The Spread of Darkness

Chapters

Chapter 1: Infection Through Thought
Chapter 2: Black Attraction
Chapter 3: Mass Surge
Chapter 5: Pissed Off
Chapter 6: Reflecting On The Past
Chapter 8: Eye Of The Storm
Chapter 9: Requiem
Chapter 10: Calm's Death
Chapter 11: The Leviathan Awakens
Chapter 12: End Of The Line
Epilogue
Chapter 4: Descent Into Darkness
Chapter 7: Angelus Infiltration
Sequel

Chapter 1: Infection Through Thought

Twilight’s eyes were bloodshot as she examined her latest work. The crystal Spike had given her emanated with impatience. His soul wanted out and it wanted it soon. It hadn’t done it until recently, on that fateful day; when her life seemed to be on the brink of ending. She shuddered at the mere thought.

She went over the calculations one more time, determined not to rest until she’d succeeded. Everything seemed in check and she was ready to begin. The crystal was seated on a stone altar with ancient runes carved around it. The runes glowed with a dark purple lining, stretching out from the base of the altar. Around the altar was a dense glass tube, barring access to the crystal itself. Four lines stretched out North, East, South and West, ending in runic circles charted with numerous symbols around the hemispheres.

“Okay… thank you for coming, Cadence... According to my calculations… the spell requires one member… of each pony race to perform.” Twilight stumbled into one of the circles, her body wobbly and malnourished. Her speech was fading and it was becoming hard to hear her.

“Twilight, while I’m happy to help you out with this… I think you should recover your strength and get something to eat and some sleep. You’ve been working an entire week without food or rest, and… it’s showing, badly.” Cadence replied, sitting in the Northern circle adjacent to Twilight in the Southern circle.

“Yeah, Twi; you look like a gryphon’s eaten you from the inside-out and left the skin on the bones.” Rainbow Dash added within the Western circle. In the Eastern circle sat Applejack who had removed her Stetson and the red ties that kept her mane and tail wrapped up. Cadence had removed her regal attire as well as her diadem. Any immaterial objects that were inorganic would have ruined the spell.

“No… I can’t sleep without… him.” Twilight levitated a book over to her side and looked at the text. The others remained silent, having nothing else to say on the matter.

“Now… this magic is really old; from like… before Princesses Celestia and Luna. Instead of using… pony magic. The spell requires words spoken in… dragon tongue.” Twilight rubbed her eyes which began to bleed, turning the whites of her eyes red. She looked terrible. Her mane was ragged and her tail was no better. Her coat had darkened after she’d begun to tamper in a more permanent dark magic that had changed the colours of her irises from violet to maroon. The blood in her eyes blended magnificently with the irises, giving her an even more evil appearance.

Um… not that Ah don’t mind doin’ this sugar cube, but if this is old dragon magic, then why are us ponies needed? Wouldn’t four dragons be better suited for the job?” Applejack asked, scratching her head with her hoof. Twilight shook her head.

“No, the species difference is irrelevant. What this spell does… is it takes our mental images of Spike… plus the magic that we each bare. The book says both gryphons… and ponies were used to bring back their fallen comrades… in the off chance that a death occurred with one of… the four… whatever… I don’t know what they’re called.”

“Wait, there’s the possibility we could die from this?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight shook her head. “No, not likely… there were never any recorded deaths when this spell was performed. This spell… will take our unique abilities. For example, an Earth Pony’s strength, a Unicorn’s magic, a Pegasus’ wings… and an Alicorn’s ability to utilize all three. These characteristics closest resemble a dragon’s.” she was searching for air in the room by the time she’d finished.

“And what’s this glass thing here for?” Cadence asked, knocking on the glass.

“That’s got two purposes. It’ll prevent any draconic magic from scaping, as well as the regenerative liquid that I’m going to teleport into it.”

“Regenerative Liquid?” Applejack asked.

Twilight sighed and nodded.

“Yes…It’s something I concocted with Zecora. Some remedial… flowers unique to the book’s requirements. They’re easy to find in the Everfree… if you know where to look. Now lets’ get this spell started.” Twilight took a moment to catch her breath. With her magic, the aura around her horn darkened, she lifted the book and began to recite the words of the ancient draconic language.

“Mrith nomeno raelgil, yth tuor wer sepa irsa ekess clax adon vur dronilnr ekess udoka hesi thurirl vur kiabil. Vrrar thurirli tepoha dryica zahae ekess tluog asta vers ekess wer sepa di wer darastrix.” as Twilight began the chant, the crystal lit up like a light source and began to pulsate.

“Wer darastrix ui hesi thurirl, sia itov. Petranas, letoclo udoka. Majak jacion spical ekess udoka.” as Twilight finished the incantation, the crystal detatched into three small pieces. They rose from the altar and spun around each other in a ring. The four circles the ponies resided in lit up, each taking their own colours. North grew white, East grew red, South grew blue and West grew yellow. They pulsated like the crystal had before and began to force different energies into the altar. Each rune grew a rainbow of colours and formed a barrier that stopped short of the glass cylinder. The crystals stopped moving and took their positions that seemed random in nature. The barrier retreated in on itself, and began to take on the form of a dragon. The familiar outline brought a tear to Twilight’s eye.

Spike chuckled. “Well, it’s supposed to create a new body around it… but there’s a method needed to begin the process, which I don’t know about. That method was lost to even my kind long ago.” Twilight felt the crystal grow heavy in her hoof.

“Why are you telling me this?” there was a moment’s hesitation in him as he looked her in the eyes. It was then Twilight noticed he’d somehow gone blind in one eye. She remained silent as he was about to reveal all to her.

“I…I’m dying, Twi.”Spike shifted uncomfortably. Twilight hadn’t moved an inch afterward. “It’s… the dark magic, Twi. I did something with it that caused my body to reject it. I’ve got about one week left in me before I kick the bucket. Like I said before, I was going to leave either way. I’d hoped you’d never have to know about this. It’s the reason why I tried to distance myself from you all when I came back. I just wanted to… see you all again before I severed all ties to you

Twilight began to cry as the news reached her. She’d just found true love and time was taking it away from her.

The barrier began to take on a corporeal form. What looked like hellfire and ashes began to circulate around it and through the dense thick of the smoke that billowed from the flames, the skeletal structure of a dragon could be seen appearing as if it were rising to the surface of the ocean. With the bones in place, flesh began to morph into existence around them, followed quickly by thick skin, then scales.

The owner of the body cried out in apparent agony as his body was forced together within a matter of seconds. The newly renewed form of Spike seemed agitated. The three crystal shards were embedded on his forehead, chest and abdomen. They gave off a slight purple pulse before going to rest. Twilight barely managed to avoid leaving the circle. Her willpower to make sure everything went correctly held her in place. With her magic, she teleported the regenerative liquid directly into the tank. Spike squirmed for a few minutes, startled by the sudden increase in pressure.

“Vdri, itov.” she said. Using the dragon’s language, she forced Spike into a state of sleep. The dragon ceased his struggle and was drawn toward the altar, where the energy was slowly pouring into his body.

“Okay, ten more minutes of this and we can all break away. Thanks again, girls.” she said, lying down in the circle.

“You really are amazing, Twilight. It’s this kind of stuff that makes me the proudest babysitter in the world.” Cadence began. But Twilight was already asleep. Now she could dream of a bright future with Spike, once the war with the Gryphons was over. But that wouldn’t be difficult, right?

Within the confines of Spike’s healing tank, he could feel strength and power coursing through him. It felt nice, like bubbles rising beneath one in a warm bath. The collective memories he had returned slowly, with the aid of his friends’ perspectives filling in the gaps. An overwhelming sense of pride struck Spike as he realised the love of his life had done something the dragons couldn’t figure out in thousands of years. And she’d only done it in a matter of months since his demise at the hands of the darkness. That was a harrowing memory. The bubbly feeling left as he thought about that incident. When he’d been turned to stone like Discord, but crumbled like the base of a cheesecake.

Wanting to take his mind off of the subject, Spike drew his subconscious attention to the minds of his friends. He began to wonder what Twilight was thinking or dreaming about. Using the connection with the altar as a medium for his intrusion into her mind, he saw her plans for the future. He smiled as he saw himself sitting across from Twilight at one of the fanciest restaurants in Canterlot, sharing a table outside the front. Afterward, the fantasy would shift to a private room in the Princesses’ castle, where the two of them just slept on the giant red heart-shaped bed, holding each other in a loving embrace. She then imagined the two of them falling asleep in the middle of a kiss, making it last the whole night.

Sadly, the dream turned to a nightmare as Twilight began to have doubts about the ongoing war. Her greatest fear was Spike’s second life coming to an end at the very creatures that sought it, led by the princess he’d disrespected. Twilight’s nightmare was Celestia having joined the gryphons in a ploy for revenge against the unexpected attack to her pride and face. The thought of betrayal from Twilight’s mentor burned deep within the mare, and it began to infect Spike.

The dragon awoke with a start. The thick almost gel-like liquid that covered his surface startled him, especially when he realised he could inhale it. It was a dark aqua colour, but the light from the runes made it easy enough to see through to the ponies. Twilight was fidgeting in her sleep. Spike dared not enter her mind in the state she was in now. He reached over to Rainbow Dash and entered her mind. It was fairly simple in nature, and a very predictable dream for her. She was in the Wonderbolts, finally. And all her friends were watching her from the crowd that had gathered to see her special Sonic Rainboom, Even Gilda was cheering her on in a happy-go-lucky sort of way, which was out of character for her. Scootaloo was hovering, able to remain in the air at least without moving her position.

Then she too began to grow a nightmare. The gryphons had returned and were in so many numbers, you couldn’t see a lick of sunlight within the tidal wave. The nightmare concluded with Rainbow Dash hurrying to Celestia to ask for aid. But she refused to give it.

Spike withdrew from Dash’s mind and waited a moment to calm down from the frightening scenes that ensued. As Spike cleared his thoughts, he thought he noticed the liquid he was in had turned a shade darker. Perhaps it was just his imagination?

He went into Applejack’s mind, figuring there was nothing the farm pony could fear from her applebucking. He was wrong. While she and her family were tending the fields, both gryphons and Timberwolves appeared from the sky and ground. They’d joined forces, all under the symbol of Celestia who had desired the gryphons over her own subjects. Spike drew away with a groan. Every nightmare involved Celestia somehow. Cadence! Surely Cadence couldn’t have a nightmare involving her own Aunt.

To Spike’s pleasure, he saw she was dreaming about her family. She was lying by the fire with Shining Armour and their beautiful baby filly. But their smiles seemed hollow, as though the family were keeping up appearances even amongst each other. Spike altered his view of the dream and noticed a mantelpiece above the fireplace with some images of Twilight, first as a foal, then a growing filly, and then as she was when she’d made her first friends. The last picture of her was recent. She looked worn down slightly, but that came with age. She was smiling weakly. Spike couldn’t stop looking at that particular picture, until he noticed one more. It wasn’t a picture of Twilight, but as he looked closer, it was an image of her grave.

Here Lies

Twilight Sparkle

D.O.B: 979 A.L

D.O.D: 1013 A.L

A Beloved Sister, Daughter And Wife

Defied Princess Celestia

Spike read the grave stone and covered his incorporeal mouth. There were two more stones, one was his, with roughly the same text, but between them was a smaller stone.

Here Lies

Dawn Sparkle

D.O.B: 1012 A.L

D.O.D: 1013 A.L

A Beloved Daughter, Niece And Cousin

Killed Along With Parents

That image tipped Spike over the edge. He snapped his eyes open, seeing the tank was now shrouded in black. He flung his body around, hitting the glass, but try as he might, he couldn’t break it. He could sense that the others had arisen from their nightmares. He heard hooves touch the glass, which reverberated through the liquid. Spike drew his attention toward the nearest light source. The altar omitted a faint glow as the last of the energy was unleashed. Spike threw his hand onto the altar’s top and a wave burst through the tank. The glass gave way to the condensed force and shattered, freeing the hyperactive and enraged dragon.

Twilight and the others were thrown back, sliding along the ground as they were slicked with black gel-like liquid. Twilight looked straight at Spike who was shrouded in a mist of blackness. The sounds were indescribable. She tried her best to look through the blackness, but it covered him like drapes underwater. It was for only an instant that she saw a pair of white glowing eyes shine through the blackness.

“Shit.” she whispered to herself.

Author's Note: Okay guys, I'm making a few little changes to Spike and also some personality tweaks to the others because, let's face it, war does that to people. Spike will no longer be so much as a badass, but ultimately insane. Instead of his dark magic resembling Sombra's, it'll remain true to ss2Sonic's design and resemble the picture shown. The transition between light and Dark Spike will be somewhat like the Ghost Rider's, including a new personality when changed.

Translations to the draconic text are as follows in reading order:

With this crystal, we desire the soul within to take form and bring to us our friend and companion. Four friends have gathered around to lend their power to the soul of the dragon.

The dragon is our friend, my love. Please, help us. Give him back to us.

Sleep, Love.

Now then, Spike's resurrection/rebirth (I felt I was clever with this) is exactly like Spike's resurrection from Angel Series 5

And the indescribable sound Spike makes will be the sounds the Rider makes in the newest movie.

That is all.

Chapter 2: Black Attraction

Twilight gasped as the distorted figure, encased in a cloud of black smoke stood rigid before the ponies in the room. She could see Spike’s eyes glowing through the darkness and although it wasn’t possible to see, she could tell his body was shaking. His eyes wobbled behind the smoke as if he were having trouble moving.

“Spike…” she whispered. The concealed dragon shot those eyes towards her, freezing in place as the smoke swirled around him with a life of its own. Twilight was both horrified and intrigued by Spike’s transformation, but terror took over as he roared a powerful roar at her. She could see his mouth open, glowing the same hot whiteness as his eyes. What had he turned into? How did it happen? Twilight scuttled to her hooves as the dragon seemed unable to recognise her, advancing on her like a hungry dinosaur. Fortunately, he was slow. His body wasn’t completely regenerated yet, but that seemed like such a small handicap in comparison to the aura of rage that filled her lungs as he approached.

His presence was maddening. She felt as though she were running underwater, and her body was being drowned in thick air. She was forced to stop as the sensation ruined her mind. She felt the scaly hand of her love grab her shoulder. His claws dug into her, seeming to burn the flesh beneath the surface. She cried out as Spike threw her around to face him and forced her down. It took Twilight a matter of seconds to realise his intentions. She never planned for her first time to be under circumstances even remotely similar to this.

As the dark dragon descended upon her, the dark magic Twilight had herself been corrupted with seemed to resonate with him, and she found herself growing… enticed with the notion. Her entire life was based on the study of knowledge and logical thinking, but here and now, in front of her ex-foalsitter and two best friends, she found the primal part of herself that told her to pack in decency and logic and let this monster rut her like a sex god.

Her eyes turned red and green, the purple aura symbolising dark magic appeared around her eyes. She smiled at him, her voice distorted beyond recognition.

“Hurry up, Spike. We’re not getting any younger.” The command registered in the monster’s mind. His mouth opened slightly as a coughing bark or affirmation escaped his lips. Twilight felt something wriggling between her thighs, alive and strong, like a snake. She grinned at the prospects and the fantasies she was having regarding the performance of this entity. She could feel it drawing nearer to the place nopony else but Spike could dream of.

Alas, her sex would have to wait for another time as they were rudely interrupted by Applejack who had inpossibly found a frying pan from somewhere in the room and banged the dragon on the head, effectively knocking him out. Spike keeled over, pulling the darkness from Twilight’s eyes with him. Twilight jumped with a start and wriggled away from Spike, confused about the whole matter.

“What? What happened, what?” she asked, looking at the others, then Spike and finally the frying pan. “Where’d you get that?”

Applejack just twirled the frying pan around and chuckled. “Ah dunno. It was just there next ta where Ah landed. Mighty lucky though, right?” she offered Twilight her hoof, which she accepted gratefully.

“Twilight, are you alright?” Cadence asked, rushing over to check the unicorn up and down.

“Yes, I’m fine. He just got my shoulder, that’s all. Twilight looked over at the small incisions Spike’s claws had made on her body. Despite the memory of the pain they caused, she smiled. Why she smiled, she wasn’t able to tell. Perhaps the stress of the war was getting to her.

“Well what do we do about Sleepin’ beauty over here?” Applejack asked, knocking the dragon on the head again with the frying pan. Certain thoughts entered Twilight’s head which would have had her blushing were it not for the events that forced paleness to become an ever present feature.

“Help me lift him.” she said.

The high pitched growl resonated in Spike’s mind as he awoke. He remembered nothing after Cadence’s dream. The remaining image of the tombstones irritated him to no end. Even whilst his confusion overwhelmed his thoughts, that image burned at the back of his mind and made itself painfully aware of its source.

He opened his eyes to find himself in a dark room with absolutely no source of light. At first, he believed he had gone blind, but the light from a few flames escaping his mouth dispelled the idea as quickly as it had appeared. His body was stiff, no doubt a side effect of the regeneration. Pride swelled up in him once again. She’d done it.

