In Arimaspi’s territory, the Lord of Chaos and his villains had just sealed Five-Tails in the Demonic Statue, who got its fifth iris, while Vapour Fist’s lifeless body fell on the floor.
"Finally, it's over..." Ulysses said, yawning. "Is it my impression or sealing this Jinchuriki took longer than usual?"
"It's because we're outnumbered this time" Oogie Boogie replied. "With Moonlight back on the Order side, the time we normally take to seal a Jinchuriki has increased."
"Yes, and we both know who's to blame" Ulysses said, looking in a mocking way to Adagio. "If our dear Adagio hadn't let her dear sister get charmed by the fox prince, we would've sealed Five-Tails faster."
"Watch your tongue, Ulysses, or I'm going do it myself and you’ll never see it coming" Adagio threatened.
"That's enough, you two!" the Lord of Chaos exclaimed, imposing the silence. "You're giving me a headache with your useless arguments!"
There was a pause, and then he continued:
"Now that we have the fifth Tailed Beast sealed, I want to congratulate you for your excellent work, Grogar. You was the only one to perform the capturing task with perfection."
"I humbly accept your compliment, my lord" Grogar replied, making him a bow.
"However, I can't say the same about a certain someone" the Lord of Chaos said, turning then to Arimaspi. "I thought I said to you I wanted to seal the Five-Tails and the Six-Tails at the same time. However, only Grogar returned with a Jinchuriki. Do you have anything to say in your defense, Arimaspi?"
The goat shape monster got pretty nervous, seeing the Lord of Chaos glaring him in that intimidating way. A bit afraid, he said:
"My Lord... It's not my fault... The security around the Jinchuriki is pretty tight.”
"Excuses" the Lord of Chaos replied. "A self-respecting villain wouldn't let something so minor stop him or her from achieving his or her mission."
"If I may, my lord, I have something to say" Chrysalis said. "I sent my best spy, Obsidia, to infiltrate in other kingdoms with Jinchuriki to discover security breaches and Arimaspi seems to be saying the truth. The queen of Evermist is quite cautious and strengthened the security of her Jinchuriki as soon as they learned about the capture of the Jinchuriki of Four-Tails."
"Oh, and now we know who's to blame for Arimaspi’s failed mission" Adagio said, whose observation made Ulysses throw her a deadly look.
"You see, my Lord, it's not my fault" Arimaspi said.
"However, I also got to know that tomorrow the Jinchuriki will leave the safety of Evermist to take a class at the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy" Chrysalis continued.
"Don't tell me..." Lord of Chaos said. “That is quite interesting. Good job, Chrysalis."
She bowed respectfully her head to him and then the Lord of Chaos turned to Arimaspi and told him:
"This will be your opportunity to try to capture the Jinchuriki of Six-Tails. No, you're not going to try, you're going to capture it. Because if you don't, I will be very disappointed and wish you hadn’t been brought back. I think you know what that means, Arimaspi."
That made Arimaspi to swallow dry.
"I just brought you back because I needed strong villains who could endure the Tailed Beasts Extraction" the Lord of Chaos continued. "However, you're not achieving the only job that I gave you. Everyone who are present here have already done their own contribution. Chrysalis, Ulysses and Grogar already captured a Jinchuriki each. Adagio, despite not having performed a capture personally, was responsible for recruiting the pony who brought me Three-tails, in addition to having completed a lot of missions successfully. And Oogie Boogie, despite not having orders to capture Jinchuriki, provided us with valuable information about our preys.”
"But master, and how about our hiding place?" Arimaspi asked. "After all, this is my territory."
"I think you mean is that this is my territory!" the Lord of Chaos exclaimed. "Don't forget that what belongs to a villain also belongs to me. In addition to that, we were already using your territory as our hiding place before I had brought you back. Therefore, Arimaspi, I suggest you to bring a Jinchuriki or your star seed will become empty again."
And, having said this, he and the Demonic Statue disappeared, forcing the villains to land on the ground. After that, Ulysses said:
"It seems that someone angered the boss."
That comment upset Arimaspi who just got out of there quickly.
"You shouldn't have said that" Grogar said. "Overall, Arimaspi is a good villain. But he is a thinker, not a doer."
"Yes, for that he had his brother Cyclops" Chrysalis said. "Alone, he is a douche who can't distinguish right from left. But when he teams up with Arimaspi, things are different."
"Yes, he most likely would have captured the Six-Tails, if Cyclops was free" Adagio said.
"But since he's not here, it's likely Arimaspi will have a harder time to execute the order our master gave to us" Oogie Boogie said. "It's a shame. I even liked him a bit."
Arriving to his throne room, the Lord of Chaos ascended the staircase of his throne, sitting on it then. After that, he dipped in his own thoughts. Despite having placed Arimaspi between a rock and a hard place, he knew the chances he could finish the capturing task were reduced, taking into account that, according to Grogar, the Generals were close to stop him from capturing Five-Tails.
