Twilight felt her hands shake; dropping the letter to the ground as she brought her hand to her forehead. Twilight hunched over on her chair and tried to conceal her fear and doubt as she then proceeded to bury her face into her hands. Gin looked back and caught a glimpse of the distress on Twilight's face. She hadn't seen her so disturbed before, which was odd, considering the fact she had been such a level-headed individual around her friends.

"Twilight, is something wrong?" Gin moved over to Twilight and crouched down; trying to look in her eyes.

Draven and Winslow also approached Twilight; realizing Twilight's sudden, and noticeable change in behavior.

"Twilight, what is it?" Winslow asked; looking down at the shaking mare.

"I- I..." Twilight's words seemed to fall out of her mouth. "Look."

Twilight reached back into her pocket and gave Winslow her notebook; directing him to the correct page. He examined the page, and his eyes widened as he analyzed the bottom signature.

"What is it?" Draven read through the notebook as well, and the exact same expression appeared on his face as well.

Winslow and Draven looked up at each other and gave a nod. Winslow grabbed Twilight's wrist and dragged her out of her chair. Draven followed behind them and ordered Gin and Fluttershy to stay. Winslow pulled Twilight down the narrow hallway leading to her room, and almost tossed her inside her bathroom as he opened the door abruptly.

"What's going on?" Twilight panicked as her rear slammed onto the tiled floor of her bathroom.

Draven said nothing and brought Twilight to her feet; gesturing towards the mirror in front of them as he looked at Twilight. "What do you see?"

"What do you mean-."

"Look closer Twilight, focus!" Winslow seemed desperate as if Twilight were mortally wounded and he was trying to save her. "Look for anything strange or unusual."

Twilight did as instructed, and she peered into the mirror; focusing her eyes on whatever Draven and Winslow wanted to show her. Eventually, she found it, and it wasn't in the background behind them, it was her own face. She noticed that her eyes were darkened, almost black. They bulged out like fish-eyes and seemed to move around aimlessly. When she focused her gaze even more, she could make out small puple dots in the center of each eye. She cocked her head to the side in fear and buried her face in Draven's neck.

"Did you see something? You must tell us now." Draven ordered the terrified alicorn.

Twilight took a deep breath and looked back at her reflection; her eyes returned to normal. "My eyes, they were black, with white spots near the center of each one."

Winslow grabbed Twilight and looked her in the eyes; removing his patch to examine her closely. "Let me have a look."

Winslow's eye stared into hers, and it was a feeling that Twilight had never experienced before. When the eye looked at her, it wasn't actually "at her". It appeared to see through her and looked not at her eye, but her soul. As his eye looked into her, she felt her body go numb, and weak. His eye began to glow green as it focused harder. Eventually, he found whatever he was looking for, and the eye began to claw at it with an unseen, ethereal hand; tearing whatever disturbances she had.

Twilight felt her body regain motion, but her mouth was still numb, and her words failed her once again. "What did you-."

"My eye looked into your soul and saw something dark. I took care of it." Winslow stood up; aiding Twilight back on her hooves as she teetered a bit.

"What was... 'it'?" Twilight asked the both of them.

"A infernal-worm. A demonic tool used by Gek to drive ponies mad that embeds itself inside a victim's mind. He must have planted it in you when you witnessed him in the mirror last night." Winslow suggested.

"Do you think it's gone now?" Twilight wondered.

"There's no way to be certain of it," Draven answered; looking into Twilight's eyes to make sure she was clean. "Until Winslow's spell wears off, you won't be seeing any more visions or hallucinations."

"How long will it take for the spell to wear off?" Twilight massaged her temple; trying to soothe her throbbing head.

"A few weeks to a month. It varies based on who I cast it on, and the severity of the infection." Winslow explained. "Only time will tell if you are truly cured."

"Perfect..." Twilight groaned as she lowered her head; shaking it from side to side in frustration. "What do I do now?"

"You mustn't tell Spike or the others. Keep it to yourself until we know more." Winslow insisted. "Maybe... maybe if it's not dead, we could use the worm."

