Another colossal claw protruded through, latching into the ground on the opposite side of the rift as the behemoth heaved itself through. As Calamity's head emerged from the earth, everypony present - with the exception of Luna - realised that no horrors they had witnessed throughout their entire lives could have prepared them for this. Even from this far away, some features could already be defined, such was its size. The head was white, presumably bone, and covered in black, red and pink splotches. From this distance they almost seemed to be moving, across the deformed skull. The neck that followed shared the same characteristics. As the torso of the creature emerged, a small sense of relief washed over a few of the more observant guards. There were no wings visible, and judging by his size, Calamity would be very slow to advance.

As the last of his body was wrenched outwards, the jagged, spiked tail that was almost as long as the creature itself descended carefully towards the rift. As the tip made contact, the rift immediately collapsed beneath its own gravity. A rush of air howled in all directions from the site. The gust swept towards the guards, who were now holding their weapons defensively as they felt the wind approaching, expecting some sort of magical onslaught. However, this was an assault of an entirely different kind. As the air passed over the ponies, each and every one - including the Princess herself - had to wildly fight the urge to vomit. Many failed. The putrid stench of death and decay was overpowering.

Twilight and Rarity shared a shocked glance. Both had emptied their stomachs instantly onto the ground beneath them, and both were extremely pale as a result; even Rarity looked a few shades more white than usual. The guards who had resisted the urge immediately cast themselves back into their defensive stances once again, expecting the monster to charge whilst most of their forces were incapacitated. It didn't. It just stood, and watched. Both sides stared at one another for what seemed like an age. In reality, only a few seconds passed. Calamity then began to what could only be described as 'flex' his 'joints', the accompanying sound was that of a hundred trees being felled at once as several bones cracked. He was preparing himself.

The guards were readying themselves as best they could, though the resolve of even the most seasoned commanders was beginning to crumble slightly at the sheer enormity of the monstrosity before them. Without warning, Calamity began to lumber towards the ranks. Even from their great distance, the guards could tell they had gravely misjudged just how quickly the terrible creature could move, closing almost a hundred meters with each hulking step. Luna bellowed to her guards loudly, "READY YOURSELVES!". Simultaneously, dozens of archers reared onto their back hooves, loaded an arrow into their bow and took aim. Sticks and stones against the lightning.

Twilight and Rarity stepped up behind the Princess, flanking her on either side, a look of grim determination on their faces. Spike remained still, he knew his presence here was only as a last resort. The collateral damage a battle between the two could cause would be enormous, and by the end, even if he were to survive, he doubted anypony else would escape the chaos in time.

Calamity had already closed a thousand meters. A massive splintering sound echoed around what would soon become a battlefield with each step the monstrosity took. A few seconds later, Luna cried out, "FIRE!" Luna enchanted each of the arrows as they were about to leave their respective bows. Volley after volley of miniature magical missiles flew towards Calamity, who swatted them aside with an appendage that had immediately sprouted from his neck, almost in the way one would swat at an irritating insect, and his mouth unhinged as a turbulent, horrific gurgling sound emanated deep from within him.

This continued for another thirty seconds. Calamity had now closed more than half the distance to the first line of guards. Luna glanced at Twilight and Rarity, "You two! Follow me!", she cried as she galloped towards the centre of the defensive line. The two gasped as they stood by Luna once again, now closer than before to the creature its features were much clearer. They wished they weren't. Apart from its tail, claws and the new shield-like appendage that still hung loosely from its neck there was something moving across what was assumed to be its flesh. But the realisation dawned upon the two, and many guards in the vicinity, that it wasn't Calamity's flesh at all... It was sewn together. Sewn into him. What made matters all the more horrifying however, was the simple fact that the flesh of the countless creatures - both common and completely non-existent upon Equestria - still moved. These creatures were alive. Or at least, some were. The darkened black splotches, now much more clearly defined, were undoubtedly those of rotting corpses. Once again, both Twilight and Rarity vomited uncontrollably, tears forming in their eyes. It was too much for them. They couldn't do this any more...

