CHAPTER 1: WAR OF THE NIGHT - PART 4: SPYRO VS NIGHTMARE MOON

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A black alicorn against a purple dragon.

Glowing cyan eyes locked with flaming orange ones.

The darkness of space itself struggling against the light of dragon fire.

Night vs Fire.

And this was merely the stand-off prologue of the battle. Both alicorn and dragon stood firm and unmoving, glaring each other down with stares that would fry anything that would enter between them to a crisp; the swirling mass of darkness clashed with the blazing light of dragon fire across the walls, the two elemental forces fighting for supremacy...though given the natural of light and dark, it was easy to see that Spyro had the upper hand in that regard; the light easily beat back the shadow, leaving the room safe from her touch.

Finally, Nightmare Moon broke the silence, her voice shattering the tense silence as she straightened herself out, all of her previous rage and bloodlust fading almost instantly as she took on a stern calmness. "I'm curious." She spoke. "Before I end your wretch life, I must know: how did you come here from the realms?"

Spyro paused, cocking an eyebrow in interest. "You know of the Dragon World?" He asked.

"Of course." She responded calmly. "Where else do you think the dragons of our world originated from?" She frowned knowingly. "However, all the known World Gates were destroyed during the Great Cataclysm, so the only way you could've arrived here was through one that we are unaware of."

"The one in the volcano." He stated. "About fifty miles to the south-west of here."

Nightmare Moon blinked in surprise, before groaning in exasperation. "DragonThroat Mountain..." She groaned, face-palming with a wing tip. "Of course there would be one in the holy land of dragons, wouldn't there?" She lowered her wing, giving the purple drake another dark glare. "What business does an Artisan have within Equestrian borders? I have no interest in your homeland or your treasure; you have no reason to be here interfering with matters that don't concern you."

Spyro merely smirked, a gleam of pride filling his eyes. "I heard a call for help and I decided to answer it." He told her. "Simple as that."

"Then you put yourself between me and my birthright." Nightmare Moon snarled, her glare hardening and the glow of her eyes shining brighter; her horn lit up with magic, and from the air in front of her materialized a long crystalline broadsword glowing with magical runes. "Believe me: there is nothing more I would love to do than drive a blade through your heart for scarring our flesh...but I'd also rather not face off against a dragon if I can help it." She pointed the sword at the dragon. "So I'll offer you a deal: you leave now and I'll forget this ever happened: we'll part ways and never bother each other again; you return to your life back in your home world, and I rule over my kingdom and subjects in peace."

The dragon's gaze lingered on the sword hovering between them for a while before returning his glare at her...then he hissed a dark, cruel laugh, a draconian coldness filling his voice.

"You mean your sister's subjects."

Any hesitation Nightmare Moon felt was burned to cinders in her flare of her own rage, her eyes briefly flashing white with the emotion.

"Don't act so undignified; it's nothing you don't deserve, Traitor." Spyro growled the last word, the glow of his eyes flaring in response. "I know what you've done and why you did it." He waved a wing toward a hole in the ceiling, through which the full moon was visible. "One. Thousand. Years. Of the greatest form of torturous exile that I've ever heard of, and you've learned nothing! You are every bit as spoiled and petty as the day you betrayed your kingdom and tried to murder your own blood!"

"DO NOT ASSUME YOU UNDERSTAND THE REASONS FOR MY ACTIONS THAT DAY!" The night alicorn roared angrily, wings flared and eyes blazing. "A mere wyrmling like you could never comprehend what it was like! To toil non-stop for those ungrateful masses! To work myself to the bone creating a night so beautiful and safe, worthy of any world, only to be shunned and discarded like trash in favor of my sister, who did nothing to earn their adoration other than bask in the light of the sun! The sun that was handed down to her on a silver platter by our father; she never lifted a feather to earn anything she gained, and yet they all had the gall to worship her as if she was Faust herself!"

"I think I understand the situation completely!" Spyro snapped back, flexing his own wings. "A spoiled little princess who lacks the universal fear of the dark gets mad nobody pays attention to her creepy hobbies, so she throws a fit and tries to force everyone to pay attention by getting rid of her competition! If you can't have what you want, then no one else can, is that right?!"

"SILENCE!" Nightmare Moon shrieked; with a flash of white, her sword rocketed through the air at incredible speed, intent on impaling the dragon's head.

Acting on reflexes faster than mortal creatures can comprehend, Spyro lunged forward with even greater speed and snatched the sword with his mouth mid-flight, like a snake catching a mouse. With a predatory snarl, he then proceeded to crush the sword between his jaws with a mighty crunch; the crystalline blade shattered like glass between the dagger-like teeth, scattering to the floor before dispelling into blue arcane dust.

The alicorn didn't even have time to recover from her broken spell before the dragon spun himself a complete 360 degrees, swinging his entire body and tail as a living weapon by his arms and wings, tearing out the entire walls of the castle tower with a powerful rumble. So fast and powerful was this attack she couldn't even react before she took the full force of his thick, saurian tail slamming into her.

In that one split millisecond, time seemed to slow down as the tail smashed into her; a thick column of muscles stronger and more solid than stone, covered in diamond-hard scales, being swung at her with a speed and force that no Equestrian creature could match: a force strong enough to pulverize an alicorn's bones. Pain of the kind she hadn't felt before tore through her body like lightning as the blow shattered all the ribs, right limbs, and pelvis along her right side, and smashed all the organs along that side into paste; it took all she had to keep from passing out of the spot, even as the breath was forced out of her lungs in the form of a loud, ear-tearing, soul-rending scream of agony.

This all happened in one split second.

