//------------------------------// // Gloomy News // Story: Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// In a volcanic zone, Rothbart waited at the foot of a volcano with a large bag at his side that moved and made muffled noises. It was then that he heard somepony approaching and saw that it was Medusa, using the hood of her cloak to hide her snakes, downing from the volcano. "Oh, what a refreshing bath!" she exclaimed. "The Lord of Chaos was absolutely right. I feel a lot stronger, in addition to having a great skin. It's seems I can do anything without my sisters." "I hope so" Rothbart said. "I hate to be paired with somepony useless." "Oh, that's right, you and Pandora used to be a team" Medusa remembered. "I heard you two did great things. You must have been pretty shocked when you heard that she had defected back to the Lord of Order." "Don't pretend to know me, Medusa" Rothbart said. "You don't know anything about me. Pandora was a colleague. I don't care what happened to her." "Okay..." Medusa said. Rothbart grabbed the bag and said: "Let's test your new power." He opened the bag, revealing a stallion who was tied up and gagged. He released him to Medusa’s feet and told her: "Petrify him." "With pleasure" she replied. She turned to the stallion who was full of fear and look on her face and their eyes met. Medusa triggered her power and her eyes sparkled with a red glow. Looking at those eyes, the stallion simply turned into stone. Given this, Medusa exclaimed, quite happy: "Yes, I did it! Finally I have the power to petrify without my sisters’ help. I became much stronger than they are and I don't need them anymore." “Good for you" Rothbart said cynically, approaching the petrified stallion and destroying him with his hoof turned into a talon. "But it's time to leave. We have a lot to do." And he started walking away. "Maybe during the way I petrify ponies just for fun" Medusa said. And she followed Rothbart. It's been a few days since Star got his Cutie Mark and reformed Pandora. At that time, Twilight and Star were at the Light Kingdom station, waiting. The Light Express arrived and stopped. While waiting for the doors of the carriages to open, they heard a big mess inside. "But what the..." Twilight started. When the doors opened and the ponies that were in the train began to leave, a small pegasus colt also came out flying, immensely happy. He had a light grayish persian blue coat, dark grayish phthalo blue mane and moderate cerise eyes. Shortly after, Rainbow Dash got out of the carriage flying quickly and got the colt, saying: "I got you, your fugitive." "It seems that little Gust has a lot of energy for a three-years-old colt" Twilight noted. "Well, what can I say?" Rainbow asked Dash, landing. "He takes after his mom." "Ah jest hope he hadn't take tah his mom when it comes tah modesty" Applejack said, leaving the train, too. On her back there was a little four-years-old pegasus colt. He had dark grey coat, light brilliant amaranth mane and brilliant orange eyes. "Please, Applejack, Gust is the son of two great Wonderbolts" Rainbow Dash said. "I don't think you have to worry about that." Twilight giggled at the sight of her friends argue that way. It brought her memories of the old days. "I'm glad you came” Twilight said approaching with Star. "And how things go with this little colt, Applejack?" "Li’l Apple Storm is every day more like his father" Applejack said, turning to Rainbow Dash. "Yer cousin was always so fussy when he was a colt?" "You could say that I wasn't racing alone" Rainbow Dash said. Apple Storm started flapping his little wings to fly, but he was caught by Applejack who said: "No way, mah boy, jest fly in a controll’d space." After Applejack, Jonagold got out and, just like Star Knight, he was no longer a baby colt. The two had become good friends, although they lived away from each other. Seeing Star, Jonagold approached him and said: "Star!" "Jona!" Star exclaimed, going to meet his friend. The two bumped the hooves and Jonagold asked: "How are ya? Ah heard ya got yer Cutie Mark." "Yes, although the circumstances weren't the best" Star said. "Well, ya tell me how ya got yers and Ah tell ya how Ah got mine" Jonagold said, showing his brand new Cutie Mark that was three apples, one was only half. "You also got your Cutie Mark?" Star asked. "Congratulations, man." "Thank ya" Jonagold thanked. "’though Ah expect’d that Ah would follow the family business." "And Cherry Blossom?" Twilight asked, watching Jonagold. "She didn’t come?" "She and Big Mac had a lot of work" Applejack said. "But Jona wanted to come, so I brought him." Then Fluttershy got out of the train. "Hello, Twilight" she said with her sweet voice. "Fluttershy, it's so good to see you" Twilight said approaching her shy friend. She then noticed the filly that was behind her. "Hello, Moonlight, it's so good to see you again." "Hi" she replied, sheepishly. Star noted Moonlight’s presence and called her: "Moonlight, here!" Listening Star calling