Rise of Equestria: Resurrection

Chapters

Chapter 1: When you play with fire...
Chapter 2: ...you must be careful...
Chapter 3: ...because if you aren't....
Chapter 4: ...you might burn yourself...
Chapter 5: ...and everyone around you.
Epilogue

Chapter 1: When you play with fire...

Author's Note

Special thanks to all who read it!

Special thanks to Trithtale for proofreading and minor editing!

Special thanks to Author of MADness for helping me filter down ideas!

Due to my work I haven't been able to write that much lately. I also decided to split this into two chapters because of it, enjoy!

*If anyone wants to help me edit this thing PM me please!*

**CoverArt might change in the future**

Chapter 1: When you play with fire...

Rise of Equestria: Resurrection

Shining Armor is currently standing on a balcony staring down at his busy subjects performing their daily tasks, whether on the sky or the ground, preparing everything for a special event. His expression is one of stoicness yet his lips are curled up in the tiniest of smiles.

“Out here so early, Shining?” A feminine yet slightly screeching voice called.

“It’s well past ten in the morning, Chrysalis.” Shining said without looking back at the changeling queen. “Hardly ‘early in the morning’ as you say.”

Chrysalis hummed walking next to him wearing an elegant dark green long dress while her hooves remain undress. Glancing at the white stallion, wearing his usual purple and golden armor, the changeling queen crossed her arms.

“Twilight and The Bearers are going to arrive in a few hours. Is everything ready for tomorrow?”

“Almost, all that’s left is what they’re bringing with them.”

“I see,” Chrysalis replied, her gaze focused on several ponies, changelings, and other species putting up flags and decorations over the streets. “It’s been twelve years since Spike died.”

Shining hummed. “How are our guests of honor holding up?”

“In chains,” Chrysalis replied, a knowing smirk adorning her lips. “After all Spike did. After all his warnings during the trial. And even after the formation of our alliance, those idiots still tried to take over Equestria and the Empire.”

“And they failed admirably. What is a ruler without the support of its citizens?”

“A stupid fool.” Both shared a short laugh. “What was it called again? The Three Week War? Although, calling it a war would be generous, I think.”

“Especially since Zebrica joined us after they kicked King Zamarix off of the throne, and handed him to us a week later.” Silence fell between the two royals for several moments until Shining spoke again. “How did Cadance do last night?”

“Slept like a baby through the whole process; the same way she has for the past seven months. What are you two doing that’s helping you out so much? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Sex. We’re having sex twice a week. More if we...feel like it.” Shining answered without hesitation.

Chrysalis laid a hand on his shoulder. “Thought as much. Over the past eight years, my Mind-Menders and the zebra shamans have discovered that sex helps in over ninety percent of the recovery cases. For both males and females.”

“Looks morbidly ironic if you ask me. I almost had a heart attack when she asked me to.” Shining sighed. “And I was more than a little worried and afraid, but it was...comforting and enjoyable and nice.”

“You realize those words make you sound like a---”

“Daddy!” Chrysalis was interrupted by a pair of cheerful voices behind them.

Shining Armor had enough time to turn around to catch two fillies in mid-air. Smiling, Shining Armor hugged his daughters close, embracing each one with an arm. The fillies kissed his cheeks followed by nuzzling his neck lovingly.

“Good morning, my sweethearts!” Shining said before giving his daughters a kiss of his own; both of them tall enough to reach his lower chest. “Aren’t you going to say hello to your dear auntie Chrissy?”

“Hi, auntie Chrissy!” The fillies said in unison while Chrysalis smiled back nodding once.

“Daddy, how do we look? How do we look?” The pink coated filly asked cheerfully before both of them backed down from their father’s arms allowing him to see them posing for him.

Shining peer them for a couple of seconds.They were both wearing exactly same dress: A baby blue princess dress adorned with a large ribbon in the middle section and sparkling shimmer purple lights. They also had the same curly mane style, and both also had the same blue-tone eyes that were looking up to him expectantly.

On the right was Flurry Heart, his youngest daughter. Her coat was practically white yet there was a slight pink tint to it. Her mane and tail were divided in two colors; blue and soft purple. On her back he could see her rather big wings, and on her forehead he saw a horn. Her birth had been a complete surprise, and mystery, since she was the first naturally born Alicorn since Celestia and Luna themselves.

On the left was Skyla, his eldest daughter by a couple of months apart from Flurry Heart. Her coat was a deep pink tone, almost like Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail. Her mane and tail, just like her sister, were divided in two colors; slightly deeper purple and cream. Unlike Flurry, however, she was a unicorn.

“You two look lovely!” Shining said with a beaming smile. Both fillies hugged each other whispering ‘I told you’ over and over.

Flurry and Skyla then looked at Chrysalis, after a couple of seconds of silent staring the changeling queen gave them a single thumb up. The fillies giggled before being carried by their father. Now that no one was looking at her, Chrysalis couldn’t help but smile tenderly at the display. While both fillies were Shining’s daughters, Cadance had only given birth to Flurry Heart while Twilight Velvet, Shining’s mother, had given birth to Skyla. The family decided to let the two innocent fillies grow up thinking they were twins.

Chrysalis turned to see the preparation for the festivities soon coming to the Empire, her smile dropping as she did. Shining Armor’s case was just one of the thousands upon thousands that had similar ...consequences. To this day it still surprised her that a little over half of the babies, pony or not, born during the Fall were the product of incest in some way.

She managed to suppress a grunt of anger. The first thing that was destroyed completely, days after the Rise began, were the Breeding Grounds the caribou had installed in the most densely populated cities. Followed by the dirt farms, statues, milking and beer factories, poster prints, reformation camps, proper female equipment and dressing centers, female schooling grounds, and the public stocks. The fires burned for more than two weeks. Everything else that the caribou brought with them, or was modified and powered by their rune magic, was destroyed with the help of Creslin and her Liberators.

The changeling queen saw one of her soldiers and a griffon hang up a large banner down the road with the image of Spike on it. Her rage withered at the sight. She closed her eyes for a moment before turning around.

“Are you two ready for the festival?” She asked softly.

“Almost, auntie Chrissy. We wanted to show Daddy our dresses first,” Skyla answered.

“I bet I’ll win the big plushie this year, I know it!” Flurry Heart clenched her right hand into a fist. “I won’t be beaten again.”

“Princesses!” A melodious feminine voice called from the distance. The four royals turned their head towards the entrance in time to see a gamboge coated pegasus hovering into the balcony. She was wearing a golden royal guard armor while her trimmed two-tone sapphire blue mane and tail made a perfect match for her blue cornflower eyes. “Please, do not run off like that! You could get hurt one of these days,” the mare pleaded landing a meter or so before them. “Good morning, your majesties,” she did a respectful small bow before Chrysalis and Shining Armor while the fillies hugged their father’s torso.

“Good morning to you too, Flash. Is my wife done with her preparations yet?”

“She is, my Lord. Princess Cadance is currently speaking with Creslin about the upcoming celebration.”

“Good to hear.” Shining looked smiling down at his daughters. “Daddy has work to do, go with Flash and be ready to enjoy the festival.”

The fillies smiled back, nuzzled him, and then ran past Flash whilst giggling.

“Pony feathers, not again!” Flash groaned before resuming her chase.

After a few seconds of silence, Chrysalis finally spoke. “He’s adapted well to being a mare.”

“Flash fought bravely during The Fallen Spring Day; he managed to kill seven caribou before he was captured. The fucker king himself switched him in front of my eyes…” Shining closed his eyes for a moment. “Many caribou and turned ponies, including myself, raped him...her for hours on end. That only served to make Flash fight even harder,” Shining clenched his hands into shaky fists. “I don’t deserve his loyalty or forgiveness.”

Chrysalis hummed crossing her arms. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I know. That’s what makes it worse.”

Suddenly a loud collection of sounding horns erupted throughout the Empire. A large platoon of pegasi, griffons and changelings dressed in dark purple armor with green colored sidelines stormed out of the nearby garrison, all of them flying towards the same direction.

“The princesses have arrived.” Shining said while Chrysalis took flight.

<><><><><><><><>Crystal Empire- Train Station<><><><><><><><>

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stepped out of their cabin followed by their nephew, Prince Blueblood, Big Macintosh, Yog, Soarin and several guards wearing the same armor the two lines of pegasi, thestrals, griffons and changelings standing near their cabin creating an ample road for them wore. Some of the guards were holding a pole with a flag or banner with the same symbol that was displayed in the center of their chestplate and shoulderplates: The Crystal Heart burning in green fire. The Spike Scaled Units.

There were several ponies and members of other species behind the guards, most of them cheering and respectfully greeting the royal sisters as they walked.

Luna had an stoic expression while wearing a long black dress with pieces of armor attached to it; mainly a pair of shoulder protectors displaying her cutie mark, a pair of dark blue greaves, a chainmail below her dress and a tight chestplate. At her right side Celestia walked returning the greetings with a warm, sincere smile. Unlike Luna, she was wearing a brilliant white dress adorned with stripes of color matching her flowing mane on her back. The dress hugged her hourglass figure perfectly, her arms were covered by a pair of white long gloves, and her neck was adorned by a magnificent amethyst with a golden ‘S’ on its center. If one looked close enough they could see she wasn’t wearing any make-up. She never has since Spike’s death. What did struck as an oddity was the box Blueblood was carrying right behind them.

They were about to reach the entrance to the city when Chrysalis landed at their side. The gathered crowd cheered even more at her arrival.

“How was the trip?” Chrysalis asked gazing at the crowd.

“Boring,” Luna answered.

“I thought it was relaxing, dearest sister,” Celestia said flexing her wings. “It’s quite the commodity during this time of the year, don’t you think so?”

“You make a fair point, sister. Though We do enjoy the hunts more than politics. They are more fun and less stressful, if you ask Us.”

“Caught any of those bastards you were after?”

“Thanks to Yog and Soarin we managed to capture the largest ring in the last four years. We got them before the Followers or the F.M.A could lay their hands on them.” Luna sighed. “We prefer when they trap that scum.”

“You got that right, Lunatic. How many were there?”

“Two hundred and fifty three, not counting the eighty four that were killed. Most of them were consumed during the Fall, but there were plenty of those depraved Faithful’s. Our forces rescued over eight hundred females; most of them zebras and cervidae. Their leader was a caribou that used to be a captain of Dainn’s guard. One of the few bastards that managed to escape Spike’s claws. He ‘eluded’ Our guards before the Followers captured him.” Luna smirked.

“Not the F.M.A?” Chrysalis asked with mild surprise.

“The Followers were quite eager. I thought they deserved a chance to perform their duty on a caribou after so long.” Celestia said with a bright smile while waving at the crowd. Before she, Luna or Chrysalis could speak again they saw a group of about a hundred on their knees in front of Spike’s Memorial Statue.

It was elected that since the Crystal Empire was the first to fall under Caribou rule, but also the first to be liberated, not to mention the very nation that held Spike as their hero before the Fall, to bear the honor of displaying one of the few statues allowed to be created commemorating Spike’s memory, sacrifice, mission, and life. They also had the biggest one.

Only seven statues of Spike existed, all thanks to Twilight Sparkle’s insistence as a way to never forget what he had done for the close friends he made along with her in Ponyville... she included. One was in Ponyville right in front of the Castle of Friendship. Another two were in Canterlot; one in the center of the Royal Gardens, and the other behind the throne of Princess Celestia. Another one lays in Chrysalis’s Great Hive. Another was built on the tallest shorecliff facing the Siren’s Pass, ever vigilant of the distant Hraljord. The sixth one was built in the entrance of The Garden of The Fallen; standing watch over those that were lost during the regime of Dainn. And lastly, Spike’s Memorial Statue in the Crystal Empire.

Every statue pictured the same stance and was masterfully made by the best sculptures; except this one. Cadance went all out over the details to make sure this memorial statue would be the best of all. And with the help, and unvaluable guidance, of an elderly dragon the results were beyond perfect.

It was an outstanding ten meter tall replica of Spike. His purple scales were polished and shiny, made up from the finest amethysts the Empire could provide. His green scales, fins, and crest were made from different shades of emeralds and peridot shards with a bit of jade here and there. The eyes were two giant pearls while shimmering blue crystals covered with sapphire and lapis lazuli dust formed a Crystal Heart on his chest. His long tail was raised behind him, like it did during his younger days. His arms slightly parted at each side ending with his open hands, giving it a mystic aura to it while the head gazed straight forward.

Celestia stopped for a moment to look at the statue and then down to the group. They were all wearing a beige robe with purple side lines and a two inches thick green line running on the back right in the middle from top to bottom. It was impossible to mistake the members of the Followers of the Grace of the Dragon with those robes.

Stepping closer, the guards parted for Celestia until she reached the dark blue coated unicorn stallion wearing the dirtiest robe.

“A gentle greetings, Princess Celestia,” the stallion said doing a respectful bow. He pulled down the hood of his robe revealing his light blue mane and bright blue eyes.

“It’s good to see you again, Blue Moon. I’m glad to see you and your Followers coming each year.” Celestia greeted with a smile.

“More shall arrive in the coming hours, joining all who have already arrived, my Princess. My fellow brothers and I arrived yesterday. We have been standing guard and paying our respects to our saviour while we waited for your arrival.”

“Committed as always I see.”

“But of course, my Princess. We follow the Teachings of Spike and strive to be worthy of his Code.”

Celestia had to suppress a giggle. The Followers started as a small club that Blue Moon formed a little after Spike’s symbolic funeral. A small group dedicated to honour his memory and deeds. However, it soon grew until it became something akin of a cult after they, somehow, got a hold of the last version Spike wrote detailing his own Dragon Code. Or as they call it: The Teachings of Spike. She didn’t have the heart to tell them Spike made it up one day and continue to upgrade it with every lesson learned. She found it kind of cute. They took it to heart, however, and decided to act upon it; striving to follow in his good example. But they also took to heart his actions against the caribou during the Fall and the Rise.

They’re known for their borderline fanatical dedication to hunt down every and all sexual predators, slavers, rapists, killers, kidnappers and especially Male Superiority Faithful’s; publicly executing them in a manner that would make Spike proud. To them, social barriers, political status, power, money, age, gender, species and race don’t matter; if you were to be caught by them, most certainly red-handed, then you’d be at their mercy. Despite that, Celestia was thankful for their help and their efforts to protect the poorest, most vulnerable and dangerous parts of the cities and villages with their watches. They have been responsible for countless arrests, excluding the ones they personally condemned, and prevented several would be suicides.

Oddly enough, only males and switched males can join, since many of their members had been Fakers, Enslaved or Corrupted during the Fall. They act without support from the crown or the Equis Alliance, but have free reign to continue with their labour throughout the allied territories as long as they provide full evidence over those that they ‘punish’. Not like financial support was an issue. Public donations kept them working hard and spent every bit on their purpose and mission. Much like the Female Might Alliance in comparison.

“Be Just. Be Brave. Be Loyal. Be Honest. Be True. Be Cheerful. Be Generous. Be Kind. Be Tolerant. Be Respectful. Be Humble. Be Intelligent. Be Good. Those are some of the basic principals of the Code. Am I right, Blue Moon?” Celestia asked looking up to her son’s statue. Blue Moon’s story was tragic on itself. Once belonging to a rich, powerful, and noble house, Blue Moon became a Faker, forced to breed six foals with his two black collar sisters and aunt, carry the shame of having his father become an Embracer, forced to kill his tainted brother and not being able to fight during the first week of the Rise thanks to his father trying to poison him and his family.

Regardless, Blue Moon learned of Spike’s actions and followed him to Hraljord to lay justice and revenge upon the caribou. When he came back he spent most of his remaining family fortune to ensure the future of his aunt, sisters, and foals. The rest he used to create the Followers and eventually became their leader.

“You are correct, my Princess. My fellow brothers and I would like to inform you that the knave we caught a few days ago has been punished severely in accordance to the Code.”

“One step closer to peace and prosperity in the name of The Lightbringer.” The rest of the Followers said in unison.

“By the Will of Friendship,” Blue Moon added. “Is there something you wish for us to do, my Princess?”

Celestia shook her head twice. “Not at the time, my little pony.” With that said Blue Moon bowed again and returned his gaze to the statue kneeling with the rest of his brothers; both males and switched that denied to be turned back. Spreading her wings, Celestia graciously flapped them bringing her airborne until she was face to face with the statue’s gaze. “It won’t be long, my son.” Celestia whispered before returning to the ground.

The group resumed their march leaving the Followers to their prayers as the crowd began to return to their own activities.

After a few minutes full of happy greetings and smiling faces the group arrived to the Crystal Palace. They were forced to stop again when they saw another large group forming a line in front of the Crystal Heart. The line itself moved slowly but surely. Luna noticed that almost everyone of those formed in the line had two things in common: they were females and they were wearing several different types of armor while carrying a weapon.

“The Female Might Alliance,” Blueblood said approaching his aunts and Chrysalis, never letting go of the box he was carrying. “Even they have come to pay their respects.”

Chrysalis saw he was right. As the line advanced she was able to see a small mountain of flowers, gems, and hats. The females stopped in front of the Crystal Heart for a couple of seconds before dropping their gift onto the pile.

The Female Might Alliance, or F.M.A for short, was a group that formed six months after Spike’s death. They had no actual leader, instead they had a ring of figure heads that acted like Warladies. Much like the Followers, they received no support from the crown or the Alliance, but they also were left to act freely as long as they proved the crimes of those they hunted. Since they share targets with the Followers the two groups had to agree on a first-come, first-served term to avoid fighting between each other.

The F.M.A also provides support to the poor and the weak like the Followers do, but they take the extra mile by teaching females, and young colts, how to use a weapon and fight. They’re infamous for their hate to all the nations outside of the Equis Alliance. While they have never do actual harm to anyone without reason they hold no respect, or tolerance, for those nations and their people. Especially the males. And while that hate didn’t include the males in the Alliance, every other male is considered a blight, potential rapist, and a scumbag traitor to not only females but to the world as a whole. Few members are married or in a relationship because of it.

Despite their hate they don’t condemn sex as something vile or repulsive. As the only part of the Follower’s Code they themselves believe in being ‘Consent is Everything’. And also apply the unwritten rule to never do anything sexually related as punishment; they would never fall to the same level as the caribou.

Unlike the Followers, they don’t see Spike as a saviour or a hero. In their eyes, Spike is the only male that deserved their respect, that much is true, but they also see him as the tool or weapon of the Princesses against the caribou, and Dainn, acting under their orders. In similar fashion to the Followers, they have specific conditions for a female to join them. Only females, regardless of species, can join, they must be over fifteen years old, switched stallions are not allowed (despite the great respect they have for Creslin and the Liberators) and females that followed Spike to Hraljord can’t join either.

Luna saw the line advance, seeing pony, saddle arabian and zebra mares, griffon chicks, minotaur cows, she-ursas, and plenty of other species. She was even able to recognize a few of their members like the ex-model Fleur De Lis, Photo Finish, and Gilda The Stone-willed.

“Why the hats, though?” Yog asked seeing a zebra mare drop a blue top hat. “I know it’s traditional, but why?”

“You don’t know?” Yog negated. “Haven’t I told you this before?” Yog negated again. “Well, during his eighteen birthday Spike’s greed turned him into a giant, almost feral dragon that stole everything he saw. Even apple tree leaves. He dispatched Spitfire, White Flare and me without much effort. Rumor has it that it was a hat that started it all and that he began a collection of them after the incident.” Soarin explained with a serious expression.

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh confirmed.

“Somehow, I was expecting a more thrilling story behind it.” Yog replied.

“Come, let us leave them in peace and be on our way. There’s still much to prepare.” Luna said resuming their advance.

Blueblood looked at the Crystal Heart guarded by no less than twenty members of the Scaled Units. Tightening his hold on the box he was carrying, Blueblood smiled when he saw the shimmering blue aura of the Crystal heart turn purple and green for a second or two.

<><><><><><><><>Four hours later-Crystal Palace Conference Room<><><><><><><><>

“You fucking female loving traitor! Our father favored you even over his own sons!” Akios, third son of Dainn, yelled at Spike while he was chained to a wall completely naked. “He gave you a castle, the purple bitch, prefered your work, always asked for your advise, made you a general and then Marshal! He thought you were dead and gave you the honour of a Kingly Funeral! And you DARE turn your back on him!?”

Spike, flanked by Blueblood and Soarin, stared at him with a blank expression. “Don’t forget he was going to make me his son and heir, brother.”

“Our people will never accept you as their new king, traitor!” Rolph, first son of Dainn, spat angrily next to his brother.

“You think I did all of this to take the crown and lead your fucking race?” Spike crossed his arms. “Come to think of it...I never thought of that. With me as king of the caribou, I would’ve ordered massive murders or instigated civil wars amongst your depraved kind. Let them kill each other and then finish off the remnants. Damn, why didn’t I thought of that before?”

“You fucking scumbag!” Rolph yelled in anger. “Unhold me this instant! I will switch you and fuck you to death, you miserable cunt!” Spike ignored him.

“Meh, too complicated in the end. I guess this way turned out far better,” Spike’s lips curled into a cocky smirk. “But it seems you two need to hear the latest news. Equestria and the Crystal Empire are free again, what is left of your people are being hunted down as we speak, the four alicorn princesses have regained their power, our people is free from your dark taint. Frost, your brother, is currently holding the last caribou stronghold while Calvin was killed by Queen Chrysalis herself.” Spike’s eyes turned white. “And after two weeks of torture, and fun games, I finally killed Dainn.”

