Blazing Dragon

It was like the entire world had been silenced.

The Hell King could do nothing more than send his Hellions out into the world to find the Fallen and their military. Some came back after decimating already empty bases. Some came back battered and beaten, after being attacked by rebel platoons in the middle of seemingly nowhere. Some didn’t come back at all. No matter the outcome, none came back with the news he wished for; The Fallens’ location. He stared blankly out at the void of the wasteland.

He was bored.

Where had his little playthings ran off to? Trixie had done well to cause them harm, but surely there were not so traumatized by her that they felt the need to remain hiding for this long. Such vile, disgusting little creatures.

‘Those vile, disgusting little creatures are my family…and your demise.’

He rolled his eyes at the nagging voice in his head, “You keep saying that. Have been for a while do, are you ever going to shut up about it?”

‘I will when they kill you.’

“I already told you, if they kill me, you go with me.”

‘I have no qualms with that.’

He smirked, “But Twilight does.”

Silence. Finally. His smirk turned into a full on grin at his verbal victory. His smile evaporated when the voice spoke up once more,

‘Twilight is my sister…but she is a leader. A leader that understands that the needs of many vastly outweigh the few. My life does not equal to millions…and that’s how it should be.’

Hell King let out a an irritated growl.

‘She’ll do whatever needs to be done to end your reign. You couldn’t even take over her body. That just shows how weak and pathetic you were…and still are.’

Hell King snarled, "I had complete control over her body! The only reason I didn’t get to keep it, was because you managed to somehow get me out!”

‘You think you were in control, but no…I could see it in her eyes. She was still in there somewhere, while you were like…a plant. A weed, to be more specific. You weren’t rooted in deep enough…it made it quite easy to rip you from your foundation.’

“Well then, it seems my roots are far stronger than before, since I have your body now. Thank you for that.”

‘You may have my body…but you’ll never have my spirit.’

Hell King rolled his eyes again, and pushed Spike’s voice to the back of his head. His ear fins perked up at the sound of knocking on his bedroom door,

“What?!”

“Great Dragon, we humbly request your ear, so that we may share wonderful news with you.” Eternal’s voice declared from the other side.

“Enter!!”

The door slowly opened, and Eternal trotted in with Trixie beside her. Their heads were held high, and Eternal’s eyes burned a bright shade of red. They both gave them a bow, before looking up at him,

“I sent out a small squadron of Hellions to go investigate the last base the Fallen were seen at. When they searched the area, they found a few pieces of Changeling Chitin.” Eternal reported.

Hell King looked at her with intrigue, “Is that so? The Changelings have managed to keep themselves out of my way and hidden all this time. I wonder how it got there…”

“We believe that the Fallen may have some sort of bond with the Changelings, or at least one of them.”

“Damn…that might be a bit of a problem.”

“Forgive Trixie for speaking out of turn, but how so? They’re just Changelings.” Trixie stated.

“The Changelings don’t have the same standards and ethics like the Rebellion does. No matter how long they’ve been traveling together in groups, if one of them dies, they do not care. The only one who remains important to the Changelings is their queen. They won’t hesitate or flee just because one of their own have been slain.” He smiled deviously, “Why, if I were to get them to fight for us…they’d pose a powerful threat to Twilight and her ragtag gang of misfit creatures…”

“What would you have us do. Great Dragon?”

“You and Trixie go and check out the area. See what you can find.”

“Perhaps I could be of some assistance as well, Great Dragon…”

Hell King calmly craned his head to the direction of the voice, while the two mares snapped their own. A large Unicorn stallion approached him, the faint red glow at the tip of his horn illuminating his dark grey coat.

“How dare you enter the chambers of our mighty King without permission!!” Trixie snarled. “Have you lost what little mind you have had left in that tiny skull of yours, Sombra?!”

“I do believe I was speaking to our King of Hell, not you, Lulamoon.” Sombra hissed back, baring his fangs at the mare.

Trixie’s horn burned brightly, “Why you conceited little piece of shit-”

“If you’re going to fight, take it outside. I don’t want any of your blood splattering the walls.” he gave another dark grin, “Or do I? It would add some color to this place.”

The three ponies slightly backed away from him. He focused on Sombra,

“Yes…I think you will be of some use to me at the moment…”

-MLP-

Sparks sat beside Patch on one of the many miniature cliffs that lined the walls of the hidden colony.

