Unravelling the Truth
Outside the barrier protecting the Crystal Empire from the frozen north, Flash and his friends were now staring at three super powered monsters. Just when they had appeared to beat the wood dragon, Malafear had summoned two new dragons, Heart now turning to his mentor. "What do we do now?"
This was answered by the iron dragon, now roaring before charging at Springer's avatar. Springer formed a Bone Breaker, about to counter as the dragon suddenly rolled its body up like an armadillo. The next thing any of them knew, the dragon was rolling in midair, picking up speed before hitting the ground and zipping up to Springer instantly. The blow pushed the avatar back, making the jakhowl flinch.
"Springer!" Flash yelled, only to then hear the crackle of electricity. Glancing back, he saw the lightning dragon fly up as the energy surged between its two upper horns. The lightning then exploded out, Flash barely managing to pull his avatar away in time. "WHOA!"
The dragon then charged at them, forcing the knight to spread his wings and take to the air. Malafear laughed at the sight, now watching the lightning dragon give chase while firing blasts of lightning. As this happened, the iron dragon spun around and swung its mace tail into Springer, "Augh!" He cried as his avatar fell back, Heart and Skybreaker yelping as they were thrown around inside its chest.
"HA! You fools don't stand a chance against my loyal servants. And pretty soon, you will fall to their might." As he said that, the iron dragon raised its tail, ready to strike again, only for Heart to fire a stream of flames out of the avatar. It struck the metal tail, making the dragon flinch. Seeing this, Springer quickly rolled his avatar away, dodging the burning the mace as he got back onto his feet.
While this happened, Flash spun his avatar around and fired several Flash Force attacks from its horn. The lightning dragon dodged the attacks, quickly zipping around before grabbing the avatar and biting into its shoulder. "AHH!" Flash cried, "Get off of me!"
Malafear laughed again before creating a portal, "I'll leave you to play with my pets. Once they're done with you, I'll come collect my prize." He flew through, now back in the city in an instant. There he saw Twilight fighting off a bunch of other dragons, pushing them away with ease. "Hmm...better keep my distance so she doesn't get in my way again."
He flew behind a house, a smile increasing on his face, "Once I have her, I'll only be one key away from my goal." He looked down at the book in his claw, "You may have stopped me before, but your sacrifice will all be for nothing once this is over."
Meanwhile...
Spike continued to travel through the void, his mind repeating the last memory.
"If Mystic Dragons can steal other dragon's elements, does that mean I could end up like Malafear?" He asked himself, scratching his chin at the thought. The memory of his greed overpowering him now appeared, making him grimace. He smacked the sides of his face, "No! Not that!" He stomped his foot at this, "I'm nothing like him! I'll never be-"
His words came to a stop as another flash of light appeared in front of him. He glanced up, staring at the sight...only for a sound to ring out.
"Huh?" He turned to the noise, only to hear it again. "That sounded like...a moan?" He told himself before hearing it again. The drake glanced back at the light, only to turn to sound again, "Um...shoot. Which do I go for?" He grimaced at this, only to walk away, following the sound as the memory book stayed there. And then the drake ran into the void, hoping he wasn't going crazy and that there was actually somepony there.
Back in the empire...
Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie had just arrived at the castle, now finding Shining Armor and his guards inside a shield that was wrapped around the castle.
"Shining Armor!" Rarity exclaimed as they jumped through the shield, "Thank goodness you're alright."
Shining turned to them with wide eyes, "How did-"
"Rune Gate!" Pinkie interrupted, taking the piece of paper from Rarity and holding it up to show him. "With this, we were able to teleport all the way here!"
"And Celestia and Luna are going to send more guards through it as soon as possible," Fluttershy finished as Pinkie spread the paper out on the ground.
"That's good," Shining replied, "Now, any idea why these dragons are attacking?"
"They're after Ruby," Rarity responded, showing a giant frown, "We don't know why, but one dragon is kidnapping ponies...and dragons."
As she said that, Shining blinked at her words as his brain caught up to her words, "Wait...are you saying Spike was..."
"Spike..."
"Was taken," Fluttershy nodded, "Twilight is out there, trying to fight to get him back."
Shining growled at this before turning to the area where the dragons were massing. "I'm going to go help Twilight." He turned to the guards inside the shield, "Fifth troop! Follow me!" The soldiers nodded back before they marched out of the shield. "The rest of you, keep the castle safe until the reinforcements come through." The soldiers yelled in agreement before Shining and his squad ran for the battleground.
Back in the snowy north...
The three dragons continued to fight against the two avatars, Springer's avatar using Steel Paw to slash the iron dragon. But as he sliced the beast, his energy blades barely affected its metal hide. Heart and Skybreaker were also trying to do damage, unleashing bursts of fire and air...only for it to do almost nothing to the dragon.
Meanwhile, Flash had managed to pry the lightning dragon off of his avatar and was now flying through the air. Both flew around, firing blasts of light and electricity, the defender now feeling strain as he had just got done fighting the wood dragon. While this happened, the wood dragon was staring at Flash, waiting for its moment, only for Flash's avatar to start to flicker.
"Ah!" he yelped, flinching as his form start to glitch.
"Flash!" Grand yelled at him, "You have to get us to the ground and cut the avatar. We'll fight without it."
