Sundered Universes

by Super Ponyman

Chapter 10 Part 2: The Shadow Behind Star

Author's Note:

Had to split Chapter 10 into two parts, otherwise didn't want to dump a giant chapter on people.

(Edited 2/13/18: Expanded a little about Burning Star in coma.)

After Burning Star faints into a somewhat coma, Noble Blade, Firestorm, and Freedom Fighter decide to head into his mind to cure him.

What they find may just be more dangerous than Midnight Sparkle and any other villain in the series...

Rights on music go to Nintendo and The Legend of Zelda!

(Canterlot Castle, Dining Hall)

Most of the Guardians of the Sun and Star hunters were up and getting breakfast for the day, with most of the food that morning being fruit and vegetables.

Firestorm sat next to Quickfire, despite the tension between the two because of the so called "Bathroom Incident" which the two of them refused to talk about with anypony right now.

Hiller sat next to Freedom Fighter, the Protopony eating a giant stack of pancakes, while the bodysuit-covered Earth Pony simply munched on a few apples.

Noble entered the room, a warm smile on his face as he said, "Good morning everypony. I don't know about you, but I slept wonderfully last night. What about the rest of you?"

Firestorm nibbled on a pineapple slice, "I slept... pretty well. The beds on this world are amazing. Did you know that they have magic sheets that promote good sleep? One of the guards here told me."

Hiller raised his cup to Firestorm, "I agree with you, my fine feathered pony friend... I never sleep well, but last night. I slept like a newborn foal."

Firestorm flapped his wings and took flight, his face absolutely livid. "It gets better, When I woke up, I noticed that a maid was in my room. She was so good looking, Noble. I may decide to stay here more often, this world is pretty cool."

Noble noticed Quickfire was slowly nodding off, so he walked over and tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey Quickfire?" He said, trying to not annoy the deadly assassin, "You look like a zombie, did you not sleep well last night?"

Quickfire sighed, and said. "No I did not, Sir Noble. I was up all night training with Freedom Fighter... I should have known that even my enhanced physique couldn't keep up with the sheer stamina of an Earth Pony. How does he stay up so late?"

Freedom Fighter patted Quickfire on the head, before making a series of gestures to Noble. Noble translated for Quickfire, "He says that you weren't too shabby yourself. He has never been in a nearly 8-hour long non-stop training session with a Unicorn. He is congratulating you, Quickfire. You should be proud that you stood for so long, by the time the sun rose, he could barely stand firm."

Quickfire weakly raised his hoof, saying "Yay... now if you excuse me, I'm going to bed. I'll see you later everypony..."

Quickfire took a few steps towards the door, before saying. "On second thought, the floor isn't that bad of a place to sleep..."

Quickfire collapsed from exhaustion and fell asleep, earning a laugh from Firestorm and A sigh from Hiller.

The Protopony snickered a bit, "Oh dear, he's done this for the fourth time this week. Don't worry, I got him."

Hiller turned his hooves into tendrils and wrapped Quickfire up like a cocoon, before heading to the door.

Suddenly, the door burst off its hinges and two blurs, one dark purple and one ash gray zipped around the breakfast table.

All three Guardians were pushed into a group and tackled to the floor by the pair of ponies.

The Ash Gray one said, "Did we get Them?"

The dark purple one rolled her eyes, "Of course we did. My calculations never fail, twin brother. you supply the brawn, and I'll supply the brains."

Eclipsio dashed into the room to see the two fillies on top of Noble Blade and his friends, almost completely out of breath, "I'm dreadfully sorry that this has happened. They got away from me, they move so fast... whew..."

Noble and his partners lifted the pair of fillies off of them, they looked no older than ten, they were both Alicorns, surprisingly.

The dark purple one was a mare, she had pink and lavender mane with little dark purple highlights. Her eyes were a bright blue and purple combination and her mark was of a five pointed star with a trail of sparkles.

The ash gray Alicorn was a stallion. He had a Pure white Mane and tail with bright red highlights in it. His abnormal red eyes gave him away that he was an Albino, or at least partially. His mark was a purple and red octagon with little flame patterns in it.

Noble asked the two fillies, "Well well, who are you little bundles of energy?"

What followed shortly was a scream from Twilight Sparkle that echoed through the halls of the castle.

"Ash Mane! Star Tail! Where did you two devils get off to?!"

Ash Mane asked Freedom Fighter with a begging glance, "excuse me, Big Earth Pony? Can you hide us please? Pretty please?"

