//------------------------------//
// Northern Lights 
// Story: The  Emerald Dragon 
// by Onomonopia 
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"Man he sure can sleep," Sweetie said with a shake of her head as she once again used the blue rings healing powers on Spike, who still hadn't woken up after the changeling had blown himself up to try and kill them. "He' not even injured anymore, if that scratch he had counts as an injury. My ring says that his energy field protected him from most of the blast."

"Tell me about it. He once slept through one of Discords attacks on the library once," Twilight said as she and the other ponies fended off the changelings that had snuck inside of the castle. Sweetie grunted as she picked up Spike and began to shake him, getting impatient at this point.

"Spike, WAKE UP! The day needs to be saved!" she yelled into his face, growling when all she got as an answer was another snore. "That's it!" she snarled as she lifted him up with the blue ring and aimed him at a cluster of changelings that were surrounding Fluttershy. "Dragon missile away!" she yelled as she flung him right into the pile of changelings, knocking them all over and waking up the baby dragon in the process.

"Who? What? When?" he asked as he sat up before looking around at the battle going on in the chamber. His eyes narrowed as he floated into the air and blasted the changelings off of AJ and RD, who were being completely overrun by the invaders. "Sweetie, we need to get out there and keep the mane bulk of the forces focused on us while Twilight and the others get to the princess and Shining!" he yelled as he shot out of the room, forming a bulldozer to push all of the swarm out of his way.

"Would a simple thank you be too much?!" Sweetie yelled after him as she flew out as well, gasping as she came to a stop in the air next to Spike, who also seemed to be stunned by what he was looking at. The swarm as far larger than either of them had thought possible, with nearly all of the crystal empire being covered by the changelings. "Okay Emerald Dragon, how do you want to do this?"

"If we deal with her first, then we might be able to get rid of the rest of the swarm," Spike said as he looked up, Sweetie following his gaze to see that Queen Chrysalis was floating down towards them, completely decked out in battle armor with a crimson red spear in her hooves. Spike wanted to engage her right away, but he was also aware of the ponies being caught in the battle between the outnumbered crystal guards and the changelings below.

"Can you handle her alone?" Sweetie asked Spike, who looked at her with a smile of confidence. Sweetie smiled in return before she flew off down to the battle below. Chrysalis tried to stop her with magic, but was immediately intercepted when Spike flew in front of her and constructed a wall.

"Sorry Chrysalis, but you've got bigger problems right now," Spike said as he created a sword and shield, Chrysalis's eyes narrowing at him as she aimed her spear towards him. "Trust me when I say this Chrysi, but that thing isn't going to be much help against me. I've stopped the worst of creatures with this weapon."

"I assume that you're talking about Sombra?" Chrysalis said, smiling when the Emerald Dragon looked at her with confusion. "Yes, I know of him. And I also know that he has taken your Rarity and placed her under his control. If you are willing, I may have a deal for you." She tried to read the Dragon's face, but the mask prevented her from doing so and she continued talking. "I can tell you where the two of them are and all I ask in return in the Crystal Heart. I'll even not kill Cadence and Shining Armor." 

"You're a bigger idiot than I thought if you think I'd betray my friends and make a deal with you," Spike said as he pointed his sword at her, his eyes becoming completely green. "Bring it." Chrysalis snarled and threw herself at the Dragon, spear aimed right at his heart. The Emerald Dragon raised his shield and waited for her spear to hit, smiling to himself when it did so and he felt it bounce off of the construct. Chrysalis backed away for a moment with a look of confusion in her face before she tried again, this time swinging it down at the Dragon. Spike smiled again as he swung his sword at the spear, cleaving it right down the middle.

"What kind of magic is this?" Chrysalis asked as she looked at what remained of her nation’s ancient weapon, while the Emerald Dragon's weapons disappeared and were replaced with a spiked fist.

"It's not magic, Chrysalis," the Dragon responded as he began swinging it in a circle. "It's will. Pure and unstoppable." Chrysalis scoffed at this before she turned and shot into the air over the Empire, the Emerald Dragon following after her. She thought that she had him following her for a moment before a streak of green shot by her and came to a stop in front of her, Chrysalis trying to stop before she ran into a green stop sign that had appeared out of nowhere.

