A couple of our Rahkshi dragged Sombra towards us.

“You may have defeated me” he said “But Teridax still stands, and when you are dead at his feet, I will take my rightful place alongside him, where I belong.

“The only place you belong in is an M.C. Escher drawing” Sombra gave me an odd look whilst Twilight rolled her eyes “you’ll understand what I’m talking about soon enough, take him away”

“M.C. Escher?” she asked, raising an eyebrow “Really?” I shrugged, Vapaa ran over.

“Guys, we have a problem”

“Let me out of here” Sweetie Bell snarled, trying to get out of her cell.

“Let me guess” I said, turning to Vapaa “Rahkshi of anger?” Vapaa nodded as Sweetie Bell fired a bolt of magic at the Plexiglas wall, causing it to ricochet all around the cell.

“How can we solve this?” he asked, at that moment Rarity galloped in.

“Sweetie Bell!?” she exclaimed, before turning to us “Let her out of this cell right now!”

“That wouldn’t be such a good idea” I said “she’s been struck by a blast from a Rahkshi of Anger, until we figure out how to help her she’ll try to kill anyone she come across, she even tried to kill her fellow Crusaders and leaving Scootaloo with a broken wing” Sweetie Bell groaned and held her head in her hooves.

“G-g-get out of my head!” she screamed, before slumping slightly and looking at us with a pleading look “I’ve… got a moment…I can’t…hold it off…for long, but…if you can’t help…me. Promise me you’ll stop me…permanently” Rarity put a hoof against the see-through wall.

“Sweetie, don’t talk like that!” she pleaded.

“Rarity…ungh, Scoot’s got a…argh…broken wing…GET OUT...Because of me” she said, shutting her eyes tightly to try and block it out “I…don’t want…to…hurt you too…’but I will if a have to’…get out of my head”

“Come on, Sweetie Bell” I said “fight back”

“I’m…trying” she said, holding her head in her hooves, the white aura surrounding her was starting to falter “it’s…no…I…won’t…hurt them…noooo…” the white aura glowed brightly and Sweetie Bell returned to a rage driven state.

“Come on, Sweetie Bell” I pounded the wall of the cell with a fist “don’t you dare give up”

“I hate you!” she growled, before her resolve failed slightly “No…I…don’t…help me!”

“How is she able to fight it?” Vapaa asked.

“I think it’s to do with the mental training she received” I said “I think it’s allowing her to resist it, but only just” Luna walked in.

“I came as soon as I could” she said, before watching Sweetie Bell for a few moments and turning to me “this is a potent curse, I cannot remove it. This is her battle, but if she can’t win, it will consume and destroy her”

“Hang on” I said “I think I have an idea, you’ll probably hate me for it, but it might work”

“What are you suggesting?” Luna asked.

“Cognitive recalibration” I said, before teleporting inside the cell and punching Sweetie Bell on the back of the head, knocking her unconscious in the process. The white aura dissipated completely.

“What in Celestia’s name!?” Rarity exclaimed, banging her hooves against the wall.

“Cognitive recalibration…” I went to say, but was interrupted.

“A restart of the synapsis” the recently ascended Twilight said, walking forward “most commonly caused by a sudden impact to the cranial region”

“In English?” Vapaa asked.

“I hit her really hard on the head” I said, rolling my eyes, before kneeling down and picking up an unconscious Sweetie Bell “and it seems to have worked”

“I did notice the sudden lack of white aura” Luna said, Rarity just stood there, mouth agape.

“You hit my sister on the head!” she exclaimed.

“I saved your sisters life!” I shot back, before teleporting out of the cell, Rarity just humphed before turning around and walking out with her head held high, once she was gone I muttered “still as snotty as ever. Twilight, if you would be so kind as to transfer her to more comfortable accommodation” Twilight frowned at me before nodding and taking Sweetie Bell in her magic, she then teleported away.

“Whilst I can’t say I totally agree with your methods” Luna said “I’ll admit they do yield results, only time will tell if it totally cured her. Until we meet again I bid you two farewell” she then teleported out of the room.

“Right” I said “time to check on Vinyl”

I was stood outside a hospital room.

“How is she?” I asked, Nurse Redheart sighed.

“The effects will wear off, eventually” she said “but if you want my advice, let her sit the next battle out. I understand that every Toa is important to you, but it’s better letting her sit this one out and having her for the battle after, than making her fight in this battle and being unable to fight ever again” I nodded and sighed.

“Thank you, Redheart” I said “can I go see her?” she nodded.

“Yes, but make it quick” she said, I thanked her before walking inside. Minion was sat on a chair, watching Vinyl, who was sleeping peacefully. Aurora was sleeping on Minions laps

“Hey, brother” I said.

“Hey” he said.

“Look” I said, sitting in the chair next to the one he was sitting in “the nurse said it would be better for Vinyl to not fight in Canterlot. I know you really care abut her, so if you want to stay here and look after her, I’ll understand” Minion nodded.

