Chapter 35: The Sleeping Darkness Part 1: The Cave
The next morning, Spyro woke up to the sound of laughing fillies outside, opening his eyes to find he was back on the couch in Fluttershy's cottage, wondering how he got there as he got up, but then remembered last night. Remembered the cockatrice and what had happened to him, remembering that he lost control when Fear had entered his body, allowing it to enter him so that the creatures of the Everfree didn't find them, but remembered what he did to a few Manticores and what he almost did to Fluttershy, feeling his limbs become weak as he sat on the couch. He stayed there for a minute, letting it all sink in until he got up and walked out, finding that Fluttershy and Twilight were sitting in a couple of chairs drinking some tea, watching the fillies as Twilight was writing something down when they both looked over to him and smiled as he walked up.
"Good Morning Spyro." Fluttershy said.
"Morning Fluttershy." He replied. "Morning Twilight."
"Morning sleepy head." Twilight responded. "Gotta say, you and Fluttershy seemed quite cozy this morning when I stopped by."
"Really?" He asked, looking at the Pegasus mare, seeing the blush on her face. "Well, at least something good came out of last night."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked. "Oh, you're talking about... You remember?"
"Unfortunately yes." He replied. "I lost myself to the Fear, trying to absorb it to keep you girls safe from the creatures of the Everfree, but almost ended up attacking Fluttershy."
"Hey, don't blame yourself." Fluttershy said. "In the end, you didn't hurt me and we managed to save you from the Fear element."
"But... but..." Spyro said, but Fluttershy walked up and put her hoof over his mouth, silencing him.
"Don't worry." She replied. "You aren't bad. In the end, you protected us, but sometimes the protector needs help from those who care."
She lowered her hoof and guided him to the table, the three of them sitting and enjoying the morning when Rarity walked up, looking to be tired, but was otherwise looked alright.
"Good morning Rarity." Fluttershy said. "Did you get those capes finished?"
"Just delivered." She replied. "I have to say, if you hadn't come along and volunteered to take the girls in for the night, I might not have finished them. Thanks again. And you Spyro, glad to see that Fluttershy accepted your help."
He didn't answer as he was deep in thought about something else, starring at the cup of tea that Twilight had poured for him, using the teaspoon he had and just stirred the tea, watching the tea swirling as he stirred it, drowning everything else out, even what the girls were saying as they tried to talk to him, which made them start to worry about him as he didn't reply when they tried to address him. After a little bit, he saw something in the tea, the red mist turning black as he saw his darker version stare at him, making him jump away in fear, which made the girls jump as he breathed heavily and his eyes were wide open in shock.
"Spyro, are you ok?" Twilight asked. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"It's nothing." He replied, calming his heart down. "Just... nothing."
Without a word, he turned around and walked back to the farm, his head hung down low, looking at the ground as he walked, not paying attention to anything else around him, which made the girls worry as they watched him leave in a depressed state.
"Is there something I missed?" Rarity asked.
"Rarity, a whole lot happened last night." Twilight replied. "Something that seems to have affected him negatively."
"What happened last night?" She asked. "What did I miss?"
"He unlocked a new element." Twilight replied. "And I think it's affecting him negatively." They watched him walk away from the cottage, getting smaller and smaller as he walked away until he was no longer in sight, the girls still playing around, laughing and having fun while the mares just watched their friend leave. "We need to keep an eye on him. He's always there for us, it's time we were there for him."
In Canterlot, Princess Celestia was working on preparations for the Grand Galloping Gala fast approaching, signing off on some of the things that would be there when a message from Twilight appeared before her, smiling as she opened the letter, but as she read it, she read what had happened last night with Spyro and how it affected him. Rolling the scroll up, she got up from her throne, telling her guards she would be back and went to her sisters room, knocking on the door as she came out, looking exhausted but otherwise looked ok.
"What is it sister?" Luna asked. "Is there something you need from me?"
"I think it's Spyro who might need your help." Celestia responded, making the Alicorn sister worried. "I think you might need to add him to ponies to keep an eye on in the dream realm."
Luna listen to her sister, listening to what had occurred last night, feeling her heart ripped apart as she listened to how her herd leader had gone berserk and how it had affected him, nodding her head as she listened to her sister, understanding what she needed to do for tonight. Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Spyro was busy at work, bucking the apples and storing them in the barn to be sold later today, but his mind was still wondering to what had happened last night, dwelling on what he did while Fear had taken over and what he almost did to Fluttershy if she hadn't sung her lullaby to him, calming him down and putting him to sleep. Applejack could tell that something was wrong with him based on how much slower he was being with transporting the apples to the barn and the lack of kicking power in his legs when bucking the trees.
"Ya know Mac, Ah think something happened to our resident prince." Applejack said.
"Eyup." Big Mac replied.
"Ya think Ah should ask what happened?" She asked.
"Probably." He replied. "But something tells me he might not be in a talking mood at the moment."
She knew her brother was right, watching the prince kicking the tree as apples fell into the buckets, but one rolled off the pile and onto the ground, which he picked up and looked into it, see a reflection of himself as he looked into the shiny red apple.
"Hello buddy." A voice said, his reflection turning dark and jumping at him.
