Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox

by Rakoon1

The Tree of Dreams

Star was involved by Kurama’s avatar, while his eyes turned red with slit pupils. He gave a jump and then he said:

“We need to make a move now, but the only thing that works with Grogar now is magic empowered by natural energy. How can I battle an entire fight against him when I have to gather natural energy in the way?”

“You don’t have to worry about that” Kurama told him in their plane.

“What do you mean by that?” Star asked.

“What if I told you that you can go into sage mode while in tailed beast state?” the fox said. “Listen, you may have forgotten, but it happened during your fight with Hepheus at the Light Kingdom. Influenced by your rage, I got so mad that my energy leaked out, even though you were in sage mode at the time. My power and your sage power actually managed to synchronize.”

“So that happened back then, hein…” Star said.

At that moment, he remembered when he was training to master the natural energy at Animarium. When he and Tough Skin tried to combine their energies to surpass the problem regarding the way to gather natural energy, the toad was always pushed away.

“Wait, but when I was training in Animarium, you interfered with Tough Skin’s try to merge his energy with mine!” he exclaimed.

“That’s because I am no interested in sharing space with toads!” Kurama replied. “Besides, it really pissed me off that you would rely in natural energy when you had my own energy.”

That answer caused Star to smile and then say:

“You’re really a great stubborn…”

“No, you’re the stubborn one” Kurama replied. “Anyway, I’m trying to say that I can make you use both my power and natural energy. What’s stubborn about that?”

“You just can’t be up from about your feelings” Star teased.

“You idiot!” Kurama roared. “You’ve been making fun of me a lot lately!”

But Star then turned and said:

“No, it’s just out of familiarity.”

And Kurama grunted.

In Heartbeat and the darker Kurama’s plane, the latter said:

“Using tailed beast state with natural energy at the same time, huh? Well, you are the General of Affection. You can use emotional energy and give support to Star.”

“Yeah” she agreed.

Heartbeat turned to Blue and told him:

“Don’t worry, I keep Star safe.”

He nodded to her and then Heartbeat gave a jump, while her Kurama’s avatar’s head emerged, like how it happened with Star, landing beside him. Even her avatar was darker in color. Star, meanwhile, gathered natural energy, with the orange pigmentation starting to appear around his eyes. He noticed that, in the tailed beast state he could absorb it faster, what would minimize the downfall of using natural energy greatly. He opened his eyes that now had the slit pupils of his tailed beast state combine with his toad pupils.

With everything ready, both he and Heartbeat conjured their Kurama avatar’s all body, while Heartbeat created Spiraling Sphere.

“It’s a good thing that I learned how to use this” Heartbeat said. “Star, add natural energy to the Spiraling Sphere!”

And Kurama’s front paw touched the Spiraling Sphere, adding the natural energy.

“Let’s go, Heartbeat.”

And the two of them prepared to teleport.

“Just forge ahead” Kurama said. “We'll ward off his attacks with our energy.”

And they teleported. Sensing them and knowing they will try to hit him from behind like before, Grogar turned and extended the fire, turning it into five flame arms. But the two Kuramas, appearing before him, deflected them and prepared to hit Grogar with their attack. He changed the form of one of the spheres to defend it. However, the combined efforts of the two jinchuriki of Nine-Tails started to break the black matter.

An explosion happened and they were thrown back. Grogar was able to land on his hoof and turned to the two Kuramas, while they started to get up.

“That thing sure is solid” Star commented. “He used defensibly this time. What we need to do is to destroy that thing.”

“But how?” Heartbeat asked.

“We’ll have to keep trying” Star replied. “This time, I’ll use this with natural energy!”

And he started to prepare a Tailed Beast Bomb, a supercharged one.

“Good thinking!” Heartbeat congratulated. “And we’ll help too.”

And Grogar rose to the air and rose his hooves. He would take measures early. And he clapped the hooves, what started to make Ten-Tails get out of him. That caused a tremendous earthquake that was felt by Star and Heartbeat while they were forming the Tailed Beast Bomb.

“What was that?” Star asked.

Celestia, on the ground with Hepheus, also felt that. Hepheus couldn’t believe that Grogar would start the curse already.

And the ground started to crack, as Ten-Tails reappeared and landed. Seeing that, Star asked:

“He just spit out the Ten-Tails?”

“Be careful” Heartbeat warned. “This looks bad.”

