CHAPTER 2: VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

---

If there was one thing Spyro had zero tolerance for, it was the dead that wouldn't pass on.

As a dragon, Spyro was born and raised into a culture that revered life as a sacred force; at one point of their history, one of their greatest had gone as far as to master the art of reviving the dead of their kind using the legendary Thu'um, which could restore a fallen dragon to true life. Not as a reanimated corpse...not as a reincarnated newborn...not as a patch-work Frankenstein...but to fully and truly revive the dead: to restore them to life and let them continue living. This was thanks to the nature of Dragon Souls, which were immortal and powerful enough to be weaved back into living flesh, however the only dragon who had mastered this shout had been slain eons ago, and the shout had been lost to time.

Still, as a result of its existence, dragons understood just how sacred life was; their kind had once stared into the other side of the world and learned the true difference between life and death, and what it meant to bridge the gap between both realms.

Thus any form of undead or any lesser attempt to create artificial life was considered a blasphemous disgrace to life itself. It was a violation of the most sacred of forces, and no amount of purpose of grief was enough to justify making a bastardized mockery of it. There was a reason Spyro sought to wipe out as many undead as he could whenever he encountered them; zombies and skeletons would fall to his flames in the hundreds, while any ghost he encountered would quickly learn what it meant to feel fear of the dead.

So it was understandable he refused to feel anything for the ghost of this little filly he was currently glaring down, regardless of how old she must've been when she had died. Was it a pity that a child had died? Of course, but nothing justified soiling the land of the living with her undead aura by refusing to pass on.

It was also the first time that he was able to get a good enough look at the filly to really see what she was: her tail and mane were styled in a way that was similar to Twilight's, although not entirely identical. Her coat was a pale shade of gray while her mane and tail were vibrant shades of yellow and orange, each patterned in vertical stripes. Her colors reminded up of candy corn, which only made his hungry stomach rumble even more. Apart from being semi-transparent, another giveaway to her undead nature were her eyes: the pupil and iris of each eye were identical shades of yellow, glowing with a ghostly yellow light.

"Now, tell me: what business does the dead have to remain in the land of the living?" He asked the filly, fire crackling in the back of his throat as he spike. "The fact that you've left your physical body yet haven't passed on tells me that something is prompting you to stay bound to the earth. A petty emotional reason, I'm sure, but that's what I've come to expect from you mortals by now."

The filly's face remained completely emotionless, but even then the dragon saw a small prick of emotion in her eyes.

"I can't move on." She said, plain and simple.

"Of course you 'can't'." Spyro growled, not at all phased by the ghost's hollow spectral voice, turning away and pacing the forest's edge. "So, what is it for you? Vengeance against a murderer? A final message to a loved one? A lost belonging you refuse to leave behind? I highly doubt you're a damned soul on the run from judgement, given your eyes glow yellow, but that just make the fact you're still here even more infuriating...you do realize I'm only asking out of jest; I have yet to hear a reason not to force you into the afterlife myself."

"You don't understand." She said calmly, visibly un-phased by the thinly-veiled threat. "I can't move on."

"BULLSHIT AND YOU KNOW IT!"

The sheer volume of his roar had the very trees for miles shaking as if from an earthquake; birds and bats scattered from the canopy in the hundreds, shrieking and squawking in panic.

"You are dead, filly! DEAD! Your continuing existence is a disgrace to what it means to be alive! Fully and truly alive!" He snarled, eyes blazing with power that made the dead filly take a step back. "You think you're the first soul who didn't want to ascend? The first who had unfinished business on the mortal plane? Every single mortal in the universe will face death eventually, and no matter what they are bound by Universal Law to leave the land of the living, for they no longer have a place in it."

He stepped back, closing his eyes to calm himself. When he spoke again, it was in a calm yet dark tone, his glare never leaving her gaze.

"Every second you spend in this realm is a second you spend breaking the very law of the universe itself; the laws that control the very forces of existence. Laws that even gods are bound to." He told her, unflinching and without pity. "And you risk angering powers that you can't even begin to comprehend. So I will ask you one last time..." He lowered his head to where his face was mere feet away from hers, eyes locking. "Why are you still here?"

The filly stared at him in silence, those few tense seconds feeling like miniature eternities. Then, without a word, she turned around and began walking back into the forest. Spyro was just about to outright explode with rage when she stopped and looked back, staring at him expectantly.

The message was clear: Follow Me.

---

Spyro was not a happy dragon.

Not a happy dragon at all.

He stormed through the Everfree in a mood, thoroughly fed up with this accursed forest; tiny lifeforms of this world's native fauna (and maybe flora) scrambled to get out of his path, his paws slamming into the earth with more force than necessary. The sun had long risen above the mountains and into the sky, though it would still be climbing for a few more hours; his stomach was growling for food, and his feet were sore from all the walking he was being forced to do, his wings bound to his sides thanks to these damn trees.

All around him, the forest slowly began to awaken; birds chirping in the trees, frogs croaking from distant water sources, and insect sounds coming from all around them. Though they were mostly distant sounds; those of creatures nearby quickly fell silent as he passed, then started up again when he was a good distance away from them.

The dragon grunted in satisfaction; at least the nature of this world knew to respect its new alpha...

...or perhaps they were all naturally fearful of his ghostly guide, who continued on without a word or sound; even her footfalls made no sound, and left no footprints. Made sense; animals had a sixth sense to avoid unnatural dangers, and nothing was more unnatural than the walking dead.

This was not how he wanted to spend the first day of his new adventure. First days usually dealt with introductions to a new land, new friends explaining who was the bad guy and telling him how to begin the quest, and maybe gathering local treasure to pay Moneybags so he could continue to the first world gate; hell, he already had plans to head back to the first World Gate to find the others and bring them back to...Pony Town, was it? Instead, after dealing with a 'mini-boss' straight from the start, he was immediately following after a ghost and preparing to deal matters of the other side, all in the same morning!

