King Spike Rules here and this is the first chapter to the second part to the Dragon Guardian, which was ended last week and I decided to let the end of the Shadow Tournament arc along with the final arc. Any way, we get a little time from after Spike and Michael learn about their past, and how they will have to fight now. Enjoy.

Chapter 1: Round of Destiny.

The crowd was at a roar as they waited for the final match of the round to begin as both Michael and Spike were had just left Celestia's VIP room right after learning something important that changed everything. And such, Spike was not taking it so well as he as sitting near the elevator he had just left with his head in his hands and a loud sigh leaving his lips as he looked at the wall. As Spike was sulking on the floor, a figure walked up to him and had their shadow cover him as he looked up to see it was Twilight with a sorry look on her face.

"I-I'm sorry Spike." she said as she looked down at him with a look that matched her tone of voice as she continued, "I had no idea that was going to happen in there and please know that..."

"I know Twilight." Spike said as he looked from her to the floor as he was not sure of how he should say what on his mind for a few moments before he said, "I'm just...not sure I'll win." Twilight gasped as she was expecting Spike to say that and she sat next to him.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him as she wrapped her arm around him and held him close to her chest as she continued, "You beat a vampire lord and so many people to get this far."

"Yeah, but that was before I learned if I don't win I can't..." he trailed off as he turned from her and remained what he was going to say a secret as Twilight was confused at what he was going to say.

"Can't what?" she asked him as she wanted to make him feel better and get his confidence up, but how could she do that with Spike hanging his head down in defeat. Spike shook his head and pulled away as he stood up suddenly.

"It's nothing." Spike said as he just stood there in silence for a few moments while Twilight looked up at him for a few seconds before he turned to look down to her and said, "I have to go fight my military trained twin brother." And with that, he was off down the hall and was heading towards the ring area while Twilight was left alone for a few moment s as she then hung her head in sadness.

The crowd was roaring out loud as Spike walked out into the ring area as Michael was already in the ring waiting for him along with Juri. Spike looked at them in the ring and let out yet another long sigh as he climbed up into the ring before heading towards the center to meet Michael in a face off.

"Alright, now that we have both of them back in the ring." Juri said smiling as she looked at both of them for a few seconds as she continued, "Let's get this match finished to find our winner. GO!" Juri yelled out as Michael off her his hand to Spike for a quick shake and Spike excepted it, much to the dismay to the crowd as they pulled away from each other and Michael looked at Spike with a series look on his face.

"Let's get this over with.' Michael said as he clapped his hands together and began to focus his magic in them as he began to chant, "Warrior of the Lunar Princess: Star Dragon Claw." Then suddenly, Michael's hands turned into blue fire dragon claws and he charged at him.

"Yeah." Spike said as he began to focus his own magic in his own hands as he chanted, "Warrior of the Lunar Princess: Fire Dragon Claws" Spike's hands turn into red dragon fire claws and he met Michael by blocking his first strike, and then tried for one of his own with a right hook. But Michael turned his body to not only dodge it, but to swoop behind Spike and connected with a strike to Spike's back. He followed up with two more quick gapes before Spike could stagger forward a bit and turned to face Michael with a look of disbelieve in what had just happened. Michael then ran towards him and Spike put his arms up to try in block the attack, which consistent of rapid jabs from Michael. Spike groaned as he was hit many times by Michael's fists as they seamed to be blurs and he was pushed back by the amount of them as slight burns appeared on his arms from the jabs.

"Come on Spike." Michael said as he took a pause in his attacks and stood up straight as he continued, "You need to give this your all to prove who's meant to have the power." Spike looked at him from his burned arms and glared as he leaped into the air.

"Take this." Spike said as he placed his hands in front of him and began to focus his magic in his palms as he chanted, "Warrior of the Lunar Princess: Volcanic Dragon Bla..." Spike was cut off by the attack exploding in his face and knocked him out of sir to the ground. "What happened?" Spike asked as he laid on the ground where he landed and let out louder groans, but his eyes opened and he quickly rolled out of the way from Michael's dragon claw punch to the ground.

"You need to focus or else." Michael said as he pulled his clawed hand out of the hole in the ground he had made and looked at Spike with a series look on his face while Spike took a step back and gulped hard, feeling he was way in over his head with this fight against Michael.

As the fight was going on in the ring, Spike's friends were still in the room as Pinkie, Dash, and Applejack were looking at the t.v. screen in the locker room as Fluttershy was in the middle of finishing up he nap. As she walked away from the bed and she looked at the three of them watching the screen, she quickly got curies.