"You are not at all like Sombra described you Spike," Chrysalis snarled as she rubbed her now broken nose. "Weak, prone to rash outbursts, always putting yourself first." 

"Oh don't worry, I can still be like that," Spike said with a laugh before he pointed his ring right at Chrysalis's chest. "But when the ring goes on, I change my attitude. With this on, I am a Green Lantern, protector of the galaxy." Chrysalis snarled at his claim before creating a green blade out of her horn with magic, letting out a yell as she charged at him. Spike responded by creating a ball and chain as he flew at her as well, the two of them colliding in a burst of light.

lOl

"Okay, this might not have been my best idea," Sweetie said to herself as she shot through the streets, trying to stay one step ahead of the changelings that were chasing her with bolts of green magic flying past her head. She swung around and fired off a quick three shot attack, knocking one of the seemingly infinite changelings out of the air behind her. "One down, ten thousand to go." Sweetie turned around only to find that she was flying straight towards a wall. She screamed and threw her arms in front of her face, expecting to slam into the wall. But to her surprise she went right through the wall, without touching it at all.

"What was that?" she asked as she skidded to a stop in the pony’s house, wincing as she heard a number of changelings slam into a solid crystal wall. She looked down at herself in confusion, wondering why she hadn't run into the wall like them. "Um, ring? Did I just go straight through a solid wall?"

'You did. That is one of my abilities,' the ring said in reply, Sweetie looking down at it for a moment before she got another evil smile on her face.

"Is there a limit to how many times I can do this?"

'Until you run out of hope.' The changelings on the other side of the wall were looking at the building in confusion, wondering where the blue pony had gone before she popped out of the wall next to them, only her upper torso showing.

"Peekaboo!" she said as she blasted one of them, vanishing back into the wall when they all tried to tackle her. "Over here!" she yelled as she popped out on the other side and blasted another bunch, giggling to herself as she went back inside the wall. She was about to pull the same trick again when she heard a pony crying out for help from around the corner. She shot out of the building, plowing through some of the changelings as she did so, and flew over to the pony, who was a mare surrounded by three changelings.

"Don't worry, I got this!" she said as she flung herself into the three of them, driving them all into the wall before flying back over to the mare. "You're safe now ma'am, all thanks to the Sapphire Sweetie!...That doesn't sound as cool as I thought it would." The mare was beginning to thank Sweetie when a blast of energy went off and more screams could be heard, resulting in Sweetie flying back out into the streets. One of the taller buildings was being brought down by the swarm, who had corralled most of the civilians underneath of it.

"For the Queen! For the hive!" one of them yelled before he slammed into one of the support beams and exploded, causing the beam to shatter into crystal shards and cause the building to begin to fall.

"Rocket attack!" Sweetie yelled as she rocketed herself into the group of changelings, bowling them out of the way before she slammed straight into the ground. "Ugh, gotta work on my aim," she muttered as she got back up, frowning when she noticed that most of the changelings were as well. "Okay, let's do this." The changelings swarmed her at once, despite the blast of blue taking down some of them. One of them managed to tackle her to the ground, but she flung him off with ease and the others backed away in surprise, surprise that Sweetie also shared.

"Uh, ring? Do I also have super strength?" she asked.

'While not in the super range, you are stronger than before due to the field that surrounds you.' Sweetie turned towards the changelings with another smile, but this time the changelings began to back away from her a bit.

"LET'S DO THIS!" she yelled as she flung herself back into the fray, bucking and punching any changeling that was foolish enough to get closer to her. She grabbed two and slammed their heads together, dropping them before hitting two with a twin burst of power. "Think you guys can just come to the princesses home and attack them? Sorry, but we're heroes here now!" She swung her head and a wave of blue energy took down the rest of the changelings, giving Sweetie Belle a moment to catch her breath before she began to gloat.

"Oh yeah, who's a hero? I'm a hero!" she began to say as she started to dance her victory dance. "Who stops the changelings? I stop-" Her victory dance was interrupted when she heard screams coming from the ponies behind her and she looked up to see that the building was coming down, the rest of the supports having finally given out. "Oh crap. Uh ring, am I strong enough to catch that?"

'No, but you can use your hope to stop it,' the ring said, Sweetie gulping nervously at what the ring was implying. 'You have to create a construct that can stop the building.'

