Chapter 25 – A Fight Amongst Lovers

For two long, agonizing weeks, Ford Mustang has been dreaming for this moment for a very long time. The moment in which he can finally be reunited with his Rainbow Dash and put Arrogon in his place for all the trouble he has caused to them. But now, that dream has been turned into a living nightmare as he faces the mare he endearingly loves so much being used as a manipulated tool for the truly vile villain right behind her!

“Rainbow…? Rainbow, can you hear me?” Ford gingerly takes a step forward as he tenderly calls out to his possessed marefriend. “It’s me… Ford Mustang, remember?”

“She can’t hear you…” Arrogon points it out for him as he leisurely gets off his chair before walking closer to his feminine counterpart. “…nor can she see you. She doesn’t even know that you’re still alive at this point."

"What did you do to her?!” Mustang demands in outrage.

“Simple.” he composedly explains with pleasure. “I made her into the perfect servant who will obey my every command. Oh sure, she put up quite a fight at first. You would have been so proud of her. But her strong will was already cracked the moment she realized that she will never see you again, and in good time, my will embodied her mind and soul. All of her memories are sealed away, while she is trapped in her own darkness of despair. Her loyalty is now mine to claim. Mine and mine alone.”

As Arrogon brings his hoof closer to the impassive Rainbow Dash, Ford grinds his teeth severely as he witnesses the dark overlord slimily caressing her unresponsive face. “I must say, I can see why you were so fond of her.” Arrogon comments admiringly as he slowly traces his armored hoof downward across Rainbow’s contours, which adds more enraging fuel to the gritted Mustang. “So fierce. So passionate. So driven. Why, when I first saw her charging towards me, I could see the fire within those determined eyes of hers. In a way, I can see a little of myself in her. That’s why I knew she would make the perfect companion for myself.”

“You don’t know a damn thing about her!” Ford retorts harshly. “You’ve practically stripped out everything in her life that made her wonderful in the first place, just so you can mold her to your liking!”

“Ahh… but she will have a new life!” he counters with depraved giddiness as he coolly walks back to his specially made throne with the Twilight Sparkle’s Element of Magic mounted on top. “One where she will lead my army across the lands! Claiming them all under my name! Why, with her extraordinary abilities, I will conquer this world in a matter in days! And who knows… if she serves me well, I might have other plans for her... as my beloved queen!”

“And as a puppet no less!” Ford mutters in an aggravating growl.

“A small price to pay I know, but I’ll get over it quickly.” he shrugs without a care.

“You bastard!”

Having all he can take from the smug tyrant, Ford springs into action as he furiously darts for Arrogon. But his righteous retribution is swiftly obstructed by the cursed Rainbow, thanks to her distinguishable speed. Because of his brainwashed marefriend in the way, he had to come to sudden halt so he doesn’t misguidedly take his overwhelming anger out on her.

“Careful.” Arrogon openly mocks the other stallion with a wave of his hoof. “You know how protective she can be towards her friends.”

“Enough of this!” Ford shouts pass the stationary mare. “If you’re as powerful as you say you are, then stop hiding behind your pawns and fight me!”

“Ehh… no. I’m in no mood to fight you right now.” he dismisses the returning challenger uninterestedly. “But if you’re looking for a fight, then prepares you should you take it up with your marefriend. Oops! Sorry, my mistake… I meant to say ‘ex-marefriend.’” he rephrases to add more salt to the wound. “But be warned, o’ noble hero. Anything you do to her may have some seriously fatal consequences from your actions. So if you wish to face me, then your only chance to do that is to kill her first. So, what’s it going to be, pony? Will you kill your long-lost love in order to challenge me, or will you sacrifice yourself to allow her to live? Your choice.”

As Arrogon takes joy over what’s at play here, Ford is internally conflicted on how he can overcome this. He would never take the risk on harming Rainbow Dash, yet he can’t just give up now after everything he went through in the last few weeks. No matter how hopeless or unfeasible the situation may be, he won’t let Arrogon intimidate him as he is determined to find a way out of this chaos orchestrated by the arrogant Destroyer.

“I will never submit to your sick, twisted games, Arrogon!” he answers sternly. “I will free Rainbow Dash from this curse you’ve placed upon her, and after that’s out of the way… you’re mine!”

