//------------------------------// // Star Knight's Next Step // Story: Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// After Ulysses’ departure to Thicket to capture Hawthorn, the Lord of Chaos gathered his villains, including the General of Chaos in their hiding place to seal Seven-Tails. When the process was over, with the seventh iris appearing on the Demonic Statue and the lifeless body of Silver Mist falling on the floor, Adagio said: "Well, that was pretty tiring. Jeez, I'm starting to sound like Ulysses." "Speaking of which, where is our griffon friend?" Oogie Boogie asked. "I know he hates the extraction process, but still…" "Who cares?" asked Adagio. "For once, I can have some peace and quiet. And I can admire the new guy…" And her eyes went to the General of Chaos. "Who would have thought that an alicorn would look so attractive to me." "I'm sorry, but, even though you're pretty, sirens are not my type" the General of Chaos replied. "Oh, honey, we can change that" Adagio replied in a seductive way. "Enough with the insinuation, Adagio" the Lord of Chaos ordered. "And for your information, Ulysses is not present, because I ordered him to go capture the Jinchuriki of Thicket, the one where Eight-Tails is sealed in." When they heard this, the villains were surprised with that announcement. "So it looks like we’ll never see him again" Oogie Boogie said. "It's a shame, he was fun" Chrysalis said. "He used always give our meetings a little color." "In my opinion, he's just having what he deserves" Adagio said. "I knew that her arrogance and hubris would be his end." "I know what you guys think about Ulysses’ capabilities of Ulysses in comparison to this Jinchuriki’s isn't high enough, but he can be very effective when he wants to be it" the Lord of Chaos said. "I agree with you, my Lord" Grogar said. "Although, in spite of everything, and speaking for the years I spent at his side, Ulysses is, how Adagio said, too arrogant and self-assured and this leads him to underestimate his adversaries." "Well, I think that we can only confirm all these theories when he returns" the General of Chaos replied. And the villains waved with their head, agreeing with him. At the Mirror Library, Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat and Leaf Mane were having a little meeting. "Things are getting worse for our side" Mirror Coat said. "Aside from the fact that now we have to deal with this alicorn General working for the Lord of Chaos, they now have Seven-Tails. They are dangerously close to capture Prince Star Knight. And worse, they are dangerously close to resurrect Ten-Tails." "Yes, things haven't been going well for us lately" Golden Paladin said. "That’s say the least" Leaf Mane said. "But this only encourages us to not lose any more time" Golden Paladin continued. "We must continue the training of the young prince and, this time, we will hide him altogether from the bad guys." "How are you going to do that?" Mirror Coat asked. "I don't know if you forgot, but almost there is no place in the Pony Reality Pony where the Lord of Chaos cannot reach. In addition that the prince’s training to control Nine-Tails’ power reached an impasse.” "And who said the training would focus on the control of the Nine-Tails’ energy?" Golden Paladin asked. "No, I have another kind of training in mind. And the perfect place for it to happen is out of reach of the Lord of Chaos. And you, Leaf Mane, you will be who will conduct this training." "Me?" she asked, surprised. In the throne room of the Lord of chaos, he was sitting on your throne, recovering from the extraction of Seven-Tails when Ulysses appeared at the base of the staircase with Hawthorn. "A Jinchuriki delivered within the period laid down" he said. "Well, I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed" the Lord of Chaos said. "I just don't know if I should be satisfied for you having achieved or disappointed for Hawthorn have lost so easily." "I'm just glad that I brought him to you" Ulysses replied. "You can go, I will gather the others when they have recovered from the extraction ceremony of Seven-Tails" the Lord of Chaos said. Ulysses made a bow and headed to the exit. "Oh, and Ulysses" the Lord of Chaos called, making the griffon turn towards him. "I hope you are careful with the power I gave you. Probably you may have noticed what it is able to do if you don't control it properly." The griffon nodded and left. Immediately, the Lord of Chaos called: "General, reveal yourself!" The General of Chaos appeared and, when he looked at Hawthorn, he said: "I see that Ulysses was successful in capturing the Jinchūriki of Eight-Tails." "Yes, and that's why I called you" the Lord of Chaos said. "You want me to gather all the villains for the extraction?" the General of Chaos said. "No, I can do that" the Lord of Chaos replied. "I want you to put the extraction aside and start getting ready because I decided that you will capture the last Jinchuriki: Prince Star Knight. This will surely be the most difficult capture of them all and we have to make sure that it is completed successfully." "You can leave that to me, master" the General of Chaos replied, making a bow. And he disappeared. "Finally, I am close to achieve my great plan" the Lord of Chaos said. "When the Nine-Tails is finally in my power, Ten-Tails will arise again and will make all Pony Reality Pony be mine at last!" In Thicket, in the capital, where the wonderful castle of King Aspen was with all its beauty and naturalness, the two deer who had witnessed Hawthorn’s defeat arrived to inform their King of what had happened. When he heard the news about the capture of his brother, Aspen, sitting on his throne with his queen sitting on her throne next