He yelped in fear, dropping the apple before breathing a glow of poison on it, the apple shriveling up and rotting to the core, which surprised the siblings as this behavior was unusual for their friend, now knowing that something was definitely wrong with him as he wouldn't use poison to ruin an apple like that. He sat down, putting his back to the tree as he breathed heavily, everything around him turning red as the trees changed before him, turning dark and dead as the ground beneath him turned red as he saw bodies in front of him, his own eyes turning blood red as he breathed heavily, feeling his heart beat against his chest at the vision he was seeing. Applejack and Big Mac ran up to him and tried to get him to calm down, making him look at them and telling him to calm down and he was ok, seeing his eyes were red and thought it was his Sith eyes, but the red disappeared as he finally calmed down, his breathing normal as he saw Applejack.
"Sugarcube, calm down." She said. "Yer ok. Yer alright."
He looked to Applejack, who gave him a hug, letting him know he was ok just as Rarity was bringing the fillies back, seeing her hug him with Big Mac standing before them, knowing something was off. They ran up the hill to see what was going on, but Spyro got up, still spooked, but he was ok, shaky, but ok.
"Applejack darling, what happened?" Rarity asked. "Is everything alright."
"Ah'm not sure." She replied. "Spyro here was bucking apples when he got scared by one and ruined it with his poison breath."
"Sorry AJ." He replied, his voice soft and timid like Fluttershy's is.
"Spyro, ya'll ok?" She asked. "Ya seem... different."
"I'll be fine." He replied. "Just... I just need to be alone."
Without another word, he walked past his friends and walked down the dirt path, his head hanging low as he walked away, everyone watching the depressed prince walking away. Applejack looked to Rarity, hoping she had an answer, which she walked up to her and motioned for her to follow so they could speak. In town, Spyro had found a cloud to sit on, looking down at the village and at all the ponies who were going about their day, foals laughing and enjoying their weekend as the adults were busy shopping or talking with their friends, enjoying their day. As he was watching everyone, smiling to see that everything in town was normal, but then he felt a sudden chill run up his spine, turning to expect a Heartless, but the sky had just turned red as he could hear screaming all around, looking down to see the earth itself was littered with bodies, Heartless everywhere and two familiar faces standing next to each other, smiling at the victory they had scored.
"Spyro?" Came a distorted female voice, looking over to see it was Rainbow Dash walking up to him, which he backed away, even though he knew she wouldn't hurt him. "Dude, you ok? You look a little freaked out?"
He wanted to answer, but her entire body started to change, gaps and holes appeared across her body, her face melting to show her skull with burning red eyes as his own turned red too, the mare backing up as she didn't know what was going on.
"Get away from me!" He shouted, releasing green fire at the undead mare, which she dodged before leaping off the cloud and flying away.
"The heck was that for!?" She asked, annoyed at her friend, seeing he was flying away. "Where do you think you're going?"
She took off after him, flying just behind him, but remained at a distance as she died;t know what was going on in his head, but knew in his current state, he was dangerous. As she flew after him, Applejack and Rarity had just arrived in town, looking for Spyro when they spotted Twilight walking out of the library with Spike on her back to do something, but knew this couldn't wait as they ran up, Twilight seeing them as she was walking to the park.
"Hey girls, what's up?" She asked.
"Twilight, we need to talk." Applejack said.
"It's about Spyro." Rarity said. "Something is wrong with him." A moment later, Fluttershy walked out, looking worried and wearing her saddlebags. "Fluttershy dear, what are you doing here?"
"I was helping Twilight out with finding something." Fluttershy replied. "She took down a lot of notes from Spyro's books about the elements ands we found the one on Fear."
"And?" The two mares asked in unison.
"Well, from what he learned, whoever uses Fear shouldn't be affected by it when they are the ones using it." Fluttershy replied. "But if others use the elements, they will be affected by it."
"That means somepony else is using the same elements to make him irrational, scared and fearful." Twilight said. "Best thing to do is keep our distance and keep the princess informed. There's a chance he'll be more violent and prone to attacking anypony who gets too close."
A moment later, Rainbow Dash came by, landing right in front of the group, but looked very annoyed.
"Rainbow, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.
"It's Spyro." She replied. "He looked down int he dumps, so I went to check on him, but next thing I knew, he sent green flames at me, almost barbecued me."
"Oh no." Twilight said. "We need to stop him, before somepony gets hurt."
"I saw where he was heading." Rainbow Dash said. "Follow me."
The girls followed Rainbow Dash as they went to find Spyro, following where he was last seen all the way back to the farm and to his Gummi Garage, finding that his systems were damaged and a new ship design was being made. What they saw terrified them as it looked like a falcon, but it was completely black with red lining on them and covered in cannons and laser missile launchers along with a crimson crystal on the back of the ship emitting some kind of negative energy.
"I don't think I like this ship design." Fluttershy said. "It's..."
"Dark." Twilight said, running up to the console to examine it, but found Spyro, unconscious at the console. "Spyro!"
The girls all ran up, finding him crumpled up into a ball, still breathing but with a head wound and a bit of blood on the console itself.
"Poor dear must have hit his head." Rarity said, reaching down to pick him up, but got some blood on her hoof.
"Rarity..." Twilight said, but was interrupted.
