A New Tale In Equestria.

by Sylif Daring Doo

The Grayroot Forest Part nine: Jandoka.

_____*Temple of Jandoka, ten minutes later, Firefly's POV*_____

I looked around with curiosity as we entered a strange room beyond the metal gate, the changeling told me not to worry when the wolf vanished for a time, only to reappear moments later with bruises and burn marks.....kinda hard not to worry about that.

But I didn't want to cause trouble so I kept quiet, it was a bit strange how the changeling seemed to laugh whenever I said mom but I didn't ask why.

I looked around the room and saw that the walls had a sand like appearance, it was simply a hallway with a door at each end, I was curious about where we were so I looked at the changeling. "Where are we?" I asked.

The changeling shrugged. "I think we are at the temple of Jandoka, at least that's what I was told." She told me.

I tilted my head and walked up next to her. "Who's that?" I asked.

The changeling seemed to pause for a moment before walking again. "I'm not sure, apparently he's a god, or the next best thing.....either way we need to get rid of him to get out of here." She explained.

I nodded and continued walking, I looked at the group we had and my eyes rested on the cyborg, a question came to my mind. 'What happened to your legs?' I wondered.

____*twenty minutes later. (Yes yes I know, why so many time jumps......because I want to use them damnit!*_____

Derpy walked into the next room and looked around, the walls were a smooth black with dark green runes along the walls, there was a set of stairs that led up and one that went down, Fang immediately suggesting that they head up, Derpy rolled her eyes at that. "It can't be that simple." She muttered quietly.

'Let him hope, there might be something up there anyway.' Golden said.

Derpy chuckled and followed the group upstairs. "This place will drive me mad." She mumbled.

The upstairs seemed to have an entrance to the outside but was collapsed, other then that there was a single chest with three locks, two small circular holes and one keyhole, Emerald suggested using the rings and the key on it, to the surprise of the group, the chest let out a satisfying click and Emerald opened the chest, inside the chest was a strange rectangular bronze gem with a white sliver of light dancing around inside it.

Fang eyed the gem with curiosity, what surprised him however was when Emerald gave him the gem. "What are you?...."

Emerald silenced him with a glare. "This gem has magical properties, and I won't be able to find out what they are, so take it and find out what it does......or so that I don't end up eating it." He joked as he set the gem in Fang's hand.

Fang looked at the dragon egg in his arms and back at the gem, he sighed and walked over to a nearby cabinet, he opened it up and to his fortune, there was a short thin chain that he wrapped around the gem, once it was secured he put the chain on his arm and the gem rested right below his shoulder. "Let's go."

The group then went downstairs and headed down the other set of stairs, and four minutes later they reached another room.

Roxanne looked around the next room In disinterest as it was simply a connector to other rooms, in this case it was the door they came from, and the door on the other side, she sighed and walked towards it. 'Not even a seal.....what gives?' She questioned.

Gwen followed Roxanne as she opened the door and walked inside, she was so anxious to just get this over with that she felt ready to kick something.

The next room was simply another hallway towards another door, and Skitter wanted to play a prank. "Are we there yet?" She asked.

"No." Fang replied calmly.

Skitter grinned as Fang fell into her trap. "Are we there yet?" She asked again.

"No." Fang replied again.

"Are we there yet? Skitter asked yet again.

"No." Fang replied with a hint of annoyance.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet."

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"NO." Fang replied in a near pissed off tone.

Skitter paused for a moment and held back a laugh but settled for a small snicker. ".....are we there yet?" She asked one last time.

"NO!" Fang shouted.

Skitter started chuckling, but soon that chuckle became full on laughter.

Fang's left eye was twitching fiercely once he realized that he was victim of a prank. "Ha ha ha." He laughed sarcastically.

Roxanne rolled her eyes at Fang's dilemma and couldn't help but chuckle a little bit.

The rest of the walk was uneventful as the group had nothing to discuss, once they reached the door, Fang put a hand on it and looked back at the group. "Y'all ready?" He asked.

The group nodded but Roxanne raised an eyebrow. "Your southern?" She asked out of disbelief.

Fang shrugged. "Blame the programmers." He replied as he entered the next room.