"But I'm not at that level yet!" she said as she looked at the building falling closer and closer to them. "Without a Green Lantern nearby, blue constructs are a lot harder to make! This is-"

'Do not say that little one. You are a member of the Blue Lantern Corps, a corps that thrives on hope,' the ring reminded her in its calm voice. 'For you, no situation is hopeless.' Sweetie took the words to heart before she took in a deep breath and flooded her hope into the ring, letting out a scream as she did so. The ring shot out a giant mare with a gorgeous mane that caught the building on its back, the weight of the building nothing compared to the strength of the hope in the mare.

"What is that?" she asked the ring as she looked up at the giant blue mare that looked like her sister.

'A manifestation of your hopes made into light,' the ring replied. Sweetie smiled softly at that before she turned to the ponies and told them to run, her blue sister holding up the building the entire time.

IOI

"Shining, get behind me!" Cadence yelled as she threw up a barrier to protect her and her husband as the changeling in front of them threw twelve green daggers at her, the daggers bouncing off of her shield but also cracking it at the same time. The prince of the changelings took that moment of weakness to shatter the barrier with a kick, sending Cadence skidding back as it began to advance towards her.

"Not today, criminal scum!" A guard by the name of Flash Sentry said as he charged at the changeling with a spear in his hooves, dodging out of the way of the magic fire that was flung at him by the other changelings as he got closer to the prince. The prince turned and grabbed the hilt of the spear and flipped the pony over his head before slamming him into the ground, kicking him back before dodging spells by Shining Armor.

"You will not take the heart!" he yelled as he drew his blade and charged the changeling, who blocked the saber strikes with his armored forelegs. Cadence took that moment to blast the other changelings that were with him away before turning her focus back to the prince, who slipped behind Shining and placed him in a chokehold.

"Let go of my husband!" she yelled at him as she used her power to teleport Shining out of his grasps and fire a beam of magic at him as well. The changeling intercepted her attack with a beam of his own, but it was obvious to the both of them that she was going to win this battle. "You cannot beat me, prince. Why not just take your brethren and retreat back to your home."

"Here or at home, we die either way without the crystal heart," he snarled in reply before diving out of the way of her spell and changing into one of the guards, throwing himself into the fray between the guards and the changelings. Cadence and Shining looked through the fighters to try and see if they could find him, but his camouflage was too good.

"What do we do?" Shining asked Cadence, who was looking around with narrowed eyes before an idea came to her.

"Stand back a bit hon, this might work," she said before concentrating her magic into a sphere in front of her, filling it with as much love as she could muster. The changelings stopped battling when they felt the love from the sphere reach them and the slowly began to move towards it, their hunger causing them to completely ignore the guards who then brought them down. "Got you now," Cadence said when she saw one of the guards struggling to resist the spell. She turned the sphere from one filled with love to one filled with power and flung it at the guard, who was sent skidding across the ground from the impact until he slammed against the base of the crystal heart.

"It's over prince, you and your army have failed!" Shining yelled as he and the other guards began to rush the changeling, who struggled to get back up as the ponies charged. He looked up at the spinning heart on the pillar before he shot up into the air, heading straight for the heart. "Prince, WAIT! You don't want-!" The prince spun around and fired a bolt of magic, hitting Cadence in the wing and dropping her to the ground before he continued to run.

"I will have the heart!" the prince yelled as he flew right onto the heart, grabbing onto it with greed showing in his eyes before the power of the heart began to overpower him, causing him to scream in agony due to shield placed around the heart destroying him. Cadence and the others covered their eyes as a flash of light went off and when they could see again, they all gasped in horror at the burnt corpse of what used to be the prince.

"Is he-?" Shining asked as he ran over to her wife, pulling her into a hug as she nodded.

"Yeah, he's dead," Cadence responded. Faster than either of them could react however, a changeling sped by them and grabbed the princes body, flying off with it towards a part of the crystal empire where flashes of green could be seen from all around.

IOI

"Really starting to test my nerves here, Chrysalis!" Spike yelled as he caught the chuck of a tower in a green claw, wondering how the heck Chrysalis had gotten strong enough to throw pieces of tower at him. "Seriously! Why do you keep attacking the ponies?! Aren't there also dragons and zebras and other creatures?!"