The young dragon sat up and his hands rested on something wet and sticky. It caught his attention. Somehow, the room lit up and he saw what he’d touched. It was blood. The distinct smell of rotting flesh filled his nostrils and he looked around. He gasped, going wide-eyed as he saw Twilight, or what remained of her. Her hooves were gone, her tail torn to shreds. Entrails were sprawled around her, some of which had been half eaten. Her horn was snapped in half and her eyes were missing.

“No!” he exclaimed as he scuttled across the stone floor to her side. He hesitated to touch her. Her body was reduced to just over half. His hands trembled as they got closer to her. One of her ears had been bitten off and claw marks were on the side of her face he hadn’t seen before. As he managed to touch her face, he traced his claws along the scars. They fit his hand perfectly. He exhaled with a whine and began to hyperventilate. His body became spasmodic as he tried to wipe off the blood that was all over him. He could see similar bodies in worse or similar states to Twilight’s surrounding him. It became clear to him that he’d murdered his friends.

Spike took a deep breath and yelled at the top of his voice. The yell turned into a pained roar as he collapsed beside his mare.

Spike then found himself floating in darkness, the smell of blood and decay present in the air. He tried to look around, but he couldn’t feel his head turning. He tried moving, but he couldn’t feel that either. He was totally devoid of his senses. Is this death? He thought to himself. A hiss sounded through the silence, almost deafening the poor dragon. He searched for any source of light, but his sight was still barred.

“Who’s there?” he called, hearing his own voice, feeling it vibrating through his throat. He tried moving his body, he could feel again. He saw a large white orb appear, like an eye opening. He heard nothing, but somehow he could tell what it was trying to say. It was hungry.

“What do you want?” Spike demanded, trying to float away from the eye. A thought entered his mind, a thought that wasn’t his own. That was how he knew what it was and now he knew what it wanted; food. It seemed like a simple entity, but something about it felt dangerous. Spike was shaking as he looked into the white orb of an eye.

“What is this place?” Spike heard its thoughts again. This was his mind; rather dull to say the least.

“Do you have a name?” he asked again. The thought ‘names are useless’ entered his mind and he knew it had answered. Words weren’t really what he was experiencing with this thing, but emotions, urges. He could feel this thing’s hunger, he could feel the pointlessness of having a name. He asked what was going on, afterwards, he realised it didn’t matter, he just wanted to consume… everything. The eye divided into two and reformed into a pair of orbs, then a mouth began to stretch. Spike suddenly got the feeling like he was no bigger than an animal cracker to this thing, whatever it was. He tried his best to fly, swim and kick away in the space, but the gigantic face just closed in and snapped its mouth shut over him.

“Spike awoke with a start, sitting up. Twilight was sprawled on a bed on top of him, the covers between them. She awoke from his sudden rise and looked at him with both worry and happiness.

“Spike!” she exclaimed, pulling the rustled dragon into a tight hug. She then proceeded to lock lips with his, calming him down a great deal. Spike felt a tongue forcing its way in past his teeth. He opened his mouth and gave it passage, where he swapped saliva with the mare he’d devoted his life to love and protect.

There was a familiar feeling in the bedroom as the air grew thick with their combined tension. Twilight was a virgin, but dying to give that away to him, and he hadn’t had sex in months, not since that night with Rainbow Dash, the self-proclaimed Byke of Cloudsdale. Those memories, combined with their joint desire to mate threw Spike over the edge. A single thought entered his mind: Spike gotta have it!

He tore the covers that separated himself from her to the side and rolled around, throwing her beneath him. Twilight gasped in such a cute way, it drove Spike to near insanity. He could feel that neither he, nor Twilight wanted to deal with the foreplay. She’d wrapped her hind legs around his waist and her fore-hooves were spread out to the side. Spike was prepared to break his life-long best friend, the elder sister figure that he looked up to during his infancy. But she was no longer that to him, she was an unspoiled treasurer ready to be plundered.

(Clop Scene)

“We’re back!” Scootaloo called out as she entered the main hall where the others were resting and silently chatting to each other. Rainbow Dash and Gilda both walked in behind her, both beaten and scratched from their activities. Rarity gasped at the sight of her friends.

“Heavens, darling. What did you do to each other?” she cried, trotting over to Rainbow Dash with Fluttershy in tow. The pale yellow Pegasus began working on giving first aid to Gilda.

“We trained, Rarity. This is the result. We’re not going to win this war unless we enter the fray as well. The Elements of Harmony will be a great help in the long run. Not to mention the diehard dragon with steel scales.” Dash said as she looked down to Scootaloo. “Scoots’ training is going pretty well. I don’t expect her to actually fight, but she can defend herself for a time. Her main goal is to escape, right Scoots?”

Scootaloo sighed and nodded. “Yes, Dash.” she moaned, wishing she could actually fight alongside her hero.

“And I take it that’s where Gilda came in regarding the training?” Rarity asked, looking the gryphon up and down.

Gilda lightly pounded her chest. “That’s right. I got a reputation to uphold. Ain’t nobody gonna hurt my friends while I’m around, especially Dash here.”

The blue Pegasus bumped Gilda with her elbow and ruffled her feathers with her muzzle as she nuzzled the gryphon in appreciation.

“Didn’t you get your butt kicked by them last time?” Pinkie interrupted, appearing behind Rarity who jumped in surprise. Gilda restrained a growl at the comment.

“Those birdbrains snuck up on me last time. Next time won’t be so favourable for them. They’re just as strong as any other gryphon, they just have that resistance to magic going for them.” Gilda scratched the old stone floor, digging up some of the loose gravel.

“Okey-dokel-lokey!” Pinkie said, bouncing away from the small group. Scootaloo joined her friends and began to scruffle with them while Fluttershy finished off bandaging Gilda and moved on to Rainbow Dash.

While all that happened, Twilight emerged from Spike’s room with a very giddy look planted on her features. Rarity caught her friend’s look and smiled with knowing glee.

Author's Note

Okay, for those of you who are interrested, here's the clop scene that was in the Original chapter. The password for viewing it is 'Wingblade'.
Black Attraction Clop Scene

Chapter 3: Mass Surge

Out in Equestria, the war waged on. Celestia and Luna had once again come to terms with the situation and were now working together to fight for the continued safety of the civilian ponies they were charged with. The two sisters walked briskly through the corridors of their castle, headed to the front gate.

“I can’t believe it’s come to this. I should have told Spike my plan. Perhaps it would have saved us all this turmoil.” Celestia said, shaking her head with regret plastered on her face. Luna nodded.

“Not to mention Mother’s throne.” the dark blue alicorn used her magic to force the large doors that blocked their path open. Guards stood ready to take their positions around the princesses in order to protect them.

“So, what has Twilight’s research into this natural oil the Gryphons possess uncovered?” Celestia asked, changing the subject.

“It’s not much to go on. I believe she was preoccupied with another project at the time, but it appears that the Gryphons developed this immunity after the last war. That is to say they’re not totally immune, but highly resistant. Further studies show that it is only high ranking Gryphons who possess this oil.” Luna replied, levitating a report from the unicorn.

“She makes it sound like Gryphons have developed their own magic.” Celestia commented, taking a deep breath as she entered the carriage that would take them to their next destination. Luna stepped in after her and sat opposite her sister.

“Or they’ve borrowed magic from the dragons.” Luna suggested. This caused Celestia to shudder.

“A dreadful thought. But no, dragons aren’t the type to loan magic to creatures who have no prior experience with it. They might loan it to ponies, but certainly not Gryphons.” Celestia concluded, but Luna didn’t sound very reassured.

“Doesn’t rule out the possibility it was stolen. Immunity is basic dragon magic, take their love of lava for instance, they adapted the immunity for lava into their evolution.” she said. Celestia looked at the dark alicorn with a slightly bemused expression.

“Have you been hanging around those evolutionists again?” Celestia asked. Luna didn’t respond, but simply looked over the notes.

“The elites shouldn’t be a problem for us, but I worry about the king. If his subordinates have this kind of magic protecting them from our own, then he must have something much stronger protecting him. He struck me as the high and mighty type, a bit like Trixie mixed with Chrysalis.” Luna said. Celestia tried to put two and two together.

“A crude, but accurate comparison.” she commented. “You said Twilight was busy with another project. Do you know what it was?” Luna examined her paper for any indication.

“It mentions Spike and resurrection, but nothing else.”

“Spike died? How?” Celestia urged.

“Cadence mentioned in her letter that he…” Luna flicked through the pages, coming across one of her letters from their niece. “I can’t read that, what’s it say?” she revealed the letter to her sister.

“Crapped out? What does that mean?” she asked.

“I believe it means he over exerted himself in some way, causing his body to fail.” Luna replied.

Celestia frowned at the letter. “Shining Armour might be a bad influence when it comes to Cadence’s vernacular.”

Twilight awoke a few hours after her tension relief session with Spike, feeling refreshed and… surprisingly chipper. She saw him sleeping peacefully beside her, his arms wrapped around her in a loose embrace. That made it easy for her to slip out of the bed and sneak out of the room. She’d planned to make him breakfast in bed, since the first time she’d done it since seeing him was a huge cock-up. She closed the door and made her way to the kitchen. With the war still raging on throughout Equestria, Twilight and the others had taken the time to rebuild the necessities of the ancient Castle of the Pony Sisters in the Everfree forest, where they now resided.

The lavender mare was surprised to see all her friends present, including Cadence, Big Mac, Cheerilee and the Cutie Mark crusaders. Her circle of close personal friends had widened since the war. She considered that the silver lining.

Every pony turned to see her enter the room. “Good morning Twilight.” they all said in unison. Twiight smiled, and chuckled nervously as she walked into the kitchen area to prepare breakfast.

“Are you alright, darling? You seem rather… clumsy this morning. Everything alright with Spike?” Rarity asked. Twilight tripped and went head first into a few pots and pans.

“I’m fine! Fine!” she said. Her hindquarters were burning, but she liked it. It proved to her that is wasn’t all a dream. Rarity entered the kitchen and leaned against the entrance.

“Twilight, dear. I do believe you have a certain glow about you. Could it be that our little bookworm has finally… forgive my pun… lost the plot?” Twilight smiled sheepishly and giggled with foolish enthusiasm. Rarity gasped in glee as she found herself correct about her intuition.

“Ooh, give me the details. I want to live vicariously through you when it comes to Spike.” she said. Twilight took a moment to process the statement before shrugging off the last bit as harmless.

“Let’s just say that if I don’t get pregnant, I’m infertile.” she giggled at Rarity afterwards. The white mare wore a look of pride as she flung her hoof over Twilight’s shoulder.

“That’s marvellous, Twilight. I’m so proud of you. What was it like?” Twilight knew Rarity was trying her best to be subtle, but her loins apparently wanted her to rush the job. Twilight indulged her and explained in detail every sensation she got from the experience.

When she’d finished, Rarity was staring at the other unicorn with dopey eyes and one ear lower than the other.

“Whoa…” she said, trailing off as her imagination took her. Twilight lifted a brow.

“I hope you’re not daydreaming about sleeping with my coltfriend.” she threatened. Rarity snapped out of her trance and blushed at the lavender mare.

“So where is he now?” she asked. Twilight giggled once more.

“Asleep. He was a busy boy after all. But it’s funny, he has the most vivid dreams. I remember he told me about this one dream; he was being chased around the library by a large pair of horse shoes.” Rarity laughed as she followed Twilight back to the room with Spike’s breakfast.

The two crept into the room, being careful not to wake the subject of their talk. Twilight placed the food down on the bedside table and smiled at Rarity. To their laughter, Spike awoke with a fidget.

“I’m drownin’ in footwear!” he mumbled as his mind began to work around the reality.

“Weird dream.” he said before noticing the ponies in the room with him. “Rarity, darling! It’s been far too long.” he began, holding out a claw to the mare. Rarity took it happily and shook it.

“Well he’s certainly an improvement on the ass that came back to us. Boy never had an unexpressed thought.” she said to Twilight.

“Actually, I’m having one right now.” he replied. Rarity smiled at him and patted his head.

“Welcome back, Spikey-Wikey.” she said, leaving Twilight alone with him again. There was a moment’s silence between them. Oh Celestia! It’s weird. They thought to themselves.

“Got you some breakfast.” Twilight mentioned, offering him the tray. Spike thanked her and patted the bed next to him. Twilight obliged and leaned into him.

“I suppose you should know, the war’s still ongoing. Both sides are losing numbers, but it’s too many one our side and not enough on theirs.” she said.

“I wasn’t aware that by the end of the war, there had to be an even kill count.” he said sarcastically as he kissed her on the head and took a bite of his breakfast; waffles, his favourite other than gems. Twilight huffed.

“Oh, by the way, how did you figure out how to bring me back?” he asked with a mouth full of waffle. Twilight ignited her horn and a book appeared in a flash. She levitated it over to Spike who took it with interest. His eyes widened.

“Wingblade’s Grimoire?! Twilight, where did you find this? Wingblade was like the dragon’s Starswirl the Bearded.” Spike opened the book and read the first few lines in his head.

“The book was in the castle. He’d hidden it here after the fall of Luna over a thousand years ago.”

“She.” Spike interrupted. Twilight looked at the dragon inquisitorially.

“Pardon?” she asked.

“She; Wingblade was a female.” he replied, flicking through the pages. Twilight watched him with mild amusement as he seemed at peace with himself, even after hearing about the war and its condition.

“Can you understand the language?” she asked, looking at him with great enthusiasm. Spike smiled and looked back at Twilight.

“Let’s find out.” he hopped off of the bed, downed the rest of his breakfast and rushed out the room with Twilight close behind. They ran together through the recently kempt corridors of the ancient palace until they came to a clearing. To their surprise, a Chimera was grazing down below. Spike grinned at the creature as it looked up at them.

“Alright, let’s see how this works… Here! A spell to improve magical intensity; I’m assuming that could be displayed mostly with shielding and attack based spells or possibly allow temporary self-sustainability.” he said. Twilight went over the script as Spike showed her the passage and nodded.

“Looks legitimate. How are we going to test it?” as she spoke, another chimera entered their line of sight. Now with the attention of both chimeras, the couple smiled to each other.

“Daguam!” Spike said. A barrier appeared around the area the chimeras were in, preventing escape. “Okay, now you fire a spell at that one on the left, just enough to graze him.”

Twilight complied with his command, her eyes shifting to the darkened and corrupted appearance that she had recently grown used to in her latest researches. Twilight then pointed her horn towards the chimera on the left and fired a single bolt of dark magic towards it. The bolt struck true and bowled the creature over. Spike then held the Grimoire in his hands and recited the incantation with Twilight in mind.

“Tairais wer arcaniss di nomeno drekim ini asildk.” he commanded. Twilight’s body grew darker and her horn became sharper. She tried the spell again and she almost ended up hitting the other chimera as her attack blast forth in an energy wave with an arc wider than the circumference of the palace’s towers.

As the smoke began to clear, the chimera that was the primary target lay there as a husk of burned flesh and bone. It’s body had been so badly destroyed that it couldn’t even be recognised as a Chimera. Spike smiled as he watched the reactions of the others. Twilight was surprised by her own power, while the remaining Chimera looked at what remained of its fallen comrade with terrified eyes. Spike snapped the book shut and chuckled. He then handed the Grimoire to Twilight who opened it again and searched for another page that could improve upon the dragon’s magic.

“Tairais wer arcaniss di nomeno darastrix ini asildk.” she chanted. Spike grinned as he felt the energy within him surge and flow faster than his own blood. His body ached slightly as he leaned forward and extended both of his hands and opened his maw.

Twilight watched him with fascination clear in her eyes. To her, he was starting to look like a charging Velociraptor. She began to think about how much he had changed over the years. Once a goofy baby dragon with a crush on an unattainable pony, now the love of her life who both scared and excited her more than anything in Equestria. His change forced her to look back on how different she had become.

She knew she lost her sanity a few months back, just after he’d died, but it hadn’t affected their relationship in the slightest. If anything, it brought them closer; for the darkness that Spike was revealing at that moment resonated with the dark magic Twilight had willingly adopted to bring him back. She knew that she would love him no matter what the outcome was. She was devoted, completely and utterly to him. And it showed in her eyes when Spike’s energy flayed the ground beneath them, ruining the chimeras both alive and dead. The energy glowed with a dark violet that reflected in both their eyes.

“The Gryphon king can’t stop us now.” Spike said as the heat rose from beneath them, creating that rippling effect in the air. Twilight smiled at him as she closed the book and kissed him with the affection she felt for him at that moment. The scenery was perfect; two evil lovers kissing with a fiery background that physically showed their joint love. It was a marvel to behold; one which the others revelled in as they stood in the shadows, smiling at the happy two. Gilda and Dash stood closer to each other as they empathised with the scene before them, Scootaloo sitting between the two. Fluttershy stood beside Big Mac, slightly afraid of the picture before her, yet still proud of her friends nonetheless. Rarity and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and smiled as if they were match makers and had successfully brought a couple together. Applebloom stood on Applejack and simply watched as she found the scene cooler than anything she’d read in any book. Cheerilee stood in the background of the group, watching carefully. While she knew everypony besides Gilda well, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she may have been better off with the Gryphons that surrounded her the day the war broke out.

