Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox

by Rakoon1

Star Shield's Sacrifice

At the battlefield of the war, the Lord of Order said to Heartbeat, Melody and Purple Smoke:

“Prince Star Knight is the core participant in the battle. So, when the battle there is over, they will need help.”

“With what, my lord?” Melody asked.

“To cast a specific spell I have in mind” he replied. “However, we will need much more energy than the one we have now, as I cannot use my full power. So, we’ll need more help for it.”

And he touched with his spear on the ground and a burst of light happened. When it disappeared, the three Generals found themselves facing Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat and Leaf Mane, completely awaken from the spell casted by Hepheus.

“No way…” Heartbeat, Purple Smoke and Melody said.

The three new-arrival Generals looked a little confused for what just happened.

“But… where are we?” Mirror Coat asked.

“Just for the record, I love to see Mirror Coat when he’s so confused” Purple Smoke whispered to Melody. “It’s like an eclipse… it doesn’t happen very often.”

That caused Melody to give him a slap behind his head.

“Ouch! What was that for?!” the General of Talent asked.

“So you learn not to be rude with our siblings” Melody replied.

“I for one found that joke very funny” Heartbeat said to Purple Smoke.

“You must be the only one to understand my jokes, little sister” Purple Smoke whispered to Heartbeat.

It was then that they noticed what was around them.

“Wait, but this is wood nature!” Leaf Mane said.

“My lord, don’t tell us…” Golden Paladin started.

“I’m afraid so” the Lord of Order replied. “However, there’s still hope and I and the your brother and sisters need your help. There’s very little time, so listen up very well.”

At the mountainous dimension, after finding Blue, Star Shield found himself with a lot of pain that caused him almost to collapse on the ground.

“Grandpa…” Twilight said, kneeling to see if Star Shield was okay. “Please hang up.”

But Star Shield couldn’t do that. For more pain he was feeling, he had to help Twilight and Blue return to the ice dimension. However, he didn’t have any more energy to use. Would he broke his promise again?

It was then that Starlight’s image (when she was younger) appeared on his mind, smiling at him. She was the light that always guided him, she along with their children. It was that what gave him energy to wake up.

“Thank goodness!” Twilight said with a smile, relieved “You came back!”

Star Shield started to get up while saying:

“There’s something I must do. We’re going back, you two.”

After he got completely stood up, he said to Twilight and Blue:

“Hang on to me.”

The other two nodded and they placed a hoof on each of Star Shield’s shoulders. And the old ram, who once was a unicorn, prepared to locate and teleport the ice dimension.

There, the Lord of Chaos was still fighting Star and his clones, with the latters trying to protect the original, what caused them to disappeared when their adversary hit them.

“There’s no mistake” the Lord of Chaos said to the original. “You’re the one I want.”

And he made the bone-like spikes appear again on her back. Star recognized that from the memories of the clone the Lord of Chaos killed at the mountainous dimension. The Lord of Chaos prepared a spike on each of his hands and advanced to attack Star, firing them. But two clones protected Star, ending up being hit and turned into ash and disappearing soon after.

“These clones are desperately protecting that one” the Lord of Chaos observed. “So you are really the real one.”

More clones put themselves in front of the original one, creating a barrier that prevented the Lord of Chaos from finding him. But he created two more spikes and advanced, starting to kill all the clones that advanced to face her.

Meanwhile, Shining observed that, feeling himself frustrated to not being able to do anything, but watch. Even Twilight and their grandfather were trying to bring Blue back. It was then that he heard his nephew saying to the Lord of Chaos:

“It’s not over yet! There’s no way I’m going to lose!”

And his clones continued to attack the Lord of Chaos who was able to easily defeat them. That caused Shining to ask himself why he was wallowing when Star was fighting so hard? He realized that should exist something that he could do.

A portal opened and Star Shield, Twilight and Blue crossed it, landing on the snow. Seeing them, Shining said:

“Grandpa… Twily… Blue…”

Star also noted them and smiled, but the Lord of Chaos wasn’t very pleased.

