Chapter 18
Love of a Dragon

After the battle the previous night, Luna had appeared after a while to see what had happened. She had seen the remains of the mechanical being that had moved around before. Thankfully for both Swift Shot and Kiara their wounds had mostly been removed when their transformations ended. What stunk the most for Swift Shot was the fact that the soul chip he had used needed time to recover before it could be used again. The image on it had shattered into pieces meaning the soul had been shattered after taking most of the damage onto itself. Swift had been left with bruises all over his body and his ribs ached.

The soul chip that Kiara had used also had its image shattered meaning that it too needed to recover. It was a shame but there was nothing that could be done about it. Luckily for her, Kiara's wing had been fixed when the soul chip had taken most of the damage upon itself. But she did still have some nasty bruises all over her body. And she would be aching for days. It was lucky for her that she had two other soul chips to use for the moment.

Now as to the two enemies that had appeared and she fought alongside Swift Shot, Kiara had no idea just what they had been other than they were a threat that she could feel inside of her bones. It had just been a mysterious feeling she'd had that vibrated throughout her entire being. This feeling was like a sixth sense if you will and it alerted her that they were some sort of danger. She'd had this sixth sense ever since her rebirth as a Soul Warrior the previous night. It seemed to be one of the new abilities that she had gained when she gained her Archiver.

Furthermore, this sixth sense of hers had helped her to sense a few things that Eclipse was scared of. One of the things she had felt Eclipse was scared of were males of any species. Kiara only received a vague notion from her sixth sense about why this was. The notion that she had received was that it was connected to the large imprint on Eclipse's neck which looked like it had belonged to some sort of male minotaur. So she had drawn her own conclusions from there. And one of the reasons why she had been way to overprotective of Eclipse was that her sixth sense had been overstimulated when she was so close to Eclipse. Her sixth sense had been screaming at her that Eclipse was too important to lose and that every protective measure should be considered, which included keeping other males away from her.

There was one other reason why she had been so protective of Eclipse the previous night and it all had to do with her past. She was rather mistrustful of ponies except for the children due to what had happened in her past. The only adults she really trusted were a few she had known for years and the princesses because she knew they were good down to the core. Yes she knew that Luna had been Nightmare Moon but that didn't matter to her as she knew Luna had been redeemed since then. Just what had happened in her past to make her so protective she spoke to no one about. In fact she tried to suppress the memories of that time but those memories had leaked to the surface.

As she held Eclipse during last night the memories had started to leak through as Eclipse had looked up at her with her large soulful eyes. Now this morning she was resting in her room while holding Eclipse in an arm. She was sitting in a rocking chair gently moving back and forth so Eclipse could continue to sleep despite the morning sunlight. Eclipse had been left with her while Swift Shot went home for the night after the attack. She had decided to stick around as she felt that she couldn't leave the area right now. Besides Luna needed someone to watch after Eclipse while she proceeded to talk with her sister about the previous nights events. Everything had become a blur for her after the attack. All she could really remember was rushing back to Eclipse after Luna had arrived. Everything from there was really just a blank for her.

She looked down at Eclipse who was sleeping gently in her arms as she continued to hold her close to her chest. Flashes flitted across her vision as her eyes misted over. Her body started to heave as her breathing became uneven. Tears started to pool up in her eyes before streaming down her cheeks. Her body started to rack with sobs as the memories continued to come as she gazed down at Eclipse.

As Kiara held the sleeping filly, Eclipse was replaced with the image of a small griffon chick in her arms. The chick lay unmoving in her arms as she held it close to her chest. She sobbed and screamed into the air in fury at how this could happen. The tears started to flow down her face as she continued to gently rock Eclipse. She never wanted what happened back then to happen again. Another flash of memory crossed her mind as her eyes misted a bit again. The screams of her enemy as she fired off an arrow from her bow rang through the air. Her dash towards her enemy before she dug into them with her claw. She pulled one of her claws out from underneath Eclipse and watched it tremble. Her eyes stared at her own claw as she saw imaginary blood running down it from that attack so far in the past. She put it back under Eclipse as her eyes ran with tears again.

The thing she had not wanted to talk to anyone about was a raid that had happened against a town she had been staying at 3 years previously. It was a raid by a different griffon tribe that were on the war path. They had wanted new territory and subjects and figured that this small peaceful town would be easy pickings. That is where they were wrong as Kiara along with a small band of other griffons she had been training at the time stood against them. They had done well but not well enough in her eyes. Several of the enemy griffons had managed to get into the town and start laying waste to the poor innocent townsfolk. About 10 griffon townsfolk had died in that attack including a small chick that had been trampled underneath the claws of the enemy griffons as they tried to flee an irate Kiara. Kiara blamed herself for the death of the chick because she had been chasing the enemy griffons and hadn't set up enough defenses for the town. The chick's saftey had been of paramount importance as it had been one of the few children in town and she had failed.

Ever since then she had done her best to protect others wherever she traveled. But she most especially did her best to make sure all the children she encountered were safe and cared for. She loved to help take care of children no matter the age but she loved helping to care for young ones the most. She hoped that one day in the future she'd be able to have a child of her own to love and hold. Till then she'd do her best to make sure she did any job she accepted as well as she could to the best of her ability.

Kiara continued to hold onto Eclipse as she fully repressed the memories of that day and event yet again. But still the tears continued to come as she quietly sobbed and held onto Eclipse. She never wanted to have to hold a child again that was lifeless like that chick had been. She would do her best to protect this young child in her arms and nothing would stop her from accomplishing that goal. The power she now held would help her with that goal. So for now she let her hurting soul bare itself to the world through her tears.

Princess Luna walked through the halls of the castle beside her sister as she thought back to the previous nights events. After she had arrived back at the nursery, Luna had seen untold destruction all around the hall outside the small room. She had seen both Kiara and Swift Shot standing outside the door to the room with blank exhausted looks on their faces. She had ended up approaching them only for Kiara to snap out of her blank gaze and rush back into the nursery and swiping Eclipse out of the crib with her arms. She had done it so lightly and quickly that she hadn't woken Eclipse up from her sleep.

From there things had moved along at what seemed like a hurried pace to Luna. She had snapped Swift Shot out of his daze and asked him what had happened. He had reported the battle that had occurred in the hall to the best of his abilities or so it seemed. However she had a feeling that he'd left out something that was rather important. She had seen the twisted mass that had been left behind by the destroyed mechanical being but that did little to ease her fears and heart. She had sent Swift Shot home with a bag of bits and told him to rest for the next couple of days as she felt that he needed it.

When she had tried to approach Kiara she had ended up backing up and hissing at Luna with unfocused eyes. She had been holding Eclipse in one claw as her other was up in a defense position ready to lash out. It had taken Luna the most of half an hour to calm Kiara down and bring her to her senses. Since then she had gone about having guards clean up the mess outside and getting Kiara to her room. She had tried to take Eclipse back but Kiara had begged her to let her continue watching over Eclipse. Luna had reluctantly agreed because her duties demanded she do something about this attack which meant staying up and talking to her sister.

So here she was walking next to her sister as Celestia walked around with her while wearing a troubled look on her face. Celestia finally spoke up after a moment of silence after Luna finished telling her tale of last night's events. "What you have told me is troubling sister. If the events of last night mean what I think they do then we are in for some very hard times. I believe that the dimensional barriers of our world are starting to fail faster then ever. While you were still gone, a villainous creature known as Grogar broke through our dimensional barriers from his own dimension known as Tambelon. My friend at the time along with myself managed to defeat him but now without some repercussions. First and foremost of all was the fact that the dimensional barriers had been shattered and it took the combined magic of myself and my friend to patch them up enough to give us some semblance of normality."

"However I fear that our magic is now failing and failing very fast Luna. If these villains keep on coming at the rate they have been then it will only be a matter of time before the dimensional barriers shatter completely once again. I believe that even if you were to help me and my friend with your own magic it would only delay the inevitable again for a short time. What we need to do is find a way to repair our dimensional barriers completely and for good."

