Twilight and the others made their way out of the hospital with Tirek hidden in a sack.

‘Why do I have to be in here?!” Tirek demanded.

“We can’t risk anypony seeing you, can you imagine what’ll happen?” Twilight said.

“Ok ok! Just hurry,” Tirek said.

“Alright,” Twilight and the others made their way to a guard stationed outside.

Fluttershy paused and looked back.

“Shy come on!” Rainbow said.

“B-but Razer,” Shy said.

“Later, come on, we need all claws on deck,” Rainbow said.

“O-ok,” Fluttershy said as she followed and they caught up to the others.

“We need that train moving ASAP, time is of the essence,” Shining said.

“Yes sir!” The guard said before running off.

“We have to move,” Shining said before the others followed him to the train, and when they made it to the train, they saw, much to their horror, that the train was destroyed.

“What the?!” AJ exclaimed.

“What happened?!” Shining demanded.

“I-I don’t know, the train was arriving on schedule and then suddenly it crashed, I think some dragon took out the tracks.” The conductor said.

“Ignia…” Shining said

“No… how will we get to Canterlot now?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know…” Twilight said before they heard laughing, and it was coming from the sack on Twilight’s back.

“You fools, have you forgotten a certain Draconeqqus?” Tirek asked.

“He’s right, but how do we call him?” Twilight asked.

“I have an idea!” Pinkie said “This will involve putting some dragon in danger though,” Pinkie said looking upset at the thought.

“What are you thinking Pinkie?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy flew up high in the air.

“Pinkie! I don’t like this!” Fluttershy said worriedly.

“Don’t worry! I am eighty-nine percent sure that this’ll work!” Pinkie said as she flew beside her.

“That doesn’t make me feel much better!” Fluttershy said as she arrived at the clouds.

“Now, drop!” Pinkie said folding her wings and falling “Wheeee!” Pinkie cheered.

“Oh… please work!” Fluttershy folded her wings and she fell as well and they both plummeted to ground level.

“I don’t like this plan!” Fluttershy cried.

‘Trust me!” Pinkie exclaimed.

They approached Terra Firma, Applejack, and Rainbow ready to save them last second if he didn’t show.

“Come on Discord… where are you?” Rainbow asked.

When they got too close to the ground Rainbow was ready to jump in but suddenly a giant Discord-shaped balloon appeared beneath them and they bounced off of it and landed on the ground.

“Ooof!” The two dragons grunted.

“Now now now, if you wanted to get my attention you should have tried simply calling,” Discord said appearing out of a door in midair and he walked up to them.

“Discord? Why did you wait until the last second?” Fluttershy asked.

“I didn’t notice until you were near the ground, seriously though Pinkie, not a good way to get my attention,” Discord said disapprovingly.

“Sorry,” Pinkie said.

“Are you both alright?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, just a little shaken up,” Fluttershy said.

“So, what was so important you needed to endanger my friend's life?” Discord asked.

“We need your help getting to Canterlot, Ignia is planning to wipe out Ponykind completely, mind and all,” Twilight said.

“Oh my that is serious, what do you think Luna?” Discord asked her and Luna looked startled by their sudden appearance.

“Huh?” Twilight noticed they were already in Canterlot.

“When did we-” AJ asked before Discord chuckled.

“I teleported us while you were talking,” Discord said.

“Why am I not surprised,” Rarity sighed.

“Twilight?” Celestia approached.

“Celestia, did you get the letter?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, and if what you said is true, then we must hurry,” Celestia said.

“Where could she have gone?” Twilight asked.

“If what you mentioned is true she must be thinking to get at the Crystal Heart once more, we should unify our forces and-” they heard chuckling and then the nearly forgotten sack Twilight was carrying dropped to the ground and a familiar centaur stepped out.

“Fools, you really think Ignia would be that predictable?” Tirek asked.

“TIREK!” Celestia said getting into a defensive stance and Luna growled.

“Hold it hold it! I’m calling a truce!” Tirek said defensively.

“Like we’ll believe you-” Celestia said before Twilight got between them.

“Wait! He’s here to help!” Twilight said.

“Tirek? You're kidding right?” Luna asked.

“I know, it makes me want to puke to work with ponies or dragons, but the situation is dire, no ponies, no magic for me, so I’ll share my knowledge on dragon runes, in exchange for a reduced sentence,” Tirek said.

