With love, to my new family

   As soon as the chains and the black glass broke, a torrent of darkness surrounded Francisco, and two orange eyes shone in front of him.

   “I’ve discovered who you are,” said the shapeshifter, with a firm but not hostile voice tone. “Fluttershy was right, you are my sad thoughts. You are all the hatred I feel towards Earth, my desire to forget, maybe even destroy, that ugly world. That’s why I imprisoned you here when I came to Equestria, because I have no need of you anymore. This world is not ugly, I don’t want to destroy it.”

   In the blackness, the orange eyes retreated a bit.

   “You are scared, aren’t you?” asked Francisco. “Because, if there’s no Earth, if I don’t hate my new home, you will cease to exist. That’s why you took control of my being in the instant Twilight gave you the strength. Am I right?”

   The Beast nodded.

   “I’m sorry,” said Francisco. “I shouldn’t have exiled you to this prison so recklessly. But it’s not too late, you don’t have to be chained, your cage doesn’t have to be black. I’ve come to make peace with my feelings, with all of them, even those regarding that world I want to forget. Come on, let’s turn this hatred in something more productive.”

   The Dark Beast waited, in silence, for seconds that looked like hours. Then, his orange eyes disappeared, and the wave of darkness swallowed Francisco.

   But this time, he retained control.

------------------------------------------

   Celestia’s sun was shining over the two fighting behemoths. The Dark Beast was the only thing that stood between the Scorpius, bigger than him, and the destruction of Ponyville.

   The starry arachnid attacked with his tail, but Francisco avoided it. Then, he used his fire breath again. His objective was to push the scorpion back to the Everfree Forest, since they were still too close to Ponyville. It would be impossible to fight in that place without causing some damage to the town.

   The Scorpius attacked again, this time with his pincers. Francisco turned his wings into a second pair of hands and blocked the emerald claws. Then, he used his other hands to stop the attack of the stinger. The shadows of the Dark Beast turned into an enormous dark fist and punched the Scorpius in the mouth, forcing him to step back. Then, Francisco recovered his wings and flew to the sky. They had already entered a bit in the Everfree Forest, it was time to attack that bug from above.

   There was a flash of light in the right shoulder of the Beast. Francisco looked, and saw Twilight, who had just teleported. She lost the balance and fell, but the shapeshifter caught her with his hand.

   “I’m glad to see you!” said the purple unicorn. “Say, do you have the Beast under control?”

   “Yes,” answered Francisco. “But I don’t know if this would be enough to defeat that thing.”

   On the ground, the Scorpius was looking at him, raising his pincers.

   “You have to be careful!” warned Twilight. “I’ve read about this creature! You have to watch out for the Antares Crown!”

   “The what?”

   “That thing!”

   Twilight pointed down with a hoof. In the body of the Scorpius, right above the two main eyes, there was a big red orb.

   “It is like an energy core,” explained the unicorn. “Like the heart, more or less.”

   “I understand. I can’t attack there, or I could kill the Scorpius. I don’t want to kill anypony... er, anything.”

   “Actually, the reason why you have to be careful is-”

   Then, the green arachnid fired several energy beams through the Antares Crown, hitting Francisco and taking him down. Twilight fell too, but Rainbow Dash caught her before she could hit the ground.

   The Dark Beast stood up, but the Scorpius shot more energy beams, which went up to the sky, and then fall. Francisco flapped his wings as strong as he could, and he created a black wind that diverted the enemy projectiles, sending nearly all of them back to the Scorpius, who was momentarily engulfed by explosions. The shapeshifter rushed towards him and put his claws right under the green cephalothorax. He also turned his wings into hands, again, and used them to immobilize the pincers. Then, he pushed up.

   His plan was to put the Scorpius on his back, leaving him defenseless and unable to attack. Francisco was protected in that position: the sting couldn’t reach him, neither could the energy beams of the Antares Crown, and the pincers were blocked. He only needed to keep pushing.

   But then, a hole opened in the belly of the Scorpius, and the Antares Crown appeared through it.

   “Son of a-”

   Francisco was hit by several energy beams, and his wings were completely destroyed. The Scorpius attacked one more time with his tail, and the Dark Beast couldn’t avoid it. The sting hit the head, brutally tearing off the three horns, which fell to the ground and disappeared in shadows.

   The Beast stepped back, roaring. The Scorpius hit him again, in the face, this time with a pincer, and then, as the final blow, he stung him in the stomach. Francisco fell to the ground, causing a small earthquake. After that, the green arachnid turned around and started to move towards Ponyville.

   The shapeshifter tried to stood up, but his body didn’t obey, it was too damaged. He thought about transforming into another thing, but he had been beaten up too bad to think in a new shape that could fight that giant scorpion.

   “I...” he mumbled. “I have... to protect...”

   He tried to stood up again, but it was futile. Too tired. Black blood was coming from his wound in the belly.

   Then, a pink body jumped on his damaged face.

   “Pinkie?” he asked.

