Save My Life 2: Legends Never Die

by Microsoft_2016

Chapters

Chapter 1: A New Change
Chapter 2: The Major Discovery
Chapter 3: Old Foes Reunite
Chapter 4: The Alliance of Enemies
Chapter 5: Lost In New York
Chapter 6: Boarding To Boston
Chapter 7: Decisions and Reevaluations
Chapter 8: Distress in D.C.

Chapter 1: A New Change

[Start film with Paramount Mountain]

It was a beautiful sunny day in the city of Baltimare. The Sun was shining brightly through the city and ponies were as busy as ever walking through the streets. You would think that it was them shopping at the last minute on Christmas Eve to get gifts for their families the next day, but this was just every other day in the city. Of course, it was the late afternoon and ponies were on their way home, but not to have dinner with their families, but go with them somewhere bigger.

You see, Winterfest was going on in the city and Knuckles was the biggest sight there at the event with his band, Beamer. You may think that it seems similar to The Beamers in Austin, TX, but there was a difference between that and why Knuckles named his band that way. Knuckles always loved the design of the BMW i8 and since the car was made by BMW, it made sense to call his band Beamer because that was a nickname for BMW.

Regardless, he was able to get some of his old work buddies at the Pentagon to form this band because they used to be homies back in the day. It might seem strange to say this, but follow my lead on this. It was true that Knuckles did not have a lot of friends growing up and he really didn't consider these people actual friends, but after marrying Princess Twilight, he realized that he didn't treat his "friends" very well and he wanted to make things right again after being gone for almost ten years at this point.

His friends were confused to see him after all of these years, but after hearing the crazy story he went through, they agreed to move on and they started a new path together. The other question you might ask is how Knuckles was even able to contact his friends in the first place since he was stuck in Equestria for all that time, but there's more to the story than just that. The thing is that he discovered that he could travel back home to Earth, but he was extremely limited to very precise locations in the United States and other countries and continents on the planet. He could do so with his small golden rings that he was given by his grandparents when he was younger that has been in his tribe for thousands of years.

Anyways, when they began writing music, they found success relatively quickly. Their first hit single skyrocketed them on the charts and it got played everywhere. When I mean everywhere, I mean everywhere. Even though they were extremely limited where they could go on Earth, at least they could go to major cities and perform. In fact, their single is what got them on the map in the first place at least on Earth and it helped out their first studio album get to relevancy.

It's very similar to how MercyMe's hit single "I Can Only Imagine" brought their first studio album "Almost There" onto record labels and became the most played Christian Song of all time. It's the same concept here. When they released their single, it got played everywhere on the radio. Even Christian stations were playing it because of how powerful it was. To make it a long story short, it brought them to popularity and they were known everywhere which is why they are playing Winterfest later tonight.

You would think that it would take a lot of time away from his personal life, but not as much as others. He always made sure to spend as much time with his wife Twilight as much as possible and he did spend time with her friends as well. It made Twilight a little sad that she couldn't spend as much time with her husband as she would like to, but she wasn't going to ask him to stop doing what he loved. Besides, she was a princess and work was busier than ever and someone had to pay the bills every month to keep the lights on and the water running.

Fortunately, Knuckles made enough from his album sales to pay the bills every month and pay taxes while having a good abundance of extra money as well. Knuckles headed out the door and kissed Twilight goodbye. She would attend, but Knuckles had to be there early in order to set up everything. Knuckles closed the door and smelled the fresh air outside in the city of Baltimare. Even though it did have its flaws, this was considered home for him now and what's even greater is that the violent crime in the city started to go down because Knuckles was able to use his influence to call for change in the local government and the ponies in charge finally started making competent decisions, which definitely benefited everyone.

Knuckles headed over to the stage in downtown Baltimare and gave his band members the bro hug. Knuckles said "What's up, dudes? We good to go?"

His drummer, Tim, said "Yeah, man. We're almost done setting up. All of us couldn't be more excited to start this concert tonight."

Matt, the band's keys player, said "It's crazy to think that all of us are going to be playing in a mirrored city that is in a world where it would be a little girl's pipedream."

Knuckles said to him "Matt, relax. We will be fine. I understand this might sound a little strange to us, but we have been doing this for quite a bit now and plus, the ponies here love us. There is a reason why we're so popular in the first place. Besides, this is my home now. It is only fair we give them the very best just as much as mankind back home on Earth."

Matt sighed and said "I guess so."

Mark, the band's bass guitarist, said "Knuckles, don't you have a wife to take care of at the moment?" Twilight was currently pregnant at the moment and as a result, she had to be taken care of a little bit more than usual.

Knuckles shrugged it off and said "She will be fine. Twilight is a tough individual. Besides, she will be here to see us play tonight because she wants me to chase my dreams and she is the biggest supporter of that."

Mark shook his head and said "If you say so, man. Just don't be coming after me when your wife eventually goes into labor."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "I am sure. Now, we need to run through some practice tests and do sound checks to make sure we are good to go before we do our big show tonight. We cannot be having technical difficulties."

The band started doing their sound checks and practicing a little bit to make sure they were all good to go for tonight. There seemed to have been no issues and they were ready to proceed with the concert later on.

The night finally came around and the place was packed out. It was even more crowded than Times Square in New York City on New Year's Rocking Eve on ABC. Knuckles stepped up to the microphone and asked the crowd "What up, Baltimare?! Y'all ready to rock tonight?!" The crowd erupted with cheers and Knuckles smiled. He said "Well, this crowd is excited. Y'all sit back and enjoy the show. We are gonna rock this house tonight so loud that even Las Pegasus will hear us! Ya like the sound of that?!" The crowd cheered again and Knuckles could tell they were excited. He said "Alright now, y'all are hyped. Let's get this show STARTED! LIGHT IT UP!"

The band began playing through some of the most popular songs and the crowd was enjoying it a lot. True to his word, the crowd made a lot of noise and the night was filled with energy and passion. It made Knuckles smile even more and he continued to play his heart out on the electric guitar. It put a smile on Twilight's face and her friends cheered loudly as well. The night went on for several hours and after they finished up their final song for the night, the crowd erupted once again with cheers. Knuckles felt good about that one and he asked the crowd "Did y'all enjoy that tonight?!" The crowd cheered loudly once again and Knuckles felt satisfied with that answer.

He said "That definitely answered my question. Hope you all enjoyed the concert tonight. Good night Baltimare!" The crowd started to head home and the band put their equipment away. Knuckles hopped down to the Mane Six and Twilight gave him a very gripping hug. It didn't hurt Knuckles too much since he had loads of super strength, but it did kind of hurt a little bit. He cleared his throat and said "Twilight? You can let go of me now."

Twilight did so and said "Sorry about that. I sometimes forget my own strength."

Knuckles smiled and said "It is alright, Twilight. Mistakes happen. It doesn't mean I do not love you."

Rainbow gagged at that statement and Knuckles growled at her with an annoyed stare. He said "It is not that disgusting. It is fully within my right to express my love to my wife and I do not need your disapproval on that. Am I not allowed to show how much I love my wife? Because that is considered very sacred in my tribe."

Rainbow shook her head and said "No, it's just I'm not into all of that love stuff. That's all."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "Right. Yeah, tell me that next time you express how much you care about Scootaloo. Then we will talk."

Rainbow didn't like that insult and showed her frustration, but Twilight told her not to initiate because it would only make things worse.

Applejack said "Ah don't know if anypony else agrees, but ya showed some real talent out there, Knuckles."

Knuckles smiled a bit and said "Thanks, Applejack. The love is much appreciated."

Rarity said "I agree with Applejack. But I have a question: How did you get so good at singing?" All of them turned their heads towards him to answer that question and even Twilight was curious about it.

Knuckles said "Well, it has always been a natural ability I have had, Rarity. Most of my tribe members were more interested in computers and other technology, but I was always fascinated by the music industry and since my parents never allowed me to play football, music was the next best thing for me. It always gave me comfort throughout the tough times in my life and it was a great place to seek solace whenever things went to total s[BLEEP]."

Twilight reminded him about his use of language and Knuckles had to apologize for his French. Pinkie said "I know what this calls for: a party!"

Knuckles raised a brow and said "Is not that what we do every time?"

Pinkie nodded and Twilight said to him "Let her have this one, honey. You performed very well out there tonight and she just wants to celebrate."

Knuckles sighed and said "Oh, why not? I have nothing else better to do." They all cheered and they headed back to his house. They had a great time and it went well into the night. They did everything imaginable and they eventually chilled out in the living room.

Rainbow asked "Hey Knuckles, when are you going to tell us about that artifact thing you have?"

Knuckles said "Oh, you mean the Ultimate Power?" Rainbow nodded and he said "Maybe in due time, Rainbow. You all except for Twilight are not in the family and the rule in the tribe is you can only know if you are related through birth or marriage, but we all formed a new tribe, so I am not really sure how to move forward with that one. Someday, I could tell you, but for right now, it is best you do not know for the sake of your own safety because it is truly that powerful."

Rainbow was about to ask another question, but Twilight made painful noises which drew everyone's attention. Knuckles asked his wife "Twilight, are you alright?"

Twilight made more painful noises and said "My water broke. I think the baby's coming!"

Knuckles was shocked to hear that and said "What?! But it has only been nine months!" If this were Maddi, it would have been on time, but since Twilight was a pony, it would be two months early since pregnancies go for eleven months for ponies.

Twilight glared at him and said "Well, I didn't ask for the baby to come this soon!"

Knuckles started to get nervous and said "Quick! We have to take her to the hospital! We obviously cannot rely on her teleportation since she's currently in labor, so I will have to use mine. Stand in a circle around me." He was able to snap his fingers to teleport them all to the hospital and he said to the doctors "She is going to have a baby! I need medical attention NOW!"

The doctors couldn't believe it and the main one said "What? It's only been nine months!"

Knuckles growled at him and said "I do not care! Now get her in there BEFORE I RIP YOU LIMB FOR LIMB JUST STANDING THERE! I AM NOT LETTING MY WIFE DIE ON MY WATCH! SO GET MOVING!" The doctors did so and they got her in the maternity ward. So, it turns out that their DNA actually meshed together, in fact so well, that it did so after two years of marriage.

Let's just say it involved a very interesting session that had Twilight say to Knuckles "Put a baby in my stomach!" and that's what ended up happening after two years. However, Twilight wasn't clearly thinking then and now, the pain has definitely kicked in.

Knuckles stood right by his wife's side and Twilight was basically holding his hand very tightly. Knuckles let her do so and didn't initiate his grip at all, because even the smallest amount could break her forehoof and he didn't want her to be in anymore pain than she already was. Of course, Twilight was yelling at Knuckles about how he could do this to her and this was all his fault, but he knew that was just female hormones talking and that's a result of being in extreme pain.

Twilight finally gave birth and they could all relax. They gave Twilight her child after a few minutes and she held it in her hooves. Knuckles tried to see what it was and it turned out that Twilight had given birth to a healthy alicorn filly. Yeah, you heard me. She inherited that from her mother. The rest of the Mane Six were eventually allowed in and they thought the new child was so adorable.

They came up with all sorts of different ideas, but Knuckles told them to put the brakes on that and it will come in time. Rarity asked "So what are you going to name the little darling?"

Twilight and Knuckles looked at each other and the former said "We were thinking of naming it Madilynn. In honor of Knuckles' girlfriend from years ago. It will serve as a memory."

Applejack said "Well, Ah think that's a lovely idea." The rest expressed the same thing and after a few days, Twilight was allowed to go home and was released from the hospital. They spent the next few weeks taking care of their new child and it definitely presented a lot of challenges since this child inherited both of their supernatural abilities.

Eventually, something would change though. One day, Knuckles was out getting the mail and he set down on the table. He went into the kitchen and Twilight checked out some of the mail. She noticed a letter sitting there and she read through it. She said "Hey Caleb, can you come out here? There's something you need to know."

Knuckles came right out and asked "What is it, dear?"

Twilight said "I've just received a letter from my friends saying that Sunburst made an incredible discovery and he wants us all to come to Canterlot to present it to the Princesses."

Knuckles raised a brow and asked "What is this discovery that he made?"

Twilight gave him a nervous look and said "I don't know if I want to say it because I know you have bad memories of it."

Knuckles said "I want to know."

Twilight sighed and said "Starswirl's journal." When Knuckles heard those words, it flew over his head for a second, but then his brain registered what she was saying and that confusion soon turned to anger. He absolutely despised Starswirl and wanted nothing to do with him or the rest of the Pillars because of what they did to his tribe.

Twilight said "I know you're angry, but this is an important discovery and I really want to know what's in there."

Knuckles sighed and said with bitterness "Fine. But I want nothing to do with it. You can read it all you want, but I am not taking one peek in there because I know how this movie ends and it is not a pretty one."

Twilight said "I understand. I'll send Sunburst a letter right now saying that we'll be on our way." Twilight left the room to go write the letter and Knuckles just sighed in frustration. What Starswirl did to him and his tribe was unforgivable in his eyes and he'll always hate them for what they did to his grandparents, but he had to keep quiet on the matter for now. He knew that Twilight absolutely adored Starswirl and that made him angry. However, they both agreed never to talk about it because of how much of a sore subject it was for him and their disagreements about the wizard. One thing's for sure, if something does come out of this, it was going to be a very bumpy road. He knew that for sure.

Author's Note

AN: I'm back, men! Happy New Year to y'all. It's going to be a very interesting 2023 and I look forward to seeing what this year has to offer me. It seems like the first chapter almost jumps right into the middle of things, but this is only the beginning. It's going to be difficult for Knuckles to put his past behind him in order to work with Starswirl to defeat the Pony of Shadows. One last thing before you go is that I have a new job now and it will take up a lot of time, but I'll try to post on Sunday's whenever I can since that is my day off. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: The discovery! When Sunburst discovers Starswirl's journal in a blind buy barrel he bought in Ponyville, he brings everyone he knows to Canterlot to show this to Celestia and Luna. Knuckles doesn't like this one bit and somewhat shows his frustration about it. Will his friends convince him that it's not that bad, or will he double down that nothing good will come out of this?

Until then, my fellow readers

Chapter 2: The Major Discovery

The next day, Knuckles and Twilight set out for Canterlot from Baltimare so they could get some more information on this discovery. They decided to keep their child at home with Reginald, because Knuckles trusted him enough to take care of his little girl and his butler was always a fan of little kids, so it was a win-win situation. Both of them traveled to the train station to buy the tickets and they waited for it to arrive. Once it did, they got on and went to their seats.

Knuckles pulled out the newspaper and looked to see what the latest news was. He held a very neutral face and went through everything. Twilight was sitting on his shoulder behind him and looked to see what Knuckles was reading. He wasn't bothered by it and he let Twilight do so. Twilight tried to engage in some small talk and said "I wonder what could possibly be in Starswirl's journal. There is so much undiscovered in that book that it would take years to fully understand it."

Knuckles huffed in disgust and said "Frankly, I do not care whatever is inside in that book. That pony is dead to me and after what he did to my tribe, I do not want to find out."

Twilight wasn't too thrilled with that insult and said "I get that you're not the biggest fan of Starswirl, but could you at least show a little bit of respect towards him?"

Knuckles laughed at that statement like it was the stupidest thing he ever heard and said "Respect? Starswirl? Yeah, I do not think so. That foolish pony and his entire group of "friends" disrespected me and my tribe by stealing the greatest artifact of all time all in the name of "trying to protect it from evil." That was the biggest lie I have ever heard. In case you forgot, respect is a two way street. If he is not going to respect me, then I am not going to respect him. That is just how life works. The day I start respecting him is the day where villains stop trying to take over Equestria every few months."

It was basically a translation of him saying that he will never respect Starswirl again because as long as sin remains in the world, evil will always try to conquer Equestria no matter what. Twilight shook her head and said "I don't know what it is that Starswirl did to you that made you hate him so much, but whatever it is, I hope you can eventually resolve it and put it behind you." She obviously knew that the Pillars stole the Master Diamond from his grandparents, but she could see that it ran much deeper than just that. She could see it in his eyes.

Knuckles sighed and said "I am not sure about that, but maybe it could happen one day. I am not betting on that though. There is a reason why Celestia told you that he was never able to truly understand friendship the same way you do." Twilight did tell him how she became an alicorn and after telling him what Celestia told her about Starswirl, it didn't surprise him a bit because he had personal experience with that.

Twilight said "Yeah, I guess that's fair, but I'm going to remain optimistic for now."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "Be my guest. But I am not going to be on the same bandwagon with this one. Not this time. It's not because I hate you for it, I hate him. All of the disgusting things he did to my tribe and that somehow gets covered up and ponies celebrate him as if he is God or something. It is pathetic."

Twilight gave him a slight glare and said "Starswirl achieved many accomplishments! He was the Father of the antimorphic spell and he created over 200 that are still used to this day!"

Knuckles shook his head and said "I am not hating on his success here in Equestria. I am always a big supporter of success because that's how I got to where I am right now. But where the problem lies is that the full picture has not been shown. Ponies only know him for his accomplishments and not his failures. It is about time both sides get exposed and let the citizens decide for themselves on whether or not they should support this dude. Not on some skewed view that got buried in history somewhere."

Twilight said "I understand what you are trying to say and I see where you are going on this, but Starswirl's failures shouldn't be exposed just for the sake of proving your point that he is a bad individual. Some might look past that and still see him as a good pony. That's how I saw you. All of my friends hated you for months on end and most of Equestria didn't even know of your existence, but I'm sure they would have despised you had they seen everything that had happened. But I saw past all of that and was willing to show you love because I saw a broken individual who had a stone heart and you shut everypony out. I gave you a chance when the rest of Equestria didn't. Don't you think you should give that same chance to Starswirl?"

Knuckles thought about it a little bit and he knew Twilight was right. Most of Equestria didn't even know of his existence and the ones who did know him absolutely hated him with a burning passion. But Twilight didn't care about any of that and still cared for him anyways because she was able to see the bigger picture of what had happened in his life. He so desperately wanted to listen to Twilight on this one, but he simply couldn't do it because of the pain it had caused for him in his life. He said "Sorry, Twilight. I cannot give him that chance. Not after what him and his friends did to me and my tribe."

He looked back at the newspaper and continued to read it as if nothing happened in the first place. Twilight sighed at his stubbornness, but she didn't pursue further because she knew it was going to be a lost cause and there was no point in wasting her breath trying to convince him that Starswirl wasn't an awful pony. It wasn't worth it anymore. The train stopped in Ponyville because there was ponies who were also trying to get to Canterlot and that was the only way there, so they came on and that included the rest of the Mane Six.

Twilight was happy to see them again and they all hugged, but Knuckles stayed in his seat and continued to read the newspaper as if nothing was going on. Rainbow asked "Why does Knuckles look so grumpy?"

Before Twilight could answer that question, Knuckles put down the newspaper and said "If you must know Rainbow Dash, it is because I am not the most thrilled about going on some ridiculous trip to Canterlot to talk about one of the most despised ponies in my tribe as if he were a hero or something. It is absolutely DISGUSTING and it needs to stop." Knuckles picked up the newspaper again and continued to read it.

Rarity said "Well he sure sounds very unhappy with this."

Twilight sighed and said "Unfortunately, he is not the most thrilled about this like the rest of us and I don't exactly blame him. The ponies that we have considered icons for decades were the same ones that stole a powerful artifact from his grandparents and became the most hated enemy of his tribe. So, it doesn't surprise me why he hates Starswirl and the others so much."

Applejack said "Well, that's just plain rude. He seems to completely disregard their accomplishments. He even seems more stubborn than Discord."

Twilight said "As much as I don't like the slander Knuckles gives to Starswirl, we must be considerate of his feelings. It would make us bad friends and me a bad wife if we didn't do so. As for right now, just let him be and try to make as minimal talk about the Pillars as you can because we have all seen how angry Knuckles can get when provoked." They nodded in agreement and they stayed quiet on the matter.

After a few more hours, the train arrived to Canterlot and everyone got off. As the group was walking through the streets, many ponies recognized Knuckles and were cheering very loudly their support for him. That put a smile on Knuckles' face and he waved to the crowds as he was passing through. Even in the snobbish city of Canterlot, he was still considered beloved by many ponies who lived there. The super rich folk didn't care too much for him and actually hated him for being so successful and popular, but he didn't give a crap about those ponies. They ultimately didn't matter in life and they were just trying to build themselves up while tearing everyone else down.

They all eventually made it inside the castle and the group met up with Starlight and Sunburst to discuss this amazing discovery with Celestia and Luna. They walked through the castle hallways and they all eventually made it into the throne room. Celestia smiled and said "Greetings, my little ponies. It is nice to see you all once again. What brings you to Canterlot?"

Sunburst stepped forward "Well, Your Majesty, I was down in Ponyville very recently to visit my friend Starlight for a few days and I stumbled upon an antique shop there since Ponyville is known for having a lot of antiques in Equestria. After exploring it for a little while, I came out of the store with a blind buy barrel because I thought there was going to be a lot of goodies in there. But when I left to go back home to the Crystal Empire a few days later, I happened to discover Starswirl the Bearded's journal in there and I was so excited that I wrote everypony I knew a letter telling them to come here and present this news to you."

Both Celestia and Luna were surprised by this news and some of the Mane Six were as well. Even Knuckles was surprised by this story. They were all here because that journal somehow ended up in a barrel with a bunch of other stuff as some sort of liquidation sale to get inventory out of the store. That didn't settle well with Knuckles.

Celestia said "I see. Well, since you were able to find this journal, could you possibly read what is inside of there so we could see what may have happened?"

Sunburst said "Of course. I can do that." He began to read the journal and all of them listened as he read it. The journal read:

"The best elements within us can spread light and virtue and I know ponies who represent them all. Strength, bravery, healing, beauty, hope, and sorcery. Myself and these Pillars of Equestria were gathered together by another to maintain and share the light of these powerful ideals. But we soon came to believe that the pony who brought us together only wanted that power for himself. Cast out and alone, this power mad pony turned to darkness to satisfy his thirst.

Knuckles could only shake his head and thought internally "Another error in a long list of "mistakes" that Starswirl the Bearded made over his lifetime here in Equestria and back on Earth." Because this happened, it only solidified his belief that Starswirl was a terrible pony and to still hate him with a burning passion.

"Transformed into a Pony of Shadows, he returned for revenge; to extinguish the Pillars' light and rob the world of hope. To stop him, the Pillars and I must make a brave sacrifice, but we shall leave behind a seed in hopes that one day, it will grow into a force to stand against the darkness of all time. We must now face the fiend with the only plan we have. I will only hope it will be enough."

Sunburst closed the book and said to Celestia "That's the last entry and maybe Starswirl's final words before he vanished!"

Celestia levitated the book over to her and said "I've always wondered what happened to Starswirl. This is quite a discovery, Sunburst!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes and Twilight said with excitement "So, it's genuine? You can verify that this journal REALLY belonged to Starswirl the Bearded?"

Luna said "Indeed. From the looks of it, the last thing he wrote before facing the Pony of Shadows." Luna scrolled through the pages and found some more text at the very end of the book. She said "Wait a minute. There's more text here on the last two pages of the book."

That seemed to capture everyone's attention and Twilight asked "What does it say?"

Luna looked at it and began to read it. The pages read:

"Dear Journal,

Life can throw many challenges at us, yet they teach us so much on how to live it. I would have never anticipated that something so simple could be something very complex. Each of us have a role to play in this world and it's up to us to figure out what that means. As I write this down, I fear that Equestria is in grave danger. The Pillars and I have taken down many foes before, but this is far bigger than that. A pony that I once knew has turned to the darkness and has vowed for revenge on his enemies. He is inching closer and time is running short for me.

But we shall leave behind a seed that will grow into something one day that will stand against the darkness. I also sense that a great warrior shall come out of this as well. He will be filled with strength and courage, yet suffer tragedy and heartbreak at the same time. He will find solace, but it will be tested many times. He will also find a partner in life and they shall settle down together after issues are resolved. However, a great threat will emerge that will threaten to end all he has ever known. He will be tested and beaten down, but he will never break. I know that he will become something great one day and will serve to protect Equestria along with this seed. The hour is growing near and my time may come.

But anyone who comes along this journal must know that this was for the best. I wish I had a choice in the matter, but my foe has other ideas. Myself and the Pillars must make a grave sacrifice, but it will be for the greater good of this land. It is young and needs nurturing to become a nation that will be great. It will need protectors for this land to thrive and prosper. Which is why I leave with this seed planted and the great warrior I speak of. I do not know when he will appear, but he will show up when the time comes.

This could very well be my last entry in this journal and if anyone reads this, just know that Equestria is a much safer place now than it was before at the time I'm writing this. As for now, I must venture off to another location with the Pillars and contain this foe once and for all. I only hope that it will be enough.

Farewell,

Starswirl the Bearded"

Everyone's mind was blown and Luna said "That seems strange. Why would Starswirl repeat himself more than once and what is this "great warrior" he speaks of?"

Knuckles didn't like where this was going and said "Give me that." He took the book away from Luna and read it for himself. After thinking about it for a few moments, it hit him like a load of bricks. In fact, it scared him. So much so that his pupils shrunk down to pinpricks and his face turned ghost white. That gave the rest of them a sense of anxiety and they asked him what's wrong. He tossed the book away and said "That book is cursed! There is absolutely no way Starswirl could actually figure out some sort of prophecy that was stated so long ago and assume that it was me. That is just him trying to be cute and his attempt at covering up what he did to my tribe. How terrible."

He walked over to the window and jumped right out of it because he felt like he set a curse somewhere and he had to get out of there before it took effect. None of them said a word for a few seconds and then Luna picked up the book again and said "Well besides that, it seemed like they eventually had to face the Pony of Shadows."

Rainbow didn't like the sound of that and asked with fear "So, the Pony of Shadows was really real?"

Celestia nodded and said "It appears so."

Luna said "We never met the other Pillars and we were too young to understand the danger they faced."

Knuckles scoffed at that and said quietly to himself "It is a good thing you were graced to not see the rest of them and I think you are forgetting how my tribe felt after the Diamond was stolen."

Applejack was skeptical of that and said "Hold on now. All those legendary ponies were real too and they went off with Starswirl to face the Pony of Shadows and then, none of them were ever heard from again?"

Sunburst nodded and Pinkie said in a very "smart" voice "Yeah, weren't you listening?" She just smiled and Applejack gave a deadpan stare on her face.

Fluttershy asked "But what happened to them all?"

Rarity said "They must have defeated the villain since Equestria is still full of light and hope."

"For the most part." Knuckles thought in his head.

Starlight was confused and asked "But how? And where did they go?"

Celestia said "My Old Ponish is a bit rusty, but I wonder if the answers can be found somewhere within the pages of this book."

Twilight smiled at that and said "Well, I just happen to be an expert in Old Ponish. I mean, I've practically memorized every ancient text about Starswirl there is!"

Spike smacked his claw against his face and said "Seriously. All of them."

Luna said "We have fond memories of our old teacher. If you could discover what happened to him, we would be most grateful."

Twilight grabbed the book from Luna and Sunburst said "Solving a thousands year old mystery could take forever! Think of the research. The rereading. The re-rereading!" He attempted to give Knuckles a hoof bump at that and Knuckles reluctantly did so while rolling his eyes at the same time.

Celestia found it funny and said "You might find you need help."

Applejack said "Luckily, she's got a whole bushel of helpers right here."

Rainbow agreed and said "Totally. Um, how long will all this research take exactly?"

Twilight said "Let's get this back to my library. I'm sure we'll figure out what happened in no time." Knuckles rolled his eyes at that and already started walking out of the room. The rest of them did so and they headed back to Baltimare. You see, when Twilight moved in with Knuckles after they got married, he basically dedicated his whole library to her and gave her ownership of it, so now, it belonged to her.

Three Days Later...

It had been three days since all of them started this research and to say they didn't get very far would be a massive understatement. While the group was doing all of that reading, Knuckles had spent all that time doing his normal routine such as working out in the gym, completing work on the computer, responding to fan mail, eating three times a day, going to the bathroom at a normal rate, and even getting sleep every night by going to bed at a reasonable time. But he was most focused on taking care of his child. He did most of the feeding, burping, and changing out diapers, but he had to come into the library occasionally to have Twilight do breastfeeding for the child since he couldn't do that himself.

Female ponies don't exactly have breasts to do breastfeeding, but they do have mounds that serve the same purpose, so that's how it needed to get done. I know that sounds gross and highly inappropriate, but it's a mature rated story for a reason, so deal with it. Anyways, back to the story. So, because three days had past, it had come to the point where Spike kept constantly changing out candles because one would burn out and a new one had to replace it.

So, he yawned a little bit and then replaced the old candle with the new one. He looked at Twilight and asked "Figure it out yet, Twilight?" Twilight just shook her head no and Spike tossed the old candle to the trash can which it was already overflowing with the pile stacking up. Sunburst suddenly awoke from the noise and did the old man thing when they wake up from a nap and asked the most random question of all time. You know what I'm talking about. We've seen it before at least once in our lives.

Anyway, because he did that, the others started waking up and had a false assumption that Twilight figured something out which was not the case whatsoever. Fluttershy asked what it was and Twilight said with a sigh "Nothing. I mean, Starswirl was a genius, obviously. But forget Old Ponish. There's parts where his hornwriting's a whole other language." Twilight was frustrated with that and she rubbed her eyes in exhaustion.

Applejack moved the stack of books aside and said "Twilight, we've been studyin' and referencin' and cross-referencin' for three days straight now." She was so tired that even her eyes weren't that straight for a moment. That's how bad it had gotten.

Rainbow did some stretching and said "I haven't spent this much time reading since the last Daring Do book came out."

Rarity came up with a suggestion and said "Maybe it's best that we take a break. This mystery's over a thousand years old after all. Another day or two won't make a difference."

Knuckles came in through the door and said "I do not even know why you ponies even bothered reading books for three straight days. It is quite unhealthy and even the biggest Starswirl fans would not have that much of an obsession to the point where they are compromising their health because they want to figure out what happened to that dude. It is honestly quite ridiculous."

Twilight didn't appreciate that and said "Caleb! That's not very nice to say! It's true that maybe it wasn't the best thing for our physical health, but this is the biggest mystery in Equestrian history and I'm determined to find out what happened."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "Maybe for you it is. But for me, I would prefer to leave it untouched because all of them honestly deserved whatever fate it was that they got served after stealing the greatest artifact of all time from my tribe. Besides, while you all were wasting your life away reading a bunch of ancient books, I was actually being productive with getting stuff done and I had do most of the load for my child with the exception of breastfeeding since I am not a woman."

Twilight didn't care and said "Alright, we get it. You were being more productive than we were. Now let's move on! I am close to an answer. I can feel it."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and picked up the journal. He said "Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge. Yeah, I know exactly what that is."

Twilight was shell shocked at that and said with shock "The Temple of Ponhenge?! You can read that?!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes again and said "Of course I can. I was a historian, you know. I read the entire Constitution and Declaration of Independence in its original text and this is a piece of cake compared to that." You see, Knuckles had the special ability to read ancient texts with ease as if he was fluent in the language or something and if anyone needed help reading it, he was the guy assigned to read it. No one else in any of his classes in high school or college could even read the first paragraph of either document.

Anyways, Knuckles continued and said "Toward dol grimlic of fola firgenbeorg, User endemest shield." Everyone's mind was blown at this point and they now knew that they could get him to read any ancient text they wanted him to at any time.

Rainbow asked "Uh, so what does that mean?"

Twilight said "From what he read, it translates into *gasps* "At the base of Foal Mountain, our Last Stand."

Spike yawned and said "Well, that sure sounds like a clue to me." He flattened the pillow and went to sleep since he was busy for the last three days changing out candles so the group could read their books with ease.

The rest of the group ignored that and Sunburst pulled out a book that showed where Ponhenge was located at. They ventured there and it honestly looked abandoned. I'm not talking like shopping center abandoned, I'm talking Atlantis abandoned. Most of the group were either excited or nervous about this place and Twilight said "This is it. Ponhenge."

Knuckles took a look around and it reminded him a lot of Stonehenge in England. He had visited that place at one point as part of a romantic vacation with Maddi, but it never really made sense to him why it was considered the Seven Wonders of the World since it was just a bunch of rock formations in a small circle. It confused him, but it didn't bother him enough to try to pursuit it.

Sunburst took a look at one of the stones and said "I've never seen magical runes like these before. Have you?" Twilight shook her head no and continued to walk down the pathway.

Rainbow said "I don't think anypony's seen any of this for a loonnngg time." Rainbow tried to pull the vines off the stones, but the grip was too strong for her and she fell into the bushes.

Applejack had to pull her out and said "It would take a whole team of ponies to clear away all this brush."

Fluttershy said "Even then, I'm not sure we'd find out what happened here over a thousand years ago."

Twilight sighed and said "You're right. I suppose it was a long shot." For Knuckles, that meant he no longer had to hear about the issue at the moment, which definitely gave him relief.

Spike said "Cheer up, Twilight. Finding a whole set of ancient ruins is pretty impressive. Or maybe you could write a paper on it."

Twilight turned around and said "I guess I hoped we'd get here and the mystery would magically be explained." She dropped the book and as if it had been listening, the book started to light up and Spike got nervous.

He backed up and said "Uh, Twilight?" Even the others had taken notice as well and expressed worry.

Twilight turned around and backed up as well. The book opened and flipped to a random page. After a few seconds, an illumination of Starswirl was standing right there. Twilight was in complete awe while Knuckles was burning with anger at seeing his greatest enemy's face once again. A thing that he wished he would never have to experience ever again.

Anyway, Twilight said "Starswirl? I've wanted to meet you my whole life. I can't believe you're here!"

Sunburst put his hoof through the illumination to see if it was the real one and it went right through, which meant it was not Starswirl in flesh and blood. Just an illusion of him. Sunburst said "I don't think he is here. I don't think any of them are." Suddenly, the rest of them magically showed up and the group were shocked to see them. Well, except Knuckles. His anger level only continued to rise as he saw the rest of them appear one by one. He knew that it was just an illusion, but it was still painful for him to deal with and there could be something that might get told here that he may not have known.

Starswirl blasted the well in the center and out came the Pony of Shadows. He gave some evil laughter and most of the group backed away in fear. The Pony of Shadows gave an evil grin at Starswirl and said "You summon me at your peril, Starswirl! Once I defeat all of you, this realm will embrace the darkness as I did so long ago." He made a very loud noise and trapped the Pillars in black webs as a way to restrain them. He continued to laugh in their faces and continued to draw power from them.

He looked at the struggling Starswirl and said "Drawing me here will only make me stronger. You will never defeat me!"

Starswirl looked at the Pony of Shadows in the eyes and said "We did not come here to defeat you." Suddenly, all of the Pillars used their artifacts to create a hexagon shape around the Pony of Shadows and the foe was confused. But then, something else appeared: The Master Diamond. Knuckles gasped very loudly with horror and his anger levels rose to new heights. His eyebrows and hair were literally on fire at this point because of how angry he was.

The Pony of Shadows asked in confusion "What are you doing?!"

Starswirl glared at him and said "We've came to contain you." All of them rose up into the air and they suddenly disappeared. The artifacts dropped to the ground and disappeared from existence before the book eventually closed. Everyone was completely shell shocked at the rapid turn of events and Pinkie said to Twilight "Well, you did ask for a magical explanation!"

Twilight examined the book again and Rainbow asked "Uh, what just happened?"

Starlight said "It looked like Starswirl cast a spell to banish the Pony of Shadows."

That statement hit Sunburst like a load of bricks and he said "Of course! Powerful magic like that would leave an impression on this place. Bringing the book back here let us see what happened."

Applejack was confused and asked "Which was what?"

Twilight looked at the book and said with a heavy heart "Starswirl and the rest of the Pillars sacrificed themselves to save Equestria."

Rainbow said "Uh, I don't think that's the only thing." She pointed over to Knuckles and they all saw him still burning with anger with his eyebrows and hair still being on fire while just standing there with the same angry expression on his face.

Twilight sighed and said "Somepony get me a water bucket." Rainbow got one for her super quickly and Twilight dropped the bucket of cold water on Knuckles' head which snapped him out of his angry daze. He shivered a little bit because of how cold it was and he was now annoyed.

He asked "Who the f[BLEEP] decided to dump cold water on my f[BLEEP]ing head?!"

Twilight shook her head and said "Caleb, get ahold of yourself. You were practically scaring us all over there with you having your hair on fire and having the same angry expression on your face for five minutes straight. You looked like a serial killer."

Knuckles sighed and said "I am sorry about that. It is just I am even more angry about the situation now than I was before."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and said "Why? Because you witnessed the event for yourself?"

Knuckles shook his head and said "No. It is because that artifact that was stolen from my grandparents and the one we have all taken a vow to protect was used to defeat another villain! I know it sound ridiculous, but how would you feel if you had an artifact stolen from you in the name of protecting it from evil and then turn around and watch that thief use that item to defeat another villain in another dimension?!"