Luna replied softly,"I understand sister but who is this friend of yours that you speak so highly of?"

Celestia's cheeks tinged pink a bit as she spoke up warmly,"His name is Bahumat and of all things he's a dragon Luna. An immortal being just like the two of us and a friend I can keep for all time. The only problem is that he's a wanderer. He travels through different dimensions and worlds without damaging their dimensional barriers."

Luna blinked as she looked at Celestia and her faint blush but still listened to Celestia talk before a small grin spread across her face,"Well sister it doth sound as if you have a crush on this fine drake you speak of."

Celestia's blush deepened but she looked at her as seriously as she could,"I do not have a crush on him. He's just a very good friend Lulu."

Luna chuckled,"You may say those words but your body betrays you sister." She continued to walk alongside Celestia quietly. Finally she spoke up again,"Still sister I hope that I get to meet him someday. Why has he not visited recently?"

Celestia's smile dropped to a frown as she replied with much sadness in her voice,"Because of our battle with Grogar. At the end of the battle as he was dying Grogar was able to cast one other spell other than the one that shattered our dimensional barriers. It was a spell that banished him from our world and dimension never to return. I tried so hard to bypass his spell to let him back in but it wasn't to be. I haven't seen him since and the only thing I have been able to do is send him letters via a special spell the two of us had worked out among ourselves before the battle with Grogar."

Luna frowned after she heard this,"Oh Tia I am sorry. I shouldn't have asked that question at all."

Celestia sighed,"It is fine Luna. I have spent a long time without him and the pain of being without him has lessened. Besides I have good news regarding him anyways."

Luna looked at her curiously,"And what is that dear sister?"

Celestia's frown switched to a large smile,"It would appear Bahumat may have found a way to bypass Grogar's spell. He has been crafting a spell of his own to try and visit and has been testing it he tells me. He hopes to arrive sometime around noon today. The reason he is coming is to help me with raising Solaire since I feel I am incapable of raising him by myself. I just don't have enough hours in the day to spend enough time with Solaire. And Solaire should have one parent with him as much as possible."

Luna listened quietly before speaking up softly,"Tis good news indeed sister. But when would he be arriving if he succeeded."

Celestia's smile grew a bit bigger,"if all goes well then he'll be arriving about noon today."

Luna nodded,"That is good indeed. If you'll excuse me sister I must be collecting Eclipse and getting to bed with her. She had a horrible time of it after she woke up after the attack last night. I believe she is currently asleep right now being held by the guard I hired."

Celestia dipped her head a bit,"Go ahead Luna. But you should be very careful with Eclipse right now. That parasite was no small thing to remove. And I sense that it is not as gone as you think it is. I just hope it hasn't left young Eclipse with adverse effects or something else to that affect."

Luna sighed,"Me too sister. I will be watching over her as closely as possible to make sure nothing bad has happened to her." She then moved off away from Celestia to go back and pick up her daughter from Kiara.

Unknown to the both of them, they were being watched by a creature that hadn't shown its since before Luna's banishment. It stuck to the shadows of the hall it was currently in as it watched Luna leave Celestia with piercing red eyes mixed with a burning yellow. The shadows around it moved silently as they ran up its body. Slowly it took a more solid form in the shadows before all its dark glory was revealed to the world around it. It had taken the shadowy shape of an alicorn with no cutie mark. It slowly opened its wings to reveal that they were skeletal as was the rest of its body. The shadows merely wrapped around it in a physical sense but disappeared if the light hit it. Its eyes glaring at the remaining alicorn in the hall silently. This creature had a name that had once been feared throughout the realms and it was only now that it was finally coming out of its old hiding spot. Its name was Creeping Corruption and just what it was is no mystery for those who read fantasy novels.

Corruption was a lich of all things but to be more exact it was an Alicorn Lich. Corruption at one time had been a mortal alicorn instead of immortal but sought the immortality that all other alicorns seemed to possess. He had done many unspeakable things as he researched ways to become immortal himself. It was he who had advanced the art of necromancy for so many necromancers of his era and down through the centuries as well. It was his research into necromancy that had ended up with him becoming a lich. And ever since then whatever he had touched had ended up becoming corrupted with evil and darkness. To this day that still happened and all he wanted was to become the last remaining immortal of this world even if it was a twisted mockery of a true immortal.

He glared at Celestia for a moment longer as she continued to walk down the hall before he stepped further back into the shadows. He close his eyes and soon enough his form disappeared completely from view. He had stepped back through the shadows into his own hideaway where no immortal would be able to find him. He figured he'd bide his time while he waited for events to unfold. After all he, Corruption had to prepare his next spell in order to deal with the immortal that would try to arrive here soon and he wanted to be prepared.

Luna ended up picking Eclipse up from Kiara about 20 minutes later before she went off to bed with Eclipse. She ended up falling asleep rather quickly after seeing to necessities. What she didn't know was that by removing the parasite from Eclipse she had actually done something that was harmful to Eclipse. The parasite had actually been a good one instead of a bad one. It had been doing its best to make sure that Eclipse's neck healed without having to draw on her internal magic to do so knowing full well what would happen should that have happened. Sadly Luna had found it because it had sadly not been working fast enough to come up with a workable solution to the problem.

The biggest thing was that the healing spells would not have been enough to heal Eclipse's neck in the first place. There had been some kind of harmful energy injected into Eclipse from Sigma. To be more exact Sigma had unknowingly been trying to inject her with the sigma virus through the electricity that coursed through his body. When his hand had started to choke Eclipse out the electricity in his hand had run through Eclipse's body depositing bits and pieces of the sigma virus code which could have corrupted her completely and turned her evil. The parasite had managed to consume the pieces of the sigma virus and had just been about to start the actual healing of Eclipse's neck when Luna had found it and almost destroyed it. It was lucky that a small piece of itself had survived and was currently trying to make its way back to Eclipse.

Eclispe herself was starting to head into a coma as her sleep started to deepen more and more the longer she stayed asleep. The reason for this was that the parasite was also helping to keep her fused form stable. It was an integral part of her immune system but having it removed had been very harmful to her so now she was moving towards a coma. The only thing that would bring her out of the coma if she entered it would be the parasite returning to her body. But both Luna and Eclipse did not know this. So Luna slept on unaware of the damage she had done to Eclipse.

Kiara herself was still in her room standing on all fours looking around it. She sighed as she pulled her device out of its holder and frowned. "This thing helped me last night to defeat those other beings. But I was so sloppy last night. I need to train if I'm going to get any better."

Her face grew hard and determined as she thought about just what she could do to train. She figured that using one of the other soul chips she had could help her out with training. She nodded to herself as she pressed one of the buttons on the side of her device which injected one of the soul chips inside of it into the the slot. She slid the circular band around the chip downwards and then back up so that her Archiver could scan the chip and archive it. She flipped the back piece of her Archiver down so it could become the small screen that she could read.

Once she'd done this, the Archiver hummed with energy as it scanned and archived the injected chip. Finally it beeped with a message which she read,"Kamen Rider Decade soul chip has been scanned and archived. Soul chip running at full capacity. Soul Unison program is on standby. Synchronization level is 95 percent. Time to hold form is one hour. Please be careful while using this chip. This chip is directly connected to the world and the dimensional barriers. Please say initiation phrase to begin the program."

Kiara blinked in confusion as she read the message not sure what to make of it as it said that is was directly connected to the word. Just what could it mean by that. She could understand it being connected to the dimensional barriers for whatever reason but not the world. She then looked at the caption underneath the image again and shook her head at her stupidity. What the message probably meant was this this form had the power to destroy the world if she was not careful so this form was connected with the fate of her world. She shrugged but held her Archiver up in the air as she spoke out the phrase she had thought of.

"Protecter and Destroyer of Worlds walk the lonely path with me! Soul Unison, Kamen Rider Decade!" A beam of energy shot from the circle of her device up into the air to form the orb before said orb came down around her and engulfed her. Instead of like the last time this orb was a dazzling orange as if to match her conviction of a new inner fire.