He really regretted not taking Celestia's offer to head back to pony town with Twilight and her friends. Hell, Pinkie was making talk about a party! A party! To celebrate the return of a lost princess; that meant it was going to be of a grand scale! Food, drink, music, and women! ...Actually, forget the women; he had seen what female ponies had to offer, and it was more than a little disappointing. Still, he was hungry before the fight! Maybe if he was lucky, he could make it back in time for the party, if only to get some food if nothing else...

His next step landed on dirt, and the dragon found himself stepping out of the trees and onto a dirt path that led into the forest. He caught sight of hoofprints in the dirt and realize he was back on the path that Twilight and her friends had used to traverse the Everfree before he arrived (he could tell it was before; there was a distinct lack of his own dragon footprints near theirs).

He and the ghost continued down this path, and he was beginning to think he was being lead back to the ruins, when they reached the groove where the Nightmare had cursed the trees (now sporting a huge, smoking hole in the middle), when the filly suddenly turned to the left and pushed her way through the bushes, revealing a hidden path that led deeper into the denser part of the forest.

Spyro cocked an eye-ridge; he hadn't seen that before. Then again, he was airborne when the mares had entered this part of the forest, so anything under the canopy would've been missed.

But that was something to contemplate later, and he pushed his way through the undergrowth and stepped out onto the new path.

Almost immediately he realized something was wrong, for when he stepped out onto the muddy ground he heard nothing...no birds, no frogs, no insects...nothing. Not even the wind through the trees. Everything was too quiet and still, like death. He could also feel something off in the forest around him; the essence of mana and life-force in the trees and plants around him...it felt...stagnant. There was no flow of magic through the earth and through the branches. He couldn't taste or feel the presence of aura in any of them...or of...

...THAT UNDEAD BRAT!

The dragon gave an angry roar and slammed his tail on the ground, sending an earthquake booming through the forest. The ghost filly had completely vanished from his senses; he couldn't see or feel her anywhere nearby, no matter how hard he focused! She was gone! Disappeared out of his range! When he caught up to that little sneak, he was going to exorcise her so hard she would be running laps around the afterlife for centuries!

But she had led him to where he needed to go. Pheh, leave it to ghosts to be all silent and cryptic...

He walked along the new path for a few minutes, his entire body tense and his mind on edge; this whole area had a bad aura about it, and he could feel something was very wrong. Like the very forest itself didn't want anyone coming this way, and did its best to drive off any would-be adventurers. But Spyro was not phased by mere tricks and bad vibes. He would get to the bottom of this, and see to it that whatever was the source of this filly's haunting was dealt with, one way or another.

And it looks like he would find the source of it soon enough, for further ahead he spotted the light of day shining through the trees at the end of the path. Eyes gleaming with determination, he trudged forward and made his way to the light.

The dragon stepped out of the trees and into the open to find himself on the edge of a small village, located in the large clearing in the forest, surrounded on all sizes by a thick wall of trees and plants. The village itself was very small, with only eight visible straw-roofed buildings in total and a few scattered gardens of vegetables, all connected by a single dirt street that circled the entire area; the main population was that of ponies, obviously, but he only spotted five scattered about. They appeared to be celebrating a party of their own, the entire town decorated in lights, streamers, and banners, along with tables set out with food and drink.

He only took a few steps forward into the village's entrance when one of the ponies approached him, grinning brightly, and wasting no time in greeting Spyro.

"Hi there, stranger! Greetings and welcome to Sunny Town!" He said with a smile that didn't quite look right; he then gave Spyro a look over. "Well, look at you! We've never had a dragon visit our little town before!" He then stepped back, holding out a hoof. "Gray Hoof at your service. Celebration planner extraordinaire!"

Spyro, however, remained silent and still as he studied this strange stallion. He certainly lived up to his name; his coat was completely grey in color, brightening into light grey down his legs, while his mane and tail were almost pitch-black. His eyes were an icy shade of blue, and there was something about the look in them that kept the dragon on edge. And finally the mark on his flank was...

...wait a minute, where was his mark?

Every pony Spyro had seen up until that moment had a brand-like symbol on their flanks, each differing between ponies...but Gray Hoof had none, his flanks being just...blank. He looked among the other ponies gathered in the party area and saw the same: every single one had blank flanks as well, not a mark to be seen.

Something about this lack of marks was making his instincts sound alarm bells in his head.

Gray Hoof's smiled faded when he noticed how quiet his new guest was being. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

Spyro blinked, jerked out of his train of thought. "Huh? Oh, it's nothing." He quickly lied, thinking up an alibi on the spot. "I'm just surprised to find a town of ponies this far out in the Everfree; you ponies never struck me as the 'living in danger' sort."

The stallion's smile returned with a understanding laugh. "Ah, we get that from everyone who comes through here." He stated, waving a hoof over the town. "You see, our town was founded during the age of Unicorn Dominance, and our ancestors were earth pony slaves who had escaped their masters, and so they fled into the Everfree to hide from them. After that, they just never left and built the town you see before you."

"I see..." The dragon stated. "The name's Spyro, by the way."

"Well, it's good to have you with us, Spyro." Gray Hoof said with that unsettling smile. "You've arrived just in time actually, the party just started! Feel free to help yourself to anything, make yourself right at home."

"A special occasion?" Spyro asked.

"Why yes! Today we're celebrating the town's founding anniversary, the most important holiday of our town!" The pony told him. "You're more than welcome to join us; Have some food, some drink, and enjoy yourself!"

Spyro nodded. "I will, thanks." He said before stepping forward; Gray Hoof nodded in approval himself before turning away to tend to some nearby lamps.

