The Hidden Prince

by Rakoon1

A Cursed Heart

Almost twelve years ago…

At the Lord of Chaos’ throne room, he was sitting on his throne, looking at the mirror, observing Twilight and Blue, who were at the royal garden with their two sons, Star and Dusk. The colts were playing with each other and the two parents were watching them with great joy.

Such image was causing the Lord of Chaos’ anger to increase exponentially. He couldn’t stand seeing Twilight Sparkle happy, surrounded by those who she loved. There was nothing he wanted more than making her paying for humiliating him… except of course controlling the Pony Reality. But he already had a plan to shatter the little princess’ happiness even more than he did by causing Star to be a jinchuriki…

“Did you call, my lord?” a voice asked.

He looked down and saw Pandora and Rothbart, kneeling before him.

“I did” he replied. “I have a mission… a very important one. One that, if succeed will cause a great deal of satisfaction to me.”

“Tell us what it is, my lord, and we shall do what you desire” Rothbart replied.

“This is mission is only for Pandora, Rothbart” the Lord of Chaos said.

“What?” Rothbart asked, caught by surprise.

“Uh… I appreciate your trust in me, my lord” Pandora replied, feeling herself honored for being chosen by her master.

“But, my lord, I’m sure I’m as qualified as Pandora to do whatever you may have planned” Rothbart said, adding then after noticing the piercing look the Lord of Chaos was giving to him. “With all due respect… my lord.”

“Pandora is the best choice, because I need someone to infiltrate the Light Kingdom and she is the only servant I have in dispose that can do that” the Lord of Chaos replied. “Even though she can’t quite get to the citadel, her target is not a place, but somepony.”

“You want me capture the jinchuriki already?” Pandora asked.

“Of course not” the Lord of Chaos replied. “It’s still too soon. But I understand your reasoning. The matter of this plan of mine is rather… personal. I just can’t stand Princess Twilight Sparkle being so happy with her almost perfect life. That’s why I’m going to break her happiness… with this.”

And he made appear on his hand a vial where there was a translucid liquid.

“What is that, my lord?” Pandora asked.

“Something that I got from Wonderland before my brother’s Generals were able to seal it” he answered. “A little of this and Twilight’s perfect family will be divided. We just need a pawn that can put in action this little devious plan of mine.”

That caused Pandora to exhibit a smile and reply:

“And you can count on me to handle that pawn, master.”

Patrolling the outskirts of the citadel was a light guard, a unicorn called Zealous Anvil who possessed a bluish purple coat with a light gray mane and bluish green eyes. He was a guard that had already served Princess Aurora before the fall of the Light Kingdom and he took great pride in that.

But after the kingdom was recovered and Princess Twilight took over as the new ruler, the things had changed and he was having a hard time in adjusting, especially after what happened with Prince Star Knight.

“You look concern…” a voice said, suddenly. “A bit for a thought?”

Zealous Anvil turned around and saw Pandora nearby. Knowing perfectly well who she was. Pointing his spear at her, he told:

“Not another step… witch.”

“Now, now, is that the way to speak to a little filly like me?” Pandora asked, making her fake innocent face.

“That won’t work with me” Zealous said, smirking. “I know who you are… Pandora.”

“Well, that’s a chame” she replied. “It would appear my favorite ruse is no longer effective.”

“What are you doing here?” Zealous asked. “Villains can’t get inside the Light Kingdom.”

“You will find that there are ways to dodge the Light Kingdom’s defenses” Pandora replied. “Despite I can’t still reach the citadel… at least, yet.”

“If you want so much to meet the citadel, I’ll be pleased to escort you… while cuffed and your magic neutralized” Zealous threatened.

“I think you shouldn’t be so mean to me…” Pandora said. “Especially when I have the solution to your problem.”

“I don’t have any problem” Zealous replied, while turning his back on Pandora and started to move away.

“Not even one with a certain nine-tailed fox?”

That caused Zealous to stop and turn to Pandora.

“How do you…” he started.

“Please… as if anypony in the Light Kingdom, besides Twilight Sparkle and her Generals, is any happy for having that stinky fox living in the same kingdom as them” Pandora told. “I bet you still remember what happened that night when Heartbeat lost control over him.”

Memories that he tried so much to burry invaded his mind, as his anger towards the tailed beast started to boil. Sensing that, Pandora prepared herself to make her final move.