“Tell us everything and we’ll take half off,” Celestia said, though it pained her to make a deal with Tirek.

“Now we’re talking, I need a paper and pencil,” Tirek said.

“Ok,” The Twilight said.

Ignia was riding on a different train and she clutched the papers protectively.

“Soon Magmus… very soon, and I know where to go after this… then the world we dreamed of will be born,” Ignia said before stepping off of the train as it arrived in Ponyville.

“Just need to collect some… followers first,” Ignia said.

Tirek wrote down all the spells Ignia was using and even some he suspected her to use.

“Alright, I have the spells I know of, she may know more but this is what I believe she knows,” Tirek said handing Celestia the notes, she listed them off.

Rouk: Illusion spell.

Var: Invisibility spell

Devnak: sleep spell.

Reva: flash spell

Zuke: Attack spell

Balko: Blocking spell

Livio: spying spell

Spall: mind control spell

Torque: Age spell

Vellp: shapeshifting spell

Drauvaga: Dragon spell

“That Spall one has me nervous,” Rainbow said.

“Don’t be, that one requires the sacrifice of energy to use, Ignia would be crazy to use it on more than a few dragons,” Tirek said.

“Drauvaga must have been the spell that was used to affect everypony,” Twilight said.

“It makes sense, is there anymore?” Luna asked.

“If there was I would have put them there!” Tirek said.

“Calm down, we need to think then, is there a way we can use her runes against her?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, Balko, it can block any offensive attack,” Tirek said.

“How do we use it?” Spike asked.

“Say Balko and hold your hands like this, try it,” Tirek said making a hand sign.

“Alright, stand back,” Twilight said before making the hand sign and saying, Balko.

….Nothing happened.

“Idiot, the sign is like this, not that,” Tirek said making the hand sign again.

“Sorry,” Twilight said doing so.

“Now it’ll only truly activate when you're in danger, keep that in mind,” Tirek said before turning to address the princesses.

“Alright, I held up my end of the bargain, where’s my pardon?” Tirek asked.

“Reduced sentence, remember?” Celestia said.

“Ugh…” Tirek said.

“Wait, we still need to find Ignia,” Twilight said.

“Where’s the place in Equestria with the most magic?” Tirek said simply.

“That would be………oh no…” Celestia said with wide eyes…

“Where?” Spike asked.

“The Tree of Harmony…. We have to stop her!” Celestia said.

“Then time is of the essence,” Luna said before turning to Shining “Shining Armor, collect the troops, we need everydragons help,” Luna said.

“Ok!” Shining said and he hurried off.

“We move as soon as possible,” Celestia said and the group nodded and went with her.

Tirek looked around and tried to sneak off but a guard apprehended him.

“And take him back to Tartarus, we’ll work out his reduced sentence later,” Celestia said.

“Ugh…” Tirek sighed.

It took an hour or so but every guard was at the ready, Shining was giving rollcall and making sure everything was ready.

Meanwhile Celestia led the mane six and the others to the carriage.

“Prepare yourselves, this confrontation may be what decides Ponykind's fate,” Celestia said.

“Ok,” Twilight said.

“I’m ready,” Rainbow said.

“Let’s do this,” AJ said the others nodded.

“Let us be off then,” Luna said and they got into the carriage and took off for the tree.

Shining finished rollcall and ordered the troops to fly after them.

Soon an army of dragons were on their way.

As the group sat in the chariot, nervously awaiting the final battle, Pinkie had stuck her head out the broken window that Rarity broke.

“Back in chapter three,” Pinkie added.

“Alright everydragon, we head to the tree and if Ignia isn’t there, we guard it with our lives, if we fail here, then Ponykind as we know it, is doomed,” Celestia said.

“No prob, we got this,” Rainbow said.

“Temper your eagerness with caution, Ignia is a dangerous one from what we’ve heard,” Luna said.

“C’mon, I don’t care how strong she is, we’ve got an army of dragons behind us, what’s she gonna do?” Rainbow asked.

“You’d be surprised,” Discord said.

The chariot was approaching Ponyville and Pinkie looking down saw a familiar orange and red dragoness simply standing in the middle of an empty Ponyville, waving at them.

“There she is!” Pinkie said.

“Wait, you already found her?” Celestia said and Pinkie pulled her head back and Celestia looked through the window, after seeing Ignia she turned to the dragons pulling the chariot.

