Several weeks had passed since Twilight had told her friends what happened in Baltimare and Knuckles sharing his perspective on the incident to his butler Reginald before storming out after yelling at him. Twilight figured that Knuckles needed that time to calm down before she tried to talk to him again. She was about to head to Baltimare, but her friends insisted on going. Twilight said that wasn't really a good idea considering how hostile he is towards them, but they argued that they would only come for support in case things go wrong.

After thinking about it for a few moments, Twilight agreed and let them come on the train for the three hour ride to Baltimare. When they finally arrived, they left the train and headed towards Brody Manor on Brody Island. This island has been confusing before, but Twilight eventually figured it out. She could tell Knuckles purposely made the island this way to confuse ponies and force them to leave him alone so they wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of their actions. But, there was ways around this; it just had to be carefully thought out. Most ponies would stop trying at the first roadblock, but Twilight would think about it more deeply.

Knuckles knew that most ponies were too weak and frail to try to venture up the island, but he knew someone would eventually figure out, so he left different passageways open that would get around all of the bad stuff in case they ever figured it out. Most didn't, but Twilight did and she knew that Knuckles could tell that she figured it out. Her friends were confused the first time they came here, but Twilight showed them how to successfully get through it without getting impaled in the process. They eventually made it up the island and arrived at the front door.

Twilight knocked on it and Reginald answered the door. Twilight seemed surprised at seeing him there, but he said "Oh, you must not know me. Master Caleb must not have introduced me to you. My name is Reginald. I am his butler. Are you trying to see him?"

Twilight nodded and said "Yes I am. I know it has been a few weeks since I last came here, but I thought it would be best to give him time to cool down after getting so angry."

Reginald agreed and said "I'll go get him. I'll be back in a minute." He was walking through the hallways and saw Knuckles sitting on the chair in the living room reading a book. He looked at him and said "Master Caleb!"

Knuckles looked up from his book and asked "Who was at the door?"

Reginald said "Your friend Princess Twilight Sparkle is at the door, sir."

Knuckles growled with anger and said "She is not my friend! I don't know what she is doing here, but she needs to leave NOW!"

Reginald said "Sir, she just told me she thought it was best to give you a few weeks to calm down and she didn't want any trouble."

Knuckles hardened his glare and said "A few weeks?! I don't think so! She invaded my privacy, found out my darkest secret, and now she wants to think I'll forget about it after a few weeks?! She is so wrong on that! She doesn't understand that I don't get over things very easily, but she will. I'll go take care of this." He got up and walked over to the door.

He saw Twilight standing there along with her friends and said "What are you fools doing back at my house?! I thought I told you EXPLICITLY NEVER to come back to my house EVER! But clearly, I was wrong. And YOU! I told you I never wanted to see your face again, yet you DARE have the AUDACITY to show it despite the WARNING?! How pathetic."

Rainbow didn't exactly appreciate the slander and yelled "HEY! Knock it off! Don't you dare yell at my friend or us like that!"

Knuckles took that as a challenge and said "I didn't ask for your opinion, moron! And don't you DARE RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME, YOU HEAR ME?! You know absolutely NOTHING of what I have been through for almost thirty years! The abusive parents, the dangerous violent crime, and the tragic death of my girlfriend! None of you know ANY OF THAT! And you never will! None of you could EVER COMPREHEND what it's like to experience something like that! But guess what, fools?! I shall rise to power again and I will make every SINGLE ONE OF THOSE WHO HATED ME PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID TO ME! THEY TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME AND I SHALL DO THE SAME TO THEM! NOW GET OUT!"

All of them were taken aback by the loud yelling from Knuckles and Rainbow said "How about you stop talking smack and fight us like a real creature instead of a wimp?!"

Knuckles growled with anger and said "What did you just call me?! YOU DARE CALL ME A WIMP?! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MY POWER LEVELS OR WHAT KIND OF EXPERIENCE I HAVE! IS THAT WHAT YOU ALL CAME HERE FOR?! TO FIGHT ME?!" The rest of the group wanted to object, but his yelling was so loud that it made them scared to say anything, so they stayed silent.

Knuckles took that as a yes and he simply huffed in frustration. He said "Fine. If it's a fight you want, you shall get one. Let's get this crap over with." He snapped his fingers and teleported them all away to a separate area where they wouldn't have any interferences. Reginald saw them disappear and he said to himself "Oh no. This will go so wrong." He sighed and left.

When the group arrived at this new location, most of them were confused of where they were at. Rainbow turned around with a glare and asked "Where are we?!"

Knuckles hardened his glare at Rainbow and said "You foolish ponies should know exactly where you are. In fact, you were probably here at some point. I know I was. Just take a look around."

The Mane Six took a look at their surroundings and realized that they were in the Crystal stadium in the Crystal Empire. Knuckles was in fact right that they were here before, but what confused them is how he knew about it and when he was here.

Rainbow asked with anger "How in Celestia's name do you know about this place?! None of us had ever seen you in this city, much less even leave the city of Baltimare!"

