Turmoil Rising

by JFT

Chpater 35: ... there is only torment

Failure. He failed again. He had tried so hard, and it wasn’t good enough. Thinking as far back as he could remember, regardless of how hard he tried to do something right, anything to please him, he failed time and again, and as always, he paid the price for it. His peers laughed at him, and despite being bigger than them, he felt incredibly small and inadequate. What? What would it take him to make his existence finally have meaning and not be regarded as being worthless than all? To be finally recognized as an equal?

“Spikey-wikey?”

A voice! It did not belong to a dragon, it was too small and squeaky. His head turned, eyes searching the direction from which it came and located small shapes moving, he crawled closer but he could not see them clearly in the shadow of the cave, for some reason his vision was dim.

“Spike, what’s happened to you?” another shape spoke to him.

It knew his name for some reason. But how? Not even the dragons would refer to him by his name.

“SERVANT!”

He shivered. His master's voice called him. He turned, looking up into the dark fog that clouded the ceiling before bowing.

“What have you got there?” the deep voice above asked.

He stepped aside. The shapes turned their heads to where the voice was coming from.

After a moment of silence, the deep voice above spoke again. “Aaaaah… the unwelcomed guests have managed to sneak in unannounced… and I’m already tired of their presence. Servant!” the voice called, garnering the purple dragon’s attention. “Dispose of them, and perhaps I might overlook your mishap just now.”

This was it, his chance to redeem himself to the master, even the slightest bit of recognition and respect would be enough. He turned to the shaded figures and raised his claws against them.

“Spike, what are you doing?!” one of them cried.

He didn’t respond to the shades, bringing down his claws on them. They scattered, each running in their direction. He chased after the nearest one that seemed to be flying just above the ground, screaming. The rest of the dragons said nothing and only moved aside as he rushed after the tiny shadow, much to his detriment, as he inevitably crashed into them, causing them all to tumble, after which he lost her. He climbed out of the pile, looked about the cave, and found another tiny shade, chasing immediately after her. It zig-zagged rapidly between other dragons, and this time around he simply forced through them, knocking them to the side so this one wouldn’t escape him. Then he saw another little shade, standing in his way, unmoving, even as the one he was chasing ran past it. He slowed down, unsure that it was planning, and suddenly light began to flicker from her head, growing brighter.

Out of nowhere another shade flew in and tackled the one in front of him. “Tempest, no! Don’t hurt him!”

“Oh, come on! We can’t keep running forever and waiting for something to turn up!” it answered.

“Yes, we can!” the other one responded.

He lunged himself at them, and the flying one quickly picked up the one that was grounded and they flew away, only for him to give chase. He trailed them throughout the cave, until he suddenly staggered, stopping on the spot, as something was stabbing him in the foot, noticing a board sticking out of it, plucking it out. He realized he was standing by the wall where his master lurked above in the shadows, and he’s just walked past the remains of “the gift” he had given to him and was rejected. Suddenly, there was a movement coming from the remains of the Carousel Boutique. One of its walls finally levitated, and a figure crawled out of it. It was a pony, a unicorn mare to be precise, her coat was pristine white, her elegant purple mane curled up, and her blue enrapturing eyes, even though in the dim lighting, sparkled like precious gems. To the dragon, she was absolutely enticing, the most beautiful creature he has ever seen… which is why what followed hurt all the more.

Their eyes met and she let out a high-pitched scream, throwing the huge piece of the building she was holding straight into his face, causing him to topple to the ground. “YOU BEAST!”

He reeled from the pain, especially after realizing a large board was sticking out from his snout. But how? His scales were hard, even from the stub earlier, it felt like it was more of a nuisance, but this… it genuinely hurt.

“You’ve just crushed my home! My livelihood!” the mare screamed and threw another piece of the wreckage at the dragon.

He felt pain again. Her words of scorn accompanied by the projectiles tossed in anger actually hurt him.

“I’ve slaved years of my life on my pride and joy and you’ve destroyed it in a matter of seconds!” she yelled again, followed by a flying piece of her home.

More and more words followed, accompanied by debris. The dragon couldn’t handle it. It hurt so much, he curled up, covering his face in hopes it would help, but it didn’t. The pain felt from her words was simply too much, he began to shed tears.

Finally, the mare raised the huge pile, all that was left of her house, and lifted it over her head. And although it wasn’t bigger than the dragon’s head, to him it looked like it was the size of a moon.

“I’m never going to forgive you for this! YOU MONSTER!!!” she finally yelled, and the planetary-body-sized remains flew in the dragon’s direction.

