//------------------------------// // A Will of Stone and a Will of Iron // Story: Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// At the desert, the battle between the regents and Tirek was getting more intense. On King Aspen’s back, Hard Stone was using his magic to create a giant stone golem to carry them, it was even bigger than Tirek. They dvanced to attack, while Hard Stone said: “This shall vaporize Tirek!” But Tirek accessed to his magic and exclaimed: “Deep Forest Bloom!” And plants started to rise up and go through the stone golem. That caused the golem to become intertwined. “Ah, damn it!” the old king exclaimed, while looking an evil smile appear on the centaur’s face. The plants were so powerful and strong that ended up crushing the golem. The plants continued to advance, while Celestia was healing Ingrid and Mystic Heart. “It’s getting closer” Mystic Heart said. Flower buds started to appear at the end of the plants. “Sister, that’s…” Ingrid said. “Yes, I know” Celestia said. “It’s the same spell Leaf Mane used when she was under the wild energy effect. Chief Strongpaw!” “Yes, I know” he replied, preparing to use his sand. The bubs started to head up and bloomed, releasing to the air a lot of spores. At that moment, all the regents were above them. While Celestia and Ingrid were flying, Aspen was gravitating thanks to Hard Stone’s gravity spell and Strongpaw and Mystic Heart were on sand platforms. “What is that?” Aspen asked. “Just look to the sheer scale it…” Mystic Heart said. “To create a forest in an instant…” “Everyone, be aware of the pollen!” Celestia exclaimed, while she and Ingrid covered their muzzle. “Don’t inhale it!” And they heard her. Meanwhile, Platinum continued to run from Oak and the other guards. “We have to catch him!” the deer exclaimed. “Quick!” And so, after the regents were able to dodge the last attack, Tirek summoned the Warrior of Dark Light, what caught the regents by surprise. “You were all too distracted by the flowers” the centaur said. “No… no way…” Hard Stone said. “King Aspen!” But the Warrior of Dark Light hit them hard and threw them against the ground, with them passing through the plants that were covering it. Meanwhile, the Warrior of Dark Light went to a higher point, bring Tirek who smiled and said: “Looks like it’s time to burn thing up.” And then he casted a blasted that created flames around the place where the regents were. They started to stand up, but the heat of the flames was being too much, mainly to Ingrid. “Sister…” Celestia said to her. “It’s too hot…” Ingrid said, fainting. “Queen Mystic Heart!” Hard Stone exclaimed. She tried to use one of her water spells, but she fainted, followed by the others. Hard Stone was the last to remain conscious, but even him ended falling in the ground. Trying to fight against his own eyes so they didn’t close and make him lose conscious, Hard Stone thought that maybe he was too old to anything… At that moment, a memory from his youth appeared in his mind, moments before he would let himself lose consciousness… Decades ago… In Stonult, during Platinum’s reign, a young colt Hard Stone was being trained by his grandfather, Gravel Chain, the former king, who shared the coat with his son with a metal chain as Cutie Mark, grey mane and eyes that look like his grandson’s, as Platinum was too busy with his royal duties. They were in a room where there was a water fountain with the bottom full of stones and a monument at the center. The young Hard Stone, whose mane at that time was light brown, was polishing a stone over the monument. Gravel Chain, who was using the gravity spell in the same way his grandson now used, approached him and said to him: “Hey, the left side is dirty. That’s a precious stone of our kingdom. You need to learn to be true and sure and scrub until your hooves blur.” That only made the young Hard Stone to roll his eyes. “Young colt, you know I don’t like when you do that.” “Sorry, grandpa, but when you said you would train while dad was working, I thought it would be something… I don’t know… not this” Hard Stone said. “I know this is the symbol of our kingdom, but, to me, this thing doesn’t look more than an ordinary rock, if you ask me. Why don’t we have more impressive monuments like the other kingdoms?” “Hard Stone, I can tell the value of a stone just by taking a good look at it for a moment or two” Gravel Chain said. “This rock is a symbol. It carries our kingdom’s will of stone. It’s our bedrock.” “Don’t be such a miser with your words and use our symbol in your puns” Hard Stone said. “Well…” Gravel Chain said, while picking the stone with his magic. “Actually, you’re right. This is just an ordinary rock.” And he threw the rock to the water, what cause Hard Stone exclaimed: “What?! What do you think you’re doing, you old geezer? Now I don’t know which one is.” “You’ll see that if you just put another one here like this…” Gravel Chain said, while placing another rock over the monument. “…nopony will ever know it.” “What?!” Hard Stone exclaimed, not wanting to believe that he had been cleaning really just an ordinary rock. “What’s really important is the will of stone inside you” Gravel Chain continued. “Just as I can with an ordinary rock, I can also tell the worth of someone else just by looking at them. Hard Stone, hidden within your will is the power to change the entire world. But if you’re not careful, I