Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox

by Rakoon1

Pursuing Hope

“It seems Princess Twilight made our common dream be spoken” Aspen said. “It is time to make it true at this moment.”

“You’re not wrong, King Aspen” Mystic Heart said.

“That goes without saying, but, if we don’t win here, it won’t come to be” Hard Stone reminded.

“King Hard Stone is correct” Strongpaw said. “Defeat is not an option.”

“Well, then, let’s spread out and take command!” Aspen exclaimed. “It’s time to show them the Alliance’s greatest power. That is our primary duty as regents.”

And they scattered.

After feeling what Star was feeling and hearing what Twilight had just said, all the ones who had doubts got rid of them all and put themselves ready to attack.

Meanwhile, Star was battling Grogar, with the former pursuing the other. The young jinchuriki fired a Tailed Beast Bomb with natural energy, but Grogar used the black matter to defend. Below, everyone was seeing that battle.

“Incredible…” Spike said.

“Eeyup” Big Mac agreed.

“What just happened?” Shadow Claw asked.

“It looks like Star attacked Grogar” Applejack said.

“Did he do it?” Cloud Chaser asked.

Twilight, who was healing Soarin, hoped that Star would be careful at the fight.

Star landed on a root, while looking to where his attack, waiting to see if he managed to damage Grogar. But he knew he didn’t do any damage and, in fact, when the smoke cleared, Grogar appeared without any damage. The black matter had protected him again. Looking to Star, Grogar said:

“You better be prepared.”

That phrase irritated Star, as he knew he was talking about his promise to not let any of his comrades die, what was something he was not willing to let anyone else die. When he made that resolution, the energy cloak immerged on Soarin. Noticing that, Twilight said:

“This is…”

Another explosion happened, what caused Twilight to get a little worried, as, even when he fights, he keeps protecting his comrades. She just wanted that he focused in what he can do and leave the healing to her.

“No, Twilight Sparkle, don’t you get it?” Luna asked. “He’s doing this unconsciously. His energy is acting on its own from his deep desire to help others.”

“Whatever is it, I’m just glad it’s happening” Rainbow said.

Soarin then started to open his eyes.

“Rainbow…” he said, weakly.

“Please, Soarin, stop talking” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yes, I need you to keep your strength” Twilight told him. “I won’t let you die.”

But it didn’t take long for Soarin to recover.

Star tried to attack Grogar but he dodge, but the young prince followed him, saying:

“Come back here!”

With that, Luna told to everyone:

“All right, it’s time to cut that tree down while he is distracted.”

Looking to the tree, Hard Stone said:

“It doesn’t matter how tall and thick a tree may be. It is still quite tiny compared to the earth itself. And this earth, this entire land, is on our side!”

And all the soldiers around him, mainly the ones from Stonult, cheered him.

“Let’s go, everyone!” Aspen exclaimed.

“As you wish, brother” Hawthorn said, followed by the cheers of the deer.

“As the one who installed peace in Evermist after years of violence, I’m not very akin to go to open war” Mystic Heart said. “But I have to open an exception to this. Let’s move out!”

Meanwhile, Star and Kurama prepared a Tailed Beast Bomb to launch against Grogar, but he defended it. They landed and Star exclaimed, irritated:

“Come on!”

Behind the dust, Grogar looked at Star and he looked back.

Strongpaw, while occupying his place, couldn’t stop thinking how Star to become a necessary existence, even though he had a rough time at his foalhood, something they shared. And now, it was time for him to save the world… and he would help that happen.

“Follow me, everyone!” he exclaimed to the guards at his side who cheered him.

At the Nothingness Realm, Shining was trying to heal his own wounds, but healing himself was not an easy task, as it consumed much more energy than cure others, mainly for those whose magic was not tasked for that kind of spells.

“This should do” Shining said, while doing what he could. “I should get going now.”

At the battlefield, Blue looked to his son fighting and smiled. He clearly had surpassed him and Twilight, as he was able to inspire everyone. But he wouldn’t let him carry all the weight on his shoulders.

It was then that everyone started to advance with only one thought in mind: cut down that tree. With the tree extending its roots to defend itself, everyone started to get pass to get to it, with the dragons led by Spike and the griffons led by Gael and Godot being at the front, using their fire and claws.