Knuckles asked "Well, how often do you come here?" Rainbow tried to say something, but then realized it wasn't very often, so she stayed quiet. Knuckles continued and said "My point exactly. You hardly come over to this city, so I could have been here in between visits for you ponies. I am very good at laying low."

Pinkie asked "Then how come I found you snooping around town?"

Knuckles held out his hand and said "Just stop. I stopped listening when you started talking. You scumbags should really know better than to stalk and harass me like this. True, I might have acted hostile towards you, but you deserved it. If I didn't do it, someone else will."

Applejack said "Ya know, ya can stop talkin' the slander any day now. It's gettin' really annoyin' at this point."

Knuckles did not care and said "So what if I don't stop? What are you going to do about it, incompetent farm animal? Buck me in the face and kick me in the stomach? I would like to see you try that."

Everypony gasped with horror at Knuckles' insult and the farm pony was blood red in anger after hearing that. Rainbow had enough and said "That's it! You have crossed the line, buddy! You're gonna pay!"

Knuckles chuckled a bit and said "Oh, I quiver with FEAR! Bring it on, you stupid cowards!" He charged up his red lightning and got into his defensive stance. Rainbow got into a defensive stance as well and lunged towards Knuckles, but Knuckles came prepared and punched Rainbow in the stomach. It sent the pegasus flying back and she hit the ground once again. "Is that all you got, YOU PATHETIC WEAKLING OR IS THERE MORE?!"

Rainbow snarled with anger and got back up. She flew as fast as she could into the air and then went around back to sneak up behind Knuckles. However, Knuckles saw it coming and before Rainbow could tackle him, he sent a backwards punch towards her jaw and she flew to the ground. He turned around and picked her up before body slamming her to the ground. He did several martial arts techniques on her and then tossed her back to the ground, which caused dirt to build up.

Applejack went to kick him in the face with her back legs, but Knuckles wasn't going to let that happen. He picked them up and threw her behind him to the ground. When Rainbow got back up to charge at him, he threw Applejack at her and the two ponies fell back against the wall. Knuckles did a victory motion with his left fist and smiled devilishly.

Rarity didn't like this and said "Ugh, I hate fighting and violence! I don't want to be here!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said with a sneer "I can fix that problem, you ungrateful drama queen and pitiful excuse of a fashion pony!" He snapped his fingers and teleported her to the stands where she wouldn't have to worry about getting involved, but she could still watch what was happening. Knuckles saw Fluttershy trembling and teleported her up as well since he didn't care too much about the pony and he wasn't going to fight someone who didn't want to. As for Twilight, she made no movement whatsoever, so he did the same thing to her as well so she wouldn't get in his way.

Rainbow and Applejack came running full steam at Knuckles, but he simply kicked them with the back of his legs and did another fist punch to the chin which made them land on the other side of the stadium after getting thrown in the air by the impact. Pinkie snuck up behind him and blasted the party cannon in his face. Knuckles did not appreciate that and growled at Pinkie.

He said "You know, I thought you would have been ashamed for stalking me like that, but it's clear to me now that you have no problem with it at all. Well, I can fix that for you no problem." He picked her up by the tail and yeeted her to the other side. He put something inside of the cannon and when Pinkie came running back for her cannon, Knuckles pulled the trigger and blasted it right back in Pinkie's face. It was entirely covered in black marks and her mane was nearly blown back entirely.

Knuckles picked up the party cannon and ripped it apart with relative ease. He then tossed it into space and walked away. Pinkie was left there speechless and didn't know what to say about that one. Twilight wasn't liking what she was seeing from up in the stands and tried to get out onto the field, but she was blocked somehow. She then thought that Knuckles must have put up an invisible barrier so that she nor her friends would try to interfere with his fighting.

She said "Knuckles, stop! I know you are angry, but this is not how you solve your problems!" Knuckles completely ignored it and kept fighting. He went to the other end of the field and waited for Rainbow to charge towards him. The pegasus did so and a blue trail followed behind her. Knuckles likewise did the same thing and had his red trail follow behind him. Rainbow flew as fast as she could at him and Knuckles jumped up into the air to meet with her. The two collided and began fighting each other profusely.

Both of them were trading blow for blow, but Knuckles was gaining the edge very quickly and they eventually took the fight to the ground. Rainbow went in for the punch to the face from her leg, but Knuckles punched her in the stomach again and Rainbow fell backwards while skipping a few times. Knuckles grunted and said "Too easy." He went to walk away, but Rainbow got into another defensive stance and stared at Knuckles with a glare. Knuckles was confused and when he got cut off by Rainbow, he started to fall to the ground and watched her very slowly fly around the sky.

She flew up and went down as fast as she could, slamming Knuckles down into the ground as hard as she could. After a few times, she flew back up and landed on the ground, letting out a sigh of relief. However, Knuckles was not done yet. He rose from the ground and yelled with anger. He started punching Rainbow with his red lightning as hard as he could and Rainbow had to dodge it very quickly because that stuff was dangerous.

