//------------------------------//
// Infiltrating the Dark Forest 
// Story: The Prince of the Cursed Kingdom 
// by Rakoon1 
//------------------------------//

Star and Bramble returned to their room at the academy, with the latter starting to pace a little nervously.

“Wow… to think I am about to go to the Dark Forest…” he said, trembling a bit. “A few years back, I wouldn’t even consider the thought of going there…”

“Bramble, are you okay?” Star asked, while sitting on his bed. 

“I’m fine… totally fine!” Bramble said, doing his nervous laugh. “Why do you ask?”

“You seem a little bit off… not to mention you have electricity going through your antlers” Star commented, as he saw Bramble’s light nature starting to activate.

“Don’t worry, Star, like I said: I’m totally fine!” Bramble exclaimed, while forcing a smile.

At that moment, he released lightning bolt that was quickly caught by Star’s magic and absorbed by it.

“Clearly…” the young alicorn prince said. “Bramble, relax… I know that it may be a little bit scary to go to a cursed kingdom…”

“Especially one that can trap you in time and possibly even forget who you are and that is possibly ruled by the most vile and tyrannical ruler ever!” Bramble exclaimed, with his antlers starting to be charged again with electricity.

Rolling his eyes, Star summoned a barrier around Bramble to keep his lightning inside, while also summoning a paper bag to him that he used to hyperventilate. After he was done, now looking calmer, Star undid the barrier and asked:

“Better?”

“A little, yeah…” Bramble replied, as he put the paper bag away.

“Look, I know this may seem a very tough job to do… and maybe it is” Star said.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Bramble asked, sarcastically.

“But… I know we can do this and help the Enchanted Forest get rid of the big stain of darkness contaminating it” Star told. “Don’t forget I already have some experience with this. Have you already forgotten about Tambelon?”

“Oh, yeah… I remember that…” Bramble said, making then a slight smile. “Maybe we can really do this… But how?”

“Well, for starters, like we talked about in the Mirrored Library, we will need to enter Falancia and figure out what is happening there” Star said. “First we scout, so that we can know what is happening, and then solve it.”

“Okay… that is a good plan” Bramble said, with more confidence. “So… when will we do this?”

“As soon as possible” Star said, looking through the window. “Bright Night’s barrier may be able to contain the curse… but the ponies living there have been suffering for centuries now. We cannot let them be suffering for much longer.”

Hearing Star talking about his desire to help the ponies that inhabited Falancia made Bramble realize what was really at stake. He needed to overcome his fears and get the confidence that he needed to help him. After all, the Tree of Crisis chose him because he was suited for the job.

“You’re right” the young deer prince said. “And you can count on me… a hundred percent.”

With his friend expressing his desire to help, Star smiled and replied:

“I know you will, buddy. Why don’t you rest for now? I will try to gather information and try to work on the spell that we will need to break through the barrier.”

Bramble nodded with his head and then Star teleported away. He then appeared back on the Light Kingdom, at the library, using his magic to search for books about Falancia. Probably he could get more information about it at the Mirrored Library, but the information that he needed would probably be sealed away, having in consideration they were related to how the kingdom was cursed, so he would need to rely on the information he had outside of it. Not just that, but he also needed to find a spell that could work on Bright Night’s barrier without shattering completely.

Meanwhile, as the sun was setting, jaquins were coming to Chief Zephyr who was standing, seating, at the center of the cave where the entrance to their realm was located. Skylar and Vestia landed before him who asked:

“I assume everything is quiet from your part, right?”

“Yes, chief, no sign of intruders” Vestia reported.

“What is too bad, because I would love to have a little fun” Skylar said. “Ever since Gleaming Shield left, things have been too much boring.”

“You should be glad that is the case, Skylar” Zephyr told. “That can only mean that we are at peace and we should cherish that.”

“He is just upset because he doesn’t see Gleaming Shield for quite a while” Vestia teased her little brother with a smile. “I bet he would not say that if she was around.”

“Vestia…!” Skylar exclaimed, while blushing. “That is not true!”

“Oh, come on, there is not a day you pass without even talking about her” Vestia replied, amused.

“That’s… that’s because she helped us…” Skylar told, still blushing.

“Sure, sure…” his sister said, still teasing her younger brother.

“Oh, shut up!” Skylar replied, turning his look away.