This was it. No way he was going to survive this. He huddled together in a fetal position, tail and all, still covering his face and closing his eyes, preparing for the inevitable end… one that would not come. He waited, and after a while nothing happened, finally forcing himself to take a peek. The wreckage was flying in front of his face but did not move. It was wrapped in both pink and light blue aura, and that’s when he noticed a pair of shades he was chasing in front of him, colorful auras emitting on top of their heads.

“Don’t you dare badmouth…” the first shade spoke, only to be overtaken by the second one, “… or lay a hoof on the poor little Spikey-wikey! FAKING NIGHTMARE!!!”

The remains of the building flew across the air, and crashed right into the pristine white unicorn, leaving no response in the aftermath.

One of the shades turned and approached him, tapping a limb on his snout. “Spike, are you okay? Say something.”

Why? He was trying to hurt them, why were they helping him? Soon six more shapes came out of hiding and joined them.

“Of course, he’s not fine. Look at that nasty splinter on his nose, the poor little guy,” the other shade next to the first spoke.

That voice… he recognized it. He heard it earlier. Yet instead of spewing vile words that hurt, it was smooth and soothing to hear.

“Let’s remove it together, Rarity,” the first shade answered, followed by the second’s response. “Let’s, Twilight.”

Twilight… Rarity… he remembered those names, their voices. Suddenly, the fog clouding his sight began to dissipate. As the aura surrounded the board that stuck out of his snout to remove it, the shapes became more and more clear. First, he saw a white unicorn with glamorous purple hair, with a grey streak running through it, then a purple alicorn he had known all his life, a yellow pegasus gently rubbed his face with great care, accompanied by a pink puffy-maned pony, along with an orange country girl, and lastly a blue, rainbow-maned pegasus, while the last two shades revealed themselves to be a too familiar zebra and a purple broken unicorn. He finally remembered again. After a moment, the “splinter” finally got dislodged, yet he felt no pain, even though he shed tears; he was simply filled with joy to see them again.

“Spike, do you remember us?” the princess of friendship asked.

He slowly opened his mouth to speak in a tone that was hardly his own. “Twi-“

“SERVANT!” the voice thundered from above.

Suddenly, a chain materialized from the dark clouds, running all the way to the purple dragon, until an iron collar formed around his long neck and then got yanked back, smashing him against the wall.

“SPIKE!!!” all the mares screamed in shock.

“I have given you an order to dispose of the vermin, servant,” the deep voice angrily spoke, “and you can’t even do that right? You’re an absolutely pathetic excuse for a dragon!”

A large armored black claw suddenly reached through the darkness in the cave ceiling, going for the purple dragon. Twilight didn’t wait for a second, flying to intercept, casting a shield to form around Spike, causing the large claw to bash against it.

“Well, isn’t this humiliating? Vermin are protecting you now? How embarrassing,” the claw's owner spoke as the limb hung about.

“SHUT UP! Spike is not yours to torment, King Sombra!” the alicorn angrily responded.

Laughter followed. “Oh, you are wrong, Princess Twilight. I have EVERY RIGHT to torment your friend.”

“Oh yeah?!” Rainbow Dash shook her hoof in anger at the darkness above. “And who the hay do you think you are?!”

The mountain suddenly shook, and the mares watched anxiously as a pair of red green-glowing eyes lit up, while their friend cowered in fear, covering his eyes. A huge body descended from the shadows upstairs, almost twice the size of the purple dragon. It was covered in grey scales, turning black as it reached the tip of its tail, armor cladding the legs, arms, and neck, the red royal cloak on its back extending into equally crimson wings, a steel crown stilling on top of its head, with a black mane that flowed as if it were vapor, and a huge red horn sitting between red green-glowing eyes, purple smoke escaping through its nostrils and mouth. It was uncanny how, despite being a completely different species, he still resembled his pony form.

“I am his lord,” Sombra spoke, “his DRAGON LORD.”

He cackled loudly, only to be interrupted by a flash under him. He noticed a purple light emanating from the princess of friendship but was unable to react in time as a large beam was shot at him, raising particles and obscuring his presence. Even the other mares realized just now that their friend has initiated the first strike.

“Well, I’m surprised, Twilight,” Tempest said, “I thought I’d be first to provoke a conflict.”

She glanced at her. “After how he derogated Spike, words are the last thing I want to exchange with him.”

“I’m not sure that did anything good, Twilight darling,” Rarity commented.

There was a flapping sound in the air. On a third one, the particles were blown away by Sombra’s giant wings, revealing him to be unfazed by her opponent’s actions.

“Huh… you know if I had felt any of that it might have actually tickled.”

“Wha- ho- you didn’t even flinch?!” The alicorn was confused. “I put everything into that attack!”

The king laughed. “I’m the most powerful creature in all the land, princess. Nothing in this world can harm me, not even you.” He glanced at the cowering chained purple dragon beside him. “And he believes- no, he knows that I am. And as long as he does, you cannot do a thing to me.”

