Spike and Pharynx stood in front of the entrance to a massive cave system. The aptly named Crystal Caves of Canterlot. Spike stood with his arms crossed behind his back in thought. He wore his combat armor rather than his normal ruling uniform, which also happened to be armor.

It was day time now. The morning after he had deployed his army. Today was the day. Today was the day he destroyed Chrysalis and Sombra.

His combat armor was a full suit of black plate armor, which covered all but his face. His glowing eyes and snarling snout being the only things uncovered by the plate. The winged symbol of the Draconic Empire was engraved into the rounded pauldrons of the armor. A massive two handed great-sword rested comfortably on his back while he gripped the Scepter of Domination in his left hand. He was thankful that it was practically indestructible, or his firm grip would have snapped it in half.

Ember stood to his right. She was wearing her golden armor, the same uniform she had met the first day she met him, though it had been given a bit of decor in the form of the insignia of the Empire on her chest plate, alongside her armor's pauldrons. She held a warhammer in either hand and looked equally ready to charge into the caves as Spike.

To his left stood Pharynx, who wore a new suit of purple armor, the standard uniform of the Draconic Empire. He clutched a new sword in his hand, as he eyed the cave ready to move in. His compound eyes didn't give Spike any insight into the Changelings mindset, but he imagined him to be eager to move out to save his brother. That, or he was preparing to betray him.

Spike cleared his throat. "Before we move in, I want you to tell me something Pharynx."

Pharynx turned to him and looked him dead in the eyes, ready for anything.

"You were with the resistance earlier yes?" Spike asked a raised eyebrow.

"Yes... my lord." Pharynx said, adding the 'my lord' after a slight stumble in words.

"When you last saw them, where were they camped?" Spike asked darkly, his eyes narrowing.

"The Castle of the Two Sisters in the center of the Everfree forest. They may have moved on now, but they have prisoners with them, I doubt they would get far." Pharynx said without hesitating.

Spike was taken aback for a second. He was not expecting him to sell out his former allies so quickly. He then chuckled to himself. Perhaps he could trust this bug. No further than he could throw him though. Considering his size compared to Spike however, that might actually be quite far. That saying never made sense to him anyway.

Spike turned around and smirked.

In front of him, staring dutifully back at him, were one hundred dragons of the elite Draconian Guard. The most competent, skilled warriors of his Empire. They each wore a different suit of armor wielding a specialized weapon. Like the Knights of old, each one had a different Insignia on their armor which was joined by the Insignia of the Empire.

Behind them stood three Draconic Leviathans who towered over everything else near them, even buildings. Thankfully, Pharynx had insisted that they could fit into the caverns if they squeezed through enough. The caves were used to transport an army after all.

This was the Draconian Guard. Spike's most loyal and elite soldiers. When not in combat, each Guardsman was given their own mansion and tract of land to do with as they pleased, alongside first pick of any slaves the Empire claimed. This was not to say they were lazy or entitled. Far from it. They earned their place upon the bones of the many enemies of the Empire.

Spike looked up at one of the Leviathans, a black one covered in a massive suit of armor. There was enough steel in that suit of armor to build a dozen skyscrapers at least. It was worth it though. It made his Leviathans of the Draconian guard even more powerful.

"Soot. Move to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Find the Resistance and destroy them. Let's be rid of two threats today." He ordered.

A smile came to the dragon's massive maw, glistening rows of pony sized teeth glinting in the light as it spread it's wings into the air.

"Yes my lord." It's voice boomed. With a roar it kicked off the ground and shoot into the air, leaving a crater behind him. In three flaps of his massive wings he was high enough in the air that his shadow covered the entire district of the city the Draconian Guard were within. Then he shot off towards the Everfree forest.

Spike turned back to the cave entrance with an exaggerated movement. He pointed the Scepter of Domination directly towards the entrance. "Move out! Today is the day Chrysalis dies!"

Pharynx was the first to move in, followed by Ember. Then the Draconian guard started marching after them, the Leviathans the last to start moving. Spike suddenly reached out, placing a claw on the shoulder of one of his men.

