The Taking of Tartarus

by Rakoon1

The Seventh General of the Light Kingdom, Part II - The Stolen Lights

Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat and Blue Sword tried to increase the Light Kingdom’s security, with the General of Knowledge creating his special barrier and with the Captain of the Light Guard tightening the security even more, especially around and inside the castle. When they met with Golden Paladin in front of the entrance of the castle, Mirror Coat was the first to speak:

“Golden, I took care of strengthening my part of the defenses of the kingdom."

"And I put more guards watching the outside as the inside of the castle, just like you said" Blue Sword said.

"Yes, but it’s still not enough" Golden Paladin said.

"Not enough for what?" Blue asked. “Golden, you made us reinforce all the security of the Light Kingdom, but you didn't explain why."

"Actually, I know the reason" Mirror Coat said.

"Okay, you didn’t explain me why" Blue rephrased.

"Prince Blue Sword, believe me when I tell you that the Light Kingdom is in great danger" Golden Paladin said. "The threat that hangs over us is even greater than any villain the Lord of Chaos could send."

"What?" Blue asked.

"You will soon find out" Golden Paladin replied.

“Golden, I think it’s better to tell him" Mirror Coat said. "As you just said, he will find out sooner or later."

But Golden Paladin didn't answer him, simply looking away.

"Tell me what?" Blue asked.

"The imminent threat is the last villain of the solitary" Mirror Coat said. "The villain Golden Paladin defeated."

"This villain must be immensely dangerous for us to take all these security measures" he noted.

"Unfortunately" Mirror Coat answered. "He's one of ours. A General of Order."

That left Blue speechless.

"A General of Order?" he asked. "What do you mean?"

"It's a rogue General" Mirror Coat told. "His name is Scale, Perfect Scale, and he is the General of Balance and one of the Generals that the Lord of Order sent to build the Light Kingdom."

"But I thought he just sent six of you to..." Blue started, which then realized. "Oh..."

"You understand now, don’t you, prince?" Mirror Coat said. “Scale rebelled against us. He wanted to steal our powers, and we had no choice but to..."

"That's enough, Mirror Coat" Golden Paladin ordered. "We don't need to recall the memories of the past."

"But, Golden..." Mirror Coat started.

"I said enough!" Golden Paladin exclaimed, in a way that made Mirror Coat be silent. "Now, get the others, before it's too late."

Without any alternative, Mirror Coat nodded, saying:

"Anything you want."

And he invoked a gate and crossed it.

Blue for a few seconds, observed Golden Paladin. It should be quite painful for him to be fighting one of his siblings. He wanted to say something, but Golden then said:

"I think I found a way to increase our defenses."

And, having said that, he charged his horn with magic and he made appear in the air several pieces that Blue recognized as pawns of chess, either red and white. Suddenly, the pawns increased in size until they are twice the size of a pony, the same size as the pawns of the chessboard that protected Golden Paladin’s star seed when he, Twilight and the others went in the demand of waking up the Light Kingdom.

It was then that the pawns started moving on their own, marching in a line towards the various limits of the Light Kingdom. The light ponies, seeing those stone warriors moving forward, realized that something was going on and sought refuge in their respective homes. Blue was impressed as Golden Paladin had turned small chess pieces in warriors easily.

In Everfree Forest, Leaf Mane was in the cave where her matrix. She was checking, seeing if everything was fine with Arbor, watering him and talking to him a little.

"I'm sorry you have been frozen. The Snow Queen caused great damage to nature. But don't worry, everything's fine now. Princess Twilight was able to stop her and convinced her to leave the dark side."

She put her hoof on Arbor’s truck and said:

"Thank you for everything you've done to protect nature that we both love."

"But what sentimental" a voice said.

Leaf Mane turned and saw, to her great shock, Scale at the entrance.

"Scale?" she asked, not wanting to believe. "What are you doing here?"

"Melody asked the same question when she saw me" said Scale. "I mean, before I absorb her light."

