Spike was desperately trying not to cry, clenching his mouth shut in fear, remembering what she said.

Twilight Sparkle, the leader of the Elements of Harmony, the vanquisher of many dark threats, and even the top student of Princess Celestia... as well as Spike’s best friend and secret crush, was in center of the Golden Oak Library, organizing the books like every day these past three years.

Ponyville itself was cold, the trees were barren of leaves, even the sun seemed to refuse to shine this day. The only ponies that were out were Derpy and Dinky who ignored the cold, cruel, bitter weather to have a bit of fun... if nothing else.

Spike, himself, stood out on the front yard as he watched the lavender unicorn move books to and fro, his heart was filled with shame and regret as he glanced at his claws, wondering why he didn’t just take his own life with them.

Surely that would be a better mercy then the very mare he had fallen in love with rejecting him to his face. ‘You’re not needed’ she said, ‘nothing more than coward and a weakling. Nothing more than a slave... or a pet I could use for tasks I could do myself... there was no more need for such a pathetic, scroll, fire breathing baby dragon like you.’

As he curled his claws into a fist and angrily lashed out his pointed tail, he felt hot, fresh tears run down his face, his mind was losing all thought but what he saw before his eyes.

“Twilight does not love me anymore.”

With that dark, sad, and heartbreaking thought, he swallowed a large glob of spit in his throat and turned away, his mind focusing on one thought alone. One that would forever haunt him and rob him of something he would never thought could ever happen in his young life.

“Twilight Sparkle does not love me... anymore.”

“Spike? SPIKE!” A loud, hysterical, and frankly very concerned voice shattered the drake’s dark thoughts as he blinked his eyes.

His tears were still running down his face as he tried to wipe them away with both his claws, his eyes turned to his left as he looked into the violet eyes of the very mare who tore out his own heart to his face and stumped on it, calling him a monster, telling him that he was as cruel, evil, and harsh as the rest of his kind... saying that she had no need for him anymore.

He gritted his fangs in anger as she looked into his eyes before looking at the wall that held the door itself.
The dark, mesmerizing door that taunted him with his worst fears, mocking him with something he could never have... robbing him of the only thing he truly loved and had left.

This... demonic door. This... Nightmare Realm, was something that needed to be destroyed, something that never had any right to exist.

Spike the dragon vowed on this day that he would never allow such darkness to grip his soul again, that he would never allow the villains that challenged him and Equestria to win... that he would do whatever it took to win Twilight Sparkle's heart... no matter the cost.

Suddenly, he felt her warm, tender embrace around him, feeling her warm, soothing voice over his head and gladly returning the embrace, telling her what he saw inside of that... demonic door... most of it anyways. She promised him then and there that she would never, ever, cast him away... and that she would always love and stay by his side forever.

Spike couldn’t help but smile and enjoy the short, but very meaningful embrace with the one he loved, watching her remove that demonic door, and followed her to complete their mission, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the one responsible for that vile vision, the one that made him see his worst nightmare come true. ‘He’s still out there, wanting to bring not only the Crystal Empire, but all of Equestria, and maybe the entire world down to his hooves.’

Spike clenched his fists hard, so hard that small drips of blood fell onto the stairs they were climbing, his gaze falling to Twilight’s back, and just for a brief second, tried to imagine what would happen if Sombra succeeded... but he couldn’t, he knew she would defeat him. He knew Sombra was going to fail. He knew that he would do anything to make sure Twilight achieved victory and completed her mission.

*************************************************************************************************---------------

Twilight Sparkle had battled against Nightmare Moon, defeating her with the Elements of Harmony while finding her true friends. She had defeated an Ursa Minor with pure magical strength, distracted a Hydra that was charging at her and her friends, and even fought against the very God of Chaos himself, as well as play an important role in defeating the changeling invasion.

