> A Random My Little Pony Fan Fiction Story 3: John's Kingdom
>  by The Masked Ghost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: John
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A Random My Little Pony Fan Fiction Story 3: John's Kingdom



Chapter 1: John


The stars were out, nice and bright. The light from the stars illuminated onto Cantorlot, as the ponies from down below were out and about. Many were happy and were minding their own business as they were talking to each other and having smiles on their faces. They were all out partying and enjoying themselves. They were taking the night away and letting loose. Recently they had gotten a new king that went by the name of John, who had seemed to have came from out of nowhere and automatically took the throne after he had killed Celestia and somehow kept Cadence in a never ending orgy with Asian chicks and green tentacles. However no one seemed to have mind what John had did as no one had seemed to give a single fuck about it. 

In fact, no pony cared about what John had did in Ponyville either where he killed most of the Mane 6. And as for Spike, he was still in the dirty white van with Robot Michael Jackson. And no pony had seemed to mind this and went about their lives as if nothing of this ever happened. 

But tonight was a different night. John was a fun king unlike Celestia who was a tight up bitch. John on the other hand was a fun king. Most days the subjects didn’t pay mind to a change in who ruled over them. If anything, the laws were better and the tax code was never updated as John himself never paid any mind to this and instead was just sitting in his throne, being himself as usual.

Tonight however, a party was decided to be thrown by John himself in the castle. At least that is what the other ponies think. Regardless of who said what, the ponies were all gathered in the castle and throughout the city of Cantorlot as they all joined in. Everypony had a big, wild party to celebrate their new king John since he took the throne months ago. 

Even if he was a simple Earth Pony with a light grey coat color scale and a dark colored mane, he showed promised for a better tomorrow. 

There was loud music playing from all directions as ponies were in all areas of the castle. There were some fireworks that would rise up into the sky and pop every once in a while. There was booze and other concoctions everywhere as ponies did all sorts of drugs and shrooms to party the night away. Some ponies were even fornicating out in public and others would simply stand there and watch and encourage for the fucking to go on. The scene at the castle looked like Babylon. A place of great heights and of mystical attributes. It was as if nothing could get better from here on out. 

And John himself made some changes, albeit not directly, as part of the ceiling that laid over the throne room was removed and destroyed. It was an open skylight and while in its design seemed rather crude, it looked beautiful on clear nights; open to the bright and shining stars from up above with a full moon looking back down. Parts of the walls were even damaged and taken down, but it only added to the decor in the room. It looks like it was some ancient ruin that still behold some beauty to its soul. The throne was even replaced. The old throne used to be made out of the finest marble along with a finely made velvet cousins. Alongside with other metals such as gold and iron, it wasn’t much to John. However instead, the old throne was replaced by a big crystal block with a little throne on top. It was something that was found randomly by the workers of the castle and to honor their new and great king, they gave John a throne worthy of his leadership.

As for John himself, he was sitting on the throne with his new wife, Luna, right by his side as he ruled over Equestria. She had even suggested to replace certain parts of the castle with even more crystal to go along with his new throne. 

John had no opinion on this other than yelling, “The blue square made me do it!” 

Cantorlot and even the castle itself may have been unrecognizable compared to just a month ago, but every subject in the land were happier than ever. Their new king was a legend. Celestia was nothing more than a slog and a bitch. John was a legend, a king of kings. Everything was right on this night of celebration and everypony was going crazy and letting nothing stop them from having a good time. All the while John and Luna were on their rightful places in the castle. 

And as they were in their places, a random stallion dressed in a fine suit waltzed on by it with a drink in his right hoof saying with a pure and joyful smile on his face, “Nice party you have King John! This is great!”

The pony then walked off to join back with the others. It was a good night for a party and for the King to show off to his subjects that he was one of the greatest that could have ever lived. Everything was right.  Everything was fine. Everything was going to be just ok for the Kingdom of Equestria with King John ruling the lands. And as John was sitting on his throne wearing his black cape symbolizing his royalty, he had the song Believe playing twenty four-seven as a symbol of John and Luna’s love for each other. It was played through the entire throne room as John sat in his chair while still being crossed eyes; the song echoed throughout the room as Luna just stared at John with hot, deep, and lustful love within her eyes.

She had enjoyed the sex that she had with John, but she also felt like she had a deep connection with John, as if they were soul mates for life. She just couldn’t get her eyes off of John. 

She then decided to whisper to John in his ear with a tease, “How about we both retire for the day honey. We can get under the covers and cuddle with each other… and then I want you to make love to me like you did the night we met…” 

And with that said, Luna had a big smile on her face and awaited for John’s response. John had heard it and for his response, he had slowly turned his head as cracking sounds came from his neck as he kept crossed-eyed to look at Luna. 

And when he did, he said out loud to his wife, “Fatty Bitches!”

And then John slowly turned his head back to its original position slowly with the cracking sounds coming from his neck.

Luna then had a disappointing look on her face as she said, “Oh… why do you want to keep doing the same things over and over again John? Why can’t we just talk about me? I need attention… I need your love… don’t you love me John?”

John then said out loud without looking towards Luna this time, “I’m Hungry! I want Toast!”

Luna then had a little smile form upon her face and she then said softly as she gave a look towards John that showed that she trusted John, “Oh John…that’s so sweet of you to say to me. I-I don’t know what to say…I guess we can wait for another night to make love. I do have to go to the Dream Realm after all and see my dead sister’s ghost. Besides, it’s not like nothing bad is going to happen…like a giant alien ship from another universe crashing through the glass with some sort of monster in it that wants to take over Equestria.”

And for a while… nothing happened. The party went on, everypony were having the time of their lives in Cantorot and within the castle itself, and everything was just fine. And then that exactly happened as what Luna had said to John. A somewhat big sized alien space craft that was black and rectangular in shape was hurdling towards Cantorlot at high speeds and from afar it looked like a shooting star, but to the ponies in Cantorlot, it was something big. 

And as the spacecraft entered the atmosphere and started to burn up on entry, the monster inside the spacecraft was a monster, but metaphorically though. Instead, he was a weird alien hybrid between an alien and a robot that was of a dark, black colored crystal. He had big, red eyes that looked like it was lifeless. 

His mouth was big as a whale’s mouth as it lead to a dark and deep abyss. He stood on two legs and stood at half the height of the castle itself. His head was a bit shaped like a smooth triangle while his fingers looked like claws from a dangerous predator. And he talked in a scruffy, deep, yet raspy voice. As the ship was getting closer and closer, the party goers looked up and looked in awe. 

One of them even jumped up and yelled out, “Hey everypony, it’s a shooting star! Let’s make a wish!”

But before a single pony could, it was all too late. The ship had then crashed landed no other than right next to their New ruler; King John and his throne. It had missed him by nearly a hair as it landed vertically in an upright position, but King John was unharmed. John however didn’t seem to even care, let alone even notice that a giant, oversized spacecraft just landed right next to him. No pony else were hurt either though, but everypony did take notice to the overly sized large spacecraft. Even Luna was at a gasp as she put her right hoof over her mouth, in shock that something like this had landed right in their home. Everypony started to gather around the ship as John then finally noticed and tried to look at how tall it. 

It towered everypony there by fifty, if not a hundred times. But before anypony could ask a single question, the spaceship fell apart like paper as the metal plate on the ship itself busted open like it was nothing. And came out what was the alien on board. He stared at the tiny creatures before him with his mouth slightly open. He looked a little innocent on the outside, yet on the inside he was more sinister than any pony could have imagined. The strange alien then spoke out first and presented himself.

He said with a booming and commanding tone of voice while he raised his left arm upwards, “My name is Lord Chernobog. I have come from afar and beyond what you could ever possibly know. I have come seeking what you now posses and to rule over your lands as mine have been taken away from me in a great battle. I seek a crystal… ” 

Lord Chernobog then looked downward a bit and stared at John as something had caught his eye.

He then said with a bit of greed in his voice while rubbing his little claws together, “And I believe I have already found it.”

Lord Chernobog then asked John while pointing at him with one of his pointy claws, “You, who are you to these little pests?” 

John simply looked back but did not respond.

His wife on the other hand looked offended by this visitor's statement as she lashed back while pointing back, “I’ll have you know this is my husband! He is king of these lands and these so called pests are his subjects!”

John then responded after his wife Luna talked for him by saying, “Bitch tits are the bee’s fries on a side of July!”

Lord Chernobog rubbing his chin with his left hand as he tried to process everything in his mind. 

He then said out loud to the two of them, “A king huh?”

He started to chuckle to himself while coming up with a devious thought in his mind.

He then said out loud to John and everypony else that was nearby that could hear, “Funny enough, this could not be even more perfect!”

Lord Chernobog pointed to the crystal that John was sitting on top of and explained, “The crystal that I seek holds a great power! Anyone can wield it, but only a True King can harness its full potential and to mold the lands that they rule before them however they see fit. It can create whatever the King desires! It only requires a True King to sit upon it. The only question is though... are you a True King… John?” 

Lord Chernobog then looked down conspicuously towards John, looking at him like how a devil would when he wanted to trick a soul into a contract. He waited for a response from John, awaiting patiently to see what he would say. However John just continued to stare at him like a dumbfounded kid who was left all alone on the school playground. When John did not respond, Lord Chernobog grew impatient and took the dead silence as a response. Lord Chernobog then looked out to all of the ponies who was standing nearby, nervously waiting to see what their new king would do to protect them from this unknown and hideous beast. 

However with no response, the subject only grew weary and thought that only the worst can come from this. Lord Chernobog knew this all too well from looking into the eyes of the small, weak, helpless creatures that he saw as peasants that were beneath him. From his past, he knew the cycle of where this was all going, and within his own mind, he couldn’t be more happier what this could lead to for himself.

He looked out to all of the subjects below and slowly jutted his arm out and swiped it across from where he stood to give motion to his point. Lord Chernobog said out loud so everypony could hear his words, “You hear that!? Do you all listen to what has been said by your king? Nothing. He has said nothing. I have given him time to respond to whether or not if he is a True King or not, and he says nothing at all! Is this what you call a king!? Is this who you serve under and bow before; at his feet!?” 

Lord Chernobog looked down on King John calmly all with a disgusted look on his face. He looked like as if he was insulted and felt nothing but disgrace for John. But all John could did was look upward with his crossed eyed stare while his wife Luna held on tightly to him, fearing the worst might come from this somehow. She was worried sickly and all she could do was move her hooves and shake John’s front legs in a hastily manner.

Luna then said with a ghastly scare in her voice, “Please my dear, please! Say something! Say something to your subjects! Let them know it will all be alright! Say something to me that I know you’ll be alright! Say something so everypony will be alright! Don’t just sit there and say nothing! Please my love, please… you must say something.”

But John just sat there, staring off into dead space with no words to say. However somewhere in his mind, John knew the right words to say.

Within John’s thoughts, he was thinking to himself, ‘Apple bottom bitches fight at apples and bees with a cock up their asses.’

But John could not say this out loud. Somehow in some way, he too knew this was not the right thing to say and that this was a dire situation. But yet John could not break free from his old mine of his. He was stuck somewhere between limbo and fate; and all he could do was just sit and watch as all of his life unfolded before his very eyes. With no response from King John, Lord  Chernobog had no choice but to continue forward with the said conversation. 

He just stared down John and said to him, “Hmmm. How pitiful. Nothing from a king even. You’re not even a king. You’re nothing but a good for nothing, waste of life, piece of living garbage. But if your words will not stand before you and show to all that you are a true king, then perhaps your actions will.”

Lord Chernobog had a wicked, evil grin form across his face as he then faced all of the subjects before him. And as he did, he slowly raised up his right arm as it slowly transformed before everypony with shocked faces as they saw in horror right there before them. 

“The crystal only works on a true king. How can you be a true king if you can't protect your own subjects!" said Lord Chernobog as he was about to hail down the ponies with a reign of fire of sorts. 

His arm turned and twisted into various degrees that the ponies could not make out. However by the end of the transformation, it all finished with a pointy end aimed directly at the innocent civilians. Tension was in the air as no pony could figure out what would happen next. Some in the helpless crowd figured nothing would happen and others thought this was merely a part of  a lucid dream of sorts.

But before anypony thought this was nothing to worry about and that they would move on with their lives, go to bed, and wake up the next morning, Lord Cherenobog fired. What he fired was almost like a  large, thin, black crystal that was impenetrable as it flew off his arm. However like a lizard, his arm just grew back in a blink of an eye, making a copy of the weapon he held, ready to be used on another poor soul. The first one was merely a warning shot as the crystal landed somewhere in the dead middle of the ground. It had landed between a rich stallion and an uptight mare who gasped in shock when it nearly hit them and ended their little lives. But before anypony could question what had just happened, Lord Chernobog purposely let there only be three seconds of bliss to allow the subjects to gather their thoughts one last time. 

Afterwards, he let all of hell loose and fired non-stop upon the poor ponies. Three crystals were shot per second, firing off like a gun over and over with no end in sight. The poor subjects started to make a run for it, trying to step on one another just so they themselves can live to see another day. For the unfortunate souls however, they got the pointy end of the deal as they were stabbed painfully and quickly when a crystal hit them. It sliced through their skin and clean through their body as they were impaled.

All those who were unlucky could do nothing but to let the sweet release of death take them; as they started to cough up pools of blood and bits of their organs fell out of their bodies. Some were old and fragile, other in their middle age and going through a crisis, and some were young kids who had so much left ahead of them in life. Regardless of who these ponies were, they were all but dead in the blink of an eye. One of the victims slowly looked towards their new king who sat upon the throne; doing nothing to stop the carnage before they took their last breath of life. As death fell upon the kingdom, Luna looked on in horror, shocked and confused as to what to do and what to make of the situation. She was a princess and an alicorn she had thought to herself. Surely she should be able to do something.

Yet none of her muscles moved. She didn't move a single inch. She became scared and not sure what to do. She then looked towards her husband, the king. John however just sat there, cross-eyed as always as he watched his newly acquainted subjects being slaughtered. He didn't say a word. But if he had said a word, it would have been 'pink fuckers with a stick on top of an ice cream sundae.' But yet despite the silence from John himself, something inspired him to move and get off his throne for once. Something in him collected the energy that he had within and took a step off the throne. As he was doing so and walked towards Lord Chernobog, Luna tried to reach out and grab a hold of John.

But she was a fraction of a second too late as she called out in fear and worry to her husband, "No John! What are you doing!? He'll kill you!"

But John didn't look back. He simply kept moving forward and walked up towards Lord Chernobog's feet as he towered like a giant before him. John got extremely close to this new foe of his as he lightly tapped Lord Chernobog's left foot as he was about to say a word to him. But before John could even let a single letter escape from his vocal cords, Lord Chernobog in a flash of lightning kicked him with only a tap of his foot and sent John flying over to the nearest wall. 

As he hit the wall hard and fell on his face, Luna screamed for John's safety, "John!" 

But there was nothing that she could do to stop from John getting hurt. But in a brief moment that John tried to talk to Lord Chernobog, he had intently gave his subjects a few seconds of a grace period to run for the hills as Lord Chernobog had turned his attention to John. When Lord Chernobog looked upwards, he noticed everypony scattering around, trying to hide from the terror that was unleashed that night; but this only put a smile on his face. 

He said out loud to anypony who could hear him, "So... you're scattering like rats are you? Then let my new kingdom reign!"

Lord Chernobog then quickly turned himself hundred and eighty degrees and hunched his back over. From there he concentrated and let it all out. Out from his back came out a sleuth of different animals and beasts, made from the same black crystals that he was shooting at the ponies with. Familiar creatures such as a panther and a raven formed and flew off his back, but other creatures that only once cam imagine were made as well.

Horrible beasts that could come from hell itself. All of these creatures made in a short amount of time were formed out of the black crystal like material. And they were to be his new subjects as he cleaned house. Luna saw this from the throne still; as the newly formed creatures started attacking those who managed to get away from Lord Chernobog to begin with. 

Luna couldn't take it anymore. The screams of pain and agony. The fire that was started and the terror of watching everypony that she used to rule alongside her sister being torn apart piece by piece by beasts who couldn't care less about a single life. She had to do something. She needed to do something. The worry and fear that she was building up inside of her turned to pure and utter rage. She quickly flapped her wings and tried to meet Lord Chernobog at his eye level. As she went to the front line, she fired up her horn and was ready to kill  whoever she needed to in a fit of rage in order to make things right once again. But before she could do anything, Lord Chernobog quickly snatched her in his grasp, like a classic tale of a villain kidnapping a princess. 

This was it; all was lost. 

The new king was down for the count. Luna was caught and unable to break free. Everypony was screaming and running away in bloody murder. While this was merely just within the limits of Cantorlot, only Lord Chernobog could fathom how much of his new kingdom would spread throughout the lands. First it will be Cantorlot, then the nearby villages and towns, and then the whole of Equestria. And who knew what would happen next? The land of the griffins would be on the chopping block, then the hippogriffs, and then perhaps the yaks would then be next. Lord Chernobog would not stop until he had his new kingdom and all was his. He was the new profound king of these lands; not John. And he would rule with an iron fist, holding great power with nopony to challenge him and his rule. 

Lord Chernobog was of course thinking perhaps there would be silence from ponies as he would genocide them all off. No one could challenge him, not even a simple Earth Pony. All of his new subjects would be of his creations and it would all be his for the taking. This was his new home now; this was Lord Chernobog's new kingdom. He stood there, looking outward and saw what his new kingdom will look like in his head as he was put into a trance. He couldn't have been more pleased. 

But his parade was rained on as out in the corner of his right eye, he saw John slowly getting back up with what it had seemed to have been no effect. Lord Chernobog was not satisfied by this in the slightest. He was a small, weak, throwaway, little organism that should have been dead within the second he was hit. But yet he got back up on all fours, stood tall as the mightiest of all kings and princesses that ever roamed the lands, and looked dead straight into Lord Chernobog’s eyes. Lord Chernobog looked back and had a fire in his eyes and a burning passion as hot as the sun to kill anyone and anything that gets in his way; and in his world not even a little pony will do that. 

Without hesitation he tried to aim his arm and ready for the killing blow; while holding Luna firm within his grasp as she cried out in pain and yelling for anypony to help her. Once her cries for her agony to stop hit John’s hears, he looked upon his wife, captured and afraid. This had sparked a fire inside of John too that grew an excessive amount of confidence and determination.

He saw his poor wife caught by Lord Chernobog’s grasp and immediately he held out his right forearm and yelled out in desperation, “LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGS!” 

John zoomed as fast as he could as he galloped to rescue Luna. Lord Chernobog couldn’t aim the crystal at him like how he had done to the others and figured it wouldn’t be worth the effort any more. Once John got close enough to him; he rounded up his left foot up and let all of the energy out within three seconds. 

John had became hurt as he flew back from the hit and hit the hard ground. John started to show how fragile even a king could be in front of his wife Luna; who watched in horror that her dearest love was about to have his lights be snuffed out right before her eyes. Despite all of the immense pain that she was enduring from being crushed by the hand of Lord Chernobog, she worried about her lovely darling even more than her own life. Once she had seen John be kicked and maimed and fallen to the ground, she started to reach out to him. The two were farther apart then they could have ever imagined, yet in her mind, they were closer than they could have ever dreamed of being. Despite the hopelessness of the matter of reaching out, she wanted to at least try and fool herself that she did something as she was slowly dying by the hands of the unknown monstrosity’s grasp. 

Tears started to flow from her eyes as she yelled back as John fell dead center in front of Lord Chernobog, ready to be slaughtered once and for all, “John!”

But there was nothing she could do once again. And with John weaker than he was before as he remained perfectly still and cross eyed; sitting in place and ready for the pickings, Lord Chernobog had a little evil smirk form on his face. 

He had his target in his sight this time as he wasn’t going to let him escape what should have been death the last time. The dark creature readied his arm and pointed directly at the dead center that was John as he sat there like a bump on a log. And without a single word, he was about to fire. It was all over for the poor, young king. Lord Chernobog had won and was about to end it all in a flash. 

In a blink of an eye a voice called out what seemed like it was from the heavens and what laid upon the ears of Luna. 

A mysterious figure who showed out of nowhere as he traveled on a trail of ice before and ahead of him as he yelled out in a confident yet heroic tone of voice, “Not so fast Chernobog!”

As fast he made the trail of ice, he soon picked up John with both of his arms. He was a human that was taller than John no less or at least he appeared to be one, but to these ponies, these were creatures they have never laid eyes on before. The origins of where a human came from did not cross their mind however, but rather the surprise of their quick visit. 

The human who had snatched John up in a flash was sporting a fine blue garment of fine satin and silk along with a short, light blue mantle. His black, leather boots kept his feet warm from his own cold while sporting a royal, encrusted sword that looked like it was made from the gods that held by his side. This mysterious human picked John up and slid across the trail in a flash and moved far away from Lord Chernobog and going to the edge of the exit to the castle. 

As this mysteries human who picked up John moved into safety, another popped up and moved forward towards Lord Chernobog in a fit of rage and a burning soul for revenge. This human fitted a red sleeveless jacket and a bed of hair that was short yet spiky to the eyes. His muscles were flexed and his shoulders put back; showing confidence in himself and prepared for anything that came his way. He also carried a sword made from silver and fire on his left hip. As this human walked towards Lord Chernobog, his started to burn up and form a small, yet dangerous flames in his hands, heating up as the seconds drew on. Lord Chernobog looked at him as if he had recognized him. However he didn't want to say a word as he was being bombarded by a surprise attack by these humans. 

This human with a flame in his soul spoke out with hatred in his voice that sounded deep and crude, "Hey! You think you could just walk away!? I wasn't done with you!? It's time for a rematch Chernobog!" 

This human stopped only a merely twenty one feet away from Lord Chernobog, planting himself firmly on the ground and raising the temperature in his hands. 

Lord Chernobog said while giving a slide glance at this human, "So. You survived after all? Then it looks like this time I'll just have to finish what I started." 

Lord Chernobog rose his left arm up, readying his black crystal to attack once more. However, despite the odds stacked against this mysterious human of fire, he stood his position and was ready to face his enemy; even if it meant certain death. 

He gritted his teeth, put his fist up while charging his powers inside of him, and gave the look that only those who have seen death can give. No one said a word to each other and only performed their appropriate action. As Lord Chernobog fired a sharp and deadly black crystal towards this human, the fire human was ready to burst his flames of destruction when suddenly a wall of rock and dirt rose between the two of them; capturing the black crystal. Both were shocked by this with Lord Chernobog being confused. 

Yet the fire human knew exactly what this was and was annoyed. He turned his head with a look of being irked and saw a woman standing behind him. She had blonde colored hair in a ponytail kind of fashion. She wore brown and dirt colored clothing with gloves all covered with a dark colored cape. And to her back, she carried a bow and some arrows; made to pierce almost anything in its path. She stood there with both of her arms raised up, struggling as if she was giving it her all to hold up the wall. Dirt and sweat were covering her face as she too looked upset towards the fire human. 

She said as she was breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath, "Will you just move already! You're going to get yourself killed! And I'm not letting anyone die again!" 

The fire human just looked like he wanted to strangle her out of frustration as he stood there, staring at her. 

However the mysterious woman wasn't having any of it as she yelled out, "Move it you hot head!" 

The fire human didn't want to move and looked as if he was about to argue with her. This was quickly prevented as another human near the human with ice and John was standing nearby the exit. He had a normal head of hair that was brown, dressed with a medieval shirt that was of light color, and wore a cape just like the woman had on, but it was of a brighter tone. He looked timid and scared and didn't weigh very much. His muscles were small and his overall stature looked helpless in a fight. 

He yelled out in concern to the others in danger in a weak, yet kind sounding voice, "I think we need to get out of here already! We don't have a lot of time!" 

The two mysterious humans of earth and fire looked back, almost as if they too were annoyed by him. In a surprise twist of fate however, Lord Chernobog used all of his might and tore down the wall of earth before him in one single swing with his left arm. Once all of the rock and dirt came crumbling apart by the seams, he was ready to kill any living thing that he saw with his hands as he groaned very loudly. The two near him looked up and started to have a look of fear strike their hearts.

He then screamed out for all to hear while raising his arms up, "Enough of this foolishness! I'm putting an end to this little playtime!" 

As Lord Chernobog was about attack the others, Lord Chernobog was suddenly pushed backwards with a burst of a gunshot to his face. This was no ordinary gunshot however. It was from a powerful shotgun with every bullet being on fire. A type of fire that could only be found in the deepest dark depths of hell. 

With this only merely distracting Lord Chernobog as he tried to recover from the small shot, the earth girl and fire boy looked upwards to the hole in the ceiling and saw a man in a black suit. He was covered from head to toe. He sported a black cape and his helmet looked very distinct. His suit was all black and covered in darkness with a hint of a hell-ish red mixed in. He was holding a gun that looked like it came from a place of an unknown origin, a shotgun no less. and on his back he carried a sword made from the strongest of steel. 

The fire human looked at him with an irked tone of voice, "What took you so long?"

The man in the suit looked downwards and said to all of them with a low, raspy gruff sounding voice, "Just shut up and get moving already!" 

The earth and fire human looked at Lord Chernobog who was hunched over, covering his face with his right hand, trying to get a hold of himself while still holding Luna who was still in great distress. The two humans looked at each other, both nodded in silence, and made a run for it. As soon as they caught up with the other two and John, they all made a run for it. The man in the suit took one last look at Lord Chernobog in silence. He turned around after a moment, jumped from the building, and caught up with the others and made a run for the hills. They all fled to a spot of safety and made an effort to be far, far away from Lord Chernobog. As they fled, John was being carried away by the ice human and looked back over his shoulders.

He saw his dear Luna being left behind as he reached out his right forearm and yelled out in pain despite still holding his usual look of his crossed eyes, “LEGGGGGGGGGS!”

Luna heard his cry for her as she yelled back while trying to reach for him herself, “Joooohhhhnnn!” 

After a minute of two of recovering, Lord Chernobog looked to where the humans just were at not long ago, and simply grunted in dissatisfaction. He turned around and sat on what used to be John's throne.

Once Lord Chernobog sat on the big crystal, he groaned and said out loud as if the humans were still there, "Run. But I have already won. This land of these small little helpless creatures is now mine. This is my new kingdom. And I have all the power that I will ever need. The night shall be forever eternal!" 

The crystal beneath him started to light up, glowing proving who Lord Chernobog was below his hard shell.
> Chapter 2: The Eternal Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2: The Eternal Night


A dark cloud fell over the land of Equestria. The empire had fallen and all hope was lost. Despite the attack only occurring within the limits of Canterlot; its impact could be felt throughout the rest of kingdom. The air was dense with sadness and despair. The sunny skies were now forever dark and put into a forever eternal night sky. All was dark and gloom. No pony could do anything even if they dare tried. The ponies have met their match. The dread that filled with everypony in every square inch of the land was too much to bare. Some even ended their own lives to save themselves the trouble from being tortured from whatever may come for them. There was no longer harmony or peace. There was only darkness and hopelessness; and his name is Lord Chernobog. He sat on his crystal throne and made this land his own. 

It was all to himself. However, he sat on his throne almost as if he was bored and discontent with himself. He still possessed Luna in his right hand, holding on to her tight to make sure he held all the cards in case somepony tried to one up him. Luna was tired and simply was unconscious as all of the damage she took and energy that she had used took a toll on her. She couldn’t move a muscle even if she had wanted to do so. He held no fear though on his face. He only looked disappointed, yet angry at the same time. He was maddening with the idea that he was too weak to capture the ones that fled from him.

Something inside of him could tell that it was a mistake and that he should have done everything in his power to have stopped them. All he could muster within himself was a moan and groan while sitting idly by in his royal seat as he looked what was before him. What Lord Chernobog saw was a ruined kingdom and a castle mostly destroyed with all of the subjects at the will of his mercy. 

Part of the castle itself still held true and tall as the leader it was intended for. However, just like a church in a world war, it was almost nothing but rubble and debris. Throughout all of Cantorlot, there was nothing left that remained. What used to be a town filled with happy and outgoing ponies was no more. Everything was abandoned and empty. 

Not a single soul to be found in the entire area. A place where it used to be filled with happy children, playing with their friends and ponies taking strolls through the parks and watching as the day go by were no more. It was all quiet to where not even a mouse could be heard scurrying between the cracks in the walls of homes.  All who were in the city of Cantorlot were captured by the forces sent by Lord Chernobog. Some tried to run, but they were not fast for the Dark Leopard like beats sent by Lord Chernobog. 

Some tried to hide inside of their homes, but they were quickly snatched by a three armed, one eyed beast made of the same crystal as Lord Chernobog. Some attempted to be sneaky and hide in the least suspected places on the outside such as bushes and behind crates, but they were no match for an eye in sky with the birds of prey made in Lord Chernobog's own image. No pony was safe from the wrath of The Dark Crystal Lord: Lord Chernobog. Once everypony was rounded up in droves, they were all sent to either prisons or on the chopping line. Order needed to be put into place. Lord Chernobog wanted to put fear into the land's inhabitants. 

He left some alive intentionally so they can watch and spread the word as far as they could. His desire was to set an example and let the helpless ponies of the land be known that they were under new management. The message was clear: They had a new king to bow down and worship to. And to show he was a king to be reckoned with, he would have some of the ponies be executed. The ponies did nothing wrong to deserve but merely existing before the presence of Lord Chernobog's takeover of the kingdom. The ponies were picked at random, put in to chains in a straight forward line that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

The ones on death row were kept in line by the creatures made by Lord Chernobog's own body and power. They all were stricken with the fear of death staring back at them in the face. Some were young and old. Some were stallions, mares, and colts and fillies too. Some were healthy and some were sick to near death already. No pony was safe from being chosen to be put on to the chopping block. All who were picked could not escape their fate. Only darkness and despair were reserved for the ponies were sent to be killed. The death they all had to face were their heads being chopped off from a blade that was old and rusty. 

It was a left over from when the ponies used to be more barbaric with their methods of death row in their earlier years in Canterlot. It was retired after harmony was established in all of the races. For the rest, they were kept in left over holding cells that were found lying around in a basement somewhere, shoved in like pigs in a slaughterhouse. They were all pushed in there, with some being crushed to death and being forced to watch as their fellow pony kind being killed one by one, slowly, bit by bit. There was no food or water for them to drink. If some were thirsty, they would have to drink their own piss or sweat. If they were hungry, unless they were willing to experiment being a cannibal, no one had the stomach to eat anything. 

All were in despair about their fates. There was nothing but doom and gloom that fell on everypony's ears. There was no hope or freedom. All was lost. Even if some survived, there was no life left to live. Some in the cells were thinking about offing themselves when they got the chance. No pony was coming to save them it had seemed. Everypony was miserable and only wanted to embrace the sweet of the dark unknown abyss known as their fleeting end. 

