• Published 15th Apr 2012
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For the Ones we Love - FlimFlamBros.



Spike must save Equestria from a newborn evil. But will he be able to stop it?

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The WAR

“Famine and death, a soon to be ravished world.
Tribes of dreamers and fools, rising against the dawn of insanity."

~socialdeviance

It was time.

The day had finally come, a day that everypony had dreaded and knew would eventually transpire. There would be clanging of metal, the marching of soldiers from every race in Equestria as they prepared to stare down the impending apocalypse. It would be the final showdown: good versus evil, justice versus anarchy, and love against hatred.

It would be the pure dragon versus the insane alicorn.

Spike slowly opened his eyes. Last night had been a mix of confusion, horror, and incredible pleasure. The two sleeping mares were still cuddled up against him, their hooves wrapped around his chest and arms. Last night had been perfect, it was a shamed it couldn’t last forever.

“Spike,” the white unicorn mumbled, stirring, “are you up?”

Spike sighed. “Yeah, unfortunately,” he smiled. “Last night was pretty freaking great; never knew you were that open.”

“Don’t get carried away, love” yawned Rarity. “Like Luna said, that was a gift. Don’t expect this to become a regular thing.”

“Well, as long as I have you, that’s all that matters,” cooed the dragon, giving his mare a kiss. “And besides, there’s always my birthday!”

Rarity groaned. “You’re awful, do you know that?”

“Yes, but you love me anyways,” grinned the purple drake. He rolled over on top of the white mare, feeling a tug on his arm from the sleeping princess of the night mare slowly awakening.

“Are you two up already” grumbled the princess.

“Yes, Luna, we are,” said Rarity. “I imagine you slept well?”

“Indeed,” swayed the princess. “I can see why you love him so much. After that little fun last night, I was out like a foal.”

“Just remember, he’s mine,” teased Rarity, wrapping her hooves around her dragon.

“Well,” smiled Luna, “there’s always his birthday.”

“That’s what I said!”

The white mare face-hoofed. “There’s something wrong with you two,” she groaned.

*****

“It’s time!” shouted Conquest gleefully as he gazed at his marching army from the top of a mountain overpass. Chrysalis stood by his side, watching as their troops lined into formation and headed towards Canterlot.

“You have made a wonderful force, my lord,” said the changeling queen. “The ponies don’t stand a chance. They will all fall, and you will stand triumphantly over their ashes.”

“I will, won’t I?” the dark alicorn sighed happily. “You know, I’ve forgotten how bright the sun is. Has it gotten hotter in the past eighty years?”

“I don’t think so…” wondered the changeling.

“Well, remind me to extinguish it when this is all over,” muttered Conquest.

“Of course, my lord,” said Chrysalis.

The two continued to look down at the marching army. “I’m just so giddy! I feel like a little school filly about to go to the big dance!” he laughed. “If the dance involved genocide.”

“Should we press on with the troops?” asked Chrysalis.

“Not yet. I wish to soak in this greatness for a bit longer,” said the insane pony.

“As you wish, my lord,” said the changeling. “May I watch with you?”

“If you must.”

*****

Spike walked into the armory. Most of the ponies had already geared up and left, leaving only a single stallion left in the room.

“Shining Armour?”

“Hello Spike,” said the captain of the guard. “Are you ready for today?”

“If you can get ready for something like this,” the dragon sighed. “How in Equestria do you do this?”

“I was trained to do this Spike,” replied Shining, “as were you.”

“I guess. I’m still a little scared though, scared that I won’t be able to save everyone.”

The captain of the guard sighed. “Spike, ponies are going to die, that’s just war. No matter how hard you try, you can’t save them all. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can focus on what’s important: stopping Conquest from doing whatever the hell he’s doing.”

“I know, Armour,” said the dragon. “Just a shame that it has to come to this.”

“No point in moping about it, Spike,” said Armour. “Now come on, we need to get you suited up. Don’t want a wandering spear or axe to take you out.”

“My armour is ready?”

“Sure is,” said Shining. “It was brought up from the Den last night. That Forge guy really knows his stuff,” the pony said. Focusing his magic, he dragged out a large set of silver looking armour. Spike gasped as he saw the set. It was like looking at a dragon made of metal. Forge had managed to create a full plate set. This armour would cover every inch of his body, leaving next to nothing fully exposed.

