I believe that you will be able to combine your wind nature with the darkness nature and create the haze nature, capable o creating toxic smoke able to weaken the opponent and disable their sense of sight and smell."

Listening to Golden Paladin, Star realized that something like that could be quite useful in combat.

"But it’s obvious that the choice will be yours" the General of Peace said. "Do you accept this new challenge that I’m putting to you?"

Star approached the bell jar where the piece of darkness was and then said:

"I've traveled a long way without giving up in the face of any obstacle, for more complicated it was, and this one will not be exception."

Golden Paladin smiled and then said:

"Well then, so be it."

And he opened the bell jar and using your magic, Star absorbed the darkness, starting then the training to master the haze nature.

Night fell and, in Ponyville, Fluttershy was cradling Dark Cloud in his crib at the living room. The baby colt slept peacefully, but his mother didn't share his tranquility. Her heart was quite heavy, as she wondered if Thunder Night was fine. At that moment, the door of the cottage opened and Thunder Night entered. Seeing him with wounds and burns, Fluttershy hastened to get to him, while asking:

"Thundy, what happened?"

"Please, Fluttershy, don't wake Dark Cloud up" Thunder Night said, making a gesture to the sleeping baby colt.

He then went in and sit on the couch, while Fluttershy went to get the first aid kit to disinfect the wounds and her special herbs to treat burns that she always had in reserve for Thunder Night. While she was treating him, Fluttershy asked:

"What happened for you to end like this, Thundy?"

He didn't even know where to start, but eventually tell Fluttershy everything that had happened.

"I failed, Fluttershy, I failed completely" Thunder Night said. "Not only I let my brother be captured, but also I let our daughter to capture Echo. I am worthless as a father and even as a brother."

"Don't say that, Thundy, you gave your best" Fluttershy said.

"Yes, but my best wasn't good enough" Thunder Night replied.

There was a pause and then Fluttershy said, while putting a hoof on her husband's face:

"You can't torment yourself like this. You must have faith that our daughter will come back to us. You’ll see, Thundy, this nightmare will end, and everything will be fine."

Fluttershy’s encouraging words managed to make a smile appear on Thunder Night’s face. She was right. They had to believe that Moonlight would return to them. If they lost faith, so that would never going to happen.

Author's Note

The videos added to this chapter belong to xXxTeaChanxXx.

The Capture of Four-Tails

Among all the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest, Stonult was the kingdom whose relationship with most of the other kingdoms was tense. It was a kingdom located in the mountainous region of the Enchanted Forest, built inside a rock formation, just like it happened with the village of pony-panthers.

It happened this kingdom was one of those that had its own Jinchuriki, an earth stallion named Black Granite that had Four-Tails within him. Due to his status as a Jinchuriki and to better understand and control the power of the Tailed Beast inside him, Black Granite left the citadel of the kingdom to move to a cabin located on the periphery.

After having infiltrated the Enchanted Forest, Ulysses and Grogar reached Stonult, ready to capture Four-Tails.

"It's finally my turn to capture a Jinchuriki" Ulysses said. "I can't wait."

"If I were you, I'd be careful with overconfidence" Grogar replied. "Have you forgotten that you were not able to defeat Prince Star Knight when he had four tails?"

"Don't remind me of that" Ulysses groaned. "That little prince will still pay for the humiliation that he caused me. But I got stronger since that time and I'll prove it to you by capturing the Four-Tails."

"Whatever" Grogar said. "But if you need help…"

"I won't need any help" Ulysses replied.

"I'm just saying this Jinchuriki has plenty of experience when it comes to control the power of the Tailed Beast" Grogar said. "Besides, we're on the same team and we want the success of our master’s plan. We should focus on capturing the Four-Tails instead of personal achievements."

Ulysses simply rolled his eyes, tired of hearing Grogar saying the same thing, over and over again.

"Let's just get this over with so we can get out of this damn forest" he said.

They followed their way.

In a cabin on the outskirts of Stonult, at the top of the rock formation that surrounded the citadel, Black Granite was cutting firewood. He was an almost middle-aged stallion with moderate raspberry coat with two rocks, with one partially melted, as Cutie Mark, moderate amarath mane and moderate orchid eyes. Dark Granite felt the presence of someone approaching and turned, seeing Grogar and Ulysses.

"You've got to be kidding" Ulysses said. "I have to fight with him? He doesn't look troublesome. He looks that he can be defeated with just a wave of my talon."

"Appearances can be deceiving, Ulysses" Grogar advised. "You should have known that by now."

"Who are you and what are you doing on my property?" Black Granite asked.

"We're here to end your miserable life as Jinchuriki" Ulysses said.

"If you don't struggle and give us the Tailed Beast that's inside you, we promise we will kill you as fast and painless as possible" Grogar added.

Black Granite limited to look at Ulysses and Grogar and then said:

"So you guys are villains working for the Lord of Chaos. I knew you would come after me when I got to know that Aeropolis lost its Jinchuriki."

"One more reason for you to surrender" Ulysses said. "If you don't, then I will force you to come with us."

Black Granite dropped his axe, throwing it to the ground and then said:

"It looks like you will have to do a little more effort, if you want to deliver the Four-Tails to your master."

Before that statement, Ulysses smiled. He really hoped that Black Granite said something like that.

"Grogar, I advise you to step aside" the griffon said to his partner. "He is mine. Don't worry, I can handle him perfectly."

"As you wish, but don't come to me begging to help you if things don't go as you expect" he replied, starting then moving away. "I'll be watching the vicinity."

After he was far enough, Ulysses and Black Granite started to stare to each other, waiting to see who would make the first strike. It was then that Black Granite began to move against Ulysses and he did the same thing. At that time, Black Granite accessed the Tail Beast energy inside of him and spit what looked like to be multiple portions of lava in large quantities. The lava portions quickly hardened into boulders of molten rock that were thrown at Ulysses.

Watching that, Ulysses quickly covered his body with electricity, what increased his speed to dodge from the boulders and he even used electric attacks to pierce one that nearly hit him. Retreating to a safe distance, Ulysses said:

"That was close one."

"You should have let the ram help you, griffon" Black Granite said. "As the Jinchuriki of Four-Tails, I possess the lava nature that combines earth and fire. I spent my whole life trying to enhance this capability. You don't stand a chance against me."

Ulysses giggled and then said:

"That's what you think. Do you think I can get intimidated that easily? Well, you're quite wrong."

"If you still want to challenge me, so you leave me no choice" Black Granite answered. "I will have to eradicate you."

At that moment, his tail turned into another one, being red in colour and with protrusions resembling spikes. After that, a blanket of lava covered all his body and Black Granite then went against Ulysses, preparing to give him a punch. Realizing the danger that lava armor represented, the griffon began to dodge and managed to do it in time, although just barely. However, the proximity to Black Granite’s lava coat caused a burn on one of Ulysses’ ankles who released a slight moan.

"Do you think flying will give some security?" Black Granite asked. "That won’t work with me."

With that, Black Granite launched his molten boulders that Ulysses tried once again to dodge, but one grazed the tip of one of his wings, causing him to lose balance for a moment. Because of that, Ulysses realized he couldn't stretch the fight too much.

"It's time to end this" Ulysses said to Black Granite. "I'd like to fight with you for some time, but I'd hate if Grogar started to think I was having problems."

After saying those words, Ulysses began to focus a lot of energy on his talons and said:

"It's time to light up the sky!"

And he launched the energy in the form of electricity to the sky. For a few seconds, it seemed that there was nothing happening, but it was then that black clouds appeared, covering the sunshine. They were storm clouds that thundered tremendously. Ulysses lowed one of the talons in Black Granite’s direction and a lightning bolt came down and hit the Jinchuriki. That lightning bolt had all the energy that Ulysses had concentrated and the damage and pain that was inflicted on Black Granite were immense. When the lightning ceased, Black Granite fell to the ground, unconscious, while the blanket of lava disappeared and the tail went back to normal.

Grogar was watching the neighborhood when suddenly Black Granite’s unconscious body fell to his hooves. Ulysses landed nearby and said:

"It seems that I ended up finishing the task within the allotted time. Surprised?"

"Only when I saw you using that last attack" Grogar replied. "Don't you think it was too flashy? That way, you're telling the Generals about what we're doing."

"Hey, at least it made the work done" Ulysses argued. "To beat him, I had to resort to the big tricks."

At that moment, rain began to fall.

"And now it's raining" Grogar said. "One of the consequences of using that attack."

"Don't complain" Ulysses said. "The best we can do is get out of here and go to the hideout. At least there it won't be raining."

"In fact, I just received a message from our master" Grogar said. "According to him, it seems Adagio and Moonlight managed to capture Three-Tails and the Lord of Chaos want to seal it along with Four-Tails."

"So they really managed to do it" Ulysses said. "Now my beak is open."

"You don't give to our fellow sirens the due merit" Grogar said. "They have great abilities. But before we can begin to ramble, we better get out of here before it happens some inconvenience."

And so, the two teleported with Black Granite.

In the villains' hideout in Arimaspi’s territory, Grogar and Ulysses entered the chamber where the Demonic Statue and the other villains, including Adagio and Moonlight, were. Echo Wing was already placed in the right place, ready to be sealed, and unconscious.

"I was starting to think you'd never get here" Adagio said.

"I don’t know if you’d noticed, but we were also trying to get a Jinchuriki who, by the way, has more tails that yours" Ulysses said, dragging Black Granite and placing him on the edge of Echo Wing.

"You better not waste your energies fighting" Chrysalis said.

"Chrysalis is right" Grogar said. "After all, we are about to seal two Tailed Beasts simultaneously. A task of this magnitude is going to take longer than usual, at least the double."

"Not to mention that now we are fewer in number than before" Oogie Boogie said. "Although Arimaspi is here to help us, we still resent the loss of an element that than the last time."

"Hey, with me here, that difference in the number is insignificant" Arimaspi said.

"Then I suggest you to take your places immediately" the Lord of Chaos’ voice said, with him appearing on his place at the Demonic Statue. "Hurry up, slowpokes! My time is precious."

The villains occupied their respective places and prepared the extraction ceremony. The statue had its mouth open and the dragon-like tentacles appeared and involved Echo, while the statue began to absorb the Three-Tails’ energy. While they progressed with the extraction, Adagio asked Grogar:

"So, Grogar, just out of curiosity, how do you feel for seeing the solo survivor of a kingdom that you destroyed now being killed for being what others chose him to be?"

"I don't have to answer that question, Adagio" Grogar said.

"What are they talking about?" Ulysses asked to Chrysalis.

"Our dear ram friend was responsible for the fall of the thestral kingdom that was able to seal the Three-Tails" she replied. "The Jinchuriki and his pregnant mother were virtually the only survivors."

"Is that so?" Ulysses asked. "Well, I have to say I'm impressed.”

"Can I interrupt and remind you that we're in the middle of an extraction process of two Tailed Beasts?" the Lord of Chaos asked cynically. "I demand nothing more than concentration from you."

"Yes, master" all the villains replied in unison.

And so they continued.

At Star’s training place at the Great Light Canyon, the young alicorn prince tried to master the darkness that he had absorbed in order to master its nature. However, this task was proving to be quite complicated. Controlling the darkness nature was something that Star was struggling to do. Contrary to his wind nature, darkness had its own way, something that Star would have to find to be able to perform that task.

Golden Paladin was watching Star’s training, but then he looked at the top of the canyon and saw Mirror Coat waiting for him. Noticing his face even more serious than usual, the General of Peace quickly realized something was wrong. So, he teleported to the edge of Mirror Coat and said:

"By your face, you can't have good news. You couldn't wait until after Prince Star Knight’s training?"

"This is an important subject" Mirror Coat replied. "It seems there was some confusion in Stonult."

"Don't tell me..." Golden Paladin started.

Mirror Coat waved, confirming his fears.

"It was Ulysses’ work" the General of Knowledge. "The lightning is unmistakable."

"That makes me even more concerned about Captain Thunder Night" Golden Paladin said. "I wonder how..."

"I also have information on that subject" Mirror Coat said. "Despite the efforts of Captain Thunder Night and his brother, I’m afraid that the sirens have been able to capture Three-Tails."

"That is bad" Golden Paladin said. “They are getting closer. And with the Jinchuriki being caught one after another, the kingdoms are still refusing to help each other."

"Apart from Maretonia, the Jinchuriki left belong to kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest" Mirror Coat said. "We know that these kingdoms have limited and strained relations between them. Create an alliance between them is not something you can do from nothing."

"I know that, but, for the sake of Prince Star Knight, the Light Kingdom and all Pony Reality, we have to keep trying" Golden Paladin said.

"Golden!" Star called.

The two Generals looked and saw, much to the surprise of both of them, Star surrounded by darkness, while the young alicorn handled it with his magic, causing it to adopt various forms.

"I'm getting it!" he replied.

Returning to the base of the canyon, Golden approached, while Star made the darkness disappear.

"I'm impressed, young prince" the General said. "You were able to learn a new nature in such a short time."

"Well, when I learned to understand it better, the rest was not difficult" Star explained. "Unlike wind, darkness is more quiet, but still complicated and complex. By the way, Golden, what were you talking about with Mirror Coat?"

"Nothing special" Golden Paladin lied, knowing how Star would react if he got to know that the Lord of Chaos had managed to capture two more Tailed Beasts, especially when it was Moonlight who captured one of them. "It’s just Generals issues."

"Whatever" Star Knight replied, while Golden Paladin sighed with relief that he didn't want to know more. "Now that I know how to use the darkness nature, how can I combine wind and darkness to create haze?"

"You simply have to make your wind and darkness energies to combine" Golden Paladin said. "Of course it's easier said than done. Try to find the perfect harmony between these two natures and you will see that your combined nature will appear."

"But how do I do that?" Star asked. "The wind and the darkness are two completely different natures."

"That's something you have to find out for yourself, young prince” Golden Paladin answered.

"To me, it seems to be something impossible" Star said.

"Combining the shape manipulation at its maximum with elemental manipulation change also seemed impossible, but, even so, you managed to create the Spiraling Star Spell" Golden Paladin remembered. "In addition, if I managed to create my own combined nature, so can you."

"Wait, you have a combined nature?" he asked, surprised. "What is it?"

"Well..." Golden Paladin said, a little unsure if he should say. “I don't like to reveal my secrets. But let's just say that if I did it, it was because I've become the General of Peace and that gave me the ability to create it."

There was a pause and then Golden Paladin said:

"Don't worry, you're going to make it, I know you will. Not only because of your own abilities, but also because of your motivation."

Star thought in Moonlight. Golden Paladin was right, he had everything he needed to be able to accomplish the task. Nothing would stand in his way to try to save Moonlight.

"You're right, Golden, I can do it" Star said. "I'm going to learn this combined nature and nothing will prevent me from doing so."

"That is Prince Star Knight I know" Golden Paladin said. "Remember, to get the haze nature, you just have to find harmony between wind and darkness."

And then Star Knight began trying to concentrate in order to combine wind and darkness to create haze.

Moonlight's Song of Pain

Days had passed until it was time for Star to return to the academy after the winter holidays. However, this moment was not the only one that was going on.

At the villains' hideout, in the Arimaspi’s territory, they had just sealed Four-Tails inside the Demonic Statue, having done that after sealing Three-Tails. Now, the statue had four eyes with iris. After this happened, the statue dropped Black Granite who fell motionless next to Echo.

“Damn, sealing a Tailed Beast is such a pain” Ulysses complained, while massaging one of his shoulders. “I can’t believe there is more of them to seal.”

“You complain too much” Grogar said.

“If we have to hear you say that while sealing the remaining five Tailed Beast, then we will have to get earplugs” Adagio said.

Chrysalis looked to the two Jinchuriki on the floor and said:

“I can’t sense any sign of life coming from them.”

“Yes, finally now we won’t have to worry about a Jinchuriki surviving the extraction anymore” the Lord of Chaos said. “Arimaspi, as this is your home, it’s you who will get rid of the bodies.”

“As you wish, my lord” he replied, while making a bow.

“As for the rest of you, I hope you continue to capture more Jinchuriki” the Lord of Chaos said. “And see if you’re not captured or defeated by the other side. I hate to have the extraction of the Tailed Beast from their Jinchuriki delayed because there is not enough of you.”

“Yes, master” the villains said, in unison.

They then got out of the Demonic Statue and the Lord of Chaos said:

“I’ll be waiting for news.”

And he and the statue disappeared.

"Well, I'd better start with the work the Lord of Chaos has given to me" Arimaspi said, while putting the bodies of Echo and Black Granite on his back. "It's going to take a while until I get rid of these two."

And after saying this, he headed for the exit. As he walked away, Moonlight looked at the lifeless body of her uncle. In some way, seeing him dead caused her some discomfort and relief flooded her heart as he drove away. Chrysalis felt this weight in her heart and asked:

"Are you okay, Moonlight? You seem upset about something."

"It's nothing" she replied coldly.

"Maybe she's upset because she just participated in the ritual that took the life of her own uncle" Ulysses said, in a mocking tone. "It seems that our beloved dark prodigy is not as indifferent as she was supposed to be."

And he laughed of his own joke.

"Shut up, Ulysses" Adagio said. "Don't you know you're not supposed to talk about things you don't understand?"

"Just ook our dear Adagio defending her little sister" Ulysses continued. "I never thought you were such a zealous sister, considering how, from what I’ve heard, you used to treat your other sisters."

Adagio squirmed her face with anger. Ulysses was starting to pass the line. Noting that talk could escalate to something worse, Grogar said:

"That's enough, Ulysses. The Lord of Chaos already told us to focus on our job of capturing the other Jinchuriki and that's exactly what we're doing. I need your help to map out the best way to capture my target."

"Yes, let's let our dear sirens be" Ulysses said. "After all, they already captured a Tailed Beast and have been useful for a change."

Adagio's anger was about to boil over when, suddenly, Moonlight advanced in Ulysses’ direction, saying:

"You talk too much, feathered head."

And just like that, Moonlight made use of her voice. It was magically magnified and focused, reaching Ulysses and he began to feel as if his head was about to explode. Taking his talons to the ears, he started groaning in pain, as he got on his knees. Everyone was pretty surprised about what just happened, mainly Adagio. She could feel all the negativity Moonlight’s voice was transmitting and how that was amazing.

"That's enough, Moonlight" Grogar said. "I think Ulysses got the message."

She stopped and Ulysses’ pain stopped. After that, Moonlight started heading to the exit. After recovering from the shock that went to see Moonlight imposing to Ulysses, Adagio followed her, saying:

"Wait, Moonlight."

And they left.

"That damn filly..." Ulysses said, while getting up. “She's going to regret this..."

"If I were you, I wouldn't do what you’re thinking to do" Grogar advised. "Moonlight’s power increases with her emotions. It seems that the darkness inside her is getting more and more intense."

"Yes, I even could feel it" Chrysalis said.

"Well, this was interesting, but I have to get back to the Dream World" Oogie Boogie said. "I may be able to still torment some dream. There's nothing that appeals more to our master than the power of fear and despair that I create with my nightmares."

With this, Oogie Boogie disappeared.

"And I have a kingdom and subjects to rule" Chrysalis said, heading to the exit. "See you next time."

"And we also have to go, Ulysses" Grogar said.

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute to focus the mind" Ulysses said, still a bit affected by Moonlight’s attack.

While they were at Arimaspi’s Territory, Adagio reached Moonlight, saying:

"What was that, Moonlight? I never thought you had a power like that.”

"I was just tired of hearing Ulysses" Moonlight said. "Even for a villain, he can be such a big jerk."

"I strongly agree with you on that" said Adagio. "But still, annoying him can bring you some trouble. Believe me, I know him for years… unfortunately."

"Whatever" Moonlight replied, indifferent. "You know, I want to discharge energy and the best way to do it is to comply with the will of the Lord of Chaos."

"What do you mean?" Adagio asked.

"What I mean is that it's time for Star to finally feel my pain" Moonlight answered.

Adagio was able to feel all the negativity that Moonlight emanated. It was immense. Something left her worried about her, with whom the siren had created some kind of affection.

Star was in the carriage, on his way to the academy. Timber was with him, with his head on his owner's lap. While the carriage moved in the direction of the Enchanted Forest, Star looked at his hooves. He spent the last days of the winter holidays trying to dominate haze nature, but he was still unable to combine wind and darkness. He wondered about what he could be doing wrong.

Arriving at the Academy, Star said goodbye to Timber before the Timberwolf started heading into the woods. After that, he headed to the academy in order to accommodate and then reunite with his friends. They had planned to meet at the inn of Leafgreen.

After putting his saddlebags in his room (seeing that Bramble had already arrived), he got out of the academy and flew to Leafgreen, landing in front of the inn. He went in and looked around, finally finding his three friends: Bramble, Jonagold and Gunter. However, they were not alone, as Galena was with them.

"Hi, guys" he said, as he sat at the table with them. "I hope you had good a holiday. Galena, I didn't expect to find you here, especially after... Well, after what happened with Moonlight.”

He then noticed their heavy air and realized that something was going on.

"What's the matter?" Star asked. "Why the gloomy faces?"

"Well, Star, We..." Jonagold started. “Ah don't even know where tah start."

"Something happened regarding Moonlight" Galena said.

That made Star adopt serious look and ask:

"What?"

"Relax, Star, she's all right… at least physically" Gunter said.

"So what's wrong with her?" asked Star.

"I... I heard a talk between my parents" Bramble said, cautiously. “They spoke about the capture of two more Jinchuriki."

"Two?!" Star asked.

"The Jinchuriki of Three-Tails and Four-Tails" Gunter continued. "Apparently, the Four-Tails was captured by Ulysses, the bully who escaped from Griffonstone."

"But the Three-Tails was captured in the Pony World" Galena said. "Bramble heard his father saying Golden Paladin had sent somepony to try to prevent the capture of the Jinchuriki, but... Adagio got there first. And she wasn't alone. Moonlight was with her."

Hearing that, Star felt his breathing increasing in intensity, while his heart was beating so fast. Golden Paladin knew and had said nothing? Maybe this had been the reason for Mirror Coat had gone to his training. Despite knowing the reason why Golden Paladin didn’t say nothing so he wouldn’t worry, Star felt he should have done it anyway.

"Star, I know what you're feeling" Galena said. "She's my best friend. But I also know that it must be worse for you."

"I need to go" Star said, rising suddenly and heading to the exit.

"Star, wait!" Jonagold exclaimed.

But the young Prince had already begun heading to the exit of the inn, reaching the exit.

"I think we'd better go after him" Gunter said. "We don't know what he can do in the way he is right now."

Everyone agreed and they all headed to the exit.

Star returned to the academy, landing at the courtyard and started heading to the main doors when a voice said:

"Hello, Star."

Listening that voice, Star petrified. That voice... He turned and faced Moonlight, using a cloak and hood to hide her face. However, she did not hide her face for very long, as she lowered the hood. Behind her was Adagio, who also revealed her face. Before that, students who were nearby have begun to panic, seeing the sirens. Star’s friends arrived shortly after and were shocked to see Moonlight and Adagio.

"It can't be..." Jonagold said.

"Moonlight..." Galena said.

Star continued petrified due to Moonlight’s presence. He couldn't believe that she was right there at his front. However, any trace of light and warmness that her eyes might have still had vanished. Despite knowing that the filly who was at his front was Moonlight, Star didn't want to believe on his own eyes.

The headmistresses appeared suddenly and Knotgrass exclaimed:

"How dare you to approach our academy?!"

"We will show you what happens to villains like you!" Merryweather exclaimed.

"Feel the power of good!" Thitlewit said.

And the three fairies launched their magic through their wands. Seeing that, Adagio reacted and, using the power of her pending, she created a barrier that deflected the attacks of the three fairies and then unleashed an energy pulse that pushed them back.

"That power…" Thistlewit said.

"It seems our magic doesn't work" Knotgrass said.

"So let me try to use mine" Melody said, appearing from the inside.

She, seeing Moonlight and how she was focused on Star, realized she had to act quickly. The only problem was Adagio.

"Moonlight, whatever you're thinking of doing, don't do it, please" Melody asked.

"This doesn't concern you, Melody" she replied without taking her eyes off of Star. "Stay out of it."

But Melody prepared to do something, when Star said:

"Do what she says, Melody."

"But… I can't" the General of Music said, looking then to Adagio. "Especially when she's here."

Adagio smiled and said:

"I don't think of doing nothing but prevent you from interfering. If you want to, Melody, we can settle accounts, but I think this could cause some... collateral damage. "

Melody realized what she meant. That place was full of students. If she tried to do anything against Adagio, innocent could be caught in the crossfire. It seemed that nothing could stop the clash between Star and Moonlight.

"Moonlight, I..." Star began.

"You know, Star, I use to love very much" Moonlight said. "I've always had. Even though you only see me as a friend, I never gave up on you. Until the day of the flying derby try-outs. You made me to think that you also loved me and so I tried to express my feelings. But you broke my heart... and now I'll break yours."

"Please, Moonlight, don't let the darkness of Lord of Chaos control you" Star begged. "I know your true self is still there. Please..."

But Moonlight refused to hear him and take a deep breath and began singing. It was the same song she used to defeat Echo Wing and Three-Tails.

However, that song was even more powerful, and Moonlight’s darkness was in its strongest state. All ponies except for Adagio were affected by her dark song, including Melody, however, she was focusing on Star, as he was the one who was receiving most of the pain caused by Moonlight’s dark song.

She couldn't be more pleased, since she was finally making Star feel the same pain, the same humiliation she felt the day she accepted the darkness inside of her heart. However, even so, Moonlight couldn't help but feeling a slight tightness in her heart, something she chose to ignore.

Star could feel all the power of Moonlight’s dark song. The pain was so great, it was vastly worse than when she was corrupted. He didn't know how long he would take. His conscience was starting to become increasingly blurred, while his survival instinct began to try to subdue him in order to stop all that suffering that was being inflicted to him. However, this also would mean that Nine-Tails’ would try to take over. In fact, Star began to feel Nine-Tails taking advantage of the situation to subdue him.

Then, when Star thought that nothing would prevent him from being overwhelmed by Nine-Tails, he noted all the others that were also suffering from Moonlight’s song, feeling the same pain. He had to do something, he had to make Moonlight to stop. Gathering all the courage inside him, Star rose up, determined not to let himself succumb before Moonlight’s song.

"Moonlight, please..." he said, while approaching her. “Stop...”

But she wouldn't stop and the power of her voice was only getting stronger. Star, repairing as the others were suffering, said:

"Please, Moonlight, don't do this. If you want to hurt me, do it, but leave the others alone."

Hearing that, Moonlight stopped briefly singing, getting surprised to hear him say something like that.

"I am the object of your anger" he continued. "I'm the reason you're in the situation you are now. If you want to punish me, do it, but let those who are not to blame out of this."

"Don't listen to him, Moonlight" Adagio said. "He is just trying to trick you. Don't forget that now you're his enemy now."

"I would never do that" Star said to Moonlight. "Not to you. Since I lost you to the Lord of Chaos, I haven't stopped training to be able to bring you back. I know it's my fault, that I should have been more sensitive about your feelings. But that has changed and I'm willing to pay the price for all the suffering I've caused you."

"Prince Star Knight..." Melody started, standing up too.

"No, Melody, I got this" Star said to her. "I can do this. I'm the only one who can."

The General of Music wanted to protest, but decided to trust the young prince. After all, he had the gift of being able to do find ponies’ inner light.

Moonlight just look at Star and then a haughty smile appeared on her face and she replied:

"If that's what you want, then so be it."

With this, Moonlight continued her song, this time focusing all the intensity of her power on Star in such a way that her song left to make effect on the others around. Star could feel an immense pain in his head. It was as if he had a band playing loud music in his own ears.

He could feel his brain vibrating while the pain made to him almost impossible to formulate any clear thinking. But, to Star, there was only one thought in his mind and there was a force that compelled him to not lose his focus: the desire to have Moonlight back. That gave him the strength to resist the effects of Moonlight’s voice and allowed him to get close.

She, seeing this, increased the intensity of her power, but even so, despite being affected, Star didn’t stop from advancing. It was then that their looks crossed. The way he looked at her transmitted everything Star felt. So, Moonlight began to remember all the happy times she lived with Star since they were little foals, including the moments that were of their own and the moments with their friends. It was those memories that caused the spark that made the light return to her heart.

When this happened, and remembering all the evil she had done, all the pain she had caused to her loved ones, tears came to her eyes. They were tears of sorrow and remorse, something that everyone around could feel, including Adagio.

"Moonlight..." she said.

Adagio had never seen Moonlight that way. It seemed that all the evil she had put in her had just made her suffer more than the pain of a broken heart. Weeks ago, Adagio wouldn't have attached to something as trivial as compassion, but the care that was created with Moonlight began to make her think otherwise.

Moonlight looked to Star. A tender smile appeared on his face, as he realized the change that he had caused on her. That smile and the way he looked at her, made Moonlight realize how much he really loved her. It also made her smile and, quietly, she returned to singing.

This time, she did so with the intention of expressing her love for Star and not to cause pain and suffering. It was as if her dark song had just reborn from the ashes like a phoenix. A warm wave struck the hearts of all those who were present. Melody smiled as she felt all the positive emotions Moonlight’s song had. Adagio, however, due to her status as a siren, began feeling the painful effects that a song like that had on the servants of the Lord of Chaos. Unable to endure, she disappeared.

Moonlight finished her song and then took her look set to Star. She smiled at him tenderly and said:

"I love you."

"I love you too" Star replied.

And the two continued with a passionate kiss while the other proceeded to cheer them. A pulse of pure energy was released from their kiss and an intense light left Moonlight and, when it disappeared, she had returned to her former self, without any trace of siren. The two finished their kiss and exchanged a tender smile once more.

They couldn't be happier, but they weren't the only ones, since their friends were quick to join them, welcoming her. The other students and the headmistresses followed the example, while Melody just observed. The moment she had just witnessed was simply magnificent. Finally, things were starting to improve.

Watching the scene from a distance was Adagio. Despite feeling frustrated and angry by Star Knight have been able to bring Moonlight back to the good side, she couldn't help but feel happy for her to have found happiness. Adagio made a slight smile and then disappeared.

The news about Moonlight’s return quickly spread until they reached her parents and, immediately after, they came right up to the academy to meet with her. As he watched her hugging her parents and brother, Star smile.

"It seems everything is back to normal... at least for now, isn't it?" Golden Paladin’s voice said, while he appeared alongside Star.

"Yes" he replied. "I couldn't be more happy for her to be back. And I suppose you talked to Moonlight on what she knows about the Lord of Chaos, right? "

"She told me about what she remembered" Golden Paladin said. "Some of her memories are a bit… clouded. Unfortunately, she can't tell us where the current hideout of the villains is. But she confirmed to me the Lord of Chaos and his villains have sealed Three-Tails and Four-Tails and are already planning to capture the next Jinchuriki and he brought Arimaspi back."

"Arimaspi?" Star asked, remembering the stories that Gunter had told him about that creature. "The monster who always tried to get the Idol of Boreas?"

"I guess the Lord of Chaos is so needy of villains who is willing to give new opportunities to those who have already failed to him" Golden Paladin answered.

There was a pause and then Star asked:

"Do you think that Moonlight will be fine, after everything that happened?"

"I'm not the best pony to answer that question, young Prince” Golden Paladin answered. "But I wouldn’t get worried by that. Moonlight is strong and will get through this. What I'm afraid of is that your motivation is now compromised, now that she's back."

"Or Moonlight’s return might have given me some ideas of how to perform a task that has been quite difficult to do" Star replied, with a smile.

And, by accessing his magic, Star released a thick haze that he was controlling in order to make her take various shapes and textures.

"My, my, it looks like you did it" Golden Paladin, impressed said. "This is really the haze nature."

"After what happened, I realized what I was doing wrong" Star said, dispelling the fog. "I was trying to get the wind and darkness together without realizing the best way to do it. I was trying to force them to join, when I should try to do naturally. After all, the darkness is part of nature, in the same way that it's part of us."

Hearing this, Golden Paladin realized that Star has learned a lot more than just a new nature.

In Discordia, at the throne room of the castle of the Lord of Chaos, he was sitting on his throne, while Adagio was kneeling before him, at the bottom of the staircase to the throne.

"How did you allow Prince Star Knight to awake Moonlight’s light?" the Lord of Chaos asked. "I'm quite disappointed, Adagio."

"I'm sorry, my Lord" Adagio said. "I couldn't stop her from going after the prince, but I really thought she could defeat him. You should have seen the negative power that she freed… It was immense!"

"There was a reason for me to want to keep her away from Nine-Tails’ brat because it could happen precisely what happened today" the Lord of Chaos said. "No matter how darker is the night, it can become illuminated with just a slight spark of light. But... I believe that this is water that can pass under the bridge."

"My Lord…" Adagio began. " That means you're not going to punish me?"

"Why would I do that?" he asked back. "It would be a waste of my time, especially since I predicted that something like this could happen and I made sure she didn't remember our hiding place. In addition, she had already find her usefulness, since it was she who brought me Three-Tails. Now, Adagio, if you don't mind, let me be alone."

"Yes, master" she replied, bowing her head.

Rising up, Adagio began heading to the exit of the throne room, although she couldn't help but notice the great discomfort she felt when she heard the Lord of Chaos talking in that way about Moonlight.

Author's Note

The video added to this chapter belong to xXxTeaChanxXx.

The New Dragon King

In the Light Kingdom, Spike was walking with his marefriend, Sweetie Belle, who had come with her sister and niece to visit their friends. He was showing the Sweetie Belle the sighs, while talking about recent events, because, due to their respective work, they didn't have as much time for each other as they expected. They then reached the Golden Waterfall.

"Wow, this is beautiful!" Sweetie exclaimed, watching the waterfall. "I never thought I'd see a golden waterfall."

"Yes, it's very unique" Spike said. "This is where Star completed a phase of one of his spells."

"It is also a good place to be with the one we love" Sweetie Belle added in a sleek way.

Realizing what she meant, Spike smiled and said:

"Indeed."

The two prepared to kiss when a bright light hit Sweetie Belle’s eyes.

"Spike, your light is blinding me!"

"That’s not me!" he replied, while he saw his own body releasing more light than anything else in the Light Kingdom. "I don't know what's going on."

At that time, in addition to his brighter than usual scales, an immense itch struck him, forcing him to scratch as much as he could.

"But whatever it is, it's giving me a lot of itching!"

"Maybe we should go to Twilight" Sweetie Belle said. "She must know what's going on."

Spike agreed and the two started heading to the Castle.

In the castle, Twilight was having tea with Rarity in the dining room.

"I’m glad you could make it, Rarity" Twilight said. "You don't know how good is sharing a good time with a good friend. Furthermore, the twins are quite happy to be able to play with Silver Wind."

"Now, Twilight, darling, I could never miss an opportunity to visit you and the Light Kingdom” Rarity replied, while taking little swallows of tea.

"Tell me, how are our friends?" Twilight asked. "What news do you bring from Ponyville?"

"Well, where do I start?" Rarity asked, looking thoughtful. "There are so many things... For example, Fluttershy is elated to have Moonlight back."

"Yes, I was quite happy when I heard the news" Twilight said. "And even more to know that it was Star who brought her back. I'm very proud of my son."

"Any mother would be, darling" Rarity said. "And Star is a sweet. By the way, you should see what Pinkie Pie did for the party she hosted to celebrate Moonlight’s return."

"Knowing Pinkie Pie as we know her, I bet it must have been something that nopony would ever think about."

"You're absolutely right. You won't believe it. Pinkie Pie…”

But before Rarity could say anything else, the dining room doors opened at burst and Spike and Sweetie Belle entered, with the latter saying:

"Twilight, we need your help!"

"Sweetie Belle, it is rude to get in that way and interrupting our conversation" Rarity scolded her younger sister.

"Sorry, Rarity, but this is an emergency!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "It's Spike!"

She motioned to the teenage Dragon who couldn't stop scratching, while her light was still quite strong.

"Spike, what's wrong with you?" Twilight asked, while she and Rarity approached.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed, as he itched like crazy. "This just came up. My light has become stronger and my scales have become... burning."

"I'm sure there's something wrong with him" Rarity said. "Twilight, you have to find out what it is."

"I know, but my knowledge on dragon biology is very limited" Twilight said. "But I know a pony that can help us."

They went to the throne room where Twilight called Mirror Coat. After he observed Spike, Twilight asked:

"So, Mirror Coat, what's wrong with him?"

“You don’t have to worry about this” Mirror Coat answered. “Although little is known by ponies about the dragon culture, this is a phenomenon that is easily identified. It is the call of the Dragon Lord.

“The Dragon Lord?” Twilight asked. “Like the Dragon King?”

“But I thought that, inside of his cage in Tartarus, the Dragon King cannot reach the dragons” Rarity said.

“When I say the Dragon Lord, I’m not referring to the Dragon King” Mirror Coat said. “In the dragon culture, the Dragon Lord acts as the second-in-command to the Dragon King. Basically, he or she is the one that rule over dragons in the absence of their king and deals with more insignificant issues regarding their kind. This Dragon Lord is the one that took control over dragons when we imprisoned the Dragon King.”

“Impressive!” Twilight said. “I didn’t know that dragons had some kind of hierarchy beyond having a king. That is fascinating!”

“Twilight, I believe we have a situation on our hooves” Sweetie Belle said, motioning to Spike.

“Oh, right…” she replied, blushing a little bit.

“That is great and all that, but… how do I make it stop?!” Spike asked, while scratching.

“The only way to end the summons is to answer it” Mirror Coat replied. “You must journey to the Dragon Lands and see what is expected of you.”

“B-B-But the Dragon Lands are full of… dragons!” Rarity exclaimed. “And they’re ghastly creatures!”

That made everypony look at her and Rarity who, realizing that she was also including Spike in that category, said to him:

“Not you, of course, Spikey-wikey. But remember that rotten Garble?”

Garble was a teenage dragon that, when Spike migrated once with the other dragons, made him pass a hard time due to having been raise by ponies.

“How could I forget?” he said. “He would have burn us to a crisp if you weren’t there.”

“Yes, Spike, but that was before” Sweetie Belle said. “Now you’re also a teenage dragon like him. That may put you as equals.”

“Dragons do in fact age slower than ponies” Mirror Coat said. “But years have passed since the last time you saw that Garble. He may have grown a little bit.”

“If you want, Spike, we can go with you to the Dragon Lands” Twilight said. “Oh, that would be like a dream come true! Finally, I’ll be able to see with my own eyes how the dragon culture works. I may even write an article about a first-pony experience. This could be my chance to make a great contribution to the knowledge of the ponykind!”

She then noticed the others looking to her in the same way they did to Rarity before and Twilight said, awkwardly:

“And be there for you, Spike, of course.”

“I don’t think that is a good idea, Your Highness” Mirror Coat said. “The Dragon Lands are particularly dangerous for ponies. Beyond the fact dragons don’t hold ponies in great regard after what happened with the Dragon King.”

“Mirror Coat is right” Spike said. “If anything happened to you while we were there, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

“But, Spike, what if you need help?” Sweetie Belle asked. “If the Dragon Lord did indeed summon all the dragons, that also includes that Garble.”

“Don’t worry, Sweetie, I won’t be alone” Spike ensured. “Like you said, the Dragon Lord did summon all the dragons.”

After saying goodbye to his friends and marefriend, Spike took flight from the Light Kingdom and headed to the place where they were the only dragons he trusted. The Blazing Palisades appeared in his vision field. It was a rocky island full of rock formations in the shape of a chimney that threw fires and smoke able to weaken any creature that wasn’t a dragon.

Spike landed and was soon approached by his five brothers, whose scales were also glowing, though not as intensely as his.

"Big brother, something strange is happening to us!" Flambeau said.

"Yes, our scales began to glow suddenly" Nitelite continued.

"Apart from that, we have a lot of an irritating itch" Smokewing said, as he itched.

"And that's worse for Toothy" Hardscale said, pointing to their youngest brother. "Isn’t that right, Toothy?"

The dragon with a deadpan face nodded, as he scratched slowly.

"I know that, I also have the same symptoms as you" Spike said. "But I know how to stop them. We just need to go to a certain place."

And so, the six dragon brothers went to the Dragon Lands, which were practically devoid of plant life, being a place made primarily of volcanic rocks. There were some mountains along the land, and some of them were volcanoes. Black smoke covered the sky, covering the sun and preventing it from show itself.

The dragon brothers landed in a place where other dragons, also with their scales glowing, were, as if they were gathering around a huge rock formation in the shape of a throne. They were all young dragons, practically in adolescence, just like Spike and his brothers, and they were all waiting, looking for the stone throne.

"Wow, it seems that the Dragon Lord called a lot of dragons” Nitelite noted.

"And they're all teenage dragons" Smokewing said. "What will happen?"

"Don't worry about it" Spike said. "We will soon find out. The most important thing was to answer the call so we could have our normal scales back."

“Hey, look who he is, guys” a voice said.

Spike would recognize that voice anywhere. He and his brothers turned around and saw Garble, who was with some of his dragon friends. Garble was a teenage dragon with moderate red scales with a pale, light grayish gold underbelly and light amber wings. He had vivid gamboge spikes and pale, light grayish olive eyes with dark purple pupils. Like Mirror Coat had said, Gargle was slightly bigger with his spikes also sharper.

“Ah, it’s you…” Spike said, grumpily.

“Well, well, who’d guess we would reunite with our old friend Sparkle-warkle” Garble mocked.

“It’s Spike” Spike replied.

“Are you sure your pony friends didn’t give you a pony name?” Garble asked, always in a mocking tone.

That made Spike’s brothers starting to become angered, but Spike made a look to them as if saying he would take care of Garble.

“It’s nice to see you too, Garble” Spike said, sarcastically.

“I didn’t say it was nice to see you” Garble replied. “It’s not. I don’t like you. Was I not clear about that?”

“Obviously sarcasm is a word that doesn’t exist in your dictionary” Spike said.

That made his brothers give a little laugh, what upset Garble.

“You must think just because you grew up a bit and got wings and a bunch of bodyguards that you are better than me.”

“Hey, don’t talk to our big brother like that, your jerk!” Flambeau exclaimed.

“Never mind, Flambeau” Spike said. “He doesn’t deserve your insults.”

Before anyone else could do or say anything else, a giant shadow covered all the young dragons and they all turned around. Sitting on the stone throne was a giant dragon. He was almost as big as the Dragon King, being only slightly smaller, and equally intimidating. His scales were grayish arctic blue and his eyes were moderate vermilion. From his head, he had big pale, light grayish gold-to-moderate vermilion horns that descended and curved, with one of them having a golden ring, a dark grey chest armor covered his chest with shoulder armor covering the shoulders, and a crown of red crystals was laying on his head. And so he spoke, doing it very loudly:

“Dragons of the Pony World, hear me! I have been Dragon Lord for longer than many of you can remember, ruling you after our king was imprisoned for abusing his power over us, and my reign has been extraordinary!”

He made a pause, as if expecting something, and then he shout:

“AGREE WITH ME!

Before that, all of the other dragons started to cheer the Dragon Lord, calling him by his name: Torch. He lifted his front claw, making the dragons to stop cheering. Spike was impressed. He never saw dragons being very obedient, as they were always so reckless, except when it was the Dragon King who was giving the orders. Of course he had the control over dragons, what it was very different with Torch, who imposed respect just with his presence.

It was then that Spike noticed someone hovering beside Torch. It was a female teen dragon with brilliant cyan scales that had a luminous glow due to the call of the Dragon Lord, with pale turquoise underbelly and wing membrane gradient of moderate indigo to light cobalt blue, moderate phthalo blue spikes and brilliant red eyes. She also had light apple greenish gray horns that, like Torch’s, descended and curved.

“Who is that?” Spike asked.

“It’s Dragon Lord Torch, dummy” Garble replied coldly. “And you call yourself a dragon.”

“No, next to him” Spike said.

When he saw who he was referring to, Garble replied:

“That’s his daughter, Princess Ember.”

“Wow, she is really amazing!” Flambeau exclaimed, infatuated.

“I wouldn’t even look at her if I were you, unless you want Torch to eat you” Garble mocked.

But it seemed Flambeau wasn’t listening Garble, continuing to look amazed to Ember.

Torched proceeded to say:

“Unfortunately, according to the Lord of Order, the only one to ever believe in our kind, the one who saved us from being enslaved by our king, decreed it was time for me to step down. Sad, I know.”

He did another pause and then shouted:

“BE SAD!”

Immediately, the dragons started to cry that stopped when Torch continued:

“This is why I have summoned you: to compete for the throne in the Gauntlet of Fire!”

The dragons started to cheer.

“As Dragon Lord, my resign means that we will get to know who will be the next Dragon King who will get the power over our kind” Torch proceeded. “The new ruler will also have to choose the new Dragon Lord to help him or her… and also for the case of the king loses it just like our previous ruler.”

Another pause and Torch exclaimed:

“This was a joke! BE AMUSED!”

And the dragons dropped a fake laugh. Spike noticed that Hardscale and Smokewing had found Torch’s joke amusing.

“STOP LAUGHING!” Torch ordered.

And they did so. Torch continued, showing then a scepter with a blood-red stone on the tip with the size perfect for a teenage dragon:

“Whomever has the strength and fortitude to retrieve this bloodstone scepter from the heart of the flame-cano will be crowned King of the Dragons!”

He then flicked his fingers and the scepter was thrown to the inside of a volcano with a wry form, which immediately deflagrated. That released a red wave that, reaching the teenage dragons, made them stop glowing.

“The Gauntlet is dangerous, for I designed it myself! It can be compared with the Gauntlet I participated before becoming Dragon Lord. Only dragons with my ferocity, strength and determination will be able to finish. We will gather at the cliff when the sun is at its peak!”

And the dragons cheered again.

Spike turned to his brothers and said:

“Well, I don’t want to be Dragon King, Dragon Lord or dragon toast, just like any of you, I hope, and we stopped glowing, so let’s sneak out of here.”

“Oh, can we just stay to see the competition?” Nitelite asked.

“Yeah, I want to know who will be our next king” Hardscale said.

“Us too, right, Toothy?” Smokewing seconded, while Toothy waved with his head.

“Believe me, you won’t want to be next to this next king” Spike said. “I already got to know our current king and he made me steal the prison-book for the Lord of Chaos.”

“But there are other things much more interesting here…” Flambeau said, still looking infatuated to Ember.

“Okay, Flambeau, stop gazing the princess like that” Spike said. “Unless you want to burn before we start to go home.”

It was then that the words of an argument between Ember and her father was caught by the six brothers. Apparently, she was trying to go to the cliff but her father stopped her.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, catching her with his claw.

“To prepare for the Gauntlet” Ember answered.

“No, you’re not” Torch replied. “You’re not much bigger than a runt!”

“But I’m smarter than most of these boulderheads and you know it!” Ember protested, while flying to be at her father’s eye level.

“Being smart won’t help you win this Gauntlet. It was designed for a big, strong dragon to win, because it takes a big, strong dragon to lead! Besides, I SAID NO!

The last words were said so loudly that Ember was pushed away a few hooves, stopping with the aid of her wings, and then showed a very upset face, saying:

“I hate when he does that!”

And she moved away.

“Oh, poor Princess Ember” Flambeau said. “I personally think she would be a great queen to our kind.”

“That’s nice, but I think we should go now” Spike said.

But before any of them could take off, Spike overheard a few dragons talking between each other.

“When I become Dragon Queen, I will make burps an official greeting” a female pale, light grayish purple dragon with small horns and long ears and legs said.

“Ah, you?” a male moderate vermilion dragon said, in a disbelief tone. “Please! When I win, I will pillage Equestria for all their pillows. Why should these ponies be comfortable while we sleep on rocks?”

“That’s nothing” Garble said, getting in the conversation, all arrogant. “When I’m in charge, the first thing I’ll do is get revenge on those puny ponies. All of them! They’ll regret they ever crossed Garble. We’ll take whatever we want from Equestria and all the other kingdoms and burn the rest!”

“Oh no, did you heard that?” Spike asked to his brothers.

“Yeah, I just hope that burping dragon wins” Smokewing said.

“None of them can win!” Spike exclaimed. “All Pony World is in big trouble if any of them are in charge!”

“But what can we do?” Flambeau asked.

“Although I know Twilight and the Generals of Order can take care of them, we cannot let any of them win” Spike said. “We are already in danger with the Lord of Chaos wanting to revive Ten-Tails. Have an army of dragons causing troubles will not do any good. I can only do one thing: win the Gauntlet of Fire!”

“Really?!” Spike’s brothers, except for Toothy, said.

“It’s the only way to protect the Pony World from the dragons. You heard them. They have horrible plans for ponies if they win. So somehow, I have to do it!

The other brothers exchange looks between each other, agreeing, and then Flambeau said to their older brother:

“You mean we have to do it.”

Spike became surprised by what Flambeau said and asked:

“Really? But it’s too dangerous. As your older brother, I wouldn’t feel in peace if any of you got hurted just to win a stupid tournament.”

“You’re our brother, Spike, and we would do anything for you” Flambeau said. “Furthermore, ponies are also our friends and we will do anything to protect them.”

The others also agreed. Spike smiled, feeling himself so proud of having brothers like them. Then, he adopted a more serious look and said:

“Okay, let’s do it, but only I, Flambeau and Smokewing. We are the better flyers between us six.”

At the cliff, Torch was with the contestants of the Gauntlet of Fire who were ready to start, some with armors. Spike, Flambeau and Smokewing joined them and Garble, seeing them, said:

“I can’t believe you’ll actually compete. You don’t stand a chance against any of us.”

“We’ll see that, Garble” Spike replied.

“Now, listen, everyone!” Torch exclaimed. “Flying to Flame-cano Island is the first of many challenges you will face in your quest to find the bloodstone scepter.”

And, having said that, he roared, while releasing an intense blast of fire that started to tournament. All the dragons took off, all going to the island. Spike, Flambeau and Smokewing prepared to took off, but Garble passed through them rudely, saying:

“Get out of my way, suckers!”

And he took off. Although annoyed, the three brothers took off, starting the race as well. While they were all going towards the island, huge see worms appeared, roaring, and launched huge geysers of water that started to hit the contesters. Some were able to dodge, but others not. Gargle was hit slightly, being pushed back, but he hit one of the dragons in armor, preventing him from falling and allowing him to continue. However, the armored dragon wasn’t that lucky and fell in the water, starting to sink. Seeing that, Spike said:

“Guys, help me!”

And he went to save the dragon and Flambeau and Smokewing followed him. Spike and Flambeau drove and were able to rescue the dragon.

“I’ll help get to the island” Smokewing said.

And the three brothers flew to the island, with Smokewing watching over the see worms and Spike and Flambeau taking the mysterious dragon. They soon arrived to the shores, where they laid the dragon, who started to wake up.

“Hey, are you okay?” Spike asked.

The dragon started to spit water and Spike took off the helmet so ease things up. For his and the his brothers’ surprise, the mysterious dragon was none other than…

“Princess Ember?” the brothers said at the same time.

Flambeau didn’t lost time to approach her and saying, while extending his claw:

“Allow me, princess.”

But she ignored him and get up by herself, asking to the brothers:

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, saving you, I think” Smokewing answered.

“It was the right thing to do” Spike said.

“Wow, you just sounded like a pony” Ember said.

“Yeah, that may be because we have pony friends” Spike answered.

“Friends?” Ember asked, disbelieving. “Dragons don’t do friends.”

“Well, we do” Spike said, proudly.

“Whatever” Ember said, taking her helmet back from Spike. “I don’t care as long as none of you get in my way. I have a Gauntled to win.”

“But I thought your father said that…” Spike started.

“I don’t care what my father said!” Ember exclaimed. “I’ll show him and every dragon who thinks I’m just a little princess that there are better things than being big and strong.”

“Wow, isn’t she great?” Flambeau whispered to his brothers, amazed.

It was then they heard grunts and turned, seeing slingtails throwing boulders to the dragons who were approaching the island. One of them hit Garble who started to fell, hitting the ground close by with the boulder over him. He tried to get it off him, but it was too heavy.

Ember was quick to put on her helmet, so she wouldn’t be recognized. Garble then spot them and said, with a distressful look:

“Don’t leave me here, Spike!”

Although Garble didn’t deserve it, Spike couldn’t just leave him there, so he went there and pulled the boulder out of Garble. After doing that, Garble just swept Spike aside and get up saying:

“Ah, I knew you’d do it. Your pony friends made you soft.”

“You know, it was not like as I was at the edge of letting you under that boulder or something, so you’re welcome” Spike said sarcastically.

“For what?” Garble asked, arrogantly. “I didn’t say thank you.”

It was then that Garble smelled something and sniffed Spike, saying then:

“Wow, your breath even smell like ponies. I didn’t even know that was possible. I wonder why…”

Although Garble’s opinion wasn’t important, Spike really didn’t want him to know that he was dating a pony. It was then that Ember said, disguising her voice:

“That’s not him, but me. I robbed some ponies on my way over here and I bit one.

Garble seemed to have believed that, because he said, a little impressed:

“Uh, I like your style. Have I met you before? You kind look like…”

“Our old neighbor!” Spike exclaimed, approaching, looking around to find a cover name. “Sandy… Rockbeach! Isn’t that right, guys? She lives next to our island.

“Yeah, that’s right” Flambeau and Smokewing said beckoning with their heads.

Before Garble could have time to swallow the lie, his attention went to the slingtails who continued to throw boulders to the approaching dragons.

“Stupid slingtails knocked me down” Garble said. “But I’ve wasted enough time making small talk.”

And he took flight. After that, Ember took her helmet off and asked the three brothers:

“Why did you three cover for me? You could’ve had one less competitor.”

“I could ask you the same thing. You could’ve told Garble that I have a marefriend. I know you figured that out.”

That conversation ended when they heard the dragons dodging the boulders the slingtails were throwing. Seeing how much difficult the task would be, Ember said:

“Yikes… That looks rough. But that’s what makes it a chalange.”

“Wow, such courage…” Flambeau admired.

“Are you kidding?” Smokewing asked. “Those boulders are huge!”

“My brother is right” Spike said. “Why don’t we work together? Smokewing is a great spotter. He can look out for boulders, but a new set of eyes would help us a lot. What do you think?”

“For me, sounds great” Flambeau said, happy that his older thought in something like that.

“Me too” Smokewing agreed.

Ember thought for a moment and then said:

“Well, I have to admit. Your plan makes sense. Let’s do it.”

“Really?” Spike asked, surprised that her would agree. “Great! It’s a deal.”

He extended his claw and Ember shook it.

“Just for you know, this doesn’t mean we’re gonna pick flowers or exchange neckless or whatever pony friends do” she said.

And, having said that, she took off. Spike prepared to do the same, but Flambeau grabbed his claw, saying while looking at it:

“I can’t believe you touched Princess Ember, brother. Promise me you won’t wash out your claw for me.”

“Ah…” Spike said, before his brother’s amazement for Princess Ember. “I’ll think about that. But first let’s win this Gauntlet.”

And so, the four dragons flight through the boulders the slingtails were throwing, dodging them the best they could. Smokewing was being of great help warning them about the boulders, but they would eventually warn each other. Marble, who as leading, noticed the brothers on his tail and flapped his wings fast, getting in the flame-cano. Spike and Ember landed at the entrance and then Flambeau and Smokewing landed. Spike then turned to Ember and asked:

“So what do we do now?”

“I think we go through there” she replied.

She pointed to the entrance of the flame-cano, where two dragons were getting in, only for being flamed by a torrent of flames, forcing them to retreat.

The four dragons shared a nervous look and then Ember said to Spike:

“Listen, Spike. I wouldn’t have made it this far without you and your brothers. So I guess, if you three want to, we could keep working together. I mean, just until we get through that tunnel.”

“Yes!” Flambeau exclaimed, very happily.

“What he said, but without all the excitement” Spike said to Ember.

The four dragons got in, running, stopping where two other dragons were. They were not being able to continued, because both the stalactite and stalagmite where moving up and down, like they were the teeth of a giant beast. They started to cross and were able to do it. Unfortunately for Garble, who was also trying to pass, he got stuck between two stalagmites right at the end and saw, frustrated, how the others advanced. This made him so furious that he pulled himself the hardest he could until he got freed, falling to the ground. But he soon got up and continued.

Next, Spike, his brothers and Ember faced moving giant crystal traps. Flambeau then saw one of the crystals moving towards Ember and so pull her out of danger. He then extended his claw to her and, this time, she accepted, much to Flambeau’s delight who helped her got up. Garble was also passing through the crystals, passing over the crystals that had already attacked Spike and the others, only to be caught by one that hadn’t been activated.

The group of four got to the end of the tunnel, arriving to a great amount of lava pools that seemed very hot, even for dragons.

“I thought we wouldn’t make it” Spike said.

“Me too…” Flambeau said, before seeing Ember looking at him, what made him to say. “I mean, that tunnel was cake!”

He made a fake smile, but it was then that a tremble happened and Smokewing started to loss balance, starting to go to the edge. Seeing that, Spike and Flambeau exclaimed:

“Smokewing!”

And the two brothers were able to pull their younger brother off danger, as a explosion of lava was about to hit him.

“Thanks, brothers!” Smokewing thanked, hugging Spike and Flambeau.

“It was nothing, bro” Spike answered, finishing the hug.

“Nothing?” Ember asked, openmouthed. “You just risked everything to save him! Even if you’re brothers, that’s not something that a dragon would do for another.”

“Well, we’re more than just brothers” Spike said. “We’re friends.”

“Yeah, I mean, we and the others may not have grew up with Spike at the first years of our childhood, but when we meet him for the first time, we were happy for having someone to take care of us the way Spike did” Flambeau said.

“Even before that, we took care of each other” Smokewing.

“Don’t you have anyone who looks out for you?” Spike asked.

“Not really” Ember said, a little gloomily. “Unless I count you three.”

And then she adopted a more determinate tone and said:

“Which I don’t! Because we were only helping each other get through the tunnel, and now we’re through the tunnel, so that’s it.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Spike asked.

“Well, there’s only one winner, one scepter and one Dragon King” Ember replied. “So, I don’t know about you three, but, through my perspective, it’s every dragon for themselves.”

“Oh, so we aren’t really friends?” Flambeau asked, a little saddened.

“Maybe if we were in Ponyland, but like I said, dragons don’t do friendship” Ember answered.

And she took flight, moving away. Spike was a little disappointed, but Flambeau was even more. While they were traveling through the set of caves by foot, Flambeau said, depressed:

“I can’t believe Ember ditched me… I mean, us.”

“Well, she was just only looking out for herself, brother” Smokewing said. “She’s just like all the other dragons who are not like us.”

“But she’s not” Flambeau said. “I know it. She helped us, even when she didn’t have to.”

“I agree with you, Flambeau” Spike said. “Ember is not like the other dragons, but she has her own pride as well. Don’t worry about her, we have other things to think about.”

They walked for a little while and then Smokewing said:

“Is it just me, or have we seen this crevasse three times already?”

“It’s kinda hard to tell” Spike said, looking around. “They all look the same.”

But then he saw something and said:

“Except for this one! Look!”

Spike took flight and Flambeau and Smokewing followed him. It was then they arrived to a chamber were there was a stone island with a big amount of reddish crystals, where the scepter was, with a stone bridge road linking it to where they were.

“We made it!” Spike exclaimed. “I can’t believe we’re the only dragons to make it this far!”

“You’re not!” a voice said.

They turned and saw Garble at the entrance, with a very upset face.

“I’m not losing to a bunch of puny pony-loving dragons like you!” he said, while approaching.

But before he could do anything, Ember flight coming from nowhere and hit Garble, throwing him hard against a wall.

“Ember!” the three brothers exclaimed.

“I knew you’d come for us!” Flambeau said.

“But I thought you said it was every dragon for themselves” Spike said. “Why did you help us?”

“That’s what friends do” she said. “And I am… I mean, we are… I never should have left you back there. Agh, please don’t make me talk about my feelings!”

“Enough!” Garble’s voice said, while he got up. “You’re gonna pay for this.”

“Spike, get scepter!” Ember exclaimed.

“Yes, bro, we handle him” Flambeau said.

“Go!” Smokewing said.

And the three dragons started to fight Garble, while Spike flight to the scepter. He really didn’t like the idea of having his friends fighting while he would get the scepter, but he had to have faith in them.

After Flambeau and Smokewing had tail whipped Garble, making lose his balance, Ember used her force to pin him against the wall. When he saw Spike going towards the scepter, he tried to released himself from Ember, but then Flambeau and Smokewing appeared and grabbed his claws. But Garble was able to release himself and tried to go after Spike, but the other three grabbed his tail and pulled. Using all his strength, Garble was able to take down Flambeau and Smokewing and then pin Ember against the floor, where they started a battle of resistence.

“I’m sick and tired of you helping each other! Dragons don’t do helping!”

“These dragons do!” Ember exclaimed.

And, using her feets, she threw Garble off her and then Flambeau gave him a blow taking, him out. It was then that they heard other dragons approaching and they turned to Spike, who arrived to the crystals and grabbed the scepter, becoming amazed by its beauty. The crystal shone and that grow passed to Spike and he released a blast of red light that made all dragons to stare. After that, Spike started to feel a pain coming from his skull and then two pairs of curved horns appeared, growing and becoming just like the ones the Dragon King had.

Everyone was so amaze by Spike’s transformation that they didn’t notice Garble trying to sneak out to Ember to attack her. But Spike saw him and exclaimed:

“LEAVE HER ALONE!”

His voice echoed without even echoing through the chamber. That made Garble look at Spike and, seeing just like the Dragon King, said, not wanting to believe:

“What?! You?! You have the scepter?! But that means you are…”

“The Dragon King” Ember completed with a smile. “Dragon King Spike.”

And she, Flambeau and Smokewing made a bow immediately. The other dragons that were also present also bowed. Garble groaned and, without any option, bowed before Spike saying:

“Dragon… King… Spike.”

“That’s right” Spike said to Garble, thinking the best way to punish him for his actions. “Now, go start your long journey home, giving an hug to every dragon you see on the way, without telling them why.”

“Awww, but that will be super embaracing!” Garble protested like a little child.

“I command you to do it” Spike said, smiling, pointing the scepter. “Unless, of course, you want me to force with telepathy.”

Without any option, Garble turned around and started walking away, giving the first dragon he faced a hug, always groaning to himself. Spike landed at the edge of his brothers and Ember, saying:

“I was bluffing about that. I don’t think and I can use telepathy right know. Too much headache with the horns growing and everything else.”

“Dragon King Spike” Ember said. “Uh, it has a nice ring to it.”

“And so it does Dragon Lord Ember” Spike said.

“What?!” she asked, totally surprised. “You want me to be Dragon Lord?”

“To be honest, I just wanted to win the Gauntlet to save my friends from a war with the dragons” Spike confessed. “My home is in the Light Kingdom and, don’t get me wrong, I’ll still be around to honor my duty, but I will need the help of someone like you, someone that can make sure dragons are not too… dragonish. Furthermore, beyond my brothers, you’re the only dragon I know and I trust and I don’t really want to choose between any of them. So, what do you say? Do you want to serve me as Dragon Lord and help me lead the dragons?”

Ember didn’t know what to say, as she wasn’t expect such honor. She looked around to the other dragons, who were waiting expectant for her decision, including Flambeau and Smokewing. And so she smiled and said:

“It will be an honor.”

And so she kneeled before Spike who touched with the scepter on her shoulder, making her glow with an brief red glow.

“Rise up, Dragon Lord Ember.”

And she did so, while the dragons cheered their new Dragon King and Dragon Lord. It was then that Flambeau, without being able to stop himself, hugged Ember.

“Ah, what is he doing?” Ember asked to Spike.

“It’s called a hug” Spike answered, smiling. “He’s just too happy that you’re the Dragon Lord.”

“I don’t know if I like it, but… okay” she said, letting Flambeau hugging her.

Back to the main land, Torch was waiting on his throne. Nitelite, Hardscale and Toothy were also waiting, a little nervous. It was then that the glow of the scepter appeared from the clouds and Spike flight down with the other dragons. Seeing that his brother had become the new Dragon King, they started to cheer. But Torch was more focused on Ember, who was flying alongside Spike.

“Ember?” he asked. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I participated in the Gauntlet of Fire, even without your permission, dad” she said. “I know you think I couldn’t do it…

“Because I expressly told you to not participate, because you’re not…” Torch started.

“Because I’m not big and strong” Ember completed. “I know. But I participated anywhere and I did it well. I may not have become a Dragon Queen, but I became the new Dragon Lord, so I think that counts for anything.”

“You what?!” Torch exclaimed.

Spike advanced and said:

“Lord Torch, please, hear me. My name is Spike and I understand that you may be upset with Ember because she disobeyed you. But she only did that to prove herself to you. To prove you that size and strength are not the only things that counts to be a good leader, but also smartness, courage and loyalty, something Ember just showed during the Gauntlet. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be able to get the scepter and become Dragon King and that was the reason why I nominated her Dragon Lord. And if you don’t approve, too bad, because there’s no turning back on this decision.”

There was a pause, where every dragon observed Torch to see his reaction to Spike’s words, but it was then that he said:

“It seems we got finally a king worth of the crown he uses.”

Hearing that, Spike saw that he got the respect of Lord Torch, what was a relief to him.

“I just hope you honor your title and don’t abuse of your new powers over our kind” Torch told Spike.

“You have my word of honor” Spike said, bowing slightly his head as sign of respect.

Torch turned to the other dragons and shouted:

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! ACCLAIM YOUR NEW KING!”

And so all the dragons started to cheer Spike, not because they were being forced to, but because they wanted to. After that, Torch turned to Ember and said to her:

“I was wrong, Ember. You might not be big, but you are strong and smart, and perhaps that counts than I thought. And you and our new king will surely be excellent leaders to our kind.”

“Thanks, dad” Ember thanked, landing on his nose, turning then to the dragons. “AGREE WITH HIM!”

That made the dragons share a few looks and then Ember said, with a smile:

“Just kidding. That’s not gonna be my thing.”

“Mine nether” Spike said, hovering close by. “I don’t thing my vocal cords would appreciate.”

That made Torch laugh and then he proclaimed:

“Dragons, hear me! I present to you our new Dragon King, Spike, and our new Dragon Lord, Ember!”

And the dragons started to cheer once more. Spike and Ember, who took flight to put herself beside him, waved to their subjects.

It was then that, at that moment, Garble passed by and, not having other option than obeying Spike’s order, hugged Torch’s noise.

“What is the meaning of this?!” he asked to Garble, not very happy by that.

“I can’t tell you!” Garble answered in dismay.

Spike and Ember shared a few chuckles before that scene.

Shortly after, Spike was leaving with his brothers and was saying goodbye to Ember.

"You've to go now?" she asked. "We don't celebrate our nominating."

"Well, I'd like to go see the rest of my family" Spike said. "I just hope that you and the other dragons don't mind."

"Hey, you're the king, now" Ember replied. "And even if they do, they will have no choice but to agree."

"I will come back to see how things are" promised Spike.

"And I promise I won't let you down, Spike" Ember said.

"I know" he replied. "Well, see you around."

But before he and his brothers could take flight, Flambeau approached Ember and told her:

"Princess Ember... or Dragon Lord Ember."

"You can call me Ember, Flambeau" she said. "I don't care."

"Okay, Ember..." he said, a little nervous. "I was thinking that, if you're, by chance, around the Blazing Palisades... "

"Yes, I don't mind to go visit you."

"Yes!" Flambeau exclaimed, victorious.

Spike made a chuckle and rolled his eyes. After that, the six brother dragons took off and started to go home.

After separating from his brothers when they were near the Blazing Palisades, Spike went to the Light Kingdom. When he got there, he went to the throne room, where there were Twilight, Blue, Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Everypony gasped when they saw Spike coming in with two pairs of horns and holding a scepter.

"What the..." Blue said.

“Spike, you have…” Twilight started.

“Yes, I know” Spike answered. “Isn’t it cool?”

“Well…” Rarity said. “I guess that, when we get used to them, they may actually suit you very well, Spikey-wikey”

Sweetie Belle rushed to Spike to hug him and then asked:

“But what happened to you?”

“Let’s just say it is a very long story” he anwered.

Author's Note

This chapter is based on the episode from season 6 of MLP FiM “Gauntlet of Fire”.

The Capture of Six-Tails

In Arimaspi’s territory, the Lord of Chaos and his villains had just sealed Five-Tails in the Demonic Statue, who got its fifth iris, while Vapour Fist’s lifeless body fell on the floor.

"Finally, it's over..." Ulysses said, yawning. "Is it my impression or sealing this Jinchuriki took longer than usual?"

"It's because we're outnumbered this time" Oogie Boogie replied. "With Moonlight back on the Order side, the time we normally take to seal a Jinchuriki has increased."

"Yes, and we both know who's to blame" Ulysses said, looking in a mocking way to Adagio. "If our dear Adagio hadn't let her dear sister get charmed by the fox prince, we would've sealed Five-Tails faster."

"Watch your tongue, Ulysses, or I'm going do it myself and you’ll never see it coming" Adagio threatened.

"That's enough, you two!" the Lord of Chaos exclaimed, imposing the silence. "You're giving me a headache with your useless arguments!"

There was a pause, and then he continued:

"Now that we have the fifth Tailed Beast sealed, I want to congratulate you for your excellent work, Grogar. You was the only one to perform the capturing task with perfection."

"I humbly accept your compliment, my lord" Grogar replied, making him a bow.

"However, I can't say the same about a certain someone" the Lord of Chaos said, turning then to Arimaspi. "I thought I said to you I wanted to seal the Five-Tails and the Six-Tails at the same time. However, only Grogar returned with a Jinchuriki. Do you have anything to say in your defense, Arimaspi?"

The goat shape monster got pretty nervous, seeing the Lord of Chaos glaring him in that intimidating way. A bit afraid, he said:

"My Lord... It's not my fault... The security around the Jinchuriki is pretty tight.”

"Excuses" the Lord of Chaos replied. "A self-respecting villain wouldn't let something so minor stop him or her from achieving his or her mission."

"If I may, my lord, I have something to say" Chrysalis said. "I sent my best spy, Obsidia, to infiltrate in other kingdoms with Jinchuriki to discover security breaches and Arimaspi seems to be saying the truth. The queen of Evermist is quite cautious and strengthened the security of her Jinchuriki as soon as they learned about the capture of the Jinchuriki of Four-Tails."

"Oh, and now we know who's to blame for Arimaspi’s failed mission" Adagio said, whose observation made Ulysses throw her a deadly look.

"You see, my Lord, it's not my fault" Arimaspi said.

"However, I also got to know that tomorrow the Jinchuriki will leave the safety of Evermist to take a class at the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy" Chrysalis continued.

"Don't tell me..." Lord of Chaos said. “That is quite interesting. Good job, Chrysalis."

She bowed respectfully her head to him and then the Lord of Chaos turned to Arimaspi and told him:

"This will be your opportunity to try to capture the Jinchuriki of Six-Tails. No, you're not going to try, you're going to capture it. Because if you don't, I will be very disappointed and wish you hadn’t been brought back. I think you know what that means, Arimaspi."

That made Arimaspi to swallow dry.

"I just brought you back because I needed strong villains who could endure the Tailed Beasts Extraction" the Lord of Chaos continued. "However, you're not achieving the only job that I gave you. Everyone who are present here have already done their own contribution. Chrysalis, Ulysses and Grogar already captured a Jinchuriki each. Adagio, despite not having performed a capture personally, was responsible for recruiting the pony who brought me Three-tails, in addition to having completed a lot of missions successfully. And Oogie Boogie, despite not having orders to capture Jinchuriki, provided us with valuable information about our preys.”

"But master, and how about our hiding place?" Arimaspi asked. "After all, this is my territory."

"I think you mean is that this is my territory!" the Lord of Chaos exclaimed. "Don't forget that what belongs to a villain also belongs to me. In addition to that, we were already using your territory as our hiding place before I had brought you back. Therefore, Arimaspi, I suggest you to bring a Jinchuriki or your star seed will become empty again."

And, having said this, he and the Demonic Statue disappeared, forcing the villains to land on the ground. After that, Ulysses said:

"It seems that someone angered the boss."

That comment upset Arimaspi who just got out of there quickly.

"You shouldn't have said that" Grogar said. "Overall, Arimaspi is a good villain. But he is a thinker, not a doer."

"Yes, for that he had his brother Cyclops" Chrysalis said. "Alone, he is a douche who can't distinguish right from left. But when he teams up with Arimaspi, things are different."

"Yes, he most likely would have captured the Six-Tails, if Cyclops was free" Adagio said.

"But since he's not here, it's likely Arimaspi will have a harder time to execute the order our master gave to us" Oogie Boogie said. "It's a shame. I even liked him a bit."

Arriving to his throne room, the Lord of Chaos ascended the staircase of his throne, sitting on it then. After that, he dipped in his own thoughts. Despite having placed Arimaspi between a rock and a hard place, he knew the chances he could finish the capturing task were reduced, taking into account that, according to Grogar, the Generals were close to stop him from capturing Five-Tails.

Although he had a contingency plan in case Arimaspi failed, he could not help but repair at the ease that his villains were falling... and almost always because of the obnoxious son of the alicorn princess who have already ruined his master plan more than once. First, he was able to reform Pandora and then he defeated Rothbart. Furthermore, he was the main reason for Moonlight had rediscovered her light again. Not to mention that Medusa had been captured by Mirror Coat... again.

Even with his plan following its course, what use would serve him without strong villains to execute it? If only he had a villain with enough power to handle the alicorns, the Generals and any other lackey his brother had. It was at that moment that a cruel and evil idea formed on his brilliant mind.

"Of course, how could I not have thought of that before" he said.

And, having said that, he got up and headed to the exit of his throne room. He walked through the his dark castle until he reached the darkest part of there: the dungeons. The number of existing cells there was unlimited, as it continued to increase as it was filled with his prisoners, whether they were alive or were already damned dead beings. Its prisoners were shaking and shrank with fear within the cells as he passed by on the outside and that gave great satisfaction to the Lord of Chaos.

However, he was there only for a particular prisoner, somepony who served him before he betrayed him and joined his brother’s side. Of course, the Lord of Chaos didn't like very much of betrayals to his own person and was able to capture him, ready to punish him for his crimes against him, the same fate he inflicted to any fool who dared to betray him.

He arrived to his dungeon and opened the door to find him sitting with his face shrouded in darkness. His hooves contained shackles that were binding him to the ground.

"Hello there. I know what you're thinking. What is he doing here? What does he want after all these centuries? Well, the answer is quite simple, my dear. My brother taught you to see the beauty of his light and I'm about to teaching you how to admire the beauty of my darkness again. In other words, I want you to work for me just like the old times."

There was a sound of derision coming from the imprisoned stallion and the Lord of Chaos said:

"You don't think I can get you back on my side? You're so wrong. I can get everything I want. And, when I say you to serve me, you serve me!"

And he pointed his spear to the prisoner, releasing then black Lightning that hit him and made him groan in agony. It was then that while he suffered that torture, the stallion said in a low voice:

"Celestia..."

In the castle of Canterlot, at that very moment, Celestia was doing floral arrangements with her sister in the scarce free time they had when she felt a great pressure on her heart that made her take down the vase, which fell to the ground and broke. Luna, before this, asked:

"Sister, are you okay?"

Celestia could feel that something wasn't right, but she didn't know what. So, replied:

"I... I don’t know."

"Maybe you are tired" Luna said. "Why don't you go get some rest?"

"I think you're right" Celestia said.

And the older sister began heading to her room to rest, although something told her that something bad had happened.

In the Enchanted Forest, there was a Kingdom located on high hills, where a mist covered almost the entire surface, giving it a slightly sinister air, mainly because the hills were densely wooded. The ponies who lived there already were accustomed to the mist and were not bothered by it. In the highest point, there was a castle made of granite with the front doors very well decorated. That was the home of the ruler of Evermist.

From there, a pegasus mare left. She had light brilliant blue violet coat with a bubble wand with three bubbles as Cutie Mark, light raspberry and moderate rasperry mane and moderate fuchsia eyes. She carried on each side of her flank a pitcher and, at one side, a bubble tube, both made of bamboo. Her name was Bubble Sweet and she was the Jinchuriki of Six-Tails.

After weeks living inside to the castle without being allowed to get out because of the danger that Jinchuriki were living, her friend, Queen Mystic Heart agreed to let her out so she could go give an art class at the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy. It was nice to get out and breathe fresh air.

At the Academy, her class was a great success, with lots of students coming to participate, including Star Knight, Moonlight and everyone else. In addition to teaching them a little about art, she entertained them with a few tricks that she could do with bubbles what left students dazzled. At the end of her day as a teacher, Melody and Purple Smoke offered themselves to accompany her to the Evermist castle, but she refused.

“Thank you for wanting to accompany me to the castle, but it is not necessary to" Bubble Sweet told them.

"But the pleasure is all ours" Melody answered.

"And in that way we can make sure that you won't find any villain along the way" Purple Smoke added.

"I think you are overreacting" Bubble Sweet said. "I know I'm next on their list, but I can defend myself."

"Some of the villains of the Lord of Chaos are not to be trifled with" Melody said. "It would be foolish to face one of them alone."

"I believe I can handle them" Sweet Bubble replied. "Well, see you soon."

And, having said that, she pulled away.

"We're going to follow her, aren't we?" Melody asked to Purple Smoke.

"Of course" he replied.

Bubble Sweet flew part of the way, until she reached Evermist, where the mist began to appear, what forced her to walk. After a few moments, she heard footsteps. That made her stop as she knew she was observed.

"Appear wherever you are!" she exclaimed, looking around. "I know you're somewhere there!"

She began to hear the steps better and Arimaspi emerged.

"I see you managed to find me" Arimaspi said.

"You weren't very sneaky… Arimaspi” Bubble Sweet said.

"You know who I am?" Arimaspi asked, surprised.

"We are all aware of the kind of villains the Lord of Chaos has at his service to capture the Jinchuriki" Sweet Bubble replied. "Although I am surprised to see you here. I thought your style was to hypnotize others to do your dirty work."

"With the Lord of Chaos putting pressure on me to capture a Tailed Beast, I have no alternative" Arimaspi replied. "But you can be sure that I will do my job."

And, having said that, he began to try to tackle Bubble Sweet. Using her wings, she managed to swerve quickly. After this, she took her bubble tube, wet it in one of the jars and then she blew. Bubbles came out of it and surrounded Arimaspi, who was shocked to see how easily she had him surrounded. Then, Sweet Bubble made a gesture and the bubbles simply exploded when they popped. Arimaspi was thrown against the floor, with burns on his body.

"I see..." he said, as he raised up. “You combine your water nature with Six-Tails’ energy to create these explosive bubbles. Impressive..."

"Thanks for the compliment" Bubble Sweet said, making a slight smile. "But this isn't going to make me be more lenient."

"And I didn't want you to be!" Arimaspi exclaimed.

Suddenly, the monster tried a new tackle. Bubble Sweet reacted again, dodging and preparing new bubbles. However, she only released a single large bubble that advanced to Arimaspi and wrapped his head. With this, he felt himself suffocating, since the interior was filled with water. Soon, the villain monster passed out and fell to the ground, apparently unconscious, while the bubble popped.

Wondering if she had defeated Arimaspi, Bubble Sweet approached cautiously and observed. It seemed that he had been put out completely, which left her relieved. But, at that moment, catching her off guard, Arimaspi aroused and quickly subdued Bubble Sweet, securing her against the floor.

"Let me go, your monster!" she exclaimed, while trying to break free.

"Do you really think I'm going to do such a thing?" Arimaspi asked. "I have everything to lose if you don't capture you. I knew I could make you down your guard if you thought you had me defeated. And now that I have you under my mercy and you can't use your dear bubbles, I can finally subdue you."

And Arimaspi’s eye flashed with a red glow. He was trying to hypnotize Bubble Sweet and it looked like it was working, as she looked at him directly and was affected by it, stopping immediately to resist against Arimaspi.

"Now, I will finally give you to the Lord of Chaos" he said. "Finally I will ensure my position before him."

But before he could do anything, he was hit by a supersonic scream that threw him against the ground. He looked and saw Melody and Purple Smoke, who were standing between him and Bubble Sweet.

"I think you have to go through us first, Arimaspi" Melody said.

"And believe us that it will not be easy" Purple Smoke added.

"You Generals are always ruining my plans" Arimaspi said. "First, you captured my brother Cyclops and now you are preventing me from carrying out the mission that the Lord of Chaos commissioned me.”

"Yeah, that's kind of our job" Purple Smoke replied.

Arimaspi prepared to attack, but before he could do anything, Purple Smoke wrapped him with his toxic purple smoke. Inhaling it, Arimaspi became weakened, and hit the ground.

"No…" he said.

"Don't worry, Arimaspi" Melody said, invoking the cell-blaster. "In a few moments, you’ll be reunited with your brother again."

"And also you won't have to fear the punishment the Lord of Chaos would give to you for not returning this Jinchuriki" Purple Smoke said.

But when he turned around, Purple Smoke noticed that someone was around Bubble Sweet. I was Oogie Boogie.

"Oogie Boogie!" Purple Smoke exclaimed, making Melody and Arimaspi look also to him.

"Looks like your mission didn't go as well as you'd hoped, Arimaspi" Oogie Boogie said to his fellow villain. "Don't worry, I will make sure our master receives this Jinchuriki."

"Oogie Boogie... help me..." Arimaspi pleaded, fighting the effects of Purple Smoke’s toxins.

"I'm sorry, dear friend, but you know the rules: the mission above everything" Oogie Boogie said. "Don't worry, I'm sure the Generals will get you a comfortable cell in Tartarus."

"And why not for you too?" Purple Smake asked to the evil spirit. "Do you really think we're going to let you take Bubble Sweet?"

"For both of you, I have a surprise" Oogie Boogie replied to the two Generals. "The Lord of Chaos was kind enough to raise my powers even more due to my accurate services. Now... I can create nightmares to the awaken ones."

And, with a gesture, Melody and Purple Smoke were raided by their nightmares in their minds, what caused them a lot of pain that prevented them from moving.

"If I were you, I would be satisfied with the possibility of placing a villain in a cell" Oogie Boogie said. "You should know that you should not bit more than you can shew."

And, having said this, he disappeared with Bubble Sweet.

With the escape of Oogie Boogie, the nightmares of the two Generals disappear and they rose up.

"I can't believe he got away with Bubble Sweet!" Melody exclaimed. "How frustrating!"

"I feel the same as you, sister, but I think it's better to focus on the job we have on hooves" Purple Smoke said, pointing to Arimaspi.

Melody agreed with him and, using the cell-blaster, she absorbed Arimaspi to the life cell on it and, after that, put it in the book-prison, sending the one-eyed monster to Tartarus. However, despite having defeated another villain, they couldn't help but be frustrated because they lost another Jinchuriki to the Lord of Chaos and his villains.

The Capture of Seven-Tails

A few days had passed after Bubble Sweet have been captured and, at that moment, the Lord of Chaos and his villains had just extracted Six-Tails from her. In their hiding place in Arimaspi’s territory, Bubble Sweet’s dead body fell to the ground, while the sixth iris appeared on the Demonic Statue.

"You know, I wish Arimaspi hadn't been captured before extracting this Tailed Beast” Ulysses said, yawning. "We took a lot longer this time."

"Stop whining" Adagio said. "Do we have to hear you say the same thing over and over again when there are only three more Tailed Beasts to capture and seal?"

"Hey, I don't like to be standing in the same place for more than a few minutes" Ulysses said. "And I'm holding up pretty well so far."

"Master, what do we do now?" Grogar asked to the Lord of Chaos. "There's still three Jinchuriki to capture, but now, since they caught Arimaspi, we’re quite few, compared with our enemies."

"Don't worry about that" the Lord of Chaos said. "I have it all figured out."

"And have you decided which of us will capture the next Jinchuriki, my lord?" Chrysalis asked. "I just want you to know that you can count on me for this task."

"Do you really think you could do something like that?" Ulysses asked. "Please, you were almost toasted alive by Two-Tails."

"And you had such a hard time capturing Four-Tails you had to use a lot of energy that practically served as a beacon to everypony who were in the neighborhood."

That comment made Adagio take a laugh and say to Ulysses:

"Looks like she caught you with this one."

Ulysses's face twitched with rage, but before he could say anything, the Lord of Chaos said:

"That's enough! Stop with the arguments. You know how they give me headaches. I already know who will capture Seven-tails, so you all can stop sucking up."

"And can we know who is the lucky one, my Lord?" Grogar asked.

"All in due time, my dear Grogar" the Lord of Chaos replied. "For now, we will wait. After all, we've been drawing too much attention to ourselves, especially with the capture of the last Jinchuriki. Let's give our enemies an opportunity to strengthen the defenses around the remaining Jinchuriki, give them a false sense of security. And then when they least expect it, we attack!"

The other villains seemed pleased with this idea of their master.

After the Demonic Statue disappeared and the Lord of Chaos dismissed his villains, he returned to his throne room, where he sat on it. He turned to a figure who was in front of the staircase, kneeling and with his face hidden in the shadows.

"Those days sealing Six-Tails left me exhausted, so I need to rest" the Lord of Chaos said. "Make sure I'm not disturbed by insignificant issues."

"Yes, my Lord" the mysterious villain replied.

"And I want you to start practicing your skills" the Lord of Chaos said. "I've already got your first mission and it is not necessary to say that success is imperative."

"You can trust me, master" the mysterious villain said, rising up and opening a pair of large wings. "After all, I'm your General of Chaos."

Days passed with spring finally taking over winter’s place. It was amazing to see how the grey days, full of clouds and rain, turned into beautiful spring days with a warm and bright sunshine and the flowers blooming.

In the duchy of Maretonia, located by a river, the young Jinchuriki Silver Mist tried to once again sneak off to venture himself into the world beyond the limits of the duchy. However, when he was about to leave, Silver Mist was intercepted by his bodyguards who had no choice but to take him to the presence of his uncle and aunt, the Duke and Duchess, at the palace.

In the throne room, Silver Mist was before his uncle and aunt, who were sitting on their respective thrones. The duke, Kyrippos II, was an earth stallion of noble poise with moderate tangelo coat, dark gray mane and light arctic blue eyes. He was outfitted with an adorned turquoise cloak with a plum color headdress with gold adorns and a long fake beard. The duchess, Ice Mirror, was a unicorn mare with a light gray, moderate fuchsia mane and light cerulean eyes. She wore a purple cloak and, on her head, there was a large tiara in the shape of a half circle.

"It's unbelievable!" Kyrippos said in a disapproval tone. "After telling you several times about the danger you are into with the Lord of Chaos behind you, you still want to play with fire."

"If you think I'm going to stay in this palace without doing anything, that’s because you know me really bad" Silver Mist replied.

"Don't you understand that you can't walk around without the necessary precautions?" Kyrippos asked.

"You mean a Jinchuriki like me" Silver Mist said. "But there are other Jinchuriki who walk freely, without having to be limited to four walls."

"And what happened to those Jinchuriki?" Kyrippos asked cynically. "At this time, they are all dead as they were captured by the Lord of Chaos!"

Ice Mirror placed her hoof over his husband’s, as if telling him to calm down. He responded to her request and then the duchess continued:

"We're just concerned about your safety, Silver Mist."

"If that is so, then you should have turned me into a Jinchuriki to begin with" Silver Mist replied.

"We had no other option" Kyrippos replied. "At the time that your predecessor was on the verge of death, you were the one who had greater compatibility with Seven-Tails. And even if it were not the Jinchuriki, you're still my nephew and I promised your parents I'd take care of you and I intend to honor my promise."

Although Silver Mist wanted to say something, it seemed that he changed his mind and came out of the throne room, followed by his bodyguards.

"Don't you think you were a little rough with him, my dear?" Ice Mirror asked. "After all, he just wants to see the world."

"We both know that with the threat of Lord of Chaos to capture all the Jinchuriki, we can't let that happen" Kyrippos replied. "It's hard for me to make this decision to keep him locked up in the palace, but there's nothing I can do."

Silver Mist left the throne room, but instead of staying at the palace as his uncle told him to do, he decided to leave, using his insect wings to fly. The guards followed him closely, flying.

"Silver Mist, don't you remember what your uncle, the duke, said?" the first guard asked.

"Relax, I'm not going out of Maretonia" he replied. "I just want to get some air to clear my head."

And they arrived to a deserted area of the duchy, where Silver Mist and his guards landed. Silver Mist took a deep breath and said:

"There's nothing like a whiff of fresh air."

"We should go back to the Palace, Silver Mist” the second guard said.

"Yes, your uncle will be very displeased when he gets to know you're gone" the first guard added.

"Relax" Silver Mist said. "After all, what is the probability of a villain showing up here right now?"

"I dare to say it is quite high" a voice answered.

They turned and saw with great astonishment an alicorn stallion hovering a few hooves above them. He had moderate red coat, coatless reddish brown hooves and red eyes, where the darkness glowed. A dark armour was protecting his body and there was also a helmet that concealed most of his face and involved his horn. A flaming mane left the part under the same helmet.

"An alicorn?" the second guard asked. "But there is only one known male alicorn in this worldin this current time: Prince Star Knight."

"Impossible…" the first guard said.

The alicorn made a gesture, while he accessed to dark magic, and pointed the hull and the two guards were pulled towards him, rising in the air. They were trying to move, but they couldn’t, as if a powerful and invisible force was pulling them towards the alicorn. When they reach his edge, the alicorn said:

"You talk too much."

And, with a simple gesture, the two guards were reduced to dust, much to Silver Mist’s shock. After this, the alicorn came down and landed softly on the ground, staring to Silver Mist, who was still shaken by the death of his guards.

"Who... Who are you?” he asked, with heavy breathing.

"My name doesn't matter" he replied, calmly. "You can call me General of Chaos. And I'm here to capture you... Seven-Tails."

Silver Mist swallowed hard and began to pull back.

"Don't try to run" the General of Chaos said. "I will always reach you."

"That's what we're going to see" Silver Mist replied.

And, having said that, Silver Mist exhaled a fine powder that was sent in the direction of the General of Chaos. Then, when the Jinchuriki accessed to his magic, the powder emitted a light so strong that blinded the General of Chaos temporarily. When the light faded, the General saw that Silver Mist was moving away as fast as possible by air.

"What a desperate Jinchuriki" he said. "Why can't he just accept his fate and let himself be caught with no resistance?"

And he took off, rising up a few meters, and then pointed one of his front hooves to Silver Mist, applying the same attractive force he applied on the guards. The Jinchuriki quickly felt the strength pulling him back to the place where the General of Chaos was. He tried to resist, as much as he could, flapping his wings rapidly, but that wasn't enough to prevent him from being pulled back to the General, who grabbed him by the neck with the hoof.

"I told you I would always reach you" he said.

Silver Mist tried to access some of his special spells to get rid of the General of Chaos, but he wasn't able to. It was as if his energy was disappearing quickly. It didn't take long to figure out that it was because of the General, who was absorbing it, weakening him quickly.

"You should have heard your uncle and have stayed inside the palace" the General of Chaos said. "Although, I don't think that was going to make any difference."

The General of Chaos absorbed so much energy from Silver Mist that the latter eventually faint. The General dropped the Jinchuriki and he fell to the ground, where roots showed up and got him as binds. The alicorn landed next to him and said:

"Mission accomplished."

"If I were you, I wouldn't be so sure" a voice said.

The General of Chaos turned and faced Golden Paladin.

"Step away from the Jinchūriki" the General of Peace ordered.

"Make me... General” the General of Chaos challenged.

Golden Paladin didn't like the way how he addressed to him, so, by instinct, he accessed to his magic and summoned a chain that burst from the ground. It wasn't one of his gold chains, but rather a chain made of steel.

"Oh, so that's your famous iron nature" the General of Chaos observed. "It's funny, I thought you would use the gold chains you make from your light nature."

"Those serve mainly to seal or contain" Golden Paladin replied. "But you're not like the other villains. I can feel it. You are a threat to peace, a far greater threat than any one of them. The only being that overcomes you is the Lord of Chaos. Delete you only would serve to ensure the peace that I protect."

"So what are you waiting for?" the General of Chaos urged. "Come on, great leader of the Generals of Order. Do your worst."

Unable to endure the General of Chaos’ taunts, Golden Paladin, with a gesture, made the iron chain attack him. However, when it was about to hit him, the General of Chaos made a gesture and the chain simply was pushed back by an invisible force.

"I see…" Golden Paladin said. "So, just like you can create attractive forces, you can also create repulsive forces."

"And I can see you're really observant" the General of Chaos commented. "Let's see if it's worth anything."

And he fired a magical beam against Golden Paladin who quickly defended and then created more steel chains that he used to attack the General of Chaos. They were executing successive attacks, since Golden Paladin knew he couldn't let his opponent have time to think.

It was then that he noticed something that intrigued him. The way the General of Chaos was defending the attacks involved his repulsive ability, but also normal dodging. It made the General of Peace ask to himself what the reason for him not being using always the repulsive ability to defend himself was. So he concluded that there was a possibility that there was a minimum time interval between each use. If he could figure out how much it was, maybe Golden Paladin could use it to defeat the General of Chaos.

After great effort, Golden Paladin managed to figure out the interval and put his plan into motion. With a new attack, he forced the General of Chaos to use his repulsive force and, at the time he executed it, a golden chain came up under him and wrapped him, trapping him.

"Smart" the General of Chaos said, always maintaining the same calm tone. "I can assume you found the weak point of my repulsion and attraction spells."

"You can't use that power during an interval of five seconds after using it once" Golden Paladin said. "It's not an ideal interval, but I did it anyway. And with my golden chain, you can't use the repulsion spell to let yourself go. So…"

And Golden Paladin made appear from one of his hooves a steel blade that he then took with his magic as a sword.

"Now, you can't escape my attacks" Golden Paladin concluded.

But at that moment, the General of Chaos simply went through the golden chain, releasing himself from it like it was nothing.

"But what the..." Golden Paladin started, not wanting to believe in what he just saw.

"I think you're going to have to work a little more, if you really want to defeat me" the General of Chaos said.

And he started moving quietly to Golden Paladin. He reacted by creating with his magic small steel spheres that he fired as projectiles, but it seemed that, when they approached the General of Chaos, they just disappeared. And, suddenly, he appear ahead of Golden Paladin and gave him a punch so hard threw him back a few hooves.

"Now, you just let me down, Golden Paladin" the General of Chaos said. "I expected a little more from you. But, you know, I'm not a bad guy and I'm going to give you what is yours."

And, having said this, he accessed his magic and the spheres that Golden Paladin had just fired reappeared and continued their trajectory, this time in the direction of the one who fired them. They hit Golden Paladin, who moaned in pain, while he was lying on the ground.

"I hope the next time we meet, you don’t disappoint me so much" the General of Chaos said to him.

After having said these words, he went back to the edge of Silver Mist and then disappeared with him.

After a few moments, Mirror Coat came through a mirror portal of his and saw Golden Paladin lying on the ground.

"Golden!" he exclaimed, approaching his fallen leader. "Don't worry, I'll take you to the infirmary of the Light Castle."

With some effort, Mirror Coat raised Golden Paladin up and created a mirror portal and passed through it with the wounded General.

In the infirmary, Twilight and Blue approached the bed where Golden Paladin was being handled by Leaf Mane.

"How are you, Golden?" Twilight asked.

"Don't worry, Princess, I'm fine" Golden Paladin said, a little weakly. "I'm a little sore, but I'm going to be fine."

"Fortunately we, Generals, are immortal" Leaf Mane said. "The injuries that he had could have been lethal for a normal pony. Also it is no wonder, since he got hit by his own attack."

"Please, Leaf Mane, don't make me feel more humiliated than I already am" Golden Paladin said.

"But what did really happen?" Blue Sword asked.

"All I know is that I felt a stir in Maretonia and I went to investigate, for the case it was an attempt of the villains to capture Seven-Tails, but I only arrived in time to see Golden Paladin lying on the ground" Mirror Coat told.

"The villain that I faced, the villain who captured Seven-Tails, is completely different from the villains we faced so far" Golden Paladin said.

"He must be, for leaving you in this state" Blue said.

"What do you mean by different?" Twilight asked.

"What I mean is that this villain was an alicorn and a General" Golden Paladin replied.

That revelation left everypony speechless.

"I know, I had the same reaction when he said who was" Golden Paladin said.

"This is bad" Mirror Coat said. "A General, no matter his or her alignment, is already quite powerful. But a General alicorn? It's too much."

"Maybe if we face him at the same time we can subdue him" Leaf Mane said.

"I think he's too smart to try to confront us all at the same time" Golden Paladin said. "But I was able to analyze a part of his capacities. Mirror Coat, I believe you can analyze the rest."

"I will do my best" he replied.

"And we need to be on high alert" Twilight said. "With the capture of Seven-Tails, there are only two Jinchuriki mission. The Lord of Chaos is increasingly close of Star."

"And let's make sure he doesn't come to him" Blue told her. "Don't worry, Twily. Everything is gonna be fine."

In the throne room of the Lord of chaos, he was sitting on his throne when the General of Chaos appeared at the bottom of the staircase with Silver Mist, still unconscious at his hooves.

"Master, as you requested, I brought you the Jinchuriki of Seven-Tails."

"Perfect" the Lord of Chaos said. "I knew you'd be able to do it. Was there any problem?"

"The General of Peace tried to intervene, but I dealt with him" the General of Chaos replied.

"Wait, are you telling me you defeated the leader of my brother’s Generals?" the Lord of Chaos asked, surprised. "Wow, this is too good to be true! It's like a dream come true."

"In the end, he was able to discover the secret of my attraction and repulsion spells" the General of Chaos said.

"It's okay, just this little dispute between you two only proves that I made the right decision to choose you to be my General" the Lord of Chaos said. "Now, we only have two Jinchuriki to capture and when I take control of their Tailed Beasts, the Pony Reality will be all mine!"

And he cackled devilishly.

Lord Hawthorn, the Perfect Jinchuriki

In the castle of the Lord of Chaos, Ulysses and Grogar appeared in the throne room, where their master was sitting on his throne.

"Well, well, this is a surprise" the Lord of Chaos said. "What are you doing here? Did I call you and I don't remember it?"

"My Lord, I am so sorry for bothering you, but I tried to stop him" Grogar said, referring to Ulysses. "However, as always, he won't listen to reason."

"Ulysses, what do you want?" the Lord of Chaos asked to the griffon. “I just hope it’s nothing pointless, because if it is…”

"Master, it has passed a lot of days since we sealed Six-Tails" the griffon said. "You said you had already chosen someone to capture the next Jinchuriki, but I have to ask this. Please let me capture Seven-Tails."

There was a pause in which the Lord of Chaos just stood there looking at Ulysses and then he replied:

"That won't be necessary."

"But, my Lord, with the success I had in capturing Four-Tails, despite the drawbacks, I could easily capture the Jinchuriki of Seven-Tails" Ulysses said.

"You don't understand, Ulysses" the Lord of Chaos said. "As always, your impulsiveness stops you from thinking clearly. I don't need you to capture Seven-Tails because I already have it."

He snapped his fingers and Silver Mist appeared, floating in the air, unconscious. Ulysses and Grogar were surprised with that revelation and the griffon asked:

"But... how? None of the other villains were ordered to capture him."

"Don't tell me that this was your doing, master" Grogar said.

That made the Lord of Chaos a laugh and say:

"I feel flattered, Grogar, but I don't like getting my hands dirty with something that I can just order my subjects to do. Although, in some ways, what you said is true. Let me to introduce you the newest addition to my elite team of villains."

And, next to the throne, the General of Chaos appeared.

"But who is that?" Ulysses asked.

"This is my ultimate villain, the perfect combination between General and alicorn" the Lord of Chaos said. "He is my General of Chaos."

"It's nice to meet you" the General of Chaos said to Ulysses and Grogar in a polite way. "I've heard of your success in capturing Jinchuriki. I hope you haven't been intimidated with my recent achievement for the success of our master’s plan."

"You think this impressed me?" Ulysses asked, pointing to Silver Mist. "Please, I've already captured a Jinchuriki."

"Ulysses, don't be rude" Grogar said. "After all, he is our companion. And I must say that I am surprised to see him on our side."

"I see you were able to figure out who he is, Grogar" the Lord of Chaos said.

"How could I not have recognized him?" the ram asked. "So he has the combined strength of a General and an alicorn. I must say, my Lord, this is genius."

"I know" the Lord of Chaos said. "And he has already begun to show his value. And speaking of value, Ulysses, I can feel a little anxiety in you. Maybe you'd like to do me a favor and capture the next Jinchuriki."

"Yes, I'd like that very much, my lord" Ulysses replied.

"Are you sure?" the General of Chaos asked. "After all, we are talking about the Jinchūriki of Eight-Tails."

"Please, I can defeat any Jinchuriki that appears before me" Ulysses said.

"Like when Prince Star Knight beat you at his eleventh birthday and that time in Neighagra Falls?" Grogar asked.

"Hey, I thought we agreed not to talk about those moments ever again!" Ulysses replied.

"I'm serious, Ulysses" Grogar said. "At that time, you could have held on against Prince Star Knight, but he was being dominated by Nine-Tails’ energy and his attacks were wild and without control. But the Jinchuriki of Eight-Tails has a perfect control over his Tailed Beast."

"That is true" the Lord of Chaos said. "Lord Hawthorn, the brother of the King of Thicket, is a perfect Jinchūriki. But Ulysses has an ability to overcome any difficulties and, with a little push from me, maybe he can subdue him."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, my lord" Ulysses thanked.

"However, I don't have to remind you what happens if you fail me, Ulysses" the Lord of Chaos threatened.

"Don't worry, that is not going to happen" the griffon ensured.

"Very well, then take this new power I will offer you and go capture that Jinchuriki for me" the Lord of Chaos said.

And he pointed his spear to Ulysses and released black lightning that hit him, making him moan, while his power was increased.

After that, Ulysses traveled to Thicket, alone. He toured the kingdom until he reached where the Lord of Chaos had said him to search for Eight-Tails. He was at one end of Thicket that included a piece of the mountainous area, where there were huge rock formations along a large lake.

At the peak of one of the highest rock formations, a deer was feeling the wind after he had been training. He had a grayish gamboge fur with a light gambogeish grey underbelly and a tuft of fur that had a darker shade of grayish gamboge on the chest and brilliant apple green eyes. He was Hawthorn, King Aspen’s younger brother and Jinchuriki of Eight-Tails.

He then felt a strange presence approaching and he knew exactly who it was.

"So, you finally came for me" Hawthorn said.

The deer turned, facing Ulysses and adding:

"However, I was thinking that the Lord of Chaos would send more than just one villain to capture me."

"I don't need help to deal with you, Eight-Tails" Ulysses said, making electricity pass through his body briefly.

"I think you're confusing everything" Hawthorn replied. "You see, I'm not eight-tails. Let’s just say that he and I are great friends. And, by the way, for you, is Lord Eight-Tails, sir."

"What I call you doesn't matter" Ulysses said. "What matters is that you're going down, just like all the other Jinchuriki before you."

"So let's see what you got" Hawthorn said. "Come on, you can go first."

"With pleasure!" Ulysses exclaimed.

And he took flight, while creating at one of his talons a light blade. Upon reaching Hawthorn, Ulysses down the light blade for the blow, but the deer defended it easily with his forelegs.

"Damn..." the griffon said.

"A blow like this will not be able to hit me" Hawthorn said. "Why not try something a little less… predictable?"

And with one swing, he made Ulysses drop the light blade that fade away. Given to this, the villain griffon took flight and stood slightly behind.

"How about this?" Ulysses asked, making electricity go through his claws, making them sharper and more lethal.

He advanced against Hawthorn, but then an electric field toured the floor and gave him a big shock, immobilizing him. After this, Hawthorn tackled Ulysses with his horns and threw him against the ground a few hooves away. He stood up a bit, saying:

"But what the hell..."

"You think you're the only one using the light nature in that way?" Hawthorn asked. "We, deers, may not have innate active magic or a powerful master, but our connection with nature itself allows to use elemental manipulation like any unicorn."

Ulysses rose up, with his anger rising. That Jinchuriki could irritate him even more than Star Knight, but the difference between them was that Hawthorn’s attacks were more accurate and he didn't waste any movement. But he wasn't going to let a Jinchuriki beat him, no matter how strong he was.

And, with blazing speed, he took off and this time summoned two light blades. But before he had a chance to attack Hawthorn, the Jinchuriki made electricity pass through his horns and did a tackle that hit and threw Ulysses again, but this time the griffon used his wings to slow down the speed and landing on his feet. Hawthorn ran in his direction to use his horns again, but Ulysses defended with the blades. After this, the two moved away from each other a little bit.

"Not bad" Hawthorn said. "Not bad at all. It's a shame you are my enemy, otherwise I think we could get along very well."

"Friendship is just something that is between you and the path to power" Ulysses said. "I don't need friends when I have all the power I need."

"Well, then why don't we make this battle more interesting?" Hawthorn asked.

And, having said that, he made electricity pass through his horns that shone brightly, with the tips to become sharper. And he advanced against Ulysses, starting a fight between blades and horns. The fight was intense, but it seemed that Hawthorn had the advantage. Even when Ulysses tried to escape flying, Hawthorn gave high jumps that made any escape attempts from the griffon useless. It was then that, in an opening, Hawthorn hit him with his horns on Ulysses’ trunk and threw him away, causing him to hit the ground.

Then, Hawthorn advanced to give a final blow on him, but Ulysses was quick to use his electricity to create two clones of him that advanced and, while one defended Hawthorn’s blow, the other came from behind to give a strong electric punch on him that threw him away. But Hawthorn managed to land on his hooves and then looked to Ulysses who stood alongside his clones. The fact that he could use light nature clones impressed him, but that would not be enough to stop him.

The Jinchuriki struck again, trying to hit the real Ulysses, but the clones put themselves in the way, forcing him to fight against them. It was then that they held him and immobilized him, absorbing the electricity that Hawthorn was trying to produce. Ulysses took advantage of this moment to attack with a talon. That affected him greatly and, after that, Ulysses and his clones moved away and together they launched lightning to the sky that then fell on Hawthorn as a single attack. But when the attack ended, they saw that he was not there anymore.

"He's gone" Ulysses said.

Hawthorn was on a ledge in one of the nearby rock formations, observing his opponent. It was then that an electric current ran through his body, but it was not yours and Hawthorn realized it was Ulysses who put it there to feel his presence. Taking flight, he moved in Hawthorn’s direction. Realizing he had no choice, the prince deer accessed Eight-Tails’ energy.

When Ulysses was closing in, he saw Hawthorn’s body be involved by a bubbly red energy with eight tails being formed. The griffon recognized that phenomenon as being the same Star had when they faced each other in Neighagra Falls. And, as he was flying, Hawthorn embarked on the air and tried to tackle Ulysses, but he managed to dodge what forced him to head to the rock formation where he was before, landing with a loud bang.

The griffon headed there, landing at the base of the formation, by the Lake. It was then that Hawthorn appeared from the curtain of dust caused by shock and prepared to attack Ulysses from above. Quickly, Ulysses used a part of the power the Lord of Chaos gave him. His eyes filled with darkness and Hawthorn, looking at them, was put in a kind of illusion, immobilizing him. The Jinchuriki fell on the floor, not moving.

After using that illusion spell, Ulysses felt the side effects, a pain that ran through his eyes. He then turned to Hawthorn, but, suddenly, to his surprise, the deer showed up at his front quickly and hit him with immense strength at his neck with his horns, making him fall to the ground.

"Did you really think an illusion spell would work on me?" Hawthorn asked. "You're quite wrong. And now you're going to pay for your recklessness."

He was right. The tips of his horns had punctured the griffon’s neck and chest, leaving Ulysses in a critical condition. It seemed that would be the end of him, but a wave of darkness surrounded him and began to heal all his wounds.

"I see..." Hawhtorn said, watching that, while the energy around him started to get increasingly more intense. “Looks like your master prepared you well enough to fight against me. He gave you a darkness nature healing spell. But that's not going to save you now."

It was then that portions of his skin and fur began to be torn off, while Hawthorn said:

“In order to break an illusion spell, what you need is a partner that can agitate your aura and wake you up from it. My partner is Eight-Tails that is inside of me. That’s why no illusion spell has effect on a Jinchuriki who has the control over his or her Tailed Beast. And now, it’s time for you to meet my partner.”

Huge tentacles emerged from his flank, while the energy began to dissipate. A curtain of dust created by tentacles appeared, involving Hawthorn. The healing spell of dark energy healed Ulysses and he stood up and looked to where Hawthorn was. When the dust had settled, he was ahead of Hawthorn on his Tailed Beast form.

Eight-Tails was massive in size, just like the other Tailed Beast, with the muscular upper-body structure of what appeared to be a minotaur with crimsonish grey skin, arms with spiked protrusions on the elbows, and hands with opposable thumbs. He also had four long horns on his head with the upper ones curving up and the lower ones, which were slightly longer, curving down, with one with the end sliced off, and his eyes had a lighter shade than his skin. Instead of hind-legs, his lower half consisted of his eight tails, which resemble the cephalopod arms of an octopus.

"Hope you're ready, griffon, because now that I'm in this form, I'm not going to show any kind of mercy to you" Hawthorn said through Eight-Tails.

Ulysses was amazed by the way how Hawthorn had changed to his Tailed Beast form and still kept control. None of the other Jinchuriki who had moved into this form had managed to maintain control, with the Tailed Beast taking it.

"It's time to end you and let the Lord of Chaos lose one of his servants!" Hawthorn exclaimed.

He tried to move forward to Ulysses, but he acted quickly, freeing darkness that formed a dark mass of energy that began to prevent Hawthorn from moving forward. Ulysses hated to admit it, but that Jinchuriki was far more powerful than he had though. If we didn't end the fight quickly or escape, he wouldn't survive. But then he remembered the Lord of Chaos’ threat on what would happen if he failed and that made him realize that he could not get out of there without the Jinchuriki captured.

Hawthorn tackled with all the strength he had, but it seemed that the dark mass of energy wouldn't break one bit. Starting to get tired of that and retreating a bit, Hawthorn exclaimed:

"I'm not going to let a heap of dark energy stop me from winning this fight!"

And he roared while he began to accumulate energy in front of his mouth that started to form a black sphere. Ulysses recognized it right away, because it was the same kind of energy sphere Star Knight used against him in their last fight. After it was formed completely, Hawthorn pointed it against the mass of dark energy and launched a blast that hit everything that was around, including the rock formations that were nearby.

Wandering in one of the rock formations nearby the battle, were two deer who saw the explosion happening.

“That looks like…” one of the deers said. “Is that Lord Hawthorn’s?”

The other deer, who was younger, asked:

“What is it?”

But the older deer didn’t answer, starting to go back, running, and saying:

“Let’s go!”

“Yes!” the younger deer answered, following him.

Following the explosion, they went through bridges that were linking the rock formations and arrived to where the explosion happened, where they saw Hawthorn in his Tailed Beast form, on a rock, while the lake surrounded him, with parts of the destroyed rock formations scarred.

“But that’s…” the younger deer said.

“Lord Hawthorn” the older deer said. “But why would he transform in Eight-Tails? I though King Aspen had forbidden him of taking that form.”

The younger deer then saw something and said, pointing:

“Wait, look over there! He has been fighting with someone.”

He was pointing to Ulysses, who was kneeling on the ground, gasping. The dark energy mass was destroyed by that blast and now he was defenseless.

“I know that griffon” the older deer said. “He works for the Lord of Chaos, the one that ordered the capture of all Jinchuriki.”

Now that Ulysses had no longer his defense, he realized he could only use the secret weapon that the Lord of Chaos gave him.

Hawthorn roared again and released the tentacles against Ulysses. It was at that moment that an obscure light got out of Ulysses and hit Hawthorn. The light started to cause him a lot of pain, like an electric shock, but without causing any damage and with it was one thousand times more intense. The pain made Hawthorn lose control of his body, causing him to fall into the water.

Ulysses felt an immense pain in his body, after using that. The pain was such that he didn’t see one of Hawthorn’s tentacles coming in his direction. When he saw it, the instinct led him to react by putting one of his talons in his front. It was at that moment that a obscure light was released from it and penetrated the tentacle like a laser, cutting it, and the tip fell and sank in the lake. Ulysses was amazed with such power. So that was the power of blacklight nature, the nature created by the combination of light and darkness.

The griffon turned to the Jinchuriki and saw him return to his original form, with his body floating. He approached with care to see his condition and saw that, to his relief, he was still alive. He had achieved it. Despite the huge effort required, he managed to defeat the perfect Jinchūriki and was eager to get him back and rubbing this fact in all the other villains’ faces.

He tried to teleport from there with Hawthorn, but the pain came back to overtake him. Ulysses was still suffering the collateral damage of using the blacklight nature. He could feel he still didn’t control it and he had been warned by the Lord of Chaos that, if he couldn't control it, it would consume him. Ulysses realized then that, until that time, he would only use it as a last resort.

When he was able to gather the necessary energy, Ulysses used the power the Lord of Chaos’ darkness to disappear with Hawthorn.

The two deer that had been watching were terrified to see that Hawthorn had lost.

“No, don’t tell me he actually defeated Lord Hawthorn” the older deer said.

“It must be some mistake” the younger deer said. “What we gonna do? That griffon disappeared with him.”

“Even if they were still there, we couldn’t intervene just like that. Don’t forget that griffon is a follower of the Lord of Chaos and possesses a great dark power. We wouldn’t stand a chance against him.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“We must report this to our king immediately” the older deer answered. “He will know how to deal with this.”

“When he gets to know what happened to his younger brother, even with his great patience, he will be furious” the younger deer said.

“I know, but it’s our duty to do it” the older deer replied. “Come on.”

And so they departed, heading to the capital of the kingdom to tell to their king what happened to the Jinchuriki who was also his brother.

Star Knight's Next Step

After Ulysses’ departure to Thicket to capture Hawthorn, the Lord of Chaos gathered his villains, including the General of Chaos in their hiding place to seal Seven-Tails. When the process was over, with the seventh iris appearing on the Demonic Statue and the lifeless body of Silver Mist falling on the floor, Adagio said:

"Well, that was pretty tiring. Jeez, I'm starting to sound like Ulysses."

"Speaking of which, where is our griffon friend?" Oogie Boogie asked. "I know he hates the extraction process, but still…"

"Who cares?" asked Adagio. "For once, I can have some peace and quiet. And I can admire the new guy…"

And her eyes went to the General of Chaos.

"Who would have thought that an alicorn would look so attractive to me."

"I'm sorry, but, even though you're pretty, sirens are not my type" the General of Chaos replied.

"Oh, honey, we can change that" Adagio replied in a seductive way.

"Enough with the insinuation, Adagio" the Lord of Chaos ordered. "And for your information, Ulysses is not present, because I ordered him to go capture the Jinchuriki of Thicket, the one where Eight-Tails is sealed in."

When they heard this, the villains were surprised with that announcement.

"So it looks like we’ll never see him again" Oogie Boogie said.

"It's a shame, he was fun" Chrysalis said. "He used always give our meetings a little color."

"In my opinion, he's just having what he deserves" Adagio said. "I knew that her arrogance and hubris would be his end."

"I know what you guys think about Ulysses’ capabilities of Ulysses in comparison to this Jinchuriki’s isn't high enough, but he can be very effective when he wants to be it" the Lord of Chaos said.

"I agree with you, my Lord" Grogar said. "Although, in spite of everything, and speaking for the years I spent at his side, Ulysses is, how Adagio said, too arrogant and self-assured and this leads him to underestimate his adversaries."

"Well, I think that we can only confirm all these theories when he returns" the General of Chaos replied.

And the villains waved with their head, agreeing with him.

At the Mirror Library, Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat and Leaf Mane were having a little meeting.

"Things are getting worse for our side" Mirror Coat said. "Aside from the fact that now we have to deal with this alicorn General working for the Lord of Chaos, they now have Seven-Tails. They are dangerously close to capture Prince Star Knight. And worse, they are dangerously close to resurrect Ten-Tails."

"Yes, things haven't been going well for us lately" Golden Paladin said.

"That’s say the least" Leaf Mane said.

"But this only encourages us to not lose any more time" Golden Paladin continued. "We must continue the training of the young prince and, this time, we will hide him altogether from the bad guys."

"How are you going to do that?" Mirror Coat asked. "I don't know if you forgot, but almost there is no place in the Pony Reality Pony where the Lord of Chaos cannot reach. In addition that the prince’s training to control Nine-Tails’ power reached an impasse.”

"And who said the training would focus on the control of the Nine-Tails’ energy?" Golden Paladin asked. "No, I have another kind of training in mind. And the perfect place for it to happen is out of reach of the Lord of Chaos. And you, Leaf Mane, you will be who will conduct this training."

"Me?" she asked, surprised.

In the throne room of the Lord of chaos, he was sitting on your throne, recovering from the extraction of Seven-Tails when Ulysses appeared at the base of the staircase with Hawthorn.

"A Jinchuriki delivered within the period laid down" he said.

"Well, I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed" the Lord of Chaos said. "I just don't know if I should be satisfied for you having achieved or disappointed for Hawthorn have lost so easily."

"I'm just glad that I brought him to you" Ulysses replied.

"You can go, I will gather the others when they have recovered from the extraction ceremony of Seven-Tails" the Lord of Chaos said.

Ulysses made a bow and headed to the exit.

"Oh, and Ulysses" the Lord of Chaos called, making the griffon turn towards him. "I hope you are careful with the power I gave you. Probably you may have noticed what it is able to do if you don't control it properly."

The griffon nodded and left. Immediately, the Lord of Chaos called:

"General, reveal yourself!"

The General of Chaos appeared and, when he looked at Hawthorn, he said:

"I see that Ulysses was successful in capturing the Jinchūriki of Eight-Tails."

"Yes, and that's why I called you" the Lord of Chaos said.

"You want me to gather all the villains for the extraction?" the General of Chaos said.

"No, I can do that" the Lord of Chaos replied. "I want you to put the extraction aside and start getting ready because I decided that you will capture the last Jinchuriki: Prince Star Knight. This will surely be the most difficult capture of them all and we have to make sure that it is completed successfully."

"You can leave that to me, master" the General of Chaos replied, making a bow.

And he disappeared.

"Finally, I am close to achieve my great plan" the Lord of Chaos said. "When the Nine-Tails is finally in my power, Ten-Tails will arise again and will make all Pony Reality Pony be mine at last!"

In Thicket, in the capital, where the wonderful castle of King Aspen was with all its beauty and naturalness, the two deer who had witnessed Hawthorn’s defeat arrived to inform their King of what had happened. When he heard the news about the capture of his brother, Aspen, sitting on his throne with his queen sitting on her throne next to him, exclaimed:

“What?! What do you mean Hawthorn has been taking?!”

“One of the Lord of Chaos’ followers just appeared and battled Lord Hawthorn and was able to defeat him” the older deer said, while he and his companion kneeled before their king.

“It was the griffon, the one with the scar over his eye” the younger deer added.

“That rascal that evaded Griffonstone…” Aspen said, trying to control his anger. “King Gael and Queen Greta were right in showing their concerns about what he could do.”

He got up, saying:

“That Lord of Chaos… He won’t get away from this!”

And, with a burst of anger, the king let his body being charged with electricity and unleashed it, causing some damages in the throne room that frightened the deer who were present.

“Aspen, my dear, please…” Queen Fyr said, getting up and approaching her husband, putting her hoof over his shoulder. “You have to calm down.”

“How can I calm down when my brother was captured, Fyr?” he asked.

“I know, but you have to be strong and not let your emotions make you do the wrong decisions” Fyr said. “You were always a good and calm king, don’t let those villains get to you.”

After hearing those words from his wife, Aspen calmed down and smiled to her.

“You’re right, my love. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“So, now that you’re you again, tell me, what will you do?” Queen Fyr asked. “What is the most logic thing to do?”

“That’s easy” Aspen said. “I will do what Princess Twilight advised me to and I was too prideful to do. I shall send messengers to the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest and demand, as Head King, a meeting between all the rulers of all the kingdoms that had Jinchuriki. Beyond that, I shall sent messengers to the main kingdoms of the Pony World to participate in the meeting.”

“Now this is the Aspen I know” Queen Fyr said.

The king then said:

“But we must act with caution” King Aspen said. “The Lord of Chaos must not interfere and, to make sure of that, the messages will be delivered in hoof. That may take a few days, but all the caution is not enough.”

He turned to the two deer and asked:

“What are you doing here? I already said my orders.”

And they then got out.

“Just you wait, little brother, this isn’t done” Aspen said.

Star returned to the Light Kingdom for the weekend and, accompanied by Timber, he entered the castle, finding his parents, Golden Paladin and Leaf Mane waiting for him.

"Okay, whenever you appear in this way, it is because something happened or is going to happen" Star said.

"Don't worry, son, it's nothing serious" Blue assured.

"Yes, we just want to say goodbye to you" Twilight said.

"What now?" Star asked, a little confused.

"Well, young Prince, it's time to give an important step in your training" Golden Paladin said. "And, with your parents’ permission and after informing the headmistress of the academy, it's time to do it. This training will take some time and you will need to do it somewhere else."

"Wait, does that mean that I will not see my family and my friends for a while?" Star asked.

"If we are lucky and if you put your mind to it, what you will, it might not take so long" Golden Paladin said.

"I know this must be hard for you, my son" Twilight said. "Your father and I will miss you very much, but it's for your own good. You need to get stronger and fast. We don't know when the Lord of Chaos will come to capture you."

"Star, believe us when we say that we wouldn’t agree with this, if it were not for your own good" Blue said. "Furthermore, the decision is yours."

Star thought for a while. Of course staying away from his family, from his friends... from Moonlight would be very hard, but he knew the implications if he didn’t accept to go train.

"I know that and I accept to go training to this place you speak" Star said, turning to Golden. "When we left, Golden?"

"Immediately, but, this time, I will not monitor and train you" Golden replied. "She will."

And he pointed to Leaf Mane.

"Leaf Mane?" Star asked, surprised. "Why?"

"Because this kind of training refers to an area of magic that only I, between the Generals, can do" Leaf Mane replied. "I hope you're ready, Prince Star Knight, because the training is going to be harder than any other training that Golden subjected you."

"She's right" Golden Paladin agreed.

"Well, I'm not afraid and I'm ready" Star said.

He turned to Timber and told him:

"Sorry, Timber, but I can't let you to come with me. I need you to stay here to watch for my sisters, okay?"

The Timberwolf barked once, saying that he had understood and then he licked his owner’s face.

"Yes, I love you too" Star said, while petting Timber’s head.

Star then turned to his parents and said:

"See you when I get back."

He hugged them and Twilight said:

"I'm going to miss you, Star. Make sure you finish your training rapidly so you can return soon."

"And don't worry about Moonlight, I'm sure she will understand" Blue said.

"Yes, I know she will."

After saying goodbye to his parents, Star said to Leaf Mane:

"Let's go."

She waved and then put her hoof over Star's shoulder and they both shone with a bright green glow and disappeared.

When Star found himself, he and Leaf Mane were in a completely different place. Star was stunned when he saw it. It was surreal. It looked like a rain forest... or it just gave the illusion of that, because Star had the feeling that he was in a land of giants. There were various sounds that Star recognized as being toads.

"Where are we?" he asked, looking around.

"This is one of the many realms of Pony Reality" Leaf Mane said. "One of the few ones where the darkness of Lord of Chaos still failed to reach. It's a place that has not been touched by the ponykind and remains indomitable. Prince Star Knight, welcome to Animarium."

"Amazing…" Star said, looking around.

The beauty of that place was such and there were so many things to see that Star found himself wandering, while riding around himself. It was at that moment that he was against something soft that said "Oh!".

Star turned and was stunned when he saw that he had gone against a toad, but an immensely big toad. He was bigger than any pony that Star knew. His skin was vivid tangelo with dark mulberry marking and he wore a blue jacket.

"Hey, can't you see where you're going?" the toad asked.

"But… you are a toad" Star said, still in shock.

"I know I'm a toad" the toad answered. "You think I don't know my species. If all the ponies of the Pony World are like you, so I have no intention of visiting your realm."

"Sorry, it's just that I've never seen a toad as large as you" Star said. "Where I come from, toads are small and, frankly, they don't speak the same language as ponies."

"Well, I guess I can forgive you, just this once" the toad said. "My name is Tough Skin."

"I’m Star Knight, but you can call me Star" Star introduced himself.

"I see you've made a friend" Leaf Mane said, while approaching.

"General of Nature…" Tough Skin said, making a bow to Leaf Mane. "It's an honor to have you here again."

"Thank you, Tough Skin" Leaf Mane thanked. "I see that you've grown up a lot. But the toads from Animarium have a fairly fast growth. How's your father?"

"He's fine" Tough Skin replied. "Although he has not lived up to the promise he made to you of giving up the pipe."

"Well, I didn't expect him to do that" Leaf Mane replied. "But let's get to the point that brought me here. I brought with me the prince of the Light Kingdom. He is the son of Princess Twilight."

"Seriously?" Tough Skin asked, looking to Star Knight. "He is the son of the holder of the original?"

"Yes, and I'd like you to help me train him in that" Leaf Mane said.

"Of course, I do everything to help the General of Nature" Tough Skin said.

"Well, for now, I think it's a bit late to start training" Leaf Mane said. "We start tomorrow morning. Star, would you like to stay with Tough Skin, while I go take care of some business."

"Of course" he replied.

"Great" she said, disappearing.

And then Star spent the rest of day with Tough Skin and the two quickly became friends. Despite their differences which were basically biological ones, such as the food (Star was vegetarian, while Tough Skin ate insects), the two formed some kind of bond.

When the next day dawned, they went to meet with Leaf Mane on the verge of a fountain where there was a waterfall and a statue of a frog, both gushing an amber liquid. There were also a lot of stone toads of various sizes, ranging from Tough Skin’s size to an even greater one.

"I see you have become close friends" Leaf Mane observed.

"In some way" Tough Skin said. "Let's just say, for a pony, Star is not that bad."

"I can say the same about you" Star replied.

“Well, it’s better that we start our training now” Leaf Mane. “First of all, I will explain you what it will consist on. What I am about to teach you is a special kind of natural manipulation that, even it belongs to the same category, is much different than everything you learned.”

“And what difference are those?” Star asked.

“While in the normal natural manipulation you utilize your own energy to create the spells, in this one you’ll use the outside energy” Leaf Mane said. “While the normal natural manipulation requires the use of your own energy that is both physical and mental, in what I’ll teach you, you’ll add to that the natural energy, the crude form of all the natures you already know. The result is a variety of much stronger spells and also a much bigger physical strength that can only work when your own energy and the natural energy are mixed together.”

“Yes, I can understand what you’re saying, but can you talk more about this natural energy?” Star asked.

“Of course” Leaf Mane said. “The natural energy is the energy that is external to you. It exists in the atmosphere and in the terrain. I myself use this kind of energy constantly, as I am the General of Nature. I can recollect it and use it naturally and that’s secret behind my magic. For other being, it is very difficult to learn how to use it. But enough talk. What if I give you a slight demonstration?”

“That would be nice” Star said.

“Well, so be it” Leaf Mane said, approaching one of the biggest toad statues. “This should be good enough.”

And so Leaf Mane touched the statue with her front hooves and closed her eyes, starting to concentrate. Nothing happened in the next seconds, but then Tough Skin said:

“Wow, Leaf Mane is amazing! Look at her gathering all that nature energy.”

“Where?” Star asked, as he couldn’t see anything. “I can’t see…”

But before he could replied, Leaf Mane started to lift the statue, making it leave the ground. Star became astonished with that.

“She… She lifted that thing?” he asked, still not wanting to believe.

“What do you think?” Leaf Mane asked, while concentrating in keeping the toad statue lifted.

“What you are seeing is the boost in physical power that natural energy can give you.

She then put the statue down, causing the ground to shake briefly.

“But… I don’t have any idea how you just did that” Star said.

“Of course you can’t see” Leaf Mane replied, while catching her breath. “You’re not yet able to see the natural energy, Prince Star Knight.”

“And how do I do it?” Star asked.

“What you must do is to become one with nature” Leaf Mane.

“Okay, I normally can understand things pretty quick, but that was a little ambiguous” Star Knight said.

“Basically, she means that you’ll have to die” Tough Skin.

Star took a little to process what Tough Skin had said and then he exclaimed:

“WHAT?!”

The First Challenge

Tough Skin’s declaration that Star needed to die to become one with nature really affected Star, who asked to his toad:

“You must be joking, right? How dying can make me become one with nature?”

“Tough, why did you tell him that?” Leaf Mane. “Don’t make such weird analogies.”

“Yeah, but…” the toad started.

“Now, now, just relax” Leaf Mane said to Star. “You’re not actually going to die, Prince Star Knight.”

“So what then?”

“Just wait and listen until the end” Leaf Mane said. “I’ll explain it step by step. To become able to absorb natural energy means gaining ability to sense it around you, to draw it to you and to put it into yourself. In addition, by learning to how to become one with nature, you also gain full control on natural energy entering and leaving your body. Pratically speaking, what this means in terms of your training… You don’t have to move.”

“Just that?” Star asked. “All I have to do is not moving?”

“It seems you’re not getting it” Tough Skin said, with his arms crossed.

“I’m serious, Prince Star Knight” Leaf Mane said, while approaching the fountain that was there. “You must stand still. For animals, including ponies, the way to appreciate and learn natural energy is to stop all the movements and synchronize themselves with the flow of nature. However, the hardest thing an animal can do is to be absolutely still.”

“When I was training with both my father and Golden Paladin, I learn how to battle and how to use spells offensively” Star said. “Everything to control my own energy. But not moving? I never had a reason to do that before. But if I have to do that to control natural energy, then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

“It’s impossible to do it right away. Like Golden Paladin said, this training will take some time and that’s partly because you need to become completely still.”

“Then let’s stop talking and do this already.”

“You must not take this lightly” Leaf Mane advised. “The enemy we are dealing with is the Lord of Chaos himself. He possesses powers that none of us, except the Lord of Order, can even imagine. With that impatience of yours, you will not defeat him.”

“I know that” Star said. “He’s after the Tailed Beats and soon or late he’ll come after me. So I don’t have any time to waste. Not just for me, but also for my loved ones.”

Leaf Mane could see the determination in his eyes and that really impressed. Now she could really understand the faith Golden Paladin had in him. That made her smile and said:

“Well, I guess it’s just luck for you, but there’s a better way. A short-cut.”

“There is, really?” Star asked. “What?”

And she pointed to her back saying:

“This waterfall behind me. It’s the secret toad oil of Animarium.”

“What is it used for?” Star asked.

“Come here and hold me your hoof” Leaf Mane asked.

Star Knight did so, approaching the fountain, while Leaf Mane took some of the oil with her hoof. Star extended his hoof to Leaf Mane and she started to apply the oil on his foreleg, while saying:

“This is far more than just an ordinary oil. It has the property of attracting natural energy. This will help advance your training.”

“Wow, that’s useful” Star said.

“Whenever you rub this oil on your body, natural energy will be able to enter into that spot and then gradually, as you learn to feel it, you’ll gain the ability to sense natural energy” Leaf Mane said, while continuing to apply the oil. “Since your just beginning, this is a tool to help you grasp the concept. In time, you won’t need to use the oil at all to sense natural energy. However, there is a risk.”

And she finished applying the oil and the meaning of her last words come into reality when Star saw that his hoof had turned partly into a toad leg and he could sense that half of his face was like the one of a toad, with his eye turning yellow in color with a horizontal pupil and orange pigmentation around it.

“If someone that cannot control the natural energy uses the oil, he or she starts to turn into a toad” Leaf Mane said.

Seeing that, Star hasted to the fountain and watched his reflection and that really started to freak him out.

“But what is this?! No, I can’t turn into a toad! I don’t want to be a toad! I don’t…”

But he didn’t finished, as Leaf Mane hit him with wood staff on the head, as Tough Skin took his hand to his head, seeing the way Star was reacting.

“Hey, what’s that for?!” Star asked to Leaf Mane.

It was then that he saw that the hoof that was starting to turn into a toad leg had returned to normal. He went to see his reflection and saw that his face was normal too.

“I’m back to normal” Star said.

“Of course you are” Leaf Mane said. “Do you really thought I would let Princess Twilight’s son turn into a toad? I would get in so much trouble because of that and not just with her. It’s all about balance. You’re used to use your own energy in our spells, so you already have a balance when it comes to the components when it comes to that. But now you must add natural energy into the mix and find that balance is extremely difficult.

“About balance?” Star asked.

“Yes, if you take too little, you won’t be able to use it” Leaf Mane explained. “But, if you take too much, natural energy will overwhelm you and turn you into a toad. Of course if you take a little too much, the transformation can be reverted. But stay with it during a certain about of time and you’ll never be able to turn into a pony again. You’ll be trapped, forced to be a toad forever and ever, Prince Star Knight.”

That made him swallow dry. Leaf Mane was right to say that training would be harder than any training he did with Golden Paladin.

“What I meant about you dying, is that you might stop being a pony entirely” Tough Skin said.

“And once you turn into a toad, you progress further to a permanently being one with nature” Leaf Mane. “The students that trained into this path and were unsuccessful turned into those stone statues.”

And she pointed to every single toad statues that were there.

“All of them?” Star asked, looking to them.

“Well, don’t be afraid” Leaf Mane replied, with the staff she used to beat Star levitating by her side. “I’ll be right by your side. And this staff is a tool that can beat natural energy right out of your body. So if I start to see you turning into a toad, I just have to beat you with this staff to revert the process. I have to be honest with you. Nopony that I have trained to control natural energy has ever succeeded to master this ability completely. They all acquired some toad features. I know that your determination brought you here, but I still have to ask: what will you do?”

Star thought for a few seconds. That training was at another level than the ones he was subjected before, where there was a risk of him turning into a toad, even with Leaf Mane there to help him. But he couldn’t get cold hooves, not when he had a chance of doing it.

“I’ll do it” Star declared. “I don’t give up and I won’t start now.”

And so the training began. While Star put himself in a meditation position, Leaf Mane applied toad oil on him. This led for natural energy starting to get in Star and he started to try to find a balance between it and his own energy. While that, Tough Skin was resting there.

The orange pigmentation appeared around Star’s eyes, showing he was going in a good way, but it was then that his body started to change, swelling, while some toad features appeared. Leaf Mane saw that and hit Star with the staff, making him moan in pain and massage the spot the General of Nature hit him.

“At this range I’ll be bruised in the outside and bleeding in the inside” Star said.

“Don’t tell me you’re quitting already” Leaf Mane said.

It was then that Star got an idea.

“Wait, I have a better idea for the training we can try” he said.

“And what’s that?” Leaf Mane asked.

“The same trick I used when Golden Paladin helped me create the Spiraling Star Spell” Star said. “I can use my clones. They can exponentially increase my progress and learning all this.”

“You do have a point” Leaf Mane agreed. “All the experiences that a clone have revert back to the original. But remember, if any single one of the clones completely changes into a toad during this, it’s all over for you, Prince Star Knight.”

“Yeah, I already know that” Star said.

“Very well, but four is the limit” Leaf Mane said. “If there is more, I may not be able to keep up.”

“So it’s settle then” Star said.

And so he summoned three clones and they started to do the training, with Leaf Mane overseeing it and making sure none of them turned into a toad, hitting them. Tough Skin, hearing all the commotion, opened his eyes and saw how Leaf Mane hit both the original Star and his clones, making the latter ones disappear when they were hit.

“You know, this is starting to get boring” Leaf Mane said, after a while. “If you don’t try harder, you won’t be successful.”

“It’s a bit difficult doing it when you are constantly hitting me” Star said, massaging all his bruised and sour spots. “I never though sensing the natural energy would be this difficult and painful.”

“Only with perseverance you can show your true strength” Leaf Mane said.

“Yeah, but I think I’ll need more than just that to get this” Star said.

“Your wrong about that” the General of Nature said. “Learning to control natural energy is not for everypony. Let’s just said that, if you didn’t have already a great amount of energy inside of you, I wouldn’t have the work to teach you this. If you didn’t have that energy, the natural energy would simply take over and transform you immediately.”

“Is that true?” Star asked.

“Yes, I already trained some who were foolish to think they could learn to control natural energy without having the necessary requirements and they were all transformed when they just started training” Leaf Mane asked. “But even if you have the basis, it is up to you to not give up. Only with that though is that how somepony can learn to control natural energy.”

That speech of her made Star recover his perseverance and continue the training with his clones. It took most of the day and a lot of hitting from Leaf Mane, but, eventually, Star started to feel it. The natural energy was starting to become visible for him and the proof was the orange pigmentation about one of his eyes and it becoming just like the one of a toad.

“I can see it!” he exclaimed, rising up. “Yes!”

While Star was celebrating his deed, Leaf Mane smiled, seeing how he was starting to sense natural energy.

“Hey, Leaf Mane, I’m starting to get a little bit hungry” Tough Skin said.

“Yes, me too” she said. “Hey, Star, what about take a break and get something to eat?”

“Okay, but I’m coming with you” Star said. “If I go with Tough, he may try to make eat some of his food.”

“You can say all you want, but I’m sure you’d love if you tried a vermin or a caterpillar” Tough Skin said. “I bet you’d stop eating that pony food you like.”

“Yeah, but, I don’t know if you have noticed, but I’m still a pony and I eat pony food” Star said.

That made Leaf Mane drop a laugh and say:

“Come on, let’s stop fighting and get something to eat.”

After the break, Leaf Mane said to Star:

“Well, now that you were able to rest and eat, I want you to try to lift one of the stone frogs. But first, try to lift one only with your natural strength. Don’t use magic, that would be cheating.”

Star approached one of the biggest statues and then, after preparing himself, tried to lift it. However, he couldn’t do it. It was too heavy.

“Okay, that’s enough” Leaf Mane said.

And Star stopped, trying then to catch his breath.

“Now, let’s add some natural energy” Leaf Mane said.

“Okay…” Star said, going to the fountain and putting one of his hooves in the oil.

After that, he tried to gather natural energy and find the balance between it and his own energy. He could sense the natural energy coming to him and, after balancing it with his own energy, Star opened his eyes, who adopted the same color and shape of a toad with orange pigmentation around them. However, Star still couldn’t control the natural energy completely, as he still had some toad features.

“Good” Leaf Mane said. “Now try to lift the statue again.”

Star nodded with his head and then proceeded to try to lift the statue. He was still finding that very difficult. But it was then that he started to take it from the ground, something that impressed Tough Skin.

“That’s it, Prince Star Knight!” Leaf Mane exclaimed.

It was then that Star was able to lift the statue over his head.

“Nicely done, Star!” Tough Skin said.

Leaf Mane was also as much impressed as Tough Skin, as Star Knight was learning in a much faster way than any other of her previous students.

“I did it!” Star exclaimed, very happily.

But that moment of distraction led him to lose balance and drop the statue. Fortunately, Leaf Mane used her magic to stop it and put it where it was.

After a while training with the oil, Star was able to finally control the natural energy without gaining any other toad features beyond the eyes. While he was meditating under the waterfall of the statue that was in the fountain, Leaf Mane told him:

“Not bad, my prince. You were able to master toad oil assistance control. Now you must learn to control natural energy without using any toad oil whatsoever.”

It was then that Star gave a big jump that took him from the fountain, landing on of the big statues. He would never achieve such feet without the use of his wings, but the natural energy gave him the boost he needed.

“I can feel the power flowing in me” he said. “And after all the training, I’m tired at all.”

“That’s because the more you use your own energy, the faster you get exhausted” Leaf Mane explained from the ground. “With this, you’re continuing taking natural nature into you from the outside. You won’t get tired and you’ll recover and heal quicker too.”

“Really?” Star asked, amazed.

Of course that what Leaf Mane told him was true, but she knew that if mixed some of Nine-Tails’ power, his recovery would be remarkably faster.

Meanwhile, Star started to think in another think. If what Leaf Mane was true, then he could use natural energy to execute any spell he wanted, including…

“I wonder if I can maybe do that too…” he said to himself.

But Leaf Mane heard what he said and asked:

“Do what?”

Star hastened to say:

“Oh, nothing… I was just thinking at loud.”

“Never mind” Leaf Mane said. “Okay, Star, let’s end the training for today. We already made great advances. Try to rest a bit. I know that your body doesn’t need it, but your mind do.”

“Okay, Leaf Mane” Star said.

Meanwhile, in the villains' hideout, the Lord of Chaos had them gathered once again to seal Eight-Tails. They were all already positioned in their respective places at the Demonic Statue.

"Finally we will seal Eight-Tails" Chrysalis said. "After this, we only need Nine-Tails and that means we have to go after the son of that odious perfect little princess."

"Yes, but don't forget that it's all because of me" Ulysses said. "I'm the one who managed to defeat Eight-Tails."

"We know!" the other villains exclaimed, annoyed.

"Will you stop repeating the same thing?" Adagio asked. "We have more important things to think about. By the way, where is our dear General?"

"I told him to leave the extraction process with us" the Lord of Chaos said. "He will be the one who will capture Prince Star Knight and, for that, he needs to prepare himself properly. But now, less talk and more sealing. I want Eight-Tails inside the statue as fast as possible."

And all the villains focused and activated the Demonic Statue, whose gag fell and freed the dragon tentacles that proceeded to surround and lift Hawthorn. The statue then began to absorb Eight-Tails’ energy.

"I just hope the General doesn't capture Nine-tails while we're extracting Eight-Tails" Chrysalis said. "Only one extraction is capable of letting me immensely weakened."

"I agree with Chrysalis" Oogie Boogie said. "And while we recover our strength, the Generals of Order can try to take advantage of this moment to rescue their beloved prince."

"Don't worry about that" the Lord of Chaos said. "He knows exactly the right moment to attack. Now, I want all of you focused on the task that you have now."

It was at that moment that something unexpected happened. Hawthorn's body was surrounded by a reddish glow that, when disappeared, turned him into a tentacle, much to the surprise of everyone. The statue drop the tentacle that fell to the ground.

“It appears you have blundered, Ulysses” Chrysalis said.

"I don't understand ..." Ulysses said, confused by what had just happened. "How...?"

Oogie Boogie started to laugh, saying:

“It’s an octopus leg!”

“It’s not funny” Grogar said to evil spirit.

“Sorry, but if you had a little of sense of humor, you’d find this very funny” Oogie Boogie.

However, if there was someone who wasn't finding funny the situation at all was the Lord of Chaos who turned to Ulysses and asked with rage in his voice:

"What does this mean, Ulysses?!"

"My Lord, I swear I didn't know..." he began.

"Of course you didn't know and that's why I'm currently thinking of the most devious punishments to afflict you right now!" the Lord of Chaos exclaimed.

With fear growing rapidly inside of him, Ulysses took flight to get out and escape the fury of the Lord of Chaos. But this was a futile attempt, as the Lord of Chaos made a gesture and Ulysses was caught in midair and then shot hard against the ground. The Lord of Chaos levitated from his place on the statue to the ground, approaching Ulysses, who looked terrified.

"You know, there are two cruel ways of killing that stand out among all the others" the Lord of Chaos said to Ulysses. "One of them is destroying the star seed what erases the individual’s existence altogether, turning you into a black stone statue. The other one is doing this!"

And he went through Ulysses’ chest magically with his hand and, when he pulled it out, it was holding the griffon’s heart that was beating, while emitted a reddish glow with black shades, representing the darkness that had settled there.

"The Queen of Hearts is not the only one to know how to do this" the Lord of Chaos said. "Actually, I taught her. But she was so fond of removing hearts to others that she became famous for it. And now, Ulysses, you will feel the pain of having your heart being crushed by my own hand."

He started to crush Ulysses’ heart and this made him feel an immense pain in his chest. The other villains watched that scene in their places, but then...

"Please, my lord, stop" Adagio’s voice said.

All were surprised when Adagio descended from the Demonic Statue and asked to the Lord of Chaos:

"Please, spare his life."

"Adagio, I must say I'm surprised" the Lord of Chaos said. "I thought you hated Ulysses. Why would do something like this for him?"

"It is not for him, but for you, my lord" she replied. "You've already lost too many servants. That was the reason that led him to create the General of Chaos. Losing more a servant will just make it more difficult to fulfill your plans. And you can't deny that Ulysses is powerful enough to help you."

There was a pause in which all eyes were placed on the Lord of Chaos. He finally replied:

"I guess you have a point."

And he released Ulysses’ heart that Adagio caught. The Lord of Chaos turned to the griffon and told him:

"You should thank Adagio. She just saved your life, which is quite an achievement, since mercy is not in my nature."

And he walked away and so Chrysalis get down from the statue along with the other villains and asked to the Lord of Chaos:

"My lord, do you want me to send my drones to find Hawthorn?"

"That won't be necessary" he replied. "Now that we are so close to achieving our goal, it will not be this little mishap that will prevent my plan from following its course. In addition it would be stupid to wander brazenly though Thicket now that the king must already know about his brother's capture. For now, stay alert and wait further orders."

And, having said this, he disappeared, taking the Demonic Statue with him.

"Well, this was clearly a great waste of my time" Oogie Boogie said. "I'm going back to the Dream World. It's almost time to create some nightmares."

And, having said that, he disappeared. Grogar and Chrysalis also headed to the exit, leaving Ulysses and Adagio alone.

"Why did you do that?" Ulysses asked to Adagio, who approached him with his heart.

"I've already said why" Adagio replied.

"Please, as if I believed in what you said to the Lord of Chaos" Ulysses said. "I can tell when you lie, Adagio, especially now that you don't have your dear little sister. Don't tell me you have a crush on me. Well, no wonder, due to my great look and..."

But he did not finish because Adagio put Ulysses’ heart back inside his chest, which led him to moan in pain due to the process. It looked like she had caused more pain than necessary on purpose.

"You should learn to control your bragging" she said. "Your ego already put your life in danger once today. I bet you don’t want it to put it in danger twice."

And, having said that, she also headed to the exit.

Assault on the Light Kingdom

It had been more than a week since Star had gone with Leaf Mane to Animarium to continue with his training and things seemed calm in the Light Kingdom. However, despite this, Twilight didn't seem to be very excited. After all, Star’s absence was something that affected her a little bit, especially when she hadn't heard from him.

Fortunately, her friends and their husbands and children came to visit her, including Shining and Cadance, and, while Twilight and her friends talked animatedly among themselves, Blue and the other stallions talked, mainly on sports, talking about what hoofball team would win the championship that year. Meanwhile, the infants were playing in the gardens with the Heartbeat and Melody’s supervision and Moonlight, Jonagold and Gleaming Shield strolled through the citadel.

During the conversation between the mares, Cadance revealed some news that left them all excited.

"I can't believe!" Twilight exclaimed in excitement. "Cadance, you're pregnant?"

"Well, yes" she replied. "I and Shining just discovered that a few days ago, but we're pretty excited."

"That's wonderful, darling" said Rarity. "There is no better feeling than carrying our own foal in our womb."

"Well, maybe when the foal is born" Fluttershy said. "It may be painful, but seeing Moonlight and Dark Cloud for the first time are my happiest memories."

"Yes, in fact, nothin’ is able tah give us greater happiness than tha moment we see our children bein’ born" Applejack said.

"Are you kidding?!" Pinkie Pie asked. "Of course there is! When we see our children grow up and become independent and don't need us any more and start their own family."

That made everypony look at her and Pinkie Pie said:

"What? I'm thinking about all the birthday parties, Heart’s Warming Eve and many other celebrations that we will have to create all the wonderful memories we have of our children."

"Oh!" the others exclaimed.

"Now that makes more sense" Cherry said.

"Seriously, Pinkie Pie, after all these years you still can’t use the right words to express certain feelings" Rainbow Dash said.

"Well, what did ya expect, Rainbow?" Applejack asked. "It's Pinkie Pie we’re talkin’ ‘bout. No matter the time that passes, she will continue to be the same.”

"Duh, of course I will continue to be the same" Pinkie Pie replied. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be Pinkie Pie, don’t you think?"

And they all laughed. However, Cadance noticed that Twilight laughed forcefully, as if her mind was somewhere else.

"It's everything okay, Twilight?" she asked. "You seem a little… distracted."

"I'm fine, it's just..." she started. “I can't stop thinking about Star. It had passed more than a week since he started training with Leaf Mane."

“I understand what you're feeling" said Cadance. "It's hard for a mother when she’s away from her son for very long."

"At least, when he's at the academy, I know I can just go there when I miss him, but now..." Twilight said.

"Don't worry" Cadance said. "It's not going to delay until he returns. And don't forget that he will come back stronger than ever. He will have a better chance against the Lord of Chaos and his villains."

"Yes, you're right" Twilight said. "I just have to be more patient. Thanks, Cadance."

"Hey, what sisters-in-law are for?" Cadance replied, making Twilight dropped a laugh.

For the meantime, Shining was also revealing the news to the stallions.

"Congratulations, bro!" Blue exclaimed Blue, giving him a pat on the back. "That's great news!"

"Yes, I must say it was a surprise" said Shining. "We weren't expecting."

"Sometimes, that's just something that happens" Soarin said. "The same thing happened with me and Rainbow Dash. Honestly, we didn't expect to be parents so soon after our marriage."

"Ah have tah agree with Soarin" Apple Busher said. "Sometimes it's plann’d, other times it's a surprise."

"But the most important thing is that now there is a new foal coming to brighten things up" Shadow Claw said. "With all this tension in the air because of the Lord of Chaos’ threat, we really need it."

"I don't know if I should be happy or distressed" Shining said. "It's not that I'm not happy by Cadance being pregnant, but, as you just said, Shadow Claw, we are living in a tense period."

"But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the good times" Thunder Night said.

"You will see that everything will be fine, Shining" Cloud Chaser said.

"Eeyap" Big McIntosh said.

At the citadel, Gleaming Shield, Moonlight and Jonagold were walking by it.

"You know, it's weird walking around the Light Kingdom without Star" Gleaming Shield said.

"Yeah, ya're right" Jonagold said. "Ah jest hope that his trainin’ is goin’ well."

"Are you kidding?" Gleaming Shield asked. "It’s Star we’re talking about. He will probably be done with it in no time."

Giving a quick look at Moonlight, she saw that she was a little sad as much as Twilight was.

"I'm serious, Moonlight" Gleaming Shield said. "You’ll see that it won’t last many longer for us to see him again."

"I know that" she said. "But I hate to be away from him for so long, especially when I couldn't say goodbye."

"Come on, Moonlight, cheer up" Jonagold said. "Ya don't want Star tah see ya that sad when he gets back, do ya?"

That made Moonlight smile slightly.

"I think you're right, Jona" she said.

"So let's enjoy our time here and go eat somethin’, what do yah say?" Jonagold asked.

"Sounds good" Gleaming Shield replied. "I'm a little hungry."

Moonlight agreed with a nod.

At the library of the Light Castle, Golden Paladin and Mirror Coat talked.

"So, were you able to find out anything about the General of Chaos’ ability to get through solid objects?" Golden Paladin asked.

"Unfortunately, I haven't the answer yet” Mirror Coat replied. "This seems to be a fairly complex skill, because I couldn't identify any logical explanation for it."

"Maybe you could ask Purple Smoke to try to reproduce it" Golden Paladin suggested. "Maybe that way you could..."

"It will not be possible" Purple Smoke’s voice said.

And he appeared on his smoke form, adopting his corporeal one shortly after.

"I would try to do it, but I don't know how he exactly did it, so I can't reproduce it."

“Balls” Golden Paladin said. "Just perfect. I just hope the General of Chaos is not planning anything against us right now or else I don't know how we gonna stand against him."

At the border of the Light Kingdom with the Dense Forest, emerging from the shadows of the branches, was the General of Chaos and some of his dark ponies, including Dark Night. He and four others had different eyes, despite keeping the red color, with a strange and characteristic undulation. The General of Chaos approached the border and extended his hoof. It was then that he touched the barrier that protected the Light Kingdom from the invasion of dark creatures that gave him a shock and made him back off the hoof.

"A pretty impressive defense" he said. "But if it is able to keep the Lord of Chaos away, so even I don’t have the power to cross it. But that doesn't mean that there is no way to break it. And I know exactly how to do it."

In Animarium, Star and Tough Skin made a break from your workout in Frog Kata, relaxing in the shade of one of the huge trees there.

“Well, I have to say, Star” Tough Skin said. “I am impressed with all of your advances. You’ve learned from Leaf Mane how to use the natural energy and you were able to get the basics of the Frog Kata. But I am concern about one thing.”

“What is it, Tough?” Star asked. “You sound so serious. That doesn’t look like you.”

“With good reason” Tough Skin. “Probably, it would be for the best if it was Leaf Mane to talk to you about this. It is about the risks of using the sage mode.”

“The risks?”

“Yes, exactly. Once you understand the risks that involve using with it, then you can explore the sage mode to its fullest extend.

“I see…” Star said. “So, what are they?”

“Well, first, as you already probably managed to figure out, you can’t maintain sage mode for long periods of time. Five minutes at most. Also, to master the natural energy is necessary to enter the sage mode you must follow the principals of staying still, what means you can’t use it while you’re the middle of the battle, as you’ll become an easy target for your enemy.”

“Yeah, you’re right” Star agreeded. “That means I can only used when…”

“When you have comrades that can protect you while you gather the natural energy” completed Tough Skin. “But, if you want to get in sage mode when you are by yourself, you have to witdraw from the battle momentarily in order to gather natural energy.”

“But, if that is true, how can I use the sage mode during battle?” Star asked.

“Don’t worry about that” Tough Skin. “I can help you with that and, by doing so, diminish that risk.”

“How so?”

“By doing this” Tough Skin said.

And before Star’s eyes, Tough Skin changed size, becoming small enough to sit on Star’s shoulder.

“Wow, how did you…” Star started.

“Well, I and the other toads can change our size as we pleased” Tough Skin. “What comes in handy for my idea. I can seat on your shoulder or back and gather the natural energy for you, while you’ll be free to move.”

“Oh, I see” Star said. “That’s actually a very good idea.”

“Well, of course, after all it comes from me” Tough Skin said. “So, what do you say, Star? Let’s do it?”

And he extended his hand and Star bumped his hoof on it, saying:

“Let’s do it.”

On the border of the Light Kingdom, the General of Chaos was preparing to execute his plan.

"From now on, you will divide in two teams" he said to the dark ponies. "One of the teams will cause a distraction while the other seeks the Jinchuriki. Dark Night, you will lead the distraction team while you two” he pointed to two dark ponies undulated eyes “seek for Prince Star Knight. Your eyes are connected with each other and with mine. In this way, we will all know what the others see. I myself will take part in the search as well. Now to weaken the barrier... It is strengthened by the power of the seven Generals and Princess Twilight themselves. Right now, I can feel that the barrier is not on its complete strength. One of the Generals should not be here. It doesn't matter, it won’t do much when it's over."

And, having said this, he focused and his horn was surrounded by dark magic. The spell he was performing required all his concentration. When he finally was ready to use it, he freed it and a wave of dark energy was released everywhere.

In the library, Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat and Purple Smoke were still trying to figure out a way to study the General of Chaos’ power when a huge pain invaded them. It was an unbearable pain that looked like it was going to consume them on the inside.

"What's this?" Purple Smoke asked. "What is happening to us?"

"Someone is trying to expel us from the Pony Reality!" Mirror Coat explained.

"And I think I know who!" Golden Paladin said with the General of Chaos in your thinking.

Both shone with the light of their respective color and then disappeared.

The same was happening with Blue, who was moaning in pain while everypony watched.

"Blue!" Twilight exclaimed, while approaching. "What's going on?!"

"We don't know, Twily" Shining said. "He just started to squirm in pain."

"Somepony... is expelling us!" Blue said. "Twilight, they're here!"

And, after he finished that sentence, a blue glow surrounded him and he disappeared.

"Blue!" Twilight called.

"What did he mean by that?" Applejack asked. "Who's coming?"

The doors opened and the second-in-command of the Light Guard came in and said:

"Princess Twilight, terrible news. Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat, Purple Smoke, Melody and Heartbeat are gone. It happened all of a sudden, nopony knows what happened."

And then it all made sense for Twilight.

"Oh no... I know what's going on. And it's not good."

At the border, the General had just used the spell when he felt a wave of weakness that made him stagger.

"Now I understand why the Lord of Chaos does not like to use this spell" he said. "I think, for now, I will not be able to pass through objects. But it doesn't matter, because we have what we want."

And he tried to touch again in the barrier around the Light Kingdom, finding it weakened, because it did not respond in the same way as before.

"The Light Kingdom is now within our grasp" the General of Chaos said.

And, loading his hoof with dark magic, he punched the barrier that began to break, creating cracks everywhere. Twilight and his friends, accompanied by the second-in-command, came to the balcony and saw the shield cracking.

"What's happening to the barrier of the Light Kingdom?" Cherry asked.

"The barrier is fueled by my magic and the Generals’" she replied. "It's our combined magic that protects the Light Kingdom. Without any of the Generals in the Pony Reality…"

"The barrier is like a house of cards" Cadance completed.

And she was right, as the barrier just disbanded, to the astonishment of everypony in the kingdom.

"Let’s start the hunt" the General of Chaos declared.

And the dark ponies began the invasion to the Light Kingdom.

The light ponies, seeing the dark ponies attacking, began to panic and flee. The dark unicorns launched destructive magical beams, particularly a dark unicorn with undulated eyes, and a dark earth stallion with the same eyes hit the front hooves on the ground, invoking what appeared to be large vicious white spectral dogs which started running, while chasing the ponies and causing damages. Dark Night attacked a guard and, when the latter tried to attack him with a magic beam, Dark Night simply lifted his hoof and absorbed the magic, much to his shock.

While all that happened, a dark unicorn mare with undulated eyes, was trying to find information about Star’s whereabouts using a powerful mind reading spell on a guard.

“No information on the Nine-Tails” she said. “I see…”

And she released the spell, making the guard fell on the ground into a catatonic state.

A dark pegasus stallion with strong aspect and undulated eyes was holding two guards against a wall, while asking:

“Where can I find Prince Star Knight?”

“We will never betray our prince” one of the guards said. “Not him and not Princess Twilight or Prince Blue Sword.”

“I didn’t ask if you would betray them” the dark pegasus said. “I asked where the Jinchuriki o Nine-Tails is?”

And his hooves started to glow and then the two guards entered in a hypnotic state and said in unison:

“We don’t know where he is.”

And the dark pegasus dropped the guards, who fell uncouscious.

Seeing the destruction that the dark ponies were doing to her kingdom, Twilight couldn't help but feel her hooves shaking. Only the voice of the second-in-command made her come back to reality.

"Princess, what should we do?" he asked.

"We have to contain this attack as soon as possible" she said. "We cannot allow innocent ponies get hurt. Meanwhile, we have to scour the citadel. I think there is something more beyond these random attacks."

"You're right" Cadance said. "This may be just a distraction, while others seek Star."

"But Star is not here" Rainbow Dash said. "He's in Animarium."

"Yes, but we must not let them get that information" Twilight said. "Although Animarium is free of the influence of the Lord of Chaos, that doesn't mean he won't do anything to go there and capture Star."

"What are you thinking, Twily?" Shining asked.

"We have to evacuate the residents and all the injured to the Diamond Domain" she said. "I will open the passage. No dark pony gets in there. The Diamond Heart’s light as well as the light of the other diamonds is too strong for them."

"I’ll communicate your orders to the other guards, Your Highness" the second-in-command said, making a bow.

"And we will help you fight those ruffians" Shining said, referring to him and to the stallions. "Right, guys?"

"Right!" they replied.

"Well, then I'm coming with you" Rainbow Dash said. "Nopony can stop me from entering in a good fight, especially when it's against dark ponies. I still have a score to settle with them since that time in the Hayseed Swamps."

"Yeah, me too" Applejack said. "They will feel tha force of mah bucks."

"Cherry, I want you to help treating the wounded who are taken to the Diamond Domain" Twilight said.

"Don't worry, Twilight, I will help in what I can" Cherry said.

"And I will help you, Cherry" Cadance said. "I can use my magic to keep everypony calm."

"And I can also help" Fluttershy said. "I'm sure Leaf Mane has some herbs at the infirmary that I can use. But I'm worried about Moonlight. She's in the Citadel."

"As well as Gleaming Shield” Cadance said.

"And Jona" Cherry added.

"Don't worry" Shining Armor told them. "We will get them."

Big McIntosh and Thunder Night, nodded, agreeing with him.

"And I and Pinkie Pie can go pick up our children and take them to the Diamond Domain" Rarity said.

"Yes, you can count on Rarity and Pinkie Pie, the wonder duo" Pinkie Pie said, whispering then to Rarity. "I hope you enjoyed I said your name first."

"Yes, Pinkie, that was… very nice of you" said Rarity, smiling awkwardly.

"Thank you everypony" Twilight thanked. "If it wasn't for you..."

"You probably would do the same if the Crystal Empire was being attacked" Cadance said.

"Well, let's do it" Shining said.

And he and all the other advanced to carry out their respective missions.

"In the meantime, I'm going to help in what I can do better" Twilight said.

The streets of the Light Kingdom were a mess, with the light ponies running, while the guards, following Twilight’s orders, were trying to evacuate them to the castle, where they could access the Diamond Domain, whose entrance Twilight opened. But a filly had tripped with her grandmother approaching to help her rise up. At that moment, one of the spectral dogs appeared, ready to attack them.

But before he could do so, Jonagold appeared and tackled him, throwing it to the ground. Gleaming Shield and Moonlight approached the young filly and her grandmother and the former asked them:

"Are you okay?"

They both waved and then they heard Jonagold saying:

"Ah think Ah'm goin’ tah need some help here."

The spectral dog stood up and roared to Jonagold, as it didn’t like of being attacked.

"Step aside, Jona" Moonlight said.

He did so and, as soon as he got out of the way, Moonlight released a supersonic scream that reached the spectral dog and threw it to the ground and, when it came up, it ran away from there, whimpering.

"Wow, I'm officially open-mouthed" Jonagold said.

Gleaming Shield cured the little filly’s hurt hoof.

"Okay, there" she said.

"Thank you, princess" the filly's grandmother thanked. "Thank all of you."

"Now you should go quickly" Gleaming Shield said.

And the two moved away.

"How did ya know how tah deal with that thing, Moonlight?" Jonagold asked.

"Because I've dealt with them before" she replied. "They're gytrash, spectral dogs living in Discordia. They may be vicious but are quite sensitive to the sound just like any dog."

"Well, good for us ya spent some time on tha other side" Jonagold said.

"I'll take that as a compliment" Moonlight asked.

"Then take it twice, because I think I have to say the same" a voice said.

She turned and saw her father approaching, using his cloak to protect himself from the sun, approaching with Shining Armor.

"Dad!" Gleaming Shield and Moonlight exclaimed, going to embrace their respective fathers.

"And we were thinking that the three of you would be in trouble" Shining Armor said.

"Let me guess" Gleaming Shield said. "You want us to go with the others to a safe place."

The two stallions exchanged a look and then Shining Armor replied:

"Given the seriousness of the situation, I think we can use some extra pairs of hooves."

"This means..." Moonlight started, while she and the other two smile.

"Just if we do not run unnecessary dangers" Thunder Night replied, turning then to Jonagold. "But you, boy, you need to talk to your father."

"Yes, sir, Ah'm going tah try tah find him" Jonagold said.

"So keep up the good work" Shining Armor said. "And I'd appreciate it if you, Gleaming, passed in the Diamond Domain. Your healing capabilities would be of great help."

"Yes, daddy" she replied.

And Shining Armor and Thunder Night moved away and the three friends went to do what they were asked to do.

In the Diamond Domain, the light ponies found shelter, while the wounded were treated, some with more severe injuries than others. Cherry Blossom, Fluttershy and Cadance treated them, however the amount of wounded who were coming was increasingly. Fortunately, Gleaming appeared.

"Mom!" she called, approaching.

"Gleaming, I am so glad you're here!" she exclaimed. "And I'm glad you're okay, my daughter."

"Where's Moonlight?" Fluttershy asked.

"And Jonah?" Cherry asked.

"Don't worry, they are fine" Gleaming Shield said. "They are helping in the evacuation."

"Well, I think that even if I tried, I wouldn't be able to stop Jona from doing this" Cherry said. "He is too much like his father."

"But, Moonlight..." Fluttershy started.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy" Gleaming Shield said. "From what I can see, Moonlight has become quite strong. In addition to that, she knows the creatures that the dark ponies have invoked and knows how to fight them."

"Fluttershy, your daughter is quite prudent" Cadance. "I'm sure she's not going to endanger herself for nothing."

"I hope so..." Fluttershy said, a little worried.

"What can I do, mother?" Gleaming Shield asked.

"Well, your healing magic is stronger than ours" Cadance said. "Try to treat the most serious wounded and then go see if there are any more injuries on the citadel."

She nodded and started to do what her mother told her to do.

Shadow Claw found Dark Night and turned on his pony-wolf form.

"It's time to cause some damage" he said.

And he advanced and lifted one of his paws, ready to strike the attack. But when he tried it, he saw it turning back into a hoof.

"What the…?" he asked.

And he quickly retreated, before Dark Night could attack him.

"He managed to revert my transformation" Shadow Claw said. "This means he can absorb magic. Well, then I guess I'll have to resort to the old hoof-to-hoof combat."

Twilight, together with some guards, went upstairs to the circular room between the two great towers.

"It's time to do my duty as a princess of this kingdom."

Twilight's Determination

And, having said that, Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated, while accessing to her magic. She was then surrounded by magic that raised her from the floor and thin strands of magic, invisible to the naked eye, came out of her horn and spread throughout the citadel. She had just used a combination of healing spell with the telepathy spell Mirror Coat taught her. With this, she managed to reach the minds of all those who were still in the citadel.

“Shining, can you hear me?” she asked to her brother.

“Twily?” he said, while fighting some dark ponies. “How... ”

“I'm using Mirror Coat’s telepathy spell to communicate with you, while using the healing spell to heal those who have not been rescued and taken to the Diamond Domain” she replied.

“But that will exhaust most of your energy” he replied.

“It doesn’t matter” she said. “It's my duty as princess.”

“I'm glad to hear that, princess, because I'm dealing with a situation here.” Shadow Claw said, while battling Dark Night.

“What is it, Shadow Claw?” she asked.

“This dark pony has a strange magic that can absorb magic” he replied. “He managed to absorb the magic that I use in my transformation.”

“That is rather peculiar” Twilight commented.

“It’s not only that” Shadow Claw said. “His eyes look different. They have a undulant pattern that I've never seen before.”

Upon hearing that, Twilight remembered something she had read in an old book of dark magic in the Mirrored Library.

“Describe this pony immediately and I want all the others to look for more ponies with the same kind of eyes” Twilight said. “This kind of dark magic is very serious and we must stop them.”

“I and Soarin found one, Twilight” Rainbow Dash said, while flying over the citadel with Soarin, seeing the Unicorn who was casting powerful dark magical beams.

“Looks like he throws dark magic beams capable of causing much more destruction than any other attack” Soarin noted.

“But we will attack to learn more” Rainbow Dash said.

“Be careful, Rainbow " Twilight advised. “Act with caution. We don't know yet the full capacity of our enemy.”

“Just tell me one moment when I didn’t act with caution.” Rainbow Dash said and, after realizing the nature of her question, added. “You know what, never mind.”

Rainbow Dash and Soarin flew down in order to bring the dark pony down, but then he just swerved, despite both being attacking by the blind spot.

"What?" the two asked.

They then noticed the dark pony who had summoned the gytrash.

"Now there are two of them?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"And it appears that is the one who summoned those spectral dogs" Soarin said.

"How about a double attack?" she asked.

"For me, that sounds great" he replied.

And the two took flight, fighting against both dark ponies. Then, when both tried to hit them through their blind spots, the dark ponies simply dodged.

"How is it possible?" Soarin asked. "They couldn't have dodged all our moves. Even the most well-trained pony couldn’t avoid what they can't see."

And then Rainbow Dash noticed something in their eyes and then she realized that each time they tried to hit one of the dark ponies through the blind spot, the other could see it perfectly.

"I wonder if...” Rainbow Dash started, contacting Twilight then. “Twilight, I think I can update your info about these guys with crazy eyes. It seems that their eyes are linked between each other somehow, allowing them to share the same field of vision.”

“How do you know that?” Twilight asked.

“Because I and Soarin we're fighting that dark pony we talked about and also the one that apparently summoned those strange dogs” Rainbow Dash replied. “We attacked them both through their blind spot and they dodged all the attacks and in each time the other could see the attack.”

“I see...” she said. “I'll tell the others.”

The pony who had summoned the gytrash gestured and two of the spectral dogs appeared, ready to attack Rainbow and Soarin. It was then that Moonlight appeared, landing, and let out a supersonic scream that reached the gytrash, making them squeak and then run away. Watching that, the two dark ponies eventually withdraw.

"You arrived just at the right time, girl" Rainbow Dash said. "I have to admit that I'm surprised to see Fluttershy’s daughter causing pain to animals."

"Well, to be fair, I’m also my father’s daughter and I was never a big fan of gytrash and, to tell the truth, they are not critters of the forest" Moonlight replied.

"We better keep up" Soarin said. "There are too many enemies and we cannot let them hurt somepony else."

Twilight continued to use all of her effort into maintaining the telepathic connection between everypony while trying to heal the wounded who had been rescued, but that was rather complicated. The devastation was immense and the misery that she was feeling was overwhelming. The princess of the Light Kingdom couldn't believe what was happening to her precious kingdom, a kingdom that had already suffered enough after spending centuries imprisoned in stone. She just hoped that they could hold on the enemy and keep them from finding out where Star was.

In Animarium, Star and Tough Skin were ready to try the plan for the toad to gather natural energy to the prince.

“Okay, let’s try this” Star said. “Basically, you’re going to just sit on my shoulder and attach yourself to me, right?”

“Correct” Tough Skin replied, jumping then to Star’s shoulder. “While you’re in motion, I’ll stay still and I’ll draw natural energy for you. So let’s give it a try.”

Star beckoned with his head and the two started to concentrate. They started by synchronizing their breathing and then tried to do the same with their own energies. It was then that, all of the sudden, Tough Skin was thrown from Star’s shoulder to the ground.

“Tough, are you okay?” Star asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine” he said, while getting up. “But that was very strange. Let’s try it one more time.”

He jumped again to Star’s shoulder and the two tried to do the same thing again. After a few moments, Tough Skin was able to get a glimpse of Star’s inner self and the bloodlust eyes of the Nine-Tailed Fox laid on him and he roared at him, what made Tough being thrown from Star’s shoulder again.

“Tough, what happened?” Star asked.

“Well, you see…” Tough Skin said, while getting up and turning to Star. “It seems it’s impossible.”

“What do you mean?” Star asked.

“I suspect the Nine-Tails inside of you is rejecting me and casting me out” Tough Skin said.

“What?!” he asked. “It can’t be! Now what I’m going to do?”

It took a few minutes, but then he decided.

“Well, I can only do one thing.”

And he started to run, with Tough Skin following him, jumping.

“I have to gather natural energy while I’m moving.”

“I and Leaf Mane already told you that is impossible” Tough Skin said. “I never imagined that this would happen after we had come too close.”

Star stopped and said:

“Well, it’s not that I will give up. There is no other choise, so I’ll find a way to make it work.”

“But there is no other way” Tough Skin said, returning then to his normal size.

But Star ignored him and started running again, with Tough Skin following him. The young prince started to gather natural energy, but while he was able to draw it, he couldn’t control it properly and it didn’t last for him to start to transform. Fortunately, Tough Skin appeared and hit him with the same staff Leaf Mane used, making him fall to the ground. This happened a few more times until…

“One more time” Star said to Tough Skin. “We gonna keep trying.”

Tough Skin, who was gasping for all the effort he had done to keep Star from turning into a toad, replied:

“You really are such a stubborn colt, you now? Let’s take a little break, Star.”

“No, we can’t stop!” Star exclaimed. “I just worked as harder as all the training that I had just to get to this point.”

“Just listen, Star” Tough Skin said. “This sort of training as never being tried, not by me or any other being who studied how to control natural magic. Only Leaf Mane have such control over natural energy to gather it while moving. Trying to get natural energy, whose main principal is stillness, while you’re running is like making yourself look to the left, when you’re already looking to the right.”

When he heard Tough Skin saying that, Star remembered immediately he said the same thing while trying to create the Spiraling Star Spell and remembered that there was a solution to that.

“Of course!” he exclaimed. “How could I be so stupid?!”

Watching them from afar was Leaf Mane. She was glad that Prince Star had finally discovered all the secrets about controlling the natural energy.

“I can see that little colt had made so progress” a voice said.

And a great toad appeared besides the plant where Leaf Mane was. He was almost as a Tailed Beast and had rusty red skin with brighter red markings on the lips and chest. Over his left eye he had a scar and his tong had stud-like piercings. He was wearing a blue vest with a sheath where there was a blade and he had a pipe in his mouth. That was Red Skin, Tough Skin’s father.

"I guess you could say that" Leaf Mane replied. "You must be very proud of your son, Red Skin. After all, thanks to him, Prince Star Knight learned the bases of Frog Kata and now he found out how to use the natural energy during combat."

"To tell you the truth, I never thought Tough Skin were the type to teaching, but you're right. I'm proud of him and I hope he stays that way."

At that time, Leaf Mane felt the same pain that other Generals had before being banned, but in a lighter way, enough to not expel her.

"What's going on, Leaf Mane?" Red Skin asked.

"Something is not right" she said. "I just felt the aftereffects of a dark spell used to expel Generals. Fortunately in Animarium dark spells don't have the same strength than when they are released."

"But what does that mean?" Red Skin asked.

"It means the Light Kingdom is in great danger" she replied.

In the Light Kingdom, Twilight was still trying to save her subjects as many she could. It was then that one of the guards said:

"Princess…"

She turned and then faced the General of Chaos, who had entered the room.

"You are the General of Chaos" she said.

"It's good to know that the General of Peace made a good description of me" the General of Chaos said. "Tell me, Princess, he was very hurt after our meeting? Well, I suppose it doesn't matter right now. After all, we have something to discuss."

"I don't have anything discuss with a follower of Lord of Chaos" Twilight replied.

"You shouldn't talk about my master that way in front of me" the General of Chaos warned. "After all, what are you compared to a god like him?"

"He may be larger and more powerful than I, but one thing's for sure" Twilight said. "No matter what he does, no matter the minions he has, the Order will always prevail."

"That's what we're going to see" the General of Chaos replied. "Where's Star Knight?"

"No one knows" Twilight firmly replied. "And even if some of us knew, do you really think they would say anything? Do you think I'd tell you where my son is if I knew?"

"We have almost all the Jinchuriki" the General of Chaos declared. "So I think it's pretty clear who has the advantage in the balance of power. It makes no sense to continue to protect the Nine-Tails."

"Even if the Lord of Chaos defeated the Lord of Order, I would never give Star to you" Twilight replied. "It does not matter if any trace of light leave this world. Neither you, nor any other villain or your master will get close to my son."

"Maybe you don't understand the situation, dear princess" the General of Chaos. "Look carefully to your precious kingdom. By the state in which it is, you may have noticed the power we possess."

"Don't underestimate the power of the followers of the Order!" Twilight exclaimed. "You and others like you are nothing more than simple terrorists undermining the perfect job of the Lord of Order, fallen in the illusion that you will find happiness by working for the Lord of Chaos. We shall never surrender to you."

"Such arrogance!" the General of Chaos exclaimed.

And he freed his repulsive power that made all the windows of the room to break. The guards were shocked with the size of the power of the General of Chaos, while they struggled to hold on.

"You say that my master keeps me and the other villains in an illusion of happiness" the General of Chaos said. "But doesn’t the Lord of Order do the same with you? He gave you life and lets you shine with your star seeds. For what? For then fading and be erased from existence?"

"I can't say that everything that exists in the Order is perfect" Twilight said. "Nothing's perfect. But it is certainly preferable to walk in the light, than wandering in the darkness, lost, without a destination..."

"Be careful with the words you use" the General of Chaos warned her. "This is the final warning of the messenger of the most powerful being in all creation. Where is Star Knight? Speak."

"We will use all the power we have to defeat you" Twilight replied. "That's all I have to tell you. Except that you're not getting what you want."

"If you think you can protect him..." the General of Chaos started.

"No" Twilight interrupted, smiling. “Star Knight is stronger than you think.”

Meanwhile, the dark pony capable of forcing others to tell the truth, pinned two other guards against the wall, asking then:

“Is Star Knight in this kingdom or not?” he asked. “Tell me now.”

“You want Prince Star Knight?” one of the guards asked.

“No way!” the other guard replied. “Prince Star Knight is our beloved Princess Twilight’s son and he is also part of this kingdom. We would never sell out any of our citizens.”

“As you wish” he said. “Then, I just have to make you tell me the truth.”

But before he could do anything, the second-in-command came and tackled the dar pony, making him drop the two guards.

"Get out of here, I got him" the second-in-command said. "You need to help protect the kingdom."

"Yes, sir" the two guards replied, coming out of there quickly.

"It looks like it's just you and me now" the guard said to the dark pony.

"I wouldn't be so sure" he replied.

And, suddenly, the second-in-command was held against the ground by the dark mare who was also participating in the search for Star Knight.

"Let's see what you have to offer us" she said, extending her hull.

She touched the back of the second-in-command’s head and then he laid still, stop trying to break free. The mare was reading her mind and then found the information she wanted, information that the second-in-command had obtained on the balcony of the castle: Star Knight’s location.

"Animarium..." she said.

Due to the connection between the dark ponies and the General of Chaos, the latter was able to receive that information instantly.

“Well, it would appear Star Knight is not here” he said. “Animarium…”

“What?” Twilight asked, without believing what she heard him saying.

And, with that information, the dark ponies began to withdraw from the Light Kingdom, with the gytrash simply disappearing. All those who were fighting were perplexed by it.

"Animarium..." the General of Chaos said. “The realm completely dominated by nature, one of the few places in all Pony Reality where the darkness of the Lord of Chaos has not yet reached. So it seems that my presence here is no longer needed."

"How do you know that?" Twilight asked, still shocked.

The General of Chaos turned his back, preparing to leave, and then said:

"Just one more thing. The magic that is flowing in your hooves is to counter my attraction and repulsion spells? I really shouldn't have left Golden Paladin have discovered one of my secrets. However, everything is meaningless in the face of an overwhelming power. Your Lord of Order proved that since the beginning of time when he created something that he thought the Lord of Chaos could not destroy and yet you continue to think you are the greatest force of all Creation. By walking under the light for too long, you ended up blind by it. If you creates too much, you’ll end up with nothing to create in the end. Chaos is what allows your Order to have sense."

“Quick babbling such nonsense” Twilight said.

“In a war, both sides receives damages” the General of Chaos continued. “You already caused too much damage to my lord and now it’s time for yours to get the same amount of damage, as he likes balance so much.”

“Your master is the one who caused more damages to us!” Twilight exclaimed. “He spread fear and destruction everywhere. Stop trying to find excuses to justify your wicked crimes!”

That made the General of Chaos to look to Twilight in a way that let Twilight slightly scared.

“How absurd…” he said. “Why don’t you feel the same pain you caused to the Lord of Chaos? Only then, you’ll understand what I’m saying.”

And he took off, leaving the room with great speed.

"No, come back!" Twilight exclaimed, while she saw him ascending to the sky.

She didn't know why, but the princess of the Light Kingdom could feel that General was still planning to do something else.

In Animarium, Star and Tough Skin trained the Frog Kata, when Red Skin appeared with Leaf Mane on top of his head.

"Stop training, Tough Skin!" he ordered.

Tough Skin and Star landed and the former asked:

"What's up, dad?"

"I'm afraid something dark will or is already happening" he replied.

Leaf Mane landed and said to Star Knight:

"I have a terrible feeling, Prince Star Knight. It tells me to get back to the Light Kingdom as soon as possible."

"What are you saying?" Star asked. "You mean the villains of the Lord of Chaos…"

"I don't know" Leaf Mane replied. "But we must prepare ourselves for any eventuality. Red Skin already arranged two of the strongest toad warriors of Animarium. We have no time to lose. You also have to prepare yourself."

Star nodded his head, hoping that nothing serious was happening in his kingdom.

In the Light Kingdom, the General of Chaos continued to ascend, while the last of the dark ponies left the citadel. Twilight continued to watch him ascending to the sky. She did not believe that any villain would simply withdraw when they were practically winning the battle against the most coveted kingdom of all Pony Reality.

“He’s planning to do something” she said. “I just know it.”

“But what, my princess?” one of the guards asked.

“That I don’t know, but it will be something big” she replied. “I must apply my defensive spell on all the ones who are still in the citadel. But I can’t just stand here and wait for something to happen.”

And, having said this, she took flight.

"Princess!" one of the guards called.

Some of them, using their magic to levitate, tried to follow Twilight.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Twilight exclaimed to the General of Chaos.

“I will never forget the pain my lord suffered” he said. “And for that… you must feel his pain!”

And then a blinding light came out of General of Chaos which involved the whole citadel of the Light Kingdom and all who were there. As an explosion happened there, the whole citadel was swept by an immense force that began ravaging everything that was in its way, leaving nothing but a crater full of rubble. The only part that remained standing was the Light Castle, in conjunction with the ground that sustained it, that was intact due to the magic contained in its structure.

All those who were still in the citadel had miraculously survived. Twilight’s magic aura that was involving them being protected them from most of the damages, but that aura just disappeared.

Moonlight, starting to rise up, coughing due to dust that was still in the air, and, when she lifted her head and her eyes looked at all the destruction, she couldn't believe it. It was like she was in a nightmare.

"Moonlight..." Gleaming Shield said, also a little shaken.

Seeing Gleaming, Moonlight advanced to her and the two hugged each other, while the half-pegasus, half-thetral broke into tears. Gleaming caressed her mane, trying to calm her down. But she could not censure her. She had never seen such destruction, not even when she witnessed her cousin losing control of Nine-Tails. It was in a moment like that she wished that Star was there.

Then there was a green light coming from a part of the Light Kingdom that drew the attention of two fillies, as well as the General chaos. From light came up Red Skin, along with two other great toads, one with a staff and a shield on his back and another with two swords on his back. Over Red Skin’s head was Tough Skin and over his head were Leaf Mane and Star, with the latter on his sage mode.

Star Knight VS General of Chaos

With the return of Star, the General of Chaos, seeing his target, started to go to him, landing close to the place he was.

Star, unfamiliar with the place they were due to all the dust there was in the air, started to look around and asked:

“Where are we? I don’t get it.”

“Where’s the enemy we’re supposed to face?” Red Skin asked.

“Leaf Mane, what’s going on?” Star asked to the General of Nature. “Why didn’t you teleport us to the Light Kingdom?”

“I’m afraid this is the Light Kingdom” she replied.

That made Star look around, trying to find actual proof she was saying the truth.

“I don’t understand” Tough Skin said. “I know I never came to the Pony World, but I thought it would have buildings and stuff like that. What do you mean with that, Leaf Mane?”

“Just get a closer look” she replied.

When the dust started to settle down, the Light Castle started to appear. Seeing it was the proof that they were really in the Light Kingdom.

“There’s no way!” Red Skin exclaimed, seeing all the destruction.

“I can feel it” Leaf Mane. “The plants and the trees around saw everything. They told me it was the General of Chaos, the most loyal and powerful villain of the Lord of Chaos.”

Seeing how his kingdom had being destroyed just like that, all the pain that its citizens must have felt, including his family, made anger starting to appear in Star.

Nearby, a piece of a wall was moved to reveal a small hideout. It was a guard who moved it as he was able to protect Twilight, who was sitting in the ground, weakened, not only by the destruction, but also for the effort she used to protect all the ones who were at the citadel.

“Your Highness, are you alright?” the guard asked.

She started to get out and then noticed all the destruction, becoming astonished. Beyond that, there was others laying on the ground, unconscious, mainly guards who were fighting the dark ponies. She couldn’t believe in what she was seeing.

“What… What is all this?” she asked.

Although sorrow was the feeling she was feeling at that moment, it was rapidly replaced by anger and hate towards the one that caused all that.

“Damn you, General of Chaos” she said. “This is unforgivable!”

The guard looked to her princess and noticed how she painted and couldn’t barely stand. He knew she had used practically all her magic to protect everypony in the citadel and so she should be at her weakest state. He couldn’t stop but being fearful for her health.

All around, some ponies started to wake up, becoming also shocked by seeing the citadel of the Light Kingdom, its core, destroyed. Shining, seeing that, said:

“It can’t be… How is this possible.”

“It seems Twilight excelled herself again” Rainbow Dash saying, approaching.

She was full of scratches and was helping Soarin to walk.

“You mean my sister protected everypony?” he asked.

“You look like you don’t know your sister” Rainbow Dash said. “But I am concern how she is right now.”

In another location, some wreckage moved and Shadow Claw appeared, followed by Applejack, Apple Bushel and Cloud Chaser.

“Thanks fer holding us down there, Shadow Claw” Applejack thanked.

“Well, I think if it wasn’t Twilight’s magic, my pony-wolf strength wouldn’t serve that much” he replied.

Jonagold helped his father get out of some wreckage and asked:

“Are ya all right, dad?”

“Eeyup” he replied.

But when he tried to get up, he felt some pain. His hoof was bruised.

“Try not tah move, pa” Jonagold said. “It is for tha best if we get ya tah ma. Ah jest hope she is okay. She an’ Flower.”

His father then pointed to the intact Light Castle and Jonagold got it.

“Ah see” he said. “Tha castle resist’d tha attack, so that may mean tha Diamond Domain also resist’d. That’s a relief.”

“Big Mac! Jonagold!”

Thunder Night approached, also a little bruised because of the destruction.

“Thunder Night!” Jonagold exclaimed, happy to see him.

“Are you all right?” he asked, getting to their edge.

“Yeah, we are” Jonagold replied. “All thanks tah Princess Twilight.”

“Did you see Moonlight?” Thunder Night asked. “I can’t find her.”

“No, but don’t worry” Jonagold replied. “Fer sure she is fine. After all, Princess Twilight sav’d everypony in the citadel.”

“I know, but I can’t help it” Thunder Night answered.

Meanwhile, Gleaming Shield was curing some of Moonlight’s more serious injuries.

“Is it fine, to you?” she asked.

“Yes” Moonlight replied. “Thank you, Gleaming. But what was that light just now?”

“I think it is pretty obvious” Gleaming Shield replied. “That light is Leaf Mane’s. So that means…”

“That Star is back” Moonlight completed, smiling for a moment, only to become a little worry. “But the ones that did this are after him. If he is here…”

“Don’t worry” Gleaming Shield said to her. “We both know how Star is. He is gonna be fine, for sure.”

That gave Moonlight the courage to smile again.

The dust started to settle down and the General of Chaos approached the three great toads. Star’s eyes laid on him and the General said to him:

“Good, I don’t have to hunt you down.”

There was a dark glow and the five dark ponies with the undulated eyes appeared beside the General of Chaos.

“Those eyes…” Leaf Mane said, seeing their eyes. “Prince Star Knight, be careful. I have a bad feeling about this.”

It was then that Twilight appeared between the toads, Leaf Mane and Star and the General of Chaos and his dark ponies.

“Princess?” the General of Nature asked, surprised.

“Mom…” Star Knight said, not wanting to believe the state she was.

Twilight was staring at the General of Chaos and said:

“I… am… the Princess… of the Light Kingdom.”

“Princess Twilight!” a guard called, approaching.

“How dare you trample upon the crown jewel of the Lord of Order and that so many sacrificed to protect?” Twilight asked. “I won’t forgive you! I settle this down as the alicorn princess I am!”

“It appears that now you understand my master’s pain” the General of Chaos observed coldly. “However, I have no need of you right now. The one I seek…”

And the unicorn with the power of launching the destructive lightning started to run at full speed against Twilight, ready to attack her. But before he could anything, Star Knight appeared from above and, with a single punch, crushed the unicorn.

“Is me!” he exclaimed, looking then to the General of Chaos with his sage eyes.

Twilight couldn’t believe in her eyes when she saw her son protecting her with that kind of power.

“There is no need for the princess of the Light Kingdom to bother for the likes of them” Star saying, without taking his eyes from the enemy. “Just leave this to me, mom.”

“Star, my son…” Twilight said.

Gleaming Shield, who was able to cast a spell to enhance her vision, was able to see what happening.

“What’s going on?” Moonlight asked. “Tell me, Gleaming.”

“Amazing…” she said. “He took down one of the dark ponies with the undulated eyes with one blow.”

That made Moonlight give another smile. It would appear Star had really become stronger.

“Well, it really seems that one had really surpassed all of your students, Leaf Mane” Red Skin said.

“It would appear so” she replied, with a smile.

“So you’re Prince Star Knight” the General of Chaos said.

“Yes and now it’s time to settle this!” he exclaimed.

The General of Chaos thought of the best way to attack. His repulsive and attraction powers would need more time for recharge after destroying the citadel, what meant…

And the other four dark ponies adopted a formation, with Dark Night, the dark earth stallion and the dark unicorn mare at the front of the General and the dark pegasus behind him.

“Tough Skin!” Star called.

Tough Skin jumped and landed behind Star.

“I want you to take my mother to somewhere safe” Star told him.

“Of course, Star” he replied.

“Mom, don’t worry” Star told her. “I take it from here. Keep the others out of this. I can’t be worrying about everypony else. Not during this fight.”

Although it pained Twilight, she saw she didn’t have any choice but to give Star a chance.

“All right, but take this” Twilight said, extending to him a ball of light. “I’m sure this will come in handy. It has all the information about the General and the dark ponies’ powers.”

Using his magic, Star took and absorbed it, while Tough Skin took Twilight carefully.

“Don’t worry, princess” Leaf Mane tell, getting out of Tough Skin’s head. “I’ll keep watching on Prince Star Knight and help if he finds trouble.

“Thank you, Leaf Mane” Twilight said.

After that, Star said:

“Go, Tough Skin.”

And he jumped away, along with the guard. Immediately after that, the dark earth stallion summoned a gytrash that started to run towards him, ready to attack him.

Tough Skin jumped until he reached the place where Gleaming Shield and Moonlight were, along with the guard.

“Aunt Twilight…” Gleaming Shield said, seeing his aunt, while Tough Skin put her down carefully, going to her after that.

“Gleaming Shield… I need your help…” Twilight said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll treat you right away” Gleaming Shield said.

“But first, I need you… to tell a message to everypony” Twilight said. “I’ll tell you how to use the telepathy spell.”

At the fight, Star had stopped the gytrash with his bare hooves, thanks to the natural energy he had gathered, throwing it away after that. But the dark earth pony summoned two more gytrash. But Leaf Mane created some roots that hold them, while Star passed flying by them to reach the General of Chaos and the dark ponies. While doing that, he created two clones who started to form a big Spiraling Sphere on the original’s each front hooves, taking them later, while the original continued his way. They used the two Spiraling Spheres on the two gytrash that were also thrown away.

“Red Skin, you and the others know what to do” Leaf Mane said.

“Right” Red Skin replied.

And he and the two toads jumped high.

When Star was close, Dark Night advanced, charging his horn with magic. According to the information he had, that dark pony could absorb magic, then he only had to use… Frog Kata. He prepared to give him a punch, but he defended, so Star tried to give a kick but that was also avoided. He then noticed the others and was able to understand what the information about their eyes being linked meant. Retreating, Star realized he had to attack them with something they couldn’t see.

The three great toads were fighting the three gytrash and they seemed to be able to handle the ferocious dogs. They them used their weapons to stab on them and the spectral dogs simply disappeared.