Even if it all meant that there was no afterlife at the end of their lives, they just wanted to escape their torment and torture. This was no life to live now, so why even bother trying to live some had thought. Nothing had mattered anymore. It was a kind of darkness that fell on Canterlot that would soon fall on over all of Equestria and soon the other lands. 

Only if their new king was strong enough to save them from their current blight; but he was presumed dead and defeated by Lord Chernobog as the rumors floated around the cells. This only made the moral worse. No one was coming for them. Not a king. Not a princess. Not even god could save them, if there was even a god to begin with.

Lord Chernobog said it loud and clear for all to hear, "Line up the next one!" 

The next in one line was a weak little stallion with a light blue coat color and a thick dark blue covered mane. He had looked like he was beaten to a bloody pulp, broken by the creatures. His mind was broken from within while his eyes told of a terror from before and the horrors that he had seen. 

When he was told he was next, he shivered in his spot and shook his head yelling bloody murder for all to hear, "No... -N-N-N-NO! No! I DON'T WANT TO GO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOO! PLEASE SOMEPONY DO SOMETHING! PLEASE I BEG OF YOU! WHY WON'T SOMEPONY DO SOMETHING! PLEASE!"

As much as he struggled to fight back against the beasts that dragged his chains forward, he could not resist. Before him was a block of stone and a dull ax. The pony was then forced down by one of the beasts and his head put flat down on the block. Beside the pony stood a tall crystal like beast; one that looked like a demon almost. 

It stood tall and twisted, almost as if it was out of a nightmare or an urban legend that ponies would tell to their children late at night. It didn't have a face, only a blurry, indistinguishable face that only the mind could imagine what it really looked like underneath. All it could do was make deep, distorted growl sounds, almost as if it was trying to make words of some kind. But it had thinly tall legs and thinly long arms with two fingers and a thumb. It took a firm grip with the ax, raised it high as it could, and swiftly cut off the pony's head without a moment of peace. There was no grace period for the pony to reflect on his life or give his final thoughts.

There was no formal way of saying his goodbye to the land of the living. Lord Chernobog didn't care much for formal goodbyes. It wasted his time and the oxygen around him. As the life left the pony's body, Lord Chernobog's looked upon the corpse with great greed and cruelty. He was pleased to see progress being made to his new kingdom.         While he didn't smile to show his satisfaction, underneath his crystal skin laid his desires to see death and destruction of these lands. He couldn't wait until he could purge of the previous inhabitants and make this world his. However his thoughts were soon interrupted as his main crystal raven with red eyes named Custos arrived by his side. He was his personal little assistant when needed; especially when he needed certain information. However Custos was a little bit more special than that and had a special little magic to him that would make him useful in more than one situation. He was the trick of many trades as some would call it.

Custos landed right next to Lord Chernobog's throne and spoke in a little nasally voice while bowing before him, "Hello my master. I bring news of the ones who escape your grasp." 

Lord Chernobog looked a little pleased to have heard been given this information. 

Lord Chernobog said to his pet Custos with demand, "Good. Tell me, where are they hiding?"

Custos said out loud and clear to his master, "They are only forty four miles from here setting up camp last I saw. They got a long ways from you my master, but if you leave now we can catch them and make them pay for ever insulting your throne!" 

Lord Chernobog groaned while looking away from his little pet and said, "No... I want you to go back to them and find out what they're next move is. I'm curious why they didn't stay to fight me when they had the chance. Especially after last time, I was sure they would have tried to fight me. I want to know what they know." 

Custos looked a little curious as to what his master was talking about, eyeing him as if he had something to say back to him. 

Suddenly Lord Chernobog looked back at Custos and jolted at him slightly while yelling, "LEAVE! AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU FIND OUT WHAT THEY'RE DOING!"

Custos was startled by Lord Chernobog's demand and flew away immediately high into the sky and saw from the begrudging king. Without a single word, Custos flew past the other birds made from Lord Chernobog and past the ruins of what used to be Canterlot and towards the group's location.





IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE...

Out in the middle of the woods, far, far away from the travesty that occurred in Canterlot, the group who took John away had decided to make camp for a while. There, they found a hill with high enough ground in case they needed to see if anyone was going to come for them. On top of the hill, they made a little fire pit with a fire strong enough to keep them warm for the time being. The eternal night unleashed by Lord Chernobog had made it a bit cold for travel and less warmth since the sun was no more. Four of the humans along with John surrounded the fire and sat on some nearby logs and rocks, with John in particular sitting on a log like a bump. The fifth human, the one that was weak from before, was walking towards the camp fire after have done some surveying of the land.

He walked towards the group with tiredness in his eyes and said, "Well, I don't think any of them followed us. I think we're in the clear for now."

The fire human spoke up in rage as he raised his arms up in a fit as the weak one took a seat right next to the earth human, "Well isn't that just great. We wouldn't be here if someone hadn't stopped me!" 

The earth girl looked over to the fire human with annoyance and bit back at him and said, "I was saving you from getting killed you idiot! He was going to rip you to shreds!"

The fire human leaned in closer to the girl and said, "You don't know that! I almost had him goddamn it! I was going to be one who tore him to shreds!" 

The girl leaned in forward too and yelled back, "That's not what happened last time when you said that! Last time he almost killed you!" 

The ice human spoke up louder than the other two humans and said with a strain look on his face, "ENOUGH!" 

The two human paused and calmed down and while looking at the ice human. Once the tension in the air had calmed down, the ice human looked a little calmer and put on a warm smile. All eyes were on him with even John looking at him. John however didn't produce any emotions on his face. He only continued to have his signature crossed-eyes and his look that only a retard could produce. 

The ice human said to all who were looking at him as they looked to him for his words, "We must not fight here. Not now... not after what happened back home. We need to all stick together and think of the future of not just everyone here... but of everyone back home. Besides... we have a guest and we shouldn't be rude to him with our grievances." 

The ice human looked towards John with a welcoming warm smile as everyone else looked towards him as well.

John didn't know what to say to this and simply let the others talked before he had anything to say on the matter at hand. The others didn't seem too pleased however. They didn't seem to like him very much based on the looks they were all giving him; especially the one in the mysterious suit. You could not tell what look he was giving and one could only imagine what he was thinking. The ice human however was kind enough to be the friendly one and continued on the conversation.

He looked towards John and said, "I'm sorry for all of this mess. I was hoping to meet under better circumstance, but I suppose that bastard got to you before we could. And I am so sorry for my friends acting up. They are usually not like this. we're just... going through a hard time right now. And we believe you could help us."

The ice human paused and only stared back. No one expected an answer from John, but they still all waited silence.

The ice human continued on while clearing his throat, "Excuse me... where are our manners? We should all introduce ourselves. My name is Glacio. Really it's Prince Glacio, but no need for formalities. Just call me Glacio. Well... really its King Glacio now but I'll explain that bit later." 

Glacio looked deeply depressed when he had said that. Most would wear the title of 'King' with a badge of honor, but he did not it had seemed. However he continued onwards and spoke to John with heart, explaining who he was to him.

Glacio explained to John in a calm, warm voice, "My dad... he is... I mean WAS once king. He was the king of a world far from your own. He was well revered and respected. Everyone loved him and I looked up to him too. But not long ago... Lord Chernobog came and attacked us by surprise." 

Glacio had a deep tone of dread in his voice as he tried to recount his memories of his past. Everyone around the fire except for the one in the suit looked troubled as well as they all looked down and afraid. 

Glacio went on, "He killed many in the recent battles, but only recently did he kill my father while taking siege to the castle. Not only that, he almost won too... if wasn't for my father's last minute blow to him. He used his crystal of his own making and it damaged Lord Chernobog deeply. So much so that Lord Chernobog ran away as he grew weak and with nothing left to fight with, he fled from battle. We had him on the run and we almost caught him... but then suddenly we lost him. Then we found out he escaped from our world and into yours and well... now we're here."

Everyone looked to John. They were from another world or another universe and to the humans; a talking pony was only the tip of the iceberg to their day. 

Glacio continued on while giving a sad look in his eyes as he recalled the tale of battle, "Now all that is left is the remains that he left us with. It was terrible. So many dead and gone. And I was trained too to lead them all into battle... but I only ever got them killed in the end. And at the end of everything and my father being dead, that only left me being king. With so much destruction in Chernobog's wake, it's hard tell what to do. But then I had remembered my father's crystal that he used. It can solve a lot of our problems. The issue is that I couldn't find it. And sadly I tracked it to here. Somehow it came all the way to your world. And we need to find it, and I believe I can find it." 

The fire human then interrupted Glacio and said as he stood up and interfered, "Enough of the sob story Glacio, I'm sure he doesn't want to hear this right now. Right now he needs a reason to get up and fight this son of a bitch."

Everyone looked to him with Glacio being annoyed as the fire human was being rude to him. However Glacio held his tongue and let the fire human continue. The fire human crossed his arms with a sort  of impatience that could only be found within those who only cared for themselves. He looked straight into the eyes of John and tried to be stern with him and what he had to say. 

The fire human went on with a direction in his voice, “My name is Ignis. I used to be the king’s right hand and the body guard to this kid here.”

Ignis quickly glanced over to Glacio almost as if he was being disgruntled towards him. 

However Glacio made no comment on the matter and Ignis went on as the campfire continued to burn in the night, “But that was soon taken from me as well as everyone here. And right now we can’t just be sitting around a little campfire telling stories. Right now, we need a reason to get out and fight. And we need a damn good reason too. Not only did he take away who I considered to be a close friend of mine, but I failed to fight him last time we faced each other.”

Ignis started to hang his head low in despair while letting his arms loosen up a bit He was ashamed and felt a wave of guilt pass over him. To him, if he could go back in time and fix his mistakes, he would do it in a heartbeat. Yet he was facing the hardships of reality itself with the knowledge of himself never ever getting to fix those mistakes. No matter how hard he had tried to forget and repress his own memoires, he could never let his past action down. He had condemned his own soul to be tortured by his own weakness.

Ignis went on to say to John, “I could have taken him, but I was too weak to fight him. He caught me off guard and I was too slow. If only I had seen him coming, I know I could have been prepared for him. But… he just attacked from out of nowhere. There was nothing I can do.” 

Ignis looked upward to John and shook his head clean just a bit.

He then possessed the eyes of a mad man and said to John, “But none of that matters now. What matters is that me and everyone here are still alive. And as long as we’re alive, it’s all the more reason to keep on fighting. We all lost something here to him. So tell me… what’s your reason for fighting?” 

Ignis looked dead deep into John’s eyes from across the raging blaze from the fire pit. There was a cold, dead silence in between the two as John just continued to stare on blankly with his crossed eyes. There was no response but the crackling sounds of the nearby fire. Ignis however was waiting for an answer, and a tough one at that. 

But before either of the two could say anything, the girl looked towards Ignis and spouted out, “What’s your problem with him? We just met and barely got out of that place alive. We have plenty of reason to fight him Ignis. We just need a plan.” 

Ignis turned around and looked towards the girl with annoyance. 

Ignis said to her with a tone, “Oh, then please by all means then… why don’t you tell him the plan then. I’m sure you have an idea since you decided to interrupt me.” 

The girl got up with fury in her eyes and said as she tried to stare down Ignis, “Fine then!” 

The girl then looked towards John, placed one hand on her hip and tried to move the conversation along.

The girl said to John, “My name is Terra by the way. And what Glacio said was right. We believe you could help us. But the problem is that we don’t have exactly the power to stop Lord Chernobog by ourselves. We need a little bit more of a “boost” you could say. And right now we need to find the other crystal and use that power to stop him. Problem is it’s a long ways away from here, and we don’t know exactly what to expect. So my idea was that we should split up into two groups. One to go back to where Lord Chernobog has taken over and save as many lives as we can and the others can go after the crystal. I know it sounds risky, but it’s the best shot we have. And if all fails, we can try to warn anyone else around here before its too late… again…”

Terra was then interrupted by the weak human as he sat on the log with his head hanging down. 

The weak human said with a low tone, “I don’t think that’s a very good idea Terra.” 

Terra turned to the weak human and said with a frustrated tone as if she was betrayed, “What!? That is a good idea. Besides, it’s not like you were that much help when Lord Chernobog attacked us. And you weren’t much help back there either. You just stood there.”

Terra briefly turned to John and said without a care in her voice, “This is my older brother Ventus by the way, in case you wanted to know who he was. Don’t listen to what he has to say. He was sort of the weak one in the family. But despite his uselessness, we still loved him.” 

Ventus looked down even more to the ground with embarrassment when his younger sister talked down to him like that. He was shaking and whimpering a little bit on the inside, wanting to move on the conversation as quickly as possible.

Ventus tried to his best to say, “W-Well let’s not get into that right now. What I’m trying to say is that it’s not a good idea to go back there right now. If we do, Lord Chernobog will know and he’ll definitely tear us into shreds this time. Last time, we were lucky to be even alive.”

Terra overshadowed her brother and snapped back, “How could you even say that!? What about everyone who’s been captured by him? If we leave them, they’ll be dead for sure. We can’t just leave them to die!” 

Ventus looked a little sad by this statement and hanged his eyes low to the ground as he looked up at his sister.

He had said to his sister with a low and whimpering tone of voice, “I know Terra. And you’re right… they will die if we do leave them. But what choice to do we have? Go back there so we can die with them? We can’t let that happen, especially not after last time. This time we just need to stick together and just head for the crystal. And if we can get there in time, then we can still save some.” 

Terra looked angered by her brother’s suggestion as she bent over towards Ventus and looked like she was ready to tear her brother a new one, “Save some!? What about the others Ventus!?” 

Ventus was taken aback by the way his sister was coming at him. 

Ventus said back to her in a scared tone of voice while shaking his head, “Well it’s just a suggestion. Besides, you never really cared for the subjects before. Why all of a sudden do you care now?”

Terra quickly cooled off within a second as she then stood straight up and looked nervous. She was panicking on the inside, not sure what to do say in response as she stumbled and mumbled to try and get a single word out. 

However, before she could even mutter a phrase, the mysterious man in the suit who was sitting right by them said out loud in his gruff voice, “You’re all idiots.”

With the sudden burst of sound echoing from the mysterious man in the suit, all eyes were on him now. 

Ignis however took offense to this as he took a step close to him and asked, “What did you just say to us?” 

The mysterious man in the suit then exclaimed while staring at them with disapproval, “This is nothing but a waste of time and energy. All of you just complaining like this when you can be on the move right now and finding the crystal. But instead you bicker around like idiots.”

Ignis then said in a challenging tone, “Well if you think you can do better, why don’t you take charge of us then?” 

The mysterious man in the suit replied, “I’m already leading the pact.”

Ignis looked a little confused as well as Terra and Ventus. The three then looked to Glacio as he stared back with compassion on his face.

Ignis asked him, “What is he talking about? I thought you were supposed to be leading us? You’re the new king after all.”

Glacio slowly rose from his seat and said with hope in his voice, “And I still am. But for right now we needed all the help that we can get. And after we found him, I made a deal with him.”

Terra asked in an antsy tone, “What deal!? I thought you said he was only tagging along?” 

Glacio said with a warm, hopeful smile, “And I meant it. It’s just that he has agreed to lead this pact. If we weren’t strong enough to beat Lord Chernobog then, why would we be powerful enough to do it now? We need all who can help us and I saw the perfect opportunity. And right now him and this king… King John I believe… are who we need by our side and who can lead us to victory and to avenge the death of our loved ones. If I am to be your new king, you must trust me on this.”

While everyone had seemed to have calmed down from the sudden burst of news, confusion still lingered in the air. 

Ventus looked up and asked Glacio, “Well ok then… but what did you promise him then in return?” 

The mysterious man in the suit butted in and said to all of them, “He promised me the crystal. I need to find someone, and that crystal can help me.”

Ignis was taken by surprise by that statement, but didn't show a sign of weakness. He stared sternly at the mysterious man in the suit as the mysterious man in the suit himself got up to intimate Ignis. He got closer to him, standing a bit taller than him with a sense of being the dominate one if they were all to fight each other.

The red and orange glow from the fire bounced off his suit and made John see him in a different light. His cape slightly brushed gently to the side with a light gust of wind from nearby. He was a mysterious stranger before, but now even more questions are raised about him. The mysterious man in the suit didn't get too close to Ignis, but close enough to make Ignis feel uncomfortable and a sense that he would lose if he tried to pull any punches. Ignis didn't show any sign of weakness though. He only stared strongly straight into what he thought was the mysterious man in the suit's eyes. 

Ignis said to the mysterious man as the man in the suit stared down at him, "You're not taking it. So if that's what you came here for, then you better turn and start walking away right now." 

The mysterious man in the suit talked down to him with his scruffy tone of voice, "I'm not asking. One way or another I'm going to use it." 

Ignis tried to show intimidation himself by getting closer to him as the two continued to exchange subtle threats to each other.

Ignis fired back with a tone, "I don't care what you want. I said you're not taking it." 

The mysterious man as he looked down on him further, "And what makes you think you're going to stop me from breaking your neck and taking it?"

Ignis said as he held his head up high and tried to show confidence, "That crystal belongs to us and the royal kingdom. You don't have the right to lay your filthy hands on it." 

The mysterious man in the suit threatened, "Then I guess it'll be over your dead body then and I'll have to pry it from your cold dead hands." 

The two stared each other down as both gave a low droning growl towards each other. Both were ready to fight each other and be willing to take a life. 

Before anything could escalate further, Glacio quickly stepped in between the two and pushed them aside while giving reason, "Enough you two! Now is not the time to fight." 

Glacio turned to the mysterious man in the suit and told him, "You need to cool it for now. I am a man of my word!" 

Glacio turned to Ignis who felt a little insulted and explained, "Ignis, I know it sounds like I am being disloyal, but believe me; I wouldn't be doing this if I knew it wouldn't work. We need him and I only promised him that he can use it for a little while."

Ignis fired back while looking back at the mysterious man in the suit, "A little while!? What if he tries to run away and take it? We don't know him. We don't even know where he comes from for fuck's sake."

Glacio looked at him with worry but confidence in his eyes, "I know it seems off Ignis. I know during these trying times we cannot trust anyone. But right now we need to trust someone, almost anyone who can have our backs. Even if it's just for a little while. And right now these two are the only ones who we can believe in. I know I only just became king not long ago with little experience. But believe in me. Believe in your king to lead you and everyone else back to glory."

After giving it some thought, Ignis finally calmed down and came around. He gave a small sigh and the sign that he was giving up. He hanged his head down and gave a minute to let the moment pass. 

He looked at Glacio and said as relaxed as he could, "Fine... what other choice do I have I guess? I trust you. And as long as it's for a little bit, I guess I'm fine with it." 

As the two were having their moment, the mysterious man in the suit walked past Ignis to take a closer look at John out of curiosity. Ignis noticed this and simply looked back at him with a sense still of untrustworthiness. 

Ignis said out loud to both of them, "But we don't even know what his name is though."

The mysterious stopped in his track and subtly looked back, giving Ignis a side glance as the light from the fire reflected off his black suit.

He looked towards Ignis and Glacio and said with a hint of tiredness, "You can just call me TK."

Ignis looked at him as if he was crazy and asked, "TK? Who even named you that?"

TK said before looking back at John, "Someone who I'm trying to find." 

Ignis didn't want to poke the bear any further. From the tone of TK's voice, he seemed like he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't seem to be in that kind of mood where you could casually chat and relax at a bar with. There was something underneath TK that he didn't even want to dare open. 

Glacio looked at John and in turn everyone else looked at him. 

Glacio said with soreness in his eyes while still putting on a warm smile, "I'm sorry you had to see this. We're not usually like this but lately we haven't been ourselves. We're lost just like you. But that is why we look to you King John. You have much loss as we do. And together, especially with a kingship like yours, we can fight Lord Chernobog together and save both our kingdoms. We look to you John to lead the path and be our light and to use the crystal to bring back brighter days for all of us. So... what do you say John? Will you help us find the crystal and defeat Lord Chernobog once and for all?" 

John sat there staring off into deep space while the rest looked at him, waiting for a response. Ventus in particular was on the edge of his seat, thinking something more prosperous would come from his mouth and deliver an encouraging speech of some kind. However to their disappointment, none of the above occurred. 

All John said out loud like a manic, "My anus is bleeding right now!" 

His anus was not bleeding, providing a confusing statement to even say. All who were looking at him just looked a little discomfort and left confused as to what to take from that. 

Even TK was let down as he said to the rest and while giving no sense of confidence, "This is pointless. He doesn't even speak coherent sentences. He'll be of no use to us. We need to ditch him and go after the crystal ourselves." 

However Glacio was not the one to give up so easily as he walked towards John and kneeled down to his eye level. He had approached him with a smile that said he wasn't going to give up hope on John. 

He said to the rest while trying to level with the pony, "Now let's not jump to conclusions. I still see him as a spark of light that is within him that will do all of us some good." 

Glacio then looked at John and spoke with strong assurance, "John. I know you don't seem to be the brightest in the room, let alone speak words that are quite moving. But I see hope in you. You are king after all and somehow you were able to become one and have your own kingdom. So surely, somewhere deep down in you, I know there is something that will be brighter and stronger than any of us. I believe in you John. We all do."

Glacio looked back at the rest as they all awkwardly stood by and had to cringely agree with Glacio. Glacio then stood up firmly and walked towards the others as he motioned them to come together around the fire. 

As everyone did, he looked to John and said a gleaming glow on his face, "Look before you King John. We are your only hope to get your kingdom back, as well as you are ours. We can help each other save our lands and our loved ones and find the things that we seek most. Lead us John like the True King that you are and we shall be your Knight in shining armor to protect and serve till the very end. For the glory of our kingdoms, I say forth from here on out we shall be The Knights of John!"

Everyone else except for TK looked intrigued and started to have a boost of morale inside of them. 

Ignis, Terra, and Ventus all followed Glacio as they all said unison, "The Knight of John!"

They all however noticed TK didn't chime in as he kept his arms crossed, waiting for them to be done. 

Glacio asked with curiosity, "TK, why don't you say it?" 

TK said without a care in his voice, "I don't need to. Besides, I don't need be a Knight. I already have one." 

Glacio and the others looked at him weird when he had said that as if he was alluding to something but didn't quite catch on to it. They just however brushed it off and looked back at John with a smile and gratitude as John got up from his log and looked at them like his usual self. 

He then surprised them by saying out loud while raising his right hoof high into the air, "Here here you weird looking hippogriffs!" 

The rest smiled all but TK and repeated in unison, "The Knights of John" and to solidify their pack and their potential friendship to one another.

However, Custos was lurking nearby and keeping a watchful eye on them...





BACK IN CANTERLOT...

Custos came rushing with heavy breath from the fields and hills; miles away. As he struggled to get back to Lord Chernobog in time to tell his master of the news of what John and the others are up to. Everypony else down below was still miserable as before and holding out for a hero to save their day from ruin. Everything was bleak as before such as the sky and the air around them. It was the same as before Custos left, but gradually getting worse by the hour as all of Equestria was plunged into eternal night. 

Custos made it to the throne of Lord Chernobog and said as he tried to catch his breath and Lord Chernobog looked rather impatient, "M--M-My... master... I have... returned with... great news..." 

Lord Chernobog slammed his black left crystal hand on the throne and demanded out loud, "Well go on and spit it out! Tell me what they are plotting!" 

Custos as best as he could say, "They are... they are going to find the other crystal that went missing. The one that you tried to retrieve from before you failed." 

Lord Chernobog took offense to the words of failure. He did not want to be mocked and wasn't going to have it. He would have torn Custos to shreds and tortured him if it wasn't for the fact he still had use for him. 

Lord Chernobog looked to the side and thought for a moment to himself, "The crystal? I thought it surely had been destroyed. It was what the King used against me from before. Hmmmm..." 

Custos asked nervously to his master, "So... so what should we do master? Shall we rally the troops and go after them?"

Lord Chernobog said as he slowly looked back at Custos, "No... we haven't claimed my kingdom enough yet in order to do it. We're still building our defenses and building my new throne. We'll just have to make due with you." 

Custos said in an afraid yet nervous state, "M-M-M-Me?!"

Lord Chernobog said as he got closer to the raven with intimidation in his eyes, "Yes you. You have the power to trick and imitate. Turn into what they fear the most." 

Custos wanted to compromise and think of something else. 

Custos said with an arguing fear in his throat, "But master... it hurts when I transform, especially into many. I-I don't think I can do it. Anything but that master." 

Lord Chernobog belittled Custos while putting pressure on him, "You can and you will. You will do whatever it takes to stop them from reaching the crystal until I can retrieve the forces that I need to get the crystal myself." 

Custos tried to argue with his master, "But master, don't you already have the crystal that you were looking for? You're sitting on it even!" 

Lord Chernobog explained to his little pet, "Yes, but this one belonged to the King that I killed. This only gives me power as long as I sit on it. The king's crystal however will give power the likes you can't even fathom. I will be unstoppable. And I could take over more than just this world, but beyond it! And perhaps the kingdom that I failed to acquire from before..."

Lord Chernobog started to think to himself as he looked off into the distance, almost as if he was in a trance of some kind. Custos followed suit and leaned in a bit closer as he waited to see if his master would say anything else.

Lord Chernobog then glanced over at Custos and proceeded to snap at him and yelled out loud, "WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE!? GO NOW AND STOP THEM!"

Custos flew away in a flash of a second and towards the band of knights. 

All the while Lord Chernobog screamed into the eternal night, "I AM THE TRUE KING! THIS IS MY KINGDOM! I WILL NOT BE MOCKED! AND I WILL NOT BE MADE A FOOL OF AGAIN!"
> Chapter 3: Glacio
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: Glacio

The eternal night continued to rage on. What should have been sunrise was no more, but a forever night sky that went on for miles. Anywhere on the entire planet, it was plunged into the nightfall. Even though Lord Chernobog had only conquered one kingdom thus far, everything was engulfed by his doing simply by claiming his throne. And everywhere around the world and throughout Equestria, no pony could make heads or tail of it. Not even the other creatures could make logical sense by it. 

When Celestia died, one would think the sun went with her. However, Luna picked up where her sister left off as John took the throne. Yet it baffled no pony why any of this had happened. It bewilders them though that no morning sun has appeared. The golden dawn was gone and the energy to start the day had weakened most of the plants and animals.

The clock had stopped and it was only a matter of time before chaos would erupt throughout the world. A little off balance of schedule could cause the whole world to be on fire. 

The only thing that anypony could do would be to drink their sorrow away with booze or take various drugs to give them a spiritual revival during the dark times. And if things didn't get better anytime soon, it will only push any living creature to their primal instinct. First it will be rage and self defense. Then it will become civil war and factions. 

Next would come the total destruction of society itself, going back to old tribes and clans. And if all is lost, then it's anyone for themselves as the animals take hold. Anypony could take anything as long as they have the strength to do it. A living organism must do in order to survive and carry on the bloodline. And so the final stage of going in a backwards loop would be for an organism to eat another living organism. 

While this is a fact throughout any life, a desperate pony will do anything to live, even if it means cannibalism of their own kind or their own off spring. It makes it so that anypony who lives feels like that life is not a gift and that it was a punishment from the creator. The evil shape shift into their own kind after all. Pills that kill faster, viruses that form into a plague, or the war machine in the distance that prep for mass killing. Violence and instability becomes the new civility. It makes it that murdering a living being becomes the recipe for survival. It becomes the basis for life and good memories turn into a lifetime of pain.

The stakes were high as the eternal night engulfed the world and soon to bring out the worst in most. And only god knows what would happen to the ponies and if they were to survive Lord Chernobog and his genocide of the old blood. All lives of the lands landed on John and his Knights to carry forth and find the King's Crystal to end Lord Chernobog once and for all. 

The band of heroes put out the campfire after taking some rest and heading out on foot. Their direction: Northwest. They did not know where the King's Crystal lied ahead exactly, but deep down in Glacio's heart he knew where he would find his father's inheritance. 

All that they had was themselves and the weapons by their sides to fend against any darkness that might come for them in their waking moments or in their sleep. There was no room for error as all were focused on heading to their destination at almost any cost. Glacio was certain they would retrieve the King's Crystal. Ignis had hope but doubt about John being the one to be their savior. 

Terra was ambitious and determined to right the wrongs of the past. Ventus was eager to put the evil to bed and be at peace so he can go home and rest. TK only wanted to get it over with and find the one who went missing in his life. 

John only had one thing on his mind though: Legs and animals fucking a tree. No one would rest easily until they met their end goal; together as The Knights of John and King John himself. 

A couple of hours had passed since they left on their journey to the King's Crystal. Not much was said between everyone in the party. Despite some being close to one another, there was a tense pressure around them, with not one of them wanting to speak up. Some had worries on their mind while others only wanted to focus on their redemption and forgiveness for their mistakes. TK didn't care to talk much and John didn't have much on his mind worth talking about to the others. But John looked at the others as he trailed loosely behind as TK was ahead of the pack.

All he could see within all of them despite his wandering mind was how thankful he was to find a group of weird creatures; who would kindly assist him on taking back his rightful kingdom and his precious wife. Yet deep down he didn't know what they were talking about sometimes and could only imagine what went on in their world. 

And then John began to think. ‘Another universe? How could this be? Why could this be? And why here of all place where there is talking ponies around?’ 

None of it made sense to him other than remembering all of a sudden he still never got that toast from his previous wife from before. He really wanted that toast. But instead he only ever got a chicken that came out of his mouth as he had yawned that one time. It wasn't even funny. All it did was do a random dance with no one around to watch. 

To him it wasn't funny. Why did it happen to begin with in the first place? It was as if everything was so random. Then John wondered how he even got here to begin with. His mind started to wander some more and soon he forgot what he was thinking about and went right back to square one again. He thought about pancakes for a bit.

John's mind was an endless void of randomness and virtue. There was no end in sight in what made who he was. If any pony were to see into it, no pony would be able to make heads or tails of it. He was in his own little world. A world where no one could understand him no matter how hard he tried.

TK on the other hand only focused ahead and didn't look back. Even though he could sense that their pack wasn't as tight as they all thought they were, he would keep trudging forward into the abyss if he had to. The others only had hope to hang on to.

Glacio had the most hope out of them all, but only in despair. Glacio was holding on to anything he had. In the moment of walking in the woods, he could only look up at The Eternal Night and be reminded of his  own mistakes. He remembered the battle with Lord Chernobog back in his world.

All he could think of was all of were the solders he was responsible for dying left and right. He felt like he had led them to the slaughterhouse. And the most heart wrenching thing of all, he could remember as if it was yesterday; seeing his father dying and taking his last breath in front of him. He tried his best to help all those around him, yet he could not. And so when he looked up, all he could feel was a burden of guilt on his shoulders. 

Eventually everyone started to get bored as they continuously passed by fields of bushes and trees as they headed deep into the forest. However, every once in a while, they would past up some beautiful fireflies; lighting their way into the forest ahead. It was a pretty sight to see as the sparkling lights fluttered around them. 