Leaf Mane couldn't believe what she was hearing. Scale had stolen Melody’s light?

"No…" she said. "Your monster!"

Using her magic and her anger, Leaf Mane used her magic to create roots and directed an attack on Scale, but his horn created an energy pulse which, upon reaching the roots, made them burn.

"When are you going to learn, Leaf Mane, a direct attack does not work with me?" Scale asked. "Not when I can negate it so easily."

And, having said this, he launched against Leaf Mane a sonic scream that hit her and launched her against the end of the cave.

"Impressive" he said, referring to the scream he just did. "You've seen, Leaf Mane? Our dear sister Melody has an amazing voice. I mean, she had."

Leaf Mane tried to get up, but Scale quickly approached her and held her against the wall.

"Don't even think about it" Scale said. "Don't do anything stupid. You'll just spend energy unnecessarily. And here you don't have the Sun to recharge your batteries."

The General of Nature tried to break free from Scale, but she couldn't because he was too strong.

"Be quiet" Scale said. "This won't take long. It will only last the time to absorb your light."

And, with this, Scale started the same procedure he did with Melody. He hit Leaf Mane with his magic, making her star seed appear. Scale’s star seed also appeared and began to absorb Leaf Mane’s light, leaving the star seed empty when it was over. The two star seeds came back to within their respective owners and Scale left Leaf Mane, while she turned into black rock. Having finished his work over there, Scale began heading to the exit of the cave.

Knowing that Leaf would be certainly in the cave where her matrix was, Mirror Coat went to there, entering through the nearest natural reflex, since the protection around the matrix prevented him of teleporting directly to there from the outside. But when he arrived to the crater, he saw somepony leaving the cave and, instinctively, he hid. He then saw Scale coming out of the cave.

"Oh no…" he said, realizing what should have happened.

After Scale had disappeared, Mirror Coat, making sure it was safe, advanced to the cave and entered there, getting shocked when he found Leaf Mane petrified.

"No, Leaf Mane..." he said, approaching his sister and touching the cold stone that covered her body. "Don't worry, sister. I and the others we'll go to help you."

He invoked a shard of mirror and using a spell, he moved Leaf Mane into it. After that, he disappeared.

Mirror Coat, using a tracking spell through the reflexes, tried to find Melody. It was then that a gleam appeared in Neighagra Falls. He went there only to find Melody also petrified. Studying the chronology, he realized that her light was stolen before Leaf Mane’s. He transferred Melody to another shard in order to take her to the Light Kingdom.

That meant that Purple Smoke was the last remaining General that Scale probably didn’t find, except for him, Golden Paladin and Heartbeat. He had to find him before Scale did. And, using his tracking spell again, he tried to find Purple Smoke.

The General of Talent was at that moment wandering in his purple smoke form near Baltimare, when he felt somepony around, as if he were being followed. He returned to his pony form and laid still. Purple Smoke could hear hoofsteps approaching behind and, when that somepony was close enough, he turned with his horn charged with magic and ready to attack. But he stopped when he saw it was just Mirror Coat.

"Whoa, take it easy, okay?" Mirror Coat said. "It’s just me."

"Mirror Coat" Purple Smoke said, blocking its magic. "Are you crazy? Don't you know you can't approach ponies like this?"

"I'm sorry, but I was trying to get to you as urgently as possible" Mirror Coat said.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "If you're going to tell me that you, Golden and Heartbeat recovered Tartarus, you could wait until I got back to the Light Kingdom of light, couldn’t you?"

"No, I couldn't" Mirror Coat answered. "There is an emergency and..."

"Seriously?" Purple Smoke asked. "You stalked me to tell me that there's a villain alert?"

"It’s not any villain" Mirror Coat said.

Purple Smoke sighed and said:

"All right, tell me, who is it this time?"

"Scale" Mirror Coat answered.

That answer left Purple Smoke perplexed.

"What?!" he asked. "Scale? But it can't be. He was arrested. Even he was even more imprisoned than the other villains of solitary. Not even the Lord of Chaos could break Golden’s chains. Unless he used his own magic."