Star tried a new punch on Dark Night, that also tried to attack. But then the dark pony saw Star’s hoof passing by the side of his face while he dodged, but, as if he had hit, the dark pony was thrown with force. Seeing Dark Night lying on the ground, the General of Chaos wondered how that happened when he had dodged. Leaf Mane, seeing that, smirked, as she knew Star had used the natural energy around him to give the blow, as that was the essence of the Frog Kata, without counting with the strength and wide perception he required in sage mode.

“Okay, that’s it” Star said. “I can’t wait any longer. It’s time for me to end this with my own perfected spell.”

And the summoned two more clones.

It was then that the General of Chaos noticed Star’s eyes.

“I see…” he said. “So you learned how to control natural magic. It is quite impressive how well and fast you’ve been able to perfect it. That only gives more pleasure to my victory against you so that the Lord of Chaos can bring true peace and order to this world.”

“Just shut up your mouth already!” Star exclaimed, while he and his clones executed the spell.

Star lifted with his right hoof the Spiraling Sphere with the wind energy that soon reshaped and became…

“The Spiraling Star Spell…” Leaf Mane. “No, he can’t be thinking in using it.”

At the place where Gleaming Shield, Moonlight, Twilight and Tough Skin were, Twilight had just explained to her niece how to execute the telepathic spell.

“Did you get it?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, my aunt, but now try to rest” Gleaming Shield said.

Then Moonlight seemed to see something and said:

“Gleaming, take a look at this.”

She then turned to the battle and saw Star executing the Spiraling Star Spell, what amazed her:

“Incredible…”

“What is it?” Moonlight asked.

“Star’s magic is forming something that looks like a star” Gleaming Shield said.

“The Spiraling Star Spell…” Twilight said.

“Wait, so that’s the Spiraling Star Spell?” Gleaming Shield asked.

“No, Star can’t be thinking in using it” Moonlight said.

“Why?” Tough Skin asked. “What is it?”

“A spell created by Star that combines both shape and elemental manipulation” Gleaming Shield explained. “It is so powerful that can even harm the user, that’s why Star was forbidden from using it.”

While Star stabilized the spell and his clones disappeared, he said to the General of Chaos:

“Everything you’ve done here… All this destruction… What part of all that is peaceful?!”

“You simply can’t see the forest” the General of Chaos explained. “You’re not able to comprehend the meaning of peace from my master’s point-of-view and compare it to the Lord of Order’s. That way, you can’t understand what we are trying to accomplish. Just let yourself be captured. Surrender and your death will lead to peace.

“I already told you to SHUT UP!” Star yelled, while throwing the Spiraling Star.

“Wait, he threw it?!” Leaf Mane asked, thinking how could that be as, according to Golden Paladin, Star didn’t have enough control to threw the Spiraling Star.

The Spiraling Star went against the General of Chaos, while doing the screeching noise that was characteristic of it. The General and the dark pegasus took off, while the dark unicorn mare threw the dark earth stallion to safety. Arriving close to the dark ponies, the Spiraling Star expanded, being able to get the dark unicorn mare.

“Incredible!” Leaf Mane exclaimed. “It expanded!”

The General and the dark pegasus landed, while the dark earth stallion remained stood after being thrown to safety. The Spiraling Star didn’t let the dark unicorn mare go after getting her and sliced her. The dark earth stallion summoned another gytrash that went after Star, but using his wings, he took off to dodge it, while the Spiraling Star turned into the wind vortex that destroyed what was left of the dark unicorn mare.

“It would appear the Lord of Chaos was right” the General of Chaos observed, while seeing Star landing. “This colt will be difficult to capture.”

Gleaming Shield, following her aunt instructions, tried to contact her father with telepathy.

“Dad, can you hear me?” she asked.

“Gleaming?” he asked. “Is that you? Are you fine?”

“Yes, I am” she replied. “And so is Moonlight and Aunt Twylight. Although she really needs to rest a little.”

“Gleaming, can you tell me what’s going on?” Shining asked. “We’re hearing loud noises”

“That’s probably from the battle between Star and the General of Chaos.”

“What?! You mean Star is fighting the General of Chaos all by himself? Is he crazy? That’s it, I going to join the battle.”

“But, dad…” Gleaming Shield said.

“No, sweetie, this is too big for Star to handle alone” Shining said. “The General of Chao practically destroyed the Light Kingdom. He is the most dangerous villain of the Lord of Chaos we ever faced and…”

“Please, don’t do anything, Shining” Twilight said, intervening in the talk by using Gleaming’s connection to talk with Shining, placing a hoof on her niece’s forehead.

“Twily?” Shining asked, surprised for hearing his sister, but recovering rapidly. “But what do you mean by that”

“I know it might sound a little strange, but Star can actually win this fight” Twilight said. “If he was able to master what Leaf Mane taught him, then he is our only hope. Please, you have to have faith in him, just I’m having.”

There was a pause and then Shining said:

“Okay, little sister, I’ll listen to you and have faith on Star.”

“Thank you, Shining” Twilight thanked, before cutting the connection.

After observing him, Rainbow Dash asked Shining:

“It’s everything alright, Shining?”

“Yes, except that my nephew is back and is fighting against the General of Chaos” he replied.

“Wait, what?!” Rainbow Dash asked. “Then what are we doing here?! Let’s go help him!”

“No, Rainbow, Twilight says for her to not interfere” Shining said.

“Why?”

“Because she has faith that Star will defeat the General of Chaos” Shining Armor. “And that means we should also have faith in him. Now, I need your help to notify the others about this.”

“Well, you can count on us for that, Shining” Soarin replied.

At the fight, the dark earth stallion had summoned more gytrash that fought with the toads. The problem with this ones was that they were faster and hitting them was like trying to hit white shadows. The gytrash that Star had dodged before attacked him again and Star took flight to defend himself, but there he found the dark earth stallion that had been thrown by the dark pegasus. The two shared a brief spar before landing again, each one on their respective side.

“You’re really starting to slow down” the General of Chaos commented. “It seems the natural energy is starting to fade away. Did you use all of it in that last spell of yours?”

Star Knight hated to admit, but he was right. He had used almost all the natural energy he had, but before that, he needed to take down one of those guys. Then, he got an idea and, secretly, told it telepathically to Leaf Mane who understood it. She turned to Red Tough that was fighting the gytrash, being then tackled by one of them and thrown to the ground. She teleported to his side and told him:

“Red Skin, listen to me. I am going to hurl right straight to Star, do you understand me?”

“What?” he asked. “You’re going to hurl me? But why?”

And Leaf Mane started to gather natural energy while saying:

“I’ll tell you, but we doesn’t have much time.”

Seeing that Leaf Mane was ready, Star concentrated and then he released his haze nature, creating a smokescreen that neutralized the General of Chaos and the dark ponies share of vision. With that, the General of Nature was able to lift Red Skin with her magic and then throw him.

The dark earth pony was trying to see through the smokescreen, when suddenly something happened, as everything about him became pitch black. It was then that something or someone started to beat him, ending up throw him to the ground. That was Star who, although in the darkness, could see him perfectly.

The smokescreen started to settle down and, when the General of Chaos was able to see again, he saw that at the place where Star and the dark earth stallion were was now Red Skin. He look around, but couldn’t find the missing ones.

“Where are they” he asked.

It was then that Star used two Spiraling Spheres to hit the dark earth stallion, creating a explosion that happened inside Red Skin’s mouth, who released some smoke. The General of Chaos was able to see through the trick, becoming really impressed. With the disappearance of the dark earth stallion, all the gytrash disappeared as well, much to the other toads’ relief.

Red Skin lowed his mouth and opened it and, from, rolling through his tongue, Star appeared, along with the body of the dark earth stallion. When Star turned his face, it could see that his eyes returned to normal, meaning he had used all of his natural energy.

“You exhausted all of your natural energy” observed the General of Chaos.

After that last attack, Star took his time to recover his breath, thinking in what to do next. Even with the sage mode, he could only use two Spiraling Stars. Leaf Mane realized they had to advance with their next step.

“Finally it’s my chance” the General said.

And he started to fly towards Star, who prepared to defend himself. He had to get in sage mode quickly, but with the General of Chaos pursuing him, he wouldn’t be able to concentrate to do it. Red Skin started to use his blade on the General, but he dodged, even with the succeeded blows of the giant toad. However, the General of Chaos ended up being able to put himself in front of Star.

“Come on…” he said.

Leaf Mane approached and said:

“I’ll do it, Prince Star Knight.”

And so, with Leaf Mane in charge of executing his plan, Star was able to worry about the physical fight with the General of Chaos that followed.

“Stay back, kid, and let me take care of this guy” Red Skin said.

“I’m going to enter sage mode” Star told him, while fighting the General.

“What?”

“Stay back, Red Skin, or else my Spiraling Star will hit as well. Go!”

And so Red Skin jumped to the edge of the other toads, wondering how Star would get in sage mode when he couldn’t get rid of the General to gather natural energy.

Star realized he could only recharge his natural energy two times, what meant he could only use four Spiraling Stars. He had to settle that battle before he ran out of natural energy.

Leaf Mane concentrated and then she summoned something…

In Animarium, at the Sacred Oil Fountain, two clones of Star were gathering energy at its edge, both in sage mode. Birds were resting on them. It was then that one of them disappeared, what scared the birds away, and reappeared on the battle field.

“I summoned him!” Leaf Mane exclaimed to Star. “Now you can release the spell!”

Listening that, Star did so and the clone disappeared, returning to the original. When the General was about to give a strong bow, it was easily defended by Star who looked to him with his sage eyes.

With the new charge of natural energy, Star was able to execute the Frog Kata and throw the General to the ground hooves away. He looked at Star, wondering how he was able to do that.

The truth was that Star had prepared clones beforehand, so they could gather natural energy and maintain it. The only thing he had to do next was to summon them from Animarium and then released the spell, so he could acquire its sage mode.

It was then that Star created another Spiraling Star and launched it against the General.

“It’s over!” Star exclaimed. “You’re mine!”

It was then that Dark Night appeared in front of the General and started to absorb the Spiraling Spell.

“What?!” Star asked, not wanting to believe.

“No way!” one of his clones exclaimed.

Dark Night absorbed the spell completely and the General of Chaos got up.

“Wait, that’s right” Star remembered. “He is the one that can absorb magic.”

“But I thought he already took care of him” one of Star’s clone said.

Star then noticed the dark pegasus that was at the same place where Dark Night was, who rapidly took his position beside the General and Dark Night. Was it possible he had something to do with that? After all, in the initial formation, he was the one that stayed behind. Maybe one of his abilities was to cure the dark ponies who were taken down.

But it was obvious the most troublesome was the General who, according with the information his mother gave to him, could attract and repel anything, from attackers to attacks. He hadn’t shown that power yet, what could mean that he, for some reason, couldn’t do it. But before dealing with the General, he had to take care of the dark pegasus.

So, for that, Star started to create two Spiraling Stars with his clones, holding them with his magic. After that, he created another smokescreen around himself. The General of Chaos waited for some time and then he saw a Spiraling Star getting out of the smokescreen.

“It’s useless” Dark Night prepared, starting to absorb the Spiraling Star.

It was then that, for his surprised, the Spiraling Star turned into Star. What Dark Night had absorb was a transformation spell and now he was being taken down by the prince.

“Tricky bastard” he told him.

And then another Spiraling Star get out of the smokescreen.

“There’s no time to dodge that” Star said to the General, while taking down Dark Night. “You’re done!”

But when the Spiraling Star was close enough, it just dissipated.

“It seems my power has finally return” the General replied.

The three great toads became astonished by that.

“You got to be kidding!” Red Skin exclaimed. “He repelled the kid’s Spiraling Star?”

Star then covered Dark Night’s eyes and said to the General:

“Just wait.”

It was then that the original appeared from above, using the two Spiraling Spheres he had made before to hit the dark Pegasus on his backs, finishing off.

“What?!” the General asked, looking behind and seeing another of his dark ponies being taken down.

“Yes!” Leaf Mane exclaimed.

“That was good work, kid” Red Skin told.

“And now there’s two more left” Star said.

“Ok, but I’m curious of how he exactly did that” Red Skin said.

“Well, the first Spiraling Star as actually a transformation spell performed by Prince Star Knight himself” Leaf Mane explained. “That dark unicorn was unaware of that and absorbed the spell.”

“I get it” Red Skin said. “That’s why Star appeared.”

“But that dark unicorn can only absorb magic, not physical attacks” Leaf Mane continued. “So he get a directed hit when Star tackled him.”

“Oh, I see, so that was the purpose of that three-staged attack” Red Skin said.

Seeing how easily Star had defeated one of his remaining dark ponies and subdued the other, the General of Chaos realized he had already took flight after he had released that smoke.

The clone that was subduing Dark Night prepared to finishing him, while the original prepared to attack the General. But, before any of those could happen, the General of Chaos used his repulsive power to push both Stars away, making the clone disappear. The original was thrown until he got to the edge of Leaf Mane.

“Are you all right, Prince Star Knight?” she asked.

“Yeah” he replied.

Dark Night got up and he and the General stared at Star Knight. Then, Red Skin and the other toads prepared to attack the two stallions, but they were able to dodge their attacks and go a few distance away.

Star, getting up and seeing the great toads trying to attack the General and Dark Night, realized that was the true power of his repulsive power. It seemed to be what destroyed the citadel and it was most likely that the reason why he couldn’t use so far was because he hadn’t recharged yet. The problem was he couldn’t use magic and physical attacks on them. So the only thing that was left…

“Leaf Mane, can you use some kind of illusion spell?” Star asked.

“Well, I am not as skilled as Mirror Coat in that, but I thing I have a solution” Leaf Mane. “I could create a special powder with a hallucinogenic effect.”

“Sounds good to me” Star said.

“But it will take some time to create it right now” Leaf Mane.

“Then start do it” Star Knight said. “We don’t have any time to lose.”

And so she started to concentrate.

The three great toads prepared a simultaneous attack on the General, with Red Skin attacking from above and saying:

“We have you corned, you can’t escape!”

But he took flight, dodging the attack and then used his repulsive spell that was strong enough to push the three toads away to three different parts.

“Red Skin!” Star called.

“Oh no, dad!” Tough Skin exclaimed, being able to perceive what was going on at that moment.

“It seems things are not going to well” Gleaming Shield observed. “I just hope Star can win this.”

That was also Moonlight’s desire.

“I can’t believe Red Skin and the others were blown away that easily” Star said. “Leaf Mane, you have to hurry.”

“I’m doing the best I can” she answered, while trying to create the powder.

“Then I will have to stick with the five seconds interval” Star Knight said. “I just have to be careful. I just have one clone left to use natural energy. I just wished to have more, but…”

“But if you did that, it would be too hard to manipulate natural energy” Leaf Mane said. “Without to mention that you need the energy to create clones to the battle field. If you create more, the clone that is gathering natural energy will be distracted. Just try your best and don’t take unnecessary risks.”

Star beckoned with his head and prepared to fight the General and Dark Night.

“I must say you’re truly strong, Prince Star Knight” the General of Chaos said. “This is the furthest that I have been pushed. But no more. It’s over.”

He extended his hoof and so Star started to feel a force pulling him towards the General. When he was close, Dark Night simple subjugated him.

“We’re going to end this right now” the General of Chaos said.

Leaf Mane wanted to help Star with his situation, but she had contined creating the powder.

“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you” the General of Chaos said. “You’re a precious Jinchuriki.”

“Do you really think you can stop me with this move?” Star asked, in a taunting way. “You should not underestimate the sage mode. And now it’s my turn to…”

But it was then that something started to happen. It was like he was starting to lose his strength.

“Yes, you’re right” the General of Chaos said. “You’re sage mode is troublesome.”

It was then that Star got it. Dark Night should be absorbing his natural energy. And that started to be shown, as the orange pigmentation around his eyes was starting to fade away, until it was all gone.

“The Nine-Tails has now been captured” the General announced.

Leaf Mane was almost over creating the powder, as it was starting to appear. She just hopped he would wait a little longer.

Star Knight looked to the General of Chaos and said:

“Not yet. I’m not done.”

“You’re quite disturbing, aren’t you?” the General asked.

Star wouldn’t let him get him that easily. He still had one move to play as a new idea was just formed in his head. Now that he was immobilized, it was the perfect opportunity to gather natural energy. And so he stood still, trying to gather natural energy. The orange pigmentation started to be formed again.

Seeing that he was not moving, the General said:

“It seems you’ve accepted your fate.”

But that was not the truth. As Star had just gathered natural energy, it was then absorbed by Dark Night and that was his plan all along, as, for the great surprise of the General, Dark Night started to transform into a toad.

“I guess you don’t know a lot about natural energy, but it is very hard to control” Star told him.

After the transformation was complete, Dark Night simply turned into stone.

“What is this?” the General asked.

Leaf Mane could see that Star used the risks of the natural energy in his favour. It was really amazing of seeing.

Star was then able to release himself, break Dark Night’s forelegs.

“It would appear that natural energy comes with its fair share of risks” the General of Chaos observed.

“And now we’re finally down to just you” Star said to him.

“That’s what we’re going to see” the General of Chaos replied.

At that moment, Leaf Mane was able to produce the powder and said:

“Okay, I’m ready now. Let’s do it.”

It was then that the General of Chaos made a gesture and Leaf Mane started to feel terrible pains. It couldn’t be, as that was… And she was surrounded by green light and disappeared.

“Leaf Mane!” Star called, after seeing that, turning then to the General of Chaos. “What did you do to her?!”

“What I did to the others” the Generals replied. “The expelling spell I cast before is still on and so I can expel any General I want, even the ones that escape it at the time it is casted. I just wanted to see how far you could get even with her help. And now, let’s see how you can handle me without any kind of help.”

Red Skin tried to get up, but the injuries stopped him from doing so.

“Damn it, it hurts!” he said.

“Dad!” Tough Skin called, approaching his dad. “Are you okay.”

“Tough Skin…” he said. “Yes, I am. I just wanted we were at home right now so I could recover.”

It was then that they both glowed with a green light and they and the other two great toads disappeared, reappearing in Animarium.

“But what happened?”Tough Skin asked.

“The General of Nature must have been expelled” Red Skin said. “Without her, we were just sent back to our home.”

“Oh man…” Tough Skin said. “I just hope Star is okay.”

The General of Chaos used his attraction spell to attract Star to him and then grab his throat and pressure him against the ground. Then, putting him face down and extending his front hooves to a single point, he summoned a black light sword that he used to pierce their base to pin them, what made Star groan in pain.

“Now, tell me, does this tame you just a little… Nine-Tails?” the General of Chaos asked.

That made Star look at him with anger.

“What are you?” the young prince asked. “What do you want? You don’t seem to be just like the other villains who serve the Lord of Chaos just for the thrill. Tell me why are you doing all this?”

“You ask why?” the General said. “Sometimes, things happen randomly and the reason ends up becoming apparent. But I think I can try to explain it to you. You asked me why I am doing all this. But even if I told you, I doubt the knowledge of it would change anything at all. But I guess I can take the time to explain it to you. But what do you think it will happen then?”

“I don’t have nothing to say to you” Star said.

“My goal is to fulfill this reality fate of being destroyed” the General explained. “After all, that’s the final fate of anything that is created. Otherwise, the existence of the Destroyer would be pointless. That is the peace that I’m trying to create.”

“Create peace?” Star repeated. “Just that? Are you kidding? Give me a break! You cause so much pain and misery, you destroyed my kingdom. After all the terrible things you have done, don’t you dare to talk about peace! Peace can only be created with the desire to protect others, to bring the light to where there is darkness!”

“Did Golden Paladin say those words to you?” the General asked. “Well, I guess he really have some talent with words. But now, tell me, Prince Star Knight, what is your goal?”

“First, I’m going to make you pay for all that you’ve done!” Star exclaimed. “And then I’ll bring peace to the Pony World!”

“Oh I see…” the General said. “A very admirable goal. But tell me, what about those who don’t want the same as you. Do you know why there are jinchuriki don’t you? They serve to win wars and cause destruction. However, the Lord of Chaos has nothing to do with that, as he was not the one to create the Tailed Beasts.”

“The Lord of Order created the Tailed Beast from the energy of the original one” Star replied. “Don’t distort his actions just to justify your actions.”

“Oh, but you see, that is the point” the General said. “The Lord of Order saved the Pony Reality from Ten-Tails, but what about after that, when ponies and others started to pursue the power of the Tailed Beast for themselves, starting wars just for that? He didn’t do anything to stop that, he just waited that everything found their respective balance. Balance is everything that he cares. However, when my master arrived to this reality, drawn by all the misery caused by the hate between the Tailed Beasts and the others, he wasn’t willing to share it. What we are doing is part of our nature, we seek destruction so peace can be achieved and that’s our goal, to create a world even more perfect than the one the Lord of Order invented, while you and the others try to protect it. While there is light, will always be shadow, and wherever there’s darkness there are always a spark of light. But that just creates more conflict, so we’re going to destroy one of the parts in this reality so that conflict can never happen.”

Although Star knew those were just empty words, he couldn’t help but find that some of those words were truly coming from his heart: his desire for peace. Not only that, he found himself comparing everything that he had said with what the General said and found out that, in some things he was right. Star was so focused in the goal of spreading peace to others that didn’t think there could be others who didn’t want it, that there was, indeed, shadows in the light. And there was no doubt that he and the others who served the Lord of Order protected what they thought to be right, while the villains and their master did the same.

“So, Star, I want to know what you have to say.”

But Star kept quiet for a while and then he said:

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to say.”

“But you see, that’s the reason why the Lord of Chaos is doing this: to create the world as he envisions it” the General continued. “We can put an end in this endless war between Order and Chaos in the Pony Reality. But we need the Nine-Tails. We must to get him in order to achieve that goal. We will use the Tailed Beasts to resurrect Ten-Tails and then everything will be equal.”

“But if you turn everything dark, then everything will be a lie!” Star exclaimed. “Peace need light to exist.”

“The ponykind is not ruled by reason, but by passion” the General of Chaos said. “This is the only way the true peace can be achieved. Everypony will see in time how the darkness is much comforting than light, how it is more soothing, they won’t want it anymore.”

“That will never happen” Star said. “The Lord of Order may have committed some mistakes, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about us. I know that you think what the Lord of Chaos is doing is right, but that doesn’t mean it is. As much one makes mistakes, the other also does it as well.”

There was a pause and then the General of Chaos said:

“It would appear we came into an impasse. But that doesn’t matter. You’re mine now and there is nothing that can change that.”

The Rage That Consumes the Heart

Moonlight observed from afar how Star was subdued, feeling herself impotent to be able to help him, and that was something that anguished her heart.

“You argue that my vision of peace is merely a lie, the one that is also my master’s vision” the General said to Star. “I’ll show here the contrary.”

“You can say whatever you want” Star said. “It won’t change what I believe.”

“Those words about light being the right path to take are completely empty” the General said. “You don’t even understand the mere concept of good and evil. You’re only option now… is to give me the power of Nine-Tails for my master’s own use. And after that, as I told you, your death will lead into peace.”

Continuing to watch Star from afar, Moonlight continued to struggle with her desire to go help him and to honor is decision to face the General of Chaos all by himself. The more the time passed, the more unbearable was to stay there without doing anything.

“Oh, Star…” she said.

The General of Chaos stabbed Star on his back on precise spots with his dark light swords to hold him still. They didn’t caused physical damages but the pain was very real. Star could feel his dark energy getting inside and stopping him from using his own magic.

“I avoided any vital spots, but I guess that doesn’t ease the pain you’re feeling” the General said. “And you won’t be able to move on your own.”

“You won’t get your way” Star said. “My father and the other Generals will eventually return and they won’t stop until they take me from you. You may be stronger than them individually, but I doubt you can defeat seven Generals.”

“By the time they are able to return, it will be too late” the General replied. “And now, it’s time we go our way.”

But before he could do anything to take Star with him, someone appear and tried to attack him from behind, but he just took flight to dodge and landed a few hooves away. Star couldn't believe who had prevented him from being taken. It was… Moonlight.

Her eyes went to Star, seeing how he was immobilized. He couldn’t believe in such cruelty. Well, she could, as she herself once aligned with the Lord of Chaos, but no villain was as much cruel as the General, not even Ulysses.

“I won’t let you hurt Star anymore!” Moonlight exclaimed to the General.

“Reinforcements…” the General said. “And no other than a traitor. How are you, Moonlight?”

“Why did you come up here?” Star asked to Moonlight. “Just run! Please, Moonlight, I don’t want anything happen to you.”

“No” Moonlight replied. “I’m just being selfish now.”

“What’s that mean?” Star asked. “Moonlight, don’t put yourself in danger. Just go!”

“I’m here because I want to be” Moonlight replied. “This time, I’m going to save you, Star. I used to be such a crybaby. Always giving up before getting a chance to start. All that insecurity led me to the dark path. It led me to do terrible things when I was a siren. But you helped me find my way and take the correct path. You brought me back to the light, Star. I always chased after you, wanting to catch up, wanting to walk together with you forever. You’ve changed who I am, Star. Your smile and your love saved me, Star. That’s why I’m not afraid of dying here, if it means I can protect you. Because… I love you. I always will.”

Those words left Star speechless. And so, Moonlight positioned herself to fight the General. With a quick move, she turned to Star and, with a supersonic scream, she broke one of dark light swords, what caught the General by surprise. When she prepared to destroy another one, the General used his repulsive spell on her, sending her away flight and making her fall a few hooves away. But that didn’t stop her and she got up.

Although surprised by that, she didn’t give up and flight towards Star to break another light sword. But when she prepared to do it, the General used his power again, sending to the other side.

“Moonlight!” Star called.

She started to get up, whit some bruises and a thin line of blood going down her head. She turned to Star and saw the General positioning himself in front of him, facing her. It was obvious to Moonlight she wouldn’t be able to get close of Star. But she had to do something.

And then she thought of the new spell that Melody taught her sometime after being released from the influence of the Lord of Chaos. Moonlight concentrated and then her front hooves started to glow. When the glow was at its most intense form, she used her wings to the General and started to try to punch him. He dodged, but then realized those were not ordinary punches. They used the sound of blow, amplifying it and using it. The proximity was a great danger for him with those supersonic punches, so he had to keep his distance. But then she was able to hit him with a blast, what let him momentary confused.

Taking the opportunity, Moonlight used one supersonic punch to destroy another dark light sword. But when she tried to use it again, the General used his power on her once again, this time harder, what made her fly an even higher distance. Seeing the filly he loved the most falling from that height made Star look in shock, while she hit the ground hardly.

“MOONLIGHT!” Star screamed.

Hitting the ground, Moonlight lost conscious for a moment and, while that, she remembered all the good memories she had with Star and also the sad moments, like when Adagio was able to drag her into the darkness, only to culminate with how Star saved her from her fate as a villain. But then she heard his voice calling:

“Moonlight! Moonlight!”

She started to open her eyes. Seeing that, Star said:

“Moonlight!”

The filly tried to get up, only to fall again. But she didn’t give up and got up again, this time being able to do it. And so, dragging her hooves step by step, she started heading to the General of Chaos and Star once again. But, in the mid-way, she fell again of so weak she was and, once again, she get up.

“Just stopped…” Star asked her, not being able to see her like that. “Please, just stay away.”

But she didn’t do it, continuing to advance. Moonlight remembered all the times Star set the example by not giving up, how he worked out to gain the light ponies’ respect, even when they despised him for hosting Nine-Tails, and how he always was by her side, even before they started dating. When she was close of Star, Moonlight fell and, how she didn’t have the strength to get up again, she dragged herself to Star.

Tears covered Star’s eyes, seeing Moonlight like that. Even the General of Chaos didn’t have words to describe what he was seeing. Her determination, her dedication, her insistence in saving the colt she loved made a brief flick of light appeared on his heart, something that made a pain appear in his chest. He remembered that, one day, someone did the same for him.

“But why…” he asked, while Moonlight arrived at the edge of Start and tried to hold the dark light sword that was holding his hooves. “Why would somepony as weak as you, that doesn’t have the power you once had when you served the Lord of Chaos, try to resiste? Why would you fight me… when you know you’ll only die?”

Moonlight tried to use all the strength she still had to try to remove the dark light sword, while fighting to not pass out.

“Because… I never give up” she replied.

Hearing her saying that made Star look to his dear marefriend who looked at him with her lovely and docile eyes, while doing her gentle and beautiful smile to him. And that was the last he saw before the General, whose heart returned to become dark again, used his powers on her once more and Star, with his eyes wide open, saw Moonlight being thrown high in the air, even higher than the last time, and then hit harder on the ground, close to the General than then summoned a dark light blade and stabbed her.

“It was just like this” the General said to Star. “When I saw my parents being killed right before my eyes because of the followers of that Lord of Order you so adore. That was when I started my dark path. Because of the existence of the light, we feel pain and misery, and with it comes the shadows that are able to ease that. And that’s what I want to everyone: to submerge them in darkness so they can be at ease.”

But Star wasn’t listening him anymore. His eyes were on Moonlight’s immobile body, while her blood dyed the ground with red. And then a bunch of feelings started to invade him. It was not sadness or sorrow, it was something much darker and more intense… It was pure anger and hate, feelings that drove Star to, once again, let himself be consumed by the beast inside of him.

And intense shockwave was released and intense. It was so powerful that threw Gleaming back. She was then stopped by someone that was Tough Skin.

“You…” she said.

“Sorry if I disappeared, but with Leaf Mane gone, I and the others were returned to Animarium” Tough Skin replied. “But I couldn’t simply let Star fight this alone, so I found a portal and came back. What is happening?”

Gleaming Shield looked and so an intense blood-red light rising to the sky. It was some kind of energy that she had already seen before.

“No, it can’t be…” she said.

The General of Chaos was seeing how the dark energy surrounded Star, obscuring him and only letting a pair of red eyes be seen.

“Do you hate me now?!” he asked. “Do you feel the darkness inside?!”

And then the red bubbling coat appeared, covering all his body.

“The power of the Nine-Tails…” the General of Chaos said.

Inside of Star Knight, Nine-Tails could feel the anger and the hate rising and rising, that was the moment he was expecting.

The energy was so strong that destroyed the dark light blades and Star rose up, while getting immediately into his second phase, displaying four tails, while dispelling the dark energy around. From his body, clones of himself appeared, but without leaving the original. They created a great tornado that the General of Chaos was able to defend with his repulsive spell.

The clones returning to the original and then he made the ground open, while he made hands of red energy appear. Star then started to throw great pieces of the ground, but the General of Chaos was able of dodge them. But that was just a diversion, as Star appeared before him and gave him a punch so strong that threw him. But the General used his wings to slow down and get on his hooves, but Star wouldn’t let him get away so easily. With the great hands of red energy he took one big piece and hit on the General with it until he was buried to neck.

“Do you hate me now?” the General asked.

With the hands of red energy, Star crushed the piece of ground he used and the General released himself from the ground.

“Do you still believe that light is the answer?” the General asked.

And, from the darkened sky, a blast of red energy descended and hit Star and increased the intensity of the one that surrounded him, creating a fifth tail. It was then that, from the coat, protuberating made of bone started to get out and formed the skeleton of a fox around Star, with the front paws touching the ground beside his front hooves, a column running his back with ribs surrounding his body and his head inside of a skull. He groaned, releasing a breath of red energy.

“As you wish” the General of Chaos said to Star, realizing his intension. “But know this. My darkness is still GREATER THAN YOURS!”

And he punched the ground with force, making an immense quantity of water appear everywhere, trying to wash Star away, but the intensity of the red energy was so strong that made the water starting to evaporate, causing a lot of steam.

“Let’s go!” the General exclaimed, starting to fly over the water to approach Star.

However, the Jinchuriki started to use a great number of hands of energy to catch him, what forced the General of Chaos to use all his flying skills to try to escape. When he saw blast of energy being shot to him, he used the repulsive spell to repel them. After the successive amount of blasts ended, the General asked:

“Is that all that you got?”

But a greater blast came out of the stream and hit the place where the General of Chaos was, blasting him back. When he stopped, using his wings to land on his hooves, he said:

“Not bad.”

The stream started to clear, revealing Star.

Where Gleaming Shield, she started to tremble, feeling what was going on.

“This feeling…” she said. “It’s just like that day…”

Wanting to know what was happening, she enhance her vision and could see Star fighting the General of Chaos. She was able to see, to her horror, Moonlight extended on the ground, concluding she tried to help Star.

Using his powers, the General of Chaos was able to drop on Star one of the pieces of ground he had taken, but the Jinchuriki made his away to the top, but the roots that were there were preventing him from getting out. The General took that moment to summon a dark light blade and toss it against Star, but intense flames surrounded him, burning the roots and causing an explosion that disintegrated the blades.

But it was then that a pure light started to come out of Star, while golden chains get out from there and started to arrest him. Star fought against them, but they only get stronger and tighter. Seeing that, the General of Chaos realized that was some kind of prevention that Golden Paladin put on his sealing spell for cases like this, but Star was able to get loose, breaking the chains, while the sixth tail appeared.

Star then get down, landing over the water that covered the ground, releasing another pulse of energy and started to swim towards the General of Chaos. Seeing how fast he was, the General hold still on the piece of ground he was, while the agitated water tempted his balance. Hands of energy started to attack him, but the General defended himself as much as he could, but they then made fall in the water, but he used his power to repel the water around him. While he was holding, Star appeared in the water, getting his hands out to grab the General of Chaos’ face, while taking his head out of water, growing. He released his face and tried to kick Star, but he was still resisting, even his repulsive power. The force throw both back, but the General used his wings to took flight and find balance, while Star came to the surface of the water.

Meanwhile, Moonlight was still immobile, fortunately in dry land. But she was still alive, as she whispered:

“Star…”

Arriving to the edge of the coast, Star raised his head and started to gather energy to create the same black sphere he did once before. Weakened, the General of Chaos landed, but he didn’t give up. Using his powers, he made a piece of ground get up and then he drop it over Star. But after it hit him, a great explosion happened.

The explosion was seen by Gleaming Shield that feared the worse.

“By Princess Aurora, what was that?” the guard that was with Twilight before asked.

Using her enhance vision, Gleaming couldn’t see clearly, due to her inexperience with that spell, but what she was able to see was that her cousin had six tails now. It was worse than the last time. If he continued like that, it wouldn’t late until he reached the nineth.

“I have to tell everyone to evacuate immediately” Gleaming said.

Getting her message, Shining became very concernfull. Seeing Rainbow Dash and Soarin returning, he said:

“Quick, I need you to send another message to everyone.”

“But we just arrived to tell you that…” Rainbow Dash started.

“This is serious, Rainbow!” Shining exclaimed. “Gleaming just told me that Star’s power is out of control. He already has six tails. We must evacuate everyone immediately!”

Realizing the seriousness of what was going on, they prepared to took off, but Shining said:

“And there is another thing. This message is now only for Thunder Night. There is something he must know.”

And, after he told them what happened, they took off. Shining just hopped that, when he got to know what happened to her daughter he wouldn’t lose his calm. After all, they could still save her.

After the explosion, the General of Chaos get out from the debris, while, at the same time, Star’s tails get out.

“The Nine-Tails’ power… is magnificent” the General of Chaos commented.

And Star started to get out from the debris, while groaning. Deciding the best way to act a that moment, the General started to move away, flying. The tails crushed the debris that were holding Star and then he followed the General.

Gleaming Shield saw that and then said:

“It seems Star and the General of Chaos are moving away from the citadel. He is fleeing from Star.”

“Good, serves him right” Tough Skin said, while laughing then.

“This is no time for laughing” Gleaming Shield scolded. “First, we need to secure Moonlight. And then, we must do something about Star. In this state, he can attack absolutely anypony. If only Golden Paladin was here… But that doesn’t matter. Can you take me to Moonlight?”

“What about your wings?” Tough Skin asked.

“They’re hurt from the destruction of the citadel and curing myself is not as easy as curing others” Gleaming Shield replied. “So I need your help to get to her.”

“Well, you can count on me” Tough Skin answered.

The General of Chaos continued to try to get away from Star. It wasn’t easy, as the Jinchuriki was very fast, but eventually, he ended up in a place in the Dense Forest where he was able to stop to execute his next plan. He then concentrated. From his horn, a small black sphere appeared and then he released it and it ascended.

At that moment, blasts from Star were shot and directed exactly to the place where the General was. He took flight and landed and then he said:

“Planetary Devastation Spell!”

And so the black sphere started to glow and attracted to it every single thing around like pieces of the ground. Star got close, running against the General of Chaos. He then made a gesture and pieces of ground started to be attracted to him also. But he fired a beam that the General defended with a defensive spell, but that allowed Star to get free.

But then the ground where the Jinchuriki stood started to get attracted as well, taking him with it. Star fired more blasts again, but the General as able to defended himself, before all the attracted debris agglomerated in one single thing: a great sphere of pieces of ground that looked like a planet. While being attracted, Star tried to use the blasts to end that, but to not avail. That resistance made the General of Chaos use even more power, even with his weakened state from the fight. But, eventually, Star was trapped there.

The General gasped after all the effort he did. He didn’t planned to do it that big, but his opponent was Nine-Tails and he couldn’t take any chances. But, nevertheless, the capture of Nine-Tails was now completed.

Inside Star’s mind, he was floating on his back in the red water of the chamber where Nine-Tails’ cage was, thinking how could things had come this far. While so, Nine-Tails observed him, observing how Star’s hate started to increase even more. He then started to rise up, saying:

“I don’t know… What should I do? I don’t know anything anymore. Somepony… Please, help me… Give me… an answer.”

“Destroy everything” Nine-Tails’ voice answered from the cage. “Erase anything that causes you pain. Give me your soul, your spirit, your vital essense. Give it to me and, in exchange, I’ll ease you from your pain.”

And then Star feel a sudden pain and the chains around his torso appeared and started to get loose, making a black substance starting to get out and blackening the water around.

“Yes!” the Nine-Tails exclaimed. “You’re doing fine.”

Outside, flames started to get out of the sphere of debris and, from it, eight tails started to get out. Seeing that, the General of Chaos said:

“I can’t believe he is this strong.”

And so and almost completed form of the fox appeared. It didn’t had the fur and skin, being all flesh and bones, but sill with the capability to breathe fire, what caused some debris to fall like meteors.

But the worst part was about to change, as, at the Nine-Tails’ cage, Star’s eyes glowed in red and he started to approach the cage, while Nine-Tails said:

“Now, come here. Yes, that’s it. Come closer and rip this cursed seal off.”

Getting to the cage, the red water surrounded Star and lifted him to the place where the lock was. He then extended his hoof and prepared to break the chains around it. But, before he could do it, a hand grabbed his hoof, releasing a warm light that awoke Star from the influence of Nine-Tails and took him to the ground.

Then, the same hand was extended to him and Star extended his hoof to it that grabbed it and pull him up. Star looked up and, before him, he could see the Lord of Order.

“You…” Nine-Tails said, seeing his creator.

“Lord of Order…” Star said, not believing he was before deity of all Creation.

“Hello, Star Knight” the Lord of Order said. “Long time no see.”

The Lord of Order's Motivation

Star was stunned for being in the presence of the Lord of Order. He never before had been in his presence... at least as he remembers. He simply had no words.

"I knew it would be a matter of time for you try to break the seal, so I asked Golden Paladin to put a security measure that'd let me to know if it would go loose enough for you to get eight tails" the Lord of Order explained to Star. "But, to tell you the truth, I was hoping it didn't get that far."

And then he looked at Nine-Tails, saying:

“But it seems I just have to thank you, because now we can see each other again… Nine-Tails. Tell me, how are you, my child?”

Nine-Tails growled at him and replied:

“How dare you to ask me a question like that when I am in this filthy cage? But if you really want to know, why don’t come closer… father? That way, I’ll reap you to shreads!”

“Well, if that’s the case, then I think I’ll remain here” the Lord of Order answered. “But I can sense a great hate for me, but I can’t see why. After all, it was you who made your own fate.”

“I am your creation!” Nine-Tails exclaimed. “You made me with your own hands! And yet you despised me and favored the others… Those ponies, and deer, and griffons… You let them treat us like common beasts! You let them enslave us and put us in prisons! First, you put me in Heartbeat, then you took away most of my powers and locked me in Tartarus and now I am inside of this little runt.”

“I always loved you and the others just like I love all the other things I created” the Lord of Order said. “And maybe you’re right about me not being a good father. But did you ever think that I did what I did, that I let Jinchuriki be created to give you and the other Tailed Beasts a lesson?”

“What do you mean with that?” Nine-Tails asked.

“Look around, Nine-Tails” the Lord of Order replied. “This is the result of all the decisions you made in the past, the result of embracing all that hate that you feel. If you want a new fate, try to make the right decisions. Remember my words to you and your siblings a long time ago and think about them.”

He then turned his back, saying:

“Now, if you excuse me, I have other things to worry about right now.”

“Don’t turn your back to me!” Nine-Tails exclaimed.

“I’m sorry, but I have nothing to say to you right now” the Lord of Order declared.

And he snapped his fingers and, when Star found himself, he and the Lord of Order were in an infinite space full of light, where there was no groud.

“I know that you may be surprised to see me, but I knew there would come a time we would meet each other” the Lord of Order said.

“Yeah, I guess so…” Star said, a little in shock with everything that was happening.

“You must have a lot of question in your head” the Lord of Order said. “We can use this time to answer them.”

“Well… Yes there is something that is bothering me” Star said. “Why? Why did you ordered for me to become a Jinchuriki?”

“Because you, beyond Heartbeat, are the only being capable of holding such amount of power as the Nine-Tails’” the Lord of Order answered.

“But why didn’t you used Heartbeat again, why sealing a Tailed Beast inside a baby?” Star asked. “Do you know what I had to endure because of that? I may have had a good life, but seeing how the light ponies, the ponies that lived in my kingdom, avoiding me… I had to be through for so much just to earn their trust. But then I had to deal with all those villains of your brother trying to capture me and now one of them just destroyed the Light Kingdom and made the ones I love to suffer. There must be a reason for all of that!”

There was a pause and then the Lord of Order replied:

“Indeed there is. I’m sorry for everything that you must had suffered, but the reason why I chose you over Heartbeat is because she can’t control Nine-Tails’ power. She’s very unstable and that makes her vulnerable to Nine-Tails. But you, Star… You have the potential to control it. That’s why I made Golden Paladin to seal half of Nine-Tails’ power in you.”

“Well, then I guess you were wrong” Star said. “Look at all the times I lost control. Look at all the times I hurt my loved ones. He made me do that and because I couldn’t control the power.”

“Don’t forget one thing, Star” the Lord of Order said. “This power is not yours. It’s Nine-Tails’. In order for you to completely control them, you must cooperate with him.”

“That’s impossible” Star said. “You heard what he said just now. Even you told that he embraced the hate. And he is not the one to have such feeling. I also hate him for everything he did to me.”

Another pause and the Lord of Order continued:

“I don’t believe it’s just like that. Sometimes, the impossible can become possible. I already saw it countless of times, just like when your mother defeated my brother and restored the Light Kingdom. I still have faith that one day Nine-Tails will see the light again. Or maybe that’s just an illusion. But there is one thing I am certain. If there is someone that can get to him… is you.”

“Me?” Star repeated. “Why?”

“Because of your gift” the Lord of Order said. “You already used it at least three times. On your first time, you saved Pandora from her own darkness. Then you helped Stronpaw to get control over One-Tail. And your love for Moonlight allowed her to find herself again. You can see the other’s inner self and get to know what they need. Why don’t you try to do that with Nine-Tails when you are ready? Believe when I say that inside all that hate, there’s a still a spark of love ready to be ignited.”

“Do you really think someone like him…”

“The General of Chaos already told you that light creates darkness” the Lord of Order replied.

“He’s right about that. In order to defend what you love, we fight and do things that we think we can’t even do. But when we lost that love, an emptiness is created, an emptiness that we always try to fill, being with more love or hate. My brother likes to take advantage of that and to be able to manipulate others, like Nine-Tails… or even the General of Chaos.”

“But he destroyed the Light Kingdom, he caused suffering just for the fun of it” Star said. “He knew I wasn’t in the Light Kingdom but even so he destroyed everything.”

“I know that you must hate him right now, but you must understand one thing” the Lord of Order said. “My brother is a master in manipulation and he is capable of turning even the most righteous in something unrecognizable. Like what he did to your great-grandfather Star Shield.”

“What do you mean with that?” Star asked. “My great-grandfather died as a hero, trying to protect Equestria from the Changelings.”

“That’s what it was believed until sometime ago, after that episode at the bridge where you transformed” the Lord o Order continued. “But Mirror Coat and Golden Paladin found out what really happened to him. That he was corrupted by my brother and turned into who he is today: Grogar.”

Hearing that, Stat become as shocked as he was before.

“You mean that Grogar is…”

“Your parents and uncle also know about this” the Lord of Order continued. “They kept it a secret to spare you, your sisters and your cousins. But I know you can handle the truth. And you must be sure of one thing, little prince. As much the light creates the darkness, it can only shine when surrounded by obscurity.”

“You really have confidence in me” Star observed. “Why? I mean, why do you trust me?”

“You’re the son of the holder of the original star seed” the Lord of Order replied. “You’re capable of things that you are not aware of, but I hope you’ll understand.”

After a pause the Lord of Order said:

“It’s time for me to go. But first, I’ll rebuild the seal. But this will be the last time.”

He waved his hand at the chains and they returned to the way they were, stopping the flowing of the black substance.

“Now it’s up to you” the Lord of Order said to Star. “Good luck, Prince Star Knight.”

And there was a blast of light that irradiated both.

At the real world, the General of Chaos was watching Star in his eight-tailed form getting out of his spell and said:

“He is actually digging himself out of the Planetary Devastation. What incredible power. I’ll have to increase its size and then…”

But, before he could finish, the eight-tailed form disappeared, leaving a great hole in the base of the Planetary Devastion.

“The Nine-Tails… disappeared?” the General asked.

It was then that, in the middle of the smoke, he saw Star, hovering, looking at him at his sage mode. Noticing the confident look in him, the General commented:

“His doubt has been erased. What happened. Does he already master it. Does he control the Nine-Tails?”

It was then that the satellite started to fall apart. Star used his agility to avoid the debris, but the transformation had disturbed his energy and made him lose the last clone he had in Animarium, so now he could only use the natural energy inside of him.

He landed and, after seeing the General staring him back, the latter created a dark blade different from the others and threw it to Star, hitting him in the torso.

“From this distance, I may be able to control completely all your moves with my magic” the General of Chaos said. “But don’t worry. I avoided your vital spots, because your valued to me, Jinchuriki.”

Hearing the General talking about him like that, Star’s rage reached a new level and, without noticing, channeled a little of Nine-Tails’ energy that made his pupils become a combination of his sage mode and when he is under the influence of the Tailed Beast. That look was like seeing to the eyes of the Nine-Tailed Fox himself and the General of Chaos was confronted momentarily with him, where he was overwhelmed by his immense power. Star then used his own strength to remove the blade, making it disappear, and prepared to attack him badly, as it was what his instinct was telling him to do.

But then he remembered what the Lord of Chaos said and that made Star calm down, taking control and making the Nine-Tails’ energy dissipate, what made the slit pupil disappear. Now that he could see clearly, he looked around and saw the added devastation. It was him who did that? After that, all his thoughts went to Moonlight, wondering if he had harmed her and the others. But it was then that he could feel it… She was still alive and relief came to his heart.

Moonlight was laying on the ground, with her eyes slightly open. Even in her state, she could only think about Star.

Arriving there in a jump, Tough Skin landed with Gleaming Shield on his back and she get down and approached Moonlight, observing her injuries.

“Her injuries don’t appear to be lethal, but I need to treat her immediately.”

Putting her belly up, Gleaming Shield started to heal Moonlight.

After the relief, Star focused on the General of Chaos, who recovered from being overwhelmed by Nine-Tails and said:

“The time has come for us to end us. And since you don’t want to come quietly, I don’t have any choice but attacking as if I meant to kill.”

“Enough of this” Star said. “You already caused too much damage. Why don’t we end this now? Go away.”

“Do you really thing I’m going to do that?” the General of Chaos, starting to advance on his direction. “You’re in sage mode now. I believe you’re now limited in using two of those stars of wind of yours, isn’t that so?” And that causes you sage mode to run out.”

“I guess I don’t have any choice but fight you” Star said.

“If your starts don’t hit me, the only possible outcome is that you shall lose” the General continued. “You have no more chances. I’ll take you almost to the point of death and then hold you off.”

“That’s what we’re going to see” Star replied, preparing to defend himself from him.

The General made the first blow that Star easily dodged and then threw his adversary against the debris, making him fell. He proceeded to get up and said:

“Your bastard!”

Star then created two clones and, together, they created a Spiraling Star.

“Smoke” the original said.

“Right” the clones replied.

And they used haze nature to create a smokescreen. Seeing that, the General got ready for the first Spiraling Star. He saw it coming and used his power to repel it, but then saw that Star had already thrown. In the middle of smoke, Star observed, while the sage mode ran off, how his attack would work, knowing that the General couldn’t use his repulsive spell for five seconds.

When it seemed he would do it, two clones of Star appeared beside the General to hold him, what forced him to stab both with two light blades. After that, with a flap of wings, the General took flight to avoid the Spiraling Star. He still had a few seconds to have his power back, but he knew he had failed both shots.

He landed on a bunch of rocks, but then them glowed.

“What is this?!” exclaimed the General, while seeing the rocks turning into clones of Star.

“We only have two seconds” one of clones said to the others. “Go!”

The General couldn’t believe Star had put there those clones disguised as rocks. He took off to gain more time and, at the last second before being attacked by the clones, he got his powers back and repulsed the clones. The original, who was attacking with the clones, was pushed hard, so more clones appeared and started to hold him.

“He’s using clones as back-up?!” the General asked, without believing.

The General enhance the power of the repulsive spell, but Star and his clones continued to hold it.

“Just give up!” the General exclaimed.

Star hold it until he stopped, with only two clones remaining holding him, while the others started disappearing.

“He stopped that…” the General said. “It can’t be…”

With both sides panting, they stared each other, but the General of Chaos had used to much energy in that attack that he couldn’t move. Star, in the other hand, prepared a Spiraling Sphere with one of the two clones and then the other threw with the speed necessary to attack him before the five seconds and hit him hard.

At the place where Gleaming was healing Moonlight, the others were gather around. Thunder Night was at the edge of his daughter.

“Why would she doing something like that?” he asked. “I told her to not take unnecessary risks.”

“To save… the colt she knows” Shining Armor said. “All of us above everyone should understand what she did, Thunder Night. What she did was of a great bravery and nobility.”

“Yes, I know…” he said, trying to control himself. “And probably none us would had be able to stop her.”

At that moment, Gleaming felt something. She couldn’t feel the same dark energy released by Star’s transformation.

“What is it, Gleaming?” Shining asked.

“Is it something about Moonlight?” Thunder Night asked.

She didn’t answer right away, as she enhanced her vision to see what was going on and saw something that left her amazed.

“Star…” she said. “He was able to surpass Nine-Tails all of his own…”

The force of the Spiraling Sphere threw the General of Chaos hard against the debris of his Planetary Devastation, while Star, too tired to open his wings, fell on the ground. He then rose up and approached the place where the General was. He was there at the place where he ended up, panting.

“You can’t defeat me…” he said to Star.

“But I can prevent you from doing this ever again” Star replied.

And then he summoned what appear to be… Pandora’s box.

Gleaming Shield was able to heal Moonlight enough and she started to open her eyes, regaining consciousness.

“Moonlight, my daughter!” Thunder Night exclaimed, happy to see her fine.

She looked around and said:

“You’re all here.”

“Thank the Lord of Order you’re okay” Gleaming Shield said.

“Yeah, ya gave us a great scare” Jonagold said.

She started to get up, with a little help from her father and then said:

“Thanks, guys. All of you. Especially you, Gleaming Shield.”

“I’m so relieved that you’re okay” Gleaming Shield said.

“What about Star?” Moonlight asked. “Where is he?”

“You don’t have to worry” Shining said. “My nephew defeated the General. I doubt he would be able to attack again. Gleaming Shield saw it right now.”

“Really?!” Moonlight asked to Gleaming.

She nodded with the head and then Moonlight found herself starting to have tears on the eyes.

“What you going to do with that box, boy?” the General asked, with a little smile. “That box contains the Lord of Chaos’ darkness. That darkness will never hurt me.”

“Who said would use it to hurt you?” Star said. “Ever since Pandora was gone, I studied the powers of her box. And now I can use part of its abilities.”

And he summoned the key and inserted it in its lock. The box opened and Star used his magic on it which released dark tentacles that were directed to the General of Chaos, hitting him and absorbing some of his darkness and then retreating to the inside, what made de box to close and then disappear.

“No…” the General said, feeling what Star had just done. “What have you done?!”

“I put in the box part of your power, specifically your attraction and repulsive power” Star replied.

“Your little brat…” the General said, while getting up. “You’re gonna pay…”

But before he could do anything, an immense light involved the environment. Seeing that, the General of Chaos said:

"No! It cannot be... Not now!"

And the light became so strong that the General of Chaos screamed in agony and simply disappeared.

"What just happened?" asked Star, a little confused.

"The barrier is back to work" Golden Paladin’s voice said. "And that's because we're back."

Star turned and faced Golden Paladin, Blue and Heartbeat.

"Dad! All of you! I can't believe you're here!"

He approached and embraced his father who returned the hug and replied:

"Of course we are. The General of Chaos’ spell faded away and that allowed us to return."

"With our return, the defenses of the Light Kingdom returned to its full strength" Golden Paladin continued. "We're just in time to catch the General of Chaos."

"Well, technically, the General of Chaos had already been defeated by Star" Heartbeat said. "And I have to say that was pretty amazing."

"Yeah… But I just wished the Light Kingdom had not been destroyed" Star said, sadly.

"Don't say that, young prince" Golden Paladin said. "A kingdom is much more than just buildings. The cause its existence is the ponies that live there."

"And by the way, I think it's time we get back" Heartbeat said.

And they went to the place of the citadel and Star was stunned with what he found. All the inhabitants of the kingdom were there, as if waiting for him. The other Generals were there too and all the others too. Everypony was acclaiming and applauding him. It was something bigger than when he defeated the One-Tail.

"They were all waiting for you to come back" Blue said.

"But how..." Star began.

"Mirror Coat told everypony what happened" Golden Paladin said. "Just because we were expected, it did not mean that we couldn't see what was happening."

The foals, including his sisters and the others, came straight to him, doing then a lot of questions in an exciting ways like how was the enemy. He then saw Moonlight and smiled at her, happy to see her safe and well, and she smiled with tears on her eyes.

"It seems that Star got it" Tough Skin said to Leaf Mane, who was at his side.

"Yes, he has exceeded all our expectations by defeating the General of Chaos by his own merit" Leaf Mane agreed.

Twilight, supported by Shining, approached Star.

"Mom..." he said. " You..."

"Don't worry" Twilight said. "I'm perfectly fine, just tired. Nothing that a few days of rest won't fix. I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you, son" Twilight said. "You are now the hero of our kingdom."

"But the Citadel..." Star started.

"It's nothing that can't be rebuilt" Twilight replied. "Leaf Mane, Purple Smke..."

"You can leave it to us, princess" Leaf Mane said to her.

"Let's leave this place better than before" Purple Smoke said.

"Oh so you admit that the old architecture was not perfect" Melody said.

"Hey, in my defense, the citadel was over a thousand years" Purple Smoke replied. "I think we need a new style. Although I think a crater don't fit well in my vision."

"That's where I step in" Leaf Mane said.

And she accessed to her magic and then the ground started to shake and everypony saw it, flabbergasted, moving and levelling just like it was before. After this, Purple Smoke, by accessing his magic, hit the hooves on the ground and some buildings emerged in the central zone, where stood the castle, occupying the places where the old ones were, and roads appeared to connect everything with each other. In a way, the buildings were quite similar to the old ones, but it was obvious that they had a superior beauty.

Creating those buildings left Purple Smoke breathless and Melody commented:

"Wow, you got tired so quickly. I mean, when you created the castle, you didn't get so tired."

"Please, give me a break" the General of Talent answered, while recovering his breath. "That expelling spell weakened me a lot."

"Don't worry about it, Purple Smoke" Golden Paladin said. "No matter how long it takes, we will retrieve the Light Kingdom to how it was before. But for now, why don't we join the celebration?"

He pointed to Star, who had been taken up by a few light ponies who began to haul him in the air, while the others cheered. The others who were watching cheered as well, joining the acclamations of the one who was recognized as the great hero of the Light Kingdom.

In Discordia, in the Lord of Chaos’ throne room, one of his mirrors flashed and the General of Chaos appeared, still worn out of his fight against Star Knight.

"That little brat..." he said. “How does he dare do that to me?"

"I assume that things didn't work out as you planned" the Lord of Chaos’ voice said.

The General turned, finding his master sitting on his throne.

"Master…" the General said, kneeling before him. "I'm so sorry, I did not manage to capture the Nine-Tails for you."

"Don't worry about it" the Lord of Chaos said, going to appear next his General. "After all, I've always known that Prince Star Knight would be a Jinchuriki hard to defeat. But, beyond Nine-Tails, we still have to capture the Eight-Tails. Because of this, my big plan suffered a great setback."

"But I thought we had Eight-Tails" the General of Chaos said.

"It seems that the Jinchuriki of Eight-Tails is smarter than you" the Lord of Chaos replied. "He played Ulysses, making him think that he had captured him. But it doesn't matter. We have to focus on our goals. This time, we're going to open the game. No more walking through the quiet. And I want you, my General, to be responsible for everything."

"You can leave everything to me, my lord" the General replied, bowing before his master.

The Summit of Regents Begins

A deer messenger of Thicket, bringing saddlebags where he had the message that his king had ordered to deliver to Princess Twilight.

After arriving to the Light Kingdom and got near the citadel, he was shocked when he saw that part of it had been destroyed. The central area had been completely rebuilt, however the simple thought that had happened to the Light Kingdom was hard to believe.

"Halt!" a voice shouted.

The messenger turned and faced Blue Sword, accompanied by one of his guards.

"Tells us who are you, deer, and what your intentions are" Blue demanded.

"I am a messenger from Thicket" the deer replied. "I have a message from the king to Princess Twilight. It is an urgent message."

"I am Prince Blue Sword" Blue said. "You can leave King Aspen’s message with me."

"I have orders to deliver the message in hooves to Princess Twilight" the deer replied.

"Unfortunately, my wife is resting and, right now, I'm responsible for the kingdom" Blue said.

"I understand, but the content of the message is too important and King Aspen demanded that it should be delivered to Princess Twilight" the messenger said.

Blue sighed and said:

"Okay, follow me."

Before he left, he turned to the guard who was with him and told him:

“Continue to patrol the borders."

"Yes, sir" he replied.

And Blue began driving the messenger from Ticket through the citadel, heading towards the castle. The messenger, as they approached it, started to see the light ponies reconstructing the citadel, since Purple Smoke was not present.

"I'm sorry to ask this, Prince Blue Sword, but I can't help noticing..." the messenger started.

"Yes, I know" he said. "Unfortunately, the General of Chaos managed to invade the Light Kingdom and caused a lot of damage. But, in the end, we managed to drive him away and now we're making a lot of progress rebuilding the citadel."

Mirror Coat appeared in front of Blue Sword through his mirror spell and said, while making a bow:

"Prince Blue Sword, it gives me great pleasure to say you I was able to restore the minds of those who were questioned by the dark ponies. It was difficult, since breaking a mind is much easier than rebuild it, but, in the end, I managed to do it."

"Perfect, this is very good news" Blue said. "We’re really in need for more guards. Thank you, Mirror Coat."

He nodded with his head and then teleported though a mirror.

"Let's get going" Blue said to the messenger.

And they continued to advance towards the castle.

There, in Twilight’s room, she was lying in her bed and making her company were Shining, Cadance and Spike. The latter had returned to the Light Kingdom from the Dragon Lands, being shocked to see the citadel destroyed.

"If I was here when it all happened…" Spike said. “I could have helped.”

"There was nothing you could have done, Spike" Twilight said. "Believe me, Star barely managed to defeat the General of Chaos."

"Not to mention all the dark ponies that he brought" Shining said. "Some were fairly problematic.”

"The attack happened so quickly we barely had time to react" Cadance said. "This time, Chaos has outdone itself."

"By the way, where is our hero?" Spike asked. "I haven't seen him since I got here."

"Well, with all that happened, I thought it was for the best if he came back to the academy" Twilight replied. "Security has been beefed up and Golden Paladin settled there to make sure that no more villains try their luck."

Somepony knocked on the door and it opened up and Blue came in, saying:

"Sorry to bother you, Twily, but a messenger from Thicket appeared with a message for you."

"Seriously?" Twilight asked, surprised. "Well, let him in."

And the deer messenger came in and said, making a bow:

"Your Highness, I'm sorry to bother you, but the message I got is quite urgent."

Repairing then the presence of Shining, Cadance and Spike, he said:

"Message that is also for the Princess and Prince of the Crystal Empire and the Dragon King.”

That made everypony exchange glances with each other. The messenger went to his saddlebag and pulled out three letters that he delivered to Twilight, Cadance and Spike. They opened them and read them.

"What do they say?" Blue asked.

"King Aspen has called a summit with all the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest with a Jinchuriki" Twilight said. "And he's asking the regents to certain kingdoms of the Pony World to participate as well."

"Yes, and, from what he's saying, is something quite serious" Cadance said, seeing the contents of the letter.

At the cafeteria of the academy, Star was with his friends, where it was revealed the event of the summit.

"A summit of regents?" he asked.

"Yes, that's what my dad said" Bramble answered. "He called for a summit of regents that includes some kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest."

"I already knew that" Galena said. "My father got the call."

"The more impressive is that he has called other kingdoms of the Pony World" Bramble said.

"Wow, that must mean that the subject is big" Gunter said.

"Yeah, maybe it's ‘cause tha Lord of Chaos and tha Jinchuriki he captur’d" Jonagold said.

Moonlight then elbowed Jonagold and motioned to Star. Realizing what she meant, Jonagold said:

"Oh, sorry, Star. I forgot that you're..."

"It's okay, Jona" Star said.

He then wondered if his parents had received the call as well.

In Twilight’s room, Spike said:

"I can't believe that King Aspen also called me."

"Well, he knows you're the Dragon King and you live in the Light Kingdom" Twilight said. "I think it is quite logical that he send a call to you."

"I don't know if you should go, Twily" Blue said. "You're still recovering. Let me take your place."

"Blue is right" Shining said. "Why don't you let him take care of it?"

"Nonsense, I think I can go to a single summit" Twilight said. "Moreover, for King Aspen to summon all the kingdoms with jinchuriki and others only underlines the importance of this."

"This is the Twilight I know" Cadance said. "Well, then I guess we'd better get back to the Crystal Empire immediately. We have to prepare things."

"Yes, you're right" Shining agreeded.

And the two left.

"If I may, I need to go too" the messenger said. "I still have other messages to deliver."

And he also left.

"For what it says, I can only take two escorts" Twilight said. "How Golden is at the academy, I want you and Heartbeat to come with me, Blue. You never know what can happen."

"Yes, sure" Blue replied.

"Well, I guess I should go get ready as well" Spike said. "Maybe it’s better if I take Ember and Flambeau."

And Spike also came out.

"Where will be the summit?" Blue asked to Twilight.

"At the Tower of Iron" she replied.

"The Tower of Iron?" he repeated. "But that’s in Trottingham. Why King Aspen would want to organize a summit with kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest somewhere in Equestria?"

"Maybe because it is located in Equestria" Twilight replied. “King Aspen must want the summit to take place in a neutral place and Trottingham is an autonomous city. It is without a doubt the perfect place for a summit of Regents."

"You know, in a way, I'm looking forward for this summit" Blue said. "I can't stop but thinking about what kind of regents that these kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest have and also what other regents were called."

After a few days, the time has come for the summit of regents. In the Golden Desert, Chief Strongpaw was preparing to go to the location of the summit, with two of his guards to escort him.

"Please, sir, be careful" said one of the representatives of the village.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine" Chief Strongpaw said.

And, having said this, he began to walk away, along with his guards.

In Griffinstone, Gael prepared to go to the summit with two of his guards.

"Are you sure you don't want to go, Greta?" he asked. "After all, you're the queen, the true regent"

"If I go, I would have to face the king of Aeropolis and you know how our families don't get along very well" she replied. "In addition, someone needs to take care of the kingdom and my uncle's not here and I trust your judgment."

Gael smiled and said:

"It's good to know that you think that of me, Greta."

The two hugged and then Gael and his guards took flight to go to Trottingham.

In Maretonia, Kyrippos was preparing to get into a carriage, also to go to the summit. The duke was looking very nervous and only calmed down when Ice Mirror put her hoof on his shoulder and said:

"Everything will be fine."

He waved with a smile, and then, after saying goodbye to his wife, he entered the carriage and motioned to the two guards who pulled the carriage and they advanced.

In the Dragon Lands, Spike and Flambeau waited at the border and then Ember arrived and landed.

"I’m glad you could join us, Ember" Spike said.

"Yes, your beauty is always a refreshing breeze..." Flambeau started.

"I think the praising can wait, Flambeau" Spike said to his brother, turning then to Ember. "I thank you for having agreed to come."

"Well, you're the king and I'm glad you thought of me to come with you" Ember said. "Beyond that, it's time for our kind to have the links it had before."

At the Crystal Empire, Cadance was prepared to go to the summit, with Shining and another guard, embarking on the Crystal Express, while in Canterlot Celestia and Luna, with a guard at one of their respective guards, took flight. Meanwhile, Ingrid say goodbye to Freeze Burn, who would stay, and departed to Oldenmark with two pegasus guards, going in the direction of Trottinghan.

At the Enchanted Forest, the various rulers of the kingdoms summoned were preparing also to go to the place of the summit.

In Aeropolis, King Godot, a griffon with a certain grumpy look, was preparing to go to Trottinghan. He had grayish tangelo fur, dark grayish scalet wings, dark gray gambogeish head and dark saphire bluish gray eyes. With two guards with him, he said:

“I just hope King Aspen has not invited the griffons of the Pony World. If he did that, then this will be pretty annoying."

And, having said this, he took flight, in conjunction with his guards.

In Stonult, the locals where cheering for their king, Hard Stone, who also was preparing to go to the summit. Hard Stone was a unicorn of short stature and age slightly advanced with dark grayish gold coat with a stone as Cutie Mark, a white mane with the top of his head completely bald with a triangular beard and whiskers with angular corners and very dark gold eyes. In your company, there were an earth stallion with a smile that had a dark grayish gambose coat with what appeared to be a stone statue as Cutie Mark, hooves of a darker shade, grayish gambose mane and amberish black eyes, and also a young unicorn mare with a moderate amaranth coat with a piece of lime as Cutie Mark, dark sapphire bluish gray mane and bluish black eyes.

The inhabitants said goodbye to their king who, grumbling, said, while passing his hoof from behind:

“Going to some summit with my age it’s such an annoyance. King Aspen obviously doesn’t have any regard for the older kings. Furthermore, the summit is at the Pony World. Did he forget about my bad back?”

“Well, gramps, why don’t you just retire?” the young mare asked with a smile. “Why bother trying to drag out the glory?”

The earth stallion gave a great laugh and then said to his king:

“Here, let me carry those saddlebags for you, Your Highness, okay?”

Seeing him trying to take his saddlebags, King Hard Stone exclaimed to him:

“Hooves out, Stone Quake! I can get this.”

Using his magic, Hard Stone took his saddlebags and put them on his flank, but, when he prepared to take a step, a huge pain on his back immobilized him and made him fell on the ground, while saying:

“My back!”

The mare smiled and said:

“Listen, gramps, do you want somepony else goes instead?”

“Your petulant child!” Hard Stone told her. “How old do you think I am?! I am Hard Stone, proud king of Stonult, and also your grandfather, Quartz Blitz! You should be more respectful. I can still carry my own saddlebags.”

He tried to walk again with his saddlebags, but a new pain made him groan again. Quartz Blitz passed her hoof through her face and said:

“What could we expect from a stubborn geezer?”

It was then that Stone Quake just took his king and saddlebags and then placed him on his back, saying:

“There you go, you may carry your own saddlebags if you want to. And now let’s go.”

And they started to walk, while Hard Stone said:

“What insolence… Fine… Who cares?”

In Evermist, Queen Mystic Heart also was preparing to go to the summit of regents. She was a beautiful-looking unicorn with a moderate cobalt blue coat with a heart surrounded by mist as Cutie Mark, moderate tangelo mane and moderate aquamarine eyes. By her side, between his two escorts, was a young pegasus stallion with a grayish tangelo coat with a storm cloud as Cutie Mark, light amberish gray and dark persian bluish gray mane and very dark indigo eyes.

"Well, let's do it!" she exclaimed joyfully. "I can't wait to finally meet the Pony World."

"My queen, please" the other escort said. "I must remind you that this won't be a sightseeing trip, but a business one. A summit of regents called by the head king of the Enchanted Forest is not something to be taken lightly."

"I know that, but we can enjoy the trip, can't we?" she asked.

The guard turned to the pegasus and said:

"Please, Prince Arcing Thunder, you have to help me here."

"I think we both agree that nothing can move out my aunt when she has something in his head" he replied. "I think we should go with the flow."

The guard sighed and said:

"Yes, I think you're right."

"Okay, let's go!" Mystic Heart said.

And they advanced.

Meanwhile, in Thicket, Aspen was preparing to go to the summit, while news from the kingdom of the Jinchuriki of Five-Tails refused to go to the summit.

"I should have predicted that they would say something like that" Aspen said. "Their Jinchūriki left the kingdom in order to escape the villains of the Lord of Chaos and now they are now shaking water off the cloak. Well, it doesn't matter, I suppose the others will be present."

"Your Highness, everything is ready" one of his guards that would accompany him said who was his captain of the guard.

He was a deer with moderate gamboge fur with light gray gambogeish underbelly, light yellow horns and brilliant gamboge eyes, wearing a red armor.

"Thank you, Blackthorn" Aspen said. "It's time to go. There is no time to lose."

And they put themselves on the way.

Night fell and, in Trottinghan, a village located in the Griffish Isles, guards kept guard at the entrance of a large tower made of iron. Suddenly, a red light appeared and, when it faded, Twilight, Blue and Heartbeat appeared.

"And we're here!" Heartbeat exclaimed. "I said we didn't need Mirror Coat. I pass through here all the time during my morning race."

The doors opened and a guard with a greenish coat and orange mane appeared.

"Welcome" he said to the newcomers. "It's an honor to have you here, Princess Twilight. As well as you too Prince Blue Sword and honorable Heartbeat."

"Uh, I like him" Heartbeat said. "He called me honorable. Nopony ever called me that."

"My name is Green Spear" the guard said. "I am the captain of the guard of Trottinghan."

"Thank you for this welcome, Green Spear" Twilight thanked.

"Don't tell me that we were the first to arrive" Blue said. "It seems that we will have to wait."

"I hope it's not for a long time" a voice said.

They turned and saw Chief Strongpaw approaching with his bodyguards.

"Princess Twilight, Prince Blue Sword, Heartbeat, how nice to see you again" the leader of the pony-panthers said.

"The pleasure is all ours, Strongpaw" Twilight said.

"Looks like you were also summoned by Aspen" Blue observed.

"In fact, I was" Strongpaw replied. "I think it's because I'm a former Jinchuriki."

"Well, I think it’s better if we take this conversation inside" Twilight said. "It's starting to get cold."

And they went in.

Soon the others arrive and the summit began. Green Spear sat in front of a grandstand in front of a large round table, where all the summoned regents were sitting. The escorts of each regent were behind the banners around the table.

"Let's start with this summit summoned by King Aspen of Thicket. I, Green Spear, Captain of the Guard of Trottinghan, will preside over all the procedures. And now, I'll announce the presents: Princess Twilight of the Light Kingdom, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria, Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire, Queen Ingrid of Oldenmark, King Gael of Griffonstone, Duke Kyrippos of Maretonia, Chief Strongpaw of the Golden Desert, King Spike of the Dragon Lands, King Aspen of Thicket, King Godot of Aeropolis, King Hard Stone of Stonult and Queen Mystic Heart of Evermist. Very well, let’s to start the summit."

Discuss Between Regents

In the villains' hideout in Arimaspi’s territory, Ulysses was walking back and forward, sometimes flying. Since his failure in capturing Eight-Tails, the Lord of Chaos had put him aside from everything that had to do with his plan to resurrect Ten-Tails, limiting him only to the hideout.

"I can't believe this is happening to me" he said. "I used to be a feared villain, one of the best. I even caught a Tailed Beast to him and that's how he pays me? Grounding me as if I was a hatchling? He should give me more value. As if any of the others wouldn’t be fooled by that Jinchuriki."

He then stopped, landing, and then continued:

"But I have to admit that my relationship with the Lord of Chaos is not very good right now. I'm just alive because that idiot siren convinced him to spare my life. I need to prove my worth, that I can still help him. But how can I do that?"

"I might have something that will interest you, master Ulysses" a voice said.

The griffon turned and saw what looked like a large venus flytrap emerging from the ground. It then opened up slightly, revealing bright green eyes.

"Petal Sprout, what are you doing here?" Ulysses asked.

"I just came to try to give you the opportunity to get a chance to shine before the Lord of Chaos" Petal Sprout replied. "After all, after being released from Tartarus and then from that tight prison-book, no villain caused greater impression than you. After all, you went from a mere bully to one of the top villains of the Lord of Chaos."

"If only he thought the same way as you."

"Maybe he can, if you do something to impress him."

"And what can I do to make that possible?" Ulysses asked.

"It was exactly what I came to tell you" Petal Sprout replied. "It's about to happen a summit between the regents of certain kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World, including the alicorn princess. Imagine how much the Lord of Chaos would be impressed if..."

"If I captured them for him?" Ulysses asked. "Are you crazy? The location of that summit must be filled with guards, not to mention that the regents should have brought their own bodyguards."

It was then that Ulysses could see Petal Sprout’s point.

"Wait, you're absolutely right" the griffon said. "Only a great villain would be able to infiltrate in this summit and try to capture all those regents, especially Princess Twilight. If I catch the owner of the original star seed, the Lord of Chaos will gain a clear advantage over his brother."

"But the Lord of Chaos cannot take the original star seed" Petal Sprout said. "It is protected."

"It doesn't matter" Ulysses answered. "Having the princess of the Light Kingdom in our power is an advantage by itself. He will learn to appreciate my efforts. Where is this summit happening?"

"In the Tower of Iron, in Trottinghan" Petal Sprout replied.

"Okay, so that's where I'm going" Ulysses said.

"I don't believe you're going to disobey the Lord of Chaos" a voice said.

Ulysses turned and faced Adagio.

"After all the work I had to convince him not to crush your heart, you will risk your miserable life just to impress our master?" she asked.

"And why do you care, Adagio?" Ulysses asked back. "I do with my life that I want."

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you get out of here" Adagio replied. "The orders of Lord of Chaos must be obeyed."

"So why don't you come with me" Ulysses said. "I’ll go to this summit no matter what and, if you want to fulfill your orders, I think you will have no other choice but to follow me."

And, having said this, he disappeared in a wave of darkness, while Petal Sprout went back underground. Adagio rolled her eyes and said:

"Why is he always doing the same thing?"

And she's also disappeared in a wave of darkness.

In Trottinghan, the summit had started.

“Then allow me to begin” Chief Strongpaw said. “Listen…”

“Well, well, well…” Hard Stone interrupted. “How the summits have changed. For now to include kingdoms which don’t even belong to the Enchanted Forest…”

“I have to agree with Hard Stone, Aspen” Godot agreed. “Mainly when you summon a fire-breathing lizard and a not-crowned-king griffon who is only here to replace his wife who didn’t have the courage to face me.”

"Without speaking that the dragon is quite young and inexperienced” Hard Stone added.

That really upset Gael and Spike, mainly the latter who asked:

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Please, King Godot, I don’t think insulting the other regents will be of any good to any of us” Celestia said.

“Precisely, we’re here to discuss important matters” Luna said.

Twilight, seeing that Spike was being affected by the others’ opinion about him, tried to give him an encouragement look to make him more comfortable.

“Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are quite right” Mystic Heart said. “Please, Godot and Hard Stone, don’t interrupt anymore. Please, continue, Chief Strongpaw.”

“I am a former Jinchuriki” Strongpaw said. “I was captured by Rothbart and he and the other villains, along with the Lord of Chaos, extracted the One-Tail from me. That’s why it is crucial we deal with this threat instead of staying in the defense. I sought the aid of other kingdoms, mainly the ones with a Jinchuriki, but, between those, only the Light Kingdom and Thicket have shown any support. Jinchuriki from all your kingdoms have been taken, but you didn’t do anything. In fact, if I’m counting right, it seems one of the kingdoms didn’t even care in appearing today.”

There was a pause and then Hard Stone said:

“The kingdoms with Jinchuriki can’t afford to alert others that their Jinchuriki were taken. That’s an embarrassment. Trying to rescue them is the norm. Nopony asks for help to other kingdoms when Jinchuriki disappear.”

“It seems some of the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest is still bound by foolish outdated concepts” Strongpaw said.

“I agree with Strongpaw” Twilight said. “The Lord of Chaos is trying to use the power of the Tailed Beasts to his own proposes. We can’t just stick to old norms if they don’t stop the Jinchuriki from being taken. After all, some of the captured Jinchuriki are related to their respective regent. Isn’t that right, King Godot and Duke Kyrippos?”

Those two really were affected by Twilight’s comment. She didn’t like saying that, but Twilight really needed to open their eyes to the danger the Lord of Chaos was.

“Setting aside if those believes are outdated or not, I will acknowledge that, as queen of Evermist, I have delayed actions on this issue” Mystic Heart said. “I know that two Generals tried to rescue my Jinchuriki from the villain Grogar, but they failed. And other two tried to do the same with the one before.”

“Oh, she’s talking about me” Heartbeat whispered to Blue Sword.

“I became very cautious about the best way to act” Mystic Heart continued. “However, I don’t believe that having our Tailed Beasts stolen is a cause for an immediate alarm. After all, it takes significant skill, knowledge and time to achieve control over them, mainly such Tailed Beast as the Ten-Tails.”

“A Jinchuriki needs to mature along with their Tailed Beast to adapt to it” Hard Stone continued. “An even then control remains difficult. If doing so as Jinchuriki is that difficult, I can’t imagine without it. It is not a simple task. Wouldn’t you agree, Chief Strongpaw? And I think that General of Affection of yours would agree on that as well, Princess Twilight.”

Strongpaw remained impassive, but Heartbeat was completely furious about what Hard Stone had said about him.

“That old bag bones…” she said. “How he dares to talk about me like that?”

Sensing the ground under them starting to shake, Blue used his powers to make it stable and then told to Heartbeat:

“Calm down. You don’t want to break the ground under us in two, don’t you?”

“Just under that old geezer” Heartbeat replied.

“You’re older than him, remember?” Blue said.

“Just in age, not in body and mind” the General of Affection said.

“Very few have achieved full control over Tailed Beasts” Godot declared. “Beyond the Lord of Order, their creator, only a bunch of Jinchuriki has done such a feat, like the penult Jinchuriki of Three-Tails, as well as King Aspen’s younger brother Lord Hawthorn.”

Hearing about his brother, King Aspen’s anger started to rise out dangerously. Feeling that, Heartbeat said:

“Blue…”

“Yes, I know” he replied.

The other bodyguards felt the same and then, when King Aspen rose up, he exclaimed, while charging his horns with electricity:

“ENOUGH OF THIS!”

And he clashed them on the table, creating a great hole. By that time, the bodyguards of the respective regent had come forward to protect them. After some pause, Green Spear sighed and said:

“This is a place of discuss, so please refrain from any more behaviors that lack civility.”

“Blue, Heartbeat, stand down” Twilight said.

“Shining, you too” Cadance said.

“Flambeau, Ember, please” Spike asked.

“Arcing, it’s all right” Mystic Heart said.

The other regent said the same think to their bodyguards and they returned to their respective place, while Aspen returned to sit down.

“I’ve never seen King Aspen this upset” Blue said to Heartbeat.

“Well, he only gets this way when it comes to his family” she replied. “It’s not pretty to see, but at the same time is very exciting.”

“Now let’s continue our discussion” Green Spear said.

“There is a reason why I summoned kingdoms from the Pony World, even those who don’t have Jinchuriki” King Aspen said. “Even with me being the head king of the Enchanted Forest, the trust that I have with most of the other kingdoms is almost null. And I can understand why. After the fall of Falancia, some didn’t agree with my family taking charge. But I believe we could put everything aside to deal with a common foe. But only Equestria, Oldermrk, the Crystal Empire, the pony-panthers and the Light Kingdom have showed any support with each other and Thicket. Even Griffonstone, although hasn’t helped actively, provided us information about one of the villains.”

“One that escaped from their cell” Godot said. “But what could be expected from greedy griffons whose regents needs to use an idol to control them?”

“Griffonstone, as well as its inhabitants, has changed since King Guto ascended to the throne” Gael said. “I and my wife have been following his example, the same one that King Grover showed to us.”

“Yes, I know about King Grover” Godot said. “He was a great king who learned all those values from us. After all, he was raised in my kingdom.”

“Then you should see that Griffonstone is no longer what it used to be” Gael continued. “We now stand strong and unite. We don’t need the Idol of Boreas. It brought us together, but it is not what makes us remain that way. And, when you see that, maybe our two kingdoms can put their differences aside and forge ties of friendship.”

After hearing that, Godot remained silent.

“Perhaps we should focus on the ones present who don’t really have earned our trust?” Hard Stone said. “If trust is what you value the most, Aspen, then you shouldn’t have summoned a former villain. How can we trust in someone that a few years ago tried to froze all the Pony World?”

It was clear that he was talking about Ingrid. That made Celestia and Luna not become very happy.

“King Hard Stone, I believe you’re going too far…” Celestia started.

“No, it’s alright, Celestia” Ingrid said. “I understand his suspicious. I did fell under his influence. He made me hate my sisters and that hate drove me to lost control over my actions and powers. But thanks to Princess Twilight, I was able to release myself from that hate and now I live a very happy life my family. You have nothing to fear from me. Not at all.”

“If you all ready to attack my sister with her past, then you should have done the same with me, as I was also a villain” Luna said. “Although I can’t change what I did as Nightmare Moon, I did the best I could to compensate everypony for everything, and I know Ingrid did the same thing to compensate what she did as Snow Queen.”

“Well, I am more concerned about other much more destructive threat” Kyrippos said. “The dragons have always been rogue and untamed. Only the Dragon King and the Dragon Lord are able to control them. The former king was responsible for causing a war between ponies and dragons and the former lord, after the imprisonment of the king, didn’t bother to take responsibility and continued to ignore all the chaos they did after. Why should we expect anything from some teenager who barely can control his kind.”

“I may be young and king for a very short period of time” Spike said. “But I can ensure that I and my Dragon Lord are doing our best to take the dragon kind to a new beginning. We even have the support of Lord Torch, the former Dragon Lord. He understands our kind needs to change and entrusts that to us.”

“Duke Kyrippos, I understand your reservations about dragons” Celestia said. “But not every dragon are the same.”

“Not even ponies are the same” Luna said. “Some are good and others are… less good. If that applies to ponies, why not to dragons?”

“I know Spike since he hatched” Twilight told. “I was the one who raised him and he is like a little brother to me. He stood by my side in most of the trouble I ever faced and is a very good friend. I have completely faith in his ability to lead the dragon kind.”

“Thanks, Twi” Spike thanked, what Twilight replied with a nod.

“I have to second Twilight” Cadance said. “Spike helped me recover and save the Crystal Empire from King Sombra. He is a hero to the crystal ponies. I believe this, among all the other things it was said, allow us to trust in him.”

Another pause and the Mystic Heart gave a little chuckle.

“What’s so funny, Mystic Heart?” Hard Stone asked.

“I know realized another reason for Aspen to summon all of us” she replied. “He wanted to show us how we should be united like the kingdoms of the Pony World. Isn’t that right, Aspen?”

He made a slight smile and said:

“You’re really very perspective, Mystic Heart.”

“What is the meaning of this, Aspen?” Hard Stone asked.

“Yeah, we want to know” Godot seconded.

“As you all know, the Enchanted Forest, in the past, was devastated by the war between all of its kingdoms that sought the leadership of the realm” Aspen said. “Until it was decided that Falancia would be the main kingdom. After its fall, Thicket was chosen to take its place until its releasement from evil. Although no dispute happened, it was clear that some of your kingdoms didn’t become happy with that. Godot, Aeropolis is located at the highest point of the Enchanted Forest. Your kingdom is known to be the home of not only griffons, but also ponies. I know you enjoy harmony and peace, but you don’t seek to connect with other kingdoms. Hard Stone, you’ve been always the most problematic.”

“Be careful with your words, Aspen” advised Hard Stone.

“I’m simply telling the truth” Aspen replied. “You cut almost completely any connection to other kingdoms, mainly because of pride. Or maybe because of other reason, even waiting for an opportunity to make Stonult greater than any other kingdom.”

Hard Stone didn’t say anything, remaining with a stoic face. Then, Aspen turned to Mystic Heart and said:

“And you, Mystic Heart, since you became queen, your kingdom started to open up with others, including Thicket, and I’m very happy that our respective kingdoms have found a very good relationship. However, your secrecy is a little… uneasy.”

“Well, every kingdom has its secret, but I admit we from Evermist can take that to the extreme" Evermist said.

“I think maybe I have been too comfortable behind my walls” Godot admit.

“Perhaps you’re right…” Hard Stone grumbled.

Green Spear cleared his throat and then said:

“I would like to say this as the captain of the guard of Trottinghan. The Lord of Chaos is a being that has lived since the beginning of everything and reading the times is something that is innate to him. He was able to take advantage of all the suspicion that each of you have for each other to capture all of your Jinchuriki without having you to meet and join forces. But we can change that into a blessing. Until the threat of Lord of Chaos’ plan is no longer, I suggests that you form an united force.”

“I see…” Celestia said. “It’s a splendid idea.”

“Indeed, sister” Luna replied. “We’re in an emergency.”

“Yes, collaboration is crucial now” Cadance said.

The other regents seemed to agree with that.

“In order to do that, a standardized chain of command will also be ideal so chaos can be avoided” Green Spear continued.

“All right, and who do you propose to be in charge to this united force?” Hard Stone asked.

“Well, I don’t want to take any side, but I can give you my honest opinion” Green Spear. “I could suggest Princess Twilight, as her kingdom is the one that possesses the last Jinchuriki, the one containing Nine-Tails. Furthermore, Princess Twilight has already defeated the Lord of Chaos in person. But I have another better candidate.”

At the great foyer, guards were standing guard. Hiding in the shadows behind a pillar, were Ulysses and Adagio.

“Where is Petal Sprout?” Adagio asked. “He was with us just now?”

“Don’t worry about him” Ulysses said. “He’s just doing his part.”

“I don’t like the way you say that” Adagio said. “Mainly when we’re in a place full of guards.”

“Then you shouldn’t have come” Ulysses replied.

Adagio didn’t replied, finding their current situation a little delicate.

At the room where the summit was happening, Green Spear continued what he was saying:

“I believe that, between the presents here, Princess Celestia is a better candidate. She’s a very wise and capable leader, beyond the fact that she has a lot of experience in dealing with the Lord of Chaos’ horde of villains.”

“Yes, it’s a good choice” Twilight agreed. “Princess Celestia is perfect for that position.

Luna, Ingrid, Cadance and Spike nodded in agreement and some of the other regents seemed to be of the same opinion.

“I feel very flattered that you think all that of me” Celestia said. “However, as much tempting that offer is…”

But before she could finish, what seemed to be a big bub appeared in the middle of the room, opening and revealing a white pony that looked like a plant.

“Well, hello there!” he exclaimed.

The Power of the Regents

Before the sudden appearance of Petal Sprout, all the guards appeared, ready to defend their regents.

“But what is this?!” Aspen asked.

“Petal Sprout” Twilight said to the plant pony. “So it’s you.”

“Petal Sprout?” Mystic Heart asked.

“He’s a villain that escaped Tartarus when the Lord of Chaos invaded it and then the prison-book” Blue answered.

“He is just a weakling that is not much stronger than a simple Changeling drone, but he’s very annoying” Heartbeat said.

“Guess what” Petal Sprout said in a mocking way. “Ulysses is right in here. I wonder where do you think he can be hiding right now. Any guesses?”

“What did you say?!” Aspen asked.

“Ulysses?” Gael asked. “He’s here? Why?”

“Isn’t he the one with the power of electricity?” Mystic Heart asked.

“The one that captured Black Stone” Hard Stone said.

“It’s a wonderful game of hide and seek” Petal Sprout continued said. “Let’s all try to find Ulysses! Come on!”

Suddenly, Aspen appeared right in front of Petal Sprout and pinned his head to the groud, securing him firmly with the hoof.

“Tell me where that filthy griffon is!” Aspen exclaimed, angrily. “Give me an answer right now!”

Petal Sprout couldn’t believe how fast Aspen had attacked him. He was almost as fast as Heartbeat.

“Refuse to answer and I’ll show you no mercy!” Aspen exclaimed. “Where is Ulysses now?! Answer me!”

“Well, as you don’t leave me no choice, I’ll give you a little hint” Petal Sprout said, always mocking.

Without any patience, Aspen just broke his neck, leaving Petal Sprout motionless.

“Aspen, why did you do that?!” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know, but I liked it” Heartbeat said. “I always wanted to see him burn… But this good any way.”

“And he would never say where Ulysses is” Shining said. “He was just mocking us.”

“But I will find him” Aspen said, turning then to his captain. “Blackthorn!”

“Yes, sir” he replied.

And the captain started to focus.

“But you didn’t had to kill him, Aspen” Mystic Heart said. “If you had restrained him and interrogated him, we could have get useful intel about the Lord of Chaos.”

“It wouldn’t work, no villain talks about their master” Strongpaw said. “Most are completely devoted.”

“Even so, killing him was not the answer” Twilight said.

“I agree with Twilight” Cadance said. “We could have done this differently.”

“Go find this Ulysses at once” Green Spear ordered to his bodyguards.

“Yes, sir” they replied, getting out.

It was then that Blackthorn was able to sense Ulysses.

“My king” he said.

Aspen nodded and he said to the other regents:

“I’m sorry for leaving you, but I’ll return after dealing with a certain pest. It will be a little favor to you, King Gael, and a pleasure to me.”

His horns got electricity and then tackled against the wall, making a hole for where he passed along with his captain and guard.

“That Aspen can really become violent when angry” Hard Stone said. “Sometimes, that can be really annoying. He really didn’t change anything.”

The guards of Trottinghan, after being warned, started to try to find Ulysses. Noticing that, Adagio asked:

“But what is happening? Does the guards noticed our presence? Don’t tell Petal Sprout…”

But then she saw that Ulysses had disappeared.

“What the…” she said, realizing then what he would do. “That stupid little…”

One of the guards was walking around, looking for Ulysses, when, silently, he appeared behind him and knock him unconscious. After that, the griffon just step in to the light, revealing himself to the guards.

“I guess you can be my warm-up for the big fight” Ulysses said to them. “Let’s see how long you can last against me.”

“We can say the same to you!” a unicorn guard said, launching a magic beam against him.

However, Ulysses used a light sword to cut the beam. The guards became quite surprised, but they didn’t gave up and started to head towards him. And it was then that Ulysses started to use the light blade to slice the guards who tried to face him. Watching from the shadows, Adagio couldn’t believe how dark he had became.

Meanwhile, Aspen, Blackthorn and the guard were running on a superior level and the captain of the guard said to his king:

“He’s right below us, my king.”

Listening that, Aspen charged his horns again and started to do his own passage. Below, Ulysses, after defeating the guards who dared to face him, felt something coming from above. And the ceiling broke and the griffon flight to escape the falling debris and then Aspen appeared with his guards, surrounded by a strange aura and electricity and he said to Ulysses:

“It’s time for you to feel my fury, Ulysses!”

And so the griffon advanced against the king, but then the guard used natural manipulation to create a water barrier that stopped Ulysses and then Blackthorn launched electricity. Those combined attacks made the evil griffon to retreat.

“Just like it was told, he has a light nature” Blackthorn said. “We can used this to counter his attacks.”

He then turned to the guard and told him:

“You know what to do.”

“Yes, sir” the replied.

And then his horn shone with an intense light that started to blind Ulysses. When he was able to see through it, he saw Aspen and Blackthorn appearing from both front and behind, ready to attack him with their horns. He could defend one, but not both. It was then that a supersonic scream hit Blackthorn, making him retreat, what allowed Ulysses to block Aspen’s attack. He then opened the wings and flapped them to retreat.

“I didn’t need your help” he said.

“I’m sorry to disagree, but it looked like you did” Adagio said, appearing beside him.

Putting himself at the side of his king, Blackthorn said:

“Your Highness, that is one of the sirens. Her name is Adagio.”

“Yes, I know her” Aspen said. “She is the one that corrupted one of my son’s friends.”

Blackthorn turned to the guard and said:

“Remain behind and give us support if we need it, while trying to see if there is anymore surprises. I and King Aspen deal with them.”

Meanwhile, at the conference room, Shining looked at Petal Sprout and said:

“It really looks right he’s completely out.”

“Heartbeat, what do you think?” Twilight asked.

“I can’t feel anything, but Petal Sprout’s emotions always were difficult to sense because he is part plant” Heartbeat said. “He was created by the Lord of Chaos himself, so he is not like Arbor.”

“Arbor, the tree king?” Mystic Heart asked. “I have heard about him getting out of Tartarus, but I never had the chance to know what happened to him after that.”

“Arbor made a sacrifice to protect nature, by becoming the matrix of Leaf Mane” Twilight said. “He was tricked by the Lord of Chaos, but ultimately made the right choice that save everyone.”

“I see…” Queen Mystic Heart said. “That explains what happened with the plants and tree dying.”

“Some villains are not really villains, but simply good beings that the Lord of Chaos controls like puppets” Ingrid said. “He uses our own darkness in his advantage to make us do his bidding. I, my sister Luna and Arbor were not the first.”

“But Ulysses is not like that” Gael said. “He was already a rascal before starting to work for the Lord of Chaos.”

“You seem very certain of that, King Gael” Godot commented.

“He allied himself with Arimaspi and took over Griffinstone” Gael said. “They manipulated innocent ponies to turn griffons against ponies.”

“Even with Arimaspi betraying Ulysses in the end, his actions were really nasty” Shining continued. “In that, I agree with Gael.”

“And now that same griffon is causing havoc right here and right now” Cadance said.

“Probably if we had started to strengthen the relationship between our kingdoms, maybe it would not had come to this” Luna said.

“Yes, sister, maybe” Celestia said. “But we can’t forget that in the Enchanted Forest, most kingdoms still have suspicion between each other. Making them forget all their differences and then creating ties of trust is not something that can be done that easily.”

“For once, I agree with you, princess” Hard Stone said. “It takes time and patience to create that what you are saying. But impatience makes one short-sided and invites failure. And let’s be honest, patience is not exactly a quality that exists in youngsters nowadays. And, without it, there cannot be trust and, subsequently, peace.”

There was a pause and then Strongpaw said:

“If we can’t even trust each other, even at the edge of a threat like this one, then I think there is no future to us.”

“What does that mean?” Hard Stone asked.

“Without mutual trust and understanding, all that will remain in this world is fear and terror” Strongpaw replied. “Even with the ones like the alicorn princess and the Generals of Order trying to spread the light, it can’t be consolidated if we still remain in the darkness, if we also fight to spread it. I can’t tolerate to not give up so easily and have no regard for what is right… resigning oneself… I find such things hard to accept these days.”

“For somepony who barely get out of diapers compared to me, you really know how to express such complicated concepts so simply. But I’ll tell you what, this is your chance to ask me anything you want. It will be a pleasure to share some experience, if you want. I mean this also to you, young dragon. After all, ruling is not only control as your predecessor found for himself.”

And he gave a little chuckle that really irritated Spike.

“Your little…” he started, with a few flames getting out of his nose.

“Spike, no!” Twilight exclaimed.

But Ember was able to prevent Spike from attacking Hard Stone by saying:

“Never mind him, Spike. He’s still a king of an influential kingdom of the Enchanted Forest.”

“Hold on, did she said still a king?” Stone Quake asked.

“Ignore her” Quartz Blitz said.

“Well, if you insist, then let me ask you one thing” Strongpaw said.

“Sure, go ahead” Hard Stone said. “You can ask away.”

“When did all of you forsake yourself?” Strongpaw asked.

That question really did some impact on Hard Stone. Celestia smiled before that question and the same went for Mystic Heart, who never saw someone capable of putting Hard Stone without an answer.

“This is very good to watch and all, but I can’t just stay here while Ulysses is nearby” Gael said. “I’ll go after him.”

“Wait, Gael, I’ll go with you” Shining, turning then to Cadance. “Unless you need me here, Cadance.”

“Your guard can stay here with me” Cadance replied to him.

He nodded and then asked Blue:

“What about you?”

“I’ll stay here for the case Ulysses manages to pass through you and arrives here” he replied. “Twilight is not still fully recovered.”

“Maybe not, but I can still defend myself” Twilight replied.

“Well, do as you want, Blue” Shining said.

And he and Gael, along with his guards, got out from the hole that Aspen made. Without any warning, Strongpaw and his guards did the same.

“Hey, gramps, it seems that pony-panther scored a point on you” Quartz Blitz said to her grandfather with a smile.

“Uh, shut it” he said to her, grumply.

“My king, what do we do?” Stone Quake asked. “Shall we join the fight?”

“Your foul, and what happens when my back pain gets worse?!” Hard Stone replied.

“But I want to see this Ulysses who managed to defeat Black Granite” Quartz Blitz said.

“Fine, do as you please” Hard Stone responded. “But if you get caught by Aspen’s crossfire, you’ll die. Stay out of his way.”

“All right!” she exclaimed. “How about you, Stone Quake?”

“I have to keep an eye on the king in cause he gets trouble with his back” he replied. “So I’ll stay here with him.”

“Well, then later” she replied, getting out of the room.

“You don’t seem very worried about your granddaughter, King Hard Stone” Kyrippos said.

“She can’t take care of herself” Hard Stone replied. “The ponies from the Enchanted Forest learn the elemental manipulation, even the ones who are not unicorns. We are not defenseless against an adversary that uses the same kind of magic.”

“Well, I for one prefer to have my talons clean if necessary” Godot said. “They can take care of the rogue griffon. After all, he is responsibility of Griffonstone.”

“Aunt, with your permission…” Arcing said to Mystic Heart.

“Yes, you can go” she replied. “If the opportunity to help arises, take it.”

“Yes, mam” Arcing replied, taking flight and exiting the room.

Facing King Aspen and Blackthorn with only Adagio to help him, Ulysses created a light clone and ordered him to attack Aspen, but the king rapidly appeared before it and stabbed it with the tips of this horns, dispelling it. While that, the Siren appeared before the guard and used her supersonic scream to pull him away. Fortunately, Blackthorn stopped him.

“Thank you, captain” he thanked.

“You’re welcome, now stay put” Blackthorn said. “I deal with this siren.”

He nodded and moved away.

“Do you really think you can deal with me?” Adagio asked him.

“I know that you use songs to hurt your enemies, but I won’t let you sing a note” Blackthorn said.

Aspen, after dealing with the clone, prepared to deal with the original, turning to him. And he made a step to attack Ulysses, but then he trampled an electric mine put by the evil griffon. It realease electricity and then a blast of light that covered Aspen.

“No, my king!” the guard deer said.

But it was then that an intense pain started to run his body. It was excruciating. Hoovering, Ulysses was using his blacklight energy, something that was causing him some pain, while fighting its side effects.

While dodging Adagio’s attacks, Blackthorn noticed that. He wanted to do anything, but Adagio wouldn’t let him.

However, Ulysses’ concentration was disrupted by Aspen who appeared from nowhere in a big jump and his horns charged. The griffon was forced to dodge, releasing the deer guard from the pain. After this, he landed, still surrounded by the aura and the electricity, and turned, while Ulysses descended with a light blade.

The griffon advanced and tried to hit Aspen with his light blade, but, when he tried, it seemed like the aura and electricity prevented him from doing so, cutting it. That forced Ulysses to flap his wings to keep his distance. After this, he charged his talon with electricity and advanced to Aspen, who charged his horns. Avoiding the horns, Ulysses tried to stab Aspen at the chest, but he simply couldn’t pierce it. Taking advantage of this, Aspen got hold on Ulysses and said:

“A thrust attack using the light nature to increase force and penetration. I’m impressed you’d been able to approach so closer to me.”

While fighting Blackthorn, Adagio saw that and said:

“He failed?”

“Yes, and now he’s dead” Blackthorn said, while trying to tackle Adagio.

Using his horns, Aspen raised Ulysses and then, with a sudden move, he throw him violently against the ground, what caused a great crush and a blast of electricity. Meanwhile, Blackthorn tried to attack Adagio, with this attack almost hitting her, forcing the siren to disappear.

Seeing the place where Aspen was, a guard became very impressed with that.

“So that’s King Aspen’s powerful blow” he said. “There is no way that griffon could have survived that. It appears we don’t need reinforcements after all.”

King Aspen, looking to Ulysses, became surprised by seeing what he was seeing. A dark, and at the same time bright, aura appeared around Ulysses, creating what appeared to be a ribcage that protected Ulysses from the fall. When a member started being formed, Aspen gave a blow with his horns that threw him, but Ulysses was able to stop tanks to the member.

The king of Thicket new that kind of energy. It was the blacklight nature. He never thought he would be able to such rare nature, the most unstable one. Now he understood how he was able to defeat his younger brother. But the blacklight nature was very difficult to control and dangerous if not tamed correctly. That meant he had go with everything he had, hopping to take a blow or to making him take the wrong step, so he intensified his electric aura.

Blackthorn advanced to the unconscious guard and asked, while he started to wake up:

“Are you okay, soldier?”

“Captain…” he said. “Is your fight finished?”

“I think so” Blackthorn replied. “She ran away.”

He helped him rise up and then Blackthorn said, referring to the fight between Aspen and Ulysses:

“No one ever survived to that blow of our king. Not until now. And take a look to those bones. The energy they are made of is not like anything I ever saw. What is that?”

“I don’t know” the guard said. “But he caused me pain without even approaching or touching me. How is that even possible.”

At that moment, more guards appeared, surrounding the place where Aspen and Ulysses were fighting.

“The glow is dark, but I can also see some brightness in them” Blackthorn said. “Wait, don’t tell me… that’s the blacklight nature?!”

“Wait, blacklight nature?!” the guard asked. “But I thought no one has ever been able to accomplish it.”

“It seems the Lord of Chaos’ villains are an exception” Blackthorn said, seeing how Aspen’s aura was even more intense. “That’s why King Aspen cloaked himself with more electricity: to counter with his specialty.”

“Bring it, feathers!” Aspen exclaimed.

Ulysses’ body started already to resent on his use of the blacklight nature, with one of his eyes starting to tear blood up, but the griffon remained in control. With all the time he had after the Lord of Chaos had grounded him, he learned how to control the blacklight nature in a most effective way.

He tried to cause pain on Aspen, but he moved so quickly that he ended up hitting one of the guards that fell on the ground, starting to scream in pain, with the others trying to go to help him. Ulysses tried to find Aspen, but the king then appeared all of the sudden behind him, trying to hit him with the horns. However, the evil griffon noticed him and involved the ribs with an obscure light that was as strong as the laser. The smirk on Ulysses’ face motivated Aspen to tell:

“Don’t underestimate me!”

And he hit Ulysses with one of his horns, with it passing the obscure light, throwing Ulysses against the ground, much to everypony’s surprise. Ulysses, hitting the ground, spat some blood, while he felt the pain of using the blacklight nature. While the horn fell on the ground, Aspen gave a high jump and double charged his other horn, while saying:

“NOW YOU’RE MINE!”

Ulysses reacted quickly by preparing to shot lasers from the ribs on Aspen, when a bunch of sand appeared and put itself between the two. That sand came from Strongpaw’s bag, who arrived with Gael, Shining and guards. Aspen quickly returned to the edge of his captain and guard, while Ulysses looked up to Strongpaw, while he released the blacklight nature.

“You’re… the former Jinchuriki of One-Tail” he said.

And then his eyes laid on Gael. He gave a slight chuckle and said:

“And look who he is. I never thought you’d be here, Gael. After all, this summit is for regents and you’re just a fake king.”

“Like the one you were when you overthrew King Guto” Gael replied.

Shining went quickly to the guard who was agonizing in pain and started to apply a simple healing spell for any internal damages.

“I never thought the blacklight could cause such damages” Shining said. “It is even worse than the things I read about it.”

“You guards of Trottinghan stay back” Strongpaw said. “This is something that we must regents must deal with.”

“Thank you, Chief Strongpaw” the guard that was holding his damaged companion said.

“Why did you interfere, Strongpaw?” Aspen asked. “Don’t you see I was trying to eliminate this worm?”

“If you had continued your attack, he would had pulverized you with the blacklight lasers” Strongpaw replied. “You better than anyone should know the damages that blacklight nature can do. Besides, it’s not like he’s going anywhere. Look at him, he barely can control the blacklight nature. You don’t have to harm yourself unnecessarily.”

Aspen seemed to have listened well those words and then Strongpaw said to Ulysses:

“And this also applies to you, Ulysses. You’ve already used too much of that power. Give up, you can’t defeat all of us.”

“That’s what you said” Ulysses said. “I still have plenty of power to use…”

“Don’t bother yourself trying to reason with him, Strongpaw” Gael said. “He’s hopeless.”

“Of course you’d say that, Gael” Ulysses said. “You think you are better because of all that integrity you think you have. Give me a break.”

“After everything you’ve done?” Gael asked. “You just attacked the summit of regents. I know I’m better because you didn’t show any proof of the contrary. What is sad, because I really thought you could change after all those years in that cell back in Griffonstone.”

“As if I believed in that” Ulysses replied. “I now live in the darkness. I serve the Lord of Chaos!”

“Well, if you think that way, then I have no choice but treat like all the other villains” Strongpaw said, while sand started to get out of his bag.

Seeing the amount of sand getting out of his bag, Ulysses reactivated the ribcage. He then tried to induce pain on Strongpaw, but the latter used the sand to block the attack.

“You blocked those attacks well” Ulysses said. “I am impressed. Your ultimate defense is in good shape. I believe better than when Rothbart defeated you.”

Hidden behind a pillar, Quartz Blitz witnessed the battle, becoming impressed with it.

“Wow, amazing.”

At the conference room, Heartbeat sensed something that Blue noticed.

“What is it, Heartbeat?” he asked.

“I can sense another dark presence, beyond Ulysses” she asked.

“That means there is another villain besides him” Celestia said.

“Who is it, Heartbeat?” Twilight asked.

“The presence is… melodic” Heartbeat said. “It can only be…”

“Adagio” Twilight ended. “Then, we must be ready.”

At the battle, Arcing arrived, landing, and, while preparing to execute elemental manipulation, he said:

“I’ll join you, if you don’t mind. And I’ll make the first move and then you can follow me.”

And he started to accumulate energy on his front hooves that he joined, with a halo of bright energy around them. Seeing that, Strongpaw realized what he was about to do.

“That’s gale nature, the combination of light and water” he said. “Interesting… Very well, go ahead.”

“Laser Circus” Arcing said, shooting several beams of energy.

“Sand Shower Barrage” Strongpaw said, shooting dozens of sand bullets.

Shining also shot a magic beam to add to those combined attacks. They created a great explosion around Ulysses. But when the dust settled down, they all became openmouthed with what they saw. Around Ulysses, was the front half of a pony skeleton made of energy. He said:

“Strongpaw, I got an ultimate defense even greater than yours.”

“That’s what he used to defend my attacks” Aspen said.

“The Warrior of Dark Light…” Strongpaw said, without believing in what he was seeing.

“The ultimate form of blacklight nature, something that only the best in using can perform” Ulysses said, with an evil smile.

Meanwhile, at the place where Ulysses supposedly defeated Hawthorn, everything seemed calmed. A tentacle of Eight-Tails was laying at the bottom of the lake. It was then that, from the cutting place, something started to get out of there. It was Hawthorn who swam to the surface and, after making sure there was no one close, he said:

“It seems the coast is clear.”

And he started to swam, thinking about how he used the tentacle that Ulysses sliced to escape, finding a good plan that came in a flash.

In his mind, he was sitting on Eight-Tails’ snout, who asked him:

“What are you talking about? That so called good plan of yours cost me several of my limbs.”

“Come on, don’t be mad, Eight-Tails” Hawthorn said. “You know it was the best against something like that blacklight nature.”

“You should had listened my advice and run when that griffon appeared” Eight-Tails said. “It annoys me when you make me fight unnecessary battles.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know” Hawthorn said. “But I was done of being stuck in one place. Let me see, I should I do now?”

“Oh, boy, where comes another big idea of yours” Eight-Tails said, not very enthusiastic.

Hawthorn got out of the lake and said:

“I think I go spare with an old friend of mine at the other corner of the kingdom.”

“Oh no, not him…” Eight-Tails said on his mind.

“Hey, at least I can get out of my brother’s protection for a bit” Hawthorn said. “I have to enjoy the freedom. After all, as far as everyone knows, I’m still at the grasp of the Lord of Chaos.”

“Knowing King Aspen as I know, he must have gone on a rampage” Eight-Tails said. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I’ve been practically a prisoner in my own kingdom, because, as a Jinchuriki, I’m just a glorified weapon” Hawthorn said. “I need to breath every once in a while.”

“So are you really planning to visit Birch to have a spar with him?”

“But of course.”

“How can you be so carefree?” Eight-Tails asked. “The Lord of Chaos and his villains won’t stay still for long. Besides that, because you summoned me, you don’t have that many stamina left. Did you really had to call me when you had the upperhoof on the battle.”

“Well, to tell you the truth, that griffon is probably one of the toughest adversaries I ever faced before” Hawthorn said in his mind, while walking. “It was good to finally fight seriously for once.”

There was a pause and then Eight-Tails said:

“You know, times may change very soon.”

At the battle against Ulysses, Strongpaw said:

“I can’t believe the Warrior of Dark Light really exists.”

“What is that thing?” Gael asked.

“A manifestation of blacklight energy that can endure any attack done against it” Strongpaw replied. “However, it does take a lot of control to summoned it and, even if that happens, it draws a lot of energy. No known being has been able to summon something like that and live for very long.”

The ones who heard that became very nervous about it. It was then that Ulysses smirked and then the Warrior of Dark Light summoned a dark blade of light that it swang, causing a great shock wave that started to crack the pillars. Seeing that Shining exclaimed:

“The ceiling is going to collapse!”

And, indeed, the ceiling started to fall. Protected by the Warrior of Dark Light, Ulysses went to a hallway, deactivating it after that.

“Impressive” a voice said. “I never thought you’d be able to go that long with the darklight.”

He turned and saw Adagio.

“You’re still here” Ulysses said. “And I was thinking you ran away.”

“I’m not stupid to fight a fight that I can’t win” Adagio said. “Besides, there’s two Generals with Princess Twilight. You’ll need all the help you need. Mainly with you at that state.”

“Fine, you can come with me” Ulysses. “As long as you show the way to the conference room.”

“As you wish” she replied. “Follow me.”

And they advanced.

At the place where the ceiling fell, one part of the debris was moved by Aspen that used his power to do it, having protected his captain and guard. Strongpaw had protected the others close to him with his sand.

“I guess I owe you one, Chief Strongpaw” Arcing said.

“Ulysses is not here” Gael said.

“He must have escaped during the confusion” Shining said. “In that way, we must wonder what is happening with the others.”

At the conference room, everyone was calm and silent. It was then that Heartbeat said:

“They’re here.”

And suddenly all the tapestries were cut. Blue was able to detect Ulysses.

“Above us” he said.

And they all looked up and saw Ulysses hovering above them, looking to Twilight.

“There you are, princess” he said to her.

Green Spear then jumped and tried to attack Ulysses with a sword, but he defended with a light blade. Then a supersonic scream hit Green Spear and threw him against the ground. Ulysses turned to face Twilight, but Heartbeat and Blue appeared before him.

“I don’t think so, feathers” Blue said.

“You won’t be able to go through us” Heartbeat said.

“Adagio!” Ulysses exclaimed.

She prepared to sing, something that would affect them, but when she tried, nothing came out. Before that, the siren tried again, only to fail again.

“Don’t bother, my dear” Godot said, with his talon, that was glowing, extended. “I’m the one who is doing that to your voice with my wind energy. Magical or not, the voice is producted by the air passing by the vocal cords.”

Seeing he was in clear disadvantage without Adagio’s voice to weaken the Generals and the princess and still recovering from the extensive use of the blacklight nature, Ulysses saw the best was to retreat to gather strength to attack again. When he and Adagio tried to escape through the hole created by Aspen, what seemed to be lava was cast to the entranced that was soon sealed by it, starting soon to solidify. They turned and saw that lava was cast by Queen Mystic Heart, who remained sitting with some lava on her lips that she cleaned, while saying:

“You servants of the Lord of Chaos already caused a lot of damages to both our kingdoms. And yet, when I look at you closely, griffon, you’re really quite handsome, mainly with that scar.”

“You can stop talking, old hag” Ulysses said to her. “You won’t seduce me with compliments.”

Mystic Heart was clearly offended by that insult and she said, while raising up:

“Too bad, such fine male, but with a sharp tongue. Such a wast. But even with those bad qualities, I think can give a kiss that will melt you away.”

Addressing to Twilight, the other alicorn princess and the other regents, she said:

“Please, Your Highnesses don’t bother to interfere. I can handle this. King Godot, please, keep the siren’s voice in check.”

“Don’t worry, this little bird will not sing at my presence” he said. “I have enough of all her screams.”

“Very well, then I suggest to keep your heads down” Mystic Heart replied, focusing on her magic.

And then she spat more lava that rapidly shadowed over Ulysses and Adagio. The alicorn princesses created magical barriers to protect the others, while Hard Stone and Stone Quake, using the king’s magic on their hooves, placed themselves at the ceiling. Seeing all that lava, Adagio found refuge under the table, while Ulysses summoned the ribcage of the Warrior of Dark Light.

“Now!” Mystic Heart exclaimed to her guard, while she moved towards the exit.

“Yes, mam!” he replied.

And, focusing energy on his front, he charged Ulysses and was able to throw him against the wall of solidified lava, that he passed, going to the hallway at the other side, hitting the all. Ulysses tried to get up, but the pain of using blacklight was stopping him from doing so. He could feel all his cells hurting and he even wasn’t able to achieve its full form. He then noticed the presence of someone and saw Mystic Heart, who was sealing the hallway behind her with lava, just like she did with the hole created by King Aspen.

“And now it’s just the two of us” she said.

At the conference room, Adagio, after throwing herself under the table, noticed Petal Sprout, seeing now what happened to him.

“And now let’s deal with you, my dear” Godot said, referring to Adagio, while making a gesture.

A sudden wind threw her against the wall and then Heartbeat, teleporting to the outside of the shield created by the alicorn princess, appeared in front of Adagio and summoned the cell blaster, that had a life cell, and said:

“I’ve waited to book a villain for so long now. It will be good to finally do it.”

But before she could do it, Adagio smiled and then slapped her hoof against the wall and then the sound was amplified in such way that disoriented everyone in the room, including Godot, whose magic that was preventing the siren from speaking was undone.

“And you’ll have to wait a lot more before that” Adagio replied.

And she released a supersonic scream that affected everyone. And then Ingrid shot and ice beam that hit Adagio at her face, freezing her mouth. Adagio could see that her situation had worsened.

Outside, where Mystic Heart was facing Ulysses, she said to him:

“Are you seeing that wall besides you? I sealed it with my first attack against you earlier. This room is now completely sealed off. There is no way to run. I can use three natures of elemental manipulation: fire, water and earth. So actually I possesses two combined natures. One of them, as you could see, is lava. The other… is vapor.”

And then, using her vapor energy, Mystic Heart released a cloud of mist from her mouth that soon covered all the sealed room. It was then that the ribs of blacklight energy started to melt down, much to Ulysses’ dismay. He tried to correct that, but the effort was such that his body resent and made him fell.

“It seems you were hit pretty badly by King Aspen earlier” Mystic Heart observed. “But I have no intention to spare you. I’ll admit to you that causes pain to my heart for seeing such handsome male melting away. But you must die.”

The mist intensified and Ulysses could already feel it corroding his own skin.

It was then that Mystic Heart noticed some white masses growing around her body.

“What’s this?” she asked.

The same was happening at the conference room, as everyone, except for Adagio, were also being involved by white masses that grew to restrain them.

“What is this?!” Spike said, while he and the other dragons tried to use their flames but without success.

“I can’t believe…” Heartbeat said, while restrained. “Petal Sprout… your disgusting weed…”

“But this is…” Mystic Heart said, realizing who was doing that, while clones of Petal Sprout started to appear on the mass. “This is the one from before.”

The head of a clone stared at Mystic Heart that used vapor to dissolve it, only for it to regenerate. She could feel him stealing her energy.

The ones in the conference room also noticed that and Twilight said:

“He’s using our energy to grow.”

“But when did he…” Kyrippos asked.

“I see, you did this at the time Aspen attacked you, wasn’t it?” Hard Stone said, while the head of a clone formed ahead of him.

“Enough of this” Mystic Heart said, using the mist around her to melt the clones that were restraining her.

It was then that one of clones extended from the queen and headed to Ulysses and started to involve him. Ulysses could feel his body receiving energy from Petal Sprout, telling then:

“Took you long enough.”

“I’m sorry, but I had to be careful because of Heartbeat” he replied.

Using the energy he regained, Ulysses used a hoof of the Warrior of Dark Light to break the solidified lava of the hole, what allowed him to get in, although limping.

“Ulysses, are you okay?” Adagio asked, having get ridded of the ice that covered her mouth.

Mystic Heart was able to melt the white mass, although it had left exhausted.

“My mist will spread to where the others are. I have to adjust the acidification level.”

And using her magic, Mystic Heart started to disperse the mist.

Hanging up-side-down, Hard Stone noticing Ulysses getting in, said:

“It seems she’s having trouble with him. Stone Quack, what do you said in joining the fun?”

“Sure” he replied.

And then he opened his mouth and he released energy that took the form of rock that was molded to the form of a pony that started to pull out Petal Sprout’s clones from Stone Quake, eating them. Hard Stone, on the other hoof, used an earth-based spell to increase the gravity around him that caused the clone that was restraining him to petrify and crumble away. It and the statue that Stone Quake summoned to eat the clones fell on the ground. Hard Stone laughed, while he was in the air, apparently flying without the use of his magic.

“So you’re the griffon that took down Black Granite” Hard Stone said to Ulysses, while joining his hooves. “It is not like I had a good relationship with him, but you caused me a lot of trouble and your death is desire by many.”

He put his hooves away a little and formed a cube with a white sphere at its center.

“But that’s…” Celestia started, while trying to get rid of white mass. “No, it can’t be.”

“What is it, Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked.

“That’s the particle nature, a very rare and powerful combined nature” she said.

“What does it do?” Cadance asked.

“You’re about to see” Luna replied.

“Goodbye, little griffon” Hard Stone said to Ulysses.

He launched the cube that increased in size and trapped Ulysses inside.

“Atomic Dismantling Spell!” Hard Stone exclaimed.

And a white light covered the inside, covering everything and an explosion appeared to happen and, when it cleared, it was revealed that there was nothing there, not even Ulysses.

“What did just happened?” Spike asked.

“The particle nature is capable of creating a pulverizing force that reduces anything to dust inside that cube” Celestia replied.

“Unbelievable…” Twilight said, amazed.

“Wow, that old king has really some skills” Heartbeat said.

The cube disappeared and Hard Stone said to Celestia:

“It appears that you know about my specialty, princess. Well, by all means, let me give you a second demonstration… with her.”

And he turned to Adagio, who was really scared by what just happened.

Steps were listened and Aspen, followed by the others, get in, having also get ridded of Petal Sprout’s clones.

“Where is Ulysses?” the king deer asked. “Where is he?!”

Seeing Green Spear and his bodyguards still trapped by the clones, Shining used his magic to release them, while Mystic Heart also got in. Then, Aspen turned to Hard Stone, who was still floating in the air, asked him:

“Hard Stone, where is Ulysses?”

Without undoing his smirk, Hard Stone replied:

“I turn that brat into dust” he replied.

“How dare you?!” Aspen exclaimed. “I wanted to take him down! You had no right to…”

“You still have a chance” a voice replied. “So quick whining, King Aspen.”

And, before them, hoovering at the ceiling, was the General of Chaos, who was carrying Ulysses, who was unconscious.

“The General of Chaos…” Twilight said, with her rage starting to rise up.

“Twily, no” Blue said to her. “You’re still very weak.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t come here to fight you” the General of Chaos said. “I just came here to explain something to you all and, once you understand it, I’ll ask you question.”

It was the first time that Celestia was seeing the General of Chaos, but she didn’t know why but he really seemed familiar to her, although she couldn’t see what.

“What is it?” Aspen asked.

“It’s about my master’s plan” the General asked. “It’s time for you all to know about it.”

Declaration of War

Author's Note

For the ones who read the previous chapter before some changes I did, it just to inform of that, as I made a little mistake and you could find it in this chapter and not understand.

Declaration of War

The General of Chaos’ appearance caused some surprise over the presents, but then Aspen reacted quickly and, using his enhanced speed, he tried to strike him. However, the General of Chaos used his special ability and the deer king simply passed through him and Ulysses.

“What?!” he asked.

And he hit the wall. After that, the General’s eyes shone with a strange glow and Ulysses simply disappeared, appearing to be absorved. After that, Aspen, who was standing where he landed after the blow he did, demanded:

“Return Ulysses, right now!”

“That will depend on your response to what I am about to tell you” the General of Chaos replied.

“Just calm down, Aspen” Hard Stone said, while descending beside Aspen. “Lets hear him out and take it from there.”

The General teleported to the side of Adagio and told her:

“Take care of Ulysses.”

And he also absorbed her just like he did to Ulysses.

“That power…” Heartbeat said. “It’s some kind of teleportation spell. But where did he teleported them?”

When Adagio found herself, she was in a pocket dimension that was composed from an innumerable amount of randomly arranged and differently sized rectangular prisms amongst a dark and seemingly endless void.

“Where am I?” Adagio asked. “Wait, I know. This is his pocket dimension.”

She looked around and saw a orb of dark energy that she took and started to use it to heal Ulysses.

At the conference room, the General of Chaos took flight to a high place and said:

“Now, are you ready to listen?”

“Whatever you have to say to us, it can’t be something good” Twilight said.

“Believe in me, Princess Twilight, it is good” the General of Chaos said. “At least, I think so. I guess you’ll have to wait to see for yourselves.”

“Can I ask you one think, first?” Heartbeat asked.

“Heartbeat, this is not the time…” Blue started.

“Don’t worry, it’s something serious” she said to Blue, turning then to the General. “Why did you save Ulysses from King Hard Stone’s spell. It’s not like you or your master care about him.”

“Very well observed” the General complimented Heartbeat. “That’s why you’re the only General of Order I respect.”

“I believe the correct world is fear” she corrected him. “I can see that’s what you feel about me because I am the most powerful.”

There was a pause and then the General said:

“Think what you want, but answering to your question the answer is quite simple. Ulysses is one of the few who mastered the blacklight nature. Do you know how rare is seeing the Warrior of Dark Light? The Lord of Chaos will find some utility for something like this.”

“Well, that makes sense…” Heartbeat said.

“But I have to said that he invading the summit was unexpected” the General of Chaos said. “And it was quite impressive how far he was able to get. Just a little more and he would have taken Princess Twilight hostage, if not some others.”

“Taking us hostage?” Mystic Heart asked. “What ever for?”

“To ensure my master’s plan” the General of Chaos asked. “It is called Project Eye of the Moon.”

“I’m surprised that someone like you would use such tactics” Hard Stone said.

“That’s right” Kyrippos agreed. “After everything all of you did, taking hostage seems a little low.”

“Maybe, but don’t forget the forces of Chaos are in constant conflict with the ones of the Order” the General of Chaos said. “Each side is always overpowering the other. Because of that, we need some… advantage.”

“So all this was to get that advantage, right?” Shining said.

“I guess we can say that” the General replied. “But there is so much to it.”

“What are you scheming?” Princess Luna. “What exactly is this Project Eye of the Moon of yours?”

“I see you got interested in it” the General of Chaos commented. “Don’t tell me it was the name, Princess Luna.”

“Stop joking and answer the question!” Ingrid demanded.

There was a pause and then the General of Chaos replied:

“Everything in this reality shall become one with the Lord of Chaos. He already took some of the realms, but now, he wants the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest, the two main realms. A way to unite us all.”

“What do you mean with become one and unite all of us?” Hard Stone asked. “What does that even mean?”

“In the beginning of everything, light and darkness were one, but they separated and created their respective Lords” the General of Chaos. “They are the two forces that are doomed in battling each other for eternity. The plan is to make them whole again.”

“Now your babbling” Spike said. “That’s impossible.”

“Only for simple minds like yours” the General asked. “But what I am saying is true.”

Aspen jumped to the ground asked to the General:

“And what do the Tailed Beasts have to do with that plan?”

“Do you all know why the Tailed Beasts exist?” the General of Chaos asked. “Why the Lord of Order created such powerful beings and let them walk among the other things he created?”

Twilight then realized.

“Ten-Tails” she said.

“Exactly” the General of Chaos. “It’s in Ten-Tails that my master’s goal lies.”

“What do you mean with that?” Hard Stone asked, descending and landed at the table close to the others. “Why do you need an uncontrollable beast?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s uncontrollable” the General of Chaos. “Only… difficult. After all, the Lord of Order was able to subdue and defeat Ten-Tails, the aggregation of all Tailed Beasts, a creature that possessed almost infinite power. Do you really think the Lord of Order would be able to divide Ten-Tails’ energy into nine pieces without having some control over it? Aren’t you curious about how he did that?”

“I guess you’re about tell us, aren’t you?” Godot asked.

“In order to defeat and control Ten-Tails, the Lord of Order created a special spell, the origin of all the sealing spells, and with it sealed the monster inside a vessel, the first Jinchuriki” the General of Chaos told. “With that, he saved all his creation from destruction. However, he feared that, when the life of that Jinchuriki ended, the beast would come back, so, at the end of the vessel’s life, he divided the energy in nine pieces to create the nine Tailed Beasts you all know and sealed the body away to a place no one would be able to get: the moon.”

“What you’re saying doesn’t make sense” Luna said. “I spent a thousand of years there and I didn’t notice anything like the body of a ten-tailed monster.”

“Well, of course not” the General of Chaos replied. “After all, the Lord of Order’s magic is far more superior than the magic of the Elements of Harmony that put you there.”

“We already know that the Lord of Chaos is trying to assemble the Ten-Tails” Blue said. “But if what you’re saying is true, then the only for him to control it is…”

“That’s right, the Lord of Chaos will get his own Jinchuriki” the General of Chaos replied. “Me, to be more exact. And when we’re succeed, the Lord of Chaos will rule everything.”

“You must to be joking” Heartbeat said. “You don’t have any idea how it is to be a Jinchuriki.”

“Heartbeat’s right” Chief Strongpaw said. “You don’t even imagine how difficult it is to control or contain a Tailed Beast.”

“Don’t worry about that” the General of Chaos said. “I have an advantage. And when I’ve become the Jinchuriki of Ten-Tails, I will make master’s plan come true.

“What how do you plan to do that exactly?” Hard Stone asked.

“With a curse” the General replied. “The Infinite Nightmare Curse, with which we will put a curse on the moon and cast every single being both in the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest into a mega illusion, and, as a result, by controlling them all, the Lord of Chaos shall unify all of us. He’ll create a world where there’s no war between Order and Chaos. That is the Project Eye of the Moon.”

“You’re insane!” Spike exclaimed. “Do you really think we’ll let you do such thing?!”

“That kind of peace is just an illusion” Twilight said.

“True peace can only be achieved when done honestly” Celestia continued.

“And what exists in that illusion world?” Mystic Heart asked. “There is no hope, no dreams… It’s just an escape!”

“It’s funny that you say you want to unite the world, when it’s obvious you just want to make this world yours and just yours” Hard Stone said.

The General of Chaos laughed and then asked:

“And yet, with all that talk, what did you all accomplished? You, of all beings, should have realized by now. There is no hope. Hoping is like giving up and it’s the biggest deception of all. As long as light and darkness fight each other, the war will never end. So, please, just turn over the remaining Eight and Nine-Tails and cooperate with my plan. Or this is war.”

“Eight-Tails?” King Aspen asked. “What do you mean? You captured Hawthorn.”

“The capture of Eight-Tails failed and he escaped” the General declared. “Now, there’s a perfect Jinchuriki. There is no one like your younger brother.”

“What?!” Aspen asked, without believing.

“Oh, so he really escaped” Blackthorn said. “I had a feeling of that.”

“That foul!” Aspen said. “I can’t believe he used this just to escape!”

“I won’t give up my own son to you” Twilight declared to the General of Chaos.

“None of us would” Blue said. “You’re just wasting your time asking us that.”

“Agreed” Mystic Heart said.

“As long as we exist, you’ll never get your hooves on Star and Lord Hawthorn” Celestia said.

“I’ll never hand over my brother” Aspen affirmed.

The other regents were of the same opinion.

“My master may not have their power yet, but he does have the power of the seven Tailed-Beasts I and the other villains collected” the General continued. “You have no chance of winning.”

“We won’t abandon hope” Strongpaw replied.

“Very well” the General of Chaos said. “I hereby declare war on you all in behalf of the Lord of Chaos. A great war between Order and Chaos begins now.”

“But a war like that will devastate everything in its path” Celestia said. “You can’t…”

“I already did” the General of Chaos said. “And the next time we meet again, it will be at the battlefield.”

He and Celestia traded looks for a few seconds and then he said:

“I wish you good luck, because you’ll need it.”

And, having said this, he teleported away.

A silence was imposed after that and King Hard Stone asked:

“All right then, what should we do now?”

“I think it was quite obvious” Twilight said. “All our kingdoms must form an alliance, like Green Spear was suggesting before. It’s the only way to fight the power of the Lord of Chaos and his villains along with seven Tailed Beasts.”

“I agree” Aspen said. “We cannot allow the Lord of Chaos bully us any longer.”

Luna, repairing on her sister’s distanced look, asked:

“Sister, are you okay?”

Her voice made Celestia come to her senses, after she was still wondering why the General of Chaos looked so familiar to her.

“Yes, I am.”

“My king, we must take steps to find Lord Hawthorn right away” Blackthorn said. “If the villains are after the Eight and Nine-Tails, that means that maybe they’re still after him.”

“You’re right” Aspen said. “Then we must return to Thicket immediately and then put together a search party and find Hawthorn.”

“Yes, sir” Blackthorn replied.

“In order to stop the Lord of Chaos’ plan, we must put the Eight and Nine-Tails out of his clutches” Mystic Heart said. “I say it’s imperative that our forces get them before any villain does and put them out of sight and into hiding as fast as we can.”

“At this moment, Star is at the academy with the protection of three Generals” Twilight said. “For now, he is safe.”

“That may be so, but I can’t even imagine the power the Lord of Chaos has mastered with seven Tailed-Beasts” Hard Stone replied. “And if he will really use that curse, that can be catastrophic to us all.”

“Yes, otherwise, he wouldn’t show his game” Stone Quake agreed.

“I believe that the most logic thing to do is to use the Eight and Nine-Tails in battle” Hard Stone said. “Don’t you all agree with that?”

“But that would be like giving the Tailed Beasts to them on a plate” Kyrippos said.

“I agree” Spike said. “This war is also to protect them.”

“Probably the reason why the Lord of Chaos is declaring war is because he knows that, with the villains he currently has, capturing Prince Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn is not an easy task right now” Ingrid said.

“Or he may be trying to lure them out” Cadance said. “But whatever the reasons, using the Tailed Beasts in battle isn’t a good idea.”

“We must find a different plan” Gael said.

“For once, I agree with him” Godot agreed.

“They’re right” King Aspen said. “Beyond that, I don’t think my little brother would do any good in the battle field. He’s too unpredictable and has a very laid-back nature.”

“My son is very smart and mature for his age” Twilight said. “I have absolute faith in him, but he’s too young to participate in any war. Furthermore, my love for him would never allow it any way.”

“Yes, my love for him says the same thing, Twily” Blue said. “Although he defeated the General of Chaos once, we cannot allow him participate in this war. Mainly it is about him.”

“Very well, then the Eight and Nine-Tails will be under protective custody” Celestia said. “What do you say, King Hard Stone?”

He nodded his head, agreeing, and then Aspen said:

“I’ll share with all of you the information about my brother so that you are prepared for the case you meet him. Just be sure that you contact me at the moment you locate him. My younger brother will only listen to me.”

“Although I am not a fighter, I am willing to offer you the services of my guard” Kyrippos said. “They were specially trained just to ensure that Seven-Tails was contained.”

“Just to be clear, are you all sure about this plan?” Hard Stone asked. “The power of the Lord of Chaos is equal to the one of his brother, and this without counting with the seven Tailed-Beasts he already possesses. If we hold the Eight and Nine-Tails and our forces are defeated while protecting them, our entire effort will be meaningless. If that’s the case, it’s for the best use them right from the start and fight in a two front unite.”

“But, King Hard Stone, you still don’t know the true potential of this alliance” Green Spear said. “After all, we’re witnessing the alliance of several kingdoms, each one possessing a powerful force. Furthermore, there must be some risks in using the power of the seven Tailed-Beasts. Otherwise, the General of Chaos wouldn’t come to this summit to try to negotiate. They must be facing unfavorable circumstances just like us.”

“Well, that was quite an explanation” Luna said. “Don’t you agree, King Hard Stone? Or do you still have any doubts?”

That question from Luna was not really taken good by the king of Stonult.

At the place where the ceiling fell because of Ulysses, Quartz Blitz, who had protected herself with a rock wall, was observing a clone of Petal Sprout that she had neutralized when it appeared on her.

“What the hell was he?” she asked. “It’s disgusting. Well, I just hope gramps isn’t upset for my delay.”

Back to the conference room, Hard Stone said:

“Well, I think that I don’t have any choice but to agree. I mean, if that what our leader thinks, isn’t that right, Princess Celestia?”

“Yes, about that…” Princess Celestia said. “Like I was saying before we were interrupted by Petal Sprout, I don’t think I am the best candidate to lead the alliance, but the one who assembled this summit.”

The alicorn princess turned to the deer king and said to him:

“That is if you accept the burden. With your brother alive, your calm returned and that is what makes a great king. And I know it will also make him a great leader to our alliance. Beyond that, you’re the only one who can control your brother who can control Eight-Tails.”

“Do you all agree with this?” King Hard Stone asked to the other regents.

“If Celestia says it’s the right decision, then I agree with her” Twilight said, faithful to her former teacher.

“The same goes for me” Luna said, with Ingrid agreeing with a nod.

“This is not the time or place for petty squabbles” Mystic Heart replied. “I’ll put my faith in Princess Celestia’s decision.

The other regents were of the same opinion. Before that, Aspen said:

“Very well, I’ll lead our alliance. Unless you have something to say, Hard Stone.”

“You don’t have to worry about me” he replied. “I’m too old to be a leader of an alliance of any kind. Furthermore, I do agree with Princess Celestia that you’ll be a good leader. You can count with me. But that doesn’t mean I still find you a petulant brat.”

“I wouldn’t expect any less from you” Aspen said. “Very well, I hereby announce that the alliance of the kingdoms of the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest is formed.”

And so, with everything settle, the regents went to their ways to their respective kingdoms. The regents from the Enchanted Forest took the same path, but once they were on Thicket, they took different paths. While traveling, Quartz Blitz said to her grandfather:

“I don’t understand why we don’t get rid of Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails right now. We can completely mess up with the Lord of Chaos’ plan and decrease the Light Kingdom and Thicket’s power. Our kingdom would gain more importance in the Enchanted Forest. Two birds with one stone.”

“No, I won’t to do things like this time” the king replied.

“Why not?” Quartz Blitz asked, surprised. “This is not like you, your stubborn old geezer.”

She was right, but Hard Stone couldn’t stop but remembering what Strongpaw asked him at the summit. He then replied:

“It’s because I remember. I remember who I was before I got so stubborn.”

At the Light Kingdom, Twilight was at her room to rest. That summit had been more intense than she had expected and she still had some after effects after the invasion from the General of Chaos. It was then that she heard a voice saying:

"It's so rewarding when you see one of our greatest creations coming to life again."

Twilight turned and saw the Lord of Order next to the window of her room seeing the citadel being rebuilt.

"I think I've been too focused on stopping my brother from destroy everything in this reality, that I forgot that feeling."

The alicorn princess approached and said:

"I suppose you're here because the declaration of war."

"It was inevitable" the Lord of Order replied.

"Honestly, I don't know what might happen" Twilight said. "All this is taking gigantic proportions."

"Don't worry, Princess Twilight" the Lord of Order said. "Although I won't be able to interfere directly in the war, I know that you and the others will do your utmost to prevent that the evil plan of my brother does not come true. And since there's still a being wanting to continue to fight for what's right, hope never dies."

And, having said this, he disappeared, leaving Twilight more confident of the times ahead.

In the castle of Lord of Chaos, the General appeared in the throne room and told to his master who was sitting on his throne:

"Everything went as planned, master. I declared war on the followers of your brother."

"Perfect" he said. "And Ulysses?"

The General’s eyes shone again and then Adagio and Ulysses reappeared, with the latter slightly recovered, although he continued to feel the negative effects of the excessive use of the blacklight nature.

"Leave me alone with him" the Lord of Chaos ordered to the General and Adagio.

The General replied with a nod and teleported away. Adagio took a little longer, but she did the same.

"Ulysses, Ulysses, Ulysses..." Lord of Chaos said. "I have to say you really bit off more than you can chew. Not that it surprises me."

"I just..." he began. “I just wanted to prove my worth to you. I want to prove to you that I still can be useful.”

"You disobeyed a direct order of mine" the Lord of Chaos said. "I told you to stay in the hideout and you didn't. That, by itself, is a great lack of respect to me. However, I have to admit I was pretty impressed by the way you stood up against the regents. Especially how you improved your control over the blacklight nature. For that alone, you managed to win back part of my respect."

"Thank you, my Lord" Ulysses said. "I'm immensely grateful."

"Now get lost before I decide to rip your heart out again" the Lord of Chaos replied.

The griffon nodded and disappeared as well.

"Okay, you can come out now" the Lord of Chaos said.

And Petal Sprout appeared from the floor of the throne room.

"My Lord, thank you for bringing me back" he said.

"You deserved it" the Lord of Chaos replied. "You played your role flawlessly and that, as I had predicted, led Ulysses to reveal his true potential. Furthermore, bringing you back is not as complicated as it sounds and I still need your services."

"What's on your mind, my master?" Petal Sprout asked.

"Something that will give us some advantage over the upcoming war" the Lord of Chaos replied, laughing maliciously.

Octopus VS Kelpie

The General of Chaos was on a beach looking to sea, as if waiting for something. It was then that his wait was over, as from the waters began to emerge something that addressed him after leaving there.

He looked like a pony, but very scrawny and with fins on all legs. The coat was dark gray and the mane and tail were a sickly green, being soggy. At the face, he displayed yellow eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. On the back, he carried a large sword shrouded in bandages with a yellow hilt, where the base had a small skull.

Arriving at the edge of the General, the latter said:

"I hope your trip went well, Kelp."

"Let's just say that coming to dry land is not a quite appreciative act for a kelpie as me" Kelp answered. "However, for the Lord of Chaos, I am capable of doing anything."

"I'm glad of hearing that, because the mission that he has for you is in the Enchanted Forest, more precisely in Thicket" General of Chaos said. "And I hope that your skills are as good as the Lord of Chaos said they were because you will need them.

On the outskirts of Thicket, Hawthorn was dueling with another deer that had brownish fur with a underbelly of a lighter tone and golden eyes, whose name was Birch. Using the horns, they fought the good old-fashioned deer way. After one more fight, Birch said to Hawthorn:

"I must say I'm surprised to see you in such great shape, Hawthorn. I thought you'd been rusty after spending for so long limited to the capital and start doing your brother’s every wish."

"Okay, for starters, you are talking about my older brother who is also our king" Hawthorn said. "And second, you know me. Do you think I would be quiet for so long? The problem is that you're the only one, apart from Aspen, able to compete with me in head fighting."

"So true" Birch said.

That's when they noticed the presence of someone approaching. Looking, they saw Kelp.

"What's that?" Hawthorn asked. "It looks like a pony, but, at the same time, it's not."

"I've heard of it" Birch said. "It's a kelpie, but it is a sea creature. What is he doing here?"

Coming to them, Kelp said to Hawthorn:

“Finally, I found you, Eight-Tails. You don’t know how hard it was for me to leave my sea just to come here.”

Hawthorn rapidly realized who he was.

“You’re working to the Lord of Chaos” he said. “Well, if you came here to capture me, I’m afraid you’ll fail, just like the other one.”

“We’ll see about that” Kelp replied. “You know, my sword, Shark Sword, loves powerful energy and yours seems to be very delicious for it. For that reason, I will feed you to it and give the rest to the Lord of Chaos. But don’t worry, I won’t let it kill you.”

“And that’s because I will be the one to kill you” Hawthorn affirmed. “You’re no match for me, mainly out of your element. So prepare yourself.”

“You’re sure are chatty for a jinchuriki, just like the General said” Kelp commented.

And, all of the sudden, Birch tried to attack Kelp, but he rapidly went to his sword and hit him with it, throwing back against a tree. Hawthorn went to see if he was right.

“Are you’re alright, Birch?” he asked.

“Yes, I am” Birch replied. “But that sword of his…”

They looked to the sword, whose bandages at the end were ripped off, revealing a blade comprised of downward-facing scales. It seemed to be making a strange noise.

“That sword is not an ordinary sword” Birch said. “When it hit me, it was like it was able to rip off my energy.”

And then Kelp advanced, ready to use the sword again on them. The two deer moved and then Birch used his horns to block Kelp’s attack and then Hawthorn charged his horns, ready to attack the kelpie. Before that, Kelp used his forced to throw Birch against the floor and then used Shark Skin to block Hawthorn attack. The jinchuriki became surprised for seeing that his tips charged with light nature were not being able to pierce Kelp’s sword.

Realizing he had not choice, Hawthorn summoned the Eight-Tails’ cloak and prepared to give him a kick, but, for his surprise and Birch, Kelp was able to block the attack easily and that was because the cloak had disappeared. Now Hawthorn realized why his attacks didn’t work, along with what Birch had said.

“You’re stealing my energy” he said to Kelp.

“Now I see” Birch said. “Hawthorn, that sword it’s sucking away your energy, just like it did with me.”

The sword’s movements started to increase, while the noises became more audible.

“It seems my sword is taking quite a liking to your octopus flavor energy” Kelp said. “It’s very rare for Shark Skin become this excited. That means you’re worth of its shredding.”

“You’re really are very prepared, but I will get the best on you” Hawthorn said.

Hawthorn made his distance from Kelp and then said:

“My name is Hawthorn. What about you?”

The movements and noises of the sword were such that the bandages were ripped off completely, revealing a sword completely made of bluish scales and with a wide mouth at the end from where a big tongue started to appear.

“I’m Kelp, it’s a pleasure to me you before our battle” Kelp replied.

Hawthorn took his hoof to his mouth and took some black ink that then he used to write on a tree Kelp’s name so he wouldn’t forget it after the battle.

“You have ink in your mouth” Kelp observed. “So what the others said is true. You’re really are an octopus.”

After finishing, Hawthorn said:

“Now it’s better for you to prepare yourself, because you’re about to lose!”

And he summoned the cloak again, revealing seven tails. Birch, seeing that, saw that he wasn’t really serious yet.

“Hey, did you know?” Hawthorn asked to Kelp.

“Did I know what?” Kelp asked.

And Hawthorn started to rush towards Kelp, while saying:

“In the wild, octopi eat shark!”

He tried to use his horns again, but then Kelp used Shark Skin to block Hawthorn and then throw him away, while shredding his energy cloak.

“Hawthorn!” Birch exclaimed, while his friend, landed on his hooves, with now only with one tail.

Shark Skin had become a lot bigger after absorbing Hawthorn’s energy, with a great smile appearing.

“It seems this time the shark shall devour the octopus” Kelp replied to Hawthorn.

Realizing that form wouldn’t work, Hawthorn realized he should use another and made the cloak disappear.

Placing the blade of his sword on the ground, Kelp said:

“This is the first time Shark Skin had ever grown this big. And its appetite is also bigger.”

“What will you do, Hawthorn?” Birch asked.

“I’ll help” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn in his mind. “Enter in the Tailed Beast Mode.”

“Now way” Hawthorn replied him in his mind. “Our transformation is to powerful and will destroy the all area. Don’t forget that Birch is with us. Plus, I just managed to escape my brother. If I transform, mainly still in Thicket, it will be like putting a sign revealing my location.”

“It’s not like you making excuses, Hawthorn” Eight-Tails said. “So, what are you going to do? You’ll fight in the second phase?”

“You bet” Hawthorn answered. “But most of my energy was taken away during that exchange of blows with that Kelp. That means you’ll have to lend me some of yous.”

Eight-Tails sighed and replied:

“If it was’t for me, you’d already been lost long time ago.”

And the cloak started to appear again with eight-tails and Hawthorn said:

“And for that I am very grateful, my eight-tailed friend.”

And the tails involved him and then he get in the second phase, with bull horns instead of the antlers.

“I see, so you’re going serious” Kelp said.

Birch was surprised for seeing Hawthorn in the second phase, something he hadn’t seen for too long.

It was then that a bull skull and spine started to be formed, with the skull appearing next to Hawthorn’s head. Before that, Shark Skin started to get so excited that its scales started to move. Kelp noticed all that excitement of its. He realized that the energy that Hawthorn was releasing now was even greater than before. It was impressive how he could control all that energy without losing his mind.

And then Hawthorn started to go against Kelp, who noticed that Shark Skin wouldn’t be able to absorb that many energy. The deer then hit the kelpie with skull and the later used the sword to defend himself, but the force was such that threw him away, while he dropped the sword that continued to absorb Hawthorn’s energy, making him return to the first phase with eight tails. Kelp went against a tree with serious injuries, while Shark Skin landed close.

“Yes, you did it!” Birch said. “He’s still alive. Hurry up and finish him off.

Kelp looked to Hawthorn and said:

“Well, you really are strong.”

And then Shark Skin made its hilt extend to its owner’s hoof and all his injuries, much to the two deer’s surprise, started to heal.

“The thing about me is that the stronger my opponent is, the stronger I become as well” Kelp replied, while rising up. “I will not tire. I will not fall.”

“That blade of his steals the enemies’ energy and transfer it to its master in the form of stamina” Birch realized.

“That’s right, and that’s why I was summoned by the Lord of Chaos to deal with you” Kelp replied.

And then, from his mouth, a great quantity of water started to get out, flooding everything around and washing the two deer away. A great water dome was created and Hawthorn and Birch were trapped there with Kelp. The latter could breathe underwater, but the others not.

“The longer this battle drags on, the more energy you will lose and weaker you’ll get and the stronger I’ll get by absorbing your energy.”

And then he and Skark Skin started to merge and Kelp took the form of what appeared to be a combination of pony and shark. Hawthorn realized he did that to prevent him from taking the sword from him.

“You’re ready?” Kelp asked to Hawthorn. “Here I come.”

Using the power of the cloak, Hawthorn started to swim away, taking Birch with him. He had to take him out of the dome or else he would drown. For that, he get into the second phase again to increase his velocity.

“You cannot escape from this water spell” Kelp replied. “Besides, in this environment, I have the advantage over you.”

And he started to follow Hawthorn.

The jinchuriki tried to see the boundaries of the dome, but there was too much water for that. He then noticed Kelp getting closer.

“Stop doing what you’re doing” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn. “The water dome is in motion with that kelpie as its center. Pay attention. He’s faster than you under water, without mention that he has gills. If you just run around, we’ll catch and kill you.”

“So what should I do?” Hawthorn asked him.

“You’re his target, Hawthorn” Eight-Tails replied. “Leave Birch and swim at the opposite direction. He’ll chase after you.”

“I get it” Hawthorn said. “And then he’ll be safe.”

“Yes, as he chases after you, the water dome will move with him and then he’ll get out at some point” Eight-Tails continued.

Following Eight-Tails’ idea, Hawthorn dropped Birch and started swim at the opposite direction, passing through Kelp. He hoped he would follow him so Birch would be safe, but Kelp decided to go after the latter.

“What?” Hawthorn asked.

“My orders are to capture Eight-Tails alive” Kelp said. “But there is no order against killing this one along the way.”

Hawthorn tried to prevent him by swimming back, but then Kelp turned, with spikes appearing on his body, and tackled the jinchuriki, saying:

“I got you.”

When he pierced him with the spikes, Hawthorn’s energy was drained and he returned to his first phase form. Instinctively, Hawthorn summoned some of Eight-Tails’ tentacles that involved Kelp. With that, Hawthorn started to move Kelp away from birch. Because of that, the dome started to move and eventually it let Birch get out.

“All right, he’s out” Eight-Tails said.

Birch, recovering from the time he spent inside water, was able to land on a tree branch strong enough to hold him. Inside the dome, Hawthorn tried to attack Kelp, but the lack of air started to affect.

“You seem to have trouble breathing” Kelp taunted. “I see you’re getting to the end of your air supply. And since our bodies and touching each other, I’ll be still absorbing your power.”

And the cloak was also absorbed by Kelp and the tentacles disappear. After that, the kelpie back off, feeling Shark Shin trembling with joy. Furthermore, inside that dome of water, it was just a matter of time for him to be able to bring Eight-Tails to his master.

Hawthorn was trying to find a way to get out of there. If only he could use his horns charged with light nature against him…

“No, you can’t match his speed under water” Eight-Tails said to him. “And he raised his guard because you used the octopus legs. Just retreat for now. Use my ink nature as cover.”

Kelp then noticed that Hawthorn was about to use something and then he released from his mouth a great quantity of ink that quickly darkened everything around. Taking advantage of that, Hawthorn tried to swim out of the dome, now that Kelp was immobilized and couldn’t see because of the ink.

“It’s ink” Kelp said. “I see, so this is the result of mixing water and darkness. Inside of water, it can be use like a smokescreen. However…”

And he started to swim, while tackling Hawthorn one time and another.

“My body is merged with Shark Skin” he continued. “I can detect energy though my skin.”

After all those attacks, Hawthorn stopped moving and Kelp said:

“And now I believe your energy is close to zero.”

Birch was able to get down of the tree, still weakened because of the time he spent inside water.

“Hawthorn…” he said.

He saw the dome being undone and tried to get up to go help him, but he was too tired for that. He got the strength to stand and start running.

Kelp was now facing Hawthorn who was lying unconscious on the ground. The kelpie then said:

“Eight-Tails turned out to be disappointing.”

The merging with Shark Skin was undone and then it reappeared besides him.

“It will be annoying if he gets conscious and goes into tailed beast mode” Kelp said, while approaching Hawthorn. “So I think I’ll remove your legs, just to be safe.

Inside Hawthorn’s mind, he was floating unconscious and Eight-Tails said:

“He stole away most of my energy too. Damn it. Get up, Hawthorn!”

“It’s a shame that my blade doesn’t cut clean!” Kelp exclaimed.

And he swung the blade to cut Hawthorn’s leg, but, suddenly, the sword just stop, while its scales started moving again. That really let Kelp’s surprised, who asked:

“What? What’s the matter?”

And spikes appeared on the hilt of Shark Skin that made Kelp to release it with a groan. Then Shark Skin extended some of its scales in a threatening way that made Kelp retreat a little. Before that, Kelp said:

“Don’t tell me that you became attached to the Eight-Tails. You really did take a liking for his energy, Shark Skin.”

And then it extended its hilt to one of Hawthorn’s hoof and started to transfer some energy to him.

“You’re giving him energy that you stole from me?!” Kelp asked, in a burst of anger.

And he gave it a kick and throw it against a tree, what made it get pinned to its sharp scales, and then fall on the ground. He then turned to Hawthorn, who was moving to drag himself.

“Very well, I think I’ll have to improvise” Kelp said.

And then he involved one of the fins of the forelegs with water that molded into a blade.

“This will do fine” Kelp said.

And he prepared to slice Hawthorn’s legs when he turned and throw with his mouth a twig that he charged with his light nature, but it just scraped him and went to hit a tree.

“That was so close” Hawthorn said.

“Close enough for you” Kelp said. “That was what you were trying to get, uh.”

But then he sensed a presence and saw Aspen with Blackthorn and the other guard appearing. Birch was also with them.

“Hawthorn, I am sorry we’re late” Blackthorn said.

“My brother…” Hawthorn said.

“The king of Thicket…” Kelp said, turning to Aspen. “I heard so much about you. How did you find us?”

“Such bubble of water can even be seen at the naked eye” Blackthorn replied. “And I could sense Lord Hawthorn and Eight-Tails’ energy mixed in it. Furthermore, I could also sense you absorbing it. It was to obvious.”

“Found out after all” Hawthorn said.

Shark Skin’s hilt appeared around his shoulder, giving him more energy that allowed the cloak to appear.

“Damned Shark Skin…” Kelp said. “It is giving Eight-Tails more energy.”

“Let’s do it” Aspen said to his brother.

“Okay, brother” Hawthorn said, rising up.

And the two brothers advanced against Kelp at the same time, while he prepared to do another spell of his. But before he could do it, the two deer brothers hit his neck with their respective horns charged with light magic and his head just detached from the body that fell on the ground.

After that, Aspen looked to Hawthorn that said:

“Hey, brother…”

But before he could say anything else, Aspen hit Hawthorn with his only horn, making kneel and then placed his hoof over him to stop him from getting up.

“How dare you go wandering on your own?!” Aspen asked Hawthorn.

“Please, brother, you’re hurting me…” he replied.

The Key of the Seal

The news about the upcoming war spread quickly by the kingdoms of the regents and even the others, mainly when the regents arrived to their respective kingdoms to begin preparations.

In Thicket, Aspen arrived along with his brother and bodyguards. Waiting for their arrival at the castle were Fyr and Bramble. Seeing his dad, Bramble ran up to him and hugged him.

"I’m glad you're here, dad" the young deer said.

"Yes, my son, I don't like to be out of Thicket for a long time" Aspen replied.

"What happened to your horn?" Bramble asked, referring to the horn that Aspen had lost in his fight with Ulysses.

"Well... Let's just say I had a pretty intense fight" Aspen ssaid. "But don't worry about this. Don't forget that our horns grow back."

"Yes, I know" Bramble said. "But you know, you get pretty cool just with one horn."

"Oh yeah?" Aspen asked. "Well, it's good to know. Why don't you go greet your meathead uncle? I need to talk to your mother."

Then he turned to his queen who asked him:

"How did it go?"

"Let's just say that too much has happened and not everything was good" Aspen replied.

Approaching his uncle, Bramble said:

"I can't believe you've run away, uncle Hawthorn. You know that irritates my father lot."

"Oh, Bramble, one day you're going to learn that some things are worth challenging my dear and intimidating older brother" Hawthorn replied.

It was then Bramble noticed Shark Skin on his uncle’s back.

“Hey, uncle, what’s that?” he asked.

“A prize from my battle with one of the Lord of Chaos’ villains” Hawthorn replied. “It has taking a quite a liking to me.”

“Wow, amazing…” Bramble said.

But it happened that not everything in that sword was amazing. Inside of it, hiding from everyone’s perception, was something that was revealing as being… Kelp, who had merged himself with Shark Skin’s interior.

Back to the place where the battle between Hawthorn and Kelp happened, the General of Chaos had opened the grave where supposedly Kelp’s body and head should be. After finding the body, the General said:

“It seems my master’s plan went perfectly. With Shark Skin in that foul’s possession, we will get the advantage over our enemy. Furthermore, after we get all the information we need, we will have another opportunity to get Eight-Tails. And we all have to thank you for this… Petal Sprout.”

He was referring to Kelp’s body.

“If it wasn’t for your shapeshifting abilities, none of this wouldn’t have happened” the General of Chaos said, while the body took the one of Petal Sprout. “Not even a Changeling would be able to disguise its aura like you do, even more underwater in the middle of all that ink. As you are weak, it was not hard for the enemy to defeat you and think that Kelp was dead.

Fortunately, you’re a plan-based life and you can be revived, as long we have a piece of you.”

Inside Shark Skin, Kelp said:

“Now this is when things start getting tough. It was good to let Shark Skin take a liking to the Eight-Tails. But I never imagined it would share energy with him. Luckily, that ended up working in my advantage as well. With me and Shark Skin merged together, we have the same energy signature.”

Outside, Aspen called

“Blackthorn.”

“Yes, Your Highness?” the captain asked.

“Make sure that our army is ready for what’s coming” Aspen replied. “Also, I want you to contact all the members of my council.”

“Yes, sir” Blackthorn replied.

And he walked away.

“Can you tell me what’s happening?” Queen Fyr asked. “What’s coming?”

“The war, Fyr” Aspen replied. “The war is coming.”

In Griffinstone, Gael told the same thing to Greta when he arrived to the castle.

“The war?” she repeated. “What do you mean with that?”

“The General of Chaos appeared at the summit to make us give him Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails and when we refused, he declared war to all of us” Gael told.

“That can’t be good” Greta said. “We have already faced some trouble before, but nothing like this.”

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine” Gael calmed her down. “We only have to make sure we are ready when the time comes. Furthermore, we won’t be alone in this fight. We will have the help from kingdoms both from the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest. But I have to say that there is one think good in all this.”

“And what is that?” Greta asked.

“The tensions between our kingdom and Aeropolis are finally being worked on” Gael replied.

In the Dragon Lands, Spike and Ember were having a meeting with the latter’s father in order to get his support for the alliance, as he was the former Dragon Lord and that would get the others to cooperate.

“As you can see, dad, the Lord of Chaos’ plan is a threat to us all, not only for the ponies” Ember said. “If we don’t do anything, we will end up under the effect of that curse and be under his control.”

“Lord Torch, I know that dragons are not the helping type and that we’re just trying to reform our kind, but this is something urgent” Spike continued. “The alliance is counting with our strength to put a stop to the Lord of Chaos’ evil plan. He may have the power of seven Tailed Beasts, but the power of this alliance is unknown. It can be powerful enough to save us all. Although I can command the dragons to fight for the alliance, I don’t want to be like the former Dragon King. Furthermore, volunteering soldier is much more efficient than a controled one.”

Torch remained silent for a bit and then he said:

“You are right about one thing, my king, our kind is not the helping type. However, even I recognize the threat that the Lord of Chaos is for all of us. It was wise of you two to search for my support. It just proves your pure intentions for our kind as rulers. My answer is affirmative. You have my support.”

“Thank you, Lord Torch” Spike thanked.

“Yeah, dad, thank you” Ember said.

All the other regents also started their preparations for the upcoming war. They all started to make an inventory of all the weapons they had, as well as the rations, and also started to make a list of all the soldiers they all had, as well as searching for volunteers. Even the older students of royal guard academies were asked to participate.

In the Light Kingdom, Star was walking around the citadel, whose half had already been reconstructed, when he was suddenly faced with a lot of fans who all wanted his autograph, as he was now the great hero of their kingdom. All that sudden popularity had been overwhelmed to the young prince who hadn’t adapted to it. Fortunately, Heartbeat appeared to take him to his parents’ presence.

“Thanks, Heartbeat, I don’t know for how much long I would be able to survive in the middle of that crowd” Star said.

“You don’t have to thank” Heartbeat replied. “I’m just obeying orders.”

She took him to the entrance of the throne room before leaving to do other things she had to do. Then, Star opened the doors and entered. He found his mother sitting on her throne with his father and Golden Paladin beside her. Star approached and asked:

“Did you call me, mom?”

“Yes, Star, we want to talk with you” Twilight replied, referring to herself, Blue and Golden Paladin.

“Is this about the upcoming war against the Lord of Chaos?” Star asked.

That made a silence, where Blue and Golden Paladin traded looks. Twilight, on the other hoof, remained calmed and then asked:

“What is your opinion about that war? What do you want to do?”

“I want to participate” Star replied. “I want to help you fight the Chaos side.”

“No, absolutely not” Blue said. “You’re too young for this.”

“But, dad, I think I already prove myself” Star said. “I was able to reform Pandora and I defeated Rothbart and the General of Chaos.”

“Yes, I know that, but…” Blue started.

But before he could finish, Twilight made a gesture to her husband to let her reply. He did so and then the princess said:

“Star, I know how strong you are. I have absolute faith in you and in your skills. However, I cannot allow you to participate in this war.”

“But mom…”

“But nothing” she replied. “This is not just a war to defeat the Lord of Chaos and his followers. This is also to protect the remaining Tailed Beasts that hadn’t ended to his possession. That includes Nine-Tails. If you have already heard about the war, then you also must know about his plan, about the curse he plans to cast. He can only do that with Ten-Tails and to revive it he needs all the Tailed Beast. We won’t give him a chance to capture Nine-Tails by putting you in the front line. I’m sorry, but as princess and mother, I cannot allow it.”

There was a pause and then Star said:

“I understand… but I cannot accept that others will risk their lives just to protect me.”

Twilight and Blue could see how frustrated their son was and that let them sad. But then Golden Paladin said:

“Well, maybe if you mastered Nine-Tails’ power, you could use it on the war.”

That made parents and child look at him.

“What?” Star asked.

“Golden, what are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry, Your Highness, let me handle him” Golden Paladin whispered to her, turning then to Star. “You, young prince, possess inside you half of Nine-Tails’ power and that half is very powerful, more powerful than you can even imagine. If you managed to control it properly, then our chances to win the war would increase exponentially.”

“But every time I try, Nine-Tails always gets the better over me” Star said. “If I lost control again, I can harm or even kill the ones I love most.”

“But now you’re different” Golden Paladin said. “Now, you have a better control over your own magic. You even managed to learn to control natural energy. Maybe now you’re ready to try again. However, this time, you’ll need something.”

“What?” Star asked.

“The key of your seal, of course” Golden Paladin. “The one thing that can lock and unlock the prison that contains Nine-Tails.”

That caught Star by surprise.

“The key?” he asked.

“That was the reason why we called you” Blue said.

“We believe that it’s time to give you the key to your seal” Twilight continued.

Although that only confirmed how much they think Star was ready to have the key, he couldn’t feel that way. Just by thinking in every time he lost control and how much it was taken to seal the power he was releasing, it made him fear what would happen if he went on a rampage without Golden having the key to lock the seal again.

“I know you are unsure and I can’t blame you” Golden Paladin said.

“Why do you say that, Golden?” Blue asked.

“Well, Nine-Tails gets his power by mixing two things together: his energy and his will” Golden Paladin explained. “To control the power, you must extract only the Nine-Tails’ energy and making your own energy in order to make it your own power. But that’s not as easy as it sounds. When you pull out the Nine-Tails’ energy, his will tags along. The Nine-Tails’ will is a mass of hatred that binds tight to his energy by strong forces. No matter how hard you try to shield yourself, he will find some hatred very deep inside to try to take over. That was the main reason why Heartbeat was not able to control his power and lost control completely, as she is very sensible to strong feelings and emotions. In other words, you must have a strong will of your own, one that is completely empty of hatred, one that can completely separate the Nine-Tails’ will from his energy. My seal was design to let a little bit of energy to escape in order to become one with Prince Star Knight. If he uses the key, he can take all the Nine-Tails’ energy inside him.”

“And that means all the Nine-Tails’ will would tag along his energy” Blue said.

“And, as soon as Prince Star Knight’s will loses to the Nine-Tails’, the Nine-Tails will be fully resurrected” Golden Paladin said.

“You don’t have to worry about that” Twilight said. “I know that Star will be able to control it, isn’t that right, my son?”

Star looked to his mother and saw her smiling at him. It was one of her sweet smiles that always gave him strength and he couldn’t help but smiling back at her.

“Yes…” he said. “I need to control Nine-Tails. After all, I am his Jinchuriki. And it’s my responsability to prevent him from hurting others and use his power for the sake of all of us. And if the key to control it is not to give up into hatred, than that’s something I’ll never do.”

Golden Paladin, seeing all that determination of his, smiled and then, accessing to his magic, summoned a key made of golden steel that he then handed to Star. When it arrived to his edge, Star extended his hoof and touch it. The key then turned into light that surrounded Star for a bit before disappearing.

“Well, it’s done” Golden Paladin said.

“When do I start training to control the Nine-Tails’ power?” Star asked.

“That will have to wait” the General of Peace replied. “For now, you’ll have to return to the academy to finish the school year.”

“What?!” Star asked. “But you said…”

“We still have time before the war” Golden Paladin said. “Meanwhile, i tis essential that a young colt like you does what other colts do: go to school. I believe your parents agree with me, right?”

Realizing what Golden Paladin’s plan was, they nodded.

“Okay, all right, you win” Star said.

“Now, why don’t you go take a walk with Timber?” Twilight asked. “You know that a timberwolf needs a lot of exercise.”

After Star left the room, Twilight said to Golden Paladin:

“That was good thinking, Golden, but I’m still uncertain about Star having the key.”

“Don’t worry, Your Highness” Golden Paladin said to her. “After all, it is his fate to master Nine-Tails’ energy. You’re not the only to have absolute faith on him.”

“He’s right, Twily” Blue said. “All the other Generals think the same… and the Lord of Order.”

“But for him to control the Nine-Tails’ energy, he will need help, something that only one being can do” Golden Paladin said. “But we need to get King Aspen’s approval.”

“I can ask him at the next meeting between regents” Twilight said. “And what’s that?”

“The help of another Jinchuriki that can control his Tailed Beast perfectly” Golden Paladin replied. “I’m talking about King Aspen’s brother, Lord Hawthorn.”

Escape From Tartarus

In the Dream World, all seemed quiet, with each dreamer dreaming, thinking that no one would disturb their sweet rest.

However, an evil was wandering the halls of the Dream World. Oogie Boogie walked through the halls, looking to the doors he passed by. Normally, he'd be in any dream causing nightmares and feeding from the fears of his victims, but, at that time, he had another purpose in mind: a specific dream.

He arrived to the door of the dream he was looking for. It was a golden door with blue markings. Behind that door were the dreams of Star Knight. Oogie Boogie would go in there and find out exactly where Star Knight was and what would be his movements. But before he could turn the handle, a voice said:

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you try to enter Star Knight’s dreams."

Oogie Boogie smiled, because he recognized that voice. After all, how could he forget the voice of his worst enemy.

"How are you, Luna?" he asked, without turning around. "Long time no see."

"That's because you've been wandering around these halls like a mouse getting away from the cat, picking up crumbs here and there" Luna replied. "I knew eventually you would end up trying your luck in Prince Star Knight’s dreams. After all, we’re talking about the jinchuriki your master wants the most."

"Then you set up surveillance here" Oogie Boogie said, turning to her. "I am honored. So what are you going to do next? Try to defeat me and lock me in Tartarus."

"I'm the princess of the night and it is my duty to watch for the dreams of all creatures in the Pony Reality" Luna said. "You are the disease that infects this world that should be a place of peace and hope. I will put an end to your visits to the Dream World."

Oogie Boogie giggled and asked:

"Do you really think you can do that? Last time, I managed to deal with you fairly well."

"Last time, you were powered by the nightmares that you caused to Heartbeat" Luna answered. "This time, I will have the advantage."

"That's what we're going to see" Oogie Boogie said in a defiance tone.

And, having said this, he opened the door he had ahead and entered. However, upon entering, he found himself in a place in the middle of the night, full of bright plants.

"But this is not Prince Star Knight’s dream" Oogie Boogie said.

"You're right, it’s mine" Luna's voice said, while she landed some distance of Oogie Boogie.

Oogie Boogie looked back and saw that the door through which he had passed was not golden and blue but purple and decorated with stars and a crescent moon. The door closed and Oogie Boogie realized what Luna had done.

"You traded the doors..." he said. “Well played, Luna."

"Like I said, I watch over the dreams, so we will fight in my dream and leave innocent beings having a good night rest" Luna replied.

"Fine by me" Oogie Boogie said. "But if you think that just because you're at an advantage by being in your own dream you can…"

But before he could finish, the light plants from Luna’s dream attacked Oogie Boogie and tried to subdue him. The evil spirit tried to do something, but it seemed that those plants were sucking up all of his magic.

"You talk too much, Oogie Boogie" Luna said. "With the time you lost talking, you should have used it to attack me. Now it's too late for you. It's time to return you to the place where you shouldn't have left."

In the Light Kingdom, wandering around the halls of the castle, Golden Paladin was doing something he used to do during the night. He then felt a presence at the border that he recognized as being Luna’s. But she wasn't alone. He teleported himself there and was surprised when he saw her with a captured Oogie Boogie.

"Well, this is a surprise" Golden Paladin said. "I can't believe that finally, after all these years since you got out of prison-book, you would made a misstep, Oogie Boogie."

"I found him trying to enter in Star Knight’s dreams" Luna said. "Fortunately, I tricked him into enter in my own dream and then I subdued him. After I did it, I got him to here immediately. It is for the better to be safe and put him where he belongs as fast as possible."

"You did the right thing, Princess Luna" Golden Paladin said. "In addition, we now have a source of information."

"If you think I'm going to tell you about the General of Chaos’ plans for the war, you are quite wrong" Oogie Boogie replied. "You're not going to get anything out of me."

"At least we have one villain down to worry about" Golden Paladin Paladin told him.

And, saying this, he invoked the cell blaster and, loading it with his magic, the General of Peace sucked Oogie Boogie to the life cell there, placing it then in the prison-book.

"Back to the place where you should never have left" Golden Paladin said, turning then to Luna. "Thank You, Princess Luna. Thanks to you, the Dream World regained the tranquility that it had before."

"Yes, that's true…" she said. “However, I can't help but be worried."

"About what?" Golden Paladin asked.

"Oogie Boogie did not yield much of a fight. And that was strange. It seemed like he wanted to be captured."

"But that doesn't make sense. Why would he want that?"

"I don't know" Luna replied. "It's just a feeling."

In Tartarus, Oogie Boogie had appeared in one of the cells located on one of the upper levels, where shackles appeared to hold his hooves. After your appearance, the Dragon King gave a laugh and said:

"I was wondering when you'd be back to Tartarus, Oogie Boogie."

"You and your taunts" the evil spirit said. "You must think that because of your royal status you can mock the others. But that status is no longer as valid as it was before. I don't know if you know this, but the dragons have a new king."

That comment made the Dragon King to adopt a somber air and he said:

"That sample of a dragon has no profile to be king."

"And yet, he managed to win the title of Dragon King" Oogie Boogie said.

"Do I have to hear you talking about that forever?" the Dragon King asked. "If this is my punishment from the General’s part, then they finally managed to annoy me."

"Don't worry about it" Oogie Boogie said. "Maybe you don't have to stay in front of my presence for much longer."

"What do you mean?" the Dragon King asked.

"What I mean is that the Generals are so ready to capture villains that they don't hesitate to put us in the book when they have opportunity, even when we let that happen" Oogie Boogie said.

"Are you saying that you let them capture you?" the Dragon King asked. "Why would you do something like that?"

"Because of this" the evil spirit replied, making appear a sphere made of darkness. "It's time to bring some shadows to this place so bright."

And he threw the sphere that went through the cell bars and fell until it hit the ground and break. An immense darkness appeared, to the astonishment of all the imprisoned villains, and the General of Chaos appeared.

"Greetings, fellow villains" the General of Chaos said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the General of Chaos and I am here as a representative of our master, the Lord of chaos, and I'm here to set you free."

"And why should we trust you?" Icy asked.

At that time, Cerberus appeared, snarling at the General of Chaos. He prepared to attack when the General of Chaos launched a powerful magical beam against the three-headed dog that hit him and threw him against the ground, leaving him out of combat. The villains were all impressed seeing the General overthrowing the General of Peace’s watchdog.

"Well, I think I like him" Stormy said. "He's got style."

"Yes, and I love all that darkness" Darcy said.

"Our master needs your help to fight for him against our natural enemies: the followers of the Lord of Order" the General of Chaos said. "A great war is approaching and we need all the help we can get to fight our enemies. However, due to my presence here, it will not last for the Generals to appear and, in spite of my power, confront them at the same time is something I'm not willing to do. I will only take a few of you. But don't worry, when the Lord of Chaos win the war and conquer the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest, you can be sure that all of you will find freedom."

And the villains applauded what the General said. He then invoked six life cells, some of the cells that the Lord of Chaos had stolen when he broke in the prison-book.

"The fact that the dragons belong to the alliance, it makes them a fairly serious threat. But I know there are some who don't like particularly of the new regime. So, your help will be very useful, Dragon King."

He made a life cell approach the Dragon King's cell and, by loading it with his magic, he absorbed the great dragon.

"And better than having a giant beast, is having two giant beasts" the General said.

And another cell approached the Kraken’s cell, absorbing it as well.

"Hey, what about us?" Icy asked, referring to herself and her sisters.

"Yes, if you want power, we can give it to you that" Stormy said.

"In fact, I can see that" the General said. "After all, the Lord of Chaos can't deny that all the chaos you caused was very useful to him."

And he made three life cells absorb them too.

"And a little bit of agility and speed in flight can also be useful" the General said. "Featherwing, I'm talking about you."

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Finally I can soar through the skies again."

And the last life cell absorbed her.

"What about me?" asked Fire Punch. "After all I've done for the Lord of chaos, I also deserve my freedom."

"Yes, I deserve it too" Arimaspi said. "After everything I've done."

"No offense, but the Lord of Chaos still didn't forget your failures to him" the General of Chaos replied. "But don't worry, you will have your freedom... after we win the war."

At that moment, the General of Chaos managed to feel the Generals of Order getting close.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, fellow villains. But now I have to go."

He turned to Oogie Boogie and told him:

"Thank you for your sacrifice, Oogie Boogie. But remember..."

"Not a word" he completed. "Don't worry, I know exactly how to deal with our dear friends from the Order."

"I hope so" the General of Chaos said. "And that goes for all of you."

And, having said this, he disappeared in a wave of darkness.

Seconds after his departure, Golden Paladin and Mirror Coat appeared in a burst of light. Golden, watching Cerberus unconscious, said while addressing to him:

"Oh no, Cerberus..."

He approached his loyal three-headed dog and saw that, in spite of everything, he was fine.

"Don't worry, partner, I'm taking you to a place where you can rest."

"He will be able to rest, but we won't" Mirror Coat said, looking around. "It seems there was another escape."

Golden looked around and was able to identify what were the cells that had been emptied.

"But how did this..."

It was then that he realized everything.

"It can't be."

He made a pillar up to become ahead of Oogie Boogie’s cell, who was with a relaxed air.

"What did you do?"

"Well, if you're so smart, General of peace, why don't you find out for yourself" Oogie Boogie said.

"You and the others could not do anything" Golden Paladin said. "The bars of the cells can absorb any magic to prevent any escape. Unless someone had used a magic that the cells recognize: the magic of life cells. And as the Lord of Chaos has the life cells he stole from the prison-book... "

"I see you've started to understand" Oogie Boogie said.

Mirror Coat, appearing alongside Golden Paladin, asked:

"But why did you do this? Now, you're stuck in a cell."

"Believe me, for what we have planned for the war, my help is not needed" Oogie Boogie said. "I'm glad I've been able to work for the success of my master’s plan. Besides, it's not that I'm going to stay here for a long time. After all, when we win the war, we're all going to be free."

"What do you have planned for the war?" Golden Paladin asked.

"That is something that you will never hear coming out from my mouth... or my mind" Oogie Boogie answered. "I know how to deal with each one of you. I've been inside of all of your minds. There's nothing you can do to make me talk."

That angered Golden visibly and he, in an anger access, made chains emerge from the background wall, surrounding Oogie Boogie and arresting him tightly to it.

"You're going to tell us everything we want to know, one way or another" Golden Paladin said. "And if you don't cooperate, I will continue to force you."

And he made the chains get tighter. Oogie Boogie moaned before the pain they were causing to him, but he kept the smile and said:

"Who would have thought that the General of Peace could get so angry."

Mirror Coat put a hoof on Golden Paladin’s shoulder and said to him:

"Let him go, Golden, it's obvious he won't say anything. Don't let him get to you. You are the General of Peace and you shouldn't let a cheap villain like him make you lose control."

Listening Mirror Coat’s world, Golden Paladin realized he was right and so he freed Oogie Boogie from the chains of the wall of his cell, saying:

"You're right, he's not worth it."

And the pillar descended and Golden Paladin continued:

"We're bringing Cerberus to the Light Kingdom. Leaf Mane needs to take care of him. And we also need to tell the Princess Twilight what happened. She’s not gonna to like it."

And he, Mirror Coat and Cerberus disappeared in a burst of light.

The Regent's Decision

With the escape of six villains from Tartarus because of the plan the General of Chaos and Oogie Boogie executed, both the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest were even more vigilant than ever. This turn of events has made it clear to the regents that they couldn't underestimate none of the capabilities of their enemy.

Spike and Ember were much too busy to ensure that the dragons didn't follow the previous Dragon King and soothe those who feared him, because, after all, most of them knew of his tendency to control his subjects, preventing them from having the freedom they deserve.

In order to ensure a quick response having account Kraken and Featherwing, it was not uncommon seeing in Griffonstone and Equestria a lot of the guards watching the marine coasts and the sky. The Wonderbolts had even offered to help.

At the Wonderbolts Academy, Spitfire was giving orders to her colleagues to look the skies for Featherwing.

"Wind Maker and Silver Zoom, you two are going to Las Pegasus "she said. "Misty Fly and High Winds, to Manehatten. Surprise and Fire Streak, to Filly Delphia and Baltimare. Rainbow Dash and Soarin, you stay with Canterlot and Ponyville. Fleetfoot, you come with me to Vanhoover. Let's all make sure that Equestria is not attacked by no villain before the war began. So, what are you waiting for? Move it!"

And all took flight.

"I just hope we find that harpy" Rainbow Dash said to Soarin, while they overflew Ponyville. "I can't wait to kick her butt and put her back in Tartarus."

"Don't forget that only the Generals of Order and Twilight can do that" Soarin said. "Beyond that, we cannot ignore the fact that Featherwing is quite dangerous."

"Don't worry, Soarin" Rainbow Dash said. "After all, we are the strongest duo of the Wonderbolts."

When she heard that Icy, Darcy and Stormy had escaped from Tartarus, Cherry became very worried. Big McIntosh was able to see it. Once, at Sweet Apple Acres, Cherry was in the kitchen watching Apple Flower playing outside when Big McIntosh put his hoof over her shoulder and said to her:

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

"Maybe, but I know those witches, Big Mac" Cherry said. "They are very persistent and obsessed with revenge. I'm afraid that they may appear here and…"

"If they show up, we will deal with them" Big Mac said. "As we always do. And don't forget you have ponies that can help you."

That made a smile appear on Cherry’s face and she said:

"Thank you, Big Mac."

And the two gave a hug to each other.

In Thicket, a meeting was happen between King Aspen and his council, where the topic of discussion was the approaching war. Hawthorn was also present, but absent in his mind. Those meetings were something that always bothered him. However, unlike him, there was someone who was paying attention to every word that was being said in that meeting. Hidden inside Shark Skin, Kelp managed to realize how strong the power of Thicket’s military force was. That meeting concluded with Aspen saying he would summon a meeting with all the other regents.

After a few days, this meeting was held in the Thicket castle. Each of the regents had brought someone to serve as both bodyguards and adviser. Aspen had Blackthorn by his side, Twilight had Blue, Cadance had Shining, Celestia had White Light, the former captain of her royal guard, Luna had Thunder Night, Spike had Ember, Hard Stone had Stone Quack, Mystic Heart had Arcing Thunder and Ingrid, Gael, Strongpaw, Godot and Kyrippos had one of the guards who had accompanied them to the Summit.

“You all came quickly” Aspen commented.

“The situation calls for swift action” Cadance said.

“Mainly after what happen in Tartarus” Hard Stone said. “It’s hard to believe that a place that should be secure ended up having so many escapes. Perhaps your General of Peace is losing his touch, Princess Twilight.”

“Golden Paladin’s capabilities as General cannot be questioned” Twilight replied. “This was a plan from the General of Chaos and Oogie Boogie taking advantage on our duty that is to defeat and capture every threat to our worlds.”

“For sure that what happened in Tartarus is bad, but we couldn’t expect anything less from the General of Chaos” Celestia said.

“I knew something was wrong when I captured Oogie Boogie” Luna said. “I should had realized before.”

“You cannot blame yourself, sister” Ingrid said. “How could you know what would happen.”

“Furthermore, we cannot waste anytime thinking about that” Mystic Heart said. “What is done is done. We can only try to deal with it.”

“That’s why that we already started by putting guards in high alert both on the see and the sky” Gael said. “If any surprise attack coming from Featherwing or the Kraken, we will be ready for it.”

“Well, organizing something like that in such short time really is impressive” Godot said. “A little rushed, but impressive.”

“About the three witches, I and my Generals already faced them” Twilight said. “We know all of their strengths and weakness, as well as what drives them. In that way, we may be attentive of them as well. Spike, what about you? How are things in the Dragon Lands with the return of the former Dragon King?”

“Well, things are better than I expected” he replied. “Some dragons have already joined him.”

“And how can that be good?” Kyrippos replied.

“Because the majority hasn’t done that” Spike answered. “The ones who did it were the ones who were loyal to him in the past or the ones who are not very pleased with me in charge. The majority is still on my side, mainly because they didn’t forget the way the Dragon King used to control them. My role as king is still a little shaky, but the help of Lord Torch has been vital. I hope that, in time, I can prove myself as ruler to them.”

“The main problem with the Dragon King is that most of the dragons that went to his side are old, strong and savvy” Ember continued. “But we also have on our side warriors like that.”

“Well, that is a relief” Twilight said. “But also of great concern. I expected that they started to act at the moment they escaped Tartarus.”

“Perhaps they were ordered to stay put until the war” Celestia said. “If the reason why the General of Chaos took them from their cells was to gain strength for the war, he wouldn’t be using them only to have them captured again.”

“But we cannot risk let down our guard” Luna said. “The enemy can take advantage of that to star the war by surprise. And you have to think about the innocent that will not participate in the war.”

“For that, we must create places where they can go and be safe until the end of the war” Gael said.

“Maybe we can let the students of the Thee Great Fairies Preparatory Academy under the care of the fairy headmistresses or to the Wonderbolt Junior Academy due to its location in the sky” Aspen suggested. “We can even sent there other children there and increase their respective security in order to ensure their safety. I also suggest to create safe-places in our respective kingdoms where the others can be until the end of the war.”

“That seems to be a good idea” Shining said to Cadance. “We can send Gleaming and Topaz to the academy.”

“Yes, I agree with you” Cadance said to him.

“I agree with the idea too, princess” Thunder Night said to Princess Luna. “Mainly because my daughter is there.”

The other regents also agreed with Aspen’s idea.

“I think it is for the best if we advanced to a more serious subject, like the Eight and Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki and the battle strategies” Aspen said.

“Purple Smoke used is tracking skills and he thinks that he may have found where is the villains’ hideout” Twilight said. “It is located in Arimaspi’s old territory. However, it is protected by the Lord of Chaos. Even if we are able to break in, it is for the best to gather more intel first.”

“Very well, then we must proceed to share all the information each kingdom possess about the enemy” Aspen said.

“I suggest creating a separate unit in the alliance that only handles intel” Mystic Heart suggested.

“Now that’s a good idea” Hard Stone replied. “It will make the share more efficient.”

“Yes, I agree” Aspen said. “We cannot allow greed and self-interest to slow us down. But let’s us now focus in other things.”

“Like where we gonna hide the two Jinchuriki” Hard Stone said.

“It must be a place that the enemy cannot expect” White Light said.

“Well, then I guess that leaves the Light Kingdom out” Blue said.

“You’re right, Blue” Twilight said. “They would expect us to hide them there.”

“The same can be told about the Crystal Empire” Cadance said.

“And my oasis” Strongpaw said. “We cannot hide them in a place that is protected by the light of the Lord of Order.”

“And Equestria is also out of question” Celestia said. “It is very likely that it becomes a battle field.”

“And that only leaves the Enchanted Forest then” Kyrippos said, turning then to the regents of the Enchanted Forest. “Do any of you know the perfect place?”

There was a pause and then King Aspen said.

“I got just the place in my kingdom. It is a place that belongs both to Thicket and Aeropolis.”

“Wait, are you talking about…” Godot started. “Well, that really seems to be the best idea you had in this meeting, Aspen.”

When the meeting ended, Twilight asked to speak with Aspen alone and he consented.

“And why do you want to speak privately, princess?” Aspen asked, when they were alone.

“Because I need a favor” Twilight said. “I understand that your young brother Hawthorn has Eight-Tails under control. According to Golden Paladin and Mirror Coat, your kingdom has been the one to be able to have Jinchuriki with a better control over their Tailed Beast, however the same cannot be told with Nine-Tails. Heartbeat already lost control of him once and that resulted in him breaking free from her and my son, even though he has been able to hold Nine-Tails in check during this years, he also lost control and was close to let the beast get out completely as well. My hope is that your brother can train Star and teach him how to control the Nine-Tails.”

“What are you asking is something that my ancestors have been try to remain secret, because of the dangerous that it could represent to the peace of the Enchanted Forest” Aspen replied. “If any kingdom learned how to control their respective Tailed Beast, then they could try to overcome Thicket from the status as main kingdom.”

“I understand your concerns, but this is not the time to wonder about that” Twilight said. “Your kingdom is the only one in the Enchanted Forest with a jinchuriki. Even if we defeat the Lord of Chaos and each kingdom regain their respective Tailed Beast, the secret would remain secret. Furthermore, we may be forced to use Hawthorn and Star’s power. Not mentioning what the Nine-Tails can do to my son if he doesn’t control him. You’re a parent just like me, Aspen. Would you want to see Bramble in the same situation as Star?”

“I don’t have that worry in my mind” Aspen said. “My son was always fated to become a king and not a jinchuriki and Eight-Tails is no longer a threat to Thicket and the rest thanks to my brother. But you’re right, Princess Twilight, I wouldn’t like to be on your hooves. And, because you’re Star is my son’s best friend and his parents are a princess and a General with noble hearts, I’ll accept your request.”

“Thank you, Aspen.”

“And I also accept your request because I also predicted we could need my brother and your son’s power.”

“You did?” Twilight asked. “What are you saying?”

“To where I am sending those two is not just some secret place where they can both hide” Aspen replied. “Long time ago when we were younger, Hawthorn and I trained in that island. It is a place created by Thicket and Aeropolis, who possess a strong alliance for centuries, to train their respective Jinchuriki.”

“I see…”

“Now the only think you have to ensure is that your son goes there without knowing what really is happening.”

“You don’t have to worry about that” Twilight said. “I and Golden have already planned everything.”

A few days later, the end of the exames had come to the students of the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy. The students felt quite relieved, not only because of the end of the exams, but also because of the approaching summer. They could feel the days start getting warmer and sunny. But, to a student in particular, that meant something else.

Star had arranged his saddlebags and went to meet with Golden Paladin in the place where they used to meet for their trainings. Finding the General of Peace already waiting for him, Star said:

"I'm ready, Golden."

"I can see that" he said. “But there is a great difference between being ready on the outside and ready on the inside. I have to ask the latte to you."

"Yes, I am ready, but also quite nervous, I admit" Star said. "Do you really think I'm going to be able to control the Nine-Tails? You know how bad ended all the times I've tried to do that, don’t you?"

"I have faith in you, young prince” Golden Paladin answered. "You have a strong will. In addition you will have all the help possible to finally tame the demonic fox."

"Hey, can’t you just give me a clue to where we're going to?" Star asked.

"Well, that will be a surprise" Golden Paladin said. "Believe me, to where we're going, the secrets of how to control a Tailed Beast will be revealed to you."

True Self

After walking through Thicket for the rest of the day and camping for the night, Golden and Star finally arrived, early in the morning, to what should be their destination. It was a huge lake. It was so big that it gave the impression of being a sea if it weren't for the mountains that appeared in the distance.

"So what now?" Star asked to Golden. "We cross the lake?"

"Now, we wait" he replied. "Someone's coming to get us. I just hope they don't take too long."

"You don't have to worry about that, General" a voice said. "We're here."

Blackthorn appeared and, shortly after, a boat stopped nearby.

"Allow me to introduce myself" Blackthorn said. "My name is Blackthorn and I'm the captain of the Thicket royal guard. And of course I recognize you, Golden Paladin. The General Peace is quite well known in any side of the Enchanted Forest. And you're certainly Prince Star Knight. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

"We too, Blackthorn" Star Knight said, turning then to Golden Paladin. "I didn't know we were going to be accompanied by deer of the Thicket royal guard."

"Well, where we are going to train is pretty special" Golden Paladin said. "It belongs both to Thicket and to Aeropolis, then it is located in the middle of the lake that defines the border between these two kingdoms."

"If you embark now, we can make our way immediately" Blackthorn said.

"That would be nice" Golden Paladin said. "Come on, young prince. This lake is bigger than it looks. We still have to sail a little bit until we reach our destination."

And all boarded the boat who started advancing smoothly. Golden was right about the lake being bigger than it seemed. However, it didn’t last until they finally reached their destination. It was an island, but, at first glance, there seemed to be nothing more but large stone spikes that gave it a very terrifying look.

“I didn’t expect this” Star confessed.

“I know the outsider is not very impressive, but wait until you met the inside” Blackthorn said to Star. “And since you don’t provoke them, the creatures that live here will leave you alone. Except…”

“Except what?” Golden Paladin asked.

“Well, it lives along the shore” Blackthor said.

It was at that moment that giant tentacles appeared and so, before them, a giant squid appeared.

“Oh no, it’s it!” Blackthorn exclaimed. “That’s the think I was trying to warn you about! Watch out!”

At that moment, with a quick tentacle movement, the squid grabbed Star and took him. Before that, Golden prepared to act. But when he was about to do something…

Hawthorn, in his Eight-Tails form, appeared and then punched the squid strongly, saying:

“Here you have, little squid, a present for your mischief.”

That punch made the tentacle that the squid was grabbing Star with go loose and Star opened his wings and landed safely on the boat.

“But what is that?” Star asked, referring to Hawthorn.

“That’s Lord Hawthorn” Blackthorn replied, with a smile.

“Wait, you mean Bramble’s uncle?” Star asked.

“Yes, that’s…” Golden Paladin started.

And, sitting on one of Eight-Tails’ tentacles, Hawthorn appeared, with Shark Skin, bound with bandages, on his back, sitting and saying:

“Yes, it’s me.”

After the squid returned to underwater, Eight-Tails’ body returned to Hawthorn’s body and then he landed on the boat.

“Thanks for saving me, Lord Hawthorn” Star thanked.

“You don’t have to thank me, kid” Hawthorn replied. “That squid is always causing problems and never learns.”

“Well, I think it is for the best if we get to the island and take our guesses to their rooms” Blackthorn said.

After they landed, Star, Golden Paladin and the deer started to walk to where they would stay. Blackthorn was right, as the island looked like a jungle in the inside.

“Well, this place is not like the rest of the Enchanted Forest” Star noted. “It doesn’t have the same… well, enchantment.”

“This island is noted as remaining in its wild form” Blackthorn said. “Not even the fairy dust is able to reach it. That’s why it is called the Wild Isle.”

“You also said that there are other animals in here” Golden Paladin said. “If the island itself is wild…”

“You don’t have to worry about that” Hawthorn said. “I stand at the top of this place.”

