Season 10: Dawn of a new generation of Harmony

by xombiekilla

Chapter sixteen: Arrival to Mount Aris, reunion with an old foe.

The company then arrived at the Hippogriff Kingdom on Mount Aris to assist Queen Novo and found that the town was in flames and Tainted was running amok. "Okay, everyone. Celestia and I will control the fires and keep them from spreading. Starlight, keep Fluttershy safe. Hero, protect this town and defend Starlight."

"I guess we don't get to go sightseeing, huh?"

"Just get going, Hero," Twilight said as they all dispersed to do their tasks. No sooner had she left than a swarm of flying bug-like Tainted, Pawns, and even a couple of turned hippogriffs surrounded them- all except for the Pawns were Emblem Tainted.

"Okay then, guys, I'm right here!" Hero then readied his blade. Starlight then drew her shield over Fluttershy as she was surveying the battlefield. "Looks like a couple of them were taken by those Tainted. Sorry guys, But I will have to take you down!" Hero rushed at the flying Tainted Hippogriffs as they carried spears and tried to thrust them out at Hero, who jumped to avoid their lunges deftly. "W-Woah!? Okay, then, that's not cool. But I have a weapon, too."

"Hero, keep them off me while I protect Fluttershy, okay?"

"You got it." Hero moved behind the two turned hippogriffs and unleashed an ice spell onto their wings to down them. "Freeze!" They both fell, but then they began to dash up to Starlight, spears at the ready. "Oh no, you don't!" Hero blocks their advance as he sends them flying with an aerial slash. Then he jumped up to rapidly deliver a flurry of slashes on them.

They both looked wounded as they still attempted their charge. Hero then ran his blade right through one and sliced the other in half. They both were oozing black misty darkness where there should have been blood. Before they both dissolved into nothing, releasing their hearts as they flew up high. "Alright then, guys. Who's next?" Then came a swarm of those bug-like Tainted as they were sparking like they were made from electricity. "Well.. this is new."

"Look out, Hero. Those things look like they're charging up energy together."

"Then let's slow them down. Freeze!" Hero shot an ice spell at the swarm, and they fell to the ground, temporarily stunned.

"Okay then, time for some pest management!" Hero was slashing them all as they were on the ground; there seemed to be at least eight of them, six now that two were destroyed. "Take this! Time to say goodbye, Tainted." He then used a fire spell to burn those fixed bug Tainted into piles of gray ashes as they all seeped away, and each released a stolen heart. Finally came the few Pawns still there trying to claw at Starlight's shield; they were making scratches on it from their effort. "Come here; I'll take you down!"

Hero then slashed at the shadowy monsters as they all exploded from the many slashes racking at their bodies. "Thanks for that, Hero." Starlight sighed in relief as she lowered her shield at the sight of no more Tainted present.

"No problem. Now, let's move on and meet up with Twilight and Celestia!" Hero, Starlight, and Fluttershy then made their way through the town, running to catch up to Twilight and Celestia as a shadowy pillar formed in front of them then dispersed, revealing a hooded pony of sorts; a veil of darkness concealed its face from within the hood itself. "W-Who're you? Get out of our way!"

"So, that's the greeting I get from you, huh? How very welcoming, indeed." The voice belonged to a mare. She pulled her hood back to reveal her rich dark-purple fur, red-wine mane, and a familiar scar on her left cheek across her eye.

"T-Tempest Shadow? But I don't understand; I thought you were reformed?" Fluttershy spoke up suddenly.

"Fluttershy. I don't think that's the Tempest we're familiar with; look at her horn." Starlight pointed to it as everyone saw she had a full horn, not a broken one. She also had yellow eyes, the same that matched the Tainted.

"So you're Hero, huh? Word travels around faster than you'd think. So before you ask, I figured I'd save you the trouble."

"B-But I don't understand what's happening here. Why is Tempest here at Mount Aris of all places?" Fluttershy asked as she began to approach her. "A-Are you feeling okay, Tempest."

"Come any closer to me; it'll be a mistake that you'll deeply regret." Tempest scowled at Fluttershy as she whined slightly, walked back to Starlight, and was consoled by her.

"Hey. That wasn't very nice, you know," Hero admonished Tempest.

"It did produce the results that I wanted; whether it was nice or not is irrelevant. I'm not here to pick a fight. I'm here to test you out. Orders from above."

