Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox

by Rakoon1

A Meeting With the Lord of Order

Although Star’s body was dying, his mind went to the same plane that he shared with Kurama. The young prince was lying on the water under him face-up. He opened his eyes and, noticing where he was, he wondered if he was dead.

“Oh, you’re not dead yet, my boy” a voice said.

Star sat up and looked, seeing then the Lord of Order.

“My lord…” he said, bowing his head respectfully.

“You don’t have to address to me like that” the Lord of Order said, approaching. “After all, you did so much for me than you can possibly realize. Because of that, I will entrust with something.”

“Entrust?” Star asked. “What do you mean with that? Look, my lord, with all respect, but I need to return to battle. You know that the world’s fate relies on that.”

“Although I know the importance of winning this war, I’m afraid that is not in my power” the Lord of Order replied. “It only depends on the conditions outside. So, while your fate is decided, we could talk, right?”

Star remained silent for a moment, but then he nodded.

“Good, because I have a lot to tell. So, where should I begin? Oh, I now…”

He then touched the water with his spear and the reflection of the Divine Tree appeared.

“That tree…” Star said.

“Oh, so you recognize it” the Lord of Order observed. “Although it had changed since the last time, the Divine Tree is always recognizable. I created it to look after the Enchanted Forest with the power of its Heart of the Forest. Whenever famine came to the kingdoms, they all knew they could always find what to eat near the tree. However, they became greedier and stole the Heart of the Forest, what created a chain of events that led the Divine Tree to become the Ten-Tails.”

And the image of the beast attacking the Enchanted Forest appeared.

“Then you defeated it and sealed in a jinchuriki, right?” Star said.

The Lord of Order nodded with head and told:

“I hopped in that way I could keep Ten-Tails under control. While the one I chose to become the jinchuriki did the job quite well, I was able to assemble the balance on the Enchanted Forest.”

And he showed the image of Arbor.

“I gave the Heart of the Forest to Arbor, the King of Trees, who then entrusted it to the regent of Falancia, when it became the lead kingdom of the Enchanted Forest. But then it came the time the jinchuriki I chose approached the end of his life, what forced me to extract the Ten-Tails’ energy from him and divide it in nine, naming them. I believed that they could help ponykind and all the others to achieve true peace and cooperation.”

And the image of the Lord of Order with the younger tailed beasts appeared.

“That was a very good thought” Star commented.

“Yes, however, things didn’t go as I planned” the Lord of Order replied. “Everyone started to treat the tailed beasts poorly out of the fear caused by the Ten-Tails. And that was what brought my brother to hear. You know happens next, as you are of the multiple examples that came into being through the centuries. However, the creation of jinchuriki, that should be used to install and maintain peace, started to be used for war, as my brother manipulated the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest to turn against each other. And, after your mother and her friends defeated him over and over again, he decided to use the power of Ten-Tails to cast the ultimate illusion spell: the Eternal Nightmare Curse. The curse doesn’t just cast an illusion over you. It keeps you trapped inside a dream, so the caster can use your individual power while keeping you alive. You became attached to the roots of the Divine Tree and turned into living slaves.”

“So the Lord of Chaos wants to use the curse to be able to control everyone… including my mom… and the Generals” Star realized.

“The Generals of Order, like your father, are extensions of my own power” the Lord of Order replied. “Because of that, they cannot be trapped in that illusion. But your mother… well, she’s another story. If she is put under the curse’s effect, then my brother will have control over light and, by extension, all the realms in the Pony Reality. Because of that, the curse is very ghastly. If all energy is reunited into one again, a fruit will take shape. That must be prevented at all cost or the Pony Reality will end. I know you’re the one that can stop Hepheus, not only because you’re your mother’s son, but because I can sense you have the ability to sympathize that no other pony has.”

“You really like to be subversive, don’t you?” Star asked, with a smile. “But I’m glad you still have faith in your creations. Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me” the Lord of Order replied. “I don’t deserve it. I created this situation, much like I created everything else. This is just me being selfish about the reality that I put so much effort to create. Even though the tailed beasts are being used as tools, I believe that one day that can be changed. I just hope I’m not being naïve.”

“No, you’re not wrong” Star said with a smile.

“That’s absolutely right!” a voice exclaimed.

And Shukaku started to emerge from the water.

“But… you’re Chief Strongpaw’s tailed beast!” Star exclaimed. “Why are you inside me?”

“It was thanks to your great-grandfather” another voice replied.

And Gyuki started to appear as well.

“Gyuki!” Star called.

“He extracted a portion of Shukaku’s and my energy from Hepheus” Gyuki explained. “He knew exactly which tailed beast powers you were lacking.”

“My great-grandpa did that?” Star asked.

“A lot of things happened” Kurama’s voice said, while the darker fox emerged. “He even put me inside of you. Now you’ve got the energy of all nine tailed beasts within you, Star.”

“Even Kurama’s other half?” Star asked.

“It had arrived the time of the promise that you made, father” Kurama said.