She started to back up in fear and Knuckles yelled "Why don't you stay still and just DIE WITH HONOR?!" He was absolutely fed up with this pony at this point and he wanted to take her out of commission for good. He had been winning the entire time, but she kept coming back. It's as if every time he beat her down, she would get back up and continue to fight despite the disadvantage. Knuckles had never seen that in his lifetime and it made him frustrated. But, it would not last for much longer.

Rainbow said "I need to think about it!" She wasn't really going to do that, but she needed something to stall herself enough time from getting the knockout punch from Knuckles. He was already dangerous enough when he was annoyed, but when he was in full rage mode, that was even worse. She looked at him and said "Okay, I've thought about it and I pass!" Knuckles yelled out his battle cry and punched Rainbow right in the face, which made her land right on the ground.

Knuckles was going over to her, but Applejack and Pinkie stopped him from doing so. Knuckles was having none of that and simply beat them down. He then tossed them away like a piece of trash and inched closer to Rainbow. Twilight was banging against the barrier at this point and shouting at Knuckles not to do that, but he refused to listen. Twilight desperately searched for anything that might get her out of the stands and out onto the field so she can stop her friend from dying at the hands of Knuckles. She saw an exit and ran that way as fast as she could. She needed to save her friend before it was too late.

Rainbow groaned in pain and shook off any weird feelings she had. She looked up and saw Knuckles standing right there holding a giant rock in his hands. He glared at her and said "You fought hard, but you still lost in the end. Enjoy your last moments here in this pathetic world because you'll never see this again. Goodbye, pony!" He was about to throw down the large rock on Rainbow, but before he could do so, Twilight suddenly tackled him from behind and the rock dropped from his hands.

Rainbow was confused and quickly got away from the large rock. Knuckles grunted in pain and growled in anger. He pushed Twilight off of him and said "How dare you tackle me when I'm in the middle of something!"

Twilight glared right back at him and said "In the middle of almost killing my friend! What is wrong with you?! I understand you're angry, but that gives you NO RIGHT to murder someone in the name of revenge! You should be ashamed of yourself for even attempting to try to do that! I can't even believe you would do that!"

Knuckles did not care and said "Don't you even DARE TRY TO TURN THIS ON ME! You foolish ponies were stupid enough to challenge me to a fight and you got the consequences of it! And now you want to pin the BLAME ON ME?! I DIDN'T ASK FOR MY SH[BLEEP]Y PARENTS TO ABUSE ME, I DIDN'T ASK FOR FAMILIES TO GET TORN APART IN A VIOLENT CRIME RIDDEN CITY, AND I MOST CERTAINLY DIDN'T ASK FOR MY GIRLFRIEND TO BE KILLED IN A CAR ACCIDENT! But none of you fools will ever understand that. You never could."

He wanted them out of there at this point and he snapped his fingers to open a portal. He looked at them with a glare and yelled "YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE ME OR HOW MUCH I'VE SUFFERED OVER MY CRAPPY LIFESPAN! It's best if you never came back and when I say stay out, I mean STAY OUT! Oh, and go tell Celestia and Luna to [BLEEP] themselves while you're at it as well. TELL THEM TO FIX THIS D[BLEEP] CRIME IN THIS CITY INSTEAD OF SITTING ON THEIR FAT ASSES DOING NOTHING! GOODBYE, PATHETIC LITTLE PONIES!"

He yelled out his battle cry and slammed his fist down on the ground. It caused a red shockwave to go off and the Mane Six got thrown into the portal. It eventually closed up and Knuckles huffed in anger. He said quietly "Stupid little ponies thinking they can challenge me to a fight and then get angry when I beat them. What kind of fool do they take me for?! Never mind them anyways. When I get the fearsome power of the Diamond, they will fear me and will do whatever it takes to get back into my good graces. Just you wait, ponies. Your end is near."

He walked out of the stadium and laughed evilly as he was leaving. He might not have ended them all today, but once he retakes possession of the Master Diamond, he will and there will be nothing they could do to stop it. Not even the Elements of Harmony could hold off that power. He knew that those artifacts were the most powerful weapon Equestria had, but compared to the Diamond, it was utterly useless and stood no chance against it. His return to glory will be coming soon and when it does, all shall proclaim his name and cower in fear before him.

Author's Note

AN: Sorry this chapter came out a little later than expected, but things have been so busy these days. I'm getting ready to go back to school on Monday, so I've been preparing for that for the last couple of weeks here recently. Things have reached the high point, but it will start to cool down. Eventually, Knuckles has to spill the beans about everything because not even he can keep that to himself. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: The confession! After things turned south in the Crystal Empire, hope seemed lost. But Twilight was still determined to find out how all of those tragic events impacted his life the way it did. She goes to his house and says she just wants to talk, but Knuckles refuses. However, after some consideration, he agrees and eventually tells her everything. Will Twilight be able to help him in this pain, or is it too great for her to understand?

Until then, my fellow readers