_____*The next room*_____

The group looked around the room in awe, the ceiling was massive and the walls were far apart, the room itself was a smooth black like the room before, but had blood red runes instead of green ones, there was a massive altar at the far end and three large stone pedestals behind it, there was also five small stone statues of Jandoka at the floor in front of the altar, the group walked up to the altar and Emerald knelt down at the statues. "Hmm....Roxanne, come over here for a second." He said.

Roxanne walked up and knelt down next to noticed that Emerald was pointing at something, Roxanne looked at the statues and noticed that they each had a hole for the pendants.

"Bring the pendants over here, I know what to do." Emerald told the group.

Fang nodded and gathered the pendants from the group, he then walked up and handed them to Emerald.

Roxanne looked at Emerald with suspicion. "I thought you said that these pedants weaken Jandoka?" She asked.

Emerald shook his head as he put the pendants in the statues. "That's when he is here....if we can remove these pendants while he is here.....he will weaken considerably." He explained.

Roxanne sighed and looked at the statues, she grabbed Emerald's hand. "Then why would we put the pendants into the statues in the first place?" She asked as she held the drake's hand.

Emerald sighed and looked at Roxanne. "Because we must first summon Jandoka, once we place the final pendant in the statue, it will summon three of Jandoka's acolytes for the trial of sacrifice, in which we must kill those three and the God will be summoned." He explained, much to the horror of some of the people in the room.

"Now hold up.....I'm many thing but I am NOT a murderer!" Dust shouted at the drake.

"I shall second that motion....how could you suggest such a thing?" Rarity accused.

"Hmmph, not even Golden would do that." Derpy added.

Emerald sighed and looked at the group. "Listen, I am not a fan of the option either, but we have no other choice." He countered.

Roxanne looked at Fang, who seemed to be considering the options, she then looked at Gwen and Twilight who both looked conflicted, she looked at Dark, who seemed to be conflicted, she looked at Skitter who seemed to be telling Firefly what was going on, and finally, she looked at Firefly, who seemed to not understand the gravity of the situation, if her expression was to be believed.

That was all the motivation she needed, but Roxanne looked at Emerald who seemed to have a determined look on his face, Roxanne sighed and released Emerald's hand. "Do it." She ordered the drake, much to everyone's shock.

Emerald nodded and placed the last pendant in the statue, the entire room shook as the statues glowed with a dark red glow. "Here we go....be ready!" He ordered the group.

The three pedestals glowed with a familiar green flame and soon, three familiar changelings jumped off the pedestals. "We did not expect you to get this far." Vulture stated.

"This time." Trapper started.

"We will finish this." Tracker continued.

"OURSELVES!" They both proclaimed in unison.

Vulture grumbled. "Enough you idiots! kill them all!" He ordered as he slammed his hoof on the ground and released a green energy, he then charged his horn and aimed at Skitter.

The floor rumbled violently, and very soon, unicorn, changeling, Minotaur and griffin zombies rose from the ground and began attacking the large group.

Fang however grinned as Tracker and Trapper rushed him, Trapper from the left, and Tracker from the right, he made sure that the dragon egg was secure on his back and pulled his sword out of its holster. [1/2]

Instead of fighting with the sword like your supposed to do, Fang jammed it into the ground next to him and focused his attention on Trapper.

Tracker smirked and he ran around to face Fang's back and charged his horn for a blast against his former companion, he fired the blast only for the sword to fly out of the ground and reflect the blast back at him. "What the?" He asked himself when a horror appeared before his eyes.

An ethereal hand slowly formed around the sword and then an arm, then a body, then legs.....and finally a head, the ethereal being took Fang's form and Tracker was now fighting an exact replica of the wolf.

"Impossible!" He cried as the copy of Fang attacked him.

Fang grinned as he dodged all of Trapper's traps while advancing upon the changeling....in truth, Trapper's traps were simple, there was a trap that releases an explosion, there was a snare trap, and an electrocution trap.

Once Fang reached Trapper, instead of striking him directly he dashed around him and double kicked. "Traitor." He said simply as Trapper went flying.

Tracker was not faring much better as the copy of Fang made a rapid series of strikes from his sword, Tracker had been forced to summon his own shortsword to counter.....it was not easy however as simply summoning the sword took a lot of magic, but controlling it was even harder.

Fang got down to all fours and charged Trapper, he saw Trapper getting back up in a daze, so Fang dashed forwards and lept at Trapper, he raised his claw and swung down at the changeling.

Trapper looked up and gasped but before he knew it.....it was over, as Fang's claw tore through him.