That caused Chief Zephyr to chuckle, but then he felt something approaching.

“Vestia… Skylar… be ready…” he said to them. “We’re not alone.”

The two young jaquins looked confused, but then an immense blinding yellow light appeared before them. Vestia and Skylar could barely keep their eyes open and retreated to side with Zephyr.

“What is this…?” Vestia asked.

“I don’t know…” Skylar replied.

Despite the initial confusion of the origin of the light, Zephyr soon realized what it was.

“Don’t worry, children, this is not an enemy” he told.

The light dissipated and Golden Paladin appeared. Seeing him, Zephyr made a slight bow, saying:

“It’s an honor to be at the presence of the General of Peace.”

“You must be the jaquin that leads the guards of the portal to Serenity Valley” Golden Paladin said. “Chief Zephyr… Princess Gleaming Shield has told me about you.”

“Gleaming Shield…” Skylar said.

“Hush, Skylar” Vestia told. “I don’t think we should interrupt him…”

“Indeed, I am Chief Zephyr” the old jaquin replied. “Can I ask what brings you here, Your Honor?”

“I have business to attend to in Serenity Valley” Golden Paladin replied. “May I ask you to please open the portal for me?”

“Of course, General” Zephyr said, as he went to the engraved stone paw that allowed the jaquins to open the portal to their realm.

It was then that Golden Paladin took notice of the two young jaquins present there and his attention went to Skylar, who got a little intimidated.

“You… You must be… Skylar, right?” he asked. “Princess Gleaming Shield talked a lot about you, so you’re quite easy to recognize.”

“She did…?” Skylar started to ask, with a little smile appearing on him, regaining composure when he noticed his sister giving him a teasing look. “I mean… yeah, I’m Skylar.”

“I heard that you helped her locate Quita Moz” Golden Paladin said. “Would you guide me to his nest?”

“Ah… sure…” Skylar replied.

“I hope you don’t mind, Chief Zephyr” Golden Paladin said.

“Of course not” Zephyr replied, as he placed his paw on the stone paw and activated the portal. “But I have to say King Blackavar would like to have a visit from you.”

“Unfortunately, that needs to wait” Golden Paladin replied. “But I’ll make sure I visit him after what I have to do.”

“Very well…” Chief Zephyr nodded.

And so Golden Paladin headed towards the portal and crossed it. Despite a little nervous, Skylar went to following, with the portal closing behind them.

At the library of the Light Castle, Star had gathered many books, many regarding the Enchanted Forest as it was before the Dark Curse of Falancia and others that could contain spells to break containment barriers. Despite he managed to get some useful information about the former, he was having trouble in getting information about the latter. 

He was so focused on his task that he even forgot to go dinner. Fortunately, somepony would not let him go without eating.

“It looks like someone is in need of a little snack” Twilight said, as she appeared beside her son with her magic bringing a plate with a pair of sandwiches.

“Oh, thanks, mom!” Star exclaimed, as Twilight placed down the plate and he took a sandwich. “I can’t believe I forgot dinner. Sorry if I left you and dad hanging.”

“It’s okay, I know you are busy” Twilight replied. “I heard about your mission with Bramble. I presume this research if for that.”

“Yeah…” Star replied. “I’m trying to get to know as much as I can about Falancia and how to get in. I gathered some information of the place, but not so much about how to pass through that barrier…”

Despite knowing her son would prefer to figure this out on his own, Twilight couldn’t help but giving him an advice that she knew he would be able to pick up.

“You know… Bright Night is the General of Portals. Her magic is connected to the space between realms and share the same nature.”

Star was eating a sandwich, while thinking about how to cross the barrier. When he heard what his mother had just said, an idea came to mind. Why didn’t he think of that?

“Thanks, mom, that was a great tip!” Star exclaimed, while he put down the sandwich and took flight to get more books.

That caused Twilight to smile and then she moved away, letting her son to carry out his mission.

In Serenity Valley, with the night already occupying most of the sky, Skylar guided Golden Paladin to the place where Quita Moz’s nest was located. Watching the island, Golden Paladin asked:

“So… that’s the place?”

“Yeah, it is” Skylar replied. “The entrance is concealed by magic. If you want, I can…”

“Don’t worry about it” Golden Paladin replied, with a small smile. “I can detect the entrance. Thank you very much, Skylar. You can go now.”

