Adventures in the Bermikun Triangle

by Rakoon1

Wrath of Blix

The Sea Raiders were stopped at the middle of the Sea of Beru. Dusk was helping Opal fix some device, holding it while she was drilling it.

“My fingers are going numb, Opal” Dusk told her.

“Almost” she said. “Just a little longer… done!”

She let go of the drill and there was a click, causing a metallic part to close on Dusk’s hooves like a trap, causing him to release an immense scream of pain. He then started shooking the hoof as much as he could, trying to get rid of the device, while saying:

“Congratulations, Opal, you’ve invented a hoof-eating monster.”

When he tried to use Calabrass’ handle to open, Opal told him:

“It took me ten days to make that part. I can fix it.”

“This is no time for gentility” Calabrass said. “You should blaze that thing to bits.”

But before Dusk could do anything, Star approached him, using his magic to put Calabrass back on his scabbard, and said, while taking the device and trying to open it:

“You should listen to Opal and let calm prevail for once. A little patience and…”

He was able to open it, allowing Dusk to recover his hoof and tender it.

“There you are” Star said, while holding the device. “Oh, come on, Dusk, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

At that moment, the device closed again, this time catching Star who also released a scream of pain while shouting:

“You son of a…!”

“Mallet can crush it for you” Mallet said, while taking his sword.

“No, Mallet, stop!” Opal exclaimed, trying to stop Mallet while Star tried to shake the device off.

It was then that Clover’s whistle, that came from the top of the mast, called their attention to him and he said:

“Hoy, do you want to smash something, my Might Helm friend? Eyes ahead!”

They looked forward and then saw Skullivar’s forces on their tanks that were pulling something big. Taking Star’s telescope, Dusk looked and then said:

“Skullivar’s trops and they’re trying to capture… No way!”

The victim that was being pulled by them was none other than the giant jellybeast they had previous encountered.

“Hey, it’s that Blix-what-you-call-it” Dusk said.

“Blixtar Storra!” Mallet exclaimed. “The jellyfish of legend!”

Knowing that creature was very peaceful and didn’t mean any harm to anypony, Dusk knew there was only one thing to do. Turning to his crew, he told them:

“Sea Raiders, let’s make a legend of our own and bust some boneheads.”

“Okay, just let me get rid of…” Star said, while trying to release himself from the device. “Opal!”

Opal then advanced and was able to take the device from Star and put it away. After that, Chaos activated his engines and headed at full speed towards the skeletons. Arriving there, Dusk positioned himself on the bow with Calabrass and the others ready to combat. Star was the first to make a move, using his magic to hit one of the skeletons, and Dusk told:

“Cut your losses and go home, skeledorks. Blix is under our protection.”

He then activated the Plank and then flew against his enemies, cutting off the ropes that were binding Blix, all while knocking down the skeletons. With Star piloting the Dusk, he and the others helped Dusk, with Mallet on the hull beating skeletons with his sword.

When Star noticed skeletons coming their way, he shot at them. One was left, but he ended up being rammed by the Chaos. One skeleton came from behind and then jumped to the Chaos, starting to climb on board, but once he made it, he was hit by a ball and chain from Clover, with him saying:

“Breaky, breaky!”

Using the device from earlier, Opal started scanning Blix and then said:

“The cables! They are draining Blix’s energy!”

Before that information, Dusk focused entirely in cutting the cables. But while doing it, he noticed that there was somepony on Blix, playing a long and strange instrument that looked like a flute. Noticing that flute possessed a blade at the tip, the young unicorn prince feared he would harm Blix, so he exclaimed:

“Stop!”

He then went against him, pinning him down. It was then he noticed who that pony was.

“Iron Block?”

He was really him, the jellybeast hunter he had encountered at the time he met Blix. However, unlike last time, he had a set of three round burn marks on his forehead.

“Wait, you’re a hunter for Skullivar?” Dusk asked him.

“What?” he asked. “Just the opposite.”

That answer both surprised and confused Dusk, but he didn’t have much time to process it, as he heard Clover shouting:

“In coming!”

