The time away from the mainland was absolutely wonderful for both Kenji and Cadence. They had grown much closer on their relationship and she has even convinced him that it is alright to be himself around her when they are alone together. In the castle or not. Progress was being made, that is all that mattered. After that, a couple of years have passed.Cadence has definitely matured into a fine mare, and Kenji has fully matured as well, having grown a few more inches. He even grew his hair out more, and keeps the back tied in a neat braid that hangs down to his lower back. Present day was just like any other day,things were pretty routine. Well, almost everything. Something was rather..off about the time of day. Kenji was in Cadence’s room when he looked out the window.

“Cadence, should the sun be up right about now? I know that today is the summer sun celebration according to princess Celestia.”

Cadence blinks a bit and nods, the thought coming to her.

“You are right...Aunty should have raised the sun right around the time we made it home...I hope everything is alright.”

Kenji couldn’t shake the feeling that everything wasn’t alright, the good thing about having dark chi in your body, is that it enables him to sense when dark energy or magic is nearby, kind of like that tingly bubbly feeling you get when you can feel something important is going to happen within the next hour.

“Cadence...whatever you do. Do NOT leave this room. I need to go check on something in the little town below. I fear that we may have quite the issue on our hands this night. And I fear Celestia may be involved. Cast a cloaking or invisibility spell if you have one. Though I feel that the threat will not make it’s way here...yet.”

Cadence looked to Kenji, worried for both him and the ponies in the town known as Ponyville.

“Kenji...I think I should come with you, just incase you need my magic to help.”

“I cannot allow that, Cadence. The dark magic I feel may very well cause you harm, and I am not going to take that chance. Please, stay here. I will return later. Until then,make sure you stay here, hide if you need to.And should things get too bad, then teleport to me.”

He said as he walks to the door, Cadence wrapping her arms around his waist before he could leave.

“You better come back alive...you hear me?”

“As always Cadence, I promise you I shall return.”

He said after petting her gently and hugging her with one arm. His grabs his large scythe and sheaths it on his back. Once he makes it outside into one of the gardens, he leaps up onto one of the railing and stares down at his target.

“It’s gonna be a loooooong glide down...but I need to do this, I owe Princess Celestia a lot…”

He suddenly leaps off the railing and into the air, going into his gliding form and begins to sail through the air like a hot knife through butter. Down, down, down he went. His focus of the dark magic was now directed towards the forest area below, and what appeared to be an old abandoned castle. That is definitely where the source was coming from. From above, he could see dark blue and purplish pink flashing coming from the room he was circling over. This was it. Time to face whatever threat that had dragged him out here away from Cadence. He wasn’t going to admit it, but he wasn’t too happy about leaving her side. Who would want to with a body like that?

“You are too late, the Elements Of Harmony will not save you now!”

Shouted the black and blue alicorn.

“You are wrong, Nightmare Moon! I will find a way to use them against you! I will make sure that Princess Celestia returns!”

“Enough! I will not let you speak that name in my presence, welp!”

She fired a large beam of magic directly at Twilight. What happens next, shocks both of them. The ceiling is broken through by a large being. upon landing in front of Twilight, he deploys a stone shield that cuts off Nightmare Moon's attack instantly. after which it crumbles into dust. Twilight smiled widely as she knew exactly who it was.

“Big brother Kenji!”

Why the nickname? It will be explained later, for now, epic battle!

“Looks like I saved your rump in time didn’t I, Twi?”

“You did...thank you again, you are always there for me and Cadence…”

Kenji nods and takes his weapon into his hands, getting into a defensive stance.

“You made a big mistake attacking Twilight, bitch. You may be an alicorn, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take you down with force…”

Nightmare Moon laughs wickedly as she looks at Kenji.

“And just what are you? Some kind of freak of nature? You are no pony. So why should our affairs matter to you?”

“Because I own Princess Celestia my life. So In serve under her and I will do what I can to keep this land safe from other like you…”

He wasted no time in charging forward, letting out a mighty roar as he does so. He dodges her magical attacks in his blood fury, the attacks looking slow in his eyes, as if focusing extra hard on her and her movements.

How is he so fast with his size?!

