Chapter 6: Canterlot on Flames

Part 1

A blood piercing scream was heard throughout the entire castle and its boundaries waking all those who were sleeping and at the same time gaining the attention of everypony else who heard it, there was no mistaking where that scream had originated, the royal guards were trained to act hastily in dire situations so it was no surprise that a second after hearing the scream every single available guard was running or flying to the chambers of prince Spike as the screams continued.

The screams stopped for a second before returning but this were, different. Moving even faster a squad of twenty four guards arrived at the scene in less than thirty seconds and utterly froze in fear by what they saw, they were prepared for many things, assassins, close combat, survival, torture both mental and physical, and even to kill but not for this………this butchery.

Prince Spike was on the ground crying in pain as he was desperately trying to take out a silver like dagger jabbed in his throat, with both his claws, while another was planted in his back sticking all the way to his chest, purplish blood flowing like a cascade from both deathly wounds. Behind him and next to the bed they saw princess Twilight Sparkle, her eyes glowing green as purple strands of magic emerged from them forming a veil of purple smoke around them, her horn glowing with a dark-purple aura of magic and a smile only matched by a mad pony adorning her lips, on the other end was a griffon or what was left of it surrounded by the same aura Twilight had on her horn.

The griffon was screaming loudly almost roaring or hawking in agony, parts of its dark clothes were on the ground ripped to shreds as blood adorned and rained from atop the griffon, its wings were gone and laying right over the floor behind it, both wings were crushed beyond repair, its hind legs were twisted painfully in abnormal ways as parts of the bone could be seen from them, its right arm seemed like it had being swallowed up, chewed and then spit out by a tornado, cut marks and burn marks adorned the griffons body as one its eyes was laying in front of Twilight.

One of the guards moved to try to stop Twilight but as he moved in closer she turned her head his way and engulfed him in her aura knocking him into the other guards.

“SHE IS MINE!” Twilight roared, her voice was dark and menacing, echoing through the castle sending shivers to all that heard her. “SHE WILL PAY!”

The griffon screamed even louder as dark bolts of electricity assaulted her body mercilessly, the smile on Twilight’s mouth became wider and darker, clearly enjoying the suffering of her victim, her teeth began to twist and transform into fangs and her coat turning into a deeper shade of lavender, a bright flash of light erupted behind her and a deep, powerful and commanding voice boomed and made the entire castle, no, the entire city of Canterlot shake.

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” The voice said as the entire room blackened. “STOP YOUR ACTIONS THIS INSTANT!”

Twilight turned around with fury on her eyes only to see a very angry and frowning Discord looking back at her and a very afraid Fluttershy behind him, Twilight gasped and the dark magic flowing through her stopped, returning her to her true self again. The griffon fell to the ground screaming in agony.

“I-I-I……….D-don’t…”

“Stay quiet, go to Spike,” Discord commanded as the light on the chambers returned and turned his neck around looking down at Fluttershy. “Are you okay my dear?” His only response was a slight nod. “Good, help Twilight and Spike.” Fluttershy did so as Discord moved towards the griffon.

Rarity arrived panting and huffing to Spike’s chambers, worried sick about the young dragon and Twilight she made her way through the petrified royal guards, fearing what could they be staring as she pushed her way into the room, once inside the room it took her a moment to take the scene in front of her fully, she stepped in closer with wide eyes watching in awe and horror as Fluttershy held Spike firmly from behind, her eyes closed as small tears fell from them while Spike and Twilight pulled the dagger in his throat out, once it came out a flood of his blood came out followed by what seemed to be something between coughs and screams, then Spike fell on all fours gripping the floor as hard as he could while Fluttershy and Twilight pulled the other dagger out, this time sending purple and green scales to the ground below him followed by more of his blood.

More guards had arrived at the scene late and most of the guards who had arrived first were ready to take the body of the young dragon out, but to their surprise Spike got up, his injuries were closing at a phenomenal rate, his lost blood and scales were evaporating and his breathing was returning to normal all in a matter of seconds, once he stood up fine he was held in a tight hug by princess Twilight while she cried over his head while Fluttershy cried happily watching the scene, to say the guards were incapable of thought by what they saw was an understatement, simply put their brains stopped working for a couple of seconds after that.

Seemingly forgotten, the griffon reached into her chest feathers using her good arm taking out a small red pill and driving it to her beak, before she could eat it a hoof slammed against her claw sending the pill away from her, looking up with her single eye now she saw Discord himself over her.

“Now, now, that’s not nice, you must answer some questions for us first, griffon.” Discord picked her up and using his powers healed her enough to make sure she would survive, then he tossed her to the guards who barely caught her. “Take this griffon to the medical bay, bound it and make sure it lives, and do NOT leave it alone for even a single moment, at least four guards must watch the griffon at all times.” The guards didn’t move. “Is that clear?” Discord said, making his eyes blaze in a deep yellow glow as he said the last word rather darkly.