“Oh-ho! You still believe you can save her yourself?” he responds amusingly. “This shall be most entertaining! Very well, let us put it to the test, shall we?” After that, Arrogon calls out to the corrupted Rainbow Dash in a mockingly sweet voice, “Captain, do you see that stallion right in front of you? Here are my first orders: KILL HIM.”

After listening to her dark master’s wishes, Rainbow immediately rushes at Ford for the kill in a blinding burst of speed. Thankfully, Ford quickly dodges the charging attack by rolling out of the way before the shadow mare’s armored hooves skidded across the floor until she comes to a complete stop.

As Ford leaps high into the air, Rainbow mindlessly continues her pursuit by flying after him. Before Hindel’s training, Ford may not be able to elude Rainbow Dash with her naturally gifted speed, but now, he is on equal terms with his possessed pursuer as they zigzag across the vast, gloomy throne room. Meanwhile, the hackling Arrogon is taking purely disgusting delight at the show he has orchestrated as he waits in anticipation on the outcome of this deadly, little game of his.

I can’t keep doing this forever! Ford muses to himself while he continues to dodge every one of Rainbow’s swift attacks. I need to save as much of my strength as I can for Arrogon, so that in time, the girls are prepared with the Elements of Harmony!

As he is darting across the room, he is constantly thinking of a way to free Rainbow from Arrogon’s dark magic without inflicting any harm to her. Every time he gets a glimpse of Rainbow’s face, which is concealed by her muzzled visor, he is almost distracted by her flaming, magenta eyes. But overtime, his sharp, observant eyes are shifted into something else. Right between her soulless eyes, there is an oval-shaped gemstone right in the center of her helmet. The shiny gemstone on her forehead shares the same characteristics as Arrogon’s.

Hmm… maybe that helmet is the very thing that’s responsible for her brainwashing! If I can just remove it somehow!

With a goal in mind, he starts to vigilantly look for any means to hold Rainbow off longer enough before he can take her helmet off. Luckily, he sees dozens of the tyrant’s signature banners hanging in the air and quickly puts his plan in motion. With Rainbow Dash right behind him, he snatches one of the black flags with teeth before he quickly loops around and tightly wraps around the pursuer’s body!

With her wings confined, Ford starts to wrestle the wicked helmet off as Rainbow frantically tries to wiggle her way out of her bind. With both of them in the struggle for Rainbow’s free will, they plummet towards the ground before they crash onto the floor. Despite the harsh landing, the blue-haired stallion is thankfully successful at removing the helmet off!

After crushing the accursed helmet for good measure, Ford carefully approaches his marefriend with worry as he removes the wrapping off of her. For Rainbow Dash, she is slightly dazed from the stumble while her eyes are still closed.

As he gently lays a hoof on the dazed mare, he softly calls out to her, “Rainbow, are you okay? Can you hear me now? Please say something for me!”

With her face turning towards him, her eyelids began to fidget as it looks like that they might reveal themselves. With high anticipation, he will finally get to see those lovely magenta eyes he fell in love with since the day he first met her. But in a snap, Ford flinches in alarm as Rainbow’s eyes are still just a pair of sizzling fireballs!

In the midst of his shock, the still-active puppet of Arrogon delivers a swift punch to him, and he flies right into a column nearby! After slamming into the pillar, Ford briefly collapses from the first hit as he starts to shake off his temporary paralysis. Distressfully, he just couldn’t get over the fact on how his first attempt at freeing Rainbow Dash utterly failed.

But his distress has to be pushed aside as the emotionless, dark cyan Pegasus comes down hard and firmly presses the pinned Mustang on the side of his head with a merciless fore hoof. Using both of his hooves, Ford puts enough force to resist Rainbow’s athletic strength without so much as crushing his skull like it's a watermelon. As he persists on opposing Dash’s might, Ford can hear the insulting laughter of his true adversary, who is still seated on his comfy chair.

“HAHAHAHAHA! You seriously thought that removing her helmet would free her from my control?!” Arrogon ruthlessly ridicules the vain hero. “A valiant effort, but my Dragonian Magic is infused within her, making it impossible for anypony to break her out of her never-ending trance! Now my dear captain, finish him off!”

Upon command from her tyrannical puppetmaster, the silent Rainbow Dash applies a lot more pressure in her fore hoof while the pinned Mustang counteracts that by putting more strength into his resistance. Despite his submission, Ford isn’t even close to giving up just yet.