“Don’t you want me to accompany you?” Skylar asked. “I mean… at least to open the portal to you on your way back.”

“That won’t be necessary” Golden Paladin replied. “After I am done with my meeting with Quita Moz, I do plan to visit your father, King Blackavar. It would be rather rude of me to come to Serenity Valley without visiting its ruler.”

“Okay… if you say so…” Skylar said, preparing to take flight and move away. “Oh, if we don’t meet again… can you tell Gleaming Shield I said hi?”

Golden Paladin nodded with his head and Skylar took off. After the young jaquin was gone, Golden Paladin started heading towards Quita Moz’s island. Getting there, he located the entrance to the tunnel that was connected to the nest and soon reached it. However, the nest was empty. The General of Peace looked around, while trying to sense any presence of the oracle.

It was then that a serpentine shadowed figure started to appear behind Golden Paladin who then proceeded to say:

“You do realize I can sense you, right… Quita Moz?”

The figure moved quickly to in front of the General, revealing to be Quita Moz, who said, while going behind his fire pit:

“Oh… and here was I thinking I could get a good scare out of you, Golden.”

“Have you ever lived with Heartbeat?” he asked. “Trust me, you get immunity to that sort of things.”

“So… what brings the ever busy General of Peace to my humble nest?” Quita Moz asked, while supporting his chin with his tail.

“You know very well why I am here” Golden Paladin replied. “Princess Gleaming Shield has told me about your vision of me. I want to hear it directly from you, so I can better understand it.”

Quita Moz made a thinking look, replied:

“Yeah, that makes sense… I kind of suspected that you would come here…”

Looking to his pit, Golden Paladin commented, unamused:

“You mean you saw it on your fire…”

“Don’t worry your little pony head, because I can help you on that matter” Quita Moz told.

“Great!” Golden Paladin exclaimed.

“Tomorrow…” Quita Moz added.

“Good, so now you can…” Golden Paladin started, before realizing what the quetzalcoatl had just said. “What?! Tomorrow?!”

“I don’t know if you have noticed, but it’s nightfall” Quita Moz said, while using his magic to show the sky outside. “You know what that means: it’s sleeping time!”

“You’re kidding, right?” Golden Paladin inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“What, do you think these scales and feathers look this good without a good night sleep?” Quita Moz asked, while passing his tail by his mane of feathers. “Don’t worry, once the sun rises, I will be glad to answer your doubts.”

“Quita Moz, I don’t know if you know the urgency of…” Golden Paladin started, before being pulled away by Quita Moz towards the exit.

“Tomorrow…” Quita Moz insisted, as he placed Golden Paladin outside his nest. “You know, not everyone can stay awake as much as they want like you. Give this old oracle a rest.”

Having said that, he blocked the entrance to his nest, causing Golden Paladin to sigh and then sit down, waiting for the next day.

The sun was starting to rise in the Enchanted Forest and Star and Bramble were ready to infiltrate Falancia. After leaving a clone of Bramble so to not take too much suspicion, the two princes went towards the border of Falancia, both using hooded cloaks. As they approached it, Star noticed how the trees around them started to become darker in color. 

Interestingly, Star never went to that side of the Enchanted Forest, but got surprised when Bramble also told him he had never gone there either. Even if Falancia was avoided by every inhabitant of the realm, there were many other kingdom: some big, other small… some well-known, others whose name were not even heard off… According to Bramble, because Falancia was the biggest kingdom of the Enchanted Forest, occupying a big part of it, after it was sealed away, it got hard for the kingdoms located at the mountain region and around it (like Thicket, Aeropolis, Stonult and Evermist) to interact with the kingdoms located beyond Falancia, even if there was other paths connecting them.

Finally, they arrived at their destination. Stopping, Bramble said:

“According to the information we got from scouts, this is where we cannot cross. Every attempt resulted in the scouts returning to where they started.”

“Bright Night is able to distort space” Star said, while he carefully advanced. “That’s why no scout was able to advance more than a little distance after the border.”

He then stopped as he noticed that the Element of Sorcery was glowing, reacting to the magic of the barrier.

“The barrier is right here…” Star said, while charging his horn and channeling its magic to his hoof. “I can feel it… It’s just like my mother told me… Bright Night’s magic is the same as the one that separates realms. It’s the exact same feeling as when we cross the border between Pony World and the Enchanted Forest.”

