//------------------------------//
// Ch 11. The Evil King Returns 
// Story: Equestrian Knights 
// by HeatherIsBestPlayer 
//------------------------------//

	It took them the entire rest of the day to get back out of the forest, back to the field they had started at. The sun was beginning to set by the time they arrived.
“I hate today,” moaned Gilda.
“I need a stiff drink,” groaned Jet Set.
Iron Will looked around at the field they were in. “So where is the blasted thing?” he asked.
“It should be buried underneath that bolder,” said Blueblood. He pointed over at a large bolder sitting in the field.
“Oh my gosh, a giant rock!” said Hoops.
Blueblood rolled his eyes and tried to lift the bolder with his magic. He quickly discovered that it was far too heavy for him to move.
“Here, let me!” Trixie suddenly pushed Blueblood out of the way. She gritted her teeth and pumped magic into her horn as she attempted to move the rock with her magic. Much to their joy, the bolder slowly lifted up off the ground.
“You’re doing it, Trixie!” shouted Blueblood. “Keep it up!”
Straining with all her might to keep the bolder in the air, Trixie managed to move the bolder a few hooves away from the spot it was on, and then let it fall to the ground with a thud. She cut off her magic and then collapsed onto the ground, both physically and mentally exhausted.
“I did it!” she muttered as she took deep breaths.
“Alright!” everyone cheered.
“Way to go, Trixie!” said Blueblood.
Trixie grinned. “Thanks. I think I’ll just… rest here for a bit.” She laid her head on the ground and just lay there.
The rest of the group walked over to the spot where the bolder had been.
“I guess we start digging!” said Dumbbell.
“Did anyone bring any shovels?” asked Flam.
They all shook their heads.
Well I’m not waiting,” said Blueblood. He got down on the ground and began digging with his hooves. Everyone was shocked by this, but at this point, Blueblood didn’t care about getting dirt on his hooves anymore. Not when the object of his desires was so close to finally being in his grasp.
Everyone else quickly began digging in the ground with their hooves as well.
After digging down about a foot, Blueblood felt something hard against his hoof. He began digging around it, soon exposing something goblet shaped wrapped in a dirty cloth sheet.
“I think this is it!” he exclaimed. “I think we’ve found it!”
They pulled the object out of the ground. Blueblood hastily unwrapped the cloth that was around it. They gasped as he pulled out a beautiful golden goblet embedded with red gems, and held it up with his magic for them all to see. The light from the setting sun reflected off its surface.
Blueblood grinned triumphantly and looked at the others. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… OUR SALVATION, just like I promised you.”
“Wait,” said Gilda. “How do we know for sure this is the real thing?”
Blueblood glared at her. “What else could it be?!”
“We should test it, to see if it really works,” said Flim. “Does anyone have any water?”
“I do,” said Trixie, now recovered from her exhaustion and on her hooves. She levitated her canteen of water out of her backpack and gave it to Blueblood. He poured it into the goblet.
The water immediately glowed bright pink for a few seconds, then looked normal again..
“Did you see that?” said Hoops. “It definitely did something!”
Blueblood went to take a drink from the goblet, but Upper Crust put her hoof up to stop him.
“Wait! What if it’s booby trapped?! What if it will actually poison you or something?!”
Blueblood immediately stopped. He supposed it was possible that Starswirl might have put some sort of booby trap on it. “Good point,” he said. “So how do we make sure its not then?”
Gilda, quick as lightning, reached down into the grass and picked up a field mouse in her claws. “Here, test it on this,” she said. She made a cut in the mouse’s side with one of her talons. It squealed in pain and squirmed to get away from her.
Blueblood put the goblet over the squirming mouse and poured a few drops of the water onto it. Everyone’s eyes lit up as they saw the mouse’s wound immediately heal up, not even leaving a scar.
“It works!” exclaimed Gilda in astonishment, flinging the now immortal mouse away behind her. “It actually works!”
“WE’RE RICH!” shouted Flam.
Everyone let out a cheer.
Suddenly there was a flash of light behind Blueblood, and Starswirl the bearded appeared, a furious look on his face. Blueblood turned around and cried out in surprise as he saw the aged unicorn standing behind him.
They all immediately started backing away from Starswirl.
“Hand over the goblet, now!” said Starswirl, holding out his hoof.
“No!” said Blueblood, putting the goblet behind himself.
Starswirl didn’t back down. “Give it to me, or else I shall take it from you by force.”
“Oh yeah? You and what army?” said Dumbbell.