"For his sake, I'll over look it." Rarity said, shivering, but pushing through it. "Though, it does seem to be minor."
"Did he knock himself out?" Fluttershy asked.
"Negative." AIVA said, replacing the holographic projection of the new ship with a pony version of herself. "Protocol dictates that if Spyro is compromised, he must be subdued and contained."
The girls looked at the holographic pony and back to Spyro, fearing for their friend as he mumbled a bit, shaking his head as he was waking up, the girls hoping he was ok and breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that his eyes were purple again, but he had himself a killer headache as he got up.
"Ow, my head." He said, looking up and seeing his friends. "Girls, what's going on?"
"You tell us." Rainbow Dash said. "You almost barbecued me a while ago."
"I did what!?" Spyro said, pulling Rainbow Dash to him as he checked her for any injuries, which Rainbow Dash was blushing as he checked her. "Please tell me I didn't do any damage to you."
"Relax, I'm ok." Rainbow Dash said, pulling away, the blush still on her face. "But what's wrong with you? When I came to see what was wrong, you freaked out and flew away."
Fluttershy and Twilight then started to explain what had happened last night, going through every detail about the cockatrice attack, Spyro unlocking his new element Fear, and about how he lost himself to the elements power, attacking everything that got on close and how Fluttershy's singing calmed him down and allowed him to sleep. As they were explaining, the two princesses walked in to check up on Spyro, but also caught what they were saying, growing nervous as well when they walked in.
"And that's what happened." Twilight said. "My guess is that Spyro's body is trying to adjust to the new element."
"Maybe." Spyro said. "Or..."
"Or?" Applejack asked. "Spyro, is there something yer not telling us?"
"It's nothing AJ." Spyro replied. "I'm fine, I got this. I think my body is adjusting."
"Are you sure about that?" Came a familiar voice.
Spyro looked over to his right to see some of the damaged computer systems and found himself, darker and more malicious, smiling at him as he moved back into the shadows, taunting him to follow. As he starred where his darker self disappeared to, the girls looked in the same direction, finding nothing but destroyed computers and looked back at him.
"Sugarcube, ya'll ain't alright." Applejack said. "Something is wrong and yer not telling us."
"Sorry AJ, really I am." Spyro replied. "But this is a personal matter, it doesn't concern you guys."
"But it does." Twilight said, walking up to him. "We're a herd and he herd helps each other. you have taken a lot of risks, protected us constantly, and even sacrificed yourself a few times to help us. Now it's our turn to help you."
"Indeed young prince." Princess Celestia said, the girls turning to see both her and her sister. "A prince has his allies and his allies have him."
"Princess." Spyro said, the girls bowing to the two sisters. "What are you doing here?"
"Twilights latest report on friendship brought me here." Princess Celestia replied. "And when I heard what had happened, I knew something was wrong. And I know what it is you fear most."
"Y-you know?" He asked, his color draining from his coat.
"Yes, Master Yen Sid warned me." She replied. "And you fear that if your friends get involved, they might get hurt."
"Well, yes but..." Spyro said, but was interrupted.
"But nothing!" Rainbow Dash replied. "We're in this together, whether you like it or not, so whatever it is that's bugging you, we want to help."
He really did appreciate them wanting to help him with his problem, but knew that this problem was way out of their league. He even remembered that the mission in the Caribbean was out of their league, but they were determined to help him despite what kind of danger they may encounter, so he had no choice but to accept their help. He walked over to a doorway on the opposite side of the terminal and opened it, motioning for the girls to follow him in and walked down a dark corridor until they reached a special room where it had dozens of different colored crystals, everyone gasping and looking at the massive crystals, pulsating with magic.
"Welcome to the Core." Spyro said. "This is where the Gummi Garage is powered up, and where we need a special crystal." He tapped a few buttons and a small cylinder popped up, opening to reveal a dark blue crystal with stars in it, which drew Princess Luna's attention. "Here we are, a Dreamscape Crystal."
"A what?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"It's a special crystal that allows for someone to travel through dreams of another to get to the heart and to use their powers." Spyro replied. "But there is a risk, when dream walking, always remain on the given path, no matter what."
"Alright, so let's get that thing powered up and see what we can do." Rainbow Dash said.
"No Rainbow, not you." Spyro said, getting an angry leer from the cyan Pegasus. "If it was bigger, all of you would be coming, but in this case, this crystal only has enough power for one."
"Ok, so who's going?" Twilight asked.
"Princess Celestia." Spyro replied, surprising everyone. "Princess Luna is able to travel through other ponies dreams and Princess Celestia already knows about my problem from my master, so she knows what to expect."
"Then what about us?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Simple." He replied, fashioning the crystal into a necklace. "Keep me from going berserk.
"Wait, come again?" Twilight asked.
"When we go into a dream like state, that's when my darker had will try to take over." Spyro replied, the girls confused at what he said. "When I first became a Keyblade bearer and took the title as Prince of Light and Darkness, I first had to face my darker half. When I first used my power, the darker part of the purple dragon took over and it was only thanks to Riku I managed to break free and regain control. When I go into this dream like meditative state, my darkness will come out to take over." He then walked over to the console and pressed a few buttons, three massive white crystals rose up as three barriers appeared around him, surprising the girls. "These are Sunlight Crystals, they are used to repair my ships and to act as shields. But their main purpose is to restrain darkness. You girls gotta make sure these barriers remain active and my darkness is restrained."
