Author's Note

Here's the next chapter. Just so you know, I'm not good at typing fighting scenes or war scenes so please, don't be too surprised if their not that good.

Chapter 10

It had been a week since Spike was saved from Sombra and Garble's capture. With his return, he was able to inform the princesses and the Mane 6 with preparing Ponyville with what was to come. Many Royal Guard scouts had snuck into Sombra's fortress unnoticed to retrieve useful information. This information included that instead of going after the Crystal Heart like he did in the past, he was instead focusing his first assault on Ponyville where the Tree of Harmony was hidden. They learned that Sombra's attack would be held in one day and, to Ember's horror, after they had finished Ponyville, their attack would then focus on the Dragon Lands which Sombra would give Garble to rule.

With only a day left, Spike sat with Ember, their friends, the guys, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, the princesses, and even Discord in the map/meeting chamber where they were discussing how to prepare for Sombra's assault. Discord had agreed to help in stopping the evil unicorn king not only to help his friends, but because he knew if the Tree of Harmony was destroyed completely, it could cause chaos all over Equestria that not even he could control.

Cadence said, "Since Sombra will eventually turn his sight on to the Crystal Heart after he finishes with here and the Dragon Lands, the Crystal Empire will aid Ponyville in stopping him and Garble from getting to the Tree of Harmony. All of our soldiers should arrive by morning while the Sunburst, Thunderlane, Macintosh, Soarin, Cheese Sandwich, and Caramel help in evacuating Ponyville tonight."

Celestia said, "And with Griffonstone and Minotauria agreeing to help us and their soldiers arriving along with yours, we'll have a chance to stop Sombra but it won't be a guarantee."

Spike said, "I think I know a way to get us a guarantee on stopping him."

Luna asked, "And that would be."

Spike looked to Ember and Match. "By asking for help from the one place could really help us in dealing with the shadowdragons."

Match looked at his fellow drake in shock as he said, "Spike? I may be the general of the Dragon Royal Guard, but I know for a fact that there still aren't enough soldiers to guarantee victory."

"Which is why we need all of the Dragon Lands to help us. While not all of them are Royal Guard, I know that every dragon there who is old enough knows how to fight."

Ember approached her drakefriend and said, "Your right Spike. But even as Dragon Lord, I can't force them to fight with the ponies of Equestria. They'll have to make that choice for themselves."

Spike smiled as he said, "I've never stopped trusting you to do the right thing Ember. And I know that you'll be able to figure out what to say to help persuade them to do the same thing."

Ember looked into Spike's eyes for any sign of doubt but found no sign. With that, she nodded in agreement.

The ponies stood aside as Ember raised her Bloodstone Scepter and used her magic on the map to form a live projection of herself in the center of the Dragon Lands.

In said lands, every dragon watched the center of their home where they saw the projection of Ember say, "Dragons of the Dragon Lands! I, Dragon Lord Ember, message you with a dire matter! One of our own, Garble, has allied himself with a dangerous and powerful unicorn named King Sombra! He is planning on attacking one of the most important means of the ponies' defense and on their behalf, I ask you to come to the area known as Ponyville in order to aid us in stopping them!"

The dragoness known as Belcher stepped forward and asked, "Why should help or even care what happens to the ponies? All they've ever done in the past was drive our kind away and done other terrible things to us!"

"And we've done even worse things to them! But their still willing to fight not only for their kind, but for ours as well! I've seen the magic Sombra is using against us along with how powerful Garble has become with a new unknown magic they have uncovered! And unless we help the ponies in stopping them, we won't stand a chance against them at all! If we don't work together with the ponies, all of Equestria and the Dragon Lands will become slaves to Garble and Sombra!"

That statement caused every dragon to become concerned with what could happen.

Ember sighed before continuing, "But even though I am your Dragon Lord, I can't force you all to fight with us. You have until tomorrow to make your decision. But before you make your choice, remember this. Without unity between the two races, neither ponies nor dragons will be able to prevent becoming slaves."

With that, the projection disappeared, leaving all of the Dragon Lands became deep in thought.

Back in Ponyville castle, Ember looked to the princesses and her friends. "I did all that I could."

Celestia smiled to the young dragoness as she said, "That's all we could ever ask for. Now all we can do is hope that they will come."

Starlight looked to a near by clock and said, "I think now we should all get a goodnight's sleep. We'll need all of our strength to stop Sombra from getting rid of the Tree of Harmony."

Sunburst said, "Starlight's right. You're going to need all of your strength to be able to hold your own against the forces Sombra has coming with him."