Before the caribou brothers could yell or insult the dragon, he lunged forward grabbing them by their throats. Spike forced them to look into his shining white eyes. “And now I’m going to kill you two.” For several moments he didn’t move until he turned to face Akios directly.

“Akios, you’re the one I hate the least, so I’ll show you mercy by publicly ripping you to shreds. Trust me, I will take my time to make it long and painful. I have to give my loving audience a good show, after all.” Spike then turned to Rolph. “Rolph. My sweet, stupid, demented Rolph. Remember what you did to me after the First Invasion?” Rolph’s eyes widened and his pupils shrank. “You do! How nice of you to remember tricking me into eating pony meat!” Spike opened his maw letting Rolph have a good look at his sharp, drool covered fangs. “I’m going to eat you, Rolph. I’m going to eat you alive in front of a couple thousand prisoners. Then I’m going to let them escape and run back to Hraljord before I go after them. Caribou meat is the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, but for you I’ll make an effort to endure this small torture.”

Blueblood smiled seeing the tears running down Rolph’s eyes.

“Empress Shifting Sands, me and my sisters thank you for your constant support,” Creslin, pseudo Queen of the remaining Caribou, leader of the Liberators, said while bowing from her seat. She was wearing her usual Liberator armor while a crown made of wood adorned her head between her antlers.

“There is nothing to thank me for, friend. I promised to help you to take care of your people no matter how long it takes.” Shifting Sands said in a motherly tone.

Blueblood shook his head. Drifted off again, he thought frowning. He saw King Rutherford say something to the crowned King Zhaka the Zulu, king of Zebrica, but didn’t hear what. His frown vanished and the corner of his lips curled up into a tiny smile.

He could still hear the screams of agony from Akios being dwarfed by the loud cheering of those that came to witness his demise. How his body convulsed at each piece of meat Spike slashed, clawed, whipped, torn, and ripped away. How he came close to passing out each time Spike smashed one of his bones. How he cried for mercy when Spike was pulling away each of his teeth one by one before ripping out his antlers and cutting off his tongue. How Spike laughed in sadistic glee when he pierced Akio’s eyes, chopped off his arms, tore away his legs, smashed his testicles and penis, and finally pulled out his still beating heart out of his chest. Before setting it and the twitching corpse on fire.

“Is everything ready for tomorrow?” Celestia asked to no one in particular.

“Almost, Celestia.” Blood Talon assured with Sebastian standing behind him. “We have also, with the help of Creslin and Cadance, made sure that there will be no mistakes. The only thing that is missing is the Fire Ruby Lady Rarity is bringing with her.”

Celestia nodded. The day she went to personally ask Rarity to lend her the Fire Ruby the white unicorn held as her most precious treasure, she did so expecting a fight. Instead, Rarity gave her the gem saying Twilight had already told her what they’re were going to try to do. And after months of tests she finally was able to return it to Rarity for a few weeks.

“The location is secured and our special ‘guests’ are eager. Spike shall walk among us once again.” Shining Armor said holding the hand of Cadance tightly.

Blueblood said nothing as all the other members around the room and table cheered between themselves. He couldn’t hear them since his mind went back to an open field where almost five thousand caribou stags were bound as they watched with open eyes the carnage before them. Spike was devouring Rolph, making sure to slurp and chew loudly as the royal blood of the ex-prince washed his scales. Rolph’s howls of pain were like music to his ears, more so with Spike taking his sweet time to make him suffer; biting off a finger at a time, preventing blood loss, avoiding vital areas. The works.

Only when Rolph was nothing more than a pile of flesh barely clinging to life had Spike tore his heart out and ate it. The prisoners didn’t even wait for his speech after their chains were magically removed. They ran as fast as their legs allowed them. He turned to see the dragon drenched in blood, and then Spike roared with the might of a thousand thunders. Those caribou ‘survivors’ spread the tale of The Reaper like wildfire.

“I still think Princess Twilight and Discord should be here with us,” Chief Thunderhooves said while his daughter, Little Strongheart, stood at his side. “They are leader members after all.”

“They shall arrive shortly with their families. I do so believe we don’t need them for this particular reunion, Thunderhooves.” Cadance said giving the buffalo a warm smile.

“Cadance is right, this reunion is symbolic on itself. Besides, that little bookworm did most of the research herself. And no one is more eager to see Spike back than The Bearers themselves and his mom,” Chrysalis said sitting at Celestia’s left side bearing a tiny smile.

Blueblood suppressed a chuckle. He always found it funny that the leaders of the Equis Alliance acted more like close friends than leaders of their country, kingdom or whatnot most of the time. He closed his eyes sensing he was not needed at the time, his mind drifting away completely once more.

“Are you sure you can’t stay, Zezil?” Spike asked to a tall yet moderately robust zebra stallion wearing nothing but a loincloth. He could see the zebra’s body was covered with scars, most of them still looking quite recent, and that he was holding a large bag with his left hand while his right was on the shoulder of Spike.

“I’m sure, my friend. Once more I thank you for freeing me from the caribou hold. But I cannot stay in the land I helped defile so much. I must return to Zebrica to tell the horrors I have witnessed and was forced to commit. I wish you good luck on your journey to their homeland, and I hope we can meet once more; on this life or in the eternal fields.”

“Be safe, Zezil,” Spike said while the zebra let go of his shoulder and began to walk away from Spike and the army boarding the armada Shifting Sands lent him. “You think he’s going to make it, Blue?”

“Something tells me that he will. I never met him in person to be completely honest, I just heard a lot from him when he was a...you know.”

“The best mare-milk producer in Canterlot. Call it for what it was, Blue.” Spike said seeing his zebra friend getting lost in the distance and in the crowd. “Did you know he was also one of the best shit-cleaner trainers in Canterlot?”

Blueblood winced at that. “Please, don’t remind me of that.”

“Of what? The tongue of a six to eight year old filly licking your asshole clean after you took a dump?” Spike said without compassion. “I also trained many of them. And dick-polishers. And mobile-toilets. And dirt-eaters. And--”

“Please, Spike, just stop!” Blueblood implored. Despite his volume no one stopped or glanced at their way.

“Then don’t bottle it all up, Blue. There are moments when you need to tell things for what they were and what they are. Don’t be afraid to call it out. Don’t forget what you’re fighting against.”

Blueblood sighed, closing his eyes for a moment he focused on the sounds of the boarding ships. Opening his eyes he looked at his cousin. “I should be the one giving you wise advises. I’m the older one.”

“Good thing it’s not an advice then,” Spike remained expressionless. “Blueblood...can you promise me something?”

“Anything.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

“Take care of mom for me.”

“What do you think, Blueblood?”

“..-Huh?” Blueblood blurted when he heard the voice of his oldest aunt call his name. “What did you say, aunt Celestia?”

“I asked if you had any opinions concerning Spike’s revival.” Celestia said smiling warmly up to her dear nephew.

Clearing his throat, the prince noticed that everyone in the room was now looking at him. He also noticed Luna was covering her mouth, no doubt hiding her giggling. “I think the word revival is being misused. After all, Spike has not left us yet completely.”

“The fraction of his soul that remains inside the Crystal Heart still lives on. I have sensed it and we have all seen the glow.” Cadance said, her eyes turning white. “With that fraction as an anchor we will bring him back!”

“For Spike!” Sebastian cheered.

“For Spike!” Everyone else, but one, cheered back.

“For you, little cousin,” Blueblood whispered looking at the box he was still holding dearly.

<><><><><><><><>Crystal Empire- Train Station<><><><><><><><>

The doors of the train express opened as it chugged to a halt, letting out a small curtain of icy mist. Following soon after the mist dissipated a large group of ponies came walking out of the train. The head of the group was made up by five of the Element Bearers followed by their respective families. From the train also stepped out a mix of several species. Behind them a small group of Followers followed suit sending gentle smiles and pleasing greetings to the larger group.

Twilight Sparkle was wearing a pair of blue pants and a amberish blouse; her head adorned with her crown behind her horn. Her parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light Sparkle, walking behind her with her father’s arm running around her mother’s back.

Rainbow Dash was wearing a set of armor that belonged to the Scaled Units while her long mane was hold up via a pony tail. Her father, Rainbow Blaze, also wearing a Scaled Units armor walked at her side.

Pinkie Pie was wearing a colorful dress similar to that of her first Gala minus the candy and slightly less pink in nature. She was smiling broadly while her eyes looked all around in wonder, her cotton candy-like mane and tail moving up and down in accordance with her bubbly step. Her family came walking behind her, all of them wearing their plain, monochromatic clothes. Except for Maud; she was wearing a thicker and sturdier Scaled Units armor compared to the ones Rainbow Dash and her dad were wearing. Her family were lucky to be outside of Equestria for a vacation trip before the Fall started.

Applejack was wearing a set of armour similar to Maud’s, except that instead of wearing a helmet she was wearing her traditional stetson hat. Behind her walked many of her closest family members including Applebloom, Braeburn, Zecora and Cheerilee (both married to Big Macintosh), and several more of her cousins and Orange relatives. Most of them wearing their formal farm clothes or a set of armor.

Rarity was wearing a beautiful gem crusted white long dress that hugged and fit her model-like figure like a glove. She was also wearing an elegant tiara while her neck was adorned by a large Fire Ruby, encrusted with a golden harness that did not cover a ‘S’ shaped mark on the left side of her neck. Behind her walked her parents, Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles, and Sweetie Belle. Her parents were wearing normal yet elegant clothes while Sweetie Belle wore a less stylish dress similar to Rarity’s.

“We’re here~” Rarity sing-sang taking a few steps forward, she then took a deep breath before sighing loudly. “Ahhh! Can’t you just smell the joy that’s floating in the air?” She said in a chirpy tone while her right hand was pressed against the Fire Ruby.

“And the food! Don’t forget the yummy food!” Pinkie Pie added bouncing her way next to the white unicorn. She then took several over exaggerated sniffs before she began to drool. “Crysssstal puddiiiing~.” She said in a hungry tone as her left hoof clopped repeatedly against the cobblestone platform.

“There’ll be time for food later, Pinks.” Rainbow Dash said walking up to the pink mare. “First we gotta get the Fire Ruby to the palace, then we can do whatever we want!”

“While the princesses were so nice to give us a few days off, Dashie, I don’t want to see you drinking a single drop of cider before the party tomorrow, do I make myself clear young lady?” Rainbow Blaze said putting a hand over her shoulder.

“I’m thirty five, you old geezer!” Rainbow replied with a blushing face while her friends giggled. Removing her dad’s hand from her shoulder, Rainbow spread her wings and leaped into the air with a few flaps. “C’mon, the sooner we get to the palace the sooner we can go to the festival before it ends!”

“Not so fast, darling. Dear Fluttershy is not here yet.” Rarity pointed out. “Besides, we have no hurry to deliver my necklace over.” She said stroking the ruby with the tip of her fingers.

“Rarity is right, Dash. I didn’t even have to attend to the meeting. Why don’t you settle down while we wait for--”

Twilight was interrupted by a coconut suddenly appearing a couple of meters in front of the large group. The coconut split in two, a second later the two halves burst into sprinkles revealing Discord with Fluttershy embracing his lion arm and her mother at his other side. Fluttershy was wearing a yellow summer dress while her mother, Gentle Breeze, wore a longer green one adorned with lilacs.

“My fair ladies, we have arrived,” Discord announced with a cheeky grin.

“Thank you, Discord,” Gentle Breeze said letting go of his griffon arm. “You’re always such a dear to us.”

“I have to take care of my wife and mom after all, don’t I?” Discord then leaned down to press his lips on Fluttershy’s; the shy yellow coated mare blushed while she returned the short, sweet kiss.

“We didn’t make you wait long, did we?” Fluttershy asked with concern.

“Not at all, dear. Now that’s we’re all here I think it’s best to move along?”

“Thought yah didn’t want to give your necklace away just yet, Rares.” Applejack said in a teasing tone.

“Tish tosh, darling. Losing it will be worth it to have our Spikey-Wikey back.”

“Great. Less chit chat more walking!” Rainbow half yelled pointing to the city.

Blaze could only shake his head and sigh at his daughter’s eagerness while her close friends followed her close. As they walked most of the group had engaged in a conversation or another. He also saw Discord and Fluttershy walking up to Twilight leaving Gentle Breeze on her own. Taking his chance he approached.

“You look lovely, Breeze.” He complimented once he was at her side.

Gentle Breeze blushed much like Fluttershy did but didn’t hide her face. “You look handsome yourself, Blaze. Did you cut your mane?”

“Huh?-Oh! Yeah, I did. Thank you for noticing.” He traced his short mane while he smiled to her. “I wasn’t so sure at first, to be honest. But Dashie says it fits me and helps me fly better sooo…”

Breeze giggled. “I think it looks good on you. Now that I think about it, this is the first I’ve seen you without your long mane, I believe.”

“Never cut down more than two or three inches since Flight School!” He chuckled. “Man, those were the days, don’t you agree?”

“For you maybe. I was never that good of a flyer, remember?”

“Of course you were a good flyer. Maaaaybe a bit shy and reserved, but in a cute way. Not saying you’re not cute now, because you totally are!” He swallowed hard. “I mean...what I want to say is...I think you’re cute, Breeze.” Gentle Breeze looked at him with a mild blush before she drifted her sight to the ground. “I’m...I’m sorry, Breeze.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be, Blaze. We’ve been friends since we were foals. I know you better than you think.” Gentle Breeze reached for his hand. Blaze looked at her dumbfounded for a moment before taking a firm hold of her soft, shaky, warm hand. “Discord told me about this quiet restaurant here in the Empire. Would you like to go with me tonight?”

“I would love to,” Blaze replied instantly looking deep into her magenta colored eyes.

“Finally. They’ve been dancing around each other for three years now!” Discord whispered to his wife.

“I’m happy they have a chance to be happy again.” Fluttershy said snuggling against her husband’s fur.

Fluttershy could hear the voice of her mother and the pegasus she came to love as a second father from her foalhood. Blaze and Breeze knew each other for years before they married and had their own foals. So naturally she and Rainbow Dash were bound to become great friends, and have a second family with each other. While she never had the chance to know Rainbow Dash’s mom, Emerald Star, she found Rainbow Blaze to be the perfect counterpart to her shy, but caring father.

A pang of pain struck her heart remembering how her father, Snowy Weather, and her little brother, Zephyr, die the day the Fall began. Her mother had been fortunate enough to be rescued by a griffon before Cloudsdale fell under caribou rule. Breeze had spent the following years tending to the wounded and children in one of the hidden changeling hives. She herself didn’t know her mother was still alive and well until after Spike’s symbolic funeral.

She couldn’t find the griffon that saved her mother, but she was eternally grateful that the caribou never laid a single finger on her. Breeze had accepted the death of her husband and son during her time in the hive, but she had closed her heart in fear. Especially after seeing what the caribou were doing.

Taking a quick glance back she saw her mother plant a firm kiss on Blaze’s left cheek making him adopt a red color. Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile at the display.

Sadly, most ponies weren’t blessed with Breeze’s fortune. For Blaze, on the other hand, was turned into a Corrupted. It wasn’t until the day of the Rise when he was finally free from their hold. Some stories say he managed to kill, single-handedly, an entire battalion of caribou that day; the scars on his back and torso providing convincing evidence to it being the case.

After a few minutes they reached the statue of Spike. The group stopped for a moment to gaze upon it while the group of Followers that had unboarded the train with them paid their respects.

“I think you can bring them in now.” Fluttershy said calmly. With a snap from Discord’s fingers a small portal appeared on his belly. From it flew out an owl carrying a tiny alligator, a young phoenix and a tortoise carrying a bunny.

The bunny instantly jumped to Fluttershy’s free arm before it began to snuggle it. The owl dropped the alligator on Pinkie’s mane before it flew over to Twilight. The tortoise flew over with Dash while the phoenix flew around Rarity chirping loudly.

“Did you miss me, Angelina?” The bunny tightened her embrace.

Looking at her friends, Fluttershy saw Gummy dangling from Pinkie’s mane. Tank was being cradled by Rainbow Dash. Owlowiscious rested comfortably on Twilight’s right shoulder while she scratched his neck. Peewee, now captured by Rarity’s arms, rub his head against the valley of her breasts.

The only one of the six friends that remained petless being Applejack, for she refused to have another one after Winona died trying to defend her.

“I missed you too!” Angelina, the youngest of Angel Bunny’s spawns, closed her eyes when Fluttershy kissed her head. “Did you and your friends have fun?” Angelina nodded. “That’s so good to hear! Tank didn’t caused too much trouble now, did he?”

While her friends were caught up with their pets, Applejack used her time to stare up to the statue of her dragon friend.

“Something the matter, Cuz?” Braeburn asked standing next to her.

“...Doing some thinking, that’s all.”

“About him?”

Applejack took off her hat. “About everything and nothing, really. Family, Spike, mah friends, me. Don’t worry yer pretty little head over me, Braeburn.” Satisfied with the answer, her cousin moved back to talk with Applebloom. After about a minute the group began to move again except for her.

“We’re all excited for you, sugarcube. Twilight and Rarity more so than the rest of us put together,” Applejack lost her smile and her expression adopted a frown. “Celestia says that everything will turn out fine and Ah trust her. But...if you come back tah us...Ah don’t want the Spike that defeated the caribou, or the Spike that went tah their homeland, or the Spike that made that promise. Ah want the real Spike back.” She finished putting her stetson back on.

“You comin’, Applejack?” Said mare turned when she heard the voice of Rainbow Dash calling to her, her friends and family way ahead of her now.

“Coming!” Applejack shouted back. “Cya later, sugarcube.”

Applejack caught up with the rest of the group soon enough. Their travel continued uneventful until they reached the Crystal Palace.

Twilight stopped on her tracks when she saw the mountain of offerings that had been left before the Crystal Heart. What made her smile, however, were the two fillies sitting directly in front of the Heart behind the Scaled Guards holding something large in front of them.

“Flurry! Skyla! We’re here!” Twilight shouted gaining their attention. Flurry Heart spread her abnormally large wings as she took both hands of Skyla while using her magic to hold a two meter tall Baby Spike plushie. “You really won it this year!” Twilight said while the two fillies landed in front of their aunt before proceeding to embrace her.

“The festival ended already?” Rainbow asked disheartened.

“Nope!” Both fillies replied in unison. “This year’s festival will last an entire week, auntie Dash!” Skyla said causing the corners of the cyan pegasus mouth to change into a massive grin.

“I spent my entire allowance already,” Flurry let go of Twilight to better hug her plushie. “But it was soooo worth it, mmmm~. So fluffy!” Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at Flurry’s pleased expression. “We were showing it to uncle Spike, auntie Twilight.”

“Forgive me princess, but don’t you mean the Crystal Heart?” Maximus Orange asked pointing at the slowly spinning Heart.

“Noooo. She said uncle Spike. Mom told us uncle Spike lives inside the Heart,” Skyla explained.

“Ohhh…”

“What did you get, Skyla?” Twilight asked suppressing a giggle.

“Nothing yet, auntie Twilight. I know how to save my bits--”

“Don’t care. Worth it.”

“--now I can play all I want! Bleh!” Skyla finished sticking out her tongue to her sister.

“There you are!” Flash Sentry yelled as she landed behind the filly princesses, her expression one of anger and annoyance. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to find you two?” She then did a quick, respectful bow. “Hello, your highness. Bearers of the Elements.” She said, the tone of her voice changing from scolding to neutral. “I cannot believe your recklessness! What if a Faithful or a spy caught you, huh!? I’m your guardian, but it’s hard to protect you when you run off all the time!” The tone of her voice shifted again as she practically yelled to the young princesses. “Prince Armor and Princess Cadenza are inside in the throne room sharing tea with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.” She told the group with friendly smile and that neutral tone.

“Th-thank you, Flash.” Said Twilight not sure how to feel at Flash’s quick shifts.

“Now you two--!” The sound of teleportation cut her off as Skyla and Flurry Heart vanished from sight. “I swear those fillies will be the end of me.” Flash grunted before taking to the sky again. She stopped and turned to the group one last time. “Please, enjoy your stay!” And with that she was off.

“I seriously don’t envy her job,” Rainbow Dash said crossing her arms. “Don’t get me wrong. I love Flurry and Skyla to bits but I would never babysit them...again.”

“Ditto.” Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight said at the same time while Discord sneered and Fluttershy giggled.

“You say that because you lack the proper delicacy and tact to handle them, darlings.” Rarity told them proud of herself.

“Whatever you say, miss perfect!” Pinkie said loudly with a bounce. “But enough talking. Now, to pudding my minions!” She shouted before running off to the Palace’s entrance.

“Oh hay no! You are NOT going to eat it all up again before I get a scoop!” Rainbow Dash shouted before darting behind the pink blur of cheer.

“Full of energy as always.”

“It’s like being part of the Scaled Units doesn’t change her whatsoever, Breeze. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Blaze said showing a bright smile.

The group began to move again. While almost everyone else was content, Twilight Velvet and Nightlight shared a longing expression. Leaning to her husband, Velvet kissed his cheek before whispering. “They’ve grown a lot since our last visit, haven’t they?”