Even Ventus was able smile for once and forget about his woes. For a brief moment, most of them felt a little happy for once. Even John couldn’t keep his crossed-eyes off of them. TK on the other hand did not deal with such blissful things and only wanted to move forward.

TK asked out loud to Glacio, "You're sure this is the way to the crystal?"

TK didn't look at him and only kept his eyes forward as always. 

Glacio could sense the uneasiness of TK's words but smiled with confidence and said with a gleeful tone in his voice, "Of course. I can sense it in my soul that this is direction of where my father's crystal lies at. I can feel it in my heart this is the direction."

TK asked a hard question, "How did it even get here to begin with?" 

Glacio answered with an uncertain face filled with disappointment, "I-I am unsure how. I believe after my father used it to hold off Lord Chernobog, it lost control and sent the other crystal and itself into this world. But I can only speculate as such." 

TK could only give a moderate grunt in response. Glacio didn't know how to take that. He seemed worried that TK was on edge, but was too afraid to say anything towards him. Meanwhile, Ventus looked back at John as he minded his own business and looked at his surroundings. He had a smile of intrigue on his face as he slowed down his pacing and kept up with John in the back. He looked down on John despite John not even noticing a pair of eyes were on him. 

As nervous as Ventus was on meeting new people, or in this case new creatures; he decided to make small talk with John to get to know him. Ventus asked with such curiosity in his voice despite his shyness, "So... John... was it?" 

John started to notice who was talking to him as he strained his neck upwards while walking to look at Ventus. 

Ventus asked on with building confidence in his tone, "I wanted to ask you... how is it in your world? My world is very different from yours I'm sure. And I would like to know... how is it here in your world? Do you have the same sunsets as we do? Do you eat the same foods? Do you have the same technologies like we do? How is it that you can understand our language while we can understand your language too? Can you do just about anything that our kind can do? What are the seasons like here? Do you use the same time as we do?"

Ignis had to butt into the conversation as he slightly looked back with annoyance and asked Ventus, "Easy on the questions there Ventus. I don't even think he can even understand what you're trying to say to him. Besides, why do you even want to know all that junk?"

Ventus looked at Ignis with disappointment and lost confidence in himself as he hanged his head, "Well... I was just curious was all. It wouldn't hurt to know what a new world is like. This might be the only chance we ever get to cross paths with another." 

Ignis said back in a tough remark, "Hmpff. The last thing I want is to find a world where talking ponies exist. And I'm already in it." 

Ventus lowered his head some more as he lost any self respect for himself, "Oh... well ok then." 

His little sister spoke up for him with a slight smirk on her face as she looked back, "Don't worry Ventus. I'm sure if we got time, you can ask around and do your little research." 

Ventus brought his head back up with a little bit of confidence as he felt like he had hope again. Sure it had came from his little sister, but that was what family was for in tough times; to keep your spirits up as he thought to himself. 

Suddenly TK held his right arm up and told everyone in an instant, "Stop." 

Everyone stopped in the middle of their tracks, looking worried as if something had happened that caused them to pause their quest. Everyone started to look around, wondering what was so important to hold up. There was nothing around them but some trees, bushes, and a slight gust of wind; no chirping birds or noisy insects however.

After a few seconds of just standing there, Ignis was the one to speak up, "What's the hold up?" 

TK kept searching the area from what he could see inside of his suit, "Something is not right. It's quiet. Too quiet. Too quiet. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious." 

Everyone was on edge. Even Glacio started to suspect Lord Chernobog had sent someone or something their way and forgot to even think of the possibility of such. He started to fear that the worst was yet to come. As everyone was on alert for their own safety, Custos wasn't far away from them and only a merely few trees down from where they were standing at. He was shaking with fear, not wanting to do what his master told him to do as he stood on a branch of a tall tree.  He looked at the band of heroes and stared deeply into their souls as his eyes lit up brightly. 

He was seeing everything that they held deeply within their souls. Anything that they had feared the most was hidden deep down. However Custos could see it all within his mind and behold it. Once he had seen what he needed to see, he stepped out of his mind and back into reality. He shook his head and stared back at the band of heroes. 

Custos started to talk to himself with fear, "Come on... get it together. Your master said to do it and that means you have to do it. You'll only lose control of yourself for a while. Don't worry about the blackout. Just let it all go and let the pain happen. It'll all be over soon. Come on... just get it over with already, Oh may the lord help me..." 

And soon without hesitation, Custos closed his eyes and concentrated deep from within. He stopped shaking, but his crystal body started to vibrate in a terrible tone. He tried to hold himself together, but he started to feel the pain as the atoms that made him started to pull part and push back together in a constant fashion. 

He was starting to become something more bigger than himself. He started to become more than one mind as his body and soul was torn apart at every seam that one could imagine. He wanted to scream but lost the ability to even do so as he started to form in multiple bodies of shape shifting proportions. As he was transferring into something beyond his own comprehension, the rest of the group kept their guard up, waiting for a sign that everything was clear or a sign that said that they were all doomed. However there was nothing. 

Ventus then spouted out, "I don't... see anything..." And with a sudden explosion of irony and regret, a fire came alive before them.

But it wasn't just any fire. A burst of flames quickly engulfed the area. However it wasn't of natural causes. It was a different kind flame; The Fire of Fate as one would describe it. While the burning flames didn't surround them, it enclosed on their general direction as the heat gave them little to disbar from. 

All were confused as to what was happening. Glacio on the other hand noticed something that caught him in a trance as he slowly walked closer to The Fire of Fate. He walked ever so closer to it like a zombie as the others took noticed. It was as if he didn't have any control of himself. His limbs became loose as he held his head up high, seeing something within the fire.

Ventus tried to reach out and said to Glacio in worry, "Glacio? Where are you going?"

No one was sure what to do. No one knew what Glacio was seeing. What he saw was for his eyes only. 

The others could only speculate as Glacio said to himself, "It... it can't be..." 

Glacio took several steps more closer to the fire before stopping. He then stood there for several seconds as the fire burned on and the others stood there and watched in anticipation. Before anyone could say anything to Glacio, let alone go after him; Glacio collapsed to his knees as he stared blindly into the heat and the flames. 

As the others watched on in fear for their friend, TK stood at the ready, prepared for anything that might come. All John could do was look around frantically, seeing what was around him. Glacio had the look in his eyes if he was seeing a ghost as his face turned pale white and his hands started to tremble. 

Glacio then muttered out to himself, "But... but it's not possible. You are all dead." 

From the fire, figures started to emerge that Glacio saw before. The others started to see it too as they were taken back by it. The figures were many, as they all looked the same. They were standing from both sides of Glacio. The figures looked like it was getting closer and closer before they stepped out of the fire itself. 

Glacio looked in awe as he saw what appeared to be soldiers; but they weren't human though. They were mere skeleton in armor with weaponry that he recognized. It was the soldiers from his lands. They all wore armor made from metal from their chest to their toes and helmets to protect what once was their heads. They all held their iron swords with firm grips and held it high, awaiting for battle to come. They marched in unison and in line, surrounding Glacio as all he could do was watch in disbelief. 

The dead soldiers all shouted in unison their war cry, "ERAH!"

They said it again and again and Glacio knew it all too well. It was what the soldiers would say as they ran straight into the heart of the battlefield. It was the last thing he had heard before Lord Chernobog slaughtered them all. After several of them came from the fire, they all stopped and turned staring at Glacio. They stood firmly and straight like a wall; surrounding Glacio, about four or five on each side. They held their swords up and looked like they were ready for battle upon command.

Glacio looked at them and felt like he could recognize them despite them being nothing but bone. Yet he couldn't quite tell who they were, but deep down he knew them before they died. The others didn't know what to say. Ignis, Terra, and Ventus were as shocked as Glacio was. However TK only saw targets and threats and was ready to fight every single one of them. 

John only looked at the skeletons as if they were some kind of political hambones in a wheelchair named Ghost. Glacio didn't know what to say. He wasn't even sure if he should say anything to them. Would they try to kill him and have his head? Why were they there?  How did they get here? Why was he seeing any of this to begin with?

Then in Galcio's ears, the echoes of a horse walking towards him ringed in his head. He looked up and straight forward to see a figure on a horse coming from the fire. Glacio had a feeling who it might be, but he didn't want to believe it for himself. He didn't want to think about it even. It could not have been him he had thought. And soon emerged from The Fire of Fate was no one other than his own father. 

He was a skeleton like the others and he looked like he was in a constant state of anger and annoyance. He held his royal sword in one hand and in the other reigns to his steed that also was a skeleton while being on fire. His father still wore his royal garments as if he was still alive and was the king of his lands again, all the while looking down on his son. The horse stopped sort of Glacio as he stared at his father. 

He didn't know what to say. He was supposed to be dead, yet here he is, before him, as if he was still alive. Yet there was a weird feeling about it all. It didn't feel right. It didn't feel like his father. He didn't look like his father. Somewhere deep in Galcio's mind, he was thinking this might be some sort of trick. Yet the look of it all was all too real for him to process in his mind. 

As Glacio was still trying to process what he was seeing before him, the dead king looked at Glacio with disappointment as he asked him in his royal booming, commanding voice, "Do you have nothing to say to me boy?"

Glacio didn't say anything. He didn't have the courage to speak to him. 

The dead king then said with more annoyance in his voice, "Not speaking is rude Boy. It is especially treasonous to not talking to your king when spoken too."

Glacio still couldn't say anything. He couldn't move a single muscle either as he stared with his mouth agape. 

The dead king started to become impatient as he spoke with a commanding tone, "Do you not hear what I have to say boy?"

Glacio still hadn't responded yet back to his dead father. He didn't even want to say anything to him, yet he had to, but wasn't sure what to say to him.

The dead king on his last nerves said to his son, "Are you deaf boy!? I said speak!"

Glacio forced himself to say something. 

He shook his head to clear his mind real quick and looked in awe while saying in a state of uncertainty, "Yo-you're supposed to be dead..." 

The dead king looked at his son as if that was an insult and said, "I am not dead. Can't you see with your own eyes where I stand? But you would like it if I was dead, wouldn't you?"

Glacio was confused as he shook his head, "No... no... Father I miss you..." 

Glacio was cut off by the dead king as he fired back, "SILENCE! You wanted me dead so you can take your place as king. You wanted to sit upon my throne and rule the lands so badly. I could see it in your eyes back then and I see it in your eyes now. Is that why you left us all to die?"

Glacio couldn't control his feelings as his mind was swelling with horrible thoughts. He was being accused of so much, but in his heart he knew none of it was true. 

Glacio said to his father with compassion, "No father. No... it wasn't like that. I tried to save you. I tried to save as many as I could. I just..."

The dead king cut him off once more and striked back with his heavy words, "YOU DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH! Did I not teach you how to be a king, that one day when it was your turn you would rule like I had? You're no true king to the throne. You're not even my son. No son of mine would let me die. And no king would let his soldiers die either. And you failed to do both!" 

Glacio was hanging his head down in shame. His mind was believing every word the dead king was saying to him. He was starting to be convinced that his father had come back from the grave to belittle him.

Glacio looked at his father with tears starting to swell up in his eyes, "Bu-But I tired. I didn't mean for you all to die. I know I'm not ready to be king. But I tried father. I really did try..." 

The dead king yelled back at him in anger, "YOU'RE WEAK! A weak son leads to a weak king. And a weak king leads to dead men. I gave you everything. Everything to succeed in life and to succeed me on the throne. And what did you do? You threw it all away! I gave you the world and you spit in my face and danced on my grave. Do you have no shame?" 

Glacio could only hang his head in shame. He didn't do any of what the dead king claimed he did, but he couldn't help but feel like a loser. He only sought to be like his father when the day came for it, but he couldn't even do that. And now his father appeared to have come back from the afterlife to remind him of his mistakes. 

The dead king exclaimed to his son, "You have failed your kingdom Glacio. You have failed the soldiers who protected you through the many wars and battles since you were a mere infant. You failed your mother. You failed me. And most importantly, you have failed your honor and duty as king. For the crimes against the crown of our homelands, you must be punished for your sins. And with that, you must be put to death and off with your head. The very least that you can do is take it like a man and die with honor and dignity. Now hold still..."

Glacio was losing his mind slowly as the dead king was making him feel worthless. But once Glacio looked up to see that his father was raising his sword to behead him, he had the look of fear and cowardice in his eyes. 

As the dead king's sword swung towards him, Glacio yelped in fear as he scurried backwards, trying to get away from the dead king. As the dead king missed his mark, he only looked even more disappointed within Glacio. Glacio had his heart beat against his chest, palms starting to sweat as he feared the like of death being portrayed in front of him. 

The dead king looked upon in anger and resentment, "You good for nothing, waste of life, coward. You can't even die like a king. I should have never had you to begin with. You will die like the rest of the animals." 

Glacio stared at what once was his father as he stood there high and mighty on the horse. Not even the horse seemed to like him as it only breathed heavily; looking like it was ready to trample him to death. But before he could anything, the dead soldiers were starting to surround him, marching towards him as they had the order to put him to death. 

Glacio was uncertain what to do. He wanted to fight back, but he knew that he let the soldiers of his own die. He felt nothing but guilt and could only torture himself in his own mind about it. He couldn't do what he needed to do and not even as king could he save himself or his kingdom. 

In fear of his own life, Glacio quickly got up as he panicked and breathed very heavily as his began trying to think of a way out of the mess. As the soldiers drew near, he tried thinking of running away and freezing the fire and escaping that way. But somewhere deep inside him knew that was only going to delay the inevitable. 

The Fire of Fate could not be frozen on the other hand anyways. It was a fire from their homeland that symbolized a challenge. And if that challenge was not complete, the fire would not die out. The only way it dies out is by completing the challenged or the challenger dying. Either way, Glacio thought it was all hopeless.

Death drew knew. In a last ditch effort, Glacio yelled out in fear and panic and raised his arms up and started to disperse the nearby dead soldiers with ice. It did not freeze them, but merely blinded them and put a "wall" between him and the damned. Once he had the chance, Glacio was running with the look of death on his face. He didn't have much where to run to, so he only ran past the others as he took refuge to a nearby tree and stood behind it and hid from the dead who wanted him to pay for his sins. 

As the others took note of the situation, Terra asked in worry, "Shouldn't we be helping him?"

Ignis was about to move forward to help fight back, but TK quickly put his left arm in front to stop him. 

TK then quickly noted, "No."

Ignis looked back in annoyance as he asked him, "And why the hell not?" 

TK said as he looked towards them with complete confidence, "This is his fight. And his fight alone. He must do this by himself." 

Ventus said out loud as he feared for his friend's life, "But he's going to die if we don't help him. John, what do you think we should do?" 

Ventus quickly looked down beside him to find an empty spot of where John should be.

Ventus was confused and became curious, "John?" 

Meanwhile, the ice effect had worn off, and the dead soldiers broke through and began scanning the area for Glacio. Soon the dead king on his horse walked through and started to be pissed. He was starting to lose his tolerance once he saw that his son was missing. 

The dead king ringed out, "Can you hear me Glacio!? You can't run from this! You can't run from me or the ones you left for dead either! You are trapped here with us! So come out and face your sins boy! Come out and face your punishment and die! You are only making this harder for yourself! We will find you!"

The dead soldiers and even the dead king ignored the others as they walked by them, as if they did not exist. The rest wanted to fight, but knew that TK was probably right and would only make matters worse. So all they could do was stand by and watch as their companion was being hunted down.

As the dead soldiers were crawling through the area, Glacio was hiding behind a thick, dirty, tree hidden in the darkness. His chest expanding heavily as he could feel his heart beat rapidly like a drum. He was sweating all over and gave off the stench of death and fear. He did not know what to do. He had the power to fight them, but deep in his heart he couldn't. His body slowly wanted to give up on himself as he carefully slid down against the tree and sat down. He brought up his legs and remained in a fetal position. He was done for. He thought this was the end for him. 

He was going to die and face the consequences to his actions of the past. He only deemed himself guilty for not saving those that he tried so desperately to save. This was going to be his final moments as king: trying to save it while die trying to. But in a light of hope, he saw John walk to him and stare at him. He was confused and wondered why he was not with the others.

He looked at him and got eye leveled with John, "What are you doing here? Can't you see that I don't deserve to live right now; after what I have done?"

John however, while still retaining his usual looks, said to him in a sort of advice, "Don't give up the legs. You are a nice doggy and deserve a treat. You didn't do a bad thing little boy. The polar bear is the bad guy." 

At first, he only heard nonsense coming from John. It was almost a waste of his time and of his last breath. Then Glacio started to formulate what John was saying. Maybe on the outside John couldn't speak like a true king, but on the inside he was trying to convey a message to him. A message to him to not give up and that it wasn't his fault his father and the soldiers died. 

He only could do so much in the end and that he tried to save them all. And despite him lacking the skills to be a true king, a realization came to mind that The Fire of Fate was playing tricks on him. He wanted to believe; deep down, that what he saw was his real father. He had wanted to say goodbye to his father one last time after all. He couldn't even make it to the funeral due to his injuries from Lord Chernobog's attack. He wanted to see him one last time and say that he was sorry. But his guilt was not holding him back any more as he stood up with confidence. 

He then smiled as he looked at John and said, "Thanks."

John just sat there, not giving a response, but somewhere inside of him, he was saying 'you're welcome'. 

Glacio was no longer filled with fear and regret as he walked around the tree to face his fears head on. Once he stepped out from the darkness and into the light emanating from the Fire of Fate, the dead soldiers were there to greet him as they all looked at him with the intent of death. 

The mindless dead soldiers without hesitation immediately went towards Glacio, huddled together in a large group, raising their swords, ready to strike. Glacio however didn't feel the need to run away from his mistakes. He had put on a small smirk as he pointed both of his arms to the ground and a cold sleuth of ice rand from his hands as he started forming a quick bridge for himself to run on.

With his right hand, Glacio started to make a little ice trail that he could slide on as he went around the group of dead soldiers. All the while, he used his left hand to spray a heavy breath of ice on the dead, slowly freezing them as he slid around them with a slight breeze combing through his hair. As he went around all of them in an almost full three sixty, the dead soldiers froze in place and covered from head to toe with ice and frost. It was as if they were part of museum piece as they stood solid as a rock. 

Once Glacio was done freezing all of them, he landed on the ground with ease as the trail of ice slowly melted away. The dead soldiers stood still and Glacio could only look at it with as a badge of honor. As Glacio was about to go and look for the dead king, it was only a matter of seconds before he had shown up. In the blink of an eye, the dead king showed up as if he had came out from nowhere and trampled the frozen dead soldiers with his steed. The horse shattered the soldiers into pieces like broken glass as it all fell to the floor. Glacio's confidence started to come into question as his small smirk disappeared as he looked up to the goliath before him. 

The dead king looked down on him, as if he was disappointed even more with his son. Glacio started to have mixed emotions flair up. He started to feel guilt and regret once more. Then Glacio remembered who he was. As he cleared his mind, he looked at the dead king as if he was the one he needed to fear. Glacio unsheathed his sword from his side and quickly pointed at the dead king. 

Glacio stated, "You're not my father. My father died defending his kingdom. You're just a trick trying to fool me. And as the new king, I will strike you down with my sword passed down from MY father." 

The horse blew some air from its nostrils as the dead king only stared at Glacio with a deathly glare.

He then boomed with his commanding voice, "Is that how you see me as then? Your own father? You are a disgrace to the name and to the throne! You are not only a coward, but a worthless son! You should be ashamed of yourself calling yourself king. You will die like a dog right here and now."

The dead king lifted his sword and slashed in the air towards Glacio's head. Glacio however also struck back as both swords clashed. The metal clinging sound could be heard for miles as the two gritted their teeth and looked at each other with the will to kill. 

As the swords held in their places, the dead king commented, "Give up now boy. You will never best me. Accept your fate and lay down your arms. You will never be a true king." 

Glacio fired back, "Never. I don't need you to tell me whether I'm a true king or not. My father taught me to be a true king is to be wise and true. Never give in to your enemy no matter the cost, even if it's your own soul. And to always protect your subjects, your soldiers, your friends, and your family with your life. You may not always be pure at heart; nor will you always get it right. But trying to be a good king will always make you a true king."

The dead king said with discontent, "Foolish words from such a pitiful person such as yourself. What makes a true king is to remain stronger amongst the rest. And you boy are not strong in the slightest."

Glacio smirked as he took that as a compliment.

He said with an eager tone, "Oh, you don't think my father taught me how to be strong huh?" 

Glacio quickly looked down and with his free hand, he aimed at the horse's front legs and froze it solid. And as swiftly as he was, he took his sword nd broke the horse's front legs in half, severing it from the body, allowing the dead animal to collapse. This made the dead king lose his balance and fall to the ground with a thump. 

Glacio stood there like a champion as he pointed the sword to the ground, placed one hand on his hip, and let his smile glow as the Fire of Fate raged quietly into the Eternal Night. 

However the battle was far from over as the dead king simply got back up on his two feet with his sword in hand. Once he was up, he straightened his back and gave the look of only anger and resentment towards Glacio. 

The dead king said, "You will pay for that boy."

Glacio responded back as he walked towards the dead king; raising his sword, "Then let me pay you with interest then." 

While maintaining his smile, Glacio swung his sword in the air to hit the dead king, but he was not quick enough. The dead king swiftly raised his sword as the two swords clashed once more, making a sound of clashing metal echo in the lands. 

As Glacio still smiled gracefully, the dead king looked distraught, "You will have to pay more than that to be forgiven of your sins boy." 

Glacio then said as he pulled back his arm, ready to swing at him again, "Then I'll pay with my blood, sweat and tears then!" 

The two swords clashed as the two started to pick up the pace with their swords hitting against one another. The fight was gaining momentum as the others watched. They were watching closely as it became intense like they were on the edge of their seats. Ignis was looking on with eagerness especially since he could remember all the times he taught him how to fight since he was seven years old. He could recall countless times when he failed, but every time, he didn't stop trying and kept going. Ignis wanted to smile, but was holding back as the fight was yet to be over. 

The two continued to swing swords at each other over and over and over. The sound of clinging metal could be heard for miles on end with each strike. 

As the two continued their heated battle, they also continued to bicker at each other as well. "Your blood is spoiled and is no good to me!" said the dead king with a growl.

Glacio sad back, "Then I'll pay with my arm and my leg!" 

The dead king could only bicker, "Will you be willing to pay with your soul!?" 

Glacio said with a hopeful smile, "My soul belongs to the kingdom that I serve and the throne that I sit upon!" 

As the two departed their swords from each other, the dead king finally had enough of their little fight.

He clenched his fist and yelled in frustration, "Enough of this nonsense!" 

The dead king took both hands and a firm grip on his sword as he raised it above his head and came down with the heaviest strike he had given yet. It was so powerful that it took Glacio a bit off guard as he almost didn't raise his sword to clash in time. 

The smirk disappeared from his face as he struggled with the weight of the dead king's sword constantly weighing him down on his sword. Glacio was being pushed back as he was getting put close to his knees. It was in the heat of the moment and the others started to become worried for him. Glacio tried to think of a way out, but there was no easy sign of spotting it. Glacio, tried as he might, took hold his sword with one hand, and used the other to quickly fire his breath of ice towards the dead king's legs. 

At first it didn't seem to work, but it was enough of a distraction that it took the eyes off of him and placed it on his leg. And with the quick second of bliss, he slightly stepped back, stood up, and swiftly lobbed off the dead king's head before he knew what happened. It was a clean and straight forward cut with some blood spurting everywhere. The head tumbled towards the ground as the headless corpse simple collapsed to the ground like a puppet. Some blood did get on to Glacio's face, but none of it bothered him as he stood there with a smile across his face. 

He looked towards the Fire of Fate as he noticed it slowly died down and the area around him returned to normal as it was before. He looked on passed the fires and only saw hope for his future as he stood there; tall and proud as he held his sword with grace. He had accomplished his fight and grew past his fears and nightmares. 

The others walked towards him as Ventus asked with kindness, "Are you alright?"

Glacio looked back with a warm smile, "Never better my old friend."

Ignis couldn't help but smile back at him as he laid a hand on his shoulder, "I've got to hand it to you, I didn't think you would make it. But I taught you well didn't I?"

Glacio looked at him with a glare in his eye, "Yes, yes you did Ignis. But it is John who I have to thank." 

Everyone looked dumbfounded when he said that as all eyes were on him. 

Glacio bent down to John's eye level and said with such happiness from his heart, "Thank you John for showing me the light. I would have been scared and too weak to fight these creatures if you didn't tell me that it wasn't my fault. And you were right; it was all on me to fix my own problems that I blamed myself for."

Glacio got up as they still looked confused about John. Glacio exclaimed to everyone, "Let's get a move on shall we? We still have a ways to go till we get to that crystal!" 

And so Glacio headed down the path of their goal first as the rest followed suit. 

In their wake however, the head that was once the dead king started to move ever so slightly.
> Chapter 4: Ignis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Ignis 

The Eternal Night was quiet now. The sounds of terror and a new reign over Equestria grew only louder once it had started. No pony could escape from the noise of a dead kingdom. There was an echoing throughout the land that ringed without resistance. 

No words needed to be spoken. A single pony could feel it through a chill up their spine of the dire situation that their lives were in. No pony could unhear the sounds of defeat. All who had ears could hear it and see it without eyes. There was a sorrow to many as all wailed and moaned for their land. Some sought redemption and repented for their sins against their own kind as their soul felt like the end was near. 

The end of days was coming as some tried to dig deep underground to hide. And some simply took their own lives along with their loved ones, even down to mere infants, to escape from the horrors of Lord Chernobog's coming reign. The noise was too loud to ignore. But suddenly it had all died down by now. Either all of the ponies had ceased to exist, or a sense of hope still lingered in the air. 

No matter which one it was, the lives of many were uncertain. And John could feel all of this through his bones as he continued walking down the path; deep into the forest towards The King's Crystal. The band of heroes walked on their trail. Glacio felt like he had redeemed his own soul and couldn’t be more happier than ever. 

The others however still felt a little down on themselves in some way. Ignis was irked with many thoughts on his mind. Terra had a heavy heart while her older brother felt a little light. TK on the other hand did not feel anything. He was only annoyed on how much time it was taking to get to his prize. He was thinking to himself how easy it would have been if he went simply on his own. He could take down Lord Chernobog in the process within the hour as well. And no one else would have to lift a finger.

He was made for it. He built himself to be the demons of demons, something the devil himself to be feared by on the darkest of days. Yet he restrained himself to simply guarantee he will get what he wants from this little quest. However, he still grunted every now and then, holding himself back from killing everyone there due to sheer annoyance.

John however was more or less the same. As much as he looked, deep down he felt like he could do anything. Even if it was destroying some alien race looking to conquer the planet; but somewhere within his own mind, he knew that was a little too silly for it to actually happen. Yet somehow and in some way it had already happened. Between time and space, John knew it all. 

The night still felt young despite it lingering on forever. The Knights of John were surrounded by what it looked like to be endless rows of trees and foliage. There were no animals in sight, not even an owl hooting and eyeing for some prey. However the sound of crickets could be heard somewhere in the deep background of it all. It wasn't much, yet it was calming at the same time. John was calmed by it as it sounded like a symphony to his little pony ears. It was almost a beautiful thing to hear; especially in time of crises and uncertainty. 

Ventus also smiled towards the sound of the night. The ambiance was overwhelming in a way that could only be described as wholesome and warming. There was something about the feel of it all that just made him smile a bit. Glacio looked back as he led in the front and could only see some of the group looking a bit tired. 

But he knew they must keep going forward. Lives of every one of both their kinds hanged in the balance on succeeding their mission. Glacio then noticed John who was hanging back in last place. He could only smile at him even if he wasn't looking at him. He only had so many words without being over dramatic to thank him. 

Glacio started to slow down his pace and then let the others get ahead of him. Ignis didn't think of it much and just let Glacio do what he had to do. Glacio let everyone else pass him up but John who he then kept the pace up with him. As the two lined up right next to each other, Glacio felt a warm of comfort pass over him as he looked down and smiled at him. John didn't look towards his direction, almost as if he didn't notice him walking right beside him. Glacio however figured he is listening to whatever he had to say to him, even without his precious eyes for attention. John may have been a pony of few words, even if those words were a garbled mess at times. Yet somehow Glacio had a feeling John knew what he was doing. And somewhere deep within him laid the potential to be a True King as much as Glacio had his potential. 

Glacio said to John as the two slowly walked side by side, "I just wanted to say thanks back there John. What you did for me was... well I don't know what to say." 

John just kept on walking, yet his right ear perked up just a bit. 

Glacio continued to smile and say with a grateful heart, "Your words of wisdom truly made me realize that I was the problem. And that I shouldn't put myself down for something that wasn't my fault.”

Glacio lowered his head while eyeing the ground with a lowered tone in his voice, "Still... back home in my world, I still felt sorry for what happened to all of my men. They didn't deserve to die the way that they did. And for the longest time I believed I was the case for their deaths. I thought I didn't deserve forgiveness for my sins." 

Glacio however then raised his head back up and looked towards John with a ray of hope on his face, "And in my hour of need, I was blessed by your presence as you gave me hope. I didn't think I needed to be saved. Yet there you were, by my side and you helped me. I know your words were a bit... mixed... but yet I can tell that you're smarter than what you look like. Somewhere deep down I knew what you meant." 

John never responded back to Glacio. He was simply acting like a mute with his crossed eyes like before as he kept his pace steady. However, despite the echoing silence of the night between the two, Glacio still smiled at him. The silence from John was a response enough for him. 

Glacio said to John with a heartfelt tone in his voice, "Don't worry John. We'll get your home back... and the one that you love the most. I know we will make it through together all as one. We're friends after all. And as your friend, I'll be with you by your side like how you did for me; and we'll see this through to the very end and vanquish the evil at hand. You'll see. Thanks again for being there for me my dearest friend."

Glacio started to pick up the pace and head to the front of the pack. John continued to limp behind the five companions. And while John may not have reacted to what Glacio said unlike how most would, one could tell just by the look in his crossed eyes that he was saying 'You're welcome'.

The group continued to walk further into the forest before them. Some of the members were starting to grow weary as their feet scraped along the floor of the forest floor. Ventus was starting to break a sweat while Terra started to ache in her legs. TK and John however were completely fine and could go on for centuries. Ignis however was somewhere in between. He wanted to rest, but the fire inside of him wanted to move forward. He knew the more he pushed himself, the closer he would be to fighting Lord Chernobog once more.

As Glacio lead in front, Ignis was right behind him and asked kindly, “Glacio… you think we can stop for a moment and take a break? I think some of us need to rest for a moment at least.” 

Terra spoke up while wearing a glum face, “You said it. I think my legs are ready to give out.” 

Glacio looked back as all continued to trudge forward with a small smirk, “Why stop now? We’re making good time!” 