"No," Flash barked back, "We can't win without it!" The lightning dragon then charged at him, lightning spewing out of its horn, as the electricity wrapped around one of its wings. It tried to slam into the avatar, but Flash quickly circled around it. And as it evaded his charge, something wrapped around the avatar's leg. They glanced down at this, only to see it was the wood dragon's vines.
Flash tried to pull his leg free at this, only to feel the tug from the beast. Seeing this, his horn began to charge magic, only for Grand to yell, "FLASH!"
The defender looked up, now seeing the lightning dragon about to attack again. Grand fired a Grand Force in response, but the dragon barrel-rolled around the attack before slashing its wing into the avatar's chest. "Augh!" Flash and Grand cried as the lightning surged into the avatar, electrifying the two. This caused the avatar to shatter, both falling as Flash's Sacred Light faded, closing his eyes as Grand gasped at the sight.
As this happened, Springer turned to see this, only for Heart to scream, "NO!" He used his fire to explode out of the avatar, making Springer gasp.
"Heart, no!" the jakhowl roared as Skybreaker spread his real and fake wing to go after him. The two shot after him, only for the iron dragon to swing its tail at them. But as it tried to do this, Springer's avatar grabbed the tail, yanking the beast away as the pegasi flew down to their friends.
Grand had tried to fall toward Flash and grab him, hoping his Grand Force could slow their decent enough to save them. But before he could get to Flash, Heart grabbed his mentor and tried to hold him up while Skybreaker grabbed Grand.
"We gotcha!" The Knight of the Winds grunted as him and Heart held them up, but then turned to Heart, the colt straining under Flash.
"He's too heavy!" Grand told Skybreaker before pulling himself out of his grasp, "Help him!" He fell again as Skybreaker flew over to grab Flash before Heart dropped him. Grand fell like a meteor, only to point his hammer down, "Grand Force!"
An earth tornado exploded out of the weapon, the push of the attack slowing him down. But before he could reach the ground, a roar made him look up and see the lightning dragon charging at him, quickly grabbing him in its talons.
"GRAND!" The others yelled before hearing another roar, all of them turning to see the wood dragon take a deep breath before firing a blast of leaves. The three were struck, all sent hurtling toward the ground until they were smashed into the snow.
"Everypony!" Springer gasped, only for the iron dragon to pull its tail free and slam it into him. "Ahh!" He staggered back as the lightning dragon flew low and dropped Grand, slamming its tail into him and throwing the earth pony into the snow near the others.
"Grand!" Heart yelled as he tried to pick himself up, only to find that the snow had extinguished his flames. "No..." It was here that Flash began to wake up, blinking his eyes open before seeing the lightning dragon circling around, its horns sparking in preparation of another blast.
"NO!" Springer roared as he had his avatar run for the lightning dragon, only for a bolt of electricity to fly out and strike his avatar instead, "RAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed before the avatar shattered, Springer returning to normal as he fell into the snow.
"Springer!" Flash screeched as he pulled himself over to his best friend, turning him over and saw he was breathing, but barely conscious.
"We're in trouble," Skybreaker told them as Flash looked up to see the dragons glaring down. The three had stood in a line, the lightning dragon charging up another attack while the wood and iron dragons took a deep breath. "They're gonna obliterate us!" As he said that, Flash pushed himself back to his hooves.
"Get back!" Flash yelled as a light shined all over his body, now summoning his Shining Guardian armor again. And as the three dragons unleashed their attacks, the avatar's horn glowed as he tried to spread magic around him and his friends...only for nothing to happen. And then, three attacks struck the same spot, creating an explosion that consumed them all.
The explosion rocked the north, its shockwave causing the city to shake as Rainbow asked, "What was that?"
"Hopefully," Applejack dodged a fireball before bucking a dragon away, "That was from somepony on our side."
Twilight turned to the wasteland at that, only to zap several dragons inside magic bubbles that floated upward. "Just keep fighting! Whatever happens, we can't let them get their claws on Ruby."
Ruby nodded as she used a crystal club to smack a dragon away, "I just wish I knew why these things wanted with me."
"Don't we all," Trixie added before turning to Twilight. "What if we have Ruby travel through a Rune Gate? If Malafear doesn't know where she is, he won't be able to get her."
"I guess that could work-"
"No!" Ruby interrupted, "I refuse to just run and hide! If this dragon wants me, he'll have to beat me in battle." She summoned two swords and sliced through three more dragons, "I won't abandon my home whilst it's under threat!" She growled as she turned and fired a crystal ball into a fourth dragon, "Not again..."
"But you're the reason it's under threat!" Script told her as he hit several dragons with paralysis runes, "If you leave, then so will the dragons. The others will be at the castle by now. If you go there-"
"The dragons will follow me and I'll be putting everypony there in danger!" She barked back while bucking a dragon without even looking at her.
"Only until you go through the portal!" Script countered, only for a dragon to jump down right in front of him. It was about to burn him with a point blank fireball, only for a spell to smack it in the head. They all turned to see where the attack came from, only to see the crystal army charging down the street with Shining leading the pack.
"Backup!" Twilight cheered as the dragons turned to them, Shining then using a shield to protect him as he mowed passt them to get to Twilight.
"Any idea why these things are attacking my city?" He asked when he got to her, "The others said something about a dragon wanting Ruby?!"
