//------------------------------// // The Two Halves of an All // Story: Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// Inside Heartbeat’s mind, the Kurama that was in the shadows let himself be revealed, showing to have a darker color than the one inside Star, telling then to Heartbeat: “Heartbeat, I have to tell you that brat is a better jinchuriki than you. The Lord of Order was right to seal my other half in him. They can work together in a way, we never could.” “Well, what can I say, I couldn’t stand you” Heartbeat said. “After all, you were always provoking me and you know that I have a very short patience.” “And even so you broke Leaf Mane’s seal that was storing me and took it to you” Kurama observed. “We’re in the middle of war” Heartbeat replied. “We have to use all the tricks we have. Beyond that, I always found this half of yours more… tolerable.” A pause and then he said: “Do you remember what day is tomorrow?” “How could I ever forget” Heartbeat replied. Inside Star and Kurama’s plane, the fox said to his jinchuriki: “Star, listen up. I have something to tell you.” After lending the blow, Star, while gliding, looked and saw Grogar lying on the ground, with a wound at his back, the place where the young alicorn laid his attack. Smiling, Star exclaimed: “Yes, I knew it! It’s just like I thought!” Grogar started to get up and said: “I can’t believe that the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki has such weakeness.” One of the spheres advanced to heal him, with Grogar cursing in his mind the fact of not be able to pass through things with Ten-Tails inside. Star landed beside Blue, Heartbeat and Ingrid and said: “Looks like magic empowered by natural energy will work. And now that I think about it, when I tried to sense Ten-Tails, he was nothing more than a great concentration of natural energy… wild, but still natural. So, like fire can only be fought with fire, the same goes with natural energy. Now I’m really glad that Leaf Mane taught me how to use it.” Grogar started to rise up in the air, getting out of the hole he was thrown in, with fire appearing at the tips of the spikes on his shoulders. “It clearly worked, but he’s recovered already and his guarding his back” Ingrid said. Grogar advanced a little, but then he landed and went down a bit, saying: “I must start preparing to the Eternal Nightmare Curse, so let’s tight things up.” It was then that, before everyone’s eyes, a big plant started to grow rapidly, while four big flowers like the one that Ten-Tails had grew up at the trunk and opened. “There’s truly nothing worthy saving in this reality” Grogar said, taking flight. “This all world is already dead.” And the four flowers started to create, each one, a Tailed Beast Bomb. That image caught everyone by surprise and they didn’t know how they would dodge something like that when they barely survived to only one. “Not even an earth wall would work against that” Obsidian Blade said. “There’s too many of them.” Twilight started to think of way to deal with that, but nothing came to her head. “We need one pony to teleport each one of those” Ingrid said. “I and Heartbeat can take two, three with Luna’s help, but with Celestia fighting Hepheus and Twilight Sparkle focusing in healing the wounded, we still have one to deal with.” While fighting, Celestia continued trying to reason with Hepheus. “Please, Hepheus, you have no time to lose” she said. “Grogar is acting out.” “We have all the time in the world, there’s no need for worry” Hepheus replied. “Keep fighting.” Noticing the situation regarding the Tailed Beast Bombs, Luna approached Twilight and told her: “Twilight Sparkle, I will help my sister and Heartbeat dealing with three of the Tailed Beast Bombs. Make sure that everyone creates defenses for the other one.” “I won’t let you!” Grogar exclaimed, preparing a sphere that burst into flames. He then fired six black rods at six locations around the place and, after focusing, an hexagonal barrier, like the one Heartbeat and the three alicorn sisters used, was erected, encasing all the Alliance in it. “He trapped us inside the barrier and made it in the way we can’t dodge the Tailed Beast Bombs” Luna said. “And because we can’t teleport everyone away in time, we’ll suffer great casualties.” The spheres around Grogar changed shape and started to involve him, ready to protect him. “This is the endgame” he said, while doing that. “Since we can’t teleport one, one of us has to teleport two” Ingrid said. “Because of the size of those things, that won’t be possible” Blue replied. “But I have another idea.” “If you intend to teleport the stalk instead to the outside, I warn you that won’t work” Grogar said, while the black matter continued to involve him. “Do you think I would allow that? You cannot save anyone now.” That demoralized Blue, but then Star said to Heartbeat: “Heartbeat, I don’t know if this will work or not, but I have an idea and I need your help.” He extended his hoof and asked: “Can you give me a hoof bump?” Knowing what he had in mind, she smiled and then did what he asked. That caused the planes their shared with their respective Kuramas to become ones and the lighter Kurama saluted his other half: “Hey, my other half, how have you been? Do you mind sharing some of your energy with me?” That caused the other to make a laugh and the said: “You know, having myself asking me for a favor is weird.” While the black matter continued to cover him, Grogar said: “Star, face it, there’s nothing