Twilight managed to gather the Elements of Harmony at her home and gave each one of her friends once she found them. She also had explained Cielo Gris’s plan to track down Sombra. There was some initial resistance, since they wanted to know exactly who this stallion was. Twilight promised to tell them later, which made them agree.

Cielo was particularly surprised to discover that the Elements of Harmony were jewelry. He honestly expected them to be weapons or something like it. But if they were able to do the job, then he didn’t care how they were shaped.

After that, the stallion used his magic to track down Umbra/Sombra’s tracks. He followed the tracks to the Everfree Forest and after a few minutes they’ve found him. Or to be more precise, Umbra found them.

To say that they were shocked would be an understatement. Umbra was possessing Spike’s body and he was pretty much in his adult form just like when he had rampaged on his last birthday. However the color scheme was different. Spike’s spines were red and his scales were of a very dark shade of purple. His eyes were also bright red, the white area was bright green and there was a purple mist coming out of them.

“H-How?” It was all Twilight could utter before Sombra unleashed a torrent of green flames towards them.

Applejack bit Twilitght’s tail and quickly took her out of there. Rainbow Dash did practically the same for Fluttershy. Thankfully nopony got hurt, but the trees were burning. However, they didn’t have time to worry about that.

Sombra then tried to use his fire breath again, but this time Twilight managed to use her magic to shield them from the fire.

“Spike? What in tarnation is going on?” Applejack asked him.

“He’s being possessed by Umbra!” Cielo explained it to them.

“How? I thought Twilight was protecting the hospital with her magic.” Fluttershy asked.

However, it was Umbra who replied: “Allow me, to give you the short version of the answer. I possessed the whelp last time I attacked him at the hospital. He ended up swallowing part of me while I tried to kill him and was interrupted by her.” He said pointing his finger to Twilight. “This was not part of my plans, but I might as well use him while I find a better vessel. But I must say, a dragon’s body, while not as magic attuned as a unicorn’s, it’s quite useful.”

“Don’t you dare say such a thing about our dear friend. He’s not a object!” Rarity scolded him.

Pinkie Pie then added with a frown: “Yeah! Give him back, you big meanie!”

“Enough talk! Let’s teach this freak a lesson!” Rainbow Dash said clapping her fore hooves together to emphasize her point. But then Fluttershy interrupted her.

“But, Dashie, we can’t hurt Spike…”

Umbra made Spike grin menacingly as he said: “This is one more reason why this body is useful.”

He then quickly launched himself against them only to be trapped by what it seemed to be a purple set of handcuffs, one for the hands and other one for the legs. He collapsed on the ground and he was very confused at first, but then he saw a very pissed off Twilight. He tried to break free from the magic, but it was useless. His magic inside of the dragon’s body wasn’t that great and his physical strength was reduced give the…state of the dragon’s body.

“You dare hurt my friend and now you use him against his will? You are a monster! Girls let’s use the Elements and free Spike at once!’ Twilight said with a snarl trying to hold back her tears. She didn’t want to treat her body’s friend roughly, but there was no other option.

Cielo looked at Umbra as the Elements gathered the energy to finally defeat him. However, he was scared. He didn’t understand why that was happening. Umbra was about to destroyed.

‘Then why is he smiling?’ The stallion thought alarmed as something at the back of his mind told him to stop the mares.

“Don’t use that power on him! It’s a trap!” He shouted as he trotted to stand between them and the possessed dragon.

The girls were confused at first, but then Twilight shouted: “How can this be a trap? The Elements of Harmony will free Spike and take care of Sombra. Get ready, girls!”

But then Cielo shouted once more: “No! there is something wrong. He would never give up so easily and allow himself to be shot. I know him all too well.”

Umbra made Spike chuckle and with a thunderous voice he said: ‘It’s true that I wouldn’t allow myself to be destroyed or locked away forever. But what can I do? I’ve been defeated.”

That line made the mares resolve to falter. They could now see that he was truly up to something. “I think Cielo maybe be right, Twilight. What do we do?”

“We can’t risk Spikey-Wikey wellbeing. But if we don’t use the Elements now, he might get away.” Rarity said concerned.

“What are you up to?” Twilight demanded gritting her teeth.

Umbra/Sombra stopped for a while. He wondered what would be the best course of action. He knew he couldn’t win, but he at least was going to make sure they would lose as well. He curled Spike’s lips into a menacing grin and decided to tell them his venomous plan.

