//------------------------------//
// The Dead Shall Rise 
// Story: The  Emerald Dragon 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

"I am glad to see so much progress being made in the reconstruction of Ponyville," Celestia said to Twilight and Spike as she walked with them through the streets, viewing all of her subjects of the small town as well as observing all the construction that was going on. "It pains me to see so much destruction that I could do little to stop, but I am glad to see that said destruction has not caused the ponies here to give up hope."

"We're a resilient bunch princess, not to mention that we've grown used to having our home destroyed on occasion," Twilight said with a smile, Spike nodding in agreement at the destruction. He wondered if cities like Manehatten and Stalliongrad had to go through the kind of afternoons Ponyville did. Luna had left the group to meet up with Sweetie and the other CMC to say hello to them, so Twilight had insisted on taking Celestia on a tour of Ponyville despite the princess having seen the town plenty of times. "And over her with have the new medical center, which has been of great help during some of the attacks. And over here is..."

"I know about all of these additions, I am the one who signed the papers for them," Celestia whispered to Spike, who rolled his eyes at his friend’s monologing.

"She's just trying to show you that she's got everything under control," Spike whispered to Celestia as Twilight went on and on about all the improvements made to the town. "She's afraid that she hasn't been living up to her role as princess as well as she should be."

"She will learn in time that relaxation is part of the job," Celestia said with another smile, before she felt a shiver go down her spine and she looked up to see dark clouds forming overhead. "That is odd, I was not aware that the pegasi would be creating a thunderstorm today. Is it time for that kind of weather already?"

"No princess, we had one just a few weeks ago," Twilight said as she walked back over to them, taking notice of the sky just like the other ponies about town, who were all looking up at the darkening sky while murmuring amongst themselves. "Although it is possible that they had to do a quick one in order to make up for missing one." Celestia figured that would be a possible explanation, but something inside of her told her that the clouds were being caused by something else entirely. Her fears were confirmed when she saw Luna flying towards them, Applebloom and Scootaloo on her back while the Blue Lantern flew along beside her.

"Sister," Luna said as she landed next to the ponies and let the two fillies off of her back, Sweetie landing next to Spike with a look of worry on her face. "I take it you have seen the clouds? Something about them feels off, like a feeling of dread that I haven't felt in so long. Do you know what could be causing this?"

"No idea," Celestia said before she and the others heard the sounds of hooves running and they all turned to see Applejack and the other Elements of Harmony running up to them, tears running down AJ's face. 

"Applejack! What's the matter?" Twilight asked her friend as she skidded to a stop in front of them, Spike being able to see both sadness and rage in her eyes.

"It's mah parents graves! Somepony took their bodies!" Applejack said with a fury in her tone that would have made even Spike lose the will to fight her. "What kind of low down, no good varmint would take the bodies of mah parents?" The Elements didn't see Celestia and Luna share a worried glance before they stepped in to tell Applejack that it was going to be alright, only to be interrupted as the ponies began to scream and point towards Canterlot.

"There's some kind of cloud descending upon Canterlot!" one of them cried out, all of the ponies turning towards where the city was to see a dark cloud resting upon the city. Celestia and Luna both spread their wings as they prepared to go defend their city, just as Spike suited up and took to the skies with Sweetie, only for all of them to be stopped by a bolt of black that flew by them and crashed into the ground in the center of town.

"What is that?" a pony asked as the dust cleared to reveal a single changeling, who stayed rooted in place as its eyes slowly looked over the entire town.

"I got this," Spike said as he began to fly forward, only for the changeling to fling itself forward towards one of the ponies and....drive it's hoof straight through the ponies chest and rip his heart clean out. Spike and the others were completely stunned by this act before the changeling moved on to its next victim, about to do the same to that pony until a wall of green slammed into the changeling a pinned it to a wall. "You MURDERER!" Spike roared in fury as he caused the wall to break the changeling’s limbs, snarling at until he realized that there was a ring on its horn. A single black ring.

"Spike! Behind you!" Sweetie yelled as a bolt of blue hit another changeling that had tried to attack Spike from behind, knocking it away as the other changeling that Spike had pinned to the wall broke free with a roar, knocking Spike back. Spike snarled and prepared to engage, but then a black ring flew by his face and landed on the pony that had just been killed.

