Once again Ponyville had to clean up the mess after the battle between the two ring wielders, but unlike the last battle there was only one casualty this time and it was that one casualty that had Twilight run straight home with it so she could try to figure out more about the red ring of rage. She spent the better part of a day and a half on it, working around the clock. But just like the orange one that Celestia had taken, she found that it was almost completely immune to any kind of magic that she used on it and she couldn't observe it closer without freeing it from the power of the Elements, which, according to the green ring, means that it would fly off and seek a new host.
"And that's probably the last thing we need right now," she said for the tenth time to Spike, who was floating in the air beside her while watching her work.
"And I don't know if I could battle another red lantern right now, especially after...Gilda."
"Spike, her death wasn't your fault," Twilight said to him as she tried a calming spell on the stone ring, only to have the same results happen once again. Nothing. "You didn't know that the red ring would kill its wearer and Gilda was trying to destroy us. You protected us and-"
"But that's just it Twilight, I should have known that the ring would do that," Spike said bitterly as he floated to the ground, looking down at the green ring. "This ring was going to tell me about the red lantern ring and I ignored it, so it's my fault that Gilda's gone. I should have been more careful...I should have listened." Twilight sighed and looked up from her experiments to Spike, who was constructing things at random to try and take his mind off of what happened.
"Why don't you go see Rarity?" Twilight suggested. "That always cheers you up."
"How can I face her right now?" he said as he walked up the stairs towards the main room. "I can't even face myself." Twilight sadly watched him go and wished that there was something she could do to help him, but she knew that he needed to be alone for now. What was bugging her is how many of those rings had showed up shortly after Spike had gotten his.
'Could it be that all the rings are gathering here for some reason?' she thought to herself as she went back to experimenting on the red ring. 'Or maybe we just got unlucky and became the place where all of them are heading to? I should ask Spike, or his ring rather, how many of those damned corps there are. So far I've seen three and it mentioned a fourth, but what are the blue lanterns?' While she continued to work, Spike had gone upstairs to his bed, where he lay looking up at the ceiling, still not able to remove the image of Gilda lying dead on the ground, cold as the grave.
"It's all my fault," he said with an angry sigh as he moved his hand in front of his face, looking at the green ring on it. "If you had chosen Twilight like you were supposed to, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't have become the orange lantern and Gilda would still be alive."
'You do not know that for certain,' the ring said.
"But you do," he snarled back. "You even said that I was the second choice to Twilight, that she was the perfect choice to be a lantern. I'm just a replacement."
'Lanterns get replaced all the time,' the ring responded. 'When a lantern dies, the ring seeks out who next has the will to wield its power. It has been that way ever since the guardians created the rings.'
"Yeah, whatever," Spike said as he reached up with his other hand and took the ring off, wondering if it was luck that he had been given a green one instead of red. If he had tried that with the red ring, he'd be dead now. "So what were you saying to me when I first found you? That I had the power to overcome great what?"
'Fear,' the ring answered. 'You have the power to overcome great fear.'
"And you're taking to the dragon who's scared of his own shadow sometimes," he said in a snarky tone as he put the ring on the small table next to him, getting up and looking out the window. "Are you sure that you picked the right backup lantern? Wouldn't Applejack or Rainbow Dash be a better choice than me?"
'I know who I pick,' the ring said. 'You have the will.' Spike shook his head a bit at that, but he turned towards the ring and reached out to grab it, finding to his amazement that when he reached for the ring it flew onto his finger, turning him into the Emerald Dragon.
"I didn't know you could do that," he muttered.
'If you will for me to come, I will.' Spike turned off the costume as he heard a knocking at the door, figuring that Twilight would be too busy to grab it. So he ran down to the library entrance and opened the door, shocked to see Sweetie Belle standing there.
"Oh, hey Sweetie," he said with little emotion. "What's up?"
"You okay? You don't sound too good?" she asked.
"Fine. Just tired from yesterday," he lied.
'That is a lie.'
"Stow it. So Sweetie, what can I do for you? I take it you need a book or something on whatever crusade you're going on today?" he asked, but raised an eyebrow suspiciously when she smiled at him.