Everypony and drake nodded before most of the stallions said goodbye to their marefriends before leaving to help the town's ponies get somewhere safe.

Later that night after everyone was asleep, Match was standing in the chamber where armor for him and everyone else (even Fluttershy, who would be staying to help protect the castle with Starlight, Trixie, and Discord unless she was absolutely needed since she wasn't much of a fighter) as he thought, 'Tomorrow will hopefully prove that dragons and ponies can live in peace and fight together whenever a situation calls for it.'

"Match?"

The scarlet drake turned from looking at his, Spike's, and Ember's armor to see Trixie standing there. "Trixie? What are you doing up?"

The unicorn looked away from him as she continued on, "I just wanted to talk to you in case there's a chance we can't stop Sombra tomorrow."

The drake walked up to stop in front of the mare as he said, "Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

Trixie remained quiet for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and looking into Match's eyes. "I just wanted to let you know that not long after you and I met, I started having feelings for you. I only figured that out after our little encounter in the Canterlot Garden the night we arrived there. After the past couple of months I began to realize what these feelings meant and how I wanted to tell you. But with what's coming tomorrow, this may be my only chance to tell you. Match the Dragon, I'm in love with you. I'm more in love with you than any stallion I've ever dated before in my life and even if you don't feel the same way, I just wanted to let you know before tomorrow."

Match stayed silent for a while which lead to Trixie believing the worst would happen and was about to walk away.

However, the mare stopped when Match took her hand and caused her to turn back to him. He then moved in closer to place one of his hands on her cheek before leaning in and, to Trixie's surprise, bring his lips to hers causing her eyes to widen in shock.

The shock eventually faded as Trixie began to kiss the drake back with passion. They stayed in the moment as Trixie placed her left hand on Match's cheek and he ran his claws through her mane.

Eventually, they pulled from each other as Match looked into Trixie's eyes with love. "Trixie. After I had my encounter with you in the garden, I also began to discover feelings I had for you as well. It wasn't until I had help from Spike, I didn't know that these feelings were love I began to develop for you. To this moment, I soon realized that I had fallen in love with you. Some dragons believed that love between dragons and ponies is not only wrong, but also impossible. They believed the two could never fall in love with each other. But I know now that it is possible because I love you. You have become somepony that I want to be with forever."

Trixie felt tears of joy well up in her eyes as she and Match shared another short kiss before the two embraced each other with Trixie burying her face in his chest. Match stroked her mane as he said, "I promise you. When this is all over, you and I will be together. We'll show that despite the differences between us, ponies and dragons can live in peace and even... fall in love with each other."

Trixie smiled as she and Match had their moment in their loving embrace.

Meanwhile in Sombra's Fortress, Sombra was sitting at his throne when Garble walked into the chamber. "I was about to get some sleep when one of the shadowdragons told me you wanted to see me."

"Yes. I wanted to let you know the rest of the plan."

"What's there to know? You and I send the soldiers out on Ponyville, the soldiers keep Spike and those ponies busy, you and I go for their precious Tree of Harmony, then after that we take over the Dragon Lands for me."

"Actually, there's one change to the plan. Instead of both of us going to destroy the Tree of Harmony, I will lead the main assult on it while you focus your soldiers on the Castle of Friendship."

"That stupid castle? Why!?"

"Because it was created from the tree, and if we are going to have any hope of success against them, we need to destroy any trace of the Tree of Harmony's magic. Including that castle. We can't take a chance of them having a possibility of them being able to revive it."

Garble stayed silent before putting his claw to his chin. "That makes sense. Better safe than sorry. I can work with that."

"Good. Now rest General Garble. I'll need you a full at full strength to take ensure our victory."

Garble nodded before leaving the chamber as Sombra thought, 'Prepare yourselves Mane 6. You'll be defeated tomorrow and Equestria will be mine and the Dragon Lands will be Garble's.'

The next morning, the sun rose to reveal the Castle of Friendship had a massive army of ponies, griffons, and minotaurs standing in front of it with Spike, Ember, the Mane 6 (except Fluttershy), the princesses, Shining, Pipsqueak, and Flash at the head of them all. The Mane 6 were wearing armor designed in their color and their Cutie Marks on the center plate. Ember stood in the golden armor she always wore while Spike was in armor with a red cape, black chest plates with gold outlines, and a helmet similar to Ember's.

They had learned from one of the pegasi scouts that Sombra's army would be arriving shortly. They stood ready with spears in hands or magic charged up.

Up on the lookout balcony of the Castle, Discord stood with Fluttershy, Starlight, Trixie, and Match as they prepared long range attack to protect the castle.

