Author's Note

AstralFlare42's heroic OCs Astral and Aurora make a brief appearance here. Thank you again, AstralFlare42, for your aid in this story.

Episode 79: Darkness Before the Dawn

“Are you serious?”

Spike’s heart leaped into his throat as Thorn manifested before him; a dark spot sihouetted by the green fire all around.

“You thought you could just take my power, and that would be it?” Thorn demanded, as he lunged at Spike, talons itching for his throat.

Spike tried to jump back, but there was nothing to jump back from. He barely managed to grab Thorn’s claws, desperately holding them back. “You came from me,” Spike growled. “You are me!”

“Oh, no…” Thorn growled. “I am way more than you. I’m better than you! I’m stronger than you, I’m faster than you. More importantly, I’m more loyal than you!”

Spike thought back to Twilight; how he had left her to discover himself. Let her handle so much without her number one assistant at her side. Thorn’s claws inched closer to his throat.

But Spike seethed, and his eyes turned to slits. “Not anymore.” He head-butt Thorn, forcing him back.

“This is my power,” he snarled. “And you will obey!”

Thorn glared at Spike in utter hatred, before the green flames consumed them both.

As the fire dissipated, Spike fell face first onto a soft carpet. Twilight’s scream rang in his ears.

“Spike?!”

Spike sprang to attention, afterimages of his fire blinding him. “Twilight, I’m here!”

“I can see that, but… what… happened to you?”

Spike blinked away the strobing after-light-images, and found Twilight staring at him in shock and a bit of horror. He looked down, and winced: though he had gotten Thorn’s power, it had also altered him immensely.

All of Grogar’s mutations were now on him; his wings were bigger, but also ripped like some kind of zombie dragon. His claws looked far more bestial and brutal. And he imagined if he looked in a mirror, even his face would look more monstrous.

“You’re not… you’re…” Twilight stammered, already backing away.

“No, Twi, it’s still me,” Spike assured. “Diamondback and I… we…” Shame welled up in his gut at the look of disappointment fighting through Twilight’s fear.

“You stole the Bell, didn’t you?” Twilight realized.

Spike hung his head. “Diamondback wanted to use it to get back our power.”

Twilight sighed, shifting to her haunches. “And how did that work out?” She looked around. “Where is Diamondback?”

Spike shifted to his own haunches, his guilt weighing him down. “I don’t know. We got separated after she managed to use the Bell on Thorn. She gave me his power, but…” He shook his head. “I couldn’t help her with it.”

Twilight said nothing. When Spike looked up, her head was down. She looked so… disappointed. Worse than the time he had gotten jealous of that owl of hers. Owl-oh… Spike sighed, why did she come up with such an impossible name for that owl?

But Spike shook that thought off, rising back up. “Twilight, please… I only did it to help…”

“Help?” Twilight demanded, anger returning to her features. She beckoned. “Look at this.”

She led him to a balcony, where Spike saw the beginnings of a fight. But it wasn’t against Grogar’s forces:

Everyone they had recruited: the yaks, the dragons, the griffons, the changelings, the hippogriffs and sea serpents. All of them were arguing or yelling, or in the cases of the yaks, starting to butt heads. It wasn’t going to be long before a full fight broke out. The ponies were doing everything they could to break it up, but twice as many of them had fallen to the arguments.

“They’ve been like this for hours,” Twilight said. “And it’s only gotten worse since they discovered Grogar’s Bell is missing.” She looked to Spike with despair in her eyes. “Our chances of fighting Grogar were already so low. But now, with everyone at each other’s throats…?”

She didn’t need to say anymore. Spike could already tell; an army wasn’t going to be much help against Grogar when it was too busy fighting each other rather than him.

Spike could feel his guilt rising, like Thorn was laughing at him internally. I caused this, he realized. By going along with DB… we caused all this division.

“Still think you’re stronger than me?” Thorn growled in his head.

Spike took a breath. “I guess we’ll find out.” He turned to Twilight, and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Let me see what I can do to fix this.”

Twilight stared at him. “Spike…”

“I caused part of it,” Spike insisted. “Now, I need to fix it.”