to him, exclaimed: “What?! What do you mean Hawthorn has been taking?!” “One of the Lord of Chaos’ followers just appeared and battled Lord Hawthorn and was able to defeat him” the older deer said, while he and his companion kneeled before their king. “It was the griffon, the one with the scar over his eye” the younger deer added. “That rascal that evaded Griffonstone…” Aspen said, trying to control his anger. “King Gael and Queen Greta were right in showing their concerns about what he could do.” He got up, saying: “That Lord of Chaos… He won’t get away from this!” And, with a burst of anger, the king let his body being charged with electricity and unleashed it, causing some damages in the throne room that frightened the deer who were present. “Aspen, my dear, please…” Queen Fyr said, getting up and approaching her husband, putting her hoof over his shoulder. “You have to calm down.” “How can I calm down when my brother was captured, Fyr?” he asked. “I know, but you have to be strong and not let your emotions make you do the wrong decisions” Fyr said. “You were always a good and calm king, don’t let those villains get to you.” After hearing those words from his wife, Aspen calmed down and smiled to her. “You’re right, my love. I don’t know what I would do without you.” “So, now that you’re you again, tell me, what will you do?” Queen Fyr asked. “What is the most logic thing to do?” “That’s easy” Aspen said. “I will do what Princess Twilight advised me to and I was too prideful to do. I shall send messengers to the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest and demand, as Head King, a meeting between all the rulers of all the kingdoms that had Jinchuriki. Beyond that, I shall sent messengers to the main kingdoms of the Pony World to participate in the meeting.” “Now this is the Aspen I know” Queen Fyr said. The king then said: “But we must act with caution” King Aspen said. “The Lord of Chaos must not interfere and, to make sure of that, the messages will be delivered in hoof. That may take a few days, but all the caution is not enough.” He turned to the two deer and asked: “What are you doing here? I already said my orders.” And they then got out. “Just you wait, little brother, this isn’t done” Aspen said. Star returned to the Light Kingdom for the weekend and, accompanied by Timber, he entered the castle, finding his parents, Golden Paladin and Leaf Mane waiting for him. "Okay, whenever you appear in this way, it is because something happened or is going to happen" Star said. "Don't worry, son, it's nothing serious" Blue assured. "Yes, we just want to say goodbye to you" Twilight said. "What now?" Star asked, a little confused. "Well, young Prince, it's time to give an important step in your training" Golden Paladin said. "And, with your parents’ permission and after informing the headmistress of the academy, it's time to do it. This training will take some time and you will need to do it somewhere else." "Wait, does that mean that I will not see my family and my friends for a while?" Star asked. "If we are lucky and if you put your mind to it, what you will, it might not take so long" Golden Paladin said. "I know this must be hard for you, my son" Twilight said. "Your father and I will miss you very much, but it's for your own good. You need to get stronger and fast. We don't know when the Lord of Chaos will come to capture you." "Star, believe us when we say that we wouldn’t agree with this, if it were not for your own good" Blue said. "Furthermore, the decision is yours." Star thought for a while. Of course staying away from his family, from his friends... from Moonlight would be very hard, but he knew the implications if he didn’t accept to go train. "I know that and I accept to go training to this place you speak" Star said, turning to Golden. "When we left, Golden?" "Immediately, but, this time, I will not monitor and train you" Golden replied. "She will." And he pointed to Leaf Mane. "Leaf Mane?" Star asked, surprised. "Why?" "Because this kind of training refers to an area of magic that only I, between the Generals, can do" Leaf Mane replied. "I hope you're ready, Prince Star Knight, because the training is going to be harder than any other training that Golden subjected you." "She's right" Golden Paladin agreed. "Well, I'm not afraid and I'm ready" Star said. He turned to Timber and told him: "Sorry, Timber, but I can't let you to come with me. I need you to stay here to watch for my sisters, okay?" The Timberwolf barked once, saying that he had understood and then he licked his owner’s face. "Yes, I love you too" Star said, while petting Timber’s head. Star then turned to his parents and said: "See you when I get back." He hugged them and Twilight said: "I'm going to miss you, Star. Make sure you finish your training rapidly so you can return soon." "And don't worry about Moonlight, I'm sure she will understand" Blue said. "Yes, I know she will." After saying goodbye to his parents, Star said to Leaf Mane: "Let's go." She waved and then put her hoof over Star's shoulder and they both shone with a bright green glow and disappeared. When Star found himself, he and Leaf Mane were in a completely different place. Star was stunned when he saw it. It was surreal. It looked like a rain forest... or it just gave the illusion of that, because Star had the feeling that he was in a land of giants. There were various sounds that Star recognized as being toads. "Where are we?" he asked, looking around. "This is one of the many realms of Pony Reality" Leaf Mane said. "One of the few ones where the darkness of Lord of Chaos still failed to reach. It's a place that has not been touched by the ponykind and remains indomitable. Prince Star Knight, welcome