As Ignis was about to respond back to his king, he spotted something off into the distance. He squinted his eyes as he wasn’t sure if he was seeing it correctly. Glacio noticed as Ignis’s eyes wondered off. 

At first he wasn’t sure, but once he knew what it was, Ignis had a little curious look form across his complexion, “Is that a cabin over there?” 

Glacio looked towards where Ignis was looking at. At first he couldn’t see it as the darkness covered the land in front of them. However as soon as his eyes were able to adjust correctly to the low levels of light, he was able to see what Ignis saw.

Glacio smiled with glee and hope in his heart while saying to the rest of the group, “It is certainly a cabin over there. I wonder of anyone might be home?” 

Ventus then exclaimed to the group in a wimpy kind of tone as he hanged his head low, “I-I don’t know if that’s a good idea to do you guys. What if they’re not friendly? It’s not right to disturb someone’s home like that…” 

Glacio only looked back with a cheerful look on his face, “Nonsense Ventus. Surely these creatures are kind. And besides, if anything happens, we can just leave I’m sure. We’ll be ok. Don’t worry Ventus.” 

Ventus only slightly looked back with a look of fear in his eyes as he said, “Well ok then… if you say so…”

Glacio said to all in the pack, “Don’t Worry. I’ll move up on ahead first just to make sure we’re in the clear.”

TK butted in as he disputed, “How about we don’t? We don’t have time to make a pitstop. We should just keep moving.” 

Ignis only gave TK a side glance as he tried to put him down, “Pfft… you’re no fun are you TK?” 

TK only fired back, “No… no I am not. I was not made that way.” 

The group only remained confused by TK’s words, as it made no sense at all to them. However they assumed it only meant something to him and that was all that had mattered. 

Glacio proceeded to move up quickly and reach the cabin before the others did. As soon as he made it to the front door of the little wooden home, he noticed that there was a slight fog building around it that was low to the ground. There was a little outhouse nearby along with a shed. A broken cart laid nearby as well along with a little personal garden that was growing some tomatoes and carrots. 

He even noticed that the door was slightly smaller than most of them were. Other than the little details, Glacio could only look upward to get a clear open view of the moon above them as it shined upon them dearly. The night might have been forever, but it still deemed in their favor. Almost as if the night had chosen them over Lord Chernobog. 

The others were coming at their own pace as Glacio looked back on them with hope. Glacio then looked at the wooden, self-made door to the cabin and gave it four loud knocks. After a few seconds had gone by, no one was there to answer. For a quick second, Glacio had thought no one was home, or worse, someone had died in it.

Anything could be inside after all he had thought, especially in these trying times. However to their fortune, an old stallion walked up to the door and opened it. He had a light brown coat with a gray beard and mustache along with a short tail. He wore a dark grey flat cap and had a little dark green vest on along with the appropriate colored coat to go along with it. He had a warm, welcoming smile while he wore small, circular glasses on. His tone of voice was that of a happy yet lonely and wise old man.

Even though the creature standing before him was from some other universe, he wasn’t stunned or startled by what he saw. In his mind, he didn’t care who it was, as long as they had a nice story to tell and was willing to keep him company in his older days of living.

The old pony looked up at Glacio and asked, “Well hello there. And who might you be?” 

Glacio looked down at him with a friendly smile as he put his right hand to his chest and slightly bowed to him while calmly saying, “My name is Glacio. Well King Glacio that is.” 

The old pony wasn’t put off by this as he looked interested in what he had to say, “Oh… a king you say? Well then it is an honor to meet your acquaintance.” 

The old pony then noticed the others walking up behind Glacio and then asked him, “Well are those your friends?”

Glacio explained, “Yes, they are my friends. We are on… a mission you could say. And we’ve been walking for a long time now and we wondered if you had anything that could aid us on our journey? Perhaps some water or even a bit of bread that you can spare? We won’t be much trouble, I promise. We just need to rest up a bit is all. We can stay outside if that is what you wish.” 

As soon as the others were closer by, the old stallion said in a joyful tone, “Nonsense your majesty! You and all of your friends can come inside and out of the cold. I’ve just made some hot soup! Join me will you?”

Glacio said as the old pony walked back to his little kitchen, “We would be delighted to.” 

Without a fuss, everyone in The Knights of John gathered inside as they indeed their head and took their place at a wooden table that was made by the old stallion himself. It was a decently sized table too, fit for a big family, although it was rather small for the humans, but the right size for John. The human however were able to manage and deal with the size differences. Decorated around the home lied pictures of what was assumed his wife and children and their grandchildren. However it seemed rather empty as all there was left was a bookshelf filled with some books and trinkets and a bed made only for one. It seemed rather small, yet lonely. 

As all of the pack was waiting at the table for their food and the old pony was stirring the soup, Glacio started off the conversation, “So, is it just you out here?” 

The old pony answered back as he gently stirred the pot and giving a sigh, “Yes sadly. I used to have my darling Flower Bloom, but she sadly passed many moons back. And ever since then I’ve been by myself here. My children don’t even come to visit me anymore. They packed up their bags and left for the city. I haven’t even seen my grand children in a very long time too. This was a place that was meant for them but… they didn’t want it. But wherever they are I just hope they are happy and safe. That’s what matters. And hopefully I’ll see my beautiful Flower again. She was such a sweetheart to me.”

Glacio had his mood killed as he looked at the old pony with a sad face, “Aww… I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything that we can do?” 

The old pony only had a small smile on his face as he looked back without a care, “No need to worry about me. I’m fine here. Sure it gets lonely sometimes. Even my dog died only a few months back so no pony is here to keep me company. But at least the birds still sing their songs every morning and I’m free to do what I wish with the rest of my life. That’s all I can be thankful for at least. Besides, you’re all here. That’s help enough; but enough about me, what about you folks? What is this mission that you are on? And where are you from? I’ve never seen your kind here before? I’d like to hear all about it since news from outside doesn’t really travel here that much.” 

Ignis spouted out as he put his elbow on the table, “The mission is an only need to know basis.”

Ventus looked at him with displeasure and said, “Ignis, don’t be rude. It won’t hurt if we tell him.” 

Terra gave a cheeky little smirk back to Ignis as she said to him, “Yeah, let loose a little bit Ignis. Stop having a stick up your ass.” 

Ignis could only look disappointed as he said, “Oh ha ha, very funny Terra.” 

Glacio said happily to the old pony, “Please excuse my friends, they aren’t the most polite when it comes to conversation.” 

He then cleared his throat and started to tell a brief summary of their quest to him in a way that he could understand without shattering the old pony’s world. 

Glacio started to talk as if he was telling a bedtime story to a youngling, “We’re from a land far, far away from here. And there I am king. And everyone else here is a servant to the crown and a good friend. But we also had a rival kingdom nearby. He was ruled by a man who had no heart, let alone to give one to someone he loved. He was ruthless and always eyed our kingdom as his. We were on the edge of war, constantly in fear of him attacking us at any moment. There were peace talks, but all failed as none could satisfy his greed for more. But even if he did attack, we would have the best defenses at least. He was strong but as strong as he could be. So one day, it was told he went looking for The Dark Crystal. It was only of legend told to children in bedtime stories. None of us had thought it was even real and at most only a half truth. But it was more than just real. It was a nightmare. As the story goes, he found The Dark Crystal, thinking he could use it”

His friends looked at him, as they all hanged their heads low to the ground; reflecting what happened in their past as Glacio continued the story, “But little did he know, it was alive and wouldn’t allow to be used, but rather use the man. And so The Dark Crystal took hold and enveloped him from head to toe. It changed in him from inside and out. And even though we were never allies, we noticed a change within him. He was more broken than a god that he wanted to be. But with The Dark Crystal corrupting him, he was nothing more than a beast. And he sought no more than control and to rule over anything he saw. And so surprised attacked us and we fought back. We were able to survive with a crystal of our own, but now it is lost and we must take it back before he gets it, or else all is lost. And so, with the help of our companion TK here, we are in search of The Kings Cristal. And we have employed John here to lead the way and to find the crystal.”

Glacio pointed towards John, formally introducing him to the old stallion. John just looked at the old pony and just said the word “beep” out loud. 

The old pony didn’t see this as weird though as his ears were intrigued by the tale that was being told to him. Glacio had finished telling his little tale and the old pony could only smile with glee like an innocent child. 

The old stallion said as he was fixing the bowls of soup, “Oh well that sounds like quite a tale. And is everypony else back where you from alright?” 

Glacio said with a humble smile on his face, “Yes, we’re quite alright. We just need a bit of a brake is all to pick up the pieces.”

The old stallion just smiled back with a little hum, “Well at least you have your health. Maybe one day I can travel to your land and visit perhaps. I have been thinking of at least taking a little vacation at least once. Although I’m afraid of leaving this place unattended. It was me and my dear’s pride and joy after all.”

Glacio said with a welcoming smile, “We would love to have you back in my kingdom anytime.”

The old stallion was glad to hear that he had made new friends and even an invitation to find a welcoming home if chose to move for his final days. However the air in the room was interrupted when Ventus’s stomach notably growled for all to hear in the room. 

Ventus had an embarrassed look on his face as he tried to hang his head low and said, “He he… sorry. Guess I didn’t eat in a while.” 

The old stallion said to Ventus as he was finishing the fixing the bowls of soup, “Well not to worry there young lad. I have a nice hot bowl of soup ready for you.”

The old stallion grabbed a bowl with his right hoof and one by one placed them on the table. He then slid the bowl to each of his new guests. And as the bowls was placed in front of everyone, all took a nice long whiff of the aroma emanating from the soup. 

The smells hit the nostrils and sent a pleasant signal to their brains. Glacio, Ignis, Terra, and Ventus all had warm and comforted smiles. They were eager to dig in as they had not eaten in quite some time. They were just glad to get a nice warm meal in a place of bliss: a nice cozy cabin, a calm atmosphere, a welcoming old pony, and some delicious food ready to be eaten. It was as if they were in heaven. TK on the other hand didn’t eat. And so he had no plans on eating, but did stare at the bowl of soup given to him.

John on the other hand wasn’t thinking of any of this and just instead eyed the soup and everyone else, thinking about other things that may or may not have been sinister. As everyone was taken care of, the old pony fixed himself a bowl of soup and placed it at his spot at the table. As he was able to sit down, he too was happy to have nice companions at his table for once. 

And as he was about to dig into the hard earned meal, a noise came from outside. It was a strange noise that grabbed everyone’s attention and one that could not be ignored. And soon before anyone could process it in their minds, a flash of light burst through the windows and tore the cabin into pieces. 

A force strong as the winds in a storm blew everything in its path away as the members of the group were knocked out for a brief moment. Once they all had come to, they all slowly awakened, as they opened up their eyes and came to recognize their aching bodies. Somewhere on their backs while others on their sides. Some had small cuts on their face while others had bruises on their arms and torsos. Regardless of the damage they took, they all did their best to push themselves and get up from the debris filled ground. Once they found their energy to push themselves up, they noticed a bright, burning light blocked their paths.

In fact it wasn’t just one direction, but all around them. It was the Fire of Fate, and it had surrounded them. What was once a beautiful, cozy, peaceful cabin was now nothing but a pile of rubble. Not a minute ago did they have smiles of happiness and joy in their hearts.

Now they can only muster up a face that was in shock that was left speechless. Everything was destroyed with nothing left intact in sight. It had looked like a war had been going on and the place they stood in was the result of a canon being fired on them. TK was the only one not affected by the sight of disaster as he simply stared at the others, waiting to move on. He had seen this many of times before, and at times have even caused something like this, if not, even more. John on the other hand was only left speechless as he just stared off into space and started to feel a little something in his heart for once. 

However Ventus was affected the most as he adored the cozy nature of the cabin and liked the old stallion that gave them all comfort. And it was Ventus who out of the corner of his eye, spotted a lifeless pony lying under a pile of broken wood and what used to be his bed now broken into pieces.

All he could do was simply point with his right finger and start to whimper, “L-L-L-Look…” 

Everyone started to see what he saw, and while they barely even knew the old pony, inside they wanted to cry. A moment of bliss was torn from them so suddenly that words could not begin to describe their emotions. They only wanted to know what happened. 

But before they could even figure out what to do next, a deep, growling familiar voice echoed in the distance, “How sad… are you going to cry now?” 

Everyone stood at attention when they heard it as their eyes were wide with shock to hear that voice. They looked around them but could not see who had said it and only saw The Fire of Fate that trapped them. No one said a word as everyone just kept looking.

Ignis then spotted a large shadow from his view of the Fire as it walked towards him as the voice exclaimed, “I’m right here you fucking idiots.”

Emerging from the fire was no one other than Lord Chernobog himself in the flesh. They were all shocked, wondering where he had even come from to begin with. 

Terra then said to herself,” Lord Chernobog… but how?” 

Before anyone could take their arms up, Ignis immediately walked forward with anger and without a doubt and said towards Lord Chernobog, “You and I aren’t finished! We still have a score to settle!”

Terra tried to reach her arm out and said to Ignis in a concerning tone, “Ignis you idiot, come back here!” 

But TK put his left arm out and stopped her as he told her and the others, “Don’t. This is his fight. His trial to proof his soul and to cleanse it.” 

Terra was irked by this action and she looked at him with annoyance, “What the hell are you even talking about!? We need to stop him before he gets himself killed.” 

Ventus then calmed Terra down a bit when he spoke up with very little in his voice, “He’s right Terra. This is his fight, and his fight alone. Didn’t you notice, we’re surrounded by The Fire of Fate again. But what I don’t get is what is it doing here?” 

TK then said to the others, “Whatever it’s doing here, we cannot interfere. This is Ignis’s fight, and all we can do is watch.” 

With everyone standing back far from the other two, Glacio and Terra were worried for Ignis’s soul. Ventus and TK had some faith in him though. John on the other hand though, he was starting to think a little bit about something that he couldn’t say out in words, but just like the others, he sat and watched. 

Ignis walked up towards what appeared to have been Lord Chernobog, but stopped from only a few feet away from him. And so did Lord Chernobog did too, as if he was trying to show some respect towards Ignis as he had an evil smirk on his face. Ignis on the other hand gritted his teeth and looked like he was ready to fight as he was before back in the castle.

Ignis said to Lord Chernobog, “You’re not getting away from me this time! I will end you! I swear I will!”

Lord Chernobog could only but tease at him with a little laugh and mocked him, “It appears that you have the drive to do so. But your heart weighs heavy Ignis? What’s the matter?”

Ignis could only fire back as he strained his neck pointed towards him with a growl in his voice, “You know what the problem is you son of a bitch! I almost had you back home. I could have finished you right then and there, BUT YOU PLAYED DIRTY!”

Lord Chernobog shrugged his arms and said with a teasing tone of voice, “And what? Was I supposed to play by the rules or something? Ha ha ha ha… tell you what Ignis. You want a rematch with me so bad? Then you shall have one. First one who hits the ground loses; perhaps a best two out of three? The loser must accept their fate: their own suffering and the death that comes with it. So… what do you say?” 

Lord Chernobog leaned in closer to Ignis’s face, wearing a dirty evil smile across his face. Ignis could only look towards the ground, pondering to himself if he should take the bet. 

There was a brief moment of silence between the two until Ignis spoke up and said with confidence in his voice, “I’ll take you up on your offer. And I will make you pay for what you did to my home you scumbag.” 

Lord Chernobog stood up straight while laughing at Ignis’s words, “Ha ha ha ha… if you say so Ignis. Let us begin…” 

A gust of wind busted through the air. A sense of dread fell upon the group; a feeling of something is wrong, yet nothing to worry about at the same time. No one wanted to say it, but the matter of the fact was that Ignis and what was apparently Lord Chernobog was going to fight once and for all. 

The two combatants stood their ground, staying a few feet from each other almost as if they were in a boxing ring of some sort. Lord Chernobog simply stood by and eyed Ignis as he put his arms and fists up. Ignis was doing the same, but trying to map his attack towards Lord Chernobog. It wasn’t going to be an easy fight due to the size between the two. But Ignis knew he had enough strength within him and his magic to put him down if he hit him in the right spot and at the right time. 

Ignis then yelled out, “Try this one on for size!”

Ignis quickly sprung his arms back and threw like a stone a ball of intense fire. The ball of fire burnt brightly as it flew across the space between the two and directly into Lord Chernobog’s face. Lord Chernobog flinched, but he wasn’t hurt, but simply gave a small grunt in the process. 

All Lord Chernobog could say to him in a disappointed tone, “Really? A small ball of fire?”

Ignis had a little smirk on his face as he said to the towering beast before him, “That’s what you think.”

Ignis then jumped back and cupped both of his hands together and pulled back, gathering as much energy as he could then pushing it forward. From there, a stream of hot fire came out of his hands that was much bigger and powerful than the ball of fire from before. This caught Lord Chernobog off guard and caused him to raise his arms up to try and deflect the fire off a bit. This only irritated Lord Chernobog, but it was starting to get to him as all he could do was perform a louder grunt this time. 

Lord Chernobog looked like he was pissed as he said while trying to lunge for Ignis, “Why you little…”

Ignis however interrupted him by then putting up a giant wall of fire between the two of them. This certainly distracted Lord Chernobog as he didn’t expect this and was confused as to where Ignis was at now. As Lord Chernobog became a bit dazed and confused, Ignis went for the final blow of the round by running and jumping through the fire and flames, while using the fire as balance and for height, kicking Lord Chernobog straight across his head. Once he delivered the hard pounding kick, Ignis landed safely and securely on the ground and walked right in front of him to see his work. 

As soon as Lord Chernobog was kicked sharply and painfully across his head, he became a little dizzy before plummeting to the ground; indicating that Ignis had won the first round of the fight. Ignis couldn’t help but put a big prideful smile on his face. 

But the fight was far from over as Lord Chernobog, while a bit hurt, quickly got up from the ground and saying in an annoyed tone of voice, “Fine… you won the first one. But can you do it again?”

As the two were eyeing and circling each other, Ignis taunted, “Of course I can Chernobog. Who else would I be if I couldn’t kick your ass and take my name back into pride and glory?”

Lord Chernobog could only shake his head towards him and say, “Your hot headedness will only be your downfall boy. You think you have what it takes to defeat me, yet what you have inside of you couldn’t beat me the first time. What makes you think that you can do it now?” 

Ignis then said smugly, “Because I know I can.”

Terra from a distance could only rolled her eyes to that statement. Ignis was a master fighter back in their universe, but he wasn’t the best. But whenever he would win fights, he would gloat about it, especially towards Terra who could see past his ego. 

The two continued to walk in a slow circle, eyeing each other until Lord Chernobog said with a tired voice, “Enough of this teasing! How about you try some of your own medicine!” 

And without warning or even the slightest hint, Lord Chernobog charged towards Ignis. Ignis tried to at the last second protect himself, but he was too little, too late. Lord Chernobog used his open, black crystal filled hand and punched Ignis straight in the gut, sending Ignis flying a few feet away. 

But Ignis caught him at the last second as he tried to get his footing and do a little unexpected back flip in the air and land on his feet. However while he didn’t fall down, he had trouble keeping it together and keeping his balance. Once he was able to recover, he looked towards Lord Chernobog who was already coming at him with all he had. Lord Chernobog was rushing towards him with his left arm raised up high, giving Ignis only a second to respond quickly. Ignis frantically raised his right arm up and put it in front of him to raise his guard. 

Soon Lord Chernobog and Ignis clashed and entered a state of constant force between each other. Ignis started to struggle as he gritted his teeth and tried to hold his ground while desperately trying to hang on to what he had. Lord Chernobog could see the fear in his eyes and could tell Ignis was not ready to give his all. 

Lord Chernobog could only smile back and laugh as he said to him closely, “I can see that you’re ready to break. Why don’t you give up now and forfeit your life to live?”

Ignis yelled out as he closed his eyes tight while trying to hang on, “NEVER!”

Lord Chernobog said in a sneer tone, “Then so be it then.”

Lord Chernobog proceeded to raise his free arm and bring it down with a thundering force towards Ignis’s face. Ignis saw this and quickly acted by making a small wall of fire to act as a temporary shield. Lord Chernobog wasn’t deterred from this as he simply repeated the process again with his left arm and then with his right over and over again.

The constant force of Lord Chernobog’s punches were small, yet significant as this forced Ignis to slowly back up with each strike. The wall of fire protected him briefly, but it only made Ignis sweat as it was not enough to fend off Lord Chernobog. After a few feet of Ignis backing up and holding off Lord Chernobog’s several strikes, Ignis was worried that he might lose.

Lord Chernobog then stood there as he was keeping his right arm raised while giving a slight gaze to Ignis and said, “Last chance to back down. There is nothing to be ashamed of to cower in fear Ignis.”

Ignis could only look back in anger and yell, “I’D RATHER DIE THAN TO GIVE INTO YOU!” 

Lord Chernobog then said in a mocking tone, “Your wish is my command…” 

Lord Chernobog swiftly grabbed Ignis with his right hand like a toy and quickly turned around and threw him high into the air like he was nothing. Lord Chernobog then quickly raised his left hand and aimed a black crystal straight at Ignis’s body. And with no notice, Lord Chernobog fired and hit directly at Ignis’s torso. This black crystal however did not pierce through his body, but simply hit him like how one would throw a really big rock at him. This in turn cause Ignis a great amount of pain and threw him way off course as he flew through the air and landed harshly, face first, on the ground. Lord Chernobog had won the round and smiled devilishly about it.

He then teased Ignis, “It seems that I have won this time. Ready to give up? The pain will only get worse the more you try to fight it.” 

Ignis said as he struggled to raise himself from the ground beneath him and looked on with anger towards his opponent, “I-I…I-I will not give up. I will not.” 

Ignis stood up tall and firmly as he puffed out his chest and continued to say, “I know I may not be as strong as I want to be. I know I can be weak at times. But right now, I cannot afford to lose, and I will not lie down and die like a dog! I will defeat you and I will show you what happens when you mess with me, my home, and my friends!”

Lord Chernobog pushed his left back while moving his upper body slightly forward and said, “Now that’s what I want to see. I want to see the fire rise in you and see the flames within your eyes.”

Ignis said while looking at him deathly, “Then you’re going to get it!”

Ignis proceeded to mirror what Lord Chernobog did. After a couple of brief seconds, the two started to charge at each other while yelling a little war cry while both raised their arms and ready to hit each other. Ignis had his fist charged with fire as Lord Chernobog had the look of death in his eyes. As the two ran towards each other, Lord Chernobog was going to surprise Ignis as he jumped forward towards him, trying to punch him and catch him off his guard. 

But Ignis could see his dirty tricks as he then reacted sharply by sliding under him at the last second and doing a quick 180 and using his right leg to kick him in the rear end brutally. This caused Lord Chernobog to spiral out of control and caused him to roll. But Lord Chernobog was determined and did not let this deter him from defeating Ignis. 

He simply rolled a bit and was able to gain control again as he grabbed hold of the ground with his hand and feet. He was down, but not entirely out of the fight just yet. He looked like a bull seeing red towards Ignis and was just missing the puff of smoke from his ears. So Lord Chernobog then started to charge at Ignis once more, this time tanking him head first. But the look in Ignis’s eyes said otherwise as he rasied his arms left and right quickly and frequently, producing horizontal blades of fire towards Lord Chernobog. 

This harmed Lord Chernobog, but only for a little bit. This attack only enraged him more and then pushed him to take his right hand and quickly snatch Ignis and hold him tight. He started to squeeze Ignis as tight as he could, trying to squash whatever life that he had within him.

Ignis started to scream from the pain as he started to lose breath. However this only caused him to push himself over the edge as his entire body started to glow of an orange color. This caught the attention of Lord Chernobog as he looked a bit confused. But soon before he knew it, Ignis’s whole body became ablaze and was one with the fire within him. 

Ignis started to gain control of the flaming blaze inside of him as he stared deep into Lord Chernobog’s eyes. The temperature of the fire around only grew hotter and soon Lord Chernobog couldn’t hold him much longer. He abruptly let go of him as is reflexes took hold. However Ignis saw this as an opportunity and as soon as he was set free, he used the monster’s right hand and used it to leap off of it and into the air. As soon as he was as high as he could get, he raised his right hand and formed a bigger ball of fire from before as soon as he could. Right before gravity brought him back down, and he threw the ball of fire directly at Lord Chernobog’s head. 

As Ignis fell back down to Earth, Lord Chernobog was struck by the big fire ball as it exploded like how a big bomb would go off. This did it for him as Lord Chernobog was pushed onto his back and down for the count. Once Ignis had landed on his feet, he was panting, trying to catch his breath as the dust settled around him. 

He was feeling a bit of pain and was bruised on several places, but he was going to be alright. Once he saw Lord Chernobog was down for the second time, he could only smile with pride. His ears then started to perk up as he heard the others nearby as they clapped and cheered for him. He looked over to them and could only see them as his faithful friends. 

He could even hear Ventus say to him, “You did it Ignis!” 

However, before Ignis could celebrate with his dear friends, his parade was going to be rained very quickly.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lord Chernobog rose from the ground with a small smirk on his face as he said to him, “You’re not done yet boy. I’m not dead yet.”

Ignis looked over to him and only pointed at him and said, “Hey! You said I only needed to beat you twice!”

Lord Chernobog as he was standing all tall and mighty with a sniveling tone, “Why yes… yes I did say that. But you never said there couldn’t be a fourth round… or cheating…”

Lord Chernobog then suddenly went for the dirty move and quickly uppercut Ignis with his left arm, stabbing him with the pointy end, but not fatally wounding him either. This sent Ignis back a bit though as he fell on to his side on the hard ground. Ignis clenched his stomach while trying to take the pain that he received. He started to have a sad and tired look on his eyes as he struggled to give up. 

As he slowly got up from the floor, he looked up to see Lord Chernobog with no scratch on him alongside a big evil smile he was wearing. There was also an aurora surrounding him that he could feel. It was a sense of dread and doubt. All Ignis could do was look up at him and know that he was defeated this time… again… He then collapsed and got onto his knees as he hanged his head down low to the ground. 

Lord Chernobog looked down on him as he smiled away viciously, “Why, what’s the matter Ignis? Can’t you fight anymore? Just accept your end Ignis. You are no match for me; you never were to begin with. Your home is mine now. And there is nothing you can do to stop me.”

Ignis was ignoring his words a little bit as he only wept to his own soul, “He’s right. I can’t do it. I’m done for. I tried so hard… but I-I just can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry you guys. I-I tried my best… I hope you can forgive me…” 

Ignis closed his eyes, hoping for the pain to all go away and to be left in peace. 

However, his spirits was raised as well as his curiosity as soon as he heard a familiar voice right next to him, “Bad Doggy!” 

Ignis looked up as he opened his eyes with a hint of curiosity. He knew how it was, yet was confused on why John was standing right next to him. John was eyeing him down, almost as if he disappointed in him. All Ignis could do was stare back at him, almost as if he was looking towards him for an answer. 

John talked back to him, “Bad Elephant! No, no no, no! You do the trick right now kitty cat!” 

John then started to hit him over the head with his right hoof while almost yelling towards him, “Do it now or else big the Red Bull can will eat you tonight in your sleep!” 

John then put his right hoof down and just stared off into space like he usually does. To Ignis, this was stupid. What he said was stupid. Every word that came out of his mouth and the way he mouthed it was stupid. It was all stupid. But then Ignis started to think for a quick moment. He read in between the lines and regardless if it was intentional or not, he came to a realization. He got up from the ground and stood tall and mighty. His looks went from hopeless to filled with rage and power. In his mind, he knew what he needed to do, and John stood right next to him to guide him. 

John, as the best he could since he was merely a pony, jumped up on to his hind legs and punched the air with both of his hooves in succession with one another. And repeatedly he would switch from both left to right, ending with crossing both his arms, almost as if he was finishing off a move. As Ignis kept his eye on Lord Chernobog, he could still see John off from the side and started to imitate John’s movements down to the little details. Lord Chernobog saw this and only raised an eyebrow towards the two, curious as to what silly, useless idea they had in mind. 

John proceeded to perform a second move, where he punched the air once with his right hoof, kicked twice with his left leg the best he could, and then end it by swinging it around over for a roundhouse kick. Once more, Ignis followed the movements from John, moving to it like beats to a drum. 

Lord Chernobog started to become annoyed as he yelled out to the both of them, “What are you doing!? You are only wasting time till the inevitable!” 

However Ignis did not care and simply ignored him, concentrating purely on his soul and mind. John then went ahead and did a third move set. He started with sliding his left leg across the ground, making a half circle. From there, he punched in the air in front of Lord Chernobog, before then jumping a bit backwards and ending in a pose as if they were ready to strike. Ignis then followed suit once more and followed as if he was a student and John was his master. Lord Chernobog was only growing more and more impatient by the second; wanting to just squash them already like a bug and move on. 

Lord Chernobog said as he grew angrier, “DO YOU NOT EVEN HEAR ME!? EITHER FIGHT ME NOW OR FORFEIT YOUR LIFE!” 

John performed a fourth and final move set. John started by swaying his right hoof towards the ground and moved it to the other side. From there, he crossed his chests with both hooves the best he could while standing on his hind legs and looking downward. From there, he then brought both his arms swiftly to his side while keeping his head down and waited for a couple of seconds. Ignis didn’t wait though and simply imitated him. As he was in the pose of crossing his arms, Lord Chernobog kneeled down to get close to Ignis as he only gave him a nasty look of disgust. 

He squinted at him and said with a tone only he could give, “You’re hopeless. No wonder you couldn’t beat me the first time. You can’t even lie down and die and accept that you have lost.” 

John then abruptly raised his right arm and did a straight uppercut into the air. Lord Chenrobog didn’t see this as he simply kept looking at Ignis instead. However, deep down Ignis was concentrating on himself as he put his arms down at his side, closed his eyes, and focused. And within seconds, he set his soul free; his right arm was on fire and swiftly jumped into the air, upper cutting Lord Chernobog. 

However, he didn’t do it with his fists. As Ignis jumped into the air and his hand was on fire, he created a huge fist made out of flames and hit Lord Chernobog hard. This launched Lord Chernobog into the air and hard on to the ground. From here, this Lord Chernobog was done and out for the count. He simply laid there, dazed and uncertain. Ignis knew he had won the fight as he had a huge smirk on his face. The others cheered for him from a far as he only could look on his work with pride. He then looked down towards John as he smiled at him. John could only give him a blank stare with his crossed eyes, but John was listening. 

Ignis looked at John and said, “You know John… you weren’t half bad.” 

John only responded to him, “Good doggie!” 

John then tried to reach out and pat him on the head like a pet, but only managed to pat his knees. It was good enough for him as Ignis simply nodded in approval towards him. The Fire of fate started to die down and extinguish as Ignis looked towards the others with their smiles for him. Ignis looked as happy as he could be. He had finally freed himself and his soul.