“Y-YES SIR!” All of the guards said in unison taking the griffon with them and leaving the room as fast as they could, a couple of seconds later Discord snapped his finger making the doors close behind Rarity.

“S-Spikey-Wikey?” Rarity said before running to where her friends were, literally snatching Spike out of Twilight’s embrace. “SPIKEY-WIKEY!” She screamed before embracing him against her, returning the embraced, Spike held her close.

“I-it burns” Spike said some seconds after their embrace began. “R-rarity let go, it burns!” Spike pushed her away from him.
Rarity was confused and tried to approach him as did Twilight and Fluttershy but were stopped by Discord’s claw. “What's wrong Spike?” he said kneeling before him.

“It-IT BURNS!” Spike yelled as he collapsed to the ground hugging himself and shaking uncontrollably. “M-make it stop!” Spike cried out, his friends approached him worried sick but were stopped once again by Discord.

“Let me,” Discord placed his lion paw over Spike ’s head and closed his eyes; a second later he snapped his eyes open. “Its poison,” the three mares gasped. “‘Dodongo Poison’ this is bad.” Discord’s face turned grim.

“T-then heal him, take it out!” Rarity said from his left side almost hysterically. “Cure him, can’t you see my little Spikey-Wikey is suffering!?” Discord just groaned as Spike twitched and groaned on the floor.

“He can’t Rarity.” Fluttershy said.

“WHY?” both Twilight and Rarity yelled, making Fluttershy shift nervously on her spot.

“B-because it’s Dodongo Poison, errrm, you see I use it a lot, in small, really small doses it acts as a painkiller but…..too much it will destroy your blood system and over load your pain sensors.” Fluttershy went silent for a moment before continuing, seeing her friends didn’t interrupt her. “It’s a very rare and very unique kind of poison you see, it’s immune to any kind of magic, it literally nullifies it but it’s…………it’s lethal to reptiles.”

“B-but how do you know about it, how can you even use it? Dodongos are extremely dangerous!”

“That’s not important right now Twilight.” Discord said as he picked Spike up and handed him to Fluttershy, Spike on his part was shaking, struggling against an invisible force, sweating constantly and groaning, trying to contain his screams. “Take him to the medical bay and place him in the royal section, make sure to be with him, he won’t die but he will be in for quite a ride, a very harsh ride.” The doors opened again and the three mares were ready to break into a run “Except you Twilight, we have something to discuss.”

Twilight was going to argue but after seeing his face she only looked down and stood on her spot as her friends rushed towards the medical bay, then the doors slammed close again.

“Now,” Discord sat on the edge of the bed. “Tell me what happened here and where did you learn to use dark magic,” he stared into her eyes piercing her mind and soul, letting her know she couldn’t lie to him. “And tell me, everything.”

Twilight gulped.

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*Crystal Empire-Royal Palace*

It was nearly midnight, most crystal ponies were fast asleep in their homes, tucked warmly in their beds embracing their loved ones, but in the royal castle things were different, the royal dinner room was livid with talking, drinks, jokes, laughter and tales, all being exchange between the royal rulers of three different nations, guarded only by a few guards, Celestia hardly remembered the last she had so much fun and spent her time having, well fun, yet she couldn’t really dive into it properly, for the last few hours something had been bothering her even though she couldn’t quite place it, of course this was noticed by her sister.

“Is something bothering you, my sister?” Luna asked whispering next to her ear.

“As a matter of fact, yes Luna, something is bothering me………don’t worry about it, its nothing probably.”

“Sister please, both thou and I know that when something is bothering you, it’s never something good.”

“Lulu, please it’s nothing, we are having fun, let’s not ruin this night with silly worries.” she said encouragingly trying to convince herself more than Luna.

Luna sighed “Very well Tia.”

“But,”

“Yes?” Luna smiled without Celestia seeing her.

“Can you please tell me if my son is asleep?” Luna arched an ‘eyebrow’. “I just want to make sure he is resting already”

“Of course,” Luna closed her eyes; a second later she opened them. “He is not asleep, it seems my little nephew is enjoying a late night,” Luna giggled. “Is that what is bothering you Tia?”

“Auntie, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing Cadence, nothing, I was just telling my dear sister how my son should be asleep by now, but it seems he is still awake.” Celestia answered smiling sweetly at her niece.

“Don’t be like that auntie!” Cadence giggled. “He just wants to spend a few more hours awake, maybe he is even waiting for you to go home and kiss him goodnight”

Celestia smiled at that, almost every night since his announcement she had acted as a mother should at every little chance she got to spend with her son, she gave him private lessons like when he was younger, tucked him into bed, kissed him goodnight, woke him up playfully and snuggling him in kisses and showering him with all the motherly love she could give, she was also harsh on him when his pranks went out of hoof or when he skipped his tutoring, but she loved him with all her heart, which made it painful to her thinking about her son and his future, all thanks to that book.