"And our job is to make sure they remain active?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Lame!"
"Trust me, you don't want those barriers to go down." Spyro said. "And whatever you do, don't listen to him, no matter how tempting his offer is, if one of you feels tempted, get out, clear your head, and come back."
"Offer?" Twilight asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Just don't deactivate the barrier and don't walk through it." Spyro replied. "Not until you know we're back."
"And how will we know?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Just follow your heart." Spyro replied, annoying Rainbow Dash. "You two ready?" The princesses nodded their heads, sitting on the ground as Luna's horn started to glow and the necklace Princess Celestia was wearing glowed with it. "Oh, and one more thing. I might not be there as I'll be fighting my darker half. Follow the doors and remain on the path, don't be tempted by what he shows you, and you'll find me eventually. Oh, and you might meet a couple of old friends and if they offer your help, take it. Just ignore some of the comments from one of them, trust me, you'll be better off not listening."
The two princesses looked at each other, trying to understand what he meant when they felt a sudden drowsiness, closing their eyes for a second but waking up in absolute darkness, looking around before looking down to see his platform, his human version up front with his dragon and Force sensitive side on his right while his hybrid and chaos form self was on his left. The two sisters starred at the mural of colored glass, finding its pattern interesting as they walked about it.
"So this is what it's like?" Luna asked. "Walking through someone's heart?"
"I've never seen anything like this before." Celestia said. "Is this the kind of power he has?"
"Coming from experience, yes." Lune replied. "Now, he said follow the doors and remain on the path. What path?"
As she asked, a light appeared in the center of the platform, the sisters watching as it moved towards Luna, who got out of its was as it reached the edge, smaller, square shaped platforms appeared as the light passed over, creating a path for them to follow, surprising the sisters.
"Looks like that's the path." Celestia said.
The two sisters approached the path, looking at it and over the side of the path, seeing an endless abyss and then looked to the path, walking onto the first panel, finding it to be sturdy and walked across it. The two sisters walked across the path, walking over the panels and looking around, but didn't understand why as it was nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see, but then saw a small purple light up ahead, pausing to look at it, finding it was a small purple mist with small purple lights. They were about to walk past when Luna heard children laughing, looking to the mist when it got wider, revealing what looked like two foals running around in an open field, one of them with Spyro's color scheme and the other looked like Luna, both with Spyro's eyes and horns, laughing and running around while she herself was standing next to Spyro, the two hugging as Luna looked like she was bearing another child. Luna wanted to reach out and touch the mist, the vision calling out to her as whispers told her to walk through, but Celestia used her forelegs and grabbed her sisters hoof, the mist disappearing and making Luna reach out, shouting for it to come back.
"Sister, don't." She said. "Remember what Spyro said, stay on the path."
"But, but that was-" Luna said, trying to find the right words.
"I know Luna." Celestia said. "I saw it. And if it is the future, I am happy for you. But right now, we need to help him if we want it to come true."
Luna was disappointed that she didn't get to see more, wanting to know more about the future, but knew her sister was right as they had a job to do, looking back as the mist returned with the vision again, calling out to her to come and look, but she followed her sister, walking onward across the platform path. As they walked, they ran into a few more of the purple mists, seeing different futures, some were tempting to reach out and touch, others were just dark and destructive, but they ignored them, though Luna wanted to look into the ones where she is happy, but had to resist, her heart ripping apart every time she did until they came to a new platform, looking at it to see it was his Jedi self, his lightsaber ignited as he was in front of a village, images of his friends before coming to Equestria, Luna looking at the platform and not believing what she was seeing.
"He's a human?" Luna asked, Celestia looking away as Luna looked at her. "Spyro's a human?"
"I wanted to tell you sister." Celestia said. "But, every time I tried, I got cold hooves. I knew you liked him, but didn't want it to be awkward between the two of you."
"I wouldn't have cared." Luna replied, walking up to her sister. "He saved me, and I like him. The moment you made him a herd leader, with me being apart of it, I was happy as I wouldn't need to fight over him. We'd be happy and other members would also be happy too. He means everything to me just as much as you do. Even if I have to crawl through Tartarus to save him, I will. I'll do anything to help him."
"How sweet." Came a darker version of Spyro's voice, the sisters drawing their weapons as they saw Dark Spyro, black hair and white eyes as he smiled at them. "It seems my weaker half has a herd of glue sticks announcing their love for him. Someone get the shots ready because he's going to need them."
"You must be his darker half." Luna said. "Where's Spyro?"
"Oh, he's around." He replied. "Just busy with me. I just came to greet my uninvited guests. And... entertain them."
As he said it, shadows appeared on the surface of the platform, heartless appearing from the dark rifts, revealing them to be Armored Knights and Neoshadows, the sisters putting their backs to each other as they looked at the Heartless, approaching the sisters as Dark Spyro disappeared. The two sisters then engaged the Heartless, striking a few of them before being forced to go on the defensive, blocking attacks and dodging as well, but a minute later, Luna got knocked down by an Armored Knight, the Heartless standing over her as it raised its sword, but was then struck down when they heard something whirling towards them, looking up to see a purple lightsaber slice through a few before the one above Luna was lifted up in the air, crushed and thrown overt he edge. Luna got up and got her weapon back, looking around, but saw a human wearing white robes striking down several Armored Knights while another one in black robes struck down a Neoshadow and crushed several more, shooting red Force lightning at the remainder of the Heartless, destroying them.