"That doesn't make any sense. Either you're going to fight or not." Hero said as he felt trouble was around and summoned the blade of harmony.

"I'm not going to fight you, but this monster will. Let's see how much stronger you've gotten after our leader met you." Tempest raised her hoof to the sky as a beam of darkness shot up like a flare; it formed into a dark void with a giant Tainted creature digging its way out from the dark portal as the hole disappeared. Then she backed away into a pillar of darkness she had summoned and teleported away.

"Leader? What're you- oh my... that is a big Tainted!" Starlight said as she saw what looked to be a giant centaur with the head of an avian, the upper half a lion creature, while the bottom half appeared equine. It held within its hands a massive halberd, twirling it around before it set its weapon down in color guard. Its beak opened, revealing a shadowy face with yellow eyes in its mouth as the Tainted sigil appeared across its chest.

"Emblem Tainted, huh? Well, the bigger they're, the harder they fall."

"Hero! What is the name of- what in Equestria is that thing?" Celestia said as both she and Twilight landed next to the heroic envoy.

"Well, whatever he is, he will not terrorize Mount Aris. Let's go, Everypony!" Twilight exclaimed as the giant creature roared at them as its beak opened. Its shadowy mouth was wide open and shot out an energy beam toward them; Twilight dodged it, and Celestia used her shield magic to rebound the energy beam back to the big Tainted. The beam then hit the beast, briefly stunning him into a daze as Hero took this opportunity to strike.

"Starlight, keep Fluttershy safe, okay? I'm going in!" Starlight then raised her shield over Fluttershy again as Hero rushed over to the large Tainted and unleashed a flurry of swift strikes to its head.

---

"This was unexpected, but who am I to complain about a good opportunity? Time to search for that black box while those ponies are busy." Grubber made his way up the flight of granite stairs on his way over to the throne room of the Hippogriff Capitol to get the black box.

---

"Are you okay, Twilight?"

"Yes, Celestia, he just grazed my shoulder, that's all. I'll admit, they're not to be trifled with." Twilight then steadied herself and fired a magic beam into the monster's face, making him topple over. "Celestia, hold him down with your magic if you can, Hero. Use your blade on him again." Both ponies nodded.

"Right. We're counting on you, Hero." Celestia said as she used her magic to restrain the massive Tainted and to keep him bound to the ground. "Grr... n-no, you will stay down, now!" Celestia was straining to keep him down as he roared and became more aggressive.

"I got him!" Hero then rushed in to deal another flurry of sword slashes and used a freeze spell on its head. "Deep Freeze!" The entire head was engulfed by solid ice as his body fell, and he was stunned until the ice would be broken off. "Oh yeah! And he's down."

"But he's not out. Hero, I'll use my magic to finish him off, but you must keep him busy. It'll take some time for my spell to reach full potency."

"You got it!" Hero then rushed forth and saw the ice-covered head glowing bright red as the ice melted away, and the deadly creature became more furious. "Uh oh. His head is thawed out, Twilight."

"Okay. That's not good. Just keep him distracted. I need more time." Twilight was nearly ready to blast that Tainted monster straight to its chest. Celestia then reapplied her barrier spell onto it as it flailed its limbs. The giant creature managed to smack Celestia away as she gritted her teeth and groaned from getting hit by a giant and muscly fist.

"You okay, Celestia?"

"Yes, Hero. I-I took a bit of a nasty hit there, but I'll pull through."

"Well, all the same. Here you go, heal!" Hero then used the healing spell that Mistmane taught him to soothe Celestia's blunt wound. "Feeling better?"

"I am. Thank you very much, Hero. Now, let's all finish this." Twilight was ready to fire her magic beam; Starlight shielded Fluttershy as they cheered everyone on. Celestia and Hero kept the pressure by restraining and assaulting its head with slashes.

"Alright then, Everypony. Make way. I'm ready to fire my beam!" Twilight said as Hero and Celestia quickly jumped out of the way as the now confused giant chimeric centaur stared in wonderment at the massive beam of sparkling purple death headed straight towards it.

The cascade of purple destruction had washed over the beast as it shrieked in pain and was obliterated by Twilight's magic. In its last moments, it tried in vain to desperately reach out for the glistening pink heart now rising from its chest as it slowly melted into a shadowy vapor. "Take that, Tainted. Woah now. That was too much magic to let out all at once." Twilight was feeling slightly dizzy as Hero and Celestia rushed to her aid to help keep her balance up.