“Its wild…I can’t believe we’ve been here for over five years…”

Sparks looked over at the cyborg with a soft smile on her face. He had grown a lot bigger than when they first met. Whatever remained of his flesh was chiseled muscle that rippled under his bright, bold red coat. He had shaved his mane off completely, and opted to only grow peach fuzz on his chin and jawline. Thanks to the colony welcoming the Rebellion, Dash now had the material, tools, and means to not only repair, but upgrade all of his prosthetics. The plates of his prosthetics were painted a matte black. On the plate attached to his left hind quarter, Dash’s cutie mark was spray painted on it as her signature (something that Patch did not mind). He wore a white tank top like his mentor, which was also smudged with matching grease and oil stains. He donned a belt with only a Gerber tool and a hammer, as he was able to summon whatever tools he required.

“Yeah…it’s a strange feeling.” Sparks chuckled, “I remember how we didn’t get along when we first met. You were the trotting junkyard.”

“And you were the zombie freak.” He gave her a small smile, “I’ve gotta say though, you don’t look nothing like a freak now…”

Sparks smile turned into a bitter frown, “I’m still the scary, brain eating pony that some of the youngest creatures run from.”

Patch magically summoned a mirror and turned it in Sparks’ direction. She let her eyes fall upon her reflection. She had allowed her tail to grow out, but had her mane styled into a mohawk for efficiency. Her turquoise coat had regained some of its sheen from before her death. A row of Eventide crystals jutted out in a singular line down her spine, and two short crystals spurted from her shoulders. Her eyes had retained the light blue ring of death around the irises, yet there was the gleam of life behind her eyes. She wore a custom-made duster vest (made by the fashionista Rarity) that allowed the spine crystals to be exposed without obstruction, and it had the Fallen’s signature trio of diamonds stitched on the left collar. The vest was lined with small baubles and trinkets that she had collected over the years. Her smile returned, albeit smaller than before,

“There we go, made the pretty lady smile.”

She playfully smacked his shoulder, “Shut up.”

They shared a laugh and chatted a bit more, before Dee landed beside them. She had let some of her mane grow out, wild strands still covering one of her golden orbs. Her fangs were bared, and most of her teeth had turned hooked and serrated, given her a carnivorous smile. Her wings had grown, and her hooves had developed a more pronounced hook to them. Though they knew her to be their friend, she could easily be seen as an intimidating foe for any who had made an enemy of the Rebellion.

“So this is where you two have been hiding.” She declared. She plopped down next to Patch and looked over at Sparks,

“Miss Twilight and Miss Rarity have been looking for you. They want to do their bi-weekly check-up on your rotting corpse.”

Sparks rolled her eyes, “You’re so funny. Perhaps the smell of death is coming off your own upper lip.”

“Oh you were just dying to get that one in, huh?”

“That was hilarious, you blood sucking vermin.”

“I prefer ‘blood sucking demoness’, but I’ll let it go for now.”

“Fuck you.”

Dee gave her a sultry wink, “That can be arranged you know.”

Before Sparks rolled her eyes to the point where they remained in her skull, she teleported herself to the medical center of their headquarters. She slowly walked through the massive halls as she looked for Twilight and Rarity.

“We’re in here, darling!

Sparks immediately turned to the source of the voice and headed towards it. She stepped into the room to see Twilight and Rarity. The white Unicorn trotted up to her and pulled her into a hug,

“My darling, how have you been doing today?”

“I’ve been doing well, Master Rarity.”

“Please step over here, Bright Spark.”

Sparks pulled away from Rarity and walked over to Twilight, standing tall before her. The older Unicorn’s cybernetic eye glowed a bright purple as it beamed a line of light that scanned Sparks’ body. After it vanished, she summoned a small flashlight and put it to Sparks eyes,

“Pupil dilation is small, but it is there. That’s promising.”

She made the flashlight vanish and summoned a tongue depressor. Sparks knew the drill. She opened her maw, allowing Twilight to inspect it for a minute before taking the depressor out,

“Saliva production is in good order."

The depressor disappeared and was replaced with a notepad and pencil. She instructed Sparks to conduct a few exercises. After Sparks completed them, Twilight summoned a stethoscope. She placed the chest piece on Sparks, and Rarity stopped her idle chatter with her partner. Save for the barely audible whir of gears in Twilight’s prosthetic leg, the room was silent. Twilight’s expression morphed from sheer focus to slight confusion, then ended with surprised joy. She snapped back up,

“Goddesses.”

Sparks and Rarity leaned in, “What?”

Twilight’s eyes went wider, “You…you have a heartbeat.”

The other two Unicorns mirrored Twilight’s expression. Rarity shook her head,

“D-did we just hear you correctly?”

Twilight did a slight bounce as she trotted over to a nearby table. Rarity couldn’t help but smile as she saw the remnants of old Twilight shine through.

