Never had Twilight had a more troubled sleep in all her life. The princess had managed to get to sleep thanks to cuddling up to Flash, but her mind kept going over Spike, Heart and all their other stolen friends. And when she woke up, she found that Flash was the same, all soon going to the dinning room...and finding everyone was the same way. Pinkie was serving pancakes, but she didn't have her usual cheery manner. Ember looked the most out of place, clearly unsure how to sit in a chair designed for a creature without a solid tail.
"Morning," the princess sighed as they call gave a half awake retort. "I don't suppose any of you got at real sleep last night."
"Maybe for about...two minutes," Rainbow replied.
"This is ridiculous!" Ember yelled as she stood up from the table. "I'm supposed to be helping my subjects, and instead I'm sitting around eating pancakes and waiting around for someone else to find out where they are!"
"I'm worried too," Flash added, "But Celestia was right. We can't just fight Malafear when he's got a full army waiting for us."
"Agreed. We need a plan," Grand sighed, "We need some way to counter Malafear."
Springer shook his head as he took a bite of his pancake. "I tried tracking Heart's aura, but wherever he is, he's too far for me to locate."
"So what?!" Ember yelled again, "We just wait around doing nothing until Malafear shows up again?!"
"He's gonna come after me again," Flash reminded her. "And since we have no other way of locating them-"
"Maybe not." The ponies, jakhowl and dragon turned to see Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Solid Script walk into the room. "We may have a way to go on the offensive after all."
"Script!" Twilight gasped as she got up from her chair, seeing the bandages covering the unicorn, "You shouldn't be walking around!"
"I'm fine," he replied, "The Crystal Empire doctors were able to fix me right up. And it's a good thing they did, because I have a way we can find Malafear and the others. Well...I have a way to find Ruby, but she should be with them all."
"How?"
"After Ruby was turned into a dragon, I managed to hit her leg with a spell."
"Which caused her to turn on you and almost crush you under a house," Grand pointed out.
Script rolled his eyes, "anyway, the spell I hit Ruby with was a tracking rune. Once I activate it, I'll be able to pinpoint exactly where Ruby is." Everypony's eyes went wide, even Grand's as Ember punched her palm.
"So what are we waiting for?! Fire that thing up and let's find him!"
"Hold on," Script responded, "We can't just rush off. The rune can't be seen right now since it's not being used, but the second I activate it, it'll glow brighter than a firework in the dead of night. Once Malafear sees it, it won't be long before he removes the mark from Ruby."
"So what do we do?" Fluttershy asked.
"We use a Rune Gate," Celestia replied, "Twilight and Script will finish the Crystal Empire gate, and when it's done, he'll use the tracking spell to locate Ruby and send the gate to her location."
"And we use the gate to attack," Flash finished.
Celestia nodded. "Since Malafear will likely target the Rune Gate as soon as it appears, we can't risk sending a large group."
Script hummed in agreement, "If the gate is destroyed while somepony is passing through it...I doubt it'll be pretty. That's why it'll be best to send somepony through that can put up a powerful shield that'll protect it long enough to allow the others through."
"I can do that," Shining spoke up.
Twilight then shook her head, "No Shining, you need to stay here in case the dragons attack again. I don't want to admit it, but it's possible we could fail. If that happens, Malafear may decide to turn the Crystal Empire into his all-you-can-eat candy store. You need to be here to protect it." Shining growled at this, his sister adding, "I'll go through and put up the shield."
"And Springer and I will go through before you," Flash told her. "With our new avatar, we should be able to hold off anything Malafear throws at us."
"Yah sure that's a good idea?" Applejack added.
"You are the one Malafear wants," Rarity pointed out.
"Which means he's not gonna run away when he sees me," Flash chuckled, "If anypony else shows up, he'll make a portal and fly through it before I get there. It's better for me to go first."
They all exchanged glances, only to sigh as Twilight glared at him, only to sigh, "Alright...but the rest of us will be there as soon as possible."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Rainbow asked, "Let's go save our friends!" The others all nodded, all letting out yells of agreement.
The Dragon Lands...
Heart didn't know when he had fallen asleep, but found himself being awakened by the light of the sun as it hit his face. "Unh..." he groaned as he opened his eyes, only to go wide-eyed. He found he was in a cage that was surrounded by a bunch of sleeping dragons, Iron being right beside him. The dragon was in a slightly curled up form, his tail folded up so the end of it was under its chin like a pillow as it slept away.
Heart glanced around at this, only to lean up to the dragon, "Iron," he whispered, "Iron, wake up." The dragon seemed to react to this, its glowing eyes opening as it slowly turned to him. "See? It's me, Heart. You know me. We're friends." The dragon's head leaned up, now growling as Heart leaned back, waving his hooves, "Come on Iron, we've been through way to much for you not to know me. Remember when you accidently said that dirty word when you didn't know I was there and begged me not to tell anypony? Or maybe when I accidentally set your mane on fire when I was doing that bet with Scootaloo?" The dragon just kept staring at him, growling as Heart did a slight gulp. "Ooookay. That's not working."
The dragon leaned down at this, snorting as he was about to show his teeth. And as Heart saw this, his brain went into overdrive as he said, "Wait! What about Fluttershy? She's probably worried about you!"
Iron opened his mouth at this, only to come to a stop. He let out a guttural growl, his head slightly leaning back as Heart continued, "That's right! She's probably heartbroken, not knowing where you are and what's happened to you! You gonna let some creepy dragon hurt the mare you care about?! Come on Iron!" The dragon began to shake its head at this, hissing as Heart added, "Wake up Iron! Wake up!"
