//------------------------------//
// Strength Through Wounding 
// Story: The Anvil of Dawn 
// by Starlix 
//------------------------------//

Up close like this, Twilight got a true sense of just how different Spyro was  from the dragons she was familiar with. Other than not being bipedal like the majority of the dragons found on Equis, his scales looked smoother, his body less bulky and more streamlined. 
 
However the most defined difference from the dragons she had was the expression in his lilac irises. It somewhat reminded her of the look she had seen in Griffons who had fought in war, a hollow, guarded look that spoke more of the horror of combat. 
 
Something in the eyes of the dragon in front of her spoke volumes. She had expected the normal greedy, uncaring eyes of the majority of dragons that inhabited the land, but this was different. It matched the emotion of his companion, the dragoness she had first spoken to.
 
That female was still MIA, but perhaps she would get some answers to all the confusion that had plagued the last week from the dragon in front of her. Her inner scholar got rather giddy at the thought of getting some of her questions answered. If he was extra dimensional, think of all the information she could get!
 
Something about his stance told her he wasn’t going to skirt around questions like Cynder had, and she found herself being filled with a childish sort of fascination at the idea of talking with someone from a different world.
 
Unbeknownst to her, a near maniacal expression had taken hold of her muzzle as her mind whirled at the possibilities of what she may uncover. Just the thought of getting to the bottom of that strange magic he possessed was enough to make her lightheaded. 
 
It seemed the mare had forgotten the previous crimes that the dragon in front of her was guilty of, at least for the moment. Her analytical side pushing out the fact that he had, even if he wasn’t quite in control of himself at the time, wiped out several guardsponies after he had been knocked from the sky.
 
Instead, he shied away from her near crazed expression, leaning away from her as Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with a snort, bringing a hoof to her face in blatant annoyance. It wasn’t that shocking however that the lavender mare was getting like this, not like it hadn’t happened before anyway. 
 
Shaking herself from her stupor, Twilight finally seemed to notice that she had unwittingly made her guest rather unsure. She cleared her throat, wiping at her chest with a hoof idly. Pushing away the weird expression from her muzzle, Twilight extended a friendly smile, turning halfway and motioning at an empty chair next to Rainbow Dash. 
 
Laughing somewhat nervously, Twilight felt her heart race slightly as Spyro’s face morphed into one of profound embarrassment and remorse. 
 
In all honesty Twilight wasn’t sure what to expect when she had returned to Ponyville. The endless searching in the Vault of the Dark Arts hadn’t returned much findings, but Celestia had assured her that the search would continue.
 
The purple mare had been unsure in telling her friends of what she had been looking for in that evil place. Secrecy was the key and so she refrained from saying much of anything. She felt terrible while down there, the knowledge that the books she had been reading contained some of the most malevolent spells both known and unknown was enough to put a sour taste in her mouth.
 
Thankfully the search had been discontinued when that vibration of twisted energy had ripped through Canterlot. It had nearly knocked her off her hooves, however the brief warning she had gotten from the whiff of metal melting had been enough for her to cast a bubble around the city in panic. 
 
She wasn’t quite sure how she had done it, if she was to be completely truthful. Her body had acted on it’s own, horn nearly breaking from the enormous and sudden draw of magic from her core and spiraling into the air over and under the city. The shield had barely held against the wave.
 
A city full of unicorns, Canterlot was, the damage to the populace would’ve been...bad to say the least. Thankfully, she would later find out, the limited number of unicorns in Ponyville had prevented the town from being very damaged. 
 
She felt remorse at having been so late to return, but her body hadn't been able to cope very well with the astronomical energy draw and had collapsed on the spot. She didn’t recover as quickly as she would have liked.
 
Grateful that she found the town unscathed, if a bit perturbed upon her return, the mare was shocked at the devastation to the outlying areas. The damage to the Everfree being the key among them, the forest had been pushed back at least a mile, ravenous purple fires still burning like oil lamps amidst the sunset.
 
At first she was a bit unsure of what to think of the fact that the dragon that was responsible for the destruction had just given himself in. Dash had given her assurance that the dragon was far from a threat. Although skeptical, Twilight trusted in her normally Devil-may-care friend, given how oddly serious she was.
 
Now that she was stood in front of him, she could see just why her friend had spoken of the dragon in that manner. He had a resigned look she hadn’t seen very often. However, something else burned in those lilac irises, something with an intensity that caused her to take a step back.
 
Cold, tempered, despaired rage. A mix of emotions not normally put together, she could see the determination for this purpose burning like a fire in his lavender eyes, a need that outweighed any other.
 
He bowed, unsteadily, looking a little out of place. The situation looked quite odd, the heavily battle scarred dragon bowing in a look of fear to the smaller pony. Twilight, not having expected this reaction, paused, a hoof raised in the air unconfidently. She cast a look behind her at the five equally confused ponies seated. They just gave her confused shrugs.
 
 
Turning back around, she moved one step forward. Seemingly breaking from his stupor, the dragon spoke out, a tone of remorse coloring his gentle voice. 
 
“My apologies for the intrusion, it was not my intent to harm your land.” He bowed his head further down, closing his eyes. The polite, refined speech didn’t quite suit him, neither did the submissive tone to his voice. 
 
Twilight was very confused. THIS was not the reaction she had expected. Dragons were incredibly prideful, to them bowing to a pony was almost unthinkable. Twilight then had to remind herself that this wasn’t going to be a dragon she was familiar with.
 
“You don’t have to bow, I just want to ask you a few things.” She stepped forward nudging one of his shoulders with a hoof. He opened his eyes, and lifted his head. “Take a seat, breakfast will be coming up soon.” She tossed her head back towards the empty seat. 
 
His eyes gazed past her, catching on something for a brief moment before returning to her. Nodding once, he returned to his normal height, gazing at her expectantly. Blinking once, still a little whizzed out from the short interaction, Twilight turned trotting back to her seat.
 
Hearing the soft clicking of claws on stone following loosely behind her, she hopped back into her seat, the room nearly silent. Moving behind the tall chair, he pushed it closer to the table. Tall enough to climb into the seat without much issue, he struggled for a moment, not quite sure how to position his long tail in the slightly too small chair.
 
After a few seconds of shifting around, the dragon finally got comfortable, laying his paw flat against the table and leaning back into the chair. For a moment he simply cast his eyes about the spacious room, lilac orbs twinkling in slight wonder at the extravagant surroundings.
 
Taking note of the scarring along his scales, Twilight felt a twinge of sympathy build in her gut, some of them looked rather nasty. His forearms in particular looked especially mangled, extensively ripped tissue lining his arms.
 
The thought of how some of those must have felt at the time of infliction was enough to make her stomach curl. He seemed oblivious of her discomfort, eyes still gazing at the surroundings in a new light. What could he have seen for such an effect to be made on him by her rather simple castle?
 