He then started walking towards the others and said, “So how about we get this show on the road huh!?”
> Chapter 5: Terra
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Terra 

The Fire of Fate dimmed as the Eternal Night started to settle back into its place. The chirping of crickets could be heard once again as they returned to their right spots in nature. The heat had died down and there was now a cool, calming breeze flowing in from the East. Even an owl could be heard giving a slight hoot off into the far distance. 

And without one creature killing another it was almost a peaceful night. It was all calm as it was once before under the full moon. John was looking upward, looking up at its bright and glowing nature, reminding of what was at stake if he did not achieve his goal. Granted, his mind was somewhere else like eating Tom Hank’s legs, yet the moon somewhere in his sub-conscious mind was reminding him of his love for his dear wife Luna; even if he didn’t realize it, let alone recognize it. 

As John was busy staring off into the deep abyss of the Eternal Night, the others took their time to bury of what was left of the old pony that had accompanied them on their journey, even if it was just for a few minutes. TK stood by the sidelines however, keeping a look out while having his arms crossed as his cape flowed through the breeze gently.

TK was also not the one for funerals; not because he got emotional, but he mostly did not care for the dead. To him, they were not strong enough. And unless they were very close to him, he would rather let the corpse rot out in the hot sun and let mother nature decompose it for all to see. If anything, he was annoyed having to wait for the others paying their respect for the dead. The other four however gathered around the six inch hole that Ignis had dug up and hanged their heads in shame. 

To some of them, they felt like they were to blame for the old stallion’s death. If it wasn’t for them, he would still be alive. However Glacio had learned that life is life, and as long as they tried their damnest, they were never to be the ones to blame. However what they buried underneath the Earth was still a tragedy in their eyes; even if they barely knew him and was just some pony from some other universe. Ventus was even shedding a tear or two for the dead pony. Terra looked over to him and gave him some slight comfort by holding on to him so he could feel some kind of touch. 

Glacio bowed his head as he laid his sword out horizontal on both of his palms, “May the Gods look after you in the land in the beyond. Even if you’re from a different world, we pray that your soul finds peace here and in ours. May we recite our oaths and forevermore find a light that all guides us to the very end of existence. And may we all find our serenity in our lifetimes. And may you find yours as well old man along with your family as well. We wish you well on your journey to the Land of the Beyond. May the Gods bless you.”

Ignis looked up with a bit of sorrow on his face while placing his left hand on Glacio’s shoulder, “That was well said…”

TK then could be heard giving a loud and noticeable grunt from a distance. All four had heard it and Ignis was the one angered the most by it.

He yelled out towards TK, “What’s your problem you asshole!?”

Ventus who rarely spoke out at these kind of times, “Yeah? Can’t you have respect for the dead? At least a little bit?” 

TK while still keeping an eye out for anything suspicious grunted heavily towards them, “The dead are not worth my time. They lived their lives so leave them be. There are more important things to worry about than to bury the dead.” 

Terra then exclaimed in annoyance, “How dare you! How would you feel if nobody buried you after you died!?”

TK only looked back slightly over his shoulder while keeping his arms tight to his chest, “Hmmph. I couldn’t care less about being buried. I don’t even care if it gives me a one way ticket to Hell. It only gives me the excuse to seek out the devil himself and rip and tear him apart.”

Ignis rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, you sound so tough right now.” 

TK continued on, “But I would though. Unlike the dead, I’m not weak. Even if it’s in the next level of existence, I seek to survive. If this pony here died and went to Hell, he wouldn’t do nothing but burn in a lake of fire. For me though, I look beyond that and seek to remain on top to survive. And if it means having to be worse than the devil himself, then so be it.”

Ignis could only grunt back to him and say, “We’ll see about that then.” 

Glacio stepped in between them and said, “How about we get going? We did all that we could and we are only wasting time.” 

Ventus said calmly to everyone, “He’s right. We should get going.” 

Ventus then looked over towards John and yelled out to him, “Come on John, it’s time to go!” 

John quickly looked over towards him while snapping his neck, “Snicker bar in a bitch!” 

TK started to head out first as the rest followed in line with John being last. They continued their journey and headed in the direction where they were going in before their little detour. As they walked away from what used to be the cabin, John looked back as he was walking away. 

He just gave a simple blank stare as if he was unsure if there was something that they were leaving behind. An ominous feeling was starting to build up within John and he did not like it one bit. Before it could eat up inside of him, John looked away and just kept moving forward, keeping his mind off of what once was, and what will never be ever again. It was a feeling that he had felt before in his sub-conscious when he was not his usual self and spouting out coherent words when usually it was all just random. 

It was as if a Ghost was staring at him when he wasn’t looking. And since he was the last one left behind, he felt rather vulnerable, as if he was going to be taken next by something. However nothing happened other than leaving an abandoned, destroyed area with a dead body nearby that was six feet under along with a monster still in the dirt. Eventually they all walked away far enough to where it was merely a speck in the distance; and anyone could do was wonder what was once there as memory allows it to be in the moment.

As the silence started to settle in however in the now deserted area and there was no living creature in the vicinity to even chirp; what was once Lord Chernobog opened his eyes and breathed a sign of life. 

CANTORLOT:

Lord Chernobog still had a tight hold over the kingdom. Ponies were still chained and caged. The lifeless corpses of what used to be living ponies scattered the once glistening streets of Cantorlot as their flesh rot and maggots started to fill their innards. There was some smog in the air as darkness filled the void of what was left. 

It was closer to Hell than it was to heaven in the kingdom. Ponies from nearby was starting to get the message that something terrible had happened and all was lost as their new king had went missing. For the heartless, all was well in the world. It was almost paradise for them. Yet Lord Chernobog was not happy in the slightest has he grew impatient waiting on Custos’s return. 

He wanted to hear the words of victory and how all six of the group had perished and were crumbled into dust. Yet his ears were lacking of any such precious thoughts that he so desperately wanted to hear. He still held Luna in a firm grip in his right hand, holding on to her tightly. However, she was weak and exhausted by this point. She felt like she couldn’t breathe and was just barely hanging on to any life that she had left. She was sick to the stomach and couldn’t feel much else throughout her entire body. 

She was half awake, yet half passing out by the hour. She was starting to lose hope, especially for her loving husband. Yet somewhere in her soul, she knew that there was still hope to be had. She wanted to smile and anticipate of being saved and being loved once more. But she was too much in a cruel place to be even thinking of such happiness. 

Her world was as dark as Lord Chernobog’s paradise. She wanted to believe she would be ok in the end and that she would have her own home again. And perhaps if all was well she could have a family with John and raise a boy and a girl. And then they could raise their children and watch them grow as both of them age well into their years. And once they retired from their position as King and Queen, they could walk off into the sunset, looking back on their offspring knowing they their legacy would continue in some way. 

And then both her and John could live together in peace with love in their hearts and smiles on their faces. Yet it was all just a dream; a hopeless, pointless dream as reality brought her back to her nightmare once more as he yelled out in anger and tightening his grip, harming her as she screamed out in pain.

Lord Chernobog yelled out in anger and annoyance, “WHERE IS CUSTOS! HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN BACK BY NOW!?”

Yet there was no black bird in sight. Not even a chirp or a screech from the nearby sky could be heard; only the moaning of pain and agony from Luna could be made clear. 

To Lord Chernobog’s ears, there was only silence. And the silence angered him underneath as it only built up and angered him even more. One could say he was started to become unhinged as little mice compared to him got away from his grasp. A subject of his would not be worried due to his stature, yet in his mind, he was worried. He was starting to fear what could happen and the possibilities if Glacio and the others get their hands on The King’s Crystal. 

While he was strong as he ever had been up until that point, he was still fragile in more ways than one. He could not let weakness into his heart and mind. So he cleared those minds of doubt quickly and focused deeply on the problem at hand; ready with a plan that will surely win him the war with the humans. 

So with his monstrous might, he raised his head high and let his vocal cords ring through the air, “Katas! Come here right now!”

Within a matter of seconds, a flame of shadow and darkness appeared right in front of Lord Chernobog’s presence; to the point where even Lord Chernobog was even confused for a fraction of a second. 

Katas said in a pleasant and polite tone as he bowed before his master, “Yes my highness. What is that you need of me?” 

Lord Chernobog quickly shook his head and looked sternly towards him.

He commanded with his powerful voice to Katas, “I demand you look for Custos. He has yet to be back to bring me the news of his mission.”

Katas looked towards his master and questioned while giving him a curious side glance, “Are you sure you should be sending a spy to spy on another spy master? Surely Custos will be back any time now from his humble quest to give you the good news.”

Instead of back slapping Katas, Lord Chernobog could only look to be reasoned with at that time, “That is just it. It has been what feels like days. It was a simple task that I gave him and yet I still feel no closer to my goal; the feeling in the air that I have won; the presence of my reign upon this pathetic little world that these creatures call home to! I have the power that flows within me, yet I don’t see the blood that should be on my hands. And that worries me… I need results.”

Katas looked at his master curiously as he titled his head to the side just a tad, “Are you sure you want to get your hands dirty my master? I think it would be easier to let nature do it for you, would it not?”

Lord Chernobog only melted into his throne more, looking a little stiff at the same time, “I know of what it means to get one’s hands dirty. I have seen my fair share of it and caused it myself. And it feels good knowing what I have had; knowing that anyone that opposes me is dead and long gone; allowing me to move freely of my choosing. Yet I feel no blood. I do not even taste blood. I only taste bitterness and desperation; and it’s not from them. I only require the blood of the innocent and the heart from the pure to keep me going, yet Custos has yet to deliver. Keep an eye on him for me for I wonder if he is the one that I should have his blood on my hands…” 

Katas did not argue back as he simply bowed his head once more and said almost gentlemanly, “Then I shall see it that it will be done my lord. May your reign forever more and your kingdom rule the highest of them all, my master.” 

And in a blink of an eye, Katas was off to see the sights and to spot Custos and his progress. Lord Chernobog saw the flame of shadow and darkness fly across the sky and could only give a low grunt in response to it all. He was not happy, and it only pushed him even harder than ever before. 

MEANWHILE, THE BAND OF HEROES….

After leaving the rubble and the litter of destruction behind them, the group of heroes could only move forward and to see the future in front of them. They were starting to lag behind in time. The amount of precious seconds they had spent back at the cabin only pushed them backwards; not forwards as some of them would have hoped.

Only one could imagine and tell how much more time left they had before Lord Chernobog went after The King’s Crystal himself. But in all fairness, it was just one of many possible scenarios in their head. They still had a ways in their journey in order to retrieve their prize and glory; yet with every second not holding The King’s Crystal was a second wasted and given to the enemy. 

They may have the strength needed to reach it, but they began to think they did not have the time. One could no longer tell when the sun was high in the sky and when it was the break of dawn anymore. The moon was always high and the stars did not move from its spot any longer. And with no mechanical clock nearby, no one could tell how long it had been. 

To a couple of them, it may have well been days since they set out on foot to their destination. Ventus however felt a little hopeful and merely assumed it was only a few hours since they started walking. Yet TK knew time all too well. Time was the ultimate magician and how easily it can slip right by you without even noticing. TK knew how much time had passed, yet he wasn’t telling a single soul about it. 

Where he was from, it was everyday life with everyday consequences. Time only moved forward with him. There was no turning back the clock as many would wish to believe they could. However time was stagnant, immovable unless you were time itself or knew some backdoor means of manipulating a state of reality. 

Regardless, TK remained silent to keep the other’s minds sane. If they knew how much time had passed, they would all give up hope and would refuse to give in to help. And yet, he speculated that John knew what time it was as well, only giving him suspicion as to who John was and why he was so special. 

As the others followed suit and continued on to the trail, John continued to fall back like usual. Ignis kept looking back with a slight worry, wondering why John was not up front with TK leading the pack. If John was a king, why not lead his own group to begin with? It made no sense as he had seen Glacio even lead his men into battle even if it was miles deep into the woods and everyone was scattered across the lands. Ignis with a heart considered for once to ask if he was ok. Ignis slowed his pace and kept an eye on John was not paying any attention to him or anyone for that matter.

As soon as Ignis was about even with John’s pace, Ignis looked worried in his eyes and said with care in his voice, “Can I ask you… something? Is there… something wrong John? You seem to be a bit behind?”

John only tilted his head and looked a little funny to Ignis, but he could only look back with concern on his face. Ignis decided to keep looking forward and not to make eye contact with John; thinking it may lead to uncertainties that he may not want to deal with at that time.

However, his voice was as true as was his heart as was towards John as he spoke from inside his soul, “Well… whatever it is, I just want you to know that I have your back. Whatever you need, just ask. And I’m sorry for doubting you back there. I thought you were just some idiot who just happened to be king and that you couldn’t lead a pack of rats to food without them getting killed. But you proved me wrong john.”

Ignis started to smile a little bit as he looked towards the sky and the beyond. 

Ignis continued to ramble on, “I never expected for you to do what you did back at the cabin. I always thought I could take care of myself, like a lone wolf on my own. And of course I can, but… I wasn’t strong enough on my own to face my doubts. I failed the first fight and I just couldn’t let myself let that happen again.”

Ignis lowered his head almost as if he was still ashamed from his past and was going to let it linger over him for many years to come. “And because of that, I almost died and failed again. I almost let everybody down. I almost let everyone back home down. I almost let my kingdom down,” 

said Ignis with a sad tone in his voice with a whimper look on his face. 

However, he then perked his head up with energy and looked towards John with hope inside of him with a small smile to top it off, “But then you came. And you didn’t have to too, especially after what I said about you. Yet you helped me anyways. And I couldn’t thank you enough for your courage and bravery. So if there is anything that you may need, all you have to is ask. And John…. Thank you….” 

John only looked at him with his crossed eyes with no words coming from his mouth. Ignis on the other hand didn’t need a response. All he needed was to look at him straight in the face to know that John got the message loud and clear. Ignis then slightly nodded towards John as he started to pick up his pace once more. 

Meanwhile up at the front of pack, things weren’t looking so good. TK kept his pace up, leading the group ahead of them. He was moving fast enough almost as if he wanted to get away from all of them. And the only one who saw a hint of this was Glacio himself while the others minded their own business. Glacio didn’t look too pleased when he saw TK acting a little weird. 

He only had a look of curiosity, yet anger inside of him as he was starting to see TK’s true colors starting to come out. It was one thing for him to be a total stranger who was only out for his own gain, yet to disrespect the dead was not something you did back in his kingdom. Glacio started to pick up the pace just slightly just so he could trail behind TK enough to where he can talk to him, even if TK wasn’t looking at him directly; he only wanted some answers. 

To start off his curiosity, Glacio asked simply to him, “TK was it? What does it stand for?” 

TK simply continued walking forward with his back straight and his eyes concentrating on the path ahead; he simply did not care.

So TK said with a slight groan in his throat, “It’s none of your business.” 

Glacio kindly accepted his answer and respected his wishes to keep his name private, but only because he wanted to keep up his standards.

Glacio however pushed further and got slightly closer to TK and asked him, “So can you tell me why you need the crystal? If I am going to give it you, I must know your true intentions.” 

TK only responded to him with, “It is to find someone.” 

Glacio got slightly closer as he said to him with a slightly higher tone in his voice, “I know, you said that back at camp. But I don’t believe it, at least not with who you are.”

TK only continued to look forward with a stern tone to talk back with, “What is there to believe? What I said is what I meant. If you have a problem with it, then that’s for you to figure out.”

Glacio started to get a little annoyed by TK’s disrespect towards him as he fired back, “I don’t think you understand who you’re talking to.” 

TK shot back with his normal, gruff tone of voice, “I know who you are. You are just like anyone else here. You are a living organism that lives to survive for as long as you can. And that is it. You are no different than who I am. And if you expected me to say that you’re a king, then you have another thing coming. As far as a king goes, you’re the weakest of the ones that I have seen.” 

Glacio started to lose patience with him as he rushed by his side and started to look more aggressive towards him. TK on the other hand kept his head held up high and just moved forward without him looking back.

Glacio with a slight anger in his voice exclaimed, “I’ll have you know that even though that you’re from a different universe, it doesn’t give you the right to throw me to the side like that. We are supposed to be working together as we agreed upon. And if we’re going to find the crystal, we must be able to trust each other. And as a king, it is my duty to ensure I get it back safely; especially if I plan on letting someone borrow it for a while. I must know who you are and what your intentions are. That is all that I ask of you!”

TK almost ignored him; couldn’t care less what words that he had to say. He could stand right in front f him and scream his lungs out and kill himself of exhaustion just by doing it and he still wouldn’t care.

TK replied to him with no care in the world other than to himself, “What is there to know. I am who I am. What you see is what you get. And what you don’t see, you’ll never know. Only I know what lies underneath my armor. Only I know my name. Only I can look in the mirror. Anyone else will just have to guess, including you. So answer me this, who do you think I am?”

Glacio started to grit his teeth as he was almost fed up with him. 

He blurted out very unprofessionally towards him as they kept walking at an unusual pace, “What do I think? I only see someone who is shellfish and only cares about himself! You don’t even have respect for the dead back there, let alone anyone who you’re supposed to be helping! So far you’ve just stood by and did barely anything to help us! The way you acted back there makes me question your motives and what you even do! My question for you is who are you!?”

TK didn’t say anything back for a brief few seconds. He simply let a gust of wind whirl by them as one or two of the others looked towards their direction, simply watching them as they wanted none of the conversation. 

TK then blurted calmly out, “Who am I? I am someone who was created like anyone else has been. I serve my purpose and protect those who matter most. But even beyond that, I am nothing and am without being. Yet I am someone who will move forward while others will stop and rot away as if they were nothing. However I am something. I can feel. I can touch. I can think and see. I hear what I see and I see what I hear. And I hear and see is that in order to survive, I must go beyond. And that is exactly who I am, someone from beyond your own comprehension of reality and your own sense of being. But even then, I am more than that, but that part is for you to figure out.” 

After his little monologue, Glacio wasn’t satisfied with his answer, but would kindly accept it for now. All Glacio could do was give a similar groan that TK usually gave back as he slowed down his pace and let TK remained in the front of the pack.

However, Glacio was determined to get more information out of him. He needed to know who he was. To him at that point, he was still a stranger that he happened to meet upon by chance. While he didn’t believe his intentions were evil or misguided, he was certain he was hiding as to who he was underneath all of that armor and clothing. He simply believed that he was more than he was letting on. 

As John squandered in the back of the pack and TK lead the way forward at the front of the pack, the brother and sister lingered in the middle. Ventus was casually moving his head left and right, taking in the sights of the new world that he was in. However on the corner of his eye, he noticed his sister was a little anxious. She held her head down while tingling with her fingers. Her back was slightly hunched over as she was starting to shake very nervously. 

Worried for her health, Ventus gently placed his right hand on Terra’s left shoulder and asked with all the kindness in his heart, “Is everything alright Terra?”

Terra could only give her brother a side glance while she shivered as if she was freezing. She had the look of death in her eyes, almost as if she had seen some kind of ghost. She wasn’t thinking straight and her mind was wandering elsewhere. She wasn’t even paying much attention to Ventus’s concerns for her. She was barely hanging on in her mental capacity. Something was eating inside of her and Ventus could see it in her eyes. 

However, Terra didn’t want her brother to worry about her so she forced a little smile on her face as she tried to think happy and calming thoughts to make it more believable what she was saying. 

She expressed to her brother with a look that everything was fine, “Yeah… of course Ventus. I’m ok. You don’t need to worry about me at all.” 

Ventus with still a look of worry on his face then asked her again, “Are you sure Terra? You were… trembling… And you don’t look so good either.”

Terra then started to get a little concerned as she looked down at her arms and noticed the color. She looked a little pale, almost as if her mind was starting to take a toll on her body. She started to think she was going insane almost, but she caught herself and just tried to move around the question of her own health.

As she put on another smile, she lightly punched Ventus’s shoulder and said lightly to him, “It’s nothing to worry about, nothing at all. It’s probably just this new world we’re in, I’ll be ok. If anyone should be worried, it should be me. You’re not exactly the strongest one out of all of us you know?” 

Ventus then looked a little offended but quickly accepted as he was always the one to be pushed around at times.

Ventus however asked his sister, “Wait, what’s the supposed to mean? I know I’m not exactly as good as you are, but I can still fight. Kind of….” 

Terra playfully teased to Ventus, “Oh yeah, sure Ventus. And then the next thing you know you need my help to bail you out like all those other times. If you weren’t the older brother here, I’d say it would make sense. But you’re supposed to be the older sibling here! You must be embarrassed deep down every time I have to save you.”

Terra didn’t have the greatest acting skills, and even Ventus, as weak as he was could tell she was forcing her way through the conversation. As much as he cared for her, he also knew not to get on her bad side and figured it would have been best to play along with it; even if it did seem that she needed some kind of help. So Ventus forced a smile and a laugh of his own as he tried to look away from his sister. 

However Terra knew that her older brother wasn’t buying her façade; but as long as it kept him off her back for a while, that’s all that mattered. She wanted to figure out her own problems. She was strong enough for it. And on the side, she didn’t want her brother to worry about her. She didn’t want to hold him back anymore than what he was as he was already timid as is. 

The pack continued their trail deeper into the forest and their journey through the night thickened. As the group walked, they were all broken in some way, yet all coming together slowly as the Eternal Night threatened their quest. As the band of heroes traveled, through wet weeds and thick sections of bushes and trees; almost getting themselves lost and loosing the light of the moon to guide their way. 

They almost started to run in circles, but soon found their footing once more and found a nice open area of the woods. After a while, they came across a wide open area where there was nothing in sight but rocks and grass with a small abandoned shack and a small water tower off by a corner.

The water tower was reasonably sized and still had some drinkable water in it; while the small shack looked sad and depressed as it sad with no one to take care of it. The story of the place seemed mysterious to them as they came upon the little area. What pony built a shack out in the middle of nowhere? Why was there a water tower? Was it just one pony or more who was in the area? And most importantly, why there of all places? 

It had seemed eerie to be there, almost as if a ghost was watching them nearby; haunting the nearby woods and the shack itself. If the trees could talk, they would share a story that was either innocent or sinister. 

But all they could tell was that there was some kind of struggle there and perhaps at one point a poor soul that had passed on at some point, yet with very little evidence to back that theory up. Despite the bleakness of the deserted, small wooden shack, it was a small place for rest. As small and as disturbing as it was, it offered a brief moment of safety and serenity before having to go back out to face the horrors of the Eternal Night. 

While the rest of the pack relaxed for a bit by the water tower, TK offered to look through the wooden shack to see if anything of note was there or if there was anything dangerous inside. With his sword in hand that he pulled from his back, he slowly opened the door to the small shelter to find it mostly empty.

There was an old, ruffed up bed that probably hadn’t been changed for years, yet still suitable for sleep. There was a small, warm glowing lantern that was left on a simple desk and looked like it had been on for years without going out. There were some old books that hadn’t been opened for centuries lying about, and some food and medicine passed their expiration dates left in a small chest with some old spare clothes. 

TK looked at everything else though as he looked at the old wooden floorboards and walls with tally marks and the words “HELP ME” etched into the wood itself, along with some dust covering the bed and desk.

He even noticed there were cobwebs covering the corners near the ceiling with corpses of a couple of dead spiders that thought they could catch a meal, but never did. The place was a mess, but with a little fix, it could look like a nice little place to retreat to if there were ever monsters roaming about. TK looked and confirmed there was nothing of value, although he had the weird feeling that some kind of ghost haunted the shack.

Regardless of what he felt or even saw, he moved back to the group, putting his sword away for the mean time. As he walked back to the group, the four relaxed, rested their aching feet and throbbing legs. Glacio and Ventus were starting to sweat as the aroma of the foul order from the human body could be smelled from just a couple of feet away from them. Ignis had yet to tire out and was simply leaning his back against an L shaped rock just about his height. John on the other hand simply sat on the ground, looking out into the trees that surrounded the open area, almost as if he was watching someone or something from far away. However, Terra was the one who didn’t look too good. Her head hanged to the ground as she collapsed to the ground, tired and all.

She was starting to breathe a little heavily more than usual, and had looks of worry and terror in her eyes. The others simply brushed it off as just fatigue from their travels and that she would get back on her feet in no time; ready to fight if ever needed. Ventus however was the only who remained worried about his little sister, but did not want to disturb her either. 

For all he knew, his sister was just having a bad day that would pass with time itself. And sometimes he was afraid to just talk to her. Yet he still wondered what she was thinking and concerned for her overall health. As TK made it back to the group, Glacio moved to the water tower to open up a small hanging faucet to gather some water, even if it was dirty and filled with germs, it would have to do for their journey. He took out a small container that was hidden under his clothes and attached to his belt to gather the sweet flavor that the water provided. 

As he was doing so, TK said to the pack, “Nothing is here. We’re safe for now.”

Ventus had a bit of look of worry on his face as he lay completely on back on the ground, “Are you sure we’re safe? I mean… what if we’re not? This could be a trap.” 

Ignis looked a bit curious towards Ventus and asked, “What makes you think that?” 

Ventus laid there, his muscles bit tensed with a look of dread on his face, “Well just look around. If anyone wanted to ambush us, they could easily do so. It’s just… too good to be a place to sit down and take a break.” 

Glacio looked over to Ventus with confidence and a small reassuring smile on his face as he bottled his water up, “Even if that was that case Ventus, we really don’t have a choice. We need a break after all and so far this is the best place to rest for a moment. Besides, if there is anything to worry about, we can face it all together as one.” 

Ignis, as he snubbed at Ventus and closed his eyes while exhaling a long breath, “Well I don’t know about you guys, but I think I would rather just sleep it off. The rest of you can handle it.”

Glacio placed his hands at his hips with a certain gesture and looked annoyed, “Ignis, this is serious! We can’t take this lightly. Lord Chernobog could still come after us and for all we know he could be only half a mile away from us as we speak. We just need to focus and work together on this or else all those back will have died in vain!”

Ignis then mockingly smiled towards Glacio and looked at him smoothly, “Relax your majesty. Where ever he is, he isn’t getting through me again, I can guarantee you that.”

Glacio started to fume a little bit, even starting to understand why Terra was annoyed with him at times as well.

TK then spoke up once more, “Well, what’s the plan? Are we staying or are we moving? And if we’re staying, there isn’t much resources here. There was only a bed and a desk with a lamp over in the shack.” 

Glacio looked over at John with a bit of doubt and wonder in his mind. He questioned what John was doing a few feet away from the group, just minding his own business almost as if they weren’t there. 

However he just let out a little sigh and looked back at the others, “Well we are in no condition to continue moving. We’ve all been through so much as it is. And the night sky will not be turning into day anytime soon.”

Glacio looked up with awe in his eyes as he looked up at the stars and the moon. 

His eyes then came back down to the others once more, “I suggest we just get some rest.” 

Ignis with a big fat smile on his face quickly agreed with him, “Sounds good to me. And just to make sure ol’ scaredy cat over there is safe, we should take turns keeping watch.”

Ventus with a smile got up from the ground slightly and looked towards Ignis and said, “That actually sounds like a good idea at least.”

Ignis then looked over and pointed towards Terra who was shaking to the bone, “How about Terra? She should go first. She WAS our eyes back home after all. If anything happens, she can alert us. Isn’t that right Terra?” 

Terra didn’t respond. She kept her head low without a peep. 

All eyes were on her. Ignis perked up his eyebrow, “Terra? You hear me?” 

Terra didn’t respond again. Everyone looked at each other, wondering if there was anything wrong. 

Glacio spoke out this time, “T-Terra?” 

Still no response from her. She wasn’t looking good. 

And so Ventus with all the care in his heart got up and slowly moved towards her as he tried to reach out for her, “Little Sister…. Are you o-” 

Before Ventus could finish, Terra had a small panic attack, screamed a little, and  moved far away from the others, going as far as the edge of the opened area. But in a brief moment she raised her head, Ventus saw nothing but fear and regret in her eyes. Something was wrong, and he needed to ask her. 

He was starting to get sad too and wanted to help her. The others looked on as John continued to keep to himself. 

Terra managed to sprint far away from them, constantly gasping for air as she breathed heavily in and out. She went as far as the edge to the entrance of the forest and she found a nice big sized rock to hide behind. As she got behind it, she sat down and went into a fetal position, trying to calm down and think clearly. But she couldn’t though, as her memories started to haunt her. 

Ignis’s words is what put her over the edge as she remembered what happened back home and what she did. She could never forgive herself. And she was alone in it. She tormented herself, saying it was her fault that they all died. It was her fault for not trying hard enough. It was her fault for falling. It was her fault that she didn’t make it back home in time.

As she tried her best to repress the bad memories, she closed eyes and tried to make it all go away. However she was not strong enough and could only keep thinking of the bad thoughts more and more with each passing second. She was then startled as a hand reached out for her and placed gently on her shoulder. She looked up and it was Glacio. She looked up towards him with sad, puppy dog like eyes as tears started to flow down her cheeks. Glacio could only give her pity and sorrow towards her and he looked as gloom as she was. 

He kneeled down and asked kindly, “Terra…. Why did you run away like that?”

Terra tried to push Glacio away as she slightly backed up, “I-I-It’s nothing! Don’t worry about it!”

Glacio was surprised and taken back as he asked with concern, “It’s nothing? Well it surely can’t be anything!? Something is eating up at you. Just tell us. You can trust us.” 

Terra kept pushing him back as she wanted to look away as tears rolled down her cheeks, “No! I told you it’s nothing! Now go away!” 

Glacio exclaimed with a small welcoming smile on his face, “Come on Terra, we’re your friends? Can’t you just tell us what the problem is?”

Terra looked back and saw the warm smile on his face. On one side of her, it was tempting and she wanted to let it all out. But on the other, she didn’t deserve that friendly smile of his. She was not worthy of it or his forgiveness for what she had done. Both sides were going back and forth until ultimately, the side of guilt won and took over her.

Terra quickly hid her face in her arms and yelled at Glacio, “Go away!”

She sniffled a bit as she hanged her head in shame.

Glacio tried to reach to her again, “Terra….”

Terra did not want to hear it. 

She pushed him away once more, “I SAID GO AWAY! AND LEAVE ME ALONE!” 

Glacio backed off a bit, not wanting to overwhelm her. He was unsure what was happening; all he wanted to do was to fix it.

Meanwhile, John saw more than a couple of ghosts hiding in the trees. He saw something else too; something that was watching back at them that had been following them from the very start. 

He did not say anything though and only thought to himself, “A black bear riding a pogo stick while fucking a chimpanzee.” 

Terra continued to cry her eyes out, wanting to be left alone and isolated. However, Glacio wasn’t going to give up on her and was not going to leave her side until she came back. He was trying his best to find the right words to talk to Terra with; but it all seemed effortless in the end. 

So he dug down into his soul and tried to speak up, “Terra, I….”