“As long as you stay here, this place will not represent any danger” Blackthorn continued. “Beyond that, all the deer that it’s here is very skilled in sensor spells. If any danger approaches, we will know.”

Now Golden Paladin understood the reason why that island was chosen by King Aspen to hold Hawthorn and Star.

“If you excuse me, I have to say hello to my friends” Hawthorn said. “See ya.”

And he moved away.

“I never imagined that Bramble’s uncle was so different from him and King Aspen” Star said.

“Well, of course he’s different” Blackthorn replied. “After all, he is one of our greatest heroes. Not only he was able to tame the beasts of this island, but he also has Eight-Tails under perfect control.”

“What?” Star asked. “Does that means…?”

“Yes, he is a Jinchuriki, just like you” Blackthorn confirmed. “He has inside of him the Eight-Tails.”

“He’s… the Eight-Tails’… Jinchuriki?” Star said, without believing, turning then to Golden Paladin. “Golden, you knew about this?”

“Well, of course I knew. And so does Bramble. After that day when you saved him from that chimaera, he realized you were also a Jinchuriki, just like his uncle.”

“That’s why he knew so much about Tailed Beasts and Jinchuriki” Star realized. “But why didn’t he tell me that?”

“Don’t blame him for not telling you, young prince” Golden Paladin said. “I was the one to ask him to not to tell. I knew that if you get to know about Lord Hawthorn, you would try to make him train you when you were not ready yet.”

“I see…” Star said. “Well, but I’m ready now.”

“Well, then you lucky, because this island is also the place where he trains to control the Eight-Tails” Blackthorn said.

After Hawthorn returned, they advanced and arrived to a building carved in a mountain with the representation of the Eight-Tails’ head over the entrance. Once inside, Star went to his room, where, lying on the bed, started thinking about Hawthorn and what he heard about him being able to control his Tailed Beast completely. He was the first Jinchuriki he knew to be able to do that. Not even Chief Strongpaw was able to control One-Tail, having to use a seal so strong that even prevented him from sleeping.

Having come to a decision, Star got up and got out of his room, heading to the one that belonged to Hawthorn. Arriving there, he knocked the door and waited. The door then opened and Hawthorn appeared.

“Well, if it isn’t the little prince” he said. “What do you want?”

“I want you to train me” Star said.

“You want me to what?”

“I’m like you. I’m a Jinchuriki too. But I can’t control the Nine-Tails inside of me yet. So, please, I need you to teach me how to control my Tailed Beast.

There was a pause, where the two jinchuriki looked to each other and then Hawthorn said:

“No way. I came here because my brother, King Aspen, ordered me to take a vacation. Why would I give up my free time for the likes of you, kid. Even if you’re my nephew’s friend, I don’t think I can do that.”

“Because you’re a jinchuriki just like me!” Star exclaimed. “I don’t understand why won’t you help me.”

“Well, what a determination” Hawthorn commented. “Maybe you can make me change my mind.”

He then extended his hoof and said:

“First, let’s see if you can greet me as it must be and the only way to do that is with fist bump.”

Star then lifted his hoof and bumped with Hawthorn’s. There was a pause and then the prince deer smiled a little and said:

“Well, it was nice to meet you, boy, but I have other things to do.”

“What, wait…” Star started.

But before the young alicorn could say anything else, Hawthorn closed the door.

“Hey, but what’s your deal?!”

After a few failure attempts to make him open the door again, Star went to Blackthorn’s room and, after knocking, the captain answered, opening the door.

“What is it, Prince Star Knight?”

“I want you to tell what kind of training Lord Hawthorn uses to control his Tailed Beast” the young prince said. “He trained in this island, didn’t he?”

“Oh, that’s what you want” Blackthorn said.

“Yeah, but he doesn’t what to use his time to train me, so I decided to come to you instead” Star replied.

“To me?”

“I don’t care if he is a great hero. He is mean and stubborn and he seems to not care for things. I thought he would be more understandable about my situation.”

“Now you listen to me very careful, little prince” Blackthorn said in an irritated and scolding way. “You don’t know anything about Lord Hawthorn. I advise to not say anything you can regret later.”

Star was speechless before Blackthorn’s reaction. He could see through his eyes the great amount of respect he had for Hawthorn.

“As a jinchuriki, you must know how it is like to live with that burden” Blackthorn continued. “Mainly with you two belonging to a royal family. Tell me, isn’t that true?”

“Yes, I do know all about it” Star replied. “And he should know how it was like to me too. So I don’t understand why he won’t help me out. I just…”

But Star couldn’t finish. Blackthorn then noticed the suffering that Star must have suffered during his foalhood and that he did really understand what Hawthorn passed through. In a calmer voice, he said:

“Don’t worry, Lord Hawthorn has been watching over you. I’m sure there is a reason why he did this. Listen, did you exchange greetings?

Before that question, Star remembered the hoof bump he shared with Hawthorn.

“Well, we did share a hoof bump” he said.

That answer made Blackthorn smile and say:

“Good, that’s what I wanted to hear. Very well, Prince Star Knight follow me.”

“Why?” Star asked.

“I’ll take you to Lord Hawthorn’s training grounds” Blackthorn replied.

“Cool!” Star replied, all enthusiastic.

“Then, I’ll tag along” Golden Paladin’s voice said.

And he approached, saying.

“As the General of Peace and the caster of Prince Star Knight’s seal, it is my duty to look out for Prince Star Knight.”

“I see… It is not a problem, General” Blackthorn said. “Let’s go then.”

And Blackthorn took Star and Golden Paladin to a waterfall that formed a little lake with a round stone in the middle.

“Is this it?” Star asked.

“Yes, this place is called the Waterfall of Truth” Blackthorn said.

“The Waterfall of Truth?” Golden Paladin asked. “He learns to control the Tailed Beast here?”

“Not quite” Blackthorn replied. “It is just the first step. Prince Star Knight, sit down on that rock and close your eyes. You’ll see your true self.”

“See my true self?” Star asked.

“That’s right” Blackthorn replied.

Wondering about what Blackthorn was talking about, Star took flight and landed on the rock, sitting then. He then closed his eyes and concentrated, while Golden Paladin and Blackthorn watched him.

For a few seconds, Star remained sit and with his eyes closed and then a voice asked:

“Why?”

Star opened his eyes and saw a figure coming from the inside of the waterfall, while saying:

“Why didn’t you give them your autograph back in the Light Kingdom?”

“What the…” Star started.

“I can’t blame you” the voice said. “I mean, after all, they suddenly got nice and tried to get friendly with you.”

And the figure get out of the waterfall and Star was shocked to see himself. He was really just like Star, except for the eyes, who were red with black sclera, and a much eviler look.

“They were completely disgusting, weren’t they?” the other Star asked.

Star couldn’t believe that his eyes were seeing another Star.

“Don’t you remember?” the other Star asked. “Even with our mother being their beloved princess and ruler, they treated us like outcasts and then, from one moment to the other, they forget all about that?”

Star understood he was talking about all those light ponies who asked for his autograph before Heartbeat appear.

“Who the hell are you?” Star asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” the other Star asked. “Come on, I’m you.”

“What? That can’t be. I don’t even made a clone.”

“I’m no clone. I’m the real you. The one that exists inside your heart. I am you.”

Star got up and exclaimed:

“What are you talking about?! I have no idea who you are! You’re not like me!”

All this was happened inside Star’s mind, as, in the real world, he was still sitting with his eyes closed and with Golden Paladin and Blackthorn observing.

“What is happening to him?” Golden Paladin asked. “I can sense something around Prince Star Knight.”

“Don’t worry about that” Blackthorn answered.

Inside Star’s mind, the other Star said:

“So, they call this place the Waterfall of Truth? I never thought I would be able to immerge completely like this. I like this place. Anyway, I’m the truth you’re supposed to face. I’m the real you, your true self inside.”

“The real me?” Star asked. “But…”

“Yes, I’m the hatred that’s inside you” the other Star completed. “I’m the dark part of you.”

That shocked Star. He always knew that there was darkness in every being, but he really didn’t expected to face his own dark self.

“The only difference between us… is that Nine-Tails is taking a really serious liking to me” the other Star said with a wicked smile.

“Then you…” Star started.

He remembered what Golden Paladin said at the time he gave him the key of the seal, that the Nine-Tails needed hate to create his own energy. So that other Star was the reason why Nine-Tails was always able to subdue him to his will.

“Yeah, you got that right” the other Star said, as if he knew what Star was thinking about. “Just face it, I’m the real one here. And I’m not let you kick me out, your fake.”

“So that’s how it is, uh?” Star said.

And the other Star took flight and started flying in Star’s direction, ready to attack. He tried to punch, but Star blocked the attack and tried to counter-strike, only to be blocked by the other Star as well. The latter was always smiling, a smile that really pissed Star off.

“You’re the fake one” Star said to him. “And I’m going to prove it!”

At the other side of the island, Hawthorn was with giant bears. He was inside a circle, ready to battle one of the bears.

“Come on, anytime now” Hawthorn said to the bear.

And it advanced to attack Hawthorn, but he made tentacles of Eight-Tails appear and used them to fight a battle of strength with the bear. Eventually, Hawthorn was able to throw him out of the rink, retracting the tentacles after that.

“Well, I won” Hawthorn said, approaching the bear. “You still have to train a little more, friend.”

The bear replied with a slight roar.

Inside Hawthorn’s mind, he was sitting on Eight-Tails’ muzzle and the Tailed Beast told him:

“Hey, Hawthorn, if you have time to play around, you could have look to that Nine-Tails’ kid, you know. After all, Jinchuriki have to stick together, right? I don’t really care for the Nine-Tails, but that kid got potential. I was crazy and wild too once, but we met and look at me now. Plus, he reminds me of you…”

“Hey, we don’t have to rush into things” Hawthorn said. “That kid may have potential, but he still have a lot to learn. I could see in his eyes. He is still not ready.”

Inside Star’s mind, he and his true self have been fighting for a while, but that only left the two of them tired and lying on the lake. Star started to get up while saying:

“Damn it…”

How would Star defeat his true self if they had the same strength? That would probably never end.

As if reading his mind again, the other Star said, turning to him, still smiling:

“Exactly, there’s no way you can beat me. Not ever.”

Star got up and then said:

“Then I will overwhelm you with numbers!”

And, with a multiplication spell, he created some clones. But the other Star also used the multiplication spell to create the exact same number of clones than Star’s.

“Damn, I can’t believe this!” Star exclaimed. “We even make the same amount of clones.”

“Hey, you’re pretty sharp figuring that out” the other Star said with a mocking voice.

“That’s it!” Star exclaimed, turning then to his clones. “Go!”

“Go!” the other Star exclaimed.

And the two types of clones went against each other, starting fighting.

Outside, Golden Paladin asked to Blackthorn:

“Can you explain me what’s going on?”

“When one sits before the waterfall, when you focus and enter in your mental sphere, the waterfall becomes a mirror and reflects your true self. It is truly a mystical place. So, right now, Prince Star Knight is fighting against himself.”

Inside Star’s mind, the clones were fighting and disappearing at the same time. Then, the last clone of each Star helped their respective summoners creating a Spiraling Sphere and they went against each other, hitting the two spheres, what created, what created a great explosion.

Star then woke up, feeling then the pain of that battle.

“Prince Star Knight” Golden Paladin called, teleporting to his side. “Are you all right? What happened?”

“It’s this guy…” Star said. “He looks just like me. And he…”

“What?” Golden Paladin asked.

“I think he was my dark half” Star said.

Now Golden Paladin understood what Blackthorn said about Star being battling his true self. Star was battling his own darkness, the one thing that allowed Nine-Tails control him.

“We’re both the same” Star said. “We have the same strength, we use the same spells, the same fighting style, the same tricks… Everything is identical with us. We could fight forever.”

“I see…” Golden Paladin said.

“You must defeat him or else you won’t be able to handle the Tailed Beast’s power” Blackthorn said. “I told you, the Waterfall of True is merely the first step.”

Facing Nine-Tails

After what happened at the coast with Hawthorn and Blackthorn finally repairing their friendship, they returned to the inside of the Island. While they were walking, Hawthorn was at the front with Star and he told him:

“Hey, kid, thanks for trying to rescue Blackthorn back there.”

“You don’t have to thank me” Star said. “I did what I had to do.”

At the back, Blackthorn said to Golden Paladin:

“Prince Star Knight sure does have a mysterious something that draws others to him. Lord Hawthorn is one of them.”

“I totally agree with you” Golden Paladin replied. “He sure is special.”

“You know, kid, I was wrong about you” Hawthorn said to Star. “You’re not what I expected.”

“Yeah, I can say the same” Star replied.

Golden was happy to see that Star and Hawthorn were getting along. That only would be beneficial for Star in the way of how to control Nine-Tails.

“Hey, kid, why don’t you bump my hoof?” Hawthorn asked, extending his hoof.

That request at first confused him, but then he remembered when Blackthorn asked him about the hoof bump he and Hawthorn had done earlier and then saw how that was how reconnect their friendship just now. So, Star did what Hawthorn asked bumped his hoof with his own.

“Well, it seems we have some progress” Hawthorn commented, dropping his hoof. “Return to the Waterfall of Truth and I can guarantee that this time around you’ll pass with flying colors.”

They all returned to the waterfall and Star went to sit in the stone platform, while Golden Paladin, Hawthorn and Blackthorn watched him. The alicorn prince closed his eyes and focused, just like the last time. It didn’t long until he found himself again inside his mind with his other self appearing from the waterfall and looking at him with his wicked smile.

“You haven’t learned your lesson, ah?” the other Star said. “Try everything you want, but it will still be the same. You can’t defeat me.”

Star opened his eyes and looked to his other self, this time smiling slightly, and said:

“Yeah, I know I can’t defeat you with force. I get that now. Because the two of us have the same moves.”

“And you can’t chase me out neither” the other Star continued. “I know you, better than anyone else could ever know you.”

And Star got up, while saying:

“Then you must already know.”

“I already know what?” the other Star asked, without his smile.

“What I just decided earlier” Star replied.

That answer really didn’t cause any understanding to the other Star who asked:

“What are you talking about now?”

“Don’t act as you don’t know” Star replied. “Alright, fine. This place is suppose to reveal the truth in your heart, right? Just let me concentrate and I’m going to show you right now.”

Star close his eyes to concentrate and then, to the other Star’s surprise and shock, letters appeared in the air above Star, saying: From your young prince, Star Knight.

“What you see here is my autograph” Star said.

That really irritated the other Star who said with great disdain:

“You bastard…”

That answer wasn’t exactly what the other Star wanted to hear, but Star knew that was what he needed to show him, as it was because of his previous statement about the reason why Star didn’t give any autograph to the light ponies that caused him to have doubts about their real intensions towards him.

“I couldn’t give it to the ponies back home, but I have one now” Star said to his true self.

That answer only made the other Star more furious and then exclaim:

“So what you came up with some autograph! What a joke! Everypony back home is just sweet-talking you. They have been lying to us since we were kids, making stupid rules and turning us into outcasts! Don’t you remember that! It was always so hard and so painful to you seeing them looking up to your parents and looking down to you. I’m the only one that will ever understand you. You can’t trust any of those light ponies.”

“Maybe” Star said. “The light ponies are important, but there is somepony that I need to trust more first.”

And to the other Star’s astonish, Star looked at him with a warm smile and said:

“What I need to do right now is to believe in myself. I have to trust in me than all the other light ponies believe in.”

Those words really let the other Star speechless. There was a silence and then the other Star fell over his knees, starting to cry and the asking:

“Why? Why? After all they put us through…”

“I realized that by watching Lord Hawthorn. He doesn’t let himself get pulled down by doubt. And he has pride on himself.”

“Do you think that I’m something in your way?” the other Star asked, looking to Star with tears on his eyes. “What exactly am I to you?!”

“I became strong because you existed” Star said. “It’s thanks to you that I got to where I am today.”

“And?” the other Star asked while getting up. “What now? What am suppose to do from now on?!”

And he flight against Star, ready to give him a punch.

“That easy to answer” Star answered, while starting to open up his forelegs.

Seeing that, the other Star hesitated and that allowed Star to hug him when he arrived to his edge.

“You just need to become me” Star said to his other self. “You are me after all. Thank you for everything you have done, but it’s all right now.”

And, moving by his words, the other Star let his hoof go down, giving up the idea of punching Star and accepting his hug. That act made his eyes become normal and then he started to disappear, with his energy ascending to the sky.

Star returned to the real world and started to get up. Seeing that, Golden Paladin and Blackthorn looked expectant, but Hawthorn remained quiet. The alicorn prince turned and smiled, victorious. Hawthorn smiled, knowing that he would be succeeded.

“It looks like…” Blackthorn started.

“It went well, I assume” Golden Paladin said to Star.

“It’s too early to celebrate” Hawthorn replied.

He then gave a jump to the platform and asked to Star:

“What do you say? Should we try to control the Nine-Tails’ power? From this moment, I am your instructor.”

“Yes” Star said.

“Well then follow me” Hawthorn said, advancing towards the waterfall.

“May I come along with you too?” Golden Paladin asked.

“Sure” Hawthorn replied.

“How about you, Blackthorn?” Golden Paladin asked to the captain of the Thicket guard.

“I have to make periodic reports to my king” he replied. “So I must leave.”

“Well, then, thanks for all your help” Golden Paladin said, starting to advance towards the waterfall.

Blackthorn looked to Star, thinking that from that point things wouldn’t get easier for him.

Passing through the waterfall, Star found himself in an enormous chamber where there was a kind of temple with three towers. The walls of the chamber had engravings of Two-Tails and Eight-Tails and, along the way to the temple, there were statues of deer and griffons, with the peculiarity of not having heads.

“Wow!” Star exclaimed, while looking around.

“You’ll fight Nine-Tails here” Hawthorn declaired.

“Wait, I’m going to fight Nine-Tails?” Star asked.

“That’s right” Hawthorn replied. “Do you understand?”

“Yeah…”

Golden didn’t late to appear from the waterfall and became impressed with what he saw:

“Wow, this is incredible. I’ve already heard about the place where the jinchuriki of Two-Tails and Eight-Tails train to control their tailed beasts, but this is more impressive than I thought.”

“I don’t know” a voice said. “The place really needs a little bit of color.”

They all turned and saw Discord.

“Discord?!” Golden and Star asked.

“A friend of yours?” Hawthorn asked.

“Yeah, well, not that much” Star replied.

Discord made a fake offended look and then said:

“Oh my, Starry, I didn’t know you could be so blunt. Well, actually, I did. After all, you’re mother’s son. But don’t you remember all the times we played together happily? Like the time we try to make a soup.”

“If I remember correctly, you put me in a cauldron with boiling water and tried to make Star soup” Star said.

“Yeah, not really one of my best hits” Discord replied. “It really needed a little bit more of salt.”

“What are you doing here, Discord?” Golden Paladin asked. “Aren’t you afraid that Heartbeat appears and…”

“What, she’s here?!” Discord asked with pure panic in his voice, while looking around, and saying after realizing Golden was only messing with him. “Ah, ah, ah, very funny, golden head. If you have to know, I saw you and mini-Twilight heading aboard of a deer boat and… Well, call me a curious kitty.”

And cat ears and whiskers appear on Discord’s face who then disappear as he said:

“But I have to say I do am intrigued with this whole plot” Discord said. “Will this be finally the time Star will conquer the beast inside him, or will we see him lost control and gain extra tails like next time.”

And he made five more tails appear on Star that were dissipated by Golden Paladin’s magic.

“Can you stop with that?” Golden Paladin asked. “Look, if you want to stay around, behave yourself. Believe, I will not hesitate in calling, not Princess Twilight and her friends, but Heartbeat.”

“Okie dokie lokie” Discord replied. “I can’t believe I just sounded like Pinkie Pie right now. I just hope I don’t turn pinkie. It really is not my color.”

“Are you sure of this?” Star asked to Golden Paladin. “You know how Discord is.”

“He would find a way to make himself a guest, anyway” Golden Paladin answered. “At least, this way, we can keep an eye on him.”

And so they continue walking.

“Well, it seems to me this place is really ancient, so why don’t you restore it?” Golden Paladin asked to Lord Hawthorn regarding the headless statues.

“No, this statues were carved without heads to begin with” Hawthorn replied. “There is a reason for it.”

“Well, I for one love the statues” Discord said. “I for one think that you should do the same with that craving at the entrance of that castle of yours.”

That made both Star and Golden Paladin to stare to Discord who hasted to say:

“I’m just saying.”

“Lord Hawthorn, how am I supposed to fight with Nine-Tails here?” Star asked. “I mean, how can I face him at the first place.”

“I just hope it is not anything excessive” Golden Paladin said to Hawthorn.

“You think you can control a Tailed Beast without being excessive?” Hawthorn asked. “This is a sacred place where those selected as jinchuriki in Thicket and Aeropolis have long come to undergo at purification ceremonies.”

They arrive to some kind of locked rock door with a head that looked like Two-Tails by side with an open mouth.

“It’s a special way to talk with the Tailed Beast that’s inside of this structure” Hawthorn continued.

“Inside there?” Star asked.

“Only the chosen ones can get in this place” Hawthorn said, pointing then to the head that was there. “Put your head in this space and, if you’re good and without darkness in your heart, the door will open.”

Hearing him explain that made Star understand the reason of the first step at the waterfall.

“However, if there is darkness in your heart, then the door will not open and the statue will bite on your head and tear you apart. Those headless statues you saw in your way here are the jinchuriki whose hearts weren’t sincere.”

That made Star swallow dry at the thought of that happening.

“Uh, now things are getting interesting” Discord said, creating an armchair where he sit and summoned popcorn that he started to eat.

“Young prince, if you’re so nervous, why don’t you use a clone?” Golden Paladin asked.

“No way, this is a sacred place!” Hawthorn said. “There are many generations of previous jinchuriki watching over. Tricks like those won’t work.”

“If that’s the case, I don’t have any choice” Star said. “I came here to control the Nine-Tails and that’s what I’m going to do.”

And he advanced towards the head, with Discord cheering with a cap and a flag with Star’s Cutie Mark and a foam finger:

“Hey! Go, Star! And I’m not saying this because I want to see if your body becomes headless.”

Arriving to the head, he breathed deeply and then put his head inside. After a moment, he got up and said:

“But inside there is only a switch.

Discord appeared beside him and said, while examining the head:

“What?! Are you sure? Because it really looks mean enough to bite on the heads.”

“Yeah, those statues are only there to scare, nothing more” Hawthorn said.

“At least, you could have used an invisibility spell on that head of yours to appear your head had been bitten of” Discord said. “It would have been a good memory to have.”

“Well, I really did that when it was me” Hawthorn said. “I used a light-nature spell and I almost give to my brother a heart attack.”

“And I was thinking this place was sacred” Golden Paladin cynically.

“For much funnier that can be, you know I’m not a prankster” Star said.

Discord snorted and said:

“You really have your mother’s sense of humor.”

After Star had pressed the switch the door started to open. At the first glance, it appeared all light, without difference between the floor or the ceiling.

“So, is this…” Star started.

“You need to go in there and sit down, close your eyes and focus” Hawthorn said. “Just like at the waterfall. Then you’ll meet up with your Tailed Beast.”

“You know, I have already meet with my Tailed Beast inside my mind” Star said.

“Yes, all jinchuriki can do that, but this situation is a little different” Hawthorn replied.

And, having said this, he started to get in. Star and Golden Paladin followed him, but Discord said:

“Well, if I won’t see a little fight between Star and Nine-Tails, then there’s no point of being here. And I was hoping I could get some excitement with you, guys.”

And, having said this, he disappeared.

After they entered, Hawthorn said to Star:´

“Listen closely and I’ll explain everything to you. Star, what kind of sealing spell was used on your Nine-Tails?”

“I used my own sealing spell” Golden Paladin said. “It’s a variant of the spell I used on Tartarus.”

“Well, I have to say that’s impressive” Hawthorn said. “It’s even more solid than the one we, deer, use. Do you have the key.”

“Yes, Golden gave it to him some time ago” Star said.

“I knew that the only way for Prince Star Knight to control the Nine-Tails was having full control over the seal, that’s the reason why I did it” Golden Paladin said. “The only downside is if he loses control.”

“You don’t have to worry about that” Hawthorn said. “We can seal the Nine-Tails right here, if that happens. That is what this place is for: to seal a Tailed Beast until we find a new host.”

“Yes, but that won’t happen” Star said. “I’m going to do this and I’ll succeed.”

That determination caused Hawthorn to smile and then he said:

“Okay, if that’s what you want, I’ll shut the door and then tell you how to deal with the Nine-Tails.”

And the door closed and, after it did that, both Star and Hawthorn sat in front each other and bumped their hooves, letting them be that way. Star then closed his eyes and focused. It didn’t last until he found himself at the place where Nine-Tails’ cage was, while listening Hawthorn telling him:

“Very well, Star, now listen carefully. The rules are simple. Once you reach the Nine-Tails inside your mind, undo the seal” Hawthorn said.

And Star appeared before Nine-Tails’ cage, where the Tailed Beast was lying on the floor.

“Hey, Nine-Tails” Star greeted. “Always with evil glares, I see.”

“Star Knight…” Nine-Tails said, while Star took flight, but always crossing looks. “What are you up to? Where did your real you go? I don’t sense him anymore.”

“The real me?” Star asked. “I’m right here. Right in front of you.”

Star arrived to where the lock was and, before opening it, he heard Hawthorn saying:

“You may have conquered your hatred, but don’t get your guard down. The Nine-Tails is a mass of loathing and don’t forget that he is very cunning. ”

Star extended his hooves and, with a touch, the chains around the lock disappeared.

“What are you plotting?” Nine-Tails asked.

“Don’t you see I’m in the middle of something?” Star asked back. “I can’t talk right now.”

And he made the chains around his body appear and then extended his right hoof that started to glow.

“Here goes” Star said, while making a gesture with his hoof over the chains

They then began to disappear, while the locked of the cage started to be open. When the last part of the chains disappear and the seal was completely open, Nine-Tails openned the cage with a sudden move that forced Star to retreat. The fox roared to Star who struggled to not let himself be affected by it. He heard Hawthorn’s next words:

“When the Nine-Tails emerges, grab his energy with your own and pull hard. Energy can only be captured by energy. Take the Nine-Tails’ energy from him and then you will win. Basically, it will be like a tug of war.”

Star was surrounded by his own aura and a reflection of him appear. Feeling that Star was ready, Hawthorn made his part. Feeling someone invading that space that were only meant for him and his jinchuriki, Nine-Tails saw tentacles emerging from the walls and starting to hold him hard. One of the tentacles approached its tip on Nine-Tails’ head and a reflection got out to touch it, starting to extract the fox’s reflection. However, Nine-Tails was able to break free.

“Sorry kid, but it seems you’re on your own.” Hawthorn told to Star.

“Nine-Tails is really strong” Star said.

“Just one warning, there is a chance that your energy may be extracted, and you know what happens when all of it is taken.”

Nine-Tails reabsorbed the energy Hawthorn and Eight-Tails tried to take out, along with the piece of energy of the tentacle that he took when he broke free.

“Oh, I see, you hope to gain control over my power, don’t you?” Nine-Tails said to Star. “And you team with the Eight-Tails?! You, the jinchuriki of Nine-Tails?! How pitiful!”

And, with that, he rose up his head, while erecting his tails, and started to accumulate the red and blue bubbles to create the black sphere. That was even more powerful than the ones Star had used while under Nine-Tails’ influence and its mere formation was so intense that he could feel it.

“It’s certain that the risks are high, but if you take his energy, then it will be yours” Hawthorn said to Star. “Just grab any energy you can from Nine-Tails’ will and then pull it. Just don’t let yourself be caught by his hatred. Use your own will.”

The black sphere then downsized and Nine-Tails took it with his mouth and his cheeks swallowed, while smoke got out from his mouth. The Tailed Beast then launched the explosion. Star tried to dodge, but he wouldn’t make it in time.

“Don’t mock me!” Hawthorn exclaimed to Nine-Tails.

And one of Eight-Tails hands emerged from the ground and was able to stop the blast, absorbing it, what made the hand take the form of Eight-Tails’ head, while the explosion occurred.

“Thank, Lord Hawthorn” Star said.

“I was able to contain the explosion, but I can’t help you anymore” Hawthorn replied. “You’re on your own.”

“Got it” Star said. “As I am sitting still and without interruptions outside, I can get in Sage Mode.”

And, outside, the orange pigmentation appeared around Star’s eyes.

After getting rid of Eight-Tails, Nine-Tails looked up and saw Star preparing to use a giant Spiraling Sphere. When Star tried to hit Nine-Tails with it, he used three of his tails to defend. Star couldn’t believe how he was being able to defend that. The fox then moved his tails and undid the sphere, while throwing Star away. He attacked him with his tails, but Star took that opportunity to make his reflection get out and try to grab a piece of Nine-Tails’ energy, while dodging his tails.

But the fox’s speed was too much to him and one of his front paws was able to get Star and pin him against the floor. Seeing that, three Stars who were hiding behind one of Eight-Tails’ tentacles that previously tried to restrain Nine-Tails moved.

“Do you really think you can beat me?” Nine-Tails asked to Star.

“Yeah, of course I do” Star answered. “That’s why I undid the seal. And besides…”

The original grabbed one Nine-Tails, saying:

“Got you.”

Nine-Tails looked and saw the real Star, while the clone that he was pinning disappeared. Using the force of his Sage Mode, Star was able to take Nine-Tails, to his shock, and then throwing him hard against the ground. Looking up, he saw the other original with the other clone using the…

“Spiraling Star!”

And he throw it, hitting Nine-Tails, making him be involved by the strong and cutting wind of the spell.

“Now I have to hurry!” Star exclaimed, while his reflection started to pull some of Nine-Tails’ energy.

The young prince started to retreat, while his reflection pulled more and more energy. But it was then that he found some resistance as the wind stopped.

“No!” he exclaimed.

Nine-Tails rose up his body, while looking furious to his jinchuriki. However, Star could see how he was weakening. That was his chance.

But a smile appeared on Nine-Tails’ face, as he started to taint the energy the young prince was taking with his hate, turning it red. It quickly got Star’s reflection, covering it completely and all the feelings of hate started to invade Star. He could hear a crowd of voices yelling in his head.

“This voices…” Star said. “What is this?”

And it was time for his own energy starting to be taken by Nine-Tails.

Hawthorn was able to feel that. He really hoped that Star didn’t give in. That was the only thing he couldn’t really do.

While struggling, Star was able to feel the Sage Mode starting to dissipate. His eyes returned to normal, while he felt on his knees.

“Just give up” Nine-Tails told Star. “You’ll never be able to control my power. Your just a tiny little piece of my hatred.”

The feeling Star was feeling was overwhelming. He could barely breaking. His left eye started to become just like the ones of his dark self, while he started to remember all the dark feelings he had for the light ponies who despised him when he was young.

Outside, the fox cloak started to involve Star quickly, much to Golden and Hawthorn’s shock.

“The Nine-Tails’ hatred is even greater than I imagined” Hawthorn said, standing up.

“I can try to stop him” Golden Paladin said, preparing to use his magic.

Star tried to resist, but that was a very hard task and he closed his eyes. He just wanted for all that pain to go away.

“Then you can stay here” a voice said.

Star opened his eyes and saw that he was now in a different space, full of a red and calming light. Then, before him, he saw Hearbeat, smiling at him.

“Hearbeat?” Star asked. “But what are you doing here?”

“Well, when I got to know that you would try to control, Nine-Tails, I expanded my empathy to your mind using my role as former jinchuriki so I could help if you needed.”

She then noticed the red eye and said:

“But I prefer not having to look to those ugly eyes full of hatred.”

And, having said that, she used the magic of her horn to release a warm red light that filled Star with good feelings that made his left eye return to normal.

Outside, half of Star’s body was involved by the cloak, while the other half by the blood layer, with three tails, one made of energy and the other two with the blood layer.

“The Nine-Tails transformation stopped” Golden Paladin said.

“But how?” Hawthorn asked. “What did you, Golden?”

“I didn’t do nothing” Golden Paladin said. “But I think I know who.”

He could feel Heartbeat magic inside Star. It would appear his little sister was really preventive. But that didn’t surprise him, as she knew Nine-Tails better than almost anypony else.

Inside Star’s mind, he asked to Heartbeat:

“I don’t understand, why did you do this?”

“Well, first things first” Heartbeat said. “We need to tame the Nine-Tails.”

At the place where the battle was happening, Star rose up his trunk and bright red binds came out of him and started to bind Nine-Tails to the floor.

“What is this energy?!” he asked. “Heartbeat?!”

After taking care of Nine-Tails, Heartbeat said to Star, answering to his question:

“When I got to know that you would try to master Nine-Tails’ power, I knew you would need somepony to help you in case you started to lose the battle against him. After all, I know Nine-Tails just like you know him. I spend some time having to hear him trying to get to me so he could escape. ”

“Yes, you told me that already” Star said.

“I once tried to do the same thing you’re trying to do now” Heartbeat continued. “Goldy opened the seal and I tried to win the battle and I almost got it, but Nine-Tails has a special capability of finding the slightest remain of darkness in our hearts. In my case, due to my position as General of Affection, the darkness I have is not entirely mine, so he always had troubles to know how to get to me, but sometimes was able to do it and the battle I had with him for the control of his energy was one them. And, because of that, the Light Kingdom would be at risk, if it wasn’t for Goldy and Leaf Mane. That’s why I can’t let you lose to that fox and I will help you.”

“How?” Star asked.

Heartbeat smiled, with her smile full of joy transmiting the same feeling to him. She then said:

“The only way to defeat hate is with love. You can tolerate hate or ignore it, but to truly defeat it, you need to focus on the ones you love.”

“It’s not that simple” Star said. “The hate the Nine-Tails have is immense and it’s only growing. I don’t know if I…”

“You know, this reminds me of the time how we defeated Perfected Scale” Heartbeat said.

“You mean the one that was the General of Balance before my dad?” Star asked.

“Yes, the one that almost succeeded in taking all the special lights to control all Pony-World Heartbeat. But your defeated him… Well, thanks to me, of course… and you.”

“Me?”

“It was you who saved her from herself” Heartbeat said. “It was your power… your light… your love. If you were able to save your mother from being overwhelmed by the darkness of the General of Affection’s power, then you can only imagine what you can do about Nine-Tails.”

After hearing those words, Star’s confidence was restored and the love that he felt for his family, along with the one that he felt for his friends and Moonlight were able to make him stronger. Knowing that he was ready, Heartbeat told him:

“Go get him.”

At the place where the battle was happening, Star started to feel a warm feeling inside, the one that he recognized as the ones he loved. That was strong enough to make him open his eyes and be ready to fight. Nine-Tails, knowing that was Heartbeat’s doing, cursed her in his mind. The red energy that was linking Star and Nine-Tails turned blue and, at the outside, both the cloak and the layer disappeared.

“Good!” Hawthorn exclaimed. “It seems he did it!”

“Good job, Heartbeat” Golden Paladin said, more relieved.

“I can’t hold Nine-Tails for much longer” Heartbeat said to Star. “Then you can’t miss this chance.”

“Don’t worry” Star said to her. “I won’t.”

At the place where the battle was happening, Star summoned a lot of clones.

“You brat!” Nine-Tails exclaimed, trying to take Heartbeat’s binds.

The clones started to move, while Nine-Tails broke free from the binds. In pairs, the clones started to create Spiraling Spheres and then they took flight, ready to hit the nine-tailed fox who roared to them.

“You haven’t won yet!” Nine-Tails exclaimed while swiping his paw to defeat some clones.

But the binds that where still holding him tightly, making start to drop on his backs. Outside, Star got into Sage Mode that affected all the clones who all increased their respective Spiraling Spheres and then they hit him hard. The force was such that it push Nine-Tails hard, but then he was able to hold on his paws, but, from the dust created, the original Star appeared holding a Spiraling Star and exclaimed, while preparing to use it:

“Once more!”

And he hit him with it. The Nine-Tails tried to resist, but he soon found out he wouldn’t be able to do it.

“What kind of power is this?!” he asked.

While the original was holding against him, the clones where pulling the energy from the fox. Then the Spiraling Star pushed him away, while leaving only the energy they extracted from him, that was absorbed by the original, while the clones disappeared. After doing that, his body adopted a flaming orange glow that also reflected in his eyes. Looking to himself, he said, surprised:

“Now way… This really belongs to the Nine-Tails”

The fox started to get up, all thinner due to the fact most of his energy was drained by Star and, looking him victorious with his energy, his rage started to boil and he said:

“Star Knight… How dare you? YOU HAVE INFURIATED ME, STAR KNIGHT!”

And the enraged fox started to accumulate more energy for that black sphere, creating one really big.

“You still have this much power?” Star asked, really impressive.

The fox tried to diminish it, but it seemed that he couldn’t because of lack of energy.

“You really are amazing” Star said.

And with a gesture, the chains returned to his torso and golden chains emerged, starting to hold Nine-Tails by the tails and then his body. The great sphere, without Nine-Tails to hold it, simply broke.

“No, it can’t be…” Nine-Tails said.

And the cage reappeared, closing the door and sealing the lock. Starting to feel too weak due to the loss of his energy, Nine-Tails told to Star:

“You better watch out, Star Knight…”

And he went to sleep after that.

“Sorry, Nine-Tails” Star Knight said. “I promise that I’ll compensate you somehow. So just hang in there for a little while.”

Back to where he was talking to Heartbeat she said:

“I’m really proud of you, Star. You’re were able to do something that not even I was able to accomplish.”

“I wouldn’t be able to do it without you, Heartbeat” Star said.

“Nonsense, it was you did all the work” Heartbeat said. “But remember this is not over. If you really want to do control Nine-Tails’ energy completely, then you have to be able to defeat once a for all the greatest hatred you ever faced.”

And, having said that, there was a burst of light that blinded everything.

Revealing the Spy

Having defeated Nine-Tails and taking most of his energy, Star retunde to reality and opened his eyes, while showing a smile.

“Yes!” Star exclaimed, with Hawthorn replying with a smile.

“What happened?” Golden Paladin asked.

“Well, a little of this, a little of that” Star answered.

And so he bumped with Hawthorn who, getting to know what happened, he said:

“I can see that you two had a very intense fight that you were able to win. And it seems you had a little help that wasn’t mine”

“Let me guess, you got help from Heartbeat” Golden Paladin said to Star.

“How do you know?” Star asked.

“I could feel her presence inside you” Golden Paladin answered. “She’s really a box full of surprises, even for me.”

“So, she was really the General of Affection” Hawthorn said. “I knew there was something about that presence that helped you, young Star.”

“And now you were able to do what she wasn’t at the time when she was Nine-Tails’ jinchuriki” Golden Paladin said. “You have his energy, right?”

“Yes, and you don’t have to worry” Star said. “I stored the Nine-Tails’ energy in a different place than my own. That way, I’m not using it all the time.”

Inside Star, at the place where he had stored Nine-Tails’ energy, the huge amount of energy stored at the shape of a giant ball was chained by golden chains. Star, looking at it, accessed to his magic and a stream of energy came to him, starting to be absorbed by his horn.

Outside, Star took the same form he did when he absorbed Nine-Tails’ energy.

“This is how I look when I access to the Nine-Tails’ energy” Star said.

“I can sense a strong life energy coming from it” Golden Paladin said. “I can dare to say that is very likely that it can even affect my magic and the other Generals, and that’s just saying the least.”

At that moment, Star felt something dark at the same room as them. Noticing that, Golden asked:

“What is it?”

Star then said to the air:

“Do you really think you can hide from me now?”

“You’re sensing someone here?” Golden Paladin asked.

“If that’s true, then it is quite impressive as I’m not sensing anyone” Hawthorn said.

Inside Shark Skin, Kelp thought it was impossible that Star was able to sense him, as his aura was the same as the sword and anyone would be able to sense it.

“No, it’s not a physical presence” Star said. “I feel something, but it’s another thing, something sinister and it’s coming from that blade.”

He pointed to Shark Skin.

“The blade?” Golden Paladin asked.

And Shark Skin just moved out Hawthorn’s back, while its scales started to rip the bandages and the sword’s mouth opened, only for Kelp start to appear. The base of the sword landed at the floor and Kelp said to Star:

“It appears you can sense hate and other negative emotions. That ability is far more superior than any sensing ability. It is like Heartbeat’s, what makes sense. That must be a power belonging to the jinchuriki who mastered the power of Nine-Tails.”

“Kelp…” Golden Paladin said. “I knew the Lord of Chaos would ask for help to other villains. I just didn’t expect it would be you.”

“Wait, how can this be possible?” Hawthorn said. “I thought I and my brother chopped out your head out. How is it possible that you were able to dodge our team attack?”

“It was quite simple” Kelp replied “I merely switched places when we were fighting inside that bubble of water. You only cut out the head of my clone.”

“But a clone disappears when it is hit hard and there is no question that we buried a body” Hawthorn said. “And, it it was a changeling or another pretending to be you, Blackthorn would have been able to see it.”

“It was a very special kind of clone, one that cannot be perceive that easily” Kelp answered. “But let that be for now. I’m in a situation where I have to face two jinchuriki and the leader of the Generals. That’s tough, even for me. ”

Using some of the Shark Skin’s scales like insect legs, he pressed a hidden button that started to open the door of the chamber.

“No way, how was he able to figure out how to open the door.”

“Now that’s a silly question.” Kelp replied. “After all, I did come here to act as a spy.”

And after saying that, he started to used Shark Skin to walk around the walls, heading to the opened door. Decided to not let him escape, Star took flight, but the energy he now had gave him more speed than he expected and he was able to reach kelp and hit him with a single blow that was able to crack the wall, before Golden Paladin and Hawthorn’s surprise.

“Wow, he really moved so fast that seemed that he used a teleportation spell” Hawthorn commented.

Kelp couldn’t also believe in how fast Star reacted against him. The blow was also so strong that he spitted blood. In the end, Kelp managed to release himself from Star and get out. Before that, Star intended to follow him, but he noticed that one of his back hooves was stuck at the cracks of the wall.

“My leg!” he exclaimed. “I hit the wall too hard and now I’m stuck!”

“It looks like you don’t have the skills to control it yet” Golden Paladin said, turning then to Hawthorn. “Please, go after the spy, Lord Hawthorn. I’ll help Prince Star Knight.”

“Right!” Hawthorn replied, advancing to the exit, while Golden Paladin went to Star.

Meanwhile, Kelp continued to advance towards the waterfall, while Hawthorn chased after him.

Outside, Blackthorn approached the Waterfall of True, after reporting to his king, saying:

“I wonder how Prince Star Knight is doing with his training.”

When he was about to cross the lake around the waterfall, Kelp stepped out of it.

“Wait, what?” Blackthorn asked, seeing Kelp. “But you are…”

“Get out of my way, deer!” Kelp exclaimed.

“No way, kelpie!” Blackthorn replied.

And, with a tackle, Blackthorn threw Kelp with force against one of the walls of the waterfall. Soon after that, Hawthorn immerged from the waterfall.

“Hawthorn…” Blackthorn said.

“It’s a good thing you caught him” Hawthorn said, putting himself besides his friend. “He is a spy for the Lord of Chaos.”

“But I thought you and King Aspen had dealt with him” Blackthorn replied. “How can he be still alive?”

“Well, that is not certain yet, but we have major problems to think about” Hawthorn replied. “We cannot let him escape, or else the enemy will have intel about us.”

The rest of the bandages were undone and Shark Skin defused from Kelp and headed to Hawthorn.

“Damn you, Shark Skin” Kelp said to the sword.

Arriving to Hawhtorn, Shark Skin started to give some kind of hug to Hawthorn and he said to it:

“Oh, I see, he forced you. That must have been really ruff to you, hein?”

Without being noticed, Kelp drove into the water and swim until he reached the sword’s handle and started to absorbed energy. Feeling that, Shark Skin started to act strange and bite Hawthorn while continuing to give him his strong “hug”.

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little bit, my dear?” Hawthorn asked to Shark Skin.

And then Blackthorn, who had been distracted by Hawthorn and Shark Skin weird interaction, noticed Kelp’s absence.

“Oh no, he escape through the water” Blackthorn said. “Hawthorn, watch out!”

Kelp started to recover his energy by absorbing Hawthorn’s through Shark Skin. After finishing, Kelp dropped the sword and Hawthorn started to get weak by the sudden loss of energy. Kelp came to the surface and Blackthorn tried to stopped him, but, all of the sudden, Kelp was surrounded by water and rose into the air and started to move away.

“He’s getting away!” Blackthorn exclaimed. “We have to stop him. If he gets out of the island, it’s over.”

“Don’t worry, I will…” Hathorn started to say.

But then he could feel his body weakening and he when to the platform where he laid down.

“Are you okay, Hawthorn?” Blackthorn asked, while Shark Skin positioned itself besides its owner.

“Yeah, I’m okay” Hawthorn replied.

Back to the chamber at the temple, Golden was able to get Star out of the crack and then started to heal him.

“I can’t believe I just twisted my hoof” Star said.

“You have to be careful about keeping your power under control” Golden Paladin said to him, after finishing. “Alright let’s go then.”

Star nodded with the head.

Kelp arrived to the edge of the island and then he used his magic to create a scroll with all the information about the enemy to give to the General of Chaos. Then he created a great and strong bubble where he put the scroll the inside. When he was about to send the bubble, he heard a voice saying:

“You know, and I was thinking this island couldn’t get any interesting.”

Kelp turned around and saw Discord, who was floating in the air while holding a tanning mirror.

“Can you imagine that the only thing I find interesting is the beach and it’s only because it’s spiked?” Discord asked. “I mean, how many beaches that you know that have spikes just like that without having been come from my own hand?”

“Discord…” Kelp said. “I must say that I’m surprised to see you. What a pleasure.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot say the feeling is mutual, Kelp” Discord replied, throwing the mirror away. “After all, your look only makes me feel sick.”

“Even though, I can’t resist but respect you” Kelp said. “After all, it’s not any villain that is capable of getting free from the prison created by those Elements of Harmony.”

Discord, who got bored from Kelp’s words, was sitting in a floating chair, while reading a magazine with a hairdryer drying the hair with hair rollers he had created. When he noticed he had finished talking, he said:

“Oh you stopped talking, good.”

And, with a flash, he appeared normal and then said:

“Sorry to disappoint you, but the feeling is not mutual.”

And he snapped his fingers and then Kelp found himself imprisoned in stocks.

“I can’t believe you’re actually helping the foolish follower’s of the Lord of Order” Kelp said. “You, a creature of chaos.”

“Yes, but I made a great friend and I wouldn’t hate that she found out that I let a villain escape without doing nothing to stop him” Discord said.

“Well, if that’s so, then it seems you failed” Kelp said to him.

And, with a move from one of his hind hooves, he made a shock wave that hit the bubble and threw it away fast.

“Now the bubble will reach it’s destination and there is nothing you can do to stop it” Kelp said.

“Your jerk!” Discord exclaimed. “And I was thinking in showing this act to everypony and rub it in their faces. Except for Fluttershy, of course. She’s the one that truly believed in me. But I guess that I can live with half of the fame.”

Star and Golden Paladin got out of the waterfall and, seeing Hawthorn getting up after recovering from the energy loss, the General of Peace asked:

“Where’s Kelp?”

“He got away” Blackthorn said. “We must find him right away, before it is too late.”

“But it is already too late” Discord voice said.

And he appeared.

“Discord…” Golden Paladin said. “What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean is that intel is all long gone” Discord said. “But, I got you a present as compensation for what you just lost.”

And, with a finger snap, he made Kelp appear and then said:

“Consider this a gift.”

“You captured him?” Golden Paladin said. “Well, I have to say that is impressive.”

“Ah, I feel insulted!” Discord exclaimed. “As if someone like me would lose to a disgusting kelpie. You could at least show some gratitude.”

Golden laughed and then said:

“Yeah, you’re right” Golden Paladin said. “Despite everything, you did a good job, Discord.”

“Finaly some recognition from a General” Discord said. “And it was from none other than Golden Paladin. It is a good thing I recorded this.”

And he made appear a recorder where he recorded Golden Paladin saying what he just said and then the spirit of chaos played it over and over again.

“Oh, I can’t wait to use this to create a remix” Discord said, turning then to the ponies and deer. “Well, dear friends, it is time for me, the great Discord to leave you. Have a nice day.”

And he disappear.

“Well, it is time to put a kelpie in the book” Golden Paladin said, summoning the cell blaster with a life cell and the prison-book.

“No, you cannot put me in those tiny little cells without any water” Kelp said.

“Don’t worry, my cells are designed to accommodate their respective prisoners in their basic needs” Golden Paladin said. “You’re going to be fine.”

And, without saying anything else, the General of Peace put Kelp inside the life cell and then inside the prison-book, from where he would end up in Tartarus.

“And it’s another villain to Tartarus” Golden Paladin said. “I just hope we can recover the ones who escape.”

Shark Skin, laying on the ground made a few sounds and Hawthorn approached it and said, while petting it:

“It seems this little one really liked him. Just look how sad it is.”

“Even so, now we have a problem” Star said. “Now the enemy will have the intel about us.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, young prince” Golden Paladin said. “What is done is done. What we most do now is to act immediately and informs the others.”

After saying that, Golden Paladin created a ball of light with all the information about what happened and directed it to Twilight. After that, he approached Blackthorn and said to him in a way that Star didn’t listen:

“We must assume the enemy knows our location” Golden Paladin said. “I think it is for the best if we moved Prince Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn to a new place.”

“I see, but you don’t have to worry about that” Blackthorn said. “There is a reason why this island was chosen to hold the two jinchuriki.”

After he told Golden the reason, the General said:

“I see, that’s ingenious” Golden Paladin said. “An actual island that is capable of sinking and unsinking itself, while having its inside completely dry thanks to a protection spell.”

“It is a mechanical defense that we, deer, created along with the griffons of Aeropolis in order to protect the Tailed Beast Temple” Blackthorn explained. “But, even with that, moving the island, will be a challenge to do it without getting Prince Star Knight knowing what we are doing.”

“Well, leave it to me” Golden Paladin replied. “I know how to deal with him.”

At the villains’ hideout at Arimaspi’s territory, the General of Chaos had summoned the villains. There, were Chrysalis, Adagio, Grogar, Ulysses, the Trix and Featherwing. There was also a mirror enchanted by the General so the Dragon King could participate in the meeting from where he was.

“So, why did you call us?” Icy asked. “Will you finally let us do something for a change?”

“I really hope so” Stormy said. “I’m so impatient to finally blow up something.”

“It is better that you don’t let us in the dark about what we’ll do now… General” Darcy said.

“I can’t believe we have to hear those newbies complaining like that” Adagio said, with only Ulysses listening to her. “It is not like they worked for years and sealed seven Tailed Beasts so our master’s plan could be realized.”

“For once, I agree with you, Adagio” Ulysses said.

“You have to learn to have patience” Grogar said to the witches. “That was what allowed our plan to get this far.”

He then turned to the General and asked him:

“So, what will be our next move?”

“I just received Kelp’s intel of the enemy” the General said, showing the scroll. “In it, I was able to know where the Nine-Tails is. It is in an island in Thicket.”

“Oh, I see…” Chrysalis said. “It seems we are back on track on our mission to get the remaining Tailed Beasts.”

“You’re right, Chrysalis” the General said. “It is time for that. And I have the best one for the job.”

“Well, finally I will be able to cause some chaos” Stormy said.

“I’m sorry, but a job like this will require speed and stealth” Featherwing said. “And the fact that we are talking about an island, it makes more sense that I am the most reasonable choise.”

“Aren’t you forgetting about me, feather brain?” the Dragon King said. “I can summon an army of dragons to deal with Nine-Tails.”

“Wow, it’s just like watching wolves fighting for a single bone” Chrysalis commented to Grogar.

“They have been confined to a cell for years” he replied her. “You cannot blame them for wanting some action.”

“Actually, I have another pony in mind” the General said. “But don’t worry, your time will come. After all, the war is close to its start. Now, let me introduce you to our new partner.”

And there was a pale yellow light and, from it, appeared a unicorn mare with a light brilliant gold coat with a scythe and three star seeds as Cutie Mark, a brilliant and moderate orange mane and light gold eyes. She had a very serene look, although it was possible to see some indifference as well.

“Dear fellow villains, allow me to introduce you our newest partner” the General of Chaos said. “Gentle Light, the General of Death…”

The Submission of the General of Death

All the villains gasped before the presence of the General of Death. For them it was inconceivable the idea of a General of Order even thinking about joining the Chaos side.

"Unbelievable..." Grogar said. “How did you manage to bring her to our side?”

"As if I would betray my master and voluntarily join a bunch of rotten..." Gentle Light started.

"Shut up, Gentle Light" the General of Chaos ordered.

She, surprisingly, complied to his order and General of Chaos said to her:

"Now, you have a new master, a master that we share."

Then he turned to the rest of the villains and told them:

"The truth is that Gentle Light is not on our team, at least by her decision. Our master was able to cast a spell that bond her to his will and, by extension, to mine."

"You've got to be kidding" Icy said.

"Show them" the General ordered to Gentle Light.

She then extended her front hooves and silver lines appeared around them, like handcuffs. After a few seconds, they disappeared from sight.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Stormy exclaimed. "I can't believe that we've got in our side death itself."

"I'm not death” Gentle Light contradicted. "I just work with it."

"Anyway, we have now the Lord of Order’s best pupil under our command, and finally we will make you pay for everything you did to our master, since you ruined the plans he had to Coltypt" the General said.

Remembering the way she had taken the lives of every firstborn of Coltypt who had parents alive and whose houses were not marked, Gentle Light gave a slight chuckle and then said:

"And that was not my best achievement" the General of Death replied. "I'm not like the other Generals. Unlike most of them, I take my job very seriously. What happened in Coltypt, I just followed my master's orders. In addition that the Lord of Chaos left us no other choice. Both I and the Lord of Order don’t like to play with life and death.

"Unfortunately for you, Gentle Light, the Lord of Chaos likes doing it" General of Chaos said to her. "And guess what, that's exactly what we will force you to do. Why don't you show to your new colleagues a piece of what you have been working since you started working for our master?"

Gentle Light looked to the General of Chaos with a fulminant look, but, with no other option, she carried her horn with magic. Suddenly, four wooden coffins erupted from the ground vertically and then their respective covers simply fell, allowing everyone to see what was inside that was something that left them stunned.

In each one was a villain who was supposed to be dead. Pandora, Rothbart, King Sombra and even a gargoyle with grayish scarlet fur with a mane of a darker shade and grayish raspberry wings were both with closed eyes and looking pale.

"I can't believe..." Grogar said.

"Impossible…" Adagio said.

"Surreal…" Chrisalis said.

"Simply… Wow!" Ulysses exclaimed.

"And I thought I'd seen everything" Dragon King said.

"Why the long faces?" Stormy asked to the other villains.

"Who are those guys?" Darcy asked.

"Only you to ask something like that" Featherwing said. "These are villains who have lost their lives. I assume that you should remember Pandora and Rothbart."

Watching closely, Icy said:

"Oh, yeah, I remember seeing them in Tartarus."

"Although she betrayed, we can't deny that Pandora was actually one of the best villains" Chrisalis said. "Thanks to her, I recovered my dear mutants eggs."

"And Rothbart could be weird, but it was he who freed me from my cell in Griffonstone" Ulysses said. "It's a shame that he was defeated by that Nine-Tails’ little brat."

"And King Sombra’s reputation will continue to exist while the Light Kingdom and the Crystal Empire still stand" Adagio said. "I just don't recognize that gargoyle."

"I do" Grogar said. "His name is Scorpan. He used to serve the Lord of Chaos, but he betrayed him and was killed by his own brother, another servant of our master. But how is this possible? How can they be here?"

"Through the Reincarnation Curse" the General of Chaos explained. "What you are seeing are our former fellow villains reincarnated in new bodies. With this curse, we can summon the souls of the dead and place them in living vessels who takes the form, mind, power and abilities of the reincarnated ones. In addition, the user of the curse is able to control the reincarnations completely, as if they were puppets."

Most of the villains seemed impressed, although Adagio and Grogar were a bit reticent.

"How dare you to use a creation of mine as a toy?" Gentle Light asked to the General. "Do you have any idea what forces you're dealing with?"

"Of course I know" he replied. "And I also know that this is just a small sample of the collection that you gathered for me. With an army of reincarnated immortal warriors, that cannot be destroyed, under my power, the victory of Chaos is almost assured. And the first thing I’ll do with this army will be finally capturing the last two jinchuriki."

And he started laughing evily.

After the meeting, Grogar approached the General and asked him:

"Do you think it is wise to use the power of Death in this way? After all, we're talking about the General that, after Heartbeat, is the most powerful and dangerous of them all. We don't know what are the setbacks of this Reincarnation Curse and, despite being under our control, Gentle Light can find some wiggle room to act. Besides, we already know the amount of warriors the enemy has and their fighting tactics and we have a much more superior army composed by clones of the Petal Sprout, Changelings, dark ponies and dragons, beyond all villains that are on our side. Is it really necessary for you to play with a force as powerful as Death?"

"I understand your concern, Grogar, but I promise you have nothing to worry about" the General replied. "I have Gentle Light completely submissive to me and, in a short time, I’ll have the secrets about her curse in my power. But for now, I have other matters to worry about like how to increase the power of our army as much as possible until the beginning of the war. My concerns are the clones of Petal Sprout. They may not be strong enough, so I have to find something that will give them a boost of power."

"And where are you going to get something like that?" Grogar asked.

"Don't worry, I know exactly where" the General replied.

With the outbreak of the great war approaching, all the kingdoms began to mobilize. The Alliance had created its own headquarters in Thicket, near the border between the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World with a lake nearby. Warriors started came from the two realms. Meanwhile, all non-combatants had already been evacuated to the places previously designated. Due to her pregnancy, Cadance remained in the Crystal Empire, while Kyrippos remained in Maretonia due to not being a fighter, having, however, sent his guards to fight.

In the room where the regents were meeting, they received the news from Twilight about the incident with Kelp.

“Now that the enemy has intel about us, we must reformulate our tactics” Godot said.

“You’re right, Godot, but since they know that our alliance is aware of the leak, they’ll cautiously watch the situation” Hard Stone replied. “That makes easy for us to set traps.”

“But what about the island?” Twilight asked. “Even with all of its defenses, we cannot affort to let our guard down.”

“Twilight Sparkle is right” Luna said. “They want the jinchuriki and they will come looking for them.”

“The island possesses a cloaking spell that prevent it from being located, even underwater” King Aspen said. “It won’t be easy for them to find it.”

“If they do go searching, the enemy will probably send a reconnaissance team” Mystic Heart said. “I honestly doubt they’ll going to try any large-scale tactical offensive maneuvers at the moment.”

“The island may be cloaked and underwater, but we cannot forget who we are dealing with” Strongpaw said. “They were once able to get in my oasis, even with it protected from any evil intruder. I agree with Princess Twilight about not let our guard down.”

“We, dragons, are excellent trackers” Spike said. “The Dragon King may send some to the searching party.”

“And we cannot forget about the changelings” Ingrid said. “They can sense love in the same way a leech can sense blood.”

“But they can also send some other villains with tracking skills” Gael added.

“Either way, we must send reinforcements” Celestia said. “But it will be meaningless if they see our forces moving. The reasonable act would be sending a small team that doesn’t call suspition.”

“Why don’t I go?” Hard Stone asked.

“King Hard Stone…” Mystic Heart said.

“I see…” Aspen said, thinking. “I have no objections.”

“But I could go” Spike said. “I would be fast and…”

“This youngsters really underestimate the elders” Hard Stone said. “Listen, young dragon, just like you, I can also fly, but I have far more experience and, most certainly, more capabilities in dealing with any situation.”

“He’s right, Spike” Celestia said. “And besides, if you go and you end up facing dragons, they could take that opportunity to end you and, without you, the dragons on our side may consider change sides.”

“I guess, you’re right” Spike said, disappointed.

Strongpaw turned to Hard Stone and asked:

“Can you really do this?”

“Don’t worry, Chief Strongpaw” the old king replied. “I am Hard Stone, the fearful king of Stonult. There is anything that can…”

And he get up in a way that caused his bad back to cause him pain again and he screamed:

“Ah, my back!”

“I think it is for the best if I go” Strongpaw said. “My sand can get me there quickly.”

“No, foul, I’d already said I’ll go!” Hard Stone said, before another pain at his back striking again.

Gentle Light appeared in Thicket in a quiet place near the great lake and then she summoned two coffins that, when opened, revealed Rothbart and Pandora. With a gesture, they opened their eyes, with them recovering a living look and revealing that their sclera was black. They both got out of their coffins that then disappeared. They then looked around, looking confused.

“Wait, where am I?” Pandora asked, noticing Rothbart. “Rothbart? What are you doing here?”

“I can ask the same question to you” Rothbart replied. “I thought you were dead. I thought I was dead.”

“You’re both dead, so stop doing such a fuzz” Gentle Light said, approaching.

Seeing her, they both put themselves in a defensive position.

“Wait, I know you” Rothbart said. “You’re the General of Death. You were the one that summoned us from the grave?”

“Yes, but because I was forced to” she replied. “Your master bond me to his will and now I must obey his command, as well his new acolyte’s, the General of Chaos. And he made me summon you so you could go capture the two remaining jinchuriki.”

“No” Pandora said. “I’ve already severed my ties to the Lord of Chaos. I’ll not serve him again.”

“Unfortunately, you don’t have any choice” Gentle Light told her. “With this curse, I control you and, by extension, so do the General of Chaos.”

That answer wasn’t really appreciated by Pandora and then Rothbart said:

“It seems it’s like the old times, Pandora. You and me as a team again. And you’ll see that I got new tricks since your demise.”

Going to his saddlebags to take some clay, he molded a bird that then he enlarged, riding it then. Pandora sighed and, without any alternative, she also rode the bird that then took flight.

King Hard Stone arrived to the edge of the great lake along with Stone Quake and Quartz Blitz and said to them:

“From here on, it’s all water” Hard Stone said. “So we’ll have to fly now.”

Hearing that, Stone Quake became very excited and said:

“Yeah! I’ll get to fly again! I’m so excited!”

“Settle down, Stone Quake, we can be going straight to a battle for all we know” Quartz Blitz scolded.

The king touched his bodyguard and, after using his earth-based magic to low his gravity, Stone Quake rose in the air, all excited.

“I told you to settle down!” Quartz Blitz exclaimed to him. “You’re so embarrassing.”

However, for more she tried to remain cool and matured, Quartz Blitz couldn’t help but find that fun.

“You’re up next, Quartz Blitz” Hard Stone said to his granddaughter, preparing to low her gravity as well.

That made her blush a little and then she replied with an awkward smile:

“All right, I guess I have to.”

While they were flying, Pandora asked to Rothbart:

“So, I am curious, how did the great Rothbart found his end?”

“Do you really think I’m going to tell you?” Rothbart asked. “You’ll probably gonna mock me.”

“And what make you believe that?” Pandora asked.

“The fact that now you’re all good and penitent and that you always tried to find a reason to mock me” Rothbart said.

“You know, the only thing I have to do is ask to Gentle Light and I’m sure she will gladly tell me how you died and I’m mock either way” Pandora said.

Rothbart sighed and then said:

“Your dear alicorn prince friend defeated me and then the General of Peace made the final blow.”

“Wait, you’re saying that Star Knight defeated you?” Pandora asked. “Wow, he must be very strong now. I’m happy for him. And I can’t believe that you actually lost to a kid.”

“He’s a teenager now and he is the jinchuriki of Nine-Tails” Rothbart replied.

“Yeah, but he is still a kid compared to you” Pandora said in a mocking way, giving then a few chuckles.

Rothbart just rolled his eyes.

After they flew for a moment, they arrived to the place where the island should be, only to find out it was not there.

“According with the information we have, the island should be here” Pandora said. “They must have moved it or hid it elsewhere.”

It was at that moment that Hard Stone appeared suddenly, punching Pandora right at the chest, penetrating inside, and then pushing her along with him.

“A very good punch for someone of your age” Pandora said. “I can’t believe that I was brought back just to be ambushed by the great king of Stonult. What an honor.”

“I was testing you out” Hard Stone replied. “And judging for your response, you’re nothing but a clone.”

Watching her, Hard Stone recognized her as being Pandora. But, according to the information he got, she died after being reformed by Prince Star Knight. He then turned his eyes to Rothbart, who had the clay bird hoovering, while watching him.

“And I can see that you’re not alone” Hard Stone said. “You and Rothbart decided to get the team back, hein? And with the fakes made of clay.”

And so the Pandora that Hard Stone had punched turned into clay.

“Hey there, Hard Stone, long time no see” Rothbart said to the king, while starting to turn into clay while heading to him.

He was able to hold on Hard Stone, while the real Pandora and Rothbart were at some distance, watching on their bird. There, Rothbart activated the explosive clay, what made it explode, along with Hard Stone.

The Wild Isle was now underwater, with Star and the others inside an underground chamber. Golden Paladin was able to convince Star in going there in order to continue his training with swords. Having created steel blades for both him and Star, they started sparring.

“I can see that you have been training, young prince” Golden Paladin told him.

“Well, when you have a father that is a warrior and a teacher that is the General of Peace, I kind of don’t have any choice but keep any skills I have sharp.”

Blackthorn was glad to see that Golden Paladin was able to distract Prince Star Knight and keeping him from knowing what they were doing. But it was then that he sensed something or someone trying to find them.

Up there, Pandora was able to detect the island. Although she didn’t want to tell, the curse made her do it.

“I found it” she said.

“Good, then do your thing, while I handle our friends here” Rothbart told her.

He was referring to Hard Stone, who had Stone Quake and Quartz Blitz by his sides, while smoke of the explosion was still in the air. The truth was that the Hard Stone that blew up was a stone clone, whose debris fell in the lake.

“You took me a little by surprise, because I heard that both you and Pandora were all already dead, Rothbart” Hard Stone said. “I wasn’t expecting to see your clay clones.”

“And it seems we were both thinking in the same thinking, having in count that you used one of your stone clones, Hard Stone” Rothbart said. “But I have to say it is good to see you again. I believe our last meeting wasn’t very friendly.”

“You tried to blow up my kingdom with one of your explosions” Hard Stone said. “I believe something like that is not friendly at all.”

“What can I say, I was trying to perfect my explosive nature” Rothbart said. “Do you know how hard it is to control a combined nature when you don’t have affinity to the natures that composes it? Mainly this one that combines earth and light. My affinity is with darkness, so you can understand the difficulty, even when it was a gift from the Lord of Chaos. Also I need to see if I could create a better explosion when combining it with dark magic so I could capture One-Tail. You should feel honored because I choose your kingdom to be my test subject.”

“I can’t believe that he is actually alive” Quartz Blitz said. “Apparently, the General of Peace is not very good in making sure the enemy is dead.”

“Watch your mouth, girl, you’re talking about a loyal servant of the Lord of Order” Hard Stone said. “Besides, he did kill Rothbart. The ones that are in front of us are not really alive. I recognize those eyes, because I already heard about it. You two are reincarnations created by the Reincarnation Curse, aren’t you? Even in death, we don’t get rid of villains like you. But now you won’t escape, now that I’m here.”

“You really believe you’re stalling us here, don’t you?” Pandora asked. “I hate to tell you, but our superiors knew you would come up with an ambush. There is a reason why I came along with Rothbart.”

“What do you mean by that?” Hard Stone asked, not liking the way the things were going.

“I mean you should stop me before I reveal the island where you’re keeping Star!” Pandora exclaimed, while accessing to her magic.

And then Pandora was able to pass through the protection spells that surrounded the island and it started to oscillate. That started to be seen in the air, as the water at the area where the island started to become agitated.

“Sorry, but we need to go over there” Rothbart said, turning then to Pandora. “And you keep pulling the island.”

“Yes, I know” Pandora said. “I already have somepony to tell me what to do, I don’t need another.”

And the clay bird to the place where the island were. Seeing that, Hard Stone quickly realized what happened and then said:

“No, they already found them? After them!”

“Yes!” Stone Quake and Quartz Blitz said.

And the three of them followed the two reincarnated ponies.

Meanwhile, Pandora continued to try to bring the island to the surface. This act started to make the interior to shake immensely.

“What’s going on?” Star asked, while he and the others tried to remain balanced.

The island then immerged on the surface and Pandora and Rothbart saw it.

“It’s done” Pandora said.

“Good, now we can capture those jinchuriki, including that nasty little prince” Rothbart said. “But first, we need to prevent that island from sinking. It’s time for a great explosion.”

Using is clay, Rothbart created a jellyfish-liked clay figure, throwing them to the water, while Pandora continued to hold the island. It attached itself to the base of the island and then Rothbart detonated, making an explosion that, combined with Pandora’s magic, was able to turn the island upside down.

Inside it, the ones who were inside the island started to feel to the ceiling. Star was able to hold in the air, but the others didn’t have wings like him, so Golden Paladin had to create steel chains to secure their fall. Star landed besides Golden Paladin and asked him:

“But what’s going?”

“I don’t know, but it really seems that the sky and the ground can really trade places” Hawthorn said, while getting up.

Golden Paladin approached Blackthorn who told him:

“Something is really going on out there, but we must keep Prince Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn in here.”

“Yes, I know that” Golden Paladin said.

Outside, the clay bird approached the base of the island and Pandora jumped and landed on it.

“Pandora, go look for the Eight and Nine-Tails” Rothbart said. “I’ll deal with the other three here.”

“I hate when you give me orders, but it seems that is also the will of the ones who control us” Pandora replied. “I don’t have any other choice but to obey.”

Hard Stone and his two bodyguards arrived and Rothbart turned to them.

“Rothbart, you shall feel my wrath!” Hard Stone exclaimed to the reincarnated villain.

“Oh great, looks like the geezer snapped” Rothbart said.

“You do remember this, don’t you?” Hard Stone said, preparing to use his particle nature, creating a cone.

Seeing that, Rothbart became a little nervous. He knew how Hard Stone’s particle nature was very dangerous and how it became stronger with each three-dimensional object he created. He rapidly took fight with his clay bird and Pandora advanced to get away and to do her mission.

“You’re not getting away!” Hard Stone exclaimed to Rothbart, starting to aim to him.

But before he could do his spell, he was grabbed by Stone Quake, what made him release the spell.

“What do you think you are doing, Stone Quake?!” Hard Stone asked.

“If you release that here, you’ll destroy the island” Stone Quake said.

Seeing that he was right, the king said:

“Damn, what a mess… Due to its base I forgot it was an island.”

Noticing them distracted, Rothbart started to approach, while creating another clay figure in the shape of a small long-necked bird. He threw it against them and the figure got bigger in size, while flying to its targets. The two of them saw the bird approaching and then Rothbart detonated and it exploded. Seeing the explosion, Quartz Blitz exclaimed:

“Old geezer!”

Rothbart smiled, while seeing smokescreen around the explosion, but when the smoke cleared, he saw that a stone golem created by Stone Quake had protected him and Hard Stone from the explosion.

“I see, so that oversized pony protected his dear king, hein?” Rothbart said. “How annoying.”

Watching Rothbart flying over the island, Hard Stone realized he had to get him away from the island. And so he start to get away with Stone Quake, while making Rothbart follow him. However, Quartz Blitz, noticing Pandora, said:

“Oh, I can’t let her do her thing.”

Pandora stopped to use her astral projection spell and was able to detect Star Knight.

“I see, so you’re inside the island” Pandora said. “I’m sorry I have to do this, Star, mainly after what you did for me, but I don’t have any option. But how will I get inside.”

Golden Paladin was wondering what was happening outside when Star Knight approached him and asked:

“Golden, what’s going on?” Star asked. “How can the island be upside down?”

“We know, probably it’s nothing” Golden Paladin said, trying to remain cool.

“Something tells me it’s not” Star said. “I think it is for the best if I go get a quick look outside.”

“No, you can’t!” Golden Paladin said, quickly thinking in some excuse. “I still want to check on your abilities with the sword.”

“Come on, Golden, I think I already show you that I’m not rusty” Star said. “It almost looks like you’re hiding something.”

“I can assure I’m not hiding anything” Golden Paladin said. “But why don’t you keep practicing and I’ll go outside to see if everything is alright?”

“Yes, and I’ll go along him, so you don’t have to worry about anything” Blackthorn said.

And the two then headed to the exit with Star looking a little suspicious.

Outside, Quartz Blitz headed as fast as she could against Pandora and then, focusing her magic, she united her earth and fire nature to create lava energy and said:

“Quicklime Spell!”

And she fired from her horn a large quantity of quicklime against Pandora in various shots, with the little unicorn always dodging with teleportation spells. After that, Pandora turned and saw Golden Paladin and Blackthorn appearing. Seeing Pandora, Golden Paladin became shocked and he said:

“No, it’s not possible… Pandora?! How can you be alive?”

“I have asked that question as well, but it seems they still want me here, even when I don’t want to” she replied.

It was at that moment that Golden Paladin noticed her eyes.

“Your eyes…” he said. “No, it can’t be…”

“What is it, Golden?” Blackthorn asked.

“She’s a reincarnation” Golden Paladin said. “But there is only one pony capable of executing the Reincarnation Curse. Don’t tell me she…”

“Don’t overthink too much, Golden” Pandora said. “After all, I’m just a puppet of a puppet.”

Listening her saying that made Golden Paladin realize what was really happening and that was even worse.

“You don’t have to intervene” Quartz Blitz said to the two new-arrivals. “I can deal with her just fine.”

She then looked and noticed that Pandora was close to her quicklime and that made her smile.

“I know you” Golden Paladin said. “You’re King Hard Stone’s granddaughter.”

“There’s no time to talk” Quartz Blitz said. “I’m gonna push her to you. Get her!”

And then she casted from her horn a jet of water that hit the quicklime, spreading it, while Pandora tried to teleport to dodge. When she reappeared, she did on the quicklime.

“She missed” Blackthorn said.

“No, she didn’t” Golden Paladin said. “I have to say, she’s really smart. Just don’t step on that water.”

Pandora, looking to her hooves, also realized what Quartz Blitz did and said:

“I get it.”

“You see, now you can’t move at all” Quartz Blitz said to Pandora. “My Quicklime Spell is just like quick-acting cement. The water spreads it, making it cause a reaction that makes it harder than cement.”

Pandora tried to get out, but she couldn’t. Quartz Blitz fired more quicklime, hitting Pandora’s body.

“And that’s for insurance” Quartz Blitz told to her, while the quicklime quickly solidified.

At the air, Rothbart and Hard Stone made a battle of tackling. During it, Rothbart said to the king:

“I have to say, you’re not bad for someone that already passed his prime, old geezer.”

“Watch out who you call old geezer, your bastard” Hard Stone said, while flying besides Rothbart. “Don’t forget you’re much older than me.”

“Shut up!” Rothbart exclaimed, not having liked Hard Stone’s insult.

Stone Quake was flying behind, trying to keep up with those two, but he couldn’t.

“I can’t believe how fast they are” he said. “I can’t even keep up.”

Now that Pandora was trapped, Blackthorn said:

“Now we can finally get information about the enemy.”

“No, we can’t do that” Golden Paladin said.

“What do you mean?” Blackthorn asked.

“What I mean is that she’s just a puppet” Golden Paladin replied. “That’s what reincarnated beings do: they just follow orders, even if they don’t want to. She doesn’t know what plans the General of Chaos has. So, the only thing we can do is prevent them from using her again. And since reincarnated beings have immortal bodies, there is only one way to stop her.”

Using his magic, he made a golden chain appear from the ground and completed:

“I’ll have to seal her.”

“Yes, please, seal me, Golden” Pandora begged. “Do it now.”

It was then that she started feeling Gentle Light ordering her to break free and avoid being sealed. She tried to resist, but her control was too strong.

Golden Paladin launched the chain, but when it was close to Pandora, she used her magic that created a blast that released her from the quicklime and then used self-levitation to dodge the golden chain.

“Damn!” both Golden Paladin and Quartz Blitz exclaimed at the same time.

The both of them tried to get Pandora with their quicklime and golden chain, but she, although didn’t want to, defended herself from them by using dodging, teleportation and magic shields.

In the air, Hard Stone and Rothbart were so far from the ground that the king though it was now safe for him to use his particle nature. He then prepare to use it, conjuring the cone he had previously made.

“Prepare, yourself, now you’re going to die permanently, Rothbart!”

“We are about to find out what is stronger: your particle nature or my explosive nature” Rothbart said, preparing to use more explosive clay.

But, at that moment, his coffin appeared around him.

“What is this?” Hard Stone asked, got by surprise.

“Oh, come on not now!” Rothbart exclaimed.

And his coffin closed and disappeared.

“Damn…” Hard Stone said.

Pandora’s coffin also appeared and she said:

“Sorry, but I think it’s my time.”

And her coffin also closed and disappeared.

“I was so close in sealing her…” Golden Paladin said, not believing what happened.

Hard Stone appeared.

“Finally you’re here, old geezer” Quartz Blitz said to her grandfather. “But it was a little late.”

“I don’t know if you noticed but I was having a very hard battle” Hard Stone replied her.

“And let me guess, it was against a reincarnation” Golden Paladin said.

“Indeed, General of Peace, it was Rothbart” Hard Stone replied. “I almost got that bastard and made him pay for everything he did to my kingdom.”

“I see, so Rothbart was also reincarnated” Golden Paladin said.

“Unfortunately, he got a way somehow” Hard Stone said.

“She must have called them back after sensing me trying to seal Pandora” Golden Paladin realized.

“What do you mean by that?” Hard Stone asked him.

“That I know what is happening with this reincarnated beings” Golden Paladin said. “I need to get to Princess Twilight and the rest of the regents. It’s urgent. The problem is I’m too tired because of all the sealing spells and tried to use.”

“Don’t worry with that” Hard Stone said. “I’ll take you there. In fact, I’ll take all the island. Now the enemy knows its location and its defenses, we must get the safety of the jinchuriki.”

Golden Paladin nodded with his head, agreeing with him.

At the villains’ hideout, Gentle Light appeared before the General of Chaos with a pale yellow light.

“I can see that you returned empty-hoofed” the General observed.

“There was a complication” Gentle Light replied.

“What kind of complication?”

“Golden Paladin. He was there and he tried seal Pandora. King Hard Stone was also there and he caused a lot of trouble to Rothbart. I had to call them back.”

“I see…” the General of Chaos said. “And I also see that you managed to tell Golden Paladin that you are a slave of mine, didn’t you?”

Gentle Light didn’t try to deny, as it was impossible for her to do so with him controlling her. But then the General said:

“But it doesn’t matter. After all, they cannot do anything about it. For them to release you, they have to approach you and I won’t let that happen. And about the jinchuriki… Well, we’ll have other opportunities to get them during the war. And after all, that’s the main reason why had ask for your… collaboration. Now you can go.”

“Yes… master” Gentle Light muttered between her teeth.

And she disappeared with her light. After that, Grogar appeared and told the General:

“I still think it is a bad idea to enslave the General of Death. You just saw that she was able to tell her brother about her being enslaved by us.”

“Yes, I know that Gentle Light is very sneaky, but I have her under control” the General of Chaos. “It was a matter of time until they realized what happened to her. But we need the Reincarnation Curse to our army and only she can perform it in the most effective way. But now it’s not time to think about that. I still need to deal with the problem we have with the clones of Petal Sprout.”

And he started to head towards the exit.

“Where do you go?” Grogar asked.

“To visit an old friend of ours” he replied.

At Discord’s personal realm, he was in his chaotic living room while holding a cassette tape.

“Oh, I can’t believe I just have the remix of Golden Paladin saying I did a good job” he said. “Now I just have to find the perfect way to show it to everypony. Maybe I could make play in all the radio stations. No, it’s a little cliché. I am Discord, the most awesome and amazing being that exists. I can’t fell for clichés.”

It was then that someone knocked to his door.

“That’s odd” he said. “Normally, I don’t get any visits.”

He then opened the door while saying:

“If it is any encyclopedia-seller, you must know that I have a big armory of chaotic magic and I am not afraid of using it to make you go away.”

It was then that he noticed who his visitor was and he exclaimed:

“You!”

And the General of Chaos was standing before him, saying then:

“Hello, Discord. We have some much to discuss.”

The Strange Disease

After the fight with Pandora and Rothbart, Hard Stone was able to use his gravity spell to turn the Island weightless and, after turning it around again, he started to take it to the place where the Alliance’s headquarters was. While doing so, he said:

“Damn it, my bad back is going to go back again. I just know it.”

“Are you certain about that?” Stone Quake asked, while he and Quartz Blitz flight behind him. “Wouldn’t be better to go by sea? And we don’t have to flight so high.”

“Don’t be such a fool, Stone Quake” Quartz Blitz said. “Do you want those two to get us again?”

The king couldn’t let himself stop thinking about the two reincarnated beings they just fought. How could they exist? It was then that he had to stop thinking as they were arriving to their destination.

“Looks like we are almost there” he said.

Inside the island, Star had become even more suspicious when the island returned to the normal.

“But what’s the deal with this crazy island?” he asked, turning then to Blackthorn who had returned to the inside to watch over Star. “Blackthorn, do you know where is Golden? You two went outside, but he hasn’t returned.”

“You don’t have to worry about that” the captain replayed. “Golden had to go deal with something first. He will returned soon.”

“What do you mean with that?” Star asked. “What something?”

“Well…” Blackthorn said, trying to think in the best excuse to give. “He is the General of Peace and the leader of the other Generals. Maybe it’s something regarding the war.”

He really hoped that Star believed in him. It was then that he said.

“Yeah, you’re right, he must be really busy” Star said. “It’s just I want to return to the Light Kingdom as fast as I can.”

At the edge of Arimaspi’s territory, a bunch of deer, following their king’s instructions, were trying to get some intel after the General of Talent was able to locate where the villains had their headquarters. Although they couldn’t get inside due to the Lord of Chaos’ protection spell, the deer thought they could use their sensing abilities to try to get any information they could.

The best sensing deer was trying to enhance his eyesight in order to see what the villains were planning to do.

“So, anything?” another deer that was using a mask and a cloak.

“Not yet” he replied.

It was then that he noticed something below of what appeared to be the villains’ hideout. It was a chamber full of water and, at its bottom there was something that shocked the deer.

“No, it can’t be…” he said.

“What do you see?” another deer asked.

“There is so many of them…” the sensing deer said, not believing what he was seeing.

What seemed to be thousands of clones of Petal Sprout that where only pony-like with his white skin and green eyes. They all seemed to be in life suspension, just waiting to be awaken.

Watching the deer’s look, the masked one realized it should be something very important and said to the fourth deer:

“Prepare to contact headquarters.”

“Yes, Cypress” he replied.

Back to the Wild Isle, Star wanted to leave, but Hawthorn and Blackthorn didn’t want him to do so.

“Wait, why can’t I leave?” he asked.

“The answer is quite simple, kid” Hawthorn said to him. “You still didn’t master the tailed beast energy control. So, you will train until that same energy becomes an extension of you.”

And, having said that, he summoned his tentacles that he used to crack the floor and then throw pieces of it to the air, cutting them with his horns charged with light nature to form blocks of different shapes, before Star’s amazement, and then caught them with the tentacles, while saying:

“Catch them with your tailed beast energy and then stack them to build tower.”

And the deer jinchuriki, using the tentacles, stacked the blocks into a tower with a perfect balance. Star became very impressed with that. Blackthorn smiled to see that Star had taken the bait. Hawthorn had make a good job to keep Star busy and give them plenty of time.

“And now it’s your turn” Hawthorn said to Star.

And the deer gave a little touch with the horns on the tower and the blocks fell.

“Okay, then I’ll use the Nine-Tails’ energy” Star said.

And he entered in his Nine-Tails energy mode.

“All I need to do is to stack these blocks so they don’t fall over” Star continued. “All right, here I go.”

Using his magic, he took a block, but when he barely did it, the block just crushed, before Star’s shock.

“No, you’re using too much” Hawthorn said. “You may have a little control, but you still need to improve it.”

“Okay, then I’ll try it one more time” Star said.

And so he tried to levitate another block, this time with much care. Trying to took it and move while trying to not use too much force was a good challenge to his concentration, but Star did his best to do it. Seeing a crack appearing, Hawthorn told Star:

“Try to put more spirit and less power.”

And so Star was able to levitate the block and move it, placing it gently over another one.

“Yes!” the young alicorn exclaimed.

“Don’t be satisfied with only one” Hawthorn said. “The next ones won’t be that easy.”

Back to the Alliance’s headquarters, Twilight was at the regents’ room with Aspen, Celestia, Strongpaw and Mystic Heart when they saw the Wild Isle approaching by air. Seeing the island approaching, Twilight couldn’t think about her son who was in there.

“The time has come” Strongpaw said.

“Looks like old Hard Stone brought them all safely” Aspen observed. “We’ll have the Wild Isle, along with Hawthorn and Star Knight at the lake behind the headquarters.”

“It seems to be a good idea” Celestia said, turning then to her former student. “Do you agree, Twilight?”

The princess of the Light Kingdom took a few seconds before answering:

“Yes, I agree.”

“Very well, then I’ll go and welcome King Hard Stone when he arrives” Mystic Heart said.

And she went to the exit.

After arriving, Hard Stone made the island land on the lake, while deactivating the spell he put on it to low its gravity. That made the tower that Star was making with the blocks to collapse.

“Oh no, I can’t believe!” he exclaimed. “I was so close!”

Blackthorn was relieved that didn’t caught Star’s suspicion as that was probably the island landing.

After the island had landed, Hard Stone got out of the water, advancing to the shore, while Quartz Blitz and Stone Quake where hoovering some hooves over the ground.

“We’re finally here, gramps!” Quartz Blitz exclaimed.

Golden Paladin jumped to where Hard Stone was and then said to him:

“Thank you, King Hard Stone, but I really need to go talk with Princess Twilight, so, if you excuse me…”

And he started to advance towards the headquarters.

“Well, he was really in a hurry” Stone Quake commented. “What he has to tell to Princess Twilight must be really important.”

After Hard Stone had made those two to get down they also started to go to the headquarters, with the king saying while passing his hoof over his back:

“Oh, my back…”

“That’s because you keep overdoing it” his granddaughter replied.

That’s when they came across Mystic Heart along with two of her guards.

“Welcome back, King Hard Stone” she said. “I just found the General of Peace, but he was with a lot of rush that he didn’t tell me what happened. Could you tell me the situation?”

“The Eight and Nine-Tails are safe” he replied. “However, the villains are becoming much more dangerous.”

“I see, that must be the reason for Golden Paladin’s look” Mystic Heart said.

“I’ll explain the details inside” Hard Stone said.

Back to the villains’ hideout, Grogar was with Chrysalis when the General of Chaos appeared.

“So, how did it go?” Grogar asked.

“Why don’t you tell me?” he asked.

Using his magic, he made Discord, completely tied up and gagged. He was trying to break free, but his attempts were futile.

“Well, well, well, you were really able to catch Discord” Chrysalis said. “Finally that traitor will get what he deserves.”

“But first, we will help us” the General of Chaos said looking to the spirit of chaos who look him back with a very angry look. “Beyond the fact that we can extract information from him, we can also use his magic. Although he now uses it for good, it is still chaotic and so it is like poison to the ones who serve the Lord of Order and energy to us. I will use his magic to power up Petal Sprout’s clones and to poison our dear Generals of Order.”

And, after saying that, he launched a magical beam against Discord, something that made him scream in pain. It was then that a pulse of dark energy was released.

Golden Paladin arrived to the room of the regents, finding Twilight, along with Aspen, Celestia and Strongpaw.

“Princess Twilight, I’m glad to finally see you” he said. “I really need to tell you something urgent.”

“Golden, I thought you were with Star” Twilight said.

“I was, but what happened was something that need to be addressed as fast as possible” Golden Paladin said.

“It must be something really terrible” Celestia observed.

“It is, because the General of Chaos is using the Reincarnation Curse” Golden Paladin said.

That news shocked Celestia that asked:

“Are you sure of that?”

“Yes, but that is not the worst part” Golden Paladin said. “He also has enslaved Gentle Light…”

But before he could say anything else, the pulse of dark energy created by Discord’s magic through the General of Chaos hit him and, almost immediately, he started to fill very dizzy, feeling a great wave of weakness invading him. Seeing that, Twilight asked:

“Are you okay, Golden?”

“I… I don’t know” he replied. “I feel funny…”

And so he just passed out, falling on the floor.

“Golden!” Twilight exclaimed, going to him.

“But what just happened?” Aspen asked.

Twilight went to touch Golden Paladin when she felt a very dark residual energy around him, something that made her retreat her hoof.

“What’s wrong, princess?” Strongpaw asked.

“I can feel some dark magic” she said. “It must be the reason why Golden passed out.”

Celestia tried to analyze the energy and then she said:

“I would recognize this magic everywhere. It’s Discord’s.”

“Do you think he returned to the Lord of Chaos’ side?” Aspen asked.

“With Discord, we cannot be certain, but we cannot put aside that he may have been captured” Celestia said. “After all, we all know how the Lord of Chaos deals with traitors.”

“Whatever may have happened, I must take Golden Paladin to the Light Kingdom as fast as possible” Twilight said. “I’ll come back soon.”

And she teleported with Golden Paladin.

At the Light Kingdom, Twilight took Golden Paladin to the hospital wing of the castle, where she hoped Leaf Mane would be able to tell what was happening with him, but she became shocked when she saw that the General of Peace was not the only one affected. All the other Generals had been also affected. Mirror Coat, Leaf Mane, Purple Smoke, Melody and even Heartbeat… They were all unconscious on their beds.

“I don’t understand what’s happening” Twilight said, looking to the six Generals. “How can this be happening?”

The door of the infirmary opened and Blue entered, looking a little pale.

“Blue!” Twilight exclaimed, going to her husband and hugging him. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I have a little headache, but it’s already passing” he replied, noticing them Golden and the others. “Do you know what happened?”

“It was Discord’s magic” Twilight said. “It is very likely that he was captured and the General of Chaos is using him to weak the Generals, giving them this… disease.”

“And it probably didn’t affect me in the same way because I’m a General for a comparatively short time than them” Blue said. “I may feel well, but I can feel that my power is almost gone.”

“The General of Chaos may want all the other Generals out of the way so they have the advantage in the war” Twilight said. “But I think he is planning something greater. Before Golden Paladin pass out, he told me that the General of Chaos was using the Reincarnation Curse and that he had enslaved Gentle Light. Do you know what this means?”

“Wait… you said Reincarnation Curse and Gentle Light?” Blue asked. “Oh no, that is bad, very bad.”

“How so?” Twilight asked.

“The Reincarnation Curse is a curse capable of bringing the dead back and then control them, wherever they want or not” Blue explained.

“But I thought that bringing back the dead was something impossible” Twilight said.

“The curse uses a living vessel that takes the form and abilities of the deceased” Blue said. “But this curse is very hard to execute and even more to control. Only the General of Death, Gentle Light, is capable of doing it.”

“But Golden Paladin says that she was enslaved by the General of Chaos” Twilight said.

“If that is truth, then we have a big trouble” Blue replied. “I find Gentle Light a little annoying and cocky, but she is the most powerful after Heartbeat. She is capable of bringing an army of reincarnated beings.”

“That’s terrible!” Twilight exclaimed. “I must go inform the others right now!”

Back to the place at the headquarters where the regents were meeting, all information, including the infiltration of the deer infiltration team’s and about the reincarnated beings, was shared and they were now deciding where the villains would attack.

“Because of the location of their hideout, it is very likely that they will start their attack at the south of Equestria” Shining said, who was occupying Cadance’s place, pointing to the great map that was at the table.

“Probably, but we cannot let our guard down at the other kingdoms” Blue said, besides Twilight. “With the other Generals down, the Light Kingdom doesn’t have its natural defenses. Because of the Dense Forest, we have an advantage regarding the defense, but even so…”

“I think it is for the best if we contained the war in Equestria” Twilight said. “In that way, we can ensure the safety of the other kingdoms and the innocents.”

“I agree with Twilight Sparkle” Luna said. “It would also be not very good if the enemy spread.”

“Fortunately, we know that most of their army is composed by changelings, dragons, dark ponies and plant ponies” Ingrid said. “We know how to deal with things like that.”

“Because they have Discord, they may use his magic to power up their army” Celestia said. “We must be very careful to not underestimate them.”

“And we cannot forget about the reincarnated beings” Godot said. “We must add a soldier capable of executing sealing magic to every squad.”

“I have some capable of doing it between my pony-panthers” Strongpaw said. “And I believe there are others.”

“Make sure that our advances forces are ready to advance at any moment” Aspen said to his bodyguard. “The side that attack first can get the advantage to itself if it gives the first blow.”

“And it is imperative that our medical core has everything they need” Celestia said to her guard. “Not only to treat the wounded, but also ways to protect themselves. And we need that our chain of communication is ready right now.”

“And make sure the best flyers are gathered in a single unit” Gael said to his guard. “An unit capable of moving around quickly can be essential.”

“The sensing warriors need also to be gathered” Mystic Heart said to her nephew that was with her.

“Yes, aunt” he replied.

And Arcing got out followed by the other guards.

“King Hard Stone, we already finished it” Spike said.

“Is that so?” he asked.

“Yes” Spike said, while Ember passed him a piece of cloth that contained a symbol that looked like a flame. “The Alliance’s emblem for all our members to use, so that there is no confusion in case of non-fighters to appear in crossfire. It represents the light of the Order capable of penetrate any darkness.”

“They sound great” Hard Stone said. “Good job.”

“Yeah, I also agreed” Godot replied. “It really shows the essence of being a follower of the Order.”

“Now the only thing we can do is to hope that we can win this war” Twilight said. “We may be in some disadvantage regarding the fact that the enemy possesses a lot of power, but we have the courage and the perseverance necessary to win.”

The War Begins

Now with the war starting, the place of the headquarter of the Alliance was now full of ponies, thestrals, deer, griffons and dragons (most of them teenagers), gathering while receiving the emblem of the Alliance and went to their respective place that was designed for them.

Shadow Claw and Thunder Night (who, like all the other thestrals, was using his cloak) just got the emblem.

“I have to say it” Thunder Night said, while he and Shadow Claw put the cloth with the emblem around their forelegs. “Your wife really did a very good job with these.”

“Well, she put all her effort to do it when she got the design for the emblem” Shadow Claw replied. “Of course she got help, but her overseeing just got them perfect. I think it is for the best if we go to our respective teams.”

Thunder Night agreed and then he moved away. Shadow Claw, by his turn, approached a group of ponies, deer and a dragon and told them:

“My name is Shadow Claw and I have been nominated captain of the Commando Unit.”

Not very far, Fluttershy was with her father who told her:

“I can’t believe you’re actually here, sweetie. This is no place for you. I know you have helped to save Equestria many times, but this is huge and in another level.”

“Daddy, don’t worry about me” Fluttershy said. “After all, I won’t be fighting. I’ll just assist the Medical Unit. With a war like this one, there will be a lot of injured that will need all the medical support needed.”

Raining Storm sighed and then said:

“Okay, but you have to promise me you won’t get in any trouble.”

“I can’t promise something like that” Fluttershy replied. “But you can promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Oh, sweaty, it’s like you don’t know your old dad” Raining Storm said. “I may be not as young as I used to be, but I still can give some punches. Well, I think I go to my unit. Bye, sweaty, be safe.”

After giving her a goodbye kiss, Raining Storm moved away. Fluttershy approached the Logistical Support and Medical Unit where she met with Cherry Blossom.

“Cherry!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “It’s so good to see a friend in my unit.”

“And I say the same to you” Cherry said. “Now that you’re here I can be far more relaxed.”

“So, if you’re here, does that mean that Big Mac stayed at home with Apple Flower?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well, no, he and Applejack wanted to help in the fight” Cherry replied. “Apple Flower stayed with Granny Smith and Apple Bloom. Jonagold is at the academy, like Moonlight I suppose. But what about Dark Cloud?”

“He is with Pinkie Pie” Fluttershy said. “She is making me and Thunder Night a huge favor.”

After their conversation, they went to meet their captain.

At another part, Silverweed, one of Shining and Blue’s royal guard academy buddies approached a light unicorn mare with an orange coat and a yellow and gold mane and asked:

“Excuse me, but are you Diamond Glow?”

“Yes, I am” she replied. “And you are…”

“My name is Silverweed and I am Blue Sword’s former academy colleague. I heard you’re the best student that Mirror Coat has regarding the telepathic spell. Although my specialty is the location spell, I have been learning to use mental spells and I was hoping that you could help me with that.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have a lot of time” Diamond Glow replied. “Since Mirror Coat is unavailable, I was nominated captain of the Intelligence Unit. I will be in charge of all communications.”

“That’s good, I hope to learn a lot” Silverweed said.

“I’m glad to heard that, but don’t forget our real mission here” Diamond Glow said, turning then to all the other member of the unit. “We are the Intelligence Unit and, as such, we’re going to oversee all the communications. The intel must be transmitted accurately and quickly if it is to be of any use. That means that, in order to do our job well, we must remain calm at all times, no matter what information we might hear. Understood?”

“Yes, mam” the others replied.

Others were gathered to form the Sensor Unit that would be the eyes of the Alliance during the war. They would be led by Boreal Blizzard, the same guard that accompanied Mystic Heart and Arcing Thunder to the summit of regents.

Meanwhile, all the others were grouped in other main units according to their respective fighting style. The First Unit was formed by soldiers capable of mid-rage fight, the Second Unit was formed by the ones capable of close-rage fight, the Third Unit was formed by intermedium-rage fighters to provide support to the close and mid-rage units, the Fourth Unit was formed by long-rage battlers and the Fifth Unit was formed by those with special skills, capable of giving support to all the other units, like the ones with great flying skills.

All these units and all the ones who formed them had been organized and overseen by the famous former captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, Captain White Light, who has been appointed Chief Battle Strategist by Celestia’s recommendation. Applejack and Big Mac, along with Quartz Blitz, were in the Second Unit, while Thunder Night was in the Third Unit and Rainbow Dash and the other Wonderbolts were at the Fifth Unit, along with King Godot, who had decided to participate in the battlefield.

It was then that they all heard a horn, meaning the respective units’ captains were about to be revealed. They all looked up to the great balcony at the top of the headquarters and the five captains appeared. The captain of the First Unit was Arcing Thunder, the captain of the Second Unit was Obsidian Blade (who was King Hard Stone’s son and successor, who was a unicorn stallion with a strong structure, brilliant orange coat with a cracked rock as Cutie Mark, dark orange hooves, dark grey mane and dark eyes), the captain of the Third Unit was Shining Armor, the captain of the Fourth Unit was Chief Strongpaw, who was also the regimental commander, and the captain of the Fifth Unit was Gael. Before them, all the soldiers claimed them with a lot of enthusiasm.

In the villains’ hideout, the General of Chaos had just secure the unconscious Discord to the walls of chamber, while focusing his energy to strengthen Petal Sprout’s clones. The other villains were also there (with the Dragon King appearing in a magical mirror). Chrysalis was not present, having decided to stay at her kingdom, being then represented by her three mutant changelings.

“There, now you will work for our master as you should” the General told him. “Just to think that you let something like friendship to told your mind… But now everything is just like it should be.”

He turned to his fellow villains and told them:

“It is time for us to go concretize our master’s wish. Gentle Light!”

The General of Death appeared beside him and asked:

“What do you want?”

“Summon them all” the General of Chaos ordered.

Without any choice, Gentle Light used her magic and various coffins appeared, all of different sizes, and so their covers fell, revealing the reincarnated beings inside.

“First, we have some fallen villains like Pandora, Rothbart, King Sombra and Scorpan” Gentle Light said, pointing to the already seen reincarnated beings, turning then to another set. “Then, the former Jinchuriki: Gigi the Two-Tails, Echo Wing the Three-Tails, Black Granite the Four-Tails, Vapour Fist the Five-Tails, Bubble Sweet the Six-Tails and Silver Mist the Seven-Tails. Next, we have former kings: Platinum of Stonult, Alder of Thicket, Gusty Blizzard of Evermist, Grover of Griffinstone and Chief Sandstorm of the pony-panthers.”

King Platinum was a unicorn with raspberryish gray coat with two connected stones as Cutie Mark, dark grayish phthalo blue mane and gray eyes. Gusty Blizzard was also a unicorn with reddish gray coat with bubbles surrounded by mist as Cutie Mark, pale, light grayish brown mane and whiskers and grayish cobalt blue eyes. Sandstorm was a pony-panther with greenish orange coat with golden dust as Cutie Mark, dark moderate orange hooves, moderate and bright green mane and dark blue eyes.

“We also have Thunder Blitz, an explosive nature user that used to live in Stonult; River Blood, an infamous and murderous criminal of Evermist; Sand Threads, the rogue pony-panther; Montu, a former Golden Warrior of Coltypt; Thunder Spark, a servant of Princess Aurora; Sunburst and Eclipse, Celestia, Luna and Ingrid’s grandfathers, as well as Day Glow, Celestia’s deceased lover; without talking about others with exceptional abilities.”

Thunder Blitz was a pegasus stallion with a reddish coat with an explosion as Cutie Mark, brown mane and green eyes. River Blood was a earth stallion with a white coat with a sword covered in blood as Cutie Mark, black mane and yellowish eyes. Sand Threats was a pony-panther with a dark green coat with a pony marionette as Cutie Mark, orange mane and dark purple eyes.

“You indeed have a very good collection” the General of Chaos said. “And with it, along with the drones Chrysalis lent, including the mutants, the dark ponies I created, the dragons the Dragon King got to our side and Petal Sprout’s clones, there is no way we can lose this war. The Lord of Chaos’ wish will come true and there is nothing those poor unfortunate ones can do about it.”

At the Alliance’s headquarters, the warriors continued to applaud their captains.

At the middle of the First Unit, King Freeze Burn was with some of his guards, where one of his guards asked, looking to Arcing:

“So, that is our captain? Does he looks a little young?”

“If I was you, I wouldn’t judge him right now” Freeze Burn said. “He is Queen Mystic Heart’s nephew and bodyguard and my wife said that he helped fighting Rothbart. I believe we can give him a chance to prove what he is capable of.”

At the Second Unit, Applejack said to Big Mac:

“Well, I guess this is it, Big Mac. The war…”

“Eeyup” he replied.

Nearby, Quartz Blitz said, looking to Obsidian Blade:

“Hold on a minute, my dad is going to be my captain?”

At the Third Unit, Thunder Night said to Blue Sword:

“And I was thinking you would be the one to be captain, as you are the only General awake.”

“Nah, Shining is much more suited to lead than me” Blue replied. “It’s not by chance that, back when we were at the Canterlot Royal Guard he was the captain and I the lieutenant.”

At the place where the captains were, Shining said to Strongpaw:

“Well, I think it is the best if you address to your troupes as the regimental commander, once they settle down.”

Seeing how the captains were being applaud, Twilight said to Luna:

“I don’t know why, but I feel eager, but also a little anxious. Is that normal?”

“But of course, Twilight Sparkle” Luna replied. “After all, this is your first war.”

Twilight then noticed how distracted Celestia was, looking to the sky.

“What is wrong with Celestia?” she asked to Luna.

“I honestly don’t know” Luna answered. “My sister has been like that since the summit.”

Hearing that, Twilight realized something was happening with Celestia. She approached her and asked:

“Princess Celestia, is everything okay?”

“Of course, Twilight” she replied, as if getting out of a dream.

But Twilight didn’t believe entirely in her former mentor’s answer.

“You know you can tell me everything, right?” she asked.

Celestia sighed and then said:

“It’s nothing, Twilight, it’s just I started think about something lately… or rather somepony that I met a long time ago, a pony that I cared a lot.”

“Are you talking about Day Glow, the pony you and Ingrid were both in love with?” Twilight asked.

“No, it’s not him” Celestia replied. “The pony I am talking about was somepony I met after. He used to be a villain, but then the Lord of Order convinced him to come to side of good. He became a hero. He brought the fire back to ponies when the Lord of Chaos stole it. His name was Hepheus. When I met him, it was like when I met Day Glow. I finally had the chance to love again.”

“But what happened?” Twilight asked.

“The Lord of Chaos happened” Celestia replied. “He captured Hepheus because of his betrayal and then I never saw him again.”

“That is awful…” Twilight said. “I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s okay, Twilight” Celestia said. “It passed so much time since then. But, since I met the General of Chaos, I can’t help but thinking about him. I don’t why, but there is something about him that makes me think about Hepheus.”

And she returned to look to the sky.

At the edge of the villains’ hideout, the team of deer that was spying on the villains was observing the enemy, waiting for them to advance. When the sensing deer saw movement, he told to the others:

“They’re on the move. And there is a lot of them to.”

“You all go back to report to the main forces” Cypress told the others. “I’ll remain here and learn everything I can about the enemy’s hideout.”

“But it is too dangerous to remain here all by yourself” the sensing deer said.

“Just get out of here!” Cypress exclaimed. “I’m well aware of the risks, but if we don’t pass the word, our comrades will be in serious danger.”

With that, the other deer agreed.

With the General of Chaos’ order, the villains, the changelings, the dragons, the dark ponies and the reincarnated beings started to move. The latter were getting the same normal look of a living. After awakening, Montu, who was along King Sombra, Thunder Blitz and River Blood, said:

“This is not the plain I should be. And my body is moving by its own.”

“It’s a curse created by a powerful General of Order that is now under the control the Evil” Thunder Blitz said. “It brought us back from the dead to do its biding.”

“Well, it’s a strange way to serve the Lord of Chaos again, but I can get used to it” King Sombra said.

“I can’t believe I am serving the Lord of Chaos” Montu said in a disgusted voice. “I am a Golden Warrior, a loyal servant of the Order!”

“It seems you don’t have any other choice” River Blood replied.

Back to the entrance of the hideout, the General of Chaos and Gentle Light were with Rothbart, Sand Threads, a pegasus stallion with a brown coat with a two crossed lances as Cutie Mark, a two shaded purple mane and blue eyes and a deer with a moderate orange fur and yellow eyes.

“This ones will be our commando unit” the General of Chaos said to Gentle Light, while she started to wake them up. “They can go by air. Rothbart and Sand Threads can put traps. Ash, the deer, and Armored Forge, the pegasus, will give sensing assistance and support.”

“What you heard” Gentle Light told to the reincarnated beings, as they recovered their consciousness.

After this, the pegasus said:

“What’s this? Where am I?”

“You serve the Lord of Chaos, right?” the deer asked. “Let me make this clear. If you think you can make us do your bidding…”

But before he could do anything, Gentle Light accessed her magic and Ash stopped and simply got immobilized, while his iris lost the color, becoming white.

“The Lord of Chaos must have a very great power to be able to subdue one of the most powerful servants of his brother completely” Sand Threads observed.

“You’re just stating the obvious, pony-panther” Rothbart said. “Of course the Lord of Chaos have a great power. Only his brother is equal to him. But even so, our master always finds a way to win.”

“Don’t talk to me like that, or you want me to kill you?” Sand Threads asked.

“I’m already dead” Rothbart answered him. “You can’t kill what’s already dead.”

“Can’t you just shut them off?” the General of Chaos asked to Gentle Light. “They are so much better when they look like walking zombies.”

“It becomes too difficult to control all this reincarnated beings at the same time, even for me” Gentle Light answered. “That’s why I am just putting them into place right now. But once they got there, I will be in total control. I’ll erase their personalities and they will become killing machines.”

“No, not all of them” the General of Chaos said. “I want some of them to remain conscious. That way, they can agitate the enemy even more. And that can work in our advantage. Beyond that, Petal Sprout’s clones will travel underground and the dragons above the clouds so they don’t attract any attention. Grogar…”

“Yes?” he asked, appearing.

“I need you to do one favor, just for the case our friends of the Order can deal with our army” the General said. “Why don’t you go find our old friend? Now that we have his brother’s help, we can also get his.”

Realizing who he was talking about, Grogar nodded and then he disappeared.

“And now, it’s time for us to move. But there is something we must do first.”

Cypress was inspecting the barrier, trying to find a weak spot where he could get in. It was then that he heard a voice saying:

“You know, it is impolite to get in somepony’s territory uninvited.”

The deer turned around and saw the General of Chaos. He tried to attack him, but then black bounds appeared and bound and gaged him.

“Like I said… impolite” the General said.

Meanwhile, the four that were with the General of Chaos and Gentle Light were on the moving, with them traveling through clay birds made by Rothbart, two by two. Ash, under complete control of the curse, said, after using his sensing skills:

“Over there…”

“It’s just like the General of Chaos said” Rothbart, looking to where Ash was pointing. “There is three of them. Maybe I can get their hearts to use my ultimate spell.”

The sensing deer noticed the incoming enemy and stopped.

“What’s wrong?” one of his companions asked.

“Keep running!” he replied. “I’ll stall them! No matter what happens, we have to get the intel to the headquarters!”

And he started to run in the opposite direction while his companions continued their way.
Back to the Alliance’s headquarters, while everypony waited for Strongpaw to speak, some disagreements started to appear between the soldiers. It was mainly between the ones that belonged to the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest. The ones of Stonult were having a great difficulty to deal with the ones of Evermist and Aeropolis, while the pony-panthers argued with the ones who were doubting of their leader’s skills.

“It seems there is a great tension in the air” Applejack commented. “They seem to not trust each other.”

“Eeyup” Big Mac agreed.

“You cannot blame them” Quartz Blitz said, approaching. “After all, some of them were in opposite sides not so long ago. You cannot expect them to bond after one day or two.”

And just like that, the arguing just escalated to the point where some started to fight, what also made others to involve to separate them.

It was then that sand appear around the ones that were fighting and then exploded, what made them to stop. They all looked up and saw that it was Strongpaw who did that.

“In the name of power and influence of one’s kingdom, many of us, mainly the ones that live in the Enchanted Forest, have hated and hurt each other for ages” he said. “I myself was born because of that. I became a jinchuriki and I was hated. Because of that, I hated this world and all the ones that lived in it. I used to think in destroy them both. That’s exactly what the Lord of Chaos and his villains are doing. The Lord of Order was able to help me let that hate go away, or rather contain it, but it was thanks to a single pony that I was able to completely let it go.”

He was talking about Star Knight, who risked his life to face Shukaku to not only save his own kingdom, but also him. Probably was because they were both jinchuriki or probably his first instinct was to save the Light Kingdom only, but he did it anyway, showing him the truest selflessness that a pony could show.

“He saved me, even when I once tried to destroy his own home” Strongpaw said. “I could be under Shukaku’s influence, but many would try everything to stop me, even if that meant my death. But he… He saved me, regarding the safety of his own life. Probably because we were both jinchuriki. We both experience the same pain and seeing how bright his light was regarding that, I was able to finally free myself from all the hate I had. Between those who have the same pain, there can be no hate! There are no enemies here now, because each of us have the same pain of having been hurt by the Lord of Chaos and his villains! The kingdoms you all belong to are no more. Now there is only the Alliance! And if you’re still unable to forget any harm done by my pony-panthers, then you can come and face me after this war is over!”

Those words had really affected everyone, who remained silent. Shining, who was beside Strongpaw, could see how the look on their faces had changed.

“The friend I am talking about is the target of our enemy” Strongpaw continued. “If he falls into their clunches, then this reality is over. I want to protect my friend and I want to protect this world! I cannot do that by myself, so I ask you, all of you: please, lend me your strength for this fight!”

The crowd responded with a great cheer. They all applauded his words, while amends started to be done by the ones that were fighting. Strongpaw’s speech was able to unite them all. Twilight, who also heard it, smiled, seeing how much Strongpaw was grateful to Star that he was supposed to do anything for him.

Strongpaw advanced a step and exclaimed:

“ALL THOSE WHO FEEL AS I DO FOLLOW ME!!”

And everyone cheered him even more, accepting to follow him.

Inside the Wild Isle, Star was able to finally achieve what Hawthorn asked him to do: all the blocks were stacked perfectly.

“Yes, I did it!” he exclaimed.

“Very good, Star” Hawthorn congratulated. “The next step will be our final lesson.”

With all the Alliance now united, they all started to move on, following their five captains. The Commando Unit advanced by air, with the ones with wings helping the ones who didn’t have, in order to get an advance and prepare the ground for the others. Inside the main room of the headquarters, Boreal Blizzard and Diamond Glow combined their powers to create a giant bubble to help them expand their sensing and telepathic abilities.

Meanwhile, Mystic Heart was taking another direction, alongside a group of five that included a young stallion, that seemed to have just get out of adolescence, that had a light yellowish grey coat with twin swords as Cutie Mark, dark ceruleanish gray and azureish gray mane and brown eyes. He had on his back what seemed to be a wide, flat blade with two curved indentations near its base covered in bandages with two handles connected to one another by a short length of cord.

“With Arcing and Boreal not here, I’m counting on you, Bronze Dagger” the queen told to the young stallion, while they advanced.

“Yes, my queen” he replied.

Celestia, Twilight, Luna, Ingrid, Spike, Aspen and Hard Stone stood at the balcony of the headquarters, seeing as all the units advanced.

“And so the war begins…” Twilight said.

The First Confrontation

The Commando Unit was mobilizing to the enemy’s area, with the flying ones giving a ride to the ones who couldn’t. Shadow Claw was getting a ride from Smokewing, who was put in his team. Along with them was Dark Knight, a former colleague of Shining and Blue from the academy, who was giving a ride to a unicorn guard from Maretonia, another dragon who was giving a ride to a pony-panther and a pegasus from Celestia’s guard giving a ride to a unicorn from the Light Kingdom.

While he was observing the terrain, Smokewing told him:

“You know, it is kind of scary having to fight a war this big. I may be a dragon, but I and my brothers don’t like to fight that much. We’re only doing this for our big brother and this world. But even so, I cannot think about what that General of Chaos has for us.”

“Yes, I understand what you’re saying, but we cannot let ourselves be consumed by fear” Shadow Claw said. “I once served the Chaos, so I know they can do anything to win. But we must not act as cowards and face anything they send against us with all dignity.”

That made Smokewing wave with his head and then focus on his flying. After a moment, Shadow Claw said to his unit:

“Listen up! This war’s outcome will depend in our unit’s attack as will the casualty accounts! If you want to protect your family and friends, only think about succeeding.

And so they continued.

Meanwhile, the two remaining members of the infiltration team continued to run from their pursuers. Up there, Rothbart and his three companions flew with the clay birds. Rothbart took some clay that he shaped in three spheres and then charged with his special mixture of explosive energy and dark magic. After that, he dropped them and used his magic to make them expand and then divide in more spheres, who created explosions over the forest under them.

The deer that stayed behind hid behind a three to avoid the explosions and then said:

“They have been bombing this all area indiscriminately. I have to put more distance between us.”

It was then that a sphere landed on his shoulder and exploded.

The other two, noticing how close the explosions were getting, stopped and one said:

“We cannot distance ourselves for very long.”

“I’ll increase the intensity” the other deer said, while focusing.

Sensing bugs arounds, he communicate with them, sending them to the enemy. Before all that bugs, Rothbart said:

“All this bugs are so annoying.”

“They keep moving and hiding” Sand Threads said. “It’s quite bothersome.”

Ash, trying to use his sensing abilities, said:

“The insects interfere with the ability I have. I can only sense energy and they also have it. This is a spell that uses bugs to shield the oneself from being detected.”

“These deer are good” Rothbart commented. “However, they better not underestimate us. Here our answer to those insects.”

And he molded figures with the explosive clay that looked like bats and they gained life and started flying towards the forest. They were able to find the other two deer and exploded. The deer who controlled the insects was able to escape, although barely, having a lot of wounds. Knowing he couldn’t advance any longer, he took a scroll from his saddlebags and sent the bugs take it.

“Take it to the HQ” he said. “Hurry.”

And bugs moved away. After that, the deer try to move, but it was too late, as another explosive of Rothbart appeared and exploded.

The Commando Unit finally landed in a place close to the villains’ hideout and then Shadow Claw said:

“All right, gather around.”

They did so and then Shadow Claw said:

“We’re already in enemy’s territory. We’re going to set up a base camp. We can head out from here to launch surprise attacks and set up delayed explosive traps. Keep a ten-meters radius. The exit points will be at two and six o’clock. Dark Knight, go prepare the traps at all the clock exit points.”

“Okay” he replied.

Shadow Claw turned to the other dragon and said to him:

“I want you to go to aerial surveillance.”

He turned to the Maretonia soldier and said:

“Use earth nature to make trenches.”

Then, he turned to the light unicorn.

“Set up a mind receiving antenna so we can have access to communication.”

The pony-panther and the Pegasus were next having their assignment.

“You two are in watch duty. Meanwhile, I and Smokewing will revise our plan of action. But be aware that the enemy enslaved the General of Death and is forcing her to use the Reincarnation Curse. According to our intel, corpses are brought back to life with their souls held in bondage. They can’t be killed, no matter what you use. The only way to stop them is to seal away their souls and mobilize them. And even if it wasn’t the General of Death the one casting the curse, kill the caster doesn’t undo the curse. One of our priorities is to find the General and release her from the control of the enemy, so she can undo the curse.”

Elsewhere, the First and Fourth Units where running side by side, with Arcing and Strongpaw side by side. At some point, Arcing nodded to Strongpaw and said to his unit:

“First Unit, follow me!”

And the two units took different directions.

At the place where the Commando Unit was, traps have been set up around the campsite with trenches strategically made. It was then that the pony-panther sensed something and Shadow Claw, noticing that, asked:

“What is it?”

“I can’t tell for sure because of the interference, but… something is coming.”

Listening that, Shadow Claw adopted his pony-wolf form and, using his sense of smell, he could tell the pony-panther was right.

“Is it the enemy?”

They then saw movement and then the deer who commanded insects appear, very hurt from all the explosions. He then fell on the ground, exhausted.

“Oh no, we have to help him!” the pegasus said, starting to go towards the deer.

“Wait!” Shadow Claw exclaimed, knowing something wasn’t right.

“That is where the booby traps are” the pegasus said. “I’ll get him.”

Shadow Claw used his speed to approach the pony-panther and said to him:

“Verify him.”

“Yes, sir” the pony-panther said.

Using his enhance vision, he saw something on the deer’s saddlebags.

The pegasus helped the deer get up, but the latter said:

“No… Get away from me.”

“His saddlebags have something charged with dark magic” the pony-panther said.

Realizing what it was, Shadow Claw said, turning then to the pegasus:

“Oh no… Hey, come back here! Be careful!”

Intertwining the deer was energy threads that seemed to be invisible to the eye. Those were connected to Sand Threads’ hoof, who was with his team hidden in the woods.

“Looks like they already figure out your little trick” Rothbart said to Sand Threads.

Before that, Sand Threads made a gesture and the deer’s body moved and secured the pegasus.

“But what the…” he said.

“I’m so sorry” the deer said. “Everyone run! Just save yourselves! No one can help me now!”

Shadow Claw, noticing the deer’s moves, recognized them and said:

“It can’t be… Ivory!”

“Yes, I also noticed it” the pony-panther replied.

Always securing the pegasus, the deer started to move towards them.

“He’s using him as a shield” Dark Knight said. “What do we do?”

“Ivory, get him with your threads” Shadow Claw said, turning then to the Maretonian pony. “Prepare to act! I know that kind of magic in his saddlebags. It’s Rothbart’s explosive clay.”

“On it!” they replied.

Ebony also launched energy threads that connected to the pegasus.

“Go” Sand Threads said, when they were close enough.

“I’m on it” Rothbart, preparing to detonate the clay.

“Now!” Shadow Claw exclaimed.

Using his magic, the Maretonian stallion used his magic that affected all the area where they were. Rothbart detonated the clay and there was an explosion that was sensed by the dragon that was making surveillance. The four reincarnated being were seeing the smokescreen made by the explosion.

“Now that it’s how we make things” Rothbart said with a smile. “They all blow up.”

“Check it” Sand Threads said to Ash.

He did so and then said:

“Still there.”

When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that the piece of terrain where they were had sinked in a perfect square. Ivory had been able to take the pegasus to safety, who had now a burned leg, and he said:

“I wasn’t able to save the deer, damn it.”

“Don’t blame yourself” Shadow Claw said. “It couldn’t be helped.”

He turned to the light pony and said:

“Go heal him.”

“Yes, sir” the light unicorn said, going to the injured pegasus.

“I can’t believe they were able to get this close” Smokewing said.

“And this is not over” Shadow Claw said. “The enemy is coming.”

Two shadowed figures appeared with a great jump and Dark Knight and Smokewing advance to attack them with a hoof blow and a tail swift, but they were able to dodge, revealing their identities. They were the other two deer.

“But those are…” Ivory started.

“Yes, the other deer of the infiltration team” Shadow Claw said.

“More comrades?” Dark Knight asked. “Are they being manipulated?”

It was then that a shadowed pony entered and tried to attack them, but then the other dragon appeared and gave a blow that threw the enemy against the ground.

“You arrived at the right moment” Smokewing said, while the dragon landed beside him.

Rothbart arrived in one of his clay birds and said:

“We’ll keep your friends alive for now.”

“You really didn’t change a bit, didn’t you, Rothbart?” Shadow Claw asked.

“Well, look who he is” Rothbart said. “Shadow Claw… I can see that you’re still a mutt. It’s just a shame that you don’t give your paw to your true master anymore. Such a bad dog. But let’s stop talking. What should we do now?”

“Your dirty tricks won’t work for long” Shadow Claw said. “Do you think I don’t recognize what is happening to those two?”

He then directed his words to everywhere:

“Sand Threads, I know you’re out there. Now show yourself.”

“I can see that you’re familiar with Sand Threads’ abilities” Rothbart observed. “You two must have some history. What’s not surprising regarding the hostility that exists between pony-wolves and pony-panthers.”

Shadow Claw and Ivory shared a look, with the latter understanding what the former wanted him to do.

“You’re a commando unit as well, aren’t you?” Shadow Claw asked. “It’s a little strange for two commando units to engage battle like this.”

“If we win here, our surprise attacks will be more effective” Rothbart said. “Our side initiated this entire conflict. A victory here can decide the course of the war.”

“Well then, we won’t lose” Shadow Claw ensured.´

“You think so?” Rothbart asked. “It’s impossible for you to win. You want to know why? Because we are immortal.”

And the shadowed pony that the dragon had attacked just rose up, like it was nothing. It was Armored Forge. Seeing him, Dark Knight just froze. Noticing that, Shadow Claw asked:

“What is it?”

“Impossible…” he said.

Armored Forge rose up his head and told to Dark Knight:

“Run away, little brother. We’re indestructible. There is no way you can win.”

“Armored…” Dark Knight said. “Brother…”

Rothbart gave a chuckle and then said:

“What a touching reunion.”

“I see, you’re intentionally using our love ones against us” Smokescreen said. “That’s very low!”

“This is war, your stupid dragon” Rothbart said. “There is no room for playing nice.”

Smokewing advanced, along with Dark Knight, as Armored Forge also advanced.

“You too, go!” Shadow Claw said to the others.

And they also advanced. Dark Knight and Armored Forge clashed and the former said to the latter:

“Brother, snap out of it.”

The others tried to deal with the two deer and Rothbart.

“You have nice moves” Rothbart said. “But even if you make contact, nothing will happen.”

Using his speed, Smokewing approached Rothbart on his clay bird. Hidden, Sand Threads made the two deer go against Smokewing. But it was then that, using his claws, Smokewing cut the threads of one deer, while Shadow Claw, appearing suddenly, also did the same with the other. The light pony and the other dragon caught the two deer.

Rothbart couldn’t believe he fall for that trick. Sand Threads, who was at the surface, couldn’t believe that happened.

“They cut my energy threads. That mutt…”

It was then that Ivory, taking opportunity, launched his energy threads that connected with Sand Threads’, pulling them next. That pulled Sand Threads by surprise who started to fall.

“Raise us!” Shadow Claw exclaimed to the Maretonian stallion.

He did so and, with the terrain lifting, it hit the clay bird where Rothbart was, destroying the lower part and making him fell. Sand Threads also fell hard, doing it over Rothbart. After that was done, Armored Forge positioned himself in front of Rothbart and Sand Threads.

“Why you…” Rothbart said, while he and Sand Threads started to stand up.

“It seems we are fated to meet each other, even after your death, Sand Threads” Shadow Claw said.

“If I am dead, it is because of you” Sand Threads said.

“It was you who defied Strongpaw orders and tried to kill me and my marefriend” Shadow Claw said.

“Because of you, I was killed by my own kind!”

“Because you were trying to kill an innocent just to get to me, an innocent that was one of Princess Twilight’s best friends and also the pony I love.”

“The little mutt barking about love…” Sand Threads said. “How sweet!”

“Stop this, Sand Threads” Ivory said. “What happened is all on you, not Shadow Claw.”

“I can’t believe that you and the others decided to be friends with a pony-wolf” Sand Threads said. “Haven’t you forgotten what his kind did?”

“Shadow Claw is no longer the alpha he once was” Ivory said. “The pure water of our oasis purified him. And if you cannot accept this, I don’t have any alternative.”

After a few seconds, Sand Threads said to Ivory:

“It was clever of you to attach your threads to mine. It seems your skills have improved since we last met.”

“I feel honored for receiving compliments from you, but now we’re different sides and it’s my duty to stop you” Ivory said.

And he went to his saddlebag and took a scroll where, when it was opened, something came from it. It was real-sized puppet pony that Ivory connected to his threads.

“If it is a puppet fight you want, so be it” Sand Threads said, attaching his threads to Armored Forge’s body.

“Run away, Dark” Armored Forge said to his little brother, while Sand Threads started to control him and Rothbart went to his clay bird.

Shadow Claw captured a scent coming from Armored Forge that he quickly recognized.

“That pegasus swallowed explosive clay!” he exclaimed.

That affirmation shocked Dark Knight.

“For what is known, light nature works against explosive nature” the light unicorn said.

“I have light nature” Shadow Claw said. “I gained it when I started to serve the Lord of Order. I want those two deer healed. Use a rock dome to protect them from the fight.”

Listening that, the Maretonian stallion created a stone dome around him, the light pony, the injured pegasus and the light unicorn.

Rothbart took flight over his recovered clay bird and then Sand Threads and Ivory send their respective puppets to fight each other. Shadow Claw tried to use a sword charged with light nature on Armored Forge to deactivate the explosive nature, but Sand Thread made Armored to retreat a little. Rothbart then detonated the clay. Seeing that, Ivory made a gesture and a strong metal structure closed around Armored Forge, as the explosion started to happen.

“BROTHER!” Dark Knight exclaimed, while seeing his own brother about to explode.

Ash was getting away of the place where the fight was occurring when he heard an explosion.

“An explosion?” he asked, who, being completely controlled, said then. “But we must reinforce and crush the enemy.”

And he continued.

Inside the stone dome, the light unicorn was healing the two deer and the pegasus asked:

“How are they outside?”

“Good, I think” the light pony replied. “I can still sense them.”

The explosion destroyed the structure, while the puppet protected Shadow Claw with an energy shield from a mechanism of one of his forelegs. He looked around and saw that Smokewing and the other dragon were also okay, due to their strong scales. His only concern was Dark Knight, who was laying on the ground with some of the things he had inside his saddlebags also on the ground, including a sketchbook.

Rothbart and Sand Threads were flying over the clay bird, with the latter saying:

“He used that dome to block the explosion.”

“And because of that, the bomb didn’t cause the damages it should have” Rothbart said.

“He’s just… a bomb… to you?” Dark Knight asked, while starting to get up.

“Please, stop the whining, it’s causing me a headache” Rothbart said, while Armored Forge’s body started to restore from the hooves, as if dust and ashes gathered to form the body. “As long as his soul is bound to this world, he’ll keep coming back to life. I can turn him into a bomb over and over.”

He started laughing, while Armored Forge’s body was fully restored.

“Armored… my brother…” Dark Knight said.

“I just… don’t really want to hurt you, Dark Knight” Armored said to his brother. “I died so you could live. I don’t want to have my sacrifice in vain by my own hooves.”

And his eyes turned white, as he started to lose his consciousness.

“Well, but it seems that’s what is going to happen” Rothbart said. “I have to say that the General of Chaos is really a genius for having formed this squad just to get the enemy.”

And he laughed. It was that laugh that made Dark Knight lose his calm and exclaim:

“JUST SHUT UP!”

And he flapped his wings, ready to take flight. The wind he was making made the sketchbook to open and the pages to turn until the center, where there was the image of the two brothers, happy and holding hooves. It was a draw that Dark Knight wanted to show him when he was finished, but never had a chance to do it.

Together with the other dragon, Dark Knight attacked Rothbart and Sand Thread from behind with a lot of strength, throwing them against the ground. Taking advantage of that, Ivory made to more puppets with a large body that opened to hold both falling reincarnated beings and then closed. Inside his, Rothbart said:

“How annoying… It seems I have to turn myself into a bomb to get out of here.”

But before he could do it, a blade of a sword charged with light nature entered from the little openings of the puppet and stabbed his shoulder. And the same was done to Sand Threads that didn’t had any light nature and was only to immobilize him. It was Shadow Claw who had use the light nature to pin Rothbart. Ivory then used a cable from his first puppet to secure Shadow Claw’s sword to Rothbart and the captain said:

“It’s done.”

“And you don’t have to worry about these two” Ivory said. “I’ll hold them very tightly .”

“Very well, then we just have to deal with Dark Knight’s brother” Shadow Claw said.

And they all turned to the only reincarnated being that was still a threat to them.

“I always wanted to face you, brother” Dark Knight said. “I wanted to show you how strong I was so you could be proud of me. I just never hoped that moment would be like this.”

“You want to settle this?” Armored Forge asked.

Smokewing approached him and asked:

“Dark Knight, are you doing all right?”

Armored Forge smiled and said:

“It’s good to see that you have a lot of friends that care about you. Back then, you didn’t have many.”

He looked to the sketchbook, seeing the draw of him and Dark Knight together and smiling. That was one of the things he regretted to not be able to see before his death. He then turned to Dark Knight and said, while his eyes recovered their color and his body started to crumble:

“But you know what, I think the battle is unnecessary.”

“Brother…” Dar Knight said, while seeing what was happening.

“I’m really glad you finished it” Armored Forge said, while turning into ash and dust. “I finally got to see the draw I wanted to see. And, somehow, your draw just freed my soul from all of its bindings.”

Dark Knight was seeing that with tears on his eyes.

“Dark Knight… this comrades that you have… cherish them” Armored Forge said, giving him a last smile.

And the ash and dust just fell apart, as the lifeless pony body used as sacrifice fell on it. Dark Knight took his sketchbook, looking to the draw at the center he had made, before closing it and looking to the body that was used to bring back his brother.

Meanwhile, Sand Threads was silent, thinking how far he has done just because of his hate. He lost more than just his life. He lost his home, his friends, his family… And now the only thing he had to do was to obey, knowing he was all alone.

“It was hard for him, you know, Sand Threads?” Ivory told to his old friend.

“What?” he asked.

“To kill you” Ivory replied. “The chief didn’t want to, but you gave him no choice.”

“You were protecting one of our natural enemies!” Sand Threads exclaimed.

“And you tried to kill an innocent just to do what you thought was a justified action” Ivory replied. “We are servants of the Lord of Order and we follow his rules and protect what is right, something you didn’t do that time.”

There was a pause where Sand Threads tried to replied, but then he gave up and opted to say:

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I was alone when I died and I’m alone now.”

“That is not truth” Ivory said. “Although everything you did, after you were gone, your memory remained. We never forgot you. After all, you are one of us.”

“You’re lying!” Sand Threads replied. “You’re just trying to trick me.”

“No, I’m not” Ivory declared. “What I am saying is the truest of truths. Chief Strongpaw cleared your name. If you were still alive and had your heart released from hate, we would receive you at our oasis with open hooves.”

Those words really affected Sand Threads, with his face starting to crack, and Ivory continued:

“Even if now, by irony of the destiny, you, a great puppet master, are now puppet of the enemy, we would never give up on you. Even in death, you can still search redemption, if you allow yourself to search it.”

While more cracks appeared on his face, Sand Threads smiled and said:

“Because what he are is made by our choices. Yes, a very wise pony-panther teaching.”

Noticing that he had reached his old friend, Ivory smiled. Noticing what was happening, Rothbart said:

“Hey, quick saying nonsenses! You turned your back to your kind, to your master. There is no coming back from there. Those pretty words are nothing but empty!”

But Sand Threads wasn’t listening him anymore. His body, just like happened to Armored Forge’s, turned into ash and dust and, before crumbling away, he said to Ivory:

“Please, Ivory, when you saw the chief, tell him… that I’m sorry and that he doesn’t have to blame himself anymore. That is because now… I’m in peace.”

“Yes, I’ll tell him” Ivory promised.

And Sand Threads’ body crumbled away, leaving nothing but a lifeless body of a stallion covered by ash and dust.

Everyone looked to the body that was used to bring Armored Forge and Smokewing said:

“It’s a sacrificial victim. But it was told to us that nothing could kill a reincarnated being. Does this means that the curse was lifted?”

But that question was answered with the sound of Rothbart trying to escape his puppet prison, while exclaiming.

“No, it’s not that way” Ivory said. “Sand Threads is gone, but Rothbart is still here.”

“All along, we thought the Reincarnation Curse was one of most perfect curses created by the Generals of Orders, but it seems to have a flaw” Shadow Claw said. “Apparently, it is not that easy to control someone’s emotions. After all, only Heartbeat is capable of understanding something like that.”

The earth dome was undone and the Maretonian stallion said:

“It seems it is over.”

“No, it is just starting” Shadow Claw said, turning them to his subordinates. “It is time to set up the ambush.”

“Yes, sir” they all said.

And they went to do Shadow Claw’s orders.

The Secret of the Reincarnation Curse

Back to the Wild Isle, Star and Hawthorn went to the Tailed Beast Temple. While they were walking, Star said:

“I knew I could play with those blocks with the level that I have.”

“Yes, that task was easy, but the next one won’t be that easy” Hawthorn declared to Star.

They arrive to a place where there was the head statue of Eight-Tails, just like it was with Two-Tails.

“And now it is statue of Eight-Tails” Star said.

“This is an entrance to another room where we’ll have our last training” Hawthorn said, while Star went to open the door just like he did last time.

The door opened and they get in a room equal to the one where they went so Star could learn how to get Nine-Tails energy without being possessed by him.

“It is time for you to learn the ultimate jinchuriki spell” Hawthorn said, while they entered. “Are you ready?”

“Of course I am” Star replied. “After all, I have to learn to control this power. What do I do first?”

“You will have to get in the Tailed Beast Mode, like this.”

And just like that, Hawthorn turned into Eight-Tails.

“This is the step one” Hawthorn said.

“But don’t you think it is too risky?” Star asked. “I don’t want to turn into the Tailed Beast state.”

“Don’t worry, you can do it” Hawthorn said. “You already extracted pure Tailed Beast energy, so there is no danger in you going on a rampage.”

“All right then” Star said, while he accessed to the Nine-Tails’ energy.

Then, he tried to focus, while the energy became more intense.

“Visualize your Tailed Beast.” Hawthorn said. “Only by doing so you will be able to turn into him.”

He did so and the energy became more intense. Then, there was smoke and Star appeared changed. He had some fox features and nine tails, but he still retained his pony body. Unable to contain that, he returned back to normal.

“Damn…” he said.

“Well, it is shame that didn’t work, but it is not like you are working with the Nine-Tails” Hawthorn said. “Because of that, it wasn’t a total failure.”

Inside his mind, Eight-Tails asked to Hawthorn:

“So, how are you going to teach him the Tailed Beast Bomb? That is something that a jinchuriki can only do in Tailed Beast state, Hawthorn.”

That was also a question that Hawthorn was asking to himself.

Exhausted from the transformation, Star laid on the ground and said:

“Oh, I am dead tire after that. You mean I used all that Nine-Tails’ energy for nothing?”

“By the way, shouldn’t you be telling him the risks of using that energy as well?” Eight-Tails asked to Hawthorn. “Remember, the risks for you and Star are fundamentally differents. You know what, I’ll explain it to him. Let me out.”

“Okay, if you insist so much.”

Ánd so Eight-Tails took control and said to Star:

“Hey, Star, this is Eight-Tails speaking, not Hawthorn. Now, listen closely.”

Star sat and then said:

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“First, I’ll tell you the risks of using the Nine-Tails’ energy” Eight-Tails said.

“Wait, there are risks for using the energy?” Star asked.

“Of course, and it’s very important that you know them” Eight-Tails replied. “So, be quiet and listen.”

And Star nodded his head.

“The main risk when you get access to your Tailed Beast energy is that, basically, when you are using it, the Nine-Tails is consuming your own energy” Eight-Tails explained. “That is because you put your energy aside to use his.”

“Okay…”

“And, obviously, if he drains your own energy to zero, then you are a gonner.”

“What?!” Star exclaimed. “But Lord Hawthorn is perfectly fine when he uses the Tailed Beast Mode.”

“Star, you merely took Nine-Tails’ energy from him” Eight-Tails remembered. “You haven’t truly tamed him. I used to be like that too, a long time ago. I used to reach others’ energy. Oh, and I wouldn’t advise you to use clones while on that form. The Nine-Tails will take an equal portion of energy from each clone, so you will be drained instantly.”

“But my own energy reserves are very vast because of me being an alicorn and because of all the energy I got from Nine-Tails during all these years” Star said. “So I’m not in immediate danger, right?”

“If I was you, I wouldn’t underestimate Nine-Tails” Eight-Tails advised. “He can absorb your energy just like that and it takes time for you to refill it, so be careful. If you get carried away and use only Nine-Tails’ energy during a battle, you will end up dead.”

That made Star adopt a more serious look and Eight-Tails continued:

“Normally, you negotiate with your Tailed Beast about an energy exchange. Not that I ever saw Nine-Tails doing that. Finally, there is a limit for the energy you pull from Nine-Tails.”

“So does that mean I will not be able to use the ultimate jinchuriki spell?” Star Knight asked.

“Yes, I think it is for the best to not use the Tailed Beast Bomb” Eight-Tails said. “For now, I think it is for the best if you just polish your own special move.”

“Tailed Beast Bomb?” Star asked. “What kind of spell is that?”

“It’s simple” Eight-Tails replied. “You just change your energy form, put in on your mouth, compress it and then release it. It’s just that. Basically, it just feels like throwing up.”

Listening that description, Star remember what Nine-Tails just did during their fight.

“I see, so it is how it is called” he said.

Knowing how powerful that spell was, Star realized he needed to learn it if he wanted to use his power to protect his loved ones. He accessed the Nine-Tails’ energy again and then said:

“Okay, so I just have to try while I’m in this mode.”

“It’s impossible while not being transformed into the Tailed Beast state” Eight-Tails said. “I explained everything. Now, I’ll give the control back to Hawthorn.”

And Hawthorn took control again, returning to his deer body, keeping only two tentacles.

“Well, as big Eight told you, you just have to perfect your special move on that form” he said to Star.

“But I can’t do the Spiraling Sphere without at least one clone” Star said. “It won’t work on this mode. I need two pair of hooves: one for energy release and one for rotation, compression and containment of the change of form.”

“The Nine-Tails’ energy is like an extension of your limbs, but it can’t be mistaken by your actual ones” Hawthorn said.

“Oh, I see” Star replied.

And from him appeared to claw-like limbs made of energy.

“That’s it, a very good start” Hawthorn said, while making the tentacles to disappear. “Now, try that spell of yours.”

“All right, here it goes” Star said.

And using his front hooves, along with the energy limbs he created, he started to execute the spell. However, something strange happened. Instead of the same energy rotating to create the Spiraling Sphere, blue and red energy bubbles appeared, similar to the ones of the Tailed Beast Bombs. They started to gather to create the exact same thing that Nine-Tails had used on their fight. Seeing that, Hawthorn said:

“Wait, but that’s… Changing energy, rotating it and compressing it…”

The sphere compressed, but then it exploded, throwing Star back. Hawthorn couldn’t believe how similar Star’s spell was with the Tailed Beast Bomb.

Star started to get up and Hawthorn asked:

“Hey, Star, who did teach you how to use that spell?”

“Well, you see, this spell was created by me” Star replied. “It got to me during one of my magic classes at the academy when Golden Paladin asked me to create a spell of my own. When Professor Knotgrass showed us magical manipulation I couldn’t help but imagining the aura rotating and compressing.”

“Intriguing…” Hawthorn said. “Your Spiraling Sphere is made in the same way as the Tailed Beast Bomb. They’re the same. It seems incredible, but it has to be the truth. It’s like that, even when you’re younger, you could sense the jinchuriki abilities that you have inside of you. It couldn’t be luckier.”

“Why do you say that?” Star asked, while standing up.

“Because it is easy to achieve in Tailed Beast Mode, but, in your pony form, the change in energy form is difficult, almost impossible” Hawthorn explained. “And also, if you add rotation, then that makes it even more impossible.”

“You may be right, but this is not working like my regular Spiraling Sphere” Star said looking to his hoof.

“Tailed Beast energy is a combination of positive energy and negative energy” Hawthorn said. “They need to be balanced. That’s the key. When you’re compressing it, if you make the negative to positive ratio as two to eight, then it will form a sphere. Go on, try it.”

“I’m on it!” Star exclaimed, with a smile.

He tried to do it again, but when he tried to form the sphere, it exploded and threw Star again, making him return to his normal form.

“No, your ratio is still not good” Hawthorn said. “You have negative nine point five to positive zero point five. It’s harder than it sounds to do the right ratio.”

“You know, it is already too hard to focus and keep the Spiraling Sphere” Star Knight said, while standing up. “How will I be able to be attentive to details like those? I may like learn from the book, but I prefer learning by doing it. So, to do this Tailed Beast Bomb I just have to do it and do it over and over again until get it right.”

But then he felt a great pain. It was his front hooves which were know burned because of the explosion.

“It’s much more difficult in your pony form and that’s because of the side effects it can have on your body” Hawthorn said.

“And like I told you, I can’t focus on little details like that” Star said with a faint smile, something that impressed Hawthorn.

Star accessed again the Nine-Tails’ energy again and prepared the energy limbs, while saying:

“Lord Hawthorn, you said the ratio should be eight to two, so keep watching me and tell me when I get it right. I’ll train by just feeling and then remembering it.”

“Well, you’re really persistent” Hawthorn commented, also smiling. “All right, then I’ll do what you’re asking.”

Outside the villains’ hideout, the General of Chaos was with Gentle Light who was focusing in not only mobilizing the reincarnated being, but also in the battle between the two commando units. It was then that she felt her control over Armored Forge and Sand Threads disappearing, what could only meaning that they were released from the curse.

Noticing her change of behavior, the General of Chaos asked Gentle Light:

“What is it?”

“Nothing special, but it seems your plan to eliminate the Alliance’s commando unit didn’t work very well. By the way, isn’t time for you to go to the front line? I can stay here and concentrate on the curse for now.”

But the General didn’t answered right away, remaining look at her. Although she was under his control, he couldn’t stop feeling a little uncomfortable by the advantage she had by knowing everything about her curse. Noticing that, Gentle Light said:

“I can see that you’re little fearful of me, even when I’m under your control.”

“You can’t blame me” the General of Chaos said. “After all you’re just as troublesome as Heartbeat. You two are the most unpredictable between the Generals of Order. Even if you’re under my control, nothing guarantees me that you’re plotting anything using your own curse. For that reason, I want you to tell me exactly what it takes to be enacted and all of its secrets, including how to stop it.”

“Where’s the need of that?” Gentle Light asked. “You know how this curse is risky if executed by somepony else that is not me. Even your master knows that. Besides me, only the two Lords of Order and Chaos can use it perfectly and, if one of them uses it, it is like giving the other permeation to react.”

“But I can’t have you taking advantage of your curse to send our enemies on the right direction on this war” the General said. “That’s the reason why I want to know. Tell me now.”

There was a pause and then Gentle Light said:

“Very well, if that’s your desire, I don’t have any other option but to comply. But you do realize that, in order to do what you’re asking, I’ll need someone to reincarnate and a living vessel to serve as sacrifice, right?”

And so the General made two captured deer to appear, with one of them being Cypress. They were completely subdued.

“If it is two guinea pigs you need, then I’ll give it to you” the General said, while using his magic to kill Cypress, throwing his body against the ground. “There, I killed one of them. Take his soul and now revive it in the other with the Reincarnation Curse.”

Having no other choice, Gentle Light approached Cypress’ body, while saying:

“Just for you to know, this curse is categorized as summoning magic, just like the normal summoning spells we all know. It involves summoning the soul of the dead back from the after-life, being it in Harmonia, Discordia or the Underworld, and bring it to the world of the living. To achieve that, you need a piece of the body of the one you want to revive.”

And so, she break one of Cypress’ horns with magic.

“Any issue that contains personal identification material can be used” Gentle Light continued. “Without it, the Reincarnation Curse won’t work. However, for spirits that cannot be found or are too much protected, cannot be brought back. I could have brought back Star Swirl the Bearded to help in this war of yours, as you ordered me to revive any strong beings that I could find, but the Lord of Orders has his soul, along with many others, well protected and out of reach.”

“I see, so there are limits for the souls that this curse can revive” the General of Chaos said.

“That’s right” Gentle Light confirmed, putting Cypress’ horn on the ground and involving it with a pale yellow light. “Even if I’m the General of Death, the Lord of Order is above, both in power and influence. Because of you, I revived many, but getting their personal material is essentially just grave robbing.”

The light dissolved the horn and then started to involve the other deer with tentacles of light, while pulling itself towards him, while Gentle Light continued:

“Sometimes, there are mistakes when it comes to the ones whose remains are not identifiable. Because of that, I had a lot of failures along the way.”

“So that’s how the curse is enacted” the General said, while observing the light trying to get in the deer.

After the light did so, Gentle Light used her magic and ash and dust started to cover the deer’s body. It seemed to be a very excruciating procedure, as the deer screamed in pain during the reincarnation.

“And this is how you turn someone into a vessel for the souls” Gentle Light said, as the ash and dust retreated to reveal Cypress, that whose body was an exact copy of the original, having including his mask and cloak, but having some cracks along the body. “And this is how you enact the Reincarnation Curse.”

Patting, Cypress, opening his eyes with dark sclera, asked, confused:

“What’s happening? Where am I?”

“Without any doubt, this is one of the most powerful and dangerous curses in all Creation, not only the Pony Reality” Gentle Light continued to say. “But of course the key of this curse is not bringing back the dead, but control them.”

She approached the reincarnated Cypress and, extending her hoof over his head, it started glowing and the reincarnated deer’s sclera darkened and the irises turned white, as she put him under her control.

“This part of the curse suppresses the free will and, by giving certain commands, the revived ones will get the abilities they will have the abilities they had in life, what gives immortal pawns created just to follow the caster’s orders, even rare abilities like combined natures or specific and unique powers” she continued.

“This is such an ideal curse” the General of Chaos commented. “I’m surprised that a General of Order would think in something like that.”

“That’s because you still don’t know Heartbeat’s curses” Gentle Light replied. “She is far more creative than me.”

“But, like you said, this curse has serious risks” the General said. “Every action is followed by a reaction. Now, what are they?”

“In part, that is the most brilliant part of this curse” Gentle Light said. “It doesn’t have that many risks to the caster, as it doesn’t require energy to work. Although the amount of control depends on the skill of the caster. The main risk is directed mainly to the soul of the one that casts it as something like that darks them, as we are talking about something that is against the laws of Nature.”

A coffin appeared around the reincarnated Cypress, closing and then disappearing.

“All right, I’m leaving now” Gentle Light said. “I have to go to a quiet place to focus.”

“Hold it, you haven’t told me how to stop the Reincarnation Curse” the General of Chaos said.

“Oh, yes, I almost forgot about that part” Gentle Light said, making a fake innocent look. “Killing the caster won’t stop this curse, so how can it be stopped? It’s simple. You just have to manipulate the caster to break the curse. You could that to me if you start to feel that I’m doing something that doesn’t please you or even your enemy so they don’t have to fight the reincarnated beings, but my mind has very powerful barriers out of my control as a precaution. That’s why you cannot control me completely. The other is to seal the reincarnated beings’ souls.”

There was a pause and the Gentle Light said:

“Now that I told you everything you wanted to hear, I thing I’ll go to my post and do what you enslaved me to do.”

And so she disappeared.

Back to the Alliance’s headquarters’, where the residential sensing warriors, including Boreal Blizzing, where sit around the great bubble and the residential ponies of the communication unit, including Diamond Glow where connected to a big device through helmets that obscured their eyes, Boreal Blizzard said:

“We would have missed this without the intel of the infiltration team. A large army is coming underground. We must extend our sensing range deeper. It seems they are planning in passing under our troops’ hooves.”

“Dig them out with an earth-natured spell” Aspen said, sitting at the big table with the regents that stayed behind, where others like White Light and Stone Quake were standing beside.

“We have to notify Obsidian Blade of this immediately” Hard Stone said.

Following the orders, Diamond Glow accessed to the members of the Intelligence Unit to transmit the intel to the responsible for communication in the Second Unit. They were at the Badlands. After receiving the message, he said to Obsidian Blade:

“There’s new intel from HQ. There are a large quantity of enemy underground the coordinates twenty five by thirty.”

“So that’s their plan” Obsidian Blade said.

Ash continued to run until he met with other reincarnated beings: King Grover, another deer and a female pony-wolf on her wolf form.

“Finally, reenforcements” Ash said.

“The Reincarnation Curse…” King Grover said, looking to his talon. “I never thought I would end up witnessing, much less be one of the reincarnated.”

“Yes, to be able to control this many, the caster can only be very skillful” the deer said.

“I don’t care about what is happening, as long as we keep serving the Lord of Chaos” the pony-wolf said.

While the Second Unit prepared themselves, some reinforcements from the Fifth Unit arrived. Rainbow Dash and Soarin landed beside Applejack and Big Mac.

“Rainbow, Soarin, it’s a good thing ya’re here” Applejack said.

“Eeyup” Big Mac agreed.

“We came as soon Gael told us to come” Rainbow Dash said. “So, where’s the enemy?”

“We’re about tah find out” Applejack, looking up.

Obsidan Blade and Quartz Blitz were in a more elevated ground and then they started to use their magic. And so, some kind of volcano erupted from the ground and launched a great quantity of Petal Sprout’s clones.

The Bloody Swordsponies

At a clearing, Gael and Godot were confronted by Spitfire who said to the former:

“Captain Gael, we received intel from HQ. The enemy seems to be marching right pass us, deep underground.”

“If they were able to pass through the sensor unit, then they are not ponies, griffons or any other creature we know” Godot said to Gael.

“Probably there are like that plant guy that appeared during the summit” Gael said. “Okay, I think it is for the best if we sent some of our troops of the Fifth Unit to help Obsidian Blade and the Second Unit as reinforcements.”

Meanwhile, River Blood, King Sombra, Montu and Thunder Blitz were mobilizing, while Dark Knight, Smokewing and the other Pegasus were flying nearby. Noticing them, Smokewing dove along with explosives that Dark Knight and the other Pegasus had and then threw his flames, launching then the explosives, expanding the power and range of his flames, what created a great explosive.

“Now, Dark Knight!” Smokewing exclaimed.

Dark Knight took a flare from his saddlebag, shooting then to the air. Nearby, was Shining Armor, Blue Knight and the Third Unit who saw the flare.

“Red flare…” Shining said. “It’s the commando unit. Let’s go.”

Blue nodded.

The explosion had caused damaged to River Blood, Thunder Blitz and Montu, who started to regenerate. Only Sombra was intact as he used a dark crystal barrier that soon broke up.

“It seems you wasted your energy, Sombra” River Blood said. “With this bodies, we cannot die.”

“I know, but that takes time and I like to be ready to anything” King Sombra said. “Mainly when they all calling for reinforcements.”

And he pointed to the flare.

“So, as I was the first to see that, let me give the first blow” Sombra said with a wicked smile, while he started to turn into smoke.

“Damn curse!” Montu exclaimed. “If it wasn’t for it, I could stop you from attacking them.”

Sombra ascended on the air and then he involved the three members of the commando unit.

“But what is this?” Smokewing asked.

And they heard a laugh while Sombra’s eyes appeared and then he said:

“Now I have you where I want” Sombra said.

“Oh no…” Dark Knight said. “It’s Sombra!”

And shards of crystal were threw against them, hitting them and making them start to fall. However, thanks to their abilities regarding the flying, they were able to land safely. Sombra returned back to the side of the others and, after that, a female griffon appeared at their side. She was a reincarnated being with dark purple head and wings with scarlet tinges, orange beak and talons and periwinkle body.

“You couldn’t wait, could you?” she asked to her fellow reincarnated beings. “Just because I was just a little behind to give you cover and the only female, doesn’t mean you can be rude.”

“I can’t believe that the enemy reincarnated Sombra” Dark Knight said. “As if we didn’t have enough troubles.”

“Yes, but the others are not good news as well” Smokewing said. “I can smell the taste blood and power in almost all of them. The male griffon is the only one that seems to have a complete good heart.”

“That headdress…” the other pegasus said. “He seems to be from Coltypt.”

“He doesn’t matter if they are good or not” Dark Knight said. “They are all reincarnations, so they are our enemy.”

“We don’t have anything personal against you, but we are not in control of our actions” the female griffon said.

“Say that for yourself” King Sombra said to her. “I’m liking what it’s happening.”

“Hurry, you have to run, now!” Montu exclaimed, as he felt the curse forcing him to attack.

And the five reincarnated beings advanced to attack, but it was then that Shining, Blue, Thunder Night with an Evermist and a Stonult soldiers appeared. Shining had stopped Sombra’s attack, while Blue stopped River Blood’s and Thunder Night stopped Montu’s.

“Captain Shining Armor, you’re a life safer!” Smokewing exclaimed.

“You shouldn’t celebrate yet” Shining said, without taking his eyes from Sombra. “All these will be difficult to beat.”

“You…” Sombra said. “I know you. You’re that hateful prince that took my empire from me.”

“The Crystal Empire was not yours to begin with!” Shining replied. “You took it after what you did to the Light Kingdom.”

Sombra made a chuckle and then said:

“I can see that you know my reputation. I am impressed.”

The other members of the Third Unit arrived.

“You don’t belong to this world, Sombra” Shining said. “Stop this madness and let us seal you so we can send you back to where you came from.”

“I don’t care if I belong or not to this world” Sombra said. “As long as the Lord of Chaos’ will still exists, I won’t stop to serve him.”

“Wait, but you are…” the Evermist soldier said, looking to River Blood. “Captain Shining, the one that Prince Blue Sword is facing is a notorious criminal of Evermist and one of the Seven Swordspony of the Mist, a group that used to be our mercenaries.”

“And my name is Montu, I used to be great warrior for Coltypt” Montu said. “Beware of my fast moves with the talons and with my dives from the air.”

At her corner in the villains’ hideout, Gentle Light was sitting in front of some kind of board with squares where little round stones spread around it, representing the reincarnated beings.

“I can sense a big resistance coming from Montu, but he is not the only one” she said. “River Blood is also resisting. Although nothing wouldn’t give me more happiness than let them be, I can’t disobey my orders to make sure everypony do their part.”

Sombra then used his shadows to try to attack the ones who were facing them, but then they retreated to a safe place.

“That doesn’t seem right” Blue commented.

River Blood and Montu started to liberate gas, as they started to feel their minds becoming clouded.

“My mind…” Montu said. “I’m losing control…”

“Damn…” River Blood said, feeling the same.

Thunder Blitz and Sparking Jade also started to feel the same thing. Only Sombra still was still completely conscious.

“That’s what happens when you fight against a force you cannot win” Sombra said to his companions.

Montu turned Shining and Blue and said:

“Please, you have to stop us. I didn’t serve the Lord of Order and protected Coltypt so I ended up participating in the destruction of his perfect work.”

“I also want to be stopped” River Blood said. “I don’t tolerate to be used, not even in death.”

And so their eyes turned white, as they were completely put under the control of the curse.

“And here they come” Shining Armor said.

“Captain, that pony is Thunder Blitz” the Stonult guard said. “He is an explosive nature user from my kingdom. He belonged to a special unit of ours specialized in explosions.”

“And that griffon is Gina” a female griffon of Aeropolis that was carrying a roll of cloth. “She is from my kingdom and possess the scorch nature, being able to combine fire and wind. Be careful.”

“And Sombra possess the crystal nature” Shining said. “They both are combined natures users. This is not going to be easy.”

And then River Blood raised his hoof and summoned a mist that quickly covered everything around.

“This is bad” the Evermist soldier said. “He is using an old tactic of Evermist involving silent attacks.”

“Quick, assemble battle groups with a sensor soldier at the center” Shining said. “The other members cover twelve, three, six and nine o’clock positions.”

They did so, with Shining back to back to Blue, Thunder Night and Black Knight.

“This mist is getting thicker” Thunder Night commented. “It is even thicker than the one my brother used to conjure.”

It was then that screams started be heard, as River Blood and Montu started to fatally assaulting the Third Unit.

“It has begun” Shining said.

But it wasn’t only them causing havoc. Sombra used his crystals to stab and imprison his enemies, while using his smoke form to dodge any attack done to him.

The young griffon that had talked about Gina ended being separated from her group and, after sensing an explosion happening nearby, she noticed the body of a unicorn that had been…

“He’s mummified” the griffon said. “This spell…

“Here she comes!” a soldier exclaimed.

And Gina appeared with three orbs of heat energy surrounding her. She went against some soldiers, fighting them and, after a blow to the guards, hitting him, creating a little explosion and then releasing steam.

“Steam Kill Spell” she said.

“My insides… they’re burning!” one of them said, before falling dead on the ground with his body completely dehydrated.

Elsewhere, Thunder Blitz was battling a big guard and then he said:

“Landmine Fist Spell!”

And he gave him a punch on the stomach, what caused a great explosion that blew the soldier. Another, decided to avenge his fallen comrade, started to advance full of rage against Thunder Blitz. However, all of the sudden, Montu appeared before him, lifting his talon ready to attack. Fortunately, Thunder Night appeared and tackled Montu who, after recovering, hid himself inside the mist. Blue also appeared, who launched a beam of magic against Thunder Blitz, what forced him to moved away.

“Comrades are lost during war” Blue said to the soldier. “The only thing you have to do it’s to focus so you don’t lose more.”

“Yes…” the soldier said.

A deer guard was walking around, ready to any ambush, but not the one that was about to happen to him. Sombra appeared behind him and said:

“Very cautious…”

The deer turned around and prepare to attack Sombra, but he was faster and, with his magic, he imprisoned the deer in dark crystal.

“But not enough to escape my Crystal Prison Spell” Sombra said with a smile.

With a gesture, he made the crystal to break and turn to dust, along with the deer.

Shining was having a fight with River Blood and said:

“I know all about you, Swordspony of the Mist. You and the others used to be protectors of Evermist until the last generation during the rule of the former king. After that, you became criminals, forcing your own to kill you. Without your sword, you can be certain I will not lose to you.”

Gentle Light, however, was about to contradict Shining’s statement.

“I’m not so naïve to use all of my trumps at once” she said, while having six other stones on her hooves.

Sombra appeared nearby and, conducted by Gentle Light, he accessed his magic and then six coffins appeared from the ground. River Blood retreated from his fight with Shining Armor to the coffins. Seeing them, Shining realized it couldn’t be good.

The coffins opened, with their covers falling and revealing the ones they contained.

“No, it can’t be…” the Evermist guard, with a shocked and afraid look.

The first was a tall earth stallion with a pale green coat with a sewing needle as Cutie Mark, a straw-color mane and brown eyes; the second was a unicorn mare with a light blue coat with a lightning as Cutie Mark, moderate red mane and dark purple eyes; the third was a pegasus male with a moderate brown coat with a sword and an explosion as Cutie Mark, very light brown mane and dark blue eyes, or rather one as he had an eye patch; the fourth was a pegasus mare with a cerulean coat with three crossing swords as Cutie Mark, blueish white mane and dark red eyes; the fifth was a big earth stallion with a reddish brown coat with a hammer as Cutie Mark, very dark red hooves, dark and bright red mane and black eyes, and the sixth was an earth stallion even bigger with bluish purple coat with a spiky sword as Cutie Mark, light purple hooves, orange long spiky mane and dark yellow eyes.

“They all are former members of the Seven Sworsponies of the Mist!” the soldier of Evermist exclaimed. “And it’s not only that, they are the last generation, the ones who lived during our blood period before Queen Mystic Heart’s ascension to the throne, considerated a being the best.”

Blue appeared besides Shining and told him:

“I was not expecting that. I wonder how many like those Gentle Light reincarnated for the General of Chaos.”

“Probably much more” Shining Armor said. “Blue, I will need your power.”

“Since the General of Chaos enacted that disease, I lost most of my power as General, but I will give everything I have to help you, brother” Blue said.

Shining nodded and then he turned to the young griffon and told her:

“Gretel, have that sealing spell ready.”

“Me and my team are much more than ready, sir” she replied.

“All right, we will have to buy time for Blue” Shining said to his unit. “Meanwhile, you’re going to attack together as one.”

And he and his unit started to attack the Seven Swordsponies. The combined attack hit hard on them, but, due to their immortal bodies, they escaped, while their bodies regenerated.

“It’s no use” the Evermist soldier said. “Our attacks won’t affect them. What can we do against and enemy like that? They are the Seven Swordsponies and they are immortal.”

“Don’t worry about that very much” Thunder Night told him. “We can still seal their souls and, by that, trap and mobilize them. Beyond that, none of them have swords.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that” Sombra’s voice said.

He appeared in front of the swordsponies and then said:

“Do you really think that we would use these ones without using their strongest abilities?”

And he disappeared, but not before making appear in front of the swordsponies five swords that were taken by them, except the biggest one and the pegasus mare. River Blood’s sword had a big blade with two cut outs, a circle close to the top and a semi-circular one nearer to the handle; the tall one with straw-colored mane had a sword that resembled a large needle with a long length of thin wire-mirroring thread, tied through the eye located at the base of its hilt; the unicorn mare possessed a pair of swords, each with slim and straight double-edged blades that also had an upward-curved bladed prong near the tip of one side of the blade and another one near the base of the blade's other side; the stallion with the eye patch had a sword that featured two distinct sides, a narrow cutting edge located down the entirety of one length and a wide platform section on the other covered by symbols, and the reddish brown stallion had a sword that consisted of a giant axe and hammer, linked end-to-end by a flat thin leather-like rope.

“There’s only five of them” Thunder Night observed.

“Well, the only survivor of the Seven Swordsponies is a young stallion called Bronze Dagger” the Evermist soldier said. “His Twinsword is the only sword that wasn’t lost. He is currently with our queen. And then the other sword is Shark Skin that is now in possession of Lord Hawthorn who took it from a kelpie that defeated and killed Sea Wave, the biggest one there.”

“If you know so much about them, then I’ll need you to explain me more about those swords” Shining said to him.

“Yes, sir” the Evermist soldier said. “Those two swords hold by that unicorn mare who is called Light Blast are the ones with the sharpest cutting edge and capable of generating lightning, being called for that reason the Lightning Blades. That one that is an axe and a hammer is called Helmet Splitter and is capable of smashing through any defense and the one that wields it is Hammer Blow. The one that looks like a needle is the Sewing Needle, capable of stabbing and piercing through anything and sewing them together and is wielded by Sharp Needle. The one with the symbol is the Explosive Blade with a great explosive power and used by Clashing Storm. River Blood’s sword is called Executioner’s Sword that, beyond the fact of being able to decapitate, it can use the iron of blood of it victim to regenerate. But even if Sea Wave and Lake Splash don’t have their swords, they can still be dangerous.”

“Very well, all of you, make sure everypony gets to know everything about those swords” Shining said to those who were close by.

“Shining, I’m ready” Blue said. “I know a spell that will allow me to bind them, but you need to get close. For that, I can use what I know about the telephatic spell.”

“Good, then let’s do it” Shining said, creating a light sword, while Blue used his magic on him. “Well, listen, guys, this is plan. Blue will guide me with his mind through the mist until I get to River Blood. Once I get close, Blue will bind him and, at that moment, Gretel, you will immobilize him with your cloth and seal him.”

“Yes, sir” she replied.

“Let’s do it” Shining said.

“Right!”

And Shining advance, while Blue used his magic to link his mind to him.

“Let’s go!” a soldier said. “The rest of us will guard Captain Shining Armor!”

“Yeah!”

And they all advanced to face the enemy. However, doing it was harder than they thought. With the Lightning Blade, Light Blast was able to cut her adversaries with a great ease, as the lightning they generated only increased their cutting power, beyond the fact they could electrify as well. With the Helmet Splitter, Hammer Blow was able to pass through any defense, using the axe to hit and the hammer to break. Sharp Needle used the Sewing Blade to pierce as many enemies he could, sewing them after. Using the magic on the symbols of his blade, Clashing Storm, with each blow, made sure he caused as many damages as possible, making his enemies to blow up. And, true to the Evermist soldier’s words, Sea Wave and Lake Splash were as deadly as the ones with swords.

River Blood was slicing all the ones who dared to face him, with their blood repairing any damage that the sword suffered. Shining then approached, guided by Blue.

“I found him” he said to Shining. “He’s all yours.”

And Blue released the mind spell and then he run towards River Blood, who seemed that he hadn’t noticed him yet. However, when he was about to stab him, someone put himself in the way. It was Montu who protected River Blood, taking the stab instead and then grabbing Shining Armor’s shoulders to hold him.

Gentle Light knew they would target River Blood, as he was the one to conjure the mist. It was need someone to protect him and, with his fast moves, Montu was the best choice. Although such follower of the Lord of Order didn’t deserve to be used like that, she didn’t had any other alternative.

Taking advantage of the situation, River Blood prepare to cut through Shining and Montu with the Executioner’s Blade.

“Captain Shining Armor, no!” Gretel, who was nearby, exclaimed.

Blue, who was waiting for his move, could feel the presence of two enemies with Shining. He was wondering what was going on in that mist.

Shining was able to teleport to safety with Montu, who was immobile while the wound at the chest started to regenerate. At Shining’s body armor there was a crack, with a not deep scratch at the chest. His blood covered the Executioner’s Blade, fortifying it. Looking to the griffon that was once a noble warrior, Shining couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

“You can be sure that they will not control you again, Montu” Shining said to him.

He got up and then summoned his light sword again.

“Be ready, Gretel” he said. “Prepare the sealing spell and stay right behind me.”

“Yes, sir” she replied.

River Blood started to go against Shining with his sword ready. He did the same and the two prepared to make blow on each other. Shining was faster, piercing him, while cutting the hoof that secured the sword.

“Now, Blue!” he exclaimed.

Hearing that, Blue activated the spell he had put on Shining and binds got out from him to bind River Blood.

“Now, Gretel, do it!” Shining said.

“Right!” she exclaimed.

And she made the cloth she had to involve both River Blood and Montu, making symbols appear on them. That was enough to seal them what caused the two stones on Gentle Light’s board to crack and then were destroyed. Gentle Light smiled. It seemed that the Order’s army was having a good start. She just hoped they could continue this way.

With River Blood sealed, the mist dissipated, much the everypony’s happiness. They now were able to see the enemy.

At the place where Shining was, he looked how Gretel sealed them and, when she ended, she said:

“As long this symbols remain intact, they cannot be summoned and I will watch this two personally.”

“Very well” Shining said, with Blue by his side, while taking the Executioner’s Blade. “This curse… It really is unforgivable.”

“I know, I reacted the same way when I learned about it” Blue said. “We really need to find and release Gentle Light, before things get worse.”

“Then we need more sealing spells and ones that are more efficient” Shining Armor said.

“And I know someone that has that” Blue replied, looking around. “Armored Oath.”

A light unicorn stallion appeared. He had a yellow coat with a scroll and brush as Cutie Mark, orange and light yellow mane and blue eyes.

“Yes, my prince?” he asked.

“We’ll need now the special seal that Heartbeat has being teaching you” Blue said.

Listening that, Armored Oath said in a nervous way:

“But I still didn’t mastered that spell.”

“Heartbeat was sure you could do it” Blue said. “It is time for you to release your emotions and use their power.”

Even though he wasn’t sure he would be able to do what Blue was asking, Armored Oath said:

“Yes, my prince.”

The Second Unit engaged in a battle with the clones.

“Attack!” Obsidian Blade exclaimed.

And his soldiers, along with the reinforcements of the Fifth Unit, started fighting with Petal Sprout’s clones. Applejack and Big Mac were using their strength to buck the clones, while Rainbow Dash and Soarin attacked in the air. It didn’t last for more reinforcements arriving, this time with Cloud Chase appearing.

“Hi, AJ” he said, while he knocked out a few clones that were about to attack Applejack from behind. “I hope I am not too late, love.”

“Of course not, Ah’m happy ya’re here” she replied, giving him a kiss.

A clone opened his stomach and caught Big Mac. He could feel his energy being drained. Using all the strength he had, Big Mac was able to release himself and then take it down. Rainbow Dash punched a great number of clones and then she said to Applejack and Cloud Chaser, while hoovering:

“This is being so easy. I think it won’t last for us to get rid of this guys.”

“I would be so sure, Rainbow Dash” Soarin said, pointing.

And more clones appeared.

“What in tarnation…” Applejack said. “There’s no end to this!”

Obsidian was observing the situation of the battle, when a crystal pony approached and said:

“Captain Obsidian Blade, there is a message from HQ. Several thousands of the enemy’s soldiers apparently passed through us.”

“Dad, we have to…” Quartz Blitz, who was nearby and heard that, said.

“Be quiet, I know!” he replied.

It was then that a buzzing noise was heard.

“Oh no, Ah would recognize this sound anywhere” Applejack said.

“Me too” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s…”

And a swarm of changelings led by Crush appeared.

“Let’s go!” he exclaimed to his fellow changelings. “For the Queen and the Lord of Chaos!”

“Changelings!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash exclaimed at the same time.

Seeing them approaching, Obsidian Blade told to his unit:

“Everyone, be careful! With those changelings joining this battle, confusion will certain arise. Make sure you don’t attack any comrade.”

He couldn’t believe how complicated the situation was becoming.

At the San Palomino Desert, somepony invisible was walking, leaving only hoofsteps. They then stopped and the pony who was making those marks appeared. It was King Platinum. At some distance away, positioned at the top of a great rock, was Chief Strongpaw. He knew that the enemy was nearby.

“Here they come now” he said.

And down there behind him was his entire unit.

The Brilliant Strategist

At the San Palomino Desert, Strongpaw continued to look at the direction where he had detected the enemy.

At the villains’ hideout, Gentle Light continue to control the reincarnated beings.

“Platinum stopped moving” she said. “I can see that he was detected. He used to be called the Null Pony, as he can become with no form or energy. With this new group of reincarnated beings, I can have better results by letting their personalities intact. I think I’ll let him do his own thing after the summoning spell.”

At the place where Platinum was, he got orders from Gentle Light and so he used the summoning spell, making appear three coffins of the Reincarnation Curse. They disappear, revealing King Alder, King Gusty Blizzard and Chief Sandstorm. Gentle Light activated them and the three leaders just opened their eyes.

“Where am I?” Alder asked. “What’s going on?”

Gusty Blizzard looked around and said:

“My, my, my, but what a reunion with old adversaries. Except…”

He turned to Sandstorm and said:

“I don’t know you.”

“This is an infamous curse of the General of Death” Platinum explained. “She is being controlled and those who controlled her also control us. This curse summons the souls of the afterlife to do the caster’s bidding. I was forced to summon you all here.”

“The souls of the afterlife?” Gusty Blizzard asked. “And what do you mean by that?”

“Haven’t you forgotten?” Platinum asked him, while approaching. “I killed you myself. You have been dead for a long time, King Gusty Blizzard.”

He took a few seconds to remember and then he said:

“Oh, yes, of course. Hey, wait! I remember everything now! You died in that day too! In fact, I’m the one who killed you!”

“Is that so?” King Paladin asked. “Well, never mind now. I can sense somepony at some distance that way. Somepony with the same kind of energy as you.”

He was referring to Chief Sandstorm.

“With him, there is an army” Paladin continued.

“Wait, I know who you are” Alder said to Chief Sandstorm. “You’re the leader of the pony-panthers, right.”

“Yes, I am” he replied. “And I have heard about all of you, fallen regents, as well about your descendants who are now regents of your kingdoms.”

“So the new generations are in charge now” Gusty Blizzard said, looking to himself. “It feels incredibly strange being here in the future like this.”

“Listen, this isn’t really the future” Platinum said to him. “We’re just ghosts brought back from the past. Don’t interrupt me anymore or I’ll kill you.”

“I was already killed, you foul!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed. “And I was the one who killed you, remember.”

The two started to shovel each other, while Platinum said:

“I was just trying to tell you about the General of Death, the one who resurrected us.”

That made Gusty Blizzard to stop and then Chief Sandstorm said:

“If it is really the General of Death who brought us back, then the ones who are controlling her must be really powerful. Probably, it’s the Lord of Chaos himself or one of his top villains.”

Unknown to them, Strongpaw’s third was floating nearby, watching them. Strongpaw, with one of his eyes closed in order to connect with the third eye, was able to see them.

“They are four and among them… is my father.”

At the front of the unit, a light pony approached Lightning Bolt and whispered to him something before moving away. Lightning Bolt then turned to the rest of the unit and told them:

“It’s a message from HQ. Our commando unit fought the enemy’s commando unit. It seems we were right about the enemy. They are controlling the General of Death and forced her to use the Reincarnation Curse to raise the dead and sending them to the battle field. Because of this, we don’t know what kind of adversaries we’re going to find, so you all must be sure you’re prepared for everything.”

It was then that their attention went to their captain who had raised his hoof.

“He’s giving the signal. The enemy is close.”

“But, lieutenant, the HQ hasn’t told us that there is any enemy near” Hardscale said, who was with Toothy.

“That may be because there is some enemies that not even the HQ can detect” Lightning Bolt replied. “I bet the enemy will only revive the really strong ones.”

“Ah, just the thought of having to face dead beins…” Hardscale said. “It’s making me nervous. You too, right, Toothy?”

Toothy nodded with his head and then Lightning Bolt said:

“It’s too late to worry about that now.”

Back to the Alliance’s headquarters, one of Diamond Glow’s underlings said:

“We have a message from Captain Strongpaw’s Fourth Unit. They spotted four enemies. They are King Gusty Blizzard, King Platinum, Chief Sandstorm and… King Alder.”

Listening that, both Aspen and Hard Stone became very tense.

“What?!” Aspen exclaimed, getting up. “My father too?! Those villains…”

“But the numbers don’t match up with our sensing readings” Twilight said, turning then to the underling. “Are you sure this intel is correct?”

“Princess Twilight, King Platinum is my father and he was the one who taught me everything I know about magic” Hard Stone said. “But he was much more powerful than me when he was alive. Because of that, it is no surprise at all that we were able to sense three of them and not the fourth. The fact you cannot detect his presence, it’s because it is his doing.”

Boreal Blizzard became a little nervous knowing about a pony that they couldn’t detect.

“Captain Boreal, there are far too many of those plant ponies out there” one of his underlings told him. “I can’t detect any of those with special characteristics. Arcing’s First Unit is about to face thousands of them. I will need help to distinguish the reincarnated ones from the plant ponies.”

“All right, you take charge of the broad-range scan” Boreal Blizzard said.

He then closed his eyes and focused. The great sensor bubble started bubbling and then he said:

“This is bad. There are too many reincarnated beings attacking Arcing’s First Unit. And it appears that each one is more powerful than the one before.

At Horseshoe Bay, where the evacuated Baltimare was located, Petal Sprout’s clones started to appear from the Celestial Sea. Arcing and his unit were all waiting from them. Close to him was Ember and Flambeau.

“They’re coming” Arcing said to them. “Get the signal to prepare for battle.”

“Yes” they said.

And the two fired their fire to the air to warn everypony to be ready.

“They are so many” Nitelite said, near Freeze Burn.

“And their numbers are not the only concern” Freeze Burn told him. “Between them, there are the ones who have special skills. I can see that through my magic.”

He was right. There was reincarnated beings coming along with the clones. But the ones that caught his attention was Eclipse, Sunburst and Day Glow, the ones he was able to recognize.

“No, it can’t be…”

“What is it, Your Highness?” Nitelite asked.

“Something bad, very bad” he said. “Ingrid and her sisters won’t like this at all.”

A griffon from Aeropolis that was also seeing their enemies approaching became shocked and said:

“No, it can’t be…” he said.

“What is it?” a crystal pony who was nearby asked.

“Those two are…” he said, looking to two griffons between the reincarnated beings. “They are Gavin and Grant, the Gold and Silver Brothers of Aeropolis.”

The one that seemed to be the Gold Brother had yellowish fur with orange feathers with tinges of a light shade, while the Silver Brother had dark bluish fur with silver color feathers.
It was then that there was a very loud sound and a tremor and, before everyone’s eyes, Kraken emerged from the waters, with his tentacles waving in the air.

His presence was immediately sensed by the HQ, where a great bustle was starting.

“It seems the Kraken appeared at the place where the First Unit is” Boreal Blizzard said.

“Finally, the villains start to appear” Twilight said. “I was wonder when they would make their move.”

But that wasn’t all as Boreal was able to distinguish the reincarnated ones from Petal Sprout’s clones.

“Who are those griffons?” he said in an astonish way. “They possess the Nine-Tails’ energy. And they have a lot of it.”

Aspen and Hard Stone were able to realize who they were talking about.

“No way…” Aspen said. “There is no mistake. It’s the Gold and Silver Brothers of Aeropolis.”

“So Gentle Light was that far to make her army of reincarnated beings” Hard Stone said. “I have to say I didn’t expected that.”

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Queen Ingrid, we received information from King Freeze Burn at the First Unit” a guard said.

“What is it?” Celestia asked.

A little nervous, the guard said:

“It appears that between the reincarnated beings are your grandfathers, Sunburst and Eclipse.”

That information really shocked the three alicorn sisters with Luna getting up and exclaiming:

“What?! How can it be!”

“The General of Chaos must have ordered Gentle Light to reincarnate them to get to us” Ingrid said.

“But there is more…” the guard said.

“More?” Luna asked.

“King Freeze Burn says that a stallion named Day Glow is between the reincarnated ones as well.”

If Celestia and Ingrid were shocked for knowing about their grandfathers, then knowing about their common former crush was like a low blow.

“What…” Ingrid said.

“Day Glow…” Celestia said.

Both Luna and Twilight looked concerned to those two.

“Okay, now they went too far!” Spike exclaimed. “For the Lord of Order’s sake, there are limits!"

“Not for the ones who serve Evil, young one” Hard Stone said.

“With the Fourth Unit facing my father and the First Unit facing Gavin and Grant, I cannot wait anymore” Aspen said. “I must join the battle.”

“Please, reconsider, Your Highness” White Light, who were besides Celestia, said. “You’re the Supreme Commander of the Alliance. The Supreme Commander must remain safe and continuing giving orders until the final stages of the war. That is your responsibility to your charges.”

Aspen hated to admit it, but White Light was right.

“But still, Arcing’s unit can’t withstand this many enemies” Boreal Blizzard said, while analyzing the battlefield with his sensing skills.

“The tide of battle is fluid like a living thing” White Light said. “It can change at any second. It was to discern those changes that I was brought here. Look at the map.”

They all look to the map of Equestria that was at the table and then White Light said:

“To get started, let’s verify the status of every company. At the front line, behind the enemy’s lines, we have Shadow Claw’s commando unit. They skirmish with a commando unit of reincarnated beings and vanquish the enemy and presently they’re moving towards the villains’ hideout. Now let’s switch our focus and take a look at the battle units. Shining Armor’s Third Unit is leading the charge. They have engaged in battle, but the word says they got the advantage.”

King Aspen nodded, being following White Light’s reasoning.

“Now, another big battle that is about to begin it’s here, at the Badlands, with Prince Obsidian Blade’s unit” White Light continued. And King Gael and King Godot’s Fifth Unit are standing by and assist any battle where reinforcements will be needed. Now let’s focus at the bay, where the enemy is approaching by the sea. Prince Arcing Storm’s First Unit will engage them. We will call this battlefield A. And the other main battlefield facing the previous regents that suddenly appeared to Chief Strongpaw’s Fourth Unit will be called battlefield B.”

The Supreme Commander looked to the map in the way White Light described and then said:

“When we look at this, it appears that we match in strength with our enemy.”

“It’s unadvisable to assume that” White Light said. “The ironclad rule of warfare is to take advantage by mobilizing troops. If the enemy advances from two directions, instead of engaging both sides, you counter by attacking one side with your full force. We’re dealing with two battlefields here: A and B. In our case, we’ll start with battlefield A. We’ll concentrate our forces around Prince Arcing Storm’s First Unit. King Gael’s Fifth Unit needs to join the First Unit to reinforce their ranks, while still maintaining their belt formation. Prince Obsidian Blade can go around by the Haysead Swamps and surround the enemy and box them in from the sea. The Second Unit may be stretched thin, but the Fifth Unit’s belt formation will serve as a barrier. Meanwhile, Chief Strongpaw’s Fourth Unit needs to make a slow retreat to the furthest side of the battlefield in order to lure the enemy. From there, some of the Fourth Unit will be able to join the First Unit as reinforcements. And after they wipe out the enemy at the battlefield A, the First and Fourth Unit will come to the battlefield B so we can corner the enemy there.”

After finishing the explanation, Aspen took a moment to think and then he asked:

“Why starting with battlefield A? If you split up Strongpaw’s unit in half, the enemy they are facing may take that opportunity to launch an assault, right? You must not underestimate those four. Don’t forget that they are powerful regents, all of them.”

“Well, with battlefield A, the Second Unit has easier access and can mobilize there quicker than to the battlefield B” White Light explained. “Also, Prince Obsidian Blade’s unit is already familiar with the enemy. It can attack those clones with a high rate of success. And then, as for battlefield B, it is not very likely they will launch any sudden attack. If we low our numbers, then the enemy will think we’re up to something and will be careful with reckless moves.”

“The former regents won’t be foul to engage in battle like that” Hard Stone said. “Yes, I see it now.”

“And even if the enemy attacks, Strongpaw’s unit is still specialized in long-rage battle, so it will take time for the enemy to engage them in a close-rage battle. In other words, it is a company that can buy us time.”

There was a pause and then White Light asked to Aspen:

“What do you think, Supreme Commander?”

Aspen took a little time to think, but then he said:

“No wonder Equestria has been a very steady kingdom. You have very good warriors, Princess Celestia.”

“I appreciate the compliment, King Aspen, but I don’t think we should brag about our military power” Celestia said. “All the merit should go to Captain White Light.”

“Everything I know it was taught to me by my mentor who was also my predecessor in the Canterlot Royal Guard, Captain Star Shield, who is also Princess Twilight’s paternal grandfather” White Light said. “He was the real battle strategist.”

That reverence to her grandfather made Twilight smile and then said:

“Thank you for those kind words, Captain White Light. They mean a lot to me.”

And White Light made a little bow to her. Although it was nice to heard White Light talking about her grandfather like that, she couldn’t stop thinking that eventually they would have to face him in that war as Grogar.

“Very well, Captain White Light, let’s try this strategy of yours” Aspen said.

“Good” White Light said, turning then to Diamond Glow. “Diamong Glow, are you listening?”

“Yes, I’m already on it” she replied. “Also, I have already send word to King Gael about the commando unit and they are on their way. And the medical division is allocating its units evenly to provide medical attention.”

At the shore, Ember and Flambeau was seeing the enemy coming and the former:

“Well, this is it. The enemy is approaching and the battle is about to begin.”

“Don’t tell me that the great Dragon Lord is nervous” Flambeau said in a teasing way.

“Of course not!” Ember replied. “Are you kidding? I’m the daughter of Lord Torch and…”

But she didn’t finish, as Flambeau went to hold her claw and then said to her:

“You don’t have to pretend with me. But you don’t have to worry neither. I’m here with you and don’t forget that Spike and the others will come up with a plan so we can win. Everything will be fine.”

Those words made Ember smile with more confidence and then nod.

At the Badlands, the Second Unit continued to fight the clones, as well as Crush and his changelings. Applejack and Big Mac were using their powerful backs to hit the clones, while Rainbow Dash, Soarin and Cloud Chaser flew over to defeat as many clones as possible and also to prevent any disguised changeling from making a blunt attack to their allies.

Back to the HQ, Diamond Glow said:

“All units have been notified.”

White Light smiled and then said:

“Perfect, it is time for us to get the advantage.”

“Captain White Light, if I may interject here” Hard Stone said.

“Of course, Your Highness” White Light replied.

“For your strategy to be foolproof, you’ll need to change your plan just slightly” Hard Stone said.

“I will?” White Light asked. “How so?”

“King Platinum is different from the majority of ponies” Celestia explained. “The only one who can stop him is his own son.”

“King Platinum has come up often in our discussions” White Light said. “What kind of pony is he?”

“Yeah, I’m also curious about that after learning he could dodge our sensing warriors” Spike said. “Just with that characteristic, it is obvious he would be a problem.”

“He possesses a triple combined nature, something that is far more powerful than any normal combined nature.

“A triple combined nature?!” White Light exclaimed in shock.

“Wait, is it possible for something like that to exist?” Spike asked.

“It is a very rare kind of natural magic, but it is something very real” Twilight answered. “Apart from Golden Paladin and Mirror Coat, I knew that you, King Hard Stone, were the only pony alive to have such skill. But I didn’t know your father…”

“The activation of three energy natures, wind, earth and fire, is what allows me to use the particle nature” Hard Stone said, using his gravity spell to get out of his place. “But it was my father who taught me how to use it. I can’t believe I have to battle my father, who was also my master, at my age. It doesn’t pay to live a long life.”

“So, will you go then?” Aspen asked him.

“What choice to I have?” Hard Stone asked back, turning then to White Light. “Captain White Light?”

“Yes, sir?” he asked.

“I’m not going solely because my father, a particle nature user, is there” Hard Stone said. “I admit that your tactical plan is brilliant. And you’re correct, the reincarnated regents who stand before the Fourth Unit know war well and will not make any unnecessary or rushed maneuvers. Probably you’re right in your assessment of how the battle will unfold. But it could be that the opposite is possible.”

Listening that, White Light realized he was right and then realized.

“Strongpaw was the one to unite the Alliance. His determination and passion were the primary catalyst. And you’re saying that this can have the opposite effect on the battlefield?”

After this, he said in a respectful way:

“Thank you, sir, I appreciate your insight.”

Hard Stone nodded him and then said:

“Well, I think it is time for me to leave to the war and show these young brats what fighting is really about. Especially that sand brat.”

“And I’ll go too” Twilight said, getting up.

“Twilight…” Spike said.

“King Platinum is not the only user of a triple combined nature that we should worry about” Twilight said. “There is another one fighting against the Third Unit.”

“King Sombra” Luna said.

“Yes, he is a crystal nature user” Twilight said. “By using light, earth and water natures, he can turn practically any substance into crystal and use it as a weapon. Furthermore, he is a master in using dark magic. I know shouldn’t go to the front lines just like that, but I can’t sit here while my brother and husband are facing this kind of enemy when I can counter his attacks. Beyond that, I already dealt with his magic and I have a score to settle with him in Princess Aurora’s behalf.”

Twilight really hopped that everyone would stop her, but they didn’t.

“Well, you have already make up your mind, so there’s nothing we can say to stop you” Celestia said.

“I’ll go with you, Twilight” Spike said. “I can help you…”

“No, Spike, I need you to stay here” Twilight said. “I can handle Sombra. You need to get ready just in case the former Dragon King and his dragons appear.”

Spike knew she was right, but it was hard for him to see his best friend go face a dangerous foe all by herself. However, he just nodded his head, accepting her advice.

And, before either Celestia or Ingrid said something, Luna got up and said:

“And I’ll go to Horseshoe Bay.”

“Luna…” Celestia and Ingrid said to their little sister.

“I knew you two would want to go there because of our grandfathers and Day Glow, but you would let your emotions get in your way” Luna said. “If any of us three should go, then that’s me.”

“Princess Luna is right” King Aspen said. “She’s perfect for the job. You three go, but be careful.”

And so Hard Stone, Twilight and Luna got out to go their respective destinations.

At the desert, King Platinum said:

“This curse is really strange. There are times when your body won’t do what you want and certain actions will appear restricted.”

“You’re right, it does appear to be that way” Gusty Blizzard said. “I thought in killing you earlier, but my body wouldn’t allow me to do it.”

“It’s a shame” Alder said. “I would enjoy battle you. How disappointing.”

Chief Sandstorm looked around and then saw his son’s Third Eye, spying on them. He recognized it immediately as belonging to Strongpaw. The latter also noticed that his father saw him, but that didn’t change his expression that was filled with the desire of facing him.

Battleground

In a safe-house located at Neighagra, guards were watching over all the possible entrances. Inside that house were elite members of Equestria society, along of other kingdoms.

“I don’t like being held in this ghastly place” Jet Set said in a dismay tone.

“I agree with you, dear” Upper Crust agreed. “They should have taken us to a better place.”

“If you two wanted that, then you shouldn’t have requested to come to a safe-house with us” Fancy Pants, who was with Fleur Dis Lee, replied to them. “You could have stayed in Canterlot, like everypony else.”

“Why, we belong to the elite” Jet Set, while his wife nodded in agreement. “We shouldn’t be with the rest of the… commoners.”

“Yeah, yeah, but at least we are trying to remain calm” Fancy Pants replied. “After all, we are in a war. We should be more concern about our safety and not the place we are being hold.”

“I can assure you that the Alliance will do everything to defeat this villains and recover the peace we once had” Kyrippos said, accompanied by his wife.

“Yes, I also agree with you, Your Excellency” Fancy Pants said. “After, we have our deer alicorn princess, as well powerful warriors and allies.”

Jet Set and Upper Crust and, giving a fake chuckle, the latter said:

“Yes, you’re absolutely right.”

Meanwhile, Featherwing was approaching the safe house, observing it attentively hidden by the trees.

“This must be the place” she said.

At that moment, Queen Mystic Heart and Bronze Dagger were accompanying King Guto to a safe house, giving him the safety from any threat. Some of his guards were traveling along.

“Is this really necessary?” he asked to Mystic Heart. “I could have stayed in my kingdom.”

“King Gael expressed to us your niece’s desire to keep you safe” she replied.

“Ah, she worries too much” Guto said. “I may not be as young as I used to be, but I’m still capable of defending myself. She should worry more with herself.”

Queen Mystic Heart gave a little chuckle before that and said:

“Oh, King Guto, you’re really a card.”

“And you’re too nice, Queen Mystic Heart” Guto said. “You could be helping in the war, but here you are, having to endure an old griffon.”

“Well, it is very common for the enemy to get some hostage between the most important figures, so I don’t think this task is not important” Queen Mystic Heart said. “Besides, I am enjoying this time with you, Your Majesty.”

“And tell me, how long until we reach our destination?” Guto asked.

“You don’t have to worry, we’re almost at the safe house” Mystic Heart replied.

And the safe house started to appear at their sight.

Featherwing, deciding it was the right time, took flight and advanced to the safe house and, by doing that, she trigged the alarmed prepared by the unicorn guards. The guards who were there advanced to attack her, but Featherwing was able to dodge them all and be able to get inside the safe house. But when she got there, she found out that the elite society members that were there where nothing but a bunch of puppets.

“Got you” the pegasi guards said, appearing at the window.

From one of the puppets, a net was launched against the harpy. That was a trap. Using her sharp claws, she undid the net and then used her master power to teleport away in a wave of darkness, before the guards’ shock.

“Damn, he got away” one of the guards said. “We have to send the word to the other safe houses immediately.

The truth was that there was many safe-houses spread around Equestria.

