Star was stunned for being in the presence of the Lord of Order. He never before had been in his presence... at least as he remembers. He simply had no words.
"I knew it would be a matter of time for you try to break the seal, so I asked Golden Paladin to put a security measure that'd let me to know if it would go loose enough for you to get eight tails" the Lord of Order explained to Star. "But, to tell you the truth, I was hoping it didn't get that far."
And then he looked at Nine-Tails, saying:
“But it seems I just have to thank you, because now we can see each other again… Nine-Tails. Tell me, how are you, my child?”
Nine-Tails growled at him and replied:
“How dare you to ask me a question like that when I am in this filthy cage? But if you really want to know, why don’t come closer… father? That way, I’ll reap you to shreads!”
“Well, if that’s the case, then I think I’ll remain here” the Lord of Order answered. “But I can sense a great hate for me, but I can’t see why. After all, it was you who made your own fate.”
“I am your creation!” Nine-Tails exclaimed. “You made me with your own hands! And yet you despised me and favored the others… Those ponies, and deer, and griffons… You let them treat us like common beasts! You let them enslave us and put us in prisons! First, you put me in Heartbeat, then you took away most of my powers and locked me in Tartarus and now I am inside of this little runt.”
“I always loved you and the others just like I love all the other things I created” the Lord of Order said. “And maybe you’re right about me not being a good father. But did you ever think that I did what I did, that I let Jinchuriki be created to give you and the other Tailed Beasts a lesson?”
“What do you mean with that?” Nine-Tails asked.
“Look around, Nine-Tails” the Lord of Order replied. “This is the result of all the decisions you made in the past, the result of embracing all that hate that you feel. If you want a new fate, try to make the right decisions. Remember my words to you and your siblings a long time ago and think about them.”
He then turned his back, saying:
“Now, if you excuse me, I have other things to worry about right now.”
“Don’t turn your back to me!” Nine-Tails exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, but I have nothing to say to you right now” the Lord of Order declared.
And he snapped his fingers and, when Star found himself, he and the Lord of Order were in an infinite space full of light, where there was no groud.
“I know that you may be surprised to see me, but I knew there would come a time we would meet each other” the Lord of Order said.
“Yeah, I guess so…” Star said, a little in shock with everything that was happening.
“You must have a lot of question in your head” the Lord of Order said. “We can use this time to answer them.”
“Well… Yes there is something that is bothering me” Star said. “Why? Why did you ordered for me to become a Jinchuriki?”
“Because you, beyond Heartbeat, are the only being capable of holding such amount of power as the Nine-Tails’” the Lord of Order answered.
“But why didn’t you used Heartbeat again, why sealing a Tailed Beast inside a baby?” Star asked. “Do you know what I had to endure because of that? I may have had a good life, but seeing how the light ponies, the ponies that lived in my kingdom, avoiding me… I had to be through for so much just to earn their trust. But then I had to deal with all those villains of your brother trying to capture me and now one of them just destroyed the Light Kingdom and made the ones I love to suffer. There must be a reason for all of that!”
There was a pause and then the Lord of Order replied:
“Indeed there is. I’m sorry for everything that you must had suffered, but the reason why I chose you over Heartbeat is because she can’t control Nine-Tails’ power. She’s very unstable and that makes her vulnerable to Nine-Tails. But you, Star… You have the potential to control it. That’s why I made Golden Paladin to seal half of Nine-Tails’ power in you.”
“Well, then I guess you were wrong” Star said. “Look at all the times I lost control. Look at all the times I hurt my loved ones. He made me do that and because I couldn’t control the power.”
“Don’t forget one thing, Star” the Lord of Order said. “This power is not yours. It’s Nine-Tails’. In order for you to completely control them, you must cooperate with him.”
“That’s impossible” Star said. “You heard what he said just now. Even you told that he embraced the hate. And he is not the one to have such feeling. I also hate him for everything he did to me.”
