"I don't like the feeling of this," Spike commented once they'd finally returned to Dark and Twilight's room in the airship.
"Me neither, Spike," Twilight agreed.
"I mean, while we did drop in on him out of nowhere like this, King Inferno still should've been prepared for it. I remember that Princess Celestia had plenty of those surprise visits while we lived in the castle with her, and she was prepared each and every time."
"I know, Spike, and that's why I'm not liking this either."
"You think he put it off till tomorrow to have time to plan some sort of ambush for us?" Dark wondered.
"I'm hoping not," Twilight replied before letting out a sigh. "Although, considering his history with you, and how much of a grudge he and General Razor Claw have against you, I wouldn't be surprised if he did."
"In that case, if they do have something like that planned for us and try springing it on us, then I won't hesitate to fight back and kill them all."
"You sure you wanna do that?" Spike questioned, earning him a flaming snort from Dark.
"I'll be damned before I let them harm you, Twilight, or our unborn daughter," he answered him. "You guys are my family, and I'll use every ounce of power that I have to ensure that I won't lose you."
"Even if it means destroying all of Vulcan like you said you could earlier?"
Dark sighed and shook his head. "No. While I will use the Flare if it comes to that, I already promised Twilight that I won't Amplify it and destroy the city."
"I hope not," Twilight said with a glace at Dark. "While I know that you would only do it to help protect us, I don't want to see you becoming a killer."
"In a time of war?"
Twilight frowned and nodded. "If you did destroy the city, you wouldn't be killing just the adult dragons and those salamanders, but also their hatchlings and eggs. And I know that you wouldn't kill a child or baby."
Dark's ears wilted as a sense of shame washed over him. While he wouldn't hesitate to kill an adult dragon, or even a teenage dragon like Garble if it attacked him, he wouldn't do that to a young hatchling or egg. His eyes falling upon Twilight's belly, Dark flinched as he thought of how he'd felt if Inferno or Razor Claw would kill his own foal like that.
"You're right, I wouldn't," he somberly answered, placing a claw over their growing daughter with a sigh. "I just hope that they won't either."
Twilight gave Dark a small smile as she placed her hoof over his claw.
"I doubt that they will. But if they do, then I know that you'll be there to keep us safe."
"I suppose so. After all," Dark leaned in and carefully rested his head against Twilight's belly, "it's my job to protect my family, right?"
"Right."
For the next few minutes they remained like that, Twilight smiling down at Dark as she brushed his mane with a hoof, while Dark laid his head against her belly, making sure to be careful and barely put any pressure on it.
"How much longer do you think until she starts kicking?" he wondered.
"From what I read, foals can start to kick from anywhere between sixteen to twenty-two weeks," Twilight replied. "I just hope that when she does that she doesn't kick too hard. I remember mom telling me that it would hurt a little bit when Shiny and I kicked her when she was pregnant with us."
Humming in acknowledgement, Dark then began to gently nuzzle her belly, and would've continued to do so in silence if it weren't for Spike speaking up.
"Well, I don't know about you two," he began, "but I think that I'm gonna call it a night. After all, for all we know, King Inferno could send for us first thing in the morning."
"I suppose you're right about that," Twilight agreed, stopping her stroking motions on Dark's head and standing back up, which caused Dark to give a small discontented groan.
"Okay. In that case, you two have a nice night, and I'll see ya tomorrow."
"Alright. Goodnight, Spike."
"Yeah. Night, Spike."
It was just past three in the afternoon as Dark paced around the room while Twilight and Spike sat at the table with a mid-day snack.
"Dark, relax," Twilight told him. "They'll call for us when they're ready."
"I know, but the fact that they're holding this meeting off for this long is making me uneasy," Dark replied.
"I know, Dark," Twilight said sympathetically. "I'm not liking them making us wait like this anymore than you are, but we have no choice. We'll just have to wait until they send someone to come get us."
Breathing a stressful sigh, Dark stopped his pacing and took a seat beside Twilight.
"While we're waiting," she continued, "why don't we come up with a plan incase things go south for us?"
"Already got that covered," Dark spoke.
Spike cocked a curious eyebrow. "Care to share?"
"It's pretty simple. Before we left from Canterlot, I started to subtly create some Shadow Wraiths and hid them in our shadows."
"You what?" Twilight asked surprisingly.