Freedom couldn't resist the adorable look on the little Alicorn's face and pushed them behind his massive legs, just as the Lavender colored Alicorn burst in the room with anger nearing Burning Star levels of rage pumping through her mind.

She roared like some sort of demon right out of Tartarus, "Where are they?! They have to fix me now! This isn't funny anymore, it's weird and frankly disturbing."

Noble looked closely at Twilight and saw something that made him barely hold back a laugh.

Twilight was a Stallion, and a rather handsome one at that!

Burning Star flew in after Twilight, "Oh that was such a good joke kids, oh don't fret Twilight. It could be worse, you could have turned into a hermaphrodite... actually that would be a dream for a few of the mares in Canterlot."

The male Twilight scowled and snorted, "Fix... THIS... NOW! Or I'll fix you!"

The Black Alicorn responded, "Alright jeez." Burning Star's horn lit up and Twilight was engulfed in a green fire, when it died down she was herself again.

The Black Alicorn giggled and turned to his two children, "Ash Mane and Star Tail, what did I tell you about using Changeling Dust on your mother?"

He looked to Noble and smirked, "I see you've met my new friends, Guardians, meet my two children. Ash Mane and Star Tail. Go on, they don't bite... much."

Firestorm flapped over to Ash Mane and developed the same smug grin at the memory of Twilight being a Stallion.

Ash Mane put out his hoof for a hoof-bump, "Name's Ash Mane, Alicorn Son of Burning Star. I'm guessing you really liked our prank huh?"

The Pegasus told the Alicorn Filly, "Yes I did, I only wish I was there to witness it firsthand, You really got your mom good. Using Changeling dust as your spell catalyst to a prank is pretty clever, Ash Mane."

Noble knelt down and ruffled the Young Alicorn Mare's mane and said, "So, your father never told us about you two. I am Noble Blade, one of the Guardians of the Sun. Burning Star brought us here from our world to relax and experience your world."

Star Tail's eyes lit up like a neon sign in Manehattan, "Did you say you're from another world?!" She said, barely containing her glee.

Noble made a short nod, "Why yes we are. Why do you ask, young one?"

Star Tail suddenly teleported away, then reappeared with a clipboard with a picture of a portal on it in one hoof, and various equations that were extremely complex on a piece of paper in the other.

Star Tail began to speak to the three guardians, "That is just perfect! I've been passing around a theory in school that there may be other worlds out in the vast Multiverse. However, everypony always calls me a skeptic that we could have access to these worlds. Hell... the professors at my college don't even know if there is life out in the Multiverse, But you three are my first proof that there is life out there, I'm so happy that they are wrong!"

Freedom Fighter signed a few gestures to Noble, but Star Tail cut off the Unicorn, "Oh? You want to say hi? I'm guessing you use sign language because your either deaf or mute?"

Freedom Fighter made a sarcastically shocked face, getting a laugh from Burning Star. "See Freedom?" He said, a gleam of pure happiness in his eyes, "Somepony understood what you were signing out. Star Tail here is the brains of the two kids I have. She is already in college working towards her own theory of combining magic with science to develop technology to traverse Space, time, even other dimensions altogether!"

Ash Mane interrupted his father, "And I am the cool one of the pair." He said, not even trying to hide his pride. "I am the Alicorn that wants to be just like my dad. A hero and champion of ponykind, from what I can see... you three want to do that as well, hm?"

Firestorm landed in his chair and leaned back, "Yeah we're heroes! We dealt with uprisings in the fringe of Equestria’s borders. We have managed to prevent a civil war in the dragonlands. We led a raid upon Arimaspi Mountain to retrieve the magical Horn of Alagamora. I heard that your father has done some real heroics as well. I heard it from him but I would love to hear it from somepony from his home to confirm."

Ash Mane pumped his hoof in the air, "Yes of course I would tell you of my father's best moments." He turned to Burning Star and said, "Dad! I'm about to tell some of your stories! You coming?"

Burning Star smiled and flew over to his seat at the table, "Of course. Could you start with the Battle against Chrysalis in Maneami?"

As Ash Mane began to tell Firestorm and Freedom Fighter of Burning Star's, Shadow Armor's and Shining Armor's ambush by the Changeling Queen, Noble walked beside Twilight, and asked her. "Is this what Burning Star actually is? Why does he leave you and the children so often?"

Twilight sighed, "He never tells me when and why he leaves anymore, ever since I went with him to defeat a Comet Dragon and got hurt, he has left me alone to fight monsters with his friends."