Kenji gets in close enough to swing his scythe down at nightmare Moon, but was blocked by her own scythe that appeared in front of her. The two were now in a deadlock, pushing and shoving at each other. Kenji calls out to Twilight.

“Twi, do what you need to do! I will hold her off!”

He said between grunts. The deadlock suddenly breaking as Nightmare shoves him back with all her physical strength, she then focuses her magic and lifts him up, beginning to squeeze him with her magic. Kenji lets out a growl of pain.

“Ha! You are a fool if you believe you can defeat me with brute strength! I will crush you until I break every bone in your body!”

“Eheheheh….good luck bitch…”

He said as he opened up a temporary dragon pulse which sucked him out of her grip, appearing behind her and jamming the blunt end of his scythe into her back, causing her to stumble forward. She lets out an angered scream as a dark energy swirls around her, then she concentrates all of it into a ball and sends it flying at Kenji. He slams his weapon into the ground and puts out both of his hands. He was about to do the unthinkable. Absorb the energy into his already high dark chi container that dwelled within his body. Afterwhich he fell to a knee, clutching at his chest.

“Looks like you are all talk with those big muscles of yours! I can finally destroy you, and after that, the night will reign forever, and there is nothing anypony can do about it!”

She said as she leaps at him with her weapon overhead, getting ready to strike down upon him. But no hit was connected, instead, Kenji lets out another roar, but this time it was more inhuman. As a growing force field of dark energy flew from his body, forcing the alicorn back a good twenty feet on her ass. Kenji leaps from his position to her, pouncing on top of her and wrapping his hand around her head, lifting her up and slamming her back down into the ground over and over again, then punching her a few times as his dark chi grows larger and larger.

“Kenji, that's enough please!”

Shouted Twilight as she ran over him and tugged on his arms. Hearing Twilight's voice saying that, he stopped. He stands up and backs away, his dark chi fading away as he suppresses it back down.

“S-sorry twi...I had to make sure she wasn’t going to be able to get back up for awhile.”

My friends and I will take it from here. Thank you for coming when you did. But you need to get back to Cadence. I will stay here until you are done with what it is you are doing twi, can never be too safe…”

“True enough, alright girls, ready the elements!”

She said before her and her new friends summoned this...rainbow sort of magic. He watched it consume the knocked out alicorn, only to reveal that it was a smaller less evil looking alicorn.

“Oh god...I have seen this alicorn somewhere before…”

It finally hit him, he widened his eyes

“Wellll, I am going to go ahead and head back now. Looks like you got everything under control Twi….uh..bye!”

Before he could go, he heard his name called out by that voice he wasn’t hoping to be around here.

“Kenji Akabane!”

Yep, Celestia herself was now in the room.

“And where do you think you are going, mister?”

“I-I can explain princess! If I hadn’t acted she would have hurt Twi! I had to subdue her somehow! She nearly killed me!”

She walks upto him and places a finger on his lips.

“Kenji, calm down dear. I am not mad at you. But you were leaving without telling Twilight Sparkle’s new friends your name? I know you just finished helping my sister return from darkness, that is no reason to run away.”

“I...didn’tmean to be so rough with her, had I known-”

“The important thing is you stopped when Twilight told you to back off.I am proud of you Kenji.You have been improving on controling that dark energy of yours inside of you.”

Twilight runs up and wraps her arms around his leg, hugging against him.

“He came just in time princess! Hadn’t he done so, I am afraid I would have perished from Nightmare Moon’s magic”

“Well, I made a promise before your brother passed away Twilight. And I will honor that promise.”

“I know you will, big brother Kenji...you always come for me when I need you, even for the smallest of thing...and I appreciate it. I want to introduce you to my new friends, Ken!”

“Now is not the time, Twilight. I must ask kenji to take my sister to the medical wing in Canterlot for her injuries. He really did a number on her.”

“I..am really sorry about that again princess…”

“It is alright, sweetie, I know you did what you had to do, and stopped when it was needed. Don’t worry, alicorns heal quickly. Though it would be best if you aren’t there when she wakes up...something tells me she will not react very well to the sight of you looming over her since she will most likely remember what happened.”

Kenji lifts the smaller alicorn up in his arms and nods.

“They will know where to take her then once i hand her off?”

