With the Flying Dutchcolt now fully powered and Starswirl once more garbed in his sage's robes, the group was ready to investigate the source of the corruption. As such, Celestia - now in complete control of the fortress - guided them to the forest town of Everfree. Starswirl, Scootaloo, and Spike looked down on the town that had been home for so many years, the home they had longed for for so long.

"So what's the plan?" Celestia asked from the power chamber, communicating via magic. "Scorch it from the sky? Land on it? Aerial bombardment?"

"That's my hometown," Spike growled. "And there are innocent ponies living there. We are not destroying it."

"Aww..." Celestia complained. "I guess you want me to land nearby so you can disembark?"

"...no," Spike said after a moment. "Stay in the air nearby and be ready for fast pick up. We'll teleport down."

Luna nodded. "Get ready everyone." She focused her magic.

Once on the ground, Starswirl staggered a bit. "Been a while since I was teleported by someone else," he muttered, managing to get his balance, bracing himself on his staff. He waved Spike and Scootaloo off as they rushed to his side. "I'm not so old I need my children to hold me up!" he complained. He steadied himself. "Alright. Spike, lead the way."

"Right Dad," Spike replied, doing his best not to stare at some of his companions. The 'talk' he'd had with his father while the fortress brought them here had left him quite a bit more aware of himself and the others, and explained quite a bit about why the mares he had befriended behaved the way they did. It also filled his mind with rather...specific imaginings whenever he looked at them now which made it rather hard difficult to concentrate. Especially when he thought about how Fluttershy looked coming out of the health spring...or how they all looked as topless seaponies...or when he first saw Twilight as a biped - when she was naked - or when she teleported out of her clothes...or when he had Rainbow pinned beneath him back at Hoarsair arena...or the time before this adventure began when he had 'stood guard' while Rarity was sunbathing...or when AJ had been grinding against him, consumed by heat...or when Luna had pressed his face into her cleavage...or when Pinkie had him pinned to the wall and found out about his two...

"Spike?" Scootaloo asked in concern. "Why are you banging your head against the Dragon God statue?"

"No! Particular! Reason!" Spike spoke between head bangs, struggling to make his brain stop filling with such thoughts.

Starswirl chuckled. "Maybe I should have held off on giving him 'the talk' until after the adventure concluded. Just how forward were you all with the poor boy?"

Luna, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, AJ, and Rainbow all rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly. Pinkie giggled wickedly.

Starswirl shook his head. "Poor kid. And I thought I had it difficult with how forward Sarisa was."

Once Spike got himself back under control, he stepped forward. "No one seems to be around. Let's...let's go check on the dragon." He paused. "Not me, Pinkie." Rolling his eyes at the giggling pony, he led the group into the forest behind town.

Near the mountain where the dragon lay, Mother Crysta was goading the townsponies into action. "The devil shadow has fallen over the town, a sign of the power growing here! The demon dragon has stolen the life of our land! Only her destruction can save the land, and us!" Following her directives, three large bombs had been placed: one under each of the dragon's massive fore claws, and one under her face.

Spike and the others came on the scene just in time to see this. "No!" Scootaloo called out, running forward, only to be knocked from her hooves by the force of the three concurrent explosions.

A brief moan of pain echoed over the area, and the dragon's claws slowly lifted. Rune encrusted gates slowly lowered, having been revealed by the moving claws. From out of those holes in the cliffside, a horde of demons flew out, like living shadows, swarming to begin casting an umbra of darkness over the world.

Mother Crysta stepped back, seeming aghast. "How can this be-"

"I think you should drop the act, Crysta," Starswirl spoke up, stepping forward.

Crysta turned and gasped. "You!" she hissed, her face becoming contorted with rage. "How did you escape the machine?"

"You can thank my children and their friends for that, Cadenza," Starswirl replied. "Or should I say...Chrysalis?"

With a snarl, the disguise of a pink unicorn fell away, revealing the Changeling Queen, armed and ready for battle. "How did you learn it was me?"

"You were using me to power the machine that sent the harvested energy to the demon below," Starswirl pointed out. "You also harvested some of it to make yourself and your changelings - disguised as various ponies around the world harvesting energy via means outside the Church - to make them and you stronger, leeching off the world's populace for years."

Chrysalis blinked. "What's your point?" she asked.

"I was privy to your communications."

The changeling queen snarled. "It matters not now! I have everything I need here to accomplish my goal! The Dark One will awaken, the seal broken..." A magic lasso snaked from her hand, wrapping around Scootaloo's neck. "By the life blood of a dragon clansmare!"

