Season Spike Episode 4 Crystals

Chapters

Mystery
Start Of A New Journey... Kind Of
A New Enemy?!
Equestria In Danger (2)
Another New Enemy?!
Back To Equestria
Goodbye New Enemy, Hello New Home
Friend Or Foe?
Equestria In Danger

Mystery

Dear Prince Spike,

I would like to invite you to the Crystal Empire, and I request for some of your aid. Please bring no other pony with you, this is a special matter. I know this is short notice, but you are requested immediately. All will be explained when you arrive.

Your beloved,

Princess Cadence

Spike raised an eyebrow at the letter. "That was a short letter." He said bluntly.

"Yeah, a bit suspicious if you ask me." Twilight said, standing behind Spike while gazing at the letter.

Spike shrugged. "Well, duty calls. I guess I have to go." Spike said.

Twilight smiled. "Okay, try to be back soon." Twilight hugged Spike and let him leave.

Spike waved back. "Later!" He stepped out the door, activated his wings, and took off.

"See ya!" Twilight smiled to herself as he left. "He's growing up. Probably a bit more than all of us." Twilight thought.

Spike flew freely through Ponyville, waving at friends and others on the streets.

He was soon met by Rainbow Dash.

"Sup Spike? Whatcha doin'?" Rainbow said as she flew at the same pace as the dragon.

"Oh nothing much. Just going to the Crystal Empire 'cause Princess Cadence called me." He answered.

Rainbow smiled. "Pretty neat being a Prince and all huh?" She asked.

"Yeah. Not that I strive for it, but the praise I get now is really nice."

Rainbow reached in to bonk Spike in the nose. "Well you deserve it. Catch you later!" Rainbow flew off.

"Bye!" Spike continued to the Crystal Empire.

A guard trotted up to the room that was to the right of Celestia's bedroom. He proceeded to knock on the door. "Mr. Wall? There's a letter for you." The guard said.

The door then burst open, not that it made the guard recoil or anything.

"Come in." A voice said.

The guard walked in. The room was dimly lit by candles.

Sitting on a chair was Armak wearing a robe, sipping a cup of coffee in front of the fireplace. "Yes?" He asked.

The guard didn't say anything as he gave Armak the letter.

Armak inspected the letter. "For me?"

The guard didn't reply as he walked away, and out the room.

Armak's horn glowed, and the door slammed shut.

The alicorn then began to rip the envelope, and take the letter out.

He unfolded the letter, and read quietly to himself.

"..."

Armak had a confused look, then read the letter again.

"I'm... needed? At the Crystal Empire?" He read it again, this time out loud. ""I would like to invite you to the Crystal Empire." Is this one of Discord's tricks, because if it is..."

Armak sighed, and undid his robe. "I shouldn't be assuming things. Now that we're on terms, I wouldn't like to screw this up." Armak thought to himself.

He looked up at the ceiling, staring at nothing in particular. "I hope you're watching me. Little bro."

Armak's horn shined a dark glow as he teleported away.

Spike arrived at the Crystal Empire. He was greeted by a hoard of ponies who was cheering for him. All he had in return was a wave and a smile, something Pinkie always loved.

After arriving, he immediately headed for the castle.

He stepped into the castle and was greeted by Shining Armor. "Hey Spike! What's happening?"

"Nothing much. Princess Cadence called me over. Didn't explain why." Spike scratched his head. "Anyways, do you know where she is?"

"She's in our bedroom." Shining told.

"Thanks! Talk to you later." Spike strolled passed Shining and waved at him.

Shining smiled and waved back, then started to trot off elsewhere.

Spike walked to the second top floor, then to the owners room. When he was about to knock, Cadence appeared from the end of the hall.

"Hello Spike!" Cadence gave a warm smile.

Spike smiled back and the two walked towards each other.

"Princess Cadence!" He hugged the pink alicorn.

Cadence stumbled for a second then hugged back. ""Cadence", is just fine."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind." Spike put both of his arms behind his back, and griped his claws together. "So, what'd you call me for?" He asked politely.

Cadence gestured a hoof to follow her and said, "This way."

So they both started walking side by side.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" Spike wanted to know.

"Well, remember a couple weeks ago, when Armak trapped all of Equestria in that gem of his?"

"Yeah. I think he called it, "Crystal World"." He explained.

"Right. I went to the local library, and did some research. It turns out that the myths are true! It appears that there's another world, a Crystal World."

"Um? Sorry to be off-topic, but why didn't you come to the library at Ponyville? I'm sure you'd be a lot better with Twilight."

Cadence chuckled. "I have my reasons. But anyways, I'm very interested, and I would like to visit this world myself."

"And... why do you need me?" Spike asked, trying his hardest not to be rude.

When Cadence heard what Spike asked, she sighed. "Well, there's just ONE little thing..."

Spike waited a bit for her to continue, but she didn't. "What Cadence?"

Cadence hesitated for a moment, then decided to reply.

Right when she was about to though, they heard something in the distance.

"That." She said bluntly.

Spike raised an eyebrow and squinted his eyes, trying to look for what Cadence was talking about.

When he was about to ask again, somepony interrupted him.

"Spike?! Oh, how good to see you!" Armak said happily.

He rushed up and shook Spike's claw wildly.

"Hi... Armak." Spike greeted with a awkward smile.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm good. You?"

"I'm great! Cadence! You never told me you were bringing good ol' Spike too!"

Cadence gave a fake smile. "Yes! I...forgot to mention." She said sheepishly.

Armak turned and walked ahead of them.

Spike looked at Cadence with a knowing look.

"That's the problem?"

"That's the problem."

"I don't see anything wrong with Armak." Spike said, trying to reason.

"It's not your problem. It's mine." Cadence bent down and whispered in Spike's ear. "You're the closest to Armak, and I don't feel comfortable with him just yet, so I wanted some company. Also, if anything bad happens, I need someone to back me up."

Spike took in the words, and winked at Cadence with a smile, a fake smile. "You got it."

Cadence smiled and walked after Armak. "Wait for us!" She yelled.

When he saw that Cadence wasn't paying any attention to him, he frowned.

He was frustrated.

Armak is a changed stallion, like how Discord is. But other ponies still didn't understand.

Spike calmed himself and sighed. If others wouldn't understand, then he'd have to somehow make them. Which shouldn't be too hard. Right?

Spike began to walk up to the other two.

"So what is happening Cadence?" Armak asked.

"You know the Crystal World?"

"Yes."

"I am very interested. And I wanted to visit that world. You know, without being imprisoned." Cadence explained.

Armak chuckled and rubbed the back of his head embarrassingly. "Right."

They followed Cadence to a room in the far back of the castle.

When they were inside, both Armak and Spike were amazed.

"Whoa..." They both said, very astonished.

The walls were red crystal. Something out of the ordinary for the blue crystal castle. There were four red crystal pillars that would outline a square in the center. In the middle of the room, were four sets of stairs leading to one shrine.

"I never knew this room existed!" Spike said in amazement.

"That's because this room was recently renovated. This will be where the portal to the Crystal World will be placed.

"Portal? But the gemstone that I have in possession is the only true gateway in that world." Armak implied.

"Yes, but if I can manipulate it, I could create a portal that doesn't require somepony to use magic or dark magic to enter." She explained.

"Alright then. Here." Armak used his magic, and in a flash of light a big red crystal appeared in front of Armak. "I can still use normal magic you know." He explained.

"Thank you." Cadence took the gem with her magic, and trotted over to the shrine.

"Armak." Spike called out, which caused him to face the dragon. "Where did you find the gem?" He asked.

"Oh, during my time of resting, I came across an old temple. That is where I found it." He explained.

"Where is this temple?" Cadence asked while working.

"I... don't know exactly." Armak scratched his head.

Cadence carried the gem with her magic, and put it in the middle of the shrine, where it would start floating like the Crystal Heart would.

When the gem was in place, the room started to fill with gusts of wind. No pony or dragon knew where the strong air was coming from, and none cared as it died away.

The shrine alone started to tremble, and Cadence quickly flew off of it. She landed next to Spike and Armak.

The three stood and watched as the gem acted like a projector, and made a wall of red light appear. The wall of light shined and looked as if it was a red liquid, it also made a wavy type noise.

"Is that..." Spike started to question.

"The portal." Cadence said.

They all walked up to it.

Cadence looked at her two companions. "Everypony and dragon ready?" She asked.

Both Spike and Armak nodded, and they turned their heads to the portal, jumping in a second later.

Start Of A New Journey... Kind Of

"We have no magic. We're trapped in the world of crystals. I'm missing valuable relaxation time. And the only way back is to stop a rampaging monster!" Armak was really annoyed.

Spike put his arms behind his head. "I kind of like a new adventure." He inputted.

"You like this?" Armak asked, bewildered.

"Well... yeah! I never went on many adventures before. And when I did, usually Twilight or the others did most of the work." He explained.

Armak sighed. "You're still too young. And I'm too old!"

"Yeaaah about that. How is it that you're aging? Aren't you immortal now since you've changed yourself into an alicorn and have all the dark magic?" He questioned.

"Back then when I first battled Celestia and Luna, they used the Elements Of Harmony on me. It made me so weak that my immortality weakened as well. I still aged while I was immobile, but very slowly."

Spike nodded.

"Now that I've awakened, my immortality is back, and I no longer age albeit I'm still pretty old."

"Makes sense." Spike said.

They continued to walk up north, to the beast who was causing havoc.

In a dark alleyway, a brown pony with a gray mane carried oranges in a bucket with his blue magic. It was eerie in the alleyway. Even a tin can rattling against the stone floor startled the stallion into looking backwards, expecting something behind him.

Sighing with relief that the sound was just a can, the pony turned forward to begin walking again but stopped and had a spooked look when he saw a hooded pony in his way.

Under the hood, the pony's face was blocked by shadows. Whenever he exhaled white mist escaped his mouth.

"Very sorry." The pony laughed nervously. "You came out of nowhere."

The covered pony exhaled mist once again and said, "'Is he friend or is he foe?' The pony wonders." He crackled slowly.

The brown pony got another nervous look on his face.