“Really? I didn’t noticed the two extra inches or the longer horns,” Nightlight replied with the same volume of voice as his wife. “Kind of like Twilight when she finished her fifth school year, right?”

“You’re right, dear. Or how about when Shining came back after his first visit from drill camp? None of his old clothes fit him anymore.” Velvet smiled snuggling to her husband's arm. “Did we do the right thing, Nightlight?”

“Perhaps. No one knows the answer, my love. But when I see the smiles of our granddaughters I feel like it was. Skyla and Flurry Heart love each other and they are happy as twins. That’s all that matters.”

“I want to believe that too, dear.” Velvet replied, her voice so low Nightlight barely heard her.

“Shining!”

The voice of her daughter cut Velvet off and made the couple look up to see that, as Twilight had announced, Shining Armor with Cadance at his side, and Celestia and Luna behind them, had appeared in a flash of magic near the entrance of the palace. Shining pulled Twilight into a tight hug once she was close enough, soon Cadance joined the siblings while Owlowiscious hoovered above them.

The rest of the group moved to properly greet their princesses and the rulers of the Crystal Empire, except for the two of them and a mare that stood by their side.

“Boulder tells me you look like you need proper emotional guidance. Here,” Maud Pie reached behind her pulling a small satchel of sorts. Opening it she pulled out an oval shaped smooth rock, she then presented it to Velvet. “Boulder helped Pinkie with his wisdom, he shall serve you well.”

“T-thank you, Maud dear,” Velvet, being no stranger to the particular ways of the Pie family and having had the pleasure to...spend time with them on repeated occasions, accepted Maud’s pet rock. “And thank you for your kindness, Boulder.”

Maud nodded, her expression and voice never showing any kind of emotion. “I’ll pick him up tomorrow before the event. Take care of them, Boulder. I love you, too.”

Nightlight and Velvet looked at the small rock resting on Velvet’s right hand while Maud followed her family. The couple smiled, Velvet put Boulder inside her hand purse and went off to join their children.

<><><><><><><><>Crystal Empire- Outskirts Stadium-7:49 a.m.<><><><><><><><>

Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twilight and Chrysalis watched as numerous changelings, ponies, zebras and buffaloes carved magic circles and diagrams while griffons and yaks carried golden urns or bronze coffins, putting them in a specific section of the finished parts of the circles. Saddle arabians carried their own magical artifacts while a few pony sized dragons used their fire to light the already set objects. Creslin and fifteen of her Liberator sisters helped her to carved and draw several caribou runes on the outer border of the circles marking the limit size the ritual needed.

The previous night the head rulers broadcasted to everyone in the Empire what this event’s goal was. The Empire would’ve erupted into a massive party if not for their princess petition to save that energy until Spike was successfully brought back. That didn’t stop the Followers from standing guard over the festival, the stadium perimeter, and the palace alongside the guards.

“I see everything is almost ready, my friends.” Shifting Sands said gaining the attention of her five fellow monarchs. “And I notice the people is already gathering for the event.” She said taking a quick glance to the several rows of the stadium being quickly filled up.

“The moment is nearing. My nephew shall walk amongst us once more and rejoice!” Luna practically squealed.

“What about the others?” Chrysalis asked.

“See for yourself,” Shifting Sands answered turning to the royal section where most of the other rulers, and other important figures such as the Bearers, three of the four captains of the Scaled Units, Blue Moon and some figureheads of the F.M.A, were already waiting for the ritual to begin. Below them, another section was almost entirely occupied by the families and close friend of those sitting in the upper section.

Just then a loud distant roar made the group look up to the same direction noticing a big silhouette was coming their way. Once the object was visible enough, they noticed it was a massive dragon. With a few flaps of its great wings the dragon flew over the clouds followed by several other smaller dragons. A few moments later the group of dragons descended from the sky directly above the stadium. Most of them looking no bigger than a pegasus and the biggest one half a meter taller than Celestia herself.

The group landed a few meters in front of the gathered group of six monarchs. The biggest dragon walked up to Celestia, and looked down at her with a frown for several seconds before extending a hand. His scales were a greyish shade of blue, his impressive wings were of a vibrant orange that matched his eyes and his two large horns that ran down from either side of his face were of varying shades of orange. The color turning more intense as it traveled down to the tips; his left horn adorned with a golden ring. His fangs, numerous and deadly, were jagged and somewhat deformed. Despite his smaller ‘regular’ size, the dragon was huge and bulky with pure muscles that screamed raw power and strength. All the while wearing a set of thick iron armor.

“Celestia.” The dragon said with a loud, brutish masculine tone.

“Dragon Lord Torch,” Celestia accepted his hand smiling up to him. They shaked them for a few seconds before she continued. “I’m happy you agreed to come.”

“I didn’t. I’m Dragon Lord no more. I present to you Ember, the new Dragon Lord; my daughter.” Taking a side step he allowed his daughter to come forth holding the Bloodstone Scepter.

“Hello, Princess Celestia.” Ember said taking her hand and shaking it. The dragoness, slightly smaller than Celestia, was wearing a golden armor that covered most of her slim, athletic shaped body and tail. Still, her indigo wings were free, her scales were of brilliant cyan that created a contrast with her phthalo blue large spikes. Her eyes were soft looking with a brilliant red coloring. Like her father, she had a set of shorter but still impressive white horns running at each side of her face.

“Nice to meet you, Dragon Lord Ember.” Celestia smiled at Ember and the dragoness returned the smile...sorta. “Since you’re the new Dragon Lord, can you tell us why you accepted our invitation?”

“Because, whether most dragons like it or not, we owe Spike a great debt.” Torch huffed in protest. “He stopped the madness of Dainn. We… I believe we should’ve come to help you and despite Father’s orders to remain neutral many dragons still came to your aid. I didn’t understand it. ‘How could they do such a thing?’ I asked myself. ‘Why are they helping the ponies?’ Some were mercenaries but many others did it because of friendship.” Ember looked at the ongoing preparations for the ritual noticing the dragon that were helping to complete it. “Dragons don’t do friendship. Or so I thought.”

Ember turned to face Celestia. “I saw the trial. I heard your son’s story. And I felt shame for not doing anything. If there is anything you need of me, I promise I will do everything in my power to help you. I...I want to know what friendship is.”

Celestia closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. “There’s no need for that, Lord Ember. We will be happy to call you our friend. My son...thought poorly of other dragons. Our old friends came to our aid and some of them followed Spike to Hraljord. Since then they have been accepted here, in Equestria. Spike will be happy to hear the Dragon Lord herself wants to embrace the thing he treasures the most: friendship.” Celestia said reopening her eyes. She gave Ember a motherly smile before saying. “We can discuss this further once my son is back with us.”

“Thank you, Princess Celestia. Is there a way I can lend a helping claw?”

“Not at this moment, Lord Ember.” Celestia’s horn ignited with a short glow of magic. Scant moments later a thestral mare and a griffoness wearing Scaled armor arrived next to Celestia. “Lord Ember, they shall guide you to your seats along with your companions.” The guards bowed before showing the group of dragons the way, with only Torch staying behind.

“For what it’s worth,” Torch said. “I’m relieved to see you and Luna unharmed. Unlike those other idiots, I never thought of pillaging Equestria after I saw the trial. Your son, the one I thought to be a pathetic excuse of a dragon, was the one who won in the end. A dragon saved your kingdom; you better remember it, Celestia. For I do.” Torch finished, then he flew following the rest of his dragons.

“Apology accepted.” Chrysalis said causing Torch to stop for a moment before continuing his way. Her eyes never tearing for the forming ritual circle. The other five mares sharing a silent nod with her.

Up in the royal private section, Soarin, captain of the Wingless Unit of the Spike Scaled Units, looked down at Mrs.and Mr. Sparkle whispering to a small rock, of all things, before giving to one of Pinkie’s sisters. Maud Pie if he remembered correctly. Letting out a frustrated sigh he uncrossed his arms to reach for a bottle on his left pouch filled with an azure blue liquid. Taking the corch off, Soarin gulped down the contents of the bottle in a single go.

“I thought you stopped drinking Zecora’s potions,” Big Macintosh, captain of the Crest Unit, said without looking at his friend.

“I have. This is blueberry juice. A placebo. It has the same taste, so it helps me to keep myself calm.” Soarin explained putting the bottle back into his pouch. “Yog, have you seen Blueblood yet?”

Yog, captain of the Claw Unit, shook his head twice. “Not yet. Should be here by now.”

“The proud captain of the Heart Unit, fillies and gentlecolts, never arrives on time.” Soarin groaned taking a quick look at the empty seat to his right. “Guess he can be forgiven this once though.”

“Hey, Soarin, check that out.” Yog whispered pointing to the newly arrived guests approaching to the private section.

“What about them? I saw when they arrived. Two hundred guards are watching them in case they try something stupid.”

“Looks like that blue one is the ruler of the dragons, with that scepter and that armor.” Macintosh pointed out.

“Don’t know. Don’t care.” Soarin replied glaring at the dragons as they reached their section and the two guards pointed the seats for Ember and Torch, while the other dragons were guided to a nearby civilian section. Two pegasus, one gray and the other white clad in Scaled Guard armor flew down to him. “Something wrong, Rumble, Featherweight?”

“No sir, captain Blueblood asked us to tell you to personally keep an eye on the Dragon Lord.”

“Tell him I already got that covered.”

“Sir!” Both pegasi saluted before flying off.

For several minutes they waited in silence while the stadium was filled to the brim, including the cloud stalls. Finally, the last ponies finished carving the diagrams followed by the last objects being set on dragon fire.

“It’s about to begin.” Yog said seeing Discord appearing near the princesses and Chrysalis. Cadance teleported away while Luna’s horn was covered in a magic aura. Twilight’s own horn ignited and a moment later her five closest friends were at her side in a flash of light.

“CITIZENS OF THE EQUIS ALLIANCE, IT IS TIME!” Luna shouted and aided with her magic her booming voice reached everyone filling the stadium. No one cheered, they all remained silent to hear their princess. “Twelve years ago, on this day, Spike Solaris died succumbing to the Crystal Heart. He lived on in our hearts and inside the very same Crystal Heart! He, like many others the day Dainn and his depraved ilk came to our lands, fell under their dark taint. Changing him and deforming him into one of their own.”

“But he was able to set himself free and thus began his crusade against the caribou and their king! With the help of other equally brave souls, they managed to bring them down after years of subjugation. Before We continue, We asks to everyone to share a moment of silence for those that lost everything during the caribou regime, for those that gave their lives, to those untold heroes that fought bravely, for those we couldn’t save, and for Spike.”

After a couple of minutes Luna spoke again.

“Spike Solaris, my dear nephew, deserves to walk among us to see everything we have achieved together. To see that his and the sacrifice of countless others is the greatest treasure they gave us. Long have we searched for a way to make that wish into a reality. No one can bring the dead back to life, for their souls are beyond our reach. But not Spike, the Crystal Heart, in its wisdom and power, saved a fraction of his soul inside it. With it, we can give Spike a new body for his soul to inhabit and bring him back from the planes of the divine creators!”

Finishing her speech, the entire stadium erupted in cheers and cries; changelings shouting ‘Lightbringer’, ponies and most other species crying out the same title or his name, and the dragons that didn’t come with the Dragon Lord roaring to the heavens.

Wit a snap of Discord’s fingers a wooden stall along with twelve figures wrapped in chains appeared a few meters away from them. They were the old, traitorous rulers of Zebrica, Cervidas, The Diamond Dog Empire, The Minotaur Republic, The Ursa Empire and the exiled Sultan High Dune of Saddle Arabia, all of them wearing nothing but rags. Most of them looked around before they started to cry, some others glared at Celestia.

Celestia’s horn ignited sending a ray of light to the sky. Moments later eight Royal Guards came through the entrance carrying a large, black coffin carved with caribou runes. Once they were a few steps from Celestia and the group they put the coffin down. Creslin approached and with the help of her fellow sisters they opened the coffin. Inside they saw a silver carved life sized Spike, except for the tail and arm that had been preserved almost to perfection. Celestia took the tail and arm, then she turned and walked up to the center of the diagram where four circles were still unoccupied around the old, chopped off horns of the alicorn princesses.

She hugged the severed pieces of her son before putting each on a circle.

Behind her came the Element Bearers, Rarity unhooked her necklace; holding it tenderly between her hands. The white unicorn then brought it up before giving it a long, chaste kiss. Shedding a tear, she handed it to each of her friends all of them kissing it or hugging it tight for a couple of seconds. At the end Twilight gave it a soft, quick kiss before putting it in one of the two remaining circles.

Finally, Blueblood came holding the box he had so jealously guarded for the past two weeks. The princesses and the Bearers stepped aside allowing Blueblood to put the box down. With a flicker of his magic the box opened revealing the remnant shards of Spike’s egg inside a crystal urn. Taking them out, he carefully placed them in the remaining circle.

Cadance reappeared holding in her hands the Crystal Heart. The entire stadium fell in silence as the Heart began to levitate off from Cadance’s hands travelling a few meters in front of her. Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Discord walked up next to her; the four alicorns joined the tips of their horns as magic enveloped them. An intense magical glow emerged from their horns before Discord touched the center where the horns joined with his index griffon claw. After a moment of concentration a beam was shot from the glow and into the Crystal Heart.

The Crystal Heart began to spin so fast it practically turned into a perfect sphere glowing an intense blue light. For what felt like an eternity the Heart spun and spun until the glow changed from blue to green and purple, then it suddenly came to a halt. A thin purple beam of energy was shot into the four chopped horns of the alicorn princesses.

Then it all stopped. The Heart stopped spinning and wordlessly floated back to Cadance’s hands. Hundreds of eyes looking in high expectation, time seemed to slow down all around them.

The four horns glowed with an intense green glow for several seconds before they shattered into dust. From the dust a small white sphere emerged. The fire ruby was suddenly caught by a thin white rope of magic before it was swallowed by the sphere.

The fragments of the egg shell he was hatched from, along with his buried original arm and tail, burst into blue flames. They levitated until the white sphere swallowed them, too, morphing into a blue fireball. Suddenly all the ingredients so carefully gathered and collected were sucked into the fire leaving only three circles filled with runes around the fire. The flames turned white and then into a sphere of light in a few passing seconds.

The white orb levitated about three meters above ground, and slowly it began to change from it’s virtually perfect circular form into a more oval-like one. To the eyes of a few, they instantly recognized it had taken the form and size of the egg Spike had been hatched from.

It stood still for what felt like an eternity before the surface cracked and then exploded into a shower of light leaving behind a tiny curled white form. The creature unfolded two legs, two arms and tiny tail while a small crest emerged all the way down to the tip of its tail. Impossibly, with sluggish pace the creature began to grow in size; the crest became more pronounced but retained a blunt, circular surface; the tail grew in par with the rest of the limbs while the head grew in accordance.

It stopped for a couple of seconds letting those that knew him by heart recognize Spike’s child-like form; the same form that portrayed the statue at the entrance of the Crystal Empire gardens. The light form of Spike continue to change with his legs, arms and tail growing the most while his body lengthen out and turned slender until it reached an outstanding stature of almost two meters including his crest.

Without warning Spike’s light form froze for a few second, it becoming fuzzy with gray, purple and black horizontal lines appearing across his entire body simulating a state of interference on a projector screen. It lasted for several seconds before it returned to normal and Spike’s figure continued to grow. It became taller, this time almost reaching two meters with twenty centimeters in height, but the real change came in the rest of his form. His arms, legs and tail became more robust, his shoulders widened and his torso turned sturdier until he adopted a muscle-bound kind of figure. The same form he had adopted during his first year as a Enslaved.

The form remained for a few moments before it began to shrink and revert to it’s previous form but still retaining the stature and a decent amount of musculature that pointed out to a strong, robust physique.

Then, again, the same kind of interference from before made itself present, only this time it became more graphical. One could see Spike’s open maw while his hand clutched his head and a low high pitch tone assaulted everyone’s ears. It didn’t hurt but it did irked all those that heard it, it was like hearing a distant howl of pain, despair, and agony tugging their hearts and souls.

Spike’s figure returned to normal but it never grew or changed form for almost an entire minute.

“Something’s not right…” Shining Armor whispered before teleporting next to Cadance. Gripping tightly his wife’s hand, he stood still watching the transformation occur.

The figure then turned to gray before it dropped to the ground as if it was some kind of gooey water. For several moments everyone watched at the pool of slime in complete silence. Before someone could ask or say anything the gray goo turned into purple. The goo began to levitate once more about two meters or so above ground, then it set itself on green fire.

The purple slime began to take form once again with legs, arms and tail being the first to be distinguished. Then the head, torso, crest and claws followed. Once it had a somewhat similar appearance to Spike the purple slime began to drip to the floor in a rapid pace. As more and more slime fell to the ground, bones, muscles, nerves and meat were shown growing at a hastened pace.

After what felt like an eternity the slime was gone and only a levitating, two meters tall dragon with purple scales, green underbelly and greener spikes remained. While many couldn’t see due to the tears running down their eyes or were too wrapped up in the stadium wide celebration, three particular figures never stopped looking at the still changing dragon.

The purple scales of the dragon turned darker, as did his underbelly scales and crest. His spikes turned from round and blunt, to pointed and sharp while they grew a little. The claws of his hands and feet enlarged turning into a more sharper and deadlier version. The dragon had it’s maw open so they could see the fangs turning into pale, meat shredding spear points forcing him to leave it perpetually open making his expression turn predatory. The tail turned thinner while the tip became sharp like a spear and flexible as a whip.

Chrysalis and Big Macintosh had their eyes wide open as they recognized the form Spike had shown only to them in a moment of weakness and rage. Still, the third one looking at Spike dropped to her knees; her eyes wide as tears ran down her cheeks, but not because of happiness.

“No….” Creslin whispered not able to rise the volume of her voice.

From each side of Spike’s forehead a horn emerged on a ten or so degree upward inclination. The horn itself was long, gray and thin with the tip having a vibrant red color. The horns, about twenty to twenty five centimeters in length, given their upward inclination from their frontal position covered little to nothing of Spike’s shining white, pupiless, lidless eyes. His torso became bigger and bulky, his arms and legs stretched out twice their size with pure muscle.

“No…” Creslin repeated shaking in fear.

Spike landed causing a wave of dread to spread out all over the stadium. In that instant the cheering halted as a exceedingly eerie, dark, and familiar feeling crawled up their spines. With all eyes set again on Spike, they witnessed how his newfound horns and arms were starting to being enveloped by a dark purple mist. His left eye began to emit a shadowy purple and green mist, while his right eye did the same with a red and white one. His maw was also being filled with purple fire.

Spike, standing on his legs, taking in deep, rasp, echoing breaths. After a few seconds his arms moved up while he took a moment to look at his hands and claws.

“CREATE A BARRIER AROUND HIM!” Big Macintosh yelled with all his might leaping off from his seat and onto the stadium floor, leaving a stunned Yog and a frozen Soarin behind. “BRING IT UP NOW!”

“‘And he came, crawling out from the depths of the land of demons and evil. His touch spreading the Dark Taint; The Sickness. He came with hate and lies. He came to conquer us all after his betrayal. He left without a name but came baring one self proclaimed’.” Creslin said making the gathered group look down at her crying, trembling form. “‘Thus he was known only as the slave maker, the bringer of shadows and corruption. His name: The Horned King’.”

Just then Spike let out a loud growl making the group look at him. They all stepped back gazing at his unintelligent, empty eyes that promised nothing but a painful death.

Time stopped for everyone as Spike looked at them, until his expression turned into a hateful glare followed up by a mighty, ear busting roar filled with hate, despair, and agony. All the while looking at them.

The roar lasted scant seconds before it was followed up by another, more powerful roar. This time, however, a torrent of purple flames came out of his mouth directed straight for the group.

Thinking quickly, Chrysalis conjured all the magic she could on her horn creating a defensive barrier around them. The flames clashed against her barrier washing around and over it ensuring the safety of those inside it. Behind them, the stall where the captured rulers were was caught by the fire.

The fire soon died down and Chrysalis put down her barrier seeing another had appeared around Spike, sustained by several unicorns. Even with the barrier up another roar from Spike was heard as if it wasn’t even there. She noticed the newly revived Spike was still looking straight at them. He then suddenly swiped his left claw and the barrier around him shattered, knocking back the unicorns. Charging her horn once again, she shot a beam of energy that was soon joined by two more, belonging to Blueblood and Shining Armor, combining mid-way into a dark orange tone beam hitting Spike directly in the chest sending him to the ground.

Not wasting time, Discord teleported next to Spike creating a barrier big enough to contain him but small enough to not allow him to move. Unexpectedly, Spike’s right arm came through his barrier and grabbed his goat leg; much to his surprise. The fire around Spike’s arm instantly began to encapture his leg. With a fierce pull that tore the claws off of Spike, Discord teleported back to the group and fell on his knees.

Fluttershy approached to help him, seeing his shaking body and the blood dripping from his fists, but he created a barrier around himself. Looking up to her, Fluttershy was able to see that fearful, struggling look inside her husband’s eyes.

“Don’t let the...RRRWwwwFUCK...fire touch you!” Discord shouted before he melted into the earth.

Looking up to Spike they all saw how he was back on his feet, his claws regrown and looking like nothing happened. He was about to attack again when something caught his attention. Raising his head he began to sniff the air smelling something. Letting out a hungry, ear piercing roar Spike jumped sky high away from the stadium.

