The next morning, Caleb leaned up in the bed and yawned quite loudly. He got out of bed and stretched his body, cracking his muscles a little bit to get them properly adjusted. He may constantly be at full strength, but it was always important to stretch every so often so that he wouldn't get muscle cramps. The last thing he wanted was to be unable to defend himself because his muscles hurt. That would suck and he could even lose his life because of it. He did have supernatural powers inherited from his grandparents, but he wasn't immortal. He could still be killed by the sword at any time.

So, if he fought anyone, he had to be careful. True, he might have been at master level with different forms of marital arts, but he had to stay focused when fighting. That is why he never tried to gloat before doing smackdown or even jumping into situations unprepared. He usually gave his opponents a warning, but if they refused to listen, he would have no choice but to give it to them. He didn't like to do it, he just had to because the people trying to fight him were complete idiots and they underestimated his abilities. But now was not the time to dwell on that. He had a mission to complete and yapping about useful idiots was not going to help. So, he had to get rolling.

He quickly put on his change of clothes and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. After he was done with that, he headed out into the hallways and went towards the living room. He pressed a button that opened up the bookshelf and it revealed a giant airspace with an elevator sitting at the top. He stepped inside and pressed the button to go down. The doors closed and the bookshelf returned to its normal spot. He checked his watch to see what time it was and he started whistling as he was traveling down to the elevator. It finally stopped and the doors opened. He walked out into his Knucklecave and went over to his personal vehicle that he called Blackbird because it was mostly black.

He hopped in the driver's seat and put his seatbelt on. Even though this thing could fly at very high speeds, he always found it important to wear a seatbelt at all times since he typically liked the open rooftop when traveling through the city. He pressed the engine start stop button and the engine roared to life. He released the emergency brake and pushed the lever that acted as the throttle forward. The afterburners spat out thrust and it propelled forward. Caleb flew right through the tunnel and pressed the button on the garage door opener to open the door on the side of the island. The vehicle flew right out and the door shut after a few seconds.

Caleb steered the vehicle up higher towards the city and flew right by all of the skyscrapers. When he left the city limits, he pulled back the lever a little bit and maintained a cruising speed so he could not burn a bunch of fuel. While he did live in a mansion, he wasn't exactly flowing with cash, so he had to be careful when it came to traveling at high speeds in a flying vehicle that pretty much looked like the Batmobile in The Lego Movie made back in 2014. He activated Cruise Control and stared down at the beautiful scenery below. Even though it was mostly a bunch of fields, it was a nice change of pace instead of constantly seeing skyscrapers out of every window in your house. He looked up in the sky and saw that no clouds were out today which meant that there was supposed to be no rain today.

Even though he could never tell what the projected weather forecast was going to be for the day or week because there was no modern technology here, he could always guess simply by just looking at the sky. He turned on the radio to see what was happening back in his hometown and in the Washington Metropolitan Area, but after about 30 seconds, he didn't exactly like what he was hearing. There were more people that had been murdered last night and it just make Knuckles burn with anger. He blamed the terrible leadership in his hometown of Baltimore run by Democrats and he wished that things would change. However, he realized that he doesn't live there anymore and it's not the time to get angry about political issues. While he did have a master's degree in Political Science, there was no reason to talk about it right now. He had a Master Diamond to find and going on his soapbox about politics wasn't going to help things.

So, he decided to not get riled up about this and turned it off. He changed it over to the local rock radio station and there was a Skillet Marathon going on which peaked Caleb's interest. He turned up the volume and he jammed out a bit as he raced down to Ponyville. After a little bit, he could see some clouds in the distance and ponies moving it around. He knew that he was approaching Cloudsdale and Ponyville was probably not far behind. Soon enough, he saw the small town in view and he sighed. He didn't want to be here, but this was the only place in Equestria that he had not checked and he would do anything in order to complete the mission, despite his own personal feelings about it. He figured that most ponies would figure out that he arrived, so he put his vehicle into stealth mode and flew quietly over the town. He thought he was clear, but then he saw somepony napping on a cloud.