"Yes, but there was nopony in his cell" Mirror Coat said. "But the worst is not that."

"What, it gets worse?" Purple Smoke asked.

"He's already managed to get Melody and Leaf Mane" Mirror Coat said. "He stole their lights."

"Perfect" Purple Smoke mumbled. "Just perfect."

"That's why I'm stalking you" Mirror Coat said. "Golden Paladin wants us in the Light Kingdom to protect ourselves and Princess Twilight."

"Let's go then" Purple Smoke said.

"Go where?" a voice asked.

They turned and saw...

"Scale" the two generals said at the same time.

"Hello, my dear brothers" Scale said, turning then to Mirror Coat. "I thought that was you who was watching me. What, you thought I wouldn't notice your presence. Don't forget that now I have Melody and Leaf Mane’s powers. I could hear you and the trees told me where you were going. I knew you'd take me directly to Purple Smoke."

"You're going to pay for what you did to Melody and Leaf Mane" Purple Smoke said, charging his horn with magic.

"Calm down, Purple Smoke" Mirror Coat said, also charging his horn with magic. "You know what he's capable of."

"Yes, I am capable of do many things" Scale said. "But I'm able to do a lot more than I was capable of doing before you had imprisoned me."

And he charged his horn with magic that adopted a greenish color.

"He will use Leaf Mane’s power!" Mirror Coat exclaimed to Purple Smoke.

The two felt a tremor beneath them and have moved away from the place where they were. A huge tree began to grow rapidly and it used its branches to catch Mirror Coat and Purple Smoke. The tree managed to catch Mirror Coat, but when it was trying to catch Purple Smoke, he turned into smoke. However, flowers showed up and blossomed. In doing so, they freed pollen that, contacting with Purple Smoke’s smoke form, made him return to his pony form.

"What?!" he asked, not wanting to believe.

And the tree was able to catch him too.

"Did you really think I'd forgotten your smoke form?" Scale asked. "By joining my magic with Leaf Mane’s, I was able to negate it. That's why I chose to follow Mirror Coat instead of finding you myself, because you never stop still on your smoke form. And now, I have two lights for the price of one."

He approached Purple Smoke and said to Mirror Coat:

"If you don't mind, Mirror Coat, I’ll take care of you after Purple Smoke. I'd rather start from the entrance."

"Hey!" Purple Smoke exclaimed, offended.

"Stay away from him, Scale" Mirror Coat said. "He is our brother."

"I don't care" Scale answered, reaching Purple Smoke. "As long as I can put this world in perfect balance, it doesn't matter what I have to do, even if, for that, I have to sacrifice my own brothers and sisters."

And with that, he turned to Purple Smoke and, using his magic, he made the General of Talent’s appear and then his own, starting then absorbing Purple Smoke’s light. When he finished, Purple Smoke turned into a black statue. Then Scale turned to Mirror Coat and said to him, while approaching:

"Now it's your turn. It's time for me to gain knowledge."

Scale started to make Mirror Coat’s star seed to appear, but nothing happened. It was then that Mirror Coat started to crack and then he shattered into shards. It was a glass clone.

"Very smart" Scale said, keeping a serene air. "Using your old tricks. Very impressive."

And that's when one of the shards stood in the air, headed to Purple Smoke and absorbed him in the same way that Leaf Mane and Melody were absorbed. After that, it advanced a few hooves and was picked by Mirror Coat that created a portal quickly and passed it, undoing it after that.

"Mirror Coat, you never disappoint" Scale said. "It will be a pleasure when I absorb your light, as well as Golden’s and Heartbeat’s. But until that happens, I will strengthen me in another way."

In the throne room of the castle of the Light Kingdom, Golden Paladin and Blue Sword entered, after they have done the best they could to strengthen the defenses of the Light Kingdom.

"We did what we could" Golden Paladin said. "Heartbeat, now it's your turn to strengthen the defense."