“Yes, you have a heartbeat! Its very faint, but I’ll be damned to Tartarus if I didn’t hear your heart beat!” Twilight jotted down a few notes in a book on the table, and flipped a few pages, “I wrote something down a few months ago. About…” she trailed off until she found the page she was looking for, “Aha! Here. I wrote it down a while back that its possible that Bright Spark’s DNA was reacting differently to the Eventide Crystals. That’s why her body is showing such noticeable signs of life, while nothing has happened yet to Dead Moon, who died two years prior. Of course, Dead Moon is showing some signs too, but not to your extent. Your genetic makeup, combined with the Eventide crystals, has given you a rudimentary version of Elements of Harmony’s regenerative powers.” She finished looking at Sparks, “Do you know what that means?”

Sparks’ brows were arched in absolute confusion, “No, Miss Twilight?”

“It means, that you can never truly die. While it may take you far longer to regenerate than any of the Fallen, your body will regenerate itself. You are the cure to Death itself!! Goddesses, the possibilities!!-”

Sparks’ jaw dropped as she tuned out Twilight’s happy rant. She couldn’t believe it. Never truly die? Was this the very moment her life was supposed to lead up to?

Did she really want to live forever?

Twilight’s rant died out as she realized Sparks wasn’t talking. She calmed herself and cleared her throat,

“Sorry, I got a little excited…anyway, while you not having the ability to die is quite a find, I’m more so focused on the aspect of your regenerative properties. Something that could hopefully be extracted from your DNA.”

Sparks refocused on Twilight, “Extract?” she repeated. “You want to extract whatever this is, and give it to someone else?”

“Yes? Of course I do.”

“But why?”

Twilight’s face faltered into confusion, “Why what?”

“Why would you want to bring this upon someone else?”

“Bright Spark, the calm we’re experiencing right now is a piecemeal. There’s still a world war going on outside of the caldera. We’ve had dozens of squads go out for hundreds of miles. Most of our bases have been destroyed. Medical bunkers annihilated. Rebel fighters to this day, are being slaughtered. While forming an alliance with the Hive has been a massive benefit, we’re still suffering major losses while we’re recuperating.” She took a couple steps towards Sparks. “We’re no longer the ‘One Million Strong’ army. We’re not even half that. And for each creature we lose, that’s a potential Hellion for Spike’s army. We can’t afford to lose anyone else, and we certainly can’t afford to give him soldiers on a silver platter. With your help…with your DNA, we can keep what few fighters we have left alive, and give all of us a fighting chance to survive to the end of this.”

“But at what cost?” Sparks questioned. “For them to be forever stuck somewhere in the circle of life? To have them watch everyone they know and love die off for eternity?” her voice rose with her anger, “I didn’t choose this! I didn’t choose to be like this, you made that choice for me!”

“I did what I had to do to keep you alive!”

“Then you should’ve just let me die!!”

Rage somehow silenced Twilight, while Rarity looked on in disbelief. Before either could respond, Sparks vanished, teleporting herself to the caldera’s secret entrance. She used her magic to open the entrance and slid into the massive dark forest that ringed the caldera. Breaking into a furious gallop, she put as much distance between herself and the caldera as possible. When she felt like she was far enough, she plopped down on a slab of rock and buried her face in her hooves and bawled like a foal. Her eyes did something that they hadn’t done since she died;

They produced tears.

And so, she allowed herself to cry, and be consumed by the dark thoughts of self-hatred that she tried her hardest to keep down. She didn’t know how she had been there, and it took her a moment to smell the trademark scent of burning herbs. She looked up to see Haze approaching her,

“Whoa…I didn’t know you were able to make with the waterworks. What’s going on?”

Sparks stared at him for a moment. He was taller than all of the Apprentices now, but was still a very lanky stallion. His eyes held a permanent glaze over them. His coat was a bit duller with age, but had retained its violet hue. His mane and tail were still vibrant electric blue, but he kept them both in a more manageable appearance. Wispy waterfalls of drugged smoke spilled from his nostrils, forming a ring like fog around his hooves. He snorted to clear the smoke while he waited for a response. She wiped her tears and gave him a pitiful attempt of a reassuring smile,

“I-its nothing serious…”

While still maintaining some of its aloofness, there was a slight concern in his eyes,

“I’ve known you for years now, dudette. I can tell when something’s up. And even if we weren’t close, I’d have to be an idiot to not see those aren’t happy tears.” He wrapped a foreleg around her and pulled her close, “C’mon, tell Ol’ Haze what’s on your mind?”

Sparks sighed, “I just found out that my heart’s beating again.”

She looked up at him, but was met with an attentive gaze. So, she continued.