"Actually, I came here so that you could repay me a favor. You know, since I lugged that giant, green lantern all across the town yesterday while you battled the red griffon," she said innocently, but Spike knew that she was playing the guilt card.
"What do you need?" he asked her with a sigh of defeat, not feeling like arguing.
"Just a quick favor," she said with a smile. "Something that only the Emerald Dragon can do." He was afraid that she would say that, but once he looked around to make sure that nopony was looking he thrust his ring into the air, the green costume materializing upon his body.
"Okay, what do you need?" he asked once he was in costume.
"I kinda...knocked over the clubhouse," she said innocently, but Spike still looked at her dumbstruck.
"How?"
"Not important. Let's go fix it!" she yelled into the air as she ran towards the CMC clubhouse. Spike shook his head as he flew past her, placing her in a green sphere as he flew by to carry her to the clubhouse, wanting to make this as quick as possible. They reached the clubhouse in seconds and Spike withdrew the sphere once he had landed, allowing Sweetie to come bouncing out. "That was so cool! Those rings are awesome!"
"Yeah, they're great," he said with a heavy sigh as he looked at what remained of the clubhouse lying at the bottom of the tree. He wondered how she had done that, but he wondered more was if the ring could actually fix that. "What do you think ring? Is that within your power?"
'Do you will it?'
"Yeah."
'Then it is.' Spike pointed the ring at the remains and placed the image of what the clubhouse looked like in his mind. A beam of green shot out of the ring and wrapped itself around all of the pieces, lifting them into the air as the energy began to construct what Spike was seeing in his mind. It took a minute, but Sweetie let out a gasp once it had finished.
"That is so cool!" she said with a smile, before tilting her head slightly to the side. "But why is our clubhouse shaped like a griffon?" Spike opened his eyes to see that he had made the clubhouse into a giant griffon, not really sure how he had done that. A quick change of thoughts fixed the problem, turning the clubhouse back to its usual state. "Okay, that looks better! Thanks Spike!"
"Sure," he muttered, causing Sweetie to tilt her head again.
"Spike, what's wrong? You're not your usual snarky self," she asked. Spike sighed and sat down on the air, looking off into the distance.
"I don't know. I'm just still thinking about what happened with Gilda yesterday," he said with a sigh. "It's my fault she's dead." Sweetie scratched her head as he said this until she realized what he was talking about.
"Wait a minute, I thought Rarity said that Gilda took on the ring that killed her and that you stopped her from killing everyone?" she asked bluntly, catching Spike off guard.
"W-well, I guess that's the short version of how it happened, but it was still my-"
"So all you did was stop a crazy pony...griffon with a ring like yours who wanted to hurt us," Sweetie continued.
"Yes, but-"
"Spike, I can't imagine what you went through in that battle, but Gilda attacked us. I'm sad that she had to die that way, but you weren't trying to kill her. You were only trying to keep us safe," Sweetie said with sadness in her eyes, but also some confidence. "My advice would be to do what Rarity does when she messes something up. Learn from it and move on. Because tomorrow will be brighter than today." Spike sighed as she said this, still feeling guilty about not being able to save Gilda. But he would remember what to do the next time he fought a Red Lantern.
"Thanks for the words Sweetie and I'm happy to help, but I've got to go," he said as he looked up at the sky. "I need to go talk to Twilight." He shot off before she could say anything and she watched him fly away, until she realized something.
"Wait, I forgot to ask him to put the stuff back inside," she muttered as she looked back at the clubhouse, seeing all of the girls stuff still lying on the ground. "Great."
IOI
Spike had headed back to the library, but was surprised to see that Twilight wasn't there. He did find a note from her however and frowned when he saw it.
Spike,
I'm out right now gathering the other Elements of Harmony and I'm planning to go up to Canterlot with them. I can't figure out anything about these rings here and I was hoping that Celestia or Luna might be able to help me figure out something about them. We'll be leaving on the three o clock train, so I would like you at the tracks by three. (PS burn this after you read it.)
Twilight.
"That's another thirty from now," he muttered to himself as he destroyed the note with his ring, getting rid of his suit as he went to grab something to eat from the fridge. He slammed the door behind him as he closed the fridge, waking up Owlicious who had been sleeping peacefully.
