Turtles of Equestria

by Wildcard25

Always Count on Family

After getting all the equipment they needed, the ninjas were hiking up the Foal Mountain. As they hiked, they noticed Melody was true to her word and was able to keep up with the younger ponies. Applejack spoke, "Well, gosh, Melody. You weren't kidding about still being spry."

"I may be old, but I never let the concept of being withered and weak keep me from staying in shape." Melody explained, while feeling pumped.

"She's got guts." Raph told his bros.

"No kidding." Casey agreed.

Leo looked on the horizon to see the sun going down, "Sun's setting. We better make camp somewhere here."

"Leo's right, if we go further in the dark we're only looking for trouble." Karai agreed.

"All right, let's stop here." Twilight said, as they stopped to rest by a wide open area on the mountain.

Soon they started getting a fire going with the use of some of the supplies they brought with. And when the moon came up, the fire was burning brightly with the group sitting around it. Mikey, Pinkie, and Applejack were toasting marshmallows on the fire. As they relaxed, Leo, Twilight, and Sunset had told Melody about some of their adventures in the human world and in space.

"And that's how we saved our entire planet from being obliterated." Leo finished telling Melody the story of how they saved earth with the help of Fugitoid.

"Oh, my," Melody said in disbelief, "That was certainly a spectacle. I can't believe a bunch of aliens would want to destroy a whole planet just to eliminate their enemies. And at the cost of so many innocent lives."

"Exactly how we felt." Twilight replied on behalf of herself and Sunset Shimmer.

"But it all worked out, even though our friend had to sacrifice himself." Sunset said in sorrow.

Melody noticed Sunset's melancholy look, and spoke, "I know that look. You miss him, don't you?"

Sunset answered, "Yeah. I do. He was a great friend."

"The best." Mikey nodded.

"Thanks to him, we had a home to return to." April agreed.

Later after the fire was put out, everyone was fast asleep. Well, everyone except Twilight, Leo, and Sunset. The three were standing by a cliff side looking up at the moon while deep in thought. Le turned to the girls, "Tomorrow we'll have to face Blade and the Dusk Ninjas."

"Don't worry, Leo. We'll be fine." Twilight assured him.

"With all of us working together we should be more than a match." Sunset added.

"Fighting's him's not my biggest concern." Leo replied.

"It isn't?" Twilight asked.

Leo looked at them, "It's how Melody's going to feel when she sees what her brother's become. And I'm worried seeing her again will only make Blade angrier."

"No matter what happens, we have to do what we can to stop Blade before he ends up doing something really bad." Sunset reminded him.

"I know. I just hope we're making the right choice." Leo sighed.

"Choices are always something a leader must face, my son." came a voice.

The three spun around to see Master Splinter standing before them, "Father/sensei!" the three gasped.

"Sensei, we're getting closer and closer to stopping Blade Swipe, but I hope we can do it without needing to do something desperate." Twilight began.

"But we still believe Blade can be saved." Sunset added.

"Good. Because, I believe there is far worse at play."

"Far worse?" Leo asked.

"Like something other than Blade?" Twilight wondered.

"Yes. And you must be prepared for whatever it may be."

The three looked at each other before turning back to face Splinter who was gone. They smiled to themselves knowing their sensei was once again right, and they had to be on guard for whatever was waiting for them. They returned to the camp for some much needed sleep.

---

When morning came, Blade was at his lair practicing his ninjitsu, until a Dusk ninja appeared, "What?" he asked, as the ninja whispered into his ear. After the ninja explained, Blade's eyes widened, "What?! That can't be! How did they find me?"

"Problems?" came the crow who flew over to Blade.

"It's those ninjas from Ponyville. They're on the mountain!" Blade vented.

"Strange. How could they have possibly known you'd be here?" the crow wondered.

"I don't know. But I intend to find out. Ninjas!" he called, as some Dusk Ninjas appeared before him, "Bring me the mutants." the Dusk Ninjas left to do their job, as Blade was still confused about how they knew where he'd be.

Back with the heroes, they continued their way around the mountain while keeping an eye out for anything. Shini spoke up, "So how will we know where Blade is hiding?"

"Knowing him, he'll probably have some creepy hideout on the mountain." Mikey replied.

April suddenly stopped in her tracks, "What's up, April?" Casey asked.

"Guys, we got company!" she called.

Suddenly appearing all around the mountain were the Dusk Ninjas, "What are they?" Melody gasped.

"Dusk Ninjas." Rainbow answered.