“So, what did you need of me Ma’am?” His voice broke her of her trance. Blinking, the lavender mare shook her head once, dispelling the distressing emotions and reached into her saddlebags and withdrawing a simple piece of parchment, her horn illuminated in light.
 
“Well, I’ll be as frank as possible Spyro, we need to make sure you will not harm us in the long run.” She cleared her throat, straightening her posture and giving him an empathetic look. She stopped when she saw the awestruck stare he was giving her, jaw dropped.
 
While he was doing this, she made note of the razor sharp teeth inside his muzzle, the fangs pronounced against his strong jawline. She had dealt with predators before, however the dragons of equis typically had teeth more suited to grinding and crushing gems, strong molars and flat front teeth.
 
She could see that what she was talking to was a full fledged carnivore, for those teeth were designed to tear and shred meat, rather than smash gems and rip through stone. Her equine instincts made her feel a little nervous in the presence of a physically more imposing predator, but she shook it off, knowing it was wrong to judge him based on something so menial.
 
“How...how are you doing that?” He seemed a bit put off by the use of her simple telekinesis, looking as if she had murdered somepony. Blinking, the mare set her equipment on the table in front of her.
 
“It’s basic magic Spyro, why are you so scared.” A scratchy voice piped up from beside him. The voice coming from an absolutely bored looking Rainbow mare. He turned to her, an incredulous expression crossing his muzzle briefly. 
 
“That’s not anything basic.” The flustered dragon spoke, throat sounding rather tight. His claws tapped against the table anxiously, scales on edge. 
 
“It may not be normal where you are from, Spyro.” Twilight voiced strongly, catching his attention. “This is normal unicorn magic, something most of us learn first.”
 
He didn’t say anything, just eyeing the glowing horn on her head with barely concealed nervous energy. When he said nothing more, Twilight felt fit to continue, wanting nothing more than to get the dragon to relax. She could see the tension underneath his scales, his expression purposefully emotionless.
 
“Well, just for the records, let's start with the basics.” Twilight dipped her quill into ink, bringing the parchment up to her face. “What’s your name?” Spyro raised a scaly brow casting her a look of surprise.
 
Across the table, her friends likewise rolled their eyes and looked confused, all except for Pinkie who had disappeared from the table, sneaking into a room far to the right. This was unnoticed by all in the room.
 
“Spyro, Purple Dragon of the 33rd Generation.” Scribbling the information down quickly, the mare latched onto a particular part of the sentence that stood out.
 
“Why is the purple so special?” He regarded her with a look of minor surprise, before the realization of the oddity of the scenario crossed his features, giving him a frown.
 
“I guess if the whole ‘not from around here thing’ is true, it’s not shocking you haven't heard.” He sighed, straightening up and twisting his neck, a series of pops accompanying it. Across the table Rarity cringed forcefully at the sound. “Well, where I’m from, my kind are not born very often, once in ten generations.”
 
“Yeah, and what’s so special about being purple?” Rainbow questioned from beside him, sounding rather world-weary. For some reason Twilight felt a little miffed at that comment, muzzle scrunching up.
 
“Spike is purple, and while he is sweet, he hasn’t displayed anything unnatural.” Rarity chipped in from across the table, filling her hooves while looking rather bored with the conversation as it was.
 
“Well...um...purple isn’t very uncommon for dragons.” Fluttershy responded quietly, looking surprisingly unafraid of the battle scarred dragon sitting across the table as he gazed intently at her.
 
“Yes, well that is just another one of those differences between worlds, I suppose.” He brought a claw to his chin, scratching at the scales underneath. “What element does he control?”
 
The ponies looked at him, confused. Gazes wandering between each other, the six mare just shrugged, unsure of how to answer the strange question. Twilight was the first to vocalize the question moving around the room.
 
“What do you mean by elements?” She gestured with a hoof at the air. He blinked once, then again, more than a little surprised at their ignorance. A moment later he sighed, nodding his head in understanding.
 
“Dragons, at least where I’m from, have control over one of the five base elements.” He shuffled for a second, avoiding looking at Twilight’s stunned expression. “Purple dragons are unique in that we are blessed with immense elemental capabilities, namely that we can control all of them.”
 
Eyes twinkling, Twilight scribbled down her notes quickly, nose buried in the parchment. Dipping her quill into the inkwell in rapid strokes, the lavender mare filled the air with the sound of rapid pen strokes. 
 
“When you say ‘control’, what exactly do you mean by that?” She questioned, wonder in her voice. This was far more fascinating than she had expected. Dragons capable of elemental magic. That kind of magic was incredibly difficult for unicorns to wield, the volatile magical properties restricting it mostly to Alicorns.
 
In general, as the elements relied on the latent lines of magic flowing within the earth, the energy could backfire rather explosively, the results extending further depending on how deep into the spell the user was.
 
Twilight had heard cases while researching the magic a year or two back. The stories hadn’t been pretty, detailing that chronic magical exhaustion was the least severe of the ramifications. Some had lost the ability to perform magic all together, or had suffered long term physical damage.
 
However if these dragons could perform the magic from birth, then the amount she could learn was extraordinary. If ponies could use elemental magic as easily as telekinesis, well that would change everything.
 
“Well, the basics extend merely to breaths. The first thing a young dragon is to learn about their element is how to project it from the core. A dragon’s element lies deep within themselves, and it is their first duty to unearth it.” He coughed, a short burst of flame escaping his maw. While Twilight was impressed with the implications, she along with her friends had seen dragons breathe fire before so it wasn’t much of a shock.
 
“If that is the basics, then what comes after?” Twilight was intrigued, very intrigued. The dragon smiled at her questions, bringing a paw up, clenching his talons.
 
“Breath attacks are simple, a manifestation of the main way of projecting in element in it’s simplest form.” He flexed his talons. “However, to truly understand an element, a dragon must learn how to use their whole body as a means of projection.” As he finished saying this, his claws caught aflame, soft orange light licking the air.
 
He clenched his talons tightly, now solid red flames escaping between the cracks of his clenched paw. His eyes flashed a deep red for a moment, the color blending into his lilac irises. A moment later, he opened his talons, the palm of his paw burning a bright red. Coughing, he shook his paw, the flames fading away, dim orange cinders floating through the air.
 
“Okay, that’s pretty dope.” Rainbow piped in from beside him, a renewed interest in her eyes. Spyro chuckled, shaking his head. Twilight found herself curious of something, wondering if the similarities between the elemental magic displayed by the dragons was shared in another way.
 
“Where do you draw on for this?” He looked a little bit confused by the question. She cleared her throat. “Like, does it get tiring to use your elements, or is it something that you simply can use in limited amounts?” His eyes lit up a bit and he nodded.
 
