The Search for the Fiercest of the Guard

The next morning, Celestia's sun rose high in the sky to start a brand new day. Inside the Castle of Friendship, Twilight, Starlight, and Spike were cleaning up the day, all while the Royal Family of the Pridelands offered to help. Zazu however, had a growing feeling that something wasn't right. Kion hadn't come down for breakfast, and Zazu had never known the young prince to miss out on whipped creamed pancakes with sprinkles in the morning. Now that the majordomo thought about it, he hadn't heard a word out of Kion all last night.

Somewhat concerned, Zazu promptly headed upstairs to the young lion’s room.

"Kion?", he called, giving the door a few knocks with his beak. "It's time to get up."

There was no answer.

"Come on, young master, it’s time for you to wake up.", Zazu said as he took off, flew out of the castle and into an open window leading to the room, “The rest of the Royal Family’s—"

Zazu suddenly stopped in mid-sentence. Kion's room was empty; the Fiercest of the Pony Guard was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello? Young Master? Are you in here?"

Walking into the room, Zazu looked around for a moment before finally noticing that some of Kion’s belongings were gone. Had Kion gotten up early, and left for a morning patrol already? While it was by no means impossible, it was also very strange. Why would he leave without even letting his family know?

Puzzled, Zazu flew out and into the library where the others were going about, dusting shelves and organizing Twilight’s books.

Soon, Starlight began to speak, “You can’t keep blaming yourself, Twilight. Just blame yourself once and move on.”

“I do blame myself…” Twilight sadly sighed. “I made fun of my own friends just for a single laugh… It’s my fault that Kion’s locked up in his room…”

“But you may’ve done the right thing; Bunga’s pranks were totally out of control!" Kiara countered. "And if Pinkie didn't tell us about this cookie prank, the CMCs might've gotten the blame for it!" Simba and Nala nodded in agreement.

"Besides, if you do something bad, you face the consequences," Spike added, matter-of-factually.

"So if someone steals something from you, or makes fun of you, you have the right to do the same thing to them?" Starlight asked, pointedly. Spike opened his mouth to say something, but it seemed his conscience kept him from uttering a syllable as he contemplated Starlight’s words. As did the rest of the group.

"But... Bunga… he..." Simba began.

"It doesn't matter," said Starlight. "Even if Twilight wanted to teach him a lesson, she did it the wrong way. What sort of example is that to set for the next generation?"

"Starlight is right," Twilight said. "We said that a prank isn't good if you're the only pony laughing. Now look at us. I knew Bunga wouldn't like this prank, or think it was funny, but I didn't take the time to think about exactly how bad he or the others would feel either. And making somepony feel bad like this is never okay." She and the others hung their heads in shame as they realized their mistake, disappointed that they had stooped to Bunga’s or even Scar’s level if not done worse.

"Um, excuse me. Sorry if I’m interrupting or anything, but did either of you see Kion this morning?", Zazu finally asked the group.

"No, not that I know of.", answered Nala.

"We haven't seen him since last night, Zazu," Kiara replied.

Zazu shook his head, "I just went up to his room to wake him up, but he wasn't there..."

"He must've left early for a morning patrol, like my dad used to do, or something...", Simba shrugged.

"That's what I was thinking, but this isn’t like him to just get up and leave without even saying goodbye.", the hornbill said. “Well, I do suppose he must’ve gotten this from your father, sire, before you were born…”

As Zazu trailed off, both the lion queen and king suddenly had a terrible thought... If Kion hadn't been planning on going out on a morning patrol, then why would he take a few things with him? Unless...

"Oh no...", Nala breathed as the realization washed over her, "You don't think..."

Without another word, both parents ran right past Zazu, before sprinting upstairs. Upon reaching their son’s room, their worst fears were soon realized as they saw that Kion wasn't the only thing that was missing.

"Oh no! No! Kion!" Simba screamed.

"Daddy! What is it?!", Kiara asked as she, Twilight, Spike, Starlight, and Zazu appeared at the door.

"All of his favorite things are missing...", Nala cried, her eyes flooding with tears, "He-he's GONE!"

"He’s WHAT?!", Twilight gasped in shock.

Kiara stared at them in shock, "No..."

It was at that moment, that they all suddenly understood the full weight of the situation. Kion was gone, and it was their fault. They had driven their friend away.

Twilight couldn't believe it, and for only a few moments, she was too stunned to speak.

Nala and Kiara collapsed to the floor in tears of despair as Zazu tried to calm them down, and finally, even Simba, who had been trying to put on a brave face in front of his family until now, began to cry.