Tracker gasped and looked over at his brother. "TRAPPER!" He cried out.

The copy of Fang swung the sword down towards Tracker and the changeling let out a cry of sorrow as the sword cut into him.

The group of friends was not faring so well however, Derpy and Rarity were surrounded by zombies, Gwen and Dust fought the griffin zombies over control over the skies, Dark and Emerald worked with Roxanne to protect Firefly who was in shock by everything happening around her, Twilight was on her own however as she was pinned down by a firing line of unicorn zombies.

Skitter however was fighting a losing battle against Vulture, who seemed to have unnatural reserves of magic, he simply reflected Skitter's blasts while firing devastating blasts at Skitter who was forced to dodge.

Fang looked around the room and quickly made a decision of who to help, he rushed towards Twilight and his copy followed, he lunged at one of the unicorns and cut its head off with one swipe of his claw, the copy of Fang swung its sword and cut the head off one of the zombies.

"Thanks Fang!" Twilight said as she released a blast at one of the zombies.

Fang nodded as he killed another zombie and ran off to help Roxanne, once he reached the pinned group he slammed into a Minotaur and his copy began fighting the changeling zombies.

Meanwhile, Twilight had finished off the unicorn zombies and she looked over to Skitter, who seemed to be locked in a magic duel with Vulture who had launched a massive beam of magic, Twilight rushed over to the changeling's side and fired off her own magical beam to aid Skitter's.

Skitter looked at Twilight in shock but pushed more power into the beam.

Vulture had a surprised expression on his face as the combined beams from Twlight and Skitter pushed his beam back towards him rapidly, he looked around and noticed that the zombies were being defeated rapidly, Vulture knew that he had no options left.....so he cancelled the beam.

Twilight and Skitter's beams hit Vulture dead on as his beam faded, but for just a moment, the two could have sworn that Vulture had a small smile on his face before he was destroyed.

Gwen landed on the ground next to Derpy and was breathing heavily. "If those three were like that' how hard will Jandoka be?" She asked.

Emerald walked up to Rarity who had collapsed, he reached out and offered his hand, which she gladly took. "He will be unstoppable, at least until we remove the pendants, when we do he will be weakened considerably." He told Gwen.

Roxanne looked at the altar and noticed that there was dark energies swirling around it. "We might not have much time!" She shouted to the group.

"Be ready!" Fang ordered as he took his sword from his copy which vanished.

The group took battle stances as a massive body began to form from the energies. "We can't remove the pendants until Jandoka is entirely here!....so hold him off when he does!" Emerald ordered the group.

Dark watched as Twilight and Skitter ran up to her and got ready. "Twilight."

Twilight looked at Dark who had a neutral expression on her face. "If we get out of this alive......you are so getting me a pardon." She said.

Skitter chuckled. "And it would be nice if I didn't get impaled or arrested the moment I enter society." She commented.

Twilight sighed. "Sure sure.....I'll get you them, we'll even make it a party." She replied stressfully.

Roxanne looked at Firefly who was looking at her in concern. "It'll be alright.....just hang in there." She told the filly.

A loud slam on the alter made everyone look to it, a massive lion paw rested on it and three others stood near it, a large scorpions tail flailed out through the portal, and very soon, five hydra like heads appeared and the dark energies ceased.

Jandoka.....was here. "Hmmm......another tribute, it is small......but of great power." The middle head said in a deep booming voice.

Emerald was now sweating as Jandoka's five heads looked around the group. "Ah....the judge, he who determines who is worthy of the corrupted elements." The far right head said in a low but neutral voice.

All five heads turned towards Emerald. "But why would the judge be here with the tribute?....perhaps you seek to.....destroy us?" The middle right head wondered in a calm voice.

The far left head snapped at Emerald and turned to the other heads. "We should just kill them and collect our tribute! not talk to it!" The head said in an angry voice.

The middle head looked at the far left head and shook his head. "Calm yourself, we all know what he seeks, but we know nothing of the others." He replied.

All five heads then turned to Fang who stood defiantly between Jandoka and Roxanne. "And you?.....two creatures not of this world, but living as if it was their own, tell me, what are you?" The middle right asked.

Fang growled and looked at the speaking head. "I'm a wolf, former animatronic but that doesn't matter!" He retorted.