"What do you mean, 'use it'?" Twilight began to shake nervously.

"Gek is trying to corrupt you. He doesn't often toy with mortals unless they have something he wants, so you must be of some importance to him." Winslow suggested. "If the worm is still alive, I can use it to-. "

"To what?!" Draven stamped his foot in disapproval. "Are you suggesting we use Twilight like a living map?"

"We can use it to find out where Gek is hiding the stone. If it is alive, I can use my eye to make a connection with him, find out what he's planning." Winslow approached Draven; trying desperately to convince the stubborn dragon. "Gek is a wild-card- impossible to trace, you know that! If we try it now, we might be able to find him, kill him, and cure Twilight!"

Draven weighed the options and sighed; realizing Winslow's logic wasn't flawed. He turned to Twilight. "What do you think?"

"I don't know... what are the risks?" Twilight said in defeat; knowing it was their best option to find the Stone of Mind.

"It could quicken the recuperation time of the worm to less than a week, but like I said, it varies based on a variety of factors." Winslow informed Twilight; putting a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

Twilight thought for a moment. If this was the best way of finding the stone, she would do it. However, she thought about Spike- the anguish she would feel knowing that her sanity was at stake, and he could do nothing to save her. Then again, if she didn't do it, she wouldn't be able to find Gek, and cure herself.

Reluctantly, she looked up at Winslow "Do it."

Winslow nodded and sat her down on the closed toilet seat. He placed his hand on her forehead and shut his eyes. Twilight's vision was black for a time, but a flash of white brought her to a surreal vision.

*

The first thing Twilight felt was a strong gust of wind. It was warm, but antagonizing, and blurred her sight for a moment. As her "eyes" adjusted, she saw clouds zooming past her, she was flying- but higher than she had ever flown before. The sun was absent, as a dark layer of cloud covered the sky like a sheet above her. Bellow her was a massive city by a great ocean with towering buildings, and bright lights, unlike anything she had seen. The sea was rough and churned; smashing against the coastline of the city with tidal force. Despite the dreariness of the environment, it had a certain beauty to it that she couldn't explain.

However, her joy was cut short when she heard the sound of a deep, and echoing horn that made her whole body shake. At first she was unsure where it came from, but it soon became apparent when a massive shadow blocked her way. She couldn't make out the object at first, as it was shrouded by fog, but that changed when the fog began to move aside to accommodate the flying object.

It was an oddly shaped aircraft that must have been hundreds of feet long. It had a distinct oval shape to its body and moved quite slow. She didn't have enough time to examine it further, however because she realized that she was on a collision coarse with the strange flying machine. Twilight tried moving her body, but like a dream- the vision wouldn't allow it. She shielded herself with her hands to brace for impact and closed her eyes, but there was no impact at all.

*

"Twilight... Twilight! Can you hear me?" Winslow's voice was muffled, and his face was blurred.

"Wha-... what?!" Twilight was seeing in double at first, but her vision soon adjusted as she moved her head around.

As she came to her senses, she clasped her heart and began to hyperventilate in a panic. She was back in her bathroom with Draven and Winslow, but she felt numb again, so limp.

"Calm down Twilight, it's me." Winslow lightly shook Twilight, and sure enough, she was fully awake.

Twilight shook her head and shivered. "There was a-, and I-..."

"I know Twilight, I know. I saw it too." Winslow reassured the frightened mare as he held her by the cheeks; waiting until she calmed down.

"What happened?" Draven said in a worried voice. "Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine, she's just in shock is all," Winslow explained as he once again brought Twilight to her hooves.

"Did you find out anything about the stone? Did you find out where Gek is?" Draven inquired as he assisted Winslow in standing Twilight up.

"No, Twilight ended the vision before I had the chance to find out," Winslow said as he comforted the shocked mare. "She saw an Ausrüstrian zeppelin and the city of Ausrüstung itself. There is no doubt that the stone we seek is there, but where exactly... is still a mystery."