"Well, that was mildly amusing." The dark robes human said, removing his hood to reveal Spyro, but his eyes were Sith eyes and his hair was darker. "I was beginning to think Dark Spyro forgot about us."
"Hush brother." The other one said, removing his hood and revealing he also looked like Spyro, but with blue eyes. "We were fortunate he didn't find us. We can use this to our advantage."
"Um, what's this?" Luna asked. "And who are you two?"
"My apology's." The light side Spyro said. "We are Spyro's Force sides. You can call me Light, making it easier to remember."
"And I am Dark." The dark robed Spyro said, then looked over to Luna and smiled. "Well, this dark blue one is not half bad. I think Spyro might have something here."
"Back off pal." Luna said, pointing her sword. "Not interested in dark robed beings."
"Then why are you interested in Spyro?" He asked. "He also wears black."
"Enough brother." Light said. "These two are here to help us free our host, let's not antagonize them."
"Eh, whatever." Dark said, walking to the edge of the platform. "Now that Dark Spyro knows you're here, it's only going to get harder. We're going to need to go through the corridors."
"The what?" Luna asked.
Dark raised his hand and a massive door appeared from the ground, sending glass flying everywhere, so Luna and Celestia had to use their wings to cover themselves to avoid being cut while Light used his robe to block the glass. When they checked, the door was black and white, two lightsabers for handles, and it had the symbol of the rebellion and the empire on each section of the door. As the door opened, light poured in and blinded the two sisters, flooding the room in light, a moment later the light disappeared and the two sisters could see again, finding themselves in front of a cave and around them was polar ice caps, the freezing wind hitting them as they started to shiver from the cold, running to the cave as a massive building started to appear around them. It was a temple with a massive window and a device that refracted the with strange images of humanoids with laser swords, collecting crystals, but other images were faded, the sisters looking around, but still shivering from the cold, despite the warmth the light was giving.
"W-w-where are w-w-w-we?" Celestia asked.
"Welcome to Ilum." Light said, he and Dark walking from behind a couple of pillars, dressed in warm clothing. "This is a sacred place for Jedi."
"W-w-wait!" Luna said. "Y-y-you're wearing w-w-warm clothing? W-w-while we're f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-freezing?"
"One moment you big cry baby." Dark said, he and Light sending a a red and blue aura around the sisters, giving them warm clothing, which they felt much better. "As Light was saying, this place is sacred to the Jedi as they collect their Kyber Crystals to make their weapons."
"But for you, it's a corridor." Light said. "Corridors are pathways that take you from platform to platform. However, they come with a test you must pass to continue. If you fail, you are expelled from the heart, unable to help your friend, our host."
"Are there any dangers?" Celestia asked.
"The only dangers you face are in your mind." Light replied. "Only you can make the danger real."
"Well, if there is any danger sister, we have these." Luna said, drawing her sword as Celestia drew her spear. A second later, Dark took away Luna's sword, surprising the alicorn mare while Light took Celestia's battle spear, shocking her. "Hey give those back!"
"You will not need your weapons." Light said, putting Celestia's spear on his back while Dark conjured a scabbard, sheathing the sword.
"We'll hold onto them for you." Dark said. "All you need to do is find the door to the next platform. Simple. Just stay true to yourselves, trust your instincts, and overcome whatever kind of flaw you have. Only then can the door open for you."
The two sisters looked at each other, not liking going in without their weapons, but the two Force sides were adamant on making them go in without their weapons, so without their weapons, trusting them, they went into the cave and looked around, finding it was completely made of ice and sculpted to look like a passage way. When they came to a fork in the road, finding three different corridors, the royal alicorn sisters looked at each other and then to the passaged, one of them being filled with light and lots of sparkling lights in it. The seconds was not as light, but was still bright enough for them to see, but the third one was completely dark and could feel something was wrong with it.
"Maybe we shouldn't go down the third one sister." Luna said, expecting a reply, but didn't hear one. "Sister?" She then looked to her left, hoping she was still there, but found that she was gone and her hoof prints ended where she had stood, making her panic. "SISTER!"
"Right, I forgot to mention." Dark said, Luna going on the defensive. "Each youngling did their test on their own. You and your sister must face your flaws alone."
"Where is my sister!?" Luna demanded.
"Don't worry, she's still in the room with you." Dark replied. "It's just you each have been put into two different rooms when you entered. Don't worry, you'll be reunited when you pass your test."
"And what would that be?" Luna asked, her guard still up.
"You have a flaw that is holding you back." Dark replied. "Something that you fear. You need to overcome your flaw and whatever you fear. Good luck."