Luna grimaced as she glanced over to them, they were clearly not ready for such an undertaking. It pained her to have to ask so much of them, they were still so young... "Pull yourselves together! Twenty-four more minutes, and all this will be over!" she commanded, pushing the two back to their feet. They wiped the leftover vomit from their mouths and nodded slowly, still dazed; though tears still flowed as miniature streams from their eyes, "Follow my lead!" Luna spoke clearly and confidently. She was terrified, but had to keep face, she had no choice. The alternative didn't even bear thinking about.

Calamity was now just over a thousand meters from the lines. The arrows had bought precious seconds, almost a minute in total, but were nowhere near adequate and were running out quickly. Twilight and Rarity were channelling as much energy as they could into Luna's horn, the spell ricocheting from it. The vibrant beam shot towards Calamity, stopping just before him. A huge dome, shimmering multiple shades of black, blue and purple encased the advancing menace, "HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Luna barked out the command sharply, she had to focus here. Calamity lashed at the barrier with his claws and tail, which rippled slightly under each massive collision, but held firm.

A minute passed, Luna and Twilight were panting heavily now, and Rarity was trembling and sweating profusely, having almost reached her limit. "Keep going! We cannot - Will not - stop now!" Luna cried. Those words offered little comfort to the others, there was absolutely no way they could keep this up for long. The lighter blue hues in the dome began to flicker and fade in time with the dimming aura around Rarity's horn, eventually ceasing as she collapsed into a heap on the ground, gasping heavily; the tip of her horn charred slightly from the intense amount of energy and focus the spell had demanded. Twilight and Luna had to work even harder now, and even Luna came to the realisation that the barrier would not hold. As both exerted the last of their magical energies, small holes began to form in the barrier, in the same way holes are burned into parchment held above a flame. With one last almighty push the barrier around Calamity smashed, and the same sickening gargling sound from before resounded once again with much greater volume.

Still dazed from her spell suddenly being shattered, Luna didn't notice the gap between them and the fiend growing smaller by the second until it was barely a few hundred meters away, and was snapped from her stupor only by the ground shaking as the gargantuan claws pummelled the earth, "R-RETREAT!" Luna started, glancing around, she threw Twilight onto her back, and ran to Rarity to do the same. Once both unicorns were slumped over the alicorn's back, she moved as swiftly as she could towards the retreating guards. She wasn't fast enough, the others weighed her down. An incredible impact missed her by mere inches, and all three were thrown to the ground by the resultant shock wave.

Yet another limb was protruding from the creature, this time from the front-left 'shoulder', it was this that had caused the impact. Upon observation it seemed to resemble a crude giant mallet, now in even worse shape than when it was created, cracked and broken, missing several large chunks; bones were never intended to be subjected to this kind of treatment. Twilight seemed to snap from her daze, and Rarity wearily rose to her hooves, knees buckling slightly, Luna winced as she rolled onto her hooves, her right side bleeding profusely.

Calamity whipped his body around ninety degrees, the resultant force sending his scythe-like tail cleaving across the ranks of retreating guards at near super-sonic speeds. All watched in abject terror as dozens of guards were cleaved in half, maimed or mutilated horribly. The guards further to the left of the swing were nowhere near as lucky. The tail, however quickly it moved, had several blunt sections, and these had been forced through their comrades moments before, slowing the swing considerably; the result being that around twenty guards were now partially impaled, screaming in agony. The tail came to an abrupt stop, then yanked furiously, pulling the unfortunate captives with it. As the tail disappeared into Calamity's body, the screams of the guards could still be heard, their torture beginning in earnest. When the tail re-emerged moments later no guards were to be seen, but all present knew they were still alive, still suffering, their half-muffled, agonised wails still piercing the air.

As the few remaining able-bodied guards hauled their comrades to the relative safety of the rear blockade, they tried not to look back, or breathe too deeply. If the stench of death had been terrible before, it was now absolutely unbearable. As Twilight and Rarity followed the Princess's gaze upwards their hearts sank. They were now only a couple hundred meters from Calamity's jaw, and while he seemed incapable of facial expression or speech, the way he slowly tilted his head to one side spoke volumes, 'Is that all?'