“Ah, I see what you mean. Elements are sort of like a muscle, the more you use it, the less tiring it gets to draw upon it and the longer it can be used for. It’s not so much like a bar that you deplete, but more of muscle that you flex to expend.”
 
Twilight was ecstatic at his reply and furiously scribbled down the notes. The way he had described how draconic magic worked perfectly mirrored the way unicorn magic worked. Connections like this were important for developing a bridge. She would need samples of his elements at work, but the fact that they worked in a rather similar fashion was more than she could have hoped for.
 
“Hmm, what else can you control then?” Rainbow asked, an amused glint in her eye, one that Twilight didn’t quite like. Spyro reared back slightly, looking a bit caught off guard.
 
“Ah, I guess I should have expected that.” He smirked a bit, giving the pegasus a glance. He coughed once, a flurry of ice particles flowing from his muzzle, the temperature in the room dropping a few degrees as a result. “There’s ice, a far more utility based element. While the heat of fire is often enough to deal with opponents, Ice is a solid and as such offers much more utility to an arsenal.”
 
Twilight’s eyes widened, the flowing ice crystals sparkling in front of the purple dragon, a few snowflakes resting on his outstretched claws. He regarded the crystals resting on his claws for a moment, before he shook the paw absentmindedly.
 
“I first discovered fire, but there is something beautiful about ice, something that always inspired me to learn and experiment with.” He sighed, clenching his talons together and unfurling them, a slim glove of ice engulfing his paws.
 
Twilight saw him smirk, the grin not easy to see. Quickly turning, the dragon brought one of his ice covered paws to the side of the cyan pegasus right beside him. Expectedly, she let out an undignified squeal and jumped away, nearly falling off the chair. 
 
Spyro nearly bust a gut laughing, the dragon finding tears coming to his eyes. Rainbow breathed deeply as she righted herself, a look of righteous fury on her muzzle as she regarded the dragon with murderous eyes.
 
“Why you little-” She nearly launched herself out of her seat, but a familiar presence grabbed her by the scruff pulling her back. The scene was one that had been repeated many times, Rainbow getting a bit headstrong and attacking with Applejack yanking her back, being the more sensible of the two.
 
“Calm it down there Dash, not really the best move.” The farm mare rolled her eyes, casting a blank look at the culprit. He merely smiled, shaking his head. The ice melted off his paws, slight wisps of steam rising off the heated talons.
 
“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I just couldn’t resist.” He smirked behind a paw, chuckling lightly to himself. Said mare just gave him a hot tempered glare, but didn’t give him a response other than a snort. He simply laughed again, scratching at his armored belly plates.
 
Twilight wanted to reprimand him, but when she saw the look of genuine happiness on his face, one that had previously been crossed by depression and muted sorrow, she held her tongue and decided to just continue with her information hunt.
 
“You mentioned five, so what are the other three?”
 
“Well, I was never quite able to get a grasp on wind, it always evaded me. However on a similar note, electricity is another I control.”
 
“Electricity?” Twilight was a bit surprised to hear that, electricity was an extremely trick form of magic, something that wasn’t commonly applicable in unicorn and alicorn magic theory. Another scribble on the note for that.
 
“Mhm.” He nodded, closing his eyes for a second and going stiff, he clenched his talons. A low rumble built in his throat and Twilight felt her fur stand on end. Her ears began to ring slightly and she narrowed her eyes a little distrustfully at the dragon. Just as she was about to speak up, it happened.
 
His horns and claws sparked, lightning sizzling along the edges of each. The collective eyes of everyone currently in the room widened. Rainbow, unbeknownst to the other back away from him a little, uncertainty in her eyes.
 
“Uh...is that….safe?” Twilight asked slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on the dangerous arcs of electricity. The dragon nodded once, a smirk on his face showing his amusement to their reactions.
 
“Of course, it’s perfectly regulated.” He brought a paw close to his face, watching the electricity dance along between his claw tips. “Electricity was tough to understand at first, unlike the staticness of ice and the liquidity of fire, electricity is completely random. It has a speed and agility that the other elements don’t possess.”
 
He flexed the talons widely, the lightning arcing further between his claws. Clenching his wrist, the arcs sped up, a loud hum filling the room. Rainbow leaned over, moving her hoof closer to his paw. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, nudging the lightning encased limb closer to her.
 
She flinched for a second, but he gave a gaze that seemed to be reassuring. Swallowing, the mare refused to show her fear and touched her hoof to his paw. Instead of being electrocuted brutally, the thousands of volts simply fizzled around the fur on her hoof, setting the hairs on end.
 
“The reason this doesn’t kill you is that I’m manipulating the current to flow around you, instead of through you. It takes a bit of practice, but it’s harmless when done properly.” Spyro explained, concentrating on keeping the arcing current around her hoof, not directly on it.
 
She retracted her hoof a moment later. “Huh. That’s actually kinda cool. Feels like flying in a thunderstorm.” She wiggled her hoof a bit, scrunching up her muzzle at the odd sensations running through it. It felt like TV static personified.
 
Shaking the paw and nodding his head, Spyro dispelled the static electricity from his horns and cut the current from flowing around his talons. Clearing his throat, he turned to Twilight, giving her a soft smile.
 
“Last, but not least….” He closed his eyes, resting his paws on the table, letting his head fall. Applejack was the first to notice the change. As an earth pony, she was much more connected to the ground on a primal level, and something was happening. In her bones, she could feel the earth churn beneath her hooves.
 
Her eyes found the floor, and though nothing was moving along the surface she could feel  crevices clambering beneath the ground under her. Casting her eyes frantically back up to the purple dragon, she could see a certain glow about his scales. In between the plates that lined his breast, she could make out a faint green glow.
 
Twilight seemed to have finally noticed the change, her eyes wide as her horn flickered in shock. She swallowed hard, scribbling down notes.
 
The dragon ceased his flow into the earth, the ground stopping almost instantly. The slightly green aura around Spyro ceased and the room went mostly silent. Mostly as Twilight was furiously scribbling notes down on her parchment.
 
“Well, that’s nifty.” Was all Applejack could say, finding that particular ability to be more alarming than the previous three. Spyro grunted once, shaking his body a bit. Applejack once again found the ground to be interesting. While connected to the earth, she could no longer feel the crevices like she had before, almost as if they had entirely closed up. She narrowed her eyes.
 
“Earth, easily the most potentially powerful of the base elements.” Spyro crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. “Mother nature isn’t too keen on her rules being broken, it takes many years to get down many of the more advanced tricks to meddling with the earth.”
 
He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, his eyes finding the scarred, mangled forearm resting on the table. Twilight gave him a sympathetic glance, her lilac orbs eyeing the slight shake to the limb with analytical prestige. 
 
If he was a soldier, which seemed to be the case given his understanding of the elements he controlled, along with the array of marks along his scales and chest plates. Even more so if the death toll left behind in that dungeon was anything to call on.
 