her, Moonlight blushed a lot. Her mother encouraged her: "Go meet your friends, sweetheart." Moonlight so did. Upon reaching the edge of Star and Jonagold, she said with the same shy voice that your mother used to use: "Hello, Star. I heard you got your Cutie Mark. Congratulations." "Thank you, Moonlight" Star thanked. Finally, Rarity and Pinkie Pie also left the train, and both had a baby in a baby carrier, where in Rarity’s there was a three-year-old unicorn filly with her coat, dark grayish brown mane and golden eyes and in Pinkie’s there was a four-year-old earth filly with a brilliant amber coat, her mane and grayish violet eyes. "Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed, greeting Twilight with her usual strong hug. "I'm so glad to see you!" "Yes, I'm also happy to see you, Pinkie" Twilight said, trying to breathe. "But could you..." Realizing what Twilight wanted, Pinkie dumped her and said: "Oops, sorry." "Pinkie Pie, it seems that you’ll never change" Rarity said. "Even after motherhood. Poor little Winesap Apple." "I don't understand why you say that, Rarity" Pinkie Pie said, while giving caresses to her filly. "Winesap loves when I do big parties for her. All babies love. That is, until they start crying for no reason and they just shut up when you pour flour on you." "My Silver Wind is a sweet baby" Rarity said, caressing her daughter. "She almost does not give any work. Of course, when she's angrier, I can always count on Shadow Claw." "And none of your husbands wanted to come?" Twilight asked. "Soarin was invited to teach a class for young foals in the pegasus flight camp" Rainbow Dash said. "Cloud Chaser had tah stay ‘cause of the work" Applejack said. "Bushel to" Pinkie said. "He stayed to help Big Mac at the farm since Applejack is not there. Of course you know that, due to the fact Applejack is here with us now." "Thunder Night stayed to rest" Fluttershy said. "He had a tiring night of work. In addition he and day don't mix very well together. I'm just glad that Moonlight has resistance to sunlight, because otherwise she couldn't come either." "And Shadow Claw has a lot of work in the gym" Rarity said, referring to the gym that Shadow Claw opened a few years ago in Ponyville. "It's a shame" Twilight said. "That way Blue would have someone to talk when he had backed to the kingdom, while we put up." "And where is he?" Rarity said. "He and some of the other Generals are following some clues of villains of the Lord of Chaos" Twilight told. "But we better go to the castle to talk better." And so everypony advanced to the castle. While crossing the citadel, the light ponies made bows to Twilight and her friends. "You know, I kind of would get used this" Rainbow Dash said, seeing the light ponies bowing. "Well, it's true that we help’d liberate them from their stone slumber, but it doesn't take so much reverence" Applejack said, turning then to Rainbow Dash. "And ya don't have to like it too much." "Light ponies enjoy who contributed for their freedom" Twilight said. "They are all the same, there's nothing to do. Don't worry. Gradually you get used to." Star was talking happily with Jonagold and Moonlight when he started noticing the cold stares that some light ponies launched to him. Those cold stares that seemed to dislike his presence. He didn't understand why they looked to him like that, after all he was the son of their beloved princess and heroin, in addition to that he never gave them reasons to not like him. So, to make his friends not to notice his concerns, he ignored the stares, but Moonlight was able to repair how Star was bothered and understand the reason for it. When they arrived at the castle, Twilight called: "Heartbeat!" And, in a second, Heartbeat showed up with her speed and asked: "Yes, princess?" "Would you take the little ones to the gardens for them to play with the twins and take care of them?" Twilight asked. "Okie dokie lokie" she replied. "I love taking care of foals. After all, they identify with me. By the way, Pinkie, I hope you don't mind I used one of your catch phrases." "Of course not" Pinkie Pie said. "By the way, I love your book How to Understand What Foals Want. It helped me a lot with my daughter." "Oh, thanks for the compliment, Pinkie" Heartbeat thanked. "Wait, when did you publish a book?" Twilight asked Heartbeat. "I haven't heard anything about it." "Last year" Heartbeat replied. "It was a best-seller in Las Pegasus." "You have to start paying attention, Twilight" Pinkie Pie said. "First it was my book about the importance of piñatas and now Heartbeat’s book about foals. It looks like you're not fond of books as you used to be." Twilight rolled her eyes and, trying to end the conversation, she said to Heartbeat: "Just take the kids to the gardens." "All right, Your Highness" Heartbeat said, using her magic to get the babies, while their mothers said see you later to them. "Come on you three." And Heartbeat moved away. Star, Jonagold and Moonlight followed her. In the dining room, where Twilight was taking tea with her friends, she told them what had happened with Pandora. "Wow!" Applejack exclaimed. "That means yer son manag’d tah reform one of tha greatest villains of tha Lord of Chaos?" "That is amazing" Fluttershy said. "It's more than amazing!