//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: My little pony: Soul of gold // by Zanaffer //------------------------------// Mu and Aioria, or rather "Stardust" and "Lightning Bolt" faced off against Starlight Glimmer now turned into the avatar of Envy who shot them a confident smile. "Fools, you will never defeat me, not only am I wearing this Soma but I am also wielding the "Staff of Plunder" one of the great magical tools forged by Cronos himself." "We have seen you use that staff many times already." Lightning Bolt said defiantly. "You wont be able to hit us with it any more." "Maybe not." Starlight said although she never lost her confident smile. "But i wonder about those who i already hit!." That said a pulse of magical energy emanated from the staff pouring a stream of dark energy witch filled the entire cane thet were in accompanied by a chime-like sound. Both Golden Saints were confused as they didn't know what she had done untill a terrified scream behind them rwminded them that they were not alone in this cave, turning in haste they identified the sourcr of the sceam to be Rarity who aling with her friends were baing once again surrounded by Starlight's followers, only this time the creepy smiles were replaced by vacant expressions and pitch black soulless eyes. Aioria quickly turned and launched himself in order to protect his charges but in doing so he had prezented his back to the enemy. "You're fighting with me!!." Starlight yelled as she shot anothe Plunder Beam at the retreating stallion who couldn't possibly evade the attack. "Crystal Wall!!" The Pluner Beam was stopped by a transparent forcefield courtesy of the saint of Aries. "Go! Ill take care of this." Aioria nodded and resumed his charge. "Such beautiful friendship.?" Starlight said in a warm and caring tone only for her face to morph into a hate filled scowl. "I can't stand it!!" She screamed as she shot another volley at Mu. The Mane Six were in deep trouble, they surrounded on all sides and Twilight was still weakened, Rainbow Dash and Applejack bucked any pony that got too close for comfort but slowly the "zomponies" closing in on them eager to give them the Ro'mare'o experience, just in the nick of time Aioria came crashing in sending several ponies flying. "Don't hurt them!!" Came Fluttershy's distressed cry. "Are you crazy?" Complained Rainbow Dash. "They're trying to hurt US!" "But it's not their fault! It's that mean Starlight's fault." Fluttershy argued. Aioria had reached an impasse, he needed to protect the mares but these ponies were indeed innocent, he needed to think of something fast otherwise he would be forced to use his power on the villagers. Back with Mu, he and Envy continued their game of cat and mouse with the staff beams, however Mu could no longer afford to stall so he telekinetically grabed some loose rocks and hurled them at Envy's face, she was not caught offguard however and blocked al the prijectiles by twirling the staff in front of her oblivious thet this was Mu's true intention, seizing the oportinity he charged a full power attack. "Stardust Revolution!!" Envy however responded in kind "Starlight Fall!!" Golden cosmic energy clashed with dark cosmic energy as both techniques collided makinf the entire cave tremble, once it was over Mu searched the distorted air in front of him searching for his opponent but found nothing, Envy was nowhere to be found, suddenly his sixth sense warned him of danger but he was a fraction of a se ond too late as a Plunder Bean struck him from above. With great effort Mu raised his head and saw Envy laughing triumphantly as she levitated directly above him. ""Yes! I have you, now be a good litle colt and give me your cutie mark, and your talent, AND EVERYTHING ELSE!!" Mu despaired as he felt his strength draining from his very essence, the blue hammer that had previously adorned his sides was now floating ethereally inches from his skin answering the call of the staff's wielder. "Such a beautiful cutie mark, i know exactly where imm going to put it, oh and dont you worry, soon imm going to round up all of your little friend's cutie marks and arrange them neatly close to one another so they don't feel lonely." Envy taunted Mu mercilessly as he felt the cols and darkness close in on his mind. "I wont allow it!" Roared a voice just behind Envy, she immediatelyturned to see the gloden armored earth pony closing i n on her. "Lightning Bolt!!" Aioria shot forward at lightning speed in direct collision course towards the levitating envy who graciously twirled in the air avoiding danger as a golden sreak of lightning overshot harmlessly right past her, turning her head with her most smug smile and condescending look Envy was preparing her victorious spech, yet she litterally choked on said speech when she saw exactly where the golden missile was heading, that is to say the cutie mark vault. Aioria crached directly in the center of he massive vault, his hoof buried in the crystal surface as his cosmic energies wreckec havoc on the enchantments trying vainly to keep it together, cracks raced across the mirror like surface and the entire cave began to shake as pressure continued to build up as the cautive cutie marks fought fot their freedom afainst their waning restraints, and then in one last push the entire vault burst forward in a cascade of light, cutie marks shot forward like dancing in the air leaving behind a contrail of magical energy as they seeked their rightfull place, one after another the cutie marks were reunited with their owners seemed to gain new life as soon as their marks touched home, gone were the creepy smiles and near identical looks, they all returned to be as they were meant to be. Up in the air, Starlight of Envy could only look impotently as all her life's work crumbled before her eyes. "How?" She all but whispered. It was of course Pinkie who answered her question. "Well first we were being bullied by those meanie black-eyed ponies when 'Boltie' came to rescue us and he was like 'grrr' but Fluttershy was like 'dont hurt them' and we were all like 'what do we do?' and then i said 'maybe if we give them presents the wont be so grumpy anymore' and then Rarity said 'Pinkie now's not the time for silly ideas' ut then Twiliht said 'Thats it! We need to give them back their cutie marks' and then she gave this looong spech about how we needed to open the vault to get back the cutie marks and that's when you got 'Dusty' with your evil fake smile beam and then 'Boltie' went "Fwoosh" and "Zapp" and "Kapow" and broke the vault and everypony got their cutie mark back." All this was said in one fell swoop with very believable impressions and not a songle pause to breathe. Starlight glared at Twilight, she had ruined everything, she had to pay. "At least ill take your cutie mark with me!" She prepared to launch another plunder bean at her and... nothing, no beam came out of the staff, dumbfounded Starlight looked at the staff witch wasn't her staff at all, she was now holding an ordinary tree branch in her telekinetic grasp. "Looking for this?" All eyes turned towards Mu who held the staff in his hooves, a simple replacement teleport while everypony was distracted had stripped Starlight of her preffered magic tool and main ,eans of attack, a golden clad hoof descended on the staff crushing it into pieces. "Noòoooo!!" Starlight cried, that was her last piece, now she had nothing, she had everything and it had all been taken away, again!!... anc it was all HER fauult, 8f she hadn't come. Starlight saw red, with a roar she launched herself at Twilight, she was no longer levitating but rather flinging herself at her prey hellbent on tearing her to pieces, however, blinded by her fury she had forgotten the real threat, Mu teleported right in front of Twilight his cosmo burning brightly as it rea hed it's peak, Starlight realized her mistake too late, she had no time to stop, she had no time to turn, she only had time to scream. "Starlight Extinction!!"