"Your brothers new friends, if you wanna call them that." Spike added.

The Dusk Ninjas surrounded the mutant brothers, much to the others confusion. The shadow ninjas surrounded the mutants with their shadowy bodies creating a barrier over them before disappearing.

"Leo!" Twilight and Karai called.

"They're gone." Shini gasped.

"Where have they taken them?" Fluttershy asked.

"One guess." Applejack replied.

"We gotta hurry." April said, as the group made haste.

---

The shadow ninja ponies had returned to their bosses lair much to the pony ninjas surprise, "What was that?" Donnie asked.

"That was freaky." Mikey shivered.

They looked around the cave lair, as Raph asked, "Where are we?"

"In my home." Blade answered, as he approached while carrying a black book in one hand, and the crow perched on his shoulder.

The pony ninjas drew their weapons, as Leo spoke, "Blade, you brought us here?"

"Correct, Leonardo. And I wish to know why you are here on my mountain?"

"Oddly enough, we've come looking for you." Raph answered.

"And how would you know to come here on Foal Mountain?" Blade asked suspiciously.

"That's our secret." Mikey replied.

"No matter," Blade drew his sword, "Now with you all here I can finally defeat you and then I can truly call myself the best ninja in this world."

"We're not going to let that happen," Leo answered, before calling an order, "Ninjas, take him down!" the team went into battle against Blade.

The brothers were amazed to see Blade fighting so well with sword in hand and book in the other. Blade looked at the contents of the book before activating his magic and blasted with them dark magic. The ninja ponies jumped out of the way before the balst could hit them, "What's up with that book?" Mikey asked.

"Remember what Blade said?" Donnie asked, "That's gotta be the grimoire he found."

"Which means, we destroy that then there goes his henchmen." Raph said, as the group tried to take the grimoire from him.

Blade kept dodging them, before speaking, "I won't let you touch my grimoire. Dusk Ninjas, aid me!" he ordered his ninja who came to his aid and fought the ninja ponies. The crow watched from the side studying everyone.

---

Meanwhile the rest of the ponies had galloped around the mountain before spotting a cave entry on top of the mountain, "They must've gone in there." Starlight stated.

"Come on." Twilight ordered, as they hurried into the cave.

As they hurried, they heard the sounds of weapons clashing. They stopped and saw their friends fighting Blade and the Dusk Ninjas. Melody looked and saw Leo fighting Blade and was in shock, "Blade?" she asked softly.

"We're sorry, but that is your brother." Twilight apologized.

"We need to help them." Karai said, as she was about to jump in.

"Hold it," Twilight stopped her, "Firs thing's first. Blade!" she called out.

The two sides ceased their fighting and looked towards the entry, " Twilight, everyone!" Leo cheered in relief.

"Perfect," Blade smirked, "You've saved me the trouble of having to capture all of you."

"You're not capturing anyone here." April warned him.

"Because we brought a secret weapon." Pinkie added smugly.

"You lie." Blade replied.

"Actually, we have." Rarity assured him.

The ponies and Spike stepped aside, as Melody approached. As she came into the light Blade's eyes flicked in shock, "No. It-it can't be," he gasped, "Melody?" he asked, while picturing younger Melody in place of the elder one.

Melody answered, "Hello, Blade."

"I-I know it's been decades, but I still can't believe it. My little sister... You're so old." he said in disbelief.

"And you haven't aged a day." Melody looked him over.

"Why have you come here?" Blade asked in confusion.

"Twilight, Leo, and the others told me you were still alive and that you were up to no good. So I had to see it for myself. Brother, why?" she asked.

"Melody, understand it wasn't my fault. The Kraang did this to me. They turned me into a monster, and turned everypony against me!"

"The Kraang may have mutated you, but they didn't turn everypony against you," Melody replied, "I can understand how angry you can be at ponies for looking at you like a freak. But you're not a freak. Not to me. You're my brother, and no matter how different you look or what others say, you'll always be my big brother."

"Melody." he gasped.

"When Princess Celestia reported you missing I was crushed thinking something happened to you. But you've been alive all this time. Why? Why didn't you let me know you were ok?"

"I couldn't let you see me like this. I couldn't even let mom and dad see me like this."

"Mom and dad mourned for you as much as I did," Melody continued, "It broke their hearts thinking you were gone. We all thought it was something we did to make you feel bad."

"No! Why would you think..." Blade was cut off.