He flat out spelled it out for them. Of course, it would make sense that Spike’s nightmare was fueling the very creature that was casting it. The rules haven’t changed, he just needed to muster the willpower to break free.

“Spike, snap out of it!” the princess called out to him, and the other elements would join her. “Don’t let him bring you down, Spikey-wikey! Yeah, turn that frown upside-down. We’re here for you, Spike! We believe in you, Spike! Give that fake scaley what for!”

Yet despite all the cheering, the purple dragon would still cower, leashed to the self-proclaimed lord of dragons, who merely cackled in response. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, ponies, but no amount of coddling will fix his predicament. I fear your friend has been… BROKEN.”

That final word that the scaled colossus before them said, lingered in the air, taking a while before Twilight finally made a response. “What… what do you mean “broken”? What did you do to him?!”

“A better question would be “what haven’t I done”. So many unfortunate memories, so much shame, regrets, humiliations… funny enough, the last one seems to be stemming from a certain creature he was well acquainted with, and knowing that, the other one’s already paying the price for the grievances he’s caused all of you, caused even to me. This one was easy to crack though, for one memory that burdens him, one of which he’s truly ashamed of was when he looked like this. The one thing that is constantly hanging over his head is the cluelessness, the obliviousness of what he’s supposed to be, what it’s expected of his species. Now, imagine having to re-experience your life’s failures, lowest moments, your shortcomings, and all of your greatest fears, and repeat that numerous times to the point that it feels eternal… well, with the latter I’m sure you’re all familiar.” He grinned, and they all scowled in response to him bragging about what he’s put them through. “I have broken your little friend, ponies. He is destined to forever live in the shadow, always remembering all his failures, only gazing upon what he will never be, constantly tormented by his younger peers and plagued by the knowledge, that he will never be a real dragon like me!”

The “dragon lord” laughed, and all the other dragons laughed with him, causing the mountain to shake. And if what he said was true, then they were faced with a predicament. They all managed to overcome their nightmares through clever arguments to convince the prisoners, but this? They never had to deal with somebody who has already relegated himself to his fate. Twilight especially couldn’t believe this was happening to her lifelong companion. If the umbrum king was telling the truth, then her little brother had already abandoned all hope, he has resigned himself to forever be an eternal incompetent servant of his dragon lord… Something triggered in the princess's mind. What she just said… no, what Sombra had said, there was a sense of wrong in his words. She may have a small chance that this could work, but she had to try.

“You’re wrong, Sombra,” she spoke loudly.

The laughter quieted down, the black dragon bend his head forward to his intruders. “Oh really? Do tell, princess, how am I wrong?”

The alicorn inhaled. “Look, I’m not gonna pretend that Spike is perfect.” She turned her head to her friends. “Heck, I’m sure all of us can remember whenever he royally messed things up. Like that time when the Crystal Empire held the Grand Equestria Pony Summit, and I was so tired that he replaced me, and caused the entire city go up in anger while I took a nap.”

“Or that time when he stole Opalescence's toy mouse, because he was so jealous, thinking Owlowiscious would replace him, and then destroyed it, trying to pin the blame on him,” the white unicorn added.

“Or when he gave you a magical book that made you go all nutty and ruin somepony’s birthday party,” Pinkie Pie popped up from behind her, making her roll her eyes.

“Or the cringy performance at the Equestria Games,” Rainbow Dash snickered.

“Or when he was so desperate to repay me for saving his life that he made things hard on the farm for me,” the country pony pitched in.

“Or… emmm…” the shy pegasus tried to find words. “When he turned… well, into that.” She pointed at the purple dragon.

He clinched in shame, they all remembered it, yet his current predicament didn’t allow him to literally shrink in shame.

By the side, meanwhile, the shaman and the former lieutenant watched. “Are they trying to help him, or turn him into a doormat to walk on?” the broken unicorn commented.

The zebra glanced at her. “Nothing to worry about, Princess Twilight will sort it out.”

The black dragon was unamused, however. “Well, now you’re just taking all the fun out of it. I’m the one who’s supposed to be degrading him, not you. What’s the point?”

“The point is, King Sombra,” she turned her head to face him and addressed him, “is that we recognize that he is flawed. But then again so are we, there are a lot of things all of us have done that we’re not proud of… yet despite that, something we can be proud of regardless… is Spike. Me especially. From the moment he hatched from his egg he was by my side every day of my life, he was somepony I could rely on, he was my little brother, and looking back on it now, he was the closest thing I had to a friend before I moved to Ponyville and I wasn’t even aware of it. And time and again he was the voice of reason when all sanity seemed to have disappeared. Not to mention, his achievements are not something one can forget.”