All in all, she found it hard to be too sympathetic to him. She wanted to get the answers before she jumped the gun, even if said gun was most certainly smoking from Spyro’s end. Major Azure was always prideful in himself, to the point of being arrogant at times. She grimaced, his background report had spoken of a history of violence and bigotry.
 
She would like to blame the dragon in front of her and simply deify the dead, but she wasn’t able to shake off the feeling that her own kind was at least partially responsible for the mess. Spyro was talking again, she broke from her trance mid sentence.
 
“...Sometimes it’s use can have long lasting damage…” He trailed off with a sigh, flexing the scarred appendage. Fluttershy dropped the latent fear she had been showing, displaying a concerned interest in the state of the arm.
 
“How did that happen?” She asked somewhat sternly, relenting and averting her gaze when he returned her gaze intently. “Well...um...if you don't mind me asking?” The dragon’s eyes never left her, his brow furrowing. Closing his eyes, he nodded once.
 
“Very well, though I do warn you, it’s not a very pleasant story.” He straightened up, bringing his damaged paw closer to himself. “I suppose I should start from the beginning, I hope it will help your notes, ma'am.” Twilight still wasn’t so used to the respectful treatment from a species with so much pride. She kept reminding herself that she wasn’t dealing with any dragon from this realm.
 
The lavender mare was giddy though, the idea of getting a much more complete history of this new subset of dragons was enough to make her hooves shake. Grabbing an extra sheet of parchment, completely unaware of the wary looks he was casting towards her horn.
 
Filing her current notes back into the saddlebags resting against her chair, the alicorn stacked several rolls of the grainy paper, getting an extra inkwell. Leveling herself, she nodded once at the dragon, giving him an eager smile. He returned it with a weary one of his own, cracking his neck and talons.
 
“The real start dates back to way before my hatching, when dragons went to war with the apes, a race of greedy, power hungry simians. Conflicts were apparently numerous between my species and theirs, but it eventually degraded into all out war.”
 
Twilight was once again shocked at the similarities between the two realms, for in the far reaches of Equis, in the jungles of the south a species dubbed the apes were champions, the governing race of that area. They hadn’t left that region in centuries.
 
“Eventually, something happened for the dragons, something that wasn’t ever seen before. A purple egg was laid.” A look of distaste crossed the dragons features, seeming if he had just smelled rotten meat. “What came from that egg would be the cause of genocide, the reason behind so much unneeded bloodshed and sorrow.” 
 
The dragon stopped for a moment, a look of seething anger crossing his muzzle. He took a deep breath to compose himself, before clearing his throat and continuing.
 
“They named him Malefor.” His eyes took on a dark note. “At first, nobody knew what to expect of him, for a dragon of that color had never been seen before, but  he showed his first element, then another, and another….” He trailed off, and Twilight got the point he was attempting to prove.
 
He was the first of his kind, the type of dragon that sat in front of her right now. Spyro, she got the feeling from the way he spoke of Malefor, was not his successor.
 
“After he displayed this unnatural ability to master elements, he started to change. Seeing as he was quickly becoming more than a match for his peers and even a threat to some of his elders in combat, he became cocky, arrogant.”
 
“Well, how did they change ‘im?” Applejack spoke up. Spyro shook his head.
 
“They didn’t.”
 
“Oh.”
 
“From what I was told, eventually during a day of training, one of his peers got tired of his attitude and challenged him to a duel. Apparently at first he held his own pretty well, but it wouldn’t last.” He turned to the chromatic pegasus and sighed. “I feel you may remember this part.”
 
She perked up. “What?” He didn’t answer, continuing with his tale.
 
“This was when Malefor changed forever. Secretly he had discovered the power truly deep within us, in purple dragons. Convexity. It's a void element, and the true element of purple dragons. It encompasses both the angelic light and the malice of dark evil.” That word rang around in Dash’s head, the simple word causing a flood of memories to storm into her brain.
 
Magical overload making her sick. The terrifying roar shattering her senses. Terrible pulses of energy gushing into her flesh, sending rigid shock through her whole body. She had felt it, and it refused to leave so soon.
 
“I’m not sure if that dragon died, but he was in critical condition at least. However, knowing the effects of Convexity, I wouldn’t be shocked if he had died.” He spoke grimly. Fluttershy looked a little ill at the start of the tale, while the other five mares kept the same grim expression that the purple dragon held.
 
“What did they do to him?” Twilight asked anxiously, knocking her quill underneath her chin in anticipation.
 
“I’ve been told they originally tried to reason with, but when it became clear just how far gone he was, they banished him, casting him into eternal exile for his crimes.” Spyro chuckled somewhat darkly. “As you can imagine, he viewed this as extreme disrespect and swore to make them pay for their ‘crimes’.” Spyro wiggled his claws into air quotes.
 
“Something tells me I won’t like where this is going.” Rainbow sighed, laying her head down on the table. Spyro just grimaced, nodding his head slightly.
 
“Out in the wilderness, he fully embraced the darker sides of Convexity. I’m not quite sure how he managed it, but he somehow forced the darkness to abide by his demands. As his consciousness was not affected, he retained full control over himself. He called the apes to him, his influence of power grabbing them like a moth to flame, they couldn’t resist his pull.”
 
“Yeah, I can see where this is going.” Rainbow mumbled. Twilight couldn’t help but agree.
 
“With his growing army by the day, he dragged his species and pulled them into war, kicking and screaming. As he himself was a dragon and one that had been initially revered, the war began to pollute the reputation of the dragons. More and more died everyday and the world fell into chaos.”
 
Spyro rubbed the back of his neck, a look of great shame upon his features. Twilight guessed he felt guilty for the acts his race had caused upon their world, but why he himself felt shameful, she wasn’t sure yet.
 
“It took a long time, and more bodies than could be counted, but the elders of the day forced him back into his lair, a disgusting, twisted place that those of black hearts called home. We call it the Mountain of Malefor, the Well of Souls.”
 
He shifted a bit in his seat, tapping his claws against the table anxiously. “Well, that just sounds….nice, don’t it.” Applejack deadpanned. He gave her a glance, but otherwise didn’t even acknowledge her words.
 
He cleared his throat turning his attention to Twilight. “This is important, if we are really from different realities. After pressing on into the Well of Souls, the elders combined their strength and banished Malefor from our realm, sealing his very essence inside in airlock dimension, a place named after himself, Convexity. After this, the elders helped nurture dragonkind and the world back to it’s former state. After this, they would be forever known as the Ancestors.”
 
“Convexity….” Twilight thought back hard, trying to sort through everything she had read about extra dimensional theories and magics. “Describe it to me.”
 
“Well, it’s a strange place, reality seems to be twisted and contorted. I’ve been told it acts as an airlock between the realms I come from and those of darker intents. There isn’t much known about it, so that’s really all I can say.” He gave her a slightly downtrodden look, clearly wishing he had more to offer.
 