The far right head look at Fang curiously, until he gasped lightly. "Ahh....I see it now, you have been traveling to the past, even though it was unwilling, you have been in the past by the means of two ponies once known as Frost and Verdant." He said.

Fang nodded slowly and Jandoka's five heads backed away.

The middle right head then looked at Roxanne who was holding Firefly tightly, she faced Firefly away. "What do you want?" She snapped.

The far right head moved closer. "You are a bold one, to speak to a god that way is brave......but what we want is simple, tribute, we take tributes from our acolytes and in exchange we protect them from all things, even other gods if need be." He replied.

Roxanne raised an eyebrow at that. "Ok, then how do you know about us?" She asked in a lower tone.

This time the middle head replied. "We know many things, we mainly gather information through the cocoons and bindings that are used to collect......unwilling, tribute, but the only one we know nothing about....is you'." The head replied.

Roxanne was now curious but did not lower her guard. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"We could only sense your presence for a split second before your cocoon shattered, we do not know what happened but you landed safely without the aid of the cocoon, your mind is also blocked from us, though we do not know why." The middle head replied.

The five heads then turned to Gwen and Derpy. "But you two, are the some of the biggest mysteries here, the Pegasus with the secret that lies in the mind, and the Pegasus with a secret that she does not even know she has, but the biggest mystery is how it is that you can wield both an Element of Harmony, AND a Corrupted Element." Jandoka's middle right head said curiously.

Gwen gulped and Derpy raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what secret?" She asked while looking back at Gwen.

The middle head moved closer to Derpy. "Before I tell you that, you must know this, the Corrupted Elements were created to give the world a more modern form of defense, for the Elements of Harmony disappeared, but that's the thing, an Element of Harmony and a Corrupted Element cannot be used by the same person......but I am detecting the Element of Loyalty, and the Corrupted Element of Life." He explained.

Gwen's eyes widened at this. "So that's why the Element of Loyalty is fading." She muttered.

The middle head ignored Gwen however and continued his talk. "Now.....the secret of that mare, it is one that was unwillingly and unknowingly, forced upon her.....the mare known as Gwen was also once known by another name, Verdant Dash, the original Element of Life." He stated while looking at Gwen.

"I am NOT that person! I know who I am, I lived my own life!" She countered.

The far left head snapped at Gwen. "Silence worm!......the spell used to keep you alive also turned you into a foal, but when you became the Element of Loyalty, the spell had already been completed." He explained.

Jandoka then turned to face Twilight, Dark and Skitter. "And then there is you three, I would speak to the other Pegasus but I know everything about her already....no, you three are intriguing, so tell me.....Skitter, what are you?" The middle right head asked.

Skitter narrowed her eyes at Jandoka. "I'm a Changeling, take a guess." She retorted.

The middle head then came in close. "We are aware of your species.....but you are something else, something that is not common amongst your kind, even back in this temples prime." He said.

Skitter raised an eyebrow and looked at the heads. "You didn't see a lot of female Changeling's?" She asked out of curiosity.

The middle head shook back and forth slowly. "I am afraid not, from what I could gather through the many years, your kind only has one female Changeling at all times......the queen." He replied.

Skitter's eyes widened and she shook her head in disbelief. "I'm no queen." She said simply.

The middle right head then got closer. "Perhaps, but it may be that life among the pony race, gave you a new personality, now, let's move on to you.....Element of magic." He said calmly.

Twilight gulped as three of Jandoka's heads moved in closer. "If you know who I am, then you know everything." She said simply.

The middle right head nodded but kept its glare. "You are correct....only to your knowledge however, something is inside of you and it grows, but unlike the entity inside of Derpy.....it is not stagnant, the being inside of you seems to be a form that was given to you when you were.......oh, I understand." He said in realization.

Twilight however was now curious. "What is it?" She asked.

The far right head came closer as the other head pulled back. "It is a hidden secret.....one that has a much deeper and more complicated cloaking spell then the Elements of Harmony." He replied.

Twilight let her curiosity get the better of her and she decided to ask one final question. "What could be more important to hide then the Elements of Harmony?" She asked.

".....A seed, young Twilight....a seed of great magical energy, it seems that whoever put this seed inside of you, sought to empower you with unwanted strength, and I can think of only one free creature that could do something like that." The middle head replied.

All five heads then turned to Dark. "And finally, the cyborg, one who has done much and made enemies along the way....particularly in her homelands, tell me....what did you do?"