“My body is bringing itself back to life. No one thought that it was possible, but here I am…a living testament to immorality, without the Alicorn shortcut. Miss Twilight wants my DNA to see if she can recreate the effect and pass it on to other creatures as well.”

“Go on…”

“But that’s not the life I want to live. Who the hell wants to live forever? I mean, look at the Fallen. There only over hundred years old, but you can see it in their eyes; they’re tired…worn out. Sometimes, they look like they’re ready to give up. I feel like the only reason they don’t is because they have one another.” She rested her chin on one of her forehooves and sighed, “That’s not to say that I’m not thankful for what they’ve done for me since taking me in. I’ve been taught to wield some of the most powerful spells that a Unicorn could ever hope to learn, thanks to Master Rarity and Miss Twilight. If I were to leave right now and be on my own, I could smite nearly any enemy that came my way, never having to worry about anyone else.” A dark chuckle left her, “And thanks to my newfound immortality, I could do that forever.”

“So then…why don’t you?”

Sparks looked up at him, confused, “What?”

“What you just said. Why don’t you just go and do it?”

Sparks shifted her gaze elsewhere. Why didn’t she? What unspoken bonds were actually chaining her to the Fallen and other Apprentices? She was only supposed to Find the Fallen and see if they could bring the end of the Hell King. If nothing…they were more inactive than they were prior to her finding them. So why? Why did she stay?

For love.

Because they loved her. Though it was not as blatant as parental love, it was obvious that the Fallen loved her dearly. They had taken her in, given her the tools to truly survive in this apocalyptic world of theirs. She had roughhoused, ate, slept, and fought alongside the Fallen and Apprentices for half a decade now. They were…

“Because they're my family…” Sparks finished her inner monologue out loud. Haze leaned closers, a smile on his face.

“That’s right…we’re family. That’s why you don’t leave. That’s why you do nearly everything that’s asked of you from the Fallen. Hell, that’s why they do the same. You’re not going anywhere, so long as we’re here. And what’s even better…this is your found family. The family that you got to choose.”

“So…what should I do?”

“Well…in your opinion, do you think being immortal will have more positive, or negative consequences?

“More negative for sure.”

“Would you ever try to do anything that would negatively affect your family?”

“Absolutely not. Not if I could help it.”

“Then if that’s what you think, then you should follow your heart.” He looked off elsewhere, “See, the thing about families, is that sometimes, we do shit to each that just throws each other’s vibes off. But you know what? Real family, blood or not, if they care for one another, will talk out whatever is causing the source of frustration.” He lightly patted her back, “Miss Twilight is a part of this family. If you don’t want to take part in whatever she’s got for you, you’re going to have to tell her. Sure, she’s going to be pissed. She’s going to yell and scream, and you’re probably going to be terrified, because lets face it; she is was fucking scary ass mare.” Sparks groaned while he continued, “But, she’ll get over it, eventually. Despite her very logical mindset, she doesn’t see you as an asset or tool to be used. She sees you as family too. So, its your body, and you have every right to decide what happens to it. And, because she sees you as family, she won’t force you to submit.”

Sparks sighed softly, “I hope so…because she didn’t give me a chance the last time.”

Haze gave a small smile, “Don’t be so gloomy, you’re gonna be fine. You know, I never got to tell you, but I’m the first Apprentice.”

Sparks gave him an intrigued look, “Oh really?”

“Yup…Master Pinkie Pie found me when I was around 5 years old. She didn’t just mentor me, she raised me, both her and Miss Applejack. So trust me, I’ve been around here long enough to see how these mares act. The formalities and titles are more so for show around the rest of the Rebellion, so don’t worry so much.”

Sparks nuzzled his cheek, “Thank you so much, Haze.” She gave him a cheeky smile, “You know, you’re a pretty intuitive stallion…”

Haze blue a smoke ring from his mouth, “Trust me sister, once you get those chakras aligned, you’ll see things the way I do.” He pulled away from her and rose to his hooves and waved at her, “See ya later...”

Sparks said her goodbyes as he walked away. Without reason, she froze in place. without turning her head, her eyes shifted to the direction of where Haze had walked off. He was still there as well, frozen mid-step, with his head looking over his shoulder back in her direction.

“Blue Unicorn…Purple Earth Pony…”

They felt nearly immeasurable magic ripple across their coats. They started to turn their heads,

“Don’t, lest your minds succumb to the horror of what they cannot fathom…”

They stopped. Haze turned until he could focus his gaze on Sparks, who was briskly, but carefully trotting up to her.

“Who are you?” Haze questioned.

