//------------------------------// // Assault // Story: Pony Ball: The Saga of Kitsune // by Matthew Stone //------------------------------//  New Moon tries to intervene while rushing to defend Kitsune from any more of Justin’s alien-transferred powers. However, the brainwashed cousin slaps her back with a mighty strike, having Kitsune gasp in fear as she slams back to the ground in unconsciousness. He then looks up at his cousin, once like his brother… now his enemy.          “Until… I know how to bring you back…” Kitsune sobs, “I WON’T LET YOU HARM ANYONE ELSE!”          He rises up on his ankles, and then paces the movements of his knees, before he jumps up to make the next punch to Justin.            Pico and Nate were going over debris of rubble and bricks, like a wall securing the fight they’re hearing Kitsune involved in. Ironically, they grow high of aghast as they see Justin abusing Kitsune with violent punches as the spell takes its toll. The cousin fox then looks up at the dog and dragon standing at the top of the debris, noticing it’s a high enough wall to destroy. Justin smirks, having the aura of his hand flash and slam into the base of the piled bricks. Pico and Nate yelp, knowing they’ll be crushed with the stone pieces if they don’t get off soon.          “RUN FOR IT!” Nate yells to Pico.          The two of them stay together, as they jog to their left. They can see the safest place to jump is a damaged shed spilling out a great amount of sand, made for landing on as if it’s a soft pillow. They then look behind them as they run, seeing the debris sections fall part by part as they run. They rapidly speed up the pace of their paws, feeling the areas of falling rubble as they luckily miss the gravitational pit. They can also see the falling rubble is helping build up the deadly flame behind them, having the damaging fire grow higher and higher!          “FASTER!” Nate tells Pico, “We have half a mile left to…”          “HALF A MILE?” Pico yelps, “We won’t survive that long!”          “How high is THIS wall anyway?” Nate asks as they keep running.          “If you haven’t noticed, it’s somehow made into ONE HUNDRED FEET!” Pico shouts, “I don’t know, maybe Trixie predicted this will happen in the town’s attack!”          “Maybe she knew we’d almost perish in it…” Nate mutters, “This must have been all a TRAP!”          “WHAT?” Pico gasps.          Before Nate could finish explaining, they notice a gleaming sparkle of evil magic underneath their feet. The gleam has the cracks on the wall break faster, as Pico and Nate’s feet can no longer feel the surface under them. The sparkle then builds up the fire below them, welcoming them to a trapping death. The dragon and dog scream, not knowing what to do as the flames begin to surround them. It looks like Kitsune might lose them; it looks like Pico and Nate might lose Kitsune, at least…          FLASH!          A sudden tan blur swipes up the dragon and dog in an instant. When Pico slowly pries his eyes open, he can see he and Nate are floating upward, then downward away towards the destruction. When they’re both set down by the horse handed hoof, they can see more of the pony citizens gathering loved ones and rushing away from the chaos and fight. Nate then looks behind him to see their savior. Another antrho pony with tan skin and a blue mane and tail is panting with his wings flapping slowly.          “Who…” Nate starts to ask.          “Flash Sentry.” the tan pony says.          Pico crawls upward to see the appearance of the character. He’s dressed as a bandit with the white long-sleeved shirt and purple cape, along with a purple hood covering his head. The sand waves blow across him to blow the hood off, as Nate grins but also frowns slightly when seeing him.          “It’s been a while.” Nate said.          “Years…” Flash said, “We were young. Those fights I started shouldn’t have happened. I hope I can set things right by helping you.”          “You mean after falsely accusing us for killing your parents?” Pico asked, grunting.          “I was young then. I didn’t know.” Flash sighs, “But… I did discover who was responsible…”          Flash remembers it well from his youth. During his friendship with Pico and Nate, a sudden fire in a hotel somehow has devoured his parents, with him escaping the arson. His father was special target for assassination because he was general of the guards for the palace that holds all laws of Destania. Flash knew enemies that came after his parents after classmates bullied him at his private school. He even knew the history of his arguments with Pico, because the dragon disagreed with his father’s methods of battle plans that disrupted villages.          Since the flames killed his parents, Flash accused Pico responsible, yet the dragon wasn’t. He even thought Nate was his accomplice in all this, and stayed away from them since. He did vow to fight them to get them to confess if ever he saw them in the past years they got older. Then, he knew the truth. They didn’t do it, and now he has to tell them who.          “I’ve just seen Trixie on the way to… this village.” Flash tells them, “She was escaping the attack she just started.”          “You don’t say.” Pico hums.          “I then saw her and her minions stop to see someone. I hid behind a rock to keep distance and not get caught.” Flash continues, “I saw them talking to their bosses, one with three eyes, and one that looked human… with green eyes.”          “What does that have to do…” Nate starts to ask again.          “They’re the leaders of an alien race I looked up.” Flash explains, “They’re called Synders. They’re beings that vow to take life on planets and have them killed in their STUPID sacrificial rituals.”          “Mean…” Nate growls.          “But... there was a third ruler.” Flash says.          “Who?” Pico asks.          “Do you know anyone by the name Cosmos?” Flash asks.              Pico’s eyes widen in shock. He seen her before, as she seen KITSUNE. It was one day long ago, when Kitsune was fifteen. He had Kitsune go fishing to catch something to eat for dinner. Pico was meditating on a stone, as he had the fox do the work. Then, Kitsune made a frightened scream of protest.          The dragon had gone down to see what was going on, seeing that alien pony with green skin, hair, and tail take hold of the fox. She then looked up at the dragon and lunged at him to her sharp teeth. She tried to bit into his neck, but the dragon managed to push her off.          