Celestia’s world was silent, everything around her moved but didn’t have any sound. She looked back to the stall of the captured leaders and saw that the fire wasn’t really fire. It was more like smoke. The males were struggling to unchain themselves while the females seemed to calm and submissive. The males were also...deformed, for lack of a better term. Some of their body parts were bulky and muscular while the others looked lanky in comparison, even though those were their normal sizes and structures. It took her a moment to realize what was happening to them.

Celestia fainted.

End of part 1.

Chapter 2: ...you must be careful...

Celestia entered her bedroom and saw her son sitting at the edge of the bed, his arms resting on his thighs while he looked at the ground.

“You want to see me, mom?” Spike asked without looking at her.

“Yes, I do.” Celestia closed the door and walked up to her bed. She then sat at his side. “I have something to tell you before I make the official announcement.” She took a hold of his right hand with both of her hands. “I’m going to make public your royal status, my son. You’ll be--”

“I don’t want it.” Spike cut her off with an emotionless tone. “What’s the point if I have little over two weeks to live?”

“And I don’t care what you think about it. You’re my son. A Solaris. You may not have my blood, you may not be a pony, but you’re still my son. And as my son, you will be recognized as a prince, whether you like it or not.” She replied squeezing his hand. “No one will oppose. Luna, Cadance, Shining Armor and Twilight have already agreed, the noble houses have agreed and our citizens love you. You’re our hero, Spike.”

“I’m not a fucking hero.” Spike said with the same tone while he glared at Celestia for a couple of seconds. “This thing around my neck proves it.” Silence fell between them for several moments. Still, Celestia never released her hold. “Do you remember I wanted to be a hero when I was a...huh, should I say foal? Child? Baby dragon? Hatchling?...Younger. That works. When I was younger?”

“Clearly, yes. You used to play around with a wooden sword and a table cloth cape pretending you were a knight.” Celestia smiled fondly. “Those were the days I felt the safest, with you standing guard at my side.”

“Don’t forget when Twilight, Shining, and I played together. Why was I always the princess in distress, now that I think about it?” Celestia giggled making him chuckle. “Anyways, I kinda got my wish granted in the Crystal Empire. And the only thing I did was deliver the Heart.”

Another long moment of silence fell between them until Spike let out a mirthless chortle.

“Everywhere I go, everyone thanks me. Some of them even fall to their knees or kiss the ground I walk on. It’s...it’s sickening. I want to vomit when they praise my name. I want to punch them in the face when I see them crying while they thank me. I want to roar at them when they reach out trying to touch me. The worst part is that practically no one hates me after I confessed what I did to them during the trial.” Spike closed his eyes. “I don’t deserve their thanks. I’m not a hero.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Mom, the caribou had no salvation. They weren’t puppets like we were, but they weren’t completely free either. Forced to follow their own...set of mind.”

“I know, sweetheart. Creslin already told us her people’s tragic history.”

“But I didn’t care for it. The moment I learned they truly had no salvation I blew caution out of the window. I enjoyed butchering them, mom. I rejoiced hearing their pleas of mercy and their screams of agony. I laughed at their pain. I lead genocide against them, and I smiled the whole way through it.” Spike smiled showing his drooling fangs and white, shining eyes to Celestia. “And I still yearn for more.”

Celestia looked at her son’s expression slowly return to his usual calm expression. Leaning to him, she rested her head against his shoulder. “Spike, throughout my life I’ve learned that a hero, no matter how righteous or how noble, is always the greatest monster to another. My little ponies, the changelings, the saddle arabians, and even then griffons see you as a great hero. You may not like it, you may think you don’t deserve it, but to them you are their hero.”

“...Mom...I beg you, don’t allow the historians to write me down as some kind of martyr or a saint. I want everyone to know me for the monster I became. So that no one else ever falls as low as I have, please.” Seeing his mother didn’t move or talk back he continued. “Because, if the caribou had some sort of salvation...I would’ve done even worse to them.”

Silence fell between them for the longest time until Celestia broke it.

“Did you know you’re the only male I can touch without trembling?” Celestia asked.

“And you’re the only female I can touch without wanting to vomit my entrails out.” Spike rested his head against her head. “Remember I was a female handler?” Celestia nodded. “Want to know why I vomit almost every time a female touches me?” After a moment of hesitation Celestia nodded. “Because I get an erection every damn time I catch the scent of a female. And I have a fantastic sense of smell.” Spike grunted. “Yay for my ninja dick.”

“You’re not to be blamed for, Spike.”

“I don’t care if I’m not. I had to train myself to keep it from popping out randomly after that visit.”

“And despite that, and everything in between, you managed to achieve your goal. We’re free because of you, my sweet darling baby. If anything, I should be the one apologizing for not treating you like you deserve before.”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything, mom. You gave me all the love and time you could, I don’t care if I’m not a prince by title. I’m grateful to the mare that took me as a hatchling that didn’t owe her anything and gave me a place I could call home. The same mare that tried her best to raise me as her own despite having to watch over an entire kingdom and allowed me to call her my mother. I...I love you, mom.”

Celestia couldn’t hold her tears back any longer. “I love you too, my son.”

“CELESTIA!”

Celestia’s eyes snapped open hearing her sister shout her name. Slowly, she rose to her hooves with the aid of Luna and Blueblood. Her ears were assaulted by screams all around her.

“Celestia, you blacked out for several minutes. How do you feel? ” Luna asked in great concern but with tentative caution.

The Sun Princess felt her head throb in pain before her eyesight returned to her in full. The scenes before her erased the pain she felt as she turned numb.

In front of her she saw Twilight going through several scrolls over and over with a maniacal look on her face. Rarity on her knees, a river of tears falling from her eyes, as Applejack held her close trying to help the hyperventilating mare. Pinkie Pie standing still with her tail and mane flat as her family tried to make her react. Rainbow Dash was punching the ground as she shouted in anger.

Shifting her gaze to the right she saw Fluttershy holding Discord in a tight hug as he coughed violently. Next to them she saw Nightlight Sparkle trying to make his wife react. Celestia could see the empty, vague eyes of Twilight Velvet stained with tears while she repeated ‘How may this worthless bitch serve you, master?’ over and over. She saw Rainbow’s father holding hands with Fluttershy’s mother as the two were looking unsure of what to do. Behind them she saw Shifting Sands crying as she tried to make Creslin snap out her trance.

Her gaze shifted again, this time to the far left to see Shining Armor and Cadance giving orders to a few Scaled Guards. Big Macintosh was nowhere to be seen nor was Chrysalis. She then began to look around the grounds in the stadium and saw there was a shield surrounding the entire building. Looking closely, she saw Scaled Guards, Followers, and F.M.A members doing their best to keep the order. Turning around she saw the stall where the captured leaders were, finding them separated in two different barriers: one of males and one of females.

“SISTER!”

Celestia snapped out of her own trance as her sister’s voice reached her. Shaking her head a couple of times was enough to let her focus once more. She saw the chaos everything around her had fallen into. She could feel the fear that made the very air she breathed turn sour and toxic. The same feeling of unspeakable dread she felt inside her own heart.

A feeling that was quickly being replaced by another one.

Celestia step forward forcing Luna and Blueblood to free her. She spread her wings and flew high above for everyone in the stadium to see her. Her mane and tail turned into swirling fire and her eyes began to glow with a reddish yellow glow. A radiant, warm light emerged from her body forcing many to look her way.

“ENOUGH!” She shouted in a booming, commanding voice that made the entire stadium tremble and everyone to cover their ears. “Do not let fear consume you, citizens of the Alliance! I beg of you, listen to the guards, retake your seats, and remain calm. Help those in need if you can, otherwise stand back. I promise you that everything will be fine!” She remained in the air showcasing her power, showering everyone present with her warm, soothing light. After several long seconds of waiting she saw the panic in the grades decrease quickly. With sigh of relief, she began to descend; pleased to see most had listened to her and were obeying.

Upon touching the ground she walked up to Twilight Velvet, now partially recovered but still crying, called for her ‘master’ while also trying to fight back. In that moment Chrysalis landed next to her alongside ten or so of her changelings. She screeched and then two changelings wearing white chitin armor moved up to Velvet’s side with glowing horns.

“Trigger Relapse, your majesties. A strong one.” One of the changelings explained moments later while Velvet squirmed in her husband’s embrace. He then turned to face his partner, a moment later Velvet stopped, her eyes flashing with a green glow before fainting.

“Thank you,” Nightlight said with tears staining his face hugging his wife tight.

“Tend to the Element Bearers.” Chrysalis ordered making the changelings hiss in response. She then turned to face Celestia with a stoic expression. “The mind-menders are treating the affected ones in the grades.”

Despite her expression, Celestia saw the fear reflecting inside her green eyes. “Come with me.” Celestia said in a way alien to her. Luna, Chrysalis, and Blueblood could practically taste the hate in her voice. They followed her until they reached a Twilight stomping on her notes. Twilight noticed them until Celestia put a hand on her shoulder.

“Celestia…” Twilight said with a strained voice; tears flowing down her eyes.

“What happened?” Celestia’s voice was full on authority and power making the younger alicorn fall to her knees. “Twilight Sparkle. What. Happened.”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Twilight shouted hugging herself. “I spent years researching. I made several experiments and tests. This was supposed to work! It had to work!”

“It did work.” All the presents that could hear turned to Discord limping to them aided by his wife. He coughed violently sending a rubber chicken to the ground. “That’s Spike alright.” Discord coughed again, this time a basket of fruit came out of his mouth.

“How could that thing be my beloved Spike!?” Rarity shouted, supported by Applejack who had managed to calm the white mare. Her face was red with anger and ruined by tears while she clutched the mark on her neck. “That monstrosity is not my Spike-Wikey!”

Discord snapped his fingers before pushing his wife away, gently of course, and vomited a small purple glob. The nasty thing quickly turned to mist and then it vanished. Coughing again, Discord accepted his wife’s support looking at the remains of the circle they had carved.

“It is. When he grabbed my leg I could feel Spike inside. But I could also feel that wretched caribou curse.” He went silent for a moment before turning his attention to the captured leaders. “Just not as strong or prominent. Take a look at them,” he said pointing behind them.

The group around him looked at their captives for several moments in silence until Twilight got up cleaning the tears away. “Y-you’re right. The females are completely passive; unmoving. And the males look so deformed…”

“Like they’re not complete.” Chrysalis added sneering.

“Then we still stand a chance!” Creslin, supported by Shifting Sands, shouted surprising everyone and making them look at her. “We must hunt down the beast before it grows in power!”

“I’m with Creslin, we must destroy the monster we created. But we can’t allow ourselves to go in blind, lest we risk the Fall all over again.” Shining Armor countered joining the group. Creslin looked at him for several tense moment until she nodded. “Let’s review what we know first. I sensed something was wrong when those gray lines first appeared. Twily, any ideas on what went wrong?”

“She’s not to blame, everything worked as planned.” Discord said while the remaining leaders of the Equis Alliance, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and the captains of the Scaled Units joined them.

“Then it was sabotaged. There is no other explanation.” Zhaka declared angrily eyeing Creslin.

“You better look elsewhere with that glare, Zhaka. You’re still not familiar enough to the Alliance while Creslin is a valued member of our council, an old friend, and the most fervent hater of the caribou and their ways.” Blood Talons warned. “My soldiers checked everything one hundred times before the preparations began.”

“So did my changelings.”

“And my sisters.”

“The Scaled Units never stopped guarding the materials needed. No sabotage was done under our watch.” Blueblood said.

“Then what the fuck went wrong?” Pinkie asked in a hateful tone, half her face hidden behind her flat mane leaving only her right, unblinking eye visible. At her side was her big sister, Maud, holding her hand while the rest of the family stood nearby.

“We don’t know, Pinkie.” Fluttershy answered. “Discord, are you sure that was really Spike?”

“One hundred percent sure, Shy.” Discord frowned when he saw Fluttershy grab her chin with her free hand. “You think I would lie about something like that?”

“Of course not, honey. I’m just not sure that was Spike, at least, not completely.” She said striking everyone with doubt. “Did you see his eyes?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Rainbow Dash interjected crossing her arms, uncaring to show her blood stained fists. “They were white like when he had the Crystal Heart.”

“No, Dash. They looked like...like…-”

“Like when he defeated Dainn.” Chrysalis said cutting Applejack off. “Before he morphed, his form was like when he discovered he couldn’t purge the curse from the caribou and those that succumbed to it.”

“Ah saw that form, too. We were alone and he showed me the beast under his scales.” Big Mac added. “That deformed aspect he had was like the one he got when the Fall started.”

“He’s even more monstrous than that, Big Mac. He looks so...unnatural. Broken. Misshapen.” Rarity managed to word out while Applejack held her steady.

“Chrysalis, Big Mac, do you remember the look in his eyes?” Fluttershy asked. Both nodded.

“It was like when he beat Dainn to a pulp.” Chrysalis answered, Twilight and the other four Bearers also affirmed.

“He had that same look before going inside the Fun Room.” Big Mac said.

“Hate.” All eyes turned to Shining Armor. “Those eyes were filled with untold hate. I remember them clearly.” Cadance clinged to him closer. “Those eyes haunted me for days, weeks. Not because I feared them, no. I envied them.” Shining closed his eyes while a memory came to him.

“We have come a long way, my fellow brothers and sisters. We have purged Hraljord from the caribou stain, now only their last bastion remains. A stinking monument to their sins and depravity called Maletopia!”

Spike shouted to the army while Shining Armor, Yog, Blueblood, Big Macintosh, and Creslin stood at his side. The cheer and roars of all those in front of him was deafening, yet Spike’s voice always managed to stand out among all others.

Shining smirked seeing the great main force of the army of volunteers seeking either justice or vengeance. He could see ponies from all races, griffons, saddle arabians, changelings, zebras, minotaurs, donkeys, mules, cows, bulls, and diamond dogs. He could also spot out a few cervidae, ursas, camels, yaks, buffaloes, and others from other minor species. He also saw several monsters rangig from cockatices to hydras, all of them tamed during the Fall standing in line behind the numerous catapults hungry from caribou meat. And, how could he miss, the towering three dozen dragons; most of them three times the size of a ursa minor roaring in defiance.

Glancing to his left he saw Spike’s blue shining eyes as he began to levitate.

“The end is near, and with it our victory and the promise of peace, but not yet!” Spike shouted while his entire body began to glow, a swirl of ice shards was created above him. “There’s still much more to avenge, my brothers and sisters! I ask you, will you come with me today and break their necks? Will you help bring down their dark regime once and for all?”

Shining smiled as his heart began to beat faster hearing the thunderous approval of the army. Spike was about to say something else when he turned around and spit a ball of fire. He too turned around alongside Creslin to find the ball impact the ground. A second later a unicorn mare drop her invisibility field revealing two caribou stags behind her looking quite nervous.

“We’re allies, sir!” The mare shouted opening her arms trying to protect the two stags. “I stumbled upon these two trying to hide in a bush while I was scouting. Instead of taking me prisoner they asked me to take them to ‘The Reaper’ claiming they are Liberators. They say they have crucial information to give us!”

Shining watched Spike descending towards the stags in silence. Once he was in front of the trio, Spike let out a hollowed chuckle that sent chills up his spine. Without saying a word Spike lunged forward grabbing their heads with mist enveloping his hands. A moment later, he let them go making the stags stumble back.

“Creslin, I think you’ll like to meet two new Liberators!” Spike called before offering the stags a friendly hand. The stags took it with hesitation. “Sorry for that, I didn’t feel the taint in you, but I had to be sure.” He apologised while the unicorn mare stepped to the side.

“Are you Spike, the one they call ‘The Reaper’?” The smaller stag on the left asked once they were standing again. They were both bulky like any other caribou yet didn’t had any armor or weapons on them aside their pants.

“That I am.”

“It’s an honour to meet the one that killed the Mad King.” The bigger stag said with sincerity.

“Believe me, the pleasure was all mine.” Spike let out a dark chuckle. Creslin arrived at his side before hugging the two stags.

“Welcome, brothers.” Creslin ended the hug. “How did you escape? Are there more of us in Maletopia?”

The stags expressions turned sad as they looked back at the grand-scale illusion shielding Maletopia. “Getting out wasn’t the hard part, brother.” The smaller stag said. “There was another but....”

“But he sacrificed himself to allow us the chance to escape with this.” The bigger stag pulled a scroll from his right pant bag. “Once the news of Dainn’s death and your arrival reached us, we three began to plan how we could help you.”

“We couldn’t leave Maletopia before now.” The smaller stag lamented.

“This scroll contains how to deactivate the illusion shield. But that’s not all, the city is heavily guarded and the walls have been reinforced with our protective runes.”

“They’re also using the females as shields, hanging them from the walls as extra defence.” He eyed the catapults. “Unless you want to kill them, you can’t use those things.” The smaller stag pointed out.

Spike took the scroll and began to examine it. “Typical fucking cowardice.” He hissed. “I’m guessing there are several ‘Cunt-Shields’ set to protect the high ranking officers, right?” The stags nodded. “My friends, I thank you for your help. But if you wish to remain with us you will have to be switched.”

“We understand.” The bigger stag said closing his eyes. “Rudheilm here doesn’t have a family anymore, but I have two sisters and one daughter. My sisters are red collars and my daughter is black. Can you promise me to let them live?”

“Of course.” Spike then burned the scroll. “Go with Creslin, she’ll take care of you and assure your family is untouched, but before that.” Spike slashed their naked chests, instead of blood a dim blue light emerged from the scars. “That way everyone will know you’re our allies.”

“Come you two, follow me.” Creslin ordered leaving with the two stags behind her.

“Macintosh, Yog, go to your troops and tell them to wait for my signal to invade. Yog, I want you to recall our scouts and find Soarin, tell him the new orders.”

“What will be the signal?” Blueblood asked.

“When the illusion shield drops; that’s the signal. Don’t use the catapults. You and your units are in charge to rescue as many of their cows and doe as possible.” Spike licked his lips. “Take as many prisoners as you want.” He then turned to the unicorn mare. “You may return to your squad.” The mare saluted before leaving.

Blueblood, Yog, and Macintosh also left leaving Spike and Shining Armor alone facing the illusion shield. After several moments of relative silence between them, Shining spoke up.

“What are you planning? You kinda cut your speech short.” Shining turned his head to see Spike. Upon seeing his face, he froze.

Spike was smiling showcasing his fangs. His eyes were wide open and breathing through his nostrils in a slow yet loud pace, an occasional stream of blue fire erupting out of them. Spike seemed to see or sense him looking at him for he turned to face him. Shining gawked seeing so directly the eyes of the dragon he had always seen as a little brother.

It wasn’t the first time he saw them, but it was the first Spike had allowed him to see them completely and utterly. He saw the pain, the anger, the guilt, the sadness, the remorse. Those he already saw before. Yet the more he looked the more he found. Shining swallowed, feeling small and insignificant against his soul piercing gaze. He saw longing. Desire. A promise of death, a burning want to cause pain, the cold indifference to others pain; only matched by the indifference to his own.

Spike’s eyes reflected everything he wanted to unleash on the caribou, and what he knew lurked in the depths of his own heart.

But Shining could also see something more, something he couldn’t quite comprehend. Like the heart of a maze or the eye of a beast at the bottom of a dark abyss that was beyond his understanding. Despite that, it didn’t mean he couldn’t feel it clawing at his soul. It was similar in a way to when Tirek sucked his magic, but this one went much more deeper.

Burning eyes.

Hungry.

Savage.

Then he saw it. The reflection of nothing but the most profound, deepest, unyielding, personal, perverse, overwhelming, crushing hate against everything that had dared hurt him.

“I’m going to go inside alone, bring that shield down, and open a nice big gate for everyone to join the party.”

Spike’s voice pulled Shining out of his trance. He found himself looking at empty space while was already making his way towards the shield. “Let the hunt begin~” Spike said in a cheerful tone before leaping.

Shining shook his head to see Spike pierce the shield. The army behind him, already in place and ready to fight, waited patiently for the shield protecting the last caribou stronghold to fall. Moments later they were able to hear the distant sounds of battle. Then they heard a powerful roar, and then silence. Exactly five seconds later the earth beneath them trembled for a few seconds before the shield came down revealing a city at least ten times the size of Manehattan.

They saw a wide section of the impressive twenty meter tall stone wall surrounding the city was destroyed.

“ATTACK!” A dragon behind him roared with all his might causing the army to move forward and onto the gap. The skies were plagued with griffons, changelings, dragons, and flying ponies. The ground army ran past him, or below in the case of the diamond dogs, desperate to get their hands on the last caribou and put an end to the nightmare forever.

Shining shook his head again causing him to put aside what he had seen for the moment. He focused for an instant and then teleported inside the city now that the shield was down. He appeared at the top of the walls surrounded by caribou corpses. From there he could see Spike down below, singeing and cleaving through the caribou trying to form a barricade on the section he destroyed. He clapped his hands together, gritted his teeth, summoned all the magic he could to his horn, and proceeded to perform what Spike called the most crucial part of the entire invasion.

A moment later another shield, this time one of his own creation, appeared around Maletopia’s perimeter leaving only the gap Spike had created free alongside the skies. Shining kneeled, focusing all his strength in maintaining the barrier up so that no caribou could escape from their doom. The swarms of flyers soon flew over him to begin their descent on the city lead by Soarin and the Blood Hunters. The sounds of battle soon spread throughout the city like wildfire.

