As The Beast formerly known as Diamondback advanced, so did Grogar’s forces. Tails swished nervously. Griffon feathers were standing on end. Celestia galloped up and down their ranks, shouting encouragement to stand tall, but even the dragons looked on edge. Spike feared that any second, they might panic and run.

“I’ll take… the Beast,” Spike’s voice came out as far too timid. He yelled louder. “I GOT THE BEAST! Everyone else, hold the line against Grogar’s people.”

Twilight gave Spike a scared look. “Spike, are you sure?”

Secretly, Spike wasn’t. He could feel Thorn squirming hatefully in his gut.

“How close has this thing come to taking Shade’s power?” Spike tried to offer Thorn. “By fighting it, you’re helping him just as much as us.”

Thorn didn’t reply, and his squirming didn’t lessen.

Twilight’s eyes shined with sympathy. “Let me help you.”

Spike looked at her in fear. “But Twilight… if the Bell absorbs your magic, it’ll give Grogar what he wants. He wants pony magic to complete it. And besides, you’re needed for the Elements-”

“Just as much as you’re needed for your Elements.” She hugged him. “Besides that… you’re my little brother, buddy. Always have been.”

Spike couldn’t help but return the hug, tears coming to his eyes. “Together then,” he said, patting her shoulder before breaking the hug. “Use your wings; look for weak spots in her… it’s armor.” It felt a lot easier referring to Diamondback as ‘The Beast’ than it did reminding himself that it used to be his friend. “I’ll keep it busy. If you see an opportunity to snag the Bell, take it.”

Twilight nodded. “Just be careful.”

Spike chuckled. “You too. Y’know, as much as you can in a fight like this.”

Turning back to the Beast as it rang its Bell again, Spike called on the Greed, which he could feel Thorn connected to, as all dragons were.

“Twilight is mine to protect. Canterlot is mine to protect. Equestria is mine to protect.”

And with his sister - his rider - by his side, Spike charged the monster.

The Beast answered with the Bell. Though Spike and Twilight dodged the resulting beam of magic, three yaks weren’t so lucky, and collapsed as their strength was drained, and a shaggy hump grew on the Beast’s back.

At the same time, the enemy army crashed against the Equestrian Defense Force. Spike forced himself to block out the sounds of combat and the yells of his friends. None of that would matter if the Beast got to them.

He launched through the air - Thorn’s powers making him look like a black shadow with teeth. Spike supposed Thorn looked pretty impressive like that once, but compared to what Diamondback had become, he felt small, like a child’s plush toy.

His fire clashed harmlessly against the scales on the Beast’s arm. He tried to aim for the fur and feathers adorning its body, but the Beast expertly blocked with the remaining scales it had. Quickly realizing fire was pointless, Spike called on the Greed again and body-slammed the Beast, managing to stagger it.

The Beast tried to follow up with flames, but Spike grappled with the Beast, forcing it’s head up. He winced as the fire went wide, causing several griffons (both on their side and the enemies’) to flee the battle with flaming feathers, but once again blocked their squawks of pain from his mind.

“Thorn, a little help here?” Spike demanded, maneuvering the Beast’s flames towards Shade, who at that moment was dueling Astral and Aurora, with the three of them battling not only with melee weapons, but magical attacks as well.

“Curse you,” Thorn griped, but Spike felt Thorn’s power settle more comfortably in his gut, and he managed to lift the Beast into the air and away from Shade, bringing it down hard on his knee.

That turned out to be a mistake; Spike fell backward, clutching his knee as it exploded in pain, all while the Beast reared up, angrier than before. It raised the Bell to drain Spike, but Twilight was there, blasting it in the eyes and forcing it backward.

With a moment to breathe, Spike saw the rest of the battle wasn’t going well. The blood serpent Kira had appeared, the Storm King riding on her back, and the hippogriffs had been sent into a panic by the Storm King’s appearance. Though Jackknife was valiantly fighting them both with Silver Stream at his side, neither of them seemed to be making much progress.

The same could be said for Swift, who found himself in battle with his own mother, the larger dragoness chasing her son across the battlefield.

Star, Celestia, Luna and Cadence were fighting back to back, but they were trapped in a sea of enemies, and though no one could bring them down, they couldn’t reach anyone else.

Phoenix had linked up with Thorax, Starlight, Trixie and Discord, and the five were once again locked in combat with Chrysalis and her drones. But Discord’s power limits were truly showing, as even though he threw anvils, custard pies and all other comical forms of slapstick at the enemy changelings, nothing was keeping them down for long.

Astral and Aurora were still locking blades with Shade, but they were losing ground. Shade had grown bigger and was quickly overwhelming them.

As for Twilight’s friends, they were locked in a ring similar to the alicorns. Spike found himself recalling how they had looked back at Canterlot during Chrysalis’ invasion.