She had even seen her worst nightmare come true: failing to complete a task commanded by her tutor, Princess Celestia. But nothing, not even all the battles she had been in, not Discord, not Nightmare Moon, not Chrysalis, not even her worst Nightmare could compare to the hate, the sadness, and the utter powerlessness she felt when she saw Spike, her number one assistant and life-long friend... the one she loved, crying in immense fear before her.

She held him close to her, trying to calm him down and to let him feel her concern and her love for him. She looked at that nightmarish door with hate beyond her reason and banished it, but still, the one responsible was still out there, trying to destroy the Crystal Empire once more.

Twilight climbed the stairs as fast as she could, biting her lower lip painfully as she decided to not only defeat Sombra, but see to his destruction personally for making her beloved Spike cry.

*************************************************************************************-------------------------------

They had finally reached the top of the blasted tower and Twilight, in her eagerness to get the heart, failed to check for traps and thus triggered an alarm, trapping her inside a dark crystal prison. She tried to teleport out of it, but was teleported back inside by the dark magic of the prison, and in her desperation, she turned to Spike and commanded him to deliver the Crystal Heart to Cadence and save the Crystal Empire.

“Hey, up here! I got the Crystal Heart!” Spike yelled from a top of a dark crystal peek.

“*Snarl* That is MINE!” Sombra yelled as he dove to the ground, creating many dark crystal spears and peeks on his way as Spike ran as fast as he could down the tower with the precious Crystal Heart over his head when Sombra created the biggest dark crystal peek of all, himself riding the tip of it “*GRUUUUUAAAAA*”.

Spike tripped down the peek and lost his grip on the Crystal Heart, falling right in the way of King Sombra’s path. Sombra licked his lips in anticipation, his prize was so close to him that he could already feel its power, his shadow body turned to his original form and smiled darkly, seeing the vain efforts of the dragon before him, trying desperately to get back the Heart. The Crystal Heart was so near within his reach when a sudden pink blur passed right before him and snatched both the Crystal Heart and the dragon away from him.

“Behold! The Crystal Princess!” One random crystal pony yelled.

Sombra frowned and used his magic to create a massive crystal peak just before the ‘Crystal Princess’ landed, knocking them off in mid air, making everypony gasp.

Cadence landed harshly on the ground and tried to stay conscious, but she was so very tired to do anything else at this point and passed out in the floor with an injured wing. Spike, on the other claw, landed without any damage, thanks to his thick dragon scales, and ran to the Crystal Heart, grabbing it and running towards the center of the fair when a dark cloud suddenly landed in front on him and formed the now corporeal body of King Sombra.

“Did you really think it was going to be so easy, lizard?” Sombra asked with a wicked smiled.

“You won’t get away with this!” Spike yelled, clenching the Crystal Heart tightly with his arms and protecting it with his body. “I will never let you get the Heart!”

Sombra laughed at him and the rest of them as Shining Armour and the other Elements of Harmony arrived at the center of the fair. “Look around you, you worthless lizard. I have already won!” Spike opened his eyes, looking at the crystal ponies, seeing them shake in fear, bowing to Sombra.

“There is nothing you can do. Only that ‘Crystal Princess’ can use the power of the Heart against me.” He said, pointing at Cadence with his left forehoof. “But it seems that she is indisposed at the moment.” He couldn’t help but release a small chuckle. “Now give me the Heart, or I will take it by force, not that I have a problem with that”

Behind him, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Shining Armour all charged at him: Rainbow from the skies, Applejack from his right and Shining from his left, but Sombra just stood there and smiled. Shining and Applejack jumped with all their might to tackle him, but the body turned to a cloud of darkness and ended up tackling each other harshly, Rainbow tried to hit his still solid head, but Sombra chuckled darkly and turned his entire body to a massive cloud of darkness that started to swirl around like a tornado.

Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and the rest of the crystal ponies heard the painful screams of Applejack, Shining, and Rainbow. The screams became louder and all the more painful as the tornado swirled with greater force until, without warning, the tornado stopped and literally launched them through the skies, landing just hoof steps away from the other three Elements, who screamed at what they saw.