At normal speed, there was a brief explosion of red and blue before the alicorn was sent rocketing through the far wall at the speed of a fired cannonball; from outside the palace, the wall appeared to explode outwards in a blast of stone, dirt and wood as she came through, careening through the air above the courtyard before crashing into the stony path a good couple hundred feet from the tower like a meteor. The ground exploded in a continuous flurry of dirt and cobblestone as she tore through it in a skidding fashion, only stopping when she crashed into the far wall with a powerful slam.

What remained of that section of the castle's roof and walls exploded forth as the dragon came barreling through, bounding down from above and landing upon the wall overlooking the courtyard like a leopard leaping from a tree. As his claws clamped upon the stone, his inner fire once again exploded forth from his chest and spread across his body and wings, transforming him once more into a demonic fiery beast with rune-covered wings.

He barely had time to look around before the pile of rubble exploded with a blast of blue magic, and a furious nightmare erupted into the sky, spreading wings formed from the mist of her mane, eyes blazing with hatred and murderous intent. Before the dragon's eyes, the mangled limbs and caved-in ribs snapped back into shape as they were engulfed in magic, the wounds healing completely.

He snarled angrily, eyes glowing. "You want attention, well you got it! Time to reap what you sow!"

---

Another explosion shook the castle, sending Twilight tumbling backwards like a ball of purple fur. The unicorn barely had time to recover before the castle shook again; a blur of black and blue soared overhead at high speeds, following quickly by a much larger blur of purple, gold, and orange, the latter firing fireballs after the former. She flattened herself against the wall, heaving for panicked breaths, as alicorn and dragon continued to fire off blasts of magic and fire respectively at each other above, lighting up the night sky with explosions of blue and orange.

This was bad. This was very, very bad! She couldn't see how things could get even worse right now!

This was suppose to be a steady, straight-forward mission! Go to the ruins of the castle, find the Elements of Harmony, activate them with the spark, and use them to defeat Nightmare Moon and save Equestria. Simple, direct, and easy to follow. Sure, they might run into Nightmare Moon (and she did), but it was nothing quick thinking and her long-studied arsenal of spells couldn't fix...but now...now it had exploded into full-out war! An actual battle to the death, the first Equestra had seen since the Reign of Discord, between the goddess of the night and a living force of nature was taking place that very moment, and she and the others were caught in the middle of it!

This was all too much! She didn't have any training or this! Or tests to prepare for war! What was she going to do! She was going to fail! She-

As if her body acted on its own, she slapped herself across the face with a hoof. 'Get it together, Twilight!' She mentally screamed at herself, fighting for control of her lungs. 'You DO have a plan! Spyro gave you the plan: find the elements and activate them while he holds her off!' She scrambled to her hooves, looking around in panic, as the explosions continued above. 'Find the elements find the elements find the eleme-THERE!'

Lying across the base of what remained of Nightmare Moon's throne laid the stone orbs, scattered across the ground; a few cracks were visible in them, but nothing too threatening to their condition. Making sure to avoid the falling debris, Twilight ran as fast as she could to reach them, gathering them up with her magic and huddling them into a close pile.

"Just one spark!" She whispered to herself, firing up as much magic as she could pour into one Static Spell; the orbs glowed with her aura, crackles of magical energy jumping between them. "Come on, come on!"

ZAP!

The unicorn cried out in both pain and alarm as she was sent flying backwards by the clap of magical energy, throwing her against the walls. The elements began to vibrate and sparkle as the mana flowed through them, and for a second she was confident they were awakened...only for the mana to fade out with a pathetic *fshh*, the stones lying still and lifeless once more.

Twilight couldn't believe her eyes, the hope building in her dying in an instant. "I...I don't understand! Where's the sixth element? The Spark should've-"

"Come now, Twilight Sparkle, use that brain you're so proud of...I know you can see it: Six Elements of Harmony. Six Mares. Each of whom possess a strong quality of one of the elements, or is Fluttershy's kind heart and Pinkie's joyful laughter mere coincidence?"

Realization, mixed with a good bit of panic and horror, socked her right in the brain with the force of Spyro's fist. "The elements..." She murmured, eyes dialating as hope refilled her. "...we are the elements! We are the bearers!" She scrambled back to her hooves, gathering the stones again and turning her attention to the exit. "We have to awaken them together!" She said as she turned tail and bolted for the doorway to the stairwell, carrying the elements with her in her magical grasp...mere seconds before a beam of blue magic sliced through the ceiling above, carving a long tear in the floor with a dusty explosion.

Twilight stumbled from the tremors but stayed standing, shaking her head to clear it before jumping down the stairs. "I have to find the others!"

---

With a painful-sounding 'CRACK!', the bloodied Nightmare Moon slammed against the far wall, screaming in pain as she fell to the stony floor. She barely had time to blink before the dragon burst into the grand hall after her, roaring with fury. With a flash of magic, she quickly teleported out of his path, re-materializing down another hallway just in time to hear the wall explode from the impact, an angry roar bellowing through the ruins.

Gasping for breath as she laid upon the floor, she poured everything she had into the most powerful healing spells she knew, gritting her teeth as bones snapped back into place and flesh sealed shut with smoke; even then, her body was torn and bleeding all over. The only armor that remained from her original shut was three of her horse-shoes and half of the helm; the fiercely bleeding gashes lining her chest and torso showed how brutal the dragon grabbed and tore her barrel-plate from her body, the metal carving her up like a griffin's venison feast.

This...this was not possible. She was the goddess of the night! The most powerful being in the universe, even more so than Celestia! Entire kingdoms fell to her might! Dragons the size of mountains trembled in terror in her mere presence! She moved the very celestial orbs of the cosmos themselves!

And yet here she was, crippled upon first blow and reduced to a floppy, bloody ragdoll by this dragon, who wasn't even half the size of a full grown adult!