"So, how's it going?" she asked as she walked over to them and turned to looked at the same screen they were, shocked at what she saw as Spike was getting beaten badly by Michael as they watched Spike sly across the ring while skidding hard.

"Not so good." Applejack answered her, but Fluttershy could tell that from just watching and didn't need that info any more. As they watched on, they could see Spike try some of his spells and then watched them fail as Spike was smacked around the ring by Michael.

"Come on Spike." Dash yelled out to the screen and used her wind magic to fly up to the t.v. while glaring at it, and then added, "This isn't you. Get off your tail and..."

"Dash, you know he can't hear you right?" Applejack asked form her seat and Dash turned to look at her before flying down to get right in her face.

"Yes, but he needs this talking too." she said as Applejack put her hand on her forehead and pushed her back a bit as the door suddenly opened, and Twilight walked in with tears still running down her face. This was quickly noticed by her friends and they all gathered around her, forgetting about the match for a few moments as Dash asked, "What happened Twilight and did some on hurt you?" Twilight look at all of them for a few seconds before wiping her tears from her face and gave them a forced smile.

"I'm fine girl's, just have trouble with Spike." she said as all of them looked at her in shock and then looked at the screen for a few seconds before they turned back to him.

"How much trouble?" Dash asked her as they all nodded and wanted to know what was going on with both of their friends. Twilight looked at all of them for a few seconds before letting out a long sigh as she decided they deserved to know what was going on with Spike.

"Well, it's like this..." Twilight said as she began to explain to the others what she had just learn along with Spike and Michael, and just how much it was effecting Spike to move on to the next match up. After explaining it to them in just a few moments, Twilight sat in a chair near them as they all just sat in their chairs while they thought it over on what they had just heard from them.

"Man, pour Spike." Applejack said as she, Pinkie,a dn Dash all hung their heads down and let out loud sighs of sadness with Twilight joining them in sulking sulk over what had happened. But for Fluttershy, what she heard combined with what she watched made her realize something.

"He needs us." Fluttershy said as she stood up from her seat and fixed her clothes a little before turned towards the door, surprising the others as they watched her walk towards the door. The other were confused at what she meant by that and how could she really help Spike now.

Back in the ring Spike was being thrown around like a ragdoll by the hands of Michael, who was showing liile effort in his attacks while Spike struggled to stand up from the last few attacks from Michael. As Spike was slowly getting to his knees, Michael walked up from behind him and lifted him to his feet.

"Come on Spike, try." Michael asked as he continued to hold Spike to stand on his feet for a few seconds before Spike tried to hit him with a back elbow. But Michael saw it coming and quickly di d a round house kick to knock Spike back a few feet as he added, "This seems like your not even trying." Spike looked at him as he leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees as he panted heavily.

"I-I am trying my best." Spike said as he looked at his twin brother while panting heavily, but he felt weird from fighting him and could not seam to get his head really into it for some reason. And Michael quickly get mad from Spike saying that as he vanished suddenly from sight, only to have him appear in front of Spike with his arm pulled back and threw it forward. Punching Spike hard in the face to cause his to stumbled back a few feet as Michael added a quick punch to his gut and then added a seconds punch to the face as he began to go in a powerful onslaught from Michael's attack. This continued for a few moments before Michael pulled his arm back as far as he could and then threw it forwards, connecting with Spike's jaw and sending him out of the ring.

"I expected better from my twin." Michael said with a sigh of annoys as he walked over to the other end of the ring and sat down as he waited for Juri to do her ten count, which she was at three. Spike was embedded in the wall and ground as he pulled himself out of it and fell to the ground as she reach the count of five. Spike got on his hands and knees while looking at the ground for a few seconds as he was thinking it over, and began to wonder if her should just give Michael the win since he could do more with it then him. Spike remained still for a few more moments as she reached the count of seven and then he hung his head in defeat.

"It's no use." Spike said as tears ran down his face and hit the ground as he continued, "I'm not good enough for that power." And so, Spike resigned to his defeat and Michael's victory.

TBC.

Next Time: With Spike on the edge of giving up, can his friends pull him back into the fight and allow him to compete with Michael in a straight up fight of magic wills?

Well, that's it for this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review, they help me a lot and stay tuned for the next chapter. Also, the next few pages of the Dash comic are up on Palcomix, so please go and check them out along with any of their other things you find interesting.