Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox

by Rakoon1

The War Begins

Now with the war starting, the place of the headquarter of the Alliance was now full of ponies, thestrals, deer, griffons and dragons (most of them teenagers), gathering while receiving the emblem of the Alliance and went to their respective place that was designed for them.

Shadow Claw and Thunder Night (who, like all the other thestrals, was using his cloak) just got the emblem.

“I have to say it” Thunder Night said, while he and Shadow Claw put the cloth with the emblem around their forelegs. “Your wife really did a very good job with these.”

“Well, she put all her effort to do it when she got the design for the emblem” Shadow Claw replied. “Of course she got help, but her overseeing just got them perfect. I think it is for the best if we go to our respective teams.”

Thunder Night agreed and then he moved away. Shadow Claw, by his turn, approached a group of ponies, deer and a dragon and told them:

“My name is Shadow Claw and I have been nominated captain of the Commando Unit.”

Not very far, Fluttershy was with her father who told her:

“I can’t believe you’re actually here, sweetie. This is no place for you. I know you have helped to save Equestria many times, but this is huge and in another level.”

“Daddy, don’t worry about me” Fluttershy said. “After all, I won’t be fighting. I’ll just assist the Medical Unit. With a war like this one, there will be a lot of injured that will need all the medical support needed.”

Raining Storm sighed and then said:

“Okay, but you have to promise me you won’t get in any trouble.”

“I can’t promise something like that” Fluttershy replied. “But you can promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Oh, sweaty, it’s like you don’t know your old dad” Raining Storm said. “I may be not as young as I used to be, but I still can give some punches. Well, I think I go to my unit. Bye, sweaty, be safe.”

After giving her a goodbye kiss, Raining Storm moved away. Fluttershy approached the Logistical Support and Medical Unit where she met with Cherry Blossom.

“Cherry!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “It’s so good to see a friend in my unit.”

“And I say the same to you” Cherry said. “Now that you’re here I can be far more relaxed.”

“So, if you’re here, does that mean that Big Mac stayed at home with Apple Flower?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well, no, he and Applejack wanted to help in the fight” Cherry replied. “Apple Flower stayed with Granny Smith and Apple Bloom. Jonagold is at the academy, like Moonlight I suppose. But what about Dark Cloud?”

“He is with Pinkie Pie” Fluttershy said. “She is making me and Thunder Night a huge favor.”

After their conversation, they went to meet their captain.

At another part, Silverweed, one of Shining and Blue’s royal guard academy buddies approached a light unicorn mare with an orange coat and a yellow and gold mane and asked:

“Excuse me, but are you Diamond Glow?”

“Yes, I am” she replied. “And you are…”

“My name is Silverweed and I am Blue Sword’s former academy colleague. I heard you’re the best student that Mirror Coat has regarding the telepathic spell. Although my specialty is the location spell, I have been learning to use mental spells and I was hoping that you could help me with that.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have a lot of time” Diamond Glow replied. “Since Mirror Coat is unavailable, I was nominated captain of the Intelligence Unit. I will be in charge of all communications.”

“That’s good, I hope to learn a lot” Silverweed said.

“I’m glad to heard that, but don’t forget our real mission here” Diamond Glow said, turning then to all the other member of the unit. “We are the Intelligence Unit and, as such, we’re going to oversee all the communications. The intel must be transmitted accurately and quickly if it is to be of any use. That means that, in order to do our job well, we must remain calm at all times, no matter what information we might hear. Understood?”

“Yes, mam” the others replied.

Others were gathered to form the Sensor Unit that would be the eyes of the Alliance during the war. They would be led by Boreal Blizzard, the same guard that accompanied Mystic Heart and Arcing Thunder to the summit of regents.

Meanwhile, all the others were grouped in other main units according to their respective fighting style. The First Unit was formed by soldiers capable of mid-rage fight, the Second Unit was formed by the ones capable of close-rage fight, the Third Unit was formed by intermedium-rage fighters to provide support to the close and mid-rage units, the Fourth Unit was formed by long-rage battlers and the Fifth Unit was formed by those with special skills, capable of giving support to all the other units, like the ones with great flying skills.