And the Demoniac approached the scene. At the bridge, Golden Bones told his skeletons:

“Get me that jelly!”

The Demoniac prepared its cannons, pointing them at Blix.

“Oh no, he’s back!” Iron Block exclaimed, after being released by Dusk. “Let us go, Dusk!”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on here” Dusk replied, while Iron Block went to get the flute back.

Before playing it, he told Dusk:

“Follow us. Quickly.”

And he started playing the flute again, playing the same deep and sounding musing from before, while Dusk returned to the Plank. Responding to the music, Blix extended one of its tentacles and started creating a vortex and prepared to pass it, followed by the Chaos.

“Come back here, you cowards!” Golden Bonex exclaiming, seeing its target getting away. “Fire!”

While the Demoniac started firing its cannons, Dusk, from the Plank, told to his friends, while returning to the Chaos:

“Everypony! Into the vortex!”

And so they all crossed the vortex which closed to the Demoniac. Infuriated for what happened, Golden Bones grunted:

“Storm! You’ll pay for this!”

Passing the vortex, the Sea Raiders noticed they had arrived to Aeria.

“That Blix is incredible” Opal admired. “We we’re on the Sea of Beru and, in a wave of a tentacle, we were teleported to Aeria.”

“No wonder why Skullivar wants Blix’s power” Star said, while steering.

Suddenly, they felt a turbulence caused by the proximity to a tornado. Turning to their jellybeast friend, Dusk said:

“Uh, Blix, we’re not exactly tornado proof.”

After hearing that, Blix positioned herself over them, using her tentacles to shield the Chaos. After that, she got in the tornado. Once they were inside, where the winds couldn’t affect them, she let go of the Chaos who advanced above her and landed. Once he did that, Dusk went down and Iron Block told him and the others:

“Don’t worry, they won’t do us any harm.”

“Who are they?” Dusk asked, trying his voice be heard through the whistling wind.

And Iron Block replied, while pointing above:

“The matriarchs, my new family.”

Looking above, Dusk and the others couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was a group of a dozen of jellybeasts, both as bigger as Blix.

“But… how?” Dusk asked, without words to express himself. “I thought Blix was the only one of her kind.”

“To protect themselves, they rarely appear together” Iron Block explained. “Such clever creatures…”

“If they are so clever, so why is a notorious jellybeast hunter coming as their companion?” Star asked, while he, Opal and Mallet approached.

“When I discovered their sanctuary, they could have killed me” Iron Block told, as Blix joined the others that started to use their tentacles to explore the new arrivals. “But they are infinitely peacefull. They’re gentle creatures. They forgave me my past mistakes. Knowing them has changed my life.”

The touch of the jellybeasts, expected to be rather shocking, was actually quite tickling, especially to Clover who couldn’t stop laughing.

“Hey, that tickles!” he exclaimed.

“Incredible!” Opal exclaimed, while touching one tentacle. “The energy circulates in them like the air circulates in our lungs.”

When one tentacle touched Calabrass, he didn’t like the sensation and replied:

“Ar, take your frisky whiskers off me!”

The jellybeasts retreated their tentacles. After that, Iron Block started playing the flute again and Star then recognized it.

“Hey, this is an emotional flute!” he said. “Heartbeat and Melody created it together. They made two, one for each of them. Melody has hers, but it would appear Heartbeat left hers here.”

Stopping playing, Iron Block replied:

“The emo-flute is most useful in conversion with the matriarchs. All jellybeasts are linked by a powerful bond of empathy.”

He gestured to the burn marks on his forehead and continued:

“Their natural language consists not on words, but emotions.”

“Human words not clear” they heard one of the jellybeast say.

“Incredible!” Opal exclaimed. “I know I can’t stop saying this, but they really are… incredible.”

But Dusk interrupted the moment by saying to Iron Block:

“You used to hunt them for glory. But what does Skullivar want?”

“I don’t really know” Iron Block replied. “But his skeletons prey on every jellybeast that leaves the sanctuary.”