While they were moving, Queen Mytic Heart said to Guto:

“All right, King Guto, we are approaching the fifth safe-house.”

“I can’t believe you have five of them” Guto said.

“Well, of course, because in that way, we can rotate you between them and, in that way, the enemy won’t be able to pin your location” Mystic Heart explained.

“In that way, my mind can be left relieved” Guto said.

“Excellent.”

Featherwing was at the top of trees and said:

“Those fools… They really think they can stop me? I am a harpy and a servant of the Lord of Chaos after all.”

And, having said that, she took flight and continued to said:

“I’m the ruler of the skies. Nothing can escape my sight from here.”

At Horseshoe Bay, the battle between the enemy and the First Unit was about to begin. Facing the clones and the great Kraken, Arcing, who was at the front of his unit, said:

“It’s dull, but I guess I have to show them why I was chosen to protect this cost line.

He then directed to his unit:

“I’ll make the first shot now, then you move in.”

“Yes, sir!” they exclaimed, preparing to move.

“Black Lightning Spell!” he exclaimed, while his body started to be involved by black lightning.

He released that lightning, hitting the water and electrocuting both the clones and Kraken. The guards of Evermist were very exciting for seeing their prince using that spell, one that many few capable of using light nature were able to perform.

“I’m sorry about all that” Arcing said, ironically.

The spell continued to act, but then some clones gave a big jump, along with the reincarnations. That made all the others to act. Flambeau, Ember and Nitelite, along with the other dragons, shot their spikes and fire, while unicorns used their magic beams. The bodies of the clones who were hit just fell on the see, with them floating at the surface, but the clones just continued to advance, what forced the First Unit to move as well.

Day Glow landed on the rocks where Freeze Burn was waiting for him.

“I never imagined I would end up meeting you, Day Glow” he said. “But it’s unfortunate that it has to be in this way.”

“Do I know you?” Day Glow asked.

“No, but I know you” Freeze Burn said. “Ingrid told me about you.”

“You know Ingrid?” Day Glow asked, surprised.

“She’s my wife.”

“I see… I’m happy that she was able to find happiness after what happened.”

“Yes, but it was not easy for her” Freeze Burn said. “Your death set her in a very dark path. Fortunately, she was able to come back to the light.”

“And Celestia?” Day Glow asked. “How is she?”

“Also good” Freeze Burn replied.

“I’m happy for her” Day Glow said with a smile. “For both of them.”

It was then that Day Glow sensed the curse telling him to attack.

“Prepare yourself, I’m going to attack!” he exclaimed.

And, having saying that, he charged his horn and attacked with magic that Freeze Burn defended with a defensive spell.

Sunburst and Eclipse were both together dealing with some soldiers that they were able to defeat in a reasonably easy way.

“I can’t believe that none of this brats aren’t able to defeat two old stallions like us” Eclipse said.

“To be fair, we cannot be destroyed” Sunburst said.

“I know, but they could put some fight at least” Eclipse replied.

“Then let me fight you!” a voice exclaimed.

The two of them looked up and saw Luna hoovering over them. Seeing the princess of the night, some guards started to cheer her. Listening that cheering, the two stallions couldn’t believe that was their granddaughter.

“It can’t be…” Sunburst said.

“Luna…” Eclipse said.

“Yes, it’s me, grandpas” Luna said. “And I’m here to put you to rest.”

Although they were both glad to see one of their granddaughters, they knew they couldn’t fight against the curse for much longer.

“You will see, child, that we will be not as easy to defeat as you may think” Sunburst.

“After all, we were both candidates to rule Equestria before the Lord of Order turned your parents into alicorns” Eclipse said.

At the desert, Hard Stone was flying to the place where Strongpaw and his unit were. A sound nearby made him turn around and he saw a flock of geese flying in their V formation.

“Even geese know the significance of formation” he said. “When the leader of any group becomes confused, then the entire flock that follow it will be at risk.

He then remember the way how Strongpaw was able to unite the Alliance and then he said:

“Although I admit that sometimes someone young and charismatic must stand at the front.”

Shadow Claw and his group were moving, with him at the front, followed by Ivory that was controlling his pony puppet that had a cable infused with light nature connected to the one with Rothbart to hold his body, making them move, and the rest of the group were coming next. All the moving of the latter puppet was upsetting Rothbart, who exclaimed:

“Hey, watch it! All this moving around is making me sick! All of you are completely heartless!”

“Just be quiet” Shadow Claw ordered him. “Keep it up and I’ll be glad to seal that mouth too. And, for the recorded, you’re the only one here heartless.”

“A situation that can be resolved easily!” Rothbart exclaimed, trying to get out again. “Just let me out so I can rip out your heart with my ultimate spell!”

Shadow Claw rolled his eyes, saying:

“So annoying…”

He turned to Ivory and asked him:

“Will this be able to contain him?”

“Don’t worry, captain, my puppets are resilient” Ivory replied.

“Good, the last thing we need it’s to have to deal with that maniac again” Shadow Claw said.

It was then that the alpha pony-wolf sensed someone approaching and then Smokewing appeared.

“You’re here” Shadow Claw said, while Smokewing joined the group. “What happened?”

“We were ambushed by reincarnated beings” he said. “Fortunately, Prince Shining Armor and his unit appeared just in time. The others stayed to help them, but I thought you could use some help.”

“All the help is very welcome, mainly when we are in the enemy’s territory” Shadow Claw replied. “I had to send the other dragon to help the Second Unit. They are in great need with those clones.”

“Captain…” Ivory said, seeing something with his pony-panther vision.

“Yes, I know…” Shadow Claw replied, getting the scent of their enemy ahead.

All the unit stopped abruptly, what made the puppet where Rothbart also stop in the same way, what caused Rothbart to notice that.

“It seems we have to deal with the reincarnations again” Shadow Claw said.

They had come across with Ash, King Grover, the pony-wolf and the unnamed deer.

“Wait, but that’s…” Ivory started. “That’s King Grover, the first king of Griffonstone. And that’s… an alpha pony-wolf… just like you, captain.”

The pony-wolf gave a chuckle and then she said:

“I never thought I would see the day where a pony-panther would call captain to a pony-wolf. How nice. Or should I say… pathetic.”

That really upset Ivory who tried to attack her, but Shadow Claw put his forearm in front of him to prevent him from move and then told to the pony-wolf.

“That’s enough… sister.”

That revelation shocked everyone in his unit.

“You didn’t change, Dusk Night.”

“Well, what could you expect?” she asked. “After all, I’m still the pony-wolf that you killed in order to become the Lord of Chaos’ personal alpha.”

“Only one of us could occupy that place” Shadow Claw replied. “It was a battle for survival. I have no regret for what I did. Although my heart is heavy for having to kill my own flesh and blood.”

“So, the great alpha is nothing more than a sentimental fool” Dusk Night said. “Then I think our mission will be easier than I thought.”

“Don’t be so certain of that” Shadow Claw replied.

Listening the voices outside, Rothbart said:

“Hey, if you are reinforcements, then let me out of here! It’s stuffy! I’m about to explode!”

“No, you’re wrong” Grover said. “You’re stuck in there precisely to not explode or change form."

“Ah, yeah, I guess you’re right about that” Rothbart admitted. “But you didn’t have to put it that way!”

“There is nothing that I wanted more than help the Order defeat the Chaos, but this curse doesn’t allow me to do that” Grover said.

Shadow Claw analyzed the situation carefully. He knew his own sister pretty well and how dangerous she was and he also knew how King Grover was also a great warrior. That would meant that the other two deer were also pretty strong. That made him realize that divide his team was not the best call. Because of that, he could only do one thing.

“Listen up, we retreat at my signal, you got it?” he said to his team.

“Understood” Smokewing said.

At the place where the Third Unit, Blue was advancing alone in a more deserted are, attentive to any movement. Then, darkness appeared behind him with an evil grin coming from it. That made Blue teleport away, appearing turned to the darkness who then adopted Sombra’s form.

“Well, well, well, so you are the new General of Balance” he said. “I never met the first one, but I can’t help but wondering if you are as powerful as him.”

“There is only one way to find out” Blue answered, shooting then a powerful magic beam.

But Sombra was able to defend that with a crystal barrier that soon shattered, but the evil unicorn was able to throw the shards against Blue. Using the magic as General he had, he tried to nullify the shards. It was a hard task that consumed most of his energy, but Blue was eventually able to do it.

“Very good, it was impressive how you were able to nullify my crystals with your General magic that is not as strong as it was before the disease created by the General of Chaos” Sombra said. “But now you won’t be able to dodge my Crystal Prison Spell.”

He was right, Blue was too tired to nullify that spell that was more powerful. Sombra prepared to execute the spell and then he said:

“Let’s see what happens when we kill a General of Order.”

And he laughed evilly, while charging his horn with magic. But it was then that a powerful magic beam directed to him, made Sombra turn into darkness. But the beam was so bright that, even hitting something intangible like darkness, was able to hurt him. Twilight appeared and landed beside Blue, saying:

“It seems I got here just in time. Are you okay, Blue?”

“Yes, I am, but what are you doing here, Twily?”

“I came to help. Sombra is capable of using a triple combined nature. He’s too much powerful for you to fight him by yourselves.”

The darkness started to accumulate around them and Sombra’s voice said:

“No… It can’t be…”

He assumed his solid form and said to Twilight:

“Aurora? But you were dead. Your star seed was broken.”

Twilight realized that Sombra didn’t know who she was, also because the only time they met personally was when he pursue her and her friends at the time where they were trying to save the Crystal Empire from him and, at that time, he may only have gotten a glimpse of her.

“I’m not Aurora” she said. “She indeed ceased to exist, but I inherited her light.”

“So, that means you’re the new host of the original light” Sombra said, making a wide smile. “That means, if I kill you, I can destroy the light of the Lord of Order in this reality.”

“You’re wrong” Twilight said. “I have a child that will inherit my light if anything happens to me.”

“It doesn’t matter” Sombra said. “I never got the chance to kill Aurora myself, but killing you will be as much satisfactory.”

“She will not be alone” Blue said, wanting to help his wife against that powerful foe.

“No, Blue, go help Shining” Twilight said. “I can handle him.”

“But…”

“Go help him” Twilight said. “He and the others need you more than me. Go!”

Knowing he couldn’t argue with Twilight when she was that decided, Blue nodded and then moved away.

“Alone… finally” Sombra said.

“I’ll put an end to you and all of your evil doings” Twilight said, charging her horn.

“We shall see about that” Sombra replied, charging his curved horn as well.

At the HQ, Diamond Glow sent the instructions of the plan conceived by White Light to all the involved units. At the Badlands, Obsidian Blade had just finished a clone and a changeling with his bare hooves, when a crystal pony approached and, after proving he was not a changeling, he said:

“Captain Obsidian Blade, there’s new tactical orders from HQ.”

“Tell me” he said, with his daughter by his side. “And be quick about it.”

At the desert, the Fourth Unit was at its position. Lightning Bolt received the new orders and then said:

“I understand. You can go.”

The messenger moved away and then he went to Hardscale, Toothy and Silverweed and said:

“I just got orders to get half of this unit and join with the First Unit.”

“What?” Silverweed asked. “Half of our forces? Is HQ out of their mind?”

“It was Captain White Light who suggested this, so he may have a very good reason” Lightning Bolt said. “Be more respectful, soldier.”

“Sorry, captain, I guess I’m a little nervous” Silverweed said.

“I understand, but try to control it” Lightning Bolt said. “This plan can work, if everything goes okay. I’ll be back as soon as I can. But there’s something that can represent a problem to this unit.”

“What is it, lieutenant?” Hardscale asked.

“Apparently, the enemy possesses a pony that can use a triple combined nature that surprises any other combined nature” Lightning Bolt replied.

“A triple combined nature?” Silverweed asked. “Does that have anything to with natural magic?”

“Yes, as you may know, all the beings normally possess one energy nature, besides the one you obtain with training” Lightning Bolt explain. “However, there are some individuals are different, as they possess two inborn natures. They are able to fuse those two natures and, by doing so, create a new one. That is known as combined natures. Examples of users are Queen Ingrid, who is able to fuse water and wind to create ice, Leaf Mane, who fuses water and earth to create wood, and of course Heartbeat, who fuses light and wind to create swift. In our ranks, we also have Prince Arcing, whose gale nature is a combination of light and water natures.”

“Wow, they all seem to be very powerful” Hardscale said.

“Yes, but even more stronger than a normal combined nature is the triple combined nature, where three natures are fused together” Lightning Bolt said.

“Three?!” Hardscale and Silverweed exclaimed.

“It’s almost beyond belief and it’s very rare” Lightning Bolt said. “It’s so rare that the most famous users are two of the Generals of Order. Golden Paladin is capable of using fire, earth and water natures to create his steel nature and Mirror Coat possesses what is called the glass nature that uses fire, light and earth. Without counting with them, I only know one pony with that kind of power. But, with the Reincarnation Curse, the enemy was able to bring back two triple combined nature users and one of them is heading towards this unit. He uses the particle nature. He is King Platinum, a former ruler of Stonult.”

“But, if the enemy is that powerful, then why divide our forces?” Silverweed asked.

“You don’t have to worry about that” Lightning Bolt said. “HQ already took that in consideration and we were granted with that rare ally who possesses the triple nature.”

And he and the others looked up and saw King Hard Stone appearing, descending to the place where Strongpaw was, stopping a few inches of the stone.

“You didn’t need to get up, you know?” Strongpaw said to him, without taking his eyes from the horizon. “I can handle this.”

“You’re the one who started the fire beneath me” Hard Stone replied, referring to the question he did to him during the summit, what caused the pony-panther to look to the old unicorn. “I’m going to retrieve to what I’d previously forsaken.”

At the coast, the battle was intense, with a lot of bodies of the clones floating at the sea or lying on the sand. Flambeau, Ember, Nitelite and the other dragons were dealing with Kraken, being able to prevent him from advancing with their fire, but the movement of his tentacles was still able to cause some damage to the Alliance. The only problem were the reincarnated ones, but Freeze Burn and Luna had that almost under control. There was only two faults to that and they were confronted by Arcing, who smiled to them. The ones he was facing were Gavin and Grant. The former had a thick length of rope around his right frong leg and the latter possessed a large brown gourd with a red cloth around it around his neck.

“Just look who got the spine to come and face us, Gavin” Grant said. “One little pony.”

Arcing didn’t let himself be intimidated by them and then said to them:

“I’m sorry to cause you shame, noble Gavin and Garth. It’s also hard for me to dishonor two great legends of Aeropolis.”

“Garth, can you smell that?” Gavin asked. “He smells like pine and condensation. This kid is from Evermist. Knowing their warriors, this kid has some skills.”

“I’m sorry for the disrespect, but I will have to shame you both a little right now” Arcing said. “I’m afraid I may end up stripping away the shine from your gold and silver with just a single strike of my gale nature. Even though it will be dull.”

The Gold and Silver Brothers

At the HQ, Aspen was tapping on the table an impatient way on the table. Having enough, he got up and start to walk around the room. Both Celestia, Ingrid and Spike were watching him for some time and then Ingrid said:

“Just calm down, King Aspen. You’re the Supreme Commander, remember?”

“But you don’t know how fierce the Gold and Silver Brothers are” Aspen replied to her. “If Godot was here, he would share the same concern.”

“Wow, I can’t believe there’s something you’re afraid of, King Aspen” Spike said. “We already dealt with so much worse.”

“You’re wrong in both of your assessments, young dragon” Aspen said. “It’s not that I’m afraid and you cannot underestimate those two. They remain as two of the most vile criminal, not only in Aeropolis, but in all Enchanted Forest. Centuries ago, when the kings of Aeropolis and Thicket were forging the alliance between the two kingdoms, those two staged a coup and launched an attack to both the kings.”

“I remember that” Celestia said. “They also stole the Sacred Tools of Thicket and planted the chaos between the main kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest. But I never heard they possessed the Nine-Tails’ energy.”

“Well, that part was omitted to the outside of our realm and, in time, just became some fantasied story” Aspen said, returning to his place. “It appears that, not very long after Aeropolis captured and sealed Two-Tails, they tried to capture Nine-Tails as well, before he was captured by the Generals of Order and sealed inside Heartbeat. During that, Nine-Tails devoured both the Golden and Silver Brothers. But they were so unruly, thrashing around his belly, that the Nine-Tails couldn’t stand it, so he vomited them both out. Since then, they both got the Nine-Tails’ energy. Not surprising, as they both were inside Nine-Tails for two weeks.”

“That is quite a tale” Ingrid said. “But is it truth that they were able to wield the Sacred Tools of Thicket?”

“No ordinary being is able to use those tools” Aspen said. “They drain away energy and massive amounts of it. The most who tries it dies. The power to use them is passed through the royal family of Thicket. Of course, the ones who have the Nine-Tails’ energy are the exception, like those two monsters. They are warriors with a tremendous amount of energy who wreak havoc wherever they go. And they fear nothing, not even the Nine-Tails. So what really scares me about them is having our subordinates having to face them in battle.”

Hearing that, both Celestia, Ingrid and Spike couldn’t also help themselves from being as concern as Aspen.

At the coast, while the chaos of the battle was happening with the First Unit fighting the clones, the reincarnated beings and Kraken, Arcing was facing the Gold and Silver Brothers.

“I have to say, I don’t like the tone a brat like you I using against us” Grant said. “But I’ll shut you up.”

“It can’t be help” Gavin said. “It seems that too much time has passed. It is like if anyone in the Enchanted Forest doesn’t know us anymore.”

There was a pause and then two warriors of Evermist appeared besides Arcing. They were a unicorn stallion and a mare close in age and appearance, with the former with a smirk and the latter with a serious look.

“Blaze, Glacier” Arcing said.

“If you two are actually the Gold and Silver Brothers, we actually read about you two in our history books” Glacier, the mare, said. “Then don’t expect to have my respect. It isn’t cool.”

“It seems my deer cold sister is feeling his blood going hot” Blaze said. “Those two must be something.”

The two griffons smiled and then they made appear what seemed to be a great fan and a flat sword that were hold by Gavin and Grant respectively, with the rope around the former’s talon.

“Let’s do this, Grant” Gavin said.

“Of course, Gavin” Grant said.

“Wait, are those…” Blaze started, looking to the objects.

“No doubt, those are the Sacred Tools of Thicket” Glacier said. “They were stolen by them centuries ago. I’ve only seen pictures of them in Thicket history books. They have four of the five of them: the Golden Rope, capable of squeeze the victim’s spirit word; the Seven Star Blade – the flat sword – that severs and curses that spirit word; the Crimson Gourd, that records it and seals its speaker inside, and the Leaf Fan, capable of using all the six energy natures.”

“Quite a lecture, and I little hate to interrupt, but…” Blaze said.

And clones appeared around them.

“I got this!” Blaze exclaimed, charging his horns and setting the clones on fire, going then against the two brothers with a red light sword. “Those tools may be flashy, but they’re still only tools! They are no match for our magic that’s imbued with blazes from our hot souls!”

“No, Blaze, wait!” Glacier exclaimed, trying to reach her brother. “Just stay cool and let me finish!”

“Damn it, he’s too hot-headed” Arcing said, following them.

Grant smiled and then said:

“They talk too much. This is going to be just perfect. Are you ready? I’m taking the one on the back.”

And he advanced.

“You got it, Grant” Gavin replied. “Just leave the others to me.”

As Blaze prepared to attack, he said, while seeing Grant take flight to pass him and Glacier:

“He is avoiding my hot fighting spirit to attack Arcing instead?”

It was then that more clones appeared on his way, what he started to attack with his light sword while saying:

“You think you can escape my hot attacks by putting this guys between us?”

Combining the light sword with his magic fire, each blow was able to put the clones on fire.

“You have to stay cool and pay attention to what’s going on, Blaze!” his sister said, while trying to reach him.

Using the fan, Gavin was able to put out the fire created by Blaze, while approaching him rapidly and then gave him a strong blow with the Golden Rope. But he was able to still stand and then say:

“Wow, that was a strong scorching hot punch!”

And he continued to attack Gavin, but he dodge and then turned to Glacier, who prepared to attack him as well, only to be hit by the Golden Rope was well, with her cursing what happened.

“Blaze! Glacier!” Arcing exclaimed, surrounded by clones, while seeing his comrades suffering at Gavin’s talons. “Are you all right?!”

“Don’t look away while you’re fighting me, your brat!” Grant exclaimed, descending to give a blow on Arcing with the flat sword.

The prince took flight and took his own sword, what he use to block the attack and then retreat a bit. Grant then turned to his brother and told him:

“Change places, Gavin.”

“Right, Grant” he replied.

And, with a quick movement of wings, they changed their places.

“I can’t even stop one enemy” Arcing said, seeing how impotent he was to help his friends. “Blaze, Glacier, I’m sorry.”

“I got to be your opponent this time” Grant said to the two siblings.

“I have to admit that Gavin fellow knows how to give a very hot punch” Blaze said with his smirk. “And now we have to face Grant.”

“I think it is time we squeeze them, Golden Rope” Gavin said, turning to the siblings.

It was then that they both started to feel something getting out of them from their mouth. And then a portion of energy got out from both of them. Seeing that, Arcing asked:

“What is this? What’s happening?”

“The Golden Rope is able to squeeze the spirit word of whoever touches it” Gavin explained.

“Curse them, Seven Star Blade!” Grant exclaimed, advancing.

And he sliced the connection between Blaze and Glacier and their respective spirit words and words appeared on the side of the blade that was turned to Grant. He smiled evilly and then said:

“Now record, Crimson Gourd!”

And it just absorbed the spirit words to its inside.

“Okay, I’m done here, Gavin” Grant said to his brother.

Glacier couldn’t believe in her bad luck. She and Blaze had been cursed by the tools. However, Blaze, still clueless of the trouble he was in, said, still with a smirk:

“Too bad we are not done with you. It’s our turn now and we will…”

But, before he could finish, his sister was able to position herself behind him and put her hoof over his mouth.

“You should have let me finish my explanation” she said to him. “Listen, you can’t speak careless from this point on.”

After dealing with clones, Arcing asked her:

“What do you mean?”

“Blaze and I have a curse and sealing spell cast on us” Glacier explained, releasing Blaze. “Our spirit words have been taken hostage. And that means that the next time we said the word or phrase that we said most since birth, we will be pulled into that gourd and sealed inside.”

“My, my, aren’t we knowledgeable” Grant said. “It seems the passage of time revealed a lot of things.”

And then he threw the sword to his brother so he could know their spirit words.

“The word that we said most since birth is now forbidden to us?” Arcing asked. “Come on, we’re not playing a silly word game. This is all getting so dull.”

“I see…” Gavin said, seeing the words, preparing next to use the Feather Fan.

Meanwhile, Blaze was panicking as he couldn’t tell what was the word he said the most. His sister was looking at him, getting to know that he was trying to figure out his spirit word, something she couldn’t believe he hadn’t figure out.

And, with just a swing, Gavin made a torrent of flames to appear with the fan. The flames were able to reach all his oppenents. While Arcing and Glacier were able to dodge, Blaze was partially hit and, feeling the heat, ended up saying:

“It’s so hot!”

And, just like that, he started to be sucked by the Crimson Gourd.

“Your fool!” Glacier said.

And Blaze was completely sucked into the gourd.

“Blaze!” Glacier exclaimed.

It was then that Grant was fast to grab her from behind and hold her, with a talon covering her mouth.

“You know, there is an old saying that says that silence is golden” Gavin said. “The tongue is a source of misfortune. Right, Grant?”

“Yes, Gavin” Grant replied, turning then to his enemies. “This is what happens when you can’t shut up. Words are mere tools and ponies and others use them to trick each other through lies.”

“You…” Arcing said, wanting to do something to help Glacier.

“Hold it right there” Grant said to him. “If you move, I kill her. And I’m not lying about that.”

The situation was really delicate. Glacier seemed to have no exit and she accepted that.

“I’m sorry, Glacier.”

And Gavin went against Arcing with the sword, ready to strike, but the latter reacted with his and was able to slice the former’s talon and that had the sword and the rope. That really caught Gavin by surprise.

“Just like I expected” Grant said. “You proved to be really warriors from Evermist.”

Putting his sword aside, Arcing prepared to use his gale nature. Joining his front hooves, he said:

“Laser Circus Spell!”

And he created laser beams that he guided to hit only Grant and Gavin. The latter couldn’t believe of the speed and precision. The spell hit them, forcing Grant to let Glacier.

“Don’t underestimate us, you brat” Gavin said.

With one of his paws, he kick his own severed talon against Arcing, who was hit by the Golden Rope. Lying on the ground, Arcing’s spirit word started to get out.

“Let’s start with this one” Grant said, using the gourd to suck Glacier inside.

That let Arcing shocked, because Glacier didn’t say anything and yet was sealed away. But his attention was then drove away to Gavin who got his severed talon bac and reconnected and preparing to use the sword.

“Curse him, Seven Star Sword!” he exclaimed.

And he sliced the link between Arcing and his spirit word, while the latter tried to dodge.

“Now record, Crimson Gourd!” Grant said.

And it absorbed the spirit word.

Patting, Arcing quickly deduced what was the word he used the most. And the word ‘dull’ appeared on the sword.

At that moment, something got his attention. The combined attacks of the dragons were able to cause a lot of damages to the Kraken that weakened him enough to prevent him from attacking. Seeing that, Luna took flight, leaving momentously her fight with her grandparents, and then she made appear the cell blaster, which was modified so she could use it as well, and then she made the Kraken be absorbed to the life cell and, after that, she put it inside the prison-book, sending the monster back to his cell in Tartarus.

With one big enemy down, the greatest threat there were the two brothers, who Arcing should defeat before it was too late.

Now that he knew his forbidden word, he just had to make sure he didn’t say it. But the problem was that Glacier didn’t say anything was sucked either way to the gourd. Before those facts, he could only conclude one thing.

“You can get trapped if you’re silent for too long too, am I right?” he said to the two brothers.

“So you noticed” Grant said. “You may be the first to figure that out. You’re a smart one.”

“But just a little while ago, you said that silence was golden” Arcing said.

“But sometimes speech is golden” Grant replied. “Successful deceit is the truest proof of eloquence. And, in this case, silence is the most forbidden taboo.”

And he laughed and then continued:

“Didn’t I just tell you? Words are only tools that everyone uses to trick each other, nothing more. In our time, deceit and betrayal were acceptable as tactics, with the words being the tools.”

“There is no wonder why you two are symbols of disgrace not only in Aeropolis, but also in all Enchanted Forest” Arcing said.

That comment really upset Grant who exclaimed:

“What did you just say, your little brat?! I won’t stay here indulging your insult! Your nothing more of a pawn of your regent’s. You’re just a tool as well!”

And then Arcing remembered a talk he had with his aunt after the summit of regents, where he apologized for not being there to help her deal with Ulysses. However she said he shouldn’t blame himself, because she knew that, in the end she could trust in him. Was that what made him say:

“I’m no tool. I’m the queen’s most trustful warrior. You will indulge me.”

That made a smile appear in Gavin’s face.

“Hey, Grant…”

“What is it, Gavin?”

“Get the gourd ready.”

Taking a few second to realize what he meant, Grant then smiled too and said:

“I get it.”

It was then that Arcing started to be pulled towards the gourd. He was being sucked.

“But why?!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t even say the word dull!”

It was then that he remembered the last sentence he said, where he said ‘indulge’ that had a syllable just sounded just like ‘dull’.

“I get it now” he said. “I said You will indulge me. The word indulge… No!”

As he was being sucked, he remembered how his aunt’s trust in him made her to ask Aspen to make him the First Unit’s captain and how he just disappointed her. But it was not just her, but also Blaze and Glacier and all the other comrades in his unit.

“I’m so sorry, my queen. I’m sorry Blaze… Glacier. I’m sorry. I wish I could say I’m sorry to everypony.”

Confident that he was sucked, Gavin asked his brother:

“What if we joined the battle, Grant?”

“Sure, Gavin.”

But it was then that, for the latter’s shock, Arcing appeared before him and, with a sword blow, he threw Grant away, making him drop the gourd. The griffon went to hit his brother on the rope, throwing him then to the sea, while making him drop both the fan and the sword.

“He was not trapped?!” Gavin asked.

Arcing was able to get both the gourd and the sword, where he saw that his forbidden word had change to ‘sorry’. It would appear that proved he was very apologetic.

Grant’s spirit word appeared, while Gavin realized what happened for Arcing not be sealed inside the gourd.

“Don’t tell me that his first and second most spoken words switched places while he was being pulled into the gourd” he said.

Arcing threw his own sword against Gavin, what he defended, but then Arcing’s Laser Circus Spell hit him, what cause the water around him to get revolved. Taking advantage of that moment, he advanced towards Grant and said, while severing the link between Grant and his spirit word:

“Curse him, Seven Star Sword!”

After that, he said:

“Now record, Crimson Gourd! I think I’m doing this right.”

And the spirit word was sucked.

“How dare you?!” Grant exclaimed.

It was then that he felt a great wave of weakness, as his energy was drained away because off the use of the tools.

“It feels like I’m going to drop these before I can finish” he said.

He then looked to the sword, where Grant’s forbidden word appeared. He then said:

“You’re right. Words may be tools that everypony uses to trick each other. But when it really counts, the spoken word… can really be a very precious thing that can be used to reveal the truth.”

A little intimidated by Arcing’s resolution, Grant asked:

“I need your help… Gavin.”

“And that’s the exact reason why I’m going to seal you right now” Arcing said, while showing Grant his brothe’s named recorded as his forbidden word.

And so the Silver Brother was pulled into the gourd, while yelling:

“GAVIN!”

And he was completely sucked. After that, Arcing made a mental promise where he would release Blaze and Glacier when he could, as it was because of them he was able to seal Grant. Now he only had to deal with Gavin. But that would be a very difficult task as he was about to find out.

The loss of his brother made Gavin’s anger to get its limits, as red energy started to involve him.

“Why, you…” he said to Arcing. “You wimp… How dare you?!”

And there was a huge explosion that made the sea to ravage the beach. Arcing was able to escape thanks to his wings, but the clones that were there, along with some poor unfortunate warriors didn’t have the same luck. Through the veil of water, big red eyes could be seen. It was then that giant tails with a blood-red energy layer hit the beach stone walls, making some of the ones who were fighting there to fell to their doom. When the water calmed down, Gavin appeared, with a completely different form.

He was looking like a jinchuriki in the second phase of transformation. Fox ears came out from his head, while six tails waved behind him, with one vastly longer and thicker than the others. Arcing couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“How dare you to do such thing to Grant?!” he exclaimed with a very raspy voice. “You’re going to pay!”

And he roared.

“He looks… just like the Nine-Tails’ jinchuriki” Arcing said.

Gavin’s sudden transformation made everyone to look in shock.

“What is that?!” Flambeau asked, hoovering besides Nitelite and Ember.

“I don’t know” Ember replied.

Luna, seeing what was happening, approached them and said:

“You better be very careful now. I don’t know how it is possible, but he possesses Nine-Tails’ energy and has entered into the second phase transformation. It will be like when Prince Star Knight is on a rampage. In this moment, that thing is nothing more than an extension of Nine-Tails’ hate.”

At the Tailed Beast Temple, Star Knight was continuing his training to adapt his Spiraling Sphere with the Tailed Beast Bomb.

“That’s it, the balance between the positive and negative energy is good” Hawthorn said. “You know what to do now, Star.”

“Here I go!” he said. “Tailed Beast Spiraling Sphere…!”

At that moment, something disrupted his concentration. It was a brief vision of Gavin while in the second phase transformation. Because of that, the sphere lost his form and exploded, sending Star back. He fell on the floor while on his normal form.

“I can see that didn’t work” Hawthorn said, while Star sat. “You were so close. Why did you lost your focus?”

Star couldn’t stop reminding what he just felt.

At the shores, Gavin roared, causing some waves of water that Arcing was able to endure.

“This is really not good.”

Seeing Gavin look at him with an extreme rage, Arcing made a nervous laugh and then said:

“I’m really sorry for what happened.”

“Too late for that!” Gavin exclaimed, while extending his thicker tail ready to hit Arcing.

He was able to dodge, but the tail went through and hit the rock wall, making many soldiers to fall. Luna, using her magic, was able to caught the tail and then said:

“How can this be? He just looks like a jinchuriki.”

“Not quite, but close, princess” an elder griffon said, approaching. “Many few know about this, but, Aeropolis tried to tame once the untamable Nine-Tails. That’s when the Nine-Tails devoured Gavin and Grant, expelling them after two weeks.”

“I see…” Luna said. “Then you need to contact HQ immediately!”

“Yes, mam” the griffon replied, moving away.

At HQ, White Light asked:

“Where are the reinforcements? And what is the status of Prince Arcing’s First Unit?”

“They captured Kraken and sealed Grant, but it seems Gavin is with the Nine-Tails’ cloak and is on a rampage” Diamond Glow said, receiving the message from the unit.

Aspen got up and said to a deer that was close:

“Start to make preparations.”

“Yes, Your Highness” the deer replied, moving away.

“If Gavin has transformed, then we can’t stop him” Aspen said.

“There’s one thing I don’t understand” Celestia said. “How can he have the Nine-Tails’ cloak?”

“My thoughts exactly” Ingrid said. “We can understand he has his energy, but being able to undergo the Tailed Beast transformation? How can that be possible?”

“They were inside Nine-Tails for two weeks” Aspen said. “Supposedly, they were able to survive by eating Nine-Tails’ entrails. No one has ever eaten the Nine-Tails’ energy-rich flesh. No, I take that back. I heard rumors that some in my kingdom tried to do the same with one of Eight-Tails’ tentacles, but they all died before becoming jinchuriki.”

“Okay, that is just gross…” Spike said.

“But those two are different” Aspen said. “They managed to survive somehow and now they became pseudo-jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails.”

“Then what we have to do to take them down?” Celestia asked.

“There is only one way” Aspen replied. “It’s true that Gavin possesses enormous energy and power, what is an undeniable fact. However, we can still use the fifth and final Sacred Tool, the only one they weren’t able to steal, against them. Come with me.”

Gavin was still trying to hit Arcing with the tails, but he was always able to dodge, while holding the two tools he was able to get. He took refuge behind a boulder and then started to think in a way to defeat Gavin. If only he could seal him inside the gourd too, but he needed the Golden Rope to do so and he couldn’t see it while he was covered by the cloak.

A light unicorn teleported to his side and said:

“Sir, a message. HQ said they will send the Sealing Urn.”

Recognizing the object, he said:

“I see, thank you.”

The unicorn teleported away and Arcing smiled slightly. The Sealing Urn would serve far much better than the Crimson Gourd.

Aspen took Celestia, Ingrid and Spike to a room where the deer that left the main room brought the sealing urn.

“This is the Sealing Urn, one of the Sacred Tools of Thicket. It was used to seal away the Eight-Tails when he went into a rampage.

“What does it have that make it so special?” Spike asked.

“It doesn’t need the other tools to work” Aspen replied. “All you have to do is to say the target’s name and, if they respond, their voices are recorded and they are sealed inside. It was the only thing we were able to save from them and now we’re going to use it against Gavin.”

“But how will we transport this?” White Light asked. “The situation is too dire.”

“I was counting with Princess Celestia and Queen Ingrid to help us with that issue” Aspen said, turning to them. “Your alicorn magic may be powerful enough to transport the urn to where the First Unit is.”

“Well, using a teleportation spell on an object to a faraway place is a little too complicated, but if we combine our powers…” Celestia said, looking to Ingrid.

“Yes, sister, we can do it” Ingrid said.

Celestia nodded.

“Wait, but won’t Gavin know how the urn works?” Spike asked. “If that’s so, then how are we going to make him respond to the call?”

There was a pause before that problem, but then White Light said:

“I got an idea that we can try.”

“Any idea you may come up with may be sure to work” Aspen said. “You can deal with it. Princess Celestia, Queen Ingrid, you may proceed.”

And so the two sisters advanced. They close their eyes to focus on the Horseshoe Bay and then they accessed to their magic. They casted the spell and the urn was teleported.

Using the Seven Star Sword, Arcing was battling more clones that approached him. It was then that a light appeared, along with the Sealing Urn. The light caught Gavin’s attention and he spotted the urn.

“The Sealing Urn…” he said. “That thing should be ours. I see… They’ll try to seal me away, won’t they?”

Arcing studied all the properties of the only Tools the Gold and Silver Brothers didn’t stolen, as Thicket continued to use it to control Eight-Tails. But, if he knew about it, then Gavin most certainly knew as well. How would he seal him, then? But, if HQ sent them that, then they should have a plan. Until he got to know, he just had to keep it save.

Gavin, in order to prevent them from sealing him, attacked the place where Arcing was with the thicker tail, only to see Arcing emerge flying, carrying the urn with a bubble. Using the light nature, he made light pass through the bubble and create multiple illusionary versions of the original.

“Sorry about that, but I cannot afford you to take the only think that can help us defeat you” Arcing said.

It was then that many soldiers surrounded Gavin, using combined fire and water magic to disorient Gavin, while trapping him inside elevated ground made by earth nature users. Arcing landed at the top and he said:

“I’m sorry about this.”

And then he used his black lightning, hitting him hard, while the ground trap closed completely, with Arcing retreating. There was a pause, where everypony waited to see if they did it. But then, the stone started to crack and the trap was undone, with some debris crushing soldiers, while one or two were impaled by one off the tails. Gavin roared and then exclaimed:

“I’LL TEAR YOU APART!”

And he started to cause great destruction at the beach, while targeting soldiers randomly. Luna, who was watching while trying to control the battle, while Arcing was dealing with Gavin, couldn’t believe how much damage one being could do, mainly one that wasn’t a true jinchuriki.

Arcing, who was able to take advantage of that rampage to hide behind another boulder with the real urn, couldn’t believe who that combination of attacks wasn’t able to take him down.

At HQ, White Light approached Diamond Light and, after telling his plan, asked:

“Do you think he can handle it?”

“I only met him once, but he seemed to be very capable with the spell” Diamond Light said. “But this plan of yours seems a little risky.”

“Tell me something that it isn’t” White Light replied. “Now, connect me to Arcing.”

“Yes, sir” she replied, putting then a hoof over his forehead.

And then he said to Arcing after Diamond Glow made the connection:

“Prince Arcing, this is Captain White Light from HQ. Listen up.”

“I have been waiting from hearing from you” he replied.

“You have the Sealing Urn, right?” White Light asked. “For this plan to be successful, the presence of somepony capable of using mental magic is critical. Please, hold on until the one we chose to execute the plan get there.”

And the connection ended. But even if White Light told Arcing to hold on, he didn’t know for how long they would be able to do it, as they have lost too many soldiers and the number of injured were also enormous.

It was then that he noticed the sudden silence in the battlefield. Where was Gavin? A few little rocks fallen over him were the answer and he looked up saying Gavin descending over him. It was then that Obsidian Blade appeared and gave a strong punch powered up by an earth nature spell that made the griffon to retreat.

“Prince Obsidian Blade” Arcing said, getting up.

“Sorry if I’m late” he said, while reinforcements from the Second Unit appeared, with his daughter between them.

The First Division got very excited with their arriving, but the same couldn’t be told by the clones. After gathering everyone, including Luna and Freeze Burn, Arcing said with Obsidian by his side:

“HQ has a plan. We’ll strike Gavin with a mental manipulation spell and, until the one they choose gets here, we have to hold this location” Arcing said.

While the soldiers cheered Arcing, Freeze Burn said to Luna:

“So, we’re going to force Gavin to respond to the call. A good plan, but, for it to work, the chosen one to execute the plan must be really good with mental manipulation. I think only Mirror Coat or Diamond Glow would be able to do something like that.”

“We need to have faith that they will choose the right one to execute the plan” Luna said.

And so they continued to battle Gavin, the clones and the reincarnated beings, but even with the reinforcements, fighting the enemy was starting to become too much dire to support. It was then that the reinforcements from the Fourth Unit arrived. Between them were Lightning Bolt that nodded to Silverweed who nodded back and teleported to where Arcing was and said:

“I’m here to execute the plan. The only thing I need is that you hold him on his place. My experience with this kind of spell is not like Mirror Coat’s or Diamond Glow’s. I need him in one place to cast spell.”

“You got it” Arcing said, turning then to the others. “You know what to do!”

And they all started to attack Gavin, who tried to protect himself with the tails or dodging, while saying:

“Your middling underlings! Do you really think you can beat me!”

It was then that bounds rose from his shadows, starting to bind him. It was Luna who was using a spell to restrain him.

“Now, Silverweed!” she exclaimed, while trying to hold Gavin, who was fighting to release himself.

The unicorn focus to concentrate and then he casted the spell. There was a pause and then Gavin immobilized.

“I got him!” Silverweed exclaimed through Gavin.

And so Arcing opened the urn and then called:

“Gavin!”

“Yes!” Silverweed replied through Gavin.

And so the urn released a light and started to suck Gavin into it. He tried to hold it, but he wasn’t capable of doing it. At the time Gavin was being sealed, Silverweed released the spell, returning to his body and falling on his knees, as exhaustion took over him. After Gavin was inside the urn, a mass of black goo emerged, while saying with Gavin’s voice:

“I can’t believe that we, the Golden and Silver Brothers, the greatest warriors of Aeropolis, were taken down by the lights of them!”

“I’m sorry for this, but I told you I would strip away the shine from your gold and silver and that’s what I just did” Arcing said.

And so he closed the urn, sealing Gavin completely.

“All right, now that the main crisis is aborted here, I want some of you to nurse the injured!” Obsidian Blade said. “The rest come with me!”

The clones looked the scene with anger and frustration, while they saw the enemy coming against them.

Arcing was looking after the Sealing Urn, but he couldn’t stop thinking about where the Leaf Fan was, as he had the urn, the Seven Star Sword and the Crimson Gourd and the Golden Rope was sealed inside the urn along with Gavin.

While he was resting after using the mental spell and taking some pills he created to recover energy, he saw the Leaf Fan floating close by and he took it with his magic, wondering what it was.

Breaking the Crystal

The battle between Twilight and King Sombra was intense with both sides directing powerful attacks towards each other. However, as much how even their fight seemed to be, the fact that Twilight was losing couldn’t be much obvious. Sombra was powerful and, unlike Twilight, he didn’t have the limits of his body stopping him from keeping the rhythm. Exaustion started to invade Twilight’s body. Sombra laughed and said, while assuming solid form after dodging Twilight’s latest attack:

“I admit that you live up to my expectations, but admit it: you can’t defeat me. I have an endless amount of energy, while you already used most of yours.”

“My power does come only from my magic” Twilight said, while recovering from the last attack. “It comes from my desire to protect the ones I love, my family, my friends, this world… It’s what gives me the power to fight you.”

Seeing all that determination in her eyes, Sombra couldn’t help but feeling as if Aurora was looking back at him. That made an old flame of anger grew stronger, as he couldn’t stand having Twilight looking at him in the same way like the mare he equally loved and hated did. So he launched an attack of sharp crystals against her, that she dodge by taking flight. But Sombra didn’t give up and continued to attack.

Blue had returned to Shining’s side, telling what was happening.

“She’s what?!” Shining exclaimed. “And you let her alone with that maniac?!”

“You know how your sister is when she makes up her mind” Blue replied. “Apparently runs in the family.”

“We have to go help her” Shining said, preparing go.

“No, Shining, you can’t go” Blue said, preventing him from advancing.

“It’s Twily we’re talking about, Blue. Don’t tell me you’re not worried about what may happen to her if she loses to Sombra.”

“Of course I’m worried. I’m worried sick. But you can’t abandon the battlefield at this moment. You’re the captain of this unit and our comrades need you to fight these enemies.”

An explosion caused by Thunder Blitz’s explosive nature just emphasized what Blue just said.

“Furthermore, it’s Twilight we’re talking about” Blue continued. “How many foes she already defeated? Many, including the Lord of Chaos himself and Perfect Scales when he absorbed all the other special lights. Do you really think she will allow Sombra to win when she knows what’s in risk?”

Shining didn’t answered right away, as he thought in what his best friend just said, and then he replied:

“All right, for now, we’ll let her be, but at the first opportunity we get, we go help her.”

That made Blue smile and nod.

After being able to retreat, Shadow Claw and his team started to run away as fast as they could. The four reincarnated beings kept following them.

“It’s no use” Ivory said, continuing to sense the enemy approaching. “We can’t loose them.”

“We have to contact HQ!” Shadow Claw exclaimed to the light unicorn.

He nodded and he used his telepathic abilities to do so.

At HQ, one of Diamond Glow subordinates said:

“The Commando Unit is reporting in. They are trying to retreat, but the enemy is closing on them.”

“Gael and some of his unit are close” White Light said. “Send them the coordinates and quickly.”

Gael was flying with Spitfire and some pegasi and griffon, while others were running below, including a pony-panther that was carrying a sealing cloth.

“Hurry, we can’t waste more time.”

“Yes, sir!” they all exclaimed.

Shadow Claw and his team continued to try to escape the enemy, while having Rothbart continuing to complain.

“I’m gonna get you, little brother” Dusk Night said to Shadow Claw. “Just wait to see…”

“Boy, can’t you just shut up with that?” the unknown deer said to her. “We get it, you two have sibling issues.”

Grover was trying to ignore them, but even his patient was close to its limits, mainly because he couldn’t control his body. It was then that he received orders to use his elemental manipulation.

“Oh no… Here I go… Be careful you at the front!”

And, with a strong spin, a tornado was formed, ravaging everything around. But the worse was when the wind became thicker and dense. His fellow reincarnated beings became shocked by that. Stopping and flapping his wings, Grover launched that smoke against the commando unit.

Shadow Claw looked behind and so it coming. He recognized that. It was close to Star Knight’s haze natured that he heard about. He was to warn his team, but the smoke caught them quickly, starting to poison them. They all fell on the ground, unable to move, weakened by the poison.

They heard flapping and Shadow Claw, reuniting all the energy he still had, prepared to fight whatever went to appear.

“Hey, if you are reinforcements, then I’m over here!” Rothbart continued to say.

Grover appeared inside the haze and then said to Shadow Claw and his team:

“I’m sorry for this.”

And he raised up his right talon, which was imbued with wind nature to make the claws even sharper. He then advanced towards Shadow Claw to finish him, but then Gael appeared and was able to caught the talon and prevent Grover from advancing.

“Just in time…” Shadow Claw said.

“It’s an honor to meet you, King Grover” Gael said. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Gael, the current king of Griffonstone.”

Griffons appeared to help Shadow Claw’s team.

“What about the poison?” Shadow Claw asked to the griffon that came to help him.

“The griffons of Griffonstone possess a high tolerance to this poison” the griffon explained. “Because of King Grover’s haze nature and the poison he incorporated in it, we got it in order to survive in any battle we get into. Now, we need to get antidotes to you and your team at the medical core.”

The griffons started to do so and then the one that helped Shadow Claw said to Gael:

“Your Highness…”

“Assistance is not necessary” he said. “Stay out of the way if you don’t want to get injured.”

“Yes, sir” he replied, retreating, but not getting away.

“They seem to respect you” King Grover said. “I always thought that after my death, the griffons of the Pony World would have difficulty to stay united. You must be a good leader.”

“Griffonstone got good regents after your death” Gael replied. “My wife, that is your descendant, and her uncle are good examples of that.”

They separated and then Grover said:

“It’s good to hear that. I can see that my kingdom, the one that I built with all my efforts, is in good talons. It’s a shame that, because of this damn curse, I may end up destroying it.”

“I won’t let that happen” Gael, positioning himself to defend any attack King Grover could do. “Even if I had to sacrifice my own life to do that.”

At the bay, the main battle was now against the remaining reincarnated beings, with the fighters doing their best to seal them as quickly as possible. All the members of the sealing core in the First Division had spread in order to be ready at the first opportunity.

Freeze Burn was battling Day Glow, but the latter had proven to be very skill, having in count how young he was when he died. Flambeau and Nitelite came to help him, but even when they did hit him with full power, his body went to regenerate. To make the situation worse, Thunder Spark, Princess Aurora former right-hoof stallion, came to help Day Glow.

“Out of the way!” a voice exclaimed.

They all turner around and saw Silverweed advancing with the Leaf Fan. The two dragons took flight, while Freeze Burn teleported away. Seeing what would happen, Day Glow was quick to teleport as well. With a movement of the fan, Silverweed created a very strong wind that hit Thunder Spark strongly against a stone wall. A pony-panther took that opportunity to seal him.

“One down!” Silverweed exclaimed. “Now we just have to…”

But he didn’t finish, as a great wave of weakness invaded his body and made him feel dizzy. He was about to fell when Freeze Burn teleported to his side and hold him.

“I got you” he said, looking to Leaf Fan. “First you use your mental magic and know you use one of the Sacred Tools of Thicket. You used too much energy, you need to rest. Nitelite, take him to someplace where he can recover. And take care of the fan. Don’t let it fell on the enemy’s hooves.”

“Yes, sir” Nitelite said, taking Silverweed and the Leaf Fan and then moving away.

Day Glow appeared again and then Freeze Burn said to Flambeau:

“Let’s do this.”

“I’m just waiting for your signal, Your Highness” he replied.

And they returned to fight Day Glow again.

Twilight’s fight with Sombra was getting even more intense, with the latter now starting to get more emotional, after being taunt with the similarity that Twilight had with Aurora, not only in physical appearance. After a while, he was able to corner her.

“Finally, you will be mine, little princess” Sombra said, while smiling wickedly. “When I’m done with you, I will be able to get my revenge for everything you did to me.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked. “I wasn’t the one who defeated you at the Crystal Empire.”

“Do you really think I’m talking about that?” Sombra asked. “Please, as if something insignificant like that could affect me. No… In a way, you’re Aurora and you will pay for everything she did to me!”

Twilight didn’t know what he was talking about. What else happen between Princess Aurora and Sombra to make him hate her so much?

“And after I’m done with you, the next one to feel my revenge will be that golden sack of crap that claims to be General of Peace” Sombra continued.

“Golden Paladin…?” Twilight asked, getting even more confused.

“He is the main reason of my misery” Sombra said. “I heard he’s weakened and vulnerable, just like those pesky siblings of his. After I’m done with you, I’ll go to the Light Kingdom and get rid of him next! Let’s see what happens when a General of Order dies.”

“I won’t let you do that” Twilight said, with her confidence and determination returning. “I don’t mind what you can do with me, but I won’t let you hurt any of my friends, much less the ones who bring the light of the Lord of Order to this world.”

Seeing her defending Golden Paladin, made Sombra remember how Aurore defended him centuries ago. That made his anger get even more intense and, in an impulse, he access to his magic and roar:

“CRYSTAL PRISON SPELL!”

Twilight tried to use her magic, but it was too late. A light appear beneath her and then crystal appeared, imprisoning her inside.

At the place where Gael and Grover were facing each other, Ash, hidden between the woods, observed the situation and, throught him, Gentle Light was also witnessing what was happening.

“It appears that the battlefield is becoming very wild” she said, after seeing one of her stones breaking after Thunder Spark was sealed. “Let’s see…”

And she moved two stones to where Grover and Ash were. Dusk Night and the other deer appeared at the scene. Seeing her, Shadow Claw said:

“Sister…”

“Good, you didn’t die” she said. “Now I can be the one to end you.”

She wanted to advanced, but her body didn’t respond.

“What…” she started.

“Remember, you’re being controlled by the user of the Reincarnation Curse” Grover said. “it appears you won’t be allowed to fight right now.”

Dusk Night answered him with a growl and then Grover said to Gael:

“Okay, young one, let’s see if the new king of Griffonstone is worthy of that title, even if he married for it. Defeat me and then seal me, if you don’t want me to continue to serve the Chaos side.”

“Don’t worry about that” Gael said. “I will defeat you.”

And then he advanced against Grover, ready to attack. He defended and then the two started to move away. While that, the other griffons advanced to fight Dusk Night and the deer.
The two king griffons advanced toward each other, switching blows with the claws. Eventually, Grover was able to subdue Gael and pin him against the floor.

“You fight well” Grover said. “It is obvious you were a warrior before becoming a king. But you seemed to be very confident of your abilities to the point of underestimating your opponent. Pride is always our kind’s greatest weakness.”

“I agree with you on that” Gael said, while trying to breath as much air as he could. “But you’re wrong about one thing: I didn’t underestimate you.”

And Grover felt a pain and he saw Gael’s talon penetrating his belly. But it wasn’t the blow that hurt him, as he couldn’t feel pain, but what was covering Gael’s talon. It was a greenish liquid that he got to know what was.

“You…” he started, as he started to feel his body becoming dormant. “You knew…”

“During my studies while I was becoming part of the guard of Griffonstone, you were one of my idols” Gael replied, being able to release himself and get up, leading then one of his talons to his wounded shoulder. “I studied all your battle skills and moves. When I got to know about the Reincarnated Curse, I realized there was chance that you would be one of the dead to be brought back, so I prepared myself for the eventuality. I prepared a sample of your poison in liquid. I studied enough to know that you are vulnerable to your own poison. You were not affected by it in life because you trained yourself to hold your breath long enough until the poison to dissipate in the air completely.”

“And so… you waited until I was close enough…” Grover said, making a chuckle. “That was… a very nice move.”

“It’s an honor to hear such compliment from you, Your Highness” Gael said, nodding respectfully.

There was movement and then Godot appeared, followed by a pair of griffons, with one being from the sealing core.

“Finally I got you…” he said, noticing then in Grover. “But that’s… Wait, you defeated King Grover? Wow, that I was not expecting. You griffons of Griffonstone don’t stop to amaze me.”

“Wait… don’t tell me… you’re from… Aeropolis” Grover said, while fighting against the poison.

“I’m the king, actually” Godot said.

That caused Grover to drop a laugh and say:

“Griffonstone and Aeropolis getting along… Now, that’s something I didn’t expect to hear… But also, something that makes me feel in peace… If only I could see my first home once again…”
And he stopped moving.

“Don’t worry, we will not dishonor you, King Grover” Gael said, turning then to Godot. “Right?”

“Well, let’s just say we’re closer to friendship than we ever did before” Grover said.

After that, the griffon of the sealing core advanced and sealed Grover.

At the shore, Luna was also able to restrain her grandfathers with shadows, allowing then the sealing core to seal them both.

With all the sealing made, four more of Gentle Light’s rocks broke.

“They are starting to change the tide of the war. That is good. But they must prepare themselves, because, like the sea, their luck may turn against them.”

Sombra stood where he was, gasping, while looked to Twilight, imprisoned inside the crystal. It was then that a smile appeared on his face, followed by one of his evil laughs. He had finally taken his revenge on Aurora and nopony would be able take that from him.

Inside the crystal, Twilight’s first though was it was the end for her, that she wouldn’t see her loved ones ever again. But then she realized she was still intact, even though she didn’t know why. Sombra’s crystal nature turned any matter to crystal, however she wasn’t. It was then that she noticed that, instinctively, she had involved herself with her magic. It was something she did before casting any defensive spell. That made her come to the conclusion that Sombra wasn’t able to crystalize energy. But now the problem was how she would get out? She couldn’t use her magic without disabling the energy that surrounded her.

At that moment, a light involved her and, when Twilight found herself, she was on a place full of light, where neither the ground nor the sky could be distinguished.

“But… where am I?” Twilight asked.

“In a place where I can talk with to you, my dear” a familiar voice said.

And, with a burst of light, the Lord of Order appeared.

“My lord…” Twilight said, making a quick bow. “But what are you doing here?”

“I was able to notice that you were fighting King Sombra” the Lord of Order. “Perhaps it was not the best decision.”

“I thought I could do it, but now I see he was too much for me” Twilight said. “I just don’t know what happened. His magic became too much strong all of the sudden.”

“That’s because you look just like Princess Aurora, not only in appearance, but also in the way of being” the Lord of Order said. “You see, there is a part about the dispute between Aurora and Sombra you don’t know. There was a time when Sombra was a good-hearted stallion, but everything changed when he arrived to the Light Kingdom and fell in love with Aurora.”

“Wait, he fell in love with Aurora?!” Twilight asked, not wanting to believe.

“Yes, it’s hard to believe, but it is the truth” the Lord of Order said. “And Aurora reciprocated the love as well.”

“If that’s true, then what happened?” Twilight asked. “What drove Sombra to become evil and cause the fall of the Light Kingdown?”

“Sombra found out about Golden Paladin’s affection for Princess Aurora and my brother took advantage of that, corrupting Sombra and making him trying to take Golden’s light. Aurora, with a broken heart didn’t have another option than to use her power to banish him from the Light Kingdom.”

“So that’s why he…” Twilight said, understanding all Sombra’s rage. “You’re right, I shouldn’t just burst into battle.”

“You didn’t know” the Lord of Order said. “But now that you’re battling him, you can make sure that Sombra don’t harm anypony ever again.”

Sombra prepared to leave, when he heard the crystal breaking and then the sound of anything falling on the ground. He turned and became shocked when he saw Twilight getting up, still recovering from the last attack.

“Impossible…” he said. “How did you…?”

“Your crystal nature is not able to crystalize energy” Twilight said. “I involved myself with magic. That’s why you didn’t kill me.”

“Well, I can arrange that” Sombra said, creating crystal shards.

Seeing Sombra doing that, Twilight used her magic to release ultrasonic waves that, when came in contact with the crystals, they simply shattered.

“What the…” Sombra started, completely caught by surprise. “How did you do that?!”

“Crystal requires a very precise build-up of molecules, so the proper sound waves can break down the build-up before the crystal can properly form” Twilight replied.

That made Sombra become very angry, as she was able to find his nature’s weakness.

“Sombra, please, stop this madness” Twilight said. “I know your pain, but you can’t…”
Sombra made a laugh and then he said:

“How can a goody princess like you understand any of my pain? You don’t knowing about what I feel!”

And he prepared more crystals to launch against Twilight that she negated with the ultrasonic waves. But, at that moment, Sombra had already prepared a big and sharp crystal shard that he threw. Fortunately, Twilight was able to create a barrier to protect himself.

“You don’t anything about me!” Sombra exclaimed, as he prepared to cast a Crystal Prison Spell.

He did it so quickly that Twilight didn’t get time to use the ultrasonic waves. In order to escape, Twilight get the piece of crystal that she defended and, when the spell started to act, she used it to reflect the spell that went against Sombra, who exclaimed:

“No!”

And he was imprisoned in crystal. Looking to that, Twilight made a pitiful look to him and said:

“Oh Sombra… Everything could have ended so diffently.”

And, without wasting any time, Twilight casted a sealing spell that the Lord of Order taught to her before. Not long after that, Blue and Shining appeared with the latter saying:

“Twily, we came to… help you.”

They both became astonished when they saw that Twilight had been able to seal Sombra.

“Wow, Twilight…” Blue said. “You did it.”

“With a lot of difficulties” she said.

It was then the use of all the energy on the battle was felt by Twilight, who had a moment of weakness.

“Oh, I get you Twily” Blue said, helping her stand.

“You need to rest” Shining said. “And then you’ll return to HQ.”

“No, I can’t…” she said. “There’s still a lot to do here. You need help to deal with all those reincarnations.”

“With can deal with them” Shining said. “You’re still vulnerable and…”

It was then that she looked to Shining with one of her harsh look and said:

“Shining, stop thinking that I’m still a little filly. I can perfectly fight along with you and Blue.”

And, having said that, she moved away, letting both Shining and Blue where they were.

“I told you to not contradict her” Blue said to Shining.

Spike's Resolution

At a hidden cave whose entrance was guarded by two big dragons, Garble approached and landed.

“How you doing, buddies?” Garble asked to the two guards.

They didn’t answer, simply grunting to him. A little unease, the teenage dragon just passed by them and entered the cave. He advanced through the inside the cave until he found the Dragon King. He bowed before him and then he said:

“Your Majesty…”

“What do you want?” the Dragon King asked.

“The Alliance is starting to get the advantage” Garble said. “They have defeated Kraken and they also sealed some powerful reincarnated beings. Some of these acts were made by those traitors who follow that disgusting pony-lover.”

“Those dragons will learn that they are serving the wrong king” the Dragon King replied. “It’s time for them to learn who is the true Dragon King.”

“Finally!” Garble exclaimed. “I’ll be able to get my revenge! But, my king, Spike has Lord Torch at his side, not counting with a lot of powerful allies. Those ponies may be disguting, but we cannot ignore they have a lot of power.”

“Yes, I know that perfectly” the Dragon King replied. “But you’re right about something. It is time to end this dispute between the ones of our kind. The dragons can’t have two kings.”

Back at HQ, Spike was waiting along with Aspen, Celestia and Ingrid for news at the battlefield, when suddenly a great headache started to cause him pain. Seeing that, Celestia asked:

“Spike, are you okay?”

But he didn’t answer. Spike knew that touch on his mind very well, as it had happened to him once years ago. It was the Dragon King, he was trying to get in his head again, probably to control him again. But, this time, he would be able to fight back. Then, he noticed that the Dragon King hadn’t gone too deep in his mind, only enough to give him a message:

“Dragon King Spike, listen to me very carefully. I think we share the same opinion that our kind shouldn’t have two kings leading factions against each other. It is time to end that. Here’s my deal: you against me with our respective dragons, the winner becomes the indisputable king of our kind. I meet you at the Dragon Lands, unless you want to do this in the middle of the war and put the lives of your little pony friends in danger.”

And Spike heard his evil laugh before feeling the Dragon King leaving his head. When he regain the awareness, he realized that he was kneeling at the floor with everyone looking at him.

“Spike, what happened?” Celestia asked, approaching him. “Is everything okay?”

Spike took a few minutes before answering:

“The Dragon King contacted me. He wanted to make me a deal.”

“Are you sure about that?” Aspen asked. “I know that, like you, the Dragon King can control dragons. He may be trying to control you.”

“Since I became the new Dragon King, my mind became stronger than before” Spike replied. “He can’t control me, but he can still get inside and see my thoughts. Don’t worry, I was able to shield them.”

“And what was that deal he did to you?” Ingrid asked.

“He wants to face me and my followers to decide who is the solo Dragon King” Spike said. “He wants to face me at the Dragon Lands.”

“That would decrease our power” White Light replied. “Your dragons are one of our main forces. They were the ones to defeat Kraken and their flying and fire-breathing abilities are very important.”

“But, if Spike doesn’t go to the Dragon Lands, the former Dragon King will bring the battle to him and maybe ruin all the advances we did to get the upperhoof at the bay and with the sealing of powerful adversaries” Celestia said.

“Without talking about they could also attack the HQ” Ingrid said.

Aspen thought about what for a moment and then he said to Spike:

“You’re the Dragon King, Spike. You’re the one who decides what your kind must do. But I have to advise you to do what is best both to your kind and the Alliance.”

That suggestion made Spike to think about what to do and then he said:

“Then I’ll go face the Dragon King, leaving some dragons to help in the war. I can’t allow the Dragon King to undid all the progress we made this far. Beyond that, if I and my dragons defeat the Dragon King, it’s another enemy to not worry about.”

That made a smile appear on Celestia’s face and she said:

“You have all my support Spike. I know you can do this.”

“Well… thank you, princess…” Spike said, blushing.

“This is your opportunity to prove yourself as a king” Ingrid said.

“We’re counting with you” Aspen added.

“I won’t disappoint you” Spike replied, nodding respectfully is head.

He then headed to the exit.

“I think it is better to let all the units with dragons to know what is happening” Wight Light said. “Diamond Glow!”

“On it” she replied.

Taking flight from the balcony in direction to the Dragon Lands, Spike, using his telepathic power, reached all his followers and said to them:

“My fellow dragons, listen to me careful. The Dragon King challenged me to face him in a ultimate battle to decide who is the true Dragon King. If I refuse, he will invade the battlefield and change the tide of war. I cannot let that happen to our friends and comrades, but I will need your help to face both him and his dragons. The choice is yours, but I would appreciate if you decide to help me, but also that you continued to help the Alliance. Like I said, the choice is yours.”

And he stopped the communication, wondering how much would join him. At that moment, he could feel a light invading his mind and then he found himself surrounded by that light.

“But… where am I?” Spike asked.

“In a place where I can talk to you” a voice replied.

And he saw the Lord of Order appearing before him.

“The Lord of Order…” the dragon said, not wanting to believe that he had approached him.

“You seemed surprised to see me” the Lord of Order observed.

“It’s just you didn’t appear only to me” Spike said.

“Well, knowing what you’re about to do, I decided to know how you’re committed” the Lord of Order said. “Dragons are one of the strongest and toughest creatures I ever created. In any reality, your kind is always powerful and noble. The dragons of the Pony Reality, due to the former Dragon King, fell into their greed and selfishness, something that didn’t change even after his first defeat. But you, Spike, along with your brothers and Princess Ember, managed to make dragons reconnect with their former nature. I’m glad that you want to preserve that.”

“But…” Spike started. “What if I’m not able to defeat him? The Dragon King have powerful dragons by his side. How can I defeat something like that?”

“Spike…” the Lord of Order replied. “The power of a true leader is not only resided in his or her power or in the numbers, but also in the capability to inspire others and in the desire to protect. And that, young dragon, is something that you have and, because of that, I have faith that you will succeed.”

And the Lord of Order and his light dissipated and Spike found himself flying to the Dragon Lands. He thought about what the Lord of Order told him. Will he be able to do all that what he hoped him to do?

“Hey, big brother” a voice asked.

He looked to his side and saw Flambeau.

“Flambeau?” Spike asked. “You’re here!”

“Of course I am” he replied. “I wouldn’t let my big brother fight the Dragon King all by himself. We took flight as soon as you contacted us.”

“We?”

“He’s talking about me” Ember said, appearing at Spike’s other side. “And them.”

She motioned to behind and Spike, looking, saw, with great amazement, a large number of dragons.

“They all came because I asked?” Spike asked.

“Well, let’s just say you were pretty inspiring” Nitelite said, appearing besides Flambeau. “Smokewing, Hardscale and Toothy remained behind with a handful of dragons to help the Alliance.”

“Good, because we’ll need our full attention on defeating the Dragon King and his followers” Spike said.

They all arrived to the Dragon Lands, landing at the throne rock, where Torch was waiting for them.

“I heard your message, King Spike, and you can count with my help” Torch said.

“And I appreciate it, Lord Torch” Spike said, bowing his head in a respectfully.

“It’s hard to believe you were able to bring all this dragons with them knowing they will fight our former king” Torch said. “You must have caused them a big impression.”

“Spike is like that, dad” Ember said. “He can make others be their better selves.”

“Well, let’s not exaggerate” Spike said, blushing a bit.

“Ember is just telling the truth, bro” Flambeau said. “That speech of yours was really amazing.”

“I think inspiring is the correct word” Nitelite replied.

But before anyone could say another word, roars were listened at far. They turned and saw the Dragon King approaching with his dragons. He landed at some distance from his enemies, with his biggest dragons landing behind him, while the youngest were hoovering. Spike could see Garble beside the Dragon King.

“I can see that you decided to accept my challenge, Spike” the Dragon King.

“For you, is King Spike” Spike replied.

The Dragon King chuckle and then he replied:

“We shall see about that” the Dragon King said, turning then to Torch. “I’m surprised that you, above all, decided to ally with this little brat, Torch. And just thinking you used to be my second-in-command, old friend.”

“Your time of tyranny is over, Flame” Torch said. “After everything you did, do you really think we will let you be our king again?”

“No one calls me by that name since my coronation” the Dragon King said. “And I’ll make sure that it is never mentioned ever again. Dragons, attack!”

And his dragons advanced and so did Spike’s. It didn’t last for an intense battle between fire, claws, fangs and spikes to start. Spike should have the support of the majority, but most of the dragons at Flame’s side were older and more experienced and, because of that, they had some advantage.

After dealing with a pair of dragons, Ember found herself facing Garble.

“Well, well, well, look who she is” he said. “The little princess… You’re going to regret what you did to me during the Gauntlet of Fire.”

“You’re the one who is going to regret for having join a tyrant like Flame” Ember said.

“Show some respect for the true Dragon King!” Garble exclaimed.

And he attacked Ember with a tail whip, but she have a jump to dodge, only to become vulnerable to Garble’s tackle, that threw her against the ground. Garble placed himself over Ember, pinning her, and then he asked cynically:

“Any last words?”

Ember tried to release herself, only to not avail. It was then that she looked over Garble’s shoulder and saw something that made her smile. She then said:

“Yes: look out.”

That confused Garble, but then a tail whip hit him, throwing him out of Ember. It was Flambeau who did that who then helped Ember getting up, asking:

“Are you okay, Ember?”

“Yes, thanks to you” she replied. “Thank you, Flambeau.”

That made him blush a little.

They heard a grunt and then Garble got up and said:

“Oh, please, don’t me throw up. It’s because of that you are our kind’s shame. You look more like ponies than dragons.”

“Maybe you’re just saying that because you’re jealous that you don’t have any friends” Flambeau said.

That statement really upset Garble who exclaimed:

“Take that back!”

And he started to fight them.

Spike, after dodging a missing fire in the air, looked around the battlefield. It was impossible to know each side add the advantage, but he had confidence that his would win. But that thought was blown away when he get to know the greatest battle that was happening.

Torch and Flame were having a fight full of headbutts. Their fight was so intense that anyone that came into the cross-fire were shutting down, regarding the side they were. But, eventually, a winner came out of that fight. Flame and Torch should be of the same age and be close in power and strength, but the former Dragon King was able to dodge a blow from the former Dragon Lord and took advantage of that to give one of his own that threw Torch against the grown, near the stone throne. Seeing then Flame approaching him, Spike could sense what he was going to do.

“No!” he exclaimed, starting to fly to help Torch.

Noticing Spike flying in his direction, Flame commanded a pair of dragons to block his way, what they obeyed so promptly. Spike tried to pass through them, but they wouldn’t let him do it. With his anger and frustration growing, Spike let a roar get out, saying:

“GET OUT OF MY WAY!”

The roar wasn’t the only thing he unleashed, but also a psychic wave of his telepathic power that caused the dragons to groan in pain. That gave Spike the opening he needed to pass and continue his way towards Flame and Torch, but it was too late, as he saw the former stabbing the latter with the sharp tips of his crown horns. Torch released a roar full of pain.

“NO!” Spike exclaimed.

He landed beside Torch, while saying to the dying old dragon:

“Please, Lord Torch, hold on, you will make it…”

“Don’t lie to me, my king…” Torch said to him with a weakening voice. “I am no foul. I can see that my time has come… I failed to defeat Flame.”

“No, you can’t…” Spike started. “What about Ember? What about us? We need you, Lord Torch…”

“No, you don’t” he replied. “I believe you, King Spike. Through all your deeds, you and my daughter showed you are the rulers our kind need to return to its former glory. You may not be able to see it, but you have so much potential. Please, defeat Flame…”

And, with that, Torch gave his last breath and closed his eyes, becoming then immobile. The former Dragon Lord had died. That fact left Spike immobile of shock. Flame’s laugh was heard by everyone, as he said to Spike:

“You see? You can’t defeat me! I killed your best warrior and chance to defeat me. Without Torch, you have zero chances of defeating me!”

The news about Torch’s death echoed, getting to Ember who, after hearing that, said:

“Dad… no… NO!”

And she took flight, heading to where her deceased father was.

“Finally, our true king managed to defeat that old bag of bones” Garble said with a smile.

It was then that he got a punch that put him out of combat. It was Flambeau who gave it to him.

“Don’t forget that your king is also an old bag of bones” he replied to the knocked out dragon.
And, having said that, he also took flight, following Ember. She landed beside Spike, looking to her dad, with tears on her eyes.

“Oh dad…” she said.

Flambeau landed behind her, followed by Nitelite. The other dragons also stopped fighting because of that. They all became silent for knowing that Torch had died.

“That this served as proof of my superiority” Flame said. “I’m the real Dragon King, not this weakling that rely on the strength of one dragon instead of his own. Now, all of you, put yourselves at your rightful place and… SERVE ME!”

And he unleashed his telepathic power that started to affect all the dragons. Spike, due to his status as king, couldn’t be affected by Flame’s controlling power, but the pain that he was feeling couldn’t be any less than the one the others that were trying to resist were feeling.
It didn’t take long for the dragons starting to give in and going to Flame’s side. The same was happening with all the other dragons that were fighting with the Alliance.

“Urgent news from all the units!” Diamond Glow said. “They all say that the dragons started to act strangely, with huge headaches and then they stopped moving.”

“Don’t tell me that Spike lost” White Light said.

“Not yet” Celestia said. “There is still hope for the dragons. I know that. We just have to hope that Spike is able to understand what takes to be a king.”

At the Dragon Lands, all the dragons started to fell under Flame’s influence. Even Flambeau, Nitelite and Ember, who tried very hard to resist, eventually gave in and took flight to Flame’s side.

“Finally, I return to my rightful place as the true ruler of the dragon kind” the Dragon King said. “And no one will ever take that from me again!”

Spike couldn’t believe he failed. After everything, after all the sacrifice, he didn’t stop Flame. But then he saw his brothers and Ember. Although they were under Flame’s control, he could see how they were unhappy. He also remembered all the ones that would suffer. Flame would use the dragons to attack all the ones he loved: Twilight, Sweetie Belle, all his friends… Then, the Lord of Order’s words to him resonated in his head.

After that, Spike realized he couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let Flame enslave their kind and use it to destroy everything he loved, even more using his own flesh and blood.

“No…” he said, standing up, taking flight and looking to Flame. “I won’t let you do what you want!”

“You still dare to challenge me, your runt?!” Flame exclaimed.

“Yes, because I won’t let you harm my friends or using my family to do so!” Spike exclaimed. “I finally realize what makes a good king. A true king is capable of inspiring others to be better and protect the ones he loves. Well, I promised I would take the dragons back to their former glory and protected every of my loved ones. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do!”

And a burst of telepathic power caught Flame by surprise, sensing Spike invading his mind like he did to him. He roared to him to stopped him, but Spike roared back, with a roar similar to his. And then the young dragon shot a series of fireballs against Flame, hitting hard on his crown horns. Flame tried to counter-attack, but the fire attack and the constant mind invasions from Spike prevented him from doing so.

With Flame’s distraction, his control over the dragons started to fail. Ember, Flambeau and Nitelite recovered and, seeing Spike fighting for them, they advanced to his side, followed by the others.

“No…” Flame said. “What are you doing?!”

The dragons who were loyal to him tried to intervene, but they couldn’t dare to attack all those dragons, mainly when their king was being overpowered by Spike.

“Now do you get it?” Spike asked to Flame. “This is what it means earning and respecting the title of king. Let this end… now.”

“Never!” Flame exclaimed. “Attack!”

And so a battle of fire began, with Spike and his dragons subduing Flame and his dragons. It didn’t last until it was only Flame against his enemies. All the dragons shot their respective fires against him. After, Flame tried to do his biggest attack, but before he could that, Spike shot again, hitting him hard on the forehead. That last attack made his crown to break and its front just fell on the ground. Spike attacked him mentally again, this time, completely subduing him.

“The king protects his subjects, he doesn’t enslave them to do his selfish deeds” Spike said.

All the dragons fighting for the Alliance returned to normal, fact that was reported to the HQ.

“I knew you would do it, Spike” Celestia said with a smile.

Feeling himself defeated, Flame took flight and run away as fast as he could.

“Come back here, your coward!” Ember exclaimed, wanting to follow him.

“Let him go, Ember” Spike said.

“But he killed my father” Ember said. “We can’t just…”

“I understand, and we will honor his death, but we have something to do first” Spike said. “We have to help the Alliance and save this world. And I hope I can have the help of my Dragon Lord for that.”

Tears covered Ember’s eyes, but then she took a deep breath and then said, drying her eyes:

“You know you can count on me… Your Highness.”

Spike smiled and nodded his head to her. Then, he turned to the dragons that served Flame and told them:

“If you want to keep serving a crownless king who only wants to use you as nothing more than servants, then you’re welcome to join him in his outcast. But, if want to keep living in this lands and be with your kind, living with all the respect from us, then join me and fight against the Chaos.”

The dragons exchanged looks and then Spike took flight, along with his followers, heading to the battlefield of the war. He then noticed that some of the rebel dragons decided to join him and that made him smile, as now they had more soldiers to fight the terrible evil that was threatening all Creation.

The General of Chaos' Surprise Attack

At the hideout where the elite class members were, the guards there were looking at every direction, looking or the enemy. But they didn’t notice Featherwing landing nearby. She laughed and then said:

“I found them. They’re here.”

And she jumped, taking flight, ready to attack, but a magic beam hit her and threw her against the ground. She was able to regain the balance, while Mystic Heart appeared.

“So if I want to get those elite ponies, I need to take you down first, right?” Featherwing said.

“I think you mean take us down” Mystic Heart corrected.

And her team, along with the guards of the hideout, appeared next to her. Although outnumbered, Featherwing just laugh and flap her wings to create torrents of strong wings. A great fight started, with the guards trying to pass through the winds, but even if they get to her, they still had to defend themselves from her quick attacks with the claws and beak.

With her strength, she broke pieces of the ground, throwing them against the enemy, but Mystic Heart was able to use her lava nature to melt those pieces. But she missed one that almost hit her. But she was saved by Bronze Dagger, who used his Twinsword to take her apart easily.

“I won’t let you hurt Her Highness Queen Mystic Heart!” he exclaimed to Featherwing, always swinging his sword to break the pieces of the ground.

But something caught her attention. One of the feathers she had left at the Enchanted Forest whose magic would let her to sense any of the enemy at the surroundings reacted and let her know about the presence of Star Knight and Hawthorn. They have emerged and that meant that she had to tell the General of Chaos about that. She then took one of her feathers, charging it with her dark magic, and then threw it, with it flying away on its own.

At the villains’ hideout, the General was at the main chamber, looking to Discord, who was unconscious, while his power was drained to give more power to his army.

“Ah, Discord, if only you remained loyal to our master” the General of Chaos said. “In that way, you didn’t have to be in this situation.”

It was then that Featherwing’s feather appeared and landed before him. He took it with his magic, while saying:

“A message from Featherwing…”

And, absorbing the magic in the feather, the General was able to get the knowledge about Star and Hawthorn.

“Finally, the Eight and Nine-Tails appeared” he said. “In that way, I don’t need those fancy ponies anymore. I only wanted to use them force the Alliance to use the Tailed Beasts, but that is no longer necessary. With those two in the battlefield, I don’t need to use indirect measures. King Aspen is no fool. He knows they don’t hold any value to me. If the Infinite Nightmare Curse succeeds, then it’s all over. Although I don’t need the elite ponies anymore, I can let Featherwing fight more, so Queen Mystic Heart can be entertained. As for me… It’s time to join the battle with a great entrance, stealing some power.”

And he turned to the Demonic Statue that appeared there.

At the bay, after a great struggle, Freeze Burn was able to attract Day Glow to a place where four unicorns put themselves in strategic points to create a cubical barrier around him.

“Very well done” Day Glow said, looking around, while Freeze Burn recovered his breath. “Inside this barrier, I won’t be able to do anything, even being a reincarnated being.”

Luna landed and, seeing Day Glow controlled, she said:

“I believe there are no more reincarnated beings around.”

“Yes, I think so” Freeze Burn replied. “But there are still some of those clones.”

That was true, but everyone was doing their best to stop them, while protecting the Sealing Urn and the Crimson Gourd where Gavin and Grant were sealed. Finally, Obsidian Blade, at the top of dead clones, was holding one by the neck, while saying:

“This… is the last one.”

Arcing, finally being able to relaxe, looked around. Although they had won that battle, he couldn’t stop noticing all the lost they had, along with the injured. It was a good thing all that ended, as he didn’t know for how much would they be able to stand.

It was then that, from the shadows, the General of Chaos appeared, saying:

“Summoning Spell.”

The guards that were close became shocked for seeing, but they didn’t have any time to react as, from the ground, the Demonic Statue appeared, catching all the atentions. The statue appeared with its full body, while the chains it had broke and the it roared.

“What is that?!” Freeze Burn asked. “It’s even bigger than an adult dragon!”

“I have a bad feeling about this” Luna said.

“That’s not big” Arcing said. “It’s enormous!”

Luna took flight, wondering how they would fight that. It was then that something animated her. It was Spike, who was approaching with the dragons that were at the First Unit, along with some of the rebel dragons who joined him.

“Spike!” Luna exclaimed. “I’m so happy for see you. We need your help.”

“But what is that thing?” Spike asked.

“We don’t know, but it’s good to know that we have you and your dragons’ assistance” Luna replied.

“So, the Dragon King lost, hein?” the General of Chaos said. “It doesn’t matter. Not even with the dragons you’ll be able to defeat the Demonic Statue. Go!”

And the statue advanced, the General of Chaos attention went to the urn and the gourd.

“There it is…” he said.

As the statue advanced, Spike said:

“Dragons, attack!”

The biggest dragons that were there advanced and started to fight it. They tried to hit it with all their power, but it appeared to not do anything to it, not to mention that the shockwave also affected the soldiers that were nearby. It was then that the statue roared again and that was enough to push the dragons away. In the middle of the dust, the General of Chaos disappeared.

That was felt in the bubble of the HQ.

“What’s happening?” Celestia asked.

“It’s an incredible energy!” Boreal Blizzard exclaimed. “An immense energy appeared near Prince Arcing Thunder’s First Unit. But… what is it?”

“I have news from the First Unit” Diamond Glow said. “It’s like a two-legged stone monster. It’s ravaging our troops and appears to be controlled by…”

But she didn’t finished, what made Aspen to ask:

“Who is it?”

“We believe it’s the General of Chaos” Diamond Glow replied.

“If that’s true, then we need to revise our battle strategy right now” White Light said to the deer king.

“It’s strange that the leader would join the battle” Ingrid said. “Why would he do that?”

“We don’t have enough data to make an assessment” White Light replied.

While Star and Hawthorn were moving, the former covered himself with the Nine-Tails’ energy with the latter then saying:

“Star Knight, you really should keep that mode for the battle that we have in front of us. If you use it too much, you may end up being controlled by the Nine-Tails.”

“There’s no time for me to waste” Star Knight replied him.

At HQ, one of Diamond Glow’s underlings said:

“In coming. Prince Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn had escaped. They broke right through the barrier together.”

“They what?!” Aspen exclaimed. “I thought the barrier was indestructible, even for jinchuriki!”

“It would be for one, but it was both of them” the informant said. “The barrier wasn’t just strong enough.”

“Both of them?!” Aspen exclaimed, angered.

“It seems your brother decided to join Star Knight” Ingrid said.

Aspen stomped his hoof on the table again with anger, not wanting to believe that Hawthorn had the guts to do something like that again.

“So what do we do now?” Celestia asked to Aspen.

“I’m going to stop them myself” Aspen said. “Princess Celestia, you come with me. After all, we’re talking about your pupil’s son. Queen Ingrid, White Light, you are in charge of the headquarters while we’re gonne.”

“Of course” Ingrid replied, while White Light nodded. “You can count on us.”

“Come, princess” Aspen said to Celestia, while he headed to the exit.

She then got up and followed him.

At the bay, the attack of the statue had already caused a lot of damage. It had including knock out the four unicorns that had erected the barrier to contain Day Glow that had been also knocked out. The Demonic Statue continued to advance, so Obsidian Blade said:

“Everypony, retreat to the coast line!”

Then, focusing his magic, he started to raise two walls at each side of the statue, trying to crush it. But the statue, using his arms, was able to stop them. Obsidian Blade used all his power, but then the walls, subjected to the two forces, cracked. The statue roared again and then released powerful bolts of energy, devastating the battlefield further.

At the beach, Luna, Spike, Freeze Burn and all the others were taking

“What is that thing?!” Spike asked, while they endured another shockwave of its attacks.

“Whatever it is, it has a lot of power!” Freeze Burn exclaimed.

“Based on the intel gathered so far and based on the data that Chief Strongpaw gave us, I wonder if that thing is…” Luna started.

Arcing, that was at some distance looking to the top of the cliff, noticing the approach of the statue and having the knowledge of the intel given by the leader of the pony-panther, came into the same conclusion than Luna.

“Don’t tell me that thing is where they keep…” he started.

Even after being crushed by the two walls created by Obsidian Blade, the statue was able to come from it, completely intact. Protected by a stone wall with a small hole for him to observed, Obsidian Blade asked:

“That thing was able to defend my special spell that easily?”

Arcing flight to one of the platforms of the cliff to get close. If that statue contained the Tailed Beasts’ power, then they just needed to defeat that thing to recover the Tailed Beasts the villains had captured.

While everyone were distracted by the statue, the General of Chaos appeared at the place where the urn and the gourd were being watched. The two guards that were watching them tried to attack him, but they just passed through the General who then was able to defeat them by launching them to the sea. Arcing was able to spot that and said:

“Damn it!”

And took flight, going there. Taking the gourd and placing his hoof over the urn, the General of Chaos prepared to disappear when Arcing landed at his front and said to him:

“Sorry, you won’t have those tools.”

“I don’t want them” the General replied. “I just want what’s inside them. When I’m finish, you can have them back, if you want them so badly.”

It was then that he felt his shadow being caught, what caused him to get immobilized. It was Luna who casted that spell, being her hoovering close by.

“You ordered Gentle Light to use Gavin and Garth as a powerful weapon at the front lines and now that they have been sealed, you want to use them to store their Nine-Tails’ energy in that statue” Luna said.

“So there is at least one alicorn princess that is still capable of thinking” the General of Chaos said, looking to her.

“Am I wrong?” Luna asked.

“It’s really a true shame you’re not Nightmare Moon anymore” the General of Chaos replied, confirming her suspects.

“So that thing is…” Luna started.

And so the Demonic Statue was able to get out of the debris of Obsidian Blade’s stone walls and then gave a big jump that brought it to the beach, right to the place where the General of Chaos was, ready to stomp them. The shock was able to agitate the sea and caused some water particles to rain over all the ones that were close. Luna was able to teleport herself and Arcing to safety at the last moment.

“I’m sorry for bothering you with this, princess” Arcing said.

“Nonsense, I couldn’t let you be stomped by that thing” Luna replied. “The great problem was that the General of Chaos disappeared with the Sacred Tools.”

The Demonic Statue released another roar and then it disappeared.

With them now gone, the others could start treating the wounded on that attack and put Day Glow back inside the barrier.

Meanwhile, the Third Unit continued to fight the Swordsponies of the Mist, with Twilight by their side to help and Shining using the Executioner’s Blade.

At the desert, the four former regents continued to advance calmly towards the Fourth Unit, while Strongpaw and Hard Stone watched at their direction.

At Arimaspi’s territory, the Commando Unit and the reinforcements from the Fifth Unit continued to fight the remaining reincarnated beings.

While observing the results of the battle at the coast line, Obsidian Blade said to Luna, Arcing and Spike:

“The tide of battle is turning against us. We must contact HQ to rethink our strategy.”

“Your right” Luna asked. “At that moment, the General of Chaos could have destroyed us all.”

“But why didn’t he do it?” Spike asked.

“He just wanted the tools” Arcing said. “Probably he didn’t even care if he destroyed us all or not.”

“It’s almost dark” Obsidian Blade observed. “We have to be prepared for a night assault.”

“Fortunately, I don’t have to raise the moon, neither my sister has to raise the sun, during the war” Luna said. “The Lord of Order said to us he could do that so we could focus on our mission to defeat the General of Chaos and stop his brother’s evil plan.”

And, like she said, the sun set and the moon was raised without Celestia and Luna having to do anything.

At the exterior of the villain’s hideout, the General of Chaos was at the top of the Demonic Statue with the Sealing Urn and the Crimson Gourd, saying while looking to where the war war happening:

“No matter what, I will not lose this war. The Lord of Chaos prepared everything for far too long. I will not disappoint him. His Infinite Nightmare Curse shall be realized tomorrow.”

Inside the hideout, Gentle Light was seeing how was everything with the reincarnated beings and said:

“I can’t believe how fast they have been able to seal reincarnations like Sombra, Gavin and Grant. And he took the them for the Nine-Tails’ energy. But he only have a part of the Eight-Tails’ energy: one single tentacle. It seems he is losing his patient. But I will get along your plan. Not that I have other choice.”

And with a swing of hoof, she took all the stones. With that, and for the amazement of every one of the Alliance, all the reincarnated beings that hadn’t been sealed were pulled back to their coffins that then disappeared. The changelings also retreated, along with the clones.

At the Third Unit, Shining said:

“Looks like they retreated for the night. But that doesn’t mean they can’t attack during the night. Thunder Night, if you and the other thestrals of the unit still can…”

“The night is able to make us stronger” he said. “Even resting, our senses will be alert to any danger.”

“Good” Shining said, turning then to the others. “The rest of you try to regain your energies. Mainly you, Twily. You faced Sombra and then all the other enemies. You need a good sleep.”

“I think you’re right” Twilight replied.

“Don’t worry, my love, I’ll stay by your side” Blue said, putting his hoof over his wife’s shoulder.

The Second Unit decided to camp, as they didn’t have their captain and couldn’t risk advancing.

At the desert, noticing that the regents weren’t approaching, Hard Stone said to Strongpaw:

“They’re not coming.”

“I’m not sensing anything at the sand neither” Strongpaw said. “We can safely assume they retreated.”

Hard Stone sighed and told, while they got out of their standing place:

“With the Reincarnation Curse, I think the wisest move would be keeping fighting.”

“So you believe they have a better plan in mind?” Strongpaw asked.

“Having in account who is our enemy, that’s a very good possibility” Hard Stone said.

At the medical camp, members from all the units so the injured could have a better medical assistance and the tired could rest. Fluttershy and Cherry were between the ones who were serving soup to the soldiers.

Meanwhile, at the bay, Obsidian approached Arcing, Luna and Spike, saying:

“I already informed HQ that the General of Chaos took the Sacred Tools with the Nine-Tails’ energy.”

“I’m very sorry” Arcing said. “This is all my fault.”

“Don’t say that” Spike said. “You did your best. Also we’re talking about the General of Chaos who was able to defeat Golden Paladin.”

“If only we have realized sooner” Luna said.

“Maybe, but, like King Spike said, the General of Chaos is almost impossible to beat” Obsidian Blade. “But, in any case, we held the enemy for one more day.”

At HQ, Diamond Glow took the helmet and said:

“Approximately half of our army was our casualties.”

“That was also the same for the enemy” Boreal Blizzard said, getting up.

“Each side lost the same quantity of forces” White Light replied.

“Yes, but we cannot forget that our side is made of living flesh” Ingrid said. “Meanwhile the enemy is… Well, you know what I mean.”

Star and Hawthorn continued to advance towards the war, with the former saying:

“Everyone… just hold on! I’m on my way!”

The young prince was at the front and, while running, Hawthorn said:

“Well, at least is good to have the Nine-Tails’ energy giving light during the night.”

“Star Knight may have learned to use the Nine-Tails’ energy, but he hasn’t made the Nine-Tails his friend yet” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn. “The Nine-Tails continues to absorb Star’s energy and if it reaches to zero, he’ll die.”

“Yes, but, without it, I could end up tripping and, at the velocity I’m going, I could get really hurt” Hawthorn said.

“I guess it’s okay using his energy as a flashlight” Eight-Tails said. “But stick close to Star! Don’t let him get out of your sigh!”

“Of course” his jinchuriki replied.

As Star continued to advance, he heard Nine-Tails calling for him:

“Star Knight…”

And Star went to inside his mind to Nine-Tails’ cage, where the Tailed Beast said, while lying on the ground with his head resting over his paws:

“You waste my energy on something so trivial. I’ve been inside of you, watching you for a very long time. Star Knight, after all you’ve been through, you’re still so naïve.”

“You know, you looked like you have gained some weight” Star observed. “Let me guess, you’re using my energy again, aren’t you? And what got into you to talk to me all of the sudden? Usually, you don’t tell anything to me at all unless I make you. Are lonely or something and you want somepony to keep you company or something? I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m busy right now. Let’s do this later.”

“Do you seriously believe that you can end this war all by yourself?” Nine-Tails asked. “It’s simply not possible. I think you noticed by know how massive the enemy’s force is. This is the Lord of Chaos we are talking about. There is no telling what he will do. Not even his villains know all the extension of his plans. He used them only to then only discard them like they are nothing.”

“You mean like he did to you” Star Knight said.

Although Nine-Tails tried to hide it, it was obvious that Star’s comment affected him. The nine-tailed fox continued:

“You’re only a little kid. You don’t understand how futile this fight is. But the Alliance’s not fighting the Lord of Chaos, but his General. He won’t be defeated that easily. Of course, if you want to borrow more of my power…”

At that moment, Star remembered all the hate he felt when the Nine-Tails tried to control him at the time he got his energy. This time, he wouldn’t let himself be tricked by him.

“I’m not falling for that trick anymore” he replied, turning his face to the evil fox.

Nine-Tails laughed and then said:

“I see you got a little smarter since last time.”

“Thanks for the compliment” Star replied sarcastically, turning his back and starting to move away. “Now, if you excuse me, I have a lot to do. We talk after the war. Later…”

That attitude really upset Nine-Tails, who said, while getting up and extending his nine tails:

“If your friends are killed, hatred will arise from their deaths. Are you planning to defeat the enemy before that happens? Then again, if you take down the enemy, they’ll bear you hatred. Do you really think you can take all that by yourself? If you do, then you’re completely deluded.”

Star then stopped walking and then looked to Nine-Tails with an intense look and exclaimed:

“Stop treating me as I’m stupid!”

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND A THING!” Nine-Tails roared back. “YOU’RE SO NAÏVE! DO YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN TAKE AND ERASE EVERYONE’S HATRED! The war has already started. I bet there are a lot of casualties by now. And the resulted hatred matches it as well. You’ve seen in the first hand. Your dear marefriend was consumed by darkness and even her had some hatred towards you, even though she loves you very much. That hatred was strong enough to subdue her own feelings. Not even you could stop that. And don’t come to tell me it was the Lord of Chaos’ fault or that siren’s, because I know perfectly well how things work. You can’t just make someone evil, if there’s not darkness in the first place. Since that day, you thought you couldn’t save her. You saw all the hate in her and you thought you couldn’t take it out of her. You know I’m telling the truth.”

That caused Star to remember the day Moonlight was corrupted and what the fox just said was the truth.

“It seems you do remember” Nine-Tails said. “So, what happen to Moonlight after that? What did she do with all that hatred? And do you think you were able to erase all that hatred? I don’t think so. In fact, that hatred can grew even stronger. Did you ever thought what could happen if you die during the war? She can return to be what she was before and it won’t be anypony to stop her. You won’t be able to protect her, just like when she was corrupted. No matter who you’re dealing with, no one can erase or fight all that much hatred and you for sure can’t take all to yourself!”

All those taunts really tested Star’s patience, but he did his best to control all the feelings that were ravaging inside and asked:

“Did you finish?”

“What did you say?!” Nine-Tails asked.

“I get it” Star said, advancing and getting inside the cage. “Are you just trying to scare me into doing nothing? That’s exactly what you want, right, Nine-Tails? You know what?”

And he made a gesture and then golden chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around the fox’s neck, torso and tails, pulling him down and restraining him.

“You’re the one who doesn’t get it.”

“Why are you so confident when you barely could save Moonlight?” Nine-Tails asked.

Taking flight, Star placed himself in front of Nine-Tails’ closer eye and, with a smile, he replied:

“Once you question your own believes, then it’s all over. I don’t know yet, but I’ll find a way to defeat the General of Chaos and stop this war.”

That made Nine-Tails grind his teeth, while remembering the moment Golden Paladin sealed him inside Star by the Lord of Order’s orders, the moment he and his jinchuriki first met face to face and the moment Star defeated him to take his energy. Who would guess that a little prince would come that far? But, loyal to his own pride, Nine-Tails just grunted at Star and then said:

“So the little brat thinks he’s all grown up, hein?”

But Blue kept looking at the fox’s red eyes with his glaucous and then said:

“Hey, you know what, Nine-Tails? I believe I’ll come after all that hate that is inside of you someday.”

He descended, while saying:

“You made me miserable my all life, but I know just how bad it is to be at the mercy of your hatred and to feel ruined by it.”

That made Nine-Tails exclaimed:

“ARE YOU STUPID?! I AM THE NINE-TAILS! I can’t and I won’t be changed by some little brat. I am hatred!”

“That’s fine by me, because I’m not a little brat anymore” Star replied, still with a big smile. “And it’s more challenging this way. See you later.”

And he started to run towards the outside of the cage.

Outside his mind, while flying, Star opened his eyes after his talk with Nine-Tails. He knew that Nine-Tails could be right about him being naïve. But what was funny was that he had been inside of him for fourteen years, knowing everything he feels and everything he went through as he was growing up, even if he didn’t like doing it, but he continued to watch over him. That was the reason why he wanted him to stay there a little longer and watch over him.

“I’m going to end this war” Star said.

“Hey, Star Knight, see if you don’t get too distracted” Hawthorn said, while keeping up with him. “After all, you’ll have a lot to do tomorrow.”

He smiled and nodded to him and approached him so the two could bump their hooves. With that, Hawthorn noticed:

“What’s this, my friend? Did you have a fight with Nine-Tails? You better be careful, don’t forget that tagging energy is a double-edged sword and if your energy runs out, then it’s over for you. So, don’t be too reckless, okay?”

“I know that I’m taking a chance, but I have no choice” Star said. “I will not give up of determination, ever, because that’s the way I am.”

Inside Hawthorn, he shared confused looks with Eight-Tails, as neither of them didn’t quite understood what he said.

“Now hurry up” Star Knight said. “Let’s go!”

And, with a flap of his wings, he recovered the front and they continued their way.

The Medical Unit in Danger

The night brought a certain calm and tranquility, with the full moon illuminating everything with its calm light. But that night didn’t give the tranquility it should give, as the Alliance was very alert, for the case the enemy attacked.

At the Badlands, the Second Unit was camped, with some ponies acting as sentinels. At one position, Cloud Chaser and Rainbow Dash were in surveillance duty, but the later was having difficulty to focus, due to a pain she had on one of her wings.

“Ah, this damn wing is driving me crazy!” she exclaimed. “I can’t focus with this pain.”

“Maybe you should go to the medical core, cuz” Cloud Chaser said to her. “I can handle things here.”

He then took a map from one of his saddlebags and opened, observing what was the nearest post of the medical core.

“There’s a medical base located at the rear center of every company” Cloud Chaser said, reading the map. “Let me see the coordinates…”

At another location, Pandora and Scorpan were walking at a forest. They were one of the few reincarnated beings that Gentle Light didn’t call back. While they were walking, Scorpan asked to Pandora:

“So, what do you know about this new plan of our dear old master. I have to say that he always can surprise me.”

“I don’t that very much” Pandora replied. “I died at the time where we were setting preparations, but what is certain is that he is trying to revive the infamous Ten-Tails by capturing the nine Tailed Beasts.”

“It’s funny that even when our alignment is no longer with the Lord of Chaos, he always find a way to make us his slaves again” Scorpan said. “I have to say, enslaving the General of Death and making her bring back the deceased with great power was a great move.”

“Maybe this is also some sort of punishment for I betrayal” Pandora said. “We both know that the Lord of Chaos hates being betrayed.”

“But he certainly enjoys seeing his villains betray each other” Scorpan added.

There was a pause and then Pandora said:

“I lived for a long time and I met with Gentle Light a couple of times. She has the same ability to trick and conceal as Heartbeat and also has a terrible mood when someone messes with her. I wonder what she’s up to.”

“She may be just waiting for the right call to act” Scorpan said.

At the medical base near the Second Unit, a lot of wounded were being transported and treated by the members of the medical core, who had all the doctors, nurses and adepts in medicine each kingdom could dispense to the war. Between them existed unicorns who used healing spells, but also other beings, mainly from the Enchanted Forest, that could use magic as well. The others used their knowledge in medicinal herbs to treat the wounds or fight infections. Of course there was times when they weren’t successful or there were complications.

Fluttershy, who had the help of some of her animal friends, was supervising her bear friend, Harry, getting some boxes with supplies to distribute through the tents.

“Are you sure you can handle this much?” Fluttershy asked, a little worried. “I don’t want you to hurt your backs.”

But Harry just nodded his head, as saying for her to not worry.

“Okay, if you say so…” Fluttershy, taking another box to put it over the ones Harry already had and the bear advanced to deliver them.

At the entrance, somepony advanced towards the base.

“Hold it right there!” a unicorn guard exclaimed to the new-arrival, while the griffons that were guarding crossed their spears to block the entrance. “By order of the headquarters, we must verify if you’re not an imposter before you can enter. No one passes without confirmation.”

The new-arrival was Rainbow Dash, who said:

“Fine, but be quick. I have a wing that hurts a lot.”

Inside a tent, Cherry Blossom said to a guard, while wrapping his foreleg with a bandage:

“It’s almost done. I healed completely what I could, but you still need to put some rest.”

“Great, thank you” the guard replied, while getting up and heading to the exit.

Fluttershy then came in transporting a few flasks.

“I brought you some ointment as you requested” she said, putting them on a table nearby.

“Thank you, Fluttershy” Cherry replied. “Although nothing would make me happier than using my magic to heal all my patients, I get tired if I overuse it. These will serve finely for burns and regular wounds.”

“I’m just glad I can help you” Fluttershy said.

The tent then opened and Rainbow Dash entered.

“Rainbow Dash, what a surprised” Cherry asked.

“What do you have, Rainbow?” Fluttershy, worrying about her friend health. “Is anything serious?”

“My wing is hurting and, since I was closed by this base, I decided to come and see if you could give a look” Rainbow Dash said to Cherry.

“Of course, just sit here and I’ll take care of it” Cherry said.

She did so and Cherry took a look to her wing.

“It seems to be a little dislocated, but I can resolve that in a moment” Cherry replied.

“Okay, just warn when you…” Rainbow Dash started.

But it was then that she felt a little pain that caused her to exclaim:

“Ouch! Hey!”

“Sorry, but I told you it would be a moment” Cherry said. “Now it is on the right place. Just let me put some ointment and then you can go.”

Cherry did so and then Fluttershy asked:

“How are things where you are? Is everything all right with our friends?”

“Well, things are not like the First Unit, but we’re getting exhausted” Rainbow Dash said. “I just hope that nothing happens during the night. We really need to rest. Well, I think I’ll go now.”

At the base, something was moving fast between the shadows. At one tend, an experienced medical pony was preparing to make his rounds when someone get in. The doctor turned around, thinking it was a patient, but then he found himself being impaled, with blood covering the cloth of the tent. But he was not the only to be attacked, as other two were also attacked.

It didn’t take long for them to be found. They were put at the center of the base and covered by sheets.

“How did this happen?” Fluttershy asked, looking terrified by what happened, being close to Cherry that was comforting her.

“We’ve been infiltrated” a deer healer replied. “It’s the only explanation.”

“They specifically targeted three of our best medics” an earth pony doctor replied. “But did they get in? Everyone that gets in here is verified to make sure they are not changelings or if they have any kind of transformation spell.”

“But, if that’s the case, then the only explanation is that someone is being controlled” Cherry said. “It must be a powerful magic.”

It was then that Rainbow Dash appeared and asked:

“What’s happening here?”

They explained everything to her and then she said:

“If that’s the case, then it would be impossible to know who’s the responsible. It could be anyone standing here right know.”

“Oh no…” Fluttershy said, getting even more scared.

That made everyone to look suspicious towards one another.

“That would create suspicion and tear apart the trust, possibly even turning us against each other” Cherry Blosson said.

“We from the medical core are critical” a female griffon nurse said. “Without us, our battle strategy can’t succeed. We’re fighting those who were brought back by the Reincarnation Curse. There is no way fight them, if there is not medical backup to cure the injured.”

“If we let this paralyses us now, we’ll lose the battle that starts at dawn” the earth pony said.

“Don’t worry, I will find out who’s behind this” Rainbow Dash said.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Cherry asked. “Don’t take me wrong, Rainbow, but you’re a little… impulsive to do something like this.”

“Hey, I can do this” Rainbow Dash said. “You can be sure of that.”

“In the meantime, we can’t neglect the treatment of the wounded under our care” the deer said. “We’ll continue to treat them. We just need to watch our backs.”

Later on, Fluttershy went with Cherry to her tent.

“It’s horrible!” Fluttershy said. “How can something like this be happening?”

“Calm down, Fluttershy” Cherry Blossom said. “Do you want me to make you some tea?”

“No…” she said, while taking deep breaths. “I’m fine. At least, I know you can’t be the infiltrator. We’ve been together during the attacks.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you have to take your guard down” Cherry said.

At another tent, Rainbow Dash entered to meet with the deer and the earth pony from earlier.

“Miss Dash, what a relief” the deer said. “I’m sorry, but with our current situation we get startled at the sight of anyone we cross by.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just wondering if any of you saw something suspicious” Rainbow Dash said. “I think I saw somepony acting strangely around here.”

“No, we didn’t” the earth pony replied.

“And this pony, can you tell us how he or she looks like?” the deer asked.

“Let me see…” Rainbow Dash said, thinking. “Well, actually…”

It was then that a wicked smiled appeared on her face and, getting two small blades, she stabbed those two, saying:

“She looks exactly like me.”

At Cherry’s tend, a few birds get in and then they told something to Fluttershy who then said:

“Oh dear… Is he okay?”

“What happened?” Cherry asked.

“It was Harry” Fluttershy replied. “He made a backache. I told him to not carry too much boxes. I have to go help him.”

“Be careful, don’t forget about the infiltrated” Cherry warned.

Fluttershy nodded to her and then got out. Outside, the evil Rainbow Dash saw Fluttershy getting out in the shadows with her evil smile.

Pandora and Scorpan made a stop, sitting and looking to the sky.

“What do you think it’s happening?” Scorpan asked. “Why did they separate us from the enemy? If they wanted to punish us, forcing us do evil would be the perfect punishment in the same way they are using Discord’s magic to get a boost of power.”

“Right now, it’s night time, with both sides in stalemate” Pandora replied. “But I know that, sooner or later, the General will use us to break the silence. He has something under his sleeve.”

“But he can’t discard the possibility that this may be Gentle Light’s work” Scorpan said.

“Yes, that can be a possibility” Pandora agreed.

At Cherry’s tend, she was occupied organizing the ointments Fluttershy brought her. Evil Rainbow Dash get in, displaying her evil smile, and approached Cherry. She then turned and saw her who then said:

“Hey, Cherry, is everything okay around here?”

“Yes, it is” she replied. “But I can’t stop being a little nervous.”

“It’s normal in a situation where we don’t know who to trust” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s troubling.”

That choice of words and her sudden appearance caught Cherry’s attention who said:

“Yes, I know. We have to be careful.”

“You’re right…” the pegasus said.

At the Second Unit’s camp, Cloud Chaser asked to the real Rainbow Dash:

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the medical core? You may have a dislocated wing.”

“I already told you I’m fine!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “As if somepony as awesome like me would let a wounded wing prevent her from kicking some butts.”

Cloud Chase sighed, knowing perfectly well how stubborn his cousin was.

At Cherry’s tent, she finished organizing everything when the fake Rainbow Dash asked:

“By the way, I saw Fluttershy getting out of here. Where did she go?”

“She had an emergency” Cherry replied. “She went to treat Harry. He has a backache. Poor thing…”

“I’m sure he will be fine” the fake Rainbow Dash said. “A backache can be treated easily. Now if it was a hoof…”

Listening that, Cherry got her suspicious confirmed.

“Will he be able to rejoin the battle?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Probably, he can easily recover” Cherry said. “Mainly because he has his horn to compensate his physical condition.”

“I see…” the fake Rainbow Dash said, while going secretly to her saddlebag to get one of her blade. “That’s good. Can I ask you a favor, Cherry? Would you mind take a look to my wing again? It’s still bothering me.”

“Sure, just take a sit” she replied, while turning to the ointments in order to get some.

Taking advantage of Cherry’s distraction, the fake Rainbow Dash made her evil smile and prepared to attack her. But then Cherry attack her with a blast of magic, strong enough to cause an explosion and make the fake Rainbow Dash to moan in pain. She then proceed to subdue the infiltrator, who had her body full of pain due to the blast.

“But… how did you know?” the fake asked, not wanting to believe her cover was found out.

“Because bears don’t have hooves or horns, your big fake!” Cherry exclaimed, charging her horn with magic again.

The fake then remember the talk they had about Harry.

“Are you telling me that Harry is a bear?” the fake asked, as the form changed to turn into one of Petal Sprout’s clones, still not wanting to believe that she tricked him.

“That’s right” Cherry said. “And that makes you the murdered!”

And she casted another blast of magic, stronger than the one before that cleared hurt clone. That blast was heard by everyone nearby, including Fluttershy that was massaging Harry.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Spill it!” Cherry exclaimed. “Unless you want to take more of my magic, you will tell me how you were able to take Rainbow’s appearance. What kind of spell is this?”

“This transformation spell… isn’t anything you can possibly handle” the clone said with a smile. “Not even the changelings can match this. Do you really believe I was the one clone to be able to infiltrate in your ranks?”

That shocked Cherry. She had heard about that capability about Petal Sprout in the information they got from the Generals of Order and Thicket. Cherry, from what she had heard, knew that worked with Petal Sprout stealing energy from the target and then taking their form and replicating their energy signature.

“I get it” Cherry said. “You used the energy that you took from someone and then you copy them and their energy signature. Is that right?”

The clone couldn’t believe how fast she was able to find out everything. But he couldn’t let her think she got it right.

“Ah… maybe” he said. “But then again, maybe not.”

“You may be able to camouflage very well, but you’re not very good at lying” Cherry told him.

Fluttershy got him, along with one of the griffon guards, asking:

“What’s going on, Cherry? Are you okay? Wait, but that’s…”

“We don’t have much time, Fluttershy” Cherry said. “We have to contact HQ now. The guards can secure him.”

At other camps, all kind of murders where happing that soon arrived to the HQ.

“Another one” one of Diamond Glow’s underlings said. “We have word from all the units about victims falling in multiple surprise attacks. It’s chaos. They don’t know who the enemy is.”

“What can be going on?” White Light asked. “We have a lot of sensing warriors around each base and camp. How can the enemy be infiltrating?”

“Do you think it’s changelings?” Ingrid asked. “They can be getting in without passing by the entrance.”

“Maybe, but even so changelings can only change their appearance, not their nature and energy signature” White Light replied. “The sensing guards from the Enchanted Forest specialized in differencing all kinds of energy signatures.”

“It can be some kind of controlling spell or illusionary spells” Ingrid said. “Maybe a villain specialized in dark magic… like Pandora.”

“Pandora…” Boreal Blizzard said. “I faced her once when she tried to infiltrate our kingdom to get information about Bubble Sweet, our jinchuriki. My sensing skills were not able to detect her.”

“She was also able to infiltrate the Light Kingdom when Prince Star Knight was young” Diamond Glow remembered. “And at that time we were also unable to detect her.”

“But controlling this many in multiple locations is impossible” Ingrid said. “No magic user is capable of doing that.”

It was then that Diamond Glow received Cherry’s message and said:

“Wait, hold on! There’s word from the medical core. It seems the enemy is… Petal Sprout has been impersonating soldiers of the Alliance. He is able to mirror our energy imprints.”

“That explains it” White Light said.

“He has absorbed one of our soldiers and then turn completely into her” Diamond Glow said.

“What should we do?” Boreal Blizzard said. “There’s no way we can tell the difference between friend or foe now. How can we prepare for when the dawn comes? We have to be able to tell the difference fast. If we lose time, all our soldiers will be in danger. They can even kill each other by mistake.”

“So that’s why they retreated” Ingrid said. “They want to cause suspicion and chaos between us. The battle at the daytime was just so they could make this night assaults. And since they have Discord, they can easily get personal intel about the ones they turn into.”

White Light closed his eyes and tried to concentrate in order to find a solution to that problem. He had to do it, or else the Alliance would most likely lose the war.

The Song of the Siren

Protected by the shadows and the woods, Adagio and Ulysses were observing the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy.

“I can’t believe that, while the others are fighting at the war, we have to attack some little school” Ulysses said, grumpily. “I wanted to be at the battlefield, taking my revenge on that disgusting unicorn and that idiotic griffons who calls himself king.”

“Don’t get so touchy” Adagio said. “We have to do this. Don’t forget the children of some of the regents study there. If we get the school, we get the advantage over the Alliance, as Aspen’s son is one of the students… as well as King Gael’s and I also got to learn that Princess Gleaming Shield is also there. Don’t having your enemies’ children at your grasp count as revenge?"

That made an evil smile appear on Ulysses’ face and then he replied:

“I guess you’re right. But tell me, doesn’t our dear Moonlight go to this school? You must be feeling excited for seeing your dear sister after a while.”

Hearing him talking about Moonlight made Adagio feel some tightness in her heart. She was about to see the one that made her feel closer to goodness than anyone she knew, even Aria and Sonata.

“I just hope that affection you have for that half-thestral doesn’t affect our mission” Ulysses said in a provoking way.

Trying to ignore her feelings as much as she could, she replied with the same coldness that is normal to her.

“Of course not!” she exclaimed. “That stupid filly let herself be charmed by love. She’s a traitor and she needs to pay.”

“What a change!” Ulysses said. “And I was thinking you would ask me to spare her. Oh, well, let’s prepare ourselves. The raid is about to begin.”

At the academy, Moonlight was sitting at the window of her room, looking to the moon. She couldn’t stop thinking about the war, that if her parents were right or if Star was captured by the villains. That thought was immediately put away of her mind, as she knew that, if Star had been captured and had Nine-Tails extracted, Ten-Tails would already being destroying everything. She had to have hope that everything would end with a happy ending.

To distract herself from all of her problems, she started to sing.

It was a very beautiful song with the sea as the main set. It was obvious how much joy and tranquility that song transmitted. Her voice, that possessed the Thirteen Note, only spread those same feelings. When she ended, Moonlight could feel her spirit much lighter and she smiled.

“Wow!” a voice exclaimed.

She turned around and saw Galena inside, along with Gleaming Shield and a crystal earth filly with a grayish heliotrope coat with gold caduceus as Cutie Mark, a pale, light grayish arctic blue mane and moderate arctic blue eyes. Her name was Radiant Hope and was Gleaming’s best friend at her school at the Crystal Empire. According to Gleaming, she was also a prodigy like her.

“That was amazing, Moonlight!” Galena exclaimed.

“It was one of the most beautiful songs that I ever heard…” Gleaming Shield said.

“Indeed” Radiant Hope said. “I could feel the power, not only in your voice but also in the song itself. Where did you learn that?”

“Oh, well…” Moonlight said. “You see… It was song that came to me. I honestly don’t know where I heard it. It just came to me.”

“A song like that?” a voice said. “I doubt about that.”

They all turned and saw Sweetie Belle at the door with a smile. She had come along with her sister and niece to the academy to take refuge from the war.

“Sweetie Belle” the fillies and the griffon said.

“That song was made specifically for the ones with a powerful musical magic” Sweetie Belle said. “The fact that you can spread all that light with your Thirteenth Note only confirms it. I believe that you don’t want to tell us where you got it, probably because it’s very special to you. Am I wrong?”

Moonlight couldn’t believe that Sweetie Belle was able to say exactly what she felt about the song.

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“Ever since I got my cutie mark and get to know that I was a prodigy, I studied all about the Thirteenth Note with Melody” Sweetie Belle said, while getting to the inside and closing the door. “I got to know all of its nuances. That’s why I noticed the connection you have with that song.”

“I see…” Moonlight said. “It seems I still have a lot to learn.”

“Look, Moonlight, if that song it’s very special to you, then we won’t ask anything about where you learn it” Gleaming Shield said. “Right, girls?”

Galena and Radiant Hope nodded their heads with a smile.

“Thanks, my friends” Moonlight thanked, with a warm smile.

Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but feel happy to see such good friends. It made her remember the times when she was younger and played with her best friends.

It was then that something disrupted her thoughts. She could feel something bad approaching. Gleaming Shield noticed that and asked:

“What is it, Sweetie Belle?”

“Something is coming…” she replied. “Something… dark.”

And they heard a big bang, like lightning, coming from outside and hitting the school.

“What was that?!” Galena asked.

Outside, Ulysses was flying over the academy, while launching his lightning attacks, hitting it and damaging it.

“Oh, this is so much fun!” he exclaimed. “I love wrecking things with lightning.”

The three headmistresses appeared flying and then Knotgrass said:

“Stop that, villain!”

“We won’t let you harm our students and refugees” Merryweather added.

“Ah, why, don’t you try to stop me, your old hags with wings?” Ulysses provoked.

And a battle between the evil griffon and the three fairies began, with him firing his lightning and them using their magic.

“Oh no…” Moonlight said. “It’s Ulysses… He’s savage. If we don’t stop him…”

“But we will” Galena said. “Let’s go help the headmistresses!”

The other agreed and then got out of the room, but while they were advancing through the hallway, they found their path blocked by…

“Adagio?” Moonlight asked.

The siren was looking directly to Moonlight, saying then:

“Hello, Moonlight. I can see that we’re good. You even have new friends.”

“Get out of our way, siren” Sweetie Belle demanded. “You don’t want to face us.”

“You prodigies really think high about yourselves” Adagio said. “Well, I’m about to change that.”

The fight between the headmistress and Ulysses was still being very intense, but the fairies were able to gain the upper hand. Ulysses landed at the front courtyard, while the fairies descended.

“Give up, you can’t win” Thistlewit said.

“That’s what you think” Ulysses replied.

And he snapped his claws and then a group of dark ponies appeared. The fairies looked worried as probably they wouldn’t be able to stand against all those enemies.

“Now, who will win?” Ulysses asked, while laughing.

“Not ya” a voice replied.

And Jonagold, along with Bramble, Gunter and other students appear. Following them, were teachers and other staff and some of the refugees, like Rarity.

“How dare you to attack a place full of innocent foals?” Rarity asked. “That’s just unacceptable!”

“You may think that, just because my dad is at the war that you can invade this place like this, but you’re wrong” Bramble said. “You’ll regret that.”

“And then you’ll return to the cell where you shouldn’t have got out from” Gunter added.

Ulysses chuckled and then said:

“I would like to see any of you try. The only colt that was ever able to cause me any damage is not here to protect you. Do you really think you can defeat an army of dark ponies?”

“Ya better believe” Jonagold said. “We’ll protect this school with our lives and we will succeed.”

“We’re about to see that” Ulysses said, turning then to the dark ponies. “Attack!”

And the dark ponies advanced.

“Let’s go, guys!” Jonagold exclaimed.

And he and all the others advanced.

Inside, Adagio was still confronting Moonlight, Galena, Gleaming, Radiant Hope and Sweetie Belle.

“Please, Adagio, you don’t have to do this” Moonlight said.

“You’re wrong about that” Adagio said. “I have to. You betrayed the Lord of Chaos.”

“Moonlight, you won’t be able to convince her” Sweetie Belle said. “Sirens are servants of the Lord of Chaos, and they won’t stop being that.”

“I was once a siren as well” Moonlight remembered.

“Yes, but because she turned into one” Galena said, pointing to Adagio.

“Yes, you can’t trust in one” Gleaming Shield said.

“Right, because you know so much about sirens” Adagio said. “Well, my dear, you don’t know anything about my kind.”

“No, but I do” Moonlight said, advancing. “I was one, like I said. And I knew that, at the beginning, you were just using me. But I could tell, with time, that we made a connection. Have you forgotten about that time when I didn’t know if I would be able to hold on the darkness in my heart?”

Those words really affected Adagio, who was quick to say:

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do” Moonlight said.

And so she started to sing the same song she sang before. To the amazement of the others, tears started to appear on Adagio’s eyes. When Moonlight finished, she said to Adagio:

“This was the song you sang to me and it made me feel better. This the proof that even sirens can sing good songs.”

There was a pause where Moonlight approached Adagio and said:

“You can choose what you want to do. You don’t have to serve the Lord of Chaos when you still have goodness inside you. Please…”

A raging battle was happening inside Adagio, as she tried to decide what to do. On one side was her duty to the Lord of Chaos, but, on the other, she had the affection she had for Moonlight. But the latter was the one that eventually won, with a smile appearing on her face. Moonlight also smile and then the two shared a hug. When they ended, they heard the sound of the battle outside.

“Now that Adagio is apparently on our side, we just have to deal with Ulysses” Radiant Hope said.

“Not just him” Adagio said.

“What you mean with that?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Our mission was to secure the academy to have the advantage over the Alliance, beyond to just make Moonlight pay for her betrayal” Adagio replied. “We knew the headmistresses and the teachers could be a great obstacle, so we brought an army of dark ponies.”

“That’s bad” Gleaming Shield said. “Dark ponies are savage.”

“But the worst is not that” Adagio said. “Ulysses is much more powerful. He can even… destroy everything around him.”

At the entrance of the academy where the fight was happening, the dark ponies were defeated by the staff, students and refugees, but Ulysses couldn’t care, because he knew they couldn’t defeat and so, accessing to both his light and darkness, he summoned the blacklight nature and casted his Inducing Pain Spell, what caused everyone to fell on the ground with pain.

“Now, do you still think you can beat me!” he exclaimed to everyone.

And then he summoned his Warrior of Dark Light, which then regained musculature. Both fairies were shocked to see it, as they knew very well what it was.

“Let’s breaks some legs” Ulysses said, with darkness on his eyes.

But before he could do anything, a voice exclaimed:

“Stop this, Ulysses!”

He turned to the entrance of the academy and saw Adagio, along with the Moonlight and the others and said:

“Well, well, well, I knew you didn’t have to courage to finish one simple task. What did that half-thestral told you to make you betray our master? Did she remind you of the good times you both have together?”

Adagio advance towards him, while the others went to see if the others were okay, and said:

“Stop this madness. You know what will happen if you use the blacklight nature like that. Your body will not endure the pressure.”

“Like if you care what happens to me” Ulysses said. “Know, if you excuse, I have a job to do. Or rather, I have two, as you weren’t able to finish yours.”

And he turned to Moonlight, ready to use the Warrior of Dark Light, but Adagio put herself in front of him.

“No! I won’t let you.”

Ulysses didn’t like that affront, but then idea appeared in him.

“Very well… I have a better idea. I’ll show you a spell that the Lord of Chaos taught me. Maybe this will show you the true power.”

And then the Warrior of Dark Light just started to fell apart, with the musculature disappearing and then the skeleton, both being absorbed by the griffon and then a dark dome involved them. It was a dome made of thick darkness with lightning.

“What’s this?” Adagio asked.

“It’s called the Dome of Doom” Ulysses said. “One of the most powerful blacklight nature spell.”

And lightning hit Adagio, making her moan in pain. She could see that the same lightning was also hitting Ulysses, although he remained still with his smile. Adagio could see how much that spell was deteriorating him.

“And do you want to know the best part?” Ulysses asked. “You’re not the only one suffering damages.”

He was telling the truth, as dark lightning was getting out of the dome and causing destruction indiscriminately. All the ones who were present tried their best to not be hit.

“But what the hay is that thin’?” Jonagold asked.

“Everyone, don’t get close to that dome!” Knotgrass warned.

Moonlight was very worried for Adagio. She just hoped shed was okay.

Inside the dome, Adagio continued to try to make Ulysses to stop all that.

“Stop this, Ulysses! Don’t you see that this spell is consuming all your strength? You will perish and you’ll take everyone around with you!”

“I don’t care!” he replied. “You and all the other villains always made fun of me, thinking that I didn’t have what it takes to be a servant of the Lord of Chaos. But now, I will make a scar on the Enchanted Forest that it won’t disappear, taking with me traitors, fairies, prodigies and so much more…”

“No, I won’t let you…” Adagio, trying to get up.

But the dome electrified her, making her fell on the ground again.

“You can’t stop me” Ulysses said. “NO ONE CAN!”

The intensity of the dome increased, with the lightning causing even more damages. The headmistresses made most of the present to the inside of academy.

“What is happening in there?” Galena asked.

“Don’t tell us Adagio was defeated” Radiant Hope said.

Moonlight couldn’t believe that. She knew that wasn’t truth. That dome could have separated them, but she knew something that would be able to reach Adagio. And so she started to sing their song, the one she taught her and now she sang to feel herself good.

“Moonlight…” Gleaming Shield said.

“Why are you…” Galena asked.

But Sweetie Belle and Radiant Hope, who could feel Moonlight’s feeling through her Thirteenth Note, knew what she was trying to do and then joined her with their voices. Their power combined was able to break through and their started to be heard inside. Listening that, Ulysses chuckled and then said:

“Those fouls really think their voices will stop me? Pathetic…”

But that song was not intended to affect him, but to encourage Adagio. Feeling that, Adagio said:

“Everyone…”

And she looked to her pendant. That object made her voice always powerful, but only to hurt others to do the Lord of Chaos’ bidding. It was time to use it in the right way. She then got up and started to sing with Moonlight, Sweetie Belle and Radiant Hope.

“What the…” Ulysses started.

It was then that he started to feel pain in his head due to the effects of the combined voices, what led him to take his talons to his ears.

“Adagio… stop!”

But she didn’t. She continued to sing. She would make what she should have done with her voice long time ago, starting by saving Ulysses from himself.

“Stop singing!” he continued to exclaimed.

When the song ended, Adagio knew what she had to do and asked:

“Lord of Order, I beg you! Please, save Ulysses’ soul!”

Answering to her call, a very bright and warm light appeared and it made all the blacklight to disappear, including the dome.

“Adagio!” Moonlight exclaimed, going to her followed by Sweetie Belle and Radiant Hope. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, thanks to you” Adagio said to the three.

They then turned to Ulysses who, recovering from all the pain, said:

“You’ll pay for this…”

He tried to use his blacklight nature, but then he noticed he couldn’t use it.

“What… I can’t use my blacklight nature? Why?!”

“Because I’m preventing you from accessing to it” a voice replied.

And, from the light, the Lord of Order appeared. Everyone present became astonished and bowed before him. Ulysses tried to attack him, but the pain assaulted him, preventing him from moving.

“You better stay still” the Lord of Order told to the griffon. “That blacklight really caused you a lot of damages.”

He then turned to Adagio and said to her:

“Adagio… No time no see.”

“My lord, I… I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry for everything I have done. I was blind.”

“Yes, you were” the Lord of Order said.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Moonlight asked.

“It’s time for all of you to know everything about the sirens” the Lord of Order said. “Everyone knows that the Pony Reality is made with realms, each one different from each other in a way and all separated, with the exception of the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest. But there are a few realms that serve to connect all the others, like the Dream World and the Mirror Realm. Another one is the realm that connects all the realms of the Pony Reality only through the oceans. I’m talking about the Sparkling Ocean.”

“That is my home realm…” Adagio said.

“The Sparkling Ocean is inhabited by a great variety of creatures, including the seaponies, who dominate the ocean in the same way ponies dominate the land” the Lord of Orders continued. “Between them, seven mermares stood out from the others because they possessed the power of the Thirteenth note, just like the Prodigies, whose power was given to them by powerful pearls. With their power, they evolved and became beautiful creatures. In a way, they became guardians of peace and tranquility. They started to be known as sirens. The sirens took great pride of their voices, but soon they became overconfident and then arrogant. They started to use their voices to make others to bow before their will. That forced me to take action and so I sent Melody, the General of Music, to deal with them. She, with her magic, took the pearls from the sirens and then turned them back to their former forms, all except three, who escaped and started to serve my brother in exchange from magic pendants that gave them back their voices to spread disharmony. The rest you already know. But today, I could witness three brave Prodigies who deserve their actions rewarded.”

And, before Moonlight, Sweetie Belle and Radiant Hope appeared three pearls: pink, green and blue respectively.

“These are three of the pearls I told you about… and now they belong to you, so you can spread the light of your voices with everyone.”

And lockets with the shape of shells appeared, each one with the color of one of the pearls, opening and making the pearls be placed inside. Their new owners took them and then thanked, while putting the lockets:

“Thank you, my lord.”

He then turned to Adagio and then made a gesture, making an orange pearl appear, along with its respective locket.

“But… that’s my pearl. My lord… are you sure?”

“You have shown sincere change in your heart Adagio” he replied. “Furthermore, didn’t you ask for salvation to anyone? Well, I think only you can do that.”

Understanding his words, Adagio took out the pendant, smaching it with the hoof, and then she took the locked and put it, then turning to Ulysses, who was still recovering. She would save him in the same way she used to.

And so she, along with Moonlight, Sweetie Belle and Radiant Hope started to sing a special song that their pearls gave them.

That song was obviously having effect on Ulysses, but the pain he was feeling was not physical. It was the light trying to get inside his heart and he being resisting it. He tried to cover his ears, but that didn’t work, on the contrary, in only gave him more pain. The pain was such that he was brought to his knees, giving up resisting.

They finished and the Adagio said:

“Ulysses…”

“I can’t believe…” he said. “I don’t have any power left…”

“But instead it was given to you another chance” the Lord of Order said. “Although, I don’t know if after everything you did…”

“My lord, I have an idea” Adagio said. “You could send Ulysses to a place where he could start over and I could go with him to guide him.”

The Lord of Order thought about that and then replied:

“That’s a good idea, Adagio. And also it’s a better way to ensure your change. Very well, I’ll do that.”

Adagio turned to Moonlight and then told her:

“Be careful, the Lord of Chaos doesn’t accept betrayals. He may come for you again.”

“Don’t worry, I will” Moonlight said. “Good luck.”

Adagio smiled to her and then she went to Ulysses’ side and then the Lord of Order extended his hand and they were involved by light and disappeared.

Moonlight was happy that Adagio was finally free from the Lord of Chaos. But, with that worry now down, she couldn’t stop thinking about Star and her parents. She just hoped they were okay.

Author's Note

The videos added to this chapter belong to xXxTeaChanxXx.

Update: Due to the film, I decided to change the term merponies to seaponies, however I'll keep mermare, as I want to use it to describe the females of this kind of equines.

Convincing King Aspen

Star and Hawthorn had already passed the frontier between the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World and now were heading towards Equestria, where the war was happening.

It was then that Star felt something. Noticing that, Hawthorn asked:

“What’s wrong?”

The young alicorn prince could feel the anxiety, the fear and the suspicion flying over the Alliance regarding the fact that Petal Sprout’s clones were infiltrating and killing members of the Alliance.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “There’s confusion spreading everywhere in the Alliance’s ranks.”

It was then that there was a blast of light that made Star stop and land besides Hawthorn who also stopped. Before them, King Aspen and Princess Celestia appeared.

“Princess Celestia?!” Star asked.

“Brother…” Hawthorn said. “What are you…?”

“We’re here to stop you” Aspen declared solemnly. “You can be sure that you will not pass.”

That made Star do an intense look. Celestia was impressed for seeing Star covered by Nine-Tails’ energy. She never saw anything like that. Being able to control Nine-Tails’ energy was a fact that she couldn’t help than being impressed. Star was able to do what his mother always did: amaze her in ways she couldn’t even imagine.

“Please, brother, listen” Hawthorn pleaded. “You have to let Star go. I can take care of him…”

“Enough, silence” Aspen ordered. “We’re fighting to protect you both. If you’re captured…”

“The General of Chaos will be able to cast his curse and the world will end” Star completed. “I know that.”

“So why are you doing this?” King Aspen asked. “Are you both fouls? From Hawthorn I could expect this, but from you… I thought you were smarter than this, Prince Star Knight.”

Star grinned his teeth, thinking about all the chaos he felt at the war, all the pain, all the death…

“It’s because of all that” Star replied. “It’s because they are protecting us! I can’t stand they are all dying for me! So what if we manage to win this war? What will be left? It is not just worth it! I don’t want that!”

“But it will be better than having all world ending!” Aspen exclaimed. “That’s why everyone is ready to fight to protect you!”

“I can’t sit here doing nothing” Star said. “While I’m unharmed, everyone is out there fighting for me! That’s not the kind of pony I am. I just can’t! Besides…”

“Enough!” Aspen interrupted. “You two won’t pass!”

But that statement wouldn’t stop Star. He would pass, in a way or another. Using the Nine-Tails’ energy to increase his speed, he tried to pass from above. But it was then that Aspen just appeared before him, surrounded by his lightning aura. That caught the young prince by surprise, as he didn’t expected that King Aspen would be able to keep up with him on that mode. With his only horn, Aspen hit him and threw him against the ground, where Star was able to land, but was pushed a few hooves.

Aspen landed and, knowing he wouldn’t be able to convince Aspen to let him go, he turned to Celestia, saying:

“Princess Celestia, you understand, don’t you? I can stop this war, I know it! Let me go!”

But Celestia didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. For an instant, he agreed with King Aspen, that they should keep Star and Hawthorn away from the war so the enemy wasn’t able to capture them. But she also couldn’t ignore Star’s appeal. She did understand him, but it wasn’t like she could access his request just like that.

“Please, princess…” Star said.

Then Celestia knew what she had to say:

“I’m part of the Alliance now, Star Knight. And the orders I’ve been given were to stop you. Even if I’m the ruler of Equestria, I can’t act independently on this matter.”

That answer coming from his mother’s mentor really upset Star, but he did understand why she was saying that.

“All right, I understand the delicate situation you are in” Star said. “Not just you, but also my mom. So…” he turned to Aspen. “I’ll force my way out!”

Deciding to move faster now, he tried to pass again. But when he thought he managed to escape, Aspen appeared again in front of him. They both stopped and then Star said to Aspen:

“Bramble wasn’t kidding when he told me you were really fast.”

“And he told me you’re determinate” Aspen said. “But I just think you’re just stubborn…”

Celestia couldn’t believe how the Nine-Tails’ energy was able to match King Aspen’s speed.

“I have to say, there’s only one pony that is faster than me” Aspen said. “Heartbeat, thanks to her swift, is the only one capable of dodge my attacks. But even her and the other Generals fell before the General of Chaos. She was the jinchuriki of Nine-Tails before you and she underestimated his power. Didn’t you learn from her mistakes? You continue to talk about uncertain outcomes, and yet…”

“You know what, I advise you to not talk about Heartbeat or any of the other Generals like that” Star said. “They always believed in me and, even if they are not here, I know they would support me.”

“Very well, I’ve been patient because you’re my son’s best friend” Aspen said. “And believe me, that’s the main reason why I won’t do what I usually do in a situation like this. If you insist in continuing, I’ll put you out for all the war and imprison you in a dungeon in my castle where not even you will be able to get out!”

“What?! No! King Aspen!” Celestia exclaimed, knowing it was too much for the deer king to beat Star as if he was a common thug.

“And that’s so I don’t have to kill you” Aspen said. “If I did that, we would have extra time until the Nine-Tails revived. But I know that would cause a rift between the Light Kingdom and Thicket. Your parents wouldn’t forgive me. This is the only action I have to do!”

Star charged his horn with magic and Aspen prepare to attack with his horn.

“Wait!” Celestia exclaimed.

But then Hawthorn appeared between the deer king and the alicorn prince, stopping Aspen’s attack with one of his horns.

“Hawthorn, what is this?!” Aspen exclaimed.

“If you harm him, then you can also harm me and Eight-Tails” Hawthorn replied. “Better, why don’t you kill me? In that way, you would avoid any conflict and the enemy’s plans would also have a break.”

“Lord Hawthorn…” Star said, not wanting to believe he would face his older brother, who was also his king, like that for him.

“King Aspen!” Celestia called. “You can’t do arbitrary decisions without the other leaders of the Alliance, mainly Princess Twilight! Don’t forget that Star’s is her son and the jinchuriki of the Light Kingdom. I won’t allow it, Supreme Commander!”

“My duty to the Alliance is to ensure victory in this war” Aspen replied to her. “And I’ll do anything to achieve that.”

“Then why target the Nine-Tails over the Eight-Tails?” Celestia asked.

“Like my brother said, he would be ready to die for the sake of Thicket” Aspen said. “But I can’t allow that. If I have to choose, I would choose Star Knight. But I know that killing him would not only cause problems with the Light Kingdom, but also with my own son. That’s why I will restrain in any way possible, even if I have to break his legs. Now why I would choose him over Hawthorn, the answer is simple. Hawthorn is the jinchuriki who can control the tailed beast power, what makes him our strongest military asset. Now, let go, Hawthorn.”

“No way” he replied.

“Listen to me, you, jinchuriki, can’t walk around and do what you please” Aspen said. “You belong to your kingdom and its inhabitants. You help maintaining the balance of power in the Enchanted Forest. You must understand your position.”

“But when my heart soars like it is doing right now, then that’s something I can’t ignore” Hawthorn replied. “Because with that gone, I’m just another weapon.”

Aspen tried to use one of his hoof to help him release his horn, but, seeing that, Hawthorn bump it with his own. With a calmer tone, Aspen asked:

“Just tell me why are you defending this colt?”

“Don’t you know why?” Hawthorn asked. “With a bump of our hooves, we can hear what’s inside each other’s soul… my brother.”

With that, Aspen was able to remind things that happened years ago…

Years ago, in Thicket…

In the castle, a teenage Aspen was walking around the hallways of the castle when he heard the sound of a headbutt, followed by moanings. He followed them and then got the guards’ training room, where the five-year-old Hawthorn was headbutting a wooden pole where the guards practiced their horn attacks. He approached Hawthorn and, while he was recovering from his last attack, asked:

“What are you doing, Hawthorn?”

Seeing his older brother, Hawthorn got up and said with a confident and excited look:

“I’m training to be as strong as you and dad, big brother, so I can do a double horn blow.”

Aspen chuckled and then he remarked:

“For that, you still need horns and learn how to use elemental manipulation.”

“I know, but it’s just I can’t wait.”

That made Aspen to laugh. His little brother always knew how to make him smile.

“Me neither” he said, extending his hoof.

Hawthorn smiled and bumped his hoof with his brother’s.

Since that day, Aspen helped Hawthorn his training, while also training, along with their cousin Larch, who had the same age as Aspen. He had a light brown fur and pale green eyes, having also a purple mark around his right eye. Larch was also the Eight-Tails’ jinchuriki before Hawthorn.

During one night, the three of them were camping. While Hawthorn was sleeping, Aspen and Larch were sitting around the fire.

“Is he asleep?” Larch asked, looking to Hawthorn.

“Yes” Aspen replied, looking also to his little brother.

“He looks up to you” Larch commented. “If he continues like that, he may be a great warrior.”

“Yes, I agree” Aspen said, with a smile. “I’m lucky to have a brother like him.”

There was a pause and then Larch said with a somber look:

“He’ll probably be next, the jinchuriki of Eight-Tails after me. You may have heard that was the council’s decision.”

That information caught Aspen by surprised, who said:

“No, no one told me anything. I can’t believe that my father would allow something like that.”

“It’s the way of our kingdom” Larch said. “I have the burden that my dad and my uncle once had. They both failed, and I’m not compatible either. Listen, as your cousin…”

“Oh come one, you have been able to keep the Eight-Tails until this point…”

“Just listen to me! Only a jinchuriki would understand. Even your closest friends look at you differently after the process. They might believe they are treating you the same, but they’re not really. You can never look back, only toward the future. But that future is filled with darkness and loneliness. If you achieve compatibility, if you walk through life with the shadow of your death, it fills your own mind, day and day out, until you’re so consumed that you don’t know who or what you are. It feels like you have a hole in your heart. And the Tailed Beast waits to pounce on that weak heart and run wild. When you with the constant fear of death, you start wanting to die.”

“But, still, you’re strong and have skills, not mention ancestry and virtue” Aspen said.

“True, those were the reasons why they chose me to become the next jinchuriki of Eight-Tails” Larch said. “But none of those things are necessary to become a jinchuriki.”

“So what is it?” Aspen inquired.

They both looked to the sleeping Hawthorn and Larch replied:

“Having something to feel that hole in your heart.”

“And was it?” Aspen asked. “That something?”

“It can be anything” Larch answered. “You will know it when you find it, because it will keep you stronger. So, make sure that Hawthorn finds it.”

It was then that the day when Eight-Tails was able to get loose and caused destruction over Thicket, the same event where Blackthorn’s father died. Larch, in the process, have also died.

At the memorial of the victims, Aspen had heard a lot of whisperers regarding the last rampage. All deer seemed resentful, wondering for how long they had to keep standing all that and showing skepticism about the next jinchuriki, that would be his brother. After all that, Aspen went to his father to ask him to not turn Hawthorn into a jinchuriki. That happened in the room where the Sealing Urn containing Eight-Tails was being holden.

“Please, father, you can’t allow that to happen” Aspen said.

“I’m sorry, Aspen, it has been decided and there’s nothing we can do to change that” King Alder replied. “We will seal Eight-Tails inside Hawthorn tonight.”

“But Hawthorn is just a little kid” Aspen said. “If you want a jinchuriki, why don’t you use me instead?”

“Out of question!” Alder exclaimed. “Your fate is to become the ruler of Thicket and the Enchanted Forest, not becoming a jinchuriki.”

Seeing his son’s frustration, Alder put a hoof over his shoulder and then said:

“I know how much you love your brother, Aspen, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything for him. He will need your help to endure the burden that it is being a jinchuriki.”

Before Hawthorn could become jinchuriki, Aspen took him to the Wild Isle so he could make his test in front of the Waterfall of Truth.

“Why did you brought me, big bro?” Hawthorn asked.

Aspen took a while to replied, remembering the words that Larch had told him.

“In a few hours, you will become a jinchuriki. Your life will become very hard.”

“Don’t worry about that, brother” Hawthorn said, in a relaxed way. “I had a feeling that could happen. I think I’ll become awesome with tentacles, don’t you think?”

It was then that Aspen extended his hoof to him and then Hawthorn smiled and bumped it with his.

“Listen up, Hawthorn, always tell me everything, okay? No secrets because your very special to me. You and I are brothers, not only by blood, but also in heart. Don’t forget that.

And so the young Hawthorn became the jinchuriki of Eight-Tails and eventually learned how to control his power.

In the present…

Taking advantage of King Aspen’s distraction, Star realized it was his chance to pass through. He tried to advance, but then Aspen appeared before him again, hitting him with his horn, what caused him to retreat again.

“Damn, he’s really fast!” exclaimed Star. “It’s like trying to escape Heartbeat.”

But Star wouldn’t give up. He took flight with his speed, but with, his jumping skills, it was like Aspen could also fly. Celestia couldn’t even track them.

After stopping Star from advancing, Hawthorn jumped toward him, while Star was pushed to the ground, hitting his older brother with one of his horns.

“Do you really think you can defeat me in a horn fight?” Aspen asked to Hawthorn.

Using his horn, Asped put Hawthorn away with strength. He then were to go toward Star, but then sensed his body being hold. Hawthorn had grabbed him with one of his tentacles.

“Hawthorn, why are you doing this?” Aspen asked.

“Don’t you get it, brother?” he asked back.

“Thanks, Lord Hawthorn” Star said. “I own you one.”

He then tried to pass now, but Aspen, using his strength, was able to swing Hawthorn and make him hit Star. The two then fell on the ground, while Aspen landed on his hooves. He turned to Celestia and said:

“Princess Celestia, come here and help me.”

But she didn’t say or do anything.

Star started to get up, but, even though King Aspen was blocking every single attempt of his to pass through, he wouldn’t give up.

At that moment, they heard wings flapping and Celestia landed between Aspen and the two jinchuriki, turning to the former.

“Princess Celestia…” Star said.

“You better have an excuse for this course of action, Princess Celestia” King Aspen said.

“Look, even if would to kill Star and you buy us sometime before the Nine-Tails could come back to life, I doubt the next jinchuriki would be able to control his power to this degree” Celestia said. “Also, imprisoning him in your dungeons would also be useless, as the enemy would come for him. Since we don’t have any idea where this war will go, let’s use all the weapons we have, including the jinchuriki. That’s why I’ll let Star Knight pass.”

“Thanks, princess…” Star said, standing up.

“Now who is the one making arbitrary decisions, Princess Celestia” King Aspen asked. “Do you think your dear student would agree into this?”

“She’s a mother and that was why she agree to hide Star” Celestia replied. “But the General of Chaos’ invasion to the Light Kingdom is full proof of her belief on him.”

“You’re all fools” Aspen said. “Where is the proof that Star will succeed.”

And, at that moment, Hawthorn advanced toward Aspen, ready to use his horn attack again.

“I already told you, your horn attack won’t work against me” King Aspen replied.

And he defended with his only horn, starting a fight of strength between the two. Aspen tried to use his hoof again, but Hawthorn bumped it with his and then said:

“Listen, brother. You may be king, but, since the beginning, you underestimated my power.”

Through that hoof bump, more memories came to Aspen…

Years ago, in Thicket…

A memorial was being held in Thicket to honor King Alder, who had just lost his life during an excursion in a hostile kingdom. A teenage Hawthorn was walking around the room, trying to find his brother, only to not be able to do so. He approached his sister-in-law, Fyr, who was currently pregnant, and asked:

“Hey, where’s my brother, Fyr?”

“Just follow the holes in the wall” Fyr replied, indicating one of the side walls of the room, where existed a wall, being the same to the next walls after it. “Talk to him, he really needs it.”

Hawthorn nodded and then follow the bunch of walls. He then arrived to the end, at the edge of the castle, where his brother was sit, looking to the horizon. He was clearly crying. Hawthorn approached him and told him:

“Brother, don’t be like that. Everything will be alright. After all, from this day on, you’re the king now.”

“I know that” Aspen said, with tears crossing his face. “We’re right in the middle of a war with that dreadful kingdom. I will protect this kingdom and all the Enchanted Forest to the very end, just like father wanted.”

There was a pause where none of the brothers said a word, and then Aspen said:

“Hawthorn, you will go to our frontier at the mountains and work on your Tailed Beast Bomb. You will not be engaging the enemy.”

“What do you mean with that?” Hawthorn asked. “If we combine our powers…”

“I don’t need your power anymore!” Aspen exclaimed to him. “Even if the enemy invades, you’ll use the Tailed Beast Bomb to get them. Did you listen? You’ll never leave the kingdom again!”

In the present…

The two brothers retreated and stared each other.

“Hawthorn, both you and Star are precious jinchuriki” Aspen said, with a calmer tone. “The two of you are very special to your kingdoms and families. And that’s the reason why I can’t let you two pass. No matter how powerful you two are, don’t forget that the Lord of Chaos and his villains had already captured and sealed all the others.”

“Just trust me” Hawthorn appealed. “I and Star can do this. I can guarantee that!”

And he advanced again against Aspen.

“So be it” Aspen said, intensifying his aura. “Let’s settle this.”

And he also advanced. The two brothers hit their horns against each other and started to compete against each other again with full strength. Although Aspen only had one horn, that didn’t prevent him from having any disadvantage. It looked like Aspen would win, but then, with a boost of power, Hawthorn was able to subdue his older brother and then threw him some hooves of distance.

“Wow…” Star said, amazed by how Hawthorn was able to defeat Aspen.

The king tried to get up when he saw his brother approaching and then saying:

“The thing is being jinchuriki is not the only power source. We have something that’s even stronger fundamentaly. I’ll tell you all the details. Remember the words you said to me before I becoming jinchuriki? They keep me strong, no matter what happens and everything fails.”

That made Aspen remember what his cousin told him at that night and then he got know of what Hawthorn was talking about.

“You mean…” he started. “Are you talking about what I said to you in front of the Waterfall of Truth?”

“So now you get it” Hawthorn said, smiling. “Finally! And I was thinking you were our wise king.”

At the HQ, Ingrid and White Light were frenetically trying to find a way to fight the infiltrated clones. They had the table full of books and scroll.

“There’s nothing helpful in here neither” White Light said, putting aside a scroll.

“Don’t you think you should tell this to my sister and Aspen?” Ingrid asked, while putting down a book.

“I don’t think so, Your Highness” White Light replied. “They let us in charge, so we have to take care of the situation. Besides, we need to let them take care of the situation with Prince Star Knight.”

“I agree, but it was something I had to ask” Ingrid said.

After what Hawthorn said, Aspen said:

“It’s true that you’re special to me, Hawthorn. You’re my little brother after all. Our connection is stronger than anyone can even imagine. I said that to you. You’re right. But will those words be enough to keep you strong through the battle that you’ll face?”

“I’m not fighting just for our kingdom and the Enchanted Forest” Hawthorn replied. “I also fight for you, brother, and also our family. You’re still overprotective. You have to let me go. Don’t lose faith in me. You have to trust in my power. The world is not only full of light and wonders. It also has shadows and pain. What I learned while being a jinchuriki is that you can’t give up. You have to fight and find the light that can guide you. Is that light that can move us through anything.”

Star smiled while listenning those words. He could feel that they came from Hawthorn’s heart truly.

“That is the reason why I can control Eight-Tails” Hawthor continued. “Star Knight has the same light, but he has more of it.

That surprised both Aspen and Celestia. Star said:

“Your right about that…”

“Then tell me what are those lights you and Hawthorn have spoken of, young prince?” King Aspen asked.

“I’m talking about my parents, my sisters and the rest of my family, not mention my friends, Heartbeat, Golden Paladin and all the other Generals who always supported me.”

“I see…” Aspen said. “You’re talking about all the ones who are important to you…”

“It was thanks to all those lights that I was able to subdue the Nine-Tails when I tried to control him after undoing the seal” Star continued.

Celestia listening all that now could understand the real reason for the Lord of Order to order Golden Paladin to seal Nine-Tails inside Star Knight. It was not only to keep him safer, but also so that Star could use his power. He knew that a war would come and that only Star would be able to stop it and that he would be able to control all that power. That made her to say:

“King Aspen, don’t harm Star just to delay the enemy’s plans. The General of Chaos will definitely get the Nine-Tails next time and the world will come to an end. Only Star can control the Nine-Tails’ power, just like the Lord of Order thought he would when he commanded to seal him inside Star. We need to let Star go. In that way, he can protect both the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest. I’m going to bet on Star Knight, so what about you?”

“I second that” Hawthorn said. “My friend Star Knight is as fool just like me. That’s what you need right know. We don’t care how high the wall is, because we will vanquish no matter what.”

It was then that, with a blow with the horn, Aspen threw Hawthorn aside, getting his body surrounded by his aura again, but in full power.

“No, with all that power…” Hawthorn said. “Don’t tell me he will…”

“You really can be so stubborn sometimes” Celestia said. “But this time you’ll have to pass through me.”

Star couldn’t let Princess Celestia get involved, as that was his battle. So he advanced at full speed, going aside the stone wall that was there.

“Star Knight, this ends now!” King Aspen exclaimed to the young prince.

“Too many have put their faith in me” Star said, while flying. “I can’t let them down!”

Aspen appeared in front of him, ready to attack him with the horn. A great crush happened, as the horn hit the stone wall. But then Star appeared, having being able to surpass King Aspen’s attack, much to Hawthorn and Celestia’s astonishment.

“I cannot fail!” the young alicorn prince exclaimed.

And so Aspen’s aura disappeared and Star said to him:

“I just one to say one thing, King Aspen. If I fail, that will be the proof that I didn’t succeed. But I cannot fail now. I’m my father and my mother’s son!They were the ones who gave everything for me to be the savior, so that’s what I’ll be.”

King Aspen then chuckled and then said:

“My attack was simply a test. I wanted to test your ability and convictions. Now I can see why my son admires you so much. Like I said before, only Heartbeat was able to surpass my speed. So it appears we have a savior after all.”

That caused his brother to smile, realizing he had changed is mind.

Aspen turned to Star and told him:

“Now, go for it.”

“Yes, sir!” Star exclaimed.

And he advanced, taking flight.

At the HQ, Ingrid and White appeared to have found a way to counter the infiltration of the clones.

“This seems to be the only way” White Light said. “According to this data, Prince Star Knight can sense hostility while covered by the Nine-Tails’ energy.”

“And, because of that, he will be able to notice the clones’ transformation” Ingrid concluded. “And with Star creating clones, we can counter all the Petal Sprouts in all battlefield.”

“But if we delay any longer, we may not stand a chance” White Light said. “But there is a problem. This war is to protect the prince. I don’t think King Aspen would approve. What can we do now?”

It was then that Ingrid got a telepathic message from Celestia and then said:

“Well, I have good news. My sister just told me that’s not the case anymore.”

The dawn arrived and the sun started to rise. At Arimaspi’s territory, the General of Chaos was on the Demonic Statue’s hands. But he was not alone. With him, were the six reincarnated jinchuriki who had the eyes just like the dark ponies he used on his attack to the Light Kingdom.

“The long night is finally coming to an end” the General said. “And now I have new pawns to control at my will… all jinchuriki.”

The Helmet Splitter

The silence at the battlefield of the Third Unit was sepulchral, while the night advanced, full of the bodies of the ones who had fallen. Thunder Night advanced through the battlefield and arrived to the woods where he told:

“I’m here.”

Shining, Twilight and Blue appeared, with the rest of the unit behind.

“What’s the intel of the enemy?” Shining asked.

“There’s no sign of life” Thunder Night replied. “The battlefield is really quiet.”

“I wonder what’s going on” Blue said. “I seriously doubt they just gave up the fight.”

“They must have a plan in mind” Twilight said. “This cannot be just to give us a fake sense of security.”

“Although I don’t like it either, we don’t any choice” Shining said. “We should use this as a chance to rest.”

He then turned to the unit and said to them:

“All right, everyone, let’s rest up. Take this time to gather your energy. However, stay on your guard. We’ll keep scavenging the area on each half-hour. We have to make sure that we’re ready to fight in case the enemy appears again. That’s all.”

And they all scattered to go rest.

“You should go rest as well” Shining said to Blue and Twilight. “This is going to be a long night.”

They nodded with the head and then two guards appeared, carrying a great scroll and pain-brush.

“Captain, we finally received the items from headquarters” one of them said.

“Good” Shining said. “You can let them here, thanks.”

They dropped them carefully on the ground and then they moved away.

“Are you sure about this, Shining?” Twilight asked to his older brother. “This spell is too complex. It takes a lot to do it.”

“We don’t have any other choice” Shining said, taking the items with his magic and then moving away.

Elsewhere Armored Oath was resting, sitting against a tree. He couldn’t stop thinking about the order that Captain Shining Armor had given to him. Using the sealing spell that Heartbeat had taught him was something that he hadn’t certain to be able to perform.

He heard hoofsteps and saw Shining approaching with the scroll and the brush.

“Captain…” he said, getting up.

“Hey, Armored Oath” Shining greeted him. “Sorry to bother you while you’re resting.”

“It’s okay” he replied.

“This just arrived for you” Shining said, giving him the items that the light unicorn took with his magic. “You need this for your sealing spell, don’t you?”

Armored Oath nodded with the head with a somber look. Noticing this, Shining realized he would need all the help. He looked around and saw somepony that could provide him the help he needed.

“Dark Knight!” Shining called.

The pegasus, who was sleeping on a branch nearby, startled by Shining’s calling and fell on the ground. He then got up and said:

“Shining, couldn’t you just have called me gently?”

“Sorry, pal, but I have a job for you” Shining said. “That is, if you can still fight.”

“You know me, of course I can” Dark Knight replied.

“Good” Shining said. “I want you to be Armored Oath’s bodyguard. He won’t be able to defend himself well while he’s doing his sealing spell.”

“Sure, you can leave it to me” he answered.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, Armored Oath” Shining said.

“Yes, sir” the young unicorn replied.

And Shining left.

Dark Knight approached Armored Oath and told him:

“Don’t worry, kid. You’re in good hooves with me.”

“Thank you, sir, but…” Armored Oath said.

“Come on, you can skip the formalities with me” Dark Knight said. “After all, I’m not your superior.”

“Yes, but… Could you please let me alone for a while?” Armored Oath asked, with an overcast look.

“Sure…” Dark Knight replied, noticing the look on his eyes. “Just call me if you need anything.”

And he took flight, moving away.

Shining was sitting against a tree, trying to get some shut-eye, when Dark Knight landed besides him.

“What do you want, Dark Knight?” Shining asked. “Don’t you see I’m trying to rest?”

“Sorry, Shining, but I just wanted to ask you something” he said.

“What?”

“It’s about Armored Oath’s sealing spell. Can you tell me more about it?”

“Why the sudden interest?” Shining asked.

“It’s just he didn’t seem very happy to use it” Dark Knight answered.

“Well, it doesn’t surprise me” Shining said. “It’s not quite an easy spell. Where should I start? When he was a child, before he started to study to become a member of the Light Guard, he was a student under Heartbeat. Normally, she didn’t take any student, but after what happened with the Lord of Chaos releasing all the villains of Tartarus, it was obvious we needed more ways to deal with them…”

Some years ago, in the Light Kingdom…

At a room in the Light Castle, a younger Armored Oath was with Heartbeat, who made appear the same scroll and brush.

“Armored Oath, for the last few years, I told you to surpass your emotions as much as possible” Heartbeat said.

“Yes, but I don’t understand why” he said. “I always thought that you were apologist that emotions were the most powerful magic of all.”

“And they are, but there’s a reason why I told you when you became my student a few years ago to contain yours” Heartbeat said, making then a gesture to the scroll and the brush. “Do you see that? Those objects are part of a new spell I’ve been perfecting and I want you to master.”

“What kind of spell?” Armored Oath asked, looking curious to the scroll and brush.

“As you know, after the Lord of Chaos took over Tartarus a few years ago, we had to face dangerous villains” Heartbeat said. “In order to capture them with the cell blaster, we had to weak the villains. In order to avoid that necessity, I conceived this sealing spell.”

“But… can I master a spell that can work on powerful villains?” Armored Oath questioned.

“I believe that you can” Heartbeat replied. “This spell is the reason why I told you to surpass your emotions. All those suppressed feelings of yours have created a massive reservoir of energy somewhere deep inside your heart. And, by releasing that emotional energy, you will imbue this sealing spell with great power. But be careful. Releasing your emotions, you can become susceptible to your negative feelings and that can be very dangerous.”

In the present…

Armored Oath was thinking about that moment, while leaning against the three. Heartbeat’s warning was what scared him the most.

The sun started to sun, with its beams covering everything. The sentinels were watching carefully the battlefield in their respective hiding place. But it was when that, at a place where two guards where changing shifts, Thunder Blitz appeared suddenly before them and then he caused an explosion. That made all the unit get alert.

“They’re here” Blue said, with Twilight by his side.

Another explosion caught their attention, having been made by Clashing Storm with his Explosive Blade. When guards approached him, the swordspony moved away, only for some of the new-arrivals started to scream, while their started to dehydrate so much, while they fell looking like mummies. That was caused by Gina, who was observing everything on a branch.

The rest of the group was searching for Clashing Storm, but, one by one, they were stabbed and taken up by something. When the last one found himself alone, he wondered where his comrades had gone. Blood drops fell over him and he looked up, seeing with great horror his friends sewed side by side while being put in suspension. He then was also stabbed by the Sewing Needle that was grabbed by Sharp Needle who then pulled the line to join his lattest victim to the others.

Light Blast, using her Lightning Blades, was fighting guard, but since the lightning the blades originated only made them sharper, she was able to defeat and electrocute anyone who faced her. But, seeing Twilight approaching by flying, she run away as fast as she could. Twilight landed at that place, while Blue and more guards arrived.

“She escaped” Twilight said.

“Looks like that, even when they are corned, they manage to pass through” Blue said.

“The enemy sent their weaker forces into battle” Shining said, approaching. “It seems their main tactic will be guerilla warfare. They want us to chase this targets to split us up and then take us one by one.”

“They want us to become overconfident after defeating River Blood and Sombra” Twilight said.

“But what do we do?” Blue asked. “Things are happening really fast.”

“We need to regroup our forces” Shining said. “Twily, can you send a message to each team to join with at least two other teams and stick together?”

“I’m on it” she replied, while casting the telepathic spell.

Noticing Shining ready to move away, Blue asked:

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m worried about the squad behind us” he said. “If I were the enemy, I would use this confusion to go after our support squads. They have ways to restrain and cast sealing spells that work on the Reincarnation Curse.”

“Very well, meanwhile, you can count on me to take care of things around here” Blue said.

Shining nodded to him and when he was about to move away, Dark Knight and Armored Oath approached with the latter carrying the scroll and the brush with his magic.

“We’re here” the pegasus said.

“Perfect timing” Shining said. “Dark Knight, Armored Oath, come with me. We’re going to prepare a seal.”

“Yes, sir” Armored Oath replied.

“You can count on me, Shining” Dark Knight said.

And the three advanced, while Shining said:

“I won’t them dictate how this war goes.”

“Hey, kid, I know this sealing spell takes some time, right?” Dark Knight said.

“How do you know that?” Armored Oath asked.

“I asked Shining about it” Dark Knight said. “I got to know that you need to concentrate emotional energy. Sorry, but I needed to know so I can protect you while you do the spell.”

And they continued.

A squad was already getting itself ready to any attack, with a guard from Stonult creating a mud wall that quickly solidified to become stable, while a unicorn guard prepared an immobilization spell. But then something started to hit the wall. A great crack appeared on the middle of wall and then it crushed, while Hammer Blow appeared with his sword, the Helmet Splitter.

“I found you!” he said to the squad.

The guard who erected the wall tried to do it again, but Hammer Blow cut him with the axe of the Helmet Splitter, killing him.

“Defending yourselves against the Helmet Splitter is meaningless!” Hammer Blow exclaimed, starting to advance towards the guards.

He used both the axe and the hammer to hit his enemies, sometimes using both to break through the defenses and weapons. When the guards prepared to make a formation, Hammer Blow said:

“Trying to block me is meaningless to. It seems you fools still don’t understand!”

And he hit with the hammer on the ground that was able to crack it and take it from them.

“My next attack will end you” Hammer Blow said.

“Not yet!” a voice exclaimed.

And the Executioner’s Blade was threw and hit the ground near him, what force him to retreat a bit. Shining appeared beside the sword, what caused the guards to be happy for having their captain by their side.

“I hope you don’t think this will be over so soon” Shining said to Hammer Blow.

Dark Knight and Armored Oath didn’t take long to arrive as well.

“You should begin, kid” the former said to the latter.

“I agree” he said.

And so he extended the scroll and, after opening the bottle with ink of the brush, he tried to focus, but Heartbeat’s words about the warning she made couldn’t stop repeating in his mind. But that wasn’t the only think that worried him. He had repressed his emotions for so long that he didn’t know if he would be able to release them. It was not only the doubt if he would be able to do the spell, but also the fear of facing them. Every time he tried to use the spell, he was so overpowered, that he started to feel pain, as his negative emotions started to consume him, what caused Heartbeat to intervene. Because of that, Armored Oath didn’t know if he would be able to do it know, when he couldn’t do it in the past.

He looked to Shining, who was fighting with Hammer Blow using the Executioner’s Sword with his magic. Seeing the determination each blow his captain did and remember all the efforts that Princess Twilight, Prince Blue Sword and all the others were giving to the war, he knew he had to succeed for the sake of the Light Kingdom and all the other kingdoms.

After a change of blows, Hammer Blow gave a jump back and said:

“So there is somepony in this world that is a little bit of a challenge.”

“Even if you are one of the Seven Swordsponies of the Mist, we won’t let you win this fight so easily” Shining said.

A smile was drawn in Hammer Blow’s face and then he advanced for another attack again, while exclaiming:

“I’ll silence you!”

Using all his skills, Shining started to dodge every attack from Hammer Blow. When he span to use the axe, Shining used the Executioner’s Blade to defend.

“If I can just pass my sword through you, then I’ll win!” Hammer Blow exclaimed, while rising the hammer to allow the axe to go through the Executioner’s Blade. “There’s no way to block the Helmet Spliter!”

“Who said anything about blocking?” Shining asked.

Using his magic, he made the axe move aside, much to Hammer Blow’s surprise, and Shining said:

“You’re defense is weak!”

And, with a swing, he cut through Hammer Blow’s torso, making dust and dirt get out, while the two halves fell on the ground, with the Helmet Splitter falling a few hooves of distance.

“That’s one down” Shining said.

The squad cheered his captain, but Shining didn’t share their enthusiasm. He could see the body beginning to regenerate due to the curse. He turned to the unicorn who was preparing the immobilization spell and then told him:

“Immobilize him until the sealing curse is ready to go.”

“Right, understood” he replied.

“The rest of you will meet with the squad in front” Shining said to the others. “You’ll all follow me.

He turned to Armored Oath, who had the eyes closed to focus his emotional energy. Then he turned to Dark Knight who nodded to him, who then nodded him back.

“Now let’s go!” he said to the others.

And they all moved away.

While Armored Oath was focusing a tear of a dark substance started to get down. The unicorn charged his horn with magic and then casted the immobilization spell.

“I see, now, even when he regenerates, he won’t be able to move” Dark Knight said.

“But I won’t be able to hold if he fights too much, so you have to hurry and seal him” the unicorn said.

Dark Knight turned to Armored Oath, hopping he could execute the spell.

The young light unicorn tried his best to tame his dark emotions, but it was harder than it looked. The turmoil of repressed darkness was such that immobilized him and started to cause him pain, while his eyes turned black and the pupils turned red. Seeing that, Dark Knight asked:

“Are you okay?”

Of course that was a stupid question, as it was obvious he wasn’t okay at all. But he couldn’t think much, as he noticed an evil presence approaching. And Thunder Blitz appeared, ready to attack the unicorn who was immobilizing Hammer Blow. He advanced towards him and forced him to start a fight. With was then that Thunder Blitz prepared to use the explosive nature, what forced Dark Knight to retreat. He hit the ground and caused an explosion. The unicorn who was holding Hammer Blow said to Armored Oath and told him:

“Hurry up with the seal! Dark Knight can’t handle this alone! I need you back him up!”

“No worry” he said. “I will not fail. I can’t forgive these villains for using the dead like this. There’s no way I can lose this fight!”

And he advanced again, ready to attack. They started another exchange of blows. While observing Dark Knight, Armored Oath could notice that he couldn’t feel any negative emotion coming up from him. But why didn’t his anger come with negative emotions?

Thunder Blitz used his explosive nature on the ground again. A lot of debris were thrown, with Dark Knight defending what he could. But then a moan caught his attention. The unicorn who was casting the immobilization spell was hit on the head by one of the debris, what caused him to lose focus on the spell, releasing Hammer Blow, whose regeneration was being completed.

“How dare you to hurt my comrade?” Dark Knight asked with anger on his voice. “You’re going to pay by that!”

And he advanced to attack Thunder Blitz.

Seeing him attacking the explosive nature user like that, Armored Oath remembered his words before they went to rejoin Captain Shining Armor, saying that he would do anything to protect him as they were now friends. That made him realize that the origin of his anger came from his feelings for his friends. Now he understood what he had to do. He needed to use his emotions, but it hadn’t to be negative ones. He then dipped the brush in the ink.

Dark Knight was able to make Thunder Blitz fell, but Hammer Blitz got up, while the rest of his body regenerated.

“Quick, Armored Oath” Dark Knight said.

“Don’t worry, Dark Knight” Armored Oath said with a smile. “I now understand what I had to do… all thanks to you.”

And he started to use the brush on the scroll. When he ended, a tiger was drawn on the scroll. Hammer Blow headed to the Helmet Splitter, extending his hoof to get it, while the regeneration was coming to an end.

“Now, Armored Oath!” Dark Knight said. “Do it!”

And he activated the sealing spell with his magic and the illustration extended from the scroll and, while still connected, advanced towards Hammer Blow, who, with a smile, grabbed the Helmet Splitter. But the tiger attacked him, capturing him with its teeth and claws.

“Return!” Armored Oath exclaimed.

And the tiger came back, dragging Hammer Blow, who tried to use the Helmet Splitter on the ground to stop that. He was able to hold on a rock, but the power of his sword started to work against him, as it started to crack until it broke and then he entered into the scroll, while dropping the Helmet Splitter.

The other unicorn recovered from the hit he suffered and, seeing he was in disadvantage, Thunder Blitz started to retreat. Dark Knight wanted to go after him, but he knew it was better not doing it. Instead, he advanced towards Armored Oath who was looking to the scroll, where Hammer Blow was being pinned down by the tiger within the confines of the drawing, and then told him:

“That was amazing, kid.”

Armored Oath replied with a smile, now being able to feel truly his own emotions and use them in a way Heartbeat wanted him to use.

Scorching the Hate

In the past, in Aeropolis…

All the griffons of the kingdom were reunited in front of the castle, acclaiming. At the balcony of the castle was King Guido, King Godot’s father and former king who was close to his son in appearance, except that he had feathers of a lighter color and blue eyes, who said to his subjects:

“Finally, the vicious Stonult retreat and our kingdom was saved and we have only one griffon to thank for it.”

And Gina, who was alive at that time, appeared beside her king who then said:

“The hero of Aeropolis… Gina of the Scorch Nature!”

And all the griffons acclaimed her. Between them, was a young Gretel who looked with great admiration to her.

At the end of that day, while Gina was flying to go to home, a voice called:

“Lady Gina!”

She turned and saw Gretel at the ground, landing then.

“Yes, Gretel? What do you need?”

“Please, I want you to train me” she asked.

“I just finished a very demanding mission” Gina replied, showing a gentle smile.

“My lady, even you get tired?” Gretel asked.

Gina gave a chuckle and said:

“Honestly, Gretel, only you make me laugh after a mission like this one.”

At a deserted part of the capital, the two griffons were training, exchanging blows with the claws. It was obvious that Gina had the advantage. It was then that Gretel used a wind-based spell with the wings that caused a lot of dust to raise in the air. Gina quickly realized it was a diversion and she was right, as, with another wind-based spell she launched sharp feathers against her. Gina was able to dodge them and then Gretel said:

“Oh, I was so close!”

“No, you did well” Gina replied. “A trick like that would caught anyone else.”

“Please, just one more time” Gretel pleaded.

“Don’t be hasty” Gina advised her. “I’m sure you’ll become stronger in time.”

“You really think so?” Gretel asked.

“The reason why you want to get strong is to get revenge, right?” Gina inquired.

“Yes, for my father” Gretel replied. “A warrior from Evermist killed him.”

“That’s good, because those feelings will make you stronger” Gina said. “The strong emotions you possess, for your family, for your friends, for your home, and the desire to defend your kingdom, those emotions make a warrior strong.”

“Right!” Gretel replied.

At night, King Guido and his council were having a secret meeting.

“Now it’s time to discuss our negotiations for truce with Evermist” one of the councilors said.

“They still seem to have a great grudge against us, even when we share the same hostility with Stonult” another one said. “We even made a proposal that is ridiculously in their favor.”

“Even if we make truce with them, we can’t forget about Stonult” another said. “We have to put an end to its invasions as well.”

“I guess we have no choice” King Guido said. “We’ll have to make use of Gina again… for the sake of the kingdom.”

After going on that mission the council was discussing, Gina lost her life. Announcing her death to the rest of the kingdom, King Guido said:

“Our hero, Gina of the Scorch Nature, lost her life. But she never gave up. She fought to the very end. We shall not let her death be in vain. She died for the kingdom, for all of us. So we must carry on her will and destroy Stonult.”

On her grave, Gretel came to bring flowers and kneeled before the grave, starting to cry for the loss of her teacher.

“Lady Gina…”

In the present…

Gretel was with a squad that included a light unicorn, a female pegasus guard of Evermist and a big earth pony guard of Stonult that were providing support to a fight that was happening at some distance, facing Sea Wave. The former owner of the Shark Skin caused a Water Wave Spell against them. With the earth nature users creating earth barriers to protect the others and approach the reincarnated being. But the ones who get closed enough and prepared to attack were able to do so, as Sea Wave, enchanting his mane and turn it sharper, was able to pierce them.

“Your weaklings!” he exclaimed.

“Captain Stone Crusher…” Gretel started, directing to the earth pony.

“Just hold tight” he told her. “I don’t want you to do anything until we have everything under control.”

“Captain Stone Crusher!” a guard called, while approaching. “The enemy is no longer using the guerilla tactic, instead engaging us in large squads. And we are facing the Seven Swordsponies of the Mist.”

But they weren’t the only ones they should be careful from, as Gretel knew that they should also be aware of Gina as well. That made her wonder if she was also out there.

As if noticing her distraction, Stone Crusher said:

“We don’t know where the enemy will come from, so don’t let your guard down.”

“Captain, we should go search for the enemy” Gretel said.

“Our orders are to contain the battle and remain here, until we receive commands from the front lines” Stone Crusher replied.

“But, still, there must be something we can do” Gretel insisted.

“The sealing and medical teams are out there in the battlefield” Stone Crusher said. “Our mission is to make sure they remain safe. We can’t put ourselves in unnecessary danger.”

“He’s right” the pegasus guard said to Gretel. “The only ones who can really stop the reincarnated beings are those in the sealing core.”

“That may be true, Flutter Stream” Gretel said. “But you too, as you are in the medical core.”

“Don’t worry you both” Stone Crusher with a confident look. “As long as I’m here, no one will be able to touch you. I’ll risk my life to protect you.”

“Captain…” Gretel said.

“It’s all right” Flutter Stream said. “If my captain is in danger, I’ll risk my life to protect him as well.”

“I got it, I got it” the captain said.

Listening them talking like that, Gretel couldn’t help but feeling herself a fool for ever having a grudge against both Evermist and Stonult when they had such good ponies. And then Stone Crusher said:

“It seems it’s happening a hell of fighter there.”

“I’m sure of that, considerating who they are facing” the light unicorn said.

“Gretel, why is the enemy interesting in attacking us with a large force?” Flutter Stream asked.

“I don’t know, but we need to figure out the enemy’s strategy before and put together a way to counter it” Gretel answered.

It was then that Thunder Blitz appeared before a guard and, using his explosive nature, he made him explode. Before that, Stone Crusher put himself in the front beside a guard, while Thunder Blitz advanced towards them, and asked to the guard besides him:

“How many enemies?”

“I’m not sure” the guard replied. “They just suddenly appeared.”

“Gretel, Flutter Stream, I want you to retreat” Stone Crusher said.

“You should tell them to run fast too” Thunder Blitz told in a mocking tone. “Because if they don’t, then they’ll go boom.”

“I never excepted to face you, Thunder Blitz” Stone Crusher said, while the only guard there, beside the light unicorn that remained with Gretel and Flutter Stream, advanced as well.

“Yeah, that’s clear” Thunder Blitz replied. “You don’t have any numbers enough to fight me. You fools, you did exactly what we wanted.”

With that, Gretel realized their plan. They used the guerilla tactic to scatter their forces.

“You’ve being targeting the support squads from the start” Stone Crusher said.

“Well, after all, that’s quickest way to win a battle, isn’t it?” Thunder Blitz said. “And besides, I’ve just been brought back to life. I don’t stand the thought of becoming immobile again because of some sealing spell.”

“I can’t believe that somepony like you would be satisfied for being a mere puppet” Stone Crusher said.

“Yeah, well, you haven’t been dead before” Thunder Blitz replied. “There’s no way you can possibly understand.”

“Why, you…” Stone Crusher, said, feeling the anger rising up. “Death is not something to be taken lightly!”

And, having said that, he used his earth magic to make stones spikes arise from the ground to impale Thunder Blitz, but he was able to dodge.

“Careful, don’t get near him!” he exclaimed to the two guards besides him, who threw knives against Thunder Blitz, who block them with his explosive nature, throwing them back and hitting the two guard fatally.

“I’m so sorry” Thunder Blitz said. “But it seems that your advice has fallen in deaf ears.”

Stone Crusher contorted his face with anger and Gretel said, while preparing to use her sealing cloth:

“Captain Stone Crusher, I…”

“You two stay back” he said to Gretel and Flutter Stream. “I can handle this myself.”

“How fun” Thunder Blitz replied. “It’s just a shame you can’t stop me with just confident.”

And he advanced towards him, who created a stone wall, placing them on it some explosive papers that was a specialty of his kingdom.

“Do you think that will protect you from my explosive nature?!” Thunder Blitz asked.

And then Stone Crusher created a much bigger and thicker stone wall, preparing to hit it with all the strength he had. Doing so, he pushed the wall that hit the first one he made, activating the explosive papers he had placed before at the moment Thunder Blitz was near. The explosion threw shards of rock that started to hit strongly Thunder Blitz’s body. Descending the wall, they all could see Thunder Blitz’s body lying on the floor while the ash and dust that made his body started to regenerate it.

“You did it, Captain Stone Crusher!” Flutter Stream exclaimed. “Excellent job!”

“Yeah, but we’re not done” he said while giving some steps towards the two dead guards, looking at them pitifully, turning then to Gretel. “Gretel, seal him away immediately.”

But then something made Gretel become petrified and Stone Crusher started to moan in pain, as his body started to dehydrate and a flame started to come out of his body.

“Captain!” Flutter Stream exclaimed, in shock, seeing his body falling lifeless in the ground.

Gretel couldn’t believe. She knew that spell. Wings flapping were heard behind her and Gretel turned over and saw Gina landing, while making her flaming orbs disappear.

“Lady Gina…” Gretel said, making Flutter Stream and the light unicorn turn to her.

Listening that and observing Gretel, Gina said:

“Wait, are you… Gretel?

“I never… expected to see you again” Gretel said. “Not in this way.”

“I can see that you haven’t change a bit” Gina observed.

“Gretel, do you know her?” Flutter Stream asked.

“She was once a great hero to Aeropolis” Gretel told. “And also she’s the griffon who taught me how to fight.”

“My, my, coming back to life has been full of surprises” Gina commented with a smile.

“Why are you fighting against us, mi lady?” Gretel asked. “Aren’t you able to move on your own free will?”

“To vent my anger at being banished to the darkness of death and being silenced” Gina replied.

“To vent your anger?” Gretel repeated.

“I was acclaimed as the kingdom’s hero and yet, after all that praised, I was sacrificed as a pawn for the benefit of the kingdom” Gina told. “The ones who used may be long gone, but the kingdom that killed me still exists and it’s painful reminder of what was done to me! The reason why I’m fighting is to eradicate Evermist!”

“Evermist?” Gretel asked, caught by surprise. “But I had always been told that you died fighting Stonult.”

“That was just a story made-up by our superiors so they could use my death to the advantage of our kingdom” Gina said. “That day, I realized the truth about everything just before I died. King Guido tasked me to go to Evermist to act as an ambassador. It was a top secret mission, so I left in secret…”

In the past, in Evermist…

Gina traveled to Evermist, where its well-known mist quickly surrounded her. She had to confess that she felt herself uneasy for being out of her element, surrounded by all that mist and the dense trees.

“Lady Gina of the Scorch Nature, I presume” a voice said.

And an Evermist guard appeared before her and said, with a smile:

“I’ve been sent here to welcome you. It’s truly an honor to meet you. Because of all this caused by the protections around our kingdom, it’s very easy for an outsider to get lost. So we thought that it was better to have somepony to guide you.”

“Thank you very much, but there’s no way I can get lost by following a road like this one” Gina replied.

The guard made a laugh and said:

“Very true… Well then, after you.”

And he made an inviting gesture.

“Thank you” Gina replied, starting to advance.

But then she felt a pain on her back, while feeling a blade trespassing her body, as she was stabbed by the guard, whose inviting look changed into a somber one with an evil smile.

“What… are you doing?” Gina asked, feeling the air getting thicker and harder to breath.

“Showing you the same pain as my comrades when your kingdom killed them!” the guard exclaimed.

He then retreated, as more blades were thrown at her coming from the woods. Gina then fell on the ground, with her body full of blades, feeling the life getting out her, with the guard that welcomed standing at her front, saying:

“Don’t get the wrong idea. Don’t even think that this will satisfy our grudge against you. But at least this sacrifice will be a small comfort. The ones of Aeropolis that betrayed you must be thinking the same thing.”

And then she closed her eyes, as the darkness involved her mind to bring her to the death…

In the present…

“I was used as a bargaining chip with Evermist… sacrificed for the benefit of our kingdom” Gine told.

“That can’t be…” Gretel said.

“Horrible…” Flutter Stream said.

Listening that, Gina looked at her coldly and then said to Gretel:

“For what I can see, one of them appears to have slipped into your ranks. A guard from the Bloody Mist…”

“But all of that was in the past!” Flutter Stream exclaimed. “Queen Mystic Heart dethroned her father, King Cloud Shade, and, since then she has ushered in a new age of peace to Evermist.”

“Do you really think that erases the past?!” Gina exclaimed. “That it erases Evermist’s past of blood and treachery?!”

“Please, stop this, Lade Gina!” Gretel pleaded. “If you want to blame something, then blade our kingdom for betraying your trust. You should blame Aeropolis for casting aside a loyal hero like you. Honestly, I find myself conflicted by your story. But, regardless of that, I strongly believe that is wrong to attack this ponies who have absolutely nothing to do whatever grudge you may be holding right now!”

“They are involved!” Gina shouted.

“That’s because you can’t see the truth, Lady Gina!” Gretel replied. “I learned something by fighting in the Alliance. Even the ones who had great grudges against other kingdoms and the ones that are from them can still find a way to work together and to talk together to understand together and cooperate.”

That made Gina to contort the muscles of her beak and then said:

“If that’s true… THEN WHO CAN GET RID OF THIS GRUDGE THAT FESTERS DEEP IN MY HEART! Are you telling me it can’t be helped! That I should just give up!”

“Well, no…” Gina said.

“Enough of this chatter!” Gina exclaimed. “Besides, I’ve been reincarnated. I couldn’t go against my orders to fight the Alliance even if I wanted to.”

And she summoned four flaming orbs.

“Listen, the two of you get out of you” the light pony told to Gretel and Flutter Stream. “I can give you a magic sphere that will allow you to communicate…”

“No, you just leave all this to me” Gretel said.

And, using the magic in her cloth, she made it extend and got around them, which allowed them to escape.

“That was a nice move” Gina admitted. “But I wonder I far you can go way!”

And she made a movement with the talons and the flaming orbs rose up and combined to make a much bigger orb.

Gretel and the others were hiding between the nearby trees and the former said:

“We can’t defeat her in a straight forward fight. We have to rejoin with the rest of the team.”

“I’ll try to contact them” the light unicorn said.

But, at that moment, Gina activated her spell and then the orb violently exploded with enough force and power that incinerated a large area around it. When that happened, steam could be seen be emitted from the area. Fortunately, the three were able to protect them with Gretel’s cloth that was used to involve them and a water spell used by Flutter Stream. Gretel recovered the cloth and said:

“You saved us Flutter Stream.”

“My water spell is pretty good, isn’t it?” she said.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so useless in this battle” the light unicorn said.

“So this is where you were” a voice said.

They turned and saw Gina on a stone that was nearby.

“You’ve shown you can’t fight and run away from me” she said. “So, how will it be? Are you going to continued our game of hide-and-seek?”

“Mi lady, please, just hear me out for a minute first” Gretel said. “You can’t change the past, but you can make the choice to help build the future. I believe that our experiences, fighting together in the Alliance, will change the relationships between the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest and, because of that, we’ll have a new era where we can avoid the same mistakes. You died as a hero of Aeropolis… Please, remain a hero. I beg you.”

Listening those words, Gina meditated for a while, but then she made a flaming orb appear, much to Gretel’s surprise. But then one of the guards from other squad appeared and tried to attack Gina who dodged and retreated. Another guard appeared him and said to Gretel and the others:

“I’m sorry we’re late, but he run into trouble back there. But fortunately Armored Oath appeared and sealed Sea Wave with his sealing spell.”

“And it seems you have to face a powerful foe with a combined nature” the other guard said.

“Be careful” Gretel warned. “If that flame touches, then it’s all over. Don’t worry, we’ll cover for you two.”

“Good, we’re counting on you” one of the guards said, advancing.

Gretel made the cloth to extend, making it following him. Gina prepared to launch the orb, that the guard that remained behind launched a magic beam that prevented her from doing it. When the guard attacking her prepared to make the blow with the sword, Gina put the orb in front to it him.

“Flutter Stream!” Gretel exclaimed.

“Right!” she said, accessing the magic.

A veil of water appeared between Gina and the guard, allowing the cloth to get wet and then involved the orb and put it out.

“I got you” the guard said.

But noticing another orb, he retreated, while more orbs appeared and surrounded Gina.

“They multiplied?” the guard asked.

Gina advanced to fight the guard with the talons and they started a ferocious fight.

“No, don’t stop moving!” Gina exclaimed.

Another orb approached him, but Gina used the cloth to put it out, while the guard dodged the others. Gina used the cloth to try to put out the orbs and capture Gina, who always dodge the attempts.

“I see that you got better, Gretel” Gina said with a smile. “But I won’t let you capture me!”

And she joined the orbs to form again a bigger one. That was the chance Gretel was waiting.

“On my signal, use maximum water power” she said to Flutter Stream.

“Come on, Gretel, bring it on!” Gina challenged.

“First, you have to pass through me!” the guard exclaimed, advancing again against her.

“Then I’ll take of you first!” Gina exclaimed, preparing to launch the orb.

“Now, Flutter Stream!” Gretel exclaimed.

And when Gina launched the orb, a veil of water appeared in the front and put it out, leaving nothing but steam that blinded Gina, allowing the guard to attack her. But she retreated, with only Gretel’s cloth following her, revealing the other guard on it saying:

“It’s my turn” he said, preparing to use a magical blast.

He hit her, causing an explosion. That forced her to land, having one of the talons ripped off by the explosion. When she barely landed, Gretel cloth didn’t lose time to wrap itself around one of her hind paws.

“We got her know” Gretel replied.

But it was then that Thunder Blitz, completely regenerated, appeared and, touching the cloth, he cut it with the explosive nature.

“It’s Thunder Blitz!” Flutter Stream exclaimed.

“This is bad…” Gretel said.

“These ponies just keep popping up from nowhere” Thunder Blitz said, turning to Gina. “You’re an absolutely mess, Gina. If I have recovered a little later, it would be all over for you. Are they really that good?”

Gina then looked to Gretel’s cloth and then a smile appeared on her face, noticing how her former student had gotten strong.

“The best thing about this body is that you can start over quickly” Thunder Blitz continued. “Well, let’s continue. It’s time to finish this. Let’s start with that sealing spell user.”

Listening that, the two guards put themselves in front Gretel to protect her. Even Gina become paralyzed when he said that.

“We won’t let you” one of them said.

“That’s right” the other said. “And we’ll make sure that you won’t be able to start over again.”

“You have no chance, but you’ll have time to regret that in the afterlife” Thunder Blitz said.

It was then that four of Gina’s flaming orbs appeared around Thunder Blitz. That move from Gina surprised everyone.

“What do you think you’re doing, Gina?” Thunder Blitz asked to Gina.

“If children don’t hurt themselves, they’ll never learn” Gina said. “So I feel in giving them a chance. I’ll give them this opportunity to change their future.”

“I don’t understand” Thunder Blitz said. “Are you really feeling some sympathy for your old comrades?”

“I don’t care how you take this” Gina said, turning then to Gretel. “Now run, Gretel! Go, while I’m still conscious!”

Gretel was speechless by her attitude, but the others agreed with her and they started to retreat. Flutter Stream looked with concern to Gretel, saying:

“Gretel…”

“Let’s go, Flutter Stream” Gretel said, starting also to retreat, along with her.

After they were gone, Gina started to feel her mind being repressed. Both her and Thunder Blitz started to release gas, and the latter said:

“Gina of the Scorch Nature… I always wanted to face you on the battlefield at least once. But it seems I’ll never be able to get that chance now…”

“Yes…” she said. “My consciousness is being taken away.”

And, after thinking about Gretel one last time, the irises of her eyes turned white, along with Thunder Blitz’s, as they were completely taken over by the curse.

After getting to a safe place, the light unicorn tried to contact HQ. Meanwhile, Gretel went to a quiet place, where she kneeled, starting to pray for Gina’s soul to the Lord of Order, hoping to give her some rest for when everything was over.

Shining Armor and Blue Sword

Shining Armor was moving around the woods in the middle of the mist created by the enemy, carrying with his magic the Executioner’s Blade. It was then that he heard acclaiming saying that Armored Oath had been able to seal two of the Swordsponies of the Mist.

“Looks like you did well, Armored Oath” Shining said. “I just hope I can keep the morale up to the rest of the regiment.”

He said that because of all the intel he had received about the Seven Swordsponies of the Mist. According to it, all of them were fearful fighters, what could represent a great difficult for all of them. Now, he went to face two of them who were described as being two of the ruthless of them all.

An explosion nearby caught his attention, while seeing the birds getting away. Shining advanced towards that place where the explosion happened. He could hear a guard asking for help. When he got to the guard, he saw him moving in a strange way.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It’s this strings!” the guard exclaimed. “They’re controlling my body!”

Shining was able to see them, shining while being pulled, at a branch of a tree. They started to pull the guard back. He tried to fight, but it was an useless attempt, as the strings were too much stronger. When he hit the tree, Sharp Needle threw the Sewing Needle, which pierced the tree and then the guards body, retrieving it while the guard died.

He then revealed himself to Shining, who then noticed all the other guards who had been pierced and stitched to the trees around them, some of them having a painful and slow death, what made him look in an angry way to the swordspony, who just laughed. The unicorn couldn’t believe how could exist somepony who took pleasure in crucifying other ponies alive.

All of the sudden, an explosion made the ground under him to shake, while a bunch of guards were thrown by it. Clashing Storm then appeared, waving his blade and making explode all the guards who were down, being dead or alive. Seeing that, Shining advanced towards him with the Executioner’s Blade, exclaiming:

“Stop! Stop it!”

And they started to exchange sword blows, while Shining asked:

“Is this some kind of game for you?!”

He then noticed the one he had just saved that was a young earth mare from Maretonia that he recognized as being called Gleam that was unconscious. Shining then turned to the two swordsponies and told, with a disgusted tone in his voice:

“You two are unforgivable… I feel sympathy and pain for the past generations who had been forced to fight against their will. But you… You’re raveling killing. You’re a disgrace to the ponykind.”

“Stop being so foolish of yourself” Clashing Storm said, with a smile, noticing the Executioner’s Blade in Shining’s possession. “Who give you permission to wield the Executioner’s Blade?!”

And he advanced ready to use the Explosive Blade, only to be blocked by the Executioner’s Blade. They exchanged a few blows and then Sharp Needle exclaimed:

“That sword belongs to the Seven Swordsponies of the Mist!”

And he threw his Sewing Needle, trespassing, to Shining’s shock, Clashing Storm’s body in order to hit him. Using the Executioner’s Blade, he blocked it.

“An outsider using the Executioner’s Blade?” Sharp Needle said, pulling the string to recover his blade while trespassing Clashing Storm’s body even more. “I don’t like it one bit.”

And he advanced to fight Shining, while Clashing Storm’s body recovered. After that, he exclaimed:

“That cocky is mine!”

And he put himself in Sharp Needle’s way to fight Shining, causing another explosion. Shining used the Executioner’s Blade to protect himself from the debris thrown by the explosion. But the same didn’t happened to Sharp Needle, whose body was severely affected by the explosion. However, due to the Reincarnation Curse, he recovered quickly.

Panting for all the effort he did, couldn’t believe that, even though they can’t die, they didn’t considerate each other, making brutal attacks.

“I’m going to kill you and take back the Executioner’s Blade” Clashing Storm said to Shining.

“No, I will” Sharp Needle countered his partner.

That made Clashing Storm to turn to him and said:

“Stay back. I’ll kill you if you get in my way.”

That only made Sharp Needle to laugh and then say:

“I am already dead.”

Clashing Storm grunted and rolled his eyes and then the two started to advance towards Shining. The latter knew that he, alone, wouldn’t be able to handle those two vicious swordsponies. It was then that, after a blast of magic, the ground under Clashing Storm and Shining shacked, what forced them to retreat. It was Blue who casted that spell, appearing in front of Shining, and then told him:

“I thought you could use some help.”

“Blue!” Shining exclaimed with a smile. “Thanks Celestia you’re here.”

“Hey, you’re the one who said to regroup because it was too dangerous to fight in small platoons” Blue replied. “What makes me wonder why you are dealing with this all by yourself, mainly against two Swordsponies of the Mist.”