Twilight broke away from the kiss and stared into Spike’s moss green eyes.
“Nothing can.”

Chapter 5: Pissed Off

The scream deafened the Gryphons’ ears as this dark dragon opposed them. They all squeezed their eyes shut and grabbed the sides of their heads, trying to drown the sound out. The time was then. Spike threw his arms in the air and tar-like tentacles, almost strings of thick web extended from his body and wrapped around each Gryphon, sticking to them. Their wings were caught and they began to descend. But that wasn’t good enough for Spike. He grabbed his end of the webs and ripped them down, causing the Gryphons’ descents to double in speed. A dense cloud of dirt erupted from the ground as the Gryphons landed, most likely dead.

Twilight dragged her brother out of the thick black cloud of smoke Spike had made as a visual shield and brought her to Applejack and Big Mac. She snuck a glance at Spike who looked back. His expression was unreadable under the gooey exterior of his body. His eyes were burning hot as tar went to creep onto them, but burned into black smoke that rose to the sky. With a deeply distorted voice, he addressed the group.

“Go back, now.” he said, turning back to the Gryphons. Twilight wasted no time complying with his order. She forced magic into her horn, some of it growing dark. Something changed. Her spell was different. Instead of a bright flash forcing them out of the area, a dome of dark energy surrounded them and seemed to cut into the ground. They disappeared as the dome grew darker and reappeared in front of the still waiting group. Cadence rushed over to her husband and looked at him with a mixture of fear and anger.

Commander Reave stepped off of his ship to revel in his victory, but it was put on hold as something new arrived and threatened their hold on the bay. He ducked his head as one of his soldiers was thrown at him. The soldier screamed his lungs out as he went flying past, hitting the ship’s crewman behind Reave.

“What the?” he asked calmly as he focused his eyes on the target. A strange black creature, draconic in nature was firing some sort of sticky substance at the Gryphons and grounding them, permanently. The Commander growled and issued his next orders.

“Alright! Bombard the dragon with all our forces at once. He can’t get all of us.” every Gryphon under his command nodded and complied with his command, taking to the sky. As they flew off, he whispered to the crewman. “Prepare to head back out to sea.” the crewman looked at the Commander with an expression of surprise and disgust. However, he did as he was told and spread the word.

Spike threw down the last of the group of Gryphons and looked ahead to the tidal wave of feathers headed his way. He realised they were going to flood him with soldiers. In the distance, he noticed a ship preparing to leave the port. One Gryphon in particular was glaring at him, trying to get a read of his skills. Spike grew furious. That one Gryphon was the cause of all this, he was the source of Twilight’s tears.

With an ear-splitting screech, Spike challenged everything in hearing range. The Gryphons continued to pursue him. It was then that they all lost. Spike stretched his arms out in front of him. He opened his mouth and concentrated his energy in the dead centre between his head and hands. A black ball of pure condensed energy began to form out of nowhere, green lightning flickering around it. It grew in size until it was almost double his own. The Gryphons began to panic as they wondered what the next step was. Most hoped that thing wasn’t going to be fired at them.

The ball of energy began to shrink, growing even more condensed until it was little bigger than a baseball. There was a pause as the Gryphons waited for the end result, stunned into motionlessness. Spike began to open his mouth wider, his cheeks tearing at the motion. The gryphons flinched at the sound.

With a mouth wider than an alligator, Spike closed it over the ball of energy and swallowed it whole. His targets looked confused, but all was explained as Spike became rigid. He seemed to be having difficulty moving as he went on all fours and lowered his head down to the ground. Smoke escaped the corners of his mouth.

“Retreat!” called one of the gryphons. Within a second, they were all beginning to scatter, scared of what might happen now Spike had given himself a power boost.

The dragon inhaled deeply and began to roar at them all, but instead of sound, the energy came flowing out in a massive wave that hit the ground, propelling the dragon into the air and spreading out in a wave flooding everything in destructive energy within a mile radius.

A mushroom cloud formed on the bay, and even at the distance they had covered, Reave could hear the agonised cries of his fallen soldiers. He shuddered at the sound, closing his eyes to the scene behind him.

“Plot a course… home. I need to tell the King about our discovery.”

“Yes, si–.” the crewman was cut off as something large and black landed on him and went through the deck. Reave was stunned for a moment before going to look in the hole that had been made. At first, he could see nothing through the darkness, but a pair of white eyes flashed open after a few seconds and lunged at him. The Gryphon Commander reared his head back quickly, narrowly missing a talon that threatened to take his other eye. In an instant, h drew his sword and prepared to meet the intruder. He was surprised to find the same dragon that had just destroyed his battalion within the minute, but he didn’t let that stop him from challenging the creature.

Spike purred at the chance to avenge Twilight’s sorrow and wasted no time with a simple duel between himself and the armed Commander. He looked around at the ship and decided it would be easier just to let them all drown. He lurched his body forward, the black substance from his body striking everything. Every Gryphon’s wings were trapped under the tar-like substance, unable to move. The dragon smiled before jumping back in the hole. There was a loud roar, then a smashing sound. Soon after, the crew all noticed a fountain of water spewing up from within the hole.

“Abandon ship! Abandon ship!” the Commander ordered, jumping off the side. The crew did as ordered, letting the ship sink.

As the vessel began to submerge under the water, Reave was on the lookout for Spike. He hoped the dragon wouldn’t play dirty and drag the crew and himself underwater.

“Make way for land. I’d rather be a prisoner of war than dead.” Reave said. The crew accepted the order and made their way to land, their wings soaked and useless. It was then Reave noticed something: the tar had gone; like soap washed off in water. A smile crept onto the Gryphon’s features as he realised how he would be able to get around that barrier should he face Spike again.

Shining Armour floated in a tank similar to Spike’s his body in magically induced suspended animation. A dreadful puncture wound resided over his heart. Thanks to the suspended animation conjured by his sister, he was unable to perceive the outside world in any way. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, he couldn’t even bleed. He was for all intents and purposes, dead. Cadence refused to leave the tank, going so far as to place her bed beside it. Twilight was in a similar state, though she did not go to such lengths as to shift her bed. Spike would not enjoy withholding the ‘tension’ that had built up over the months, possibly years.

The ragtag group of ponies and a gryphon sat around Shining with their heads bowed. It was as good as a funeral with Cadence crying against his ‘coffin’, twilight patting her back. Spike entered the room, rubbing his wrist as though he’d hurt it in the fight. He took no notice of the curious looks his comrades gave him as he went straight to his mare placed a clawed hand on her shoulder. She’d been strong for Cadence during her time of need, but now she had somepony to cry on, she abandoned her old foalsitter and cried in Spike’s embrace. Spike gladly supported Twilight as she released her sadness unto him, but was unprepared for Cadence’s tears. So the dragon was holding the heaving bodies of two ponies as he stared up at the conduit of their sorrow, the Captain of Celestia’s Guard.

Hours passed and the two mares showed no sign of letting up. Spike had asked Rarity to fetch the Grimoire from his room so he could do some reading as he was indisposed. Somewhat begrudgingly, he focused his mind on the contents of the book, leaving his body for Twilight and Cadence to continue their whining on. He came across rather intriguing spells and incantations that would have made Starswirl’s beard twist. What intrigued him the most was the passage near the end of the book. More like a journal than an instruction to a spell, he read on.

Entry 207:

It has come to my attention that my fellow dragons will be waging war on the Equestrian race. Such a war will hinder my research greatly; how greatly and for how long are incalculable at this present time. Despite this, I believe I may have come across the greatest discovery of my career. Trans-special Reproduction.

Such a discovery may in fact end the upcoming war before it has even begun. The theory is that with an Equestrian hatched dragon, it may be possible for reproduction between the dragon and the hatcher, resulting in a hybrid species altogether. Tests have proven that unrelated births and hatchings between two random subjects, one a dragon, the other a pony yield infertility between the two species. At first, I believed my daughter to be a fool for loving an Equestrian despite the fact that he hatched her during my untimely absence, but her sudden pregnancy and adamant statement that she has seen no-one other than that Stallion prove my theory.

As a result, I have successfully captured four Stallions and four Mares. My most recent cluster was eight so I have distributed one egg to each pony. As soon as the eggs hatch, I will document the respective pairs and raise my children so their growth can escalate to their hatchers’. When the time is right, I will let nature take it’s course and wait for results.

There was a reference to three pages ahead of the note. Flicking through it, Spike read the corresponding entry.

Entry 210:

Success! After several months with my children, who miraculously hatched as opposing genders to their hatchers, most have either impregnated of fallen pregnant with hybrid spawn. Only one of my sons seems to fight the experiment, refusing to mate with his equine counterpart, however, he is still very protective of her. I believe Redeye has bonded with the mare on a more spiritual level than the others; something akin to friendship rather than love. No matter. My theory is correct and my greatest discovery is the birth of a new civilisation itself.

Spike stopped reading and looked over the name of the son once again. ‘Redeye’. Celestia had told him that the dragon that had given her his egg was named Redeye. Was it possible that he, Spike, was the grandson of the Legendary Wingblade? A niggling feeling worked its way in the back of his mind. He was curious, but he would find no answers in the book. He'd have to ask Celestia herself if he got the chance. Spike closed the book as he looked down at the cried-out ponies sleeping on him. With gentle precision, he placed Cadence comfortably onto her bed and pulled the covers over her body, then proceeded to carry Twilight back to their room. He made a mental note to ravish her if she woke up and let her be if she didn’t. He knew she’d need either thing after what had transpired earlier that day.

He gently placed his Mare down onto their bed and pulled the covers over her. He then brushed a lock from her mane out of her face and gently kissed her, sliding his tongue ever so lightly across her lips. The mare licked her lips as a result and smiled, having tasted something familiar on them. He smiled back at her and crept into the bed on the other side. The lavender pony, darkened due to exposure to the dark magic, rolled over into his arms and sighed contently as she seemed to find sweet dreams in his embrace. Spike couldn’t help but press his pelvis against her lower body, smirking as the action brought on a wider smile from the mare.

“Did I wake you?” he asked. Twilight nodded, opening her glowing violet eyes.

“Yes, but that’s okay. I woke up to something I needed.” she replied, pushing against his pelvis with hungry intent.

(Clop Scene)

Author's Note

Alright, here you go. I know some of you have been demanding I update this and sending me death threats if I don't do so. Might I remind you all that you are threatening to kill The Grimm Reaper? A.K.A: The angel of Death? I just laugh at you all now. Anyway, so here it is, as promised. With a bitchin' start and a sexy finish, I give you 'Chapter 5: Pissed Off'

Also, for those of you who don't know. I have a sort of side-story thing going where I post mini-chapters of clop between Twilight and Spike in a hidden side-story. I might do other couples as well, like Dash and Gilda or maybe even break a rule and do Scootaloo and Dash or Gilda. Maybe all three. I might even go with incest and have CelesXLuna, I don't know. So here's the Clop scene from this Chapter.

Chapter 6: Reflecting On The Past

“Ah don’t know sugarcube, the last thing Ah wanna do right now is mess with Spike and Twilight. They’re in a bad place with the dark magic stuff. And as much as Ah’m sure they’re aware of this, they know better than anypony that all sorts of magic will be needed to deal with them Gryphons.” Applejack rubbed her head as she leaned back in her seat.

“Well I for one don’t care for that kind of magic. Just look at what their presense is doing to my mane. It’s going black!” Rarity shoved a lock of her mane in the farm pony’s face. Applejack just shoved her away.

“Look. Would y’all rather have a black mane or be killed by them gryphons out there? We all know them better than anypony. When the time comes for us to stop them, we’ll know it, and Ah for one don’t think that time has come yet.” the others muttered their agreements, not entirely sure about Applejack’s judgement.

“Look, AJ… I know that I’m the Element of Loyalty, and I know I should be loyal to my friends, but my loyalty to Equestria comes first. Of course sometimes that is the wrong decision, so I should be loyal to what I believe is right. And I don’t think that helping Twilight push herself further into darkness is what I should devote myself to.” Rainbow said, walking up to the orange pony.

“Ah’m tellin’ ya. There’s nothing to worry about when it comes to those two. They’re just doing all they can to stay together. Wouldn’t you do the same for Gilda and Scootaloo, Dash?” Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash went silent, unable to argue the point.

“But surely she wouldn’t endanger them just to protect them through dark magic, Applejack.” Rarity spoke up.

“So you’re saying that if Sweetie belle was in danger and the only way to save her was to use dark magic, you wouldn’t do it, Rarity?” AJ challenged. Rarity held Sweetie belle closely, perishing the thought of abandoning the mare simply because she wouldn’t use dark magic.

“Ah didn’t think so.” AJ grumbled.

“But sis, what if they become a danger to us? The Elements of Harmony couldn’t stop them since Twilight is one of them.”

“Ah won’t let them near us, Applebloom.” Applejack replied, rubbing her head.

“If that knock on the shoulder you gave me the night we escaped that grumpy mob is any indication of your strength, I doubt you’d be able to stop us. Fortunately, we’ll never find out.” Spike emerged from the shadows of the hallway with Twilight beside him. She seemed happier, though her features were much darker than before.

“Sorry ya’ll. We’ve got ourselves an insurrection brewin’.” AJ said. Twilight looked at her friends’ guilty faces. She just smiled at them and stepped before them all.

“I understand that you all are afraid of my reliance on the dark magics just to survive this war, but I want to assure you that I will not use it to bring harm to any of you.” she said.

“But how can we know that you haven’t been corrupted by the dark magic, I mean look at yourselves. Twilight, you’ve got more greys than Granny Smith, and Spike… there’s nothing about you that reminds me of the baby dragon we played with.” Sweetie Belle said, walking up to Twilight. Twilight smiled sweetly at the young mare and patted her head.

“I can’t speak for Spike, but I know I won’t let the darkness corrupt me, because I’ve got something the others didn’t have.” the other ponies waited for her to continue. “I’ve got something to come back to. I love all of you and you’re all what’s keeping me fighting against total corruption. Not to mention that unlike the others, I fear the darkness. I don’t want it, but I need it and I’m always cautious of its presence.”

The others considered what she had said. While it sounded kind of sappy, they couldn’t deny that unlike King Sombra, Twilight had her friends waiting for her to return to them, and unlike Nightmare Moon, Twilight knew it.

“As for me, it’s too late. When I was reawakened, your nightmares tainted me and turned me into the monster I am today.” Spike added. The other ponies, somewhat relaxed by what Twilight had said, became quickly agitated by Spike’s words.

“You mean you’ll always be evil?” Applebloom asked. Spike chuckled.

“I was never evil, Applebloom. But the possibility of darkness overtaking me and turning me into a wild animal will always be present. I will always be who I am now.” The dragon sat down on the ground and crossed his legs, his arms resting on his knees.

“I wish you were like the Spike before. He was badass.” Scootaloo said. Spike chuckled again.

“That was a part of me that had been tainted by darkness for years, Scoots. I’ve just recently been tainted again. Don’t worry, I’ll be an ass soon enough.” the three girls laughed at him.

The Gryphon king sat on his throne. It was very different from Celestia and Luna’s. Crafted from the bones of his enemies, the king watched as only a few from the battalion returned from the war. Commander Reave was among them. The one-eyed Gryphon bowed before his King.

“Report, Commander.” the king ordered.

“My lord, our battalion was wiped out after securing the bay.” Reave began.

“After securing it? I’d have understood before or while you were securing it, but after?” the king seemed more interested in the possibility of such a defeat than the actual defeat itself.

“Th-the primary target, Spike, he showed up and took out all my soldiers. He sank the galleon and then vanished.” Reave argued.

“So you lost a whole fleet and a battleship to one dragon?” he asked. The king’s calm tone was more frightening than his usually enraged one.

“I’m truly sorry, your majesty. Please forgive me.” the gryphon begged. The king looked at one of the other survivors and pointed a talon at him.

“You there, come here, I need an example.” the gryphon complied with his king’s order.

“An example of what, Si–?” the king grabbed his subject by the throat and snapped it in an instant. He then threw the corpse to Reave who looked in horror at his fallen comrade.

“You see that sailor? That’s you if you ever fail me again, Commander. I’ve been lenient with you since your daughter decided to join the ponies, you even got to keep your rank. But one more disappointment from you or your family and you will be no better off than him.” Reave swallowed and bowed again to his king.

“I will not fail you again, your majesty.”

Celestia stood on the front lines of the battlefield, wearing her royal battle armour. It had been centuries since she had worn them. Her crown was bigger and sharper. Her chest plating covered her neck and shoulders. Her horse shoes were spiked and she donned a large claymore on her back. Luna’s armour was identical to her sister’s, only the armour took on her own colours, a silvery blue.