"It's alright, Twilight, we got you," Celestia said as Hero held her right side, and Celestia supported her left.

"T-Thanks, guys. I'll recover quickly. That's just something I'll have to get used to doing, that's all." Starlight lowered her shield as she and Fluttershy approached the three victorious ponies.

"Twilight, you're not going to believe who we just saw before that monster came out," Starlight said to Twilight.

"Who was it?"

"It was Tempest Shadow."

"You're kidding me? But that can't be right; she's the lieutenant of my army. Tempest would never do anything like that. Something is not right here."

"She had the same eyes as those Tainted, too. And a full horn. I don't know what's happening here, Twilight, but I don't like it."

"Neither do I, Starlight. But we'll have time to worry about that later. Queen Novo still needs us."

---

"Alrighty then. I finally made it to the top. Phew. This queen needs to consider a new throne room on lower ground." Grubber was trying to catch his breath. "And I need to lay off the doughnuts." Grubber touched the ornate door handle as a hippogriff pointed his spear toward him.

"Stop right there, Intruder!"

"Oh, I'd lower that spear if I were you. Tainted! Your master is in trouble." Two pawns tackled the hippogriff down from behind as he dropped his spear, and Grubber grabbed and picked him up.

"Gah!? Let me go right this second!"

"No way. You'll be used as leverage to sway that queen for that black box she's keeping there." The hippogriff then gulped as Grubber entered the Hippogriff Palace. As the imposing figure walked down the halls to the central throne chambers, he was met with hippogriffs, spears at the ready. "Back off if you want your buddy here to have his heart still. These Tainted look hungry, too."

With some reluctance, they conceded. "Smart move. Now, to finish my mission and report back to the queen- not yours." Grubber then muttered under his breath, "Stupid birds." Grubber entered the throne chambers to see a distressed hippogriff queen pacing back and forth until she noticed him and scowled.

"You! I remember you when you were much smaller. You were a coward then, too." Novo said as she saw Grubber holding one of her subjects hostage.

"Flattery won't help out your friend here. Now, where is that black box?"

"You're referring to Pandora's Box, yes? Well, you can't have it. It's a potent relic we had protected for hundreds of years before I became queen."

"Well, that's a shame cause these little guys are hungry. Isn't that right?" Grubber affectionately said to his pawns as he hung the poor hippogriff soldier over the shadow puddle with dark arms reaching out to grab him as he kicked in a blind panic. "Time to choose, Novo. This soldier, or that box."

"D-Damn you." She muttered under her breath.

"Better hurry; my arms are getting tired."

"No! Please, Your Highness. I don't want those things to have me!" The soldier was screaming in fright as he struggled.

"Fine! Take the box, but you must agree to let him go." Novo said with much reluctance on her end. Her disdain for Grubber is ever more present. The doors opened, and the heroic convoy entered; they saw Grubber with Pandora's Box in one arm and the hippogriff soldier in his other.

"Grubber! Put them both down, now! There's no more running away!" Twilight yelled as she saw him.

"Ah, ah, ah, Twilight, I got this guy here as leverage, so you'll let me get away, or else this little birdie will meet a very unpleasant end."

"You wouldn't dare." Twilight glared at him as he used his hand with the black box, grabbed his green crystal out of his pocket, and threw it onto the ground, creating a portal of neon-green flames.

"Try me! Let me leave with the box, and this guy lives."

"Twilight. I know you're mad. But he's serious. We should do what he says." Celestia said sadly.

"Fine. But we'll hunt you down. You will face judgment eventually, Grubber." Twilight said, keeping her glare fixed on her foe.

"Bout time you guys had enough sense to agree with me. Here. You guys can have this loser." Grubber then tossed the soldier onto the ground as the shadows dispersed, and he teleported away.

Comments

[Eurvos Morgenbrise]

10443525

Morion didn't get to tell the whole story, but the request that you credit the artist comes from the artist herself.

More here: https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/832985021/4873774755

[xombiekilla]

10750039
Like I said, everything I got was from Derpibooru, any other sources I knew nothing about.

[Eurvos Morgenbrise]

10750357
Fear not, I do not accuse you, but rather I figured you'd best know the whole story, if you didn't already.

[xombiekilla]

10752005
I hear you. Thanks for letting me know. This wasn't meant for malicious purposes.