'Stormchaser of Equestria. Rise.' Spike and the others backed away on horror as the pony missing his heart let out a roar and got back to his hooves, smiling at all of the horrified faces of the other ponies before he too leapt forward and drove his hoof straight through a ponies chest, ripping out their heart as well. The ponies that weren't dead all began to scream and run for their lives while Spike kept trying to subdue the undead ponies, only to have them break out of his constructs with a struggle.

"What the hell are these things?!" he yelled as the twin changelings jumped him, both falling to a giant mace he had constructed to crush them, only to back away as the creatures reformed themselves to get back up and attack him again. "It's like they're some kind of...Black Lanterns!"

"That's what it seems like," Sweetie said as she flew over to Spike, grabbing the two pony Black Lanterns and throwing them into the changeling ones, going back to back with Spike while point her ring at them. "Spike, let's see how the handle both hope and will combined!" Spike agreed and the two of them combined their powers to unleash their full force against the four, finding to their amazement that the rings were knocked off the undead and their bodies were quickly destroyed under the power of the twin light.

"It worked," Spike said with a sigh of relief as he floated over to the rings that lay on the ground, picking one of them up to examine them. They definitely were Black Lantern rings, but he didn't need to ask his ring which emotion powered them. Death. "I don't know where these rings came from, but I do know that the cloud up there is probably responsible for them. Sweetie, we need to..." His words died in his mouth as he turned to see hundreds of thousands of Black Lanterns, all of whom were flying towards the town of Ponyville.

"Spike? What do we do?" Twilight asked Spike weakly, the dragon barely able to muster the words that he said.

"We fight."

IOI

Spike didn't have time to think about where the black rings had come from or how they managed to take over so many ponies so fast, but all he did know was that him and the other Elements of Harmony were fighting a losing battle. The town of Ponyville had been swarmed by the dead wearing the black rings, most of which seemed to be changelings but there were also a large number of ponies in the mix. He did all he could to try and to protect as many ponies as he could, but in the black swarm he found that for every one he saved, the Black Lanterns claimed so any more.

"Spike, we've got more incoming and they're Canterlot ponies by the look of it!" Celestia roared to Spike as she used her magic to blast one of the Black Lanterns into nothingness, only to snarl with rage as it reformed itself in a few seconds and resumed its attack on her. 

"Magic has almost no effect on them!" Twilight called out as she and Luna struggled to keep the CMC and the other Elements safe from the Black Lanterns, but it was mostly Sweetie’s ring that was preventing them from getting to the other ponies. "Sweetie, how long do you think you can keep them back?"

"Not long enough!" Sweetie replied as she wrapped three Black Lanterns into a blue ball and sent them hurdling into their allies. "Spike! We need to push them back again!" Spike nodded and flew over to her, the two combining their powers to shoot out a beam that blew apart all the Black Lanterns near their friends. But as they purged the dead, Spike was aware that he was beginning to recognize more and more of the faces that they fought against. The two of them separated and went back to fighting against the Lanterns while Twilight and the other princesses focused on getting as many ponies away from the battlefield as fast as they could.

"Get outta here ya varmints!" Applejack yelled as she bucked two of the Black Lanterns in the face and sent them sprawling, allowing a pair of ponies that had been trapped by them to get away. "That's what ya get fer messing with an Apple."

'That's exactly the way we raised you to be sugarcube.' Applejacks face went pale as she slowly turned around to see...

"Ma? Pa?" she asked the two ponies standing before her in disbelief, but even with their figures being disfigured from years of being dead, she could never mistake those voices. "But it can't be! Yer both-"

'Dead sugarcube? The black rings bring the dead to life,' Applejack's mother reminded her.

"Yer back?" Applejack asked again.

'Love.'

'Yes. And thank you,' her father said before shooting his hoof forward and driving it right into her chest, causing her to gasp before she looked down and then slowly back up to her father. 'Your love is delicious.'