Dark laughed nervously as she slowly backed up. "I uh.....I broke into the Canterlot archives, and I uh.....I stole the book of dimensions." She replied shamefully.

Twilight looked at her in disbelief but said nothing as Jandok's five heads spoke with Dark. "Hmm....that cannot be all, even though we know that secret, there is more to it then that, so tell me....what are you hiding that is more important then your life?" The middle right head asked with curiosity.

The far left head snapped at the others and got their attention. "Enough prattling, you have your secrets, let us finish what we were summoned to do!" He said impatiently.

The other head nodded and looked around the group, the middle head was the first to speak. "Thank you for your time, we have learned much." He stated.

The far right head growled. "But now we must finish the tribute, do not fight mortals, it is pointless." He proclaimed.

The group braced for combat as all five heads let out a battle cry that sounded like a mix between a lion, a hydra and a scorpion, all five heads then had a strange light go through their throat, before they unleashed torrents of power in the form of fire and magical attacks.

Emerald quickly pulled his halberd out as a magic blast hurdled towards him, he swung the halberd and hit the magic blast dead on, the blast reflected and hit one of Jandoka's heads, but did nothing but release a small dust cloud.

Gwen and Derpy dodged one of the magic blasts and they continued doing so. 'Golden, can you do anything?' She asked.

Golden sighed. "Sure, IF this bastard wasn't a god." He replied,

Derpy growled at that and watched as Dust attempted to get to the statues, but she was soon blocked by the scorpions tail, the far left head made a complete turn and started to fight Dust.

Fang dodged another blast and made sure the dragon egg was secure, he then charged off the go help Dust, only for the middle left head to get in his way with an emotionless stare, it then opened its mouth and a surge of lightning shot towards Fang.

Roxanne simply dodged the magical blasts as she held Firefly tight, she looked over at the three mares and saw that they had made a magical shield, it seemed like Dark and Skitter were supplying Twilight with what little power they had left, Roxanne found Rarity who was simply dodging stray magic blasts, so Roxanne ran up to Rarity. "Hey!"

Rarity looked at Roxanne and sighed. "How much more of this will I have to go through?" She asked the fox.

Roxanne shrugged. "I don't know, Rarity listen, I need you to help Dust, Fang and Derpy with the statues." After seeing the look of horror on Rarity's face Roxanne shook the mare violently. "This isn't the time Rarity! help them or we're all dead!" She ordered the mare.

Rarity seemed to swallow her pride and disgust as she charged off to help the others, Roxanne found Gwen who was currently flying through the air while dodging the magic blasts, she also seemed to be summoning the dead as she fought, she was able to tell by the many skeletons that were rising from the ground.

Roxanne soon had an idea, she noticed that the heads were not assaulting her....yet, so she checked to see if Firefly was ok before running towards Skitter and the two unicorns.

"Skitter!" She shouted.

Skitter fell on the ground out of magical exhaustion. "I'm tapped out, what is it Roxanne?" She asked

Roxanne set Firefly on the ground and looked at the two heads that constantly fired upon the shield. "I need you to get Firefly to do something." She leaned In close and told the changeling what to do.

Skitter's eyes widened and she looked at Roxanne in shock. "Are you serious?" She asked.

Roxanne nodded and gave a firm look. "Skitter, you are the only one who can do it, we might not have another shot at this." She told the changeling.

Skitter looked at Firefly who seemed absolutely terrified, and a whole world of memories came flooding back to her, she looked at Roxanne with a serious expression. "Let's do this." She said.

Fang however was not faring so well, he had managed a couple blows with his sword but that only serves to break it, so now Fang was without a weapon and was fighting a beast that he needed one against. "Shit!" He screamed as he dodged a stray blast.

He heard a voice call to him however. "Fang!" It was Roxanne, he looked over and saw that she had tossed a sword at him, with a swift motion he grabbed the sword and the instant he did, Jandoka's five heads let out a scream of pain as a red glow surrounded them and just as quickly disappeared.

Fang then thrust the sword towards the mouth of the head he was fighting, and just as the sword reached.....a very brief vision appeared and he saw a weak point in one of the many scales on the right side, the vision disappeared and he aimed for that spot, the sword plunged into the heads mouth and Jandoka let out a scream of pain, the one head then continued its screaming while flailing around the room, it soon fell over limp as it landed on the body behind the heads.