“Come on, angel! Snap out of it!” he desperately calls out to her. “This isn’t you at all! Remember everything that made you who you truly are! What about living the dream as a Wonderbolt? What about all your best friends in Ponyville? What about me, your big, strong Mustang?”

It seems that no matter what Ford says, his words just fell unto deaf ears. But then, he feels something trickling onto his grounded face. Surprised by this sudden wetness, he shifts his curious eyes to see where it came from. Looking up, Ford’s heart nearly came to a standstill as he is shaken to see such a disheartened sight before him. Despite Rainbow’s inability to express emotion, somehow she is able to unconsciously cry out tears from her blazing, blank eyes!

He can’t explain it himself on how this is plausible, but Ford is certain that Rainbow is crying it out for somepony to help her. He can’t imagine the heartache and sorrow that his marefriend has been going through within the accursed darkness that Arrogon has trapped her in. It truly breaks his heart to see her like this.

Suddenly, a vision flashes within his mind. It was around the time where he too was drifting in his own void of darkness, when Arrogon nearly killed him. But that dreamy darkness was casted away with a warm breath of Hindel’s Draconian Magic. The same magic that not only revived him from his fatal wounds, but also gave him phenomenal powers. From this recollection, Ford discovers a way to save Rainbow Dash once and for all; the same way that his master, Hindel, has saved him!

With a quick burst of strength, Ford finally pushes the shadow knight off of him as she rolls backwards in the midst of her tumbling. But when Rainbow is about to recover, the determined stallion hastily rushes for her before he grapples her with his fore hooves. In response, she tries to push him away, but he doesn’t move an inch as he fixatedly stares into her sizzling eyes, which are still crying uncontrollably.

“I know why you cry.” Ford says to her softly in another attempt to reach out to her. In response, the conflictingly weeping mare very gradually eases up her resistance for reasons unknown to her own body.

“If my words can’t reach you, then let my actions speak for themselves!”

Pouring all of his heart and strength into this, Ford Mustang firmly pulls Rainbow Dash into a deep, longing kiss! But this kiss isn’t just meant to rekindle their long-lost romance. From that breathtaking kiss, Ford is exhaling his golden Draconian Magic into her possessed body. The incredibly divine warmth that Ford knows all too well is now traveling into her systems as it exterminates all traces of Arrogon’s dark magic. As the inner darkness is being vanquished, so too are her shadowy, exterior features. The dark shade of blue from her coat radiates into vivid cyan color. The rainbow colors from her iconic mane and tail return to their shimmering splendor. The rest of her armor starts to crumble off of her body. And the flames in her eyes are extinguished as they relapse into majestic, magenta orbs. At last, Rainbow Dash has been reverted back to her true, awesome self once again!

Gently cradled into his forelegs, the recovering mare groans heavily from her extended nightmare as she starts to wake up. Gradually, her eyelids lift themselves up, and to Ford’s overwhelming relief, he finally sees a glimpse of those mesmerizing magenta eyes of hers. After a couple of blinks from her drowsy eyes, her vision refocuses itself as it starts to see familiar shapes and colors of her familiar coltfriend. Once her vision is clear of any form of haziness, she silently stares right into tender, turquoise eyes of her big, strong Mustang. From immediately startled by the first thing she sees, it is as if Rainbow is looking directly at a ghost.

“F-F-Ford…? Is that really you?” she stammers in disbelief. Upon hearing the first words coming from her mouth since they were forcefully separated, Ford smiles widely with great amounts of joy after hearing that lovely voice of hers again.

“Yes, Dashie… it’s me.” he replies sweetly as he brushes one sweep of her beautiful hair.

After staring at him for quite some time, her wide, skeptical eyes began to leak out fresh tears as she frantically shakes her head from refusing the seemingly impossible truth right in front of her.

“No... no it can’t be!” she panics severely as she hysterically attempts to break away from his grasp. “You’re not real! You can’t be real! You’re just another illusion! Stay away from me!”

Noticing her sudden fear, Ford hastily reassures her, “Rainbow, it’s okay! It’s really me this time! I swear!”

Once he is able to grasp her shaky fore hoof, Ford brings it to his chest as he allows her touch to know that he is indeed real. From feeling the stallion’s soothingly melodic heartbeat, Rainbow begins to calm down as she looks back at the warm, smiling face of her coltfriend.

“See?” he comforts her. “I’m here for you right now.”