“No, that’s alright, I’ll see what I can find.” She smiled at him. “Please, continue.” He nodded, clearing his throat.
 
“Now, this is where I come in. Even after being sealed away, Malefor communicated with his army, and they still obeyed him. Suffice to say, peace didn’t follow his defeat. Several centuries later, my egg was placed in temple in the swamps of the realms, a supposed safe haven.”
 
“Why there?”
 
“Certain ebbs and flows of magical energy builds up in the realms over several centuries, culminating in the highest outburst over a year period. This is known as the Year of the Dragon, and I along with many others was born in it.” He explained, though something still left her confused.
 
“So, what is so important during this year?”
 
“Well, as I said, a powerful buildup of energy is present during that year, we dragons, absorb this magic that flows in our world. So….”
 
“So the dragons born during this period have stronger magical abilities, I see.” Twilight guessed the rest of his statement, putting the pieces together.
 
“Yes, that’s right. Knowing that this was going to be the tenth generation, and so the prophecies of old had spoke of the birth of another of his kind, Malefor planned ahead. Knowing that only another could truly match his power when his strength recovered, he sent his armies out to the temple. The Guardians, the acting defensive group of that time, were not prepared.”
 
“Well, I assume they won the fight.” Spyro turned to Dash, who spoke up from beside him. “I mean, you’re right here.” 
 
“No, they didn’t win. All the eggs, but two, were slaughtered. They all died without a chance.” Spyro’s eyes darkened, and his head drooped a bit. The mares all cringed, the idea of babies being butchered making their stomachs curl. Fluttershy had tears in her eyes, the sensitive pegasus not taking the deaths of so many young very lightly.
 
“Oh my, that’s….terrible.” Fluttershy whimpered. Rarity pulled her closer, comforting the distraught mare as best she could.
 
“My egg was saved when Ignitus, the guardian of fire, sent my egg floating down a river in a mushroom cap, and I was spared the early death A family of dragonflies happened upon me, and they raised me as their son with their son becoming my brother.” Rainbow perked up.
 
“You said two eggs survived! So who was the second?” Spyro sighed heavily, a look of sorrow entering his expression.
 
“I believe you two-” He pointed to Twilight and Dash. “-have already met her. They captured her egg, planning to corrupt her and enslave her as Malefor’s servant. They named her Cynder.”
 
Twilight felt her gut twist. That’s who she was. The lavender mare had been able to sense something hiding underneath those black scales the second she had laid eyes on her. This was why she was so secretive, this was what made the dragoness so cold. She was a slave.
 
“She didn’t have a chance like I did, she never deserved what happened to her.” Spyro clenched his talons hard, biting back a growl. “Those monsters corrupted her, twisted her and tortured her...”
 
His scales flashed a dark shade for a split second and his pupils vanished. Twilight felt dread creep into her gut, settling like a stone. Thankfully, the anger merely morphed into despair. His next words were so quiet, she had to strain to hear them.
 
“...forced her….” His jaw tightened, and he struggled for a moment to hold onto himself. Just imagining her smiling face, emeralds glistening brightly, was enough to break him of his trance. All at the table heard the last part, their expressions morphing into mixed displays of horror and sympathy.
 
To his side, Rainbow nudged him. “Keep it together man, nothing you coulda done.” The pegasus gave him a sideways glance, patting his shoulder with a wing. He swallowed hard, not liking where he knew this conversation was gonna steer.
 
“Sorry, those parts always get to me, thinking about what those brutes did to her.”
 
“Did they….you know….” Applejack asked in as soft a tone as she could manage. Spyro nodded, sighing heavily. The farm mare just cast her eyes down.
 
“She never liked talking about the times before she was corrupted, but she confided in me that she had her innocence taken from her in more ways than one.” Spyro cringed, eyes foggy. “She was turned into Malefor’s own personal monster, and after being given powers beyond what all but myself and him are capable of wielding, she laid waste to dragonkind.”
 
“She became his apprentice?!" Rarity asked, a hoof at her chest, rearing back.
 
“No, her mind became twisted into his bidding, and she became his slave. While at first it seemed like we had finally pushed back the dark armies, Cynder was a wildcard they hadn’t foreseen. She captured the four guardians, draining them of their magical reserves. She had one purpose now, and that was to free him.”
 
“If she was so unstoppable, did she free him?” Dash asked from beside him. 
 
“Thankfully I arrived just in time.” The purple dragon eyed his arms a slight grin on his face. “I was just a kid back then, it’s a wonder she didn’t kill me.” He snorted. “In the end, I defeated her, but it was there that I saw who she really was; a young, unwilling child in a twisted war that our ancestors had wrought. I couldn’t leave her there, and I didn’t.”
 
Twilight was at a crossroads. On one hoof, it was likely that Cynder was the murderer of her guards. Seeing as Spyro was rather far from recovery at the time, it was unlikely he had any part in it, especially as he was openly divulging personal stories and the like.
 
She still felt a rather righteous need to make the dragoness see the error of her ways and face the harshest justice. Twilight wanted to simply lug up Cynder with the rest of the criminals that heartlessly ruined the lives of others. It was an easy choice to make, one that most would make.
 
However, she knew more about the history of the dragoness, and while that obviously didn’t make her innocent, those stallions still needed to buried, it did change the game a bit. The mare was always one that leaned on the side of helping others. It was the pony way, and the more she thought about it, the more Cynder seemed to be just a damaged, lost victim of circumstance.
 
They needed to find her, Twilight wanted to sort this mess out and focus on the real problem here. The Soothsayer was still out there.
 
“Back at the temple, things somewhat began to return to normal, with us trying to get Cynder to adjust to normal life. We did our best, but it was very hard for her. She hadn’t ever lived this way, free to do as she wished, and every day that passed I could see the struggle inside her.”
 
A fond smile crossed his muzzle, a bittersweet tear in his eye.
 
“I could also see the strength. The beauty of her soul that wanted nothing more than to fight on and keep living, even in a world that didn’t understand her, and in many places, didn’t want her. She would always bend, but she would never break."
 
He struggled for a moment to keep going, his voice catching numerous times, he brought a paw up and wiped his eyes, clearing his throat.
 
“The peace we found wouldn’t last. The eclipse of the two moons above our world drew ever near, and when it finally happened, the night of eternal darkness would start. His armies were on the move, headed for the Well of Souls. Even though I had stopped Cynder from completely releasing him, part of his essence had broken through the barrier.”
 
“Wait, you’re telling me a part of him made it through? How does that even work?” Rainbow gave him a confused look, motioning with a hoof for him to elaborate.
 
“Well, while he was imprisoned, he wasn’t quite in a physical state, so even that brief moment when Cynder had the portal open, a chunk of his magical essence was able to escape, and it it fell into the hands of the ape's leader, a sadistic, vile creature named Gaul.”
 