She closed her eyes as she tossed her device into the air as it spun and glwoed. It turned into the five golden rings as she stood on her hind legs.Two of the smaller rings moved up her hind legs and encased them in metallic boots that conformed to her paws. They were marked with flame motifs all around them. Then her hind legs were covered by special metallic bracers. On her left hind leg the color of the bracer was half black going down horizontally while the other half was purple. The other bracer was half black on one side and white on the other half. And a yin yang symbol were on the bracers. Then the rings moved up her middle to meed at her waist where they formed into one large gold ring and then into Kamen Rider Decade's belt and special card holder. The other two small rings moved up her forelegs. They encased one arm in a black glove that had metal on the back and then connected to actual black armor that ran up to a purple pauldron. The other foreleg was encased in a black glove connected to black arm armor going to another purple pauldron. Then the rings disappeared as the large golden ring came down and encased her head in a helmet that covered her head except for her eyes. She had two green scouter type pieces from dragon ball z over her eyes. The ring continued down her chest to connect with the belt leaving behind the armor she needed. And instead of the normal diagonal x on the chest of the armor a symbol depicting the world appeared on the chest circled about by a large serpent. After that happened she lashed out with a vicious claw which shattered the orb and let her out back into the world.

She stood in her room as pieces of orange light fell down around her. She looked at herself in a mirror that was in the room and nodded her head. She could use this form for an hour so she might as well see what it was capable of. She closed her eyes to feel for some kind of power inside of her only to open them a bit later when she realized that this form was brimming with power that could cause untold destruction. This form really could bring about the end of the world if she was not careful but she also had a feeling that his form could somehow heal the dimensional barriers. She did not know how only that it had the power and potential to do such a thing.

She blinked as she moved her claw down to the special card holder on the side of her belt and unhooked it. She saw a couple of grips on the card holder and held onto them with her claw only to blink in surprise as the holder glowed and became Decade's signature sword. She swung the sword around a couple of times to get a feel for it. It seemed to fit in her hand just right although she felt the blade was too lightweight for her to effectively use. Then there was the fact that she had never really trained with the blade in the first place.

She frowned as she noticed a few other grips on the guard of the sword that she touched with a claw. The sword glowed with a soft light before it morphed into a gun which fit into her claw. She blinked but twirled the gun around a bit before stopping and holding it in front of her. She felt that this strange form for the weapon would suit her a lot better than the sword. Still it would require quite a lot of practice to use this new weapon she figured.

She grunted and moved the gun back towards her belt where it switched back to the regular weird card holder that it was. She clipped it back onto her belt as she moved around the room. She had a feeling that she would need to stay in Canterlot today for some reason although she could not tell why. All her sixth sense was telling her right now is that there was danger nearby and it was threatening Eclipse the most. That meant she would stay as long as needed to make sure the threat was gone and Eclipse would be unharmed.

For now she'd get used to moving around in this armored form. There was no telling when she would need to use it for real combat. She would also be practicing with this form's weapons and powers. So she set about trying to do so as quietly as she could in her room.

Celestia moved around the castle hallways with young Solaire on her back at a normal pace. Solaire was fully awake and looking around everywhere with wonder in his eyes. While he had been sleeping his memories of his previous life as Jack Hunt had all drained away. All he remembered from his previous life were his sword skills and how to use the Soul Archiver otherwise he was just a little kid all over again. This meant that he would be starting everything over again which didn't really bother him at all. He finally spoke up in curiosity.

"Mama what's going on? Where are we going?" He looked up at Celestia with intensity.

"We are heading to the gardens Solaire. You'll hopefully get to meet somepony very special once we arrive there." Celestia replied warmly.

"Oh ok. Can you tell me who it is?"Solaire asked.

"No Solaire. I would like this to be a surprise for you. I am sure you'll be excited once you finally meet the one I intend for you too."Celestia replied.

Solaire's ears drooped,"Aww but Mom I want to know now." He pouted up at her as he sat on her back.

"No buts young colt."Celestia replied as she moved along. She finally made it outside to the gardens as the guards behind her continued to follow the two of them.

She walked along one of the many garden paths before stopping in a large clearing that she hoped would be where Bahumat would appear. She used her magic to set Solaire on the ground as she sat on her haunches. She looked down at Solaire who she had set in front of herself.

"Now Solaire I need you to behave for me. You may go play around right now but when I tell you to come here I need you to come understand?" Celestia asked in a serious tone.

Solaire looked up at her and nodded his head,"Yes mama. I understand."

She smiled down at him in her motherly way,"Good. Now go ahead and go play. I will tell you when its time to come meet with the pony I want you too."

Solaire smiled and ran off to romp around in the clearing. He smiled happily as he moved around playing with a ball that Celestia had let him bring with them. That should keep him occupied for at least a little while. Celestia looked up at the sky hoping that soon her friend would return.

An hour went by but nothing had happened within that time other than Solaire tiring himself out from playing so much. He was now asleep on the ground between Celestia's front hooves as she stared down at him with a small smile. Finally there was a crackling sound which caused her to move her head to the sky to see where it had come from. She wasn't disappointed when she could see small bits of electricity moving around in the sky as a distortion started to form. The thing was that this distortion was huge. It swirled around in the air as the electricity grew into lightning that danced around in the sky around the distortion.

Celestia quickly cast a sound canceling spell on Solaire so that he would not wake from his sleep due to all the noise. She looked back up at the growing distortion as the lightning crackled through the air. She had told her guards not to worry when this happened as it was most likely her friend trying to get through. The dimensional barriers fluxed into view of the mortal eye as gray shimmering barriers that could not be seen through. They had cracks running through them all over which was a testament to just how badly the barriers were doing at the moment. But where the distortion grew the barriers seemed to slowly be peeling away from undamaged. The lightning that was dancing around in the air was not the normal color of lightning. Instead it was a neon green color that seemed to seep in naturally with the dimensional barriers.

Finally she could hear a terrible roar split the air as The distortion opened up into a swirling blue portal about the size of a house. Out of the portal came a large gigantic claw that belonged to a dragon of some kind. Then the foreleg came behind it but filled the portal up completely. The claw seemed to be tearing at the air as a roar sounded through the portal yet again. Finally the roar died down to be replaced by a furious growling that was more than recognizable to Celestia. To her it was the sound of growling belonging to her old friend Bahumat. Finally words coalesced in that growling as she started to smile. The portal slowly started to grow bigger as she listened to the voice.

"Curse this confounded barrier and Grogar's spell. Just why did he have to throw so many matrixes over each other is beyond me. Curse him and his black heart for all this in the first place. Come on you stupid portal open up further. I need to get back to her now. I won't let this stupid spell keep me from her any longer." The voice kept on growling but there seemed to be some kind of echoing overtone to it that was very deep.

Finally the portal grew to the size of a medium sized skyscraper as the draconic being emerged from the portal fully. His clawed feet stamped down into the ground with heavy thuds as he stood before everyone completely. The form that Bahumat had decided to take this time was the one belonging to Final Fantasy 12. He stood before everyone with his great spear resting in his hand with the giant haft buried into the ground. He turned back to the still open portal and waved with his free clawed hand which caused said portal to close.

Finally he turned back away from it to look around at his surroundings. He blinked as he saw all the plants and vegetation but not anyone else. That is until he decided to look straight down and a grin spread across his giant muzzle. "Well if it isn't old Celly."

Celestia smiled warmly up at him from her spot on the ground as she continued to sit on her haunches,"Hello to you to old friend."

Bahumat chuckled,"Old friend? Well now doesn't that make me feel all my years? And why no hug Celly? To afraid that you'll hurt me?"

Celestia laughed herself so crystal clear that it sounded like little bells,"You know its no such thing. No I haven't gotten up to hug you because my son is sleeping right now between my forelegs. Can't you see him?"