“Thank you, brother” he said “I would have stayed with her anyway. I promised her I’d stay by her side, and I’m not going back on that. Plus I’ve been meaning to spend some quality time with her and Aurora, she was so upset when she heard what happened to Vinyl, she was in floods of tears and it took me forever to calm her down” at this point Aurora stirred.

“Mmm, Dad?” she asked.

“Yes, dear” he asked.

“Is Mom going to be okay?” she asked, tears starting to form in her eyes. I can’t even begin to imagine what my brother felt like, because my heart broke at that point.

“Oh, come here” Minion said, pulling her into a hug “yes, she’ll be fine. The Nurse says she’ll get better and you, me and your Mom are going to be taking it easy for a little while, your Uncle says we can stay here whilst they go to Canterlot” Aurora looked at me with her eyes full of hope.

“Really!?” she asked, I nodded.

“Yes, because Vinyl, Minion and you are part of my family, and because you’re my favourite niece” I said, she gave me an odd look

“I’m your only niece” she said.

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t my favourite niece” I said “it just means there’s no risk of anyone else taking your place as my favourite niece” I tapped her snout with my finger, making her giggle. Vinyl woke and sat up with a groan, Aurora’s eyes widened. Vinyl looked at Aurora and smiled softly.

“Hey, kid” she said softly, before holding her arms out “come here” Aurora didn’t need to be asked twice and she flew over to Vinyl.

“I was so scared, Mom” Aurora said “I thought you were going to…” she trailed off and began crying again.

“Oh shh, I’m fine” Vinyl said, holding her adoptive daughter and rubbing her back comfortingly “a little thing like this isn’t gonna keep me down for long”

“Vinyl?” I said “about Canterlot…” she looked at me.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The nurse said it would be best for you to sit this one out…” Vinyl cut me off.

“What!?” she asked “no way, I want to help”

“Very well then, if you want to make this difficult” I said “Vinyl Scratch, as your superior officer, I’m ordering you to sit this one out, no excuses”

“So you’re pulling rank on me” she said.

“If it means you’ll survive until the fight after, then yes” I said “Minion’s sitting this one out as well”

“I will not stand around doing nothing whilst you go and kill yourself!” she said.

“Mom! Stop!” Aurora pleaded “please, Uncle V.K. doesn’t want you to hurt yourself, and I don’t want you to either” Vinyl’s expression softened and she sighed before nodding.

“Okay, Aurora” she said “I’ll sit this one out, for you” at that moment the nurse poked her head around the door.

“Vuur Koning?” she asked “I’m afraid your time is up here” I nodded before standing up.

“I guess I’ll either see you just before or after the battle then” I said, Minion and Aurora nodded, but Vinyl just pouted as I left the room.

*POV 3rd person*

Sweetie Bell shook her head to try and block out the…voices, for lack of a better word. That’s the best way she could describe them; voices that whispered in the back of her mind. She was currently strapped to the bed she was resting on, and Applebloom was sat in a chair placed against the wall.

“Come on, Sweetie Bell” Applebloom said “yawl can fight it”

“And if I don’t!?” she snapped, before her expression softened “sorry, that was the anger talking, how’s Scootaloo?” Applebloom sighed.

“She took it pretty hard” Applebloom said, rubbing the back of her neck “Ah don’t know if she’ll trust yawl”

“Bucking great!” Sweetie Bell snapped “sorry, anger again. But seriously, our friendship in tatters is the last thing we need” Applebloom nodded.

“Ah agree, but if it does come to you and Scoots not talking to each other?” she said “Ah’ll be there, for both of yawl”

“Thank you” Sweetie Bell said “I think it’s gone, for now at least”

“Ah’ll admit” Applebloom said, absent mindedly rubbing her jaw “you have a mean swing” Sweetie Bell giggled quietly, it soon got louder and eventually Applebloom joined in until they were laughing like friends again.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I stood on one side of a set of iron bars, Sombra was on the other side glaring at me.

“I suppose this is your Idea of a joke” he said, glancing back at his large cell. It was based off of an M.C. Escher drawing, with multiple points of gravity and floors on every wall, plus a hell of a lot of staircases.

“You can thank Discord for this” I said “look on the bright side, at least you won’t get bored, you have multiple gardens. And the stairs, don’t forget the stairs” Sombra facehoofed.

“Why does everypony think I have some weird obsession with stairs?” he asked rhetorically “the castle was very tall, how else was somepony to get to the top”

“You could also use it for letting Slinky’s go down” he gave me an odd look and I chucked one at him, he caught it in his magic.

“What is this…thing?” he asked, holding one end in his magic and letting the other stretch down to the floor.

“A children’s toy” I said “place it upright at the top of a set of stairs and give the top a nudge, that should keep you entertained for the next few hundred years, ta-ta” I then walked around the corner and stopped before activating my mask of stealth and creeping back up to the door. Sombra looked around before walking to the edge of a stair case and placing the Slinky at the edge, he then nudged the top with a hoof and his face lit up when it proceeded to slink down the stairs.

Next Chapter: 12 Hearts of protosteel Estimated time remaining: 11 Minutes