Rainbow was lying at the top of the heap with cuts over all of their bodies, with her wings twisted in unnatural ways atop Shining just under her with his horn cut clear off as blood and magic sparks gushed out from its stump while Applejack was by far the worst, her cuts were much deeper and her back legs were clearly broken.

Thankfully the three of them were already unconscious as not to endure the pain.

The dark cloud formed Sombra once again and turned his head to where the dragon was, only to find a yellow furred, pink maned pegasus staring at him with all her might.

“HOW DARE YOU!” she screamed, Sombra felt her gaze on his very soul, and in all truth, her sight scared him. “HOW DARE YOU HURT MY FRIENDS YO---“ a single thread made of his dark cloud caught her by her neck and started to suffocate her. Yes he was scared by her gaze, but he was not powerless.

“Out of my way, scum.” He said to her as she started to cry, trying desperately to free herself as gasp for air as the painful grip only tightened around her neck with him smiling at her pain, clearly enjoying it. He suddenly he tossed her away with all his strength, smashing Fluttershy against one of the fair posts, making it fall over her with a cloud of dust. When the dust settled, Fluttershy was laying unconscious on the remains of the post, a deep cut could be seen around her neck as many bruises layered over her body and a small pool of blood was forming below her mouth.

Sombra then turned his attention back to Spike, who just stood there watching in disbelief at what Sombra has done. Sombra used his magic to lift Spike into the air together with the Crystal Heart and turned him around to face him.

“See what I did to them? That is NOTHING compared to what I will do to you, if you don’t give me the Heart.” Spike clenched it harder against him as Sombra gave a dark chuckle in response. “So be it.”

The dark magic aura around Spike turned even darker as small black thunders formed around it. Spike snapped his eyes open as unbelievable pain scourged through his entire body, it was so painful that he could have sworn that his very soul was suffering too. It was by far the most painful thing he has ever experienced, except for one. He remembered the illusion that the door made him see; his personal, worst nightmare. Just remembering what it felt like, what that ‘Twilight’ said to him, was a pain so great that he wished death showed mercy and ended his life there and then, only to make his pain cease. It was a pain that tormented his very heart and soul, and compared to that, this torture was nothing.

“Give me the Heart!” Sombra commanded, seeing that his torture was not making Spike squeal in pain and agony, begging for mercy or even making him cry. On the contrary, he was holding the Heart even stronger now, his mouth clenched tight, refusing to scream. “YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SCALES, GIVE ME THE HEART, NOW!”

“HHHNNGGGG--- BUCK YOU!” Spike shouted back at him, insulting Sombra with both his words and his actions, forcing him to triple the magic on the curse, this time making Spike scream in pain.

“YIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” clenching the Heart to his body even more while he screamed his heart out with his eyes open as wide as they could be as his entire body contracted from the tormenting pain.

******************************************************************------------------------------------

Twilight was trying to find a way to free herself from her prison, but no matter what she did, nothing seemed to work. When she heard the crystal pony yell, ‘Behold, the Crystal Princess!’ She thought it was finally over, but after a few seconds of silence, nothing happened... until she heard it.

The cries of pain from two of her friends and her big brother made her cry in frustration and double her efforts to get out as the screams ended after several agonizing seconds, only to be replaced by the clear shout of Fluttershy, who was also cut mid sentence.

Desperate to aid her fallen friends, Twilight charged her horn as much as she could to try to destroy the black prison around her, only to do seemingly nothing against it. She was starting to freak out when she heard something that made her blood run cold in her veins and spine freezing her where she stood, a scream that literally blinded her with fear and almost made her pass out. The next second the coldness turned to boiling hot anger, for the first time in her life she felt true unrivaled hate.

“He is hurting Spike......... Sombra is hurting my Spike!!!!???” She thought and yelled inside her head as her coat turned bleach white, her eyes turned blood red, and her mane turned to fire, surging through her and out in all directions, destroying her prison and from primal instinct alone, ran out of the tower and flashed her way to the bottom of the city.