“Cadence says Twilight has Shining Armour in suspended animation. He’s on the verge of death, but the animation should freeze him as he was.” Luna said, reading her niece’s latest report. “She’s also expressed her concern about Twilight using dark magic.” she added.

Celestia sighed sadly. “I trust in Twilight’s judgement. She wouldn’t use dark magic unless it was necessary. We’ll pay them a visit when we’re done here.” she said, her horn glowing as bright as the sun. Luna followed suit, glowing like the moon as she dropped the letter. A large blue barrier appeared around the ponies they fought alongside, while Celestia’s magic focused on giant falling stars and fireballs from the sky. The attack landed on a Gryphon fleet of thousands, burning small groups to cinders.

A dark cave within the Everfree forest echoed with the hisses of seemingly serpentine creatures, further in, there was a bright green glow pulsating with life. A maze of tunnels intricately worked their way to a centre where the queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis sat perched upon her own throne. She seemed disturbed, troubled by the war on the surface.

“It must be so troubling for your kind during times of war. All the pain and suffering… love becomes scarce in such heartbreaking times. I can only imagine how starved you must be Chrysalis.” a voice rang through the darkness.

“What do you want?” she demanded. The voice growled low as it moved around.

“I want to help you, but it comes at a price, as most things do. I believe you know Shining Armour, the Captain of the Royal Guard?” the voice asked. Chrysalis shuddered. Howcould she forget the singular most humiliating defeat of her reign. She had Equestria, but the very thing she fed on was the very thing that destroyed her victory.

“He’s… in a bad way at the moment. He should have died on the battlefield, but Twilight Sparkle and her dragon are keeping him alive. I need you to kill him. I’d do it myself, only my presence might set off alarm bells.” the voice said. “You can do that for me can’t you?” a grey hoof emerged from the shadows behind her and rested on her shoulder. Chrysalis went stiff.

“And what will you do for me if I agree to help you?” she asked. The grey pony emerged fully from the darkness into the green glow on her hive. He faced the changeling with his sharp golden draconic eyes and kissed her on the spot. She suddenly felt herself being fed pure love through her mouth. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as the feeling of love flowing through her made her salivate with delight. All too soon for her liking, the grey Stallion broke their kiss.

“In exchange, I’ll feed you and your hive for the duration of the war.” Chrysalis’ eyes went wide as the answer revealed itself. “Do we have a deal?” the stallion held his hoof out to her.

Author's Note

Okay everyone. I've added another twist to this war. I'm making my profile character a tritagonist in this story. if you don't know what a tritagonist is, the look here.

Chapter 8: Eye Of The Storm

Celestia gasped as she awoke from a nightmare. Having shared a tent together on the still battlefield, her gasp aroused Luna who had fallen asleep after having raised the moon. She was very tired these days.

“Sister, what is wrong?” the night princess asked, looking into Celestias eyes with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

“I felt him, Luna. That… grievous Stallion. I could feel him on the border of my mind, watching me as I slept.” Luna’s face grew quizzical.

“I felt no such presence in your dreams, Tia.” There was a sudden snap in Luna’s head and the right eye of the angel appeared in her mind’s eye. She gasped as her sister had and the two of them felt themselves waking up all over again. “I dislike dreams within a dream.” she commented.

Celestia turned to her dark counterpart. “You saw it that time too, didn’t you? That eye.”

“Yes, the right eye, always the right one. I fear if he’s entered the physical realm, we may be looking at war we will not survive. The Angel’s playground and every side is just a collection of Chess pieces.” Such a grim thought brought a chill to Celestia’s spine.

“Why would he come back now? He’s left us be for over a thousand years, and just when things turn hairy, he shows up and brings Hell with him.” Celestia began to panic, a rarity indeed for the often calm and at times serene Alicorn. Luna felt that it was her turn to play the big sister and comfort her crying co-ruler.

“It is highly unlikely he has come for us, Tia. Perhaps he is simply observing the war through limited eyes.” Despite her attempts, Celestia disagreed with her hypothesis.

“He is not the kind to sit back and watch things unfold. He is here for a reason. Besides, it’s not him that I fear most of all, it’s what lies behind that eye… within him.”

Luna grew curious about what her sister had just said. “I have not heard about anything residing within him, Celestia. Have you kept yet another secret from me? How could you? Shouldn’t you have learned from last time?” The princess of the night rose to her hooves and addressed her sister in an accusatory manner.

“No, I’d forgotten about it until recently. If I’d have remembered, I would have told you the night my student and her friends brought you back to me. I’d have told you all I could about him.” Celestia defended.

“Then tell me now.”

Celestia patted the cushion beside her and urged her sister to sit beside her. The dark Alicorn did as she was asked and stared at her sister, waiting for the rest of the truth.

“As you know, he is an Angel, but in order for him to have become Death, he had to be more than an Angel. He had to have control over both the heavens and Hell itself. So he fused his body with that of the most powerful demon. That Demon, though sharing his body, retains his own mind and hides within the mind of his host, acting like a Parasite. The demon feels no remorse, no pity. He would never take a hostage and he revels in mass slaughter of any kind. When you were away with Mother, I fought the Angel and found I was on par with him. But then it happened.” Luna shifted in her cushion. This story reminded her of the ghost stories she would hear from her sister during the nights before they took control.

“His left eye became like his right and he changed… for the worst. His head was covered in a strange Dragon’s skull, but it was different. Like the skull itself was tainted with something unimaginable. This demon is more powerful than the Angel and fights constantly to take control. I nearly lost my life within a minute, had the angel not fought back and saved my life.”

Luna was on the edge of her cushion. She found it difficult to imagine her sister on the bronk of death, despite how often she dreamed of such a thing when she was banished on the moon.

“Could the Elements of Harmony protect against him?” she asked.

“Once, perhaps, but I feel as though he’s changed over the years, grown stronger and more powerful. It feels as though the Demon has won, but at the same time has given up.”

“We came to an understanding.” a voice said from behind the two. Both princesses jumped and ran towards the opposite end of the tent. There stood the angel in all his glory. Nothing like before, he now stood as a Stallion would and the skull was not present. Yet his eyes shone bright yellow and his sclera was blacker than the cutie mark on Luna’s flank.

“W-what do you want here, d-d-demon?” Celestia stuttered. The two princesses held each other closely, fearing for their lives. It felt like the longest time to them since they were considered the most powerful in the world.

“Me, I want nothing from you. My friend however, seeks both your forgiveness and offers her aid to you in the war. I am simply here to oversee negotiations, and to make sure there is no foul play between the two parties.” As Death himself spoke, he flapped a large black dragon wing beside him and the Changeling Queen herself appeared as though out of thin air. She seemed disorientated. When her eyes focused on the two princesses, she went still, daring not to make a move.

Mar sat down between Celestia and Luna’s cushions and offered them their respective places. The two princesses warily sat beside their superior while Chrysalis sat across from him in a diamond shaped enclosure.

“Begin.” the angel said bluntly, observing the three.

“Oh, my head!” Spike groaned as he returned to consciousness. Twilight was the first thing he saw and felt as she leaped into him and sobbed. It took less than a second for him to remember the events that transpired prior to his blackout. The way Twilight was screaming, he knew he’d failed to protect Shining Armour. He scooped the heart broken mare into his arms and held her close. Unlike before, the animosity he felt while enraged or excited didn’t reveal itself; however, the boiling hatred for that odd stallion remained stagnant in his mind and soul. He could feel the dark consciousness within him, furious at having been overpowered and overshadowed. But it remained dormant for the time being.

“I can’t believe the Angel of Death himself made a deal with Chrysalis of all ponies and killed Shining Armour.” Rainbow Dash commented, holding Scootaloo closely. Spike took a moment to understand what Dash had just said about his enemy. ‘The Angel of Death himself’. That’s what she had said.

“Shit!” he growled.

“You know somethin’ about this guy Spike?” Applejack inquired.

Spike nodded. “Yeah. Like Dragons, he’s supposed to act as an Arbiter. He’d observe a conflict between two sides. But unlike dragons, if he finds that one side is resorting to trickery, he will interfere and discretely give the losing side a helping hoof.” Applebloom raised her hoof before asking a question that was undoubtedly on her friends’ minds also.

“What’s an Arbiter?” she asked.

Spike thought of the quickest and simplest way to answer her without confusing her with literacy. “A Judge.” he replied simply. He then looked down at the calmly silent Twilight and realised she had cried herself to sleep almost instantly.

“How is Cadence holding up with the loss?” he asked. Nopony was willing to answer, but after an uncomfortable silence that seemed to drag on, Gilda replied for them.

“She’s…sort of frozen. She won’t speak, she won’t move, she’s barely even blinked since it happened.” Spike sighed, being careful not to wake the sleeping mare in his arms.

“Things aren’t going well. Everything’s falling apart and we’re no closer to victory than we were before I was resurrected. This war’s going to take a toll on so many ponies.” the dragon took a moment to just relax and breathe as it almost seemed like a godsend recently.

“Preparations are almost ready, your Highness. The Leviathan is prepared to fight for us. We had to… sacrifice quite a few of our soldiers in order to strike a reasonable deal of its assistance though.”

The Gryphon King sat back in his throne, listening to the report his subordinate was giving him.

“Sacrifice is a part of war. When we emerge victorious, we shall remember the names of those who sacrificed themselves for the victory of the Gryphons. In the meantime, prepare to head out. I want to watch the Leviathan end Spike’s life with my own eyes. Then I will personally deal with Celestia and that ignorant sister of hers. Perhaps I will keep them as my pets. While I find ponies to be disgusting creatures, I’m sure I’ll find some enjoyment when I test the stamina of Alicorn Princesses.” he mused. The subordinate, held back the desire to vomit at the images brought up.

“What… are your orders, Sire?” he asked. The king returned from his reverie and looked at the gryphon before him with thought clear on his face.

“I have none to give as of this moment. Continue with the preparations. We move out at Dawn.” With that, the subordinate bowed low and hurried out of the Royal hall, intent on avoiding failure.

Chapter 9: Requiem

THREE MONTHS LATER

The Gryphon king stood at the peak of his tower, looking out from the porch that gave him a view of the land he controlled. For thirty years, he’d rued his people with iron talons and for thirty years, he knew his rule would never be tested. But now, as his soldiers began to retreat and die, due to the sudden increase of soldiers amongst the pony race, as well as the recent regularly scheduled interferences from the cause of the war, he was beginning to reach the end of his tether with everyone. Suddenly, his soldiers were incompetent, his bed companions unfulfilling, everything in his life had grown dull. And to make matters worse, he feared he was leading his gryphons into extinction. While he held no personal attachment to them as a whole, he knew that a king couldn’t be a king without control over others.

Things seemed to turn even worse for him as a messenger entered his chambers. “Your highness, I have urgent news. Over a dozen soldiers have reported having killed at least three different enemy units four to five times. They suspect Celestia has made a deal with changelings for reinforceme–.”

The sound of a chain rattling towards the messenger could be heard before the inevitable pierce and cessation of life. The king had thrown what was now revealed as his metal talon at the messenger and killed him on the spot. As if by magic, the chain attaching the talon to his arm began to retract and clamp shut in place. He growled at the news. A deal with the changelings was the last thing he needed to happen to him. He returned to looking out at his kingdom when he heard a tutting noise a second later. He whipped his head around again to see a white gryphon with an eye patch over his right eye.

“Ever heard of the saying: ‘Don’t shoot the messenger’?” he asked, his deep and raspy voice chilling the king’s spine. The king just turned to the intruder and pressed his talon to his throat which didn’t seem to err the white one’s confidence.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

The white one seemed to wink at him before replying. “The last thing you’ll ever see if you don’t stand down.” he replied. The king suddenly felt five sharp tips press lightly against his chest. He looked down to see a talon similar to his own, though the knuckles were long black blades roughly twice the length of daggers. The white gryphon before him had the blades positioned perfectly around the left side of his chest. All it would take is a thrust and a clench for his heart and left lung to be sliced into five equal pieces. With little choice but to submit, the king stood down, returning his own weaponised talon to the ground.

“What do you want?” the king asked returning to his balcony.

“Less paperwork to do whenever some gryphon, changeling or pony dies in this war. In short, I want the war over, and I’m going to offer you a face saving way out of this whole mess.” he replied. While the king wished to know what sort of occupation required paperwork regarding the deceased from all sides of a war, he thought better than to ask and went straight to the main article.

“How?” he demanded. The white one cleared his throat and waited for a moment.

“Bluff.” he said simply. The king turned to look at the white one who appeared right in front of him, almost beak to beak. “Tell the princesses that you have a certain number of forces waiting in the wings to overtake all of Equestria by storm, but you are willing to call them off if the peace treaty is renewed and placed into effect immediately. In essense, wipe away the last year and start off with a clean slate.”

The king considered the option for a second. “But the whole reason I declared war was to take revenge on that damnable dragon for killing my scouts on my territory!” he shouted.

“And that’s proven to be more trouble than it’s worth. As a nomadic race, you should be admiring his tenacity and endurance. Besides, I’ve seen the border of your territory as well as the resting place of your soldiers, not to mention his comrades. The truth would reveal you to be in the wrong, yet again… Hyperion.” The king went wide-eyed as his name was spoken.

“How do you know that name?” he asked, more shocked than anything else.

“I know the names of every living thing that has died, every living thing dying and every living thing that will eventually die. Nothing about anyone is hidden from me, murderer.” the king growled at the white gryphon and threw his talon up to his face, tearing away at the flesh.

“I told everyone that an assassin killed her, not me!” he shouted. The white gryphon fell back, dead. His blood began to pool out and stain the floor. Hyperion turned back around, frustrated at everything that stranger had said.

“And of course they’d believe you.” Hyperion swung his head around again to find nothing, not even the blood where blood once was. The white one had disappeared from view, yet his voice still remained. “After all, no-one aside from you and her knew that your brother left the kingdom to his daughter instead of you. Of course you felt you deserved it more, given your outstanding loyalty. And upon his deathbed you murdered his daughter and opened a window, claiming an assassin did it. The others didn’t know you had a motive.” the king looked around for the source of the voice, but couldn’t find it. It was as if it was coming from all around the room.

“Your kind used to believe that in the afterlife, if you’d committed a sin you’d be weighed down by chain and ball. For working gryphons, it would take years of unfaltering business that infected the lives of others to create chains strong and heavy enough to carry the weight of the ball that was their sin. But for someone like you who has directly cut off the life of another through your own talons… such a quick and heavy sin is murder.” Hyperion gasped as the air around him became tight and the gravity increased to a point he was forced to his elbows and knees within the span of a second. It doubled and he was flat against the ground in half that time.

“Then… doesn’t it… make sense… to… continue the war… for the sake of… the fallen?!” he cried out. The gravity returned to normal and the air began to flow freely into his lungs again. He gasped for air and revelled in it.

“So your answer is to bring justice to the dead through war and suffering on both fronts?” the white gryphon appeared again right in front of him through a cloud of white smoke and stopped just short of him. The king rose to his paws with difficulty.

“That is correct.” he replied.

“How stale!” the white one retorted, showing his displeasure at the mere idea. Hyperion huffed at the white gryphon and walked away from him.

“I know who you are now, demon. And I know that you cannot kill me yourself, otherwise you would have done that. You do not ally yourself with one particular side, but simply watch from the sidelines and wait to collect the souls of the dead. You have rules which you must follow and playing the arbiter is one such rule.” Hyperion stopped one last time at his balcony, staring confidently out toward the gryphon kingdom.

The white pony recalled the deal he’d made with the princesses and the changeling queen three months ago…

“It’s settled then; I’ll go to the gryphon king and attempt to convince him to give you a way out of this war. If he accepts, then it’s smooth sailing from then on, if he refuses, then I will pretend to be a gryphon and kidnap your student, Twilight Sparkle. I’ve seen the reaction the dragon has whenever she is in danger or upset and I am confident all you would need to do from then on is recall your ponies and let him work his magic, so to speak. Once that’s over and done with, you three will follow behind him and take over the gryphon kingdom to expand your Equestrian Empire.” The angel of Death was clear and concise with the plan as he laid it out to both princesses and Queen Chrysalis.

“Yes, while in the meantime, Chrysalis will have her changelings change into our fallen soldiers and continue to fight. In exchange, we will allow them to take the places of those lost to us and absorb the love from the widowed.” Celestia replied. Chrysalis nodded and offered her hoof to the white alicorn who took it with some unease and tension. Luna however, had something else on her mind.

“It is such a terrible time for Twilight Sparkle’s sister to be born in.” she stated. The angel looked to her and seemed to grow distant.

“Yes, Misty Nebula. In exchange for using miss Sparkle as bait, I shall endeavour to ensure that no more of that family will die during this war.” he said.