Anger (and fear she would not admit to feeling) gripped the alicorn's heart as a dark growl rumbled through the hall; she whipped her head around just in time to see Spyro slither around the corner like a massive serpent, his claws leaving long groves in the stony floor, and his reptilian eyes and inner chest glowing with fire. Giving a yell of rage, Nightmare Moon materialized a cloud of crystalline daggers and sent them flying at the dragon, melting away into the shadows of the wall as quickly as her magic would allow.

The blades shattered against his hide like shards of glass against the metal hull of a minotaur war-machine, the fragments scattering to the floor; Spyro recoiled from the attack all the same, raising his wings to shield his face and eyes, lowering them just in time to see she her vanish into the black.

"How long will you continue to flee like the coward you are? He hissed as he pawed at his face like a large cat, clawing away at the magic dust, before glaring at the shadows in anger. "Or have you finally admitted defeat to your greater?"

"I do not intend to lose this fight yet!" Nightmare's voice snarled from all around him. "We will not...be beaten by the likes of you!"

Spyro gave a dark laugh, his head swinging back and forth as he looked about for a sign; a sliver in the dark...a warping of a shadow's shape...anything to give her position away. "You think this is even a fight to begin with? Please! You claim to be a god, and yet you're losing to one you claim to be beneath you?"

The dragon paused and shifted back, sitting on his haunches and coyly observing his own claws with a nonchalant expression. "I can understand, though; I've fought a lot of enemies in the past, and each one was always going on and on about how great they were. How much more powerful they were. How I was a puny worm compared to them." He scratched the back of his head behind his ear with a hind paw, much like a dog would. "You're just the most recent in a long line...though you are a first in one regard: not even Kaos is as petty and insecure with himself as you are."

That got a reaction; the very shadows pulsed and writhed with a tense, thrashing anger, the echoes of furious growls bouncing all around him. "Insecurity? It is not petty insecurity that drives me, dragon." Her voice snarled from all around him. "You cannot even begin to fathom the suffering we endured that led us to accepting the darkness! We tried hard to resist this path; to find another way to earn what I deserved, but in the end the ungrateful hearts of ponykind drove me to accept it, even with the great cost!"

"Drove you?! HA!" Spyro barked bitterly. "You willingly gave yourself to the Nightmare, knowing full well its intentions of death to your own sister! Intentions born from your very emotions! You chose this path of evil! You chose to give up to the shadows, even if it meant you'd turn against your own kingdom and try to murder your own sister! I don't know how that works here, but that seems pretty cut and paste evil to me!"

"Be that as it is; I have come to accept that long ago." The shadows shifted and coiling, taking on the looming shape of a winged unicorn. "I care not for the ponies' petty desires or praise anymore! If they will not love me, then they will fear me instead. Either way, I will have the respect that is my birthright!"

This time Spyro really did laugh: a loud, powerful...horrible laugh; cruel and monstrous, one that stabbed even more fear into her already-pounding heart. It echoed throughout the halls of the palace, shaking the very walls with the rumble of an earthquake, knocking down furniture and raining down a shower of dust and stone. It was the laughter of wrath. The laughter of death.

It was the laugh of a true dragon.

"Respect?! Birthright?! You petty, pathetic fool! Do you really think that anyone would respect you?!" His laughter died down into a low chuckle, his eyes glowing with a more amused fire than an angry one. "Respect is not given by 'rights'; it is earned. Your sister earned her subject's love and affection: she has cared for, mothered, guided and protected Equestria as a whole like it was her child. Even during your banishment, through the worst centuries of her life, she stayed to love the ponies that tore her apart from you, when by all 'rights' she should've destroyed them long ago. That is why mortals respect and love her."

His amusement vanished into rage as his sneer became a snarl of anger.

"You, on the other 'hoof', are nothing more than a spoiled brat: where your sister has gone through hell and back to earn her love, you lazed around in your tower demanding mortals to give you what you want on a silver, silk-clothed platter, without doing anything to prove to them that you and your night was trustworthy. And when you didn't get it, you threw a fit and try to kill whoever denied you, even when it was to help you!"

There! With those final three words, he charged full throttle the distant wall; he spotted the shadow of one of the pillars bulge as something traveled through it. Horns connected against flesh, and with a sound like pushing through tar, the dragon slammed into and wrenched the screaming Nightmare Moon out of the shadow plain and together they went crashing through the far wall...and plummeted down into the darkness below.

"Ah, Dammit!" He barely had time to yelp as he fell into the hidden room. He barely had time to spit another curse before he collided into the solid stone floor, creating a massive crash as he tumbled forward, smashing through row after row of old, termite-eaten pews, reducing them to splinters as he slid to a stop.

...what was this place?

Head still spinning from the tumble, he lifted it to take in the surroundings of the room he entered. It was vast, in both size and height, the broken ceiling standing high above him. Lined up across the room were four sections of pews (one of which he was sitting in the rubble of), all facing a stone altar at the far end of the room. As he stood up, he stepped on paper; he looked down to see dozens of worm-eaten hymns and scrolls covering the floor like piles of snow, the long-faded scribblings of song and music still visible to his eyes. He looked up to the altar, which he saw stand beneath what was once a grand glass window, still surprisingly intact: it was the image of a beautiful white alicorn, wing spread in flight, with a crown like the sun upon her head and the heavens behind her back, shining beams of light through her feathers upon all the tiny ponies happily dancing below.

And beneath the image were scribbles carved into the window's base, and the Magic Crafter part of his mind went to work translating them; soon said scribbles turned into words before his very eyes, and they spoke of this message:

High Praise to Solus Celestia. May her light shine upon her blessed foals, and may all darkness perish to her glory.

"They did not just adore her and ignore me, you know."

Spyro turned around to see Nightmare Moon step forward; her body bore the marks of his horns upon her side, yet she still stood strong...but her glare was not aimed at the dragon. It instead sent hatred and jealousy to the image of her sister, which even in the dark seem to shine with a god-like glory.

"What is this place?" He asked.