"He's after certain ponies," Ember told him, Shining glaring back at her as she raised her claws, "Relax," she then spun around and punched another dragon, "I'm on your side."
"She's the only one." Twilight added, "And she's right about Malafear wanting certain ponies. He's already captured Iron and Lightning, and now he's after Flash and Ruby."
"And Spike?" Shining asked, only to see Twilight glance away. "Oh...well, we'll get him back sis."
"I know we will." She turned back to him, "But right now, we don't even know where he is. He vanished a little while ago."
"Well for now, we need to focus on protecting the city." He fired a blast at a dragon before jumping back to avoid another, only for the crystal guard to throw a spear into the dragon, knocking it back. "Though this might be tricky."
"Its more than that! They're not gonna stop!" Ember yelled as she saw some of the dragons they had already beaten start to pick themselves up. "As long as they're under Malafear's control, they'll keep coming until it kills them."
"Then we have to subdue them as soon as possible." Shining declared as he signaled to the guard, "Come on everypony!"
But as he yelled this, the guard cheering as they followed his orders, Malafear stared at the fight from a nearby alleyway. He was tapping his foot, growling as he stared at the ponies, "A rune gate? Seems I'll have to change my plan slightly." He raised his staff as the crystal glowed, connecting him to several dragons that had just recovered. "Go to the castle and destroy anything you can."
The dragons mentally heard this and followed his command, flying off as the rest continued to charge at the ponies. And as they surrounded the group, Malafear laughed at the sight, "Ah...its just too easy." He put his claw on his staff at this, taking a deep breath as he began to chant a spell as he said, "Now, let's make sure nothing stops me from getting what I want."
The trio of element dragons all stared at the smoke covering the area that their attacks had struck. Despite being mind controlled, they had hoped they hadn't caused to much damage, as Malafear's instructions were to bring their target in alive. But then, the smoke began to fade...only to reveal that the ponies had all vanished. This made them glance around, growling at the wasteland as they began to walk around. Their eyes darted everywhere, hissing as they found their targets now all gone.
That is, except their targets were several yards away.
"Gyah!" Heart yelped as he flopped into the snow-covered ground. After spitting out the frozen water, he glanced up to see he was in a hole in the ground, Grand, Skybreaker and Springer now standing beside him.
"What the-where are we?" Skybreaker asked, only to hear a growl. The pegasus slowly flew up to poke his head over the top of the hole, now seeing the three dragons a good distance away. "How the heck did we get over here?" he added as flew back down, only to hear a moan, all turning to see Flash laying in the snow with his Sacred Light armor gone.
"Flash!" Grand yelled as he ran over to roll him onto his back. "Are you okay?!"
Springer put a paw on him, his eyes turning into blue flames, "He's okay. Just tired." As he said this, Flash's eyes began to flicker open.
"Ugh...what happened?" Flash mumbled out as Springer helped him up.
"Not sure. We just kinda...got here. Don't know how we did it." Springer replied, turning to the others as they all shrugged. Seeing this, the jakhowl had a thought as he asked, "Flash, did you teleport us here?"
"Me?" Flash responded, pointing to himself before replying, "Huh. I guess I did."
"I didn't know you could teleport," Grand chimed in.
"Neither did I. I was trying to put up a shield with the Guardian form, but when that didn't work, I was really wishing we weren't there. Guess the Sacred Light heard me."
"So what do we do now?" Heart asked, flying up to poke his head over the edge of the hole. He now saw the dragons separating, now spreading out their search.
"Just give me a few minutes," Flash muttered as the others helped him over to the wall. "That avatar takes a lot out of me, but the Sacred Light'll charge me back up. I just need a little time."
"I just hope you have that time," Springer sighed before grabbing Heart's tail and pulling him back down. "And even if you do recover, how the heck are we supposed to beat those things? One was hard enough, but three..."
"We don't have to beat them," Grand told him. "We just have to hold them off until Twilight and the others can beat Malafear."
"If they can," Skybreaker added.
"They can do it," Flash replied, "I know they can. We just have to buy them more time." They all nodded back, only for the group to glance out at the dragons one last time. "Though you are right bud. This isn't gonna be easy..."
Back at the crystal castle...
Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie could only stand there and wait now, Pinkie vibrating in frustration as she yelled, "Oooh...I can't stand this! We have to help our friends!"
"We are helping them," Fluttershy responded, "We're helping protect the rune gate."
Rarity nodded in agreement. "Once the troops from Canterlot get here, we'll be able to fight a more offensive battle." As she said that, the castle doors opened to reveal Sunburst, making Rarity ask, "Sunburst! How is everypony?!"
"Cadance is managing to keep them all calm," the wizard replied, "But it's not gonna take much for them to break into mass panic."
"We should be fine," one of the remaining soldiers added, "The dragons don't seem interested in the castle."
"Uh..." Pinkie pointed at the sky. "They look pretty interested." They followed her hoof and gasped when they saw a group of dragons charging at them. The ponies gulped at the sight of the reptiles, all of them now attacking the force-field with slashes and fire.
"What the-why are they attacking?!" Rarity yelped, "Isn't Malafear after Ruby?"
Fluttershy whimpered at this, "Maybe he thought attacking us would draw her here and distract her?"
"The reason doesn't matter," a crystal unicorn guard yelled as he lifted up a spear. "All that matters is protecting the castle and those that inhabit it! Soldiers...CHARGE!" The crystal ponies ran out of the forcefield, now beginning to attack the dragons.
