//------------------------------//
// Where There's A Will 
// Story: The  Emerald Dragon 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

Waves of Black Lanterns shot into the sky, further darkening the already completely black sky as they gave chase to one of the only sources of light around, a light that was both blue and green. Despite being completely outnumbered and the fact that there was now nopony left to fight alongside him, there were still beams of blue and green that flashed across the sky to push the dark ponies back.

'But it's only a matter of time,' Spike thought to himself as he spun in a circle, firing the twin rings in every direction. He didn't need to aim, since no matter where he shot he was guaranteed to hit one of the Black Lanterns. 'Only a matter of time before I run out of power,' he thought to himself as the green ring flashed, telling him that he was starting to get low on power. But he didn't dare try to go back to the library to recharge, since he could barely fly without being overrun by the lanterns, leaving him his only option. To fight.

'What's the matter Spike? Too afraid to join us?' the Black Lantern version of Rainbow Dash said as she came flying towards him, slamming into him and dragging the both of them down towards the ground. Spike head-butted her and shot her point blank with a blast of green energy that sent her howling back into the sea of Black Lanterns.

'You dare to raise your claws against a princess?' Luna and Celestia both roared at the same time as they both attacked him at the same time, firing blasts of their most powerful magic at him. But their magic was nothing to the twin powers of the blue and green ring, leaving them open to be crushed as Spike created two giant green and blue hands to squish the undead princesses like they were bugs. As those two fell to the town below, Spike was blasted from behind from the previous king and queen of Equestria, whose power was unlike any magic that he had ever felt.

"But that doesn't mean that I'm going to let the two of you beat me!" he yelled as he pointed both rings at the two and fired the combined power at them, blasting apart the former rulers and watching as their rings fell to the ground below. He scowled at them before turning to see an armada of changelings come flying at him, like a swarm of insects that wished to rip him apart. He created a green and blue shield to defend himself as the swarm of black slammed into him, pushing him and his shield into the ground in the center of town. "Get off!" he yelled as he blasted all of the changelings back, only to get up and see that he was still completely surrounded. In all directions all he could see were Black Lanterns.

'Power levels at five percent,' the green ring said to him.

'Power levels at ten percent, little one,' the blue ring said to him as well.

"Should I even bother asking if this could get worse?" Spike asked the two sarcastically as he pointed his twin rings at the oncoming swarm of Black Lanterns, but then to his surprise they were all beaten back by a flash of indigo light. "Zecora? How did you-?" Spike turned expecting to see his Zebra friend, but instead he saw Owlicious with the indigo ring around his talons float down and land on his head. "Owlicious, you're the Indigo Lantern? But that means Zecora..."

"Hoo," Owlicious said with a nod of his head and Spike might have wondered why the universal translator wasn't working, but at that moment he just felt the pain of losing another friend. Then he turned with determination his eyes towards the swarm again.

"Well, at least I know that I won't go down alone," Spike said with a snarl as he pointed both his rings at the crowed and let loose a roar of fury as he threw himself into them, Owlicious taking to the sky and firing a bolt of indigo straight up before he too engaged the Black Lanterns along with Spike. With the power of the indigo ring, Spike and Owlicious began to push back again against the Black Lanterns and for a moment Spike believed that they would actually be able to defeat the swarm. Then aid came in another unexpected form.

"Emerald Dragon!" Spike turned and looked up to see a changing floating over him, but unlike all the other thousands of changelings that he had been fighting this one was not wearing a Black Lantern ring or outfit. But if he hadn't thrown a shield around her with one ring and blasted away the Lanterns that attacked her with the other she would have been.

"Owlicious, can you create us a shield?" Spike asked. Owlicious nodded as he threw up and indigo shield around the three of them, struggling to use his new powers to keep the dead back as Spike released the changeling from the barrier and looked at her with crossed arms. "I don' know if there was a worse possible time you could have come to Ponyville, but I'm fairly certain that an invasion of the dead is a really bad time."

"I know, but I've finally managed to track you down and I really need to tell you something," she said in between breaths as she tried to regain her breath. "Chrysalis is who is powering the Black Lanterns!" When Spike's face showed that he didn't believe her, she took another breath and tried again. "When the prince died, Chrysalis tried everything to try and bring him back, but nothing worked. So when the Black power ring told her that it could, she became to power source of the Black Lanterns and the black ring resurrected her son...sort of."

"LOOK OUT!" Spike yelled as Black Lantern's attacked her from behind, breaking through the shield to get to her. Before she could scream, Spike slammed into them with a massive gauntlet and sent them towards the ground, floating in front of the terrified changeling before giving her a smile. "You okay?" he asked as Owlicious threw up another barrier.