With no warning The Fire of Fate returned in a flash. It had surrounded the opened area completely as everyone inside it was taken by surprise except for John ad TK. The rest frantically looked around, knowing exactly what was happening, but not as to why it was happening. Ventus and Ignis stood by TK, ready to fight whatever came from the flames. Glacio however got closer to Terra whether she wanted it or not and was looking around, seeing if anything was there. 

Then they heard a familiar, yet concerning sound in their ears; a malevolent voice spoke to them, “My, oh my, what a wonderful day it is today to see the once great Terra finally broken. It’s about time you pathetic, meaningless, excuse for a living thing.”

That voice alone made them shiver. It sounded off, it wasn’t right. The words were evil, but the sound of the vibration as it hit their ear drums did not correlate right with their minds. Even Ventus and Ignis could hear from far away as they saw from a distance as to who it was: Terra. 

However this Terra didn’t look right. She looked off, unbalanced, the opposite of what she usually looked like. Her clothing was of that of dark colors and Glacio saw a burning passion that could be seen from her eyes alone. Then it hit everyone but Terra: This was an evil clone of hers; and a sign that Fate had it out for them. The Evil Terra paid no attention to John or the others, only to Terra herself. It looked like she towered over the two by the rock, even though she was the same height as the real Terra. Terra caught a glimpse of her evil doppelganger and was struck with immediate fright. 

She jumped backwards into Glacio’s torso as he caught and held on to her tightly. Glacio on the other hand only could look on with shock, yet a drive to fight whatever evil this was. Terra couldn’t speak, she was too afraid to say a single word as tears continued to flow from her tear ducts.

Glacio while looking straight into the Evil Terra’s eyes, “What do you want? Are you here to test us again!? Do you want Terra? If so, then you can’t have her! You’ll have to go through me first!” 

The Evil Terra simply laughed it all off as she gave a wicked grin across her face as her voice echoed through the burning air, “Oh Glacio, you brave yet idiotic waste of life. And you’re supposed to be a king? Well daddy surely chose the wrong mate to have an offspring with, that’s for sure.” 

Glacio was becoming intimidated by the evil fiend as he was ready to draw his weapon, “I am king! And no one even the likes of you will deny me of my right of that title! Quit wasting our time and tell us what you want or be gone!” 

Meanwhile as Glacio was conversing with the enemy, John continued to stand by himself as the other three stood by each other, patiently waiting for things to escalate as much as they expected. Ignis wanted to help, but something in his gut told him that there was nothing that he could do for what would come next. TK stood there as the Fire of Fate reflected off his helmet and a slight breeze in the wind brushed against his cape. 

Ventus looked worried yet sad as he told Ignis, “The Fire of Fate again? What could it be this time? Why here? Why now?”

Ignis then exclaimed as he kept an eye on the two over by the rock, “I’m not sure, but something tells me we all know exactly why it’s here.”

Glacio tried to stare down the Evil Terra as Terra remained like a weak little creature, unable to defend for herself. Glacio knew she was stronger than this, but for the time being he would need to speak for her. The Evil Terra just stood there, menacingly eyeing the two down, almost as if she was trying to drive them insane with her looks alone. 

Glacio was starting to become unhinged as he spoke out once more, “What do you want!?”

The Evil Terra decided to finally speak up as she pointed a finger towards Terra as she cowered in fear, “Her.” 

Glacio looked at how scared Terra was and was preparing mentally if he had to die for her if it came to that possibility, “No! You can have me instead you Welch!” 

The Evil Terra laughed once more, this time emphasizing her devilish nature that exhumed off her face, “You don’t get it do you? This isn’t about you. This isn’t even about any of the other low lives in your little pack. This is about her and what she did. And for what she did…. Well…. She needs to be ‘punished’ you could say for it.”

Glacio calmed down just a bit, yet frustrated at the same time.

Glacio kept looking back and forth between Terra and the Evil version frantically, “Why? What did she do?” 

The Evil Terra only waged a finger at him as she shook her head very mockingly, “Oh no no no no. That’s for you to find out and for Terra to admit. I am simply here to tie any loose ends and maybe once she is dead and gone… replace her. We do need to keep a sort of balance after all. Who knows, maybe I could be your best friend and we can all work together to find that little crystal of yours? What do you say Glacio? Do you want to get rid of this sinner and get out of this dump heap of a world?” 

The Evil Terra still with an evil smile on her face looked around the place; pestering Glacio, “I mean why even come here to this world where there is nothing but talking little ponies, am I right?” 

The Evil Terra then turned to Glacio very much disturbed and suggested, “Hey, why don’t we just make your kingdom here Glacio? We can just get rid of all the ponies here and set up shop here. You did say you’ve earned your title after all. Why not prove it?”

The Evil Terra then got uncomfortably close to Glacio’s face while hovering over Terra, “I’ll even be your lover under the sheets too if that’s what you want.”

Glacio grudgingly pushed her away as he told her strictly, “Never! I would rather die than to have the likes of you join my ranks! You are no more than a simple devil in disguise! And I will strike you down right here and now if that’s what it takes!”

The Evil Terra put her right index finger to her lip while keeping her evil gaze on him “Awww… that’s too bad Glacio. What a pity. Guess I’ll just have to settle for taking Terra then. Don’t worry, once I’m done, I’ll be on my way. No one else would need to get hurt. All you need to do is simply hand her over to me.” 

The Evil Terra held her hand out to him, waiting for him to give into her demands.

Glacio however was quick to subdue the tempting thought of simply giving up and scoffed at the Evil Terra, “You may be able to tempt others with your lies, but you will never convince me or any of the others! We will gladly stand side-by-side by each other and die for one another if that’s what it takes!” 

Terra started to have more tears fall from her eyes. She felt like what she had done wrong could be forgiven if her friends were willing to stick by her. Yet at the same time, an ounce of doubt entered her mind and convinced her that was not enough. Instead however, she came up with another idea that would hopefully save the others at the very least; it was the least she could do to make up for her mistakes. 

She quickly closed her eyes, held in all of her emotions and forced herself to stand up and push Glacio away. She still looked afraid and helpless, but she had at least the will to do something right to make up for her past. 

She stood toe-to-toe with her evil counterpart and looked her in the eye, “Wait! What if I fight you instead? If you win, y-you can have me, but if I win, you’ll leave me and my friends alone.” 

Even though she didn’t have the face of a warrior at that moment, her mind and body was prepared at least to take whatever was thrown at her, even if it meant certain death. 

The Evil Terra chuckled and looked directly at her, “Fine.” 

For a second, Terra smiled before it was quickly wiped as the Evil Terra rose 44 FT above her as the Earth formed a pillar of rock and dirt beneath her feet. Everyone except for John and TK looked up in awe as they were taken aback by this surprise, especially Terra herself.

The Evil Terra simply looked down as if she was a giant towards Terra, “But it won’t be easy though! Why don’t you come up here and face the music Terra darling!” 

Terra gulped, but knew what must be done. She concentrated with her soul and body and felt the Earth beneath her feet start to move and form whatever she had thought. Glacio quickly backed off, wondering what would happen next and if Terra would survive as a similar, equaling pillar of Earth rose from the ground below.

Everyone, especially Glacio looked up towards the sky as Glacio became afraid for Terra, wondering if she would make it even. Things would have been different if she had just simply spoken to him about her problems, but it was too late. 

The two Terras were high above the ground. The Evil Terra looked at the other with a smug look on her face with a slight hint of grace to it. She carelessly stood on her pillar without fear, devilishly staring at Terra, taunting with just her looks alone. Terra however still looked weak and fragile. She was not ready for this, but she had to push herself and was ready to give what was left of her for it even if it came to it. She swallowed her fear the best she could and tried to stare down her evil clone the best she could, but many would say the Evil Terra was winning by a mile. 

The Evil Terra looked on with such confidence, “So, you think you’ll be getting out of this one alive huh? You know it would be so much easier if you just accepted your fate as it is instead of fighting against it. Just embrace the struggle; you’ll go out easier that way.” 

Terra could only shrug off her worries as she looked back with a fire in her eyes that were dimly lit, “I-I won’t let you do it, I have to try at the very least.”

The Evil Terra brushed her little words away while placing her hands at her hips, “Oh please, you won’t be walking away into the sunset. We all have debts to pay and yours is the biggest of them all. And all debts must be paid one way or another. Yours just happened to be the worst of them all where you must give even more than just your punishment, but your soul. Face it, you can’t out run of what that you did. You will burn for your failures and all will see who was behind their demise.”

Terra started to get flustered, “That’s not true!”

The Evil Terra gave a glare to Terra with a pompous look on her face, “Oh yeah? Then go ahead and give it your best shot.”

Terra’s body started to vibrate rapidly as both her arms were held out, lowered towards the ground. Her eyes lit up like lights from a distance as she concentrated on her own mind. From within, she tried to control her feelings and regrets and to only focus on fighting her evil double. 

With a scrunched up face, she was able to collect as many rocks as she could all the way from the ground. The others down below saw bits and pieces of rocks; slowly levitating from the ground as if it was being beamed up by an alien spaceship. Glacio could tell this wasn’t going to be good. 

All of the rocks and dirt started to rise as Terra lifted her arms up high slowly. The Evil Terra continued to stand there, unphased by her actions. When Terra was ready, she clinched her fists, signaling all of the pieces she had gathered to come together and form into several balls of Earth, making a grand total of four boulders of Earth. Each were equally sized and in weight too; being about as twice their size. 

The balls were tightly packed and could not be undone so easily, making each one a deadly weapon of sorts. Once Terra was ready, she let it all go and opened up her fists, quickly pushing the boulders of dirty rock towards the Evil Terra at fast, harmful speeds. She pushed the boulders all at once towards the Evil Terra, each landing a direct hit one after the other.

With each hit caused an explosion of debris as the rock crumpled and the dirt back to its rightful place on the Earth itself. Dust and particles of rock covered the air with Terra breathing heavily in and out, wondering if that was enough to stop her. However, as everyone at the bottom waited in anticipation and Terra eagerly waited to see the dust clear, she became disappointed with the news that she did not win. The Evil Terra just stood there unscathed; not even a small scratch even. 

The Evil Terra could only put the most evil grin towards her, “Oh that was cute. You did your little magic thing with the Earth. So adorable when they think they can win, but really I just pity you. I almost feel bad. It’s like you think you can live when really you know you’re going to die. Honestly I feel really bad for wasting your time like this. I should have just taken you right there with no warning, but I’m too kind I suppose. Still, this fight won’t even last four minutes I can see. Well…. My turn!” 

The Evil Terra smiled so happily towards the real one that it almost seemed genuine and that of a different person altogether. In the blink of an eye, The Evil Terra quickly raised both her arms up in the air, gathering twice the amount of rock and dirt twice as fast as Terra did. Terra started to panic on the inside as she took a slight step backwards after seeing this. The debris from the previous attack was being reused again, but this time against Terra.

The pieces of the Earth started to all gather itself, forming a straight line that looked like an arm and then into form of a pair of hands. Once both arms were completed, the Evil Terra moved her arms in timing with the rock formations, controlling her movements to the one that she created. 

She looked at them as if she was proud of her work like if it was some kind of art painting. She squeezed her hands, getting the feel of her new toy to play with. She then looked  towards Terra deep into the eyes, as she filled it with nothing but terror and fear.

The Evil Terra yelled out, “Time to finish what should have ended a long time ago!”

The Evil Terra raised her arms up, making both arms into a fist as Terra gazed upon it in horror, wondering how much pain was about to come her way. The hands hovered above her for a few seconds just like a cloud. 

Terra was trying to think of a fast way to get out of this mess; but then soon became distracted as she heard Glacio say to her from a faint distance, “GET OUT OF THE WAY TERRA!” 

Terra wanted to look back and look at Glacio, but in a blink of an eye, the Evil Terra stated to pound on Terra non-stop. She kept slamming in her body like a rag doll straight into the pillar. Terra had collapsed and was on her back as she took the hits from the front. The pillar itself didn’t show any signs of it coming down, but Terra was just barely keeping it all together. 

The others except for TK and John from down below had no other choice but to watch in dismay as their best friend was being pummeled by giant arms of rock and dirt, constantly hitting her and not showing any signs of giving up. 

Each thud could be heard from a mile and even shook the ground beneath the other’s feet and hooves. It was a tremendous yet horrifying feeling with every blow that Terra took. Blood started to drip from her nose and mouth as part of her skull was starting to crack and a bone or two was probably already broken. 

The Evil Terra didn’t let up, as she kept going and going with a psychotic look in her eyes. She wanted her dead and wanted to make sure she wasn’t getting up. Once the Evil Terra thought she had won, she stopped and let the rocks fall into place down below. It seemed like she had became the victor in the battle, but Terra was just barely hanging on by a thread has her body ached and felt nothing but pain all around.

She laid on her back as she stared up into the sky and started to wonder if any of this was worth it. Was life worth living through this pain? Did she only exist to suffer a reality that only gave her nothing but of a guilty feeling to hang over her head? She was starting to ponder in her head if it was just best to lie down and die from it all. 

Glacio then called out to her, “Terra get up! You can do it! We all believe in you down here! Don’t let her win!”

Terra started to moan and groan from the pain, but she did her best to think through the agony. He was right; she needed to keep going no matter what. Out there was her home beyond the space and stars and she needed to fix it the best she could. Yet deep down she was not ready to forgive herself for her mistakes. 

Terra slowly got up, pushing herself up from the ground. The throbbing pain in her joints were a little too much to bear, but she pulled through and got up while trying to maintain balance. The Evil Terra however could only continue to give an egotistical look towards her. Sure, she took a huge beating, but she was on the brink of collapse. She liked the idea and wanted to play with it one last time.

She teased to Terra, “Not giving up huh? Well ok then, I guess you’ve earned another chance to hit me then. Go on… try it again. And maybe this time you could hit me and win. Unless of course you don’t have it in you? It’s ok to give up now. There’s no shame in surrendering to your fate of death. Everyone eventually has to come to terms with it, even you.”

Terra only looked like she wanted to fight even more now and to keep pushing herself so she can see the end to this clone of hers. 

She tried to straighten out herself and to stand mighty and tall, “No… not yet. I’ll lie down and accept death, but not now. I’ll let death take me some other day, but until then…. I’m not done….”

The Evil Terra folded her arms and waited patiently for Terra to strike back next. Terra once again tried to concentrate as her body started to vibrate including all the air around her too. The pieces of Earth and dirt all started to rise, this time slightly faster than before. Terra was giving it her all this time. The others down below watched as the debris from before was all gathered into a ball, but this time into one giant ball.

It was four times the size as the last one and looked like a bomb waiting for it to explode. Terra then raised her arms up, raising the huge glob of mud and grime as high as she could. And she made sure to put it right over the Evil Terra’s head that was standing perfectly still. Terra wondered if this was going to work, starting to give herself some doubts.

Perhaps it wouldn’t work she had thought, but then again, she had to try at least. As the object of stone was as high as she could take it, she let go. The giant sphere that was made of Earth hurled towards the Evil Terra at fast speeds. Terra then quickly took out her bow and a glowing arrow that held a special property. 

She took aim over the Evil Terra’s head, pulling back the string as far as she could and holding it there for the right fraction of a second to let go. As the ball came falling down from the heavens, the pressure was building and the others became almost unhinged as to what would come next. Glacio looked towards Terra, knowing that she was strong enough to win this fight. Right when the ball was only four inches above the Evil Terra’s head, Terra released the arrow as it flew through the air, hitting direct center of the big rock. And in a fraction of a fraction of a second, it all exploded like a small bomb going off in a building. 

It may not have been big to take out an army, but it was sure big enough to have been seen a far as the arrow helped add a little bit of a fiery explosion to the mix of granite and mud. And for a brief second, Terra smiled thinking she had won. But as the dust settled and the air cleared the fumes of the small fire, the Evil Terra continued to stand there unharmed by her tactics despite her best efforts. 

The Evil Terra stood there, bored as she yawned. “Are you done yet?” 

The Evil Terra mocked towards her. And with this, Terra’s spirit was broken as she fell to her knees. She hanged her head down, waiting for what was to come next. However the Evil Terra didn’t say anything as the pillar of Earth beneath her cracked and crumbled away. Glacio was in shock as Terra started to fall, yet not trying to do anything about it. Terra wanted to die, and was going to let it all end right then and there as the Evil Terra looked on with a smile. 

Glacio yelled out to her in desperation, “Terra!”

He started sprinting towards, thinking that he would have a chance to catch her in time, but sadly he was mistaken by his way of telling time. Ventus and Ignis tried to go after her too as John simply started to walk towards her. Terra fell on to the ground below and was now back at square one.

She hit the ground with a loud thud, almost nearly killing her in the process. The destruction of the pillar didn’t help either as it covered the air with dust. She could barely just see just a few feet in front of her. 

She was done, she was finished, just let death take her now she had thought. She closed eyes and waited for the worst. And for a brief moment of silence, she heard nothing but the thoughts of her own and why she deserved this. She then started to hear the sounds of clopping in the nearby distance as emerged first was John himself. She did her best to look to see him, yet with no words to even ask as to why. 

John calmly walked towards her as the dust started to settle a little bit. John stopped a foot away from her and sat down, staring blankly at her and beyond. Terra however could not bear to look him as the amount of shame that she had for herself weighed her head down; low to the ground where her eyes could not be seen. 

She mumbled towards John, “Why are you even looking at me? Can’t you see that it’s best that I’m left alone? I’ve failed.” 

Without warning, not even making a sound, John quickly latched on to Terra and wrapped his hooves around her; giving her a big, warm, blissful hug. Terra opened her eyes and was left with no words but to feel the embrace of John’s arms. She froze in place, her mouth agape and not sure what to say. Her arms then slowly closed around John’s entire body and she borrowed her head into his pony sized body. 

She then started to shed a small tear, “I’m not sure what to do.”

John then let go and placed his right hoof on her left shoulder while continuing to have his disfigured eyes, “Stop beating the chicken! Chickens don’t beat chickens! Only Horses eat the chickens and twinkles! But the pickle man or the chicken can never beat the chicken!” 

As most would express, Terra wasn’t sure what to make of John’s comments as she stared back with confusion, “What?”

John took a step back and exclaimed once more, “Stop beating the kitty cat. You are a kitty cat! Not a bad kitty cat!” 

John started to take a few steps back slowly as Terra wanted to reach out. However, before she could, John quickly turned around and galloped back to the others. Terra was now again left all alone with only John’s words to think about. She looked down and tried to comprehend the message.

The moment her eyes went bright, she could hear some footsteps from behind her with expression of relief, “Terra, is that you?”

Terra quickly got up to find Glacio behind her. She then without hesitation gave him a hug and held on to him tightly. Glacio was taken by surprise by this but only gave a warm smile to her as he returned the affection. 

Glacio asked her, “Are you ok?” 

Terra started to sob, “I’m not ok Glacio. I-I’m not.” 

Glacio gently took her hands as Terra removed herself from him. They both kneeled on the ground to briefly rest for a moment. 

Glacio with a look of concern asked, “Then tell me. Tell me what has been bothering you.” 

Terra didn’t want to say it. She was too afraid to. She knew that she would be hated if she told the truth, but she couldn’t hold it back any longer. 

As she trembled and her hands began to shake and tears overflowed her eyes, she wailed out in grief, “I’m sorry Glacio. I should have told you. We could have prevented the attack back home if it wasn’t for me.” 

Glacio remained a bit curious, “Whatever do you mean Terra?”

Terra looked away as sadness overtook her and her words became freely, “Back home, I was sent out to scout by the king to Lord Chernobog’s fortress to know if and when he was going to attack. Your father never told you because he didn’t want you to worry about me or else you would have done it yourself and probably gotten yourself hurt. I was right for the job… well at least that I thought I was. When I got word that he was going to surprise attack the kingdom, I had enough time to make it back to warn you. But…. I failed. I accidentally injured myself because I couldn’t keep up. And by the time I was able to make it back, it was already too late. Most were already dead and I couldn’t help but blame myself this entire time. If it wasn’t for me, we could have saved our people and we wouldn’t be in this mess. I-I-I’m a failure. And you have every right to be angry at me, even if that means banishing me from the land forever.” 

Terra hanged her head low as she continued to cry in anguish. Her mind was unease as many thoughts ran rampant, thinking only of the worst. If she was exiled, there was no other homes to go to.

Perhaps John would be willing to take her in into the land of ponies if John didn’t know her mistakes? It was all overwhelming for her. However Glacio couldn’t help but smile at her. He hugged her once more and let go as Terra looked back in shock. 

Glacio looked back at her with bright eyes, “Was that it? It’s ok Terra… we all made mistakes that day.”

Terra was starting to pull herself together, yet not quite as she said to Glacio, “Yeah…. But…. If it wasn’t for me…” 

Glacio interrupted her, “It doesn’t matter Terra. It’s ok. Even then I forgive you. And your friends do too. There’s no need to be ashamed, even if it’s the biggest mistake of all. There is always hope for us if you look for it. And there will always be brighter days no matter what, you just need to go out and find it.”

Terra started to smile again as they both brought their heads together in silence and in bliss. For once, Terra’s mind was at peace. After a few seconds of holding their heads together, they both got up in union and Terra looked upwards. She knew in her mind what she was looking for all this time. She then looked back at Glacio with a happy smile. The dust had just about settled and she looked back towards the other way to look at John who was off to the distance looking back. And there she could see her friends that were relieved to see her alive still.

Glacio then whispered in her left ear, “Go get her Terra.” 

Glacio moved out of the area as Terra moved her arms out and the Earth vibrated underneath her until once again a pillar of Earth rose to the sky and towards the Evil Terra. Once Terra made it to the top, she was ready for the next and final round.

The Evil Terra looked back and teased, “Oh so you’re not done yet huh? I was sure you would have been finished. Oh well, I sure do love playing with my food.”

Terra then yelled at to her with a smile filled with hope, “No…. not this time.” 

The Evil Terra looked a bit baffled by her remarks. Terra repeated her first trick that she tried to from before again. She spread out her arms as she concentrated on her body and mind as all the small rocks from beneath her rose high into the sky; but this time it rose even higher, covering the sky as if they were replacing the clouds. 

All that was missing was the sound of thunder. Glacio and the others below looked up in awe and amazement, knowing exactly what Terra had in mind of doing. The Evil Terra looked upward and remained befuddled until it finally dawn on her what it all meant. Terra then let it all go. The rocks that were high above concentrated on The Evil Terra as it showered her with such force and precision.

It felt like gold ball sized of hail if it had spikes falling down on her, hitting her both bluntly and sharply. The Evil Terra tried to resist, pushing back with all that she could, but it proved pointless as the storm of rocks was too much to bear for her to handle. 

The pillar beneath the Evil Terra gave in and collapsed as she fell to her demise. In the end as the skies cleared, the Fire of Fate died down, and the dust settled, Terra remained the last one standing. She looked upwards towards to the visible moon and smiled brightly. She couldn’t have been happier that she wanted to shed a tear. 

She said to herself in her mind, ‘I am now free.’ 

The pillar beneath her then slowly descended by her own will. As she came down from the heavens gently, her friends, including John and TK, were there to greet her. She looked at every one of them as they all smiled except for John and TK. 

She took a deep breath as they all surrounded her with glee and with a smile, she said, “Thank you all, my friends.”
> Chapter 6: Ventus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: Ventus:

The Eternal Night continued to growl off into the distance as it encompassed the sky above. No matter where anypony went, it was never safe, not even from the night sky above. Yet John continued to look up and felt a ghostly, alien embrace that he was safe. Whenever he looked up at the moon, he felt like his dear wife Luna was right beside him. John continued to look upward, and despite his eyes being crossed and not looking the best, he could see beyond it all. 

In his eyes, he could see beyond the stars and the moon and saw a whole universe before him. John was starting to think again. He was realizing how much there was to see compared to his tiny little kingdom. And if these humans were from another universe, the question is how much room could there be? Was there an end to it all? Could he go beyond forever or would he touch a wall and forever be small again, knowing that his existence was in a space between his reality and another. Life itself was starting to be questioned by him.

He was a simple farmer from before that didn’t get his toast, went to Ponyville, then Cantorlot, and then became king alongside his wife. Yet he felt urgency to desire more than this. He wanted to simply go beyond. And in his wildest dreams, in his restless sleep, he forever knowingly knew that he was stuck there in his little box forever. But perhaps that there could be a way out of it all; a way out of all the madness. A way to escape from his own mind and finally be free, and to be where he truly belonged: out there somewhere in space somewhere in the universe; either in his or someone else’s. 

It did not matter which, but if his home would be no more; if it all went bad in the end, he needed an escape for once. At the very least, his mind needed to be free from the shackles that bind him to this world and to what he was.

John was then snapped out of his crazy fantasy as Ventus came up behind him with a slight tap on his left shoulder, “Hey uhh… John? Are you ready to go or…. not?....”

John turned around to face Ventus who looked afraid to still be around him with a dead face as he stared back with a crossed eyed stare that felt cold to Ventus. 

Ventus however tried his to brush it off as he turned around to go back to the others, “Ok then I guess… We’ll be... ready to leave soon….” 

Ventus was hesitant around John. He didn’t like the way he acted and always keeping quiet. It didn’t sit right with him, even if John meant no harm. The others however were minding their own business, getting ready to move out. Ignis and Glacio were resting their feet and talking while TK leaned up against the shack, waiting for the others to be ready.

Terra however was the one who needed the most rest after what she had been through. She sat down by a large enough rock to sit on with a smile on her face. She was all dirty and bruised up though, but she was content with herself. Quietly, she couldn’t help but look back towards John and the aftermath of her efforts. The area was greatly damaged through the last battle, but it was all for the sake of survival and self-preservation. 

Yet somehow she had trouble expressing how somepony like John could give her the encouragement for her to achieve such feats. No one had given her as much of a talking to other than her parents. Sure, it seemed weird that a pony, especially one that was John, was the one to push her in the right direction, yet it mattered not. She had survived the horrors of The Eternal Night and of her own mind, and that’s all she needed to know to comfort her. 

Ventus then calmly walked up to her with a bit of concern, “A-Are you ok there sis?”

Terra smiled back gently and said playfully to him, “Of course I am. I’ve never felt better, even more than after the time you took the blame when we trashed the house back when we were kids.”

Ventus looked a little ashamed and rubbed his left arm very nervously, “Yeah well… you did tell me that if I didn’t, then you would make me pay for it later.” 

Terra couldn’t help but give a playful chuckle towards him, “Oh Ventus, stop being such a whimp and let it go. Besides, all I would have done was go into your room and take your stuff. I wouldn’t have hurt you.” 

Terra had gotten up and lightly patted him on his shoulder as she walked by towards the others, “I was the one defended you from those kids who picked on you, remember.”

Ventus tried to put on a smile, yet he couldn’t while looking regretfully back at Terra, “Yeah… yeah you sure did…. Terra…”

Ventus couldn’t help himself and only looked more down in the dumps than he had ever been in his life. John was the only pony to notice this as the others conversed with each other, trying to get their plan together. 

Glacio said to everyone “Then it’s agreed. Let’s see how far we can get before we can stop for a few hours to sleep.”

Ignis brought up a good question with a hint of curiosity in his voice, “How much longer till we get there anyways?” 

Glacio had much optimism in him and couldn’t help but let it out, “Oh we’re not too far from it, I’m sure. We’re getting close; I can feel my father’s powers in me growing by the hour as we get close. We just need to keep pushing.” 

Terra who claimed very joyous, “Well then, let’s get going then.” 

Glacio said as him and Ignis got up and looked over towards John, “Right. John, how about you take the lead? Surely you should be able to take it from here?”

John only yelled out two words, “Farty Sprinkles!”

Glacio only gave a slight chuckle as he looked slightly embarrassed by John’s words, “Oh maybe I should take the lead still.” 

TK stood up firmly as he started to walk first, “I’ll do it….” 

TK was starting to get on Glacio’s nerves as he and Ignis started to shoot ugly looks towards him. They didn’t like how he was acting. If anything, it was making them suspicious of his character and his agenda. The two then followed suit as well as Ventus. 

Terra however walked right up to John instead, kneeled down on one knee, and gave him a quick hug as she quickly told him kindly, “Thank you for not giving up on me John. If it wasn’t for you, I would have been lost without you. You’re really are a True King.” 

Ventus looked back as the others continued to move ahead of them, “Hey Terra, are you coming!? We don’t want to be left behind!”

Terra looked over to her brother and yelled back, “Coming!”

She looked back towards John and gave a quick wink towards him, “Come on, let’s get going so we can save both our kingdoms.” 

Terra got up and quickly ran over towards Ventus as they caught up with the rest. John got up on all four of his hooves and started walking towards them too. However, John noticed the Evil Terra’s body was still lying on the ground. For a few seconds, he stopped in his tracks and stared at it. His ears perked up as he thought that for a quick second she was still alive and making a groaning sound despite the body being motionless.

Yet, there was nothing. Yet, there was a sound like a low hum coming from somewhere, but he didn’t have time to investigate or mess around. So John went ahead and moved on quickly and back on to the trail. 

As the area became silenced once more, Katas swooped in and swiftly landed near the Evil Terra’s body with a disappointing look on his face, “You know, the master will not be happy when I report this to him.” 

The eyes of the Evil Terra’s body shot wide open, quickly gasping for air and barely making a voice, “Oh…. Shut up….” 

Katas mockingly circled him, slowly, taunting Custos and shaming him while in the process, “I am just saying is all Custos. You have failed to meet our master’s requirements, and you will have to be punished by how he sees fit.” 

Custos’s form of the Evil Terra continued to lie there, not being able to move a fraction of an inch in any way. He wanted to get up and strangle Katas to make sure he would keep quiet, but he was simply too weak to move a muscle or even a thought in his brain. 

Custos tried to move his tongue and breathe the words, “I…. will…. get…. them….” 

Katas looked down displeasingly, yet with a bit of pity in his movements, “Oh you better Custos, at least for your sake that is. You have until they reach the King’s Crystal. By then if you don’t them, then our Master will have to take the matter into his own hands. And you will simply be dealt with appropriately. And we certainly don’t want that now do we?”

Custos could only breathe as if he was just coming back up deep from the sea and clasping on to what he could for dear life. There was not enough that he could say to him. He just wasn’t all there mentally as his mind started to fade out like a light about to go out in the dark. 

Katas could only scoff at him as he raised his head, “Hmm…. Tick tock Custos. You don’t have much time left.”

Katas then turned the way to the south and immediately took off into the skyline above and deep into the abyss of the night. Custos on the other hand laid there, resting his mind, thinking to himself that he just needs a little to think and gather his energy back for one final moment. Surely he could make his master happy and be showered in his praise.

He could only dream of it as he blacked out and remained unconscious through the remaining of his twilight hours. 