"Bloody-hell..." Draven patted Twilight on the head. "Will she be alright?"

"Yes." Winslow turned his head to Twilight. "Twilight? I need you to be calm so that others don't get suspicious of you. This was only a conversation about Spike, that's all they're going to know."

Twilight nodded her head rapidly to show she understood and closed her eyes to try and dispel memories of the vision that kept repeating themselves over and over in her mind. She took a few deep breaths before regaining her composure and walked out into her bedroom with Winslow and Draven.

"I'm fine now, thank you." Twilight walked down the hallway slowly, so as not to lose balance again.

"Damn." Draven cursed under her breath. "First Spike seeing Leere in a dream, and now she has a bloody psychopath trying to worm his way into her head? Is everyone going crazy?"

"Such is the norm in a time where chaos reigns over all else." Winslow worried.

"Should we have prepared earlier?" Draven whispered to Winslow.

"No, the signs appeared long before Leere even began to stir, we just couldn't see it. The agents of darkness may not know of their master's presence, but they arise when the time is right, and in this case, it is now." Winslow imparted; giving Draven a pat on the shoulder before returning to the viewing balcony with Twilight.

"Better now, than yesterday..." Draven uttered with relief.

****

"Ladies and gentlecolts, I don't know about you, but that last fight was exhilarating! What do you think?" The announcer placed his hand on his ear to hear the crowd's roar of approval. "That's what I like to hear! Now, you all know what comes next... release the voting sphere!"

The sphere once again emerged from the trap door, hovering over the crowd and awaiting their votes. Beams of information shot out from the voting slips at great speed and materialized inside the giant globe. Once it was done collecting the votes, it lowered itself back into its hole at a tantalizing speed; trying to create an eagerness amongst the crowd. The announcer grabbed his newly processed slip and cleared his throat.

"Our first team is... the Northlands' team- Cyro and Jhettei!" The announcer bellowed with excitement, his eyes moving down the page to find the next pair of combatants. "Our second team is... the Equestrian Empire- Spike and Coba!"

Cyro passed Spike on his way out of the competitor's pit, giving him a firm handshake as a sign of respect towards his foe. "We may be friends now Hotshot, but I want you to know... I won't be so friendly out there, so you best be on your toes." Cyro's voice was less chipper than Spike was used to, which made him fairly nervous. Cyro made his way into the ring.

"He won't give up easily Spike, and Jhettei is in a league of his own. Are you ready?" Coba asked the young dragon as he got to his hooves.

"Well, no turning back now right?" Spike said uneasily.

"That's the spirit. C'mon, let's get going." Coba gestured to Spike as he began walking up the steps into the arena; urging him to follow.

Spike and Coba joined their opponents in the center of the arena, the crowd watching them every move. Cyro had been so friendly to him, and other competitors outside the ring, but inside, it was a different story. His calm and bright personality diminished, and a look of blind determination replaced his usual cheerful expression. He stared Spike down along with Jhettei, who had his eyes on Coba. Coba was eager to fight Jhettei again, and he knew that if he was going to beat such a skilled combatant he would need to utilize his skills in a far more controlled manner, rather than trying to overpower his adversary.

Spike felt the same way about Cyro. Taking into account that he was of the same race as his own, he'd have to retool his strategy. Dragons rely heavily on their magical abilities, and Cyro's abilities appeared more focused and specialized than Spike's way of wielding magic, which was to overpower his foe with as much firepower as possible. Although this method worked well against his previous opponents, it would not hold up well against Cyro's aggressive, but analytical fighting style.

"Fire and ice? That's an old war that has been waging for centuries." Winslow commented on the two dragons glaring at each other below. "I'm rooting for fire."

Draven said nothing but gave a grunt of approval as he heard Winslow.

"Alright, then folks! With me! Three! Two! One! Fight!" The announcer sang joyously.

The fighters got into their ready-stances and prepared themselves. Spike's fire swirled around him, ready to strike. Coba's talisman began to glow as he summoned his beast-strength. Cyro created a blade of ice as sharp as glass. And Jhettei took a deep breath and focused his inner energy.