“How?” Twilight asked.

Spike looked out over the crowd again. “I don’t know,” was what he wanted to admit. But he couldn’t say that.

Not when Twilight was depending on him.

He was supposed to be her number one assistant. He had failed at that.

But maybe - just maybe - he could be her hero instead.

His resolve faltered as soon as he approached the arguing crowds. It nearly died when one of them jumped him and pressed a blade to his neck.

“Astral, wait!” a familiar blue dragoness said.

“A-Aurora!” Spike called thankfully.

Astral thankfully backed off, but the green dragon looked very winded. He had heavy bags under his eyes and slumped where he stood.

Spike winced at his appearance. “You, uh…”

“I’ve been trying to keep everyone from actually fighting for days and nights now,” Astral muttered.

“It’s been hard,” Aurora admitted.

Spike nodded. “Alright… give me a second.” He nudged past them, only to notice Thorax and his changelings stormed towards him.

“Thorax?” Spike asked, spreading his wings. “H-Hey, where are you going?”

“We can’t do this, Spike,” Thorax said, his voice hurt and scared. “We have to leave.”

“Leave? Why?”

“No one trusts us,” Ocellus whimpered. “Chrysalis is likely going to hurt us, and we don’t know if we’ll survive this.”

“We gotta think about what’s best for our Hive,” Pharynx said. “There’s no way this ‘army’ is going to last a chance against Grogar. They’ll rip each other apart long before he ever shows up.”

Spike looked out over the arguing masses. He could already see Novo stepping away, even as Sapphire and Jackknife tried to stop her. Their entire army was going to fall apart.

He had to do something now.

“Just give me five minutes,” he said to Thorax.

“Spike…” Thorax tried to say, but Spike gripped him by the shoulders.

“I trusted you when we first met,” Spike reminded him. “Now, I need you to trust me.”

Thorax blinked at the intensity in Spike’s eyes. Spike privately worried Thorn’s power made him too intimidating.

But thankfully, it was enough for Thorax to nod and step backward.

“Make it fast, big guy,” Pharynx warned.

Nodding, Spike flew up to the exit to the courtyard, where Novo and a few griffons were already heading.

“You’re crazy if you think you’re using…” Thorn growled, but Spike once again enforced his will.

“My body,” Spike reminded him. “My power. My choice.” He took in a deep breath, feeling Thorn squirming in angry reluctance. “ENOUGH!” Spike bellowed, loud enough to tear his throat.

But it thankfully got the attention of the arguing masses. Several eyes - ranging from frustrated to fearful - were locked on Spike.

“Whoa, Spike, is that you?” Jackknife asked.

“Did you do something with your scales?” Gabby asked.

Spike cleared his throat, and tried to focus on his friends: on Jackknife, Swift and Phoenix. “Yeah, I did,” Spike said. “Diamondback and I took the Bell of Grogar.”

An outburst of noise sounded.

“THIEF!” roared up from the yaks.

“WHY?!” several hippogriffs demanded.

“Because - HEY, LISTEN!” Spike barked, trying to quell the rising mob. “Because Diamondback and I thought we could use the Bell on Grogar and get back our powers.” He spread his arms. “As you can see… it kinda worked.”

“That’s what you think,” Thorn growled mutinously in his head.

Spike tried to ignore it, especially when Phoenix stepped forward, her pink eyes gazing around in confusion.

“But… if that’s true, where’s Diamondback?” she asked.

Spike’s heart throbbed for his friend, but he forced himself to remain focused. “She…” He remembered her fighting; how she had been going wild with the Bell, and a grin formed. “She’s still fighting. Even now, the Bell has proven its use; she’s sowing doubt and discourse throughout Grogar’s forces. They’re more vulnerable now than they ever will be.”

“You sure you wanna do that?” Thorn demanded.

Part of Spike agreed with Thorn, but he had to push it to the side. These people needed a rallying point.

“We can take Grogar on, right now!” Spike said. “And help Diamondback. But we need to go now!”

“Why?” Garble growled from a group of dragons. “Ponies have always thought more of themselves. Heck, why are we all here instead of at the Dragon Lands?”