“So… how do we cross it?” Bramble asked. “Besides the Pony World and the Enchanted Forest, it’s rather tricky to travel between realms.”

“Yeah, traveling between realms is tricky… but there is one pony that has a great deal of easiness in doing that besides Bright Night: Heartbeat” Star said. “She can even travel to sealed realms. Thanks to her swift nature, she can vibrate herself through any spatial barrier, even those that seal realms. I may not have a swift nature like her, but it’s not the swift nature that truly allows her to travel between realms, but vibration. If I use the right spell to vibrate my magic just enough… I may be able to pass through.”

“Have you already done that?” Bramble asked.

“Well… not for real or on something like this barrier… But I think I can manage” Star replied.

“Don’t you think you’re overestimating yourself?” Kurama said to Star in their mindscape. “You may be an expert in magic like your mother, but that kind of magic may be a little too much for you.”

“Maybe you’re the one that is underestimating me, Kurama” Star replied.

“Am I?” the tailed beast asked. “You’re talking about breaking the barrier of a powerful General of Order with a spell you’re just barely acquainted with. You’re not your mother, you know? And let’s not talk about the amount of energy you need for that. Don’t forget you don’t have access to my full power.”

“Don’t worry, I still have my Element of Sorcery to amplify my magic” Star told.

“You’re talking about the element that leaves you weaker once you use it” Kurama replied, unamused.

But Star ignored him. Outside the mindscape, he started focusing his magic to perform the spell to pass through the barrier. Soon after, he made it vibrate and then added more magic into it. It didn’t take long for Star to feel how strong that barrier really was. He added more and more magic, but it looked that the barrier would still not give in to him. However, Star couldn’t afford to use too much magic before entering in an unknown and possibly dangerous territory. So he decided to activate the enhancing magic of the Element of Sorcery. 

As soon he did that, the magic he was using multiplied and became much stronger. Bramble became very impressed with the magic that his friend was applying. It was then that cracks started to appear on the barrier. Seeing that, Star added more vibration to his magic and, moments later, he could feel his hoof penetrating the barrier, shattering it on that spot.

“I did it!” he exclaimed.

“Great work, Star!” Bramble congratulated.

Now with that hole in the barrier, Star was able to use his magic to create a small passageway for the two of them.

“It’s done…” Star replied, taking a deep breath and cleaning the sweat on his brow, while feeling the usual drop in energy caused by the use of the Element of Sorcery.

“Are you sure the curse won’t leak into the rest of the Enchanted Forest?” Bramble asked, worried.

“The Dark Curse only affects the area it covers once it is casted” Star explained. “Bright Night prevented it from spreading, so I think we’re on the clear. The main purpose of the barrier now is to prevent the evil that cursed the kingdom from getting out.”

“Yeah… so we better make sure we seal the passageway” Bramble advised.

“Don’t worry, this barrier has more tricks than you think” Star told. “Anyone that gets caught inside of it when it is casted remains there until it is broken completely. The only way for someone to get out through this hole is if they are taken by an outsider… like us.”

“Okay… if you say so…” Bramble said, a little bit calmer.

“So… shall we start this mission?” Star asked.

Bramble took a deep breath and nodded. And so the two princes passed through the passageway Star created and ventured themselves into the cursed kingdom of Falancia, the Dark Forest…

Little did they know that their presence was not passed unnoticed. At the royal castle of Falancia, a pony knight in black armor was carrying a round wall mirror on a sun-shaped dark metallic frame, whose surface was reflecting dark purple smoke where a pony head with shades of purple was floating.

“Careful!” the pony in the mirror shouted to the knight. “If you drop me, I’ll make sure you get fourteen years of bad luck!”

The knight arrived at the throne room approaching the one that was sitting on the throne. Upon reaching the stairs to the throne, he made a very deep bow, while putting the mirror down and holding it towards the pony on the throne.

“Your Majesty…” the pony in the mirror said, making a reverence with his head. “I know you hate being disturbed, but I think you would want to know something. I was able to detect the presence of two unknown magical signatures. I know they are not from any of your subjects because they are more powerful than most of them. I can only conclude… that they come from the outside.”

Hearing that may have upset the one at the throne as it was possible to see the hoof pressing the arm of the throne angrily…