A flash of light appeared behind Shining, after the flash ended Discord was revealed, stretching his limbs while admiring the room.

“*Whistle* This sure is nice looking, a bit too……sparkly for my taste but really nice.” He said while walking around the table, going straight for the balcony. “so THIS is the Crystal Empire? Talk about showing off beauty, kinda makes me remember the crystal fields, do you remember them Luna, Celestia?” He asked without looking back at them.

“What are you doing here Discord, shouldn’t you be in Canterlot?” Luna asked him calmly, something was….off with him, his playful tone when he talked was gone, he wasn't showing off his powers, he wasn’t making fun of anypony and worst of all, he had asked them about their past, and not in the ‘Im-going-to-make-you-angry-at-me!’ kind of past he so much loved to use “Is everything alright?”

“Oh yes, yes, everything is peachy, everything is so good right now that I decided to make a short visit and see how were you doing with the whole changeling deal,” He said turning around at the end. “And from the looks of it they accepted,” He smiled. “so, changeling huh?”

“That is correct”

“You can change forms?”

“Not exactly, we use our magic to change our structure, size and just about everything to look like something else, basically change shape.”

“OH I can do that too!” Discord leaped and landed next to Celestia. “look!” In an instant he had changed form to that of Spike.

“Mommy!, mommy! Guess what!”

“……….This is not funny Discord” Celestia said, her gaze turning into a stare to anyone who was on the receiving end.

“I was with Twilight in my room!” Discord ignored her and continued. “We were sleeping after helping uncle Discord in the court today.” Celestia nor Luna nor anyone said anything, all of them were looking at Discord doing his little act. “Then a griffon came in, I still don’t know how but he wanted to kill me and Twilight!”

“WHAT!???” Luna, Shining and Cadence shouted while Celestia looked at Discord with wide eyes, Chrysalis on her part had her mouth agape.

“The griffon stabbed me in the throat and the chest, and was using Dodongo Poison on the daggers.”

A yellow magic aura covered Celestia’s horn ready to teleport, but before she could do it a claw clamped over it draining her magic away from her.

“LET ME GO DISCORD!” she tried to free herself from his grip but she couldn’t, he was too strong, Luna leaped to aid her sister but was stopped by Discord’s glare, a glare that was also directed to the guards who had began to move in his way and the other three monarchs. “MY SON NEEDS ME!”

“Don’t worry, you will go to him in due time, but there is something I must settle with you first,” his glare was now directed only to her. “Spike is in the royal section of the medical bay, Rarity, Twilight and Fluttershy are looking after him as we speak.”

“B-but what about the griffon?” Cadence asked, calming herself after receiving his glare.

“In the medical bay too, watched over by royal guards, Twilight sure did a number on the griffon,” he laughed. “And boy what a number it was,” Discord freed Celestia and snapped his fingers, creating a chaotic field of anti-magic, preventing Celestia from using her magic, she didn’t try anything though, she knew what was coming.

“What did my little sister do to the griffon?” Shining asked, almost fearful of the answer, he knew how Twilight could be when she was angry.

“Nothing much really,” He turned around facing away from Celestia. “Twilight maimed the griffon, took out an eye, cut off the wings, crushed its hind legs, pulverized its right arm, nearly turned it to shreds internally and tortured it with dark bolts of thunder.” a collective gasp escaped the mouths of everyone present.

“N-no, she couldn’t have.” Chrysalis said. “S-she didn’t even……against us……..she……she had……….so…….peaceful”

“For what I know she had a chance to take you out but didn’t right?” Discord asked, still unmoving. “Well, that was before she knew what dark magic was.”

Celestia stood up from her seat, trying to get Discord’s attention “Discord, listen I didn’t have a cho-“

*SLAP*

The sound of a tiara hitting the floor, just like when Chrysalis had defeated Celestia, echoed in the room of the castle but the scene was vastly different, Celestia was on her feet with her head facing at her right side, her left cheek red due to the hard slap she had just received and her eyes wide in surprise, in front of her Discord was looking at her with both fury and disappointment, his lion paw being responsible for the hit Celestia had just received.

For several seconds no one dared to move, blink or even breathe due to the shock that Celestia, the immortal high ruler of Equestria, goddess of the sun and the beacon of knowledge and wisdom in Equestria had just being slapped across the face by her former enemy.

“DIDN’T I WARN YOU?” Discord voice broke the silence in the room, making the other witnesses remember how to breathe. “DIDN’T I TEACH YOU?”

Celestia moved her head straight forward again but did not dare to look up to him.