Before Luna could lash out to attack Dark, he moved behind a pillar and was gone, Luna looking behind the pillar to get him, but found nothing there, so she looked at the three doorways, wondering which one she should take, looking at the third passage, she decided to go through the second passage, hoping to find the door instantly, but a moment later, she entered the same room. She looked around in confusion, wondering why she was back in the room she had just left, looking down on the ground to find their hoof prints, confused, but shrugged it off and went through the first passage, feeling safer than she did, but the same result happened, she just reappeared in the entrance of the main room, everything the same. She was shocked as she realized she just went in circles, wondering how to get out, but then looked to the third passage, feeling something dark and terrible, she wanting to go down one of the other two, but knew that she'd end back up in the entrance of the main room, so she swallowed her fear and walked to the third corridor, her eyes adjusting to the darkness as she saw jagged ice spikes and dark passages everywhere.
She could feel herself shiver and shake, feeling her fear rise up inside of her as she walked, feeling the darkness all around her, wondering why she was forced to go down this route instead of the other two. A moment later, she heard something behind her, looking back, but felt a shiver run down her spine as she saw a dark blue aura and stars sparkling in them, knowing who it was, she ran as fast as she could, running down passages and pathways as she ran for her life, panting as exhaustion set in, stopping and breathing heavily after running for so long.
"No... not again." She said. "Not again. I-I can't."
"Luna." A female voice said, making her mane stand on its own as she looked back. "Luna. You can't hide from what you are. You can't run."
Luna started to run again, trying to outrun the dark blue mist as she didn't want it to catch her, knowing what might happen if it did when the mist over took her, trying to harm and corrupt her again, even the light on her chest could barely keep it at bay as a barrier formed around her. She looked around for a place to hide and collect herself when she saw a crevice just ahead, diving for it as the mist dispersed, giving her a moment to breathe, but she was shaking uncontrollably as her fear started to over take her. She then heard children laughing deep in the crevice she was in, looking in the direction of the laughter as she saw a flickering light, walking to the light and when she got close enough, she closed her eyes to keep from being blinded. She opened them a moment later and found herself in a bed, sitting up as she didn't recognize it, wondering how she got there when she felt something press against her stomach, looking down to see she was expecting, shocked at the situation she was in until she heard a knocking sound, Spyro coming in with a tray of food.
"Ah, and there's my little princess of the night." Spyro said, walking in as two children ran up, the same ones as she saw in the purple mist when she was walking through his heart, and bounced on the bed, Luna trying to figure out what was going on.
"Mommy!" The kids said in unison, running and jumping on the bed.
"Mommy?" Luna asked, feeling a kick in her stomach. "Spyro... What's..."
"You ok honey?" Spyro asked, setting the tray down on her nightstand. "You seem confused."
"But... the cave... the mist..." She said, looking around and in the mirror, finding a ring next to the mirror and then to Spyro, finding a matching ring on his horn. "Spyro... are we... married?"
"What kind of question is that?" Spyro asked, laughing. "We've been married for eight years Luna. And we have two beautiful children with two more on the way." He then placed his hoof to her forehead, checking her temperature to make sure she wasn't sick. "No fever. Maybe you just had yourself a bad dream."
"But, it was real." She replied, getting up and walking to the mirror. "I was in a cave... dark blue mist was chasing me... the cold... the darkness..."
She then felt Spyro wrap his neck over hers, hugging her to comfort her, feeling his loving embrace as she finally relaxed, letting herself smile at being in his presence.
"It was just a dream my little moon drop." Spyro said. "Nothing more." He broke off the hug and walked to the wardrobe, pulling out his royal attire and putting it on along with his crown, looking in the mirror. "I have some business in Canterlot to take care of. Princess Celestia and I are needed to take care of some business in Fillidalphia. But I will be back in time for the kids recital this evening. You take it easy now honey. Don't want you over exerting yourself before the twins are born."
He walked out of the room, leaving Luna alone in the room with the children, who were playing and, even though she didn't remember birthing them the first time, she smiled and hugged her children, enjoying the moment of motherhood as she watched the kinds run out the room laughing and having fun. She enjoyed the bliss of watching her kids run and play, and enjoying the feeling of her pregnancy as she walked past the mirror, looking in it and passing by as she went to be with her family, but stopped, going back to the mirror and seeing herself again, but in the winter clothing she had on when she was in the cave and a pair of red eyes behind her. She looked behind her, scared of what she just saw, but found nothing there, looking back it the mirror to see herself again, seeing the winter clothing, but she then reached out and pulled her into the mirror, the princess screaming as she was falling through a passage of light and color until she hit the ground hard, landing with a loud thud and waking up in a daze.
A moment later, she was panicked, getting up to check on her stomach to make sure her babies were ok, but found her it to be skinny again and no sign of her expecting. Her heart dropped into her stomach, feeling tears well up in her eyes when she looked up, seeing a crystal with the life she wanted and ran to it, finding happiness there, but something wrapped around her barrel, holding her back and the crystal shattered, along with her happiness as she broke down, falling to her knees as she was crying.
"Temptation is a powerful weapon." Came a male voice. Luna looked back, seeing through her tears and saw a black dragon with red eyes, a red underbelly and a pair of long horns looking down at her, his tail unwrapping around her barrel as he approached. "The chance of happiness, everyone will take."
"Who-who are you?" Luna asked, her voice cracking as she got up.
"I am one of the first dragons to ever walk the earth." He replied. "I am known as Eclipse. The first dragon of Darkness."
"Darkness?" Luna asked, backing away from him.