“Worried about your precious eggs?” Gilda mocked. “We left all our treasure back in Griffonstone. We should’ve rallied there.”

“Yaks had to leave home too,” Prince Rutherford boomed. “Left for sake of ponies.”

“Exactly,” Gilda grumbled. “Why do we have to keep pulling the ponies out of the fire? When are they going to do the same for us?”

“They’re doing that right now,” Spike insisted. “We may have rallied at the ponies’ home, but Grogar is a threat to all of us.”

“He did offer us amnesty, though,” Pharynx muttered.

“Amnesty?” Spike demanded. He indicated his mutations. “This isn’t just my power, I’ll have you know. This was Thorn’s. This is what Grogar will do to you if you accept his rule.”

Though some of the crowd muttered reluctantly, a few of the dragons shrugged.

“So?” Smolder asked. “No offense, but you look a lot better like that than you did before.”

“No, he doesn’t!” Rainbow Dash snapped. “He looks like a freak!”

“Hey, watch who you’re calling a freak, freak!” Garble snapped.

“YEAH!” several dragons roared in agreement.

Spike faltered as the arguing started back up again. He found himself gazing up at the balcony, where Twilight could only shrug helplessly. Like she was saying, “I’m sorry, Spike. The same thing happened to me.”

Thorax gave Spike a sad look, and shook his head.

“N-No,” Spike jumped down and got in Thorax’s way. “Thorax, please…”

“I’m sorry, Spike,” Thorax said. “But how can we possibly hope to work with everyone here?”

Spike had to come up with an answer. He had to fix this!

But before Thorax could lower his head again in despair…

“Because we’ve worked with worse.”

Everyone paused, as a pillar of light formed next to Spike. The dragon jumped back, as did Thorax. All eyes fell towards the light as it faded to reveal…

Spike gasped. “Star Wing?”

The alicorn princess had changed though; she stood taller than before, almost at Celestia’s height, with longer legs and a more muscular frame. Dark gray and white armor covered her head, shoulders and hooves, and her mane was a fiery aura of purple with galactic stars. Her eyes had a brighter glow to them, shining out from the shadows of her demon-plated helmet, but her smile was still the same.

Then another form landed next to her with another pillar of light, and Spike fell back further.

“N-Nightmare Moon!?”

At first, it was easy to assume so; same black body, same bright blue armor. Yet… something was off about her eyes: they were Luna’s natural dark blue.

The dots connected when Star lifted her hooves - revealing draconic claws - and gestured for peace. “Alright-alright, everyone calm down. Eternal Night’s not on the agenda today.”

Twilight and Celestia flew down to join Spike. “What is the meaning of this?” Celestia demanded. “Luna… w-what happened to you?”

“Fear not, sister,” Luna assured Celestia with a smile. “We still remember you as our beloved sister.”

Star stepped forward. “It was a tough few weeks, fighting Umbra and the Darkness,” she admitted, stepping past the alicorns and to the other species. “But then we realized something: the Darkness isn’t inherently evil. It’s something that others have had difficulty understanding: just because dangerous creatures lurk in the shadows… it doesn’t make the shadows bad.”

“Indeed,” Luna agreed, striding alongside her daughter. “The Darkness is but a tool. Used for evil, it becomes a force to be reckoned with. But used for good…”

Star flared her wings. “Well, it makes us look pretty cool, for starters, don’t you think?”

Garble and Smolder exchanged grins. “See, she gets it!” Smolder praised.

“But do you guys?” Star asked.

“Uh oh,” Phoenix teased at the sight of Smolder and Garble’s stunned faces.

“We’ve seen your dreams,” Luna said, striding between the species. “Your fears. Your anxieties. You fear Grogar, rightfully so.”

“And yet, you also fear the people that will stand by your side against him,” Star said. “That isn’t going to work, guys.” She indicated herself and Luna. “Ponies feared the dark once too, and it resulted in them driving my mother - a great hero in her own right - to villainy.”

“And now they’re doing the same to us,” Novo agreed.

“Are they?” Star asked, turning to Novo. “Or are you driving them to villainy with your own hangups?”