As he followed the road through the buildings, he studied the few other ponies he could see. There was a stallion had a faded yellowish orange coat with a cobalt shade of blue for his mane and tail, looking longingly at the mare with a snow-white coat and a mane and tail of a scarlet-orange hue. Further in town he spotted two more ponies; one was a stallion with a brownish green coat and a faded orange mane and tail, and the other was a mare with a leafy green coat, her mane and tail an even deeper shade of green. And just like Gray Hoof, all these ponies had blank flanks, not a mark to be seen.

And yet, despite all the warm smiles, bright colors, and pleasant personalities around him...Spyro found himself on edge, unable to relax. This little town seemed nice enough, but there was something about it...something he couldn't see or hear...but could definitely feel. There was a strange cold in the air, like the chill of a dark night, despite it being morning; it was clearly magical in nature, radiating off every building, object, and pony around him. There was something about this town that said 'you shouldn't be here', and his flight-or-fight instincts were on full-throttle, ready to leap into action.

Making his way to one of the table, he took notice of the white mare with the orange mane; she was looking off toward one of the houses with a longing expression; her orange mane shadowing her white face and giving her a mournful appearance.

"He hasn't said a word to me all night…" the pony sighed, looking longingly to the side; Spyro followed her gaze until he caught sight of the yellow/orange stallion with the blue mane. His snout wrinkled in knowing disgust; he knew that look, and the emotions behind it never failed to make him queasy.

"If you desire him, then just tell him so." He stated bluntly.

The mare looked up at him in shock. "Oh, no no no! It wouldn't be proper." The mare responded with a hint of distress in her voice, almost as if doing that would break some law.

The dragon could only groan with a roll of his eyes; why did mortals always have to make such a big deal out of the emotional mess that they called love? If you found someone attractive, you should just say so and get it out of the way; their answer would be the same no matter how long you waited before speaking. No one gained anything from all the fuss of the waiting, etiquette, traditions, and emotions that was the mortal's version of a mating courtship. So much trouble for something that shouldn't be trouble...

Normally, he would've ignored it and moved on, but instead he decided to fix it for them and get it out of the way; something to do to keep his mind distracted from the bad vibes this hamlet was sending him. So he left the white mare and approached the yellow stallion, who looked up at him in confusion.

"So, what's your name and what's the problem between you two?" He asked with the bluntness of a rusty hammer.

The pony looked surprised at the sudden bluntness of the question, but answered all the same. "My name is Roneo, and…well…see that mare over there?" He pointed a hoof toward the white pony. "Her name is Starlet, and I was planning to give her a gift tonight, but somehow I lost it! Now it's somewhere in the town and I won't be able to..."

"What was the gift?" Spyro asked, interrupting his trip of self-pity.

Roneo blinked, once again surprised by the forward bluntness of the dragon's questions. "I-It was a gem. Red; I think a ruby, maybe? I found it back when-"

The rest was lost to the wind, for Spyro had already turned away and began heading into town. The goal was obvious enough: find the shiny gemstone so the male could work up the courage to act and give it to the female. Classic mortal courtship tactic.

Well, this should be simple enough: dragons were experts when it came to finding and gathering gemstones and precious metals; they could spot a valuable fem from over six-thousand feet! He scanned the area with a sharp gaze, his dragon's eyes working full-throttle, all six optic nerves viewing lightwaves and colors on multiple levels that mortals couldn't even begin to comprehen-THERE!

The cluster of bushes behind the far building did a pathetic job hiding the glinting surface of a palm-sized ruby from the dragon's sight, and before one could count to three, he had made his way over and scooped up the gem with his claws, tearing out a few branches of the bushes in the process.

Mission accomplished...still...the way the ruby was lying underneath the bush was...odd. Had he had dropped the ruby in the bush, it would've gotten stuck in the branches and never made it to the ground, and even then it would been crooked and offset. But instead, it was lying perfectly flat on the ground, with no bent branches of folded leaves to say it had fallen through. Also, it was set in a very odd place: far on the edge of town directly behind a building set on the edge of the forest. Why on earth would someone be messing around in a out of the place like this that had nothing but overgrown vegetation with a giant ruby on their person (especially for a race that didn't have the appendages or magic to hold something like this)?

If was as if someone purposely hidden it back there...

"Oh my goodness, you found it! You found my gem!" Roneo exclaimed with joy as Spyro returned, the stallion leaping to his hooves as he spotted the ruby clutched between the dragon's fingers.

"Here." Spyro stated, simply tossing the gemstone in front of the pony's hooves. "There's no excuses holding you back now; get to the swooning and face-sucking already."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Roneo praised the dragon, completely ignoring the jab at his feelings; he then grabbed the gemstone in his mouth and galloped over to Starlet immediately; the white mare looked overjoyed just to be in the stallion's presence. Spyro grimaced as the shout of joy she gave at the sight of the present tore at his sensitive ears, even from a distance. The pair crossed their necks against one another, embracing in what he guessed was a pony's version of a hug, nuzzling and even peppering each other with kisses.

Spyro could only look away, grimacing in disgust. Why did he even bother getting involved again, knowing this was going to happen?

He was seriously just considering leaving when a new sound reached his ears, one he didn't expect to hear in this town of over-the-top smiles and cheer: sobbing. Heart-broken and guilt-ridden sobbing, coming from the same building Roneo had just been standing in the doorway of.

Well then. Perhaps he was finally onto something...now, to actually get in the building whose door was too small for a dragon.

---

The dimly-lit and dust-covered state of the warehouse matched the mood of its single inhabitant: an earth pony mare, lying on the ground with her head resting on her forelegs. Her mane and tail were crimson red; both were fairly long as it extended past her shoulders, styled in a wild yet attractive manner. Her coat was almost the same shade as Gray Hoof's and, like all the other ponies of the town, she lacked a cutie mark. However, she stood out from the others: unlike the other ponies outside, who were over-the-top happy and friendly, this mare looked absolutely miserable, her rusty-red eyes swollen and wet from countless tears.