About a few moments passed before they began to hear marching in the distance. It wasn't too much longer before they saw an army of shadowponies and shadowdragons appear over the ridge.

Everyone then watched as Sombra came into view being lifted on his throne by shadow servants with Garble slowly flying by his side.

The unicorn king looked ahead at his army of enemies before raising and aiming his trident. Garble smirked at this as he let out his battle cry, "ATTACK! SHOW NO MERCY!"

The army of shadowminions began charging and Garble was about to join them when Sombra stopped him. "Not yet. In chess, the pawns always go first."

Spike watched as the shadowminions began to enter the town before raising his spear. "FOR EQUESTRIA!"

The ponies, griffons, and minotaurs charged and the two armies soon met in the middle center of the town.

Pinkie Pie began firing live ammunition at the shadowdragons out of the air with her cannon while Rarity was blasting shadowponies out of existence with her magic.

Applejack was swinging around a spear while Rainbow Dash kicked down minions right and left before the two met back to back. They looked to each other before nodding. They then locked elbows before Rainbow began spinning Applejack as the Earth Pony began kicking the minions down in a circle.

Celestia and Luna were aiding the griffons and pegasi in the air against the shadowdragons by blasting them with their magic. While Sombra's magic was strong enough to match the two princesses magic after being combined with the unknown magic, they were still vulnerable since they were magic based bodies. It took at least three griffons to hold off one shadowdragon, but they were managing to hold their ground against them.

At the castle, Fluttershy was simply dodging any strike made at her before the shadowminions were blasted back by either Starlight, Trixie, or Discord. Match was using his dragon combat skills to claw the shadowminions in half or burn them with his flame.

Shining, Pipsqueak, and Flash were aiding the Minotaurs, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns against the land based minions. Flash was swing two spears against any minion that came close enough while Shining attacked with his magic. Twilight and Cadence soon showed up to help them with powerful blasts of their alicorn magic.

Spike and Ember were still at the head of their army, holding their own against every minion that came close. Ember was either striking with her scepter or shooting them down with a blast of flame. Spike was using something new along with his usually fire. While he was freed from Sombra's control, he still had the new ability of shooting magic from his eyes that Sombra had unlocked for him. He was blasting every shadowminion he could with powerful beams of red magic.

The battle had gone on for hours and to the stress of Twilight and the others, they were slowly losing ground to the shadowminions.

After seeing his minions gaining the advantage of the battle, Sombra looked to Garble with a nod of his head. "Go. Keep them busy while I tend to business."

Garble smirked before taking flight and headed straight for the castle. He was soon met in the middle by Match tackling him to the ground.

As Ember saw the two collide to the ground, Spike noticed Sombra began making his way to the Everfree Forest with a squadron of shadowminions following him. He looked to where the Mane 6 were before calling to them, "Girls! He's heading towards the tree!"

Twilight looked to Cadence, Flash, and Shining. "Can you hold them off so we can stop him?"

Cadence and Shining nodded before Flash said, "We got this! You and the girls go stop him!"

Twilight nodded before signaling the rest of the Mane 6, Spike, and Ember to gather around her before they all teleported from Twilight's magic.

In the Everfree Forest, Sombra and his squadron had just came across the sight of the Tree of Harmony. "At last. The Tree of Harmony will fall."

But before he and his minions could take another step, a flash of light revealed the Mane 6, Spike, and Ember were found standing between him and his target. Twilight said, "That's far enough Sombra! You are not laying a hand on the Tree of Harmony as long as we're around!"

Sombra said nothing before simply waving his hand, signaling his minions to begin their attack.

As the shadowminions came closer, Spike said, "I'll handle horn head. You guys keep those things from reaching the tree."

Twilight nodded as the girls spread out to attack the shadowminions while Spike took to the air to throw a skydive at the unicorn king.

To Spike's surprise, Sombra's horn began to glow and he also took to the air and dodged the dragon's attack.

Before Spike could react, he was slammed to the ground with a stomp to the back by a Sombra crashing down on him. He looked behind him to see Sombra's smirking face looking down on him. "Did you think I'd take such powerful magic from you and give it to only Garble and my army. I added part of that magic to my own body. My magic have become beyond advanced. Without my magic in your body, you aren't as strong against as you were last time without all the enhancements."

Spike managed to roll over on his back as he smirked at Sombra before he said, "I actually found out that your magic only unlocked the abilities I had, your magic didn't generate those abilities. And I've also figured out how to do the one you consider the best."

Sombra watched in shock as the drake's eyes began to charge with red magic before he blasted the king away with beams that nearly penetrated Sombra's armor while also pushing him back into the air. He then charged at the unicorn a struck the king with a punch.