With her hoof pressed on the center of Ford's heart, she slowly but surely brings it up to his warm, gentle face. Once her fore hoof is placed on his cheek, she delicately rubs the soft, yet slightly rugged texture of his familiar fur. As she strokes the cheek of her returning lover, she finally breaks into a wide, blissful smile as tears continue to pour out of her beautiful eyes.

“It… it really is you!” Rainbow confirms tearfully with absolute, overwhelming joy. “This… is just too good to be true! I… I thought that I would never see you again!”

“Come on, Dashie!” he smirks humorously. “You can’t get rid of me that easily! You yourself trained me to be made out of tougher stuff, remember?”

After blinking a few times with a blank expression, her grin matches that with Ford as she chuckles in response, “I guess my awesome training paid off after all, huh?”

“It sure did, Rainbow.” he answers with a chuckle of his own.

As the two were just enjoying their heartfelt reunion, their tender moment is interrupted by the slow, echoing clap of the other stallion in the room. Putting their reunion on an abrupt hold, Rainbow and Ford sharply turn their heads as they intensely glare at the dark, blank stallion while he continues his sarcastic clap for the two. With Rainbow Dash safe and back to her true self, Ford sternly stands in front of her as he remembers that he has some unfinished business to take care first before he and Dash have some major catching-up to do.

“Well done, pony. Well done.” the emotionless tyrant praises for Ford’s valor before he ends his clapping and gets off of his seat. “You’ve managed to surprise me yet again. It seems I keep underestimating you. A mistake I shall remedy that IMMEDIATELY!”

Without restraint, Arrogon angrily flashes his soulless eyes as his dark blue magic constricts around Ford and Rainbow gasps in immense fear on having to relive that horrifying experience again!

“This time, I will see to it that you will not come back ever again!” Arrogon snarls at the continuously defiant pony.

Just as the dark stallion initiates his levitation spell, he notices something is wrong with his usual tactic. He was able to haul Ford before like he was just a feather, but now, the glaring Pegasus feels like he weighs almost the same as a whole mountain. Arrogon tries to put more effort into his telekinesis as his flaring eyes intensify, but it matters little as Ford’s unexplained mass prevents the perplexed tyrant from any further.

Seeing how he can’t lift Ford off the ground, the aggravating Arrogon tries to wrap this up by crushing him with his magic alone. But in response, the gradually infuriating Mustang unleashes his own Draconian Magic as his golden aura progressively pushes back Arrogon’s psychic constriction. As Ford’s rage intensifies in the same level as his magic, the throne room begins to shake tremendously due to the immense magnitude of the stallions’ standoff. At first, Rainbow was shocked by Ford’s unforeseen powers, but now, she couldn’t help herself but smile in awe as she notices Arrogon’s futility over moving the surprisingly indomitable Mustang. And once the infuriating overlord is reaching his breaking point over his telekinetic powers, Ford has enough with these mind games as he pours all of his fury and powers into a thunderous roar!

"RAAAAAARRR!!"

The deafening sound of his dragon’s roar is so devastating, that it not only shattered all of the stained glass windows in the room, but it ultimately breaks the concentrated, dark aura of the greatly startled Arrogon!

“That’s… that’s impossible!” he exclaims in staggering disbelief. “How could he--?!”

But before he can finish that sentence, Arrogon fails to respond as Ford Mustang charges right at him!

POW!

And for the second time since his return, Arrogon is caught off-guard and is punched in the face by the same pony as before! Only this time, Ford’s amplified strength is hundred times greater than the last time they met. Because of the immeasurable might of Mustang, the unresponsive tyrant is greatly propelled from that incredible force as he smashes right through his black throne and the castle’s wall! But that didn’t stop there. Hurled through the air at breakneck speed, Arrogon then crashes right through his own magical force field with little to no resistance stopping him! As the accursed dome that has trapped Canterlot’s citizens for so long breaks into countless, tiny shards before they fade from existence, Arrogon continues to fly off in such a great distance away from the world-renowned city before he finally crashes into the great, expansive plains of Canterlot.

After holding in all that fury for so long, Ford lets out a heavy sigh as he is very much satisfied on giving that ruthless pony a taste of his fully developed powers. Turning around, he is surprised to see Rainbow’s reaction after she saw the display of his overwhelming abilities. At first, she expresses a gaping, blank expression towards the slightly worried stallion, but then her face shifts to a very wide, awestricken smile as she rushes in for a long-overdue hug from him. Almost tackled by his marefriend, Ford is more than happy to return the affectionate gesture as he is truly thankful that he has his Rainbow Dash back in his hooves.