Bahumat blinked for a moment as his grin disappeared. He knelt down on the ground as gently as he could so as to not make the ground shake. He focused his eyes and spotted the young foal asleep between Celestia's forelegs. The grin slowly reappeared on his face,"Ah. Such a fine young lad from appearances. It seems you have yourself a fine young son Celly."

Celestia's smile grew bigger,"Thank you Bahumat. I'm glad that you were able to get around Grogar's spell."

Bahumat's eyes became colder at the mention of Grogar as he said as calmly as he could,"So am I Celly so am I. That blasted centaur is gone and that is all that matters. But if I ever meet his son then I will end his son before anything else can happen. I won't let something like that happen ever again."

Celestia nodded calmly,"I understand Bahumat but you need not worry about his son. Tirek is is firmly in a cell in Tarturus. I do not believe that he will be getting out any time soon."

Bahumat growled,"Tartarus. Celly you know that foolish centaur should have been put to death by now. No good will come of him just being locked up. A being like that should be eradicated completely."

Celestia narrowed her eyes a bit,"Bahumat you know very well why I lock up threats to Equestria instead of destroy them."

Bahumat growled a bit longer before sighing,"Yes Celly I know. I may never agree with it but I understand. Now on to another matter at hand. Why is it you just keep calling me old friend? Do the flames of your heart still not burn for me as mine still does for you? Have they cooled after all these centuries apart?"

Celestia chuckled as a blush spread across her cheeks as she motioned for her guards to leave them for the moment. The guards quickly obeyed even if they did want to stay and know more about this strange dragon. Once they were all gone she looked back up at him with a happy smile.

"The flames of my heart burn just as brightly as they did back then if not even more so now. I have missed you for so long. But you must remember that my little ponies can be very skittish around dragons. Even one such as yourself." Celestia said warmly.

Bahumat sighed once again,"Of course Celly. Hold on a moment while I adjust my current size." He glowed with a soft light as he chanted in his home language for a moment. Then he grew smaller and smaller until he was a few feet taller than her. Bahumat then approached her with a grin on his maw,"There we are. This is much better isn't it?"

Celestia giggled with a smile as she waited for him to come close enough,"Oh yes its much better. Now come here you old scaly lizard."

Bahumat stopped where he was and protended to be offended as he held his free claw to his chest,"A scaly old lizard, me? Oh how those words hurt Celly."

Celestia gave him a playful glare,"Oh you know very well what I meant by that Bahumat."

Bahumat grinned at her after a moment,"Of course Celly." He finally came over to her and she stepped away from Solaire for the moment as he continued to sleep.

Celestia came over to him and placed her forelegs around his neck as she gave him a big old bear hug pony style. Using her super earth pony strength she was able to make the plates of his armor creak from the force of the hug. He himself seemed to be just fine as he carefully wrapped his free claw around her shoulders and hugged her back. He had to keep his grip on his spear with his other claw though.

Bahumat whispered in her ear,"Its been far to long my darling sun." Celestia giggled at this as she nuzzled his face.

"Indeed it has my lord. Indeed it has." She hugged him tightly as she moved her muzzle to his maw and kissed him on the side of his maw. This was their version of a kiss seeing as how Bahumat's maw was shaped and he didn't exactly have any lips.

He chuckled as he moved his claw back to his side,"Now let me see the young immortal again. If I am to help raise him then I'll need to get to know him."

Celestia chuckled,"Of course." She moved back over to Solaire and gently moved him to her back as she kept her wings folded. She nuzzled Solaire's cheek with her own which roused him from his sleep as she canceled her sound spell that she'd placed on him.

Solaire woke up to look up at Celestia,"Huh? What's going on Mother?"

Celestia smiled,"I'd like for you to meet that pony I was talking about Solaire. Although I guess you can't really call him a pony." She pointed with her forehoof gently at Bahumat who was still standing upright while leaning on his spear.

Solaire's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he looked up at the big dragon before him,"Wow your awesome. Who are you mister?"

Bahumat grinned as he pointed his claw at himself,"My name's Bahumat kid. I'm an old friend of your Mom's here. I'm going to be hanging around for a while to take a break from where I normally live."

Solaire looked up at him with wonder,"Wow that's so cool. So if your a dragon then why are you wearing armor? Why do you have a spear? And do you have fire breath?"

Bahumat chuckled as he replied,"Because you can never do without to much protection kid and this weaon helps to channel my power. And yes I have fire breath among other things."

Solaire started to speak up again as the ground trembled around them. Bahumat turned around back to where his own portal had been only to start growling as electricity started to spark in the air. The dimensional barriers which had slowly faded from view after he closed his portal reappeared as the electricity surged around them. The electricity turned into regular lightning that cracked across the sky and sent Solaire tumbling off Celestia's back in fear. He hit the ground with a thump but that didn't faze him as he ran right under Celestia's legs to hide underneath her stomach as she watched the lightning.

Bahumat himself was growling as he glared at the lightning that danced across the sky. Cracks appeared in the barriers in different points before they shattered and the distortions appeared. There were three of them this time that grew to half the size of Bahumat's own portal. These ones were swirling green and figures emerged from each of them.

Out of the portals stepped a being of fire with horns curling from the top of his head, a lady who's skin was as blue as the clearest ice, and another lady wearing a kimono with an aura of fire all around her. The beings who had appeared were Ifrit, Shiva, and Amaterasu. Their portals closed behind them as they looked towards the much smaller Bahumat.

Amaterasu moved a hand to her mouth as she laughed,"Hahaha. So this is where the mighty Bahumat has gone? And you have shrunk yourself down to such a pitiful size? You did that for what, that pony right there? My how the mighty have fallen."

Ifrit himself was laughing although with malicious glee,"Finally I can crush you into little pieces you smug dragon. I'll teach you to mess with me after all this time. You will beg me for mercy. Then again maybe I'll just take care of that creature behind you and the little one."

Shiva just remained silent as she looked at Bahumat with her gold eyes. A frown graced her face as she remained silent while wearing her own kimono. She tilted her head a bit as she looked at Bahumat and then to Celestia. Bahumat himself glared at the three of them as he quickly grew back to his original size although he was careful of Celestia.

"I do not know how the three of you managed to follow me here but rest assured I will be sending you back. Most especially you Ifrit for the threat you have brought against my friend and her son. You should remember full well what its like to deal with me when you threaten a harmless child!" He slammed the half of his spear into the ground as it charged with electricity. He then held it in a battle position as he prepared himself for battle.

That is when things went downhill and rather fast at that. He was about to make a charge with his weapon when blue lightning arced across his form making him roar in pain. One of his legs buckled underneath him forcing him to kneel on the ground as he held his free claw to his chest. The lightning arced across him again as she tried to move yet again. He kept roaring in pain not knowing why this was happening until he stopped trying to move. Ifrit and Amaterasu laughed at his pain and helplessness while Shiva remained quiet and watched him with unsure eyes.

Bahumat cast his magical senses about to see what could be keeping him from moving only to open his eyes wide in anger and shock when he realized that he was incapable of moving thanks to another secret spell that Grogar had woven into the dimensional barriers should they be fixed or patched up and he tried to come back through. He had been forced to leave Celestia the first time in order to heal from wounds he received in the battle against Grogar only to find that a spell from Grogar kept him from returning to Celestia.

Now here he was once again helpless as he knelt down on the ground unable to move. He growled in anger only to stop when he heard a feminine scream of pain behind him. Although it caused him much pain he moved his head to see that Celestia herself was kneeling on the ground in pain as lightning coursed along her form. She was just barely keeping above the ground enough to keep from squashing Solaire underneath herself. Solaire himself quickly scrambled out from under Celestia with squeaks of fear.

Amaterasu laughed and held up a finger which glowed with her fiery power. She then shot 5 different points of fire down towards Solaire which came right at him. He stopped a moment in fear before snapping out of it and rolling out of the way just in time as the first bolt of fire hit the ground where he'd been. He had to keep rolling as the other bolts of fire came at him and tracked his position. He was yelling and screaming in fear the whole.