All of them were speechless on what to say and it made Knuckles more frustrated. He said "That ungrateful son of a b[BLEEP] had to go steal MY artifact from MY tribe and then used it as a weapon to defeat a villain for his own selfish gain and make himself look good! He is lucky he is not here at the moment because if he was, I would tear that b[BLEEP] limb for limb after everything he did to ME and my tribe! Absolutely DISGUSTING!" He began to walk away and headed back to his mansion. The rest of them stayed silent and didn't know how to respond to that. It hurt Twilight to see her husband so upset over something like this, but this was really stretching it for all of them at this point. He's made his point clear and they understand, but he continues to go on about it as if it were contagious or something.

They all eventually returned to his mansion and both Starlight and Sunburst were having a conversation in the hallway about the recent events that had occurred within the last day or so. Starlight said "It's amazing to think one of the greatest mysteries of Equestria was solved from a musty old book from an antique shop."

That angered Knuckles even more, who was passing by at the moment and he said "That same "musty old book" is what led to the downfall of my tribe and caused everything to turn into shambles! It is his fault that my life turned into the mess it did and he deserves every bad outcome that is delivered to him!" Before anyone could say anything, he walked down the other hallway and slammed the door shut, which definitely set the mood for them.

Sunburst said after a few seconds "Well, that was strange."

Starlight sighed and said "Yeah, he's been acting like that for the last few days and honestly, who can blame him? Everything that he went through in his life and even when he came here before I did definitely did not help him at all. I know he said that the Pillars stole that artifact from his family, but I can tell there's more to it than just that. I just hope that we can solve this mystery so that we can put this issue to rest for good."

Sunburst began thinking and said "But I wouldn't say the mystery's solved. Starswirl's spell was one of the most powerful feats of magic in all of history! It'll take years of study before we fully understand it."

They both opened the door to the library and Twilight suddenly said "I think I understand Starswirl's spell!" That statement drew a blank between Sunburst and Starlight and the two of them looked at each other in confusion because it didn't really make any sense and to them, it sounded like a very hot take.

The group met up in the conference room and Twilight opened it up by saying "I know I've finished one of Starswirl's spells before, but this one was on a whole different level. Was it an explosion of magical feedback? An evocation? A kind of incantation? It's Starswirl, so the possibilities are endless! And once Caleb set me on the right track with his crazy hornwriting- I mean, he was a genius, so I guess we can forgive a little messiness- I went through the journal again and it's amazing!"

No one shared the same enthusiasm as Twilight did and Rarity said "Twilight darling. We know you're excited, but that's all we understand."

Rainbow reaffirmed that and said "What exactly is so amazing?"

Twilight treated that like it was heresy and said "Only that Starswirl and the other Pillars sent the Pony of Shadows to Limbo!"

Applejack was confused and asked "They did what now?"

Knuckles thought about it and said "Yes, that actually does make sense. Trap your enemy into another dimension so that you can pull them away from the one they were causing terror in. Unfortunately, that fool had to use my artifact to do so, but that is what you get with idiots like him."

Twilight was annoyed at this point and said "Caleb! Knock it off! We get it! You hate Starswirl and the other Pillars! There's no reason to keep repeating that!"

Knuckles did not appreciate that at all and said "Do not disrespect me, young lady! I AM the head of this household and I AM the chairman of this committee right here. So, whatever I say goes and anything I shut down is FINAL! No ifs, ands, or buts. I do not play games. Do not do that again. Continue."

Twilight shook her head and said "They used their magic to open a portal between worlds, to Limbo, and pulled the Pony of shadows inside." She used a diorama to demonstrate and as a result, it disappeared into thin air after a few seconds.

Rarity expressed horror and said "Darling, your diorama!"

Twilight wasn't bothered by it and said "I made more!" She pointed to the table in the corner and it was just collapsing on itself at this point. She picked up the book and said "Starswirl thought that the only way to trap the Pony of Shadows in Limbo was for the Pillars to take him there."

Applejack connected the dots and said "So they got stuck there too!"

Knuckles thought that was the perfect punishment for Starswirl and the Pillars after everything they did to him and his tribe and it would serve as a good way to never see them again, even though it seems like Twilight was threatening to get them out.

Fluttershy shivered in fear and said "The Pony of Shadows must have been really awful for them to do that." No one could disagree with this statement.

Pinkie said "I suppose being trapped for all time with a super-duper bad guy in limbo might be OK if you were doing the limbo, but that's still pushing it."

Twilight said with confidence "The thing is, I think I can get them out." Almost as if time stopped itself, the sound of a pin drop echoed through the room and left everyone stunned.

Sunburst asked "Twilight, are you serious? You can save the most legendary ponies of all time?"

Starlight was more skeptical and said "I don't know. Opening portals between worlds didn't work out well for me. Are you sure it's safe?"

Knuckles scoffed and said "No, it is not safe to be honest. I cannot even believe this. You honestly want to get the most hated ponies of all time in my tribe set free after everything they did to us just so that you can solve a thousands year old mystery?! Did you forget what they did to me?! My tribe?! I have heard a lot of absurd ideas before, but this just crosses the line! I never wanted to see those fools again and I thought my wishes were getting respected. I guess I was wrong. You clearly have no respect for me whatsoever! I officially adjourn this meeting!"

He got up out of his chair and slammed the door very loudly, which showed everyone how frustrated he clearly was about all of this. Twilight sighed and said "He is so stubborn sometimes. But that doesn't matter at the moment. We must press forward with this."

Starlight raised a brow and said "Are you sure that's a good idea? It didn't work out so well for me and it's clear there is opposition to it already."

Twilight said "First of all, you opened portals through time. Second of all, he wrote the spell you used to do it. If he'd had been here, he could have stopped it. And third of all, don't even get involved with the opposition. That is my private business that I need to settle with my husband. The point is, Equestria would be safer with Starswirl in it. We have to save him!"

Applejack asked "But you'd be savin' all of the Pillars, right? And they disappeared ages ago!"

Twilight flew back down in her chair and said "That's the thing about Limbo. It isn't one place or another. It's in between, so time stands still. If we pull them out, it will be like they never left. I actually built another model to demonstrate..." Rainbow had enough at this point and banged her head on the table in frustration.

Before things could get anymore out of hand, Spike asked "What can we do to help?"

Twilight smiled and said "If I'm right, we need to find items that are connected to the Pillars in some way."

That grabbed Rainbow's attention and she asked "You mean, like stuff that belonged to them?"

Fluttershy seemed confused on that as well and she asked "How would we know what to look for? Or where?"

Twilight said "Luckily, Starswirl took a lot of notes. "My compatriots are as varied as the realm itself and hail from every corner of our land, bringing with them artifacts and talismans of great power." As if something was activated on cue, there was a bright light in the room and that drew everyone's attention.

Starlight was worried and asked with concern "Um, Twilight? What are you doing?"

Twilight looked up and she was shocked to see images of these artifacts just magically appear as if what she read was a command that was used to activate the location of them. She said "I'm not doing anything!" The items then appeared on the live map of Equestria that was hanging up on the wall and stopped at the precise locations of where they were currently at. All of them were amazed at that and Twilight said "I guess we don't need to figure out who should get what."

Meanwhile, down in the Knucklecave, Knuckles was busy throwing tin cans at the wall in anger and screaming out insults at Starswirl and the other Pillars with rage in his voice. He was clearly angry and he was upset at Twilight for not respecting his wishes. It was already bad enough her just talking about it and now she wanted to get them out of there?! Did she not know of the pain those ponies had caused to him and his tribe?! Did she forget their terrible actions against his tribe?!

They stole the Master Diamond from his grandparents and then used it to banish another villain in another dimension as a way to cover it up. And now, because of the supposed legacy they left behind, it was corrupting ponies into believing some false story of who they were and chanting them as some sort of saviour to their world. It was corrupting his friends and it was corrupting his wife and he was not going to let it happen any longer. It is time for him and his friends to pay the consequences of their actions against the Echidna tribe and if Twilight was going to set them free, he was going to make them suffer day and night for the rest of their miserable lives as reparations for what they did to him and his tribe.

Twilight had come down and saw him very angry. It really had pained her to see him so angry like this, but this was for the greater good in her mind. Knuckles saw her and said with bitterness in his voice "What do you want? You already do not respect my opinion and now you are probably coming down here to attempt to kick me out of my own house."

Instead of responding, Twilight flew up to him and hugged him. This surprised Knuckles entirely and his anger started to vanish rapidly. But he wanted an explanation. As soon as he opened his mouth to ask what the meaning of all this was, Twilight gave him a passionate kiss before he could say anything. He wanted to recoil back, but after a few seconds, he simply couldn't resist anymore. They ended up doing that for the next few minutes, and Twilight said "It's going to be alright, Caleb. I understand you are very upset right now, and you have every right to be, but I promise you that things will turn out alright."

Knuckles sighed and said "You honestly sound like Maddi when you talk like that. But that aside, I have nothing against you at all. I am upset that you are pursuing this, but it is more about the pony stuck in Limbo than it is you. I know you are trying to do the right thing and I know all too well that's not the easiest thing to do, but I feel like my wishes are getting ignored. I feel like I am being neglected and that my concerns about this are not considered important to you. I feel disrespected and I already went through enough of it in my life."

Twilight said "I do care about your concerns Caleb and it tears me up inside to see you so angry and upset. I do remember all that tragedy you went through in your life where you were neglected, abandoned, and abused and I don't want to make you feel that way again. I know you're skeptical about it and it may reopen old wounds, but I'm doing this for the greater good of Equestria. You can still oppose it, but try not to be so angry about it. If not for yourself, do it for me. Can you do that for me?"

Knuckles sighed again and said "I will try, but there are no guarantees. There is a lot of bad blood between me and Starswirl and I feel like releasing him would open the door to a potential firestorm that will be hard to contain. However, I will try only because I love you and I know better than go against your wishes."

Twilight smiled and said "Great. Now let's head over to Ponhenge so we can meet up with the others and get this thing started!"

Knuckles watched Twilight leave and he sighed. He said to himself "I hope you know what you are doing, Twilight. There is a lot of bad stuff in this war and you may soon regret peaking in the door. I only hope that it does not turn into a disaster." He went for the elevator and left his house for Ponhenge.

He made there with his wife, Starlight, and Sunburst and the ponies were discussing how they were going to do this while Knuckles sat on one of the stones to think about his interactions he's had with Starswirl over the years. Twilight said with excitement "I can't believe I'm actually going to meet Starswirl the Bearded. You know, outside of my dreams."

Starlight didn't feel the same way and said "I can't believe you're actually going through with it."

Twilight was confused and asked "What do you mean?"

Starlight said "I'm all for pushing the envelope, obviously, but this is pretty out there for you, Twilight."

Sunburst thought that was ridiculous and asked "What's "out there" about saving the most legendary ponies of all time from a thousands year old prison?!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "The title legendary is highly debatable, but whatever."

Everypony ignored that and Starlight said "Well, nothing when you say it like that. Unless the most legendary ponies of all time knew what they were doing and we shouldn't mess with it."

Knuckles agreed with Starlight on this one and he wished that those ponies would stay in Limbo forever so that he would never have to deal with that pain again, but he was clearly outvoted in this case, so there was really nothing he could do except sit and watch.

Sunburst said "I'm sure Starswirl and the Pillars did the best they could back then, but magic has come a long way, mostly because of the work they did."

Starlight said "That's true, and you did get your wings from finishing one of Starswirl's spells."

Twilight extended them for a second and said "Exactly."

Starlight said "But then, I messed with one and nearly destroyed the universe, so..."

Twilight wasn't having it anymore and said "Starlight, Starswirl the Bearded was the greatest wizard that ever lived, the chance of having him back in Equestria is worth the risk."

Spike said from the bushes "That's good news."

Rainbow then said "Otherwise, we would have brought this shield for nothing."

Applejack interjected and said "Ah hope ya don't think yer not the only one to find her artifact, 'cause this here shovel says otherwise."

Rarity laughed at that and said "Honestly, you two. Not everything is a competition. But, Mistmane's flower is by far the most attractive of the artifacts."

Pinkie randomly appeared and said "You're just saying that because you didn't have to scoop it out of a pit of green slime to get yours."

Fluttershy showed up as well and said "Or move a Flash Bee hive."

Twilight smiled and said "Good work, everyone. Let's do this."

Before anyone could do anything though, Knuckles interjected and asked "Are you sure this is a good idea? This might bear a lot of bad consequences if you do so."

Twilight rolled her eyes and said "Yes, Caleb. I'm sure. There's nothing to worry about."

Fluttershy asked Knuckles "Is there a reason why you're so resistant to it?"

Knuckles sighed and said "You all want the story? I will give you the story. Thousands of years ago, a fearsome group of warriors in the battleground skies, forged the six Harmony Diamonds into the most unstoppable weapon ever created: The Master Diamond. With it, a single warrior could defeat entire armies. My tribe was chosen by the creators to protect the Diamond at all costs and fight anyone to the death who tried to steal it. We were the greatest tribe on the Earth and we thrived off of protecting it. It was considered the Golden Age for us and we never looked back on it."

It was a great time if you were around then and they had a lot of success during that time period where the Master Diamond was in their possession.

Knuckles continued and said "However, an order of heroes who you all know as the Pillars, believing that no one should hold such power, stole the Diamond from us and swore to protect it from evil. After my grandparents lost the Diamond, who were the current guardians of it at the time, our tribe went into freefall mode. We were fortunately never compromised by anyone and no one ever did find out our secrets, but we were never the same after that. All of us felt like we failed at our life mission and as a result, some of us ended their lives because of how ashamed we were. Protecting the Diamond was our sole responsibility. We NEVER wanted to use it for evil and the ones that did got cast out for it. But after they stole it from us, we had no idea where to go. That is the story of how the Pillars stole the Master Diamond."

All of them were speechless for a few seconds and then Twilight said "Well, I think now is as a good of a time as ever to ask Starswirl and the Pillars for their side of the story."

Knuckles scoffed at that and said "Yeah, and you know what they will tell you? "Oh, we were simply trying to protect the Diamond from being used for evil." It was never THEIR Diamond! It was OURS! And they chose to steal it from us anyways just so they could defeat their own villain here in Equestria to cover up what they did to my tribe! They were not given the responsibility to protect the Diamond. That was our job! You know how it felt when Sunset Shimmer stole your crown and Element of Harmony. It put Equestria at serious risk and you were angry at her for doing that. That's how my tribe felt when the Diamond was stolen from us. It is something beyond anything anyone could imagine and if it fell into the wrong hands, our entire universe would cease to exist! You must understand that I am telling the truth here and I am not making excuses. It is part of the reason why I am the man I am today. So, please reconsider before you go through with this."

Twilight thought about it for a bit and weighed her options. She couldn't believe that the Pillars did that to his tribe, but Starswirl definitely was not perfect. It was a long time ago and maybe he realized that was a terrible mistake to make. Sure, there was definitely quite a bit of risk to this, but she believed that the reward would greatly outweigh it. So, there was nothing to really worry about. Twilight said "I'm sorry, Caleb, but it must be done. Equestria would be better with Starswirl and the rest of the Pillars here, so we must set them free. It's the only way."

She gave the nod of approval for starting the spell and Sunburst blasted the book with his magic. Starlight groaned and did the same thing. Twilight added her magic as well and the book lit up. It made the same hexagon shape when it connected to the other artifacts and it spun around in a few circles before completely disappearing. The Pillars all suddenly fell to the ground and the Mane Six had to move them out of the way so they wouldn't get crushed by the rocks that fell from the sky.

Starswirl opened his eyes and said "What? What has happened?"

Twilight was excited and said "It worked! We brought you back!"

Starswirl rubbed his eyes and said "To where?"

Twilight said "You and the others have been trapped in Limbo for over a thousand years, but I figured out how to get you ho-"

Starswirl was in panic mode and said "WHAT?! NO, NO, NO, YOU MUST UNDO WHAT YOU'VE DONE!

Twilight was confused by that and asked "What? Why? I mean, I don't think I can."

Starswirl walked towards her and said "You cannot bring us back."

Twilight was getting nervous at his face and said "But I did. I brought all of the Pillars back."

Starswirl said with fear in his voice "You cannot ONLY bring the Pillars back!"

Suddenly, a bunch of lightning and thunder went off and dark storm clouds began to appear onto the scene. Everyone gasped and they backed up in fear when they saw who it was. The Pony of Shadows returned to his solid pony state and he gave out evil laughter. Twilight was quite scared and said "Oh no." She had really screwed up this time and for Knuckles, this only got more interesting as not only was his worst enemies back, the villain who was defeated with his own artifact had now returned as well. This was definitely going to be a challenge.

Author's Note

AN: Well men, we've reached the end of the second chapter! I know I left you all on a cliffhanger, but I'm dealing with the Season Seven finale here. It's where the stopping point occurred in the show, but the next chapter will be coming out soon. I'll be working on it throughout the week and I'll hopefully get it out to you all next Sunday, but we'll see. Things have definitely heated up and they will only continue to do so from here. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: The Confrontation! After Twilight brings back the Pillars and also the Pony of Shadows on complete accident, Knuckles now has to face his worst enemy once again. It does not go well as you would expect, but they now have to deal with a dangerous villain running out on the loose and if that wasn't enough, some other characters show up onto the scene because a different villain escaped to Equestria and is planning to take it over. Will Knuckles be able to come to a temporary solution, or will his past prevent him from interacting with Starswirl?

Until then, my fellow readers

Chapter 3: Old Foes Reunite

The Pony of Shadows continued to laugh evilly at all of the group standing before him and for him, it felt glorious seeing their frightful faces. He stopped laughing and eventually said "Your pitiful attempt to imprison me has FAILED, Starswirl!"

Starswirl tried to light up his horn to do something, but it didn't do anything, so he was left helpless. He turned to Twilight and said "You must return us to Limbo. It's the only way to stop him."

Twilight didn't know how to do that and she said "I only figured out how to bring you back!"

Sunburst was busy at the moment trying to look up anything in the book that would tell them all how to return the Pillars and Pony of Shadows to Limbo, but he wasn't finding any success whatsoever. He said "Working on it! No table of contents!"

The Pony of Shadows saw this as an opportunity to attack his enemies and he said "Allow me to assist." He suddenly summoned black spears from his body and connected it to all of the stones. He then used some effort and broke all of them, which also resulted in the destruction of Starswirl's journal, since it got impaled by the spear. Knuckles would have rejoiced at the destruction of the book, but he was now angry that someone beat him to it.

The Pony of Shadows smiled and said "There! Without the power of Ponhenge, your banishing spell is USELESS!"

Starswirl was quite angry with Twilight at this point and he said "You have studied my writings. Surely, you have some other PLAN!"

Twilight didn't know how to exactly respond to that and she said "No. I just wanted to save you! I didn't think-"

The Pony of Shadows cut her off and said "Don't fret. When I extinguish the light and hope of this miserable world, you won't remember any of this!"

He attempted to blast a beam at Starswirl, but Twilight was not having it, so she shot a beam of magic right back at him and the two collided. It caused the Pony of Shadows to wince in pain a bit, but it didn't phase him too much. He said "This one is almost as strong as you, Starswirl. But even in my weakened state, she cannot stand the might of shadows."

He sent out another beam of magic, this time directed at Twilight, and she responded in kind. However, it looked like he was going to win there for a second, but Starlight saved Twilight at the last second and said "Lucky for her, she's not alone." The two of them combined their beams and pushed back the one from the Pony of Shadows. It eventually reached his horn and he yelled loudly in pain.

Starswirl glared at the Pony of Shadows with a deep hatred and said "Know this, fiend! We will NOT rest until we find a way to return you to Limbo!"

The Pony of Shadows growled in anger and said in defiance "NEVER! Your days of glory are through, Starswirl. Now, my dark power will reign and you six will BOW TO ME!" He then disappeared into the sky and all of the black storm clouds disappeared.

It confused everyone and Rainbow asked "Um, where'd he go?"

Somnambula said "That is a riddle we must unravel, and quickly!"

Mage Meadowbrook asked out of curiosity "How long have we been gone?"

Fluttershy said "Over a thousand years."

That shocked all of the Pillars and said "Then my spell worked, before it was meddled with and the realm has been at peace for a millenia." Starswirl directed that last part at Twilight and she hid away in embarrassment, which angered Knuckles.

Suddenly, Knuckles shouted "HEY! DON'T YOU DARE INSULT MY WIFE LIKE THAT!"

Starswirl was confused by who shouted that and asked "Who said that?!"

Knuckles stepped forward and said "I did. Starswirl the Bearded. It's been a long time, hasn't it, you old fool? I'm sure you remember me. Don't you?!"

Starswirl looked to see who it was and when he saw Knuckles, his eyes shrunk down to pinpricks because it had been so long since he had seen him and now, he ends up returning somehow in his home world. He said "Caleb, how are you here? It's been so long. I never thought I would see you again."

Knuckles was having none of it and said "DON'T YOU PLAY DUMB WITH ME, STARSWIRL! ONLY MY WIFE CALLS ME THAT! YOU ARE MY ENEMY, SO YOU SHALL ADDRESS ME AS KNUCKLES! I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID TO ME ALL OF THOSE YEARS AGO AND SOME INSINCERE SWEETNESS IS NOT GOING TO CUT IT! You seriously think that after YOU AND THE OTHER PILLARS HERE STOLE MY DIAMOND FROM MY TRIBE, YOU ARE JUST GOING TO WALTZ UP IN HERE AND PRETEND NOTHING HAPPENED?! I DO NOT THINK SO! I HAVE THE DIAMOND IN MY POSSESSION ONCE MORE, AND I WILL MAKE SURE NOT YOU OR ANY OF THE OTHER PILLARS STEAL IT AGAIN! MY TRIBE FOUGHT AND DIED AT YOUR HANDS, AND NOW YOU SHALL DIE IN MINE!"

Knuckles charged up his red lightning and just before he could land the knockout blow on Starswirl, Twilight grabbed his arm and held it back like a defender going after the quarterback for the football. She said "Caleb, stop! I know you're angry at Starswirl and the others for what they did to you, but this is not the answer to solving it."

Knuckles thought about it for a few seconds and then sighed. He growled in anger at Starswirl and said "You're lucky she's around because if she wasn't, I'd beat your old ass in a heartbeat because of what you did to me. Do not EVER STEP OUT OF LINE AGAIN! If you dare insult my wife like that again, it is going to be me and you with my fist so far up your ass that you would not be able to ever function properly again! Just stay out of MY WAY! Now, get out of my face, you worthless piece of s[BLEEP]."

Twilight slapped him across the face and did the silent motion telling him to zip it and he moved along. But not before he did the "I am watching you!" motion at Starswirl. He said one last time "Oh, and for your information, Equestria has not always been at peace with the threats of Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Tirek, and Starlight Glimmer. But other than that, it has been fine."

Flash Magnus said "If you all are truly this accomplished, we will stop the Pony of Shadows twice as fast together!"

Starswirl wasn't as sure about it and said "We shall see. It is an easy thing to say you have saved the world. It is quite another to do it."

Rainbow took that as a challenge and said "Oh, we have saved the world beardo, and we can do it again."

Starswirl was still skeptical of that and said "Be that as it may. The problem of locating the Pony of Shadows remains and this land is vast."

Rarity said "It sounds like you need a map. Luckily, we have just the thing."

Suddenly, a portal opened and a dude riding a bunch of black horses rushed through like a stampede of Buffalo. It literally looked like one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse had run through and the second coming of Christ was upon the hour. Then, a bunch of humans came through right behind on their tails just as fast as the horses. They all suddenly stopped and one of them said "Dang it! Pitch got away again! I would have thought we would have got him this time!"

Another one said "Jack, we've been chasing him for ages and it has gotten quite tiring at this point."

A third voice said "Elsa, this is what happens whenever you're chasing a villain. They run away and you keep following them no matter what until you catch them."

Finally, a fourth voice said "Anna, you nearly left me in the dust with how fast you were running."

The entire group stared at the group of newcomers and they were completely shellshocked. Knuckles included. In fact, he couldn't believe his eyes. Standing before him were the Guardians of The Rise of Guardians and Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven of Frozen which stunned him. The newcomers saw that he was staring at them and they were shocked to see all of them as well.

Knuckles extended out his arms in front of the group as a shield and said "This could get quite dicy guys. Be prepared for danger."

Jack Frost stepped forward and asked "Who exactly are all of you and where are we?"

Knuckles said "To answer your question Jack Frost, I am Knuckles. Trained since birth in battle and will fight anyone or anything to the death for the Ultimate Power. As for the ponies behind me, you have my wife, Princess Twilight Sparkle, my other friends, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Starlight, Sunburst, and Spike, and of course there is the supposed "legendary" ponies of all time, Rockhoof, Mistmane, Mage Meadowbrook, Somnambula, Flash Magnus, and Starswirl the Bearded. As for where you are, you are in Equestria. You are no longer on Earth."

Jack Frost was surprised with the information he received and asked "How do you know my name is Jack Frost?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "Because you were considered a legend back on Earth along with North, the Easter Bunny, Tooth, and of course The Sandman. None of it surprises me."

Jack Frost seemed to accept that as an answer and backed away a little bit. He said "Well then, since you introduced me to your group, allow me to introduce you to mine. You already seem to know the rest of the Guardians, so I won't repeat that, but there are some unfamiliar faces to you. There's my wife, Elsa, her sister, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven."

Knuckles said "Oh, I already know who all of them are."

That seemed to raise an alarm and Jack asked with suspicion "How so?"

Knuckles said "To put it simply, it was well known on Earth that your wife has ice powers and nearly killed her own sister with it. BUT, it was also known that it was the power of love that set her sister free from the ice, so I'm well aware of the whole story."

This didn't exactly settle well with Elsa and out of fear, she summoned blocks of ice to try and trap him. She then summoned another one to move Knuckles back, but she forgot who she was dealing with. Knuckles saw it coming and he simply stopped the block of ice from moving, which shocked everyone. He implanted his feet into the ground and he held the ice in place. Elsa tried to add more power to the ice, but Knuckles refused to budge. In fact, he was so strong that he started to move it back towards her, which shocked everyone even more because no one had seen this kind of thing before.

He eventually stopped and charged up his red lightning. He yelled out his battle cry and shattered the ice with ease, which released a shockwave. It caused everyone to fall down and Knuckles stepped forward towards Elsa. He said "I am Knuckles. Welcome to the club." He extended out his hand to help Elsa up and the Ice Queen just went with it. Anna was curious and asked "How did you do that?"

Knuckles looked at her and said "What, that? Oh please. That was only a fraction of my power. I have supernatural abilities which is super strength primarily and it is all part of being part of the Echidna tribe."

Anna raised a brow and said "The Echidna tribe? What's that?"

Knuckles said "It is a long story, but that is the tribe I belonged to and it was our job to protect the Ultimate Power until a certain "group" of ponies stole it from us and used it to defeat another villain in their dimension. However, that is not important at the moment. This said villain has disappeared and it seemed like another one just ran through there."

North nodded and said "It was Pitch. Pitch Black. As you may know, it is our job to spread our belief across the world, but when Pitch creates fear in children, it causes us to lose our power. The more he spreads that fear, the weaker our powers become, so it's very important that we find him."

Elsa got curious and asked Knuckles "How exactly do you know about us? And the story surrounding it?"

Knuckles sighed and said "Well, my first love looked a lot like Rapunzel, and there was nothing she loved to talk about more than the Kingdom of Arendelle."

Elsa's eyes went wide and she said out of curiosity "Punzie?" She obviously knew a lot about Rapunzel and there was a little known fact that most did not know, except maybe those in the audience who are reading it. You might have an idea.

Knuckles raised a brow and said "You know her?"

Elsa said "Of course I do. She's my cousin!" That statement shocked everyone except her family and the Guardians. They couldn't believe it.

Rainbow Dash said "Woah! That's something you don't hear everyday!"

Knuckles couldn't believe it and said "So, you mean to tell me that THE Rapunzel was actually your cousin?" Elsa nodded and Knuckles' mind was officially blown. He said "Okay, that might have been the craziest thing I have ever heard, but we have more important topics at the moment. So, do you guys have any idea where Pitch might be headed?"

The Easter Bunny shrugged and said "No clue, mate. We were hot on his tail and then poof! He was gone just like that, mate."

Knuckles thought about it and said "Hmm. The Pony of Shadows just randomly disappearing and now Pitch Black entering another dimension to cause more havoc. This is a very interesting development, and not the good kind either. That fool known as Starswirl does have a point about this land being vast, but like the good Rarity said, there is a map nearby. Come, we must prepare for the journey ahead."

All of them went to Knuckles' mansion once again and they headed straight for the board room. Knuckles pulled up the live map of Equestria and said "Alright, so we got two villains on the loose right now: Pitch Black and the Pony of Shadows. Both of their whereabouts are currently unknown. They could be colluding with one another and have a disastrous plan for both Equestria and my home planet. In order to figure out where they could potentially be at, I have highlighted in black marker certain areas where they could potentially be at. You will be split up as a way to find them faster and once you've gathered evidence, you meet back here. Any questions?"

Pinkie raised her hoof and Knuckles said with a deadpan stare "Is this a serious question Pinkie, because we have NO TIME to fool around. We have two dangerous villains out on the loose and we cannot be wasting time asking stupid questions."

Pinkie said "I was just going to say that what if we can't find anything?"

Knuckles sighed and said "You will be able to find something. Trust me. Criminals are stupid enough to leave hints behind all the time. I have dealt and fought them all my life. I know their plans of action very well at this point. Any other questions?" No one spoke and it was settled. He said "Good. Now here is how we're going to do this: Rockhoof, Mistmane, Somnambula, Mage Meadowbrook, and Flash Magnus, you go with my wife's friends and scout out the western half of Equestria. North, Easter Bunny, Tooth, Sandman, Jack, Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff, you all come with me and scope out the local landscape here in Baltimare since you guys are not familiar with this country yet. Olaf and Sven, you are going to stay here with Twilight since I don't want to be responsible losing you guys. Everyone know where to go?"

They all nodded and he said "Good. Now GO! There is no time to waste!" They all left and Knuckles was about to head out too, but Twilight stopped him.

She asked "What about Starswirl? You can't leave him out."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said to Starswirl with bitterness "Make yourself useful and go into the library and read up whatever you can about the Pony of Shadows. You seem to be smart enough about that sort of thing anyway. Now, if you excuse me, I have a villain to track down and this time, you are not stopping me from doing so." He shut the door and went off to his Knucklecave.

Twilight sighed and said "I really wish I could understand why he hates you so much."

Starswirl sighed as well and said "That is a complicated one. We used to be so close and now, we're practically enemies."

Twilight seemed confused by that and asked "What's that supposed to mean?"

Starswirl didn't want to answer that and said "I'm with your husband in this case. We don't have time to waste. The Pony of Shadows will continue to use his dark power and will destroy everything good in this life." He closed the door and headed to the library which left Twilight all alone.

She sighed and said "Why can't we all get along?" After a few seconds, she also left the room and went to try to do research. It frustrated her to see the divide between her husband and the Pillars, but there was very little she could do about it at the moment. It almost felt like to her that she failed at her mission of being the Princess of Friendship because of her husband's hatred of the most legendary ponies of all time. While it was more important at the moment to defeat the Pony of Shadows and Pitch Black, the divide had to be dealt with at some point before it was too late.

Author's Note

AN: I know that this is a shorter chapter, but this is the introductions chapter and since there is two evil villains on the loose, it has to be brief. Plus, I thought this was a good stopping point, so that's why it ended here. I promise the next chapter will be longer. One thing I want to mention is that there are some headcanons in this story such as Rapunzel being Elsa and Anna's cousin and other things which will come later on. Things seem a bit calmer towards the end of the chapter, but it's only beginning. It will get more heated later on and it will be revealed what caused Knuckles to hate Starswirl so much. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: The Alliance! As the Pillars, most of the Mane Six, and the Guardians search Equestria for the two foes on the loose, Pitch Black suggests an alliance to the Pony of Shadows to destroy the Pillars, the Guardians, the Mane Six, and Knuckles while also conquering both Equestria and the Earth planet that Knuckles previously called home. Can the group track these two down and put a stop to their evil plan, or will they have done too much damage in order to stop a counterattack?

Until then, my fellow readers

Chapter 4: The Alliance of Enemies

Knuckles was currently walking through the city of Baltimare with the Guardians and the main characters of Frozen and they were looking for clues on anything that could tell them the location of the Pony of Shadows or Pitch Black or both. He said "We must find something in this city that could show us the location of the Pony of Shadows or Pitch. This city is very large and a lot of ground to cover, so we must keep our eyes peeled."

Kristoff asked "Pardon me Knuckles, but what exactly is the Pony of Shadows? I know he's a bad guy, but we honestly don't know anything about him."

Jack also voiced similar concern and said "Yeah, we need to know what exactly we are looking for in this pony villain."

Knuckles nodded and said "Of course. I do not have the greatest knowledge of the Pony of Shadows, but from what I know, he was originally a pony that brought all of the Pillars of Equestria together and somehow turned evil because his supposed "friends" cast him out after catching him trying to "steal" artifacts. However, I think there is something deeper going on. For one, they did not even give him a chance to explain himself and just made judgement based on what they saw, which was really stupid on their part. And secondly, I find it incredibly rich that the Pillars believed that the Pony of Shadows was trying to steal artifacts from them when they did the exact thing to my tribe and that got swept under the rug somehow."

North could sense the bitterness in his voice and asked "What exactly makes you hate them so much, Knuckles? It's clear that you don't have a very favorable view of them."

Knuckles sighed and said "It is a very long story, but to put it simply, not only did they steal my artifact from my tribe years ago to defeat the Pony of Shadows thousands of years prior, but Starswirl in particular did something to me that I never thought he would ever do considering how favorable our relationship was at the time."

Tooth raised a brow and asked "What was it?"

Knuckles sighed again and said "It is not important at the moment. My question for you all is how exactly did Pitch get into this world? I was in the middle of a disagreement with Starswirl and I watched him all of a sudden rush through an open portal like a Buffalo stampede with you guys right behind. I am sure you can care to explain."

North sighed and said "Well, after we initially defeated Pitch and he got swallowed up by his own black horses, we thought that was going to be the end of it. It turns out we were dead wrong about that."

Jack said "Apparently, some sort of evil force revived him and he quickly got back to work in order to return to power. He tried to take over the world again by starting in the Kingdom of Arendelle, but all of us put a quick stop to it before he could do serious damage. However, that was not the end of it. He decided it would be a good idea to invade my wedding when I was supposed to get married to my wife Elsa and he made sure to get a big head start before any of us could respond. It didn't help that people were in a massive panic because Pitch feeds off of fear and that causes us to lose our powers over time. It scared poor Elsa to death and what makes me the most angry is that he did it as a way to get revenge because I told him that he would always be part of the darkness which is true, but he didn't seem to view it that way."

The thought completely angered Knuckles and he wanted to destroy Pitch just solely for that reason. Who does that?! Invade someone's wedding day just because they said something you didn't like? That's completely pathetic and there is absolutely no excuse for that.

Elsa nodded and said "I was so excited to get married to my husband that day, but when Pitch decided to invade my kingdom all as a way to get back at Jack, it made my blood boil. It caused my ice powers to become more powerful, but I was only doing it in order to defend both my family and my kingdom and not out of fear like it had been in the past. I couldn't simply let the kingdom of Arendelle fall just because Pitch decided to get back at Jack for insulting him."

Knuckles could easily understand that. Even when his relationship with the Mane Six was very rocky, he was willing to put his life on the line if it meant he wouldn't have to be under the rule of a tyrant, which he opposed greatly because history has shown that system of government has failed and the nation always ends up even worse than before it started. Also, Pitch sounded a lot like King Sombra in his mind because they both gain power from fear and he didn't exactly like Sombra. He was never around to see those events, but he knew that if he was there, he would have kicked his you know what. He wanted to hate Sombra just as much as Starswirl, but the case with the dark King is that it was simply the trap of knowledge: The desire for knowledge turns into a lust for power and that is never a good thing at all. History has proven that time and time again.

Anna said "I tried to distract Pitch as best as I could, but he was mainly focused on taking out Jack as revenge and even trying to steal Elsa from him."

Knuckles couldn't believe what he was hearing and the thought of that just absolutely disgusted him. In his tribe, no man was EVER allowed to steal another man's wife just for his own selfish gain. Anyone who committed that terrible act would immediately be exiled from the tribe and they would be sentenced to death if they ever tried it again. That's how seriously the Echidna tribe took this issue. They didn't play around when it came to marriage. They valued it as sacred and a lifetime commitment and anyone who decided to be foolish with it got punished severely for it.

The Easter Bunny said "It was not a pretty sight, mate. It got ugly real quick and no one was prepared for this invasion. Not even my carrots seemed to faze this dude, mate. My carrots never failed me, mate!"

Jack sighed and said "After that terrible invasion, we immediately began chasing after him again because there was no way he was going threaten all of our lives and then just get away with it. He had to pay for he did. So, we chased him throughout the world and every time we fought him in a battle, he ended up escaping somehow. What didn't make sense is that he somehow gained the ability to travel through different dimensions and he used that to his advantage. Ranging from a bunch of spaceships in space to a giant lizard and three headed dragon fighting each other in Boston, Pitch eventually found his way to this world and that's how we ended up here."