“We need to head down there!” Celestia called.

“Ok,” The guards then made for Ponyville and landed rather roughly against the dirt.

Suddenly the chariot was opened and the group came out of it.

“IGNIA!” Twilight yelled and Ignia looked at her smugly.

“You cannot go any further sorceress! We have you surrounded,” Luna said

“Hmm?” Ignia looked up at the skies and saw the many guard dragons descending towards Ponyville.

“Face it, we figured out where you were going, and now we have you cornered, so give up and come quietly Ignia, it doesn’t have to end like this,” Twilight said.

“Oh… so you think you have me dead to rights, do you? That I’m outnumbered?” Ignia asked.

“Uh, yes, you are,” Rainbow said.

“Just please give up, this doesn’t need to go any further,” Twilight pleaded.

“.....Hah, you expect me to give up when I’m this close to achieving a perfect world? A world without ponies, you're mistaken, I’m not the one in danger here, you are.” Ignia said before she started to flicker.

“Huh?!” Everydragon exclaimed.

“I’m not even here anymore, but I’d be remiss to not leave you without company, followers! Show them the true dragon way!” Ignia said before she vanished.

And suddenly houses left and right broke apart and dragons hopped out.

“HUH?!” Twilight stumbled back as Octavia burst out of Sugarcube Corner and swiped at her.

“What’s going on?!” Rarity cried.

“Something bad,” Spike said as everydragon in Ponyville was now surrounding them.

And their eyes had this dazed look in them.

“Wait….” Twilight remembered one of the spells Tirek told them of.

Spall: mind control spell

“They’ve been mind-controlled, Ignia has brainwashed Ponyville!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Oh great! She baited us again,” Rainbow said.

“Wake yourselves my little ponies, you’ve been brainwashed!” Celestia said.

“It’s no use, they are under her control now,” Luna said.

“Immediately the dragons surrounding them breathed fire at them and Celestia and Luna used their greater size to cover the six and Spike.

“AAAGH!” Celestia and Luna cried.

“Guards! Get down there!” Shining ordered seeing his friends and family in trouble and they dove down there.

The guard dragons began ramming the Ponyville dragons away from the group to protect them.

One dragon lunged at Twilight but Shining shoulder rammed him away.

“I got you Twiley!” Shining said.

“Guards! Subdue only! Their under control!” Celestia said.

“Alright! Guards! Attack!” Shining said and the guards began fighting with the Ponyville dragons.

“We must get to Ignia! This is merely a distraction,” Celestia told Twilight.

“Ok!” Twilight and the others nodded and they took off running through the flames and chaos erupting around them.

Several dragons chased after them but Discord blocked them.

‘I’ll contain the fighting! Get moving!” Discord said.

“Ok!” The group said as they moved along.

Twilight and the others ran through the Everfree forest while RD was in the sky, looking around for the draconic sorceress.

“We must get to the Cave of Harmony first! There’s no telling what’ll happen if we’re too late!” Celestia said.

“Guys! Up ahead!” Rainbow called as she flew above.

“Huh?” The group paused as they saw a figure up ahead.

“Ignia!” Twilight said.

“I got her!” Rainbow dove at her but she went through her, revealing it was an illusion.

“Hahahaha! Will you ponies ever not fall for that?” Ignia asked now standing to their left.

And to their right, and above them, and soon there were Ignia’s everywhere.

“Show yourself, vile creature!” Celestia said.

“Oh I’m vile? At least I wasn’t a pony at one point, but it seems my plan worked regardless,” Ignia said.

“How were you able to brainwash everypony in Ponyville?!” Twilight demanded.

“Simple, I used the energy I got from the Crystal Empire, worked easily enough, so much for your army, now while you search for me, I’ll be on my way,” The Ignia said before laughing.

“Spread out and search! She must be here!” Celestia said and the group took to the air and began searching.

Applejack punched another clone and it vanished.

“Better keep trying!” The Ignias laughed.

“Ah’ll find ya eventually, and ah’ll buck ya to Tartarus!” AJ said striking some more,”

Rainbow flew around the forest breathing fire on as many Ignia clones as possible.

“Come out!” Rainbow said.

Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity used their fire to take out as many copies as possible.

“It’s no use, we can’t find her!” Fluttershy said concernedly.

“Keep searching!” Pinkie said popping in and out of sight taking out many Ignia copies left and right.