“Okay, I give up!” she looks at him with a pleased smile and a cocked eyebrow while she is still wrapped in his embrace. “Who are you, and what have you done with my coltfriend?”

With a smirk, he answers wittily, “Perhaps this might convince you other else.”

Gently, he pulls her towards him and delivers an affectionate kiss on her lips. It only lasts for a few seconds, but it is enough to help reignite the love that was never forgotten in the first place.

After breaking that kiss softly, he grins and asks for her opinion, “There… satisfied?”

“Are you kidding me? I haven’t seen you in like ages, and this is the best you can give me?” she goads him with a recognizable smirk.

“Oh trust me, Rainbow… I’m just getting started!”

Accepting her challenge without a second thought, Ford quickly pulls Rainbow back in for another smack on the lips. Only this time, this kiss is a lot deeper than before. In the midst of this, Rainbow is briefly surprise by Ford’s unusual boldness, but never the less, she welcomes it endearingly as her body starts to melt in his warm, longing embrace. After a much longer period of time, they gradually break their latest kiss as it leaves Rainbow Dash completely breathless and slightly dazed.

“So… did I pass this time?” Ford asks for her opinion once again with a confident smirk after examining the mare’s reaction.

Astonished by that second kiss, she composes herself as she confirms with a wide grin, “Totally!”

Afterwards, she resumes to hug him tightly as she expresses her amazement from the recent turn of events. “I still just… can’t believe it! You’re really here! When did you get so awesome all of a sudden?! I mean with the way you held your own against that stupid stare of his, and that roar of yours, and how you knocked that guy right on outta here!”

After a brief chuckle over seeing Rainbow’s usual excitement and cheerfulness, he explains to her with an amusing smile, “It’s a really long story, so I’ll tell you about it later.” Then, he notices Twilight Sparkle’s Element of Magic laying right next to him after it fell off from Arrogon’s broken throne. Realizing on what’s the next step to take in order to put a permanent end to Arrogon's reign, he picks up the crown and hands it to Rainbow. “But right now, you need to take this with you and go find Twilight and the others!”

“Oh my gosh!” she panics alarmingly. “I almost forgot about them! We’ve gotta save them!”

“They're fine, Rainbow. We’ve already freed them, and they should be fetching the Elements of Harmony right now.”

A bit relieved from hearing that the rest of her friends are safe, she starts to hover off the ground and vigorously takes the initial lead. “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s get those Elements, so we can send that Arrogon packing on a one-way trip to oblivion!”

Rainbow starts to take flight so she can find her friends right away, but then, she stops herself as she notices that Ford Mustang hasn’t budge an inch from his spot. Instead, he’s sternly gazing outside of the castle’s crashed opening for some reason as Rainbow Dash couldn’t figure out on what he’s looking at.

“Come on, Mustang!” she insists as she tries to pull him from his fixated trance. “Let’s get going!”

“No.” he responds strictly to her surprise. “You need to go on ahead. I have to face Arrogon until you and rest of the girls get the Elements ready.”

“Wait a minute!” Rainbow Dash says him as she blocks Ford’s viewpoint. “You can’t go out there just yet! Let’s find our friends first, and then we can face him together!”

Without paying much attention to her, Ford walks around her as he single-mindedly approaches the cracked opening on the wall. “I can’t let Arrogon find out anything on what our real plan is! I need to hold him off long enough until we can use the Elements of Harmony on him!”

“No way! It’s too risky to pull off a stunt like that! I won’t let you go out there!”

Ignoring her retort, he continues toward the makeshift exit. “There’s no time to argue! I need to do this! It’s the only way to defeat him!”

As he is about to takeoff, he is stopped by Rainbow Dash with her forelegs locked around his torso. He is about to argue with her, but he stops himself as he sees the mare weeping heavily right before his eyes.

“Please!” she pleads in a whimpering manner. “I… I… I just don’t want to lose you again!”

Touched by her rare display of emotional sincerity, Ford pulls the lamenting Pegasus closely as he tenderly nuzzles her. After wipe some of her tears away with a soft fore hoof and lightly kissing her on the forehead, he warmly reassures her, “You’ll never lose me again, angel. Not now and not ever.”

While wiping her remaining tears, she asks of him in a cute, pouty expression, “Promise?”