"Keep track of our movements in the cave. I don't want Pharynx to move us into a trap. I still don't have reason to completely trust him." He quietly told the soldier. They nodded in response and marched past.

Spike followed after him and stepped foot into the cave.

There was a bit of a panic in the Resistance Camp. Perhaps it was a bad idea to spend the night in the Castle of the Two Sisters was a bad idea, but moving in the Everfree at night was an even worse idea. There was a mad scramble in the camp as ponies, gryphons, kirin, buffalo and Yak alike rushed through the camp packing up their belongings and preparing to move out.

It didn't take a genius to tell that Pharynx probably rushed out to join the Empire, meaning that he probably alerted Spike to their location.

Blueblood directed them as they went about chaotically tearing down the camp, Twilight next to him as she used her magic to make things easier for the resistance. Lifting heavy things and packing up tents from afar. That sort of thing.

Starlight was with Sandbar and Yona's family as they went about cleaning their own part of camp. She was slow and quiet about it, clearly thinking about things. Guilt was evident on her features. Twilight didn't know what to say to her. She didn't know about Sombra and Chrysalis but...

"This is a nightmare." Blueblood suddenly said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Any minute now a legion of Imperial Soldiers will be upon us. Or worse."

"Worse? What do you mean by w-" Twilight started. She was interrupted by a loud, earth shaking boom. The ground quaked, and she almost lost her footing. Many others were not so lucky, falling to the ground as the earth shook around them. Several already unstable parts of the ruin collapsed, including a section of the ceiling which fell down directly towards the prisoners the Resistance had captured from the Orchard.

Thankfully, Twilight noticed it in time to grab it, and several other collapsing bricks and statues in her magic, gently lowering them to the ground in places that wouldn't smash anyone flat. As soon as the shaking stopped a sense of panic immediately followed, some immediately began running towards Blueblood and Twilight.

Most others, however were frozen in place, there eyes locked on the wall on the other side of where the echoing noise came from. The wall was the one where the thrones of Luna and Celestia had once stood a thousand years ago, on the opposite side of the castle to Blueblood and Twilight.

It was quiet for the next couple of minutes but that didn't stop the all encompassing feeling a dread the Resistance felt.

"M-maybe..." Zecora, who was standing off to the side near Blueblood and Twilight, suddenly said. "Maybe it was only a section of the castle falling off?"

The second she finished speaking, the castle wall exploded inwards, flinging shard of broken stained glass, stone brick, boulders and shattered statues directly at the resistance. Those close to unicorns had the luck of being protected by bubble shield, but those without that luxury had to struggle to dodge the pieces of shrapnel. Twilight noticed more than a couple of the resistance members taken out by falling rubble. She hoped they were just injured.

A cloud of dust emanated from the shattered wall, covering what ever just smashed it down. All anyone could see was a massive black shape. The shape rose in size, as if it was rising to it's full height, though it stood on four legs. The ceiling above it collapsed as it's head and long neck smashed though it, leading to another rain of rubble. Thankfully it was much easier to dodge for the people below this time.

Slowly the dust settled as the creature became easier to see. A massive armored dragon, the biggest one Twilight had ever seen in her life. Even Torch wasn't as large as this one.

"Leviathan!" A Resistance member cried out in terror, before the dragon raised a claw and brought it down on them, smashing them flat like a bug. A panic very quickly set in.

Starlight watched as members of the Resistance scattered in every direction. Some of the more brave members tried their hardest to hammer it with spells or arrows from bows and bolts from crossbows but nothing even scratched it's armor, never mind the scales beneath.

Starlight could only helplessly watch as, the armor on the dragon's chest suddenly turned red hot, glowing vibrantly as steam shot out. The armor looked like it was on the verge of melting. Then, slowly, the metal on his neck started to glow the same way, slowly snaking up it's long neck until it reached the chin of the armor.