He knew that wasn't good and he had to do something. So, he steered the vehicle away from the cloud and went around to the back of the town. He eventually landed the vehicle and pressed the engine start stop button to shut it off. He hopped out and examined the map of Ponyville he held in his hands. This might have not been the largest place in Equestria, but there was quite a bit of area to cover. He walked through the alleyway and peeked through to see a bunch of ponies walking around.

"Perfect. It seems I have come at the busiest time during the day. That's just peachy." Knuckles whispered sarcastically as he noticed ponies walking up and down the streets and buying products. He figured that these ponies were getting ready for the holiday as well as it was a national event and they were probably preparing for it so that they were ready when the day arrived. He looked at the map once again and sighed. It was now or never. He rolled up the paper and started rolling around in the shape of a bowling ball very quietly. Every so often, he would hide behind a house and take a peek to make sure no one was looking. He asked his computer if there was any clues to the Master Diamond in these houses and it said that was a negative.

Knuckles did this for a bit until he pretty much covered the entire town. It left him very frustrated because he could not find jack squat in any of these houses and none of them offered any clues on how to find the Master Diamond. He heard some noises and peeked out to see Rainbow Dash having a conversation with another stallion. Knuckles thought it was a good idea to mess with the two a little bit and hatched a small plan. He made his eyes glow red for a second and smiled devilishly at the stallion. The stallion saw it and pointed it out. He fainted and Rainbow was confused. She turned around to see what he was talking about and saw nothing. Knuckles already pulled his head away and smiled to himself.

He turned around and started to head towards his vehicle that was parked nearby. He figured it was time to head out and go back to the drawing board to reevaluate. As he headed towards his vehicle, he heard very loud whisking noises. He started to get worried and he looked around to see where it was coming from. After a few seconds, he saw a pink pony staring right at him.

"HI! I'm Pinkie Pie!!" She said. At first, Knuckles didn't know how to react and his mind tried to figure out his next move. After a few seconds, he felt worry and anxiety because he did not want to get discovered at all.

"HOLY CRAP!" He yelled very loudly. He instantly punched Pinkie away from him and she got launched back towards the wall. She hit it and then fell on the ground. Knuckles didn't know exactly what to do next, but he knew he had to get out of there. So, he ran as fast as he could to his aerial vehicle and started it right up. He quickly put his seatbelt on and slammed the throttle lever as hard as he could forward. A ton of thrust came out of the afterburners and it quickly took off. He turned it around to head back to Baltimare and he got out of there as soon as he could.

"Hey! Wait! Come back!" Pinkie yelled desperately in hopes that Knuckles might hear her. He was too busy flying away and that told her Knuckles wanted nothing to do with this at all.

"Pinkie, what are you yelling about over here?" A purple Alicorn named Princess Twilight Sparkle asked. Pinkie turned around to see her friends running over to her after they heard the yelling and loud jet exhaust noises.

"I was trying to say hi to that dude and he freaked out on me. Next thing I know, he punched me and took off in that weird air vehicle." Pinkie told her friends as she could remember the events of that just a few moments ago.

"Do you know what he looked like, Pinkie?" Twilight asked. She was curious on who this creature might be and wanted to investigate.

"I think he was a human of sorts, but he had super large fists. They could probably fit through our entire bodies if the guy wanted to."

"Ugh, Pinkie, please do not give us that imagery in our heads. This creature already sounds bad enough and that does not help at all." A white Unicorn named Rarity said.

"Well, I say we follow this dude and kick his flank once we find him." A blue pegasus by the name of Rainbow Dash said. This was the same pony that Knuckles had spotted earlier napping on a cloud and talking to one of the stallions in town.

"Now, hold on there, Rainbow. We don't know how dangerous this creature could be and he could try to harm us." A orange Earth Pony named Applejack said. She definitely wanted to go after Knuckles for messing with her friend, but she didn't want to jump into a situation unprepared. She wasn't like Twilight, but she definitely didn't want to underestimate her opponent either.