"The grand church of The Order of Celestial Light." Nightmare Moon hissed, spitting the name as if it was poison. "The ponies did not just admire my sister; they worshiped her as a goddess. They wanted someone to put all their love, adoration, and dependence into, and they chose my sister; the one they viewed as the pony who single-handedly defeated Discord, who brought them the light of day they loved so much." She looked down at the floor, grinding a hoof against the rotten pages beneath it. "At first they were harmless enough; they simply lived their lives to their little religion and simply encouraged others to do the same, so my sister didn't object; she even allowed them to build this church in one of the castle wings, as a means of easier communication with them."

Her glare hardened, and for a second Spyro spotted a flash of true emotion in those draconic eyes. "But then they grew out of control. Their numbers and influence spread across all of Equestria, and as they grew so did their religion's lore: they decided that if Celestia was the light, there had to be someone else to be the dark. The evil to face off against the good. A Devil to pair with their God."

Spyro didn't need to be as smart as Bianca or Elora to know where this was going.

"You."

Nightmare Moon stayed silent, then spoke with a heavy voice. "Yes. Me." She spat. "They began to turn on me like I was the worst monster to grace Equestria. They began to blame me for everything bad that happened, no matter how small and petty: they claimed I was the source of all evil, and that all suffering and misfortune in the world was thanks to my 'taint' of night. It got so far as they would prosecute me whenever I left the castle, and even the servant staff avoided me like the plague." She looked up at Celestia's image, a mix of hate yet despair filling her eyes. "Celestia tried to dissuade their beliefs through mere words, but the roar of the crowd simply drowned out hers, and she refused to take any further action...no matter how much they tormenting me.

"It was during the Summer Solar Celebration that the last straw fell. As I stood to lower the moon to make way for the sun, the high priest of the church approached my sister and I and declared to the whole world that I was a demon in disguise. He preached out that I had tainted and possessed Celestia's sister in my mother's womb and that I sought to overthrow her and bring forth Eternal Night." She barked a hollow laugh. "Ironic, isn't it? Celestia tried to speak against his words, but everything she said was ignored completely; he claimed that she was simply being deceived by the 'demon's poisonous tongue'."

"They ignored the words of their own so-called goddess?" Spyro asked, cocking an eye-ridge.

"In one ear and out the other." The alicorn snarled in hate. "He then led the crowd in a 'prayer' against the evil, claiming that all suffering and misery in the world would not end until Celestia vanquished my evil presence from the world and brought forth a glorious era of Eternal Day, where everyone would live in peace and happiness under their goddess's light. It was when they started throwing stones that I left in tears...while through it all my sister simply stood there and did nothing!"

"And the following night was when you took on the persona of Nightmare Moon?" Spyro asked.

Nightmare Moon merely nodded. "I decided that if they wanted a monster, they would get one. If my sister would not do anything to halt their words, then I would force their mouths shut by giving them the Eternal Night they so dreaded!" She was yelling by this point. "There could only be one true princess to rule Equestria, and that princess was me! I swore then and there that Equestria would be mine, even if I had to kill everyone in my path to get it!"

The dragon's ears flicked up at those last words.

"That night I refused to lower the sun for my sister, and we did battle for the crown; while she may have been older and wielded stronger magic, she had always been soft and bleeding-hearted, and years of peace had made her weak! Far too weak to stand against my newfound power! But even then...even then...I LOST! THAT BITCH USE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY-MY ELEMENTS OF HARMONY-AGAINST ME AND SEALED ME WITHIN THAT ACCURSED ROCK FOR A THOUSAND YEARS!"

With that angry scream, she fired a blast of magic at the window; with a great crash, it shattered into a million pieces and rained down across the church interior. Spyro whipped up a wing to shield his face from the shards, lowering it to see the full moon standing out against the night sky where the image of the sun use to be.

"But I have returned...after waiting, training, and planning for this day for ten centuries, I have finally returned to Equestria! The elements have lost their powers, and my pathetic sister has fled into hiding. The only thing that stands in my way are those six mares..." She sent the dragon a glare that would kill a lesser being. "...and you."

She took a battle ready stance, wings flaring open and horn lighting up with magic, as her mane turned into a swirling mass of thunderous cloud. "You are the only true threat that stands between me and the throne of Equestria. You may be strong for a wyrmling, but mark my words, drake: I will not lose to the likes of you! I will slay you like the beast you are, destroy the elements of harmony, and you and your little friends will never see your precious princess or your sun again!

"THE NIGHT. WILL LAST. FOREVER!"

Lightning flash through her mane, bringing claps of thunder to roar alongside her wicked, maniacal laughter. Spyro stood there, watching the alicorn with eyes narrowed in thought, studying the alicorn under a suspicious gaze...until he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and whispered three little words.

"Rii Vaaz Gaaf!"

Nightmare Moon's laughter turned into an outright demonic wail of agony, a warped, echoing wail of dozens of voices screaming at once, as a wall of black tar-like fluid was ripped from her body and thrown into the air, only to be yanked in place by ghostly blue chains. And Spyro merely stepped back and took in the sight of his shout's work, while Twilight Sparkle entered the room in a hurry, only to skid to a halt and gape in horror at the sight before her.

The true form of Nightmare Moon.

Long tendrils thrashed and fang-filled maws gnashed angrily as the giant mass of black magic as large as Spyro thrashed and struggled against its binds, roaring and screaming with demonic voices filled with pure hatred and malice. It's form was made of a thick liquid substance that resembled pitch-back tar, mixed with the swirling mass of blue and purple magic that was her other form's mane, and extended in numerous dripping tentacle-like tendrils as weaved and whipped about like angry snakes, tearing at anything they could reach. Huge, skeletal bat-like wings flapped furiously, trying to pull away from the spot, flinging dark liquid across the floor with each flap. The form had three heads formed from larger tendrils, each resemble the skull of the horse, snapping and roaring with wide jaws filled with sharp sword-like teeth, a long blade-like horn mounted on each of the skulls' forehead, and the six eyes were balls of ghostly-blue flame.