"Enough!" A burst of red light hit Iron's head, Heart's gaze shooting up to see Malafear, only to look back at Iron as the glow returned to his eyes.
"No, no, NO!" He yelled, "IRON!"
"Leave us," Malafear told Iron. The dragons did as instructed and walked off, Heart trying to follow...only to see the other dragons had begun to awaken. Malafear then flew down and landed in front of his cage, placing a foot on one of the bars. "Nice try, but nothing will free them from my control."
"Why do you want them?" Heart asked, "What use could you have with ponies turned into dragons?"
Malafear growled back, "Trust me, if I knew where to find the dragons I wanted, I would have used them. But since they don't seem to be around anymore, I'm forced to use you worthless ponies. And once I have your friend Flash, everything will be as it should have been." Malafear turned to walk away, focusing on the dragons. "Eat and then we leave. I wanna find someplace far way from the seal to do battle." The dragons did as commanded and began to devour any gem they could get their claws on, Heart turning to the mountain that the larger dragons were flying up to in order to dig again.
"What's with this place?" He asked Malafear, who stopped and glanced back at him. "You're looking for something. What does it have to do with my friends? What's in that mountain?!"
Malafear remained silent for a moment, only to reply, "Inside that mountain...is me." With that, he flew off, leaving Heart in his cage.
Spike and First continued their seemingly endless trek through the book they were trapped in, following the moans they heard before. They didn't know how long they had run for, maybe minutes, hours or even days.
First sighed at this. "This place seems to go on forever."
"Twilight always said books were like an entire world crammed into a hundred or more pages." Spike groaned as he slumped over, coming to a stop. "But would it be too much to ask for a shortcut?!"
As soon as he said that, a light caught his attention, making him look down at his claw. There he and First saw it was glowing green, holding up the claw and stared at the light, feeling a strange warmth coming form it. It was then the light morphed into sparks of lightning, making First backpedal. However, Spike didn't feel scared, instead clutching his claws into a fist, the lightning suddenly morphing into flames that covered his hand.
"Huh?" Spike mumbled as he waved his fist around, only to pull his arm back as the flame formed around his claw, turning into a fireball. He then thrust the fire, the ball flying out and exploding. It burned for a few seconds, growing larger before it began to extinguish and reveal a door sized book in front of them.
"What was that?" First asked, Spike just shrugging. He walked up and grabbed the book's cover, opening it up. He expected a scene to appear, only to see a page that showed the image of something that made Spike go wide-eyed.
"Flicker!" The page had a drawing of the dragon, who appeared to be tied up entirely in black chains. He reached out and touched the drawing, only for it to create a light that sucked him inside. "WHOA!" He yelped as he was pulled through the page, then thrown out. "Ow..." He groaned as he felt he was back on the ground, pushing himself up and saw that another large book was open. This one showed the drawing of First, staring at him. But that drawing quickly glowed before the real pony was thrown out of the image.
"Gyah!" He screamed as he flew out, crashing a second later. "That hurt." He adjusted his glasses and glanced up, only to see the image of Flicker from the book in front of both of them...only this time, it was real.
Flicker was kneeling in front of them, his head lowered and black chains surrounding him. He was letting out moans, similar to First from before. But something was different. Unlike Spike and First, his body didn't appear to be all there, as if it was transparent.
"Flicker!" Spike gasped as he ran over to the dragon, "Come on..." he whispered as the light around his claw appeared. "Wake up." The light spread around his body, now morphing into green lightning. The chains around Flicker started to break as the lightning surged around them, only to shatter as Flicker's eyes shot open.
"AUGH!" He cried, jumping back as he continued to scream, "Ahhh!"
"Whoa!" Spike added, "Wait Flicker, it's me!"
Flicker fell onto his rump, gasping before glancing down at the drake, "Spike?" The baby dragon nodded, "Why are you...how are you..."
"It's a long story," Spike replied before pointing at the dragon, "Say uh...what's wrong with you. Why are you all...see through?"
Flicker glanced down at himself, only to shake his head. "I don't know. I don't..." He started to pick himself up, Spike and First helping him. Despite him being transparent, he still appeared physical. "How did you both get here?" Spike and First were quick to explain, Flicker frowning when he heard about Malafear using his body. "Maybe...maybe that's it." He looked down at his transparent claw, "We were all sealed within this book, but unlike you two, my body didn't come along for the ride."
"What happened to you?" Spike asked, "How did Malafear get your body?"
"I can barely remember. I know I was studying the mural I found with Heart and Soul, then it broke apart. The next thing I know...I'm here." The three shared glances at this as he then asked, "Any idea what this Malafear is doing with my body?"
"Well..." Spike mumbled out, "We know he turned Heather into a dragon. Other then that...not much."
"But we have learned a lot about Malafear," First added, only for another flash of light to appear behind them. Spinning around, they saw that another book had appeared. "And we might be about to learn more." He turned to Spike, seeing a huge frown on his face. "Spike, I know this is hard, but if we wish to defeat Malafear-"
"I know," Spike nodded, marching up to the book and grabbing the cover before pulling it open. In a flash of light, they were once again back at the Dragon Lands. Flicker was shocked, but First told him it wasn't real as Silverbolt appeared before them.
"Ahhh," he groaned in pain before picking himself up, only to go wide-eyed as he saw one dragon in particular. Fira's body was laid out on the ground, Silverbolt dragging himself over to her. Once he was there, he picked her up, now feeling no warmth from her. Tears began to fill his eyes, pulling her closer as he began crying into her chest. "Fira..."