“Allow me to ask you something first: how do the Elements of Harmony work?”

The others were confused at such question. Rainbow Dash was the first to say: “They can defeat any bad guy! That’s all you need to know.”

Sombra chuckled once again and replied: “I’ve heard stories before and analyzing this whelp’s memories, my theory was confirmed. Allow me to show you. Don’t worry. I won’t do anything…drastic.”

Sombra used his claws to pick up a small rock with his claws and showed it to them. He then used some of the little magic he had left to turn the pebble into a sapphire. “Imagine this pebble is your dear Spike and the sapphire is me. When the elements purge me of him, he would go back to normal.”

Then he made the stone go back to normal. The others looked at that awfully confused, but letting their guards down. Knowing he had their attention, he continued.

“Now, this is what I did to poor old Spike’s body.” He then crushed the pebble into dust and then used his magic to gather all parts of it and mold it to a single sapphire again. “I’ve managed his body by a lot and it’s my magic that is gluing the pieces together. But the moment you zap me with the Elements…”

Then he released the magic, the sapphire was gone and it returned to be a shattered pebble. “As you can see…the magic of Harmony only undo the effects of magic, not physical damage. And, boy, I did a number in his body the moment I possessed him.”

“YOU ARE LYING!” Twilight shouted so loud, it would give Princess Luna a run for her money.

The others were startled by her reaction, but they understood her reaction. “Why…Why would you do something like this?” Fluttershy asked not wanting to use her element on him if it meant Spike would die.

“No! He’s lying! The elements can fix Spike. They are powerful enough to heal him!” Rainbow Dash tried to reason.

Her friends were almost agreeing with her when they heard Sombra laughing.

“Oh, really?” he said with a grin. “If the Elements are so powerful, if they are capable of healing physical damages, curing diseases and so on, then why don’t you use them to heal everypony in the hospitals? Why haven’t Princess Celestia told you that your precious deus ex machina can do such a thing, then? Is she cruel to the point of letting many ponies get hurt and die or is it because your objects aren’t as good as you think they are. If it’s the former, then I would like to shake her hoof.”

Cielo just looked alarmed as he tried to think of a way out of this situation. In truth, he wasn’t the only one doing that.

“We have to try!” Pinkie said with a worried expression. “The Elements have never failed us before.”

Twilight closed her eyes and thought so hard about her options, she started to sweat. When she opened then she said with a resolve: “We’ll use the Elements. As Pinkie said, they had never failed us. They are the ultimate force of good. We just have to focus on healing Spike. I’m sure…It’ll work!”

Twilight clung to her words desperate to believe them. There was a chance that Umbra was lying to save himself, but his explanation did make some sense. This plagued her mind. If she allowed Sombra to use Spike’s body for longer, there was the chance he would be lost forever. They couldn’t exactly chain a full grown dragon who could use dark magic. And they also didn’t have access to the magic they had used to separate Cielo from Sombra since they didn’t have the Crystal Heart.

“Come on, girls. Focus on saving Spike!” Twilight told the others, who nodded in agreement.

“He’ll die!” Sombra said with a snarl. As much as he hoped to see their sorrowful faces, he didn’t want to disappear forever.

Twilight closed her eyes and focused solely on healing Spike. She was certain that even if Sombra were simply separated from him, she would track him and defeat him. Spike’s safety came first. After focusing, the six bearers released the rainbow towards Umbra…

The rainbow enveloped the huge dragon, making him scream in agony. They all kept focusing as the rainbow spiraled around Spike’s body, almost like a cocoon.

‘Please be okay, Spike…’ Twilight thought holding her breath.

Once the rainbow finally disappeared, Spike was back to his original size. The girls rushed to him to check on him. Once they got near, they could see Spike siting up on the dirt groaning and holding his head with his right claw.

“Twilight? You saved me!” he said.

The purple unicorn then hugged him really tight. She could hear her friends saying “It’s a beautiful miracle…”

Twilight then proceeded to open her eyes revealing the rainbow around Spike disappearing. Once the rainbow disappeared she saw Spike lying on the dirt, but he wasn’t moving like in her mental image.

She rushed to him and saw his body full of hematomas under the scales and some blood leaking from his mouth and nostrils. She screamed for his name as she wrapped him in her hooves. The others could merely look at the scene horrified.

Spike just stood there. Motionless…Lifeless…

Author's Note

I admit that this fake out was inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Well, folks, next chapter shall be the epilogue of this story.