"I'll take Cyro, you go for Jhettei!" Spike ordered Coba as he charged.

Cyro unleashed a blast of ice-cold from his left hand, the ground shivering and crackling their teeth as it passed overhead. The blast reached Spike, but Spike cast a wall of emerald fire that melted the attack away.

"His fire burned through that attack so easily!" Gin said in awe as she felt the warmth of the pillar of fire before her.

"It burns brighter and hotter than regular flames." Twilight informed Gin, feeling the heat of the fire as well. "Cyro will have to bolster the power of his attacks if he wants his ice to withstand the heat."

"But that would only drain his magic faster. He'll have to resort to close-quarter combat if he wants to stay in the fight." Draven uttered with the utmost seriousness; calculating every detail of the fight between the two dragons.

Cyro ran at Spike and lashed out with his ice sword; swinging at Spike's shoulders to try and incapacitate him. Spike predicted this and raised his arms to defend, his thick scales absorbing the impact and shattering Cyro's weapon. However, Cyro was able to re-forge his weapon faster than expected and began attacking again, almost immediately. This would take longer than he originally anticipated.

On the other side of the ring, Coba was faring well. He stood his ground and remained ever vigilant of Jhettei, who had many tricks up his sleeve. He was small, and could easily evade Coba's powerful jabs and crosses. Coba knew this and stayed at a distance, knowing that as long as he stayed out of Jhettei's range, he would emerge victorious. Coba backed off and threw a kick at the nimble stallion, but Jhettei ducked and attempted to close the distance by moving in. Coba reacted, and backed up; launching a firm jab that landed right in Jhettei's solar-plexus.

Jhettei was winded by the blow for a brief moment but quickly regained his strength as he stood back up. shrugging off the blow faster than any other warrior Coba had faced before.

"He took a blow right in the chest, from a stallion more than twice his size, and it only took mere moments for him to recover?" Draven was shocked by Jhettei's resilience, and Coba was as well.

Jhettei took a deep breath, and focused. He tensed every muscle in his body, his teeth grinding together as he fought through the intense pain of stressing every part of his body.

"Aianbodi!" Jhettei uttered under his breath as he relaxed his muscles.

He took another deep breath, and stood silently, awaiting Coba's next move.

"What did he just do?" Twilight wondered as she looked down at the motionless Jhettei, who stared blankly at Coba.

"I have no idea," Winslow admitted as he found himself flabbergasted by Jhettei's change in pace.

Coba attacked Jhettei with all his strength; ignoring his foe's reluctance to react. As he struck Jhettei however, he soon realized why he didn't bother defending. His fist made a "ding!" sound as it collided with Jhettei's jaw. Landing the hit pumped him up at first, but a sharp pain in his hand began to run up his arm. He looked down and was surprised to see that his fist was bleeding at an alarming rate, he almost shattered his knuckles when he struck Jhettei.

With a mixture of pain and anger, Coba began to strike Jhettei in the face again and again, but nothing worked. Coba did nothing but injure his hands further.

"What the hell was that?" Gin gawked at Coba's shattered hands.

"I have no clue, perhaps a technique of some sort?" Draven suggested as he waved his arms in uncertainty.

As Coba stepped back to rethink his strategy, Jhettei charged forward, a lot slower than he was before. Coba evaded him and pushed him back with a thrust from his foot.

"It seems that his technique comes at the price of movement," Winslow observed the slow pace of the previously agile fighter, noticing the added power in his attacks, and increased weight. "His blows have great power. Coba must be vigilant."

Spike began to have difficulty with Cyro's relentlessness. Every time he'd knock him away, the ice dragon would get right up close, and wear him down. He began to resort to magic attack rather than physical, and launched himself into the air with a jet of flame. As he flew higher, he bombarded the arena with great fireballs, blasting the rock around Cyro. To defend, Cyro summoned a dome of ice like the one he had used in his fierce battle with Stín. However, it did not hold up well. Spike slammed into the ground like a comet, surrounding himself in a veil of flame. He crashed into the dome and smashed it to pieces with his fiery power. "Dragon King's Comet!"