Knuckles could only sigh and said "That is just great. At least we have somewhat of an idea of what look out for with Pitch. We know that he can gain power from fear and he can now possess the ability of interdimensional travel. Anything else I am missing?" He also knew that what Jack was talking about was the Galactic Empire in Star Wars and Godzilla and King Ghidorah in Godzilla: King Of The Monsters that had come out earlier this year in May.

North said "Nope, but what could you tell us what to look for in the Pony of Shadows and what exactly are his abilities?"

Knuckles thought about it and said "Well, there is not much I know about him when it comes to his abilities, but I do remember from what Twilight told me and the books I read, the Pony of Shadows simply draws his power in dark places in Equestria. However, there are fewer of those areas these days because the population has massively grown since the emergence of the Pony of Shadows thousands of years ago, so it will make him have a harder time regaining power."

Elsa asked "How exactly did you gain your powers in the first place, Knuckles?"

Knuckles said "I was born with them. My grandparents were granted supernatural abilities from protecting the Ultimate Power and those powers got transferred to me through birth. Super strength is not something everyone has and I was the only one growing up that were able to possess these abilities. Even when the Ultimate Power got stolen, I did not lose those powers since I was born with them and could not simply be taken away. Did you gain your ice powers the same way?"

Elsa said "You could say that. I was born with mine like how you were and it sadly tore my family apart for a good while. I was afraid to hurt them and it caused to me to distance myself from them. It didn't help after me and Anna lost our parents when their ship sank in the Arctic Ocean during a storm."

Knuckles sighed and said "Yeah, I know how it feels. I lost both my grandparents and my first love within the span of three years and both of their deaths were very difficult for me, especially Maddi's. At least she was there when my grandparents died, but I had no one to rely on when she died. My grandparents were fortunate enough just to die from old age, but Maddi was not so lucky."

Anna asked "How did she die?"

Knuckles sighed again and said "To put it simply, she got T-boned in a car accident and the criminal who did it got released from prison before eventually dying doing the same crime to someone else a short time later. It still tears me up inside and I still blame myself for her death, but at least I have Twilight now as a wife, whom I love very much."

All of them were horrified and Anna said "I'm so sorry, Knuckles. That must have been terrible losing someone very close to you. The rest of us couldn't even imagine what that would be like."

Knuckles sighed for a third time and said "You all would not be the only ones to tell me that. It stings worse than death itself and the road to recovery is still a very long way away. The worst part about it is that I never got to propose to her because of that tragedy. I was a week too late, which was really sad. It shows all of us NEVER to take your loved ones for granted because they can be ripped away from you at any moment like how it was for me or Anna and Elsa. But enough of this sappy talk. I do not like talking about my emotions a lot and it shows weakness to the enemy. My wife would probably disagree with that, but she is not here right now. She is back at the house, so let us see if there is any clues we can find."

Jack asked "How exactly are we going to find any clues in here though? There are so many of these ponies and this city we are in is massive. Plus, we aren't even familiar with the area in the first place since we are not from here. It looks very similar to the city of Baltimore, but I can tell there are some differences between there and this place."

Knuckles said "We simply need to stick together. After living here for almost ten years at this point, I have pretty much memorized this city like the back of my hand. If you find anything, let me know and we can examine it together." The group nodded and they began looking through the city. Knuckles asked the locals if there was anything that they saw that could lead to the location of the Pony of Shadows and Pitch, but none of them could provide a good answer about either of their locations.

Knuckles was about to give up when Jack said "Hey guys. I think I found something."

Knuckles lit up at that and said "Where is it?"

Jack said "I think it's down here in this alley. I see a black trail moving through."

Knuckles quickly ran down the alley and noticed the black trail that went up the side of the building. He climbed up the wall and reached the top to see if it continued, which it did.

Jack asked "Does it continue up there?"

Knuckles said "Yeah, and it seems to continue out in the harbor." He pulled out his binoculars and saw that the black trail continued past the harbor into the ocean. He then saw Pitch in the distance giving him an evil grin and then randomly disappearing from sight. Knuckles growled with frustration and said "I just saw Pitch out there in the harbor and with this trail here, I know it is him, but he is way too far out and he has already disappeared. However, that doesn't mean we cannot document this evidence that he has decided to leave behind."

Knuckles took a sample size of the black trail in a Ziploc bag as evidence and hopped down from the building. He said "That fool might think he got away, but with this, it can at least tell us its magical properties and what the ultimate end goal is. Let us get this back to my house before someone tries to steal it. I do not want to lose it. Pitch's reign of terror ends here!" He began walking back to his mansion and the rest of the group with him knew that something bigger was going on that they did not know and he refused to tell them.

Elsewhere in Equestria, most of the Mane Six, the Pillars, Starlight, and Sunburst were wandering in Las Pegasus to see if they could find any clues on Pitch and more importantly, the Pony of Shadows' location.

Mage Meadowbrook asked "What exactly happened while we were all gone for a thousand years? That's obviously a long time and it seems so much has changed since that point."

Rainbow said "Well, it is a long story and I'm not exactly Knuckles, but from what I remember is that we've had to deal with the threats of Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, and well... Starlight Glimmer, but she's on our side now, so there's nothing to worry about!" She did still receive a slight glare from Starlight, but it was technically true.

Starlight turned to the Pillars and said "Speaking of Knuckles, is there any reason why there is so much beef between you guys? I know that you took the artifact from him, but everypony else around can tell it runs much deeper than that. So what is there that I'm missing?"

Flash Magnus sighed and said "That's what he claims. That we "stole" the Master Diamond when we were only trying to protect it from evil. We believed that his tribe should not have held that much power and as a result, we had to fight them for it."

Starlight countered by saying "I'm sure what he's saying is true! I know you probably had good intentions, but it is still considered stealing regardless. He said himself that one incident caused the downfall of his tribe and it was more than simply being sad and heartbroken about it. He said that some of them ended their own lives because they felt like they failed at their life mission and he felt even more betrayed when he discovered that you had used the artifact to defeat the Pony of Shadows."

Mistmane said "It was not an easy decision, but we had to do what we had to do in order to protect the Master Diamond from being used for evil."

Rarity said "Don't you think that's a bit of a rash judgement to make?"

Mistmane raised a brow and asked "What exactly do you mean?"

Rarity said "Well, I simply mean that if you guys were trying to protect the Diamond from being used for evil, then why did the ones that created it specifically assign his tribe to be the guardians of it?" None of them had an answer for that and they went dead silent on that.

Applejack said "We know that y'all are supposed to be legendary ponies of Equestria, but even they can make mistakes from time to time and this is no exception."

Somnambula said "It is true that we have made mistakes, but even the most "innocent" ponies or people can be the most sinister at the same time."

Rainbow asked "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Flash Magnus said "It means that your friend has purposefully twisted the story to make himself look good and us the bad guys which was not the case at all."

Rainbow didn't like that and said "That's ridiculous! Do you even know of all the tragic heartbreak and suffering that he had to experience throughout his life?!"

Rockhoof said "No, laddie. But he could have used that as a way to get ya to sympathize with him and we have known him for a very long time, lass."

Starlight facehoofed in frustration and said "Do you guys even hear yourselves?! Getting abused by your own parents all your life and having your first love tragically killed does NOT sound like a sob story as a tactic to get the enemy to sympathize with you! You guys weren't even there for that! So how you would even know what he went through when you were gone for a thousand years in the first place?!"

After she said that, there was dead silence for a few moments and Meadowbrook said "While it is true that we have been gone from Equestria for so long, we were around him long enough to know how he behaves."

Starlight scoffed at that and said "I can't believe you guys. You all are supposed to be the most legendary ponies of all time and you make Knuckles out to be the bad guy when you weren't even there for most of his life anyway?! How pathetic." She turned around and started walking away.

Pinkie said "Well, that definitely escalated into something else."

Sunburst sighed and said "It's not entirely her fault. She'll go through entire lengths to defend her friends and Knuckles just happens to be one of them."

Applejack said "Yeah, considerin' how much Knuckles has suffered, it's only natural to feel awful about the guy."

Rainbow said "Yeah, he might not have been the nicest to us when we first met, but he certainly has done everything he could to make up for it big time."

Rarity said "I agree. Friends should always stick up for each other no matter how tragic or terrible their past has been and while we haven't always demonstrated that, we definitely have been for the past few years."

Pinkie said "No one should have to go through that much heartbreak and be so sad all the time! Looking down upon them is so not cool!"

Fluttershy said "I can't even imagine what something like that could do to his mind and how much emotional damage he suffered because of it."

All the Pillars there couldn't believe how much Knuckles' friends stuck up for him and rebuked them for thinking so lowly of him without any regard to his past. But, they believed that his friends were simply brainwashed into the belief that Knuckles was supposed to be the good guy and all of them were the bad ones since they took the Master Diamond from him. They'll eventually learn that Knuckles wasn't all cracked up to be.

All of them eventually followed Starlight and they continued looking for any clues about the location of Pitch and the Pony of Shadows.

Back at the mansion, Twilight was walking through the hallways and staring at the paintings. She noticed that there were a lot of paintings of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, FDR, JFK, and Ronald Reagan. It was clear that her husband was a big fan of history and he adored these guys since there were paintings of them everywhere.

While it was cool to see all these paintings, she wished that her husband had the same adoration of the Pillars as he did for these historical figures in American history. They provided great insight on what it meant to be a leader during difficult times and how to not let the pressure get to them. Of course, Twilight knew that the Pillars weren't perfect, but that was thousands of years ago, so surely they would have learned their lesson since then, right?

Unfortunately, that was not really the case since she seemed to have forgotten that time does not pass in Limbo. It happens in a blink of an eye that it felt like they never left, so they would still hold the same position as they did all those centuries ago. She sighed and Olaf asked "What's wrong, Twilight?"

Twilight looked at him and said "I don't know, Olaf. Things seem so complicated at the moment and I don't know where to go from here. We have two villains on the loose and my husband and the Pillars can't seem to get along because of a thousands year old rivalry. It just seems wrong. I want to help, but there is so much bad blood between the two that I don't even know where to start."

Olaf said "Hmm. I remember when Elsa and Anna were going through that. It was definitely not a fun time."

Twilight got curious and asked "Do you mind telling me exactly what happened there? I'm interested to see if there is any sort of guidance on how to tackle this issue."

Olaf said "Well, it all started when Elsa and Anna were kids. They were so close when they were young and played in the castle all the time. Elsa would use your ice powers to entertain Anna and she was always fascinated by it. But it cost them dearly one night. While Elsa was summoning small snow mountains, Anna was moving too quickly and she couldn't keep up. She fell and then accidentally struck her sister in the head in fear. Her parents took them to the trolls and Grandpappy said that Elsa had to be careful with her powers because if fear were to take over, it would destroy her."

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing and she felt quite bad for both Elsa and Anna. That was a tragic thing to happen and a small child shouldn't be told that their powers could destroy them if they were not careful.

Olaf continued and said "Her parents did everything they could to protect them, but it ended up causing more harm than good and when they eventually died out at sea, it caused their relationship to crumble to even more. Things seemed great when Elsa was coronated Queen of Arendelle, but it took a turn for the worse when Anna pushed Elsa too far and her secret powers were revealed to the world for everyone to see. Elsa ended up running away in fear and Anna chased after her. She eventually met Kristoff along the way and then she met me. I knew how to get to the ice castle, so I showed them the way. Anna went in to visit Elsa and things seemed great once more, but after Elsa had a flashback of what happened in their childhood, she didn't want to hurt Anna again and cast her away."

Twilight could sympathize with Elsa because she knew what it felt like to want to keep everyone safe and not hurt anyone, but that choice was not always easy. She could only imagine how hard that must have been for Elsa.

Olaf said "Anna didn't want to let go, but Elsa created a giant marshmallow snowman to get us out and we ran as fast as we could from that thing. I tried to stall it from reaching Anna and Kristoff, but this guy seemed to be a lot stronger than I thought he was. We went to the trolls again and after some crazy stuff, Grandpappy told us that Anna's heart was frozen and could only be thawed by an act of true love. Anna thought it was this Hans guy who happened to be a prince, but he had some sort of evil plan and ditched her while she was dying."

Twilight's blood began to boil at the thought of some prince ditching someone who had blindly loved them without question and leaving her to die with a frozen heart cast by her own sister. It reminded her of Blueblood, but not even he would stoop to such lows. He was incredibly cruel and a royal pain in the a[BLEEP], but he would not simply leave someone to die for their own selfish gain as part of an evil plan to take over Equestria.

Olaf continued again and said "Me and Anna tried to escape the freezing castle, but it was hard with all the spikes everywhere that was caused by the winter storm that Elsa left behind when she fled. We made it out, but it wasn't pretty out there. I wasn't there to see it all, but from what Anna told me, she said that after seeing Hans trying to kill Elsa, she raced over to stop him before she could run to Kristoff, who clearly loved her more than Hans ever did. Anna turned into frozen ice and none of us could believe it. Elsa was so devastated about it, and she cried. But it seemed that it began to thaw Anna's heart, because after a few seconds, she eventually got restored and the two of them reunited for the first time in a while. It was this moment that everyone realized that Anna's sacrifice was considered an act of true love and Elsa was able to figure out to bring back summer and then she made a flurry for me so that I wouldn't melt."

Twilight said "Wow. That is definitely a powerful story and I'm glad that Elsa and Anna were able to resolve things. Unfortunately, my situation isn't as simple as being scared of your own powers. I'm still unsure on where to go about that."

Olaf said "Well, that's okay. Everyone has points in their life where they're not sure where to go. I had to explain to Anna what true love was, so I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out. Things do eventually resolve themselves and I think they will."

Twilight smiled and said "Thanks Olaf. I can see why Elsa and Anna have you as part of their family because you always encourage everypony to stay happy no matter what the circumstance is, just like Pinkie Pie does."

Meanwhile, in some dark desolate place in an undisclosed location somewhere in the nation of Equestria, the Pony of Shadows was busy scheming how to defeat his greatest enemies and how to make Equestria fall into eternal darkness. He paced back and forth and said "Those fools that are known as the Pillars will NOT get away with ignoring this issue! They may have contained me before, but they will NOT do it again! This realm will FALL once again and those six WILL BOW TO ME!"

Suddenly, a voice said "I may be of assistance with that."

The Pony of Shadows was confused by that voice and asked "WHO SAID THAT?! WHO DARES DISTURBS MY PRIVATE TIME?!"

The shadowed figure came out into the light and said "I did. I don't mean to intrude."

The Pony of Shadows growled with anger and said "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"

Pitch simply laughed evilly and said "My name's Pitch. Pitch Black. I come from the planet Earth and known as the master of terrorizing children."

The Pony of Shadows laughed like that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard and said "Terrorizing children?! That's it?! How pathetic! Talk to me when you actually have something more impressive."

Suddenly, there was a bunch of loud whinnying noises and the dark black horses appeared next to Pitch. He gave an evil grin at the Pony of Shadows and said "You were saying?"

The Pony of Shadows huffed in disgust and said "I'm listening."

Pitch said "I can tell that you want revenge on those so called pillars that have returned to Equestria."

The Pony of Shadows said "Yeah. Why do you care?! What's it to you?!"

Pitch said "You were simply treated so horribly by those foolish ponies and I know how that feels. I suffered through that as well and I want revenge on the Guardians and Jack's family for what they did to me."

The Pony of Shadows raised a brow and asked "What's the point of all this?! What are you trying to get at?!"

Pitch gave an evil smile and said "I have a deal for you: you get me to the location of the Guardians and Jack's family, and I'll let you do whatever you please to the pony inhabitants of this world."

The Pony of Shadows looked at him with skepticism and asked "So you're suggesting an alliance?"

Pitch nodded and said "I originally wanted to conquer Earth once again, but after running through here, I've grown a liking to this place and I want to conquer this world as well. However, I am willing to let you run free with this one if you get me to where Jack, his family, and the rest of the Guardians are at so that I can destroy them ONCE AND FOR ALL! So, do we have a deal?"

The Pony of Shadows began to think about it and weighed his options. On one hand, this Pitch dude is a complete stranger and he somehow found his way to Equestria. He was adminit about taking over this world even though he wasn't from here and the Pony of Shadows was going to take it over first. Plus, what if Pitch was just using him as a pawn for some sort of secret scheme that he didn't know about. But on the other hand, he was willing to work with him and allow him to take over this world if he can get him to these Guardians and extended family of this Jack person. He looked at him with uncertainty and asked "So, if I take you to these Guardians and these extended family members of this "Jack," then you'll let me run free in this realm?"

Pitch nodded and said "Of course. As long as you take me to them, you can have all of this world and you could even have half of the multiverse as well. We could be unstoppable together and soon, every living being will fear us! What do you say?"

The Pony of Shadows laughed evilly and said "I'm in. We'll make all of them PAY! They may have gotten away once before, but this time, THEY WILL FALL!"

The two of them did evil laughter and Pitch said "Let the games begin." This would now be a new chapter for the two of them and everyone will soon fear them. So much so that not even Knuckles himself could stop them. Pitch could tell something was different about that character and he was determined to find his weakness. Nothing could ever stop them now. Their glorious reign shall begin and Equestria will fall.

Author's Note

AN: Well, things got incredibly interesting real quickly. I apologize for this chapter coming out a little later than usual, but school just started back up for me and between balancing that and work, it's left me very little time to complete it. I'm aiming for posting new chapters four times a month, each once a week, but we'll have to see since my schedule just got a lot more hectic. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Next Chapter: The return to New York! After gathering evidence on the Pony of Shadows and Pitch's location, the group tries to plan their next course of action. But the live map alerts of them of their location and they quickly go after them. However, when they are chasing them, they end up in New York City and they must figure out how to get out of there. Will they be able to find their way through NYC or will the Big Apple leave them stranded with no way out?

Until then, my fellow readers

Chapter 5: Lost In New York

Everyone had returned to the mansion so they could talk about their findings. They met in the committee room once more and they took their respective seats. Knuckles, at the head of the table, said "So, it's clear that Pitch has left a presence here in Equestria and he's planning something awful. I had collected a sample size of the black trail he left in the city and it's going to get sent off to the lab to get analyzed. Now, Rainbow Dash, were you and the others able to find anything in the western half of Equestria?"

Rainbow shook her head and said "We weren't able to find anything substantial that would tell us something about Pitch Black or the Pony of Shadows."

Knuckles sighed and said with frustration "Da[BLEEP] it! I would have thought that fool would have left something behind. My senses have never failed me!"

Rainbow said "However, we were able to pick up this." She handed him a scroll and Knuckles grabbed it from her.

He unfurled it and upon reading it, he felt anger and disgust. The scroll read:

"Greetings Knuckles,

You may know me or may not, but I know exactly who you are. However, allow me to introduce myself. I am Pitch Black. The master of all things dark and evil. I gain power from fear and as a result, I get stronger. You may think that your little plan of yours is going to work, but it's going to take more than a simple search party in order to find me. I am not so easily fooled as you may think. I have been feeding off fear for far longer than you have been alive and your little attempt to stop me won't even stand a chance.

I hate Jack and the Guardians and his family with a burning passion and they certainly ruin my plans, but there's something special about you. I could literally see it from a mile away. I have never seen anything like you before and I know there's something deeper going on. We could do so much together if you would just join me, but I'm willing to give you some time to decide about it. You have three days to respond and if you do not within that time, your world as you know it will come to an end. I will not hesitate to do so. So, make your decision wisely because once you do, there will be no turning back. I look forward to hearing from you!

Insincerely,

Pitch"

Knuckles sat there in his chair for a few moments speechless and after the rest of them heard it as well, they didn't know what to say either. Finally, Knuckles came up with a response and said "How pathetic for that fool to desperately try to convince me to join his side and if I refuse, he will end everything in existence. Does he not know who he is messing with?! If he thinks he can do something like that, he has got another thing coming. I will make him pay for everything if he does that."

Rainbow expressed worry and said "But you have to respond to his letter! You can't just ignore him or else Equestria is going to suffer!"

Knuckles looked at Rainbow with a deadpan stare and said "I have the Ultimate Power, remember? It is in my sole possession now and it is anything far beyond what Pitch could potentially throw at me. He would not stand a chance against me."

Flash Magnus raised a brow and said "You weren't thinking about joining him, were you?"

Knuckles glared at Flash with a deep hatred on his face and said "Of course not, you f[BLEEP]ing retard. Unlike you foolish pony, I would not turn my back on my friends and family just as an excuse to defeat a greater evil that was clearly sooo much more "important" than the ones closest to you in your life."

Twilight hit him in the arm quite a bit and Knuckles winced in pain slightly. He glared at Twilight for doing that to him and she returned the glare as a way to tell him to knock it off and stop the constant slander. Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "You get my point. I would not simply abandon my friends and family just like that. It was highly discouraged in the tribe and if someone ever did that, they would be cast out forever and be eternally restricted from ever being part of it again. That was the worst crime you could ever do and it was treated the same as treason against the United States."

Anna asked "Well, what are you going to do now? Are you going to answer his letter or what?"

Knuckles sighed and said "Frankly, I do not know. I know what my answer is, but I need some time to properly write it as a way to make it clear what my stance is, but not to anger him even more than necessary. The first tactic of the tribe is to deescalate, so if that fails, that's when the fighting begins if they refuse the warning to back down." He was about to close out the meeting, but Twilight elbowed him and pointed towards Starswirl. He groaned and said with bitterness "Did you find anything about the Pony of Shadows, Starswirl?"

Starswirl cleared his throat and said "I did actually. There was already so much that I already knew about the Pony of Shadows since me and the Pillars have dealt with him, but it's always good to do extra research just to make sure."

Knuckles growled at that and said "I do not give a s[BLEEP] if you already knew about the Pony of Shadows or not. I asked you a question and you are supposed to answer it. It is not that hard! Now get to the da[BLEEP] point already!"

Starswirl chuckled nervously and said "Of course. Sorry about that. Anyway, he had brought us all together originally, but he turned to darkness after he tried taking our power from himself and he wants to cover this world in darkness."

Knuckles snarled at that and said "I did not ask for a history lesson, you f[BLEEP]ing idiot! I know the story already! All I want to know is what his powers are and how that negatively affects Equestria! Stop dancing around, you da[BLEEP] dunce! Also, if you choose to believe that f[BLEEP]ing stupid narrative, then be my guest, but just know that I refuse to believe anything you say about that after what you and your friends did to me and my tribe."

Twilight slapped him across the face and said "Caleb! That's quite enough! I understand that you don't like Starswirl and the other Pillars, but you better put that foul language under control or else there will be consequences! Do you hear me?"

Knuckles sighed and said "Fine, but do not expect me to be best friends with the most hated enemy of my lifetime. I am only doing it because I care about you."

Twilight rolled her eyes and said "Please continue, Starswirl. Excuse my husband's fiery anger towards you. He's not typically like this." Knuckles glared at her for saying that, but she could care less and ignored him.

Starswirl said "It's fine. It's well deserved after what happened thousands of years ago, but anyway, the Pony of Shadows is able to draw power from dark places and seeks to destroy anything that gets in his way." For Knuckles, it almost sounded similar to him and his tribe, but the difference was that the Pony of Shadows was doing it for evil as an attempt to take over the world. His tribe would take out anyone that stood in their way because they had to in order to protect the Master Diamond. They weren't purposefully trying to do it, but it was part of their responsibilities as guardians of the powerful artifact.

Suddenly, the alarms went off and everyone had gotten into a defensive position to attack whatever was coming. Knuckles was alarmed by this and he said "Wait. WAIT! No one is attacking this house! Ugh. Not again. The alarm only went off because my child tried to mess with the vault again. Please excuse me while I go deal with this and rebuke my butler for allowing her to wander off again. Reginald!" He shut the door and went to go find Reginald.

Back in the committee room, Starswirl took a look at the paper map of Equestria and said "There seems to be less dark corners in the realm these days."

Rainbow asked "Isn't that a good thing?"

Flash Magnus said "True. It will give the Pony of Shadows a harder time regaining power. When he rears his head, we'll be ready!" He clinked the apple cider sitting there with Rainbow and they continued to drink it.

Fluttershy asked "But what about this Pitch? Most of us have never even heard of him until now and it's unclear how he could use his abilities."

Jack said "For me, my family, and the rest of my fellow guardians, we're well aware how he functions and whatever's he got planned is not good. Just like the Pony of Shadows, he will stop at nothing to make sure he brings the end of the world and maybe even the universe as we know it. He's hell bent on destroying us for good, but I could tell from Knuckles' face that Pitch is after him as well and has terrible plans for him, which would sort of explain the letter."

Rarity asked "But where are we supposed to go from here? It's clear that both of these villains have horrible plans for Equestria and maybe even beyond and there's even a chance these two are even working together."

North said "I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Pitch is very cunning and sinister, so it's makes it easy to get inside someone's head and convince them that the darkness is not as bad as it's portrayed to be. It's happened plenty of times before and I'm sure it will happen again."

Anna asked "But how are we supposed to defeat them both? It was already hard enough just traveling from one dimension to another chasing after Pitch, and now we have him potentially teaming up with this Pony of Shadows as well."

Tooth said "It was already bad enough the last time Pitch had attacked the world, but after chasing him for so long at this point and potentially teaming up with this Pony of Shadows, it would be even worse!"

Mistmane said "The Pony of Shadows has been known for spreading his dark power across Equestria and destroying anything that gets in his way."

Starswirl said "More importantly, our two foes want to destroy all that is good in this world. The question we must face now is where exactly where we go from here."

Twilight thought about it and said "I think I might have an idea. But I would have to run it by my husband first to make sure he's alright with it."

Speaking of which, Knuckles was walking through his house looking for the vault and he spotted his daughter trying to get inside the vault. This had been the third time this week where his daughter tried to get inside the vault and the alarm had gone off. He would train her up eventually to use the Master Diamond, but because she was still an infant, he didn't list her as authorized personnel for the vault when it does security checks. He didn't want his daughter to be able to open the vault and then go haywire with the Master Diamond since most babies' thoughts are pretty erratic. So, he was doing this to simply protect her at the moment.

He picked her up and said lightheartedly "You naughty child! How many times do I have to tell you cannot use the vault yet?" Madilynn made some whining noises in sadness and Knuckles said "I know, I know. I am no fun. I am just trying to protect you, that is all. You are not ready for the Master Diamond yet. It is a very powerful artifact and until you are old enough to use it, you must simply wait. I will train you, but that time has not come yet. So, you must wait a little longer. You think you can do that for me?" His daughter made happy baby noises and Knuckles said with a smile "That is my girl. Now, do you know where my butler Reginald went off to?"

Madilynn simply pointed behind him and Knuckles saw Reginald running as fast as he could over to the vault. He stopped to catch his breath and said "I'm sorry, Master Caleb. She got away from me again."

Knuckles sighed with frustration and said "Reginald, we have been over this. It is the third time this week it has happened. You cannot keep letting this happen. I am trusting you with the responsibility of looking after my child whenever I am busy, but with this happening, it is making it difficult to do so."

Reginald said "To be fair Master Caleb, I am dealing with a supernatural being like I've never seen before and she is more challenging than the typical child I've dealt with."

Knuckles said "Well, it is true that my little girl has Twilight's raw magical abilities and my super strength, but that still does not excuse losing her on your watch. I will be gracious this time, but if something like this happens again, I will not be as forgiving. Am I clear?"

Reginald sighed and said "Of course, Master Caleb. I will do my best to keep her from running off."

Knuckles grunted in satisfaction and said "See that you do. Now if you will excuse me, I have a committee meeting to get back to." He gave his daughter over to Reginald and he walked off back to the committee room.

Reginald smiled at Madilynn and said "You want to go do something?" Madilynn made some more happy noises and Reginald smiled. "Alright. Let's see what we can go do."

Knuckles walked back inside the committee room and sat down in his chairman seat at the head of the table. He said "Sorry about the interruption everyone. I had to keep my daughter away from the vault again for the third time this week and I had to give my butler some... consuel of some sort."

Flash Magnus asked "What exactly is inside in that vault?"

Knuckles scowled at Flash and said "That is none of your da[BLEEP] business, fool! And even if it was, you should already know what is in there. I do not need to tell you, not that it matters anyway. Now where were we?" Twilight came up to him and starting whispering her idea to him. He seemed to approve and said "I see. That is not actually a bad idea. Now, with these two villains on the loose, it is possible that they could potentially go after the Elements of Harmony and even the Tree of Harmony since that would be considered the primary weapon that could take them out."

The Pillars were stunned when they saw the Tree of Harmony and Starswirl said "I never thought myself or the Pillars would ever see the day of the Tree of Harmony."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and asked "Why are you surprised about it?"

Starswirl said "Like I wrote in the journal, we left a seed behind thousands of years ago as a way for the light to stand against the darkness in our absence and it appears to have grown into something quite powerful."

Rockhoof smiled and said "Then it did work!"

Sunburst was confused and asked "What worked?"

Somnambula said "Each of us infused a crystal seed with our magic in hopes that it would grow into a force for good."

Mistmane said "We wanted to leave something to protect the realm in our absence, but we never dreamed our gift would become so powerful."

Applejack was confused and asked "Yall mean the Elements came from ya?" Everyone in the room was giving each other confused looks and they were trying to think what Applejack was trying to say.

Pinkie said "You know, the sparkly crystal things that grew from the Tree of Harmony and represent each of us? Laughter! Honesty! Generosity! Loyalty! Kindness! And Maggicccc!"

Somnambula said "They are reflections of our own elements of hope, strength, beauty, bravery, healing, and sorcery." Twilight tried to gain Starswirl's favour from that statement, but the Unicorn quickly rejected that and Twilight was heartbroken about it.

Elsa asked "What exactly are these Elements of Harmony in the first place?"

Before anyone else could answer, Knuckles said "From what I remember reading in Equestrian history books, the Elements of Harmony are six artifacts that were grown from the Tree of Harmony thousands of years ago and are considered Equestria's primary form of defense against foreign threats. It used to belong to the rulers of this land over in Canterlot, but now my wife and her friends are the new bearers of it."

Meadowbrook said "We had no idea our small seed would bloom into the living spirit of the land! I am glad our mantles have passed to such capable ponies." That was something that Knuckles could agree with the Pillars for once.

Starswirl said "More importantly, we no longer need Ponhenge to send our foe back to Limbo. We can use the stored magic in this Tree of Harmony."

Before Knuckles could rip into him for that decision, Twilight said "But doesn't a banishing spell take a lot of power? We'd have to sacrifice the Elements for that."

Starswirl simply nodded in confirmation and Fluttershy asked with worry "They'd be gone forever?!"

Twilight said "Starswirl, I don't think the Tree can survive without the Elements. If it dies, Equestria will suffer." She did have a point. If you watched the Season 4 premiere, you know what happened and why Twilight has that concern.

Starswirl disagreed with the opposition and said "If the Pony of Shadows has his way, your land will not EXIST! So, unless you have a better idea... Our foes will seek dark places from which to draw power. I will prepare my spell so that we may strike as soon as you find him!"

Knuckles had enough and said "Hold on! That decision will not be made final unless I say so. Let me be absolutely clear to you Starswirl: If you think using artifacts that are no longer yours to do your bidding as a way to defeat foreign threats after what you and the rest of the Pillars did to my tribe centuries ago, then you got a whole different thing coming. That already happened to me once. I will NOT let you do it again!"

Starswirl tried to jump in, but Knuckles stopped him and said "I am not finished yet! You were not around for this, but Twilight has a VERY good reason why it would be a dangerous idea to sacrifice the Elements of Harmony. Over five years ago, the Everfree Forest went out of control and if it had its way, it would have covered all of Equestria. This was also during the time of a major holiday where both rulers were missing and no one had a SINGLE clue on their location. To make it a long story short, the Forest expanded because of these plundervines that had sprung up from Discord thousands of years ago and because Celestia and Luna extracted them from the Tree in order to defeat him, it slowly weakened the Tree's magic over time and eventually, the vines had enough power to overtake the Tree and it was to the point of near death. So, do not even think about trying to take shortcuts here, Starswirl!"

Starswirl raised a brow and asked "Then how do you suggest we defeat these villains?"

Knuckles sneered at Starswirl and said "Oh, I got plenty of ideas. But, my wife provided the perfect one to me just a few seconds ago. However, I will let my technology do the talking."

He brought up the live 3-D map of Equestria on the projector screen that is able to go up and down and he said "This is my 3-D map of Equestria and it gets updated every second and if I select the foreign threats checkbox in the settings, it will keep an eye out for any one that is considered dangerous, which would include our foes that we are facing at the moment. Now, go prepare your spell Starswirl and leave my presence! As for the rest of you, prepare yourselves for battle and as soon as we get an alert, we are out of here!"

Rainbow felt excited about this and said "What are we waiting for?!"

Flash Magnus liked the energy from Rainbow and said "I like your spirit!" Everyone started cheering a little bit in excitement, but Starlight noticed Twilight walk out in sadness. However, Knuckles motioned to her that she needed to stay and he'll go talk to his wife.

He found her in the library with Spike and the dragon asked "What about this one?"

Twilight looked at the book and said "Sea Pony Etiquette isn't gonna help right now, Spike."

Knuckles opened the door and asked "Twilight, what is going on?"

Twilight said "Nothing! Everything is perfectly fine!"

Knuckles was not buying that and said "Yeah, nice try. But I know whenever my wife is distressed. After all the s[BLEEP] I have gone through in my life, you always knew when something was wrong and it is the same now. So, there is no use in hiding it. I tried hiding my secrets from you several years ago and looked how that turned out. So, just tell me what's going on."

Twilight sighed and said "I just unleashed ultimate evil and doomed Equestria because I was obsessed with meeting my idol!"

Knuckles gave her a deadpan stare and said "That is it? Okay. It is not exactly your fault that the Pony of Shadows somehow was brought out of Limbo along with my most bitter enemies, so I do not blame you for not knowing."

Twilight said "But I should have listened to both you and Starlight and left things alone and now the Elements of Harmony will be lost to fix my mistake!"

Knuckles said with a firm tone "Hold on, that is not going to happen. If Starswirl firmly believes that using Equestria's first line of defense as a way to temporarily fix his problems again, then he has truly learned nothing from when he stole my artifact thousands of years ago. Also, we still have the Master Diamond. It is in my possession once again and no one is ever going to take it from me once more after what happened all those years ago. Even if you lose the Elements hypothetically, we still have the most powerful artifact of all time in our possession. Plus, I think there may be another approach to this entire situation than what Starswirl has "planned."

Spike was carrying a stack of books and said "If there is, Twilight will find it."

Twilight pulled out the large book and said "Portalgate. Portal keys. Portal Spells! Yes! If the Pillars can hold open the gateway to Limbo, a powerful pony can do the banishing herself! Do you know what this means?!"

Spike set the books on the ground and asked rhetorically "I can stop carrying books?"

Twilight smiled at Knuckles and said "The Pillars don't have to leave Equestria! Even though we'll lose the Elements, we'll have the ponies that created them and the Pony of Shadows will be banished for good!"

Knuckles didn't exactly agree with that and said "Did you forget everything I just said? We have the Master Diamond on us in case all else fails and I believe that there is more to the story than the Pony of Shadows simply being evil because he tried to "steal" artifacts. Banishment is not the only option here."

Twilight said "Starswirl knew what he was doing when he cast that spell. If I can make it even better, maybe he'll see that I take magic as seriously as he does." She pulled out the quill and scroll and began to write. Knuckles simply sighed and walked out of the library. He could tell that Starswirl was feeding her lies and he didn't like it one bit. His worst enemy was corrupting her and will eventually get her to turn against him if things continue down along this path. One thing's for certain though: If he was going to protect his family to the best of his ability, he had to keep the two at an arm's length so his own wife doesn't turn against him.

Meanwhile, Jack, his extended family, and the rest of the Guardians were trying to digest what had just happened and what their next course of action would be. Jack said "This surely is something else."

Elsa said "In everything that has happened in my life, we are definitely in a unique situation at the moment."

Anna said "Surely, there has to be something that we can do."

Kristoff said "But where do we even begin? We only had to deal with one villain before and now we have two of them to deal with along with teaming up with a bunch of ponies and a supernatural human being that rivals your powers Elsa."

North said "This is not the first time we have faced adversity. I'm sure we can figure something out."

The Easter Bunny objected and said "But we don't even know Pitch has the same effect on children in this world, mate. It could either enhance him or hurt him with the ability, mate."

Tooth said "I agree with Easter on this one. We've already seen that we lose our powers every time Pitch creates fear in children and they stop believing in us, but we're a completely different dimension that is dominated by another species, so we're not sure if Pitch would have the same effect on them or not."

The Sandman made a question mark appear above his head and simply shrugged since he really had no insight on the matter.

Kristoff asked "So, what do we do now?"

Jack sighed and said "We follow Knuckles' lead and if anything comes up, we'll let him know. He seems to be very good at taking control of situations and it seems that he's willing to listen to other opinions somewhat as long as it doesn't sound super outlandish, but anything can happen."