"I can assure you... I am no friend." The cloaked pony said, slowly again. The bottom part of his face started to show under the hood, revealing his red mouth and nose which had piercings through it. He had a long, gray beard as well. "I am Lord... Tirek!" He said while gripping his hand into a fist tightly, showing off his thin arm with a cuff without a chain. Did ponies have hands? "And I will take what should have been mine long ago." As he said this he opened his jaw and seemingly took the pony's blue magic, making the pony's eyes go wide as his Cutie Mark of four green gems disappear.

"Prince Spike... Help me..." With his magic gone, the pony dropped the bucket of oranges and fell down to his stomach with a thud. He looked up at the 'pony' with colorless eyes.

The brown pony's fear grew when he saw that the 'pony' in front of him grew in size with an orange glow. Possibly because of his magic stolen.

The 'pony', not noticing the one before him call out to a prince, laughed creepily and his eyes glowed a bright yellow.

Spike yawned. "So?"

"What?" Armak asked.

"Are you getting this feeling that Equestria needs us right now?"

"...Nope."

Spike shrugged.

Luna walked through the dream realm. Looking through others' dreams.

Not too long ago had she and Celestia woken up shaken from "not a dream, but a vision."

Celestia recently asked Luna to bring Cadence and Shining Armor to the castle for an emergency, but when Luna arrived at the Crystal Empire, Shining said that she was on a "top secret mission" in the Crystal World.

When she entered through the portal she met a being named Crystal Shine who was supposedly a "Humane". She bowed respectively and Luna explained the situation making Crystal Shine bring her to Cadence, who was sleeping in a room of the Town Hall. The only way Luna could wake up Cadence was to make her Lucid in her dreams, so that meant visiting her dreams. Which wasn't hard, except... this world's dream realm was completely different from the one in Equestria. This dream realm wasn't even in alphabetical order. It was in numeric order! ...Backwards!

After some time, she eventually found Cadence in her dreams. She was playing happily with Shining Armor on a swing set... and they were foals... and Shining had a wedding dress... which was black.

This dream was not that surprising to Luna. With how many dreams she entered, this was on the "weird but not that weird" list.

With a shine from the Princess Of The Night's horn, everything disappeared leaving only the grass and a confused filly Cadence looking around scratching her head.

"Cadence." Luna was right behind the filly.

Cadence got agitated and quickly looked behind her ready to fight. She stopped when she saw Luna. "Wait..." Cadence was looked up at Luna. "Auntie Luna? Let me guess..." She started to state facts. "Shiny in a dress, perfect swing set, perfectly cut grass, perfect weather, no problematic occurrences... Dream?"

"Dream." Luna clarified and sighed. "Now that you're aware of your dreams, you must awake."

Luna flew up and used her magic.

Cadence slowly opened her eyes. "Hello, aunti-!"

"No time for introductions! Follow!"

She looked at Crystal Shine.

"Go!" She yelled.

Cadence nodded and followed quickly.

Luna was the one pony who took introductions very seriously. This made Cadence have no doubt that this was important.

Spike and Armak had reached another crystal Town. This one being made up entirely out of blue crystal.

The town was in terrible shape. Structures were destroyed, creatures were hiding in fear. It looked like Discord himself if he had magic walked through this place.

Spike had sympathy for the creatures in this part of the crystal world. Armak looked like he didn't care.

One creature, looking like a changeling but made out of crystal, saw Spike and yelled. "Everyone, look! It's our savior."

More and more beings started to come out of hiding and smiled happily when they saw Spike.

They all ran over and bowed.

"Now I know how Twilight feels." He said with a nervous smile.

"You're the Prince." Armak said.

The creatures all gasped when they heard Armak.

"It's him!"

"No! He wants to hurt us even more!"

"Naw mate, he turned good after their scuffle. Right?"

"He's going to eat us alive!"

The group of creatures started to yell all at once that either Armak was here to cause trouble, or he was a good guy.

Spike cleared his throat loud, trying to get the crystal beings' attention.

After he noticed that they didn't hear him, he cleared his throat again, a little louder.

"..." They still didn't hear.

"HEY!" Armak yelled, causing all arguments to stop. "You may speak now." He said, clearly annoyed.

"Thank you. Like I was trying to ask: Did that creature come here and cause this recently?" Spike asked.

"The monster that blows fire and wrecks havoc across the northern region? Yeah, not too long ago!" One alligator said.

"Okay. Well... do any of you know which direction the monster went?"

"He went that-a-way." A crystal cub bear said while pointing to the right of the village.

"Kay thanks bye!" Armak said quickly.

"Are you gonna stop him black pony?" The cub asked.

Armak looked down, about to yell at the cub for no reason until he saw the cub with big cute pleading eyes.

"I- Well- Yes!" Armak stuttered.

Spike started to laugh at his companion's antics.

Armak groaned and said, "Let's just go already!"

With that, the two went on. And behind them were cheering from the beings that lived in that city.

A tall figure was approaching the city.

"Hello there city!" It said. "Time for some more fun!"

A New Enemy?!

"...But it appears he has found a way to escape." Celestia explained.

The four alicorn Princesses were gathered at Canterlot castle. Celestia and Luna had just recently told who and what this Tirek being was to Twilight and Cadence.

"We believe it happened when Cerberus left his post at the gates." Luna said.

Twilight shook her head. "But that was a long time ago. Why is he just now starting to steal magic?" She asked.

"His time in Tartarus left him very weak. He has just now gained enough strength to use his dark powers." Celestia said as she walked around the table they were all standing around.

"So like how it was with Armak?" Twilight asked.

"I suppose so."

"With each passing moment, he grows stronger still." Luna told.

"And I know just the Princess who could stop him." Cadence said with a knowing smile.

Twilight spread her wings in determination and said, "Yes! I'll find him and-"

"No, Twilight,"

Twilight looked behind to face Celestia.

"I'm afraid I must call on another to stop Tirek." She closed her eyes for a second then said, "Discord."

The other three alicorns gasped.

"Princess. You're not saying that-"

"Yes..." Celestia walked up to the closest window and stared at the bright blue sky. "Twilight, you remember when Discord tracked down Rarity's little sister by sensing her magic. If anyone can track him down, it shall be Discord."

"And how do you suppose he tracks him in time. Tirek is still very weak." Luna noted.

"He will sense when a there is a magical imbalance. And that's when either he or I will strike."

Twilight sighed.

"I know you may think this is a risky decision. But I have to make risky plays, or my little ponies will be in great danger."

Twilight nodded.

Spike and Armak walked side by side. They were approaching another city.

"Ugh! How many more towns do we have to go to?! Every single one of them, "you just missed the monster." I say we just sneak back to Equestria and never return!" Armak said angrily.

"Come on Armak. It's only been three cities so far."

"But we don't even have to do this! I could just sneak back to the portal without any one of them noticing."

"Uh, we probably don't have to. But it's the right thing to do. Besides, it's boring in Equestria right now anyways."

"This world is even more boring! I want action! I want trouble! I want something to happen-"

*BANG!*

The area around them shook.

"Well, there you go." Spike said with a smile.

"Argh! Finally!"

*EXPLOSION!*

"Let's go stop this thing."

Spike and Armak made their way to the city, intent on stopping this creature.

They were in the middle of a street soon after. Every corner, another crystal creature was cowering in fear. Spike had sympathy for all these beings. As he too could remember a time where every pony in Equestria was frightened beyond levels.

The two males followed the sounds of explosions, and in a short amount of time, they found their monster.

"Huh?" Spike's eyes widened.

This creature was a tall crystal clear dragon, looking very intimidating. It had a purple scaled body with green spikes on top of its head running all the way down to its long tail, and a light grayish green belly.

"It looks like you." Armak said. "But whatever, it's not you."

Spike had a flashback to the time his greed took him over. When he rampaged as a full grown dragon and Rarity stopped him.

"Spike?"

Armak snapped Spike out of it. "Oh! Right. We came here to stop it."

The crystal dragon looked behind itself, stopping from crushing another building, and with its emerald eyes, stared down at the two.

When its eyes crossed over Armak, it looked surprised. But when it scanned Spike, the look of pure hatred couldn't even begin to describe its expression.

It roared powerfully, showing off its two sharp rows of teeth.

"Do dragons have two rows of teeth?!" Armak asked, yelling over the roar.

"I don't think so!" Spike replied.

Once it was done roaring, the crystal dragon rushed Spike and tried to grab him.

Spike activated his wings and flew up to dodge the grab.

Armak gave a boring sigh. "Time to get this over with." He pointed his horn, charged it, and fired- "Oh wait... DARN IT!" He remembered he couldn't use magic in this world.

Spike flew high in the air and flew back down with great speed. He drop kicked the dragon and flew back over to Armak.

"What are you doing?" Spike asked.

"Well sorry! I was trying to use my magic because I forgot that we couldn't."

"...Oh yeah... we can't'." Spike lowered his arm, stopping from trying to fire a magic blast.

The dragon picked itself up and looked at Spike. It roared and blew its green fire at him.

Spike looked shocked. "It even has my signature green fire?!"

Armak flew out of the way and Spike just stood there.

"Spike! Look out!" He tried to yell, but the fire hit Spike dead on.

"Nooo-! Huh?"

Spike was standing there, perfectly fine.

"Not even a burn mark on you?"

"I'm a dragon." Spike deadpanned.

"...And?"

Spike rolled his eyes. "Dragons can swim in hot lava. I don't think they'll be affected by fire..."

Armak growled. "Well, I didn't know-"

*ROAR*

"Dragon lessons later, defeating giant dragon now!" Spike and Armak flew up to the beast.

It tried its fire again at Spike, but the smaller dragon just flew through it and knocked him hard on its snout.

During the battle, the large dragon seemed to be only going after Spike, and not Armak.

It was hard for the alicorn to get a hit in. The fire didn't affect Spike but it surely would affect him if it connected. Once he got a kick in, however, the large creature roared in pain and swiped at Armak.

The alicorn tried to teleport away but fail miserably. "Oh... drat."

The swipe nearly missed however when Spike tackled Armak out of the way.

They both landed together on the ground with a thud.

"Get off of me!" Armak pushed Spike off.

"Your welcome." Spike said, obviously annoyed.