“This is incredible,” gasped the dragon. “Did Forge really make this?”

“He said it’s made out of Star metal. It’s about three times heavier than steel, but five times as tough. A hydra could step on you and you’d be fine,” joked Shining.

“I’ll have to test that out,” smiled Spike as he grabbed the gauntlet of the armour and placed over his claw. “It’s not that heavy really,” noticed Spike.

“Maybe not for a dragon, but for a pony, it’d crush us dead.”

“I see your point,” the dragon said, slipping into one of the boots and greaves. “So where have you’ve been positioned? Frontline, castle guard?”

“I’m actually going to be guarding the civilians down in the old quarries under the city. Me, Cadence, and couple other guards are tasked with protecting the citizens of Canterlot.”

“Guess you lucked out then,” muttered the purple drake.

“Hardly. I have to deal with the whining citizens of Canterlot crammed up in a hot, humid cave for who knows how long,” snickered Shining. “Want to trade spots?”

“I think I’ll take my chances on the field,” laughed Spike, strapping on his cuirass. “I’d probably lose my mind if I had to deal with them.”

“Well, I’ll at least be able to protect Cadence. What about Twilight and the others, are they taking shelter with us?” asked Shining Armour.

Spike shook his head. “Celestia wants them to stay with her and Luna, in case we need to use the Elements against him. I’m hoping he won’t get anywhere close to Canterlot.”

“You and me both,” sighed Armour. “I don’t think I’d be able to take on an alicorn.”

“Yeah,” agreed Spike, slipping placing his helmet on. “All I know is that after this, I’m taking a long nap.”

“Careful what you wish for,” said Shining.

*****

“My lord, we’re almost to Canterlot,” Chrysalis said. She and Conquest were flying high over the skies, looking down at his glorious army march towards the pony capital. “Our troops will be in position for the assault within the hour.”

“Excellent!” shouted Conquest, doing a few twists in the air. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I haven’t been in a war since the Dragon Wars! Oh, how I missed the smell of death in the air, the screaming and begging of your enemies as you drive a spear straight through their cranium. Those were better times, Chrysalis.”

“I’m sure they were,” mumbled the changeling queen. “So what is the plan for the assault against Canterlot, dear? Should we lure them into an ambush, or perhaps we should divide and conquer?”

“All great ideas, love,” snickered the dark alicorn. “But I have a foolproof strategy!” he said matter-o-factly.

“And what would that be, my love?” asked the Queen.

“I will order all the troops to take up all their arms, and have them all rush the castle!” smiled the dark pony. “We’ll attack the castle with a good ol’ fashion suicide run!”

“W-what?” stammered Chrysalis, “B-but that seems….”

“What?” grinned Conquest, cocking his head upside down as he floated through the air. “Does it seem….Crazy?” he laughed.

“It’s just that, well, there has to be a better approach to minimize losses on our side.”

“I know!” giggled Conquest. “But I like this plan a lot better. More things die this way!”

“You….You don’t care if they die,” Chrysalis said quietly. “Do you?”

“Oh, my dear, diluted peon…” chuckled the alicorn as he gave the queen a smug grin. “Not only do I not care if they die, I want them to die. Ponies, griffins, zebras, minotaurs…changelings. You’re all a blight on this world and you will all die because of it. Now…” His eyes started to glow. “Be a good little insect and go die down there with everyone else.”

His red hypnotic eyes were too much for the changeling queen. “Y-yes, my lord,” she said unwillingly. “I will do as I’m told…” She flew away from the laughing pony, and down to the ground with the rest of the troops.

Conquest gave a pleasant sigh. “It’s so much fun being the bad guy.”

*****

Spike, in complete armour, walked out into the courtyard. He looked at all the soldiers as they prepared for the upcoming battle. The zebras were running through some last minutes training exercises. The buffalos were sharpening their horns and marking each other with war paint, while the donkeys and mules were busy doing something behind a curtain. Whatever it was, he only hoped it was useful.

“Spike!?” called a voice. The dragon turned around to see the four dragons running up behind him.