"Because we had no idea why you didn't come home. The guilt ate at us for so many years. Mom and dad died thinking you hated them."

"I-I had no idea." The mutant pony said as guilt started piling up on him.

"Please, Blade. I know things can never be the way they were before. But we can begin anew. I don't know how many more years I have left with my age. But I don't wanna live them knowing my brother has a vendetta against ponies for shunning him. I beg you, Blade. If there's any part of my big brother left in you, then please give up on this madness and come back with me. Please, Blade. Please." Melody pleaded, as tears formed in her eyes.

Blade watched in shock, as he saw memories of the times Melody was sad and scared. He would always comfort her promising he'd protect her. Seeing her like this again even as an old pony was something he hated to see. Abandoning any hate he had, he dropped his sword and grimoire before running to her. Raph wanted to fight thinking he was going to attack Melody, but Leo held him back.

Blade reached his sister and spoke, "Please don't cry, Melody!" he lifted her chin up to face him, "I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. I never should've left home. Can you ever forgive me?" he asked, as tears formed in his eyes.

Melody smiled seeing her brother was finally seeing the error of his ways, "I already have." the two embraced.

"Awe!" the girls cooed.

"It worked?" Raph asked in disbelief.

"You can always count on family." Mikey said, as he and Donnie put their arms around each other.

The siblings smiled at each other, until clapping was heard. The group looked and saw the crow was initiating the clapping, "How very touching. Sadly this sentimental gush must come to an end." the crow glowed with black magic before taking a new form.

Appearing before them was a another anthro unicorn pony. He had a black coat, red mane and tail that had a fiery aura to them, and yellow eyes. His cutie mark was a pentagram symbol. Surrounding the pony was a dark magical aura. The ninjas stood in shock, as Mikey spoke, "Wow. We did not see that coming."

"Definitely not." Pinkie agreed.

"I was hoping Blade could've handled things himself, but sadly you could not," he spoke to Blade, "And you were so promising."

"Who are you?" Twilight asked.

"You can call me Dark Codex. I am the spirit of a sorcerer that has been living inside the grimoire Blade had discovered decades ago."

"Did you know about him, Blade?" Leo asked his fellow mutant.

"I only thought he was just a crow spirit that came from it. I had no idea he was a sorcerer." Blade answered in equal shock at this revelation.

"So how does a sorcerer get sealed inside a book?" Rainbow asked.

"Well, young pegasus, over a thousand years ago I clashed with Starswirl the bearded determined to prove my skill in the dark arts was better than any skill he had. I lost, and Starswirl trapped me inside my own spell book and hid it away hoping I would never be found," Dark began, "But then Blade Swipe found me. I could feel the anger in his heart and used that anger to guide him to me. When he opened me I presented myself to him in the form of a crow spirit. I began teaching him the ways of the book, while secretly feeding off his hatred for the ponies who feared him making me stronger. So make myself stronger I also fueled his anger by planting seeds of doubt in him, preventing him from ever trying to think about going to Princess Celestia or anypony else who he thought might've still cared for him. Even you, Melody Spirit."

"You monster." Melody frowned.

"That's no cool, dude." Mikey warned him.

"All this time you were only doing this for yourself!" Blade growled, "Dusk Ninjas, attack him!"

The ninjas went to attack Dark Codex, only for the spirit to announce, "Stop!" the Dusk Ninjas stopped in place.

"What's going on?" Casey wondered

"They just stopped like that?" April asked in confusion.

"Dusk Ninjas, attack!" Blade repeated himself, but the shadow ninjas no longer obeyed him.

"You rejected the power of the grimoire now, Blade. Meaning they no longer serve you," Dark Codex explained, while picking up the grimoire, "But now that I have gained enough energy to manifest my old form, I will be commandeering them now. Dusk Ninjas, do away with them." The Dusk Ninjas obeying their true master turned and went to fight the ninjas.

The ninjas and their pony friend engaged the Dusk Ninjas, while Blade helped Melody along to safety. He took her behind a boulder, "You stay here where you'll be safe. I have to help them." he told her.

"Promise me you'll be safe." she said in concern.

Blade smiled, "I will. I have a reason to now." he winked before going back to join the fight. He grabbed his sword and fought through some Dusk Ninjas with Leo and Karai.

"Nice to see you're on our side for real this time." Karai said.

"It's where I should've been." Blade said in guilt.

"Well, come on. You can finally do some good by helping us stop Dark Codex." Leo instructed.

"And so I shall." Blade promised.