Spike was already moving before Luna had even called to him, he had seen enough already, he would not let his friends and sister die too. His wings beating furiously as he almost instantaneously closed a two-thousand meter gap. He still ached everywhere from the growth process, but he didn't let it impede him, instead releasing a draconic roar of intense pain and rage that would have turned even the most seasoned dragon slayer's legs to jelly. After all, he was protecting more than just a pile of jewels here. He was protecting his home, his friends, his big sister, and the mare he had loved since first sight. As he shot towards his target, Spike felt an urge build within him, an urge as old as the dragon race itself; the want - the need - for violence. Instinctual knowledge of how to fight, and kill, flooded his thoughts, along with a fearsome primal blood-lust. There was no room for fear now.

A collision of cataclysmic proportions hurled Calamity backwards, though even after such an impact the monster still stood upright, anchored only a short distance away by several hundred lances that had shot into the ground from behind him. Lances retracting, Calamity attempted to cleave his target with his tail, swinging for the neck.

Spike leapt backwards and into the air, narrowly avoiding the sharp tip cleaving open his soft underbelly before unleashing an incredible burst of green dragonfire.

"Fifteen minutes..." Luna spoke through clenched teeth as she cast her head back towards Spike for a moment before turning to the each of the unicorns supporting her in turn. Though both were exhausted, neither of them were seriously injured. Luna on the other hoof, had a large tear in her side from being hurled to the ground so quickly under the weight of the others, and was using the last traces of magic she had to hold it together.

Celestia's voice rang out in their heads once more, "Sister, are you injured?" she asked worriedly, she had noticed Luna's laboured breathing.

"I will live." Luna replied, "Many are dead, the few that remain are maimed and broken. Spike is the only thing standing between Calamity and the rest of Equestria..." she paused to take a deep breath, "... at this point." All three turned to look at Spike, now exhaling incendiary death unto the creature, the rancid odour of burning corpses drifting on the wind, "One hell of a strong brother you have there, hmm?" Luna tried to lighten the mood, despite how weak she sounded. Twilight simply nodded in response, apparently too exhausted to even care about the Princess's choice of language, though Rarity still managed a weary but clearly shocked expression; much to Luna's amusement. She knew now wasn't the time for fun, but as she cast her mind back to the days of endless war and suffering, she remembered that this was the only way to keep going. Even the Princess of the Night herself had to admit it eventually. You had to find light, even in the darkest of times, if you were to ever find the way out. They limped away, all three sharing one single thought, 'Just another fourteen minutes...'

As Spike ceased the barrage of dragonfire, he felt one small - but sickeningly twisted - measure of relief. The screams from inside the monster had stopped, the unfortunate guards now certainly dead, freed from months of torture at the whim of the monstrosity that had taken them. Plumes of dark green and black smoke rose from the creature as it writhed to put out the remaining embers. Whilst the shield appendage that was attached to Calamity's neck had protected his face and neck, his torso was badly burned, clumps of bloody, stitched flesh dropping onto the floor below. Spike sensed his advantage, taking a step forward upon landing.

Calamity looked around frantically for a moment, desperation beginning to set in. Had he been at full strength he would easily have been able to out-compete a dragon, even one at the peak of its physical fitness. However, centuries of tearing through dimensions to get back to the one where his master was imprisoned had taken their toll, and he was still relatively weak. But Calamity had learned from his master's cunning in the days by his side, and his eyes set on a new target, or rather, targets, three of them, the ones that the dragon had so carefully made sure he was in front of throughout the encounter.

He decided to test his theory, the now jagged string of bones hanging limply from his shoulder shot towards Spike's midsection clumsily. Calamity noted that instead of simply stepping to either side the dragon actually conceded ground, hopping backwards instead before yanking at the chain as it reached its full length, tearing it from him. It was certain now. For one reason or another, the dragon was purposefully manoeuvring himself between him and the ponies, and he would suffer for his weakness. Calamity reared up, formed four huge bone spears, two on each front leg, then fired them.