"Thank you, sorry. I'm just really frustrated right now."

"Ha, why? Because you can't use your stolen dark magic?" Spike laughed.

Armak, being the one annoyed now, flew up to the incoming beast and knocked it back, making it drag against the crystal ground.

"As soon as we're done stopping this... thing, the sooner we go home!"

Spike got up with a grin. "Right behind you!"

In a dark alleyway, a grayish blue unicorn stallion with a spiked black mane fell to the floor because of his lack of magic. He opened his colorless eyes and looked dazed as the being, now called Tirek, in front of him sparked with black electricity and grew bigger with a yellow glow.

Tirek gritted his teeth and gripped his fists as he grew in size. He soon looked back to see a gray unicorn stallion with a black mane using his blue magic on something down the alleyway.

Tirek neared towards the pony, sneaking up behind him. He put his arms out, ready to grab him at any second.

A few steps closer and the pony turned to reveal not a pony, but a draconequus. "Tirek, I presume." He said.

Tirek looked shocked for a second. He squinted his eyes and inspected the being before him. "Discord. You're... free?" He asked.

With a flash of light, Discord turned into a bird standing on a bird stand. "As a bird." He replied.

"I commend you on your escape." Tirek said with a bow.

Discord flashed back to normal. "I'm afraid the feeling isn't mutual." He snapped his claw.

Tirek widened his eyes. He turned angry and tried to break the chain now binding him. After failing, he charged his red magic and fired a tiny plasma beam at Discord, who split his head in two to avoid the beam.

"Oh, I should have known you would want to have Equestria all to yourself."

Discord was twirling a baton in his paw's finger while wearing a police outfit. He tossed it away and said, "Oh, I'm not doing this for me." The baton landed on the ground making a noise. "I'm doing it for my friends." He went closer to Tirek's face and whispered, "Just between the two of us, it's mostly for Spike and Fluttershy." He squeed silently and gave Tirek his personal space.

Tirek caught the name of Fluttershy. "Fluttershy? Spike?" Tirek didn't recognize the pony who had the name of Fluttershy, but he did know that it was a pony name. "You're not saying you're friends with... ponies!" He said, bewildered.

Discord popped out of a giant cake that he poofed up while Tirek was thinking. "Surprise!" He yelled.

Some of the icing splattered on Tirek's cloak. "I am surprised that someone with your intellect does not see this "friendship" is but a new form of imprisonment." He showed off his new chains. "Clearly you've had to abandon your true nature to stay in their good graces."

You could see Discord playing a Lyre with a halo above his head. He threw away the Lyre and crossed his arms. "I have done nothing of the sort." He looked up at his halo and shewed it away. Making the halo fly away.

Tirek gave Discord the "talk to the hand" gesture and said, "Oh, please. I've seen this before." He gripped his fists in anger. "But he was always weak-minded." Tirek zipped to Discord and said, "You are Discord. You are legend." He placed a hand on Discord's chest. "You cannot fall into the same trap that claimed my brother."

"Help me to grow strong and be rewarded with something far greater than friendship..." His yellow eyes glowed brightly. "Freedom."

Discord was taken aback.

"Once I have stripped these ponies of their magic, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see their world turned upside down. Who better to do so than the master of chaos himself?"

Discord put his talon to his chin in thought.

"Join me, Discord, and reclaim your greatness. Unless, of course, "pony errand boy" is the role you've always wanted to play in this world." Tirek snapped causing his hood to come off.

Discord looked back to see a nightstand, his nightstand floating in the air holding a picture of himself and Fluttershy, another picture of him and an annoyed Armak with the words "best reformed bad guys" written on it, and a Discord action figure.

He put his talon on his chin in thought once again.

The crystal dragon roared in pain as crystal scales on his left leg began to tear off.

"Ohhh, that's gotta hurt." Spike rubbed his left leg like he was the one losing scales.

At another look at the dragon, it seemed as it was growing weaker.

"Alright! Spike, time to finish this!" Armak was about to swoop in from above but stopped in shock when he saw that crystal around the area latched on and merged to the dragon, making new scales.

"Oh come on!" Armak and Spike yelled in frustration.

The dragon growled then roared once again.

Equestria In Danger (2)

The four alicorn princesses were standing together in Canterlot Castle's throne room.

"Tirek is set on possessing alicorn magic." Luna started. "When he comes for us, we cannot have what he is looking for."

Twilight thought for a quick second and said, "I'm more than willing to do my part and give up my magic."

Luna shook her head. "You misunderstand. Our magic cannot just disappear into thin air. Somepony must keep it safe."

Cadence walked up to Twilight with eyes of worry and said, "That somepony is you, Twilight."

Twilight's ears drooped low and she asked, "Why me?"

"We do not believe that Tirek is aware that a fourth Alicorn princess exists in Equestria. If we transfer our magic to you, Tirek will not know where it has gone." Celestia explained.

"Do you understand what we're asking of you?" Cadence asked.

"Yes. It's just I'm only now learning how to control my own Alicorn magic. To take on even more-"

"Twilight, you represent the Element Of Magic." Cadence held Twilight's hoof with her own. "If there is anypony who can do this, it's you."

Celestia and Luna nodded their heads in agreement.

"Taking on this task will be one of the most difficult things I will ever do. But with the help of Spike-"

"About that..." Cadence put her head down. "Spike, as well as Armak, are back in the Crystal world."

"Crystal World?" Celestia asked.

"It's a long story. They probably won't be back for some time." She sighed sadly. "It was such a bad time..."

"Perhaps... it's in our fortunate that Spike and Armak aren't here." Celestia said.

"What do you mean?"

"What were to happen if Tirek stole both Spike's Fire Magic, and Armak's Dark Magic?"

They all realized what Celestia meant.

"He would be... unstoppable." Luna looked distraught.

"Precisely. And since both of them aren't even in Equestria at the moment, it gives Tirek a lot less magic to steal."

"...Well in any case, with the help of my friends-"

"I'm sorry, Princess Twilight, but you must keep your new abilities a secret. I fear that your friends being aware of your new power could put them at great risk." Celestia told. "Do you still think you can take on this responsibility?"

Twilight put on a serious and determined look on her face. "This is the role I am meant to play as a Princess of Equestria. I will not fail to do my duty!"

"Then we must begin at once."

The three older Alicorns surrounded Twilight. They all charged their horns and soon enough, their eyes started to glow brightly. They released their magic above Twilight, making a giant sphere of magic.

Twilight had a nervous look.

The giant sphere of Alicorn magic came rushing down to Twilight, filling up her horn.

Meanwhile, in a different part of Equestria, Discord watched, rubbing his claw and paw together, as Tirek took the magic away from four more ponies.

Suddenly, his whole body started to shake. He put a paw to his chin. "That can't be right."

"What can't be right?" Tirek asked as his horns grew longer and had an inward curve.

"Nothing. Carry on." Discord lied.

Tirek carried on. As he walked the ground shook with each step he took.

Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all looked very ill. They lied on the floor and looked at Twilight who was glowing brightly. She twitched here and there, and floated a bit off the ground.

The glowing soon stopped, and Twilight rubbed her head for a second. She looked up at the other princesses and quickly ran over to hug Celestia. A single tear escaped her eye.

That was when Twilight noticed that Celestia didn't have her sun Cutie Mark.

Luna raised her wing to reveal that she too had lost hers. Cadence followed suit.

Celestia sighed. "It is done."

Spike flew fast to get away from the rampaging dragon. It was glowing.

"What's happening to it?!" Armak asked.

"I don't know!"

Suddenly, a lot more crystals merged with the dragon, making... armor?

"Hm. Looks like it upped its defence." Armak stated. "I'm surprised it's smart enough to even do that."

The armor the dragon wore was made of dark green crystal. There were spikes at its shoulders, and spikes on its helmet.

"These crystal creatures wouldn't have stood a chance even if they tried." Armak said.

"Well that's why we're here. So let's continue." Spike rushed in and headbutted the dragon's chest, making it fly back.

Spike rubbed his now pounding head.

"What do you expect from headbutting pure crystal?" Armak asked.

"I'm not the smartest guy, okay?" Spike shot back.

From the crystal dust the dragon's impact created, two glowing greens eyes could be seen.

"He looks really angry. And with no magic, this is going to be a LOT harder."

"Yup."

Armak grunted. "The other princesses don't know the feeling of having no magic while fighting for their lives. Why does it have to be me?!"

It was a starry night in Ponyville.

Most ponies were asleep by now, but Twilight had the ability to stay up because of all the power she had.

She walked past Spike's basket.

Twilight stopped for a moment and stared at the empty basket, ending it all off with a sigh. "Oh Spike, I wish you were here right now. Even if you only were just sleeping in your little basket."

The silence was all she received.

She sighed again. "Don't worry little bro, you'll get your own room soo-" Her horn glowed and sparked with electricity. Making a few books fly around behind her.

"How does Spike, Armak, Discord and the princesses control their magic? I still doubt that I have more magic than Spike."

She took a look at the books and picked them up. Soon after putting them away, she noticed one of the book's cover.

The Power Of Magic: Volume VII

Twilight smiled. "I remember reading this. It told about the different types of magic."

"An earth pony's strength, which helped tend the land."

"A pegasus's flight, which helped them control the weather."

"A unicorn's magic, which helped with many things."

"And Alicorn magic. Noteably Princess Celestia's and Luna's, which raised and lower the sun and the moon."

"Speaking of, the sun should be up by now." Twilight gasped, ignoring the spark from her horn and realized, "The sun should be up by now!"

She rushed to her window and looked at the moon. She took a deep breath and said to herself, "You can do this." She charged her horn and pointed it to the sky out her window.

The moon jittered for a second.

Twilight started to levitate and her mane and tail started to whirl.

After another second of jittering, the moon came violently down but reappeared back up in the sky. It went back down and the sun came up.

It went like this for another round then finally the sun stayed up in the air.

Shining Armor looked up a the sun weirdly. Unknown to him, the two pony guards who were standing behind him rose in the air uncontrollably, leaving Shining Armor alone.

With a flash of light, Shining's helmet vanished. He was stunned.