“Even if they teleport?” Dusk asked.

“They spot us so quickly that we can only make rapid outings” Iron Block replied. “We managed to hide here for now, but staying in such big group is dangerous.”

Opal, who had been thinking about it, said:

“Skullivar must have a long-range detector and this cyclone protects you from it.”

“Whatever it is, I fear for the young ones” Iron Block told, looking to about seven little jellybeast that were nearby and that approached. “We’ve lost several of them during the last attack. Since then, we kept them here, in safety. But also we have to feed them.”

One of the babies approached Mallet and touched his face with its little tentacles. The Mighty Helm warrior said:

“Oh, it’s a baby!”

Blix then extended one of her tentacles to one of the babies and it touched it, with them sharing electricity. Others soon joined it.

“Oh, the adults share their energy” Star noticed.

The baby that was with Mallet headed towards the Chaos and started absorbing his energy.

“Careful!” Opal warned. “It’s draining out energy from the Chaos!”

Responding to that, Blix recollected the baby with her tentacle and shared her energy with it. Iron Block sighed and then said:

“We were so harassed by the skeletons, that their stock is so low. And the young ones are famished.”

Before that situation, Dusk tried to think of a solution and then had an idea, sharing it then with the others:

“We know a place that their tentacles can suck all the energy they want: the ship’s graveyard on Sino. There’s no way we can cross with any Skullivar’s minions there.”

Iron Block liked that idea and soon shared it with the jellybeasts through the emotional flute. It didn’t take long for the Chaos and Blix teleport to Sino, right inside the Iceberg Maze.

“Introducing the all-you-can-eat buffet” Dusk said, while steering the Chaos to Blix. “Tons of old batteries just waiting to be drained.”

Blix soon started feeding on the ships. Feeling the Blix’s joy, Iron Block said:

“We’ll be able to feed the young ones for months!”

“We know loads of cozy spots like that” Dusk told.

Hearing a familiar sound, Clover, who was at his post, looked up and saw through an opening a band of skeletons on pteros approaching, followed by skeletons on waverunners.

“Dusk!” he called, desperately.

The skeletons started attacking soon enough and the Sea Raiders starting dealing with the attacks, with Mallet and Dusk blocking the attacks with their swords, while Star shot magical blasts.

“How did they find us so fast?!” Dusk said.

“Oh no, look!” Opal exclaimed, pointing ahead. “A dead-end!”

She was right as the Demoniac appeared, surrounding the the Sea Raiders, Iron Block and Blix. At the bridge, Golden Bones said:

“Skullivar wants the jellyfish first. Then we can deal with the boy.”

The Demoniac prepared the cannons and, seeing that, Iron Block said to Dusk:

“We have to run. Now!”

He started playing the flute and Blix initiated a vortex. But the Demoniac shot three cables that passed through the forming vortex and grabbed Blix, starting to suck her energy and undoing the vortex.

“No… No!” Iron Block shouted, losing balance and starting to slide down through Blix.

Their situation was dire and Star told Dusk:

“Dusk, what do we do?”

Dusk thought on the best course of action and then said:

“Okay, crew, you take care of the Demoniac. Calabrass, give me the Eye of Sino!”

They transformed as Dusk went to the Plank and took flight, heading towards the cables that the Demoniac was using to grab Blix. While he did that, Star took control of the helm and said:

“Prepare to intercept.”

Putting the engines to the maximum, the Chaos went ahead at full speed, while enduring the skeletons’ attacks. Opal used the side cannons to shoot some skeletons and was able to make one go against a rock.

Seeing that things were going well to his side, with them absorbing Blix’s energy, Golden Bones released a laugh, but then he saw Dusk approaching.

“What?” he asked.

Dusk shot ice blasts towards the cables, freezing them, what caused them to break soon after. Approaching Iron Block, he told Blix:

“The juice is loose, Blix.”

The jellybeast extended one tentacle to the Demoniac and started to discharge her energy on it. Golden Bones reacted by ordering:

“Fire!”