As this happened, Sunburst turned to the girls, "We have to do something."
"Like what?" Rarity asked, "None of us are exactly battle experts. That's why we were sent here."
"We don't have to fight," Pinkie added, all turning to her as she had pulled her Party Cannon out of nowhere before pushing toward the forcefield. "Let's give these dragons a party they'll never forget!" She pushed the end of the cannon out of the shield and pulled the chord, causing it to explode and launch a confetti blast at a dragon so hard that it was knocked flying.
The others smiled at this, Fluttershy then turning as big as she could, beating her wings as hard as possible next. A powerful gust of wind came next, pushing the dragons away. As this happened, Rarity and Sunburst simply fired raw blasts of magic, hitting them as hard as they could.
And as they began to push the dragons back, one of the dragons was being used as Malafear's eyes. The evil dragon growled at the lack of success. "Idiots. The ground you're on is crystal! Dig!" The dragon did just that and while the ponies kept knocking away the dragons, that one began to dug underground. Shining's shield only protected the place from the ground up, so the dragon had no issues digging its way under it.
As this was going on, Rarity fired another blast of magic, only to turn to the rune gate and see it glow, "Yes! Its about to open!"
"Finally!" Pinkie cheered as Fluttershy returned to normal.
But as they began to celebrate, the ground just beyond the forcefield suddenly exploded. A dragon instantly flew out, the four gasping at the sight as the beast breathed fire. All they could do was leapt away, Sunburst then firing a magic blast at the dragon, knocking it flying into a castle wall.
The girls saw it fall over at this, its flames now extinguished...except the fire on the rune gate papers. "No!" Rarity screamed as she ran up to the paper, but it was too late. The light vanished from the markings before they burned away, the gate now gone. The dragon that did this laughed as it picked itself up, then took a deep breath. But as it began to unleash its flames, a blue light spread around its mouth and closed it. The dragon's eyes went wide as its mouth expanded and smoke escaped between its lips.
"I don't think so!" yelled a voice, everyone turning to see Cadance as she used her magic to lift up the dragon and fling it out of the forcefield before using the magic she had learned from Ruby to seal up the hole she had just made. The dragon slammed into the ground at this, only to glance up and smile at the other dragons.
They all took to the air, all flying away as the guard asked, "Where are they going?"
"I don't know. I doubt they flew off because I showed up," Cadance replied.
"No," Rarity turned to the destroyed rune gate, "I think they left because they accomplished what they came to do." The others glanced at the unicorn, only to see the now burnt paper in her hooves. "It looks like we'll have to make do without the princesses help."
"Oh no..." Cadance glanced back at her empire, "Ruby..."
At the same time...
"This isn't going well." Flash sighed as they continued to stay in the hole. "I think I can go back into Shining Guardian mode...though I don't know how long I'll be able to hold it this time."
"Same," Springer added, "I can go Mega Mode, but my avatar might be off the table this time."
"We need to fight smart," Grand told them. "These dragons are powerful, yes, but in their mind-controlled state, they're far from geniuses. If we lead them away from the city, maybe we can sneak away from them. They'll keep searching for us and we can return to the city."
"But wouldn't Malafear just summon them again?" Springer pointed out, Grand about to reply, only to facehoof.
"Shoot, you're right." Grand slumped over at this, "Guess I am getting too old for this."
"Its fine. We'll-" Flash tried to say, only for the ground to shake. The group shut up as they heard a growling sound, the iron dragon now stomping beside their hole while sniffing around. They exchanged glances at this, nodding to each other as the beast slowly walked up to the hole, snow jumping around at each stomp.
And as it looked down at the hole...it found nothing. Had it not been mind-controlled, it probably would have thought to give the hole a closer check. The walls around it curved upward, creating a small groove that the knights were hiding in, all now pinning themselves against the wall. None dared to even breathe as the dragons stared at the ground, sniffing the air before letting out a huff and turned to leave.
Once it was gone, they all breathed a sigh of relief as Flash commented, "Let's get out of here." They nodded back and pulled themselves out of the hole. The group quickly found a bunch of large rocks nearby, zipping behind them, ducking behind more and more as the dragons wandered around.
As they got behind one of the larger rocks, Heart looked down at his hooves. "Come on," he told himself as he tried to summon his flames. He had dried out a little, but was still too damp to transform. He then rubbed his hooves together, closing his eyes as he whispered, "Come on...come on..."
"Maybe this isn't the best place to try and do that," Grand chimed in.
"But if they find us, I'm gonna need my fire powers if I wanna stand a chance." He grunted, only to ignite a small fireball between his hooves. "Yes! Now, if I can make it a little bigger, I can dry myself off!" He pumped as much power as he could into the flame, only for the lightning dragon to turn to the rocks. It thought it saw something, now firing a bolt of lightning at one of the larger rocks, causing it to explode. The ground shook at this, making Heart let out an 'eep' before seeing the fire in his hoof now grow even more.
"Wait!" He yelped as the flame kept getting bigger, only to explode off his hoof and hit a house-sized rock a few feet in front of them. It exploded, making the dragons to turn and see smoke along with the snow that began to fall off the top of the rock.