“Is that really you?” asked Glimmer, checking out Spike’s armour. “Where can I get me one of those?”

“Sorry,” smiled Spike, “it’s one of a kind.”

“Whatever,” muttered Dust Devil. “I don’t need some metal to protect me,” he gloated. “Can’t hurt what you can’t hit!”

“Said the dragon beaten by a pony,” smiled Lurch.

“I told you she cheated!”

“Sure,” laughed Bitterbite. “I believe you.”

“You do?”

“Of course, we all know you let her win ‘cause you like her.”

“Exactl—WHAT?!” screamed Dust Devil. “I don’t like her, I hate her!”

“It’s the same thing, mate,” sighed Glimmer. “And you hate her a lot, if you know what I mean.”

“I hate all of you,” mumbled the sky drake. “And I mean hate, not like-hate.”

“Aww,” sighed Lurch, “we all hate you too, buddy.”

“Let’s just go kill things,” grumbled Dust Devil as he took off in the air. The rest of the dragons, minus Bitterbite, laughed as they followed him.

“So what’s the plan?” asked Bitterbite, crossing his arms.

“We protect the city,” said Spike. “We take our forces to the outside walls. We need to stay close so that the mules can snipe them with their—what are they called again? Crossbows?”

“Something like that,” shrugged Bitterbite. “Anyways, you were saying?”

“The mules can cover the ground and the skies, and the pegesi should control the air and keep any griffins or changelings from flying into the city. That leaves everyone else to cover the ground. I want to keep them off the wall, and if possible push them back into a retreat. I don’t want to kill any more than I have to.”

And what about Curator, or Conquest or whatever he’s calling himself now? What if we run into him?”

“You do not engage him,” said Spike, his tone very serious. “Leave him to me. I have to be the one who kills him.”

“This personal?”

“It’s why I’m here,” muttered the purple dragon. “The fact that he killed my mother has nothing to do with it.

“If you say so,” shrugged Bitterbite.

“Attention A-holes!!”

“What the hell was that?” asked Bitterbite.

“Attention all A-holes!!”

“HE’S HERE!” shouted Spike at the top of his lungs. “EVERYONE, INTO POSITION! NOW!”

All the soldiers scurried around as Spike flew up to the west wall. Looking out and over the fields that surrounded Canterlot, he could see a lone figure standing far off in the distance, waving happily at him.

It was Conquest, in the flesh.

“Spike!” shouted the dark alicorn. “It’s so nice to finally meet you face to face!” he laughed, his chuckles echoing through the area. “Well, kind of face to face. Why don’t you come over here and I give you a big hug!”

“I’d rather die,” the dragon muttered under his breath.

“I can arrange that!” shouted Conquest. “But we will deal with that later. Right now I have to announce my surprise attack!”

“Your announcing your own sur—“

“SURPRISE!” the insane alicorn yelled. It was followed by a thousand bloodthirsty scream from beyond the hills and the skies that lay behind Conquest. The army that he had spent the last thirty days assembling rushed out from their cover. Screaming minotaurs, screeching griffins, howling dogs, and buzzing changelings all charged towards the castle walls. “ATTACK!”

“Everyone in position!” ordered Spike. The dragon leapt over the wall and started to glide to the ground. He landed on the side of the mountain, the rest of the ground infantry not far behind him. In the air, the pegesi were preparing their thunderclouds, and the three flying dragons were doing their best to help or get out of the way. “I sure hope we’re ready for this…”

“We are ready, dragon,” said the zebra captain. “Give us the order, and we will send them all to hell!” The ponies and other four legged mammals cheered as they readied themselves.

“All right then!” shouted Spike as he turned around, ready to face Conquest’s horde. “This is it, ponies! We stand alone against the one called Conquest. He may be powerful, but he is just one pony, no different than you or me, and he hides behind monsters that are deranged as he is. But he is just a fear-monger, a coward that hides behind his illusions and the weak willed. United we are strong and we will fight back against his darkness!”

“FIGHT BACK THE DARKNESS!!” the troops cheered.