“You’re right, my dear Kurama” the Lord of Order said. “I told you that one able to name all the nine beasts would come and lead you all into peace.”

“Wow, even back then you knew?” Star asked. “No wonder you’re the Lord of Order.”

“What could you expect, Star?” Kurama replied.

The Lord of Order chuckled and said to Star:

“You really have the ability to win other’s cooperation. And not only these ones…”

And then all the other tailed beasts emerged, all thanks to the energy they left with Star. The Lord of Order said:

“Shukaku… Matatabi… Isobu… Son Goku… Kokuo… Saiken… Chomei… Gyuki… Kurama… It seems the time has come for the one that I forsake to save the world!”

He then turned to Star and asked:

“Star, tell me, what do you want to do? What do you seek for the after match of this war? I would like to hear your honest thoughts and opinions.”

He thought for a moment and then he said:

“I may be what you say I am, but I’m just a kid and I don’t know much about a lot of things. But I do know what friends are and I want to protect them all. That’s it.”

“Is that your answer?” the Lord of Order asked.

“Yes…”

“Very well, then I’ll entrust some of my power to you, so you can fulfil that” the Lord of Order said. “Rise your hoof.”

Star did so and the Lord of Order raised his hand. The young prince touched the Lord of Order’s hand.

At the Nothingness Realm, Star Shield and Twilight were observing Star, as the former finished transferring the energy he took from Hepheus.

“Grandpa, is Star going to be okay?” Twilight asked.

“Without the tailed beast inside him, Star would die as the result of the extraction” he replied. “But I put the tailed beast back inside him. He should be okay now.”

And then Star started to wake up, what caught Twilight’s attention. And he opened his eyes, getting up. A white sphere was marked on his hoof.

“Star…” Twilight said, with tears of happiness for seeing her son well.

A moment and then he said:

“It’s time to go.”

At the battle between Hepheus and Blue, the two adversaries continued to look at each other.

“That didn’t work…” Strongpaw said.

Shining, who was breathless, tried to catch his breath as fast as he could. He just couldn’t let Blue’s sacrifice be in vain. Meanwhile, Blue started to feel his star seed cracking even more, with his body causing him pain, while his insides started to get petrified. He barely couldn’t breath. Hepheus, on his side, laughed and said:

“This is great! Keep on dancing!”

Blue started to get all the energy he had left to make another set of attacks, one even stronger than the last one. And he prepared to attack. Using his sensing abilities, Hepheus was able to see that Blue’s energy was starting to get weaker. He realized that was Blue’s final attack.

And then an explosion of red energy happened, while it involved Blue. That power was such that the shockwave forced Shining and Strongpaw to protect themselves. It looked like Blue’s mane had turned into fire, while the energy around him took the form of a head of a beast. The star seed cracked even more, with little holes starting to appear through where the light started to get out, what caused parts of his outside body to turn into black stone.

“I’ll acknowledge this power of yours!” Hepheus exclaimed. “Of all those who have fought me over the years, no one had ever gone to the limits like you! I declare you the strongest of the Generals of Order!”

But Blue wasn’t hearing anymore. He only had one purpose: to defeat Hepheus. And he started to advance towards him and Hepheus prepared to face him. The General of Chaos noticed how fast Blue was and, looking to his staff, noticed that it was bending over.

“He’s bending space…” he said.

And Blue gave a strong kick what all that he had on Hepheus, what caused him to spit even more blood. The blow was so strong that threw back Hepheus a lot of hooves that cracked his bones, while Blue’s legs started to turn into stone. The shockwave was so strong that he pushed back Shining and Strongpaw on their places. A big explosion happened and, when the dust cleared, Shining stood up and look around.

“Blue…” he said.

And then he saw him. Blue was lying on the ground, face up. His star seed had great holes, where the light was getting out quickly. His body was turning into black stone visibly. The energy that was once surrounding him was now evaporating. Hepheus, on his turn, was lying against a wall, with his body full of wounds and with a foreleg and a part on his chest missing, but still panting. It was then that he started laughing, while his body started to regenerate, and he exclaimed:

“I almost died, you bastard!”

Blue’s star seed was almost breaking completely and cracks started to appear on the stone.

“Your light is about to go out…” Hepheus said, while his foreleg grew back. “But in gratitude for such good time, I’ll break your star seed and put you out of your misery… before you can turn into stone!”

And he fired a sphere against him, but when it was about to hit him, Star appeared and kicked it away, throwing it back to Hepheus and almost hit him. Hepheus couldn’t believe that Star had been able to kick the a sphere of supreme nature. Star then turned to his father.

“Dad…” Star said, watching how far Blue was willing to go to save him.

And he touched him with the hoof that had the mark that the Lord of Order gave him. And a burst of light was transferred to him.

“Star Knight…” Hepheus said, while looking to him. “You seem different than before…”

That caused the General of Chaos to wonder what Star Shield did to him.

“Yes, I’m still trying to figure it out myself” Star told him, with his back at him.

He then turned, revealing the eyes that he had when crossing the Nine-Tails’ power with natural energy, and declared:

“But I think I can change everything now!”