Spike could feel his heart twist at this, First putting his hoof on his shoulder as he knew no child should see their parents in this state. It was here that the other dragons moved over, all looking injured but not critically so. They all gathered around Fira's body, Shard placing a claw on Silverbolt's shoulder while Arbour and Aurora pulled her from his grasp. They put her down, crossing her arms over her chest while her tail was carefully wrapped around her legs.
Once that was done, Jade bent down and began to breathe on her body. Doing so caused the air around her to crystallize, eventually sealing her within a coffin of gemstones.
"Do you...want to bury her?" Voltic asked Silverbolt.
"Yes...but not now." He turned in the direction he knew Malafear had gone, "We have to stop him." He spread his wings and took to the air, the others following after. Spike, First and Flicker were pulled along with them as they travelled across the land, soon arriving at the area the other dragons had been gathered. And when they got there, they were met with a horrifying sight.
Dragons of all kinds, littered across the land. Not a single one was moving, all not even twitching as they saw what had happened to them. Aurora gasped as they landed, her heart breaking as she saw a certain light dragon, "Gleam..."
"Forge," Shard growled at the remains of another iron dragon.
"I can't believe he got so many," Jade whispered as she stared at the sight, "Wait...there's no flame dragons."
"He probably left those ones alone," Voltic sighed, "He already has the flames of two dragons," he glanced over at Silverbolt and saw he had no reaction. "It's possible there's a limit to how many elemental powers he can steal. Or he didn't want to risk that possibility, so he left the dragons that were of the elements he already has."
"That's possible," Silverbolt grumbled as he kneeled down and closed the eyes of an earth dragon, "If we don't stop him, he may end up causing the extinction of our race. We can't let that happened."
The others nodded, only to hear a sound. It was weak, but it rang out in his silent place. They turned to see something small walking up, Silverbolt gasping, "Starswirl!"
"Silverbolt!" Starswirl sighed in relief, "You're alive! Thank goodness!" Silverbolt nodded as he walked up to the pony, the egg in his unicorn's magic grasp. "Where's Fira?!" Silverbolt grimaced at this, making Starswirl pale, "No..." he began to tear up, only to glance away, "I should have stopped her. She gave me the egg and told me to look after it, but-"
"No," Silverbolt shook his head, "Don't blame yourself." He let out a sigh and turned back to where they had left his mate, "That's just the kind of dragon Fira was. Selfless."
Voltic moved over to Starswirl, "What happened? Did any of the dragons manage to at least hurt him?"
"I don't know," Starswirl replied, "I hid inside the cave and put an illusion on it so he wouldn't see. I was just trying to protect the egg." The dragons nodded at this, only to see Starswirl grimace, "But I...heard what happened. Screams of terror. All of them, trying to flee or fight. But nothing worked."
Silverbolt's body began to shake, the rage radiating off of him. "I won't allow this. I won't allow him to take the life of another dragon ever again."
"What are you gonna do?" Shard asked, "We can't fight him. We lost when he only had five elements at his disposal. Now he'll have who knows how many and be who knows how big. He's unstoppable!"
"Maybe not," Silverbolt replied before turning to his egg, "When I was hatched, one of the first spells I learned was one that allows me to create a prison out of other dragons elements. One so powerful, that nothing can escape from it."
"Really?" Aurora asked, "Then why didn't you use it before?"
"Because it's a suicide spell." The dragons and Starswirl all went wide-eyed at this, Silverbolt turning to them. "A Mystic Dragon's power comes from their soul. The more powerful the soul, the more powerful their magic. And this spell works by transforming the users soul into the conduit that the elements use to create the seal."
"So if you use this spell..." Arbour couldn't finish the sentence.
"I'll die," Silverbolt nodded. "But...it might not be enough. Malafear's grown so strong, it's possible he could break out of my prison even if I sacrifice myself. If he was a normal dragon or heck, just a regular Mystic Shadow Dragon, I'm sure I could hold him. But the way he is now..."
"There has to be some why we can make the seal work!" Arbour added.
Spike grimaced at this, his eyes staring straight at Silverbolt as Voltic spoke up, "Maybe we could weaken him. Would that allow you to seal him away?"
"Possibly," Silverbolt replied, "But how do we weaken him?"
"I might have a way." They all turned to Starswirl, the pony then reaching into his bag and took out a book that was very familiar to the three watching this memory.
"A book?" Shard asked.
"I was gonna use it to note dragon breeding habits and egg hatching, but now I intend to use it for a very different purpose." He turned to Silverbolt, "You're not the only magical prodigy here. And I know a few spells that are a little...twisted." Silverbolt tilted his head at this, "I know a spell that can temporarily remove the soul of a being. With a few tweaks, it could be used to completely separate the body from the soul and seal that spirit within this book."
"So you wanna rip out Malafear's soul and seal it inside that book?" Jade repeated, Starswirl nodding. "If you do that, Silverbolt wouldn't have to sacrifice himself to seal his body away. The body would just be dead...right?""
"But what do we do with his body after his spirit's sealed away?" Aurora asked.
"We destroy it," Silverbolt answered, "It's possible Malafear will be able to break the seal on the book. If that happens, we'll be right back to where we started. So as soon as Malafear's soul is sealed away, we destroy the body as fast as possible. Then, even if the soul escapes, it'll have no body to terrorize the land with." He turned to them, glaring at the group, "But Malafear isn't going to just let us rip his soul out of him. We'll need to distract and exhaust him, allowing Starswirl the chance to use the spell." He let out a long breath at this, "This battle might not be one we come back from. Not matter what, he have to protect Starswirl. Even if it costs us our lives."