Another pause and the Lord of Order continued:
“I don’t believe it’s just like that. Sometimes, the impossible can become possible. I already saw it countless of times, just like when your mother defeated my brother and restored the Light Kingdom. I still have faith that one day Nine-Tails will see the light again. Or maybe that’s just an illusion. But there is one thing I am certain. If there is someone that can get to him… is you.”
“Me?” Star repeated. “Why?”
“Because of your gift” the Lord of Order said. “You already used it at least three times. On your first time, you saved Pandora from her own darkness. Then you helped Stronpaw to get control over One-Tail. And your love for Moonlight allowed her to find herself again. You can see the other’s inner self and get to know what they need. Why don’t you try to do that with Nine-Tails when you are ready? Believe when I say that inside all that hate, there’s a still a spark of love ready to be ignited.”
“Do you really think someone like him…”
“The General of Chaos already told you that light creates darkness” the Lord of Order replied.
“He’s right about that. In order to defend what you love, we fight and do things that we think we can’t even do. But when we lost that love, an emptiness is created, an emptiness that we always try to fill, being with more love or hate. My brother likes to take advantage of that and to be able to manipulate others, like Nine-Tails… or even the General of Chaos.”
“But he destroyed the Light Kingdom, he caused suffering just for the fun of it” Star said. “He knew I wasn’t in the Light Kingdom but even so he destroyed everything.”
“I know that you must hate him right now, but you must understand one thing” the Lord of Order said. “My brother is a master in manipulation and he is capable of turning even the most righteous in something unrecognizable. Like what he did to your great-grandfather Star Shield.”
“What do you mean with that?” Star asked. “My great-grandfather died as a hero, trying to protect Equestria from the Changelings.”
“That’s what it was believed until sometime ago, after that episode at the bridge where you transformed” the Lord o Order continued. “But Mirror Coat and Golden Paladin found out what really happened to him. That he was corrupted by my brother and turned into who he is today: Grogar.”
Hearing that, Stat become as shocked as he was before.
“You mean that Grogar is…”
“Your parents and uncle also know about this” the Lord of Order continued. “They kept it a secret to spare you, your sisters and your cousins. But I know you can handle the truth. And you must be sure of one thing, little prince. As much the light creates the darkness, it can only shine when surrounded by obscurity.”
“You really have confidence in me” Star observed. “Why? I mean, why do you trust me?”
“You’re the son of the holder of the original star seed” the Lord of Order replied. “You’re capable of things that you are not aware of, but I hope you’ll understand.”
After a pause the Lord of Order said:
“It’s time for me to go. But first, I’ll rebuild the seal. But this will be the last time.”
He waved his hand at the chains and they returned to the way they were, stopping the flowing of the black substance.
“Now it’s up to you” the Lord of Order said to Star. “Good luck, Prince Star Knight.”
And there was a blast of light that irradiated both.
At the real world, the General of Chaos was watching Star in his eight-tailed form getting out of his spell and said:
“He is actually digging himself out of the Planetary Devastation. What incredible power. I’ll have to increase its size and then…”
But, before he could finish, the eight-tailed form disappeared, leaving a great hole in the base of the Planetary Devastion.
“The Nine-Tails… disappeared?” the General asked.
It was then that, in the middle of the smoke, he saw Star, hovering, looking at him at his sage mode. Noticing the confident look in him, the General commented:
“His doubt has been erased. What happened. Does he already master it. Does he control the Nine-Tails?”
It was then that the satellite started to fall apart. Star used his agility to avoid the debris, but the transformation had disturbed his energy and made him lose the last clone he had in Animarium, so now he could only use the natural energy inside of him.
He landed and, after seeing the General staring him back, the latter created a dark blade different from the others and threw it to Star, hitting him in the torso.
“From this distance, I may be able to control completely all your moves with my magic” the General of Chaos said. “But don’t worry. I avoided your vital spots, because your valued to me, Jinchuriki.”