"Umm, are you sure it's a good idea to follow this creature? It is slightly rude to follow others without permission and I don't think he would enjoy us barging into his place of residence uninvited." A yellow Pegasus named Fluttershy said. She didn't like the idea of Knuckles hurting her friend like that, but she understood that sometimes, creatures act in retaliation whenever they felt threatened. So, it could be just one of those situations.

"It might not be the best idea Fluttershy, but I think we need to investigate who this creature is. We don't know its motives and if its running away like that, it could be planning something very disastrous for Equestria." Twilight said. She understood Fluttershy's point, but this creature hit Pinkie and then dipped right out of Ponyville. They had to figure something out and soon. "I think we should just follow him to see where he is going and then just ask him questions politely." She said.

The rest of the group agreed that was the best option and moved forward with their plan. "Where could that creature possibly be heading though? It's clear that it doesn't live here in Ponyville, so it must be somewhere else in Equestria." Rarity said. Twilight tried looking around for Caleb's personal vehicle and she saw it flying very fast away from the town.

She said "I see it over there. He is headed slightly southeast which means he could only be going to one place: Baltimare. That's where he has to live. It's the only place of civilization that is in that direction. Come on, let's get on the train to Baltimare and follow him over there." The group ran towards the train station and bought tickets to Baltimare. They got on the train and it started going down towards Baltimare.

Knuckles was still busy flying very fast and he looked behind his vehicle every few seconds to make sure no one was on his bumper. Once he saw that Ponyville was out of view and no one was around him, he slowed down a bit to get down towards cruising speed. He said "Ugh. I knew I should have not gone to that town. It was only a matter of time before someone spotted me. It just happened to be the most polarizing pony in the entire town. She knows that I'm not from here and probably wanted to throw a party for me. Yeah, that's not happening. Not after last time."

He remembers what happened the last time he went to a party and the results were not pretty, so he wanted to bury that deep within his mind and never remember it again. "I know it was wrong to punch her like that, but she scared the absolute crap out of me. It was like staring at a killer clown at 3 AM in the morning. Freaky. It was probably not a good idea to just leave her on the ground like that, but I didn't know what else to do. My mind was caught off guard and it was so disorienting for me that the only thing I thought of was to leave. It might have not been the best choice, but sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. Hopefully, she isn't too mad and starts to follow me back home because that would suck."

Little did he know that Pinkie and her friends were down in the train below him as he was flying straight back to his mansion sitting on his island in Baltimare. He knew that if those six ponies managed to find him, he was screwed. He had been living in Equestria for five years and not once did they ever figure out that he was here in their country. He had to protect himself and his secrets. With that thought circulating in his mind, he pushed the throttle a little bit more forward and it increased speed towards his mansion.

After a little bit, he finally arrived in Baltimare once again and he could see his mansion in sight. The computer asked for the password and he said "Criminals suck!" The computer thanked him and the buoys out in the water sprayed some smoke on him so he couldn't be seen. The door to the side of the island opened and closed after he got inside. He flew through the caverns and made it to the tunnel once again. He pressed the button on the garage door opener to open it and he pulled the lever back as he was getting closer to the entrance. He eventually came to a full stop and the doors closed. He turned off the vehicle and hopped out. He sighed in relief and went over to his control room to check up for any breaches.

"Hey, Vader!" Knuckles asked with urgency. He had a crisis on his hands and he needed to resolve this quickly before it gets even more out of hand.

"What is it, sir?" The computer asked with curiosity since its owner was clearly upset about something.

"Scan the area around the mansion and see if there is any ponies around it. I got into a run in with six of them and they could potentially find me here." Knuckles said with authority as he wanted to let the computer know what he requested of it. He hoped that this wouldn't happen, but he wanted to check just to make sure.

"Right away, sir." The computer said. It began scanning the area and searching for any ponies that might be lurking around on the island or within 2,000 feet of it. "I cannot find anything sir. The area is clear and there is no signs of life in sight within 5 miles of the island."