Novo went silent, backing down behind Sapphire and Jack. Star turned to Spike with a grin.

“Spike was able to find balance between light and dark…”

Thorn scoffed in Spike’s mind, but Spike didn’t let him interrupt, as Star turned to the others.

“My mother and I were able to find the balance between light and dark. And with it, we have defeated Umbra, and secured the Dream Realm.”

“But we only did so through balancing light and dark,” Luna said. “Through working with what wasn’t inherently evil.”

“If we could do so with the Darkness,” Star said, pointing to everyone else. “You all can work together. You’re all so much stronger, so much smarter…” she cracked a grin. “So much sexier - don’t quote me on that, Spike, you’re…”

“Too young, I get it, don’t get distracted,” Spike growled.

“Right,” Star shrugged as a smattering of laughter echoed among the crowd. “But my point stands: you guys are better. You all have the potential for greatness.”

“Seize that greatness now,” Luna declared. “Show Grogar that while he might think he has the right to rule over you, you are the rulers of your own lives!”

“Yeah! That’s right!” started to echo around the crowd.

“You are warriors!” Star declared.

“YEAH!” the yaks boomed.

“You are survivors!” Luna declared.

“Yeah!” the changelings agreed.

“And if Diamondback is keeping everyone occupied right now?” Spike said, leaping next to Star. “Now’s the perfect time to prove it!”

“YEAH!” Swift cheered, which got several ponies to cheer along as well.

“Let’s kick the crud out of Grogar!” Star declared. “And send him scurrying back to his cage in Tartarus!”

“YEAH!” everyone cheered, hopped up on hype and adrenaline.

In seconds, Spike found himself scooped up in a flurry of motion, as the army charged full out for Grogar’s lair. Quickly stepping in line, he found himself next to Star Wing.

“Star…” he whispered. “Thank you. You couldn’t have picked a better time to show up.”

“Really?” Star asked, for once a hint of nervousness broke through her confident front. “I was worried we had arrived too late.”

Soothe, my daughter,” Luna assured her. “The Night is always darkest just before the Dawn.”

The sun began to set as their army made their way to Grogar’s home. Some of the hype had started to die down, but enough was still there to keep everyone cheering and singing as they marched.

But the cheers slowly started to die down, as something big arose on the horizon.

“Hold!” Luna barked, as Star led Spike and Phoenix towards the figure.

As they got closer, Spike recognized the diamond scales shining in the fading light.

“Diamondback?” Spike asked, before another thought made his blood run cold. “Or Pyrite?”

The figure twitched, turning to them with eyes that weren’t right. They flashed in several different shades; not just blue, but red, green, purple and black.

Star slowly pulled Spike back. “I don’t think that’s DB.”

The figure slowly rose up. Towering higher and higher over their army. A low, rumbling giggle of pure insanity emanated.

Looking down, Spike saw dozens of Grogar’s forces, all drained of their magic. Griffons had been reduced to birds and lions; dragons had been reduced to lizards.

He tried to see if there were any sticks - any signs that DB might have taken Pyrite - but then the beast above them spoke.

“Mine…”

An ominous gong sound rang out, as the creature lifted the Bell of Echidna, which drained the last of the magic from an unlucky minotaur, reducing the bullman to a simple bull.

“Mine…”

Spike then noticed that the creature had traits of every single species: feathery wings like a griffon.

“Incredible, isn’t it?” a familiar voice growled. Just behind the creature, Spike’s stomach did a flip as he beheld Grogar, gazing at what Diamondback (or Pyrite) had become like a parent would behold their child.

“Oh…” Star groaned. “Hello, Grogar.”

“Princess,” Grogar barely nodded towards her, his attention captivated by the creature. “My beloved Echidna and I had always wondered just how many hybrids could be crafted; how many different ways the magic of different creatures could be combined.” He finally grinned at the army before him. “I’m quite curious what will happen when pony magic is finally added to the mix.”

Almost on command, the creature that was once Diamondback or Pyrite rang the Bell again, like the most nightmarish wrestling match was about to begin. “MINE!!!!”