you can do. That one beside you couldn’t even contain Nine-Tails, forcing you to take her task. You know what tomorrow is, don’t you? It is the anniversary of the day you became a jinchuriki and your life became a nightmare like no other. The day that marked you to be pursued by villains, the day that sealed all the pain you suffered…” “Oh, right” Star replied. “Which means is also the day when I was marked to be the one to defeat you and your master. So, you see, it’s not over. While I still stand and have the will to fight, this war will not end until I ensure everyone’s future… because I exist in this world!” All the ones who were listening that smiled, except for Grogar, who continued to look unmoved to him. “Now, let’s do it, Heartbeat!” Star exclaimed, while entering the next level of his Nine-Tails Mode, with the two Kuramas making a fist bump. “All right!” she replied. After a moment, the lighter Kurama told to the darker one: “Thank goodness for the energy of you two. It’s just as I thought.” “Yeah, well, the two of us used to be one, after all” the other replied. “Plus, these two are our jinchuriki and suffered a lot because of us. We have to compensate them for everything.” At the battlefield, everyone started to think that was the end, but some continued to think of a way to defend that attack. “What’s your idea, son?” Blue asked to Star. “Just give me some time to focus” he replied to him. Inside their plane, Star said to Heartbeat: “Let me explain what Kurama and I came up and then you tell me if it’s going to work or not.” “Okay, you can tell me” she replied. After telling his plan, Heatbeat smiled, as she knew that would work. “Let’s try it. We can do anything if we borrowed Kurama’s power.” “Right” Star said. “Then let’s having the four of us join forces now.” “All four of us?” the darker Kurama asked. “You treat us like we’re your equals too.” “What kind of childrearing has led to this, eh?” the lighter Kurama commented to his other half who just gave a laugh. It was then that everyone in the battlefield recovered the energy cloak that Star gave them before. “Wait, this is Star’s…” Applejack started. “Yeah, it’s his cloak!” Cloud Chase exclaimed. “Eeyup” Big Mac agreed. “That colt never ceases to surprise us” Shadow Claw said. “Yeah, that kid is really awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “You can say that again, Dashy” Soarin said. “It is bigger and stronger than before.” Looking to the cloak around her, Twilight said: “So it didn’t disappeared… I get it, it just shrank.” “You feel it, Eight-Tails?” Hawthorn asked to his tailed beast. “I can feel two Nine-Tails, one light and one dark.” “This isn’t just Nine-Tails” Gyuki said. “Queen Ingrid, I must give some of my energy with you, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia” Star said. “Don’t worry about us” Ingrid replied. “I and my sisters can get out of here just fine. Just focus in saving everyone else.” Star nodded. “That won’t help to stand the shock wave of four Ten-Tails’ Tailed Beast Bombs exploding together” Grogar replied, while he was completely covered by the black matter. “Be gone.” And the Tailed Beast Bombs were fired, creating a massive shockwave. Then the explosion happened, limited to the borders of the barrier. It got distorted and the explosion get out from the top like a volcano. When it cleared, the stalk appeared a little burned from the explosion. The cocoon of black matter that contained Grogar descended and started to unveil. He looked around and then said: “How could…” Everyone in the Alliance was fine, still surrounded by the energy cloak. “It looks like this energy cloak protected us again” Spike said. Luna, teleporting to his side, replied: “Not quite. Just look around.” “Spike, look!” Ember said, pointing. “All of us are… outside the barrier.” She was right. The barrier was a few distance away and no one was inside it at the time of the explosion. “Don’t tell me it was Star who did that” Spike said. “Not just him” Luna said. “This isn’t just his energy.” “He moved everyone using Heartbeat’s teleportation spell” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn. At the place where Star, Heartbeat, Blue and Ingrid were, the latter said: “Well done, Heartbeat. Quite impressive how you were able to teleport everyone in just one single teleportation.” “I wouldn’t be able to do it… without Star” Heartbeat said, a little tired. “What did you do?” Blue asked. “Nothing much” Star replied with a smile. “Heartbeat just teleported everyone to the outside of the barrier.” “Everyone?” Blue asked. “But how?” “Simple, I already had shared Kurama’s energy with everyone, remember? So, if we were in direct contact, it would work. I connected Heartbeat’s energy with Kurama’s and mine. That’s the secret behind this trick.” “Your son used the principle of the multiplication spell” Ingrid explained. “Even if you split up and disperse your energy, if you give a little bit then without putting it out, the original body infuses energy again to regain control and all the individual’s energy resonate and are linked together. In short, by joining his energy with Heartbeat’s, Star effectively linked her with the rest of his energy that was residing in everyone else. Isn’t that right, Star Knight?” “Well, I wouldn’t put it in that way, but yeah, that was the idea” he replied. “I see…” Blue said. “You clearly are a constant surprise, son.” “Yeah, but now we must focus on the task we have ahead” Star said, looking to the barrier.