“I guess I just wanted to protect everypony and got in over my head” Shining said. “Where’s Twily?”

“Dealing with the user of the Lightning Blades” Blue said. “Don’t worry, she has all the help she needs. That’s why I came to help you. We should retreat. By the way you look, your opponents are really strong.”

“You couldn’t be more right” Shining said, going to Gleam while Blue watched Sharp Needle and Clashing Storm.

He tried to wake her up, being able to do so.

“Where am I?” she asked who, after noticing Clashing Storm, exclaimed. “That pony… He killed all my comrades!”

“I know” Shining said. “I’m sorry. Listen, we’ll take care of the enemy, while you go regroup with the main regiment.”

“But, the two of you…” she started.

“We’ll be fine” Blue told her. “For the fight that will start, you’ll only get in the way.”

Although she didn’t want to leave, Gleam got up and said:

“Be careful.”

And she moved away. Shining then turned to the enemy he and Blue had in front of them and the latter said:

“And now you’ll pay for treating our comrades like they are mere toys to play with.”

“Be careful, Blue” Shining advised, while preparing the Executioner’s Blade. “They are Sharp Needle, who wields the Sewing Needle, and Clashing Storm, who wields the Explosive Blade. They both committed many crimes when Evermist was known as the Bloody Mist. One killed his master and the other killed his brother.”

“That’s right!” Clashing Storm exclaimed. “And if you get in my way, I’ll kill you too.”

Sharp Needle just laughed.

“I guess we can call them the cold-blooded combo” Shining said. “We have to stay focused.”

“Don’t worry, we are a better team than them” Blue said.

“I think you’re right about that.”

“Well, let’s go then” Blue said.

And the two pairs advanced towards each other. Clashing Storm attacked Blue Sword, who was able to dodge and defend his attacks. But when he was distracted, Sharp Needle threw needles against him. But Shining appeared and block them with the Executioner’s Blade, going to face him, but then he noticed something that was missing.

“His long blade…” Shining said.

And, pulling a string, Sharp Needle made several wires appear on the ground, stretched. Before he could land, Shining’s quick thinking made him jump on them and exclaim:

“Blue, watch out!”

But before he could do anything, Sharp Needle made his sword return to him and pulled the wire, making all the one he hid in the ground to stretch. Clashing Storm’s leg were completely cut off, but Blue was now stuck by the wire that he tried to cut, but to not avail.

“This wire is unbreakable” Blue said, while using his magic.

After his legs were regenerated, Clashing Storm tried to use the explosion of his sword on Blue. And so a great succession of explosions happened, creating a big crater. At the center of that crater, were Shining and Blue, as the former was able to erect a barrier that protected them, although that didn’t stop Blue being hurt on the hooves because of the wire.

“You really saved me, Shining” Blue said, while the barrier disappeared. “Thanks, brother.”

“I was far too naïve” Shining said, with the eyes closed. “I had all the information about the Seven Swordsponies of the Mist, but I never though they use the fact that they are reincarnated beings so effectively.”

Noticing that Shining didn’t opened his eyes, Blue realized something and asked:

“Shining, did they…”

“Yes, they got my eyes” Shining replied. “I think it’s only temporally, but still… This is bad.”

The two reincarnated swordsponies were at the edge of the crater and saw that them were still alive.

“Two of the Swordsponies of the Mist are our enemies and we’re both in bad shape” Blue said. “I could use my magic to heal my hooves and give us more chances, but I guess that wire is immune to magic. Things don’t look good for us.”

“Blue…”

“Don’t worry, we both have already faced so much worse than this” Blue said. “Have you forgotten about when Fire Punch hold us prisoners at my wedding with Twilight? Or when we faced Rothbart and Medusa? But that’s not the only occasions I can remember. Remember that time when we went to pursue changelings that attacked Vanhoover? It was only us and Silverweed. We were in great disadvantage. I wanted to continue the attack, but you, who were in charge, wanted to retreat. We had a great disagreement and went on my own to face the enemy so you and Silverweed could escape, but the changelings cornered me. It was that moment, when I thought that everything was lost that you appeared to save me. We both fought valiantly, helping each other. That’s what we need to do.”

Knowing what his old friend and brother-in-law was trying to say, a smiled appeared on his friend. They both got up and advanced, with the Executioner’s Blade being left there. While they were running side by side, Blue told Shining:

“You can’t see right now, so try to not push yourself, Shining.”

“If I can’t see, I’ll use my ears, my nose or even my coat” Shining said, while they approached the edge of the crater. “I won’t give up until I save all my friends.”

“So you also remember that time too” Blue said. “I’ll right then, let’s go!”

And they got out of the crater, turning then to Sharp Needle and Clashing Storm.

“Come on” Blue challenged them, with a smile. “Bring it on.”

Preparing their respective swords, the two swordsponies started to turn around the crater, each one going on a different way. Blue started to run along the way that would meet with Clashing Storm with Shining running behind, following the sound of Blue’s steps. When they meet him, Clashing Storm tried to use the Explosive Blade on Blue, but he dodge with a jump. Sharp Needle arrived there and threw his long sword at the latter who, with a quick hooves movement, was able to dodge as well.

Clashing Storm went to use his sword on Shining, but he, determinating where the Pegasus were, made him trip, putting himself back to back with Blue, as the latter faced Sharp Needle and Shining faced Clashing Storm, who got up.

“All right, let’s do this” Blue and Shining said at the same time.

“Don’t underestimate me!” Clashing Storm exclaimed, as he and Sharp Needle went to attack their respective opponent.

However, the two unicorns, due to the time they trained together as children and during the academy, without speaking the time they were best friends, were able to synchronize their attacks in a way that Shining, although couldn’t see at that moment, was able to tell where Blue was and, by matching his movements, we could tell where the enemy was. It was like he was able to see.

The fight brought them to the interior of the crater where Sharp Needle and Clashing Storm’s hostility towards one another started to work against them, as they put themselves in front of each other.

“Hey, move it!” Clashing Storm exclaimed to Sharp Needle, after they bumped against each other.

“You move!” he replied. “Better, why don’t you disappear?!”

“That’s it! I’m going to take care of you first!”

Because of that, Blue and Shining were able to surround them.

“You don’t think of your comrades as comrades” Shining said to them.

“So, in reality, you two were never a match for us” Blue added.

“Shut up!” the two swordsponies exclaimed, going to attack them, only for the two unicorns to teleport away. “Teleportation spell?!”

And so they found them going towards them, both using the light swords. They tried to dodge, but they couldn’t move without hitting each other. They were cornered. They were both hit and Shining asked, while removing his horn from Sharp Needle:

“Did we do it?”

But they were still standing, while their wounds started to regenerate. Clashing Storm exclaimed:

“Okay, that’s it! Now you will pay dearly for that!”

“Watch out, Shining, get back!” Blue warning, while retreating.

Shining did the same as Blue.

“I’ll use my Explosive Blade to explode with this all area!”

“Hey, we may be immortal, but, if you do that, we’ll die!” Sharp Needle exclaimed.

“Maybe, but we won’t know until we try it!” Clashing Storm exclaimed, preparing to do his move.

But, before he could do it, he and Sharp Needle were hit by an immobilization spell.

“What?!” Clashing Storm said, shocked. “I can’t move!”

That spell was casted by a guard who was with a team that included two pony-panthers of the sealing core. They were with Gleam who said:

“Captain Shining Armor! Don’t worry, I brought the sealing team with me.”

Shining was seeing that, as he had recovered his vision. Noticing that, Blue said:

“So, you can see again.”

“Yes.”

When the others approached, Shining said to the pony-panthers:

“Get these two sealed quickly.”

“Yes, sir!” they replied.

“I knew you would be able to avenge their horrible deeds” Gleam said to Shining and Blue.

They didn’t say nothing, remembering that, in that mission that they had recalled befored, the same thing had happening, with Silverweed arriving with reinforcements in order to defeat the changelings. It was funny how that battle was so similar to that situation.

“I think we should go to the other platoons now” Gleam said.

“I agree” Shining said. “Mainly, I want to go help Twily sealing Light Blast.”

“If I know her, she must be at this moment defeating her and sealing her” Blue said.

Like Blue had said, Twilight was going well, with her blocking every attempt of Light Blast to attack her with the lighting of the Lightning Blades. Frustration was been accumulated in the female swordspony, what caused her attacks to become sloppy.

“I’m going to fry you, your little princess!” Light Blast exclaimed.

But, before she could use her Lightning Blades again, Twilight used her magic to disarm her from them, shooting then a magic beam that hit her and threw her against a tree. Using then an immobilization spell to hold her.

“Now, seal her!” she told to a griffon belonging to the sealing team who advanced and used the sealing cloth to seal Light Blast.

After that was done, Twilight was finally able to take a deep breath and then said:

“And it’s another swordspony going down. I wonder how Shining and Blue are going…”

Star Enters the Battle

As the dawn was breaking, the General of Chaos was with the six reincarnated jinchuriki standing still at the hands of the Demonic Statue. Standing behind them was the General of Chaos.

“If Kelp’s intel is correct, Star Knight’s ability is very similar to Heartbeat’s” he said. “He now can sense the enemy in a way even more superior than before. Star won’t have choice. He will have to battle Petal Sprout. It’s all going according to plan.”

He then looked to the full moon that was now descending to give its place to the sun that was rising up and added:

“Today, the light of the Lord of Order in this world shall be extinguished.”

At HQ, Ingrid was explaining everything that happened for King Aspen to allow Star and Hawthorn to join the war.

“King Aspen and my sister were able to intercept Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn, but Star, demanding to pass, made his move, only to have King Aspen to prevent him from advancing” she told. “Lord Hawthorn went to help Star, pleading to his brother to allow them to pass. Even Celestia ended up doing the same. But King Aspen continued to disapprove, however Star’s own light was able to convince the deer king to let him pass. When my sister told me this, I couldn’t just believe. Just to think that King Aspen would be convinced in that way.”

“Well, honestly, I’m not that surprise” White Light said. “There’s just something about Prince Star Knight that allows the impossible to become possible. It runs in the family.”

“But I can’t help but think that he may be moving into the enemy’s hooves” Ingrid said. “Consideration the use of Petal Sprout’s transformation skills, that are even superior to those of a changeling, it just seems just a way to lure Star Knight out.”

“You’re, Your Highness” White Light replied. “This can well be a trap. However, we have no choice but to leave this in Prince Star Knight’s hooves.”

At the medical unit camp, things there were chaotic. The number of injured was increasing, but, due to the clones, all the members of the medical unit in that camp had been isolated to treat the injured that they already had before the infiltration and were sure to not be infiltrators. The injured that arrived later were put outside, while Fluttershy and others were carefully treating them with what they had.

Inside the main medical tend, Cherry, along with the female griffon, were analyzing the body of the clone that the former had been able to defeat.

“It can’t be…” the female griffon said.

“What?” Cherry Blossom asked, approaching her.

“It seems these cells are emitting an energy that is similar to the one released by the General of Nature.”

“You mean Leaf Mane?” Cherry asked, completely caught by surprise. “But why would they… Unless it is emitting the same energy because it has the same nature as her: the wood nature.”

“Yes, I think you’re right” the griffon said. “Since these clones are basically plants, they must be related to King Arbor, the king of trees. I’ve studied in one of the history books that King Arbor once tried to combine ponies and plants in an attempt to fight the ponykind. The Lord of Chaos must have taken that idea to create these things.”

“And since they were created by the Lord of Chaos’ chaotic energy, it is most certain that he used Discord to get them stronger” Cherry said.

“I’ll notify HQ immediately” the griffon declared.

At HQ, Celestia and Aspen arrived and the former said:

“We’re back. Those clones impersonating our troops are causing havoc among them. Perhaps it’s a too bigger coincidence, but I think it’s a great timing to let Star Knight go.”

“We agree” White Light replied.

“And we just received a report from the medical unit regarding Petal Sprout’s clones, sister” Ingrid said. “Would you like to take a look.”

“Yes, thank you, Ingrid” Celestia replied, while taking the report with her magic.

She started to read and her surprise just grew bigger at every line. She couldn’t believe that Petal Sprout had the same energy than Leaf Mane and were created having as a base an old project of King Arbor to get rid of the ponykind. She turned to Aspen and said:

“This is the proof that we need to get rid of all the clones as fast as possible.”

“And do you have an idea to do that?” Aspen asked her.

“No, the opposite” Celestia said. “These things were specially design to kill ponies. Even they are weaker compared to the real ponies, the fact that they can infiltrate even more effectively than any changeling, makes them a real danger. But the problem resides in the fact the Lord of Chaos can replicate them. But I believe that, if we get rid of the ones we are dealing now and become aware of any one that joins the battle, then we can have this under control.”

“The Lord of Chaos is really creative, even being the deity of destruction” White Light observed. “Making an army full of villains, walking plants and reincarnated beings is something that wouldn’t pass in anypony’s mind.”

“We must notify Star and Lord Hawthorn immediately about these clones” Celestia said.

Star and Hawthorn continued to advance towards the war when White Light’s voiced echoed in their heads, saying:

“Prince Star Knight, Lord Hawthorn, please listen.”

He was before Diamond Glow who had a hoof over his forehead to transmit his thoughts to them.

“I’m speaking telepathically with you” White Light said. “Now listen to me. I have intel for you about the enemy’s battle strategy. Pay close attention. ”

He then explained everything about how the clones were impersonating members of the Alliance and killing others.

“That explains all the agitation I’ve been feeling” Star said. “Well, now I don’t have no choice but to step up.”

“Yes, but, remember, the General of Chaos needs the tailed beasts that you and Lord Hawthorn have” White Light advised. “In order for his master’s Eternal Nightmare Curse to work, you will be his main target.”

“I know, but trust me, he won’t capture me” Star ensured.

“Then don’t think about negotiating with him” White Light said. “You can’t reason with him, young prince. He’s the General of Chaos and complete devoted of the Lord of Chaos. His only desire is to disrupt the order and dive this world into darkness and chaos.”

Star remained silent for a moment and then he said:

“They want to control everyone with that curse. That’s what this Project Eye of the Moon is all about, right?”

“Yes” White Light replied. “So make sure that you don’t hold back.”

“That General destroyed the Light Kingdom, he hurt all the ones I loved and he tried to justify the Lord of Chaos’ action saying that he is doing all that because of peace” Star Knight said. “I know how evil he is.”

“He is capable of the same thing as his master” White Light said. “He can use an one’s own darkness and manipulate others to do his will. I know you already faced him, but be careful.”

“It doesn’t matter” Star said. “I’m stopping the General of Chaos and I’m stopping this war. I’ll act first and talk later.”

“Beyond of having the problem with Petal Sprout’s clones, we also have the problem of the General of Chaos having the General of Death under his control and making her use her Reincarnation Curse and send reincarnated beings. Nothing works against them except sealing. They are an army. Beware of them.”

“Actually, that’s the best news you can give me, because it means I don’t have to hold back” Star said.

Hawthorn couldn’t believe how much determination Star had. But then his attention went to something that was in front of them. It was a group of warriors. Seeing them, a deer exclaimed:

“It’s a chaos out there! We have to get back and defend the headquarters!”

It was then that Star, using Nine-Tails’ energy, created a Spiraling Sphere and, with a boost of speed, advanced towards the deer and hit him hard with it. The deer was sent back and he turned into one of Petal Sprout’s clones, who died, and then a tree came from and grew up.

“Now I see why you did that” Hawthorn said, charging his horns with light nature. “Just tell me where to attack.”

“Everyone’s an enemy” Star replied. “Attack them all!”

With their identity revealed, the clones returned to their original forms. With an energy arm, he created various Spiral Spheres and said:

“Let’s do this, Lord Hawthorn!”

The clones advanced towards Star, but then he, with more energy arms, one for each arm, extended the spheres and hit the clones, while Hawthorn tackled others with his horns. Star then created a much bigger sphere with two energy arms and, using the arms, he took some of them and made them hit the sphere. That made them be thrown and have trees growing from them.

Hawthorn, remembering how Star, on that form, was able to disturb Golden Paladin’s steel nature, realized the same was happening regarding the wood nature.

Noticing they couldn’t defeat Star by themselves, the clones that remained combined to create an abdominal combination and they said:

“You won’t defeat us that easily. Now we won’t be affected by your attack.”

Hawthorn prepared to do something, but then Star extended his hoof to stop him and then he made a mini version of his Spiraling Star at his horn and then he threw it, being able to cut one of the legs, making the clones pass from laughing to screams of pain and then, recalling the spell that Leaf Mane taught him, he summoned a great toad from Animarium, one of the ones that helped him against the General of Chaos, that landed and crushed them.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, victorious, at the top of toad.

“Well, I have to say that was very impressive” Hawthorn said. “You even can make a big toad appear…”

“It’s an honor to serve you, Prince Star Knight” the toad said to Star.

“Thanks, because I’ll need your help to keep this are under control along with my clones” Star said. “I’ll make as many as needed to cover all the battlefields.”

And, saying that, he casted the multiplication spell, creating dozens of clones that started to advance in every direction.

Nearby, a griffon of the sealing core and a deer guard were running when, in front them, another griffon, who had been reincarnated and had his consciousness erased, appeared with bluish feathers and carrying a bunch of metal sheers.

“But who is that?” the deer asked. “I don’t like the way he is looking at us.”

The griffon that was with him recognized him and said:

“Oh no, but that’s… That griffon is from Griffonstone and possesses a combined nature. He’s Glen, a magnet nature user.”

“You’re telling me that Griffonstone has a magnet nature user?” the deer asked.

“He deserted from Aeropolis and went to Griffonstone two centuries ago” the griffon said. “If and when he attacks, you must…”

But he didn’t finished, as Glen threw some of his sheers against them. The griffon dodged all of them, but the deer had to use one of his horns to defend one.

“You fool!” the griffon exclaimed. “I said you had to get out of the way!”

“But you didn’t say that!”

“I just didn’t have time to finish” the griffon said. “His magnet nature allows him to put a magnetic charge in everything he touches and those things can transfer that magnetic charge to anything they touch. The charge weakens with each transference. You were the first transference to touch the sheer, so you have that magnetic power in your body.”

“So what will happen to me?” the deer asked, starting to panick.

“Right now, your all body is magnetized” the griffon explained, while Glen prepared to use his magic, preparing more sheers. “And the sheers he possesses are also magnetized. Your body and those sheers will be drawn to each other… which means you won’t be able to dodge his next attack.”

That really scared the guard who said:

“No way… Are you telling me I’m about to die? No!”

But when Glen was about to attack, Star Knight appeared from the sky and hit Glen with a Spiraling Sphere, making him become immobile in the ground. He turned to the two of them and asked:

“Are you okay? Have you been injured?”

That caused Gentle Light to sense Star.

“What was that? What’s going on out there?”

With Glen immobile while his body was regenerating, the griffon hasted to seal him. Meanwhile, the deer asked:

“Lord Hawthorn, what are you doing here?”

“Not much” he replied. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, but you should be here, sir” the deer replied. “Those white beings are disguising themselves like us.”

“Yes, I know” Hawthorn replied. “But you don’t have to worry about that.”

Meanwhile, Star, who had returned to normal, was observing the sealed Glen. So that what White Light was talking about when he said reincarnated beings.

“We were returning to the HQ to protect with the others, but we got ourselves lost” the deer explained.

“That team was consisted of those clones, all of them” Hawthorn said. “You have to be careful with the ones you are with.”

That news really shocked the deer, but then he said:

“Yes, sir.”

“Lord Hawthorn, we have to go” Star said, while covering itself with Nine-Tails’ energy. “We have to catch up with everyone now.”

“Okay” he replied.

And the two advanced, going towards the war.

A Father's Hope, A Mother's Love

Strongpaw, Hard Stone and the Fourth Unit were still waiting for the reincarnated regents who were still advancing calmly to the place where they were. At the top of a rock formation, the two regents were talking.

“We can’t retreat any further” Hard Stone saying, while hovering a few inches from the rock. “It’s time to make a stand right here, right now.”

“Yes…” Strongpaw agreed.

“The first thing the two of us should do is to launch long-range offensives and see how the enemy responds” Hard Stone said.

While the regents were advancing, King Platinum sensed something and then said:

“They were slowing retreating, but it seems they have made up their minds.”

“Fighting other from other kingdoms is understandable, but I don’t care in fighting the ones from my own kingdom” King Gusty Blizzard said. “Curse the General of Death and her damn curse!”

“You and I have never seen eye to eye, but, for the first time ever, I think I agree with you” Platinum said.

“Do not lament” King Alder said. “This is not all bad. I’m sure our children were able to surpass us. They’ll make a stand and they’ll stop us.”

They stopped and then Chief Sandstorm said:

“I really hope you’re right.”

“In coming” Platinum said. “There are two of them.”

And a big sand wave started to approach them.

“Now that’s a lot of sand!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed with a smile.

Sandstorm knew that move very well. That was the power of Shukaku, the One-Tail. He reacted by stomping his front hooves and creating a big wave of gold dust.

“Gold dust?” Alder said, looking to the dust at the air. “I see… You’re the pony-panther that control dust with magnet nature.”

The gold wave shocked with the sand wave, being able to subdue it and stop it.

“You stopped it” Alder said. “Nice.”

“Gold dust is more heavier than sand” Sandstorm explained. “So if I simply mix some gold dust into the sand, I’m able to slow it down.”

“I’m impressed that you’ve been able to defend it so fast and effectively” Gusty Blizzard commented.

“When Shukaku, the One-Tail, would run amok, I would stop his sand just like this” Sandstorm explained.

It was then that he saw him. Floating in some sand over the gold dust was Strongpaw. That had caught him by surprise as he were sure it was Shukaku who was attacking. And so Strongpaw made a gesture and the sand that was mixed with the gold dust erected and caught one leg of the regents, except Platinum that was able to dodge by retreating. But he then sensed somepony else.

“From above!” he exclaimed, while looking up.

And he saw Hard Stone flying above him, preparing to use his particle nature. He made a cone, ready to use. Recognizing him, Platinum said:

“You’re an old stallion, my son! Do you owe your long life to the particle nature?!”

And he also prepare to use particle nature, creating an cylinder.

“Atomic Dismantling Spell!” the two exclaimed.

And they all expanded the objects vertically and they shocked, creating a silent explosion that obliterated any tall rock formation that came into contact with it.

“My father’s particle nature is as powerful as ever” Hard Stone commented.

He positioned himself besides Strongpaw.

“His sand is more powerful than before” Sandstorm commented, touching the sand that was holding him, what cause it and the one that were holding the other two to fall.

“That was particle nature” Gusty Blizzard observed, looking to Hard Stone. “Don’t tell me that’s your son Hard Stone, Platinum. Oh boy, now I do feel like I have travelled through time.”

“Father, it’s been a while” Strongpaw said to Sandstorm.

“Yes, Strongpaw, but where’s Shukaku?” he asked.

“He’s long gone” Strongpaw replied. “And I’m no longer a jinchuriki that you created, father.”

“You’re no longer the jinchuriki?” Sandstorm asked. “What do you mean?”

“Some time ago, those who now control you removed Shukaku, the One-Tail, from me” Strongpaw replied. “And after they did that, they tried to kill me. Fortunately, my friends were able to rescue me in time.”

“Wait, you said friends?” Sandstorm asked. “Are you telling me that you actually have friends?”

But Strongpaw remained silent.

“You didn’t think he had any friends?” Gusty Blizzard asked to Sandstorm. “Did you really think your son would be alone this all time? He was a kid. Everypony has friends at that age.”

“Six, father” Strongpaw said. “You made six attempts to kill me. And in each time, my fear and hatred of you increased. But I no longer arbor any hatred for you now. I even came to understand why you did it. I have become the leader of our kind and it’s a leader’s duty to eliminate any threats against one’s subjects that we must protect.”

That revelation really surprised Sandstorm who then asked:

“You are… the leader of the pony-panthers?”

“And that’s not all of it” Hard Stone said. “He’s been named the commander of the Alliance’s troops in battle. He not only has that position but he also has the respect of the other regents, both from the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest.”

“Now all makes sense” Platinum said. “I found it odd that sensing multiple energy reading coming from a very diverse type of beings all mixed together. Just imagine, the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest working together…”

“Well, I have to say that what he lacks, he sure compensates in power and charisma” Gusty Blizzard commented. “Now that I come to think of it, I’m just like the same.”

“That explains that sorry excuse for a mustache” Platinum said to Gusty Blizzard.

The former king of the Evermist didn’t like to hear that, but he remained with his posture and said to Strongpaw and Hard Stone:

“If you’re going to seal us, why don’t you start with the stone brain here? I’d be more than happy to cheer you on.”

There was a pause and then Alder said to Strongpaw:

“So that’s your son… I can see that he became a wonderful warrior.”

But it was like he wasn’t listen. He was recalling the moment Strongpaw was born…

In the past, in the pony-panther’s oasis…

Strongpaw had just born and the midwife showed him to Sandstorm who said:

“He’s so small… He’s premature… Are you really sure he’s going to be all right?”

“I’m not certain, but he’s adapting, sir” the midwife said. “Of all the children we’ve tried, he’s the only one that’s compatible. He still will need a lot deal of care.”

It was then that Sandstorm’s wife, after the effort of delivering a baby, started to have difficulties in breathing, but, even so, she struggled to say:

“Let me… Let me see… my baby face…”

Sandstorm came rapidly to her side and asked:

“Are you all right, Sand Jewel?!”

“My baby…” she just said.

And so the midwife placed the little foal besides her. Looking at him, a fragile smile appeared on her face.

“He’s just… so tiny…”

One of the medics approached Sandstorm and told him:

“It’s Lady Sand Jewel’s vital signs, sir… They’re dropping…”

“Then do something about it, now!” he exclaimed to him.

But it was too late, as Sand Jewel ended up dying, much to his sorrow, with her having the face of her deer son as the last thing she ever saw…

Years after that, things with Strongpaw had become problematic, as the pony-panthers feared him terrible. It was obvious that he was another failure as jinchuriki to the eyes of the elders. If they didn’t do anything, Shukaku could get released and go amok and harm innocents. Even if he was his son, he had to do what was best to the pony-panthers. So he decided to test him and see if he could contain the One-Tail.

Turning to his brother-in-law, the one Strongpaw had a very close relationship with, Sandstorm in charge him with an attempt to kill him and provoke him emotionally, even if that meant to tell him about his mother. If he was able to control the beast, than he would spare his life. Strongpaw’s uncle wasn’t sure about that, but Sandstorm knew that it was necessary. They needed to take the only think he loved the most.

Strongpaw’s uncle then went to do Sandstorm’s orders and, while his young nephew was looking at the full moon, he attempt against his life, with Sandstorm observing everything to the use of the Third Eye Spell. Obviously, Strongpaw’s Shield of Sand protected him, what caused the young one to react and fatally attack him with the sand, but with the latter telling him that his mother hatted him and that he also hated him for being the cause of his sister’s death. Because of all that, Strongpaw let himself be controlled by Shukaku, who immerged from him. Seeing the tailed beast, Sandstorm said:

“Another failure… Strongpaw is useless to us now.”

In the present…

Strongpaw and Hard Stone descended, but still floating over crater on the sand created by the collision of the two particle natures. The unit could be seen at some distance behind them.

“It seems this Reincarnation Curse may have some merit after all” Sandstorm said. “Come and show me. Let me determinate if you’re worthy, Strongpaw. Can you defeat me or can’t you?!”

“Yes, Hard Stone, you must stop me” King Platinum said to his son. “Against the particle nature, the number of opponents doesn’t matter. You’re the only one that can defeat me.”

“I’m aware of that” Hard Stone replied.

“And also you must remember what happens to allies after a victory” Platinum continued. “Once the war is over, the alliance is too and becomes fights for the spoils of victory. That what’s truly decides which kingdom is the victor.”

“Hey, knock it off, Platinum!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed to his old rival. “You’re just playing dirty right now.”

“I won’t let that happen” Alder told.

“I don’t have any intension in doing that, my father” Hard Stone said. “Not at all.”

That made everyone turn to him.

“I see…” Platinum said. “So it seems you didn’t turn into a stubborn old geezer.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that yet” Gusty Blizzard said. “In any case, we can’t control our bodies right now. We have been sent to automatically neutralize any spell that the enemy may use against us. So, hurry and kill us to return us to the afterlife. We’ll even tell you about our powers and weaknesses.”

“But, still, it will be up to you to stop us” Alder said. “And it’s not going to be an easy task.”

And then sand get out of Strongpaw’s bag and went against the reincarnated beings. Automatically, Sandstorm sent gold dust. The two attacks collided, with none having any advantage. But then Strongpaw made two talons of sand get out from the sand.

“Move in, everyone!” Hard Stone exclaimed to the unit.

And so they all advance, starting to cross the crater. King Alder through the crater, while King Hard Stone flied towards his father who was running against him as well. While the battle between the sand and the dust continued, Strongpaw raised his hoof and said:

“Now, sand.”

And a shower of sand fell from the main stream, starting to fall over King Alder. Sandstorm reacted by making the gold dust around him to act as a shield. But, by doing that, he got distracted and, realizing that, he looked down and saw the sand under him starting to involve him, Gusty Blizzard and Alder. The sand he used before was just a distraction to make him remove the gold dust.

When Sandstorm only had a hoof, his shoulders and head were the only things out, the sand that involved him started to get the form of a faceless mare. With his free hoof, Sandstorm tried to use his gold dust to attack his son from up. But the Sand Shield reacted by making two big sand hooves cover him. That made Sandstorm become speechless, as he couldn’t believe how Strongpaw had evolved.

“You have truly grown up… Strongpaw” he reincarnated pony-panther said, while the sand covered his free hoof.

Strongpaw became a little disturbed seeing his father making a remorseful look. The latter then said:

“What parents need to do is to believe in their children… That one simple thing. It’s the real treasure…”

The surprise in Strongpaw intensified even more. Sandstorm, that now was involved by sand that took the form of a mare that was involving the former leader of the pony-panthers with a strong hug, while his gold dust started to fell, said, but not to his son:

“Isn’t that the whole truth, Sand Jewel? Now I see it clearly. I didn’t possess the ability to judge the true value of things.”

“What do you mean by that?” Strongpaw asked.

“No matter what, the sand will always protect you” Sandstorm said. “But that is not Shukaku’s power. It belongs to your mother. It’s Sand Jewel’s. You’re mother… loved you.”

That made Strongpaw become in shock by hearing those words.

“Father, did you… just said that my mother loved me?” he asked. “But, at that day long ago, when my uncle came after me…”

“I told him to lie you then” Sandstorm confessed. “He was merely following orders. I had to see if you would lost control of the tailed beast inside you if you were distraught… for the sake of our kind. If there was somepony that your uncle hated was me and not you. I forced his sister to suffer the sealing of Shukaku. But he was true pony-panther warrior and was loyal to me. He followed my orders for the sake of our kind. It was all a mistake. Sometimes it seems that everything that I did was a mistake. I burned you unnecessarily. I’ve decided that you didn’t have any utility to our kind or to anypony else. I took away your future by turning you into a jinchuriki, wrath to your mother and I poisoned you against her. I took away everything: your ability to not love others. I even tried to take your life. And finally, there’s one thing as a parent that I gave you… the only thing that you got from me was a broken heart.”

Those words even caused more confusion to Strongpaw as a turmoil of emotions happened inside him. Tears covered his eyes and then started to fall on the sand beneath him. The hooves that were protecting him belonged to another mare made of sand whose face were now revealed as being his mother’s. Sandstorm looked at her with his distraught look and then lowed it, saying then:

“Mothers are powerful. Yours protected and believed you, even after death. She’s the one that made you who you are today. She allowed you to get your full potential as the leader of the pony-panther and to make friends. She gave you bonds to your community. All the things that I took away from you. As your father, all I ever did was to torment you. I don’t even deserved to be called your father.”

And so, after his silent crying, Strongpaw said:

“My mother was amazing… Thanks to her, I know got from you what I needed to cure my heart, father.”

Looking at his son, tears appeared on his eye and then he said:

“Strongpaw… my son…”

And a paper containing a sealing spell appeared on the sand and the sand covered all of Sandstorm, while a smiled appeared on his face with tears falling from his eyes and saying his last words:

“You’ve surpass me long ago. I leave our kind to you… Strongpaw.”

And the gold dust fell completely, after its user was completely sealed…

The Remorseful Villains

Pandora and Scorpan were walking around a lake when Pandora said:

“We’ve been walking for quite a while, ever since the sun began to rise. It has to be time for has to fight then.”

“But the question is who will we fight against” Scorpan said.

They continued to advance but it was then that Pandora felt something familiar approaching.

“No way…” she said.

“Are they close?” Scorpan asked.

“Something feels familiar…” she replied. “Nostalgic…”

And it was then that Star Knight and Hawthorn appeared before them, whit the former landing, seeing Pandora and Scorpan.

“Pandora…?” Star asked. “Is that you?”

“You know these ones, Star Knight?” Hawthorn asked.

“Only that filly” Star replied. “She’s Pandora, one of the Lord of Chaos’ villains that once invaded the Light Kingdom, when I was eight. I was able to stop her and reform her thanks to my gift. It was at that moment that I got my Cutie Mark.”

“Wait, you’re Star Knight?” Pandora asked, looking surprise. “I can’t believe it… You’ve really grown up.”

“So that’s the prince I have heard about” Scorpan said.

“Yes, and he sure is a box full of surprises” Pandora said. “I couldn’t have imagined that a little colt like him would be able to make me return to the light.”

“I never thought I would see you again, Pandora” Star said. “At least, not like this.”

“Me too” she replied. “But even though it has been years for you, it has been just a few moments to me.”

Pandora noted the energy surrounding Star and then said:

“You look different.”

“You mean this?” Star asked, looking to his hooves. “This is because I’m in control of Nine-Tails’ energy.”

“Impressive…” Pandora said with a smile. “I couldn’t expect less.”

“That’s quite a feat, having in count that Nine-Tails is said to be untamable” Scorpan said.

“Hey, but I have to say that, if he’s in control it’s thanks to me” Hawthorn said. “After all, I am the teacher.”

“You sure know how to take credit, even when it is not all yours…” Star commented to Hawthorn.

“But Nine-Tails is like the embodiment of hate” Scorpan said. “Have you really been able to overcome hate?”

“Sure did, but only thanks to Lord Hawthorn who oriented me at the Waterfall of True, along with all the love of my family, friends and everyone else” Star replied.

“I see…” Pandora said. “I’m very happy for you.”

Gentle Light, through the Reincarnation Curse, was able to realize what she had felt before.

“So, it seems I found you first, Prince Star Knight. Perhaps, I can use this situation in my favor. I just have to play my pieces well and take advantage of the little prince’s skills. I may have told the General of Chaos how the Reincarnation Curse, but I didn’t tell everything about it.”

And she chuckled and charged her horn with magic.

Pandora and Scorpan felt her commanding to attack them. Star was also able to feel that. The little unicorn charged her horn and launched a big fireball to the two jinchuriki. Hawthor reacted by taking Shark Skin and cutting the fireball that was divided in two, while burning the bandages that covered it. That made the sentient sword to hit Hawthorn with the tip of its handle.

“Yeah, yeah, I know that fire nature is not your favorite” Hawthorn told it. “Sorry about that.”

“That was an intense attack” Star said.

“Star Knight, don’t forget that they are being controlled” Hawthorn remembered.

With his great speed, Scorpan took flight very high quick and prepared to make a dive.

“Be careful!” Pandora exclaimed.

“We know” Star said, taking also fight.

And he blocked Scorpan’s attack. The started to fight between each other and then the gargoyle said:

“I believe we didn’t have time to introduce ourselves. My name is Scorpan and, like Pandora, I’m also a former servant of the Lord of Chaos. I may say that turning good was what get me killed.”

“It’s good to meet you, Scorpan” Star Knight replied, while dodging and countering his attacks.

Hawthorn joined the fight, using Shark Skin, what forced Scorpan return to Pandora’s side.

“You’re not the young colt I met” Pandora said, with a smile. “Just for fun, let’s see how much you can do.”

And charging her horn with dark magic, she casted a powerful dark beam. Seeing that, Star enacted his shield. He could see how powerful Pandora was. But, in the end, he was able to defend it completely.

“Very nice” Pandora complimented.

But then Scorpan raised one of his hands, while saying:

“Oh no…”

And Star felt a force pulling him. It was similar to the power the General of Chaos had and that he sealed inside Pandora’s box. It would appear he was not the only one having that power. Then, Scorpan made a great boulder get out of the lake and made it and Star get in collision course. Fortunately, Star was quick to make an energy arm that penetrated the boulder and made it crack, while throwing him against the ground and using his wings to stop in the air.

“That was nicely dodge, Prince Star Knight” Scorpan said.

“Thanks” Star replied. “I already faced that trick with the General of Chaos. I know how to deal with it.”

Pandora then felt what she was about to do now.

“Prepare yourselves, this is going to be huge” she warned.

With her magic, she casted a summoning spell and two great gytrash.

“Oh no, not those things again!” Star exclaimed.

With a great spped, Scorpan went behind Hawthorn and told him:

“I’m behind you.”

“I got you” Hawthorn replied, swinging his sword to make Scorpan retreat.

The gargoyle then punched the ground and then made stone shards been thrown against the deer, but the latter was able to defend with his horns. It was then that one of Eight-Tails’ tentacles erupted from the ground, as Hawthorn had made it go underground before, grabbing Scorpan.

“I told you that I got you” Hawthorn told him.

While Star was dodging the attacks of the gytrash, counter-attacking later, Hawthorn was making the tentacle descend while approaching. But, suddenly, Scorpan disappeared and Hawthorn replied:

“An illusion spell…”

Scorpan reappeared from behind the tentacle and told him:

“Pandora may be fighting Prince Star Knight, but it doesn’t mean she can’t help me with you. Beware with her magic.”

And he then advanced to attack Hawthorn, getting at his edge, ready to give him a punch. But, at that moment, in his mind, Eight-Tails hit him at the head and told him:

“Hey, wake up, Hawthorn!”

And that made him wake up and realize that the real attack was coming from up. Reacting, he swung Shark Scale and hit Scorpan, who opened his wings and retreated to a safe place. Dropping the sword, Hawthorn started a close combat with Scorpan, using his horns.

Star used a Spiraling Star on one of the gytrash, while Pandora observed at the top of the head of the other. But, even with his strongest spell, he couldn’t defeat it.

“Damn, this thing is hard to destroy!” the young alicorn said.

“These are two of the strongest gytrash in Discord” Pandora said. “You’ll need to knock me out.”

And then she felt the curse ordering her to cast an illusion spell on Star. Pandora did so, having to look on Star’s eyes. It was then that she felt the same sensation she did when she was reform. It was the power Star had on his eyes, reminding her of who she was. But the most amazing thing was that she started to feel the control of the curse over her weakening until it was reduced to nothing.

Gentle Light felt that and a smile appeared on her face.

“One down, one to go” she said.

Pandora, regaining the control over her body, made the gytrash where she was to attack… Scorpan, separating him from Hawthorn.

“What the…” Hawthorn said.

“What happened?” Scorpan said, turning to Pandora. “Why did you attacked me?”

Pandora didn’t replied, as she opted to undo the summoning spell, and the two gytrash disappeared, but not before making the one where she was to cast a bluish fireball that hit Scorpan and threw him against the ground. When both her and Star landed, the latter asked:

“How…?”

“Relax, I’m no longer under the control of the Reincarnation Curse” Pandora replied. “I suspect that Gentle Light took advantage of your presence to finally be able to free herself by making you release me from her control.”

“I don’t understand” Star replied. “How can that be?”

“Your gift, remember?” Pandora replied. “You have the power to make anyone to remember their true self. With that, I was able to get out of the control of the curse, like when you turned me good.”

“I see…”

Hawthorn approached and asked:

“What are you talking about?”

“Long ago, I invaded the Light Kingdom to open my box and get all the darkness that was there” Pandora told. “But Star used his gift to make me remember the time before I became corrupted by the Lord of Chaos and my deep desire to be good again. It was how I was able to be reformed. It was that power that was able to disrupt the control of the Reincarnated Curse enacted by the General of Death.”

“Wait, you said that she took advantage of that to release you” Star Knight said. “Why would she do that?”

“She’s a General of Order and, as such, she doesn’t tolerate working with for the Lord of Chaos and his villains” Pandora said. “But, even under his control, she can be very subversive.”

“Wow, she makes remember of Heartbeat” Star said.

“You’re not too far from the truth” Pandora replied.

At that moment, Scorpan used his repulsive power to repel the flames on him and then his body started to regenerate, with his mind being subjugated completely. When they turned to Scorpan, he had already disappeared.

“Where did he go?” Star asked.

And then he felt being pushed away. Star tried to use his wings to slow down, but then he saw Scorpan appearing above, ready to attack him. But Hawthorn, at his second phase transformation, hit him and then started another close fight. However, when he got in contact for very long, the deer lost the energy coat, with it being absorbed by the gargoyle.

“You’re absorbing my energy?!” he asked.

But Scorpan then just threw him with the repulsive spell. Hawthorn was able to land on his hooves and Star landed before him and asked:

“Are you okay, Lord Hawthorn?”

“Yes, but that really caught me off guard” he replied.

Pandora teleported to their side and said:

“We have to be very careful. Scorpan used to be a powerful entity follower to the Lord of Chaos. He and his brother Tirek used to be the most feared necromancers between the villains that operated in the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest.”

“We have to stop him and maybe I can use my power to release him from the Reincarnation Curse” Star Knight said.

“But how are we going to do that when he has that attractive and repulsive power?” Hawthorn asked.

“Well, believe or not, there’s a weakness to any magic” Pandora said. “Even the Reincarnation Curse has a weak point, like we could see before.”

“Yes, I know what that is to those spells” he replied. “There’s a minimal time interval between each time he use those spells. It’s only five seconds, so we have to chronometry this very well.”

Scorpan advanced towards them and Star flight against him, with the two shocking into a battle of strength. Pandora then advanced and launched a powerful beam. Noticing that, Scorpan repelled that attack with the repelling spell. Taking advantage of that, Hawthorn appeared, having been hidden by Pandora’s illusion spells, and, with his horns, he caught Scorpan and pinned him against the ground. Acting quickly, Star casted a spell to prevent the gargoyle from doing magic.

“You have to do it now, Star” Pandora said.

Turning Scorpan’s face to him, Star, recalling the last time he used consciously his power, did the same with him. Like Pandora, Scorpan experienced the same thing as her and his eyes returned to have the consciousness.

“You can release me now” he said. “I’m free from the curse.”

They did so and Scorpan stretched his members and then said:

“Finally I can move at my will!”

“And now what?” Hawthorn asked. “What can we do now?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t keep using my eyes do to what I just did” Star said. “It needs a lot of focus, something that I can’t do in the middle of a battle by myself.”

“Maybe you don’t have to” Pandora said. “I and Scorpan can stop the Reincarnation Curse. We just have to release Gentle Light.”

“But I can help you with that” Star said. “I can create more clones and…”

But right after he created a clone, he lost the Nine-Tails’ energy that surrounded him.

“Looks like you have already used all the Nine-Tails’ energy you had” Hawthorn said. “You can’t use more clones, Star.”

“Don’t try to do everything by yourself” Pandora said. “It’s one of your worst qualities.”

“We have the best chance to do this” Scorpan said.

“Yes, but…” Star started while the clone disappeared and fatigue invaded his body.

“You’re very strong, but you’re not seeing what is more important” Pandora said. “I know what you have done and I have to tell you that’s the reason why everypony stopped to fear and hate you. You showed them that you understood them and you fought for their assistance. But, if forget everypony else because you have power, you’ll become arrogant and egocentric and eventually you’ll become just like the villains you fight.”

Those words made Star remain silent.

“Don’t take it all by yourself” Pandora continued. “Because, if you do, you’ll certainly fail. That’s the main reason why both the Lord of Order and Lord of Chaos have followers. Don’t forget, becoming a ruler, like your mother, is not only having others acknowledging you, but also be already acknowledged. Never forget your friends.”

Star then remembered the friends he had at the academy, mainly Moonlight, and that have been always by his side, the ones that were right now fighting for him and even the Generals of Order.

“She’s right, Star” Hawthorn said. “You can’t do this all by yourself. After all, I sworn I would protect you.”

After a moment, Star said:

“You’re right. For a moment, I forgot about that.”

Pandora smiled and then said:

“Now that’s Star Knight I remember. Lord Hawthorn, please, protect him.”

“But of course” he replied.

She nodded to him and then, after a last smile, she climbed to Scorpan’s back and then he took flight.

Sensing the two released reincarnated beings advancing to find her, Gentle Light smiled and said:

“Finally I will have the chance to release myself from the control of the Lord of Chaos and his disgusting General. They will learn that they can’t mess with the General of Death.”

The King of Mirages

Soon after Strongpaw had sealed his father inside a sand statue of his mother, King Gusty Blizzard was about to be sealed as well.

“Excellent!” he exclaimed, seeing the sealing paper on the sand that was holding him. “This sealing spells will stop us. That was very nicely done, Chief Strongpaw!”

But then he noticed that the sand was starting to get wet.

“What’s this?” he asked.

King Alder, that was being also sealed, was involved by the same electric aura as his son’s and he was able to get rid of the sealing paper with his hoof pearcing through the sand.

“What’s going on?!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed, while the sand around the paper got wet and then fell. “No! Somepony has to stop this! I want to be sealed away now!”

“It’s entirely out of control!” King Alder exclaimed, while he started to get out of the sand. “Our bodies have been programmed to automatically counter any of the enemy’s offensives!”

And the two kings were able to get out, starting to advance towards the unit that was advancing, starting to attack some of them with their powers. That made the unit to try to surround them.

Meanwhile, Hard Stone was fighting against his father.

“Atomic Dismantling Spell!” Hard Stone exclaimed, while creating a cone.

And he launched his attack. Platinum replied with the same spell, but using a cylinder. The shock of the two spells caused another explosion of light that completely destroyed everything that it touched. After it, Hard Stone was panting due to the energy that he used on those last attacks.

“You’ve got old, Hard Stone” his father said.

“Nonsense!” he replied, still panting.

It was then that Platinum turned invisible. Now that would be a problem.

“Without the help of the leader of the pony-panthers and sensory skills, you’ll surely die, my son” Platinum said.

The Fourth Unit had been able to surround Alder and Gusty Blizzard, but a few had fallen while doing that.

“Do not underestimate my magic” Gusty Blizzard warned. “You seriously need to stand back. For real.”

That caused a little fear on the nearby guards and then he continued:

“Now, listen my weaknesses. I use illusion spells, beyond that I can also summon a certain creature that live in the most remote zone of my kingdom.”

And, accessing to his magic, he summoned a giant clam, what caused the guards to retreat as fast as they could. Gusty Blizzard teleport to the top of the clam.

“And I’m a light nature user” Alder said. “Line up your earth nature users and use them as shields and attack with your wind nature users.”

“Thanks for your intel” a female griffon said. “There is anything else you want to tell us?”

“I’m not in control of my body!” Alder said. “There is no more time for talk. Come on!”

And, with a great jump, he started to move away. The griffon said to the unit:

“You heard him! Wind and earth natures users, follow me! Sealing unit, you too.”

Seeing King Alder getting away, Gusty Blizzard felt more relieved to know he would be fighting for himself, as, if they stacked together, the Alliance wouldn’t be able to seal them. He then turned to Chief Strongpaw and asked him:

“So, do you have a strategy, Chief Strongpaw?”

He looked at him for a few seconds and then he said to the rest of the unit:

“I’m leaving you in charge here.”

They all looked in shocked to him.

“Hey, hold on, what kind of tactic is that?!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed to him. “Didn’t you hear me? I use illusion spells! This giant clam can cast powerful illusions that can cover a very wide area. Physical attacks won’t work. I’m talking about a mirage!”

“I can tell that you don’t have the desire to kill” Strongpaw said.

“No, of course not” Gusty Blizzard said. “Why would I? I can’t stand the idea of being manipulated by another. That’s why I want you to seal me as quick as possible!”

But Strongpaw simply started to move away, while saying to the others:

“Deal with him.”

“Hey, come back!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed.

“You can count on us” a guard said.

“We’ll get that wispy whiskers” another said.

Listening that, Gusty Blizzard became insulted and said:

“Wispy whiskers… How dare you to call me that?! I don’t care about the Reincarnation Curse anymore! I’ll kill you…”

Noticing that, the guards positioned themselves ready to attack. When Gusty Blizzard’s rage calmed down, he sighed and said:

“How awkward…”

“Let’s get them, guys!” a guard exclaimed.

And they all acclaimed to that. Seeing their enthusiasm, the king smiled and then said:

“I’m counting on you. So show what you can do.”

And the giant clam opened its shell to let its siphons get out and, from them, it released a mist that quickly covered all the area. Everyone got ready with their blades and other weapons.

“Good… Now you looked like you mean business” Gusty Blizzard said. “Listen up! I’ll tell you one more time! Attacking the me before you is completely pointless…”

At another point of the desert, Hard Stone was stopped in the hair, while trying to figure out where is father was. Platinum then said:

“Your sensing skills are useless against me.”

“You shouldn’t underestimate me, father” he replied.

And then he casted a multiplication spell that caused him to make stone get out of his mouth and created six clones that positioned themselves around the original.

“So you’ll overwhelm me with numbers” Platinum said. “That might work.”

Strongpaw was crossing the desert above his sand.

At the place where the rest of the unit was facing the former king of Evermist, they have thrown their attacks, the weapons getting stuck at the stones or at the sand. Gusty Blizzard was pinned at a stone with blades crossing his body. For a moment, they thought they have gotten him, but then Gusty Blizzard opened his eyes and simply passed through the blades.

“Do you even know how to listen?” he asked to the guards. “I told you that attacking this me is pointless. This me is only a mirage.”

“So, what do we do then?” a guard asked.

“Are you kidding me?” Gusty Blizzard asked, not wanting to believe how ignorant those guards were. “First you need to defeat my giant clam. It is the one that is creating the mirage all along. It’s shell is hard, so use large-scale weapons or magic blasts.”

“Yes, but…” another guard said.

“But what?” Gusty Blizzard asked.

“We used our weapons at the last attack” the guard replied.

Noticing the weapons, Gusty Blizzard rolled his eyes and then said:

“Come, on. Just hurry on and retrieve all your weapons.”

And they all went to retrieve the weapons. That situation left Gusty Blizzard exasperated. When they all got the weapons, they then attack the giant clam with them and magic blast, in unicorns’ case. An explosion happened due to the magical attacks and the guards questioned if they did it. But then the clam appeared at some distance of the explosion.

“Damn it!” Gusty Blizzard’s voiced exclaimed. “I can’t stand it anymore!”

They all turned and saw with confused looks the reincarnated king at the other side.

“Listen to me, I keep telling you the same thing” he said. “That clam there is also a mirage, your idiots. You have to go after the real one.”

“But where is the real one?!” a guard asked.

All that was starting to give a headache to Gusty Blizzard who said, while pointing to the void:

“Just like I said, it is hiding somewhere behind me, using a mirage as a cover.”

A guard threw a blade that passed through the king and when hit the rock formation behind.

“How many times do I have to say it?!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed, starting to get really upset. “Attacking this me is useless!”

“Well, actually I was pointing to the giant clam behind you” the guard replied.

“I told you that this it’s just a mirage, your idiot!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed.

But that only filled the guards with confusion and one of them even called the reincarnated king “wispy whiskers”, what ignited his anger again. That caused the guards to retreat again, fearing that Gusty Blizzard attacked them. He sighed after calming down and then said:

“How awkward…”

The guards went to retrieve their weapons again.

Hard Stone and his clones were quiet trying to perceive were his father. It was then that an Atomic Dismantling Spell was casted and disintegrated one of the clones. Because of that, Hard Stone started to look around and asked:

“Where did that come from?”

He moved around the air, trying to know where his father was. A few grains of sand hit something behind him and then Strongpaw’s voice exclaimed:

“Behind you, King Strongpaw!”

That made Hard Stone to make a sudden move to dodge, but that only made him do a wrick on his back, what cause him to start to descend, while Strongpaw arrived on his sand and Platinum appeared, flying like his son and preparing to use another particle nature spell.

“Atomic Dismantling Spell!” he exclaimed, making a cylinder and preparing to cast it.

It was then that Strongpaw’s attention went above Platinum, where one of Star Knight’s clone was preparing a Spiraling Sphere with multiple spheres over his hoof. He went to hit Platinum, but he was able to dodge.

“Damn it…” Star said.

“King Platinum has sensory skills!” Hard Stone exclaimed.

“Chief Strongpaw, sand!” Star asked.

With a wave of hoof, the leader of the pony-panther made a platform of sand like the one where he was and, using an energy arm, Star was able to impulse him up with the help of his wings. Platinum became very impressed with that improvised move and then exclaimed to the young prince:

“Try to dodge this! My spell is faster than yours!”

But that was true, as Star created an energy arm that approached the spheres at him faster. And he hit him, throwing him them with such a strength that Platinum went against the ground, passing through rock formations and then hitting the sand and then being thrown through it, stopping only when Hard Stone, having moving to there, stopped him with one hoof and then applied at him the gravity spell that he used to fly, but instead making him heavy, something that made the sand under him to sag a little.

“Thanks to that, you’re so heavy that you won’t be able to move or charging your horn” Hard Stone said to his father.

While Strongpaw descended his sand and Hard Stone massaged his back, Platinum told to the later:

“You used to hate the other kingdoms, even those who didn’t belong to the Enchanted Forest, but now you work so well with them, son.”

Hard Stone smiled and then replied:

“Well, father, I learned it’s worth to live a long life. You get to enjoy change.”

With a move, Strongpaw made the sand to cover Platinum’s body.

“Don’t let your guard down yet” Platinum said to Hard Stone. “I’m still…”

But he didn’t finish, as he was completely covered by the sand and sealed. After that, Star Knight landed.

“Nicely done!” he said. “You were good there, Chief Strongpaw. You too, King Hard Stone. It’s an honor to finally meet you.”

“You know who I am, boy?” Hard Stone asked, surprised.

“But of course” he said. “I learned everything I could from my History class at the academy.”

“What are you doing on the battlefield, Prince Star Knight?!” Strongpaw asked. “Why are you here?!”

“Well… it’s a long story” Star replied.

“You better have an explanation to convince me” Strongpaw said.

It was then that White Light came into contact with them with the help of Diamond Glow.

“That’s not possible” he said. “So I’ll do the talking. I’m Captain White Light from HQ. King Hard Stone, Chief Strongpaw, you were in the middle of battling, so I thought in letting the complicated talk for later.”

“Alright, we’re all ears” Hard Stone said, taking flight. “But the fight is not over. We must head out soon. You can tell us on the way.”

And they all took flight, advancing toward the other battles.

Back to where the unit was fighting Gusty Blizzard, all of them were lying on the ground.

“You know, I’m really trying to win against you” the king said.

“You’re just too strong for us” a guard said.

“Still, you must seal me” Gusty Blizzard said. “Otherwise, I’ll remain a puppet controlled by the enemy. And I loath to stay like this, believe me. Okay, everypony, get up.”

And they started to get up, although reluctantly.

On their way to the other battles, Hard Stone and Strongpaw had been told what was happening with the other units and the reason why Star was at the battlefield.

“So that’s it” Hard Stone said. “I can’t believe that even King Aspen relented. Very well, I understand.”

“I’ll cease transmitting now” White Light said, with the telepathic spell ceasing.

“Prince Star Knight, it’s good that you’ll go to each battlefield to identify transformed enemies” Strongpaw said. “But as a former jinchuriki, I know. The Nine-Tails’ energy you have… Are you sure it’s safe to use it so heavily?”

There was a pause and then he replied:

“You know what? I don’t plan to die at this war. Just because of my age, it doesn’t mean you can treat me like a foal.”

That made Hard Stone with a curious look to Star. He had the same look as his parents, what made him conclude he share the same determination as them.

“I’ll take care of the right battlefront” Star said then. “You guys go to the left.”

When he was about to move away, Strongpaw told him:

“Prince Star Knight, King Alder is at that battlefield.”

“Got it” he replied.

After he was away, Hard Stone told to Strongpaw:

“And our opponent will be King Gusty Blizzard, Queen Mystic Heart’s grandfather.”

“Yes, the user of illusion spells” the pony-panther said.

“Well, ordinary combat methods won’t work against him” Hard Stone said.

At the battlefield of Gusty Blizzard, the guards had attack again, but they hit, again, another illusion of the clam that disappeared.

“Why do I bother to tell you that is a mirage?” Gusty Blizzard at the other side with the clam. “Go pick them up.”

The guards went to pick their weapons, but then Gusty Blizzard noticed a guard from Evermist and called him:

“Hey, you there.”

The guard looked at him and asked:

“Are you talking to me?”

“Yes, you. You’re from Evermist, aren’t you? Aren’t you familiar with my magic?”

“Sorry, I only know a little about you, Your Highness” the guard replied. “I only know about your granddaughter, Queen Mystic Heart.”

That made Gusty Blizzard take a hoof to his face and say:

“Evermist’s obsession with secrecy is to blame for this. If I knew things would be like this, I would have let behind a more memorable legacy. Well, at least I get to know I have a granddaughter.”

It was then that he saw the sand around him become wet with a mixture of water and oil. That could only mean one thing.

“Hey, all of you!” he exclaimed to the guards that turned to him. “Playtime is over. You have to take me seriously right now.”

“But we have been serious this all-time” a guard replied.

“I don’t have control over my body” Gusty Blizzard said, while bubbles started to come out the wet sand. “It’s casting spells on its own. Damn it, I can’t stand being used like this. It’s my Water Balloon Spell. Defend yourselves!”

And the bubbles were launched with a lot of speed and force. The guards prepared for the impact, but then sand rose up and protected them from the bubbles.

“What…” Gusty Blizzard asked.

The wet sand got down and Strongpaw made his presence be noticed, much to the guards’ happiness.

“Hey, what took you so long?” Gusty Blizzard asked. “Now, I hope this time you’ll be able to seal me.”

“Yes, that’s what I came to do” Strongpaw replied.

“I’m looking forward for it” Gusty Blizzard replied.

And he launched more bubbles against the leader of the pony-panthers. Using the sand under him as a shield, Strongpaw landed on the ground. Gusty Blizzard used his bubbles again against the unit, but Strongpaw used sand to protect them, but not even that was able to block all the bubbles, whose blunt force cause an explosion under them. More bubbles were cast against more members of the unit.

“Look around and pay attention” Gusty Blizzard said to Strongpaw.

A lot of bubbles were thrown against Strongpaw, whose shield protected him. The guards of the unit where lying on the ground, trembling, with only a few barely standing. Gusty Blizzard turned to Strongpaw and asked:

“Is that all you got?”

Strongpaw had to admit that defending all those attacks was grueling.

“I’ve been telling you my weaknesses” Gusty Blizzard said. “You guys are useless.”

While seeing his wet sand falling, Strongpaw realized it was more oil than water. Even if used sand to defend, it would just sip in and collapse.

“You tried to stop Platinum first, didn’t you?” Gusty Blizzard said. “You always have to stop the strongest opponent first! That’s what winning a battle is all about!”

“We did” Strongpaw replied.

That answer really upset Strongpaw who said:

“Oh, please, it’s obvious that I’m the stronger one. Don’t you think I’m right?”

“Maybe…” Strongpaw replied. “However appearances can be deceiving. You are strong.”

That cause the former king to smile and then said:

“So finally you understand… Wait, what do you mean that appearances can be deceiving? I already told you. I’m not even here. You’re seen an illusion casted by my giant clam. It’s a mirage. Physical attacks are useless. You must find the giant clam quickly and crush it or this will never land.”

It was then that Gusty Blizzard said:

“Ah, that’s right. You use sand.”

“I simply prefer to let my actions do the talking for me” Strongpaw replied.

His Third Eye was above observing the battle and then, after detecting the clam, the sand involved around it, signaling its presence. Hard Stone was at the top of one of sand platforms created by Strongpaw and saw that.

“It’s over there” Hard Stone said, while preparing to use his particle nature.

“I see…” Gusty Blizzard said to Strongpaw. “You’re already searching for it with your sand. That’s why you were just focused on the defense. Well, finally! At last I have an worthy foe. Now, hurry up and seal me already!”

But when Hard Stone had already the object, it just disappeared. He couldn’t believe it… He had used to much energy on his battle against his father. At that moment, he couldn’t use particle nature. Then, he hadn’t no other choice. He jumped out of the sand and, focusing his earth nature, he covered his hoof with stone, preparing then to smash the clam.

“Just one problem” Gusty Blizzard said.

Strongpaw hit the clam, making the real Gusty Blizzard and clam appear on it.

“A weak punch like that it’s not going to be enough, little Hard Stone” Gusty Blizzard said to him. “Put some power into it. You’re not using particle nature. You must be out of juice.”

Hard Stone turned to him and said:

“You’re forgetting that I’m no longer that little Hard Stone you knew and made fun of. Gravity Spell!”

And using the increased of weight on his punch, the clam’s shell started to crack.

“Not bad, Hard Stone!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed, impressed. “Not bad at all!”

And the clam’s shell was crushed, but, at that moment, he got back pain again. The illusionary Gusty Blizzard disappeared. Strongpaw could see that the illusion spell was gone. Through the Third Eye, he could see that Hard Stone was in trouble. He was kneeling at the sand after making the clam disappear, suffering from his back.

“My back…” he said.

Gusty Blizzard approached him, coming from the dust that was around, and said:

“In my heart, I always knew you’d become a wonderful king. But just look at you now, you’re nothing more than a stubborn old fool with badback. I’ll admit that punch had some power, but you overdid it and put yourself out of commission.”

It was then that he pointed his horn to him, starting to charge his horn. Seeing that, Gusty Blizzard realized what he was about to do and said:

“Oh no, hurry up and escape! This is my Water Gun Spell! Go on, I can’t stop myself!”

But Hard Stone’s back were causing him too much pain for him to escape. And Gusty Blizzard fired a drop of water with a tremendous force and speed that pierced the king of Stonult’s body, who fell on the ground…

Paradox

At the battle against King Alder, the guards had thrown their weapons at him, but they failed, with their weapons hitting the sand at the ground.

“Where are you aiming to?” Aspen asked, appearing with a great speed, similar to his son Aspen, making the aura disappear.

“What can we do?” a guard asked. “You’re just too fast for our attacks.

“I’ll say it again” Alder said. “I use light nature. And when I armor myself with light nature, my speed and defensive power can get pass the limits that my body normally puts on them. So, unless you attack with wind nature, you’ll never be able to stop me.”

“But even with wind nature, we can’t land a blow” the griffon that led the unit to battle King Alder said. “No, wait a second… Wind unit, attack formation C.”

And a bunch of griffons appeared and put themselves in formation.

“Let’s go!”

“Instead of doing it quietly, she announces exactly how they’re going to attack” Alder observed.

“Now, attack!”

And they all flapped their wings while focusing their energy and created a great typhoon against King Alder.

“A wide-raged attack designed to overtake my speed…” he said. “Splendid move…”

He was hit and pushed away by the sharp winds.

“Yes!” the griffon said, turning then to the sealing core. “Now, quicly! Seal him!”

Two members of the sealing core advanced, but an explosion at the sand caused them to be thrown to the ground. When the dust settled down, they were able to see King Alder standing up with cuts made by the attacks on his body that started to heal.

“It doesn’t matter how many times we attack” a guard said. “It does any effect.”

“We haven’t inflicted any damage” another said.

The griffon started to think the best way to attack next, when a deer with greenish fur and with a eyepatch covering his missing eye advanced, putting himself in front of the griffon, and then Alder, seeing him, asked:

“Is that you, Oak?”

“Yes, my king” he replied, directing his words then to the griffon and the rest of the unit. “King Alder was not blessed with speed and power, but also an extraordinary physical resilience. Even long-distance wind nature attacks, the only ones that can reach him, cannot affect him. We need a more powerful wind nature user.”

“Well, I’m not an half bad wind nature user myself, you know” the griffon replied. “So how did he actually died, anyway?”

“King Alder and a group of our warriors went to a hostile kingdom in order to get a peace treaty” Oak told. “But they betrayed us, having an army of ten thousand waiting for us. In order to let our own to escape, King Alder faced them all by himself. It is said that he lasted for three days and three nights to give to his comrades enough time to escape.”

That really intimidated the griffon, just thinking how much powerful King Alder should be to do all that.

“This damn control that the Lord of Chaos has on me is forcing me to take this more seriously” Gentle Light said on her corner in the villains’ hideout. “Now that Chief Sandstorm has been sealed, I am being compelled to not allow any more mistake. For that reason, I must take control over King Alder.”

And so, Alder’s consciousness was repressed and his eyes turned white.

“Honestly, there’s not any wind nature user in this unit that is stronger than me” the griffon said.

“Yes, there is!” Star said, as he landed in front of the all unit.

Everyone was shocked to see him and then Star took flight while exclaiming:

“And that would be me!”

He raised a hoof and, with the help of two energy arms, he started to create a Spiraling Star. Such wind power got all the ones who were seeing to gasp in amazement. As Star was against the sun, Alder couldn’t see properly. Extending one of the energy arms, he threw it. Alder dodge it, having accessed to the lightning aura, with the Spiraling Star only cutting some of the tips of his antlers that regenerated quickly.

“No, it’s still not good enough!” Oak exclaimed. “Not with his cloak of lightning.”

“Yeah, I know” Star Knight, remembering that King Aspen used the same type of attack.

But then he made the energy arm threw the Spiraling Star against Alder’s back. Noticing that, Alder gave a jump and passed over it. But then Star landed and, with a hoof, he secured the Spiraling Star and, with the speed of Nine-Tails’ energy, he was able to get close and prepared to hit Alder directly. He threw it and hit the former deer king, throwing back several hooves, before the Spiraling Star explode and create its vortex of wind. The power was such that all the other members of the unit had to protect themselves.

“Sealing unit, hurry up!” the griffon exclaimed. “Move in!”

And the two members of the sealing unit advanced and threw their sealing cloth, that started to involve King Alder that was lying on the sand. For a moment, they all thought it was over, but then Alder opened his eyes and then he proceeded to cut the cloth that was involving him, much to everyone’s shock. And he raised up and then positioned himself, cloaking himself with the lightning aura.

“My king… you’re so strong that, frankly, it’s frightening” Oak said, advancing after that.

Alder’s body regenerated and Star couldn’t believe that the Spiraling Star didn’t work. Oak arrived to his side and told him:

“King Alder’s eyes changed a moment ago. It appears that he has been completely taken over.”

He then rose up his hoof and, seeing that, he said:

“Wait, is that…?”

He turned to the rest of the unit and told them:

“All of you, move away from King Alder! And earth nature users get a wall immediately!”

And guards from Stonult advanced and started to get up a mud wall.

“Come, Prince Star Knight!” he exclaimed.

And when Alder started to advance, Star Knight and Oak went both the other side of the wall. After they arrived, Oak said:

“Rubber Wall Spell!”

And then an enormous torrent of lava with a rubbery consistency came from the ground and started to cover the mud wall. Alder started to penetrate the mud wall with the hoof.

“But why?” Star asked to Oak.

“Because of King Alder’s most powerful attack” Oak replied. “The Piercing Stab. “It pulls light nature energy into his hooves, allowing to use its piercing ability just perfectly.”

It was then that King Alder’s Piercing Stab reached the rubber wall that started to extend and containing as much as it could.

“Everyone, get away as fast as you can right now!” Oak exclaimed to the unit.

“No way!” a guard said. “Now that we know where he is, we can get him now!”

Others agreed with them and then the female griffon said:

“No, listen to that deer!”

With them ignoring her warnings, the guards that wanting to advance, started to do so. Before that, Oak grabbed Star and, with a big jump, went away. Charging the hoof with more energy, King Alder was able to pass through the rubber wall and shock with the guards, causing a great explosion. Oak landed with Star at the top of closest rock formation and the former:

“Those fools…”

All of them suffered from all the lightning and then King Alder turned to where Oak and Star were.

“He went to the next level of his attack” Oak noticed, seeing that the hoof was more charged.

“But what kind of attack is that?” Star asked. “It’s way too strong! He took down dozens by himself in an instant.”

“The more he charges his hoof with light nature, the stronger is the attack” Oak explained to Star. “It’s King Alder’s invincible spear. And he can handle it, because the light nature also makes his body impenetrable. It’s his ultimate shield.”

“But is he even a normal deer?” Star asked.

“They say that he is the only being to have gone head to head with a tailed beast and get unharmed” Oak told.

The young alicorn couldn’t believe that someone would be able to accomplish something like that. King Alder was really powerful. Listening that, Star wondered if they would be able to take him down. It was then that, while observing him, he noticed something. Seeing Star making his thinking face, Oak asked:

“What is it?”

“If he is impenetrable, then what’s that?” Star asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about that scar.”

Star pointed to Alder chest where his big scar was.

“How did he get that?” the young alicorn asked. “He didn’t even flinched against my Spiraling Star.”

“Oh, that…” Oak said. “He was wounded when he stopped Eight-Tails, who was on a rampage. King Alder fought him by himself to protect Thicket.”

“You mean Eight-Tails hurt him?” Star asked him.

“King Alder said that it was the most shameful moment in his life” Oak told. “But other than saying that, he never spoke about it at all. Not even King Aspen knows the details.”

That was really frustrating, knowing that King Alder had a weakness, but not knowing what it was.

“Okay, I know that ordinary attacks don’t work on them” Star said. “But, if he got injured by fighting the Eight-Tails, and Eight-Tails’ strongest move is… Let me try it!”

And, with the help of two energy arms, he started to do the Tailed Beast Bomb incorporated on his Spiraling Sphere.

The unit had surrounded King Alder and was watching carefully, waiting for the right moment to attack or to retreat in case he attacked.

Meanwhile, Star was making his Spiraling Sphere and, seeing him adding the same type of energy used on the Tailed Beast Bomb, Oak wondered if he was doing a Tailed Beast Bomb, something that was impossible for a jinchuriki to do when not in tailed beast form. The young colt was putting all of his focus on that attack, but, when he gathered the energy and formed a sphere, Star couldn’t handle it and, at the moment Alder attacked the nearest guards, the sphere exploded and was undone. However, with that, Nine-Tails’ energy disappear and Star’s front hooves were burnt.

“Damn it!” he exclaimed. “I still can’t do it yet!”

Noticing that he energy that surrounded him disappeared, Oak concluded he wouldn’t be able to do it again. But that didn’t stop Star from finding another solution.

“I’m sorry, but I need to contact Lord Hawthorn and the Eight-Tails” he said to Oak. “But how can I get in contact with them?”

“You have to go to a member of the communication unit and let them contact Diamond Glow so she can connect you to Lord Hawthorn” Oak explained.

“Then I have to find one” Star said.

“You’re in luck” Oak replied. “Because I belong to the communication unit.”

“Great!” Star exclaimed.

“Prince Star Knight, watch out!” the griffon exclaimed.

And the rock formation where they were standing started to collapse and, while they were starting to fall, King Alder jumped to attack Star, preparing to use his horns. Reacting to that, Oak used his lava nature to involve Star with rubbery lava that get out of his mouth. When his horns hit it, the rubber ball was tossed away and Alder followed it. After that, Oak contacted Diamond Glow.

“You’re Oak from Thicket” she said. “What do you need?”

“Prince Star Knight needs to talk with Lord Hawthorn and Eight-Tails” he told her. “Can you arrange that as quick as possible? Lord Alder is still chasing a dummy rubber ball I made.”

The truth was that Star was with him, with a rubber rope around his torso and hold by Oak. He had tricked King Alder by creating the rubber ball and giving the idea that Star was there when he had taking him out. Star had to recognized that he had quick thinking. Landing on a falling piece of stone, Star said:

“Thanks for that. Now I can talk with Eight-Tails for a little while.”

After piece where they are crushed on the ground, Oak told to Star:

“King Alder probably will be able to catch on with that ball right away, so you may not have too much time to converse.”

“Right” he replied.

And, with Oak’s help, he was able to connect with Diamond Glow.

“My prince, let me guess this straight” she told him. “You want to talk with Lord Hawthorn and Eight-Tails? But aren’t you with them? You’re suppose working together.”

“Not right now, we’re not” he replied. “Besides… Well, never mind. Please, just make me come in contact with them. I don’t have any time to waste.”

King Alder was able to reach the rubber ball and, with his Piercing Stab, he cut the ball.

Elsewhere, Hawthorn was sharpening his horns on a tree, as he was having a great itch on them. In his mind, Eight-Tails told him:

“Star Knight has gone on the head. Hurry up with that. It’s taking forever!”

“Hey, unlike Star’s horn, mine can cause me a lot of itch” Hawthorn replied. “Do you think I enjoy sharpening them like this?”

It was then that he felt someone getting in his mind and Star said:

“Lord Hawthorn, it’s me, Star Knight. There’s something I want to ask Eight-Tails directly. Can you switch and put him on for me?”

“Just let me finish what I’m doing” Hawthorn replied. “This itch is driving me crazy!”

But Eight-Tails forced the switch and told to Star Knight:

“I switch places, Star. What’s going on? You seem to be in a hurry.”

“Eight-Tails, you battled King Alder before, right?” Star asked.

“Yes, a long time ago” the tailed beast replied. “He was really strong that he could take the blows. Once, he chopped off one of my tails with his move, the Piercing Stab at its full power.”

“So how did you cause him that scar on his chest?” Star asked.

“Uh… With my Tailed Beast Bomb… I think… Maybe… Or maybe not… We both collapsed forward, completely pushing against each other. I don’t remember much about it.”

Listening to that, Star thought about what could have happened, using all the information he had. It was then that he had an epiphany.

King Alder cut the rubber ball and saw that it was empty. Before that, King Alder started to go to where Star was.

Star was standing still, considering the idea he had about what really happened. His Sage Mode was activated, with the orange pigmentation appearing around his eyes, creating then another clone.

“King Alder is heading here now” Star said to Oak. “I can sense him. You and the others just stay out of the way. There’s something I want to try out.”

He turned to him with his frog eyes and then Oak replied:

“I understand.”

I didn’t take long for King Alder to approach with his immense speed. Star and the clone he made started to make a Spiraling Sphere. Oak went to the unit and told them:

“Everyone, stay out of this fight! And, sealing core, stand by.”

They nodded with the head.

Alder advanced towards Star with his full-powered Piercing Stab. Star did the same with the Spiraling Sphere ready and having himself aware of any danger with his Sage Mode. When he was inches away from Alder’s hoof, he used his training with Tough Skin to dodge and then hit the former deer king’s foreleg with the Spiraling Sphere, what caused the hoof piercing his chest, in the precise place where the scar was. Everyone got shocked before that. Star fell on the ground, while King Alder stood still, with his hoof piercing his chest. His all body cracked, releasing the dust and ash characteristic of the reincarnated beings.

“It worked, just like I thought it would!” Star exclaimed.

Seeing that, Oak realized what happened. That was how King Alder got that scar.

The sealing core acted quickly and involved King Alder with their sealing cloth, sealing him. Everyone celebrated their victory. Oak approached Star and told him:

“That was quite a move.”

“Well, when I talked with Eight-Tails, he told me that back when he fought King Alder, both of them fell forward, ready to attack” Star told. “I just figured that he must have gotten his scar by stabbing himself on the chest with his own move. That’s why he was so embarrassed about.”

“A warrior with an invincible spear and an impenetrable shield… It certainly poses a paradox. This certainly shows that King Alder’s spear was more powerful.”

Star nodded and then he said:

“But I guess the one with the best shield is Chief Strongpaw. I wonder how he and King Hard Stone are doing…”

The Infinite Steaming Explosion Spell

After hitting Hard Stone with the Water Gun Spell, the former fell on the ground, apparently dead.

“I told you, you fool!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed. “You’re way too old for this kind of things now.”

At that moment, for his shock, Hard Stone turned into sand that immediately turned against Gusty Blizzard, involving him. He then saw the real Hard Stone coming to Strongpaw’s side over the latter’s sand.

“Oh my…” Hard Stone said, still feeling a pain on his back. “Thank you for that, Chief Strongpaw.”

The sand was involving Gusty Blizzard even more and then he noticed the Third Eye.

“An eye of sand…” he said, smiling. “You’ve been watching Hard Stone this all time, aren’t you?”

Looking to Strongpaw, still smiling, he concluded that he switched Hard Stone with a sand clone after he had crushed the giant clam.

“This one is really interesting…” Gusty Blizzard said. “Such promise…”

The guards threw blades with sealing tags and the one said:

“We got him!”

“No, it’s not working!” another exclaimed.

That was true, as the sand started to get sipped and the blades didn’t get at the place. And the sand that covered Gusty Blizzard fell on, with the king appearing still with his smile and looking to Strongpaw. The leader of the pony-panthers tried to involved Gusty Blizzard, who was starting to enjoy the fight, again with sand, even putting more and more layers of sand until creating a huge pyramid.

“Desert Imperial Funeral Seal!” Strongpaw exclaimed.

Acting as quick as they could, the guards threw the sealing tags again. When they started to seal the pyramid, it seemed everything was over.

“Good…” Hard Stone said, with his hoof over his back. “It seems we got this fight won.”

But after he said that, the pyramid exploded with such intensity that the others had to protect themselves from the shockwave. When it was over, they all became shocked with what was in above of them. A cloud of steam was above them, but the thing was an evil face looked at them.

“What the hell is that?” a guard asked.

“Is it another illusion spell?” Strongpaw asked.

“No, that’s not an illusion spell” Hard Stone replied. “That’s the Infinite Steaming Explosion Spell of King Gusty Blizzard. It caused to my father real trouble.”

Just the look of that steaming cloud gave some chills to Strongpaw. If that spell was hard to defeat even to King Platinum, then he didn’t want to imagine how they would deal with something like that.

And, all of the sudden, it started to rain, but it wasn’t an ordinary raining.

“Hail…?” Strongpaw asked.

“The air forced upwards by the steam explosion got cooled in the upper atmosphere and turned into hail” Hard Stone said.

And, before them, some kind of clone of Gusty Blizzard appeared, but its faced looked like a white mask. It then started shrinking.

“What is this?” Strongpaw asked to Hard Stone.

“It’s a clone composed by oil and water taken by Gusty Blizzard’s body” he explained. “The exterior surface of its foal-like form is composed of oil, while its interior is water. Its special feature is that it can both heat up and cool down easily. When it moves around, the oil on its surface heats up precipitously what causes a rapid vaporization of the water inside, resulting in a steaming explosion. And when the hail cools it, it comes back down to its original size and is ready to explode again.”

After that explanation, the clone made a blade erupt from its foreleg and then it advanced against them. Strongpaw tried to use the sand, but the clone just dodged, proving to be faster than he imagined. It started to attack guards indiscriminately, keeping the others pursue it.

“The real Gusty Blizzard must be nearby” Hard Stone told to Strongpaw. “Don’t bother with the clone. Go after the original. The weak point of this spell is that it weakens the user while is being used.”

The real Gusty Blizzard was behind a rock formation, recovering energies. He couldn’t believe how much Hard Stone knew about his spell. It was obvious that Platinum must have told him.

A deer with sensing skills started to focus to locate the original king, while saying:

“If it’s not a mirage and he can’t make himself disappear, then I should be able to sense him.”

And he did, telling then, pointing:

“He’s behind that rock!”

Hard Stone turned, but that sudden move only caused more pain to his back.

“Oh, damn…”

But Strongpaw advanced there floating on his sand and found Gusty Blizzard.

“Oh, you found me” the latter said.

“Before it stops hailing…” Strongpaw started, making sand surround Gusty Blizzard again. “…I shall seal you!”

And the returned to do the sealing spell he did before.

Meanwhile, the clone started to grow in size, much to the guards’ shock. Approaching, Hard Stone said, while hail stopped:

“The more it moves around, the faster the oil heats up and vaporizes the water inside. The hail stopped too. Another explosion of steam is eminent.”

When he was at its maximum size, the cloned turned and saw that its original had been imprisoned in Strongpaw’s pyramid and about to be sealed. When Strongpaw initiated the sealing process, the clone removed the sealing tags and the tip of the pyramid got sipped and Gusty Blizzard’s head appeared and said:

“Hey, there!”

A guard threw blades, but Gusty Blizzard dodged them by hiding inside the pyramid and said, after putting his head out again:

“This really is a very nice hiding place.”

Hard Stone approached Strongpaw and then Gusty Blizzard said:

“I was once one of the most powerful regents of the Enchanted Forest. As long as I have my oil, your sand won’t simply be able to touch me. Unless, of course, you can seal me up really quick.”

“That seems to be the case” Hard Stone agreeded.

“Now, how are you going to take me down, then?” Gusty Blizzard asked.

“Honestly, I was hopping that you could tell us” Hard Stone replied.

Gusty Blizzard made a thinking look and then he replied, with his jovial smile:

“Nah, I changed my mind. I’m done with that. Sorry, everyone.”

“You’re cooperative until just now” Strongpaw said. “Did you decide to help the enemy?”

“You’re wrong” the former king answered. “I mean, I am the former king of Evermist. And, actually, I’m still helping you out, only in a different way.”

“Which way is that, exactly?” Hard Stone asked.

“If you can’t beat me using all of abilities, then you’re worse than I am, you’re old fool!”

And the clone jumped to the fight, while Gusty Blizzard continued:

“You’ll never win against your true enemy this way!”

Using a lot of sand, Strongpaw tried to prevent the advance of the clone, only to fail, as it stopped and prepared to blow up. Because of that all the guards started to retreat and then Gusty Blizzard said:

“Just when I thought I found the golden one between all the regents… Chief Strongpaw, you’re really just a worthless warrior!”

And the shock appeared on the pony-panther’s face when he saw the clone exploding.

Star’s clone that defeated King Alder was advancing along Oak and the rest of the unit to go help Strongpaw. Seeing the explosion of steam, Star exclaimed:

“Over there! Hold on guys, I’m on my way there.”

After the explosion, it started to hail again. When the smoke cleared it was revealed that the guards had been protected by Strongpaw’s Shield of Sand that took the form of Sand Jewel. Gusty Blizzard, who had returned to the inside of the pyramid to protect himself from the explosion, made his head come out again, while his clone started to appear again. It was then that Strongpaw emerged from the smoke over his sand with two amounts of by his side.

“I’m impressed!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed, while smiling and his clone shrank to the original size by his side. “You protected everyone and attacked at the same time, knowing full well you’d get hurt. But if you don’t stop this, the same thing will keep happening.”

The clone made the blade appear on his foreleg and Strongpaw attacked it with sand to which the clone started to dodge. Strongpaw retreated to the shield he had made and the clone followed him, hitting the shield. After going around it, he continued to try to attack Strongpaw.

And so the hail stopped, what caused a bigger smile to Gusty Blizzard, who knew that the next explosion was about to happen. The clone continued to attack Strongpaw, who used the sand to defend himself, while the clone started to expand.

“You mistimed getting your shield up because of its sudden expansion.”

But when the clone pressed the attack, it was revealed that Strongpaw was a sand clone.

“Another sand clone, hein…” Gusty Blizzard said. “That’s within expectations…”

Gusty Blizzard’s clone passed through the sand of the clone and then he landed, where an amount of sand was. It retreated, revealing Strongpaw.

“The really one was hiding below, just as I guessed” Gusty Blizzard said. “But what now? It’s going to explode again!”

And Strongpaw threw more sand.

“The speed of your sand is no match” Gusty Blizzard said. “You’ll never catch it! So, what will you…”

But he didn’t finish, as he saw Strongpaw involving the clone with the sand. But how did he do that? How could his sand get faster?

The sand that was involving the clone started to get sipped, as it expanded due to the expanding clone, and then cracked.

“But then again… Kaboom!” Gusty Blizzard exclaimed.

The sand cracked more and then steam started to get out.

“There’s more smoke” the griffon said, beside Star, as they all approached.

“That’s got to be where they are” Star said. “Let’s go!”

And the sand involving the clone cracked even and then got down, revealing that the clone had turned into gold, before Gusty Blizzard’astonishment. He then realized, seeing the gold, that Strongpaw must have used the gold dust his father left behind.

“There was gold dust in the sand used on that sand clone from earlier” Strongpaw explained. “I took advantage of that thing’s heat to melt the gold and bond it to it. Gold is about twenty times heavier than water, which is way that its movements have slowed down.”

“And the reason why the sand trapped it so easily” Gusty Blizzard realized. “But, still, why didn’t the clone exploded?”

“The sand that I mixed with the hail was more than enough to cool it down” Stronpaw answered. “Gold also has good thermal conductivity, which came in handy to chill its water vapor and steam.”

“That was well played” Gusty Blizzard complimented. “Truly befitting a leader like you. I’m impressed that you came up with such strategy… You’re really a golden one between the regents.”

And he made a big and true smile to Strongpaw.

At the villains’ hideout, Gentle Light was concentrating on the curse and then she said:

“I can’t believe how far they went against the reincarnated beings. But they still need to work on their attention. They still didn’t realized that they still didn’t finish one completely.”

At the place where King Platinum had been sealed, some debris started to be moved and King Platinum appeared, with his body being regenerated.

“How naïve of you, Hard Stone” he said. “You’re my son and also my student. You completely missed me using the Fragmentation Spell.”

The truth was that when Star hit him with his Spiraling Spheres, he fragmenting, creating an exact, and yet independent, clone, with the two hitting the stone formation. While one half was the one being sealed, the other remained. He tried to warn Hard Stone, but he was sealed before being able to finish.

Platinum then approached the place where his other half was sealed and tried to remove the sealing tag, only to find out that he couldn’t.

“I guess I can’t remove this tag, after all” he said. “It is a very impressive sealing spell.”

And he started to move away.

“Platinum’s spell is not a multiplication spell, if I recall” Gentle Light said. “His all body splits in two, a very quick spell that doesn’t need any energy consummation. But, in the same way the body is split, the same happens with his power. However, he may provide some back-up to the others.”

Star Knight arrived to the place where Strongpaw was.

“Are you all right, Chief Strongpaw?” Star asked.

“Yes, I am” he replied. “What’s the news on your end, Prince Star Knight?”

“We sealed King Alder” Star answered. “But we saw something exploding, so we come faster to see what was happening to see if I could help out.”

“I see… We’re almost done too.”

And then Star noticed Gusty Blizzard.

“Wait, is that…” he started.

“Yes, he’s King Gusty Blizzard” Strongpaw replied. “And he’s almost sealed.”

“Well, I have to say, Chief Strongpaw, I never taught you were friends with an alicorn” Gusty Blizzard said. “Even more, one that is still a colt. I guess you can show to your father he was wrong, after all.”

That caused Strongpaw make a little smile and then ask:

“Oh really?”

And he made the sand cover Gusty Blizzard’s head, who thought that had been a while since he had that much fun. The sealing tags were activated and then they sealed the pyramid. When the unit was all reunited, he turned to one member of the communication unit and told:

“Relay our current battle status to HQ.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You all fight well against the former regents, everyone” Hard Stone said. “The victory is ours in this battlefield.”

“Then we must treat the wounds, taking them to the medical team” the griffon said. “All the ones that can still fight must wait for more orders from HQ.”

She then turned to King Hard Stone and told him:

“Your Highness, you should also seek medical attention.”

“No, I’m totally fine, I…”

But he again felt some pain at his backs and the griffon said:

“Okay, I request that you don’t overdo it again.”

“Hey, don’t treat me like an elderly that can’t take care of himself!” he replied, but after another pain he said. “But I guess I can rest up a bit…”

Strongpaw turned to Star and said:

“So, you’re a clone, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So where’s your original, right now?” Strongpaw asked.

At that moment, the original, as well all the other clones, were advancing towards all the other places that needed him.

At the medical camp were Fluttershy and Cherry were, the latter was observing a patient who was resting. Fluttershy then entered and told him:

“It was told to me that we can’t take any patients for a while. We received orders to only take care of the ones we have now.”

“But we keep receiving more casualties from the battlegrounds” Cherry said. “What will we do about them?”

“I know, but… we can’t tell who the enemy is and who is not” Fluttershy said.

“Yes, that is true…” Cherry said.

The First Unit, that had been fighting the clones, was having the same problems with the infiltrators and the Second Unit was also warry of that problem as well. The Third Unit, although wasn’t having the same problems as the others with the clones, they were still fighting Gina, Thunder Blitz and Lake Splash, the only swordspony that was remaining.

“Hang in there, everyone” the original Star said, while flying. “I’m coming.”

A Meeting Between Old Enemies

At the medical core, all the members were full hooves with all the wounded they have. There wasn’t one tend that wasn’t full.

Cherry was at one of the tents using his healing magic on a pony that was between life and death. Fluttershy was comforting his wife that was also part of the medical unit. Cherry was doing her best, but it seemed not even her healing magic couldn’t help him. When he spat some blood, she exclaimed:

“Just hold on! Hemostat, quick…”

But the griffon that helped her analyzing one of Petal Sprout’s clone put her talon over shoulder and nodded to her. Cherry felt her heart heavy, knowing that she couldn’t help that guard. The griffon turned to Fluttershy and told her:

“Please, Fluttershy, take her away.”

“Okay…” Fluttershy replied, accompanying the mare to the outside of the tent.

Cherry didn’t know for how long they would be able to support all that. The battles outside were becoming even more intense. Although they did manage to defeat powerful adversaries, their losses were very high.

At the villains’ hideout, Gentle Light was focusing on the Reincarnation Curse when she heard a familiar voice saying:

“I know what you’ve been up to, my little subversive slave.”

She didn’t have to turn to know who talked.

“Well, well, well, the Lord of Chaos in person” Gentle Light, rolling her eyes and then turning to the Deity of Chaos and Destruction. “What do I have the honor? Isn’t enough that I have your dear underling controlling me against my will?”

“Stop with the complains, the whining and the cynicism” the Lord of Chaos replied. “I know what you’ve been doing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Gentle Light replied.

“You know, you, Generals of Order, should be like my brother in the matter of lying” the Lord of Chaos said. “I really can’t stand someone lying to me. I know that you made Pandora and Scorpan be released from your control by that nasty little prince so they could come to release you from my control.”

“You know about that…” Gentle Light said.

“I keep my eyes on my investments” the Lord of Chaos replied. “But, since I know you’ll do everything to prevent them from doing, you’ll do your best to make under control again, right?”

Even though Gentle Light didn’t want anything more than standing to the Lord of Chaos, the spell he had on her prevented her from doing so. She didn’t have any other alternative but saying:

“Yes…”

“Good, now we’re talking…” the Lord of Chaos said. “But now that I’m here, I must show my disappointment. I’m not saying that the reincarnated beings that you brought to my army weren’t efficient, but I can’t help but noticing that most of them are already sealed.”

“What can I do about that?” Gentle Light asked. “The Alliance has very good warriors, mainly now that Prince Star Knight joined the war, and they also have very powerful sealing spells.”

“You can do one thing… increasing the numbers.”

“But how? It’s not like I can create more reincarnated beings from nothing.”

“You have a lot of ways to do that” the Lord of Chaos replied. “Here’s an idea: the Alliance lost thousands of warriors, some of them with great potential. Get their bodies and cast the curse. Don’t tell me you don’t have any more reincarnated beings in reserve.”

“Those bodies are guarded inside the medical unit camps” Gentle Light said. “The reincarnated beings I have are all the failures from being reuniting the reincarnated army I got for you. They won’t be able to recover all those bodies and return with all those guards guarding the camps.”

“I hate to say this, but you’re right” the Lord of Chaos replied. “Well, I guess I have to use another kind of help in this matter.”

And he disappeared in a wave of darkness.

At his throne room, the Lord of Chaos turned to one of his mirrors and then said:

“Very well, my dears, it is time for you to appear and test the new power I gave you to a little task and maybe get your revenge.”

Three pair of eyes and then Icy’s voice said:

“Finally it’s our time to do something and make Bloom pay for everything she did to us!”

And she, along with her sisters, started to laugh.

At HQ, Ingrid went to receive a report that she then lent to her sister saying:

“Sister, I just receive a temporally report on the status of each company.”

Celestia read it and then said:

“This says the number of casualties spiked up in the night.”

“I hesitated even bring this up, but there is powerful soldiers between the deceased ones” Ingrid continued. “If those bodies fell on the wrong hooves, the enemy can use them as weapons against us with the Reincarnation Spell.”

“Don’t worry, Ingrid” Celestia replied, with a smile. “I already took care of that. However, there are many in the battlefield that cannot be recovered.”

“And how exactly is that being carry on, Princess Celestia?” King Aspen asked.

“I instructed the medical unit to reunite all the guards with special skills, like warriors with combined natures and those with superior fighting skills, and then seal them in scrolls with a spell that I gave to them. When this is all over, we will deliver them, along with the other deceased to their respective kingdoms.”

At the medical camp, where the dead were being transported, the medical core was selecting the ones that possessed special skills. After doing her job treating the warriors, Cherry decided to do something less tragic and went to secure the bodies of the ones with special skills. With Fluttershy’s help, who went to confirm the three bodies that were there, the latter told her:

“Yes, these ones are warriors with special skills.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy, I’ll keep them safe now” Cherry said.

Opening with her magic a big scroll, she used a spell that was taught to her and sealed the bodies inside it, along with the ones that were already there.

After she was over, Cherry got out to take a deep breath of air when Fluttershy approached her:

“Are you okay? You just ran away after sealing those corpses.”

“I know, but… I can’t help but thinking” Cherry replied. “I can’t stop thinking about Big Mac. You saw what happened back there, when I couldn’t save that stallion. What if he was Big Mac?”

“I know what you’re feeling” Fluttershy said. “I can’t also stop thinking about Thundy as well. But I know that I must stay strong and do my work at the Alliance as good as I can.”

Cherry made a smile and said:

“You’re very brave, Fluttershy. Even though you don’t be surrounded by all this, you get the courage to do your job.”

“Maybe, but I think you’re braver than I am” Fluttershy replied. “I wouldn’t be able to treat all these guards, even more the ones in a critical state.”

“Oh… thank you, Fluttershy” Cherry said.

“You’re very welcome” she answered.

It was that a big explosion happened, with the shock wave hitting them slightly.

“What was that?!” Cherry exclaimed.

“The explosion came from the vault” Fluttershy replied.

The two went that way, where they met others reunited, guards and members of the medical core. When they look to where they were looking at, Cherry got paralyzed. It was the Trix, but they were different. Darcy had dark purple scales with green marking covering her coat and a long lizard tail; Stormy had the coat covered by dark raspberry feathers with a pervinca feathery neck ruff and talons instead of front hooves and Icy had a dark grayish green skin covering her body with an amphibian tail and ice shards adorning her mane.

They had defeated all the guards that were guarding the tent where the scroll with the bodies of the more skillful warriors, with Icy having the scroll.

“But aren’t they…” Fluttershy started.

“The Trix” Cherry ended, not wanting to believe.

The three witches just laughed to the others, seeing their faces of terror. It was then that Icy noticed Cherry and she said to her sister:

“Well, well, the Lord of Chaos was right, sisters.

“Hello there, Bloom” Darcy said.

“Finally we’re going to destroy you” Stormy said with lightning on his horn.

But then a pain went through her body for a moment, what caused her to stop doing what she was about to do.

“It seems we need to do our master’s will first before getting our revenge” Icy said. “Let’s go, girls!”

And then they prepare to took off, when the medical griffon prepared to attack, saying:

“That scroll contains the bodies of those with special powers killed in action.”

But when she was about to attack, Stormy launched a lightning bolt that prevented her advance. Others tried to attack as well, but Darcy launched shock waves that threw them away. When they had the way cleared, the three flight away.

“This is bad…” the griffon said. “We need to recover that scroll immediately. Notify the headquarters immediately and get all the wounded inside the tents!”

While the others went to execute her orders, the griffon approached Cherry and Fluttershy said:

“There was so many warriors in that scroll…”

“We know those two” Fluttershy said. “They are very powerful witches that come from another reality.”

“I see…” the griffon said. “I heard about them. They are some of the ones that escaped Tartarus, right? I heard they are dangerous.”

“More than you can think” Cherry said. “I know those two. We used to live in the same reality and we were enemies even back there.”

“I see…” the griffon said. “Well, we can’t waste any time. I’ll contact HQ to send reinforcements. Meanwhile, a team has to be sent after them. Cherry, you know them, so I need you to be in that team.”

Cherry nodded and then Fluttershy said:

“I want to go along.”

The griffon nodded and said:

“I’ll also send with you some warriors. You’ll need a lot of help.”

And, when they were joined by two stallions, an earth pony from Stonult and a unicorn from Evermist. They ran through the same rote that the Trix took. When they arrived to a cliff, the Stonult warrior said:

“It will be hard to find those three. We need to find her before they can give that scroll to the General of Death.”

“If there is one thing I know the best about the Trix is that, even they are dangerous and powerful, they are also very overconfident. They use to underestimate their adversary.”

“In that case, maybe they’re not that far as we think” Fluttershy said.

“Then, maybe I can help finding them” the Evermist guard said.

And, having said that, he charged his horn with magic and release multiple bubbles through the air.

“This is a spell created in Evermist precisely to find the enemy” he explained. “If those witches are nearby, I’ll know it.”

“Good, then we just need a little luck” Cherry said.

“And we also need to know who we are up against” the Stonult guard said, turning to Cherry. “Since you know them the better, I think that’s up to you.”

“Sure… Stormy uses the weather as a weapon, something that becomes even more intense with her aggressiveness. Darcy is more analytical and uses illusionary spells, beyond being able to manipulate shadows. And Icy is the most dangerous of the three. She can use ice, like Queen Ingrid.”

“And they seem to be even much stronger” Fluttershy said. “That’s what worries me the most. Only if we could seal them like we do with the reincarnated beings…”

“Maybe we can” the Stonult guard said. “Sealing spells can trap anything, even those who are not reincarnated. We just need to catch them by surprise.”

Elsewhere, the Trix were heading to the villains’ hideout to give the scroll to Gentle Light.

“Ah, we could take care of Bloom at that moment!” Stormy exclaimed with frustration.

“And risking to be punished by the Lord of Chaos?” Darcy asked. “Have you forgotten what he did when he kidnapped her and tried to kill her before ending the job he gave us?”

“Yeah, I think you’re right, but even so” Stormy.

“Relax, Stormy, once we deliver this scroll, we’ll be allowed to have all the fun we want, even taken our revenge on Bloom once and for all” Icy said.

It was then that a mist covered them.

“What’s this?” Icy asked, while the two sisters stopped, landing. “Stormy, what’s the deal?!”

“Yes, we can’t see anything with this mist” Darcy said.

“That’s not me!” Stormy exclaimed.

“That means… we have company!” Icy exclaimed.

And, before they could do anything else, stones emerged around Darcy, trapping her. Those stones had a sealing tag in them, what would prevent her from getting free.

“Stormy, get rid of this mist, quick!” Icy ordered.

Stormy did so and then the mist dissipated, revealing Cherry, Fluttershy and the others to appear, with them securing where Darcy was.

“Bloom!” Icy exclaimed. “I should have known you would follow, even more with such pathetic team.”

“Yeah, it seems to be something you can’t help but do” Stormy said.

Icy looked to where Darcy was and then she said:

“You’ll regret that.”

“Icy, give us the scroll back” Cherry said. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Oh, we know what we’re doing, Bloom” Icy replied. “We’re helping the Lord of Chaos conquer this world.”

“The plans he has will also affect you, can’t you see that?” Cherry asked.

But Icy ignored and said:

“We couldn’t care less about this world. When we’re finish here and with you, the Lord of Chaos will return us to our dimension and, without you to meddle us, everything will be under our control.”

“That’s what we’re going to see” Cherry said.

“Don’t make us laugh” Stormy said. “We know that you don’t have your old powers like we do. We have the advantage here.”

And she casted lightning against her, too quick for Cherry to dodge, but Fluttershy was able to put her out of danger.

“Thank you, Fluttershy” Cherry thanked.

And the Evermist guard advanced to fight Stormy. Meanwhile, the Stonult guard used his earth nature to throw big rocks against Icy. However, she was able to use her ice magic to freeze the rocks and caused them to break. The guard then tried to attack her directly, with a rock hoof, but she used a magic shield to defend the attack. She then threw him back and casted ice shards that hit him and threw him against the ground.

Cherry and Fluttershy advanced to him to see how he was, while the other guard used his water spells to attack Stormy who retaliated with lightning bolts, being able to hit him on a shoulder. Icy approached Cherry, with a wicked smile and ready to attack. But then she saw the Stonult guard made a gesture and prepared to face the rocks again, but them weren’t thrown against her, but against Stormy, who was about to hit the other guard fatally, being able to imprison her like Darcy. Noticing her disadvantage with both her sisters incapacitated, Icy decided to retreat.

Advancing to a river nearby, Cherry started to heal the Stonult guard with her magic, while Fluttershy tended the Evermist guard’s wound.

“Don’t worry, I close the wound” Cherry told to the guard, then saying to the other two. “He won’t be able to continue the pursuit.”

“Neither you can” Fluttershy said, while binding the wound.

After finishing the healing spell, Cherry went to get water to the river. While filling her flask, Cherry couldn’t think about Icy told about not being able to defeat her without her fairy powers. She was right, she couldn’t fight her in the same than before. If it wasn’t for her healing skills, she would be useless on that team.

“Cherry…” Fluttershy’s voice said.

She turned to her and the pegasus asked:

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just…” Cherry started. “Well, I don’t think I can do this… Face Icy I mean. You heard her. I’m not the same I was before.”

“Cherry, you’re you” Fluttershy replied. “If you already defeated her on your home world, then you can defeat her now.”

“No, Bloom is the one tht used to fight the Trix” Cherry said. “Now, I’m Cherry Blossom, a nurse in Ponyville that can only use healing spells.”

“If there is one thing that I learned by having Twilight and the others as friends is that we can do anything, as long we do it to protect our friends” Fluttershy said. “I’m sure you can do this. Beyond that, we don’t have any choice with two wounded.”

Those words filled Cherry with confidence. She then asked:

“Are you sure you can handle them all by yourself?”

“You already dealt with the more severe ones” Fluttershy replied. “Don’t worry about that.”

Cherry smiled and then, getting all the courage she had, she advanced to go face Icy and retrieve the scroll.

For some time, Cherry advanced as fast as she could, wanting to reach Icy. But it was then that it started to get cold, with her breath condensing. That could only mean one thing… And the lower part of her body was frozen.

“No!” she exclaimed.

And Icy’s laugh was heard and she appeared, landing in front of Cherry.

“You’re so predictable, Bloom” Icy said. “You came after me, even knowing you can’t defeat.”

“Don’t be so certain of that, Icy” Cherry replied.

She charged her horn and casted a beam that Icy easily dodge.

“Please…” she said in a mocking way. “You can’t defeat me. Not like that. Face it, Bloom, in this world, you’re loser. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a scroll to deliver. Don’t worry, I will be back as soon as I’m done. Or maybe I’ll after the one you call your husband… or maybe that brat that is your son. He must grow up by now.”

And Icy started to move away, while laughing.

Cherry’s frustration started to increase, while she tried to release herself. But she couldn’t and, for a moment, she maybe thought she wouldn’t do it. Maybe Icy was right and she couldn’t defeat her. But then the images of Big Mac, Jonagold and Apple Flower appeared in her mind, followed by what Fluttershy told her moments ago. She couldn’t let Icy harm her family. She had to protect them and the only way to do that was stopping Icy and recovering that scroll. Cherry had to show her that she was still the Bloom that used to defeat her.

It was then that magic surrounded her horn in an instinctively way and her body started to radiate heat that unfroze Cherry. Her eyes had now a strong fire, the same one that used to exist when she was a fairy.

Icy was advancing when she heard a voice exclaiming:

“ICY!”

She turned and saw Cherry, who was surrounded by a fire that wasn’t burning the plants around.

“You will be stopped right know!” Cherry exclaimed.

“Well, it looks like you found your fire” Icy said, still with her smile. “But, just because you have your powers back, it doesn’t mean you will stop me. The Lord of Chaos increased my power. I’m not the same I was before.”

And, having said that, she cast a beam of ice that Cherry responded with a beam of fire. The two attacks collided and started to measure their strengths. It was hard for both the casters, but then Bloom started to get the upper hoof and her beam advanced toward Icy and hit her, throwing her against a tree. That cause the scroll to hit the ground and roll over a bit. Cherry took it from the ground with her magic.

“It’s over, Icy” Cherry said. “You lost.”

“No…” Icy said, while trying to stand up. “This can’t end like this… I won’t lose again!”

She started to charge her horn again to attack and Cherry prepared to defend, but then a strong light appeared, bringing the Lord of Order with it. With a wave of his spear, he made Icy be involved in light and that made her return to normal.

“What…” she said. “No! How dare you…”

But, with another wave with the spear, he made her become still and then said:

“I thought you and your sister had learned to be more humble before superior entities. And I believe that it’s time for you three return to the dimension where you came from. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure that the three of you go to comfy cell.”

And he wave again the spear and Stormy and Darcy appeared, having been taken from their respective prisons and turned into normal, and then their disappear in a burst of light. After that, he turned to Cherry and told her:

“You don’t have to worry about them anymore. They won’t come back to this reality. I made sure that not even my brother can bring them.”

“Thank you, my lord” Cherry said.

“And I have to say, dear Bloom, I am impress” the Lord of Order confessed. “I never thought you would be able to unlock your fire power like that.”

“I’m also very surprised about that” Cherry said.

“It seems your light got brighter with your desire to save the ones you love” the Lord of Order said. “That we’ll remain in memory, that I can ensure. Well, I guess you have a scroll to return and I already took care of those witches, so… bye.”

And he disappeared in a burst of light.

After that, Cherry returned to her team. Fortunately, the reinforcements had arrived to help them. The scroll was returned and, in that way, they had prevented the General of Death from using the bodies inside to get more reincarnated beings to serve the Chaos’ purposes.

The Reincarnated Allied Forces

Gentle Light was over the curse when she felt a presence that she recognized.

“It looks like your plan didn’t go as you expected” she said with a smile.

“Be quiet” the Lord of Chaos replied. “I didn’t expect that former fairy to recover her fire power and defeat Icy. Even more, my brother took the Trix back to their home world. But that doesn’t mean I gave up the idea of recovering our reincarnated army.”

“So, what’s the big idea this time?” Gentle Light asked.

“You will use your failures to recover the ones who had been already sealed” the Lord of Chaos said. “I know you have a lot. They may not be powerful, but with can use numbers instead.”

“But I already tried to remove the seal of Platinum’s other half” Gentle Light said. “The seals can’t be undone.”

“You’re gonna tell me you don’t have anypony between those failures that can undo those seals” the Lord of Chaos said.

Gentle Light remained silent, what the Lord of Chaos considered to be an affirmative answer.

“I thought so…” he said. “Now, get back to work.”

And, having said that, he disappeared. Rolling her eyes, Gentle Light put a new stone on her board saying:

“I’ll tell him. Just wait until I’m free… Well, for now, let’s not talk about that. I have a job to do. Let’s spice things up a bit in the battle field.”

The griffon and the deer that were save by Star from Glen were know transporting him, when they saw some guards.

“Are those guys allies?” the griffon asked.

“They are!” the deer exclaimed with a smile. “Hey!”

And so they advanced to them and, when they saw the sealed Glen, one of them said:

“So, it’s a sealed reincarnation, hein?”

“That’s right” the griffon said. “Inside is Glen, Griffonstone’s magnet nature user.”

“I’m amazed that you two were able to seal him” the guard said.

“Actually, Prince Star Knight showed up and gave us a big help” the deer said.

“I see…” the guard said, turning to the sealed warrior. “A powerful warrior controlled by the Reincarnation Curse… He must be turning in his grave.”

“Hey, look there!” another guard said.

At some distance, watching them at the top of some dunes, was Cypress.

“A reincarnated being!” the guard exclaimed. “There’s still one left!”

“Hey, but he’s part of the team sent by King Aspen to infiltrate the enemy’s territory” the deer said. “Be careful, he can be very dangerous!”

“Then we have to seal him fast” the griffon, while he and other members of the sealing core prepared their sealing cloth.

But then Cypress stomped with his front hooves and then a lot of coffins appeared from the sand.

“What’s this?” the deer asked.

“It’s a big ambush, that’s what it is” the griffon said.

“Contact HQ for reinforcements” a guard said to a member of the communication unit.

“I never thought they would make me resort to these” Gentle Light said, while dropping a hoof full of sand on the board. “I just hope they can stop them and seal them before they can unseal any of the powerful reincarnated beings.”

And the coffins opened, revealing a very great selection of ponies of all kinds, deer and griffons. The coffins disappeared and the reincarnated beings opened their eyes.

“Our orders are to retrieve the sealed reincarnated beings” Cypress told them.

“Hey, don’t order me around” a reincarnated griffon told him.

“Enough bickering” an old deer said. “We’re no longer part of this world of flesh and bone.”

“It’s annoying, but we’re being controlled and we have the same orders to follow” a Pegasus warrior told.

“Well, if that’s so, then I’m the one who gives orders here” the griffon replied. “All units, attack!”

And the summoned reincarnated beings started to advance towards the ones that were guarding Glen’s sealed body.

“In coming!” the deer exclaimed.

“On your guard!” the griffon said to the other guards.

“I can’t believe…” a guard said, looking to the approaching reincarnated beings. “They’re so many like an army, like the Alliance…”

And so they started to fight with everything they had, with unicorns casting with magical beams and, along with the elemental magic users, elemental attacks. They all became

“They’re all… so weak” the griffon said.

“Maybe they are only rank and file” the deer said.

And so the living guards started to advance, with the ones of the sealing core sealing all the unfortunate reincarnated beings they could approach.

However, while almost everyone were fighting, Cypress and the reincarnated griffon, old deer and pegasus were observing the battle. The pegasus then noticed Glen’s sealed body and said:

“There it is!”

And more reincarnated beings advanced toward the guards that were watching over Glen’s body. Noticing that the griffon realized they were after Glen, he and the others retreated to guard him. Fortunately, reinforcements arrive, much to the guards’ happiness and relief.

“Looks like our numbers are getting down, while theirs are getting up” the griffon commented.

“We need to keep them occupied” Cypress said.

“I can handle that” the pegasus said.

And, using a wind nature spell, he created a sandstorm that affected both the living and the reincarnated. Taking advantage of that, Cypress and the other three started to move away from the scene, with the former saying:

“Okay, guys, follow me!”

“Hey, I already told you to stop ordering me around!” the griffon exclaimed.

And they advanced until they got out of the sandstorm and continued to advance.

“It sure feels weird having my body being moving without me wanting to” the old deer said.

“Hey, do you know what our controller have in mind?” the pegasus asked to Cypress.

“Yeah, I don’t like being doing things I don’t know what they are” the griffon.

“The General of Death is, like us, a pawn and she is sending us to retrieve all the other reincarnated beings that had been sealed” Cypress said. “That might be the reason why we’re heading in this direction: to unseal a body that may be unguarded.”

“So we’re just recoverers?” the griffon asked. “And I was thinking we would be fighting like the others.”

“The ones we are recovering are reincarnated beings with a great power” Cypress explained. “To the ones who are controlling her and, by extension, us, most of the ones that were summoned right now are just failures in the attempt to create a powerful army of reincarnated beings.”

“I see…” the old deer said. “Well, I guess we don’t have any choice but carry on our mission.”

At the battlefield from before, all the reincarnated beings had been sealed.

“Do you think we got all of them?” the deer asked to the griffon after the latter sealed the last reincarnated being.

“I don’t know” the griffon replied. “Some could have escape during that sandstorm. We need to contact the HQ saying that the already sealed reincarnated beings are their target.”

Cypress and the others soon arrived to where was a sealed reincarnated being.

“I see it” Cypress said. “It’s right there.”

Arriving there, the griffon said:

“It seems someone called King Alder is sealed there.”

“Be more respectful!” Cypress exclaimed to the griffon. “King Alder is the father of King Aspen, the actual king of Thicket, and also a great hero.”

“Yes, King Alder is very powerful” the old deer said. “No wonder the General of Death wants him unsealed.”

“Leave it to me!” the Pegasus said, flying toward the sealed king.

It was then that something hiding in the ground caught him and involved him, exploding with him then.

“It’s a barrier” Cypress said.

With that, the griffon stomped with his talons and caused the sand to shake up, causing the barrier to be undone. He then approached and said:

“The barrier is broken, but…”

He tried to rip the cloth apart, but he couldn’t.

“…I cannot undo this” the griffon completed. “And I have sharp claws.”

The other two approached and Cypress said:

“We first need to undo the spells contained in that cloth that enables it to seal.”

“Then it’s my cue then, although I don’t have any desire in doing this” the old deer said.

“You can do it, old guy?” the griffon asked.

“In my time, I dedicated a lot of my studies to sealing spells, including the ones contained in that cloth” the old deer replied. “I know how to counter them.”

He then started to focus, extending his hoof to the cloth. It was then that the symbols around the cloth started to dissipate.

“That’s not bad at all” the griffon admitted.

It was then that the same female griffon on the Fourth Unit that helped in the fight against King Alder appeared and used a wind nature that hit the old deer, what allowed the sealing unit that was with her to seal him right away.

“It took forever to seal King Alder” the female griffon said. “We won’t let him come back.”

The reincarnated griffon took flight and prepared to attack her, but, with her wind nature, she was able to throw him away, making him hit one of the rock formations. The sealing core took that opportunity to seal him right away. The griffon then turned to Cypress, the only one left and told to the rest of the unit.

“Be careful with him. He was part of the infiltration team King Aspen sent to the enemy’s territory. He’s very skillful.”

“As you know, we can’t fight against the orders we’ve been given, so keep your distance” Cypress said.

She tried to attack him with her wind nature, but Cypress quickly moved away with his deer capabilities. Before that, she said:

“Contact HQ about that immediately.”

At the villains’ hideout, the sand that was over the stone was swiped away and Gentle Light said:

“Fortunately, I wasn’t able to retrieve the pawns I lost. But the orders I have tell me to take advantage of the skills of the reincarnated beings I have under my power. And this Cypress has proven to be a quite a find. Perhaps I should have reincarnated the other deer and have used him as a living vessel. But I don’t Purple Smoke’s skills to detect and identify talents… Oh well, it seems I don’t have any choice but let it to the Alliance. I just hope they can stop this plan I have for Cypress…”

Cypress had reached a valley while running and said:

“Please, hurry. You have to seal me soon… or you all will be destroyed.”

Ebony VS Cypress

At HQ, Diamond Glow told:

“We received word from the Fourth Unit. It seems the captain of the infiltration team had been reincarnated.”

“You mean Cypress?” Aspen asked, a little worried.

“Yes, I believe so” Diamond Glow confirmed.

Noticing King Aspen’s concern look, White Light asked:

“There’s something wrong, King Aspen?”

“Cypress is not like any deer you may know” Aspen said. “He is a risk to anyone that approaches him.”

“In that case, we don’t have any choice, don’t you think, sister?” Ingrid said.

Celestia nodded and then said to Diamond Glow:

“Notify every unit. When he is found, he must be sealed immediately.”

“Is he actually that formidable?” White Light asked to Aspen.

“He possesses a combined nature that, like blacklight, can be very dangerous” he replied. “With him under the Reincarnation Curse, he may be use a certain forbidden spell.”

“In that case, we may give the word to Prince Star Knight as well” Ingrid advised.

“I agree” Celestia replied.

Diamond Glow nodded with the head, ready to proceed in taking those orders.

In a certain place near to where Cypress was, Ebony was running. He had joined the Alliance as he had skills that could help them. Meanwhile, Cypress was at the top of a mountain sending corpses to a ditch, where existed an enormous quantity of other corpses. Before that, he took the protection over one of his hooves that was surrounded by a dark aura. But he hesitated in doing so, but Gentle Light, who noticed that, said to:

“I know you don’t want to and I don’t want you to do, but there is no other choice for both of us.”

Feeling the curse affecting him, Cypress didn’t had any other option but touching the corpse, who also got the same dark aura, throwing them to the amount of corpses that also had that same glow. He then said, while focusing his energy:

“Jar of Poison Spell.”

And a barrier appeared over the ditch, covering the opening.

“Damn it…” Cypress said. “I can’t believe that I was forced to use this spell.”

He then heard steps and said:

“Good job. Finally someone found me.”

“It wasn’t very difficult, regarding I know you pretty well… brother” Ebony said, while arriving.

“Ebony…” Cypress said. “Little brother… It’s you…”

“So… for you to be like that, it means that…” Ebony started.

“Yes, I was killed and brought back by the Reincarnation Curse” Cypress confirmed.

Ebony made a move with his hoof and then asked:

“Please, tell me what your doing.”

“I’m here to cast the Jar of Poison Spell.”

“What spell is that? I never heard about it.”

“You never heard about it for two reasons” Cypress explained. “The first one is that is spell was classified as forbidden and second is that only those that possess the poison nature can actually cast it.”

“The poison nature, the nature that combines the earth and darkness and that you possess” Ebony said.

“That’s right” Cypress said. “A nature that create toxins that are manifested on my skin. To me they are harmless, but when in contact with another, they can destroy their cells in a very excruciating way.”

“I know all about it” Ebony said. “I’m your brother after all. Since I was a little fawn, I always wondered why you never touched me. It was naïve of my part, but I, at first, thought you didn’t like me. It was only when I learned about the poison nature that I realized the truth.”

He then looked to the pitch and said:

“If this spell uses your combined nature, then the lethal toxins inside those corpses are only transmitted by touch. What is the point of a spell such as this?”

“The Jar of Poison Spell requires a lot amount of flesh” Cypress explained. “That’s why is considered to be a forbidden spell. But I was able to gather many bodies from the battlefield. With my toxins acting in the cells and, with the decaying flesh, gas is released.”

“Of course, the gas” Ebony understood.

“In the next phase, the gas will be ignited and the cells with my toxins will be scarred and infect everyone in the immediate area” Cypress continued. “And that’s the forbidden Jar of Poison Spell.”

“So it doesn’t discriminate between friend and foe” Ebony concluded.

“Hurry, call for reinforcement” Cypress told to his younger brother. “You can’t stop me alone.”

“You’re wrong” Ebony said. “I can and I will stop you.”

And, from his breath, Ebony released an amount of darkness that went to involve Cypress.

“I’m quite impress that you were able to perfect your darkness nature” he said. “But the question remains: can you stop me?”

“Dark Sphere Spell!” Ebony exclaimed.

And the darkness around him got more thick and covered him completely, but then the darkness simply disappeared.

“Have you forgotten, little brother, that I can also use darkness nature?” Cypress asked.

“No, I haven’t” Ebony said, with pieces of darkness around. “But there are many ways of fighting, even with weapons that may seem not work.”

“You still think you can defeat me, hein?” Cypress said, smiling. “You’re still the same stubborn fawn you used to be.”

“What you call stubbornness, I call determination” Ebony replied.

“But your determination can lead you to your doom” Cypress said. “You still didn’t call for help. How do you intend to stop me?”

Ebony advanced and then said:

“I know you’re just buying time, as the toxins still need more time to spread through the corpses. And I also know that your horns are the only part of your body that don’t contain any poison, what means the toxins don’t affect ossified structures, so…”

And he started to run toward him, with his horns ready to attack.

“You may think you can stop me that way, but it won’t work.”

When Ebony was about to hit, Cypress retreat with a jump back and then said:

“Even if you use your horns to attack me, close combat is still very dangerous.”

“It’s only way I have to fight you” Ebony exclaimed.

“The only ones that can fight me are long-rage attack users and the sealing team” Cypress said.

“I don’t know anyone like that nearby” Ebony replied.

And, with a quick advance, Cypress hit Ebony with the horns and threw him, making going to the pitch.

“Ebony!” Cypress exclaimed.

But, before he could pass the barrier, Star appeared and caught him, putting him then in safety.

“Prince Star Knight…” Ebony said.

“Well, kind of, professor” Star Knight answered. “I’m a clone. I came over here because I sensed your energy. Is that the deer the HQ told about.”

“That is very impressed” Ebony said with a smile. “I can see that you learned a lot during your training.”

“You bet!”

“I see, so that’s one of your students” Cypress said. “The famous Prince Star Knight… See if he doesn’t attack recklessly.”

“All I have to do is pulverize him, right?” Star asked to Ebony.

“If you do that, the toxins inside him will scatter” Ebony replied. “Besides, our opponent is a reincarnated being. We must seal him to beat him. And don’t touch him. He possess the poison nature. If you studied it, then you must know that, if you touch it, his toxins will infect you.”

“Not only by touch!” Cypress exclaimed, as he joined the front hooves and then created a small dark ball. “Poison Cloud Spell!”

And he blew it and a big smokescreen full of poison appeared, heading towards Star and Ebony.

“Get back!” Cypress exclaimed. “Don’t inhale it!”

Cypress then created a thick wall of darkness that halted the smokescreen. It didn’t took long for the two attacks to conceal each other.

“Touching or breathing it is very dangerous” Ebony told to Star. “Star, do you have any sealing spell?”

“No, I don’t” he replied. “That’s not a kind of spell that I learn at my grade. And you, do you have one, Professor Ebony?”

He then showed him a sealing tag and told him:

“I was given some sealing tags. But the only thing I don’t have is a way to apply it.”

“Get rid of those tags, Ebony!” Cypress exclaimed, approaching. “I’ll be forced to destroy anyone that puts in my way. My body will just attack on its own.”

“I won’t let you lay a single hoof on Professor Ebony” Star said. “I’m going to stop any of your attacks.”

“You’re the one that can’t touch him, Star” Ebony said.

“Yes, I know…” Star said.

“You better watch out, jinchuriki of Nine-Tails” Cypress said. “I’m not very easy to defeat.”

“That’s what we’re going to see!” Star exclaimed.

And the two advanced toward each other. The deer wanted to use the horns, but Star invoked an energy arm and held them. Cypress was able to release himself and then the two started to fight, with Star only trying to hit the places that were covered and avoiding any direct blow. While they were fighting, Ebony noticed the barrier around the pitch to started to glow.

Star then created a Spiraling Sphere with energy arms and use it to defend Cypress’ hoof. That caused an explosion that made the two retreat, with Cypress foreleg blown up and starting to regenerate. That only released toxins that Star struggled to not breathe. When his foreleg was regenerated, Cypress went to attack Star when he was vulnerable.

“Star, no!” Ebony exclaimed.

And he put himself in the way, ending up taking a punch from his brother.

“Professor Ebony!” Star called, while his teacher fell on the ground.

“No!” Cypress exclaimed. “Prince Star Knight, please take me down! Seal me, otherwise I’ll continue…”

“Professor…” Star said, kneeling beside Ebony. “Are you alright?”

And he started to get up and then said, while getting up:

“Stand back, Star Knight.”

“Professor…”

“Now, as I was saying, let’s settle this, just the two of us” Ebony said to Cypress, advancing a few steps.

“Ebony, how did you manage to survive that?” Cypress asked. “You touched my poisoning skin.”

“Yes, I touched it, but I had a little help” he explained. “You are my older brother. I wanted to help you with the problem you had with your combined nature. So I started to conduct an experience with beetles, feeding them with your poison. Years later, after many generations, I was able to get beetles with antibodies against the poison, antibodies that I used to make an antidote. It only last for some minutes, but it gives me the immunity against your power. And these are those insects.”

And a swarm of beetles got out of the pitch.

“With the antibodies they possess, touching your poison won’t kill them” Ebony continued.

And those beetles started to surround Cypress, who smiled and said:

“I’m impressed that you were able to produce these many beetles.”

“Well, I just had about ten with me” Ebony explained, while showing him an empty small glass flask. “But when I got here, I used that forbidden spell to multiply them. I have to say, it took way less time than I expected.”

“I see… you really never miss a detail” Cypress replied.

And Ebony took the sealing tag he had and then said:

“Forgive me for this, brother.”

“No, you don’t need to apologize” Cypress replied, still with his smile.

And Ebony threw the sealing tag that was placed on Cypress. His body was filled with symbols and then he let himself kneel, becoming still. With him sealed, the barrier of the forbidden spell disappeared and then Star asked Ebony:

“Professor, what do we do with everything here?”

“Don’t worry about that” he replied. “The user has been sealed. Eventually, the toxins will perish. Now, you have to go. The second unit is in that way.”

“Right!” Star answered, taking flight.

When he left, Ebony approached Cypress approached his sealed brother and told him:

“Thank you, brother, for all the care you gave me. It’s because of you that I am who I am.”

Having said that, Ebony raised up and then moved away.

The Other Jinchuriki

Hawthorn had finally been able to get rid of the itch he had on the horns. While walking, he said:

“Ah, finally I’m relieved!”

“You surely took long enough!” Eight-Tails complained to Hawthorn. “Star Knight got way ahead of us now!”

“Hey, you don’t know how it is to have an itch with antlers that are always growing and falling” Hawthorn replied. “But don’t worry, I’m all okay now.”

“Instead of wasting time walking around, you should be catching up with Star” Eight-Tails told him.

“Lord Hawthorn!” a voice called.

Hawthorn turned and saw Blackthorn approaching.

“I finally caught up with you” Blackthorn said, while arriving.

“What are you doing here, Blackthorn?” Hawthorn asked.

“King Asper ordered me to come here” Blackthorn replied. “I’m supposed to assist you in any way I can.”

“Thank you, Blackthorn” Hawthorn thanked, bumping his hoof and Blackthorn’s.

There was a pause and then Blackthorn asked:

“Where is Prince Star Knight?”

“While I was sharpening my horns, he went ahead” Hawthorn answered. “He must be very distant at this point.”

“Yeah, you always had problems with the itch on your horns” Blackthorn commented.

They started to walk away, but five clones where observing them at some distance.

“That’s the Eight-Tails” one of them said. “Did him just come this far already? We must try to delay him.”

The other clones nodded with their heads and then they went underground.

At the villains’ hideout, Gentle Light said:

“It looks like Prince Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn are getting closer. They told me to let Star alone, but with Hawthorn things are different.”

She took a stone she hadn’t used yet and then said:

“I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, Lord Hawthorn, but I can’t resist to my orders. I have the perfect reincarnated being.”

Gentle Light placed the stone on the board and then added:

“But I have to say that this shall be fun…”

Hawthorn and Blackthorn were walking and the latter said:

“Lord Hawthorn, I got a feeling that something bad is about to happen.”

“Ah, you’re always saying things like that, but, in the end, you’re overreacting” Hawthorn replied.

It was then that the ground started to shake.

“Or not…” Hawthorn said.

And a coffin of a reincarnated being, while making the five clones getting out of their hideout by force, what caused them to fall.

“Damn it…” Blackthorn said. “It’s the enemy!”

The five clones started to get up and, seeing the coffin, one of them said:

“No way, could that be…”

Everyone looked to the coffin, waiting to see who was in there. It was then that its cover fell and the one inside was revealed and he got out.

“Wait, he’s…” Eight-Tails said.

“You’re the Eight-Tails’ former jinchuriki!” Blackthorn exclaimed, while the coffin where Larch came out disappeared.

“It certain has been a while, Hawthorn” he said to his cousin. “And you are… Blackthorn, right?”

“Yes, but why are you here?” Blackthorn asked.

“Because somepony casted the Reincarnation Curse on me” Larch replied.

“Listen, Larch, that day twenty-five years ago… the day you died… we tried to stop Eight-Tails’ rampage and eight deer lost their lives” Blackthorn said. “Among them… was my father.”

“I see…” Larch said. “I’m very sorry. But I know apologies won’t bring him back.”

“He’s definitely Larch” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn. “But why? No matter how hard I try, I can’t remember that much about the rampage on that day.”

Larch turned to Hawthorn and asked:

“Hawthorn, that energy I’m sensing from you… Ah, so you did become the jinchuriki.”

He former jinchuriki then remembered the talk he had with Aspen at the time they and Hawthorn went to camp together. They had talk about the possibility of having Hawthorn becoming the jinchuriki after him and Larch said to Aspen what a jinchuriki should do to have control over their tailed beast.

“Hawthorn, I can’t control my body anymore” Larch said. “So run!”

“But if the Eight-Tails is no longer inside you, then you can’t fight like you did before” Hawthorn said.

“You’re wrong!” Larch exclaimed.

That confused Hawthorn and Blackthorn, as they didn’t know how could he still have Eight-Tails’ power when the tailed beast wasn’t in him anymore.

“He’s right, you should run” Gentle Light said. “There’s something about Larch that you don’t know. Now, show them, Larch!”

And he got in the first phase of transformation of a jinchuriki, exclaiming:

“Hawthorn, Blackthorn, get away!”

And immediately he get into the second phase, what really shocked the two other deer.

“No way, he has the Tailed Beast’s cloak!” Blackthorn exclaimed.

“This energy…” Eight-Tails said. “It’s unmistakably mine. When did he…”

“What’s going on here?” Hawthorn asked.

Even the clones couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“But how?” one asked. “Tailed beast energy on a reincarnated being?”

“What you’re witnessing is nothing more than something that the Lord of Chaos gave to me to put in Larch. I had no choice but to implant Eight-Tails’ cells that Queen Chrysalis got to him.”

“That Gentle Light…” another clone said. “Just to think that she can revive something like this with the Reincarnation Curse… With that, why bother to capture Eight-Tails to put him inside the Demonic Statue?”

“Dodge this, Hawthorn!” Larch exclaimed, while he started to execute the Tailed Beast Bomb.

“Damn it!” Eight-Tails said. “Hawthorn, get away!”

And both he and Blackthorn started to run away. Shortly after, Larch finalized the attack and then threw it in the form of a luminous ball. The attack caught the five clones who were immediately disintegrated. Fortunately, the attack just stopped and, when the dust settle down, it was revealed that Shark Skin, getting rid of the bandages, swallowed the attack all.

“Good job, Shark Skin!” Hawthorn exclaimed. “Now that’s an apetite!”

“Now it’s my turn to make an appearance” Eight-Tails’ said.

And the cloak appeared around Hawthorn, making the eight tails appear.

“You’re going to take him down in the Eight-Tails state?” Blackthorn asked.

Hawthorn replied by getting into the second phase and making a bull skull and spine appear, something that was mimic by Larch. The two went against each other and, when they shocked, the energy bones were destroyed, starting a contest of strength, whose shockwave created a crater around them. It was so intense that Blackthorn had to hide behind a rock.

“All this force with just one collision…” Blackthorn said.

The two jinchuriki continue to measure their strengths. Meanwhile, a mental link was formed between the two jinchuriki.

“Why do you still have my energy?” Eight-Tails asked to Larch, having the inner Hawthorn over his muzzle. “When you died, I extracted myself from you entirely.”

“It’s been a while, Eight-Tails” Larch told him calmly. “To think we’ve been reunited in this situation…”

“I’m disappointed too” Eight-Tails said. “I had very high hopes for you.”

“The both of us were completely fooled back then” Larch said.

“By whom?” Eight-Tails asked.

There was a pause and then Larch told:

“Twenty-five years ago…”

In the past, in Thicket…

At the castle of Thicket, Larch was looking to the full moon, at his room, with a tentacle of Eight-Tails exposed. When he heard a knock and the door opening, he quickly recalled the tentacle and turned to see his older cousin getting in.

“Ah, Aspen, it’s you” Larch said, while Aspen approached. “You should be more careful when you approach me.”

“What’s the matter?” Aspen asked. “I heard you have trouble sleeping.”

“That’s right” Larch confirmed, looking again through the window. “Especially during the full moon. It’s like… the big hole in my heart.”

“So you still haven’t found the something that you need to fill it then” Aspen noticed.

“I doubt I ever will” Larch replied. “Even if I’m still physically here, my heart is dead. I wander the desert alone. Besides, if can’t even leave here, I’ll never find it.”

A pause and then Aspen asked:

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“My is completely immerged in the darkness right now” Larch replied. “When the time comes, I’m counting on you, Aspen.”

Understanding what he meant, Aspen realized there was nothing he could say to his cousin to make him feel better, so he got out. After that, Larch saw something flying quickly out there, but he couldn’t see what it was.

At the next day, Larch went to the infirmary, where the healer gave him some pills for him to take and help him sleep.

“Here you have…” the healer said.

“But these are not the usual ones” Larch noticed.

“They’re new” the healer said. “I made them through a new mix of herbs with a very powerful sleeping capability. They’ll make you sleep even better.”

“Oh okay” Larch said. “Thank you.”

And he got out. When he did that, an evil smile appeared on the healer’s face. Later, Larch, after taking the pills, tried to take a nap in his bedroom. It was then that a voice said:

“I will fill that hole in your heart.”

The jinchuriki opened his eyes and a hoof covered his mouth, preventing from screaming. Chrysalis was over him. He tried to fight to release himself, but the Changeling Queen had held him tightly.

“It’s useless” she said to him. “The medication that you took is a special illusion pill.”

Larch wanted to ask what Chrysalis wanted, but his words were suffocated by her hoof.

“Life is difficult for you, right?” she asked. “Well then, I shall take you out of the pain and misery that is being a jinchuriki and then make you go to the land of the dead.”

And she charged her horn with magic and she proceeded to unseal the seal that contained Eight-Tails.

The tailed beast was unleashed, what led to King Alder’s squad to intervene, including him, Aspen and Blackthorn’s father. After Aspen cut off Eight-Tails’ horn when he impaled Blackthorn’s father, Chrysalis, disguised as a deer warrior, approached the severed horn and took some of his cells.

In the present…

“Queen Chrysalis?!” Hawthorn asked, after hearing the story.

“So that’s what happened” Eight-Tails said. “It’s no wonder that I don’t remember. I was trapped inside an illusion spell.”

Blackthorn, that had been able to hear the talk, said:

“Then my true enemy is Queen Chrysalis.”

“Hawthorn, just run!” Larch exclaimed.

“His power right now isn’t the problem” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn. “We can handle him, Hawthorn.”

“Yes, he may be a reincarnated being, but we can defeat him” Hawthorn said.

And they then proceeded to use the Tailed Beast Bomb and then they fired it against Larch, who was thrown away, while it exploded.

“Did it work?” Blackthorn asked, watching the battle.

When the smoke cleared, they saw that, although they were able to obliterate the body, it quickly regenerated.

“What?!” Hawthorn asked.

“He revived?!” Eight-Tails asked.

“Run!” Larch exclaimed. “The only way to stop a reincarnated being is to seal it.”

“Hawthorn, let’s prepare to seal him” Eight-Tails said. “Retreat for now.”

Listening to his tailed beast’s advice, Hawthorn started to move away. But Larch continued to fire Tailed Beast Bombs that Hawthorn was able to dodge, although barely.

That battle was able to caught Star Knight’s attention, who turned around at the direction where Hawthorn was.

“What is that?” he asked. “I’m sensing two energies that both belong to Eight-Tails. Don’t tell me there’s another one.”

He prepared to go help Lord Hawthorn when King Aspen’s voice said inside his head:

“Don’t go back, Star Knight!”

“King Aspen?” Star asked.

Aspen was connecting to Star through Diamond Glow at HQ, something he did after learning through the sensing warriors about the appearance of his dead cousin.

“Just let Hawthorn handle this” Aspen said.

“But…”

“Hawthorn won’t lose. Besides, even if you go, you can’t bring down what Larch has become. Only Hawthorn can fill the hole that is in Larch’s heart.”

“What do you mean with that?” Star asked, realizing then what he was talking about. “You got it, Your Majesty. I’ll put all my faith in Lord Hawthorn.”

And, after saying that, Star continued his way.

The fight continued, with Hawthorn still moving away and Larch tailing him and launching more attacks.

“This is not good!” Eight-Tails exclaimed, seeing how close Larch was. “It’s in times like this that I would lie to jump into a hole.”

“A hole…” Hawthorn said, with a thinking look. “A hole in the heart…”

Blackthorn was following them, noticing the intensity of the fight.

“My father always courageously stood out against guys like them” Blackthorn said. “What am I waiting for.”

And he puts himself in Larch’s way and told to Hawthorn:

“I’ll hold him off. Make a run for it, Hawthorn!”

“Blackthorn!” Hawthorn called.

Blackthorn stomped his hooves and then said:

“Spider Web Spell!”

And light forming a web around Blackthorn appeared and, when Larch stepped on it, he became paralyzed by it.

“No, stop!” Hawthorn exclaimed, fearing for his great friend’s safety.

And Larch extended some of his tails and hit the ground close to Blackthorn who, due to the shockwave, was thrown against the ground violently.

“Blackthorn!” Hawthorn called.

Larch was about to attack Blackthorn, when Hawthorn tackled him and made him go back some hooves.

“I told you to get away!” Larch exclaimed, preparing to punch.

Hawthorn did the same and the two hooves hit each other, resulting in a hoof bump.

“I’m not gonna lose here!” Hawthorn exclaimed.

Larch couldn’t believe how much he could endure the his power.

“You know, I was able to find it” Hawthorn told Larch. “The thing to fill my heart.”

That really caught Larch’s attention and Hawthorn continued:

“Do you want to know how? I surrounded myself with the ones that support me no matter what happens.”

“I see…” Larch said. “So you were able to find it. For you, was the bonds of friendship. That was the something you needed to fill your heart.”

“And you are one of those who are special to me” Hawthorn said. “So I’m going to fill your heart completely.”

“You know, I wanted that I was able to find what I needed back then too” Larch confessed.

It was then that, like happened with Armored Forge and Sand Threads, the curse on Larch’s body started to dissipate. While that happened, Larch said:

“Hawthorn, stop this war…”

And he disappeared completely.

After returning to his normal form and get Shark Skin back to his back, Hawthorn approached Blackthorn and tried to wake him up.

“Are you okay, Blackthorn?”

He opened his eyes and then replied, with a smile:

“Yeah… I’m fine. Tell me, did I fight as courageously as my father used to?”

“You can bet your antlers on that” Hawthorn replied. “I’ll take you to the medical core right know.”

“No, I’ll be alright” Blackthorn replied. “Just carry on Larch’s wishes and end this war.”

“You got it, brother” Hawthorn replied.

And so Hawthorn continued his way to catch up with Star Knight, decided to end that war like Larch told him to.

Reinforcements Arrive

Walking through the one of the darkest parts of the Enchanted Forest was Grogar. Although almost everyone wouldn’t dare to walk on that part, Grogar, being a loyal servant of the Lord of Chaos, didn’t fear any threat that could come to him.

At some point, he stopped and then said:

“You don’t have to hide from me. I came here in the name of Lord of Chaos. Our master desires your services.”

And so he heard hooves and a figure hidden by a cloak with a hood approached. An asthmastic voice said:

“Why should I accept that… when the Lord of Chaos abandoned me… goat?”

“The name is Grogar” he said. “And should I remind you that it was because you weren’t able to carry on the master’s will that you let you all alone… doomed to wander the darkest parts of the Enchanted Forest while avoiding all the other kingdoms and without any power?”

Another pause and then Grogar continued:

“But a great war has started between Order and Chaos in Equestria and we need all the help to defeat the Lord of Order’s loyalists and turn real our master’s glorious plan. But, if you still have any doubts about what to do, here’s an offer to tempt you.”

And extending a hoof, Grogar made appear on it an orb full of…

“Wild energy…” the hooded figure said, while revealing a pair of arms with hands inside the cloak.

“Something that can give you the power over nature while still giving you some of the strength you had” Grogar said. “What do you say now?”

“If the Lord of Chaos is giving me something like this to join him again, then it’s settle.”

And he took of the cloak. He was a centaur with dark sapphire bluish gray upper body and dark cobalt bluish gray lower body, dark grayish scarlet skin on the arms and face, dark azureish gray little horns, indigoish gray beard, light lime greenish gray hooves with amberish gray clefts and black eyes with light brilliant yellow pupils. He made a ball of energy between his little horns and started to absorbed the wild magic with his magic.

After he did that, his body started to grow, while his upper body turned black, the lower body turned dark phthalo bluish gray, the skin turned moderate amaranth, the horns grew up in size and turned dark phthalo bluish gray and the beard turned light indigoish gray.

“Oh, I can feel my power returning!” the centaur exclaimed, now with a stronger voice.

“That’s good” Grogar said. “Now, we hope that you can help our master better than last time.”

“Don’t worry” Tirek said. “I will… And they all will regret the day they dared to humiliate the great Lord Tirek!”

At the Badlands, the Second Unit continued to fight both the clones and the changelings. The only problem was that they didn’t only to be careful of the changelings’ metamorphic abilities, but also the clones’.

“Damn, Ah can’t tell who is who!” Applejack exclaimed. “Even tha ones Ah know very well can be tha enemy.”

Rainbow Dash approached and then said:

“I’m here to help, AJ.”

“An’ Ah’m really needing, Rainbow” Applejack said, while looking around.

Rainbow Dash approached Applejack and prepared to attack her from behind, but then the latter bucked her, throwing her against the ground where she turned into a clone.

“Ah had a feeling ya were one of them” Applejack said.

But that was not the only place where suspicion was present. By the shore, everyone was inside a circle, being an idea that Luna came up with to prevent anyone from attacking a comrade and to prevent the hidden infiltrators from attacking without being immediately detected.

“Whatever happens, don’t get out of your circle” Luna said to everyone. “Do it and you’ll be considered a transformed enemy.”

“At least, I can tell what dragon is a fake or not” Spike said, behind his circle. “Too bad I can’t prove that I’m the real me.”

“We’re not going anywhere with this situation” Day Glow said, behind the barrier to Freeze Burn.

“Yes, I know, but it can’t be helped” Freeze Burn replied. “So, we just have to keep waiting.”

“Wait?” Day Glow asked. “Wait for what?”

At the medical camp, a griffon guard exclaimed to all the other guards at the camp, with a spear ready.

“No one moves until we can identify who is the disguised enemy! But be aware, ‘cause more of those reincarnated beings can show up as well. Anyone who moves will be considered an enemy!”

Inside the big tent, Fluttershy and Cherry were listening that.

“And in the meantime the number of our wounded will keep increasing” Cherry said.

“We have no choice but to way now” Fluttershy said.

At Neighagra Falls, Queen Mystic Heart and her team were still fighting Featherwing. The queen used her lava nature to melt down the pieces of rock that the harpie threw at her.

“She never stops…” Mystic Heart said.

At the place where the Third Unit was, Gina was flying through the trees with three heat orbs around her, trying to hit some of the guards.

“Make sure you are not hit!” Twilight exclaimed to everyone.

“Don’t worry, princess” Thunder Night said. “I won’t let that guy have any opportunity to use that explosive nature.”

At the fight against Thunder Blitz, Armored Oath was preparing another sealing spell. Blue was there to help against that enemy capable of making others explode just with a touch. Nearby, Shining and other guards were trying to defeat Lake Splash who, although didn’t had her sword, was still very dangerous.

“You better hurry with that seal, Armored Oath” Shining said, holding the Executioner’s Blade.

“Yeah, I don’t know how much we’ll be able to stand this” Blue added.

Gael, Godot and their griffons were also having some troubles, dealing with the reincarnated deer that had come with King Grover and the other, mainly due to his horns, what provided to him a very dangerous weapon to anyone who approached.

“Our warriors can’t even get close” Godot said. “And long-rage attacks against a deer don’t work that well, due to their agility.”

“But we can’t give up” Gael said. “We have to seal all the reincarnated beings.”

At the HQ, the great bubble was bubbling and Boreal Blizzard said:

“I detect a new group of the enemy. It’s a small unit, but their energy is unusual. I think… it’s the General of Chaos!”

“What did you say?!” Aspen said, overhearing him.

“The General of Chaos is now leading a small unit into battle” Boreal Blizzard said.

“And can you tell me who is in this unit?” Aspen asked.

“This energy is…” Boreal started. “Bubble Sweet!”

“Do you mean the one that was a jinchuriki?” Aspen asked.

“There’s no doubt about it” Boreal Blizzard replied. “And all the others are jinchuriki too!”

That information was like a shock to everyone.

“I can’t believe that he has more pawns under his control” White Light said.

“And Star Knight?” Celestia asked. “Where is he?”

Star was flying through a forest near the south border of Equestria when he was joining by Hawthorn running alongside him.

“I finally caught up with you, Star!” Hawthorn exclaimed. “I had to ask Eight-Tails a little extra energy to get the speed to get to you.”

“Well, it’s about time” Star said. “What have you been doing?”

“I had trouble in the way” Hawthorn replied.

“Yeah, I noticed that…”

“By the way, one of clones contacted me earlier. He was pretty fast getting to Equestria. Anyway, how are the others doing?”

“They should arrive on the front lines of every last battlefield right about now” Star replied.

“Then all the fakes will stop being a problem” Hawthorn said.

“Yeah, that’s the plan, but we have to hurry” Star answered.

And they continued their way.

The members of the First Unit continued stationary on their respective circle.

“Princess Luna, for how long do we have to stay like this?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, if that big statue comes back soon, we’re going to be toast” Nitelite said. “And it’s a dragon that is saying.”

“Calm down, everyone” Luna replied. “It’s only until Prince Star Knight arrives. And until he comes, no one steps inside anyone else’s circle.”

“I just hope he arrives soon” Flambeau commented. “I hate being in one place for too long.”

“But can’t we ask personal questions to each other to confirm who we are?” Ember asked to Princess Luna.

“No, and that’s because we already warriors doing the same thing” she replied. “Sometimes, a lucky guess can be right.”

“Well, this is really dull…” Arcing said.

Obsidian Blade agreed with him.

“I’m sorry about this” Princess Luna said. “Just wait a little longer.”

What she didn’t know was that a disguised clone with a form of a deer was waiting for the right moment to attack her.

It was at that moment that one of Star’s clone landed there.

“You made it!” Freeze Burn said to Star.

“Yeah, I finally got here” he replied with a smile.

Day Glow was openmouthed for seeing a male alicorn. The only one he had seen was King Cosmos. But the most amazing thing was his age, as he was still a teenager.

“There you are, Star Knight” Luna said. “I was wondering when you’d arrive.”

“And he got even brighter” Spike noticed. “Even for a light pony.”

“Well, we already know about the new orders regarding you” Freeze Burn said.

“But I have to say, knowing how King Aspen is, I’m surprised that he gave you permission” Arcing said.

“You can thank Princess Celestia for that” Star replied. “She convinced King Aspen to let me do this.”

“Celestia sent that boy here?” Day Glow asked. “But who is he?”

“He has the Nine-Tails inside him” Luna explained to him.

“Really?”

“Beyond that, he’s also the son of Celestia’s most faithful student, whose talent and dedication made her to be elevated to the status of alicorn” Luna continued. “And he inherited his mother’s talent and dedication as well.”

“Now, let’s see, now that I’m here, I can find all the enemies for you” Star said. “All those will be wiped out!”

Everyone was very excited, except the disguised clone that was there.

Star walked around everyone there, attentive to any negative feelings. There, he could one sense one clone.

“We can start with that guy over there” he said, pointing to the deer who was actually the disguised clone. “The rest of you I know that aren’t imposters.”

“All the ones that got Star’s approval can get out of their circle” Luna declared, looking to the imposter and charging her horn with magic. “Consider anyone else the enemy.”

And she attacked the imposter.

At the medical camp, Cherry and Fluttershy heard bustle out there, with a female voice saying:

“Help me, please!”

A unicorn mare was approaching the big tent holding an apparent badly wounded pegasus stallion.

“Hold it right there!” the griffon guard exclaimed. “Don’t approach!”

Cherry and Fluttershy got out and the former asked:

“What’s the matter?”

“My husband…” the mare said. “He can still be saved with a healing spell.”

“Just stay put” the griffon said, pointing his spear. “I told everyone not to move. How can you prove you’re allies? You can’t and that’s the all point.”

“I know, but at this range… he’s going to die without your help” the mare continued to said, with her husband moaning in pain. “Please, I beg you! Do what you can! Don’t let my husband die right here on my arms!”

And then she used her magic to take the sword her husband had and pointed to her chest.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!” the griffon exclaimed.

“If you can’t trust me, then I’ll take my own life right here and right now” the mare replied with the eye full of tears. “But please, just save my husband!”

“Hey, stop that!” the griffon exclaimed.

That scene was hard for Cherry and Fluttershy to see, but they could relate as they both had their husbands fighting out there as well. It was then that Cherry said to her:

“Come on.”

“No, what if they’re enemies?” the griffon asked.

“And what if they’re actually comrades?” Cherry replied. “I have to tend that pony’s injuries.”

A smiled appeared on the mare’s face and she said:

“Thank you…”

And they started to advance toward the tent, but a slight wicked smiled appeared both in the mare’s and the stallion’s faces. It was then that they went to a surprise attack to Cherry, with Fluttershy screaming and the griffon guard trying to defend that. Cherry could see their faces changing and she thought that would be the last thing she would see.

Suddenly, something hit the clones with the strength of a meteor. A lot of dust was raised up with trees irrupting from it. When the dust cleared, it was revealed that it was Star who took them out.

“Are you okay, aunt Cherry Blossom?” Star asked.

“It can’t be…” Fluttershy said. “It’s Star!”

“Star… how did you…” Cherry said.

“Well, you look alright to me” Star said with a smile. “And that’s a relief, as I wouldn’t want to tell Jona that I wasn’t able to save his mother.”

At the battle of the second unit, Cloud Chase punched what appeared to be a member of his unit that turned out to be a clone in disguise.

“I knew you were a fake” he said.

Rainbow Dash approached him and then said:

“Wow, cuz, that was pretty awesome. Of course not as awesome as me.”

And she kicked a changeling that tried to attack her. After that, Soarin appeared and told:

“Bad news that way! Applejack is in trouble!”

Cloud Chase turned and saw Big Mac defeating another clone and told him:

“Big Mac, Applejack is in trouble!”

“But who do we know who to strike then?!” Rainbow Dash asked.

And then Star appeared and said:

“The two on your left!”

Although caught by surprise by his sudden appearance, Rainbow Dash said:

“You got it, Star!”

“Wait, that’s Star Knight?” Cloud Chaser asked.

“I think that can wait” Soaring aid.

And they all advanced to the place where Applejack was dealing with three disguised clones who were about to attack her with swords. When they were about to hit her, Star appeared and stopped their attack with the hooves and some energy arms, saying then:

“Sorry I’m late, aunt Applejack.”

“Well, Ah’ll be damned” Applejack said. “Sure is nice tah have ya here, Star.”

Making force, Star was able to break the swords and then cause a shock wave that threw the three fakes, turning them to their real form, and then hit two more that came to attack, knocking them out as well. Trees irrupted from all of those clones.

“Are you okay, aunt Applejack?”

“Of course, kid” she replied.

At the desert, Platinum made a summoning spell and, from it, Grogar and Tirek appeared.

“I see… So that’s why I was force to make a summoning spell” Platinum said.

“You…” Tirek said, looking to Platinum and recognizing him. “I thought you were dead.”

“Relax, Tirek” Grogar said. “This one is a reincarnation.”

“A reincarnation?” Tirek repeated. “But the only one capable of using the Reincarnation Curse is…”

“The General of Death, I know” Grogar completed. “But who do you think our master was able to enslave?”

That cause Tirek to be surprised.

“No…”

“Yes” Grogar confirmed. “As you can see, we have everything to win this war. We just have to make our roles perfectly.”

Tirek thought for a moment and then asked:

“What do I have to do?”

At the battle of the Third Unit, Armored Oath was about to finish his sealing spell. Thunder Blitz then appeared to attack him.

“Don’t even think about it” Dark Knight said to Thunder Blitz, defending Armored Oath.

He was able to make Thunder Blitz move away, but that exhausted him a bit.

“All set!” Armored Oath said.

When Lake Splash approached him, Shining sliced her with the sword and then exclaimed:

“Armored Oath, now!”

The light unicorn then activated the spell and the tiger he drew get out of the scroll and pulled her to the scroll, imprisoning her. Because of that, Gina and Thunder Blitz run away.

“Good, now there’s only two more left” Blue said, approaching Shining.

“Not counting with the ones Shadow Claw, Gael and Godot are dealing with” Twilight said.

Shining turned to Armored Oath and asked him:

“Are you alright, Armored Oath?”

“Yes, I can keep going” he replied, folding the scroll.

“You can keep drawing that I will protect you, kid” Dark Knight said.

It was then that a group of clones appeared and advanced toward them.

“Here comes the enemy reinforcements” Shining said.

“It’s Petal Sprout’s clones” Blue said.

“Don’t worry, I can deal with these plant ponies” Twilight said, starting to charge her horn with magic.

But before she could do anything, Twilight felt a presence approaching. Although different, she would recognize it anywhere.

“No, it can’t be…” she said.

“What is it, Twily?” Blue asked.

His answer was replied as Star appeared and landed before them, turning to the clones.

“Star…” Blue said.

“My son…” Twilight said.

“You don’t have to worry” Star said. “I’m here to help.”

Although caught by surprise to see his son there, even more surrounded by Nine-Tails’ energy, she smiled and said:

“I wanted to keep you safe as long as I could, but it seems you’re too stubborn to keep down.”

“Well, it runs in the family” Blue said.

“And we now have our reinforcements as well” Shining said. “Or should I say reinforcement singular.”

“Come on, Shining, we know that Star can turn into a thousand if he wants to” Blue said.

“Not at this moment, dad” Star replied, while starting to move energy arms. “Today, I’m going for quality, instead of quantity.”

Another clone was doing the same as he: a Spiraling Star. He was with Shadow Claw and his team, Gael, Godot and the other members of the Fifth Unit that was present.”

“I’ll defeat you all, you can be sure of that!” he exclaimed to the reincarnated beings.

“That kid is certainly strong” the reincarnated deer noticed.

“Please, it’s just a little colt and we’re immortal warriors” Dusk Night sneered.

“If I was you, sister, I wouldn’t underestimate this colt” Shadow Claw said.

Another clone arrive to the battle between Queen Mystic Heart and her team against Featherwing. His arrival was able to stop the fight.

“Here I am!” he exclaimed.

“Oh great!” a light pony exclaimed. “Our young prince is here!”

“Yeah, we don’t have anything more to fear” another one added.

“Your young prince?” Mystic Heart asked. “I see… So that’s Prince Star Knight, Princess Twilight’s son…”

At HQ, Diamond Glow declared:

“It appears that Prince Star Knight has reached all the battlefields.”

“That’s good” Aspen said.

“He managed to join up with Chief Strongpaw, King Hard Stone and the rest of the Fourth Unit and all of their enemies, the former regents, had been successfully sealed” she continued.

At the desert, Star asked to Hard Stone:

“So what do we do now, Your Majesty?”

“The most logical thing to do is joining up with another unit and keep fighting” he replied. “But our enemy isn’t the reincarnated being, but the General of Chaos.”

“You’re right” Strongpaw agreed. “This war will not end until he’s brought down. Without his most powerful follower, the Lord of Chaos will not intervene with the fear of having his brother stopping him.”

“Lord Hawthorn and the real me should be heading here right about now” the clone Star said.

And so Star’s clones started to direct everyone to all the imposters, like the ones at the shores, something that Diamond Glow also reported:

“The merged First and Second Units had detected almost all the enemy. They’re advancing with incredible momentum.”

The Star that was with the Third Unit was also giving them a big help dealing with the clones.

“The Third Unit also seems to be dominating their field” Diamond Glow informed.

The Star with the Commando and Fifth Units threw the Spiraling Star that obligated the reincarnated beings to retreat as much as they could.

“The Fifth Unit has gained the upper hoof as well” Diamond Glow said.

At the medical camp, Star helped everyone detecting and exterminating all the imposters.

“The medical unit has surpassed all their enemies” Diamond Glow communicated.

“It seems the plan worked” White Light observed with a smile.

“Indeed” Ingrid agreed. “The tide of war has undoubtedly turned. It’s overwhelmingly in our favor.”

“I told you, King Aspen” Princess Celestia said.

“Yes, you did” he admitted.

“Now, all we need to do is stopping the General of Chaos who is approaching with the jinchuriki” White Light said. “We should concentrate our remaining forces there and hitting them with everything we got.”

It was then that Boreal Blizzard sensed something that made him exclaime:

“Please, hold on! Just wait one second!”

“What is it?” Celestia asked.

“I’m sensing a new enemy at Chief Strongpaw’s Fourth Unit” Boreal Blizzard said, who couldn’t tell what kind of energy he was sensing.

At the Fourth Unit, a sensing warrior said:

“Wait, what is that?”

“What are you sensing?” Hard Stone asked him.

“It’s way over there!” he exclaimed, pointing up.

They all looked up and saw King Platinum appearing at the rock formation.

“King Platinum…” Strongpaw said.

“But I thought you have sealed him away, Chief Strongpaw” Star said.

“Impossible…” Hard Stone said. “In that state, he was able to fragment himself?”

“What do you mean?” Strongpaw asked.

“My father is able to split his body and, in doing so, he can make clones” Hard Stone explained. “Well, no, not clones, it’s closer. He split his body into two pieces, although each one only have half of his strength.”

“No, I don’t mean him” the sensing warrior said. “Someone else’s here.”

And Grogar appeared by his side, what caught Star’s attention.

“It’s Grogar…”

And then Tirek appeared besides Grogar. Hard Stone was able to recognize him right away.

“No, it can’t be…”

“Who is that?” Strongpaw said.

“The centaur demon who tried to conquer Equestria during Princess Celestia’s parents’ rule” Hard Stone replied. “But I thought he was defeated and weakened, being then isolated in the darkest part of the Enchanted Forest where no one lives. He’s one of the most dangerous villains that ever existed in the Pony Reality: Lord Tirek!”

The Regents Assemble

Tirek’s appearance had caused a lot of impression to those who knew about him.

“So that’s Tirek?” Star asked, who knew about him through the books he had read. “I always imagined him… bigger and more threatening.”

“He’s not still in his true form with full force” Hard Stone said. “Believe me when I said that he may be as dangerous as the General of Chaos or at least close enough. That monster is capable of absorb magic, the one inside any creature.”

“Can he really do that?” Strongpaw asked.

“Yes, and that’s why we need to stop him as fast as possible” Hard Stone said. “Good thing he doesn’t have his brother Scorpan at his side.”

“Wait, Scorpan is his brother?” Star asked.

“Yes, he was also a villain, but he got reformed and helped King Cosmos and Queen Galaxia defeat Tirek” Hard Stone answered. “Because of that, Tirek killed Scorpan.”

At the rock formation, Tirek noticed all the ones down there and said:

“I can’t believe that I’m seeing kingdoms that never get along under the same flag.”

“That’s why they’re called the Alliance” Grogar said. “You’ll see that it is composed by kingdoms from both the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World, including Equestria.”

“You don’t tell me…” Tirek said. “You mean I can get my revenge on those two pesky alicorns.”

“The ones who defeated you no longer rule Equestria” Grogar said. “That role belongs now to their daughters.”

“It doesn’t matter” Tirek said. “They’ll do nicely.”

“Well, if you say so…” Grogar said. “Just remember that you can’t fail. Gentle Light will be watching through Platinum and assist you in any way possible.”

It was then that Platinum’s consciousness was taken over by Gentle Light who told through him:

“It’s not a job that I’m willing to do, but I don’t have any other choice.”

“I’ll leave you then” Grogar said. “I already did what I had to do. I must wait for further orders.”

And, having said that, he disappeared.

“Grogar is gone” Strongpaw observed.

“Where did he go?” Star asked.

“I don’t know, but that’s not what I’m worried about” Hard Stone said.

“You know, I’m really curious about you, Tirek” Gentle Light said.

“What do you mean?” the centaur asked. “You’re a General of Order, you should know all about me.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I know about you through my siblings and Mirrored Library, but I simply have too much work, mainly thanks to you and your fellow villains, and I don’t know many things about your abilities” Gentle Light said. “Even though I wouldn’t want to motivate an enemy, I would like to see you in action.”

But before Tirek could reply, a great quantity of sand attacked them, what forced them to dodge as fast as they could.

“I guess we can’t take them that easily” Strongpaw said after that failed attack.

Tirek landed at the ground and said:

“Very well then.”

There was a huge silence, very uncomfortable to the Fourth Unit, as they didn’t know when the centaur would attack. He then started to advanced, until he started to run.

“Here he comes!” Star exclaimed.

“Whatever happens, don’t give him time to try to absorb your magic!” Hard Stone said.

And so all the guards of Fourth Unit also advanced, while making their cry of war. In a blink, Tirek knocked down a lot of guards. Her size and current physical strength were very superior to those of a pony and even a deer.

Gentle Light, using Platinum, who was using the gravity spell to fly, was forced to attack as well. Pointing to Hard Stone, she tried to use the particle nature. Hard Stone noticed that, but he knew that his father couldn’t use particle nature with his power divided in two. Like he had thought, the particle nature was undone, what forced Gentle Light to make Platinum invisible.

“Sensing warriors, make sure that you watch out for King Platinum!” Hard Stone commanded.

Strongpaw tried to use his sand, but the female griffon told him:

“Wait, Chief Strongpaw, you and King Hard Stone must recover first.”

She then turned to Star, who had summoned a clone, and asked:

“Prince Star Knight, can you use the mode you had before?”

“No, not right now” he replied. “I used it all in my earlier fight.”

Tirek continued to defeat warrior after warrior. It was then that a strong wind push him back. He looked and saw that it was the female griffon.

“Don’t think you will be able to defeat all of us” she said.

Tirek got up, looking at her for a moment and then, accessing to his magic, he started to feed on the magic of all the ones he had defeated. That caused their eyes lose their light and the ponies’ Cutie Marks to disappear. All that magic caused Tirek to grow even bigger, with his lower body becoming azureish black, his skin becoming moderate raspberry, his mane becoming light phthalo bluish gray and his horns getting even longer and becoming dark sapphire bluish gray.

“Wow, that’s unexpected…” Star said.

And then he charged his magic and casted a blast that soon turned into a firestorm. The water nature users were quick to cast a water barrier. The two spells hit each other and, although the water was able to weak the fire a bit, the latter was still very intense. And then a great stream covered all the area.

Although that took the sense of sight to everyone, it didn’t take long for Tirek to attack again with fire attacks. But when he went to the physical attacks, he noticed that when he tried to attack, the guards were protected by sand. When the sand tried to attack him, he realized it was Strongpaw, who recovered thanks to a healing spell from a unicorn.

“You won’t go any further!” he exclaimed.

And started to use repeated sand attacks on Tirek, who, although of great size, was able to dodge the attacks. At one point, he turned and saw Star Knight with his clone creating a massive Spiraling Sphere. Hard Stone used his earth nature to elevate Tirek and Star hit him. That created a great shockwave.

However, Star noticed something that left him astonished. Ribs made of vivid vermilion had blocked his attack and then a hoof punched him hard, throwing him back. And so a Warrior of Dark Light appeared with musculature and skin. Star and his clone were caught by sand hands.

“That’s the Warrior of Dark Light!” Hard Stone exclaimed. “So he also has the blacklight nature.”

And the Warrior of Dark Light summoned two energy blades.

“Prince Star Knight, how much longer?” Strongpaw asked, while putting down the clones.

The original clone was close by, gathering natural energy.

“Just hold on a second” he replied. “I’m almost done.”

The orange pigmentation started to appear around his eyes.

All the warriors started to attack Tirek, but the centaur just attacked them with the blades. Chief Strongpaw’s sand started to embrace the Warrior of Dark Light. But Tirek didn’t seem to be bothered by that. In fact, he made the Warrior of Dark Light raise its arms, breaking free from it, to cast a great shockwave that took down a lot of warriors. Strongpaw couldn’t believe that not even his sand couldn’t stop him. But then he heard Star saying:

“Sorry about that.”

Star, now in Sage Mode, and the other two clones had created a Spiraling Star.

“Now, I’m ready!” he exclaimed. “I’ll need everyone to get back now!”

Hard Stone put himself beside Strongpaw and, putting his hoof on the latter’s bag, he said:

“Go, Chief Strongpaw!”

And he executed his gravity spell and then said:

“I made all the sand here lighter.”

And his affirmation was confirmed when the sand simply get out of the bag.

“With sand this light, there is no limit for what I can do” Strongpaw noticed.

The warriors started to get away from Tirek like it was told to them and then Chief Strongpaw exclaimed, while his sand got out of his bad:

“Prince Star Knight!”

“Yes, here I go!” Star Knight replied, advancing with the Spiraling Star.

Strongpaw’s sand attacked the Warrior of Dark Light, involving him. If it was like Rothbart’s Warrior of Dark Light, then he knew that external attacks were ineffective. Then he needed to use the sand under Tirek’s hooves. And, with a gesture, he made the sand under Tirek start to involve him, taking him then out of the Warrior of Dark Light.

“Go!” Strongpaw exclaimed. “Star Knight!”

And Star appeared above Tirek and threw the Spiraling Star.

At HQ, a lot of signs were coming from the great bubble.

“I can’t believe that Grogar brought that monster to here!” Ingrid exclaimed, directing her words to Celestia. “After everything our parents did to defeat Tirek…”

“The Lord of Chaos wants to win this war at any cost” Celestia said. “It’s no surprise he would want any villain to help him, mainly someone as brutal as Tirek.”

At the battlefield, Tirek was able to absorb the magic in the sand and the Spiraling Star, what caused him to grow even bigger, getting mane on his head.

“So much energy…” he said, with sand on his hand. “You didn’t have to give me such a feast.”

All the ones who saw that couldn’t believe what Tirek just did.

“Impossible…” Star said. “How did he…”

The Warrior of Dark Light left behind decayed until it disappeared. Tirek then gave a big jump to land beside Platinum that was on a rock formation.

“It would appear my guess” Gentle Light commented. “You are very powerful.”

“Tell me on thing, General of Death” Tirek said. “That colt over there… He’s an alicorn. Who is he?”

“Prince Star Knight?” Gentle Light asked. “He’s Princess Twilight’s son. She’s also na alicorn and is the ruler of the Light Kingdom and the current holder of the original light of the Pony Reality.”

“You don’t say…” Tirek said. “Well, I can’t let somepony like that around here.”

And he used his magic again. It appeared to haven’t happened nothing, but then a great shadow appeared over all the unit. They looked up and the shock and fear covered them all.

“No, it can’t be…” Star said.

“What is this…?” the griffon said.

“How can he…?” Strongpaw started.

And over them, a great meteorite started to get down. Seeing the air of despair in everyone’s look, Strongpaw exclaimed:

“It’s still too soon to be considering giving up! Never give up until even trying everything, no matter how small and ineffective they are!”

And, taking flight with his gravity spell, he started to head toward the meteorite. After that, Strongpaw exclaimed:

“Everyone, gets as far away from here as you can!”

And they all started to do that, even Star.

“You’re taking us too?” Gentle Light observed, seeing that the meteorite would hit them as well.

“Yes, of course I am” Tirek replied. “After, I have the magic to survive my own attacks and that body that you’re using is a reincarnated being will restore soon after. That is the point of the Reincarnation Curse, isn’t it?”

He then noticed Hard Stone going to the meteorite.

“A unicorn that can fly?” he asked. “He’s that really Platinum’s little brat?”

Star, noticing Hard Stone going to the meteorite, asked:

“What will King Hard Stone do up there?”

“He’s going to make that meteorite lighter and stop it” a Stonult warrior that was running away beside him answered.

Arriving to the meteorite, Hard Stone placed his hooves over it and started to apply his gravity spell while pushing it up with all the strength he had. After a few moments, the velocity of the meteorite slowed down, but he kept falling down.

To help him, Strongpaw used all the sand he could to help Hard Stone push up the meteorite. But even with all that, the meteorite was still falling.

“Just a litte… more…” Hard Stone said. “Come on…!”

It was then that they were able to stop it.

“Who would have guessed that little brat had become such great warrior” Tirek said.

Everyone had stopped, seeing how Hard Stone and Strongpaw had stopped the meteorite and started to acclaim them. A smile of relief appeared on everyone. And then Tirek asked:

“But now, what are you going to do with the second one, Hard Stone?”

And the second meteorite became apparent to everyone and hit the first one, starting to break it while passing through it and pushing it down. The tremor was such that was sensed everywhere else, including at the limits of Thicket where the HQ was.

“What happened out there?!” White Light exclaimed.

“From what I can tell, a giant boulder, big enough to block out the sky was dropped at the Fourth Unit’s battlefield” Diamond Glow replied. “It’s the source of this tremor.”

“Do we have any further report from the Fourth Unit after the attack?” King Aspen asked, worried.

Boreal Blizzard, who was able to feel what happened there, said:

“What’s going on? So many casualties… in just on sweep!”

“There’s no mistake…” White Light said. “It’s Tirek’s doing. It’s the only explanation. Princess Celestia, at this rate…”

“That’s it” she said with a determined look. “I’ll go.”

At the desert, the sand was filled with bodies, either from the ones who were directly killed by the meteorite or the ones who tried to defend themselves, ending up getting without energy that caused their death. Even the ones who barely survived seemed to much shocked to be able to react.

Strongpaw was able to defend himself and the female griffon with his sand, even though that let him exhausted. Star, on the other side, got out of a rubber ball, ending up on the ground. He got up and then asked:

“Why did you bothered to save a clone like me?”

He was talking to Oak that was also to defend himself with the rubber ball that he also used to protect Star.

“I feel bad about the others, but, even if you’re a clone or not, you’re still very needed here… in order for us to win” he replied.

Although that was the most logical decision, Star couldn’t stop trembling with all the pain of being spared while the others were killed. It was then that he remembered one think:

“What about King Hard Stone?!”

The king was with a warrior of his kingdom that was lucky to survive with relatively less damages than the others. The king, on the other side, had scratches all over his body. What left of his mane, normally well arranged, was now loose and disheveled.

“King Hard Stone!” Star exclaimed, while approaching.

“It’s okay, Prince Star Knight” the guard said. “He is still alive. However, he’s seriously injured.”

Tirek had been able to protect himself with the ribs of the Warrior of Dark Light, while Platinum’s reincarnated body was regenerated beside him.

“So this is the maximum level of the power that both you and Scorpan’s share” Gentle Light said, when Platinum was ready to talk.

Tirek smiled and he said:

“My brother was never a match to me when it comes to this. Only the ones with the true desire to cause destruction would be able to cause something like this. Ah, how this landscape gives me so many memories…”

“But it’s a shame that there are some survivors down there” Gentle Light said. “That really ruins your perfect landscape.”

She was looking to the six that had escape completely: Star Knight, Oak, Strongpaw, the female griffon and the Stonult guard who were all around Hard Stone.

“King Hard Stone and Chief Strongpaw are specially persistent” Gentle Light continued. “What will you do?”

“I want to check something first” Tirek replied.

And he executed a summoning spell. But when he barely ended, a pain affected Star until the inside of his mind, where he kneeled before Nine-Tails’ cage.

“My stomach…” the alicorn colt said. “It feels… hot…”

The nine-tailed fox was able to recognize that.

“This spell that summons me…” he said, with rage and hate filling every word. “Is Tirek who is trying to summoning me?!”

After seeing that nothing happened, Tirek said:

“It would appear that Nine-Tails is out of my grasp.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot that you and Nine-Tails have history” Gentle Light commented. “I heard that you managed to put him under your control and, after doing that, you used him against my brothers and sisters of the Light Kingdom. Golden Paladin and Leaf Mane managed to release him from you before sealing him inside Heartbeat. You know that fox doesn’t like very much, right?”

And that caused Tirek to make a cold look to her.

“I know, I’ll stop now” Gentle Light said. “Oh, and you should know that’s the entire propose of this war. The Nine-Tails remains sealed inside a jinchuriki, one that is not my sister. Just look, he’s right over there.”

And Tirek observed Star, who was still feeling the pain that his summoning spell caused.

“So that alicorn brat is Nine-Tails’ current jinchuriki…” Tirek said. “Interesting…”

“You shouldn’t underestimate him” Gentle Light advised. “He is very talented and smart. He already masters magic that most pony, including the alicorn sisters, don’t. He was even able to defeat the General of Chaos once. In order for your master’s plan to work, you need to capture him, but this is only a clone. Will you after the real one?”

“Not yet, there’s something that I want to try” Tirek said. “With all that wild energy that I got from Grogar, I want to test it out.”

And he channeled his magic, what was sensed by the Stonult guard who said:

“It’s them! At four o’clock!”

They all looked and saw Tirek and Platinum. It was then that big plants started to emerge and he exclaimed:

“Deep Forest Emergence!”

And the big plants grown started to advance toward them.

“He’s using wood nature, even more one of Leaf Mane’s spell!” Star exclaimed.

“I can feel wild energy coming from here” Strongpaw said. “That’s maybe the reason why he can use wood nature.”

“I guess this is it then…” the Stonult guard said.

But Star couldn’t accept that… No, he couldn’t let Tirek win this way! The rage he had was the same that Nine-Tails was feeling at that moment, a rage and hate for the same being… However, he didn’t have much energy to combat something like one of the greatest spells of the General of Nature.

He then went to Nine-Tails’ cage, as the fox directed to him:

“This time, I’ll lend you my power, Star Knight.”

“And I guess you’re gonna tell me to lend my body over to you again” Star answered in an aggressive way with no patient for the tailed beast.

“No, I’ll just give you my energy” Nine-Tails replied. “We share a common enemy in Tirek. He manipulated me like a puppet and was the reason why I was sealed inside Heartbeat. Believe me when I tell that I would tear him apart if I was not inside you and still serving the Lord of Chaos. I rather stick with you than be captured by any side that includes him.”

That declaration really surprised Star.

At the real world, Star looked to the chaotic amount of plants that were approaching and started to advance to them.

“Prince Star Knight, wait!” Strongpaw exclaimed.

And then he created an enormous amount of clones and they all made a giant Spiraling Sphere. King Hard Stone woke up and looked to Star Knight advancing.

“Go for it, Star Knight!” Nine-Tails exclaimed.

And all the clones started to use the Spiraling Spheres on the advancing plants. That tore them apart until there was no danger to the ones that were ahead.

“Like you said, he is really very talented” Tirek observed with a smile.

“I told you” Gentle Light said.

And the clones Star created disappeared, while he kneeled panting. He had used all the energy Nine-Tails gave him in one shot. He was at his limit and, as clone, he would disappear at any minute.

“Prince Star Knight, that’s enough” Hard Stone said. “I’ll take over this battle from here on.”

“Your Highness, you’re too injured!” the griffon exclaimed. “You’re in no condition.”

But he rejected her words and said:

“I have a chance to reclaim myself. I still have enough energy to do that, you can believe that. I’ll fight him.”

“But that’s crazy!” the griffon exclaimed. “You’re already falling apart!”

It was then that Tirek and Platinum approached and the formed said:

“That’s too bad, I wanted to try more of my magic. I still hadn’t the time to warm up. But I don’t think you can’t dance anymore, Hard Stone.”

That caused him to look with rage to him.

“What’s that look for?” Tirek asked. “Don’t tell me you’re still upset with our former meeting.”

“Wait, you already knew him?” the griffon asked.

After a pause of a few seconds, Hard Stone told:

“It was a long time ago… I was a just little older than Prince Star Knight. Stonult was passing a bad time during our war with Evermist. We were in need of allies, so I and my father approached Tirek in hopes he could help us… We were desperate… We didn’t care how much evil he was as long he helped us win the war. But when he sent a team of soldiers to escort him…”

“He absorbed their magic and killed them all” Strongpaw concluded.

“That caused me and my father to go to him, to have an explanation” Hard Stone continued. “He just berated us for believing that he would actually help us. For generations, we from the Enchanted Forest had come to fight for the sake of our respective kingdoms, not caring for all the others. We took from and they took back from us. And this happened again and again in an endless cycle. All that hate made was to make us go to war. Without even noticing, we reduced ourselves to the same level as villains like him.”

“But that’s simply the way life is” Tirek replied. “I can’t believe that you lived as long as this and yet you didn’t learn a single thing of the past. You may have come from the light, but your path only gets darker and darker.”

“You may have lived more than me, but you spent most of that time crawling in the darkest parts of the Enchanted Forest that I ended up learning more than you have” Hard Stone replied, while Strongpaw went to help Star get up. “It's because that I experienced so much pain in the past that I can even consider what’s best for the future. This war may have caused even more pain, but this time is all different. This time we’re fighting together, fighting to achieve more than focusing in all those pesky differences we had before. By watching youngsters like Prince Star Knight, I learned that time doesn’t simply just pass by. Though slow in pace, the world is accruing its past experiences and advances steadily towards peace.”

There was pause and then Tirek said:

“That’s where you are wrong. The world doesn’t need to grow any further. It’s time for it to slumber in peace under the Lord of Chaos’ domain.”

“Tirek, long ago, you forced me to forsake myself” Hard Stone told, while getting up. “However, I shall now win against you here. I will reclaim myself and you shall be the one to slumber.”

But when he tried to stand, he started to fall. But then sand got around him and held him still.

“Come with me and I will help you reclaim yourself” Strongpaw replied.

Hard Stone smiled and replied:

“Only if you are able to keep up with me.”

“I can see that you’re still capable of dancing” Tirek said.

“For my soul’s sake and for the future, I shall take you down here and now!” Hard Stone vowed.

At HQ, Celestia decision to join the battle, although sudden, didn’t surprise anyone. In fact, it lead Ingrid to get up and said:

“I’m with you, sister. We can’t let that monster ruin all the work our parents’ work in pushing Tirek away.”

“Are you sure of that?” White Light asked.

“Tirek is a big threat, as much as the General of Chaos” the Celestia said.

“Strongpaw and mainly Hard Stone won’t be able to stand him by themselves” Ingrid continued. “It’s imperative we join them.”

“I agree” Aspen said, standing up. “I shall join you in battle.”

“Celestia, should we call Luna as well?” Ingrid asked. “We may need all the power we can to face Tirek.”

Celestia thought for a moment and then she replied:

“No, we need Luna at the main forces. As well as Twilight.”

“Princess Celestia is right” Aspen agreed. “We can’t forget there are other battles as important as this one.”

“But we’ll need help to fight Tirek’s fire power and we’ll need more than just your ice nature, Ingrid” Celestia said.

At the shore, Princess Luna was overseeing everything to make sure there wasn’t any enemies there when a light unicorn approached her and told her:

“Princess Luna, we have news from your sister Princess Celestia.”

“What is it?” Luna asked.

“She and the other regents will fight Lord Tirek” the guard informed.

“What?!” she exclaimed. “Tirek is here?! Then I must join my sisters and the others.”

“Please, princess, your sister said for you to stay” the guard said.

“And why would she say something like that?” Luna asked.

“Because we need all the help we need” the guard replied.

“I see…” Luna said. “I believe she’s right. Beyond that, she and the other regents may be able to handle that demon.”

At Neighagra Falls, Star was preparing to use the Spiraling Star, but Featherwing caused a strong wind that cause Star to miss the aim slightly and, when he threw, he missed.

“Damn!” he exclaimed.

But, fortunately, Bronze Dagger, using the Twinsword, concentrated the energy in it to create and energy hammer that he used to hit the harpie hardly.

“You won’t escape that easily” he said.

Mystic Heart was happy to see that Bronze Dagger has gained more confidence.

“That was impressive…” Star said. “So that’s one of the swords of the Swordsponies of the Mist. The only I have seen so far was Shark Skin.”

“Queen Mystic Heart, this is Captain White Light” he said, linking himself to her with Diamond Glow’s help. “I have something important to tell you. It’s an emergency situation.”

After being notified of what is happening, Mystic Heart gathered a trio of unicorns so they all could use a teleportation spell strong enough to take them to the place where Tirek was.

“Are you sure you can handle things around here?” the queen asked to Bronze Dagger and Star.

“Of course” Star replied.

“Your Highness, don’t worry” Bronze Dagger said, beside Featherwing to prevent her from doing anything. “I’ll defend this place with my life as one of the Seven Swordsponies of the Mist.”

That caused Mystic Heart to smile at him and told him:

“Thank you very much, Bronze Dagger.”

And so she and the others prepared to teleport.

When Tirek and Platinum prepared to advance to fight them, a light appeared, bringing with it Celestia, Aspen and Ingrid.

“You’re here!” Star exclaimed.

“We couldn’t stand still knowing you would be fighting that monster” Celestia said.

“No longer no see” Tirek said, looking to Celestia and Ingrid. “You have really grown up.”

It didn’t take long for Mystic Heart to appear as well with the other unicorn.

“Well, I can see we made it in time” she said.

“And it was about time to join the battle as well” Aspen said.

“I can say the same” Ingrid told.

Strongpaw didn’t say anything, but he felt the same as them.

“Well, it really pays off to live a long live to be able to witness the day that regents from both the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest stand unit and fight side by side” Hard Stone said.

Noticing they were serious about that, Tirek said:

“This is perfect! Now I will be able to get even stronger when I get your magic after defeating you.”

Celestia advanced to cast a healing spell on both Strongpaw and Hard Stone.

“Thank you for this, princess” the latter said.

“I’ll heal the two of you” Celestia said. “Ingrid, King Aspen, Queen Mystic Heart, you buy me some time, while I finish this.”

And so Aspen was surrounded by his electric aura, while Ingrid and Mystic Heart charged their horns. And then Mystic Heard launched lava against Tirek who started to dodge, while walking through the plants he had summoned. It was then that Aspen appeared and hit him with his horn, throwing him against the lava, while Ingrid launched an ice natured spell, what caused it to hard and become rock.

It was then that the centaur released himself with the ribcage of the Warrior of Dark Light. Before that, Aspen charged his horn with light nature and executed a blow with it on the ribcage, while Mystic Heart and Ingrid combined their lava and ice nature again.

“I feel useless watching them” a guard said.

“Yeah, I don’t know what to do” another said.

“Why don’t you all follow me and go deal with the other one” Oak said, turning to Platinum. “Let’s go!”

And he, the Stonult guard and the guards that came with Mystic Heart advanced toward Platinum who then moved away.

“How much longer, Princess Celestia?” Aspen asked, while he, Ingrid and Mystic Heart watched out for Tirek.

“Just a bit” she replied.

“Princess Celestia, can you heal me too, Princess Celestia?” Star asked. “I may be a clone, but I can’t afford to disappear yet. I can join you.”

“That’s not necessary” she replied.

“Why not?!”

There was a pause and then Hard Stone said:

“Star Knight, you must understand that this war is no longer fought to only protect you.”

And after a small explosion, Tirek irrupted from it, with the Warrior of Dark Light getting form.

“Speed enhance by light nature, ice nature and lava nature…” he said, with a smile. “Most impressive attacks…”

“You still didn’t see nothing” Ingrid said. “I still have a lot of spells in store to use against you.”

“You know, I normally prefer stallions that are hard to melt, but, in your case, I think I’ll have to pass” Mystic Hard said.

“And you couldn’t keep up with me even at full speed” Aspen replied.

Tirek made a blow to attack them, but he only hit the plants beneath, as the three of them retreated.

“I have to get faster and get the power crush his defenses” Aspen said.

“You should be more concerned about your defenses” Tirek replied.

And the Warrior of Dark Light threw blasts of fire, but they didn’t get to them, as a stone golem and a sand shield with the shape of Sand Jewel protect them all.

“Impressive…” Star said, as he turned to Strongpaw and Hard Stone after they had erected their defenses.

“Do you understand now?” the latter asked to him. “This war has become a battle to protect each other.”

“I want to fight with Tirek too!” Star exclaim. “I want to help you!”

“A defensive wall of sand and stone?” Tirek observed. “Also quite impressive…”

And the Warrior of Dark Light started to advance.

“Now, it’s time to go to the offensive” Hard Stone said. “Now, Queen Mystic Heart, King Aspen, listen to me well.”

And the warrior made of blacklight nature started to get pass through the defenses.

Meanwhile, Platinum continued to run away from Oak and the guards.

“Oh annoying” Gentle Light said. “Now I have to endure these ones.”

When the Warrior of Dark Light was able to pass through the defenses, Strongpaw attacked with his sand directly to Tirek, although the he wasn’t directly hit. The pony-panther then took flight with some sand and then used the sand he used on his attack to involve Tirek and the Warrior of Dark Light completely. While Strongpaw was holding him still, Ingrid appeared beside him and used her ice nature to create a thick layer over the sand. But Tirek was able to blow up with that.

After he did that, Hard Stone had finished telling his plan.

“Right, I understand” King Aspen said.

“Queen Mystic Heart!” Hard Stone exclaimed.

And she casted a Mist Conjuration Spell what caused a mist to appear. That mist even caught Platinum who was still running.

“This spell…” Gentle Light said. “It must have been casted by Mystic Heart.”

And then Platinum appeared before the regents. Hard Stone was over Aspen’s back and then told him:

“Let’s do it, King Aspen.”

“Right.”

And Aspen disappear in the blink.

“I see…” Gentle Light realized. “Hard Stone made Aspen lighter, what increased his speed. Probably, it will be as last time with Pandora and Rothbart…”

But before she could finish, Hard Stone and Aspen appeared and the latter hit Platinum with his horn, throwing him up. Aspen advanced and, thanks to Hard Stone’s gravity spell to give him more weight, he was able to hit with a lot of strength on the Warrior of Dark Light and break it, throwing it and Tirek back.

“Come one, I can help you guys too” Star Knight said.

“Just calm yourself and listen to me, Star Knight” Hard Stone said, approaching flying with Aspen behind. “You see this war we’re fighting? In the beginning, I just agreed to join the Alliance in order to get rid of the villains of the Lord of Chaos. But, as I fought beside all of you, I started to feel quite differently than I have in the past. Now, I want to be here as one of the regents of the Alliance. In the exact same manner, kingdoms that were once at odds are now changing. They are becoming one. So now, the era we were living, where every kingdom was divided from each other, can now change as well. Star Knight, please, let us deal with Tirek. I swear we’ll finish him off. It will be the first step to destroy the hate that has been haunting both the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest. As we are the descendants of the ones who perpetuated this, it’s our responsibility to end it. Rest assure and leave this to us.”

He proceeded to put a hoof over Star’s shoulder and continued:

“So, it’s up to you to stop the General of Chaos, my boy. That will become the first step in promoting hope for the future.”

“Even if it is Tirek or the General of Chaos, it doesn’t really matter” Celestia said. “Only by defeating both of them we can bring this war to an end. We’ll all defend you by staying here on this battlefield. So protect us by fighting on the other battlefield.”

There was a paused, where Star ended up understanding their words.

“Now, clone Star Knight, I’ll trust you with this message from all the regents here present.”

And the six of them exclaimed:

“We’ll win!”

Star nodded and then he disappeared, transmitting all his experiences and the message to the real one who was traveling with Hawthorn.

“Yeah…” he said. “We’ll win for sure!”

Hawthorn wondered what happened for Star say something like that, but that didn’t matter at that moment, as something was approaching.

It was the General of Chaos along with the jinchuriki, with Gigi, Echo Wing and Bubble Sweet flying behind him and the others running. When they met, Star advanced and hit with his forehead against the General’s…

Four-Tails, the Monkey King

Now that he had his father and his uncle by his side, Star knew that now the General of Chaos would have much difficulty in getting what he wanted. But he needed to informed them about what they were up against.

“Be care careful, he made the reincarnated jinchuriki like those dark ponies that attacked the Light Kingdom” he said. “They all have rods just like the others…”

“Just calm down, son, you’re starting to babble” Blue said.

“Yeah, but you already gave us the information we need” Shining said.

At that moment, the ground under them started to tremble and then they saw Five-Tails coming against them.

“Here it comes!” Star exclaimed.

“I count… five tails!” Shining said.

Star tried to move, but he still couldn’t do it very well, even more having that coral on his back. Because of that, Blue told him:

“Don’t worry, Star, I’ll take that out of you.”

And, with a blast of magic, Blue cracked the coral and reduced it into little pieces.

“Thanks dad, that’s way better” Star thanked.

It was then that Five-Tails was quick to change its direction.

“He’s after the Eight-Tails” Shining observed.

“Come, Eight-Tails, are you okay?” Hawthorn asked to his tailed beast who was still in control.

He started to get up and then replied:

“We share pain, remember? So, are you alright, Hawthorn?”

But he didn’t have time to replied, as Five-Tails, that had done a big jump, was diving into an attack with the horns. But the General of Chaos was still there and then he charged his horn, from where a chain of dark energy came up and put itself around Five-Tails that felt a lot of pain and then fell on the ground. Seeing that, Shining asked:

“Wait, was it trying to attack him?”

When the tailed beast hit the ground with violence, Star could hear it moan in pain and then a female voice said:

“So painful… I can’t believe I’m letting him…”

Hawthorn, who regained the control for a moment, had also heard Five-Tails and, with rage, said:

“Why you…”

And he closed his hand over him. But the General of Chaos simply pass through it and approached Five-Tails, who started to reverse to the second phase of the transformation, making Vapour Fist appear again.

“But why is he repressing the tailed beast’s power?” Blue asked.

“I don’t know” Shining replied. “He doesn’t seem to have the tailed beast under his control. Maybe that’s why?”

When the process was completed, the other jinchuriki approached and the chain that the General of Chaos used disappeared.

Using their psychic link, Hawthorn asked to Star:

“Hey, did you hear that, Star? That voice…”

“Yeah, I did” Star replied.

“That was the tailed beast” Eight-Tails revealed. “Five-Tails’ voice. We tailed beasts have emotions. It pains me seeing one of my kind be treated like that…”

“Now you get mad?” a voice said, joining the talk.

It was Nine-Tails who, laid down in his cell, had an angry look, but keeping his eyes closed. He continued:

“It has been always the same with every single pony, deer and griffon that kept us as pets. Eight-Tails, you and that brat Hawthorn are a special exception.”

That made Eight-Tails to scoff at him and then say:

“I wonder about that, Nine-Tails.”

“Wait, Nine-Tails can talk directly with Eight-Tails?” Star asked.

“I know you, Nine-Tails” Eight-Tails said. “You…”

“You talked too much!” Nine-Tails cut, opening his eyes for a moment. “By the way, giving the number of tails you have, aren’t you next most powerful after me, Eight-Tails? Hurry up and finish this. I’m going to take a nap.”

“Don’t decide who is strong or weak based on the number of tails!” Eight-Tails replied. “You have always been like this. That’s why the One-Tail really hates you.”

But seeing that Nine-Tails didn’t answered him back, Eight-Tails exclaimed:

“Hey, are you even listen to me, your fool?! Don’t you dare to play possum, you fox!”

That caused the nine-tailed fox to grin angrily his teeth. Even though the situation wasn’t the best, Star couldn’t help but finding funny the arguing between the two tailed beasts.

“Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails are actually fighting…” he said.

“Tailed beasts can talk with other tailed beasts, it’s not a very rare thing to see” Hawthorn replied.

As Blue and Shining couldn’t hear what Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails were saying at each other, they didn’t know why Star was laughing. Blue said:

“Come on, my son, don’t be distracted like that. Just because we’re here, it doesn’t mean you can let your guard down.”

“Yes, dad, I now” Star replied, getting his posture back.

“The problem is we don’t know if, like the others, they can also perform one kind of magic” Shining said.

“Well, we just have to find that by ourselves” Blue replied.

With the six reincarnated jinchuriki advancing against them, the two unicorn princes advanced with each one charging their horns with magic. They were able to hit Vapour Fist, Bubble Sweet and Silver Mist, but Gigi, Echo Wing and Black Granite were able to pass and went to Star who created a Spiraling Sphere.

“They’re going on your way, Star!” Blue exclaimed.

“Right, in coming!” he said.

“Three is better than we had faced before” Hawthorn, who had come to Star’s side, said.

And Star, Shining and Blue started to fight against the reincarnated jinchuriki, even though they were in great disadvantage, while the General of Chaos observed. But then Bubble Sweet and Silver Mist were able to hit them and throw them back.

“Looks like he isn’t using any of the abilities he used before” Blue noticed.

“Maybe he can’t make them used them because those abilities were unique to the others” Shining suggested.

“Or maybe he doesn’t want to use them because we already know about them” Blue said.

“Neither those options are gonna help us know” Star said, while blocking the attacks of his adversaries.