“SOMBRA!!!!!” Twilight screamed ramming herself against him and launching him away from Spike, who fell to the ground with a loud thud, still clinging to consciousness. “You are going to pay for hurting him!” She shouted as she shot out a beam of pure magic.

Sombra took little effort to turn into a cloud and evaded her attack as Twilight launched herself at the cloud, getting enveloped as soon as she got near it, but quickly countered with bright flashes and the occasional screams of fury, forcing screams of pain from Sombra. Shining Armor awoke from his slumber in great pain, barely able to stay conscious as he saw the battle before him as Pinkie and Rarity were crying and unmoving at the sight.

Fluttershy, also woke from to the loud screams and explosions from Twilight’s spells, limply made her way to Spike to make sure that he was fine, watching the battle in amazement. The cloud started to swirl into a tornado and, as he did before, the spells came to a halt with a single scream from Twilight as a fiery projectile was launched from the inside of the tornado. The projectile crashed against the floor with immense force, revealing Twilight turning back to normal with a great number of cuts all over her body, breathing harshly against the floor.

The swirling tornado moved towards her, stopping just a meter from her, and turned into a panting Sombra whose cape was burnt and body had a few cuts himself.

“I must admit *pant* you are a worthy foe, you even used the legendary ‘Flame Armor’ spell only few unicorns are able to use, fueling your rage into a spell and attacking. Incredible. Alas, it is only temporarily and *pant* all you did was make me mad. Now it’s time to pay for your insolence, you filthy insect!” Twilight spat as hard as she could towards him, landing one right on his horn.

“GRAAAAAHH!!” He screamed, using his hooves to punch and hit her with all his might, making Twilight scream and cry over the sound of each blow that seemed to echo throughout the entire Kingdom, making the crystal ponies shudder in pain, fear, and shame for not being able to do anything.

“T-T-Twiliey.” Shining tried to scream, but only made out a light whisper as his body failed to move.

“Somepony stop him! He is going to kill her!” Rarity yelled, trying to move through the paralyzing fear, flinching as a particularly loud and hard crack echoed through the air, accompanied by a piercing yell of pain.

Sombra finally stopped, revealing a brutally injured Twilight below him. Some of her teeth were gone, her left eye was closed, several ugly bruises adorned her body, and her right foreleg was broken “now, *pant* DIE!” Sombra yelled, lifting his left foreleg to give the final blow.

Nopony wanted to watch, they all turned away, waiting for the hit to land. Even Twilight closed her one good eye, awaiting her end. “I’m sorry Spike…… I wish……… I wish I could have told you...”

*POOOOOAAASHHH*

The hit landed straight and hard on its target, or so Sombra thought. He had strikken something purple, he was sure of it: the little claws of fur--------- “CLAWS?” He thought, tilting his head a little to the right, seeing none other than Spike, holding out his right claw, stopping his attack. He had his head down, not revealing his face to Sombra, who, on the other hoof, noticed Spike didn’t have the Heart anymore, and wasting no time he mo---

“What the hay? Why can’t I move my hoof?” He asked, following his arm to where Spike was holding him tightly, trying to move his hoof again, but it didn’t even stir. “H-how can he have such a strong grip over me?” He even tried to turn his body back into a cloud, but as Spike turned his head up to face him, Sombra nearly screamed in fear.

Spike’s eyes were full of... Something. Yes, he could see the hatred in them, but there was something else, something he couldn’t decipher. Something he has never seen in his entire life…… and it scared him more than anything.

Spike snorted out a green smoke through his nostrils as he, to Sombra’s terror, began to grow. His chubby body and puny legs thinned out, stretching him to a size taller than Sombra himself, as his body gained enough muscle to prod through his thickened scales which turned to a deeper shade of purple, while his tail stretched and moved around behind him, showing both grace and power to his most dexterous appendage, as his spines grew as well, growing sharper by the second. Everything in his body grew in proportion to his now taller, slender, stronger, and more agile body.