“Oh, well that sucks.” Rainbow murmured simply. Spyro harrumphed his agreement.
 
“Cynder eventually couldn’t stand it any longer, the guilt was just too much for her. In the dead of night, she left the temple, I couldn’t stop her from leaving. I went after her, with another goal in mind, but she was captured by Gaul. It wasn’t even a discussion after that, and as the night was closing in, I went after her.”
 
“That was might heroic of you, going after your love, oh how romantic.” Rarity swooned, being typically over dramatic. Spyro gave her an odd look, not quite sure what to say to that.
 
“There wasn’t much time left, the night was nearly upon us. During my fight against Gaul, the moons eclipsed and the mountain began to shake itself apart. In the chaos, I fell into the beam of dark aether shooting into the sky. You have to understand, that much dark power takes over you almost instantly.”
 
“Is that what the hell happened out at the Everfree?” Dash asked, a look of realization crossing her features.
 
“Yes.” He nodded grimly, averting his eyes. “Consumed by that evil energy, I killed Gaul in my fury. I nearly turned on Cynder and my brother, thankfully she acted quickly and knocked me out of the beam. Sadly the battle had shook the mountain too heavily, and it collapsed on top of us.”
 
“You escaped somehow I presume.” Rarity inferred. The purple dragon shook his head.
 
“I’m not quite sure how I did it, but I sealed the three of us in a crystal, preserving us through the fall of the Well of Souls. Malefor escaped and plunged the world under shadow, while we remained frozen for another three years.” 

Spyro, did in fact know how he had done it. Purple dragons had more than just elements, they had reasonable control over the flow of time, being able to slow it to a near standstill when needed.

The purple dragon knew just how ludicrous it sounded, so he kept that one to himself. Besides, they already looked a bit put off by what they had heard, no need to pour salt in the wound, so to speak.
 
“By Celestia….three years?” Twilight gaped. Suspended animation was possible, in fact easily so by any talented alchemist, but suspending somepony for more than a year could have dangerous after effects, not to mention long term mental slowing. Three years, that was just….crazy.
 
“Eventually we were awoken, a cheetah named Hunter finding us in the care of Malefor’s new servants, the grumblins.”
 
“What happened to the apes then?” Twilight questioned, evidently curious as to the sudden turn of troops.
 
“It seemed that Malefor had gotten tired of their repeated failures, so he devolved the species and damned them to the darkness.” 
 
“That’s...that’s horrible.” Twilight reared back. Eternal damnation for an entire race? That was borderline genocide.
 
“Cynder and I escaped the catacombs we had been confined in, but Malefor left us chained to one another, a cursed amulet keeping us from separating. Despite the handicap, we learned to fight with it and not against it.”
 
Spyro’s expression darkened considerably past this point and Twilight shifted a bit uncomfortably, she got the feeling this was where things started to truly take a turn for the worse.
 
“Once again, the world was in chaos, but this time we were on the brink of extinction. I was gone for far too long, and my kind was paying for it. We worked our way back to Warfang, the capital of dragonkind and the last remaining bastion we held.”  
 
“We arrived just in time. The city was under heavy siege, and it wouldn’t hold much longer if we didn’t get involved. So we did, doing what we do best, Cynder and I repelled the majority of the forces, an army of two.”
 
“You fought an entire army when you were a kid, are you serious?” Rainbow gave him an incredulous look. Spyro gave her a blank stare.
 
“We were not normal dragons, nothing about us was normal.” He sighed, moving around in his seat with a bit of apprehension. “It took a lot more fighting, but eventually we pushed the army back, keeping Warfang safe for the time being. Malefor revealed his trump card that night. An ancient being rose from the volcano he had claimed as his lair, a primordial golem called the Destroyer. It had one goal, one thought, and that was to complete a ring of fire around the planet.”
 
“Malefor called this the Great Cleansing, the end of the world.” 
 
The five mares had equal looks of apprehension on their faces this far in. They had faced countless entities that wished to do them and Equestria harm, but none that wanted to destroy the world. Why would anypony want that?
 
“What would he even gain from that? Why destroy everything?” Applejack was exacerbated, the plan not making any sense to her. What the hell was he to gain from a holocaust of that scale.
 
“Malefor didn’t view himself as a villain, more like an anti-hero who had to do bad things to achieve a greater goal. I can only assume in his mind he felt he would make a better nurturer of the world if he was the one to bring it all back together.”
 
The lavender Alicorn was getting vague hints that Malefor was like Chrysalis. While on the surface it appeared that the changeling was evil and just wanted to cause chaos, in reality the queen was desperate to feed her starving subjects, going as far as invading Canterlot in order to guarantee their survival.
 
“Obviously, we couldn’t allow this to happen, so we set out to halt the Destroyer’s advance. Cynder had a stroke of genius and we trapped it in a valley, flooding it by destroying a nearby dam. It worked at first, but we underestimated just how much control Malefor had, as he took direct control over the Destroyer and forcing it back, albeit slowly.”
 
The climax was about to explode, Twilight could feel it coming.
 
“We knew this was our last stand. We managed to get through the belt of fire, but my mentor Ignitus died in the process.” His voice cracked, and he coughed roughly, shaking his head. “I’m still not totally over it, I guess.”
 
“The fighting in those lands was intense, worse than anything I’ve ever seen. We somehow made it through alive, catching an updraft that led us further up into the volcano. Cynder was getting more and more anxious the closer we got, it was hard for her.” 
 
“I could imagine, seeing the one who broke ya in the first place….” Applejack murmured, fiddling with her stetson. Spyro nodded, staying quiet for a moment.
 
“We reached the summit and confronted him, this was the first time I had ever laid eyes on another purple dragon. He was….twisted. His voice had been corrupted, his body hardened in place with plates of scar tissue. He was a monster to behold.”
 
Spyro shuddered, muscles tensing under his scales and his tail rattled in his seat.
 
“He knew how to get under her scales, where to prod to make her feel insecure and unwanted. Her toyed with her, spitting veiled insults and cruel assurances. He weakened her enough, then he took control of her again.” 
 
Rainbow nudged him again, giving him a stern nod. He got the message, glad the pegasus had his back here.
 
“I thought it was all over, I was alone in that wretched place, my best friend turned against me, beating me senseless. She asked me why I wasn’t fighting back, and I told her the truth. My Cynder was still alive under there, and it was enough for her to break free.”
 
“He was fed up. When it was evident we wouldn’t join his cause, despite all of his manipulation and torment, he re shackled us and tried to kill us.”
 
Spyro pawed at his chest plates, tracing a number of scars along the center.
 
“The battle was short and brutal, taking everything we had. Just as we had pushed him into the core of the world, the Destroyer finished it’s journey, falling back into the volcano, and finishing the ring.”
 