Hearing the General talking about him like that, Star’s rage reached a new level and, without noticing, channeled a little of Nine-Tails’ energy that made his pupils become a combination of his sage mode and when he is under the influence of the Tailed Beast. That look was like seeing to the eyes of the Nine-Tailed Fox himself and the General of Chaos was confronted momentarily with him, where he was overwhelmed by his immense power. Star then used his own strength to remove the blade, making it disappear, and prepared to attack him badly, as it was what his instinct was telling him to do.
But then he remembered what the Lord of Chaos said and that made Star calm down, taking control and making the Nine-Tails’ energy dissipate, what made the slit pupil disappear. Now that he could see clearly, he looked around and saw the added devastation. It was him who did that? After that, all his thoughts went to Moonlight, wondering if he had harmed her and the others. But it was then that he could feel it… She was still alive and relief came to his heart.
Moonlight was laying on the ground, with her eyes slightly open. Even in her state, she could only think about Star.
Arriving there in a jump, Tough Skin landed with Gleaming Shield on his back and she get down and approached Moonlight, observing her injuries.
“Her injuries don’t appear to be lethal, but I need to treat her immediately.”
Putting her belly up, Gleaming Shield started to heal Moonlight.
After the relief, Star focused on the General of Chaos, who recovered from being overwhelmed by Nine-Tails and said:
“The time has come for us to end us. And since you don’t want to come quietly, I don’t have any choice but attacking as if I meant to kill.”
“Enough of this” Star said. “You already caused too much damage. Why don’t we end this now? Go away.”
“Do you really thing I’m going to do that?” the General of Chaos, starting to advance on his direction. “You’re in sage mode now. I believe you’re now limited in using two of those stars of wind of yours, isn’t that so?” And that causes you sage mode to run out.”
“I guess I don’t have any choice but fight you” Star said.
“If your starts don’t hit me, the only possible outcome is that you shall lose” the General continued. “You have no more chances. I’ll take you almost to the point of death and then hold you off.”
“That’s what we’re going to see” Star replied, preparing to defend himself from him.
The General made the first blow that Star easily dodged and then threw his adversary against the debris, making him fell. He proceeded to get up and said:
“Your bastard!”
Star then created two clones and, together, they created a Spiraling Star.
“Smoke” the original said.
“Right” the clones replied.
And they used haze nature to create a smokescreen. Seeing that, the General got ready for the first Spiraling Star. He saw it coming and used his power to repel it, but then saw that Star had already thrown. In the middle of smoke, Star observed, while the sage mode ran off, how his attack would work, knowing that the General couldn’t use his repulsive spell for five seconds.
When it seemed he would do it, two clones of Star appeared beside the General to hold him, what forced him to stab both with two light blades. After that, with a flap of wings, the General took flight to avoid the Spiraling Star. He still had a few seconds to have his power back, but he knew he had failed both shots.
He landed on a bunch of rocks, but then them glowed.
“What is this?!” exclaimed the General, while seeing the rocks turning into clones of Star.
“We only have two seconds” one of clones said to the others. “Go!”
The General couldn’t believe Star had put there those clones disguised as rocks. He took off to gain more time and, at the last second before being attacked by the clones, he got his powers back and repulsed the clones. The original, who was attacking with the clones, was pushed hard, so more clones appeared and started to hold him.
“He’s using clones as back-up?!” the General asked, without believing.
The General enhance the power of the repulsive spell, but Star and his clones continued to hold it.
“Just give up!” the General exclaimed.
Star hold it until he stopped, with only two clones remaining holding him, while the others started disappearing.
“He stopped that…” the General said. “It can’t be…”
With both sides panting, they stared each other, but the General of Chaos had used to much energy in that attack that he couldn’t move. Star, in the other hand, prepared a Spiraling Sphere with one of the two clones and then the other threw with the speed necessary to attack him before the five seconds and hit him hard.