When the dust cleared, Ten-Tails looked around and then he recollected his eye. After he did that, his all body started to change, with what appeared to be a big flower starting to grow on his back. While that happened, Grogar said:

“I’ll suspend the barrier for now.”

And, with a gesture, the barrier was lifted.

“The barrier is disappearing” Applejack said.

“That means we can fight alongside Star and the others!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, excited. “Sweet!”

But at that moment, another tremor happened and, at the place where Ten-Tails was a big three started to grow up, with the flower that started to appear at the top. It grew and grew until it was at a very high altitude. From that tree, roots started to appear and penetrate the ground around the Alliance. The big ones start to attack the two Kurama avatars.

Some members of the Alliance were also hit and threw away for then be grabbed by roots. They then started to feel their energy be drained, with the energy cloak disappearing and their bodies becoming completely dried out. Many tried to run away, but not even that stopped the roots from going after them, including the fliers. Equines, deer, griffons and dragons… No species was able to escape.

Hawthorn was running to escape the roots, but, unlike the others, he had many of them following him.

“But why do I have to be the one with many roots after me?!” he exclaimed.

“That thing is called Divine Tree” Gyuki said. “It’s Ten-Tails’ final form. It can tell that you have more energy than the ones around you, Hawthorn. At this rate, the energy Star shared with everyone is meaningless.”

While Celestia dodged the roots, she asked:

“What exactly is this?”

“Ten-Tails is known as being an amount of wild energy that went out of control, but there’s more into that than everyone think” Hepheus, while also dodging the roots.

“What do you mean by that?” Celestia asked, not understanding what he was saying.

“Before it was defeat by the Lord of Order, Ten-Tails was a sacred tree, created by him to nourish and care for the Enchanted Forest” Hepheus continued. “But of course the pass of time created a mist over that part of the history, the real reason why the Ten-Tails came into being.”

“The real reason?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, let me then tell that story” Hepheus said. “Like I said, long ago, before my master arrived to this reality, the Lord of Order created the Divine Tree in order to ensure the Enchanted Forest’s survival. It didn’t only take care of the forest itself, but also all the ones living in it. However, a terrible winter fell upon them, with many kingdoms starving. The only place where everything continued lush was the Divine Tree’s domains. It would let the inhabitants to satisfy their hunger, as it was its duty to care for them, but they wanted more. So, they took the Divine Tree’s heart, the one that commanded the Enchanted Forest and everyone started to fight for it.”

“I see, so that’s how the war started” Celestia realized. “And that heart you talked about… Don’t tell me that…”

“Yes, it is the Heart of the Forest” Hepheus answered. “When the Lord of Order got to know what happened, he himself took the heart. But the damage had already been done. The heart was what allowed the tree to balance the energy it absorb for itself and eventually the wild energy became too much and consumed it, turning it into what we know now as Ten-Tails. The Lord of Order defeated it and sealed it, giving then the heart to the King of Trees who then gave it to the rulers of Falancia when it was decided it would become the head kingdom of the Enchanted Forest.”

“How do you know all that?” Celestia asked.

“The Lord of Chaos told me of course” Hepheus replied. “He got to know everything about his brother’s greatest creation before starting to claim it as his own. As you can see, Celestia, even before the Lord of Chaos’ arrival, there was already chaos in this reality. In fact, it was because of that and all the hate to the Tailed Beast that came later that the Lord Chaos came.”

“That may be true, but that doesn’t give him the right to destroy everything!” Celestia exclaimed.

“The Lord of Chaos’ only purpose is to destroy what the Lord of Order creates” Hepheus replied. “If the one you serve wanted to keep his creation as it was, then he should have been more attentive to his creations and make sure they didn’t mess things up. But don’t worry, it won’t take long for my master to put this reality in an order and peace that surpass the one created by his brother!”

While keeping dodging the roots that kept appearing, Celestia asked:

“Do you really believe in that?”

“But of course” Hepheus replied. “However, there’s a difference regarding the Lord of Chaos’ original design.”

The roots ended up catching Star.

“Star, no!” Heartbeat exclaimed.

Ingrid arrived there with teleportation and, seeing that, tried to use his ice to break the roots, only for them to grow back in a moment, becoming even bigger and going to involve Star.

“They’re too many!” she exclaimed. “Heartbeat, can you get to Star Knight?”

“No, this vines drained my energy” she replied.

“In that case…” Luna said, while taking off to go take Star, whose energy was being drained by the vines.