"Scootaloo!" Spike and Pipsqueak shouted together in fear and rage.

"Citrine!" Starswirl wailed.

"Question!" Pinkie called out, raising her hand. Everyone turned to stare at her.

Chrysalis blinked. "What?"

"I have a question."

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "Are you expecting me to go into a monologue as a distraction so you or others can get the drop on me?"

"Nope! I'm just wondering why you went to all the trouble of wiping the townsponies memories, driving Citrine away with a mental block, and kidnapping and replacing Starswirl."

Chrysalis blinked. "To gain control of the gate and power the machine beneath the grand church."

"But why did you replace Starswirl as Mother Crysta?"

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "It was my intent to have Spike come to see me as a mother figure, so he could be inducted into the Church like Garble was." She glowered at Pip. "And I would have gotten away with it if not for that meddling brat."

"Does that make me the real hero of all this?" Pip asked in surprise.

Chrysalis ignored him. "I hadn't intended for Citrine to flee. I meant to have access to her as well."

"Why? Is she the only one who can open the gate?"

Chrysalis blinked. "No...any member of the dragon clan would have-"

"Then why not use Garble?" Pinkie asked.

Chrysalis paused, obviously flummoxed. "What?"

"Garble was a good deal older than Spike, which means you had hold of him before trying to nab Spike and Scootaloo. Why didn't you just groom Garble to be a martyr?" Pinkie tilted her head. "For that matter, if you wanted access to Spike and Scootaloo, why not just send one of your Changelings disguised as a Sister here to Everfree, saying that word had reached Ozrai of the loss of Starswirl's wife and that she had been sent to ease his burdens, help with his children, and to help tend to his flock, so that he could have time to properly grieve? That would have given you an agent here to brainwash the townsfolk, made Spike and Citrine inclined to join the faith on their own, and once Spike was old enough to be responsible for Citine - say, a couple more year - you could have sent for Starswirl to journey to Ozrai to be honored by Mother Cadenza for his work in spreading the word of god. You could then have sent word back that he had fallen under attack by monsters/brigands/pirates/whatever en route back, leaving Starswirl in the machine and Spike and Citrine with the Sister Changeling as their only parental figure, primed for indoctrination into being just like Garble, especially as you could always use 'It is what your father would have wanted' to goad them along. Then none of us would have gathered and you would have been able to release the Dark One unopposed-"

"RRAAGGGHHH!" Chrysalis roared, dropping her magic lasso and lunging towards Pinkie, enraged beyond belief at having every hole in her plans and mistake she'd made pointed out by what she saw as an 'empty headed ninny'. She drew bag her fist, gathering massive power to smash Pinkie to atoms.

There was a sudden flash of intense light and heat, and an ethereal howl of agony as Chrysalis' swarm died with her incineration.

"Sorry!" Celestia said with her magic. "I just had to test out the lasers. Seriously, you put me in charge of a battle platform with lasers and expect me not to test them out? I thought you knew me, Luna. But I couldn't figure out the targeting system, so when I test fired it came down in the town. I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

Luna blinked the spots from her eyes as Pinkie ran off who knew where. "Just the bad guy," she told Celestia. "You kind of...incinerated her."

"Oh. Woo hoo! I did good!"

"Kill stealer," Luna grumbled.

There was a deep sigh of relief. "You have done well, Spike, destined child..."

Starswirl gasped out, but said nothing. Spike looked around. "Who said that?"

"I did," the voice replied. When Spike continued to look around in confusion, the voice continued. "Up here," it said, a hint of sardonic amusement in the tone.

Spike looked up, and found himself staring at the dragon. "You can talk?"

"Of course I can. Did you think I was dead?" The dragon chuckled. "Although...I might be close. I don't have much strength left. And there's a decision you must make-"

The door behind the dragon's head lowered. Pinkie stepped out, shoving her cannon into the doorway so the gate couldn't raise back up. "So are we going after the demon or what?"

Spike nodded. "We'll head down soon, Pinkie. I'm just talking to-"

The dragon glowed and shifted...and a dragoness about Starswirl's size now stood there. She had dark blue scales, and her hair gradiated from deepest lavender to a bright gold from her scalp to the tips. She wore only a backless white gown so her wings could unfold easily behind her. Her amethyst eyes were soft as she smiled at Spike. "It seems you have made a choice, my destined child."

"Mom?" Spike and Scootaloo said in shock.

"Sarasa!" Starswirl called out, running forward and pulling her into an embrace. "I thought I'd lost you...all those years ago..."