Though they were difficult to dodge, Spike managed to hop to the left of the first, only to see the second sailing towards his new position. He dodged left again.

Calamity shot the remaining two spears in quick succession, carefully aiming them so that each would force the dragon further to the side. The instant the last one jolted from his body, he darted, heavily but surprisingly quickly, towards the now visible trio of ponies.

Spike narrowly avoided the final spear as it sailed by his right wing, now flat against his torso. He glanced quickly around the area before setting his eyes upon Calamity, now lumbering towards the trio of ponies at a much greater speed than before. He would be on them in seconds. Spike took to the air, seemingly flashing across the huge gap for the second time in ten minutes.

Calamity knew the dragon would catch him in mere moments. It had to be now. Performing his favourite attack once again, Calamity rotated, his tail gaining incredible velocity before being hurled towards the trio, now just beyond striking distance. As the tail began to reach its full length Calamity's body seemed to shrink, bones from throughout the creature now weaving across towards the tail, extending it.

Spike saw the tail extending, he had to stop it before it reached the three. Changing his course from Calamity to his tail at the last second, he soared to intercept it.

The sound of bones cracking was growing louder. All three turned, then stared wide-eyed as inevitable death approached. The tail flew towards them with terrible speed, and was by now only meters away. They closed their eyes, awaiting a painful death. Thoughts of who they had really been, and how they had lived their lives briefly crossed their minds. Followed by...

A huge gust of wind, filled with choking dust, but no physical pain. The three slowly, hesitantly, opened their eyes.

Spike was exhausted, but he had done it, the tail now firmly pinned to the earth beneath his grasp. He had managed to dive for the end of the tail from the side, with assistance from his wings, and had violently slammed the instrument of death into the earth a few dozen meters to the right of where the ponies now stood.

The three regarded him with awe, even the Princess, who had grazed death more than a few times over her lifetime, "Spike!" the younger two cheered with relief.

Luna smiled slightly, "Just another twelve minutes... Hang on Spike..." Her voice became weaker as she spoke, her weakness becoming apparent to the others. Even with her magic holding the sizeable wound on her side closed, she had already lost a lot of blood.

Spike made an attempt to smile at them once again, turning his head over his shoulder so as to face them, before realising he had made a costly mistake.

Huge vibrations shook through the tail as more bones shot into place. One last lance protruded from the tail, then lurched towards the underside of the dragon pinning it down. Spike attempted to disengage from the tail, leaping backwards. He landed and spread his wings as he prepared to take flight.

A split-second too late.

The lance shot forth mercilessly, and embedded itself into its mark, Spike's heart.

For Spike, time seemed to grind to a halt, and a moment lasted much longer than just a single moment. In this time, there was only shocked silence.

Spike stared down at the twisted spear, seeming more confused than hurt.

The trio stared at Spike, mouths agape, none able to fully comprehend what had happened.

Calamity stared at both parties, striking a triumphant pose, his head held high in the air.

For just a moment, all was still.

Time caught up with itself once more, the silence broken by a terrible, agonised roar the likes of which even the Princess had only heard in the deepest, darkest torture chambers on the planet, over a thousand years ago. Neither Twilight nor Rarity had ever heard anything like it, and it pushed them dangerously close to their breaking point. They simply stared, tears streaming down their faces, as Spike continued to roar, his claws clutched loosely around the intruding object.

Spike's knees buckled, and he collapsed onto all fours as he stepped towards the three, barely avoiding slamming the lance to the ground, and further into him. Torrents of blood now poured from his chest, his heaves of pain bringing up more from his mouth. It was unbearable, even worse than the transformation process. The burning pain spread everywhere inside him except the only place where combustion should actually be taking place, his flame-producing glands instead being quenched by his own blood.

But there was a small sense of relief to be had, in that it was fading quickly. In fact, everything seemed to be fading quickly. A chilling revelation came to him, even as his senses began to dull, 'Is this really it? Am I... Am I going to die?' Spike mulled it over in his head, barely aware of his surroundings now. He was crouching on the ground, still clutching the spear. He couldn't remember why he was going so any more, only that it was very important.