“So, that was it then? You failed.” Twilight cringed at the thought. Despite your best efforts, with the hope of the entire world on your shoulders, you fail. Her near phobic fear of failure and disappointing others gave her shudders at the concept.
 
“Not quite. The world was breaking apart, but we had pushed Malefor to the brink, and ourselves. Malefor made oe fatal flaw that day, and it was not realizing that the core of the world contained the spirits of the Anscestors, his original nemesis. The breaking of the world freed them from the core, and they dragged him back into it, silencing him one last time.”
 
“The world still broke apart, as terrifying as that sounds. Doesn’t really seem like a victory.” Dash deadpanned. 
 
“Cynder and I had both accepted that this was our fate, to die there. In that moment, I felt something inside me, something that had been there from the very beginning. Purpose.”
 
“I knew what I had to do, and though I wanted her to live, Cynder refused to leave me. She remained by my side, until the end. She confessed to me for the first time that she loved me, and I….”
 
Tears sparkled in his lilac eyes, and his throat clogged. He clenched his talons hard for a moment, nearly carving marks in the table.
 
“I let Convexity consume me, it was pure and angelic, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before or since. The fury spread throughout the world, slowly pulling the chunks of the earth back together, sealing it, and saving it from destruction.”
 
The shock in the room was evident, not a sound being made. Twilight gaped in awe, a sense of inferiority and slight fear filling her. He had pulled an entire planet back together?
 
“By the gods….” Twilight whispered. “That’s...that’s….”
 
“Pretty damn crazy Spyro.” Dash spoke simply. Twilight could only nod, mouth dry, looking at the somber Purple dragon in front of her. Crazy indeed.
 
“We were alive, but just barely. It took us several weeks, but we crawled our way slowly back to Warfang. That, was three and a half years ago.” He turned to Twilight, a blank look on his face. “Things didn’t go so smoothly on our return, especially not for Cynder.”
 
“She didn’t receive quite the warm welcome I’m sure she hoped. She never expected acceptance, always blaming herself for the crimes she had committed under his influence, but they treated her like a disease. They often got violent with her.”
 
“She saved them, they should have been grateful.” Fluttershy whispered from the back, sounding surprisingly stern.
 
“The pain of a loved one lost is hard to forget. They never saw the dragoness underneath the monster that had murdered their families. She never felt angry at them, that surprised me. Cynder, despite all the unrest she had in her heart from the pain she felt, she never blamed those who hated her in turn.”
 
“I tried to make it better for her, comforting her when she cried and holding her when the nightmares kept her up, but things just kept stacking up on top of each other. One thing she always told me is that she looked forward to being a mother when she grew older...."
 
“Motherhood is a beautiful thing, I’m sure she would be a great mother.” Fluttershy murmured gently to him. Spyro cringed hard.
 
“This was when she snapped. Cynder is….she’s barren.” He clenched his eyes shut tightly, jaw shut. Fluttershy gasped quietly, rearing back.
 
“Oh my, I’m so sorry.” She whimpered, casting him a heartfelt gaze.
 
“It hurt her more than she would ever let on. All her life she had wrought death, it broke her heart to realize she would never be able to bring life into the world. Though she barely managed to hold on, I could see how fractured she was.”
 
“It took time, but I was able to help rebuild her, she always retained the strength in her heart, that’s what I’ve always admired about her.”
 
Tears came to his eyes, falling down his cheeks silently, his wings drooped.
 
“But, now she’s gone, forever. Now all that I can do is avenge her.” He turned to Twilight, a mixed expression of sorrow and seriousness in his lilac eyes. “I’m sorry for the things that I’ve done, but I’m not your enemy. I will do all in my power to help you defeat this thing, for it took her from me, and I won’t stop until it’s gone. You have my tooth and my claw.” He nodded once at her.
 
The lavender Alicorn was stunned. His eyes told her he was honest in his intent, but she hadn’t known Cynder was dead. That explained the haggard look in his body and eyes, the look of a husband who had lost his beloved wife, or his lifemate in Spyro’s case.
 
She knew she needed him in this fight, this was more than a match for all of them. It wasn't much of a choice by this point.
 
The Soothsayer was still out there and it was hungry. It wouldn’t stop until it had consumed everything in it’s path. Now was not the time for grudges, nor did they have time for mistrust. Through our bleeding, we are one.
 
It was time for hell to raise again. It was time for war.
 
*
 
Her throat was raw, voice gone from screaming her agony to the heavens. She was hopeless to escape the pull of it’s horrible form, she was a mere stone in the face of this wave. It was simply overpowering.
 
Without a chance, the sunset faded into black as the view of Spyro disappeared, instead replaced by pitch black darkness. The pain in her leg amplified by the sensory deprivation. Simple thoughts vanished in the wake of the bell tolling in her brain.
 
Every thought was destroyed, replaced by raw terror and panic. Rational thoughts were impossible in this form. Her headache was amplified by the thunderous sirens screeching in her ears. She couldn’t escape and all she could do was pray for the end.
 
Tendrils slithered up her scales, leaving trails of burning acid down her body. The smell of melting flesh was overpowering, the stench of her own burning skin made Cynder's stomach heave, but it wouldn’t cooperate, instead it dry heaved, leaving a painful ache.
 
She struggled, newfound fire pouring into her blood as the tendrils moved across her body, vile memories coursing through her head. Memories of her own youthful screams amidst grunts and roars from her captors. Her body contorted, rage flooding her system. The black dragoness screeched, throwing her body away from the tendrils of hot metal.
 
In reality, the harsh grip of the limbs didn’t let her escape, but trapped in her mind as she was, Cynder could only feel the fear she once experienced as they yanked her innocence away from her, kicking and screaming as she fought with all her life to escape their molesting grip.
 
Tears cascaded from her eyes and she screamed in panic, reality finding her once again as the tentacles began to rip her apart. They gripped her with fearsome strength, spiked appendages digging deep into her scales, blood spurting free from the deep lacerations.
 
Cynder's body wiggled in the tight grip, but she couldn’t move, only scream and cry as her body was shredded to pieces. Her paws twitched idly as her scales were ripped and pulled apart, a wet snap accenting the horrible sensations of her flesh being stretched to it’s limit. Strands of muscle and flesh torn, ripping violently in bleeding chunks, being tossed to the forest floor.
 
A wet whimper gurgled in her throat, intense, red hot agony shooting across her spine, the tendrils burning deep with her flesh, the soft tissue under her scales melting together. Tendrils gripped her between her legs, pulling and tearing her flesh apart, not cutting and slicing. It hurt all the worse, hot agony coursing throughout her form.
 
A tendril touched a particularly sensitive part of her body. Her spine locked up and despite the limb locked around her throat she screamed so hard her throat cracked and bled. Sticky pus poured out of her back, lesions forming and popping along her blistered tissue.
 