He energy that covered him quickly disappeared and the young prince started to lose consciousness. When it looked it was over for him, Blue appeared and used his magic to cut through the vines and release his son who weakly smiled at him and said:

“Dad…”

He then took him and brought him to where Heartbeat and Ingrid were.

“Thank the Lord of Order you came, Blue” Heartbeat said.

“Yes, great timing, indeed” Ingrid said.

“When I saw what was happening with Ten-Tails, I couldn’t just stay where I was.”

“Now that Star is safe, we have to teleport away” Ingrid said, touching Heartbeat and Blue, who was holding Star, and they all teleported.

It appeared that the tree stopped moving and Ingrid and the others arrived to where they were before. It was then that Star noticed all the ones who died from having their energy drained away. Seeing that, and knowing that not even Kurama’s energy could save them, made him feel a mix of anger and sadness.

But the worst was now Ten-Tails new form, who took the appearance of a very tall tree with a bulb at the top.

Taking from what Hepheus last said, Celestia asked him:

“What do you mean by that?”

“Take a look” Hepheus said, motioning to the tree that was so high at the sky. “When this Divine Tree’s bulb finally blooms, the moon will reflect the eye of the flower and the Eternal Nightmare Curse will be fully activated… and I will be the one to accomplish it.”

While the others were still recovering, Twilight was lying on the ground, apparently unconscious. Luna, who were by her side, tried to wake her up.

“Twilight Sparkle, please, wake up.”

Hawthorn, who had lost Star’s cloak energy, had finally dealt with the roots following him thanks to Shark Skin.

“Well, that was close…” Hawthorn said, while catching his breath.

Applejack and Cloud Chase stand down on the ground.

“So close…” the latter said.

“Ah hope it’s all over…” Applejack said.

Grogar raised at the air, looking to everyone below him.

“Now…” he said to them. “Be still… You all endured plenty already.”

At that moment, Aspen, Hard Stone, Strongpaw and Mystic Heart were approaching the front line over Strongpaw’s sand. It was then that they started to see the Divine Tree.

“What is that?” Mystic Heart asked.

“I don’t know, but we have to get there fast and help the others” Aspen said.

At the battlefield, Twilight started to get up and Luna asked:

“Are you all right, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes, Princess Luna, you don’t have to worry about me” she replied.

“Soarin!” Rainbow Dash’s exclaimed, catching their attention.

They turned and saw Rainbow Dash beside her husband who, although was not death, had most of his energy drained out. He was barely breathing.

“Please, hang in there” Rainbow said, with tears on his eyes.

Spike, Applejack, Cloud Chaser, Big Mac and Shadow Claw all approached.

“He looks really bad” Shadow Claw observed.

“No, we already lost Thunder Night” Spike said. “We can’t lose another friend.”

Seeing that, Twilight said:

“I have to start healing everyone right away.”

“No, you can’t” Luna said.

“Why not?!” Twilight asked. “My friends need my help… Everyone needs my help!”

“Don’t you see?!” Luna replied. “The ones who suffered from that last attack had all their energy drained and died. Even the ones who are still alive require more energy than you can give them at this moment. It’s not about healing wounds, but giving the energy they lost in their entire body. Not even you can reach all of them without draining all of your energy.”

Twilight couldn’t believe that not even her, with all her magic, couldn’t do anything. Tears started to fell on her face. But when she saw her friend Rainbow Dash crying over her dying husband, Twilight found herself imagining Fluttershy’s reaction to Thunder Night’s death. That made her got the determination to say:

“I’m may not be able to help everyone, but I can still save lives.”

And she, with a few wing flaps, landed beside the group along with Luna and Rainbow Dash said:

“Twilight! Thank goodness you’re here! Please, save Soarin.”

“I’ll do my best” she said.

And Twilight started to use the healing spell.

While looking to everyone, Grogar said:

“The ponykind, along with the others, is all done for. There’s no need to keep going. If you don’t resist, I’ll not kill you.”

Star was looking at him with anger and tears on his eyes. All the words he had listen, both from Grogar and Hepheus, all their actions, all the friends he lost… All that was making his anger boiling inside.

“Regret will fill you unless you stop and do nothing” Grogar continued. “No more fearing death or enduring pain. You’ll be entering a dream.”

A silent fell over the battlefield. Many had listen his words and seemed to be tempted to take after them, having in count all the death they watch and the pain suffered.

“Don’t give up!” Luna exclaimed to them. “If you fall under that illusion spell, it will be like you’re dead.”