"What's wrong, Twilight?"
"You... how many Shadow Wraiths did you create and hide in our shadows?"
Dark hummed to himself for a moment. "... if I had to guess, I'd say about thirty of them are hiding in each of our individual shadows."
"Thir- Dark!"
"Easy, Twilight. They won't attack or anything unless we're in genuine danger. Not to mention that if any of those dragons try to attack us with our backs turned to them, my Shadow Wraiths will block and counterattack them, giving us some time to recover and escape if we need to."
"So that's your plan?" Spike questioned. "Use your Shadow Wraiths to cover us while we make our escape?"
"And the guards," Dark added. "If any of my wraiths are in anyway destroyed, they'll just return to the shadows."
"I'm still not really sure about this idea, Dark," Twilight frowned.
"I said yesterday that I'd protect my family, Twilight, and I intend to do so," he returned before giving a small growl. "I already lost my family once before, and I won't allow myself to lose another, especially when I have the power to prevent it. Besides, with my power, I doubt that they'll even be needed. They're more of a cautionary measure than anything."
Twilight placed a hoof on Dark's shoulder. "Dark, I know that you want to protect us and keep us safe, but-"
*Knock-Knock-Knock*
Twilight paused as they turned towards the door. "Yes?"
"Princess Twilight?" one of the guards spoke through the closed door. "May I come in?"
"Sure."
They watched as one of the royal guards opened the door and entered with a salute.
"Your Highness, we just received word that King Inferno is ready to see you, Prince Dark, and Spike."
Twilight took a breath to calm herself and nodded. "Thank you. Make sure that our three..."
"Prisoners?"
"... yes. Make sure that they're all ready to come with us. Oh, and make sure that they've got a cloak or sheet covering them so that none of the dragons know who they are. It would be bad if they saw who they were before we returned them to King Inferno."
"Yes, Princess," the guard replied before leaving to gather Garble and the two others.
Getting up, Twilight began to walk out of the room with Dark and Spike following before she stopped at the doorway and turned around to face Dark.
"Like I was saying before I got interrupted, Dark," Twilight continued, "just make sure that you don't do anything too risky. I know that your intentions are good and for our safety, but I don't want to see you fall because your sense of protectiveness over us caused you to do something stupid and irreversible."
"I'll do what I have to, Twilight," Dark stated before softening his voice, "but I understand what you're saying. I promise that I won't do anything too drastic during this meeting."
Twilight gave a small sigh of relief and nuzzled Dark's cheek. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he said, returning her nuzzle with one of his own. "Now, how about we get going? I'd rather get this done and over with as soon as possible, and get the hay out of here."
Agreeing, Twilight continued to lead them above deck and waited for the other guards to show up with the prisoners. Once they did, Twilight, Dark, Spike, and eight of their royal guards made their way towards the cave leading into the volcano. Once they got there, they were met with a pair of dragon guards who escorted them back to the throne room. Several long minutes later, they stopped while the two dragons opened the doors for them to enter.
Walking inside, they saw pillars aligning the wall, reaching up to the high ceiling with metallic arms holding a fiery braziers from a set of chains. Standing in-between each pillar was an armored dragon with a spear, standing guard as they all carefully watched their movements. And if the braziers didn't provide enough lighting for them, then the rivers of lava flowing from the walls like water down into a small trench along the corners of the walls, did.
Distracted by the look of the throne room, they didn't notice the end of it until they were already half-way there. There, sitting on a golden throne with embedded gems, was Inferno. Seeing him, and the mountain of treasure towering behind him, they also noticed Razor Claw sitting on Inferno's right side, and on his left, four dragons clothed in gray robes that revealed nothing but the end of their tails.
Ignoring the looks he was receiving from both Inferno and Razor Claw, Dark continued onward silently while subtly inching closer to Twilight's side. Once they felt like they were close enough, Twilight bowed, followed by Spike, the royal guards, and lastly and reluctantly, Dark.
"I suppose I should welcome you to my kingdom, Princess Twilight," Inferno spoke, his voice reverberating off of the stone walls as he cocked his head to the side. "You seemed to have gained some weight since we last met."
"It's a pleasure to be here, King Inferno," Twilight politely said, ignoring his comment. "I've never been to the capital before, let alone the Dragon Kingdom. So seeing all of this for the first time is really-"
"Cut the pleasantries, Princess. What I want to know is what you're doing showing up here out of the blue like you did yesterday."