“I am the voice that guided the Element Bearers long ago. I am the reason they still fight.”

“The reason they still fight?” Sparks repeated. “With all due respect, ‘disembodied voice’, the reason they fight is because we’re in the middle of a world war with the Hell King.”

“The Hell King? I see…so that is the name he now bears…”

“You know who he is?”

“Yes…I know who the Purple Dragon is…”

Sparks closed her eyes and looked in the direction of the voice, and gasped. There was a translucent form of a massive Earth Pony stallion, with a vertically split, two-tone coat, and a mane and tail that billowed like that of the Alicorns. She knew the form of this stallion from her mother’s teachings. She bowed before the stallion,

“It is…the utmost honor, to be in your presence right now, Great One.”

“The honor is mine as well, Blue Alicorn. It has been quite some time since I’ve seen a Unicorn with such mastery of the ‘Mind’s Eye’ spell.”

“Can I open my eyes?” Haze asked.

“No!” Sparks quickly replied, “No, don’t open your eyes, no matter what.” She focused back on the stallion, “What brings you to our realm, Great One?”

“Unfortunately, I come bearing news that does not bode well for this realm. This war is falling into chaos and turmoil, in such a manner that the gods and goddesses are turning their gaze upon it. Soon, I will be forced to bring this world to an end, in order to restore balance back to the universe.”

“How can we stop that from happening?”

“The dark weapon breathes. Its existence heralds the beginning of the end. Bringing about its destruction shall bring forth the wrath of the Corrupted One. Only by overcoming the rage of primordial evil, will the cycle cease.”

“Wait Great One, ‘dark weapon’? What is it? How do we find it? Where do we look?”

Silence was her only response as the surge of power dissipated. The stallion had vanished.

“Sparks? Is it safe now?”

“Yeah…go ahead…”

“Yooo, so…who or what was that?”

“No time to explain, we gotta go!” She enveloped Haze in her magic and broke off into a sprint, a goofy smile appeared on his face he cartwheeled in the air, unbothered by the fact he was being magically dragged by the Unicorn.

“Go where?”

“We’ve gotta tell the others about this!!”

-MLP-

Hell King lumbered into his dining room, and took a seat before the dining room’s table. There was a feast of jewels laid out for him, extravagant and an amazing sight to behold. He licked his lips and picked up a fat chunk of a ruby. Just as he was about to pop the jewel into his mouth, a Hellion donning a doctor’s coat excitedly trotted up beside the massive table,

“Mighty King of Hell…” The Hellion started. “I wish to pass wonderful news to you!”

“It must be if you’re risking death for interrupting my dinner…”

Surprisingly, the Hellion seemed unaffected, “It is my greatest pleasure to announce to you that the experiment Is complete.”

A vile grin spread across his face, “You don’t say?...” he rose from his seat and knelt down to be closer to the Hellion, ml;

The Hellion doctor quickly nodded, “Absolutely, Great Dragon.”

The Hellion quickly trotted off, with the giant dragon trailing behind him. They traveled down an immense length of halls before coming to a massive steel door. The Hellion pushed a few buttons on a nearby panel, and the door slid up, welcoming them inside. It appeared to be a massive laboratory, filled with massive steel and glass canisters, filled with twisted forms of things that were questionable to be considered living creatures. They passed them, heading straight to a canister that was the farthest in the back. Inside, levitating in the mass of green plasma, was a sleek, black Unicorn. Even while floating in the ooze, it was easy to determine that he was massive in his stature, and even appeared to easily be a head or two taller than the former Sun Princess. He did not have the same, slender forms of the Alicorns, and nearly every part of him was muscle. His mane and tail were a deep blue. His hooves faintly glowed a violet hue. A breathing apparatus that was linked to the top of the canister covered his mouth. Hell King smiled,

“He’s amazing. I’m not one to give out compliments, but…your team did an excellent job creating him…” he pressed on of his hands against the glass, “You look like you could fuck some shit up…” he looked down at the doctor, “Let’s start waking him up. I want to make this guy in action.”

“With pleasure, King of Hell.”

He went over to a long panel table that was covered in various buttons and knobs. He pushed a few of the buttons, then pulled the massive lever next to the panel. Hell King’s eyes lit up as electricity snaked it way through the canister. The Unicorn twitched. His eyelids started to flicker as he struggled to open his eyes,

“Yes, my dark prince…open your eyes for your king!!”

As if on command, the Unicorn’s eyes shot open. Like the other Hellions, his sclera were black, with emerald irises sitting in the center of the dark pools. Hell King smiled with sinister delight as the Unicorn’s eyes focused on him.

“Welcome to you new world, Dark Star…”