As horrifying as the sight was, it was the sight of what stood between the monstrous entity that shook Twilight to the core.

Standing where Nightmare Moon once did, struggling to stand firm despite her obvious agony, was the lost Princess Luna herself. She was trapped within a swirling storm-like mass of the Nightmare's mane, no bigger than Princess Cadence, and in horrible condition. Her body was covered in scars, gashes, cuts, and bruises from hundreds of injuries, and the ones Spyro had dealt were nowhere to be seen; she had brutally beaten and tortured regularly, and she was very weak. her face twisted in horrific pain and dozens of tear streaks coating her cheeks. But what stood out the most were the chains: giant, ghostly chains formed of pure night magic, wrapped around her neck, barrel, and limbs and their cuffs nailed in place with bloodied pikes, held taught between herself and the mass above her...but as Spyro realized, it was the monster that was struggling against them, not her.

"So, the truth comes out at last." Spyro growled, tense and on guard for the first time he started the fight. "Now, who are you really? What is your true name?"

The monster's tendrils continued to thrash and struggling, but all three head turned their demonic gaze to the dragon, glaring down on him like a mutant black hydra, and when they spoke it was comparable to listening to a choir of demons.

"We are the Nightmare Forces." They answered in unison. "We are the ones who hide in the darkness of a child's bedroom. In the shadows of a forest. In the hearts of the wicked. We are the children of Fear."

Twilight was beyond terrified now; she wanted to run. Wanted to hide. Wanted to get far far away from that thing...but she couldn't. She was locked in place, unable to move, every bit of fear and terror she had ever felt in her entire life all rushing forth in sheer horror.

"We approached the princess during her darkest hour, as we do to all ponies: we also seek to rid ourselves of the accursed light, so we revealed ourselves and offered her the power to gain her desires, in return for ridding us of Celestia." They continued, their thrashing slowly to a minor struggle. "She accepted, and we infused our essence into her emotions, and together we became Nightmare Moon."

Spyro scowled. "I bet you didn't say anything about the whole 'possessing her body and turning her evil' bit when you offered her free power. huh?"

"She made a deal with us!" The Nightmare snarled, wings flaring. "We offered her power, and she accepted. What happened afterwards was her fault and her fault alone! How did you know of our existence, and how have you separated us from our host?!"

It was then Twilight finally managed to take a single step backwards...only to bump against a hall table set next to the door, knocking over and breaking an ancient vase with an audible crash. All three heads whipped their gaze to her direction, eyes blazing with murderous intent, and before the poor unicorn could scream in terror, they launched themselves at her with roars of hatred and bloodlust.

"NO!" Luna cried, and with a sickening tear of flesh, she pulled with all her strength; the chains went taught, and the heads screamed in rage as they were yanked back just inches away from ending one of the bearers. "You will not harm her!"

"BLOOD! GIVE US BLOOD!" The Nightmare roared, thrashing against its chains. "DO NOT DENY US BLOOD!"

"You will not harm her!" The princess screamed, her skin tearing against the pikes and fresh blood running down her neck and limbs.

"ONLY ONE NEEDS TO DIE! JUST ONE!" They roared; their tendrils whipped around and began striking the alicorn in a desperate attempt to get to Twilight, who was already scrambling back down the hall. "THEY ARE THE ENEMY! THEY DESERVE SUFFERING! WE WANT BLOOD!"

"You will not harm her!" Luna repeated, standing strong against the beating.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"

"YOU WILL NOT HARM HER!"

With a final pull, the nightmare was forcefully yanked away from the hall, and the smaller pony escaped back into the depths of the castle. The nightmare gave a truly monstrous scream of rage before turning it's full wrath upon the alicorn it was forcefully bound to, whipping forth over a dozen tentacles to brutally beat down Luna, splattering the ground with her blood. "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" It continued to scream over and over, each strike more forceful than the last. Yet Luna stayed strong, even as her blood stained the earth and her bones broke, and refused to cancel the spell binding them together in chains.

"That's how I found out about you." Spyro spoke up, his voice punching through the screams like a thunderclap. "It was only a suspicion when you didn't possess Steven Magnet, a Soul Bearer, in the same manner you possessed the Manticore, but the clincher was when you attempt to murder Rainbow Dash back out near the bridge, but stopped at the literal last second." He grinned triumphantly. "You can't actually hurt anyone, can you?"

All three heads froze, raising their now outright apoplectic glares at the dragon. "Silence, Bastard!" They barked.

"Oh, you want to hurt people. No doubt about that." He continued, unfazed by the eyes of hell staring him down. "If you had your way, you wouldn't have settled on mere scare tactics and obstacles blocking the ponies' quest to stop you. No, you would've gone all out: you would've drenched the forest floor with their blood. You would've beaten them within an inch of their lives, ripping their bodies apart limb from limb, and relish in their dying screams as you left them for the beasts...but for all the hate and bloodlust you embody, you can't harm a single hair on their heads!"

"I SAID SILENCE!"

"Because no matter how wrathful or sadistic you are, you are still bonded to Luna and her emotions, just as you said!" The dragon outright roared back. "And in the end, all she wanted was to be loved by her subjects as much as she loved them! For all her bitterness, for all the poison she endured by this church, in the end she still loves her subjects, and she simply made a mistake believing you would help her gain their love in return! And as long as even a part of her remains in that monster you call Nightmare Moon, even if you attack her day after day, she would rather die than allow you to hurt a single pony!"

"A-And if..." Luna suddenly choked out, coughing up a mouthful of blood. "...I-I do face d-death...for my c-crimes..." She glared up at the nightmare in defiance. "...I'll drag you t-to Tartarus with me!"