Twilight managed to hide her frown at rudely being interrupted like that and maintained her posture.
"I was sent here by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to talk to you about the sudden increase of dragons, salamanders, flaming manticores, and from what I understand, hellions."
Razor Claw narrowed his eye. "Where did you get such information from?" he growled.
"From Rin," one of the cloaked dragons spoke, earning the three a surprised look from Inferno and Razor Claw.
"You sent him?!"
"Yes," the second one replied.
"We four of the Dragon Council sent Rin to Equestria to ask for aid from their princesses.
"You would dare go behind my back like this?" Inferno hissed.
"We four already came to a unanimous decision that what you're doing isn't in the best interest for this kingdom," the third one spoke.
"War with Equestria would be a foolish act, bordering on suicidal," the fourth added curtly. "You would have to combat with not only four Alicorn Princesses and Discord, the Lord of Chaos, but also Lords Pyre and Fissure, Ladies Aques and Aero, and now, Lord Dark, who I would imagine wouldn't mind tearing you apart, Your Highness."
Well, she's not exactly wrong about that last part, Dark though.
"Like that maters at this point."
Hearing that familiar cocky voice bouncing off of the walls, Dark growled as Gunter walked out from behind Inferno's throne and sat in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" Dark growled menacingly.
"You may want to be more specific, considering that that could go one of two ways," he told him.
"Hmm?"
"You see, I'm here, or rather, still here, because your brother tried to poison me after I left Canterlot last year," Gunter explained before chuckling. "It was clever how he was able to trick me like that. Too bad for him that I'm quite familiar with the scent of nightshade, even if it was diluted by the food coloring that was cleverly mixed in with it."
"A pity you didn't drink it."
"As for the other reason why I'm here... well, I did say that I received a seat in King Inferno's court. Or did you forget already?"
Dark was grinding his fangs at this point. "How did you know about Light being in Canterlot?"
Gunter smirked. "How do you think he got the materials to make that amulet?"
A second later, Dark created a burst of shadows from his claws and extended wings, causing each of the dragon guards to point their weapons at him. However, before Dark could do anything, Twilight placed a hoof on his shoulder to try calming him down while facing Inferno with a small glare.
"King Inferno, I would advise that you control your... underling... before he starts something. We're here on a peaceful mission, and I don't want to see it ruined because of any deliberate provocations from your side."
Inferno scoffed. "Peace? Why would I indulge in such a ridiculous notion?"
Twilight looked back to her guards and gave them a nod. Upon receiving her signal, three of the guards pulled the sheets off, revealing the three dragons beneath them. Seeing who they were, Inferno's eyes widened in surprised before narrowing in on Twilight.
"What is the meaning of this?" he hissed.
"This is my peace offering," Twilight diplomatically said.
"WHAT?!"
"You see, King Inferno," she began with a small, smug grin, "a little over a month ago, Garble and these two came to my town of Ponyville as spies for your kingdom."
The four council members looked over at Inferno while Twilight continued.
"They already admitted it to us. They were sent to spy on us, but when Garble spotted Spike, he couldn't help but settle an old grudge. He challenged Spike to a duel in accordance with your Dragon Code, and lost."
This got Inferno's attention. "He lost?!"
"He did," Spike said, taking a step forward. "He foalnapped my three fillyfriends and challenged me to a duel. In the end, he lost and those other two were captured. And, since I spared his life, he now belongs to me... but, instead of keeping him as a servant, I'm returning him back to you as a sign of peace on behalf of Equestria."
With a motion from Twilight, the guards unshackled the three teen dragons and allowed for them to slowly and cautiously approach Inferno.
"You should also know, Inferno," Dark spoke up, "that your son, Garble, was well within my rights as Lord of Death to claim his life."
Inferno's eyes locked onto Dark with heated anger as he continued.
"You owe us, Inferno. Not just me for not claiming Garble, but for Spike as well, by him choosing to return him to you."
Inferno directed his heated gaze from Dark to Garble and the two flaking him as they approached and stopped at the foot of the dais leading up to his throne. Crawling off of his throne, Inferno walked down the small ramp and stood towering over them. Taking a moment, he saw that while the two others were just fine, Garble was a mess. Seeing his missing wing and arm, and the pitiful look in his eyes, Inferno leaned down low enough to where his muzzle was just inches away from Garble and the two others.