"Yeah...fine," she said quietly.

"What you said about Chrysalis being the Black Battery is interesting, but there is no way I can get past all of the Black Lanterns and even if I could, I don't know what to do if I got to the Lantern," Spike muttered before Owlicious hooted as his shield began to break. Spike ran over beside him and reinforced the shield with his power, but it was clear to the two that this wasn't going to last much longer. While they fought off the Lanterns, Insectum looked around at all of the Black Lanterns with sorrow in her eyes as she looked at what used to be her subjects and comrades.

"Why would Chrysalis allow this to happen? She loved us all so much, but I guess her son’s death drove her too far," Insectum muttered to herself. Spike growled as he turned to grab Insectum and shot off into the sky with her, Owlicious following him as the barrier shattered and the undead began to follow them again.

"Owlicious, take this changeling and get out of here!" Spike yelled as he tossed the changeling over to Owlicious before firing repeated burst of light into the oncoming swarm. Owlicious hooted as he tried to fly to Spike, but Spike trapped him in a blue sphere and threw him higher into the sky, watching the two go with a brief look of regret before he was tackled to the ground by a very familiar Black Lantern.

'Hello Spike,' Twilight said to Spike with a cold smile as she pinned him to the ground, other Black Lanterns grabbing his arms and legs to prevent him from moving at all. 'How does it feel to see what your failure looks like? Does it make you angry? Sad? Or are you still filled with hope that you can save us all despite how hopeless it looks?...Aw come one, you have to be feeling something, it's boring to kill you if you have no emotion to feed on.'

"There's only one thing go through my mind and that's how many months of cleaning I should get off for saving the entire world," he said with a smirk, Twilight scowling at his sarcasm and went to drive her hoof through his chest, but the combined power of blue and green protected him though the shield did waver a bit.

'Seems there's not much power left in those little rings of yours,' Twilight said with a smile as she slammed her hoof into the barrier protecting him again, watching as it almost completely faltered. 'I have to admit Spike, this hurts me a lot more than it's going to hurt you. At least until I manage to grab hold of your heart and rip it out of your chest.' Spike tried desperately to construct something, but whether the rings simply didn't have enough power or Spike didn't have the will or hope, he didn't know. But there was no fear in his eyes as Twilight brought her hoof back with a wicked grin.

'Any last words?' Twilight asked him.

"Are all ponies so damn ugly when they're Black Lanterns?" Twilight gasped and looked up in time to be blasted across the ground by a bolt of green, all of the Black Lanterns that were surrounding Spike getting blasted off as well by another blast of green. When Spike was freed he shot up and spun around to see...

"John?" Spike asked as the Green Lantern of sector 2814 floated down beside him with a smile." What are you doing here? I thought that-"

"Like I said kid, we got each other's backs," John said with a smile before he began to fight as well.

"We did go back, but then one of the higher ups felt something out of place here," John said as he fought. "So we've been keeping this planet under watch in case something happened. Once we came back from a mission to see the Black Lanterns, we acted immediately. Hal will be here soon with our ace, but until then we'll help you hold them off. Here." John tossed Spike a green battery, giving him a chance to recharge his ring. But while he did this, a Black Lantern attacked Spike from behind but was blasted apart by a beam of energy that didn't look like any of the rings that Spike had seen used. He looked past John to see a small, blue creature with white hair float down besides John, but while Spike didn't know who he was, he knew the symbol on his chest.

"Are you a Blue Lantern?" Spike asked the alien, who chuckled as he shook his head.

"No, my Green Lantern friend, I am Ganthet, the creator of the Blue Lanterns," Ganthet said with a smile as Spike's jaw dropped, but the smile vanished as he looked at the blue ring on Spike's other hand. "It seems that one of the blue rings did find somepony full of hope on this planet, but I highly doubt that you were chosen by both blue and green. What happened to the true Bleu Lantern?"

"She...died," Spike said with sadness in his voice, but glared at Ganthet when he chuckled slightly. "Is her death something funny?!"

"You misunderstand my young Lantern, I find it funny that you believe that death is the end," Ganthet said as he took the ring off of Spike's hand and held it to the air. "Go find your true host." Spike watched as the blue ring shot off but it quickly came to a stop in front of a certain undead filly.

'Sweetie Belle of Equestria,' the blue ring began as it blasted the black ring off of her horn, taking its place and causing a burst of blue light to erupt from Sweetie. 'You have the ability to instill great hope..'