“Speaking of death, there’s one thing that still confuses me.” Chrysalis piped up. All ponies looked at her, waiting for her to ask. “If you don’t allow second chances, how come Spike is still alive, shouldn’t you have killed him instead of sealing away his power? From what I heard, he was supposed to die when the corrupted magic took him over.” she said.

“Spike divided his soul into two prior to corrupting himself with dark magic. As far as the rules are concerned, division of the soul is equivalent to a second life.”

…The white gryphon sighed as he took into account the past with what Hyperion had just said.

“That used to be the case. Now, I’m free.” with a buzzing sound, he was gone in a blur. Hyperion turned around to question him but saw nothing but his chambers with the messenger from before still lying in the doorway.

Spike leaped into the air and focused all his magic into his fist. As he descended upon a small platoon of gryphons, his hand collided with the ground. A wave of dark energy surged like a ripple in water, consuming and killing everything within its radius. The bodies of the gryphons were drained of all fluid and they looked like they’d been decaying for years. Spike’s scales shone black as he grabbed another gryphon by the beak and began to drain its life force. One could watch as the muscle and fat on the creature was sucked out from its body and converted into energy. He tossed the remains aside and ran full throttle into the next horde.

Twilight was using her enhanced magic to overcome the resistance the gryphons had to regular magic and was giving them a good taste of her anger as she took hold of several in her telekinetic energy and crushed them from the inside out, breaking every bone and organ in the process. Their dying screams resonated with her fury and she was sent into a hurricane of a blood rage. Cadence fared no better as her sorrow and misery took over and had begun to mutate into a new form of dark magic that drove its targets to the brink of insanity. As an alicorn her magic was somewhat better channelled. She just strolled through the crowds of gryphons and watched with melancholy eyes as they all dropped dead out of fear of the insane images and scenarios that played randomly throughout their minds. Shock was one hell of a way to die when around her. The rest of the elements of harmony had grown even more dismal as they watched their friends fall to darkness and sorrow one by one.

Applejack had grown stronger for the sake of breaking gryphon bones with her apple bucking skills. Rainbow Dash had learned to use her Sonic Rainboom as a means to distract enemies and ground airborne gryphons. Fluttershy had tapped into her affinity for animals and called Timber Wolves and all sorts of creatures from the Everfree forest, creating a legion of monsters all under her control, feeding off of her restlessness and directing it to the source. Rarity began designing traps as well as armour for the others in order to protect them and bring them home safely, though she felt she was unable to contribute directly to the fight and was left to look after the fillies with Gilda who believed her presence on the field would blend in with the enemy and endanger one of two things Rainbow Dash had left to live for. Finally, Pinkie Pie had long since lost her poufy manestyle and took up general fighting, combining it with her unnatural stealthy abilities, she was the ultimate assassin. She returned to using her old name, Pinkamena.

Having taken back yet another town along the borders of Equestria and driven the enemy that much farther back into their own territory, the group felt they had succeeded and stopped their advances on the gryphons to rest and take the time to revel in their acomplishments. Though it was a small thing given what they had all lost. Twilight had lost a brother, Cadence a husband, the other elements of Harmony had lost a friend and Spike had lost any possibility of thinking he could live a happy life with Twilight after this.

“We did good today guys. Well done.” Spike said, ripping the hind leg of a gryphon from it’s body. He then began to cook it in his own fire, the smell wafting to the others who once would have felt queasy at the scent, but now felt a sense of accomplishment. Some of the wilder animals under Fluttershy’s control had begun picking off the bodies, but others had piled around Spike and Twilight, trying to get their meat cooked.

It wasn’t until they went homeward that everything turned dark yet again for the group, especially spike. Travelling single file, they all heard a thump from behind and the sound of Twilight crying out for aid. Spike saw a white gryphon with an eyepatch holding Twilight in his arm. Twilight’s cried ceased as he headbutted the mare, knocking her out.

“If you want your partner back, destroy the gryphon king and anyone he sends at you. Then she’ll be yours once again.” he said, taking to the skies. Spike growled and pointed a finger at the white gryphon.

“I’m not playing your game. She stays here!” he shouted, a line of black shot out towards Twilight and the gryphon, but instead of making contact, the gryphon shot upward, creating a sonic boom similar to Rainbow Dash’s without the colour.

“NO!” Spike roared, spreading his reverse-angled wings and following after him. He was stopped by Cadence as she grabbed him in her magical aura and brought him down.

“Cadence, let me go! I’m not going to lose Twilight too. She’s the whole reason I’m fighting now, just as Gilda is to Rainbow Dash or you to the memory of Shining Armour.” Cadence felt a pang of emotional agony at her husband’s name, but she remained in control of herself.

“I know you want to save her, but rushing in blindly to the epicentre of the enemy’s territory is just foolhardy. Who knows what they have planned for you there?”

Spike was forced to watch as the white gryphon disappeared into the clouds with Twilight in his arms, waiting for him to follow.

“I’ll kill them… I’LL KILL THEM ALL!!!”

Chapter 10: Calm's Death

“This is bad, this is very, very bad!” Luna said as a white gryphon she and Celestia recognised as the Angel appeared with Twilight in tow.

“I admit I’m still nervous about the idea myself. However, I see no other option short of asking him to intervene directly and that comes at a cost too great to even consider.” Celestia replied, sighing as she looked hopefully at the angel, who was unwilling to humour her.

“It appears our plan has hit somewhat of a snag as well.” he said, changing his form to that of a pony. He stood as tall as Celestia, but took on the form of a dragon winged Pegasus.

“I do not want to hear that from you of all ponies, Grimm. If your plan fails, we’re doomed. Spike’s going to find out you took Twilight and brought her here, then he’ll find out we planned this and he’ll kill us.” the sun princess began to pace on the spot before she was knocked over by Twilights body.

“Shut up and stop whining. You’re a princess for goodness sake. If you were still children, then I’d understand. Besides, you forget the deal I made with you both a thousand years ago.” the two princesses looked at him and released their nervous breath.

“I didn’t think you still adhered to the old rules… Mar Grimm; not since you supposedly liberated yourself from the Elders.” Luna retorted. Mar threw himself forward, knocking the princess into the wall and pinning her a foot above it.

“Don’t doubt me and don’t dare say my name so lightly. We’re partners in business only, nothing more.” he quickly jabbed his hoof further against her neck before letting her fall back down, coughing. She looked back up at the stallion with renewed fear.

“Now, when Twilight wakes, inform her of the plan and make sure she doesn’t escape. There’s always the chance she’ll want to stop Spike from putting himself in danger.” he continued, heading for the exit.

“You never did understand love, did you?” Celestia asked, shifting Twilight’s position on her back to make her more comfortable. Mar said nothing as before he reached the door, he disappeared in a blur and a burst of sound.

“I understood the feeling, just not what a relationship entails.” his voice echoed for a few seconds.

Chrysalis shuddered as she received information from one of her children that the angel had returned to her cave. Some of her babies were still taking on the forms of ponies who were lost I battle. She knew that they would have to keep up appearances for the sake of those families who were waiting for their lovers and parents’ return, and she knew she wouldn’t see most of them as often as she would have liked, but it was for the survival of her race that made her determination towards the angel’s plan infallible; not the survival through sustenance, no, that was assured; but the survival through peace between Equestria and her children. Her previous failure against the ponies revealed that the very thing she was after from them could wind up choking them to death. Though the original pair that had defeated her was divided through death, the threat remained in the form of the dragon and the unicorn. But that threat was secondary now she had made a deal with the devil, or what passed for him.

Said devil emerged from the shadows ahead and approached the queen with a casual demeanour. Every step he took resonated through the caves and forced Chrysalis to shudder as he stopped short of her muzzle. Everything about him freaked her out. His draconic stare, the lack of breath from his lungs that she should have felt, the quiet that surrounded them, even the colour of his coat and his bleached blonde mane and tail betrayed his occupation and personality. She saw him as a dark and cold creature with self-loathing on the surface and universal hatred for everything else on the inside. Every aspect of this stallion screamed wrong.

She caught her breath as he locked his mouth to hers. There was no passion in the act, at least not from his side. An explosion of converted love entered her body and she could feel her strength flowing through her. In seconds, it was overflowing, like water from a pond had been compressed into a small glass and released. She almost broke as the surge of power distorted her senses. She’d only felt like this a couple of times before, during her time masquerading as Cadence. Certain acts were played out between herself and Shining Armour prior to their wedding.

She could feel it, the danger mixed in with the act. While the angel was transferring love from his collection of souls, he was tearing away at her walls. Her strength was gaining, but was giving way to vulnerability. And for those few seconds, she felt what it was like to be a pony and experience love instead of feed upon it, and it drove her crazy.

The angel pulled away with lips as dry as when he’d started. Chrysalis fell to the ground, the loving experience vanishing as she broke contact with him. She didn’t know what had happened, but she was certain that she’d felt something akin to ecstasy. The proof was in the pudding as she looked down and found herself sitting in a puddle of her own juices. This embarrassed her to no end. Not only was she spent right before the angel of death, but her children were watching with horror-stricken faces. What’s worse was that Chrysalis wanted to feel that feeling again. She wanted to feel love instead of feeding off of it.

“What did you just do to me?!” she demanded. Her outrage poorly masked her true feelings towards the subject. The angel just lifted her head with his hoof and flashed his eyes at her.

“I tested you. I wanted to get a feel for the limits of your changeling abilities. I’d hoped you could change into someone I knew, but sadly, that’s impossible. You can’t change into those long dead, just those who have died recently. Sadly, that’s of no use to me” he replied.

The changelings, having thought the angel had done something dangerous to their queen, began to surround him and bare their fangs ferociously. The angel saw in their eyes their intentions. They wanted to look formidable before the god-like creature. However, the angel was unfazed by their threats. With a stomp of his hoof, a wave of wind blew outward from his body and threw the creatures back. Chrysalis was sent into her throne, her legs sprawled out in a very compromising fashion. She remained as she was, too frightened to move. At that moment, it looked as though the angel was going to mount the helpless changeling, but he just brought his face closer and whispered into her ear.

“I know what you truly desire. And if all goes well, you and your children shall have it. For now, what do you want to do to pass the time?” Chrysalis was close to the breaking point. She was being driven to near insanity thanks to this creature. However, a base desire entered her mind and she blushed before whispering the response out of earshot of her children.

The angel reared his head back and looked at her with the same blank expression he always seemed to wear. “Very well.” he said, turning to the other changelings. “Leave us.”

Without any hesitation, the changelings scattered towards the exits. Finally, Chrysalis’ curiosity would be sated on this night as she was left alone with death looming over her.

(Clop Scene)

“I’m not one for standing around trying to come up with a plan, Rarity, especially when Twilight’s in danger. I had no choice when you were captured by the diamond dogs, but this is a completely different situation and there was nothing I could do on my own back then.” Spike struggled to fight the urge to jump out of his seat and dive for the nearest window toward where he thought Twilight was. Cadence and Rarity had managed to convince him to stay and listen to their plan, but in the long run, it was to say the least… stupid. With little option left, he grated the arms of the chair with his ever eager claws. Chunks of wood splintered to the sides as his temper began to get the best of him.

“I’m serious, Darling. It’s best to get help from the princesses. If you go it alone, they’ll have a trap set for you.”

“There’s nothing they can do. They can’t stop me. They’ll all die for taking her from me…” Spike began to growl and groan as he tried desperately to supress his urge to destroy everything around him. That consciousness within him loved Twilight as much as he did, and it was furious to say the least.

“Spike…” Cadence hesitated as Spike began to growl and it gradually expanded into a full on roar.

“GrrrrrrrrrraaAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!” his scales burst forth from his body, giving way to the new coat of black, seeping darkness from beneath them like tar. With the smoke cleared, his new form was sharper; his spines pointier and stronger. His scales were glazed over with darkness and he was audibly furious as the distorted cries of the dragon echoed through the Everfree forest, amplified by the halls of the castle. With a sharp twist, Spike had erupted once more into a small tornado of darkness that dissipated within seconds, revealing the dragon’s absence. Cadence sat down, defeated once again. She sighed and thought about what might happen now that the dragon was unrestrained and uniquely pissed.

The Gryphon king found out within minutes as the city to the east was reported destroyed in under three, followed by the neighbouring town between the capitol and that city.

“My lord, Spike has appeared in the Eastern city and has already annihilated it, moving on to Skyclaw Village.” the reporter declared. The king growled and pounded the stone floor beneath him.

“Enough is enough! Release the Leviathan.” the reporter swallowed and bowed low to the king. Not another word was said as the reported left to relay the order.

All the while, the king was focusing less on Spike and more on that white gryphon who had demonstrated unnatural power. So he was death incarnate? In that case, what did the future hold for the world as he knew it?

Chapter 11: The Leviathan Awakens

Spike surged with power and rage, dashing quicker than lightning through the village of Skyclaw. He cut down every gryphon he came across. Due to his unrelenting hatred towards the gryphon race, he had difficulty telling military from civilian, adult from child, elderly from infant. He was pissed beyond belief, not even the animals were safe. Dogs found themselves without tails and paws. Pet snakes found themselves wishing they could regrow heads like hydras, even the ferocious battle tigers were no match for this force of chaotic anger.

One of the gryphons tried to defend itself against Spike, having hidden its family from him. The gryphon screeched at him and stretched its wings outward and upward in a threatening pose, pacing towards him. Spike just roared right back at the gryphon stranger and threw his arm towards it. The arm stretched out toward its prey and clasped one of the wings in its claw. Spike pulled back and with tenacity and force, tore the right wing off of the gryphon. The one-winged gryphon touched the ground in agony and struggled to grip the remaining stub behind its shoulder blade. Spike was far from finished though. He threw his arm out again, still holding the wing, which had been sharpened thanks to the bone snapping off. He threw his arm down and jammed the broken bone into the gryphon’s skull, silencing it forever. He then proceeded to grab the entire gryphon and throw it at a group of other gryphons who thought it smart to attack him from behind.

One of the gryphon Generals was watching from on high, the madness and mayhem that was polluting the once thriving village. Having been born and raised in the Skyclaw, he held a fraction of the hatred Spike had towards his kind. Just as he was about to send more gryphons, most likely to their deaths, a messenger emerged with new orders. The General read over the orders and smiled.

“Well it’s about damn time. Captain, tell your men to release the Leviathan.” the General ordered. Just north of the Skyclaw village, roughly a single kilometre, was a large lake that connected to the ocean through a tunnel beneath the surface. The Leviathan resided within that lake and above all else, he supposedly hated loud noises. The gryphons knew better than to screech when he was present, but Spike surely didn’t share than knowledge.

The Captain nodded, affirming his orders and flew towards the lakebed. Three more gryphon guards waited there for him.

“Captain, is it time?” one of them asked. The Captain took his place on the dock at the lakebed and nodded to the others. They all smiled with glee before preparing to alert the Leviathan. They took in deep and sharp breaths, holding it for a second. Then, with a loud and powerful expulsion, screeched into the water. Combined, the sound was ear-splitting and lasted all of around ten seconds. When they finished, they remained still, searching the water for any sign. For a moment they believed they had failed, but the water quickly became disturbed and rumbling alerted them of the creature’s presence. Satisfied with their work, they took to the skies and headed back for the Skyclaw village.

Seconds later, a large tentacle emerged from the water and came slamming down on the dock the gryphons had occupied just before. Another tentacle breached the surface and fell towards the sandy edge just next to the dock, then another, and another. Ten tentacles hit the lakebed and created deep grooves around it. Then the face of the creature rose to the surface, its thick skin glistening with the water trickling down off of it to join the rest of the lake. The face rose high above the water, and soon, shoulders rose up, followed by a torso, the arms of which were the tentacles that came first. The Leviathan lifted one of its legs up and rose out of the lake in a single step. The tentacles slid away from the edges and wrapped around each other forming solid arms.

Spike took notice of the behemoth to his right and roared in challenge to the creature. That roar was all the Leviathan needed to identify Spike as its target. A loud and deep bellow escaped the creature before the two monsters made their ways toward each other, prepared to kill the other.

Back in Canterlot Twilight was banging on the door to her room, screaming to be let out. She’d taken a less than agreeable approach to the Angel’s plan. Celestia sat on her bed, waiting for the young mare to calm herself. She couldn’t pretend to understand how Twilight was feeling at that time, having long since forgotten what it felt like to be in love and do the stupidest things for the sake of that other individual. She’d seen it countless times, but Twilight’s was the most violent reaction ever displayed. Whether it was due to her tampering with the dark arts or just an above connection to Spike himself that caused such violence, she didn’t know. Even after having explained the plan to her, Celestia had to dodge near fatal attacks from the unicorn until she changed her primary target to the door. Even as Celestia waited, Twilight kicked and blasted at the door, sometimes with great skill and flexibility, at the same time.

It wounded Celestia to see her faithful, yet recently tainted student act the way she did, but war darkened every heart it touched, and she knew Twilight needed no more darkness added to her soul. The room was protected from dark magic, and was specifically tuned to ward off Twilight’s magic in particular. Luna herself stood guard outside the door just in case something should happen. Twilight screamed loudly, giving up on the door and heading for the window instead. She tried to chance the fall, but as she leaped through, an invisible force field knocked her back inside.