The Knights of John continued their trek through the woods at a calm pace. Most of them remained happy and fruitful about their journey ahead. Terra was happy and confident as she could ever be. John lingered by, but could only keep his mind on his dear wife Luna and her gorgeous legs.

Ventus was nervous as he started to doubt himself altogether on the journey thus far. He was recollecting on everything and realized he had done barely anything to help. He started to feel like a burden on the group and dead weight that they should cut off as he hanged his head down low in shame. TK remained at the front, keeping his eyes straight, looking for any signs of the King’s Crystal or anything that wanted them dead. He was purely focused to the soul of his objective. Glacio and Ignis however, despite their accomplishments thus far, they were not happy.

They eyed TK with a stench of unwelcomeness and only saw the worst of that he had to offer. They were keeping quiet for now, but in the back of their minds, they only wanted to put TK into a corner and interrogate him on what he had to say for himself. Their trust into the stranger was starting to wear thin. 

TK on the other hand held the feeling that he was being judged from behind. However he did not care what they had to think. He only kept his eyes and mind forward at all times until he was done. To him, the world did not matter, let alone the reality.

He had seen it all and then some, and yet he did not experience everything. But it mattered not, and it only drove him to continue to push forward into the abyss that was darkness that swallowed him whole from within. Instead of letting the darkness take him like most, he simply wielded it and used it to his advantage and made it simply his bitch.

Regardless though, the tensions between TK and Glacio and Ignis only grew higher and higher with each passing hour. There was no telling when the pipe was going to burst and there would conflict within the group. And by then, would it be too late? 

TK kept his eyes moving forward and searching, until he saw something into the far distance. From there, he started to speed his pace up a bit. Glacio and Ignis both looked at each other, wondering if he was trying to pull anything that they may not like. They both nodded to each other silently and decided to keep up the pace with TK, carelessly leaving the others behind in their wake. 

Terra saw this and with a bit of haste started to go faster too, “Hey, where you going?” 

Ventus finally decided to look up and hesitantly had a scared look on his face as he reached out with no one to hold on to, “Guys, wait up. Why is everyone in such a rush?” 

Ventus started to slow down a bit, almost grinding to a halt. John walked up right next to him and simply stared at him. Ventus felt the eyes of John peering through him as he looked back down and could only give a nervous shrug and a grunt towards him. He didn’t want to lock eyes with John, at least not at that moment as his mind was in no mood to be looked and judged at by others. Ventus cleared his head and made haste to the rest of the group.

John continued to look at him as he went further into the forest; giving him a look almost as if he saw something in Ventus that was only a ticking time bomb. John then went back to thinking about a lamp being railed by a fish in bed at a Motel 6 that was on fire as he went and joined up with the others. 

Ventus moved through the branches that stuck out like a sore thumb and the foliage that desperately needed to be cut down and out into an opening where everywhere else was at. They were all lined up almost perfectly and symmetrical as John caught up to them while John followed suit.

Terra looked back with a slight smile when she felt her brother’s presence, “Kind of nice…. Isn’t it?”

Ventus held on to his curious stature as he walked and stood right beside the rest to gawk at what they were looking at. When he saw it with his eyes, he felt like he was being mocked on this journey. Before them stood a big lake that looked like it stretched on for miles as it laid across from end to end from left to right. Ventus needed a moment in his head in peace in order to comprehend the view of it all. It was both at the same time beautiful, yet frustrating as the surface mirrored the Eternal Night sky while being covered by a dense fog that you couldn’t see past; almost like if a town was covered in it from end to end and remained silent in its endless mist. 

Ignis said with a sigh in his tone, “So we’re fucked…. Aren’t we?” 

Glacio, with an optimism on his face so bright that it could not be compared said eagerly, “No need to be such a downer Ignis. This is merely just a lake.” 

Ignis could only rebuttal back to him as he crossed his arms in an angst fashion, “Yeah…. More like an ocean lake. Who knows how big this is.”

Glacio looked at Ignis without a care and a smile as he put his right hand on his left shoulder with confidence, “It’s a lake my friend. It could only be so big. Sure, it looks big as we can’t see an end point. But I have faith that there is an end point. We just need a boat is all.”

Right in the far right corner laid a small, but humble boathouse as they all looked towards it. There, it connected to a small docking pier with a decent size rowboat big enough for all of them floating and tied to the pier; all with a life preserver hanging on one of the outside walls with a note on the door. 

Glacio happily pointed to the small place, “Perhaps someone there could give us some assistance.” 

Without a single word more, they all walked towards the small boathouse. Glacio was the first one to make it to the front door as he intended, in order to ensure TK wasn’t the one to curse this trip with his manners he had thought. 

Once Glacio made it to the door, he was about to knock till he read the small note on the old wooden door. The note read briefly, ‘Went to go looking for my dog. He ran off. Might look for some bait. Will be back by 5. DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING OR ELSE….’ 

Glacio’s hope for happiness was soon struck down by regret and disappointment. “Hm…. Seems our friend went out for a while,”

as Glacio looked out to the nearby woods and stared deeply into its soul. 

Glacio looked back at the note with worry, yet the realization as to what more than likely had happened, “But I think we might as well let ourselves in. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind by this point.” 

Glacio gently pushed open the door without a struggle as the place remained unattended. It seemed odd just barging, yet they were in need of a break and some rest, and the owner was no where nearby or to be seen from again. They all went in without question and come to find themselves in a small and cozy little home. There was a small couch, a small, yet functioning kitchen with little food in it with a small bed and fireplace that was still lit to keep warm and sleep to. 

There was also a small dish of water and slop with the name ‘Skip’ written on the sides. The pack looked around, yet with not much to find, they quickly gathered a plan together. 

Glacio motioned everyone to gather around with a returning smile of glee, “Ok. It seems like it isn’t much, but I believe this will make due. I know we’re all hungry, but the best this place has is some stale bread it seems. And I’m afraid that will have to do to gain a little of our strength back.” 

Ventus’s stomach rumbled as he clenched on to it as he moaned in hunger, “Awwww, I wish I could have eaten some of that pony’s soup when we had the chance.”

Glacio said to him comfortably with sympathy in his voice, “Yes Ventus, we all did. And we wish this had been easier on all of us, yet darkness has no rest. But this’ll have to do. Let’s just be thankful we have a little bread to eat in a place to warm up at and get some rest.”

TK pushed Glacio slightly to the side as he ignored him almost, “You go ahead and do whatever. I’ll keep watch.”

Glacio only looked at him with disgust as he scoffed at him as he walked by. He had more to say yet he wanted to keep his tongue pure and innocent. And so as TK remained outside and John minded his own business in a corner on the small home as he listened to the water flowed by underneath the floorboards, the others took their share of the place. 

They ate the stale bread, which wasn’t too bad. By that point, anything tasted good to them, even if it was only a few days old. It wasn’t half bad to Ventus either. 

There was some texture to it, yet it was bland and was in need of some butter or honey. After they were done, there was some fresh water in the place, but only enough to last them through the night. Yet they would still have their water they carried on them, but it was little to worry about. After their little feast, some got warmed up by the fire as other started to feel the heavy wrath of sleep. Some yawned as others had their eyelids slowly start to feel heavy. By the time they gave in to the slumber, Glacio was worried; TK didn’t come back inside. What was he doing? What was he thinking? What was he plotting? He wanted to stay up, just in case he came back inside to slit their throats in their sleep. Yet, his weakness as a living creature could not be held back any further as he fell into a heavy slumber and drifted away.

John on the other hand remained in his corner, staring at the closed door with no sign of him sleeping. Yet at the same time, he was thinking of everything that he had seen and heard thus far and forming a conclusion in his head while at the same time his random nature took a hold of him. But before John could go deeper into the random, he saw Ventus get up without a care, walked towards the door like a half sleeping zombie, and walked outside with a nervous tick to him. 

John titled his head and became curious. John followed Ventus’s footsteps as he went outside as well; along with no TK in sight as well. John looked around, wondering if Ventus disappeared too. However John looked behind him slightly and saw Ventus sitting flat down at the end of the pier and near the rowboat. He had seemed down and sad. He was all alone underneath a sky that was as above, so below. 

He was lonely and vulnerable and with enough care in his heart. With what little he had that wasn’t filled with randomness, he walked right up to him to see what he was up to. As John sat down right next to Ventus, he stared at him as Ventus didn’t seem surprised or caring at all. He only gave forth a sigh and looked up at the Eternal Night sky. 

With sadness in his voice, Ventus spoke his heart and soul out, “I wonder sometimes John…. Why am I even here? Why do I exist? Every day I wake up and think about all of the things that I’ve seen and hear, and yet when I think of everyone and everything else, it just doesn’t make any sense to me. Why was I the one born into this world…. Or I mean my world that is? Everyone usually finds their place in their life that they do and find a home and get married and stuff. Yet I didn’t do any of those things. Back home I’m considered to be an adult, and while I’ve tried to be like everyone else and live a life and learn to live, I don’t think I have ever lived. Not that I don’t want to, but the world that I’m in doesn’t want me to live it feels like sometimes.”

Ventus’s head hanged very low as he continued to hammer himself, “My sister was always the star in the family and what my mom and dad always said who I should follow. Yet I get the feeling sometimes they don’t want me to live, the life that I want to live or that I can live. They always push me and yell at me to do this or do that, but when I try, I just fall flat on my face and cry. I can see the disappointment in their eyes and everything when it happens too. Face it; I’m not made for my world. I don’t belong there or anywhere else. I wouldn’t even think I belong here either. I’m just a…. lost cause. A waste of life. No reason to exist at all. Why do I even exist when I can’t even do anything right in my life? I’m always the weak one and I was always either belittled because of it or made fun of. I don’t like it, honestly. Yet not having a place, even among this group…. I just feel like I’m better off just going off on my own and wandering into a desert or somewhere…. Alone….” 

John’s ears perked up, hanging on to every word that Ventus had to say to him. He remained silent, yet remained on edge as he stared at him with his crossed eyes. 

Ventus looked back up to the Eternal Night sky and noticed the full moon of John’s Luna, “You know…. I’ve always wondered what a different world was like. I always knew we weren’t all there was out there; that there was always more than just us. But instead of finding another planet, we found another universe…. And even more like it too. And yet the moon is the same for you and me.”

Ventus looked over to John with a curious sense of wonder on his face, “If you don’t mind me asking…. What is it like here? Why is it ponies are the one in charge? Is the magic like our magic? How is it that we can communicate the same language and what is it like being a king in your kingdom? What are the seasons like? Is it like ours or is it different? I-I’m sorry…. I shouldn’t even be asking.” 

There was a strong silence between the two as John kept looking at Ventus. Yet for a minute, he looked at the moon too as Ventus took notice as he looked back at it as well.

Ventus let his heart out, “You know, it’s beautiful. Really…. No matter the world or universe, it’s beautiful when you think about it. A universe is big and empty, yet to know there is even more out there doesn’t even make it scary. It makes it exciting actually. It fills me a kind of hope that I haven’t felt since I was a kid and I was told that I could do anything. There is a sense of things that are beyond my grasp yet…. I feel like I can reach out and take it. And that I can do it and have it all you know? The world isn’t for me to take, but it’s the universe. It isn’t the sky that limits us, but….. only the universe itself. And I think to myself that…. That….” 

Ventus was soon interrupted and his moment of serenity paused with an unexpected visit from The Fire of Fate. 

Ventus was soon scared as he jumped back and mouth agape as John’s eyes widened a little as his ears perked up. The flames surrounded them, circling around the lineally pier, isolating the two; cutting them effectively off from any source of help. Ventus got up quickly while looking around franticly. John looked around, confused as to what was happening as he thought to himself that this was more random than he was at times. Soon two long, lingering, tall shadows emerged from the fire, yet it did not go further than the fire itself. Ventus noticed and looked in horror as the figures resembled two humans, but more disfigured and stretched out with an abstract twist to them. 

They were only made of shadows with two white eyes peering out of the fire that pierced Ventus’s body. One of them looked very feminine and other masculine however, only leaving Ventus to question who this was. The arms of the figures dangled down loosely as the figures completed their form and remained silent at the two. Ventus was at a loss for words and scared as what would happen next. John however was of the curious mind and wanted to take a step forward to see what it was that made the night go a light.

Before John could take a single step however, the masculine shadowy figure pronounced greatly, “Son! What are you doing?!” 

Ventus continued to look on in horror, yet was confused at the same time, “What?” 

The feminine shadowy figure then stated with a hiss, “Answer your father boy! What are you doing?”

Ventus slowly took a step further as he weakly put his hands together.

He whimpered out softly, “Mom.... dad?”

At the same time, Terra came rushing out in a hurry, being startled from her sleep from the noise that was made. As she was prepared to fight, she quickly took notice of the fire and saw Ventus and John trapped in there. She wanted to scream and yell at them to run, but she knew that wouldn’t do any good. She could only stand there, knowing that both of them were helpless and that she could do nothing for them. She only watched on in silence as the two talked to what looked like was a twisted version of her parents. 

The two shadowy figured went on to say in unison, “ANSWER THE QUESTION!”

Ventus took a small step back as he cowered in fear, “I-I-I-I don’t know. What are you asking from me?”

The twisted father leaned in slightly as he waved around in the burning flames, “You selfish, dumb little shit. You can’t even answer a simple question for us! We gave you everything and tried to give you a better life! And what did you do? YOU WASTED IT!”

Ventus started to cry a little as he held his hands up to his face, trying to shield the disappointed looks shooting from his so called parents, “But…. But… I tried. I really did. I just can’t do it. I’m alone most of the time and…. I tried… I just can’t….” 

The shadowy mother interrupted him and snapped at him like a crocodile, “CAN’T WHAT!? CAN’T BE A GOOD SON FOR US!? YOU CAN’T BE NORMAL LIKE ALL THE OTHER KIDS!?” 

The shadowy father degraded Ventus “It was a mistake having you. You’re a pathetic excuse for a son, let alone an actual child. You’re worthless. You’re no more than a burden to your friends than you were to us. You’re no longer our son. You should have never even existed to begin with.”

Ventus was shedding tears, letting the words get to him as his sister saw him fall to his knees crying. She felt bad for him and wanted to hug him to make the pain go away but even then it wouldn’t heal the wounds that were inflicted. In Ventus’s mind, he knew they were right. He was weak and could do nothing more than just to be a burden on everyone around him. He tried his best to stay out of the way, and thus far on his journey, he made it so he wasn’t an issue. But what more did he do? 

He just stood around, doing nothing more than being a weakling? Even back home he was nothing. Ventus thought back to all the times Terra had to save him and his parents having to get him out of nasty situations. Even when he thought he had improved, he was nothing. Ventus thought it was better if he no longer existed; to no longer breathe or embrace life itself. He was better off dead and alone than he was alive and with someone else.

However, John quickly tapped on his shoulder with his right hoof as Ventus tried to look through his teary eyed vision and said calmly, “Fight back the stabbing chicken doggie!” 

Ventus wasn’t sure what he meant, but reading in between the lines soon meant that he needed to stand up for himself. He was more subtle before, but he guessed even John wanted to see him fighting. So Ventus got up, wiping away his tears with his back straight as he tried to stand up for himself. 

Ventus took some steps forward with the meanest look that he could muster as he pointed and yelled at the twisted shadows, “T-That’s not true! I am who I am and….” 

The shadow parents didn’t want to hear it as they yelled ‘NO’ in unison as a gust of strong wind pushed Ventus back to the ground. Ventus was now pushed back down to his place and wanted to start to cry again. John looked at the shadows and thought he could say something. 

John walked up to them as they turned their eyes towards him, “A Muslim Jew is only right twice a day when the hoagie says so!”

‘Poor choice of words’ John had thought. 

He had spoken too quick as the feminine shadow figure pushed him back with another gust of strong wind, exclaiming, “STAY OUT OF THIS YOU FILTHY PONY!” 

The shadows turned back their eyes to Ventus as he cowered even more and on his knees again. 

The shadow father leaned towards Ventus while pointing his limp hand towards him, “You’re not even fit to live anymore. Just do it already and end yourself right now. We would do it ourselves and kill our own kin, but it’s not even worth the energy.”

Ventus closed his eyes as he hanged his head down, trying to make their voices go away. 

The shadow mother hastily spoke up towards Ventus, “Didn’t you hear your father Ventus!? DO IT ALREADY! KILL YOURSELF! It’s not like you would ever be better than your younger sister. Now she is the star of our family. Why could you have been more like her!? She listened to us.”

Ventus gritted his teeth, trying to hold it altogether as tried to hold back his tears. 

The shadow father then exclaimed with his might, “Listen to your mother! We should have had a better child! Better yet, we should have had another one that wasn’t like you! YOU HEAR US BOY!?”

Ventus was going to explode and John could feel it coming. 

Both of the shadow figures yelled in unison, “KILL YOURSELF! KILL YOURSELF! KILL YOURSELF! KILL YOURSELF!” 

Ventus was now broken. 

He raised his head with a fire in his eyes as he raised his hands towards the shadows; causing a hurricane of winds towards the two twisted shadow figures and The Fire of Fate while yelling “THAT’S ENOUGH!” 

Ventus still had some streaks of tears flowing down his cheeks as he kept his soul intact as he let himself loose. John was taken aback by this as the wind flowed through his mane. His sister gasped and was amazed by Ventus’s actions. Ventus stood up firmly with a look that only a broken person could make as he took four steps forward. The shadows stood in their place as if they were not affected, yet looking on with interest with a keen eye towards Ventus. In his mind, he was unsure if he had the courage to do what he needed to do and to fight his own battles. In the moment of his self doubt, he looked at John with uncertainty right beside him. John looked back at him as Ventus looked deep into his eyes and could tell that John without saying a single word; that he needed to do this. This was all on him now in order to move forward with his own life. 

Ventus looked back at the shadowy figures and then began to let his heart sing out, “I know I am not what you wanted me to be. I know my sister is better than me at a lot of things. And I know that I mess up sometimes too. But I am me. And I can only do so much in this world or in this universe or in the next one. And not you or anyone else can change that. I know…. I need to be better, and I will. And I promise myself that I will be better and…. Will do so everyday if I can. But I will not do this. I will not sit idly by as my friends or my home is in danger. Even if it means that I am mostly useless, I’ll stick by them and my home no matter what. And I don’t care if you are my parents and what you say. I am who I am. And who I am is me. Me….”

As Ventus controlled the wind and kept the speeds up, both shadow figures looked at each other. They then calmly looked towards Ventus and both nodded. They then slowly disappeared into the flames as Ventus’s winds slowly blew away The Fire of Fate and into nothingness. Ventus had a smile for once that was made of pure joy and hope in his heart. 

He had finally looked within himself to see someone stronger than he had though previously. He looked up towards the night sky and at the moon again and thought about his actions as a small tear of calm and peacefulness left his right tear duct. His name was then called out by his younger sister as she came rushing towards him. Ventus quickly turned around to see her, but before he could say anything, Terra latched on to his body like a child hugging its mother as she buried her head into his chest as she began to weep to herself. And just like Ventus, she had a smile running from ear to ear as Ventus clinched on to her warm embrace. They held on to each other for what felt like forever until she let go and looked up at her older brother.

As she hanged on to her smile, she poured her heart to him, “I didn’t know you felt that way Ventus. You could have told me.”

Ventus hanged his head down in slight embarrassment as he pushed her away lightly, “I know but…. I didn’t know if it was a good idea to. I was worried if you were going to scold me or tell mom and dad.”

Terra lightly punched Ventus’s left shoulder while playfully sounding, “Oh you know better big bro. We keep secrets together as family and as brother and sister. I didn’t save you from those bullies when we were kids for nothing after all.” 

Ventus chuckled a bit while nodding, holding his head up high for once as the feeling of self doubt faded from his mind. 

Ventus looked at his sister’s face with confidence and said, “Thanks for, being there for me sis. For all the times you have helped me and everything. And while I might still be the weakling in the family, I think I can handle myself from now on. And I’ll do it by getting stronger everyday just like you.” 

Terra laughed at his silliness as she gave him a teasing side glance, “Ok. But don’t let it get to your head ok? I’m still the strong one in the family, remember?” 

Ventus, despite it mocking his masculinity, even if he had any to begin with, merely laughed it off, “Yeah, ok. But maybe every now and then, you think you could maybe…. Possibly….”

Terra felt the need to finish sentence as she began to walk away from him, “Save you? Sure thing. Anything for my big brother.”

Ventus tried to reach out as he felt a little ashamed, “Not if you put it like that. I meant….”

Terra cut him off kindly and looked back while she walked back towards the cabin over her shoulder, “I know what you meant Ventus.”

As Ventus smiled at his sister, the other two companions walked out of their slumber to check on the noise that they had heard. 

They had looks of distress as they came to check on the others with Glacio saying, “Is everyone alright? We had heard a lot a noise coming from out here. We even saw the light and figured it must have been The Fire.” 

Terra brushed based Glacio while she lighthearted her words, “Everything is fine Glacio. Ventus is ok now.” 

Glacio still seemed a bit concerned as she looked back at Terra in shock, “Ventus is ok NOW?” 

Ventus got close to Ventus as Terra waited by the door while being at peace with himself, “Everything is fine Glacio. There’s nothing to worry about, thanks to John at least.” 

As Ventus walked by, Glacio looked over to John who remained at the edge of the pier as he looked off into what seemed like a vast ocean of water in the lake; off to the distance thinking if he would ever see her again and remained contempt within himself. Glacio could only smile back, knowing that he was the right one to put his trust in him.

However his moment was soon spoiled as Ignis pointed out a flaw in the scene, “Wait, where’s TK at? I thought he said he would be standing guard and keeping watch?”

Ignis had a mean look form on his face as his vocals produced a low growl like a wolf waiting for a chance to strike at his prey.

Glacio looked around curiously as he said softly, “Where is TK?” 

Glacio was not happy with TK’s performance. If there was anyone that he was losing a great amount of trust in, it would be the one that looked like a devil. Ventus and Terra could only look around with worry themselves as they began to wonder what TK was up to. However those thoughts were soon put to rest as TK overheard them as he came walking out of the shadows and covered by the forest. 

TK announced to them all as he looked at them all straight in the eyes, “I’m here.” 

Glacio started to lose his tolerance with him as he stepped forward and pronounced his title as King, “Where were you? I thought you said you would keep watch while we slept?”

TK could only give a dead, cold response, “I saw something in the woods. I went to go check it out; make sure everything was clear.” 

Glacio held his nose up high and scoffed at him, “So that’s your excuse? What if something happened to us? What if someone could have killed us in our sleep!? We all could have been dead!”

TK only kept his dead, monotone persona as he stared back at them hard and with dominance, “But you’re not dead. And besides, you could have handled it.”

TK walked by Ventus with little to no respect as he bumped in to him, as if he was in his way. Ventus and Ignis kept to themselves, but their endurance for his kind was at its breaking point. They could only give a stare about as equal as TK would give back. The four humans went peacefully back to their places of slumber to gain a little bit more rest. 

TK walked up to John and stood at the edge of the pier with him. John however did notice him and did not decide to look. 

TK said a few private words to him as he continued to look at the night sky, “So, you’re supposed to lead us to victory? Well, that time is getting close. You better not let us down. I need this to work as much as you need to save her. And I know what you’re thinking. Looking up at the moon, thinking she sees you even though you’re not there. The one I’m trying to save said the same thing to me too once. And one way or another, I’m going to find him and get him whatever hole that he dug himself in again. But until then, I just have to assume he sees me too.”  

TK’s words echoed softly in the night, misty filled air. The sounds of nearby bugs chirping, looking for a mate of some kind was the only thing filling up the barren sound. The two in silence had a moment with each other; a moment that John noticed and even appreciated. 

TK then turned around as his heavy boots clanged against the wooden pier and walked away. 

As he did, he told him sternly, “We leave in four hours.”
> Chapter 7: TK
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: TK 

The path was set, the destination was in stone, the boat was in full capacity, and The Eternal Night beckoned the call of The Knights of John to their destinies. John sat there on the boat, waiting for TK and Glacio to fill in their places on the vessel and to depart. To pass the time, John kept to himself as usual as he continued to be tormented by his own reality and of his own mind. 

While the others conversed with each other, John stared into the densely fog filled lake that looked like that it could stretch on for miles upon miles. He looked deeply across the lake as far as he could see, only to be met with a wall of grey, depressing mist and vapor. It only reminded him of the gloom of what he had become and the fate of everypony else. And yet he could not stop looking deep into an abyss filled with misery and despair.

He was caught in a trance; going deeper as his mind further degraded. On the surface level, his mind only produced random thoughts at an alarming rate. But underneath the iceberg of thoughts and memories, he was screaming to get out. He wanted to be free of his existence and to see the blissful void of nothingness.

The howls of grief clawed at him, aching to be relieved of life itself. He wanted only the silence and the end to his own consciousness. And yet despite the cries for help, he could not scream. His eyes only remained cross-eyed as he starred deeply into an endless cloud filled with agony and regret. And yet despite the foreboding nature of it all, it called to him as if it was his home. He wanted to reach out to it and go deeper into the endless, welcoming void. He wanted no more to than simply leap off of the boat and carry himself to the edge of the emptiness that only filled with his heart with joy. Yet how could he when all his thoughts remained suppressed by his own mental capacity that couldn’t even make a single sound of desperation? 

And yet, with all of his heart, he could not make himself go through it all even if given the chance to break free. He was who he was as he had thoughts of his dear wife on his mind and the everlasting struggle to reach Paradise. 

John then blurted out the words as he turned his head around to the others like a creepy little creature, “Chicken apple soup is where you put the moose on a goose in! And then it explodes!” 

Ventus, Terra, and Ignis remained silent as they stared at him with a concerned look on their faces. They were previously talking about their hopes and dreams when they got back to their universe, and yet John abruptly spoke out loud. And yet they were not offended, only questioning why John was the way he was; but only John knew why he was the way he was with no other living soul to tell his tale. The two parties remained silent for a minute, waiting to see if John said anything else.

However, John only reined his head back towards the lake as Ventus went back to his conversation, “Well as I was saying, I would love to get back into a warm, soft bed again.” 

Terra only rolled her eyes playfully, “You and me both.”

She then looked over to Glacio, wanting to pick up the pace, “Hey! Are we ready yet!?”

Glacio who was standing on the docks, yet far from the boat looked over and responded back, “Just about! Just waiting on someone….” 

Glacio looked over at TK menacingly as TK stood by the cabin and keeping a keen eye on the woods. He only growled to himself, becoming a bit distressed as if he was looking at something. 

Glacio however was growing weary of his actions and said with a tone of annoyance, “Are you done yet?” 

TK slightly looked over his shoulder as he stood tall and firm like a rock, “Yeah…. I’m done. We’re in the clear…. for now….” 

And so the two without a word made it to the boat. Once everyone was on the vessel and ready to go, TK gave it a small push to give it a head start from the pier. 

He then quickly hopped in and made it to the other end to get a clear view of the lake. They only needed to move in one direction and it was straight ahead. So with Ignis and Ventus rowing the oars of the boat at a swift, yet easing pace, the boat moved gently through the fog and into the unknown. Everyone kept silent as they moved further and further away from the cabin until it too disappeared into the unknown. As they kept rowing, everyone seemed a little bit anxious.

Ventus was worried if they would hit something. Terra was keeping an eye out for anything that might stop them. Glacio and Ignis were keeping their wits on TK, trying to keep him in check unless otherwise. TK only looked ahead and never looked back; determined to reach the end of his long journey.  John on the other hand was the only one in the group that remained pure of heart and only kept his mind preoccupied with his own happy thoughts, even if it was random at best.  However to John’s slight delight and his unknowing, Ventus quietly slipped over as he was roaring and tried to slip him a few words by his ears as they perked up. 

John kept looking deep into the mist, but Ventus only wanted him to hear what he had to say, “I just want to say real quick, thank you John. Thank you so much for helping me back there. I know you couldn’t have done much and it was mostly up to me, but I want to say thank you is all. I couldn’t have done it without you. And I’m glad to call you my friend.”

Ventus went back to focusing on his roaring as John heard his words. He did not smile or say anything random back, but only embraced it all in his mind to sooth his pain. And Glacio overheard their little conversation as well as all he could was force a little smile across his face. He looked over at John and knew he was the right choice and hoped that in the end, everything would work out.

And soon as they sensed they were well middle into the lake, Glacio wanted to confront TK in front of the rest of the group; and to perhaps reveal his true colors and to see if he can even be trusted. As TK stood the tallest among them, Glacio looked up at TK with a pain in his heart, and yet resentment on his face. He wanted to tackle him and beat him to a pulp, yet somewhere deep down he knew that would be impossible. 

So as TK had his back to him and everyone else only listened, Glacio asked him with a sense of grudge in his voice as he stood before him, “So TK, what are you thinking?” 

TK only gave him a cold response with his voice being as gruff as usual, “None of your concern.”

Glacio held his head high as he had a look of fire in his eyes starting to ignite within him, “It is my concern. You just being here is my whole point in asking you the question. Now answer me, what are you thinking right now?” 

TK only turned his head slightly to look over his shoulders, “Then that’s your problem then, not mine.”

Glacio got a little bit closer as he threw up a fist in expression, “You listen here you swine. The entire time that you have been here, not only have you done nothing for us, but you have increasingly become a strain on our patience for you. Now I don’t know who you really are or where you come from. I don’t even know what you even look like underneath, yet I’m sure under that helmet of yours; you are nothing more than a hollowed shell. If you didn’t have your tough looks and angered tone all the time, you would be nothing but an angry, weak little man with nothing to show for it.”

Glacio was starting to raise his voice as the others kept their heads down, not wanting to be a part of it. The only one enjoying the sight was Ignis as he kept rowing. The fact that he thought that TK was getting what he deserved only pushed him to row faster and with more energy to where even Ventus noticed. 

Glacio continued his little rant with his ever growing tone of voice, “You show no remorse for your actions. You care little about our needs and only for yourself. You have no respect for the dead. You show no interest in sharing anything about yourself while we have shown all that we have to show, even down to our weaknesses. You abandoned what you said was your post without a single care. And yet despite all of that…. You want your share of the King’s Crystal. I will forgive all of that, if only in return you give me something to think otherwise. And I don’t mean later, now. We are all here, gathered in the middle of nowhere in a body of water; now is the time to come clean with not only me, but to the rest of us. What is it going to be?”

There was only silence with TK keeping his eyes forward, yet he was thinking. Ventus was nervous however, not wanting things to go sour. Despite agreeing with Glacio, he wanted no bad relations with TK. Not only did he seem frightful, but he simply did not want to make more of a mess of how things already are. He wanted to say something, and had the courage inside of him to interject. Yet it seemed that it was not the right call, so he kept all of his comments to himself. Terra and John waited to see what would happen while Ignis only sat and waited, enjoying every word of the little bought between the two. Glacio only huffed and puffed, wanting to see what TK would say or even do. Anything that he would do, he would be ready, even getting his hand close to his sword and feeling his other hand the coldness of ice.