Calamity, now regaining his original posture and size as his tail retracted, began to step towards the three. The dragon was finished, and whatever reason he was defending them for, he wouldn't wait to find out.

The immense footfalls of the monster snapped the three back to reality. "SPIKE!" they urged desperately, darting towards him as quickly as possible.

"SPIKE!" Spike... it was a name... it was his name, and those voices... his sister... and Rarity... Spike's half lidded eyes snapped open, his awareness returning. 'Twilight, Rarity, the Princess. They're in danger!' Spike struggled to stand, the pain had returned along with his awareness, he felt weak now, and his own blood was choking him slowly.

"R-Rarity! We h-have to help him!" Twilight cried worriedly. Her horn began to glow as she tried to stop Spike's bleeding, the glow around Spike's chest growing as Rarity followed suit. Both were exhausted, their horns ached from exertion, their bodies more so. But this wasn't about them, for they both knew the horrifying reality of the situation. Spike could die, if left unattended to. They had to do something, anything, to save him. Luna slumped to the ground wearily. Centuries of ancient magic was no use if she couldn't use it. She felt so useless, and using all her magic - what little she had left - to stop her own bleeding made her feel unbelievably selfish.

Calamity stepped closer again, only a few more steps and all four could be eliminated at once.

Twilight and Rarity shared a terrified glance before Twilight turned slowly back to her surrogate brother. She seemed calm, almost at peace with the situation. They were already dead, she realised. All she could do was relieve his suffering, if only for a moment; one last act of kindness for her little brother. The glow of the spell surged suddenly, now shining out of Spike's chest cavity like a floodlight. Rarity half-smiled, trying to be brave, and did the same; the effect almost doubling.

Spike realised two things. One, Calamity was no more than three seconds away from cleaving them all in half, and two, the pain in his chest was almost gone. He had to act now if he was to save them all, and he knew what to do. With a roar that shook the very heavens, Spike clutched the lance firmly and yanked it out, along with a sizeable portion of his heart. It didn't matter to him. He turned at a nearly impossible speed, mimicking the attack Calamity seemed to be so fond of, but instead of his tail lashing out at the creature, he hurled the makeshift javelin at supersonic speed towards the beast, every fibre of his being pushed into that one movement, all the emotion, all the rage, all the hurt; everything and anything he could draw upon.

The effect was nothing short of spectacular. In less than a fraction of a second the lance had caught fire due to the immense friction it was met with from travelling so quickly. The blazing inferno of a projectile hit Calamity in the same second with the force of a comet, literally exploding as it hit him. The resultant shock wave violently threw Calamity back a few thousand meters, giving him no time to react and steady himself. Unfortunately, the same applied to Spike, who now sailed backwards through the air towards Ponyville. With an almighty crash he connected with the earth and skidded to the outskirts, past the hastily constructed second line, scattering guards everywhere and levelling one or two buildings before coming to an abrupt stop.

The trio of ponies, due to their small stature in comparison to the events, were relatively unscathed. They had been thrown back of course, but this had mostly resulted in just rolling uncontrollably across the ground towards Ponyville. Still, the anguished cries of the Princess certainly didn't go unnoticed. As Twilight stood, she called to the closest guards who had dodged the impact, "H-Help us! The P-Princess is hurt!". Commands were barked and a stretcher was quickly approaching as a few medical ponies approached and asked her to step back. Satisfied that Luna would be taken care of, Twilight half ran, half stumbled to where Spike laid, Rarity following close behind.

It wasn't good. Blood now seeped freely down onto the ground, forming a viscous pool that the two had to tread through, much to their horror. As they approached, the two saw the extent of the damage and immediately began to weep once more. Most of Spike's heart was gone, and the area around it was all but disintegrated. His head turned towards them slowly, even in his deep rumble of a voice, he sounded pitifully weak, "Twilight, Sis, I... I don't think I'm gonna make it, am I?" he asked, though his tone suggested he already knew the answer. She was about to offer something comforting, more for herself than for his benefit, it seemed. But she stopped as Spike shook his head slowly, "Listen, Sis, whatever happens, I want you to promise me that you'll protect everypony... and help Celestia beat that thing..." She only nodded in response, her words choked down by the lump in her throat, "Look after the others, and the Princesses, and especially Rarity..." She nodded once again, "And don't forget to take care of yourself too, okay?" A third nod. Spike smiled this time, properly smiled, for the first time since the transformation, "Thanks... Big Sister..."