Spike ran among the copies.

“Show yourself, coward!” Spike said.

“Such gusto from such a small dragon,” Ignia said.

“Just wait till I’m big again!” Spike said.

“But it’s such a shame you turned out to be a pony lover,” Ignia said.

“I’m not you Ignia! I’ll never be you!” Spike said.

“Heheh, you clearly don’t understand your own origins if you're willing to take me on,” Ignia said.

“What do you mean?! Why did you choose me in the first place to act out your plan? What did you mean back at the empire?” Spike asked.

“....It’s so very simple….” Ignia said.

“What?” Spike said looking at the talking clone.

Twilight ran with Celestia and they saw several copies in front of them, using their fire breath they took out the copies.

“Tch, we’ll never find her like this!” Twilight said.

“Then we must proceed to the Cave of Harmony, she cannot reach the tree!” Celestia said before the two ran off.

“No… NO!” Spike said backing away in horror.

“That’s right, and she killed him, do you understand now?” Ignia said.

“....What you said is a lie, it has to be!” Spike said.

“Believe it or not, stand by me or don’t I leave it up to you, but either way, progress is progress, will you be a part of it?” Ignia said.

“.......No…. No I won’t, I have ponies I love and will fight for!” Spike growled as he grew bigger “I don’t care who you are, you're nothing to me if you hurt them!” Spike roared.

“....Disappointing, then me and Magmus wasted our efforts with you, goodbye then,” Then the Ignia clones vanished around him.

“....I have to find Twilight,” Spike said before running off.

Luna flew around the forest, unlike the others she’d been practicing non-stop on honing her dragon senses and it would help her find this witch!

Luna swooped low and saw more clones scattered through the forest.

But she could smell one unlike the others…

“YOU!” Luna dove down on one running across a stony path and she looked up at the descending princess as she clashed with her.

The group continued their search until they noticed the copies of Ignia glitching and disappearing.

“What happened?” Rainbow asked landing next to Twilight as the others gathered.

“Somepony must have found her and disrupted her magic,” Twilight reasoned.

“Luna or Spike isn’t here, it must have been one of them,” Celestia said.

“We have to find and help them,” Twilight said.

“We need to find the Cave of Harmony, they may be over there,” Celestia said.

“Ok,” Twilight said and the group took to the air and flew in the direction of the cave.

As they finally saw the Cave of Harmony they saw a startling sight.

“Luna!” Celestia saw Luna being dragged by Ignia, Ignia turned and cursed under her breath as the other dragons landed opposite side to her.

“Such a persistent lot you all are,” Ignia said with smug.

“Face it Ignia, you can’t beat all of us,” Rainbow growled.

“Give me my sister back!” Celestia demanded.

“Very well, after all the soon to be dragon nation needs both rulers,” Ignia chucked Luna at their feet and Celestia picked her up.

“Luna, are you okay?” Celestia asked as Luna looked up at her weakly.

“....Celestia…. We were wrong…. about what Ignia is…” Luna gasped.

“What?” Celestia asked.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“She… isn’t a dragon…. She’s…. A monster… through and through….” Luna said.

Ten minutes ago

“Zuke!” Ignia fired several spell shots at Luna who dodged around them and swung her claws at them, Ignia dodged them and used Var to vanish.

Smelling the air Luna spun and used her tail to trip Ignia and then she pounced on her.

“Ngh! Not bad, you’d make a fine dragon!” Ignia said before using another hand sign “Reva!” A bright flash occurred but Luna shut her eyes in time, but Ignia kicked her off and got up before tackling her off of a ledge, as the two fell to ground level in the Tree of Harmony area Luna grabbed onto Ignia.

“WHAT IS IT!? What is the reason you loathe ponies so much?! Did they kill somedragon you care about?! Did they hurt you in any way?! Is there an ancient grudge?! What is your reason for doing all this Ignia!? Why?!” Luna demanded.

“Quiet your whining pony!” Ignia said before using Zuke to blast Luna off of her and Luna hit the ground hard while Ignia managed to land on her feet, Ignia then spun and fired a dozen Zuke’s to blast Luna over and over again.

When it was over Ignia stood over her.

“You wish to know the reason why I hate ponies so much, pony?” Ignia laughed a little before grabbing Luna by the neck and holding her up.

“The answer is simple…..I don’t have one,” Ignia said.