TK then turned around in full, stared directly into Glacio’s eyes and only gave him a warning to heed, “If you ever speak to me like that again; or make demands out of me; I will be your fucking end. I will tear you limb from limb and make you choke on your own blood. And I will beat you into the dirt, crushing you with my own hands. And I will kill every single one of your friends here in front of you to make you suffer even more if I have to. I am not fucking around. I will end you and make you wish that you were in Hell rather than living.”

Glacio only stared back like TK not giving a single nudge to him. 

He only stared back with anguish as he said to him with no fear, “I am not afraid of your worthless words. They are not even threats to me, only foolish ideas that will never become reality.” 

TK only growled back like a beast watching his prey.  Glacio only stood firmly as he could, “I don’t think we need any more of your assistance then TK.”

TK then slowly moved his hand to go for his sword on his back as he nodded his head a little, “Then I think you’re going to have a problem with that.” 

In a sudden moment, both Ventus and Ignis stopped rowing as both TK and Glacio were at each other’s throats. Glacio saw this coming from a mile away as he tried to go for his sword first while trying to charge up his ice element. However he was caught off guard by a fraction of a second as TK swiped his right leg and made Glacio trip and fall towards the right side of the boat, rocking it a little bit as slight waves were made in the water. 

Glacio fell on to his back and teetering on the edge of the boat. TK then swiftly took out his sword and put it towards Glacio’s neck, only millimeters away from cutting his throat open and letting all the blood spill out into the lake below them. Ignis stood up, his right fist ablaze, yet holding still like a Mexican standoff. 

Terra and Ventus remained in shock, not sure what to do. John on the other hand kept his eyes on the two.

TK and Glacio only kept his eye on Glacio and with a gruff voice demanded, “Give me one good reason why I should gut you like a fish right here and now.” 

Glacio struggled to talk, yet while gritting his teeth, “Because you still need to find the King’s Crystal.”

TK only gave him the cold shoulder, “Bullshit. I can do it on my own. It’ll just be a lot harder to find, but I’ll pull through as I was made to do.” 

Glacio only looked more pissed as he struggled to push back, “Then go ahead then. Kill me right now and do it yourself. But my friends will avenge me.” 

TK only shot back, “I’ll like to see them try.”

He then quickly looked over to Ignis as he was ready to shoot first with his fiery hands, “Keep going.” 

Ignis only looked more offended than Glacio as he said, “You don’t tell me what to do.”

Ventus grabbed a hold on his oar as he looked at frantically at Ignis, “Just do what he says. We’ll get back on land soon enough and we can settle this there.”

Ignis, with a struggle in his heart, gave in to Ventus and said, “Alright fine. Fuck me then.”

Ignis then sat back down and started to row with Ventus in unison and as fast they could. 

TK looked back at Glacio as he stared into that black void into his helmet, “You think you’re so tough? Why don’t you take that fucking thing off and face me? Huh? FACE ME AND SHOW ME WHO YOU REALLY ARE!” 

TK backed up his sword a little, inching towards another kill to add to his count, “I am tough. But I’m not stupid either. Your sense of honor is what gets you killed in worlds like these. It makes you weak. They all did the same thing like you did as they died by my hands.”

For a brief second, it looked like TK was going to go for the kill, but abruptly John shouted out to the both of them as he tried to reach out with his right hoof, “STOP MAKING THE TACO MAN ANGRY! The hippo and the Zingers are only breaking apart!” 

TK looked back at John with frustration. He then quickly turned to see they were near the shore that connected back to the forest again nearby. So with the sense of everyone against him and a king that seems to do nothing but spout out nonsense, yet is supposed to help them was enough for him. He no longer wanted any more of this.

He quickly got up and looked at all of them as he got off of Glacio, “That’s it. I’m done with this. I’m not wasting my time with your kind anymore.”

He then looked down towards Glacio with anger and disappointment, “And I’m not wasting my energy on you either.”

As they were close to the end of the lake, TK leapt off the boat and into shallow waters. He then moved as fast as he could and on to the dry land and back into the nearby forest. Glacio rubbed his neck wear the sword was near and all seemed to have been relieved that TK was gone from their party. 

Ignis only spoke for the entire group as he sat like a stump, “Good riddance. What an asshole.” 

However John did not take this lightly as he had a look of worry fall on to him as he too leapt off the boat in a hurry to catch up with TK. 

He yelled out towards him, “WAIT KITTY CAT! COME BACK!”

Ventus tried to reach for him, but he was too late as he cried out, “Wait! Don’t leave! Just let him go!” 

John however did not listen and simply ran for TK without a care. The others looked at each other. They knew they needed to go after John. And so they quickly gathered their things and exited the boat and ran into the dark forest ahead of them. 

John ran blindly into the Eternal Night with the unfortunate path of dead trees blocking his views. There was very little light pouring in from Luna’s moon, so John had to rely on his own instincts, assuming he had any to begin with. Yet no matter what, John chased after TK as he tried to follow the sounds of his footsteps crackling along the dead leaves and fallen branches. As he passed by, he caught little glimpses of ghosts in the woods. 

Were they real? Were they just part of his random nature that took part in his head? Who knew other than John himself? And even then, not even John knew what lurked inside his own head; let alone what was around him. Yet he had the feeling of ghosts of the past watching him. At the same time, he could hear the others following not so far behind him, as they breathed heavily and tried to push past some low hanging branches and skimpy, dead bushes. 

He could even hear Glacio saying towards him the best he could, “Wait John! Come back!”

Yet he didn’t wait for them. Who knew how much time was left before his dear precious Luna was squashed to death by the fowl beast that took his throne. Yet somehow none of that ever crossed John’s mind to begin with. John eventually saw a little bit more light at the end of the path with a tall dark figure standing there, motionless like a statue. He knew it was him though without a doubt. He made it to him but soon made a dead stop right next to TK who was still as a rock; looking down on the ground; staring at something as if it was life or death. 

The others soon followed John with Glacio once more saying out loud as they caught up with him, “Wait for….”

They all gathered right up next to John too, almost all lined up perfectly in a row, frozen like a putrefied statue, as they caught a glimpse as to what stopped TK in his tracks. TK with a hand on his sword, ready to pull it out if needed, remained dead silent regardless of the company. 

Ventus then squeaked out for a quick second, “What we just standing around here for?”

Ignis was confused as well, “I’d like to know as well.”

Terra exclaimed on a more positive note while raising her shoulders, “Maybe he came to his senses?” 

TK interrupted her as he kept staring dead straight towards the ground, “No. It’s the train tracks that bothers me. Something isn’t right.” 

Everyone except for John who kept staring with dead eyes forward, looked at the ground befuddled. They all looked at each other and wondered if TK was even right in the head to begin with. TK was stopped in his tracks because of some random train tracks running parallel in a middle of a large, open area. It looked like it ran on for miles with the other side leading to more of the dark covered forest filled with the usual dead trees and branches and leaves scattered about. To the rest of the humans it wasn’t adding up to them why this would stop TK in his usual behavior. 

Ventus looked over to TK while poking his head slightly outward, “You’re afraid of…. Train tracks?” 

TK then slowly raised his head up to look forward with John as well, almost as if he saw something far into the distance, “No. Something’s up….” 

And without a sign of warning and with no surprise from TK, The Fire of Fate surrounded the group in a blaze of glory. It surrounded a huge portion, covering two train tracks on the ground in a circle and entrapping them all in. 

Ignis as he scanned around in annoyance said, “Oh come on! Again with the Fire!? What is this time?”

Everyone had drawn out their weapons and were prepared with their elements for anything. Ventus even had a scouring look for once, almost as if he had the heart to kill anything. 

Glacio as he tried to remain in the front of everyone said under his command, “I don’t know. But whatever it is, we can take it on together.” 

TK then burst their bubble as him and John continued to walk forward and ahead of them, with TK slightly further than John, “It’s not for you. It’s for me.”

Everyone was confused, yet knew not to question The Fire of Fate as they have done many times before. They saw TK and John slowly walking away from them, knowing it was best not to follow their path. Up ahead they could see a figure walking up to the two in the distance who had a strange presence. From a far, it all looked hazy. However up close, they could make out a man.

He had a brown cowboy hat on, a dirty, scraping black cape dragged across the ground following him. He wore nothing but a bland sense of clothing, yet it reflected his nature of being who he was as they saw a set of evil, sinister looking eyes with a wicked smile to follow. 

TK whipped out his sword as Terra asked in curiosity, “Who is that?”

TK gave one simple answer, “TF.”

Soon the two were meeting face to face as far as they could go as TF smiled like a broken mad man. 

He held his arms out and opened, “TK! How’s it been? I can see you’re still in good shape after all this time. You were the favorite after all.” 

TK said back to him as he slowly circled his opponent, “Cut the shit. I know you’re not the real TF. You’re only taking the form of him.” 

TF tried to playfully gaslight him, “Oh you know me. I might be off just a bit, but it’s me…. TF…. The one you still have yet to put down like the rest.” 

TK then said as John tried to keep a bit of distance between the two, “Oh shut the fuck up already you worthless bird. I’ve noticed that you have been following us from the very beginning, sent by Chernobog to slow us down and hopefully kill us as well. I’ve seen the play before.” 

TF then smiled for a bit while even laughing a bit, “Ok then. You’ve caught me! It’s really just me Custos. But I know what makes you tick though, what drives you crazy and what can really break you. It’s sort of my specialty. It was a pain to look through your minds and memories but…. It was all worth it for my master.”

TF then looked towards John with a bit disappoint look on his face, “Although I couldn’t quite get through your mind. But I don’t think it matters now anyways. You all are not getting past me this time.” 

The four humans looked pissed when he said that, yet TK rebuttled, “Like the 3 other times you tried? No, it doesn’t matter what form you take and what knowledge you have of me and of my creation and of my creator. Either way, I’m going to enjoy ripping you apart and gutting you out, while strangling you with your own intestines if I have to.”

TF looked back with a tease, “Is that so? Is it because you want revenge for all of the things that I have put you and the rest through on your quest? Or is it because you couldn’t get TF? I have seen your memories as far as back as you met him you know? Strange that I can’t look further back, yet I can see him telling you not to kill him. What was the problem though I wonder?”

Glacio was starting to get confused, yet curious as to what was going on, “What is he even talking about?” 

TK without looking over to the others and keeping an eye on the supposed TF like a hawk murmured, “It’s none of your business.”

TF then said as he stood there like a maniac, “Oh please. IF you’re to show me how you would gut this TF, the very least you could do is tell a little. Even I am a bit curious to say the least.” 

TK with his sword, ready in hand as he leaned in a bit closer with growl deep inside his voice, “That’s for me and the real TF to know.” 

TK then lunged forward and attempted to strike straight down his sword in front of TF. But in a quick second in TF’s favor, he raised his arms up high to shield his face and a shadow of darkness clattered with TK’s sword.

TF teased with a small smile, “You almost had me there. I can tell that you must be fun at parties. Strange how I couldn’t figure that about your nature. Hmmmm…. Perhaps I’m missing something.” 

TF then took out from what it seemed like from mid air from his free arm a black crystal sword, similar looking to TK’s sword. It was long and protruding, yet sharp like any other great sword there ever was to exist. He tried to slash as TK with it, but TK backed up quickly and without hesitation.

TK remained vigilant and kept his guard up high. TF tried to get his grounding, “You like it? My master showed me how to do it once he gained his powers. It’s lovely isn’t it? A sword made out of the same stuff as my master; and just as deadly as he is too.” 

TK then said as he raised his sword up, “I don’t have time for this.” 

TK tried to go in for another strike, yet John at the last minute jumped in between the two and looked at both of them with a look of worry on his face.

He held his right hoof up to them to signal them to stop right away and to hear him out, “The JEEEs and the Moozles must stop fights and not blow up the gas station! They must become the MozzlesJEEEs!” 

TF looked a bit dumbfounded and said to John in a mocking way, “No wonder I couldn’t get anything out from you. You must be very hollow on the inside.”

TK on the other hand didn’t want to deal with John as he quickly grabbed him and tossed him to the side like clutter, “Get out of my way pony!”

John as helpful he tired to be, was now powerless. However on the inside he did not give up hope just yet as he let the two struggle for survival.  TF held his sword up high as well with some confidence and a smile that said it all. 

TF went on to exclaim, “Now let’s get this fight started!” 

TK as he tried to strike TF with his sword but ended up clashing with the other sword instead said, “For someone who looks deep into someone’s memories to profile them, you’re not even close to who TF is.” 

The fake TF then exclaimed proudly as he attempted almost a fencing technique with his sword play, “Well what can I say? I tried my best. But I am sure I can hit a hard note on you somewhere,”

TK tried to go for a low strike but Custos caught him just in the nick of time as the two circled around each other with the sound of clinging metal and crystal ringing through the air, “I’d like to see you try.” 

They continued to struggle with each other as the rest remained in conclusion yet with a little bit of shock. 

Ventus looked over to Glacio, “I don’t like where this is going. This could end badly.” 

Ignis folded his arms with a little smirk as he threw his head back a little bit, “Nonsense. TK couldn’t have cared enough about us, I’d say let him fight. And if he dies, then that’s one less thing that we have to worry on our backs.” 

Glacio however took a slight step forward with a sense of concern, “Yes, yet the way John ran after him tells me something different. I don’t think we should give up on him whether he is a friend or foe. He agreed to be with us and help fight for our cause after all.”

Terra then became a bit agitated as she pointed towards TK, “Are you kidding me!? He almost killed you back on the boat! And you want to all of a sudden forgive him for that!?”

Glacio then took a quick glance at Ventus who seemed to have the same thought as he did. 

He then smiled for a bit, “Yes I do forgive him,” 

Glacio however then turned around and looked onward with despair, “However this is his fight. We must let him do what he needs to do.” 

As John tried to walk back and forth between the two, the two swiped at each other with their swords as they bickered with one another. 

TF asked loudly, “Ok then! So what is it then that makes you hate TF the most!? Why was it this form that was given to me that made The Fire of Fate appear!? It does not come from out of nowhere for no reason at all! It comes for a reason! So tell me, is it because you’re afraid of TF!?” 

TK yelled at him as he stroked down heavily with his sword while TF was starting to have trouble with his balance, “No!”

TF as he tried to remain stable in his fighting position, “Oh come on! You must be afraid of something!?” 

TK in an unexpected move then used his right leg hard as he kicked the fake TF hard and far down to the ground as he was pushed away a few feet as he said, “I’m not afraid of anything!”

Custos then stumbled and fell stiffly on the ground as he tried his best to catch himself. He started to become in distressed as he looked at TK from down below, seeing how menacingly he truly he was. 

Yet he shook his head quickly and asked him an important question, “Don’t tell me you’re not afraid of anything. You must be afraid of something. Surely you must be scared of the Devil himself even!” 

TK then stood there for a quick second as he produced a low growl under his voice. 

He looked down at the fake TF as he exclaimed as clear as he possibly could to him, “That’s because I am the devil.”

A part of TK’s suit then started to be set ablaze a little bit as well as his sword. He then jumped as high as he could with his sword pointed towards the ground as he slammed straight into the dirt. As he was doing so, TF looked worried as he tried to get back, only for the ground to shake like an earthquake as soon as TK landed on the ground. Once more, the fake TF stumbled and fell on the ground. This time however, he felt a sense of dread brush over him. His eyes were widened as he saw the beast before him stand up straight and tall with no second thoughts.

TF had trouble getting up as he tried his best to cope with it all, “Oh come now. T-there’s no need to exaggerate.”

Custos began backing up from TK as the devil walked slowly towards him. TK then said in a deadly tone as he seethed his sword and reached around near his back right side. 

Hidden under his cape, he took out same shotgun with a bit of hellish red on it that he used from earlier, as TK said bluntly, “I’m not.”

Without taking his time, TK cocked the weapon, aimed, and fire directly at TF’s left arm blowing off a proportion of it clean off. The sound blasted loudly with a loud boom from his deadly, devilish weapon of choice. TF then fell down to his knees as he screamed out in pain. Despite the form only being an illusion, he could still feel all the nerves that went with the image. It was one of his downfalls as it was done in order to sell the act that he put on, yet it never did him any favors in the end. With this fake TF helpless, TK put away the shotgun and took hold of his sword once more from his back and was ready for the final kill. 

TF as he struggled to get away from the monster with very little success, “That’s not fair man! You can’t do that!” 

TK then said as he drove the sword straight into TF’s chest without warning, “I just did.” 

The sword pierced through the fake TF’s form. However it was not done yet as TK was expecting. Instead he pulled the sword only to find many lawyers of shadow surrounding Custos slowly eating away at his many forms that he had taken in the past, forming into one giant mess of a blob. As his outer shell mish mashed together into something more horrid, his body started to vibrate as he screamed out in pain as his eyes were shot with blood. TK and the rest took a few steps back as Custos could only scream in echoes of pain and agony, as the sounds of time running backwards hit his ears, almost as if the angels of death were telling him his time was near. 

Yet he fought it as he struggled to get up as he said to himself, “This can’t be! I can’t fail. Not yet! I promised the master that I would not fail! I will not lose!” 

Custos then stood up, only to reveal a more horrific, truer form of himself. He was a tall, dwindling, twisted figure made up of shadows and faces with long dangling arms with only the shadows to cover his legs. The only thing left of resemblance of himself was a more tangled and contorted version of what his face used to be as his voice could not even be heard by any living creature as it only mumbled in echoes to their ears. 

He stood taller than TK by four feet and looked nothing more than a monster of legend. Everyone in the group, except for TK and John, all looked at him in horror, yet was ready to fight alongside TK to end this once and for all. Yet he looked at them with no hope in his eyes. He tried to mess with them all to no avail. However, he then looked slight over to his right to spot his prize: John. He just stood there being cross-eyed looking back, almost as if he was a friend.

Custos then bend down like a sleep paralysis demon and took hold of John as he held him still while speaking in tongue, “Look into my eyes. I want to see what you see.” 

Their minds started to become entangled with one another, sharing information with Custos getting the most out of it. And soon he found something that even John was afraid of. Custos smiled as his body slowly tried to take form. John could see it all though, the images in his head and twisted fate that he had seen.

It was all coming back to him as Custos tried to take form of John’s mysterious black figure. John started to scream out in terror, as if he was being murdered and stabbed several times and over and over through and endless loop. The fear started to settle for once in a long time in his eyes as he screamed uncontrollably with nowhere to run.

Custos felt like he still had hope to appease his master as he said to himself in a deep, twisted voice, “Yes John…. Come to me….” 

As Custos was distracted by his next target, TK quickly went over to Custos as he spotted a faint outline of what was his heart. A weakness of vulnerability when Custos was connected it had seemed. It was dark as Custos was, yet he saw his moment to strike. 

TK grabbed a hold of his sword with both of his hands, aimed, and strike once more at his heart and finally ending his life with one more final strike. Custos screeched out like a monster of the night as TK growled once more and removed the blade, ending Custos once and for all. Custos then began to walk in an irregular pattern as he slowly withered away back into his helpless raven form as the shadows dispersed all around them and into the Eternal Night sky. 

The Fire of Fate also started to disappear as well as the deathly screams of Custos turned into tiny whimpers from a helpless bird. As the raven flapped about with broken joints, TK went over to it and stomped it hard with his right boot, crushing most of his skull in one fell swoop that produced an eerie yet satisfying crunching sound. Some blood splattered on him, but it was nothing new to him. As the dust settled, TK only looked away from the others as John tried to get his bearings. Ventus tried to reach out, but Glacio quietly forced his hand down. Glacio then silently walked up behind TK in peace. He made sure stop at four feet behind him though to ensure he had his personal space. 

TK knew he was behind him, but let him talk. Glacio politely talked to TK, “I know that…. We may not have gotten off on the right foot. And I know we can disagree on a few things. But after some time to cool our heads, I would like for you to stay with us until our journey is over.”

TK subtly looked over his right shoulder with his back slightly hunched, “And what’s it to you?” 

Glacio as he rubbed his head almost as if he was ashamed to say it, “Well, we could really use the help. But it’s also that…. We care.”

Glacio then pointed towards John as he looked back over, “Clearly John cared enough about you to go after you back there. He didn’t give up as he didn’t give up on us it had seemed. And I think it is important that we stick together on this until the very end at least.”

Glacio started give a warm smile toward TK, even if he didn’t care about it.

TK thought about it for a few seconds and gave his answer shortly after, “Fine. I’ll stay.” 

TK then turned around as Glacio reluctantly asked of one more thing of him, “Great but…. One more thing though. Can you please tell us your story? If we’re to work together, even as friends, I think it is best to know who you are. We don’t need to know who is under that mask, we just need to know who is behind you is all.”

TK started to growl heavily once more, but John quickly stepped as he tapped on TK’s left leg. TK looked down as did Glacio as John waved his hoof to motion TK downward. TK then kneeled briefly as he whispered something in his left ear. Glacio tried to make it out, yet he couldn’t tell what he was saying to him. He even smiled; wanted to even laugh about it. 

TK then got back up and said calmly towards the rest, “Fine. I’ll talk to you this once. Let’s just get off the damn train tracks already.”

Glacio then smiled brightly, “Agreed.” 

He then signaled the others to follow him as they walked over the train tracks and to a nearby clearing in the woods. As soon as they left the area, Katas flew and circled of what remained of Custos. Yet he could still see him twitching a bit so he flew down and landed right next to him.

Katas held his nose up high as he could only shake his head in disapproval. 

Custos with the little bit of breath that he had left pleaded, “Help…. me….” 

Katas then told him in the bluntest way possible, “Our master will not be pleased by this at all. He shouldn’t have sent a dimwitted to do a job like this. Goodbye Custos, you at least tried your best.” 

Katas then turned the other way and flew off high into The Eternal Night sky.

IN A CLEARING SOMEWHERE….

An hour had passed and the band of heroes went back into the deep, dark woods and far from the train tracks from before. Within the forest filled with what seemed like endless trees and foliage, they found an opened area big enough for them to take a break from the madness of The Eternal Night. They found some rocks, a fallen tree to sit upon while they surrounded an open camp fire. They all hunkered down, sitting right next to each other, all with their eyes being on TK who was the center of attention for the time being. They all wanted to hear his story that he resisted so much their entire journey. 

And while he was reluctant to say anything about his past, he gave in after John had convinced him otherwise. It was still a waste of time, but for a moment, he would allow for a brief period of serenity to all who searched for it. TK looked at every single one of them and stared at their eyes as the orange, fiery glow from the bonfire bounced off his helmet. 

Even then, no one could see beneath his helmet. Not even a slight shadow of who he was under his mask could be seen. He only showed them what he wanted them to see. 

TK sat on a rock as he told them all what they needed to know, “The universes are more complicated, yet simple than you can imagine. With every universe, there is more than just our alternate selves. There is the existence of creation and those who are connected to it. Many have created universes of their own without knowing what they have made. The short and less complicated story is that I am a creation. I was made with someone’s mind and was given life by them. And yet it wasn’t god who created me, but no more than a human like you but even weaker. And yet I was made by him.”

Ventus started to get confused as he raised his hand slightly up as if he was in school and asked curiously, “So wait…. Are you saying we are all made by someone somewhere else?” 

TK looked straight at him, slightly annoyed by his interruption, “Who could say? For all you know, your existence and your universe was written in a book, was made in a drawing of some kid’s imagination, some creep who was high on cocaine, or maybe you exist in a mind and only in a mind. But none of that should concern you. What matters is that you exist, you are alive and breathing; you see and you hear and you feel things; and what you do with that is up to you. It is part of what it means to exist.” 

Ignis interrupted too asking, “So you’re telling me you were imagined?” 

TK, while giving a slight low growl in his tone of voice, then said, “If you want to believe it like that, then yes. All you need to know is my creator made me who I am, the way that I am in his head. And he’s nothing more than a kid. From what I’ve seen and been through, he was no more than a kid in grade school when he made me. And by the time he was in his later years still young, he found me. At first I didn’t believe him, yet he showed me where he came from. From there, everything came together like pieces to a puzzle. And instead of being weak and denying it, I embraced it fully. We then explored the outside of the universes together.”

Glacio then had a surprised look on his face as he was taken back a bit, “The outside of the universes? So that’s what the place was? I thought it was someplace else, another world that you happened to be in that had connected to the other universes.”

TK looked over at Glacio as he tried to explain everything, yet painfully so, “No it wasn’t. It’s the outside of the universe where we met. And when Lord Chernobog came running through, that’s when you saw me. And in the outside, time does not exist and only what you can do with your body and mind as well as well have access to every universe that exists and that continues to be made by the second. And when Knight and I saw the outside, we searched through as many universes as we saw fit. Some we were dragged into, some Knight went in with some curiosity. Later on, we would find the place where forgotten creations go to wither and die; and let’s say they didn’t take kindly to him, let alone me. That’s who TF was, a forgotten creation who wants revenge on Knight for being forgotten. I’ve tried to kill him before, but Knight persisted on keeping him alive, to ‘try and save him’. But in my eyes, he was no more use anymore. To my disappointment and anger, TF has pushed me aside, locked me out, and now it’s only him and Knight in a universe. I’ve tried everything, but the outside of the universes is more than I can understand for now. I believe the crystal might give me assistance in finding Knight and getting him back and stopping TF before it’s too late.”

Terra with a sense of comfort asked TK while tilting her head, “So Knight is the one who created you? Aren’t you afraid that he might be dead already if TF is as bad as you say he is?”

TK while staring deeply into the fire before him, “Knowing him, he can handle himself; the question is for how long? I’ve tried to teach him how to survive like I do, but he isn’t built for it in an ironic sense. But knowing Knight, he may have found a new home for himself by now. It’s just TF that I’m worried about. Wherever he is, I know he is planning on finding Knight and killing him. So just like anything that lives in existence, I must kill him first.” 

There was tension in the air as TK’s words lingered amongst everyone. 

They were heavy in their meaning, and yet Ventus remained the most curious one out of them all, “Was there anyone else besides Knight?”

TK as he continued to look into the fire, almost as if he was put into a trance by it, “There were two. Lawman is dead and long gone, ironically by Knight’s design unintentionally. The other one goes by the name of Rainbow Dash, but a different version of her. Knight gave her the name of Factory Dash as she torments souls just like I do in her ‘rainbow factory’.  She admires me and has become my apprentice, but most times she wants nothing to do with Knight so she is not much help most of the time.”

Glacio then brought up an interesting question, “When you said you were the devil, what did you mean by that?” 

TK finally looked back up from the fire and stared at Glacio was a hard look, even if you couldn’t see it, “I am the devil. Despite my creation, Knight gave me the story of once being human. I then put on the suit and never took it off. After my death in my universe, the suit was then bounded to me, and the path that was set for me was to then kill  a devil named Satan and take his powers and his throne in hell. There, I rule over demons and damned souls while “God” who thinks created the universe tries to kill me as he sends his angels after me. All the while they think their god is the creator when they are none the wiser. Lawman should have been in hell with me though, but something went wrong. Knight doesn’t know what happened either. But I don’t blame him, the universes have their own rules and neither of us are sure how it all works still.  Like I said, it’s complicated, yet simple.”

Glacio was going to talk more, but TK noticed and just kept talking, “Despite the confusion and the oddity of my story, it is as simple as it sounds. I was made to be the way that I am by someone else. How I feel, what I see, what I think, how I act; it’s all by design. And yet I can’t think of it ever being different as I was not made to be that way. I am the way that I am because I was made to be this way. And I embrace it all.” 

Everyone fell silent to TK. 

TK continued to speak with wisdom, yet with resilience as he looked up towards the sky and beyond the Eternal Night, “In the vast array of universes, you think your existence is meaningless, yet it doesn’t matter how many there are of you. You are you. You exist. I exist. And that’s all that matters. With what you do with your existence is entirely up to you to decide. Just make sure it’s the path you tend to follow to the end. Most of ourselves will end in nothingness while the few will end with a meaning to exist. Just hope yours is the one that actually means something in the end. Existence, it’s the only thing that makes sense to us, and yet there is more to see beyond even our own realities. The only question is what existence lies beyond everything?”

The only thing that could be heard was the crackling sound of the campfire as everyone stared blankly at TK and at the stars beyond the Eternal Night. They were starting to think what TK was once he was made from the mind of someone else that was less than him. And yet no matter for the reason of the creation, it was only a struggle for living and existence that meant most. 

Ventus looked at TK with a sense of realization as he looked upward as he scratched the back of his head, “Wow. I never thought of it liked that. I knew there were other worlds maybe but…. When you put it like that….” 

TK interrupted him and continued in a calm manner, “Not many do. Most if they catch a single hint that there are other universes, most tend to think small of it and see no more of it other than as a mirror to themselves. They do not have the third eye to look past it all and to see what lies beyond everything that they perceive to be as their reality. And so most living things in most universes lack ambition to explore the out of bounds and into others. It becomes more astonishing to know that only a handful have seen the outside of the universes, let alone been to another one that was not a reflection of themselves. However, the universes are a big place; anything can happen at any time.”

TK then let the silence roll in once more, allowing the others to give thought to his words. John on the other hand got up without anyone noticing and walked away from the fire and to a nearby spot in the clear to gaze upon the stars of the Eternal Night alone.

Glacio however was the only one to speak up as he seemed regretful of his past choices, “TK I’m…. sorry for how I treated you. I thought you had something more sinister plotted against us. But I see now that there are more than just us out there or even here. And while it’s still hard to wrap our minds around, I’d like to say on behalf of us all that we apologize for misjudging you. And we would like for you to continue on our journey with us.” 

All TK could muster up in response was a half effort grunt as she nodded his head towards him. Glacio smiled and figured it was the best he could give to as apology accepted, even if maybe he didn’t really mean it. TK on the other hand noticed John’s absence and scanned to see that he was far behind the others by his lonesome self. 

TK got up with his chest out, “Rest up, we’re leaving in four hours.”

TK walked as the other looked towards each other and talked amongst themselves quietly about TK’s story. TK quietly walked over to John as he had his back turned. TK stood right next to him silently like a ninja as John seemed to have noticed, yet did not care about TK’s presence. 

TK tilted his head to try to see what John was viewing up in the sky, “Don’t give up John. You’ll see her again one way or another. Here or in another plane of existence, you’ll see her again. For now though, focus on getting your title back and your home. We’ll get him, together even if it comes down to that. Just whatever you do, don’t stop, and embrace whatever rage and hatred that you have built up inside. Those who do not embrace it are the weak ones and eventually die off with a whimp.”

TK then turned his head to stare at John in a peculiar state, “I don’t know you. I don’t know what your endgame is, let alone how you even seem to function as a living thing. But I do know that somewhere deep within you, you are more within you than you let out. Take your time John.” 

John as the last second looked at TK as he turned around walked back towards the others. In his head, all John could think to himself was the peaceful tranquility of the moment.