At that something snapped, and the Nightmare Forces roared...not yelled-roared...in absolute anger and hatred before turning into a wave of shadow that struck the princess head on, swirling around her as they forcefully fused back together, her light-blue fur turning back to black.

"Dragon!" Luna cried desperately as she tried to stay afloat, the shadows dragging her back into the void. "Y-You must stop me! Please! Stop me before it's too late!"

That was all she managed to get out before she was pulled under, and the shadows burst forth to reveal the restored Nightmare Moon, glaring dagger of unadulterated malice at the purple dragon, and even then she managed a grinning sneer. "I may be unable to harm ponies thanks to my softer half..." She growled, and with a flash of her horn dozens of large, crystalline swords materialized from her magic. "...but her love for them does not extend to your kind, so there's nothing stopping me from mounting your head on a pike!"

The swords shot forward, rocketing toward the dragon with trails of sparkling blue magic. This time, though, Spyro dodged the enchanted weapons, leaping away with the nimbleness of a deer, before leaping forward in a pounce with an angry roar. Nightmare Moon barely avoided being torn to pieces by his claws as they slashed at her; she flapped back out of reach and sent the swords after him again. Spyro quickly spun around to face them and threw his wings up, crossing them in front of himself like a mighty shield. The swords exploded against the fiery-glowing membrane with bright bursts of magic, lighting up the church ruins like dozens of fireworks.

Through the thick smoke and flashing lights, he retracted his wings and leapt forward with another pounce, body still flaming as he roared in rage. This time, however, Luna dodged by quickly taking to the skies; she wasn't going to let her guard down this time, and with her body healed, she was now at full fighting form.

The ground shook as long, bronze-colored claws punctured through the stony floor, barely missing the pony's tail by a split second, the sheer mass of the beast crashing upon the earth with the force of a small meteor. His head whipped up after the air-borne alicorn, snarling with primal rage; his enormous wings snapped outwards before he too leapt up with a might flap, taking flight with the wind-lash of a small twister.

It is well known that dragons, while strong, are rather slow flyers; their sheer size and weight, combined with their massive wingspans, made them creatures that calmly soared through the sky, only moving fast when diving prey. So it's easy to understand why Nightmare Moon, someone who had out-flown the sluggish lizards before, was caught off-guard as Spyro tore past her with speeds that could surpass Rainbow Dash. And precision too: as he rocketed past her, he slammed into her with incredible force with his head, catching her with one of his horns just enough to strike her without knocking her for a loop. It took all the alicorn had to keep from screaming in agony as the horn gored her left side and tore clean through, spraying the air and dragon in her blood.

She gritted her teeth in pain as she fought against it, struggling to keep herself airborne; each flap of her wings sent a burst of blood gushing from the wounds, staining her right side and thigh red. She looked up as the dragon descend back down from above, stopping his descendant to hover before her. His great glowing wings beat with the strength of a tornado. His mighty tail swished back and forth like a great river. His glowing chest burned with the fiery power on an erupting volcano. His impenetrable scales shone in the light of her moon. And his fiery eyes burned upon her with the anger and vengeance of the very world itself.

It was clear who was the greater of these two beings.

And she hated him. Those burning, power-filled eyes stared down upon her as if she were a but a child throwing a tantrum. Eyes that looked down at her and all her regal glory and power, yet saw nothing more than a foal trying to make herself out to be a mare. Eyes of a wretched, disgusting, damnable creature who viewed her not as the divine almighty goddess she was, but as a simple, spoiled mortal trying to put on a show of pride and greed.

Eyes that she had once seen long, long ago, on the one she knew as family.

With a cry of anger, she summoned more swords and shot them forward: He merely swatted them aside with a lash of his tail, not even flinching. He snorted afterwards, his glare hardening.

Gritting her teeth even harder, she tried casting a spell that would turn him into a mouse: The magic washed over him briefly before a surge of power erupted from within him, tearing her magic asunder. He bared his teeth slightly as a soft growl rumbled from his throat.

Her face twisted into an almost animalistic snarl as she just dropped the artful approach and simply fired solid magic energy, a beam of what resembled blue, sparkling fire erupting from her horn: the furious magic crashed against and washed over his chest, flowing over him like water. This time he was pushed back a bit, but he recovered with a grunt of effort, merely putting more strength into staying in place, not taking any damage other than a few cracked scales. His eyes seem to glow even brighter and angrier in response, as if absorbing her magic for himself.

"You truly believe you are divine, don't you?" He asked, his tone that of someone insulted. "Even now, when you have fallen to the most primitive form of magic just to try to make me flinch."

"WE ARE A GOD!" Nightmare Moon screamed in fury, her eyes briefly flashing white. "WE MOVE THE VERY CELESTIAL BODIES THEMSELVES! WE SET THE VERY CYCLE OF NIGHT AND DAY INTO MOTION! LOOK UPON THAT AND TELL US WE ARE NOT OF DIVINE POWER!"

With another flare of her horn, great chains of black crystal and blue gemstones erupted from the earth far below; they tore through the air, their mighty links rattling with the sounds of clashing metal, intent of ripping the dragon limb from limb. This time Spyro did dodge the attack, skillfully evading the numerous chains with fast and almost graceful spins, flips, and aerial maneuvers that would certainly impress the wonderbolts; it almost looked as if he was dancing in the air. And the whole while, he moved in a way that allowed his tail to cleave and tear through the chains as he dodged them, the mighty links shattering and falling to the ground in long ropes or shattered fragments. This continued on for a good few minutes, before he spun to a stop, every chain destroyed.

"The act of moving the sun and moon would be impressive, were they not corrupted." The dragon spat as he resumed simply hovering in front of her, not at all winded by his extensive movements. "Had this world not been twisted by chaos, the ability to do such would be impossible."