“Yeah! Even after he embarrassed himself at the Equestria Games in front of a huge audience, he singlehandedly saved a whole stadium from certain doom,” the blue pegasus pointed out.

“I know he messes things up when doing them, even when he’s not used to it, but even then, he always cares a great deal,” the shy pegasus spoke up.

The fashionista moved forth. “He made friends with Thorax, who ran away from Chrysalis and convinced the crystal ponies to accept him, even at the cost of his heroic reputation…”

The party planner hopped on top of her. “And he then showed other changelings that they don’t have to steal love to survive.”

“And whenever any of us are at the end of our wits, he’s always there to keep us grounded,” the country pony said.

“And most importantly,” his sister finished, “in case you’ve forgotten, he was the one who managed to take the Crystal Heart from your grasp.”

“PURE TECHNICALLITY!” the dragon lord raised his voice. “Had Princess Amore’s “replacement” not been there to snatch him away, my victory would’ve been assured. And HE knows now! Regardless of how much you try to blow up his accomplishments, he will only ever live in my shadow, and never be a real dragon!”

The other dragons around the cave cheered loudly in his triumph.

“But you’re not a real dragon, Sombra,” the princess interrupted.

“Excuse me…?” Immediately, all of the dragons went completely silent when their leader spoke.

His wings flapped, causing a strong gust that ran through the cave. They beat for the second time, and Twilight had to create a protective bubble around everybody so they wouldn’t be blown away. On the third and final wing flap, the entire mountain broke into pieces, blowing it asunder, along with the other dragons being swept away, leaving nothing in place, but the seat of a spire upon which he was lounging before he descended.

“Look upon me, puny creatures!” he boasted. “My stomps will cause the earth the tremor, the beat of my wings will cause the storms to roar, weapons will break upon my scales, my breath will set the land ablaze… and my cravings are insatiable. I am the most perfect embodiment of EVERYTHING a dragon is supposed to be!”

“You say that. But that’s not what dragons are,” Twilight denied. “And honestly, I do not blame you for having such a narrow view of them.”

Something odd happened then. The black dragon tilted his head, followed by a quick grumbling sound; he was genuinely confused with what she was talking about.

She inhaled. “We all thought that once. Ponies have always had little contact and as a result, information about the dragons. I mean who were we to blame? They’re huge, bad-tempered, greedy, selfish, and they never cared for anything that wasn’t dragon-related. Avoiding them completely was the best choice.” She looked at Spike. “And he experienced it first-hand. He saw how cruel they could be just for the heck of it. That’s the very reason why he always saw himself as being more of a pony than a dragon because if he had to choose between being kind and sensitive, or being what basically amounted to a monster, he would’ve always chosen the former. Better to be an outcast, than to be accepted by them.” She let the silence linger for a moment before she continued. “But Spike… he changed them.” She watched and noticed how the cowering purple dragon raised a gap between his hands, attention having been grabbed. “With an act of kindness, he showed Princess Ember, the REAL Dragon Lord, who too wanted to prove herself to her kind, that there’s more to being strong than just being big and brutish, he showed her the value of friendship. And through their connection, she started to change the dragons' outlook on the world, showing them that they can be more than what their environment had conditioned them to be. And they’ve shown great acts of kindness and selflessness. Their species was able to start changing for the better of all Equestria… simply because one of them believed that they can be better.”

They all saw him. They saw the purple dragon remove his cover, they all knew his lifelong companion had succeeded. There was no sign of shame on his expression any longer.

All that was required now was one final blow. “Face it, Sombra!” she loudly declared. “Spike is already more of a dragon THAN YOU WILL EVER BE!”

Despite being outside, there was a clear echo from what she just said. A shadow suddenly loomed over them. The “dragon lord” raised his claw and brought it down on the protective bubble without warning. On the impact, the ground shook, and the bubble was barely holding together.

“You insignificant little FLEAS!” he raged. “You DARE mock me when my power overshadows your own a thousand times over?!” he bashed the shield again, forcing Twilight to strain herself to keep it up. “Once your bubble bursts, I will crush you all into the ground, until there’s nothing left but a stain under my claws!!!”

With the third and final swing, the protection that the alicorn provided broke, and she collapsed from exhaustion. Her friends came to her side to assist her, but at that point, it was already too late. The umbrum king grinned, raising his claw one last time, and proceeded to bring it down, and in a last-ditch effort to stop him, Tempest shot a bolt of lightning at him, but it didn’t even phase him. She got pulled into the group as they all huddle together around Twilight, screaming out loud.

A sudden tremor followed and everything went quiet. The shaman opened her eyes after some time had passed, realizing nothing was happening and poked the alicorn to make her aware of the present situation. She saw the purple dragon, even though he was smaller than “his lord”, holding his giant claw from moving.