But Twilight’s not with them, Spike thought.

“No, she’s not,” Thorn mocked. “Because you took her away from them.”

Before Spike could argue, Twilight cried out in pain. The Beast had managed to slap her out of the air. Once again, it raised the Bell over her.

Spike acted fast. Leaping onto the Beast’s back, he punched it in the side of the head.

His knuckles bruised from the impact, and the monster merely roared in outrage. It coiled around, throwing Spike from its back.

Twilight reached Spike, catching him just before he hit the ground. “I told you to be careful,” she chastised.

“Like this?” Spike tackled her as the Beast sent another burst of Bell magic their way. He blasted a burst of green fire at its face, sending it reeling as they staggered backward… and right into a horde of dragons. Spike groaned as he recognized one of the bullies Garble used to run with.

“Going someplace, Shrimp?” the larger dragon asked, cackling as he shoved Spike and Twilight back towards the rampaging Beast.

As he regained his footing, Spike saw his allies and friends falling back. The enemy army was starting to surround them.

“Twi,” Spike called.

“I can see it,” Twilight agreed. “We’ve got to retreat before they cut us off.”

Spike nodded… before the howl of a wolf cut through the chaos.

A familiar voice yelled, “SIC EM, LADS!”

And the ground exploded as a horde of diamond dogs lunged from the earth like canine undead. Hundreds of fresh diamond dog warriors - armor gleaming and eyes sparkling in glee - lunged into the enemy army. Leading them was a familiar dragoness in gleaming purple and white armor, her face covered by a dog’s head helm. She held aloft a rapier, using it to run through the first enemy dragon to come at her.

“Diamondback?” Twilight stammered, before looking at the Beast. “But…?”

The Beast took advantage of her confusion, lunging at her with the Bell. Spike knocked Twilight out of the way, and barely avoided getting hit by the Bell, instead getting caught by the crock of the Beast’s elbow. The impact knocked the wind from his lungs, and he tumbled into Garble’s former friend with a yelp.

“Spike!” Twilight blasted the other bullies aside and ran to her dragon’s aid, but the Beast had already zeroed in on the new threat.

Ringing the Bell again, it caught two of the Diamond Dogs, draining them until they fell to the ground as regular dogs. The dragon leading the dogs answered with a roar, and a line of axes was hurled in response, slicing into the Beast and sending it staggering.

“EEEEESSSSSS!!” The Beast screamed, most likely it’s version for “OOWWWWWWWW!”

“I should have done this a long time ago,” the armored dragoness declared, striding forward and growing bigger with Greed. “That is MY reputation. MY identity. YOU WILL NOT HAVE IT ANY LONGER!”

As the armored dragoness did battle with the Beast, the arrival of the diamond dogs had given the Equestrians and their allies hope. Spike could see his friends rallying.

Jackknife and Silver Stream joined the dogs as they swarmed over Kira, going straight for the Storm King.

Swift and Celine joined together, managing to actually send Sunny scurrying backward.

Phoenix and her team of former villains started to surround Chrysalis as the dogs made short work of her allies, allowing the Pillars of Harmony to join, Starswirl, Phoenix and the diamond dog Spike recognized as Myst fighting side by side.

And Star and her fellow alicorns had managed to regroup with the rest of the Young and Mane Sixes, who were making their way towards Silver Stream.

The diamond dog Shiva had joined with Astral and Aurora, glowing lines connecting the three and powering them up.

For a shining moment, Grogar’s forces were being pushed back.

Meanwhile, the two versions of Diamondback were locked in combat that made the earth shake. The armored version stabbed her rapier into the feather and fur covered portions of the Beast’s skin. She dodged blasts and swipes from the Bell, and answered white hot flames with sparkling fire of her own. At times, she stumbled or reeled from strong blows, but none of them were from the Bell, and so the armored one quickly rallied and answered in turn with staggering hits of her own.

But Spike still felt unease. That question burned in his mind: who was Diamondback and who was Pyrite?

He couldn’t see the eyes of the unaltered dragon underneath her helm. Could it be that Pyrite had only joined as a chance to take out her counterpart. To finally steal Diamondback’s life for herself? Sure, she had joined them, but that was only out of survival.

“We have to help,” Twilight said.

Spike gazed at her. “Help who?”

Twilight gazed between the two with a grimace, before shrugging. “I don’t know. What I do know is that we need to get that Bell away from the Beast one.”

Unable to argue with that, Spike stepped forward… and felt himself freeze.

“Wait,” Thorn growled. “Which one is my sister?”

“Dude, not now!” Spike begged.

“I’m not letting you take away anymore of my siblings!” Thorn shouted.

“If we don’t get the Bell, then your sibling and your master will be at risk!”