The dragons all shared a glance, only to all nod. No matter what, they would stop Malafear and protect the world.
It was at that moment the scene around them was sucked back into the book, slamming shut at the same time.
"Now what?" Flicker asked, the question being answered when a new book appeared beside the old one.
"Now we skip to the next important scene," Spike told him. "And hopefully, this'll be the last scene we see." He reached out and opened the book, the scene around them once again forming. This time, they were inside Silverbolt's cave. There the Mystic Lightning Dragon was laying around his egg the same way Fira had been while Starswirl was writing something on a piece of parchment.
"There," the pony said, "That should do it. The soul extraction spell, combined with a sealing spell. It should allow me to pull Malafear's soul out of him and lock it inside this book."
"Good," Silverbolt nodded. "Then we just have to find him. Hopefully, the others will have that covered." As he said that, he looked down at his egg. "Starswirl," the pony turned to him as he lifted up the egg, "I want to you keep this safe."
"The egg?" Starswirl asked with a raised eyebrow, "Silverbolt-"
"Please," he held the egg out, "I want you to become it's guardian." Starswirl glanced down at the egg before frowning, only for Silverbolt to say, "Remember what I said. Malafear will be focusing on us, which means you'll be the one most likely to make it out of this alive. That's why I want you to become my egg's guardian so if I don't make it, I'll know it'll be protected."
Starswirl stared at the egg, only to slowly nod, "Okay, but as soon as the battle's over, I'm giving the egg back to you." Silverbolt nodded and stared down at his egg, then put his claws around it and caused lightning to spark around it for several seconds.
Starswirl watched this occur, now seeing the egg begin to glow a green light. When Silverbolt was done, he bent down and held the egg's top and bottom between the tips of his claws. "Place your hoof on it." Starswirl did so, causing the egg's green glow to suddenly be absorbed into him. "There," the glow vanished, "Now the egg knows you're it's protector. When the time comes for it to hatch, it should give you some form of warning or message about what needs to happen."
Starswirl nodded and took the egg in his magic, then placed it back in the nest. "I promise that I'll protect it and find somepony worthy of protecting it should the need arise." He then turned to Silverbolt, "But I know we'll find a way to stop Malafear and keep you all alive."
Silverbolt nodded again, only for the sound of wings to catch their attention.
"Silverbolt!" Voltic yelled as he landed at the mouth of the cave, "Jade spotted Malafear several miles away! He's coming!"
Silverbolt turned back to Starswirl, "You ready?" Starswirl nodded and teleported onto his back, Silverbolt heading for the door. He glanced back at his egg, taking one last look before taking to the air, followed by Voltic, Spike and the others. They flew for several minutes until they arrived at an open area, a large cloud of black smoke moving towards it.
"Alright Chops, go find a place to hide. When you see an opening...take it." Starswirl nodded and teleported away, allowing Silverbolt to take his position between the other dragons with Shard below him.
And as the cloud drew closer, Silverbolt's body sparked. "Here." He thrust his claws out and unleashed green bolts that struck the others, zapping them. "Sorry, but it's better to be safe then sorry." The lightning faded, the dragons all now glowing green.
It was at this moment the cloud drew close enough for them to see into it, the dark vapor slowly fading to reveal the dragon inside. Malafear, now twice the size he had been before, hovered in place as he chuckled, "So...you survived. You should have escaped when you had the chance."
"No way," Silverbolt barked back, "We won't just stand aside and let you do whatever you want."
The three watching held their breath, knowing this would likely be a battle of epic proportions. That is, till Spike felt a sense of déjà vu as Silverbolt spoke up, "This ends...now!" As soon as he said that, he charged along with the dragons. They flew and ran as fast as they could as he added, "Your reign of terror ends here and now!" The others dragons roared in agreement, only for the black dragon to take a deep breath.
"I've seen this before," Spike whispered as Malafear unleashed a large cloud of the black mist. And as the six dragons were engulfed by the shadows, Spike now saw it was the dream he had had before this all started.
"Raaah!" Silverbolt roared as he unleashed a blast of lightning that dispelled the cloud, allowing the others to unleash their attacks on the monster. No matter what, this battle would be one for the ages.
Hours had passed, but Malafear didn't appear to be planning to attack the Crystal Empire again. Instead, Twilight and Script were hard at work, finishing the stone Rune Gate that would allow them to travel to Ruby's location. As this happened, Flash, Springer, Grand, Skybreaker, Rainbow, Applejack, Ember and even the royal sisters were in the city's stadium, all training. Flash and Springer were sparing while Ember practised hoof to claw combat with Rainbow and Applejack. Trixie was practising her illusions as well, Grand and Skybreaker staying on the side as they made sure their weapons were ready for battle while Celestia and Luna were doing some target practise.
"This is...strange," Luna sighed, "It's been almost a thousand years since we last took part in a major battle." She fired a blast from her horn and shot it straight through the target, Celestia doing the same and getting a bullseye. "I was starting to think we would spend the rest of our rule sitting on the sidelines while others were forced to handle the bad stuff."
"I too feel unusual fighting in a battle as well," Celestia added, "Had I the time, I would have sent for the other Royal Knights. But we must do our part and help protect Equestria and the dragons lands."
"Not bad," Ember told Rainbow as she deflected a swing of her tail. She then gestured them to move closer. "Don't tell anypony this, but there's a move you could use if you find yourself in a tight spot. Hit a dragon on the back between the wings and it'll cause them to lose control of their wings for a few seconds." Rainbow and Applejack nodded, promising to not tell anypony else.