"And I see that my hope wasn't misplaced," Sweetie said with a smile as she spotted Spike and flew over to him, looking around at all of the undead with a frown. "Wow, this seems really bad." Then she turned to see John, who she waved to and then to Ganthet who she looked at with confusion until she saw his symbol. "Oh cool, another Blue Lantern!"

"No my little one, I am the creator of the Blue Lanterns," Ganthet said with another friendly smile. "But I must admit that I never thought that one so young as yourself could possibly possess enough hope to be a Blue Lantern. I am happy to meet you." Sweetie shook his hand when he offered it to her, but then a blast of orange reminded them that there was still a battle going on.

"What's he doing here?" Spike asked as Larfleeze yelled that all the black rings would be his before re-engaging the Black Lanterns. A hoot told Spike that Owlicious was back and he looked up to see his friend.

"I order to defeat the Black Lanterns before they can reach their full power we will need all of the Corps," Ganthet said as he held out an arm for Owlicious to land on, smiling at the Indigo Lantern. "But we are short a few. Lantern Stewart, did you bring it?" John nodded as he held out a glass case containing a red ring, a ring that flew off when he broke the case for a new host, settling on a princess of the night.

'Luna of Equestria. You have a great rage in your heart. You belong to the Red Lantern Corps.'

Luna let out a roar as the black ring on her horn was blown apart and the red ring took its place, the Black Lanterns around her turning to see the princess of the night glare down at them with red energy dripping from her mouth and a red suit covering her body, but what they saw the most was the red in her eyes.

"You foals thought you could contain me!" she roared in rage before unleashing a torrent of red energy from her mouth, burning away all of the Black Lanterns around her before she shot into the sky, firing bolts of red all upon the Black Lanterns. "I am the princess of the night! Nopony is strong enough to hold me!"

"Hm, seems her rage is greater than I thought," Ganthet said before he floated over to Luna, who turned to look at him with a glare. "Now then Princess Luna, before you go and attack me in your enraged state, but allow me to put forward this question. Would you rather attack me, a stranger or the Black Lantern that is taking your home?" Luna looked from him to the Black Lanterns before she let out a roar of rage and threw herself into the fray again.

"Well, at least she's fighting with us," Ganthet said before looking around. "Now then, I believe there was a Yellow Lantern around here somewhere." As soon as he said this, Sombra shot by him and the others while he fired bolts of yellow behind him in a desperate attempt to stop Nekron, who showed no signs of slowing. "And it seems that Nekron is already here."

"Ganthet," Nekron said with a growl as he spotted the Guardian, pointing his scythe at him. "Come to finally die?"

"No, I've come to put you back in your grave," Ganthet said. Nekron let out a roar and charged at the Guardian, but John Stewart intercepted him with a blast of green to the side, turning Nekron's attention from the Guardian to him.

"You. You are another one who has escaped me for too long," Nekron said with cold eyes.

"And I'll continue to, unless you want to try and stop me," John said, only to be thrown backwards as he tried to block Nekron scythe. While Stewart continued to fend off Nekron, Ganthet gathered to Lanterns who were nearby to speak with them, although he had to use his powers on Sombra to bring him over.

"We are still missing one," Ganthet noticed as he looked over the Lanterns. "Why have the Star Sapphires not chosen somepony yet? If we hope to stop the Black Lantern's here once and for all, then we will need them all. With all the Lantern's combined, we will be able to unlock the power of-" Ganthet was interrupted as Nekron sent Black Lanterns to attack them, forcing the Lantern's to work together to fight them off. Luna unleashed a torrent of red energy upon Nekron, but he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the ground. He went to drive his scythe through her heart until a wave of blue energy pushed Nekron back.

"Spike!" Sweetie yelled as she flew up beside him.

"Got it." The two went back to back and fired their combined strength into Nekron, who falter a bit under the twin power but knocked both Lanterns away with a swing of his scythe.

"We will not be able to defeat him unless we have a Star Sapphire with us as well," Ganthet said as he used his power to aid Luna against Nekron. "Only when all the emotions are here will we have enough power to destroy the Black Lantern core. If we do not, Nekron will not truly vanish!"

"Star Sapphires...love..." Spike muttered as he looked over towards the giant Black Lantern in the center of the town, narrowing his eyes at it. "I think I know somepony that might be able to fit the bill." Before he could continue, John Stewart was throw into the ground at the feet of Ganthet and he struggled to get to his feet as Nekron floated down.

"Your Lantern's will not protect you now," he growled as he pointed the scythe at him. "The world will return to the darkness from whence it came."