But he then noticed the serious look that everypony had.

"What's going on?"

"Goldy, don't be mad, but I told everyone about Scale" Heartbeat confessed.

"You did what?!" Golden Paladin asked.

"Don't be mad at her, Golden Paladin" Twilight said. "We insist with her to tell. After all, we have the right to know."

"No, Princess, I have to disagree with that" Golden Paladin said. "The less you knew, the better. It would mean you wouldn't want to join the fight and be in danger."

"What danger?" asked Blue. "Wait, are you saying that this Scale also wants Twilight’s powers."

"You know about Scale?" Heartbeat asked.

"Yes, Mirror Coat told me before going to pick up the other Generals" said Blue, turning then to Twilight. "Twily, if this is true, then I agree with Golden Paladin. You can’t participate in the fight."

"Blue, I'm not going to let my kingdom in danger just to protect myself" Twilight said. "And I'm sure Princess Aurora would do the same."

"That's why Princess Aurora is no longer here with us!" Golden Paladin exclaimed, something that made everypony look at him.

"Wow, I didn't expect this" Rainbow Dash commented to her friends.

Realizing how out of control he was getting, Golden Paladin calmed down and then said, in a calmed way to Twilight:

"I apologize for my behavior, Princess Twilight."

"It's okay, Golden" Twilight said. "I get it. After all, we are under threat from one of your siblings. I know it is not being easy to you."

Before more words could be spoken, Mirror Coat appeared, panting.

"Mirror Coat, what happened?" Twilight asked, worried.

"I thought I told you to bring the others" Golden Paladin said.

"And I was trying to bring them" Mirror Coat said. "But it was too late."

"Too late?" Applejack repeated. "What do ya mean?"

"I mean this" Mirror Coat said, invoking the three shards that he used to collect his petrified brother and sisters.

Using his magic, he made the three generals whose lights had been stolen, something that left everypony horrified.

"No…" Golden Paladin said. "He stole three special lights."

"Melody… Leaf Mane... Purple Smoke... " Heartbeat said, sadly.

"Wait, but they shouldn't have another color?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yes, when we come into the Light Kingdom to try to awaken you, you weren't black statues" Pinkie Pie said. "I mean, you were statues but you had another color."

"That happened because, though we didn't have our star seeds at the time, they still had their lights" Mirror Coat said. "But when they are stolen and the star seeds are empty, then their owners become black statues. And I was close to be one myself. Scale captured me when I went to get Purple Smoke, but I managed to escape while he was steeling Purple’s light. I couldn't do anything to save him."

"You don't have to feel guilty, Mirror Coat" Twilight said. "You did everything you could."

"Besides, if he had gotten your light, he probably would try to invade the Light Kingdom through the Mirror Realm" Blue said.

"Not exactly" Mirror Coat replied. "Since our last fight with Scale, I made a spell that prevents anypony who get my light of passing through any defenses I've created at that moment. It means that even if Scale gets my light, he will have to invade the Light Kingdom in the old way."

"Wow, I didn't see that coming" Rainbow Dash said.

"Well I saw" Heartbeat said. "Mirror Coat was always the best when it comes to deceive others."

"Yes, it was a great move" Golden Paladin said. "But still, Mirror Coat, don't get caught. Your light will only leave Scale stronger and we don't need that."

"Don't worry" Mirror Coat said. "I won’t."

"Can I ask you a question?" Spike asked.

"What is it, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Now that the Generals that are left are all here, what Scale will do now?" the little dragon asked.

That was a good question.

In Canterlot, Celestia, Luna and Ingrid were in the throne room, receiving visits from ponies of high society who came to greet Princess Ingrid and congratulate her return.

"I'm immensely glad to know you, Princess Ingrid" Fancy Pants said, while making a bow to the ex-Snow Queen. "It's an honor."

"Thank you" Ingrid thanked, making a nod.

Fancy Pants then started heading to the exit.