In that moment, Pinkie ran into the stadium. "Everypony! Twilight said the gate's ready!"
This made them all turn to her, only for Celestia to grab them in her magic and teleported them back to the castle. In a flash, they appeared in the hallway outside the room Cadance had set up for the Rune Gate. Walking inside, they saw Twilight and Script working on the gate while Cadance, Fluttershy and Rarity stood behind them. Fluttershy and Rarity were wearing saddlebags loaded with gear they might need, including medical supplies and a few extras.
Twilight fired a blast at the stone, carving a final rune into it. "There. It's done." She turned to the others, "Everything's ready."
"Then let's not waste anymore time," Flash told her before armorizing into his Shining Guardian form. Twilight nodded back, Springer taking this moment to go into Mega Mode as she turned to Script as he held up a Rune Gate he had transcribed onto a piece of paper. He then sparked his horn and began to lock down on the tracking rune he had placed on Ruby.
In a rocky area on the very edge of the dragon lands, many miles away from where Malafear's mountain was, a portal opened up. Malafear flew through, surveying the area before commenting, "Perfect," he told himself before the portal increased in size. Multiple dragons flew out, followed by the four elemental dragons as he turned and closed the portal. "This will be where we fight against Sentry. Prepare yourselves."
The dragons all roared and flew off in different directions, Malafear turning to his four transformed slaves. "Once he's here, attack him with everything you have...but don't kill him. Just exhaust him enough for me to transform him."
And as he said this, a bright light suddenly appeared on the Crystal Dragon's back leg, making him turn to the beast. "Hmm?" He flew down to the dragon, squinting his eyes at the rune before going wide-eyed, "This is-"
A bright flash of light shined out behind him next, making him turn to see a piece of paper materialize on the ground. "Not again!" As he said that, the runes on the paper fired a beam into the air, a certain pegasus and his jakhowl partner shooting out a second later.
"SURPRISE!" Flash yelled as he and Springer's avatars fused together, expanding to create a familiar pony jakhowl hybrid alicorn. Before any of the dragons could react, the avatar created a giant Bone Breaker and swung it into the elemental dragons, knocking them all flying, "Sorry!"
"DESTROY THE GATE!" Malafear screeched, only for Twilight to leap out of the light beam and quickly formed a shield around herself and the gate. A barrage of fire hit the barrier after this, Grand and Skybreaker coming out next. The pair sent rocks and air blades at the dragons, pushing them back as Celestia and Luna flew out of the portal. They were followed by Ember, then Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Trixie. Script was the last one, the portal deactivating as Twilight lowered the shield.
"It's over Malafear!" Flash roared as the avatar created a second Bone Breaker. "Release our friends, or we'll make you!"
"Counter offer. Surrender yourself and become my loyal servant, or my minions will destroy you." As he said that, the smaller dragons all charged at the ponies. The Royal Sisters fired a barrage of magical beams back, firework-like blasts now exploding as they struck multiple dragons.
As this happened, the avatar took to the air, the elemental dragons following while the others began to do battle as well. Twilight was teleporting all over, blasting any dragon near her while Script started plastering the ground with runes that exploded whenever a dragon flew over it. Grand and Skybreaker used their Celestic Gear to fight their way through while Ember began using her claw to claw fighting skills to knock the dragons around. And as the dragons began to counter, Trixie created illusions of everypony, the brainwashed minions now stumbling through the fake ponies.
Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity grabbed the Rune Gate and ran for it, Rainbow and Applejack going with them to keep them safe. As they ran, several dragons landed in front of them, Rainbow and Applejack quickly zipping up to them and slamming the spot between their backs. This caused them to start beating their wings randomly, making them fly out of control.
A pair of dragons still remained and charged at them with open mouths, only for Pinkie and Fluttershy to take out some fire extinguishers out of their saddlebags and shot foam at their mouths. Both dragons coughed as they felt the foam fill up their throats, only for Rarity to take out some super strong rope and tie their mouths shut before tying their arms to their feet.
Threats neutralized, the five ran over to a pile of rocks that had a gap the three of them could hide in while Rainbow and Applejack rushed off to fight again. "What do we do now?" Pinkie asked as Rarity took four pieces of paper out of her bag, all of them having runes on them. She then began placing them around the rock shelter, which soon emitted a light that quickly formed a dome.
"There," Rarity added, "Script said this field was completely dragon proof. Now if anypony gets injured, we can bring them in here to treat up." Fluttershy nodded as she removed a bunch of medical supplies from her bag while Rarity and Pinkie watched the others battle their hearts out.
"Here's hoping they figure out how to turn the others back to normal," Fluttershy whispered before flinching as the avatar kicked Iron in the face.
Meanwhile, Malafear simply watched the battle unfold from a safe distance. "Here's hoping I don't need to use my only bargaining chip to soon. It's always good to keep something in reserve." He stared down at his book, letting out a low hiss, "This time, you can see what it's like to be trapped inside a book."
The battle had been raging for what felt like hours. The six dragons flew around Malafear, attacking every chance they had got, the larger dragon acting like a pony being bothered by flies. "Raaah!" The giant dragon unleashed a torrent of water from his mouth at Jade, only for Voltic to fire a bolt of lightning. It struck the water, pushing it back as the electricity flowed up and zapped the shadow dragon. "AUGH!"