“I TOLD YOU, I BUCKING TOLD YOU NOT TO USE DARK MAGIC IN FRONT OF ANYPONY!!” Discord took a deep breath of air before continuing. “But NO! You had to not only use it in front of THE elements of magic, you had to bucking send her utterly helpless against a unicorn who was consumed and corrupted by dark magic!”

“Do you have any idea how many times she had to go up against and USE dark magic in this very spot?” Celestia didn’t move. “Three times, THREE TIMES! I thought I told you how DANGEROUS dark magic IS to mortals! she may be an alicorn now but she used it as a mortal before,” Discord sighed. “Well Celestia, I hope you are happy now, Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the element of magic, is now tainted with dark magic.” Discord snapped his fingers making the chaotic field disappear.

“Pray that she forgets about it and never seeks it again, because if she does……Nightmare Moon will be an inoffensive kitty compared to her,” Discord walked over the balcony. “Aurora would be very disappointed at you Celestia,” Celestia visually cringed and suppressed a painful sob. “Now, go to your son, he will need you to be there for him. It’s going to be a very night for him.”

No one said anything or moved, Discord moved his eagle claw up, ready to snap his fingers, “Class dismissed.” And with a snap and a flash of light, he was gone.

“Sister…..” Luna said, knowing full well that Discord had hit a very sensitive part of her big sister.

Without a word Celestia vanished in a flash of light, Luna frowned and looked behind her at her niece, nephew and new ally.

“I must depart; there is something I must attend to.”

“Wait auntie, should I go too?” Cadence asked, stepping closer to Luna.

“…….yes, come near me,” Cadence did so. “Shining my dear nephew, can you take charge of the Empire on your own?”

“Yes, of course,” he said, still shaken up a bit from all that happened before him. “Go, don’t worry about me or the Empire.”

Luna nodded and in a flash of azure light both she and Cadence vanished from sight, Shining sighed and turned towards Chrysalis who had a very confused expression.

“Come,” Chrysalis looked at him. “we must sign the permit.”

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*Canterlot Castle-Medical bay-Royal Section*

“GRAUUUWWWAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGG!!”

The screams of Spike were loud, painful, heavy and utterly impossible to hear, his screams of pain were so loud that after the arrival of Celestia she had to use a powerful sound proof spell around his room.

Her arrival had been unexpected and sudden but she wasted no time in greetings or delicacy, the moment she appeared she ran straight for her son’s room, kicked out without a word Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight, closed the door and used her spell, many of the nurses, guards and the two doctors in turn seeing her reactions towards Spike cleared any doubt they could possible be had about her love towards him, the tears outside the room of prince Spike said so.

Although Twilight and her friends were shocked by her sudden presence and the following ‘evacuation’ they hadn't budged or protested, all of them were sick once and their own mother acted very much the same, so with nothing to do but not wanting to return to their rooms or go to sleep they decided to wait for good news. Truth of the matter even fatigue was kicked out of their system.

A brash sound of opening doors was heard near them followed by a rainbow colored blur.

“Where is he? Is he alright? Oh man, oh man, oh man, the guards just told me! Is he ok? IS HE OK?”

“Rainbow calm down!” Twilight said to the cyan pegasus hovering in front of her with a worried face. “He is in his room, Celestia is with him and doesn’t want to be bothered.” Rainbow gave out a big and bit exaggerated sigh of relief.

The pegasus landed, finally catching a breath and panting slightly. “Thank Celestia he is fine……….for a minute there I thought he was going to die.”

“Well he isn’t going to, but uum, Spike is not fine yet.”

“Whaddaya mean Shy?”

“He…..well…..ummm, Twilight?” Fluttershy stared at her friend expectantly and a bit confused. “What happened?, I mean if you want to answer that, if that’s ok.”

“We…..we were sleeping in his room together after playing and talking all night” she looked at her three friends who were looking back at her, and was it just her imagination or was Rarity somewhat, glaring at her? “We fell asleep and the next thing I know, he just pushed me out of the bed waking me up…I…..I don’t remember much after that……his face…….and….his blood……..the griffon……..Spike…….he…….he saved me.” Her eyes began to water. “Sweet Celestia, he used his own body to protect me……his…face……the pain……I..I…I c-couldn’t.” Twilight used her forehooves to hold her face down and hide her tears from the rest of her friends, Fluttershy got up from her seat and walked towards Twilight, embracing her gently, after a minute she let go of her, sensing she had calmed down.

“I *sniff* I don’t remember m-much after that,” That was a lie, she knew EXACTLY what she had done to the griffon and in all truth, she had actually enjoyed it. “I remember Discord yelling at me, both Fluttershy and me then helped Spike to take out the d-daggers out of his body.”

“After that Spikey-Wikey seemed to be fine,” Rarity said. “But the daggers had some sort of poison in them that is very deadly to reptiles so Fluttershy and I brought the poor dear here, at first he was fine but then,” Rarity’s face turned sad and painful remembering it. “He started to scream, he was asking where Twilight was, shouting for his mother.” She cringed Spike’s pain filled face flashing through her mind.