The group fought hard with Rainbow flying circles around Dusk Ninjas, Applejack giving them a good buck, Rarity and Starlight blasting them with magic, Spike spitting fire at them, Fluttershy trying to avoid conflict, Shini and Mikey using their chain weapons to ensnare and swing them around hitting other shadow ponies, Raph naturally going full throttle against his enemies, Donnie, April, and Casey using their trademark weapons to strike their foes, even Pinkie was bouncing around and just being herself leaving the Dusk Ninjas in a state of confusion.

Leo, Karai, Twilight, and Blade managed to get through the Dusk Ninjas they were fighting and went at it with Dark Codex who summoned a black jagged blade and started striking against the good guys weapons, "he's tough. Any way to stop him, Blade?" Twilight asked.

"Get the grimoire. We have to destroy it!" Blade called.

"Not going to happen." Dark fought back, while making sure to have a tight grip on his book.

April seeing this used her magic to pull the book out of his grasp and levitated it over, "I've got it!"

"Stop her!" Dark ordered the Dusk Ninjas.

The shadow ponies attacked April causing her to drop the grimoire, "Get it!" Raph called, as the good guys ran to grab it, but the Dusk Ninjas kept interfering. The grimoire kept getting tossed around with either the heroes or the Dusk Ninjas catching it, only for them to lose it to another.

Dark Codex was getting annoyed, as he plowed past his enemies and went to grab the book himself. Mikey ended up grabbing the book and held it to his chest, before Dark tackled him to the ground. The villain pinned the party dude down and spoke, "Relinquish the grimoire to me at once!" he demanded.

Mikey answered, "I'd like to, bro..." he opened his arms to reveal it was gone, "But I don't have it!" he laughed.

"What?!" Dark asked in shock, "Where is it?!" he demanded.

"Hey!" Sunset called, as she levitated the book, "Looking for this?"

"How?" Dark asked in confusion.

"Teleport spell, taught to me by Twilight and Starlight." she answered before tossing it to Blade who held his sword charging it with magic.

"Goodbye, Dark Codex." Blade began, as he was ready to pierce it.

Dark looked frightened and shouted, "My grimoire!" he watched as Blade stabbed the book with his sword piercing through it, "NO!" he cried, as the magic aura surrounding Blade's sword lit the book on fire. Blade let the book slide off his sword as it burned. The ponies watched as Dark was straining as the grimoire burned to ash. Dark screamed in more pain, as he began to glow and he could suddenly see the skeleton of his arm. Suddenly he was in more pain than ever as lightning started to crackle on him and everyone could see his skeleton.

"That's mortifying." Rarity gasped.

"And scary." Fluttershy trembled.

"Awesome." Rainbow gasped.

Melody watched from her hiding spot, as Dark Codex screamed in pain. They could no longer see his skeleton, as he let out one final scream before he froze and spun around like a tornado exploding into dust. With that done, all the Dusk Ninjas turned back into shadows leaving only the heroes standing victoriously.

"I don't believe it." Karai gasped in joy.

"We won!" Leo cheered.

"All right!" Pinkie and Rainbow cheered.

"We rock!" Mikey jumped up.

Meldoy came out and smiled at everyone, especially her brother, "You did it, Blade." she told him.

Blade smiled before turning to everyone, "We all did it. Together. Thank you, my friends."

At the sound of that, the ponies were filled with joy seeing he truly was more good than they knew he was. Leo approached and offered his hand to Blade, "Thank you for helping us, Blade." Blade grasped Leo's hand and they shook on it sealing their new friendship.

"Boy, Princess Celestia's going to wanna hear all this." Twilight said in a tired tone.

"You bet." Sunset agreed, "How about it, Blade? You coming with us?"

Blade Swipe nodded, "I owe it to see the Princess again. I just hope she will forgive me." he looked down.

Sunset smiled, and answered, "Trust me. If there's one thing Princess Celestia is good at it's forgiveness."

Blade looked up with hope and Melody spoke to him, "Come on, brother. Let's go home."

"Yes." Blade agreed, as the group started walking for the cave exit. As they walked, Blade unstrapped the spiked elbow and knee guards before dropping them to the ground and leaving them behind.

Comments

[Saiyan of the North Star]

KO awesome chapter, seem Blade was an innocent warrior who was influenced by that evil wizard inside the book but now he's free to be with his sister again.

[Bookwurm666]

"Leo's right, if we go further in the dark we're only looking for trouble." Karai agreed.

They are already looking for trouble.