All these units and all the ones who formed them had been organized and overseen by the famous former captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, Captain White Light, who has been appointed Chief Battle Strategist by Celestia’s recommendation. Applejack and Big Mac, along with Quartz Blitz, were in the Second Unit, while Thunder Night was in the Third Unit and Rainbow Dash and the other Wonderbolts were at the Fifth Unit, along with King Godot, who had decided to participate in the battlefield.

It was then that they all heard a horn, meaning the respective units’ captains were about to be revealed. They all looked up to the great balcony at the top of the headquarters and the five captains appeared. The captain of the First Unit was Arcing Thunder, the captain of the Second Unit was Obsidian Blade (who was King Hard Stone’s son and successor, who was a unicorn stallion with a strong structure, brilliant orange coat with a cracked rock as Cutie Mark, dark orange hooves, dark grey mane and dark eyes), the captain of the Third Unit was Shining Armor, the captain of the Fourth Unit was Chief Strongpaw, who was also the regimental commander, and the captain of the Fifth Unit was Gael. Before them, all the soldiers claimed them with a lot of enthusiasm.

In the villains’ hideout, the General of Chaos had just secure the unconscious Discord to the walls of chamber, while focusing his energy to strengthen Petal Sprout’s clones. The other villains were also there (with the Dragon King appearing in a magical mirror). Chrysalis was not present, having decided to stay at her kingdom, being then represented by her three mutant changelings.

“There, now you will work for our master as you should” the General told him. “Just to think that you let something like friendship to told your mind… But now everything is just like it should be.”

He turned to his fellow villains and told them:

“It is time for us to go concretize our master’s wish. Gentle Light!”

The General of Death appeared beside him and asked:

“What do you want?”

“Summon them all” the General of Chaos ordered.

Without any choice, Gentle Light used her magic and various coffins appeared, all of different sizes, and so their covers fell, revealing the reincarnated beings inside.

“First, we have some fallen villains like Pandora, Rothbart, King Sombra and Scorpan” Gentle Light said, pointing to the already seen reincarnated beings, turning then to another set. “Then, the former Jinchuriki: Gigi the Two-Tails, Echo Wing the Three-Tails, Black Granite the Four-Tails, Vapour Fist the Five-Tails, Bubble Sweet the Six-Tails and Silver Mist the Seven-Tails. Next, we have former kings: Platinum of Stonult, Alder of Thicket, Gusty Blizzard of Evermist, Grover of Griffinstone and Chief Sandstorm of the pony-panthers.”

King Platinum was a unicorn with raspberryish gray coat with two connected stones as Cutie Mark, dark grayish phthalo blue mane and gray eyes. Gusty Blizzard was also a unicorn with reddish gray coat with bubbles surrounded by mist as Cutie Mark, pale, light grayish brown mane and whiskers and grayish cobalt blue eyes. Sandstorm was a pony-panther with greenish orange coat with golden dust as Cutie Mark, dark moderate orange hooves, moderate and bright green mane and dark blue eyes.

“We also have Thunder Blitz, an explosive nature user that used to live in Stonult; River Blood, an infamous and murderous criminal of Evermist; Sand Threads, the rogue pony-panther; Montu, a former Golden Warrior of Coltypt; Thunder Spark, a servant of Princess Aurora; Sunburst and Eclipse, Celestia, Luna and Ingrid’s grandfathers, as well as Day Glow, Celestia’s deceased lover; without talking about others with exceptional abilities.”

Thunder Blitz was a pegasus stallion with a reddish coat with an explosion as Cutie Mark, brown mane and green eyes. River Blood was a earth stallion with a white coat with a sword covered in blood as Cutie Mark, black mane and yellowish eyes. Sand Threats was a pony-panther with a dark green coat with a pony marionette as Cutie Mark, orange mane and dark purple eyes.