At the place where Gleaming was healing Moonlight, the others were gather around. Thunder Night was at the edge of his daughter.
“Why would she doing something like that?” he asked. “I told her to not take unnecessary risks.”
“To save… the colt she knows” Shining Armor said. “All of us above everyone should understand what she did, Thunder Night. What she did was of a great bravery and nobility.”
“Yes, I know…” he said, trying to control himself. “And probably none us would had be able to stop her.”
At that moment, Gleaming felt something. She couldn’t feel the same dark energy released by Star’s transformation.
“What is it, Gleaming?” Shining asked.
“Is it something about Moonlight?” Thunder Night asked.
She didn’t answer right away, as she enhanced her vision to see what was going on and saw something that left her amazed.
“Star…” she said. “He was able to surpass Nine-Tails all of his own…”
The force of the Spiraling Sphere threw the General of Chaos hard against the debris of his Planetary Devastation, while Star, too tired to open his wings, fell on the ground. He then rose up and approached the place where the General was. He was there at the place where he ended up, panting.
“You can’t defeat me…” he said to Star.
“But I can prevent you from doing this ever again” Star replied.
And then he summoned what appear to be… Pandora’s box.
Gleaming Shield was able to heal Moonlight enough and she started to open her eyes, regaining consciousness.
“Moonlight, my daughter!” Thunder Night exclaimed, happy to see her fine.
She looked around and said:
“You’re all here.”
“Thank the Lord of Order you’re okay” Gleaming Shield said.
“Yeah, ya gave us a great scare” Jonagold said.
She started to get up, with a little help from her father and then said:
“Thanks, guys. All of you. Especially you, Gleaming Shield.”
“I’m so relieved that you’re okay” Gleaming Shield said.
“What about Star?” Moonlight asked. “Where is he?”
“You don’t have to worry” Shining said. “My nephew defeated the General. I doubt he would be able to attack again. Gleaming Shield saw it right now.”
“Really?!” Moonlight asked to Gleaming.
She nodded with the head and then Moonlight found herself starting to have tears on the eyes.
“What you going to do with that box, boy?” the General asked, with a little smile. “That box contains the Lord of Chaos’ darkness. That darkness will never hurt me.”
“Who said would use it to hurt you?” Star said. “Ever since Pandora was gone, I studied the powers of her box. And now I can use part of its abilities.”
And he summoned the key and inserted it in its lock. The box opened and Star used his magic on it which released dark tentacles that were directed to the General of Chaos, hitting him and absorbing some of his darkness and then retreating to the inside, what made de box to close and then disappear.
“No…” the General said, feeling what Star had just done. “What have you done?!”
“I put in the box part of your power, specifically your attraction and repulsive power” Star replied.
“Your little brat…” the General said, while getting up. “You’re gonna pay…”
But before he could do anything, an immense light involved the environment. Seeing that, the General of Chaos said:
"No! It cannot be... Not now!"
And the light became so strong that the General of Chaos screamed in agony and simply disappeared.
"What just happened?" asked Star, a little confused.
"The barrier is back to work" Golden Paladin’s voice said. "And that's because we're back."
Star turned and faced Golden Paladin, Blue and Heartbeat.
"Dad! All of you! I can't believe you're here!"
He approached and embraced his father who returned the hug and replied:
"Of course we are. The General of Chaos’ spell faded away and that allowed us to return."
"With our return, the defenses of the Light Kingdom returned to its full strength" Golden Paladin continued. "We're just in time to catch the General of Chaos."
"Well, technically, the General of Chaos had already been defeated by Star" Heartbeat said. "And I have to say that was pretty amazing."
"Yeah… But I just wished the Light Kingdom had not been destroyed" Star said, sadly.
"Don't say that, young prince" Golden Paladin said. "A kingdom is much more than just buildings. The cause its existence is the ponies that live there."