But the skeletons couldn’t comply to his orders, as they were being shocked by Blix.

“What…?” he said.

After that, Blix summoned a new vortex.

“Time to bail!” Dusk exclaimed. Everypony through!”

Blix then passed through the portal, followed by the Chaos, and the vortex closed.

Returning to the tornado in Aeria, Blix shared with the babies the energy they had gathered. Iron Block, who was watching that scene on the Chaos, told Dusk and the others:

“Blix virtually discharged herself to fight the Demoniac.”

“So… that was all for nothing” Dusk said, depressed.

“Not so” Calabrass replied to him. “Bones got really shaken.”

“That won’t feed the babies” Opal told him.

“What I’m saying is that Bones got his bones kicked by a single jellybeast” Calabrass said, winking his eye to Dusk.

“Jellybeast very strong” Mallet agreed.

“Of course…” Dusk said, getting another idea. “And in numbers, they can defend themselves.”
´
“No, you don’t understand” Star told Dusk, knowing what he was thinking. “The matriarchs flee and hide because violence is not in their nature.”

“Bilge water!” Calabrass replied. “Violence is in every creature’s nature.”

“They wouldn’t need to hide anymore” Dusk said.

“And babies never hungry again” Mallet reforced.

“But… they are so peaceful” Iron Block told. “And they are so afraid. I could never persuade them to fight.”

“Use your flute” Dusk replied. “Fire them up with an emotion that is stronger than fear: anger.”

“I’m not accustomed to translate them that sort of thing!” Iron Block said.

“Maybe it’s time to learn, Iron” Dusk answered. “Or it’s the end for them.”

Iron Block thought carefully on that, while looking to his flute. He really didn’t want to meddle with the jellybeast’s peaceful nature, but he couldn’t possible let them find their end like this. It was a hard decision, but it was necessary for his adoptive family.

While Dusk ascended to talk with the matriarchs while on the Plank, Iron Block played his flute to translate him using emotions. Dusk told them:

“Most wise matriarchs, Skullivar has kept you in fear for too long. Things must change! And, today, that is possible. But you must be ready to take risks. You’re afraid and that’s normal, but you can’t hide out while your children die of hunger. No more misery! Forget fear! Today, you can call Skullivar for what he has done! Show him your anger! It’s his turn to be afraid. Hit him hard enough that he will never attack you again! Are you angry?! I can’t hear you!”

It was then that, feeling their anger being rose up by Dusk’s speech and Iron Block’s flute, they started to make louder noises, as they got an angry look and a reddish color.

“Are you ready to rage?!”

They replied with a roar, while immense electricity went through their bodies. Their anger was such that all the cyclone became irradiated in red. Dusk returned to the Chaos, where he was greeted by Clover who exclaimed:

“Wow, captain! You really put them on edge.”

“Worthy of a Mighty Helm chief!” Mallet exclaimed, while putting a hoof over Dusk’s shoulder.

“Ah, I do my best” he replied, proudly.

“And tell me one thing, dear brother” Star said, not very pleased. “Did you ever think what will happen next?”

“A really big battle” Dusk replied.

“And did you think of the consequences that may come from that battle?” Star asked.

That question really disarmed Dusk who didn’t know how to reply to that. Star then said, while addressing to the stairs:

“I’m only following this plan of yours because you’re the captain. But believe me when I say that attack with anger is never the best solution.”

Those words from his older brother really made Dusk’s certainty on his plan to frail, but that thought went away when Calabrass said:

“I can’t wait to see Bones’ face when these lasses hit him.”

In Netherwhere, in Skullivar’s throne room, he was sitting on his throne, while he had Steam Forge kneeling before him, shaking, with Bones standing beside him. The machine Steam was being forced to work on for Skullivar was not far away.

“Tell me, Steam Forge, what excuse have you invented for me this time instead of finishing my machine?” Skullivar asked.

“Mercy!” Steam begged. “I still need more bioenergy for the condensers, signore.”

“So you hear him, Bones?” Skullivar asked to his general. “More jellybeasts!”