“W-what?” Luna said in shock.

“They never did anything to me, nothing that fully mattered anyway,” Ignia said.

“Th-then why?....” Luna said trying to grasp what she was getting at.

“I hate ponies because they're inherently inferior…. They have such incredible shows of magic and yet, their weak, they cower under the smallest circumstances, mewling to their leaders to save them, dragons face whatever threat with all their determination, but ponies, such potential, wasted, and it boils my blood that we must share a world with them, dragons have always been superior, Magmus and I believed that, but all other dragons seem content with the ‘leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone’ circumstances, pathetic, this world would be better, if such weakness vanished,” Ignia said.

“You….racist scum,” Luna said.

“Call me what you want, I simply have a vision of a better world, and that world can’t exist with ponies in it, Magmus died forging step one, and I will happily trade mine for step two, soon, very soon, the world will belong to warriors, not mewling magical equines,” Ignia said “But at the very least, I’ll let you witness the end of Ponykind,” Ignia said before dragging Luna away.

Now

“Unbelievable…. You hate ponies and want to erase them simply because you feel that they're inferior? You're… not even a monster, you're a straight-up devil!” Twilight shouted.

“Like I care what you think,” Ignia said with a chuckle at Twilight's accusation.

“We won’t let you get past!” Celestia said “I will not allow this genocide to go on!” Celestia growled.

“You’ll have to get past us first!” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah!” AJ said.

“Heheheh, you think you can win against me? When my dream is this close to fruition?” Ignia said before a fireball impacted her in the back and she turned to see Spike standing there.

“Ah, he arrives,” Ignia said.

“Twilight!” Spike flew over her and landed next to her.

“Heh, well Spike, are you going to tell them?” Ignia said.

“...” Spike looked down.

“Tell us what?” Rainbow asked.

“...later, for now, we need stop her.” Spike looked conflicted.

Twilight smiled and nodded before they all turned to Ignia.

“Give up Ignia, you cannot win in this situation,” Celestia said putting Luna down beside her.

“Oh? I can’t?... Your mistaken pony, I have all the capability to take all of your lives,” Ignia said before making a hand sign “SPALL!” Ignia shouted.

“Balko!” Twilight said getting in front of the group and a barrier of magic protected them.

“Hah! We have the means to resist your runic magic Ignia,” Rainbow taunted.

“Hmmph… I suppose you had Tirek help you learn some runic magics, I knew I should have killed that centaur, luckily I have another trick up my sleeve,” Ignia said before producing a rune stone.

“Be careful, she’s up to something,” Celestia said.

“You will find that Runic magic can do many things, but this is the one Magmus invented, it will be the end of you all, and the swan song of the pony realm!” Ignia said with a laugh before she began chanting and the stone glowed brightly.

“Great! Now what is she doing?!” Rainbow demanded.

“Vranda zel asma denak darka,” Ignia chanted before swallowing the stone and looking up with glowing blue eyes “Valek ran dival,” she said before a massive glow overtook the area.

Shining threw a dragoness into a house knocking her out.

“Hah…hah….hah… how many are there!?” Shining said as a drake came at him and he dodged.

“Let’s hope Fluttershy and the others are okay!” Discord said making it rain anvils on the attacking dragons before they all saw a glow in the distance.

“What is that?” Shining asked as he struggled with another drake.

“Trouble…” Discord said.

“What’s happening?!” Twilight asked before she noticed Ignia growing bigger and developing armor-like spikes out of various parts of her body, her horns grew and her scales became black and like stone, she towered above the group of dragons and grew until she rivaled an Ursa Major in size.

She then opened her maw and unleashed a roar that echoed for miles.

“What in tarnation is that!?” AJ exclaimed.

“She’s huge!” Spike said.

“She’s…. Become a primal dragon….” Celestia said fearfully.

“A what?” Pinkie said

“A primitive breed of dragon that was feared even by other dragons,” Celestia backed up.

“So, mountain-sized destroyer dragon… good to know,” Rainbow muttered as the massive dragon glowered down at them.

“Move aside, or die,” Ignia said her voice having deepened into a low guttural tone.

“Girls, Spike… we’re in for the fight of our lives,” Luna said managing to struggle to her feet.

“Then let’s go,” Spike said.

The final battle begins…

Author's Note

The final battle is on the horizon, be ready for the next chapter.

Also, Happy Easter! 🐰