Ifrit and Amaterasu laughed evilly at the misery and suffering they were causing young Solaire. Shiva herself was frowning deeply as she turned her gaze to the other two summons. She looked back at the helpless Solaire who was currently in a heap of bushes sobbing and heaving in fear at the three summons before him. She then turned her gaze to the helpless Celestia who's fear for her child ran through her eyes even as she screamed and yelled in pain as she tried to move. And lastly she looked at Bahumat who's anger burned behind his eyes even as he stayed still. He growled at them all as Amaterasu charged up more of her firey power behind her finger tip.

Shiva's eyes narrowed as she came to a decision then and there. She stepped towards Bahumat and Solaire. She walked over to them with all the grace that she normally possessed only to turn around and take a defensive stance in front of them. She kept her narrowed eyes on Amaterasu and Ifrit as she spoke with a voice as cold as ice,"I will not let you bring any harm to the young immortal. You know full well the rules that were brought before us by Lord Bahumat. We are his vassals and allies and should protect what he does."

Amaterasu let out scoff,"Ha! Are you even listening to yourself Shiva? Since when have you ever cared about what we do? Your heart is as cold as your ice is. So don't get preaching to us about being that dragon's allies. He didn't create us and we were only his vassals when he beat us down so ruthlessly in battle. Now is your chance to finally break free and be done with it."

Shiva shook her head with a glare,"No. My bond as a vassal is one of the only things I have left. I won't let you take that away from me. I will protect what Lord Bahumat does and only death will stop me."

Amaterasu growled,"Then so be it Shiva. You have chosen your fate."

Amaterasu charged up more power behind her hand as a whole as Ifrit put his hands above his head and charged up a giant ball of demon fire. "Together the both of us will erase you from existence. Not even your so called eternal ice will be able to stop us from destroying you and the pests there."

Shiva hissed before slamming her hands into the ground after kneeling and creating a large wall of ice between her and her foes. Amaterasu pulled her hand back before launching it forwards as a large beam of sun fire shot out of it and collided with the ice wall. Ifrit jumped into the air and launched his demonic ball of fire down at Shiva and had his attack hit the ice wall together. The two attacks together caused a rather large explosion that knocked Shiva off her feet completely and sent her tumbling down into the ground.

The ice wall had exploded from the force of the two attacks and now shards of ice rained down everywhere and buried themselves in the ground. Shiva may have tumbled to the ground but she quickly moved herself over the still bawling Solaire. She raised a giant dome of ice around her and the young Solaire right after she had reached out with a hand and pulled Celestia to her. It caused Celestia quite a lot of pain as the lightning danced across her body but it hurt Shiva as well. Still Shiva managed to get the ice dome around the three of them and repeatedly froze layer after layer of ice all around the dome to increase its thickness.

Amaterasu hissed before turning to Ifrit,"You take care of the dragon. I will deal with the traitor and the ones she protects." She then walked calmly towards the giant ice dome in order to start attacking it.

Bahumat roared out in anger and fury,"Don't you dare touch them Amaterasu. If you do then you will regret it believe me. I won't let you get away with going after them in the first place."

Ifrit came upon and smashed Bahumat in the jaw hard causing him to his the ground hard as the lightning coursed around his body. Bahumat roared in pain due to that as Ifrit growled,"Your one to talk oh mighty dragon. You can't even protect yourself at the moment. You won't be doing anything to the both of us. You are helpless before us and won't ever be able to do anything about it." He charged up another of his giant balls of demon fire above his head.

Amaterasu herself had started to fire away with more sun fire filled beams at the giant dome of ice. Each time she blasted the dome it cracked and hissed as the ice evaporated instantly. But the cracks would repair themselves as the dome just became thicker and thicker. She hissed at Shiva,"I will make sure that you are erased from existence in both our world and this one."

Shiva hissed back,"You'll have to get past my wall first to do that." She focused on making the ice dome around her and the ones she was protecting even thicker.

Amaterasu was about to unleash another beam of sun fire when there was a flash of light and she was forced back with a cry of pain. Her divine blood splattering onto the ground in a bright splotch. There before her was some kind of armored figure much smaller than her. That figure was none other than Kiara in the form of Kamen Rider Decade.

Kiara glared up at Amaterasu from behind her scouter pieces,"I will make sure you don't get the chance to attack them again. You have threatened the life of one of the princesses of this kingdom and her young son. I won't let that stand especially after you've threatened the life of a child."

Meanwhile Ifrit had launched his ball of fire right at Bahumat only to have it deflected right into the sky by a much smaller figure. His ball of fire launched high into the sky above the castle before exploding like a giant firework. There floating in the air in front of Bahumat was some kind of metallic figure. This figure was none other than Swift Shot using a form that he had acquired earlier that day. That form being none other than Burning Gundam's form which had allowed him to punch said fireball high into the air.

Swift was once again in an anthro form and pointed with a finger at Ifrit. "You dare to try and harm someone who can't protect themselves? You are low creature of Tarturus. I don't know exactly what you are other than that you don't belong in this world. You have threatened the life of the princess and her son the prince. And you have tried to destroy their protector who lies helpless before you. For this injustice you will pay. The wrath of the heavens will be brought to bear on you by myself."

Ifrit growled at the armored figure before him,"We shall see about that puny creature. I will destroy you just as easily as the dragon. I don't know how you deflected my fire ball but that is of little importance at the moment. All that matters is that you are destroyed for good."

From the shadows watched none other than Corruption as he observed the events unfolding before him. He frowned as he looked at the two warriors that were opposing the summons. He had worked hard to open those portals in order to bring the summons here but it might just all be for naught if these warriors defeated them. He growled to himself at his inability to do anything in this situation. It had drained him of most of his energy and power to go through the ritual he did to open those portals. And when all was said and done he only ended up with two evil summons instead of three.

He retreated back into the shadows which engulfed him as he stepped back into his own hiding place far from here. He would be safe in his hideout from prying eyes that tried to follow him. After he had left things continued for the rest of the beings in the clearing. Swift continued to hover before Bahumat as he took a martial artist stance. "Just try to defeat me you demonic beast and see what it gets you."

"Very well you puny creature. You will beg for mercy once I'm through with you." Ifrit growled back. He covered one of his claws in fire and swiped at the small figure in front of him.

Swift continued to float in the air due to his wings which were flapping behind him out the back of his armor. They were coated in a metallic white armor themselves at the moment but he could still effortlessly fly. He raised an elbow up vertically and smacked it against Ifrit's claw as it came at him. A ringing sound rang throughout the air as the claw collided with his elbow. The claw was knocked backwards with great force as Swift followed up the block with a roundhouse kick straight to Ifrit's face as he zoomed forwards.

The kick connected with Ifrit's chin sending him flying upwards about 20 feet before he collapsed back down on the ground hard. Swift glared down at Ifrit,"Hmm your not even a challenge are you?"

Ifrit growled as he quickly got back up off the ground,"I don't know how you did that you little pest but you'll pay for it." This time both of his claws became encased by his demon fire as he swiped hard with both of them.

The claws came in fast towards Swift and he sadly only had enough time to block one of the shots as he wasn't experienced enough to deal with more than one thing at a time. So he was able to knock one of the claws off course at he pinpoint blocked one with a kick but the other ended up slamming into his side. The blow sent him careening through the air to land on the ground where his hooves dug into the earth as he skidded to the side. He stopped after a moment while pain coursed through his side. The giant claw had left some nasty gashes along the side of his armor. They were right below the armpit of his right arm and ran down to the middle of his stomach. The armor sparked with the exposed wiring underneath.

Swift growled as he looked back at Ifrit,"So it would seem that you have some fight in you after all."