Noble was shocked to hear that Twilight had gotten hurt, "Did anything get permanently damaged, My lady?"

Twilight shook her head, "I was ok. He wasn't, when he saw me fall to the ground unconscious from an Cosmic Beam attack, he just... lost it."

Noble raised an eyebrow and asked Twilight again with confusion in his voice, "What do you mean by "he lost it?" Twilight?"

Twilight Sparkle looked right at Noble and said in a chilling tone, "When I woke up, Shining Armor and Shadow Armor were taking care of my wounds, they said The Dragon was dead, That Burning Star... killed it, he tore it to shreds."

Noble's eyes bulged, "He what? Tore it to shreds? How?"

She continued, "Shadow Armor described to me that seeing him viciously strike the dragon over and over was like "watching a wild beast on a rampage, but there was this look in his eyes. A dead, green glow as he tore the dragon in half and cut off its head for good measure." Then when I tried to ask Burning Star what happened, he looked at me with a face of horror, before walking away to his chambers."

Noble noticed Burning Star was starting to teeter back and forth, almost as if he was dizzy.

The Alicorn shakily got up and stumbled forwards, saying "Guys... I don't feel good... oh boy."

Everypony gasped as the Black Alicorn passed out in front of them, and then suddenly ignited into a blaze!

The air began to grow very hot, and a heat shimmer began to emit from the Alicorn's body.

Twilight Sparkle called to her kids, "Ash Mane! Star Tail! Get out of here, we have to fix this!"

The two fillies nodded and dashed out of the room, as Firestorm and Freedom Fighter ducked behind Twilight as she put up a shield to block the inferno that came from her husband.

Firestorm asked Twilight the obvious question, "What is happening to him? Why is he spewing more fire than a volcanic eruption?!"

Twilight replied, "I don't know, but if I would have to guess... one of his mental blocks came undone! If he is exposed to extremely strong emotions, he could lose control of his powers!" She sighed, "Really makes him hard to sleep with as well."

Noble looked at her and responded, "So what do we do? We await your orders, Twilight."

Twilight gave them a loud answer that shocked them, "You three are going to have to enter his mind and reestablish the mental block yourselves! Here take this!"

She levitated to Freedom a scroll and said, "This is the spell that you need to use! Good luck you three!"

Without warning, The Guardians were enveloped in a purple beam of light that was shot directly into Burning Star's horn, and the three blacked out.

(Burning Star's mind, ???)

The Guardians plummeted into a black void, screaming their heads off as they fell.

Firestorm grabbed both Noble and Freedom Fighter and tried desperately to slow their fall, flapping his wings as hard as he could, But they were too heavy.

Noble saw Firestorm trying this and cast a shield spell around the three, just as they crashed to a brown stone floor it what looked to be a home of some sort.

Firestorm was the first to get up and say, "Maybe next time Twilight could just teleport us into this guy's mind instead of dropping us like rocks?"

Noble deactivated his shield spell and added, "Yeah. That was rough, as much as I respect her, she needs to work on her mental transportation abilities."

Freedom got their attention and the three looked at their surroundings.

All three pairs of eyes went wide with shock.

All around them, it was ruin. there was fire everywhere, buildings were burning, houses... reduced to ashes... everywhere the three looked there was destruction.

Firestorm spoke first, trying to form a comment on this place. "Uh... Um, where are we?"

Freedom Fighter pointed to an old charred sign, it read "Canterlot"

Noble was in utter shock, he had never seen any destruction this big before. This made Skyworld look like a small blast, everything was in ruins...

Noble's response to Firestorm was one filled with dread, "Firestorm... this is Canterlot."

The unicorn looked around for any signs of life, until he spotted a bright light amongst all the red and orange fire and smoke.

It was coming from the castle!

Noble signaled his partners towards the light, "There! The castle, surely somepony must be alive here. The citizens probably evacuated to the mountains through the castle passageways. Come on!"

With that, the three pony warriors ran full speed to the castle, taking in the views of the destruction of the fires that burned throughout the city.

(Burning Star's Mind, Canterlot Castle Throne Room)

The Guardians burst through the door of the castle, catching their breath as they had run through the obscenely hot streets of the capital, ducking through the ruined buildings.

Noble was surprised that the castle was somehow unharmed by the blaze that was engulfing the city, in fact... it looked as if it had been redecorated.

The walls were dark gray and made of stone, almost the color of ash and smoke outside. Busted pillars and crumbling flower pots showed that some sort of battle had gone down, as pretty much everything was covered in marks of magical discharge. It was very dark, and the light from outside the door barely illuminated the room.