“Whoa,” Rainbow let out. “Compared to that, a broken wing is nothing,” She said as she shivered just imagining what Spike had went through. “Wait, you and Fluttershy? What about you Twi?”

“I stayed behind for a couple of minutes, having a little chat with Discord.” Her tune clearly indicated that she wasn’t going to speak about it.

“I see,” Rainbow said getting the message “But Spike is going to be alright, right? I mean he IS immortal…….right?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said. “But I don’t know how long it will take for the Dodongo poison to wear off, I'm sorry.”

“WHOA WHOA, Dodongo poison? Are you serious?” Her friends just nodded slowly. “Where is the griffon?” She asked, her tune turning low, almost growling.

“Dead.”

The four ponies turned their gaze towards the door where Discord stood holding something in his paw.

“B-but how? Wasn’t it supposed to be guarded?”

“The griffon was a she, and yes she WAS being guarded, but somepony tricked the guards giving them some sedatives and killed the griffon.” Discord walked to them until he was standing besides Fluttershy.

*Flash Back*

Discord appeared outside the medical bay, puffing and head low, he had scolded Celestia like she was a little filly, like he had done in the past from time to time, he knew he had crossed the line a bit when he made that comment about Aurora but he also knew he had to make his point clear, Dark Magic was, after all, something not to be mess with.

Discord sighed and entered the medical bay, he asked a nurse where their special guest was, she pointed out the griffon was at the last room, also informing him, her gender, condition and that they had placed her there because she would be away from any possibility of escape, if she even had one to begin with, nodding he teleported there ready to interrogate her, when he appeared his eyes widened in surprise finding seven royal guards sleeping on the floor around the bed where the griffon was, and said griffon was wearing a dagger as a necklace, Discord reached for the griffon, hoping she was still alive, sadly she wasn’t.

Discord took the dagger out and used a detection spell to find any kind of leftover magical essence on it but found nothing, putting the dagger on the table stand Discord groaned in frustration as he placed his paw over the griffons head.

“She may be dead, but I can still get what I need,” Using his powers he searched inside the memories of the griffon finding nothing but dull darkness. “Memory destruction spell,” He mumbled. “So, it was a unicorn who did this, a very skilled one it seems,” Checking the body of the griffon he found nothing of value, except a piece of cloth with a strange looking symbol on it. “Skilled but stupid.” He laughed.

Checking the guards he confirmed they were only asleep. He spotted three cups laying on the ground as well, picking one up he sniffed it a bit noticing the smell of both coffee and something else “soporific,” He sniffed once more. “and a powerful one at that.”

Discord walked out of the room finding three more guards sleeping in the floor and another cup laying on the ground, he decided to walk all the way back to the lobby hoping to find anything else, he found nothing strange or out of place, everything was in perfect order and of course, that could only mean one thing.

“This was all planned from within the castle.”

Discord informed the nurses and some other guards outside the medical bay of the situation and decided to go see how Spike was doing.

*End Flash Back*

“All I could find was this.” He showed the piece of cloth he had retrieved, upon seeing it Rainbow gasped in shock. “Do you know what this is Rainbow?”

“Y-yeah, that’s the shield of Gilda’s family,” her friends looked at her confused. “Gilda is part of a noble family back in Griphos.” Looking back at the piece of cloth she saw the silver like feather inside a circle with mixed colors of blue, green, purple and golden inside it. “The Wing of Steel family I think it was, what in the name of Equestria is going on?”

“Hopefully,” Another voice said behind them. “Something that can be solved through diplomacy.”

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*Medical-Bay, Spike’s Room, 4:18 AM*

Celestia was crying silently against her son, her royal adornments forgotten on the ground hours ago, she was unable to help him, to heal him, she could only stay near him, letting Spike hug her forelegs and neck as he screamed in unbearable pain against her coat, feeling his saliva and his tears, it didn’t matter to her that his claws and fangs were cutting through her fur and skin, while she was very resistant and very, very strong Spike was still a dragon, which meant his fangs and claws could tear almost anything apart so that meant her fur offered little protection against him.

But still, even feeling her blood leave her, the pain of the fresh wounds inflicted by her own son upon her frame were completely ignored in favor of providing some sort of comfort for him, seeing her son suffering so much because of her fault, because she thought her enemies would not dare to act against him now, she had left for a little more than half a day, enough time for them to strike.

Celestia grunted as a particular loud scream echoed in the room followed by a harsh piercing pain on her left foreleg, using her other foreleg she embraced her son even harder against her, letting him bite down on her freely. In this very moment she felt so weak, unable to help her dear and precious son, a son she had wished for so long, a son trapped inside an egg for several millennia, the last of his kind and a unique dragon in his own rights.