"Watch out!" Was all Starlight could cry before fire burst out of the creatures maw, shooting out with enough force to smash aside the castle's wall, instantly incinerating everything it touched. The Dragon first shot it along the castle's upper floor, devastating those Resistance members who had ran up their in a panic, before it slowly snaked down towards the main camp in the center of the bottom floor.

Thankfully, before the fires struck the resistance, which would have likely turned more than half of them in to piles of ash, a purple shield suddenly appeared between the dragon's mouth and the camp. The fire struck it, cracks slowly forming in the shield, spreading through it.

Starlight's eyes turned to Twilight who struggled to stand up as he horn glowed.

"Everypony! Run! Quickly!" She shouted before falling to her knees, sweat pouring from the brow as the shield continued to crack, coming closer and closer to shattering.

There was a mini stampede as everyone rushed toward's the castle exit which was behind Twilight and Blueblood. Several stayed behind though, like Starlight, Sandbar and Yona, who quickly shepherded the Yak's family towards the exit.

The dragon suddenly stopped spewing fire stepping back. With an angry roar, it brought it's massive whip like tail back, and brought it down onto the shield. It easily smashed through it, causing Twilight to collapse to the ground. The tail continued coming down, smashing into a low hanging chandelier, which was sent flying to the ground, directly towards one of Yona's little brothers.

Yona shouted in panic, but Sandbar suddenly rushed forwards, tackling the small Yak out of the way as the metal chandelier struck the ground shattering. Yona tried to rush towards them, but was stopped when the tail struck the ground between them, separating them by a wall of metal and scales.

"Sandbar! Brother!" She cried ramming into tail with all her might. That was a bad idea, as with a rumble they quickly felt as though they were bring watched by something.

Starlight and Yona looked up to see that the eyes of the Leviathan were locked on them, a smile slowly coming to it's face. It lowered its head, slowly, mouth opening, preparing to devour them both with one bite. Suddenly, a loud crack shot through the air. Electricity suddenly shot through it's armor. It roared it very obvious pain as it shook in place. The lightning soon went away and it panted heavily before roaring once more, bringing it's tail into the air and slamming it into a wall, collapsing it as it turned to see what had happened.

Several pegasi, lead by Spitfire and Soarin, had gathered as many clouds as they could and were now hammering the dragon with lightning bolt after lighting bolt. The dragon roared time and time again as each bolt struck it directly in the armor.

It suddenly leaped into the air towards, them, taking a swipe with one of his massive claws, but he missed as the pegasi dodged out of the way. He landed almost a mile away, flattening trees and kicking up an explosion of dirt. The pegasi followed after him to cover the Resistance's retreat, not ceasing in their fire of lightning bolts.

Starlight watched this before turning and rushing after Yona. She watched as the larger yak hugged her little brother who was thankfully unscathed.

The same couldn't be said for Sandbar. After a slight wheezing whimper, they both turned to see Sandbar. Tears were in his eyes as he panted, his hands shaking as they grabbed onto a metal pole impaled into his stomach, which had broken off of the chandelier when it hit the ground.

Yona gasped and covered her brother's eyes, pure terror in hers. "S-sandbar..." She whimpered, her eyes watering. Starlight's face when white. There was so much blood. It covered the young pony's arms, chest, legs and it was quickly pooling around him.

Starlight rushed to his side. "D-don't worry! I know some healing magic. I j... I just need to take the pole out before I do anything." She said placing a hand on his chest.

The pony looked up at her in horror, but slowly nodded. "D-d-do it..." He said his voice weak and shaky.

Starlight nodded as she grabbed onto the pole. "Don't look at it." She whimpered before, with a firm, hard and fast tug she pulled it out. The young pony screamed out in pain, and didn't stop screaming until Starlight's magic had completely healed the hole in his stomach.

Through it all, Starlight could only think one thing;

'This is all my fault.'

Sorry this chapter took so long. Plz don't hate me ;(

This story is my baby. I am ashamed it took me so long to update it 😭

So long, for now. And always remember;