He saw the biggest dragons land around the most spread-out areas of the city, then they began to unload the monsters or troops they were carrying on their backs and claws. Once free they began to wreak havoc on the more fortified areas. The ground army soon reached the hole, and began to pour through with Macintosh and Yog joining Spike in the fight.

A battalion of griffons and thestrals landed all around him in a circle formation facing outwards. He could see fires and building crumble as more and more troops poured into Maletopia with the sole objective of burning it into the ground. His gaze shifted to the center of the city, where the mighty castle stood as the ultimate pillar to break down.

“Fight you worthless cunts! Protect your beloved master!”

Shining Armor heard a caribou shout nearby, probably right below him, commanding his Cunt-Shield to battle. He could hear the cows fighting and insulting other females for ‘Not bowing to their superior male masters like the proper bitches they were’, and that they would ‘Educate them to love cock until they begged for it’, for it was the only purpose of all females.

“Where do you think you’re going, fucker?” He heard Blueblood yell in anger. “My sword is dying to meet you! Come and say hello!”

Shining didn’t get to hear the caribou’s response other than a pathetic cry of fear, instead he hear the clang of Blueblood’s titanic sword butcher him alongside his warbeast.

“Spread out this entire sector and leave nothing unturned. Our objective is to secure the females we find! If they’re too aggressive, kill them. MOVE OUT!” Blueblood commanded.

“YES, SIR!” Several dozens of voices shouted at the same time before scrambling to fulfill their orders.

Shining Armor hummed pleased at the same time his gaze moved towards Spike once more, only to find he was no longer there. A quick search later he found a torrent of blue flames consuming a seven story building. He saw caribou jumping out the windows covered in flames from all the floors every now and then; most of them surviving the fall only to be butchered by the troops waiting for them on the ground.

Shining closed his eyes, shifting to a lotus position, and focused on maintaining the shield; knowing the carnage had just begun.

Over the course of the day he was proven right.

The invasion had started practically at the crack of dawn, and now he stood beside a blood stained Spike and Blueblood several hours later almost entering nightfall. He watched a large number of caribou prisoners on their knees, bound and gagged surrounded by a wall of spears. His head hurt a little for maintaining a shield that size for several hours, but he’d managed.

“Please don’t eat me, please don’t eat me, please don’t eat me, pleasedon’teatmepleasedon’teatme.” A caribou prisoner begged over and over in front of Spike.

“Come on now, Hojrim, why makes you think I want to go through the torture of eating one of you again?” Spike placed a hand over his head, his antlers removed like the rest of the prisoners. “Did you enjoy the short freedom I granted you?”

Teary eyed, Hojrim, looking out of his teens, was forced to look up to Spike’s white shining eyes. “W-why a-are you doing this? Everything was perfect!” He cried out. “You were our Marshal! The all mighty Dainn trusted you! Why did you betray us!?”

Spike opened his maw to lick his fangs before burping in Hojrim’s face. “I didn’t betray your kind, idiot. I was never on your side.” Spike sighed. “Look, Hojrim, you know what I did to your teacher, Hrathr, and the other trainers. You know what I did to Dainn. You saw what I did to Rolph. And you know what I do to prisoners. With that in mind, I’m gonna put this simple for you. I found out that one of the Embracers, that motherfucking traitor, good for nothing, shit eating Orestes, managed to escape by setting up a scapegoat in his place.”

“You were his fuck-buddy, I selected you in hope of letting you lead us to him. That’s why I didn’t kill you. But you ran back to Hraljord and now we can’t find Orestes. So, you’re going to tell us everything you know about him and how he managed to escape. Do it, and I’ll go to Creslin to ask her, force her if I must, to switch you.” Spike grabbed Hojrim by the throat and pulled him up. “I’m going to spare your stinking life, and let you live the rest of your days as the thing you motherfuckers hate and despise so much if you tell me what I want to know.”

“.....” Hojrim struggled to breathe, but he gathered the strength to talk. “F-fuck you…”

Spike let him go. “Suit yourself.” He then wrapped his tail around Hojrim’s leg. “FOOD FOR THE TIMBERWOLVES!” Spike shouted before tossing Hojrim to the multitude, the ones that caught him cheered on, moving him to his doom as the terrified caribou cried and called out for mercy.

Spike’s body began to glow, seconds later he began to levitate.

“My brothers and sisters. We. Are. Victorious!” Spike shouted before turning to the prisoners. “GO! End this nightmare; kill them all and burn this sinkhole to the ground! The night is cold and we need a big, big fire to keep us warm!” The soldiers cheered as they began to push and butcher the prisoners they had caught. “Slaughter them all, leave no stag, calf or male baby alive. Destroy everything you see. ERASE THEM FROM THIS WORLD!” He roared shining brightly for all to see. “Do so in my name! Do so in the name of your Lightbringer!”

“Lightbringer! Lightbringer! Lightbringer!” The changelings and ponies began to chant, soon joined by every able soul that was not busy killing prisoners. The word spread fast, and soon the entire army stationed around the city started to chant and fulfill the will of their Lightbringer.

The dragons began to roar sending a stream of fire to the skies.

Spike himself let out the mightiest roar of all, filling everyone with new found energy to keep going through the night. His roar signaling the end of the war and the end of the caribou.

Their victory.

Shining Armor saw Blueblood fall to his knees, crying like a foal, screaming his happiness like many others were starting to follow suit. A blue unicorn by the name of Blue Moon kneeled alongside the prince, hugging the white unicorn while he also cried in happiness.

He would’ve joined in, too, if it weren’t for Spike, down on the ground again, staring at him with the same eyes he had seen before.

Their eye contact lasted for a couple of seconds, Spike’s eyes flickered a couple of times before returning to their normal green color. Tears emerged from his emerald eyes while at the same time Spike pressed both hands against his chest, whispered something, his eyes rolled to the back of his skull, and then fell flat on his face.

Shining Armor opened his eyes as he let out a guttural, bitter chuckle. “I wished those eyes were mine. That what he felt could surge from my own heart. That I could hate the caribou and myself with the same intensity he did.” He then looked up to Fluttershy. “What did you see, Fluttershy?”

“A mindless monster.” The shy pegasus answered without hesitation.

All of them kept silent for a couple of moments until they were forced to look at the newcomers landing near them.

“I’m guessing that wasn’t what you were expecting to see?” Ember asked tentatively with Torch and another yellow dragon standing behind her. She looked back at the captive leaders with narrow eyes. The females were unmoving while the males were thrashing on the ground or hitting the shields containing them; she could hear their gruffing and angry groans despite the distance. “Is that what you fought against during the Fall?”

Luna stepped up shaking her head. “As far as we can tell they are incomplete, it seems. Not fully taken by the caribou curse, yet they are affected by it. The males aren’t calling the females they see whores, cunts, pets or trying to rape them. So that’s a win right there.”

Ember hummed, her gut feeling empty at the casualness and emotionless response of the princess, before turning to Torch. “Dad, you’re older than most of us here. Is there anything useful you can tell us about what happened or why did their Spike attack them?”

“Our Spike didn’t attack us, dragon! He attacked those treacherous rats behind us!” Rainbow Dash half-shouted glaring at the blue dragoness while pointing at their prisoners.

“How dare you talk that way to the--” The yellow dragon began but was interrupted by one of Ember’s wings.

“Believe me, your beloved Spike attacked you. That shield Queen Chrysalis made saved you.”

Rainbow leapt into the air but was caught by Chrysalis’s magic.

“She’s right, Dash, Spike attacked us.” Chrysalis said while she brought Rainbow Dash back to the ground. “He aimed at us, my barrier only bounced his fire back at those idiots.”

Rainbow, still held back by the green aura, could only close her eyes in defeat. The aura vanished making Rainbow fall to her knees while she hugged herself. “I’m...sorry…”

Ember gave the mare a pity look before returning her attention to her father. “Dad?”

Torsh sighed. “Nothing but stories I’ve heard from the dragons of old. We know greed can consume us until we’re more beast than dragon. The same can be said about other emotions it seems. I’ve seen dragons go into rampages we call Bloodlust.”

“Bloodlust?” Zhaka asked.

“It makes us devolve into a state of mindless rage where our minds are taken over by raw instinct.” Torch explained. “But that thing you call Spike was not in Bloodlust.”

“How can you be so sure, Torch?” Celestia asked.

“Bloodlust only triggers if we’re in the brink of death or we’re desperate to survive. That thing felt wrong to me from the very moment it took form. I doubt it’s even a dragon at all now.”

“That ‘it’ has a name, Torch. You better use his name before We show you the wrath of the Moon.” Luna warned glaring at the former Dragon Lord with many of her friends joining her with their own glares.

“Humor me, Nightmare Moon.” Torch taunted with a cocky grin.

“That’s enough, dad. Apologize right now.” Ember demanded while Torch and Luna continued to glare at each other. “I order you to apologize this instant, Torch!”

Torch closed his eyes before giving Luna a head bow. “I apologize for what I said, Princess Luna.” Torch grunted. “As I was saying, Spike was not affected by Bloodlust. Yet the way he looked; the way he moved; the way he roared. I’ve never seen or heard anything like it before.”

“I’ve been with Spike since the moment he broke free. Ah saw glimpses of what he hid under his scales, but what came to life before us ain’t it.” Big Macintosh added.

“That’s not what worries me.” Discord chimed before taking out his left eye to polish it against his fur. “When he grabbed my leg he did so with a shield I made around him. His hand went right through it like it wasn’t even there.”

Fluttershy gasped looking at her husband in horror. “Y-Y-Y-You m-m-mean..he...he’s immune?”

Discord put his eye back. “He’s immune to my magic, somehow. Just like Dainn was when he brainwashed me.” He then twirled his beard with a lion finger. “Or maybe I’m still not completely cured from that accursed dark magic. Could be whatever. Let’s be thankful this time around it has but a tiny fraction of the strength Dainn’s curse had.”

“That’s great and all, but where did Spike go? Why did he leave like that if he was attacking you all?” Soarin asked rudely. “That’s what I want to know.”

“If he’s immune to my magic then I won’t be able to track him down.” Discord said while Fluttershy kissed his griffon hand and hugged his torso with all the tenderness she could muster. “Thank you, mi amor.” He said as a thick, bushy white mustache sprouted from his face.

“I think I can help with that.” Ember said presenting her scepter. “Spike might be immune to you, Lord of Chaos, but he’s still a dragon, I hope. I’m the Dragon Lord, if he is a dragon then I can find his exact location using the Bloodstone Scepter.”

Torch did a double take. “It can do that?”

Ember gave her father an incredulous look. “Seriously, dad? You were Dragon Lord for centuries and you never read the instruction tablets to use the scepter?” Torch gave a blank stare. “Of course you didn’t.” Ember sighed as she closed her eyes. A moment later the gem in the center of the scepter began to glow.

“Will it work?” Shining asked.

“I’ve been practising.” Ember replied dryly. After countless moments that felt like eons for the onlookers, Ember’s eyes snapped open as she turned slightly to the left. “That way, but he’s moving fast! I can barely keep track of him...wait, he’s stopping….he stopped...and now he’s moving again in the same direction.”

“I think Spike is jumping. Why would he be jumping?” Twilight reasoned a moment later looking at the direction where Ember, and now everyone were looking to. It took her another moment to realize something. “By the creators...if he keeps going he’s bound to reach Cervidas.”

Most of the present gasped, theirs minds racing with countless scenarios.

“Damn he’s fast. He’ll be out of Equestrian territory in about an hour at that speed, and it looks like he isn’t stopping.” Ember announced.

“Cadance, where is the Crystal Heart?” Celestia asked in a tone that even made Torch feel uncomfortable.

“Here it is, aunt.” Cadance said presenting the Heart she had been carrying with her magic. “I...I can’t sense Spike inside it anymore.”

Celestia gritted her teeth while her mane turned into fire, and her eyes began to glow with yellow, pure light. “Captains, gather the Scaled Guards and execute order ‘Homecoming’.” Big Mac, Blueblood, Yog, and Soarin didn’t reply, didn’t even saluted but nevertheless left to fulfill the command of their princess. Celestia then turned to her fellow leaders.

“My friends, I propose to proceed with Vanguard: Phase One.”

“I agree with my sister.” Luna said taking her sister’s side.

“So do I.” Chrysalis said standing next to Cadance and Shining Armor.

“So do we.” The couple said while Cadance clutched the Crystal Heart against her chest.

“Given the…” Zhaka looked at the captive leaders way. “...circumstances, I am forced to agree.”

“The Buffalo Tribes approve.”

“The Liberators are eager.”

“Yakyakistan agrees.”

“The Griffon Empire agrees.”

“The New Saddle Arabian Empire shall provide all the help we can bring.”

“I approve.” Twilight said with a low head.

With all votes in agreement, Celestia then turned to Ember. “Dragon Lord Ember, I ask you to summon every dragon, except for Spike, to come into Equestria or any other country of the Equis Alliance.”

“Why? What’s going on? What is this Vanguard you speak of?” Ember asked confused. She looked at her father and the yellow dragon, finding they were equally confused, and quite a bit scared of Celestia’s demonstration of raw power.

“It’s a defense plan in case the caribou, or their black magic, were ever to return. By creating a barrier around the allied countries of the Equis Alliance we can keep the enemy at bay giving us enough time to save as many of our citizens as possible.” Twilight explained. “After that...after that…” She couldn’t continue as she fell to her knees, her five best friend were quick to move at her side trying to comfort each other.

“After that?” Ember asked looking at Celestia for an answer.

“After the citizens are secured, we move to Phase Two: The Offensive.” Celestia answered as she looked up at the sky.

“We’ll purge the source of the Dark Taint and destroy every trace of it no matter what.” Creslin said clenching her firsts so hard she was drawing blood.

“What about the other kingdoms, the ones that aren’t part of the Equis Alliance?” Torch asked narrowing his eyes.

“They didn’t help us when we needed them; they can burn in Tartarus for all I care.” Luna practically snarled. “But their citizens stood against those rats that tried to nip us in the bud, so we will grant the innocents asylum...if they are not on our Black Lists.” Luna then spit on the ground. “The rest will be treated like we would a caribou.”

“What about Cervidas?” Blood Talons questioned. “Shouldn’t we at least give them a warning of what’s coming their way? If they bother to listen at all.”

“I’ll see to it.” Celestia answered before she teleported away leaving behind a flaming tear on the ground.

<><><><><><><><><><><>Unknown Location<><><><><><><><><><><>

A light gray coated pegasus stallion with gray short mane and artic blue eyes sat on his throne, using a cervidae doe as a table to rest his hooves over. He was wearing a golden set of armor coated with runes except for his groin, which was covered by a loincloth thin enough to show his prodigal exposed member. On his neck hanged proudly the Sigil of Dainn while in the center of his chestplate the mark of the caribou was displayed for all to see.

Taking a deep breath, he smiled smelling the rancid stench of sex. From his position he could oversee his troops tending to the females that had been recently lured and captured; all of them cervidae.

Orestes laughed kicking off the doe to get up hearing the muffled screams of the cervidae as they were being raped and branded.

“How many of those brain dead whores were caught?” He asked the moment a bulky gray earth pony stallion wearing a caribou armor came to his side.

“Two hundred and seventy one, Lord Orestes.”

“Any new true males?”

“Seven, my Lord. They have been already tested.”

“Good, good.” Orestes sighed contently seeing a doe being spitroasted by a diamond dog and a minotaur. The tears running down her face making it all the sweeter for him to watch. “Any word from our brothers?”

“The southern training ground was raided by the Cervidas military five days ago, no effective losses. And it seems Lord Niber’s camp in Equestria was destroyed by those heretical Followers. With the exception of two bases that are yet to report, every other camp is progressing as expected.”

“Fucking traitors of Male Superiority.” Orestes snarled. “Lord Niber shall be avenged once we gather enough strength to reclaim Equestria.”

“Now that you mention Equestria, Lord Orestes, this morning we received a strange report from the borders.” The stallion said pulling a scroll from his back pouch. “A magic wall has appeared for some reason.”

Orestes looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “A magic wall?” The stallion nodded. “Are you certain it wasn’t a dome?”

“No, my Lord, our scout has assured in his report that a wall is what he saw.”

“Gimme that thing.” Orestes yanked the scroll from the other stallion’s hand. He read it all before speaking again. “A thirty meter tall wall of pure magic?” He frowned. “Did the slut-sisters found out about our plans?”

“I don’t think so, my Lord. The only ones that know about it are here.” The stallion said before Orestes returned the scroll.

“You say it arrived this morning?” The stallion nodded. “Then that wall has been active for two days at least. What could those cunts and unworthy males be possibly planning?”

“LORD ORESTES!” The sudden cry of a young looking caribou stag made Orestes, and everyone else inside the vast room, look at him as he ran to them. “IT’S THE REAPER!”

Everything in the room stopped and everyone froze. Except for one.

“What did you say!?” Orestes yelled moving towards the stag gripping him by the leather strip of his chestplate.

“T-t-the Reaper! I saw the Reaper!” The young stag stammered.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Orestes warned glaring at the stag.

“I swear I saw him by the might of Dainn!” Orestes let him go allowing the stag to catch his breath. “I was scouting the outskirts of Deerasian when I saw him arrive.”

Orestes felt a chill run down his spine at the possibility. I thought he was dead! Damn it all. After everything I have accomplished to claim what is rightfully mine! Orestes thought hearing the mumbles of his men, some of them having seen him during the so called ‘Rise of Equestria’ and his sanguinary ways. To think Spike and I fucked that pink alicorn bitch until she passed out during the glory days. He grimaced.

After his escape, along with a few dozens of his converted brothers and some high ranking caribou officers, they fled to Cervidas and decided to hid, gather strength and numbers until they could take Equestria under their control once more. Some officers, not happy with Orestes being in charge for not being a caribou, had separated and went to other countries but still decided to keep in touch, for the ultimate prize was their collective goal despite their preferences in command.

During the first year they heard about the genocide of Hraljord led by Spike, followed by his trial, and ending with his apparent death. The second year, despite the high increase of their numbers under the banner of The Male Superiority Faithful’s and their efforts to teach females their proper place in life, proved to be the hardest of all with the so called Equis Alliance, the Followers of the Grace of the Dragon, and the Female Might Alliance hunting them down day and night. The last one always making him cringe and laugh at the ridiculousness of females using the word ‘might’ to describe themselves.

Forced to hide and operate in the shadows, the following years were difficult on them near or inside Equis Alliance territory (especially Equestria and the Crystal Empire), but proved quite profitable in other countries; Cervidas serving as a prime example. Although, the cervidae being the cousin race of the caribou could be a reason why their land was so easy to tame and show the truth of Male Superiority. Although, their goal turned harder to achieve thanks to the embarrassment that was the Three Week War, which saw a change in the leadership of their nation during the sixth year.

And now, twelve years later since his paradise was destroyed by one. Orestes considered to be an equal to himself, he and his brothers were closing in the time to attack Equestria and take his proper place as their new King and ruler. Complete with having the whores leading the pathetic and weak Equis Alliance as his personal pets. As it was meant to be during the Fall after he had dealt with Dainn. After all, why should a caribou reign when Equestria belonged to strong, willing stallions such as himself?

“B-but…” Orestes heard the stag continue with a broken voice. “The Reaper, he looked different. He was bigger and scarier.” The stag said before swallowing a ball of spit. “The runes and protective enchantments around Deerasian were also activated.”

“What else did you saw?” Orestes asked with curiosity dripping from his voice. “Respond, you lowly insect!”

“Th-the army and m-militia behind their barrier forming lines!”

“And the Reaper?” The stallion asked with a shaky voice and knees. Having seen the dragon break through the doors of Canterlot’s castle to ram himself against Dainn had been enough to make him flee. “What about that blasphemic monster?”

“He was...he was hitting their shield.”

“How long ago was that?” Orestes asked, both intrigued and confused as to why would Spike be attacking the Cervidas.

“Twenty minutes ago, Lord Orestes. Me and my unicorn companion used an emergency teleportation spell.”

“Where’s your companion?” The stallion asked while Orestes gazed to the ground.

“Over-exhausted, captain.” The stag stammered before he closed his eyes and shook his head. “His roar, by Dainn, I can still hear him roaring.” The stag muttered in a whisper.

“That disgraceful slut!” Orestes yelled throwing the stag back. “That insufrible sow! I’m going to remind you your truly value as the useless fuck-meat that you are. A female’s rightful place lies beneath the hooves of us true males! Your bodies meant to be used and thrown away as we see fit! A female has no right to disobey her superior male masters, much less command them!” orestes shouted in anger.

“Lord Orestes?” The stallion asked with caution.

“That future breeder meat that is Celestia made us thought that Spike the Reaper was dead, but she has turned even him into a weapon for her to use. Now I understand why there is a shield around our promised land. That bitch is trying to destroy the enemies of their weak alliance so that she may rule and bring ruin to us all. Just like the great Dainn had predicted!” In that instant all of the males present, as well as the broken and willing females, started to call for her head.