Starswirl stepped to the side, revealing the rest of the guardians all standing behind him. The six cloaked guardians, Angel the bunny, Zecora the zebra, and Big Macintosh, still dressed as Pyramid Head.
The group shouted out in shock when they saw Starswirl’s backup.
“Does that answer your question?” said Starswirl.
“You’re all going down!” Angel shouted at them, pounding his little paws together threateningly.
Score pointed at Angel. "Hey, I just figured out the bunny's voice!" he exclaimed. "It's John DiMaggio!"
"Not the time, Score," said Gilda.
The group continued to back away from Starswirl and the Guardians.
“Any ideas?” asked Trixie.
“Yeah,” said Blueblood. “RUUUUUUUUN!”
They took off running away from the guardians, Blueblood clutching the goblet tightly too his chest with his magic as he ran.
“After them!” Starswirl shouted. “Retrieve the Goblet!”
Starswirl and his guardians began chasing after our anti-heroes. They began hurling magic blasts at them.
The group ducked their heads down to try to avoid the magic blasts. “BACK INTO THE FOREST!” shouted Lightning Dust as they ran. “WE’LL LOOSE THEM IN THERE!”
They darted back into the Everfree Forest.
Trixie stopped just before entering the forest, and idea suddenly crossing her mind, and turned around to face their pursuers.
“YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” she shouted at them at the top of her lungs, stomping her hoof down against the ground.
Just then, a magic blast from one of the guardians shot her hat off her head. Trixie screamed and turned tail and ran, picking her hat up off the ground with her magic as she hurried to catch up with her compatriots. The Guardians continued after them into the forest.
Blueblood, Trixie, Flim, Flam, and Jet Set began shooting magic blasts back at the guardians from their horns a they ran through the forest. They kept ducking behind trees as they ran, trying to avoid being hit by their pursuers’ own magical attacks. Those of them without horns couldn’t really do much to fight back, so they just did their best to not get hit.
Trixie looked over in annoyance at the only other unicorn in their group who wasn’t helping. “Hey, Upper Crust, could you maybe help us shoot at them!” Trixie shouted at her as they ran.
Upper Crust shook her head, tears in her eyes. “I’M NOT FIGHTING! I HATE VIOLENCE!” she shouted back. “I WANNA GO HOME!”
Trixie rolled her eyes and continued firing back at the guardians.
Suddenly Upper Crust’s tail got hit by an enemy’s magic blast, slicing off most of her tail in an instant, leaving what remained of her tail blackened and singed. Upper Crust let out a blood-curdling scream as she looked back and saw what was left of her tail.
“MY TAIL! THEY RUINED MY BEAUTIFUL TAIL!” she screamed. Then her face became red with rage. “SONS OF BITCHES!”
In that instant, she became so angry she literally burst into flames, her eyes glowing bright white! She turned to face their attackers and pointed her horn at them all. She screamed a wild battle cry as she began shooting rapid continuous magical blasts at the guardians.
They saw Big Macintosh get hit and he instantly went down, then one of the cloaked guardians met the same fate a second later. The rest of the guardians began panicking when they saw the crazy flaming mare firing at them like nothing they had ever seen before!
One by one, Upper Crust’s magic blasts hit each of the guardians, and they all got knocked out. Finally, she blasted Starswirl with her magic, and even he was over powered by her none stop continuous blasts. After a few hits, was knocked to the ground on his side, unconscious.
The flames covering Upper Crust dissipated and she returned to her normal self, staggering around on her hooves, apparently completely exhausted.
The entire group stared wide-eyed at her in utter disbelief. “HOLLY SHIT!” they all shouted.
Trixie walked up to her and grabbed her by her shoulder, spinning her to face her. “HOW THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT!?!” she demanded.
“I have… no idea,” Upper Crust said woozily. “I was just… so angry.” The mare then collapsed, falling to the ground.
Jet Set hurried to her side.
“Are you alright, dear?” he asked, grabbing her hoof in his.
“I… think so,” she responded. “But my beautiful tail is ruined.”
“Don’t worry, dear. It will grow back in time,” said Jet Set, trying to comfort her. “And I have to admit, I’ve never been more turned on than I was after I saw what you just did to them!”
Upper Crust grinned up at her husband. The two then brought their lips together and started making out right there on the ground.
The others all looked at each other uncomfortably as the two unicorns were getting down right in front of them.
“Okay, that’s enough, you two!” said Gilda, pulling Jet Set up off of Upper Crust. “Save it for the bedroom, for crying out loud!”