“Impossible…” he said. “But how…?”

“Dad!” Star called.

Blue started to hurry on his direction, but the Lord of Chaos take advantage of Star’s distraction to hold him with his power and hit him, to everypony’s shock.

“Now, there’s nothing to worry about” the bringer of destruction said.

And Star started to turn into ash.

“No, Star!” Blue called.

Twilight brought her hooves to her mouth, while Star Shield said:

“No way!”

But when Star started to disintegrate, he disappeared.

“A clone…?” the Lord of Chaos asked, starting to get irritated. “Why you!”

He then realized what happened, while the black spheres moved.

“He passed the spheres to a clone…” he said. “How could I fell for something so simple?!”

“Thank you, mom and great-grandpa!” the original Star said. “Now I can fight him with no holding back.”

“You’re okay…” Twilight said.

“You have to stop to scare us like that” Star Shield said with a smile.

Now that everyone was reunited, the Lord of Chaos realized he also couldn’t hold back any longer. He teleported everyone to another dimension, the one with small pyramid-shape terrain. Once they arrived, a great gravitational force pulled them all down, including Star and all of his clones who disappeared when they hit the ground, with the original falling beside his father along with the black spheres.

“I can’t fly…” Star said.

“But you’re not the only one…” Blue told him.

And Star looked and saw that the Lord of Chaos was also being affected, probably because of the body he created with Petal Sprout’s help. However, the Lord of Chaos found the strength to point her spikes to Star and Blue.

“Oh no…” Shining said, while seeing that.

Blue tried to use his power to nullify that gravitational power, but he couldn’t focus his magic to do it. And then the Lord of Chaos fired the spikes.

“Dodge it… dad!” Star exclaimed, while getting up with all the energy he still had and tried to move.

Twilight wasn’t able to look, knowing what would happen if those things hit her husband and son. Fortunately, the two of them were able to dodge. Although that was the perfect dimension to contradict their speed, it also distorted the Lord of Chaos’ aim. But he just needed to adjust to it, knowing that next time he wouldn’t miss.

When he prepared another attack, Star Shield exclaimed:

“I won’t let you!”

And he started to move as much as he could, advancing to Star and Blue. Shining did the same, following his grandfather’s example. The Lord of Chaos aimed with more care, while Shining and Star Shield continued to advance in Star and Blue’s direction. They knew that there was still one thing they could do: serve as a shield to Star and Blue.

The Lord of Chaos fired the spikes, with Shining and Star Shield fighting to get there in time. When it looked like they wouldn’t be able to do it, a bust of energy allowed them to put themselves in front of them, with Shining protecting Blue and Star Shield protecting Star.

While seeing the spike approaching, Shining started to think about Cadance, Gleaming and Topaz… and the foal of his he wouldn’t be able to meet. However, he was in peace, as he did what he had to do to protect them and everyone else.

But Star Shield, noticing that his grandson would die as well along with him, knew he couldn’t allow that to happen. Shining had a family and he couldn’t make others pass through the same pain he caused to Starlight, Night Light and Shooting Star. So, using his power over the Nothingness Realm, started to teleport the spike that was about to hit Shining, while the other hit him at the stomach.

Noticing what happened, Shining turned to his grandfather, who was smiling at him.

“Grandpa… you…”

“Shining, you still have a long life ahead of you… As well a family that loves you. Don’t be stupid to throw that away.”

Parts of his body started to turn into ash, while he panted.

“But, grandpa, I had already resolved to do it, I… Your power is still needed here.”

While the spikes on his back fell apart, the Lord of Chaos noticed he needed more energy. He needed to teleport to the mountainous dimension to recover faster.

“Why would you do this for someone as useless as me?” Shining asked to his grandfather.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Shining…” Star Shield said. “Stop talking and be aware of the enemy.”

That cause Shining to look at the Lord of Chaos.

“I’ll already told you why I did this” Star Shield replied. “Don’t make me say it again.”