And ate them.
Shocked and disgusted by what they witnessed, Twilight and Spike turned away to not look, while Dark's eyes began to glow red with rage, watching as Inferno chewed and devoured his only son and two companions.
"WHAT THE HAY?!" Dark roared, watching the lump in his throat moving as Inferno swallowed the chewed remains. "What kind of a sick parent are you?!"
"He was no son of mine," Inferno snorted. "What you brought me was a broken and defeated teenage dragon, nothing more."
"And those two spies got captured," Razor Claw added. "As punishment for their failure, they both would've been sentenced to death anyway."
"Even if Garble was hurt like that, he was still your son! Your child!"
"Don't you dare speak to me about what it means to be a parent when you yourself have no offspring to claim!"
"That's enough!" Twilight declared, stomping her hoof and cracking the stone beneath her. "Look, we're here to talk about your actions of building an army, and to negotiate to try and avoid war."
"And why would any of us want to do that?"
Dark felt a chill run up his spine upon hearing that voice again. Slowly turning his head around, he watched as Light casually made his way across the room from the door, and past them towards the base of the dais. As Dark watched his brother walking past them, he noticed him wearing a white trench coat, and a Neighpanese katana in a light-blue sheath, tied to his belt.
Tearing his eyes away from the sword, Dark locked his hurt-filled eyes on Light as he finally made his way up beside Inferno's throne.
"I can't believe you, Light," Dark said, his voice filled with sorrow, disappointment, and anger. "Trying to kill me is one thing, but to go on ahead and join Inferno like this?"
"This is your own fault, brother," Light spat. "If you would've just died to those timberwolves like you should have, then none of this would've happened."
"Speaking of things that should have happened, why didn't you go get help for Stonewall Village like you were supposed to?"
"I don't need to answer that to you. Besides, everypony is dead, leaving us as the last of our bloodli-"
Light furrowed his brow as he glared at not Dark, but Twilight. Or, more specifically, the ring on her horn. Spotting it, Light's eyes widened slightly as he turned back to Dark.
"Wow, Dark... just wow."
"What is it now?" Dark asked with a small edge to his voice.
"I'm actually surprised of you."
"What? What is it?" Gunter asked.
"Don't you see it?" Light snarked, pointing a hoof at Twilight. "It would appear that our dear Princess Twilight is engaged to Dark."
Twilight's eyes widened as she looked up at the ring on her horn that she'd forgotten to remove.
Uh-oh, she thought before thinking up of an excuse. "I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. You see-"
"Save it, Princess," Light interrupted. "You can't deny nor hide your engagement to my brother. After all, the design of that engagement ring of yours is specific to our old village, and our village alone."
Crap, this isn't good! Dark though in slight panic for having been found out.
"Also, does anyone else notice that the Princess appears to have put on a bit of extra weight?"
"Shut up, Light!" Dark shouted.
"Last I saw her, she didn't have nearly that much weight, nor could she have put on so much in such a short amount of time. And I doubt that she's pregnant, seeing as how I killed Aurora last year."
While Dark didn't answer, the flash of fear in his eyes was enough for Light to notice. That, and the fact that Dark was not standing protectively in front of Twilight with bared fangs.
"... wait... no... Are you serious?!"
All eyes were now on Twilight as her eyes darted around at the surrounding dragons.
"What is it now?" Razor Claw huffed, glancing down to see Light gritting his teeth.
"That's impossible! I was there! I killed Aurora! There's no possible way for that mare to be carrying a foal!"
Good. So he doesn't know about Aurora being able to be reborn, Dark thought with a hint of satisfaction.
"Light," Inferno spoke, "are you telling us that Princess Twilight is actually pregnant?"
Light was snarling at this point. "I don't know how it's possible, but yes. And if I had to guess, judging by the fact that she's wearing Dark's engagement ring, the foal is his."
Inferno abruptly stood up from his throne and snapped his claws, causing each of the dragon guards to grip their spears tighter.
"I cannot allow for the spawn of Dark to live, whether it's carried by a Princess of Equestria or not."
"I'd be very careful if I were you right now, Inferno," Dark growled threateningly, shadows flowing off of him and across the floor around him, Twilight, Spike, and their guards.