“Yes, I will be there to watch over her when she wakes up. In the meantime, you got a princess of love to return to, she has been very worried about you.”

“Ah...I suppose she told you what I was doing huh..?”

“Indeed she did. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful to you for making sure my most faithful student was well protected. But poor Cadence was in her room pacing around in circles nearly putting an indentation in the tile. Now, hurry along. I will even teleport you to the medical wing. The royal doctor will take everything from there.”

“Alright princess, ready.”

With that he vanishes in a bright light, appearing in the medical wing lobby with Luna in his arms.

“Doctors, quickly!”

He shouted to get their attention.They quickly run over, a stretcher behind them.

“She has been banged up pretty badly. Princess Celestia told me to bring her to you.”

“Aaah,our princess of the night has returned to us at last. Thank you Kenji, we'll make sure she is taken care of.”

He nods and lowers her carefully onto the stretcher.

“Alright, I have my duty to attend to. Princess Celestia said she will be here soon to watch over her.”

“Very good, take care Kenji.”

With that, he leaves the medical wing and heads back to Cadence’s room. He knocks on the door. He heard quick hoofsteps and a bit of stumbling on the way to the door, watching it swing open.

“Kenji?!”

“I told you I would be back.”

She doesn’t waste any time in pouncing against him and wrapping her arms around his waist and nuzzling into his side.”

“I was so worried...after you didn’t come back for a while. I feared that something happened…”

Kenji smiles down at her and lightly runs his hand up and down her back.

“Come on Cadence...you know very well I wouldn’t just up and leave you...though I am glad i did leave. Twi was in danger and would have been hurt or worse if i hadn’t shown up.”

“What was going on?!”

“Well, Nightmare Moon had returned...she was about to really hurt Twilight till I showed up. And without knowing that she was actually Luna, I...kind of roughed her up a bit…”

“Is...aunty mad…?”

“Thankfully, no. She understood what I had to do, but I did drop her off at the medical wing before I came here.”

She nodded and pressed more closely to him, nuzzling more.

“I...am just glad you are alright…”

“I am fine, Cadence. Just very exhausted. Used up a lot of energy and chi in that fight, she had me on the ropes for a second. And then I...well, nevermind.”

She looks up at him with knowing eyes.

“Kenji...you didn’t...please tell me you didn’t.”

“I had no choice Cadence, it was either that or I was going to die right there.”

She squeezes tighter around him, he eyes closed tight.

“I know you are gaining better control of it...but it still pains me to see you use that when it nearly killed you.”

“Cadence,I know it frightens you and it worries you. But it is a part of whoIam. And if I gain full control of it, I can use it to help protect you, instead of having it corrupt me.”

“I know Kenji, it’s just...I hate seeing you becoming something far worse than what you became that night,especially since you are gaining control over it. Knowing the real you is gentle and kind…”

She said as she hugs him as tight as she can.

“And I don’t want to lose that…”

He kneels down in front of her and lightly cups her cheek with one of his hands.

“Cadence, listen to me,alright? I will remind you of the words I spoke to you that night. Despite how I act around here, you know Iwill always prioritize you as a friend rather than a princess. Because I care about you, so very much. And I will lay down my life for you not because it is an order from princess Celestia, but because I choose to do so in order to keep you safe from harm. You and Twi are all I have here. And I will not fail either of you. As I know how much she means to you as well. Do you understand me?”

Cadence takes his arm into her hands and nuzzles into his touch, She nods and begins to cry lightly, wrapping her arms around his neck and leans into him.

“Twilight and I love you very much, Kenji...without you, things would be very bleak for us, especially since she lost her brother two years ago. You have really helped her out, and in doing so you have helped me as well. To see that young mare smile again, because of you. It makes me happy. You are very special to both of us Kenji. Please don’t ever leave us.”

Kenji chuckles lightly.

“Even if a portal to my home opened up here, I would not return to it. I know my purpose lies here now.”

Cadence continued to hold onto Kenji, the two stayed like that for hours, eventually both setting off for bed.

Author's Note

Here it is everyone, Luna's return and the bond of Cadence and Kenji grow even more. Even Twilight has warmed up to him!

Like and share.

May the darkness grant you peace.