Mitta must've heard Starlet's cry of joy over a million times by now, over all the centuries she had lived. The same cry of happiness and acceptance, as Roneo confessed his love to her, the same day over and over and over for who knows how many years. And yet, no matter how many times she had been forced to hear it, it never got any easier to bear, as it tore into her heart again and again, bringing forth a fresh new wave of tears.

But that was the nature of their state of being, wasn't it? The fate that they had brought upon themselves so long ago.

A fate they all deserved.

"I had a feeling something was up." A voice she had never heard before spoke up. "Everyone outside was too pleasant."

She was on her hooves in an instant, bristling with tearful rage. "GO AWAY!" She screamed angrily. "GET OUT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Not until I get some answers." The voice spoke again, this time with a crackling rasp like fire. "And so far you're the only one in this town that's willing to acknowledge what's going on."

She blinked, a cold realization entering her mind and gripping her heart. "You don't sound like anypony from outside." She whispered, voice full of dread.

"That's because I'm not from this town, nor am I a pony."

The large crates stacked around her shifted, their heavy mass creaking along the floor, and from between the cracks slithered in what had to be the most peculiar-looking serpent Mitta had ever seen. It was big, easily twice as long as she was, so she first assumed it was a python, but the viper-shaped head with tiny dragon horns said otherwise, as did the purple and yellow scales. A trail of dorsal fins ran down its length, starting at its forehead and ending at a small blade-like rattle at the end of its tail. It looked like a tiny dragon snake, and its eyes held an sharp intelligence that was not found in normal animals.

"What...what are you?" She whispered, backing away instinctively (though there was no real reason for that; it wasn't thought it could harm her in her state...or so she thought).

The serpent coiled around and lifted its head like a cobra, until his gaze was level with hers. "My name is Spyro, and I come seeking answers." It spoke in that same crackling voice as before. "I was brought to this village to find the reason of a ghost's haunting, and I'm not leaving until I get what I want."

"You…followed somepony...?" Mitta trailed off, a strange look on her face. She sat there in silence for a moment, her eyes scanning the snake up and down; her eyes narrowed dangerously. "...Who exactly did you follow here?"

"The ghost of a grey filly with a orange and yellow mane, mark of a magnifying glass on her flank." The reptile stated; he then gave her a quick look-over himself, and his own eyes gleamed with understanding. "...a relative of yours, wasn't she?"

The change struck the mare as if it was lightning: the suspicious glare turned into a wide-eyed look of horror and despair, and with a soft thump she crumpled, legs quivering as her shoulders shrank forward: in one fluid motion she collapsed back onto the floor in a torrent of sobs, outright wailing in sorrow. "It's not fair!" She cried between sobs. "It's just not fair!"

"What isn't?" Spyro asked.

"All of this!" Mitta cried, waving a hoof over the dusty building around her. "The same thing happening again and again and again! To suffer pain of death without giving in to its sweet release! It never ends!" She continued to lie there and cry, covering her face with her fore-hooves. And the while Spyro started at her motionless, minus the occasional flicking of his tongue, and a thoughtful look on his face. She noticed the look he was giving her, and she glared at the dragon with a hateful look. "Are you sure you need answers, or are you only here to add to my suffering?" She asked.

"I'm here because your sister cannot pass on without you, and thus is putting her soul in danger." Spyro snapped.

Mitta's sobs stopped immediately, and she looked up in shock and fear. "What do you mean by that?!" She demanded. "Ruby is dead! There's nothing more that can happen to her that hasn't already!"

"Death is not always the sweet release or escape you mortals believe it as." The transformed dragon told her. "There are forces that control and judge those who pass through it to the other side, and await every mortal's turn when they're time comes. Your sister's soul remains bound to this earth, and every second she spends in the living plane is a second longer she spends defying those forces and risk provoking their wrath. And if that happens, then her first death will be mere child's play compared to the punishment they will have in store for her."

He slithered closer to the earth pony, glaring her directly in the eye. "If you wish for a happy eternity for your sibling in the next life, then you will tell me everything you know about her death so that she can pass on in peace At least give Ruby that much."

Mitta stared at this...'snake' in wide-eyed silence, a hushed awe filling the hollowness of her chest where her soul once resided. This was no ordinary serpent; that much was quite obvious by this point. The fiery yet calm strength in his voice...the sheer power radiating in his presence...and the blazing determination in his eyes. She looked into those eyes, saw the sheer strength of his resolve in them, and for the first time in many centuries, she felt something she hadn't dare try to feel.

Hope.

"...I...I can't tell you about it myself." She finally said, lowering her gaze. "...but if you want answers, there's a house located on the north-western edge of the clearing, far out of the way of the rest of the town." She reached behind herself and presented Spyro with a gift; a rusty-old crank handle. "You'll find your answers there."

Spyro wordlessly took the handle in his mouth, nodded his thanks, and slid back between the gaps in the crates.

"But a word of advice," Mitta called out to him just before he disappeared. "You do not want to be in this town when the lights go out." She lowered her gaze, tucking in on herself as she rested her head on her legs. "That's when the our crime comes out for all to see..."

---

The shadows of the trees engulfed Spyro as he followed the path into the woods; the glow from the town's lanterns illuminated the exit the fully-restored dragon had taken, but the rest of the thicket was dark. Only sparse illumination from the sun above managed to pierce the canopy in places. The dragon staked forward carefully, like a panther on the hunt, ready to jump into battle at a second's notice; soon the glow from the town had vanished behind the trees and the forest became shadows.