"Give me one good reason why I should?"
"Because I am Death Incarnate, and you don't want to be threatening my fiancé or daughter."
Inferno raised an eye before giving a flaming snort.
"Your threats are meaningless to me."
"King Inferno, don't do it!" the council members pleaded, only to be ignored by Inferno as he turned to his right.
"General Razor Claw, if you would?"
"With pleasure," Razor Claw replied with a wicked grin. "Guards! Kill them all!"
Twilight's head darted around as each of the dragon guards roared and pointed their spears at them. However, before any of them took their first step towards them, Twilight, Spike, and their guards watched as two of them suddenly collapsed to the stone floor. While they were curious as to what happened, the royal guards pushed that thought off as they surrounded Twilight, Dark, and Spike, allowing for the unicorns to shield them with a barrier, just as several others collapsed.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Razor Claw boomed. "Get up you lazy lizards!"
"They no longer answer to you."
Turning heated gaze, Razor Claw began to glare at Dark, only for his anger to diminish upon making contact with Dark's glowing red ones.
"What did you do?" Razor Claw growled.
Smirking, Dark glanced off back behind him at the last of the dragon guards. A second later, that dragon too collapsed into a heap on the floor.
"Whenever anyone thinks of their own shadows, they immediately think to the one that their body casts on the ground." Dark raised a shadow-covered claw and idly examined it. "What they don't bother to think of is the other kind of shadow that they unknowingly create."
"What are you talking about? What other kind of shaaAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
Screaming in agony, Razor Claw suddenly found himself writhing in pain on his back while holding his arms around his stomach. A few seconds of screaming later, he suddenly found blood beginning to leak from the corners of his mouth. Straining against the pain, Razor Claw directed his eyes to the side to see Dark with one of his shadow-covered claws raised.
"You've felt the shadows that I'm talking about, General," Dark lowly spoke. "What I just used were the shadows within your own body."
"That's impossible!" Gunter shouted. "There's no shadow within our own body."
"Hmph. Says the stallion who claimed to be the brightest stick in the woods back in Stonewall Village."
"You know I'm right about that!"
Brightest stick in the- that doesn't even make any sense! Twilight mentally screamed, finding no logic in that.
"Fur, scales, skin, muscles, bones; these are a few of the things that cast a shadow within our bodies. Going further, our intestines, bladder, kidneys, liver, the stomach, which Razor Claw just bore witness to, lungs, and the windpipe, are all shaded from the light, filling them with a shade of darkness. Even..."
Dark turned his eyes back to Razor Claw and rotated his claw until it looked like he was holding something in it.
"... the heart."
Dark kept his eyes on Razor Claw as he clenched his fist. Immediately as he did, Razor Claw's cries of pain were silenced as he laid lifelessly on the ground.
"It may not be Nocturne's death magic," Dark began, taking notice of the fear in Inferno's and Gunter's eyes with a hint of joy, "but it's still rather fitting for a Lord of Death, wouldn't you agree?"
At this point, Inferno was shaking from rage of Dark killing Razor Claw, and in fear for the revelation of his power over shadows.
"Kill him!"
Light gave an annoyed sigh. "Do I have to do everything myself?" he grumbled.
A second later, Light spread his wings and used his speed to dart to Dark. Closing in, he began to draw his sword with his right hoof, revealing the blade as it glowed with light. Once close enough, Light swung his sword in an overhead arc, but his strike was stopped when a large two-hoofed sword suddenly formed in Dark's claw and blocked him. While initially surprised by the sudden appearance of the strange fleshy weapon, Light quickly recovered and pushed back before he would take another swing at Dark. But before he could, he was taken by surprise again by the power behind Dark's sword as he was pushed back before being knocked away.
"Leave this matter be, Light," Dark warned him. "I don't want to have to fight you."
"Well that's too bad, because I want to fight you." Light held out his sword for all to see. "Do you recognize this, Dark? It's the sword that you made for me before I left Stonewall. Thanks to Inferno's blacksmiths, and with a few barrels of Aurora's holy water that I'd hidden away after killing her-"
"Supposedly."
"-they were able to create for me this holy water-infused katana, making it a holy sword."
That would explain why the damned thing hurt when we crossed, Nocturne finally spoke in Dark's head.