"Thank you, Vader. I appreciate it very much. I don't know what I would do if those ponies found out where I lived. For five years, I have resided here on an island next to the city and have never run into the Mane Six. Now, I caught one of them which isn't good. The rest will be alerted and I know that they'll search for me. So, let's just hope that they don't come to Baltimare." Knuckles said with worry. He saw them gathering, but he didn't believe that they'll try to pursue him right then and there.

"No problem, sir." The computer said with gratitude. Its job was to serve its master and if he was distressed, it was up to it to reassure him that things would be alright.

"I'm going to go up to my office and try to figure out how to properly assess this." Knuckles said. He went over to the elevator and pressed the button to go up. The doors opened and he pressed the button to the floor he wanted to go. The doors closed and the elevator moved up through the system. Finally, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Knuckles walked out and went over to his office to find out the best way to move forward.

The train arrived to Baltimare and the Mane Six stepped out. None of them had ever really been to Baltimare before, but it was considered a place of interest for some of them. However, they got turned off by it when they heard that it was the most crime ridden city in Equestria, which did not help their case whatsoever.

"Alright, keep your eyes peeled for this human creature. We need to find him and quickly before Equestria is in any further danger." Twilight said with authority. She seemed distrustful of this creature just like the others, but she at least wanted an explanation as to why he was in their home turf.

"But that could take forever, Twi! Baltimare is a big city and this dude could be anywhere. It could take hours trying to find him and what if he's not even in the city?" Rainbow asked with doubt. Baltimare might not have been the largest city in Equestria, but it was still very largely populated and covered a pretty good portion of southeastern Equestria.

"Rainbow does have a good point. There is only six of us and hundreds of thousands of ponies in the city. There has to be a way we can make this easier." Rarity said with concern.

"Wait. That's it. There's no way he could actually live in the city!" Twilight said with excitement. She had to think about it for a second, but then something clicked in her mind.

"What exactly do ya mean, Twi?" Applejack asked with suspicion.

"Think about it. He obviously ran away from us, so that says that he doesn't like crowds and a major city would do that. So, he would probably be isolated somewhere in the city." Twilight explained to her friends for the reasoning of what she said. If Knuckles didn't want to be around them, there was no way he wanted to be around a bunch of ponies in a major city. It wouldn't make sense. He would live somewhere where he could live alone in peace and never have to worry about disturbances.

"Hey, Rainbow. Could you fly up a bit to see if anything sticks out to you?" Twilight asked as she wanted Rainbow to get eyes on any potential places of residence that Knuckles might be at.

"Already on it, Twi!" Rainbow said with confidence. She flew up to where she could see the entire city and took a look around to see if anything stuck out to her. After looking around a bit, she saw something in the distance, but it was hard to see what it was. She squinted her eyes a bit and saw a mansion of some sorts sitting top of an island. There was probably no one else living in that and it had to be him. "Hey, Twi? You might want to come take a look at this."

Twilight flew up and Rainbow pointed to the island. Twilight couldn't see it for a second, but after getting a closer look at it, she saw the mansion on top of the island. She asked "Could this be it?" Rainbow nodded and Twilight knew they had to set off towards it. "Alright, everypony. We need to head down this major road in order to reach our destination. I believe we have found the place of residence for this human creature." The rest of the group got the memo and headed down the road towards Brody Manor on Brody Island.

Knuckles sat down in his office chair and set the map down on the table. He sighed and leaned back in a bit. "Well, even though that was a complete disaster, it's great to be back home, safe in my mansion away from any crowds or unwanted company." He said with relief. This was a disastrous occasion and he simply wanted to put it behind him.

"Sir, we have a situation here at the front door." Said a voice that came from the intercom that was sitting on Caleb's desk.

Knuckles pressed the button and went to talk into it. "What is it, Malcolm?" Knuckles asked his security guard. He figured that he couldn't be watching everything at one time, so he had a security guard that constantly checked the cameras to see if something was fishy and then alerted him if there was an intruder. It might seem useless, but Knuckles was a very strong individual. So, if someone wanted to harm him, he would simply manhandle them like it was nothing.

"It appears we have guests standing at the front door, requesting to get in." Malcolm informed him.