This time, Sombra was the one looking up at the dragon with his mouth agape in both astonishment and fear as the dragon opened his mouth, revealing powerful, sharp fangs as he suddenly lifted Sombra up by the grip on his hoof and gave a mighty punch to his stomach, resonating a sound throughout the Empire, making everypony turn to them.

Saying that everypony was stunned by what they saw was an understatement, seeing Sombra in mid air with his eyes almost shooting out of their sockets and his open mouth dripping with blood, as well as the one responsible for his pain, who was, up to that point, the adorable baby dragon they all knew and loved, who had just retrieved his claw from Sombra’s stomach, only to hit him square in the face with the other, breaking his horn to release a blood curdling scream of pain.

“THAT WAS FOR MY FRIENDS!” He yelled with his deeper voice, roaring at volumes only rage can produce, making almost everypony flinch in fear. And before Sombra had the chance to fall to the ground, he grabbed him by the neck with his powerful tail, swirled him around, and smashed him against the floor with such brute force that it cracked.

“THAT WAS FOR THE CRYSTAL PONIES!” He yelled at the still conscious Sombra, who almost beg for mercy when Spike fell upon him, grabbing him and sending him airborne, giving him the chance to turn himself into a cloud, but the pain was far too great for him to concentrate as he fell. And seeing that, Spike jumped with a spin and kicked Sombra square on his back with all his might, forcing the last ounce of air from of him as he tried to scream, crashing down against the cracked floor once more.

“THAT WAS FOR ME!” He said as he landed, grabbing Sombra by the neck and lifting him as high as he could, clenching his claw and readied another strike as Sombra, still conscious, truly tried to beg for his life, yet not possessing the strength to even move his mouth, the pain was too great, and he knew Spike was pleased by the pain he was feeling.

“And this.........” he said, barely whispering, as he brought up his right claw, turning from a fist to a claw-spear, Sombra knew what he was going to do. “This...... is for hurting............. THE ONE I LOVE!!!!” Spike threw his claw-spear at Sombra, piercing him from side to side.

Sombra couldn’t believe what was happening, Spike’s claw was drenched in his blood as the dragon snorted green fire through his nostrils, sending him flying and coating Spike’s scales with his blood, landing just a few steps away from the Crystal Heart, making him smile. He stretched out his hoof, trying to touch it. If he could get the Crystal Heart, then he would heal and show this dragon a lesson. He was so close it glew in anticipation, but he stopped and turned to see Spike standing over him as panic struck him and doubled his efforts to get the Heart.

“But this...” Sombra heard him say and turned again to see him raise his right leg up, moving it right above his head. “This... is because you did something even worse to her.” Sombra began to cry in desperation. The Crystal Heart was just before him. It was less than a single hoof away. It was taunting him, mocking him. “This......... is......... FOR MAKING HER CRY!”

And with that, Spike stomped Sombra’s head with all his might, making an awful crunching noise as Sombra’s hoof stood trembling in the air for some moments before falling down at the same time the Crystal Heart stopped its glow. Spike had won, and he let out a mighty roar of power, shooting his green fire to the skies, immersing the land with with its glow that shattered the dark crystals that lost their power.

Spike turned around and walked towards Twilight, who was watching in disbelief with her one good eye. Her number one assistant... her little Spike... her Spike... had just killed the mighty King Sombra before her and everypony’s eyes, she could hardly believe it.

Suddenly, she felt his warm arms around her; he was small once again and crying stains into her fur. “I- I’m so glad *sniff* you are alright, Twi. S-so glad.” Spike said in his normal childish tone.

Twilight couldn’t help herself and began to cry with him, holding him as close as she could with her good foreleg. “I’m gladsh you are okeitsh too Shpike” She finally replied, giving him a small kiss on his forehead. “sho glad.”

The two of them embraced each other close until exhaustion caught them and sent them to sleep.

Author's Note

This story was WAY to long in the making, I'm just very glad I could make it and that my author brother, both of them could really help out. I'm honestly hoping you all enjoy, we worked hard on this story.