"You need not fear me Princess of the Night." He replied. "I serve the Prince of Light and Darkness. I hold no ill will towards you."
She could feel the darkness coming form him, not really trusting him, but then saw the symbol of the prince on his shoulder, relaxing a little bit, but turning to where the shattered crystal was, her heart yearning to go back to where she was.
"There was nothing for you there." Eclipse said. "Only an empty promise."
"Empty promise?" She asked, her anger flaring up. "An empty promise!? That was a life I felt happy in! I had a husband, two beautiful children, even two more on the way! I was happy, I was loved! I didn't feel-"
"Guilty?" He asked, Luna surprised he'd say that. "Your heart yearned to be happy, to start your own family and to not feel guilt about what you did. Dark Spyro created that illusion, trapping you in a scenario he knew you wanted." He walked away from the princess, Luna following him to understand what he meant. "Dark Spyro knew you wanted to have a happy life of your own, sensing your hearts desires, so he created a scenario before you entered this corridor, to see if you would take it."
"And I was happy." She replied, a tear going down her cheek. "I-!-"
"I understand what you feel." He replied, guiding her out of the crevice. "Truly I do. But a life in an illusion is not a life at all. It's nothing more than living in a in a lie, feeling happy, but would you really be happy?'
Luna looked down, still feeling the phantom effects of her belly when she was expecting and reached her hoof to rub her stomach, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that it was only an illusion and not real, but she really wished it was real. A moment later, they reappeared in the cavern that she was in while being chased by the mist, looking around and finding the mist wasn't there anymore, breathing a sigh of relied.
"Tell me, what do you believe is your flaw?" Eclipse asked, getting her attention. "What is it that you believe is holding you back? Will living in a fantasy help you to live on and be happy? Or is it just a way for you to run away, and only mask your pain?"
A piece of ice broke off, hitting the ground and distracting the princess to look where the sound came from, finding nothing and looked back to the dragon, but he was already gone, leaving her all alone in the room. She walked in the direction she was heading to in the first place, walking for a little while as she thought about what the dragons aid to her, was she unhappy with herself and wanted a life other than what she has, or did she feel guilty about what she did in the past and wanted a life without guilt and her old life erased. After walking for a little while, she looked up and saw two different doors, but in the middle was the last pony she thought she'd see again and wanted to run, but the passage way was blocked, leaving her with herself and her darkness; Nightmare Moon.
"Well, if it isn't my other half." Nightmare Moon said. "How has ruling beside the beloved sister of the day been?"
"I'm not afraid of you." Luna replied.
"Then why am I here then?" Nightmare Moon asked, smiling at Luna. "You fear you will become me again, not wanting to return to darkness, but you already are darkness." She then walked up to Luna, the princess of the night standing her ground as she watched her darkness come to her and wanted to run away, but knew she had no where to go. "We are the same, you and I. You try to hide that fact, but you know it to be true. So, I want to offer you a deal." She backed away, letting Luna see the two doors, but the one on her left opened up, hearing the laughter of her children again, her heart reaching out to them when she saw Spyro with their kids, both of them on his back and smiling as they beckoned her over. "Just walk through the door, be with your family and live your life on blissful immortality with the prince, together forever. Never having to worry about your past, or anything ever again."
Luna's eyes widened, hearing her kids call out to her, calling her mommy and wanting her to come home, the princess of the night walking to the door and to her family, seeing the smiling faces of her children and smiling as well, just stopping short of the door and reaching out, but then froze. She remembered what the dragon said, did she want this life to hide her pain and not feel guilty about her past, forgetting what she did and erasing her past just to live a normal life. She put her hoof down, looking at her family she could have and closing her eyes, having to make the hardest decision she ever had to and let the doors shut, the doors cracking and shattering to pieces.
"NO!" Nightmare Moon screamed, a dark aura surrounding her. "You fool! You could have had everything! Your sins of the past erased, the Prince of Light and Darkness as your husband, and having many children! Why would you throw it away!?"
"Because what you offer isn't real." Luna replied, turning to face Nightmare Moon. "All you offer is a lie. I do want that life, but what you offer is nothing more than lies. An illusion of what I want. My past mistakes erased, that will never happen as the past has already been done. We cannot dwell on what we did or didn't do, we can only move forward and become better, learn from what we did. Someday that life of a family will come true, but not today. Today, I'm helping my friend, and herd leader!"
Nightmare Moon was beyond furious, her plan failing to trick her weaker half and taking over her body to destroy her sister once and for all. She drew her weapon and charged, looking to kill her lighter half and take over that way, but all of a sudden, a sword came flying out of the walls and struck the corrupted alicorn in the chest, cracks forming from her chest as a look of surprise hit her face, screaming out as dark blue light shot out from her chest, shattering into pieces as dark lightning shot out, Luna covering herself with her wings to avoid being pelted by shards of crystal. When she looked over her wings, she saw her sword in the middle of a pile of destroyed blue crystals, her sword surrounded by a blue aura before the blade itself vanished, leaving behind only the handle, which had a crescent moon guard with a black handle, a bit bulkier, but extremely light.
"Sometimes the hardest decisions are the right ones." Eclipse said, Lunar trying to find him, but found nothing. "Never forget, follow your heart."