Although he had a contingency plan in case Arimaspi failed, he could not help but repair at the ease that his villains were falling... and almost always because of the obnoxious son of the alicorn princess who have already ruined his master plan more than once. First, he was able to reform Pandora and then he defeated Rothbart. Furthermore, he was the main reason for Moonlight had rediscovered her light again. Not to mention that Medusa had been captured by Mirror Coat... again.
Even with his plan following its course, what use would serve him without strong villains to execute it? If only he had a villain with enough power to handle the alicorns, the Generals and any other lackey his brother had. It was at that moment that a cruel and evil idea formed on his brilliant mind.
"Of course, how could I not have thought of that before" he said.
And, having said that, he got up and headed to the exit of his throne room. He walked through the his dark castle until he reached the darkest part of there: the dungeons. The number of existing cells there was unlimited, as it continued to increase as it was filled with his prisoners, whether they were alive or were already damned dead beings. Its prisoners were shaking and shrank with fear within the cells as he passed by on the outside and that gave great satisfaction to the Lord of Chaos.
However, he was there only for a particular prisoner, somepony who served him before he betrayed him and joined his brother’s side. Of course, the Lord of Chaos didn't like very much of betrayals to his own person and was able to capture him, ready to punish him for his crimes against him, the same fate he inflicted to any fool who dared to betray him.
He arrived to his dungeon and opened the door to find him sitting with his face shrouded in darkness. His hooves contained shackles that were binding him to the ground.
"Hello there. I know what you're thinking. What is he doing here? What does he want after all these centuries? Well, the answer is quite simple, my dear. My brother taught you to see the beauty of his light and I'm about to teaching you how to admire the beauty of my darkness again. In other words, I want you to work for me just like the old times."
There was a sound of derision coming from the imprisoned stallion and the Lord of Chaos said:
"You don't think I can get you back on my side? You're so wrong. I can get everything I want. And, when I say you to serve me, you serve me!"
And he pointed his spear to the prisoner, releasing then black Lightning that hit him and made him groan in agony. It was then that while he suffered that torture, the stallion said in a low voice:
"Celestia..."
In the castle of Canterlot, at that very moment, Celestia was doing floral arrangements with her sister in the scarce free time they had when she felt a great pressure on her heart that made her take down the vase, which fell to the ground and broke. Luna, before this, asked:
"Sister, are you okay?"
Celestia could feel that something wasn't right, but she didn't know what. So, replied:
"I... I don’t know."
"Maybe you are tired" Luna said. "Why don't you go get some rest?"
"I think you're right" Celestia said.
And the older sister began heading to her room to rest, although something told her that something bad had happened.
In the Enchanted Forest, there was a Kingdom located on high hills, where a mist covered almost the entire surface, giving it a slightly sinister air, mainly because the hills were densely wooded. The ponies who lived there already were accustomed to the mist and were not bothered by it. In the highest point, there was a castle made of granite with the front doors very well decorated. That was the home of the ruler of Evermist.
From there, a pegasus mare left. She had light brilliant blue violet coat with a bubble wand with three bubbles as Cutie Mark, light raspberry and moderate rasperry mane and moderate fuchsia eyes. She carried on each side of her flank a pitcher and, at one side, a bubble tube, both made of bamboo. Her name was Bubble Sweet and she was the Jinchuriki of Six-Tails.
After weeks living inside to the castle without being allowed to get out because of the danger that Jinchuriki were living, her friend, Queen Mystic Heart agreed to let her out so she could go give an art class at the Three Great Fairies Preparatory Academy. It was nice to get out and breathe fresh air.
At the Academy, her class was a great success, with lots of students coming to participate, including Star Knight, Moonlight and everyone else. In addition to teaching them a little about art, she entertained them with a few tricks that she could do with bubbles what left students dazzled. At the end of her day as a teacher, Melody and Purple Smoke offered themselves to accompany her to the Evermist castle, but she refused.
“Thank you for wanting to accompany me to the castle, but it is not necessary to" Bubble Sweet told them.
"But the pleasure is all ours" Melody answered.
"And in that way we can make sure that you won't find any villain along the way" Purple Smoke added.
"I think you are overreacting" Bubble Sweet said. "I know I'm next on their list, but I can defend myself."
"Some of the villains of the Lord of Chaos are not to be trifled with" Melody said. "It would be foolish to face one of them alone."
"I believe I can handle them" Sweet Bubble replied. "Well, see you soon."
And, having said that, she pulled away.
"We're going to follow her, aren't we?" Melody asked to Purple Smoke.
"Of course" he replied.
Bubble Sweet flew part of the way, until she reached Evermist, where the mist began to appear, what forced her to walk. After a few moments, she heard footsteps. That made her stop as she knew she was observed.
"Appear wherever you are!" she exclaimed, looking around. "I know you're somewhere there!"
She began to hear the steps better and Arimaspi emerged.
"I see you managed to find me" Arimaspi said.
"You weren't very sneaky… Arimaspi” Bubble Sweet said.
"You know who I am?" Arimaspi asked, surprised.
"We are all aware of the kind of villains the Lord of Chaos has at his service to capture the Jinchuriki" Sweet Bubble replied. "Although I am surprised to see you here. I thought your style was to hypnotize others to do your dirty work."