'When she said this building was out of the way of the village, she wasn't kidding." Spyro thought to himself, eyeing the trees around him in annoyance; he was truly and thoroughly fed up with this damnable forest. He could've been enjoying a victory celebration back in Pony Town, complete with food, friends, and fun. Instead, he was literally chasing ghosts through this putrid swamp of wild magics.

And that ghost was that of a filly...a child, by these ponies standards. That in itself only turned his annoyance to anger; what events that were her death were so horribly unforgivable that she couldn't leave? And how was 'Sunny Town' involved that it would be affected in such a manner?

Was she killed by the forest...or were these ponies responsible?

His brow furrowed into a dark glare; if they were, then no force or nature or magic that this village had would protect them from his wrath.

He finally reached the end of the trail, and stepped out into a smaller clearing; there, standing at the end of the dirt path, was a large log cabin with two windows in the front, on either side of a single wooden door. The building had clearly long been abandoned, and its condition showed it; the wood of the logs was worn, riddled with termite holes, and covered in moss. What few shards of glass that remained stuck to the aged window frames were covered in dust so thick and dirty it looked like dirt, the frames themselves boarded up from the inside. Next to the building sat an old well, whose crank was missing its lever.

But what caught Spyro's attention the most was an low, ominous red light that glowed out between the gaps in the window's boards. It looked almost like the glow of fire...but who was maintaining a fire in a place like this?

He stepped up to the front door and lowered his head down under the roof's edge, reaching a hand out to gingerly finger at the rusty old doorknob. It shook with a clank, but refused to turn.

Locked. Of course.

A glimmer of something shiny caught his attention, drawing it to the well. He stood up on his hind legs and lifted his head up high, it easily reaching over the height of the cabin, allowing him to look down into the well from his position. His telescopic dragon's vision zoomed in on what he realized was a rusty old key, sitting at the bottom of the shallow well. So, that's what the crank was for; to pull up the key and unlock the door.

...and since when did he ever unlock the door?

*BOOM!*

With a massive explosion of wood, stone, and glass, the entire front wall of the cabin blasted apart as two tons of dragon bone and muscle charged into it, horns first, with the force of a runaway freight train. He purred in satisfaction, pawing at his face to remove the dust, as what remained of the front of the building crumbled into giant piles of debris. The inside of the building shook from the impact, but nothing fell or broke...mainly because there was nothing at all.

The entirety of the cabin had been completely deserted and cleaned out, not a piece of furniture or decoration in sight, while the walls were bare and featureless, no other windows or paintings or anything to give them any life, and the floor was covered in a layer of dust so thick it felt like he was stepping on cotton. As he stepped through the opening he made, lowering his head to avoid hitting the ceiling, he couldn't see anything that stood out at all. The only thing in the room that stood out at all was a brick fireplace built into the far wall, its coals glowing an ominous red.

Well there was that mysterious light he had seen through the boards of the windows. But how were the coals still burning? This building hadn't been entered in decades, maybe more. Normal coals would've burned out long ago.

And what was that sitting amongst them? Logs? Or something el-

...no...

"Sweet Celestia...the m-mark! S-she has…she has the Mark!"

No...

"She is a threat to the ponies and this town! We can't let her spoil the party or infect any of the others!"

No...

"Think about the other fillies! Think about your families! Think about Starlet! They are all in danger of the curse if we don't go through with this, right here, right now! Now hand her over!"

NO...!

"MITTA, HEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAGH! IT HURTS!"

NO!

"It is done. She will never ruin another party again."

"MURDERERS! YOU BUCKING MURDERERS! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOOUUUU!"

...so...that's what it is, then.

A dark silence had fallen over the forest, not a sound to be heard; Spyro sat there, still as a statue, as his gaze remained locked on the sight of what laid the fireplace, motionless among the coals: the skeleton of what was once the filly Ruby...murdered by the residents of Sunny Town.

"We were told those marks were an evil curse."

The dragon solemnly turned his gaze to the ghostly filly standing next to him, leaving no hoofprints in the dust, as she stared at her own remains as she spoke. "A long time ago, they came in a plague that covered everypony's body like sores, forcing them to do what they represented. Dozens of ponies died from exhaustion, while others died as their bodies collapsed. Gray Hoof's grandfather, the original mayor of Sunny Town, died when one part of his body went one way while the other went the opposite, tearing him in half. Since then, the survivors had feared the marks as a curse."

That explained the look in his eyes; one whose mind had been broken by the trauma of death.

The filly's face twisted with dread, showing emotion for the first time he had seen her. "I-I was always good at finding things; from finding lost gems, to finding friends for others O-One day, during the big party, I-I found a g-gem that Roeno lost, and t-t-then there was t-this light, and then the m-m-mark a-appeared o-o-on my f-f-flank, a-and-"

"Don't." Spyro told her, his voice clapping the silence, despite its low, somber tone. "You don't have to say anymore...I know how this story goes."

Ruby nodded, eyes full of gratitude. "After they did...t-that, the forest got really angry and cast a terrible magic upon Sunny Town and everypony in it." She turned her gaze to the path. "This town...it's cursed. By day, they're forced to live the same day of the party over and over again, but they look and act normal...until night, or when the lights go out. That's when their true punishment is shown: forced to spend all eternity as zombies, magically trapped in this forest, unable to feel anything but pain."

"And what of you, ghostly walker?" Spyro asked, turning his head to meet her gaze, for the first time in pity and understanding. "Does the curse keep you here too?"

"My sister Mitta tried to stop them, so the forest spared her." Ruby told him. "She is only bound by it because she allows herself to be; she blames herself for my death, so she allowed the curse to affect her." Her face turned sad, and a sad hollowness filled the cabin. "Now she's trapped here, taking blame for what those other ponies did, and we can't pass on until the curse is broken."

The dragon stared at her in silence, before turning back to the bones; gently, he reached out a paw and gingerly ran the tips of his claws against the smooth surface of the skull, being careful not to damage the bone, before covering the eye sockets with his fingers; it was as if he was respectfully closing the eyes of the dead, even as he lowered his own head in a respectful bow for the dead.