Nightmare's nose wrinkled in righteous disgust. "What slander are you speaking this time?"

Spyro's eyes narrowed. "That is none of your concern anymore, nor will it ever be again..." He hissed with a reptilian cruelty; the tone of his voice told her that he was tiring of this little game. "Do you know the damage you are causing to this land through your actions? Are you even aware of the sheer level of evil you brought upon this world?"

He extended a hand out, motioning the extensive view of the land. "This isn't just about you trying to kill your sister: it's also about you killing off your entire home. You and Celestia control the very solar cycle itself: I know you understand what would've happen during your Eternal Night. The crops dying and ponies freezing is only the sugar-coated version of the story: without the warmth of the sun, the world would freeze over, growing colder and colder by the minute. Soon, even if they had the means to make fire, even the dragons wouldn't be able to resist freezing to death, if they hadn't starved to death already, and even then it wouldn't stop. The world would enter an Ice Age of the likes never seen before, and would only go colder and colder until it would be as cold as the space the planet floats in, and not even bacteria would survive. But did you care? No! You nightmares are aware of this, and yet you deliberately tried to kill off an entire world in the slowest, coldest, most horrible way imaginable! And why?"

With those final words spoken, The Nightmare Princess finally snapped:

"Because no one was stupid enough to go out into your death-filled darkness to stare up at the stars!"

"DAMN YOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!"

With an enraged roar, the alicorn erupted with power and soared up into the air, blazing with the power of a thousand stars; Spyro hissed in pain as the increasing magical energy force him to hover back a few flaps. Nightmare Moon continued to scream as her horn blazed with the full might and force of her alicorn-hood; the moon shone brightly in the night, as if pouring its power into her body, the very air vibrating from the blue and white fire blazing from her horn, and any mortal witnessing the sight would've believed that a god had descended upon the land in all her glory.

And with one final, furious scream, she blasted the dragon with every spark of her nightly magic in one, single, solid, giant, fiery beam of pure alicorn power.

*BOOOOOMM!*

---

Celestia's heart all but stopped when she recognized the signature of the explosion of magic.

---

...The dust billowed around and fill Nightmare Moon's vision as slowly stumbled through the air, clumsily flapping her wings as she fell from the sky and collapsed to the ground in front of the ruins. Her body was drained, physically, mentally...and magically: she had poured every last drop of her magical aura into that one final attack: a sheer magical blast that she obtained by tapping her power into the very moon itself. It was an attack that was meant to be used in extreme emergencies only, fore it would be another good hundred years before she have the strength to use it again...and the damage it would cause was a danger to Equestria as well as its enemies:

The beam had leveled everything within its path. Stretching far out deeper into the Everfree was a massive canyon now torn into the earth, measuring over two hundred feet wide and almost twice that in depth, extending for what could've been miles into the forest. The trees lining the crumbling-fresh edges of the canyon were blazing with blue flames, smoke billowing into the skies, while a blizzard of ash floated down from above, covering the trees for miles or disappearing into the new depths below.

...and yet, she felt nothing but satisfaction, and from her chest bubbled a truly wicked laugh of victory. She had done it: she had blasted that wretch of a dragon clean off the face of the earth! Equestria was hers for all eternity, and the night would finally last forever-!

*SLASH!*

Pain...unlike anything she had ever felt before rocketed through her skull; it felt as though someone had taken a red hot poker and shove it directly through her horn, all the way down to her brain...only, she realized from the blood gushing down it face...she didn't have her horn anymore.

Her explosion had silenced all ambiance in the forest, and thus it was perfectly quiet...

...meaning there was nothing to stop the soft clink of her blooded, decapitated horn from echoing across the plateau as it landed in front of her.

"You filthy whore. That HURT."

'No...it...it's not...possible...!' She thought as tears of horror came to her eyes It...it couldn't be...that...that had been her strongest attack! It was all her magic! Her godhood! Every last bit of the power that RAISED AND LOWERED THE VERY FORCES OF THE COSMOS ITSELF! HOW?! HOW COULD HE STILL BE ALIVE?!

As the dust and ash finally began to settle, revealing the dragon standing before her, and she screamed in horror.

Spyro stood before her, having been barely pushed back by the blast...or what remained of him. Hollow eye sockets stared down at her with a skeletal grin of sharp teeth, the bones of his neck rattling together as he shifted his body awkward. His head, neck, right shoulder and arm had been completely stripped of flesh, leaving nothing but his skeleton blackened by magical energy burn. The flesh where the burn off began was charred and smoking, blood running down his torso in rivers; she could hear the faint beating of his mighty heart now that the flesh sealing it away was open top-wise, and he continued to breathe despite lacking a throat.

"H-How..." She whimpered, terror and pain filling her voice. "H-How are y-you s-still a-alive?!"

The skeletal jaws opened and closed as he spoke, despite lacking a larynx. "You missed my heart."

What happened next was truly horrific, and would haunt Luna's dreams for years to come; the dragon's bony jaws opened and he gave a beastly roar of pain as the flesh of his wound burst with a fiery glow. As if by magic, the glowing blood flowed up his bony limb and neck in thick columns of red, wrapping around the bones and shaping out what had been burned away. Sickly pops and tears of meat sounded across the plateau as the red fluid form out flesh and muscle, the bones disappearing as flesh, tendons, nerves, and eventually skin and scales grew back over them. His sockets filled with fire before turning into new eyes, and his flexed his lips and tongue as the last touches grew back, leaving the dragon fully restored.

"Regenerative powers I inherited from the Hydra Dragon." Spyro explained, flexing the fingers of his newly-formed paw. "As long as my heart is intact, I can regenerate from any wound, no matter how grave. Still hurts like hell, though."

*CRACK! FLASH!*

Both alicorn and dragon looked up as the very sky itself seem to crack as if made of glass; for a split second, a spider's web of glowing-white cracks formed in the air with a crack like shattering glass, only to disappear in another flash of light.