Observing them, the General of Chaos said:

“Those two are a very good team. And they and Star Knight seem to be holding on their own quite well. Why don’t we power up a little bit? Two of them this time!”

And the intensity of the energy released increased, what caused the ground to crack beneath them. At that moment, Six-Tails emerged. It is an enormous white, with a light blueish tint, bipedal slug with stubby arms, feet and six long tails. It had two prominent optical tentacles and hole-like openings as a mouth. Its entire body was covered in a thick, slimy substance.

But he wasn’t he only one to appear, as Black Granite also turned into Four-Tails. That tailed beast was a red-furred and green-skinned monkey, with a body-build of a gorilla. It had eyes with yellow irises and white pupils, spike-like protrusions along the length of the tails, elongated blunt fangs, and two long horns curving upwards on the forehead like a crown with both fangs and horns being dark-tipped.

While the Six-Tails attacked Shining and Blue, the Four-Tails attacked Star and Eight-Tails, while roaring, revealing that, in the mouth, it didn't have a tongue, but an opening that was shaped like a dome volcano. Tackling them, Four-Tails made Star fall on Eight-Tails’ chest, while the Nine-Tails energy covering him disappeared. He raise up and said:

“We have to distract that thing with clones with the Nine-Tails’ energy, while we go after the General of Chaos.”

“You can’t do that anymore” Hawthorn said. “If you do, Nine-Tails will take all of your energy and you’ll be done. And you don’t have to guess that is no fun.”

“Hawthorn, have you still not noticed?” Eight-Tails asked to his jinchuriki. “I thought you had hoof fisted with him. Given the number of clones he produced, Star Knight should have been half-dead long ago. If he’s not, that means Nine-Tails stopped taking his energy a while back.”

He then directed his words to his fellow tailed beast:

“Right, Nine-Tails?”

But Nine-Tails remained impassive, while pretending to be napping.

“I don’t know what happened between you two, but…” Eight-Tails continued.

Nine-Tails continued not saying a world, remember what Star said about going after his hate after he was finished with the war and then when he was talking with the General of Chaos before the fight. He didn’t know if those words were truthful, but he couldn’t stop remember each one of them.

Six-Tails released from its mouth a bubbling substance that started to advance toward Blue and Shining.

“What the heck is that?” Blue asked.

“I don’t know, but don’t let that stuff touch you, Blue” Shining said.

Meanwhile, Four-Tails advanced and took one of Eight-Tails’ tentacles and then swung him, what caused Star to be thrown over and fell right on Four-Tails who opened his mouth, where the alicorn fell into. Before that, Star intuitively covered himself with Nine-Tails’ energy and used it to prevent the mouth from closing, what was very hard to do, as the four-tailed monkey was much stronger than him. Nine-Tails, who was till impassive, opened his eyes. While dodging Six-Tails’ attack, Blue noticed that his son was in trouble.

“Star!” he exclaimed, turning to Shining. “We have to help him!”

“But, Blue, right now, we have our own problems” Shining replied. “We need to help ourselves first. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re surrounded.”

He was right, as Vapour Fist created energy arms that he launched against them. When the bubbling substance Six-Tails’ was extracting touched a bush that was in the way, they could see how corrosive it was when it reduced the plant to nothing.

“That bush melted instantly” Blue said. “Is it a corrosive gas?”

Knowing they had to do something, the two had each other’s back and Shining said:

“All right, we have to guard each other’s backs and focus on what’s in front of us. Any problems?”

“You already know the answer” Blue replied, charging his horn.

And they advanced, with Shining going face Vapour Fist and Blue going face Six-Tails. While advanced and used his shield to defend Vapour Fist’s every attack, Blue used the magic he had at that moment as General of Balance to nullify Six-Tails’ corrosive attack.

“We better end up this quickly” Shining said.

“Yeah, I know” Blue said. “Star may not be able to hold down for much longer.”

Hawthorn involved Four-Tails with tentacles, trying to help Star, and exclaimed:

“Hey, let Star go, you monkey!”

Star continued to prevent the mouth from closing with all his strength, but Four-Tails was just too strong. He didn’t know how long he would be able to fight back. Nine-Tails, on his side continued to do nothing, just laying down.

“Nine-Tails, it seems you helped Star’s clone fighting Tirek by giving him some of your energy” Eight-Tails said to the fox. “You have to lend this one strength before it’s too late.”

“I’m not like you, Eight-Tails” Nine-Tails replied. “I don’t keep wagging my tails at my jinchuriki time after time.”

“Are you saying you don’t care what happens to Star Knight?!” Eight-Tails asked angrily.

But Nine-Tails remained silent. He remembered the time Tirek took control over him, proclaiming that he was just a tool of destruction to the ones who ever controlled him, and when Golden Paladin and Leaf Mane sealed him inside Heartbeat, saying he was just too powerful, and how was his relationship with the latter, who wanted him to be quiet inside her so he couldn’t cause any harm to the others.

“No matter what words they use…” he said to himself, while trying to focus his hatred. “They’re always the same… The same thing… And now this brat… How dare these ponies… I bet even he’s the same.”

But what Star said to him at his way to the war just kept playing in his head every time he thought about Star. It was what prevented him from hating him like he hated all the others.

The young alicorn prince continued to prevent Four-Tails from closing the mouth, what was still very hard to hold, even with Eight-Tails trying to help him. But then Four-Tails opened the mouth suddenly, what cause Star to fell into it, and then closed it.

“Star Knight!” Hawthorn called.

When Star opened, he was in a place similar to the one where he normally met Nine-Tails with water under him. The difference was the Four-Tails that was chained to a wall with the same chains the General of Chaos used.

“What…” he said.

“I suppose that now you want to take my power too, coming all the way here…” Four-Tails asked with a raspy voice. “You obnoxious little brat!”

He tried to move, but, due to the chains, he couldn’t.

“Hold on” Star said, standing up. “Are you… Four-Tails?”

“Don’t you dare call me Four-Tails!” the tailed beast exclaimed. “I have a proper name! I am the great monkey king, the one to receive the honor of having the name Son from the great Lord of Order! I’m the great Son Goku!”

“What?” Star asked, a little confused. “Sorry, I didn’t understand your name…”

“Son Goku! You ponies are all stupid. You can’t even remember names? I can’t even believe that it’s your kind who is dominating this reality and not apes. I really don’t want to give my power to the likes of…”

But before he could finish, Star asked:

“But where are we? This is just like where the Nine-Tails lives.”

“Are you not paying attention?!” Son Goku asked, offended. “I just told you my name! How dare you to ignore me? You’re far too rude.”

“Oh, sorry about that” Star apolized.

That behavior caught Son Goku by surprised and he commented:

“You seem rather genuine for a pony. You’re the first one to ever apologize to a tailed beast. I guess you didn’t come to steal my power after all.”

After taking a closed look, Son Goku said:

“You have one inside you as well. So that’s how you got in. It seems Kurama has train you well.”

“Kurama?” Star asked, confused again. “Who’s Kurama?”

That question really caught Son Goku by surprised and he said:

“You’re his jinchuriki and you don’t even know his real name? You ponies disgust me…”

“What? You mean, Nine-Tails has a name too?”

That question was heard by Nine-Tails, who couldn’t help but let a grunt get out. And then a smile appeared on Star’s face and then he said:

“I see… So his name his Kurama.”

“You ponies, as well others like you, only see us as sources of great power” Son Goku said. “You don’t even care if we have names. You show us no respect whatsoever. You imprisoned us and you denied us our true status.”

Hearing that, Star’s smile went down, as well his head. He thought about he was ever treated in the Light Kingdom when he was a child. Everypony refused to acknowledge him as their prince, only doing so because of his parents. For him, that wasn’t real and made his best to earn their respect.

“I may not be the same as you, but I understand what you feel” Star said. “I used to be looked down by the others. Even though I was their prince, they didn’t see me as such. But I kept hoping that they could see me as I really was. I am a jinchuriki, but I also has a name that I cherish too… Star Knight. It was the first gift my parents ever gave.”

And he smile, one that Son Goku could see was very true. But then took it down and continued, remembering what the General of Chaos told about his existence:

“That’s why… I hate that he doesn’t even care to have a name beyond his title. But despite that, he still forces us to do whatever he wants.”

There was a pause and then Son Goku said:

“Well, then, what you want to do with us?”

Star thought for a moment and then he replied with a smile:

“Well, I guess I would be like Lord Hawthorn. Yeah, that’s what I want. To be like Lord Hawthorn and Eight-Tails. Whatever I watch them together, always joking and fighting and playing… Well, I can’t really explain it well… I can see when I’m with them, they’re like… They are true friends. And… seeing them together always makes me feel… I guess kinda of… jealous.”

That caused Son Goku to start laughing and then said:

“Come on! Are you telling me that you, a pony, really wants to be friends with a tailed beast?!”

But then Star looked at him in such way that cause Son Goku to stop laughing. Looking at him, he could tell Star was being true with all his words.

“So that’s the reason why I want to help you too… Son Goku” Star said.

Hearing a pony saying his name, his real name, made Son Goku feel that he really wasn’t like the others.

“Just call me Son…” he said. “By the way, I ate you. What are you going to do now?”

“Ah, yeah, I forgot about that!” Star exclaimed. “What do I do?”

While the young alicorn prince thought a way to get out, Son couldn’t notice that siding with Star was better than remaining under the control of that dark alicorn.

“There is a way to stop me” he said, getting Star’s attention. “Just undo this chains and I’ll tell you what I mean.”

That caused Star to smile and then say:

“Okay, Son.”

Kurama's Thoughts

After Son Goku told he could help Star get out, the latter said:

“Please, you just have to tell me how to stop you before it’s too late.”

“First, just one thing” Son Goku said, making Star become attentive. “I don’t trust jinchuriki ponies or of any kind in principle, especially the ones with fools like you that want to be friends with tailed beasts. In other words, don’t assume that, even if you set me free from these chains, I’ll automatically become your ally.”

At his cage, Kurama was listening to that and he said:

“That’s the kind of response that I expected.”

And he remembered again all the ones that tried to enslave or imprison him.

“Even though you have no true strength of your own, you force your ideals on me to restrain me” Kurama said, referring to Star.

He then remembered the fatidic day he was sealed inside Star Knight. When Golden Paladin came to take him from Tartarus, he knew that he would be sealed again inside a jinchuriki. As the only one who could hold him at the time was Heartbeat, Kurama also knew that he could easily make her upset enough to be able to get free, like he have done before. But what he didn’t know was that existed somepony else that could hold him, what caught him by surprise. He couldn’t believe he was foolish to believe they would make the same mistake again…

“He has been doing that ever since we met… fourteen years ago…”

Fourteen years ago…

After the sealing, Kurama wake up, finding himself in his cage.

“Where am I” he asked.

He then listened the sound of a baby crying. He then realized, saying:

“I must be inside this kid… And it looks like Golden Paladin used his damn seal… So, the General of Peace plans to let this brat use my power. Even if half of my existence is sealed away, he underestimates me. Me, the Nine-Tails… Not even my former jinchuriki, the General of Affection was able to keep me in check. Compare to that, this seal is nothing. Even so, it will take a while to break. But, if I keep letting energy sip from the cracks, it will eventually weaken.”

He then laid down and continued:

“Very well, it’s not fun, but it must be done so I can escape this prison. I will let this brat get some of my power.”

Years later, Kurama observed how Star grew up, getting bigger and stronger, not only in body, but also in mind and magic. Seeing how talented he was, Kurama was a little worried by that.

“Damn, if he continues to get better at his own faculties, he won’t need to use my power and, if he doesn’t use it, the seal won’t weaken.”

When Pandora invaded the Light Kingdom, Kurama noticed how he was able to detect her so easily.

“So, he can detect evil…” he said. “Beyond that, he can find a way to manipulate them. Impressive, I must say… Even if it is a rough ability, he can make it stronger. But that doesn’t help. If only he got into a deep emotional trauma or at least let his rage consume him…”

The first steps of his plan happened when Star used his energy to fight the chimera that attacked Bramble.

“Finally!” Kurama exclaimed. “My energy is gathering and taking the form of a fox. From now, the key to unlock my power is when his life is in danger or when he is under an emotional stress. But using my power unconsciously isn’t enough. I need him to be consciously aware of my presence and to use my power more regularly.”

That opportunity came when Golden Paladin started training Star to be able to control his energy, but faced the problem of having the residues of the magic Heartbeat used to contain Star in the way. What he resolved by making Star believe he had his life in danger. That caused jinchuriki and tailed beast to meet and the latter give some of his energy to the former. After that, he said:

“What a fool… He acts as my power is his own. But, at least now, he can clearly sense my presence and, as a result, he’ll use my power even more.”

And he chuckled.

When he got to know about the coming of Chief Strongpaw and Star saw him, Kurama said:

“This presence… Yes, that pony-panther must be the jinchuriki of the One-Tail. And that dark aura coming from one of his bodyguards…”

He laughed and said:

“Something tells me everything is about to get interesting…”

He was right, as Shukaku, the One-Tail, threatened the Light Kingdom.

Then, it came the time where he faced Ulysses at his birthday party, while his parents and uncle were trapped. The villain griffon had given him a lot of damages and all that caused Star to be involved by the Demon Fox Cloak.

“That’s it…” Kurama said. “Keep using my power… The more you rely on my power and get energy from me, the weaker the seal will continue to become.”

After the time he was able to subdue him, making him get into the four-tails state and attack Blue, Nine-Tails said:

“The brat as become quite powerful after the last years of training. But that also means I’ll be able to influence him more than I could before…”

That was truth, as he was able to use his anger and sorrow for seeing the one he loved turning into a villain by Adagio Dazzle to make Star use his energy.

“With that Moonlight under the Lord of Chaos’ influence, it will be even easier for me to get into him” Kurama said. “This can only mean the seal is getting weaker. Just a little while longer… If I can draw out even greater hatred from this kid, I can overwhelm him with my power, just like it happened before, and finally destroy the seal. Just a little longer now…”

That opportunity was granted to him when Star, Gleaming and Shining met with Grogar and Ulysses. All the taunts the griffon made to him caused him to rapidly go to the three-tails state.

“He’s directing so much hatred at him” Kurama said, while Star was even more involved in the tailed beast’s energy. “Do you hate him? Do you want him to disappear? In that case, come here and I’ll give you power!”

And so he made Star get into the four-tails state, causing all the destruction that followed that, including hurting Gleaming Shield. That caused Star to start avoiding using Kurama’s energy and rejecting his offers.

But none of those events couldn’t be compared to when the General of Chaos invaded the Light Kingdom and hurt Moonlight severely. That was what caused Star to almost break the seal, only to be frustrated by his creator the Lord of Order. When he recreated the seal, Kurama was able to feel that and then he said, while grinning his teeth:

“I never expected to be sealed again, much less by my own father. But I still have a chance.”

He was right as, after the General of Chaos declaring war to the Alliance, Golden Paladin gave the key of the seal to Star. He laughed and said:

“To think he’s just bringing the key right to me… Now, if I take control over that kid’s mind, I can break out any time I want.”

The time for Star to face Nine-Tails arrived. He didn’t expected that Star would be able to pass over his true self, but that didn’t put any obstacle to his objective, even with him having Eight-Tails’ help. The battle between the two of them was intense, but, in the end, Star won, taking some of his energy and imprisoning him again behind the cage.

After Star moved away and the chains that hold him disappeared, Kurama said:

“Damn it! How could this have happened to me again?!”

He tried to get up, but he noticed it was harder now.

“He took a lot of power from me… And he’s just… He’s just…”

But he couldn’t find words to describe Star.

“Just what is he anyway?” he ended up saying.

After that, came the talk they had while Star and Hawthorn were heading to the battlefield. When Star pinned him against the ground, he told him those words that kept being sounded in his head…

In the present…

Son Goku said to Star:

“Look, we, tailed beast, can’t really trust you. If you want me to…”

“Oh, it’s okay…” Star said. “I think I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do, anyway.”

Listening that and noticing his smile, Kurama said:

“Star Knight, I have watched you all these years, seen what you have done… You should already know. It doesn’t really matter what you try to tell to a tailed beast. Your true feelings won’t be transmitted to us.”

After listening Son Goku’s instructions, Star said:

“All right, I know what to do now. Well, I better get going.”

Then, Son Goku fell something and said:

“Hurry! It seems the General of Chaos was able to find your location!”

Outside, Hawthorn was still trying to force Son Goku to throw up Star.

“I have to get Star loose!” he exclaimed.

Looking to Son Goku, the General of Chaos said:

“So there you are… I’ll just pull you in, Four-Tails and all.”

And he charged his horn. A chain came up from the black rod, getting around Son Goku’s neck and then started to extend to his horn.

“Not good…” Hawthorn said. “Come on, Star! You have to get out of there!”

The General of Chaos started to pull the chain. When Son Goku tried to resist, Star woke up, finding himself inside the tailed beast’s mouth. He stood up and then said:

“I have to get out of here!”

Positioning himself at the opening of the mouth, Star covered himself with Kurama’s energy and then extended energy arms and started to open it. But, for more strength he used, he just couldn’t open the mouth. When the exhaustion invaded him, Star let go the energy.

“It won’t budge at all” he said. “This just won’t work.”

The young alicorn started to think in the best way to get out. If he couldn’t use physical strength, then he had to use something to forced him open the mouth. It was then that an idea came to him. And then he executed his multiplication spell.

Outside, Son Goku’s cheeks expanded, as if he was trying to keep something in, but he couldn’t, what caught everyone’s attention. And he started to barf a great amount of Star’s clones that disappeared when hitting the ground.

“Well, I have to say that kid is really smart” Hawthorn said.

After all those clones, only one remained. He stood up and said:

“Okay, I made it out. All right, now…”

And he tried to analyze Son Goku’s body, searching for the black rod, remembering what the latter told him…

Moments ago…

“Listen up, look carefully around the base of my neck” Son Goku told. “There’s a rod sticking out right there. The energy chain that restrains me come from it. They’re chains originated from the Demonic Statue.”

“But it’s not on your chest?” Star asked. “That’s where the jinchuriki I saw had it.”

“It’s because we expand in size” Son Goku explained. “When we undergo the tailed beast transformation, the rod goes to the base of our necks. Since we’re bigger, it can become harder to find too. Find that rod and pull it out. That will stop the energy chains from forming.”

The present…

Star continued to look for the rod and, while he was doing that, the General asked:

“You just don’t know how to give up, do you?”

The young prince didn’t stop looking and then said:

“Come on, where is it?”

When the chain started to fade away, Star looked to where it disappeared the last and then he saw the rod’s location.

“I found it!” he exclaimed. “There it is!”

Moments ago…

“All of my other restrains shall disappear with the energy chain as well” Son Goku told. “But it won’t be easy. Remember, I’m being controlled, so I will attack you.”

“Yeah, I now that” Star said. “I figured things could get rough, but you have to bear with me.”

“Just don’t get overboard and kill me, all right?” Son Goku asked.

In the present…

When the chain disappeared completely, Son Goku tried to smash Star with a fist, but he dodge and then took flight, going to his neck. He then saw the tailed beast trying to catch him, but, using Nine-Tails’ energy and creating energy arms he was able to prevent Son Goku’s hand from closing over him. However, the latter’s strength was too much for Star to get rid of it that easily and he wouldn’t be able to be in that mode for much longer.

Having no other alternative, he launched an energy arm to the base of his neck, grabbing a tuft of fur and let himself be pulled to there. Arriving there, he used his magic to grab the rod and prepared to pull it.

“Do it, Star!” Hawthorn incentivated.

He started to pull it, but it didn’t budge for a moment, until it did it slightly. Noticing what he was doing, the General of Chaos realized what he was doing and then said:

“Ah, don’t even think about it, Star.”

And then chains came out and chained him.

“This will not be easy” the General continued.

“This power…” Star said, while doing his best to continuing pulling.

“Those rods bind all they touch” the General said. “They are even stronger than the ones I used on those five before.”

But Star didn’t give up and continued pulling, even though those chains tried to prevent him from doing it.

“Star!” Hawthorn called.

While battling Gina, Shining said to Blue:

“Blue, Star is in real trouble!”

That caused Blue to look. He was right, but, in their current condition, they couldn’t go and help him. And the General of Chaos made chains bind Star even more, although that didn’t stop him from continuing pulling.

Kurama was sensing what was happening out there, but he didn’t move. Maybe because Star already knew about that defense that the rod had…

Moments ago…

“They have a strong enough binding force to restrain even us tailed beasts” Son Goku explained. “So how are you going to move it?”

In the present…

“It is over… Prince Star Knight” the General of Chaos said, focusing his spell.

And the chains got thicker and hold Star even more.

Kurama, meanwhile, said, with a smile:

“In the end, it’s always the same.”

And he thought about all the way Star walked in life, from the crying baby he once was, passing through the promising child full of potential and dreams, and ending into the young stallion he was now, full of determination and with his eyes fixed on the objective. And he did all that despite all the burden he got on his back, most of it caused by him. But even so, after all the pain he caused, after trying to drown him in hate, Star still wanted to save him from his own hate. Even more, he wanted to help the tailed beasts.

“Star Knight, if you are absolutely and truly serious about doing something for us tailed beasts… just do what you’ve always done” Nine-Tails replied.

The truth was that Star had let a clone inside Son Goku’s mouth to gather natural energy. When he was done, the pigmentation and the toad eyes appeared.

“All right” he said.

The clone then advanced to the esophagus, descending while flapping his wings. He started to exam the place where the rod was and his real self was pulling. After localizing the place with his Sage Mode, he prepared a hoof, determined to push the rod out from the inside.

“Keep doing what you’ve being doing and prove yourself through your actions, Star Knight” Nine-Tails said. “That’s who you are.”

“All right, Frog Kata!”

And he made a slap with the hoof while using natural energy. The vibrations created had such power that they pulled the rod, while the original Star was pulling it. With all that, the original Star eventually managed to take it out.

“I got it!” Star exclaimed, while falling back.

That caused Kurama to raise his head with a smile and then say:

“That’s right. That’s the Star I know.”

A Team of Two

After taking the rod from Son Goku, Star fell back, while the chains that involved him got away. With the mission, the clone that was inside Four-Tails disappeared. The General of Chaos couldn’t believe that Star would be able to take the rod. Before that, the General casted a summoning spell and the Demonic Statue came from the ground.

Star used the Spiraling Sphere to destroy the rod and then fell on Son Goku’s hand. That caused him to return to the place where Son Goku was, with him being released by the chains, except from the one that was piercing his body.

“You did it” Son Goku told to Star. “Nice work.”

After catching his breath, Star noticed the chain that was still on Son Goku and asked:

“Why is that chain still there?”

“I guess this one won’t get away” Son Gou replied.

“But why? I took out the rod, just like you told me.”

“What that rod does is to temporally bind my energy to the jinchuriki body. But my energy itself is owned by the General of Chaos through the Demonic Statue.”

“You already knew about that?!” Star asked. “Then I didn’t end saving you at all!”

Listening that, Son Goku, surprised, asked:

“You’re seriously saying that…?”

“Of course I am!” Star exclaimed.

Looking to the young jinchuriki’s eyes, Son Goku could see the veracity of his words. Then he said:

“I told you how you could stop me, but I didn’t tell you how you could actually save me.”

“You should have told me that right from the beginning” Star said. “Why can you tailed beast be more straight forward?”

He then took a deep breath and said:

“All right, what do I do?”

And then the chain started to pull Son Goku.

“Before I tell you, there’s something I want to pass on to you” he declared.

“What?”

“Hold on your hoof” Son Goku replied, extending his closed fist.

“You’re gonna give something?” Star asked.

“It’s something good” Son Goku replied. “It will come in handy one of these days. Now, hurry up.”

Star bumped his hoof on the tailed beast, fist. Doing that, he was able to sense what Son Goku meant and then he smiled.

The Demonic Statue threw chains from the mouth that envolved Son Goku and then pulled him to it. It then absorbed him into itself in the form of energy. With a grunt, Eight-Tails said:

“This statue absorbed Four-Tails! I guess he still belongs to him.”

After absorbing Son Goku, the only thing that was left behind was Black Granite who, due to the extraction, was left immobile. Star panted and then turned to the General of Chaos who was on top of the statue and the latter commented to him:

“You look like you’ll pass out after defeating just one tailed beast. You cannot defy me. I shall take the precious tailed beasts that you possess.”

And he charged the horn. An earthquake caught Blue and Shining and the latter asked:

“What’s going on?”

And they all saw all the other jinchuriki turning into tailed beasts. Star could see that his father and his uncle were in trouble and he needed to help them.

“This is bad wherever you look at” Kurama told him. “And you’re all worn out.”

“Yeah, well…” he replied, still with a smile and catching his breath. “Just watch me…”

“If you want me to lend you strength, I wouldn’t mind, Star Knight” Kurama told Star at the place where his cage was.

A pause and then Star said, looking at Kurama:

“You know something, you sure did talk to me a lot, lately. I’m glad you want to lend me power, but, before you do, there’s something I have to say to you.”

Turning completely to the fox, he said:

“Thanks for helping me with Tirek back then. All that extra power… That really helped.”

“Don’t thank me!” Kurama exclaimed. “It weirds me out! I only did what I did because I rather deal with you than with Tirek. Besides, thanks to this cage, I can only give you a tiny bit of energy. I’m merely interested in watching you a little longer. That’s right… Just to pass the time!"

“Hey, you don’t have to be so rude!” Star exclaimed. “After all, I just thanked you! Why have you to be mad all the time?! You’re so…”

But then he stopped, as he watched Kurama extending a fist to him and saying:

“Just hit my energy with yours.”

Star smiled and then asked:

“You want to make an energy tag war again?”

“Idiot…” Kurama replied. “We don’t have to do that now. But it’s not like I have anything else to do, so we could if you want.”

A silence was imposed as jinchuriki and tailed beast looked at each other’s eyes. Star then made a slight smile and bumped his hoof on Kurama’s fist. When he did that, Star was able to touch in Kurama’s emotions and, feeling what he was feeling, Star laughed and Kurama did the same.

Star opened his eyes to the reality.

“Let’s do this, Lord Hawthorn” he said.

“Right, we’ll fight as a team of two with me taking the lead, while you cover my back” Hawthorn said. “What do you think, Star?”

“Against five tailed beast, you can’t go confront them when you can’t undergo tailed beast transformation” Eight-Tails said to Star.

“Can I ask you one thing, Eight-Tails?” Star asked. “Something I want to ask you since I talked with Four-Tails.”

“What is it?”

“What’s your name? Your true name…”

That caught Eight-Tails by surprise and then he said:

“Well, I don’t use for some time… but my name is… Gyuki.”

“Gyuki…” Star said. “That’s a good name. Well, you don’t have to worry about me… Lord Hawthorn… Gyuki… There won’t be any leading or following. We’re going in together.”

“Star…” Hawthorn said.

“Since we both are in teams of two” Star declared.

“Hold on, Star!” Gyuki said. “Don’t tell me you and Nine-Tails…”

“I still have tons of reserved power to use” Star said.

Inside his mind, Star put a hoof on his stomach while closing his eyes, along with Kurama, while their tried to synchronize with each other and Star started to open the cage. While doing so, he thought about all he had passed because of Nine-Tails, about their antagonistic relationship… only to come to that moment, the one where they were finally getting along and having a trust bond being created between them.

“You’re no longer the demon fox” Star said to Kurama. “You’re now part of the Alliance, a comrade of ours.”

The locked was opened and Star exclaimed:

“Kurama… let’s do this!”

And the cage was opened, while Kurama nodded with his head.

With that, Star unleashed all the power he had sealed inside and all his body was covered by Kurama’s energy, who took a much brighter and flaming look, with three whisker-like markings on his face and slitted pupils

“Star, don’t tell me you…” Hawthorn started.

But he didn’t finish, as something was happened. All the tailed beasts started to execute their respective Tailed Beast Bomb against Shining and Blue.

“This is really bad…” Blue said. “They’re all using Tailed Beast Bomb!”

“I guess I will have to use my shield spell at full force” Shining said.

“No, Shining, it won’t be enough” Blue said. “I just have to nullify their attacks.”

“You won’t be able to do it” Shining said. “Not without your full power.”

“Star, looks bad over there!” Eight-Tails exclaimed. “Five Tailed Beast Bombs on the air pointed at them!”

“Yes, I know” Star said.

And the five tailed beast fired their attacks, but there was a blast that threw away all the Tailed Beast Bombs.

“What just happened?!” Shining asked, while he and Blue protected themselves.

It was then that Blue saw their savior, but he couldn’t believe it.

“Star…?” he said.

And it was him, but Blue couldn’t believe how intense his light was and the amount of energy that was covering him.

“I can believe it?!” Shining said. “It’s Star!”

The five attacks hit on five different and isolated locations, causing explosions.

“Amazing…” Blue said, seeing the destruction caused by the attacks.

“That’s the power of the tailed beasts?” Shining asked.

The General of Chaos couldn’t believe he had deflected them all. In that case, he used his magic and launched the tailed beast at them. Although the two unicorns were intimidated, Star wasn’t.

“Let’s go, Kurama!” he exclaimed.

And the energy around him expanded and took Kurama’s form, both in shape and size, involving also Blue and Shining. The energy that formed his body was golden in color with whiskers much thicker and black circular markings appeared on its shoulders, stomach, as well as the front and back of his paws. Black lines also run the length of his spine, arms, legs and tails. He then started to run and, with just one blow, Kurama took down the five tailed beasts. Star, on his turn, was inside the head.

“Was Star able to perform a tailed beast transformation?” Hawthorn asked.

“That Nine-Tails…” Gyuki said.

Blue and Shining, while inside Kurama’s energy body, were a little confuse about the situation.

“What just happened?” Shining asked.

Looking around, Blue noticed:

“We’re inside Nine-Tails’ energy.”

Star, knowing what he had to do, created a clone that was not covered by Kurama’s energy and the original said:

“First, we have to find out where everyone else’s rods are.”

“Just for you to know, we don’t have much time” Kurama said. “That’s because this is our first tailed beast transformation and the link isn’t perfect. We got about five minutes.”

But that didn’t took down Star’s smile who said:

“That’s plenty!”

And they jumped, while Star said:

“There are more of you, so I can’t be as gentle as I was with Son. Just bear with it, all right?”

Seven-Tails tried to rise up as high as possible to escape Kurama and Star, but they reached it and grabbed at it. At that moment, the clone, who had get into Sage Mode, was able to locate the rod. While they were falling, the clone located the rod on Three-Tails, who was belly-up.

Three-Tails noticed them falling, so he got up and roll into a ball. Kurama pinned Seven-Tails and raised his other fist to attack, but Six-Tails appeared from behind and hit it. That allowed Star’s clone to locate the rod. Three-Tails rolled back and then started to roll against Kurama and Star at full speed, but he was stopped inches away by Gyuki, who used one of his tentacles. Before that, Five-Tails started to run toward him again.

“I’m not gonna fall for that trick twice!” Gyuki exclaimed, giving Five-Tails a powerful punch at her before she could lend any blow.

At that moment, Star’s located her rod. Two-Tails, in response, gave a powerful jump and tried to attack Kurama and Star from up.

“Take this!” Star exclaimed, while he and Kurama threw Six-Tails against Two-Tails who then fell on the ground at some distance.

Star’s clone, thanks to that, was able to locate the last rod on Two-Tails.

“Okay, I found every last one” he said.

“This fight is really intense!” Blue commented.

“Yeah, I agree” Shining said.

The General of Chaos wasn’t expecting that Star and Nine-Tails would end up cooperating with each other, but that didn’t meant he had lost. He knew he would have to attack him with the intent to kill if he wanted to beat Star.

And then Three-Tails started to roll again to get loose from Gyuki and Hawthorn, what he was able to do, going up and landing beside Two-Tails and Six-Tails, who had got up, being joined then by Five-Tails and Six-Tails. Together, the five tailed beasts created a combined Tailed Beast Bomb, what caused it to become supercharged, just like when Star and Kurama fight against each other.

“Is it just me, or that thing shouldn’t be that big?” Blue asked.

“They’re pooling their power into a single point?” Shining noticed.

“Star, what do we do now?” Blue asked.

The young alicorn didn’t reply with words, opting to extend his front hooves while Kurama opened his mouth. Together, they started to do also a supercharged Tailed Beast Bomb.

“An equal force to cancel theirs out” Gyuki realized. “But he never succeeded on that…”

“He did a few times by accident in training, but I know is going to do it this time” Hawthorn said.

And the five tailed beast fired their attack, while Star and Kurama fired theirs while exclaiming:

“Tailed Beast Bomb!”

The two attacks collided with each other, creating a great shock wave that also affected the General of Chaos who tried to protect himself. Hawthorn and Gyuki were able to protect themselves with the tentacles. The attacks competed with each other for a moment, but then they went both above and exploded, ravaging everything around.

“He aimed it low, so it would bounce them upwards” Gyuki understood, while protecting himself from the force of the explosion. “That’s good, but still… it’s big!”

“Nine-Tails really is super-strong” Hawthorn observed.

When the explosion ended, Kurama launched five of his tails that became energy arms and grabbed the five other tailed beasts by their necks.

“I grabbed all their rods!” Star’s clone exclaimed, while little energy arms came from the big ones to grab the rods.

“Let’s do this, Kurama” the original Star said. “Pull them all at once! We’re going to free them all. We’re going to take those rods and save everyone!”

It was then that, when Star found himself, he was at another space, the same one jinchuriki and tailed beast talk with each other, having returned to his normal form. He was with Kurama who was staying behind him, but they weren’t alone. All the five tailed beasts they were fighting with were also there, with their respective jinchuriki over them.

“We’ve been waiting” Echo Wing said.

Noticing where he was, Star commented:

“The same happened with Son.”

“Not quite” Gigi said. “But you did make it to this plain this time around, just like Four-Tails predicted.”

“This isn’t where Four-Tails was” Kurama told him. “Now that we’re fully linked, you’re able to enter dipper than before into the tailed beast psychic plain. See, there are jinchuriki hear too. Plus, Four-Tails was bounded by energy chains, remember?”

“Well, I guess I understand” Star said. “But why is that possible?”

“That jerk that calls himself General cannot reach this far” Kurama told him.

“I have to say: on behalf of all jinchuriki and tailed beasts, welcome” Echo Wing said. “I have to say, I wanted for so long to meet with you, Star Knight.”

“Wait, you’re a thestral” Star noticed. “Does that means you…”

“Yes, I’m Thunder Night’s brother” Echo Wing replied. “And I know you’re the one who my niece is in love with.”

“I’m her coltfriend” Star replied. “But she’s no longer the one who defeated you and took you to the Lord of Chaos.”

“Yes, I know” Echo Wing replied. “I got to know a lot of things since I came back. I’m glad you were able to save her. For my brother, I have to thank you.”

“I didn’t do it only because of him or aunt Fluttershy, but also for me” Star said. “I love her and I would do anything for her.”

Echo Wing smiled and then said:

“I’m glad to hear that. And I have to say Four-Tails was right. You really are true with your words.”

“So Son was really here as well?” Star asked.

“Yes, that’s right” Echo Wing replied.

“Which means the one that was his jinchuriki was here too?” Star asked.

“That’s right” Silver Mist replied. “His name was Black Granite.”

Moments ago…

At that place, Son Goku, who had Black Granite over his head, said to the rest of tailed beasts and jinchuriki.

“Make sure you tell him” Son Goku said. “Oh, and I was also able to give him just a tiny bit of my energy. Do you all still remember what father told us before he left us to live in this reality? Well, I think this kid is it. That’s what it feels to me. I wager he’ll probably come here to save all of you too. If he does, look after him, understand? I’m being pulled back into the statue, so goodbye for now.”

After a moment, Black Granite said:

“Four-Tails, perhaps, just maybe… Do you think that… you and I could have traveled a different path too?”

Son Goku didn’t replied immediately, thinking about how to answer. But then he smiled and replied:

“Ah, this from you who’s even more stubborn than King Hard Stone? Have you gone soft after death? Well, maybe if you tried to remember my name right after you became my jinchuriki…”

The two of them started to glow as the Demonic Started to pull Son Goku.

“No, I haven’t gone that soft to start calling you by your name” Black Granite replied, as they started to fade away. “Not even after being your jinchuriki for forty years. But then again, I haven’t forgotten it either.”

“All right, then, say my full name now” Son Goku asked him.

That caused Black Granite to slightly laugh and then reply:

“Is Son good enough?”

And they disappear.

In the present…

“We assemble here because the Four-Tails summoned us and hung around after promising to tell and give you something” Bubble Sweet said.

“Wow, he really did all that?” Star asked. “Well, I’m very glad you’re all gathered together and getting along.”

“Yes, but that only happened after Four-Tails and Black Granite left here” Vapour Fist informed. “Prince Star Knight, it’s only thanks to you.”

“Star Knight, step forward” Two-Tails asked. “Extend your hoof. We’ll fulfill our promise to Four-Tails, or rather Son Goku. My name is Matatabi.”

“I’m Gigi” her jinchuriki said.

“My name is Isobu” Three-Tails said.

“Like you already know, I’m Echo Wing” the thestral said.

“I’m Kokuo” Five-Tails said.

“I’m Vapour Fist.”

“Me, I be called Saiken” Six-Tails said, sounding like a colt with a squeaky voice.

“You already know me from the academy. I’m Bubble Sweet.”

“I’m the Lucky Seven Chomei” Seven-Tails said, with a profound male voice. “But you can call me just Chomei.”

“The name is Silver Mist.”

Close to Star, the tailed beast put their paws over one another and then Star advanced and touched with his hoof on Isobu’s which was the one beneath all the others.

Seeing that, Kurama remembered the words the Lord of Order told to him and all the others …

A very long time ago…

At that very plain, the nine tailed beast were together, forming a circle. They all looked very young, smaller and some different from how they looked before. Shukaku was like he was in the presence, but with shorter ears and more spaced out markings; Matatabi was a flaming kitten; Isobu was essentially much the same in appearance, albeit smaller in size with shorter spikes around its body; Son was much smaller and leaner with smaller fangs; Kokuo was much smaller than she was now and its horns were also shorter; Saiken was only different in size; Chomei was just in its larval stage of development, but still had its tails; Gyuki was smaller and its horns were much shorter, and Kurama was only smaller. At the center of their center was the Lord of Order who told them

“It comes a time a parent must let their child walk on their own and find their way. And I believe it arrived my time to do that with you all. Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki and Kurama… Even if you are far apart, we’ll always be together. Eventually, the day will come you’ll be reunited again, each of you with an unique name and a different form than before and, unlike when you were one, you’ll be guided in the right path. Even if, in the meantime, you get deviated by your current path, I know you’ll get to the same destination. I hope you learn what true strength is, before that time comes.”

Kurama, who loved the Lord of Order very much, had tears on his eyes, listening the Lord of Order telling those things.

In the present…

At that moment, seeing Star receiving the gift of his brethren tailed beast, Kurama know understood what the Lord of Order wanted to say. Now he understood why he left everything happened in the way they happened. He knew now the love he felt for the tailed beast was really true. It took a long time, but everything he had said had come into reality.

At the outside plain, Star and Kurama prepared to remove the rods.

“Don’t you all agree that Star Knight is like father?!” Kurama asked to all of his fellow tailed beast.

And they all said in order, while the rods were removed:

“Yes.”

“Eeyup.”

“Indeed.”

“Yeah!”

“Definitely.”

The rods fell, while Star get out of his tailed beast form and returned to his normal state, landing alongside Shining and Blue.

“Nicely done, Star!” Gyuki exclaimed.

“I never thought you’d be able to completely control the Nine-Tails” the General of Chaos said. “However, it appears you still cannot maintain it for long. So same old, same old…”

And the Demonic Statue unleashed the chains that hit all the five defeated tailed beast and then pulled them one by one to its interior.

“It’s not same old, same old” Star replied, passing his hoof by his stomach, with a smile. “Not anymore because I just learn a lot of names in just one shot.”

The Promise of Victory

As the sun was heading to west and preparing to set, the ones who had stayed behind, while the others were heading to help Star Knight and Hawthorn, were pilling the dead bodies of the clones and changelings they had defeated.

Obsidian Blade was leading a group and he overheard them talking about Tirek’s appearance and how the regents, what included his father, were fighting him together. Obsidian had heard about that demon centaur and how he had betrayed Stonult during a war with Evermist. His father never wanted to talk about that, but he knew that moment had some effect on him. For what he could hear, Tirek was really powerful, even capable of making a meteorite fell. He just hopped his father would be able to handle him along with the others.

It was then that he heard a buzz nearby. That could only mean one thing: there were changelings nearby.

“Prepare yourselves!” he exclaim. “There’s changelings around here. Be aware of any one new that tries to join this group, understood?”

“Yes, sir!” they replied.

They advance and then they found a group of ponies ahead. Seeing them approaching, a pony of the group said:

“Captain Obsidian Blade, we’re glad you’re here. Now we can go safely help Prince Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn.”

“Yeah, about that…” he said.

And then he shoved the pony, throwing against the floor, making everyone stop.

“We’ll not allow you to come… changeling” Obsidian Blade said.

The pony looked angrily to him and then he changed. It was Crush. The other ponies turned into changelings as well.

“Only a stupid creature like you would think we would fell for something like that” Obsidian Blade said.

That really upset Crush who hissed:

“You’re gonna regret what you juzt zaid, pony!”

And the fight started between ponies and changelings. It didn’t take long for ponies being able to subdue the changelings, as they were in numerical advantage. The only problem was Crush, who had a lot of strength and was being a challenge to Obsidian Blade. The changeling hit him hard with his horn on a rib and Obsidian could feel it breaking.

“I told you would regret” Crush said. “Now, I’ll take you with me and my queen will be glad to have a pony like you to feazt on.”

But Obsidian Blade wouldn’t let himself be defeat like that to a changeling. Using his magic, he caused a fissure to open under Crush, what caused him to fell in. After he fell, Obsidian closed the fissure, causing to the mutated changeling to get stuck, having only the shoulders and the head out.

“NO!” he exclaimed, trying to get out, but without success. “You filthy pony! You’re gonna…”

But before he could finish, Obsidian Blade hit him hard and knock him out.

“Regret, yes, I know” he said. “At least you should have told something more original.”

After getting his rib healed, Obsidian Blade turned to a pair of guards and told them:

“Watch over these ones. We don’t want them, mainly the mutant, to cause havoc, mainly when we’re so close to end this war.”

“Yes, sir!” they exclaimed.

And then Obsidian Blade continued to advance with the rest of his group.

At HQ, White Light was thinking about their situation, while looking to the map with the position of the Alliance’s forces.

“The regents are holding back Tirek and sending Prince Blue Sword and Prince Shining Armor ahead seemed to have worked. But Prince Star Knight and the others at the front lines are under pressure. Fortunately, the others with their own battles will end them and then go lend them support.”

Now that he thought about it, it wasn’t only the ones at the frontlines under pressure, but the others as well, including the ones working at the headquarters. He then turned to them and said:

“Listen up, at this moment, the war is entering its final stages. We’re the central commander for every unit. We can’t afford to commit a single mistake. I can’t tell you to not overdo it. Please, hand it there and do your best!”

There was a pause and then Boreal Blizzard said, with a smile:

“There isn’t one single member of the Sensor Unit that is going to throw the towel over something like this. Right, guys?”

“Right!” they all said.

“Neither will the Communication Unit” Diamond Glow said, with her subordinates agreeing. “We’re going to show everyone will persevere no matter what.”

White Light smiled. Now everyone had the motivation to proceed with their duties and do their best. That could only lead to an even stronger unification in the Alliance and, with that, he was sure they would be able to win that war.

It was then that Boreal Blizzard sensed something that led him to say:

“This is…” he said.

“What is it?!” White Light asked.

What he was feeling was the fight between the five tailed beasts and Star and Kurama, like the shock between the two Tailed Beast Bombs.

After being able to release the tailed beasts and having said those words to the General of Chaos, he said:

“A lot of names? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Oh, so you don’t know…” Star replied, in a mocking way. “Well, I’m sure I’m not going to tell you.”

That answer upset the General a little, while Gyuki gave a laugh.

Noticing the determination and confidence his son was displaying, he told Shining:

“You know what, Shining, seeing Star like this makes feel old.”

Shining chuckled and replied:

“I think I should be the one saying that, as I’m not immortal like you. But don’t forget that we still have a lot to give.”

Seeing the expression in Star’s face, showing the same things Blue had seen, the General couldn’t let but feel one of his forelegs shaking a little and then something watery going through it. For a moment, he thought it was sweat, but then rain started to fall. That put his mind on easy. In the way things were at that moment, there wasn’t any possibility for them be able to make him perspire.

But then he looked to Star. That brat was able to defeat him in the past, but the General was able to get to know his limits and he knew he could use that by the time they met at the war. There wasn’t no way that, with him having his master’s full support, he would push him that hard. That made him wonder for a moment, how could that be possible. But quickly realized that didn’t mattered who or what that alicorn brat was. At the end of that war, the past and the future wouldn’t exist anymore.

At HQ, the Sensor Unit couldn’t believe what they were sensing at that moment.

“Amazing… Did you all feel that?”

“I can’t believe it, but… there’s no doubt about it.”

“So much power… It has to be the Nine-Tails.”

“Yeah…” Boreal Blizzard agreed, who couldn’t help but feeling also something different.

“What’s the current situation?” White Light asked.

“Prince Star Knight is holding back the General of Chaos with an unbelievable amount of power” Boreal Blizzard answered. “The energy is incredible… Star Knight is keeping him at bay. It’s just the four of them: Prince Star Knight, Lord Hawthorn, Prince Shining Armor and Prince Blue Sword.”

With that information, White Light turned to Diamond Glow and told her:

“Diamond Glow, I need you to relay Prince Star Knight’s actions directly into the minds of the reinforcement troops. Give everything you got. Fifteen seconds is all we need. I want to boost everyone’s moral. Those four are out there, giving everything they have. I want the rest of us to do everything we can as well. Convey their resolve to everyone!”

“Everyone?” one of her subordinates said. “Doing that, will override the energy network and if she does just one little mistake, Diamond Glow is dead.”

But she smiled and said:

“You’re asking a lot. Just ten seconds.”

“Captain Diamond Glow…”

“I’m sorry, but this is critically important, Diamond Glow” White Light said. “Make it short, but make it count, do you understand?”

“Well, I’m not very good with inspirational words” Diamond Glow said. “After all, I’m Mirror Coat’s student. But you can count on me.”

And she did her telepathic spell to reach all the members of the Alliance that were advancing to the front lines and told them:

“Message from HQ. Reinforcements, we now have the upper hoof. Prince Star Knight is standing forward, the one we must protect at all cost. Prince Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn are fighting with everything they got at the front line of this battle. Prince Shining Armor and Prince Blue Sword are there too. Everyone in the Alliance, I need all of you to help them and their mighty hearts. Amplify them with your mighty hearts. If you do, I promise you victory…”

A little blood came out from her nose, as she finished the message, due to the effort she used to send the message, what caused to lose her breath.

“I knew I was bad with words” she said. “That took me twenty seconds…”

But White Light didn’t think that way. She had said exactly what everyone needed to hear.

Those words seemed to be truth, as all the members of the alliance were now moving with a renewed spirit. All equines, dragons, griffons and deer were very determined. Not even the rain could stop and slow them. Leading the Third Unit, was Twilight who said:

“Star, Blue, Shining… don’t worry. I and all the others are coming. Just hang out for a little longer…”

And it was then that the raining clouds moved and started to clear the sky, letting the sun shine and let the mud prints of the ones who passed by be revealed, revealing thousands and thousands of them.

A Will of Stone and a Will of Iron

At the desert, the battle between the regents and Tirek was getting more intense. On King Aspen’s back, Hard Stone was using his magic to create a giant stone golem to carry them, it was even bigger than Tirek. They dvanced to attack, while Hard Stone said:

“This shall vaporize Tirek!”

But Tirek accessed to his magic and exclaimed:

“Deep Forest Bloom!”

And plants started to rise up and go through the stone golem. That caused the golem to become intertwined.

“Ah, damn it!” the old king exclaimed, while looking an evil smile appear on the centaur’s face.

The plants were so powerful and strong that ended up crushing the golem. The plants continued to advance, while Celestia was healing Ingrid and Mystic Heart.

“It’s getting closer” Mystic Heart said.

Flower buds started to appear at the end of the plants.

“Sister, that’s…” Ingrid said.

“Yes, I know” Celestia said. “It’s the same spell Leaf Mane used when she was under the wild energy effect. Chief Strongpaw!”

“Yes, I know” he replied, preparing to use his sand.

The bubs started to head up and bloomed, releasing to the air a lot of spores.

At that moment, all the regents were above them. While Celestia and Ingrid were flying, Aspen was gravitating thanks to Hard Stone’s gravity spell and Strongpaw and Mystic Heart were on sand platforms.

“What is that?” Aspen asked.

“Just look to the sheer scale it…” Mystic Heart said. “To create a forest in an instant…”

“Everyone, be aware of the pollen!” Celestia exclaimed, while she and Ingrid covered their muzzle. “Don’t inhale it!”

And they heard her.

Meanwhile, Platinum continued to run from Oak and the other guards.

“We have to catch him!” the deer exclaimed. “Quick!”

And so, after the regents were able to dodge the last attack, Tirek summoned the Warrior of Dark Light, what caught the regents by surprise.

“You were all too distracted by the flowers” the centaur said.

“No… no way…” Hard Stone said. “King Aspen!”

But the Warrior of Dark Light hit them hard and threw them against the ground, with them passing through the plants that were covering it. Meanwhile, the Warrior of Dark Light went to a higher point, bring Tirek who smiled and said:

“Looks like it’s time to burn thing up.”

And then he casted a blasted that created flames around the place where the regents were. They started to stand up, but the heat of the flames was being too much, mainly to Ingrid.

“Sister…” Celestia said to her.

“It’s too hot…” Ingrid said, fainting.

“Queen Mystic Heart!” Hard Stone exclaimed.

She tried to use one of her water spells, but she fainted, followed by the others. Hard Stone was the last to remain conscious, but even him ended falling in the ground. Trying to fight against his own eyes so they didn’t close and make him lose conscious, Hard Stone thought that maybe he was too old to anything…

At that moment, a memory from his youth appeared in his mind, moments before he would let himself lose consciousness…

Decades ago…

In Stonult, during Platinum’s reign, a young colt Hard Stone was being trained by his grandfather, Gravel Chain, the former king, who shared the coat with his son with a metal chain as Cutie Mark, grey mane and eyes that look like his grandson’s, as Platinum was too busy with his royal duties.

They were in a room where there was a water fountain with the bottom full of stones and a monument at the center. The young Hard Stone, whose mane at that time was light brown, was polishing a stone over the monument. Gravel Chain, who was using the gravity spell in the same way his grandson now used, approached him and said to him:

“Hey, the left side is dirty. That’s a precious stone of our kingdom. You need to learn to be true and sure and scrub until your hooves blur.”

That only made the young Hard Stone to roll his eyes.

“Young colt, you know I don’t like when you do that.”

“Sorry, grandpa, but when you said you would train while dad was working, I thought it would be something… I don’t know… not this” Hard Stone said. “I know this is the symbol of our kingdom, but, to me, this thing doesn’t look more than an ordinary rock, if you ask me. Why don’t we have more impressive monuments like the other kingdoms?”

“Hard Stone, I can tell the value of a stone just by taking a good look at it for a moment or two” Gravel Chain said. “This rock is a symbol. It carries our kingdom’s will of stone. It’s our bedrock.”

“Don’t be such a miser with your words and use our symbol in your puns” Hard Stone said.

“Well…” Gravel Chain said, while picking the stone with his magic. “Actually, you’re right. This is just an ordinary rock.”

And he threw the rock to the water, what cause Hard Stone exclaimed:

“What?! What do you think you’re doing, you old geezer? Now I don’t know which one is.”

“You’ll see that if you just put another one here like this…” Gravel Chain said, while placing another rock over the monument. “…nopony will ever know it.”

“What?!” Hard Stone exclaimed, not wanting to believe that he had been cleaning really just an ordinary rock.

“What’s really important is the will of stone inside you” Gravel Chain continued. “Just as I can with an ordinary rock, I can also tell the worth of someone else just by looking at them. Hard Stone, hidden within your will is the power to change the entire world. But if you’re not careful, I worry that precious will of yours may disappear.”

Hard Stone then looked at the rock, while repeating:

“Disappear…”

“As you keep running into barriers, you may abandon your will, make excuses or even replace it with hatred” Gravel Chain continued to say. “Listen well, never abandon your will and always stride with pride!”

But then happened what happened with Tirek, what caused Hard Stone to abandon his will and made him become what he was before the forming of the Alliance…

In the present…

That memory caused Hard Stone to open his eyes, and then he saw a rock, with its surface brightening with flames. That rock made him remember what his grandfather told him. Taking the rock with his magic, Hard Stone stood up, while looking at it and saying to himself that was enough of excuses.

After crushing the stone, Hard Stone activated his particle nature and made his Atomic Dismantling Spell to cut through the plants in flames around them, destroying the flames as well. Tirek retreated as much he could, while looking at Hard Stone, flying while using his spell, who said:

“Look at me being pitiful about my age… There is no excuse for making such excuse. Let’s go!”

After finishing that, the other regents started to recover and stand up.

“What is this?” Mystic Heart asked.

Aspen, turning to the old unicorn king, said:

“Nice job, Hard Stone.”

“Good, you’re all awake” Hard Stone said. “I’ll right, then, let’s carry on with our counter-attack.”

They nodded, but that caused to Tirek to laugh.

“You surely dance well, Hard Stone” he said. “But not good enough. None of you can defeat me. I have magic more than enough to exterminate even the most powerful of the alicorns. I’m no longer the Tirek that lost to those two fools.”

He then looked to Celestia and Ingrid and said to them:

“And you two will see that, now that your parents are not here. In fact, you’ll be the first ones to be taken down.”

“Taken down the ones with most magic and capable of executing healing magic is a well stablished tactic” Mystic Heart commented. “Surely you don’t think we’ll gonna let you do something like that easily.”

“You’re wrong” Tirek replied. “The reason why she’s first is because they are descendants of King Cosmos and Queen Galaxia.”

He then turned to Celestia and said to her:

“You have the same power as your mother and yet you don’t have any of the control she had. You only seem to use only a fraction of her power.”

And he turned to Ingrid and told her:

“And you… You don’t have the power of any of your power, but even so, I have to say, you were much more impressive as the Snow Queen. Compare to what your parents did to me, all the attacks you did are nothing.”

Those words really upset the two sisters.

“That’s why you’re the first to go, because I don’t tolerate weakness. It something that revolts me!”

“I think you bumbled enough” Aspen said, not wanting him to insult Celestia and Ingrid even longer.

But the two advanced and then told:

“We’re daughters of King Cosmos and Queen Galaxia” Ingrid said. “And I don’t have any of their powers and you’re right when you said that I was more powerful when I was the Snow Queen, moved by my hate.”

“And you were right when you said I don’t have the skills that my mother had” Celestia continued. “I didn’t even unlock half of the power she had…”

“But there’s one thing you’re wrong” Ingrid said.

“One thing that only is true inside your twisted mind” Celestia added.

And together, they exclaimed:

“WE’RE NOT WEAK!”

There was a pause and then Tirek said:

“Do you seriously believe that saying something like that will change anything? Power is not simply will or believe. Power is only the ability to make things happen.”

“You’re wrong about that” Celestia said. “Power is not only that. Power resides in the bonds, in the trust and in the friendship and love.”

“But that’s clearly something you will not understand” Ingrid said. “I once let myself believe that hate was only my only path, but then I discovered it was only destroying me inside. And now, we’ll show you what happens to the ones…”

“…who dares to threat everything our parents built and gave everything to protect!” Celestia ended.

And the two sisters carried their horns with magic in a way that no one between the presents ever saw. The two took flight and then they attack with a combined force of ice and light. Tirek created the ribcage of the Warrior of Dark Light where the attack collided. It was then that, for his surprise, the ice started to freeze the defense and then crack. Seeing that, Aspen said:

“Let’s go!”

And they all advanced, with Hard Stone going to the deer king’s back. Seeing that happening, Tirek retreated to dodge the attack and then fired an intense blast against the two alicorn sisters. But then Mystic Heart appeared and, using her water magic, created a dense, curved torrent, creating a circular barricade that protected the alicorn princesses from the blast. And, front that water, she created a dragon that involved Tirek and then spat it to the air, where Aspen and Hard Stone were, combining the gravity spell and the light nature on Aspen’s horn, they were able to hit him hard, cracking the other side of his defense. With another blow from Ingrid and Celestia, the ribcage was undone and the evil centaur was thrown against the ground, going hit some plants and then the remains of the two meteorites. But he still had little damages.

“I have to admit” he said to the two sisters. “You’re not weak. But I have to say that, if you two fell, the other regents will fall as well, since you’re the only ones with alicorn power and also the only ones with powerful healing spells to keep up with this battle.”

“That’s only if we fall” Celestia replied, while landing with Ingrid on a plant. “Which I can guarantee it won’t be easy.”

And the other regents landed beside them.

“We’ll not stop until you’re completely defeated. And for you to know, this time we’ll send you to a place where you won’t be able to escape.”

“If you’re referring to Tartarus, I heard it is not as safe as it used to be, having in count all the escapees” Tirek replied. “But I accept your challenge. Let’s see if you have what it takes to bring me down.”

At the shores, Day Glow got the news from Freeze Burn about Tirek’s return.

“What?!” he exclaimed. “Tirek is back?!”

“Yes, and because of that, most of the regents of the Alliance is now” Freeze Burn said. “That also includes Celestia and Ingrid.”

“They did?” Day Glow asked. “It really seems they got over what happened. That makes be glad.”

“They went through a lot” Freeze Burn said. “But that only made them stronger. And I have to say that, even so I know Ingrid loves me very much, neither she or Celestia forgot you. Because of that, I know they will get over this. They have a will of iron when it is to protect the ones they love.”

After a combined attack of light from Celestia to confuse Tirek and then an ice attack from Ingrid to immobilize him, Aspen turned to Strongpaw and exclaimed:

“Do it now, Chief Strongpaw!”

And, with a wave of hoof, Strongpaw launched a great quantity of sand to involve Tirek, while shouting:

“Desert Imperial Funeral!”

And the pyramid with sealing tags was formed and Strongpaw said:

“He’s sealed!”

“All right!” Celestia exclaimed.

But then the ground started to shake and a blast came out, hitting on Celestia partially, what made her scream and then fall.

“Celestia!” Ingrid screamed.

And then Tirek immerged with the Warrior of Dark Light involving him, while saying:

“The one you sealed was a wood clone. Thanks to my power, I was able to see through your blows.”

Looking to Celestia, he said:

“She got lucky because she wasn’t directly hit, but, in that state, I doubt she can fight any longer. What means it’s over for you all.”

At the shores, Day Glow told Freeze Burn:

“Don’t underestimate Tirek. Since I was a child, I got to witness how evil and powerful he is. If only I wasn’t a reincarnated being controlled by the General of Death, I could go and help her. With this immortal body, I would be able to help her. How are things to stop her?”

“So far, we don’t have any concrete intel about where she is” he replied.

“Then, we just have to hope the two of them will be fine” Day Glow, thinking about Celestia and Ingrid.

At the desert, Tirek turned into the other regents and told them:

“Now, who is going to be the next one to join her?”

“Your monster…” Ingrid started.

But, before she could do anything, a blast of light appeared and hit the Warrior of Dark Light that started to get weakened, starting to recede. Tirek was quick to move to dodge that. All of them looked and saw Celestia getting up.

“Sister!” Ingrid exclaimed with a smiled. “You’re okay!”

“Impressive” Tirek said. “You were finally able to unlock the same power your mother had to absorb light nature. You were even able to undo my blacklight nature.”

“My parents taught me and Luna many of their spells when we two manifested our talents” Celestia replied. “Your mistake was to be sure I would never be at the same level as them.”

“Even though, there’s no way you can affect me” Tirek said. “Not with that spell.”

“Then I will use mine!” Hard Stone replied, appearing behind him.

And he launched his Atomic Dismantling Spell against Tirek. But then he forgot about one thing…

“Have you forgotten, Hard Stone?” Tirek asked, while absorbing his attack. “I can absorb magic. You’re just making me stronger. If you want to defeat me, you have to cause me physical damage.”

“My attack from earlier almost hit you” the king replied.

“Oh that, I just wanted to give you the illusion that you could defeat me just to then crush your hope” Tirek revealed. “I know that the only way to defeat you, from the Order, is to give you a fake sense of hope. But I didn’t expect you could have come this far.”

“I have a question for you” Celestia said, making a slight smile. “It’s true that you deceived us with that wood clone, but, from another angle, it could say that we managed to corner you to use a clone to substitute yourself. Am I wrong?”

Tirek didn’t replied immediately, first looking to each of the present regents, and then do it:

“Well, it is six against one, after all”

“That’s because we need to win no matter what” Mystic Heart replied. “Don’t come calling us cowards because we’re being unfair with you. In truth, it’s just a testament to your might. Your Lord Tirek, after all.”

“No, I won’t call you cowards” Tirek replied. “Six-to-one is just a right ratio to play games.”

And, saying that he made more wood clones, making thirty. Those clones then advance, with each six facing a different regent.

“Now it’s on the other way” Tirek said. “And don’t say this is cowardly. You’re the great regents of the Alliance! And so I have one question for you… Would you prefer having these clones using the Warrior of Dark Light against you or not? The choice is yours.”

Unleashing Death

Scorpan and Pandora were advancing toward the location of where Gentle Light was. It wasn’t difficult for them to know. It didn’t take long for them to arrive to Arimaspi’s territory.

“She’s close” Pandora said on Scorpan’s back.

“Yeah, I can feel her too” Scorpan replied.

They arrive to the entrance of the villains’ hideout, with Pandora getting out Scorpan’s back. They got in and, after walking for a while, their arrive to a dead-end.

“It’s barrier” Scorpan said. “She isolated herself.”

“Not for long” Pandora replied.

And, charging her horn, she launched a blast of magic that blew up with the stone wall, revealing a hidden chamber. They walked in, finding Gentle Light with her back at them. She said:

“I’m impressed you were able to pass the barrier and find this place.”

“When you were controlling us, we were able to pin point where we’re energy signature was coming from” Pandora replied. “That’s another risk of the Reincarnation Curse.”

“But you already knew that, since it was you who allow Prince Star Knight to release us from your control” Scorpan replied.

“Yes, your right” Gentle Light replied, turning to them. “That’s what I did because I knew you would come and try to release me, so the Reincarnation Curse can have its end.”

“We know that you’re under the Lord of Chaos’ control, but you have to find a way to resist him and allow us to break the binds he has on you” Pandora said.

Gentle Light made a small smile and replied:

“Nothing would give me much happiness than having my will free from him. But there is a small setback in my plan.”

“And what’s that?” Scorpan asked.

“My actions didn’t escape the Lord of Chaos’ attention” Gentle Light replied.

“Yes, they didn’t” a voice replied.

Pandora and Scorpan turned, taking a defensive position, while the Lord of Chaos appeared beside Gentle Light.

“Just look who they are” he said. “My dear former slaves…”

“You think your presence will prevent us from stopping the Reincarnation Curse?” Scorpan asked. “You’re terribly wrong.”

“And do you think I will allow you to stop it?” the Lord of Chaos asked. “Most of the reincarnated beings had been sealed, but there are still a few that are still there. They are keeping a part of the Alliance’s forces at bay. After all, we’re getting closer to the climax… the final battle. I can’t let the enemy using their current full force against me.”

“Do you really think you can win this war?” Pandora asked. “How many times you tried to defeat your brother and everything backfire to you?”

“Pandora, you should be ashamed talking to your former master like that” the Lord of Chaos replied. “Have you forgotten all the things you did to me? Do you remember when you and Rothbart tried to invade Coltypt a few years after I lost it? You two ended up killing one of the Golden Warriors. Now that was fun to watch.”

“I’m not the same as before” she replied.

“Yes, maybe, but that doesn’t change all the things you did for me” the Lord of Chaos said. “In fact, it doesn’t change what you two did for me. But answering to your question, I do think I can win this won. This time, I planned it for years. Beyond my master plan in resurrecting Ten-Tails, I also acquired a great army to fight the one of my brother’s followers. Beyond the villains I already had at my service during the capture of the jinchuriki and their respective tailed beast, what also includes my own General of Chaos, I also had an army of dragons, changeling, Petal Sprout’s clone and, of course, the reincarnated beings that Gentle Light collected for me: Gavin and Grant, the former members of the Seven Swordsponies of the Mist, King Platinum, King Alder, King Gusty Blizzard, Chief Sandstorm and many, many others. Frankly, the time is short to mention them all, but you two should also be on my army. You should be helping my General of Chaos with Project Eye of the Moon. You should be helping capturing Hawthorn and Star Knight.”

“Yes, we should, but not any longer” Pandora replied.

“Our only desire right now is to end the Reincarnation Curse” Scorpan said.

“This curse only exists so that a balance between light and darkness can exist” Pandora said. “It is foolish to use it.”

“But it is thanks to this curse that you can be here right now” the Lord of Chaos said. “If it wasn’t for this… little quest of yours, you, Scorpan, could have meet with your deer older brother.”

Saying that, Scorpan’s expression became harden.

“Tirek…?” he asked. “He’s here?”

“Grogar went to take him” Gentle Light told him. “I had them teleported to the Fourth Unit’s battlefield and he’s now battling some of the regents.”

Scorpan didn’t know what to say or what to feel. On one side, he had a certain hatred for him due to the fact he killed him, but he also loved him because he was still his brother. It was Pandora who got him out of his thoughts, saying:

“Don’t listen to that, Scorpan. The Lord of Chaos only wants to deviate you from our mission.”

“Yes, you’re right…” he said. “We have to stop this curse. We can’t let him desecrate souls that had been purified and make them spread unnecessary sadness and hate. Can you even understand the pain of the dead you’re forcing to fight, Lord of Chaos? The pain of the living whose is even greater than them after recovering from their grief and sadness?”

But that only caused the Lord of Chaos to laugh and then replied:

“Please, I don’t give a damn to anyone but myself. Anyone else is just pawns that I can use at my own will. I don’t care if they are alive or dead, as long as they are under my control. Beyond that, I’m really surprised by those words, after everything you and Tirek did under my name.”

“What I did I did out of blind love for my brother, because I looked up to him” Grogar said. “I hoped I could make him return to what he was. How foolish I was. But I paid the price for that and now it’s to compensate the ones I hurt not with words but with actions.”

“Too bad you’re going to disappoint them” the Lord of Chaos said, directing his words then to Gentle Light. “Put them under your control again and then send them to give support to my General. I don’t show them any opening by purpose. I’m not letting your little plan to get real. Did you understand?”

“Yes, I did” she replied. “I’m not stupid.”

“Well, then, I’ll leave you to it” the Lord of Chaos said, disappearing.

After a pause, Pandora said:

“Gentle Light, I know you don’t want to do this…”

“But I don’t have any choice” Gentle Light said. “I will have to try to control you. And, in order to release me, you’ll need to get close.”

“That’s not a hard to thing to do” Scorpan said. “Have you forgotten what I can do?”

“Oh, yeah, your pulse nature where you combine wind, light and earth to manipulate kinetic energy” Gentle Light said. “That’s the secret behind your ability to attract and repel objects. But I can ensure you that won’t work.”

“That’s what we’re going to see!” Scorpan exclaimed.

And he extended his hand and started to pull Gentle Light over to him and then Pandora approached to hit her. It was then that she charged her horn and then Pandora fell a pain that made her fall on the ground, while moaning.

“Pandora!” Scorpan exclaimed, while releasing Gentle Light, who teleported to a safe place.

The gargoyle turned to Pandora and saw her how body decaying, like a reverse process of the Reincarnation Curse. It was then that he felt that something over her and then, on an impulse, he used his nature to repel on her. A brown dust came out from her and, immediately, she stopped moaning and her body regenerated.

“Thank you, Scorpan…” she said, while rising up.

“What was that?” Scorpan asked.

“That’s my own triple nature” Gentle Light replied. “It’s rust nature. With earth, water and wind, I can cause rust and decay. It feats me very well, don’t you think?”

“I see now…” Pandora said. “I inhaled that dust and then my reincarnated body started to degenerate.”

“But it wouldn’t undo it” Gentle Light said. “My curse wouldn’t allow it. But it would give me the opportunity to put you under my control again.”

That was a problem for them, as they wouldn’t be able to release Gentle Light without approaching, what would be hard with her rust nature being more effective at close distance.

“How will we be able to subdue her?” Scorpan asked. “There must be a way to do it.”

“Well, we know that your magic works on that rust nature” Pandora said. “That’s a start.”

“Yes, but it only gives her the defenses we need, not a way to stop the Reincarnation Curse” Scorpan said. “What if we put her under an illusion spell.”

“I’m sure she has ways to protect herself” Pandora said. “My illusion spells use the sense of vision and she knows that.”

After a moment, Pandora reminded of something that could work.

“I may have something, but I cannot risk for her to know what I’m planning to do” Pandora asked.

“I have a way to have some privacy” Scorpan replied.

And, using his pulse nature, he pushed Gentle Light against a wall and then, inducing kinetic energy on the rocks above, he made them fall on the General of Death.

“You have to hurry” Scorpan said. “I don’t think that will hold her for much longer.”

“Did you ever hear about a special illusion spell that can put someone else under a deep illusion at the cost of the light of the eye that cast it?” Pandora asked. “It’s called the Infinite Loop Curse. It’s a curse that can decide someone fate.”

“What do you mean with that?” Scorpan asked.

“You’ll see…” Pandora replied. “I just need you to caught her attention for a while.”

At that moment, a blast of magic caused the rocks over Gentle Light to be thrown away, some hitting Pandora and Scorpan who quickly regenerated.

“You got it!” he exclaimed, while advancing and using his pulse nature to attack Gentle Light, both directly and indirectly.

Meanwhile, Pandora was trying to execute the Infinite Loop Curse. She tried to charge the energy she need as quick as possible before Gentle Light was able to subdue Scorpan. When she was ready, she exclaimed:

“Scorpan, retreat!”

He did so at the moment Gentle Light used the light blade and Pandora teleported to his place, where she was hit by the General of Death’s blade.

“Do you think you can trick me with a clone?” she asked, while looking at her.

It was then that she noticed one of her eyes becoming white, becoming blind. At that moment, the clone was undone, blinding her for a moment, what allowed the real Pandora to attack, what forced Gentle Light to dodge, but not before the tip of her horn being cut off and fell on the ground.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but it won’t work” Gentle Light said, while her horn returned to how it was. “I know all of your tricks Pandora. Beyond that”

“That’s where you are wrong” Pandora replied. “Not even the Lord of Chaos know all of my abilities.”

After a drop from a stalactite fall over Gentle Light’s shoulder, she replied, while creating a light sword:

“Well, let’s then see what you can do!”

And she advanced, crushing a stone. Pandora tried to retreat, while Scorpan used his pulse nature, what Gentle Light defended. The General of Death then hit Pandora again, who disappeared like a clone, just like the last time. That seemed strange to Gentle Light, who then sensed Pandora advancing for a new attack. Even if she dodged, the tip of her horn was cut off, just like last time.

“How did she…” Gentle Light started, while a drop from a stalactite fell on her shoulder. “Is she doing an illusion spell? But I would notice.”

Looking to Pandora, Gentle Light prepared to attack her again, only to crush a stone with her hoof and having Scorpan attack her again. She dodge the attack and hit Pandora, only for her being a clone again. And the same thing started to happen over and over again. It was like she was inside and endless loop. It was at that moment she understood what Pandora did.

“The Infinite Loop Curse…” she said. “Well played Pandora. Well played…”

“I told you didn’t know all my tricks” Pandora said.

At reality, Pandora had her hoof over Gentle Light’s head, with her horn being untouched.

“Impressive…” Scorpan said. “I didn’t know you could use something like that.”

“Like I said, it’s a curse” Pandora said. “And now Gentle Light is trap inside an endless loop in her mind, fighting against us.”

“And that’s the reason why this curse decides the fate” Scorpan said. “But when did you cast it?”

“At the moment she impaled me with the light sword” Pandora replied.

“Way back then, uh… But how? You said you could only use visual illusion, so how did you manage to cast this one?”

“The Infinite Loop Curse works with the physical senses of you and your opponent.”

“The physical senses of both?” Scorpan asked.

“As you’re battling your opponent, you use your vision to take a record, like a picture, of the sensations you and your opponent are feeling in that moment” Pandora explained. “As time progresses, you find more important moments that you also record and then you recreate those exact feelings, using your power to recreate the first moment. By overlaying and connecting these two exact moments, the curse also links the path that includes the other moments in between to create fluctuations within a fixed time. In that way, you can create an infinite loop, in the exchange of an eyesight, of course.”

“So Gentle Light’s consciousness is trapped in the loop you created” Scorpan said. “She’ll fight a phantom of both of us for all eternity.”

“Not quite” Pandora replied. “There is an escape route built into the curse. After all, there’s no curse that cannot be broken. We are an example that not even a powerful curse like the Reincarnation Curse is invincible.”

“What is that escape route?” Scorpan asked.

“The only way to escape it is by accepting the outcome of the battle” Pandora replied. “Only after the victim is able to deny the fate they desire is that the curse will end. And since the Lord of Chaos’ binds force her to fight us…”

“She won’t be able to break the loop and release herself from the curse” Scorpan said. “That was really well played…”

“And now it’s time to complete our mission” Pandora replied.

She turned to Gentle Light and, charging her horn, made her binds to appear and then, with a move, he broke them. It took a moment, but then Gentle Light was able to break free.

“Ah, finally!” she exclaimed. “I was done seeing the same thing over and over again and being forced to continue that, even knowing perfectly well the curse.”

“We’re glad we were able to help you” Pandora said. “Now you can undo…”

“Yes, yes, the curse” Gentle Light said. “But first, let’s go to a safer place before I end up being enslaved again.”

And, saying that, they disappeared in a burst of light.

Author's Note

After much consideration, I decided to change the elements that makes the rust nature to better fit its rusting power.

The Fall of the Centaur

The night had started and, after creating thirty wood clone and diving them by the six regents, Tirek told them:

“Wll answer me. Would you like all of these clones to use the Warrior of Dark Light? It’s your choice.”

None of the regents said anything and Tirek said:

“None of you have any answer at all, do you? Then I will have to provide an answer for you.”

And then all the clones created a Warrior of Dark Light each.

“Damn it…” Some said.

“Well, let’s play then” Tirek said.

And the clones started to advance.

“Each of us has to take down five” Aspen said.

“It’s five-to-one” Strongpaw added.

“Not quite” Hard Stone replied to his fellow regents. “It’s six-to-thirty.”

“King Hard Stone…” Mystic Heart started.

“We’ll guard each other’s backs and coordinate attacks” Hard Stone said. “We are regents of the Alliance after all!”

And they all nodded their heads in agreement.

“Let’s go!” Hard Stone exclaimed.

With that, the regents advanced with each one heading to face their own adversaries.

As the battle continued, Mystic Heart was hit hard by one of the clones’s Warrior of Dark Light. Noticing that, Strongpaw used his sand to involve her and bring her gently to the ground. A Warrior of Dark Light took opportunity of Strongpaw’s distraction to attack him, but his Shield of Sand protected him. Others tried to attack him as well, what caused him to try to dodge, using his sand to protect from other blows that were too much strong and caused him to be thrown to Mystic Heart’s side.

Ingrid was able to notice the other two predicament and went to help them, erecting an ice dome around them. But the fifteen Warriors of Dark Light approached and some tried to break throw her dome, what they manage to do, what caused Ingrid to fall as well.

“They’re so strong…” Mystic Heart said. “Just how are we supposed to…”

“Yes, you’re right” Strongpaw agreed.

“At this rate, we’ll…” Ingrid said.

Meanwhile, Celestia, who had been able to defend their attacks, casted a powerful blast on one, taking it down. Aspen, who as able to defend a fist with his horn, said to her:

“Princess Celestia, you’re starting to become sloppy with your battling. You have to be careful.”

“Don’t worry about me” she replied. “I can perfectly…”

But a wave of weakness due to the great blow she suffered invaded her, causing her to fall on her knees.

“Princess Celestia!” Aspen called.

But he was caught by a Warrior of Dark Knight, turning him to the clone inside. The deer king looked up to him, but that was a mistake as he casted him an illusion spell.

“No!” Aspen exclaimed.

But it was too late, as he was put under Tirek’s illusion that put him immobile. While Aspen wondered how he let that happened, the Warrior of Dark Light put him on the ground. It then prepared to attack him with a light spear. However, a rock hoof erupted from the ground, grabbing Aspen and retreating to underground before the attack hit the deer king. Under the look of the original Tirek, the hand reappeared beside Hard Stone and released Aspen. Hard Stone approached him and broke the illusion spell the latter was in. When Aspen awoke, he told him:

“Thank you, King Hard Stone” Aspen thanked.

“That damn Hard Stone” Tirek said. “His wisdom in battle is beginning to show.”

Turning then to the other regents, Hard Stone exclaimed:

“Stand up, fellow regents! We fight a battle to the end! No whining and no complaining!”

That really caught their attention and Hard Stone continued, while his words encouraged the others to stand up:

“We are the regents of the Alliance! So choose your final words that will not shame your title! We entrusted Star Knight to fight his battle and we swore to win this battle that he entrusted to us, no matter what! Don’t forget that! And there is one more thing. Each and everyone who lives in our domains entrusted with one only duty…”

All the other regents positioned themselves beside the King of Stonult who continued:

“All of us has to be worthy of the title we possess.”

While the clones with their respective Warrior of Dark Light reunited, Hard Stone prepared to execute a particle nature spell with Celestia healing him and giving him energy to execute it. Seeing that, Tirek said:

“So Hard Stone is the problem after all. I have no choice but to break his will.”

“Princess, I need more” Hard Stone said to Celestia, while still unable to use particle nature.

“You don’t have to tell me, Your Majesty” she replied. “There’s not much energy in me, so this may be our last stand. Atomic Dismantling Spell!”

And he threw a square that enhance in size to cover all the clones. It almost reached Tirek, who had to dodge, not being able to absorb that spell properly. It was then that, from the square, a water dragon filled with electricity appeared and tried to attack Tirek. But he soon started to absorb the magic in that water. The centaur couldn’t believe they had forgotten that only physical attacks would work on him, even if they distracted him with the particle nature while taking down his clones.

At that moment, his body started to be covered by sand, followed by sand that started to involve him with a layer of ice following it.

“You can’t hold us all for long!” Strongpaw exclaimed, while moving the sand.

“It’s what happens when your own your own” Ingrid said, while using her ice magic.

While sand covered his body, sealing tags appeared, with the ice covering them then. The only way for him to escape the ice and sand, was to stop absorbing magic, but, if he did, he would be hit by the electric water dragon and be immobilized and that would give them time enough to seal him and defeat him.

“Do you see it?!” Hard Stone exclaimed. “This is the power of the regents of the Alliance!”

Tirek was seeing it, while he was completely covered by sand and ice, recognizing that they were indeed worthy of the title they had. In that case, he should respond with full power.

It was then that an explosion happened and Tirek, while being elevated on the air, said:

“Even the regents of the Alliance are nothing compared to power that I possess!”

And then a bigger Warrior of Dark Light appeared. But this was completely different. It was a fully pony covered by a cloak.

“Meet the perfect Warrior of Dark Light!”

The others couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“It’s huge…” Ingrid said.

“I never thought it could be this big…” Celestia said.

“Is this… the true Warrior of Dark Light?” Mystic Heart asked.

“Not quite” Tirek replied.

And then that an armor covered its body which formed a completed pony form, while the face was covered by a mask. The look was so intimidating that even Hard Stone was affected by its appearance as he ended the spell he was using. Tirek was now inside the body.

“The big one’s energy has stabilized…” he said.

“He’s just so strong…” Celestia said.

“I can’t believe our parents fought someone like him…” Ingrid said to Celestia, without taking her eyes from the monstrosity that was in front of them.

“Well, they were able to defeat me before I could use my best trick” Tirek replied. “But I can say that it works out better for you than I had planned for them, because…”

And the Warrior of Dark Light summoned a light blade what it swung, hitting a nearby mountain, creating a shock wave so powerful that even affected the rocks around. The regents couldn’t stand something like that and they were thrown back with force. And then they saw how the mountain was slipped in two.

“It’s just me…” Tirek continued. “So the maps will only need to be redrawn a little.”

“Impossible!” Mystic Heart exclaimed. “He split the mountain!”

“This is… Tirek’s strength?” Hard Stone asked, as he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

There was a pause and then Tirek asked:

“Are you finished now?”

And the Warrior of Dark Light started to advance toward the regents, who didn’t know what to do now. That was look that Tirek was enjoying seeing. It was then that Hard Stone, for his surprise, made a step ahead and said:

“We may be stumbling in the dark, but we’re also close to the light at the end of the tunel. Here of all places.”

That determination was starting to annoy Tirek who then said:

“This Warrior of Dark Light is made by the perfect combination of light and darkness with a power capable of smash all things in all Creation. It rivals even the tailed beasts. Be crushed and be gone, regents, you and your pathetic philosophy.”

At the Great Light Canyon, Gentle Light appeared along with Pandora and Scorpan.

“Where are we?” the latter asked.

“Wait, I recognized this” Pandora replied. “We’re in the Light Kingdom!”

“Well, technically, we’re at its boundary with the Golden Desert” Gentle Light replied. “Although its light isn’t as stronger as the one in the citadel, but it’s still enough to prevent the Lord of Chaos from interfering. Thanks to you, I’m no longer under his influence and I can undo everything he made me do, including the Reincarnation Curse.”

“Then this is it, right?” Pandora said. “The end for us…”

“We knew it would come to this, but even so…” Scorpan said.

“Don’t worry about that” Gentle Light said. “When I’m done, it will be like wakening from a bad dream… You’ll all return to your afterlife whatever it is.”

Pandora and Scorpan looked at each other and then nodded to Gentle Light. She then focused, closing her eyes, while charging her horn with magic.

“Release!” she exclaimed.

A supernatural wind blew and then Pandora and Scorpan started to release a powerful pale yellow light. But it was only them as all the reincarnated beings, sealed and unsealed, started to release the same kind of light.

King Platinum was still running from his pursuers when he reached a dead-end.

“All right, we corned him” Oak said.

Platinum then recovered his consciousness and, watching where he was, he said:

“This is where I come back after regaining consciousness?”

At that moment, he was involved by the pale yellow light.

After defeating a guard, Gina advance, while being covered by the light. Gretel was there and, like Platinum did, the reincarnated being regained consciousness and said to her former student:

“Gretel…”

“Lady Gina?” she asked.

Rothbart continued to protest for his freedom from the puppet he was in. Ivory and Smokewing were there to watch him.

“Let me out!” the reincarnated pony exclaimed. “That’s it! I’m done! I’m completely fed up! I’m going to explode any second now!”

“Please, we got you sealed with light nature so you can’t explode” Ivory said with a smile. “So can you please give some rest to our heads and shut your mouth?”

That really irritated Rothbart who the exclaimed:

“How dare you to say something like that?!”

At that moment, Rothbart was involved by the light. Seeing that, Smokewing said:

“Don’t tell me that he…”

Ash, the other reincarnated deer and Dusk Night started to glow as well.

“What’s happening?” Ash asked.

“What’s this?” Dusk Night asked.

At the shore, Day Glow was also glowing.

“What’s happening?” Freeze Burn asked.

“Looks like somepony has succeeded in undoing the Reincarnation Curse” Day Glow answered.

The reincarnated jinchuriki, who were trapped by Gyuki’s tentacles, were also involved by the light. The General of Chaos also noticed that.

“Star Knight, the jinchuriki are being released from the curse” Hawthorn said. “Looks like Pandora and Scorpan did it!”

Star, who had some lines of blood coming from a corner of his mouth and a side of his head, smiled, while over Hawthorn’s head. Although he didn’t say it by words, the young prince thanked Pandora and Scorpan for being able to undo the Reincarnation Curse.

“Now it’s our time to do our part” Hawthorn said.

“You’re right” Star agreed. “Let’s go.”

It didn’t last for all the reincarnated beings to be involved by the light. Platinum’s soul, while the body was decaying, got out and started to ascend with the eyes being like they were before his death. He turned to Oak and the other guards and told them:

“Tell Hard Stone you all must secure the Alliance. Only then he can come to me and tell me all about it.”

And he disappeared.

Rothbart could feel that he was being pulled away.

“I see…” he said. “Looks like the General got freed. That’s too bad for the Lord of Chaos. I just hope he can get a way to continue to have an advantage.”

And his soul started to ascend, while he said:

“Don’t think that this change this change anything. The Lord of Chaos will always prevail!”

Ivory opened his puppet and the body of the vessel used to reincarnate Rothbart fell on the ground.

Gina also ascended, while the body of the griffon used to hold her fell on the ground.

“It seems at last I’m free from this curse” Gina said with a smile to Gretel.

“Lady Gina!” Gretel called.

“Gretel, make sure you don’t die in vain” Gina asked.

“Milady…” Gretel said, with tears on her eyes.

“You all have a future to look forward to” Gina said before disappearing.

Drying her eyes, Gretel smiled before her teacher’s final words to her.

While Dusk Night and the two other deer ascended, the former turned to her brother and told him:

“Looks like you got lucky this time again, brother.”

But then a smile appeared on her face and then she confessed:

“However, I have to confess it was fun to have a last fight with you.”

That caused Shadow Claw to smile and said:

“I feel the same thing about you, sister.”

And she and the others disappeared.

Day Glow, while the curse was being undone over him, started to move his hoof and said:

“As I suspected, I can now move my body freely now. Can you undo the barrier, Freeze Burn? It’s safe now.”

“It looks that way” he replied, turning then to the unicorns who were making the barrier. “Hey, we don’t need the barrier.”

“Yes, sir” they replied.

And so the barrier was undone. After that was done, Day Glow started to make a spell while saying:

“Freeze Burn, I’m glad you were able to give Ingrid a second chance for love. For that, I’m grateful.”

“Let me guess, you’re going to use that spell, won’t you? The Ghost Transformation Spell… Ingrid told me about it. I understand. Please, hurry so you can be by Princess Celestia’s side.”

“I never though a spell like this with so many risks would come in handy in a situation like this” Day Glow said.

And he cast the spell and his soul started to ascend.

“It’s just as I thought” he said. “The souls are being released with the end of the Reincarnation Curse.”

And the souls of the three alicorn sisters, as well the one belonging to Thunder Spark, started to ascend as well.

“You better go now” Freeze Burn said.

“Yeah…” Day Glow replied. “Farewell, Freeze Burn. Thank you for everything.”

And, having said that, he advanced toward the desert.

At HQ, Boreal Blizzard, feeling a disturbance, said:

“What is this? What’s going on? The energy signature from all the reincarnated beings is fading rapidly.”

“Reports are coming in from every battlefield” Diamond Glow replied. “The reincarnations are all being turned into souls, even the sealed ones and the ones still fighting.”

“The only way to explain all this is that the Reincarnation Curse has somehow been released” White Light said.

“There’s no mistake” Boreal Blizzard said. “The Reincarnation Curse has been dispelled.”

“Quick, relay this information to every unit!” White Light exclaimed.

Using the telepathic spell, Diamond Glow proclaimed:

“HQ reporting! The Reincarnation Curse is undone! I repeat, the Reincarnation Curse is undone!”

“Amazing!” Boreal Blizzard said, while observing the bubble. “They are just… disappearing!”

“Good, but… which unit managed to do that?” White Light asked.

At the Great Light Canyon, Pandora said, while her and Scorpan’s body started to become instable and cracking:

“I can feel it… I’m being… pulled away…”

“Yes, I know…” Scorpan said. “I can feel the same…”

“I have to thank you” Gentle Light said. “Yes, I was the one that made you be release from my control, but it was all you when it was to free me. For that, you have my gratitude.”

“It was all thanks to Star” Pandora said. “Yes, you allow us to be released, but it was him who had the power to do it.”

“Besides that, it was our will to help” Scorpan said. “We have done so much evil that we need to do this in order to make us feel heroes…”

“Well, you are heroes now after this” Gentle Light replied. “The Lord of Chaos can no longer control me and so he can’t use my power to harm others anymore.”

That made a great smile appear on Pandora and Scorpan, while their souls started to ascend.

“Goodbye, Pandora…” Gentle Light said. “Goodbye, Scorpan… You can be sure that your actions will not be forgotten.”

And they disappeared, while the bodies of the ponies used to reincarnate them fall on the ground.

At the front line, the spirits of the reincarnated jinchuriki started to ascend as well. Star looked at them with a smile and said:

“Gigi… Echo Wing… Black Granite… Vapour Fist… Bubble Sweet… Silver Mist… Just leave this to us.”

And they disappeared.

“They’re all gone…” Hawthorn said.

With that, Star knew that all the other battles with the reincarnated beings had been stopped. The General of Chaos, on the other hand, couldn’t stop but cursing Gentle Light for being able to find a way to escape the control of his master had on her and undo the curse.

Star get out of Hawthorn and landed between his father and uncle and asked to the General:

“Hey, where do you think you’re looking at?! Did you forget already? You’re fighting me!”

The General turned to them and then Blue said, with a smile:

“I think I know you look so troubled.”

“The Reincarnation Curse has been released” Shining said. “What means…”

“Gentle Light is no longer under their control” Blue ended.

“And what has that to do with this?” the General of Chaos asked coldly.

At the battlefield of the regents, the Warrior of Dark Light was about to do the final blow to six regents that were facing Tirek.

“King Hard Stone… it’s unfortunate, but… I think this is the end” Mystic Heart said.

“Don’t say things like that, Queen Mystic Heart” Aspen replied. “I’m not going to give up yet!”

The warrior was about to swing down its blade when it suddenly started to dissipate, returning to its skeletal phase. They all looked and so they saw Tirek was being involved by purple smoke that was making him getting weak. And then a powerful sound blast hit him and that caused him to lose complete focus and the Warrior of Dark Light disappeared with Tirek looking exhausted.

“What just happened?” Celestia asked.

“It seems we arrive right on time” a familiar voice commented.

They looked and, for their amazement, over the debris of the two meteorites, were Purple Smoke and Melody. It was Purple Smoke who had said that and continued:

“And who would guess we would face the great idiot centaur.”

The regents were so caught by surprise that they didn’t know what to say. Tirek, by his turn, exclaimed:

“No, it can’t be! How are you…”

“How are we here?” Melody asked. “Well, I think we could answer you that question.”

“But we really don’t want to spend out precious words with you any longer” Purple Smoke continued.

And with that Melody used her powerful scream to continue to disorient Tirek. But he was still capable of firing a blast of magic. Ingrid and Mystic Heart tried to erect a barrier, but they wouldn’t make it in time. It was then that Celestia took flight and, charging her horn, she dispelled the blast. However, the damages she suffered from before, along with the side damages from that last attack, made her moan in pain.

“Sister!” Ingrid called.

“I’m all right!” she replied.

But then Tirek found the energy to create the ribcage and a foreleg of the Warrior of Dark Light what made a light blade to appear. Celestia tried to defend, but it was too weak to do it. She would be impaled. Seeing that, Purple Smoke tried to use his smoke, but he wouldn’t hit Tirek in time. Aspen tried to jump to reach Celestia, as well as Hard Stone who tried to fly to her.

When it looked like she would be hit, a light appeared on her and then Celestia was able to dodge it, landing on the ground nearby. Seeing that, Ingrid couldn’t believe it. That was the Ghost Transformation Spell, what meant…

“Day Glow…” she said.

When Aspen landed and Hard Stone went down, the former asked:

“What just happened?”

“I thought she had completely lost consciousness” Hard Stone said.

“Don’t worry” Ingrid said to them. “She’s all right.”

Celestia wondered how she was able to dodge that, when a voice said to her:

“It has been a long time, Celestia…”

Inside her mind, Celestia finally met with Day Glow.

“It’s me…” he said to her.

Celestia couldn’t believe that she was looking at the first pony she ever loved.

“Day Glow…” she said, with tears coming to her eyes. “How are you here?”

“The Reincarnation Curse has been undone” Day Glow told her. “I used my Ghost Transformation Spell to fly here. Although, that sure was a close one.”

“But Day Glow…”

“You haven’t change, Celestia…”

“But, Day Glow, I always…” Celestia started.

“There’s no time” Day Glow said. “We can’t talk about sentimentalizes, because… I have to go soon.”

“Please, Day Glow, I have to say this to you” Celestia said. “I always loved you, even after what happened. You were always in my heart, even after I took my parents’ duty of ruling Equestria. For some time, I tried to occupy my head with my royal duties, but all those tries failed. Knowing that I lost the stallion I loved and my dear older sister at the same time, was a painful blow, something I had to revive after losing my younger sister… But even that memory always haunted me, I couldn’t forget the love we shared, even after…”

But her voice failed. She couldn’t tell that out loud. However, Day Glow guessed:

“You fell in love again, didn’t you? Well, I guess he is a lucky stallion.”

“Was” Celestia corrected. “But the Lord of Chaos took him from me.”

A silent and Day Glow said:

“I’m sorry, Celestia… You really pass through for more than anypony else. And that’s what I admire in you: your strength. And knowing that you managed to connect with Ingrid again even after what happened… Well, that makes me very happy. But I can’t stop thinking that I made you pass through all that pain. I’m sorry…”

There was a paused and then Day Glow advanced and then said:

“I hope we can meet again. But don’t try to rush that moment, okay?”

And, having said that, he kissed her on the forehead and then he said:

“My first attempt to save you ended up giving you centuries of sadness and guilt, but it seems, in the end, I was able to save you and make up for all the pain I put you through. So I guess something good came out from being reincarnated.”

Having said that, he disappeared, while giving a last smile to Celestia.

She then returned to reality, now renovated.

“Princess, are you all right?” Aspen asked.

“Her vitality seems have returned” Purple Smoke noticed.

“I’m okay” she said. “I got to see an old friend.”

Celestia trade a look with Ingrid, who returned the smile to her.

But Tirek, still disorientated by Melody’s scream, couldn’t help but laughing.

“You ponies are really naïve” he said. “Do you really think you can win this war? Give me a break. You can barely defeat me.”

Purple Smoke appeared by his side and then replied:

“Well, at least, we have a start.”

And, having said that, he launched a magic beam to Tirek and started to absorb his magic.

“No…” he said. “Don’t do that!”

And the magic that Purple Smoke took from Tirek was gathered in a ball of energy. While the magic was being drained, Tirek was becoming smaller until he returned to his weakest form.

“Give me my magic back!” he exclaimed, trying to attack Purple Smoke.

But Melody used her voice to subdue him again.

“I’m sorry, but this is going to be scared as soon as possible” Purple Smoke replied, while making the magic disappeared and then summoning the cell blaster. “Meanwhile, I believe it’s time to give you a new home. King Cosmos and Queen Galaxia were too benevolent in banishing you too the Enchanted Forest. It’s time for you to go to a place fitted for you.”

And he started to be sucked to the life cell. After that, Purple Smoke put the life cell inside the prison-book.

“There, a very cozy cell in Tartarus for a powerful weak centaur” the General of Talent replied.

After that, the Generals approached the other regents and Melody said:

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore. He’ll not get out of Tartarus that easily. After all the break-outs, we enhanced the security.”

“That’s very reinsuring” Hard Stone said. “Thank you, Generals.”

“That’s another thing” Aspen said “How can you be here?”

“Yes, you were affected by that spell of the General of Chaos” Mystic Heart said.

“Let’s just say that talents had blossomed to their full potential” Purple Smoke said.

“While great voices started to spread a much powerful music” Melody said. “All that gave us the power to overcome the spell.”

“And the others?” Celestia asked.

But Purple Smoke and Melody just nodded their heads.

“I see…” Celestia said. “But at least now we have your help on this war.”

“I’m sorry, princess, but we can’t” Purple Smoke said.

“Why not?” Aspen asked. “We are in great need in order to stop the General of Chaos.”

“We know, but the Light Kingdom needs our protection” Melody said. “Beyond that, the Lord of Order ordered that way. He says that we still have the light of hope shining on us.”

“But with you…” Aspen started.

“There’s no need to try to persuade them, Aspen” Celestia told him.

“Yes, they will never disobey the Lord of Order” Ingrid continued. “Besides, we have to have faith in the Lord of Order.”

“I agree with Princess Ingrid” Strongpaw said. “The Lord of Order never let us down.”

“Yes, I think I can agree on that” Hard Stone said.

Mystic Heart nodded, agreeing as well. Aspen sighed and then said:

“Very well, it will be like you say.”

“Good” Melody said. “No you better rest a bit to gather your strength. You’ll need them for the battle you have ahead.”

“By the way, Generals” Mystic Heart said. “My platoon had been able to capture Featherwing and…”

“Don’t worry, before we return to the Light Kingdom, we’ll go there and book her as well” Purple Smoke said.

And, having said that, they disappeared in a blast of light.

At the front line, the General of Chaos was using the Demonic Statue to attack. Shining and Blue, for their turn, were doing their best to prevent it from getting to Star. The General of Chaos could observe the effect of the spell he used with Discord’s magic was starting to be lifted on Blue, as his power was starting to increase, but not to a level of concern.

While the two unicorn were able to make stop the Demonic Statue, Star, involved by the Nine-Tails’ energy, gave a powerful punch on it that caused it to fall. The General landed nearby it and then Star asked with a smile:

“What’s wrong? You don’t look too happy.”

“What do you mean?” the General asked.

“Well, I can’t really see all of your face, but I can guess how you’re reacting” Star said. “But if you think I’m wrong, you can always take that helmet out to prove it.”

But the General didn’t say anything.

“Star, I don’t think you should insult the enemy” Shining said. “It only makes worse.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with your uncle” Blue agreed. “It never ends well. But thinking about it, when does things never get worse?”

It was then that the General of Chaos summoned the Sealing Urn and the Crimson Gourd.

“I have no choice but using this…” he said.

“What is that?” Shining asked.

“Looks like a giant gourd and an urn” Star observed.

“I would prefer in bringing it back in a completed state, but…” the General of Chaos thinking about the Nine-Tails’ energy that was in those objects and also the tentacle of Eight-Tails he had sealed before.

The statue took the gourd and the urn and swallow them.

“It is only a fragment, but it doesn’t lack in power” the General of Chaos said, charging his horn.

It was then the statue’s eyes opened, with both of them completed, while it started to roar.

“It’s taking too long and now was the time” the General continued.

Author's Note

Don't forget to vote on my new poll about the spoilers of my future story in:

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The Secret of the General of Chaos' Ability

The Demonic Statue was roaring very loudly, while the General of Chaos was still focusing his magic.

“That statue…” Shining said. “Has being acting weird since swallowed those objects.”

But Star was more focused in what he had sensed inside those objects.

“Wait, that was…” Star said, with an astonished face.

“Don’t tell me…” Blue started.

“Watch closely and surround yourselves completely” the General of Chaos said. “The return of Ten-Tails and the beginning of the end of the world!”

And the statue took on hand to its head, while continuing to roar.

“So that’s it” Blue said. “That statue where you collected the tailed beasts was Ten-Tails’ actual body.”

But that elevated one question. The reason why he declared war was to capture Hawthorn and Star in order to get Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails to revive Ten-Tails, but they didn’t have their energy yet. That caused Blue to wonder if he was bluffing.

He turned to Star and told him:

“My son, don’t be careless. Approaching him is deadly.”

Gyuki, having heard about the General of Chaos said, asked telepathically to Hawthorn in an awkward way:

“Have we given him… an octopus arm… filled with energy?”

“We may have been in trouble at that time, but I think this time we messed things up” Hawthorn replied, turning then directly to the others. “He got a bit of Eight-Tails’ energy when they tried to capture us. We used it to escape, but now that is backfiring.”

“An octopus arm, hein?” Blue said.

“So that’s how he got Eight-Tails’ energy” Shining said. “I can’t believe that a piece is enough.”

“Star Knight, you felt it too, didn’t you?” Kurama asked to his jinchuriki in their plane. “That urn and gourd contained my energy.”

“Yes” Star replied, not liking how the situation was turning over.

“Let me take over, Star” Kurama asked. “I’ll explain. About Ten-Tails too. You’ll listen from here.”

“Kurama…” Star said, surprised for hearing the nine-tailed fox saying that. “You know about Ten-Tails?”

“Yeah, of course” he replied.

And so Star allowed Kurama to take over, making his eyes turn red with split pupils and three whisker-like marks appear on each cheek.

“Listen up, all of you” Kurama said, getting everyone’s attention.

“That voice…” Shining said.

“Star traded places with Nine-Tails” Hawthorn explained. “Just relax, he’s going to take explain everything. He and Star are now real friends.”

“Yeah, well, he better hurry up” Blue said. “It’s really upsetting listening him through my son everything he did to him.”

“I and Star already resolved our differences” Kurama told him. “I don’t care what you may think. Now, listen carefully because what I have to say is important. Yes, it’s only needed just a portion of a tailed beast. That statue already have a piece of Eight-Tails and my energy in it.”

“So Nine-Tails too…” Shining said.

“The urn and gourd the General of Chaos summoned in front of the statue are two of the Sacred Tools of Thicket” Kurama continued. “They possess powerful sealing spells created by the deer of Thicket when they started to try to capture tailed beasts for them. They can seal anything. Once you’re inside, you cannot get out. So, sealed inside the urn was Gavin and Garth is sealed inside the gourd. My suspect his that they were brought back with the Reincarnation Curse, used on the war and then sealed away. Even with the curse undone, those tools prevented their souls from leaving.”

“But what does that have to do with the Nine-Tails energy?” Blue asked.

“There was a time, long ago, before I was sealed inside Heartbeat, the brothers challenged me to a battle in order to capture me to Aeropolis” Kurama continued. “I simply devoured them. However, they survived and fed on me from the inside and, in doing so, they absorbed my energy.”

“So Gavin and Garth both possess the Nine-Tails’ energy” Shining understood. “And, according to HQ, the General of Chaos took the urn and the gourd from Prince Arcing Thunder’s First Unit. That was to have an insurance policy to revive Ten-Tails.”

“He really planned everything…” Blue commented.

“But since they’re just fragments of Eight-Tails and my energy, who knows what form the revived Ten-Tails will take” Kurama ended explaining.

“We must act now before the Ten-Tails is brought back to life” Shining said, charging his horn.

“Shining Armor, you should be more careful with overconfidence” the General of Chaos said. “Believe me, I know pretty well how it is to give a step longer than your legs.”

“And why don’t you tell us who you are so we can verify that statement?” Blue replied.

“That coming from the one who likes to hide his personal secrets from everyone else” the General replied.

Blue was affected by those words, but then Kurama said, giving a few steps:

“Shining Armor… like you said, if we’re going to take a move, now is our chance. The Lord of Order used to say that Ten-Tails’ full revival would signify the end of this world. And, having in count that the Lord of Chaos has many realms under his domain, the fall of the main realms of this reality, will be the end of the Lord of Order’s domain here.”

“So is Ten-Tails really that terrible?” Star asked to Kurama in their plane. “I got that he has ten tails, but how powerful is he anyway?”

“He’s the aggregation of all tailed beasts energy, from One-Tail until me” the fox answered. “He was the first threat to the Pony Reality, before the Lord of Chaos’ invasion. Like me, he also has many names in many places. He can drink oceans, split open the earth, hoist up montains… Simply putting it, he has all the power of the nine tailed beasts. Honestly, I couldn’t take him on all by myself and hope to win.”

That explanation really put the two unicorns who were listen really nervous, but then Kurama said:

“But, if he only has a piece of Eight-Tails and me, who have more energy over the nine, it may be worth the try.”

“You’re all mistaken” the General said. “I don’t need Ten-Tails to be revived to full capacity.”

Saying that, he caused discomfort to his enemies.

“My aim goal is the Eternal Nightmare Curse!” the General exclaimed. “I’ll put all the population of both Pony World and Enchanted Forest under the Lord of Order’s dominion under a single illusion, a single world that belongs only to the Lord of Chaos. One perfect world without war or ill feelings. Only within a single collective consciousness where individuality has been put aside can truth be found! The world no longer needs hope, a future or famous heroes involved in light. Even if incomplete, once Ten-Tails is revived, the Eternal Nightmare Curse can be achieve and reality will come to an end. And all that will exist will be a single unending dream that will last for all eternity!”

Hearing that, Star couldn’t hold it anymore and said to his tailed beast:

“Kurama, switch back!”

He did so and Star’s eyes returned to be glaucous and the marks on his cheeks disappeared. After doing so, he told to the General:

“Look, as jinchuriki, my life wasn’t as perfect as the others may think. The lack of trust the others had on me could have put me on a dark path. But I had my mother, my father, all the other Generals… Kids love to look up to their heroes, they are the light the illuminates their path. That’s why I can lend forward without hesitation. And I will become somepony that will help others find their way. That’s my dream and I won’t give up on it, did you understand?!”

There was a silent and then Blue said, with a smile:

“Even if you live a long life, your dreams will have to come to an end at some point.”

“Yeah, dreams must be fulfilled” Shining agreed.

“Dreams are the bridge that drive us to our future” Hawthorn said. “Even I have a dream to find the perfect doe that can understand and that beautiful…”

“Hey, although you have guts, Hawthorn, I don’t think it’s time to share that with everyone around” Gyuki told him.

Kurama couldn’t be more impressed with the words Star had just used. But they didn’t impressed the General of Chaos who continued to say:

“Individuality makes you lose sight of the truth. My words as just a humble servant of the true Lord are words guided by the truth of the world.”

Feeling his rage coming up, Star involved himself with Nine-Tails’ energy and advanced a full speed, while creating a Spiraling Sphere and taking off, preparing to hit the Demonic Statue. At that moment, the General of Chaos appeared in front of him, having taken flight as well, and used a magic shield to block the young prince’s attack. That caused a little explosion that forced Star to retreat.

“I guess getting off that helmet will have to come first” he said after landing.

The General also landed and told:

“You will not touch the statue!”

It was then that the Demonic Statue started to have its body changing, with spiky protrusions growing out of its back in a shape reminiscent of a conch shell. What appeared to be blood started to get out of its orbits.

Although he had failed the first try, Star wouldn’t give up that easily. He created a clone and then Blue said:

“Star, you know his abilities, right? Your window of opportunity is the instant he tries to teleport you. That’s when he’s solid. If you attack him normally, he’ll just pass right through it.”

“So it’s like aiming for a counterattack” Shining continued. “Diversionary tactics are a must. Create an opening through continuous close combat! Avoid using big moves!”

“Thanks, but I already know that” Star said. “That’s why I created a clone.”

And they started to advance.

“Lord Hawthorn, please, raise me up high” Blue asked to Hawthorn.

Meanwhile, Star was advancing, while he and his clone created with an energy arm a Spiraling Sphere with Tailed Beast Bomb energy. Shining also decided to help, charging his horn and making a light sword.

“Up you go!” Hawthorn exclaimed, while launching Blue up high.

The General of Chaos, seeing both Stars coming on his way trading places as fast as they could, tried to decided which one was the real one. The one that didn’t have the attack tried to attack him physically, but he passed through him, while the other prepared a new attack.

“This one?” the General asked, using his shield on the one that passed through him, only for him to disappear. “I guess not.”

He turned to the real one who launched an energy arm with the Spiraling Sphere. But the attack, like the other, passed through him. And then the General took flight and extended his hoof in order to touch Star. But when he was a few inches away, Shining appeared and used his light blade, trying to trespass his head. As the light blade passed through the head, the General’s hoof passed through Star’s head. Shining smile before that, as it was well timed.

After the General of Chaos passed through the Star completely, Shining engaged in a fight with the former. The General used a barrier to defend Shining’s attacks. In once, he allowed Shining to pass through to try to attack him, but the unicorn’s reflexes allowed him to keep attacking, forcing the dark alicorn to retreat. He then attacked Shining with a magical beam that the latter defended with a shield. After that, Shining advanced toward him to attack.

“I’ll deal…” the General of Chaos said, while Shining attacked him on the head, extending his hoof toward him. “…with you first.”

White the light sword approached the end of the head, the hoof approached him. When the light sword passed through him, the General prepared to attack Shining. He was about to touch him, when Shining made a quick move with the hooves to allow his light sword to pass though him again, the General passed through him completely. The General of Chaos casted a magical beam to Shining’s back, but the latter was able to defend it.

Star smiled before that move and took that opportunity to prepare to launch an energy arm with the Spiraling Sphere. Meanwhile, his father was in the middle of the air, while charging his horn. Star launched the energy arm with the Spiraling Sphere, while Blue prepared to execute the disappearance spell to take off the statue’s head. When he started to execute, the head started to be sucked to an invisible black hole.

Noticing what Blue was doing, the General dodged Star’s attack and charged his horn. At that moment, Blue’s spell just stopped, leaving the statue untouched, before the General of Balance’s shock.

“So naïve…” the General commented, while landed.

Blue landed on Hawthorn, while parting. He didn’t know what just happened. That spell should have worked…

Star’s energy arm followed the General of Chaos and an explosion happened. When the smoke cleared, the General had disappeared.

“He vanished?” Hawthorn asked.

The young alicorn prince focused, trying to sense the General of Chaos’ evil intensions. At that moment, the latter started to appear beneath Star, trying to catch him, what forced the jinchuriki to escape and start to dodge all the attacks that followed.

“Star!” Shining exclaimed, advancing to go help his nephew.

But there was a problem: the rocks that were in the air due to the statue’s roar were being a great obstacle to him, mainly when he didn’t have wings. Blue, in his turn, charged his horn with light nature and said:

“Lord Hawthor…”

“Got it” he replied.

The General of Chaos used his ability to pass through objectives to make Star remain at the defensive and, when the latter didn’t expect, he conjured an energy rope that he used to trap Star. After that, advanced to him.

But the Eight-Tails threw Blue who, with the help of the penetrating power of the light nature, started to break through the rocks in the way. Seeing that, Shining couldn’t help but be impressed with his brother-in-law for his ingenious move. Noticing he wouldn’t get there before the General touch his son, Blue throw a shot of light nature to the General of Chaos. That hit the head and started to pass through it, what caused him to start pass through Star. When the attack passed through him, the General of Chaos hold on his place, while Star retreat with a flap of wings. Realizing what the General would do, Blue exclaimed to his son:

“Star, keep going! I’ll take care of my attack.”

And the General of Chaos, using his magic, redirected Blue’s attack to Star, while the latter launched an energy arm. Using the disappearance spell, Blue caused his attack to vanish, while the General advanced and passed through the energy arm to get to Star. Passing through him, he landed on a rock, while Star and Blue landed on another.

“He’s really strong” Star said, while Shining teleported to there. “I can’t lend my attacks on him.”

“You’re all right?” Shining asked to Blue and Star.

“Yes, but not even that attack is good enough” Blue replied.

“What can we do, dad?” Star asked.

“I don’t know” Blue replied. “Do you have any idea, Shining?”

He nodded.

But, at that moment, the General of Chaos started to turn to them and a slight fissure appeared on his helmet at the place that covered the cheek. Everyone noticed that and became astonished by that. But that moment was interrupted by the rock where they were standing on falling, what forced them to jump to the ground.

“But what just happened?” Star asked.

The General of Chaos also landed.

“Did you all see that?” Blue asked.

“Yeah, there’s a crack on his helmet” Shining said.

“But how did that happened?” Star asked, while the energy that covered him disappeared.

“Could it be that the last attack hit him before he passed through?” Shining asked.

“No, I don’t think so” Shining replied. “To be honest, I don’t think Star’s attack landed.”

“So what could have happened?” Star asked.

Blue tried to remind what happened during that moment. By the look of the crack, it seemed to have been made by something sharp. It was then that he got it.

At that moment, however, the General of Chaos’ horn started to be charged with magic, as he noticed Hawthorn about to attack the Demonic Statue.

“Gotcha!” he exclaimed, while preparing to punch.

“Don’t underestimate!” the General of Chaos exclaimed. “Demonic Flame Barrier!”

And so, a cylindrical red barrier appeared, enveloping the statue. When Hawthorn punched it, his fisted started to burn with a fire of the same color as the barrier. That caused Hawthorn to get back while suffering from the pain caused by the flames.

“Are you okay, Lord Hawthorn? Gyuki?”

“Do I look okay?” Hawthorn replied, while waving his hand to put out to the fire.

“Now that he erected a barrier, we have no choice but to take down the General of Chaos” Shining said.

“That was my plan right from the beginning, uncle Shining” Star said.

Meanwhile, Blue was connecting the dots that would allow him to unveil the secret behind the General of Chaos ability. He remembered how his disappearance spell didn’t work, when he casted perfectly. That led him to conclude that was the General of Chaos’ doing. But how did he manage to do that. Then he remember the attack he made disappear and the crack on the General of Chaos’ helmet. That means… But he couldn’t just theorize. He needed to confirm it.

“Shining, Star, Lord Hawthorn, there’s something I want to test” he said. “Please, lend me a hoof.”

The General of Chaos noticed how they were planning something. He wondered what.

Blue, Shining and Star jumped to Hawthorn’s hand and the blue unicorn said:

“Let’s do it.”

“Right” Star replied, while Shining nodded.

And so Hawthorn threw them in the General of Chaos’ direction, with Star covering himself with the Nine-Tails’ energy. Blue and Star then got out of Shining’s way, who casted a beam against the rock that was in front of them that shattered in many pieces that went against the General. However, they just passed through him.

“Impressive destructive power…” he said.

Shining then advanced to attack him, but just passed through him, but then continued to attacks with the light sword, but he only passed through him. He then blocked an attack and then said:

“You underestimate me, captain. I can read every physical move is used against me. If you don’t mind, I’ll keep this…”

And his eye shone and started to absorb the magic of the light sword. That made Shining smile. Because nopony could handle two complicated spells at once, he would remain solid while making the light sword disappear. At that moment, Star appeared from behind Shining with a Spiraling Sphere.

“Don’t you see that is futile?” the General asked, while making the light sword disappear.

Star as about to hit him when the General ended making the spell disappear and then, with his hoof extended, started to pass through the Spiraling Sphere. When there wasn’t any part of his body passing through it, Blue used the disappearance spell to make the Spiraling Sphere disappear, what caused the General to pass through Star. After he did, an explosion happened on the General’s shoulder, what threw him violently against the ground.

“It worked like you said, dad” Star said, while he and Shining positioned themselves beside Blue. “I don’t know why, but I finally lend an attack.”

Lying on the ground, the General said:

“I see… It wasn’t Star who undid the Spiraling Sphere. It was you who used the Disappearance Spell to send it away, Prince Blue Sword…”

“Just like I suspected” Blue said. “I and the other Generals though that the spell you used to pass through objects and the one you used on Ulysses and Adagio at the summit were very different spells, but no. It derives from one single spell.”

While the General of Chaos started to get up, Shining asked:

“Are you sure it’s just one?”

“I used all the information Golden Paladin and Mirror Coat gathered and, using what could observe, it’s the only explanation” Blue said.

“Can you explain it to us quickly?” Shining asked, while Star made the Nine-Tails’ energy disappear. “Knowing how it works can make this fight a lot easier.”

“It’s very simple, actually” Blue replied. “I guess that’s the reason why we couldn’t find a solution. The spell that he uses to pull things in and the one he uses to pass through objects derived both from the disappearance spell.”

That caused some confusion to Star and Shining and the latter asked:

“What do you mean? How did you determined that?”

“Well, let me explain in order” Blue said. “First, that crack on his masks was caused by my earlier attack with light nature. There’s no doubt about it. And I can tell, from the look on his shoulder that was caused by Star’s Spiraling Sphere just now. What those things have in common is that they both involve areas of his body that were overlapping and in contact with Star’s body while he was slipping through it. Also, there’s one more thing that they have in common and that is the both of them were targeted by my disappearance spell. There’s a rule that says that nothing can’t just disappear, but transported to another place. And with all this I can conclude that he uses the space where things transported by the disappearance spell go.”

“But I can that be?” Shining asked. “How can a spell that allows him to pass through solid objects be connected to the disappearance spell?”

“I can ask the same question” Hawthorn replied, approaching. “The deer can only do elemental manipulation and sealing spells, but we even know that some like that is uncommon.”

“Yeah, dad, how can that be?” Star asked.

“Because the theory that he can slip through objects was wrong” Blue replied. “Although it looks like out attacks slip right through him, in fact, only the part of his body that wouldn’t be in contact with yours was transported to the space where everything that disappears go. In other words, the left side of his helmet that your attack slipped through was simply transported to there and no longer existed in this plane, at least materially. And then, almost simultaneously, I made that attack of mine disappear. Just as his momentum carried him forward, when he extended his hoof toward you, Star, to grab you, my attack finished entering the same space as him and scored his helmet.”

“Like how it happened with my Spiraling Sphere?” Star asked.

“Yes” Blue replied.

“So that’s what happened” Star said.

Blue turned to the General of Chaos and said:

“I can see that the Lord of Chaos gave you control over the Nothingness Realm. I have to say, it is very impressive.”

“Well, my master is very ingenious regarding how to use any capacity to his advantage” the General replied. “But I didn’t expect someone like you would realize how it worked. It’s clear that, like you underestimated me, I did the same with, Prince Blue Sword. But I have to say that I can’t wait to make this world appear just like the Nothingness Realm. After all, what can the current world has to give but a reality that keeps cruelly moving ahead? You already saw what the world craved by the Lord of Order’s balance has to give. It’s nothing but a world full of ungranted wishes. I and my master shall create a world where pathetic heroes try to their best to protect something that will eventually perish.”

That caused Star to advance and then said:

“Are you still saying the same thing? I told you I won’t quit and that’s something I will carry on. I have a lot of dreams to turn real and it’s not somepony like you that will stop me. I have been entrusted with way too much by way too many.”

“That’s my boy…” Blue said, while Shining smile, along with Hawthorn and Kurama.

But the General of Chaos scorned and then said:

“Entrusted… But, Star Knight, what if you were to lose everything it was entrusted to you? I wonder what everyone would think… If fail with the things you have been entrusted with, I wonder what you’ll think about yourself as well… If postpone dealing with problems and cover it with the word hope, all that awaits you is an empty reality, both the entrusted and the ones who did the entrusting. All in vain…”

Kurama was getting annoyed by all that talk. The memory of the Lord of Order’s words to Star Knight appeared in his mind and then he looked to Star, saying then:

“Star, switch with me. There’s something I want to say to him.”

Star wondered what could that be, so he smiled and give the control to Kurama who then said to the General:

“Sorry, but your words don’t apply to this colt.”

“That’s Nine-Tails…” Shining said.

“The Lord of Order entrusted him with me” Kurama continued. “Not only Star befriended me, but he’s completely mastered my power as well.”

That caused Star look at his tailed beast, surprised for hearing Kurama say something like that. But the fox just turned his look from him with a smile.

“The Lord of Order ordered me to be sealed inside Star as a force to take you down” Kurama continued, while he made Star get in his newest form a second time.

Star smiled, now completely convinced of Kurama’s friendship toward him.

“Now, go, Star Knight! You will not fail.”

And Star took to control back, while he got into the newest form completely, and said:

“Yeah!”

And he started to advance to face again the General of Chaos.

Ten-Tails' Revival

Author's Note

Don't forget to vote on my new poll about the spoilers of my future story in:

http://www.poll-maker.com/poll1854544x09EA4549-50

Ten-Tails' Revival

Star advanced fiercely against the General of Chaos who noticed that he had the same form has before when he turned into his Tailed Beast Form. The young alicorn created a big energy arm that he then used to crush the General of Chaos, but he just slipped through it.

“Blue, we need to go help Star” Shining said.

“Yes, I agree” Blue replied.

And he started to activate the power over the Nothingness Realm, releasing magic beams that went against Star, saying:

“Coming all by yourself? Well, then, take this.”

But then Hawthorn tried to use his tentacles to stop the attack, but they cut through one, opening their way to Star. But he then charged his horn and Kurama’s head appeared around him and stopped the attacks.

“You’re wrong!” Star exclaimed. “I’m not by myself. Don’t forget Kurama, plus Lord Hawthor, Eight-Tails, my father and my uncle.”

Listening that, Blue filled himself with pride for having a son like him.

“Let’s go, Shining” Blue said, while Kurama’s head dissipated.

“You got it, Blue” Shining replied.

And they started to advance to go help Star. Blue had to be very careful when using the disappearance spell as it was a spell that required a lot of energy and, as he didn’t recovered his full powers yet, could only use it only a few more times.

“I do not fear a borrowed power that can’t even string together a barrage” the General of Chaos replied. “The true power of the disappearance… Now watch and learn!”

The General of Chaos took flight, going as high as possible. For him, them knowing how his ability worked changed nothing. And he started to push out something from the Nothingness Realm.

“If he materializes when he pulls things in, then he has to do it when he spits things out” Hawthorn said, while going to attack. “This is our chance!”

“If you be able to lend strike, that is” the General replied, while throwing out a lot of black rods, like the ones used on the reincarnated jinchuriki. One of pinned on one of Gyuki’s tentacles and created the same type of chains the General used before.

“What is this?!” Gyuki exclaimed.

And more fell on more tentacles and even in more parts of his body.

“Star, this things have the power to restrain tailed beasts!” Hawthorn warned. “So, whatever you do, don’t let them touch you!”

“Lord Hawthorn, could you shield for just a moment?” Star asked.

And then he created a clone and the two dodge one big rod that was coming to them. One of the Stars went to under one of Hawthorn’s hands who said:

“Don’t worry, I’ll be like an umbrella.”

The one who continued to advance created a Spiraling Sphere, while the other started to create a Tailed Beast Bomb. The one with the Spiraling Sphere took flight in direction of the General of Chaos, while noticing his father and uncle beneath, with the former preparing to use the disappearance spell. He then started to make the sphere disappear.

Seeing that, the General knew the only thing he had to do, if it was like last time, was not having Star passing through him. He then was able to hit Star with a rod, but he disappeared.

“What… a clone?!” the General asked.

Due to the sudden loss of energy in the use of the disappearance spell, Blue tripped and fell.

“Blue!” Shining called, going to his help.

“It seems my attack was quicker than yours, Prince Blue Sword” the General of Chaos bragged. “You missed making the Spiraling Sphere disappeared and waster your energy in an unsuccessful disappearing spell again.”

“Not yet!” the real Star exclaimed, involved by the image of Kurama’s head, while ending the attack. “Tailed Beast Bomb!”

And he shot it against the General of Chaos who said, while the attack passed through him:

“A bit too late. How futile.”

While the Tailed Beast Bomb caused its shock wave, his all body was transported to the Nothingness Realm. However, when he barely landed there, he turned and for his shock, he saw the clone that disappeared ready to attack him with the Spiraling Sphere.

“You’re…” he said.

“Star Knight!” the clone exclaimed, coming closer.

The General of Chaos couldn’t move, as he now realized that the disappearing spell Blue used wasn’t to teleport the Spiraling Sphere, but the clone itself.

“Who… are you?!” the young alicorn shouted, as he hit the General on the helmet, breaking it.

And the clone disappeared once his task was completed, while the General of Chaos reappeared, now with his face revealed. While that didn’t meant anything to Star and Shining, Blue recognized him.

“No… it can’t be…” Blue said.

“You know him, Blue?” Shining asked.

“Who is he, dad?” Star asked.

“He’s… Hepheus” Blue replied, still shocked by the discovery. “But… it can’t be…”

“You can call me by that name, if that’s want you want” Hepheus said. “But that doesn’t mean anything to me. The only thing that matters is my title. I’m the General of Chaos!”

“But who’s Hepheus?” Shining asked. “I don’t know that name.”

“He used to be a villain that latter betrayed the Lord of Chaos and returned the fire to ponies when it was stolen by the Lord of Chaos” Blue told. “He was hailed as a hero… until the day the Lord of Chaos captured him… Everyone thought he was dead…”

“Yes, and I would be dead, but the Lord of Chaos preferred to tortured me for centuries” Hepheus said. “And he would continue for all eternity, until the day he decided to give me another chance and helped me see the truth.”

“The truth?” Blue asked. “It seems to me that he gave you a brainwash.”

“No…” Hepheus replied. “I was brainwashed by that mare to disobey my true lord. I was such a foul for listen Celestia’s sweet words…”

“Celestia?” Star repeated. “You mean Princess Celestia? But what does she has to do with this?”

“She was the one the reason why Hepheus became a hero” Blue told. “Your mother told me that they had a love story… Who could have imagined that the General of Chaos could be a hailed hero Hepheus…”

“And I would be it again when I destroy this absurd reality” Hepheus said. “This word is condemn to disappear… and I will be the one to execute the sentence.”

“No, I won’t let that happen!” Star exclaimed. “I don’t care if you were once a hero of the Order. I will protect this word, even if for that I have to stop you!”

“I want to see you trying to stop me” Hepheus replied.

And he launched a torrent of fire from his horn against Shining and Blue, but Star put himself in the way and convoked Kurama’s nine tails whose waving put out the flames.

“Nine-Tails’ tails…” Hepheus said, smiling then. “Well, it’s a good thing that I called for back-up.”

And darkness appear beside him and Grogar appeared from there. Seeing his corrupted grandfather, Shining’s stomach made a twist.

“Grandfather…” Shining said.

“Looks like you’re having fun over here” Grogar commented. “It’s not like to ask for help like this.”

“What can I say?” Hepheus replied. “They discovered my secret.”

“Well, that’s too bad for you” Grogar said. “Let me guess, you played with your food instead of eating it? You should have taken them down and capture the jinchuriki.”

Hearing that, Star rage come up and asked:

“How can you say that about your family?”

“Star…” Blue said.

“You… know about that?” Shining asked. “Since when?”

“Since the Lord of Order helped me in rebuilding the seal at the time of Light Kingdom invasion” Star replied. “He was the one who told me.”

“He told you what?” Gyuki asked.

“That Grogar is nothing more than my great-grandfather Star Shield” Star replied.

“Oh, so you know about that” Grogar said. “Well, it doesn’t matter… After all, this world is going to end. But by all means, dear great-grandson, show us what you can do.”

“As you wish” Star replied.

And he used the tails to take off the rods that were pinning Gyuki and then threw them against Hepheus and Grogar. But, using the magic on his bell, Grogar deflected the rods.

“I can finally move!” Gyuki exclaimed. “Thanks, Star. Now it’s my turn!”

Noticing the Demonic Statue behind the barrier Hepheus created, Grogar asked:

“Don’t you think it’s a little too earlier? After all, we don’t even have the Eight-Tails and the Nine-Tails. In my opinion, you were too hasty, Hepheus. But then again, you’re the General of Chaos. You must have something in mind.”

“I’ll take the Eight and Nine-Tails” the General of Chaos declared. “You take care of the General of Balance and you’re dear grandson.”

“Very well…” Grogar said. “I guess I can do that.”

“I’ll give you the power over the Nothingness Realm” Hepheus said. “You’ll need it more than me. I can deal with the jinchuriki.”

And he channeled his magic to his horn and released a sphere of magic that went to Grogar, who took it and then absorbed it. After that, Hepheus took flight.

“Don’t even think about it!” Blue exclaimed, following him.

That left Shining facing Grogar.

“Grandfather, I know that the Lord of Chaos corrupted you against your will, but I can’t believe you’re willing to harm your own blood” the white unicorn said.

Grogar chuckled and then said:

“Oh, dear grandson… You’re so naïve. It doesn’t matter to me who gets in the way, as long that any obstacle to the Lord of Chaos is… eliminated.”

Shining couldn’t believe that he was hearing those words coming from the one that, even not knowing from birth, he looked up to.

At the other side, Hepheus launched an attack that caused a lot of dust to be risen on. When the smoke cleared and Star appeared and, looking to the General of Chaos who was hoovering on the air with a smirk, told him:

“I won’t let that happen! After all, I’m Princess Twilight’s son! There’s no way I’m going to fall for your talk!”

Hepheus landed and then said:

“I see… I was going easy on you because you’re the jinchuriki. I even gave my special ability to Grogar so our fight could be more even. But if you keep being stuborn, then I don’t have another choice but using this.”

And he made an orb of wild energy.

“That’s…” Star started.

“It’s wild energy” Kurama told him. “Be careful, Star! With that, he will be able to use wood nature, like Tirek.”

Hepheus absorbed the wild energy and then he was involved by that same energy and then exclaimed:

“Wood Dragon Spell!”

And a wooden dragon appeared from the ground and advanced against Star.

A little behind were Hawthorn and Blue, who were over the former’s head, having been thrown back by Hepheu’s last attack.

“That Hepheus is really strong…” Hawthorn said.

“Yeah, and I have a feeling that we haven’t seen everything” Blue said, still suffering from the attack.

“Even if you’re a former hero, I will not hold back, because I can’t let nothing happen to this world” Star said, while getting into the Tailed Beast Mode and advancing, along with Hepheus.

Kurama get in contact with the wooden dragon, biting it, but the dragon soon started to involve him. Meanwhile, Grogar and Shining engaged into a fighting, starting with a physical confront.

“Please, grandpa, don’t do this” Shining begged. “You’re a hero to me, to everyone who ever knew you.”

“I have nothing to say to you” Grogar replied. “Your grandfather Star Shield no longer exists. He died at that changeling nest. Now there’s only Grogar, whose only purpose is to serve the Lord of Chaos!”

And, having said, he threw blades that were at the Nothingness Realm against Shining, but he was able to conjure a barrier that allowed him to defend those attacks. But Grogar advanced and was able to pass through the barrier and then hit Shining with his horns on his hind leg and then on his stomach to hold him.

“Now, let’s put you out of the way” Grogar said.

And his eyes shone, as he started to pull Shining in, teleporting him to the Nothingness Realm. While rising up, he felt the pain on his hind leg, while his blood dropped on the floor. He was still getting used to the idea of having his grandfather as an enemy. Of course he had already faced him during Star’s eleventh birthday and when his nephew lost control over Nine-Tails’ energy. But that was the first time he faced him since he found out that Grogar was Star Shield, his grandfather.

But he needed to hold on and fight for all the ones he loved. The problem was how to get out. That was the place where everything that disappeared went, so, if anything that disappeared there, he could assume that the same thing happened the other way around. Then, he decided to risk and casted the disappearance spell on himself. Although it was a spell he wasn’t used to, Shining was able to do it and disappeared.

Star tried to get released from the wooden dragon, but he couldn’t.

“Come on!” he exclaimed, no completely immobilized.

Trees started to grow on the dragon, while Kurama’s avatar started to dissipate.

“That wooden dragon is absorbing Nine-Tails’ energy!” Blue exclaimed.

But they didn’t have time to think about a way to help him, as a part of the dragon came out from the ground and started to involved them as well.

Shining reappeared before Grogar, although that exhausted him a lot.

“I can see that you made it out” the ram observed. “Very impressive. I can see that it’s not your sister that is talented with magic.”

“Please, grandpa, it doesn’t have to be this way” Shining said.

But Grogar advanced toward him again. Shining tried to dodge, but his wound prevented him from doing it. He was it by Grogar and thrown back and then the ram use the tip of one his horns to cause a scratch on Shining chest that caused the latter to go to his knees.

“I never thought you would be so stubborn” Grogar said. “You should have stayed in the Nothingness Realm. Now you’re forcing me to kill you.”

“You… tried to protect me, didn’t you?” Shining asked. “You casted me to that empty realm because you didn’t want to harm me.”

Those words made Grogar to stop and then Shining continued:

“You can say what you want, but I know that my grandfather is still there. Just like you wanted to save me, you also helped Gleaming when she was hit by Star at that bridge. But I will continue to fight and help you become what you were before.”

There was a pause and then Grogar started to laugh and then he said:

“You are right about one thing. There’s still one part of me that is that fool that used to serve the Order. And that’s one part that feels sympathy for you. But don’t get full of hoped, because my heart is still with the Lord of Chaos.”

Star could see that his uncle was in trouble. If only he could go help him…

“I… can’t… move” Gyuki said, while involved by the wood.

Hepheus landed in front of Gyuki and then told to Star:

“They are a distraction for you too, right? This world is just about to end. In order to enjoy the little time we have left, we need to clear of this battlefield a bit first.”

And he was involved by darkness that took the form a figure, much like the Warrior of Dark Light and prepared to lend a blow with a dark blade on Gyuki and Blue, while Grogar prepared to attack Shining again.

But Star couldn’t help but say:

“You guys annoy me so much… I can’t even think straight. So, instead, let me teach you something about me.”

And then Kurama’s avatar disappeared, while Star created a clone that the two of them went to stop both attacks with energy arms.

“I’ll never give up!” one exclaimed.

“And I’ll never let you get your way either!” the other added.

“I will..

“…stop you!”

“I’ll never let my comrades die!” both clones declared. “No matter what happens!”

That caused a smile appear on Blue’s face and gave Shining the will he needed to fight. And so he raised up with a more confident look.

The figure of darkness created by Hepheus created another blade, while Grogar advanced to attack Star. But then a great blast was casted by Blue to block Hepheus, while Shining went against Grogar with a light blade.

“Grandpa, you may not accept what you once were, but that doesn’t mean your will doesn’t exist anymore” Shining said. “It was passed to your sons, to your grandchildren and also to your great-grandchildren. The great example is the one next to me. And the only thing I can do now, it’s to protect Star.”

There was a big pause and then Grogar said:

“You will protect Star?”

There was a little tremor and then Shining fell on his knees. Blue was also very exhausted from doing that blast.

“I have to say that these guys are really tuff” Hawthorn commented. “I can that stubbornness is something that runs in Star’s family.”

Having said that, Hawthorn started to released himself, being able to break the wood, while roaring.

“Lord Hawthorn!” the Star that was there exclaimed.

That caused Blue to be jumped off his head, but Hawthorn was able to catch him.

“Careful, Star!” Gyuki exclaimed. “The enemy can use the same spells that the General of Nature uses that are capable of immobilize tailed beasts and bind their power.”

“I see…” he replied.

Grogar turned to Shining and told him:

“I have to say that you light blade is very impressive. However, I have much more tricks than you.”

And Star, presuming he wouldn’t do anything good, advanced to stop him. Grogar, however, played the bell and the waves were able to paralyze him, while the ram advanced to attack Shining. But the young alicorn was able to release himself and give a headbutt to Grogar, throwing him back. But the ram was able to stand and then retreat a little.

At that moment, a crack appeared on the barrier that protected the Demonic Barrier. Noticing that, Gyuki told to the Star that was with him:

“Looks like we’ll have to start worrying about Ten-Tails. We’ll have to break that barrier and deal with him as quick as possible.”

“You know, I can see it clearly now” Star said to his great-grandfather. “All the pain that your face shows.”

“You should keep that line to the ones who are feeling pain, like the one next to you” Grogar replied.

Star looked worried to his uncle. He could see that he was exhausting. What could he do?

“Star, switch places with me” Kurama said, while holding his head. “Let me handle this.”

Although he didn’t know how the fox would do that.

“But…”

“Don’t argue! Just switch.”

And he did so, making Kurama take over, while Grogar started to advance again.

“Hey, Shining Armor, you brat, give me your hoof.”

“You’re…” Shining started.

“Look, just extend your hoof” Kurama replied.

When Grogar was too close, Shining extended his hoof to Kurama who then used Star’s to grab it and then he threw Shining against Grogar, but not before the white unicorn feeling something coming from the fox. Reacting when he saw his grandson coming against him, Grogar used the power over the Nothingness Realm to absorb Shining. Seeing what happened, Star exclaimed to Kurama:

“Kurama, what the hell did you just do?!”

“Now, you don’t have distractions” the fox replied. “I’m leaving the rest to you, Star.”

And Star had the control again. Grogar then advanced once again and Star reacted by making an energy fist and prepared to used it against the ram who started to pass through it. But while he did that, Grogar felt a pain on the stomach. The fact was that Shining had punched Grogar stomach when it appeared on the Nothingness Realm.

“Now that we know how this ability works, I can counter it” Shining said. “Here’s another!”

And he gave another punch that made Grogar kneel, making himself appear on the Nothingness Realm.

“Yeah, now that’s a face that feels pain” Shining said.

And then he punched him on the face, what threw him out, as Grogar get out of the energy arm, with blood coming out of his mouth.

“What’s going on?” Star asked, as he didn’t understand how Grogar was being hit.

“Shining Armor did that over there” Kurama replied. “You see, the difference between you and me is that I can give and take energy voluntarily. I’ll show you the trick to do it later.”

“When did you pass it to him?” Star asked.

“When I grabbed your uncle’s hoof and threw him” Kurama replied.

“So then…”

“Yes, whenever he wants, he can use the disappearance spell to come out.”

Like the fox said, Shining reappeared again.

“Uncle Shining!” Star exclaimed.

A paused and then the white unicorn said to his nephew:

“Thank the Nine-Tails for me.”

“Sure” Star replied with a smile.

The crack on the barrier continued to grow and the Star with Gyuki and Hawthorn turned into the Tailed Beast Mode and started to create a Tailed Beast Bomb, along with Gyuki, what caught Grogar’s attention. The Tailed Beast Bombs combined creating a supercharged one.

“Let’s blew up that thing into pieces before he revives!” Gyuki exclaimed. “Put in it all you have!”

“Yes!” Star exclaimed, while the. “Gyuki, it’s ready to go!”

“All right, fire!” Gyuki exclaimed.

“This is it!” Star exclaimed. “This ends now!”

And they fired it, what hit the barrier. It was then that it broke the barrier and advanced a great distance before exploding and ravaging everything around it. A great smokescreen appeared at the place where the Demonic Statue was. Everyone looked, waiting to see what happened to it.

“The statue’s energy…” the Star with Shining said.

“It’s gone…” the other completed.

“Yes!” Gyuki exclaimed.

“We did it!” Hawthorn congratulated.

“All right!” the Star with Shining exclaimed, full of joy.

“It’s over?” Shining asked.

“Yeah…” Grogar replied. “This world is over.”

Hepheus was sitting on a rock casually and then said:

“Very well, then… Shall we get started?”

And, when the smoke cleared and the light of the red moon illuminated everything, Ten-Tails appeared. He was brown in color and titanic in size with a single red eye, which took up most of his head, and spiky protrusions growing out of his back in a shape reminiscent of a conch shell. The Ten-Tails possessed a grotesque bulb-like body with long arms and clawed hands, but no visible hind legs, as well as a wide mouth with multiple rows of pointed teeth and a single spike on his chin. Dark veins similar to those of a plant ran along his body, and the endings of his tails resembled leaf buds.

As he was resurrected, the tailed beast roared with a great intensity.

The Alliance Assemble

The appearance of Ten-Tails was a shock to everyone. Star said:

“Wow, is that thing…”

“That’s…” Shining started.

“There’s no mistake” Gyuki said, while holding Blue who was still recovering from the last attack.

Hepheus rose up and took flight, while Grogar disappeared in darkness. While the others tried to resist to the shockwave of the great tailed beast appearance.

Observing Ten-Tails through his place, Kurama said:

“Yeah, that’s him… Ten-Tails.”

Ten-Tails launched a great roar. And then Hepheus landed over his head, while Grogar appeared by his side. Meanwhile, Gyuki and Kurama’s avatar positioned themselves behind Star and Shining.

“But I thought the statue’s evil energy disappeared!” Star exclaimed.

“They got us” Shining said.

“He doesn’t have any kind of emotions or feelings” Kurama explained to Star in their plane. “He can’t be sensed. He’s wild energy itself what is the same as natural energy, the one that circulates around the soil, water and air. But it would be a different story if you tried to engage him in Sage Mode. Although…”

But Star didn’t hear the last part, saying:

“All right, I got you. If you say that he’s only natural energy, then I can check it out by using this.”

And, while turning into his normal self, the Star with Shining put himself in position to accumulate natural energy.

“Forget it, Star” Kurama said. “If you tried to do that…”

And Star entered in Sage Mode, but, when he did, he just felt an enormous presence of natural energy gathered so big that could easily swallow all the world.

“…all you’ll see is how immeasurable he is” Kurama completed.

Making a brave, although fragile smile, Star said:

“You were not kidding…”

Two appendices got out from Ten-Tails head and connected themselves with the villains’ necks and then the General said:

“The master’s plan was to capture those two before Ten-Tails was fully revived, but… this is surprisingly good.”

“Should we start with the Eternal Nightmare Curse ritual now?” Grogar asked.

“That curse requires time to summon the moon” Hepheus replied. “They will interfere with the curse. It will go more smoothly if we use the statue’s power to get rid of them first. Don’t you agree?”

“Hepheus, you just want to test the Ten-Tails’ power first, don’t you?” Grogar asked. “That’s why you… But he’s just like a child.”

“No, you’re wrong” Hepheus replied. “Children are impatient touchy fools. Nothing more.”

The Ten-Tails started to advance with his front limbs making strong steps, whose shock waves started to head against the enemies.

“Hey, here comes a big one!” Gyuki exclaimed, turning to Kurama. “Do you really think we can do this?”

“Don’t think you can hide behind your tentacles because you’re scarred!” he replied him, turning to him through his avatar. “But, first, hand me Blue Sword over here. I’ll heal him later. And Shining Armor and Star too.”

“Yeah” Star said, taking his uncle and taking off.

“Heads up” Gyuki, as he threw Blue to Kurama.

He caught them through the mouth and, once they were inside, their wounds started to be healed, while they recovered energy. But then the shockwave arrived and the two tailed beasts made their best to hold it. While that happened, Kurama said to everyone:

“Listen up, first, we keep our distance and see what move he makes. Then, we’ll counter the attack and hit him with a big blow as close as we can get, like I said earlier.”

“Nine-Tails, you’re acting like a captain” Shining observed.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Kurama asked him.

“Nope, actually, I feel kind of happy” Shining replied, while Blue nodded.

That caused Star to smile and then Kurama said:

“Save that line for when we won. Let’s go!”

And he and Gyuki started to retreat fast. It was then that Star, who was still in Sage Mode felt something and one of Ten-Tails’ hand appeared, ready to attack and grab the two tailed beast, but Kurama and Gyuki were able to dodge it, while the much bigger tailed beast with ten tails appeared from the smoke roaring. Kurama and Gyuki landed, although hardly, with Star noticing Ten-Tails’ speed. That would cause them some trouble in reading his moves.

After his attack, Ten-Tails roared and then continued to advance. Kurama so advanced and jumped, ready to attack him, but Ten-Tails, with just a blow of one of his hands, threw him away.

“Do it now, Eight-Tails!” Hawthorn exclaimed.

Ten-Tails then turned to Gyuki, who started to make a Tailed Beast Bomb. He also noticed that Kurama was also preparing a Tailed Beast Bomb in midair.

“Tailed Beast Bomb Barage!” Kurama and Gyuki exclaimed at same time.

And they both shot multiple shots against Ten-Tails.

“There is no real need to dodge them” Hepheus said to Grogar.

“It is for the best if we preserved Ten-Tails’ power as much as we can” the ram replied.

And then Ten-Tails retracted his face, before putting it out and opening his mouth and charging a new attack.

“This is…” Gyuki started.

“Not good” Kurama said, while landing.

And so Ten-Tails launched a Tailed Beast Bomb of his own in the form of a powerful red beam that neutralized the successive attacks from his two adversaries. Before that, both Kurama and Gyuki involved themselves with their tails as a way of defense.

“It’s all on you now!” both Hawthorn and Gyuki exclaimed.

When the attack finished and the smoke cleared, it was revealed that on Gyuki’s place was just the tip of a tentacle.

“Persistent” Hepheus commented. “I’ll give them that.”

Inside Kurama’s avatar, who have lost the tips of some of its tails, Blue asked to the Star that was in Tailed Beast Mode:

“Listen, Star, don’t tell me…”

But Star just extended his hoof and replied:

“Dad, don’t worry.”

Kurama looked up and commented:

“Nice control, Star. You got them nice and close.”

Star and Shining were up high, over Ten-Tails, Hepheus and Grogar, with the latter realizing they had focused too much on Ten-Tails.

“I’m sorry for the delay, but here we go” Shining said.

And he casted the disappearance spell and something started to get out of the Nothingness Realm.

“Yeah!” Blue exclaimed satisfied.

“To our enemies, it may appear that we left one octopus leg behind, but…” Star started.

“Lord Hawthorn! Eight-Tails!” Shining exclaimed.

“It’s time for our sneak attack!” Hawthorn said.

And Gyuki reappeared, with a Tailed Beast Bomb being prepared, and exclaimed:

“I’m smashing this right into his eyeball!”

And he fired it against Ten-Tails’ eye, with the others hopping that worked. But when the attack was almost hitting, Ten-Tails just flicked it, like it was nothing, redirecting, to everyone’s shock, to Gyuki, what hit him and threw him away.

“There are to flies flying over us as well” Hepheus said, referring to Star and Shining.

Star, using the Sage Mode, was able to sense an attack coming and then he threw his uncle out of the way, while one of Ten-Tails’ tails waved against him. Noticing that, Grogar couldn’t notice how his great-grandson was like him in the way he put Shining out of danger like he did with his comrades when he was captured by changelings.

The young alicorn was hit by the tail, while the Tailed Beast Bomb that hit Eight-Tails exploded. But then the Star that was hit disappeared.

“Just another clone…” Hepheus sighed. “How predictable…”

Kurama then run in Shining’s direction and grabbed him before he hit the ground, retreating after that. Gyuki fell on the ground, being then pulled back a great distance, but Kurama came to his rescue and stopped him. After that, the avatar dissolved and Star, Shining and Blue landed on the floor.

At his plane, Kurama sighed and Star asked him:

“Kurama, how can you fell apart at a time like this?!”

“That was eight minutes” Kurama said. “It’s longer than before, but that’s the limit.”

He joined his fist and then continued:

“I have to infuse and build up my energy.”

Before that, Star said:

“Then I guess we don’t have a choice.”

After that collision, Hawthorn returned to his deer form and said, while collecting Gyuki’s tentacles:

“That hurt…”

“Hawthorn, I need to rest too…” Gyuki told him. “I’m also in my limit.”

Blue, parting, sit and said:

“I still didn’t recovered my energy yet…”

Shining was exhausted as well, as pulling something as massive as Gyuki in and out made him use a large quantity of energy.

Observing them, Grogar commented:

“Looks like the Eight and Nine-Tails run out of energy for now.”

Star then turned to his enemies and prepared to cast a spell.

“If you think in using your favorite multiplication spell, just get to know that increasing the number of losers won’t…” Hepheus started.

“I’m not a loser!” Star replied.

“No, Star” Blue said, while being helped by Shining to get up. “Don’t do that.”

“Your father is right” Shining seconded. “Creating more clones will only spread your energy even more. They may be useful as diversions, but not for decisive hits. And, if you go down, we’ll lose this war.”

“You’re really pathetic” Hepheus said to Star.

“Increasing the number of heads won’t help when all of them are just like the original one” Grogar added. “Don’t you see, Star, everyone is susceptible to the Lord of Chaos’ darkness. You and everyone else can end just like us.”

“There’s no way I will end up like you!” Star replied. “How many times do I have to say it?! My greatest dream is to become someone that will illuminate the path of others! There’s no way I will let that monster you call master to contaminate my heart with his disgusting darkness!”

“You don’t have to worry” Grogar replied. “Everything will go as planned. No magic is more powerful than the Eternal Nightmare Curse. I’ll make that dream of yours come true in this curse. So just disappear along with the rest of the world!”

And Ten-Tails launched a new Tailed Beast Bomb in form of beam against Star, Shining, Blue and Hawthorn. But when it looked that the attack would hit them, it just change its direction, going hitting and destroy some hills nearby, creating a big explosion.

Grogar couldn’t believe that he just send Ten-Tails to miss them, only to realize that his actions were caused by an external force that then disappeared. He recognized that as a telepathic spell used to control his actions.

“What the…” Blue started.

“He missed… deliberately?” Shining asked.

A sound behind them made Shining say with a smile:

“About time.”

Twilight, Luna, Silverweed and Thunder Night appeared beside them, with the former saying:

“Sorry for the delay.”

“But each one of us had other things to do before heading to here” Luna replied.

“I can’t believe he was able to get loose of my spell so easily” Silverweed said. “It only took two seconds.”

“At least, it was enough to save them all” Thunder Night replied. “Because of that, good work.”

“Star, Blue, Shining, are you both okay?” Twilight asked, worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine, mom” Star replied.

“He may be okay, but we need some recovery” Blue replied, referring to himself and Shining.

“I agree” the latter approved.

Applejack and Big McIntosh both appeared and the former said:

“Well, good think you have us here to help you while you recover.”

“Eeyup” Big Mac said.

At that moment, more and more elements of the Alliance appeared. Some unicorns from the Maretonia guard used a spell to disrupt sensing abilities, while guards of Evermist used the Mist Conjuration Spell. Together, they created a great mist that covered all the area. Cloud Chase, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts arrived as well.

“Wonderbolts arrive to battle!” Spitfire exclaimed.

“Oh yeah!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “It’s time to kick some ass!”

“Rainbow, don’t forget we have to be careful with this enemy” Soarin said.

“Well, let be honest, she wouldn’t be the Rainbow Dash we know if she did that” Cloud Chase replied.

Some deer appear beside Hawthorn and one said:

“Lord Hawthorn, we’re glad that you’re okay, despite everything.”

Spike, his brothers and Ember also landed, with the former saying:

“With the dragons here, you can be sure we’re close to victory.”

“I can second that” Ember agreed.

Dark Knight and Armored Oath appeared beside Shining and Blue.

“Were here, sirs” Armored Oath said.

“You two sure look awful” Dark Knight commented.

“It’s nothing that I can’t fix” Twilight said, starting to make a healing spell on both Shining and Blue.

At HQ, the arrival of the Alliance’s forces at the front line made the sensing bubble to become all distorted.

“The sensing bubble is not assuming its original shape” White Light observed. “Diamond Glow, Boreal Blizzard, confirmed the situation!”

“Roger” Diamond Glow said.

“Okay” Boreal Blizzard replied.

As more and more soldiers appeared, Arcing appeared with his unit saying:

“First Unit arrived to the scene.”

“So did the Second Unit” Obsidian Blade said, appearing with his daughter by his side.

“Third Unit has arrived” Thunder Night said, noticing all the other members of his unit appearing as well.

“Fourth Unit has arrived” Lightning Bolt said, while landing with the rest of the unit arriving.

“Fifth Unit has arrived as well” Gael replied, landing with Godot, with all the others appearing too.

“Medical Unit is here too” a medical unicorn replied, while she and the others helped the ones that were wounded.

“Sensor Unit arrived too” Silverweed said, with his companions behind.

“The Commando Unit is also here” Shadow Claw said, besides Ivory.

Watching the mist, Hepheus asked:

“You call that hiding?”

And Ten-Tails swung a tail and the mist was dispersed.

But then a strong wind caused by Godot and other griffons caused the mist to disappear, revealing all the forces of the Alliance. Star, who was in front of all of them, said to Grogar and Hepheus:

“You see, we’re not pathetic anymore. We brought something with us. It’s called the Alliance’s magic that is the most powerful magic over them all! It’s the think that will overcome your Eternal Nightmare Curse! Remember that!”

“The Alliance’s magic?” Hepheus asked with a devious smile. “Don’t you think that’s stretching a little bit?”

“We’re going to stop both of you with this magic” Star said.

“You’re wrong” Grogar replied. “Why don’t you realize that is meaningless for you to stop us?”

“This magic of yours will come into dust at the end of the war” Hepheus guaranteed. “Then someone from your side will attempt to do exactly what we’re doing now, because the Lord of Chaos won’t stop until the Project Eye of the Moon has come to reality. There is no victory, no matter how you struggle.”

“That’s right” Grogar said. “Hope doesn’t exist in this world!”

There was a pause, where Star tried to know what to say. But then he replied:

“So what? I don’t care. I’ll make sure there’s hope!”

Another pause and then Hepheus sighed and said:

“It appears that it’s meaningless to argue whether there is or isn’t something during a war. How about we settle this thing?”

“When there’s a different of opinion, isn’t the usual way majority rule?” Star said.

“That’s a good idea” Grogar agreed. “We’ll call it after we’ve erased all of you.”

“I knew you two would say that” Star replied.

“Well, after all we want different things for this world” Hepheus said.

“Yeah, you’re right” Star agreed. “Because of our ideologies… But one think I’m sure. This world…”

“This world…” Hepheus said.

“Will not end!” Star exclaimed.

“Will end!” Hepheus exclaimed.

And so all the warriors of the Alliance advanced and scattered in order to begin the one that would be the final battle. At that moment, Star felt White Light trying to communicate with him through Diamond Glow:

“Thanks for buying us some time, Prince Star Knight” he said.

“Was it enough time to come up with a strategy?” Star asked.

“Thanks to you, I was able to rely it to everyone” White Light replied.

“With Princess Twilight’s help, Prince Blue Sword told us the General of Chaos is Hepheus, the great hero who defied the Lord of Chaos in the past” Diamond Glow said. “But there’s no time to be shocked. For this fight, we need to take and maintain the upper hoof and not give them any opportunity to counter.”

“Our intel shows us that our enemy possesses a great power” White Light replied. “So, first, we’ll shut down their field of vision.”

“Deer of Thicket!” Diamond Glow exclaimed to them.

And the deer used light nature to create and intense light that started to blind Hepheus, Grogar and Ten-Tails. Then Arcing took that moment to use his gale nature.

“Laser Circus Spell!” he exclaimed, while launching the beams, along with the ones who also had that nature.

While Ten-Tails tried to endure, Hepheus used his magic shield to defend himself, while Grogar passed through the beams.

“I see…” Hepheus said. “They want to blind the Ten-Tails.”

“King Godot, now!” Day Glow exclaimed.

And the griffon king of the Enchanted Forest and his griffons created a great powerful wind against Ten-Tails.

Observing that, Grogar and Hepheus noticed they planned to cut their sense of vision and prevent them from sensing them at all, while at the same time blinding Ten-Tails and taking advantage of that to attack.

“They made us impossible to sense them” Hepheus said.

“Well, we just have to wipe them all out with a Ten-Tails’ attack” Grogar replied.

“Ponies of Stonult, proceed now!” Diamond Glow exclaimed.

“Yes, we’re on it” Obsidian Blade replied, while he and others of his guards prepared to execute their spells.

And, together, they all made the ground under Ten-Tails to sink. The tailed beast tried to stop that, but to not avail. After that, the ones that used lava nature, including Quartz Blitz, used the Quicklime Spell, what caused quicklime to fell over Ten-Tails who roar after being hit.

“Ponies of Evermist, you’re up now!” Diamond Glow exclaimed.

And they started to use water nature to fill the pit and to turn the quicklime around Ten-Tails into cement.

“Dragons, it’s your time to end this!” Diamond Glow said.

“Let’s do this, guys!” Spike said to the other dragons.

And they took flight until they made their way over Ten-Tails and they casted their fire, what caused the cement to endure and the tailed beast to become completely immobile.

“Unbelievable…” Hepheus said. “Who would have thought that they all could work so well.”

“With all that done, now we have the chance to go after Hepheus and Grogar” White Light said, while Star, in Sage Mode, and a clone created a Spiraling Star at the edge of the cliff were Ten-Tails was. “To them, the Ten-Tails is just a tool to activate their curse. If we take down those two casters, the Eternal Nightmare Curse can’t be activated. However, it’s best to assume that Ten-Tails’ power can’t be surpass for long.”

That was true, as Ten-Tails started to break the concrete that was holding him.

“Although he doesn’t possess the same ability as before, engaging in a magical fight with Hepheus is very risky” White Light continued. “It is for the best if you use physical attacks on him. Grogar has Hepheus’ ability to pass through objects and spells, but, according to intel, only for five minutes. Coordinate with the medical unit and continue to attack during five minutes. Prince Star Knight, now it’s the time for…”

And the ones who could fly or use teleportation advanced, with Star taking the lead with his Spiraling Star, while he exclaimed, ending White Light’s sentence:

“THE ALLIANCE’S MAGIC!”

But the two villains remained calmed and Hepheus said:

“They’re so pitiful…”

“Yeah…” Grogar agreed. “Fighting for a hope that doesn’t even exist… Much like their own lives at this moment.”

And Ten-Tails’ tails started to unfurl.

“It seems the Ten-Tails is quite ready” Hepheus said.

Author's Note

Don't forget to vote on my new poll about the spoilers of my future story in:

http://www.poll-maker.com/poll1854544x09EA4549-50

The Ties That Bind

The Alliance was ready to attack, with the pegasi, like the Wonderbolts, and some griffons aiming to Hepheus and the ones with magic skills and dragons aiming to Grogar.

Hepheus then smiled. He knew what they were doing. They were aiming to him and Grogar as they were the ones who were leading the war and controlling the Ten-Tails. Getting rid of the head of the enemy was one of the most efficient and basic tactics. He had to give that to them, but to reach them, they needed to pass through Ten-Tails and that wouldn’t be that easy.

When Star and the others threw their attacks, Ten-Tails’ tails got loose and wave. But they looked different, becoming extendable and ending in humanoid hands. The force caused was such that threw everyone to the ground. The tails hold to the ground and rose up Ten-Tails along with Hepheus and Grogar. To their shock, Ten-Tails was now different than before.

He now took on the shape of an emaciated humanoid with elongated limbs and a twisting neck. He now possessed visible legs, which he used along with his right arm to stand, as his left arm was missing from the elbow down. The beast's head was altered greatly, as his eye remained on the front of his head, he grew a single ear on the right side, and his mouth, which now contained straight teeth and bore a grin, moved to the left side, with a single triangular nostril appearing above it. Several horns formed on various parts on his head: two above each side of his face, two beneath his eye, and another below his ear. The shell continued over his back.

Star couldn’t believe that happened. Beyond that, he could feel that his shoulder had dislocated.

At HQ, the bubble had become distorted again, creating what appeared to be a satellite. The ones present couldn’t believe something like that was happening. That could only mean one thing…

“So we weren’t able to immobilize Ten-Tails” White Light realized, being in front of Diamond Glow. “He only stopped moving on his own in order to transform.”

“So how can we stop him, then?” Diamond Glow asked. “We can’t target those two.”

At the battle, Shining said:

“We have to find a way to stop that thing.”

“You’re right” Blue agreed. “Otherwise, it will be the end to all of us.”

Rising up, Applejack said:

“Damn, that think sure is strong.”

“Eeyup” Big Mac agreed.

“Don’t just freak out!” Obsidian Blade told them. “Prepare yourselves for the next attack! We’ll get a plan from HQ.”

At HQ, White Light tried to think in an idea to immobilize Ten-Tails, because if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to after the ones who were manipulating it. But how would they do it. He doubted that a simple immobilization spell would work out, as the effect would be nothing compared to the enormous quantity of energy expended. It was at that moment, that he had an idea and turned to Diamond Glow, saying:

“Diamond Glow, link me up with Shining Armor!”

“Roger” she replied.

And she did so, linking White Light to Shining.

“Shining Armor, it’s me” White Light said. “I want to confirm something about the intel about the last battle sequence.”

Ten-Tails then positioned himself over his legs, twitching the neck a little. Because of that, the two villains felt losing the control slightly.

“It’s going to begin be more difficult to control the Ten-Tails” Hepheus said, while summoning more wild energy that he shared with Grogar. “We need to use more wild energy to enhance our bond. We should take this opportunity to check out the Ten-Tails power, while it is in this current state. First, we should…”

“Yes…” Grogar said. “We need to show them… that they can resist to our master!”

And so Ten-Tails started to prepare a Tailed Beast Bomb that took a conical form. Seeing that, Shining told to White Light:

“Captain White Light, I need to go for now.”

“What is it?” White Light asked.

But he didn’t have to get the answer, as he could also feeling the imminence of the power Ten-Tails was using, what was being showed at the satellite of the bubble.

“Captain White Light!” Boreal Blizzard called.

Shining Armor knew the disappearance spell wouldn’t be enough, so he turned to Obsidian Blade that was near him and told him:

“Just place it out with earth nature.”

“Got you!” Obsidian Blade exclaimed.

And he used his magic, what cause the ground over one of Ten-Tails’ feel to up, what caused the tailed beast to lose its balance and firing the Tailed Beast Bomb wrongly. Shortly after, a great explosion happened at some distance away. Seeing that, Shining commented:

“He was able to fire it that far away? It’s much greater than the other tailed beasts.”

After Ten-Tails regained the balance, Hepheus said:

“It’s shaking. Its control isn’t perfect yet.”

“The next one…” Grogar said.

And Ten-Tails prepared another Tailed Beast Bomb and he launched it again. But, doing it, caused the tailed beast to fall back. The attack this time fell on the sea. Ten-Tails launched a third one that hit and destroyed a village nearby. Luna, who was able to use her magic to see what happened, said:

“Unbelievable… It was destroyed just like that…”

Some screams made her turn around and she saw that Ten-Tails started to move, putting himself over his knees with the one arm to hold himself. He prepared another attack.

At HQ, Boreal Blizzard said:

“It’s been acting weird. It seems to be aiming randomly.”

“But that only show us it can reach anything it wants” White Light commented.

“So everypony that we evacuated can become a target” Diamond Glow replied.

“The reason for this war is so our warriors at the battlefield can protect everyone else” White Light said. “But those two want to remove that reason…”

Ten-Tails over his eye in all directions and, when he fixed it, he prepared another Tailed Beast Bomb and fired it. Seen that, Luna noticed where that attack went to.

“But that went in direction of…” she said.

Sensing the attack, Boreal Blizzard’s face endured.

“This…” he said, trying to think of words to tell what he knew that was going to happen. “This is…”

“What is it, Boreal Blizzard?” Diamond Glow asked.

There was a pause and then he said:

“Please, react to this calmly.”

But White Light didn’t know him to finish what he was saying. He looked up and said:

“Right here, uh…”

“Captain, what now?” Diamond Glow asked.

“Just keep doing what we must to” he answered. “I have a plan to stop Ten-Tails. Our final act… Put me in contact to everyone in the battlefield.”

At the front line, all the ones who were there became static and Shining, Blue, Dark Knight, Silverweed, Lightning Bolt, along with other guards from Canterlot, had rigid looks, with some contorting their faces in anger and pain.

And the Tailed Beast Bomb that Ten-Tails fired reached its destiny and exploded. It was so powerful that was visible at the distance.

“Finally we got it” Hepheus said. “Now we smashed the Alliance’s brains. Simple basic strategy… I hope you’re not too upset, Grogar. I know that your protégé was there.”

“He was Star Shield’s protégé” Grogar replied coldly. “I’m no longer that pony.”

Blue turned to Shining, who admired Captain White Light as he was the one that inspired him to become a royal guard and nominated him captain, and said:

“Shining…”

“We’re in the middle of the war” he replied. “So don’t waste any words on me… Or on anyone of our comrades. We have to do what we have to do… just like captain said.”

Star, noticing the explosion, asked:

“But what just happened?”

Thunder Night appeared beside him and said:

“You’re the key to our success, Star.”

“I don’t mean that!” Star exclaimed. “I mean what happened to Captain White Light and all the others!”

But he didn’t have any time to answer, as Ten-Tails started to wave his tails and sweep everyone in the way, what forced them to dodge. Landing beside Thunder Night, Luna told him:

“Thunder Night, let’s do it together!”

“Yes, princess!” he replied.

And when Ten-Tails’ tail approached to them, they used a force of darkness nature to push it back.

“Amazing…” Star exclaimed before.

“Don’t just stand there spacing out, Star Knight” Luna replied. “This is a battlefield and we’re in the middle of a war. Ponies die, but, if we’re going to lose this war, everyone will die.”

Understanding her words, Star made a more serious look and said:

“Of course. I know that.”

“Remember this, Star, we must not let Captain White Light and the others die in vain” Thunder Night said. “Your power is crucial for the plan. So hang in there until we’re able to execute it.”

Twilight landed beside him and said:

“He’s right, son. We must protect you.”

“Mom…” Star said.

“We’ll do our best to protect this world!” Luna exclaimed.

Before that, Hepheus said, while Ten-Tails twitched the neck to normal:

“I was to take them down before they started to make the speeches, but… it is difficult to control the Nine-Tails well. I suppose this have to do until the next transformation. But after that, I believe only a jinchuriki will be able to control it. If I am going to become the jinchuriki, then I’ll need the tranquility to do so.”

“But that is something you’ll not have as long you have these flies interrupting” Grogar said. “The reason why you didn’t used the Tailed Beast Bomb on them was because it would get us, right?”

“Well, that’s very well observed, coming from a former captain of the Royal Guard” Hepheus commented.

“What’s going to be our next move now?” Grogar asked.

“I know that you don’t like to cause unnecessary damages” Hepheus said. “But having in count who we’re up against, I don’t see any other choice. For that, I’ll use this wood nature spell…”

And then he made Ten-Tails rose his tails, while Hepheus exclaimed:

“Cutting Springs Spell!”

And, from Ten-Tails’ tails, he started to shoot wood spikes from the hands at the tails against the enemy. They tried to do their best to dodge, but some were hit. Ponies, deer and griffons… all having casualties that were pierced by the spikes. Not even dragons, who possessed powerful scales, couldn’t defend themselves, as the spikes were able to pierce them as well. However, they weren’t immune to fire, so Spike and the other dragons took advantage of that to protect as many as possible.

Obsidian Blade knew he could slow Ten-Tails down with his specialty, like he did before with the Demonic Statue, but he would need time to prepare it. Using their strength, Applejack and Big Mac got up a piece of the cracked ground to create a shield to him.

Thunder Night was using his darkness nature to defend himself, but he wouldn’t be able to dodge them all. It was then that a Spiraling Star passed through him and, when exploded, eradicated the spikes nearby.

“Thanks, uncle Thunder Night” Star replied, who was in Sage Mode and had made two clones to help him make two more Spiraling Stars. “I was able to activate Sage Mode. I can’t keep relying on the grown-ups.”

And he advanced and threw the Spiraling Stars at two more tails.

“And here are two more!” Star exclaimed.

And the two other clones advanced, each one with a Spiraling Star, and threw them, disappearing after. But all that exhausted Star, who ended up kneeling, while his Sage Mode disappeared. A Spike came to him, but Twilight teleported to his side and created a shield that dodged that spike.

From one side, a tailed was approaching, sweeping everything around. But Luna went to the front and, using her power, push the tail away. But spikes were thrown by a finger.

“Damn it!” Luna exclaimed, turning around. “Be careful!”

Twilight put herself in front of Star to protect him with her own body. But before any of them could hit them, Thunder Night put himself in the way and was hit in the back, for everyone’s shock, and fell on the ground.

At the medical camp, Fluttershy was flying while holding a bowl with medical herbs when, suddenly, a tightness in the heart made her drop the bowl. Cherry, noticing that, approached her and asked:

“Are you okay, Fluttershy?”

“I…” she started, not knowing what to say. “I don’t know… Cherry, I feel weird, as if something bad had happened.”

At the battle, Obsidian Blade was able to complete the spell and made the Ten-Tails become trapped, like how it happened with the Demonic Statue, trapping his tails and preventing him from firing more spikes, what allowed the others to advance and attack.

However, Star went to Thunder Night, holding him up, while blood covered his coat.

“Thunder Night!” he exclaimed. “Get the medical team!”

Twilight hurried to try to take out the spikes to heal him, but the spike seemed to absorb her magic.

“No…” Twilight said, who couldn’t believe that was happening.

“I think… I’m done” Thunder Night said, with blood coming out of his mouth.

“Uncle Thunder Night…” Star said.

“Don’t say anything like that…” Twilight said, with tears starting to cover her eyes.

But he nodded his head and continued:

“Star Knight, please… take care of Moonlight. She loves you very much and I know you love her too. Twilight… please… say to Fluttershy that… I love her very much… her and our children…”

Although it was hard to her, Twilight nodded and answered:

“I will.”

That made a smile appear on Thunder Night’s face.

“No… Please… You can’t die here…” Star said, with tears on his eyes. “You have your family… Aunt Fluttershy… Moonlight and Dark Cloud…”

“Even though… I’m not going to see my children grow up… I know they’re going to be fine” Thunder Night said. “And Fluttershy… I know she’s going to be fine. I’m glad that I met her. She saved me from living a life in darkness. She give me the life I thought I would never have…”

There was a pause and Thunder Night continued:

“Star, you already did something that I couldn’t do. You brought Moonlight back… and that’s something I’ll always be thankful for… even in death…”

Hepheus, noticing what was happening, asked to Star:

“Didn’t you say you would let your comrades die? Star Knight!”

That caused a distraction to Star that made him let Thunder Night who started to fall to the ground. But Star was able to hold him, only to see that his body was now lifeless. At that moment, he remembered his words from before.

“You said you wouldn’t let any of your comrades die no matter what” Hepheus continued. “Those were your words. Now, look around you and tried to say those words again.

And Star looked around, seeing all the ones that had been killed by Ten-Tails, fighting in order to protect him and moved by his determination. All that made the young prince to become static, not knowing what to think and forgetting the will that was running through him. Seeing that he wasn’t saying nothing, Hepheus shouted:

“I said try to say those words again! As the bodies of your comrades get colder on your arms… take in their deaths!”

Everyone was quite listening that. Grogar looked to Hepheus. So that was the reason why he executed that spell… to break Star’s fighting will.

“Thunder Night…” Shining said.

“Star…” Blue said, worrying about what his son was feeling at that moment.

“This will just keep happening” Hepheus continued. “And all of your pretty words and ideals will become lies. This is the result of ideals and hope. This is reality. Star Knight, what there is for you in this reality? Soon, the Lord of Chaos will have control over this world and have your mother’s star seed’s light and your father will fall just like the other Generals. If you continue to stand against us, you’ll continue to lose your friends, one by one. This shall become a world where no one who acknowledges you will exist! The only thing that waits you is… your worst nightmare, which you know very well… Solitude!”

All those words hit on Star like sticks and stones. Although normally he would just ignore them, with his state of spirit completely broken at that moment, those sticks and stones were capable of breaking his bones. And Star lowed his head.

Grogar couldn’t believe what Hepheus just did. He hit right on Star’s weak point and very hardly. Although he was completely devoted to his master, there was a fragment inside himself that made him feel sorry for his great-grandson. But that was necessary. With all that, Star would fall shortly which would break the will of the Alliance.

“So why keep living in reality?” Hepheus said, while extending his hoof to Star. “Now, come join us… Star Knight.”

But right after, Twilight slapped Star’s face with her hoof, leaving it there, like a gentle touch, and making Star look at her. There was a huge silence and Blue, seeing that, hopped that Twilight could help their son recover his fighting spirit.

“You heard what Thunder Night told you” she said. “He put on your hoofs Moonlight’s safety. He trusted in you because he knew that you loved her and you would do everything to protect her and what you’re thinking right now is not the best way to honor his final wish. You hold more than one life, do you understand? Your words and the conviction behind them are not lies. Thunder Night had them in his heart and lived out until the end. It isn’t just you… it’s all of us. We all have those words and feeling in our hearts, the things that bind us together… and make us like one united family. If we were all to give up and just discharge all those words and feelings, Thunder Night’s act would be for nothing and that’s when your comrades truly die because they won’t be your comrades anymore. That’s what I feel. So, please… stand up together with me… Star, my son, because your light it’s the one that will lead us to a new future.”

Those words coming from mom had a lot of power. Each word had a great amount of love, concern… and hope. At that moment, Star was able to notice that her mother was even more illuminated, even for a light pony.

“She’s right about you having more than one life with you!” Kurama exclaimed to his jinchuriki in their plane, while gathering his energy. “Don’t forget about me either!”

“I know that” Star replied him. “My bonds are serious. I’d never abandon my comrades! But… the truth is… Thunder Night…”

“Stop whining and complaining!” Kurama ordered with his hard voice. “I’ll beat you up and take over your body for good, this time! Damn it, did you forget that your mother and your father did their best to protect you?! They defended you from Perfect Scale and then they allowed one of their enemies, me, to be sealed inside you because the Lord of Order entrusted you with this world! Your life was already linked to others right from the time you’re just a baby!”

As the time advanced, Grogar noticed that Hepheus was waiting to see how Star would respond. It was then that Hepheus got tired of waiting and exclaimed:

“Enough of this!”

And Ten-Tails got involved with his tails.

“Slow down!” Grogar exclaimed. “You’re going to harm us and the Ten-Tails!”

“I don’t care!” Hepheux replied. “The Ten-Tails’ husk is hard!”

And the tailed beast prepared a Tailed Beast Bomb and the guards started to panic, as they knew they were going to be hit. But then, with Rainbow Dash and Soarin helping him, Hawthorn advanced toward Ten-Tails.

“Here I go!” he exclaimed.

And he threw himself against the ten-tailed tailed beast, turning into his tailed beast mode and starting a Tailed Beast Bomb of his own. He shocked with Ten-Tails’, disrupting it and putting his head inside the titanic tailed beast.

“Take this!” Hawthorn exclaimed, firing the Tailed Beast Bomb.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then Ten-Tails’ body expanded because of the explosion and then he deflated and then Hawthorn fell from the sky, hitting the ground with strength.

“Lord, Hawthon!” some deer exclaimed, going to the place where he was.

Hawthon, in the Tailed Beast Mode, had lost the other front horn and was really hurt, but he said:

“You don’t need to worry. Protecting as much lives as I can is the one thing I can do now.”

After hearing what both his mother and Kurama told him, Star took his hoof to Twilight’s, knowing they were right: he had a connection to many others, the ones who died to protect him. He couldn’t let their deaths be in vain. And he stood up, while holding his mother’s hoof.

“Mom… thank you” he said. “It’s all thanks to you standing by much side. Uncle Thunder Night… thank you too.”

Twilight smiled. That was the Star she knew. And then she felt something warm coming from Star and he covered with Kurama’s energy, the one he used to Tailed Beast Mode, but Twilight was covered by Nine-Tails’ energy coat.

“Mom… let’s do this!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah!” she replied.

But Twilight then noticed the energy and, look to her hoof, saw that the energy around took the form of claws. Hepheus and Grogar couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Everyone on the battlefield noticed that.

“Nice work transforming and transferring my energy, Star” Kurama told Star in their plane.

“I got the hang of it now” he said. “So help me out, Kurama.”

Kurama couldn’t help but think that White Light had been able to analyze extension ability largely. He then said to Star:

“Sorry for the delay. You can use a small number of clones now.”

“Great!” Star exclaimed.

Feeling the energy that was given to her, Twilight could feel the power it had. She couldn’t believe how Star was able to control something like that.

Using his magic, Star created three clones and they all scattered. Arriving to Blue’s side, he extended his hoof to the clone of his son.

“Come on, champ, your late” he said.

“Sorry, dad” he replied. “Here!”

Star touched his father’s hoof and the same energy cloak surrounding Twilight appeared on him.

“Uncle Shining!” Star called.

And he did the same with him and others, giving them Kurama’s energy that took the form of the fox cloak. Feeling that, Shining noticed it was a lot stronger than last time. So that was why Captain White Light wanted to asked him if the reason to be able to use the disappearance spell and its inverse to send Eight-Tails and bring him back was because he received Nine-Tails’ energy. He wanted to know the difference between using magic with and without that energy for what Shining replied that the power with it was three times superior than without. Having thinking to do that, was a brilliant idea coming from his mentor. That only made him realize that White Light could still have taught him a lot of things.

All the other Star’s clones did the same, giving to all ponies, thestrals, griffons, deer and dragons a fragment of Kurama’s energy. It didn’t take long for the majority to have it.

“That brat…” Hepheus said.

“He’s giving them parts of Nine-Tails’ energy” Grogar observed.

Not wanting to lose any more time, Hepheus made Ten-Tails extend a tail and go attack Twilight. But she, using the energy that was given to her, fired a magic beam that was able to repel the tail and made it hit the stone that was holding the tailed beast.

“Looks like Princess Twilight got stronger after receiving Nine-Tails’ energy” Grogar said.

“Well, then, how about this!” Hepheus exclaimed.

And three more tails advanced to attack, but then three big dragons were able to stop them, thanks to the strength that Kurama’s energy gave them.

Taking advantage of that, Silverweed and other unicorns of the Canterlot guard went to start to execute the plan that Captain White Light entrusted them.

“Don’t mock me!” Hepheus exclaimed.

And spikes started to get out of the tails. Acting quickly, the unicorns used the immobilization spell, while Hepheus was caught by Silverweed’s telepathy spell, what allowed the spikes to be thrown without harming the dragons that were holding them. Then Spike, Ember and Flambeau turned them all into ash.

“We won’t let anyone getting harm by these by accident” Spike said.

Star noticed the enemy was fast, but he was glad that he had companions like those to help him.

The unicorn tried their best to hold the beast, but Ten-Tails was difficult to hold, even with Kurama’s energy. But they eventually were able to hold him tightly, what allowed Silverweed to stop using the telepathy spell.

“Star Knight!” Hepheus called, making the original Star look up. “You want to know one thing? It was those bonds that caused me to become what I am now. You should know that bonds can be a powerful curse too.”

“But we are warriors” Star said. “A warrior is someone that endure. The ones who died are the ones that don’t make us forget and are the scars of the pain of losing them that prove that they existed… inside here.”

And he touched his chest at the place where the heart was and then continued:

“Friends that you create inside a dream so you can’t get hurt aren’t real and that means you’re just erasing your real friends. Whatever is a curse or not, I want to keep the real friendship!”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile, full of pride of her son. Looking at him, she remembered the times she also said something like that to the enemies that she faced in the past.

While the clones started to finish, Kurama told Star:

“Almost done…”

Looking to Star so focused in transferring energy to the others, Kurama couldn’t help but making a slight smile. Everything happened just like the Lord of Order predicted. As Star inherited his mother’s status as alicorn and had been with him for years as jinchuriki, he was able to get matured enough to sense and transmute his energy to be compatible with others and give it to them, so Star could serve as medium to allow Kurama to give his energy. In his opinion, Star had already surpassed his own parents and even Heartbeat as jinchuriki.

As everyone in the Alliance got Kurama’s energy, Grogar looked to Hepheus, waiting to know what would be his response. And then the General of Chaos charged his horn and Ten-Tails got even more power that started to defy the immobilization spell the unicorns had cast on him. And six tails started to advance. But Hawthorn prepared his next attack.

“Tailed Beast Bomb!”

But he wasn’t alone. Many more launched their attacks that hit the tails. Although the attacks slowed them, the tails continued their way and buried themselves, creating a kind of cage to the ones that were inside. But that didn’t stop Star from creating Spiraling Star and, together with others, cut down the tails that were in the way and advanced against their enemy. For a moment, Star felt his shoulder being dislocated, but his mother appeared flying beside him and started to heal him, what caused them to trade a smile, and, with two attacks, Star was able to cut down the villains’ connection to the Ten-Tails. Everyone got over the tailed beast, ending up dropping him down, forcing Hepheus and Grogar to land, along with the rest of the Alliance, who landed before them with Star on the front saying:

“I’m not like you guys! I will never sever my bonds or having them cut off either!”

Back at the Light Kingdom, more precisely the castle, Purple Smoke and Melody were observing their fellow General who continued inconscious.

“They continue the same…” Purple Smoke said.

“The spell must eventually were off, but I know the General of Chaos must have done that in a way so we didn’t interfere” Melody said.

“But we got better earlier” Purple Smoke said. “But that was because Moonlight, Sweetie Belle and Radiant Hope’s true talent for music bloomed. I just wanted they got better fast.”

And they then felt a pulse of energy that revitalized the kingdom’s defenses.

“Did you feel that?” Melody asked to Purple Smoke who nodded.

At that moment, Heartbeat opened her eyes and sit up.

“Heartbeat?” the two Generals asked.

They approached her and Melody asked:

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… I’m fine, actually. Very, very fine.”

“But how did you…” Purple Smoke started.

“It would appear that somepony just made a great decision in their resolution that allowed me to get the energy to break the spell on me” Heartbeat replied. “Now, I think it’s time to join the war.”

“What?!” Purple Smoke asked. “But we have orders to stay and protect the Light Kingdom.”

“Well, you have” Heartbeat said. “But I don’t. I need to go the front line. But, first, there’s one thing I need to do first.”

Grandfather VS Grandson

The regents were recovering from their fight against Tirek. After they recovered a great part of it, Aspen said:

“It is time to join the front line.”

“Yes, we have to help the others against the General of Chaos” Celestia said.

“It will be more difficult than you think” a voice told.

They all turned and saw…

“Heartbeat?” Celestia asked, while she and the other regents got happy to see the General of Affection.

“Yes, it’s me” she replied.

“So not only Purple Smoke and Melody recovered, but you too” Ingrid said.

“But they didn’t say anything” Mystic Heart commented.

“I just recovered moments ago” Heartbeat said. “And I will join the fight as well. Sorry for the delay, but I had to made a quick stop.”

“I’m just glad that you will join us” Hard Stone replied. “The help of the great General of Affection will come in handy in a time like this.”

“What do you mean that battling the General of Chaos will be more difficult?” Strongpaw asked.

“Even that he hasn’t captured Eight and Nine-Tails yet, he still managed to awake Ten-Tails” Heartbeat revealed.

“What?!” all the regents exclaimed.

“That’s terrible!” Hard Stone exclaimed.

“That’s the reason why we must act” Heartbeat said. “I’ll go ahead with Princess Celestia and Queen Ingrid. The rest must come as fast as you can.”

They nodded, but then Heartbeat said to Celestia:

“Before that, I have to tell you one thing, princess.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“The General of Chaos’ identity is already known” Heartbeat proclaimed.

“Really?” she asked. “That’s great! Who is he?”

“He’s… Hepheus” Heartbeat replied.

Celestia, hearing that, became paralyzed. She couldn’t believe that the stallion that she fell in love with after Day Glow was her enemy. The first thing she felt was denial, but then realized that Heartbeat wouldn’t say that unless she was certain. After that, Celestia took deep breaths and tried to calm herself down, as she knew it couldn’t be helped. She had to accept it.

“Sister…” Ingrid said.

“I’m fine” Celestia replied, turning to Heartbeat. “You can take us there.”

Heartbeat nodded.

After hearing Star’s affirmation that he wouldn’t let his bond to be cut, Grogar replied:

“You shouldn’t have severed our link to the Ten-Tails.”

And the tailed beast roared and prepared to attack with a feast.

“Now disappear!” Hepheus replied.

Along with the shockwave of Ten-Tails’ attack, Hepheus launched a torrent of fire and Grogar used his bell to cast powerful waves. The ground under them started to crack and Star flapped his wings and intensify the energy around the others, so the ones who couldn’t fly would be protected. And when the attack hit them, their defenses created by Kurama’s energy protected them all. When the attacks stopped, everyone was untouched.

But that didn’t stop the two villains from continuing to attack. Hepheus launched magic beams, while Grogar launched blades stored in the Nothingness Realm. But Star didn’t give up, making the cloaks to create tails that they used to dodge the attacks. Twilight could see that it was Star’s energy cloaks that had been protecting them from harm, what caused her to worry about her son’s safety. In fact, Star started to get tired from all the effort he used to protect everyone.

When the dust cleared, Grogar and Hepheus had disappeared.

“They’re gone…” Star observed.

“But where did they go?” Blue asked.

“Is it possible that they escaped?” Hawthorn asked.

“That’s impossible!” Gyuki exclaimed. “Find him!”

“Star, above you!” Shining replied.

And Grogar appeared from the Nothingness Realm above Star, ready to attack with his horns. But the young jinchuriki was able to dodge.

“Star, you’re only fighting in the defense now, protecting everyone” Grogar observed. “Is there any meaning for what you’re doing?”

“Are you okay, Star Knight?” Kurama asked to his jinchuriki. “It’s too much for you to control the energy I gave you all at once. You’re going to were out in no time. Plus, it looks like the Ten-Tails is charging energy. Be careful.”

There was a pause and then Grogar observed:

“You’re going weaker.”

“I guess you don’t understand, since you gave up your own light” Star replied with a smile, while starting to run against him. “The truth is that I’m really glad to have everyone here by my side! Just seeing them all gives me strength!”

Everyone advanced with him and attacked Grogar together. When they were about to lend a blow, Grogar teleported to the Nothingness Realm.

“He ran off?” Applejack asked.

Grogar reappeared on a level above and said:

“If the pain of your comrades’ deaths is part of your bonds, then there’s no need to protect them.”

“What the hell are you quibbling?!” Star asked. “That’s the exact thing I hate about you villains! That’s not what I’m talking about either! I say that I can’t take any amount of pain that involves my comrades! It means I don’t want to give them up! It may seem selfish of me, but still it’s more painful for me to not have my comrades in here! Get it?”

Those words cause everyone present to smile, as their own moral got even stronger.

Hepheus, meanwhile, was on a higher point, looking to the horizon. He could feel that something wasn’t right. The balance had tilted to the Order’s side a bit. The General of Chaos didn’t know what caused that, but it was something that he didn’t like on bit. On the other hoof, he could feel that Celestia was still there. She and the others must have defeated Tirek and that couldn’t make him happier. He would have the chance to fight and defeat the one that was the reason why he suffered for centuries in the Lord of Chaos’ dungeon.

Ten-Tails roared, while trying to get freed from the rocks that were holding him. Obsidian Blade, who was doing his best to hold his spell with his daughter, was starting a lot of trouble to keep Ten-Tails in.

“Dad, it’s collapsing!” Quartz Blitz exclaimed.

“I can’t hold it back any longer!” Obsidian Blade said.

And Ten-Tails got free, crushing the stone and roaring, while his missing limb grew. The roar was so loud that the ponies had to bring their hooves to their ears.

“Damn it!” Obsidian Blade exclaimed. “And I was thinking my spell got stronger with Prince Star Knight’s energy!”

“But there’s no other spell that can stop it any better!” Quartz Blitz said.

While Star was trying to stand that screech, Kurama told him in their plane:

“Bad news, Star. Ten-Tails is planning a Cataclysm.”

“What are you talking about?” Star asked. “What’s that?”

“Stop wasting time!” Kurama replied. “All the land will be ripped apart!”

Ten-Tails continue to roar with his intense screech and Grogar said:

“Because you severed the link between Ten-Tails and me and Hepheus, it can’t be controlled now. But I think it is time for it to find its jinchuriki.”

And a great quantity of energy surrounded Ten-Tails, what then created storming clouds above and powerful winds. Noticing that, Hepheus surrounded himself with dark magic and said:

“Now the real fun… begins.”

Shining and Blue were together and the latter said:

“We have to make Ten-Tails disappear.”

“We have to do the disappearance spell” Shining said.

But, before anyone of them could use a disappearance spell, Grogar appeared and said:

“I won’t let you do that.”

And he rang his bell that interfered with the two unicorns magic.

“And now, no one, except for me, will be able to use the disappearance cell.”

“You…” Blue said, preparing to attack.

But, with another ring of the bell, Grogar created a forced that pushed back Blue.

“Dad!” Star exclaimed nearby.

Grogar turned then to Shining and said:

“You come with me.”

And, having said that, Grogar pulled himself and Shining to the Nothingness Realm, while the energy cloak disappeared on the latter.

“Uncle Shining!” Star called.

“Don’t worry about him, Star” Blue said, while getting up. “He can take care of himself.”

“Here it comes!” Kurama exclaimed. “The Cataclysm!”

And a great shockwave happened, so strong that cause all the ground around to be ravaged, while lightning got out of the storming clouds around and strong tornados were made. It didn’t take long for a great flood to join the chaos that was happening. Ten-Tails was at the epicenter of all that cataclysm, roaring.

When everything calmed down and the water of the flood was drained by all the cracks on the ground, Hepheus appeared, still protected by the darkness around him.

“That should have cleaned most of them out” he said.

He looked down to the soldiers, who were trying to get up, still with their energy cloak. But, to his surprise, they were still well, all thanks to Kurama’s energy Star gave them. But Star had got many injuries, with blood coming out of his wounded shoulder and the side of his head. With a smile, he asked:

“Is that all that you got?”

He looked to the Ten-Tails and, through the young prince, the other tailed beasts did the same due to the energy that both gave to Star.

It was then that Ten-Tails joined his hands and his spikes grew even bigger, along with his husk. As Star got weakened for having protected everyone, he kneeled and the energy cloak that surrounded everyone disappeared.

“Nice try acting tuff, but you’re at your limit” Hepheus told him. “You gave me something to look forward to, but I think it is time for you meet your end.”

But, at that moment, Applejack, Big Mac, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Cloud Chaser, Shadw Claw, Spike and many others put themselves in front of Star led by Luna.

“Everyone, let’s join our forces and fight as one” Luna said.

And everyone cheered her words.

“Princess Luna…” Star said.

His mother appeared beside him and started to use the healing spell on him, while saying:

“It’s time for you to recover.”

Star smiled for seeing all of them wanting to protect him. He could feel the fellowship that they were transmitting.

“Such futile display…” Hepheus replied.

Grogar and Shining reappeared at the Nothingness Realm. When they arrived, Shining took opportunity from the moment of weakeness of Grogar after pulling them into that realm to attack him with a light blade. However, at the last moment, he stopped. Attacking his grandfather, even if he was now his enemy, was too much for him. Grogar smiled and commented:

“I can see that you still have doubts in your heart. You had many chances to kill me if you wanted to. It’s amazing how somepony as loyal as you to the Lord of Order would have compaction to a villain like me in the middle of such important battle like this one. Are you feeling that I can still be saved? That I can still become the Star Shield everypony knew? Hoping that I have a change of heart?”

A pause and then Shining asked:

“Grandpa, why don’t you stop this? Since I learned you were the Captain of Canterlot Royal Guard, my dream was to become like you. I looked up to you, to the legacy you left. And now, not only me, but your grandson as well is trying to make sure that everything you worked hard isn’t in vain. I could see that you looked a little uneasy by the way the General of Chaos attacked us. I know that the grandfather I always heard about is still inside you. I’m certain that you can understand Star’s feelings. You can still go back to the pony you were.”

But then Grogar started to laugh in an evil way.

“It’s because I understand Star’s mind that I didn’t try to stop Hepheus, even knowing the collateral damages his moves create. I am helping the Lord of Chaos to give everything he and all the others desire, in exchange of the control of this reality. Ever since I became the Lord of Chaos’ servent, I learn the truth about his brother’s creation.”

And he passed through Shining’s blade, making it pass through the chest, what caused discomfort to Shining, and he continued:

“No matter what words you say, to me this reality causes nothing but pain, giving then a false promise of hope.”

Shining took out his light blade from Grogar’s body, fading it then. But Grogar didn’t finished the spell that allowed him to pass through, revealing a hole on his chest. The ram continued:

“It was that what made me realize that this world deserves a new Lord that will lead everyone to a new dawn.”

“But don’t you remember what Star said?” Shining asked, putting his hoof over his chest. “That is more painful not to have real friends inside one’s heart? I know the old you would resonate with that. I still believe that the current you can as well!”

“Look at me!” Grogar shouted. “I have been serving the Lord of Chaos for centuries. At this moment, there’s nothing at my heart, like this hole in my chest. I have nothing to believe unless my master’s orders. You, on the other hoof, along with our family, didn’t do anything but to suffer, not only because of my death, but also fighting the Lord of Chaos. But you don’t need to suffer anymore. You and all the others can escape everything, live without the fear of battling the Lord of Chaos. You can wish for whatever you want. Anything is possible inside this curse.”

“No…” Shining said. “If our lives is full of pain and misery is because of the one you serve. For us to be completely happy, then the threat of the Lord of Chaos must be eradicated for good. Do you think that illusions can feel the hole in your heart? Don’t erase the memories of the real ones who loved you, because that hole on your heart won’t get away!”

Out there, Ten-Tails started to open the mouth, expanding it. It was then that something looking like a bulb started to get out.