“But don’t you worry, cause I have what you need to ease your pain.”

And so she summoned the vial the Lord of Chaos had given to her.

“What’s that?” Zealous asked.

“Something that can help get rid of your problem” Pandora replied.

“You mean… like hurting Prince Star Knight in order to get to Nine-Tails…?” Zealous asked. “Forget it! Do you really think I would do such monstrosity?!”

“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt him… much” Pandora replied. “I bet his parents won’t do anything so that nothing bad happens to their little colt… But it would put Nine-Tails away from the citadel… That, I can guarantee.”

Zealous couldn’t believe he was actually listen to that… And what was worse… he was tempted to accept it. A way to get rid of that demonic fox… All the light ponies would be able to sleep peacefully, knowing they wouldn’t have to be worry for the Nine-Tails to appear again. But then there was the fact it meant to hurt Prince Star Knight, the son of Princess Twilight, his regent and the one he had sworn to protect. It was his honor as a guard that caused him to exclaim:

“There’s no way I’m accepting that! I don’t deal with villains. Get out of here, or I shall bring you in.”

But Pandora knew that could happen, so she decided to put the wheels in motion and hope everything would happen exactly as she expected to happen.

“Suit yourself” she said. “But, just for you to not get any regrets…”

And so she put magically the vial in Zealous’ armor and said:

“Now the choice is yours.”

And having said that, she teleported away. Once she did that, Zealous took the vial and prepared himself to throw it away. However, there was a part of him that prevented him from doing it. As much as he tried, he couldn’t do it. So he decided to keep the vial and then dispose of it later.

In Discordia, Pandora appeared before his master and told him:

“I did what you asked me, master. Now it’s up to our puppet. I’m just not sure if he’s going to do it.”

“Believe me when I say that he will do exactly what I expect” the Lord of Chaos replied. “Those centuries in Tartarus have left you rusty when it comes to pony behavior, my dear Pandora. Hate is like a parasite that devours our inner self. For much it is contained, there’s always a limit and Zealous Anvil will reach his. And once he does that, he will do exactly what we want him to do.”

And the evil lord chuckled evily.

In the present…

After finding out the shocking truth about the existence of a brother of his, a brother that his parents have concealed for years and years, Star went over his room, where he started pacing around without stopping, all while saying:

“I can’t believe it… Just when I thought there was no secrets between us… Just when I thought hiding from me that I was a jinchuriki was enough… Why, why did they do this?!”

“Can you please stop that?” Kurama asked, while lying down with his eyes closed. “I can’t sleep with you complaining so loudly.”

“It’s easy for you to say that” Star said. “It’s not you that have a secret brother that you didn’t know about and that your parents hid for years.”

“I bet if you knew the circunstances that drove your parents to do that, you would take what you just said” Kurama replied.

“What do you mean with that?” Star asked.

“What I mean is that when you discovered your parents let the Lord of Order to turn you into a jinchuriki, you forgave and understood them once you got to know their side” the tailed beast replied. “What is this any different?”

Hearing that and remembering all of Kurama’s behavior ever since Star first met Dusk, the young alicorn came to one conclusion.

“Wait a second, you knew about this, didn’t you?” Star asked. “That’s why you kept telling me to stay away from Dusk!”

“Don’t you dare raise your voice on me, boy” Kurama grunted. “I’m just doing you a favor.”

“A favor?” Star asked. “Keeping from me the fact I have a brother?!”

Kurama started to get up, something that worried Star a little. He hated when his tailed beast got mad at him. However, for his surprise, that was not what happened. He extended his fist to Star and he told him:

“If you want to know the truth, you know what to do.”

“Wait, you’re really going to tell me?” Star asked, astonished. “I thought you would come up and excuse or just ignore me.”

“Believe me, that’s what I wanted to do, but then I realized it wouldn’t prevent you from keeping bugging me about it and not allow me to have my sleep” Kurama replied.

Despite what the tailed beast just said, Star knew the real reason he was doing that was because he really wanted to tell him, but wouldn’t admit it, like he normally did. Smiling, he said:

“Thank you, Kurama.”

“Yeah, yeah, what are you waiting for?” he replied. “I have much more important things to do.”

And so, willing to know the truth, whatever it was, Star bumped his hoof with Kurama’s fist. When he did that, the young alicorn was invaded by memories of Kurama… that were also his.