He turned his head to the side, realizing what had happened. “You… YOU dare to intervene, servant?!”

The smaller dragon didn’t answer at first, and what followed was a deep voice. “I. Am not. YOUR SERVANT!”

He gripped the black dragon with both of his hands, and dragged him along, beginning to spin him about, lifting him off the ground, before finally releasing his grip, launching him into his elevated throne, causing him to crash, and making it collapse on top of him in pieces, burying him under. He’s done it. He finally stood up to the nightmare that was tormenting him this entire time, and he felt a weight rolling off of him.

He turned to face his friends who were still huddled together, bending closer so he could meet them as face to face as he could. “You guys okay?”

A bright smile quickly lit upon his sister’s face. “You did it, Spike!”

“We were really worried for a moment,” the shy pegasus said.

“But seriously, he didn’t see it coming! One moment he was “Urrr! Big dragon smash!”,” the wonderbolt imitated before the party planner lept on her back. “And then he went “WHAM!”

“I’m just glad you’re okay, Spike. Unlike some of us…” the fashionista told him, twirling her grayed mane.

He turned his giant head to her. “You’re as beautiful as you ever were, Rarity.”

The compliment made the white mare blush.

“Y’all, I hate to spoil the celebration, but don'tcha think that something’s wrong?” Applejack pointed out.

“What are you talking about, AJ?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, Spike’s just beaten his nightmare, so by that logic, shouldn't this whole place be coming down by now?”

The country pony made sense. The veil should’ve dissipated by now yet they were still trapped, and their dragon friend was still in his giant size. So why wasn’t the illusion collapsing?

There was a rumble and movement where Spike had thrown his adversary, and in a matter of moments the rubble went flying everywhere, and the “dragon lord” rose again. “You little worm! You’re gonna pay for that act of defiance!”

“Okay, King Sombra, time for you to go!” the orange equine told him. “You’ve got no sway over Spike anymore, so skedaddle out of here!”

He let out a laugh. “Did you think it was going to be that easy, pony? The rules have changed, I fear. You lot managed to get out unscathed because my full attention was not set on you, but I’ve been here for so long now that I’ve anchored myself to the landscape of your friend’s mind.”

“Unscathed?!” Rarity raised her voice and waved her mane in his direction. “Does this look unscathed to you?!”

The black dragon began flapping his wings, creating a wind that blew the group off the ground, only being saved by Spike’s quick intervention as he got hold of them in his hands.

He slowly took off the ground. “The only way he can win now is by forcing me out, but that will never happen. I will break him AGAIN, and it will all come back to square one!” He flew off, grazing Spike’s spines and he flew into the air. “Now, “Spike the Brave and Glorious”, watch as the world around you collapses!”

As he reached the skies, his wings suddenly lit ablaze, leaving a trail of fire that obscured the sun’s presence, turning the world red. It then dived, crashing into the ground, causing the world to erupt in earthquakes, splintering the land, before he finally took off into the sky again. For everybody watching, it seemed like the end of the world was coming. The princess looked at her companion and based on the expression on his face determined, that his confidence was beginning to vain from what he was seeing. She had to stop him! If he sank back into his previous state again, then they will truly be doomed.

“Spike, listen!” she tried to get his attention. “Don’t pay attention to what he’s saying or doing, you have all the power you need to beat him!”

He looked at her, his deep voice giving off his feelings. “Twilight… I’m not sure I can best all of this…”

“Spike, he’s trying to demoralize you. He knows fully well that if you manage to fully regain control, he’s lost, that’s why he’s trying to look as unbeatable as possible right now. And if you remember from earlier, Sombra’s knowledge is limited, because he only looked for the worst things you remember, but not ALL of the things you remember. Use that to your advantage!”

“Twilight’s got a point, Spike!” Rarity added. “Remember, this is all happening in your mind, your imagination is the limit, something that he definitely has!”

He gazed into the sky, watching the black dragon slowly returning, then looking back at them. “Okay… I’ll try-“

“No!” the rainbow pegasus spoke. “No trying! JUST DO IT! We don’t have time for trying!”

He gave a nod, and then slowly placed them on the ground before turning and flying off, leaving them atop the broken mountain that seemed to be the only safe place from the cataclysm around them. That’s all they could do. They sat there and watched as the clash of titans happened, the black “dragon lord” fighting against their friend that he had tried to subdue. Yet it seemed that King Sombra had the upper hand in the end, as he managed to get behind him, grabbed him by the wings, and then took a dive dragging him along, before slamming him into the earth, causing an earthquake and raising a cloud of dust.

“SPIKE!” the mares screamed on top of the mountain in concern.

By the time it settled, the black figure was standing over his smaller opponent, holding his neck between his claws. “This is the end, servant,” Sombra bragged as he sat on top of his opponent. “Any last words before I put the leash back on you?”