"Who are these guests? I hardly ever get guests and most of the time, they can't even get to the front door because they have no idea how to navigate the island." Knuckles said. He wanted to figure out who these guests were and why they were standing at his front door.

"It is six ponies, sir." Malcolm said as he stared into the security cameras on the monitors once more.

"Wait. Does one of them have a Rainbow mane?" Knuckles asked his security guard. If these ponies who he thought that they were, then he was in serious trouble.

"Yes sir. One of them does have a Rainbow colored mane." Malcolm said in confirmation.

Knuckles slammed his fist down on his desk and he yelled in frustration. "DANG IT! They just had to follow me here, didn't they?! I knew that they would follow me here. Ugh. Malcolm, can't you just get rid of them?"

"I'm afraid not sir. When I try to do that, they are insistent on remaining here." Malcolm informed his boss.

Knuckles sighed and said "Alright. I'll be down there in a second. It's clear to me I need to dispose of these pests and get them off my lawn." He sighed again and let out a groan of frustration. He thought he could get away from the Mane Six, but he didn't think that they would follow him back to his house. They must have been taking the train in order to get here because he saw a train moving below him when he was going back to his mansion.

He got out of his office and headed down to the security room. He stared at the cameras and sure enough, the Mane Six were standing right at the front door, waiting for entrance. He didn't exactly appreciate them being on his property, but he figured that this was he gets for showing up on their home turf unannounced.

He pointed the microphone towards himself and said "What is it you pests want?! I'm not here to buy any products nor do I want to move to Ponyville, so scram."

"Listen, we just want to talk. We're not here to sell you anything or to force you out of your home. If you could take a few minutes to just talk to us, then we would greatly appreciate it." Twilight said in a friendly tone. She didn't exactly like his greeting tone, but she figured he probably gets a ton of scammer ponies that come to his house to tell him to vote for this candidate or trying to sell him a product.

"I don't talk to complete strangers and I also don't talk to those who follow me home. That is an invasion of privacy and you are violating my Fourth Amendment right. This might not be the United States anymore, but if you already don't have the right to privacy in your Constitution, then you definitely should. So, I'm not going to say it again. Get out." Knuckles said with anger. He didn't care if the Mane Six just wanted to talk to him. He knew why they were here and he didn't want to deal with that right now. He had more important issues to worry about right now than hometown invasions.

"Why do you even have this camera thing on your front door?" Rainbow asked with irritation. She stared into the camera and Knuckles could see her face really close up as it was basically touching the camera at this point. It made him grossly uncomfortable and he pressed a button while giving a slight glare at her. The security camera launched a spider web at Rainbow and she fell to the ground. She tried getting it off, but it was very difficult to do so.

Knuckles simply stared at her and pulled a lever. They left him no choice. The Mane Six felt the ground below them disappear and they fell through the hole while screaming in horror. The door shut and Knuckles simply seemed satisfied. "I'll be back, Malcolm. It's time to take out the trash." Knuckles said mischievously. He gave an evil grin and patted Malcolm on the back. The security guard didn't know what to say, but he stayed silent.

Down below, it was pitch black. No one could see a thing. "Ugh, that ruffian could have at least given us a heads up. That was very rude." Rarity said with anger.

"What do ya expect, Rarity? We showed up at his house and he didn't like it. Of course, none of this would happened if Rainbow didn't decide to act stupid." Applejack said, glaring at Rainbow for messing up like that.

"What?! It's not my fault that stupid creature decided to launch a spider web at me through a security camera." Rainbow said with anger in her voice.

"Ya pretty much had yer face right up against the camera. He was probably creeped out by that and decided to get you to back away as a lesson." Applejack said as she tried to clarify Rainbow why the Pegasus was in the wrong.

"Alright, that's enough, you two! We showed up at his house, he didn't want to talk, we asked him a question, and he sent us down here. We can't dwell on that anymore. Now, let me see if I can get some light in here." Twilight lit up her horn a bit and she was able to provide some light to the group so that they could see. Rarity did the same and now it was bright enough for all of them to see clearly.