“It’s transforming again…” Hawthorn, who had returned to his deer form, observed.

“No, it’s just reverting to his original form” Gyuki told. “That was only his attack form. However, it’s just one stage away from his final transformation.”

As the bulb opened, everyone looked terrified, not knowing what to expect.

“Star is still recovering and Nine-Tails is infusion energy” Gyuki said to Hawthorn. “It’s all up to us now, Hawthorn.”

“I heart that” he replied. “We’ll show to everyone all our might.”

“List, Hawthorn, if we let him go under his final transformation, we lose” Gyuki warned. “We have to stop that from happening… right now.”

And the bulb opened to reveal some kind of flower, starting to create a big Tailed Beast Bomb. Seeing that, Hepheus observed:

“Ten-Tails is not holding back. It must have gotten impatient after seeing the other tailed beasts inside Star Knight. The fun is just about to begin, but it would appear that I’ll have to move soon.”

Ten-Tails continued to increase the Tailed Beast Bomb’s size.

“Wow, it’s only getting bigger!” Cloud Chase exclaimed.

“Eeyup…” Big Mac said.

“Is that meant for Star?” Applejack asked.

“But how are can we deal with that without Star’s energy?” Soarin asked.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but… I don’t know” Rainbow Dash said.

“Me neither…” Shadow Claw added.

Twilight, while healing Star, could feel what the others were feeling at that moment and she understood, but she couldn’t let the moral Star struggled to keep up going down, so she said:

“We have to remain strong. We can’t waver after coming this far. My son is putting is all into doing what it has to be done. The words Star just said… made it clear. He consider us all his comrades from the bottom of his heart!”

That caused everyone to whisperer between themselves, but then the certain invaded their minds. Twilight continued:

“I’m going to fully heal Star. We much each do what we can. If we’re going to die anyway, we must as well go fighting… to the very best of our abilities.”

A pause and then Luna said:

“Well said, Twilight Sparkle. You can count with me.”

“And me” Spike added. “I’m always with my friends until the end.”

Blue also wanted to do what he could to help Star and then he got an idea. He teleported to the side of Silverweed and told him:

“Silverweed, I need you to connect me with somepony.”

“You have a plan?” he asked.

“Shining is not the only one with big ideas” Blue said. “My son and my wife are doing their best and I must do the same.”

Where Obsidian Blade and Quartz Blitz were, the latter said:

“There must be something we can do, right, dad?”

“But I’m low in energy” he replied.

It was then that Blue, with Silverweed’s help, connected telepathically with Obsidian Blade:

“Captain Obsidian Blade, please, hear me out.”

“Prince Blue Sword…” Obsidian Blade said.

“I need you to teach me how to use a spell to conjure an earth wall that even the ones who don’t have earth nature or don’t use magic can do” Blue said.

“One that anyone could perform would be too weak” Obsidian Blade replied. “It would be better to…”

“No, it’s crucial that everyone is able to reproduce it” Blue told. “If the enemy has quality, we got quantity.”

“But those walls will be blow away immediately” Obsidian Blade said.

“Then we just have to keep building more” Blue replied. “They will act as shield. W’'re going to slow that with many walls, rather than stop it with one powerful wall. I also wanted your best warriors of Stonult to build a super wall.”

“I see…” Obsidian Blade said with a smile. “Your idea may indeed be worth the try. All right, this is all it works.”

“Before that…” Blue said, connecting then to Hawthorn. “Lord Hawthorn, while everyone else is building barriers, I want you to hit that thing with many Tailed Beast Bombs and shift its trajectory upwards.”

He then turned to Silverweed and told him:

“Silverweed, now I need to connect me with everyone on the battlefield. Can you do it?”

“I may not be at the same level as Diamong Glow, but that doesn’t matter” he replied. “I’m going to do it.”

And he started to do so.

At the Nothingness Realm, Grogar asked to Shining:

“What is your issue in a world of illusions? Reality is cruel. This hole will just getting bigger. Things don’t go the way you want. The help not always arrives in time. Just like it was with me. Don’t you agree, grandson? How would you seal this hole when there’s light and darkness fighting against each other and taking down anyone caught in the crossfire?”

There was a great pause and then Shining said:

“I may not be as noble and knowledgeable as my sister, but I learned a thing or two.”

He then remembered everything he saw his sisters and her friends passed through and the lessons they learned, and then said:

“The hole in one’s heart gets filled by the ones around you. But they won’t flock to someone who abandoned and gave up on the world just because things didn’t went the way they want to or because he stopped fighting for their own will. That won’t do anything to fill the hole on your heart. And no one don’t help those who run away and do nothing. As long as you don’t give up, there will always be salvation.”

Outside, through Silverweed, Blue transmitted to everyone how to do an earth barrier.

“No matter what you say or do…” Grogar said, smiling. “…it’s over.”

And Ten-Tails fired the Tailed Beast Bomb, while everyone created earth barriers

“Here it comes, Hawthorn!” Gyuki exclaimed.

“Right!” Hawthorn replied.

And they turned into their tailed beast form, starting to fire multiple Tailed Beast Bombs to Ten-Tails’, but it continued.

“Its power is off the charts!” Gyuki exclaimed, moving.

Ten-Tails’ Tailed Beast Bomb started to pass through the barriers like they were nothing. It would appear it was more powerful than they thought. But then it passed the last barrier and, when everyone thought they would be hit, Gyuki and Hawthorn tried to prevent its advance.

“Tedious whitewashing…” Grogar said. “True happiness can only be achieve when you abandon the light and ridding yourself of the memories of the ones you love.”

“In the lights of the Order, the ones who abandon their friends are scum, but the ones who don’t cherish their friends are even worse scum than that” Shining replied.

When Hawthorn thought they wouldn’t be able to hold it, the Tailed Beast Bomb just vanished. That let everyone confused.

Shining charged his horn, creating a light sword, and said:

“I won’t abandon what I know about the old you… even if the current you who is repudiating it.”

After Ten-Tails’ Tailed Beast Bomb disappeared, Heartbeat appeared in front of Star and asked:

“Am I too late?”

“No way” Star replied to her, smiling. “You got here right on time, Heartbeat.”

Counterattack

Heartbeat’s sudden appearance caused surprise to everyone around her, even Twilight, who asked:

“Heartbeat? How can you be here? I thought you were…”

“And I was… until a few moments ago” she replied. “But before that, you better prepare yourself for the explosion.”

That caused even more confusion, but then an explosion happened at far.

“I sent Ten-Tails’ attack to over the sea” Heartbeat revealed.

And a big wave caused by the sea washed the battlefield. All the ones who couldn’t fly had to endure the cold water before it calmed down.

“Now, answering to your question, princess, I am not the only one awake” Heartbeat revealed. “Purple Smoke and Melody also recovered. This spell of the General of Chaos weakens with time, but when our element is renewed, then our power returns before time.”

“This is really surprising” Twilight confessed, turning then to Star. “But you knew about this, Star?”

“Yeah, I sensed her when I was in Nine-Tails Mode” he replied. “The others should arrive here soon enough.”

There was a pause and then Celestia and Ingrid landed beside Heartbeat.

“Well, Heartbeat, you keep as fast as ever” the former said.

“Yeah, it’s impressive having in count that you were in a coma a few moments ago” Ingrid added.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed with a smile. “Queen Ingrid! You’re okay!”

“All thanks to Purple Smoke and Melody” Celestia replied. “They were the ones to finish Tirek and imprison him.”

At that moment, Luna approached and embraced her sisters, saying:

“I’m so glad you’re here! But how about the others?”

“Don’t worry, they will come” Ingrid ensure. “But Heartbeat thought it was best to bring us two ahead.”

It was then that Hepheus landed in a higher point nearby and exclaimed:

“Celestia! Finally, you arrived. I’ve been waiting for our meeting.”

Seeing Hepheus once more, but as the General of Chaos, made Celestia to have a tight in her heart.

“Sister…” both Ingrid and Luna said, worried about Celestia.

But then Celestia knew what she had to do. She turned to Hepheus and told him:

“I’ll deal with you later. First, I’ll stop the Ten-Tails.”

Hepheus chuckled and then said:

“Always the same thing. You didn’t change a bit.”

“What could you expect?” Heartbeat said. “After all, that thing is coming toward us.”

She was right, as Ten-Tails started to advance.

“Star, you did it really great” Heartbeat said. “Now, why don’t you rest a bit?”

And she turned her back and, at that moment, Kurama, while he was gathering energy, felt something familiar.

“This presence…” he said. “It’s Heartbeat. What’s going on?”

“Very well, let’s begin this” Celestia said to Luna, Ingrid and Heartbeat.

And then Heartbeat was involved by energy, the same type of energy Star had when in Nine-Tails Mode, much to everyone’s surprise.

“It is time for our counter-attack.”

Although Twilight didn’t understood how that could be, Star and Kurama did.

“I never imagined that Heartbeat would to…” the fox said.

“I know” Star said. “Heartbeat never stops amazing us.”

“I know that even better than you do” Kurama replied. “Even after Golden Paladin and Leaf Mane split my energy and left me with almost nothing and after they sealed half of my essence in you, I still keep being surprised by those General of Order.”

And then Heartbeat, Ingrid and Luna teleported away, each one appearing in other three locations located in three cardinal direction and, together with Celestia, they created a barrier around the Ten-Tails.

“And now I’ll add another thing” Celestia said, focusing more energy.

And light restrains came out of the ground and started to bind the tailed beast’s tails, pinning them against the ground.

“Impressive…” Silverweed said.

“This barrier is normally used by the Generals because it is needed a great quantity of energy to create it” Blue said. “But, having in count that we have three alicorn powering it, it is even more powerful than usual.”

The beast roared intensively, feeling trapped.

“No way…” Twilight said, seeing that, while finishing healing Star.

The young jinchuriki rose up, advanced and then said:

“Thanks, mom, for healing me. Now it’s your turn to get some rest.”

But then Twilight put herself by her son and told him:

“Don’t think because I’m your mother that I can’t fight by your side, Star. I already stand down when you fought against the General of Chaos and your father already fought with you. Now it’s my turn. After all, I am the Princess of the Light Kingdom.”

Although a little surprised, Star smiled and nodded to her.

“And don’t forget about me” Blue said, appearing beside Star. “We’re a family and we’ll do this together.”

With the help of his parents, Star knew he would stop that beast.

“Okay, let’s do this!” he exclaimed.

And so, as if sensing that, Ten-Tails started to make another Tailed Beast Bomb.

“It wants to break the barrier!” Heartbeat exclaimed. “Your Highnesses, hold up and focus!”

“Yes, we know that” Luna replied.

When the ball was ready, Ten-Tails fired it. The explosion happened inside, what caused the barrier to expand, while containing the explosion. But it got out from the top, like a volcano.

“Tha barrier held!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah!” Rainbow Dash said. “Way to go, Heartbeat! Princesses Celestia and Luna! Queen Ingrid!”

“I have to say, that thing is really amazing to be able to keep it trap” Shadow Claw commented.

“But where is Ten-Tails?” Cloud Chaser asked.

And, when the dust inside the barrier cleared, the beast reappeared.

“That Ten-Tails…” Godot said. “It appears it just scorched itself.”

“That really isn’t just a simple barrier” Gael observed.

“Wow!” Star exclaimed.

“That really is an impressive work of magic” Twilight said.

“It was designed by Mirror Coat and Golden Paladin for the eventuality of Ten-Tails be revived” Blue explained. “No wonder Ten-Tails wasn’t able to break it, even more with the barrier made of magic coming from three alicorns.”

Celestia then used her magic to create five clones of herself with light nature.

“I’ll make four entry points…” one clone said.

“…so everyone can…”

“…get in and out…”

“… and fight that thing.”

Everyone cheered and then Luna, using her darkness nature, pinned Ten-Tails body against the ground, while the other members of the Alliance followed four of Celestia’s clones to get inside the barrier. The other clone flew to where Hepheus and told him:

“Now, it’s your turn. Sorry to keep you waiting, Hepheus, but we now can settle this.”

“No way” Hepheus replied, sitting down. “A clone is no fun at all. How can I fight a mere copy of the mare I love and I must fight. I’ll remain here until the real you comes.”

The other clones created openings on the barrier and then said:

“Go now!”

And everyone, including Star and his parents advanced. Noticing the danger approaching, Ten-Tails reacted by making small copies of himself erupt from his body. Those copies were different in size and form, but they all shared many of the Ten-Tails' distinctive traits, such as his mouth as well as spiked protrusions on their heads and backs.

“Those are fissure beings, created as a way to protect him” Heartbeat told.

Those beings landed on the ground and started to advance, creating blades on their arms. They then meet with the Alliance, that was being led by Star. A fight began with everyone doing their best to neutralize them all.

Looking to her mother, Star saw her fighting in a way he never watched before. The determination and the power in her attacks were even better than he thought she was capable of. But of course he never saw her fighting for real before. His father was also fighting at his very best. It was obvious he was starting to recover his magic as General of Balance, but it was amazing how he could defeat many copies of Ten-Tails just with close combat.

Seeing all that gave Star the determination to do his best as well and, covering himself with Nine-Tails’ energy, he created a Spiraling Sphere to defeat a copy that was about to attack Twilight who then smiled at him, thanking.

But they were not the only ones giving their best. Rainbow Dash, Soarin and Cloud Chaser also attacked from above, taking advantage of the fact the copies couldn’t fly, while Applejack and Big Mac defeated many with their strength. Shadow Claw, on his turn, used his pony-wolf abilities, being able to dominate his battles with his speed and using his claws to pierce them, while Spike used his fire to torch his enemies.

However, the number of enemies kept increasing, along with their size.

“This is not good” Blue said. “If this continues like this, we won’t last long. Star, can you give us the energy cloaks again?”

“Not quite now” he replied. “Kurama isn’t done recharging his energy yet.”

“To take down the main body, we need to take down the big ones or have someone to pass through them” Twilight said. “Perhaps the pegasi, the griffons or the dragons can do that, but they are too busy fighting their own battles.”

“But, without your energy, Star, we may suffer several casualties and the medical core can’t come here” Blue added.

But then Star advanced, charging his horn with magic.

“So, we need something to pass through them, like flying. Well, I have something in mind.”

And he made a summoning spell, making a great quantity of smoke appear around him. When the smoke, a great toad appeared, with Star over his head, using a blue jack, wearing a necklace with a large bead, holding a katana in a sheath and smoking a cigarette. It was then that Star noticed where he was standing.

“This color… Wait, you’re… Tough Skin!”

“Pops was busy with some negotiations, so I came in his place instead” he replied. “What, are surprised?”

“No, not really, but you sure got big all of the sudden!” Star exclaimed.

“It’s just you ponies grow too slowly” Tough Skin replied. “So, tell me, what’s the deal here anyway?”

“You see that giant monster over there?” Star asked. “Can you get me closer with some leaps?”

“You mean the biggest one?” Tough Skin asked.

“That’s right” Star replied, turning then to his mother. “Mom, can you heal and protect everyone like you did when Hepheus invaded the Light Kingdom?”

Twilight then nodded and told:

“You can count on me, son.”

“Now, attack!” Star exclaimed. “Jump, Tough Skin!”

And the big toad did so, while Twilight accessed to her magic to execute the same thing she did at the time of the Light Kingdom’s destruction. The force of Tough Skin’s jump was such that Blue Sword had to protect himself. With that jump, Star and Tough Skin started to pass through Ten-Tails’ copies. When they threw spikes to the duo, Tough Skin used his katana to defend them all.

“Nice, Tough Skin!” Star congratulated. “I can see your size is not for show.”

“Never mind that” he replied. “Can you just hurry up and make so magic? Come on, get on with it! Do you want me to shake you off my head?”

Star could noticed that Tough Skin hadn’t only grown in size, but also in attitude.

“If that toad friend of yours want to see some magic, then we can show him that” Kurama told Star in their plane.

“What do you mean?” Star asked.

“Now that we’re in harmony, we can combine our own natures to create a new one” the nine-tailed fox replied.

“Wait, are you serious? A new combined nature?”

“We both have wind nature, but it is possible to combine my fire nature with your darkness nature. We just need a little more time to execute that.”

“And you can do that, while gathering more energy?” Star asked.

“Please, how dare you to doubt of my abilities?” Kurama replied. “Just focus on your part that I focus on mine.”

Meanwhile, Twilight’s magic arrived to everyone around who started to get healed and have their energy renewed. Seeing that, the original Celestia couldn’t help but smile, while seeing her former pupil executing an immense control over her magic in a way she was never able to do.

While approaching Ten-Tails, Star had his eyes closed, while focusing his magic and joining his darkness nature with Kurama’s fire nature and then black flames erupted from his horn and formed a pinwheel.

“But that’s…” Heartbeat said, while seeing that. “The blaze nature, the nature that creates flames capable of burning any material and impossible to be extinguished by water or other methods except for its user… That Nine-Tails… He really knows how to use Star’s abilities.”

Preparing to launch the attack, Star exclaimed:

“Blazing Hurricane!”

And he threw it and it hit Ten-Tails’ body was engulfed with black flames, causing it to scream in pain. Tough Skin landed and he said:

“Wow, that was really impressive” commented the giant toad. “I see you got better with your magic, Star.”

But he didn’t reply, staying watching Ten-Tails burning, hopping that with that he could defeat that beast.

Grogar's Resolution

Star was observing Ten-Tails being burned by the black flames, when Kurama told him:

“Let the flames weaken him and then put them out. We need to save the tailed beasts.”

“Yes, I know that” Star replied.

It was then that, for his surprise, Ten-Tails just remove the part of his body that was burning, that fell on the ground. But he couldn’t think about that, as he was surrounded by the other copies.

At the Nothingness Realm, after some exchange of blows, Shining and Grogar gave some distance to each other and then the former said:

“It looks like I won’t be able to find something capable of changing you, grampa. Now, all I can give is just death.”

“Then I should do the same” Grogar replied.

And then they advanced and started another exchange of physical blows. It was a very balanced fight, looking like each one could predict each other’s moves. The truth was their style was very alike, as White Light was the one who thought most of those moves to Shining, having learning them from Star Shield.

But then an opening from Shining allowed Grogar to headbut him and threw him against the floor. When he tried to attack him, the white unicorn was quick to dodge and stand up, continuing then their balanced fight. After Shining was able to hit a blow on Grogar’s face, the latter gave him a kick that made Shining retreat. Grogar advanced against him and they resumed their close fight.

When they went to give more blows to each other’s face, they ended up grabbing each other’s hooves, measuring strength, while staring at one another. The evil ram then smiled and then said:

“Let’s see if you can handle this.”

And he hit him with the head on the stomach and hit Shining, making him retreat and, ringing his bell, launched sonic waves. Shining responded, creating his shield that was able to defend that attack. But it created a lot of cracks that Grogar took advantage of to headbut the shield, what caused it to fall apart and allowed him to hit on his grandson. But when he was about to hit shining again with the sharp tips of his horns, Shining used his light nature to blind Grogar momently and punch him, what caused the ram to be thrown back and fall on the ground.

Creating a light sword, Shining advanced to finish Grogar, who then started to get up, while charging his horns with light nature. The two started to go toward each other and, during that moment, Shining couldn’t let think about his family. He apologized to his grandmother, father, uncle and sister what he was about to do and acknowledged his nephew for being stronger than he was, saying that the one thing he could at that moment to save everyone and the Star Shield everyone loved and admired was… to kill Grogar.

The two attacks collided, with each one piercing the other. However, Grogar had hit Shining’s shoulder, while Shining hit Grogar’s torso. The ram spat blood to the ground and the two separated from each other, with the former falling on the ground, while the white unicorn kneeled and took a hoof to the wound on the shoulder, parting. Grogar rose up a bit and Shining told him:

“It’s over… grandpa.”

But Grogar just laughed through the pain he was feeling and the blood he was spitting out and said:

“Very well… I’ll let you… win this battle… However… I’m not… giving up… the war!”

And he disappeared from the Nothingness Realm, what caused some relief to Shining, as now he had some time to recover.

At the real world, Hepheus, having enough of waiting, impaled with a dark light sword Celestia’s clone.

“I thought I told you I hadn’t any intension in fighting a clone” he said. “They give no resistance. I respect the effort, but it’s pointless. You’re concentrating too much power in your own body.”

And the clone started to fade in light and Celestia’s clone said:

“Hepheus, I know you’re too holding back…”

But she didn’t finish, as she dissipated completely. But then he felt something and asked:

“What is that?”

And Grogar reappeared over Ten-Tails, completely in pain due to his battle with Shining. Observing that, Hepheus realized that he was of no use to him now. However, he would need more power to ensure more control over Ten-Tails when the time to become his jinchuriki arrived. So, using his magic, started to attempt to steal the wild energy that was inside him.

Grogar then felt a bigger pain, while spikes of wood started to erupt from his body. He could feel the wild energy covering his body, wanting to get out. He knew that Hepheus was taking by force the wild energy he had absorbed.

But Grogar wouldn’t let him take it that easily. Even though he was the General of Chaos, he dedicated decades of his life to the Lord of Chaos and had a lot of work to make sure his plan would carry on. He wouldn’t let Hepheus to discard him as if he was a dirty rag. So, using all the power he still had, Grogar rang the bell, casting a spell he had learned long ago while studying everything he knew about Ten-Tails, while making a roar that caught everyone’s attention.

“But that’s…” Star started, recognizing that scream.

However, Grogar, in order to finish the spell, had to fight Hepheus’.

“Grogar, do you finally understand you’re just a back-up to ensure our master’s plan? It is time for you to do your final act for our master.”

Noticing what was happening to Grogar, Celestia realized he was being controlled by Hepheus. She knew Hepheus was trying to get more power in order to become jinchuriki.

“Star, your close!” she exclaimed. “Ensure Grogar or else Hepheus will have what he needs to carry on the Lord of Chaos’ curse!”

“I got you!” Star replied. “Let’s go, Tough Skin!”

“Yes!” he replied, giving then a leap.

Meanwhile, Celestia tried to create more clones, but she was only able to make five. That was her limit at the moment.

“Ingrid!” she exclaimed.

“Right!” the queen replied.

And she created ice clones, but was only able to create two.

“I can only create these ones” she said. “This is just embarrassing coming from the Snow Queen.”

“Don’t worry” Celestia replied. “We just have to do what we can with what we have.”

And the clones advanced.

“I see, as they can’t reach Grogar in time, they’ll come against me instead. But they must know that their clones are not enough to stop me.”

As he struggled against Hepheus and carried own his own spell, his fur started to get white. Star and Tough Skin advanced as fast as they could to reach Grogar. While doing that, he ram found himself thinking about his family, the one he had as Star Shield. At that moment, Heartbeat, as a clone, appeared before him and attacked, while feeling what he was feeling at that moment.

“So, even as villain… you were still the same deep down…” Heartbat said.

And Grogar fell on the ground. Star noticed that, but he continued to advance.

Celestia’s clones arrived, waiting to know what had happened. Then, Hepheus looked at them with a smile and said:

“What a failure… But… Oh well…”

Heartbeat continued to look to Grogar, fallen on the ground. She couldn’t help but feel pity for him.

“I’m sorry, but now we must end this war” Heartbeat said. “With you down, we now just have to stop Hepheus and the war will be over.”

But then a smile appeared on Grogar’s face and he asked:

“What makes you think… that this war… is over… dear General?”

And then a tremor beneath them happened and then his body started to absorb Ten-Tails. Before that happened, Heartbeat jumped off Ten-Tails, but, when the force of the absorption started to pull her in, Star was quick to take her with energy arms and bring her to Tough Skin.

“Go, Tough Skin!” Star exclaimed.

“All right” he replied, while landing on the solidified dark binds that were holding Ten-Tails.

They then looked Ten-Tails being pulled and absorbed to one single point.

“What’s going on?” Star asked.

And Ten-Tails was fully absorbed, leaving nothing but a whited sphere.

“Grogar repelled Hepheus’ manipulation” Heartbeat replied. “And now he just did what he wanted to do from the beginning.”

And the sphere started to crack and then broke.

“You mean… that he has become…” Star started.

And Grogar reappeared. His body, with some parts still covered by scales, had a fur completely white. When he broke the scales covering him, he now revealed all of his body. He had ten protrusions emerge from his back, five near his shoulders and five near his hips, and the entire right half of his body gains a scale-like pattern across it.

“…the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki…” Star said.

The Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki

At the battlefield, everyone was confused by Ten-Tails’ sudden disappearance.

“The Ten-Tails… disappeared…” Spike said.

“But how can that be?” Flambeau asked. “Do you know what happened, big brother?”

“No, but I intend to find out” he replied.

And, taking flight, he landed where Twilight was and asked:

“Twilight, do you know what happened? We can’t see anything.”

“It’s difficult to control a spell to enhance vision right now, but I can try” she replied.

“Of course you can” Spike said. “Don’t forget I saw you do many things no other unicorn ever did.”

“Spike is right, Twily” Blue replied. “You can do it.”

And so Twilight executed the spell to enhance vision and then saw what just happened, what left her astonished.

“What is it?” Blue asked to his wife.

She took some time but then replied:

“Ten-Tails was… absorbed by Grogar.”

“Don’t tell me…” Blue said.

After Grogar reappeared as jinchuriki, Tough Skin landed on one of the binds. The ones making the barrier couldn’t help but also notice that their problems had become worse with the revealing of the new jinchuriki.

“How could I miss that?” Star said. “I now can see it… All the other tailed beasts… Thanks to the energy they gave me, I can now notice their presence inside Grogar.”

“He must have done the same spell the Lord of Order did to create the first jinchuriki to Ten-Tails” Heartbeat said. “This is bad, really bad.”

Hawthorn, who also noticed Grogar, asked in his mind to Gyuki:

“Eight-Tails, is that his final form?”

“No, it’s not” he replied. “It’s difficult to explain, but that isn’t it. It seems Ten-Tails was used to create a jinchuriki before he could reach his final form.”

Grogar turned to Star and Heartbeat, but then light and dark binds wrapped around him and pulled him down. That was made by Celestia and Luna who acted immediately after noticing he had become a jinchuriki.

“Nice work!” Star exclaimed, with a smile.

But Heartbeat wasn’t that confident.

“Not quite” she said.

And, to everyone’s surprise, all those binds were destroyed and Grogar stood up, with flames at the tips of the protrusions on his back. It was then that the flames took the form of arms that extended and grabbed the barrier at five different locations and pulled it in until Celestia, Ingrid, Luna and the real Heartbeat lost control of it, what caused it to be undone. With that, Celestia and Ingrid both lost focus and all the clones they did disappeared, even the ones facing Hepheus.

“No way…” Blue said. “The barrier design by Mirror Coat and Golden Paladin…”

“Is it just me or he just become stronger than he was when gigantic?” Hawthorn asked to Gyuki.

“Before, he was just throwing his brute strength around” the tailed beast explained. “But now, he apparently learned to focus it.”

Under the red moon, Celestia said to all the members of the Alliance:

“Hold on, everyone! Keep your guard up. He has made Ten-Tails’ power his own. There is no telling what he might do. He broke the barrier.”

Grogar then gave a big jump and landed at the bind where Tough Skin was and then Heartbeat said:

“Please, Star Shield, you have to stop this now.”

Her words caused Grogar to said:

“Star… Shield…”

“He doesn’t look okay” Star said.

“His mind…” Heartbeat said. “He’s not completely in control.”

At that moment, clones of the three alicorn sisters landed before them.

“Now that Ten-Tails had found a jinchuriki, he has become stronger than us together” Celestia said.

“That indeed appears to be true” Luna agreed.

“Even with us reabsorbing our remaining clones, we’re no match” Ingrid said.

Grogar extended a hoof and then a black energy sphere appeared and a hole appeared on the hoof.

Hepheus, witnessing that, got up and said:

“It would be fun see the alicorn princess getting more than they can chew. But I simply cannot wait any longer. Right now, Grogar can control all the natures of magic. I can’t let him take the lead before using my trump car.”

And the sphere started to change form and pass through the hole, doing the same with the other hoof. That created a weapon similar to umbrella and, noticing the danger of that, Celestia and Ingrid created barriers, but, in a flash, the barrier was turned into nothing and even hit Ingrid who turned into ice in a matter of moments but that created ice was used to trap him, while Luna took flight.

“Heartbeat, get out of here!” Luna exclaimed.

She nodded and teleported herself, Star and Tough Skin away, while Luna and Ingrid got as high as ever, while Celestia approached him and hold him.

“You maybe a jinchuriki, but you’re still mortal” Celestia, while charging herself with energy.

And, at the same time, Luna casted her most powerful magical beams against Celestia, who got even more charged and then a great explosion happened.

Heartbeat, Star and Tough Skin reappeared near the explosion, feeling the ground shaking.

“But what’s going on?” Star asked, opening his wings to get some balance.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a combined explosive attack of light and darkness nature” Heartbeat said.

While the explosion happened, some members of the First Unit wanted to join the battle, but Arcing told them:

“Don’t be hasty! We need to…”

“Don’t approached that!” the real Celestia told, as she knew how a combined explosion using a light clone could be very destructive.

And the explosion stopped, making everyone look to see if it had worked. It was then that, in the middle of the air, Grogar appeared when the smoke cleared. The dark matter he had created was now surrounding part of his body, coming from the umbrella structure that he had created. Seeing how he had survived to that explosion, Arcing asked:

“What is he…?”

The dark matter retreated to the umbrella form it had before. Luna, who had landed after the explosion, couldn’t believe what just happened. Before that, Luna launched a magical shot that soon multiplied at its way.

With the other hoof, Grogar created another black sphere and altered the form of the umbrella-like structure, expanding hit and using it as a shield to defend itself from the magic shots, heading toward Luna. Seeing that, Luna concluded that it was like King Hard Stone’s particle nature, but with the ability to change form and be continuously maintained. It was when that the sphere, extending through Grogar’s hoof, turned into a lance that extended to Luna, hitting a foreleg and ripping it off. After that, Luna could see it was a kind of combination even superior to the triple nature.

The ram then recollected the dark matter at the umbrella-like structure to the shape of the sphere again and then he grabbed Luna’s face and the sphere went to the same thing again and almost of her body exploded into dust, while the rest dissipated in darkness.

“A good thing the alicorn sisters used clones” Star said. “Otherwise, they would be finished.”

“That is the job that a clone has: to help the original in things that he can’t do or is too dangerous” Heartbeat replied. “Now, we must analyze what we have to counterattack.”

Grogar then turned to them and Heartbeat said:

“I’ll go first.”

Celestia, knowing she herself had to intervene, started to head toward the battle:

“I have to do something…”

But then Hepheus landed before her and said:

“I can’t wait any longer, Celestia!”

Ingrid and Luna teleported nearby and the former said:

“Sister…”

“We’re here to help you deal with him” Luna added.

“No, you can stay nearby to hold my back” Celestia told them. “But I am the one that has to fight him. However, if Star and Heartbeat need your help, you have to go and help them.”

Although they didn’t want to, the two of them nodded to her.

“Just look at you three” Hepheus said. “Who would said that the three sisters would get along again.”

“The time I and my sisters were at backs against each other is over” Celestia said.

“It’s good to know that, but don’t think that will change the outcome of this war” Hepheus replied.

And the Grogar took flight to go against his adversaries. In the mid-flight, his body, however, started to physically be distorted, what caused him to fall on the ground.

“What the…” Star said, while he, Heartbeat and Tough Skin looked to Grogar’s inflated and distorted body.

Heartbeat, seeing that, realized that Ten-Tails hadn’t sync with his jinchuriki yet. That was their chance to defeat him. And she started to advance toward Grogar and, while that, the original Heartbeat joined the clone who told her:

“It was about time.”

“Hey, had to give the princess a shot” the original said. “Let’s go and take care of this.”

While he observed Heartbeat advancing, Star felt something and exclaimed:

“Tough Skin, below you!”

Acting immediately, Tough Skin took his katana and stabbed it below, but an explosion tossed the big toad against the ground, while Star was thrown out of his head, using his wings to land safely. The upper body of Grogar immerged with the shield made of one of the spheres. Noting that, one of the Heartbeats said:

“He passed underground.”

“But just his upper body” the other added.

And the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki extended the other sphere into a lance again and tried to attack Star, but then a force field protected the latter, starting to undo the lance. That was created by Blue who put himself ahead of his son, while Grogar retreated the dark matter to the form of a sphere again.

“Dad, you…” Star started.

“Yes, I recovered my power” Blue replied. “But don’t get your guard down, son. I don’t think this will be enough to counter that.”

And, truth to the statement, Grogar extended his body and grabbed Star and Blue’s faces, like he did with Luna’s clone, and prepared to do the same he did at that time. Heartbeat tried to do something, but Grogar lower body was giving her and her clone a lot of work. But when he was about to do it, Star extended his energy arms to touch Blue and then Heartbeat and she took that moment to use the swift nature with the three of them, right at the moment Grogar expanded the black matter. They then reappeared at Tough Skin’s edge, who started to get up.

“I really thought we were done” Star replied.

“Yeah, I think that not even us would be left entire” Blue said.

“But that was a very quick thought, Star” Heartbeat replied.

Grogar unearthed the extension that connected him to his distorted body and Tough Skin commented:

“He looks like a snake.”

At that moment, the right side of Grogar started to get distorted as well, expanding.

“What is that?” Star asked.

“We have to take him down while he’s unable to use his body well” Heartbeat said.

Grogar extended his distorted to use, in an attempt to use it, creating a big hole and showing the black sphere. He prepared to used it, but something made him fire slightly wrong, what caused it to go at some distance. It then expanded as created an explosion and, when it ended, the sphere decreased in size.

“Was he after your clone, Heartbeat?” Star asked.

“No, I don’t think he was after it” she replied.

When the sphere returned, they noticed that the part of his body that fired it had disappeared.

“What happened?” Star asked.

“He hit himself with his own attack” Blue said.

“His attack missed its target” Heartbeat said. “I think Grogar’s consciousness is merely cleaning on with Ten-Tails’ great power. He barely has any control of it.”

“Well, I’m glad he missed us, otherwise, we would be dead” Tough Skin commented. “We can’t kill him without approach him.”

“Now it’s time to serve of my swift nature” Heartbeat said, advancing. “I’ll create an opening and you two immediately hit him with your most powerful attacks.”

“Starlight…” he said.

That was then his body detorted even more.

Listening that, Heartbeat felt the old Star Shield for a moment again, with Grogar screaming due to what was happening to his body.

It was then that Grogar started to remember his time with Starlight and when he had his two sons, the happiest moments of his light before being corrupted. All his body was practically distorted, except for an eye, where a tear started to come out. In his mind, the faces of the ones he loved in his old life started to be teared apart one by one, while Ten-Tails broke his mind, until the only face that left was Starlight’s. She was the only sparkle of light, the one thing that prevented him from entering the oblivion.

When that only face started to disappear and Grogar was at the limit of losing himself, a sudden willpower invaded him and, piece by piece, all of his being started to be restored. With that, his body changed and returned to normal, with it changing again slightly, with ten dark sphere floating behind him and Grogar holding a staff of the same material.

Heartbeat lend a quick attack that Grogar blocked easily.

“Looks like you arrived too late… General” Grogar replied.

He prepared the same blow he did with Blue and Star, but Heartbeat was quick to retreat, but not with a large piece of his tail to be taken. After arriving to Blue and Star’s edge, she said:

“Damn, he almost caught me. I can’t believe he just cut my tail! Now I have to wait for it to grow back and I love having my tail long.”

“I think you have to thank that he didn’t cut anything else” Blue replied.

“Are you sure of that?” Grogar asked, pointing.

It was then that they all noticed that Grogar made Heartbeat retreat with one of his spheres. And it started to glow, preparing to explode. Heartbeat prepared to take that sphere away, while Blue created a barrier for him and Star, however her respond would be slower after her latest retreat. At that moment, Ingrid appeared and teleported away with the sphere. She then reappeared beside Grogar and told him:

“Here, you can have this back.”

And, having said that, she teleported away, taking Grogar and the sphere with her. A few moments later, an explosion happened a few distance away. A few moments later, Ingrid reappeared again and said:

“Don’t worry, I only teleported a clone.”

“Thanks, Queen Ingrid” Blue replied. “But where is Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.”

“Celestia was intercepted by Hepheus” Ingrid replied. “I and Luna wanted to help her, but she wanted us to help you first if you needed. I noticed you could use some help, so I came.”

Where Celestia was facing Hepheus, with Luna nearby, the two former lovers looked at each other for some time without saying anything. But then he was then surrounded by darkness, while she was surrounded by light, taking both flight and starting to shock against each other. Celestia was able to subdue him for a moment and exclaimed:

“Out of my way, Hepheus!”

“I don’t have much time” Hepheus said. “But is something I have to do now.”

And the darkness around him to the form of a alicorn and Celestia did the same with the light. They crushed after that, but, after some exchange of blows, Hepheus was able to threw Celestia against the ground. He approached her and prepared an attack with a dark blade that Celestia stopped with the hooves of the light figure.

All the ones that were witnessing that couldn’t believe the level Celestia and Hepheus were. Twilight, noticing how the others were starting to get unmotivated with all that fight, called:

“Silverweed, please.”

“Got it” he said, approaching.

After placing his hoof on her forehead, Twilight was connected to everyone in the battlefield and told them:

“Even a small power can be helpful depending on how it is used. We may not be able to help in the fight now, but it may come a time where we’ll be needed. So don’t take your eyes of the battlefield in case that time arrives. Our power can change the course of this war. We cannot afford to relax and let our guard down, even for a second.”

Those words from Twilight really get everyone’s moral up, with them now more confident. Applejack and Rainbow Dash smiled, as they knew Twilight would be the one to recover everyone’s courage, like she ever did in the past countless of times.

At the fight between the two alicorns become even more intense, with Celestia giving a powerful blow that forced Hepheus to retreat.

“I cannot believe that we’re fighting against each other” Celestia said. “After Day Glow, I never thought I would love another stallion. After you saved me and everyone, risking everything to recover the fire, you were captured by the Lord of Chaos and I thought I would never see you again. My heart was broken again and I lost hope to love again. I got to meet with Day Glow again, and now you. But this meeting is more painful, because of your darkened heart.”

“Very sweet words, Celestia, but you can’t convince me with them” Hepheus said. “Since the beginning, I was a villain and I will always be.”

“You’re wrong” Celestia replied. “You were a hero once. I can’t just believe that pony never existed, because he did.”

“That may be true, but the Lord of Chaos will never let that happen again” Hepeus said. “He has complete control over me.”

“He already had once and you fought back” Celestia said. “Don’t tell me he has your heart.”

“No, he just broke my will to fight back at him” Hepheus said. “So, if you want to stop me, you had to do like you did with any other villain.”

And they continued to look at each other.

Spike approached Twilight and asked:

“So, what should we do first?”

“First, we need to figure out the circumstances of their battle” Twilight said. “Also…”

But she didn’t finished, as her thought went to the battle with Grogar, wondering what was going on there.

Looking to the place where the explosion happened, Tough Skin asked:

“Well, did we get him?”

After a moment, a big sphere get out of the smoke and started to unveil, showing Grogar completely untouched. He landed and then the dark matter took the form of the ten black spheres.

“He blocked it” Ingrid said. “He’s fast. We can’t hit him with no ordinary spells.”

Grogar looked at them.

“I’ll have to use my swift nature on a better way” Heartbeat said. “In order to escape those spheres, we’ll have to be quick. With that, I can create an opening with that.”

“No, I can do it” Star said, charging his horn.

And he launched his blaze nature, but Grogar defended it with the staff. Star started to advanced.

“That boy…” Heartbeat said. “He may seem as level-headed as Princess Twilight, but he can resist being rushed into things, just like you, Blue.”

“What can I say?” he replied. “He is my son.”

As Star was advancing toward Grogar, the latter told the former:

“I saw you concentrating that combined nature on your horn. It was hardly a surprise attack.”

“I can help you with your swift nature, Heartbeat” Ingrid said, turning then to Blue. “Can you use your power as General?”

“I only recovered all my magic a few moments ago, so I’m still adapting” Blue answered. “But I can use it.”

“Good, then let’s go” Ingrid said.

As he advanced, Star to create his Blazing Hurricane. At that moment, Ingrid appeared behind Grogar, touching him with a hoof, while Blue appeared in front of Star with the help of Heartbeat’s speed, being safe from the attack thanks to his ability as General of Balance.

“Dad…” Star said.

“No, Star, you must be the main act” Blue said.

“Now, Queen Ingrid!” Heartbeat exclaimed.

And Ingrid used a spell to allow her and Grogar change places with Blue and Heartbeat and Grogar was hit, having no way to dodge. Star’s attack then pushed Grogar and Ingrid, with the later then teleporting.

Hitting the ground after that, the black flames were visible at distance and Twilight, seeing that, used the enhance vision to watch how her son and husband were. To her relief, they were both okay.

“All right!” Star exclaimed, seeing the black flames.

“So, did you guys get him?” Tough Skin asked.

It was then that the ten spheres advanced to where Grogar was, while Ingrid teleported to Blue and Heartbeat’s side.

“We made a direct hit before those black things could protect him” Ingrid said. “I’m pretty sure he felt that one.”

They all watch, waiting to confirm that they got Grogar. But then, to everyone’s astonishment, the black spheres made the black flames disappear and Grogar appeared, rising up and taking flight.

“It didn’t affected him at all” Ingrid observed.

“We had to avoid those transforming black spheres and yet our attacks had no effect on him” Blue said. “It’s offensive and defensive are so fast.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but he seems to be even as fast as me, or more” Heartbeat commented.

“He seems to be just perfect” Star said, while landing at the others’ side.

“You’re right, it is like he got dream-like power” Blue said.

“I know possess the power of Nature itself” Grogar said. “A power far superior over Leaf Mane’s. Don’t even compare me to the standers you’re used to.”

Heartbeat thought for a bit and then said:

“Don’t tell me that your magic…”

“What did he meant by that?” Ingrid asked. “A power of Nature that even surpass Leaf Mane’s, the General of Nature?”

“He meant that he now possess the supreme nature” Heartbeat answered.

“The supreme nature?” Star asked. “Is there really something called like that?”

“It doesn’t have a name of its own, because is something that can’t be explained” Heartbeat explained. “We, Generals, are just an extension of the Lord of Order’s power. We don’t have the full powers that our attributes really have, because that could corrupt our minds. You know how Perfect Scale let himself be controlled by his power, so you can imagine how we would be if we had full power over them. I can barely control mine. What Grogar is using is nothing more than the combination of all six basic natures of elemental manipulation. With that, he can absorb practically any elemental magic.”

“Then we must change our strategy” Ingrid said.

“How about physical attacks?” Blue asked.

“Let’s try it” Heartbeat said.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to take the lead” Star said, focusing more magic. “I’ll get to the next level of my Nine-Tails Mode and go deeper to the Tailed Beast state.”

But when he started to do that, the Nine-Tails’ energy that was surrounding him disappeared.

“What the…” the young colt said.

“Looks like you’re out of juice, Star” Heartbeat commented.

At their plane, Star asked Kurama:

“Kurama, come on, lend me more of your energy!”

“Just hold off on Nine-Tails state” he replied, while gathering energy.

“But that’s not something we can beat without it” Star replied.

“Don’t forget you still need me to do the blaze nature and I had to support you during those two last attacks” Kurama reminded him. “So, if you want to get in a perfect tailed beast state, fight on normal mode for now.”

Star sighed, having no other option but to do what Kurama told him. At that moment, Tough Skin expanded his cheeks and then shot a viscous blanket of water. Grogar changed the shape of the staff into a barrier in order to stop the attack.

“What was that, Tough Skin?” Star asked. “If you want to make a move, then do a diversion or…”

After spitting the water that stayed in his mouth, Tough Skin replied:

“Sorry, Star, but we’re reaching the time limit for the summoning. I just wanted to repay that guy with a departing gift.”

That made Star to smile and then he said:

“Thanks for the effort anyway, Tough Skin. Now, go rest up, okay?”

“Sorry about this” he said.

And he disappeared in a curtain of smoke.

Star then turned to Grogar and noticed something that let him intrigued. Although that black matter could neutralize any elemental magic, the water that Tough Skin used didn’t disappeared. He thought for a moment how could that be, but then got it. Heartbeat also noticed that and wondered if that was what she was thinking. She looked to Star and realized that he also noticed that. Knowing what he had to do, she decided to buy him some time.

“Grogar, why are you doing this?” she asked. “I can still sense the old you. You still have some light inside, then why are you causing all this? Why are you fighting your own family.”

“You want to know why?” Grogar asked. “Well, I don’t need a sermon from the most childish of the Generals who only does what she wants. It’s good to see that my descendants are good warriors of the light. But that just made it easier to want to exterminate that light.”

Heartbeat took a moment to think about that answer. She now understood that Grogar’s determination to follow the Lord of Chaos, regarding the fact he still had a part of his old self, was linked to the fact of not wanting his own descendants to do the same mistake as he did.

“I see that you are the only one that can understand what I feel” Grogar replied. “Different from the other Generals, you have the power over the both sides of the coin. But it doesn’t matter if you understand me or not. At this moment, a General is a pathetic existence compared to what I am now.”

And the water that was on the black matter fell off completely and he made it take the form of spheres on both hooves, preparing to make an attack with them.

It was then that Star made a Spiraling Sphere and then said:

“You don’t have the right to make fun of the Generals when you couldn’t even remain loyal to who you are. Don’t forget that my father is one.”

“Star…” Blue started. “What are you…”

And Star teleported to over Grogar and hit him with the Spiraling Sphere.

“And now I’ll put you down!”

When the attack made contact, it started to take effect on Grogar.

“That worked!” Blue exclaimed, as he couldn’t believe it. “I don’t get it.”

“So it is as I thought” Heartbeat said.

“What, Heartbeat?” Ingrid asked.

“Most magic doesn’t work, but it seems magic empowered by natural energy does” she replied.

That made Blue and Ingrid look and then noticed that Star was in sage mode.

“Tough Skin used natural energy and his attack was nullified or erased” Heartbeat said.

The attack cause Grogar to hit hard the ground, while making a big shockwave.

Seeing what just happened, Twilight couldn’t contain herself of joy and pride, seeing his son finally laying a blow on Grogar.

After that shockwave, Heartbeat smiled, glad to see how Star has evolved this far.

“Looks like he grew up to be a great warrior” a voice said, inside Heartbeat. “Don’t you agree, Heartbeat?”

In her mind, a shadow looking like Kurama appeared behind her and told:

“It’s no wonder that he managed to sweet talk my other half.”

The Two Halves of an All

Inside Heartbeat’s mind, the Kurama that was in the shadows let himself be revealed, showing to have a darker color than the one inside Star, telling then to Heartbeat:

“Heartbeat, I have to tell you that brat is a better jinchuriki than you. The Lord of Order was right to seal my other half in him. They can work together in a way, we never could.”

“Well, what can I say, I couldn’t stand you” Heartbeat said. “After all, you were always provoking me and you know that I have a very short patience.”

“And even so you broke Leaf Mane’s seal that was storing me and took it to you” Kurama observed.

“We’re in the middle of war” Heartbeat replied. “We have to use all the tricks we have. Beyond that, I always found this half of yours more… tolerable.”

A pause and then he said:

“Do you remember what day is tomorrow?”

“How could I ever forget” Heartbeat replied.

Inside Star and Kurama’s plane, the fox said to his jinchuriki:

“Star, listen up. I have something to tell you.”

After lending the blow, Star, while gliding, looked and saw Grogar lying on the ground, with a wound at his back, the place where the young alicorn laid his attack. Smiling, Star exclaimed:

“Yes, I knew it! It’s just like I thought!”

Grogar started to get up and said:

“I can’t believe that the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki has such weakeness.”

One of the spheres advanced to heal him, with Grogar cursing in his mind the fact of not be able to pass through things with Ten-Tails inside.

Star landed beside Blue, Heartbeat and Ingrid and said:

“Looks like magic empowered by natural energy will work. And now that I think about it, when I tried to sense Ten-Tails, he was nothing more than a great concentration of natural energy… wild, but still natural. So, like fire can only be fought with fire, the same goes with natural energy. Now I’m really glad that Leaf Mane taught me how to use it.”

Grogar started to rise up in the air, getting out of the hole he was thrown in, with fire appearing at the tips of the spikes on his shoulders.

“It clearly worked, but he’s recovered already and his guarding his back” Ingrid said.

Grogar advanced a little, but then he landed and went down a bit, saying:

“I must start preparing to the Eternal Nightmare Curse, so let’s tight things up.”

It was then that, before everyone’s eyes, a big plant started to grow rapidly, while four big flowers like the one that Ten-Tails had grew up at the trunk and opened.

“There’s truly nothing worthy saving in this reality” Grogar said, taking flight. “This all world is already dead.”

And the four flowers started to create, each one, a Tailed Beast Bomb. That image caught everyone by surprise and they didn’t know how they would dodge something like that when they barely survived to only one.

“Not even an earth wall would work against that” Obsidian Blade said. “There’s too many of them.”

Twilight started to think of way to deal with that, but nothing came to her head.

“We need one pony to teleport each one of those” Ingrid said. “I and Heartbeat can take two, three with Luna’s help, but with Celestia fighting Hepheus and Twilight Sparkle focusing in healing the wounded, we still have one to deal with.”

While fighting, Celestia continued trying to reason with Hepheus.

“Please, Hepheus, you have no time to lose” she said. “Grogar is acting out.”

“We have all the time in the world, there’s no need for worry” Hepheus replied. “Keep fighting.”

Noticing the situation regarding the Tailed Beast Bombs, Luna approached Twilight and told her:

“Twilight Sparkle, I will help my sister and Heartbeat dealing with three of the Tailed Beast Bombs. Make sure that everyone creates defenses for the other one.”

“I won’t let you!” Grogar exclaimed, preparing a sphere that burst into flames.

He then fired six black rods at six locations around the place and, after focusing, an hexagonal barrier, like the one Heartbeat and the three alicorn sisters used, was erected, encasing all the Alliance in it.

“He trapped us inside the barrier and made it in the way we can’t dodge the Tailed Beast Bombs” Luna said. “And because we can’t teleport everyone away in time, we’ll suffer great casualties.”

The spheres around Grogar changed shape and started to involve him, ready to protect him.

“This is the endgame” he said, while doing that.

“Since we can’t teleport one, one of us has to teleport two” Ingrid said.

“Because of the size of those things, that won’t be possible” Blue replied. “But I have another idea.”

“If you intend to teleport the stalk instead to the outside, I warn you that won’t work” Grogar said, while the black matter continued to involve him. “Do you think I would allow that? You cannot save anyone now.”

That demoralized Blue, but then Star said to Heartbeat:

“Heartbeat, I don’t know if this will work or not, but I have an idea and I need your help.”

He extended his hoof and asked:

“Can you give me a hoof bump?”

Knowing what he had in mind, she smiled and then did what he asked. That caused the planes their shared with their respective Kuramas to become ones and the lighter Kurama saluted his other half:

“Hey, my other half, how have you been? Do you mind sharing some of your energy with me?”

That caused the other to make a laugh and the said:

“You know, having myself asking me for a favor is weird.”

While the black matter continued to cover him, Grogar said:

“Star, face it, there’s nothing you can do. That one beside you couldn’t even contain Nine-Tails, forcing you to take her task. You know what tomorrow is, don’t you? It is the anniversary of the day you became a jinchuriki and your life became a nightmare like no other. The day that marked you to be pursued by villains, the day that sealed all the pain you suffered…”

“Oh, right” Star replied. “Which means is also the day when I was marked to be the one to defeat you and your master. So, you see, it’s not over. While I still stand and have the will to fight, this war will not end until I ensure everyone’s future… because I exist in this world!”

All the ones who were listening that smiled, except for Grogar, who continued to look unmoved to him.

“Now, let’s do it, Heartbeat!” Star exclaimed, while entering the next level of his Nine-Tails Mode, with the two Kuramas making a fist bump.

“All right!” she replied.

After a moment, the lighter Kurama told to the darker one:

“Thank goodness for the energy of you two. It’s just as I thought.”

“Yeah, well, the two of us used to be one, after all” the other replied. “Plus, these two are our jinchuriki and suffered a lot because of us. We have to compensate them for everything.”

At the battlefield, everyone started to think that was the end, but some continued to think of a way to defend that attack.

“What’s your idea, son?” Blue asked to Star.

“Just give me some time to focus” he replied to him.

Inside their plane, Star said to Heartbeat:

“Let me explain what Kurama and I came up and then you tell me if it’s going to work or not.”

“Okay, you can tell me” she replied.

After telling his plan, Heatbeat smiled, as she knew that would work.

“Let’s try it. We can do anything if we borrowed Kurama’s power.”

“Right” Star said. “Then let’s having the four of us join forces now.”

“All four of us?” the darker Kurama asked. “You treat us like we’re your equals too.”

“What kind of childrearing has led to this, eh?” the lighter Kurama commented to his other half who just gave a laugh.

It was then that everyone in the battlefield recovered the energy cloak that Star gave them before.

“Wait, this is Star’s…” Applejack started.

“Yeah, it’s his cloak!” Cloud Chase exclaimed.

“Eeyup” Big Mac agreed.

“That colt never ceases to surprise us” Shadow Claw said.

“Yeah, that kid is really awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“You can say that again, Dashy” Soarin said. “It is bigger and stronger than before.”

Looking to the cloak around her, Twilight said:

“So it didn’t disappeared… I get it, it just shrank.”

“You feel it, Eight-Tails?” Hawthorn asked to his tailed beast. “I can feel two Nine-Tails, one light and one dark.”

“This isn’t just Nine-Tails” Gyuki said.

“Queen Ingrid, I must give some of my energy with you, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia” Star said.

“Don’t worry about us” Ingrid replied. “I and my sisters can get out of here just fine. Just focus in saving everyone else.”

Star nodded.

“That won’t help to stand the shock wave of four Ten-Tails’ Tailed Beast Bombs exploding together” Grogar replied, while he was completely covered by the black matter. “Be gone.”

And the Tailed Beast Bombs were fired, creating a massive shockwave. Then the explosion happened, limited to the borders of the barrier. It got distorted and the explosion get out from the top like a volcano. When it cleared, the stalk appeared a little burned from the explosion. The cocoon of black matter that contained Grogar descended and started to unveil. He looked around and then said:

“How could…”

Everyone in the Alliance was fine, still surrounded by the energy cloak.

“It looks like this energy cloak protected us again” Spike said.

Luna, teleporting to his side, replied:

“Not quite. Just look around.”

“Spike, look!” Ember said, pointing. “All of us are… outside the barrier.”

She was right. The barrier was a few distance away and no one was inside it at the time of the explosion.

“Don’t tell me it was Star who did that” Spike said.

“Not just him” Luna said. “This isn’t just his energy.”

“He moved everyone using Heartbeat’s teleportation spell” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn.

At the place where Star, Heartbeat, Blue and Ingrid were, the latter said:

“Well done, Heartbeat. Quite impressive how you were able to teleport everyone in just one single teleportation.”

“I wouldn’t be able to do it… without Star” Heartbeat said, a little tired.

“What did you do?” Blue asked.

“Nothing much” Star replied with a smile. “Heartbeat just teleported everyone to the outside of the barrier.”

“Everyone?” Blue asked. “But how?”

“Simple, I already had shared Kurama’s energy with everyone, remember? So, if we were in direct contact, it would work. I connected Heartbeat’s energy with Kurama’s and mine. That’s the secret behind this trick.”

“Your son used the principle of the multiplication spell” Ingrid explained. “Even if you split up and disperse your energy, if you give a little bit then without putting it out, the original body infuses energy again to regain control and all the individual’s energy resonate and are linked together. In short, by joining his energy with Heartbeat’s, Star effectively linked her with the rest of his energy that was residing in everyone else. Isn’t that right, Star Knight?”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it in that way, but yeah, that was the idea” he replied.

“I see…” Blue said. “You clearly are a constant surprise, son.”

“Yeah, but now we must focus on the task we have ahead” Star said, looking to the barrier.

The Tree of Dreams

Star was involved by Kurama’s avatar, while his eyes turned red with slit pupils. He gave a jump and then he said:

“We need to make a move now, but the only thing that works with Grogar now is magic empowered by natural energy. How can I battle an entire fight against him when I have to gather natural energy in the way?”

“You don’t have to worry about that” Kurama told him in their plane.

“What do you mean by that?” Star asked.

“What if I told you that you can go into sage mode while in tailed beast state?” the fox said. “Listen, you may have forgotten, but it happened during your fight with Hepheus at the Light Kingdom. Influenced by your rage, I got so mad that my energy leaked out, even though you were in sage mode at the time. My power and your sage power actually managed to synchronize.”

“So that happened back then, hein…” Star said.

At that moment, he remembered when he was training to master the natural energy at Animarium. When he and Tough Skin tried to combine their energies to surpass the problem regarding the way to gather natural energy, the toad was always pushed away.

“Wait, but when I was training in Animarium, you interfered with Tough Skin’s try to merge his energy with mine!” he exclaimed.

“That’s because I am no interested in sharing space with toads!” Kurama replied. “Besides, it really pissed me off that you would rely in natural energy when you had my own energy.”

That answer caused Star to smile and then say:

“You’re really a great stubborn…”

“No, you’re the stubborn one” Kurama replied. “Anyway, I’m trying to say that I can make you use both my power and natural energy. What’s stubborn about that?”

“You just can’t be up from about your feelings” Star teased.

“You idiot!” Kurama roared. “You’ve been making fun of me a lot lately!”

But Star then turned and said:

“No, it’s just out of familiarity.”

And Kurama grunted.

In Heartbeat and the darker Kurama’s plane, the latter said:

“Using tailed beast state with natural energy at the same time, huh? Well, you are the General of Affection. You can use emotional energy and give support to Star.”

“Yeah” she agreed.

Heartbeat turned to Blue and told him:

“Don’t worry, I keep Star safe.”

He nodded to her and then Heartbeat gave a jump, while her Kurama’s avatar’s head emerged, like how it happened with Star, landing beside him. Even her avatar was darker in color. Star, meanwhile, gathered natural energy, with the orange pigmentation starting to appear around his eyes. He noticed that, in the tailed beast state he could absorb it faster, what would minimize the downfall of using natural energy greatly. He opened his eyes that now had the slit pupils of his tailed beast state combine with his toad pupils.

With everything ready, both he and Heartbeat conjured their Kurama avatar’s all body, while Heartbeat created Spiraling Sphere.

“It’s a good thing that I learned how to use this” Heartbeat said. “Star, add natural energy to the Spiraling Sphere!”

And Kurama’s front paw touched the Spiraling Sphere, adding the natural energy.

“Let’s go, Heartbeat.”

And the two of them prepared to teleport.

“Just forge ahead” Kurama said. “We'll ward off his attacks with our energy.”

And they teleported. Sensing them and knowing they will try to hit him from behind like before, Grogar turned and extended the fire, turning it into five flame arms. But the two Kuramas, appearing before him, deflected them and prepared to hit Grogar with their attack. He changed the form of one of the spheres to defend it. However, the combined efforts of the two jinchuriki of Nine-Tails started to break the black matter.

An explosion happened and they were thrown back. Grogar was able to land on his hoof and turned to the two Kuramas, while they started to get up.

“That thing sure is solid” Star commented. “He used defensibly this time. What we need to do is to destroy that thing.”

“But how?” Heartbeat asked.

“We’ll have to keep trying” Star replied. “This time, I’ll use this with natural energy!”

And he started to prepare a Tailed Beast Bomb, a supercharged one.

“Good thinking!” Heartbeat congratulated. “And we’ll help too.”

And Grogar rose to the air and rose his hooves. He would take measures early. And he clapped the hooves, what started to make Ten-Tails get out of him. That caused a tremendous earthquake that was felt by Star and Heartbeat while they were forming the Tailed Beast Bomb.

“What was that?” Star asked.

Celestia, on the ground with Hepheus, also felt that. Hepheus couldn’t believe that Grogar would start the curse already.

And the ground started to crack, as Ten-Tails reappeared and landed. Seeing that, Star asked:

“He just spit out the Ten-Tails?”

“Be careful” Heartbeat warned. “This looks bad.”

When the dust cleared, Ten-Tails looked around and then he recollected his eye. After he did that, his all body started to change, with what appeared to be a big flower starting to grow on his back. While that happened, Grogar said:

“I’ll suspend the barrier for now.”

And, with a gesture, the barrier was lifted.

“The barrier is disappearing” Applejack said.

“That means we can fight alongside Star and the others!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, excited. “Sweet!”

But at that moment, another tremor happened and, at the place where Ten-Tails was a big three started to grow up, with the flower that started to appear at the top. It grew and grew until it was at a very high altitude. From that tree, roots started to appear and penetrate the ground around the Alliance. The big ones start to attack the two Kurama avatars.

Some members of the Alliance were also hit and threw away for then be grabbed by roots. They then started to feel their energy be drained, with the energy cloak disappearing and their bodies becoming completely dried out. Many tried to run away, but not even that stopped the roots from going after them, including the fliers. Equines, deer, griffons and dragons… No species was able to escape.

Hawthorn was running to escape the roots, but, unlike the others, he had many of them following him.

“But why do I have to be the one with many roots after me?!” he exclaimed.

“That thing is called Divine Tree” Gyuki said. “It’s Ten-Tails’ final form. It can tell that you have more energy than the ones around you, Hawthorn. At this rate, the energy Star shared with everyone is meaningless.”

While Celestia dodged the roots, she asked:

“What exactly is this?”

“Ten-Tails is known as being an amount of wild energy that went out of control, but there’s more into that than everyone think” Hepheus, while also dodging the roots.

“What do you mean by that?” Celestia asked, not understanding what he was saying.

“Before it was defeat by the Lord of Order, Ten-Tails was a sacred tree, created by him to nourish and care for the Enchanted Forest” Hepheus continued. “But of course the pass of time created a mist over that part of the history, the real reason why the Ten-Tails came into being.”

“The real reason?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, let me then tell that story” Hepheus said. “Like I said, long ago, before my master arrived to this reality, the Lord of Order created the Divine Tree in order to ensure the Enchanted Forest’s survival. It didn’t only take care of the forest itself, but also all the ones living in it. However, a terrible winter fell upon them, with many kingdoms starving. The only place where everything continued lush was the Divine Tree’s domains. It would let the inhabitants to satisfy their hunger, as it was its duty to care for them, but they wanted more. So, they took the Divine Tree’s heart, the one that commanded the Enchanted Forest and everyone started to fight for it.”

“I see, so that’s how the war started” Celestia realized. “And that heart you talked about… Don’t tell me that…”

“Yes, it is the Heart of the Forest” Hepheus answered. “When the Lord of Order got to know what happened, he himself took the heart. But the damage had already been done. The heart was what allowed the tree to balance the energy it absorb for itself and eventually the wild energy became too much and consumed it, turning it into what we know now as Ten-Tails. The Lord of Order defeated it and sealed it, giving then the heart to the King of Trees who then gave it to the rulers of Falancia when it was decided it would become the head kingdom of the Enchanted Forest.”

“How do you know all that?” Celestia asked.

“The Lord of Chaos told me of course” Hepheus replied. “He got to know everything about his brother’s greatest creation before starting to claim it as his own. As you can see, Celestia, even before the Lord of Chaos’ arrival, there was already chaos in this reality. In fact, it was because of that and all the hate to the Tailed Beast that came later that the Lord Chaos came.”

“That may be true, but that doesn’t give him the right to destroy everything!” Celestia exclaimed.

“The Lord of Chaos’ only purpose is to destroy what the Lord of Order creates” Hepheus replied. “If the one you serve wanted to keep his creation as it was, then he should have been more attentive to his creations and make sure they didn’t mess things up. But don’t worry, it won’t take long for my master to put this reality in an order and peace that surpass the one created by his brother!”

While keeping dodging the roots that kept appearing, Celestia asked:

“Do you really believe in that?”

“But of course” Hepheus replied. “However, there’s a difference regarding the Lord of Chaos’ original design.”

The roots ended up catching Star.

“Star, no!” Heartbeat exclaimed.

Ingrid arrived there with teleportation and, seeing that, tried to use his ice to break the roots, only for them to grow back in a moment, becoming even bigger and going to involve Star.

“They’re too many!” she exclaimed. “Heartbeat, can you get to Star Knight?”

“No, this vines drained my energy” she replied.

“In that case…” Luna said, while taking off to go take Star, whose energy was being drained by the vines.

He energy that covered him quickly disappeared and the young prince started to lose consciousness. When it looked it was over for him, Blue appeared and used his magic to cut through the vines and release his son who weakly smiled at him and said:

“Dad…”

He then took him and brought him to where Heartbeat and Ingrid were.

“Thank the Lord of Order you came, Blue” Heartbeat said.

“Yes, great timing, indeed” Ingrid said.

“When I saw what was happening with Ten-Tails, I couldn’t just stay where I was.”

“Now that Star is safe, we have to teleport away” Ingrid said, touching Heartbeat and Blue, who was holding Star, and they all teleported.

It appeared that the tree stopped moving and Ingrid and the others arrived to where they were before. It was then that Star noticed all the ones who died from having their energy drained away. Seeing that, and knowing that not even Kurama’s energy could save them, made him feel a mix of anger and sadness.

But the worst was now Ten-Tails new form, who took the appearance of a very tall tree with a bulb at the top.

Taking from what Hepheus last said, Celestia asked him:

“What do you mean by that?”

“Take a look” Hepheus said, motioning to the tree that was so high at the sky. “When this Divine Tree’s bulb finally blooms, the moon will reflect the eye of the flower and the Eternal Nightmare Curse will be fully activated… and I will be the one to accomplish it.”

While the others were still recovering, Twilight was lying on the ground, apparently unconscious. Luna, who were by her side, tried to wake her up.

“Twilight Sparkle, please, wake up.”

Hawthorn, who had lost Star’s cloak energy, had finally dealt with the roots following him thanks to Shark Skin.

“Well, that was close…” Hawthorn said, while catching his breath.

Applejack and Cloud Chase stand down on the ground.

“So close…” the latter said.

“Ah hope it’s all over…” Applejack said.

Grogar raised at the air, looking to everyone below him.

“Now…” he said to them. “Be still… You all endured plenty already.”

At that moment, Aspen, Hard Stone, Strongpaw and Mystic Heart were approaching the front line over Strongpaw’s sand. It was then that they started to see the Divine Tree.

“What is that?” Mystic Heart asked.

“I don’t know, but we have to get there fast and help the others” Aspen said.

At the battlefield, Twilight started to get up and Luna asked:

“Are you all right, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes, Princess Luna, you don’t have to worry about me” she replied.

“Soarin!” Rainbow Dash’s exclaimed, catching their attention.

They turned and saw Rainbow Dash beside her husband who, although was not death, had most of his energy drained out. He was barely breathing.

“Please, hang in there” Rainbow said, with tears on his eyes.

Spike, Applejack, Cloud Chaser, Big Mac and Shadow Claw all approached.

“He looks really bad” Shadow Claw observed.

“No, we already lost Thunder Night” Spike said. “We can’t lose another friend.”

Seeing that, Twilight said:

“I have to start healing everyone right away.”

“No, you can’t” Luna said.

“Why not?!” Twilight asked. “My friends need my help… Everyone needs my help!”

“Don’t you see?!” Luna replied. “The ones who suffered from that last attack had all their energy drained and died. Even the ones who are still alive require more energy than you can give them at this moment. It’s not about healing wounds, but giving the energy they lost in their entire body. Not even you can reach all of them without draining all of your energy.”

Twilight couldn’t believe that not even her, with all her magic, couldn’t do anything. Tears started to fell on her face. But when she saw her friend Rainbow Dash crying over her dying husband, Twilight found herself imagining Fluttershy’s reaction to Thunder Night’s death. That made her got the determination to say:

“I’m may not be able to help everyone, but I can still save lives.”

And she, with a few wing flaps, landed beside the group along with Luna and Rainbow Dash said:

“Twilight! Thank goodness you’re here! Please, save Soarin.”

“I’ll do my best” she said.

And Twilight started to use the healing spell.

While looking to everyone, Grogar said:

“The ponykind, along with the others, is all done for. There’s no need to keep going. If you don’t resist, I’ll not kill you.”

Star was looking at him with anger and tears on his eyes. All the words he had listen, both from Grogar and Hepheus, all their actions, all the friends he lost… All that was making his anger boiling inside.

“Regret will fill you unless you stop and do nothing” Grogar continued. “No more fearing death or enduring pain. You’ll be entering a dream.”

A silent fell over the battlefield. Many had listen his words and seemed to be tempted to take after them, having in count all the death they watch and the pain suffered.

“Don’t give up!” Luna exclaimed to them. “If you fall under that illusion spell, it will be like you’re dead.”

But not even the words of an alicorn princess like Luna had any impact on them.

“These tree is closely connected to Grogar” Blue said. “It’s like an extra limb to extract energy. We must not be careless.”

“That is not like you, Blue” Heartbeat said.

“Well, even somepony like me can be cautions when the need calls for that” Blue replied.

While they were still fighting, Celestia asked Hepheus:

“Then when is it going to bloom?”

“Didn’t you figure out yet?” Hepheus asked. “Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails’ jinchuriki are still alive.”

“I see, so their energy is essential for it to bloom…” Celestia realized.

At that moment, the bulb opened a bit, what caught Celestia’s attention.

“However, if it contains even a small portion of each energy, it is still fine” Hepheus replied, extending his hoof and making appear a piece of wild energy that started to advance to the root where he was standing. “In other words, it is not like it can’t bloom. All that is effected is how long it will take to bloom. There’s about fifteen minutes to go. In that time, I shall stop Grogar and trade places with him.”

“Why doing that?” Celestia asked. “Isn’t your goal the same?”

“Well, I am the General of Chaos after all” Hepheus said. “The honor of casting this cast must be to the most loyal servant of the Lord of Chaos. But first, I shall end you, dear Celestia. I know how you can be a stone under somepony else’s hoof.”

Knowing she wouldn’t have any other opportunity, she relied mentally all the information to Luna as quick as possible. She knew her sister would be able to lend it to everyone.

After getting the information, Luna called:

“Silverweed!”

He approached and asked:

“Yes, princess?”

“I need your help to connect with everyone. I have information about that tree and the Eternal Nightmare Curse.”

He did so and Luna was connected to every one of the Alliance nearby. The regents who were approaching were close enough to be connected as well.

“Princess Luna, is that you?” Aspen asked.

“Yes, it’s me” she replied. “And it’s a good thing you’re close, so I don’t have to explain it again. My sister has lent me information that I must tell you. Listen carefully.”

While looking to everyone, Grogar decided it was time to get more energy for the tree, as it was taking too long for it to bloom.

After explaining everything, Spike asked:

“So we’re all… just nourishment to that tree?!”

“And with all we have to fight against, we only have fifteen minutes?” Shadow Claw asked. “We won’t do much with that time.”

“And yet do nothing will lead us to the same result” Luna said. “We must either cut down the tree or defeat the caster within the remaining time. I told you not give up hope!”

But a huge silent was heard. The majority of the Alliance didn’t know what to do. A root extended to get more energy, but the ones nearby it didn’t know if it would be worth it to dodge it.

“Yes, that’s right” Grogar said. “Just stay like that. I will take you to a world where there’s no regrets.”

And Star, not being able to contain any longer, teleported and cut the root down, while covering himself with Kurama’s energy. He opened his eyes, revealing the cross between natural energy he gathered plus Kurama’s power.

It was then that something started to happen. Through the telepathic link, Star’s feelings started to flow through the ones linked. It was all the feelings of his life as jinchuriki and how he fought to be acknowledge by everyone. And it wasn’t just that, it was also the connections he had, the ties that he formed, both with his family, his friends… even with Moonlight, everything that was precious to him. Because of that, he didn’t want to regret anything. He didn’t want to think about what he could have done.

“I just can’t…” he said, while turning into the tailed beast state “…make everything we’ve done up to this point meaningless!”

Having listened that, Grogar couldn’t believe Star continued to stand against him, mainly when it was just a matter of time for the curse to be activated.

It was revealed then that Heartbeat was providing the energy Star used to get into the tailed beast state.

“Sorry to have to borrow more energy” the lighter Kurama said to the darker one.

“Don’t worry about that” he replied.

“We’re counting on you, Star” Heartbeat said, while ending to charge Star and returning to normal.

And Star advanced to attack.

“It will be too late for regrets” Grogar said, while he turned a sphere into the staff he had earlier. “Not that there’s going to be a future for you.”

And he went to face Star. While they crushed, his determination, along with Celestia’s, who was fighting Hepheus, as well as others’ passed through everyone, including the remaining regents who ended up arriving. With all that, Twilight said:

“You all felt it, didn’t you? You felt that my son and Princess Celestia, as well as others, won’t give up until the very end. So, please, I beg you all! I beg you to take the first step toward our future! Now is the time to take all the pain, the suffering and the frustration we have endured and weave it into our dream of a better tomorrow!”

Pursuing Hope

“It seems Princess Twilight made our common dream be spoken” Aspen said. “It is time to make it true at this moment.”

“You’re not wrong, King Aspen” Mystic Heart said.

“That goes without saying, but, if we don’t win here, it won’t come to be” Hard Stone reminded.

“King Hard Stone is correct” Strongpaw said. “Defeat is not an option.”

“Well, then, let’s spread out and take command!” Aspen exclaimed. “It’s time to show them the Alliance’s greatest power. That is our primary duty as regents.”

And they scattered.

After feeling what Star was feeling and hearing what Twilight had just said, all the ones who had doubts got rid of them all and put themselves ready to attack.

Meanwhile, Star was battling Grogar, with the former pursuing the other. The young jinchuriki fired a Tailed Beast Bomb with natural energy, but Grogar used the black matter to defend. Below, everyone was seeing that battle.

“Incredible…” Spike said.

“Eeyup” Big Mac agreed.

“What just happened?” Shadow Claw asked.

“It looks like Star attacked Grogar” Applejack said.

“Did he do it?” Cloud Chaser asked.

Twilight, who was healing Soarin, hoped that Star would be careful at the fight.

Star landed on a root, while looking to where his attack, waiting to see if he managed to damage Grogar. But he knew he didn’t do any damage and, in fact, when the smoke cleared, Grogar appeared without any damage. The black matter had protected him again. Looking to Star, Grogar said:

“You better be prepared.”

That phrase irritated Star, as he knew he was talking about his promise to not let any of his comrades die, what was something he was not willing to let anyone else die. When he made that resolution, the energy cloak immerged on Soarin. Noticing that, Twilight said:

“This is…”

Another explosion happened, what caused Twilight to get a little worried, as, even when he fights, he keeps protecting his comrades. She just wanted that he focused in what he can do and leave the healing to her.

“No, Twilight Sparkle, don’t you get it?” Luna asked. “He’s doing this unconsciously. His energy is acting on its own from his deep desire to help others.”

“Whatever is it, I’m just glad it’s happening” Rainbow said.

Soarin then started to open his eyes.

“Rainbow…” he said, weakly.

“Please, Soarin, stop talking” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yes, I need you to keep your strength” Twilight told him. “I won’t let you die.”

But it didn’t take long for Soarin to recover.

Star tried to attack Grogar but he dodge, but the young prince followed him, saying:

“Come back here!”

With that, Luna told to everyone:

“All right, it’s time to cut that tree down while he is distracted.”

Looking to the tree, Hard Stone said:

“It doesn’t matter how tall and thick a tree may be. It is still quite tiny compared to the earth itself. And this earth, this entire land, is on our side!”

And all the soldiers around him, mainly the ones from Stonult, cheered him.

“Let’s go, everyone!” Aspen exclaimed.

“As you wish, brother” Hawthorn said, followed by the cheers of the deer.

“As the one who installed peace in Evermist after years of violence, I’m not very akin to go to open war” Mystic Heart said. “But I have to open an exception to this. Let’s move out!”

Meanwhile, Star and Kurama prepared a Tailed Beast Bomb to launch against Grogar, but he defended it. They landed and Star exclaimed, irritated:

“Come on!”

Behind the dust, Grogar looked at Star and he looked back.

Strongpaw, while occupying his place, couldn’t stop thinking how Star to become a necessary existence, even though he had a rough time at his foalhood, something they shared. And now, it was time for him to save the world… and he would help that happen.

“Follow me, everyone!” he exclaimed to the guards at his side who cheered him.

At the Nothingness Realm, Shining was trying to heal his own wounds, but healing himself was not an easy task, as it consumed much more energy than cure others, mainly for those whose magic was not tasked for that kind of spells.

“This should do” Shining said, while doing what he could. “I should get going now.”

At the battlefield, Blue looked to his son fighting and smiled. He clearly had surpassed him and Twilight, as he was able to inspire everyone. But he wouldn’t let him carry all the weight on his shoulders.

It was then that everyone started to advance with only one thought in mind: cut down that tree. With the tree extending its roots to defend itself, everyone started to get pass to get to it, with the dragons led by Spike and the griffons led by Gael and Godot being at the front, using their fire and claws.

“Dragons, burn every part of this damn tree!” Spike exclaimed.

“Griffons, let’s show everyone our sharp power!” Gael shouted.

“We should go to” Soarin replied, starting to get up.

“Are you okay to do that?” Rainbow Dash asked, a little worried.

“Don’t worry” Soarin said. “I’m completely recovered now. Remember that we are Wonderbolts. We need to help on the attack.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and then they two took flight.

Noticing everyone attacking while flying, Grogar realized he needed to increase the defenses. And wooden dragons were made. Although a little intimidated, the guards remained still. When the dragons tried to attack them, the guards about to be attacked were teleported, much to their surprise. That was caused by the combined efforts of Heartbeat and Ingrid, who used the link through Nine-Tails’ energy to teleport them.

“As long we’re here…” Heartbeat said.

“You won’t be able to touch anyone” Ingrid ended.

Twilight remained behind, as she would use her magic to keep everyone safe and healed. Together with Luna, who combined her magic with hers, created a healing field, where the guards could have their energies recovered and their wounds treated just by standing on the ground, entrusting Silverweed to tell that to everyone.

“We’ll be sure that everyone doesn’t get injured and revigorated.”

Meanwhile, Star was keeping fighting with Grogar, but the latter was keeping dodging all of his attacks. The young alicorn had to admit that he was really fast, but, thanks to all the training he had with Tough Skin, he was starting to understand his moves better and better. And, when Star cornered Grogar against the tree, Kurama tried to attack with his claws, but Grogar defended with the black matter.

“It’s about time… for you to sleep” the ram said. “Now I’ll guide you into the dream. There’s no time left.”

And he grabbed Kurama’s avatar with the black matter and Star couldn’t believe he couldn’t move. Observing Star, Grogar couldn’t believe how strong the will he had was. It made him remind who he was when he was Star Shield. In order to confirm if his loyalty to his masters and the belief he had on his plan were true, he needed to fight Star and now he had it.

At the top of the Divine Tree, it was possible to see the bulb starting to bloom, while Grogar launched Star to the ground. Such impact caused the ground nearby to crack and catch all the ones there in the shockwave.

“What the hay happen’d?” Applejack asked.

“I think Grogar launched Star to the ground” Cloud Chaser said.

Inside the crater created by the impact, Star was lying on the ground, without Kurama’s energy, but still with the Sage Mode, while Grogar was standing. The young colt started to get up and then Grogar asked him:

“Why did you get up? And what exactly are you fighting for anyway? For your comrades… or for this world?”

Star started to catch his breath, but he didn’t replied.

“Listen, the ones you love eventually get hurt and disappear and the ones who remain can’t escape the pain that causes” Grogar continued. “I know that from experience. I know everything that our family passed when I disappeared. What this world do is to transform love into despair and hate. You should know. You experienced it. The light ponies never really cared about you in the past. And there’s when Moonlight was turned into a villain. Admit that you feel hate upon Adagio and the Lord of Chaos because of that.”

Star didn’t reply to that.

“See, you are not very different from me” Grogar said. “Keeping all those dark feelings will change you in time, just like the Lord of Chaos changed me and then even more pain will assault you. How can you claim that you’ll never change because of it?! You don’t know when more loved ones will perish again because of this eternal war between Good and Evil… or even if the Alliance will remain together, with everyone fighting against each other. You don’t even know if you can defeat me right now. There is no reason to keep fighting for this world. It’s not that it matters right now, as it’s coming to an end in a few minutes. So why do you keep on fighting?!”

After a pause, Star replied:

“Because I am from your family, the family of Star Shield, whose ideals were passed down to me by my parents, my uncle… No matter what, I will never give up until the very end.”

Those words really irritated Grogar who told:

“I told you to go to sleep!”

Star was involved again by Kurama’s energy.

“Star, it’s time to try that I told you while we were fighting that guy” Kurama said to his jinchuriki.

“Got it” he said.

And, focusing his darkness nature, while making the fox’s head, some kind of dark armor covered half of it.

“I’ll sleep tomorrow and dream my own dreams!” he exclaimed to Grogar.

Star Shield

After the appearance of the dark armor, it didn’t take long for Star to make Kurama’s avatar’s full body appear and all of his body be covered by the dark armor, including all the nine tails. At Kurama’s forehead, there was a crystal of energy where Star was, and, at one of his front paws, he was holding a blade made of darkness nature.

Seeing that, Grogar noticed he had to be more careful. He then took flight and, with one hoof, he formed with the black matter a spiraling sword and, with the other hoof, he formed a big shield.

“Nothing you try now will change anything” Grogar replied. “Look above you. What do you see at the top? The moon… The time to get into the eternal dream draws near. It will finally be time for the dreams of the moon to completely bury this disgusting world of shades!”

A pause and then he continued:

“I will vanquish all of you. It doesn’t matter how much you resist. It’s useless. The power of Ten-Tails and the Lord of Chaos will stop you.”

While he talked, Star prepared to attack. But it needed to be a certain blow. He couldn’t miss it. Kurama then started to wave his tails, all of them creating a Spiraling Sphere, each.

“And I will use this sword to destroy this all world!” Grogar exclaimed.

And Kurama roared and then, for Grogar’s shock, nine figures jump into the crater. It was Blue, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Applejack, Cloud Chase, Big Mac, Shadow Claw, Spike and Hawthorn, who had been called by Star through the link existed with the energy he had shared with them. Each one got inside one tail, right in front of the Spiraling Sphere with the same brilliant energy that formed Kurama’s avatar involving them.

“I’ll give you a Spiraling Sphere to each of you” Star said with his mind. “Use them to pass through and wreck his shield.”

Everyone was openmouthed, while extending their limbs to the Spiraling Sphere. They then started to push them and got out of the tails, heading towards Grogar with them. Twilight, who was with Luna focusing on the healing, cheered mentally for them. Together, they hit Grogar’s shield, starting to push forward.

With that, Star and Kurama waved the blade and started to penetrate the shield, while the others landed and the energy that surrounded them disappeared only to be replaced by the red energy cloak. Grogar then used the spiraling sword to attack also, with the two blades about to be touched and the two adversaries looking at each other.

The two blades shocked, but Star’s started to break through Grogar’s until the young alicorn passed the ram, while making a blow on the left side of his abdomen, much for Grogar’s shock. It was then that nine great white masses of energy erupted, with them taking the shape of the heads of the nine tailed beasts whose energy was inside him. They were roaring, while trying to escape the prison that was holding them.

At Kurama’s plane, the fox said to his jinchuriki:

“Just like we thought, their energy reacted to the energy they gave you earlier. So, we can oull out the tailed beasts’ energy in one shot.”

“That’s right!” Star replied.

But Kurama knew that wouldn’t have worked if the tailed beasts didn’t have liked him and shared their energy with him. That only made him conclude that Star was really special.

“Let’s do it now!” Star exclaimed.

And Kurama’s energy tails took the same shape of the white masses of energy that headed and shocked with the latter. Seven of the tails connected immediately, but two not.

“You know what to do now, right, Star?!” Kurama exclaimed. “Tug-o-war! Just pull the tailed beasts’ energy right off him!”

“Got it!” Star replied.

He tried to used his two other tails to get the other two, but they deflected. He couldn’t get Shukaku and Gyuki.

“Damn, we can’t grab One and Eight-Tails, since we don’t have their energy” Kurama said.

At that moment, Strongpaw appeared, flying over his sand, and extended his hoof, while saying:

“Originally, One-Tail was linked to me. I can get him.”

“Chief Strongpaw!” Star exclaimed with a smile.

And he launched a torrent of sand that grabbed Shukaku’s energy. It was time for Strongpaw to reclaim what was taken from him and compensate everyone for having allow the extraction of the tailed beasts from their respective tailed beasts to begin.

Hawthorn then approached, while saying:

“And you can give Eight-Tails with me!”

And he threw tentacles to grab Gyuki’s energy.

“Nice work, Lord Hawthorn!” Star said.

“Let’s do this, Hawthorn!” Gyuki cried. “Don’t lose!”

Kurama laughed, as now they couldn’t lose.

They all started to pull and Grogar, seeing that, couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Extract them!” Kurama directed. “If you do that, the only power he will have left is Ten-Tails’ husk and the tree’s bulb won’t bloom.”

Grogar started to fight back, pulling the tailed beasts’ energy to him. Meanwhile, the bulb was closed to get fully bloomed, but it was then that it stopped. The same happened with the wooden dragons.

“They all stopped” Ember said.

“Silverweed!” Twilight called.

“Yes” he replied, while preparing to execute his telepathic spell.

“Blue, what happened?” Twilight asked, contacting her husband.

“We’re close, but we need help” Blue said.

After telling her the situation, Twilight said:

“Don’t worry, I know what to do.”

And she then directed Silverweed to contact everyone on the battlefield. The princess told them:

“Everyone, remember when I told you that even a small power can be helpful? Well, now, it’s the time. Your power will change the course of this world. Listen closely.”

Star, Strongpaw and Hawthorn continued to pull out the tailed beasts’ energy. It was then that, while doing that, Star started to see glimpses of memories that weren’t his. In them was a stallion that looked like his uncle Shining, but he knew it wasn’t him, as he was with a mare that he quickly recognized as being his great-grandmother Starlight. But it wasn’t just her, but also memories that included his grandfather Night Light and his great-uncle Shooting Star. They were happy memories, full of love and light. But it wasn’t just happy memories, but also the memories when Star Shield was captured by Chrysalis and her changelings and then corrupted by the Lord of Chaos, beginning then his dark path. Tears started to cover Star’s eyes as he saw all those memories belonging to his great-grandfather.

“Your energy is connected to his” Kurama explained him. “His feelings will flow into you, but don’t get distracted.”

“Don’t underestimate me!” Grogar shouted. “My power is much more superior to yours!”

And, with a sudden powerful pull, Grogar gained advantage. At that moment, Blue and the other seven landed on Kurama’s tails and, using the energy cloak they have, grabbed them.

“Star, you’re the one that asked us to lend a hoof, so we’re helping out until the very end!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Guys…” Star said with a smile.

“And that isn’t all” Blue told to his son.

And, just like they did, all the members of the Alliance get inside the crater to help, much to Grogar’s shock. Heartbeat, who covered herself with Kurama’s energy, told:

“All right, everyone, grab on to my energy!”

And she casted an energy arm that grabbed one of Kurama’s tails and then created multiple energy ropes that they all grabbed.

“On my mark, everyone pull together hard!” Star said. “Now, pull!”

On a mental plane created when their energies came in contact, Grogar was looking to Star, when suddenly the images of everyone that were helping him started to appear behind him. They were all there for him, while Grogar was all alone. It was then that, while looking to Star, he couldn’t notice but see his former self in him. When the images of the Alliance disappeared, leaving the two of them alone, Star told him:

“When you became Grogar, you discarded Star Shield, but you didn’t forget his memories.”

“No, stop it!” Grogar exclaimed. “Don’t step into my toughts!”

Star smiled and then continued:

“And the truth is that you don’t won’t to lose them because they are the only link you have to the ones you love. With the power that you have, you could have erase all those memories, but you didn’t.”

“It doesn’t matter what you say” Grogar replied. “Even if I kept the memories, I threw away my past and my naïve self. Don’t say…”

“Tell me that you are not able to see this” Star said. “You can hide behind that façade, but it’s pointless. You are my grandfather’s father, my mother and my uncle’s grandfather… and my great-grandfather, a great warrior who had the same determination as me to protect the ones he loves.”

“What is all this?” Grogar asked. “Just tell me! What is it that you want from me!”

“I want you to remind you that you’re Star Shield!”

A pause and then Grogar said:

“Star Shield? What meaning exists in that name? Or in its existence for that matter? I merged with Ten-Tails and I transcended. I’m no longer what I used to be. I shall lead everyone into the next phase and carry on the wishes of the Lord of Chaos. I am his most loyal servant!”

“Wrong!” Star replied. “You’re Star Shield! When our energies touched earlier, I saw into your past. We have the same family. We shared love for the same ponies. And I inherited the same principles that you used to possess… the same ones. Beyond that, we both know the feeling of losing the bonds with the ones we love. That’s why you said to me all those things. You always wanted to protect everyone you love and everything you believe… I mean, if you’re just like me.”

While Star said that, Grogar thought back to his old life. He remember when he met Starlight and how happy they were together, along with their sons.

“But look at you now” Star continued. “You made all the ones you loved your enemy and spelled nonsense that it is for the world’s sake, when really you’re only doing it for yourself! Not to one pony, not even the ones precious to you.”

That made Grogar to look to Star who then said:

“You used to be a warrior who everyone respected, but now you’re the opposite! It’s because of we’re similar that…”

“No!” Grogar interrupted. “It’s because we’re alike that I wanted to see you to despair about this world. Or maybe because I wanted to feel myself again to be sure that the path that I’m walking through is not a mistake.”

He started to walk, while he talked:

“When I was fighting against you, you made me recall who I used to be. You made me recall Star Shield. That’s why I wanted to test you. To see you when you fall into despair and reject your feelings and past.”

“It’s because we’re family and alike that you really annoy me!” Star said. “You’re just abandoning everything and running away!”

“No” Grogar replied, with his back at Star. “What I’m doing is no different from a benign ruler’s actions. More, in fact. Because I can truly bring peace.”

Hearing the way how he said, Star asked:

“Are you… serious, right now? You… really believe that?”

Grogar didn’t reply, thinking about the promise he did once to Starlight, that he would make sure that their sons would grow up in a safe world. But that promise turned out to become undone when he turned Grogar and started to help the Lord of Chaos instead. Looking to Star and turning to him, he replied:

“Yes, I do. That’s how I feel. There’s no need to voluntarily walk a rugged path whose destination isn’t even cleared, when you can step over comrades’ corpses. Anyone would choose a shortcut to fix the outcome. That is what the ones who seek world peace must do to obtain it.”

Feeling frustration and irritation about those words, Star said:

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. What I want to know isn’t the shortcut or the easy path, but how I navigate the rugged one.”

“Would you still say that if both paths led to the same place?” Grogar asked.

“But how, in the beginning, can you tell each one is the rugged path?” Star asked, while starting to move to Grogar. “I mean, you really don’t knows until somepony starts walking down it. A great leader is the one who walks ahead everypony else and endure their own pain. That’s why a leader never walks over their comrades’ corpses. There’s no shortcut to become a true leader and no way off to the ones who become one. Am I correct?”

That caused Grogar to thought back in his life. He remembered how he became a royal guard and then captain, his families, his friends, including his protégé, White Light. After that, he looked to Star, looking to him with his eyes that seemed to look more than they seemed to be looking at. He then looked down to his hoof, recalling the touch of Starlight’s mane, Night Light’s hug and when he carried Shooting Star, what cause sadness to invade his heart.

“Grogar… Great-grandpa… you said you discarded your feelings about your comrades, but when you became Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki and you were about to be taken over by it, didn’t you try back then to surpass Ten-Tails because you didn’t want that? The reason why you fought against Ten-Tails and could manipulate him was because you stood firm and didn’t throw away the past. You just couldn’t discard all the memories of our family that you have, could you?”

He continued to walk around him, while saying:

“That’s why you were able to stay as Grogar, even after you became Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki. Am I wrong?”

A pause and then Star told:

“But dragging everyone else into your path and continue to walk it with them just cannot be allowed. I’m bringing you back as Star Shield, a hero and a Captain to Canterlot Royal Guard and you’re going to respond for your sins. You tried to run away from everything. I would want to hear what great-grandma Starlight would say if she saw you like this. Don’t act tough and hide your wounds. You know that I’ll be always watching, because you’re no one else but you.”

Star then extended his hoof to him and said:

“Stop running. Come join us… Great-grandpa Star Shield!”

Before that, Grogar hesitated, but then his instinct made him start to extend his hoof to Star’s. But when he was about to grab it, he instead grabbed Star’s neck.

“I’ll never go walk to your side, Star” Grogar said. “I have no regrets with my path.”

“Remember…” Star said. “I said I saw… everything.”

That caused Grogar to become uncomfortable.

“That’s right” Star continued. “So… stop clamming to be what you are not!”

And he gave a punch to Grogar that made him let him go. The ram was pushed back, but was able to remain standing. But when he looked at Star, he instead saw himself, back when he was Star Shield.

“The one our family loved isn’t the current you” Star Shield said. “It’s Star Shield.”

Those words really affected Grogar. He was like in a crossroad, where one of the path would led him to the family he once loved, the real one, where his former self belonged to and seemed to not notice his presence, while the other would lead him to the one that would be created by the Eternal Nightmare Curse. That one seemed just so off, so fake. They wanted him to come to them. But then, a pony immerged from the other path. It was Star Shield who told him, while extending his hoof:

“That’s right, your own family won’t even turn to look at the current you. The one they love is Star Shield. So give it up already. I am… Star Shield!”

And he advanced and grabbed Grogar’s hoof. Back to the plane, Star was grabbing Grogar’s hoof and told him:

“Now, come over!”

He noticed that the image of everyone had reappeared.

“Don’t you dare to underestimate…”

And he pulled him. At the real world, everyone was pulling with all the strength they had. For more he could try, Grogar just couldn’t compete with all that. Star completed

“…EVERYONE’S POWER!”

And all the white masse was taken from him, throwing him back.

“They’re all out!” Star exclaimed.

Everyone fell on the ground, but happy for being able to do it. While Star absorbed Kurama’s energy that was inside Grogar and Hawthorn absorbed Gyuki’s taking his form, the other white masses took the form and size of the other seven tailed beasts and they all returned, landing then. Grogar, while the scales he had fell off, fell and hit the ground on his back.

Kurama’s avatar and the dark armor dissipated and Star landed on the floor, trying to catch his breath, while looking to the place where Grogar landed. He was, in his turn, looking to the red moon, that was waiting for the curse to be activated. He remembered everything he just said and what Shining told him that turned out to be true, as Star showed him. He looked to his hoof, obscuring the moon with him, and the feelings he had repressed when he started to serve the Lord of Chaos started to come around.

At the place where Star and the tailed beasts were, Son Goku turned to the young colt and told him:

“It looks like you kept your promise, Star Knight. I have to say I’m really impressed that you rescued us.”

Star smiled and then saluted him, saying:

“Hey, Son! Sure thing!”

Gyuki smiled before that and Chomei said:

“We were lucky.”

“He did it” Saiken added.

“Yes, excellent” Kokuo told.

“You’re right” Matatabi agreed.

“I’m glad” Isobu replied.

Shukaku turned to where his brethren were looking and saw Star.

“Isn’t he that kid?”

He remembered Star when he took over Strongpaw and went into a rampage at the Light Kingdom. That colt was the reason why he was defeated.

Star then looked to Grogar and started to fly at his direction. It was then that happened a flash and Shining reappeared above Grogar, with his horn surrounded by his magical aura.

“Uncle Shining…” Star said, stopping in the midair.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Star” Shining said. “But I’m his grandchild as well and it’s up to me to deal with him.”

He prepared to attack, but Star said:

“Uncle Shining, no! He’s not…”

But, before he could do anything, Blue teleported to his side and grabbed his shoulder.

“Dad…” Star said.

“It’s enough, Shining” Blue told to his best friend.

When they saw that Grogar was weakened, everyone wanted to go and finished him off, but Twilight exclaimed:

“No, wait!”

She knew that something must have happened to Grogar while Star was trying to pull out the tailed beasts’ energy. Shining could do a terrible mistake if he did what he was thinking in doing at that moment, so that was something that had to be dealt by Blue, the one that had always been by Shining’s side after he discovered about their grandfather being a captain of the Royal Guard and made him his model.

“What are you doing, Blue?” Shining asked. “You know I have to do this.”

“Believe me when I say that you don’t want to do it” Blue said, turning then to Grogar.

Heartbeat appeared next to Blue and said to Grogar:

“When we were at the tug-o-war, I could hear your talk with Star and I allowed Blue to hear as well.”

“It looks like my son lectured you quite a bit” Blue said to Grogar, turning then to Shining. “Something that he seemed to have inherited from his mother. And besides I think that job should have been you to do, Shining. You are the one who always admired your grandfather. Isn’t that right, Star?”

Star nodded and then Heartbeat said:

“Star, you should go help your mother and the Alliance. Go stop Hepheus. I and your dad can deal with this.”

“Yes, of course!” Star replied, flying then away.

While he was getting away, Blue told Shining:

“You remember, don’t you? You were about Star’s age when you found out your grandfather was once captain. That made you feel so full of pride and made you set your objective to be just like him. I also remember all the stories you told me and that your grandmother told you. She wouldn’t want you to do this.”

The mentioning of his grandmother made Shining realize that he really wouldn’t be able to face her, knowing what he did to the one that once was her husband, and made his magical aura to disappear.

“Your grandmother… your father and your uncle… they were my sole light and hope in my life” Grogar said to Shining. “When the Lord of Chaos turned me into Grogar, he took away that, the all world as I saw it changed. It became a black hell with no hope. And when the Lord of Chaos came up with his plan to use the Ten-Tails to submerge everyone in an eternal dream with the Eternal Nightmare Curse, I knew that was my opportunity to get what I lost and I decided to help him. But I was so involved in my own darkness that I couldn’t see the error on my actions, even with the remaining light I still had, because there was nothing to see.”

“I also passed through moments where I couldn’t see anything neither” Shining said, making Grogar look at him. “Without doubt, your path is one of many and it may not be wrong either. There were moments when I thought this world was a hell too, with all the darkness and evil that existed. But then… I found the light around me coming from all the ones I loved. And know, I can see what the future has for us.”

“And that future you see is your nephew, hein?” Grogar asked. “How can you be sure that his path won’t fail?”

Shining rose up and replied:

“Actually, he may as well fail too.”

“So what’s the difference between us?” Grogar asked. “Why go so far for him?”

“Because I can attest that he won’t fail as much as you” Shining replied.

“How?!”

“Because when he starts to trip and tumble on his path, I’ll help him, just like the others.”

Looking to his grandson after he said that, Grogar asked:

“Why? Why would you help him? He may be your nephew, but… he’s just a child.”

Shining looked up, while Star, on Sage Mode, flew to the top of the Divine Tree and started to look for Hepheus.

“Because he never gives up on his objectives. Whatever he decides to do, he does everything that he can to do it. That’s the kind of pony he is.

Star then was able to find the General of Chaos.

“I found him!” he exclaimed.

“And the way he forges ahead draws others towards him” Shining continued. “He makes you want to reach out when he’s about to stumble. And the greater the support behind you, the closer you can get to your goal. That’s the difference.”

After hearing that, Grogar looked to the moon that was now being covered by passing clouds, causing the battlefield to become darker. But a light immerged at the top of the Divine Tree, coming from Star who was executing a big Spiraling Sphere with two clones.

“Bigger!” Star directed to his clones. “We’ll go with something even bigger!”

“Is such thing possible in this pitch-black hell?” Grogar asked to Shining.

“I’m sure you could have seen it too… if you had tried” Shining said. “After all, you and I are pretty alike as well. If comrades gather around you, hope can take physical form and become visible. That’s what I believe.”

As Star created a bigger Spiraling Star, a great light came up to shine in that darkened battlefield.

Strongpaw's Plea

Grogar could see Star’s Spiraling Sphere shining with his own eyes, while listenning Shining’s words about his nephew. All the Alliance, motivated by Star’s will to win that war and ensure the future to everyone, was marching to help Star deal with Hepheus. With the red energy cloak around them, it looked like thousands of red flaming lights dancing around.

Once Star’s attack was ready to go, his clones disappeared and then he exclaimed:

“Take this!”

And he threw the Spiraling Star to the place where he knew Hepheus was thanks to the Sage Mode.

While seeing the Spiraling Star advancing like a shooting star on the sky and after hearing the last part of Shining’s words, Grogar reflected about everything that happened.

After a long fight, with each one wounded and exhausted, Celestia was able to subdue Hepheus with her light magic, binding him. The General of Chaos was incapable of using his magic while bound by those binds. Celestia then told him:

“This spell will continue absorbing energy from you. In that way, you can’t no longer absorb magic like you did before, as it will be only nullified by mine. And now that you can’t move or absorb, this next attack will must certainly hit you.”

He then saw the Spiraling Star that Star threw arriving and Celestia took flight to get away, while saying:

“Good timing, Star.”

The Spiraling Star made contact with its target and exploded, creating its characteristic vortex that was noticed by everyone of the Alliance, what made them know where Hepheus was and they started to head towards there, while Star took flight to go where he launched his attack as fast as he could.

Observing everyone advancing to go help Star deal with Hepheus, Strongpaw, while over his sand, said:

“Without any orders, even a single word, everyone is galvanized into action. Star Knight… you really can touch any heart with your words and actions… including me. I’ll also be one of them to help you as well.”

He turned to his former tailed beast and said to him:

“Shukaku, I would like to borrow the power of your sand to seal Hepheus.”

“You mean my Desert Imperial Funeral?” Shukaku asked him.

“That’s right” Strongpaw replied to him. “A giant one too.”

That request caused Shukaku to laugh, as if he had just heard the funniest of jokes, and then told:

“I’m no longer bond to you or any other jinchuriki. What makes you think that I would listen to you after all this time? Even more when we two never get along.”

“I’m not ordering you” Strongpaw said. “You’re right, I’m no longer your jinchuriki and you’re no longer under my custody and my pony-panthers’. I’m asking you. If you refuse, it’s fine. I’ll lean in another’s power.”

Although their relationship wasn’t the best, Strongpaw knew Shukaku very well and knew that his pride was his greatest weakness, mainly when it comes to his own abilities. When he started to move away, Shukaku said:

“Star Knight, hein? I remember him very well like it was yesterday that he helped you get free from me. It seems you became rather friends with that fox demon’s brat, Strongpaw.”

“If you’re not lending any help, let’s chat latter” the leader of the pony-panthers said. “I’m going in.”

“Ah, you know that little tone of yours really get into my skin” Shukaku said, making Strongpaw stop. “Tanuki know more tricks than foxes. I will not lose to a stupid fox. And be sure that I’m not doing this because you asked. Far from that. I’m doing it because I want to. Come on, lead the way.”

That caused a smile to appear on Strongpaw and then he said:

“This way.”

“Right, then.”

He started to advance to the battle when Son Goku said:

“Hold on. We all want to help as well. But you can relax, young pony-panther. We’re not doing this on a whim like Shukaku. We simply want to help Star out. He helped us and now it’s our time to do the same. He proved to be a friend of the tailed beasts and we are loyal to our friends.”

The other tailed beasts, except for Shukaku, nodded, agreeing with Son Goku.

Turning to four-tailed beast, Strongpaw bowed respectfully his head to him and thanked:

“I thank you.”

“Tell me this, leader of the pony-panthers” Son Goku said. “Are you a friend of Star too?”

That question made Strongpaw remember how his life used to be, a life without friends where everypony was afraid of him because the fact he was a jinchuriki with a great lack of control over his tailed beast. Of course that changed when he met the Lord of Order, who told him the importance of being kind to his fellow pony-panthers, what ensured his position as their leader. But it was only when he met Star Knight that he could really appreciate friendship how it was after the young prince’s selfless act to save him when he lost control over the seal that kept Shukaku at bay. After that moment, Strongpaw became a better leader and an even better friend.

Noticing his silence, Son Goku asked Strongpaw:

“What’s wrong? I asked you if you were a friend Star. Didn’t you listen me?”

“Yes, I did, and I am Star’s friend” Strongpaw replied. “He’s one of my dearest friends. He saved me once and that’s a debt that I’m willing to repay with my own life if needed.”

Satisfied with that answer, Son Goku laughed and then replied:

“I see…”

Strongpaw nodded with his head and said to the eight tailed beasts present there:

“All right, let’s hurry.”

The Beginning of the End

While lying on the ground without being able to stand up, Grogar remembered and thought about everything that Star told him.

After Star’s attack, Celestia activated his binds again, knowing full well Star’s attack didn’t affect Hepheus in the way they wished. But with all that light magic that she used, Celestia was able to immobilize him. When the dust cleared, Hepheus looked at Celestia and smiled at her.

Meanwhile, Grogar started to feel the pain caused by the extraction of the tailed beasts.

“The Tailed Beasts were extracted from him” Heartbeat said. “Does that mean he…”

“The Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki is not like all the others” Kurama explained to her. “They won’t die when the tailed beasts are extracted. It’s because Ten-Tails’ husk, the Demonic Statue, remains. It contains a lot of life force.”

“Really?” Heartbeat explained. “That’s incredible. But how can you know about that?”

“Who do you think that scattered us around the Enchanted Forest and the Pony-Reality?” Kurama asked. “The Lord of Order divided Ten-Tails’ energy into nine pieces after all when he already had a jinchuriki for him. But with nine bodies expelled at once, the jinchuriki became so weak that was like death, not being able to budge that much for months. The same will happen to him.”

“I see…” Heartbeat said. “So that’s how it works.”

She then turned to Blue and Shining that were a little worried about Grogar and told them:

“You don’t have to worry. The Nine-Tails inside me told me what will happen to Grogar.”

While she explained, Grogar continued to remind what happened during his talk with Star. He reminded of what his other self told him.

“So, there’s no need to worry” Heartbeat ended explaining.

“I see…” Shining said, looking to Grogar. “I was hoping that he would atone for all his past deeds. But if he cannot move, it can’t be helped. Just stay put… grandfather.”

Turning to Heartbeat, Shining said to her:

“Heartbeat, please, watch over Grogar, while Blue and I go help Star.”

“All right” she replied.

While the two unicorns moved away, Grogar looked to his hoof that was trembling from all the effort he was using to move it and then he joined it with the other hoof over his body.

“What are you doing?” Heartbeat asked, making Shining and Blue to turn over.

“To correct something that Hepheus did before the war.”

“No way…” Blue said.

“Although, I never thought… that I would… ended up undoing something made… by order of the Lord of Chaos. I’ll use the wild energy inside me to break the spell that is infecting the remaining Generals of Order.”

“But if you do that in your current condition, it will result on your…” Shining started.

A paused and then Grogar said:

“It looks like I know can understand why… many villains betrayed… the Lord of Chaos. A string of hearts linked together… That can be a great power as well. Heartbeat, I know you know what I’m talking about. Villains can be trapped in a maze of their own darkness and desires and only a great light, like Star’s, are strong enough to bring us back to the right path. But there are the ones, like me, whose redemption comes when they already have done too much damage.”

He then look to Shining and told him:

“I guess I won’t be able to reunite with our family again.”

“Are you really sure about this?” Shining asked, not knowing what to feel. “You can live… and atone for your sins, you know?”

“No…” Grogar said. “That path would be… the easy way.”

But when Grogar was about to cast the spell, a completely white hoof emerged from the ground and grabbed Grogar chest, starting to penetrate it. And Petal Sprout’s head, the real one, started to emerge, while saying:

“This time, I’ll be your way out.”

Hepheus, sensing Petal Sprout near Grogar, smiled even more and said to Celestia:

“It’s time to switch places. Now it will be my time to attack.”

“Cut the tough act” Celestia replied. “This war is over right now.”

And Star arrived at the same time Armored Oath arrived with his scroll.

“My prince, I’m here to seal Hepheus” he said.

“Good, then hurry up, Armored Oath” Star said. “I can’t wait to end this war.”

And the light guard prepared his scroll. Activating the spell, he made the tiger he draw to emerge and head toward Hepheus.

“Star Knight, I owe you a debt of gratitude” the General of Chaos said to Star. “You even extracted the tailed beasts from Grogar for me, saving me the trouble to do it myself.”

Star wondered what he wanted to say with that.

And Petal Sprout started to cover Grogar’s body while saying:

“Sorry, Grogar, but this is the reason why you weren’t chosen to be Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki.”

“Petal Sprout…” Grogar said. “But I thought…”

“You thought that I was sacrificed and that I know existed only in clones” he said, with his eye covering Grogar’s respective one. “Well, you were wrong…”

Armored Oath’s tiger grabbed Hepheus’ foreleg.

“Okay, it’s almost done” Armored Oath said.

Petal Sprout, taking over Grogar’s body, activated the spell and wild energy got out of him and headed to the sky, changing direction and going to the place where Grogar was. It then hit him and made him so strong that Hepheus said:

“Now, I’ll be fighting for real.”

And he casted a shock wave that launched dust that made the tiger to disappear.

With his job done, Petal Sprout started to get off Grogar, releasing his face that made him cough, while trying to catch his breath.

The wild energy that was given to Hepheus made him able to get rid of Celestia’s binds.

“Now I have the power I need to make my master’s plan come true. But don’t worry, Celestia, in this world that I will create, we’ll be together at last.”

“Hepheus… how did you…” she said. “I immobilized you and I nullify your dark power. You didn’t had any more power to resist a sealing spell… mainly one created by Heartbeat.”

“That can be true, but wild energy is one of the most powerful branches of dark magic” Hepheus said. “And I can use in many ways… including to counter any sealing magic used against me. It’s a good thing that I have a colleague that was kind enough to give me some… even at his… current situation after battling our dear young prince here.”

And he prepared to advance. Seeing that, Celestia tried to do something, but she was to exhausted from the fight. Hepheus then lent a blow on Star and Armored Oath, throwing them against the ground. He then grabbed Celestia’s neck and absorb magic from her.

“Now let me take some of your magic to make sure that you don’t use anymore tricks against me” Hepheus told her. “It’s nothing personal, but I can’t let my feelings getting on the way.”

He then noticed Star that came to attack him, but Hepheus was able to dodge all attacks.

“I won’t let you get your way!” Star exclaimed, while attacking.

“Ah, the young prince of the Light Kingdom…” Hepheus said. “You always the same. But your time will come, don’t worry. You can be sure that my master’s plan will be carried on.”

At the place where Grogar was, Petal Sprout, now completely free from the ram’s body told him:

“Grogar, it’s with great sadness that I tell that the Lord of Chaos doesn’t need your services anymore.”

“What did you do?” Shining asked to Petal Sprout.

But it was Grogar who said:

“He transferred… the wild magic in my body… to Hepheus… He’s too much stronger now…”

“And, without wild magic, your body will not be able to contain the Demonic Statue and you’ll die” Petal Sprout said. “All that remains is to take the control of the Nothingness Realm.”

And he advanced to take Grogar’s eyes. Heartbeat, Blue and Shining advanced to attack, but Petal Sprout was quick to take over the ram’s body. Rising up, he said:

“I think I’ll remain here a little longer, attached to him.”

“Petal Sprout… I should have destroy you instead of having Goldy imprisoning you in Tartarus” Heartbeat said. “You’re nothing more than a vegetal abomination.”

“You really like to talk too much, Heartbeat” Petal Sprout replied, standing up. “You may say whatever you want about me, but that won’t prevent me from carrying on my master’s will.”

“I thought we have eliminated all of you” Blue said.

“What you eliminated were my clones” Petal Sprout said. “I am the original one. The Lord of Chaos gave me the mission to observe and act in the case of any of his villains act against him. And it would appear he was right about Grogar. Because you underestimated me, I was able to carry on with my part and now Hepheus will be able to execute the Eternal Nightmare Curse. I simply couldn’t let this ram ruin everything by helping the other Generals. It’s bad enough that the General of Affection decided to join in. Now, until Grogar dies, I’ll use his body to fight you. It’s only fair that he is useful in the end.”

At the place where Star was fighting Hepheus, he said:

“For more that I like to fight you, young prince, I’m afraid I have more important things to do at the moment.”

“I won’t let you go!” Star exclaimed, while attacking.

“And I was not asking permition” the General of Chaos replied.

And he created a great amount of smoke that blinded Star, Armored Oath and Celestia. He then reappeared in an explosion that took down some guards nearby and, putting a hoof over a corpse that still had Kurama’s energy, he used it to heal the wounds he had. He then looked away and said:

“And now for my next act… I’ll take possession of every one of you… you filthy beasts!”

And he was talking to the tailed beasts, the ones with one to seven tails. The soldiers of the Alliance that were between Hepheus and the seven tailed beasts couldn’t help but feeling they should get out of the way and so they dispersed. Strongpaw, over his sand, retreated to Shukaku’s side, while the latter and the other tailed beasts prepared to fight the General of Chaos.

Hepheus then made the first move, taking off and advancing toward them.

“Shukaku, get ready!” Strongpaw exclaimed, while creating pieces of sand in midair.

“All right!” he replied, joining his front paws. “This is going to go wild!”

And he used wind nature to make a great blow that made the sand to turn into powerful shots. Although Grogar was pushed back by the wind and some shots hit him, he was able to protect himself from must of it.

“Nice attack” he commented, when it stopped. “But still it lacks power to defeat me!”

And he advanced. But Strongpaw used his magnet nature to make Hepheus stop in midair. Hepheus realized what happened.

“So that attack was to implant sand to stifle movement” he observed.

With him incapable of moving, Matatabi gave a jump and attack him with a paw, throwing him away, but Isobu rolled over him, throwing him again against the ground. Son Goku gave a jump and give him a kick that threw him against Kokuo who hit him with her horns, throwing him up. While he was going up, Chomei flew over him and hit Hepheus with his horn, making the dark alicorn fell on a sticky, adhesive substance that was being expelled by Saiken. With him now immobilized, Strongpaw exclaimed:

“All right, Shukaku!”

And the One-Tail extended his sand paws to Saiken’s substance and, with tons of sand layers with his marking, started to involve Hepheus. The sand started to lump up and create a bigger version of the pyramid that Strongpaw used to seal Gusty Blizzard. The marking then involved the pyramid, sealing it.

“It’s the Desert Imperial Funeral seal!” Shukaku exclaimed. “It uses my body sand and sealing mark at it!”

All the ones that saw that couldn’t believe how easily the tailed beasts were able to do all that and worried if they had been able to seal the General of Chaos.

“He’ll never take a breath of fresh air again!” Shukaku exclaimed, laughing then.

But then, to the One-Tail’s surprise, an explosion of dark magic happened on the pyramid and Hepheus got out, involved by the figure of darkness nature he used on his battle with Celestia. He then make a big jump and landed at some distance.

“That’s identical to the Warrior of Dark Light” Strongpaw observed. “However, it doesn’t seem to be as powerful as it, but even so…”

“I’ll be putting collars on all of you shortly” Hepheus said to the tailed beasts. “Not one of you will escape.”

“No, I won’t let you!” a voice replied.

It was Star, on his tailed beast state, who attacked Hepheus from behind.

“We are not going to wag our tails for you!” Kurama added.

“I’m sorry we’re late!” Gyuki said, while approaching, along with the others. “We were moving the injured.”

“Don’t worry” Matatabi said, while running. “There won’t be any more injured now. We’re ending this now!”

“Right!” Kurama seconded, while running as well. “Stack tails!”

And, together, all the nine tailed beasts extended their tails, while surrounding Hepheus. With a blow, they all crushed Hepheus with their tails at the same time, what caused a big shock.

“You were closed, damned tanuki” Kurama said to Shukaku.

“Just quick ordering us around, you damned fox!” he replied.

“We should have gotten him” Matatabi said.

And Hepheus got out, flying and landing at some distance away. Although he was able to escape alive, he had lost his right foreleg.

“Persistent bastard…” Son Goku said.

“But he has taken damage” Matatabi observed.

“Right, one more blast” Star said.

“Yeah…” Strongpaw said, hoovering beside Strongpaw. “Let’s do it, Prince Star Knight.”

While Hepheus was looking to the tailed beasts, a clone of Petal Sprout immerged from the ground beside him.

“It looks like you need my help” the clone said.

“Not that I appreciate, but I hate being three-legged” Hepheus said.

Noticing the clone, he said:

“That’s one of those clones…”

“He got back-up?” Strongpaw asked. “And only one?”

“What is he doing here?” Hawthorn asked.

“Give it to me” Hepheus ordered.

Petal Sprout extended his right foreleg and Hepheus used his magic to cut it and place it on the place where his original limb was. It then changed until it adopted the same form as the other.

“Now that I’m whole again, I can start the fun” he said, laughing then.

After that, he accessed his magic. That caused Kurama, in his plane, to sense something. Noticing that, Star asked:

“What’s wrong, Kurama?”

“That magic…” he said. “It brings back bad memories.”

“What do you mean?” Star asked.

“That repulsive magic contains wild energy, the same kind of energy Tirek used to manipulate me…” Kurama said.

“Don’t get scared and stick your tails between your legs, damn fox” Shukaku told cynically.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t underestimate him or any of the Lord of Chaos’ villains” Kurama replied.

“This really isn’t like you” Shukaku commented. “I don’t like it.”

And Hepheus casted a summoning spell and, by doing it, Grogar became stiff.

“Grandpa…” Shining said.

And, from his body, the Demonic Statue immerged.

“That’s the Demonic Statue” Heartbeat said.

“He may attack us with it” Blue said. “Shining, let’s make that thing disappear.”

“Yes” the white unicorn replied.

The two started to do the spell, but before they could do it properly, the statue disappeared.

“Did it worked?” Blue asked.

“No, it didn’t” Heartbeat said. “It was teleported.”

And the statue reappeared behind Hepheus, but having lost one arm. Seeing it, both Strongpaw and Star got a bad feeling about it.

“That again?” the young colt asked.

Noticing the damage on the statue, Hepheus said:

“The right arm had been wrenched off. I bet it was those two idiots. Well, that’s not a problem. Now I have a little pen for them.”

And he turned to the tailed beasts and said:

“All I need to do is to shove them in there.”

“He was able to summon that thing?” Son Goku asked. “Even with it inside the other?”

“Take a closer look” Matatabi said. “He possesses a great quantity of wild energy. No wonder he was able to do it.”

“How did he get that much amount of wild energy?” Chomei asked. “I don’t remember of him having all that.”

At that moment, Star remembered what Hepheus said before getting loose.

“No way…” he said. “That means he used Grogar… But that means he’s…”

Grogar continued to get weaken and weaken, while Petal Sprout continued to control his body. The plant pony tried to get to Grogar’s eyes to get his power over the Nothingness Realm, but he suddenly stopped.

“Grandpa…” Shining said.

“He’s fighting against Petal Sprout’s control” Blue observed.

“Barely” Heartbeat replied. “He’s using all the remaining energy he still has to fight.”

“Stubborn fool…” Petal Sprout said. “You’re almost dead. Just give up. This power was given to you by Hepheus who received it from the Lord of Chaos. It’s time to return it to his owner. It is trivial for it to be kept by the likes of you.”

“I won’t you let have this power back” Grogar said. “Hepheus is already too powerful and I won’t let him get the power over the Nothingness Realm to get an even bigger advantage.”

That caused Petal Sprout to laugh and said:

“Do you really think he needs that to win? How naïve… And I was thinking you were smarter than that. Now, you’re just a useless fool who refuses to die. Just stop resisting. You would be dead by now if I wasn’t stuck to you.”

“Then detach yourself from me… and take the power off my dead body” Grogar replied.

“No, because the moment I do that, those three will attack me before I deliver the power to the Lord of Chaos” Petal Sprout said. “I’m not a fool to face two Generals and a Captain of the Royal Guard.”

At the battle between Hepheus and the tailed beasts, the former said:

“It will take a while for your original to end his job” Hepheus said. “Not that matters now.”

“But it’s not like we don’t have anything to do” the clone said. “Dealing with them may take a while.”

“Don’t compare me with the other villains that needed months to retrieve those pets” Hepheus replied, while his injuries healed. “You’ll see the true power of the General of Chaos.”

“Come on, let’s go already!” Star exclaimed.

“Wait, we don’t know his attack plan” Kurama said.

“The Demonic Statue…” Gyuki said, looking to the one-armed humanoid statue.

After a moment, Hepheus said:

“I shall proceed carefully. If I use the wild energy in its true power we should see a more intriguing battle. This will be quick. No observe closely.”

And he opened his wings, flying to the top of the statue. And then his eyes gleamed with wild nature that combined with the dark magic inside him.

“He might try something” Matatabi commented to the others. “So watch out!”

But when she barely said that, something it her and all the other tailed beasts, throwing them to the ground. The forced of the attack was even strong enough to push back Strongpaw, who barely was able to remain on the sand. He wondered what just happened. The ones of the Alliance that were seeing that couldn’t believe how easily the tailed beasts were knocked down.

Watching the tailed beasts trying to get up, Hepheus said:

“This shall tame you a bit. Now I shall go ahead and put collars on you.”

And, using his magic, he made the Demonic Statue open its mouth.

“Something is coming!” Strongpaw exclaimed to Shukaku.

And the statue released nine dark chains, like the ones from before, that got around the nine tailed beasts’ necks.

“Eight-Tails!” Hawthorn exclaimed, when his tailed beast was caught.

“Kurama!” Star called.

“Now, I shall rip the Eight and Nine-Tails from their jinchuriki!” Hepheus proclaimed with a wicked smile.

The chain that held Gyuki started to pull him, what caused him to fell down.

“Eight-Tails!” Hawthorn called.

The chain that held Kurama also started to pull him, while Kurama tried to fight it, but to not avail.

“Damn it!” he exclaimed.

Star knew that he had to do something, so he decided to undo the Kurama mode.

“It’s useless” Hepheus told him, having noticed what Star was trying to do. “Once I have them, I’m not letting them go.”

Star couldn’t believe that Hepheus was right, as he couldn’t undo the Kurama mode. It was then that the chain started to pull Kurama, what caused Star to be pulled back through Kurama's avatar.

“Hepheus, don’t forget you must take them in order” the clone said. “One-Tails must go first.”

“I’m well aware of that” he replied.

“Since you need to rip out the last two tailed beasts from the jinchuriki, why don’t you just go ahead and pull in the others, from One-Tails to Seven-Tails in the meantime?” the clone suggested.

“Don’t even think about it!” Star exclaimed, while holding back. “I won’t let you take Kurama from me!”

“You’re right” Hepheus said to the clone. “It looks like this will take some time. So then… let’s start with this one!”

And he started to pull Shukaku. Before that, Strongpaw made sand hooves appeared and grab the chain.

“You can’t have Shukaku!” he proclaimed.

Seeing the determination that Strongpaw was showing, Shukaku couldn’t believe in it, after everything he did to him.

Years ago…

At the plane where Shukaku was meeting with a very young Strongpaw, the tailed beast told him:

“Once you fall asleep, I’m going to take over your body and soul. And then, I’ll slaughter all of you ponies! So you better not doze off.”

“You mean… you hate ponies?” the young Strongpaw asked, with a little fear.

“Yeah!” Shukaku replied. “I despise them! Even the ones called pony-panthers!”

“But… I thought you existed to protect the pony-panthers” Strongpaw said.

“I’ve never protected you all because I wanted to!” the tanuki replied. “You ponies are lesser than us beasts!”

A long time ago…

At the time of Shukaku’s first jinchuriki, a very old pony-panther that no longer used his transformed form, having a bluish coat with a scroll as Cutie Mark, bald head and a long white beard, he, whose name was Grain Wave, was imprisoned on a cage under constant vigilance, as it was a custom at the time of the earlier jinchuriki.

“Here’s your meal, Shukaku” a guard said, while passing a tray with food under the grids and approaching it with a rod to the old jinchuriki that was sitting at the center of the cage.

Grain Wave joined the hooves with tremors in a way of thanking the food.

“I don’t get why we have to guard a weird old pony like that even though we are experienced guards” the guard told to his companion.

“I know what you mean, but guarding a jinchuriki is an acknowledgement to your skills” he replied. “Just stop whining about it and deal with it.”

Inside Shukaku’s plane, he told to Grain Wave:

“Hey, your old geezer, they don’t even call you for your real name anymore.”

“I don’t really mind about that” he replied. “Since you know my true name, that’s what matters.”

“You may be considered wise between your kind, but come on! Don’t you get lonely or anything, putting up with ponies that hate you and a beast like me? Caged together with a pony-eating beast that has been with you since the day you were born?”

“Well, remember that I may die the moment I’m separated from you, since I’m a jinchuriki. Besides, there’s really no need to distinguish between pony and beast, because a friend from the heart provides peace of mind no matter the species.”

“I got to say you’re one strange pony” Shukaku commented. “I bet there won’t be another jinchuriki like you again.”

“No, I think you’re wrong there” Grain Wave disagreed. “A soul is like a reflecting water. Everypony often speaks or acts the opposite of their true feelings. But I believe that, fundamentally, every heart wishes to connect with and accept each other. Even with beasts.”

After a moment, Shukaku said:

“You know, you kind off remind me of the Lord of Order.”

It was then that tears formed on Grain Wave’s eyes and he said:

“Thank you very much. I believe those are the most heartwarming words that I ever received from you.”

Outside, one of guards exclaimed to him:

“Hey, hurry up and eat, old geezer! We have other things to do.”

Before that, Shukaku told to Grain Wave:

“Seriously though, I can’t see anypony else be like you out there.”

“Oh, I’m sure there are” the old jinchuriki replied. “I know that, one day, somepony will emerge and protect, redeem and shepherd you. And the moment you come to accept his true heart, you too will likely comprehend the meaning of these words.”

In the present…

Strongpaw continued to hold the chain that was holding Shukaku. Seeing that, now the one-tailed beast now understood what Grain Wave meant.

“Chief Strongpaw, hold in there!” Star exclaimed.

And then Shukaku remember what Strongpaw told him some time after what happened in the Light Kingdom.

“Until now, I’ve always considered you unpleasant. But it was because I was a jinchuriki that I was able to meet Prince Star Knight. So at least there’s one thing I’m grateful to you for now.”

“Why you disgusting pony-panther!” the clone exclaimed. “Are you seriously that happy to have your old pet back? How dare you to interfere, even when you’re not going to die as jinchuriki?!”

Hepheus then casted a blast of dark magic against Strongpaw, but then Shukaku protected him with a paw.

“You know my motto is absolute defense! I still got my pride as Shukaku!”

“Yes, I know” Strongpaw said, while holding the sand hooves.

“You know nothing at all, you fool” Hepheus said.

It was then that he casted a blast that hit and broke the part of chain that was holding Shukaku that was being grabbed by Strongpaw’s sand hooves so the chain could reattached again. With that, much to Strongpaw’s shock, he was hit and thrown back. Fortunately, his Sand Shield was able to hold him before he could get to the ground.

“Strongpaw, don’t overdo it!” Shukaku said, while being pulled.

Getting up, Strongpaw said:

“I’m no longer a jinchuriki. So that means… we can now pull all-nighters as equals.”

“Strongpaw…” Shukaku said, reminding what Grain Wave told him centuries ago. “You… remind me of Grain Wave.”

While Shukaku was being dragged and approaching the statue, the other tailed beasts started being pulled as well. While being pulled, one of Gyuki’s tentacles was cut off and Star was pulled back, as Kurama was being pulled by the Demonic Statue. Noticing that, Kurama turned to Strongpaw and told him:

“Hey you, leader of the pony-panthers! Do me a favor!”

While seeing the tailed beasts approaching even more, Hepheus said, smiling:

“Good…”

After telling what he wanted to tell to Strongpaw, while holding as much as he could, Kurama asked:

“You got it, Strongpaw?”

But he didn’t say anything. At that moment, Star got out of Kurama, as the nine-tailed fox was extracted from him. That caused Star to feel a great pain in his chest, with his heart starting to stop as he lost consciousness.

“Star Knight!” Strongpaw exclaimed.

He then reacted and made his sand catch Star.

It was then that the tailed beasts started to be pulled in to the Demonic Statue, starting with Shukaku.

“Shukaku!” Strongpaw called.

After him, Matatabi was next, followed by Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken and Chomei. While Gyuki was being pulled in, he said:

“I’m sorry… Hawthorn.”

Kurama, on his turn, said:

“I’m counting on you, Chief Strongpaw.”

And Gyuki was pulled in and, at last, Kurama was also pulled in. After that, the Demonic Statue closed his mouth and it opened his eyes, all with irises. The members of the Alliance couldn’t believe what just happened.

“Well, I guess I can’t expect more with my current strength” Hepheus said.

“That took longer than a few seconds” the clone commented. “But I guess you were faster than the other villains.”

“You really do talk too much” Hepheus commented. “You’re nothing more than a copy of the original Petal Sprout.”

“Well, we, clones, tend to be more wagging-tongued” the clone replied.

“I just hope the other battle goes well” Hepheus said.

“Don’t worry about that” the clone replied.

At that moment, Ingrid teleported and tried to attack Hepheus, but he dodged and the two engaged in a fight. That allowed Strongpaw to get out of there on his sand, while holding an unconscious Star on his back.

While transporting Star, he could feel him becoming weaker and weaker. The fact that he was an alicorn was the solo reason why he was still alive. But it wouldn’t be for long. He needed to do everything to save him. It was the least he could do, after what he did to him.

After fighting for a few moments, Hepheus ended up restraining Ingrid.

“I never met you like I did to your sister, but I have to say you’re rather tricky.”

“The same goes for you” she replied.

“But I’m the one who is standing up” Hepheus said. “Just look at you, the one that was once the Snow Queen. I really can’t understand why you rejected the Lord of Chaos the way you did.”

“That sure is something you will never understand” Ingrid replied. “At least at the state you are.”

“I’m going to go on ahead” the clone said, while infiltrating the ground.

After he did that, Ingrid said:

“But tell me, this curse of yours… Do you really think it’s a cure?”

“Of course” Hepheus said. “The Lord of Order’s creation has a paradox. Ponies and the other creatures desire peace and yet, on the other hoof, they create conflict as well. That duality is what causes it to be imperfect.”

“You’re wrong” Ingrid said. “It’s that duality that allows everything to be in balance. Only when one of them supplants the other is that everything enters in chaos.”

Hepheus looked at her with a look that gave Ingrid the impression he would do something to her. It was then that he said:

“You don’t have to worry. I won’t do anything to you. I will allow you to watch as the curse is activated so you can see that you’re wrong. Beyond that, you’re Celestia’s older sister and let’s just say I still have some love for her.”

Strongpaw continued to carry Star on his back as fast as his sand could. Meanwhile, a new player arrived to the battle, arriving on the head of a big statue of a pony with a lot of forelegs and a crown with six pony faces. The one controlling hit seemed to be a clone, but with a strange shape. And the statue started to attack the Alliance with its multiple limbs.

Aspen was using his light nature to cut through the a limb, but he ended up being hit by another, although he was able to stand up. The statue attacked Mystic Heart, hitting her, but she retreated and said:

“My magic won’t activate.”

“I can’t believe we’ll be stopped by the likes of him” Hard Stone said, looking to the clone.

“Not good” Twilight said. “That one is still blocking our way.”

Luna then noticed the clone’s strange form and the fact that he was capable of creating something like that. She wondered who he was, although an idea came to her.

“Well, then, let’s begin the fun” the clone said.

The five pony heads on the crown opened their mouth and fire, light, wind, earth, water and darkness appeared before them. Looking to that, Godot said:

“Six energy natures all at one time? How can we deal with that?”

“We just have to organize everyone” Gael replied. “Everyone, attack your respective nature!”

And, as the statue attacked, the ones capable of using elemental nature casted their attacks to block the statue’s, with the dragons using their fire, the deer using their light nature and the griffons the wind nature and the thestrals the darkness nature, what caused an explosion of smoke. When it cleared, the clone said:

“Impressive. You were able to counter each of the natures.”

But the big problem was that everyone in the Alliance was too tire and they didn’t know for much how time they would be able to fight. Even Twilight couldn’t do her healing spell anymore, even with Princess Luna’s help, to help everyone recover their energy. Even Hard Stone knew they would have to retreat and regroup if they continued like that. He knew they had to trust on Star to deal with Hepheus.

It was then something caught the attention of the sensing warriors, as well as others: Strongpaw had arrived.

“There they are!” he said.

And headed to Twilight. Once he arrived to her edge, Twilight, seeing her son the way he was, exclaimed:

“Star!”

And Strongpaw landed Star on a sand platform that he created to hold the young prince, while Twilight observed her son.

“There’s no time to explain right now!” he said. “Princess Twilight, I need you to come with me. Healing him it’s what you can do for him right know on the way.”

“But what happened?” Twilight asked. “I’m his mother and I need to know how he ended up like this!”

“Just come, princess!” Strongpaw replied. “Don’t waste time! I’ll explain later.”

Twilight then climbed on to the sand and Strongpaw elevated them and started to advance, while the princess started to apply healing magic on Star.

The clone whose limb was given to Hepheus appeared behind the clone on the statue and said:

“Star Knight… He stubbornly keeps living for a bit because he’s an alicorn. But trying to heal him is completely useless.”

“Of course” the other clone said. “Unless you’re as immortal as a General, when the Nine-Tails is extracted from his jinchuriki, the latter dies.”

The Demonic Statue disappeared, with Ingrid falling on the ground, while Hepheus landed smoothly.

“Well, I have things to do” Hepheus said to Ingrid. “I’m sorry, but I can’t keep you company. Bye.”

And he started to move away.

“No, come back here!” Ingrid called, but in vain.

While keeping his son alive, Twilight said to him:

“Hang in there… Don’t give up! You’re so strong! You’ll make it! I know that you will!”

It was then that the healing started to lose effect, as his heartbeat continued to drop. Twilight tried to do her best, but her magic was almost done. She didn’t have any more energy to keep the spell.

“At this rate…” Twilight said, with tears on her eyes. “…my son is going to… die!”

On the Brink of Death

While continuing to try to heal Star, she saw the Nine-Tails’ energy that Star gave to her and the others to disappear. She then verified his pulse and tried to hear his heartbeat, but she didn’t hear anything. Star had entered in cardiac arrest.

“No…” Twilight said.

Noticing what was happening, Strongpaw exclaimed:

“Hang in there, Star!”

“But what’s happening?” Twilight asked Strongpaw. “My healing magic isn’t working on him!”

“It’s probably because Nine-Tails was extracted from him” he replied.

That shocked Twilight who said:

“That’s impossible…”

“Hepheus got him” Strongpaw told. “But there’s a way to save him. That’s why we’re in hurry.”

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked.

“To where Heartbeat is” Strongpaw replied.

He then remembered what Kurama told him…

Moments ago…

Before being pulled into the Demonic Statue, Kurama said to Strongpaw after calling him:

“Go to Heartbeat. My other half is sealed inside her. Transplant that other half into Star. That will save him. Hurry to go to Heartbeat!”

“She can teleport” Strongpaw said. “Can’t we just contact her somehow and have her come here?”

“That won’t work” Kurama replied. “Once I’m extracted, it will be a race against time. Just rush Star over Heartbeat. Got that, Strongpaw?!”

And, with those words, Kurama was extracted from Star, what caused Strongpaw to catch him with sand. Seeing that, Kurama said:

“Chief Strongpaw… I’m counting on you.”

And he was pulled into the Demonic Statue.

In the present…

After explaining everything, Strongpaw said:

“That’s what Nine-Tails told me. Right now, there’s no way to save Star.”

“How much longer until we get there?” Twilgiht asked.

“Several kilometers” Strongpaw said.

But, at that time, Star would be long gone. She had to keep him alive until the time they reached Heartbeat. So, focusing magic on her horn, she made a cut on the side of Star’s body and put her hoof inside him, going directly to the heart and starting helping it pumping blood. That caused some shock on Strongpaw, but he knew that she was only doing what she could to save her son.

“As long as I’m here, I am not going to let you die!” Twilight exclaimed.

So, in order to keep her from falling, Strongpaw made the sand under her and Star to grab her torso and then said:

“I’m going at full speed.”

“Right!” Twilight said.

Hepheus, after flying for some time, landed and started to walk. While doing that, he summoned Ten-Tails that soon started to be absorbed by him. While that happened, his coat and mane whited, just how it happened to Grogar, and a grey horn-like protrusions grew out of his left temple and overlapped his forehead, right beneath the horn, with an upward-curve on the right temple. The spheres of black matter appeared behind him, as well a rod that he grabbed.

“So this is the supreme nature…” Hepheus said. “Now, let’s deal with the anomalies…”

And he took flight.

Twilight continued to keep Star alive, making mouth-to-mouth to fill his lungs and helping his heart pumping the blood. After taking a break to recover her breath, Twilight remembered everything Star did to be acknowledged by the light ponies and all the dreams he had. Adding to the fact that was her son, all of that gave her more determination to save him. So, she continued.

Where Grogar, Shining, Blue and Heartbeat were, the former said:

“Shining… hurry up… Kill me right now. The Lord of Chaos must not take the Nothingness Realm back…”

“Grogar’s mind is clear” Blue observed. “Now’s our chance… That is if you’re willing to do it, Shining.”

Shining took a moment and then said:

“Let’s try to tear Grogar away from that guy.”

“But that will also kill him” Blue replied.

“Well, it seems we reached an impasse” Heartbeat noticed.

Meanwhile, Strongpaw continued to advance to there, while bringing Twilight and Star, with the former still keeping her son alive.

Hepheus continued to advance, but then he commented:

“I feel a little heavy… There’s something catching in my chest.”

He then spitted something out and the Crimson Gourd and the Sealing Urn appeared, regaining their original size and starting to fall.

“Oh right, those things… Well, they’re useless to me now. But now I’m lighter.”

And he continued to advance.

At the base of the Divine Tree, Heartbeat, Blue and Shining had been fighting Petal Sprout, who used Grogar’s body. Then, the General of Affection created a Spiraling Sphere, while Blue and Shining created a light sword, with both sides a little tired as the three had run out most of their energy to fight Grogar earlier.

“You guys are stubborn too!” Petal Sprout exclaimed.

“My great-grandfather’s consciousness is no longer stable” Shining observed.

“It seems we don’t have any other choice” Blue said. “Let’s go.”

But it was then that Heartbeat felt something approaching. It was a mix of fear, sadness and desperation that she knew that was coming from Twilight. That could only mean one thing.

“You can feel it, can’t you?” Kurama asked her, on their plane.

“No, it can’t be…” Heartbeat said, in a way that both Blue and Shining heard.

“We were distracted by what was happening here” Kurama replied. “There’s no mistake. My other half has already been extracted.”

She then undid the Spiraling Sphere.

“Heartbeat, what’s wrong?” Blue asked.

His question was answered when Strongpaw arrived with Twilight and Star.

“Blue!” Twilight called, while Strongpaw started to low them. “Shining! Heartbeat!”

When Blue saw Star, said:

“No, Star! But what happened?!”

“The Nine-Tails was extracted from Star” Twilight replied. “At this rate, he’ll…”

But she wasn’t able to formulate the rest of the sentence.

“Heartbeat, I bring a message from Star’s Nine-Tails!” Strongpaw exclaimed. “He said for you to transplant the other half of Nine-Tails that you have in you into Star! That will save him!”

Petal Sprout listened to that with great interest.

“Prince Shining Armor, Blue, he’s all yours” Heartbeat said.

They nodded and turned to Petal Sprout, with Strongpaw joining them, saying:

“I’ll help you.”

Heartbeat then started to focus her magic to transfer the Kurama inside her to Star. She then placed her hoof a few inches over him. And a reddish orange light started to shine. The bubbling red energy started to flow in the between. But before it could reach Star, Petal Sprout, in a more liquid form, appeared and absorbed it. That shocked Twilight and Heartbeat and Kurama, seeing where he was, said:

“But this…”

“Nine-Tails…” Petal Sprout on Grogar’s body said, beside him. “You’re finally mine!”

Petal Sprout had inserted a part of him through the ground in order to get Kurama’s energy.

“What the…” Strongpaw said, turning back.

Seeing him, Heartbeat exclaimed:

“You little cockroach!”

She really disliked the fact of not being able to feel Petal Sprout’s emotion. And she tried to attack Petal Sprout with a Spiraling Sphere, but he returned to the ground, going back to Grogar’s body.

“How’s Star?!” Blue asked.

But he didn’t get his answer, as something landed with great power.

“What was that?” Twilight asked.

They all looked and Blue said:

“No way…”

A smile appeared on Petal Sprout’s face and he said:

“Hepheus…”

It was really Hepheus who then said:

“I thought you were supposed to deal with these setbacks, Petal Sprout. So I decided to come to you.”

A Team Linked by Blood

The arrival of Hepheus, even more the way he looked, surprised everypony.

“Petal Sprout, how long are you going to cling to Grogar?” the General of Chaos asked.

“I’m sorry” the plant pony replied. “But that allowed me to steal Nine-Tails’ other half from these guys.”

“Good” Hepheus replied with a smile. “Now, bring it and the power over the Nothingness Realm to me.”

Heartbeat was able to sense a big quantity of natural energy coming from Hepheus, one even stronger than Grogar’s.

“So, Heartbeat’s Nine-Tails is sealed inside that plant abomination” Strongpaw observed.

“Hepheus, where did you get that power?” Blue asked, noticing too what Heartbeat had sensed.

But then there was some movement from Grogar’s body that caught everypony’s attention and Petal Sprout started to get out of the ram’s body.

“Since Hepheus is here, you can’t do anything to me, even if I separate myself from Grogar” Petal Sprout said, while moving out of Grogar.

It was then that Petal Sprout couldn’t move any longer, for how much he tried.

“Let’s go now, Prince Blue Sword! Prince Shining Armor!” Strongpaw exclaimed.

And they advanced.

Petal Sprout continued to tried to get out of Grogar, but he couldn’t. It was then that he returned to cover the ram, while the three stallions positioned themselves behind him. Grogar, while gasping, opened the eye that was uncovered, looking to Hepheus.

“Why you…” Petal Sprout said, irritated. “You’re still…”

“Not yet…” Grogar said to the plant pony, turning then to the General of Chaos. “I need to ask you something, Hepheus.”

Strongpaw prepared to used his sand, but Blue put a hoof on his shoulder, saying:

“We need the Nine-Tails inside that thing for Star. We cannot afford to miss.”

“Blue’s right” Shining said. “Star’s life depends on it. We have to wait for the right moment.”

“Just what am I… to the Lord of Chaos?” Grogar asked.

That caused Hepheus to drop a laugh and then said:

“You’re kidding, right? What kind of stupid question is that in a time like this? You are only one thing to our master… a servant. That’s what everyone who serves him is: just a servant that do whatever he wants, a pawn that he can discard when the need calls it. Anyone that serves him can only feel pride in doing so, instead hoping something in return. That’s what you are to him.”

“That… was once my path too…” Grogar said.

“You just did what you had to do for the Lord of Chaos” Hepheus replied. “If not you, another would do it. I even let you take the lead for a while as a reward for all of your services. Grogar is just a character that the Lord of Chaos created to carry on his will. You have done that role perfectly. This world created by the Lord of Order…” and he looked to the dying Star. “…has failed.”

Grogar also looked to Star.

“Now listen, the energy dispersed by the Lord of Chaos was originally meant to link all the Enchanted Forest and possibly all the Pony Reality” Hepheus continued. “The Divine Tree had the power to link the inhabitants’ feelings and make them understand each other without the need of words. During the Divine Tree’s reign, there was peace at the Enchanted Forest. However, the inhabitants desired more and took the Heart of the Forest, disrupting the perfect peace that existed.”

“Just what are you talking about?” Twilight asked, while still keeping Star alive.

“Chief Strongpaw…” Shining said.

“I know” he replied.

“All that the Lord of Order created by letting that happening was a pony paradox” Hepheus continued. “And even if bonds were established, all they learned was that true understanding wasn’t possible. In any case, the power only creates conflict and false hope. Even if we seek peace, we also seek war what causes this reality to compel infinite suffering and all because of the Lord of Order’s light. For more bright that it is, power leads to the desire of war and the lack of power leads to losing everything. I and the Lord of Chaos will build a new world that overcomes that! Through the Eternal Nightmare Curse, we will create a dream world without any abominable light. I, who possess the Lord of Chaos’ will and the power of the Divine Tree, shall lead it! So you’re not Star Shield, but Grogar, a servant of the Lord of Chaos. Star Shield search to protect the world created by then Lord of Order and ended up losing everything he loved. Have you forgotten about that? Now, come to me… Grogar.”

And he extended his hoof to him. Grogar started to advance.

“That’s right” Hepheus said. “You’re being a hero by doing that even now.”

At that moment, Strongpaw prepared to used his sand, while Blue and Shining prepared a combined disappearance spell and Heartbeat used the energy she still had to execute her swift nature. A wall of sand emerged on Grogar’s way, while the disappearance spell targeted Grogar. Heartbeat, with great spped, appeared in front of Hepheus and prepared a Spiraling Sphere. But with a swing, Hepheus threw Heartbeat away, while throwing the attack on other direction. They passed the wall and then went against the trio, hitting them and throwing them to the ground. The sand started to fall down.

“No way…” Twilight said, seeing that. “Their combined attack…”

Grogar approached Hepheus, passing through the sand now on the ground.

“Now…” the dark alicorn said, extending the hoof with Grogar doing the same.

But when Grogar went to grab Hepheus’ hoof, he stabbed him with his own, for everyone’s shock, including Hepheus.

“You damned…” the General of Chaos said.

“What are you doing?!” Petal Sprout asked.

Looking to Star by the corner of his uncovered eye, he remembered what the young colt told him, the words that made him awake from the darkness he was into, and compared them with the ones of Hepheus’. At that moment, he knew which ones he had to follow.

“The one who leads others is the one who never steps over his friends’ corpses, even if his own ends up being stepped on” Grogar said.

It was then that he was able to conjure a sphere of black matter and prepared to use it with the other hoof.

“Then, in order to confirm that, you’ll have to become a corpse” Hepheus replied.

“You won’t be stepping on me anymore!” Grogar exclaimed. “I realize now that letting someone handle everything in your name isn’t the same as truly entrusting them with the task. I’m not a servant.”

The ones who were listening that became astonished. And Grogar made the black matter to pass through the hoof, while he remember all the good memories he had before being corrupted. With a determined look, Grogar created his staff of dark matter and told:

“The current me… is the one who wanted to protect what’s good in this world… Star Shield!”

“Grandpa…” Shining said, happy to see that his grandfather had finally found himself.

And then Star Shield started to absorb energy from Grogar. Hepheus rose a hoof and tried to attack him, but it just passed through him, as Grogar used the power over the Nothingness Realm.

“I passed through you…” Hepheus said. “How dare you to use a power belonging to the Lord of Chaos against his General?!”

And he flapped his wings and retreated, but Grogar continued connected to him by a string of energy. At another plane where the tailed beasts were stored, Grogar was with his hoof under a watered surface.

“Are you trying to weaken me by taking away the tailed beasts?” Hepheus asked. “Do you really think that you can challenge me and win?”

When Grogar tried to take the Tailed Beasts, he saw he couldn’t take them all. When he used all the strength he had, Grogar was able to rip off a piece of white mass of energy.

“So weak…” Hepheus said. “Is that all? You only tore off a mere sliver of the One and Eight-Tails?”

At the real world, Grogar extracted the piece he took from Hepheus.

“Shining!” Star Shield called, while he absorbed the energy. “Take Star to the Nothingness Realm!”

Understanding his intensions of handle Nine-Tails there, Shining casted the disappearance spell and Twilight and Star disappeared. Then, Star Shield prepared to go to there was well. Seeing that, Hepheus prepared to stop him. He knew by experience that while going to the Nothingness Realm he couldn’t become intangible. He started to attack with the black matter, but Star Shield defended with his staff, while being thrown away, what caused him to stop teleporting. He shouldn’t do it carelessly, as the teleportation speed was to slow.

“As he was once the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki, he was able to steal some power from me too…” Hepheus said.

When Twilight found herself, she and Star were at the Nothingness Realm, with the sand collapsing under them. Twilight then took a time to recover her breath after forgetting to breathe due to that moment that just passed.

At the Pony World, Shining approached Star Shield and told him:

“All right, I transported Star. All that’s left is for you to teleport yourself there and Star will be safe, right, grandpa?”

Star Shield smiled and said, while rising up:

“Smart as ever. White Light taught you well. But I guess that’s a compliment to myself as I was the one who trained him. I guess it was because of that I guessed I understood a little about you, even though I was not physically in your life. In part, I was right, but only in part. But now I got to understand you better. Shining, even when I was Grogar, I continued to watch over you. I saved your daughter, although I didn’t have to, because secretly I wanted to care for my family. This time, I’ll take point and you’ll be my back-up, my grandson.”

“I got it, grandpa” Shining replied. “You can count on me. I’m glad to finally fight along the one I always admired.”

Seeing that scene, Blue smiled, knowing perfectly well how long Shining had dreamed to meet his grandfather and now could do it.

“You’re right, fate can be rather surprising” Heartbeat said, placing herself beside Blue.

Blue, who was already used to Heartbeat reading what he was feeling, said:

“Let’s just hope if their teamwork is good enough to pass through Hepheus.”

“I believe that’s our only hope” Heartbeat replied.

“Grogar, I’m taking back everything I and the Lord of Chaos loaned to you” Hepheus said to Star Shield.

“Are you worried, Hepheus?” Star Shield asked. “I may have not met you when you were the true you, but you must know what happens what differences the heroes from the villains. Villains are all alone, but heroes are not. When true heroes fight together, their true power is unleashed and that’s why good always defeat evil. Well, I decided to be the hero I was once and now that I’m siding with my grandson, a hero even greater than me, you’ll see our true power.”

“I’m not worried, because I know how everything ends” Hepheus replied. “What you’re saying may be true, but heroes can also fall. And when they do, they become just like me.”

“Well, we just have to find out about that, don’t we?” Star Shield said.

That caused Hepheus to analyze the situation. In order to save Star, they needed both the Nine-Tails’ energy and the knowledge to seal it with the supreme nature. As Star Shield had both, the only thing he had to do was to prevent him from going to the Nothingness Realm. He already knows that his attacks are faster than his teleportation, so he deduced that one of them would distract him, while the other performs the disappearance spell, either be Star Shield doing it or having Shining teleport him. But whatever they decide, Hepheus knew he would be able to stop Star Shield again, as he still had his secret power, the one he used to subdue the tailed beasts. But Hepheus knew he couldn’t do it while Star Shield still had the control over the Nothingness Realm. Then he could only attack them simultaneously. And so he launched two black spheres.

Seeing that, Blue prepared to intervene.

It was then that both Star Shield and Shining used the disappearance spell and the black spheres caused impact. But Hepheus got to know what they did. They used the disappearance spell at the same time, with Star Shield using it to teleport himself and Shining using it on the former, doubling then the speed of the spell.

And, indeed, Star Shield reappeared on the Nothingness Realm, near Twilight and Star.

“Grandpa…”

“You don’t have to worry” he said. “I’m here to help Star…”

Twilight looked at him and then she nodded, saying:

“I trust you… I saw what you did back there.”

“I’m glad that you do…” Star Shield replied, while approaching. “It looks like you and your brother turn out to be great heroes and I’m proud of that.”

He placed his hoof on Star and said:

“Now it’s time to return to be the hero I once was. And, to do that, I’ll save this child… You honored me for giving my name to him. Now, it’s my turn to return the favor and save your son.”

And he started to transfer the energy of Nine-Tails, along with the one belonging to One-Tail and Eight-Tails that he had stolen from Hepheus.

At the Pony-World, the smoke cleared and revealed that the black spheres had been blocked by Blue and his negating power.

“As always, your timing was perfect, brother” Shining said to Blue.

“That’s what best friends are for” he replied. “Now, let me handle this. I’ll deal with Hepheus.”

The General of Balance's True Power

After hearing what Blue said, Hepheus smiled and said:

“You may be a General, but you’re nothing more than a mere copy of the original General of Balance. And even him wouldn’t have the power to defeat me.”

“Don’t you dare to compare me with Perfect Scales” Blue said.

“Prince Shining Armor, are you okay?” Heartbeat asked, as she and Strongpaw approached.

“Yeah, thanks to Blue” Shining replied.

“I don’t mean that” Heartbeat said. “I’m talking about the Spiraling Sphere from earlier. I noticed that it hit you.”

“You don’t have to worry about that” Shining told. “I used the disappearance spell on it.”

“I’m glad for that” Heartbeat said. “But it looks now we’re low in options to deal with Hepheus. I can used my emotional magic on him, but taking out the Nine-Tails in me left me very weak. I can’t barely use my empathy.”

“Well, then it’s my turn” Blue said, advancing. “My magic can nullify his supreme nature. Beyond that, close combat is one of my specialties. Also, I learned a few tricks as General.”

And, using his magic, he was involved by a strong pulse of magic. That sudden released of power surprised Hepheus.

“That Blue, always so exaggerated” Heartbeat said. “He’s opening the limits of his power as General.”

“I see…” Hepheus said, looking to Blue. “You’re trying to access to your true power as General. But you insult me with anything less than that.”

It was then that Blue appeared before Hepheus with a great speed and started to try to hit him. The General of Chaos, caught by surprised, was barely able to dodge.

“Amazing…” Strongpaw said. “I didn’t now Prince Blue Sword still had this much energy.”

“Heartbeat, what is that you talked now?” Shining asked. “What do you mean by opening the limits?”

“The Generals of Order normally only have part of their power that is restrained by our star seeds” Heartbeat said. “That’s because that much power can have negative effects on it. At least, the light goes out and, at the worse scenario, the star seed breaks. And you know what happens when the star seed breaks.”

Shining knew what she was referring. Losing the light meant to turn into a lifeless black stone, as the light that gives life wouldn’t have anything to be contained, but breaking a star seed would meant to cease to exist.

“You mean Blue…” Shining started.

“As long he doesn’t cross the point of no return, he will be fine” Heartbeat said. “He won’t be able to move for weeks, but fine.”

“And when do we know he crosses that point?” Shining asked.

“Believe me, you will know” Heartbeat ensured him.

And then Blue charged his horn with such quantity of energy and roared:

“Take this!”

And a great explosion happened at the roots of the Divine Tree. The power was such that threw Blue against the floor, while Hepheus was sent back. The latter used his wings to stop and then he threw one of his spheres. Heartbeat was quick to react and used her swift nature to bring Blue back.

“I got you” she said.

“Thanks, Heartbeat…” he replied.

After they arrived to the others’ side, Heartbeat said:

“You should be careful when you suppress your star seeds’ limits like that. You know what that does to us.”

“Are you all right, Blue?” Shining asked.

“Yes, I am” he answered. “Only my right foreleg and a few ribs are hurt.”

Hepheus took flight, looking to his enemies, and Shining said:

“He’s really strong.”

“Wait, Shining…” Blue said. “I know I can do this. It’s true that everything we wish for will not come to be, but things that we must do must always begin with a wish. My son is the proof of that. And if he was ready to sacrifice himself for everyone, then I’m willing to do the same for him.”

Listening to that, Shining knew what he was thinking.

“Don’t tell me… you’re going to…” he started.

“It’s time… to cross the point of no return” Blue replied.

“Blue, you can’t!” Heartbeat exclaimed. “If you do that…”

“I know” Blue said. “Perfect Scale almost crushed my star seed once. But I know what I’m doing. Even if my star seed breaks, the Lord of Order will choose a new General of Balance, knowing the last one did everything he could protect his Creation. It’s all I can do for him… and everyone else, including Star.”

There was a silence, where Shining looked to his best friend that was like a brother to him. He could see the determination on his eyes and how in peace he was with his decision.

Without having anypony else stopping him, Blue advanced, while being involved by the strong aura from before, starting to become even more intense, as he took down the last limit that his star seed imposed on him. Hepheus noticed that, as Blue’s star seed immerged and made the aura around him, that had a dark blue appearance, turned red-like-blood and it surrounded all his body.

“I can’t believe is going to do it…” Heartbeat said. “No, Blue…”

Noticing the red aura and the appearance of Blue’s star seed, Hepheus realized Blue had crossed the point of no return. He never thought he would see a General do anything like that. It was then that, with just one jump, Blue appeared before Hepheus with a tremendous speed and then lent a blow on him. The General of Chaos defended it, but the power that Blue was using was such that Hepheus didn’t know how long he would endure that. It was then that Hepheus was thrown away against the ground, landing with a great shock.

“That’s what happens when we take out all the limits that our star seeds impose to us” Heartbeat explained. “Our bodies are filled with an immense energy that allows us to go through the limits any other normally has. However, it’s just a temporally boost that ends in a moment, causing then the star seed to become so weak that starts to crack and then breaks.”

Blue prepared for another blow, but then a crack appeared on his star seed, what caused him pain, as he could feel his body like it was burning. But he endured it… He had to endure it.

Hepheus was lying in a great hole created by the shock of his fall, face up.

“An attack that bombards with blows of punched air…” he said. “Impressive… I’ve never seen anything like it…”

And then a protrusion on the protrusion covering his forehead broke. Hepheus rose up, knowing that he couldn’t be hit by much more blows like that one, or else everything could end to him.

While waiting to see what happened to Hepheus, Shining asked:

“Did he do it?”

And Hepheus took flight, starting to advance to Blue.

“It’s rare for a villain to fight a General that is willing to go as far as you” the General of Chaos said. “Because of that, I accept your challenge. I’ll play with you.”

It was then that, like if climbing invisible chairs, Blue started to advance towards Hepheus.

“He’s coming against me by kicking air!” he exclaimed.

After seeing that, Heartbeat said:

“We must help Blue.”

“What about those black spheres?” Strongpaw asked.

“I had been observing them and, although the power they have, they need to make contact to work” Heartbeat said. “Beyond that, there’s a limit distance where he can send them. Any further than that, and he’ll lose control over them. Since they actually exist and can be seen with the eye, the disappearance spell can work on them, making them go away and prevent Hepheus from controlling them.”

“To be honest, I don’t know if I can use the disappearance spell that much” Shining replied. “I’ll have to get pretty close to target it accurately.”

Heartbeat turned to Strongpaw and told him:

“Chief Strongpaw, can you prepare some sand?”

“You want me to transport Prince Shining Armor with my sand, right?” he asked. “But my sand isn’t fast enough to avoid his attacks.”

“Don’t worry” Heartbeat replied to him. “That’s where I come in.”

With them now near the ground, Blue started to run around Hepheus with an increasing speed. Hepheus prepared for any attack and, when Blue prepared to give him a punch, Hepheus said:

“He’s fast!”

And tried to use the black matter to create a shield, but although he protected him from the shockwave, he soon noticed Blue behind him and giving another punch, whose shockwave hit Hepheus on the face with the power of a punch ten thousand time superior to a normal one. Blue attacked him two more times, trapping Hepheus in the shock wave and preventing him from moving.

When Blue came to a fifth blow, Hepheus involved himself with the black matter, while firing at him the remaining spheres. It was then that Heartbeat appeared in front of Blue and, after focusing on them, she and the spheres teleported away. It was at that moment that Shining appeared behind Hepheus on the sand that Strongpaw used to elevate him. Using the disappearance spell, he created a hole on his cocoon that allowed Blue to lend a blow on Hepheus, breaking through the black matter. That last blow was so strong that Hepheus moaned in pain and spit blood, while hitting the ground and being dragged a great distance.

The dust started to clear, revealing Blue on the ground, panting and looking to where Hepheus had been thrown. When the dust there cleared, Hepheus appeared lying on the ground. Much to Blue’s surprise, he started to get up with a smile and then cleared the blood he had at the corners of his mouth.

“You’re the first since a long time to make me feel this excited!” Hepheus exclaimed to Blue. “Can you still dance? Do you have any more blows? Give me more fun!”

Blue couldn’t believe that Hepheus was still able to get up after all that.

A Meeting With the Lord of Order

Although Star’s body was dying, his mind went to the same plane that he shared with Kurama. The young prince was lying on the water under him face-up. He opened his eyes and, noticing where he was, he wondered if he was dead.

“Oh, you’re not dead yet, my boy” a voice said.

Star sat up and looked, seeing then the Lord of Order.

“My lord…” he said, bowing his head respectfully.

“You don’t have to address to me like that” the Lord of Order said, approaching. “After all, you did so much for me than you can possibly realize. Because of that, I will entrust with something.”

“Entrust?” Star asked. “What do you mean with that? Look, my lord, with all respect, but I need to return to battle. You know that the world’s fate relies on that.”

“Although I know the importance of winning this war, I’m afraid that is not in my power” the Lord of Order replied. “It only depends on the conditions outside. So, while your fate is decided, we could talk, right?”

Star remained silent for a moment, but then he nodded.

“Good, because I have a lot to tell. So, where should I begin? Oh, I now…”

He then touched the water with his spear and the reflection of the Divine Tree appeared.

“That tree…” Star said.

“Oh, so you recognize it” the Lord of Order observed. “Although it had changed since the last time, the Divine Tree is always recognizable. I created it to look after the Enchanted Forest with the power of its Heart of the Forest. Whenever famine came to the kingdoms, they all knew they could always find what to eat near the tree. However, they became greedier and stole the Heart of the Forest, what created a chain of events that led the Divine Tree to become the Ten-Tails.”

And the image of the beast attacking the Enchanted Forest appeared.

“Then you defeated it and sealed in a jinchuriki, right?” Star said.

The Lord of Order nodded with head and told:

“I hopped in that way I could keep Ten-Tails under control. While the one I chose to become the jinchuriki did the job quite well, I was able to assemble the balance on the Enchanted Forest.”

And he showed the image of Arbor.

“I gave the Heart of the Forest to Arbor, the King of Trees, who then entrusted it to the regent of Falancia, when it became the lead kingdom of the Enchanted Forest. But then it came the time the jinchuriki I chose approached the end of his life, what forced me to extract the Ten-Tails’ energy from him and divide it in nine, naming them. I believed that they could help ponykind and all the others to achieve true peace and cooperation.”

And the image of the Lord of Order with the younger tailed beasts appeared.

“That was a very good thought” Star commented.

“Yes, however, things didn’t go as I planned” the Lord of Order replied. “Everyone started to treat the tailed beasts poorly out of the fear caused by the Ten-Tails. And that was what brought my brother to hear. You know happens next, as you are of the multiple examples that came into being through the centuries. However, the creation of jinchuriki, that should be used to install and maintain peace, started to be used for war, as my brother manipulated the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest to turn against each other. And, after your mother and her friends defeated him over and over again, he decided to use the power of Ten-Tails to cast the ultimate illusion spell: the Eternal Nightmare Curse. The curse doesn’t just cast an illusion over you. It keeps you trapped inside a dream, so the caster can use your individual power while keeping you alive. You became attached to the roots of the Divine Tree and turned into living slaves.”

“So the Lord of Chaos wants to use the curse to be able to control everyone… including my mom… and the Generals” Star realized.

“The Generals of Order, like your father, are extensions of my own power” the Lord of Order replied. “Because of that, they cannot be trapped in that illusion. But your mother… well, she’s another story. If she is put under the curse’s effect, then my brother will have control over light and, by extension, all the realms in the Pony Reality. Because of that, the curse is very ghastly. If all energy is reunited into one again, a fruit will take shape. That must be prevented at all cost or the Pony Reality will end. I know you’re the one that can stop Hepheus, not only because you’re your mother’s son, but because I can sense you have the ability to sympathize that no other pony has.”

“You really like to be subversive, don’t you?” Star asked, with a smile. “But I’m glad you still have faith in your creations. Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me” the Lord of Order replied. “I don’t deserve it. I created this situation, much like I created everything else. This is just me being selfish about the reality that I put so much effort to create. Even though the tailed beasts are being used as tools, I believe that one day that can be changed. I just hope I’m not being naïve.”

“No, you’re not wrong” Star said with a smile.

“That’s absolutely right!” a voice exclaimed.

And Shukaku started to emerge from the water.

“But… you’re Chief Strongpaw’s tailed beast!” Star exclaimed. “Why are you inside me?”

“It was thanks to your great-grandfather” another voice replied.

And Gyuki started to appear as well.

“Gyuki!” Star called.

“He extracted a portion of Shukaku’s and my energy from Hepheus” Gyuki explained. “He knew exactly which tailed beast powers you were lacking.”

“My great-grandpa did that?” Star asked.

“A lot of things happened” Kurama’s voice said, while the darker fox emerged. “He even put me inside of you. Now you’ve got the energy of all nine tailed beasts within you, Star.”

“Even Kurama’s other half?” Star asked.

“It had arrived the time of the promise that you made, father” Kurama said.

“You’re right, my dear Kurama” the Lord of Order said. “I told you that one able to name all the nine beasts would come and lead you all into peace.”

“Wow, even back then you knew?” Star asked. “No wonder you’re the Lord of Order.”

“What could you expect, Star?” Kurama replied.

The Lord of Order chuckled and said to Star:

“You really have the ability to win other’s cooperation. And not only these ones…”

And then all the other tailed beasts emerged, all thanks to the energy they left with Star. The Lord of Order said:

“Shukaku… Matatabi… Isobu… Son Goku… Kokuo… Saiken… Chomei… Gyuki… Kurama… It seems the time has come for the one that I forsake to save the world!”

He then turned to Star and asked:

“Star, tell me, what do you want to do? What do you seek for the after match of this war? I would like to hear your honest thoughts and opinions.”

He thought for a moment and then he said:

“I may be what you say I am, but I’m just a kid and I don’t know much about a lot of things. But I do know what friends are and I want to protect them all. That’s it.”

“Is that your answer?” the Lord of Order asked.

“Yes…”

“Very well, then I’ll entrust some of my power to you, so you can fulfil that” the Lord of Order said. “Rise your hoof.”

Star did so and the Lord of Order raised his hand. The young prince touched the Lord of Order’s hand.

At the Nothingness Realm, Star Shield and Twilight were observing Star, as the former finished transferring the energy he took from Hepheus.

“Grandpa, is Star going to be okay?” Twilight asked.

“Without the tailed beast inside him, Star would die as the result of the extraction” he replied. “But I put the tailed beast back inside him. He should be okay now.”

And then Star started to wake up, what caught Twilight’s attention. And he opened his eyes, getting up. A white sphere was marked on his hoof.

“Star…” Twilight said, with tears of happiness for seeing her son well.

A moment and then he said:

“It’s time to go.”

At the battle between Hepheus and Blue, the two adversaries continued to look at each other.

“That didn’t work…” Strongpaw said.

Shining, who was breathless, tried to catch his breath as fast as he could. He just couldn’t let Blue’s sacrifice be in vain. Meanwhile, Blue started to feel his star seed cracking even more, with his body causing him pain, while his insides started to get petrified. He barely couldn’t breath. Hepheus, on his side, laughed and said:

“This is great! Keep on dancing!”

Blue started to get all the energy he had left to make another set of attacks, one even stronger than the last one. And he prepared to attack. Using his sensing abilities, Hepheus was able to see that Blue’s energy was starting to get weaker. He realized that was Blue’s final attack.

And then an explosion of red energy happened, while it involved Blue. That power was such that the shockwave forced Shining and Strongpaw to protect themselves. It looked like Blue’s mane had turned into fire, while the energy around him took the form of a head of a beast. The star seed cracked even more, with little holes starting to appear through where the light started to get out, what caused parts of his outside body to turn into black stone.

“I’ll acknowledge this power of yours!” Hepheus exclaimed. “Of all those who have fought me over the years, no one had ever gone to the limits like you! I declare you the strongest of the Generals of Order!”

But Blue wasn’t hearing anymore. He only had one purpose: to defeat Hepheus. And he started to advance towards him and Hepheus prepared to face him. The General of Chaos noticed how fast Blue was and, looking to his staff, noticed that it was bending over.

“He’s bending space…” he said.

And Blue gave a strong kick what all that he had on Hepheus, what caused him to spit even more blood. The blow was so strong that threw back Hepheus a lot of hooves that cracked his bones, while Blue’s legs started to turn into stone. The shockwave was so strong that he pushed back Shining and Strongpaw on their places. A big explosion happened and, when the dust cleared, Shining stood up and look around.

“Blue…” he said.

And then he saw him. Blue was lying on the ground, face up. His star seed had great holes, where the light was getting out quickly. His body was turning into black stone visibly. The energy that was once surrounding him was now evaporating. Hepheus, on his turn, was lying against a wall, with his body full of wounds and with a foreleg and a part on his chest missing, but still panting. It was then that he started laughing, while his body started to regenerate, and he exclaimed:

“I almost died, you bastard!”

Blue’s star seed was almost breaking completely and cracks started to appear on the stone.

“Your light is about to go out…” Hepheus said, while his foreleg grew back. “But in gratitude for such good time, I’ll break your star seed and put you out of your misery… before you can turn into stone!”

And he fired a sphere against him, but when it was about to hit him, Star appeared and kicked it away, throwing it back to Hepheus and almost hit him. Hepheus couldn’t believe that Star had been able to kick the a sphere of supreme nature. Star then turned to his father.

“Dad…” Star said, watching how far Blue was willing to go to save him.

And he touched him with the hoof that had the mark that the Lord of Order gave him. And a burst of light was transferred to him.

“Star Knight…” Hepheus said, while looking to him. “You seem different than before…”

That caused the General of Chaos to wonder what Star Shield did to him.

“Yes, I’m still trying to figure it out myself” Star told him, with his back at him.

He then turned, revealing the eyes that he had when crossing the Nine-Tails’ power with natural energy, and declared:

“But I think I can change everything now!”

The Eternal Nightmare Curse

After what Star said, Hepheus looked to Blue and then saw something that astonished him. Blue’s star seed started to regenerate and the light inside started to recover its intensity. That caused light to come out of the stone and then it turned back into flesh. The General of Chaos wondered how Star was able to do what only the Lord of Order could do.

It was then that Star advanced against Hepheus, who hasted to create his staff with the black matter. However, the General of Chaos was barely quick enough to defend himself and Star hit him against the trunk of the tree that started to crack. The two looked at each other, while Hepheus defended Star’s punch full of power with the staff. The dark alicorn couldn’t believe how Star was able to touch the black matter unharmed. He wondered if it was because he wasn’t healed yet.

The young prince opened his wings and rose the hoof with the white mark and told to Son Goku:

“Son, lend me some of your energy, please.”

“All right!” he replied.

And he started to create a Spiraling Star that, unlike the one he used with wind nature, had a center of lava nature that he then increased to a great size. Before that, Hepheus took flight to get away, but Star followed him.

“This is bad…” Hepheus said.

The General of Chaos then proceeded to execute the spell he used before. Star, that prepared to throw the Spiraling Star, sensed something coming to attack him and dodge, what surprised Hepheus. After that, Star turned to Hepheus and threw the Spiraling Star that hit the latter.

“Good…” Star said.

Beyond hitting Hepheus, the Spiraling Star started to cut the Divine Tree’s trunk, while the young colt defended from the power of his attack. The attack’s lava cut the tree, while Hepheus was thrown against the ground. He then noticed the tree starting to fall.

Shining noticed that and said:

“The tree had been cut down…”

While watching the tree falling down, he heard a voice coming from it telling:

“Take me within you.”

“Who’s that?” Hepheus asked.

“Take the Divine Tree… Ten-Tails… everything into you.” the voice said.

Strongpaw saw the tree falling and asked:

“Did Star… do that?”

Meanwhile, Star took his father, who was barely conscious now, and got away.

Hepheus stood up and took flight to grab the tree, starting to absorb it into him. It took a long time, but he eventually started to do it.

“The tree disappeared…” Strongpaw observed.

At that moment, Star landed with Blue and put him down.

“Star, are you okay?”

“Yes, I am” he replied. “And so is my father. I prevented his star seed from breaking.”

“But… how did you do that?” Strongpaw asked. “Only the Lord of Order can heal a star seed in the way your father’s was.”

“I feel like I can do all sorts of changes in the way I am now” Star said, looking to the mark on his hoof.

“That’s good…” Blue said, recovering already energy enough to get up.

“Dad, are you okay?” Star asked.

“All thanks to you, son” Blue replied.

The young colt smiled and then turned.

At the place where Ingrid was immobilized, she was approached by Celestia, who had been able to get free, who released her.

“Thank you, sister” Ingrid replied, while getting up.

“It looks like neither you were able to stop Hepheus” Celestia said.

“Yes, I just hope young Star is able to do it” Ingrid replied.

“He’s just like his mother: full of surprises” Celestia commented with a smile. “We can be sure he will defeat Hepheus… in a way or another.”

Star said to Strongpaw:

“Please, Chief Strongpaw, watch over my dad. He’s still not in full strength yet.”

“You can let it with me” Strongpaw said.

“Star, I don’t need a baby-sitter… but even so, I’ll let you get your way” Blue said. “Good luck, my son.”

“Thank you” Star thanked.

And he took off, with Shining noticing that. Seeing his nephew, Shining realized with a smile that his grandfather had made what he promised to do.

At the Nothingness Realm, Star Shield was tired from the procedure of transferring One-Tail, Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails’ energy to his great-grandson that the control he had over Petal Sprout was starting to mitigate.

“Although you were our enemy and helped the Lord of Chaos spreading his darkness, you’re still my grandfather” Twilight said. “And now you saved my son and that’s enough for me. For me, you’re now an ally. Thank you for everything.”

“I have one final favor to ask you” Star Shield told Twilight. “Not as an ally, but as an enemy…”

After absorbing the tree, Hepheus stood still and then said:

“I see… The Divine Tree itself…”

And he laughed and continued:

“The time has come for all to become one.”

Star landed at some distance from Hepheus who told him:

“You can’t take me down. Essentially, I’m immortal now, even more than a common General. I have obtained eternity!”

“That’s what we’re going to see” Star replied.

And he covered itself with Kurama’s next phase energy, while creating rods of black matter, with spheres appearing beside him.

“I can see that you also got the supreme nature…” Hepheus noticed. “But I already possess that power. This is the final battle: me against you. Let’s settle who is superior, once and for all!”

He then casted dark lightning, but Star threw one rod that was put to spin and reflect the lightning. And then, with a great speed, Star approached him and prepared to hit Hepheus with a rod. The dark alicorn, in response, used the same power he used before. Star sensed it again and then his attack was blocked by an invisible force. Taking advantage of that, Hepheus casted a laser that cut through the rod and forced Star to dodge.

Star could sense the same thing that blocked his attack to prepare to hit him. Directing an attack to it, he realized that he couldn’t hit him and ended up being attack and thrown against the ground, where he was able to stand on his hooves. Channeling his magic with the new power he had, Star was able to get a glimpse of a second Hepheus in a plane different to them. It only took a few seconds, but that allowed Star to get to know what he was facing. So that’s how he was able to subdue the tailed beasts so easily.

The General of Chaos couldn’t believe that Star was able to sense his other self. While conjuring his rod, he wondered how he could sense it. Meanwhile, Star wondered how he would be able to attack the other Hepheus when his physical attack didn’t work. It was then that he remembered to see some burning marks caused by his black rod. He then sensed the two Hepheus becoming one again.

“It seems your shadow returns to your body after a certain amount of time” Star observed. “Not that I care about that. I just have to use my black rods to contain you.”

“Then you should use my energy to build your sealing magic” Shukaku said to Star.

“Thanks, hein… what’s your name again?” Star asked.

“It’s Shukaku!” the One-Tail replied.

While looking to Star, attentive to any movement, Hepheus noticed that he should be estimating the time he had his shadow active and finding a way to contain it. That colt was really sharp in mind and intuition.

It was then that Star created a Spiraling Star whose center had Shukaku’s marking with magnet nature. And, with a teleportation spell, he appeared beside Hepheus and hit him with the attack, causing the General of Chaos to get immobilized. When Star was getting ready to use an attack, Hepheus was able to move enough to take flight.

“What?” the young colt asked. “How did he…?”

He then felt the shadow on his place. Hepheus should had substituted himself with it. After locating Hepheus, Star created a clone and told him:

“Go after him, I deal with this one.”

The clone nodded and took flight to follow Hepheus, but then the General of Chaos was quick to cast an attack that caused the clone to disappear and then he said:

“It’s time to go deal with some business, now that you’re occupied with that shadow.”

And he started to cast a spell.

At the Nothingness Realm, Twilight was charging her horn and Star Shield told her:

“Hurry, destroy my eyes. Without them, I can no longer use the power of the Nothingness Realm… as well the Lord of Chaos. I can’t hold off Petal Sprout any longer.”

Twilight was trembling, as she didn’t want to hurt her grandfather, although she knew it was for the greater good.

“Now, Twilight…” Star Shield said.

“I know” she said.

But when she was about to do it, Hepheus appeared on the Nothingness Realm, having used the disappearance spell. Seeing him, Star Shield became horrified.

“I won’t let you!” Hepheus exclaimed, while throwing a black rod against Twilight.

At that moment Star Shield reacted in order to protect his granddaughter.

Shining was still catching his breath, when Blue, having recovered his energy approached.

“Shining!” he called.

The white unicorn turned and got openmouthed seeing Blue.

“Blue?” he said. “But I thought…”

“Star saved me” Blue replied. “He healed my star seed. I stayed with Strongpaw until I recovered enough energy to come. So, do you know what happened? The last thing I saw was Star going to face Hepheus.”

“Yes, I saw that” Shining told. “But I don’t know much.”

At that moment, Twilight reappeared from the Nothingness Realm at some distance, falling on the ground.

“Twilight!” Shining and Blue called, approaching her.

“Shining…” she said. “Blue…”

“You came back” Blue said.

“But what’s going on at the Nothingness Realm?” Shining asked. “What happened to grandpa?”

“I don’t know…” Twilight said. “Hepheus just appeared there, but, in a flash, I returned here. Grandpa asked me to destroy his eyes in order to destroy the power over the Nothingness Realm. He couldn’t move to do it himself, because he was already using all he got to prevent Petal Sprout from controlling him.”

At the Nothingness Realm, the black rod Hepheus had thrown had hit a plataform. But after Star Shield teleported Twilight to safety, Hepheus pierced his body with the hoof to raise him and told him:

“You really thought you could do all this without paying for all your sins against the Lord of Chaos?”

“I don’t care about what happens to me…” Shining replied. “As long you don’t win…”

“A thought that won’t come to existence” Hepheus declared. “Now, it’s time for you to go to sleep…”

Outside, Star, with the help of a clone, immobilized Hepheus’ shadow with black rods.

“This should do it” the clone said.

“Yes, he won’t be able to move with Shukaku’s sealing marks and the black rods” the original said. “I’m leaving him to you.”

“You can count on me” the clone replied.

And the original Star took off with his black spheres following him.

After Twilight told what happened at the Nothingness Realm, Shining said:

“So that’s what happened.”

“We don’t know when Hepheus might emerge, so we must stay alert” Blue said.

Star then returned and, seeing Blue, said:

“Dad, I thought you were with Strongpaw, resting.”

“How could I do it knowing what’s happening?” Blue asked. “Don’t worry, I already recovered a good part of my energy. I can fight again. What were you doing?”

“Dealing with Hepheus’ shadow, a thing he used to attack without anypony noticing” Star replied. “The shadow is now trapped with a clone and the supreme nature. But Hepheus escaped and I don’t know to where.”

“He went to the Nothingness Realm” Twilight told. “The next time he appears, he might have grandpa Star Shield under Petal Sprout’s control. We have to be alert.”

It was then that something was coming from the Nothingness Realm and everyone got prepared. First, it was Hepheus who appeared, followed then by Star Shield who was now unconscious and with Petal Sprout taking control over his body.

“It looks like dying together will be something you’ll do as a family” Hepheus commented with a smile.

“Great-grandpa…” Star called.

“Unfortunately, Star Shield is gone” Petal Sprout said. “I’ve taken over his body now. It looks light he was hoping to right his wrongs. He was praying like a foal deep inside so that he could leave the future to you all. How convenient that would have been for him, right? Just like a spoiled brat.”

Then Twilight, although a little intimidated by Hepheus couldn’t let him hurt her son like he already did. So, preparing her magic, she started to flight towards the General of Chaos.

“I’ll be the distraction!” she said. “Follow me!”

“Mom, no!” Star exclaimed. “Dad!”

“Okay!” he replied.

When she was close, Hepheus stabbed her with a rod, but even so she continued to prepare to attack. He also could feel healing magic passing through her body and healing any damage he was causing. Hepheus noticed how she resembled Celestia. But when she went to attack, she hit something invisible, much to her shock. At that moment, while Star hit the shadow protecting Hepheus, Blue retrieved Twilight and the two retreated. Blue took off the rod and asked:

“Twilight, are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about me” Twilight replied. “I used my healing magic on myself…”

“So, there are more of them” Star commented, sensing the presence of more shadows and noticing they were four and where surrounding Hepheus.

“Enough of this sideshow” the General of Chaos replied.

And he took flight, raising then a hoof and starting to create a mass of dark energy.

“What is that…?” Shining asked.

“That looks like… pulse nature” Twilight said.

“But it’s not the magic that Star took from him at the time of invasion to the Light Kingdom?” Blue asked. “How can he still have it?”

“Pulse nature, like all combined natures, are inborn to those who have it” Twilight replied. “Even when taken, the ones who have can regain it by other methods. I guess the transformation in jinchuriki reawake that ability of his.”

Then parts of that spread and then he exclaimed:

“Catastrophic Planetary Devastation Spell!”

And when the spell was activated, the ground cracked and pieces of it started to rise up. Strongpaw, who was in midair on his sand, just hoped the others were okay. All the pieces started to converge on all the spheres of dark energy created by Hepheus and, when they were done, there was a set of big boulders hoovering.

“We have to do something about that” Blue said, trying to channeling his nullifying power.

At that moment, Star felt one of the shadows advancing to stop Blue and he exclaimed:

“Dad, watch out!”

And he blocked the shadow with a black rod and forced it to retreat.

“You have to be careful” Star warned. “All of you. Hepheus has this kind of shadows that are in a different plane. They can see us and attack us, but we can’t. Well, that’s not entirely true, because I can sense them and they are affected by supreme nature, but I guess you get it.”

“That’s why he blocked my attack” Twilight realized.

“Yes and right now there four of them at ground with us” Star said. “So we need to find a way to stop that without having them interfering.”

Turning to the ones below, Hepheus said:

“They’re a bit more solid and larger than raindrops, but…”

And they started to fall.

“Here they come!” Star exclaimed. “And the shadows as well!”

The young prince created four clones and said:

“Leave the shadows with me.”

And the clones advanced to face the shadows, starting to fight. Meanwhile, Petal Sprout laughed and said:

“I guess I’ll keep watching and recording this.”

Before the falling the meteors, Star said:

“Kurama!”

“Yes!” he replied.

And a black sphere went over Star’s hoof. While that, Blue focused his magic, knowing he didn’t have to fear the shadows, and casted a nullifying beam to a meteor, while Star threw a Spiraling Sphere combined with a Tailed Beast Bomb to another. Those two were destroyed, with the falling pieces creating a great shockwave. Blue continued to cast nullifying spells to undo the pulse nature that made those things, but they were too many.

While they were distracted with all that, Hepheus, hovering above all that, looked to the red full moon. Using his magic, he broke the protrusion covering his forehead. It was time to finally enact the Lord of Chaos’ plan. And a third eye opened on his forehead, with it being like Ten-Tails’. It was then that the moon reflected that eye.

“Shine upon the world… Eternal Nightmare Curse!” Hepheus exclaimed.

The Alliance continued to battle the mysterious clone and his statue. Hard Stone was getting tired quickly and that caught the clone’s attention that prepared to attack him. Seeing that, the old king prepared a particle nature, but he was so tired that he couldn’t just do it.

“I used to much energy and now I can’t use my particle nature spells” he said.

The statue continued to attack, what forced Hard Stone to dodge, but others weren’t as quick as him.

It was then that the statue stopped and then got steady with the ground shaking and causing the statue to fall, with the clone landing over it.

“What is this?” Hard Stone asked.

“It’s finally started…” the clone said. “I’m done with this. Then we don’t need this insides anymore either.”

The ground started to shake again and Aspen asked:

“What’s all this shaking?”

“My king, look at four o’clock!” a deer exclaimed.

He did so and then saw the meteorites conjured by Hepheus.

“They are so many…” Aspen commented.

“Prepare for the impact!” Arcing Thunder exclaimed.

Everyone did that, with the bigger dragons shielding others with their wings and body.

“What’s happening over there?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That’s not normal.”

“Ah don’t know, but it’s surely somethin’ bad” Applejack replied.

Shadow Claw sensed something wrong and then he looked at the sky.

“What the…” he said.

“What’s wrong, Shadow Claw?” Spike asked.

“Guys, you better look at the moon…” he replied.

They did so and everyone became openmouthed.

“This can’t be…” Luna said.

At the front battle, Star created multiple Spiraling Stars merged with Tailed Beast Bombs and said to the others:

“I’ll pulverize all the meteorites with these, so don’t worry. But you better get close to me and stay still.”

They nodded and then Star threw them all. He hit them all, but then he sensed something wrong was coming.

“Dad, I need your help” Star told. “I want you to combine your nullifying magic with my darkness nature, quick.”

Although he didn’t know what his son had in mind, he agreed with a nod and, while they did that, they created a dome around them four made with Blue’s magic and coated by Star’s darkness nature.

“Now, become one!” Hepheus exclaimed.

And the moon released a very strong light that turned night into day. Everyone that were looking at the moon stood still, with empty expressions and their eyes with a undulated pattern, including the alicorn sisters. Hawthorn, who had been saved thanks to the tentacle Gyuki left out at the time of his extraction to Demonic Statue, had got out and caught under the curse. Even the ones under the Alliance’s protection, like the elite, had been caught. In reality every on both on the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest were caught under the curse, even the animals.

While looking to everyone under the influence of the curse, Hepheus said:

“This light can penetrate and see through even shadows. No one can hide from it. And now…”

And he casted a wood nature spell similar to the Deep Forest Emergence. And plants immerged from the ground, making what appeared to be bandages to get from them and starting to wrap all the ones under the curse, putting them in what appeared to be cocoons.

“What’s happening out there?” Twilight said.

“The curse… has been activated” Star replied.

“What?!” Shining asked. “We have to do something.”

“Not now” Star said. “At this moment, we can’t get out because the curse is on effect. Without this dome that I and dad created, we’d be bound up in this illusion as well. Also his shadows are outside. Because of that, we need to wait.”

Outside, Petal Sprout noticed the dome and said:

“The light can’t penetrate Star Knight’s darkness nature? Oh I see… the General of Balance’s power… That’s quite clever…”

The clone that had used the statue started to release the one he was controlling and then Discord immerged. He then wake up and asked, while looking around:

“But… where am I?” he asked.

It was then that he also got caught under the curse and he started to be wrapped by the plants. With everyone now under his mercy, Hepheus said with a smile:

“Let the world of dreams now begin!”

The Fall of the General of Chaos

After teleporting with Hepheus’ black spheres, Heartbeat ended up instinctively at the Light Kingdom, waking up at the middle of the street. She had passd out after using too much energy.

“Wow, that’s something that doesn’t happen to me many times” she said.

It was then that she noticed what was happening at the Light Kingdom. Plants had come out and had wrapped everypony and animal in the kingdom.

“What the…” she said. “What happened here?”

“Can’t you tell?” a voice asked.

And she then saw Purple Smoke and Melody appearing.

“It is very obvious” the General of Talent continued.

“What?” Heartbeat asked.

Melody pointed to the sky and Heartbeat saw the moon reflecting Ten-Tails’ eye, illuminating everything like a sun.

“Don’t tell me…” Heartbeat said.

“Yes, the Eternal Nightmare Curse had been enacted” Melody confirmed. “We only escaped because we’re Generals of Order. Golden Paladin and the others were also not affected, although they still remain out of action.”

“Is every one like these?” Heartbeat asked.

“You’re clearly still affected by the massive loss of energy, dear little sister, but yes they are” Purple Smoke replied. “Don’t forget this curse affects both the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest and every one in there. Even the villains at Tartarus were affected. The plants just trapped the prison and then got the villains.”

“We tried to release everyone already, but… the curse will just trap them again” Melody said. “Maybe you can use your empathic magic to do it.”

“I don’t know…” Heartbeat said. “I mean, I know I’m very impressive and powerful…”

“And nearly as humble as I am” Purple Smoke whispered to Melody who laughed.

“I heard that, you know” Heartbeat said. “But never mind that now. The point is that if I connect with any of them, I may be affected by extension. I believe the only way to undo this is defeating the caster.”

“Then we just have to hope Prince Star Knight and the others are able to put an end on all of this” Melody said.

While the curse was still on, Twilight said, while guarded by Star and Blue’s combined magic:

“We have to go help the others. We cannot let them be…”

“That cannot be, mom” Star replied to her. “At least for now.”

“Star is right, Twily” Blue said. “While there’s light out there, we can’t put a hoof out of here, or the curse will affect us.”

Observing the dome from the outside, Petal Sprout said:

“I can’t believe that even with the curse activated, we still have to worry about those four. Well, it’s nothing that cannot be dealt with. Nevertheless, we won. The curse is activated and there’s nothing they can do about it. And everyone is inside their own dreams now!”

He was right, at that moment, everyone were experiment what they thought it was their perfect life: Rainbow Dash was dreaming about becoming the fastest flyer in all Pony Reality; Applejack was living a fantasy of having Sweet Apple Acres recognized as being the best apple producer; Spike was living the perfect life alongside Sweetie Belle, where he was not the Dragon King but Ember; Princess Ingrid had been able to bring spring and summer to Oldenmark again, making everypony there full of joy; Princess Luna was watching for everypony’s dreams, while seeing how much happiness she brought to them and how they appreciated her work; even Princess Celestia was living in her own utopia, alongside Hepheus, who was no longer the General of Chaos.

“If we can’t get out right now, then when?” Shining asked.

“It looks like this curse runs on moonlight” Twilight observed.

“Yes, and it will gradually wane” Star continued. “But, as long as there’s light, it’s useless.”

After a few moments had passed, the light started to fade away, while the moon turned reappeared red. Hepheus looked around to everyone imprisoned inside the Eternal Nightmare Curse and then turned to the magical dome, saying:

“All that’s left… is them.”

And so Star and Blue deactivated the dome and Petal Sprout, seeing that, commented:

“So it really didn’t let the light through…”

“Finally…” Blue said.

“But it looks like the curse didn’t affect Petal Sprout” Star observed, noticing the artificial pony nearby.

“Heartbeat once explained me that Petal Sprout doesn’t really have any kind of emotion, so he can’t be trapped in a dream as he can’t dream” Twilight explained.

“Star, do you have any idea about how to break this curse?” Shining asked to his nephew.

“I don’t know exactly” Star replied. “But I suspect that, since the curse was activated using the tailed beasts’ power, then we may need them to end it.”

“Which means that first we’ll have to defeat Hepheus” Twilight concluded.

“I won’t let that happen” Petal Sprout replied. “All that’s left to do is to get rid of you guys.”

At that moment, Hepheus landed next to him and said:

“Which I, the savior of the world, will do.”

“Hepheus…” Star said, while summoning his black spheres.

“That eye on his forehead…” Twilight noticed.

“Be careful” Star warned. “I can feel that we are surrounded by four shadows in all directions.”

“I won’t allow you to do anything further” Hepheus declared. “I just ended with the light of Lord of Order in this world. I have freed all the races from their suffering, pain and futility.”

“But all this is just a lie!” Star exclaimed, enraged by Hepheus’ words.

“But, Star, you’re the one who’s interfering with everyone’s happiness” Hepheus replied. “Just look at this world now. All fighting between Order and Chaos had ended. The curse also affected all the villains, so you don’t have to worry about them… no one have. I have rectified the Lord of Order’s creation.”

“What do you mean with that?” Twilight asked.