He turned his head slowly to Rarity, who was now weeping uncontrollably, "R-Rarity," he began, "Rarity, please don't cry. I hate... seeing you so upset..." Rarity looked up at him quickly and stifled her sobs so she could hear what he had to say, "Listen, don't worry. No... matter what... happens, my heart... will always belong..." Spike couldn't speak any more, only think, as the last of his senses faded, along with the image of his sister, and the mare that he loved so dearly, 'To you...' he thought to himself sadly, but he felt some sense of happiness too. He had finally said it, and it didn't sound half as cheesy as he thought it would. At least, he assumed it was happiness. It was a warm rush that swept over him, embracing him, nurturing him, comforting him, "Is this what real love is supposed to feel like?" Spike thought to himself briefly.

Then he thought no more.

The two watched as his eyes slowly slipped shut, "Spike!?" Rarity started, panic rising in her voice. "SPIKE!?"

No response.

"No..." Twilight gasped, her face set in an expression of absolute disbelief. Her little brother was gone, forever.

Rarity wailed and lurched across the small gap between them, blood splashing messily as she went, before collapsing next to the fallen dragon's face, weeping against it loudly. A horrendous symphony of cracks and groans sounded as Spike began to shrink down to his original size, his life energy no longer sustaining the spell. The process was much faster now, lasting little over twenty seconds. Rarity looked down at his much smaller form now, tears falling from her face onto his. She nuzzled him gently and continued to weep for the dragon who had so valiantly given his life to save theirs.

Luna's eyes snapped open immediately, and a few lonely tears trickled down her face before falling onto the stretcher. The spell had vanished, which could only mean one thing...

Twilight simply stood and stared at her brother, now dead, and Rarity weeping over him. It was inconceivable. It was wrong. It wasn't fair! Tears of bitter rage flooded over her cheeks as she turned her head in the direction of the wretch that had caused all this. The air around her crackled sharply, her horn began to glow a much deeper hue of purple than usual, almost black in appearance. Plated armour began to appear around her now slightly larger body. And her eyes, sunken, pained and almost faded in appearance - no doubt a product of her despair - now glowed the same shade of red as the blood, her brother's blood, that pooled around her hooves.

Luna was snapped from her grief by a familiar feeling permeating the air, "Oh, no!" she glanced down at herself, but no armour appeared, no indication of her changing at all, in fact. It wasn't the Nightmare... But whatever it was, it was still there; somepony had awakened it. Luna scanned the area again and picked up on the magical signature. It was Twilight. Panic rose within her, knowing that Celestia would not arrive for at least another ten minutes, and in her current state she could do nothing. Luna hastily contacted Celestia once more, "SISTER!" Luna's voice lacked restraint and composure, shocking the bearers of the stretcher, almost causing them to drop it before they regained their composure.

Celestia feared the worst, "Y-Yes, Luna? What is-"

"IT'S TWILIGHT!" Luna effectively screamed, "SHE HAS DRAWN UPON CHAOS MAGIC! YOU MUST HURRY!"

Celestia visibly recoiled in mid-flight before continuing. She realised one thing, this was - somehow - even worse than she had originally feared.

Twilight advanced. She wanted blood. She wanted revenge. She wanted justice.

And she would have it, no matter the cost.

Author's Notes:

Edited as of 6/1/14. Quality, grammar, and wording of sentencing is now vastly better than it was. Measurements of exact distance have been replaced with approximations by the characters. Spike's final words and thoughts have been tweaked to sound more realistic.

*Sighs* I really wish it could have ended any other way, Spike. Really, I do. Perhaps one day I'll write an AU version of this fic where I don't kill you off by chapter three... ;___;