"We will cover you, Lantern Spike," Ganthet said as he fired his energy at Nekron, who deflected it with his scythe and charged the Lanterns there.

"Speak for yourself, short stuff, I want no part of this guy," Sombra said as he went to fly off, but then a thin smile crossed his face before he turned around to blast Nekron. "Actually, I could use this for some good leverage over the princesses if we get through this." An orange hand grabbed him and threw him back as Larfleeze charged at Nekron.

"I don't know what they will give you, but whatever it is I want it!" he roared until he was slammed into the ground by the blunt end of Nekron's scythe.

"None of you are a match for me," Nekron said before he rushed the Lantern's and the Guardian. Spike on the other hoof, was flying towards the Black Lantern battery as fast as he could, fighting off any Lantern that got close to him while navigating through them as best he could.

'Gotta get to Chrysalis,' Spike thought to himself as he blasted off a Black Lantern that had managed to grab hold of his leg. He came to a stop in front of the battery and had to catch himself as the waves of the coldness of death rolled over him, causing him to break out in a cold sweat before he shook his head and glared at the Battery. "Chrysalis! I know that you're in there and you have to break free of whatever hold the Black Lanterns have on you!" when he got no answer, Spike flew up to the center of the Battery and looked inside, just barely able to make out the outline of the queen changeling.

"Chrysalis! We are facing the end of the world!" Spike yelled into the battery before a massive explosion went off in the sky and he turned to see the Interceptor mark four descend from the sky and fly right into Nekron, exploding on him but he regenerated any of the damage done. Spike then saw a green sphere float down from the black clouds, carrying Lantern Jordan in it, but also carrying what looked like some sort of creature made of plants. Spike wondered why they had brought that when he saw a white symbol on its chest. "A White Lantern," he whispered to himself.

The swamp looking creature let out a roar and charged at Nekron, who roared as well as he charged towards the swamp being. The two collided with such force that the only colors Spike was able to see for a moment was black and white. The White Lantern brought his fist back and slammed it into Nekron, blasting him apart with ease. But just as Spike thought that they had won, another one of the dead picked up Nekron's scythe and changed into Nekron as well. Nerkon then swung the scythe into the White Lantern, who howled with pain just as Spike and all the other Lantern's did as well.

"Great, so if black is death, then white is life," Spike groaned as the pain faded, figuring that if the White Lantern died then they all would. Then he also remembered what Ganthet had told him, that as long as the Black Lantern Battery remained Nekron could not truly die. "Dammit Chrysalis, we even have the being that represents life itself fighting alongside of us, but as long as you remain in that battery life will lose! Then all of your changelings will die! Including your daughter!" Spike wasn't sure if it was real or not, but for a moment he felt like Chrysalis was listening to him.

"I know that you are saddened over the loss of your son and I can't blame you, but if you don't break free then all of those changelings he died for and the ones you care about are going to die as well." Then Spike felt the pain again and he nearly collapsed to the ground, narrowing his eyes as he saw the swamp looking creature get thrown across the ground. "But I know that I will not submit to death! Not now, not even at the end of the world. And if I know you, you love your subjects too much to let them die!" Spike flew off as he said this to fight against Nekron, leaving Chrysalis alone inside of the Lantern with conflicting thoughts.

'My daughter is in danger, I need to go fight,' she thought one moment, but it was dashed by another thought. 'But I already lost my son, my pride and joy, so how can I possibly find the strength to fight? I'd rather be dead, rather the black rings take me and give him back. I would give my life to have him back.' The despair began to wrap around her, drawing her further into the blackness until a sound echoed across her mind. It was the sound of the changelings...her changelings laughing, the laughter and happiness that had made her job worth it. 'No I would not just trade my life for his, I would trade my life for all of them. My daughter, the colony; they are all too precious to me to lose again! I love them all too much!' And then, within the emptiness of the battery where the darkness of pain and suffering surrounded her, did Chrysalis finally see the light.

'Chrysalis of Equestria. You have a great love in your heart.'

And then she was free.

Spike roared in pain as Nekron slammed the butt of his scythe into the young dragon’s chest, sending him rocketing skyward. He would have passed out from the impact if Sweetie hadn't caught him and begun to heal his wounds with her ring. Spike was also aware that her ring was running on fumes and he could feel it as they wobbled in the air.

"You should leave," he said to her as she set them down, watching as Nekron tried to rip the heart out of Sombra. "You might have enough power left to escape."

"There is no escaping now Spike," Sweetie said as Larfleeze and Ganthet freed Sombra, only to be swatted away by Nekron. "We fight here and we will win here. All will be well."