In the committee room, Starswirl said "The realm has seem to have vastly expanded since the last time myself and the Pillars were here in Equestria."

Fluttershy asked Meadowbrook "Isn't there some way to banish him without losing all of you?"

Meadowbrook sighed and said "Oh, I wish there were, but to save our home, we are willing to leave it."

Twilight suddenly came in and said "I don't think you'll have to! My spell isn't finished yet, but I think we can send both the Pony of Shadows and Pitch Black to Limbo without all of you having to go as well!" She presented the spell to Starswirl, but the wizard immediately shot that down and pushed it aside.

He said "While I appreciate your enthusiasm Twilight, this is hardly the time to take risks on "half-baked" spells."

Twilight was quite heartbroken about it, but her friends were quick to defend her and Knuckles overheard the conversation in the next room over. He had just finished writing his response to Pitch and sent it out shortly after. To say he was pi{BLEEP]ed would be an understatement.

He stormed into that room and said with seething anger "What did I tell you about DISRESPECTING MY WIFE, STARSWIRL?! YOU WERE NEVER TO DO THAT AND YET, YOU DISOBEYED ME ONCE AGAIN! Let me see that spell!" He ripped it out of Starswirl's grasp and took a read at it. He said "I see absolutely nothing wrong with this spell at all. In fact, I think it is the one that we might need to defeat our two foes and this is NOT me being biased in favor of my wife. You ponies continue to prove to me why you were such a disappointment to this country and my tribe's most hated enemy. It is pathetic."

He threw it back on the table and Meadowbrook said "While it is an unconventional approach, I believe it could work. Knuckles has a fair point in this case."

Starswirl examined it more closely and said "Hmm. I suppose there is a chance."

Sunburst said "But we still have no idea where we could find both villains."

As if he said it on command, the map made an alarm sound and everyone saw that a small circle was flashing red at the location of Manehattan. Knuckles saw that and said "That is where they are: right there." He stuck his head out the hall and yelled "HEY! JACK! ELSA! ANNA! KRISTOFF! GUARDIANS! WE HAVE TO GO! OUR FOES ARE IN MANEHATTAN!" They swiftly came and Knuckles said "It is go time ponies! Let us move out!"

Everyone left Baltimare and quickly headed for Manehattan. Once they got there, they quickly knew that the Pony of Shadows and Pitch had been coming through the city. They searched everywhere for them and then, Knuckles spotted them in the distance. He said "THIS WAY!" All of them followed and they continued to chase the two villains.

Knuckles saw them heading out towards the harbor and he was trying to think of the quickest way to beat them and cut them off. He saw the Crystaller Building and it clicked for him. He turned to Elsa and said "Elsa, use your ice powers to get up to the top of the building up there! I have a way to stop them from reaching the harbor."

Elsa asked "Are you sure?" A quick nod from Knuckles was all it took for her to build an ice ramp up to the top of the Crystaller Building and Knuckles ran as fast as he could up it. He got up to the top and saw the two villains quickly approaching the harbor. He ran even faster and sprinted across buildings to beat them out to the harbor. The rest of the group was right behind and they were trying to stop the villains from reaching the harbor as well.

Knuckles eventually cut them off and yelled "STOP RIGHT THERE, PITCH AND PONY OF SHADOWS! THE LINE ENDS HERE! YOU WILL CAUSE HAVOC NO LONGER AND YOU SHALL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!"

Pitch simply laughed and said "You must have received my letter. That's good. Unfortunately, you resisting me was the worst possible decision you could make and because of that, you will suffer!

The Pony of Shadows said "You fools potentially have us outnumbered, but we're far intellectually smarter than you'll ever be! Your little plan to defeat us both is admirable, but foolish!"

Knuckles growled with anger and said "Wanna bet?!" He charged up his red lightning and punched them both smack dab in the face, which definitely left a nasty impression on both of their faces.

Both of them growled with retaliation and began attacking Knuckles. As a result, the rest of the group chipped in and they fought alongside Knuckles as a way to defend their leader for the most part. Twilight and Starlight were shooting off spells at the villains, and while the villains dodged it somewhat, they got trapped inside Elsa's ice and had a hard time getting out. The Pony of Shadows pushed them all away with his shadows and both him and Pitch fled. Knuckles snarled at the two of them and yelled "FOLLOW THEM! DO NOT LET THEM GET AWAY!"

The group continued firing attacks at the villains as they were running, but the villains were dodging most of them anyways, so it wasn't being very effective. They ended up back at the Crystaller Building and when all of them jumped to the next building, they were suddenly in a different environment. Knuckles grabbed all of them and they were now hanging from some building. Knuckles looked up and saw that it almost looked like the Empire State Building, but he thought that there was no way they could be in New York at the moment.

Most of the group below him were yelling with fear and Knuckles struggled to keep his grip on top of the building. He had one hand holding up the entire group and the other holding the top of the skyscraper. He wanted to put a tighter grip on the rod, but he knew that if he gripped any tighter, the rod would be instantly crushed and all of them would fall to their deaths, which he did not want. He spent so much time thinking about it that he didn't notice that his hand was slipping and eventually, all of them started falling from the building.

Almost all of them were screaming and Knuckles was trying to think of what he could do to stop this. He then had an idea click in his head and he reached inside his coat pocket inside his jacket. He threw down one of the golden rings in front of the group and they all fell on top of the grass in somewhat of a rough landing, but none of them were seriously injured, which was a good thing.

Most of them were confused and Rainbow asked "Uh, where are we?"

Knuckles sighed and said "We are in New York City. Otherwise known as the Big Apple."

Twilight asked "New York City? What's that?"

Knuckles said "To put it simply, New York City is a city in the state of New York on the east coast of the United States and it is known for several things such as being the hub for International Trade, the largest city in the United States of America by population, and where all immigrants could come at one time."

Applejack asked "What part of the city are we at right now?"

Knuckles said "The building we just fell from was the Empire State Building and we landed here in Central Park. But the borough we are in right now is Manhattan."

Rarity lit up at that and said "Manhattan?! Is that the same as Manehattan?!"

Knuckles said "Not quite. It is similar, but it is not the same. What Equestria has is just one borough or area of New York City. NYC has five boroughs: Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and The Bronx. We are in Midtown Manhattan right now and we have to figure out how to get out of this place. This interdimensional travel ability that Pitch has is really worrying me and it seems that he has used it to transport us back to my home planet on short notice. Let us see if there is anything that could help us find a way out."

They began walking and Knuckles noticed that something about this place changed. He looked up and saw the new World Trade Center that was up there, which vastly confused him. He said "What happened to the World Trade Center?! What the f[BLEEP] is this new building?!" He looked around and asked to someone walking by "Excuse me sir, what the heck is that large blue building in front of us?"

He said "Oh, that's the new World Trade Center."

Knuckles said "I thought it was destroyed after the events of 9/11. I never heard anything about a new building."

The man said "Yeah, they announced that a new building was going to be built to replace the old one."

Knuckles asked "How long has that building been there?"

The man said "As far as I remember, it was completed in 2013 and opened in November 2014."

Knuckles' jaw dropped and then said "Thank you kindly, sir." The man left and the group kept walking. He said "I cannot believe it! It has been around for six years and no one mentioned anything about it?! I remember watching the original towers falling on live television when I was still in high school, but I did not hear anything about a new building after that. I was so torn up at the time that I just stopped paying attention to what was going on. I came to Equestria in March 2009 and this new building opened to the public over five years later. That is just pathetic. Anything else I missed?!"

Twilight said "I don't think anyone could blame you for not knowing about this new building being here after watching the old ones fall and being gone for so long."

Knuckles said "I am not particularly happy with being back on my home planet."

Applejack raised a brow and asked "Wouldn't ya be glad to be back home?"

Knuckles sighed and said "Not exactly, Applejack. While this has always been my home, it always has not been the greatest. There have not been that many terrible things that I have experienced here in New York City, but all of the bad memories still live on in my hometown of Baltimore, which is four hours south of here. Most of them I will probably never get over."

Twilight put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder and said "It's in the past, Caleb. We're all here with you now and we'll support you to the very end." The rest of the group said the same, but the Pillars stayed quiet about it because of their mixed opinion of him.

Knuckles smiled a bit and said "Thanks. I greatly appreciate it. But we must get back to the mission. This city will be hard to navigate and we must stick together. No running off at all." They continued walking through downtown New York City and Rarity was in absolute awe of the environment around her. If you thought she got excited about the Crystal Empire and Manehattan, imagine how it would be when she was walking through Lower Manhattan in NYC.

She took it all in and said with excitement "There are no words!"

Knuckles obviously heard that and said "Rarity, we did not come here to explore the city and go out shopping. We are here on a mission to defeat two villains and I can't afford to lose anyone here. There is a reason why New York City is called The Big Apple. This area covers over 330 square miles and I cannot let you wander off. So, stick with the group here and maybe you can explore this area at another time when the entire universe is not threatened."

Rarity blushed in embarrassment and said "Sorry about that, Knuckles. It's just I have never seen so much fashion here in this city and with Manehattan being the fashion capital of Equestria, it just reminds me a lot about it. But you are right. We have a mission to complete. However, I must ask why are there so many horseless carriages on the roads here?"

Knuckles chuckled a bit and said "They are not horseless carriages. They are called cars. They are powered by an engine to run, it uses wheels to move the vehicle, and uses gas to make the vehicle travel. It has been around for over a century and they have played a key role in modern society. To make it short, you have regular sedans, pickup trucks, vans, SUVs, buses, monorail trains, and airplanes. Here in NYC, most people use public transit, taxis, or the subway to get around, but in other parts of America, people use cars more."

Twilight was busy writing down notes and the Pillars seem intrigued by the environment around them as well. Things had definitely changed a little bit since they were last here. Of course, they had seen cars before, but most of them looked completely different than it did back all those years ago. Everything that they had ever known about this world had changed.

As the group was walking through Lower Manhattan, quite a few people noticed them and some of them rubbed their eyes to make sure they weren't just seeing things. Plus, there were a lot of fans of Beamer in NYC. Although, the ratio of people who like him to those who don't is roughly 55 to 45 percent. It was higher when Knuckles had released his first hit single, but after more songs came out, a lot more people in the city didn't have the same view, but at least half of those people still respected him for his success. The other half was just hating on him for his success, which didn't surprise him since New York City is probably the most liberal city in America.

You were always going to have people complain that no one should be listening to angry metal rock music because that would make people sad or something like that and that didn't settle well with them. In other words, it was just part of their socialist utopian world view of things which was standard for New York City. As a political commentator, Knuckles knew that the Democrat to Republican ratio was just as bad as the nation's capital, Washington D.C., where it's 90 percent Democrat and 10 percent Republican.

Regardless though, Knuckles didn't really care what his haters had to say, and the money he had made so far in his career was able to back it up. He had dealt with bad people all of his life, so dealing with a city full of liberals was nothing in comparison. In fact, it made his hometown of Baltimore look good, which wasn't exactly that conservative either. But I'm getting off topic here. Now is not the time for political discussion. That's a different topic for a different day.

Now, as a result of Knuckles being well known in New York City, you had people following after him and the rest of the group. He wasn't from NYC, but he had performed concerts here before, so most of the people in the city were aware of who he was. Rainbow asked Knuckles "Um Knuckles, why are all of these humans following us?"

Knuckles said "Well for one, I am quite popular in New York City since I have done many concerts here before, and two, no one in this city has ever seen you guys before, so it is drawing a lot of attention. If I can just find a map, I should be able to get to the Statue of Liberty."

He looked everywhere for a map and just before the entrance to Central Station, there was a map of Lower Manhattan and a subway map right next to it. He said "Okay, so we are here, and the Statue of Liberty is there, so from what I am reading here, we need to head south from here." All of them headed south and just as they got to the edge, they stopped since the Hudson River was right there.

He said "Hmm, the Hudson River is blocking the way between here and the Statue of Liberty. Hey Elsa, do you think you can use your ice powers to freeze part of the river so we can get across?"

Elsa said "I definitely could, but how is the ice going to melt once we make it across? The boats still need to be able get through here."

Knuckles thought about it and said "I have got an idea. Just go ahead and do it." Elsa simply took a deep breath and cast ice on the river, which froze it and the group was able to cross. Then, Knuckles charged up his red lightning and punched the ice broken from one side to the other so the boats could continue moving without interruption.

Most of them were mind blown and Rarity asked "Wouldn't doing that causing you to get really cold?"

Knuckles shook his head and said "Of course not. It's September and typically, the Hudson River is 65 degrees on average during this time of year, which is considered a comfortable swimming temperature. So, I do not have to worry about getting hypothermia or something."

Applejack asked "Um, what is that green thing that is front of us?"

Knuckles said "This is the Statue of Liberty. It is similar to the one you guys have in Manehattan, but there are some differences between the two. This was a gift from France and it arrived here to America on June 17th, 1885 as a way to recognize the United States as a champion of liberty and it even encouraged the French to adopt the same ideals. This was considered a welcoming presence to the gateway of America and immigrants used to travel to Ellis Island to become citizens, which is on the next island over. It is now a museum, but it was an important gateway for immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries."

Jack asked "But why are we even here at the Statue of Liberty? What's so significant about it?"

Sunburst agreed and said "Yeah, what could a statue possibly provide us with?"

Knuckles said "The reason why we are here is because there's something significant about this place. If you just follow me over here towards the edge of the island." They went over to that area and saw a British Police Call Box standing there.

Starlight asked "Umm, that's just a box. What's significant about that?"

Knuckles sighed with frustration and said "Let me explain. Get inside one at a time. NOW!" They quickly started moving and Knuckles pressed the button inside to send each of them one down at a time. Once they all made it to the bottom, none of them could believe their eyes. Knuckles said "This was always my little hideout I had whenever I visited New York City. I have had this since I was a little kid and I still come here occasionally to check up on it."

Rarity said "You call this just a hideout?! It's a state-of-the-art facility! It's more than just a hideout! Are you sure you don't live here?"

Knuckles said "I promise I do not. I grew up in Baltimore and now, my new home will be in Baltimare, so nothing will change about it. However, I am tired from all that walking and I am going to rest now. It has been a long day and we will need our strength for tomorrow. This man is getting some shut eye and I suggest you all do the same. Feel free to make yourselves at home, most of you. You Pillars on the other hand, don't touch ANYTHING and you must ask my permission to use something, unless if it is the bathroom or something like that, but other than that, everything is OFF-LIMITS! Good night!"

He retired for the night to where he normally sleeps and Twilight said "I guess we should probably all head to bed as well. It's late at night and we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Rarity agreed and said "Yeah, all of that walking definitely hurt my hooves." Most of them could agree with that statement and they provided their insight as well. Everyone soon retired for the night as well and they all said goodnight to each other. Twilight went to join her husband and she saw him already peacefully sleeping. One thing was for sure, he was one to be quick to fall asleep if he wanted to. He was both the heavy sleeper and dead sleeper, so that was something Twilight had seen being married to him the last two years and sleeping together every night.

She smiled and whispered in his ear "Goodnight, my strong warrior." She went to sleep as well, but then she suddenly felt Knuckles wrap his arms around her, which made Twilight smile even more. She saw a small grin on his face and that was enough to tell her that he had loved her very much. She eventually fell asleep and the two rested peacefully. The night had just begun and tomorrow will bring a new day with new troubles and anxieties for today already had its own to worry about.

Author's Note

AN: I am very sorry for this chapter coming out so late once again, but life has only gotten busier for me lately and I've had very little time to work on this chapter. However, it is done now and we can move on to the next part of the story. There was a lot of action going on in this chapter and it might seem a bit confusing, but all the loose ends will be tied up before the end of the story. The rivalry is only beginning to heat up and things will get more dramatic as time goes on. Also, it's nice to see the Chiefs and the Eagles in the Super Bowl this year and I'm interested to see how that goes. Go Chiefs! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: The trek to Boston! After the group finds themselves in New York City, Knuckles tries to find a way to get them out of there and find Pitch and the Pony of Shadows to get back to Equestria. However, that is easier said than done and in order to figure it out, they have to travel to Boston to find the two villains. But, travelling there is harder than expected and the group must figure out how to get there without killing themselves in the process. Will they be able to find a way to Boston, or will they be stranded in New York City with nowhere else to go?

Until then, my fellow readers

Chapter 6: Boarding To Boston

The next morning, the sunrise greeted New York City once more and life in the Big Apple was the same as any other day. Inside the small hideout below the Statue of Liberty, Knuckles and Twilight were still snoozing away on the bed cuddling in each other's arms. Even though Knuckles was a very heavy sleeper, his snoring did not wake up Twilight at all during the night, which definitely helped both of them out.

Twilight let out a yawn and opened her eyes to see Knuckles still sleeping. She would always wake up to this sight every morning and she found it absolutely adorable. Knuckles stretched his muscles and he woke up as well. He was soon greeted with those gorgeous violet orbs staring right back at him. He smiled and said "Good morning, my beautiful princess. Did you sleep well last night?"

Twilight smiled and said "I did and good morning to you as well, Caleb. You're so adorable when you're sleeping like that."

Knuckles chuckled a little bit and said "As long as I wake up to your beautiful purple eyes every morning, I could care less." He ran his hand through her mane and then pulled her in for a passionate kiss. Twilight melted with bliss and she moaned in his mouth as they were doing their session. Her wings sprouted from excitement and her tail swished in between Knuckles' legs. After a few minutes, they both pulled away and Knuckles said "I love you, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight smiled even more and said "I love you too, Caleb "Knuckles" Brody."

Knuckles got up and said "Come. We must check on the others before we embark on this long journey of ours." Twilight nodded and the two of them went out into the living room area. Knuckles said "Good morning, y'all. I hope you slept well and if not, oh well, that is too bad. We have a long journey ahead of us and we have no time to waste. But we must get some fuel first before we leave. Applejack, Pinkie, can you help me make breakfast here in the kitchen?"

Applejack said "Sure thing, partner. Anything Ah can do to help."

Pinkie said "Of course! I love making breakfast for everypony!"

Knuckles smiled a bit and said "Excellent. Now let us get started before we burn any more daylight." The three of them began working in the kitchen and they made omelettes and potatoes for everyone for breakfast and some orange juice to wash it all down.

Everyone was enjoying it and Rarity said "Knuckles, this is simply divine! I didn't know you could cook like this!"

Knuckles laughed a bit and said "I have many talents, Rarity. Ones you would not think I had. Cooking was always a natural talent in the family, so it has been pretty easy to follow."

Elsa asked "Are you sure you haven't pursued culinary school at all? You would be quite good at it."

Knuckles said "Nah, I have no desire for that. My career is established in the music industry and I plan on keeping it that way until the end of time. I am perfectly satisfied with writing and playing music. Now, let us wrap things up because we have things to do."

Jack asked "Where exactly are we going to go from here? It's clear we are stuck here and we have no idea how to get back."

Rainbow said "Yeah, as cool as New York City is, we can't stay here forever and we have to get back to Equestria."

Knuckles said "That's why we are going to the New York Public Library. It should have all the answers that we are seeking."

Starswirl said "Indeed it shall."

Knuckles scowled at him and said "What makes you say that?! How do you know about that place?!"

Starswirl said "I have come to this library once before and it's how I found out about most of your world's history."

Knuckles lessened his glare a little bit and said "I see. Well then, do not try to convince everyone that you are the smartest person or rather, pony in the room or else there will be consequences. Got that?"

Starswirl nodded nervously and said "Yes sir."

Knuckles was satisfied with that answer and said "Good. Now let us move OUT, everyone! To the New York Public Library we go!" They all went up one at a time and once they reached the top, they made it back to the mainland the same way they got to the island. Elsa used her ice powers to freeze the river for them to walk across, and then Knuckles punched the ice with his fists as a way to keep boat traffic moving.

As they were walking along through the city, Knuckles would notice strange things occurring on the streets and it made him wonder if the terrible things that would occur in NYC on a daily basis become more evident which he had been warning people for years as a political commentator, but some probably didn't pay attention. People seemed to notice the group a bit more, but considering crazy things happen in New York City every single day, they didn't try to do anything about it.

They were able to make it to the New York Public Library where the greatest events ever recorded in human history could be found. Knuckles opened the super large doors and Twilight was absolutely speechless. The library that was in her husband's house back in Baltimare was pretty amazing, but the New York Public Library took it to a whole new level. She said "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Hundreds if not thousands of books all unread! There are no words!"

Knuckles turned around and said "Calm down, Twilight. We are not here to read the entire library. While it is true that the greatest events of human history and maybe even all of history can be found here, we are on a mission to stop both the Pony of Shadows and Pitch Black. They probably already started creating havoc in Equestria and it is only a matter of time before they start terrorizing NYC and other cities here on the Earth. So, time is of the essence here, but try to not speak so loudly about it in here. We do not want to create a worldwide panic. Considering how fast information flies these days, it would be inevitable that the entire world will hear about this and I do not want that happening, so stick to the plan here and DO NOT WANDER OFF! Is that clear?!"

Everyone nodded and Knuckles said "Good. Now, considering that this is a very large library in the most populated city in the United States, it is best that we start in the literature section so that we can best understand how these two villains behave."

Jack asked "Aren't they simply antagonists?"

Knuckles said "Yes, they are antagonists, but we are looking for their type of character. Let me give you an example: Discord, The Lord of Chaos, is a trickster. Tricksters are individuals who are mischievous and often a malicious practical joker. While he may have never gone as far as to kill, his jokes have harmed others, even if he does not think so. Tricksters often play these jokes at the expense of others just to satisfy their amusement. They are not really considered your enemies, but you never consider them your friends because they always have a goal of their own in mind and they will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal, even if it means hurting themselves in the process. However, they often challenge the main character of the story and force them out of the rules that society has placed on them. So, we simply need to find something like that for our two villains. Spread out!"

They began looking all over the place and started reading whatever they could about the character types of the two villains. They searched for several hours and they regathered after doing some research. Knuckles said "Alright, what did we find here in the New York Public Library?"

Rainbow said "Well, for the most part, all we seemed to find was a bunch of books on things like some of Gutenberg Bible, the rise and fall of this thing called the Roman Empire, and something called The Renaissance. It seemed like a bunch of religious stuff for me."

Knuckles said "I see. Yeah, all of those events were considered some of the greatest in human history, but I doubt that is going to help. Did you guys find anything on your end?" He had addressed the Guardians and the main characters of Frozen to see if they had anything.

Jack said "When it came to finding out different character types, we were a bit short handed. We did find some things about character types, but nothing about our two villains at hand here."

Elsa said "We searched up and down the entire literature section, but we could find nothing at all."

Knuckles sighed and said "That honestly doesn't surprise me. I am not sure why I even bothered coming to this library in the first place. I should have known that a place like New York City would not have any background knowledge on our two foes."

Anna said "We were able to find this book however."

Knuckles took the book and looked at the title. He said "Hmm. The 12 Types of Characters in Movies and TV Shows. This might help." He began to read it and it all made sense for him now. He said "I believe I understand now. The Pony of Shadows is a shadow character. Hence the name. But essentially, the shadow character represents the dark side of someone's personality and they would do anything to destroy what is in their path in the name of revenge."

North asked "But what would you consider Pitch to be then?"

Knuckles said "Pitch is the manipulator. He is very clever and cunning and is easily able to trick and deceive others. They will often tell lies and try to make themselves look like the good guys. A prime example of that in Equestria would be King Sombra. So we are dealing with a very similar individual in Pitch Black that behaves a lot like King Sombra."

Twilight said "That would explain why he sent you that letter."

Knuckles nodded and said "Exactly. He thought he could trick me by sending that letter. He obviously doesn't know me very well and believes that he could trick me into anything by simply telling twisted lies even if they are slightly true. A half lie is still a lie, so it doesn't matter how true it is."

Rarity asked "So, now that we have this information, what do we do now?"

Knuckles said "Well, since we got stranded here in New York City, we now have to find the culprits."

Rainbow said "Well, let's go get them! Show them who's boss!"

Knuckles said "Hold on. That is a bad idea. We do not go out looking for danger, we let the danger come to us. It was once said that a wise king never seeks out war, but he must always be ready for it. Of course the dude who said it was kind of an idiot, but the point still stands. So, all we can do is wait."

They were confused about it, but they went along with it. Knuckles said "Try to stick around here in this area. This library is massive and when danger comes, we must be ready to strike. So, do not go too far." Everyone nodded and went their separate ways.

The Pillars were over at the science section and were discussing the current events going on. Rockhoof said "Aye, this metropolis doesn't even look the same like it has thousands of years ago. So much has changed." It felt like thousands of years for him, but the last time that any of them were here was in the late 1980s where Knuckles was a few years old, so in reality, it's been about 30 years since they were last here.

Mistmane said "The beauty within this city is simply unfathomable and it would seem like such a shame for it to suffer."

Flash Magnus said "It wouldn't just suffer under the rule of the Pony of Shadows, but also this Pitch fellow as well. He has simply taken a real interest in Knuckles."

Meadowbrook said "Almost if he knows something we don't. We might not have the most favorable opinion of this supernatural being, but it does seem suspicious."

Somnumbala said "What does seem suspicious is how all of his friends are swift to defend him. They do not know the history between us and his tribe, yet they act like they were there. How could they act like that?"

Starswirl said firmly "Because they are blind and they are shallow-minded in their thinking. They think bringing back known threats into the fold will solve everything, but fail to understand that life is far more complicated than that."

Flash raised an eyebrow and asked "But wasn't it because of what you did why Knuckles hates you the most?"

Starswirl sighed and said "Yes... It is and I do not blame him. I still feel guilty for doing that to him, but it had to be done regardless for the safety of all forms of life."

The Guardians and Frozen characters were in the english literature section and like the Pillars, they were also discussing the events of what was going on.

North said "For a city as big as this, it's interesting seeing the size of this library. I don't remember it being this size back home."

Easter Bunny said "Yeah mate. It makes ya wonder how much human history lies in these books."

Tooth said "But think about the potential risk it could cause if Pitch or even this shadow guy got their hands on this."

Jack said "Tooth is right. Pitch and this Pony of Shadows character hates us all with a passion, so he'll do anything he can to bring us down."

Elsa said "It's one thing if they come after us, but none of these people here deserve it. They certainly did not ask for it."

Anna said "I agree. They just look like human beings trying to live their normal lives and with how things have gone, they're not about to get that."

Kristoff said "It all makes us wonder what their next course of action is. The scenario is perfect for them. Big city. Lots of people. Both of them feed off of fear. It would be disastrous."

Olaf said "Who knew that these dark characters would be so mean? I don't have a skull or a brain, but these guys act like they don't have one either."

Kristoff said "They do have one, they just use it for malicious purposes."

Jack said "Pitch has been evil for as long as all of us can remember and from what we have been told about this Pony of Shadows character, the same could be same for this guy."

Elsa said "That doesn't seem to be the only problem though. There seems to be a divide between "Knuckles" and these ancient figures from the pony land. It makes you wonder what really happened between them."

Anna said "Yeah, it's a smaller storyline, but it does seem concerning. It's the first time we're working with these other creatures and I worry that if it is not resolved, it could hurt our chances to defeat these two villains."

North said "They might not seem that intimidating on the surface, but they are a much greater threat than people may realize. An alliance between the two of them definitely does not help though. It only makes them stronger."

The ponies were in the mathematics section and like the other two groups, they were discussing the current events going on.

Pinkie Pie said "It's sooo boring just waiting for these two villains to just drop by."

Rainbow said "I agree. We need to fight now!"

Rarity said "Now hold on you two. Didn't you hear Knuckles' words? A wise king never seeks out war, but must always be ready for one."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and asked "What's that got to do with anything?"

Rarity said "The point is we're not trying to actively go looking for danger. If things can remain peaceful at the moment, then so be it. But the second trouble comes, we will strike."

Fluttershy said "But how would we be able to keep up? This city isn't exactly small."

Applejack said "Yeah. Y'all think Baltimare was bad, this is like ten times worse and this is unfamiliar territory for us. We're not from here, so we have to rely on Knuckles here to lead us."

Sunburst said "It's not going to really matter if we continue to have this divide between him and the Pillars. Eventually, it will tear all of them apart and if that happens, the Pony of Shadows and Pitch wins."

Starlight said "I know he has been through a lot, but I would definitely like to know why Knuckles hates Starswirl so much. He was one of the greatest legends to ever live in Equestria and Knuckles sees him as nothing more than a bitter enemy." There was a reason for that. It has yet to be revealed.

Twilight sighed and said "I'm afraid he isn't going to budge on that. Trying to get him to talk about it is like asking Discord to stop being chaotic. It's an exercise in futility and there's no point in pressuring him to get him to talk about it. It will only make him hide it more. We'll have to let him share it on his own terms whenever that would be."

Spike asked "But why won't he share it with us? We are considered his family after all."

Twilight said "It's not that simple, Spike. For almost all his life, he could never trust his own family because of how horrible they were to him. All he has ever known was anger, bitterness, and violence because that is what his brain has taught him to be his natural response. He's just now learning to trust those who are considered close to him. I love him very much, but there's no way I would force him to do something like that. The amount of pain he has suffered in almost the last 35 years is something none of us could ever hope to understand to any degree because of how deep it is. Would I like to figure out why Caleb hates Starswirl and the other Pillars so much? Absolutely. But we'll have to wait until he feels comfortable sharing it with us. That's what any loving wife and friends would do."

Fluttershy said "Maybe he's afraid to share it with us because he knows how much respect and honor we have towards the Pillars and doesn't want to shatter that." It's not that far-fetched, actually.

Twilight said "That could be a possibility. Caleb does know how to read a room and anyone who he cares about will take their feelings into consideration, but never his own. I think it's sweet, but I worry how much he compromises himself in order to make us feel better. We could never seem to read his emotions, but he could always read ours. He's always been stubborn to carry the burden with others, but I hope that changes at some point."

In the history section, Knuckles was sitting by himself on a bean bag reading a book about the history of the Roman Empire. He noticed that everyone else around him was probably talking about the events occurring, but he kept quiet about it. If he had to sit and wait for the danger to come, then so be it. There was the risk of the villains already out causing trouble, but things seemed peaceful for once and he didn't want to disturb that at the moment. Not if he could help it.

Twilight came over and sat next to her husband to see what he was reading. She asked "What are you reading, honey?"

Knuckles said "I am reading about the history of the Roman Empire. It was widely considered as one of the greatest empires in human history, but like with all empires, they rise and fall. It was also one of the longest lasting empires in history as well."

Twilight asked "How long did it last?"

Knuckles said "While some people have said that it only lasted about 500 years, a lot of people said that it actually lasted over 2,000 years and there is evidence to suggest that. After it split into East and West, the eastern side became a different name while the western side eventually fell. The eastern side then changed into the Byzantine Empire and eventually fell in the 11th century. Even though it had a different name, it was still part of the Roman Empire. So really, the Roman Empire lasted from 753 BC from 1453 AD which would be 2,206 years."

Twilight couldn't believe it and said "Wow, 2,206 years! That's practically around the amount of time that Discord was in stone."

Knuckles said "Well, it seems like from Equestrian history books, Discord was in stone that entire time the Roman Empire and moreover, Roman civilization was in existence. My tribe was in the glory days at that time and we were still in our peak, so a lot had happened at that point."

Twilight was about to say something else, but time had suddenly slowed down and his senses were starting to go crazy. Twilight asked if he was alright, but he ignored her. He put down the book and started to walk around to see where the trouble was coming from. He then heard something coming and he ran as fast as he could to the door to stop what was coming.

All of a sudden, a car was thrown into the building and shattered a couple of windows. People were suddenly screaming and Knuckles used all of his strength to try to stop the car from hitting anyone. Knuckles eventually got the car to stop and the car fell on top of him. Knuckles pushed the car off him and got up. He groaned slightly in pain and went wide-eyed when he saw the damage that was caused to the building. The rest of the group couldn't believe it and they came rushing over to Knuckles.

Twilight asked "Oh my gosh, Caleb! Are you alright?" She was speaking for the group on that.

Knuckles said "Yeah, *grunts* I am fine. I have faced worse. If I can survive a car accident, I can survive having a car being dropped on me. I am stronger than you may think." He looked at the car and noticed it was a Dodge Charger, the same car that killed Maddi. Instantly, the tragic events resurfaced and played through his head.

Starlight asked "Who exactly would throw this horseless carriage into a public building with all of these humans around?"

Knuckles turned around and growled with frustration. Suddenly, the Pony of Shadows and Pitch show up and are standing outside with evil grins. Pitch said "Well, if it isn't the superhuman. I underestimated your abilities, Knuckles. You seem quite powerful by being able to stop that car. 5,000 pounds. It's not easy."

Knuckles was furious and yelled "HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO THROW A CAR AT ME! A DODGE CHARGER NO LESS! THE CAR OF DEATH! I CANNOT SLEEP AT NIGHT BECAUSE OF THAT CAR! AND THEN, TO TOSS IT INTO A PUBLIC BUILDING WITH HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN HERE, PUTTING THEIR LIVES AT RISK, IS UNACCEPTABLE! YOU ARE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!"

All of the people that were there shouted angry protests at Pitch and ripped into him for potentially causing a mass murder.

Pitch simply laughed and said "I don't know what the big deal was. Nobody was killed and nobody got hurt."

Jack said "Are you nuts?! You could have killed someone with a 5,000 pound piece of metal! Moreover, why would you attack Knuckles like that?!"

Pitch laughed again and said "Don't you fools understand? I may hate you the most Jack, but there's something peculiar about Knuckles. Something about his powers seems threatening to my plans and I can't have him getting in the way."

Rainbow asked "Why would your plans be threatened just by the presence of Knuckles?"

Pitch smirked and said "Oh, where is the fun in that? It would simply be a waste of time and myself along with the Pony of Shadows have worlds to conquer."

The Pony of Shadows said "The Equestrian realm seems to be weakening as a whole, but this realm, *does an evil laugh* there is so much darkness reeking from the humans that it would be unfathomable for them to see it coming. A history filled with disease, crisis, and war pales in comparison to the homeland."

Starswirl said "You will not try to harm this realm also! You have a grudge against the Pillars and myself, but do not drag these humans along with it. They do not deserve it!"

The Pony of Shadows growled and said "You always try to avoid responsibility, don't you, Starswirl?! Tell me, am I considered another one of your failures that you've had in your life?! You had a lot of them!"

Flash Magnus said "That's not important at the moment, you need to go back to Limbo where you belong!"

The Pony of Shadows snarled with anger and said "NEVER! My dark power will spread across all of the realm and soon, all living life will bow to ME!" He ran towards the Pillars and the Pillars ran after him. They began fighting amongst one another.

Pitch looked at the guardians and said "Well, that was an interesting turn of events. You think children would ever still believe in people like you in a world filled with chaos and destruction?! I think not!"

North said "As long as one child believes, we will always have the power to beat you!" The rest of them agreed as well.

Pitch looked at Knuckles and said "Are you just going to stand there all day or are you actually going to fight me like a man?"

Knuckles said "Why should I after you almost killed all of these people in here?"

Pitch gave an evil smile and said "Like the way you did with your precious girlfriend in your hometown?"

That struck a nerve in Knuckles and his blood quickly boiled to anger. He balled up his fists and charged up his lightning. He yelled out his battle cry and ran full speed towards him. He rammed into him and tackled him to the ground onto the streets of New York City. Knuckles got up and yelled "DO NOT YOU DARE EVER BRING THAT UP AGAIN! MY LIFE HAS BEEN PERMANENTLY SCARRED BECAUSE OF THAT ONE TRAGIC EVENT! YOU WILL REALLY PAY FOR IT NOW!" Knuckles yelled out his battle cry again and punched Pitch much further back into the city.

Pitch growled with anger and charged towards him. They both jumped up into the sky and collided with one another in the air. They began fighting fist to fist with each other and going after each other. The rest of the group saw what was going on and rushed after Knuckles to help him. But Pitch used his dark powers as a spear to knock them all down to the ground and punched Knuckles down there too. He flew away and escaped higher into the sky.

Rainbow asked "How exactly are we going to catch him now?"

Knuckles looked around and saw that Pitch was headed up to the World Trade Center. He looked at North and said "North, give me a boost! Throw me up as high as you can and I will find a spot to land."

North asked "Where am I throwing you towards?"

Knuckles pointed to the World Trade Center and said "Throw me towards the top of that building. Pitch is headed that way, so if I can cut him off, that should slow him down."

North said "Alright. Here goes nothing."

He picked up Knuckles and tossed him as high up into the air as he could. Knuckles flew like a glider and was able to latch onto the building in order to get to the top of the World Trade Center. He looked around and Pitch came up right to him. Knuckles managed to dodge the punch to the stomach, but he was tripped up by him. Knuckles asked angrily "What was the point in that?!"

Pitch said "You think you are the only one that can fight, Knuckles? You might have been training for several decades, but I have been fighting the Guardians for thousands of years, so I have significantly more fighting experience than you."

Knuckles said with a snark "If you have been fighting the Guardians for thousands of years, then why do you keep losing?"