"I get it now." He said aloud.

Ruby blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"My mission, the reason I came to Equestria...it's not completed yet." He explained, pulling his paw away from the fireplace. "At first I thought Nightmare Moon was the only one, and by defeating her my adventure would end. It was a really short and simple adventure, and that confused me: why call one of my strength for only one task...but now that I've seen this town, and the crimes that taints it, I've realized the truth. The Nightmare was only the first; there are going to be many more bad guys, threats, and other disasters for me to protect the ponies from; some will come in time and will be very scary, and some are already hiding in plain sight waiting for me to find them. Either way, with those element gems awakened, Equestria's era of peace is coming to a close."

The ghost remained silent, running these words through her head, before asking: "What are you going to do?"

And to that, Spyro gave her a playfully-confident grin. "Same thing I've done since I broke the spell over my father: save the day, of course."

"...do you think you could save me and Mitta too?"

The dragon gave pause, starting at her for a brief moment, before turning his gaze away. "On my own, no." He admitted. "I don't know how to break a curse other than destroying the ones cursed, but I have a friend who does." He stood up, his footsteps shaking the floor as he turned his body to face her. "I know you've suffered long and hard, and I wish I could help you right away...but there are more dangerous things coming than a cursed village; things I have to deal with to help many other ponies before I can help you and Mitta."

He lowered her head down to her eye level, his lower jaw almost touching the ground. "All I ask is that you two wait just a little while longer." He told her. "Can you do that for your sister?"

Ruby stared at him with glowing ghostly eyes, silence as the grave, until she nodded with a smile. "Yeah." She told him. "I can do that."

Spyro nodded, standing back up to full height. "I promise I will come back for you one day, and you and your sister will be free, before the powers on the other side get impatient..."

He then snapped his head toward the direction of Sunny Town, and like the rumble of thunder a dark growl erupted from his throat, pupils narrowing into vertically-thin silts in pools of blazing red fire.

"...but before that, retribution will finally be yours."

---

"GRAAAAAY HOOOOOOOOF!"

The sheer volume of the roar made the windows of Sunny Town's buildings rattle loud and dangerously; the trees shook and branches bent outwards as the sound-waves boomed through the hamlet, the very ground shaking from both the force of the dragon's roar and the slams of the dragon's footfalls as the beast in question stormed into the main opening, eyes blazing with bright crimson fire.

Gray Hoof felt a threatening weight press against his mentality, but forced it down as he turned to face the guest who was approaching him, oblivious to the trepidation in his fellow ponies and the sheer murderous rage burning in the dragon's eyes.

"Hi Spyro!" He said cheerfully, smiling innocently as the scales of Spyro's chest began to glow a dangerous orange. "How are you enjoying the part-?"

"Dur Bex Koraav."

It those three words, a pulse of power boomed across the town; the lanterns exploded in showers of sparks and glass, plunging the entire village into a darkness like nightfall, while Gray Hoof and his fellow ponies screamed in flesh-tearing agony as the shout forced them and their town into their true forms:

It was as if the town had been plunged several centuries forward in a single instant, having gone from a bright little community to the ruins of the dead in a flash: The buildings were in complete shambles, rotting and broken; few remained standing as time-withered skeletons of termite-eaten bark, while the others had collapsed in on themselves, nothing more than piles of dirt and moss covered lumber and trash. The crops had long withered away, and the ground was dry and lifeless, the grants and plants sickly and scattered. The rotten, insect-eaten remains of the party decorations hung like vines from the trees, while the food on the tables had long rotted away into blacken filth. It was truly, in all senses of the word, a ghost town.

But the town was nothing compared to the ponies bound to it.

To call them walking corpses would be generous; they were little more than skeletons at this points, rotten flesh and entrails hanging from their bones as they staggered clumsily about, greasy strands of hair and meat remaining of their manes and tails; their bones and flesh were solid black in color, and shimmered in the dark, as if they were covered in tar, but their dark forms were illuminated by the evil red glow emanating from their rib-cages, blazing up their throats and from their eyes, which were now twin balls of boiling red light.

"The Damned..." Spyro muttered under his breath, an angry horror filling his heart.

The 'Damned' that was Gray Hoof shook violently with rage before he screamed in absolute fury, his wail like the screech of a dozen banshees. "YoU fUcKiNg BaStAaAaAaAaArD!" He shrieked, eyes blindingly bright with anger. "YoU've RuInEd My PaRtY!"

"Do not speak to me about your worthless 'parties'!" Spyro growled, his voice booming like an earthquake and crackling with fire, his throat glowing a hot orange. "Do not even speak to me as a fellow Soul Bearer! You lost your right to call yourself one when you deemed your 'party' worth murdering an innocent child for!"

"SHUT UP!" Gray Hoof screamed as more Damned began to emerge from the ground; more than what Spyro had seen when he arrived. "That bitch had the mark! She would've killed us all if I didn't stop her!"

Spyro instinctively took to the sky, hovering out of reach of the cursed's dark touch. "SHE WAS A CHILD! A FOAL!" He roared.

"SHE RUINED MY PARTY!" Gray Hoof shrieked back.

"YOU MURDERED HER IN COLD BLOOD!"

"SHE RUINED MY PARTY!"

The dragon stared at him, wide-eyed with disbelief. "Are you serious right now?" He asked, the fire dying in his voice. "You have been damned to a living death for murder, and the only excuse you have is that she ruined your stupid party?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

It was the word 'stupid' that finally snapped the final thread of what was Gray Hoof of Sunny Town's already fragile mentality.

"Stupid...?" He whispered, wide-eyed and starting into nothingness...as the red glow in his chest all but exploded with a roar of his own.