"Pony love is the strongest in the land!" Chrysalis yelled in reply, firing solid beams of magic at Spike who yawned as the shield he created around him stopped it with ease. Despite her magic having gotten stronger, his will was far superior to anything she could throw at him. "And I will feed my nation, no matter who I have to destroy to do so! Even if it is a dragon with a weapon of unknown power!"

"Well, you get an A in the mother department, but an F in the brains area," Spike said with a smile as he sent a number of green nets flying at her, forcing her to fly even higher to avoid them. "If Sombra with his yellow ring of fear, the enemy of will, couldn't defeat me, then how in Equis to you expect to?"

"I'll...I'll find a way!" Chrysalis yelled as she continued to throw magic at Spike despite knowing that it would do no good. Spike sighed at this and shot by her at super speeds, aiming his ring at her head as she spun around in shock.

"You won't find a way, Chrysalis. It's over," Spike said as he prepared to fire, only to be interrupted by a changeling that flew right by him. He thought it was just another changeling until he saw that there was what looked like a dead one upon his back, a sight that caused Chrysalis to almost fall out of the air in shock.

"Ragna...no!" she screamed as she scooped the burned pony off the other changelings back and held it close, sobbing bitterly as she clutched it tighter and tighter. "How...how did he...?"

"There was a barrier around the crystal heart that killed him when he tried to touch it," the changeling sad with sorrow overcoming him. "He fought as best he could, but he was simply outnumbered a desperate, so he tried to grab the heart when he had a chance. I am so sorry my-"

"We're retreating," Chrysalis said as she gently placed her son's body onto her back, doing all she could to keep herself from wailing in front of her enemy, who was still trying to figure out what to do. "This battle is pointless now. We're going home."

"Um, hold on a sec," Spike said in confusion, causing Chrysalis to look at him with tears streaking down her face as she glared at him. "I'm sorry for your son’s death, really I am, but aren't I supposed to stop you still or-"

"Go ahead and try to stop me dragon, I have nothing left to lose," she said in a quiet whisper that was filled more with pain than it was rage. To make her point, she fired a bolt of magic down towards where Twilight and the others were, aiming right for Fluttershy. Spike reacted immediately and flew down to intercept, creating a shield that stopped the spell. But when he looked to the sky, he could see Chrysalis flying away and he decided not to stop her.

'She's already suffered enough today,' he thought to himself as he looked around at the Empire, seeing all the changelings that hadn't been killed or capture heading into the sky, following their queen back to their home. And just like that, the battle of the Crystal Empire ended, causing a great amount of celebration all through the city the next day after the cleanup of the battle had been completed. Cadence would have agreed to help against the battle with Sombra, but due to the damage she had suffered she had been confined to bed by the doctors.

"I am just glad that the casualties were so low this time," Twilight said with a sigh of relief as she talked with the others, while Spike spent his time staring out the window. He wasn't surprised by the way Chrysalis had reacted to the death of her son, but what confused him is why she was so desperate to get to the crystal heart. She had mentioned something about feeding her nation, making Spike wonder if the Changelings were starving back at their home.

"Spike? What's the matter?" Twilight asked him, snapping his thoughts back into reality. "You've been quiet the entire time and haven't said a word about the battle, despite the fact that you fought off Chrysalis. Sweetie won't stop talking about how she finally managed to create a construct, yet...what's wrong?"

"It's nothing Twilight, it's just that...I have somewhere that I need to go," Spike said as he slipped back on his ring and flew out the window before any of them could ask him where he was going. He flew to the south, the area that he had seen Chrysalis and the other changelings leave when they had retreated, but he knew that just a general direction wasn't good enough. "Ring, scan for any large numbers of changelings grouped in one area."

'I will do that,' the ring said, a green beam scanning the ground below him as he flew. Spike knew why he had to do this despite the fact that Chrysalis was an enemy of the ponies. He might have been able to get away with calling her a villain back when she invaded Canterlot, but he was a Lantern now and a Lantern was a protector of an entire sector and all of the lives within it, not just the ponies. 'There is a large cluster about fifty leagues below the surface.'

"Got it," Spike nodded as he created a giant drill around himself and dove towards the earth below, wondering just what he's say to Chrysalis when he met her. 'Whatever it is, I need to convince her to tell me where Sombra is and to stop her attacks on the ponies. So that no more lives have to be lost.'