He eventually won the fight, and threatened her to leave Kitsune alone. She’d claimed that Kitsune would be hers, and vowed that she’d return. As she vanished, Pico turned to Kitsune to ask what’s that’s all about.          Kitsune had told him that the past five years before he was fifteen, he noticed that strange pony stalking him and attempting to drink his blood… like a vampire. All to weird for Pico, but what really drew his attention about Cosmos is about a legend he researched about her. Cosmos comes after a legend he found about a deadly succubus that targets a being that it thinks it loves. If it finds it’s strong power, it can consume its power and use it for killing and doing deadly evil.                   Pico sighs, knowing it’s time to protect Kitsune from her if she really has returned.          “I heard of Cosmos…” Pico tells Flash, “She’s here to try and take Kitsune’s power, isn’t she?”          Flash nods.          “She’s… she’s the one that killed my parents.” Flash adds.          Nate looks up in shock.          “How... how do you know?” the dog asks.          “First off… I should admit I… snuck into your house to find the book that talks about Cosmos… Pico.” Flash confesses to the dragon.          Pico frowns.          “She isn’t the type of succubus breed pony we think she is.” Flash tells them, “These beings usually take power by instinct to survive for their own will without worrying about populated areas. Cosmos… she has her OWN controlled instinct. Her mind of choice is to erase law and order in Destania. I then recalled something unordinary I saw in the hotel flames as a child. It was a green tentacle, and it was taking my father’s body. The tentacle looked a lot like the one attached to Cosmos in the illustration in the book.”          “Wait… she has tentacles?” Nate shudders.          “She is a succubus…” Flash said, “And she chooses to expose that power when she feels the most powerful…”          “But why did he take your father’s body?”  Pico asks.          As Flash starts to answer, they can hear New Moon and Kitsune’s scream combining. New Moon is awake again, calling for help, and Flash, Nate, and Pico turn as the wall of flame blocking their path. The two of them are behind this deadly wall, and Justin is still battling his cousin.          “We have to get in!” Flash shouts.          The tan pony pulls out a metal shield, and runs toward the flame. The wall of fire then is forced by the shield to make an entryway to pass through when running across. Pico and Nate then stay by Flash’s side, pressing against his arm as they run with him real close.          “Stay with me! Try not to stay apart!” Flash instructs.          “What kind of shield is this?” Nate asks.          “A magic kind that deflects fire. It’s my fathers.” Flash said.          Pico sighs with that, as the three of them push through the flames.            The duel with Justin is still occurring, as Justin’s powers have New Moon bound by metal and attached strongly to a wooden pole of an abandoned building. The purple anthro alicorn screams for Kitsune to be safe, as the fox avoids another flaming punch by his cousin. The graze of red fire gives a burn to his furry cheek, making him cry out in both anger and betrayal.          “There’s another element in this town, isn’t there?” Justin asks, “I can FEEL IT!”          Justin then punches Kitsune in the gut, making him cry in pain.          “I know you know where it is…” Justin sneers, “So where is it?”          “Is this an interrogation?” Kitsune growls, “Because even if I do know, I won’t tell some brainwashed…”          Justin then grabs Kitsune’s pinky on his hand, and snaps it really HARD to the left, breaking it! The fox screams, ad he knells down on both is legs. He then looks up at Justin in disbelief.          “A new element is here, a deadly one!” Justin sums up for him, “The CROWN!”          “What… what’s that even for?” Kitsune asks.          “None of YOUR concern… just tell me where it is.” Justin threatens, “Otherwise… New Moon will be crushed like ice…”          New Moon’s eyes widen when hearing this.          “Please…” Kitsune begs, “Are you listening to yourself. You’d never hurt or kill anyone…”          Justin has his magic flash over to the captive alicorn, gripping her neck and squeezing tightly with dangerous force.          “NO! WAIT!” Kitsune shouts.          “It’s... fine…” New Moon weeps, “Don’t tell…”          “I know your weak spot already.” Justin taunts, “She has such a long waiting for her. And now…”          “STOP!” Kitsune finally says, “This building behind you, I dropped it before I can even take it with me, it’s in there!”          Justin grins, and drops New Moon hard to the ground, also freeing her from her metal bonds. The cousin fox starts to grow unnaturally, as he tears aside the fallen bricks and wood to find the golden crown, bloodied and glowing on the rotten floor. As Kitsune helps New Moon up, he can see that Pico, Nate, and Flash are pushing through the rest of the flames, finally meeting them.          “Are you guys okay?” Pico asks, “Has Justin hurt you?”          “He… he found some crown…” New Moon shakes, “It’s some antique he wants… we don’t know why.”          As Justin picks up the crown behind them, Flash turns to see and winches in fear.          “That…” Flash gasps, jumping toward Justin, “STOP!”                      POW!               The fox sends the tan pony back, having him caught into Pico’s arms for safe landing. Nate peeps like a scared bird, as he witnesses Justin turning into a new and TERRIBLE being with the given magic of the element founded. Bat wings grow and tear out of his back, exposing blood and bone from the cuts. His mouth turns into a longer muzzle, shaped like a vulture beak with very sharp fangs. The crown is also worn as a necklace around the collar of his neck. “I AM NOW KAMORIL!” Justin screams, floating in the air, “AND UNDER COSMOS’ ORDER, I WILL BE BACK TO KILL YOU… AFTER WE END EVERYONE ELSE’S LIVES ON THIS WRETCHED PLANET! DOOMSDAY WILL FALL UPON YOU!”          Before Kitsune could jump over to try and stop him, Justin/Kamoril acts like static electricity on television, vanishing back to Cosmos’ base. In Kitsune’s disbelief, his cousin is brainwashed, and won this fight on finding the dangerous item. The first part of awakening doomsday is now beginning.