As he said it, the door on the right unlocked, making a clicking sound that got the princesses attention, the massive crystal door opening as blue light flooded the cave, making her cover her eyes again to not get blinded. A moment later, she didn't feel cold and she didn't feel the winter clothing on her anymore, so she looked behind her, finding that her winter clothing was gone and she was back on the platform, but behind her was the cave itself, still open but lighter and far less threatening.
"Well done Princess Luna." Light said, Luna looking over to see the two Force users and her sister walking to her. "We were getting worried that something happened."
"Well, something almost did happen." Luna replied. "Nightmare Moon tried to trick and kill me."
"But you came out unscathed." Dark said. "Honestly, you did way better than our history the first time he went to Ilum to get his first crystal. Thought he doesn't use his Lightsaber much, he holds onto it just in case."
"What matters is that you are safe." Light said. "Though I am curious about one thing, there was a brief moment when we couldn't feel you through he Force. What happened?"
"Well, I went through some kind of light and it teleported me to some kind of vision." Luna answered. "A vision of what I wanted."
"Ah, now it makes sense." Light said. "Dark Spyro created an illusion to tempt you to stop and give up, living in a world of lies and false promises. But you managed to beat it and save yourself."
"Well, I did have a little help." Luna responded. "A dragon named Eclipse helped me."
"Eclipse!?" The Force users said at the same time.
"Man, if Eclipse saved your bacon, you best watch yourself." Dark said, smiling. "He must think you're cute."
"Brother!" Light shouted, making Dark flinch. "Anyway, we best get moving."
Light took Celestia's spear off his back and returned it to the white alicorn while Dark reached for Luna's sword, but found that it was no longer at his side, which freaked him out until he spotted the weapon by Luna's side, surprised she had it.
"Ok nightlight, how'd you get your sword back?" Dark asked. "Last I checked, you didn't have it with you."
"Wait, you didn't throw it to save me?" Luna asked.
"Of course not, why would I?" He answered. "I'm the dark side of the Force. Why would I do that?" He walked over to see how she got her sword back and drew it, only to find that the blade was missing, which made him laugh. "Seems you need to get a new weapon. Because I think your sword broke."
As he said it, they heard something click and a blue laser blade shot out of the handle, spooking Dark and making him drop it, the impact deactivating the sword and drawing eyes to it. Light walked over to the handle and picked it up, pressing down on a button and the blade ignited again, Light looking over it and smiling.
"Seems whatever happened to your sword turned it into a Lightsaber." Light said, deactivating it and handing it back to Luna. "However you got this weapon, use it carefully. A Lightsaber can cut through anything but certain metals and materials. Keyblades and a certain metal called Beskar they can't cut through."
"So she got lucky and got a new weapon, big whoop." Dark said. "It won't matter when she faces Dark Spyro. Should have gotten some Beskar armor, then she'd have a chance."
"Well, I'm glad to be out of that cave." Luna said, putting the weapon away. "Tia, what did the cave test you on?"
"That's just it, it didn't." Celestia replied, shocking Luna.
"WHAT!?" Luna shouted. "What do you mean you weren't tested!?"
"It's strange really." Light answered. "Princess Celestia doesn't seem to have many flaws and any that she did have, she over came them. She has no fear."
Luna was about to loose her mind, looking visibly ticked off when they heard a noise coming from the cave, Luna turning to find a chicken pecking at the ground, confusing her and the Force sensitives.
"What's a chicken doing here?" Light asked.
"No clue." Dark replied. "But it's nothing to worry about. We need to-" He looked behind to leave for the next platform when they noticed Princess Celestia was gone, freaking the three of them out. "Where the heck did sun butt go?" He got his answer when they saw her behind Light, huddled up and her hooves over her head, whimpering in fear like a dog that got spooked.
"Princess?" Light asked.
"Tia, you ok?" Luna asked.
"Scary!" She exclaimed, sounding like a whisper. "So scary!"
They were confused for a moment when they looked back to the cave, seeing the chicken still pecking at the ground when it walked up to Celestia, the princess uncovering her eyes to see the chicken, causing her to scream and jumped up into Light's arms, screaming for it to go away until the illusion of it disappeared.
"Oh you gotta be kidding me!" Dark shouted. "A chicken!? A flippin' chicken!? You are afraid of a 6 Piece Bargain Bucket meal!?" He didn't get his answer as the princess just smiled nervously, but Luna just smiled mischievously, thinking up ways of getting even with her. "Oh, I am so done! The princess of the day, the most powerful pony in Equestria, afraid of a corn eating farm bird! If someone wants to invade Equestria, just get a flock of chickens and she will scream like a lady when they see a stupid mouse!"
"Dark, enough!" Light shouted, putting the princess back on her own hooves. "Though questionable, it's not the worst kind of fear to have. Right now, we got bigger fish to fry. We need to get to the next corridor and fast. Spyro won't last forever against his darker half."
The two Force sensitives walked over to the edge of the platform and raised their arms, multiple new platforms made from blue and red glass appeared and created a path way for them to walk across. As the two humans went ahead, the alicorn sisters walked behind them, Luna's smile visible as Celestia got nervous, knowing her sister all too well and already planning her revenge for all the pranks and gags she pulled on her all those years ago.