“You indeed have a very good collection” the General of Chaos said. “And with it, along with the drones Chrysalis lent, including the mutants, the dark ponies I created, the dragons the Dragon King got to our side and Petal Sprout’s clones, there is no way we can lose this war. The Lord of Chaos’ wish will come true and there is nothing those poor unfortunate ones can do about it.”

At the Alliance’s headquarters, the warriors continued to applaud their captains.

At the middle of the First Unit, King Freeze Burn was with some of his guards, where one of his guards asked, looking to Arcing:

“So, that is our captain? Does he looks a little young?”

“If I was you, I wouldn’t judge him right now” Freeze Burn said. “He is Queen Mystic Heart’s nephew and bodyguard and my wife said that he helped fighting Rothbart. I believe we can give him a chance to prove what he is capable of.”

At the Second Unit, Applejack said to Big Mac:

“Well, I guess this is it, Big Mac. The war…”

“Eeyup” he replied.

Nearby, Quartz Blitz said, looking to Obsidian Blade:

“Hold on a minute, my dad is going to be my captain?”

At the Third Unit, Thunder Night said to Blue Sword:

“And I was thinking you would be the one to be captain, as you are the only General awake.”

“Nah, Shining is much more suited to lead than me” Blue replied. “It’s not by chance that, back when we were at the Canterlot Royal Guard he was the captain and I the lieutenant.”

At the place where the captains were, Shining said to Strongpaw:

“Well, I think it is the best if you address to your troupes as the regimental commander, once they settle down.”

Seeing how the captains were being applaud, Twilight said to Luna:

“I don’t know why, but I feel eager, but also a little anxious. Is that normal?”

“But of course, Twilight Sparkle” Luna replied. “After all, this is your first war.”

Twilight then noticed how distracted Celestia was, looking to the sky.

“What is wrong with Celestia?” she asked to Luna.

“I honestly don’t know” Luna answered. “My sister has been like that since the summit.”

Hearing that, Twilight realized something was happening with Celestia. She approached her and asked:

“Princess Celestia, is everything okay?”

“Of course, Twilight” she replied, as if getting out of a dream.

But Twilight didn’t believe entirely in her former mentor’s answer.

“You know you can tell me everything, right?” she asked.

Celestia sighed and then said:

“It’s nothing, Twilight, it’s just I started think about something lately… or rather somepony that I met a long time ago, a pony that I cared a lot.”

“Are you talking about Day Glow, the pony you and Ingrid were both in love with?” Twilight asked.

“No, it’s not him” Celestia replied. “The pony I am talking about was somepony I met after. He used to be a villain, but then the Lord of Order convinced him to come to side of good. He became a hero. He brought the fire back to ponies when the Lord of Chaos stole it. His name was Hepheus. When I met him, it was like when I met Day Glow. I finally had the chance to love again.”

“But what happened?” Twilight asked.

“The Lord of Chaos happened” Celestia replied. “He captured Hepheus because of his betrayal and then I never saw him again.”

“That is awful…” Twilight said. “I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s okay, Twilight” Celestia said. “It passed so much time since then. But, since I met the General of Chaos, I can’t help but thinking about him. I don’t why, but there is something about him that makes me think about Hepheus.”

And she returned to look to the sky.

At the edge of the villains’ hideout, the team of deer that was spying on the villains was observing the enemy, waiting for them to advance. When the sensing deer saw movement, he told to the others:

“They’re on the move. And there is a lot of them to.”

“You all go back to report to the main forces” Cypress told the others. “I’ll remain here and learn everything I can about the enemy’s hideout.”

“But it is too dangerous to remain here all by yourself” the sensing deer said.

“Just get out of here!” Cypress exclaimed. “I’m well aware of the risks, but if we don’t pass the word, our comrades will be in serious danger.”

With that, the other deer agreed.

With the General of Chaos’ order, the villains, the changelings, the dragons, the dark ponies and the reincarnated beings started to move. The latter were getting the same normal look of a living. After awakening, Montu, who was along King Sombra, Thunder Blitz and River Blood, said:

“This is not the plain I should be. And my body is moving by its own.”