“Remember this day, for they will tell tales of it forever!” shouted the drake, as he lead the charge towards his adversaries. “This is day that we united against the darkness of one pony’s mind and preserved for freedom and harmony. So run with me ponies, for love, for peace!” They neared the other army.

“FOR EQUESTRIA!!!!”

The initial clash of the two forces was brutal. Bodies gouged upon spearheads and swords, moaning and grunts as ponies fell to the ground in pain, quietly changing to inaudible whimpers and then silence. Spike’s armour did its job; a dog had tried to slash him with a dagger, but the flimsy steel bent against the dragon’s star metal. The dragon ran over the mutt, stomping his skull into the ground as he shoulder checked a minotaur that was in his way. He lashed out at the downed beast, tearing him apart with his claws. He got up, his hands covered with dark crimson blood as he lashed out in all directions, slashing away at his enemies like a tornado of death and roars, always pushing forward, and leaving a trail of death in his path.

“Keep pushing forward!” commanded the dragon as he punched a nearby dog. “We need to get them away from the walls!”

Around him, buffalos clashed heads with minotaurs, zebras slashed and stabbed dogs, ponies fought fight with spears or magic as more of their enemies fell. A griffin flew down low and scooped up a screaming unicorn and tossed him in the air, falling dead to the ground. Spike looked up to see that the pegesi were having trouble keeping the air under control. With a mighty flap of his wings, he took into the air, slicing a nearby changeling in half. A flock of griffins screeched as they saw the ascending dragon. They all dove, trying to bombard him from all sides, flexing their talons so they could try and tear him apart.

They would never get close enough. Spike let out a breath of explosive fire, engulfing the griffins in hot green flames as their crisped bodies fell down to rain on the battle below. The dragon kept at it. Any griffin stupid enough to get close to him was met with a fiery end.

“Woo-hoo!” an enthusiastic voice laughed. Dust Devil had a changeling by the throat, the insect like creature struggling for precious oxygen. With a quick pinch, the changeling was dead. “That’s five already, Lurch!”

“I’m already at seventeen!” grunted Lurch as he finished swallowing three whole griffins and half a changeling. His mouth free, his multiple tongues shot out, latching on to ankles, hooves or wings of any poor soul that had been caught. He dragged the victims, a griffin and two changelings into his massive gullet, his jaw stretching so he could fit them all in. “Now it’s twenty!”

“That’s cheating!” snarled the sky drake.

“Like how that pegasus cheated?”

“Stop bringing that up!”

“By Gaia, will you both shut up?!” roared Glimmer, soaring out of a cloud, a griffin in each hand and three changelings constricted by her long, snake like body. “If you two fought liked you argued, we would have won already!”

Dust Devil groaned with annoyance as he took off, zig-zagging from enemy to enemy and slashing, biting or scratching them as he made his way through.

“Six, seven, eight….”

“He has some issues,” grumbled Glimmer, dropping her freshly strangled victims and went searching for replacements. “By the way, I lost count at fifty!”

“Mother of Celestia….” mumbled Lurch.

“Keep focus, big guy, I need you to help on the ground level,” said Spike.

“No problem,” gloated the large drake, changing directions until he was hurtling down to the ground, Spike in pursuit. The round boulder dragon hit the earth with seismic force, crushing any soul that was unfortunate to be under him, and launching all others into the air with the shockwave. Spike followed up landing on a bystander, crushing the unlucky dog under his armoured foot.

The two went at it. Lurch’s shot out his three tongues, each wrapping around the neck of a minotaur and pulling them in. Spike on the other hand let out a cone of flames, roasting a few enemies and a low flying griffin. When the pale blue dragon’s stomach was full, he resorted to his claws, his giant hands were able to engulf a dog’s head, and when he squeezed down, dog blood squirted from in between his fingers. Spike’s fingers were bloody as well, but for a different reason. The dragon’s claws were like swords, cutting into flesh with ease as he went through his rampage.

WHAM!!

Spike fell to the ground. He was unaware that a minotaur had snuck up behind him, and said minotaur had just slammed him in the head with a large war hammer. It hadn’t hurt so much, his helmet had done its job, but he was still disoriented by how fast it was.

“Time to die, dragon!” the minotaur laughed, raising his hammer and swinging it down.