“Really,” said everyone else in agreement.
Blueblood looked back down at their prize he was holding. The Goblet was safe in their possession, at last! “Well, we’ve made it out alive, and we’ve got the Goblet!” said Blueblood triumphantly, holding the goblet up over his head like a trophy.
The group all cheered in their success.
As they stopped cheering for themselves, they suddenly heard the sound of slow clapping coming from nearby. They all looked where the sound was coming from, and suddenly saw Surprise standing a few yards away, clapping her hooves slowly. She was looking at them with a sly smile on her face.
“Well done, everyone,” she said, her voice no longer perky and bubbly, but instead cold and callous. “Well done.”
“Surprise? What are you doing here?” asked Blueblood.
“You’ve all been a very big help to me,” Surprise continued, completely ignoring Blueblood’s question. “I must admit, I had my doubts from time to time that you’d actually be able to succeed, but you pulled through in the end.”
They all stared at Surprise in concern. She wasn’t acting like herself at all. This usually annoyingly happy pony was suddenly acting very… dark.
“Surprise are you okay,” asked Blueblood. “You’re acting very… unusual.”
“Am I?” Surprise let out a cold chuckle. She was really starting to scare Blueblood and most of the others now. “Well, I have a little surprise for you all?” she said, her eyes suddenly flashing with a green glow. Green flames suddenly erupted around Surprise.
“SURPRISE!” they all shouted in terror.
The green flames rose up her body, and as they did, the group noticed her body was changing. White fur turned to pitch black shell, legs lengthened and there were holes through them, poofy blond tail turned to dull green strands, eyes turned green with slits, feathers became bug wings, and a long crooked horn sprouted from her forehead.
The green flames faded, and where Surprise had just been, there now stood a grinning Changeling Queen.
“Surprise!” the pitch-black creature said menacingly.
The group all jumped back at the sudden appearance of the Changeling.
“Queen Chrysalis!” shouted Blueblood, recognizing her instantly.
Chrysalis laughed. “That’s right! It’s me.”
“Whoa! Super special awesome plot twist!” exclaimed Hoops.
“What have you done with Surprise?” demanded a fearful, yet angry Prince Blueblood.
Chrysalis laughed. “You fool. I’ve been Surprise this whole time!”
“What?!” Blueblood couldn’t believe it. He’d known Surprise for years. She couldn’t be Chrysalis. “That’s impossible! What happened to the real Surprise then?”
“Oh, my Changelings took her back to the hive for safe keeping. Couldn’t have her showing up while I was impersonating her, after all. And I think you’ll also recognize…” Chrysalis then transformed again, taking the form of an elderly mare.
Blueblood pointed an accusing hoof at her. “That’s the old beggar mare who gave me the map! THAT WAS YOU TOO?!”
Chrysalis changed back to her Changeling Queen form. “Correct! I gave you the map, I set you up on this entire quest, and then I became Surprise to keep an eye on your progress.”
“But why?” asked Blueblood.
“I needed someone greedy and desperate and dumb enough to follow the map and find the Goblet for me, and you fit the bill perfectly, Blueblood.”
“I don’t understand,” said Trixie suddenly. “Why would YOU want the Goblet of Life? You’re already immortal, as long as you keep feeding on others’ love.”
Chrysalis laughed. “Oh, I don’t want it for myself. I need it for… someone else.”
Suddenly, a cold hissing whisper spoke from out of nowhere. “Enough talk, Chrysalis. Get the Goblet!” it said.
“Who said that?” asked Upper Crust, looking around her for the source of the voice.
Chrysalis’s horn glowed green as she used her magic and snatched the goblet of life right out of Blueblood’s hooves. She levitated it over to herself.
“HEY!” Blueblood shouted, his own horn glowing as he prepared to cast a counter spell.
Chrysalis’s horn glowed again and she fired a blast of magic at all of them, sending the whole group flying backwards through the forest. They all landed on their backs a dozen meters away.
Chrysalis used her magic to make water appear in the goblet, which glowed pink again for a few seconds as it enchanted the water. Smiling, she then levitated something out from behind her. The group looked and saw that it was a dark, curved unicorn’s horn. The group became horrified as they recognized it as King Sombra’s horn.
“STOP!” shouted Blueblood, now realizing what she was about to do.
“Do it NOW!” said the mysterious unknown voice again.
Chrysalis put the goblet over the horn. “The Dark Lord shall rise again!” she said as she was about to pour the water in the goblet onto the horn.