Almost twelve years ago…

Twilight and Blue were enjoying their moment with their two sons at the gardens. While watching the two colts, the two parents smiled and Blue said:

“It’s so good seeing those two playing. They really get along.”

“I know” Twilight told. “They remind me of me and Shining.”

“Better they remind you and Shining, than me and my sister” Blue said. “You can’t imagine how my parents went crazy dealing with our arguments.”

“Knowing you as I know, I can imagine you made your sister go crazy” Twilight joked.

That caused to Blue playfully elbow Twilight and then the two traded a kiss, only for then continue to watch their sons playing. It was then that Golden appeared and said to them:

“Your Highnesses, don’t forget about the appointment you have now.”

“Ah, yeah, I almost forgot about that” Twilight said. “What a pity… I wanted to stay here.”

“Don’t worry, Twily” Blue told her. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back to our two marvelous kids.”

“Yes, but… we need to get somepony to watch them” Twilight said. “The nanny has taken the day off and Leaf Mane, Melody and Heartbeat are not here. And Mirror Coat has so much work to do…”

“We can still let them with Purple Smoke” Blue suggested, only to receive a look from Twilight. “Yeah, I guess he’s not babysitting material. What’s ironic as he can mimic every talent. What about one of the guards?”

“I guess so…” Twilight said. “But I don’t feel very comfortable in asking them to babysit.”

“Don’t worry, about that” Blue said. “It’s just for a moment, while we’re not here.”

He looked around and then saw Zealous Anvil coming nearby.

“Zealous, can you come here?” he asked.

The royal guard approached and asked:

“What is it, my prince?”

“I’m sorry to ask you this, but… we don’t have anypony else to do it” Blue said. “Me and my wife have an important errand to do, so can you look after Star and Dusk?”

“You want me to… look after the little princes?” he asked, while looking to the two little colts playing.

“We know that’s not part of your duties, but we would appreciate if you could do it” Twilight said.

Babysitting was the lowest job a royal guard could ever get, in Zealous Anvil’s opinion, but he couldn’t refuse a request from his superiors, especially when they were the ruling Princess and Prince of the Light Kingdom.

“But of course, Your Highnesses” he replied, while making a bow. “I’d be glad to take care of the little princes.”

“Thank you very much, Zealous” Twilight thanked.

“I promise you I will recompense you after this” Blue replied.

The couple went to their sons and they kissed their respective foreheads.

“Goodbye, my dears. Mommy and daddy have something to do, so be nice to Zealous, okay?”

“See you later, champs” Blue said, ruffling the two colts’ manes, something they liked very much.

And the two parents went with Golden Paladin to do their errand, leaving the two colts playing with Zealous Anvil. The guard watched the two colts playing, but he couldn’t dodge his eyes from Star. Despite all the innocence he possessed, Zealous could only see the nine-tailed fox inside of him.

Once his thoughts went to the tailed beasts, Zealous started to remember that moment when the fox was freed from his prison inside Heartbeat, all the pain he had felt, all he had lost. Hate started boil inside of him. He tried to contain it for Prince Star Knight’s sake, but that was an impossible task for him to do. All he could think of was how much pain the thing inside him had caused.

It was then that the vial Pandora gave him earlier came to his head. Using his magic, he took the vial from his armor and looked at it. The temptation of using it was great, but Zealous’ honor as a guard was the one thing that was preventing him from doing it.

“What’s that?” a squeaky voice asked.

Zealous looked down and saw Star looking at him with his curious look. Seeing the little colt looking at him, the royal guard couldn’t help but being even more certain of his decision to not do what Pandora wanted him to do. However, the longer he looked to Star’s eyes, the deeper he went in them and it didn’t take long for him to see Nine-Tails’. With that, his anger and hate were reignited, fueling in him the desire to get rid of the tailed beast no matter what.

“This is a special juice, young prince” he replied. “I was thinking in drinking it, but… I think I’ll give it to you.”

“Yeah!” the young colt innocently cheered. “Juice!”

Opening the vial, Zealous handed it to Star who grabbed it with his little hooves and then take a sip. As soon he tasted what was in the vial, the colt threw the vial away while saying:

“Uh… It’s bwaac!”

“Yeah, I know” Zealous replied. “Grown up juices are not very pleasant for little guys like you. Why don’t you go play with your brother?”