worry that precious will of yours may disappear.” Hard Stone then looked at the rock, while repeating: “Disappear…” “As you keep running into barriers, you may abandon your will, make excuses or even replace it with hatred” Gravel Chain continued to say. “Listen well, never abandon your will and always stride with pride!” But then happened what happened with Tirek, what caused Hard Stone to abandon his will and made him become what he was before the forming of the Alliance… In the present… That memory caused Hard Stone to open his eyes, and then he saw a rock, with its surface brightening with flames. That rock made him remember what his grandfather told him. Taking the rock with his magic, Hard Stone stood up, while looking at it and saying to himself that was enough of excuses. After crushing the stone, Hard Stone activated his particle nature and made his Atomic Dismantling Spell to cut through the plants in flames around them, destroying the flames as well. Tirek retreated as much he could, while looking at Hard Stone, flying while using his spell, who said: “Look at me being pitiful about my age… There is no excuse for making such excuse. Let’s go!” After finishing that, the other regents started to recover and stand up. “What is this?” Mystic Heart asked. Aspen, turning to the old unicorn king, said: “Nice job, Hard Stone.” “Good, you’re all awake” Hard Stone said. “I’ll right, then, let’s carry on with our counter-attack.” They nodded, but that caused to Tirek to laugh. “You surely dance well, Hard Stone” he said. “But not good enough. None of you can defeat me. I have magic more than enough to exterminate even the most powerful of the alicorns. I’m no longer the Tirek that lost to those two fools.” He then looked to Celestia and Ingrid and said to them: “And you two will see that, now that your parents are not here. In fact, you’ll be the first ones to be taken down.” “Taken down the ones with most magic and capable of executing healing magic is a well stablished tactic” Mystic Heart commented. “Surely you don’t think we’ll gonna let you do something like that easily.” “You’re wrong” Tirek replied. “The reason why she’s first is because they are descendants of King Cosmos and Queen Galaxia.” He then turned to Celestia and said to her: “You have the same power as your mother and yet you don’t have any of the control she had. You only seem to use only a fraction of her power.” And he turned to Ingrid and told her: “And you… You don’t have the power of any of your power, but even so, I have to say, you were much more impressive as the Snow Queen. Compare to what your parents did to me, all the attacks you did are nothing.” Those words really upset the two sisters. “That’s why you’re the first to go, because I don’t tolerate weakness. It something that revolts me!” “I think you bumbled enough” Aspen said, not wanting him to insult Celestia and Ingrid even longer. But the two advanced and then told: “We’re daughters of King Cosmos and Queen Galaxia” Ingrid said. “And I don’t have any of their powers and you’re right when you said that I was more powerful when I was the Snow Queen, moved by my hate.” “And you were right when you said I don’t have the skills that my mother had” Celestia continued. “I didn’t even unlock half of the power she had…” “But there’s one thing you’re wrong” Ingrid said. “One thing that only is true inside your twisted mind” Celestia added. And together, they exclaimed: “WE’RE NOT WEAK!” There was a pause and then Tirek said: “Do you seriously believe that saying something like that will change anything? Power is not simply will or believe. Power is only the ability to make things happen.” “You’re wrong about that” Celestia said. “Power is not only that. Power resides in the bonds, in the trust and in the friendship and love.” “But that’s clearly something you will not understand” Ingrid said. “I once let myself believe that hate was only my only path, but then I discovered it was only destroying me inside. And now, we’ll show you what happens to the ones…” “…who dares to threat everything our parents built and gave everything to protect!” Celestia ended. And the two sisters carried their horns with magic in a way that no one between the presents ever saw. The two took flight and then they attack with a combined force of ice and light. Tirek created the ribcage of the Warrior of Dark Light where the attack collided. It was then that, for his surprise, the ice started to freeze the defense and then crack. Seeing that, Aspen said: “Let’s go!” And they all advanced, with Hard Stone going to the deer king’s back. Seeing that happening, Tirek retreated to dodge the attack and then fired an intense blast against the two alicorn sisters. But then Mystic Heart appeared and, using her water magic, created a dense, curved torrent, creating a circular barricade that protected the alicorn princesses from the blast. And, front that water, she created a dragon that involved Tirek and then spat it to the air, where Aspen and Hard Stone were, combining the gravity spell and the light nature on Aspen’s horn, they were able to hit him hard, cracking the other side of his defense. With another blow from Ingrid and Celestia, the ribcage was undone and the evil centaur was thrown against the ground, going hit some plants and then the remains of the two meteorites. But he still had little damages. “I have to admit” he said to the two