Thorn chuckled darkly. “Nice try, Spike. But if that is Pyrite that’s unaltered…”

“And what if it’s not?”

Spike feared Thorn was going to keep him running around in circles until an enemy could take advantage. But before Thorn could find another excuse to keep Spike out of the fight, Twilight made a wild grab for the Bell.

The Beast swung it out of her reach, kicked the armored dragon aside, and went to strike Twilight with the Bell.

“TWI!” Spike screamed.

Thorn couldn’t stop him. After all, he understood loyalty to a master.

Spike hurled himself in front of Twilight… and took the hit head on.

Once again, he felt his power drain. Thorn’s voice faded from his head. His power no longer squirmed in his gut.

Spike was free of Thorn… but also without power.

“NO!” Twilight shrieked, catching Spike as he fell, once again in hatchling form.

The Beast spasmed and shuddered, it’s eyes gaining a greenish tilt similar to Thorn’s eyes. It glared down at Spike - almost in contempt - and raised the Bell to hit them again…

But the armored dragoness drove her rapier between two of the creature’s scales, and managed to turn its attention back to her.

“Py…” The Beast muttered, blocking the dragoness’ blows. “PY…?!”

“You want pie?!” Pinkie yelled from across the battlefield. “I’ll give you pie!” A massive pie hurled itself over the fighting enemies, and hit the Beast head on.

As the Beast continued to fight, Twilight checked over her number one assistant.

“I told you to be careful!” Twilight whimpered.

Spike forced himself to stand. “Yeah… well… that’s a little hard to do right now.” He glared up at the Beast as it continued to battle the dragoness.

The Beast’s eyes had narrowed in fury, and its strikes were increasing. Could that mean that Diamondback was the one in armor after all? Or was Thorn lost to the already massive amount of magic coursing through the Beast.

“We need to get that Bell away from it,” he said, grinning at Twilight. “And now… I don’t have any magic to take.”

“Spike, no!” Twilight stammered. “What if it takes your life next? There’s too many risks…”

“Twilight, look around!” Spike insisted, indicating the battles around them.

Despite the brief surge, Grogar’s army was regrouping.

Silver Stream had left to join the Young Six, and without her, Jackknife was faltering against the Storm King and Kira.

Swift had been beaten, and lay in a crumpled heap, while Hawke viciously tried to defend him from Sunny.

Phoenix was dragging an injured Myst back as Thorax and Chrysalis fought each other, Starlight beaten and partially wrapped up in a cocoon.

Cadence was also down, being protected by Shining Armor as Star, Luna and Celestia tried to defend their fallen fellow alicorn.

Aurora and the dogs were down in a corner with a battered and bloody Astral standing between them and Shade.

“We’re losing ground,” Spike said. “And as long as that Bell is out of our hands, we don’t stand a chance.” He looked to Star. “It’s like Star said; dark magic can be dangerous when used by bad people. But at the end of the day, it’s a tool. And it’s not the tools that matter; it’s the people that use them.”

Twilight looked terrified, but his logic thankfully got through to him. She sighed. “I don’t want to do this…” she admitted.

“I don’t either,” Spike replied. “If I’m being honest… if we live through this, I never want to leave your side again.”

Twilight smiled sadly. “I’ll hold you to that, Spike.”

With a final mutual nod, Twilight took Spike up in her magical aura. She took careful aim as the Beast began to force the armored dragoness back. And as one wild strike finally put the armored dragoness on her back, Twilight hurled Spike like a cannonball.

He twisted through the air, and body-slammed the Bell with all he had, sending it crashing right into the Beast’s chest.

The Bell’s gong rang out… and the Beast wailed as its magic was drained away.

In seconds, something small, white and unmoving lay where the Beast had been.

But Spike was unable to determine if it was a hatchling or just a stick like what Thorn had turned into.

For as he began to lose altitude, Twilight shot up and snatched him from the air.

Yet, in doing so, she fumbled the Bell, and it clanged off the ground, sending out one final beam of energy…

That hit Princess Celestia dead in the chest.

Every pony shrieked as the Princess of the Sun collapsed into her fellow alicorns’ hooves.

But as the Bell glowed with Celestia’s divine power, a horrible rumbling laugh shook the earth.

Spike and Twilight turned, horrified, as Grogar - fresh and unfought - entered the fray.

“At last,” he declared, gazing at the Bell as it glowed with the colors of so much stolen magic. “Now, my Beloved… let’s see what will come from such power.”

Twilight and Spike exchanged horrified looks with their friends, but all of them locked with determination as they shared the same thought: “Get the Bell!”

Author's Note

Once again, AstralFlare42, thank you for your contribution of Shade, Astral and Aurora to the cast.

And thank you to everyone who has stuck with me throughout this series. Only two chapters left to go after this one. I look forward to sharing them with you.