He sped back into the air with his wings as he charged at Ifrit again. Ifrit laughed at him because he was fully prepared this time. He swiped downwards at the blindly charging Swift only to blink in surprise as Swift rolled to the right to avoid his claw swipe. Swift followed this up with a punch right into his face causing him to howl in pain as he put a claw up to his face. He pulled it away after a little bit and spat glowing red blood on the ground as he glared at Swift. He did a rapid series of fire claw swipes at Swift who had to move out of the way of most of them as he tried to get his own kicks or punches in on Ifrit.

Ifrit was able to block his attacks with his hands and finally managed to smash Swift in the chest with a bit of his fist which sent him flying backwards into the wall of the castle. Swift groaned in pain as he was embedded into the wall of the castle but managed to get his right arm out of the wall. The armor around his arm was crushed and broken and some of it was sticking into his arm. He yelled in pain but moved it down to his waist and managed to grab hold of the handle of one of his beam sabers before he moved it to his other beam saber. He activated both sabers as Ifrit approached.

"Ha I knew you were nothing but a pathetic bug." Ifrit laughed as he held a clawed hand above his head to make a small fireball in. His other claw was coated in fire as he kept it ready just in case.

Swift winced in pain but managed to draw his freed arm back before moving it forwards and tossing the active beam sabers right at Ifrit. Ifrit brought his firey claw up to block the minuscule swords only to roar in pain as the beam punched right through the fire around his claw and into his claw itself. He quickly the fireball he had managed to create at Swift before quickly moving his free claw to his stabbed claw. He scrabbled to get the tiny handles out of his claw and managed to crush them with his big free lumbering one which of course stopped the beams.

Meanwhile the fireball launched through the air at a high speed down at Swift who was still stuck in the wall. He brought his arm around in front of him so that his elbow was out in front of him with the pinpoint deflection pad showing. He yelled in pain as the fire ball collided with his elbow at a precise angle. The fireball was launched back up into the air because of the deflection but a small part of it still exploded against his elbow causing the armor there to burn and melt making him yell in pain even more. His arm then hung against his side as a complete mess of twisted metal and other things.

He just couldn't stop yelling while stuck in the wall as he desperately tried to pry himself out of the wall. Ifrit was furious as his stabbed claw bled a bit from the two small wounds he'd received. He growled and engulfed his claw in fire again which cauterized his wounds before turning back to Swift. Swift finally managed to pry himself from the wall and landed on the ground hard. He ended up kneeling on the ground as the pain threatened to overwhelm him.

Ifrit raised his claw above his head as he growled,"This is the end you pest!" He then swiped downwards with his claw.

Swift closed his eyes as he spoke,"I can't move. I should just accept that this is the end." That's when he felt a presence appear in the back of his mind that whispered to him.

"Its not over yet. Its never over till your actually dead. You just have to keep on Trying," the voice whispered to him. "I am still willing to fight and I will move this body if needed."

Swift's eyes opened in surprise even as the claw descended down towards him. Time seemed to slow as he looked up at the approaching claw and he felt the chest armor open up to reveal the red core along with the electronics inside. It glowed with a fiery orange light as he coughed up a bit of blood,"You're right. This isn't the end. I'll put my all into one final attack. Thank you whoever you are."

He stood up back onto both legs as he held his remaining good fist into the air as he yelled,"I'll put all my remaining power into this fist!" His whole form glowed golden as the 6 things on the back of his armor spread out and the red halo appeared over them to signal power as his armor became golden. Then it all spread out into his fist as he yelled and jumped upwards meeting Ifrit's fist and knocking it back upwards causing Ifrit to fall to his back again.

Ifrit growled in pain but got back up as he glared at the once again standing pest as the pest's fist glowed. "Why must you always get back up. Just die!" He started to charge another giant fireball.

"You've done enough you monster. It all ends now." Swift Shot yelled as he glowed and then launched his fist forwards only for a blue sparkling phantom version of himself launched forwards with fully repaired armor straight at Ifrit.

He himself had disappeared completely from view as the blue phantom version sped through the air towards Ifrit. Ifrit stopped charging his fireball as he swept downwards with a claw,"This is all just a joke." His claw passed through the phantom version which disappeared in a flurry of sparkles only to reappear after the claw had passed through.

Blue energy swirled around its fist before it connected with Ifrit's chest as Swift's voice roared out,"Seiken!" The blue phantom then disappeared in a flash of light.

Immediately afterwards a green phantom version appeared which used its other fist which swirled with green energy to lash out at Ifrit. It connected as Swift continued to roar,"Shippu!" The green phantom disappeared as a red phatom took its place with red energy swirling around the fist to connect with Ifrit's chest. Swift roared out the next word,"Soten!" The red phantom disappeared to be replaced with a yellow phantom that roared through the air from the red phantom's last position. Ifrit had been knocked through the air backwards and the yellow phantom twirled in the air before delivering its punch into Ifrit's chest. Swift's voice roared out another word,"Hagan!"

The yellow phantom dissolved into sparkles to be replaced by the next colored phantom. The next phatom was silver colored and instead of punching Ifrit it passed up by his face and kneed him hard there causing him to fly up further into the air. Swift's voice roared out another word when that happened,"Senko!" The silver phantom disappeared into sparkles as well. Then from high in the air a purple phantom appeared with glowing purple energy around its fist as it connected with Ifrit's chest. Swift's voice shouted out another word,"Ryusei!" The purple phantom disappeared in a flash of sparkles as finally one last phantom appeared the color of burning gold. It moved its fist up into the air with determination before it knelt and slammed its fist into the ground. Swift's voice let out one final roar,"Reppaku!" A jagged line split across the ground before eruptive fire exploded outwards from that line and smashed into Ifrit with one final explosion as Ifrit roared out in pain.

The fire engulfed him completely and his body glowed before turning back into a small crystal known as magicite. Said magicite dropped right into a small swirling green portal that appeared which sent him back to one of the many worlds of the Final Fantasy universe. The gold phantom disappeared leaving behind a rather broken and battered Swift who's broken wings hung down behind his back a broken mess. He huffed and puffed before he collapsed to the ground on his face in pain.

He glowed with light as the soul unison he'd been using ended and the chip took most of the damage upon itself. He still had broken wings but other than that he only had nasty bruises and slightly damaged legs. He was still fully unconscious as his Archiver appeared on his leg and the Burning Gundam chip was ejected from it back into his satchel. The image of the Burning Gundam upon it was shattered into many pieces. Then with a flash both satchel and Archiver disappeared in a flash of light as his unconscious body lay there. Meanwhile the other battle had progressed in the mean time during his own fight.

Amaterasu glared at the figure in front of her with a glare,"Get out of my way you little bug." She put both of her hands forwards and fired beam of sun fire at Kiara faster than Kiara had anticipated.

The beams of fire collided with Kiara and sent her flying through the air to land somewhere out of sight. Kiara screamed in pain as she flew through the air and landed on the ground. Kiara's armor had sustained heavy damage from being hit directly by those powerful beam. Her armor had cracked all over and her sight had disappeared for now as she lay unconcious on the ground from the attacks. She wouldn't be moving for a bit. Amaterasu then turned back to the dome to continue what she had started.

Amaterasu herself was less than happy at Shiva's interference with what she considered to be her fun. She was happy that Bahumat was trapped where he was at the moment unable to move. She smirked as she kept firing away with her sun fire beams at the annoying ice dome. She looked back for a moment to where Bahumat was only to see him glaring back at her dangerously. He was still and unable to move at all but his presence still unnerved her.

She looked away from him and back towards the ice dome as she put more and more power into her sun fire beams. Finally two of her beams finally managed to shatter the ice dome completely. Shiva immediately put herself in front of Celestia and Solaire as she crossed her arms in front of herself. She was panting from having to continually use her energy to keep adding layers to the ice dome.

Amaterasu growled as she raised her hand as she charged up power,"This is the end for you Shiva. Your a traitor to us for staying on that filthy dragon's side and for that I will return you to your magicite before destroying it."