Star then saw Star Shield’s back cracking and starting to turn into dust. He put his hoof over it to try to stop it.

“It’s useless, Star…” the Lord of Chaos told him. “He’s a goner. He’ll rot away like trash and die.”

Those words angered Star, but his great-grandfather told him:

“Enough, Star. He’s right. Don’t waste your energy.”

“Why do you sympathize with him?” the Lord of Chaos asked to Star. “He was originally my servant, an enemy of yours, right? Then again, he’s a traitor to us as well, a loser on both sides. Hated and resented by friend and foe alike, with no one to call truly comrade or family, even with his own grandchildren and great-grandson at his side. He’s alone, with nothing left. He abandoned everypony precious to him and didn’t even cared about how they felt for that. And after being used up, he’s helpless at the end… He’s a fool, filled with nothing more than mistakes…”

“Shut up your mouth, your…” Star started.

“He’s right” Star Shield told, remembering everything he did as Grogar, all the pain and death he caused. “Your right, Lord of Chaos. It’s an end worthy of the villain that I am.”

Recovering part of his magic, Blue was able to teleport to the Lord of Chaos’ side and prepared a light sword to use on him. However, he was quick to teleport to another dimension, taking everyone to the mountainous dimension, what allowed him to take flight and dodge the General of Balance’s attack.

“We’ve been here before” Twilight said.

“She changed worlds again…” Shining told.

“Don’t worry about him, Star” Blue told him. “I can deal with him, while you do what you have to do.”

And, having said that, he teleported up there. Star then continued to try to heal Star Shield, but to not avail.

“Damn it… Damn it… Damn it!”

More parts of Star Shield’s body started to fell apart, while tears appeared on Star’s eyes. The old ram turned to Star and told him, with a slight smile and his body contining to fall apart bit by bit:

“That’s enough, my boy… Thank you, Star. After fighting you, I feel like I’ve woken up. It was like as if I saw my past self when I looked at you. And I regret what I am now. But, for some reason, it also made me happy, as I could see how my family had grown, even without me, and see that in all of them a part of the old me still exists. And it was you who brought that to me. Just thought of all that, even after what happened, was able to fill my heart again. Maybe it’s because it’s the end, I find myself rambling all of a sudden.”

There was a pause and then Star Shield continued:

“A lot more suffering awaits you, Star. But don’t ever change and hang on to your light, because it’s the only way to not turn what you told me into lies. And that’s not Grogar talking, but your great-grandfather Star Shield.”

Although with great cost, Star replied:

“Yes…”

Shining fell on his knees, while feeling immensely sad for seeing the one that he had admired die in front of him.

“Oh, and there are two more things I want to tell you” Grogar said, turning to Star. “The first one is that I want you to tell your great-grandmother… your grandfather… and your great-uncle… that I loved them. The second one is…”

And he whispered something to Star’s ear, what caused him to get his eyes wide open. After that, with one hoof crumbling apart and a big hole on his stomach, Star Shield told to his great-grandson:

“Star… I’m counting on you.”

And he crumbled away completely, with Star saying:

“Yes, great-grandpa!”

And the great Star Shield turned into ash and fell on the ground. Both Star, Shining and Twilight, who witnessed everything, grieved their loss, but the sound of the battle between the Lord of Chaos and Blue caught their attention. The sigh of Star Shield’s ash caught their attention and the Lord of Chaos commented:

“The vermin traitor has finally died, hein? He was vermin and persistent like a cockroach, like all the others who dared to betray me.”

And he laughed. That caused Star to look at him with anger and exclaimed:

“Don’t laugh at my great-grandfather!”

“Star…” Twilight said.

“Star, if you keep resisting, you’ll end up pitifully crumbling to ash just like him” the Lord of Chaos said.

“As a member of my family that inspired many to become better ponies… my great-grandfather is nothing but…”

And, suddenly, he took flight, while making a light blade with his horn and cutting of one of the Lord of Chaos’ arm, exclaiming:

“…awesome to me!”