“Twilight, I’m surprised that you’re asking that had already been replied” Hepheus replied. “Have you forgotten that everything bad that happened to this world was not my master’s fault but yours’. The Lord of Order was not able to control the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest and that led them to take the Heart of the Forest from the Divine Tree, what led to the creation of the tailed beasts and the beginning of the war between the kingdoms. All that brought the Lord of Chaos here. There was a time where both Lords were contempt with the balance they both created, but it was the Lord of Order’s obsession with this reality that caused the Lord of Chaos to do all that he did. Because of that, the eternal fight between the two continued in this reality. Although I admitted we triggered this war.”

“And because of that, many died!” Twilight exclaimed.

“I did made a proposition to peacefully hand over the tailed beasts” Hepheus remembered. “Right now, everyone is inside the Divine Tree, dreaming about their own idyllic dreams. They are in their own ideal worlds.”

“Is this your idea of peaceful world?” Blue asked. “You’re just deceiving everyone.”

“I just want to show you that the light of the Lord of Order is not always the answer” Hepheus replied. “There are times when the darkness is needed to do what the light can’t. Just know this… It’s all over.”

It was then that, before everypony’s shock, Petal Sprout pierced Hepheus’ chest.

“You’re wrong, Hepheus” he said. “You’re not the savior… Nor is this the end of things…”

Hepheus couldn’t believe that he couldn’t move. Even though that blow hadn’t affect him physically, he didn’t understand how could Petal Sprout, one of the weakest villains, could do anything like that to him.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked.

“How can you consider yourself the savior, when you, like the rest of us, were free from the Lord of Chaos’ manipulation? My dear Hepheus, you have also lived in an illusion given to you by our master.”

“Petal Sprout…” Hepheus said, while continuing to try to move. “What are you saying? I am the General of Chaos… the Lord of Chaos’ supreme-commander… You should be serving me.”

“Wrong again” he replied, in a childish way. “I only serve the Lord of Chaos.”

“But what’s going on?” Blue asked, while watching what was going on.

“They’re having a falling out at this stage in the game?” Shining asked.

“No… I don’t think it’s that” Star said, who had a bad feeling about all that.

Something started to happen. The plants started to absorb the energy of everyone imprisoned by them and being transported to where Hepheus was. His body started to get a lot of pain, while white veins coming from Petal Sprout appeared across his body. At that moment, Star ceased to feel his shadows.

“What an abnormal quantity of energy…” Blue commented.

“All of Hepheus’ shadows that were surrounding us have disappeared” Star said. “Something is about to happen.”

Suddenly, torrents of energy emerged, cracking the ground under them. All that energy was absorbed by Hepheus, while Petal Sprout laughed. The others were able to land safely.

“Is he absorbing all the energy that is coming from the ground?” Shining asked.

“Where is all this thick potent energy coming from?” Twilight asked.

“It’s probably from everyone trapped in the Eternal Nightmare Curse” Blue said.

While Hepheus’ body absorbed the energy, more pain was inflicted to the General of Chaos, while his body started to get distorted, turning into a spherical

“It’s amazing…” Star said. “All this energy… is even bigger than Ten-Tails’.”

“We have to stop this now before they move” Blue said.

And he summoned his light blade, while Star created a black rod, and they both advanced to attack Hepheus and Petal Sprout. However, tendrils erupted from the white veins and grabbed them.

“Star! Blue!” Twilight called.

“You’re like two moths into the flame…” Petal Sprout commented. “I’m going to absorb all the energy out of the two of you right now.”

Twilight prepared to advanced, but Shining prevented her from going saying:

“Don’t, Twily!”

“But they are my husband and my son who are your best friend and nephew!” she replied.

“I know that, but action without a plan is meaningless” the white unicorn replied.

Star tried to get loose, but he couldn’t.

“Dad, we have to do something! He’ll drain everyone else’s energy before ours and they’re all going to die!”

“Yes, I know” Blue said.

“Don’t worry, no one is going to die” Petal Sprout, who was over Hepheus distorted body. “After all, there are other realms in this reality to conquer, not to mention that the Lord of Order’s followers will try everything to stop us. With the villains here now under the curse, we’re going to need an army. This curse will keep everyone alive and preserve them, so the Lord of Chaos can turn them into his soldiers.”

“What do you mean with that?” Blue asked.

“You really are denser than the other Generals” Petal Sprout commented, while starting to leave Star Shield’s body. “Why do you think we’re using wood nature to do all this? It is the main ingredient to create an artificial life like me.”

Listening to that, everypony became openmouthed.

“Don’t tell me he wants to…” Shining started.

“He will convert them all into copies of me” Petal Sprout replied.

“No, that can’t be…” Star said.

“What are you saying, Petal Sprout?” Hepheus asked. “I should be the one to rule over the conquered world, the one to bring eternal peace to the Pony Reality.”

“And what do you base that on?” Petal Sprout asked.

“I am the General of Chaos…” Hepheus answered. “I have the Lord of Chaos’ magic running inside me, like the power of the Lord of Order runs in his Generals.”

“My dear Hepheus, and why do you think the Lord of Chaos wanted someone like you?” Petal Sprout asked. “Why did he bother to take you out of that dungeon and turn you into alicorn with his power? That was so you could be compatible with him.”

“Compatible?” Hepheus repeated. “For what?”

“So the Lord of Chaos can act without having to fear his brother to interfere” Petal Sprout replied, while started to cover Hepheus’ body. “He created this curse to amass enormous amount of life energy that was created by his brother from the individuals enslaved by it with one purpose: to rule over all Pony Reality freely! And just like any servant of his… you were just a pawn that he manipulated with twisted truths and sweet words.”

At that moment, Hepheus’ body swelled up.

“What’s happening?!” Star asked.

“His body can’t tolerate the amount of energy he absorbed!” Blue replied. “I can feel his body getting to its limit… At this rate, he’s going to explode!

“Why…” Hepheus asked, while Petal Sprout had almost covered him completely. “Why did this happen…? Celestia… I’m so sorry…”

And he was completely absorbed and then Petal Sprout started to get molded, while a dark energy surrounded him.

“He’s shrinking…” Shining repaired.

He then noticed on her sister look that was full of fear.

“What is it, Twily?” he asked.

“No… it can’t be…” Twilight said. “Not him…”

“Who are you talking about?” Shining asked.

His answer came when Petal Sprout’s body was completely molded, while Star Shield’s body fell on the ground. Now, before them, was the Lord of Chaos, who possessed that new body, with the Ten-Tails eye being located at the front of his conical hat. The tendrils holding Star and Blue retreated to him, but they were hold in midair by the master of all destruction’s power. He chuckled and then said:

“Finally, I can do whatever I want now… And not even my brother will be able to stop me!”

The Last Battle Begins

Everypony was still in shock by the appearance of the Lord of Chaos, now freed to do whatever he wanted without having his brother to interfere. He said:

“Fourteen years… Fourteen years that I spent making this big plan of mine, preparing everything and making sure everyone was doing their role perfectly. And now I have the life force of practically everyone living at this pathetic world at my mercy with a body that I can use at my will. I may not have the same power as with my original body, but who can even fight against me? Clearly not you…”

And he turned to Star, while conjuring his spear and pointing one of its sharp tips against him, saying:

“Star Knight… Can you imagine all the trouble you caused to me?”

“For sure they were not enough” Star replied, trying to make look like the Lord of Chaos didn’t scare him a bit.

The Lord of Chaos then noticed the mark on Star’s hoof and recognized it as his brother’s mark. Before that, he threw both Star and Blue away. They hit the ground, but Blue was quick to react the Lord of Chaos’ next attack with his light blade. He then tried to approach to attack, but he was involved by darkness released by the Lord of Chaos.

“Dad!” Star shouted, before being hit also by the darkness that threw them back again.

They went to hit a stone wall and Twilight called:

“Star! Blue!”

But then she get immobilized, as the Lord of Chaos passed by her. Something on her prevented her from acting against him, like it was a safeguard of the original light to protect itself from that evil presence. But the Lord of Chaos was not interested on her and simply passed by ignoring her.

“You two…” the Lord of Chaos said to Star and Blue. “With this body, I can finally get the original light, but, for that, I will need to get rid of the main threats. The boy entrusted by my brother and the General of Balance, whose power can cause some troubles to me, must certainly disappear.”

There was a pause and then the Lord of Chaos said to Star:

“And I can see that my brother also gave you a little present to deal with me. He is always such a killjoy. Well, now, it’s time for me to keep his toys now.”

Looking to his grandfather dying body, Shining then turned to the Lord of Chaos and asked:

“What’s your intentions now that your plan worked?”

“Why should I share with somepony like you any of my brilliant ideas?” the Lord of Chaos replied, not even bothering to look at him. “This world is now mine and it’s about to get… remodeled. But not with you… at least here.”

And, when everypony found themselves, they were over a volcano.

“I shall erase you all here!” the Lord of Chaos exclaimed, while levitating.

Star, Blue, Twilight, Shining and Star Shield started to fall. Star was quick to start flying his father, but Twilight, although was able to catch Shining, was having a little trouble holding him, mainly after he used a magic spike to hold one of Star Shield’s hoof to the wall. Twilight, while focusing to hold her brother, tried to realize what happened. From the heat and the smell of sulfur, it was obvious that wasn’t an illusion. Could that be that the Lord of Chaos had brought them to one of the dimensions under his control?

The Lord of Chaos turned to Star and Blue and the latter told to his son:

“Star, be careful. Don’t let your guard down.”

“Yes, I know” he replied.

Suddenly, an ember hit one of Twilight’s wings, burning it slightly, but enough to cause her and Shining to fall. Seeing that, Star reacted and launched two of his energy arms to grab them. The Lord of Chaos took that moment to attack with a shower of dark needles. The young prince was able to grab them before they could fall at the lava, while Blue used his magic to block the Lord of Chaos’ attack. But one scratched Star’s shoulder, what caused him to lose the strength he was using to hold his father. However, he was quick to grab him with an energy arm.

“Nice catch, son” Blue congratulated him.

He smiled before that and then created a clone, while pulling them back, while the Lord of Chaos observed.

“Take care of mom and uncle Shining” the original said to the clone. “Me and dad can deal with the Lord of Chaos.”

After that, they turned to the Lord of Chaos who said:

“It doesn’t matter if you two come at me like that. I am a deity, while you are nothing more than dust in the wind compared to me. I shall end you!”

And he started to advance against them. Before that, Star launched an attack of light that hit the Lord of Chaos’ attack. That caused the others to get blinded, while the volcano started to get agitated. The two attackers were holding the attacks nicely, but then the Lord of Chaos advanced and hit Star, throwing him back a few hooves of distance.

But during that light, he had thrown Blue up who, while starting to going down, prepared a big light blade combined with his nullifying power to pierce through the Lord of Chaos new body. However, rising his hand, the Lord of Chaos created an explosion that caused the others to protect themselves from the shockwave. Blue was thrown by the explosion, but the original Star couldn’t go get him, as he was still being thrown himself. But Blue was quick-thinking and teleported right to behind his son to stop him and then hold on to one of his hind hooves.

“Dad, hold on!” Star exclaimed, while securing his father.

Star’s clone, while grabbing Twilight and Shining, approached Star Shield, holding him too while saying:

“Let’s get great-grampa Star Shield while we still have the chance.”

The original Star then made one of his black spheres take the form of a platform that he used to give Blue something to stand on.

“Thank you, son” Blue replied, after passing to it.

At that moment, Blue noticed something.

“But where is he? Where is the Lord of Chaos?”

Star also noticed that and said:

“I don’t know.”

They stayed quite for a moment, but then they could felt a dark presence behind them that let them immobilized. And the Lord of Chaos appeared for behind from a hole at the fabric of space. Star and Blue turned to him, but the Lord of Chaos grabbed their necks.

“You can resist what you want, but you’ll never defeat me” he said. “And I’m going to make sure that you don’t interfere anymore.”

And darkness involved part of the two’s body.

“He’s taking our energy…” Star said.

“Damn…” Blue said.

“And now it’s time for you to be reduced to nothing, while I get your energy and consume all of this pathetic reality with my darkness!” the Lord of Chaos exclaimed.

Listening that, Star knew he couldn’t allow that to happen. Starting to fight against the control the Lord of Chaos had on him, he said:

“You won’t… be able to do as you pleased!”

And he released light magic that forced the Lord of Chaos to let him ago as well as Blue.

“The darkness shall never rule!”

“You little brat…” the Lord of Chaos said, holding his spear. “How can you possible prevent that from happening? You’re nothing compared to me. You can’t hope to accomplish anything.”

“Star, we need to make an opening, if we want to lend a blow on him” Blue told to his son.

“Yes, I know” he said. “And I know what can give us that opening. Dad, hear me out.”

“I don’t know what you’re scheming, but it won’t work” the Lord of Chaos said. “Only my brother has the power to defeat me, but he won’t do anything in order to maintain his stupid balance. Your actions are meaningless.”

Hiding at a corner of the volcano were Star’s clone, Shining, Twilight and Star Shield.

“What’s going on there?” Shining asked to her sister who was observing what was happening.

“Right now, they’re just starring at each other” she replied. “But I have a bad feeling about what can happen. Star, how do you plan fighting the Lord of Chaos?”

“This can be the end, but we have to give our best shot” Star replied, while placing the hoof with the Lord of Order’s mark over Star Shield. “That’s what we always do, right?”

He then applied his healing magic on Star Shield and, after some seconds, he started recover.

After Star telling his plan to his father, the latter told:

“Well, that may work. Okay, let’s do it.”

“Yes” the original Star said.

And so Blue charged his horn and launched an attack against the Lord of Chaos, who blocked it.

“They’re making a move!” Twilight exclaimed to the others.

While the Lord of Chaos defended the attack, Star advanced to him and said:

“Take this!”

He opened his wings wild and unleashed a very powerful light that blinded the Lord of Chaos. For more powerful that he was, he was still sensible to light, mainly the one that came from his brother’s power. That allowed the young prince to approach and give the Lord of Chaos a powerful punch.

“Now, Star!” Blue said.

And then father and son teleported and prepared to cast their magic beams at full force at the Lord of Chaos. But the latter’s eyes shone and, when they found themselves, the three of them were inside an iceberg. The volcano had turned into an ice wasteland.

“It changed” Star’s clone commented, while the others looked around.

“This place…” Shining said. “Don’t tell me swift dimensions again.”

“Then this was the Lord of Chaos’ doing” Twilight said. “But why an ice world now?”

At the iceberg where the Lord of Chaos was with Blue and Star, the former created a hole in space and got out from there, reappearing outside.

“There, aren’t you better like that?” he asked. “Why don’t you stay like that so I can finally end you?”

Star’s black spheres started to dig through the ice, but he didn’t know if they would make it in time. He didn’t have any other option.

“Kurama!” he called.

“Yes, I know…” the fox said.

And together, they created the blaze nature that Star used to break the ice, with his father using magic to make it easier for flames to do it. And the ice broke, releasing them.

“That was close” Star said. “Thank you for turning the ice unstable, dad.”

“Well, I just did that because you thought in using your blaze nature” Blue replied.

“Those two are really annoying…” the Lord of Chaos said to himself. “Looks like I will have to separate them. It will be such pity separating a father and a son… But it’s not like I care about that.”

He then made another hole and placed his hand there. Another hole appeared behind Blue and the Lord of Chaos grabbed him and pushed him in.

“Dad!” Star called, trying to do something, but the hole closed.

When Blue found himself, he was in what appeared to be a vast desert.

“Where am I?” he asked.

“Damn it!” Star exclaimed, after failing to retrieve his father.

“And now, young prince, that we’re alone, I can finally get rid of you. First, I’ll suck out all of your energy.”

And he tried to grab Star like he did with Blue, but the young prince was able to dodge and retreat and taking flight.

“You have nice reflexes” the Lord of Chaos commented. “But let’s see how you can fight against something you can’t see…”

And he passed through the hole that then closed. Star tried to notice from where the Lord of Chaos would attack, but then he heard an explosion and a bunch of icicles started to fall. Star retreated fast to avoid them, but then he was caught by an avalanche that was formed and engulfed him.

Searching for Blue

After getting to land on safe ground at the ice dimension, Shining leaned his grandfather carefully against a wall. After he did that, Twilight asked:

“Is it possible that we’re the only ones who were brought to this world?”

“No, my real me is here too” Star’s clone replied. “But I can’t sense dad.”

Twilight wondered what he meant with that, but then her attention went to Star Shield who started to wake up. When he did, he passed a hoof over his face and asked:

“Where am I?”

“Grandpa…” Shining called.

Star Shield looked at him and asked:

“Shining… is that you?”

He looked at himself, wondering how he could be alive.

“I thought I died…”

“I healed you” Star informed.

That caused Star Shield to turn to him and say:

“Star…”

It was then that he remembered what happened at the Nothingness Realm.

“Where’s Hepheus?! Did you take him down?”

“No, things ended up a little diffently” Shining replied.

“I’ll explain it simply” Star said.

“I may not know what’s going on, but I assume you didn’t defeat the enemy yet” Star Shield said. “Take me to where the fight is. You can tell me on the way.”

“I can’t sense my dad… and my real body feels tingly” Star said. “It might be real dangerous over there.”

“I don’t know if we’ll be helpful or in the way, but I don’t want to fail because we weren’t there when we were needed” Twilight replied.

“I agree with your mother, Star” Shining said. “Besides, if we don’t bring down the Lord of Chaos our world is done for. The few of us who are left have to do whatever we can. We had our minds made up from the start, right?”

They agreed with that.

At the desert dimension, Blue was wandering through the sand dunes, while supporting the hot and bright sun that was at the sky. All that was starting to leave Blue almost too exhausted to walk.

Back at the ice dimension, Star’s clone and the others were on the move to where the original one was, while telling Star Shield what happened.

“It’s hard to believe” he said. “So your power is needed to defeat the Lord of Chaos.”

“Yes, but I can’t and I don’t want to anything like that while my dad is missing” the clone said.

“The ice is moving” Shining noticed, while looking ahead.

They arrived to a cliff, while they saw the avalanche happening. It was then that, from it, Star appeared, flying.

“Over there!” the clone exclaimed, pointing.

The ground with ice spikes started to move and catch the original Star, but he just dodged. More icy spikes tried to get him, but the young alicorn colt always dodged them. It was then that ice started to cover his body, what was enough to slow him down and hit him with spikes. Star started to fall until he was trapped by more spikes.

“Star!” Twilight called.

The Lord of Chaos reappeared above.

“He’s finally showing himself…” Star said.

While seeing the Lord of Chaos immerging from that hole in the fabric of space, Star Shield noticed that was similar like the power he used to go to the Nothingness Realm.

Star tried to break through the ice, but he didn’t have the strength to do it.

“Damn, it’s no good!”

However, that was only a way to make the Lord of Chaos believe he was trapped and make him get closer.

“You said you suddenly stopped sensing your father” Star Shield said.

“Yes” Star confirmed.

“I suspect he was taken to another dimension” Star Shield told. “The Lord of Chaos immerged from a different space. It’s similar to the way I can travel to the Nothingness Realm.”

“Can you enter it?” Shining asked.

“If I resonate the Nothingness Realm, the next time he connects and opens a portal to another dimension, I’m positive that I can enter it. If Blue is there, I can bring him back to this dimension.”

“All right, then I’ll go and support the real me” Star’s clone said.

“However…” Star Shield said. “I’ll need and enormous amount of energy to do it, since it’s a space that I’m not linked to. If I run out of energy while I’m there, I’m done.”

“Then I’ll go with you” Star’s clone said. “The real me won’t go down that quickly.”

“But a clone’s energy is not enough” Star Shield replied.

Twilight then advanced and said:

“Would it still be inadequate with my alicorn magic and the power of the original light?”

“that would give me the minimum at least” Star Shield answered. “Both of you, come with me.”

“Yes” Twilight and Star’s clone replied.

“We don’t even know if Blue will be at the dimension the Lord of Chaos will go next” Star Shield said. “But we’ll start by getting into close range with him. I promise to bring back Blue and deliver him to you all. After all, he is part of my family.”

There was a pause and Twilight said:

“Thank you, grandpa.”

“Yes, thanks” Star said. “And also for rescuing me back then.”

That caused Star Shield to made a slight smile and then said:

“Don’t thank to someone like me. Just keep an eye on the enemy. After all, I’m just doing this to make up for my family who I hurt so much. I’m not going to waste time on a speech, because I’m almost out of time. But… I just ask that you let me walk in front of you… and die for you.”

Back to the Pony World, Heartbeat, Purple Smoke and Melody arrived at the battlefield.

“It’s just like back at the Light Kingdom” Purple Smoke said.

“Yes, and we can’t do anything to help them” Melody said.

They then looked at Heartbeat who was looking around, worried.

“What’s wrong, Heartbeat?” Melody asked.

“I can’t sense them” she replied. “I can’t sense Star, Blue, Princess Twilight or Prince Shining Armor. Not even Hepheus.”

“They’re not here?” Melody asked.

“Is it possible that they ended up falling under the curse?” Purple Smoke asked.

“No, they’re not cursed, that I’m certain” Heartbeat replied. “But I don’t know where they can be.”

“Then let me explain that to you, my dear Heartbeat” a voice replied.

There was a burst of light and the Lord of Order appeared.

“My lord…” the three Generals said, while bowing.

“Please, stand up, there’s no time for that” the Lord of Order told them, while they raised up. I want you ready for when the time comes to act.”

“What do you mean with that, my lord?” Melody asked.

“At this moment, Prince Star Shield and his family are battling my brother, but, if they are able to win, they will need our help to return.”

The three Generals looked confused and then Heartbeat said:

“I think I speak for the three of us when I said that we don’t quite understand what you mean with that, my lord.”

“Then allow me to explain” the Lord of Order replied.

After explaining what happened with the Lord of Chaos using Hepheus’ body to be able to act freely, Heartbeat said:

“That’s explains why I can’t sense them.”

“But if they are fighting the Lord of Chaos, shouldn’t we go to help them?” Purple Smoke asked.

“Yes, it’s our duty as Generals of Order to protect the Light Kingdom’s royal family” Melody seconded.

“You don’t have to worry about that” the Lord of Order told. “Because I do believe that they will put an end on my brother’s scheme.”

After hearing what her grandfather said, Twilight realized that he couldn’t really be saved and that was the reason why he wanted to die for them.

“Star! Twilight!” he called. “Keep a hoof on me, so we can teleport at any time.”

They did so. While that, the Lord of Chaos noticed them. He wondered what they were planning to do, however, he knew that whatever it was, they wouldn’t be able to stop him, so he turned to the real Star again.

“He knows about us” Star said.

“We have to keep in mind that even if we jump into his dimension, he’ll perceive us” Star Shield said. “But we have a little advantage.”

“Yes, I agree” Shining said. “The Lord of Chaos is so full of himself that we’re not worth of his attention. We can use that on our favor.”

The original Star was still waiting for Lord of Chaos to approach even more. He knew he couldn’t attack him with ordinary spells, as they wouldn’t work. The only way to get to him was through light magic and physical attacks. So the only think he could do was to corner him. And even if he tries to escape again through those portals, Star would follow him.

And then the Lord of Chaos started to head towards Star, while exclaiming:

“This is my dimension! You’re powerless here!”

Kokuo then asked to Star:

“Are you ready, Star?”

“Yes, of course!” he replied.

“Then I’ll boost your energy to the boiling point” Kokuo said. “Unrivalled Strength!”

And steam surrounded Star, giving him the strength he needed to release himself and then he use the vapor to counter the Lord of Chaos’ attack, throwing him against an ice wall.

“That’s right!” Star’s clone exclaimed, seeing that.

“Amazing…” Twilight said, not believing the strength her son just showed to be able to hit the Lord of Chaos like that.

The deity of destruction just looked furious to Star.

“You little brat…” he said.

“I’ll infuse energy for you, Star” Kurama told.

“Thank you, Kurama” Star replied.

And then he created an army of clones. Seeing that, the Lord of Chaos took off, while saying:

“You think you can subdue me with quantity, hein? Well, that’s what we’re going to see.”

Star and his clones started to move, but then the Lord of Chaos started with his attacks, causing some clones to disappear. But then while three clones approached and attacked him, with the Lord of Chaos defending, the other clones prepared to attack as well. Before that, the Lord of Chaos didn’t have any other choice, but to get out of there quickly. He opened a portal above and, when he advanced to pass through, Star flight to pass as well.

The Lord of Chaos arrived and landed on a dimension that looked to be mountainous. The portal closed as he raised up, but then he heard something landing nearby.

“I can’t believe that he forced his way in.”

And he saw at the corner of his eye Star hiding behind a rock dune. Two amounts of smoke appeared beside them.

“Looks like others were able to pass” the Lord of Chaos observed. “But the other two run out of power and disappeared.”

Talking then directly to Star, the Lord of Chaos commented:

“Looks like your clones didn’t have enough energy. Are you the original Star Knight?”

“So what if I am?” Star asked.

But the Lord of Chaos didn’t reply. If he was really the real one, then he couldn’t allow him to live any longer, as he was able to pass through his portal, mainly at that place, which was connected to all the other five dimensions he was using in battle and even get to his father. It was already difficult to fight him alone, but with a General interfering would be too hard, mainly if he had to travel through dimensions, what costed a lot of the energy he had acquired when he took over Hepheus. Although he was planning getting Star’s energy, it was clear that it wouldn’t be worth it if that colt ruined another of his great plans.

It was then that long bone-like spikes appeared on his back. He raised a hand, while making a small portal ahead.

“Murderous Bone Ash!” the Lord of Chaos exclaimed.

And he threw a spike from the hand that passed through the portal. Another one appeared behind Star from where the spike got out. The young prince tried to avoid it, but a second one caught him off-guard.

“Die!” the Lord of Chaos exclaimed.

Star’s body started to deteriorate at a molecular level, turning into nothing but ash from the place where the attack hit him. That zone was just undone, along with the spikes at the Lord of Chaos’ back, and Star was reduced completely to a pile of ash.

“Now, all the clones he did at the ice dimension must have disappeared.”

And, having said that, he created another portal and passed through it. When he left, Twilight and Star Shield appeared.

“Thanks to Star, we were able to successfully hide inside the Nothingness Realm” the latter said. “But he’s gone, even as a clone.”

Twilight looked at the pile of ash that was Star moments ago.

“You’re the only one I can rely on, Twilight” Star Shield told her.

“I know” Twilight replied. “There’s a reason why I put myself at the front, even though I am the holder of the original star seed. And I’ll do even more than Star.”

That caused her grandfather to smile. Twilight then looked to the pile of ash that was the clone of Star that was with her and Star Shield, remembering everything he passed through and all the times he saved her, since at the time of her battle against Perfect Scale until the war, without forgetting when the Light Kingdom was invaded. But it was not only her, but all the others. When she looked at him, Twilight remembered who she was before becoming the ruler she was now. At that time, she didn’t hesitate in putting herself at risk to save everypony. But now was her time to protect the ones she loved in the same way her son always did.

The Lord of Chaos reappeared at the ice dimension. While he crossed the portal, Shining, who was now alone, said:

“Looks like we succeeded in getting in, grandpa. Now that you’ve teleported over there, please don’t get caught again.”

After the portal closed, the Lord of Chaos looked around, but seeing what was waiting for him, he said:

“How is this possible? I killed the original one…”

And the original Star and all his clones were still there, ready to attack. The original one smiled, remembering what happened when he tried to follow the Lord of Chaos. The ashes of his clone at the other dimension disappeared, what caused the original one to get his memories. He could see that, when the Lord of Chaos passed through the portal before, Star Shield was able to teleport them as well through it…

Moments ago…

When the original Star was about to cross, the portal closed.

“Damn it…” he said, frustrated.

“Are you okay, Star?” Shining’s voice asked.

Star turned to him and asked:

“How is this okay?!”

“Never mind that” Shining told him. “Just be ready when the Lord of Chaos comes back.”

Through Star Shield’s teleportation, he, Twilight and Star’s clone arrived to the mountainous dimension, with Star landing on the dune to watch over the Lord of Chaos, while Twilight and Star Shield were hiding. However, they made some dust come up, but fortunately the Lord of Chaos thought it were only clones that disappeared.

“This worked…” Star Shield said.

Star then noticed the Lord of Chaos look at him and told the other two:

“He’s onto us. I’ll draw his attention, so you two go hide in the meantime.”

“I’ve marked this spot, so I can hide in the Nothingness Realm for the time being” Star Shield replied. “You too, Twilight.”

She nodded and then the two of them disappeared. Star then heard the Lord of Chaos saying:

“But the other two run out of power and disappeared. Looks like your clones didn’t have enough energy. Are you the original Star Knight?”

“So what if I am?” Star asked back.

In the present…

“So they were just clones back there…” the Lord of Chaos said. “Well played, young Star Knight, well played. You were able to fool me.”

Star chuckled and said:

“You got me. I am the original.”

He now had to fight with more caution, so that the Lord of Chaos didn’t returned to where his mother and great-grandfather were. So Star and his clones advanced to attack.

At the mountainous dimension, Star Shield was ready to start his search and said:

“This place should be connected to the others. We’ll open them one by one and look for Blue.”

“Right” Twilight replied.

She then placed a hoof over Star Shield’s shoulder and started to focus her magic, starting to transfer her energy to her grandfather, involving him with her aura. She would give him all the energy she had so they could find Blue.

A tear of blood started to came out from each one of Star Shield’s eyes, as he started to open a portal. He couldn’t believe how vast the set of dimensions were. And the portal opened, becoming something like a mirror, and they could see the lava dimension.

“This is where we were before” Twilight said.

“I can’t sense Blue in there” Star Shield replied.

A pain on his eyes caused him to lose focus and close them.

“Are you all right, grandpa?” Twilight asked.

But he just said:

“On to the next!”

Although she was concerned about him, Twilight knew they needed to continue.

“Yes!” she replied.

Meanwhile, Blue continued to wonder at the desert dimension, seeing nothing but an extension of sand.

“I thought it was around here…” he said.

He then sensed something.

At the mountainous dimension, Star Shield opened another portal to a dimension with a small pyramid-shaped terrain.

“What is… that?” Twilight asked.

“He’s not there either” Star Shield replied.

He closed the portal, but he was starting to get too much weakened, starting to catch his breath.

“You should rest a bit” Twilight told him.

“What I need is more energy” he answered her.

“Well… I still have reserves” Twilight said.

“Just keep enough so we can get back” Star Shield told. “If worse comes to worst and we can’t find Blue…”

“We will find him!” Twilight declared.

Her determination gave to Star Shield more will to continue and he said:

“Next!”

At the ice dimension, the Lord of Chaos continued to fight Star and his clones, with him defeating one after one. When he prepared to use another attack using his portal, he noticed a Star advancing to pass through it. He knew that young colt was just waiting for the opportunity to find his father. The Lord of Chaos closed it and dodged Star, but that only made the former realized that the original one was the one with the spheres of supreme nature. Star also noticed that he had figured out his multiplication spell. Because of that, he made clones to approach him to cover him. And the two enemies advanced once again towards each other.

At the mountainous dimension, Twilight and Star Shield opened another portal, but this one was to a liquid dimension, whose content started to pass through the portal. With quick reflexes, Twilight took her grandfather to a safe place, but not having some of the liquid to touch one of her hind legs, what caused it to burn.

“A sea of acid…” Star Shield said.

Twilight used her magic to remove the acid that was still on her, but she couldn’t heal herself at that moment.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Star Shield asked.

“I’m fine…” Twilight replied, ignoring the pain she was fealing. “This is nothing.”

The portal closed, but Star Shield said:

“I know that we don’t have a strong bond, but you’re still my granddaughter. I’ll wait while you heal yourself. That place wasn’t the right one either. After we rest a bit, we’ll…”

“Don’t worry about it!” Twilight replied. “There’s a limit to our magic.”

And she placed her hoof on Star Shield, ready to continue, even though she was exhausted and hurt.

“Why don’t you tend to your wound?” Star Shield asked. “Just a little will…”

“I don’t want to waste this chance that Star gave us!” Twilight exclaimed.

Understanding her feelings, Star Shield smiled and said:

“You want to help him if he starts to stumble, hein?”

Twilight made a confused look, but her grandfather said:

“It’s nothing. Okay, let’s continue.”

“Yes!”

With Twilight giving him more of her energy, Star Shield was able to open a new portal. That one took more effort, but eventually he was able to do it. The desert dimension immerged, with Blue wondering through it.

“He’s here!” Star Shield exclaimed.

“Blue!” Twilight called.

He heard her wife’s voice and turned, seeing the portal that she and Star Shield opened.

“Blue, over here!” Twilight called again. “Hurry!”

But then her reserves of energy started to get empty and Twilight started to faint, although continued to remain conscious. However, without her to support him, Star Shield started to lose focus and the portal started to close. Blue started to run towards it, but it looked like he wouldn’t be able to make it in time. Before this, Twilight accessed to every single drop of energy she still had and transferred it to her grandfather. However, it was so intense that Star Shield felt an immense pain that caused him to lose focus and the portal closed.

“BLUE!” Twilight called, as the portal closed completely.

After that, Star Shield got on his knees, while panting. Twilight couldn’t believe that happened and a great wave of weakness invaded her, causing her to lose consciousness. But when she started to fell, somepony hold her. She knew that smell as the one belonging to Blue who hold her closely and said:

“I’m here, Twily.”

“Blue…” Twilight said with a smile, while her eyes meet her husband’s.

Turning to him, Star Shield asked:

“How did you do it?”

“I barely did it, but I was able to teleport” Blue replied. “Fortunately, I was able to get close enough before the portal closed. Now, let’s go help our boy, Twilight.”

She nodded to him.

Star Shield's Sacrifice

At the battlefield of the war, the Lord of Order said to Heartbeat, Melody and Purple Smoke:

“Prince Star Knight is the core participant in the battle. So, when the battle there is over, they will need help.”

“With what, my lord?” Melody asked.

“To cast a specific spell I have in mind” he replied. “However, we will need much more energy than the one we have now, as I cannot use my full power. So, we’ll need more help for it.”

And he touched with his spear on the ground and a burst of light happened. When it disappeared, the three Generals found themselves facing Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat and Leaf Mane, completely awaken from the spell casted by Hepheus.

“No way…” Heartbeat, Purple Smoke and Melody said.

The three new-arrival Generals looked a little confused for what just happened.

“But… where are we?” Mirror Coat asked.

“Just for the record, I love to see Mirror Coat when he’s so confused” Purple Smoke whispered to Melody. “It’s like an eclipse… it doesn’t happen very often.”

That caused Melody to give him a slap behind his head.

“Ouch! What was that for?!” the General of Talent asked.

“So you learn not to be rude with our siblings” Melody replied.

“I for one found that joke very funny” Heartbeat said to Purple Smoke.

“You must be the only one to understand my jokes, little sister” Purple Smoke whispered to Heartbeat.

It was then that they noticed what was around them.

“Wait, but this is wood nature!” Leaf Mane said.

“My lord, don’t tell us…” Golden Paladin started.

“I’m afraid so” the Lord of Order replied. “However, there’s still hope and I and the your brother and sisters need your help. There’s very little time, so listen up very well.”

At the mountainous dimension, after finding Blue, Star Shield found himself with a lot of pain that caused him almost to collapse on the ground.

“Grandpa…” Twilight said, kneeling to see if Star Shield was okay. “Please hang up.”

But Star Shield couldn’t do that. For more pain he was feeling, he had to help Twilight and Blue return to the ice dimension. However, he didn’t have any more energy to use. Would he broke his promise again?

It was then that Starlight’s image (when she was younger) appeared on his mind, smiling at him. She was the light that always guided him, she along with their children. It was that what gave him energy to wake up.

“Thank goodness!” Twilight said with a smile, relieved “You came back!”

Star Shield started to get up while saying:

“There’s something I must do. We’re going back, you two.”

After he got completely stood up, he said to Twilight and Blue:

“Hang on to me.”

The other two nodded and they placed a hoof on each of Star Shield’s shoulders. And the old ram, who once was a unicorn, prepared to locate and teleport the ice dimension.

There, the Lord of Chaos was still fighting Star and his clones, with the latters trying to protect the original, what caused them to disappeared when their adversary hit them.

“There’s no mistake” the Lord of Chaos said to the original. “You’re the one I want.”

And he made the bone-like spikes appear again on her back. Star recognized that from the memories of the clone the Lord of Chaos killed at the mountainous dimension. The Lord of Chaos prepared a spike on each of his hands and advanced to attack Star, firing them. But two clones protected Star, ending up being hit and turned into ash and disappearing soon after.

“These clones are desperately protecting that one” the Lord of Chaos observed. “So you are really the real one.”

More clones put themselves in front of the original one, creating a barrier that prevented the Lord of Chaos from finding him. But he created two more spikes and advanced, starting to kill all the clones that advanced to face her.

Meanwhile, Shining observed that, feeling himself frustrated to not being able to do anything, but watch. Even Twilight and their grandfather were trying to bring Blue back. It was then that he heard his nephew saying to the Lord of Chaos:

“It’s not over yet! There’s no way I’m going to lose!”

And his clones continued to attack the Lord of Chaos who was able to easily defeat them. That caused Shining to ask himself why he was wallowing when Star was fighting so hard? He realized that should exist something that he could do.

A portal opened and Star Shield, Twilight and Blue crossed it, landing on the snow. Seeing them, Shining said:

“Grandpa… Twily… Blue…”

Star also noted them and smiled, but the Lord of Chaos wasn’t very pleased.

“Impossible…” he said. “But how…?”

“Dad!” Star called.

Blue started to hurry on his direction, but the Lord of Chaos take advantage of Star’s distraction to hold him with his power and hit him, to everypony’s shock.

“Now, there’s nothing to worry about” the bringer of destruction said.

And Star started to turn into ash.

“No, Star!” Blue called.

Twilight brought her hooves to her mouth, while Star Shield said:

“No way!”

But when Star started to disintegrate, he disappeared.

“A clone…?” the Lord of Chaos asked, starting to get irritated. “Why you!”

He then realized what happened, while the black spheres moved.

“He passed the spheres to a clone…” he said. “How could I fell for something so simple?!”

“Thank you, mom and great-grandpa!” the original Star said. “Now I can fight him with no holding back.”

“You’re okay…” Twilight said.

“You have to stop to scare us like that” Star Shield said with a smile.

Now that everyone was reunited, the Lord of Chaos realized he also couldn’t hold back any longer. He teleported everyone to another dimension, the one with small pyramid-shape terrain. Once they arrived, a great gravitational force pulled them all down, including Star and all of his clones who disappeared when they hit the ground, with the original falling beside his father along with the black spheres.

“I can’t fly…” Star said.

“But you’re not the only one…” Blue told him.

And Star looked and saw that the Lord of Chaos was also being affected, probably because of the body he created with Petal Sprout’s help. However, the Lord of Chaos found the strength to point her spikes to Star and Blue.

“Oh no…” Shining said, while seeing that.

Blue tried to use his power to nullify that gravitational power, but he couldn’t focus his magic to do it. And then the Lord of Chaos fired the spikes.

“Dodge it… dad!” Star exclaimed, while getting up with all the energy he still had and tried to move.

Twilight wasn’t able to look, knowing what would happen if those things hit her husband and son. Fortunately, the two of them were able to dodge. Although that was the perfect dimension to contradict their speed, it also distorted the Lord of Chaos’ aim. But he just needed to adjust to it, knowing that next time he wouldn’t miss.

When he prepared another attack, Star Shield exclaimed:

“I won’t let you!”

And he started to move as much as he could, advancing to Star and Blue. Shining did the same, following his grandfather’s example. The Lord of Chaos aimed with more care, while Shining and Star Shield continued to advance in Star and Blue’s direction. They knew that there was still one thing they could do: serve as a shield to Star and Blue.

The Lord of Chaos fired the spikes, with Shining and Star Shield fighting to get there in time. When it looked like they wouldn’t be able to do it, a bust of energy allowed them to put themselves in front of them, with Shining protecting Blue and Star Shield protecting Star.

While seeing the spike approaching, Shining started to think about Cadance, Gleaming and Topaz… and the foal of his he wouldn’t be able to meet. However, he was in peace, as he did what he had to do to protect them and everyone else.

But Star Shield, noticing that his grandson would die as well along with him, knew he couldn’t allow that to happen. Shining had a family and he couldn’t make others pass through the same pain he caused to Starlight, Night Light and Shooting Star. So, using his power over the Nothingness Realm, started to teleport the spike that was about to hit Shining, while the other hit him at the stomach.

Noticing what happened, Shining turned to his grandfather, who was smiling at him.

“Grandpa… you…”

“Shining, you still have a long life ahead of you… As well a family that loves you. Don’t be stupid to throw that away.”

Parts of his body started to turn into ash, while he panted.

“But, grandpa, I had already resolved to do it, I… Your power is still needed here.”

While the spikes on his back fell apart, the Lord of Chaos noticed he needed more energy. He needed to teleport to the mountainous dimension to recover faster.

“Why would you do this for someone as useless as me?” Shining asked to his grandfather.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Shining…” Star Shield said. “Stop talking and be aware of the enemy.”

That cause Shining to look at the Lord of Chaos.

“I’ll already told you why I did this” Star Shield replied. “Don’t make me say it again.”

Star then saw Star Shield’s back cracking and starting to turn into dust. He put his hoof over it to try to stop it.

“It’s useless, Star…” the Lord of Chaos told him. “He’s a goner. He’ll rot away like trash and die.”

Those words angered Star, but his great-grandfather told him:

“Enough, Star. He’s right. Don’t waste your energy.”

“Why do you sympathize with him?” the Lord of Chaos asked to Star. “He was originally my servant, an enemy of yours, right? Then again, he’s a traitor to us as well, a loser on both sides. Hated and resented by friend and foe alike, with no one to call truly comrade or family, even with his own grandchildren and great-grandson at his side. He’s alone, with nothing left. He abandoned everypony precious to him and didn’t even cared about how they felt for that. And after being used up, he’s helpless at the end… He’s a fool, filled with nothing more than mistakes…”

“Shut up your mouth, your…” Star started.

“He’s right” Star Shield told, remembering everything he did as Grogar, all the pain and death he caused. “Your right, Lord of Chaos. It’s an end worthy of the villain that I am.”

Recovering part of his magic, Blue was able to teleport to the Lord of Chaos’ side and prepared a light sword to use on him. However, he was quick to teleport to another dimension, taking everyone to the mountainous dimension, what allowed him to take flight and dodge the General of Balance’s attack.

“We’ve been here before” Twilight said.

“She changed worlds again…” Shining told.

“Don’t worry about him, Star” Blue told him. “I can deal with him, while you do what you have to do.”

And, having said that, he teleported up there. Star then continued to try to heal Star Shield, but to not avail.

“Damn it… Damn it… Damn it!”

More parts of Star Shield’s body started to fell apart, while tears appeared on Star’s eyes. The old ram turned to Star and told him, with a slight smile and his body contining to fall apart bit by bit:

“That’s enough, my boy… Thank you, Star. After fighting you, I feel like I’ve woken up. It was like as if I saw my past self when I looked at you. And I regret what I am now. But, for some reason, it also made me happy, as I could see how my family had grown, even without me, and see that in all of them a part of the old me still exists. And it was you who brought that to me. Just thought of all that, even after what happened, was able to fill my heart again. Maybe it’s because it’s the end, I find myself rambling all of a sudden.”

There was a pause and then Star Shield continued:

“A lot more suffering awaits you, Star. But don’t ever change and hang on to your light, because it’s the only way to not turn what you told me into lies. And that’s not Grogar talking, but your great-grandfather Star Shield.”

Although with great cost, Star replied:

“Yes…”

Shining fell on his knees, while feeling immensely sad for seeing the one that he had admired die in front of him.

“Oh, and there are two more things I want to tell you” Grogar said, turning to Star. “The first one is that I want you to tell your great-grandmother… your grandfather… and your great-uncle… that I loved them. The second one is…”

And he whispered something to Star’s ear, what caused him to get his eyes wide open. After that, with one hoof crumbling apart and a big hole on his stomach, Star Shield told to his great-grandson:

“Star… I’m counting on you.”

And he crumbled away completely, with Star saying:

“Yes, great-grandpa!”

And the great Star Shield turned into ash and fell on the ground. Both Star, Shining and Twilight, who witnessed everything, grieved their loss, but the sound of the battle between the Lord of Chaos and Blue caught their attention. The sigh of Star Shield’s ash caught their attention and the Lord of Chaos commented:

“The vermin traitor has finally died, hein? He was vermin and persistent like a cockroach, like all the others who dared to betray me.”

And he laughed. That caused Star to look at him with anger and exclaimed:

“Don’t laugh at my great-grandfather!”

“Star…” Twilight said.

“Star, if you keep resisting, you’ll end up pitifully crumbling to ash just like him” the Lord of Chaos said.

“As a member of my family that inspired many to become better ponies… my great-grandfather is nothing but…”

And, suddenly, he took flight, while making a light blade with his horn and cutting of one of the Lord of Chaos’ arm, exclaiming:

“…awesome to me!”

The End of the War

After cutting the Lord of Chaos’ arm, he exclaimed to Star:

“You little brat!”

Star then summoned and threw at the Lord of Chaos’ arm two black rods to prevent him from getting it back.

Shining, look at his grandfather’s ashes couldn’t help but think that, although he still had some power, he was left behind again.

“Why, grandpa?” he asked. “I know that you protected me because you cared about me, but what am I doing here?”

At that moment, a light started to come out of Star Shield’s ashes and Shining saw his bell appear and approach him. The white unicorn was able to feel his grandfather’s power and will at that bell. He was giving him the power he needed to fight. That caused Shining to smile and say:

“Thank you… grandpa.”

Blue, who was levitating himself, tried to attack the Lord of Chaos with his light sword. But he was able to defend and throw him back. Sensing someone approaching from behind, he turned and saw Star exclaiming:

“Let’s do this, guys!”

He had with him eight other clones and the nine started to create nine Spiraling Stars with the energy of each tailed beast.

“Yes” Shukaku said, while his clone created a magnet natured Spiraling Star with sand.

“You bet” Matatabi said, while her clone created a Spiraling Star with blue flames.

“Eeyup” Isobu said, while his clone created a water natured Spiraling Star.

“All right” Son Goku replied, while his clone created a lava natured Spiraling Star.

“Understood” Kokuo answered, while her clone created a vapour natured Spiraling Star.

“Sure thing” Saiken said, while his clone created a Spiraling Star with soup bubbles.

“Let’s do it” Chomei said, while his clone created a Spiraling Star with scale powder.

“Yeah” Gyuki replied, while his clone created a ink natured Spiraling Star.

“Here we go!” Kurama exclaimed, while he and the original Star created a wind natured Spiraling Star.

And all Star threw their respective Spiraling Stars.

“No…” the Lord of Chaos, while he was hit.

A big explosion happened and, when Blue started to fall, Star went to catch his father.

“Nice, Star!” Twilight exclaimed, very happy and proud, after seeing that.

But then she noticed the Lord of Chaos. Although he had scratches all over his body and armor, he was still able to fight. At that moment, a white mass, similar to the one that Petal Sprout was made of, started to come out of the Lord of Chaos. That mass expanded and took the form of the heads of all the nine tailed beasts inside him. He rapidly concluded that the energy of the tailed beasts inside him started to react with Star’s last attacks, which were charged with the same energy. The white mass covered him up also and the form of an animal similar to a rabbit appeared, having the nine tailed beasts on its back.

“What’s that?” Star asked. “He turned into that thing!”

“It doesn’t matter” Blue said, levitating thanks to Star’s black matter. “Now, it’s easier to get close.”

The beast roared and then tails similar to those of Ten-Tails came out and tried to attack them. One of Star’s clone put the original and Blue out of the way and was gabbed, being then absorbed.

“Dad…” Star said.

“Yes, I know” he replied. “Just be careful, Star.”

Twilight was also dodging those tails, but she was too tired to us her magic and had her wings too hurt to fly, what turned her into an easy prey. When she was about to be caught, Star exclaimed:

“No, mom!”

But when he prepared to go help her, a protective barrier appeared around her and then a pony shape made of light appeared and take her to inside.

“Wait, what is that?” Star asked.

“Star, just look” Blue pointed.

The young colt looked and saw that, at the pony’s head was Shining, along with Twilight.

“Uncle Shining!” Star exclaimed, while smiling openly.

“Shining, but how did you…” Twilight asked.

“Just a little parting gift of our grandfather” Shining said, while motioning to the bell that once belonged to Star Shield.

“His bell from when he was Grogar…” Twilight said.

“Now I can finally help you” Shining said. “I don’t have to sit around and watch.”

He approached Star and Blue and the latter said:

“Nice timing as always, Shining.”

“Thank you, Blue, but I guess we should focus on the battle” Shining replied. “It’s still not over yet.”

After he said that, the beast attacked with another tail.

“Here it comes!” Star exclaimed.

Shining then casted beams through the light pony that cut through the tails.

“Good, now we don’t have to fear being absorbed” Star said.

Suddenly, the ground cracked and energy started to arose and being absorbed by the beast and it expanded and turned into a gigantic black sphere of supreme nature. The Lord of Chaos reappeared beside it, with his severed harm regenerated, from the white mass that was still around the sphere.

“You dared to hurt me…” he said. “Now you shall pay for that! Thanks to this dimension, I can absorb energy directly from the ones trapped in the Eternal Nightmare Curse. Thanks to that, the tailed beasts inside me are now stable and I was able to produce this much of supreme nature, a giant sphere that contains all the natures of magic. Prepare to disappear!”

“That is just like mine, but much larger” Star said.

“And it’s growing rapidly” Blue observed.

“We can’t definitely make it disappeared to the Nothingness Realm, even if we combine our powers” Shining said. “We could try and go out of here temporally, but, if that thing becomes too big, we won’t be able to return here.”

“In order to stop that…” Twilight started.

“…we need to defeat the Lord of Chaos” Star completed.

“And I have a plan for that” Shining declared. “Gather around.”

Seeing them planning, the Lord of Chaos said:

“What fools you are. I am amortal. You can’t kill me. I’m the root of all Destruction. Compared to me, you’re nothing but bugs. But, in order to win here, I just need to kill either the young alicorn prince who has my brother power or the alicorn princess who possesses the original light. The question here is… which one will I kill?”

The remaining clones tried to protect Star, but he abandoned their protection and exclaimed:

“You will not win! Never!”

“Star, don’t forget the plan” Blue told to his son. “Let’s attack together. He’s scared of the power the Lord of Order gave you, so his attention must be divided. Take me part of the way. I have power to levitate the rest of the way.”

The young prince nodded and the two advanced. Seeing them advancing, the Lord of Chaos created spikes on his back, preparing to do that attack again. This time, he attacked Shining and Twilight. They couldn’t believe the speed of that attack that hit the light pony, with one penetrating it towards Shining.

It pierced through Shining, who started to get out of the light pony, but he, for the Lord of Chaos’ surprise, created a light sword. The truth was that Shining also got the power over the Nothingness Realm from his grandfather’s bell and that allowed the pass through the spike. He then stroke the Lord of Chaos on the shoulder, creating a big scratch on his armor, what caused him to star falling.

He prepared at the hand of the other side a spike and pointed to Star who was approaching from one side, while Blue was approaching from behind him. He didn’t have time to escape to another dimension, so the Lord of Chaos did what he had to do. Using the severed arm that was bond by Star, he prepared another spike and opened a small portal for it. Another one appeared behind him, allowing the attack to go hit Blue.

The Lord of Chaos fired one spike, hitting Star who started to turn into ash. The one that appeared to be Blue turned into Star, revealing to be a transformation spell, who prepared to attack. The Lord of Chaos realized they should have traded when the clones shielded them. That meant that one from behind was the real one. And he attacked with the severed arm, whose spike crossed the portals. But Shining, who was still in midair, made it disappear to the Nothingness Realm.

After that, Blue teleported from behind Star’s other clones and appeared beside the Lord of Chaos, ready to attack. During that moment, the Lord of Chaos tried to think on the best dimension to go. He couldn’t go to the ice dimension, as Star’s blaze nature, along with Blue’s power as General of Balance, would burn through it. Then he tried to escape from above, but Twilight then appeared there and exclaimed:

“You won’t go anywhere!”

And she, along with Blue, attacked with a strong punch.

While seeing Twilight, Blue and Star attacking together the Lord of Chaos, while he was falling, Shining smiled, as that was a perfect team work of a family.

“Now, Star!” Blue exclaimed.

“Do it now, son!” Twilight added.

“All right!” the young colt replied.

And he hit the Lord of Chaos at the stomach with the hoof with the mark the Lord of Chaos gave him and shouted:

“Be gone!”

And he activated the power the Lord of Order gave him and light started to get out of the Lord of Chaos’ body, while the latter started to feel an immense pain.

“No!” he exclaimed. “It can’t be…”

And golden chains immerged from the body, ravaging through the space and pulling out the darkness inside that took the form of the real Lord of Chaos who was now involved by the chains.

“No, I can’t be sealed away like this!” he screamed, while starting to get loose. “I’m the Lord of Chaos! I can’t end up like this!”

And the chains started to pull him in to a portal, where Discordia appeared.

“No, this can’t be happening!” he continued to shout.

The Lord of Chaos was then pulled in the portal, what closed, while he screamed:

“NOOOOO!”

After that happened, the eye on the hat of the Lord of Chaos’ artificial body started to close, while it turned into the white mass from before.

The Lord of Order then felt his power being used and got to know what happened. He made a slight laugh and said:

“So… he actually did it… Now, we just have to bring them all back.”

The ground of the mountainous dimension started to crack and pieces of it started to raise on the air and heading to the Lord of Chaos’ artificial body, including a piece that had the severed arm. The giant black sphere cracked as well and crumbled away. The body turned into something similar to the Ten-Tails, with the heads of the tailed beast and the beast before getting out. While that happened, Star was able to secure his father, mother and uncle. The tailed beasts immerged and landed from their respective white mass, included the lighter Kurama.

“We’re finally out!” Gyuki exclaimed.

“Kurama!” Son Goku called. “Your jinchuriki’s pretty good.”

That caused the nine-tailed fox to just give a smile. And then they all looked, as the Ten-Tails body was involved by the debris of the ground, while the remaining beast’s head spitted something to the ground that turned out to be Hepheus, now with his original colors. The Ten-Tails was completely involved by the debris which took the form of a satellite that rose into the air, like a moon.

Everyone gathered together and then Star, who returned to normal, said:

“Now, it’s time to go home” Star said.

“Yes, but how can we return?” Twilight asked. “It was the Lord of Chaos who brought us here.”

That statement made Star to exclaimed:

“That’s right! This is bad, really bad!”

Seeing that, Son Goku commented:

“He does whatever needs to get done, but he can still be a little childish sometime.”

That commented made the smile that Kurama had disappear.

But then, at the battlefield of the war, the Lord of Order, along with the six Generals of Order of the Light Kingdom prepared a summoning spell and, when they executed it, everyone at the mountainous dimension disappeared, only to appear where the summoners were, with the four ponies appearing before the Lord of Order and the tailed beast around. They looked a little confused, mainly when they saw the other Generals who were still under Hepheus’ spell.

“Golden… Leaf Mane… and Mirror Coat…” Twilight said.

“They’re all well” Blue said.

“I broke the curse on them so they could help us bring you back” the Lord of Order said.

“Thank you, my lord…” Twilight said, while bowing.

“You don’t have to thank me” he replied. “Say that to your son, as he was the one that made everything happen when he sealed my brother.”

“Well, I could only do that thanks to everyone’s help” Star told, while looking to his parents and uncle. “Wait, with the Lord of Chaos now sealed, does that means we don’t have to worry about him anymore?”

That caused everypony to look at the Lord of Order for answers, but he said:

“You indeed did what many before you, including your mother, couldn’t do: you defeated my brother, taking his freedom to wander my Creation. He’s now forced to follow the natural order. However, don’t get the wrong idea, young colt. We still have to deal with the damages he made and the villains that still serve him and you can be sure that my brother will scheme to break the seal, while keep trying to dive everything in the Pony Reality into chaos.”

“If that happens, we’ll be there to stop him” Twilight declared.

“Yes, because that’s what we do, right?” Blue said.

“Of course it is” Shining replied. “We won’t let our guard down, if that means to keep the peace we fought to conquer.”

Star smiled and nodded, agreeing with him. He then turned to the lighter Kurama and called, while approaching:

“Hey, Kurama! Were you lonely being separated from me? I missed you!”

Irritated by the way his jinchuriki was talking, Kurama exclaimed:

“Don’t talk so loud! I was lonely! You have half of me inside you, remember?!”

That argue between them made Son Goku to drop a loud laugh. Even the Lord of Order chuckled and said:

“Just look at Kurama, all embarrassed and flustered. But this is exactly what I had envisioned, that one colt with a great light would be able to even make the tailed beasts cooperate.”

That caused Twilight and Blue to smile with pride.

“Even my grandfather’s doing was Star’s doing” Shining told.

“I see…” the Lord of Order said. “Then I shall see that for myself once I get to Harmonia.”

At that moment, Star Shield’s bell shone and then disappeared.

“My grandfather’s bell…”

“He shared with you his power so you could fight my brother” the Lord of Order said. “He knew that you didn’t quite feel up to the task. But now, that power is no longer needed. But be sure, Shining Armor, that your grandfather’s resides in your heart.

That caused tears to appear on Shining’s eyes and he said, while bowing:

“Thank you, my lord…”

“And now…” the Lord of Order turned to somepony lying nearby on the ground, what turned out to be Hepheus, and approached him. “Hepheus… You took an immense deal of sacrifice. You made so much for everypony… and yet you got only abuse from my brother, who just turned you into his puppet and made you end like this. With both the tailed beasts and Ten-Tails’ husk removed from you, you’ll probably die… But I think you deserve that second chance I promised you long ago when you betrayed your original master to save ponykind.”

And the Lord of Order caused him to get involved by light and, when it disappeared, he had become the pegasus he once. The Lord of Order said, turning to Star and the others:

“He’s now healed from any injury and he’s cleared from my brother’s influence. I didn’t removed his memories about him being the General of Chaos, as I know that they’ll remind him to be who he really is. I hope I can entrust him to you all… and Celestia.”

“Of course, my lord” Twilight replied.

At that moment, the sun rose up, illuminating everything with its light.

“What a good way to start a day…” the Lord of Order said. “And I’m glad that it will be the last to be initiated by me in a long time.”

“And it’s the first day of our freedom” Son Goku said. “I’m going back to my former home before being taken by Stonult.”

“I’m going to seclude myself in a forest” Kokuo told.

“We can finally return to our homes” Chomei said. “It’s like a dream.”

“Eight-Tails, what are you going to do?” Kurama asked.

“Me?” he said. “Well… I think I going to go back to Hawthorn. Even he can sometimes be annoying, I guess I got used to him. So, what about you? What will you do?”

Kurama didn’t know exactly what to say, telling:

“I will…”

And he put his eyes on Star. As if knowing what he was feeling, the Lord of Order told to all tailed beasts:

“A little piece of each of your energy is already inside Star. In short, Star is now like a gathering place for you. If you want to discuss something, you can speak to each other through your energy inside Star. Kurama…”

That caused the fox to look at him and the Lord of Order said:

“I know our relationship isn’t the best, after everything that happened to you and the others, but I’d like you to stay inside Star as the overseer of the gathering place.”

“What?”

“It’s no longer a hardship for you anymore, is it?”

There was a pause and then Kurama replied:

“Just for you to know, I already forgot what I told you back then… Father. So, if you say so, I guess I don’t have other choice but to stay with that brat.”

And the other tailed beast started to laugh, as they already knew what Kurama meant by that. But the prideful fox, who didn’t like to be laugh at, exclaimed:

“What?! What’s so funny?!”

“Still not upfront with your feelings…” Kokuo said. “You haven’t changed at all, Kurama.”

That caused Star also to give a laugh.

“The war is finally over…” Twilight said with a smile, while leaning on Blue. “I can’t believe it.”

“Not quite” Golden Paladin said. “We still need to reverse the curse.”

“That’s right!” Star exclaimed, turning to the Lord of Order. “Can you tell us how to do it?”

“It’s obvious we’ll need all the tailed beasts” Kurama said. “But how specifically? Do you need our powers?”

“No, you’re fine” the Lord of Order replied. “Star has the energy of every tailed beasts, the jinchuriki of you all. He can use that. Beyond all that, you’ll need wood nature and a great power over emotions” he replied. “Fortunately, we have here all the ones with those traits.”

And Leaf Mane and Heartbeat approached Star.

“We’re ready when you’re ready, Prince Star Knight” Leaf Mane said.

“Yeah, but make it quick” Heartbeat said. “I’m dying to go to my room again.”

That caused Star to drop a chuckle and then he charged his horn with magic and the two Generals did the same. Their magic combined and rose up into the air, spreading quickly.

Once they did that, all the plants came down and they withered, with the bandages being undone and releasing everyone that had been caught on the curse. That happened both in the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest. Everyone was released. That spell had also effect on the remaining clones of Petal Sprout, who died liked dry plants.

The ones who had been sealed away, like Blaze and Glacier who were inside the Crimson Gourd, were released, while Kurama was sealed by Golden Paladin again in Star, what caused him and his other self to become one at last, while Gyuki returned to Hawthorn. Celestia was once again reunited truly with Hepheus and, although he still had a long way to make up for what he did as the General of Chaos, he had finally made his way back to the one he loved.

With all that, one thing everyone, both ponies, deer, griffons and dragons alike, knew… the war had come to an end.

Author's Note

One more chapter.....

Epilogue - The Beginning of a New Adventure

With the end of war, everyone returned to their respective homes. However, although there was a piece of happiness for the end of the war with Good winning, there was also the sadness of the loss of a great number of lives, all those from the ones who gave their lives so the Alliance could win.

At Ponyville, everypony was reunited to honor Thunder Night, who lost his life to protect Star. Fluttershy and Moonlight were the ones who were suffering for his death, crying and consoling each other, along with Dark Cloud, who was still too young to understand what was happening. Star was also there, both to honor Thunder Night for saving his life and to give his support to Moonlight. His family was also there, also all Fluttershy’s friends, like all the Apple family, Rainbow, Soarin, Gust, Rarity, Shadow Claw, Silver Wind, Scootaloo, Spike, Sweetie Belle… and all Ponyville.

At Canterlot, Twilight and Shining went to visit their grandmother Starlight and told her about Star Shield. Although she became shocked with the revelation that her husband was alive all those years, she was glad that he had met his end fighting for the greater good and getting to know his legacy.

At the Dragon Lands, Spike, after Thunder Night’s funeral, he went, along with his brothers to honor the dragons who had died during the war… including Torch. According to the dragon tradition, their deceased had their bodies thrown to the lava, so they could become one with fire. And so they watched all the deceased dragons being delivered to the lava. Ember, although keeping her posture as Dragon Lord, couldn’t help but shed some tears at the loss of her father, but Flambeau grabbed her talon, what caused her to lean on him.

Spike, while seeing the mighty dragon being consumed by the lava, remembered what he told him before giving his final breath. He acknowledged him and he wouldn’t let that fall into nothingness. He would lead the dragons and turn their kind into what it was before.

Not only that, but many villains that had been captured during the war, like Crush, were imprisoned in Tartarus. However, there was an escapee that took the moment when the curse was lifted to escape before the prison’s magic returned and Cerberus was still recovering: Fire Punch. Although that wasn’t a great concern, due to how he wasn’t at that moment such a big threat.

It took a lot of days, but everything started to go right on track, both to the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest.

One night, Star was lying on his bed, with Timber resting with his head on his owner’s lap. While petting his timberwolf, Star couldn’t stop thinking about the promises he had made to his great-grandfather. One, he had been able to do. When her mother and uncle went to visit Starlight, Star told her what Star Shield asked him to say to her, saying then the same to his grandfather Night Light and great-uncle Shooting Star. But there was still the other one…

During the battle against the Lord of Chaos…

While he was turning into ash, Star Shield told to his great-grandson after making his first request:

“Listen, Star, while I was under the Lord of Chaos’ influence, he made me conquer a kingdom on a distant island called Tambelon. I caused so much pain to its inhabitants for many decades. I turned their lives into misery… I even ponynaped many to the island so the despair there could only grow. But I have to warn you that something very dark will happen there. Not even my death will prevent that, as another will carry on that. Please, Star, you have to save everypony there… You have to save Tambelon. Star… I’m counting on you.”

The present…

While remembering that, Star heard Kurama tell him in their plane:

“Aren’t you going to tell your parents about what your great-grandfather asked you to do?”

“Not yet” Star replied. “First, I have to find Tambelon and get to know what will happen there before getting to tell them. We just end up a war, we cannot simply go just like that to there without even knowing what we’re dealing with.”

“I agree, but you should let them know about it” Kurama advised. “Don’t forget that they can help you.”

“Yes, I know…” Star said, getting up and going to look the mirror Heartbeat gave to him at his first anniversary. “But I feel that I should do this on my own for now. My great-grandfather entrusted this mission to me, after all. Beyond that, I can’t go ask mom and dad or even the Generals when there’s so many things to deal at this moment.”

He then saw his image turn into Star Shield’s, before he had turned into a ram.

“I promised you I would release Tambelon and that’s what I’m going to do” he said to the reflection.

And, although he didn’t know if that came from him or not, his great-grandfather’s reflection smiled at him…

In Discordia, the Lord of Chaos had his greatest tantrums ever, after being defeated and sealed away by Star, a tantrum that lasted for days, leaving his castle full of damages that soon started to be repaired. While advancing to his throne, dragging through the floor the golden chains that had been used to seal him and were involving his trunk, the Lord of Chaos said:

“That little brat… He will pay for everything he did to me! I was so closed to get everything I wanted!”

After releasing another roar of anger that made the ground shake, the Lord of Chaos continued, now calmer:

“But I must not keep doing this. If I want to still win and, in the between, get rid of these… things around me, I must be diligent and think about my next move.”

He thought for a moment and then he remembered something.

“Of course…” he said. “How could I have forgotten? My original plan before deciding to go through with the Plan Eye of the Moon… It’s almost time to put it in action. Yes… this will show everyone in that ridiculous reality what happens when they mess with the Lord of Chaos, the great Destroyer. And the center piece of this show will be…”

And he turned to his mirror, where the image of an isolated island appeared.

“… the island of Tambelon” he completed.

The End

Prologue - The Legend of the Tailed Beasts

A long time ago, at the time when the Lord of Order ruled the Pony Reality completely, without the interference of his brother, a giant monster appeared in the Enchanted Forest, destroying everything in sight. It was a jumble of wild energy without conscience, having only a destructive unstoppable instinct.

This creature has spread fear and terror among the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest, ponies and non-ponies. All creatures fled, fearing for their lives. The fear was such that they not even dared to name such a being, calling it only by its greatest feature: Ten-Tails.

When all seemed lost, when there was no hope for the threat of Ten-Tails, the Lord of Order decided to intervene. Being the Enchanted Forest the second most important realm of the Pony Reality because of its intimate connection with the Pony World, it was imperative that it wasn't destroyed.

Using his infinite power, the Lord of Order managed to immobilize Ten-Tails. After he had done it, he took the wild energy that formed and gave life to the monster of ten tails and divided it into nine parts. Each divided energy molded and formed a new creature. These creatures shaped from the energy had their own form and a different number of tails. For this reason, they were named Tailed Beasts.

Although these creatures have not inherited the destructive unconscious instinct of the being where they were formed and each one have received names from the Lord of Order as evidence of being his beloved creations, the Tailed Beasts were victims of hatred and distrust from those who had been victims of Ten-Tails. Example of this was the fact that the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest and, consequently, all the Pony Reality, started calling them the same way they called Ten-Tails: by their number of tails.

All this tension created such negative energy that until then had never existed in Pony Reality and, like a fly attracted to the light, the Lord of Chaos came to this reality.

While the darkness began to spread, the Tailed Beasts’ minds began to be gradually corrupted, some more than others, and this made them start to give in to hatred they had for the other creations of the Lord of Order that had marginalized them.

By their turn, the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World began starting to not fear the power of the Tailed Beasts to start to want it. In several attempts, they tried to control the Tailed Beasts, but their minds were too tough, so they turned to another method. As the Tailed Beasts were masses of energy, they began to captured them and seal them inside of hosts who could then control their power. These hosts were given the name of Jinchuriki.

Not all the Tailed Beasts were captured by those who wanted their power. The Tailed Beast with nine tails, the most desirable due to his amount of energy that surpassed all the other beasts, never allowed himself to be captured due to his skill and power. Due to his aspect of a fox, Nine-Tails was also called Nine-Tailed Fox or, as he was more known in the Pony World, Kitsune.

Among all the Tailed Beasts, Kitsune was undoubtedly the one who hated more the creations of the Lord of Order who kept badgering him and hating him. Interested in his power, the Lord of Chaos approached him and, using his deceptive words, managed to conquer his trust. On his behalf, Kitsune sowed destruction through his hurricanes and his blazing fire, until Leaf Mane and Golden Paladin put an end to his mission of destruction.

After a failed attempt to seal him in a Jinchuriki to keep him still, Golden used his golden unbreakable chains to immobilize him, while Leaf Mane used a sealing spell that removed and sealed most of Kitsune’s energy, reducing him either in size as in power, in such a way that it could only perform his fire attacks. After that, the wily fox managed to escape, only for, some time after, be captured by Leaf Mane and imprisoned in Tartarus, where it remained to the present day, despite his escape when Lord of Chaos dominated Tartarus.

But this was not the last time that Kitsune, also known as Nine-Tails, would be seen…

In the Desolate Zone, a pony, wearing a black hooded cloak, progressed to a certain location. He stood there for a while when he felt a presence behind him. By instinct, he turned suddenly, pointing his front hoof that had turned into a talon. He was ahead of other pony covered also by a hooded cloak, but this pony had a small size. This pony showed his horn that shone with a dark aura in the face of the first pony’s talon.

"So it’s you" the first pony said. "I should have noted your presence."

"Please, I know you like a little adrenaline rush" the second pony said with a voice of a filly.

And the second pony down the hood, revealing to be Pandora. The first pony also lowered the hood, revealing to be Rothbart.

"Looks like you also got the message from the Lord of Chaos to meet him here" Rothbart said.

"And you were not the only ones" a voice said.

Rothbart and Pandora turned and saw Chrysalis landing nearby.

"Look who's here" Pandora said, while Chrysalis approached. "I'm surprised you haven't come with escort, Chrysalis."

"The Lord of Chaos told me to come alone" she said. "And as a loyal servant that I am, I obeyed his orders."

"The question is why our master joined the three of us here?" Rothbart asked.

"Correction, Rothbart" another voice said.

They turned and saw Adagio and Medusa (who wore a hat to hide her snakes). Who had spoken had been Adagio who continued:

"He joined the five of us."

"I see our masked also decided to join the last triplets" Pandora said. "This should be something great to make such a group."

"You could say that" another voice said.

And, before them, Oogie Boogie appeared and said:

"Our master must have a big plan for him to want everyone here."

"If he even invited the boogeypony, then it must be something very important" Medusa saod. "But what?"

"Patience, my dear Medusa" the voice of the Lord of Chaos said. "All will be revealed in its own time."

And he appeared. Seeing him, the present villains simply made him a bow.

"My Lord, what's the honor of your presence?" Rothbart asked.

"I have a new plan, and I need your help to carry it on" the Lord of Chaos said.

"You can count on us, my lord" Chrysalis said.

"We are at your disposal" Pandora said.

"I'm glad you are" Lord of Chaos said. "Because this plan may take several years to be done, but it is necessary that the arrangements are made."

"If I may, my lord" Adagio said. "What plan is that that needs a long time to be accomplished?"

There was a pause and then the Lord of Chaos says:

"I'm going to bring back an ancient force that threatened the Enchanted Forest and all the rest of the Pony Reality before my arrival."

The villains exchanged confused looks and the Lord of Chaos said:

"It will be easier to show you."

He raised his spear and then slammed it down. Suddenly, the ground started to shake, much to dismay of the villains. Then something rose up. It was a giant wooden statue with the humanoid form. Its hands were bound and her mouth was gagged. The statue also had nine eyes that were closed. Something left the villains greatly impressed.

"Let me to introduce you the body of Ten-Tails!" the Lord of Chaos exclaimed.

And he dropped a huge laugh.

The Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy

It passed two years and it seemed that, during this time, the villain activities seemed to have ceased from one moment to the other. In a way, it was a relief to the followers of the Order, but many couldn't help thinking that was the calm before the storm.

Star Knight had also grown and matured during this time. However, the cold stares of the light ponies continued to follow him wherever he looked. This made him take refuge in the only place he felt himself safer: the castle.

His feelings did not go unnoticed by her parents who were immensely concerned about him. They wanted what was best for him and they knew that free him from that anguish was the best way, knowing that probably the time to Star know the truth about being a Jinchuriki was approaching, but they, mainly Twilight, were willing to postpone this moment as much as possible. So they called the other Generals to discuss the best way to deal with this situation. After exposing their problem to them, Twilight asked, sitting on her throne:

"You know of any way to fight this problem?"

"Honestly, I don't know, Your Highness" Golden Paladin said. "It's not that we can force the light ponies to accept Prince Star Knight."

"I can do that" Heartbeat said to his older brother.

"Ok, let me rephrase" Golden Paladin said. "It's not that we should force the light ponies to accept Prince Star Knight."

"But they have their reasons" Purple Smoke said. "Have you forgotten what it was when Heartbeat left Nine-Tails escape?"

"You’ll never go to shut up about that, won’t you?" Heartbeat asked, irritated. "I said it wasn't my fault."

"That's not the point, Heartbeat" Leaf Mane said. "The point is that Nine-Tails can try to escape again."

"Can this happen, Golden Paladin?" Blue asked.

The General of Peace took a few seconds to answer and then said:

"The truth is that even the most powerful sealing spells tend to weaken. Mine is no exception. It can contain Nine-Tails, yes, but the time can weaken it, besides it won't last until Nine-Tails takes advantage of the loopholes to release portions of his energy to try the young prince. The most logical solution would be trying to teach him how to control that power. Of course, for that…"

"No" Twilight said, knowing what Golden Paladin would say. "I don't want Star to know anything, at least for now."

Blue turned to his wife and said to her:

"Twilight, although also it costs me, we can't keep this secret from Star forever."

"I know that" Twilight said. "But I will not allow my son to suffer more than he is already suffering."

"But I think the pain is not just caused by the disregard of the light ponies" Blue said. "It is also caused by the fact of not knowing why they despise him. I know the truth might affect him, yes, but that would be an initial shock. I think what he needs is to know that it's not because of him that the inhabitants of his own kingdom despise him."

The alicorn princess didn't say anything, because she knew Blue was right, but, even so, her mother side prevented her from doing the most logical thing to do. It was then that Mirror Coat said:

"If you allow me, Your Highnesses, I think I have a solution that, while not ideal in all aspects, it seems to me that it's the right thing to do, given the situation in which we are."

"What is it, Mirror Coat?" Blue asked.

"Well, the point is that there is a way to control Nine-Tails’ power" said Mirror Coat said. "Heartbeat, you, more than anypony, know what it is."

"Of course I do" she replied. "Nine-Tails is connected to his emotions and, given that he is so full of hate, we just have to use the opposite feeling: love."

"Precisely" Mirror Coat said. "Although it's not quite my thing, I daresay that, so Prince Star Knight can control Nine-Tails’ power, he has to feel himself loved. Not only for his own family, but also by others. In short, the key is in friendship."

"But Star has a lot of friends" Twilight said. "I urged him to connect with others."

"Maybe, princess, but the fact is that almost all of them live outside the Light Kingdom" Mirror Coat said. "Not to mention that, here, he is surrounded by ponies who reject him because he is a Jinchuriki."

"Mirror Coat is right" Golden Paladin said. "If we continue to limit the young prince to the Light Kingdom, he will never be able to control Nine-Tails’ power."

"So are you suggesting that we let him get out of the kingdom?" Twilight asked. "Have you forgotten that this is the safest place to protect him from the Lord of Chaos?"

"Princess has some reason" Melody said. "It is a fact that the Light Kingdom is the only place in all Pony Reality that the Lord of Chaos cannot penetrate."

"Have you forgotten that Pandora managed to get in, sis?" Purple Smoke asked.

"That was because she was a follower of our master… bro" Melody said.

"Please, don't start arguing now" Leaf Mane said.

"I understand your concerns, Your Highness" Golden Paladin said. "However, we cannot overlook the fact that, how your son is right now, he is not able to control Nine-Tails."

"Furthermore, the Lord of Chaos will still take some more time to prepare everything before starting collecting the Tailed Beasts" Mirror Coat said. "Not to mention Nine-Tails has to be the last to be captured, given the large amount of energy it contains, in order to not to overload Ten-Tails’ body."

"They're right, Twilight" Blue said. "Furthermore, we could put some of the Generals watching Star."

Twilight thought for a few moments. As much it was hard for her to admit, they were right.

"And how would that be?" Twilight asked.

"I know a school at the Enchanted Gorest that would be a great place for Prince Star Knight to find new friends that don't judge him by his Jinchuriki condition" Mirror Coat said. "It is situated on the first kingdom after the border between the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World."

"You mean Thicket?" Golden Paladin asked. "The deer kingdom?"

"Yes, the overlord kingdom of the Enchanted Forest" Mirror Coat said.

"Wait, I thought Falancia was the overlord kingdom" Melody said.

"Yes, because that's where the Heart of the Enchanted Forest is" Leaf Mane said.

"If you give to the work of reading in your spare time, dear sisters, you would know that Falancia is no longer the same" Mirror Coat said. "It was taken by the Lord of Chaos, after he made one of the sovereigns perform a terrible curse, some years after the fall of the Light Kingdom. Fortunately, our sister, Bright Night, the General of Portals, was able to prevent the curse from spreading. Falancia is now known as the Dark Forest. Thicket, the second main kingdom of the Enchanted Forest, took control and got access to the power of the Heart to maintain the natural order, so it has been the ruler over the other kingdoms. But that's not important now."

"What school is that you are talking about, Mirror Coat?" Twilight asked.

"It's called the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy" Mirror Coat said. "It was created by the three most powerful fairies to educate the children of the Enchanted Forest and other realms."

"Fairies?" Blue asked.

"They are the creatures who take care of the Enchanted Forest" Golden Paladin explained. "Their magic comes from the Lord of Order, so the majority is unconditional his servants."

"The majority?" he repeated.

"Well, what can I say?" Golden Paladin asked. "The whole flock has a black sheep, even among us, Generals. Have you forgotten Scale?"

"How could I?" Blue said sarcastically. "He almost broke my star seed."

"So, this school..." Twilight said. "Do you think it would be a good place for Star, Mirror Coat?"

"Sure" he replied. "It's a good school, located in one of the most beautiful kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest, managed by three good and fair fairies... Furthermore, we are in the end in the summer and about to begin another school year. It is perfect. And I heard that they need staff. It would be a great way for us to keep an eye on the little prince."

"You expect us to accept working in a school?" Melody asked to Mirror Coat. "Mirror Coat, I don't know if you noticed, but I have a studio to manage and..."

"One of the available positions is as Enchanted Music teacher" Mirror Coat said.

That made Melody stop and reconsider. She then said:

"In this case, you can count on me."

"Purple Smoke could be academic advisor" Mirror Coat continued.

"Use my abilities as an expert in talents in a more active way…" Purple Smoke said, in a thoughtful way. "It seems interesting."

"What about me?" Heartbeat asked. "You got something for me?"

Mirror Coat was slightly petrified, but then said:

“I see that later."

Twilight was still thinking about the alternative Mirror Coat had proposed. Golden Paladin then said:

"Mirror Coat’s idea is quite promising, princess. It worth the risk."

"I agree, dear" Blue said. "In this way, we can take our son of pressure that is living here, besides that he will make new friends."

Although she didn't want her child to stay away from her, Twilight knew that was the best solution.

"All right, so be it" she said. "Mirror Coat, can you bring my son?"

Mirror Coat gave her a bow and then came out of the throne room. Golden Paladin followed him and, when the two were outside, asked him:

"You already had this planned, didn’t you?"

"What are you talking about?" Mirror Coat asked.

"In all schools that you could get to Prince Star Knight it had to be the one that is located in Thicket" Golden Paladin said. "You know that this Kingdom has its own Jinchuriki who can control the power of the Tail Beast perfectly."

Mirror Coat looked to Golden Paladin for a few moments and then he said:

"Guilty. Yes, in part, it was also for that reason. Our prince may have a lot to learn with this Jinchuriki. Of course, this will only be as a last resort. After all, join him with other Jinchuriki when the Lord of Chaos is looking for the Tailed Beasts is pretty risky. "

"You're as amazing as Heartbeat" Golden Paladin said. "The two of you never cease to amaze me."

"Thanks for the compliment" Mirror Coat said. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to go pick the young prince up."

And, having said that, he moved away.

In the library, Star was reading a book sitting at a table, while drinking a cup of ice tea. Then, when he went to take a swig, he noticed that his cup was gone.

"But..." he began.

He then turned to his book and saw that it was gone too. Something strange was happening. It was then that he heard giggling coming from under the table and so Star got it all. Pretending not to have noticed anything, he said:

"That's weird. Where are my cup and my book?"

It was then that he downloaded and confronted his five-year-old little sisters with the cup and the book, saying:

"Gotcha!"

"Star!" the two fillies exclaimed, embracing their brother.

Star took Sunny and Midnight under the table and then asked them:

"Ok, why did you take my stuff?"

"We wanted to surprise you, Star" Sunny said.

"Yeah, because we love our big brother" Midnight said.

"I'm glad you like your clumsy brother" Star said, saying that in a way that made his sisters to laugh. "But next time, try something more... normal. Moving stuff out of the others is not very nice."

"Yes, Star” the twins said at the same time.

"Now, go play" Star said. "Your big brother still has some reading to catch up."

And his sisters went out, while Mirror was coming in, greeting the twins with a nod. He then approached Star and greeted him, making also a nod:

"Good morning, Prince Star Knight."

"Good morning, Mirror Coat" Star said. "You came to read something? It's odd, given that you have a library with all the books there are and a few more."

"In fact, I've come to escort you to the throne room" he said. "Your parents want to talk to you."

That captured Star’s curiosity.

Star then accompanied Mirror Coat to the throne room and, upon entering, he asked his parents, approaching:

"Mom, Dad, is there something wrong?" he asked. "Why do you want to see me?"

"We took a decision about you, Star, and we wanted to tell you" Twilight said.

"What decision?" asked Star.

"Your mother and I realized that you need to expand your horizons, so we decided to enroll you in a school" Blue said.

"In a school?" Star repeated.

"At the Enchanted Forest" Twilight said. "There you'll be able to make new friends, learn a lot... Of course you have to stay there."

"So it's a boarding school" Star concluded.

"I know what you're thinking, son, but you don't have to worry about" Blue said. "It's a good school directed by fairies."

"Star, we know it hasn't been easy for you to be away from your friends" Twilight said. "I just want you to have the life that I had before Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville for the first time. In this school you will be able to make good friends, believe me."

Star thought about what his mother had said, but he knew that going to that school would mean having to stay away from his family and, probably, the friends I ever had. Golden Paladin said:

"Prince Star Knight, could I suggest that, at least, visit the school with your parents. You may end up liking it."

"Yes, Star, who knows, it might even be fun" Heartbeat said.

The young prince sighed and then said:

"All right, I'm going to see this school."

And so, in that afternoon, the royal family (except the twins who stayed in the castle with the Generals) entered in a carriage pulled by four guards, along with Golden Paladin, and began advancing towards the border between the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest. Star was seeing the landscape through the window. Twilight, who was by his side, noticed his saddened air and said to him:

"I know you're not really excited, but you could do a little smile."

"Mom, I know you all want what's best for me, but I don't know if this is a better idea" Star said. "I mean, my friends and I grew up together. They know me quite well, but I'm just with them occasionally. I think my ability to make friends is not so good."

"And you think mine was better?" Twilight asked. "When I came to Ponyville, I didn't even know the true meaning of friendship. Practically, I only had Spike. But then I met amazing ponies who never gave up on me and I could see what friendship really was."

"You should listen to your mother" Blue said. "She knows what she's talking about. But, if you're still having doubts, then let me tell you that since you're true and you show interest in connecting with others, you will have lots of friends. Anyway, I met your uncle Shining Armor on our first day of school and, since then, we have been great friends."

Listening to those encouraging words of his parents made Star become more confident and a smile appeared on his face and he said:

"Thanks, to both of you. You guys are the best."

He hugged his mother who hugged him back and Blue hugged both. Golden Paladin smiled upon seeing that touching family scene. He then noticed that they were approaching the border.

"Get ready" he said. "We are about to enter the Enchanted Forest."

When they heard that, Twilight, Blue and Star saw they were approaching a forest that seemed to be different from all the others, because it was radiating different aura. The carriage went into the forest and, in doing so, everypony felt a strange sensation, as if they had passed through a cold waterfall.

"Wow, what was that?" Blue asked.

"We enter in another realm" Golden Paladin explained. "Your Highnesses, welcome to the Enchanted Forest."

Twilight, Blue and Star peeked through the window and were fascinated with what was around them. They had never seen anything like that. The Enchanted Forest trees were tall and strong, in addition they seemed to have inside a strange energy. In addition to the trees, there were also several flowers and wild plants. But the most fascinating were the animals. Squirrels ran on the trees, while some observed the carriage passing, stalked by rabbits which were in their hideouts seeing visitors and the chirping of the birds accompanied them all the time. It was obvious the reason why that realm was called the Enchanted Forest. No forest in the Pony World had such life and charm.

"I'm speechless..." Twilight said.

"Amazing!" Blue said.

Star didn't say a single word. He had read about the Enchanted Forest and knew it had a beauty that surpassed other realms, but he didn't expect something like that.

"So, it seems, that the kingdom of the Enchanted Forest where we are is Thicket" Twilight said.

"Yes" Golden Paladin confirmed. "This is the Kingdom that lies on the border between the Enchanted Forest and the Pony World.

"For sure, how many kingdoms exist in the Enchanted Forest?" Blue asked.

"I don't know for sure, but it has some" Golden Paladin said. "The Enchanted Forest is a place quite... discreet. There are kingdoms that hide among the trees. I think Mirror Coat is one of the only ones of the Generals who knows for sure how many kingdoms there are in here."

After looking carefully through the window, Golden Paladin said:

"We seem to be close. You see, here you can see the academy."

Twilight, Blue and Star looked and saw that the academy was a large castle located on top of a hill. The carriage went up the hill and soon reached the top. They then passed through the arch of the entrance, that had what should be the school's coat of arms: a shield adorned that was divided into three colors that were red, green and blue, where in each was a fairy. From what it could be seen, fairies seemed like ponies, but with butterfly wings, they wore dresses and pointy hats and had a wand.

The carriage stopped in front of the entrance to the academy and Twilight, Blue, Golden and Star came out, looking around.

"This place is really beautiful" Twilight said. "Don't you think, Star?"

"Yeah..." Star said, sounding impressed with what was around.

"Welcome to our school" a voice said.

And the three fairies who were represented in the coat of arms of the academy appeared, flying. They had a small size, but they were quick to increase it to be the size of a normal filly. Their wings were shining while they flapped them, while releasing a powder that glistened in the light. The fairy who had spoken had a brilliant scarlet coat, grayish red mane and moderate scarlet eyes, with her dress and hat being moderate red. The second fairy, who was wearing glasses, had a moderate green coat, moderate emerald green mane and moderate harlequin eyes, with her dress and hat being dark lime green. The third fairy had a brilliant cornflower blue coat, dark azure mane and moderate sapphire blue, with her dress and hat being light sapphire blue.

"It's an honor to have in our school the great Princess Twilight Princess and Prince Blue Sword" the red fairy said.

"You know us?" Twilight asked.

"Of course, Your Highness" the green fairy said. "After all, you are the leaders of the Light Kingdom."

"We also know the General of Peace" the blue fairy said, referring to Golden Paladin. "How are you, Golden Paladin?"

"Very well, thank you" he answered.

"Well, let us introduce ourselves" the red fairy said. "My name is Knotgrass."

"I'm Thistlewit" the green fairy said.

"And my name is Merryweather" the blue fairy said.

"We are the headmistresses of this academy" Knotgrass said, while she and the other two fairies made a slight bow.

"It's nice to meet you, headmistresses" Twilight said, responding with a nod. "I was hoping you could help us with our son, Star Knight."

"Of course" Knotgrass said. "We will help in everything we can."

"We can start with a visit to the school" Merryweather suggested.

"It seems perfect to me” Twilight replied.

"To me too" Blue said, turning then to Star. "What do you think, buddy?"

"It can be" Star said. "This place seems to be pretty good."

That made his parents to smile. It seemed that Star was more used to the idea of coming to the academy.

They entered the school and the fairies began to show every room of every floor. It seemed like any other school, but the interior was very well decorated and ornate. They also showed the dance studio, the music room, common rooms and study, the Great Hall where the students had their meals, among other divisions, and indicated where the bedrooms were, where the boys and girls were in different but close towers. At the end of the visit, Knotgrass said:

"And I think we showed everything that there is to show. I hope you have enjoyed."

"Your school is quite nice and functional" Twilight said. "I really like it."

"Me too" Blue said, looking after a window to the practice fields. "And there's plenty of space, not to mention places to exercise."

"Our school is known for helping any and everypony to discover their potential or improve the skills they already have" Thistlewit said.

"In addition, we have created various extracurricular activities that allow students to socialize and strengthen their friendship” Merryweather continued.

"For me, this school is perfect" Twilight said.

"I told you it was a perfect choice, Your Highnesses" Golden Paladin said.

"What do you think, Star?" Blue asked. "Do you like the school?"

"Like it?" Star asked, who had become quite fascinated with the academy. "I love it!"

"Well, I think it's decided" Blue said.

"We can go to our office to take care of registration" Knotgrass said. "Follow us, Your Highnesses."

Before they follow the fairies, Twilight asked Golden Paladin:

"Take care of Star, Golden."

"Don't worry, princess" he replied.

And Twilight and Blue followed the fairies to their office.

After Star was enrolled, Knotgrass said:

"Everything looks in order. Prince Star Knight is officially a student of ours."

"Thank you for having chosen our academy to enroll your son" Thistlewit said.

"In fact, the merit is all yours" Twilight said. "Your school is truly charming. Maybe I will recommend it to my friends. Some of them have children with Star’s age. It would be good for him to have familiar faces around."

"We will be delighted to welcome them, Your Highness" Merryweather said.

There was a pause and then Twilight and Blue traded looks with each other. It was time to talk with the headmistresses about Star’s condition as Jinchuriki.

"If you don't mind, we still want to talk to you about something" Twilight said.

"What is about?" Knotgrass asked.

"It's about Star" Blue. "There's something about him that you need to know."

"Our son, he is..." Twilight started, finding difficult to finish the sentence. "He is... a Jinchuriki."

The fairies were surprises initially, but then they recovered and Merryweather said:

"You don't have to worry, Your Highnesses."

"We already had in our academy other Jinchurikis" Knotgrass replied. "We can assure you that your son will be well guarded."

"Thank you" Twilight thanked. "But I must request maximum description. Star still doesn't know about that."

"We think, at his age, this could be too shocking" Blue continued.

"We understand" Thistlewit said.

"We will be cautious" Knotgrass said. "But, if you allow our indiscretion, we would like to know which Tailed Beast is inside of your son."

"It’s... Nine-tails" Twilight replied.

The fairies shook, hearing that name.

"The most terrifying Tailed Beast" Knotgrass said.

"The Lord of Order ordered that way" Blue said. "I assume you know what is the Lord of Chaos’ new plan."

"We knew that Nine-tails had found a new Jinchuriki, but we didn't know who it was" Thistlewit said.

"And now that we know, we must ensure that nothing bad happens" Knotgrass said.

"Thank you" Twilight thanked. "You don't know how much this means to us."

As expected, Star started getting a little impatient and told to Golden:

"They are taking too long."

"Don't worry, young prince" Golden Paladin said, who knew Twilight and Blue were talking with the fairies about Star’s special case. "I'm sure they won’t take longer."

They then heard hoofsteps coming in the opposite direction to the one Star’s parents and the fairies were. To Star’s great surprise, a deer appeared. He had a majestic appearance with a white and pale, light grayish amber fur and moderate chartreuse green eyes. His frame was beautiful with a gold ring with a round sapphire at the base of each horn and, around his neck, was a necklace with some kind of red heart shaped bottle with a bright ruby.

Behind him was a young deer that seemed to have Star’s age. His fur was light gamboge with white underbelly and his eyes were brilliant tangelo. He exhibited tips on his head and around his neck there was also a necklace, but with a small barrel.

The deer, seeing Golden Paladin, stopped and said:

"Am I imagining things or I stand before the General of Peace?"

"In fact, I am the General of Peace" Golden Paladin said. "Golden Paladin. And, judging by the rings you have on the horns, I assume you are the king of this kingdom."

"King Aspen" the deer introduced himself, causing Golden Paladin to answer with a nod. "I'm the King of Thicket and the overlord of the Enchanted Forest... at least while Falancia lies under the influence of the evil Lord of Chaos."

"Yes, I heard about the famous Dark Forest" Golden Paladin said. "Unfortunately, it happened when my siblings of the Light Kingdom and I were in our stone slumber."

The General then noticed the young deer who put himself shyly behind his father and asked:

"And who's this shy young deer?"

"It’s my son, Bramble" King Aspen said. "He is a little shy with strangers."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Bramble" Golden said to the shy deer prince, who returned the nod cautiously. "Please, your Highnesses, allow me to introduce you to the son of Princess Twilight and Prince Blue Sword, sovereigns of the Light Kingdom, Prince Star Knight."

Star then made a slight bow to the deer king, saying:

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your Highness."

"It's a pleasure to meet the young prince of the magnificent Light Kingdom" King Aspen said. "If you are here is because Princess Twilight and Prince Blue Sword came to enroll Prince Star Knight at the academy, I suppose."

"That's correct, King Aspen" Golden Paladin said. "We are now waiting for them."

"I see" King Aspen said, turning to his son. "It seems that today you'd already met one of your colleagues, Bramble."

Star turned to Bramble and waved him with the hiif. Despite his shyness, the deer prince returned the gesture.

It was then that Twilight and Blue came from the headmistresses’ office.

"Your Highnesses, let me to introduce you to King Aspen, King of Thicket, and his son, Prince Bramble" Golden Paladin introduced.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the rulers of the Light Kingdom" King Aspen said, while he and his son made a slight bow to Twilight and Blue.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, King Aspen" Twilight said, while she and Blue returned the bow.

"It seems that our children will be colleagues" Blue observed.

"Yes, at least it will be when I enroll my son" King Aspen said.

"Well, don't let us get in the way" Twilight said. "The headmistresses are in their office."

"Once again, it was a pleasure" King Aspen said.

And he and Bramble moved away.

On the way back to the Light Kingdom, Star was silent, while they were abandoning the Enchanted Forest to get back to the Pony World. Twilight turned to him and asked:

"It's everything fine, Star?"

"Yes, mom" he replied. "It's just..."

For a moment, he wanted to talk to her about how, in a way, it would be a relief for him to get away from all the cold looks the light ponies launched to him. But he didn't have the guts to admit it and simply said, with a smile:

"I'm just happy to go study to a school. Thanks, mom."

Twilight smiled at his son and the two turned to watch the landscape, as the carriage advanced.

Author's Note

The academy is based on Ever After High, while the fairies are based on Flora, Fauna and Merryweather from Disney. I know you may have some questions about what happened to Falancia, as it is the kingdom of the king and queen who adopted Valiant Heart, but that’s a story to another time.

Rescuing the Leader of the Pony-Panthers

In a temple located in a jungle at the south of Equestria, Rothbart and Medusa appeared and headed to the entrance, with the former dragging an unconscious Strongpaw. They got in and advanced through the corridors until they reached a large chamber, where Chrysalis, Adagio, Oogie Boogie, Grogar and Ulysses were.

"You're late" Grogar said.

“The Jinchuriki proved more powerful than I expected” Rothbart.

And he released Strongpaw, putting him in the center of the chamber.

"Well, what do you know" Chrysalis said. "It looks like you really captured the first Jinchuriki, Rothbart."

"Yeah, unlike Adagio whose the only thing she did was to warn the enemy of our intentions" Ulysses said.

"If I were you, Ulysses, I wouldn't talk about what you don't know" Adagio replied. "Furthermore, our enemy knows what we want and that it was the time to get it."

"Enough of that" a voice said.

And the Lord of Chaos appeared, making the villains to bow before him.

"We have an important task to accomplish now" he continued, turning then to Rothbart. "Good job, Rothbart. I see the magic I gave you wasn't a waste. It's a shame you had to sacrifice one of your limbers."

"It was nothing, my lord" Rothbart said. "For you, I would sacrifice any limber. In addition, it was nothing I couldn't deal with."

"Yes, cutting off one of my creations" Medusa replied.

The Lord of Chaos then hit the ground with his spear and, from the ground, the top part of the statue of the body of Ten-Tails appeared.

"Put yourself in position at the Demonic Statue" the Lord of Chaos ordered.

And each of the villains positioned themselves on top of one of the fingers of the statue.

“All right, we shall begin” the Lord of Chaos said, disappearing and reappearing on a finger as well.

He made a gesture with the spear and the bit of the statue fell, releasing its mouth.

“It will now take three days and nights” the Lord of Chaos said. “You don’t have to worry about any surprise during the extraction. This temple is protected from any follower of the Order. For that reason, I want all of you focused on your task, is that clear?”

“Yes, master” they all said.

They all closed their eyes and concentrated. They were all enveloped by an aura with a malignant look and then, in the mouth of the statue, an intense energy appeared.

"Let the extraction begin!" the Lord of Chaos exclaimed.

And from this energy, nine tentacles with a dragon-like shape began to address towards Strongpaw. They shot him and then raised him, involving him in a sphere of energy linked to the inside of the statue. Strongpaw started moaning in pain and the red energy from his Tailed Beast began to bleed out through his mouth and eyes and then absorbed by the statue.

In the Light Kingdom, the morning began to break. In the room of the two leaders, the sunbeams started to get in through the window. Blue Sword woke up and then turned to his beloved wife, who was still sleeping with her head atop of his shoulder and hugging him. Blue Sword smiled, while he admired her beauty under the morning sun. It was then that she began to wake up.

"Hello there…" he said.

Twilight opened her eyes and, looking to Blue, smiled and replied:

"Hello..."

"Did you sleep well?" Blue asked.

"Of course" Twilight replied. "With you by my side, I always sleep well. You're up for a long time?"

"No, I woke up just before you" Blue said. "But even if he had been up for longer, I wouldn’t dare to get up. You know you look so beautiful when you wake up, my love?"

Twilight gave a small laugh and said:

"Do you always have to be so flattering in the morning?"

"You know me, I'm an early pony."

And the two started exchanging caresses of love. It was then that somepony started knocking on the door of their room, what caused the couple to interrupt their moment of love. Thwarted, Blue got up and went to the door, saying:

"Who dares to bother us in the morning?"

Blue arrived to the door and opened it, faced one of the guards of the Light Guard.

"I'm sorry to bother you and Princess Twilight, Prince Blue Sword, but this is an emergency" he said.

"What is it, soldier?" Blue, as Twilight approached.

"We received an urgent message from the pony-panthers" the guard said. "Apparently, Rothbart managed to invade their village and to capture Chief Strongpaw."

"What?!" Twilight and Blue asked, unable to believe.

In the temple, the Lord of Chaos and the villains continued with the extraction of One-Tail from Strongpaw. As the extraction progressed, the eyes of the statue began to open very slowly.

Back to the Light Castle, Twilight and Blue were walking thought the corridors with an hasty step with the guard who warned them following them.

"This is very bad" Blue said. "I never thought that they would be able to get in the oasis of pony-panthers and much less they would be able to capture Chief Strongpaw."

"If they are able to seal One-Tail, they will be only a step closer from resurrect Ten-Tails... and a step closer from Star" Twilight said.

"I'm not going to let that happen, Twily" Blue said. "The extraction still takes time to be completed. We still have time to find and rescue Chief Strongpaw."

He turned to the guard and said to him:

"Send a message to the pony-panthers saying that we're sending help immediately. The meeting point can be on the border between the Golden Desert and the Grand Light Canyon."

"Yes, sir" the guard replied, going to fulfill the order Blue gave him.

"What are you thinking of doing, Blue?" Twilight asked him.

"Golden Paladin went to Thicket to resume Star’s training and Purple Smoke, our best tracker, is also there" he said. "Therefore, I will organize a group of our best guards and then we leave to the Golden Desert."

Twilight waved and then said:

"Heartbeat must return from her mission still this morning. When she comes back, I'll send her to tell Golden Paladin and Purple Smoke what’s going on."

Blue waved, also thinking that that was the best plan at that time.

At the Academy, Star and Bramble had just come out of their room to go to their first class when Golden Paladin appeared.

"Good morning, young prince" he greeted Star.

"Golden, it’s you" Star said.

"Good morning, General of Peace" Bramble greeted.

"Good morning, Prince Bramble" Golden Paladin greeted back. "Could you give me a moment with Prince Star Knight. I need to talk to him."

"Sure" Bramble replied, turning then to Star. "See you in class, Star."

And he walked away.

"Don't worry, young prince, this won't take long" Golden Paladin said. "I wouldn’t be able to deprive you from your first day of school."

"You come for the training?" Star asked.

"Yes, I'd like to restart it this afternoon after school, if you want" Golden Paladin said.

"Of course, I can't wait" Star replied.

"You seem pretty excited" Golden Paladin observed. "Did you forget what happened in the last traning?"

"Of course not" Star replied, recalling that horrible incident. "But that is why I have to learn to control this power as soon as possible."

"I see..." Golden Paladin said. "Well, then it's settled."

"Great!" Star said. "Now, I'm going to class. Goodbye, Golden."

And he moved away. Watching him going, Golden Paladin couldn't stop worrying with Star’s anxiety before the idea of being able to control Nine-Tails’ power.

After taking almost an hour to get his best guards, Blue Sword and the guards that he gathered headed towards the Grand Light Canyon, arriving at the border with the Golden Desert in the early afternoon. Waiting for them, was a pony-panther who said, when Blue and his guards arrived at his edge.

"It's a great honor, Prince Blue Sword" he said, making a brief bow. "I hope you can help us find our leader."

"That's why I'm here" Blue Sword said. "Rescuing your leader is also an interest to the Light Kingdom, not only because of our friendship, but also for the safety of the Pony World."

"Please, follow me, I’ll take you to a place where we found a clue that can help" the pony-panther said.

"Perfect, takes us there" Blue asked.

And so the pony-panther advanced to the desert with Blue and his guards following him.

Golden Paladin was in the place where Star’s training usually took place when the young alicorn prince was at the academy. He felt a presence he knew approaching and asked:

"What are you doing here, Heartbeat?"

And she showed up with her speed and said:

"I know you said to not come to the academy, but we have a situation."

"That kind of situation?" Golden Paladin asked.

"Apparently, Rothbart managed to capture Chief Strongpaw" Heartbeat said.

"What did you say?" Golden Paladin asked.

"What you just heard. He managed to get in the pony-panther village and defeated Chief Strongpaw. Apparently, he became quite proficient with his dark magic."

"So they didn't lose time long after Adagio’s attempt. The Lord of Chaos must want his plan starting as soon as possible."

"Blue is already heading to the Golden Desert" Heartbeat said. "Princess Twilight sent me to warn you and Purple Smoke. He's on his way to help Blue with his tracking abilities."

"So we have no time to lose" Golden Paladin said. "Even if we can't prevent the extraction, we can still save Strongpaw. I just gotta tell Prince Star Knight that unfortunately we can't have our training today and possibly in the next few days."

"Are you going to tell him about what's going on?" Heartbeat asked.

"Of course not" Golden Paladin replied. "If he knows what's happening, he most likely will want to get involved and we can't let that happen."

Having said that, Golden Paladin charged his horn with magic and freed a sphere of light that started hovering in the same spot.

"That must do it" the General of Peace, addressing then to Heartbeat. "Let’s go, Heartbeat."

"Ok, I'll take you to the Golden Desert" Heartbeat said.

"No, I've got a better idea" Golden Paladin said. "Let’s start looking in the most likely places. May be we can find any clues. The much ground we cover the better."

"You're the boss" Heartbeat said. "Say where you want to go and I’ll take you."

The pony-panther led Blue and his guards to a location that was being watched by a couple of other pony-panthers. Once they got there, Blue saw the pony-panther Medusa captured and petrified.

"We found him when we were conducting our own searches through the desert" the pony-Panther who had escorted Blue and his guards said. "It's one of our companions."

"He probably was petrified by Medusa" Blue concluded. "And, according to the information we have, she is Rothbart’s partner."

"This explains how Rothbart managed to get in our village" the pony-panther said. "We have a very strong connection with our home, something that manifests in our body. Our enemy must have used his blood."

"What do we do now, Your Highness?" one of the guards asked.

"I don't know" Blue said. "There is no doubt that they were here, probably even after they captured Chief Strongpaw, but we can't be sure which way they went, since the tracks are quickly erased in the desert by sand and wind. Fortunately, I'm counting on the capabilities of the best tracker that exist... and he's already here."

Blue turned and others followed his example. They could see purple smoke appearing and then, when it arrived, adopting the form of Purple Smoke.

"I'm so glad you're here, Purple Smoke" Blue said. "We need your help."

"When Heartbeat told me my tracking capabilities were needed, I couldn't waste any time" Purple Smoke replied. "After all, we are in a race against time. They must have started with the process of extraction by now."

"This appears to be the place where Rothbart was after capturing Chief Strongpaw" Blue said. "This petrified pony-panther leaves no doubt Medusa was here and, since she is Rothbart’s partner..."

"Yes, I understand, that means we have to look for clues that might lead us to their whereabouts" Purple Smoke said.

The General of Talent began to examine the area with the utmost care. After a few minutes, Purple Smoke found something and said, while he took it:

"This looks interesting."

"What did you find?" Blue asked.

"This" Purple Smoke said, showing to Blue what seemed to be just...

"Sand?" asked Blue. "That's not interesting. We're in a desert of sand."

"This sand is different" Purple Smoke replied. "Is not like the regular sand. It seems it is radiating Tailed Beast energy.

"Of course!" the pony-panther exclaimed. "This must be the sand from Chief Strongpaw’s Armor of Sand!"

"Armor of Sand?" Blue repeated.

"It's an additional defense in case the Shield of Sand fails" the pony-panther explained. "It only serves to soften the impact of blows and breaks easily. After the fight against Rothbart, the Armor of Sand was immensely cracked and falling apart."

"I see" Blue said. "So this confirms that they were here after the battle."

"And it also means we're one step closer to find them" said Purple Smoke. "The energy of a Tailed Beast resounds when close to its source. Using this, we can find the place where they are. "

"But there are a lot of places where they may be, Purple Smoke" Blue said. “They can even be in Discordia.”

“No, that cannot be” Purple Smoke said. “Any kind of extraction spell to take Tailed Beast energy must be done in a place full of natural energy. Discordia doesn’t have that. Now, in order to find them, we need to think like our enemy. To ensure they are not interrupted while performing the extraction, they must have assembled their hideout in an inhospitable and isolated place. The most likely and which are relatively close are the Dense Forest and the Forbidden Jungle."

"What are we waiting for?" Blue asked. "Let’s go."

"We would like to go with you, but we have to stay at the oasis" the pony-panther said. "Many may take advantage of the absence of Chief Strongpaw to try to get in."

"Don't worry, we will save your leader" Blue said. "You can be sure of that."

And so, he, his guards and Purple Smoke began to return to the Light Kingdom to go to the Dense Forest, the forest that separated the Light Kingdom and Equestria.

Meanwhile, Golden Paladin and Heartbeat went to the place that was the first thought where should start looking: the Changelings’ nest. However, when they got there and entered, they realized that something wrong was happening. The nest was completely empty. The holes full of green goo where the Changeling larvae should stay until their total development were empty and the chambers where they kept their prisoners contained only pony corpses in advanced state of decomposition.

"That smell!" Heartbeat exclaimed, twisting her nose. "Don’t Changelings have never heard the word hygiene?"

"This is not right" Golden Paladin said. "This place is empty."

"Speak for yourself” Heartbeat said. “With those in the chambers, I wouldn’t classify this as empty. Now what, Goldy?"

"Heartbeat, I want you to bring Mirror Coat here immediately" Golden Paladin said. "He must be able to get some information from here."

"Ookie-dookie" Heartbeat answered, moving away in her extreme speed, while Golden Paladin examined the place.

Their presence, however, has not gone unnoticed by Chrysalis, who still had a connection with that hive, although she and her Changelings didn’t live there anymore.

"It looks like my old hive has a visitor" she said, while focusing on extraction. "The General of Peace is there right now."

"I see" the Lord of Chaos said. "They have already started searching for the Jinchuriki."

"Maybe you'd better deal with them, before they can get here" Ulysses said. "I can volunteer myself for this task, if you want, master."

"Don't be an idiot" Adagio said to him. "Have you forgotten what master said about this place being protected?"

"Besides, your absence would only delay the extraction process" Grogar continued.

"They're right, Ulysses" the Lord of Chaos said, looking at the statue and seeing the eyes beginning to open, revealing they have no irises. "Don't worry about our enemy and concentrate on your current task."

"Yes, my lord" he replied.

As Golden Paladin had ordered, Heartbeat brought Mirror Coat to the Changelings' nest. When they arrived, he was also quite intrigued.

"It is strange that they have abandoned their hive" he said, as he looked around. "Maybe they have decided to move out, since this place is known by us."

"I agree" Golden Paladin said. "With the Lord of Chaos’ power starting to increase because of his plan to resurrect Ten-Tails, they must have earned enough courage to create a new hive somewhere else. However, I need you to try to collect as much information as possible about what happened here in recent times. No, I think you should go further. Focus on significant events."

"It may take some time" Mirror Coat said.

"Don't worry about it" Golden Paladin said. "Take your time. Now, I need to join the search for the leader of the pony-panthers. Prince Blue Sword and Purple Smoke are following their own clues and I and Heartbeat will cover as much ground as possible. They must be somewhere in the Pony World, as the Enchanted Forest is in a constant vigilance. I'm counting on you, Mirror Coat."

And he and Heartbeat moved away.

Star was finally free from classes that day and he headed out to the training area with Timber at his side.

"I'm finally going to restart the training” Star said. "I can't wait. Just wait, Timber, this time I'm not going to let that stinking fox get over me."

They arrived, but they were not being able to find Golden Paladin.

"He's not here yet?" Star asked. "That’s weird. He is typically the first to arrive."

Timber barked and motioned to Star and he then saw what he meant. The sphere of light Golden Paladin invoked had caught Star’s attention and he said:

"It's a message from him."

He approached and touched the sphere of light that assumed immediately the form of Golden Paladin who said:

"Prince Star Knight, unfortunately won't be able to train you today and at least in the next few days. An urgent matter that I couldn't ignore emerged unexpectedly. While I’m out, I suggest that, for today, you train your Spiraling Sphere and your technique with your clones."

After the message, the image disappeared.

"I can't believe it!" Star exclaimed. "After having me hoping for this traning, he cancels everything."

Star left himself to lie down on the ground and look up to the sky, wondering what could have been so urgent for Golden Paladin didn't even warn him personally.

During the rest of that day and the next one, they all try to find the villains’ hiding place, but that was an arduous task. On the third day, Blue, his guards and Purple Smoke had already searched in the Dense Forest, but without result, and then they headed to the Forbidden Jungle.

"We seem to be going the right way" Purple Smoke said, watching Strongpaw’s sand while running. "The energy present in the sand is beginning to resonate. They must be in the Forbidden Jungle."

"I just hope we can get there in time" Blue said.

In the temple, the extraction process was reaching the end, with the statue's eyes almost completely opened.

"It looks like they're getting closer" the Lord of Chaos said. "Yes, I can feel it. I can see that we have Generals trying to locate us. I can see the light of the General of Talent and the General of Balance, not to mention the General of Peace and the General of Affection searching around the Pony World for us."

"Four Generals at once?" Chrysalis asked.

"No wonder" Grogar said. "After all, we are talking about the first Jinchuriki who is the leader of loyal followers of the Lord of Order. The Light Kingdom and the pony-panthers have a both strong alliance and friendship."

"Should we let them get so much close?" Oogie Boogie asked. "After all, we can't underestimate."

"Don't worry, my dear villains" the Lord of Chaos said. "We are about to finish. Most likely they didn't even manage to get here in time."

Blue Sword and the others managed to reach the Forbidden Jungle during the dead of night.

"This place is creepy, even more than the Dense Forest" Blue commented, looking around.

"The Forbidden Jungle is inhabited by dangerous beasts, hence the name" Purple Smoke said. "Between the normal ponies, only fools would dare to get in here. It is the perfect place for a hideout."

They walked for a little longer and then Purple Smoke said:

"Apparently, there is a temple in the jungle and I think that's where they are hiding, judging the way Chief Strongpaw’s sand is reacting."

It was then they met with Golden Paladin and Heartbeat who were stopped.

"I see that you also arrived here" Golden Paladin said.

"We could have been here sooner, but we had difficulty in navigating through the Dense Forest" Blue said.

"If that is so, then I think your tendency to find obstacles is quite large" Golden Paladin said. "Look."

He extended the hoof for the way forward and then an electric current emerged suddenly, forcing Golden Paladin to back off the hoof.

"What was that?" one of the guards asked.

"A barrier" Golden Paladin said. "Heartbeat found out that it encircles an area of approximately two miles."

"So we have to get through it" Blue said.

"I'm afraid that's not possible" Golden Paladin said.

"Why not?" Blue asked.

"By the power of this barrier, it is likely that it was created by the Lord of Chaos himself" Heartbeat said. "And as his power surpasses ours tremendously, it's obvious that we won't be able to destroy it or pass through it easily."

"So, this means..." Purple Smoke said.

"Yes, they have won this battle" Golden Paladin concluded. "The One-Tail is theirs."

"So, all this was in vain?" a second guard asked.

"Not necessarily" Blue said. "We can still save Strongpaw. It is likely that he survives the extraction. As soon as the barrier disappears, we move forward and try to rescue him."

"It's a little remote probability, but a valid one" Golden Paladin said.

"In addition to that, it is our only chance" Heartbeat said.

In the temple, the eyes of the statue were reaching maximum opening.

“Now, we’re entering the final state” the Lord of Chaos declared to his villains.

“What will we do about the others?” Ulysses asked. “If they are very close…”

“The barrier I created will prevent them from getting any close until the end of the extration” the Lord of Chaos said. “But, for the eventuality of they passed the barrier, I have a back-up plan, thanks to Chrysalis.”

“I put some of my drones guarding the vicinity of the temple” Chrysalis said. “They must take us some time.”

“Now that your insecurities are now explained, Ulysses, I want you to focus” the Lord of Chaos said. “There cannot be any mistakes from this point on. The last part is the most important one, as we are about to extract the Tailed Beast completly."

When the day was about to break, it seemed that the extraction was ending. The eyes of the statue were completely open and it was then that an iris began to appear in one of the eyes.

“It’s almost finished” the Lord of Chaos said.

It was then that the blue energy surrounding Strongpaw dissipated, while a bluish iris was formed entirely in the eye.

“It is completed” the Lord of Chaos declared.

Strongpaw’s unconscious body fell to the ground.

“Finally” Medusa said.

“It appears that in the end it did last three full days and nights” Ulysses said.

“It was exhausting” Adagio said. “I just hope it doesn’t get more in the future extractions.”

“Well done” the Lord of Chaos congratulated his villains. “Good work, everyone.”

They jumped down, while the eyes of the statue began to close again. Once that happened, the Lord of Chaos made the Ten-Tails’ body to disappear.

"Okay, I'm going" he said. "I have more important things to do. Chrysalis, I'm counting on you to bring me the next Jinchuriki."

"I'll not disappoint you, my lord" she replied, making a bow to the Lord of Chaos.

"We shall see" he said. "By the way, to all of you, take care of this nuisance."

He pointed his spear to Strongpaw.

"The fact that we have extracted One-Tail from him did not ensure his death" the Lord of Chaos said. "Make sure he doesn't get out of here alive."

And, having said that, he disappeared in a wave of darkness.

"And I’m out to" Rothbart said, starting to head to the exit.

"Wait, didn’t you hear what the Lord of Chaos just said?" Adagio asked.

"I assume that you can kill a pony who can barely move without a problem" Rothbart said. "Like the Lord of Chaos, I have more important things to do, how to improve my ultimate spell."

Medusa, turning to the other, shrugged and then followed Rothbart.

"What did he mean by that?" Oogie Boogie asked.

"I assume he's trying to create a new way to use his powers" Grogar said. "I don't blame him. Things will only get harder from now on."

After the departure of the Lord of Chaos, the barrier disappeared and Blue and others took advantage of this to advance towards the temple. However, Changelings appeared to try to stop them and they had to face them first.

"It looks like they're facing my drones" Chrysalis said. "They should not take too long to get here."

"It is better to deal with him before that happens" Grogar said, turning to Strongpaw.

"I'll do it" Ulysses said, raising one of his talons and charging it with electricity. "I've not killed anyone in a while."

"You know, you really are a dumb brute" Adagio said.

Ulysses ignored that and moved in direction of Strongpaw. When he was close enough, he raised his electrified talon and prepared to kill him. It was at that moment that Strongpaw woke up and, with excellent reflexes, he used his hind legs to make a trip to Ulysses who fell to the ground. After that, he got up and stepped back as hard as he could, as his body was damaged by his fight with Rothbart and the extraction.

"Well, well, looks like he's not so affected as we thought" Chrysalis said.

"The pony-panthers have a really amazing resiliency" Grogar commented.

"Hey, Grogar, it's better not stay so enthusiastic about it" Ulysses said, rising.

Strongpaw couldn't believe his bad luck. He was facing five of the most dangerous villains who were free and he was in no condition to fight. How would he escape that?

"I think you got it, didn't you?" Grogar told Strongpaw. "You're not going to get by us alone."

"So we're going to balance things out" Blue’s voice said.

The villains turned around and found Blue, Golden Paladin, Heartbeat, Purple Smoke and the guards at the entrance.

"Going through those Changelings was a piece of cake" Heartbeat said with a smile. "It was so much fun watching them get full of burns when they tried to attack me."

"Perfect" Ulysses said, making electricity pass through his body. "I can finally have a real fight."

"No" Grogar said. "We're not going to fight them."

"What?" Ulysses asked, turning to Grogar. "Why?"

"They are in clear numerical advantage, in addition to that, we have four Generals of Order against us" Grogar answered. "Furthermore, our main job here is done. Kill the pony-panther was just a way to ruin the mission of our enemy and, at the same time, hit them."

Ulysses didn't like to run, but he also didn't like to go against Grogar, knowing that he was stronger than him.

"Oogie Boogie, it’s up to you" Grogar said.

"Of course" he said. "The Dream World is always the best solution when you want to escape."

And, having said that, the villains shone with a dark aura and disappeared.

"They’re gone" one of the guards said.

"But at least we were able to save Strongpaw" Golden Paladin said.

Blue and Purple Smoke approached Strongpaw to help him standing.

"You guys showed up on time" he said.

"Well, I guess we're actually a little late" Purple Smoke replied. "If we had arrived on time, you'd still have One-Tail in you."

Strongpaw giggled and said:

"In a way, that's a relief. Now I can sleep properly, something I don’t do since the day I was born."

"Then let's get you home" Blue said.

Twilight was sitting on her throne, looking quite worried. Blue had gone for days to rescue Strongpaw and had not yet sent news. The concern was making her quite impatient.

The doors of the throne room opened and a guard entered, approaching.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, princess, but I have some news about Prince Blue Sword and the rescue mission of Chief Strongpaw" the guard said, kneeling.

"And what are they?" Twilight asked.

"Apparently, they were able to save Chief Strongpaw and they are all well and safe" the guard said.

"Thank the Lord of Order" Twilight said, sighing in relief.

"However, it seems that One-Tail was extracted from him" the guard said.

"I see…" Twilight said. "That is really not good. But we have to be happy because we managed to save Chief Strongpaw. This is the most important thing."

After having taken Strongpaw back to his village, Purple Smoke returned to the academy, while Blue, Heartbeat and the guards returned to the Light Kingdom. Golden Paladin, in his turned, headed to the Mirrored Library, where Mirror Coat was trying to decode all the information he collected in the Changelings’ nest.

"I see you managed to collect all the information" Golden Paladin noted, while Mirror Coat used his magic in a mirror to decode all the information.

"Gather information is one thing, process it is another" Mirror Coat answered. "Given that I have also my usual duties as General of Knowledge, this might take a while."

"And like I said before, we have time" Golden Paladin said.

"Let me ask you something, Golden Paladin" Mirror Coat said. "Does the princess knows about this?"

Golden Paladin didn't answer that question.

"I'll take your silence as a yes" Mirror Coat said.

"You know very well that we had to rescue Chief Strongpaw before it was too late" Golden Paladin said. "Besides, it's not worth bothering the princess with this for now, because we may not find anything useful."

"As you wish..." Mirror Coat said.

"Let me know as soon as you're done" Golden Paladin said.

And, having said this, Golden Paladin headed to the exit.

The Capture of Five-Tails

Winter made itself be felt in the Enchanted Forest, with torrents of rain and ice. The students of the academy thought that was a bit discouraging, because it limited them to the inside of the building borders, preventing them from walking through the woods or Leafgreen.

The flying derby tournament was near the end, with the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy having finally a chance to win in the last few years. Star and Gunter had managed to win race after race, what made everyone to wonder if that would be the year that someone would be able to defeat the Wonderbolt Junior Academy.

That year, the finals would happen at the current champion school, so there were a lot of balloons rising up and landing on Cloudsdale, full of all those who wanted to watch and didn't have wings. Thanks to the fairy headmistress, the students of the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy who couldn't fly were able to walk in the clouds.

The flying derby track of the Wonderbolt Junior Academy was filling up with students, not only of the two opposing schools, but also of those who wanted to watch. Twilight and Blue, who had come to support Star, headed the royal tribune when they met with Rainbow Dash and Soarin.

“Rainbow Dash! Soarin! It's so good to see you!" Twilight said.

"Twilight! Glad you could make it" Rainbow Dash said to her friend.

"Well, I wouldn't miss a race where my son is involved" Twilight said.

"Yes, it's just a shame that you came to see him lose" Rainbow Dash replied. "No offense, Twilight, but my team will kick your son and his griffon friend’s asses.

"Rainbow…" Soarin said.

"It's okay, Soarin, I'm already used to it" Twilight said. "After all, I know Rainbow for years and she hasn't changed a bit since then. Although, Rainbow Dash, I should warn you that you shouldn't underestimate Star and Gunter. They make a good team."

"That's true" Blue said. "They are probably the best team that the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy has for several years. After all, they are the first team to reach the finals since the last time the academy won."

"At least, they’ll stay with that reputation" Rainbow Dash said. "But it's not going to pass from that. The Wonderbolts Junior Academy won't give up its title of champion so easily."

"I hope not" Twilight said. "A race is only good and exciting when it's close."

"Rainbow, remember that we have to get back to our team" Soarin recalled.

"Oh yeah, I still have to talk to them before the race starts" Rainbow Dash said. "Well, see you later."

And she and Soarin moved away. Twilight and Blue, in their turn, went to the royal tribune, where Gael and Greta were already there, eager to see Gunter’s participation.

In another part of the track, Moonlight and Galena were awaiting the start of the race. However, the former was looking around, smiling to finally be where she should be. Although the first few days after being released from the Lord of Chaos’s influence had been difficult, especially with some of the students of the academy giving her suspicious stares, she managed to adapt very well. It was then that she noticed something that caught her attention.

"Galena, look over there" she said. "Those are not Professor Ebony and Professor Holly?"

Galena looked at where her best friend was pointing and saw that she was telling the truth. It was them. However, it seemed that they were more than friends…

"Wow, what do you know" she said. "I didn't know they..."

"Well, they make a lovely couple" Moonlight said. "Just like you and Gunter do."

Galena, who was eating popcorn, almost choked when Moonlight said that.

"Look, Moonlight, I already said it and I’ll say it again: I don't feel anything for Gunter" Galena declared.

"Come on, my friend, it's obvious that you two have a certain chemistry" Moonlight said. "You know that I know that you acting as cat and dog is just a way to hide what you really feel for each other."

"You know, ever since you came back and started dating Star, you've become a real pain constantly talking about the attraction that exists between me and Gunter" Galena replied.

"I'm just saying what I and everyone at the Academy say."

"So you need to find a new hobby, because you’re starting to imagine things."

However, Moonlight couldn't stop smiling because she knew that the way how Galena was on the defensive just confirmed what she already knew.

Meanwhile, in the Enchanted Forest, an earth stallion was walking near Thicket. It was a bizarre-looking big stallion, wearing a heavily red armor that covered his entire body that, in the back, contained a kind of furnace. The only part of his body that was visible were his hazel eyes.

He walked until something, or someone, bumped his way. It was Grogar. The ram looked to the stallion with a serious look and the latter returned it.

"Well, well, well, look who he is" Grogar said. "I thought I would have to go to your kingdom to find you."

"News travel quickly in the Enchanted Forest" he said. "Mostly the bad ones. The capturing of Four-Tails wasn't exactly discreet."

"That was my associate’s fault" Grogar said. "He doesn't take things too seriously. You, on the other hand, are pretty smart. I have to admit that you're the first Jinchuriki trying to really hide from us, Vapour Fist. Do you know how long it took me to find you?"

"I knew you would come for me, after capturing Black Granite" Vapour Fist said. "After all, I'm Jinchuriki of Five-Tails."

"And that's why I have to capture you" Grogar declared. "I'm sorry for everything that you’ll do to you."

"You don't have to do it, if I get through you first" Vapour Fist replied.

And, having said this, with immense speed, Vapour Fist approached Grogar and raised his hoof to punch. Grogar caught the blow with one of his forelegs, but then he noticed that the furnace on his back began to release steam.

“Erupting Propultion Fist!" Vapour Fist exclaimed.

And then his punch gained an immense force that was able to throw Grogar hard against a tree, knocking him down. Despite the strength of the attack, Grogar was able to resist without suffering too much damage, as he had predicted that Vapour Fist could attack without warning and covered his body with protective magic.

"Impressive" Grogar said, rising up. "You use your vapour nature to raise the temperature of your own energy up to the boiling point, which causes you to release stream that increases the strength of your physical attacks. That’s why you have that Stream Armor of yours."

"So it's true" Vapour Fist said. "You know all about our capabilities."

"How else could we be able to capture four Jinchuriki?" Grogar asked. "Knowing your skills, we were able to find your weak spots. You, for example, use the vapour nature of steam, which combines the fire and water natures. A combination a little unusual. But I think I know how to deal with you."

"That's what we're going to see" Vapour Fist replied.

Somewhere nearby, Golden Paladin and Heartbeat roamed the forest. The Generals had just found out that the Five-Tails’ Jinchūriki was out of his kingdom and that Ulysses and Grogar had been sighted nearby. So, they decided to act and prevent that they captured him. It was then that a lightning bolt directed to them made them stop. Ulysses appeared in front of them and asked:

"Are you going somewhere?"

"I see" Golden Paladin realized. "Grogar left you behind to make sure he wasn't disturbed."

"You guys are pretty smart" Ulysses said. "But I think you’re late... again."

But Heartbeat giggled and said:

"You know that I just have to go through you as if you weren't there at all with my speed, don't you?"

And using her speed, Heartbeat tried to go through Ulysses, but when she barely passed him, she stepped on an electrical current that forced her to withdraw and go back to where she was.

"But what the hell..." she started.

Ulysses giggled and said:

"Grogar predicted that you could try to interfere, so he used a spell that prevents you to pass without defeating me first."

The griffon expected to see a sign of concern in them, but, instead, he only saw smiles appearing on their faces.

"Why are you smiling?" Ulysses asked. "You're in disadvantage."

"You’re wrong, Ulysses" Golden Paladin contradicted. "The truth is that you are the one in disadvantage here, because you're facing the worst opponents that could have crossed your path."

"You guys really like to overestimate yourselves" Ulysses said. "But after I'm done with you, that's going to change."

And he launched lightning to Heartbeat that, using her speed, managed to dodge without any problem and then strike a blow in Ulysses so strong that threw him against the ground.

"We are not overestimating ourselves, Ulysses" Golden Paladin said. "We're only being realistic. Heartbeat can combine the wind and light natures to create the swift nature. It is thanks to it that she can move back and forth almost instantly. Not even your lightning have enough speed to strike her."

Ulysses, rising up a bit, realized that attacking Heartbeat directly was a waste of time, so he concentrated on Golden Paladin and shot. He hit him, but, to his shock, it seemed that he was not being affected at all. Ulysses then noticed that the General of Peace had his body covered by shiny steel. When the electricity dispersed, the steel that covered Golden Paladin disappeared.

"And I own the steel nature, a gift from the Lord of Order when I became General" Golden Paladin continued. "With it, among many other capabilities, I can cover my body with steel which is a metal that is not a good electric conductor. I can't undo all the effects of your electricity, but can't do enough to be able to tolerate it. As you can see, Ulysses, who is in disadvantage here it’s you."

Seeing that his attacks would not have great effect on Heartbeat and Golden Paladin, Ulysses began to get nervous.

"Let's see how long you can hold against us" Heartbeat said.

Meanwhile, Grogar continued his fight against Vapour Fist. It seemed that things were in favour of the Jinchuriki who could use his vapour nature to increase the power of his physical attacks, forcing the evil ram to sidestep and keep his distance.

"Are you going to keep running away from me?" Vapour Fist asked. "You're not going to beat me if you don't fight seriously."

"I was trying to work things out without causing too much damage, but it looks like that's what you want, isn't it?" Grogar said.

And, having said this, Grogar touched his bell and so he freed sonic waves that caused great pain in Vapour Fist’s head, forcing him to kneel and take the hooves to the head.

"What did you do?" Vapour Fist asked.

"I expanded the sonic waves of my bell to cause pain and immobilize you" Grogar replied. "Now be quiet and I promisse that you will die in a painless way when we extract your Tailed Beast."

Grogar approached Vapour Fist, but it was then that he freed a lot of steam. Being involved ny it, Grogar began to feel his skin burning. While looking around, he realized that the steam was burning everything that was in the neighborhood. So he could also use a steam like that… However, he would not let himself be intimidated, as he had promised to his master he would capture the Jinchuriki of Five-Tails and that's what he would do.

He played his bell again and he freed sonic waves that began to cause a drastic cooling in the surroundings. This caused the steam to disappear and Vapour Fist, after being exposed to Grogar’s supersonic attack, followed by rapid cooling, was immensely exhausted, while the cold started to work on it.

"It… can't… be" he said.

And he passed out. Grogar canceled the spell that had launched and approached Vapour Fist.

"And Five-Tails was captured with success" he said.

At that moment, he heard a noise and Ulysses came flying, falling near him.

"Amazing, can't you stand sentry without failing?" Grogar asked.

And then Golden Paladin and Heartbeat appeared, getting shocked when they saw Grogar had managed to defeat Vapour Fist.

"Now I see…" he said. "You faced the Generals of Peace and Affection. I think I was too hard on you, Ulysses."

"You can stop right there" Ulysses, gasping as he rose up. "I don't need your condescension."

"Please, Captain Star Shield, don't do this" Golden Paladin said, trying to appeal to the little light that could still exist in Grogar. "You're not like that. Don't let the Lord of Chaos dictate your fate."

Listening Golden Paladin calling Grogar by another name, Ulysses turned to his partner and asked:

"What is he talking about?"

"None of your business" Grogar answered coldly, turning then to Golden. "I suggest you to stop appealing to that name. Star Shield is dead, he no longer exists. Now, there's only Grogar, an eternal servant of the Lord of Chaos."

That response confirmed Golden Paladin’suspicions about Grogar having been too long under the influence of the Lord of Chaos’ darkness to come back by himself.

"If that's the case, then you don't give us reason to be lenient while we take that Jinchuriki from your mercy" Heartbeat replied.

"That's not going to happen, little General" Grogar told her. "Because, unlike the others, I'm always prepared for any eventuality."

And before Heartbeat could access her speed, Grogar his bell again and it freed an intense light that blinded the two Generals and, when it cleared, it was revealed that it served to hide the escape of the two villains with Vapour Fist.

"Damn it!" Heartbeat exclaimed.

"This is not good" Golden Paladin said. "We must inform Princess Twilight about this."

Heartbeat nodded, agreeing with him.

At the Wonderbolts Junior Academy, the final race was about to begin. Jonagold and Bramble had joined Moonlight and Galena after having gone to wish good luck to their best friends.

Both teams entered, along with their respective coaches, while the public acclaimed them. Coach Gideon began to give some last-minute advice to Star and Gunter, while Rainbow Dash did the same with her team. After this, the four participants went to the starting line. When the race was started, both teams took flight.

It was a bad start for Star and Gunter, who had been overcome by the Wonderbolts Junior Academy team. Most of the audience applauded the favourite team, however the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy students kept encouraging their fliers and this gave encouragement to Star and Gunter to not give up.

They tried to overcome their opponents, but they were prepared for any attempt to pass them, courtesy of their coach. While one of them remained in the front, the other would back off a little and blocked the path of the opponents. But the duo flyers from the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy wouldn't let this strategy to stop them from trying to get the lead. Star backed down a bit and tried to give a wing blast to Gunter, but despite having increased his griffon friend’s speed, it was not enough to overcome the Wonderbolts Junior Academy team.

When the two teams were approaching the finishing line, it looked like the Wonderbolts Junior Academy would win again. It was then that Star had an idea and communicated it to Gunter. Although he was a little apprehensive, Gunter eventually agreed. After that, Gunter grabbed Star’s front hooves with his talons and began to rotate him. Everyone who was watching gasped with such move.

When they were at maximum speed of rotation, Gunter waited for the right time and launched Star, who began flying at high speed, managing to overcome the opposing team without major problems. With this, the race was decided, as Star crossed the finishing line in first place, thus giving the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy the victory on flying derby for the first time in years. Twilight, Blue, Gael and Greta exclaimed in contentment, and t Moonlight, Galena, Jonagold and Bramble were doing the same.

The winning team came to the podium where they received the flying derby trophy delivered by Rainbow Dash. Despite being disappointed because her team lost, she had become very impressed by how Star and Gunter had won, feeling honored to congratulate them. The three fairies were so happy that their school had won that they gave to everyone a great fireworks display, what astonished all those who were watching.

While watching, Twilight and Blue received a telepathic message from Golden Paladin to meet outside the track. Despite not wanting to leave Star after his victory, Golden’s message left them quite worried and so they left.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked while she and Blue arrived at the edge of Golden Paladin and Heartbeat. "Your message seemed serious."

"It's because it's fairly serious, your Highness" Golden Paladin replied.

"The Lord of Chaos now possesses five Tailed Beast."

"What?!" Twilight and Blue asked at the same time.

"How did this happen?" Blue asked. "I thought you had gone to pick the Jinchuriki after we get to know he was out of his kingdom."

"But we weren't the only ones to take advantage of this moment" Heartbeat said.

"Who was it this time?" Twilight asked.

The two Generals exchanged a nervous look before Golden reply:

"It was Grogar."

That answer left Twilight a little upset as Grogar was her great-grandfather.

"Twily..." Blue said, worried about his wife.

"I'm fine, really" she assured him, turning then to Golden Paladin and Heartbeat. "How did he...?"

"Grogar was pretty cunning" Golden Paladin replied. "He made Ulysses to try to slow us down, while he fought and beat the Jinchuriki."

"Yes, although, despite the results in their favor, Ulysses has done a lousy job to stop us" Heartbeat said. "We hit him as much as he deserved. Believe me, if it weren't for the fact that Grogar was able to defeat the Jinchuriki and take him and Ulysses with him after blinding us, we would have one more villain to make company to Cerberus in Tartarus."

"Well, I think we can consider Ulysses’ wounded as a consolation prize" Blue said. "But even so, things are getting worse for our side."

"The Lord of Chaos already has more than half of Tailed Beasts" Twilight saind. "Counting with Star, there are four more Jinchuriki that have not yet been captured. If he can take them all, so it looks like it will be the end for the Pony Reality as we know it."

Seeing Through the Eyes of a Toad

Continuing his training to master the natural energy, Star was now trying to achieve a new objective. Now that he had master how to control and balance the natural energy with his own energy, Leaf Mane put him now trying to channel natural energy without the use of the toad oil.

At the fountain, Star was over the head of one of the greatest toad statues with three clones, each other trying to accomplish this new challenge. While doing that, Leaf Mane was keeping watch, making sure that none of the Stars mutated into a toad, making her staff levitating among them.

It was then that one of the Stars started to change into a toad, that rapidly recovered control and reverted to his pony form, but that was temporally, as he soon started to change. That made Leaf Mane react and hit him with the staff. It happened that was the original Star and his clones, that also started to change, disappeared.

“You have to focus” Leaf Mane told him. “You’re still moving, even if it is just a little. Remember, don’t move.”

“Doing this without the toad oil is a lot harder than I thought it would be” Star said, while rubbing the place Leaf Mane it him.

“Well, of course it is” Leaf Mane replied. “What did you expect after stop using the short-cut?”

It was then that Star started to think in a better way.

“You know, I have an idea and I don’t if it can be done, but…” he started.

“What is it?” Leaf Mane asked.

“Why can’t I bring this oil to me and use it when I fight?” Star asked, pointing to the toad oil down there. “In that way, I didn’t have to learn how to get natural energy without the oil.”

“It is a good idea, but it can’t be done.”

“Why?”

“Outside the Animarium’s climate this oil evaporates almost immediately” Leaf Mane replied.

“What?!” Star asked. “Really?!”

“I already told you that the oil is just a tool to help you grasp the concept” Leaf Mane said.

“Yes, I understand” Star said. “It was just an idea. It seems I have to continue training to gather natural energy without the oil.”

“Naturally, but the way you transform into a toad is so quick that make me realize your powers of concentration are still lacking for this. Try to do better.”

“I’m trying, but concentrating in gathering while concentrating in not moving is very difficult.”

Leaf Mane thought for a moment and then said:

“I have an idea. Come with me.”

And they got down from the stone toads and Leaf Mane led Star Knight to another part of Animarium, where there was a bunch of high spires.

“What’s this place?” Star asked, looking around. “This is not I think it is, isn’t it?”

“Yes, exactly” Leaf Mane replied. “This is where you’re going to be training next. Balance a stone slab at the top of the highest point and begin meditation. If your concentration wavers and you move even slightly, you’ll fall to the bottom. I mean, if you didn’t have wings of course, but you get the idea.”

“So I have to go up there?” Star asked, starting to think things just got even harder.

Leaf Mane looked around and then found a stone slab that she took with her magic. After inspecting it closely, she said:

“This should do just fine. Follow me, Prince Star Knight.”

Accessing her magic, Leaf Mane made herself levitate and she went up. Star took flight and followed her. After that, she handed the stone slab to Star who then placed it over the highest spire and then he placed himself over it, putting himself in a meditation position. Following Leaf Mane’s instructions, he started to try to draw the natural energy to himself, trying to concentrate in doing that and balance it with his own energy and, at the same time, tried to not move at all.

However, that was a hard task to do as it took only one slight move to make Star starting to lose his balance.

“Stay still” Leaf Mane said. “You must learn to stop your motion. If you don’t, you won’t be able to gather natural energy. You need to find your center of balance and motionless synchronize with the nature around you.”

Star tried really hard to do what Leaf Mane was saying, but that was really difficult. Sensing that he was about to fall, his instinct made him open his wings and that made him lose balance completely. Flying to not fall, Star used his magic grab also the stone slab.

“I know see that we must first focus in making you learn how to stay still” Leaf Mane. “Only after that you’ll be able to channel the natural energy.”

And so they continued, with Star continuing to try to stay still on the stone slab. However, he continued to not be able to be completely still, as he repeatedly continue to fall from the stone slab.

“Prince Star Knight, why don’t we make a break?” Leaf Mane asked.

“No, I’m fine” Star said, while putting himself again over the stone slab. “I can continue to do this, don’t worry.”

But it didn’t take long for him to fall again. Starting to get frustrated, Star realized that, if he continued like that, it would take him a lot of time, so he decided to speed up the pace. For that, he created two clones, so, in that way, he would need only a third of the time needed.

Leaf Mane didn’t stop of being amazed by that colt’s determination. He had never seen somepony like him before, not even in her previous students. It was impressive how he continued, even after failing time after time until he get it right.

However, even with the clones, his focus wasn’t still the best. A day had passed and another came. By the end of that day, he and his clones continued their training. Tough Skin, who had come to see how Star was doing with his training, observed him trying to become completely still. When he saw him and the clones starting to lose balance again, he thought they would fell again, but it was then that they recovered the balance and remained so, before the toad’s amazement.

Leaf Mane created a tree there where she could sit while overseeing Star’s training without being always levitating. She smiled slightly, seeing how Star was starting to get better in becoming completely still. It was then she noticed some dark clouds forming in the sky and see that it was about to rain. That would be the perfect way to test Prince Star Knight’s ability to remain still.

Eventually, it started to rain, but even with the cold water drops falling on them, Star and his clones remained still. The rain stopped minutes later to have a bright sun, but the alicorn prince still remained unnerved. Leaf Mane’s smile became more and more visible, as he was finally getting it. At one point, he was so focus that he, without realizing it, dismissed the multiplication spell, making the clones to disappear. She could see now that he was starting to gather the natural energy to himself.

Indeed, Star, while concentrating to remain still, ignoring the instinct of stretching his legs or scratching any itch, between other things, he was able to start to feeling the natural energy around him and starting to attract it to himself. Leaf Mane could see how the natural energy started to get in him. It was really impressive for her how far he went without using the oil.

After Star gathered the natural energy into him and balanced it with his own energy, he started to open his eyes and, when he did it, they were different. Beyond the orange pigmentation, his eyes turned into yellow with horizontal black pupil. However, those were different than the ones he had while using the oil. They were more focused and were not very different than the normal pony eyes, except in the color. Beyond that, he also didn’t had any toad features, what meant he had achieve a perfect control over natural energy. That meant he would be able to use more power than when he used the oil.

“Well, how do you feel?” Leaf Mane asked him.

“I think I’m finally getting it now” Star said. “I know what you mean becoming one with nature.”

At that moment, a little bird came by and landed on Star’s shoulder, what made the perfect balance he had achieved to be undone and Star fell. However, he didn’t bother in opening his wings to fly, as he now knew he could land without risking himself to get hurt and Leaf Mane observed him falling. Indeed, when he crushed, he could see the land hardly hurt him.

“Wow, it really didn’t hurt.”

Leaf Mane teleported herself to the ground and said:

“That’s right. You achieved what is called the sage mode, the final phase of controlling the natural energy. You’re body is now activated in an all new way.”

“Wow, it’s amazing!” he exclaimed. “So it’s called sage mode.”

“And now that you mastered it and the natural energy, there is one final step” Leaf Mane.

“There is still one final step?” Star asked. “We’re not done yet?”

“There is a form of physical battle perfect by the toads who achieved the perfect sage mode” Leaf Mane said. “It is called Frog Kata.”

“You’re gonna to teach me that, Leaf Mane?” Star asked.

“Oh no, not me” he said.

“Me” a voice said.

Star turned and saw Tough Skin arriving.

“Tough Skin?” Star asked.

“Well, just look at you” Tough Skin. “I don’t know why but those eyes suit you better.”

“Tough Skin is the most gifted between the young toads of Animarium and, since you two are already friends, I thought he could give some basis about the Frog Kata. After all, who better a toad to teach it to you?”

“I see…” Star said, turning then to Tough Skin. “Well, Tough, I’m ready when you are.”

“Well, it’s better you prepare yourself” Tough Skin said. “I’ll not make it easy for you.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear” Star replied.

“And be warned that you’ll not be able to use your wings” Tough Skin said. “After all, in the Frog Kata, you must act as a frog.”

“I also didn’t intend to use them anyway” Star replied.

And so they started. Their quarrel lasted for some time, at least until the sun started to set down. By that time, both Star and Tough Skin were both gasping from tiredness. It was then that Star advanced against Tough Skin, preparing to give him a punch, and he did the same. Both were able to give the blow, but Tough Skin’s was stronger and threw Star against one of the spires.

“Well, I have to admit” Tough Skin said, smiling. “For a pony, you really are a fast-learning, even with the Frog Kata. What if you called it a day.”

Recovering from Tough Skin’s blow, Star said:

“No, no yet.”

“Well, maybe you not, but I’m started to get hungry and thirsty” Tough Skin said. “Furthermore, you don’t have to be so hasty. Like I said, you’re starting to get the hang of it.”

“Well, if you say so…” Star said.

Later that night, Star was sleeping at Tough Skin’s place, as Leaf Mane needed to go do her General of Nature work. After making sure his toad friend was fast asleep, Star slinked and went to a place where he could do what he had in mind without being noticed. After sometime, Star showed some tiredness, exhibiting also the eyes of the sage mode.

“I did it…” he said. “I pull it off.

He was referring to a certain spell that had just cut off one of the rock formations nearby. Then, his eyes returned to normal, meaning he had used all the natural energy he had stored. That made him say:

“Even though it’s still far from perfect. I have to try it in sage mode and I have to make sure that no one catches me.”

After that, he returned to Tough Skin’s so he could get some sleep.

At the next day, Star and Tough Skin continued to train the Frog Kata. While sparing, Tough Skin said:

“You’ve made great progress.”

The two shocked and then retreated, continuing to do so, giving high jumps in the air.

“Impressive jumping ability” Tough Skin said, with him jumping higher. “Nice one, Star. Your Frog Kata is very well too.”

“Yeah, but that’s not all I can do” he replied.

And so he created a clone that he used to give him a boost to reach Tough Skin. He become surprised by that.

“I’m not done!” he exclaimed. “I’m just getting started!”

“Then come to me with all that you have!” Tough Skin said.

And so they continued their training.

In a forest near Baltimare, a mare was running, terrified. In her face, the fear was the only thing that it was possible to observe. Despite the fatigue she was accumulating quickly from all the running, she struggled not to stop because she was running for her life. But her escape would eventually end as she tripped on a rock that made her fall to the ground. She looked to where she had been running from and became terrified, trying to retreat as much as possible. The General of Chaos appeared, approaching her.

"Please don't..." she said.

"Don't be afraid" the General of Chaos said in a calming way. "I just want to show you a better way. What's the point of walking the path of light when you can choose the dark path one. I'm here to show you how much darkness can be comforting."

"No, I don't want to..." the mare kept saying.

'' I understand what you're feeling" the General of Chaos. "I used to be just like you. Thinking that the light and the order were the better way, but I opened my eyes from that reality and it's time for you to open them as well."

Opening his wings, the General of Chaos accessed his magic, which adopted the dark color of dark magic. He fired a beam against the mare who groaned in pain when she was hit by it. It was then that she became motionless and the flower where a star seed rests appeared and opened, revealing hers, translucent with a slight white light inside. The star seed emitted its light for a few moments until it lost it and became completely black. It was then dark lighting left the star seed and black roots arose and covered the mare and her star seed and then, when they disappeared, she emerged, now a dark pony.

"You see?" the General of Chaos asked. "I said I would show a better way."

He then felt a presence and asked:

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I have some news" a voice said.

That voice belonged to Dark Night, the pony that had once hosted Princess Aurora’s tribe in his castle in order to convince them to stay, as the Lord of Chaos had requested after turning him and his servants into dark ponies. He remained as such in order to serve Chaos.

"I hope it's good news" the General of Chaos said, turning to him.

"I received a message from your spies in the Enchanted Forest and they say that Prince Star Knight is not at the academy" Dark Night answered. "In fact, he hasn't been there for some days."

"I see..." the General of Chaos said. “This means that Princess Twilight must have placed her dear son in a place where he can be safe from us. Of course there's only one place where he can be: the Light Kingdom."

"And what if he's not there, sir?" Dark Night asked. “We cannot be certain that he is. For sure the Light Kingdom is not the only place where they can hide the Jinchuriki from us.”

"Then we will find out where he is" the General of Chaos replied. "And meanwhile, we will bring darkness to the brightest kingdom of them all in the Pony Reality and show everyone the wonderful power of Chaos and that our lord must rule everything."

"But... the Light Kingdom is protected from any evil force" Dark Night said. "Not even the Lord of Chaos is able to get in there. How will we be able to invade it if we can't get even through the borders?"

"That’s a very good question" the General of Chaos agreed. "A question for which I may have the solution. No defense is perfect, not even the one of the Light Kingdom. Go send a message to the spies telling them to continue to watch the academy, just in case our little prince appears there. And while that is done, we will gather the rest of our little friends. It's time for a little trip to the Light Kingdom and try to capture a Jinchuriki…"

Hawthorn and Blackthorn

After failing in defeating his own dark side, Star turned to Blackthorn and asked:

“So how am I supposed to beat that guy?”

“Well, that I don’t know, I’m afraid” Blackthorn replied.

Although that was an answer Star didn’t wanted to hear, he remembered something and then said:

“Wait, Lord Hawthorn trained here too, right? I can just go and ask him.”

But then Star remembered what happened before and said:

“No, he’s never going to tell me. Not with his attitude.”

“Perhaps” Blackthorn agreed.

Then Star started to think and then he asked himself if the Hawthorn had a dark side like he had. It was that thought that made him realize one thing he could do to see how to pass the waterfall challenge. He then said to Blackthorn, while getting up:

“Hey, Blackthorn, can you help me out? Can you tell me more about Lord Hawthorn, like how he grew up and how his personality is like? Maybe I can get a few hints from that and figure out the differences between us and why he can control his Tailed Beast.”

That caught Blackthorn by surprise, but he realized that Star must have listen what he said to him before when he came to ask for his help.

“To be honest, I normally don’t talk about that with others” Blackthorn said. “But, Prince Star Knight, you’re also a jinchuriki, just like Lord Hawthorn is, and control the Nine-Tails may lead us to peace. I’ll do it.”

“Great, thank you!” Star exclaimed.

“Now, like I told you earlier, as a fellow jinchuriki, you know how it is like to live with that burden” Blackthorn said, making a brief. “As you can well imagine, an incredible power brings dread and hard feelings. Lord Hawthorn was long feared and resented by the other deer, but he never got depressed or complained, not even once. He was always cheerful, continuously working with the others around him. He took the shamed of being a jinchuriki and turned it into positivity. It seemed to me that he decided to take pride of himself and even add it self-expression. And the main reason why he was able to take pride in being a jinchuriki was probably due to his older brother, King Aspen.”

“Well, that make sense” Golden Paladin said. “It is quite impressive how he was able to remain that positive, while the others only gave him looks of hate and fear.”

“There is a reason for it” Blackthorn continued. “For ages, in order to avoid betrayal, jinchuriki have almost always being selected from blood relations with the regents, like siblings or spouses. A jinchuriki is both a power to protect the kingdom and are also the symbol of the regent’s ultimate strength. I believe Lord Hawthorn strove diligently to become a worthy jinchuriki for King Aspen. It is said that he mastered the Waterfall of Truth challenge in no time at all. I have deep respect for the kind of deer Lord Hawthorn is. In my eyes, he is a true hero.”

“To be such beloved jinchuriki, Lord Hawthorn must be quite a great deer” Golden Paladin commented. “And you must be too.”

However, it seemed that Blackthorn was surprised for hearing Golden Paladin say something like that.

“Wait, that’s it” Star said. “You can go ask Lord Hawthorn to train me, Blackthorn. Would you please do that for me?”

“I’m sorry, your highness, I can’t” Blackthorn replied.

“Why not?”

“I’m not worthy of such errand” Blackthorn answered. “Because… I once tried to kill Lord Hawthorn.”

That affirmation really caught Golden Paladin and Star Knight by surprise.

“But you said that you respected him just now” Star said.

But Blackthorn remaid silent and Golden Paladin said:

“I’m sure there is an explanation.”

“So what was it?” Star asked. “Tell us.”

“It’s time for me to confess” Blackthorn said to Star. “Since you are a jinchuriki too, I think it’s okay to tell you about that incident. Everything happened twenty-five years ago. Back then, the jinchuriki that contained Eight-Tails wasn’t strong enough to completely control the Tailed Beast. The Eight-Tails went loose, rampage and destroy Thicket. Each time, the previous king, Alder, would stop the Eight-Tails with his elite forces.”

Twenty-five years ago…

Eight-Tails was on a rampage at the lake, destroying everything in his path. Back then, he had his severed horn intact. Various deer appeared with everything they would need to subdue the beast in order to seal him.

A large deer that was close to Aspen in appearance but with darker colors and with the same golden rings at the base of his horns and a lightning bolt-shaped scar that ran across the right side of his chest. That was King Alder, Aspen and Hawthorn’s father. He was carrying a large plugged orange urn. He landed in a stone plataform where a younger Aspen, who should be in his late teens, was.

“Listen, I need all of you to hold on the Eight-Tails and, while you’re doing that, I’ll seal him in the sealing urn.”

“Understood, father” Aspen said.

“Okay, get to it!” Alder exclaimed.

And the deer launched chains over the Tailed Beast in order to hold him, what was a very hard task due to Eight-Tails’ strength. Eventually, most of the deer that were restraining him were thrown away.

Most of the deer were very afraid of that beast, but one deer, that looked very much alike Blackthorn, told to his comrades to not give up. He then threw his chain that caught one of Eight-Tails’ horns. After holding the chain tightly, he used a light-based spell to generate electricity that went through the chain to Eight-Tails, giving him a great shock.

“Now, act now!” Alder said to his deer. “Restrain him!”

And the deer obeyed to their king, taking advantage of Eight-Tails’ vulnerable state to restrain him with the chains. But then a boost of rage in Eight-Tails made him exclaim:

“Don’t take me as granted, your cursed deers!”

And, with a sudden head move, he stabbed the deer that had shocked him with the horn that was chained. Seeing that, Aspen acted quickly and, involved in his light aura, he jumped high and, with a blow, severed the tip of the horn, what really caused a lot of pain to the Eight-Tails. Alder took advantage of that moment to seal the Tailed Beast inside the urn and Eight-Tails was sucked to its inside, with the deer king plugging it immediately after.

The present…

“Every time they somehow managed to subdue the Eight-Tails and shove him back into the sealing urn, there were always casualties. However, despite the risk, it was crucial to possess the Eight-Tails to preserve the balance of power between the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest. So the jinchuriki experiments continued.”

Blackthorn sat down and then continued:

“And among the countless casualties… was my father.”

That information really surprised Golden Paladin and Star and the General said:

“You lost your father to Lord Hawthorn. That’s why…”

“That’s not it” Blackthorn replied. “Lord Hawthorn and I were close friends back there. We were both only five years old when my father fell in combat. The jinchuriki responsible for my father’s death died when the Eight-Tails was extracted. That was the previous jinchuriki, the one to hold Eight-Tails before Lord Hawthorn. It was after that tragedy that he was chosen to be the Eight-Tails’ jinchuriki.”

“Why then try to kill Lord Hawthorn?” Golden Paladin asked. “If he wasn’t responsible for your father’s death, then why try to kill him?

Blackthorn took a few moments before answering:

“I assumed that it wasn’t possible to control the Eight-Tails. I believed that would always continue to exist more and more victims while trying to contain him. The death of my father was like a hard stroke to my family. My mother fell into a deep depression and I felt impotent to help her. My hatred towards the Eight-Tails continued to grow. I was only a child, but all I could think about was getting revenge. But Lord Hawthorn was always laughing and I started to hate him more and more, because it seemed like he didn’t care at all about what the thing inside him had caused. My hatred towards the Eight-Tails was instinctively directed to Lord Hawthorn, his jinchuriki. I thought that, if I killed Lord Hawthorn, the Eight-Tails would also die… It was foolish of me to think something like that. But I was a child… I was naïve… So I… I attacked Lord Hawthorn from behind, but, when I failed, I became terrified and ran away. I had masked my face, but it was possible that Lord Hawthorn recognized me. As a result, I just stopped talking to him, at least as a friend I once was to him.”

“But after all that, how did you come to respect Lord Hawthorn then?” Golden Paladin asked.

“My hatred didn’t disappear overnight” Blackthorn replied. “For a long time, I continue to follow Lord Hawthorn, keep an eye on him. In a way, I think was trying to get the courage to try again to kill him. But, I wasn’t the only one to watch him. Lord Hawthorn was shunned and despised by the other deer all the time. Even though he was forced to become a jinchuriki because of politics and existed to protect the kingdom, he continued to be ostracized by the others. Almost anyone else would have gone insane with all that and so I realized that Lord Hawthorn’s suffering was even greater than mine. It was that resolution of mine that drove me to respect him.”

After finishing telling his story, Golden Paladin asked:

“Why tell us this?”

“Well, truth be told, I rather wanted Lord Hawthorn to hear this, but the reason why I am telling this to Star is because he is a fellow jinchuriki. And yes, I am well aware that I have to tell Lord Hawthorn the truth someday or this wouldn’t be a true confession.”

When he heard Blackthorn saying those words, Star was able to sense his true self right behind him and hear him saying in a mocking way:

“How conveniente for him.”

Having enough of his true self mocking Blackthorn that way, Star took flight and started heading to the forest while Golden Paladin asked:

“Prince Star Knight, where are you going?”

“I just want to be alone for a while” he replied, while moving away.

Star went to the spikes that covered the edge of the island and sit on one of them, starting to stare the great lake while submerging in his own thoughts. He remembered how the other inhabitants of the Light Kingdom were always looking at him like he was something that didn’t deserved to be at their presence. They used to avoid him and give him cold looks with the only thing that stopped them from doing anything being the fact that he was the son of their beloved princess.

Then, he remembered how he had conquered their respect when he saved the Light Kingdom. Everything had started when he stopped Shukaku, the One-Tail, from destroying the Light Kingdom, but it was really when he defeated the General of Chaos that they all started to admire him completely. In a way, that was very close to what happened to Chief Strongpaw. He started to be somepony to be avoided by the other pony-panther, but when he conquered their respect, he was able to became their chief. Just like Hawthorn, they fought to be respected by their peers and they succeeded in doing so.

But even so, Star was already happy because he had what he really wanted before becoming the hero of his kingdom: the love of his beloved ones, like his parents, his sisters, the rest of his family, his friends and even his pet timberwolf.

However, what the other Star told him kept being repeated in his mind. After meeting him, Star realized that, deep inside of his heart, that what the other Star said was true, that he hadn’t gain everyone’s trust back home in the Light Kingdom.

At the other side of the island, at the coast, Golden Paladin and Blackthorn were looking for Star.

“But where did Prince Star Knight go?” Golden Paladin asked.

“Don’t worry, this is a secret location” Blackthorn said, while a tentacle appeared behind him secretly. “The enemy couldn’t simply.”

But then that tentacle grabbed him, what caused Blackthorn to let out a scream that was heard by Star.

“That sounded just like Blackthorn” he said.

The giant squid had appeared and taken Blackthorn, starting to squeeze him. Arriving there, Star said, while dodging the tentacles:

“Oh no, it’s that squid again.”

Star approached Golden Paladin and asked:

“What happened, Golden?”

“We went looking for you when that squid appeared from nowhere and attacked us” Golden Paladin said. “We have to hurry if we want to save Blackthorn.”

“You can count on me, Golden” Star Knight said.

“That’s what I wanted to hear, young prince” Golden Paladin.

And so the General of Peace summoned some of his steel chains that he used to grab the squid and prevent it from doing. After that, Star created a clone to do the Spiraling Sphere and, while doing that, he said to Blackthorn:

“Hang on, Blackthorn, we’re coming to get you.”

But before he could finish, Hawthorn’s voice said:

“It seems that you never learn, your stupid squid.”

And, from the water, Hawthorn, in his Eight-Tails form, emerged and said:

“How many times do I have to tell you to not grab anyone?”

And so he punched the squid hard again a few times, making it drop Hawthorn who was able to land on one of the spikes. After being beaten by Hawthorn, the squid returned to underwater.

“Nice one, Lord Hawthorn!” Star exclaimed, hoof bumping his clone before it disappear.

They all went to see how Blackthorn was, with Hawthorn returning to his deer form. Looking to Hawthorn, Blackthorn said:

“Hawthorn, why did you saved me? You knew, didn’t you? You knew all along… that I tried… to kill you. And yet you…”

“You know, I don’t remember of that happening” Hawthorn replied for Blackthorn’s surprise. “All that I do remember is you and me spending time and training hard together. We made mistakes, but that only caused us to go into laugh. Those times is what make us best friends and nothing more.”

And he extended his hoof towards Blackthorn. Moving by his words and seeing him extending his hoof to him, tears started to appear on Blackthorn’s eyes and so, extending his hoof as well, he hoof bumped Hawthorn, showing the true nature of their friendship, a moment that made Star smile and then remember on all of his friends back in the academy.

Star Knight Marches to the War

In the room at the Tailed Beast Temple, Star was lying on the floor, involved by Nine-Tails’ energy, exhausted from using a lot of energy to do the Tailed Beast Spiraling Sphere.

“You’re not getting it” Hawthorn told him. “Perhaps is lack of concentration.”

Star sat up and then he said, while returning to his normal mode:

“Sorry, but something has been bugging me out for a while and I can’t get it out of my mind.”

“What is it?” Hawthorn asked.

“Well, a while ago, I thought that I sensed Nine-Tails’ energy, but it doesn’t make sense that anypony else but me have the Nine-Tails’ energy, right?” Star told. “So I don’t know what it was.”

“You must have imagined it” Hawthorn replied. “Inside this room, the energy is cut out, both from the inside as the outside, besides that Nine-Tails is only inside of you.”

“Star is starting to figure out everything” Eight-Tails told to Hawthorn inside his mind. “The Gold and Silver Brothers also possess the Nine-Tails’ energy. That only means that the General of Death’s Reincarnation Curse brought them back. However, Star possess the power to sense energy more intensively in this room. You can’t fool him for much longer. What will you do, Hawthorn? You have to do something.”

“Like what?” Hawthorn asked.

“What do you mean by that?” Eight-Tails asked back. “Didn’t you have been attentive? You can’t let Star get out of this space.”

“But that’s why you’re here for, my friend.”

“What? Ah, you’re always the same.”

Star was sitting quiet, immerged in his thoughts, and then he took a decision. He got up and asked:

“Where’s the bathroom?”

“It’s the first room on the way outside” Hawthorn replied. “You can’t miss it.”

“Your idiot!” Eight-Tails exclaimed. “He can’t get out this base! Go with him!”

Star then run and got out of the room, before Hawthorn could do anything. Outside, a pair hidden deer saw Star running towards the waterfall.

“Don’t tell me that he…” one started.

“Don’t panic” the other replied. “Contact HQ.”

And that was made and Aspen didn’t react very well.

“What?!” he asked to the deer that came to give him the message. “The Nine-Tails is trying to escape?! And what’s Hawthorn doing about that?”

“Well, you know, sir, Lord Hawthorn wasn’t paying too much attention when… you know” the deer replied, a little uneasy due to being a little intimidated by Aspen. “But there are other measures, if Princess Celestia gives the orders.”

“Twilight should be the one to give it, but, as she is out battling, I don’t have any option” Celestia replied. “Proceed.”

Arriving to the waterfall, Star found it guarded by his father’s second-in-command, along with two pairs of pegasi guards and two griffons.

“Stop right there, Prince Star Knight” the light unicorn said.

Looking to the guards, Star wondered what was the reason for them to be there. That only confirmed his theory that something was happening.

“I’m sorry, my prince, but I can’t let you pass by” the light unicorn replied. “Please, cooperate and go back to that room.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on” Star said. “Why are you here, Warding Gauntlet? And why are you all watching me?”

“Just go inside” Warding Gauntlet said. “We’ll talk there.

“No, I won’t” Star replied. “I don’t see why you can’t tell me out here.”

There was a pause and then a voice said:

“Warding, let me talk to him.”

And Night Light, Twilight’s father and Star’s grandfather, appeared.

“Grampa Night Light?” Star said, surprised to see him. “But what are you doing in this island?”

Night Light didn’t respond right away, but then he smiled and said:

“Well, I was sent by your mother to see how you were. You know how she can worry too much. And because of her duties, she couldn’t come herself.”

“What about Golden Paladin?” Star asked. “He could do that. Actually, he was doing that.”

“Golden… had something to do” Night Light replied.

“And that’s why you came all the way from Canterlot to the Enchanted Forest?” Star asked.

That question really caught Night Light by surprise, but he remained still and replied:

“Yes, I was on a day-off and I always wanted to meet the Enchanted Forest. Your mother decided it was a good idea to have me watch over you. That’s why…”

“You know, grampa, I sensed the Nine-Tails’ energy” Star said. “Does mom or any of the other Generals told you something about having some of his energy that’s not in me?”

That statement surprised Warding Gauntlet, as Star was able to sense Gavin’s energy even from another realm, even in a place blocked from any outside energy. In that case, they couldn’t let him get out of that temple, or else it would be too dangerous for their mission to keep Star out of the war. He just hoped that Night Light would be able to convince him.

Trying to take advantage of Star just said, Night Light said:

“Probably. In fact, that is the reason why Golden is not here. He has a lot of experience dealing with Nine-Tails’ energy. He was sent to investigate. Meanwhile, we need you to stay here, so that the thing with Nine-Tails’ energy doesn’t respond to yours and comes after you. So, why don’t we go inside?”

But Star didn’t reply, preferring to meditate about the situation. He remembered what Blackthorn about the animals that lived in that island, that Hawthorn had tamed every single one. If that was so, and how he was under Hawthorn’s tutelage, no animal would hurt him.

“I can deal with any animal in this island that tries to mess with me” Star replied, releasing the natural energy he had accumulated and getting into the Sage Mode. “Let me out so I can see what’s going on.”

But they didn’t move, so Star opened his wing and flapped them to take flight and advance. The two griffons did the same to stop him, but, due to the extra strength that the natural energy gave him, he was stronger than them and was able to push them through the waterfall. After he did that, while the griffons fell into the water, Star landed at the other side, but he was caught by an immobilization spell casted by Warding Gauntlet. He turned and saw everypony out, with the pegasi flying and Warding and Night Light at the platform at the center of the water.

“I got him” Warding Gauntlet said.

But that immobilization spell didn’t stop Star from getting to know what was happening. In the Sage Mode, he was able to sense all his surroundings. He could feel his parents and uncle fighting the reincarnated swordsponies, all the wounded fighting to survive while being treated, not to mention all the ones that were losing their lives while fighting the enemy. He could even feel the pain caused to the Generals of Order because of the disease casted on him by the General of Chaos.

“What’s happening?” he asked, not wanting to believe what he was sensing. “What was that?”
Night Light realized that Star was able to sense everything in the Sage Mode.

“What’s going on?!” Star asked. “Why is this happening?”

As it was useless to hide everything from him any longer, Night Light said:

“The war has started. We’re right now fighting the General of Chaos and all the other villains.”
Star Knight become shocked when he heard that.

“Lord Night Light, don’t…” Warding Gauntlet said.

“It’s useless to continue the charade” Night Light said. “Furthermore, I think that my grandson can handle it. He needs to know the truth so he can make his own decision.”

“But why have you been hiding this from me?!” Star asked. “Both my family and friends are out there dealing with a lot of suffering without me!”

“Because part of this war is to make sure that you remain protected from the General of Chaos” Night Light said. “He is serving the Lord of Chaos’ will and so he wants to capture you and Lord Hawthorn and get the Eight and Nine-Tails from inside you. If he extracts both Tailed Beasts, he will be able to cast his curse and end the world as we know it. So, by protecting you, we will be protecting the future and not only the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest, but all the other realms. Everyone is putting their lives on the line to keep you safe. For that reason, you’ll have to stay here.”

Star remained silent, remembering all the training he had, all the battles he faced, all the suffering he had… He had made a promise to himself that he would end all that, that he would stop the Lord of Chaos’ evil plan.

“No, let’s go back” Night Light said, extending his hoof to his grandson.

But Star said:

“I can stop this. I know that I can, grampa. You have to let me. I’ll take all the hatred and pain, because that’s what I have to do.”

“But haven’t you been listening?!” Night Light exclaimed. “You have the Nine-Tails inside you! This isn’t just about you, Star.”

“You always let mom and uncle Shining Armor do what they had to do to save Equestria and the Pony World, regarding the risks it could represent for them” Star said. “And you know that I have already dealt with a lot because I have Nine-Tails inside me. I may be fifteen, but I have already done so much. You have to have faith in me, just like you have with them.”

“Don’t act like a spoiled brat!” Night Light exclaimed. “Your my grandson and you mean a lot to me! I love you very much and I don’t want anything to happen to you, to your sister or to your cousins.”

There was a pause, where the Sage Mode faded away, and then Night Light continued:

“The greatest villain to serve the Lord of Chaos is targeting you with everything he had. How can I stand here and let that happen. Let you face such danger. If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to face your mother or even my own reflection. You don’t have to carry that burden alone.”

“I’m not just a little kid anymore” Star said. “I’m strong now and I have passed every single trial that was put on me.”

It was then that Night Light used a spell that allowed him to walk over water, heading toward Star. Arriving to his grandson’s side, he gave him one of his gentle smiles. For a moment, Star thought he had been able to convince him, but then the smile went down and Night Light said:

“I can’t let you go.”

And he activated his magic and created a barrier around them.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t just let you leave this place.”

Despite what happened, Star couldn’t get mad at his grandpa, as he understood his position. But he wouldn’t let himself be stopped just like that.

“Grandpa, didn’t I tell you?” he asked. “You can’t keep me here.”

And he involved himself with Nine-Tails’ energy, catching Night Light by surprise. That energy released him from the immobilization spell.

“He broke free!” Warding Gauntlet exclaimed, acting with a new immobilization spell.

But this time Star was able to defect it and then he took flight, breaking through the barrier and moving fast.

“Go tell the ones responsible for the barrier that Prince Star is moving!” Warding Gauntlet exclaimed to one of his guards. “The rest come with me!”

And they also left, with Night Light remaining where he was. He then heard someone getting out of the waterfall and landing at the plataform. It was Hawthorn who said:

“So the kid is already going, hein? He really like to rush into things.”

Night Light made a little smile and then said:

“He inherited his mother’s smartness, but he inherited both his parents’ impulsivity.”

He turned to Hawthorn and said to him:

“You must be Lord Hawthorn. If I may, I want to ask you something. Please, take care of my grandson, Your Highness.”

Hawthorn jumped to the other side and then he said, raising his hoof:

“I don’t like words very much. What I like is to know the feelings. Why don’t you bump your hoof with me?”

That caused Night Light to frown and then he raised his hoof, asking:

“Like this?”

And they bumped and then Hawthorn smiled and then said:

“You can rest assure. I will take care of him.”

“Are you sure of that promise, Hawthorn?” Eight-Tails asked. “Star really did get out during your watch, after all.”

“Hey, we both know how that little fool is persistence” Hawthorn replied to him. “I doubt that anyone would be able to convince him otherwise.”

Hawthorn advanced, while saying to Night Light:

“Well, I better go or I won’t be able to catch up with him.”

And, with that, he started to run at the same direction that Star went. While running, Eight-Tails asked him:

“Are you really going to chase Star outside the barrier?”

“But of course” he replied to the tailed beast. “After all, I’m still training him.”

“You know that you’ll have to face your brother’s rage for this, right?” Eight-Tails asked.

“It is a fact that the battlefield can teach more than training” Hawthorn replied, speaking from his body. “It’s a shortcut that the kid need at this moment.”

At HQ, after getting to know what happened, Aspen stomped with his hoof on the table with anger and exclaimed:

“I can’t believe that a simple colt was able to pass through experienced guards!”

“Star Knight is not a regular colt” Celestia said, calmly.

“That’s for sure” Ingrid added. “After all the villains he already faced, all the training that both Golden Paladin and Lord Hawthorn gave them, I would be surprised if the opposite happened.”

“If you still want to keep him out of the war, King Aspen, then the only thing we have to do is using brute force” Celestia said, turning then to the deer who gave the message. “Is the barrier core ready?”

“We have a thirty-six-layer self-regenerating barrier around the island” the deer explained. “Even a jinchuriki couldn’t get through that. So, please, don’t worry.”

Star arrived to the spikes around the island, but his presence was detected by the core team that was getting the barrier ready. When he was close, a Tailed Beast Bomb in the sphere form passed by him and then hit something in midair, cracking.

“What is this?” Star asked, turning to Hawthorn that had turned into Eight-Tails.

“There is barrier around this island that we’re going to wreck” he replied.

That made Star to smile and then he exclaimed:

“All right!”

And so the cracks started to regenerate around the Tailed Beast Bomb. And so Hawthorn retreated to the second phase, while saying:

“I’m going to provide you the first punch and then you push that Tailed Beast Bomb thought the barrier.”

“Yes!” Star exclaimed, with the Nine-Tails’ energy around him.

And the two of them advanced, with Star pushing the Tailed Beast and breaking the first layer of the barrier. After that, they started to pass through the barrier, with Hawthorn giving the first blow, cracking the layer, and Star pushing the Tailed Beast Bomb to destroy it. The barrier core was doing its best, but it couldn’t repair the barrier fast enough.

The two jinchuriki destroyed all the layers until they arrived to the last one. After that, Star throw away the Tailed Beast Bomb that simply disappeared. They landed on land on their normal forms.

“Wait, I thought we were on an island” Star said. “But this looks like land to me.”

“I don’t think it’s time to worry about that now” Hawthorn said. “Let’s go!”

And the two of them started to advance, with Star flying and Hawthorn running, being able to accompany the young alicorn thanks to his deer and jinchuriki skills.

Confront of Jinchuriki

After the shock between Star Knight and the General of Chaos, they both were throw back. Star was caught by Hawthon who then landed on the ground.

“Just chill out, Star” Hawthorn said, releasing him.

The General of Chaos landed and then Star said:

“Damn it, that helmet is really hard to get out.”

“I could just pass through you, but I guess it doesn’t matter if you can’t even take my helmet off” the General of Chaos replied. “That cannot be the best you can manage. What about your Nine-Tails power.”

And then the six jinchuriki that were with him under his control appeared. After that, Black Granite executed his Scorching Stream Rock Spell, throwing the boulders of molten rock against Star and Hawthorn. They did their best to dodge and then they prepared their attacks, with Star preparing a Spiraling Sphere and Hawthorn charging his horns with light nature, directing them to Echo Wing. That made him cast the Water Reflection Spell where replicas of the two living jinchuriki emerged also executing the same attacks that collided with them.

When Star and Hawthorn retreat after that, they were surrounded by bubbles created by Bubble Sweet with her bubble tube. When one bubble touched Star, it exploded, what caused him to be thrown back, but he was able to get his balance. Hawthorn approached him and asked him:

“Are you okay, Star?”

“Yes, I am” he replied.

But then more bubbles surrounded them and, with a gesture Bubble Sweet made them explode. To escape, Hawthorn used a tentacle to catch a branch and pull himself and Star up.

“That was close” Star replied. “Thanks a lot, Lord Hawthorn.”

At that moment, bright powder started to fall on them. They had come from Silver Mist who then activated his Hiding in Scale Powder Spell, what cause a blinding light to involve them. But didn’t prevent them from noticing two enemies approaching. It was Gigi, who had her claws longer and sharper, and Vapour Fist and they attacked Hawthorn and Star respectively. However, the two were able to defend that double attack. When Vapour Fist prepared to use his Eruption Propulsion Fist and Gigi her other talon, Star and Hawthorn retreated.

“It is good that my ears are as better as my eyes” Hawthorn said.

“I can still sense their evil intents too” Star said.

The light disappeared and their vision was recovered.

“I can see Gigi is here too” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn, who was over his muzzle in their place inside his mind. “It seems this guys are all former jinchuriki. On top that, they all have strange eyes. It must be something the General of Chaos must have added to them. Not only did they lose their lives, but they were turned into pawns and then had those disgusting things planted on them. Poor Gigi… If things had gone differently, you could have ended like that too for real.”

“Something like that feels my heart with anger and grief” Hawthorn said. “But it is a relief that I didn’t end up like that.”

“Your senses may have saved you this time, but don’t forget you can end up like that if you are not careful” Eight-Tails advised him.

“The dark ponies he used to attack the Light Kingdom had the exact eyes they have” Star said. “But it seems that not even with the power I had back then I can’t take that helmet and see his face.”

“This help was specially made by the Lord of Chaos to support great damages, even the ones of a war” the General of Chaos replied. “After all, I’m the most important piece in the Lord of Chaos’ game to unleash the magnificence of his curse.”

“You mean one of them” Star Knight said. “I know all about Tirek.”

“Oh, I see…” the General of Chaos. “Grogar was finally able to find him…”

“What are you talking about?” Hawthorn asked. “What does that demon have to do with all this?”

“The Lord of Chaos called him to help in the war” Star replied, turning then to the General of Chaos. “But the question I want to be answered is: who are you?”

But the General laughed and then replied:

“You can call me whatever you want. With the beginning of the war, names are irrelevant. But to tell you the truth, I don’t want to be anypony. I just want to fulfill Project Eye of the Moon. That will be enough. It is not worth living in this world full light and order just to cover despair. You jinchuriki had tailed beasts forced upon you. All you ever experienced was despair. A I wrong? Sure you understand my despair… at least a little.”

“And just who the hell is you to decide… that having a tailed beast makes me despair like that?” Star asked.

Those words were listened by Nine-Tails, who opened his eyes, who couldn’t believe that his jinchuriki had said something like that. Hawthorn, in his turn, smiled, because he felt the same thing about Eight-Tails.

“Even if you, like your master, believe that this world is worthless, did you really think you can get away with starting a war like this and then just come along and try to play you’re nopony?” Star continued. “You piss me off! I’m going to tear that helmet right off your face!”

“Sounds good, but me first” Hawthorn said with two tentacles.

“Try to remove this helmet… and you’ll end up into pieces” the General of Chaos replied.

And the six reincarnated jinchuriki revealed a tail of their respective Tailed Beast, with Silver Mist having two insect wings. That really shocked the two living jinchuriki.

“Eight-Tails… Nine-Tails… You shall be mine” the General of Chaos declared. “And then… I will achieve Project Eye of the Moon!”

“Guess again” Star replied. “We’ll not allow you to have the Nine or the Eight-Tails!”

“Hold up!” Hawthorn said, looking to the reincarnated jinchuriki. “What’s going on? I thought the tailed beasts were extracted from them.”

“I can only assume they were made back jinchuriki after they were reincarnated” Eight-Tails replied. “You know, I can feel the tailed beasts are a bit different than before too… Be careful, Hawthorn.”

Even Shark Skin could feel something wasn’t right by the noises it did on Hawthorn’s back.

“You too, hein?” the deer said to his sword. “This all situation is giving you bad vibes. It is for the best to be aware of our lives like Eight-Tails suggests. But if you’re ready, Shark Skin, then I’m ready too.”

And he advanced to attack.

“Hey, wait, Lord Hawthorn!” Star exclaimed.

Silver Mist also advanced, with his insect wings allowing him to fly. He tried to hit him with Shark Skin, but he was quick to fly up. However, Hawthorn with a blow allowed Shark Skin to reveal itself and open its mouth, ready to attack Silver Mist. The jinchuriki of Seven-Tails was quick to dodge, what caused the big sword to bite a nearby tree, but then he threw a missile of light nature against his blind spot, having certain he would hit him. However, he dodge it. Hawthorn tried again, but Silver Mist dodged again, much to the deer’s shock. Star approached him and told him, while Shark Skin returned to the latter’s back:

“That won’t work on them, Lord Hawthorn. This is just like when I battled the General of Chaos and his dark ponies when they invaded the Light Kingdom. It’s their eyes… they’re linked to each other.”

“And what does that mean?” Hawthorn asked.

At that moment, Black Granite advanced against Star with his Lava Coat activated.

“All six can see what each other can see…” explained Star, who then noticed Black Granite. “Damn, I can’t even talk!”

He tried to dodge it, but, although was able to do, he got a burn on his face, what cause him to start falling from his flight. At that moment, Gigi appeared and shot a blast of blue flames against the falling young alicorn. Hawthorn recognized that from the times he and Gigi spared at the Wild Isle. It was her Mouse Hairball Spell, where the fire blast took the form of a mouse. The deer used a tentacle to caught Star and then try to run from the attack that then exploded and shot multiple blasts that were directed to them. While Hawthorn was trying to avoid those blasts, Star exclaimed:

“They’re following us!”

“This attack is like a guided missile” Hawthorn explained, while dodging the blasts. “We can only run and dodge.”

Gigi advanced toward them and prepared her sharp claws. Noticing that, Hawthorn made a sudden move to hide under a bush nearby, but without having a part of one his horns took out, while defending and counterattacking her.

In their hidden spot, Hawthorn noticed how different Gigi’s moves were from before, with her even being able to cut down part of one of his horns, something she never was able to do before. With him and Star hidden, the reincarnated jinchuriki where know standing still looking everywhere to find them, with Gigi having a great scratch on her chest.

“Those eye…” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn. “It must be the reason why they can chase you so tightly and have their jinchuriki abilities enhanced. With their share of vision, the six jinchuriki are able to position themselves with more precision and time their attacks to their greatest advantage. Hawthorn, let me talk to Star.”

He then raised his hoof to him and Star bumped his on it, what allowed Eight-Tails to talk to him.

“Star, their clearly combining the power of those eyes and their jinchuriki abilities” Eight-Tails told him. “They probably know we’re here. What do we do?”

“We have no choice but to stop each jinchuriki one at the time” Star replied with his mind. “If it is the same as the General of Chaos used before, then they are controlled by his magic. After the invasion, Leaf Mane examined one of the dark beings used by him and discovered that they had a black rod implanted acting as energy receivers.”

After getting that information, Eight-Tails said:

“Okay… So if we extract and destroy those things, then his spell will become undone. But that’s going to be a problem. It’s hard enough to lend a blow on them at all, much less targeting black rods. Especially when we don’t know where they are.”

“I know when one is” Hawthorn said.

“Where?!” Eight-Tails asked.

“There!” Hawthorn replied, pointing.

He was motioning to Gigi’s chest that was healing and they could see it. The rod was at the left side of the chest, being covered by the fur that was covering the regenerated area.

“That’s it” Star said, while the rod disappeared under Gigi’s fur. “Okay, I’ll go check out the others too.”

“Star, wait!” Eight-Tails exclaimed.

But it was too late, as Star already advanced. Seeing him get out of his hiding place, Black Granite advanced with his Lava Coat and tried to attack him and Star defended it. However, Star couldn’t stand touching him of so hot he was. And then, with the help of an energy arm, he made a Spiraling Sphere and hit with it on Black Granite’s chest. When he was able to get rid of the coat, he was able to see the black rod. And now he just had to destroy it.

When it started to crack, Vapour Fist appeared and hit on Star, throwing back, while Black Granite deactivated the Lava Coat. Hawthorn, appearing, caught Star with a tentacle, but the force the latter was hit with was such that even Hawthorn was taken away along with him. They hit the ground with a lot of strength, while Black Granite and Vapour Fist watched them, with the latter having vapor getting out of his furnace.

“Are both of you okay?” Eight-Tails asked to Star and Hawthorn, while they got up, and, after seeing they were okay, continued. “Hawthorn, we have a great disadvantage fighting them in the woods. Your field of vision is narrow. You know what I mean, right?”

“You bet!” Hawthorn exclaimed, starting to get in the second phase of transformation.

Noticing that, the General of Chaos took flight to avoid what they were planning.

“Blow up with the forest around us away!” Eight-Tails exclaimed.

And Hawthorn turned into his tailed beast form, while saying:

“Let’s rock this!”

He roared. Star was on his head, still unsure what he would do.

“Hold on tight, Star” Hawthorn told him. “The real fight is about to start!”

And he coiled himself and Star with his eight tentacles and, extending them with an enormous amount of physical strength, he started to spin rapidly, resulting in the generation of tremendous gusts of wind that buffeted everything in the surrounding area. That was so powerful that all the jinchuriki were caught in it and Star was able troubles to be able to hold on, even being inside.

Something like that was sensed in the sensing bubble of the headquarters.

“Lord Hawthorn has now gone into tailed beast state” Boreal Blizzard said. “I’m sensing the mighty energy of the Eight-Tails. It feels they are under some pressure and on the defensive.”

“It doesn’t feel things are going to well right now, does it?” one of his subordinates said.

“However, the regents are holding their own against Lord Tirek” Diamond Glow said. “I’d said it’s all okay so far.”

“Well, they are the regents from both the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest” White Light said. “I assume they have the edge over him. And what’s the status of each unit?”

“The First and Second Units had almost completely annihilated the enemy” one of Diamond Glow’s subordinates said.

That was true. After defeating a clone, Arcing said:

“Only twenty-seven two go.”

And he defeated two more while saying:

“Twenty-six… Twenty-five…”

When he noticed more clones ahead of him, he said:

“I’m feeling dull. But I’m not going to give up.”

Obsidian Blade had also some clones ahead and he was starting to feel tired.

“Just a few more and we’ll finally be done here.”

It was then that Quartz Blitz appeared before him and defeated two clones in an instant.

“Hey, don’t act on your own!” Obsidian Blade exclaimed to his daughter. “Stop, Quartz Blitz!”

“Face it, dad, you’re way too slow” she replied with a smile. “I can handle all these guys, so leave the rest to me.”

Having said that, she focused her magic and then executed an earth nature spell that created rock spires under the clones, ending up taking them down.

The Second Unit were also taking down clone after clone, mainly with Star’s clone that was capable to notice any attempt from the clones or the changelings to sneak attack the members of the Alliance.

“The Third Unit is down to two reincarnated beings” Diamond Glow’s subordinate continued.

Blue and Shining were back to back while looking to the clones that were surrounding them.

“I’m starting to get bored fighting all this clones” Blue said to Shining, who was holding the Executioner’s Blade with his magic.

“I agree with you” Shining agreed.

And they advanced to fight the clones. Twilight, at her side, was helping Armored Oath and Dark Knight sealing the remaining reincarnated beings. Defending one of Gina’s attacks, she said:

“This is starting to get annoying. These two are really slippery.”

“I know” Dark Knight said, after making Thunder Blitz retreat with one of his attack. “Everytime Armored Oath is ready to seal them, they run away.”

The Fifth Unit and the Commando Unit were also facing the reincarnated beings on their battlefield.

“Let’s clean this battlefield once and for all” Godot said.

“We have to be careful” Gael said, looking to the reincarnated deer and Dusk Night.

“King Gael is right” Shadow Claw said. “With them, everything can happen.”

“The Fifth Unit appears to need a little more time” Diamond Glow’s subordinate said. “But there’s no doubt they’re getting the upper hoof.”

“All right, get in contact with the First, Second, Third and Fifth Units after their finished with what they have in hooves so they can lend support to Prince Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn!” White Light exclaimed. “Now, Boreal Blizzard, their coordinates!”

When Hawthorn stopped and uncoiled his tentacles, Star became astonished to see that he had leveled the terrain within a large range.

“No way…” he said.

He then noticed all the jinchuriki laying on the ground, damaged from all that twist.

“They’re all knocked out!” Star exclaimed.

“Hawthorn, this is our chance!” Eight-Tails said. “Seal them away!”

“Lord Hawthorn, you know a sealing spell?” Star asked.

“It doesn’t matter if those rods are controlling them or not” Eight-Tails said. “We’ll just trap them with ink clones.”

“Octopus Hold Spell!” Hawthorn exclaimed, while barfing a large quantity of ink.

That ink quickly turned into six clones of Hawthorn’s deer form and started to head toward the six reincarnated jinchuriki. When they started to get up, the ink clones hold them up.

“That’s it!” Star exclaimed.

“That’s just one of Hawthorn’s sealing spells” Eight-Tails exclaimed. “It only takes three seconds to work. The ink will completely cover their bodies and get harden, incapacitating them. Once they’re immobile, we can just pull those rods out.”

“One!” the clones started to count. “Two! Three…”

But before they could finish, a hoof emerge from the ground and made a gesture, what cause all the jinchuriki to get into the second phase of transformation, getting all the ink out and destroying the clones.

“What happened?” Star asked. “I thought the sealing spell…”

“They got a power up!” Eight-Tails exclaimed. “But how?”

His question was answered when the General of Chaos immerged from the ground with his hoof risen, using the power that allows him to pass through objects.

“Go” he said to the jinchuriki.

They obeyed and advanced.

“That coward…” Star said. “He had just hidden in the ground!”

The jinchuriki gave all big jumps and prepared themselves to attack Hawthorn and Star. The former tried to attack them with the tentacles, but they just dodged. Hawthorn was able to caught Bubble Sweet with a hand, but Silver Mist pass through him and hit Star with a blow, followed by Gigi who used her talons. From Hawthorn’s closed hand, a liquid started to get out, burning it, while Bubble Sweet started to get out with a slimy body.

“Ah!” Hawthorn exclaimed in pain.

“It’s a super alkaline fluid!” Eight-Tails said. “Your skin’s melting!”

“Lord Hawthorn!” Star exclaimed, still recovering from the attacks he just suffered.

But, with his concern for Hawthorn, Star didn’t noticed Echo Wing approaching from behind and hit him, throwing off Hawthorn, while coral started to grow from the place where the thestral hit him, holding his wings.

“Star Knight!” Eight-Tails called.

On the ground, a pool of lava created by Black Granite immerged. Eight-Tails, taking control, tried to put his hand under Star to catch him, the lava splashed over him, burning them. But, even so, he managed to hold it until catching Star and close the hand where he fell on. Eight-Tails knew their situation wasn’t good, mainly because he didn’t think those jinchuriki would be able to get in the second phase of the transformation in those condictions.

“Star, we need to retreat and regroup for now!” Eight-Tails exclaimed.

It was then that Vapour Fist appeared on his tailed beast form. Five-Tails had a white equine body with a dolphin's head. It has two pointed long horns and two shorter horns in front. The ends of the horns, hooves, and tails were tan, with some of the same-colored spots before the tan areas of the horns and hooves. The tailed beast also had red markings under the dark blue-green eyes. Vapour Fist stabbed the horns on Eight-Tails’ arm and then threw him back some hooves of distance.

After that, the General of Chaos flew over the place where Eight-Tails was, with the hand where Star was opened, revealing him. The dark alicorn approached him and, when Star saw him approaching, tried to move, but the coral that he had on his back was glued to Eight-Tails’ hand. The General descended and, when he was in front of Star, the latter used an energy arm, but the dark alicorn dodged it and then said:

“Even if you are a jinchuriki, six against two is bad odds.”

The General of Chaos extended his hoof and said, while approaching it:

“When I touch you, I win.”

The hoof was about to touch Star’s forehead, when two ponies suddenly teleported there and one of them hit the General with the Light Sword Spell, forcing him to use the spell to pass through objects, what caused his hoof pass through Star’s head, while the other took Star and then two ponies retreat. Those ponies were Shining and Blue, with the former being the one that attacked the General of Chaos and the latter the one who took Star. The General stood up while saying:

“They used Star Knight as bait, waiting for the moment I materialized… What a nuisance.”

“Uncle Shining!” Star exclaimed, seeing his saviors. “Dad! You’re here!”

“Your mother also wanted to come, but we convinced her to stay with the unit” Blue said.

“Don’t worry, Star, with us here, you can be sure you won’t be taken” Shining said.

The General turned to them, while saying:

“Two more joining the party won’t change a thing. Not against my power and the one of the Tailed Beasts.”

“I’m also a General, you know?” Blue said. “I may not have my full powers, but I still have the power to face you.”

“And don’t forget about me” Shining said. “We won’t let you touch anyone of our family.”

And so that battle was ready for its next phase…