Discord flashed in front of him with his helmet on. "Shining Armor. Why, whatever are you doing here?" He asked playfully.

Shining pushed Discord back. "Back off, traitor!"

"The only one Discord betrayed was himself."

Shining looked over to see Tirek draining the pony guard from before from his magic.

Once he was done, he continued, "Abandoning his true nature to make "friends" with weak-minded equines who offer him nothing."

Shining replied with a magic beam from his horn.

Tirek caught the beam which turned into a ball in his hand. He plopped the magic ball into his mouth and chewed it like gum, mocking Shining Armor.

He forced Shining's mouth shut with his hand soon after, forcing him to keep quiet. He opened his mouth wide and stole Shining's magic from his horn.

The unicorn's legs shook, and he weakly fell flat.

He looked up at Discord with colorless eyes and asked, "How could you do this?" And he collapsed.

Tirek wrapped an arm around Discord and said, "Why don't you go and have a little fun? I won't stand in your way."

Tirek then left Discord, who chuckled evilly.

Twilight ran through the middle of the streets of Ponyville. She decided to catch some wind to save some time.

She soon saw that as a mistake however, as she flew too fast.

This caught the attention of Rainbow Dash and the others, who were just doing their own thing. They all started to gallop towards the unusually fast Alicorn.

Twilight, seeing herself at no control, decided to land. When she landed it was a hard impact, she grazed forward a bit but soon came to a complete stop.

Her friends quickly arrived at her side.

"Oh my goodness. Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked.

Before Twilight got a chance to respond, Applejack spoke up. "Jumpin' june bugs, Twilight. When did you learn to fly that fast?!"

Twilight gave her a nervous look. "I... must have caught a particularly strong breeze-" She instantly teleported beside Rarity. "-or something."

Rainbow look confused. "Must've been "or something" because there wasn't any breeze up there."

"I don't know what happened." Twilight said worriedly. "But I don't really have time to figure it out right now." Her body sparked with electricity right after.

"Another visit to the castle of the Castle Of The Two Sisters, I presume?"

Twilight's friends all gave her excited smiles. "We'd be more than happy to accompany you."

Twilight interjected. "Not today." She sparked again. "Tirek may still be a threat. I need you all to stay here and encourage everypony to remain inside." Twilight spread her wings and was going to start to fly again, but soon decided against it. So she started to walk to her destination, leaving her sad, confused, and worried friends behind.

"Give my regards to Cerberus." Tirek stood in front of the castle throne. He used his magic and shot out a yellow beam which turned into a portal to a prison called Tartarus above the three weak Alicorn Princesses. Tirek levitated them through the portal and closed it soon after.

Tirek crossed his arms and looked achieved.

"You meant, our will, didn't you?"

Tirek turned to look at Discord who was playing with a glass window.

"Of course." Tirek replied. "Here. I want you to have something." He showed Discord a golden amulet. "This was given to me by someone very close to me. I give it to you as a sign of my gratitude and loyalty." He strapped the amulet around Discord's neck.

Discord looked at the amulet with amazement. "Oh my! I do love a good accessory." He scratched his beard. "I suppose that's Rarity's influence."

Tirek chuckled at the sight of Discord's recreation. The glass window showed him and Discord with a sword and bread in hand looking powerful.

"Amusing. But we have no time for such things." He started to walk down the hall. "With the Princesses out of the way we can can now-" He stopped. Right next to him were three glass windows.

The one on the right showed an intimidating, black alicorn stallion with his wings raised and horn shined.

The one in the middle showed a purple alicorn mare with her horn glowing purple.

And the most recent one showed a purple and green dragon with two magical green spheres in his palms.

"Are these... meant to be HUMOROUS?!"

Discord shook his paw and claw. "Oh no! I haven't touched those yet."

"Two more Alicorns and a powerful dragon of some sort? And you did not tell me this?!"

Discord shrugged. "I just needed some assurance that you truly considered this a team effort. And now... I have it." He said while showing off the amulet Tirek gave him.

"Then where can we find these new Alicorns and mighty dragon?" He gripped Discord's neck. "Where are their castles?"

Discord laughed. "Castles? Oh no. Princess Twilight being the purple one and Prince Spike being the dragon lives above a library in Ponyville. And Armak was supposed to be here, but I guess he's somewhere else. Don't worry though. With his cocky attitude, he'll show up eventually." He laughed again. "Castles? Ha ha."

"Above a library in Ponyville huh?" He let go of Discord's neck and smiled. "Not for much longer." He walked away, every step he took shook the area. And his next stop was presumably Ponyville.

And as he walked, he used his magic to melt the three glass windows.

Armak flew in and knocked the beast back.

Some of the dragon's armor broke off from before, and more had just fallen off because of Armak's strike.

Before it had time to recover, Spike swooped in kicked it from behind.

The dragon tried to get up yet again, but this time, Armak upper-cutted him into the air.

To finish it off, Spike blew a fireball at the dragon. The flames wouldn't have been effective, but the impact sure would.

The beast crashed into a crystal hill. The force made its surroundings full of crystal dust.

Armak coughed at the dust. Spike inhaled it greedily.

When the dust had cleared, the two males could see the beast try to get up, only to land back down harshly.

"Listen creature! We don't want to end you!" Spike shouted.

"We don't?" Armak asked.

Spike gave his companion a stern look but soon turned back to the dragon. "If you stop being destructive, then we'll leave you alone!"

The beast slowly opened his eyes to look at Spike and Armak.

To Spike's and Armak's surprise, it smiled.

But not a good smile, and evil smirk.

It got up to its feet, albeit very weakly. "So," It started. "It looks like I really have to use my TRUE powers!"

The other two grew wide-eyed.

"Did it just speak?!" Armak was bewildered.

"So I guess I wasn't just hearing things." Spike put out.

"And..." Armak started. "It sounds oddly familiar."

Suddenly, the beast seemed like it evaporated. Smoke covered where it once stood.

After a few seconds, the smoke dimmed down, and two glowing, emerald green eyes pierced through it.

The smoke then cleared, revealing the creature's true form, which caused Armak and Spike to be shocked.

"Wha-What...?" Spike was lost for words.

"I-Is that..?"

The creature now stood as another Spike. It resembled him in every way. His purple scales, his lime green spikes, and green belly.

But this Spike seemed... different somehow.

"Wh-Who are you?" Spike asked.

When Spike and Armak heard the creature's voice, the one thing that came to mind was Spike's voice, but it sounded... demonic.

"Me?" The being chuckled. "I'm you... Or let's say..."

"I'm your true self."

Another New Enemy?!

Theme:

Youtube Video

"What do you mean you're my true self? Wh-Who are you?!"

"Hehe..." The other Spike stayed silent.

"Spike, I didn't know you had a twin brother," Armak said.

"I don't!"

"Then... who is he?"

"I don't know! Don't ask me!" Spike yelled.

"Woah, chill out there Spike."

"Hehe..." It chuckled creepily. "If you want to call me by my name... you can call me *Spike."*

Spike's eyes widened and he yelled in fury. "You're not Spike! I am!"

"Who are you exactly? You look exactly like Spike except your color scheme seems... darker."

"You want to know who I am?" It asked, causing the other two to nod. "Well... you could say I'm Spike's TRUE self."

"What does that even mean?!" Spike asked, bewildered.

It just chuckled and activated its wings.

Spike and Armak stepped back a little.

"Now let's have some REAL fun!"

It flew forward and charged at its two opponents.

Spike and Armak flew forward as well.

The three collided causing a massive explosion containing black, green, and dark green waves.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were sitting out in their clubhouse. Their sisters told them that it would be safe if they stayed there.

"Spike..." Sweetie Belle wondered if her special somedragon was safe out there. Her thoughts were corrupted however when her horn sparked making her wince.

This resulted in her friends giggling.

"You okay there Sweets?" Asked Apple Bloom. "Ya seem like you dozed off someplace else."

"Yeah I'm fine, just... thinking about things."

"Spike?" Scootaloo asked with a knowing look.

Sweetie Belle nodded.

Apple Bloom reached over and pulled her two friends into a hug. "Don't worry! Twilight, Spike and the princesses will have this all sorted out in a jiff."

After their head on collision, Spike flew back and landed on his feet. "This guy... This... imposter. Somehow he has my strength. But how?!"

Armak became aggressive and charged Dark Spike. He tried to land a punch but failed when Dark Spike flew to dodge. Armak kept chasing, missing every intended strike.

"Why? *Punch* Can't? *Punch* I? *Punch* Hit you!?"

Dark Spike started to laugh again. "If you couldn't beat Spike back then how could you even think to try stopping me?"

Armak growled.

Dark Spike reached forward and quickly flew around Armak. He grabbed him and put him in a headlock.

"Let go of me!" Armak screamed.

Spike tried to sneak up from behind. He flew in and tried to land a hit.

Dark Spike, however, grinned madly and used Armak as a meat shield.

Armak roared in pain when Spike punched him by accident.

Dark Spike tossed Armak away and smirked at Spike.

Spike growled in fury. He attempted a punch straight for his dark Counterpart and it hit.

Dark Spike flew back a little, he rubbed his cheek and said, "I'll give you one chance my little imposter."

"You're the imposter!" Spike yelled back.

Dark Spike ignored what he said. "Imagine. Two of us, together, ruling the lands of Equestria and beyond it. With our powers, NO ONE will be able to stand up to us."

Spike was shocked.

"A world with the two of us ruling. We could replace Celestia and Luna and walk this future down a much better path."

"I don't want to rule this world. I don't want to defeat my family!"

"Aren't you already PRINCE Spike?"

Spike roared in rage and charged, only for Dark Spike to fly around Spike. "A world WE could make for the better." It said.

Spike stopped flying forward and looked back at his counterpart.

"We could have anything we want! We could keep all your friends SAFE!"

"Define safe."

"In a cold cell placed away from everypony." It said darkly.

Armak flew in from behind and grabbed Dark Spike. "Now I've got you." He started to laugh but soon stopped when, Dark Spike himself started laughing.

"All right, y'all, I think we've warned everypony to stay inside," Applejack said.

There was absolutely no pony in Ponyville on the streets. Most windows were boarded up and the only ones who outside were the Mane Five.