"IRON SLAM!" Shard roared as he rolled up and shot off a ramp-like rock that launched him into Malafear's chest. Malafear roared at this only for one of his spikes began to spark with lightning that fired a bolt at Shard. But as it did this, Arbour summoned a forest of vines around Shard, blocking the lightning. As it did this, Aurora and Silverbolt flew at Malafear from behind. Both unleashed blasts of light and green electricity, striking the back and travelling up his spine.
"RAAAAAH!" He cried, now trying to swat them with wings, only for all four dragons to fire at him from several different angles. "GYAH!"
"Ha!" Voltic cheered, "He can't hit us!"
"I guess bigger isn't always better," Jade added.
"Don't get cocky," Arbour chimed in, "He may be slower, but he packs enough punch that even one attack might be enough to take us down."
"Focus on limiting his movements!" Silverbolt yelled as he avoided a blast of fire, "Aim for his wings!" The other dragons nodded and began to do evasive maneuvers, dodging Malafear's attacks as they kept firing at the giant's wings, then flew back as he tried to counter.
"You insolent worms!" Malafear roared before spinning around and unleashed a cloud of toxic gas, which surrounded him.
The dragons pulled back as Silverbolt responded, "I don't think so!" He took a deep breath and unleashed a blast of lightning that struck the cloud, causing it to vanish. "NOW GUYS!" The others launched their elemental roars at Malafear, hitting his wings and making him roar in pain.
His wings then gave out, flopping over as he screamed, "RAAAH!" The wings hit the ground, causing it to shake as they saw that both wings now had multiple holes.
"Now we got him!" Shard laughed as Malafear let out a long hiss.
"You have nothing!" He roared before slamming his claws into the ground, causing it to unleash a massive spike of rock that slammed into Shard, knocking him flying.
"Aaaah!" He cried, now seeing Malafear open his mouth as flames appeared within.
"Hold on!" Jade yelled as she and Voltic flew down, Jade getting in front of him and roaring as Malafear unleashed the fire. Her crystal tornado deflected the flames, allowing Voltic to grab Shard in his claws and lifted him off of the spikes. Jade then pulled back, the flames flying past her as she shot down and slammed her feet into the ground, causing crystal spikes to shoot out and encase Malafear's foot.
"What!?" He yelped, now squirming as he tried to lift his foot.
"My turn!" Shard added, Voltic letting him go as he crashed into the ground like Jade. This caused metal spikes to shoot out and trap the other front foot, locking him in place.
"You little worms!" He roared as he prepared to breath fire, only for a barrage of vines to suddenly wrap around his mouth and seal it shut. "Mmhm!" The vines then yanked his head back, Arbour now behind Malafear and pulling as hard as he could. Meanwhile, Voltic and Aurora began to fire their attacks at his head while Silverbolt flew down to his chest.
"Now we've got you!" He yelled before thrusting his claws into his chest, lightning surging into Malafear, making him scream in pain.
"What's happening!?" He hissed as his mouth began to break through the vines, only for the rest of his body to stop responding, "Paralysis?"
"Now Chops!" Silverbolt roared, a flash of light appearing behind him.
Malafear glanced down at this, seeing Starswirl, "A pony?!" He watched as Starswirl's horn glowed, "I don't think so!" His eyes glowed red, but before he could unleash his fear, Voltic and Aurora appeared and blasted his eyes. "AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"
"NOW!" Starswirl exclaimed, firing a blast from his horn that struck Malafear's chest. The light from the spell began to surround the dragon, the light now engulfing him.
"What?! What are you doing?! I feel...strange." Malafear groaned as the light around him retract, only for pain to suddenly surge everywhere on his being, "AAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"Not so nice having your soul ripped out, is it?!" Silverbolt barked back as the light around Malafear began to get to yanked out of him. And as this happened, the light began to flow out of his body and went down to Starswirl. The pony held the book up, opening the pages as the energy struck it, flowing into the item while the backlog began to fold in on itself and look like a river.
"Wait..." Flicker whispered as he stared at the scene in front of him. "This is...this is the mural. This was the event that was depicted on the wall that hid the book."
"I guess something like this would be worth remembering," First added as Malafear let out a roar.
He thrashed around, knocking Silverbolt off of him. He then pulled free of the crystals and metal before ripping the vines off in one mighty swing. "I won't let you do this!" He roared, unleashing a stream of fire at Starswirl. But the other dragons got between him, firing their own elemental attacks to block the flames. They pushed against one another, the six on one attacks at an even stalemate.
But as this happened, Malafear saw the light was still being sucked from him, making him falter as he growled, "No...this can't be happening! All dragonkind's souls belongs to me! Everything that exists...belongs to me!"
"You won't take another soul Malafear!" Starswirl barked back, "I'm sealing you away forever!"
With that, the light gave one final pull, the light now pouring out of the dragon as Malafear yelled, "You will pay for this! I will return one day, and when that happens, I'll destroy everything you love! All dragons...ponies and anything else will all PAAAAAY!"
And as he said this, his eyes suddenly went blank, falling over as the Starswirl shut the book, covering it with his magic a second later. And as this happened, the book fell to the ground, flowing for a few seconds as Starswirl slumped over with a sigh, "There. That got him. Now his soul shouldn't be able to escape."
"So he's trapped in there forever?" Aurora asked.
Starswirl shrugged at this, "Hopefully. Though there is the chance the seal might wain after a few centuries."
"Then we need to hide it away somewhere," Silverbolt replied, "Somewhere no one will ever find it." He then turned to Malafear's body, "But first we have to destroy this thing."