Jandoka's remaining four heads fought more ferociously and a little more slowly as the group slowly pushed them back.

With one of the heads dead, Fang and Roxanne hurried to help the group after the pendants, when they arrived, Emerald had smashed another pendant and another head was soon dead.

Roxanne ran up towards the scorpion tail and started to fight it alongside Dust, meanwhile, Derpy and Fang fought against the far left head which was shooting them with flame attacks. "DIE INSECTS!" The head shouted as it fired a massive fireball.

Emerald went to grab another pendant when the scorpion tail swung by, he quickly crouched but held his side and winced, he watched as Roxanne and Dust unleashed a barrage of attacks on the spine of the tail, Emerald reached out again to grab a pendant but was wary of traps, he grabbed the pendant from the statue and saw that it was the scorpion pendant, he threw it on the ground and raised his foot....and slammed it into the pendant.

The far left head screamed in pain as a dark green glow appeared and disappeared around him and the tail.

Roxanne and Dust then performed a combined attack at a random spot along the spine, once the strike hit the tail became dislocated, the head however.....died.

Now it was only the middle head and the middle right head, they did not last long as Emerald and Fang grabbed their pendants and smashed them, the two remaining heads screamed in pain and the middle right head died.

With only the middle head remaining the group went to attack it, when a massive beam of golden lightning with a small stream of green lightning shot out towards it and electrocuted the great beast, Jandoka screamed in pain and soon fell over, dead or dying.

The entire group looked in shock of what just happened, they looked towards the source of the lightning and saw Skitter breathing heavily and her horn had smoke coming off of it.

"Skitter....what the hell was that?" Fang asked.

Skitter grinned and laughed through the pain. "Lightning.....my idiotic friend, lightning." She replied in a teasing manner.

Emerald rolled his eyes and he heard a crashing sound, he looked behind himself and saw that there was now a massive hole in the wall with an overpowering beam of sunlight, he slowly made his way to it while clutching his side. 'Come on old man, you always wanted to see sunlight, and here it is.' He told himself as he made his way.

Roxanne walked over to Firefly and saw that she was now unconscious, she gently picked the filly up and looked over to Emerald, she started walking over to him when she heard the middle head of Jandoka cough violently and a pool of blood came out. "Your alive!?" She said in shock.

Jandoka's middle head made an expression that could only mean 'no'. "No....I.....am dying." He coughed violently again.

The head's breathing was raspy but he gave Roxanne a small smile. "Thank you......for freeing us, we....." He coughed again.

"Are....in your....debt." He said slowly.

Roxanne couldn't help but be curious. "What do you mean?" She asked,

The head chuckled and let out another cough. "I am near death......but I owe you this much, I was once called Jandako, the god of peace, but i was enslaved and corrupted by Discord.....my suffering was a game to him, i was changed into what I am now.....I want to give you something.....come forth Roxanne." He requested.

Roxanne gave him a skeptical look and reluctantly walked closer.

The head seemed to have swallowed some blood and looked at Roxanne. "My gift to you.....it is one without form, without shape......but I believe you will like it." The head strained as it lifted up, it looked at Roxanne and opened its mouth slowly until a small gap remained, a small stream of silver magic slowly flew out of Jandoka's mouth and darted inside of her, it then came out of her but this time it was pitch black, the middle head conjured a small blood red gem and the magic flowed into it.

"It is a nightmare gem.....keep it safe, bury it, as long as this gem remains, your unholy nightmares will cease." He strained while setting his head back down.

Roxanne looked at the gem that floated down to her hand, she clutched the gem and saw that there was a faint face engraved upon it.

"I cannot restore your friend......the most I can do is modify her memory, so she never remembers what truly happened in this place." He offered.

Roxanne looked at the unconscious filly and back at Jandoka. "Thank you.....but no, I don't want to risk you damaging anything in your state.....no offense." She said.

The head smiled and let out a soft laugh. "None taken, I understand.....but listen, i have a question for you.....for you and the other Elements." He said.

Roxanne raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" She asked.

The head coughed. "I was there when the Corrupted Elements were made.....if you'd like I could take them from you.....my question is this......would you like me to take the Elements back?" He asked.

Roxanne looked at Firefly and looked at Jandoka, Gwen walked up. "I know I don't want them, so yea, can you get rid of mine?" She asked Jandoka.

"Then yea....we want them gone." Roxanne said.