Realizing this couldn’t be allowed, Lightning Dust flared her wings and leaped at Queen Chrysalis, flying at her at lightning speed. Chrysalis barely managed to look up before Lightning Dust crashed into the Changeling Queen, knocking both the goblet and the horn out of her reach.
“NO!” Chrysalis shouted.
The group sighed with relief that Lightning Dust had stopped the Changeling.
As the goblet and the horn fell through the air, however, the water in the goblet splashed out and, unbeknownst to any of them, a single drop of it made contact with the horn.
The horn and the goblet fell to the ground with a clatter.
“HA!’ Lightning Dust shouted at Chrysalis as she flew up off of the Changeling Queen and hovered in the air. “Stopped your evil plan, bitch!”
After a few seconds, they heard a cracking sound coming from Sombra’s horn. They all looked over in time to see the little dark horn suddenly burst into a cloud of black smoke.
Chrysalis grinned and looked up at Lightning Dust. “You were saying?”
Everyone watched in terror as the black smoke slowly took the shape of a pony. After a few moments, the black smoke cleared, revealing a large gray unicorn stallion with a black mane and tail, and a curved horn.
He stood there, taking deep breaths for a few seconds, then he looked up at all of them, an evil grin appearing on his face.
“All hail King Sombra!” he said triumphantly.
They all stared at him, to terrified to do anything else.
He brought his hoof up over the goblet of life that was lying on the ground in front of him and brought it down on it. The goblet shattered into tiny pieces.
“Now only I can live forever,” he said.
Prince Blueblood was too terrified by Sombra to even really notice that the object of which his entire quest had been for had just been destroyed. With Sombra back, the entire world was in danger again!
Sombra’s horn glowed, and his personal crown, armor, and cape magically appeared upon his body.
“That’s more like it,” he said to himself.
Chrysalis approached him. “Alright, Sombra. I held up my end of the bargain, now you hold up yours.”
Sombra looked at her. “That’s KING Sombra to you!” he snapped. He then pointed his horn at her. Before she could do anything, Sombra shot a blast of dark magic at her from his horn, sending the Changeling Queen flying through the air and slamming against a tree. She fell to the ground in a heap.
“And I no longer have any need of you, insect,” Sombra said coldly. He then turned to face the group. “As for all of you-”
“SOMBRA!”
The evil King looked up into the air, just as Starswirl appeared out of nowhere, apparently having woken up from being knocked out, and tackled him. The two unicorn stallions went rolling across the ground before coming to a stop. Starswirl quickly got to his hooves and glared down at Sombra, an angry look on his face.
“Starswirl!” Sombra smiled evilly at the old unicorn as he got up off the ground as well. “The years have not been kind to you, I see.”
“Your reign of evil ends here, my young student,” growled Starswirl.
“I am no longer your student!” shouted Sombra angrily. “When you kicked me out, I was but the learner. Now I am the master!”
“Only a master of evil, Sombra,” said Starswirl.
With that, the two unicorns attacked each other, each of them firing a powerful magic blast from their horns at each other. The beams from their horns collided with each other, sending bright sparks flying everywhere as the two beams of magical energy pushed against each other. Both unicorns began pumping as much magic into their horns as they could, trying to beat the other’s magic.
“STARSWIRL!” came a shout nearby. Starswirl’s guardians had all woken up as well and were approaching the battle to aid their leader.
Starswirl glanced over at them. “STAY BACK!” he shouted at them. “You’re no match for Sombra!”
The guardians all stopped where they were.
“Your powers are weak, old timer!” Sombra mocked Starswirl. “You should have stayed in your urn where you belong!”
“You can’t win, Sombra!” growled Starswirl. “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful then you can possibly imagine!”
As they watched the battle from the sidelines, Gilda leaned in next to Lightning Dust and whispered to her, “What’s with all the Star Wars references on this show?”
Lightning Dust shrugged.
“THERE IS NO POWER IN DEATH, YOU FOOL!” Sombra shouted at Starswirl.
“You still don’t understand!” said Starswirl. “I do not fear death like you do!”
Sombra smirked. “THEN YOU SHOULD BE EAGER TO MEET IT!”
Slowly, Sombra’s magic began overpowering Starswirl’s. Starswirl’s eyes widened in shock as his magic was pushed back by Sombra’s. Sombra’s magic soon forced Starswirl’s back all the way and struck Starswirl right in his head, sending the old unicorn flying backwards through the air and landing flat on his back on the ground with a thud, his horn badly burnt and letting off black smoke.
Starswirl groaned as he lay there. Sombra walked over to where he lay and levitated him up in the air in front of him with his magic.