Spike quickly flipped over and grabbed the base of the hammer’s head. He felt the strain of the minotaur pushing down on it. The dragon pressed with all his might against it, slowly gaining control. With a final push, he pushed the end of the war hammer’s tip into the bare chest of his adversary. It pierced his heart and the minotaur fell to the ground, the bloody hammer sticking out of his chest.

“Almost got you there, buddy,” said Lurch as he threw away a dead dog. “Gotta watch your back.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” mumbled the armoured drake, taking Lurch’s hand and puling himself up. “Now let’s go, this isn’t over just yet.”

The boulder dragon nodded his head as he took off into the air. Spike stayed on the ground, observing his surroundings for a moment. The battle was still young, but the grounds were littered with corpses. Ponies, minotaurs, zebras, griffins, bison, it didn’t matter. They were all were dead bodies on the ground. Bloody, disfigured bodies, bodies that would never see their children or love ones again. It sickened Spike to see such unnecessary killing, death that wasn’t needed but rather orchestrated by a fiendish puppet master that stood on a hill, far away, smiling at the chaos that he had caused.

No, he couldn’t ponder it any longer. He had to keep fighting. Spike rushed towards a group of fighters, where a buffalo took an axe to the head and a dog was skewered by a zebra’s spear. The dragon lunged into the melee, gouging his claws into a mintoaur’s throat, easily ripping off its head. Spike felt something jump on his back, a pair of dogs. It would be a big mistake for them as the dragon grabbed the pair of hounds and slammed them to the ground. Still not letting go, he swung the dogs around like makeshift clubs, battering his enemies as the dogs screamed with agony and pain.

In his spinning frenzy, Spike failed to see the axe coming his way. The blade sunk into his chest and threw him into the air. The large black minotaur that had attacked him looked pleased as he reared his axe back. He observed the blade and noticed that there wasn’t a drop of blood on it.

SLUSRSH!!

The minotaur’s eyes dilated as he looked down at his chest, and the bloody dragon arm that had punched through it. Spike pulled his hand out of the crimson hole as the beast fell dead to the ground. The dragon shook a little of the blood off, wiping it off on his armour. he shouldn’t have done so, he had left himself venerable to attack.

“Kill the dragon!” the leader of a large pack of dogs shouted, as the group of twenty dogs charged towards Spike. The purple drake gathered up some fire in his belly but he was tackled by one of the running mutts, knocking him to the ground. The rabid animal started lashing at him, scratching the dragon’s breastplate. Spike quickly shrugged him off and tried to get back to his feet, but more dogs jumped on him, piling onto the drake, all biting, scratching and jabbing him. The dragon flapped his wings, trying to bat them off but they kept coming at him. “We got him now! Go for the kill, boys!”

Spike could hardly move, every inch of him was covered with dog, so he curled up in a small ball, his wings covering him in a small cocoon of dragon scales.

“What’s the matter dragon?” laughed the dogs. “Trying to hide from us? You can’t escape death!” He started to stab at the dragons wings with his sword, tearing into the film. When he pulled the blade out however, it had been warped and melted. “What in the name of—“

SHA-BOOOOOOOOOOM!

There was a fiery explosion. Spike had built up a fireball in his winged shell, letting it compress until it was ready to burst, then he released it. The resulting blast incinerated all beings in a fifty yard radius. When Spike opened his eyes, he was surrounded by the ash of his foes. It was falling down from the sky like rain or snow, a sad mimic of beauty.

A mad sense of beauty that was brought on by an even madder pony. Conquest was still admiring his handiwork form his safe perch on the hill. The coward wasn’t even brave enough to fight his own battles. He’d rather send others to the slaughter. How could someone who claimed to be so powerful and menacing hide like a foal from a bully?

“Spike!” The ground exploded next to him as a dirty dragon crawled out of the ground. “You do not want to go underground right now! Some of those dogs can dig!”

“Do you need help?” asked Spike.

Bitterbite shook his head, “Nah, but it’s a mess down there, I’m talking dead bodies everywhere!” he laughed.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying this,” muttered Spike, looking out into the battlefield.

“Why so glum?”