Bones bowed to Skullivar and started heading to the exit.

A vortex opened in Vapir near and Blix got out, with Iron Block over her. The Chaos followed her and Star told Dusk, who was at the helm:

“I hope we’re not doing a big mistake.”

In a way, Dusk also hoped that.

Blix started feeding on the echo islands that were nearby.

The Demoniac was sailing nearby and, in the bridge, it was revealed the skeletons had a baby jellybeast in a cage. When it started to cry, the skeletons guarding it approached it and one told Golden Bones:

“General, it is detecting one.”

“Make it open a passageway” Bones ordered.

A skeleton started shocking the jellybeast that cried in pain.

Meanwhile, at the Chaos, Clover was looking for the Demoniac to appear. When he saw it, he said:

“Look at that! They’re here!”

Mallet then blew a horn he had and, hearing it, Iron Block started to play his flute. Once he did that, many vortexes opened around the Demoniac, from where the matriarchs came out, surrounding it. The alarm started ringing in the bridge, as they detected the danger. However, Golden Bones didn’t get intimidated and said:

“What are you doing?! All cannons fire!”

But the matriarchs started shocking the Demoniac, causing pain to both Golden Bones and his skeletons. The Sea Raiders observed the scene with joy, seeing their enemy having what they deserved. Even Star seemed to be enjoying that, happy that his brother’s plan seemed to be working. Calabrass cracked a laugh, while saying:

“What a bone raddling…!”

Knowing he had to do something before those jellybeasts blasted the Demoniac, Golden Bones headed towards the cage where the baby jellybeast was and threatened it with his hook, while saying:

“Get us back home or else…”

Feeling immensely scared and fearing for its life, the baby jellybeast complied and created a vortex in front of the Demoniac. Seeing that, the matriarchs stopped their attack and allowed the Demoniac to cross over.

The Sea Raiders released cries of joy before that victory and then they headed to the matriarchs. Landing on Blix, Dusk jumped off the Chaos and approached Iron Block, saying:

“That was awesome!”

It was then that he noticed Iron Block’s worry look and asked:

“What’s wrong?”

“They’ve realized how Bones is able to track them so easily” he answered. “He has one of their lost babies. And she’s on her way back to Skullivar!”

“We can get her back” Dusk said, turning to his friends. “Can we?”

They all nodded with Star saying:

“We’ve been inside of the Netherwhere fortress and escape… more or less intacted.”

“Go back with Blix and the others to feed the babies” Dusk told Iron Block. “We’ll bring back the one that is prisoner.”

“All right…” he said. “Their bond of empathy will tell us when you’ve rescued her. Do not fail, Dusk.”

The young unicorn prince nodded with his head and then headed back to the Chaos. While they were leaving, Star noticed something on Iron Block and told it to Mallet:

“He used to look like that… when he was hunting.”

In fact, Star did have a bad feeling about that. The matriarchs, including Blix, then summoned vortexes and crossed them to return to Aeria.

The Demoniac returned to Netherwhere and Bones, arriving to Skullivar’s throne, said to him, while approaching and kneeling:

“They are too powerful, master! If they rise against you, it would be…”

“It would be perfect” Skullivar replied, while passing by Bones and approaching his machine, laughing.

Approaching Skullivar’s fortress underwater, the Chaos approached the spot where the Demoniac was. Dusk, stealthy, climbed the submarine, while avoiding being spotted by the passing skeletons. It was then that Opal talked to him through their communicator:

“Dusk, I picked up the energy trail of the baby jellybeast. It’s in the bridge.”

“Roger” he replied. “Be stealthy, everypony.”

After saying that, Dusk was able to get in one of the Demoniac conducts and arrived to the entrance to the room where the baby jellybeast was, guarded by two skeletons.

“Do you think this can get nasty too?” one asked the other, talking about the baby jellybeast.

“Not her, but me? You know I can.”

And Dusk burst his entrance and broke down the skeletons. After that, he cut the bars of the cage and gently extended his hoof to the baby jellybeast, while saying:

“Come on, little one. I’m taking you home.”