The head nodded and lifted its head up again, it then opened its mouth slowly and three small beams of silver magic went inside Roxanne, Firefly and Gwen, when they came back out the beams were Green, Golden and Pure White, the beams had bones, lightning and fire surrounding them respectively, the three beams then flew inside Jandoka.

"It is done.....go now, leave me to my rest." He requested the three.

Roxanne nodded and pulled Gwen along.

Jandoka let out a chuckle as Gwen complained about 'having questions' for him. "Ah, to be young again." He mused.

The group was standing near the edge of the hole in the wall when Dust suddenly picked up Rarity and started flying her out. "What the....ahhh! putmedownputmedownputmedown!" Rarity screamed.

Gwen sighed and picked Twilight up and carried her out. "Don't you DARE drop me Gwen!" Twilight warned.

Derpy then walked over to Dark and started to carry her out.

Fang shrugged and looked down, only to see dirt right at the edge, he sighed and ran up to the wall on the other side and jumped, he then started to climb after making sure the egg was secure.

Roxanne went to follow when Emerald sighed. "Roxanne, I need to talk to you.....before you go." He said sadly.

Roxanne looked at him strangely and noticed that he was clutching his side. "Emerald?" She asked.

Emerald winced and sat down on the ground. "Roxanne, I'm dying....I got poisoned during the fight......and nothing can be done." He told the fox.

Roxanne knelt down next to him and looked him in the eye. "We can do something Emerald." She stated.

Emerald chuckled, he then looked at Firefly who was sleeping peacefully, he then looked at Roxanne. "You can't cure poison from a god, but I can help you." He replied.

Roxanne raised an eyebrow as Emerald put a finger on Firefly's forehead. "What are you doing?" She asked.

Emerald said nothing as he released a small wave of magic from his fingertip and into Firefly, once he was finished he looked at Roxanne. "I might not be able to fix her, but I did something almost as good." He replied.

Roxanne gasped as Emerald fell to the ground. "Emerald! hey stay with me man!" She said while shaking his head.

Emerald chuckled and looked at Roxanne. "I changed her memory, all she remembers now is that she fainted when the zombies were summoned.....at least now she won't be haunted by this day." He told the fox.

Roxanne watched as Emeralds blue scales turned gray and his once bright Emerald eyes faded. "Roxanne come closer a moment." The dying drake requested

Roxanne leaned in as Emerald whispered something into her ear, her eyes widened and Emerald laid down on the ground. "Thank you." Emerald said as he closed his eyes and stopped breathing.

Roxanne gasped and she checked for a pulse......nothing

"Hey come on Roxanne let's go......wait what happened to Emerald?" Came Gwen's voice.

Roxanne said nothing as she sat there next to Emerald's now lifeless body, she wanted to hate him for turning Firefly into a filly, he wanted to despise him for everything that he put them through.....but she couldn't, so when Gwen put a hoof on her shoulder and told her that she was sorry.....she shrugged it off.

"Get the others, let's get his body out of here.....he deserves a burial." She said blankly.

If Gwen was startled by Roxanne's sudden empty words, she didn't show it as she nodded and flew up.

After that the group pulled Roxanne and Emerald out of the temple and found that they were back in the Grayroot, near Vulture's hut, the group covered Emerald's body with a thick sheet they found in the hut and made a makeshift stretcher.

With that done, the group took what little food remained in the hut and ate, the next day they began walking towards the Everfree Forest.

____*one week later, the Everfree Forest*_____

The group approached a small clearing in the forest and Twilight immediately recognized the place. "We're near Ponyville!" She said happily.

Roxanne let a small smile appear on her face and looked down at the stretcher and then at the center of the clearing. "Twilight, I know where to bury him." She said softly.

Twilight nodded and followed Roxanne to the middle of the clearing. "Here?" She asked.

Roxanne nodded and Twilight used her magic to make a hole in the ground.

After that the group had made a makeshift coffin, it wasn't anything special, it was simply an oak coffin with the sheets on the bottom, then came the funeral.....it was quiet as none of them knew much about Emerald, so instead they vowed to respect him the only way they knew how.....they all put a singular item on the coffin, each one was a simple wooden figure, it was quiet as the coffin was lowered into the grave, Fang had even made a tombstone out of an old slab of stone, he put Emerald's name on the stone and the year he died, for the year he was born he put three question marks, at the base of the stone he put a message. "Here lies a brave warrior, he died fighting for what he believed in, may his soul be at peace." Read the message.