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in her enthusiastically was. "It's fantastic!" "You must be proud of Star, Twilight" Rarity said. "He is clearly following the same steps you and Blue did." "Yes, of course I'm very proud of him" Twilight said. "If you ask me, Pandora didn't deserve all this effort" Rainbow Dash said. "Have you forgotten what she did as a villain?" "Rainbow, as Twilight said, she prov’d tah be sorry" Applejack said. "Everypony has tha right tah repent for the evil needs they did. Even a villain like Pandora." "And don't forget that Discord also managed to change" Fluttershy said. "Yeah, I think Discord is not a good example, Fluttershy" Rainbow Dash said. "So it is better tah take Princess Luna as example" Applejack said. "After all, she has repent’d of her actions and return’d to be the princess she was." Rarity looked at Twilight and noticed in the concerned air that she had. "Is something wrong, Twilight, dear?" she asked. "It’s just..." Twilight started. "I'm quite concerned about Star." "Why, sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "He got very upset when Pandora disappeared" Twilight said. "I could feel that he felt himself guilty." "Maybe it was the shock of seeing somepony disappearing" Rarity said. "Yeah, Twilight, don't worry" Rainbow Dash said. "Your son is strong." In the garden, while Heartbeat played with the foals, Star Knight told to Jonagold and Moonlight how he got his Cutie Mark. "Wow, man, that was amazin’!" Jonagold exclaimed. "You were very brave, Star" Moonlight said. "You fought one of the greatest villains of the Lord of Chaos." "Actually, I don't know if it was courage" Star said. "I just felt I had to do that. At first, I was terrified when I felt Pandora’s darkness. But when I felt the light that she still had within herself, I felt a need to make it shine." But remembering what happened to Pandora after having released her from the darkness, Star became a little saddened. "What's up Star?" Moonlight asked. "I can't stop thinking about what happened to Pandora" he said. "She disappeared soon after I saved her. What is the point of having a gift like this, if the ponies I help will eventually disappear?" "It's not like that" Heartbeat said, approaching. "What do you mean, Heartbeat?" Star asked. "What I mean is that you've used your power before" the General of Affection. "Seriously?" Star asked. "I don't remember." "Of course not" Heartbeat answered. "You were almost a year old when it happened. That was when Perfect Scale tried to take everything. Your mother got out of control when she absorbed my light to defeat Scale, but your power helped her maintain control." "Seriously?" he asked, not wanting to believe. Maybe his talent wasn't so bad. "Looks like ya're a hero" Jonagold said. "Ah bet ya mest be famous here in tha Light Kingdom." When Jonagold told that, Star remembered the cold stares the light ponies gave to him. Those eyes were not from who looked to a hero, but to something they wanted to disappear. "Excuse me, my friends, but, if you don't mind, I'm going to my room" he said sadly, starting to go into the castle. "Star!" Jonagold called. But he was caught by Moonlight who said: "No, Jona." "But what does he have?" Jonagold asked. "Did Ah say something wrong?" Despite having been unwittingly, Jonagold's words had a great effect on Star. Moonlight understood the reason for him to have stayed that way. She noticed the way the others looked at him. Back to dining room, Twilight said: "But there is another thing that bothers me." "What is it?" Fluttershy asked. "The way Pandora how entered here" Twilight replied. "If she did it, probably other villains will try to do it too. This time, Pandora came because of her box, but what if, next time, they come for Star? For the thing that's inside of him?" Her friends got quiet when she said that. Of course they knew Star’s condition as Jinchuriki, having promised not to tell anypony about it. "Don't worry, sugarcube" Applejack said. "Ah'm sure this will all work out. We will ruined another plan of the Lord of Chaos." "Yeah, that’s what always happen" Rainbow Dash said. "He always tries to conquer everything, but it always backfires to him." "Of course, that's what happens when you play with fire" said Pinkie, starting laughing then. "Did you get it? Backfire, playing with fire?" But everypony looked at her seriously. Realizing she was the only one laughing at her own joke, Pinkie said: "Awkward!" Ignoring Pinkie’s comment, Twilight said: "It's not just the Lord of Chaos. It’s the simple fact that Star has Nine-Tails in him. A large part of light ponies hate my son because he has that monster inside him. It hurts my heart to have to watch my son to be despised. To