"Move!" Grand yelled, the five of them leaping out from behind the rock and running into the open. The snow fell behind them, almost burying them before they rolled right into the dragons' vision.
"Oh great!" Flash groaned as they heard a roar, making them turn to see the dragons charging. "No other choice!" He skidded to a stop as the light wrapped around him, forming his armor again. "Fire!" He started unleashing Flash Force attacks, Springer, Grand and Skybreaker doing the same. The attacks flew for the dragons, but they easily dodged them, the Wood Dragon reaching them first as it took a deep breath before expelling a leaf tornado.
In response, Grand slammed his hammer into the ground, creating another large rock to hide behind. They felt the rock get pummelled by the wind and leaves, Springer going into Mega Mode again while Heart grimaced at the group, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Flash replied, "We can't change the past. Let's just focus on having a future."
"But none of our attacks have any effect on these things!" Skybreaker barked back, "The only things that can hurt these reptiles are your avatars, and even those aren't strong enough on their own." As he said that, the lightning and iron dragon appeared around the rock, both holding their tails up to attack.
Flash closed his eyes at this, his horn glowing along with him and his friends. And just before the dragons could crush them under their tails, the five vanished in a flash of light. They then reappeared a hundred feet away, most hitting the snow and rolling, but Flash and Springer managed to stay on their feet/hooves. The iron and lightning dragon turned to them, both firing attacks. Flash and Springer stood in front of them, making a shield as Grand and Skybreaker used their bodies to cover Heart.
KABOOM!
The lightning bolt and metal tornado struck the area, an explosion now covering the place as smoke and snow filled the surrounding area. But as the fog cleared, the dragons saw a new light shining through it. And this one was a mixture of blue and gold, intertwined with one another. It was a pair of shields that had wrapped themselves around their targets.
Inside the shield, Heart, Grand and Skybreaker opened their eyes and saw Flash and Springer standing side by side, and both grunting to keep their shields raised. Strangely, the shield appeared to be half Flash's and half Springer's, almost as if somepony had cut the head of their avatars in half and glued them together. The right side was an alicorn's head while the left side was a jakhowl's, and in the very center, the alicorn's horn stood proudly.
The two then noticed their strange combo and glanced around, only for the hybrid shield to change, the jakhowl head beginning to grow around the alicorn head. Meanwhile, the alicorn began to form below it and within seconds, they both completed, and it was like the alicorn was wearing a helmet that was fashioned after a jakhowl's head. There were two holes in the helmet, one for the alicorn's horn and the other for its eyes.
"What's going on?" Heart asked, Flash and Springer glancing at each other, only to smirk as an idea formed in their heads. They turned to see the dragons charging at them, and when this happened, the shield began to grow. Within seconds, the alicorn avatar appeared and grew to full height, the being now spreadinig its wings, flying up as the dragons crashed into the ground.
They looked up at this, now seeing the jakhowl helmet growing around the rest of the avatar as it landed back on the ground, forming more armor around it. The neck, chest and body were covered by the blue energy, leaving the wings, tail and legs uncovered. It was then that the avatar jumped onto its back legs, its body reshaping to morph into an anthropomorphic form. Once that occurred, the blue armor spread down its new arms and the front of its back legs, and now at the end of its arms, a pair of jakhowl paws grew out of where the hooves used to be. With the transformation now complete, the two's avatars had fused into an anthro-alicorn wearing jakhowl armor, Flash and Springer floating within the construct's forehead while Heart, Grand and Skybreaker were in the main body.
"Awesome!" Heart cheered while Grand and Skybreaker nodded.
"But will this work?" Skybreaker asked. "Those dragons were able to beat them when they were separated. Is combining really gonna make any difference other than giving them less targets?"
Grand chuckled. "If it were any other ponies, I'd worry too. But with those two..."
"You ready?" Flash asked Springer, who nodded back. "Alright. I'll focus on the wings and legs. You use the arms and your weapons."
"Got it!" Springer called back as the iron dragon charged. In response, the avatar ran up, both about to collide before it leaped up, the dragon then crashing into behind them while the lightning and wood dragon took to the air. The avatar formed a Bone Breaker and broke it in half, forming two before it flew down at the dragons. The lightning dragon unleashed a bolt of electricity from its horns, but the avatar crossed its bones and deflected it before swinging them apart and slamming them into the beast's head.
It roared in pain as it was thrown down, the wood dragon now unleashing its leaf storm attack next. Flash turned to this and yanked the avatar out of the way, the tornado shooting past them before the construct spun around to kick the serpentine dragon in the head.
"Yeah!" Heart added as the two flew away from one another, the wood dragon then firing a horde of vines in their direction. But before they could reach the avatar, Springer had it use Steel Paw and start shredding the roots, cutting them all in one stroke. And as this happened, Flash pointed the head at the dragon before the horn unleashed a blast of energy that struck the wood dragon.
Meanwhile, the lightning and iron dragon charged again just as the wood dragon fell over into the snow. The iron dragon swung its tail, firing metal spikes out as the avatar turned to the attack.
"Here they come!" Skybreaker yelled as the avatar flew down, flying from side to side to avoid the spikes. One grazed its shoulder, cutting through the armor and making Springer flinch and clutch his shoulder. The avatar then started firing rapid blasts from its horn, hitting the area around the dragons and kicking up clouds of snow.