Meanwhile at the castle, Match had just sliced a shadowdragon in half with a spear before he crossed his weapon with Garble's scale blades. "You will never win Garble! You or Sombra!"

Garble chuckled before he pushed his fellow drake back. "We've already won Match! Look around!"

Match did as Garble said and was shocked to see he was right. Every pony, griffon, minotaur, and even Discord were struggling against the shadowminions. He glared at Garble as the red drake said, "You can't win this fight Match. You'll need a miracle to win this battle."

A distant roar caught the two's attention as Match smirked at what was out in the distance.

To Match's relief and Garble's shock, it appeared every adult or teenager dragon fly straight to Ponyville with Torch in the lead. "Dragons! Attack!"

With roars from everywhere, every dragon dove down and began attacking any shadowminion they could reach, mainly the shadowdragons.

With reinforcements arriving, Garble became frustrated at seeing as his army was being out matched.

Back with the Mane 6 and their battle, Spike and Sombra were stilling facing against each other while the girls were protecting the tree against shadowminions.

Suddenly, Torch landed between the shadowminions with some dragons soldiers. Ember looked to her father in relief. "Dad! Glad you could make it!"

Sombra then watched as the dragons and ponies overpowered his minions before he charged at Spike, who met him head on. The two rapidly exchanged blows before Spike forced him to the ground with a charged magic blast. Twilight took to his right side and blasted Sombra with her magic and Ember took to his left and fired a blast of flames at the pinned down unicorn.

After their attacks stopped, Sombra managed to stand barely as he watched the dragons and ponies finish his minions off before they all gathered around him. He glared at his enemies. "I survived for so long! I've remained dormant for years! And I will not be denied!"

Spike looked to the Mane 6. "Take him out while he's down girls!"

The girls nodded as Twilight said, "Let's do this girls!"

The Mane 6 charged into their rainbow forms and fired at Sombra with a stream of rainbow magic. As the blast made contact, Sombra screamed out in agony as he felt his magic being destroyed for good this time. His body began to fade away and as his end came, his horn was destroyed and his Alicorn Amulet fell to the ground.

All over the Everfree and Ponyville, shadowminions began to disappear. Garble watched as his army disappeared before glaring at Match, Trixie, and Starlight. "You think this is over!? If I can still fight, then it is far from over! And I want go down until I take the one I hate most with me! Bring me Spike!"

He charged at the three as they barely dodged before dragons began to tackle Garble to the ground.

To their shock, none of them good hold Garble down for long. Match looked to Trixie. "Contact Twilight and tell them we need them back here!"

Trixie nodded as her horn began to glow.

On the receiving end, Twilight had just heard the report and was telling the others of what was happening.

Applejack asked, "How is he still that strong? Shouldn't his dark magic have disappeared along with the shadowminions?"

Twilight said, "It's possible that since he's an actual living being, unlike the shadowminions, that his dark magic can remain in his body unless we drain it from him."

"Then I'll beat him down good enough for us to get it from him."

The girls looked to Spike as Ember asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's me he wants. So I'll be the one who stops him."

Before any of the girls could stop him, Spike took flight straight towards Ponyville.

In said town, Garble had just throw down his former friends: Puff, Clomp, Vex, and Fume. He glared at the four as he said, "I've been waiting a long time to pay you guys back for turning on me!"

Puff only scowled at his former friend. "You were taking things too far Garble! We didn't went to get caught up in a disaster that followed your actions!"

Garble smirked as he raised his scale blade at Puff. "I can make sure that never happens. Permanently!"

Right before Garble was going to bring down his blade, a fireball of green flames struck him in the back. With his armor destroyed, it hit him in the middle of his wings. He shook off the pain to glare at what he saw behind him.

A few yards away, Spike had landed and ripped his armor off before letting out a loud roar at the red drake. Garble smirked as he turned his body away from Puff. "Finally!"

The two drakes glared at each other as they slowly walked towards each other which eventually turned into charges. They soon met in middle and Garble speared Spike before rolling around and chucking him through debris. Spike slid down the ground before managing to regain his footing. He looked up to see Garble standing on the edge of the debris with a smirk on his face and laughed. "Hahaha. Come on!"

Spike glared at the red drake before shifting his gaze to a near by chariot. He growled as he broke it in half and took one half in each hand before he and Garble charged at each other. Spike began using the chariot halves as boxing gloves as parts flew from it with each blow until Spike had Garble pinned to the ground with punches.

Spike threw what was left of the chariot away before grabbing Garble by the neck and smashed his fist into Garble's face. Garble spat a little blood before glaring at Spike. "Is that it?!"

Spike growled and was about to throw another fist, but Garble kicked him away into a near by building. Garble then got up and dived at the hole Spike went through. They began exchanging blows before they busted through the roof. Spike fired a stream of magic that Garble dodged before Garble retorted with a burst of flame. Spike dodged that strike before charging at the red drake.

At the castle, Twilight and Ember had just teleported in the castle garden. Being exhausted from fighting, Twilight only had enough magic to teleport her and Ember to the castle. Their friends were heading towards the castle on the long way at the time.

"Thanks for bringing me with you Twilight. I really appreciate it."

"No problem Ember. I think Spike could use you and me more than anypony right now."

Suddenly, they saw a crash near by in the garden and ran to investigate. When they arrived that found Spike standing by a pile of rubble and a alicorn statue with chained restraints that connected four stone pillars. (Kind of like the things that keep tourists from touching important stuff in museums.) He looked up to see them standing near by and smiled.

But right before the two could run out to him, Garble busted out of the rubble before he glared at Spike. He then looked to his right where Twilight and Ember were shocked.

Garble then smirked at Spike, who glared back at him. Garble busted out of the rubble and charged at the drake and knocked him into a wall. Spike tried to throw a punch, but Garble caught him by the wrist and used his other arm to pin Spike to the wall by the neck.

Before her and Twilight could come up with a plan, Ember charged at Garble who smirked as he lifted his tail to smack her through the alicorn statue. Twilight ran to her friend. "Ember? Are you okay?"

She tried to stand, but fell instantly. "My leg is sprained. I can't walk."

They then heard a small rumble and looked up to see a pile of rumble preparing to fall on them.

Back with Spike, Garble glared at him. "You're not good enough to be called a dragon. Now watch Ember die!"

Garble stabbed his wrist scale into to Spike's chest and was digging to reach his heart. Spike was doing his best to keep the blade from reaching its target as the drake saw the rubble was about to fall on top of Ember and Twilight.

Spike glared at Garble as he reached for the blade and began pulling it out of his chest before he moved Garble's arm away. The two struggled against each other until Spike pushed him back enough to headbutt Garble in the chest. After he was released from Garble's grip, Spike grabbed him by his back scales and slammed him head first into the wall.

Spike looked back just in time to see the rubble give out and blasted it with his charged eye magic and turned it to dust.

He then smiled in relief at the two he cared about most. Twilight and Ember shared the look, until they gained a look of horror when they saw Garble standing up with the chain restrains from the destroyed statue. "Spike! Look out!"

Just as the drake turned around, Garble swung the chain and slammed one of the stone restraints into Spike and slammed him to the ground.

As Spike was getting up, Garble began spinning the third restraint on the other end before slamming it into Spike again, knocking him to the ground. Spike tried to get up but couldn't find the strength.

After Garble pulled the last remaining restraints together, he turned his glare to Ember and Twilight mainly focusing on Ember. "Ember!"

He swung the last two restraints around as the alicorn and dragoness watched in horror. "Any last words!"

Spike got to his feet just as he watched Garble preparing to deal the final blow. "Not while I'm around Garble!"

His eyes charged up with red magic before he fired and hit Garble square in the right eye, causing him to release the chain and letting them fly into the air before they crashed down on him.

With Garble temporarily disable, Spike ran at him while picking up the chain before wrapping them around Garble's neck. The red drake struggled against the chain before elbowing Spike. He attempted to charge at Ember and Twilight, but Spike shook off his pain before yanking Garble back down. Garble tried to swing his wrist scale at Spike. Spike dodged the scale twice before catching it the third time. He then broke it off and stabbed it into Garble's shoulder. Garble continued to struggle as Spike tightened the grip on his neck.

Twilight and Ember watched in worry as the two dragons struggled against each other. They soon began to notice Garble's resistance began to weaken. Spike let out a roar as he pulled as tight as he could.

"SPIKE!"

Spike loosened the grip on Garble's as he looked to see the girls with fearful looks on their faces. Spike soon began to calm down as he let the chains go and allowed Garble to fall to the ground.

Everyone had arrived to be shocked at the scene. Garble attempted to get up but was stopped by Spike slamming his foot on his chest. Garble looked up with an exhausted look as Spike glared down at him. "Stay down!"

The girls and Match ran to Twilight and Ember as Spike kicked Garble to Torch's feet. Torch looked to the young drake and nodded to him.

Ember and Twilight then watched in worry as Spike fell to the ground. Match ran over to him as he looked to the girls with relief. "It's okay. He just passed out from exhaustion."