“This is the opportunity we have been waiting for, my brothers! Gather up our forces and prepare to march to Deerasian. And while the Reaper and the heretics fight each other we shall come and destroy them all. With Deerasian under our control and with the sun-whore’s only weapon out of the way, we will be able reclaim Equestria as our once again!” Orestes chanted. “Spread the word to our brothers to be ready to attack Equestria once we secure our victory here! The world shall see the light I will bestow upon it! Male Superiority shall not be denied!”

“For Male Superiority!” Every male shouted in response.

Orestes watched as his brothers moved to prepare themselves for the battle that would signal their inevitable victory, and in time do the thing Dainn had failed to accomplish: the conquest of the world.

His world.

**************

<><>Deerasian-Capital city of Cervidas-<><>

High King Dolorian the IV stared at the monster that had been punching, clawing, chomping, stomping, breathing fire, and stabbing at the protective shield of his city for over seven hours now. Even now, with his army set in place ready to attack the being once it tired itself out, and with two more armies coming his way in just a couple of days, he could see some of his troops were either hesitant or not putting the required attention to maintain their spots. And that wasn’t including the militia, the catapults, ballistas, guards and soldiers patrolling the city, and long distance archers behind him.

Dolorian the IV, oldest son of the previous ruler of Cervidas, Dolorian the III, knew he was in no place to reprimand his troops when he himself couldn’t stop the shaking of his hands. How could he when staring at the monster pounding relentlessly against the shield?

Dolorian the IV ascended to power after he had successfully overthrown his father, mother, and two brothers out of the throne during the Three Week War. Taking the throne, with his only little sister at his side, allowed him to clearly see how his beloved nation, Cervidas, was being slowly torn asunder from within. He was able to pinpoint the time in which everything had turn for the worst. That time being after the announced death of Spike Solaris ‘The Dragon’, ‘The Reaper’, ‘The Lightbringer’. The following years, up until the end of the Three Week War, Cervidas saw an alarming increase number of rapes, kidnappings, general violence, raidings, and unrest. All thanks to his father turning a blind eye at the obvious threat the self named Male Superiority Faithful’s were to the poorest and neglected districts, and to the more gullible young doe blinded by the dream of fame, love, riches or something similar.

To him, it looked detestably ironic that they, the Cervidae, being the cousin race of the Caribou, suffered an outbreak in crime with hundreds of reported cases of rape and violence against females erupting throughout the kingdom. After he took control of the throne, he made it his personal mission to fix that threat by joining the hunt for Faithful’s. The horrors he witnessed deep inside their hidden bases and training camps served as a clear warning, and reminder, of what the caribou and those that followed them were capable of doing.

What Spike Solaris had fought against to the point of insanity.

*GRRROOOOAAAAAAAAAAA*

Another roar from the beast outside their shield made him flinch in fear. No matter how many times he heard it, he couldn’t help but tremble.

“Look at that thing, it just doesn’t give up.” One of his lieutenants said crossing his arms. “There’s no way it’s going to break through our barrier.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about it, lieutenant. It’s been at it for more than seven hours with no rest, how much longer can our barrier withstand that onslaught?” Dolorian questioned.

Their white shield, created from a combination of their most powerful warding runes, amplified by the benevolent gifts of the Liberators, and properly fused with unicorn magic by the willing aid of the Followers meant their shield was not only strong, but was able to repel the sickness of the caribou in a similar fashion to that of the Equestrian shield.

Celestia had given him a written warning three days ago about the being that had sprouted out of Equestria and was now coming their way. At first his councillors tried to play it as a threat or maybe even as a joke and insult. Sadly for them, and thanks to his inaction, the monster had attacked the unguarded coastal small city port of Buckingtein, followed shortly by the fortress of Elkinheim.

Dolorian cursed and lamented at the same time the utter stupidity of his parents and siblings for what they’d done. And he cursed himself for not handing his treacherous family members to Equestria after taking the throne, unlike what Zhaka, the Zulu of Zebrica had done. For that action alone Zebrica was invited to join the Equis Alliance a couple of years later. While Cervidas was ignored despite the five times he had tried to negotiate the entry to formally join said Alliance over the following years.

Yet he couldn’t blame them for turning a blind eye at Cervidas, or any of the other kingdoms for that matter. He himself never believed the tales of horror that spread throughout the years of the Fall. That is, until he saw the trial of Spike. After that he didn’t want to believe the tales out of shame. Tales that didn't hold a candle to the facts and the things he saw on various reports and in person.

And now it was happening to them.

Dolorian gripped the pommel of his sword tightly. It was infuriating not knowing what was the devastation that the monster trying to pass their shield had laid upon his subjects. And he wouldn’t know until the shield dropped after defeating the creature attacking them. He grimaced in knowing that without the emergency warnings of Buckingtein and Elkinheim, Deerasian, or any other city for that matter, would’ve suffered the same fate. What made a pit in his stomach, however, was the speed at which the monster moved; they barely got time to activate the shield before its thunderous arrival. And the reckless, unfathomable fury it was currently demonstrating was equally alarming.

The monster had tried to slam himself against the barrier only to be bounced back, repelled by the shield and confirming this monster was, indeed, carrying the Dark Taint. The monster then roared before beginning to attack without a semblance of thought, care, direction, or basic strategy at the same place over and over again without moving from his spot.

“King Dolorian, look, behind that abomination.” Another one of his lieutenants, an elderly looking doe, said pointing at the distance. “I think I see a small army approaching.”

“Good, our reinforcements have arrived early!” Another lieutenant exclaimed. “With our combined numbers we shall bring this monster down!”

“That can’t be possible. The reinforcements I summoned should arrive in three days minimum with forced march.” Dolorian said taking up a pair of binoculars. It took him a moment to recognize the incoming army. “Faithfuls.” The commanding officers began to whisper between themselves.

“What are they doing here?” The elderly doe asked to no one in particular glaring at the dot approaching behind the beast still clawing at the shield.

“My King, it might be possible that this beast is of their doing.” Another lieutenant said.

Dolorian shook his head. “It has nothing to do with the Faithfuls. Celestia stated that monster,” he pointed Spike. “Originated on the Crystal Empire after they tried to resurrect the fallen Spike Solaris.”

“So this is their doing!?” The elderly doe half-shouted.

Again, Dolorian shook his head. “No. They themselves don’t know what went wrong, and they’re trying to figure out what happened. It attacked them before making his way to Cervidas.” Dolorian groaned. “In my stupidity I was hesitant of her warning, and we lost hundreds of our citizens instead of accepting her offer of asylum. Now we have to deal with that thing ourselves.”

“Likely story.” A tall stag scoffed. “Then why is it here? It sounds to me like that bitch created that thing in order to attack us. Now that I look at it closely, it does have a resemblance to their accursed Reaper.”

“I don’t know about that.” Dolorian stated glaring at Spike. “Lieutenant Golondy?”

“Yes, my King?” The elderly doe replied.

“Take lieutenant Navgurd into custody.”

“What? Why!?” The tall stag exclaimed confused as two heavily armed guards took a hold of him.

Dolorian turned to face the stag, slightly bowing to point his antlers at the restrained buck. “I care not for you insulting Celestia, but never insult the memory of Spike Solaris in front of me. You know that, Navgurd. Now you dare to call that monster by his name, when not even Celestia, the mother of Spike Solaris, called it as such. Take him away to think about his insolence.” Dolorian then turned ignoring the pleas of Navgurd.

“Was that necessary, my King?” Golondy asked taking a stand next to him. She glanced at him for several seconds before sighing. “What are we going to do with those depraved Faithfuls that are approaching, my King?”

“End them alongside that wretched monster.” Dolorian said looking through the binoculars again. He snarled and huffed with anger before he tightened the grip on the binoculars to the point he made dents on the golden surface and the outer lens shattered.

“Dolorian!” Hynde, Princess of Cervidas, called her brother’s name in worry upon seeing him destroy the binoculars and seeing the hateful scowl on his face. “Dolorian, tell me what’s wrong!”

Dolorian looked at his sister clad in heavy armor, wielding a greataxe, and ready to battle. For a moment he forgot his rage upon seeing her orange eyes filled with worry for him. He closed his eyes remembering it was thanks to her, her dear and brave little sister who had convinced him to take the chance and overthrow their family.

Unlike him, Hynde always believed the tales of the Fall. Deciding it was her royal duty to protect her land she threw away her dresses, make-up, and violin lessons to instead take the arms, train rigorously, and prepare herself to fight the caribou. Within three years, gone was the pristine beacon of beauty Cervidas looked up to; now replaced by a tough, brave, muscular, bulky, snarky yet polite seventeen years old warrior princess. And he couldn’t be more proud of her for showing him the way.

Opening his eyes he frowned before looking past the monster.

“The one leading that army is Orestes. I saw him sitting on that wretched living throne.” Dolorian clenched his fists. From his position he noticed that the lookouts were informing of the same thing he had seen to the troops below. “He’s also bringing warbeasts and quite a lot of ‘fighting sluts’.”

Suddenly the constant tremorous attacks of the dragon monstrosity came to a halt. Dolorian looked down to find it looking up at him and, despite the distance, he could feel the burning glare of those white orbs. The monster slowly turned around at a snail’s pace until it was properly facing the incoming army.

Time froze while Dolorian watched the dragon’s tail sway from side to side. He could see the flames covering the arms of the monster grew in volume and intensity until, without cause or warning, they died out.

Dolorian didn’t notice the droplet of sweat the fell from the tip of his chin onto the wooden platform he was standing on.

The abomination let out a roar so loud it caused everyone to cover their ears and scream in agony at the sheer volume. Dolorian could feel the power of the roar flow through his body while he watched with one eye, struggling to keep it open, the dragon’s arms expand twice their already ridiculous size before hitting the ground with enough force to not only create a small earthquake. It also sent many of his troops stumbling to the ground.

A moment later Dolorian saw the monster give a great leap towards the incoming army of the Faithfuls. And when it landed he couldn’t help but stare in awe and horror. The monster, from his point of view and due to the distance, landed in the midst of their forces scattering dozens of them up in the air.

The monster roared again and the carnage began. The distance proved to be no issue whatsoever to diminish the screams of the Faithfuls being massacred. Dolorian felt his sister take a grip of his hand but didn’t look away. There were pieces or entire bodies being thrown away at random; some of them hitting the shield or going well above it and beyond. He saw a large group of Faithfuls running towards the shield; he saw ponies, bucks, stags, diamond dogs, and even two caribou. They ran up until they reached the shield and started to punch and hit it begging to be let inside. What exactly they were saying he couldn’t understand, for he wasn’t hearing their voices.

Behind them he saw a pillar of purple fire rise from the ground for several seconds before it ended followed by another equally soul wrenching roar. Dolorian didn’t know nor cared how much time the monster had spent with the Faithful army, but he knew it wasn’t done when he saw it high in the sky coming towards them once more.

The monster collided with the shield creating a shockwave that made everything around them tremble for a moment. It then fell to the ground landing on top of a crying buck turning him into paste. The monster growled before he grabbed a cowering unicorn pony stallion’s legs and slammed him against the shield splattering him all over it. It then moved to its next victim, one of the caribou, it grabbed him by the arms uncaring that the caribou yelled in pain of being burned by the fire of it’s claws. The beast opened his maw, the caribou stopped staring in horror at the gaping maw of the monster, and then proceeded to rip the caribou’s head with a single bite over his neck.

The beast dropped the spasming corpse to the ground before launching a stream of fire down the hole made by a diamond dog. It then twirled around slashing many of the cowering males around him in half with its tail. Now it turned to face the last survivor, the last caribou, before he grabbed him by the head. Instead of crushing the head of the stag, the beast that resembled the dragon once known as Spike, smashed him against the shield with brutal strength.

Dolorian was finally able to hear again, now that the silence was broken by the screams of his own panicking troops.

“Send everyone to the northern exit! Evacuate the city at once!” Dolorian shouted without hesitation upon seeing the monster slam its horns against the shield repeatedly. Each bang of its head creating a new thunderous echo that sent all but the bravest of his soldiers running away.

“My King, we can’t evacuate without dropping the shield!” Golondy exclaimed being the only lieutenant that didn’t left either to fulfill her king’s order or ran away.

“Gather everyone and wait. I’ll drop the shield for the citizens to escape. I don’t know how much time I can give you--”

“IT’S BREAKING THE SHIELD!” The shouts of his soldiers made him turn back to see, much to his horror, that the shield was starting to crack in the spot the beast was banging it’s head against. The same spot it had been hitting for hours on end.

“Dammit all!” Dolorian cursed. “Leave while you can, Golondy! I’ll give you all the time we can. Then I’m reactivating the shield trapping that monster with whoever remains inside!”

“That won’t stop it for long, big brother.” Hynde said now gripping her greataxe trightly. She saw how the beast had stopped banging its head, and instead was trying to rip an entrance through the cracks on the shield using its claws.

“No. But it will trap him for a few hours at the very least. Send a raven or a messenger to every city, fortress, castle, and village telling them to leave immediately to Equis Alliance territory!” Dolorian ordered pulling out his enchanted mithril sword.

A collective scream of terror was heard when the monster split enough of the shield apart to fit it’s head inside. The beast growled before spewing a torrent of flames through the gap. The fire ran through his troops like water would before the shield closed itself again. Making the dragon tumble back and roar in anger as it began trying to rip the shield open again.

To Dolorian’s shock the fire wasn’t burning anyone, yet everyone was screaming and screeching in agony. The fire turned into mist after a few seconds that quickly evaporated revealing most of the soldiers that were caught by the fire start to deform with grotesque, overly large, muscle-bound extremities. The female soldiers, on the other hand, appeared to be unmoving wax dolls.

After the mist was completely gone, the sight seemed to only further increase the overwhelming rage and fury the beast displayed.

Dolorian paled as he saw the arms of the beast buffout like it had done so before attacking the Faithful’s army.

“Leave now!” He yelled at Golondy. The doe bowed before turning to fulfill her mission. “Hynde, go with Golondy, protect her and make sure to save as many of our people as possible!”

“No way in Tartarus I’m leaving you here, Dolorian!” Hynde yelled back.

“This isn’t the time for pride, one of us must survive to lead our kingdom!” Dolorian yelled whilst watching the monster trying to rip the shield once more. Taking a glance at his sister he gave her a disheartened smile. “I know you want to stay with me. But if we both die here then what will happen to Cervidas?”

“That’s a cheap trick that’s not going to work and you know it.” Hynde huffed. “Either both us leave or we stay.”

Dolorian rose his sword to the sky as it began to glow. “You’re such a spoiled brat!” Dolorian then smirked. “Be ready.” He warned before slowly bringing the sword down pointing it towards the abomination breaking the shield.

Hynde took a battle stance, scowling and huffing at the monster. A moment later the shield vanished making the beast fall on its face. “All units: loose!” She ordered hoping at least some archers or ballista operators were still holding their posts in the midst of panic. The sound of ballistas and dozens of arrows flying above her head reached her ears. Many arrows and a few ballista projectiles missed the monster or hit the unfortunate that were caught by the monster’s fire. Those that hit the beast bounced off or broke upon hitting its scales.

Dolorian and Hynde watched their few remaining brave troops form a defensive wall of shields and spears in a U formation. Trying to trap down the afflicted by the fire and the monster itself.

Hand in hand, the two siblings ran to the edge of the platform and, with one final impulse, found themselves flying down to meet their troops while the monster used it’s arms to get back up.

Back on it’s feet, the abomination of a dragon roared before openly charging towards the defenders of Cervidas. Each step carelessly crushing a victim of its corruptive fire while also creating a patch of ice frost.

Roughly twenty minutes later, lieutenant Golondy watched how her home city, Deerasian, the pillar of Cervidas, being consumed by flames and terror. To rub salt on the wound, the reactivated shield retaining the monster inside also meant the doom for thousands upon thousands of civilians that couldn’t escape in time. Golondy turned back to send her king’s message to the rest of Cervidas and to lead the way onto Equestria.

She could still hear the faint screams of agony and fighting, followed by the demented roar of the monster that had attacked them.

<><><><><><><><><><>Equestria-Cervidas Border ‘Entrance #2’ <><><><><><><><><><>

“Thank you for helping us sort things out, Blue Moon.”

“Please, old friend, you have nothing to thank us for. We are overjoyed to help those in need during this dire time.”

“Even so, without the help of the Followers and the F.M.A. we would be hard pressed to do our job.” Blueblood said while the two unicorns watched refugee after refugee enter the small entrance the carefully placed caribou rune engraved boulders provided through the protective barrier.

Outside the shield, both unicorns could see several thousands of would-be refugees waiting patiently for their turn to enter Equestria. About three kilometers behind them a large refugee camp already housing many thousands stood ready to house them. The only thing connecting the camp and the entrance being a marked road guarded by F.M.A. members and royal guards.

Meanwhile the entrance was guarded by Scaled Guards while Followers help aid the children, the starving, the disabled, the elderly, and the sick that were granted access. One by one the refugees entered through the gate under the vigilant watch of the Scaled Guards, they soon reached the inspection tables: one for magical inspection and the other for luggage inspection (if they brought anything at all).

A beeping noise made the two unicorns glance down at an adult doe that failed the magical inspection.

“Let me go! I didn’t do anything!” She yelled while held by two Scaled Guards.

“Let’s see here...Ah, here you are, Dew Antlerton. You used to work for a small ring of Faithfuls back in Deerasian by luring out young doe for them to kidnap.” A rainbow maned pegasus mare said without looking at the doe.

“They forced me to do it! They said they would rape me to death if I didn’t!”

“Yeah, yeah. Heard it all before, don’t give a shit.” Rainbow Dash then glared at the doe. “Sure hope the gold they paid you was worth selling out your own kind. Throw that piece of trash with the rest. Maybe there she’ll feel what rape feels like.”

The doe screamed as the thestral and the griffon lifted her from the ground flying over a metal cage. They waited for the unicorns to open the top of the gate before throwing her inside with no remorse.

“NEXT!” Rainbow Dash creamed while her face was adorned with a tiny smirk.

“That’s the three hundred seventy eighth traitor of the day. It shows that even in the darkest of times, there is always a bright light to show us not everything is terrible.” Blue Moon said smiling down at the large concealed cage. One could hear the occupants slamming against the walls and their screams through the only two holes high above for air.

“Indeed.” Blueblood acknowledged. A tiny smile crossed formed in the corner of his lips. If there was one thing that the Three Week War had given them that was the entire registry, even the confidential ones, of every known criminal in every nation. Or as they were better known: The Black Lists. Blueblood had given a warning before they started to let refugees in just like in every other entrance by the commanding officer.

If they were on the registry then they would be treated as the criminals they were according to their crimes. Criminals such a thieves, animal assault and violence reports, frauds, sell-outs, corrupt nobles and politicians, etc. will be judged for their crimes by the law and justice in a fair trial if they weren’t already convicted for said crimes before.

Rapists, traitors, slavers, murderers, psychopaths, killers, kidnappers, pedophiles, drug lords, makers and distributors, those that made deals, funded, protected or had any sort of relation with the caribou or the Faithfuls would lose any and all rights. The Black Lists also included home abusement reports, domestic violence, sexual assaults, pimps, forced prostitution ring leaders and so on and so forth. All of them would be thrown away to rot and wait for their upcoming executions. Regardless of age, previous position, and gender.

That was, of course, excluding those already in the dungeons and/or prisons of their respective nations, were already dead, or were smart enough to flee before facing death in Equestria.

“Rainbow Dash, come over here! Clear Skies, take her spot!” Blueblood yelled.

Rainbow obeyed handing over her list to her replacement. “Sup captain?”

“Go and take a break, you’ve been at it since yesterday morning.”

“Thank you, sir, but no thank you. I feel just fine! Plus I don’t want to miss the faces those backstabbing assholes make when they are caught.” Rainbow chuckled hovering in front of the two stallions. “You’d think they’d know they’re not welcome here.”

“That would imply they have any trace of intelligence, darling.” Rarity said making her three friends look down at her carrying a couple of bags filled with cloth.

“Ha! Good one, Rares.” Rainbow gave her a thumb up. “Hey, you got any word from the girls yet?”

“Not yet, but I imagine they’re doing just fine.”

“Aunt Celestia informed me that Princess Twilight is researching her notes with the help of the chief librarian, Lady Moondancer, and Chrysalis.” Blueblood informed.

“I do hope she’s alright. The poor dear has been taking it pretty hard on herself.” Rarity said.

“Haven’t we all?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. She then chuckled. “Ya know what’s funny? Out of us six, Fluttershy turned to be the strongest one of us. From doormat to mountain, who would’ve thought?”

“Lady Fluttershy shows us to be strong of heart and strong of mind. And to never turn away our kindness even after tragedy befalls us. Such is Kindness. Such is the Will of Friendship.” Blue Moon said in a warm tone.

Before anyone could say anything a loud noise and the sounds of arguing reached their ears forcing them to look at the entrance.

“Sir, you have to wait your turn.” A buffalo mare clad in scaled armor said blocking the entrance of the gate. In front of her, a overweight buck with great antlers adorned with gems and silver, and wearing fancy silk robes, stood a meter or so in front of her past the barrier surrounded by what looked to be his personal guard. Said personal guard was pushing away the would-be refugees creating a clear path for the buck and the line of carts behind him.

“I have waited for almost three days among these rabble! I demand entrance at once!” The buck half-yelled at the mare.

“Sir, I already told you, you must wait your turn like everyone else.”