Noble ignited his horn into a bright light and Firestorm ignited his sword to provide some more vision in the giant chamber.

Noble asked his fellow warriors, "What could have caused such total destruction? Tirek couldn't have done this much, Celestia forbid, even Two Tireks couldn't have destroyed Canterlot this completely."

Firestorm shrugged, "I don't know. But whoever and/or whatever did this, they really went the extra mile."

Freedom Fighter suddenly put out his hoof and stopped his partners. He had heard breathing, and not his own or his friends.

Noble asked the Earth Pony, "What is the matter?"

Freedom gestured to where the throne would usually be and signaled them to listen.

They all heard somepony's breath. It was deep and powerful, yet... oddly familiar.

Firestorm called out in the general direction of the throne, "Hello? Is somepony here?" He said, "You know that Canterlot is on fire, right?"

Noble Blade facehoofed, "Firestorm, please. I'm sure whoever is here is aware of the problem."

The Pegasus continued nevertheless, "Seriously? Why is freaking EVERYTHING on fire?"

The three heard a voice from the direction of the throne, it chilled them to the core.

"Because I made it so, pal."

Suddenly, all the empty torches ignited, revealing the source of the voice.

It was Burning Star?!

Noble approached the Alicorn slowly, "Burning Star? Is that you?"

The Black Alicorn smirked, "Well... I was once Burning Star, but he is dead now. Allow me to introduce myself... and take a good look at me."

The figure that looked like Burning Star stepped forward, it was indeed the Alicorn in question, but twisted and dark... much like Midnight Sparkle.

His fur was jet black, but he was covered in silver and red armor and had dark red lines running up it, pulsing like veins in the body. They ran down his torso, all the way up to his head. Which bore a silver and red spiked crown.

The Alicorn's Mane and tail was a literal inferno of dark red fire that billowed slowly, like it was being blown by an invisible wind. His feathers on his wings were also colored the same shade of dark red and were reflective, lighting up the room in an eerie, almost ethereal glow.

His eyes were noting but pools of red, and had only black dot pupils, which seemed to emit the same fire in his Mane. His gaze was like ice, as ironic as it was to say that.

The other Burning Star began to speak, "I am what Burning Star fears the most. I am the terror that he saw in his vision from Nightmare Moon. I am the true power inside of him!"

The Alicorn shouted, and his fire-Mane exploded to monstrous heights. "I... AM... DARK STAR, THE ALICORN OF DESTRUCTION! HAH-HAH-HOO-HA-HAAA!"

Noble Blade was staring at Dark Star, he sat back down upon a throne made of red and black crystal, at his side sat The Scythe of King Sombra... which seemed to glow bright red whenever the Alicorn was near it...

Dark Star continued, "I bet you're wondering how Burning Star and me are connected? Well... I'm the reason he is the way he is. Broken, Brooding, Unhappy and Angry."

Freedom unknowingly reached for his weapons, as did the rest of the Guardians, this certainly wasn't a good guy.

Noble spoke to Dark Star, with authority in his voice, "Then you are the reason why he refuses to let go of Firebrand, aren't you? You are the reason he is angry and Celestia and Luna? It's not their actions that caused Burning Star to become what he is, it was you."

Dark Star nodded, then jokingly said, "Ding! We have a winner! I'm suprised that YOU of all ponies. YOU, a doormat for Celestia who calls himself a hero, was the only one to actually penetrate that unbelievablely strong shell on Burning Star's emotions. Good for you!"

Dark Star clapped his hooves together in a slow, sarcastic manner.

Noble started to speak again, "If you are the one keeping this Alicorn's emotions in turmoil, Then cease your manipulation with his mind, Dark Star!"

Dark Star rolled his eyes and replied, "Or what?"

All three Guardians drew their weapons and entered a battle stance. Firestorm shouted out, "Before we kick your flanks you and drag you out by force!"

Dark Star looked at the three warriors, seeing their determined faces and strong bodies, before saying, "Finally, somepony to die of their own foolishness. I hope you provide more of a challenge than the Two Sisters did. After all... they were my first victims."

(End Song Here)

A spike of anger rose up in Noble, making him shout, "You will not harm Celestia and Luna, demon! We will defeat you here before you even get the chance."

(Begin 2nd Music here)

Dark Star's horn lit up a bright red as he picked up the massive scythe from beside his throne and raised it over his head.

He then screamed, "BURN WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD!"

Dark Star swung the scythe straight down like a hammer pounding a nail, sending a long wave of fire screaming at them.