"STUPIIIIID?!" He screamed in absolute hatred and madness.

Spyro gave pause as he hovered in place. Not at his words, but at the sight of the other zombie ponies suddenly giving pause themselves, all eyes locking on the stallion now standing still and rigid as he wordlessly screaming his lungs out. Even as nothing but skulls, he could see the surprised uncertainty and even nervous fear flash across their faces.

"I AM THE GREATEST PARTY PLANNER IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA!" The skeletal monster that was once mortal bellowed in absolute hatred. "MY PARTIES ARE PERFECT! THEY ARE FIT FOR ROYALTY! THEY-!"

"They are nothing but a distraction of reality, aren't they?" Spyro asked as he landed on a nearby building, cutting him off mid-sentence. Gray Hoof snarled, body and expression twitching dangerously, but the dragon remained unfazed, glaring down in dark judgement. "I've seen your type before; too weak to handle the weight of reality, so they submerge themselves in distractions so they don't have to acknowledge it." He lifted his fingers to count them off. "Internet, Video Games, Movies, and so on. I've seen plenty of mortals that have become dependent on escapes to function in their lives, and that's fine...but you're a completely different case altogether! I bet you can't go more than a few hours without a party before your brain snaps and you go crazy!"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"

"Gray Hoof..." One of the cursed ponies, the one that once the mare that had a green coat and mane. "...Calm down; i-it's not that big a deal."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, YOU FILTHY BITCH!" He roared at her; she quickly cowed in fear, her bones rattling as she shook. "NO ONE TELLS ME WHAT TO DO! NOT YOU, NOT THIS LIZARD ("Hey!"), AND NOT THIS DAMN FOREST!"

"Oh, but we can." Spyro snarled, a sadistic sneer twisting his snout as he loomed over the damned ponies like the reaper himself, wings spread outwards. "You can deny it all you want, but denial cannot and will not change what is simply truth." He pointed an accusing claw at Gray Hoof, who looked ready to explode. "And truth says the marks are not evil, this curse is your punishment for murder, and that your precious parties are nothing more than a worthless distraction to enable the denial of watching your grandfather tear himself in half!"

"MY PARTIES ARE MY LIFE ITSELF!" The zombie's jaws looked ready to snap apart from how long he was screaming. "THEY ARE EVERYTHING TO ME, AND NOTHING ELSE MATTERS! NOTHIIIING!"

"...Even the lives of your fellow ponies?" He asked, suddenly calm and quiet. "Even the life of a child?"

The stallion gave the dragon the most hateful, wicked, and mentally-broken glare he had ever seen in his entire life.

"I WOULD BURN A THOUSAND FOALS TO DEATH IF IT MEANT SAVING JUST ONE OF MY PARTIES!"

...

Silence.

The echoes of Gray Hoof's final scream disappeared through the trees and died completely, leaving the area in complete silence. The stallion heaved for breath, wide-eyed and foaming at the mouth, until he let out a heavy yet hollow breath as he came down from his angry high, still twitching dangerously...until he blinked at the silence, and looked around himself...only to find terror staring back.

All the other cursed, Gladstone, Roeno, Three Leaf, Starlet, and all the others that had risen from the earth were staring at him as if seeing him in a new light. Some were glaring at him in hatred, while others only stared in gaping horror, as if he were a horrible monster.

Then Gladstone finally spoke. "You monster."

Gray Hoof smiled nervously as he backed away as the other damned approached him. "W-What's wrong, G-Gladstone? B-Buddy?" He asked in a shaky voice, only to bump into another group. "W-Why are y-y-you a-all looking at me l-like t-t-that?"

"You know why..." Three Leaf growled, eyes burning. "You don't care about our town, did you?!"

"You only wanted your dumb party!" Another mare cried. "You murdered Ruby, you sick fucker!"

"No! Nononono!" Gray Hoof yelped as the zombies circled him and began to slowly close in on him; dozens of glowing red sockets and jaws glared him down as they marched ever closer, dark forms moving like an army of shadowy demons. "I-I-I did i-it f-for the t-town! F-For the p-p-ponies! T-The m-mark is e-evil!"

"LIAR!" Roneo shouted. "You've always lied to us! You killed her just for your stupid party!"

"Mitta was right all along!" Starlet shouted, both in anger and sorrow. "We're monsters! We deserve this curse!"

"You killed Ruby! No, you made us do it for you! And now we're all damned because of you!"

"Damn you, Gray Hoof! Damn you to the fires of Tartarus!"

"I couldn't agree more."

A bright light of fire lit up the area, and the ponies returned to their normal forms in it, but they quickly took one look in the direction it was in and bolted for the trees, leaving the restored Gray hoof rigid once more, eyes widening as his mentality snapped again...only instead of unbridled anger, it was crippling terror.

He looked up at the looming, burning form of Spyro the Dragon, who glared down on him with eyes that had gone completely red themselves, while his spread wings blazed with the moth-like runes of dragon power. He stood there, completely quiet, not making a move or a sound, as if he had been turned to a giant statue of stone...until he wordlessly open his jaws...

...and Gray Hoof's entire word turned into FIRE.

*VOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!*

The ponies had suffered long and terribly for their actions; the condition of their zombie forms was not merely of appearance. As Ruby had said, they spent every night of their cursed lives feeling nothing but pain, and that included the pain of the dead: every night they had to endure the flesh rotting from their bones, the icy wind blowing through their exposed ribs, the maggot and insects eating away at their insides, and the burning red of their own hearts. Every night for over five hundred years, unable to escape into the sweet release of death. Truly a fate to be feared.

None of it, not even five hundred years worth, even began to compare to the sheer burning agony that was being consumed by Dragon Fire.