sisters. “You’re not weak. But I have to say that, if you two fell, the other regents will fall as well, since you’re the only ones with alicorn power and also the only ones with powerful healing spells to keep up with this battle.” “That’s only if we fall” Celestia replied, while landing with Ingrid on a plant. “Which I can guarantee it won’t be easy.” And the other regents landed beside them. “We’ll not stop until you’re completely defeated. And for you to know, this time we’ll send you to a place where you won’t be able to escape.” “If you’re referring to Tartarus, I heard it is not as safe as it used to be, having in count all the escapees” Tirek replied. “But I accept your challenge. Let’s see if you have what it takes to bring me down.” At the shores, Day Glow got the news from Freeze Burn about Tirek’s return. “What?!” he exclaimed. “Tirek is back?!” “Yes, and because of that, most of the regents of the Alliance is now” Freeze Burn said. “That also includes Celestia and Ingrid.” “They did?” Day Glow asked. “It really seems they got over what happened. That makes be glad.” “They went through a lot” Freeze Burn said. “But that only made them stronger. And I have to say that, even so I know Ingrid loves me very much, neither she or Celestia forgot you. Because of that, I know they will get over this. They have a will of iron when it is to protect the ones they love.” After a combined attack of light from Celestia to confuse Tirek and then an ice attack from Ingrid to immobilize him, Aspen turned to Strongpaw and exclaimed: “Do it now, Chief Strongpaw!” And, with a wave of hoof, Strongpaw launched a great quantity of sand to involve Tirek, while shouting: “Desert Imperial Funeral!” And the pyramid with sealing tags was formed and Strongpaw said: “He’s sealed!” “All right!” Celestia exclaimed. But then the ground started to shake and a blast came out, hitting on Celestia partially, what made her scream and then fall. “Celestia!” Ingrid screamed. And then Tirek immerged with the Warrior of Dark Light involving him, while saying: “The one you sealed was a wood clone. Thanks to my power, I was able to see through your blows.” Looking to Celestia, he said: “She got lucky because she wasn’t directly hit, but, in that state, I doubt she can fight any longer. What means it’s over for you all.” At the shores, Day Glow told Freeze Burn: “Don’t underestimate Tirek. Since I was a child, I got to witness how evil and powerful he is. If only I wasn’t a reincarnated being controlled by the General of Death, I could go and help her. With this immortal body, I would be able to help her. How are things to stop her?” “So far, we don’t have any concrete intel about where she is” he replied. “Then, we just have to hope the two of them will be fine” Day Glow, thinking about Celestia and Ingrid. At the desert, Tirek turned into the other regents and told them: “Now, who is going to be the next one to join her?” “Your monster…” Ingrid started. But, before she could do anything, a blast of light appeared and hit the Warrior of Dark Light that started to get weakened, starting to recede. Tirek was quick to move to dodge that. All of them looked and saw Celestia getting up. “Sister!” Ingrid exclaimed with a smiled. “You’re okay!” “Impressive” Tirek said. “You were finally able to unlock the same power your mother had to absorb light nature. You were even able to undo my blacklight nature.” “My parents taught me and Luna many of their spells when we two manifested our talents” Celestia replied. “Your mistake was to be sure I would never be at the same level as them.” “Even though, there’s no way you can affect me” Tirek said. “Not with that spell.” “Then I will use mine!” Hard Stone replied, appearing behind him. And he launched his Atomic Dismantling Spell against Tirek. But then he forgot about one thing… “Have you forgotten, Hard Stone?” Tirek asked, while absorbing his attack. “I can absorb magic. You’re just making me stronger. If you want to defeat me, you have to cause me physical damage.” “My attack from earlier almost hit you” the king replied. “Oh that, I just wanted to give you the illusion that you could defeat me just to then crush your hope” Tirek revealed. “I know that the only way to defeat you, from the Order, is to give you a fake sense of hope. But I didn’t expect you could have come this far.” “I have a question for you” Celestia said, making a slight smile. “It’s true that you deceived us with that wood clone, but, from another angle, it could say that we managed to corner you to use a clone to substitute yourself. Am I wrong?” Tirek didn’t replied immediately, first looking to each of the present regents, and then do it: “Well, it is six against one, after all” “That’s because we need to win no matter what” Mystic Heart replied. “Don’t come calling us cowards because we’re being unfair with you. In truth, it’s just a testament to your might. Your Lord Tirek, after all.” “No, I won’t call you cowards” Tirek replied. “Six-to-one is just a right ratio to play games.” And, saying that he made more wood clones, making thirty. Those clones then advance, with each six facing a different regent. “Now it’s on the other way” Tirek said. “And don’t say this is cowardly. You’re the great regents of the Alliance! And so I have one question for you… Would you prefer having these clones using the Warrior of Dark Light against you or not? The choice is yours.”