"Applejack!" Rainbow Dash cried out as she saw what happened before she flew at top speed and blasted apart Applejack's "father and mother" before flying next to her friend, who lay dead on the ground. "No! Not you too! You can't be-"

'Applejack of Equestria,' a ring said as it flew past Rainbow and onto Applejack.

"NO! You get away from her you-!" Rainbow yelled as she tried to get the ring off, but was blasted away by an explosion of dark light, causing all of the other ponies to look over at AJ, who now wore a black outfit with a silver triangle and silver lines rising from it.

'Rise.'

"Applejack?" Twilight asked in disbelief as she saw her friend float into the air.

"This can't be happening," Rarity said as she looked on as well, the other Elements reacting similar ways. But all of those ways all had one emotion in common. They were all full of love. Before Applejack could move, a blur of Rainbow slammed into her back and drove her into the ground, where she was pinned by RD who looked down at her with tears in her eyes.

"You can't be dead! You're one of us!" RD yelled in desperation as AJ opened her eyes and looked at her friend.

'Hey partner, don't worry. Ah'm still me,' AJ said with a smile, causing RD to begin to cry tears of relief.

'Hope.'

'Extinguished,' AJ said before she ripped the heart right out of RD, who never realized what had happened as she fell over, a black ring coming to claim her as well. Rd got up and walked over besides AJ, both of whom turned their eyes towards the princess and the other Elements of Harmony, who looked at them with terror and sadness in their eyes at what had happened to their former friends. Spike immediately flew over to try and stop the two new Black Lanterns, but he was intercepted by a pair of Alicorns that threw him across the street and through a building.

"It cannot be," Luna said as she backed away from the two alicorns that stood before her. "Mother? Father?...No, this is the black rings illusion!" Luna roared in rage as she took up a fighting stance, preparing to fight off what used to be her parents. "How dare you lanterns use my parents as your pawns! I will-" Luna felt a sharp pain and began to cough up blood, looking behind her to see a Black Lantern Celestia standing behind her with her hoof in Luna's heart.

'You always were so quick to anger, sister,' Celestia said with a sinister smile as Luna collapsed. Spike groaned as he pulled himself out of the building that he had been thrown through just in time to see Luna rise as a Black Lantern as well, all four alicorns turning towards him as he rose out of the rubble.

"Not you guys too," he whispered to himself as all four of them rushed him at once, forcing him to create a shield to fend them all off. He looked around for Sweetie to help him fight them off, but he couldn't find her anywhere. His concern for her safety though had to be put aside as he battled it out with four alicorns, only to be horrified as a fifth one showed up to enter the fray.

'What's the matter Spike, you've never been so unhappy to see me before,' Twilight said as she slammed into his shield and shattered it, smiling at the little dragons face as he saw the Black Lantern symbol on her chest for all to see and she slowly walked towards him. 'I have to admit, black isn't that bad a color. You should try it.'

"N-no, you can't be...it can't be..." Spike whispered to himself as tears began to fall from his eyes, shakily pointing his ring at Twilight but finding no will within him to fire at his closest friend.

'Do you feel something seeing me like this? Fear of losing me? Rage at not being able to protect me?' Twilight asked with a cackle before throwing herself towards him. 'I can always count on you to get me whatever I need, can't I? Welcome to the club, Spike!'

"Nok." Twilight screamed as a blast of indigo rocketed her away from Spike and far to the other ends of the city, the other alicorns looking up just in time to be hit by a combination of indigo and yellow energy, causing them to be flung back as well. Spike looked to the sky to see he sight of Sombra and...

"Zecora?" he asked in disbelief as the indigo clad zebra floated down next to him, smiling at him calmingly as she looked over his wounds with a nod.

"None of your wounds are that severe, but it would have been bad had I not been here,' she said quickly as more Black Lanterns beginning to swarm the three of them. Zecora closed her eyes and Spike saw the symbol of the Green Lanterns appear on her head before she fired a green blast of energy at the oncoming Lanterns, Sombra adding his power to hers to destroy the lanterns that were attacking them. "Although I see that we are too late to warn the town. Can you quickly tell me how has gone down?"

"Twilight...Applejack...the princesses..." Spike said shakily, looking down at the ground with a look of hopelessness in his eyes. Sombra sighed in frustration and walked over to Spike, where he smacked the green dragon right across the face with enough force to knock Spike to the ground.