"I'm sure Discord will catch Tirek and this will all be over soon," Fluttershy said calmly.

"I'll bet he takes his sweet time," Rainbow said while hovering in the air.

"Or perhaps these things just take time."

They looked over to see Discord with open arms.

Fluttershy jumped up and hugged Discord. "You're back!" She yelled. "Did you bring the cucumber sandwiches?"

"I did." Disord poofed in a tray full with said sandwiches. His face turned from a cheerful one to a serious one. "I imagine they'll be your last decent meal for quite some time," He said darkly.

He dropped the tray full of food and with a flash, a cage appeared trapping the Mane Five in it.

Discord flew up with a smile on his face.

The Mane Five started shouting, demanding an explanation.

"Ta-da!"

Tirek walked towards the Mane Five and Discord. "You've gathered up all of them?" Tirek asked.

"I'm afraid that Spike nor Armak is around. But with these ponies, Twilight will surely come up."

Fluttershy cried against Applejack and asked, "Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends."

Discord shrugged it off and replied, "Oh, we were. But Tirek offered me so much more than just tea parties. Surely you saw this coming."

"I didn't. I really didn't." She sobbed.

Applejack glared at Discord.

Tirek levitated the cage that held the Element Bearers and brought them close to his face. He started to take the magic of the five ponies.

Discord grew a sympathetic face, but it soon turned to realization. "So that's where they are. What's this? A third?"

"Erm Tirek, while you do that I have a certain dragon I would like to meet." And with that, he poofed away.

Dark Spike had Spike in a tail headlock and Armak in his claw, he threw Armak away and he brought Spike in front of him while crossing his arms.

Spike struggled to escape. "Who... in Equestria... Are you?"

"You want to know?" He shrugged. "Fine, I'll tell you." He threw Spike beside Armak with his tail.

Dark Spike landed in front of the two and smiled. "First off, I need to explain how I was born."

"We know how the analogy works, get on with it!" Armak snapped.

Dark Spike laughed. "I wouldn't talk to my son like that, dear old dad."

Armak gasped.

"I was born from a spell. The same spell you place on our dear Spike over here to bring out his TRUE emotions towards the ponies."

The two gasped.

"Wait... I-I remember now!" Spike pointed a finger at Dark Spike. "Y-You're him! The thing in my head when Armak's spell controlled me!"

"Yes, we meet again... brother."

"W-What? I'm so confused." Armak stated.

"While you took control of me. This guy came inside my mind and tried to take me to the dark side." Spike explained.

"Oh. But... you were merely a spell, how did you come out here and get a body?" Armak was confounded.

"Well I can explain that aswell."

You see... back when Spike's... friends, approached him on top of a volcano, I got released once again.

"What's happening? Why is Spike turning back into that monster?"

It wasn't long until I got defeated once again, but this time, I found a solution.

"...you cannot get rid of me. I am a part of you!"

That's what I thought, until I gathered enough magic to escape his body and travel elsewhere.

But you're merely a spell, how could you have so much power?

Hehe, Dark Magic really is something different isn't it?

Huh?

Dark Magic was used to create me, so I possess it as well.

What?

That's right, and I also used my Dark Magic to take some of Spike's DNA with me, so I could create a NEW body in the future.

B-But... why are you in the Crystal World then?

I wasn't finished my story my loving brother.

Grrr...

I also was attached to Armak, since he released the spell. But I also found a solution to that!

Let me guess. Since the Crystal World is a whole another world, when you traveled through the portal to it, any connection was cut off.

You're really smart dad. Yes, that was exactly the case. After I traveled through, however, there was no way back. I figured out you had a time limit before you couldn't use your magic, so I quickly started to build my body using the combination of, Dark Magic, crystals, and my brother's DNA, and the result great!

I could tell.

I've been trapped here ever since, slowly growing my magic each day. After a week had passed I saw that stupid party you all had, so I decided to throw one of my own, by causing havoc across the Crystal lands.

"I plan to wipe you clean from existence," He pointed to Spike. "And brainwash you." He pointed to Armak. "Then, I'll impersonate Spike, and at the right time, take over Equestria!"

The two he pointed to growled.

"And now I've seen that you both created a portal for me to go back to Equestria. Thank you both so much. Family love is the greatest love. Well... tied with Sweetie Belle love, but still great none the less."

"Don't you dare... say you love Sweetie Belle!"

"Oh? But we're the same? We're one. Don't you get it?"

"Sweetie Belle would never love you."

"I think somedragon's getting jealous." Dark Spike said with a smirk.

Spike roared with anger and rushed Dark Spike, he landed a punch straight in his stomach which made him fly back. Spike flew fast to follow his flying opponent, and when he neared him he pinned him down to the floor.

Spike then started to rapidly punch the dark force, each hit landing on his face.

Armak flew over. "Woah, note to self: don't insult Sweetie Belle."

After a few more punches Dark Spike roared and kicked Spike off of him. He got up and locked claws with Spike.

Each tried to push back with a grunt, neither dragon gave up.

Armak stared in awe, but he noticed something above the two.

It looked like some kind of rip in the air. Like clothes being ripped and it's cotton being exposed.

He gasped when he saw what emerged from within the tear.

It was Discord.

Spike and Dark Spike paused and looked up.

"Discord."

"What are you doing here?" Spike asked.

"Oh! What's this?" Discord looked at Dark Spike. "I didn't know you had a twin brother, Spike."

"Wh-What?"

Dark Spike started to laugh uncontrollably, the same with Armak.

"No seriously, who are you?"

Dark Spike bowed. "A Dark Magic spell who took Spike's DNA for his own. Greetings Master Of Chaos."

"Oh, I love the manners."

"You're not surprised?" Spike asked.

"I'm the Master Of Chaos, and I lived for thousands of years," He explained. "I've seen more."

"Idiot."

Spike grunted and pushed his counterpart back, ending their lock. "Can you help us defeat him?"

"Oh I would, but I came to deliver a message." Discord said. "I want you all to know that whatever happens in the future there are no hard feelings. And we'll always be friends." He smiled. "I could probably take on Armak but... Spike could undoubtedly beat me by himself."

"O...kay?"

"Great!" Discord snapped his talon and a smoothie appeared. He started to sip from the straw afterwards.

Everyone, including Dark Spike, looked shocked.

"How did you use magic?!"

"I can explain." Discord poofed up a monocle. "Way back before, I got transported here without being able to do anything at all. Since I had control of coming here this time I used my magic to tear a small incy wincy hole into this world using that portal you've got back there." He pointed to the direction of the portal.

"So that's where the portal is." Dark Spike whispered to himself.

"And since the hole was open, I made it so we could use our magic." He finished.

"So why did you-" Spike got blasted by Dark Spike.

"It wasn't easy sensing you all. I had to search from Ponyville to Canterlot. Then from cities to wastelands. Inside of Equestria, to outside. Then I started searching through worlds and... bam I found you all!"

Dark Spike raised a claw at Discord. "While that story was great and all, I need you gone." He fired.

Discord gasped and snapped his fingers. He poofed away.

His voice echoed in the air. "I'll fight you another time Spike's twin. Ta ta!"

Dark Spike grunted. "Fine! I'll just defeat these two then I'll go back to Equestria and fulfill my plan." He charged two dark sparking beams in his claws. "Are you both ready? Well, I sure am HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Back To Equestria

Explosions. That was all the Crystal Creatures could hear. Each one of them hoping that Spike would stop this monster.

The battle grew consistent. Spike and Dark Spike's powers would be equal, but Armak would get thrown around like a toy.

"So my traitorous dad? How shall I dispose of you?" Dark Spike said while walking slowly towards him.

"How am I a traitor?" Armak replied.

Dark Spike chuckled. "Don't you remember all those fun times back when we were destroying Equestria, when we made ponies fear us?"

"Armak's changed now. He's a different stallion."

"I believe that's the truth, er... what should I call you...?"

"Why don't you call me... Darkness."

"Darkness?" Armak and Spike asked at the same time.

Darkness shrugged. "I was made out of *Dark Magic."*

"Makes sense." Spike pointed out.

Darkness teleported directly in front of Spike. "It does, doesn't it?!" And he attempted a punch.

Spike barely managed to dodge and fired a blast from his palm.

Darkness fired his own blast and the two collided.

Armak teleported from above and fired multiple beams at Darkness.

Darkness mocked Armak and ran to dodge instead of flying. He suddenly teleported behind Armak and released a blast on the dark alicorn's back.

Armak got sent flying away, screaming while doing so.

Spike was about to fly in but stopped when he saw something from the corner of his eye. "Cry-Crystal Shine?!" He looked closer and saw that she was running towards him with worry.

He grew a serious face and teleported to her.

When he suddenly appeared in front of Crystal Shine, she gasped. "Y-You're able to use your magic?!"

"Crystal Shine," Spike ignored her statement. "What are you doing here? It's dangerous!"

"Prince Spike, I have urgent news! Equestria is in great danger!"

"What happened?!"

"There's this being, a centaur by the name of Lord Tirek. With the help of Discord, he stole the magic of ponies and grew strong enough to overpower the alicorns."

Armak, who listened in on the conversation, spoke up, "Tirek?! When I was a just little colt, he was in our history books."

Armak got blasted away by Darkness and he asked, "Interesting. What's the current state of Equestria?"

Crystal Shine, feeling confused by a second Spike, answered. "He currently has the magic of the Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth ponies. The three alicorns transferred their magic to Princess Twilight so Tirek would be unable to get it. He just recently acquired the magic of the Element Bearers excluding Princess Twilight." She explained.

Darkness gave no response, instead, he was in deep thought.

"Wait, how do Pegasi and Earth ponies have magic?" Spike asked.

"Princess Celestia explained how Pegasi have the magic of flight, letting them change the weather and stand on clouds. Earth ponies have the magic of strength, letting them tame the lands to grow food." Crystal Shine said.

"I just had the greatest idea EVER!"

Spike, Armak, and Crystal Shine stared at Darkness, who laughed maniacally.

"Discord said the portal was in that direction didn't he?" He activated his wings and flew fast towards where the gateway was.

"Oh no! Whatever he's planning shouldn't be good."