And so Star headed towards Dusk. The two brothers got close to each other, but once they reach one another, Star was pulled away, against the ground, while having a big pain on his chest, causing him to moan and cry. Seeing that, Zealous became worried with Star, but at the thought that his pain was also Nine-Tails’, he felt a wave of satisfaction going through his body.

“Star…?” Dusk asked, worried, as he proceeded to approach his brother.

But before he could do that, Heartbeat arrived, holding the little colt.

“Hold on, little guy” he said. “Sorry, but you can’t go to your brother.”

“Star…” Dusk called, while trying to get rid of Heartbeat.

Heartbeat looked around and saw the vial containing the liquid Star had taken and then looked at Zealous. Knowing full well how Heartbeat’s empathy worked, he realized she knew it was him, as he couldn’t hide his guilt from her, and so he started to run away.

“You can run, but you can’t actually run” Heartbeat replied.

Zealous had only run for a few hooves of distance, when steel chains erupted from the ground and placed themselves around Zealous, imobilizing him. Golden Paladin appeared nearby.

“Let me go, Paladin” Zealous demanded.

“I don’t think so” Golden Paladin replied.

Twilight and Blue appeared soon after and started heading towards Star.

“Star!” they called.

Heartbeat appeared before them, while holding Dusk, and told them:

“Please, don’t get any closer.”

“What?!” Blue asked. “Heartbeat, that’s our son, there… in pain.”

“You have to let us go see him!” Twilight replied. “He’s in so much pain!”

“If it’s what I’m thinking, the best thing you can do is stay away” Heartbeart replied, while handing Dusk to them. “Please, trust me.”

There was a silence, but both Twilight and Blue trusted Heartbeat and nodded to her, while Twilight took Dusk. After that, Heartbeat headed towards Star and observed him. Using her magic, she made the vial come to her and smelled the remains of what was inside. Golden approached her and asked:

“Don’t tell me it’s what I think it is.”

“I could be myself and tell you what you want to hear, but there’s nothing funny on this” Heartbeat replied.

“So, it is it” Golden said. “The Curse of the Poisoned Heart…”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, having heard what they said. “What curse is that?”

“A terrible one” Golden replied, while Heartbeat went to Star and started applying healing magic on him. “A curse that is very tricky to break.”

“It has origins on Wonderland, from its poison mushrooms, and it poisons the heart of the victim whenever they are in contact with the ones they love” Heartbeat replied. “That’s what happened. The fraternal love between Star and Dusk is what caused this.”

“You mean…” Twilight started. “You mean that our mere presence near Star… is causing him pain?”

“Not just that” Heartbeat replied, finishing healing Star. “The curse doesn’t only causes pain, it actually physically hurts the heart. The much it is afflicted, well… I think you can guess the rest.”

“But… how did this happened?” Blue asked.

“The answer is quite simple” Golden Paladin said, turning to Zealous. “Only one pony tried to run away.”

Zealous saw everypony look at him and Blue, being invaded by an immense rage, started to approach him, while saying:

“You… You did this?!”

“I have nothing to say” he replied, firmly.

But Blue reached him and punched him.

“Blue, no!” Twilight shouted.

But he ignored her and grabbed Zealous and exclaimed:

“How could you do this! I thought I could trust you! Star’s just a little colt and you poisoned his heart! Why?!”

“Are you really making that question?” Zealous asked. “You don’t know anything. You don’t know how I and all the other light ponies feel!”

“What are you talking about, Zealous?” Twilight asked. “I don’t understand…”

“He’s talking about Nine-Tails” Heartbeat replied. “This is all because of Nine-Tails.”

“I see…” Golden Paladin said. “So that’s why…”

“What do you mean with that?” Twilight asked.

“Zealous’ father was killed by Nine-Tails when he broke free from Heartbeat” Golden Paladin said.

“It was not only my father who died that day, while trying to contain that monster” Zealous said. “There are many like me who don’t approve what you did. Sealing Nine-Tails again in a jinchuriki… Let him get in the citadel again… It will only cause a lot more deaths and pain.”

“And because of that, you decided to poison Prince Star Knight’s heart” Golden Paladin replied. “Because Princess Twilight and Prince Blue Sword would do anything for their son, they would have him away of the citadel.”