____*two days later, edge of Ponyville.*____

Roxanne smiled as she watched Firefly bounce around the group happily, she was so curious about everything it drove even Twilight mad, Firefly had woken up the day after Emerald's funeral, she had asked where Emerald was as he was not with the group, Skitter had told the filly that Emerald died of old age and passed away peacefully, while it WAS halfway true, Roxanne still felt bad about lying to the filly, but she didn't let that show.

Rarity let out a sigh of relief when Ponyville was in sight. "Finally!" She complained.

Gwen rolled her eyes as Rarity started listing off the things she would do when she got back, she didn't pay much attention but she did hear Rarity say something about a 'spa date' with Fluttershy.

Fang started walking towards the pony town when he heard a cracking noise, he looked back at the Dragon egg on his back in surprise and watched as the eggshell cracked open and an orange dragon with rounded dark green spikes around Spike's age and size was revealed.

The baby dragon looked at Fang with its light blue eyes, he blinked at Fang.

Fang chuckled and saw that the dragon had an eggshell on its head, he plucked it off and the dragon tried to get out of the harness that was around him.

Fang rolled his eyes and took the harness off, he then got the dragon out of its harness, the dragon looked at the harness and growled before releasing a small orange fireball towards the harness which ignited it.

With that Fang instantly chose two out of the many names for the dragon he knelt down and the dragon looked at him expectantly, Fang looked at the harness and saw that it was in ashes. "Wow, that's impressive." He told the dragon.

The dragon grinned at the praise and looked around. "Who're they?" He asked quietly while pointing at the group of ponies.

Fang chuckled. "I'll tell you in a moment, but I have a question for you." He said.

The dragon looked at him curiously. "What is it?" He asked.

"I need to know which name you prefer.......Spark or Volt?" He asked the dragon.

The dragon put his hand to his chin in thought and Fang looked over at the group. 'I wonder what they're talking about?' He wondered.

Fang was pulled out of his thoughts by a poke to his leg, he looked down at the baby dragon. "I chose." The dragon said simply.

Fang nodded and waited on the name.

The dragon took a quick breath before looking at Fang. "......Spark, I like that name." The dragon said.

Fang let out a small grin as he looked at his dragon son. "Well then Spark, welcome to Ponyville....even though I loathe the name." He made sure he whispered the last part.

Spark stifled a laugh at the joke and looked over at the group. "So who're they? you said that you would tell me in a moment." He asked Fang.

Fang chuckled as he stood up and began to tell Spark the names of the group members, he even through little joke like nicknames at some of the mares real names.

Spark looked at Firefly who noticed him and waved, Spark was unsure how to reply however and he felt a weird feeling.

Fang noticed that something was wrong with Spark and knelt down. "You ok kiddo?" He asked.

Spark nodded then jumped when he heard a growling sound from underneath him. "What was that?" He asked.

Fang sighed and poked Spark's stomach. "It's alright, your just hungry, come on I'll find us something to eat." He said as he walked towards town with Spark behind him.

"Hey uh.....Dad?" Spark said while a little unsure of himself.

Fang looked at his son and nodded. "Yea?" He said.

Spark took a deep breath and looked back at the group, and then back at Fang. "Is it weird that I felt my face heat up when thatt filly...uh Firefly? waved at me?" He asked.

Fang groaned and facepalmed. "Oh boy.....here we go." He muttered.

Author's Note:

[1/2] Twilight found an old spell that creates a magical copy of oneself but only for a short time, this covers why Twilight was weakened against Vulture, the spell also requires an item that belonged to the trigger of the attack, and since Tracker and Trapper are changeling twins it applies in more ways then one.

This is the longest chapter I have EVER MADE! It took at least a day and a half!

So uh....about all of the stuff in this chapter, we covered a lot of of ground, but opened up more questions am I right?.....so now the Jandoka series is over and we have young Spark thrown in the mix.

*sigh* I was sad to kill off Emerald, but I had no choice, this gives us an insight to his character and past, because it is clear that he regrets his past choices but he had an ultimate goal to keep him from losing himself to despair.

Pinkie: Wait a minute......I have to throw Spark and the others a party!

Me: Wait Pinkie wait!.....oh shit.

Me: See you next chapter.

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