make matters worse, he realized that." Twilight's friends traded looks with each other and then Rarity told her: "Look, Twilight, we know things aren't easy for you and your family, but I want you to know that you can count on us for everything. Than relying on us, we won't let Star grow up without friends." The others waved, confirming what Rarity said. That made tears appear in Twilight’s eyes and she said, with a smile, as she wiped the tears: "Thank you, girls. That means a lot to me." After a few moments, the doors of the dining room opened and a guard appeared, saying: "I'm sorry to disturb your quality time with your friends, Princess Twilight, but Princess Celestia just came in and she said she had something urgent to tell you." That made Twilight switch serious looks with her friends. Celestia awaited her in the throne room. The doors opened and Twilight came in, followed by her friends. "Princess Celestia, but what are you doing here?" Twilight asked. "I wasn't expecting a visit." "I bring news that are not very good" Celestia said. "What kind of news, Yer Highness?" Applejack asked. Celestia took a few seconds and then said: "Before saying them, first I have to tell you something, Twilight. It's about your grandfather, Star Shield." "What?" Twilight asked. "As you know, a few decades ago, I sent him on a mission to fight a possible Changeling invasion" Celestia said. "Yes, I know that" Twilight said. "My grandmother told me about it. It was when he lost his life." "That's correct, but no one besides the guards who participated in this mission know what it really was about" Celestia said. "When I heard about the preparations that Chrysalis was doing to invade Equestria, I managed to get a rather disturbing information, something that could take her plan to success." "What?" Twilight asked. "Chrysalis had laid mutated eggs" Celestia replied. Twilight and her friends were caught by surprise with that. Rainbow Dash then giggled and asked: "Chrysalis wanted to invade Equestria with mutated Changelings? That is so lame." "It is not as lame as you think, Rainbow Dash" Celestia said. "These mutated Changelings would be fairly more evolved than normal Changelings. They would be superior in strength and power. The most likely was that Equestria would barely survive to the attack." Upon hearing that, Rainbow Dash’s smile came down and she said: "That doesn't sound so good." "Yes, I can imagine how would these mutants be?" Rarity asked. "Probably would be hideous-looking creatures." She then noticed everypony staring at her and Rarity said, with a laugh: "Of course that the fact that they are immensely dangerous is also horrendous." Celestia then continued: "Your grandfather has managed to obtain the eggs, Twilight, and sacrificed his own life to ensure they arrive safely to Equestria." "Yes, my grandmother used to tell me and Shining when we were younger that our grandfather protected Equestria with everything he had, no matter the cost" Twilight said. "But what bad news is that you have to tell us?" "The eggs..." Celestia started. "They were recovered by the Changeling." That made everypony stay pretty worried. "How did they..." Twilight started. "Somehow Chrysalis managed to know where the eggs were and managed to recover them" Celestia said. Twilight thought for a bit and then remembered something that Pandora had said. "Pandora managed to enter into the Light Kingdom using Changeling royal jelly" she said. "Maybe she got it by helping Chrysalis locating the eggs." "That makes sense" Celestia said. "Pandora was one of the best to dark magic users. She could easily find the eggs." "So it looks like we have new enemies to fight" Rainbow Dash said. "I can't wait to give these mutant Changelings what they deserve." "But that's not all" Celestia said. "There's more?" Twilight asked. "What else happened?" "Hey, maybe this isn't such a bad thing" Pinkie Pie said. "Maybe it's something so good that will let us immensely happy and will take us to throw a big party to spread the joy we are feeling." "Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie, this is not the case" Celestia said. "Oh, buck" Pinkie Pie said, disappointed. "I was already planning the cakes we'd serve for the party and the games that we’d play." "What happened, Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked. "My guards informed me that ponies were turned into stone" Celestia said. "Witnesses ensure that these ponies were transformed by a mare that had snakes as mane." Twilight didn't have to think much to realize who it was. "Medusa" she said. "But I don't understand. Alone, she doesn't have the power to petrify. She needs her sisters for that." "She seems to have managed to strengthen her powers" Celestia said. "Now, she is as powerful as if she had her sisters by her side." Upon hearing this, Twilight became worried. It seemed that villains were becoming increasingly powerful. Possibly, it was to make sure that their master’s plan to resurrect Ten-Tails was turned real.