"So we finally meet. I never thought this day would come." Knuckles said as he stared at the Mane Six from a distance.

"Who are you?! Show yourself at once or else there will be consequences!" Rainbow declared to Knuckles with confidence.

"Consequences? Pfft. Yeah, like what? Let me tell you something. You do not want to go up against me. You'll regret it instantly, trust me." Knuckles said in a trolling voice.

"Enough! Tell us who you are and why you showed up in Ponyville uninvited." Twilight said in a commanding voice. She was not put up with Knuckles' antics today and she wanted answers as quickly as possible.

Knuckles refused and said "Before I answer any of your questions, you must answer mine. Why are you here on this island? This is my home turf and I don't appreciate strangers following me all the way home and then showing up at my front door. You tell me that, then we can talk." He didn't want to share right now why he was in Ponyville. He only wanted to know why they came to his house.

Twilight attempted to introduce herself and the group to him, but Knuckles cut her off and said "I already know who you all are. We got the nerd, the drama queen, the hillbilly, the psychopath, the rebel, and the coward. You guys are quite famous around here."

All of them expressed outrage at him for his insulting names he called them, but none more so than Rainbow Dash. She said with anger "I oughta show you why you don't mess with Rainbow Dash! You've made a big mistake and now you shall pay for it."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "Bring it on then. I'll show you a "rebellion" alright. The mistake was believing that you had won." That made Rainbow even more angry and she launched herself to throw the first punch. The shadow stepped aside and Knuckles came launching forward as well.

His eyes glowed red and he had red lightning coming out of his right fist. He glared right at Rainbow and the pony expressed shock on her face when she saw that red lightning. Knuckles punched her pretty hard on the stomach and she crashed right on top of everypony else. Rainbow looked through the broken wall and saw Knuckles still glaring at her.

"Pitiful." He said as he couldn't believe that Rainbow was already one and done just like that. She had been talking all that smack and then she got a knockout punch from him.

"What? Wh-who are you?" Rainbow asked with anxiety. She had no clue who this guy was and clearly, he was a lot stronger than her which that definitely hurt her pride and bruised her ego.

The shadow came back and said "Where... are my manners? Rainbow, meet Knuckles. My new BFFAE. Bestest Friend Forever and Ever."

Rainbow glared at the shadow and said "Look, I don't know who you are, but you are never going to get my power." She didn't know who this creature was and to be honest, she was afraid that he could try to take it from her. He could have the power of Tirek for all she knew, but she couldn't let that happen at all.

Knuckles glared right back at her and said "Do I look like I need your power?" To him, her power meant nothing to him and was practically useless against his. He charged up his fist again and Rainbow came charging right at him. Knuckles punched her again and she crashed through another wall, straight into the outdoors. She groaned a bit in pain and looked to see where Knuckles was at.

He appeared before her once more and smashed his fists together with red lightning to show his dominance over her. Rainbow got up and looked right at him. Knuckles asked with a demanding voice "Where is it?!"

Rainbow took that as a challenge and said "Oh, you want it? Here it comes." She was going to teach this creature a lesson and get him to get out of here.

Knuckles did not care and glared at her. He said "I was expecting more of you. You're unskilled, untrained, and UNWORTHY!" As he was saying that, Rainbow charged up her power even more and got into position to launch at him.

She said "You forgot one: unstoppable." She charged right at him with her rainbow streak, but Knuckles stopped her with his fist. It was a very bright light, but he was able to keep it back. He moved her back slightly while maintaining a glare and yelled out his battle cry. He smashed his fist right into her and it created a very large red shockwave to go off. Time slowed down a bit and Rainbow groaned in pain.

Knuckles grabbed her with his fist and slammed her up against the tree. She tried to break free, but it was no use. He was simply too strong. He said with anger "It was my destiny to do what my ancestors could not. To restore the ultimate power to the home of my people." His grandparents were the last keepers of the Master Diamond and ever since he was a little boy, they were still trying to find it and could not do so successfully. So it was up to him to find it and restore his family legacy.

Rainbow was confused and said in a struggling voice "U-ultimate power? I don't know what you're talking about. You got the wrong pony."