As Cyro flew back, he rammed his sword into the ground, slowing himself down to a grinding halt, and allowing himself to continue the fight. Spike launched another fireball, but this time, he shaped it into a disc and tossed it at incredible speeds. Cyro dodged, but the disc turned around and slammed into Cyro like a sack of bricks. The ice dragon fell to the ground, and with a grunt and heave, he returned to his feet.

"Alright, now it's serious," Cyro said with great intensity.

He yelled loudly before releasing an aura of glaciating energy that began swirling around him. The sound of cold wind and blizzards echoed as the energy formed into frozen armor. Eventually, Cyro was clad head to toe in ice armor that shone like glass and crystals. "Dragon Berzerker's Ice Armor!" Spike used an explosion of flame to launch himself forward, but he was cut off by Cyro's ice-encased fist that slammed into his face hard. Cyro then hammered Spike to the ground with a massive shard of ice that smashed to bits as it pummeled him downwards. "Dragon Berzerker's Ice Mace!"

"That could be troublesome..." Twilight muttered nervously as she watched Spike get beaten down.

Cyro battered Spike over and over with various ice-hammers, ice-swords, and ice-staffs; eventually overpowering him, and finally flattening him. Cyro ceased his assault and lowered his weapons.

"You put up a good fight Hotshot, but not good enough-." Cyro's sentence was cut short as a fiery fist hit him directly in the face, destroying his icy helmet.

"I'm not done yet!" Spike growled with determination as his flames began to consume his body, surrounding him in a bursting aura of fire.

"Dragon King's Fiery Breath!" Spike roared, and as he did so, an all-consuming blast of fire escaped his maw. The blast enveloped Cyro and exploded as it hit a section of the stone wall surrounding the arena. As the smoke cleared, Cyro stood up and looked down at his body, no armor.

"My armor..." Cyro uttered in disbelief as he felt what was left of his battle-gear drip off his body.

Coba was baffled by Jhettei's endurance. While it was impressive before, he seemed almost invincible now. Punches and kicks did nothing, and Coba was running out of limbs to hit him with without breaking or snapping something.

Jhettei charged at him again, but without realizing it, Coba left his leg out in front of Jhettei. As Jhettei's foot caught, he tripped over it and hit the earth with great force. This accident gave Coba an idea.

"He's heavy... I can use his momentum against him!" Coba thought, preparing himself for Jhettei's next attack.

As Jhettei prepared to kick Coba, he moved forward and grasped his leg, lifting it up and tossing him back. Jhettei got up again and punched, but Coba then blocked and moved with Jhettei's strike, lifting him over his shoulder and throwing him down.

Realizing his strategy was compromised, Jhettei nullified his technique, and his fighting style returned to normal. Coba predicted this, and just as Jhettei stood, he kicked, his shin smashing into the small stallion's nose.

After relieving himself of his technique, Jhettei was completely drained of his internal energies, and could no longer fight using any of his other abilities. He was so confident in his technique that he failed to think Coba would figure out his form's weakness.

Coba jabbed Jhettei, then gave him a knee to the chest, then another jab, and finally finished the skirmish with a firm uppercut right below his jaw. Jhettei flew up and hit his head as he landed, feeling the full impact of the debilitating blow with it.

"Heh, guess I was a little overconfident with this one." Jhettei wheezed as he got back up on his hooves and bowed to Coba. "You are truly a great warrior. Your father is lucky to have a son like you."

Coba smiled and looked up to his father, who stared down at his son with the same endearing eyes he knew from his childhood when he told him and his brother stories before bed. Although his father was old and could not communicate as well as he could in days gone by, he still had faith in his son and was proud of the warrior he had become.

"Yes, and I am lucky to have him as a father," Coba replied as he turned his head back to Jhettei.

"Well folks, it looks like those two fighters have reached a conclusion, but the fight is not over yet! We still have two dragons facing-off!" The announcer stated as he surveyed the arena.