The two dragons were now blinded, but Springer could see thanks to his aura. But as he scanned them, he felt something. It was if the dragons were familiar. But as he felt this, the avatar ran into the cloud, now forming a giant Bone Breaker and smacking the Lightning Dragon on the head before playing golf with the Iron Dragon, knocking it flying into the sky.
And as the snow faded, lightning sparked between the lightning dragon's horns before firing, "Look out!" Grand screamed, Flash and Springer ducking the avatar down so the lightning flew over its shoulder. It that leapt and tackled the dragon, pinning it to the ground. Springer started punching the beast, but then felt the avatar's movements become restricted.
The wood dragon had used its vines to wrap around the avatar's neck and arms, tugging it off the lightning dragon while the iron dragon charged at them, rolling into a ball to slam into them. But before it could get close, the avatar leapt up again, flying above the wrecking ball. And before the wood dragon could stop them, it reached around and yanked the vines as the avatar went into the air.
The iron dragon circled back around as the avatar fell back down, completely unaware that it was swinging the wood dragon around as hard as possible. It then swung the dragon into the side of the iron dragon, sending it flying back before the avatar swung the wood dragon up and then pulled it down to slam it into the lightning dragon as it tried to pick itself up.
"Wow!" Skybreaker gasped as the avatar cut the vines off. "This fight is like an all out monster smack down!"
"Maybe..." Grand looked up at the two, "But how long can they keep it up?"
Springer was thinking the same thing. "You okay?" He asked his partner, "I know how draining this can be."
"Actually," Flash chuckled, "I feel fine. Not tired at all."
Springer raised an eyebrow at this, only to then see the lightning dragon throw the wood dragon off. The three soon picked themselves up as the iron dragon rolled back over to them, the three standing in a line and all beginning to build power.
"Watch out!" Grand yelled, "They're gonna fire at us!"
"Dodge it!" Heart added, but Flash glanced behind them.
"We can't!" The others turned to see that the battle had positioned them between the dragons and the Crystal Empire. If they dodged, the blasts would go straight for the city. "We have to stop those things!"
"Alright!" Springer held up his paws, Flash doing the same. The horn of the avatar glowed before an Aura Blast formed at the very tip, which grew larger by the second until it was almost as big as the avatar's head. They then reached up and grabbed the orb between both hands, swinging it around as the three dragons unleashed their attacks.
A bolt of lightning and tornadoes of metal and leaves charged for the avatar, the giant now thrusting the orb, causing it explode as Flash and Springer roared. It formed a laser that collided into the three attacks, causing a huge explosion that sent a shockwave out in all directions.
The wave knocked back both the dragons and the avatar, smoke covering the entire place. And as the dragons fell over at this, the avatar remained standing with its arms crossed. It uncrossed them and looked down at the three dragons, Heart cheering. "YEAH! You beat 'em!"
"But what do we do now?" Grand asked as the avatar walked over to the dragons. The others glanced at each other at this, only for the lightning dragon to suddenly jump up at them. It tried to bite at the avatar, but it managed to create a Bone Breaker and use it to block its mouth.
And as the two pushed against one another, Flash let out a grumble. "These things don't quit. I hope the others are doing better than we are."
Back in the city...
Twilight and the others were still fighting the dragons, Malafear watching from afar with a growl. Twilight and Shining were back to back, Rainbow and Ember doing the same in the air as they kept knocking the beasts away. While this happened, Script fired a blast at the ground that created a line of runes, the dragons running over now finding themselves frozen in place before Applejack ran up and bucked them away. And as this happened, Trixie and Ruby had be pulled away from the others, both showing their time in the Lost City paying off as they teamed up against the horde.
"This isn't working. If I want to get to her, I need to get her away from those other fools." Malafear grumbled, only to shine a small grin, "Hmm...maybe I can try that."
Trixie smirked as she sparked her horn, a flash of light appearing next as multiple copies of Ruby were summoned around them. The real one mixed with the others, causing the dragons to wildly attack the fakes. As this happened, the real Ruby took a deep breath before slamming her hooves into the ground, which exploded to fire out giant crystal spikes that slammed into the beasts.
But as the blow knocked the horde away, a beam of magic suddenly hit Trixie, "GYAAAAAH!" She screamed as she was thrown into the side of a building, which was then blasted by another shot that caused it to crumble on top of the unicorn.
"TRIXIE!" Ruby gasped before turning to the source. There she saw Malafear, rage burning in her eyes as she summoned a crystal sword, "You monster!"
She began to charge at him, Twilight turning to the roar and seeing the smirk on Malafear's face. "Ruby...WAIT!" But as she yelled, Ruby leapt at Malafear, about to slash him as the dragon swung his staff and created a portal between them. The knight vanished a second later, Malafear jumping into the portal as well.
"NO!" Twilight screamed as she ran up to the portal, only for it to shut instantly. "RUBY!"
In another part of the city...
"Oof!" Ruby yelped as she crashed into a street, Malafear appearing behind her with a laugh, "Now you're mine!"
Ruby jumped back to her hooves before charging as she yelled, "I'll die before I join you!" But before she could strike the dragon, he raised his staff and blocked her blade.
"Oh, don't worry. What's about to happen will be just like death." The energy on the staff's gem then exploded, travelling up the staff and down Ruby's sword. "And when I have no more use for you, then death is all that'll await you!" As he said that, black lightning flew off Ruby's sword and struck her horn.