Pitch quickly got mad and blasted his magic right at Knuckles' stomach which knocked the supernatural human being off the skyscraper. The rest of the group was fighting the Pony of Shadows and they suddenly noticed Knuckles falling. The Mane Six tried to get to him, but the Pony of Shadows kept blocking the way and continued to fight them, which distracted them and they had to divert their attention to the threat before them.

Knuckles was trying to figure out how he was going to escape this and looked all around him for any potential leads. Knuckles looked at the top of the World Trade Center and took a deep breath. He shot out his hand and suddenly, a red web came out and connected to the antenna on top of the World Trade Center. Knuckles couldn't believe that worked, but he quickly used that to his advantage. He pulled his body back up into the air and kicked Pitch right in the stomach as well from above. That knocked Pitch down and he fell hard to the ground.

The group heard it and turned to see Pitch face first into the ground. Knuckles had jumped down and landed on the ground gracefully. He seemed a little surprised and said "Huh, for someone who says that they have a ton of "battle experience," they certainly cannot stop themselves from hitting the ground from a falling building. Pathetic." He walked away and started to wonder how he could have possibly gained the powers of Spider-Man.

He does remember when he was a toddler, he was bitten by a Black Widow. Not just any Black Widow, a radioactive female Black Widow. Obviously, that venom could have killed him, but with help from both his parents and Starswirl, they were able to get it removed very quickly. However, that was a long time ago and he suddenly had the abilities of Spider-Man, then surely it should have shown up a lot sooner, right? Not exactly.

You see, Knuckles was always a big fan of Marvel, particularly Spider-Man. He read every comic there was and watched every movie that ever came out. Despite consuming this content though, he never wanted to reenact being Spider-Man himself because he found that to be odd. But it seems like that the effects of the Black Widow bite remained in his body and suddenly granted him the abilities of Spider-Man. He was three at the time this happened, so he's essentially known this for all of his life. It was all so strange to him, but since he now knew he had it, he had to keep it a secret, especially Twilight.

He couldn't have her trying to ask a million questions about it and they had much more pressing matters to worry about at the moment. Plus, he couldn't put any of them at risk with this newly discovered ability. Someone could potentially discover it and try to use it against him. He remembers what happened when Captain America did it in Captain America: Civil War.

Pitch got up and groaned slightly in pain. He growled with anger and said "So, he wants to do this the hard way, huh? Alright, I'll give him the hard way. He'll never know what hit him." He summoned his black wires and threw the damaged pieces of the library at Knuckles from high above. Knuckles saw it coming and broke it all, but Pitch was determined to win, so he kept going.

Eventually, he started making large pieces of debris appear out of thin air and they got bigger over time. Soon, Knuckles was buried beneath the rubble and he couldn't stop it from coming. Everyone thought that Pitch had just defeated Knuckles, but you would be dead wrong. Knuckles punched his way out of it with his red lightning and flew up high in the sky. He then descended towards the ground with supercharged lightning and punched Pitch in the face hard. Knuckles landed on the ground and breathed heavily. He said "I will give you one last chance to simply accept defeat and leave this city once and for all, but if you continue to be defiant, I will personally put you out of commission myself. For good."

Pitch looked at Knuckles with exhaustion and sighed. He spit out a broken tooth and simply growled at him. He stood up and said "I'll never surrender. I've worked too hard to have nothing more than a prodigal murderer stop me from reaching total universal domination!"

Knuckles sighed and said "Fine, have it your own way. Say goodbye to this world!" Before Knuckles could land the knockout punch on Pitch, the Pony of Shadows suddenly rammed into him and ran him back as far back as he could. The others saw what happened and started to attack Pitch. Pitch gladly accepted this challenge and fought back. Knuckles pushed the Pony of Shadows out of the way and went to help the others.

Knuckles punched Pitch and pushed him all the way to Times Square. They crashed right in front of the New Year's Eve ball on 7th Avenue and the two of them continued fighting. The others came over and continued fighting the Pony of Shadows in front of the M&Ms store on 48th Street. Knuckles and Pitch were locked into engaged battle and no one was moving the needle. You would think that Knuckles had finally met his match, but he was purposely holding back because he doesn't like to kill. However, he knew he couldn't hold out forever. Eventually, Pitch might try to overpower him and take him out before Knuckles could do that to him and he couldn't let that happen.

Pitch gave an evil grin and said "You disappoint me, Knuckles. I thought you would be stronger. All you're doing is wasting my time. Now make yourself useful and get out of the way."

Knuckles said with a determined voice "It would not be the first time I was told that. It has been told to me all my life, so this is really nothing new. I care not though. I will show you what useful looks like." He raised his hands into the sky and suddenly, storm clouds started to form over the skyline of New York City. Little sparks of red lightning started to appear in his hands and the lightning connected out to his hands to supercharge his body. He then balled up his fists and blasted the red lightning right at Pitch. Pitch countered with his black wires, but Knuckles was persisting regardless.

Knuckles soon gained the edge and overtook Pitch. The black wires disappeared and soon, Pitch was burned by the red lightning and even electrocuted as well. Knuckles stopped the attack and waited to see what Pitch would do. He got up and said "Well, that was a little more impressive, but still NOT ENOUGH!" He started riding his horse and led his army of them to run over Knuckles with ease. He threw a bunch of black dust into the air and it scattered across the city.

Knuckles got up and saw the black dust. He looked at Pitch with a glare and said "What did you do?!"

Pitch smiled evilly and said "I simply added a little surprise to this city. The people may not go to sleep tonight. Now, if you excuse me, I have a world to conquer. Goodbye!"

The Pony of Shadows saw what was going on and decided to take his leave. He said "See ya kids! Have fun bathing in destruction and darkness!"

The two villains disappeared and it only left the group there. The sky suddenly grew dark and lightning and thunder went off.

Starlight asked "What is going on? Why has the sky turned dark like this?!"

Jack asked "Yeah, what exactly is going on?! Both of our villains have disappeared and yet, the environment around us has rapidly changed."

Knuckles said "I do not know. But be on guard. We do not know what will come our way. So be prepared."

Rain started to fall from the sky and it looked like it would be a typical thunderstorm, but suddenly, lightning strikes were appearing all over the place striking buildings, cars, landmarks, and even the roads. Some of these strikes caused explosions and people were screaming in terror. Knuckles told the group to get underground, but the ones who could wield weapons or magic stayed behind to help Knuckles.

Knuckles tried to protest, but Twilight told him that he couldn't just do it alone, he needed to have others help him as a team. Knuckles eventually relented and said "Alright fine, but be careful. Lightning is hotter than the surface of the Sun and I am the only one here that can survive being struck by it." They nodded and they were ready for battle.

The lightning came and almost as if it had a mind of its own, it targeted our heroes. The magic users and the weapon wielders used their power to try to stop the strikes, but it was a dead heat. Knuckles looked around and his Spidey-Sense began to act up. He knew that a lightning strike was coming, but he was trying to figure out where it was coming from. After taking a deep breath and listening to it, he jumped in front of Twilight so she could avoid being hit.

Knuckles got hit instead and he groaned in pain. Twilight yelled "Caleb! Are you alright?!"

Knuckles nodded and said "I am fine. This lightning seems to have a grip on me though. Go. Get out of here. All of you. This one seems to be the main culprit. I think I can defeat it."

North said "Are you sure about that? Lightning is no joke."

Knuckles said "Yes, now GO! I got it!" All of them seeked shelter and Knuckles concentrated to unlock the power deep inside. Knuckles soon looked up into the sky and yelled out his battle cry. A whole bunch of red lightning came out of his chest and he gripped his hands on the white lightning to stop its flow. His red lightning went all the way up the clouds and killed off any activity from them whatsoever. The clouds exploded into dust and New York City's skyline was clear once again.

None of them could believe it and they all stood there amazed. Rainbow asked "How did you not get killed by that?! That was dangerous, but totally awesome!"

Knuckles said "I am grateful that I am even alive to begin with. Like North said, lightning is a very serious danger to both the human and pony race and is not something that should be taken lightly. Regardless, anyone who has a basic understanding of electricity will know how I was not struck dead by a lightning strike."

Twilight was enthusiastic to explain it and said "Oh, I know! Electricity has two different reactions to be absorbed: insulators and conductors. Insulators react poorly to electricity and can't flow very easily. Conductors react very well to electricity and can flow easily, which is why they can absorb electricity so much better than insulators."

Knuckles simply nodded and said "You would be correct. My body may act as a conductor, but even it has limits. Overloading a conductor with too much electricity will cause it to overheat, which could result in electrical fires. So, going back to the human example, if my body gets overloaded with electricity, that could cause something in my central nervous system to screw up, which can result in organ failure amongst other things. In short, lightning could still technically kill me, but only if you overload me with them. I might be able to take one or a couple or even a few lightning strikes at the same time, but I could not survive several or higher possibly. The slope is too slippery and the risk is way too high. I must be careful regardless of my supernatural abilities."

Everyone agreed and no one protested it further. The Pillars seemed impressed with how Knuckles used his power, especially Starswirl. Despite their relationship being rocky to say the least, Starswirl served as a mentor to Knuckles when the human was very young. At least before he made the disappearance with the Master Diamond in his possession. After that, Knuckles' tribe swore bloodshed on any pony that came across their path again and the nation of Equestria as a whole because of the crime they committed against the most powerful tribe on Earth, something that was considered unforgivable in their eyes.

Regardless though, Starswirl was glad to see Knuckles grow into something great over the years. Even though he left him at a very young age, it appeared that Knuckles had grown so much in that time period and mastered several abilities that he struggled with as a toddler. It pained Starswirl having to leave him like that, but it had to be done. Whatever emotions both of them felt were irrelevant and there were more important things at hand.

Jack asked "What exactly are we supposed to do now? It's clear that Pitch has negatively affected the city and it doesn't look to be getting any better."

Knuckles said "As much as I would like to help them, I am afraid we must get out of here."

Rainbow asked "But why?! There are so many of these humans suffering right now!"

Knuckles said "It is not that simple. It appears that our mere presence here has thrown everything off balance and the city cannot sustain this much imbalance in the universe. It is a city with almost eight and a half million people and the only way the suffering is going to stop is if we leave here. Us being here will only make things worse. Too many unnatural things have happened to the point where it is unsustainable. I know it is hard, but we must leave."

Sunburst asked "But where are we going to go? This planet is far different than Equestria and you're the only one that knows it very well."

Knuckles said "That is true, but even I do not know every place here in America. However, there is one place further up north we can go that will be much more sustainable than the Big Apple. The thing is though we must get there by plane, but from here, you can only get to it by train car if you want to make it there at a reasonable time. What it means is we will have to take the New York Subway here from Penn Station all the way out to JFK in order to get to our new destination."

Easter Bunny asked "Where would that be, mate?"

Knuckles said "Boston."

Jack asked "Why would we need to go to Boston?" Everyone was wondering the same thing as well.

Knuckles said "Something occurred in Boston at one point and I have a score to settle with that particular individual. Plus, Boston is the place to go for boss battles anyways. Look no further than the Battle of Boston between Godzilla and King Ghidorah in the movie Godzilla: King Of The Monsters from back in May. But we have no time to waste. We must get there quickly."

Knuckles led everyone to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan on 34th Street and everyone was amazed how wonderful it looked. Knuckles saw this and said "I know it looks nice and my world has a lot to offer, but time is of the essence at the moment. We have two enemies out on the loose and if we do not stop them, it could cause the entire universe to be thrown into total chaos, so we must stay on track."

Knuckles went over to the pay station and tried to buy 24 tickets from Penn Station to JFK International Airport. He was shocked slightly to see the total price of tickets for all of them. He said "$144 for an entire group of creatures?! Good grief. Things have gotten expensive these days. I am going to be broke after this." He gave them all their tickets and instructed them to hold onto them.

They made it to the gates and Applejack asked "Umm, how exactly do we use these things, partner?"

Knuckles said "It is simple, you take your ticket and insert it into the little slot at the top and the gate will retract itself to allow you to go through. I will demonstrate." He put his ticket in the slot and the gate retracted to allow him to walk through. He said "See? It is that simple. Now just come one at a time since there are other people trying to use the other lanes as well."

They started coming through, but about halfway through, the security guard there suddenly started seeing what was going on and ran outside of his post to try and stop it. Knuckles saw him coming and said "I will be right back. We got a boogie at 6:00." Knuckles ran full speed towards the guard and rammed him back into the post he was originally in. Knuckles growled at him and landed the knockout punch to put the guard to sleep. He ran back over to the gate and said "Sorry about that. I should have figured that something like that would happen."

Elsa asked "Do any of us pose that much of a threat?"

Knuckles said "No, it is just a lot of bad things have happened in New York City since September 11th, 2001, and every kind of law enforcement here takes extra measures to make sure it never happens again. It is nothing to worry about. We are not planning on crashing large commercial jets into skyscrapers, so all is clear. Plus, most New Yorkers have never seen any of you guys before, so they naturally act with fear. I'm sure that is understandable."

Elsa nodded and said "I can agree with that. I know the feeling all too well."

Knuckles said "Yes well, let us get moving along before any further incidents happen." They all moved forward and waited for the next train to come. It eventually came and the PA announced it was headed for JFK International Airport, so they took that as their signal to get on. Some people there tried to stage attacks, but the group put a stop to that real quick. The doors shut and the train began moving east towards the airport.

The train had to make multiple stops on the route and it was getting quite tense considering the amount of strangers on this train. Some tried to start some trouble because well, it's New York for you, but our group took care of business, especially Knuckles. He felt like he had the leader role and it was his responsibility to keep everyone alive. He may absolutely despise the Pillars, but he never likes to instigate conflicts and the Pillars haven't bothered him up to this point, so why bother starting anything?

If they step out of line, he'll put them in check, but so far, he hasn't had to do that. However, it could happen at any point, so he must be ready for it. Some time later, the train arrived at JFK and the group went outside. Most of them tried going in the front door, but Knuckles ran in front of them to stop them. He asked "Where do you think you're going?!"

Most of the group was confused and Easter Bunny asked "We're going through the front door, mate. How else would we get in, mate?"

Knuckles sighed and said "It is not that simple. Being able to make it this far by train was already an accomplishment, but at least it is not as regulated and bad stuff happens all the time. However, traveling by aircraft is a far different ballgame. Do you realize the amount of security measures they put in place after 9/11? Where we are standing at right now is 33 miles away from where one of the commercial aircraft took off and eventually crashed in Pennsylvania. This is no longer the 1990s, where you could practically take anything with you as long as you hid it well enough. After that tragic day, security has been vastly ramped up. Even if you just bring a bag of chips and a bottle of water with you, TSA will be all over that like a bunch of hawks."

Starlight asked "What is the TSA?"

Knuckles said "It stands for the Transportation Security Administration. It is a division of the Department of Homeland Security. After 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security was formed in 2003 as a way to safeguard the United States from another terrorist attack of that magnitude happening on our homeland again. I find it rich that it took 60 years before the federal government created another agency to combat terrorism against America. You would think after Pearl Harbor in 1941, they would have done something, but nope, they decided to wait until 2001 to launch a counter defense. It is pathetic and it is all the more reason why I hate government bureaucrats."

He wasn't exactly wrong and even though he absolutely despised the 19 terrorists who committed this terrible act against America, he believed it never would have happened if President Bill Clinton at the time hadn't delinked federal agencies from telling each other important information that would have prevented 9/11 from happening in the first place. He knew that George W. Bush was President at the time of 9/11, but he knew that this problem stemmed back to the Clinton Administration. So, he placed the ultimate blame of his uncle and cousin being killed in the North Tower on 9/11 on Bill Clinton. It might sound ridiculous to Democrat loyalists, but anyone who does some research into how 9/11 happened will find that exact same information that Knuckles is currently talking about.

Knuckles sighed and said "Regardless though, the point is that the TSA regulates everything about air travel. They are super strict about what you can and cannot bring. Any sort of tool that can be used as a weapon is prohibited, all chip bags and bottled beverages are off the table as well, and you cannot hide any other illegal items inside clothing either. They have truly thought of everything. If you dare try to bring something you are not supposed to through an airport, you will face serious legal action for it depending on what it is. They have machines that uses X-ray to scan the entire body for anything that a person might try to hide. They make you empty your pockets and put all metal objects in a basket along with backpacks and suitcases. They make you take off hats and shoes to make sure you are not hiding anything illegal in there."

Flash Magnus asked "But what is the meaning of all this? What is the point you're trying to make?"

Knuckles scowled at Flash and said "The point is that there is no getting past TSA. I know that you and your friends believe that the human race is incredibly dumb, which is true to an extent, but the human race is also very smart as well. The implementation of greater security in the United States is an example of the Tony Stark model. If you watched the Marvel movies he was in, you will know that he was always learning from his mistakes and constantly adapting to become even stronger. It is the same thing here. You may have stolen the greatest artifact ever to exist from me as one person, but there is nothing you can get past these guys. Believe me. Mankind has tried everything it could think of post-9/11 and it still has not worked to this day. The only reason why there are so many restrictions is because of people who tried sneaking stuff in after the terrorist attack in the oddest of places."

Kristoff said "With all that being said, if we have all this security, how are we going to get to this Boston place you speak of?"

Knuckles said "Well, you cannot outbeat TSA, but you can outsmart them."

Rarity asked "And how are we supposed to do that?"

Knuckles said "See that fence over there? They do not guard that area that much because no one has stolen a plane from the runway recently and they would be pretty stupid to do that."

Jack said "Please tell me you were not thinking about stealing that thing. Do you even know how to fly one of those?"

Knuckles said "No, no, no. We are not stealing any plane whatsoever. I never took flight school, so I have no idea how to fly a plane. All we are gonna do is hop on a plane that will take us directly to Boston."

Elsa said "But how are you going to figure that out? It's not exactly super obvious which one goes to this Boston place."

Knuckles said "That is why I have this device. *pops out small smartphone like device* This device can track where any plane at any airport is leaving and arriving at. It is something I invented myself just in case criminals tried to kill me with a plane. It has not been done so far, but mankind has become vastly distrusting within the last couple of decades."

Knuckles used the device to see which plane was headed to Boston and he quickly found the one that was headed up north. He told the group to come along and they hid behind the bushes to strategize what their next move was.

Rockhoof asked "How exactly are we supposed to get in there, lass? It looks treacherous."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "Yeah, no s[BLEEP]t, Sherlock. Of course it looks dangerous. This is probably one of the most guarded airports in the world because of what happened almost 20 years ago. I have an idea to get in though." He told them all the plan and they immediately went to work.

The Guardians and the primary Frozen characters walked up to the gate and noticed the security guard sleeping for a second. North cut out a medium sized hole with one of his swords on both sides of the glass and peeped his head inside the booth. He said with a loud voice "HO, HO, HO! GOOD MORNING TO YA, FELLA!"

The security guard suddenly woke up and was startled to see North there. He said "Santa! What the heck are you doing here?! I thought you were simply a legend!"

North chuckled a bit and said "I am very real. Now, I hope you've been on the nice list this year or else you'll get coal in your stocking!"

The security guard said "Of course! I've been making sure to be good and respectful to everyone around me, despite the fact no one hardly ever seems to do the same."

North said "Is that so? Why is that?"

The security guard said "Well, I'm relatively new to this job and since I'm the rookie, I've been tasked by my boss to guard this area with virtually no help because he hates my guts that much."

North said "I see. Well, I'll make sure to keep note of that. Anyway, I got a little present for you."

The security guard lit up at that and said "Really? What is it, Santa?"

North smiled and said "You'll see." Just then, Elsa came from behind and used her ice powers through the cutout to completely freeze the guard, leaving him completely unable to move.

Elsa said "You know, it seems kind of cold getting him excited about presents and then completely freezing him to solid ice. He sounded like he had a rough life."

North said "Yeah, it is cold. But this was part of the mission. So, we'll have to deal with it and it'll probably melt soon enough anyway."

Meanwhile, Jack, Starswirl, and The Sandman all conjured up fireworks and large gold dinosaurs and such alike as a distraction for the other security guards that were watching the runaway. As you would expect, they got distracted and ran off to go attend to that.

Starswirl said "It actually astonishes me that the human race can be this easily distracted, but Cal- I mean, Knuckles definitely was not wrong about his own kind."

Jack said "Yeah, what exactly is the deal between you and him? The rest of the Guardians tried asking him earlier, but we only got a very vague answer out of him."

Starswirl sighed and said "It's a very complex situation. Me and him have a complicated history and it would take way too much time to explain everything that happened. The best I can give you is I made a mistake long ago and he seeks revenge because of it. I do not believe he will turn to darkness like the foe that vowed to destroy the homeland that I come from, but storing up anger and bitterness for centuries definitely leaves a mark on one's character."

After that distraction, Knuckles, the Mane Six, and the others in this large group ran up to the loads of storage carts that held all the suitcases and hid inside there. The golf cart driver kept driving along, but Knuckles suddenly snuck up behind him and landed a knockout punch on the back of the head. Knuckles stole the outfit from the driver and yeeted him into outer space. He got into the driver's seat and kept driving along. Knuckles finally pulled up to the plane that was going to Boston and got off.

Suddenly, a bunch of security guards loaded with armed guns showed up. Knuckles threw up his hands and said "I am just an employee, fellas. I am simply trying to do my job. Honest!"

The commander said "We know you're a fake! You're not authorized to be back here! Turn around and get on your knees! You're being arrested for trespassing!"

Knuckles did as he was told and right before they could put the handcuffs on him, he threw a backwards punch at the arresting officer and tossed him away. He asked "We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice." The guards came charging at him, so it was clear what their choice was. Knuckles chuckled in disbelief and said "The hard way then. Very well. You will regret this. NOW!" The rest of the group came out from the carts of suitcases and began fighting back alongside Knuckles.

The guards tried to put up a fight, but they were simply no match for the group. Between the physical strength, to the magical power, and intellect were too much for the guards. Twilight and Starlight created a joint lightning beam with Knuckles and that blew back all the guards in the area. Once they were gone, he told them to get on the plane in the cargo area. The others saw what happened and they came just in time. They too got onto the plane and Knuckles was the last one inside.

Rainbow said "I can't believe that worked! Humans are so dumb sometimes!"

Knuckles said "Shhh! Keep quiet! We may have won the battle, but we have not won the war yet. After creating a light show like that, it will put the whole airport on alert and there will be reinforcements coming shortly. So do not make a sound. Once they close the cargo hatch door, then we will be able to travel to Boston."

The reinforcements did come and they searched all around for the intruders they heard about. The leader said "Spread out! Look for any signs of them! They can't be far!" The law enforcement officers searched everywhere they could think of and could not find anything. The leader sighed and said "Very well. Send the plane out! We'll keep the city on high alert!" He shut the door and the ground crew finally came out to guide the plane to the runway.

The plane traveled through the runway and after getting the green light to take off, the plane took to the skies and now, they were all airborne in the sky. It was only about an hour from JFK to Boston Logan, so there was not much going on. Once they touched down in Boston, they all felt the bump that you normally feel whenever you land and they were scattered amongst the cargo area as a result. After some pushing and shoving, the cargo door opened and they filed out.

However, they were suddenly stopped by a bunch of federal agents and the commander yelled "FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS UP WHERE I CAN SEE THEM! YOU'RE ALL UNDER ARREST FOR DOMESTIC TERRORISM! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW! TURN AROUND AND GET ON YOUR KNEES!"

Rainbow didn't like the sound of that and yelled "Who do you think you are dictating us?!"

Knuckles glared at her and said "Shut up! These are U.S. federal agents! We are on their land and they have every legal right to arrest us, whether we like it or not! Just go along with it for now."

The commander didn't appreciate the talking and yelled 'HEY, STOP TALKING OVER THERE! TURN AROUND NOW AND GET ON YOUR KNEES! DO NOT MOVE!"

Everyone did as they were told and the federal agents threw everyone into the large vans that were waiting on the runway. They shut the doors and the agents outside yelled to get the vehicles moving. The police escort by the Boston Police Department led the way while cars containing FBI agents and CIA agents were following behind the big vans transporting the group.

Rainbow said "Why are we even being captured in the first place?! We didn't even do anything that serious!"

Rarity said "Well, we did hurt several humans."

Knuckles said "She is right. What we did back in New York would be considered by many as domestic terrorism. I told you, they take this stuff seriously. Ever since that tragic day 18 years ago, anything that is remotely suspicious would be considered domestic terrorism. It might sound ridiculous, but they have every reason to be cautious. America was invaded by a bunch of middle eastern terrorists seeking to destroy the current global superpower and beacon to the rest of the world. What those imbeciles failed to understand is that once America is attacked, we fight back with greater power than the enemy has ever seen. They failed to take down the United States, but the effects of it still linger to this day, I fear."

Pinkie said "But why are they so mean?! I understand we broke rules, but they could have been nicer about it."

Knuckles said "Well, considering who they were dealing with, I do not blame them. You are all unknown to this world, so there obviously is extra caution. Plus, the last time America let down their guard like that, almost 3,000 people were killed and billions of dollars of damage was sustained, so they have all the reasons in the world to act aggressive. It sounds cruel to you guys, but unfortunately, this is how the human world operates. You may not like it, but there is nothing we can do about it."

Rarity said "It almost reminds me of you were when we all first met."

Knuckles sighed and said "Yes, and I still regret that. I should have known better than to act hostile towards you ponies. So much crap has gone on in my life at that point and yet, I still acted with malice when I should not have done that. I guess the power of friendship is a force to be reckoned with and a powerful one indeed. I almost feel sympathetic to these guys because most of them were probably around when that terrible act of terrorism was unfolding. A good chunk of them probably lost family members that day and I know from personal experience, that is never fun. They are probably only acting with the same kind of defense that I did so long ago. It's saddening to see."

Starlight asked "Where are they taking us exactly? These windows are incredibly small and I can't really make anything out on where we could possibly be at." As if on cue, the vans suddenly stopped at a gate and the guards were talking for a minute to both the driver and passenger to ask what was in the back. Once he got his answer, he let all of the vans through and closed the gate after the final federal agent car.

Knuckles took a look out the small window and recognized the building right away. The lines of windows gave it away.

Twilight noticed the concern on her husband's face and asked him "What is it, Caleb? Where are we at?"

Knuckles sighed and said "I hoped to never see this building again, but I was wrong yet again."

Applejack said "What buildin' might that be, partner?"

Knuckles said with dread "The John F. Kennedy Federal Building." All of them drew blanks and they didn't understand what was so bad about it, so Knuckles knew he had to explain. He said "This building is quite famous in the city of Boston because President John F. Kennedy was originally from here and after he was killed in 1963, they named this building after him. But what is concerning is the amount of federal agencies that are in this building, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the worst one yet, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. All of these agencies have been after my tribe for years and they're determined to charge me with a crime."

Sunburst asked "What exactly makes the last agency you mentioned so bad?"

Knuckles said "The reason why it is so bad in particular is because they are part of the Department of Homeland Security and that whole agency deals with any threats that are considered foreign to the United States. Even if they are not terrorists, they can still face consequences. Entering sovereign American borders illegally will put anyone in serious legal consequences and what often happens is deportation. Even though we are just going to a federal building, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers tend to be here a lot and neither of those kinds of agents messes around. If they can successfully prove that you entered this country illegally, they will have you deported in a heartbeat."

Fluttershy asked "Um, what is deportation?"

Knuckles said "Deportation is the action of deporting a foreigner from a country. Basically, it means they ship you back to your home country. So for example, if I came from Guatemala and entered the United States illegally, federal agents could deport me back there if they could successfully convict me of a crime such as stealing someone else's social security number, which has been done before. These are not very nice people, so I simply ask you follow my lead. Do not question it. It will make things much easier if you just go along with my plan."

The vans came to a stop and the doors were swung open. There were guns pointed at the group and they were told to move along. Knuckles looked around him and saw all kinds of law enforcement here. Boston Police Department officers, Massachusetts State Police Troopers, FBI agents, CIA agents, CBP agents, ICE agents and even DHS agents too. It was almost as if the group were just a bunch of domestic terrorists or were in possession of certain files of young children that were highly inappropriate and illegal. You know what I'm talking about.

They were escorted to an interrogation room and they were each sat down and told to wait. A new voice said "Well, this case is certainly going to be interesting. Those da[BLEEP] agents always having to ruin my f[BLEEP]ing coffee time." He sat down and looked to see who graced his presence this time. He couldn't believe his eyes who he was staring at. "Knuckles?! Oh, this just got good."

Knuckles grit his teeth and said bitterly "Jeremy!" The two glared at each other intensely and it left everyone else confused.

Rainbow asked "Uhh, Knuckles? Who exactly is this?"

Knuckles maintained his glare at Jeremy and said "This is Jeremy Allen. I unfortunately know him because we went to the same schools together. He bullied me from elementary school up to middle school, but I exacted my revenge against him in high school, so I called it even."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and said "Yeah, you were practically the most feared man in high school. Ever since you and that girl were together, no one dared to cross your path. Where is she anyway? I haven't seen her since we graduated high school."

Knuckles growled at him and said "In case you have not heard already, she was killed in a severe car accident back home two weeks after her birthday and three months after getting her Master's Degree. Never even got to propose to her to become my wife. I was a week too late. I was there when it happened and my truck got absolutely destroyed on the right side where she was sitting. F[BLEEP]ing criminal had to take her away from me."

Jeremy raised a brow and said "How long ago did that happen?"

Knuckles sighed and said "It has been over 10 years since she was tragically killed. It was Valentine's Day 2009 when it happened." Just hearing that wanted to make Twilight cry, and Knuckles wanted to weep bitterly as well, but he could not show weakness at the moment. Not in front of a childhood bully.

Jeremy was stunned at that and said "Geez, that sucks, man, really it does, but I can't say I didn't see it coming."

Knuckles gave him a sudden scowl and said "What is that supposed to mean?!" The rest of them were wondering that too, since it sounded so insensitive.

Jeremy said "That girl was always so intoxicating and annoying to be around because of her personality, does it really surprise you that much? News Flash Knuckles: Not everything in this world is sunshine and rainbows. We live in a dark, cruel, selfish world where we all just merely tolerate each other begrudgingly and if someone acts up, they suffer the penalty of death."

Knuckles snorted at him and said "I know that, you fool. You don't fully understand the amount of pain and trauma I have been through in almost the last 30 years and even though you probably experienced terrible things as well, they pale in comparison."

Jeremy just chuckled at that sentiment like it was the stupidest thing he ever heard and said "I may not have even liked that ridiculous girl that much, but it seems like someone else beat me to the punch."

Everyone was just horrified at that statement and they didn't know what to say to that. Knuckles snarled with anger and said "You are truly sick! I know you were never the biggest fan of Maddi, but that gives you no right to wish death upon her! You are lucky I am in handcuffs right now, because if I was not, I would reach across this table and smack you so hard across the face you would not see straight for the next month! So watch your f[BLEEP]ing mouth buddy or else you are going to pay for it!"

Jeremy simply smirked and said "Oh, I quiver with FEAR!"

Knuckles growled at him and said "Why are not you terrified?! You should be terrified of me! I beat your a[BLEEP] in high school, and I can do it again!"

Jeremy laughed and said "If this were high school, yes I would be terrified. But we're not in high school anymore. We're in the real world. Most teachers are pretty terrible at stopping fights, but I have every kind of federal agent guarding this place and they can put you out of commission real quick."

Knuckles glared at him and said "Is that right? Well, let me tell you buddy, I could destroy everyone in this room right now with a single lightning strike and would still walk out unscathed."

Jeremy laughed once more and said "What are you now, Thor?! I know you were always such a big Marvel FREAK, but I didn't think it would soar to this level. This is not Asgard! You can't just simply show up with the Shakespeare outfit and swing around a hammer that can somehow summon lightning. Get a grip on reality!"

Knuckles growled in frustration and said "Why are you even here anyway?!"

Jeremy grinned with glee and said "I'm glad you asked. *makes a serious face* You mind telling me what the f[BLEEP] you were doing SNEAKING ONTO AN AIRPLANE IN NEW YORK?! I was just sipping my coffee when I got a call from the NYPD stating there were a bunch of weird creatures that assaulted a bunch of security guards and then sneaked into the cargo area of a massive commercial aircraft! Do you know how bad this looks for me?! My boss was hot on my a[BLEEP] after hearing that. You of all people should know how serious this is. All it does is prove your doubters right about how much of a disgrace you were. Now because of your mess, I can't get my coffee break in and have to deal with this mess."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "No one cares about your stupid a[BLEEP] coffee breaks! I have good reasons why I did that. But how are you even here in Boston? Why do you even work here?!"

Jeremy said "You remember that field trip we took long ago back in high school?"

Knuckles nodded and said "Yeah, I remember that. Some of your buddies thought it was a good idea to flirt with Maddi and they suffered my wrath because of it."

Jeremy said "Yeah, I tried to warn them, but they insisted upon it. Regardless though, after we made that visit, it solidified my belief of waiting to build my future in Boston. Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to be in Boston. But my f[BLEEP]ing parents wanted to be in f[BLEEP]ing Baltimore for some stupid a[BLEEP] reason and I had to put up with that for eighteen years. However, once I became an adult, I found a job here and moved up north here and have been ever since."

Knuckles rubbed his temples and said "I know Baltimore was not that great, but it was still home. I could never leave that place despite it being so terrible to me because that is where home was. I might not have lived directly in the city, but I was still in the metropolitan area. I should have known you wanted to be up here."

Jeremy said "Whatever. But we are getting sidetracked here. We have to address the crime at hand here. Who in their right mind told you it was a good idea to sneak onto an aircraft and assault a bunch of armed security guards while you're at it?! Do you know how bad that looks for you?! We're not talking about BWI here, this is JFK in New York! Did you forget what happened in that city eighteen years ago?! It's not a good look for you."

Knuckles growled and said "Of course I remember what happened there! Our entire class watched both towers fall on live television while we were in high school. Plus, I lost both my uncle and my cousin that day when the towers fell. I am well aware of that. However, I was trying to find a way to get to Boston without having to draw a lot of attention to myself because the city was starting to become unstable from all of the natural unbalance going on there."

Jeremy returned the glare and said "What?! By bringing extra terrestrial creatures here who aren't even legal citizens of the United States?! Yeah, you of all people should know that would bring unnatural imbalance. You were always the smart one in our classes and were only rivaled by Maddi who ironically enough, finished higher in our graduating class than you did."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "Yeah, only by one. I was the Salutatorian of the class of 2003 while Maddi was the Valedictorian. We were practically neck and neck with each other when it came to knowledge."

Jeremy also rolled his eyes and said "I know. It was insufferable to watch. Most of the teachers had to ban you guys from answering questions because both of you knew all of them all the time. You never gave anyone else a chance. Anyways, we're getting sidetracked again! You should be locked away just by bringing creatures here who are not native to our homeland!"

Knuckles said "HEY! Do not insult them like that. They are sentient beings just like you and me and the one sitting next to me happens to be my wife."

Jeremy laughed hysterically and said "Yo-you what?! *laughs hysterically* Yo-you married a f[BLEEP]ing horse?! *laughs some more* That has got to be the dumbest thing you've done to date." When he saw that Knuckles' expression had not changed, he realized that Knuckles was actually serious. He said "Oh, you're serious. Why on Earth would you do that?! You're an American citizen. Interspecies relationships are illegal here in the United States and the penalties are quite severe. Hefty fines, possible jail time, and you even have to be put on the sex offender registry."

Knuckles said "Yeah, that is in the United States, but I have not lived in the United States since March 7th, 2009. My primary place of residence now is in Equestria, where all of the ponies, not horses, sit before you are from."

Jeremy said "You can't just give up your American citizenship like that. You are still bound by American laws regardless of where you live."

Knuckles said "Yes, but I am also an Equestrian citizen too. I have the legal documents to prove it. I legally became a citizen there not after I moved there. I have dual citizenship, which is allowed in the United States. So technically, I am an American citizen and an Equestrian citizen. Go suck d[BLEEP] and take a hike!"

Twilight hit him in the arm and said with a scolding voice "Caleb, language!"

Jeremy was surprised by that and said "She knows your real name. The only person you allowed to do that was Maddi, I guess you trust this "pony" enough to have her say your real name all the time."

Knuckles said with a hard glare "Yeah, and she will continue to be the only one who can use it. Everyone else must address me by my nickname, including you! Besides, you are going after the wrong people. Who you should be going after is Pitch Black and the Pony of Shadows. They caused all that chaos in New York and walked away unscathed, yet you want to persecute the ones who are trying to stop them? What an idiot. If they have their way, our entire universe will cease to exist!"

Jeremy just sighed and said "Yeah, okay buddy. Keep living in your stupid fantasy dream if that's what you want to believe. Look, we're getting nowhere with this. Since you provide no coherent answer why you would commit an act of terrorism, you shall be sentenced to life in prison because you crossed state lines and it has become a federal crime. As for your friends, they will be deported back to their home countries."

All of them were shocked to hear this and Twilight said "No! You can't do that! I won't let you take my husband away like that!"

Jeremy turned over to Twilight with a sneer and said "Listen here, you f[BLEEP]ing animal! What your "husband" did is a serious crime in the United States and it is treated like treason. This isn't some stupid little girl land where all is forgiven and we forget it ever happened. We don't do that in America! He committed a crime and he shall be punished for it! I'd rather take him out myself, but I have a job to do, so f[BLEEP] off and return to your stupid horse land!"