Knuckles did not care and said "Don't play dumb with me, descendant of Flash Magnus." He held a tight grip on Rainbow and had his fist ready if she tried anything.

Rainbow was shocked to hear this and said "You knew Flash Magnus?" She couldn't believe that this random dude had heard about her favorite childhood icon and expressed some sort of hatred with it.

Knuckles said "Flash Magnus and his people were the sworn enemy to my tribe, the Echidnas. We fought and died at their hands and now you shall die in mine." Knuckles was about ready to end Rainbow's life with a single punch, but he suddenly got tackled by the rest of the Mane Six, which made him release his grip on her and set her free.

Twilight said "Go! Start flying out of here! We'll be right behind you."

Rainbow said "Are you sure about that?" One groan from Knuckles and that told her that it was probably a good idea to do so. "Alright, I'll get out of here." She flew off and the rest of them did the same. Knuckles got up and he growled with anger. He just got humiliated in his own home and now they were getting away. He almost had her, but her friends tackled him before he could finish her and that allowed her to get away. He needed to find that Diamond and she might be the only answer to it.

His eyes glowed red again and he ran as fast as he could. The Mane Six were currently running away from the island and headed towards the city so that they could lose him. But when Twilight turned around, she saw him right on their tail and he was running pretty fast as well. He had a red streak following behind him and his eyes were still glowing red while maintaining a very furious glare on his face.

They saw a giant building ahead of them and they all had to get past it very quickly. Twilight said "I think we lost him." Just as she said that, there was loud noises of glass shattering and they saw Knuckles coming right through it. It left them completely shocked and they had to start running again. They managed to get on the train and they started moving. However, Knuckles would not let them get away that easily.

He jumped up into the air and landed right on top of the train car that they were sitting in. He punched his fist right through it and started destroying it. He ripped the door off and threw it away so he could get easier access to his targets. He picked apart every little thing of the train car and nearly got them. He noticed that the train was headed right for the bridge, so he snapped his fingers and it caused a big explosion to occur at the middle of the bridge. The Mane Six panicked and they knew this wasn't good.

The train started falling into the water and Knuckles closed in on his targets. They tried to escape, but he tackled them all and teleported them back to his holding area that they escaped from by snapping his fingers again. They returned to the area and he restricted them all from leaving. He said "Did you seriously think you could get away from me that easily?! You underestimate my abilities and believe you can outsmart me. I have learned everything that there is to mortal combat in my entire life and have been training for this moment since I was a little boy. Now, we're going to try this again. Answer my question or else you shall die. Your choice. Why are you here at my house?!"

Twilight tried to say something, but she had to think about it for a second. She said "To answer your very rude question, we are here because we wanted to talk about why you showed up in Ponyville and attacked one of our friends."

Knuckles didn't like that answer and said "I did not "attack" your friend, your Royal Highness. She decided to sneak up on me, so technically, it was her fault."

Twilight wasn't sure about that, but there was something else she wondered as well. She asked "And what do you mean by ultimate power?"

Knuckles knew he couldn't talk about that and said "That is none of your business, princess. It is a secret that has been held within my tribe for generations and no one can ever figure out what that secret is except for those who are part of it."

Twilight said with annoyance "Don't talk to me like that. You should know to treat royalty with the utmost respect, but it's clear you fail to know how to do that."

Knuckles disagreed and said "I do not care if you are royalty or not. You fools were stupid enough to show up to my house and challenge me before your asses got handed right to you. So, do any of the rest of you foolishly want to fight me?!" When he saw that no one responded, he took that as a sign to continue. "Good. Now, I see you no longer useful, so get out of my property."

Rarity asked "Could you at least show us where the exit is, darling?" Knuckles seemed surprised at the more positive tone, but he wouldn't let it bother him. He would just use it to his advantage.

He said "Sure. You see that door right over there behind you? Yeah. Turn around. Take a look at it. Yeah, right there." They turned around to look at it and he snapped his fingers to make them disappear. He let out of a sigh of relief and said "Good riddance. I thought I was never going to get rid of those ponies. Now, they can just leave right back to Ponyville. I am going to watch the Godzilla movie made in 2014 now." He turned around and left for his personal movie theater room.