to Animarium." "Amazing…" Star said, looking around. The beauty of that place was such and there were so many things to see that Star found himself wandering, while riding around himself. It was at that moment that he was against something soft that said "Oh!". Star turned and was stunned when he saw that he had gone against a toad, but an immensely big toad. He was bigger than any pony that Star knew. His skin was vivid tangelo with dark mulberry marking and he wore a blue jacket. "Hey, can't you see where you're going?" the toad asked. "But… you are a toad" Star said, still in shock. "I know I'm a toad" the toad answered. "You think I don't know my species. If all the ponies of the Pony World are like you, so I have no intention of visiting your realm." "Sorry, it's just that I've never seen a toad as large as you" Star said. "Where I come from, toads are small and, frankly, they don't speak the same language as ponies." "Well, I guess I can forgive you, just this once" the toad said. "My name is Tough Skin." "I’m Star Knight, but you can call me Star" Star introduced himself. "I see you've made a friend" Leaf Mane said, while approaching. "General of Nature…" Tough Skin said, making a bow to Leaf Mane. "It's an honor to have you here again." "Thank you, Tough Skin" Leaf Mane thanked. "I see that you've grown up a lot. But the toads from Animarium have a fairly fast growth. How's your father?" "He's fine" Tough Skin replied. "Although he has not lived up to the promise he made to you of giving up the pipe." "Well, I didn't expect him to do that" Leaf Mane replied. "But let's get to the point that brought me here. I brought with me the prince of the Light Kingdom. He is the son of Princess Twilight." "Seriously?" Tough Skin asked, looking to Star Knight. "He is the son of the holder of the original?" "Yes, and I'd like you to help me train him in that" Leaf Mane said. "Of course, I do everything to help the General of Nature" Tough Skin said. "Well, for now, I think it's a bit late to start training" Leaf Mane said. "We start tomorrow morning. Star, would you like to stay with Tough Skin, while I go take care of some business." "Of course" he replied. "Great" she said, disappearing. And then Star spent the rest of day with Tough Skin and the two quickly became friends. Despite their differences which were basically biological ones, such as the food (Star was vegetarian, while Tough Skin ate insects), the two formed some kind of bond. When the next day dawned, they went to meet with Leaf Mane on the verge of a fountain where there was a waterfall and a statue of a frog, both gushing an amber liquid. There were also a lot of stone toads of various sizes, ranging from Tough Skin’s size to an even greater one. "I see you have become close friends" Leaf Mane observed. "In some way" Tough Skin said. "Let's just say, for a pony, Star is not that bad." "I can say the same about you" Star replied. “Well, it’s better that we start our training now” Leaf Mane. “First of all, I will explain you what it will consist on. What I am about to teach you is a special kind of natural manipulation that, even it belongs to the same category, is much different than everything you learned.” “And what difference are those?” Star asked. “While in the normal natural manipulation you utilize your own energy to create the spells, in this one you’ll use the outside energy” Leaf Mane said. “While the normal natural manipulation requires the use of your own energy that is both physical and mental, in what I’ll teach you, you’ll add to that the natural energy, the crude form of all the natures you already know. The result is a variety of much stronger spells and also a much bigger physical strength that can only work when your own energy and the natural energy are mixed together.” “Yes, I can understand what you’re saying, but can you talk more about this natural energy?” Star asked. “Of course” Leaf Mane said. “The natural energy is the energy that is external to you. It exists in the atmosphere and in the terrain. I myself use this kind of energy constantly, as I am the General of Nature. I can recollect it and use it naturally and that’s secret behind my magic. For other being, it is very difficult to learn how to use it. But enough talk. What if I give you a slight demonstration?” “That would be nice” Star said. “Well, so be it” Leaf Mane said, approaching one of the biggest toad statues. “This should be good enough.” And so Leaf Mane touched the statue with her front hooves and closed her eyes, starting to concentrate. Nothing happened in the next seconds, but then Tough Skin said: “Wow, Leaf Mane is amazing! Look at her gathering all that nature energy.” “Where?” Star asked, as he couldn’t see anything. “I can’t see…” But before he could replied, Leaf Mane started to lift the statue, making it leave the ground. Star became astonished with that. “She… She lifted that thing?” he asked, still not wanting to believe. “What do you think?” Leaf Mane asked, while concentrating in keeping the toad statue lifted. “What you are seeing is the boost in physical power that natural energy can give you. She then put the statue down, causing the ground to shake briefly. “But… I don’t have any idea how you just did that” Star said. “Of course you can’t see” Leaf Mane replied, while catching her breath. “You’re not yet able to see the natural energy, Prince Star Knight.” “And how do I do it?” Star asked. “What you must do is to become one with nature” Leaf Mane. “Okay, I normally can understand things pretty quick, but that was a little ambiguous” Star Knight said. “Basically, she means that you’ll have to die” Tough Skin. Star took a little to process what Tough Skin had said and then he exclaimed: “WHAT?!”