"You didn't quit when I had beaten your ass all across Canterlot, so don't you go quitting on us now," Sombra said with a growl as he helped Spike back up, making a motion to slap him again. "Zecora tells me that this isn't the first time these Black Lanterns have shown up and the last time they did it was the power of a Green Lantern that managed to beat them, which means that we'll need you if we hope to wind against the hordes of the undead. Now you can either snap out of it and fight or I'll kill you and recruit whoever the ring goes to next. Your choice."

"Please Spike, you must fight. If not for us, then for Twilight," Zecora added as she fended off a number of Lanterns with her staff and martial art skills. "The Lanterns will continue to kill until the world is theirs, so we must defeat them before all fall into despair!" She missed one of the Lanterns and it ducked underneath of her, going in for a bite until a blast of green energy sent it flying. Zecora and Sombra turned to Spike, who was looking at them with pure green eyes.

"I WILL fight," he said in a dangerous tone before he looked to Zecora. "You know of these guys, so I assume that you have some idea of how to beat them?"

"The green light can destroy the lanterns of the night, but only with another lantern's light," Zecora explained as she closed her eyes again and the symbol of the Green  Lanterns appeared on her head. "You must find Sweetie and let hope re-ignite, or we will all fall to the blackest night. Sombra shall go with you as well, although expect him to give you hell." She flew off after this and re-engaged the Black Lanterns, leaving Spike to take to the skies with Sombra following him as the blasted the Black Lanterns out of the air that tried to stop them.

"So where did you leave your little filly friend?" Sombra asked as Spike and Sombra combined their powers to destroy the lanterns that got closer. "The two of you are normally so inseparable that it makes it hard to attack one of you by yourselves."

"I think that she went to help Rarity when the Elements spilt up," Spike said before the ring flashed at him, telling him that its power levels were starting to get to dangerous levels. 'And that's the last thing I need right now, but I don't have time to recharge, I need to find Sweetie!' Spike and Sombra kept flying and blasting until they saw burst of blue coming off from the distance. The two flew down to find Sweetie still battling off the lanterns, but they also found that Rarity happened to be one of those lanterns that she was fighting.

"Wow, Rarity can't decide which ring she wants to wear," Sombra said with a smirk as Spike shot ahead.

"Sweetie!" Spike called out as he flew down and created a shield around her, Sombra blasting away the Black Lanterns around them as Sweetie collapsed, Spike catching her before she could hit the ground. "Sweetie, what's the matter?"

"My sister...got a bit closer than I would have liked," Sweetie said with a pained smile as she turned her head to reveal a bite mark, causing Spike to gasp in shock. "Even now I can feel the Black Lanterns power trying to overpower me and I don't know how much longer I can hold out, even with my ring."

'Power levels, 100 percent.'

"You're going to be alright," Spike said as he helped her up, but at that moment a massive explosion went off in the center of town. Spike and Sweetie turned their heads towards the center to see a Black Power Battery rise out of the ground, more and more black rings flying from it and spreading across the land. But the main focus was in the center of the town where the prince of the changelings lifted what looked like a black scythe with a black lantern battery on the end of it, looking into the skies as he said,

'Nekron, rise!'

At these words a skeletons hand shot out of the ground and grabbed the scythe, black energy wrapping around the changeling until he became the very darkness itself. The skeletal figure rose to his full height and looked out across the land, wondering how best to kill it.

"I am Nekron! And this world is now the home of the Black Lanterns Corps!" he roared to the skies, slamming his scythe into the ground and sending out a shockwave that knocked all off their hooves. Then Nekron looked around past all the ponies and his eyes narrowed when he saw Sombra floating over all of the ponies. "You. You have cheated me one to many times! Your life belongs to me!" Nekron roared as he flung himself towards Sombra.

"Ah hell," Sombra muttered before he shot off into the sky, Nekron following him until they were out of sight. Spike watched them go until Sweetie started coughing and he turned his attention back to her. She looked up at him for a moment before she slipped off her ring, the blue suit leaving her as she fought to get back up to her hooves.