The guardians jumped out of the way as the fire wave smashed the door to pieces, and the three got into close combat with the Alicorn.

Dark Star fought like no pony the three of them have ever seen, he was vicious, almost animal-like. A look of pure hate on the Alicorn's face as he swung his flaming scythe around him, as if he was a whirling vortex of flames and blades.

Freedom Fighter blocked one of the scythe slashes with his fighting sticks, the power of the strike pushing the Earth Pony backwards. Noble Blade and Firestorm used their swords to help push Dark Star back from throwing Freedom off balance and cutting him in two.

Firestorm landed a slice to the face of the Alicorn, leaving a deep cut right across his nose, his reward was a strike from Dark Star's front hooves that sent him skidding across the floor, where he stopped himself by using his swords as a pair of anchor spikes.

Dark Star parryed Noble's physical sword away and Noble did the same to his Weapon, both of them created beams of hardened kinetic energy that enveloped their horns and the two clashed, sparks flying as the two dueled horn on horn.

Noble thirsted his magic bladed horn forward, right into Dark Star's chest armor, it went through cleanly and the guardians heard an unsettling crunch as Noble pierced the rib cage of Dark Star.

A scream came from the Alicorn of Destruction as Firestorm sent his sword right into Dark Star's wings, and Freedom swung his staff right into his face.

The Alicorn's eyes narrowed and he roared out, "Enough of this!"

And threw Noble and his partners Off him, they all landed with little grace, their fur burned and cuts along various parts of their bodies.

Dark Star then stood up and showed them the gashes he had from their fight. "Fun fact, you three..."

They all quickly closed up, leaving very small white lines, he said in a mocking tone, "Your magic Weapons and amazing fighting skills aren't enough to bring me down this easily. Unlike you three, my Alicornhood has rendered me unbeatable!"

Firestorm tried to stand up, but he was so exhausted from fighting, however he wheezed out his comment, "Well... this is a bit of deja vu for us. Midnight pretty much did the exact same thing that your doing!"

Dark Star growled, "But unlike her, I do not spare the lives of those I've beaten."

He raised the massive scythe over his head, a feral look on his face.

"Have fun rotting in Tartarus, Guardians of the Sun! Goodbye!"

As Dark Star swung the scythe down, Noble used the last of his energy and unwrapped the scroll and began to read it.

A whirlwind of black wind suddenly sprang to life in the back of the room, and It began to drag Dark Star towards it!

Dark Star roared in anguish, "NO! I CANNOT BE SEALED AWAY AGAIN! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, GUARDIANS OF THE SUN! FOR I AM DARK STAR, THE ALICORN OF-"

A navy blue blur burst through the window, and fired its beam of magic, sending Dark Star into the whirlwind, which disappeared.

The navy pony shouted, "Thou are Dark Star, Alicorn of nothing, and you will remain like that, Demon!"

The three Guardians passed out, with the navy blue Alicorn bending over them.

(Canterlot Castle, Burning Star's Room)

All three Guardians awoke with a start immediately sprang to their hooves, albeit with a little pain, and bowed.

Noble said with pride in his voice, "Princess Luna! You have returned, and not a moment too soon."

Although Noble Blade and the other guardians realized that this wasn't THEIR Luna, they still bowed.

Princess Luna smiled, "Ah. Noble Blade, 'tis an honor to meet you. Twilight has told us about your situation, and sister and I could not hide any longer."

Firestorm asked the Alicorn of Night, "Soooo... where is Princess Celestia now?"

Luna motioned to the door, "Speaking with Twilight Sparkle, I guess thou are wondering what in my sisters name did you just experience?"

Freedom nodded, noticing that Burning Star was up and sitting on his bed, from his body language he looked miserable.

Luna brought his attention back to her, "What we have just seen is Dark Star... an entity within Burning Star that is very similar to Midnight Sparkle. Except for one crucial difference."

Firestorm continued her thought, "So, I'm guessing that Midnight desires to rule, while Dark Star desires to destroy?"

Luna smiled, "That is one way of looking at it. I recommend you get him out sometime soon, as I fear the stress is getting to him."

Noble Blade thought to himself, "I never would have known that this... Dark Star... is the reason he is like this. It's a good thing Burning Star is coming around to my advice... otherwise that monster would be on the loose. And we cannot deal with two mad Alicorns at once..."

Everypony wordlessly decided that tomorrow would be the day that they start helping Burning Star with his problems, and they went off to bed...

Comments

[JediMoonstar]

More Zelda!
Yay!