"What was that!" Nightmare Moon demanded, even as the blood ran down her face.

Spyro cocked his head. "Looks like someone's been using Reconnaissance Magic to watch us from afar." He told her. "Princess Celestia, if I had to guess, watching her little chess game from her hiding place. My body's natural aura acts as a barrier against such magics, however, so she's probably been blind since I first arrived."

Nightmare Moon looked stunned, staring up where the magic was with a hollow dread. "My sister...was watching me?"

"Yes." Spyro stated, turning his glare at the broken alicorn. "And I'm done playing. Rii Vaaz Gaaf!"

The shout blasted through the alicorn at full force, and once again the echoing wail of the Nightmare's dozens of voices roared out as the dark spirit was separated from its host; the massive writhing form of black life roared and thrashed, desperately trying to pull itself away from the struggling body of Princess Luna, but remained in place as the ghostly chains of Luna's magic held it down.

But those chains would go taut for the last time, for the purging of Princess Luna began as Spyro lit up his tailblade with the golden element of Light and, with a roaring battlecry, slammed it into the first chain full force. The magically-forge material shattered almost immediately under the blow, and the first head thrashed free, screaming in shock and fear.

"W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Luna cried. "YOU'LL SET IT FREE!"

"And separate it from its power source, so I can end it with my own claws!" Spyro roared, eyes blazing, as he swung again, shattering the second chain.

"The Nightmare must be destroyed!" The princess pleaded weakly, her body going limp as her burdens shattered one by one. "Please! I have to do this! I have keep Equestria from suffering for my actions!"

"Leave that to me." Spyro assured her, his gaze softening at her for a split second, before turning hard as stone once more at the final chain. "I was brought here to save all of ponykind, and that includes you!"

And with that final cry, he swung his tail and shattered the final chain. And for the first time in a thousand years, Princess Luna was finally free...and the Nightmare Forces barely had time to attempt to flee before the purple dragon slammed into them and carried it off in flight.

Folding his wings outwards, Spyro jerked out into a high-speed glide only a few meters from the earth, tearing across the plateau and alongside the outer palace wall at incredible speeds. The thrashing, roaring mass didn't have any time to prepare before it was slammed into the wall with an explosion of rock, dirt, and blood; it could only scream long and loud as it was dragged along the structure, bringing it down with a continuous spray of rock and dirt as they tore through, ripping it's mass apart and spraying the ground with its black ooze. Spyro gave a monstrous roar as he did so, his eyes glowing so brightly that his pupils were barely visible.

He then tore away, flapping hard as he bolted back up into the sky, flying higher and higher, and continued to go higher until he and his captive breached the cloud barrier. Flashes of lightning lit up the inside of the cloud, revealing the rolling black forms.

Spyro gave a stern bark of a growl before he promptly threw the flailing Nightmare into the sky; the dark spirit barely had time to give a garbled scream before it was slammed by the dragon rocketing past at full force, tearing out its left side in the process. The three-headed darkness didn't even have time to recover from the first blow before the dragon came at it again, coming out from the other side and crashing into it head on, sending it spinning through the air as he disappeared into the clouds. He then came at it again, and again, and again, and again! It was as the monster was being attacked by twenty dragons at once, all working in unison to rip it apart piece by piece as they tore past, disappearing just before the other appeared. Like a bolt of purple lightning he attacked again and again, pounding and tearing at the blackness from every angle without mercy, until the very clouds began to stain black with its body. His teeth flashed lightning as he tore into the shadows. His roar bellowed louder than any thunderclap. Ans his eyes burned with pure white fire found only in hell.

Then it came, the final attack: in a brief let-up from the beat-down, a bloodied and mangled Nightmare screamed in rage, its form thrashing wickedly as it attempted to flee into the night. "YOU THINK YOU'VE WON?!" Its three heads roared in promise of revenge. "WE ARE BUT LEGION, FOR WE ARE MANY THROUGHOUT THIS WORLD! WE WILL RETURN! WE WILL FIND A NEW HOST! AND YOU WILL RUE THE DAY YOU STEPPED FOOT IN OUR WORLD, SPYRO THE DRAGON!"

Spyro glared after the fleeing demon, eyes glowing white...and then grinned a draconian sneer as the glow of rainbow light shone down from below.

"Not THIS time." He growled as the Elements of Harmony fired their magic up into the sky...and struck the dragon full force.

The rainbow-colored energy struck him directly in the chest, where it fused into his fire and spread out across his body, running through the gaps between his scales like veins through skin; his dorsal spines' glow changed from orange to alternating flashes of rainbow, while his wings snapped open to reveal the glowing rune symbols blooming into a blinding brilliance of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple across the membrane. His eyes glowed a brilliant white, and the flames in his mouth began to crackle and swirl with the magic of Equestria's greatest power.

'So, these are the Elements of Harmony.' He thought to himself.

The nightmare flapped harder and harder, writhing through the air in panic, but was unable to flee or fight as the dragon unleashed the fury of the elements; from his mouth erupted a column of dragon fire infused with the power of Equestria, roaring brightly with all the colors of the rainbow. With incredible speed and range, the rainbow fire was upon the black mass in seconds, and the three heads could only scream as the Nightmare Forces were erased from existence itself in a fiery blaze of white.

Spyro landed on all fours on one of the castle's towers, watching as what remained of the nightmare rained down in a flurry of ash and smoke, never to harm anyone again. He felt it bubbling up from deep within, rising up his throat with gusto; with the light of the rising sun, he reared back on his hind legs, spread his mighty glowing wings, lifted his head to the sky, and released the loudest, strongest, most ferocious victory roar the world of Equestria had even heard, echoing across the land for all the world to hear.

Nightmare Moon was dead. Luna was freed. And Spyro the Dragon had won.