“Pinkie Promise.” he answers with a sincere smile as his waving fore hoof goes through the motions of the unbreakable promise.

Reluctantly at first, Rainbow silently permits him with a smile and a nod much to Ford’s satisfication. As he starts to turn around so he can confront Arrogon head-on, he is held back once again with a fore hoof.

“Wait!”

Curiously, he turns back around to can see what else Rainbow wants from him. But to his surprise as well as his delight, Rainbow firmly presses her warm lips onto his as he welcomes it without any resistance to her never-ending affection towards him.

Once their lips depart from each other, Rainbow clarifies it to him smoothly, “For luck.”

With a deeply satisfied grin, he responds coolly, “With you, I’m already the luckiest pony alive!”

After they reluctantly part ways from their latest embrace, Rainbow picks up the Element of Magic and teasingly commands her brave coltfriend with a winning grin, “Now go kick his ass, Mustang!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

With spirits and determination renewed thanks to Rainbow Dash’s warm affection, Ford Mustang takes off like a rocket and heads out to confront his deadliest adversary.

Miles away from Canterlot, in the great plains of Equestria, Arrogon the Destroyer lies motionlessly in a huge crater made from the brutal fall he just endured thanks to the unforeseen strength of the lone stallion. Inside his dark, twisted mind, he tries to figure out this greatly perplexing enigma. How could a pony like that gain so much power in such a short span of time?

Then he recalls that excruciatingly painful punch he just received. Despite its greater level of power, there is something familiar about that hit compared to the last time he was punched like that. Comparing to the two punches from that one Pegasus, they share one thing in common: they possess the same burning sensation as the powers Arrogon wields. Only Ford's has a sickeningly warm sensation that Arrogon despises so much. Next, he recalls what else he just witness recently. The fiery, golden aura… the recognizable roar… it’s all starting to make sense. They're all characteristics of Draconian Magic! And there was only one creature in this world that had a hand in this inconceivable treachery!

“HINDEL!”

Upon cursing out the name of the one responsible putting him in this mess, Arrogon immediately gets up from the ground and swiftly leaps out of the crash site. As his anger increases drastically, Arrogon almost misses Ford Mustang landing suddenly right in front of him.

“It was Hindel, wasn’t it?!” he demands out of the blue Pegasus in outrage. “He taught you Draconian Magic, didn’t he?! I should have known that accursed lizard would have pulled something like that by training another pony to fight his own battles!”

“That ‘accursed lizard’ was my friend!” Ford snaps back with merciless anger equivalent to Arrogon’s. “And now, you’re going to pay for everything you have done to this world!”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Ford Mustang!” he introduces himself before he points firm fore hoof at Arrogon similar in fashion of a famed, fictional lawyer with spiky hair back on Earth. “And I’ll see to it that you remember that name by the time I’m done kicking your ass!”

After glaring at each other sternly for a brief moment of time, Arrogon lightly chuckles to himself before he responds to the determined stallion in an amusing manner, “Ford Mustang… I must say, this is a surprising turn of events. But I should count myself lucky.”

Gradually, the demonic pony summons his pair of fiery wings before he slowly rises in the air as the two stallions kept their stern gazes locked on to each other. “Ford Mustang, as per your death wish, you shall have the honor and privilege to experience the full extent of my powers! So prepare yourself, warrior, for you are about to feel the wrath of a true god!”

Undaunted of villain’s fierce intimidation, Ford strongly plants his fore hooves into the soft ground as he comes up with a proper response to the Destroyer’s ultimate challenge.

“BRING… IT… ON.”

Author's Notes:

Next time: The Final Battle - Ford Mustang vs. Arrogon the Destroyer!

For what's to come after this, I will be pulling off some of the biggest chapters I will ever write on this website. Basically, the final battle will be divided into two chapters, so essentially, the climax to this story with be a two-parter. So here's my plan for that: I will write both of them and try to submit them simultaneously (maybe at least by one day). I figure it would be fair to submit them at the same time instead of publishing one new chapter and working on the next one in the span of a week or two. The catch is that it will take a long time for me to complete both of them, so it might take up a month or so upon their completion. Hopefully, you can bear your patience for me on this matter. But then again, most of you had to wait for an even longer period of time for some of your favorite stories to be updated, so I'm sure you can handle it for the time being. Cough! Two's a Company, Three's a Crowd Cough!