"With the Lord of Chaos putting pressure on me to capture a Tailed Beast, I have no alternative" Arimaspi replied. "But you can be sure that I will do my job."
And, having said that, he began to try to tackle Bubble Sweet. Using her wings, she managed to swerve quickly. After this, she took her bubble tube, wet it in one of the jars and then she blew. Bubbles came out of it and surrounded Arimaspi, who was shocked to see how easily she had him surrounded. Then, Sweet Bubble made a gesture and the bubbles simply exploded when they popped. Arimaspi was thrown against the floor, with burns on his body.
"I see..." he said, as he raised up. “You combine your water nature with Six-Tails’ energy to create these explosive bubbles. Impressive..."
"Thanks for the compliment" Bubble Sweet said, making a slight smile. "But this isn't going to make me be more lenient."
"And I didn't want you to be!" Arimaspi exclaimed.
Suddenly, the monster tried a new tackle. Bubble Sweet reacted again, dodging and preparing new bubbles. However, she only released a single large bubble that advanced to Arimaspi and wrapped his head. With this, he felt himself suffocating, since the interior was filled with water. Soon, the villain monster passed out and fell to the ground, apparently unconscious, while the bubble popped.
Wondering if she had defeated Arimaspi, Bubble Sweet approached cautiously and observed. It seemed that he had been put out completely, which left her relieved. But, at that moment, catching her off guard, Arimaspi aroused and quickly subdued Bubble Sweet, securing her against the floor.
"Let me go, your monster!" she exclaimed, while trying to break free.
"Do you really think I'm going to do such a thing?" Arimaspi asked. "I have everything to lose if you don't capture you. I knew I could make you down your guard if you thought you had me defeated. And now that I have you under my mercy and you can't use your dear bubbles, I can finally subdue you."
And Arimaspi’s eye flashed with a red glow. He was trying to hypnotize Bubble Sweet and it looked like it was working, as she looked at him directly and was affected by it, stopping immediately to resist against Arimaspi.
"Now, I will finally give you to the Lord of Chaos" he said. "Finally I will ensure my position before him."
But before he could do anything, he was hit by a supersonic scream that threw him against the ground. He looked and saw Melody and Purple Smoke, who were standing between him and Bubble Sweet.
"I think you have to go through us first, Arimaspi" Melody said.
"And believe us that it will not be easy" Purple Smoke added.
"You Generals are always ruining my plans" Arimaspi said. "First, you captured my brother Cyclops and now you are preventing me from carrying out the mission that the Lord of Chaos commissioned me.”
"Yeah, that's kind of our job" Purple Smoke replied.
Arimaspi prepared to attack, but before he could do anything, Purple Smoke wrapped him with his toxic purple smoke. Inhaling it, Arimaspi became weakened, and hit the ground.
"No…" he said.
"Don't worry, Arimaspi" Melody said, invoking the cell-blaster. "In a few moments, you’ll be reunited with your brother again."
"And also you won't have to fear the punishment the Lord of Chaos would give to you for not returning this Jinchuriki" Purple Smoke said.
But when he turned around, Purple Smoke noticed that someone was around Bubble Sweet. I was Oogie Boogie.
"Oogie Boogie!" Purple Smoke exclaimed, making Melody and Arimaspi look also to him.
"Looks like your mission didn't go as well as you'd hoped, Arimaspi" Oogie Boogie said to his fellow villain. "Don't worry, I will make sure our master receives this Jinchuriki."
"Oogie Boogie... help me..." Arimaspi pleaded, fighting the effects of Purple Smoke’s toxins.
"I'm sorry, dear friend, but you know the rules: the mission above everything" Oogie Boogie said. "Don't worry, I'm sure the Generals will get you a comfortable cell in Tartarus."
"And why not for you too?" Purple Smake asked to the evil spirit. "Do you really think we're going to let you take Bubble Sweet?"
"For both of you, I have a surprise" Oogie Boogie replied to the two Generals. "The Lord of Chaos was kind enough to raise my powers even more due to my accurate services. Now... I can create nightmares to the awaken ones."
And, with a gesture, Melody and Purple Smoke were raided by their nightmares in their minds, what caused them a lot of pain that prevented them from moving.
"If I were you, I would be satisfied with the possibility of placing a villain in a cell" Oogie Boogie said. "You should know that you should not bit more than you can shew."
And, having said this, he disappeared with Bubble Sweet.
With the escape of Oogie Boogie, the nightmares of the two Generals disappear and they rose up.
"I can't believe he got away with Bubble Sweet!" Melody exclaimed. "How frustrating!"
"I feel the same as you, sister, but I think it's better to focus on the job we have on hooves" Purple Smoke said, pointing to Arimaspi.
Melody agreed with him and, using the cell-blaster, she absorbed Arimaspi to the life cell on it and, after that, put it in the book-prison, sending the one-eyed monster to Tartarus. However, despite having defeated another villain, they couldn't help but be frustrated because they lost another Jinchuriki to the Lord of Chaos and his villains.