She brought her hand forwards and fired one giant sun fire beam at Shiva who screamed in pain as it connected with her. She was lifted up off the ground as the beam engulfed her before her form glowed. It turned back into the small magicite which quickly fell to the ground with a soft clinking sound. Amaterasu smiled in satisfaction before pointing a finger at the magicite. She fired a small beam of sun fire down at the magicite only to growl in annoyance as a form darted out of somewhere and grabbed the small crystal. The beam collided with the ground where the magicite had been a moment before and Amaterasu looked to see who had interfered.

She blinked in confusion to see that it had been Solaire who had grabbed the magicite. He growled up at her having gotten over his overwhelming fear once the ice dome had enclosed over him and his mother. He had managed to calm down as Shiva knelt down among them and his mother whispered calming things to him. He had finally gotten his emotions back in control as he glared at the lady before him who dared try to destroy his protector and his mother.

"I don't know who you are miss but you're just a great big jerk. Why don't you go back home where you came from and leave us alone."He demanded with a hoof pointed at her.

Amaterasu glared down at him,"How dare you speak to me that way you little brat. I will destroy you!" She pointed her hand at him to fire another of her sun fire beams at him.

It was then that a figure leaped down to stand in front of Solaire as he continued pointing a hoof at her. The figure was none other than the pest that Amaterasu had brushed aside before with her sun fire beams. She growled as she gazed at the figure who's armor had mostly repaired itself somehow.

Amaterasu growled,"How is this possible? How is it you are back up so quickly you little pest. I melted that armor of yours into molten slag."

The figure wagged a claw tip back at her,"That's what you think you old hag. Turns out having the power to destroy worlds can be used to heal oneself somewhat. Pretty nifty trick. Now what else can you do?"

Amaterasu growled,"A lot more than you think you little pest." She pushed power into her hand before making a weapon appear in it. It was a great long sword with fiery designs down the blade.

She growled as she walked towards the figure as she held her sword out before her,"I'll just have to take care of you the old fashioned way."

Kiara looked up at Amaterasu before replying,"We'll see witch." Her armor still bore cracks on the chest and shoulder pauldrons but she had managed to heal her body and a majority of the damage using the power that she felt inside of herself in this form.

She wouldn't be able to pull that kind of thing off again though as it had taken a majority of her internal magic and the form's power to do so. She could have died had she not done so though. For now she moved her free claw to the holder and opened it while using her other claw to extract a card from the holder. She held the card up in front of herself casually as she looked at the approaching Amaterasu lazily.

She called back to Solaire behind her,"Hey kid. Get out of here. Go on back over there to your mother." Solaire looked up at her for a moment before nodding and scrambling out of there.

She then flicked the card down into the slot on the top of her belt buckle that was the driver. A warning sound blared out around her as she did that and she brought both claws together to the handles of the driver and pushed them together. A male voice spoke up as words appeared from the red jewel in the center of the driver. The voice spoke the words that had appeared,"Kamen Ride! Kabuto!"

She was engulfed in light as her armor shifted to resemble Kamen Rider Kabuto's on her but made for a griffon. That and the earth symbols were still in the same places on her new armor along with the belt being the same. She opened her card holder again and withdrew yet another card before flicking it down into the now open slot of her driver. She pushed the handles closed together as the male voice spoke out the next words that appeared,"Attack Ride! Clock Up!"

She disappeared from view right as Amaterasu walked up and swung her fiery sword downwards at where she had been standing. The sword collided with the ground in a heavy thump as Amaterasu blinked in confusion,"Huh? Where did that pest go."

That's when she was sent flying to the ground in a heap as she felt an incredible force hit her right in the stomach. She let out a huge gasp as the wind was knocked out of her. Her sword clattered to the ground out of her grip as she put her hands to her stomach. She took a moment to regain her breath wondering just what had hit her so hard. She slowly got back up onto her feet and picked her sword back up.

Kiara was right back where she had been and started to wag her talon tauntingly at her. "You'll have to be faster than that if you want to hit me." She pulled another card out of her holder and flicked it down into the slot before pushing the handles together. The male voice spoke out,"Kamen Ride! Faiz!" Her armor shifted to that of Kamen Rider Faiz although suited for a griffon rather than a human.

Amaterasu growled as she walked forwards again,"I don't know how you did that but I'll make sure you don't get the chance to do it again."

Kiara snorted,"You keep making all these threats but they are all rather empty aren't they."

Amaterasu screamed in fury as she swung her sword yet again. Kiara rolled underneath the sword swung and came back up standing as she pulled another card out and flicked it into her driver. The voice spoke up,"Form Rider! Faiz Accel!" Some plates on her armor shifted to the sides to reveal circuitry underneath as a some kind of device appeared on her foreleg. She grunted as she rolled backwards due to Amaterasu swinging the sword back her way again. She came back up again and pressed a button on the device making a different male voice speak up as a revving sound could be heard,"Start up!" Then a countdown timer appeared with ten seconds on the timer.

Kiara took a stance as Amaterasu brought her sword down again,"Die you little pest."

Kiara laughed,"This will be over in ten seconds flat!" She then faded out of view again as if she was simply to fast for Amaterasu's eyes to track.

That's when she felt the pain in her stomach yet again as she was forced to drop her sword. Then she was launched up into the air and felt great force hit her all over her body as she screamed in pain. The force hit all over and so quickly that she couldn't keep up and her energy depleted to nothing. Her body glowed before turning back into its small magicite whic promptly dropped down into a small glowing green portal. The portal closed up and whisked her back to one of the worlds of Final Fantasy.

Kiara reappeared back where she had been standing as the timer ran down to zero and the voice from before spoke up,"Time Out!" After it said that her armor glowed red before disapating completely into nothingness leaving just her behind. Her archiver appeared in a flash and the soul chip she had been using ejected from it. It landed back in her open satchel before both Archiver and Satchel disappeared with a flash of light.

Kiara stood there for a moment feeling completely drained. She was missing her feathers in places as jagged cuts ran across her chest due to the damage she had sustained from Amaterasu. They were bleeding a little and the soul chip had only been able to take about half of the damage upon itself. It would take her a while to recover from this. She wobbled before dropping back down onto all fours and putting a claw up to her chest as she grit her teeth in pain.

Bahumat himself had watched the whole fight and was rather impressed by the scrappy young griffon. She focused on the spell that was keeping him in place and growled as he realized that the solution was so simple. He reached out with his magic senses and tugged on a couple of loose threads in the spell and pulled them apart. The spell had been sitting for so long unused that it had decayed quite a lot so it was rather easy for him to pick it apart. After he had done so he was able to stand up easily before making his way over to where Celestia was at. He quickly pulled apart the spell that was around her as well before turning to look back at where the two beings who fought for good were at. He sighed as he realized that the pegasus was in worse shape then the gryphon.

Celestia noticed their condition as well and quickly called for the guards to come back and get the two to the medical wing of the castle. The guards came as quickly as possible and a couple of pairs of medical guards were able to come forth and get the two exhausted combatants onto stretchers. They then proceeded to take them back inside the castle to get them to the infirmary. They went as fast and safely as possible so that the two of them would be fine as soon as possible.

It took convincing to get Kiara to get on the stretcher though as she kept on saying she'd be fine. It took several guards logically pointing things out to her and tapping on her wounds to get her to relent. Once on the stretcher she just let herself feel the pain and blacked out after a moment. They would be just fine now though once in the infirmary.

Bahumat turned back to Celestia after most of the guards had retreated back inside. "Well I feel rather stupid that I was unable to figure out how to get out of the spell sooner than I did."

Celestia gave him a tired smile as she replied,"It is fine my love. For now we should get back inside the castle ourselves so that we can recover." Her coat was stained by scorch marks all over where the lightning had danced across her body.

Bahumat sighed,"I know. Let's get back inside. I do not think its safe outside at the moment for young Solaire there."

Solaire himself was currently sitting underneath his mother's stomach as she stood in place. He was holding the magicite in his hooves in wonder as he looked at it. He frowned as he held it up and it pulsed with a cool blue light. He brought it closer to his face up near his chest only to yelp in surprise as it started floating on its own accord. It floated to his chest for a moment before floating inside completely and disappeared from view. He blinked in surprise and touched his chest wondering where the heck the crystal had gone.