“I… just have…” Spike struggled to speak. “One… question…” He suddenly felt the grip around his neck loosen; it seemed that the umbrum king was willing to humor him one last time, something he was going to regret. “Did you read the Power Ponies comic issue 102, where they faced off against Tyrant Dragon, the villain who was responsible for all the bad things that had happened since issue one?”

What followed was an awkward silence, being capped off by the black dragon’s reaction. “… what?”

“Okay, thanks for letting me know that you didn’t,” he grinned.

He instantly shrunk, slipping through the gap in his claws. The “dragon lord” was confused for a brief second before realizing what had happened. He spotted him running between his legs, so he bent over to try and grab him again, only to miss him. He stretched out his neck to try and bite down on him as he ran past his legs but was too fast. Suddenly, his opponent grew back to his previous size again, grabbed hold of his head, and pulled, causing Sombra’s whole body to turn and fall flat on his back, before getting dragged, lifted above Spike’s head, getting slammed into the ground on the other side.

“You little… I’m gonna-!” he spoke as he tried to rise, only to suddenly feel a pair of arms squeezing him around his abdomen.

The purple dragon lifted the black one off the ground and bent backward, suplexing him, squishing his elongated neck. The “dragon lord” flopped on his back, revealing his bug-out eyes and a bodily twitch. Now that his opponent had been stunned, it was time to deliver the finishing blow. Spike flew into the air and disappeared into the burning sky, only to come flying down a few moments later with a dive, before raising his elbow. By the time the black dragon had regained his senses, it was already too late, as his opponent crashed into him. The world shook and the earth heaved, the ponies on top of the mountain were tossed about for a while, before it finally became quiet, seeing only a cloud of dust where the impact took place. Soon, a figure would rise from the cloud, and as the rest of it settled, the clear victor was finally visible. Spike stood triumphant, and a large hole was in the ground where his opponent was just a few moments ago.

With a flash, the alicorn teleported everybody to her little brother. “See?! I told you, you could do it, Spike!”

He made a deep-voiced sigh. “Only because you convinced me that I could, Twilight.”

“Wait, lemme get this straight,” Rainbow Dash wondered. “You mean to tell me you got a strategy to defeat him from a comic book? If it’s that good, you gotta lend it to me someday.”

Spike thought for a moment before giving a reply. “Nah, the only reason I remember it is because of how bad it was. I mean, this Tyrant Dragon villain just came out of nowhere and declared he was the big-bad the whole time, even though there was never any mention of him before that? Who in his right mind wrote that?”

Laughter erupted among them. In their moment of jubilation, however, they didn’t notice how black smoke began to creep out from the hole where the “dragon lord” was. It began to rise until it finally began to spread across the sky, drowning out the fire, and that’s when they finally noticed it, turning to the events in progress.

A pair of giant red green-glowing eyes opened above them. “YOU LITTLE WORMS!” Sombra raged. “I will crush all of you!”

As the umbrum king’s shadow spread across, darkening the world, Spike sighed; not from exhaustion, but plain irritation. “Okay, I think you’ve outstayed your welcome.”

He grew. He grew bigger than the dragon which Sombra took the form of earlier, and by then he could tell by the expression on umbrum’s face that he was just trying to fake confidence at that point. Spike took in a deep breath, and with a roar, followed a blazing inferno that was aimed right at the shadow. And as the intense heat began to burn him away, the veil of shadow surrounding them began to show cracks, until finally, with the umbrum king’s final cry, it shattered.

He screamed on top of his lungs, straining himself to the brink to make sure he was gone until he finally ran out of breath and fell on his back. He panted, while his eyes readjusted, realizing he was no longer in a dreary world, but a cavern made entirely of crystal, sitting on a platform in the middle of a green glowing lake. He discovered he’s returned to his normal small self again, but he wouldn’t have time to ponder when a rainbow collection of equines piled on him.

“You did it, Spike!” Twilight hugged him, and the rest of the mares followed suit while the white unicorn showered him with kisses. “You’re my hero, Spikey-wikey! You’re a hero of all of us, Spike! You rock! Never doubted you for a moment! GROUP HUG!”

He blushed, his stomach getting filled with butterflies from being shown this much praise. Yet out of the group, only the broken unicorn and the zebra stood by the side of what was happening.

“Yeeeeaaaah… I’m sitting this mush-fest out,” Tempest commented.

“I concur,” Zecora nodded, “best to let their victory’s celebration occur.”

They finally had a moment of reprieve after a hard battle was won, yet the enjoyment would soon fade.

“So moving…” Everybody went still as a feminine voice echoed throughout the cavern. “I would’ve shed tears if I had eyes to do so… for you that is.”