Her son, Spike Solaris, one of the greatest joys in her life, a son she had to lie to some times to protect him but aside from her sister and Discord, the only being she hadn’t manipulated to do what needed to be done, everything he had done until this point he had done it on his own, his choice to be with Twilight, his choice to help his mother in every way he could, his choice to protect the elements of harmony, his choice to protect them all, Celestia smiled proudly at her son, he had put himself in this terrible situation to save Twilight, her tears were now a mix of pride and sadness.

“Little child,” She barely whispered. “Be not afraid, the rain pounds harsh against the glass.” She leaned down to kiss his forehead softly, making him squirm a bit less in his pain.

“Like an unwanted stranger, there is no danger, I am here tonight,” She began singing in a more audible volume, making Spike’s screams a bit more weak. “Little child, be not afraid, though thunder explodes and lightning flash,” Celestia nuzzled her son sweetly, singing right above his ear fin.

“Illuminates, your tear stained face I am here tonight,” she kissed him again over his forehead, his grip over her forelegs lessened. “And someday you’ll know, that nature is so, this same rain that draws you near me,” Spike’s screams softened in volume and frequency.

“Falls on rivers and land, and forests and sand, makes the beautiful world that you see,” another kiss. “In the morning,” Celestia paused and hummed the tune against him for a while before continuing.

“Little child, be not afraid, though storm clouds mask your beloved moon,” Spike’s grip softened, making his grasp no longer painful. “and its candle like beams, still keep pleasant dreams, I am here tonight,” using her right forehoof she stroked slowly and gently along his back, making his grasp over her other foreleg barely noticeable and his screams turning into loud groans and grunts.

“Little child, be not afraid, the wind make creatures of our trees and the branches to claws, they’re not real understand,” Another kiss but this time on his cheek. “And I am here tonight,”

“And someday you’ll know, that nature is so, this same rain that draws you near me, falls on rivers and land, and forests and sand, makes the beautiful world that you see, In the morning,” His grunts became softer and more relaxed, his squirming almost making it into a halt as she continued to hum against him.

“For you know, once even I was a little child,” she closed her eyes. “And I was afraid, but a gentle somepony always came,” She sang, remembering her mother and her father. “To dry all my tears,” Kissing away his tear trails. “wipe away my fears and to give a kiss goodnight,” Celestia held Spike closer to her, his grunting stopping replacing it with soft grumbles.

“But now I am grown, and these years have shown, rain’s a part of how life goes, and it’s dark and it’s late, so I’ll hold you and wait ‘til you're frightened eyes do close,” Spike finally stopped his squirming and grunting altogether, replacing it with an embrace to his mother. “And I hope that you’ll know, that nature is so, this same rain that draws you near me, falls on rivers and land, and forests and sand, makes the beautiful world that you see, In the morning,” She kissed him gently over his cheek again, this time lingering a bit. “Everything’s fine in the morning, the rain will be gone in the morning.” Spike, with whatever strength he had left held his mother close to him, inhaling her sweet, rose like scent deeply “but I’ll still be here……..In the morning.”

Celestia finished her song, that lullaby was Spike’s favorite when he was younger and it was close to his heart, she was happy it had aided him, she felt Spike struggling against her and decided to look at her son directly, she found him staring at her with gratitude and love, a love only a son could give to his mother, and smiled at her, taking her snout with his claws he pulled her down and kissed her lightly just above her snout, Spike hugged her as hard as he could and sighed.

“I love you……. mommy.”

Then he fell asleep, finally resting after some awful torturous hours, Celestia was crying even harder now, she never stopped crying, not even when she was singing to Spike, she kissed him and curled around him over his bed.

“I love you too, my little Spikey.”

After that, she decided to fell asleep along her son, a smile adorning both of their faces.

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*Medical-Bay, Waiting room 4:31 AM*

In the waiting room of the royal section Twilight and the rest of the gang were waiting for Celestia to come out of the room or break the spell around it. An hour ago both Pinkie and Applejack had arrived at the room; it seems that Pinkie’s Pinkie-sense had told her that one of her best friends was really hurt and needed help, so she went to see if it was Applejack who she thought was in trouble but thankfully wasn’t, with the rest of her best friends in Canterlot that’s where they had to go, stealing the Ponyville train to do so.

Luna was walking back and forth across the room, waiting for her sister and her nephew, after their arrival and receiving the short version of the event she had ordered a massive search all around the castle and the outskirts of Canterlot for the possible culprit, nothing had been found yet, seeing the rest of the ponies sitting around the room talking and waiting as she was. She shot a glance at Discord who was sitting next to Fluttershy while she was pressing one of her hooves against his lion paw, part of her wanted to glare at him for what he did to his sister, but another part felt he was right, her niece was sitting besides Twilight talking with her and for the look on their faces they were talking about Spike or something from their time together, the rest of the group were sitting and talking with each other, suddenly she felt a spark of magic and ran towards the door and carefully opened it, smiling at what she found behind it she closed it again.