“I’ll take it from here, soldier.” Blueblood said descending from his spot using his magic while Blue Moon, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash came behind him. “Sir, as captain of the Spike Scaled units, I ask you to step aside and stop disrupting the transit. You shall be allowed to enter once your section’s turn comes.”

“Do you know have the slightest idea who I am, you filthy commoner?” The buck huffed angrily.

“...Was I really like that?” Blueblood asked glancing back at the trio.

“Yes, my old friend.”

“You were worse, Blueblood.”

“You proved to be quite the brute, darling.”

Blueblood shuddered turning his attention back to the buck after the response from Blue Moon, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity respectively.

“I don’t who you are or who you think you are, sir. I’m Prince Blueblood, hardly a commoner as you say. Now, I ask you again, stand aside or you shall be treated as a criminal and a threat to the Alliance.”

“How dare you make a threat to me, boy. I am Archduke Kondan! And I demand access right now!”

Blueblood looked at him with a sneering glare for a few seconds before sighing. “Bring me the scanner.” The buffalo mare saluted before running off. Short moments later she was back with a bowling ball sized blue crystal sphere and the stallion that had replaced Rainbow Dash. Blueblood lifted the sphere up to Kondan’s face. The sphere shot a flash of light on his face. A moment later the sphere gave a green glow. Without giving a word, Clear Skies approached to touch the sphere with the list before Blueblood handed the sphere back to the mare.

“He is indeed Archduke Kondan, captain. Age forty one. No wife, no siblings, no living relatives, no offspring. Aside from a few shady, but not criminal worthy, mining business he is clean, sir. ”

“A noble that isn’t shit? Now that’s a first.”

Kondan glared at the rainbow maned pegasus. “What do you take me for? One of those depraved fuckers that funded the Faithful’s activity for years? A corrupt, unworthy house head with no honor? A traitor to my beloved homeland? I have achieved my fortune and status by working hard and working honest. Now let me through.”

Blueblood looked at him in the eye. “Fine, you can enter now. But bear this in mind: If you enter now you’ll leave your money, possessions, status, and escort behind. If you wait for your proper turn, you shall enter with no further inspections, and will be granted temporary noble housing in Canterlot with a diplomat status; seeing as you are actually a worthy noble unlike the trash that has come before you.”

Kondan opened his mouth to protest but nothing came out. A few moments of silence fell between the two of them. “If I wait, will my guards enter without inspection?”

Blueblood shook his head. “Everyone must be inspected.” Another moment of silent glaring passed between the two.

Kondan took a quick glance to the great metal cage. “What will happen to those that don’t pass the inspection?”

“I believe you already know it depends on the crime committed.” Blueblood then stepped outside the barrier forcing Kondan to take a step back. “And if we catch anyone abusing the generosity we have given to you all, and believe me, we will know, then the responsible shall be executed on the spot. No matter the severity of the crime or the reason behind it. That also includes you, because the moment you enter Equestria you shall become a refugee until we deal with the situation.”

“Across the twenty entrances many have tried to force themselves inside, bribe their way through or have used other means to try to worm their way into Equis Alliance territory. All have been executed. If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear, right? Once inside you shall be taken care of with clothing, feeding, and temporary housing conditions in safe, secured areas. All we ask in return is that you follow our rules until you can return to your nations. But this doesn’t mean you’re welcome. Thank to the divine creators our leaders are merciful to not let you all suffer.”

Blueblood then looked around. “AM I CLEAR!?” He shouted making every onlooker flinch back. He then turned to face Kondan again.

“...I shall oversee your insults this time, boy. I accept your offer and wait for my turn like the rest of these peasants. Don’t expect me to make any future deals with the Equis Alliance after you’ve dealt with whatever that thing is.”

“If you were expecting mercy from us, then you’ll find only what you deserve. ‘No Mercy. Only Justice’ is our motto, sir.” Blueblood hit his chestplate over his heart. “Oh, I almost forgot. Welcome to Equestria.”

Blueblood watched Kondan turn back from he had come from when he saw something approaching from the distance. It took him a moment to recognize a pegasus carrying something, or someone, secured by ropes.

“Lookie here what I fished out! Lookie! Lookie! Badukie!” A mare with an elegant yet bit nasal voice yelled as she approached. Now that she was closer Blueblood could see she was carrying another pegasus with a bag covering his face. Yet he noticed the marks of the Male Superiority Faithful’s.

As she landed many would-be refugees spread around giving her space to land while several Scaled Guards, Rainbow Dash, Blue Moon, and Rarity included, secured the perimeter.

“Captain Redblood! Lookie what I have here with them lovely eyes of yours!” The black coated pegasus mare with two toned mane and tail clad in leather armor that didn’t really cover her that well. The armor served to show off her generous attributes more than anything. She was smiling with a creepy large grin while her eye that wasn’t covered by her mane was wide open giving quite a maniacal, uneasy glare.

“Can I keep his eyes? Can I? Can I? CAN I!?” She yelled over and over holding onto her scythe before she kicked her prisoner onto Blueblood’s hooves.

“Grim Night, calm down!” Blueblood ordered but was sorely ignored. “How did you catch this piece of shit?”

“No, no, no, no, no, NO! Not piece of shit! I got a big, big, BIG FISH! Ohhhhh I want to rip his insides out and knit a cute sweater with them! Ho, perfect for a party. I’d be envy of disemboweled bodies everywhere!”

“A big fish?” Rarity asked taking Blueblood’s side.

“Lookie here!” Grim Night shouted before taking away the bag covering the head of her prisoner.

Upon seeing who the prisoner Grim Night caught was only a few gasped in disbelief. But only one looked at him not with fear, but with hate with a deathglare.

“Orestes.” Rarity said smiling at the gagged stallion. “I missed seeing that no good for nothing traitor of Sunrise Splendor boil her horrid self. I won’t miss whatever Cadance and Shining Armor have planned for you, scum. I’m sure it will be most fitting.” Orestes grunted and flailed against his roped to no avail. Spit spewing over the edges of the gagball. “Surprised your little whore isn’t afraid of you? I overcame what you did to me in the Empire. I’m not afraid of you or your flacid cock, Orestes.”

Orestes glared at the white unicorn mare before lunging forward with all his ability.

Rarity didn’t flinch or stepped back. Instead she smacked him across the face so hard it sent him crashing to the ground and into unconsciousness. Rarity groaned in pain before Blue Moon took her right hand with his magic in a delicate manner.

“Lady Rarity, your hand…” Blue Moon could not continue his sentence feeling her completely broken hand. He looked at Rarity’s face, and smiled seeing not tears but pained satisfaction.

“Can I rip his eyes now?” Grim Night asked.

“Not this one, Grim.” Blueblood said while Blue Moon helped Rarity back inside the barrier. He then grabbed Orestes with his magic. “Go back to your mission, Grim Night. I’ll make sure to pay you handsomely for delivering this traitor to us. You can have any other fucker you find.” Grim Night yelled excitedly before flying off laughing and dancing with her scythe.

“Someone get me a messenger, a quill, ink, and a scroll of parchment.”

End of part 2

Chapter 3: ...because if you aren't....

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 4: ...you might burn yourself...

Author's Note

Special thanks to anyone who read this!

Special thanks to Author of MADness for proofreading!

Sorry for this long delay, but I promise the next chapter and the Epilogue will come sooner rather than later!

Edit: Added theme songs to each phase of the battle.

Phase 1-Windigo-: Theme 1-Treachery

Phase 2-Alicorn Amulet-: Theme 2-Xaxas

Phase 3-Sombra-: Theme 3-The Seal Is Broken

Chapter 4: ...you might burn yourself...

The gushing wind. The slight clang of metal shifting every now and then. The collective breathing of twenty-five thousand souls.

That was all that could be heard in the Trap Zone while they waited for the arrival of a monster that had been created in the hopes of bringing Spike Solaris back to life. They would unmake it or die trying, each and every one of them more than prepared for that. Everyone was willing to give down their lives with the utmost gusto if that meant preventing another Fall from ever happening again.

Even those that didn’t suffer the effects of the Fall directly but had seen the aftermath of almost four years of the vilest, putrid, and disgusting depravity of those who did suffer it, were more than ready to do their part.

In the center of the army, Twilight Sparkle and her friends were standing next to each other; each clad in armor and wielding their weapons of choice. She couldn’t help to look around from time to time to see the faces of her friends and the army around them. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to calm her shaking hands.

“Please tell me you’re joking, Twilight,” Soarin said rubbing his temples.

Twilight did a quick glance around the restored Cutie Map meeting room to see the leaders of the Equis Alliance, Lord Ember, and the captains of the Scaled Units looking at her with varying degrees of bafflement. To her side stood Torch, Chrysalis, Discord, and her five closest friends. The only one not present was Shining Armor, but Cadance made sure he was listening through a telepathic link.

“I wish I was, Soarin. But all of the evidence fits into my new theory with terrifying sense. Still, it’s just a theory, but if it is true then…” Twilight stopped herself from finishing that sentence.

“Great. Just fucking great!” Soarin shouted throwing his arm up in the air. “So we fucked it up from the fucking beginning!?” Blueblood placed a hand on his shoulder causing Soarin to calm down and sigh. “Sorry… my point is, we actually managed to bring Spike back, BUT this ‘Corrupted Spike’ is now something we don’t have the faintest of ideas how to properly fight against?”

“...Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. That thing we brought back is our Spike. A broken, mindless, horrid, and abominable version of our Spike,” Twilight answered while Chrysalis grasped her hand for support.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said in a tone that sent a shiver down the spine of everyone present, even Discord. “Are you absolutely, completely, utterly, perfectly, entirely, irrevocably certain that that monster is my boy?”

Twilight nodded in response. “Discord was right when he said the ritual and the materials needed did their part. The ritual was a success,” looking down to the map, Twilight was able to see her own reflection glaring back at her. “However, in my stupidity, I never once took into account the most important element of all: Spike himself.”

“We never took into consideration his uniqueness because we were ignorant of how far it really goes,” Chrysalis said looking directly at Celestia’s eyes. “In our quest to bring Spike back to life we ended up bringing him back as a tainted vessal for what we fear are several conduits of power, tainted or otherwise.”

“So what are we looking to fight against right now?” Zhaka asked crossing his arms. Just like everyone else present, he was dressed and suited for war.

“From what I can understand, and if Princess Twilight’s theory is correct, we are dealing with a being that has several forms of magic and power at its disposal,” Chief Thunderhooves said rubbing his chin.

“Do we have any idea what those sources might be aside from the Sickness?” Shifting Sands asked.

“With such a short notice I can’t be entirely sure. According to Dolorian and the ‘battle’ in Deerasian, I believe that Spike… that the creature also possesses remnant powers of Sombra, the Crystal Heart, and Discord since it is immune to his magic.”

“Didn’t you say that the monster is indeed my cousin?” Blueblood asked raising an eyebrow.

“True. But I refuse to call that thing by the name of my number one assistant anymore,” Twilight said firmly. “Anyways, we may also have to deal with my own powers, Celestia’s, and maybe even with changeling magic.”

“So our only real advantage is that the creature is but a mindless husk?” Ember asked.

“Not entirely, I’m afraid. According to Fluttershy and Shining Armor, that monster is guided by blind rage and hate, unable to form any form of rational thought. In all instances, it is a soulless, mindless husk. Its actions thus far prove them right. Except it does possess a soul… or at least a small fraction from which it draws a ‘focus’ of sorts. It would explain why it has only attacked places where we knew or was suspected of Faithful activity. Spike would’ve hunted them down with murderous zeal, and that’s why it has hunted them across the world.”

“But since it doesn’t have any sense of even the most basic signs of intelligence, it attacks everything and everyone near it without any kind of regard. We can only assume that this momentary instinctual ‘focus’ is due to the fact that the part of your Spike that may be inside that thing is the dominant part… for the moment,” Torch told.

An uncomfortable silence followed after their explanation.

“What could happen after there’s no more Faithful's or tainted?” Blood Talons asked while Sebastian stood at his side.

“That monster also spreads the Sickness everywhere it goes. How long will it take for it to take complete control over this new Horned King?” Creslin asked in a rhetoric manner while spitting venom with each word she said.

“It matters not! We won’t allow that to come,” Yog said taking by surprise everyone with his harsh, hateful tone. Not even Chrysalis or his fellow captains had ever heard him speak in such a way before. “That filthy creature of pain, death, destruction, corruption, and debauchery will be obliterated. The Lightbringer shall not be sullied any longer!”

Most in the room showed their agreement with a short nod or by voicing it. Or in Rutherford’s case by shouting it.

“Wait, what about the Elements of Harmony? It is possible that their power lies inside the monster, too?” Luna asked looking at Twilight. “Spike spent much time alongside the six of you and the Tree of Harmony, did he not?”

“Yes, but he was never directly in contact with their power as far as I know,” Twilight and the girls turned their gaze to the empty rebuilt seat of Spike at Twilight’s side. The top of it showcasing a single scroll with an ‘S’ in the center of the golden button keeping the scroll close. “Our strategy remains the same. All we have to do is be more cautious about its actions. Fighting it hand to hand is not a feasible option until we are able to weaken it.”

“He’s nearing.”

Twilight opened her eyes when she heard Ember speak. “How close is it?” She asked with her friends at her side.

“If he doesn’t slow down he’ll be here in about two minutes!” Ember said loud enough for Celestia and Luna, who had decided to join her sister in the sky, to hear her.

“This is it, everyone! You know what to do. Steady your hands and hearts, let us end this nightmare once and for all!” Luna shouted using her Royal Canterlot Voice. The entire army replied with different shouts of approval. Some cheered for Equestria, others for all of Equis, and others for Spike or ‘The Lightbringer’ in the case of the changelings.

Seconds that felt frozen in time passed. Everything was quiet now. The tamed monsters were still. The soldiers were silent and unmoving. The wind had stopped. The giant statue waited patiently. And the only thing everyone could hear was the rushed beating of their own hearts drumming away in their ears.

More than twenty-five thousand souls stood firm withstanding the almost unbearable wait before the fight.

To them, an eternity had passed until the silence was broken.

“... I… I LOST HIM!” Ember shouted in desperation. Frantically shaking her scepter. Instead of finding panic, Ember turned around when a hand touched her shoulder. She was greeted by the firm yet friendly face of Cadance, assuring her nothing was wrong.

“It’s coming,” Cadance reassured.

Ember nodded to the pink alicorn before taking a few steps forward to stand side by side with her father. She noticed Torch was ready for anything.

More seconds passed until everyone heard a distant roar. Nothing more than a whisper to their ears, yet it still managed to send a shiver up their spines, making their hearts beat faster.

The Mane six, Cadance, and Discord step closer to each other until they were able to lock their hands together as a chain.

A moment later something landed on top of the bait sending fumes of purple fire and mist all over the place, followed by a powerful tremor.

Needing no indications to start, several unicorns, changelings, and shamans began channeling their magic to create a barrier that wouldn’t let anything but air come in or out of it. Meanwhile, the units hold on their place, clutching their weapons tight. The leaders for their part moved to their positions, readying themselves to face such a tainted beast.

They heard as the monster roared without stop; screams of pain breaking through the roars every few seconds. They were unable to watch its actions as the cloud of fire and mist covered the monster and its latest victims.

Shining saw through the eyes of the statue how the cover of the creature dissipated revealing the maimed corpses of the treacherous leaders. He watched with morbid satisfaction how Orestes was still alive, unbound from the crux but held up by one of Spike’s monstrous hands with ease.

He smiled seeing Oreste's kick and wail while Spike stared at the gray pegasus with those lidless, empty glowing eyes. Only for a moment, Shining wondered if somehow Spike was able to recognize Orestes. He was pulled out of his thoughts, however, when it let out a deafening and terrifying roar that causes Orestes’s ears to bleed. He watched with a huge smile on his face as Spike used his other hand to tore Orestes’s genitals with a hateful pull. It then proceeded to impale Orestes by his guts with his sharp pointy tail for support. Then, Spike grabbed Orestes’s arms and extended them, but instead of ripping them, he pulled at them just enough to dislocate Orestes’s shoulders and then shoved the arms into his body. Spike then grabbed Orestes’s head, whom by some miracle was still alive (much to Shining Armor’s joy), following it up by retreating his tail only to slash through his gut. Orestes’s severed, twitching lower half fell to the ground with some of his vile and inner organs falling too before Spike tossed the upper half to the air.

Celestia watched the mangled body of Oreste's land in front of the statue then returned to the motionless monster about a hundred meters away in front of them. It let out another far more powerful roar that made her flinch. Looking up she saw the barrier was complete.She closed her eyes for a moment to focus her power, she lifted her flaming sword until she was pointing at the still roaring and stomping draconic abomination, and then her eyes snapped open shining with yellow light.

A beam of fire and magic emerged from her sword directly at the creature with blinding speed.

From Luna’s urga a dark blue yet shining beam of magic surged forward.

Blood Talons drew his twin swords, each engraved with runes of his ancestors, crossed them and then slashed at the creature sending an electric wave his way.

And Twilight and Chrysalis both joined their magic into a powerful beam.

The rest of the leaders who didn’t have means for range combat simply took guard while Discord snapped his fingers to reinforce the great shield all around the area.

“FIRE!” The echo of the captains of the Scaled Units was heard a moment before lighting strikes, a shower of magically enhanced arrows, overcharged magical beams and spells came down on the creature from all directions.

Everyone was able to hear the mighty roar of the creature come to a halt the moment the attacks of their leaders hit its hide, a cloud of dust and magic covered the creature entirely. The roar was replaced by one that was dripping with fury. Even so, no one stopped firing everything they got upon it.

Ember looked at her father and nodded. Torch roared signaling his fellow dragons and those within the Scaled Units to send a fire stream directly at the monstrosity.

The fire of the dragons cleared away the dust of dirt and magic covering the creature and letting them see in a multicolored blaze how it thrashed around trying to extinguish the flames and the plethora of attacks raining down upon it.

The colossal statue began to move forward seeing that the attacks so far were proving to be effective. Inside, Shining Armor stopped for a moment before stomping hard on the remains of Orestes. Just for good measure, he thought with a genuine smile on his lips while continuing his march against the creature.

Up in the sky, Celestia saw the monstrosity stop its trashing mere steps before Shining Armor could reach it. She frowned seeing it slump forward, and then her eyes went wide when an instant later the creature roared with an intensity that made the very ground tremble and a massive surge of purple mist to erupt as if it was a volcanic eruption that disrupted all attacks by shielding it within the mist.

She then saw it roar to the sky while its arms began to shake. Moments later she saw a white mist begin to emerge from the ground below it.

“Defensive positions!” Steeling herself, she shouted just as Shining Armor got close enough to it for him to deliver a devastating punch to the creature trying to squash him. Then her eyes went wide once more.

Twilight and her friends watched in disbelief how a white barrier was in between the statue’s fist and the monster they were trying to destroy. She also noticed that the white mist was spreading.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack said out loud.

“What the hay is that monster doing?” Rainbow Dash questioned while Rarity allowed a young phoenix to land on her shoulder, it shivering with fear.

“Peewee, are you alright darling?” Her answer came in the form of a soft whimpering chirp. With a quick look around Rarity saw almost every other creature brought for the battle was cowering.

“W-what?” Fluttershy murmured looking at Peewee. “A-are you certain?” Peewee chirped again. Fluttershy gulped before holding her husband’s paw tighter.

Glaring at the creature while Shining tried to squash it again with another punch, Discord noticed his wife’s hand gripping his lion paw. Without looking at her, he asked. “What’s wrong, Flutter?”

Fluttershy gulped, her hand trembling. “Peewee said--”

Before Fluttershy could answer further, the beast stopped roaring for two whole seconds.

Then it roared again, but something was different in this roar. The roar quickly morphed into something more akin to a screech, less powerful but equally, and maybe even more so, terrifying than its previous roars. That something was only a selected few had the immense misfortune to know exactly what it was.

*WHHHHHRRRRROOOOAAAAHHHHH*

“WINDIGO!” Someone shouted amongst the unit that had formed behind the statue.

Twilight saw how many of those Scales Guards, the elite of the elite, veterans of countless battles that had fought alongside Spike since his days playing as a General of Dainn had discarded their weapons and were curling up in fear; crying out in terror and pain as the screeching roar continued. Looking up, she saw how Soarin was trying to calm down some of his Battle-Brothers, also veterans from those dark Shadow Hunter days. She then felt an icy chill hug her body and was forced to look at the creature once more.

Luna gritted her teeth as she witnessed how Shining Armor retreated two steps while a swirling tornado of purple mist and white ice formed around the creature sending flying any upcoming arrows and dispersing every magical beam and spell. She then saw the creature take a step forward sending out a burst of icy mist that dispersed the fire coming from the dragons. The creature continued to screech and she saw ice solid stalagmites emerged from the ground around him and began to spread out quickly.

She also saw hundreds of icy spikes form from thin air around the creature. Her horn lit up and her eyes turned silver creating a barrier around the monster just in time to stop the first spikes launching forward in random directions.

Soon enough Twilight, Cadance, Celestia, and Chrysalis added their own barriers and magic to Luna’s to stop the attacks of the creature. A task that was difficult thanks to the added chilling fear the screeching brought to their very bones. All around them zebra and buffalo shamans were performing their rituals and their unique magic to destroy and repel the stalagmites.