   “Stand up!” she said. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”

***

   Still holding Twilight Sparkle on her hooves, Rainbow Dash flew in circles around the Scorpius, while the unicorn was shooting magic beams at him. However, the exoskeleton didn’t get a single scratch.

   “This is useless!” groaned the pegasus, who was starting to get tired. “We have to think in other thing!”

   “If only we could use the Elements... but we need to immobilize him first!”

   Then, the land trembled again. The Scorpius turned back.

   The Dark Beast was on his feet, surrounded by an indigo aura.

   “I need...” said Francisco. “I need wings.”

   And he grew two wings. White, feathered, and covered with yellow eyes. He also sprouted several horns and spikes through his body, all of them made of minerals. The wound of his belly transformed into several black tentacles, surrounded by a ring of yellow ghostly faces. Finally, his three lost horns grew again, but this time, they were made of cotton candy. Pinkie Pie was in one of them.

   “Leeeeeets gooooooo!” she shouted.

   Francisco roared and rushed towards the Scorpius, who launched more energy beams through the Antares Crown. The Beast extended his new wings, firing his own burst of energy beams and destroying the enemy projectiles in mid air. Then, he attacked with his fire breath, creating a curtain of flames that distracted the Scorpius. Francisco broke through his own fire and punched the scorpion in the mouth with his claw, now covered in diamonds.

   Then, before the Scorpius could react, the black tentacles of the Beast enlarged and wrapped themselves around the pìncers, the eight legs, and the tail. The colossal arachnid had been totally immobilized.

   Rainbow Dash flew to Francisco’s head, and Twilight shouted:

   “There’s something wrong with the Antares Crown! Is not supposed to be that big!”

   Like if it had heard the words of the unicorn, the red orb started to sink into the green body. Francisco used his claws to stop it and keep it on the surface.

   “We should ask Fluttershy to see this,” said Twilight. “She’s the animal expert.”

   “But this is not an animal, Twilight!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

   “It’s a bit big and it’s made of stars, but it’s still a scorpion, and scorpions are animals.”

   “Could you discuss it later?!” groaned Rainbow Dash. “Twilight, you’re too heavy!”

   “Excuse me?”

   Francisco wasn’t paying attention to the conversation. Some shadows had appeared in the surface of the Antares Crown, and were adopting a shape. A face... a human face.

   “Hello, little boy,” it said.

***

   Celestia was meditating in her room. She had been the ruler of all Equestria for one thousand years, and before that she had been the co-ruler for several centuries, and she had learned to listen the breath of the land. If the Princess closed her eyes and opened her heart, he could feel the mountains, the rivers, the clouds... even the Everfree Forest, although it was a strange place that looked like if it had come from a totally different world.

   Luna entered in the room.

   “How is it going, sister?” she asked.

   “They are fighting,” answered Celestia, opening her eyes. “Francisco is using his powers to help us.”    

   “Do you think they can win?”

   Celestia listened to the breath of the land again, and she perceived how the Dark Beast, in his new form, had immobilized the Scorpious.

   “I’m sure,” she smiled.

   But then, the two Princesses heard a frightening roar, and everypony in Canterlot heard it too. Like the loudest thunder of the most terrible storm, it came out from the Everfree Forest and flew across the entire land, echoing in the ears and minds of all the creatures, ponies or not. It even reached the far Appleloosa as a weak growl in the wind.

   It was a roar of rage.

***

   “You again?!” shouted Francisco. Pinkie almost fell from his head.

   “Like cockroaches, little boy,” smiled the dark face of Willy, in the surface of the Antares Crown. “You will never get rid of me.”

   “But I destroyed you! I made you explode! Every single cell of your body was burned!”

   “Are you sure? Because I think you forgot... a face.”

   Then, Francisco realized, and wanted to punch himself in the eye. Willy had took his face off during their battle, in a futile attempt to to scare him, and he had forgotten to destroy that slice of skin.

   “I crawled through the Everfree Forest,” explained Willy. “I was weak, but then I found this little green fella. Parasitizing his body was a piece of cake. Now, I will use his power to destroy everything you love... and to destroy you too, of course.”

   “This time, I will reduce every single atom of your being to nothingness.”

   “Ha! Now I am one with the Scorpius, a body that is not yours! You can’t make me explode with your thoughts anymore! And you cannot take me out of here without harming the Antares Crown, and I know you too well, you wouldn’t do that.”

   “And you can’t move. We’re both at the same situation.”

   “Oh, really?”

   The red orb became completely black, and a wave of shadows came out of it. Rainbow Dash and Twilight were pushed back, and Francisco’s head was completely engulfed by the darkness.

   Between the cotton candy horns, everything went totally black. Pinkie Pie could hardly see her own hooves. It was then when, she heard a familiar voice...

   “Pinkie... Let’s go play, shall we?”

   The dark mist opened, like a curtain, and revealed another pink pony, one with straight mane and tail. She was holding a knife on her hooves, and had a sinister grin on her face.

   “Let’s go play, shall we?” she repeated, coming closer to Pinkie. “With our friends... Yes, we will play with Rainbow Dash, and then with Rarity... Applejack could go next... How about Spike, or Applebloom and her friends? Oh, we’ll have so much fun... together...”