“It’s a curse created by a powerful General of Order that is now under the control the Evil” Thunder Blitz said. “It brought us back from the dead to do its biding.”

“Well, it’s a strange way to serve the Lord of Chaos again, but I can get used to it” King Sombra said.

“I can’t believe I am serving the Lord of Chaos” Montu said in a disgusted voice. “I am a Golden Warrior, a loyal servant of the Order!”

“It seems you don’t have any other choice” River Blood replied.

Back to the entrance of the hideout, the General of Chaos and Gentle Light were with Rothbart, Sand Threads, a pegasus stallion with a brown coat with a two crossed lances as Cutie Mark, a two shaded purple mane and blue eyes and a deer with a moderate orange fur and yellow eyes.

“This ones will be our commando unit” the General of Chaos said to Gentle Light, while she started to wake them up. “They can go by air. Rothbart and Sand Threads can put traps. Ash, the deer, and Armored Forge, the pegasus, will give sensing assistance and support.”

“What you heard” Gentle Light told to the reincarnated beings, as they recovered their consciousness.

After this, the pegasus said:

“What’s this? Where am I?”

“You serve the Lord of Chaos, right?” the deer asked. “Let me make this clear. If you think you can make us do your bidding…”

But before he could do anything, Gentle Light accessed her magic and Ash stopped and simply got immobilized, while his iris lost the color, becoming white.

“The Lord of Chaos must have a very great power to be able to subdue one of the most powerful servants of his brother completely” Sand Threads observed.

“You’re just stating the obvious, pony-panther” Rothbart said. “Of course the Lord of Chaos have a great power. Only his brother is equal to him. But even so, our master always finds a way to win.”

“Don’t talk to me like that, or you want me to kill you?” Sand Threads asked.

“I’m already dead” Rothbart answered him. “You can’t kill what’s already dead.”

“Can’t you just shut them off?” the General of Chaos asked to Gentle Light. “They are so much better when they look like walking zombies.”

“It becomes too difficult to control all this reincarnated beings at the same time, even for me” Gentle Light answered. “That’s why I am just putting them into place right now. But once they got there, I will be in total control. I’ll erase their personalities and they will become killing machines.”

“No, not all of them” the General of Chaos said. “I want some of them to remain conscious. That way, they can agitate the enemy even more. And that can work in our advantage. Beyond that, Petal Sprout’s clones will travel underground and the dragons above the clouds so they don’t attract any attention. Grogar…”

“Yes?” he asked, appearing.

“I need you to do one favor, just for the case our friends of the Order can deal with our army” the General said. “Why don’t you go find our old friend? Now that we have his brother’s help, we can also get his.”

Realizing who he was talking about, Grogar nodded and then he disappeared.

“And now, it’s time for us to move. But there is something we must do first.”

Cypress was inspecting the barrier, trying to find a weak spot where he could get in. It was then that he heard a voice saying:

“You know, it is impolite to get in somepony’s territory uninvited.”

The deer turned around and saw the General of Chaos. He tried to attack him, but then black bounds appeared and bound and gaged him.

“Like I said… impolite” the General said.

Meanwhile, the four that were with the General of Chaos and Gentle Light were on the moving, with them traveling through clay birds made by Rothbart, two by two. Ash, under complete control of the curse, said, after using his sensing skills:

“Over there…”

“It’s just like the General of Chaos said” Rothbart, looking to where Ash was pointing. “There is three of them. Maybe I can get their hearts to use my ultimate spell.”

The sensing deer noticed the incoming enemy and stopped.

“What’s wrong?” one of his companions asked.

“Keep running!” he replied. “I’ll stall them! No matter what happens, we have to get the intel to the headquarters!”

And he started to run in the opposite direction while his companions continued their way.
Back to the Alliance’s headquarters, while everypony waited for Strongpaw to speak, some disagreements started to appear between the soldiers. It was mainly between the ones that belonged to the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest. The ones of Stonult were having a great difficulty to deal with the ones of Evermist and Aeropolis, while the pony-panthers argued with the ones who were doubting of their leader’s skills.