Bahumat saw what happened and chuckled a bit,"Do not worry young Solaire. Shiva has simply decided that she wants to help and protect you. She is residing inside your heart and soul at the moment waiting for the time when you need her most. She also needs to recover her energy."

Solaire looked up at Bahumat with wonder in his eyes but concern also,"Really? Gee I hope that she'll be alright. She seemed really nice after all."

Celestia gave him a small warm smile as she spoke up,"Indeed my little sun. Now let us get back inside. I think we've all had enough excitement as it is for now." She used her magic to put him on her back as she walked slowly into the castle.

Bahumat ended up reducing his size yet again to be several feet taller than Celestia as he walked behind her slowly as well. He continued to hold his spear in his one claw as they walked along. He noticed the guards taking their positions for their assigned patrols and nodded. He was glad that Celestia had listened to his advice about patrols and such.

As they walked further inside the castle Corruption reappeared in the shadows. He said not a word but his eyes burned with anger as he watched them walk on. His minions had been defeated yet again and he had to figure out another way to get what he wanted. It looked like the dragon would be staying for now but he hoped to get rid of it in time.

He stepped back into the shadows and his hideaway just as a patrol started to come by where he was. He was going to do his best to work out a new plan of attack to keep his grand plan on schedule. He might just have to do things in person rather than through proxies. So for the moment he stayed in his hideout plotting and scheming.

The day ended rather quickly from there as Celestia went about her remaining duties while an illusion spell covered her body to give the appearance that nothing had happened to her. Meanwhile Bahumat stayed out of view of all the nobles and regular ponies as he watched over Solaire. It wouldn't do to let Solaire go off by himself for the moment so he needed to be watched. And who better to do the watching then Bahumat himself who felt it was his duty to do so anyway. He couldn't let the young immortal get himself hurt after all.

Once the day came to a close it was time for dinner and Celestia was more than happy to get to the dining hall where she would be having a meal with her sister and niece. She could finally introduce her old friend to Luna although she suspected that Luna would figure out the connection between the two of them rather quickly. Still this was something that had to be done and couldn't be avoided seeing as how Bahumat would be staying here for a long time.

She ended up arriving at the dining hall rather quickly with Solaire on her back and Bahumat in tow. She stopped in front of the golden doors to the dining hall before taking a deep breath and opening them with her magic. She trotted inside rather quickly as Bahumat's steps were quiet and light behind her somehow. Bahumat cloaked himself in an invisibility spell for some reason. Luna had not looked up at their approach yet but did a moment later. She frowned up at Celestia with a worried frown on her face as Celestia sat down in her chair.

The parasite that Luna had removed had managed to make it back to Eclipse and back inside of her. But it would take some time before it could bring Eclipse out of her deep sleep. Luna herself had tried to wake Eclipse back up via magic spells but nothing had happened. She was growing increasingly worried and just did not know what to do at all.

She spoke up after a moment to Celestia,"Sister I believe there is something wrong with young Eclipse. She has been in a deep sleep for a while it seems and I can't wake her up. It isn't a coma thank goodness but she still won't wake up. I have tried multiple spells but nothing seems to be working at all."

Celestia ended up frowning herself,"That is rather odd. Just give it time though and I'm sure she'll wake up on her own."

Luna nodded her head after a moment before she frowned for a different reason,"Tia where is this friend of yours that you spoke of. The guards alerted me that he arrived yet I do not see him around. Has he already retired for the night?"

Celestia smiled at her warmly,"Oh he is around. He just wants to surprise you. He watched Solaire for me all afternoon while I tended to my duties. And I think now would be the perfect opportunity to introduce you to him. Bahumat please stop hiding."

Bahumat appeared in a flash of light as his illusion spell dropped. He was grinning down at Luna who's jaw had dropped. "Hey there little princess. It seems that your sister here didn't tell you about me till recently. Makes sense seeing as what you went through. But I'm sure my magnificence speaks for itself doesn't it. You don't need your sister's words anymore."

Luna frowned for a moment and then gave him a small smile,"It is nice to meet you Lord Bahumat. And I see you are just as boastful as a certain friend of mine. I would suggest you tone it down or you'll fall flat on your head from how much air its got in it."

Bahumat looked at her for a moment before breaking out into laughter. He turned to Celestia,"Oh dear. Celestia, you didn't tell me your sister has quite the sense of humor. I like her already."

Bahumat leaned against his spear as he looked down at Luna and Eclipse. He just grinned as he watched them with his bright blue eyes. Celestia was chuckling a bit,"Oh. I thought I had told you about her. I guess it slipped my mind."

Luna smiled softly over at the two of them,"It is good to see that you both have such a strong friendship. It is nice to know that my sister had some comfort while I was in exile."

Bahumat looked down at Celestia with a soft twinkle in his eyes as he replied,"Indeed. She seemed oh so lonely until I came along."

Celestia was blushing a tiny bit as she looked back up at him with a twinkle in her eyes as well,"Indeed. When he arrived and I made friends with him the loneliness I felt was pushed back for the first time."

Luna was observing the two of them rather intensely and soon enough a grin spread across her muzzle,"You two are the strongest of friends it seems and maybe even more?"

Celestia's blush increased as she looked away,"We're just friends Luna, nothing more."

Bahumat put a hand to his chest to feign hurt,"Just friends Celestia? That hurts it really does."

That just confirmed it for Luna right then and there,"Ha. I knew you two had to be more than friends. Sister you know you can't hide your blushes at all with your pure white coat."

Celestia sighed as her blush stayed in place as she looked back at Luna,"You have me there Luna. You would be correct in assuming that me and Bahumat are more than friends. We were dating before the final battle against Grogar ripped us apart. But the letters we sent each other kept our love burning if not more brightly than before."

Bahumat nodded,"Indeed. Luna your sister's letters helped me get through some rather hard times in the past. I have had to see countless worlds end or almost end due to some mortal's stupidity. It was thanks to your sister's letters that I found the strength to keep on caring and step in to help save those worlds."

Luna smiled happily at all this,"That is good to hear. I wish you two the best of luck in your continuing relationship."

Bahumat nodded,"Thank you princess. I too hope that our relationship can grow ever stronger."

Celestia smiled warmly as her blush stayed the same,"Indeed. We can only hope to see what the future brings us."

Bahumat's grin softened to a smile as he knelt down on one knee next to Celestia as he had a box appear in his free claw,"Indeed. But would it not be best to see what the future brings us both together as something more than special someone's to each other. Celestia would you be my mate?" He carefully used a claw tip to open up the small box to reveal an ornately formed horn ring with a special gem in the center that seemed to hold an entire galaxy within it.

Celestia's hooves went up to her face as Luna, Eclipse, and Solaire all watched on in awe. Celestia's eyes teared up as she stared down at the ring and the softly smiling Bahumat. She looked back down at the ring as she started to cry large tears. It was a good thing that Solaire was in a seat of his own at the moment because of what happened next. Celestia jumped from her seat with a large cry of joy as she tackled Bahumat clear off his hind legs. He fell to the ground and completely dropped his spear in order to catch and hold her.

Celestia started to cry into his chest as she shouted,"Yes. A thousand times yes!" Bahumat's grin turned into a rather goofy one as he held her close and gently nuzzled her cheek. "That makes me happy to hear my love." Celestia just continued to cry into his chest as he set the box in his claw down on the ground and withdrew the ring. He gently placed it on her horn as he nuzzled her cheek again.

So here we see what can happen when two old friends have a reunion and come together for a mutual goal. How will Celestia's relationship with Bahumat progress in the future? And what is to come of Eclipse since it will soon be the end of her week? And just how will Solaire cope with the loss of a family member so soon after gaining one? Guess you'll just have to tune in next time.

Author's Note

Hey Everyone. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I figured it was finally time for Bahumat himself to make an appearance. Hope you all have a good day.