"Still believing in that saying, huh?" Spike asked with a smile as he got back up to his feet, feeling the light of the blue ring power him up.

"Always," Sweetie said as she and Spike flew towards Nekron, blasting him in the back with their combined rings. Larfleeze, Sombra, Luna, John. Hal and Owlicious joined in as well, but even with their combined light added with Ganthet's power Nekron still refused to go down. The Swamp Thing also fired a beam of white light at him, but a large number of Black Lantern's took the white beam for their leader, vanishing into white dust as the beam struck them.

"Do you really think that any of you can defeat death?!" Nekron roared at them as he swung his scythe in a large arc, knocking over all of the combatants and causing them to scream in pain as he stabbed the Swamp thing in its chest. "You will all die here! Your light and all of your lives will die here!" The Nekrons arm shot out and grabbed onto Spike, holding him in front of Nekron with his blade at the dragon’s throat. "Are you prepared to die, little dragon?"

"No! No more death! Only my love!" a voice behind Nekron said, blasting him in the back with her power. He turned to see a Star Sapphire floating behind him, her violet power raining down upon his before he could react. Spike managed to break free of his grasp and turned to where the Lantern had been standing, smiling to himself to see that she had destroyed it when she had broken free.

"Don't you understand yet? Death cannot be beaten!" Nekron roared as he tried to kill her, but the Lanterns all began to combine their powers and push him back while Ganthet helped the Swamp Thing back to his feet. "Death will triumph over-!" Nekron was cut off as a blast from the Swamp Thing took off his right arm, causing his scythe to fall to the ground.

"Wrong creature! Death shall not overcome, for LOVE CONQUERS ALL!" Chrysalis roared as she unleashed all of her power into Nekron's back. "And I shall be the love that my people need, I will live for them!"

"I will get you off of my planet!" Spike roared as he added his own green beam to the mix.

"And I hope you never come back!" Sweetie yelled as she added her powers to the fray, Nekron beginning to fall from the multiple beams.

"I just want to live!" Sombra said as he added his power, Owlicious hooting as he added his indigo power to the mix as well. Larfleeze and Luna added their powers in as well. Ganthet watched the sight of Nekron beginning to fall with a smile as he looked up to the Swamp Thing, who looked upon the battle with white eyes.

"So much will to live," The Swamp Thing said as he opened his mouth. "They are worthy!" As he said this, a large number of white rings began to fly from his mouth, seeking out each of the ring bearers and slipping onto them in place of their usual rings.

'Connection overridden.'

"No, I am death! I cannot be beaten!" he roared, only for all of the White Lanterns to fire at him all at once, causing the villain to roar as he tried to fight back against the power.

"I am death! I can never die!" Nekron roared even as the light continued to beat back at him. "One day you will submit to me!"

"Maybe one day Nekron, but not today," Spike said with a smirk before the power of the light began to flow through him, causing the little dragon to grow larger and larger until he towered over Nekron, as the Divine Dragon. 'But until that day comes, I will live out each of my days protecting all life and everypony. I will be the light that they need!' Then the Divine Dragon inhaled, all of the White Lantern's pouring their power into him before he unleashed a torrent of white fire upon Nekron, who nearly burned away from the power.

'What's the matter Nekron, afraid to live a little?' the Divine Dragon asked with a smile before he and the others let out one final push, obliterating the undead nightmare. As Nekron was blasted apart, more and more of the white rings began to fly out of the Swamp Thing and fly through all of the Black Lanterns that were standing around the battlefield, before thousands more shot off to every corner of Equestria. Spike and the other fighters all fell to the ground exhausted, only able to watch as the rings began to seek out their hosts.

'"Did we do it Spike?" Sweetie weakly asked as her blue ring ran out of power, turning her back to normal as she rested against Spike's shoulder to keep from falling over. The other fighters rested on the ground as well, although Spike noticed that Sombra had already taken off when he had seen how things were going while Larfleeze tried to grab the white ring. One of the white rings flew over to Twilight, who looked at it for a moment before the darkness was blasted off of her.

"Yeah, I think we did," he said with an exhausted smile.

'Twilight of Equestria. Applejack of Equestria. Rarity of Equestria. Fluttershy of Equestria. Rainbow Dash of Equestria. Pinkie of Equestria. Celestia of Equestria. Applebloom of Equestria. Scootaloo of Equestria. Zecora of Equestria. Mayor Mare of Equestria. Prince Ragna of Equestria. All those who have fallen to the Blackest Night.'

'Live.'