There was a rumbling sound that followed. The room shook and small pillars began to rise from the pond until they connected to the platform upon which draconequus was still levitating, all the while he was still twitching and making noises of panic.

“What…” the dragon asked. “What’s with Discord?”

“He’s going through the same thing you were going, Spike,” Fluttershy answered him, quickly getting back on her hooves. “We need to go and save him, quick!”

“If you can,” the feminine voice interrupted her gallop. “Had you gone to deal with him first, perhaps you might have still stood a chance, but now…” The voice let out a shrilling cackle. “The wicked child is now focusing his full attention to make this one’s misery especially hard. It will be a miracle if you all manage to come out after what he’s done. So go on, children. Go, and meet your end.”

Quiet fell on the surroundings once more. Spike hopped back on his feet again, walking over to the shy pegasus.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” he assured her. “We’ll get in there, and get Discord out of his nightmare. I’m sure whatever he’s going through can be solved with ease.”

“Unless,” Zecora caught him off guard, “he’s dealing with a parent he cannot appease.”

His stride came to a complete stop after realizing that. “Yeah, if that’s the case then we may have a problem.”

“But we have to go and save him regardless!” the animal caretaker urged.

“Can we just take a little break before we-?” the wonderbolt questioned, and immediately went quiet.

Her kin turned her head, and revealed a pent-up frustrated look on her face, before flying back to the group and pushing them all in a pile, forward. “NO! NO MORE BREAKS! We’re saving him! NOW!”

“Whoa, suga’ cube, calm down!” Applejack tried to calm her as they got pushed on the narrow pathway to their destination.

They finally stopped on the platform and the yellow pegasus lept in front of them. “Everybody here?! Good! GET IN LINE!”

Fluttershy’s aggressive behavior was surreal but understandable. They all lined up next to each other before the border of the host’s veil.

“Don’t worry Discord, we’re coming,” the element of kindness said, before trotting forward, without Twilight even having the chance to check in with everybody.

She stepped through the veil and disappeared, forcing the alicorn to order a move immediately. “Now!” And they all rushed forward.

“Emmm…guys? Does anyone else find this place familiar?” the dragon questioned.

“Ya know, now that ya mention it, Spike, Ah swear Ah’ve seen this place before somewhere recently…” Applejack agreed.

They all thought the same. This sinister atmosphere around them was coming from the dark corridors that spread as far as the eye could see, with specks of light in the distance indicating that there was a light source.

“Well, I have to admit, I've had my expectations subverted,” the broken unicorn quipped. “With the trend, we’ve been having, I’m surprised that this actually looks like something from a nightmare to begin for a change.”

“This really isn’t the time to make clever comments, Tempest,” Rarity said.

“I one hundred and twenty percent agree,” Rainbow Dash concurred. “Since Sombra’s now fully invested into Discord, it’s gonna be all the more difficult to get him out. And who knows what unimaginable terrors the nightmare version of Grogar will have waiting for-“

The yellow pegasus shushed them. “Be quiet. Listen.”

Nobody made a sound. At first, they didn’t hear anything, but then they heard soft tapping in the distance, and it kept growing louder, but based on the volume, whoever it was must’ve been tiny. And to Fluttershy that immediately gave away who it was. A tiny serpent-like shape fashioned out of numerous animal parts skittered across the stone floor, and it was in such a hurry he wasn’t even looking ahead properly, causing him to ram against the hoof of his best friend, disorienting him for a moment.

“DISCORD!” she raised her voice and quickly scooped him into an embrace. “Don’t worry, you’re safe with me now. Are you okay?”

He didn’t respond yet as he was still recovering from the daze, but once his sight was fixed, his eyes almost popped out of his sockets after seeing Fluttershy, as well as the rest of the group, and he let out a scream of panic. He quickly wiggled himself out of her grasp and avoided any attempt of being caught again.

“Discord, what are you doing!? Why are you running away?!”

“STAY AWAY FROM ME, CLONES!” he yelled, skittering further down the corridor.

Everybody was left confused. They managed to get into contact with the one they were supposed to save, and he just ran off in fear from them.

“Clowns?” Pinkie Pie voiced an objection. “But none of us are even dressed! I didn’t even bring the costumes with me.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “He said CLONES, not CLOWNS, Pinkie. As in, copies made from our genes.”

“But I didn’t bring jeans with me either…” she replied.

“NO PUNS!” the shy pegasus yelled as she ran past them. “Discord’s clearly in distress! He needs our help!”

“Fluttershy, stop!” the country pony called to her as the was at a distance already. “Don’t go ahead, you’ll get lost!”

In a rush, everybody went after her, and luckily, they caught up soon, as their legs were long enough that they managed to get to the fleeing draconequus, who was noticeably starting to run out of breath.