"Sweetie, what are you doing?" Spike asked her as she turned to look at him, her eyes starting to look like the Black Lanterns.

"I don't have much time left Spike, but before I go I want you to have this," she said weakly as she held out her blue ring and placed it in his claw, closing his hand gently as she smiled up at him. "And don't say that you can't wield it, because I know you can. After all," she said before she began to fall over. "You were the one who gave me the hope that the ring sought out, so it's only fitting that I place my hopes...on...you..." Spike caught her again, but at this point she was no longer moving. He looked down at her with no emotion running through him, only the thought that he had lost another of his closest friends and his greatest ally. Then the black ring flew onto her horn and pushed Spike back.

'Sweetie Belle of Equestria. Rise.' Spike looked at Sweetie with sadness as the black suit covered her and she turned to look at him with the same look that all the Black Lanterns wore. She was about to say something, but a blast of green from Spike silenced her. He then looked down at the blue ring in his hand as tears quietly fell from his eyes before his eyes hardened and he slipped the ring onto his other hand. Despite all that was happening, despite just losing his closest ally, he knew that he had to remain hopeful. For her.

'Spike of Equestria. You have the ability to instill great hope.'

"No, somepony else gave it to me the ability to be hopeful," Spike said through clenched teeth as the power of both hope and will surged through him, supercharging his abilities to their highest. But despite this newfound power, as he looked out across the land all he could see were the dead that had been brought back to life and he knew that it would not be enough. There was no sign of Sombra or Zecora and he knew that he was all alone in his fight, as even Sweetie was gone now.

'What's the matter Spike, nothing to say to the filly who gave everything to protect you?' Sweetie asked Spike as she flung herself at him, only to run into a barrier of both blue and green. Spike knew that he should be feeling a number of emotions right now, but at the moment he felt nothing. But as Spike looked at her and then to the Elements of Harmony who had shown up to fight him, as well as the princesses and their parents, he found that he only had one last thing to say.

"Even in fearful day or in raging night, no evil still shall escape my sight. And although all may seem lost in this war on light, you shall beware my power," he said before he pointed both his rings at the crowd of ponies as they broke through his shield and rushed him all at once. "For I will fight."

IOI

Death. That was all a single owl could see as he flew over the battlefield...or what was left of a battlefield at this point. Owlicious could see the faces of ponies that he used to know or at least see in the fray, but all of them were now wearing the black rings that had descended. Off in the distance he could still see flashes of green and knew that Spike was still fighting, but all the other colors had gone dark. He was flying towards where he had last seen some bolts of indigo, but those had ceased a minute before. Within a minute of flying, he reached where the bolts had come from, only to hoot in shock when he saw Zecora laying bloodied and beaten up against the side of a house, her shield barely keeping out the invading lanterns.

"Hoo?" he asked her as he landed beside the barrier, Zecora creating a temporary gap to allow him inside of the barrier.

"Hello my friend, it seems you have caught me at my end," she said weakly and Owlicious saw that one of her limbs was limp and lifeless, the rest of her not looking much better. "I wish it did not have to be this way, dying without knowing if there will be another day. But maybe you can confirm what I cannot with my sight. Do the other ring wielders still fight?"

"Hoo," Owlicious said with a nod of his head, Zecora letting out a sigh of relief before she collapsed against the wall, nearly falling over.

"It seems that this is it for me, but that should be my destiny," She said weakly as her barrier gave way, allowing the Black Lanterns to come rushing in around the two, but Zecora used the last of her strength to blast them back. "Run my friend, before it becomes your end." Owlicious hooted in reply and stood next to Zecora, refusing to budge despite the Lanterns getting back up. He grabbed her tail with his talons and tried to pull her away from the battle, but it was to no avail.

"It has been...one crazy ride," Zecora whispered weakly as she began to close her eyes. "But I am glad to have a friend...at my side." 

"Hoo?" Owlicious asked as he pecked her with his beak, but Zecora remained motionless. The owl slowly turned to see the horde of Black Lanterns throwing themselves at him and he closed his eyes, knowing what came next. But then a blast of indigo went off and pushed the Lanterns back, allowing Owlicious to open his eyes and see what was in front of him.

'Owlicious of Equestria.'