Despite the fear, the little jellybeast could feel Dusk’s good intentions and so she went to his hoof.

Not very after that, Bones appeared and then he sensed something under his hoof. He looked down and saw a foreleg of a skeleton.

“What the…” he said.

He entered in the bridge and saw the empty cage.

“No!” he shouted.

He looked through the window and saw Dusk getting away with the jellybeast.

“Don’t worry, baby Blix, you’re getting home.”

But as he was approaching the Chaos, various vortexes opened and many matriarchs immerged, all red and furious.

“Someone got the tentacles turned around” Clover commented, seeing that.

Dusk passed by the matriarchs, not believing what he was seeing. They were really heading towards the Netherwhere, following the sound of Iron Block’s flute. He then stopped and shouted:

“Vengeance!”

And the matriarchs, charged with electricity prepared to attack.

Dusk arrived to the Chaos and entrusted the baby jellybeast to Mallet and asked:

“They’re attacking?! Are they crazy?!”

“You can bet that” Star replied. “Crazy with anger. What have we done?!”

One jellybeast extended its tentacle and started shocking Skullivar’s fortress. All the skeletons there were suffering the attack, but Skullivar was not, just watching the jellybeasts attacking, calmly.

“Come to me” he said. “No more hunting. Deploy the ray.”

The skeletons that were there nodded and got out. They did what Skullivar order and two weapons started pointing to the nearest jellybeast.

Dusk, on the Plank, flew over there, approaching Blix and telling to Iron Block, who was playing:

“Stop this, Iron! Fighting Skullivar on his own backyard is too dangerous!”

He stopped playing to reply:

“You said it yourself. You have to overcome the fear. Let your anger speak.”

“Yeah, I know, but…” Dusk started, not expecting having his own words turned back against him. “Not like this. Not here. And we have the baby!”

“Take her to safety” Iron Block told Dusk. “We’re going to raise Netherwhere to the ground!”

He continued to play the flute, fueling the matriarchs with anger and rage. Skeletons on pteros were released and they started attacking them all, all while the jellybeasts attacked.

It was then that the skeletons activated the weapons that created a ray that hit one of the matriarchs, absorbing all her energy at once and making her disappear. That energy was transported to the machine (that was beside Steam), behind Skullivar, who chuckled.

All the matriarchs become shocked for what happened, and Dusk and Iron Block had the same reaction.

“No!” the former shouted. “Is… is she gone?”

What he had just saw shocked him so much that Iron Block dropped the flute.

“What have I done?” he said, covering his face with his hooves.

“Iron, sound the retreat” Dusk said. “Get them out of here or Skullivar will destroy them all.”

The matriarchs became even more enraged for the loss of their fellow jellybeast and continued the attack. The weapons prepared to the fire again.

“I… I’ll try” Iron Block replied, taking the flute and starting playing, in an attempt to calm the jellybeasts and make them retreat.

To help him, Dusk started telling the matriarchs:

“Stop this! Come on, guys, stop!”

Seeing the weapons charging to attack, Dusk shouted:

“No!”

Before they could fire, Dusk headed there fast and said:

“Cal, give me the Eye of Aeria!”

They transformed, turning Calabrass into a shield and started to block the ray, while getting inside the weapon, causing it to explode. Dusk then headed towards the other, but before getting there, Golden Bones appeared right in front of him, riding a ptero, and attacked. He caused Dusk to fall over the Plank, but, fortunately, it came to him.

“Dusk Storm!” he called, while following him.

The weapon fired and hit another matriarch, absorbing her energy and causing her to disappear. That second loss caused confusion on the jellybeast who were now trying to avoid the weapon. It fired again and hit another one. While dodging another ray, a jellybeast hit Blix and caused Iron Block to be tossed from her, starting to fall along with the flute.

Meanwhile, Dusk and Golden Bones were battling in mid-air. While they crossed blades, Golden Bones told Dusk:

“Today, it’s Skullivar’s victory day!”