"AUGH!" She cried, making her drop her sword as she fell over. "AAAAAHHHHH!"
Malafear chuckled as he then pointed the staff at her horn, more lightning coming out of it as she continued to scream, her voice now filling the air of the city.
A few blocks away...
Twilight had just used her magic to free Trixie when the scream filled the air. "Ruby!"
Shining also heard this before turning to a certain blue dragon, "Ember!" She glanced at him and saw his horn sparking. Nodding at this, she flew down and landed besides him as a shield formed around the pair. Shining then slammed his front hooves into the ground and caused the shield to expand outward, phasing over the ponies without hurting them but hitting the dragons and sending them flying away.
And once everypony was inside the shield, he dispelled it, slumping over as Twilight grabbed the group in her magic before teleporting them to where the scream was coming from. When they appeared, they saw Ruby and Malafear, the dragon laughing at the knight in pain.
"Get away from her!" The alicorn screamed as she fired a blast of magic at the dragon.
However, Malafear cut the spell and hopped back, Twilight's magic now hitting the ground behind the dragon. But despite him cutting his spell, the lightning around Ruby continued to spark. "Too late princess," he chuckled, "The process has begun."
"What process?!" Shining asked, "What did you do to her?"
Malafear just grinned at him, only to point at the pony. Everypony turned to her, her screams getting louder as they tried to run up and comfort her...only to come to a stop. Their eyes went wide as they saw Ruby's body begin to grow...and begin to fill up the street.
Meanwhile...
Spike continued his travel through the void, following the sounds of moans. And as he did this, he saw a speck off in the distance, now running to it as the memory book floated after him. But as he got closer, he saw the groans were coming from a gray unicorn with a black mane and tail, wearing half-moon glasses with a cutie mark that was a red cross with an arrow sticking through of it.
"First Aid?" He asked as he kneeled down to the knight, "Why are you..." He shook his head before shaking the pony, "Hey! You okay?! Wake up!" The pony didn't respond, making Spike shake him again, "Come on!" But as he did this, his claw began to glow green, "WHOA!" He pulled it off of First, the glow fading. He blinked at his claw at this, only to feel a sudden urge to touch First again. And before he could stop himself, he placed his claw back on the pony and the light returned.
It spread across First's body, and as it covered him, the light morphed into green lightning that sparked all around, Spike now pulling his claw away. And as it sparked, First continued to moan, only for the lightning to explode off his body, his eyes shooting open.
"What?!" He yelped as his head shot up, "What happened?!"
"First!" Spike cheered, now seeing the unicorn turn to him.
"Spike?" He raised an eyebrow before glancing around, "What is...where are we?"
"Err...." Spike scratched the back of his head, "Inside a book." First raised an eyebrow at this, "It's a long story. But what are you doing here?"
"I...I was in the Dragon Lands with...with..." His eyes went wide at this, "Heather."
"What about her?" Spike asked, now seeing a grimace appear on First's face, "What's wrong? What happened?"
Outside the empire...
The avatar and the Lightning Dragon were still locked, the bone still in its mouth. But as the dragon squirmed, the avatar then pushed the beast's head down. And as this happened, Flash and Springer stared at it's forehead, only for Flash to go wide-eyed.
"Wait," he whispered before glaring at an area directly between its two eye horns. There he saw a familiar mark, that of a lightning bolt that zigzagged six times. "That's...Lightning's cutie mark!"
"What?!" Grand yelped as the lightning dragon pushed the avatar back and began charging lightning between its horns, the action giving Grand the angle to see the mark of his grandson. "But why does a dragon have..." His eyes went wide as the avatar leapt to the side, dodging the lightning bolt.
As this happened, the Iron Dragon charged and swung its tail at the ponies, the knights leaping back as Grand stared at the beast, now seeing the tiniest image of a shield with a spear breaking off it on the dragon's head. "Iron Core..."
Skybreaker turned to him, "What?!"
"Don't you get it?!" Grand replied, "Malafear kidnaps two ponies with elemental affinities, then a pair of dragons appear with the same elemental powers who have their cutie marks"
Skybreaker and Heart's eyes went wide, Springer then reaching out and connected to their auras. "He's...right," Springer opened his eyes. "I thought that dragon felt familiar when I sensed it. The transformation's made their aura's a little out of flux, but it's definitely them."
"So he turned them into dragons?" Heart asked, "How?!"
"I once got turned into a Breezie," Flash sighed, "At this point, it's just easier to accept that anything's possible." He then turned to Springer, "What about the wood dragon? Where did that come from?" Springer scanned the dragon as it charged, only to go wide-eyed.
"It's Heather!" He gasped before dodging the sprinting the dragon, then grabbing the beast into a headlock, the rest now seeing the image of a flower surrounded by a chain on its forehead.
"How did she get turned into a dragon?!" Flash yelped as the transformed pony pushed the dragon back before whipping them with its tail, Heather falling back just as Lightning took to the air and started charging up.
"Of course..." Grand grumbled, "Celestia sent me a message about her and First's mission to the dragon lands. They must have arrived when Malafear took over."