The others nodded, sucking up a breath...only for the body's eyes to suddenly shoot open, the dragon's head flying up and letting out a mighty roar. "WHAT THE HECK?!" Shard yelped as the dragon began to breathe fire, the group hopping back, "I thought it was dead!"
The other dragons took to the air as Malafear then unleashed a cloud of toxic gas, Starswirl putting up a shield to protect him . "What's going on?" Jade asked, everyone turning to Silverbolt.
"I don't know. It's possible that since it devoured the souls of other dragons, it can still live even without Malafear. But without his mind to control it..." The dragon stomped on the ground and caused multiple large rock, metal and crystal spikes to explode out the ground. "It's just running on pure instinct."
"So how do we stop it?" Voltic asked as he used his lightning to deflect a water blast.
Silverbolt stared at the rampaging beast, only for one thing to appear in his head. "Everyone, surround it and when I say, hit it with the most powerful blast you can make."
The others turned to him, all going wide-eyed as Starswirl teleported onto his shoulder, "Bolt! You can't! If you seal it away-"
"I know," Silverbolt sighed as he grabbed Starswirl and placed him back on the ground. "Starswirl...I told you before that every Mystic Dragon is born for a reason, something that only they can do. I think...this is why I was born."
"What?! You can't be serious! There has to be another way!"
"None that wouldn't take a long time and allow this monstrosity to destroy everything it sees." He used is claw to pat the pony on the head. "Goodbye my friend. And look after my child." Starswirl's eyes began to tear up at this, Silverbolt now turning back to Malafear. He spread his wings and closed his eyes as green lightning began to spark around him, only for his eyes to shoot open, quickly launching himself into the air.
The other dragons saw this and hopped back, the green thunderbolt now charging at Malafear. "I am Silverbolt, the Mystic Lightning Dragon! And in the name of Fira, and every other dragon whose life you took, I SEAL YOU AWAY!" He slammed into the dragon's chest, exploding as his physical form began to fade. The lightning then spread around Malafear's body and made it roar in pain, zapping every nerve as the dragon yelled, "NOW! DO IT NOW!"
The dragons nodded before all taking a deep breath. "Lightning!" Voltic shot an electric bolt from his horns.
"Wood!" Arbour unleashed a tornado of leaves.
"Crystal!" Jade did the same, this one full of gem shards.
"Metal!" Shard roared out a spiral of shrapnel.
"Light!" Aurora fired a laser, all striking the dragons. The elemental blasts mixed with the lightning around the dragon, which continued to roar in pain. With every passing second, the energy from the attacks grew, only for a brilliant light to explode out and sweep across the land.
"AHHHHH!" Spike, First and Flicker gasped as they were blinded by the light, forced to close their eyes. And when they felt the intensity of the light die down, they opened their eyes to see they were back in the void, the book now floating in front of them.
"Wait..." Spike muttered out as he stared at the book, "What happened next?!"
"Did they manage to seal the dragon away?" First added.
"And how did the book become hidden behind the mural?" Flicker inquired, but the book gave no reply. They stared at the void around the book, waiting for another to appear...only for nothing to happen.
"Oh, come on!" Spike yelled, "What happened next?!"
"I can't show you that."
"What?" Spike raised an eyebrow at this, glancing around, "Who said that?" First and Flicker turned to him, blinking since they had not heard that. "Why can't you show us what happened next?"
"Because I don't know. I wasn't there."
"Who are you?!" Spike asked, "Show yourself!"
"Spike, who are you-" First tried to ask, only to see Spike suddenly start gagging, his cheeks expanding as he had trouble breathing. First and Flicker gasped as Spike fell to his knees, First's doctor instincts kicking in and picking the dragon up in his magic. "Breathe!" He used the Heimlich, compressing his chest and allowing the substance to pass through Spike's throat. Spike unleashed the loudest burp he had every done, causing a massive stream of smoke and ash to fly out of his mouth.
The three watched as the giant cloud of smoke spiraled together, then started taking shape until it formed a dragonoid shape a little bigger than Flicker. The cloud slowly began to fade, revealing the form below, one being a ghostly image similar to Flicker, only it was a mixture of silver and green. They all went wide-eyed at this, now seeing the dragon push away the smoke and stare down at Spike. "Hello son."
"Grand Force!" Grand pointed his hammer into the air and created a rock filled tornado that slammed multiple boulders into a horde of dragons. While this happened, Skybreaker flew through the air, a bunch of dragons about to reach him. But as they began to breath fire, the pegasi suddenly vanished, only for to reappear behind them, a barrage of air slashes slicing into their bodies.
As this happened, Fluttershy and Rarity were helping bandage Rainbow's leg up. "How's that?" She asked, Rainbow moving it.
"That's good," she nodded. "Thanks." She turned to fly out the shelter, but Fluttershy grabbed her other hoof.
"Shouldn't you rest?"
"I can't rest," Rainbow shook her head as the ground shook from the avatar throwing the wood dragon into the ground. "We gotta keep fighting."
"Does it even look like we're making any headway?" Rarity asked, the group now seeing many dragons scattered around the floor. But there were just as many dragons still in the air, fighting against Twilight and the others while the elemental dragon were keeping Flash and Springer at bay.
"HEY!" They turned to see Pinkie running up, helping Ember move along the ground as Applejack protected them. The blue dragon's body was filled with bruises, one of her wings limping. "We could use some help here!"
"I'm fine," Ember told them as they reached the force-field, only to find Ember couldn't pass it. "Oh."