In Skullivar’s throne room, the villain laughed, as a fourth matriarch was hit and absorbed. Steam couldn’t stand hearing the excruciating screams of pain of the jellybeasts, but he couldn’t just leave so he had to endure such moment.

Star and the others were able to get Iron Block out of the water, but as they were bringing him on board, he wouldn’t stop moving, exclaiming:

“Let me go!”

They dropped him on the deck, and he cried:

“I deserve to share their fate!”

Approaching him to become face to face with him, Star told him:

“Enough! You’re getting them out of here!”

“I can’t!” Iron Block replied, moving Star away and standing up. “They are not listening to me anymore.”

“Iron saved baby” Mallet said, while putting the baby on Iron Block’s hooves.

Seeing the little one give him the reason he needed to try it again.

“The babies… Yes, I must do it! Where’s the emo-flute?”

Clover then appeared there, floating, and said, point:

“Over there!”

It was at the edge of an echo island. They approached it and Clover went to retrieve it, handing it to Iron Block who took it, saying:

“Great!”

At Dusk’s fight with Bones, the former made a bold move and jumped onto Bones’ ptero and fought him there. While they were fighting, they approached the weapon and, during one of his attacks, Bones hit the turbine of the ptero, causing it to start falling, right in direction of the weapon. But even with that happening, he wouldn’t let Dusk go.

“You’ll never give up in a fight, hein?” the latter asked, noticing where they were going against to. “But I will!”

Dusk then jumped off the ptero what confused Golden Bones. It was then that he realized where he was going and screamed:

“No!”

And he went inside the weapon, causing it to explode. While Dusk was falling, he whistled and the Plank came to get him and he returned to the Chaos, where Iron Block was playing his flute to calm down the matriarchs who returned to their normal color. They opened a big vortex and they all crossed it.

That setback irritated Skullivar who hit the arm of his throne and shouted:

“Dusk Storm!”

The matriarchs and the Chaos returned to the cyclone they were hiding in Aeria, with the matriarchs going to the babies. Listening the song Iron Block was playing, Opal wondered:

“What is it about?”

“Isn’t obvious?” Star replied, while on the helm. “It’s a song of love.”

Dusk, noticing how many jellybeasts they have lost, said, dismayed:

“Half didn’t make it back… because of me.”

Stopping playing, Iron Block told him, while putting a hoof over his shoulder:

“No, you just wanted them to defend themselves. I drove them to attack. I let my own rage infect them and…”

“I was the brain, so I take the responsibility for the disasters” Calabrass said.

“No disaster” Mallet told them, while releasing the baby that went joining the others. “We brought back baby.”

“And the jellybeast will no longer be hunted or reduced to famine” Star added.

It was then that Blix approached and started saying something that Iron Block translated:

“She says that the matriarchs have forgotten who they were: beings that are guided not by fear nor by hate, but sorely by love. Now that Skullivar can’t no longer hunt them, they can leave this refuge.”

And they saw the other matriarchs creating a portal to where they and the babies crossed.

“And we can go back to Marituga” Dusk said, while Blix created a vortex to them.

“Thank you all” Blix spoke.

“Can I go with you?” Iron Block asked Dusk. “I have no place here now. I’m… no longer worthy of them.”

As soon he said that, Blix grabbed him and told him:

“Iron… family.”

Despite a little surprised to see the jellybeasts were willing to accept him despite what he had caused, Iron Block smiled and waved to the Sea Raiders, while he and Blix crossed the vortex to join the others, with it closing behind them.

After that, Calabrass looked to Dusk and noticed some tears on his eyes.

“Are ye crying?” he asked.

“No!” Dusk replied, hasting to clean his tears. “No… it’s the wind.”

“Ah, right…” Calabrass said, not very convinced. “You’re a pony of peace, Dusk. That’s very great. You won't be blinded by anger. That’s why Skullivar cannot win. Just… don’t tell anypony I said so. I got an image to protect.”

He winked to him and Dusk winked him back and so the Sea Raiders crossed the vortex Blix created for them, returning to Marituga.