“Look at it Bitterbite,” Spike pointed out to the distance, where the battle was still raging. “We’re laying down our lives for this, something that seems so unnecessary. I mean, I find it difficult to believe that this is all because Conquest had his heart broken.”

“You said he was insane,” replied Bitterbite. “And what better thing to overact to than love?”

“I know. It just doesn’t feel right, you know?”

“Try not to think about it too much,” smiled the earth dragon. “We don’t need our fearless leader going nuts on us.”

“Your leader?”

“Hell yeah Spike!” laughed Bitterbite, slapping the purple drake on the back. “You brought us here to battle, and you’re going to lead us to victory. In fact, check it out!”

The two dragons looked down the fields to see the pony army dominating the insane forces that they opposed. For every pony that fell, at least three of the opposing troops bit the dust. In the air, the pegasus were dominating the skies with the help of the dragons. It seemed that Conquest’s army was retreating, running away from the castle and into the hills in the distance.

“This is it,” said Spike, taking a deep breath. “This is my chance to take him down.” He flapped his wings open, and took to the air, soaring over the army and towards the alicorn. He seemed to be just staring at him, his grin still larger than life. Why was he so happy?

"RELEASE THE SECOND WAVE!!”

Second wave?

The whole thing was a trap. Spike hadn’t realized but they had moved far away from the walls of the castle, leaving them all exposed from all directions, and a distance that any reinforcements would take time to get there. Conquest second wave sprung from all directions. From the ground, from the hills, from the skies, there was no place safe as they were flanked.

It was horrible: ponies and zebras were torn apart, pegesi were picked from the sky and thrown down to earth, wingless or in bloody pieces, buffalos were beheaded by massive axes of laughing minotaurs and hysterical dogs.

“Bitter, get down there now!” shouted Spike, the earth drake nodding in agreement as he dove into the earth. Spike flew above the battle, slashing at a nearby griffin as he did so. He swept low over the raging battle, blanketing the field with his green fire. He was able to take out a small group of hostiles but there were just so many of them.

“General Spike!” a yellow pegasus flew up to him, gliding by his side. “We’re getting killed out there!”

“Tell me something I don’t know!” shouted the drake.

“I’m a changeling,” the yellow pegasus smiled.

“That’s gre—what?”

“DIE!!” screamed the pegasus, grabbing onto Spike’s neck and started to drag him down to earth. The dragon groaned as he flipped him over, and as they landed to the ground, it was the pegasus that took all the impact. The dead creature slowly burst into green fire, revealing a black bug like creature that was a changeling.

“By the goddess…” gasped Spike, things were about to get more complicated, the changelings had started to transform, he couldn’t tell friend to foe. All around him he saw what looked like troops turning on each other. Stallions slicing each other throats, zebra stabbing bison, and buffalos trampling everything in their paths. It was complete chaos, just as Conquest had hoped.

Spike’s heart raced as he entered the fray. He had to be much more careful, who knew if someone was a pony or a changeling. He hacked on dogs and swooping griffins that got close too him. Anyone that looked like an ally he would swat away, not knowing if it was a changeling assassin or just a confused solider. The dragon felt a tapping at his back. He turned around to see Bitterbite facing him, “Bitterbite, glad you’re here, there are Changeling—“

“Changelings, I know, everyone looks alike, and I can’t tell a friend from a foe!” he explained, punching a stallion in the face. Said stallion fell to the ground unconscious, but did not flicker into fire. “See? I just hit a guy and he was on our side!”

“Tell me about it!” replied Spike, lashing out at a griffin. “This is too much, we need to take them out now!”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” asked the earth drake as he bite into a minotaur, “Everyone looks alike!”

“We have to find Chrysalis. Maybe if the queen dies, it’ll cause the rest of them to fall!”

“Okay, sounds like a plan. What does this queen look like?”

“Tall, dark and lanky,” said the armoured drake. “With aqua blue hair and bug wings,”

“Sounds dreamy!” laughed Bitterbite. “Kind of girl I’d date.”

“What about Daisy?” asked Spike.

“I’ll always love her, don’t get me wrong, Spike!” said the brown dragon.

Spike spun around, smacking his friend in the head with the back of his claw, the earth drake falling to the ground, clutching his cheek.

“What’d you do that for?” he whined.