But not even the words of an alicorn princess like Luna had any impact on them.

“These tree is closely connected to Grogar” Blue said. “It’s like an extra limb to extract energy. We must not be careless.”

“That is not like you, Blue” Heartbeat said.

“Well, even somepony like me can be cautions when the need calls for that” Blue replied.

While they were still fighting, Celestia asked Hepheus:

“Then when is it going to bloom?”

“Didn’t you figure out yet?” Hepheus asked. “Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails’ jinchuriki are still alive.”

“I see, so their energy is essential for it to bloom…” Celestia realized.

At that moment, the bulb opened a bit, what caught Celestia’s attention.

“However, if it contains even a small portion of each energy, it is still fine” Hepheus replied, extending his hoof and making appear a piece of wild energy that started to advance to the root where he was standing. “In other words, it is not like it can’t bloom. All that is effected is how long it will take to bloom. There’s about fifteen minutes to go. In that time, I shall stop Grogar and trade places with him.”

“Why doing that?” Celestia asked. “Isn’t your goal the same?”

“Well, I am the General of Chaos after all” Hepheus said. “The honor of casting this cast must be to the most loyal servant of the Lord of Chaos. But first, I shall end you, dear Celestia. I know how you can be a stone under somepony else’s hoof.”

Knowing she wouldn’t have any other opportunity, she relied mentally all the information to Luna as quick as possible. She knew her sister would be able to lend it to everyone.

After getting the information, Luna called:

“Silverweed!”

He approached and asked:

“Yes, princess?”

“I need your help to connect with everyone. I have information about that tree and the Eternal Nightmare Curse.”

He did so and Luna was connected to every one of the Alliance nearby. The regents who were approaching were close enough to be connected as well.

“Princess Luna, is that you?” Aspen asked.

“Yes, it’s me” she replied. “And it’s a good thing you’re close, so I don’t have to explain it again. My sister has lent me information that I must tell you. Listen carefully.”

While looking to everyone, Grogar decided it was time to get more energy for the tree, as it was taking too long for it to bloom.

After explaining everything, Spike asked:

“So we’re all… just nourishment to that tree?!”

“And with all we have to fight against, we only have fifteen minutes?” Shadow Claw asked. “We won’t do much with that time.”

“And yet do nothing will lead us to the same result” Luna said. “We must either cut down the tree or defeat the caster within the remaining time. I told you not give up hope!”

But a huge silent was heard. The majority of the Alliance didn’t know what to do. A root extended to get more energy, but the ones nearby it didn’t know if it would be worth it to dodge it.

“Yes, that’s right” Grogar said. “Just stay like that. I will take you to a world where there’s no regrets.”

And Star, not being able to contain any longer, teleported and cut the root down, while covering himself with Kurama’s energy. He opened his eyes, revealing the cross between natural energy he gathered plus Kurama’s power.

It was then that something started to happen. Through the telepathic link, Star’s feelings started to flow through the ones linked. It was all the feelings of his life as jinchuriki and how he fought to be acknowledge by everyone. And it wasn’t just that, it was also the connections he had, the ties that he formed, both with his family, his friends… even with Moonlight, everything that was precious to him. Because of that, he didn’t want to regret anything. He didn’t want to think about what he could have done.

“I just can’t…” he said, while turning into the tailed beast state “…make everything we’ve done up to this point meaningless!”

Having listened that, Grogar couldn’t believe Star continued to stand against him, mainly when it was just a matter of time for the curse to be activated.

It was revealed then that Heartbeat was providing the energy Star used to get into the tailed beast state.

“Sorry to have to borrow more energy” the lighter Kurama said to the darker one.

“Don’t worry about that” he replied.

“We’re counting on you, Star” Heartbeat said, while ending to charge Star and returning to normal.

And Star advanced to attack.

“It will be too late for regrets” Grogar said, while he turned a sphere into the staff he had earlier. “Not that there’s going to be a future for you.”

And he went to face Star. While they crushed, his determination, along with Celestia’s, who was fighting Hepheus, as well as others’ passed through everyone, including the remaining regents who ended up arriving. With all that, Twilight said:

“You all felt it, didn’t you? You felt that my son and Princess Celestia, as well as others, won’t give up until the very end. So, please, I beg you all! I beg you to take the first step toward our future! Now is the time to take all the pain, the suffering and the frustration we have endured and weave it into our dream of a better tomorrow!”