“It seems there is a great tension in the air” Applejack commented. “They seem to not trust each other.”

“Eeyup” Big Mac agreed.

“You cannot blame them” Quartz Blitz said, approaching. “After all, some of them were in opposite sides not so long ago. You cannot expect them to bond after one day or two.”

And just like that, the arguing just escalated to the point where some started to fight, what also made others to involve to separate them.

It was then that sand appear around the ones that were fighting and then exploded, what made them to stop. They all looked up and saw that it was Strongpaw who did that.

“In the name of power and influence of one’s kingdom, many of us, mainly the ones that live in the Enchanted Forest, have hated and hurt each other for ages” he said. “I myself was born because of that. I became a jinchuriki and I was hated. Because of that, I hated this world and all the ones that lived in it. I used to think in destroy them both. That’s exactly what the Lord of Chaos and his villains are doing. The Lord of Order was able to help me let that hate go away, or rather contain it, but it was thanks to a single pony that I was able to completely let it go.”

He was talking about Star Knight, who risked his life to face Shukaku to not only save his own kingdom, but also him. Probably was because they were both jinchuriki or probably his first instinct was to save the Light Kingdom only, but he did it anyway, showing him the truest selflessness that a pony could show.

“He saved me, even when I once tried to destroy his own home” Strongpaw said. “I could be under Shukaku’s influence, but many would try everything to stop me, even if that meant my death. But he… He saved me, regarding the safety of his own life. Probably because we were both jinchuriki. We both experience the same pain and seeing how bright his light was regarding that, I was able to finally free myself from all the hate I had. Between those who have the same pain, there can be no hate! There are no enemies here now, because each of us have the same pain of having been hurt by the Lord of Chaos and his villains! The kingdoms you all belong to are no more. Now there is only the Alliance! And if you’re still unable to forget any harm done by my pony-panthers, then you can come and face me after this war is over!”

Those words had really affected everyone, who remained silent. Shining, who was beside Strongpaw, could see how the look on their faces had changed.

“The friend I am talking about is the target of our enemy” Strongpaw continued. “If he falls into their clunches, then this reality is over. I want to protect my friend and I want to protect this world! I cannot do that by myself, so I ask you, all of you: please, lend me your strength for this fight!”

The crowd responded with a great cheer. They all applauded his words, while amends started to be done by the ones that were fighting. Strongpaw’s speech was able to unite them all. Twilight, who also heard it, smiled, seeing how much Strongpaw was grateful to Star that he was supposed to do anything for him.

Strongpaw advanced a step and exclaimed:

“ALL THOSE WHO FEEL AS I DO FOLLOW ME!!”

And everyone cheered him even more, accepting to follow him.

Inside the Wild Isle, Star was able to finally achieve what Hawthorn asked him to do: all the blocks were stacked perfectly.

“Yes, I did it!” he exclaimed.

“Very good, Star” Hawthorn congratulated. “The next step will be our final lesson.”

With all the Alliance now united, they all started to move on, following their five captains. The Commando Unit advanced by air, with the ones with wings helping the ones who didn’t have, in order to get an advance and prepare the ground for the others. Inside the main room of the headquarters, Boreal Blizzard and Diamond Glow combined their powers to create a giant bubble to help them expand their sensing and telepathic abilities.

Meanwhile, Mystic Heart was taking another direction, alongside a group of five that included a young stallion, that seemed to have just get out of adolescence, that had a light yellowish grey coat with twin swords as Cutie Mark, dark ceruleanish gray and azureish gray mane and brown eyes. He had on his back what seemed to be a wide, flat blade with two curved indentations near its base covered in bandages with two handles connected to one another by a short length of cord.

“With Arcing and Boreal not here, I’m counting on you, Bronze Dagger” the queen told to the young stallion, while they advanced.

“Yes, my queen” he replied.

Celestia, Twilight, Luna, Ingrid, Spike, Aspen and Hard Stone stood at the balcony of the headquarters, seeing as all the units advanced.

“And so the war begins…” Twilight said.