Outside, the Mane Six were still trying to grasp that very unpleasant visit. "I can't believe that brute had to make us disappear like that. Surely, he would know how to treat a lady better. Hmph." Rarity said with disdain.

"Rarity, he has no respect for anyone but himself. All we did is simply get in his way and he responded in kind. Clearly, he does not want us to disturb him and its best we leave him alone for right now." Twilight said. She really wanted to know more about him, but he wasn't interested in that idea. He just wanted to be left alone and not disturbed by outside company.

"Um, Twilight, are you sure that he doesn't have respect? I mean, we did come to his home uninvited and he told us to leave multiple times." Fluttershy said. She didn't like Knuckles' tone toward herself or the rest of her friends, but she understood why he would act that way. In fact, she probably would not be happy if someone else tried to show up uninvited and refused to leave.

"Fluttershy, I am positive. He literally said himself that he no longer found us useful and he didn't want us to know about "the ultimate power," whatever that is supposed to mean." Twilight said. She understood where Fluttershy was coming from, but the messages Knuckles conveyed were far different than what Fluttershy was describing them as.

"What if he is acting that way because he had a painful memory about it?" Fluttershy asked with curiosity. She saw how secretive Knuckles was about the Master Diamond, so she believed that he must have something to hide that he doesn't want others to know about.

"What exactly do you mean, Flutters?" Rainbow asked with suspicion.

"When he was fighting, I saw something I didn't expect to see. It almost as if it appeared to be rage. It looked like he had years of pain in his eyes when you stared at them and that could mean something." Fluttershy said as she explaining to her friends what she meant.

"Or it could just mean he's just a varmint that doesn't care about anypony but himself and has serious anger issues. Ah understand why yer tryin' to say Fluttershy, but just maybe he is doin' this because he has too much pride." Applejack said.

"The best thing that we can do now is head over to the train station and leave. There's nothing else we can do and he's made it clear we are not welcome here." Twilight added.

"Uh, Twi? How exactly are we going to get out of here? Knuckles literally destroyed the train with his bare hands and blew up the bridge that gets us back home by using the power of Discord." Rainbow said. She wanted to get out of here, but none of them could do so with the bridge destroyed and the train out of service.

"I think I have an idea. Everypony, come close as you can to me." They all stood close together and Twilight lit up her horn. She teleported them out of there and made back to her library within a few seconds.

"Alright. Now we have to write to Princess Celestia about our findings. Knuckles might want to be left alone, but that does not mean that he could not be a national security threat. Celestia must be informed about this as quickly as possible and come up with our next steps of action on where to proceed after this discovery." Twilight said with a sense of urgency. She pulled out a letter and began writing on the scroll to Princess Celestia. She had to know about this at once and prepare for potential military action if things got out of hoof. This was a serious crisis for Equestria's national security and the time to discuss it was now. Something had to be done.

Author's Note

AN: I apologize for the chapter coming out later than I originally wanted to. Things have been so busy this summer and it's prevented me from writing this latest chapter. But it is finally out now. A lot of you will probably recognize the reference made in one of the scenes and it adds to the development of this story. I'll try to be better about posting chapters more frequently, but it all depends if my schedule is permitting to do so. Also, it's been a crazy week with one of the most recent SCOTUS rulings. I have an opinion about this, but I won't discuss it here. Politics are not welcome here and if you want my personal opinion on it, just check it out on my Twitter profile. I'll probably get banned off of the platform, but go view it while you still can. It won't last forever. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: The Royal Meeting! When Celestia receives a letter from Twilight about the discovery of Knuckles living in Equestria, she tells her to bring herself and her friends along so they could discuss this further. After gathering some intel about this creature, she decides to try to see this creature for herself while taking Luna along as well to see if they can get anything out of him. Will they be able to pry any information out of Knuckles, or will he just treat them the same way as he did the Mane Six?

Until then, my fellow readers