“Time to do something I should have done centuries ago!” Sombra said. He then moved forward and stabbed Starswirl through his heart with his horn. Upper Crust and Trixie both screamed, and everyone else gasped in horror at the sight.
Sombra let Starswirl’s body slip off of his horn and fall to the ground.
“So weak!” Sombra spat as he looked down at the dying unicorn at his hooves.
Starswirl turned his head towards the group, who had all been watching the incident, to terrified to do anything else. “It’s up to you now,” he managed to say to them before his eyes went dark, and he died.
“HE’S DEAD!?!?” shouted Score in shock. “I thought this was supposed to be a kids’ story!”
Sombra turned his head to look at Starswirl’s Guardians, who had all gotten to their hooves during the battle.
One of the cloaked guardians then ripped his hood and mask off, revealing Doctor Whooves underneath. He looked at his fellow guardians. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but buck this! I’m getting the heck out of here!” He turned tail and galloped away from the scene. He let out a whistle, and suddenly there was a mechanical moaning sound, and a large blue box that had the words Police Box printed on it appeared in the forest out of thin air. The Doctor opened its door and hurried inside of it. The rest of the guardians all looked at each other, and then hurried after him, running into the blue box with him. The door on the box closed and then the same mechanical moaning sound could be heard as the blue box vanished the same way it had appeared.
“What the heck?” asked Flim. He turned to his brother. “Did a blue box just appear, all of those guys clime inside it, and then disappear?”
“Yes,” said Flam.
“Good. I’m not crazy then,” said Flim.
Sombra turned to the group again. They all stood terrified under his gaze.
“As for all of you…” he sneered, his horn beginning to glow with dark magic. But he never finished his sentence because just then, Queen Chrysalis suddenly popped up behind Sombra without him noticing her. She then stabbed him in his rump with a syringe filled with a violet liquid. Sombra cried out in surprise and pain.
“GAAAAAAAHHHHH!” The dark glow around his horn faded due to this distraction.
“No one has apparently ever taught you that Hell hath no fury like a female scorned,” Chrysalis whispered into Sombra’s ear. She then yanked the syringe out of his rump, it now empty.
Sombra fell to the ground. “What have you done to me?” he asked, still in pain from whatever Chrysalis had injected him with.
“I’m not an idiot, Sombra,” Chrysalis sneered. “I suspected you might betray me, so I whipped up a little insurance policy just in case.”
“What did you inject me with?” demanded Sombra.
“Nothing much,” said Chrysalis. “Just a harmless little love potion.”
Sombra’s eyes widened. “Love potion?!”
Chrysalis suddenly grabbed Sombra’s head in her hooves and forced him to look into her eyes. “Tell me, Sombra,” she said. “Who do you love more than anything in the whole world?” Her horn glowed green, and then Sombra’s eyes flashed with the same green glow.
“Why, you, my love,” he said after a few seconds.
Chrysalis grinned. “And would you do anything for me?”
“Of course I would, my love,” he responded.
“Would you conquer the entire world for me?”
“Anything for you, my love,” he responded, kissing her hoof.
Chrysalis giggled. She could feel the great power she had lost before finally returning to her as her body fed off of Sombra’s new love for her.
The group all watched the scene with a mix of horror and disgust.
“This is just wrong,” said Hoops, making a gagging sound.
“SILENCE!” Sombra shouted at Hoops, firing a blast of magic at him with his horn. Hoops leaped out of the way as the blast hit a tree behind him, which exploded into splinters.
Chrysalis turned Sombra’s head back to her with her hoof. “Forget them,” she said. “We have a world to conquer together.”
Sombra grinned back at her. “You’re right, my dear,” he said. His horn began to glow again, and then the two of them disappeared in a flash of light as Sombra teleported them both away.
The group was left standing there, dumbfounded at all they had just witnessed.
“Well, this is bad!” said Hoops.
“That’s an understatement!” said Gilda.
“We should do something!” said Jet Set. “Shouldn’t we?”
After a few silent seconds, Iron Will said, “We should at least go to Canterlot and warn the Princesses about this!”
“Right!” said Blueblood. “They can get the Element Bearers to use the Elements of Harmony to stop all this before it’s too late! Come on! We have to hurry!”
Trixie then became depressed as what Blueblood had just said sunk in. “Y-yeah,” she said. ‘And then they will get all the glory and fame again for saving the day,’ she thought to herself enviously, letting out a sad sigh as she ran off with the others towards Ponyville.