Twilight had tried everything, from blasting her way out to teleporting, from attacking the room to attacking her teacher, nothing worked, she was stuck and it burned at her mind body and soul, knowing that Spike was needlessly putting himself in danger just so Celestia and her little gang could end the war faster. Twilight however, was prepared to sacrifice more ponies if it meant she could finally be happy, and with Spike.

After yet another minute of trying all possibilities, including frightening Celestia off of the bed, she settled down and sat in the middle of the room, her eyes closed and her mind working on another solution. Celestia took that opportunity to speak again, having waited silently for just such a moment.

“Twilight I know you’re… for lack of a better word, upset… but you must understand, I have to protect my ponies from more suffering, and if Spike has to be fooled into winning the war for us, then that’s a risk I’m willing to take. If something should happen to him and you never want to speak to me again after this, I’ll understand.” Twilight said nothing as she continued to focus on another way out. However, she took the time to listen to what her teacher had said. As far as she was concerned, she didn’t want to speak to Celestia again anyway, regardless of the outcome. She’d tried to sell Spike off in order to prevent this war in the first place, that was reason enough for Twilight to never want to speak to her again. The latest of idiotic ideas was the jump over the line. Twilight would never forgive her for this treachery.

Maybe you should offer your sister up to the Gryphon King instead next time. She thought as she returned to her planning.

“Believe me when I say I hope for the best in relation to Spike, I really do. But it’s him or Equestria, and you of all ponies should know what the right answer is.” Celestia continued. There is no right answer, she thought. You can’t trade one life for many more, even if that one life was little more than scum. Even if it were King Sombra, or Queen Chrysalis, everypony has a right to live. To sacrifice oneself to save many others is a choice that one has to make. Nopony else can make it for them. Twilight wanted to say as much, but thought better of it. She didn’t want Celestia coming up with a retort. She wanted at least a shred of the teacher she once knew and loved to remain, not tainted by the fear war inspired in her. It then struck her. She knew she couldn’t do anything to the barrier or Celestia that would make the alicorn release her, but to sacrifice herself…

Twilight rose to her hooves and ignited her horn. The magical aura surrounded her and took on the shape of a sphere, twirling around like mist in a crystal ball.

“What are you doing?” Celestia asked, standing up and backing away from the unicorn. Twilight knew she had to answer in order for the threat to work, but the dissatisfaction of having to speak to her former teacher once again almost made the attempt seem not worth it.

“If I can’t see Spike, then I see no reason to remain here, here in this room, or in this mortal coil.” Celestia seemed confused at first, but further explanation clarified the meaning behind the sphere.

“As powerful as Spike is, he might not be able to defeat every Gryphon and when he least expects it, he’ll die. I see no reason to live should that happen. If You don’t let me out, I’ll kill myself, and I suppose you, while you’re within the barrier.” she declared. Celestia’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Twilight, surely you wouldn’t?”

“I would. I’ve had suicidal tendencies during the three years Spike was missing, if I can’t see him because of you, I don’t want to live in this world anymore. And you don’t need me to tell you what he’ll do when he finds out I died as your prisoner.” Celestia struggled to find a way to defuse the situation without losing Twilight to the open world, but she was unable to accomplish this task. With a sigh of defeat, she turned her head to the door.

“Luna, drop the barrier.” Celestia ordered. There were muffled curses from behind the door, but Twilight could feel the barrier drop. Just as the door opened, Twilight released her hold over the magic and let it dissipate harmlessly.

“Would you have really let yourself become a slave to chance?” Celestia asked as Twilight walked past Luna. She stopped half way through the doorway and turned back to her former teacher with a smug grin on her face.

“Is it slavery when you get what you want?” she asked in return. As Twilight closed the door behind her, she had a sinister idea. Using her magic, she sealed both princesses in the room together, using the same barrier attuned to their own magics. She then placed a seal on the door so nopony could enter and break the barrier from within using their own magic. It didn’t tke the sisters long to realise what had happened. Twilight waited for the classic words;

“Twilight Sparkle, open this door!” There it was, straight from the horse’s mouth. Celestia was less than pleased. Satisfied, Twilight left the princesses to their own devices, making a mental note to release them once everything was over and done with.

“Spike, we’ll obliterate the Gryphon kingdom together. Wait for me.” she said as she stepped out into the open, saluted by the royal guards stationed at the entrance.

Chrysalis was disturbed from her slumber by the sudden movement of her companion. The Angel had sat up and was looking around as if there were an intruder in the room.

“Is something wrong, my love?” she dared label the Angel as such. He seemed unphased by the title, still focused on whatever had distracted him from his slumber.

“Something’s happened. The power has shifted somehow. An event I had not foreseen has occurred.” he replied. Chrysalis sat up, happily sore from the events that had taken place before.

“Is that good or bad? I mean, has this power shifted in our favour or the gryphons’?” she asked. The Angel seemed to consider the question, delving into whatever psyche or third eye he used to view the world above for the answer.

“They have a Leviathan.” he said. Chrysalis considered the creature she knew all too well.

“A Leviathan is a slow moving creature with water based attacks that couldn’t penetrate a dragon’s scales, I don’t see how Spike could lose to that.”

“And this, my dear changeling, is why I am the ringleader and you remain naïve to the important things in life.” Chrysalis, although hurt by the Angel’s response, could not fault him.

“Spike just so happens to be susceptible to water when he is in the form he is in now. Should he be hit by water, his body will burn and he will be reduced to a dragon without scales. I’ve seen such a dragon. It was a suffering unlike anything I could hope to give to another.” he replied.

“I don’t understand.”

“Imagine if you will, a dragon without scales. You’re probably thinking he’d have a surface similar to that of a bald pony, but that is not the case. Beneath those scales are the muscles and veins filled with blood. Think of a skinned Pony, still alive, a changeling without an exoskeleton. Just standing on their paws, feet or hooves would be an agony that forces one to welcome death. They would be unable to lay down without suffering as though they were lying on a collection of red hot branding irons.”

Chrysalis cringed with every detail and thought that entered her mind. to be reduced to muscle and bone, live through it and suffer simply standing. She would have begged for death then and there just to make sure such a thing would never be possible for her if she didn’t cherish her life and her children so much.

“Please, Angel, help him. Even if he means nothing to me, I could not stand to know something lives a life such as that.” The Angel looked Chrysalis directly into her eyes. There was a moment of silence before he rose from the sleeping chamber they shared and stretched himself, then with a crack of his neck, he sighed.

“As you wish, your majesty. And so, the Angel of Death shall go to war.”

Chapter 12: End Of The Line

Spike dodged yet another stream of high powered water. He learned quickly that his supposed greatest weapon was susceptible to water. The first jet had skimmed across the tar like surface, leaving a very bad burn. He knew then what would happen if he took on a direct hit. Spike was smart, but he couldn’t see a way to prevent being flayed alive while he was in the heat of battle. His own attacks proved ineffective as the Leviathan was still slicked with water at the time.

The dragon was on his last legs as he’d been repeatedly struck by the creature before him. He could hear the darkness within his mind screaming, throwing out more of the tar-like substance to try and defend itself. With another dodge, Spike found himself standing next to a barrel filled with spears and sharpened weapons outside the ruined Blacksmith’s house. He reached out and grabbed all the weapons in the barrel with the tar and flung them as hard as he could at the Leviathan. Most stuck into unimportant areas all over its body, just agitating the creature further, but one spear managed to sail through the air and stuck true to its left eye.

The Leviathan halted its relentless pursuit of the dark dragon and tried its best to remove the offending spear from its eye. As it fumbled around with its tentacles, trying to get a good grip, Spike took the chance and ran to the left side of the creature so as not to get caught in its line of sight. He’d planned on physically climbing the creature to deal a killing blow to its head, but the wet surface eliminated that idea. With no other option, Spike opted to retreat and find a way around the creature to the king.

It was then the Leviathan was knocked back by a strange ball of energy, somewhat familiar to him. A bipedal figure, cloaked in white with the head of a pony appeared next to him. It was death, another enemy to deal with.

“You can’t defeat the Leviathan, Spike. Leave him to me. You go on and take out that king.” he said. Without another word, he tossed Spike a small object and leapt into the air. With the rate of speed at which he went as well as the full strength of the Angel, the physical impact he created with his fist sent a shock wave that made a crater along the torso of the Leviathan. The creature was sent into the air and thrown across the land about a kilometre away.

Spike couldn’t hide his surprise at the angel’s strength, but did as he was told after a moment of awe. The darkness within him had died down out of surprise as well and Spike’s scales shone dark in the sunlight. With new determination, he made track for the castle where the Gryphon king would be, as would Twilight.

Mar watched Spike speed off (with the running speed of Sonic the Hedgehog) towards where he knew the Gryphons’ castle resided. The roar of the Leviathan brought his attention back to the battle.

“You got up fast. Not even Zeus recovered that quickly. Three hundred years ago, you might have posed a threat to me. Shame, you’d have made a good challenge.” he said, cracking his knuckles. As he cracked the knuckles on his right hand, his fingers disappeared and were replaced by short blades no longer than twenty inches in length with a black surface. On the back of his glove appeared a symbol similar to yin and yang with a slight variance in shape. This was the ‘Seal of Mar’; his family seal. With the dragon skull mask over his head, his voice became distorted.

“Let’s see what you can do.” Mar coaxed, dashing into battle with the creature.

Twilight galloped to the ruins she believed the others would be to check up on their wellbeing. To her relief they were fine, but wanted to help her go after Spike.

“No, only I can be there. Spike won’t be able to fight at his fullest with liabilities hindering him. I’m immune to his power now, so he won’t have to worry about me. I have to go there alone and help him defeat the Gryphon King once and for all.” she deadpanned, leaving them behind with those words.

Her teleport led her to the edge of the castle where guards surrounded her upon sight. She looked at the ones in front of her and huffed.

“Piss off!” she said, snapping her magic for an instant. A wave rushed outward, blowing the dust, wind, dirt and guards away in an outward arc. When the gryphons landed on the ground, they began to fidget and convulse as necrosis took hold and ate away at their flesh at an accelerated rate, leaving little more than bones, weapons and armour in its wake.

Twilight advanced forward and made her way for the throne room, clearing the path ahead with similar ease. She was in a bad mood, thanks to her teacher’s little trick. As she appeared in the throne room where the king, Hyperion himself waited, he seemed surprised to see Twilight and not Spike before him.

“You are not the one I was expecting to see, Miss Sparkle. May I ask why you are here?” he asked. Twilight just cracked her neck and made her way over to the throne, sitting next to it.

“I’m waiting for Spike to come and kill you. You’ve held off our reunion for far too long, you and the princesses. For that, I want to see the light leave your eyes. Whether the princesses follow you or not is up to him.” she replied. Hyperion nodded in understanding and took a seat on his throne, looking across the arm to Twilight.

“Then we shall simply wait for him to arrive. Let us hope the Leviathan doesn’t burn his scales off before that happens. I’d very much like to kill him myself.” he responded, testing his fake claw.

“I don’t think the Leviathan will be a problem for Spike. He’s smarter than most other dragons. He’ll be here soon.” Twilight defended her love.

“Sooner than you think.” a voice said from behind them. Before either of them could turn around, Hyperion was sent flying forward along with his throne across the room as Spike bucked the thing off its hinges. Hyperion picked himself up off the floor and brushed himself off.

“How is it that you simply won’t die no matter what I throw at you?” he asked in irritation. Spike stepped forward and stood at his full height with his wings furled against his back.

“The scouts from the Mountain could not kill me. Your Leviathan could not hold me. And you will not see the end of this day! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!” Spike shouted at him. He was about to go dark again, but something forced it back down, more like ripped the darkness out of him. The seal grew black, filled with the darkness that once embodied Spike. He tried to enforce the darkness on himself, but nothing happened.

“It seems you’ve been cut off from the darkness within. Death is on my side after all. How fortuitous for me.” Hyperion said, taking his crown off and tossing it to Twilight. “The winner of this battle wins the throne. Are you interested, Spike?” he asked. Spike smiled and nodded.

“Sure. It’s about time I got something out of this war.”

Mar landed on the ground, straightening up and took a few steps forward. He then swung around and threw his bladed hand upward. One of the Leviathan’s many tentacles were sliced clean off. The creature backed off to cry out in pain and get used to it before charging back at its attacker. By this time it had suffered the loss of several tentacles, an entire arm, the same eye Spike had blinded and three teeth. The creature was almost gone.

“You’ve proven to be a good exercise for me. You’re en par with Hades in terms of endurance and stamina. Not surprising since you’re what we like to call a Proto-titan. I’ll give you an appropriate send off.” he said. With a deep breath, Mar impaled himself with his blades. The black around the surface of the blades came off like ink spreading along his clothes. It spread past his clothes and engulfed his entire body, turning him into a silhouette for a brief moment. Almost instantly, the silhouette exploded in a burst of light and Mar had been transformed into a black dragon with fur instead of scales. His clothes remained the same. His bladed hand was gone, now replaced with Draconic claws. Instead of being impaled, Mar held his right hand to his chest with a slight bow in his stance.

“This is who I really am; Mar Grimm, the Angel of Death. And this is my true form.” He held his arms forward and locked them in a cross shape. He spread his wings and shot up faster than the eye could follow. Upon descending towards the confused Leviathan, he threw his arms outward. Two black blades of pure energy shot out from his hands and struck the gargantuan creature. He was cut into four equal parts and the ground beneath him had been engraved with the holy cross, which was truthfully, the crest of the Angel Elders, one of which was Mar.

As he descended towards the centre of the cross, where the four parts of the Leviathan lay, He exploded in a burst of energy that turned the Leviathan to ash as it passed over the pieces. Amidst the smoke and fire, Mar stood in the air, his eyes glowing through it all and his white coat flapping in the aftermath of the breeze.

“Mar, what have you done?!” a familiar voice called out to him. The angel turned his head towards the source of the voice. The smoke cleared with a slash of his claw to reveal his brother, Dusk. Better known as the Angel of War and another of the Elders.

“What needed to be done. The Leviathan was never supposed to be involved in this war. You know this as well as I do, brother.” he replied. Dusk seemed less than agreeable.

“Nevertheless, it happened, and it is not your job to interfere with the lives of mortals, unless their time has passed. We have rules to follow, Mar; I suggest you follow them.” Dusk replied.

“You’re beginning to sound like our father, Dusk. I refuse to be ordered around by weaker angels, especially when their opinions are not in the best interests of Heaven and the worlds we watch over. Father was one such angel, and I retired him for it.” Mar declared.

“Don’t lie to me, Mar! You and I know full well you ‘retired’ our father out of revenge for what he put you through.” Dusk replied.

“You agreed that our race functioned better with an Empress instead of a Grand Elder, and that my choosing Rein Cielo was the best possible decision to make!” the argument began to escalate quickly and Dusk felt the need to take on his true form also. Like Mar, his true form was that of a rare creature. A Crimson Phoenix, with black flame that failed to burn his clothing.

“And she made you one of the four Lords as a result. You gained from your decision once again.” he said. Mar grew angry with him.

“If given the choice, I would have left Heaven instead and lived with Terrain! But one of you killed her. For your sake, brother… I hope yours was not the hand that slew her.” he threatened.

“She was a mortal dragon, you are an Angel. It would have never worked.” Mar’s eyes flashed bright yellow and the whites of his eyes turned black.

“THAT WAS FOR US TO DECIDE, NOT YOU!!!” he roared, shooting twards his brother with the intent to kill.

Claw clashed against claw as Spike and Hyperion exchanged slash after slash. Spike learned quickly the devastating effects Hyperion’s fake claw could have, even against dragon scales. The sheer force of the claw’s collision was enough to dislocate the dragon’s shoulder. The talons themselves ripped at his surface, forcing blood to seep out and fall down to his fingertips. In return, Hyperion had been given a black eye and his skull was cracked in three different places. Scratches that bled profusely covered his sides, making him difficult to grab due to the slickness of his body as a result. Both reptile and bird were badly hurt. While Spike had natural strength and power as his advantage, Hyperion had experience fighting the strongest of enemies over many years. He was king for a reason.

“You’re good, Dragon. Should you win, I can see you growing up to be the strongest of your kind.” Hyperion complimented.

“Thanks, but I like to think I already am. I may be cocky, but that cockiness is often based on truth. And I can see why you’ve remained in power for as long as you have.” Spike returned the compliment. Hyperion nodded his thanks and wiped the blood away from his eye so he would not be forced to see through his black eye and Spike would not be tempted to hit it again.