“I expect more from you, changeling,” growled Spike. “Especially from their queen.”

Bitterbite smiled as his eyes slowly started to glow a sickly bright green. He got up from the ground and dusted himself off. “I usually have more time to stalk my prey before I start to mimic,” he said, with a surprisingly feminine voice. “But tell me, what gave me away?”

“Bitterbite doesn’t know a Daisy. He especially isn’t in love with one either,” snarled Spike, opening his claws to the queen.

“Always a loved one with you ponies and dragons,” sighed the queen, her body bursting into flames as she took to her true form. “It’s so sad that even a creature as fearsome as a dragon is subdued by pitiful emotions.”

“The only thing here that is pitiful is you!”

“Flattered,” said Chrysalis blandly, “but that means little now. Look around you, we are winning this war, and soon all of Equestria will burn for their sins!”

“Is that what he told you?” asked Spike. “Did he promise you salvation? Power? What did Conquest promise you in exchange for all this bloodshed?”

The changeling smiled. “He promised me love, Spike. He promised me all the love I could ever feed off of, and my hive will rule with him in the new, cleansed world. A world free of ponies and their many sins against us all!”

“And you think that he will follow up with this?” asked Spike. “He’ll kill you too! He’ll kill all of you!”

“I know.”

“What?”

“I said I know Spike,” sighed the changeling. “This isn’t a war Spike, it’s a slaughter. Everyone will die Spike, don’t you see it? Conquest has already achieved victory, even if his army loses; he smiles knowing that he lead us to our death.”

“Then why still fight for him?”

“Because I need to protect my children!” she snarled, lunging at him. “And if it means you must die, then so be it!”

The queen slammed into Spike, knocking him to the ground with her on top. She started pummeling him with her decayed hooves, unable to even dent the armour. Spike struggled to get her off of him, but she was still much larger than he was and surprisingly strong. Suddenly, she started to drool on him, the changeling’s green saliva splattering on his face. He felt a weird burning sensation as the spit started to corrode his faceplate.

“The Spit burns all, dragon! Even star metal and dragon scales!” she cackled, letting more drip out of her mouth.

Spike finally managed to head butt her, part of his helmet falling off in the process. With the queen stunned, he was able to shove her off and pin her to the ground. He raised a claw into the air and slammed it down on the queen.

“Spiky, you wouldn’t hurt me, would you?” Rarity asked.

“Rarity?” wondered Spike, stopping his assault.

“Stupid dragon,” smiled the unicorn, her smile growing grimmer. The transformed Changeling smacked the drake across the face with her hoof, rolling right back on top of him. “Conquest was right; you did fall for that. NOW DIE!”

“Don’t you touch him!” shouted a strangely familiar voice.

Chrysalis was knocked off of Spike by a strange blur. It looked like it was bronze but he couldn’t tell. He slowly got up to see a dragon ripping the screaming queen to shreds. It was a female, he could tell that but it was not Glimmer. She had long flowing red spikes that looked like hair, and a snarl that he recognized all too well.

“Slitilda?”

His ex-girlfriend turned around, her face was covered in green blood and her eyes were shot to hell. None knows a fury like a dragon’s rage, the saying went. Or at least, that what it should go like, given the circumstances. The dragoness got up, still covered in the jade slime.

“What are you doing here?” asked Spike.

“Nice to see you too,” she muttered. “We came to help.”

We came to help?”

Slitilda sighed heavily as she pointed to the skies.

“My god…..” gasped the dragon, jaw dropped at what he saw. From over the mountains that covered the sea that separated the Badlands and Equestria, an army of dragons flew. Dragons from the great races: Cloud, Boulder, Fire and Sky, all soared in the air, desceding upon the battle. The largest one, recognized as Inferno, lead the charge.

“DRAGONS!!” he shouted. “UNLEASH YOUR HELL!!!”

The mass roared in agreement, the fire dragons sweeping down low, scorching the plains with their fiery breath. The Cloudweavers weaved through the air, blowing smoke and blue clouds, hiding them. Any griffin or changeling that got lost in the cloud was never seen again. Skyrins flew and dashed around the air, hitting their foes with hypersonic speed and impact. The boulder drakes fell out of the air, their large, round, meteor like bodies leaving craters as they crashed into the ground and into their adversaries. From the ground sprung the last of the dragons. The Rockmouths erupted from the earth, lashing out with a flurry of claws and bites. Some grabbed and pulled creatures into the earth itself, suffocating them within the dirt.