“Dragons, burn every part of this damn tree!” Spike exclaimed.

“Griffons, let’s show everyone our sharp power!” Gael shouted.

“We should go to” Soarin replied, starting to get up.

“Are you okay to do that?” Rainbow Dash asked, a little worried.

“Don’t worry” Soarin said. “I’m completely recovered now. Remember that we are Wonderbolts. We need to help on the attack.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and then they two took flight.

Noticing everyone attacking while flying, Grogar realized he needed to increase the defenses. And wooden dragons were made. Although a little intimidated, the guards remained still. When the dragons tried to attack them, the guards about to be attacked were teleported, much to their surprise. That was caused by the combined efforts of Heartbeat and Ingrid, who used the link through Nine-Tails’ energy to teleport them.

“As long we’re here…” Heartbeat said.

“You won’t be able to touch anyone” Ingrid ended.

Twilight remained behind, as she would use her magic to keep everyone safe and healed. Together with Luna, who combined her magic with hers, created a healing field, where the guards could have their energies recovered and their wounds treated just by standing on the ground, entrusting Silverweed to tell that to everyone.

“We’ll be sure that everyone doesn’t get injured and revigorated.”

Meanwhile, Star was keeping fighting with Grogar, but the latter was keeping dodging all of his attacks. The young alicorn had to admit that he was really fast, but, thanks to all the training he had with Tough Skin, he was starting to understand his moves better and better. And, when Star cornered Grogar against the tree, Kurama tried to attack with his claws, but Grogar defended with the black matter.

“It’s about time… for you to sleep” the ram said. “Now I’ll guide you into the dream. There’s no time left.”

And he grabbed Kurama’s avatar with the black matter and Star couldn’t believe he couldn’t move. Observing Star, Grogar couldn’t believe how strong the will he had was. It made him remind who he was when he was Star Shield. In order to confirm if his loyalty to his masters and the belief he had on his plan were true, he needed to fight Star and now he had it.

At the top of the Divine Tree, it was possible to see the bulb starting to bloom, while Grogar launched Star to the ground. Such impact caused the ground nearby to crack and catch all the ones there in the shockwave.

“What the hay happen’d?” Applejack asked.

“I think Grogar launched Star to the ground” Cloud Chaser said.

Inside the crater created by the impact, Star was lying on the ground, without Kurama’s energy, but still with the Sage Mode, while Grogar was standing. The young colt started to get up and then Grogar asked him:

“Why did you get up? And what exactly are you fighting for anyway? For your comrades… or for this world?”

Star started to catch his breath, but he didn’t replied.

“Listen, the ones you love eventually get hurt and disappear and the ones who remain can’t escape the pain that causes” Grogar continued. “I know that from experience. I know everything that our family passed when I disappeared. What this world do is to transform love into despair and hate. You should know. You experienced it. The light ponies never really cared about you in the past. And there’s when Moonlight was turned into a villain. Admit that you feel hate upon Adagio and the Lord of Chaos because of that.”

Star didn’t reply to that.

“See, you are not very different from me” Grogar said. “Keeping all those dark feelings will change you in time, just like the Lord of Chaos changed me and then even more pain will assault you. How can you claim that you’ll never change because of it?! You don’t know when more loved ones will perish again because of this eternal war between Good and Evil… or even if the Alliance will remain together, with everyone fighting against each other. You don’t even know if you can defeat me right now. There is no reason to keep fighting for this world. It’s not that it matters right now, as it’s coming to an end in a few minutes. So why do you keep on fighting?!”

After a pause, Star replied:

“Because I am from your family, the family of Star Shield, whose ideals were passed down to me by my parents, my uncle… No matter what, I will never give up until the very end.”

Those words really irritated Grogar who told:

“I told you to go to sleep!”

Star was involved again by Kurama’s energy.

“Star, it’s time to try that I told you while we were fighting that guy” Kurama said to his jinchuriki.

“Got it” he said.

And, focusing his darkness nature, while making the fox’s head, some kind of dark armor covered half of it.

“I’ll sleep tomorrow and dream my own dreams!” he exclaimed to Grogar.