The avatar then fired a blast of energy from its horn, which struck the soon coming lightning bolt. And as this happened, Flash's brain warped back to the image Soul had shown him. "Wait...forest, metal and storm. Those where the symbols Soul said were on the mural. And the last two were-"
"Light and shining earth," Springer finished. "If you're light...then Malafear needs-"
"Crystals," Flash finished. "Shining earth must mean crystals! That's why he's after Ruby and me! He wants to turn us...into dragons?!"
Inside the empire...
Ruby's enlarging body was now beginning to transform. Malafear, Twilight, Ember and Rainbow took to the air as everypony else was teleported onto a nearby roof. And as they looked down at the Crystal Knight, they saw her beautiful crystal coat begin to change into shimmering scales. Her hooves began to morph into hands with crystal claws sticking out of them. Her tail-hair began to merge into a single tail with a sharp crystal spike sticking out the end while her mane began to morph into a crown of crystal horns that stuck out of the back of her head to act like a triceratops crest. And finally, wings began to sprout out of her back and extend until they were large enough that they could support her new size in the air. The cutie marks on her flank vanished, with a single crystal rose image appearing on her forehead after her horn sank into her head.
Malafear laughed as he held up his staff, firing another bolt that struck the transformed pony, making her roar and shake her head. Then she went still, her eyes opening to reveal a dark red glow.
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so he was turning the ponies into dragons as I thought in my last review called it.
I will be damned! Didn't expect the dragons to be transformed Royal Knights! No wonder why Malafear wanting Flash.
I feel bad for transformed Royal Knights, imagine all of the pain they go through as mind-controlled dragons.
But hey, look on bright side, at least Spike have First Aid to keep him company in the white void so he wouldn't lose his mind.
Here's highlights
Danny Glover understand you, Grand.
Congratulations, Heart... you are the idiot.
Don't tell me...
No shit, Sherlock.
Well, Rainbow... remember the old saying.
"Be careful what you wish for"
And now she pay the price.
Fairy Tail
Categorically, speaking of which. Let's check that list
Malafear will first, for all practical purposes, sack The Crystal Empire CheckSpike will learn the connection between Silverbolt and himThey are father and son, CheckMalafear will take over other types of dragons,if you count the transmutation of Ruby from a Crystal Unicorn into a Crystal Dragon, which I do, given what's presented, CheckInteresting having Springer and Flash have their projections/avatars merge and them work together, but with their sudden recovery before this merger, it gives the feeling that Flash and Springer are OP, now if in this fight they are knocked out after losing to the dragons, I can find their recover more credible, being a rush of adrenaline. As to the little bit of Spike thinking he could just like Malafear... it's a little late to present that argument now, given what had been shown. Had Malafear been Spike's father and Malafear was shown in to have been raised pretty much as Spike was, then Spike's concerns of being a Mystic Dragon and being able to take the elemental powers of other dragons would both be founded and have narrative weight, as of this moment, since we call can correctly infer that Silverbolt is Spike's father, this concern is neither founded nor has narrative weight. But I will grant, this does give Spike the means to defeat Malafear, by taking Malafear's power once Malafear has reconstituted himself.
I know it !!!!! It was so obvious. Good chapter, I love it. Don't stop the good work.
Wow, that was intense!
We take a small break from Spike's journey into the past and get some action in the present at the Crystal Empire! Despite the ponies best efforts, Malafear has successfully captured Ruby, in part due to her own stubbornness and anger towards him for hurting Trixie. I think the best part of the fight though was when Flash and Springer combined their avatars together to beat all three of the dragons, when neither of them could do it alone.
I like Fire Heart and everything, but he seems to be making a lot of mistakes in this story so far. Hopefully he will be able to make up for them at some point.
As for the big reveal that Malafear is turning ponies into dragons, that was cool. It wasn't exactly what I thought, since I assumed he was using them as batteries to power these dragons, but this might be even cooler. As for what this might be inspired by, I can't tell for sure but it kinda reminds me of the "Waking the Dragons" arc from Yu-Gi-Oh where it was eventually revealed the three Legendary Dragons were really knights. I have also seen a few similar premises like this in comics, like in the Spider-Man story event Spider Island, but I highly doubt that was the influence of this.
Maybe Spike and First can figure out more about Malafear together, and figure out how to get out of that blasted book before it's too late!
Oh wow, and here I thought the taken ponies were used as power sources for these monster dragons but to turn them *into* dragons.......wow, well played!!!
Also glad we saw what happened to First (Spike's not alone anymore in there at least), hopefully they can figured out a way to get out of that blasted book in time! 
Still keeping up the intense fights all around, coupled with that final moment with Ruby.......Damn I can't wait for the next chapter!!!!
As for the Highlights of this chapter :
Gonna enjoy it when this guy gets what's coming to him!
Huh, seems little guy got some company in there!
Oh ho ho, now you got both pair of sibs after your sorry tail Malafear.......good!
Really hate you dude!
Oohh Spike's powers are waking up, thanks for this Malefear!
Well.......................CRAP!!!!
I wouldn't worry about him Joey, by the constant down votes he gets NO ONE cares about his opinion (myself included)
Sweet chapter all around, keep it up!
Wait. If the dragons the Knights are fighting are transformed ponies, then what happened to the original dragons who fought with Silverbolt? Wait. Were they transformed ponies also?
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Hmmm that's a pretty good question, guess we'll get an answer to that one on Spike's next flashback!
This chapter was like something out a “Pacific Rim” movie!