   Noises started to sound. Cries, voices who were screaming in pain and begging for their lives... The pink stranger was right in front of her.

   “Together..., she repeated.

   Then, Pikie Pie laughed.

   “What?” asked the other Pinkie, starting to fade in the shadows. “Why do you laugh?”

   “Because I remember you!” the real Pinkie honked the nose of her dopplegänger. “You were that nightmare I had the other day.”

   “Then, why do you laugh?!” repeated the false Pinkie. Her voice started to sound like Willy’s.

   “Because you were soooooooo implausible... I would never hurt my friends! And if you believe that, you don’t know me at all!.” She started to digress. “No, I would make chocolate cupcakes, because I love chocolate, and then I would share them with my friends, and I would have to make lots of them, because the last time Rainbow Dash ate more than the half. That pegasus is such a sweet tooth-”

   “Stop!”, shouted Willy, angered. “Shut up!”

   But Pinkie Pie kept digressing and laughing. The darkness retreated, its power had been defeated. The shadows returned to the Antares Crown, freeing Francisco from their grasp. In the head of the Beast, Pinkie was still laughing.

   “That trick won’t work again,” smiled the shapeshifter. “Not with them.”

   “So what?” grunted the face of Willy. “You can’t win either, you don’t have the power to expel me from this body!”

   “Oh, but I know six ponies who do have.”

   A light flashed on Francisco’s head, and Twilight and the other four appeared. At a sign of the unicorn, the six activated their Elements of Harmony, firing a rainbow at the Antares Crown. The colourful beam vanished the shadows, and Williy’s voice was heard for the last time in Equestria.

   Finally, both the Scorpius and Francisco were engulfed by a column of seven colours, which the two Princesses saw from a balcony in Canterlot.

***

   Eight green eyes blinked while the last traces of the seven-colored light vanished in the air. The Scorpius was confused. How had he gotten there? He was quite far away from his cave, almost outside the Everfree Forest. Why would he go there in the first place? With one of his pincers, the giant arachnid touched his Antares Crown. Everything seemed to be normal, so he shrugged (or he did the scorpion equivalent of shrugging) and decided to return to his home.

   In the woods, seven little figures looked at the starry titan as he went away.

   “Yippie!” laughed Pinkie Pie. “That was fun! Can we do it again, can we?”

   “Oh, please, no!” said Rarity. “Look at me, my hair is a mess! And my hooves are all muddy! Eeew!”

   “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill,” said Applejack. “Ah get worse in a regular day on the farm.”

   “Oh, shut up both of you!” groaned Rainbow Dash. “I’ve had to fly back and forth carrying Twilight, and I’m tired! Can we go home now?”

   The six mares looked at each other, and laughed.

   Pinkie Pie searched for the shapeshifter. The black stallion was contemplating the shadows of the Everfree Forest.

   “What do you say, Francisco?” she asked. “We go home?”

   He looked back at the pink pony, and smiled:

   “Yes. We go home.”

***

   It had been a crazy day. The Dark Beast, the Scorpius... Fortunately, the town had survived without a single building destroyed. Otherwise, that would have been the new entrance in the book: ‘The Worst Days of Ponyville.’

   The Cake family, including Pinkie, was returning to the Sugarcube Corner.

   “And then he transformed!” explained the pink pony, bouncing everywhere and re-enacting the battle against the Scorpius. “He had wings, and spikes, and horns made of cotton candy! And then he said Raaaaargh!, and shot fire, and it was like Booom, Flash, Ziuuuum! Francisco should work at parties, he would be better than a clown and a magician together! He would be like... a Clowician! No, better a Magiown. Or a Magilown...”

   ‘And here we go again...’ thought Mr. Cake, rolling his eyes.

   “Clowgician... Maclown... No, I think Magiclowcian sounds better.”

   The five entered in the Sugarcube Corner, and they were left speechless, even Pinkie Pie.

   A blue squid the size of an adult pony was using his long tentacles to put party decorations all over the place. There was a table in the middle of the store with several cakes, which undoubtedly had been baked by a novice, and yet they looked edible. There were also balloons of many different colors, and a banner that said: ‘With love, to my new family.’

   Then, Pound Cake sneezed, and the squid stopped. He looked back, and transformed into a black stallion.

   “Uh...” said Francisco, with his ears down. “Surprise... I guess...”

   The Cakes and Pinkie looked at the decoration, with their mouths widely opened.

   “Did I overdo it?” asked Francisco. “Sorry... I wanted to do something, and I know parties are Pinkie’s speciality, but I couldn’t think of anything else. Uh... Probably the cakes aren’t be very good, although I followed the recipes to the letter. I guess the next time I should ask somepony for help-”

   He couldn’t keep talking, as Pinkie jumped over him and hugged him tightly, and so did the baby twins. Even Mr. and Mrs. Cake did it.

   And Francisco smiled. Truly, that was his new family. Next Chapter: Artwork 1 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes