The Drake Six

Spike wondered if Twilight was punishing him in some way by putting his hospital cot right next to Star Wing.

It was bad enough that he had failed to stop Thorn and Shade from unleashing Grogar, but when the others had gotten him home, Twilight had taken one look at Spike and Phoenix’s stab wounds, declared them medical emergencies, and rushed them to the hospital.

Now, laying with his midsection covered in bandages, Spike was left out of any plans or strategies on how to handle Grogar, and could only lie in bed, feeling the disappointment emanating off Star Wing from his right.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Phoenix whispered. Both Star and Spike turned to see Phoenix gazing forlornly at her own bandages. “I messed up.”

“It’s not your fault, Phi,” Spike said, looking down himself. “I thought I was getting through to Thorn. My mistake.”

“But if I hadn’t let myself get distracted, I could’ve helped,” Phoenix noted. “I could’ve…” she sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Doesn’t really matter,” Star grumbled. Spike winced at how dead and monotonous the normally perky alicorn was. “Grogar’s out now.”

“B-But it’s not over, right?” Spike asked desperately. “Equestria has Twilight and her friends, it’s got us, it’s got Smolder’s group and Starswirl and…”

“Spike.” Star’s voice didn’t raise, but she finally turned to look at him. And Spike shuddered at the fear in her eyes. “You saw him. You saw what he could do, didn’t you?” She glared at him. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you honestly think we stand a chance.”

Spike tried to repeat what he had said: they had so many allies and friends. But with Star gazing at him, with eyes that reflected so much more experience than her normally chipper demeanor would imply… all his words of hope were rapidly dying.

“Well… we have to try anyway, don’t we?” he offered. “Anything’s better than just laying around waiting to die.”

“We’re gonna have to do some lying around,” Phoenix noted bitterly, glaring at her bandage. “At least until these heal.”

“We will,” Spike insisted. “And once we’re back up, the first step will be to pay Thorn and Shade back in full.”

Phoenix cracked a small grin at the idea. Star tried to as well, but it wasn’t her usual self. Her eyes still looked broken, like a shattered mirror. And though she tried to say some sort of witty remark, she ultimately gave up, rolled back over and avoided eye contact with either of them.

Sighing, Spike lay back on his hospital bed.

“After Chrysalis? After Sombra? After the Storm King and Tirek and Shade…” Spike thought as he shut his eyes. “Surely we can take this challenge on too… can’t we?”

Meanwhile, however, Grogar smirked as the first of many monsters answered his call. Rising from the ashes of a pit. A pit still tainted with the scent of Starswirl the Bearded and his Pillars of Harmony.

Yet even they had been young when Grogar was at full power. Not even their vast experience would be ready for what he had in store.

But first, he had to soften them; get to know their defenses. To that end, he lit his horns, firing a beam at what had been left of the Pony of Shadows.

And as he felt new life rush into the essence remaining, his eyes glowed. “Rise, Temptress of Heroes. Your father has a new assignment for you…”

In Spike’s dreams, he had defeated Thorn and stopped Grogar’s assault.

He stood before a cheering crowd, just like how Twilight and Star had after they defeated Tirek. But this time, it was him that was being applauded for. Him that received a medal of valor. Him that bowed and was bowed to in turn by the princesses…

Until Princess Luna looked up to him… and the light in her eyes was desperate.

“Spike,” she said, standing up and gripping his shoulders. “I need help. She needs you.”

“She?” Spike asked in confusion… before Luna pulled him out of his dream and into the dream realm.

Instantly, Spike realized what was wrong. There was a pulsating darkness disrupting the otherwise ethereal stillness of the dream realm. Purple and green lightning streaked through black clouds rolling like a thunderstorm around a spherical portal, inside of which Spike could faintly see…

“Star Wing?” Spike asked.

Luna nodded, her eyes desperate like a cornered animal. “She is being tempted by Umbra; the same dark being who brought Stygian, Sombra and myself to darkness.”

Spike’s world felt like it was slipping out from under him. “Wait… the darkness that corrupted you… has a name?”

“Aye,” Luna said grimly. “It whispers in the ears of those who feel negativity too strongly. Normally, it can be ignored and defended against, but Grogar’s return has created enough negative energy for it to become stronger.”

“And now it’s going for Star Wing,” Spike guessed, glancing again at the sphere containing her. He looked to Luna. “But… why can’t you handle it?”

Luna’s ears folded in despair. “I have fallen to Umbra before. It knows my weaknesses; no matter how much I try to strengthen and hide them.” She looked to her daughter longingly, but hesitation weighed her hooves. “I do not wish my fate upon my beloved Star, but if I fall with her, Umbra will be able to claim two powerful alicorns for the Armies of Evil.” She turned desperately to Spike. “You have adventured with Star Wing. You may have knowledge of her I lack. On top of that, you may be new enough that Umbra will not be able to draw on your negativity.”

“In other words,” Spike guessed. “I’m the best man for the job.” He nodded and saluted. “Don’t worry, Princess Luna. I’ll save your daughter.”

Without waiting for a reply, he rushed into the darkness. “I have to save someone,” he thought.

Yet, as he delved into the icy darkness surrounding Star’s dreams, he felt his heart grow heavy.

“You can’t save anyone,” whispered through the dark.

Spike shook his head, forcing himself forward, but he felt more than just his failure at stopping Thorn pressing on his mind.

He remembered his fear that he had abandoned Twilight. Left her to be tormented by the likes of Starlight Glimmer. Then how he had tormented Starlight himself.

“You’re no hero,” the voice whispered. “You don’t deserve Twilight’s love.”

Spike growled and forced himself forward. “I’m not here to doubt; I’m here for Star!”

But the clouds concealing his friend were more than just some fog; they had weight to them, like Spike was trying to walk through syrup or molasses. A chill seeped past his scales and settled around his bones. Not even small bursts of fire could warm him - and Spike wasn’t eager to test his flames and risk accidentally breathing fire while asleep.

Instead, he focused on putting one foot in front of the other, forcing himself further and further into the mess Star Wing’s dream had become.

Slowly, the fog shifted. Spike managed to make out a new environment.

He blinked; he was standing in the Castle of Two Sisters. In the very same ruins that had once made up the throne room.

Star was there as well. But she stood before Nightmare Moon.

“Star!” Spike yelled, running to her side.

Nightmare Moon glanced up at him, but let him approach. Her ice-blue eyes - so different from Luna’s - emanated no malice or contempt. Yet there was still power in those eyes. Power that made Spike’s heart flutter in his chest.

He knelt at Star’s side. Star herself glanced up at him, her eyes glazed like she had somehow woken up from an even deeper dream.

“Spike…” she mumbled, glancing back at Nightmare Moon. “She…”

“I know,” Spike said, trying to lift the alicorn up. “C’mon, we gotta get out of here.”

“Why?”

Spike froze, staring at Star to make sure she had been the one to say it.

“Why?” Star repeated, looking back at the apparition. “Grogar’s back. He’s going to…”

She clutched her head, and the scene changed. They moved from the castle of two sisters to the mountain Grogar had been trapped under.

But now, it was surging with dark life. Diamond Dogs, dragons, hydras, chimeras and all sorts of other animals marched with glazed eyes up to the mountain, all of them kneeling before Grogar himself.

“He was the ultimate beast master,” Star said. “The Father of Monsters.” She watched the dragons with despair. “He could make anyone obey him. Only the purest of creatures could resist, and those…”

The scene shifted again, as a beam of white light forced Grogar back. Spike looked up as a massive alicorn descended from the heavens. A strikingly white-furred male, with a deep red mane and angry magenta eyes - eyes similar to Celestia’s.

“Is that…” Spike whispered. “Celestia’s father?”

Star merely watched as the elder alicorn did battle with the demonic ram. Though Celestia’s father at first held the ram at bay, Grogar answered in kind with a black and yellow beam.

Celestia’s father held it back valiantly, but then a griffon attacked from behind. Celestia’s father batted the creature aside, but his distraction was to Grogar’s benefit. And with a stronger, more powerful beam, Grogar knocked the elder alicorn out of the sky and sent him crashing to earth.

Spike winced. “But… he won, didn’t he?” He looked to Star desperately. “He managed to seal Grogar away.”

Star’s gaze was still blank. “He didn’t do it alone.”

The scene shifted to a prison cell: Celestia’s Father was chained to a wall, a magic-suppressing ring on his horn.

The cell opened… and a strikingly beautiful thestral entered. A thestral with Luna’s eyes.

“No way…” Spike whispered.

“Yeah way,” Star muttered, a brief bit of her old humor returning as she watched her grandparents gaze into each other’s eyes, Luna’s mother stroking the chin of Celestia’s father with a faint smile.

The scene shifted again: Celestia’s father had freed himself - or been freed - and once again did battle with Grogar. But this time, before Grogar’s minions could surround the elder alicorn again, the thestral that would become Luna’s mother, attacked Grogar from behind.

And as the demonic ram hit the ground, Celestia’s father blasted him with one more powerful beam, sealing him inside the building that would serve as his prison.

“Light can’t triumph over darkness alone,” a colder voice whispered. Spike jumped and turned as Nightmare Moon joined them once more. “If anything, Light is nothing without Darkness. For it is Light that creates shadows, and Darkness helps light shine all the brighter.”

“Yes…” Star whispered. “Controlled and balanced… Light and Darkness can create something new. Something powerful.”

“Star, think about what you’re saying,” Spike insisted. “You’re going to try and ‘control’ darkness? Isn’t that what happened with your mother?”

“My mother was driven by Envy and Jealousy,” Star said. “Sombra was driven by Pride and Ego. Stygian was manipulated by Greed and Insecurity.” She looked down. “I… was driven by Wrath and Fear.”

“Fear is not a Deadly Sin,” Nightmare Moon noted, circling the two like a vulture around a thirsty desert dweller. “And in war, you use every tool you have at your disposal.”

“No…” Spike whispered, even as Nightmare Moon began to change.

She grew smaller; more Star Wing’s size. Her cyan armor turned pitch black with bright white spikes, and covered more of her body. Her helmet covered more of her face, concealing all but the now green glow of her eyes. A purple flame lit up the end of her helmet like a knight’s ponytail, which matched well with her actual tail, which similarly lit up in purple flames.

In seconds, what had to be Star’s dark form stood before them.

“Nightmare Knight,” Spike and Star muttered at the same time. Star grinned. “Jinx.”

Nightmare Knight, however, grinned, white teeth flashing in the shadow of her helmet. “Join me, and we will have the strength to protect this land.”

“No!” Spike barked, putting himself between Star and Knight. “Star, listen to me,” Spike said. “We’re not going to beat Grogar by giving into dark demons like this. If anything, it’ll just be giving Grogar more allies to fight against us.”

“But Thorn managed to free him because he used your honor against you,” Star insisted. She gently touched Spike’s stomach - the scar where he was stabbed. “We need to be prepared for more tricks like that. We need every advantage we can get!”

Spike’s scar throbbed. Wing had a point. But he couldn’t let her use that to go down the path of darkness.

“And we will,” Spike said. “But by standing together and being a team.”

Star blinked, gazing at Spike with sharper eyes, like she was truly seeing him for the first time. She looked again at Nightmare Knight, but then at Spike again.

“Please…” Spike whispered, his eyes gazing into hers. “I can’t fail again.”

After a very pregnant pause, Star finally sighed, and took Spike’s hands. “Okay,” she said.

Spike’s heart skipped a beat. “Y-You mean it?”

“Yeah,” Star said. “That was the mistake Sombra, Stygian and even my mother made… they tried to face this beast alone. I have to be different.”

“Then come on,” Spike said, casting a nervous look at Nightmare Knight. “Let’s get out of here.”

He pulled her towards the exit, worried for a second that Nightmare Knight might try to interfere. But Nightmare Knight just watched them go, smirking like it knew something they didn’t.

But Spike refused to be intimidated. He could see Luna just outside the sphere, already reaching out to pull them free.

But as Spike stepped out to freedom… Star’s hoof slipped from his grip.

Spike spun, but Star grinned assuringly. “Mother,” she called. “Come. Help me with this.”

“What madness possesses you, Star?” Luna demanded.

“We can’t just flee from him,” Star insisted, glancing back briefly as Nightmare Knight began to approach, sharp teeth on full display. Star touched her hooves to Luna’s. “If we flee, he’ll have free reign over the Dream Realm. It won’t be safe for anyone to sleep again.”

“But if you fight him and lose, then he gets two ultra powerful alicorns,” Spike insisted.

“But we won’t lose.” Star said it with such confidence that Spike couldn’t help but be emboldened. Even though her gaze was on her mother. “Mother. The only reason you fell was because we were separated. Together, we can beat this beast. We can control the darkness, just as we did before.”

“Star…” Luna whispered, but Star clutched her hoof tightly.

“Please, I know we can do this,” Star pleaded, gazing up at her mother with pure love. “Together, we can accomplish anything!”

Luna couldn’t look away from her daughter. She sighed, before looking to Spike.

“Thank you, Sir Spike,” she said.

“Wait, what?” Spike asked, but Star was pulling Luna into the dark.

“Be sure to let Celestia and Twilight know what’s happening,” Luna added. “They will be able to help if things go wrong.”

“But they won’t,” Star insisted. “We have to think positive. That’s the key to defeating this beast.”

“But…” Luna paused, looking at the Nightmare Knight as it sneered at them. Her eyes narrowed. “You’re right, Star. We can beat this thing!”

Star grinned at Spike. “We’ll see you on the other side, Spike.”

With that, the mother and daughter of the night launched at the Nightmare Knight, and sunk into darkness.

But this was not Umbra’s darkness; it shined with distant stars, like a portal to space. And briefly, Luna and Spike saw Nightmare Knight’s face twist; saw the pointed smile fall to a confused frown.

Then the Knight fell in as well, and its roar of outrage threw Spike out of his dreams.

Spike snapped away, cannonballing himself out of bed. Spotting Star, he rushed to her side.

“Star! Star, wake up! Please wake up,” Spike begged. “Please tell me you won already.”

No response.

“C-Come on, Star!” Spike tried to staunch his tears. “Come on, Starry, wake up!” Desperate, he tried slapping her, but she had no response.

“What is going on here?” Redheart’s voice demanded.

“Something’s wrong with Star,” Spike shrieked. “She’s not responding!”

Red Heart nudged him out of the way, and checked her vitals and eyes. Spike found himself chewing his claws with baited breath.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Red Heart rose.

“She’s in deep NREM sleep,” Red Heart reported. “Inaccessible even to the Dream Realm.” she sighed. “Nothing we can do but wait for her to cycle back into REM sleep. She won’t be able to reach the Dreamworld otherwise.”

Spike couldn’t factor in a reply. All he could do was stare in mounting horror and sadness at what had been done.

Star Wing and Luna were trapped in the Dream Realm. As long as Umbra could still fight them, they would be unable to do anything in the waking world.

Slowly, Spike’s head lowered. “I failed again,” he thought bitterly. “What are we gonna do now?”