The group sat there in stunned silence as they couldn't believe a human being spoke that way to royalty and the rest of the Mane Six knew what was coming after that. Twilight now had tears in her eyes in this point because of the rude insult and Knuckles was beyond furious at this point. His eyes were glowing red and his hair was on fire. To say he was ticked off would be an understatement.

He gave Jeremy a death glare and said "Alright, that is it! I have run out of patience! NO ONE AND I MEAN NO ONE, INSULTS MY WIFE LIKE THAT! YOU SAY YOU WILL TAKE ME OUT, I WILL PERSONALLY TAKE YOU OUT FIRST! YOU ARE NOT LOCKING ME AWAY! WE ARE LEAVING RIGHT NOW!"

Jeremy said "Not so fast! You're not going anywhere! First, you try to dispute your crime, and now you want to raise your voice at me?! Real smart there, Knuckles! You think you can get yourself out of here, but you should be careful how you do that! You walk out that door, and you become a wanted criminal! Do you really want that for yourself?! I can't afford to lose my job because of your ignorance!"

Knuckles didn't care and said "Well, I guess that's a problem you will have to solve yourself! I made a vow to protect all life and if that means I am on the run from the law as a result, then so be it! Now like I said, we are getting out of here and you are not stopping us! We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice!"

Jeremy growled at him and said "That's it! I'm through with you! Guards! Get them out of here!"

Knuckles snarled at him and said "Oh I do not think so!" He broke free of the handcuffs and charged up his red lightning. Jeremy balled up his fists as well and the two of them went to go for the punch to the face. Both of their fists collided and it created a large shockwave. It broke everyone free of their handcuffs as well and created blowback for any loose objects in the room. Jeremy was electrocuted from the red lightning and fell unconscious. Knuckles saw the guards coming and he knew he had to act fast.

He threw a golden ring and it opened a portal to a random field. He looked at the group and said "Go! I will be right behind you!" Everyone moved through and the guards came rushing through the door. Knuckles raised his hand up into the air and brought red lightning down to the floor to cause the ceiling to collapse. The portal closed and Knuckles had to get out of there. Even though the guards from the front door were blocked, there were still more coming from the other two sides, plus there were reinforcements trying to get through the blockade. Knuckles realized he had no choice and ran right through the window. The glass shattered and Knuckles free fell to the ground. He summoned a shield to protect himself from the fall, but when he hit the ground, it still hurt quite badly. He groaned in pain and started taking off running.

He tried to get out through the gate, but he saw more guards coming from all sides. He stopped and looked around him. The guards charged at him and Knuckles just stood there. He closed his eyes and sighed as he thought his next move. He yelled out his battle cry and started fighting them off one by one. He performed his various forms of martial arts like he was trained for years and basically kicked you know what. The guards tried every single tactic you could think of, including the piling on top of him, but Knuckles had a counter defense for each and every one. Knuckles concluded with the large shockwave that blew everyone back and created a hedge of rocks from the ground around him.

He grunted and said "Way too easy. These pathetic humans still fail to defeat me. I shall take my exit now." He threw his ring and stepped through the portal where the rest of the group was waiting. Knuckles said "My apologies. I got a little tied up with some personnel that did not want me to leave so soon. I may be part of the human race, but they absolutely suck when it comes to fighting. Even the bigger dudes did not do much. It's like they do not even try. They were big, but I have fought bigger. Pathetic."

Rarity noticed shards of glass on Knuckles and said "Knuckles! You have shards of glass all over your shoulders!"

Knuckles looked and saw them. He pulled them out and slightly winced in pain. He said "I guess that what happens when you jump out a window after smashing it. *notices he is starting to bleed* Oh dear. I am bleeding. No problem though. I know where we can go."

Knuckles started walking through the field and the rest of the group followed him. They stopped in front of this large property and Rainbow asked "Umm, Knuckles? What is this place?"

Knuckles said "This is one of the family properties for the Echidna tribe. Even though most of the tribe resided in Baltimore, there were some that branched out further up and down the East Coast. The biggest family property we have is in the northeastern corner of Greenbelt, MD and that has been there for thousands of years, but this is a smaller one that is used occasionally as well."

He walked up to the door and looked through the window to see if anyone was home. He pulled out his thermal device and saw no body movement inside. He took out the pair of keys he was given and opened the door. He motioned for everyone to come in and said "Well, I will be right back, I need to go clean up before I get blood all over the floor. Make yourselves at home for now. Do not touch anything valuable though. There is way too many valuable items here that are sacred to the tribe and I do not want any of you touching them." He walked away and went to find the first aid kit.

The rest of them stood in silence for a few seconds. Starlight asked "So now what do we do?"

Rarity said "Well, you heard him. He told us to make ourselves at home as long as we don't touch his stuff."

Sunburst asked "But why would anyone try to touch it anyway?"

Starswirl said "I'm afraid he directed that at me and the rest of the Pillars. He knows that we took the most precious artifact from his tribe, so naturally, he doesn't trust any of us with anything and wants to protect his tribal secrets from us."

Jack said "Yeah, it makes you wonder why he is that way to begin with."

Elsa said "Yeah, why is that? We all want to know why Knuckles hates you guys so much and don't give us the "it's because we stole his artifact" excuse. We know it runs much deeper than that."

The rest of them agreed and wanted to know why the Pillars and Knuckles hated each other so much.

Flash said "Look, we don't have time to discuss this. We have enemies on the loose at the moment and the last thing we need to be doing is discussing prior beef with a human."

Rockhoof said "Aye, lassie. We simply don't have the time, lasses."

Starswirl said "Both of them are right. The Pony of Shadows and this Pitch Black guy seek to end all that is here before us and we neither have the time or place to discuss the past. The only thing we can do is prepare for the battle that is to come."

Rainbow said "Well, he's obviously mad for some reason. Plus, what makes you think we will able to stop them if we have a divide between you guys?"

Kristoff said "She's right. Villains tend to capitalize on any sort of weaknesses that their opponents may have. The two of them can sense that divide and use it to their advantage. If we want to defeat them, we must address this problem."

Twilight said "It's no use. He's not going to budge. He has made it very clear he doesn't want to talk about it. I know the current crisis we have on our hooves and hands, but we must let him talk about it on his own terms. You must understand that Knuckles does not like to talk about anything personal when he is forced to. He's only going to hide it more. I know. I've tried before and he did not budge. If you let him come to us naturally, it will be much easier. If you force him, he's not going to do it. Now, I must go attend to my husband and make sure he isn't bleeding to death."

Twilight walked away and went to find Knuckles. She eventually found him and she went up to him. Knuckles was wincing in pain trying to wipe the wound, but he wasn't having much success. Twilight said "Here. Let me do it. I know you don't like help from others that much, but let your princess and wife take care of you."

Knuckles didn't protest and let her do it. He still winced in pain a little bit and it made Twilight concerned. She asked him "Caleb, why do you continue to compromise your own health for our safety? First you had the lightning strike and now, you had the shards of glass in your shoulders."

Knuckles said "It is my sacred duty to protect those I care for. I made a vow to protect this planet at all costs and even though I no longer live here, this is where the tribe is from, so I must do whatever it takes in order to uphold that promise."

Twilight said "That is very honorable, but I don't want to lose you at the same time. You are the only one I have ever loved and I don't want that taken away from me. That's why I was so scared when you were almost taken to prison."

Knuckles said "Yeah, my classmate is such a do[BLEEP]bag, but I would never let him take me to prison. I have a business to run, a beautiful wife and kid to take care of, and a friend to those around me."

Twilight suddenly had tears in her eyes and asked "Caleb, do all humans think I'm just an animal? Do they think I'm something worthless?"

Knuckles held her close and said "Of course not and do not let that idiot tell you otherwise. Sadly, there are many people that believe that, but they are not important in life. I am a human and I care very much about you. I love you. I would give up everything for you. Do not ever let my kind deceive you into believing you are not valuable. You are far more valuable than anyone I could imagine. Well, the first since Maddi of course, but you get my point."

Twilight smiled and said "Thank you, Caleb. I know I can always count on you to be there when I need you."

Knuckles gave a grin and said "It is my duty to cherish and honor my wife. It is the commitment I made being part of the tribe. Now come, we must prepare for our greatest struggle ahead."

The two of them came to the living room and the rest of them were sitting on the couches and chairs that were there. Knuckles sat down and said "So here we are. Isolated on my home planet and fighting two opponents that seek to destroy everything in our existence. It is a lot to take in and we must plan carefully. I shall begin my preparation and assess what our next move is."

Rainbow asked "Are we even safe at the moment? Since we left, we're considered criminals now. How do we know they are not gonna come looking for us?"

Knuckles said "We are in Princeton, Massachusetts. It is an hour from Boston. They will not find us here. The house we are in is covered by a mile long worth of trees. Any time our tribe has had to hide from the federal government, this is where we go because of how remote the location is. Now I must leave."

He headed to the garage and found a brand new 2020 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE sitting there. He said "This is what a car looks like up close. Since nobody is here, I will need to borrow it for a little bit."

Twilight said "You can't go back out there! You're still injured! You need to rest!"

Knuckles turned his head over his shoulder and said "I am an Enchina warrior. We do not rest. We train and then we fight to the death. I am the last of my kind, so it is my sacred duty to uphold the values of the tribe."

Flash said "She's right. Even though you say you are a fierce warrior, even they have to give themselves adequate rest before they can continue fighting."

Knuckles walked up to Flash Magnus and glared at him. He said "What could you possibly know about being a warrior?! You and the rest of your pathetic friends are dead to me and you all are a different issue. I am focusing on the threat ahead of us, but once we are done with that, I will deal with you scumbags once and for all!"

Jack asked "Don't you think though you should have at least someone accompany you? It is dangerous to be alone like that."

Twilight said "I agree. At least allow me, your wife, to come with you."

Knuckles shook his head and said "No, in order to prepare for battle, there must be no distractions. I must be alone to achieve that. That means no one comes with me, including you, Twilight. Especially you. I could never forgive myself if something happened to you. But here: take this." He tossed her a small device and Twilight caught it with her magic. He said "That is something I developed a long time ago. If something happens to me, you will receive an alert and you can come rescue me should that happen. The rest of you can plan and research to figure out what you want to do, but I must begin my quest so that I can search deep inside and meditate so I will be the best prepared for battle."

He stepped inside the Camaro and examined the inside. He was pretty impressed with it, but he didn't have time to stare at it all day. He pressed the start stop button and the 6.2L Supercharged LT4 V8 roared to life with the classic Chevrolet chime following afterwards. After letting it warm up for a minute, he put it in gear and drove slowly out of the driveway. Once he was out onto the main road, he accelerated and disappeared into the countryside. The group watched the Camaro disappear and headed back inside.

Knuckles drove down the open country roads and he was more impressed with the car as he went along. The digital rearview mirror definitely helped and he knew from others that the Camaro was one of the worst cars to drive because of the blind spots, but it seemed like General Motors fixed that problem, so it was good. It had been a long time since Knuckles drove a Chevrolet, but you could tell he still got it after 10 years. He turned on the radio to see if there was anything he liked, but something caught his attention.

The local radio in the area said there was breaking news out of Boston. A group of unidentified creatures escaped the JFK Federal Building and the Massachusetts State Police issued arrest warrants for all of them. Their leader, who had jumped out of a 26 story window, was now number one on the FBI's most wanted list and the newscast said if they had any information on their whereabouts, contact their local police department. Knuckles realized that they were talking about him and the rest of the group and that made him worried. He simply growled and turned off the radio. He didn't want to hear any of this anymore.

As he raced down the road, he was silent and was deep in his own thoughts. What was he going to do? How was he going to deal with these two threats? How was he going to ignore the divide he had with the Pillars? How was he going to be a leader? How was he going to provide for his wife? What if he couldn't protect her? What if something happened to her? The thought of losing her terrified him and he couldn't bear to suffer that kind of searing loss again. He shook away those thoughts and kept driving.

Meanwhile, Pitch was watching the Camaro roar down the road from the evil lair he had set up and he simply grinned. The Pony of Shadows was getting annoyed and said "Ugh, when can we attack these creatures?! I'm getting SICK AND TIRED of waiting! We should strike NOW!"

Pitch smiled and turned around to face the Pony of Shadows. He said "Patience is key, my friend. We will attack them in due time. We don't want to rush ourselves too quickly."

The Pony of Shadows asked with skepticism "Well, what is the best way to defeat all of them? There is only two of us and there is a lot of them. Plus, this Knuckles fellow seems to be very strong."

Pitch said "You're right. Knuckles should not be underestimated. But as strong as that human is, he does have weaknesses. Without his little friends, he is vulnerable. Things might look fine now, but it's clear that there is a divide between him and these Pillar enemies of yours. It's clearly a distraction and something that will make him lose focus. This will tear them apart from the inside out. If we can successfully exploit that weakness to our advantage, all of them will fall to us."

The Pony of Shadows then asked "Then how exactly do we do that?"

Pitch gave an evil grin and said "Easy. We bring up all the things of his past and use that as ammo to instigate the conflict. We know Knuckles is quick to anger, so that will be a piece of cake. Then, we get them to fight each other as a way to split the divide even further. Finally, when they are all scattered, we'll simply take them out one at a time and then we'll rule over them and treat them like slaves!"

The Pony of Shadows smiled and said "Sounds easy enough to me. What are we waiting for?"

Pitch chuckled and said "Before we can do that, we must create a little... distraction to keep him away for a little bit. He will have NO IDEA what is coming and ALL OF THEM will bow BEFORE US!" The both of them laughed evilly and it was clear that they would defeat the group by using the divide of Knuckles and the Pillars to their advantage. One thing was for certain, if our heroes don't resolve it soon, they may be in for a lot of trouble. That was a guarantee.

Author's Note

AN: I apologize for this chapter coming out so late after I made my announcement stating I was returning. Between three roadtrips, getting sick four times in two months, returning to school, working full time, and suffering from writer's block, it took much longer than necessary. I won't try to do this again in the future. Hopefully, I can keep a more consistent schedule and the chapters should be shorter too since this one was quite long. On a different note, I will say though I didn't like how the NFL season ended this year. I thought that the Baltimore Ravens were going to win the Super Bowl this year, but they had to be defeated by the new age New England Patriots known as the Kansas City Chiefs and watch them hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Free agency hasn't been too hot so far besides signing Derrick Henry, but anything is still possible. However, I'm not liking our odds, so we'll see how next year goes. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: Reevaluating! After the fiasco in New York and Boston, the group has to reassess how they are going to move forward. But beware! The villains already have a scheme to further divide them and scatter them to make it easier to defeat them. Will our heroes be able to figure things out or will the heroes' divide be their demise?

Until then, my fellow readers

Chapter 7: Decisions and Reevaluations

DISCLAIMER: THERE WILL BE POLITICAL TALK MENTIONED HERE! IT'S JUST PART OF A CASUAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS! I AM NOT ATTACKING ANYONE FOR THEIR POLITICAL BELIEFS NOR AM I MAKING A STANCE ON WHERE MINE ARE! DO NOT GET OFFENDED BY THIS! IT IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY! ENJOY THE CHAPTER!

Knuckles was flying down the road in the Camaro and enjoyed the open country roads. He couldn't stand the silence anymore and put on some rock music to lighten up the mood. Like for the many other times in his life, Knuckles could always find solace in rock music. That was the only genre of music that he actually liked. Every other one to him completely sucked and he had no interest in listening to that kind of music. Regardless though, rock music was one of the few remaining things from his childhood that wasn't terrible. Most of those things were terrible, but this was one of those that was not.

As he was racing down the road, he received a phone call from Mark, his bass guitarist in his band, and he picked it up by pressing the answer button on the steering wheel. He said "Hello?"

Mark said "Hey man, how are you doing at the moment?"

Knuckles said "Well, I wish things would be better, but considering that I am even still alive, I'll take it."

Mark said "Yeah, after getting hit by a lightning strike and successfully traveling to another state by plane, I can only imagine."

Knuckles was baffled by that and asked "How do you know about that?! You weren't even there!"

Mark said "Dude, have you not paid attention? The whole fiasco over the last 48 hours has been all over the news and I'm not just talking about cable news. It's on the front page of every newspaper that is at gas stations and restaurants, articles are being written online, and people are posting videos about it on every single kind of social media you can think of."

Knuckles couldn't believe it and said with a scoff "I hate the 21st century sometimes. Everything is so easy to document these days. As Jasper Sitwell put it in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, "The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your da[BLEEP]n SAT scores!" That was just from an algorithm from an action movie. Think about how it is in real life. We worked in the federal government for over a decade at the Pentagon. We know how it works. Anytime the federal government sees someone as a threat, they simply go to the NSA and collect information on their target before SWAT raiding their house German Blitzkrieg style."

Mark said "Yeah, those Marvel movies seemed to predict future events it seems like."

Knuckles said "Well, it isn't quite like the Simpsons, where they can somehow predict all of these massive events decades before it even happens. Rather, they simply tell how society will eventually be because of certain events that may happen. That was the whole idea. Marvel was ahead of its time back then and we can clearly see these days that they were spot on with that prediction."

Mark said "I know you might not want to hear this, but an event like this will tarnish our reputation as a band. People are already talking about how someone could do something so reckless and some are already calling for your head. It's even garnered the attention of the bureaucrats in Washington, including the President."

Knuckles seemed stunned by that and said "Huh. I never thought that Obama would pay attention to me like that."

Mark said "Dude, Barack Obama is not the President anymore."

Knuckles said "What? He was president when I disappeared ten years ago. Who is President now?"

Mark said "Donald Trump. The 45th President of the United States."

Knuckles couldn't believe it and said "The business guy that was always on TV discussing financial things and had his own show too? That is the guy who became President of the most powerful country in the world?!"

Mark said "Yeah, that guy."

Knuckles was left speechless and said "I saw that famous interview once where he said he might entertain the idea of running for President, but I thought he was never serious. How long ago did he become President?"

Mark said "He's been in the White House since January 20th, 2017. Everyone thought Hillary Clinton was going to run away with the 2016 Presidential Election, but when they woke up the next morning, they found out Donald Trump was going to be the next president."

Knuckles snorted and said "Well, it's a good thing she never became president. I still despise her husband and I bet she would have enacted the same policies if she was in power. It was because of Bill that my uncle and cousin are dead from the collapse of the Twin Towers from 9/11. Plus, for the short time that I was here when she was in the Obama Administration, I thought she was a terrible Secretary of State and never did her job properly."

Mark said "Well, despite the shellshocker, it hasn't been a cake walk for Trump either."

Knuckles said "That doesn't surprise me. Mankind is incredibly easy to manipulate these days and it has been that way for thousands of years. I wasn't always the biggest fan of his personality, but I knew his heart was in the right place."

Mark said "You'd be one of the only people to think so. Most people seem to believe he is literally Hitler and he'll start World War III, despite the fact so far at least, he's the only President in the 21st century who has not started any new wars. Sure, he has the mean tweets, but the economy is looking better than ever. I don't think I've ever seen the economy this good in my lifetime."

Knuckles said "Yeah, I have noticed how strong the economy has been in the couple days I have been back here. How is the housing market doing? Last time I lived here in America, the 2008 housing crisis was still going on."

Mark said "Actually, it is doing well right now. The APR rate is at 3.5%, the average resale rate is $275,000, and homes that were worth $2 million resold for a record 40%."

Knuckles said "Wow, that's a lot better than how things were back in 2009."

Mark said "Also, gas prices have been quite cheap as well. $2.60 a gallon. In fact, from what I heard on business articles, the United States is exporting more oil to other countries than we are importing it from foreign nations. In other words, we are energy independent."

Knuckles said "It's such a shame that mankind absolutely despises one man because he is trying to do right by the American people. I know what that feels like. My tribe tried protecting humanity for centuries and even still, there were those who wanted nothing to do with us. Speaking of which, I now have no idea what I am going to do with this situation. Everywhere I go, I am a wanted man and if anyone sees me, I'm as good as dead. They'll immediately report me to the authorities and they'll take me away to be sent off for execution."

Mark said "What you need to do is go make things right. Go to the authorities and confess what you did."

Knuckles said "I can't do that!"

Mark said "Why not?"

Knuckles said "Two villains are out on the loose. They have already caused so much chaos. I have to lead this large group that I have. I might not be their de facto leader officially, but they have looked to me for this mission. Plus, I have both a wife and daughter to take care of. While my precious girl is back in Equestria, she cannot survive without her parents forever. My butler can only do so much. We still haven't found a way to get back to Equestria. I also cannot afford to lose my wife after what happened to Maddi. I cannot bear that kind of searing loss again. Both of the places I have called "home" if you would, are in grave danger and it's my sacred duty to defend them against evil. I bear the responsibility of protecting my place of residence against all darkness that ever comes across my way and I intend on upholding that promise, no matter the consequences."

Mark said "While that is very honorable, that problem still lies over your head. If you confess now, things will be much easier for you. The longer you wait, the worse it will be for you. Already, I have to be in a secluded location so that no one knows that I am talking to you, the most wanted criminal in America right now. If you continue to wait it out, it's only going to get worse. You can't even go on any major highway anymore without seeing a whole bunch of state troopers patrolling the area waiting to arrest you. Even the public roads have local and county police strolling up and down looking for you. All I'm saying is if you surrender now, things will go along much easier. But the more you resist, the harder it will be for you."

Knuckles found this irritating and said "They're going after the wrong creatures anyway. Pitch Black and the Pony of Shadows should be the ones that they pursue, but like in typical superhero movie fashion, law enforcement wants to go after the hero trying to protect the people instead of the villain causing destruction. It's pathetic."

Mark said "I know it is, man. Believe me. I'm with you. It is not right. But it's up to you to make things right and even explain things like it should be. That's all I have to say. I have to go now. I have some business to attend to and I better get off before the FBI comes to raid my house."

Knuckles sighed and said "I understand. You stay safe out there man. Can't afford to lose my bass guitarist."

Mark laughed a bit and said "I think you need to. We can't afford to lose the leader of our band. You take care. I'll see you later."

Knuckles smiled and said "See ya later man. Bye." He pressed the button on the steering wheel to end the call and kept driving. He sighed once again and asked himself "What am I going to do? If I go to Washington, I'll lose everything, but if I remain hidden, my friends and family will be put in danger and Pitch and the Pony of Shadows wins. I can't let that happen. I must think of something." He sped up some more and continued driving quickly down the road.

Meanwhile, back at the house, everyone was gathered in the living room. For some of the group, they seemed content with being away from the rest of human civilization. For others, they were afraid of being considered criminals of the United States, the most powerful nation on Earth.

Applejack said "So, how are y'all feeling about this so far?" Oh boy Applejack, what a great question to ask. You just opened a can of worms by asking such a stupid question.

Rainbow asked with annoyance "Applejack, why do you always ask questions that open a can of worms?"

Before either of them could get into it, Twilight stopped it immediately. She said "We don't have time to get into arguments. Look, we are at an impasse right now. We have two villains out on the loose right now and now, we have made enemies with a foreign nation. One that is indeed formidable and one that should not be underestimated. Knuckles is preparing himself for battle at the moment and despite my personal feelings about it, that is how it is. To be honest, all of us should do the same. Our enemies are planning something sinister and if we don't act soon, the entire universe will be in grave danger."

Rarity asked "But what are we going to do with this other issue? I hate the idea of being seen as a criminal. We didn't even do that much wrong."

Pinkie said "Yeah, these government humans are not very nice! They are really mean!"

Starlight said "As much as we hate this, they have reason to come after us. We are in a foreign nation and as a result, we are bound by their laws. I don't feel like they have much of a case here, but until we are proven innocent in a court of law, we are seen as guilty by the will of the people."

Sunburst said "I agree with Starlight. All of this seems ridiculous, but we must respect the rule of law here regardless of our personal feelings about it. Knuckles is the only one knowledgeable about this situation and is the only one that can get us out of it successfully."

Rainbow whispered to Applejack "When did they become so smart about another country's laws?" Applejack just shrugged at the remark.

Starlight obviously heard that and said with irritation "Twilight is not the only one who studies up on how the legal system works. Ever since my *clears throat* unfortunate incident a few years back, I've read books on the legal system and Knuckles has shared countless stories with me about the legal system in the United States. It came with the territory of what he has been through and it makes me think he could be a lawyer someday because of his expertise in the subject."

Starswirl asked "What do you mean exactly by what he has been through? As far as we know, he has done nothing but slander myself and the Pillars and disregard the accomplishments we've made over a thousand years ago."

The ponies could only shake their heads and Twilight said "You really don't know, do you? After being gone for a thousand years, you all seemed to act like you were the experts on Knuckles."

Flash Magnus said "As far as we could tell, you all were only with him for a short time. We were with him for a couple of years. Sure, he was very young, but we were still there regardless. So even though we were gone for centuries, we were with him long enough to have a proper analysis of how he behaves."

Kristoff jumped in and asked "How can you have a proper analysis of someone when they are a young child? The mind is still developing and it hasn't reached its full potential yet. So any mistakes he may have made as a child would have disappeared when he became an adult."

Anna said "Yeah, that is an improper analysis. From what it sounds like, Knuckles was less than 5 years old when all this occurred. Someone that young behaves a lot differently than when they are a full grown adult. All of us in this room knows what that feels like."

Somnumbala said "While that may be true, none of you know the full story and history between ourselves and Knuckles."

Twilight said "None of us ever claimed to. I am his wife, and there are still many things that he has not told me or my friends because he doesn't want to burden us with it. He shared with me his darkest secrets, but he shields this conflict between you guys away from me for my own protection if I had to guess. You were not around for this, but I soon came to realize that Knuckles isn't mean because he wants to, he does it to protect us and he doesn't want us to find out his dark past because he's ashamed of it. So what if we don't know the full story? That doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. When he feels ready to share other aspects of his life, I'll be here waiting for him."

Mage Meadowbrook said "It doesn't even matter anyway. We're stuck in this situation and we need to figure out how we are going to get out of it."

Jack said "How exactly are we going to do that? Anywhere we go, people will instantly recognize us as criminals in their minds and try to get us either arrested or executed."

Elsa said "It's been quite a while since I've been considered a criminal and let's just say that was a dark time in my kingdom's history." All of the Frozen characters shivered in fear just thinking about it. If any of you saw the first Frozen movie from 2013, you know where I am going with this.

Santa said "I don't even think Christmas was this complicated in all of the years I have been doing this."

Easter said "Aye mate. Easter was never this hard either."

Tooth said "Not even collecting teeth from children around the world was as difficult as it has been right now."

Rainbow asked "So what exactly are we going to do? That question never really got answered."

Starswirl said "The most important task we have ahead of us is defeating the Pony of Shadows and sending him back to Limbo. He poses a clear threat to not just Equestria, but to the homeland of the supernatural human being."

Rarity asked "What about the Pitch villain? Clearly, he still poses a threat just as much as the Pony of Shadows does."

Mistmane said "We understand that, but we should start by returning the villain that is native to Equestria back to where it belongs, sealed away forever."

Rainbow said "But they are both incredibly dangerous and them working together poses even more of a threat than we initially thought."

Flash Magnus said "Be that as it may, the Pony of Shadows poses a greater threat than this Pitch guy. All it seems like he's most known for is scaring children. The Pony of Shadows wants to cover the world and maybe even the universe in eternal darkness, plus he wants to destroy all that is good in this world. I fail to see how this Pitch guy is equally as dangerous or even greater than the Pony of Shadows."

Jack said "Let me set the record straight: Pitch might not seem that intimidating on the surface, but he is far more dangerous than you may think. He tore all of us Guardians apart like cotton candy and even made us believe that Sandman was dead. He is a master manipulator, so he'll stop at nothing to truly get what he wants. While it is true that he scares children, that fear allows him to gain power and then we have ours weaken over time until we can no longer defend ourselves. If he has his way, he would conquer the entire world within a matter of days and cover the entire universe in darkness. I refuse to believe that Pitch is not as dangerous as the Pony of Shadows. They are both equally as dangerous and are stronger when working together."

North said "Jack is right. We had almost lost our way and given up hope until a kid named Jamie Bennett believed in Jack and the rest of us soon after. The entire globe went dark except for one spot in Burgess, Pennsylvania. Jamie was the only child who still believed in us after the nightmare attack of Pitch and it was him that allowed us to regain our strength and allowed The Sandman to break free of Pitch's bondage. We can never be more thankful for this kid stopping Pitch from plunging the world into complete darkness."

Easter Bunny said "I was angry at Jack when I saw Easter was ruined and wanted nothing to do with him, but after I saw that Jamie still believed in me, it made me realize that Pitch was sowing seeds of division amongst us and causing fear just so that we would turn against each other. If it wasn't for Jamie, he would have accomplished his goal and rule the world in darkness."

Tooth said "We thought it was bad enough when children stopped believing, but to have the entire globe go out was terrifying. When we had Jamie be the last remaining child to believe, it felt like a breath of fresh air, but nothing felt greater than when his friends joined him as allies on top of Sandman returning. Pitch thought he had the upper hand, but at the last second, he lost big time. Nothing is greater than the belief from a child."

Rockhoof said "What is the point of this, lassie?"

Jack sighed and said "The point is Pitch must never ever be underestimated. We thought we were prepared for him the last time, but clearly, we were not because of how dangerous he truly is. No villain here is more dangerous than the other. As the saying goes: where one is weak, another is strong, and thus unified, they are a formidable force! That is what's at stake here. Not choice, but responsibility. All of us must step up and do our part to defeat these two villains. Knuckles can only do so much, it's time we contribute to it."

The rest of his fellow Guardians and family along with the ponies were inspired by Jack's speech and felt motivation to help out. The Pillars were still uneasy about all of this, but they knew that Jack had a point. Their nemeses were going to use that doubt and division against them and they remember what happened the last time villains fed off of the cold hearts of the ponies. It was not pretty to say the least.

In an undisclosed location, Pitch and the Pony of Shadows were still conspiring on what step one of their grand master plan was. They knew what they wanted to do, but they had to figure out the logistics of it first before they could move forward with this plan. They simply couldn't just run out there and start duking it out willy nilly. That would set up a course of failure for them. They needed to have a course of action so that they would succeed in defeating their greatest enemies.

Pitch simply smiled and said "This divide between these acclaimed heroes is getting quite interesting. Some of the foreigners know that this divide exists, but they have no idea how to tackle it. Plus, the government is after them, which creates a pool of chaos that the draconequus known as Discord would be proud of."

The Pony of Shadows simply scoffed and said "Those pathetic fools known as the Pillars believed they were so wise in their thinking and if you dared to challenge them, they'll make you suffer. This is their typical behavior. They are doing the same thing they were doing over a thousand years ago."

Pitch said "The groundwork is being formed, but in order to accomplish our goal, we must do more."

The Pony of Shadows said "Both of us obviously know that, but how exactly do we do this? There is 24 of them and only two of us. I know this alliance will make us stronger and more powerful together, but I'm not dumb either. We have our hands and hooves tied with this one."

Pitch gave an evil grin and said "It's actually quite simple."

The Pony of Shadows raised a brow and asked "How so exactly?"

Pitch said "Well, it looks like that the glue that is holding this group together is Knuckles. As long as he is leading the way, there's no way to defeat them all, not to mention all the powerful mages he has as backup. With all that though, there is one caveat. Despite Knuckles' supernatural and powerful strength, his emotions seem to be his weakness or achilles heel."

The Pony of Shadows was intently listening and asked "How exactly can this be his weakness?"

Pitch kept his grin and said "Think about it, how angry has Knuckles gotten over certain subjects?"

The Pony of Shadows thought about it for a second and said "Well, from what I could see, he seemed to get super angry."

Pitch nodded and said "Exactly. That obviously tells us that there is something Knuckles is hiding. We already figured out he lost his girlfriend in a car accident, but something tells me there is more to the story than just that."

The Pony of Shadows asked "But what does this have to do with our plan?!"

Pitch was slightly irritated by that remark and said "I'm getting to it. If we take advantage of Knuckles' emotions, he will lose himself in rage and ultimately self destruct."

The Pony of Shadows started to get the idea and asked "So if we show him and exploit the things that plague him, it will cause him to turn against the others and bring them all down?"

Pitch gave an even bigger grin and said "Now you're getting it! If we take Knuckles out of the picture, it will be much easier to defeat the rest of them. As long as I get children to fear me, the Guardians have no power over me and as for the rest of them, they will be forced into submission by my dark horses. They are more powerful than when I reappeared the last time."

The Pony of Shadows grinned at this and asked "So when do we start?"

Pitch said "Patience, my friend. We must wait for the right moment. In the last little bit, I've studied how Equestria's villains have been defeated and I am determined not to lose the same way. It seems like Knuckles is heading to a secluded location right now, so that means he is going to meditate and prepare himself for battle. This will be when he is the most vulnerable. We will strike when the iron is hot. So just a little bit longer and soon, victory will be ours."

Meanwhile, Knuckles flew down the road and eventually pulled up to his meditation spot. It was out in the middle of nowhere in an open field, so this was perfect for Knuckles. No one could bother him and he could prepare for battle without any distractions. With everything that happens these days, he hardly has the time to do this, so it is refreshing to be able to do this.

His enemies are planning something sinister and he must not let up or relent at any time. He hates the guts of the Pillars and he will deal with that at a later time, but he needed to put that on the back burner because he had bigger fish to fry and a universe to protect. For now, he must focus on the task ahead and ready himself against any incoming attacks. He must have steely focus.

He sat down and sighed. He began his deep thoughts. There was so much at stake here. He was trying to take down villains while also trying to lead 23 other creatures with him on this mission. But it came at a cost. He became the most wanted man in the most powerful nation in the world despite being a native citizen of said nation. He knew what he did looks bad and technically wrong, but he was trying to defend humanity. He was only trying to protect the people. What could possibly be wrong with that?

Does man not know what good it is to have a protector on his hands? Does man think he is better off without one? Man might be powerful, but he cannot win with everything. Man cannot survive alone for he is weak. Only when he has a protector can be strong. All his life, he stood up for the lesser human beings and no matter how much he tried to do the right thing, he always took the blame for it.

So many considered him a screw-up and a lost cause, but considering how his life turned out, he'd argue otherwise. No one were bigger doubters of him than his parents. They despised him ever since his grandparents disowned them from the tribe. All because they seeked power from the Master Diamond. He never blamed his grandparents for doing that and he believed it was the smartest move for them to make, but he wonders sometimes how different things would have been if his parents were never disowned. In fact, almost his entire family hated him, with the exception of David. He stuck by his older brother and went to war with him any time he got unfairly scrutinized.

In return, Knuckles protected him in high school from the bullies and their relationship was practically inseparable. That made Knuckles think about his own family that he started. He is doing everything he can to make it successful, but will it turn out the same way as it did for his parents? He came from a broken family and he's doing everything in his power not to break this one.

The rift he has with Starswirl and the other Pillars certainly does not help and he's worried that could cause the demise of not just his relationship, but everything he ever knew. He tries not to think about it, but he knows that it is a potential possibility. He could never afford to lose Twilight like that, not after the way he lost Maddi. The amount of searing loss that caused him was to the point of unbearable, but if he went through that again, he probably would lose it and make all humanity go extinct in his rage.

For someone who is only 34 years old, he had experienced more death, tragedy, and heartbreak than most people do in their entire lifetime. This was only the beginning though. If this fight between him and the two villains results in a bloodbath, a lot of innocent people will die. He may not like humanity, but he would not want to wish death upon them like that since they have no relation to this. He didn't want to force anything though. He remembered the famous words Captain America mentioned to Tony Stark in Avengers: Age of Ultron: "Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time."

However, he knew the looming threat that was coming and he was going to make sure he was prepared for it. He was not going to let two villains from cartoon universes take over the whole planet just like that, not without a fight at least. If he has to die as a result of them not ruling the entire universe, then so be it. He was willing to accept that fate. That might not settle well with the rest of the group though, except maybe the Pillars, who probably want him dead anyway. He could never trust those scumbags in his eyes. After what they did to him, it made sense why he despises them so much.

He still questions sometimes why they did that to him after everything they had been through at that point, but then he remembered what Twilight said to him when she got her wings from Celestia: "You did something today that's never been done before. Something even a great unicorn like Starswirl the Bearded was not able to do, because he did not understand friendship like you do." Starswirl never understood friendship and that mistake cost him dearly. When he figured it out for the first time, he never understood why, but after learning the history behind it, it all made sense to him.

Despite how well things were looking up for him, it seems to have turned back down south like it has been for most of his life. It's to the point where he feels like he was back at square one. All his life, he was hated, mocked, and looked down upon. As a result, he's returned it in kind to those who have done it against him. Yet time and time again, he continued to defend those who couldn't defend themselves.

However, he remembered the famous words from the first Spider-Man movie in 2002: "In spite of everything you've done for them, eventually, they will hate you." He's kept that in mind over the years and it has never been more clear throughout his life. No matter how hard he tries to protect humanity, they still hate him because of it. He has protected them for so long, and what does he get in return? Hatred. After he lost Maddi, he waged war against the world and did everything he could to keep them away.