“It wasn’t even my idea” Zealous said. “But when she gave me that vial, the idea of doing it came to me. I tried to fight against it, but… seing Prince Star Knight having so much fun, how he is so happy, despite having that monster inside him… I just couldn’t take it any longer.”

“She?” Blue asked. “Who is she?!”

“Pandora…” Zealous replied.

That revelation caused some shock on the present.

“Pandora, here?” Twilight asked. “But I thought the defenses of the Light Kingdom prevented her from…”

“Unlike the regular villains, she can penetrate more in our defenses” Golden Paladin replied. “Not in the citadel, but apparently enough.”

“How could you ever trust in her?” Blue said. “You know that the only think she and her master want is to get Nine-Tails and take over the Pony Reality.”

“Just for taking Nine-Tails away, they already have my support” Zealous replied.

That caused Blue to grind his teeth in anger, while his magic aura became stronger and his eyes glowing. Noticing Blue could get out of control and do something he would later regret, she said:

“No, Blue, don’t do it!”

Hearing her, Blue was able to calm down and his magic aura ceased.

“You’re right, Twily” Blue said. “He’s not worth it.”

“I think it’s for the best if I take him to another place” Golden Paladin said, approaching. “Heartbeat, you need to deal with the curse.”

“I’ll do my best” she replied.

And with a burst of light, Golden Paladin disappeared with Zealous Anvil. After he was gone, Twilight asked Heartbeat:

“Heartbeat, please, you need to help Star.”

“And I’ll do my best” she said, while observing Star. “But this curse is rather tricky. True love may be able to break, but this curse was designed specifically to separate the victim from the ones they love.”

“Then that’s it?” Twilight asked. “There’s nothing we can do?”

“No, Twily, there has to be a way” Blue said, comforting both his wife and son.

“And there is” Heartbeat said, catching their attention. “It’s not a cure, but it can hold a break on this curse.”

“And how do we do that?” Twilight asked.

“Well, you don’t” Heartbeat replied. “I do. And it’s actually pretty simple. I use a sealing spell on the mark of the ones who had activated the curse and in that way the curse will be contained.”

Twilight and Blue traded a look and the latter asked:

“What mark?”

Heartbeat, getting closer, pointed to Dusk’s left foreleg where there was a circular mark.

“This mark appears when someone touches a person with whom they can’t be together” the General of Affection explained.

“If what you’ll do with help Star, then do it” Twilight said, with Blue nodding with his head.

“Very well…” Heartbeat said.

She headed towards Star and then placed her hoof over his chest, starting to channel her magic to her hoof. Heartbeat then pointed the hoof towards Dusk. His mark started to glow as well and a thin line connecting the mark and Star’s chest appeared for a few seconds, only to disappear afterwards.

“Done” Heartbeat said.

“Oh, thank goodness…” Twilight said, relief, as she and Blue started to head towards Star, only to be blocked by Heartbeat.

“Oh, oh, not so fast” she said.

“You just said that it’s done” Blue said.

“I did and it is, but I can’t let you get close to Star with Dusk with you” Heartbeat said. “When I said that I would seal the curse on his mark, I really meant it. The curse has been contained and you can get close to Star. But…”

Blue understood what she meant and got close to Star, holding him, with the colt still suffering from what happened and getting as close as possible of his father. The General of Balance said:

“Star and Dusk can’t be close to each other because the curse still works with him, right?”

“No, it can’t be…” Twilight said. “Heartbeat, please tell me this is not true.”

“I wish I could, Twilight, but…” she replied. “I can’t do it because it’s the reality. I wish I could alter reality. Believe me, I would love to change a lot of things… like bread getting harder when in too much contact with air.”

“So, this mean my two sons… I can’t be close to one another?” Twilight asked. “But… how are we going to live like these?”

In the present…

The memory ended and Star came back to himself. Now that he got know the reason why Dusk was away, Star had conflicting feelings regarding it: he still was upset with his parents for hiding Dusk from him, but now he had seen what caused everything he knew that, just like when he discovered he was a jinchuriki, his parents did what they did in order to protect both his children.

“I can’t believe this actually happened…” Star said, remembering then something. “Wait, so everypony lied to me? I mean, Dusk was only one when everything happened, so all the kingdom and my family had to know his existence.”

“I think that question is for your parents, not me, don’t you think?” Kurama asked.

Star realized Kurama was right and so, having taking his decision, the young alicorn got out of his room, decided to confront his parents about Dusk.