Luna turned around to find everypony wanting to see what was going on. “They are alright my friends, Spike and my sister are sleeping peacefully, we shall not bother them, but please all of you come with me, there is another matter we must attend to.” She glanced at Twilight who only lowered her head in shame.

Luna walked away from the room were a mother and her child were resting and went to another room far away from the previous room, the room was big enough for all of them to fit perfectly, five of the Elements were a little confused as to why were they were meeting up here and not somewhere else now that the troubles were over. Luna’s horn lightened up creating a simple sound proof barrier around the room.

“Now we must discuss thy actions Twilight Sparkle, but fear not we are not here to scold you but to inform you,” She looked at Cadence. “My niece tells me...” She paused wondering exactly how to phrase what need to be said. “Have you ever encountered yourself against dark magic before Sombra?”

“Not that I can remember auntie Luna, why?”

“Listen to my words carefully now, all of you, there are many kinds of magic in the world, some are good, some are bad and all of them are different in their own ways and all can be learned and manipulated, except the dark magic.” She closed her eyes.

“When you fought against Nightmare Moon you fought against a demon, a demon who had possessed me with lies and used my weakness for his benefit, I believe you remember, am I correct?” The Elements nodded. “Nightmare Moon was using my magic while simultaneously fusing it with dark magic.”

“You see girls,” Discord interrupted. “What Lulu here is trying to say is that Nightmare Moon was not a dark magic user but you still remember all she could do with it, dark magic, in essence is the most powerful and dangerous magic of all,” Discord paused for a moment. “dark magic is the magic of destruction and power, now every kind of magic can do that if used wrongly many can still do good, dark magic cannot, it can only cause harm to the user and all around them.

“After Twilight and I had a little chat about the way she ‘treated’ the griffon assassin it was to my great surprise that it was Celestia herself who foolishly showed her how to use it, even if it can be said it was an accident,” Twilight’s friends looked at her surprised. “I went to Celestia to inform her about what was going on here and I also scolded her properly for her foolishness.”

“Um, Ah don’t mean to be rude or anythin’ but you lectured princess Celestia for somethin’ she did by accident? You? The lord of foolisheses---of chaos!?”

“That doesn’t mean I'm stupid!” He darted back at Applejack who in return gulped. “Dark magic is dangerous even to powerful magic users, even to us who are practically gods, to a mortal? It’s right down suicide.” All but Luna gasped.

“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked worriedly.

“Dark magic is so dangerous because, it has a mind of its own, it whispers, it talks, it’s always telling you what you should do, that you should take what you want, always trying to make you fall into its dark, cold and lonely abyss and it’s very, very powerful, once you start using it, its almost impossible to get rid of its dark influence, tell me Twilight Sparkle, what did you heard inside your head when you discovered the griffon?” Luna asked her.

Twilight lowered her head in shame while her friends looked at her, “…….make her……suffer.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“…Yes, I did enjoyed it,” Her head snapped back up and her eyes showed no fear only resolute determination. “and I'm glad I did it!, That bucking griffon tried to kill Spike! She deserved what I did to her and more!”

“Twilight,” Discord said. “You must learn to control your powers and the dark magic, or it will end up controlling you, just like it did with Sombra, but you would be worse than him, he was an immortal unicorn so his powers, even if they were strong, were limited, you are an alicorn now, not even they are safe from its influence, I have seen it before, so has Celestia and Luna,” His eyes focused hard on hers. “And believe me, I will end you before seeing it again.”

The group remained silent after his announcement.

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It was now ten in the morning and they were still waiting for Celestia and Spike to wake up, Discord had to raise the sun that day as Luna was still not to full strength yet to perform the spell to do so, Twilight, Cadence and the rest of the elements were sleeping at random spots in the waiting room floor, Discord and Luna were still awake sitting next to each other.

“Discord, is it alright for me to ask you a question?” She asked not moving from her spot or looking at him.

“You just did but you can ask another one Lulu.” He chuckled lightly

“D-do you think Twilight will…….give in?” Discord said nothing. “Like….father did?” Still nothing “You think we could save her too?” Seeing that Discord didn’t say anything she kept silent for the next couple of minutes.

“There is a big difference between them,” Discord said startling Luna. “Aurora gave in willingly, to be able to avenge mot-Moonlight,” Discord held silent for a minute. “But we were lucky and strong, we were able to suppress it before he gave in completely, after that I started to train you on it, so you could battle against it, but Twilight is different.”

“When she first used it she was a mortal, didn’t know how things will go and now that she is an alicorn things will be even worse if she gives in, I think I should train her against dark magic, make her my pupil.”