"Well come on!" Armak flared his wings. "Let's chase after him!" He gave a powerful flap and flew off.

Spike activated his wings and took off as well.

Crystal Shine placed her hands together and prayed.

Tirek sat in front of the cage which held the weak-looking Mane Five, waiting impatiently.

He was much larger. His gray mane and bear were puffier, and the cuffs on his wrists were gone. His horns were longer as well.

Discord abruptly appeared with a flash.

"Where have you been?" Tirek asked as he got up.

"Oh, nothing much. I just had a little chat the dragon and fifth alicorn. They are busy at the moment but will arrive soon."

Tirek huffed. "So these five? Do you think Princess Twilight will do anything for them?"

"If Twilight has magic to give, it will be yours. Soon there won't be a Pegasus, Earth Pony, or Unicorn who will be able to stand up against us."

"Us?" Tirek said with a smirk. "Who said anything about "us"?" He charged his horn.

"You did." Discord said confusedly.

Tirek encased Discord with his magic. "You've helped me grow strong. You've provided the means by which I can obtain Princess Twilight's magic."

Discord looked back at the Mane Five.

"And now you are no longer of any use to m-"

A rainbow beam cut of Tirek by pushing him away from Discord.

Discord, who fell because Tirek's magic ended, looked to his left to see none other than Twilight with a furious face.

"Twilight!' Her friends yelled in happiness.

Twilight's horn flashed and the cage that held her friends broke.

"I've had enough time to practice with my magic a bit. Are you all okay?" She asked as she walked up to them.

Her friends all said that they were alright and she looked back to see Discord approach her.

"You saved me... Thank you, Twilight." He said with a voice of gratitude.

Twilight smiled. "You're welcome."

"After the way he has betrayed you, you save him? What? Next you are going to call him a "friend"?"

Twilight looked at Tirek who was walking towards them with a stomp to his step with a serious expression. "My brother Spike taught me something. He taught me about forgiveness and that you have to earn it. Discord may have to earn his trust back, but I believe in him." Twilight gave a smirk.

"Your brother? Hmph, I don't care. You are going to give me what I want." He charged his magic between his horns and opened his mouth.

Twilight and Discord acted quickly. With a snap and a purple spark, they teleported everyone out of Tirek's reach.

They all appeared back in Twilight's library, on a high balcony.

The lavender alicorn used a telescope to see Tirek off in the distance, who fired a magma sphere at the Library.

Discord snapped his talon and a huge cannon appeared, making Tirek's magic blast fly into it.

Tirek looked confused.

Discord had a serious look on his face and he said, "Back at you!"

Tirek's magic blast shot out of the cannon and flew towards its original user.

TIrek roared in rage and caught the sphere which pushed him back a bit, eating it soon after. He smiled.

Twilight's wings flared and she teleported above Tirek. She charged her horn and released a huge rainbow beam of magic.

Tirek crossed his arms in front of him and created a magma-colored shield with his magic, protecting him from the beam.

Twilight's beam then made a burst, and it grew bigger.

Even thought Tirek was protecting himself, he got pushed back by the beam. He teleported away right before the beam exploded, and glared at the alicorn.

Twilight glared back.

"Yeah! You show him Twilight!" Rainbow yelled as the others stared at Twilight in awe.

"How does she have so much magic?!" Rarity asked.

"Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadence gave Twilight their alicorn magic so Tirek wouldn't be able to steal it." Discord told.

"So that's why Twilight was flying so fast before."

"It seems that Tirek noticed it as well." Discord pointed out.

Tirek was smiling. "Now I understand what your fellow princesses have done."

Twilight charged her horn, but before she or Tirek was able to do anything Discord appeared behind Tirek and poofed up a huge balloon bat.

"Batter's up!" He yelled as he struck Tirek with the giant balloon bat.

Surprisingly, Tirek got knocked back a good amount of distance. "What?" He said, shocked as he rubbed his cheek.

"Chaos is great isn't it?" Discord said.

Tirek roared with rage and fired a beam at Discord, who just vanished with a flash. He looked around for either Twilight or Discord.

It was then he was hit with two beams from below.

Twilight and Discord stood from below. One firing a rainbow beam, the other firing pure white light.

Tirek screamed and used his hand to push away the two beams. He used his magic to levitate the alicorn and draconequus and threw them away.

They both screamed and soon hit a mountain, cushioned by Twilight's magic.

The next thing they heard was a scream, and they saw a raging Tirek flying towards them.

Discord snapped his talon and a trampoline appeared with a flash in front of them blocking their view from Tirek.

Tirek's eyes widened and he got bounced back by the trampoline and crashed to the ground causing the earth to pile up.

Twilight teleported the two to the ground safely but soon realized their mistake.

A plasma beam cut around the area and Tirek lifted the cutoff ground on top of him. He threw it away with Twilight and Discord standing on it.

The ground he threw crashed but the two who were standing on it flew out of the way safely.

Tirek scream as he smashed the ground with his arms and with an orange glow the ground formed into pillars which blocked Twilight and Discord's way.

Discord poofed up a giant potato masher in his talon and he mashed the pillars down as they engaged.

Tirek released a powerful beam and so did Twilight. Discord snapped his talon and teleported away.

The two beams collided and caused a massive explosion.

When the dust from the explosion cleared, Tirek pushed some of the debris off of him.

Twilight walked up to him and glared. Discord teleported beside Twilight with a flash and crossed his arms with a serious look.

"It appears we are at an impasse."

"It seems." Discord said.

"If only I still had those other five," Tirek whispered to himself.

Discord looked to his right.

"What is it Discord?" Twilight whispered.

"It's... Spike!"

"What? Really?!"

"Yes and... oh no..."

"What is it-"

Tirek screamed and fired a blast at the two.

Discord quickly snapped his talon and teleported them both.

Twilight found herself back at Ponyville. She looked at Discord. "What was that about?"

"No time to explain. Look!" Discord pointed off in the direction.

Twilight squinted her eyes and smiled brightly. "Spike!" She flew towards him.

Discord gasped and teleported in front of Twilight, stopping her. "No!"

Twilight looked worried and asked, "Tell me what's going on."

"That there is Spike's dark personality. He was created when Armak first used his Dark Magic to take control of Spike. He recently used Spike's DNA to create a body for himself."

Twilight looked behind Discord. "And that's... Spike and Armak?!"

Discord looked behind himself and saw the two, he snapped his talon and they teleported behind Spike and Armak with a flash.

"Finally, we caught up to you!" Armak yelled.

"What's going on Spike?"

Spike looked at Twilight and Discord. "Discord! Twilight! That guy over there wants to impersonate me and take over Equestria!" Spike pointed to Darkness.

"He now goes by the name of "Darkness"," Armak explained.

"So now there's two of you Spike?!"

"Basically, he has the same powers as me and even some Dark Magic," He explained.

"Well well well, look who decided to show up. Discord himself and Twilight The Slavedriver."

Twilight tried her best to hold back her tears.

"What do you want?" Discord asked.

"Me? Oh, first I'm going to do what I failed to do the last time I was here." He raised a claw and shot a beam at the library.

Twilight gasped and used her magic to teleport her five friends and Owlowiscious out of the library.

The beam hit the library, destroying it.

The Mane Six, Spike, and Discord all gasped.

"Since Spike himself didn't destroy it, it can't be reversed by a spell like he did last time." Armak thought.

Darkness started to laugh.

Twilight growled and was about to pounce him when they all felt something shaking the ground.

"Oh no, it's Tirek!" Twilight said.

After a few moments, Tirek arrived. He inspected the area. "The fifth alicorn, and the powerful... dragons?"

"It seems we have a visitor." Darkness walked up to Tirek. "Oh great Lord Tirek, I would love to join you and your quest to rule Equestria!"

"What?" Everyone except Tirek yelled.

Tirek laughed. "You have no use to me. But your magic does." He charged his magic and began to inhale.

"I could say the same thing!" Darkness laughed like crazy and flew up to Tirek.

What he did next shocked everyone there, especially Tirek.

He flew into his mouth.

Darkness seemingly crashed into the back of Tirek's throat, telling by the short-lived lump.

After Darkness was seemingly eaten, Tirek started to breathe in and out harshly. He stood there for a second but then suddenly, his eyes glowed yellow very brightly, and the others watched in horror as Tirek grew much larger with orange sparks. Tirek screamed as he grew taller than the trees in the Everfree forest, he then grew taller than Twilight's library before it got destroyed. Spikes appeared at the sides of his horns, and soon he grew bigger than Canterlot Castle.

"Yes!" He yelled demonically.

He then finally stopped growing and looked down at the horrified watchers with a smile. "And now... you're next!"

Goodbye New Enemy, Hello New Home

Theme:

Youtube Video

"This power... it's enormous!" Tirek said in amazement looking at himself. "I never knew such a power existed. It's much more than those filthy princesses and Ruler of Chaos."

Tirek scanned the now slightly cowering ponies, draconequus, and dragon. "This dragon had so much power. I can't pass this opportunity to see if his twin brother has as much."

Spike gulped when Tirek stared at them with his glowing eyes.

"Now you all are next."

"You already have so much magic! What do you want with even more?!" Armak yelled.

Tirek crossed his arms. "All of this magic belong to me."

Armak growled. "In your dreams!"

Twilight teleported the all of them out to the wastelands not too far from Ponyville. "We can't fight him near Ponyville! He's too big!" She explained.

"He's way too powerful. Can we even fight him at all?" Spike asked.

"We have to. He'll just track us down if we don't." Armak said.

"Well, does anyone have a way to stop him?!" Twilight was about to hyperventilate.

The other Element Bearers didn't know what to do.

"I can propose a solution."

All eyes looked at Discord.

"We obviously can't beat him by force-"

"OB-VI-OUS-LY!" Rarity yelled.

Discord frowned but continued. "But, we could beat him by extracting his stolen magic from him, rendering him powerless."

"But where will that magic go? Equestria needs it back." Twilight said.

"Magic can't just disappear, and clearly we're going to find a way to give it back."

"Aren't you the Embodiment Of Chaos? Haven't you changed Equestria into a checkerboard before?" Armak asked.

"Your point being...?"

"You should be able to do something!" Armak yelled.

