//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Confrontation // Story: My Little Pony: The Element of Space // by Thunderwing250 //------------------------------// Safely off the island, StoneColt and the Archivist sensed a presence communicating with them. “I need the two of you to go up to Manehattan, now! Khaoios has taken the city hostage again.” Paguseus spoke telepathically. “We have the Element of Space, Master. And…another associate. Janus!” StoneColt thought. Paguseus, who was flying over the skies of Equestria at the moment jumped in shock. “Impossible. I saw Janus at Mt Tse’Reve…unless…never mind. Head to the city. I’ll meet you all there. One last thing though, Twilight’s little dragon…he’s no longer little. Proceed with extreme caution. Do you understand me?” Paguseus concluded. Both the Archivist and StoneColt exhaled, fearing for the worst. “Yes, sir.” They both thought and turned to the ponies. “The Marshal has confirmed that the city of Manehattan has been capture by Khaoios again. And sadly he’s not alone on this one.” StoneColt announced. “Who’s with him?” Twilight asked. Both the Archivist and StoneColt remained silent. “We don’t know at this moment. Our first priority now is to head for the city.” StoneColt said, taking flight. Mariner called upon the Wonderbolts to follow behind. Flying like a flock of birds, they all hurried to Manehattan. The Archivist turned and continued to glaze at the island as it slowly sunk, before it disappeared. The Archivist called out to her, and Twilight turned. She tilted her head in confusion, wondering what Twilight was thinking. Instead, she followed the Wonderbolts up to the city. At Manehattan, ponies took to the streets as Khaoios flew over them, holding his Artifact. Landing on a tower, he observed the area from when he was last there and noticed many changes were added, preventing him from perform any strategy. Noticing ponies were running across the bridge, he turned and roared out from a distance. Hearing it, the ponies stopped one the ground of the bridge shook. Within the mist a large, reptilian like creature stomped towards them. As it, cleared Khaoios grinned. “Meet my slave, wretches.” He spoke. The ponies looked up and noticed it was a fierce some dragon, with green spikes and light purple scales. Roaring out, the ponies were pushed back into the city, thus trapping them, exactly what Khaoios had planned. While Khaoios continued to hold the city hostage, nothing would prepare Twilight for what was awaiting her. Especially someone close to her, who was now…her bloodthirsty enemy. Hurrying and hurrying as fast as they could, Paguseus arrived at Manehattan flying overhead and observing the situation. Unlike his counterpart, he plans strategies fast without knowing the danger that could occur but instead maneuver them if he ever encounters them. He closed his eyes and began to calling out for his two other children back at the Academy. “New Horizon. Moonraker. I need you at Manehattan, now. I along with your siblings will be waiting there. Hurry.” He spoke telepathically. New Horizon and Moonraker picked up their heads. “Yes, father.” They replied. Flying to Manehattan, Khaoios walked along the skyscrapers, continuing to plan out new moves to obtain full control of the city. This time, knowledge of Equestria isn’t his primary goal, but conquering the city and moving slowly towards Canterlot. Paguseus recognized immediately what his counterpart was planning and slammed onto one of the towers. Khaoios turned with his eyes burning fire. “You will not stop me this time, Paguseus.” He spoke. “I cannot allow you to proceed any further, Master of Intelligence. I know your scheme as well as you know my quick-thinking. This fight is between you and I! Release these ponies and no harm shall be done.” Paguseus pleaded. Khaoios grinned. “Your compassion for these ponies is truly misplaced, Master of Space. I even have with me the Princess’ filthy reptile as my slave. Tell me, what advantage you have now, for your quick thinking will no longer be a problem.” He replied. Paguseus knew from there Khaoios had possessed an ally, serving as a disadvantage to him. Having no other choice, a battle ensued between the Guardian and the Bronco-Titan, using their magic and zapping through buildings. Flying and flying with such agility, Paguseus soon began to feel exhausted. Strangely for a alicorn of tremendous speed would not be so easily tired was now losing his strength. Suddenly, the dragons tail hit Paguseus, sending him into a building, were he was knock temporarily unconscious. Roaring out, the ground began to shake to a point of cracking it, raising underground pipelines and train tracks. Fire hydrants burst, showering water all throughout the city. Manehattan was a war-zone. As the base of a hill on the western side of Manehattan, the group arrived and noticed fire breaking out in the southern part of the island, fearing that Khaoios is now going fulling force. StoneColt stood upon a rock nearby and turned to the ponies. “Alright, ponies. Our main objective is this. Luring Khaoios out of the city, however we must first separate him from his new ally, a dragon that we cannot identify.” He spoke. “Dragon? What dragon?” Rarity asked. StoneColt tried to hold his breath, preventing himself from revealing who the dragon really is. That is, until the creature roared out. Twilight not worried about any other dangers remained only focused on Khaoios. She walked up. “For now, let’s not worry about the dragon. We had Fluttershy to take care of that…” she said. “WHAT?” Fluttershy jumped. She hid behind Applejack. “Oh I can’t deal with another dragon. I just can’t.” Fluttershy said nervously. “Oh come on, Fluttershy. You scared off one dragon, back at the Smokey Mountain. You can sure as hay can do the same with this one.” Rainbow Dash tried to encourage her. The ponies looked at her. Fluttershy, still shaking in fear exhaled. “Oh okay. I’ll do it for the safety of Manehattan.” Fluttershy proudly responded. The ponies cheered. StoneColt turned to the Archivist and shook his head. The Archivist knew exactly what he meant, but decided to keep her head up high and go along with the situation. Rainbow Dash flew high and called upon all the Pegasus ponies to group up and lure out the dragon first. Then, Twilight will lure out Khaoios and take him out on the bridge. Strangely, what Rainbow Dash said was exactly what StoneColt was going to say and he grinned. “Make the call, Dash.” He said proudly. “Alright ponies. Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash called out, as the Pegasus ponies flew from behind. Twilight and the other hurried across the bridge and into the city. Sensing the ponies nearby, Khaoios slammed onto the end of the bridge confronting them. “Well, ponies. What a surprise you managed to make it back to whence we first began. Intriguing.” Khaoios smirked.