That was until he met Twilight. When they first met, he was still the same cold bitter man that had been this way since he lost Maddi. But somehow, someway, Twilight shattered his stone cold heart and brought back his more gentle demeanor that he believed would have been dead forever. He couldn't be more grateful for her. However, with this new threat and the raging divide he has with the Pillars of Equestria, he feels like he's back where he was in the five year period from 2009 to 2014.

Of course, he has family and friends around him now, but he still carries the burden of everything that is going on. Attempting to hold his tongue to the Pillars, trying to stop these two villains from wiping out the whole universe, and dealing with the fact he is seen as a traitor of the United States. All of these things weigh him down and he knows he shouldn't hide this from anyone in the group, but he is still learning to properly communicate problems with others. Plus, he is trying to remain strong so that no one detects weakness inside of him.

Despite his incredibly aggressive behavior, he is still weak and vulnerable inside. He just doesn't show it. He believes in no surrender at any costs. Even if it costs you your life, if the cause can still be achieved by doing so, then it is considered worth it. That was the way of the tribe and even though he probably is the last of his kind, he must maintain it. He has a legacy to uphold. There were so many greats in his tribe and he saw himself as nothing more than a screw-up. His shadow was right. He was a disgrace to his tribe and was a horrible representation of how the tribe should be.

Wow. This got incredibly depressing quickly. But this was how Knuckles was thinking and this is the one place where he can think about it without anyone looking. He gets himself so busy that he tends to suppress these emotions so far down inside that it's like being buried six feet down. Outside of this setting, he never gets any quiet time to just reflect and think about how life is going. Sometimes, he wonders if burying all of these emotions affects his behavior in a negative way more than he thought.

But now, it's time to get serious. What should he do? Should he heed the advice of Mark and turn himself in at the nation's capital? Or should he heed the prophecy of his tribe and always remain hidden when signs of trouble come his way? On one hand, he should listen to his fellow band member and friend. He did make a valid point. Turning yourself in would make things go so much more smoothly. But what would the potential consequences of that be? He gets locked away in solitary confinement at a maximum security prison like the Raft and everyone he ever knew would either be send off to a lab for experimentation or deported back to their home country if they could ever figure out how to do that properly without ripping the very fabric of the universe.

Then, there is the other option. Hide and hope it will blow over eventually. It seems like a good idea on the surface, but the deeper you look at it, it doesn't feel as good. He along with the rest of the group are national fugitives in the most powerful nation in the world and he doubts law enforcement will give up anytime soon. You also have to factor in that they have been seen everywhere. There is video footage of them existing. This isn't like being D.B. Cooper where you commit a crime and you are never heard or seen from again. This is the 21st century where everything is on a digital book of records.

Speaking of which, they could wait until the case goes cold, which does happen, but that would be years down the line. If they try to hide, they would never be able to live normal lives. They would constantly live in fear and hope they never get found. Anywhere they go, they will be instantly recognized. They might be able to hide for now, but the human race is incredibly smart and they'll eventually find a way to catch them. They might be stupid, but that doesn't mean they are dumb. Plus, they can't wait for the case to go cold because by the time it does, the universe might already be destroyed and that means the villains achieved their goal without trying too much.

He could not let that happen. Knuckles got up and started to walk through the forest. He noticed some flowers in the distance and decided to take a closer look. He noticed that they were lavender flowers and stared at its beauty. Suddenly, they sprayed out some sort of mist and Knuckles got caught up in it, despite backing away from it. He got angry and asked "What kind of devilry is this?! I am the most dangerous warrior in the galaxy! Pitiful flowers cannot subdue me!" He tried running away from the flowers as far as possible, but the flowers already did the damage. He fell to the ground and quickly fell asleep.

Back in the lair, Pitch and the Pony of Shadows saw that Knuckles had fallen asleep, which allows them to get a deeper look into his mind. Pitch smiled evilly and said "Well then, it seems like it doesn't take much to take down the mighty and powerful Knuckles. Who knew that something as simple as flowers would be enough to defeat the self-proclaimed "most dangerous warrior in the galaxy?" He looks like no warrior to me! HA HA HA!!!"

The Pony of Shadows agreed and said "Now that the pitiful creature is asleep, we can sense what things will weaken him and how to use it against him."

Pitch gave an evil grin and said "Well then, let's put this device to the test and see who comes a knocking! Let's see what is really going on inside the mind the most powerful human being. Time for some transparency."

Both Pitch and the Pony of Shadows watched on the screen as things passed through as if it were a timelapse. Outside, Knuckles was groaning because bad memories were being resurfaced in his head and he didn't want to remember them.

What Pitch and the Pony of Shadows began to see would leave them in a state of shock. They watched Knuckles interact with the Pillars at a very young age, they saw random kids around him get killed, they saw Operation Desert Storm unfold watching Knuckles' uncle and cousin be killed in battle, they watched the physical abuse from his parents, they watched the slander from his older sister, they watched Knuckles get bullied all the time, they witnessed the horrors of 9/11 by watching Knuckles' other uncle and cousin get killed from the collapsing North Tower, they watched his grandparents die in their sleep the day after Christmas that same year, and lastly, they watched the most horrifying thing that ever happened to Knuckles: the death of his girlfriend Maddi in a tragic car accident in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.

After watching that, Pitch cut it off. He didn't know what to say for a few moments. He said "I knew that he was hiding something, but I didn't expect something this tragic. It almost makes me feel bad for the guy because of everything he has been through."

The Pony of Shadows agreed and said "Yeah, it almost makes it seem like he's one of us. Outcast. Troubled individual. All of these things."

Pitch nodded his head and said "Regardless though, we must continue with our mission. Even though he may be reminiscent of us, we are not the same. He is beaten down, but uses that to protect the people. We use it to terrorize others as a way to get payback for what others have done to us."

Pitch pressed a button and he entered the further depths of Knuckles' mind. He began to do what he does best: Terrorizing victims with nightmares.

Knuckles was groaning even more and was trying to fight off the nightmares.

"You're nothing but a disgrace!" said his mom.

"I can't believe you are somehow my son. You are no son to me." said his dad.

"You were always so lame anyway! How could you possibly be related to me?!" said his sister.

"How could you abandon me after everything we've been through together?! We stuck up for each other and stuck together no matter what!" said his brother.

"You were always so easy to pick on! Nobody wanted to be around you in school and that fool known as Maddi made the dumbest decision of her life!" said Jeremy.

"You're rotten to the core!" said Applejack.

"You're a savage brute!" said Rarity.

"You're a snob and a party pooper!" said Pinkie.

"You're an arrogant, selfish person!" said Rainbow.

"You're a violent creature!" said Fluttershy.

"I don't know why I married you! How could I marry such a terrible human?! You are stubborn, arrogant, selfish, and spiteful. You are nothing but a monster!" said Twilight.

Knuckles heard all of this and said "No... NO! THAT IS NOT TRUE! NONE OF IT IS TRUE!"

Pitch laughed evilly and said "It's only a matter of time before you realize it yourself, boy! It's your fault that you were despised by your family, it is your fault that humanity hates your guts, and it's your fault that Maddi is dead!"

Knuckles growled with anger and said "ENOUGH! YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!"

Pitch just laughed evilly and shot an arrow through Knuckles' heart. He stopped and fell to the ground. He groaned in pain before he died with his eyes wide open.

Knuckles shot himself awake and breathed heavily. After a few seconds, he wept bitterly. He said quietly "No... I am not a monster. I am the most dangerous warrior in the galaxy. *sniffles and looks up in the sky* I know what I need to do now."

He got back into the Camaro and started it up. He wiped away any remaining tears and drove off as fast as he could. It was night time outside and all seemed quiet. Nothing appeared to be going on. However, as Knuckles drived by, he thought he saw a car just sitting there and thought nothing of it.

He heard an engine turn on and looked in his rearview mirror to see what was going on. He saw the car turn onto the road and then saw red and blue lights come on. Knuckles gave a frustrated sigh because he got caught by a law enforcement officer. It was probably a local sheriff here in the county doing a stakeout to watch for any speeders going by. This reminded him exactly of how Lightning McQueen got caught up with law enforcement in the first Cars movie back in 2006.

Knuckles knew it was wrong to run from cops, but he couldn't pull over now. If that sheriff runs his ID through the database, he'll know that the supernatural human being is the most wanted criminal in the United States right now and he couldn't afford to do that. He sighed and said "Alright. Time to go dark and incognito." He turned off all the lights and sped off. Since he was in an all black car, this could help him escape.

The cop quickly lost sight of him and stopped the pursuit. However, he did radio it in to dispatch to let them know he's sighted a black Camaro and warned any other units to look out for this car.

Once it was safe to do so and when he knew he was out of sight of the sheriff, he turned his lights back on. He growled and said "As each day goes by, the human race gets more and more intolerable to associate with. One moment, you think they are becoming smarter and then the next, they pull dumb sh[BLEEP] like this which brings them back down to their supposed ape counterparts. It's fu[BLEEP]ing frustrating and I have had enough of this da[BLEEP] foolishness."

He pushed harder on the gas pedal and sped as quickly as he could to get back to his "fortress of solitude." He turned into the small gravel road that was there and disappeared into the trees. After going for a mile, he finally returned to the family mansion that belonged to his tribe. He parked it back into the garage and turned it off. He got out of the car and locked it.

The rest of the group were discussing things about life in the living room when they suddenly heard the door fly open and saw Knuckles walk in. He was wearing a tired and serious look on his face. Twilight flew over to Knuckles and asked him "Caleb, are you alright? You seem stressed."

Knuckles sighed and said "I'll be okay. After some time to meditate, I now know what I need to do."

Starlight asked "What would that be exactly?"

Knuckles sighed again and said "I'm going to Washington and turn myself in."

Everyone gasped at that remark and they all started protesting at that idea. Knuckles told them to be quiet and said "Listen, I know no one likes this idea, but it must be done. It's my fault that we're even in this mess to begin with and it's something that I need to deal with. It's not an easy decision and I don't want to really want to do this, but we're outmatched here. I know you all are on the most wanted list, but they want me the most. If I take the fall, they'll stop the pursuit and leave you alone hopefully."

Most of them disagreed with that remark and Twilight said "Absolutely not! We're not letting you go alone. If you are going to take the fall, we will all take the fall. You and me are husband and wife. It was you who taught me the saying "I vow wherever you go, I'll go. You ride, I ride. You fight, I fight, and if you die, I die." We said that after our wedding. Plus, if you surrender by yourself, you'll be locked away forever and will never see me or your daughter again. How do you think that will affect her? She needs her dad to raise her and I need my husband by my side in order to do that. I know you don't want to lose your family, but I can't bear to lose my husband and our daughter can't bear to lose her father either. If you're going to Washington, then so am I."

Rainbow said "I'm with Twilight. It might seem like the heroic thing to do to surrender yourself, but we would be bad friends if we allowed that to happen. Count me in."

Rarity said "Despite how terrible this may seem, friends always stick together no matter what. You've already been through enough in your life, it's time that we carry that burden with you."

Applejack said "Rarity is right. Ah know all too well what it feels like to be stubborn, but Ah now know that if ya do everythin' yerself, it won't turn out well."

Pinkie said "Friends are supposed to be there until the end and until that happens, I'm sticking by my supernatural human friend!"

Fluttershy said "I agree with Pinkie. This all sounds very dangerous, but it will be less dangerous if we all face it together."

Starlight said "Friends never turn their backs on each other. If we allowed you to face this by yourself, what kind of example would we be setting? You are our only guide in this world and if you get arrested for life, then we would have no idea how to navigate it or get back to Equestria."

Sunburst said "Despite what you may claim, we're also to blame as well. We could have said no at any time, but since we have villains to defeat, it made sense to follow your lead. So, if this government makes you fall, we'll fall right with you."

Spike said "I'm with everyone else. We stick together on these things. It's part of that bro code you taught me. No matter what happens, bros stick together and we are there for each other. The first rule was "Never leave your bro behind." Besides, you have become like a mentor to me and if you're locked away forever, I won't get that anymore, so if we do get punished, I'd rather do it together than apart."

Jack said "While most of us over here haven't known you for very long, but we agree with your friends. This is something that no one should ever do alone."

Elsa said "Yeah, I know what it feels like to want to solve everything alone, but that won't do anyone any good whatsoever."

Anna said "My sister is right. I was there for her when she went through her crisis, and I'll be there for yours."

Kristoff said "I agree. If you challenge one of us, you challenge all of us."

North said "Ah, there's nothing better than facing evil with comrades."

Easter Bunny said "I'm with North. As long as I'm armed with carrots, we can do this together."

Tooth said "Absolutely. We stick together as a group. If one of us goes down, we all go down."

The Pillars seemed the most reluctant to try to help Knuckles, but the fact that both Knuckles was willing to sacrifice himself like that and everyone else was ready to stand by him made them go on board with this. Starswirl cleared his throat and said "I would speaking for all of us, but the Pillars and I believe no creature should ever face such a daunting task alone, so we'll be in this too."

The rest of the Pillars nodded and this made Knuckles give a small grin. He didn't do this because of the Pillars, in fact, he was still greatly distrustful of them, but it made him happy that he had this much support. He expected his pony friends to stick by him, but he never thought the foreigners from another universe would stand by him too.

Knuckles wore a serious look and said "With that being said then, it's important we call it a night. We'll figure out how to get to Washington tomorrow morning. So get some rest and prepare for tomorrow because it will not be an easy one." He turned away and headed toward the bedroom he was sleeping in. The others went their separate ways too and there was more than enough room to have everyone sleep in their own bedroom.

Twilight soon joined her husband in the bedroom and found him retiring for the night. She wrapped her hooves around his neck and latched onto his back. She asked him "Are you really going to be okay?"

Knuckles sighed and said "Honestly, I'm not really sure. But as long as I have you, it will be okay."

Twilight let go of him and sat down on his lap in front of him. She circled her hoof around his chest and gave him the look of "something else is going on."

Knuckles sighed again and said "Alright, you got me. I'm just worried how things are going to go. The last thing I want to happen is to lose you. What I meant before was genuine, but if I lost you... I couldn't bear something like that again after losing Maddi in super devastating fashion. Our family is growing and I need to be able to provide for them. Guaranteed, I don't know how I'll do that in solitary confinement, but I'll figure it out somehow."

Twilight said "As long as I should live, I will always be there to support you. I know you're afraid and after being alone most of your life, you don't want to be like that again. But we are all here to support you and we'll stand by you no matter what. No sort of human government or anything else could ever change that."

Knuckles smiled and said "Thank you Twilight. You always know what to say whenever I feel down."

Twilight giggled and said "Well, it's part of my job as the Princess of Friendship to uplift those who might need it. You're my husband, so I'm more than willing to do that for you."

Both of them climbed into the bed and said goodnight to one another. They kissed for a brief moment and then Knuckles turned out the lights.

Pitch and the Pony of Shadows were watching the incident unfold and they were smiling with glee. Pitch said "Pack your bags, Pony of Shadows. We're going to Washington D.C. to cause some chaos."

The Pony of Shadows smiled devilishly and said "Yes. I can't wait to get those six puny ponies that my pony counterpart once called friends to bow to my will."

Pitch returned the smile and said "Yes, and it will also be nice to get Jack and the rest of those stupid Guardians that I've been battling against for thousands of years. Plus, it will be so much fun terrorizing these humans in this world. The human race is so easy to manipulate and if they are all shown their worst fear, they'll have no choice but to do whatever I command them to do."

Both of them gave evil laughter as they now had to prepare to cause chaos in Washington and take down our heroes while they were at it. Things were only going to get bumper from here.

Author's Note

3 and a half months. 3 and a half flipping months. How embarrassing. I want to apologize for having this chapter come out so late. My schedule has gotten busier since I published the last chapter. I am finishing up my last semester for my degree, so my workload has been crammed. Also, I'm trying to get an internship in the field I am going to school for, so it's taken a lot of time. Still, that's no excuse. I am not dead and I fully intend on finishing this story. I have a commitment and I want to thank you all for expressing patience. I will try to keep a more consistent basis to the best of my ability. Things have shaken up and they will only continue to get crazier from here. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: Trouble in the nation's capital! When Knuckles and the rest of the group go to Washington D.C., they are met with complete chaos. Ranging from protests to people wanting them dead. Meanwhile, Pitch and the Pony of the Shadows are looking to stir the pot some more so they can witness the destruction of their enemies. Can the group put a stop to their evil behavior or will the rest of the human race prevent them from doing so?

Until then, my fellow readers

Chapter 8: Distress in D.C.

Things were quiet in the Echidna Tribe household in Princeton, Massachusetts. Everyone was sleeping, or at least trying to. Despite what you may think, Knuckles could not sleep. The last close to 35 years were plaguing him like crazy and it affected him greatly. He thought he had put it behind him especially after getting married to the Princess of Friendship and having a kid with her, but after what happened in the woods with Pitch, it reopened those scars for him. He was grunting and shifting around in his bed.

He suddenly felt like he was trapped in this dream and couldn't move. It was a dream, but it felt so real to him. He saw all of his friends and family lying there on the ground unconscious as if they were killed or something and standing before him were both Pitch Black and the Pony of Shadows. Both of them were floating in the air and had evil grins on their faces. The Pony of Shadows said "The Pillars have successfully been destroyed! They believed that turning me away would help Equestria, but their foolishness led to this realm's downfall! Now, it will be MINE! HA HA HA HA!!!"

Pitch said "You are worthless to save your little friends. I have put an end to these pathetic ponies and these supernatural human beings while you did NOTHING to stop me! You are nothing!"

Knuckles grew angry and said "You will pay for this, Pitch Black! NOW TAKE THIS! LIGHTNING BLAST!" He supercharged his fists with his red lightning and fired it towards Pitch in a grenade formation. However, it did nothing to Pitch and the blast started to fade away. Knuckles couldn't believe this and said "No." He was yanked over to Pitch and he was held inside the black wires.

Pitch smiled at him and said "I should have done this a long time ago. Goodbye, human! I hope death takes you well. Just kidding. Lol. I hope you suffer." The Pony of Shadows lit up his horn and blasted magic right at Knuckles, which pierced right through his chest and instantly killed him.

Knuckles instantly woke up in a cold sweat and said "NO! Oh, oh, oh, oh. What just happened?! Why were the Pillars in my dreams and who was that pony in the background?!" For context, there were a set of eyes in the background that had the purple mist coming out of it along with green selenas and red irises too. Knuckles just shook his head and said "What am I even talking about?! It is just some weird dream. Unless if I am still in it. No, come on. Do not be ridiculous. It is just a dumb dream and there cannot possibly be any context to it. I am losing my mind here." He looked over at his wife Twilight and saw that the Princess of Friendship was out cold. He sighed and said "I will get some water so I can clear my head."

He got up out of the bed and walked over to the kitchen to grab some water. He walked outside and sat in the rocking chair on the front balcony. He sipped on his water and began thinking about his life has been these last several years. Things had been going great for him, but ever since the reemergence of the Pillars, the Pony of Shadows, and Pitch Black, along with these new set of heroes that have come along, it's all gone to crap.

It was never going to get easier for him, was it? Ever since he was born, things have constantly gone wrong for him. Whether it was people hating him for his supernatural abilities, losing those he was close to, or having ancient figures abandon him at a time when he needed them most. Now, he has the daunting task of leading a group of both ponies and humans to defeat two villains while also hiding from the leadership of the most powerful nation on Earth. Will he ever find the answers he is looking for? Will he ever find his life purpose? He thought he had it, but he lost it once again. How much longer will he have to stand on trial against the court of life? He wants to live peacefully, but something out there is determined he will live the most miserable life until he dies. He is unsure what that may be, but he knows there is some sort of higher power that is doing this to him.

"Mind if I join you out here?" said a new voice.

Knuckles turned to his left to see Elsa standing outside there and he extended his hand out as a way to tell her to sit down in the other chair. He said "Sure, feel free to sit down." Elsa did so and sat down in the chair across from him.

She asked him "So, you can't sleep either, can you?"

Knuckles shook his head and said "Unfortunately not. I could not sleep, so I just wanted to come out here to enjoy the quiet nature and the beauty of the night."

Elsa nodded and said "I understand and by the way, I apologize for using my power against you the first time we met."

Knuckles brushed it off and said "Ah, do not worry about it. A lot was going on and it was hard to make a reasonable reaction within a few seconds, so it is understandable. I get it."

Elsa said "Still, that was wrong of me to do. It seems like you had a lot of pressure and that certainly didn't help."

Knuckles looked at her dead in the eye and said "You are forgiven. Do not worry about it. I do not hold it against you. We can move on now."

Elsa could see the look in his eyes and tell something else was going on. She said "Something is on your mind, isn't it?"

Knuckles sighed and said "It is that obvious, huh?"

Elsa nodded and said "I could see the look in your eyes and I've been through it somewhat myself."

Knuckles sighed again and said "Well, you are not wrong. If I am being honest, I do not know where to go. I am leading an entire group of ponies and humans somewhat divided against two villains who seek the entire destruction of the universe and I am not sure if I am even doing it right. I feel like I am screwing up something and I do not know what."

Elsa said "Have you told your wife Twilight about this? It sounds like something you should address with her."

Knuckles lowered his head in shame and said "I cannot do that. I do not want to burden her with that. She is living her best life right now. Plus, I still have a little girl to protect. My family growing up was such a mess and I thought they did such a horrible job, but now that I have started a family of my own, I realize just how difficult it is to provide for one. That thought had not really crossed my mind coming out of high school or college, but at almost 35 now, it's at the forefront of my mind. I want to provide for my family. I want to be there for my wife and I want to be there for my child."

Elsa said "Forgive me for asking this, but what is stopping you from doing so?"

Knuckles said "Because I do not know what to do! I am so new at this whole parenthood thing and I have only been married for two years to the f[BLEEP]king Princess of Friendship! Excuse my language, but I just do not want to fail her or my child. I already feel like I have failed as a father for my child by being gone for so long during this journey and I feel like I have failed my wife Twilight as a husband. It is my fault they are suffering and it is my fault that everyone else is suffering."

Elsa said "It's not your fault. You can't do that to yourself."

Knuckles got up out of his chair and stood out in the fields. He turned around and said "How can I not?! All of us have been displaced on my home planet, two villains seek to end everything we have ever known, we are hiding from every form of law enforcement in the most powerful nation on Earth, I am forced to deal with the worst enemies of my tribe who committed an egregious crime, my child is in another dimension without her father and mother, I cannot provide for my wife the way I want to, and I am constantly plagued by nightmares night after night!"

Elsa asked "Is all this why you can't sleep at night?"

Knuckles sighed and said "There have been many things in my life that I would rather not speak of because of tragic they truly are. I have seen things in my life that I wish I could unsee. My life has been plagued by hardships and just when I thought things would get better for me, IT DRAGGED ME RIGHT BACK DOWN AGAIN! HOW MUCH LONGER MUST I SUFFER?! *sighs and says quietly* How much longer do I have suffer?"

He fell on his knees and wept bitterly. The last few days worth of pain and suffering came flooding out. Elsa felt empathy for Knuckles because she knew what it was like feel like you've hurt everyone else around you. Elsa walked over to him and said "Knuckles, we may not have known each other for very long nor have I experienced all of the same things that you did, but one thing is clear to me: you're afraid of hurting anyone. I know what that feels like. For most of my childhood and young adulthood, I constantly lived in fear of hurting others and that fear ate me alive. I drove out everyone I knew just so that I wouldn't harm them. I thought I was protecting them, but instead, I was hurting them. Far more than I realized. It wasn't until my sister showed me love that I was able to heal and begin to live a somewhat normal life."

Knuckles looked up and asked "Where are you going with this?"

Elsa said with a serious look "Like my sister did for me, you must tell your wife how you feel. I know you're afraid of burdening her or hurting her emotionally, but she clearly loves you with all her heart. I can see it in her eyes and by the way she speaks about you. Nothing about it is easy, but at the current moment, she is oblivious to what's going on and even though she can sense something is off, you won't tell her. Communication is important in marriage and you must talk these things out. If you don't, you're going to end up like me and it will haunt you for the rest of your life."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and said "Yeah, as if anything else will haunt me after what I have been through in my life."

Elsa said "Believe me, it will. You might have a lot of baggage already, but it would just be one more thing to the list. All I'm saying is you shouldn't have to burden yourself like this. Let Twilight carry your burdens with you and share them with her. I'm positive she'll understand and she'll stand by your side no matter what."

Knuckles gave a small grin and said "Thank you Elsa. I appreciate the advice. I think I can sleep now. I shall go join my wife in the bed since we all have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I will see you in the morning. Goodnight Elsa."

Elsa smiled and said "Goodnight Knuckles."

Knuckles returned to the bedroom and he saw the Princess of Friendship still fast asleep. He felt guilty for hiding this from her, but he felt so scared to share it with her. However, Elsa made a good point. He didn't want to end up like her and carry yet another regret for the rest of his natural life. If he wanted to avoid that, he must tell Twilight about this. He just needed to figure out how to do so. That was something he could figure out in the morning. For now, he needed to go to sleep for tomorrow will have its own troubles. He was getting tired and he did not want to be that way the next day or else he won't perform at full strength. He laid down in the bed and quickly conked right out.

Knuckles was in another dream and the environment confused him for a second. He was sitting in a chair inside of some sort of chaplain and he noticed he was wearing a fancy suit for whatever reason. He saw decorations everywhere and he knew he was at a wedding. The door opened and he turned around to see who was it was. He was shocked to see who it was. It was him walking down the aisle and standing at the altar. He was so confused on what was going on. Why was he sitting in this chair? Why was a duplicate of him standing at an altar? Suddenly, he heard music starting to play and he noticed everyone getting up.

Not wanting to be rude, he stood up as well and turned to see who would come out of that door. To his absolute surprise, he saw Maddi walking through. There she was, the most beautiful woman to ever walk the face of the Earth in his mind, walking down the aisle to marry the love of her life. It shocked Knuckles to see this. He must have been witnessing alternate history here. He must have been successful in proposing to her and must have avoided the Dodge Charger hitting his Silverado. That's the only possible way he could be in this scenario.

He thought about how different things might have been if he was able to marry Maddi and he was still transported to Equestria. Probably if Maddi came with him, she would encourage him to go out and make some friends. He would have been friendlier to the Mane Six and even to the Princesses as well. He could have even extinguished the hatred he had with the Pillars. It's all just a what if and is considered alternate history at this point. Instead, he watched her get murdered in cold blood, he was very hostile to the Mane Six and the rulers of Equestria, and the hatred he has for the Pillars only seems to get stronger. He really wished he had Maddi to go through all this with him, but he knew no matter how hard he tried, she was gone forever and there was nothing he could do.

All of them sat down and the ceremony began. As it went on, something felt off to Knuckles. He tried to get up to see if he could find some clues, but he suddenly couldn't move at all any more. That told him something bad was about to happen and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He started to panic and did everything he could to try to break free of his bondage, but it was to no avail. All of a sudden, police sirens were heard and then a loud crash happened. The front wall broke and a Dodge Charger came plowing through and ran over Maddi. There was blood all over the place and it all made sense for Knuckles. It was a replay of that tragic night, but just in a different environment.

He screamed at the sight of it and he suddenly woke up in the real world with a distressed heart. He was getting increasingly frustrated with dealing with these nightmares. He had been sleeping good the last several hours and then he was jolted awake again because of another nightmare. He can't just get one good night's sleep, can he? Twilight had woken up and yawned a little bit. She looked to her right and saw the spooked look on Knuckles' face. She was really concerned. She asked "Caleb, are you alright? Your face looks really pale. You look like you've seen a ghost."

Knuckles was so shook he didn't know what to do or say. He looked at Twilight and then looked back at the wall in front of him. He did this several times for several moments. Should he take Elsa's advice and tell Twilight what is going on? He honestly should since he knew communication was one of the key elements in successful marriages, but could he really bring himself to tell her that? Everything from his past was resurfacing again and he didn't want Twilight to be dragged along in that.

However, Twilight couldn't be left in the dark forever. She may be oblivious to certain things, but he knows first hand that she is a smart mare. If anyone could solve something that he was trying to hide, it would be her. He was stuck in between a rock and a hard place on this one. He sighed and said "I am fine, Twilight."

Twilight didn't seem convinced at that and said "You don't sound so sure of yourself when you say it like that." Knuckles knew she was right. It didn't seem convincing to her and he didn't even find it convincing himself. That's how weak and pathetic it was. But he had to keep a strong demeanor going because if he starts acting like this, the rest of the group will follow. This will leave them vulnerable to an attack from their enemies and they won't be able to properly respond to it because they'll be in shambles trying to figure out what to do. All of these things weighed down on his mind and his body, but he knew what was on the line and he would protect it no matter what.

Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder and looked at him with reassuring eyes. She said "If you are going through something, I am here to listen. I know I don't understand everything about you, but I want you to know that I will always be willing to help you through anything. You don't have to carry this burden alone. You can always come to me for anything." Just from that speech alone, it wanted to make Knuckles cry, but he didn't because of how embarrassing it would feel to him.

Knuckles gave a small grin and said "I appreciate that Twilight, but I promise you I am fine. There is nothing to worry about."

Twilight said "I know you are trying to protect me, but don't leave me in the dark. I want to understand you more and I can't do that when you hide in the shadows."

Knuckles knew she was right, but he couldn't have that liability occurring at all. But how would he do it properly? He thought about it for a few moments before coming up with a solution. He took Twilight's forehoof and held it in his hands. He looked deeply into her eyes and said "I promise you do not have to worry about me. I fully understand that communication is one of the keys to a successful marriage. I fully love you with all of my life and heart. I care very much about your well being. With that being said, we are facing dangers that threaten to end everything around us and said danger personally wants to make me suffer. You are my greatest treasure and I want to keep you safe from harm. If something happened to you, I would never forgive myself and I might end up destroying everything in anger as a result. I already lost a romantic partner once, I cannot allow that to happen again."

Twilight looked deep in his eyes and she could see the genuine care he had for her. She saw all of the pain he went through over the years in his eyes and as a result, a resolve to protect what he had recently gained. He knows what it's like to lose all of that, so he doesn't want to go through all of that again. She knew that something was going on with him, but he was clearly blocking it from her in the name of "keeping her safe." Sure, he might be keeping her safe, but at what cost? What does it cost him for doing that? He's putting himself more at risk in order to keep her out of harm's way. She loves that about him, but she wishes he wasn't so stubborn all the time. But to be fair, he is still learning to fully trust those close to him. He didn't have that growing up, so it's all quite foreign to him. It will take some time.

Twilight said with a concerned voice "Alright, if you are sure. But please, don't think you have to do all of this alone. All of us are here to stand by you. I am here to stand by you. You are the first and only creature that I have cared so much about. I know you are scared to death to lose me, but how do you think I feel? I have never loved anyone else before you. I'm afraid. I'm terrified of losing you too. You give me a sense of security and protection that I have never felt before. If I lose you, I won't have that anymore and that scares me. Also, what about our child? I don't want her growing up without her dad. Motherhood is already challenging enough for me, but I don't think I could handle being a single mother. The struggle is just too great. I want our daughter living in a world where both her mother and father can raise her, not one of them. So, if there is anything at any time you want to share with me, don't hesitate to do so. We can work it out together."

Knuckles felt guilty for not sharing what was going on him and Twilight's words pierced right through his heart. He so desperately wanted to share what was happening to her. He wanted to just fall on his knees and confess everything that was going on to her. He wanted to do that, but he just couldn't bring himself to do that. He knows what is at stake here, and if our villains here in this story have their way, everything he has will be destroyed and he'll end up going down the path of Shadow the Hedgehog, which he did not want. The two have had a lot in common, but the black Hedgehog would be considered the low point for Knuckles. He's already been down that path once and he did not want to go back down that path again if he could help it. However, he still needed to show Twilight that things would be alright so she wouldn't freak out as much. He had an idea.

Knuckles grinned a little bit and said "Let me show you just how much I love you."

Twilight raised an eyebrow and asked "How so?"

Knuckles did not answer. Instead, he pulled Twilight close to him and gave her a passionate kiss. Twilight was initially surprised by this, but she soon melted into the kiss. She moaned in delight and her tail swished back and forth. Knuckle ran his hand through her mane and this got her excited. She pushed him back onto the bed and forcibly tried to open Knuckles' mouth for entrance. Her wings sprouted up from excitement and her tail swished back and forth between Knuckles' legs. She opened his mouth with hers and aggressively tongue kissed him. She lit up her horn and put the enchantment on the door. It was time to get down to business.

One monologue later...

After what seemed like forever, both Twilight and Knuckles were laying on the bed exhausted from their love making session and they felt pretty satisfied with that. Knuckles looked to see what time it was and he knew they had to get moving. He said "Alright, as fun as that was, we have wasted enough time and we must face the danger that lies ahead. Let us clean up and then go meet up with the others in the living room."

Twilight nodded and said "I agree. We don't know what we are up against and time is of the essence here. Let's get a move on."

Knuckles grunted in satisfaction and said "We have no time to waste. Now come. Let us get down to business." Twilight nodded and followed him into the bathroom.

After cleaning up, both of them walked out into the living room where everyone was waiting. Rainbow asked "What took you two lovebirds so long?"

Rarity didn't like that question and said in a scolding voice "Rainbow, show some courtesy!"

Rainbow put her hooves up in defense and said "What? I just wanted to know!"

Applejack came to Rainbow's defense and said "Ah have to agree with Rainbow on this one, Rares. But she does have a point, Dash. It was framed in a bad way."

Pinkie Pie said "Well, it was quite obvious what they were doing! Knuckles couldn't sleep, so he went outside, talked to Elsa over here about some personal crisis he was facing and didn't want to let Twilight down, went back to sleep, had a horrid nightmare of his first love getting run over, he woke up and Twilight asked if he was if alright, Knuckles said he was alright, Twilight told him he could tell her anything, and then they started doing the hokey pokey in the bed as proof of their love!"

Everyone's jaw dropped when Pinkie made that statement. Twilight felt embarrassed for having someone say her private interactions out loud, Elsa was stunned that Pinkie knew all that, but Knuckles, well, let's just say he felt terrified. He couldn't believe that Pinkie knew all of that and he wanted to know how she knew all of that. She must have heard him when he was talking to Elsa out in the fields. He went out into the fields just to make sure he didn't wake anyone. How could that have happened? But then something clicked with him. His voice carries, despite moving farther away.

Regardless though, he felt afraid. Truly afraid. It felt like Pinkie was the pony version of Deadpool, always knowing outside secrets that most would feel like would be concealed and constantly breaking the fourth wall as if they are talking to a live audience. He thought Deadpool was funny, but now that he was among someone who was like him, then it didn't feel so nice.

Twilight asked Pinkie "Pinkie, how did you know all of that?"

Pinkie just shrugged and said "Just a hunch."

Rainbow asked Knuckles "Knuckles, is everything she saying true?"

Knuckles just growled and said "That is not important right now. We must focus on the mission."

Jack asked "What exactly is the mission?"

Knuckles looked out the window and said with a battle ready look "Deal with the ruling authorities in the nation's capital, beat down Pitch and the Pony of Shadows, find a way back to Equestria, and try not to die while doing it."

Easter Bunny said "I somewhat like that plan, mate."

Elsa asked "Well how exactly do we get to this nation's capital?"

Knuckles said "We will discuss that, but first, we must energize ourselves on food because regardless of how we get there, it will still be a long journey. Now come, let us eat before we begin our dangerous journey."

All of them went into the kitchen to prepare food and they all sat at the large table to eat their breakfast. After they were done with that, they all went outside into the fields a little bit past the front porch to discuss how they were going to get to Washington D.C. from where they were at currently.

Spike asked "So Knuckles, how are we going to get to this Washington D.C.?"

Knuckles said "Well, the best way we can get there is through teleportation. I have my rings to get us there, but we must figure out a way to remain hidden."

Kristoff asked "How exactly would we do that in a city that is probably packed with a boat load of people?"

Jack said "He's right. It's not like any of us can perform any magic spells to make us invisible."

After making that statement, Knuckles had an idea. He turned to the powerful magic wielders of the group and asked "Twilight? Starlight? Sunburst? Do you think you could successfully make us all invisible?"

Twilight said "I don't know Caleb. That would take an awful lot of power. It's not an easy spell to master."

Starlight said "I agree. There are 24 of us here. Something like that would require a lot of power. It could be done, but it would be very difficult."

Sunburst said "I concur, this is not something that the average unicorn can do."

Rainbow said "But we can't run the risk of getting caught though. This Washington D.C. could be a lot like Canterlot. There is a lot of ponies there, so likewise, there could be many humans as well in this country's capital."

Applejack said "Ah agree with Rainbow. All of us ponies know how crowded Canterlot can get, so obviously, this Washington D.C. here could very well likely be the same."

Knuckles knew this was a problem, but there must have been a solution somewhere. He wasn't considered Tony Stark smart for nothing. He had the brain of Iron Man, so there was probably something clearly there. After thinking for several moments, he had an idea. He said "I have an idea. Give me like two minutes." He ran inside the mansion and ran down to the basement. There was a secret room that led to a lab.