You mean about how it's a holy weapon? Dark mentally asked back.
Yes, but as a sword, I'll be alright. As the Lord of Death, however, that weapon is lethal to you, even if it's not made of Draconium.
Dark kept his eyes on Light while he took a few steps back and leaned over to Twilight.
"Get everypony back to the airship and get out of here," he whispered to her.
"But what about you?" she whispered back.
"I'll stay here for a little longer to make sure that Light and Inferno don't follow you guys out. Now go, and be careful."
Though not liking leaving him alone like this, Twilight listened to Dark as she led Spike and their guards back to the airship in a gallop. As they ran, Twilight conjured up a quill and parchment before she looked over to Spike and floated them to him.
"Spike, I need you to send Princess Celestia an urgent letter telling her that the negotiations have fallen through, and that we're in trouble."
"A bit of an understatement there on both of those parts, but I got it, Twilight," Spike replied, using his magic to write the letter before rolling it up and sending it off. "Alright, it's sent."
"Thank you, Spike."
"No pro- incoming!"
Looking back ahead of them, Twilight saw that the hall was blocked by a half-dozen guards who were coming straight for them. Feeling like she'd have to fight this, Twilight just started to light up her horn when her shadow beneath her erupted, and with it, the Shadow Wraiths that were hiding within. Even though Dark had told her and Spike about this, neither of them were ready for when it happened.
Continuing their run to safety, the Shadow Wraiths from Twilight's shadow charged at the incoming dragon guards before Spike's shadow erupted, allowing for the Shadow Wraiths hidden within to join the others. With the sixty Shadow Wraiths, they swarmed the six dragon guards and began slicing away at them with their shadowy blades. As they distracted the guards, Twilight and the others were able to safely and quickly make their way past them.
Passing them by, Twilight led Spike and the royal guards around the corner and down another hallway. Moments later, she looked around as she saw that the Shadow Wraiths had caught up to them, and were now floating alongside and above them. Several minutes and another six dead dragon guards later, they finally reached the platform where their airship was docked, and thankfully unharmed.
"Princess, is something wrong?" one of the royal guards guarding the airship asked, seeing them running at them.
"We're leaving, now!" Twilight shouted.
"But what about the meeting with-"
"Inferno's sent his guards to kill us! We need to leave before they catch up to us!"
"At once, Your Highness, but what about those things?"
Twilight looked at the Shadow Wraiths floating around them. "You can thank Dark for them. They're sort of a backup plan incase things started to become dangerous for us. And before you ask about Dark, he told us to run and said that he'll catch up to us later."
The guard saluted. "Understood, Princess."
With a nod, Twilight, Spike, and the royal guards who'd followed them boarded the airship, while Twilight ordered the Shadow Wraiths to floated around the airship and protect it as they traveled. With everyone onboard, the pegasi crewmen untied the ropes holding them down to the stalagmites and began to fly away. As they pulled away and flew over Vulcan, Twilight's eyes went back to the cave entrance that they'd come from, waiting for Dark to come through them.
Dark found himself struggling with having to fight Light. While he was easily stronger physically and magically than Light, his heart just wasn't in it, having to fight his brother and only blood relative like this. It didn't help much either that while Dark did have him beaten in those categories, Light was considerably faster than Dark as he managed to get some sword hits on him, but was proven ineffective as his katana's blade glided harmlessly against the chainmail.
As their fighting progressed, Dark would try to take a moment and target Inferno's internal shadows to crush his heart like he did with Razor Claw. However, before he could get a grasp on them, Light would attack him, making Dark lose his focus and interrupting him. Thanks to Light's constant interruption, Inferno managed to escape the throne room and send in another dozen of his guards to kill Dark. The Dragon Council also escaped, but that was more because Dark told them to, seeing as how they didn't agree with Inferno and were the reason for Rin coming to them for help in the first place.
Growing tired of this, Dark leaped back away from Light and snapped his claw, causing the thirty Shadow Wraiths hidden within his shadow to fly out and attack the dragons. With them occupied by his wraiths, Dark continued fighting off Light to try and buy Twilight and the others more time to get away. However, as he fought Light, he noticed that while his Shadow Wraiths were winning, more dragons were charging in from down the hallway.
Inferno must've sent them to try and kill me, Dark thought before scowling. And if he's sent them, then he's probably sent some after Twilight and the others as well.