"Hoo?" the owl asked in an annoyed tone.
"Sorry, it's been a rough couple of days," Spike said as he sat down at the table and poured himself some cereal, Owlicious leaving his perch and flying onto the table in front of Spike, looking at the dragon with his large eyes. "Yes, I'm still upset over Gilda, but right now I'm curious about something. Ring, how many corps are there?"
'There are seven active corps, with two inactive ones,' the ring replied, causing Spike's eyes to go wide. He had figured there would have been five tops, but seven? And those were only the active ones, with two not active at the moment.
"Geez. What kind of corps are they?" he asked.
'Green Lantern Corps, the one you are in runs on will. Yellow Lantern corps, also referred to as Sinestro Corps, run on fear. Red and Orange you already know. Violet Lanterns run on love and are an all-female corps. Blue Lanterns are hope and Indigo Lanterns are compassion.'
"Man, I can't believe that there are so many. What about the other two?" Spike asked.
'I am currently instructed not to speak of those two corps,' the ring responded, taking Spike aback. This was the first time that the ring had known something but hadn't told him.
"Why not?"
'Guardians orders.'
"Okay, then who are the Guardians?" Spike growled.
'The Guardians protect the Galaxy from the planet of Oa and are the creators of the Green Lantern rings,' the ring replied. Spike was still wondering about what the other two corps were while Owlicious had begun to peck at the ring, which asked him to stop constantly. All of those Lanterns out there and yet he was chosen to be the one for Equestria.
'Not that it matters, I'm not even supposed to be a member of this corps,' he thought to himself. 'I don't really care about being part of a bigger organization anyway. Wonder if the others are like me or more like Twilight? Probably Twilight, given that she was the first choice. Heh, wonder what the others would think if they knew I wasn't supposed to wield the ring. What would Twilight think?' Spike didn't notice, but the ring flickered a bit as he thought this, gaining Owlicious attention.
"Hoo?" Owlicious eventually asked Spike, snapping him out of his thoughts of what the rest of the corps must be like.
"Sorry dude, my thoughts were elsewhere," Spike said as he looked up at the clock, surprised to see that it was already close to three. "Man, where did the time go?" He activated his suit and was heading for the door when Owlicious flew over to him and landed on his shoulder.
"Hoo."
"You want to come with me? Sure, Twi didn't say you couldn't," Spike said as he used his ring to place a shield around Owlicious. "Come on, we're going to fly now." Spike shot out of the library with Owlicious on his shoulder, the two reaching the train yard just as the train was about to leave. He changed back to his usual look behind some bushes and ran over to a pacing Twilight.
"You took your sweet time," she muttered before she noticed Owlicious on his shoulder. "Why'd you bring him?"
"He wanted to come," Spike said with a shrug, Owlicious hooting in agreement. Twilight wanted to scold him for leaving the library unattended, but the conductor yelled out that the train was leaving so she left her scolding for when they were on the train. The three headed to the seats where the other Elements were, as well as their sisters.
"Why are the CMC here?" Spike asked as Sweetie and the others waved him over.
"We have a project on Equestrian royalty over the ages, so we figured what better way to find out about the past than to ask the ponies that were alive for most of it?" Scootaloo said. Spike opened his mouth to answer but was drowned out from a Twilight scolding as the train left the station, heading up to Canterlot where the princesses were waiting for them. But before they had gone too far, Owlicious shot out the window and flew off, leaving Spike confused as to where he went.
IOI
"Thank you for coming as quickly as you did and I'm sorry if we interrupted any plans that you had going on for the day," Celestia said apologetically as the nine ponies and dragon all knelt before her and her sister in the throne room of Canterlot. Celestia seemed a bit on edge, something that was not lost on Twilight or Spike, although he was a bit afraid that his ring would suddenly speak out in front of the others.
"You brought the ring, did you not Twilight?" Luna asked, but Spike noticed that her eyes were quickly looking at him occasionally as well and he figured that Celestia had told Luna about him being the Emerald Dragon. Twilight nodded and reached inside her bag, grabbing the ring with her magic and pulling it out.