Spike and Cyro's battle raged on, Spike delivering powerful blasts of fire, and Cyro dishing out icy-destruction that clashed with his foe's flames. Spike hit Cyro with his flaming fist, but Cyro blocked it and countered with his ice-covered hand that hit Spike harder and harder each time he attacked. Spike summoned a fiery whip and slashed Cyro across the chest, and Cyro fell back down again but got up every time no matter how beaten up he was.

"Come on Spike, hang in there!" Twilight cheered her friend on as she watched the battle continue.

Cyro charged up the last of his magic power into one final attack and so did Spike. The crowd braced themselves for a spectacular finisher, and that's what they got. Spike released a beam of searing green flame, and Cyro shot off a continuous blast of ice. The two attacks collided and fought against each other. Cyro strained every muscle in his body and focused what little magic he had to boost the power of his attack, pushing his attack further toward his foe. Spike focused as well and felt his flames heat up even more, propelling his attack forward, and finally cutting through the maelstrom of ice. Cyro felt the full force of the attack and fell to the ground once it hit him.

"Did he win?" Gin coughed as she fanned the hot steam away from her face that clouded the arena.

Cyro was still standing, but only barely. His right eye was closed and swollen, his chest had been slashed by the fire-whip, and although his scales protected him from most elemental attacks, his body had many burn marks from Spike's flames. He ran at Spike, limping and screaming desperately as he charged forward towards his adversary.

"Cyro! It's over, we lost!" Jhettei yelled at the stubborn and battered dragon as he ran at Spike with his fists raised. "Cyro, stop it!"

Spike took the punches and felt each impact his chest. However, they decreased in power with each strike, until they were nothing more than light taps. As Cyro felt his body go limp, he fell to his knees, and he lowered his head in shame.

"It's okay, you can stop," Spike whispered to Cyro as he crouched down to his level.

"I can't! Not when my tribe still thinks I'm a failure!" Cyro cried.

"What?" Spike wondered.

"My tribe of ice dragons, they think I'm weak. They kicked me out and left me for dead in the snow." Cyro wept. "I came here to prove them, and everyone that I'm not a weakling! I can't disgrace my ancestors!"

"Screw your ancestors! Cyro, this was one of my hardest fights, and I am almost as beat up as you, see?" Spike pointed at his swollen left eye, and Cyro looked up at it. "I'm not a warrior or a fighter like Coba or Jhettei... I'm a princess' assistant, with crazy powers I never knew about! I'm honestly surprised I won... any of my fights!"

Cyro sniffled, and stood up, wiping his tears away.

"Cyro, you have shown great endurance. You have shrugged off major blows, slashes from swords, and you're still fighting. It doesn't take a genius to realize that your ancestors would be proud of your bravery even if you lost, because you put up more of a fight than anyone I've met, and trust me when I say that I've met some pretty tough ponies!" Spike smiled as he gestured to Twilight and Draven.

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Cyro murmured.

"Excuse me... Excuse me!" The announcer interrupted their conversation. "I don't mean to bother you guys, but we need a winner here!"

"What do you suggest?" Spike yelled up to the announcer.

"I don't know, maybe knock them out or something!" The announcer shouted down to Spike.

"Can't Jhettei and Cyro just admit defeat?" Twilight shouted from across the arena.

"Yeah, we're doing that." Jhettei sadi to the announcer.

"Yeah, that works too..." The announcer replied, clearing his throat. "The winner is Spike and Coba, from the Equestrian Empire!"

Although they were confused, the crowd cheered anyways, and Spike raised Cyro's arm in celebration. Twilight clapped with delight, and Draven joined in. Spike didn't just win the fight, he won a friend as well, and Cyro gave Spike a thumbs up as the guards carried him off on a stretcher with Jhettei following behind.

"Good job, Spike, good job," Draven said with pride as he saw that joyful smile appear on the young dragon's face as he celebrated with Coba.

Author's Notes:

This is my longest chapter (so far...). As always, I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!