“Discord, stop! We’re trying to help you!” Twilight called.

“You’re not fooling me!” he replied. “I know precisely how this will go!”

They reached a large door on the side of the corridor, where their little friend promptly stopped, and the mares, one after another, crashed into the one in front of each. Spike jumped over the pile and reached in, pulling the former Lord of Chaos out.

“Discord, what’s with you?” he wondered. “What made you stop all of a sudden?”

“THAT!” he pointed at the doorway.

With a clopping sound, a short figure appeared, no bigger than a pony, yet it wasn’t one even though it looked like it. He had a brown equine-like body with a bright bulging muzzle, with a tail that had a tuft of hair growing on its tip. He wore an orange cowl, some of his dark brown hair was sticking out the edge of it, partly obscuring his green eyes, along with a pair of long ears through the holes in the garment, and around his belly, he wore a belt, with a golden key attached to it.

“Is that a donkey?” Pinkie Pie pointed out.

Spike was just as confused, only to see Discord awkwardly waving at the newcomer. “H…hi there, Bray.”

He glared at him. “The master is most displeased with you, draconequus. So am I… and so is Paramis.”

Heavy stomps followed, and a great shadow appeared behind the donkey, towering several times over him, revealing itself in the dim lighting. It looked like a grey goat, yet it had a stocky torso with opposable hands, its back and arms were covered in thick hair, all the way to its head. It was adorned with accessories made from gold, yet what truly drew everybody’s attention was a single giant orange-yellow eye with a horizontal slit sitting in the middle of its face.

“Is that an arimaspi?!” Pinkie Pie pointed again.

Rainbow Dash gave her a look. “Wait, you mean like the one that destroyed Griffonstone?”

The hulking beast let out some incomprehensible words before his head turned in the direction from which the group just came, as did Bray’s. The sound of hooves was approaching from that direction and out of the darkness, a familiar ram sorcerer appeared.

“Well well, isn’t this quite a gathering,” the elder mused. “I fear, however, that the list for the family reunion is already full, and all of you are somewhat superfluous.”

Discord panicked and jumped out of Spike’s grip, trying to escape, only to be grabbed by Fluttershy, who refused to let him go.

After a while, he stopped struggling and turned to face his maker. “Father, I beg you, I-“

“What’s the matter, draconequus? Don't you want to say hello to your friends... or should I say... your sister?” he grinned and turned his head back.

Another sound was coming down the corridor where the ram came from. It sounded like hooves accompanied by something more flesh-like. As this was happening, everybody started noticing that Discord was beginning to show hysteric behavior, and it wouldn’t be long before they realized why.

Out of the dark, a creature, at least twice its maker’s size, appeared. It was covered in periwinkle-toned scales, with brighter ones running down the front of its neck and belly, its frontal legs were hooved, and its back ones were claws. A large horn, with a pair of green-scaled ears, sat on its equine-like fanged face, and under them, a pair of thick-lined, rainbow-colored eyes. Its head and the tip of its long reptile tail grew out twirly violet hair that had layers of pink and yellow in it, and it was so long that it was dragging all over the stone floor. Its wings, though feathery at the start, turned fleshy halfway as if they belonged to a bat. But what put them off completely, was that when the creature came out in the dim light, they noticed it had a cutie mark – a purple sun-like shape covered its flank, and in it were petals of seven different colors, with a diamond on the tip of each.

And finally, the disturbing voice came out of its mouth, which sounded as if several different voices were speaking in unison. “PlAy WiTh Us, DiScOrD… cOmE pLaY wItH uS.”

Author's Note:

The longest chapter I've done so far, and just as well, considering I had you waiting for 3 weeks for an event that was canceled.

Once more, a piece from the past becomes realized, as well as a more recent one.

Comments

[GamePlayer64]

Don’t know who or what that sister of Discord is but this chapter does highlight how Spike is always in Twilight and the others’ shadow. Great work

[Starlight Nova]

How many chapters long will this story be?

[JFT]

11129244
Thanks.
I'm pretty sure there are several watchers who wanted the Spike issue to be addressed for a long time. Also, look at the author's notes and you'll get what that THING is.

11129261
At this rate, even twice as long as now.

[JFT]

11129244
Or just wait for the next chapter to get a definitive answer.

[Doctor_Den]

well. Spike's nightmare where Rarity swears at him and throws rubbish and rubble at him at the same time was very funny.
Combined with the final clash of the titans, the chapter was breathtaking.

Unfortunately "nightshroud96" didn't even comment on it. I was interested to know his opinion given his concern for the fate of Spike.

[JFT]

11155722
Been thinking about that as well. Had expected him to be the first to voice his thoughts on the matter, but he's been quiet about it.