Rarity sighed at this, leaving the shelter and pulling one of the runes out of alignment. This caused the dome to vanish, allowing Ember to get into the shelter. But before Rarity could push the rune back into place, a dragon roared as it flew down to attack them. And as it did this, Applejack used her lasso to grab it around the neck and pull it away. "Hurry!" Rarity nodded and pushed the rune back into place, creating the dome again as Fluttershy began to put healing ointment onto Ember's injuries.
Up above, Malafear continued to watch the battle, only to feel a surge of magic and moved his head. A purple beam shot past him, the dragon turning around to see Twilight flying up. "Malafear!" She yelled, "This ends now!"
Malafear rolled his eyes at this, "I don't think so. I've already won this, regardless of what you pitiful ponies do." He then fired a black bolt of his staff, Twilight quickly zipping behind a boulder to dodge it.
As this happened, the avatar evaded a crystal barrage from Ruby before leaping over a rolling Iron. He then used his Bone Breaker to deflect a lightning blast before dodging several vines. And as he leapt back, he saw Script running up to Ruby, teleporting onto her back and hitting her with a spell before teleporting over to Iron and doing the same, then moved over Heather and repeated the process. "Script!" Flash yelled out, "What are you doing?!"
The unicorn teleported to the ground in front of Lightning, turning to him with a smirk, "Come on! Hit me!" The dragon growled but obliged and built up a charge before roaring to unleash a bolt of electricity. But instead of shooting towards Script, the lightning split into three and flowed into the other dragons. The three all roared in pain as the lightning struck the runes that had been plastered onto them, which had drawn the electricity.
"Script! You do remember those are our friends, right?!" Flash yelped as Script turned to him.
"And I think we all agree they'll forgive us for this when everything is over. I know Lightning will. Besides, now you only have one dragon to deal with."
"Still, you can't just-"
"ENOUGH!" Malafear interrupted, making them turn to the dragon. Twilight fired another beam at him, only for Malafear to just swat the beam away like it was nothing with his staff. He then shot a bolt down at the three elemental dragons, instantly destroying the runes.
"What?!" Script gasped, only for another bolt to come from him just as the avatar blocked it with a giant Bone Breaker.
"Enough of this farce!" Malafear growled, "This entire battle is pointless."
"I agree," Flash replied, "So give up already and let our friends go."
"Oh please, all you're doing is wasting my time." Malafear pointed his staff at Lightning and created a portal that spat out a certain crystal cage with a colt inside.
"HEART!" everypony gasped.
Before the colt could say anything, the Elemental Lightning Dragon surged a barrage of electricity straight into the cage. "AAAAAHHHHH!" He screamed as he was zapped, falling over once the surge ended.
Twilight sparked her horn and tried to teleport him out of the cage, only to feel something stop her magic from penetrating it. "You really think I wouldn't foresee that?" Malafear laughed, "Rune shield on the cage, you simpleton. He's only getting out of it if I chose him to be freed."
Flash sighed, the avatar vanishing as he and Springer fell to the floor. "What do you want?"
"You know what I want," Malafear told him before pointing at Flash. "Surrender yourself to me and allow me to transform you into my obedient servant. Do this, and the colt will be freed."
Everypony turned to Flash, the stallion glaring at the grinning dragon. He gestured to Lightning, the dragon holding his claw on the cage again. Flash then turned to Twilight, her eyes darting between Heart and her lover.
"Flash!" He heard Heart call out, "Don't do it! You're all he needs to complete his insane plan!" As he yelled this, Lightning zapped him again. "AAAAAHHHHH!" He continued to scream, the sound making Flash flinch before sighing.
"STOP!" He yelled at the top of this voice, Lightning cutting the power as Heart fell to the floor of his cage. "You win. Let Heart go and..." He dropped his sword and dispelled his Sacred Light, "You can have me."
Everypony wanted to tell him not too, only to hear a blood-curling laugh from Malafear. "Excellent. Step forward, and if any of you try anything, I'll electrocute your little friend to the point of no return."
Flash nodded and turned to the others, "You gotta let this happen." They all nodded, though looks of anger, fear and worry were on all their faces. Twilight's held all three as she watched him walk over to Malafear. "Do it!"
Malafear nodded and raised his staff as the gem turned black, "Welcome to the winning team." With that, he pointed it at Flash and unleashed a bolt of black lightning. It hit the defender instantly, making him scream out as he felt his entire body begin to rip apart.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" His screams filled the air as he fell to his knees, his friends gasping at the sight with some almost rushing toward him. But they kept their distance, only able to watch as Flash kept screaming.
The pony could feel his Sacred Light about to flare up, but he forced it to stop. As much as he wanted it to protect him, he had to let himself be turned. And as this happened, Malafear completed the spell as the lightning stopped firing. But it kept sparking around Flash's body, his fur now morphing into scales, his tail transforming into an orange tail with a blue underline. His feathers began to molt off his wings, revealing a membrane while his hooves began to grow claws and talons. The neck extended and his mouth was now filled with fangs while his mane began to retract into his head at the same time that three horns grew out. Two grew out of the back of his head and one grew out of his snout, his body re-shaping itself into a bipedal form with a blue star-shape appearing on his chest. His mouth and nose suddenly changed to blue along with his hands and feet and a blue shield with a lightning bolt over it appeared on his forehead.
Everypony gasped at the sight, the newly created light dragon turning to them as they saw a pair of glowing red eyes. "Flash!" Twilight called out to him, "Please tell me you can hear us!" The dragon remained stationary for a moment, simply staring at them before pulling its head back and taking a deep breath-
"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" The roar echoed across the land, clearly devoid of any intelligent thought. It was clear, Flash was completely under Malafear's control.