After a moment of circling each other and recovering some of their strength (including relocating Spike’s shoulder), they went at it again. The two of them butted heads, Hyperion was careful not to hit him with a cracked area. They then hacked and slashed at each other, managing to dodge each other’s attacks. Hyperion jumped back and tried firing his retractable claw again, but Spike saw it coming. He leaned to the left and quickly countered, biting at the chain. Hyperion tried to retract it, but Spike had dug his claws into the marble floor, pinning him there. He bit through the chains, effectively disarming the gryphon (literally). With the worst of Hyperion’s arsenal out of the way, Spike continued his assault.

Dusk flew high into the air, Mar close to his tail. He came to an abrupt stop, throwing his forward. Mar was struck in the face and sent across the sky out of sight. Dusk took the time to gather his energy and prepare a ranged attack. As he was ready to fire it, Mar appeared in a burst of sound not ten feet away from him with a similar attack. The brothers threw their energy balls at each other and they collided. Now it was a struggle to see which of them was stronger in power. They distanced themselves as the energy balls grew in size as more power was put into them.

Finally, the energy began to fuse together and the result was close to nuclear. The angels were sent flying miles across, but that distance was nothing to them. As they mimicked each other in recovering and gathering themselves, they disappeared out of sight for an instant in burst of sound before reappearing half way to each other in another burst, resorting to hand-to-hand combat. Dusk was faster when it came to attacking, but mar was stronger and Dusk’s speed didn’t count for dodging. Cuts appeared along Mar’s chest faster than he could follow. He reached out and grabbed Dusk’s torso, throwing everything he had into one punch. The fist of the draconic Angel collided with his brother’s stomach and a wave burst forth from the collision, dissipating the smoke and clouds around them.

Dusk was motionless for a moment, winded beyond belief. Mar took that time to float over to his side and clasp his hands together, throwing his fists down into his back. Dusk hit the ground in a millisecond, bouncing off of it like a Russian Ice skater. He tried to stand up, but he was forced further into a small crater that grew larger thanks to the force Mar had added on his back. Mar figured the battle was won, but Dusk was persistent.

“I… refuse to lose to you again, brother! Father should have made me the Angel of Death, but he chose you instead.” he said with malice poisoning his voice.

“I agree,” Mar replied. “It would have saved us both the trouble and would have saved him from me. But There is one thing I am grateful to Father for.” he added.

“And what’s that?” Dusk demanded.

“Had he not made me the Angel of Death, I would have never met Terrain, and you would have never had a shot with Sam.” he replied. Dusk seemed enraged by the mention of Sam, their oldest friend who had a crush on Mar. But due to mar’s training, she lost sight of that crush and began to see the appeal in Dusk instead.

“Besides, you would have made a lousy Angel of Death. You’re just not that good at it.” Mar added. Dusk growled, then it evolved into a roar of anger as he rose to his feet and charged his brother.

Hyperion fell to the ground, beaten and bloodied. He was hanging onto life by a thread. Spike stood over him, badly beaten himself. Both of them knew this was it. The final blow and Spike will have won.

“Congratulations, Spike. I admire your skill and your determination. You’ve earned my kingdom. Now what will you do with it?” Hyperion asked. Spike breathed heavily as he tried to find the words to use.

“I’ll rebuild it, make it better than before. Gryphons and Ponies both will live together. I’ll ensure the equality of our two species.” he replied. Hyperion chuckled, coughing afterward.

“Our two species? Wouldn’t that be three, considering you’re neither a Gryphon nor a Pony?” he asked.

“I grew up a Pony, I fell in love with a pony, and I fought for a pony. As far as I’m concerned, I am a Pony in mind and soul, just not in body. So like I said, I will bring our races together in peace, thanks to your relinquishing of the throne.” Spike replied. Hyperion smiled.

“You know… that was what… we always wanted; integrated co-existence. Not just peace at a distance. Thank you, Spike. Go ahead.” Hyperion said, closing his eyes. Spike didn’t hesitate. Building up what power he had, he tried to force the darkness out once more, but instead of darkness, his fist glowed a bright golden colour. His scales shimmered and soon he was a gold and white dragon with red eyes. He used this power and smashed his fist through Hyperion’s head. Instead of a messy splattering of blood, his body disintegrated into small flecks if light and rose into the sky, disappearing through the roof one after another.

With the battle ended, Twilight ran towards Spike and dove at him, clamping her hooves around his body. With a joyous laugh, she found the darkness in her vanish and her colours grew brighter and brighter. There was a flash of blinding light and she was transformed into an Alicorn. The glow around Spike dissipated and he was left golden with a white underbelly and frills.

“This is amazing!” Twilight exclaimed. “Could it be some evolution of the dark research in your mother’s Grimoire?” she asked. Spike turned to look at something that shone out of the corner of his eye. The seal of mar glowed on one side, the other shrouded in black. Next to it was the crown. He picked both up and put them together. The seal fused with the crown. The seal’s outline was imprinted into the crown and had taken on a draconic theme. He then proceeded to place the crown on his head and once again a fusion began to happen. The crown went into Spike’s body and emerged as a Quintet of horns. Spike’s frills were replaced with spikey spines. Both horns and spines were turned golden and the wings on his back were returned upright.

“Golden dragon… sounds like some sort of oriental restaurant.” Spike said. Twilight giggled and just leaned in to kiss him.

“I think these are our rewards for surviving and ending the war, as well as not letting the darkness cloud our judgement.” she said.

Mar had received countless blows from his rage filled brother, whose strength now matched his own. He’d been hit numerous times, making no effort to dodge. Each blow hurt like hell, but still he refused to dodge an attack.

“How do you feel about it now, Brother? Still think I’d be no good as Death?! Huh!! How do you feel about it now?!” Dusk demanded, punching him in the stomach in a similar fashion to how Mar had done before.

“Gonna whiz red.” Mar replied simply, mocking the twin Angel. Dusk grew angrier and prepared to double-fist slam him into the ground when Mar took the opportunity he’d been waiting for. With a sudden burst of strength, he clenched his fist and landed a direct punch to Dusk’s gut. The force of the blow tore a hole in the clothes in his back, and Mar knew his organs had been severely damaged as a result. Mar stepped back and conjured another energy ball the size of a castle above them. But it slowly began to compact on itself until it was no bigger than a tennis ball.

“The reason you’d never make a good Angel of Death is because you’re too easily angered. Death needs an ever clear and calm mind to work properly, something I have been tested against countless times by you, father and almost everyone in Heaven. I managed to remain calm up until you killed Terrain. The Angel of Death is gone, Dusk, as is your brother. All that remains is ‘Grimm’, and Fenrir. Two beings now of like mind.” Mar stopped talking for a moment and placed the ball of energy in his mouth. Dusk looked on in horror as Mar swallowed the energy. There was a moment’s pause before his muscles grew to ugly sizes and reverted to just a little larger than before. It happened throughout his body. What was once a somewhat skinny, but strong dragon, was now a perfectly chiselled and undoubtedly stronger one with eyes blacker than the night and irises as gold as a polished ingot.

“In short, Dusk; there are two things you lack. One is resolve. Had you the resolve to be the angel of Death you would have stayed with Father instead of joining me when he really needed you.” Mar shot forward with a pointed hand and shot it through Dusk’s chest, impaling him with his arm. Dusk lurched and hocked up blood as a result of the final attack. “The other thing you lack is your life.” Mar said. On the verge of death, Dusk clutched his brother’s clothes and tried to grab his attention.

“Heaven will not tolerate betrayal from a legendary figurehead.” he said. Mar smiled and nodded.

“I know. But I don’t really care about what they’ll tolerate or not. I think it’s time heaven is placed under new management, perhaps moved to a new system altogether. I’ll have to discuss some things with Celestia and Luna once I’ve destroyed Heaven.” Dusk’s eyes grew wide as he heard Mar’s plan, but that was the last thing he ever did as his life faded away. His soul emerged from his body as a wisp. Mar quickly grabbed it and held it in his hand. Throwing the corpse into the cross in the ground, letting it go lost forever, he crushed the soul with his bare hand, letting it dissipate into nothing.

“And that’s checkmate on both accounts. The seal has been activated and Spike is now the Guardian of Equestria, making this land perpetually invincible. Twilight is an Alicorn and has been given Immortality. Hopefully she’ll clean up after Celestia’s mess and make things even better for the world. Once I kill all the other Angels, This world shall become the new Heaven. The dead of the other worlds will be reborn here, and the dead from this world will be distributed to the other worlds. A perfect system.” Mar took a deep breath and let it all out. “I wonder if Dusk realised Sam would also die as a result of my plan. Maybe I could sway her over to my side, milk that childhood crush for all it’s worth.” he pondered aloud as he disappeared in a burst of sound.

Author's Note

Okay all, so this is the final chapter, so it gets songs. Don't worry, there will be an Epilogue depicting the aftermath of the two battles, but this is the end of the shit that got real. I bet you all didn't think my character was actually a bad guy doing what he does for good intentions. Anyway, I'm tired now and I need sleep, so I'll write the epilogue tomorrow. Also, sorry in advance for the Backstreeet Boys songs, I know they're sort of outdated and for some reason, hated. But I grew up on those guys so IDGAF!

Comments please!

Epilogue

The Eve of the war was celebrated amongst all; Ponies and Gryphons alike, sans those of elitist personality drank and ate together, forgiving and befriending each other. Talk of moving into Equestrian and Gryphon towns became common and things seemed as though the war had never happened and there was no hostility whatsoever. Things seemed to lighten up and the world as a whole seemed a happier place.

Talk of the new Alicorn was also a common occurrence, one that Celestia and Luna were interested in. Spike and Twilight had yet to return and they had not been seen since the fight between Spike and Hyperion. The Gryphons claimed Spike as their new king as were the rules regarding Royal death battles. They accepted Spike as their king, and ponies were excited to learn the ways of the Gryphons.

It had been three days since the war ended, and those three days had been spent finding and burying the dead. The celebration was to both celebrate the peaceful joining of the two species as well as lighten the heavy hearts of those who lost family in the war. The celebration took place in the Royal Hall of Canterlot, where the two sisters resided at the head of the table. Beside them were the still morbid and depressed Elements of Harmony, unperturbed by the end of the war. They all agreed that the only thing that would brighten their spirits was to see Spike and Twilight both happy and together. Little did they know, their wish would come true in a dazzling way.

Chatter filled the hall as the different conversations took place. Happy ponies and gryphons were enjoying themselves while the mourning guests were slowly gaining some happiness by the realisation that nopony or gryphon else would go through what they went through. Celestia and Luna sat side by side, Twilight’s friends gathered on either side of them. Celestia rose to her hooves and addressed the guests with a stomp of her hooves that echoed above the voices. She had their attention.

“Fillies, Gentlecolts and the Gryphon equivalent of both. It is with great pleasure that I announce the official joining of the species. Gryphons will have the option to live and work among ponies, including high class jobs such as joining the Royal Guard should you desire it. Also, Ponies are allowed to venture into Gryphon land if they wish, hopefully able to do the same should their new king ever return from wherever he has gone.” she declared. There were merry cheers in response to this and raised glasses, toasting the declaration.

“In addition, I would like to formally apologise to my Student, Twilight Sparkle and her Dragon, Spike. My judgement was poor in relation to the fragile nature of the previous relationship between Ponies and Gryphons. As a result, I made a lot of mistakes, and it pains me to realise how foolish I was. I could never ask for your forgiveness were you here with us at this time.” There was a solemn silence throughout the hall as the guests had nothing to say on the matter and respected the fragility of her statement.

“You know, it’s shit like this that makes me hate Canterlot perties.” a voice said from behind her. She turned around to see nopony there. She scanned the others for an answer and found Luna trying to cane her neck around to look behind her throne. “What about you, Twilight?” the voice asked. Twilight? Celestia thought, turning toward the throne completely. Twilight emerged from behind Celestia’s throne, revealing her new wings to everypony.

“We’ll have to make sure parties in the Misty Mountain aren’t as boring as this. I mean it was alright until my teacher here brought up shaky troubles that really have nothing to do with anything anymore.” she replied, smiling. Twilight stepped toward her teacher and rubbed her head long her neck, showing her that the sun princess was forgiven.

“Twilight, you’re an Alicorn?” Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief.

“For the fstest flyer in Equestria, she’s pretty slow on the uptake, huh?” the first voice spoke again, emerging from behind Luna’s throne. Everyone gasped in surprise at the drastic change Spike had made. They laid eyes on the golden dragon standing before them with his arms crossed.

“Spike… you’re… you’re a–.”

“Yep! I’mma BOSS!” he joked, chuckling afterward. Twilight chuckled along with him.

“But he knows that I’m the boss, right Spike?” Twilight challenged.

“Yes, Ma’am!” Spike replied in a lazed mock salute. “Oh, by the way, I have a little gift for everypony.” he added, taking a somewhat straight forward stance. He spread his arms wide and gave a loud clap. A golden wave spread out along with the sound and went through everyone in the hall. The Elements of Harmony grew brighter, and they found themselves adopting their original personalities. Pinkie’s changes being the most noticeable, with her mane and tail tangling up into cotton candy and her giddy grin and giggle returning with a vengeance.

“Last thing I’m going to do is let my friends live in darkness while we bask in the light.” he said. Twilight approached Spike and took her place beside him.

“Princess, Celestia. Meet your new allies; King Spike and Queen Twilight. We are the new rulers of the Gryphon Empire, now called the Royal Alliance." she declared. Applauding from the guests erupted as Princess Celestia and Luna were both rendered speechless. Amidst the loud noise, Twilight brought herself to Spike's attention and whispered into his ear.
"And honey, I'm pregnant."

Author's Note

And that's it, my loyal fans. The end of 'The Spread of Darkness'. Next in the trilogy will be 'The Darkness That Binds'.

Ending theme is Hanging On by Elli Goulding

Chapter 4: Descent Into Darkness

“Prepare to fire!” called the Gryphon Commander. He led an entire battalion of his kind to Baltimare where they were in the process of taking Horse Shoe Bay. Things were going well. Those ponies were weak. Unicorns proved ineffective against the soldiers he commanded that were of Lieutenancy or above. This Commander brandished steel armour polished to near perfection. It wasn’t stylish like pony armour with jewels encrusted within, those were considered structural weaknesses. Over his back rested a long light blade, which he had yet to draw.

His forces advanced over the city like a tidal wave and were killing ponies from left to right, the orders commanded as such. He stood on the jibboom of the sail ship as it made way toward the bay. Despite the easy take-over that his forces were supplying, swarms of gryphons flew overhead to join in the fight with those on land.

“Commander Reave, Pony reinforcements are on their way. ETA is thirty minutes.” said one of the ship’s crew.

“Send teams three and four to flank the ponies from the sides. Then send six to dive them. We should have control of Baltimare in five minutes. I’ll let you do the math and tell me how much time that will give us to prepare for the reinforcements.” Reave replied, turning his head to the crewman. The right side of his beak was scarred, like he’d been in a skirmish with a Timberwolf. His right eye was foggy, indicating he was blind on that side.

“Yes, Commander.” The gryphon flew back onto the ship to relay the command given to them. Meanwhile, Reave looked back at the country and squinted as he hoped to make out a very specific face.

“Gilda…” he sighed.

Gilda awoke with a start. She’d had a nightmare, quite common these days. She turned to the happily dreaming Rainbow Dash and sighed.

“Lucky.” she muttered, sliding off of the bed they shared. She looked for Scootaloo but remembered she’d spent the night with her ‘crusader’ friends. The term ‘dweeb’ entered her mind as she thought of the name of their group, but she was hardly one to judge. She rubbed the side of her face, gently scratching an itch at the base of her beak. She made her way out of the room and set for the kitchen. Nightmares always made her thirsty. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. With precision, she unscrewed the lid and chugged the contents down. She was very thirsty.

“Dad…” she sighed.

“You don’t talk much about your family, do you?” a voice spoke in the darkness, causing Gilda to jump and trip up. She searched around for the owner of the voice. Spike emerged with his arms crossed and a brow raised.

“Yeah, well neither does Dash. I don’t see you dweebs asking her about her old folks.” Spike offered his hand which Gilda took aggressively.

“We pretty much got the idea of Dash immediately after meeting her. Runaway, right?” he asked. Gilda nodded.

“Yeah, that’s Dash. I guess that’s me too. But I’m not as tough as she is. I always went back to my old man. Not this time though. Now I’m stuck with renegades.”

Spike listened to Gilda’s words with a sympathetic ear.

“Where did I leave my violin?” he asked as he knelt down to her level and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“You say you’re stuck here with us, but do you think you’d have had the chance to pursue your relationship with Rainbow Dash after the war?” he asked. Gilda drew back a bit.

“And why couldn’t I?” Spike raised two fingers.

“One, after the war, the tension between your two species would… complicate things. Two, this is war. People die every day and who’s to say either one of you would survive? I don’t doubt your abilities, but remember that while you’re both fast, you’re not invincible.” He rose back to his full height and walked away, leaving Gilda to her drink.

“Perhaps instead of considering it a prison, you can think of it as a one way ticket to Runnersville. You said you always went back, well like you also said; not this time.”