"I'm glad these ponies are being so nice to me in this way after all I did" Ingrid said to her sisters.

"Forgiveness is one of the qualities of our subjects" Celestia said.

"You may don’t have their full forgiveness for your actions, but believe me when I say that what you did will stay in the past" Luna said. "I know from own experience."

Ingrid waved with a smile. It felt so good being next to her sisters and feel their support. He was an idiot for ever had doubting the love that they felt for her.

It was then that another pony entered in the throne room and advanced to be ahead of the three alicorn sisters. He made a bow and said:

"It's an honor to meet you, Princess Ingrid."

"Thank you" she thanked.

"Of course it is also an honor to meet you too, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna” the pony said, rising up.

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked. "We've already met."

"I don’t think so" the pony said. "After all, I was imprisoned in a cell before the Lord of Order had given to your parents the special lights of the Sun and the Moon."

And, having said that, purple smoke wrapped him, what made the three sisters to retreat. When the smoke disappeared, Scale appeared. Seeing that, the guards tried to intervene, but the General of Balance, used Leaf Mane’s power to create a tree similar to the one he used to attack Mirror Coat and Purple Smoke, trapping them and using the pollen from the flowers to put them to sleep.

"Who are you?" Celestia asked. "And how can you be using powers that only the General of Talent and the General of Nature have?"

"To the first question, I answer that my name is Perfect Scale" Scale replied. "I understand the reason why you don’t recognize me, since my brothers and sisters and Princess Aurora did not allow future generations didn't know about me. But, to satisfy your curiosity, I tell you who I am. I am the General of Balance, the seventh General of the Light Kingdom."

"The seventh General?" the three sisters asked, confused.

"That's right" Scale said. "As for the second question, I have Purple Smoke and Leaf Mane’s powers, as well as Melody’s, because I absorbed the light from their star seeds."

That made the three princesses hold their breath.

"And I'm here to absorb your lights so I can put this world into a perfect balance" Scale said.

"That will not happen" Ingrid said, in a determined way. "We're not going to let you steal our lights."

"I'm afraid there's nothing you can do to stop me" Scale said.

"You want to bet?" Luna asked.

"Ingrid, Luna, let's do it" Celestia said.

The three alicorn sisters carried their horns with magic and then released a magic beam each other that joined to form one stronger beam. However, Scale used his negating magic to block the attack.

"That's all?" he asked.

And he gave a supersonic scream that made the three princesses wrench in pain. Then he used Purple Smoke’s toxic smoke to weaken them.

"I told you I was going to absorb your lights" Scale said, advancing towards Luna. "It was inevitable."

And he made Luna’s star seed to appear and then he began to absorb Luna’s light.

"Luna!" Celestia and Ingrid called, failing to get up because of the toxic effects of the smoke.

Scale absorbed all Luna’s light and she turned into black rock.

"You could simply not having offered resistance" Scale continued, advancing then to Ingrid.

He made her star seed (whose light was silver) appear and then absorbed her light from her star seed, making Ingrid be turned into black stone too.

"But you had to fight" Scale said, using his magic to summon a root that got involved around Celestia and lifted her until the two stay face to face. "What pathetic you are."

"I may not know who you are exactly" Celestia said, without showing any sign of fear. "But I can assure you one thing. You won't win."

"That's what we're going to see" Scale said. "Well I'll see it, but you don't."

And, with this, Scale also absorbed the light from Celestia’s star seed, also turning her into black stone. After absorbing the lights of the three sisters, Scale disappeared.

Author's Note:

I changed the color of the black chess pieces into red due to future stories I am planning.

Comments

[ShadowsofEquestria]

Sorry for being late but wow, this story just turned dark in the final act. It is a good chapter and a great story together and for some reason I have a feeling the power of 'love' will save them.

Also is perfect Scale a reference to that one guy from Batman brave and the bold. You know the yin and yang guy who betrayed his masters and became a god. Just wondering?

[Rakoon1]

6583214
Yes, when I created Scale I also though about him.