For a moment, Twilight had a grave look on her face, as she felt a combination of great concern for her friends, and feelings of guilt as they remembered how she’d hypnotized the rest of the Pony Guard, then mocked them the night before.

Starlight, however, though shocked, and worried, quickly forced her feelings of dread down. Panicking would only make things worse. They had to take action.

"All right, he can't have gone too far..." the unicorn said, "Zazu, you fly over the lands and see if anypony's seen him! Simba, you, Kiara, and Nala search every acre of Ponyville! And Twilight, you go and see if there's any sign of him in town!"

Everything flew past in a blur as Twilight raced downstairs and out of the castle without even waiting for her friends. Her mind raced as feelings of panic, guilt, and worry coursed through her.
Oh, if anything happens to you, Kion… I’ll never forgive myself.

In the middle of a nearby forest, Kion was resting underneath the shade of the trees.

He had walked for most of the previous night, trying to get as far as he could. However, it hadn't been as easy as he’d thought it would be in the dark, and he hadn't made very good time. Eventually, as dawn approached, he’d come to an area that looked like a good place to rest, and he decided to stop there for a while.

While he had slept, he didn't have to think about what had happened, or what he was going to do when he got to the mountains. But eventually, he knew that he couldn't rest forever and that he had to keep moving. At last, Kion got up, gathered his things, and moved on, heading further into the forest.

Suddenly, a cool breeze filled the air as the clouds began to part, allowing the sight of the head of a lion with a dark red mane, golden fur, and brown eyes to take form. Mufasa had arrived.

“Kion, where are you going? Your family’s looking all over for you," said Mufasa. Upon hearing this, Kion closed his eyes before growling much to the former king’s surprise. "Kion?"

"…I don't care… tell them all I'm done being a bother to them and they don't have to worry about me anymore. If I'm such a laughing stock like they see me then I'm better off on my own. I'm done with them and the Pony Guard," answered Kion, clearly trying to hide a tear dripping down his cheek.

Mufasa silently gasped as dozens of questions entered his head, but the first thing to do was to calm Kion down and get him to explain. "Kion, you can't quit. The team needs you. You need to return home and maybe we'll sort this out."

Kion shook his head. "Sorry, grandfather, but I made up my mind. I'm a lone lion now. I… I'm going to miss you and my friends. Thanks for guiding me through my life. But for now on, I’ll be guiding myself… alone."

Kion turned his head and headed off into the distance as his grandfather watched on, still in disbelief. Soon, his worried eyes turned into a stern glare as he disappeared into the clouds as if he knew exactly what was going on…

Twilight was just a mile away from Sweet Apple Acres, hoping that either Applejack or her family had seen Kion when a familiar lion appeared in the heavens above her. And judging by the look on his face, Mufasa did not look very happy.

“Hey, Mufasa,” Twilight muttered, trying to lighten up the situation. “Did you hear about what happened last night? Heh-heh. Pretty funny stuff happened back there. Pretty funny—"

"What did you do to Kion?!" bellowed Mufasa with a look of a thousand burning suns. Twilight gasped and gulped fearfully upon hearing the deceased king’s furious voice. "Answer me, Twilight. Now!"

"We… we were just annoyed that Bunga’s pranks were g-going o-o-overboard. A-a-and I may have…" Twilight shivered and felt her ears fatten as Mufasa’s glare got harsher and harsher. "… h-hypnotized my friends to teach him a lesson… and sort of… had everypony laugh at him and the rest of t-the Guard… among… other things."

Mufasa hissed under his breath and did his best to keep calm. Getting too angry right now would not solve anything. "Well, I hope you’re happy, Twilight. Because Kion decided to run away!"

"I know that!" shouted Twilight, still mortified by her actions. "But I… I didn't think he'd take that bad!"

"Well, would you like it if your own friends put you under a spell, then mocked you? Breaking your spirit?" asked Mufasa.

And what he had said next horrified the alicorn even more, “Kion was right, you can not and you will never be Celestia....you are becoming more like Scar. And what you have done that night caused one of your team to break apart, and in doing so, you have broken The Circle of Life.”

Twilight lowered her head in shame and began to cry. “I… oh what have I done… Kion…" She shook her head. "We have to get him back, Mufasa! He's part of our team!"

"And we're going to get him back. Gather every Pridelander and the entire town of Ponyville to the Castle of Friendship. They need to know of what they have done… I hope that you are prepared to face the consequences if that's the case.” Mufasa grimly told Twilight before his ethereal form disappeared into the clouds, leaving her all alone.

Twilight just sat there, praying that Kion was alright and they could fix their mistake. Oh, Kion. I'm so sorry. How could I have done those things?!