"And by the way, I think it's time we get back" Heartbeat said.
And they went to the place of the citadel and Star was stunned with what he found. All the inhabitants of the kingdom were there, as if waiting for him. The other Generals were there too and all the others too. Everypony was acclaiming and applauding him. It was something bigger than when he defeated the One-Tail.
"They were all waiting for you to come back" Blue said.
"But how..." Star began.
"Mirror Coat told everypony what happened" Golden Paladin said. "Just because we were expected, it did not mean that we couldn't see what was happening."
The foals, including his sisters and the others, came straight to him, doing then a lot of questions in an exciting ways like how was the enemy. He then saw Moonlight and smiled at her, happy to see her safe and well, and she smiled with tears on her eyes.
"It seems that Star got it" Tough Skin said to Leaf Mane, who was at his side.
"Yes, he has exceeded all our expectations by defeating the General of Chaos by his own merit" Leaf Mane agreed.
Twilight, supported by Shining, approached Star.
"Mom..." he said. " You..."
"Don't worry" Twilight said. "I'm perfectly fine, just tired. Nothing that a few days of rest won't fix. I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you, son" Twilight said. "You are now the hero of our kingdom."
"But the Citadel..." Star started.
"It's nothing that can't be rebuilt" Twilight replied. "Leaf Mane, Purple Smke..."
"You can leave it to us, princess" Leaf Mane said to her.
"Let's leave this place better than before" Purple Smoke said.
"Oh so you admit that the old architecture was not perfect" Melody said.
"Hey, in my defense, the citadel was over a thousand years" Purple Smoke replied. "I think we need a new style. Although I think a crater don't fit well in my vision."
"That's where I step in" Leaf Mane said.
And she accessed to her magic and then the ground started to shake and everypony saw it, flabbergasted, moving and levelling just like it was before. After this, Purple Smoke, by accessing his magic, hit the hooves on the ground and some buildings emerged in the central zone, where stood the castle, occupying the places where the old ones were, and roads appeared to connect everything with each other. In a way, the buildings were quite similar to the old ones, but it was obvious that they had a superior beauty.
Creating those buildings left Purple Smoke breathless and Melody commented:
"Wow, you got tired so quickly. I mean, when you created the castle, you didn't get so tired."
"Please, give me a break" the General of Talent answered, while recovering his breath. "That expelling spell weakened me a lot."
"Don't worry about it, Purple Smoke" Golden Paladin said. "No matter how long it takes, we will retrieve the Light Kingdom to how it was before. But for now, why don't we join the celebration?"
He pointed to Star, who had been taken up by a few light ponies who began to haul him in the air, while the others cheered. The others who were watching cheered as well, joining the acclamations of the one who was recognized as the great hero of the Light Kingdom.
In Discordia, in the Lord of Chaos’ throne room, one of his mirrors flashed and the General of Chaos appeared, still worn out of his fight against Star Knight.
"That little brat..." he said. “How does he dare do that to me?"
"I assume that things didn't work out as you planned" the Lord of Chaos’ voice said.
The General turned, finding his master sitting on his throne.
"Master…" the General said, kneeling before him. "I'm so sorry, I did not manage to capture the Nine-Tails for you."
"Don't worry about it" the Lord of Chaos said, going to appear next his General. "After all, I've always known that Prince Star Knight would be a Jinchuriki hard to defeat. But, beyond Nine-Tails, we still have to capture the Eight-Tails. Because of this, my big plan suffered a great setback."
"But I thought we had Eight-Tails" the General of Chaos said.
"It seems that the Jinchuriki of Eight-Tails is smarter than you" the Lord of Chaos replied. "He played Ulysses, making him think that he had captured him. But it doesn't matter. We have to focus on our goals. This time, we're going to open the game. No more walking through the quiet. And I want you, my General, to be responsible for everything."
"You can leave everything to me, my lord" the General replied, bowing before his master.