Gilda watched as Spike seemed to disappear in the shadows. Even the sound of his feet clacking against the stone ground ceased and she wondered if he was waiting for another sleepless being to emerge so he could scare the hell out of them too. She looked down to the drink in her talon and sighed. Spike wasn’t wrong. She was with the one she desired. Though war brought their two species further apart, it brought her and Dash closer together. The silver lining in the dark cloud.

Shining Armour led the reinforcements to Baltimare, but as he arrived, he’d discovered the city completely devoid of any pony life. Gryphons had taken the city. Knowing a confrontation to be pointless, he made to order the retreat, but the battalion had been spotted easily.

“Alright, defend yourselves! I want spears and Shields over our heads, Unicorns covering the outer ring. We’re going to do it old style!” he said. Every pony in his command complied and began to make a dome around the group like a giant turtle shell. The unicorns erected barriers around the shell to reinforce it. As the skirmish began, the guards were hit with a wave of beaks and talons. Shining was pushed against his fellow soldiers, their bodies being crushed by the sheer force of their attackers. He thought he might have made a difference, might have somehow managed to save some civilians, somepony. But he was losing more soldiers to the enemy, something he scarcely did.

“Twiley…” he groaned as his body was beginning to break under the pressure of his comrades who had grown scared under the pressure, both emotional and physical.

Twilight awoke with a piercing scream. She knew it wasn’t a dream, but magical observation. Spike was in the room like a bolt of lightning. He held her hoof in his hand and squeezed it tightly, trying to distract her from the dream. She’d awoken with darkness pouring out of her eyes along with tears.

“Twilight, what is it?” Spike asked, hearing the others entering the room out of concern.

“Shining Armour… he’s losing the battle in…Baltimare. Spike!” she leaned over to her dragon and squeezed him tightly.

“Baltimare, that’s not far from the forest.” Cadence said, beginning to worry for her husband.

“Are you kidding? You’ve got mountains in your way and Rambling Rock Ridge to deal with. We wouldn’t get there in time to help them.” Dash began. Twilight ignored their comments and began to force magic into her horn. Spike said nothing as he released her and pulled Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Gilda and Big Mac towards him and Twilight.

“The rest of you stay here.” he ordered. Before the other ponies could protest, Twilight had forced herself and the others to teleport to Baltimare, leaving Rarity, Fluttershy and the others behind to await the news. Cadence broke down at that instant, worried for her husband and sister in-law.

“Don’t worry none, Princess. Twilight’s got Spike, and Mr. Armour’s got mah sister, brother and Twilight and Spike to protect him.” Applebloom said, patting Cadence’s leg tenderly.

“Thank you, Applebloom. You’re right; nothing will stop them. I just have to wait for Shining to return. Fluttershy can heal him so he can return to duty better than ever.”

The group had broken up and Shining was running on three legs. One of his hooves had been broken and he was brandishing a spear in his teeth. He felt Death’s door knocking and he could have sworn he’d seen a tall Stallion like himself just standing on the horizon, waiting for him to reach the end of his life. He knew it was death himself waiting for he could see the same Stallion everywhere he looked, moving like the Slendermane legend. Shining tripped on the body of one of his fallen comrades and skidded along the ground. His broken hoof bobbed up and down as he slid along, giving him great stings of pain with every movement the thing made. He stopped on his back and looked up. Gryphons stood over him, as did death himself, looking over with impartial eyes at him. He expected Death to be black, but this Stallion was grey, almost white with a blonde mane and golden eyes like a dragon’s. He watched Death as a spear came down on him. Time slowed down for the guard captain and he watched as Death broke eye contact and looked ahead of himself. He cracked a smile before vanishing like a wisp of smoke. Time resumed and Shining felt the spear enter his chest. He cried out as he saw the gryphon that had impaled him get thrown back by some strange magical force. But magic didn’t work on these gryphons. He thought. The others abandoned their prey and looked in the same direction Death had before they too were felled.

Moments passed before somepony entered his field of vision. He was relieved to see his younger sister standing by him, but something was wrong. She didn’t look like his Twiley. She was dark and corrupted, like King Sombra. He hadn’t seen Twilight in a year, but the changes were so drastic. She looked like a monster. Her friends seemed somewhat corrupted themselves, as though continued exposure to her had darkened their hearts and perceptions on the realities of Equestria.

“Shining!” Twilight exclaimed. With her magic, she forced the spear out of her brother’s chest and pressed against the open wound. Tears began to strew down her face as she felt her brother’s life fading away.

Spike made his way to her and looked at the scene. Thoughts began to enter his mind. They weren’t like the average thoughts he was used to. They were simple, primal at best. Twilight was crying. Shining Armour was dying. One caused the other. So what caused the one? Gryphons. Gryphons were to blame. “They made her cry.”

Spike’s body worked of its own accord. He could feel the anger welling up inside him as though he were about to be sick. He shook his head, growling. This caused a headache and be gripped his head as cessation of movement failed to relieve his pain. He couldn’t help but move in order to try and lessen the pain, but whatever he moved began to burn like a fire in his body. He looked around, his eyes resting on the gryphons. The instant he made eye contact, his mind snapped and he fell into a state of undiluted rage. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his scales opened up like flaps. A dense black smoke escaped from his body and surrounded him. It spread to engulf Twilight and Shining Armour, creating a visual barrier to protect them from the oncoming gryphons.

Spike’s eyes glowed from within the darkness and from the looks of things he was staring daggers at the enemies that had caused Twilight’s tears. He left the smoky barrier and revealed himself to all. His body was slicked with a black tar-like surface that seemed to act as a physical manifestation of his self. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. And with a flex of his great muscles, he cried in agony and rage.

Author's Note: Just to clarify, I tried to describe Spike's dark tar-like surface as best I could. My goal was to compare it to Venom from Spider Man 3.

Chapter 7: Angelus Infiltration

Chrysalis crept through the corridors of the ancient castle of the Sisters, where she could smell the stench of Cadence and her friends. She was unnaturally nervous about this whole thing. The only reason she would infiltrate the home of somepony who had beaten her before was for the continuation of her kind, and that was exactly why she was staking her own life. That strange and nerve-wracking pony promised all the love she and her hive could consume for the rest of their existence, for the continuation of their existence. There was something about that stallion which chilled the changeling to the bone.

She crept through the main corridors, stopping just short of a room which held conversation within. She stopped to listen, pressing her ear to the door.

“Spike’s getting restless. He says he can feel something on the horizon, and it’s not related to the war.” Twilight said. There was a moment’s silence before another voice called out, this one was familiar to Chrysalis. It was Cadence’s voice.

“Maybe the Dragons are getting involved.” she said. Chrysalis began to feel as though the something Twilight mentioned was in fact herself. She moved away from the door and hurried along, changing into Cadence’s form. Not a moment too soon, as Spike turned the corner, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. Chrysalis froze, her ears drooped back in fright.

“Cadence, something wrong? You look like you’ve just run into a ghost.” he said. Chrysalis took note of his voice. How it sounded like that grey Stallion’s. She chuckled nervously, trying to imitate Cadence’s voice and personality.

“I thought I had when I saw your eyes glowing. I was just about to go and see my husband.” she said. Spike blinked once and chuckled.

“Sorry about that. May I join you? We haven’t had much time to talk since this war started, not to mention my being somewhat dead the past few months.” he said. Chrysalis couldn’t help but widen her eyes at the last notion. If Spike were dead, then how could he have been standing before her?

“I don’t see why not.” she began, walking beside the tall dragon. It was only a few moments before he struck a conversation with her.

“Cadence… I know you were Twilight’s foalsitter when she was just a filly, but I feel like I should ask you; do you have any problem with her and me… you know.” Chrysalis’ eyes widened again as the topic struck her. It was a topic she never gave much thought about. But now she had to.

“I honestly can’t complain. While I care about… Twilight. I just want her to be happy.” Chrysalis had trouble just pretending to show concern for the ponies that had ruined her life and reduced her hive to a skeleton of its former self. “Why do you ask, Spike?”

The dragon sighed and looked at the alicorn. “I can’t help but feel as though the others aren’t just unhappy with our using dark magic, but are in fact against the whole dragon and pony relationship. I just wanted to know what you thought.” he said. Chrysalis felt as though this were the perfect opportunity to perhaps wound her enemy’s emotions.

“Well Spike, if you really want to know…” she stopped, hesitating to do him harm. “I think… you should ignore what other ponies think and do what you feel is right. Progress isn’t made through submission of peers. If we bowed to peer pressure, we’d be no better than animals.” Chrysalis was surprised by her answer. She stopped afterward and considered why she’d given him that answer.

“You’re right, thank you Cadence.” he said. It was then that Chrysalis felt the familiar sensation of love radiating towards her from the dragon. It wasn’t love like she’d fed from Shining, but the love of a friend. It was like eating a single vegetable within a salad to her.

“Spike, what did you think about the Changelings when they attacked Canterlot?” she asked at random. Spike thought about her question and smiled.

“Well, speaking from an outsider’s point of view… while they fed off of love, they went about taking it the wrong way. A peaceful negotiation would have worked between Chrysalis and Celestia.” Spike growled as he spoke the latter name. His scales darkened slightly and Chrysalis couldn’t help but notice this.

“I’ve been thinking about… asking Chrysalis for aid in the war. In exchange we would commit to some sort of peace between the two species.” Spike seemed to entertain the idea in his head.

“That might only work if there was some way we could transfer the love from a pony to a changeling without taking a toll on their bodies. How did they survive before?” he asked.

“Well, rumour has it they used to take over the lives of ponies who were on the verge of death and live out their lives with their loved ones, taking their love and returning it to their queen.”

“Like bees?”

“Exactly like bees. Only they’d return to the same flower over and over again and this is beginning to sound weird.” she said. Spike chuckled and opened the door to Shining’s room. There he floated in the tank, the green glow of the liquid inside making him seem like a spectre.

“He looks dead already.” Chrysalis commented, walking up to him. Spike stood beside her and looked at Shining Armour. “Do you think it’s possible for a pony to love a changeling, Spike?” she asked, turning to the dragon.

Spike shrugged. “Dunno. I know I never could. It’d be too much like when I loved Rarity. The love was one-sided.”

“You don’t think a changeling can love?”

“No. Otherwise they could feed off of the love from each other. Again, it’s one-sided. They need us, but we don’t need them. Of course, with the war, it might be different.” The dragon smiled at the alicorn and stroked her face.

“But you don’t need to worry about any of that right now, Princess. Focus on Shining and his wellbeing.” Spike said, leaning in to kiss her forehead. He then abruptly turned and left the room, closing the door behind him. Chrysalis changed her form again and sighed, looking back to Shining Armour.

“Hello lover.” she said, chuckling. She looked around the room and saw a long piece of metal that had fallen from the old construction of the room. Using her horn, she lifted it with her magic and twisted it into shape. It was now a long, sharp spear. Without a second’s hesitation, she forced the spear toward the tank. it was then that she felt Spike’s black hand catch the spear just short of the glass. His eyes were white hot and he was radiating a dark aura. Chrysalis lost her calm and began to back away aborting her mission.

“You think I’d leave Shining alone without any security? He is Twilight’s brother and as such, I must do all I can to protect him.” Spike broke the spear in half and threw it to the ground. He then proceeded to close in on the changeling when a strange hand stopped him in his tracks, causing a plume of white smoke to rise on his shoulder. Spike turned around to see a light grey stallion standing like himself with a white dragon skull over his face. The stallion was encased in white flame.

“Finish the job, Chrysalis!” the stallion commanded, throwing Spike back behind him. Spike roared in protest as he hit the wall. Chrysalis nodded and proceeded to run at the tank. She picked up a piece of the metal and jammed it into the tank. The glass cracked and the green liquid began to leak through. Twilight and the others crashed through the door as they heard Spike’s roar and they laid eyes upon the scene. Twilight and Cadence both screamed as they saw the tank had been damaged.

“NO!” they cried out together. Spike rose from the hole in the wall and charged the fiery stallion who knocked him to the ground headfirst.

“Stop it!” Twilight cried; her magic radiating through her body as she engulfed herself in dark magic. The stallion looked to her and went to Chrysalis’ side.

“Hurry up.” he said. Chrysalis swallowed hard and forced the glass to crack further. Within an instant, a hole appeared, forcing the liquid out in a torrent. Twilight screamed, activating Spike’s reaction like last time. The stallion watched as the dragon flooded himself in darkness and emerged a monster wrapped in a physical manifestation of darkness itself.

“Kepla'nas ekess loreat! (Prepare to die!)” he said, challenging the stallion in the draconic language.

“Si mi Marfedelom. (I am Death.)” he replied with the same tongue. The skull on his head began to open and a ball of black energy formed between the teeth. It grew in size and drew in the energy of the room around it.

“Don't interfere.” the stallion said. He threw his body forward before the recoil of the blast forced him back. The ball arced outward and destroyed all in its path. The sound it made was unique and unlike anything the ponies or the changeling had ever heard before. It was deafening and terrifying all at once and Spike was caught in the middle of it. He could feel his body being burned by its awesome power and he cried out for Twilight, believing he was going to die once again, and this time, there was no way back to her.

Suddenly, the energy dissipated, turning into nothing more than a streak of light before vanishing altogether. The ponies all stood where they were, most too scared to challenge whatever could make that giant hole in the castle. Spike stood where he was, unconscious and reverted back to normal. Twilight was looking at the dragon, horrified that he might be dead. She ran to him as he fell forward, a groan escaping his lungs as he did. The stallion took no notice of them afterwards and returned to the now dying Shining Armour.

“Leave him alone!” Cadence called out to the two. Chrysalis left the Captain to her comrade and turned to Cadence.

“I suppose this is like revenge for me.” she said, preparing to attack should Cadence interfere with the grey stallion’s plans. Unfortunately, Cadence did try and Chrysalis had no choice but to force her down.

“Shining Armour was supposed to die on the battlefield, but your interference altered the course of time. I’m simply here to correct it.” the stallion said, turning his head. His eye sockets flashed amber.

“You’re Mar Grimm, the Angel of Death.” Twilight addressed the stallion. Mar turned his head back to Twilight and seemingly blinked at her.

“Yes. As I told your companion, I am Death.” Mar reached his hand through the glass and touched Shining Armour’s chest. The white Stallion lurched forward and his spirit was pulled out of his body. Cadence began to squirm under the Changeling Queen who had difficulty containing her.

“Stop it! Why can’t you let him live?” Cadence demanded.

“As I said, he was meant to die on the battlefield. Even I have rules I must follow; were I to break them, chaos would ensue, the likes of which your kind couldn’t fathom. In order to protect you and your race, I must follow the rules set me.” Mar then placed his finger on Shining Armour’s ectoplasmic head and threw it down, drawing a line across his body. The spirit then began to glow and in a bright flash of light, he was gone. Cadence stopped struggling and stared at the lifeless body of her husband.

“What happened, where is he?” Twilight asked, grabbing the angel by his leg. Mar looked down at her, his eyes still glowing.

“Where every soul goes after they die. Home.” he replied, turning to Chrysalis. “Your work is done, Chrysalis.”

The changeling released Cadence and turned to the angel. “Don’t forget our deal. I help you fix your mistake and you help my hive survive.” she replied. Mar reared his head back slightly, his eyes going dark as well as his mask.

“I’d choose my description of Shining Armour’s survival of the battlefield more carefully if I were you, Chrysalis. I don’t make mistakes. If the opportunity to do my job slips by the first time, that’s fine, so long as it’s fixed in the end, like now.” Chrysalis cleared her throat and nodded. She was not about to cross death himself.

“Sorry.” she said.

“Wait. You’re the Angel of Death, and you promised to give Chrysalis what they needed to survive? They need love to survive, how can you give them love?” Twilight asked, fixing Spike’s position on her back.

“Soul Emotion Conversion. Any emotion the pony felt is converted into love and sent to the changelings.” he replied. Twilight seemed to go through the process in her head.

“But… wouldn’t that drain ponies of their emotions?” she asked. Mar shook his head.

“No. I should explain that the emotions are actually copied, then converted.” he concluded. Without waiting for another question, he grabbed Chrysalis by the neck and pulled her closer to him.

“We’ll see you again, Elements of Harmony.” and with a burst of sound, the changeling and the angel disappeared out of nowhere, leaving all the ponies speechless, surrounding an unconscious dragon and a dead Guard Captain.

Author's Note

Okay, so I'm in the story, lol. I was surprised that I hadn't jumped the sequence around a bit, usually I disjoin the time sequence and throw the story through different perspectives. But I'm proud of how this turned out. So, we have a war between ponies and Gryphons, Celestia's student is using the darkest of magics, her brother's now dead and the Changelings have the Angel of Death literally watching over them while their queen is contemplating making amends with the Equestrians. This is going to be fun.

Sequel

Just for those of you who favourited the story but didn't follow me weren't aware, the sequel is out, but I haven't updated it as often as the other two. Anyway, the link is here. Enjoy!