"Be careful princess, the ring still evokes some emotion in you even with the Elements imprisoning it," Twilight warned as Luna took the ring from her. Luna understood immediately why Twilight had given her to warning, for the moment she had taken the ring she felt a rage come over her, like the rage she felt as Nightmare Moon. Before the ring could take her rage any further, she placed it within a special box that Celestia was using to hold the rings. Luna placed the red one next to the orange one, wondering what would happen if a pony tried to use two rings at the same time.
'Avarice and Rage. What a scary combination,' she thought to herself as she closed the box, which was then given to a guard who went to place it within the science wing. "The reason we have asked you here today is to talk about the recent attacks on the town of Ponyville. Both of them, as you all know, were perpetrated by beings wielding rings of power that my sister and I have yet to understand."
"But you've had the orange ring for at least a few days," Twilight said. "You haven't made any progress on it?" Luna and Celestia both looked at each for a moment before Luna answered.
"We have tried, but every time we try to figure out what powers the ring, one of our guards or scientist try to take it. We have thrown three in the dungeon already until whatever spell they are under wears off." Twilight frowned at that and thanked Faust that Spike had managed to fight off its power. "So until we have a way that we can spend more than five minutes next to the rings without falling under their influences, we are simply going to lock them up for safe keeping."
"Because you can lock up rings that powerful," Spike muttered to himself, figuring that it was only a matter of time before the rings broke loose.
"But that is enough about the rings," Celestia said, changing the topic. "There is a second reason why you are here as well. Recently, guards have been disposed of and certain areas of the castle have been compromised. We currently have no idea who is doing it, but my sister and I agreed that some extra protection wouldn't go amiss." The ponies quickly agreed and the CMC ran up to Celestia and began to ask her their questions all at once, leaving Luna to motion for Spike and Twilight to come over to her.
"My sister told me about your new accessory," she whispered once the two of them were next to her. "I do not trust any of these rings, but as long as you are under Twilight's watchful eye, then I am fine with you having it."
"Jee, thanks. It’s not like I saved the town twice or anything," Spike grumbled.
"But in any case, I am certain that his is not the last we will hear of these rings and with Spike being the only one who can really combat them, my sister have no choice but to entrust the protection of the cities to the Emerald Dragon, Spike." Both Spike and Twilight looked at Luna as she said this, so neither one of them noticed when a shadow slipped past them and left the throne room, but a certain ring did.
'Potential threat detected,' it said, causing all three of them to look down at it. 'Target has left room. Be wary.'
"Does it always do that?" Luna asked.
"First time it's done it for me," Spike muttered as he looked down at the ring before looking back to the ponies, debating if he should transform.
"Any way Spike, my sister and I were wondering if we could ask you some questions about the ring and how it works," Luna said. Spike agreed to it, but his thoughts were on what the ring had said. It hadn't been wrong yet in telling him when there was danger and he doubted that it would lie to him now. But he wondered who could have alerted it, since the ring had only warned him of other rings in the past?
IOI
Beneath the Canterlot castle, a single shadow made its way to his hidden room, fuming with rage at the appearance of the new hero, but also mildly intrigued by him and the weapon he wielded.
"So, the little dragon from the Crystal Empire has a special weapon and now believes himself to be a hero?" he asked as he sauntered over to a cauldron in the middle of the room, looking into the bubbling brew with a toothy and dark smile. "But what does he know of evil? What does he know of darkness?" The shadow slinked over to a cabinet filled with a number of vials and ingredients, all of which he began to throw into the cauldron with an evil cackle.
"But his ring does prove to be a problem, since it has flattened all forces that have come at him and all of those forces have been rings of equal power. And my sources tell me that the griffon was able to overcome the Elements with her red ring, meaning that those rings are stronger than me." A smile crossed his face as he said this and he walked back over to the brew he was making, knowing just what to do.
"But all heroes have a weakness. All I have to do is find out what can break him," Sombra said with another chuckle as he finished the brew. "But in order to do so, I must first weaken the hero and tire him out. Which is why I will need...a monster to help me." Sombra began to laugh as the cauldron in front of him began to bubbles and a giant claw grabbed onto the edge of the cauldron, slowly pulling out the rest of the creature that would help the dark king conquer the land.
"Oh yes Spike, I will find what you fear," he said with an evil smile as he looked upon his creation with glee.