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