The scream that erupted from the stallion's throat would haunt the other Sunnytowners for all their unlives, as the column of flame engulfed and reduced him to a skeleton on the spot...and that skeleton continued to scream the curse restored his flesh, only to get eaten away again by the flames; a never-ending cycle of eternally feeding the fire. He kicked and thrashed, rolling around on the ground and throwing himself in a mad, screaming panic, desperate to put out the flames, but the fire refused to give out, and all he could do was flop about like a dying fish, all the while shrieking in pain.

"Believe me, nothing would give me more pleasure than to end your life and send your soul to the abyss right here and now." Spyro growled as he stepped down from his perch, slinking around the thrashing screaming blaze that was Gray Hoof as we made his way back to the town entrance. "But since I can't, I will simply add to your curse. From this day forward, every time the lights are restored, you will endure the full wrath of my flames again and again, even in the light."

He glared down at the stallion, the boiling eyes of the damned meeting eyes that literally burned with their own fire. "You took pleasure in seeing her suffer in fire, didn't you?" He snarled in hate. "Then this is only poetic justice at its finest." The dragon then turned away from Gray Hoof. From the Village of the Damned that was named Sunnytown. From the frightened eyes of the dead that once again knew fear.

"This is not the last time we'll cross paths." He told them all, looking over his shoulder with eyes glowing bright. "I'll come back one day, and when I do I will break the curse, and then your souls will be freed." He turned away, gaze downcast, as the town was plunged once more into darkness. "I can only hope you all find redemption before then."

He then pushed his way through the trees and out of the town, disappearing back into the forest...but not before the cries of Gray Hoof reached his ears one last time.

"I HATE YOOOOU!" He roared, his voice the shriek of a thousand demons. "I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS! YOU HEAR ME?! EVEN IF I HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER FIVE HUNDRED YEARS! I GET YOU ONE DAY AND DESTROY YOU AND ALL YOU LOVE, SPYRO THE DRAGOOOOON!"

---

Elora paced back and forth, gnawing on her finger as she paced nervously back and forth, worry clouding her face; the clip-clop of her hooves on volcanic stone echoed through the crater of Dragonthroat Mountain, thoroughly driving the rest of their companions to complete and utter annoyed frustration.

"Would you calm down?" Bianca moaned, too busy covering the bases of her ears to properly prepare her spellbooks. "Spyro's a dragon; he can take care of himself."

"I know, I know..." Elora said, though she didn't seem to pay attention. "But I can't help it! Spyro should've been back by now, telling us all about his big first victory." She stopped her pacing and threw a hand up to the sky. "But it's been almost half a day, now, and we haven't seen or heard back from him yet! Not that I'm a hundred percent sure about that, given the weird solar cycle of this world, what with it still being night when we came and suddenly jumping up into day..."

"Well, at least pace somewhere that doesn't make your hooves sound like sonic booms, please?" The rabbit asked, readjusting her book on her lap. "I'm trying to adjust my wand to this world's mana flow..." She lifted said wand up to the sky; it began to vibrate and glow a swirling mass of blue and gold. She blinked in confusion. "Huh...strange: this blue color wasn't here a few moments ago."

Both girls were interrupted as the portal's bubble-like barrier rippled, and soon Hunter stepped out into the volcano, completely clothed in his Avalarian garments and carrying a large sack of supplies over one shoulder, his trusty bow hoisted over the other by the string.

"Ah good, you're back." Elora sighed with relief, stepping forward as he set the sack down with a loud thump. "So, is anyone else coming?"

"Not for a while, no." Hunter huffed as he plopped himself down, wiping his brow with his wrist. "Shelia and the other Forgotten Worlders have their hands full dealing with the election debate in the papers. Master Eon is also dealing with his own problems: something about a prison breaking and some 'doom guys' getting out, but he promised to send some Skylanders to help once he got that under control, as a favor to Spyro for his help in the Cloudbreak Islands." He pulled his bow from his back, unwrapping it from his arm as he got to work adjusting the strings. "The Bandicoots are on their way, though; they'll be here in about a week."

"A Week?!" Elora squeaked indignantly.

The cheetah frowned at her. "Hey, give 'em a break; Wumpa Island is pretty far off, and they don't have World Gates to just jump over two hundred miles of ocean." He snapped.

"She's all worried about Spyro because he hasn't gotten back yet." Bianca stated flatly, not even bother to look up from her book.

Hunter, however, merely cocked an eyebrow and looked past Elora. "Isn't that him right now?"

Eyes widening in surprise, the faun spun around on the spot just in time to see the purple dot in the distant quickly grow into the purple dragon himself. She gave a truly relieved sigh and a grateful smile as Spyro swooped down into the chasm, landing gracefully on all fours...though her frown returned when she saw his face: downcast and quiet. A far cry from the usual proud excitement he was normally known for.

"Spyro?" She asked hesitantly. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, hey Elora. Glad you could make it." Spyro said, stepping into the sheltered warmth of the cavern. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a run in with a few Damned before I got here."

All three of his friends tensed at his worlds, staring at him with wide eyes. "Damned?" Hunter asked. "In a world like this?"

"Yeah, weird I know." The dragon stated, scratching at the ground for a bit. He then perked up. "Buuuuut, I also manged to fulfill an ancient prophecy, rescue a long imprisoned princess from a shadow monster, and met six new partners to join us in our new quest to save Equestria from the realm of chaos."

Elora just stared at him in surprise and confusion.

Hunter scoffed a laugh. "Like we told you: never doubt the Hero's Itch."

"I will skin you into a rug." Bianca snarled between her teeth, eye twitching slightly.

"Oh! I also got us invited to a party!" He told them...before grimacing in what looked like physical pain.

"Are you okay?" Elora asked in alarm as he gagged.

He coughed, burping up a little pool of burning bile. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine." He shivered, shaking his body like a wet dog. "It's gonna be a while before I can say that word again...so, who wants to go eat cake?"