Her throat snapped closed, a sharp pain slicing through her bowels, cutting and ripping her belly open. Cynder’s stomach curled, sliding around in her constricted abdomen. A hard squeeze and a tug forced her intestines around and she struggled hard, a hole in her abdomen nearly allowing her insides to slide out.
 
In a moment constituted by mind-numbing pain and thought destroying fear, Cynder pulsed burning waves of convexity from her heavily damaged body. This caused an unearthly screech to escape from the creature.
 
In rage, it crushed her wings, breaking and snapping bones like twigs in a storm. Every thought apart from base instinctual survival was wiped clean, she nearly lost consciousness. The floodgate of adrenaline keeping her awake when her body wanted nothing more than to die.
 
Desperate, the dragoness released every bit of convexity possible from her form, the scalding energy finally getting it to release her. Before it lost it’s grip, a tentacle slid across her throat, slicing the sensitive flesh clean open.
 
Gasping and choking on her own blood, Cynder was dropped to the ground, her shredded body flopping on the grass like a half dead fish. Her eyes stung and her bones ached, many of them broken within her torn and shredded flesh.
 
A heavenly glow caught her unfocused, drugged gaze. Suddenly everything fell into hypersensitivity, every part of the world around her becoming focused.
 
Individual blades of grass maneuvered in the heightening winds. Each dark green line of grass being illuminated a deep purple by a pulsing light ahead of her.
 
The sounds of tearing trees and enraged howling of a dragon off in the distance heightened her headache. Something rustled behind her, the sound of a bomb going off blasting in the far distance.
 
The ache in Cynder’s body amplified, the sensations of liquid dripping down and over her scales was quite frankly the most noticeable feeling in her mutilated body. Every tear and rip in her scales and soft flesh underneath was easily felt by the black dragoness.
 
Heavenly purple light caught her attention quickly, the sight filling Cynder's hazy mind with a hope she hadn’t ever known. The view in front of her could have been romanticized by authors and poets for centuries, but nothing would ever be able to describe how much it felt for the black dragoness.
 
Up ahead, not five feet, was a fury crystal, it’s bright reddish-purple hue glowing like a real light in the darkness.
 
Shaking and trembling like a leaf in the wind, Cynder began to drag her body closer and closer to the gems. Every movement felt like a new part of her body was tearing off, from tendons snapping and scales held on by strands of muscle pulling away, to bones stretching her skin and tearing open holes in her body.
 
Each and every inch of ground gained stained the forest floor with red ichor. Shaky breaths escaped her throat, a paw cupping it to stall the flow of blood from her cut larynx. Had she been had the will too, her voice would’ve just been a seriously distorted arrangement of gurgling sounds.
 
Her talons were quickly stained red, even with her entire paw cupped around the cut, blood still flowed from around her claws. Each inch brought her closer to salvation and an inch closer to death.
 
Cynder’s life flashed in front of her, every part from birth to now spiraling down her vision. She saw herself, her corrupted from staring into her, an unspoken exchange happening, a narrative of a soul against soul. She saw the evil that she once was, the evil that she could still be as the dead ponies from before flashed in that projection of herself.
 
Shaking hard, the dragoness pushed against the fury crystal with all her strength. Cracking at the base, the gem broke off smashing against the ground. Chunks of the pinkish crystal shattered, fragments absorbing into her scales, sealing and re piecing small parts of her eviscerated body.
 
The fury built in her chest, enormous energy building in her core, racing through her body. Cynder’s mind went along with the pain melting from her flesh. The rage locked within her core from contamination by darker forms of convexity broke free.
 
Before she could lose her mind to the abuse of fury, an enormous blast of convexity smashed into the forest from the plain outside, sending her flying through the air. The black dragoness slammed against trees and loose branches. She couldn't cry out in pain, her voice gone and dead.

She flew for a few seconds, garnering scrapes and bruises, eventually slamming head first into a thick trunk, instantly sending her world into darkness.

*

Her dreams were nearly nonexistent at first, mere images and thoughts flying back to her at the speed of lightning. She attempted desperately to hold onto a few of the more pleasant ones, but they flew through her paws like sand.

She cried out in the darkness, screaming for someone, anyone to find her. The cold darkness cared not for Cynder's screams, instead closing in around her in a near suffocating embrace. Her senses were flooded with voices and pictures, the faces of those she had killed, the crying of their families.

The black dragoness, gripped her head in her paws, tears streaming down her face. In her dreams she often saw the faces of those she had killed, but those were while she was corrupted. This time, they were the young, terrified faces of the guards she had killed down in that dungeon. Cynder could see the tears in their eyes as they stared death in it's face.

"No...no...no please, leave me alone." Cynder whimpered, clenching her eyes shut, wrapping her tattered wings around her shivering form, praying for respite, something, anything to make the voices stop.

The cries of their families as they buried them, struck her down. Thoughts of children never seeing their daddies again, never being able to to have their father comfort them when they were scared. Grieving mates mourning for their lovers late at night, sitting alone and cold in an empty room.

Faces, accusing and angry, sorrowful and scared, they glared down at her. Fear of death clear in their faces, she knew that she had cut their lives short. A haunting look of fear was plastered on one of them, a youthful face, his neck savagely ripped apart in bloody marks.

Cynder screamed, but sound wouldn't escape her. The darkness denied her the right to feel herself, to hear herself, to comfort herself. It was going to make her suffer, for she deserved it. Malefor's weapon, that's all she was.

Heat entered her body in a blaze. "NO!" Her voice cut through the cries, silencing them instantly. She wasn't that dragoness anymore, she never would be. Despite the fiery reassurance in herself, that loud, accusing voice told her otherwise. What did that monster do? Yes, she killed the innocent by the thousands in brutal, over the top ways. 

Those guards may have been threatening, but did they really intend to kill her? Why would they keep her alive in the first place. Cynder felt the horror break through the despair. She had let the paranoia and fear that drove others to hate her turn her into the very thing she despised. 

In front of her, the smoke cleared, a fork stuck in the road waited, silent as stone. Neither path looked safe, each cloaked in shadows and with an aura of malice about it, a malevolent energy. Cynder stood, wiping the tears from her cheeks, drawing up to her full height.

She closed her eyes, walking straight, uncaring of which path she ended up on, letting time guide her by the wrist, Cynder crossed the threshold of the fork, turning down the stone path under her claws. Although unsure of exactly where she was going, the dragoness made the promise to herself that wherever that she ended up, she would make it right.

Miss Murder, that had been who she was, and now her vile influence had spread. Cynder refused to let it be the image she left the citizens of Equestria with. Whatever the task, whatever the need, Cynder would bear it. The black dragoness vanished into the shadow, the path to salvation ahead of her.

Black as ink, the room faded out, leaving naught a trace of what had been.