Sarasa chuckled. "You should know me better than that, Starswirl," she said, returning the embrace. "You know from experience how hard it is to get rid of me."

As Spike and Scootaloo also embraced her, the small child in Pinkie's arms looked up. "Is...is it safe?" she sniffed.

Luna glanced at the child. "Pinkie Pie...where did you find a...midnight black alicorn filly?" she asked, confused at what she was seeing.

"Through the western gate," Pinkie said. "I used my cannon to get from there to the back of the middle gate so I could open it without paying the life of a dragon. Figure once we're all in, we can let it shut behind us, and open it the same way on our way back up!"

"I...I'm Nyx," the little filly said. "I'm the devil shaman..."

"In that case," Luna replied, "you belong up in Dutchcolt with Granny Smith and the other shamans." She couldn't shake a strange feeling of kinship with this filly.

As the family nearby finally broke their embrace, Sarasa spoke. "I would journey with you...but I lack the strength to make that journey. All I can do to help you...is give you this." Reaching into her dress, she pulled out an ancient sword. "This blade was wielded by dragon warriors of old, forged to bring forth the full strength of dragon blood. You have only the strength of half blood to draw on. This sword in your hand will bring forth the power of a full dragon." She reversed the blade and offered it to Spike.

Spike took the hilt in his hand, lifting it up.

Spike got DragonSD!

Starswirl glanced at Sarasa. "Where were you hiding that?" he asked curiously.

Sarasa smiled. "When you get back, I'll show you. I think Citrine's ready for a little brother." As she giggled wickedly, Starswirl's beard poofed outward as his eyes widened in excitement.

Spike swung the sword a few times. "It feels kind of...unwieldly. Doesn't quite sit right in my palm. And the edge isn't the best it could be." He drew his EmpireSD to compare them. "Hmm...a pity I can't combine these. If the EmpireSD could somehow absorb the boosting influence to my dragon blood from the DragonSD..." His eyes widened. "Luna, take us all back to Dutchcolt. I have an idea."

Upon returning to Dutchcolt, Starswirl went to make Sarasa comfortable while Spike - followed by Pipsqueak, who was carrying Nyx - went right to the Shaman hut. "Granny!" he called out. "Can the combining ritual be used for things instead of people?"

"Eh?" the ancient mare replied. "Whatchu talking about? Combine what?"

Spike laid the EmpireSD and DragonSD side beside in front of her. "Can you use the Combining ritual to take the magic from the DragonSD and put it in the EmpireSD to enhance it, the way the magic of a shaman is imbued into a person from a different clan?"

Granny's eyes widened. "What in tarnation are you suggesting? That would be..." She trailed off. "Huh. Actually pretty clever. Never thought of that. Would need a different circle and some different runes, but I don't see why not. But these two won't be enough. I'd need another sword with a living crystal to act as an anchor for the fusion."

"Living crystal?" Pip asked. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out the StarrrSD. "I found this in the Thieves Tomb. Is it what you mean?"

Granny Smith gasped in shock, her bonnet leaping from her head as she seized the sword. "Well wallop my withers! The Star Bringer Sword! This thing has a chunk of a living star embedded in the blade! If I use this in the ritual, it's sure to work. Come back in a bit, and I'll have your new sword ready!" She took the three swords and stumped eagerly into the back room, muttering under her breath as she thought out loud.

Spike watched her go. "Here's hoping this works," he said calmly.

Pip tilted his head. "Wonder how long it'll-"

There was a massive explosion from the back room. "Light Dragon's Whiskers, it worked!" Granny shouted.

Spike rushed back. In the center of the room floated a sword, gleaming with power. The shape, weight, and edge were all the same as the EmpireSD, but the hilt had the ornamentation of the DragonSD...and the gem from the StarrrSD was embedded as a pommel stone. As Spike took hold of the hilt - which fit the contours of his clawed hand like it was made specifically with him in mind - he could feel the raw power bursting from within.

He knew now, with this sword...he was unstoppable.

Spike got DRKingSD!

Author's Notes:

Battle Data:

DragonSD - attack power +125. Increases the potency of dragon spells.
(As a reminder, EmpireSD has an attack power of +160, while the Tri-Rang has an attack of +150.)

DRKingSD - attack power +225. Increases potency of dragon spells. Randomly casts Nova (strongest explosion attack magic) (15% chance). Randomly casts Cure4 on wielder (health restored to full) (10% chance). Randomly triggers a level 2 dragon spell at no cost (5% chance). Restores 10 AP every time it deals damage to the opponent. Does physical or magical damage to target when attacking normally, whichever target is vulnerable to.