He went inside and started making something using many different materials. After about two minutes, he put together a device that would help sustain invisibility for extended periods of time. He ran back outside with the devices in hand and presented this to the group.

Starlight asked "Knuckles, what exactly are those in your hands?"

Knuckles said "These are cloaking devices. How it works is whenever light is diffused, a thin coat of metamaterial around an object will make it essentially invisible under a certain range of lighting conditions. This has mostly been used to hide large moving vehicles of transport, such as spaceships in Star Trek, and many people said it is impossible to miniaturize it, but there was a reason why I finished second in my high school graduating class. I was able to figure it out and this will greatly help us in our current problem."

Sunburst asked "But how will that help with us magic bearers in keeping everyone invisible?"

Knuckles said "Well, you would attach it to somewhere on your body, I do not care where, and it will sustain the spell for long periods of time. Think of it as an enhancer. Obviously, this kind of spell would take a toll on your bodies and it would leave a great deal of exhaustion on your guys' parts, so having this device will keep the spell going longer and it will keep your body from getting exhausted."

Twilight was happy at this and said "Caleb! This is an extraordinary breakthrough! How come you haven't shared this before?"

Knuckles was unsure how to answer that properly and said "Well, it was just considered common knowledge for me. It was not hard to figure out. I developed this and perfected it when I was five."

Starlight said "For someone of your magnitude, it might be considered normal, but for the average pony, this is something beyond comprehension."

Sunburst said "This is something that even the highest level unicorns and mages of Equestria could not figure out, especially not in such a short period of time."

Starswirl even said "This is quite the incredible accomplishment, Knuckles. Any talented unicorn including myself would have taken years to solve, but you figured it out at such a young age. That is rare these days."

Knuckles was caught off guard by the compliment from Starswirl and didn't know what to say. This pony has been gone for most of his life and now he wants to compliment something he did that the unicorn wasn't even there for? The very nerve! He did it not long after the legend left him. He did it so he could impress the mentor in case he returned, but then when he found out why he disappeared, it shattered him and he grew quite bitter because of it. However, he knew to take a hint and Starswirl was trying to be polite, so there was no need to be mean to him for now. They have bigger fish to fry.

Knuckles gave him a disgruntled look and said "Thanks, I guess."

Twilight didn't like how Knuckles conducted himself there, but she could tell he was trying to improve, so that's all that matters. It's a step in the right direction.

Knuckles turned to face the group again and said "Okay, so what we need to do next is prepare to get there. Any pony who is a wielder in magic, please step forward so I can give you these cloaking devices." Knuckles gave them the cloaking devices and they put it on.

Knuckles said "Alright, now before I use one of my rings to get us to our destination, we must do some test runs first. Twilight, Starlight, Sunburst, and *sighs* Starswirl, go ahead and test out those devices to see if you can disappear just by yourselves."

They conducted the tests and they went completely invisible. Nobody could see them at all. Once Knuckles told them to stop using their magic, they reappeared in front of the group. Knuckles smiled a bit and said "Good, now try to make all of us disappear at once."

Soon, the whole group disappeared from sight and nobody could see anyone. Knuckles knew this was a success. He told the wielders to stop the magic flow and they all reappeared once again. Knuckles smiled some more and said "Now this is what I am talking about. So, how are you all feeling? Are you guys holding up okay?"

Twilight said "Yeah, I feel great! No overexertion or magical drain."

Starlight said "Yeah, I am certainly not feeling exhausted. Despite this being a powerful spell, these devices allow it to make it look like easy work."

Sunburst said "I seem to be good physically. No sort of magic drain from me either."

Starswirl said "This device has worked quite well, Knuckles. This is most impressive and this will certainly help us in our mission to defeat our foes ahead of us."

Knuckles sighed and said "Starswirl, I know you are trying to make amends because of our cold blooded history, but giving me compliments all of a sudden will not suddenly resolve it. I certainly have not forgotten what you and those other ponies did to me and my tribe years ago and you will pay the price for that one day once our foes are eliminated. Do not open your mouth unless if has something DIRECTLY to do with our mission. Is that clear?!"

Starswirl nodded and said "Of course, Knuckles. I understand."

Knuckles lessened his glare and said "Excellent. Now, that we have had our test runs, we can move forward."

Elsa asked "Are you sure this is going to work?"

Anna said "Yeah, this is quite the big undertaking. We are going into another foreign city with a bunch of people who want our heads on a silver platter."

Kristoff said "We would already be going in as figuatives, are you sure this won't make this worse?"

North said "I never really imagined me as Santa Claus would be considered a criminal of the eyes of many."

Easter Bunny said "Neither would I think that way about me being the Easter Bunny."

Tooth said "I couldn't imagine it either."

Sandman just shrugged it off because it didn't seem to bother him that much.

Jack said "I think most if not all of us are concerned if this plan will really work."

Twilight was about to interject to defend her husband, but Knuckles held up a hand to tell her that he'll do the talking. He sighed and said "Look, I cannot say with absolute certainty that this plan will work or not, but it is up to each of us to make sure this plan is as successful as it can be. We all must do our part in executing this plan effectively. Are we going to experience bumps along the way? Yes, of course. But it would not be a journey without it. As long as we stick to the plan, we should turn out alright. With that being said though, this device that was given out will work. I have tested it time and time again for many years and I can say with absolute confidence that it is foolproof. There is no need to worry."

Twilight said "That was an incredible speech, Caleb. It was spoken like a true leader."

Knuckles smiled and said "Thanks Twilight. Now that our test runs are out of the way, we can go ahead to Washington. Are you guys ready?" They all nodded and Knuckles pulled out one of his rings. He was thinking where he wanted to go and threw it. But all of a sudden, a group of F-16s flew right past and almost shattered everyone's eardrums. They were trying to get away from the noise, but they all fell in the hole at the same time, which caused them to fall on top of each other.

Knuckles growled with frustration and he dug through the ground to get himself out. He popped back up and stood up with his arms crossed while adorning a scowl on his face. You would have thought he looked like Shadow the Hedgehog with his posture. He looked around and realized the group was not in D.C. He looked to his right and saw a Metro Station. He looked in front of him and saw U.S. Route 50. He knew where they were at.

Rainbow said "Umm Knuckles, is this supposed to be Washington D.C.? This doesn't look like one. It's just a bunch of trees and empty parking lots."

Knuckles said "No, we are not. We are in Landover, Maryland. What is behind us is the Landover Metro station. I was afraid this might happen." Knuckles knew this part of Maryland very well as he would often commute from Baltimore to Washington every day and he would pass by the Landover Metro Station off U.S. Route 50 during the commute.

Rarity asked "Umm, what is a Metro station?"

Knuckles said "Formally known as WMATA, or Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, it serves as a mass transit subway system that connects the Washington D.C. metropolitan area together. It was created in 1967 and finished construction in 1976. It is commonly known as Metro and there is also Metrobus, which is essentially the same but it is a bus service, and MetroAccess, which is for people with physical disabilities. But anyway, Metro has six lines, 98 stations across the area, and 129 miles worth of track."

Twilight said "So it's like the Friendship Express?"

Knuckles nodded and said "It is pretty much the exact same, except the Metro can go underground and the system connects really only one area together instead of connecting the whole country together. That would be Amtrak in that case."

Jack said "So, how exactly are we going to get from here to this nation's capital?"

Knuckles said with his back turned "We use public transit to get there, but not by train or bus."

Elsa asked "What do you mean by that, Knuckles?"

Knuckles turned to face the group and said "Well, we cannot just do what we did in New York as that got us into trouble, so we are going to improvise a little bit."

Rainbow asked "Improvise how?"

Knuckles turned the ones with the cloaking devices and said "Do you remember me giving you the cloaking devices?"

They all said yes, but Starlight asked "Where are you going with this?"

Knuckles led them out over the tracks and past the trees where U.S. Route 50 could be seen. He said "That is how we are going to get there."

All of them saw how fast those vehicles were moving on the highway and it concerned them.

Easter Bunny said "Don't tell me this is what I think it is, mate."

Knuckles turned around and said "This is how we will do this: We will hop on top of a tractor trailer, hold on for dear life as we travel at 60 miles an hour, and hopefully get to the right place so we can sort all of this out and redirect our focus to taking out our two foes. Assuming we do not get killed in the process."

All of them shouted "WHAT?!" They couldn't believe what they were hearing. He seriously thought it would be a good idea to hop on top of an 18 wheeler with no safety supports of any kind on a divided highway heading straight for the nation's capital and there is the potential of death if they don't make it there. Is he nuts?! Did he not think this through?! What was the rationale behind all of this?

All of them began protesting at this idea and Knuckles told them to shush their voices because at the end of the day, they were still wanted and if anyone saw them, it was game over. He said "I understand this plan sounds crazy and believe me, it does. I will not disagree with you on that. But we have a mission to complete. We have already gotten this far just from my intellect and everyone's distractions. Sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures. I want to take out the Pony of Shadows and Pitch more than anybody else, but right now, we have to deal with a bigger threat, one that cannot be ignored. You will have to trust me on this. When have I failed you yet?"

After a few moments, Twilight sighed and said "He's right, guys. He has not failed any of us yet and as crazy as it sounds, this is the only way we can deal with the current problem with these humans. So we must trust him no matter what. Let's listen to what he has to say and follow his lead."

Knuckles said "Thank you for believing in me, Twilight. It is greatly appreciated. Anyway, on my signal we teleport inside a tractor trailer and hopefully, there will be enough space for us to be inside."

Kristoff asked "How do we know which way we are going and which one will take us to the correct location?"

Knuckles pulled out his device from yesterday and said "This device right here. Not only can it track airplanes, but pretty much any sort of vehicle whether it's cars, trucks, SUVs, buses, trains, boats, you name it. If it is a form of transportation, it can be tracked."

They were impressed by that and waited for a truck to pass by. One came by and Knuckles gave the signal. Twilight teleported them inside and fortunately, there was enough room in the tractor trailer for all of them to fit. Knuckles looked at his device just to make sure this 18 wheeler was going in the right direction and sure enough, it was headed for Washington. He created an opening through the sides of the trailer that acted as windows so they could tell where they were going, but no one would notice. It was like the glass in integration rooms. You could see the criminal, but the criminal couldn't see you. It was the same principle.

Everyone was busy talking to each other, but Twilight noticed her husband just standing in the corner looking out the window he created and having a scowl on his face while having his arms folded. Dang. This man is starting to look more and more like Shadow the Hedgehog. Next thing you know, he'll actually transform into the ultimate lifeform. I'm getting off track. Regardless, Twilight knew something was on her husband's mind.

Twilight hopped on the back of his shoulders and asked him "Caleb, is everything alright?"

Knuckles suddenly had a flashback to his childhood when he first started dating Maddi in his sophomore year of high school. Right from the get go, she knew that something was off about him.

Maddi asked him "Is everything alright, Caleb?"

The young Knuckles said "I'm fine, Maddi." Clearly, he was not.

Maddi saw right through that and said "Caleb, it might work on others, but it doesn't work on me. I'm just as smart as you and we both know that you are clearly not fine."

Knuckles sighed and said "You do have a fair point. I don't know what it is really. I have all of these things weighing me down. I am caught between who I was and who I will be. I have a fractured soul and no destiny. I was created to defend the greatest artifact mankind has ever seen, but it was stolen away before I even had the chance to stop it. I want to make you happy, but how can I when all I bring is pain, misery, and sorrow? It's no wonder why so many hate me. All of these things are expected out of me, and yet I seem to disappoint everyone every time. I don't know how much more of it I can take."

Knuckles slammed his fist down onto the table as frustration, and Maddi knew what she needed to do. She came in and hugged him as tightly as she could. She turned his face to look at her and said "You have already made me happy. You are doing the best you can and that is all that matters. So you have the burdens of the past. It doesn't matter. I see you are trying to improve for the better and that is all that is needed from you. No matter who may stand against you, even it includes the rest of the world, I will always stand by your side. Remember that."

The flashback changed where Knuckles watched Maddi get T-Boned from the Dodge Charger and he shouted out her name in heartbreak.

The flashback returned to the present and Knuckles was still in the same position. He had tears flowing down his eyes, but also his irises lit up red and there was lightning shooting all over the place in his eyes. He also had an angry look on his face and clenched his teeth in anger. He would deal with these government officials and then destroy his two primary foes for good. He would completely dismantle them and wipe them off the face of the Earth, never to be seen or heard from ever again.

Twilight saw the look on his face and instead of being scared or hiding in fear, she hugged him tightly hoping that would do something. It definitely did something. Knuckles' face returned to a neutral expression and the fire inside his eyes died. The tears stopped flowing and his irises returned to their normal purple color. After a little while, Twilight pulled back and looked at Knuckles in the eyes. He gave a small grin and said "Thank you. I needed that."

Twilight smiled and said "Anything for my supernatural human husband. I know you are reserved about a lot of things, and you have a good reason to, but know that I am always here if you need something and even if the whole world stands against you, I will still remain by your side. Remember that."

Knuckles had heard the words from Maddi echo through his head and this time with a smile, he said "I will."

The truck continued to drive down the highway and after a little while, it ended up in the nation's capital. All the ponies flocked over the windows to see the capital of the United States of America. They were amazed at seeing how different America's capital was from their own capital back in Equestria.

Rainbow asked "So Knuckles, has this place always been the capital?"

Knuckles said "No, it has not."

All of them were shocked to hear that and asked for an explanation.

Knuckles said "The United States has had nine cities serve as its capital throughout our 243 year history. Before it became what it is today, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Lancaster Pennsylvania, York Pennsylvania, Princeton New Jersey, Trenton New Jersey, New York City New York, Annapolis Maryland, and *sighs* my hometown of Baltimore Maryland, have all served as the U.S. capital throughout different points in our history. Now it is Washington D.C. that serves as the capital."

Twilight said "As far as I can remember, Canterlot has served as the only capital of Equestria, even when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had their castle in the Everfree Forest."

Knuckles gave a satisfied grunt and said "I am glad that the pony race could at least make up their minds about what they wanted it to be as their capital city. I cannot say the same for the human race in America. Those prideful men from so long ago kept changing it because of "political tensions" between the different regions. It was no more than a simple childish argument fought amongst school children on the playground. Because of that, Washington D.C. served as that compromise for the ridiculous divide we had between the Northern and Southern states that would eventually send us to the Civil War almost a century later."

He looked to his left and saw Maddi standing there. She only nodded and smiled before fading away. It must have been a shadow of her, he thought in his mind. Things would continue to only get stranger for him.

Elsewhere, the Pony of Shadows and Pitch Black were wondering around Washington D.C. high in the sky looking whom they may disturb. They both knew that something could stir up trouble here in this city and from the looks of it, it was not hard to do. This area was infamous for carjackings and other car related thefts.

The Pony of Shadows said "What is so special about this city? I know our foes came here, but what makes it so special?"

Pitch grinned darkly and said "This is the capital city of where Knuckles used to call home. While he did live 42 miles to the northeast, the crime here is very similar to how it was back in his hometown. This is supposedly the most powerful city on this Earth and with that, it is easy to cause chaos because everything is protected. But we must stick to the plan. Since him and the rest of his pathetic group are considered outlaws right now, we have to do something that will get their attention as a trap and tarnish their reputation even further beyond repair."

The Pony of Shadows said "How exactly do we do that? This city looks so peaceful right now."

Pitch said "We don't wait for the people to do something stupid, we find an opportunity of someone being peaceful and then striking on the opportunity."

The Pony of Shadows asked "How do we know and where can we find this?"

Pitch said "Patience, my dear friend. Come, let's go see what we can find."

The two of them started scanning the city for anything that could be an opening for trouble. After a little while, they came across the Washington Monument. They looked and saw a school group going inside for what they presumed was a tour of the historic monument. Pitch saw a piece of alien technology lying on the ground and just gave an evil grin. This was their opportunity.

The Pony of Shadows saw this and said "What are you grinning about?"

Pitch turned to face him and said "This, my friend, is our opportunity."

The Pony of Shadows said "What? Terrorizing school children? I know that is your speciality and all, but come on. You have to do better than that."

Pitch shook his head and said "No, no, no! Pay attention! There is a school group of young children down there, but look! There is a piece of alien technology! We can use that to our advantage."

The Pony of Shadows said "Okay, I like where this is going, but how exactly can we use this to our advantage?"

Pitch said "All we have to do is sneak that piece of alien technology into one of those backpacks and then attach a smoke grenade to it. This will cause enough of a disruption to create some sort of explosion and will draw the attention of our foes. Once their attention is drawn, then it will be time to play some mind games and after that is over, the authorities will be here to lock them away forever."

The Pony of Shadows asked "So where exactly do I come in?"

Pitch said "After the device explodes, you will use your dark power to destroy the supports that keep the elevator from falling when it stops working."

The Pony of Shadows grinned and let out an evil laugh. He said "Well then, let us begin."

Everyone was busy talking to one another like they had nothing else to do. All of a sudden, Knuckles felt his Spidey Sense tingle and he knew something was off. He looked outside the window and saw a small explosion at the top of the Washington Monument. He knew that whoever was behind this, he would make them pay dearly for it. No one gets away with that kind of behavior.

Twilight noticed his change in his behavior and said "Wait, where are you going?"

Knuckles looked at his wife and said "I am going to save the innocent and put an end to this reckless destruction!" Before Twilight could say anything else, he teleported out and sprinted as fast as he could. He had the red trail behind him as he ran.

He couldn't believe his eyes and a young girl who looked a lot like MJ from Spider-Man: Homecoming said to him with concern "My friends are trapped up there!"

Knuckles put away his own worries and said "Do not worry ma'am. I will get your friends down to safety."

He ran up to the monument and saw how high it truly was. He said "Oh my. This is high." He ultimately didn't care though and he raced up the monument. He used his spider webs to get up to the top and after about a minute, he made it. He reared his fist and attempted to break the glass to get inside the monument, but the glass made only a small dent in it. Knuckles tried punching some more, but it barely made any progress. Finally, he remembered that this was forged ballistic glass and it was made to withstand a lot stronger than him, so he would have to try something else.

He charged up his red lightning and punched the glass with his supercharged fist. That did a lot more damage and just when he thought he would be able to get in, he was halted. As a result of this incident, someone called it in and the authorities responded. Next thing he knew, Metropolitan Police Department helicopters were flying all across the Monument and went to get a closer look at the individual standing there. They recognized him as Knuckles and they knew he had to be apprehended since he was the most wanted man in America right now.

One of the officers on the helicopter yelled "This is DC Metro Police! Identify Yourself!"

Knuckles said with urgency "There are people trapped inside the elevator! I must save them! Please stop!"

The officer didn't care and said "Return to the ground immediately!"

Knuckles looked inside and saw the elevator was collapsing at an even quicker pace because of all the movement. He knew it was about to fall down to the bottom of the structure and he had to get in quickly.

The officer doubled down and said "Stand down! Return to the ground immediately! We have a warrant for your arrest!"

Knuckles looked back and growled. Someone must have seen him and let the authorities know. He didn't have time for this and he climbed further up the monument.

The officer tripled down and "Return to the ground immediately or we will open fire!" Knuckles didn't care and continued to climb up.

One of the other officers said to go up and the helicopter followed Knuckles further up the monument.

The officer said with a final warning "This is your last chance!"

Knuckles sighed and compilated if he should do this next move of his. After a few moments, he came to a decision. He knew what to do. He said "Oh, I am going to die." He leapt up into the air, over the head of the helicopter, used a spiderweb to latch to the bottom handle, launched himself towards the windows, supercharged his whole body with red lightning and broke the forged ballistic glass with his supercharged legs. He made it towards the elevator and just as it was falling, he shot down a spiderweb to stop it from falling.

He got it to stop and he initially felt proud of himself, but then the sheer weight of the elevator broke the doors and sent him down with the falling elevator. He fell on the floor of the car and as the people were screaming, he shot up another web to the ceiling to finally get it to stop. He ended up on top of the inside of the car and pushed it up. He looked at them and said casually "Hey, how are you all doing? Do not worry about it. I got you."

One of the guys was excited to be saved, but Knuckles glared at him and said "Hey, big guy! Quit moving around so much!"

The guy had a look of remorse on his face and said "So sorry sir."

More DC police cars followed by fire trucks and ambulances showed up to the scene to try and sort out the mess. However, they weren't the only ones. There were dozens of FBI vehicles that showed up and went to look for the fugitives that had escaped from detainment.

Inside, Twilight, Starlight, Starswirl, and Sunburst all came to the edge of the elevator and launched several magical strands to try help Knuckles pull up the elevator. They struggled a little bit, but they were able to pull it up. Elsa and Jack used their ice and frost abilities to freeze the elevator in place. Rainbow, Flash, and Somnambula flew down to get everyone out of the elevator. Under normal circumstances, the humans would have questioned it, but since they were just saved from immediate death, they were grateful.

The Pony of Shadows saw what was happening and growled in anger. He used more silent explosives to destroy the ice that held up the elevator. There was one girl left to save in the elevator and just before she could be brought to safety, the elevator fell down towards the bottom of the monument. She screamed in terror and the rest of her group shouted in worry. Knuckles cut the web using his pocket knife and raced down to catch the young girl. He shot out another web to grab her and then threw her up Thor style from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Rainbow caught the girl and brought her to safety with the rest of her group.

Knuckles was about to hit the ground and had to think fast in order to not suffer a bad fall. He pulled out one of his rings and threw it down below him. He fell through the ring portal and landed where everyone else was at the top of the monument. He groaned a little bit in pain. He may be immortal now since he married Princess Twilight Sparkle, but that doesn't mean he won't ever feel pain. That will be with him for the rest of his natural life.

Speaking of which, Twilight had rushed over to him and asked "Caleb, are you alright?!"

Knuckles grunted in pain slightly and got up. He looked at her and said "I am fine. Do not worry about me."

Twilight's face then turned into one of anger and said "What were you thinking?! Were you trying to get yourself killed out there?! You're lucky you aren't dead yet!"

Knuckles gave her a disdainful look and said "There have been many situations in my life that you could not possibly hope to understand and yet you have the audacity to tell me I might die?! Hmph. I have dealt with the worst of the human race for 35 years and this is what my life has come to? How pathetic. I am grateful I did not die, but at the same time, it could have been possible if it meant getting those people to safety. I will not have you disrespect me like that. It was dangerous, but I have faced so much worse and you of all ponies know that. So do not even think about saying something so stupid like that again."

Spike said "Uh guys, I know you are saying is serious, but we got more serious problems down below."

Knuckles looked outside and saw a whole bunch of FBI agents down below in formation with the SWAT team ready to go in case something went wrong. Knuckles growled with anger and "I am sick and tired of those d[BLEEP]n agents following us everywhere we go. It is time I finally take them out."

Starswirl jumped in and said "Wait, you shouldn't do this alone! We should all be doing this together."

Knuckles snarled with anger and said "I am not asking you, wizard. I am telling you. I do not want your help. I do not need your help. I can handle this myself. This is my problem and I intend to put an end to this rebellion. Do not push me any further."

Twilight had enough and said "Absolutely not, Caleb! We are a team and we do things together. You will not go by yourself to play the hero. *extends wings* As the Princess of Friendship, I am commanding you to be a team player and work together as one."

Knuckles snorted and said "Are we really a team or is this just a chemical mixture that makes chaos? I do not remember having to answer to anyone. I am trying to complete the mission by any means necessary. They are after me the most because I am the one with supernatural abilities that puts everyone in danger potentially. So do not try to stop me."

Twilight narrowed her eyes and said "That was not a request, that is an order. Stand down now or face the consequences." She lit up her horn as a warning to Knuckles that she was not messing around.

Knuckles glared at her and charged up his fists with red lightning. He gritted his teeth and his irises turned red. The two were in a standoff for several seconds. Who did she think she was by telling him to stand down? Most of the creatures in this room had supernatural abilities, but he was the only one who could knock everyone out in a split second, yet his own wife would dare to challenge him? The most powerful creature in the universe? Although, she did have a point. Law enforcement was after them too, so he should know better than to play hero ball.

Knuckles took a deep breath and backed off. He sighed and said "Fine, I back down. But if law enforcement tries to mess with any of you, they will get it. They will suffer my wrath and I will make them pay. Heed that warning."

Twilight said "Good, now how we deal with these federal agents?"

Knuckles looked down and smiled devilishly. He said "I have an idea." He told everyone his plan and they went to execute it.

The school group was successfully brought down and they were brought to safety from the first responders.

A man by the name of Donald Washington looked up at the Washington Monument and sighed. He hadn't been in this government position that long and already, there was a group of extraterrestrial creatures causing chaos in this great nation. He had hoped to reason with these individuals, especially their leader. He looked like he was an American citizen, but all of them failed to see reason, then he would have no choice to allow ICE to deport these creatures and imprison Knuckles for harboring illegals.

Pinkie started tapping federal agents to get them to chase her and that is exactly what happened. They chased after her and they fell right into her trap. They got ambushed by the Guardians and Frozen characters. They took care of business and one by one, they took out different groups of the agents. There was only one group left and while it looked like they had the upper hand against our heroes, Knuckles came in at the last second, and took them out.

You thought that would have been the end of it, but you would be wrong on that front. The calvary came and tazed everyone except Knuckles. Washington turned around to face Knuckles and said "Well, it looks like I get to finally meet you face to face."

Knuckles raised a brow and asked "Why does that surprise you?"

Washington said "Well obviously, you were a former Pentagon employee and during that time, I was serving as United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. I made frequent trips to the Pentagon and people were talking about you then."

Knuckles was surprised by that and said "Well, that was something I was not expecting. But we are wasting time here. Why are you and the rest of your agents getting in my way?"

Washington was taken aback by that statement and said "Getting in your way? I think you are getting in the way of mine. I wouldn't have had to come here, but was forced to because of your little situation. Now, I am a reasonable man and we can work this out, but if you continue to resist, it will be much worse for you and your.... ummm.... friends."

Knuckles narrowed his eyes and said "It was all just a misunderstanding and it was blown way out of proportion. I understand this is serious and it looks bad in terms of PR, but I can assure you it is not what it may seem. So I please ask to let me and the group of mine go so we may take down a threat before it destroys the entire universe."

Washington wasn't going to agree to that and said "I'm sorry sir, but I cannot in good faith agree to that."

Knuckles didn't like that answer and asked "Why not?"

Washington said "I'm not saying you are guilty, but we don't know for sure until you've been put up on trial. The beauty of America is innocent until guilty, but you can't have that if you are let off the hook with no consequences. While it might not seem that bad, you and your group assaulted people which is a serious crime and the federal government has serious inquiries about your little group over there. There is no record of them in any of their databases and these are creatures that have never been seen before. The American people are scared and they are relying on their government to remove them from the homeland."

Knuckles said in a more aggressive tone "These "things" that you are describing are very sentient and are just as real as you and me. To say that they are dangerous domestic terrorists that overran the United States during the Obama years is both insulting and disrespectful to me. These creatures are not domestic terrorists. If they were, I would have had them locked away ages ago, but they are not. So I will ask one more time, let them and me go or else you will be getting in the way of my mission and you do not want that."

Washington sighed and said "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. It is my job as appointed by President Trump to protect the American people from threats foreign and domestic and enforce our nation's laws. We have sovereign borders and when you enter them unlawfully, you will pay the consequences. So, you must now be apprehended." He whistled for the authorities to arrest him and Knuckles didn't like that.

He resisted and said "Get your mitts off of me. I will not be locked away like a common criminal. You will have to call the National Guard before I let that happen." As he resisted more, law enforcement got more aggressive. They tackled him to the ground and tried to apprehend him. Before they could fully though, they became frozen solid. Knuckles pushed them out of the way and saw that Elsa had done it.

Knuckles simply gave a thumbs up and began fighting off any law enforcement officers that came his way. The rest of the group got up and started doing the same thing Knuckles did. They had to fight for their lives because these law enforcement officers probably wanted to send them off to a lab for experimentation and lock up Knuckles in a maximum security federal prison for harbouring illegal migrants in the United States. They were not going to let that happen.

Washington looked at the situation and it was just making him more frustrated. Clearly, all of his team members were getting their butts kicked by a supernatural human being and a bunch of cartoon universe characters like it was nothing. There was only thing left to do. He pulled out his radio and said "Get the National Guard down here. I have an out of control situation here and I need to cease it immediately. We need to throw tear gas in there in order to get them to stop."

Meanwhile, Pitch and the Pony of Shadows were watching the fight go down and it made them smile. Everything is going exactly to plan so far. Now, it looks like the National Guard will be called in to put away our heroes for good so they may never see the public square ever again. It was so easy to make mankind fearful of what they couldn't control and they were certainly accomplishing that. It was only a matter of time before the humans were ruled over with an iron fist by the two of them. The time would come soon.

Back to the fighting sequence, Knuckles kept fighting like his life depended on it. If he didn't, the group he was leading was going to get send to a lab for experimentation and he would be locked away in federal prison for harbouring "illegal migrants," even though they did not "illegally" cross the border in Mexico. They were simply teleported here because of Pitch's newfound teleportation powers.

He curled up into a ball and knocked down all of the LEOs like they were bowling pins. He stood back up and noticed that the group around him was starting to lose. Not on his watch. He supercharged his red lightning and he was ready to fire. He said "Everyone, GET DOWN NOW!" Everyone in the group noticed how Knuckles looked and could easily take a hint. He simply took a deep breath and exhaled. He growled and said "LIGHTNING BLAST!"

Knuckles launched his lightning across the area and knocked down any remaining law enforcement that was around. Washington was just barely able to avoid it, but this was a whole new development for him. He had heard that Knuckles was not your typical human being, but this kind of power was cataclysmic. It was revolutionary. Something that he had never seen before. It was clear to him that Knuckles was far more dangerous than he initially anticipated. He not only needed to be taken to a lab, but even possibly sealed away in stasis permanently.

Knuckles thought he had this in the bag for a second, but he then heard helicopter noises. He turned around and saw helicopters and soldiers moving in. He knew this was the National Guard. He turned to Washington and growled at him. He must have called the National Guard on him and the group because of how much of a disruptor they were. He couldn't control him and as a result, he had to call in the calvary.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes at Washington and said "I cannot believe you! You dare call the National Guard on me?! Why? Because you know you cannot control me?! No one controls me! I am who I am. You are afraid because of what might happen if I turned my back on the human race. Despite their stupidity, I always try to defend them to the best of my ability because I am not a heartless creature with no morals. I do not look for fights, but I will defend what is mine even if it means going against my own nation for it. So go ahead. Try and stop me. You will not succeed."

Washington said "You have left me no choice. This situation got out of hand and I had to call in the National Guard to bring the violence to an end."

Knuckles said "The situation only got out of hand because YOU and every other federal agency decided to blow this completely out of proportion and arrest everyone involved. If anything, this is your fault and for that, you will PAY!" Knuckles smashed his fists on the ground and pushed back Washington out of his way. He looked to everyone and said "Let's get out of here!"

Twilight said "Where are we going to go?"

Knuckles kicked an FBI agent off the motorcycle and grabbed the gun laying on the ground. He put on his cowboy hat and started it up. He turned around and said "I have a date at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now MOVE OUT!" He turned to Washington and said "Do not try to follow me." He sped off on the motorcycle and the rest of the group followed closely behind him.

Washington got up off the ground and growled. He had enough and said "I want every kind of law enforcement agency in America on every street corner in the city! If you see them, ARREST THEM AND THROW THEM BEHIND BARS! NOW GO!" None of them would get away from him this time.

The group was weaving in and out of traffic as they tried to race away from all of the law enforcement on their trail. As they got closer, our heroes increased their speed. It felt nostalgic for Starswirl. He hadn't run this fast since he went off to face none other than the Pony of Shadows after he wrote the prophecy that Knuckles was meant to fulfill thousands of years ago.

As they were going, several of our heroes were shooting out magic and ice in order to prevent themselves from being captured. Eventually, they ran out of road and the Metro Police had spike strips ready to go in order to stop our heroes from getting away. Knuckles saw this and jumped off the bike right before he hit the strips. The bike hit the strips and the tires were blown off. He landed on his feet and blew all of the Metro Police officers there away from him with his lightning attack.

He was ready to fight more of them when a small explosion went off. He suddenly couldn't move and neither could the rest of the group. It turns out, the National Guard got within range of them and threw in tear gas to completely stop them. They threw in as much tear gas as they could so they could get this situation under control and apprehend them. Because of that, it made it easy to get most of our heroins. But Knuckles on the other hand, he was determined to win. He was not going to lose.

Immediately, he tried getting up so he could get back out there to fight, but multiple big body Metro Police officers, FBI agents, and DHS agents tackled him to the ground and restrained him as much as they could. He tried to teleport out, but the officers and agents slammed his hands into the ground so he could not get away. Knuckles howled in pain and elbowed the guy who did that to him.

Washington eventually pulled up in the Chevrolet Suburban and stepped out. Knuckles saw him and growled at him. Washington said "So we meet again. I tried giving you a chance, but you defiantly chose to run away like a fool and now, you made it so much worse than it needed to be. I must commend you though, you are a lot stronger than I originally thought you were. So much so, you have become a flight risk for American society. You are going away for a very long time and your little friends will be deported back to their home countries."

Knuckles snarled at him and said "You dare try to lock me away?! Do you know who you are messing with?! You might lock me away for now, but I will come back with vengeance. You will not imprison me the same way GUN imprisoned Shadow the Hedgehog for 50 years on Prison Island! I will NOT let you experiment with me or the group behind me at all! There will be serious consequences for double crossing me like this!" He yelled out his battle cry and slammed his hands against the ground. Some sharp crystals popped up and ripped off his tie.

This made Washington very angry and said "ENOUGH! I am sick and tired of your rebellious behavior! Now you have done it! * turns to the law enforcement officers* GET THEM ALL OUT OF HERE! GET THE SENATOR ON THE PHONE AND TELL HIM TO ISSUE A SUBPOENA FOR THESE TERRORISTS!"

The LEOs and federal agents threw all our heroins in giant SWAT vans and drove straight away to the FBI building. Washington sighed and huffed in anger as he watched all of the SUVs and vans drive away from the outside of the White House lawn. All of them were such a headache, but none more so than Knuckles. Being a flight risk to American society was considered a serious understatement. He was considered dangerous. It wouldn't even be enough to lock him away in solitary confinement in a maximum security federal prison. Clearly, he must be put to death because if left wondering free, he could cause the destruction of the whole planet in a matter of minutes.

He'll have to speak to the President about this matter, but one thing was for certain, they could not be roaming free. Especially Knuckles. He was far too great of a danger to be walking as a free man. He spoke of this Shadow the Hedgehog being imprisoned by GUN, but he had so many questions. Who was GUN? What does GUN stand for? Why would they imprison a Hedgehog? He would have to do research on the topic so he could properly understand the context of what Knuckles was saying.

No matter what happened though, all of them had to be dealt with. Whether that was life in prison, deportation, the death penalty, it didn't matter to him. The President gave him a mandate as the U.S. Marshal and he was going to follow through on that mandate whether our heroes liked it or not. They may be a tough group to take down, but not entirely impossible. Now, he had to clean up the mess that this group left behind and now deal with the pain of the media.

He'll have to put out some good looking PR statements so the media won't totally lambast him for letting such "dangerous criminals" run wild and tear up the streets of D.C. like it was nothing. That was going to be a challenge within itself, but the people were probably more likely to be angrier at the offenders rather than him. He could only hope though. He looked at his watch and hopped in the Suburban.

The gentleman in the driver's seat asked him "Where would you like to go, sir?"

Washington looked at him and said "Set course for the U.S. Capitol Building. I have an important two o'clock meeting with the Senator and I'll have to update him on this situation."

The driver nodded and drove away towards the Capitol Building. Life with this job was definitely hard, but if it meant protecting American citizens from undocumented foreigners and dangerous domestic terrorists, then so be it. He was sure they would be brought to swift justice. He was positive it would happen.

Author's Note

AN: Hey y'all. I know it's been so flipping long and you guys probably thought it was dead. Well, it's not. If I am being honest though, this took way longer than it should have and I apologize for that. Life has only gotten more stressful and I will do this whenever I can, but it will not be going anywhere. I know this chapter is not my best work and I'm not super proud of it either, but I had to finish it. I promise it will get better though. I am open to any suggestions you guys might have on how to make this story better. I'm in dire need of them. This writer's block has not been kind to me. So, leave your suggestions down in the comments section and I look forward to reading them. One more thing is this chapter is being broken up a little bit because it got way too long, so the action in D.C. will continue in the next chapter. Toodles!

Next Chapter: The chaos continues! After the group causes an even bigger mess than where they were at before, they were subpoenaed to Congress before the Senate Homeland Security Committee and get intensely grilled with questions. Meanwhile, Pitch and the Pony of Shadows begin the next phase of their plan to conquer the multiverse as they watch their enemies get held up with the United States government. Will our heroes be able to explain themselves out of this mess or will the Senators determine they must be taken out of the country?

Until then, my fellow readers