"I'm afraid even Tirek had grown too powerful for me." Discord said sadly.

"Is that so?"

With a blast of flames, Tirek appeared in front of all of them.

Twilight quickly teleported all of her defenseless friends away safely.

The four left standing took their fighting stance.

Tirek chuckled. "Do you really believe you can beat me?"

"Discord, can you perform the spell to take away his magic?" Twilight whispered.

"...No."

"What?!" All yelled.

"It would use too much magic to do it! I don't want to di-"

Tirek yelled and fired a magma sphere at all of them.

They all dodged with teleportation.

Tirek suddenly clutched his chest. "What... is this... pain...?"

"He he he..."

"What?" Tirek rubbed his thumb in his ear. "Am I hearing things? It sounded like-"

"Hello, buddy!" Darkness abruptly shouted in Tirek head.

"Wha- You- ...How?!"

"What do you mean how? I literally jumped into your mouth."

"What do you want?" Tirek boomed.

"You made me really sad that you didn't want to work with me, so I'm taking your body."

"...WHAT?!"

Darkness started to laugh.

"You can stay in my head if you'd like and watch Equestria burn. But there's no way I'm letting you take over MY body and MY magic."

"Oh yeah? Well, try and stop me. As we speak-"

Tirek gave a powerful roar.

"Anyways... -Gragh!"

Four powerful beams hit Tirek dead in the face. Tirek screamed and pushed back at the beams with his hands. He fired an enormous plasma beam afterward.

Spike flew in the air to dodge, he flew back down and tried to strike at Tirek's forehead.

The minotaur grabbed Spike and reached out for Discord. He used them as bats to hit Armak and Twilight, then threw them away harshly.

Spike and Discord created two craters on the surface. Before Discord could get up, however, he got encased in Tirek's magic and was brought up to him.

Tirek started to inhale and take his magic, making Discord scream in agony.

Twilight and Armak flew up and shot beams at Tirek, canceling his magic stealing.

Discord dropped and got up weakly.

"Discord, are you alright?" Spike asked when he flew down to him.

"He... took about a third of my magic... But I'll be fine."

Meanwhile, Tirek was about to fire another blast when he got another sting, this one in his head.

"Having fun without me I see."

Tirek growled. "I'm not letting you have what I worked so hard to gain."

"Really now? You've been doing great so far." Tirek could hear Darkness clapping in his head.

"Stop clapping!" Tirek was annoyed.

"What's the matter with him?" Twilight asked.

"Oh stop with this foolishness. I know your kind. Thinking that, they are above all others. Thinking that, they are all powerful. Thinking that, they're a GOD."

Tirek growled.

"So tell me Lord Tirek. How does a god feel when he is overpowered by a little dragon inside his head?"

"I will never have that feeling you ignorant fool."

"Let me tell you the difference between you and me, Tirek. You think that you're all powerful, but I KNOW that I'm above all others."

"And that's why I have YOUR power?" Tirek said with a smirk.

"Nope."

Tirek felt like his chest exploded. He grabbed it and yelled in pain.

"That's why I have YOUR power!" As Darkness laughed maniacally, Tirek screamed at the top of his lungs.

The others were taken aback by this.

"What's happening to him?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know!" Spike replied.

Tirek's eyes and ears poured out dark mist, the spikes on his horns became sharper, and he was sweating.

The mist soon covered Tirek's huge form, and when it disappeared, Tirek could be seen with no pupils. Instead, his eyes glowed lime green, and his body resonated a dark green aura.

"T-Tirek?" Twilight looked horrified.

"Tirek" started to laugh. "I'm sorry, sister. This is not your good ol' Tirek." It said in it's demonic voice.

"Oh no..." Armak was now scared.

"Equestria! I'M BAAAACK!"

Twilight growled and flew up to try and put a stop to this madness. Far before she reached, however, Darkness, using the power of Tirek's stolen magic, shot a dark green beam at Twilight, and it hit. This resulted in Twilight being sent back down to the ground creating a large crater.

"Twilight!" Her fellow Element Bearers all came in worry.

"Looks like the whole party's here now."

Discord shot his eyes at the others with a serious face. "If we don't get that spell ready then all of us are doomed!" He yelled.

"We... We don't have enough magic." Armak said sadly.

Discord growled. "T-Then we can't do anything?" He put his arms down in defeat and soon walked over to Twilight with a sad face.

He sighed. "Tirek, before he got taken over by that guy, tricked me into believing that he could offer me something more valuable than friendship. But there is nothing worth more. I see that now. He lied when he said that this medallion was given as a sign of gratitude and loyalty. But when I say that it is a sign of our true friendship, I am telling the truth." He used his claw and paw to put the medallion around Twilight's neck.

The medallion gave a rainbow glow that her friends knew well.

"You think that might be the last one we need?" Applejack asked.

"We have to get to the chest," Twilight said determinedly.

"You all go. We will hold back... him."

Twilight gave a nod and started to run to the Tree Of Harmony.

Discord turned to the monster with a scowl.

"She getting away with all the Alicorn Magic!"

"Oh, you're still here?"

"You can't just get rid of me."

"Yay! Headmate."

"Are you going to just let them get away."

"Who cares. I'm-"

Spike and Armak began to fire multiple blasts at Darkness.

"That-" *ZAP!* ***"Isn't-"*** *ZAP* "FAIR!" *ZAP!* *ZAP!* *ZAP!*

Discord flew up, and with the magic he had left, he poofed up a cannon and started to fire jelly beans out of it.

*ROAR!*

Somehow, he roared like a dragon with Tirek's body, and the force was powerful enough to send the other three flying.

The Mane Six were all in the cave surrounding the blue chest. The medallion Discord gave turned into a key which inserted itself into its respective keyhole. They heard massive explosions and thumping from the above battle.

"Together! I think we have to do this together!"

So they did, they all turned their keys at the exact same time opening the chest. Right after, a rainbow flew out of the chest, amazing the Mane Six. The rainbow hit the center of the Tree Of Harmony, where Twilight's cutie mark was. Inside the tree, the rainbow connected with all of the other's cutie marks, each one of them glowing when connected.

A beam of light then came down on each of the Mane Six. And they traveled inside the chest.

That's where their transformations happened. All of their manes and tails grew much larger, and more bright colors appeared on them.

While in a huge rainbow sphere, they all rose up and entered the battlefield. They could see Spike and Armak trying to push back Darkness with their magic but failing.

That was when Discord saw them. "Look!" He pointed.

Darkness looked up with widened eyes. "That's the... YOU SACRIFICED THE ELEMENTS! HOW ARE YOU USING THAT POWER!?"

"The magic of friendship is endless. We do not just keep it within the elements!" Twilight shot back.

"Defeat them you fool!"

"Hmm, Nope."

"What?!"

"I've lost this fight."

"What are you saying? They have no magic!"

"He he he... That power can't be stolen from them Tirek. Nor can it be defeated."

"YOU FOOL!"

Darkness watched as a rainbow beam came down and hit him. Making Tirek's body start to shrink and get weaker.

"You win this round. But you can never get rid of me."

And with that last sentence out of Tirek's mouth, he vanished.

As soon as Tirek got his body back he started to scream in misery. All of his stolen magic was being extracted from him.

He gradually shrank down, going into his previous forms until his weakest. The next thing he could see was himself in a cage in Tartarus.

Back in Equestria, the Mane Six started to travel around Equestria with a rainbow trailing behind them, giving the magic back to its owners.

Twilight Sparkle and Rarity gave back the unicorn magic.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy gave back the pegasi their flight.

And Applejack, as well as Pinkie Pie, gave the earth ponies their strength.

Somewhere in Tartarus, the three elder princesses were freed from their prison and was given back their magic. They were headed back to Equestria.

The Mane Six were taken back to the cave which held the Tree Of Harmony. The chest closed and rode a newly formed rainbow to Ponyville. The chest sunk deep into the ground like a seed and it sprouted a big blue and purple crystal castle.

The Mane Six were then teleported in front of the castle and went back into their regular forms.

They all looked at the castle in complete shock.

"Sweet Celestia! Are you all seeing what I'm seeing?" Rarity asked.

"But... whose is it?" Twilight asked.

"I believe it is yours, Princess Twilight." They all looked back to see the two alicorn sisters, Princess Cadence, Spike, Armak, and Discord. All smiling at them.

They could all be seen walking through the interiors of the castle the next minute.

"Hey! I got a second chance. Why not let Tirek have another one?" Armak asked,

"...Why do you say this?"

"Well, I need more guy friends! All I have right now is Spike... and Discord."

"Perhaps that may be a possibility in the future, but anyways..." Celestia stared at the youngest alicorn. "Twilight, you've been wondering what you are meant to do as a princess. Do you know now?" Celestia asked.

Twilight thought for a second, then replied. "As princess, I believe I have the power to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria. That is the role I am meant to have in our world! The role I choose to have!" She teleported to her friends. "But I didn't defeat Tirek on my own, it took all of us to unlock the chest!"

"Then it is unlikely you are meant to take on this task alone." Celestia used her magic to open the huge doors.

The Mane Six gasped in awe when they saw what was behind it.

"You are now Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship."

It was a huge throne room with seven identical thrones in a circular layout. The only difference in the thrones was that there were the Mane Six's cutie marks and a claw mark symboling whose throne is who's.

Spike and the Mane Six sat on their respective thrones.

"But what is the princess of friendship without her friends?"

Twilight and Spike saw Discord and Armak being left out. Purple magic surrounded Armak and green surrounded Discord. The magic carried them to the group, from which all of them hugged.

"Baw! I don't get a throne even, after all, the good things I've done." Armak growled.

"Yeah! Where's my throne?" Discord asked.

Fluttershy flew up to come face to face with Discord. "I don't think you're quite there yet," She said kindly.

"Yes, well, I suppose not," He said while chuckling.

"Hey, look! Ponies have come to see the castle." Spike pointed down from a window.

Twilight ran up to the front door and started to sing-

"Nope."

"What Armak?" Asked Twilight.

"Nope."

"Nope?" Luna was confused along with the rest.

"No singing. Nope."

Everypony was raising an eyebrow except for Spike, Discord, and some other stallions who knew where this was going.

"Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope..."

Twilight, Celestia, and the others just stood there in confusion.

"He he he- You know what? Screw that creepy laugh. Ho ho ho..."

"Oh Spikey Wikey. You can celebrate now, but soon, you'll know nothing but despair and hopelessness."

"The next time we meet..."

Friend Or Foe?

The three jumped out the other end of the portal, and they saw the magnificent place known as the Crystal World.

"Whoa..." Spike and Armak was amazed.

The portal was on top of a little hill made out of red crystal. Surrounding it was crystal grounds, crystal mountains, floating crystal clouds, and a city which looked like it was made out of crystal, all with a variation of colors.

Spike tempted not to go berserk and gobble down the place gem by gem. "This must be the Crystal World... Right?" Spike asked while his mouth was watering.

Cadence chuckled a bit. "Well, we're not trapped in some room. But there are crystals around us." Cadence said while examining the area.

"This is one pretty priso-" Cadence gave Armak a glare. "-I mean world of course!" Armak stuttered.

"...Right." Cadence continued to look at their surroundings.

A couple moments passed, and they heard a voice from coming from the direction to the city. "Greetings!"

They all stared as a crystal creature walking on two legs came towards them. The creature kind of looked like Spike, but didn't have claws, and was a bit taller. It's skin was a light blue, and it's eyes were a darker shade of blue.

"Welcome to the Crystal World, as you call it." The creature had a female voice, that echoed throughout the others' ears. It stopped in front of them, and bowed.

"Hello. Who are you?" Cadence asked kindly.

"M-My apologies Princess! My name is Crystal Shine," She started, while bowing again.

"Figures." Spike said bluntly.

"And I am one of the higher ranks in this world. I am a rare species known as a humane." She explained.

"How do you know me?" Cadence asked.

"I shall explain, follow me to the city."

The three did as instructed and listened to this humane's story.

"We live and survive in this world just as you do, but this world itself is a lower rank than yours' called Equestria."

"I see... Can you explain why you know me?" Cadenced asked again politely.

Crystal Shine looked up at the glistening sky, making the others do as well. "These "clouds", as you call them, is our source to see into the higher world known as Equestria."

"Why do you need to look at our world?" Spike asked.

"Good question, Prince." She replied. "But I believe it's just for entertainment, or studies..."

"Equestria? Entertaining? I don't see any correlation." Armak said.

"Well Armak, Equestria is an exciting place, full with action, adventure, sadness, slice of life, and even funny moments. It's one of the things that brightens this place up." She replied.

"This world hardly gets any major disruptions. That is, until the other week..."

Cadence and Spike understood what she said, but Armak did not.

"What? You had a crystal storm and the crystal power went out?" Armak said as a joke.

Spike sighed. Cadence and Crystal Shine gave Armak a glare.

"What?" Armak clearly didn't comprehend.

"Anyways, we've been watching you all. Not to be creepy..." She said guiltily.

"Oh no worries, you did nothing wrong. This can be our little secret." Cadence ensured.

"We saw many things. Nightmare Moon, love, Discord, harmony, Cutie Marks, the little ones... Oh, and your wedding!"

"You saw that?!" Cadence beamed.

"Yes! And a lot of the Crystal Creatures cheered when you and your husband took over the Crystal Empire, and defeated that nasty King Sombra." She said whilst smiling.

"We also saw the recent events involving Spike and Armak. Most creatures were extremely angry at all the ponies for treating Spike that way, but they calmed themselves when everything turned alright."

They soon entered the city.

All Spike and Cadence saw were lots of different creatures running up and bowing.

"H-Hey, we don't rule over this world. There's no need for that." Cadence said.

"You are like gods to us." Crystal Shine too bowed. "We must have respect."

Armak's eyebrows furrowed. "Hey I understand Spike, but I should get respect from you too if Cadence does." He said as he pointed to himself.

"You..." Shine looked at Armak coldly.

Before he could react, Armak was restrained by two powerful beast-looking creatures. One was white which held Armak's right fore leg, and one was black which held the other.

"H-Hey! Unhand me this instant!"

"What's going on?" Spike tried to interfere, but more crystal creatures of different kinds blocked him. Not wanting to potentially hurt them, Spike backed off.

"Enough of this!" Armak tried to use his magic, but his horn didn't even start to glow. "W-What?"

"I believe you just tried to use your magic. Ones like Cadence, who were trapped here before, knows that Equestrian magic is unusable in this world."

"The entire world? I thought it was only that one room we got trapped in." Cadence thought to herself.

Armak grunted as he struggled to get free. Those beasts had him pinned down good.

"Don't just stand there. Help me!" Armak yelled, directing at Spike and Cadence.

"What's the big deal, Crystal Shine? Armak did nothing wrong." Spike tried to reason.

"Nothing wrong? Nothing wrong?!" Shine yelled, but soon calmed down. "My apologies for harsh words, Prince, but Armak has done enough damage here, even if he didn't physically come here before." She started to explain. "He stole an ancient crystal in the long lost crystal temple, he's used our world as a prison for our beloved princesses, and you're trying to tell me he hasn't done wrong?!"

Spike was lost at words to say.

A troll looking like creature jumped out from behind Cadence and forced her to eat some purple gems.

"Cadence!" Spike yelled worryingly.

Once she swallowed, she fell over about to hit the crystal floor. The troll however, caught her before doing so.

"Don't worry about her. She's just asleep, that's all."

"W-Why?" Spike asked.

"A princess should never experience looking at tragic moments, even if it's someone who deserves it." Crystal Shine explained.

"What are you going to do to him?"

"We are going to lock him up for eternity." She replied.

When he heard those words, Armak tried harder to escape the grasp of the two beasts.

"Alright fair enough, but Armak has changed. You saw that haven't you? Through the floating Crystals?" Spike asked.

"From the time he has stepped through that portal, Armak has done nothing to impress me."

Spike thought for a second. "Well... can you give him a test? So you could see that he's changed."

Crystal Shine pondered to herself. "Well... I know something he could do. It might not prove that he's changed, but it's a problem we can't handle ourselves."

"Name it."

Shine sighed. "...There's this crystal creature, up north, which breathes fire and is very strong. It causes havoc all across the northern region, and it will surely make it's way down here soon." She said sadly.

Shine soon continued. "If Armak can help defeat it, then we will let him go. Until then, neither of you three will be allowed to leave this place. Do we have a deal?"

Spike put out his claw while smiling. "Deal." They shook, and the two beasts released Armak.

"Very well. We shall let Cadence rest in the town hall, where she will be watched over by us."

"When is she gonna wake up?"

"About an hour or two." Shine told.

"Okay, we'll wait until she wakes up then-"

"Are you really going to send a lady, a princess no less, to do some dirty work?" She asked baffled.

"Uh?" Spike grinned sheepishly. "Extra help?" Not sure what her reply would be.

"She will stay with us here, as you men fulfill your part of the deal."

Spike sighed. "If you say so."

"Come on, we don't need her!" Armak said angrily.

"Actually, I don't need help at all." Armak said, full of himself.

Spike chuckled. "Don't get ahead of yourself there, you don't have magic. Remember?"

Armak frowned. "Yeah, yeah." He turned his head away from Spike and crossed his fore legs. "What's so good about being the bearer of dark magic if you can't even use it." He murmured.

Spike apparently heard him, and started to giggle.

"Well, I wish you good luck Spike. Take care." Crystal Shine said.

"Alright. We'll be back until you know it." Spike said.

"Farewell." She disregarded.

Spike looked at Armak. "Looks like the Spike and Armak team is back together, working again." He said.

"I don't think that is something to be happy about..."

"Oh come on, lighten up a bit."

Armak scoffed. "Let's just get this over with..."

The two continued on north, where a short journey lies ahead.

Meanwhile in Equestria, things were about to get ugly.

Luna flew over to Celestia, who was sitting on her throne, and whispered something to her.

Celestia's eyes widened, then returned to normal as she said, "We better call Discord."

Equestria In Danger

Spike flew up and rammed into the dragon's stomach. It growled in pain and held its stomach.

It gave Spike an angry glare and quickly took hold of him.

Armak tried to rush in and help, but the crystal dragon lashed at him with his tail.

With its two claws, it started to crush Spike.

Spike thought of something. "Wait... Magic can't be used here, but what about fi-" Spike mentally slapped himself as he saw the same dragon in front of him use fire. He opened his mouth and blew his green fire.

The flames hit the dragon's eyes. It didn't affect it, but it sure did blind it.

Spike used this opportunity and struggled out of the crystal beast's grasp.

Right after, Armak flew in from behind and slammed it down, making it lose some more scales from the impact.

Spike flew in and kicked where the dragon had lost its scales, the pain was intensifying for it.

"That should keep it down for a while-" Armak tried to say.

More crystals around the area merged and attached to the dragon. Soon after, the dragon pushed itself back up, looking furious.

"Maybe not."

"There is no doubt that Tirek is after alicorn magic. With Discord by his side, we will not be able to stop him from taking it."

"Once it is in his possession, his power will know no bounds and all hope will be lost." Luna explained.

As they talked Twilight wondered, "Where's Spike? And shouldn't Armak be here since he's an Alicorn aswell?"

Another block of crystal merged with the dragon, making newer scales.

Armak grunted. "That is just... urgh! Spike? Don't dragons normally eat all sorts of gems?!"

"Yeah."

"Well go on! There's a feast right there!"

Spike raised an eyebrow at Armak and dramatically raised his arms up. "Yeah, Armak! How about I go ask him to stay still so I could eat him? I really bet I could eat the whole thing, even with my small stomach! Better yet, I could probably eat it fast so it wouldn't regenerate!" He said sarcastically.

"...Well, go then!"

Spike facepalmed.

"But there is one solution." Celestia spoke up.

The older three alicorns, who were standing in front of the castle throne, flew down to stand in front of Twilight.

"It is only by making by making this sacrifice that Equestria and the lands beyond it might be saved." Celestia closed her eyes for a mere three seconds then opened them again with a serious look. "We must rid ourselves of our magic before Tirek has the chance to steal it from us."

Twilight grew wide-eyed and gasped.