“They came…they actually came to help!” Spike smiled excitedly. “I actually did it!”

“You mean we did it Spike,” said Slitilda.

“What?”

The earth started to rumble around him, and soon a sick hole opened up. From said hole, a very large Rockmouth emerged, the largest one of them all in fact, Elder Rockjaw.

“Hello little one,” the ancient dragon smiled, “are we late?”

“You came and helped the ponies…” Spike said, gazing at the Elder. “Why? I thought you hated ponies?”

“We did, and some of us still do,” admitted Rockjaw. “But when you live to be as old as I am, you sometimes have to learn to forgive. Three thousand years is a long time to hold a grudge, and is a lot of time to forgive.”

“So everything is okay between ponies and dragons?” asked Spike.

“Maybe someday,” sighed Rockjaw. “But today, let’s just say that the enemy of our enemy is our friend.” The elder smiled as he reached into the sky and grabbed a griffin that was making a beeline for him. He easily plopped it in his mouth. “Hmm, taste like beef, not chicken.” Spike stared curiously at the elder, but Rockjaw just smiled at him. “Don’t you have a world to save?”

Spike snapped back to reality. “Right!” he said, taking off into the air. This was it, the moment had finally come. He easily located Conquest; the bastard hadn’t moved an inch since thing had started. “I’ll wipe that smile off your face,” growled the dragon as he flew towards him, weaving through friendly dragons and pegesi. “I’m going to finally end you, Conquest. I’ll do this for all the ponies and other creatures that you’ve hurt!” He was nearly there, the alicorn was still not moving. “You say you’re going to destroy everything, you betrayed your sisters, went on a psychotic killing spree, and murdered my mother and siblings all because you wanted an omelet!” he roared, mere inches away from the dark pony. “Conquest, YOU ARE SO BUCKING DEAD!!”

Spike’s head collided with Conquests’, his claws digging into the pony’s temple. With the momentum built with the swing, he managed to rip the head right off. Spike was surprised at how easy it came off, and was also surprised to see no traces of blood or anything that would remeble it. in fact, the skin of the pony felt an awful lot like….

“Styrofoam?!” shouted Spike, as he pulled the fake head off his hand. “It’s freaking styrofoam?” He kicked over the body of Conquest and looked around, waiting for him to pop out of nowhere and attack him. But nothing came. Eventually Spike noticed a letter tacked onto the flank of the Conquest dummy. He picked it up and began to read it.

Dear Spike or to whoever reads this…

If this is not the dragon, then please disregard the following… Or don’t, I really could care less :D

If this is the dragon, then you have failed every expectation I had for you by living long enough to read this, unless somepony is reading this for you in which case they are going to call you a diseased ridden asshole because they just read that part out loud and I am now laughing at you.

But enough of the tomfoolery….

So how did you like my little war? It doesn’t really matter that you won or if I lost, ‘cause in the end, it served its purpose. You see, hatred is the one thing that has meaning, and it is my greatest gift and my greatest weapon. To bend the weak wills of those clouded by anger, or those blinded by revenge is as easy as stabbing a baby. A blind baby that is asleep! And what comes from this rage is my other favorite thing: death. You see, genocide is a lot like cheesecake, I find it very enjoyable and I plan to serve up a big platter tonight at the castle….

Oh did I forget to mention? This whole little ‘war’ was just a big happy distraction to keep you busy while I sneak into Canterlot and prepare the blades of insanity to slit the throats and spill the blood of everypony inside Canterlot Castle! For no one is a match for the great and powerful Trixie Dark Conquest! Oh how it will rain sweet red for years after today! Makes me giddy just thinking about it! I think that I’ll leave Rarity alive the longest, make her watch as I kill her friends and princesses…. Then when you walk in to ‘save the day’ I’ll eat her heart! So I would hurry up if I were you, they’re all dying to meet you!

Love, Dark Conquest