Growling, Dark casted his Shadow Claw on his free claw and waited for Light's next attack. When he swung, Dark grabbed the blade with his claw, gave it a hard yank, and tossed it off to the side with Light still holding onto it. Now having a few seconds before Light would catch himself in mid-air with his wings, Dark's body erupted with shadows, bathing the entire room in darkness.
Not knowing what was going on, Light spread his wings in mid-air and began pushing the darkness back with the light emanating from them. It was difficult for Light as he never had to deal with this kind of darkness before. But once he pushed the darkness back far enough, he saw that Dark was holding his level to the ground with both claws in a striking stance. The next thing that Light noticed was that the blade of Dark's sword was glowing black with power.
His sword charged up enough, Dark swung his Death Reaver in a horizontal slash that launched out a black wave of death magic similar to the one that he used against Sombra's undead army. As the wave of death magic flew out, it sliced cleanly through each dragon before continuing down the hallway that the incoming dragons were in. Shrouding his lower-half into shadows, Dark glided to the entrance to the throne room before using his magic to block the doorway off with a wall of fire, trapping Light inside and unable to follow after them.
Satisfied with no longer having to worry about fighting Light at the moment, Dark turned around and continued down the hallway with his Shadow Wraiths following closely behind him. As they flew, Dark watched as the bodies of those unfortunate enough to have been sliced by his attack start to dissolve into black mist. Snorting, Dark continued forward without looking back before he turned the corner and came upon another group of dragons. Rolling his eyes, Dark charged his sword and launched another wave of death magic at them. Not bothering waiting, Dark flew in right behind his attack, using it as a shield as it cut through the dragons until it finally dissipated at the exit of the volcano.
Flying out, Dark landed on the platform and looked up to the sky. Spotting the speck in the distance, Dark breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that Twilight and the others had made it out in the airship without being followed. However, just as he started to feel relaxed, the ground trembled and the air around him blew hard to the point where it stun his eyes, and the dust prevented him from seeing. Reaching into his Shadow Storage, Dark reached in and grabbed his eyeband before putting it on. His eyes now safe, Dark casted his Second Sight to see past the dust, only to see himself suddenly being surrounded by several dozen of dragons on ground and air, and a the few hundred salamanders that the dragons and brought with them and dropped off on the platform. Darting his eyes around, Dark waited for any of them to make a move to attack, while his Shadow Wraiths hovered around him, ready to charge at a moment's notice. Several seconds of waiting later, one of the dragon guards stepped forward.
"Surrender now and your death will be swift," she told Dark.
While most would be nervous or frightened in this position, Dark instead found himself chuckling in amusement of the dragonesses' threat. As the seconds passed, that chuckling gradually escalated into full-blown laughter that irritated the dragons watching.
"What's so funny?!" another dragon demanded.
"You're hopelessly outnumbered!"
"This is the end for you! We will not let you leave this place alive!"
"This is where we will stop you!"
Dark's laughing died down and was now grinning sinisterly at them. Using the shadows seeping from his wings, Dark used them to encompass and rotate around his body until he was consumed in a sphere of darkness, prevent anything from the outside to see what was happening within. After several long seconds had passed, the sphere erupted outward, revealing Dark in a state that immediately caught the attention of each and every dragon around him.
During his time shrouded, Dark had switched out his Coliseum armor, and replaced it with another. While he still wore a black waist cape, the rest of his armor was completely different. In place of the chainmail jacket and pants, Dark now wore black plate armor. From the plated boots on his hooves, to the gauntlets on his claws, and his dragon skull-shaped pauldrons on his shoulders with enchanted eye sockets that gave the illusion that they were on fire, every part of his body was covered in plated armor. This also included his tail, which included three rows of curved blades traveling up the sides and top of his tail, the top of which continued up the spine of his back and ending at the base of his neck where a black hood completely hid Dark's face. His wings, while not covered in plated armor, was covered in a special mesh that would still strong enough to protect his wings.
With him wearing his Coliseum Champion armor, his red eyes glowing from beneath his hood, and his lower half becoming shrouded in shadows again, Dark floated up off the ground and summoned his Death Reaper scythe in his left claw. Now armed with both of his Living Weapons, and floating at the dragons' eye-level, Dark began channeling his death magic into his scythe and sword.
"No one can stop death."