“………….Discord, you are changing so much, you are almost acting like in the old days, what is happening to thou?”
Discord gave out a sigh “Fluttershy,” he looked at her and smiled. “She is, well, purging me.”

“Purging you?”

“Yes, when I went mad, you know, all ‘chaos on your flanks’ I allowed a fraction of dark magic to control me, just enough to block my conscience, thus pretty much allowing me to do whatever in tartarus I wanted,” he looked back at Fluttershy. “After she made her way into my heart the control dark magic had on me began to fade away, each second I spend with her is a second closer on being my old self again,” Discord smiled. “Congratulations Luna, Dissy is coming back.”

Luna stared at him in surprise before her gaze softened and leaned against him slowly. “It will be good to have you again at our side…….big brother.”

Discord wrapped her with his eagle claw, letting her rest safely at his side, this went on for a couple of minutes before the door of the entrance slowly opened.

“Excuse me sir,” A guard said. “Is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza available?”

“What business do you have with my niece, guard?” Luna said barely bothering to look at the guard.

“It’s*yawn* ok auntie.” she rubbed her eyes, scaring the sleep away from her. “What is it kind sir?”

“Your majesty” the guard bowed “I bring news from the Crystal Empire, it seems a revolt has started while on your absence.”
Cadence only stared at the guard in a strange mix of disbelief and shame.

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*Medical Bay-Spike’s Room-10:32 AM*

Spike was resting on his bed while his mother was wrapped around him, providing him a warm, soft and lovable blanket to hold onto, his light snoring was evenly matched by the soft, yet elegant snores of princess Celestia, after such a stressful night they very much deserved this little break.

“Wake up.” A ghastly echoing strange voice said.

Spike groaned, muscles and pretty much everything in him, still sore thanks to the poison.

“Wake up.” Repeated the same voice.

Spike struggle a little to free himself from his mother's embrace, barely awake.

“You must wake up.” The same voice said.

Spike rub his eyes with his claws, trying to wake up enough to see clearly, opening his eyes he saw a blur in front of him, next to the door. “Who is it?”

“Wake up, young one.”

Spike focused his sight on the blurry figure, finally adjusting to the light in the bedroom, he saw that the blur was a dragon, a purple dragon with green spikes, green eyes and a light green underbelly, its size was almost, if not the same, as his own size but the eyes of this dragon were softer, with soft eyelashes coming out of them, the ear fins smaller and more defined as well as the spikes on its head, finally the chubby body was a bit more defined, portraying a little bit more feminine feature, it was a female dragon, one that looked exactly like him……another gemstone dragon, this would have made Spike jump in joy and happiness if he couldn’t see through the dragon before him, all he could do was to stare at the image, projection or ghost in front of him in awe.

“Come with me, please, come with me.” The dragon turned around, ready to leave.

“W-wait!” Spike jumped out of bed, barely landing on his feet trying to catch the ghost, the ghost turned around again to see him.

“Come with me.” The ghost said before turning around again and disappearing, leaving only a ghastly ‘me’ echo behind.

“Who are you?” *silence* “W-what was that about?” Spike said out loud, waking up his mother. As soon as Celestia was awake she grabbed her son with her magic, brought him near her and proceeded to snuggle him to death, Spike gladly returned the affections eagerly, but in his mind only one question echoed ‘Who was she?’.

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*Dragon Lands- Valkatraz Prison*

The massive prison-mountain stood proudly and mighty in the cold terrains of the Dragon Lands, holding inside its heart eleven of the most dangerous dragon criminals the entire Equis had ever seen, homicidal, psychopath, bloodthirsty monsters, guarded by several traps, magic barriers, seals, traps and layers to prevent an invasion or an escape, only fifteen dragons stood inside the prison, watching their prisoners, specially one, the one they held at the very bottom, the very heart of the mountain itself, Wrath, the once mighty General of the dragon legions led by the insane king Valtach.

Wrath, ‘the God of Greed’, was silent as always, sleeping inside his hard stone, cold dead cell, chained to it into the ground, walls and ceiling by powerful adamantium chains, holding his neck, arms, legs, claws, feet, back, wings and tail in one place, providing him only a very limited movement, he was resting and breathing calmly.

In the darkness of his cell, Wrath smiled as best as he could, showing off some of his deadly fangs, a light laugh escaped his maw, making the guards and the prisoners that heard him shuffle nervously, dark purple eyes shone in the darkness of his cell, he could feel them, they were near, his escape was imminent and his purpose could finally continue but before all that, he had a certain dragon to visit.

Wrath’s laugh echoed throughout the entire mountain, chilling the bones of those inside it and making the ones approaching eager.

Part 1 end

Author's Notes:

This is what Celestia sings

Special thanks to Bennet001 for proofreading!

To all that follow me and await my updatesm thank you, you are the very reason I keep on going writting, thank you all!