“Heart Unit, now!” Blueblood commanded and every unicorn, changeling, and shamans forming his unit added their magic into a single concentrated blast of energy in the direction of the beast.

The statue took a knee and covered itself the moment the multiple barriers around the monster dropped and a moment later the massive blast hit the monster squarely.

A bright flash of light followed by a thunderous roar and cracking of raw magical power that extinguished the screeching of the creature and buzzed in the ears of everyone present made themselves known. It took them a few moments to come out of their haze and what they saw sent jubilant cheers out of the mouths of everyone. The creature stood in place, right arm missing along with half of its torso and face and no trace of ice anywhere.

Celestia zoomed in without wasting another second with her flaming sword ready to strike.

The creature looked at her with its single eye and once more screeched meeting her strike with a swing of his claws. The impact created a loud shockwave, one that sent Celestia flying back only to be captured by one of the statue’s hand and for the creature to lose its other arm in the process. She shot a stream of fire and magic through her sword again, but it was met by a stream of purple fire that consumed her attack. With a nasty glare, Celestia saw the missing parts of the creature regenerate in a matter of seconds while the mist protected it against the renewed attacks of her forces.

Celestia felt anger boil inside her upon seeing the icy spikes beginning to form once more. The statue released let go of her and she ended her attack, ducking in time to avoid the purple stream of fire. Upon landing, she prepared to fire another beam when two figured landed at her sides.

“Ready, Dad?” Ember asked, her entire body covered in the energy of the Scepter.

“Let’s end that abomination!” Torch shouted, his body also surrounded by the same energy as Ember. “The three of us at the same time, Celestia!”

Celestia merely gave a nod, focusing on feeding her sword more and more energy. She then noticed how the creature looked at them, it screeched again before sending out a thick stream of purple fire with white mist surrounding it.

The Princess of the Sun shouted at the top of her lungs soon accompanied by the powerful roars of Ember and Torch. Three streams of fire, blue, golden, and red-orange, surged forward to meet the purple and white stream. Before colliding with it, the three streams combined into one, the impact of the now multicolored stream and the purple with white one sent a loud shockwave throughout the field.

A smile spread across the three of them seeing their combined attack push back against the stream of the resurrected Spike until it hit reached the protective mist. Their combined stream burning right through the purple mist slowly until it made direct contact with its scales.

*WHHHHHRRRRROOOOAAAAHHHHH!*

The creature screeched in pain as fire engulfed it once more. The creature fell to the ground, hitting, clawing, and stomping on it trying to get rid off of the flames consuming it ruthlessly. Lightning bolts, several kinds of spells, magic bolts, arrows, fire streams from other dragons, and even javelins from the closing ranks of the Claw Unit began to shower the creature once more, the purple mist around it dimming down by the second.

“Keep going, brothers and sisters! The beast is almost defeated! For Equestria. For the Alliance. For Spike!” Soarin shouted from the skies.

“REAPER! LIGHTBRINGER! SPIKE!” The chants were loud and clear coming from everywhere and everyone on the battlefield.

Celestia watched the downed creature in the shape that was a cruel mockery of her son stir in pain, the screeches slowly changing back into roars as it continued to thrash around uncontrollably. Her gaze was stern when it was met by the eyes of the creature. She squinted her eyes just enough to see how the white mist emitting from his right eye began to die down but the red mist grew to replace it.

Before something else could happen, Shining Armor stepped closer once more, the attacks ceased, and this time there was no mist or barrier protecting the creature so Shining began to punch the still flaming monster over and over again dozens of times. Each hit drawing a short-lived roar before another punch wrecked its form, it also made the army cheer loudly for the demise of the monster and the end to the Caribou’s curse once and for all.

Shining Armor pulled back the statue’s right arm back as high as he could, then a bright, thick, powerful lavender aura surrounded the entire arm of the statue before it struck down the creature one final time. The punch was so ridiculously powerful that not only it did create a thunderous shock wave that made the ground tremble, but it also created a small crater from the impact.

Seconds passed as the dust cloud the last impact had stir up began to disperse. The cheering died down, all eyes focused on the crater and the statue waiting for the confirmation that the monster had been defeated.

Celestia took a couple of tentative steps flanked by Ember and Torch. With a flash of magic, Luna, Zhaka, Blood Talons, Sebastian, and Creslin appeared alongside them.

“Is the beast dead?” Zhaka asked eyeing the crater and the unmoving statue.

The answer came in the form of the ground below them beginning to tremble. The group was forced to stop to maintain their balance while they saw tendrils and sparks of red magic shoot out from within the crater. The red magic blasts began to increase in number and grow in intensity alongside the shaking ground.

Suddenly, it stopped as fast as it began. No one was sure what was happening or what was going to happen. Then, without any sense of warning, a powerful blast of pure red, sickening magic exploded from the crater creating a pillar of energy that destroyed the statue’s right arm all the way to the shoulder, shattering it into dust and sending the statue stumbling on the ground with a loud crash.

Celestia and her group then saw a hulking figure land about ten meters in front of them, it creating a small quake when it landed. Her eyes widened when a second later she recognized that the figure was the creature, but she noticed it was different. It was bigger, the arms, legs, horns, and tail were now longer and thicker, its torso, arms, and legs thick with bulging muscles, the scales were a tad bit darker, there was more of that purple mist coming out from its body, and the feeling of dread it's heavy aura projected was far more intense than when it had arrived. Only its head, eyes, and face remained the same.

The only other differences she could notice were that alongside the purple mist, red sparks of energy also emerged from its body.

“Zhu’l kar-iji, Koptaka zu hawarudo!”

Eyes turned to Zhaka in time to see a multitude of zebra markings glow all over his exposed body, armor, spear, and mane while his eyes turned black. A moment later he lunged forward against the creature so fast some believed he had just teleported.

The beast roared the moment Zhaka’s spear pierced through its chest scales, the tip of it digging deep into where the creature’s heart was supposed to be. Zhaka ducked avoiding a claw swing from the creature before pulling back his spear, struck its open maw driving the tip out the back of its head, then dodged an upcoming tail swing from the creature and another claw swing. Zhaka pulled back, rolled to the side, chanted something in his native tongue making his spear glow with a deep green aura, he rolled to the side dodging more of the beast’s attacks before skewering the abomination’s torso, abdomen, throat, and arms with an onslaught of lightning fast strikes of his spear; each strike spilling almost black, putrid goo from the quickly regenerating wounds and onto the ground that in turn turned into more mist instants later.

Despite Zhaka’s formidable efforts and outstanding speed, he wasn’t able to evade a sudden burst of red energy that knocked him back. He was caught by Blood Talons and Ember while he saw the creature pull his spear from its throat, the green glow diminished only to be replaced by a purple one; two seconds later the spear was reduced to ashes. Once they landed, Zhaka spits out some blood and they noticed that the statue was on its feet once more and near the beast.

The creature then lets out a powerful roar while more and more red tendrils of energy shoot out of his body. Shining Armor took this moment to stomp on the creature, he focused his magic around the entire right leg before bringing it down upon the monster.

Cadance had to suppress a gasp when she saw the further deformed creature stop the statue’s foot with its claws. Despite the distance, she was able to hear the cracking of the statue’s gem structure and saw the arms of the abomination bulge and triple their thickness before ripping the statue’s entire leg in a single pull. Not content with that, the creature then tossed the leg with strength enough to shatter it and the head of the statue upon impact. It then roared sending a blast of red energy against the remaining pieces of the statue. The statue shattered almost immediately after the blast hit it, thankfully she saw a lavender sphere descend before popping revealing her husband before landing at Luna’s side.

She then saw Celestia and those with her resume their assault. The monster roared in defiance and began to walk towards them. Each slow, dumb step of the creature creating a tremor and a short quake.

Looking down at the Crystal Heart resting on her hands, she saw the light coming out of it was dim. Cadance felt her heart ache with dread and fear upon seeing more fractures forming on the frame of the Heart. Worst of all, she could no longer feel the complete presence of the Heart itself.

“That thing destroyed the statue and is still standing after all those attacks…what in the name of our ancestors have we done?” Thunderhooves asked seeing the group of Celestia back away or split up to attack from different angles while the Scaled Units busy themselves to enclose a full circle around the monster. He also saw Shifting Sands and her personal guards, Blue Moon, a couple of Warladies, Rutherford, and Chrysalis arrive with Celestia’s group to add their own efforts to the fight.

The multitude of attacks had forced the beast to come to a halt but they weren’t doing any damage. The monster had a red sphere of magic protecting it from any attacks that managed to trespass the purple mist. Taking this chance, Rutherford, Blood Talons, Sebastian, Zhaka, the newly arrived Big Macintosh along with some of his best heavy hitters of the Crest Unit, Yog alongside his elite squad of the Claw Unit, and Shifting Sands moved to engage the barrier protecting the monster in melee. Discord’s protection proving effective by repealing the tainted and corrupted mist surrounding that horrid abomination.

“We were stupid and blinded, Thunderhooves, but our intention was good. I just hope that Spike and our people can forgive us for our shortsightedness.” Cadance said to the buffalo leader sitting on his spot. She knew Thunderhooves was no coward and would gladly join the battle if he had to, but his talent relied more as the Great Shaman of his people than the Brave Warrior he was more renowned for. He was doing all he could to strengthen the defenses of the army like every other shaman was, not their armor or bodies, but their minds and spirit.

Standing next to her sister, Luna frowned when the monster stopped roaring and the red magic barrier began to flare with excess energy. She knew what that energy was, and she was sure Celestia and perhaps a few others had deduced it by now. There was no way to deny that the red energy was the same as the Alicorn Amulet, the only difference she could notice was that the magic coming off of the monster was heavier and foul; tainting the already dark magic of the original Amulet further thanks to the caribou’s sickness no doubt.

Luna saw the right white lidless eye of the creature turn into blood red as it began to bend over with it facing down to the ground. She could see the creature opening its maw as more magical energy flared up all around him. There was a pulse of energy that pushed back all of those attacking the barrier head on. Most were caught in the air while others landed on the ground on their own.

With a guttural roar, the jaws of the creature snapped forcing the maw to open up way past any natural limit it could possibly possess.

“Don’t let up, keep attac--” The order from Big Macintosh died down the moment dozens of tentacles emerged from the purple mist driving back any charging attacker. He saw some of those tentacles sprung to the sky to take down the pegasi still dropping lightning strikes down on it. Some tentacles managed to disperse clouds the pegasi were using to hide and store the lightning while others were knocked back by the tentacles.

“Destroy this Caribou abominations!” Soarin shouted while he destroyed any tentacle he could get his sword and estoc on.

Suddenly, several white runes appeared out of thin air all around the creature. Any tentacle that made contact with them was destroyed, the runes were also forcing the purple mist to wither as more and more appeared. Big Macintosh watched how Creslin had her arms up straight, her hands stretched open, while she chanted in her tongue while the rune bracelets around her wrists, neck, waist, and antlers were shining brightly with that same white light.

“What is that thing doing now!?” Shifting Sands yelled with three of her bodyguards standing close to their Empress.

She had only voiced the concern of all those watching the creature attentively. It had raised, without even looking up, its left arm, claws ready to tear anything it got caught apart with ease, pointing directly at Creslin. Sparks and tendrils of red magic began to emerge from its arm, then a small sphere of red magic appeared in front of its palm. The sphere quickly grew until is was bigger than the palm and claws of the monster.

“SHIELDS UP!” Blueblood called.

Without even questioning it, Luna cast a shield around Creslin, Shifting Sands, and herself. She pumped all the magic power she could manage into the shield. With a quick glance at the side, she saw her sister and those who could do the same as her.

The telltale sound of a beam of magic being shot was all the warning they got before a thick and powerful beam of raw magic hit Luna’s shield making her fall to her knees from the sheer power of the creature’s beam threatening to shatter it. The overwhelming pressure of the beast’s attack was thankfully diminished as others added their shields to help her.

Meanwhile, with Creslin putting a halt to the tentacles and it focused on attacking a single target, the Scaled Units resumed their attack. Blueblood was taking the lead, covering his units until they recovered enough force to strike at the creature with another Mega Blast. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, the monster didn't seem to be faced by their combined attacks, and those that were able to hit it didn’t cause enough damage to stop him. Still, it proved enough to at least somewhat weaken his attack against Creslin.

Without warning, the monster stopped his attack and brought it’s arm down. Before Blueblood could wonder what it was doing, a torrent of purple and red fire, actual fire, spew out of its disturbingly wide open maw. The fire quickly snaked it’s way all around the creature as it was water, his magic casters were forced to create a barrier at their hooves to prevent the fire from washing them. Others either took to the sky or were saved by a flying unit. It spread at alarming rates, but what really caught Blueblood’s attention was that the stream of fire was becoming thinner by the moment. He also noticed that it was changing color to a more intense reddish one.

It wasn’t until the ‘fire stream’ was as thick as an adult pony’s arm that it now was the same color as the red magic, and the fire had been replaced by excess and focused magical power. The monster slowly brought it’s head up staring directly at Luna’s shield with his bright right red eye piercing through them.

Blueblood was speechless as he saw the ground below the creature, plus what the beam touched, had been superheated into glass. Which served for his jaw to drop even further when the beam collided against the combined shielding protecting Creslin. Random blood red bolts and waste magic beams shot out in every direction, some striking an unlucky soldier or flying off until it hit the giant barrier around the Trap Zone. The amount of power that thing displayed made him gulp and shudder in fear. He quickly slapped himself for letting that get to him.

“Attack!” He commanded before picking up a rock and throw it at the monster with an overcharged impulse. Soon after blasts of every kind were showering down upon the creature once more. He looked at his aunt Luna’s multitude of shields and saw one breaking apart after the other. That beam is too powerful! He thought as he shot another spell at the creature.

A yellow flash of light appeared next to him and he saw none other than Celestia standing next to him. Her mane and tail were on fire, her eyes were shining with an intense yellow light, and she looked like she was ready to explode.

“Blueblood!” Her voice commanded unshakable authority and a heaviness that he had only heard twice before. “Reinforce Luna and Creslin while I prepare a Solar Strike!”

Blueblood felt the blood in his veins turn ice cold and for a moment felt more fear towards his aunt than to the creature. He turned back to order those that had already recovered or had magic to spare to aid Luna, careful to shield themselves from the weaker but still dangerous residue beams shooting out everywhere. He then turned to Celestia again.

“I don’t think we can hold for thirteen minutes, aunt Celestia,” Blueblood said eyeing the monster in a deformed shape of his cousin Spike. “Not against that kind of power.”

“I know,” Celestia whispered. “That’s why I’m teleporting it right on top of that monster’s head.”

Blueblood felt the ground below him vanish for a moment and he forgot how to breathe.

“FORGET THE MEGA BLAST!” He shouted turning to his entire Unit. “Focus your magic on creating a shield around that monster on my signal!” Blueblood ordered before looking at his aunt once more. “How long?”

Celestia didn’t answer, instead, she focused on her task at hand.

Meanwhile, in space near the crown of the small yellow star orbiting around Equis, a tiny sphere appeared. Minuscule amounts of solar rays and plasma were starting to get drawn into the sphere; it, in turn, turning brighter and bigger by the second.

Back on the Trap Zone, Blueblood watched as his unicorns, shamans, and changelings were positioning themselves around the monster at a safe distance of two hundred meters to properly distribute the strength of their magical barrier once the command to form it was given. He gulped, unsure if it would be enough to contain a Solar Strike from Celestia. She had used the Solar Strike just a counted number of times during her life, he knew. It wasn’t hard at all for her to use them thanks to her direct link and connection with the Sun. The problem was that according to Celestia, a single use left her exhausted and spent for days, and the last time she had used one was from a time before Sombra. It was also extremely hard to plan around, given that it takes the strike twelve minutes and ten seconds to reach Equis, let alone pinpoint the position of the Sun itself, Equis, and the selected terrain. A true nightmare to calculate without days or weeks in advance for planning.

Blueblood shuddered. Despite that, the destructive power it held couldn’t be ignored. And he felt that in this case, it was more than justified to use one. The fact that Celestia said she would teleport the blast itself (he wasn’t entirely sure if she could actually do it) for it to be practically instantaneous only served to convince him it was necessary given the urgency of the matter. He was convinced this was most likely her ultimate last resort, even further than the Elements if all else failed. The Elements of Harmony, or Rainbow Powers as Twilight and her friends now called them, were going to be used until they could confirm that the monster was not immune or tolerant to it. There was no room to take any chances.

‘Better be sure than lucky.’ As Creslin had said. Though, he was hoping they could end the monster without resorting to their more drastic measures.

A mighty, enraged roar pulled him out of his thoughts. Blueblood shook his head before looking at the creature, wondering for a moment how it was possible it could roar while spitting out a beam pure concentrated magic at the same time. He watched the monster rise both of its hideous, oversized arms; one pointing to the showering lightning bolts from above, and the other pointing at a large group of unicorns and shamans aiding Luna’s shield. He felt a void in his stomach when spheres of red energy began to form in front of its palms.

Fifty meters or so behind Luna’s shield, the Bearers, Discord, and Cadance appeared in a flash of light. A second later Twilight and Cadance joined their magic and conjured another layer of protection for Luna’s group.

“Discord, Princess Celestia is going to use a Solar Strike! Can you contain the beams of that monster until she’s ready!?” Twilight asked while she focused more and more magic into her horn and onto the shield.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Discord snarled. “There’s too much of the Sickness taint around that thing, go figure, so my magic won’t be as strong but it’ll do the trick! I’ll see what Blueblood has in mind. Stay safe!” Discord then snapped his fingers and teleported away.

The other five mares had their weapons drawn while looking at the seemingly unstoppable creature continue to attack despite their best efforts. Just then a sharp but not painful chirping was heard and they looked up to see Philomena flying above them, behind her every phoenix that was brought to the fight followed suit. Without permission, Peewee took flight and joined the flock taking lead alongside Philomena.

“What the hay are they gonna do?” Applejack questioned before looking at Fluttershy for an answer.

“They’re going to create a fire barrier,” Fluttershy answered tugging at her bow’s string while she watched the phoenix flock spread in a perfect circle around a few meters above the monster before their bodies began to emit an intensely bright light.

Meanwhile, Blueblood watched the spheres of the monster were almost the same size of his hands; he could already see them shaking in preparation to fire despite the longer time it had taken them to form. Discord was at the ready to support the containment shield and by what he could gather so were the phoenixes; whether to contain the Solar Strike or the monster’s upcoming attacks he didn’t know.

He felt the void in his stomach diminish the moment he felt a warm light touch his very soul. Without really thinking it, he looked over to where his oldest aunt was and saw her shield, painted in the center with her own cutie mark, was shining brightly and soothingly. He didn’t bask for more than two seconds in that glorious light when he saw Celestia leap to the sky.

It was time.

“NOW!” Blueblood shouted at the top of his lungs. Immediately after, hundreds of unicorns, changelings, and shamans united their magic into a single form and created a translucid dome thirty meters wide around the monster; instantly cutting off the thin deadly beam attacking Luna and her group while at the same time stopping the two new beams of magic just in the nick of time. The pegasi, changelings, griffons, and thestrals stopped their actions from above while Discord wasted no time and with a snap of his fingers, the dome was reinforced with a field of pure chaos, which was then covered in a layer of fire and light from the phoenixes above. It took less than a second for the three barriers to meld into a transparent dome; one that was capable of withholding the monster… for the moment. Dragons stepped to the front where they could spreading their wings wide in an effort to provide their own kind of shielding for the army behind them.

Luna and the several groups aiding her dropped their shields, most of them now adding their efforts to the newest dome, and Luna dropped to a knee using her urga for support. She looked at the creature and smiled when she saw a yellow portal appear about three meters above its head.

Near the star of Equis, the small sphere Celestia had conjured to absorb the sun’s power for her Solar Strike shrank down until it was the size of a golf ball. Then the ball split in two and an intense, almost white yellow colored beam five meters wide shot out in direction of the planet Equis. It didn’t get to advance more than a few hundred thousand kilometers before a yellow portal slightly bigger than the beam itself opened up in front of it.

Luna was forced to half-close her eyes when a sudden yellowish almost white pillar of energy fell upon the creature; instantly the three beams were cut off and the roars of the monster were swallowed into that blazing inferno. The excess energy of the blast instantly expanded to every inch within the dome making it rattle and crack in several places. It lasted but few scarce seconds, yet to the onlookers, it felt like an eternity. The yellow portal closed, the remnant energy of the Solar Strike collapsed on itself creating an explosion that shook the ground and nearly shattered the protective dome.

Before the dome could completely fall, two yellow vortexes appeared inside it; absorbing any harmful residue and excess magic left in the area. It also cleared the scorched dust that was lingering about. The vortexes disappeared leaving behind a scene that caused Luna to gasp and stand up.

With wide open eyes, Luna didn’t want to believe what she was seeing: the monster was still standing. It was scorched, unmoving, with most of its body missing and what little remained was nothing but charred bones or something similar, and there was no fire or mist surrounding its body. Yet it was still alive. It was still staring at her with those white, soulless eyes and that incredibly heavy aura was still present. It hadn’t even dwindled. Looking closely, Luna noticed that the red mist emerging from the creature’s right eye was becoming smaller until it simply ceased to be.

*GGGRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAA!*

The monster’s sudden roar caught her by surprise, forcing her and everyone to cover their ears, but not as much as what was happening to it now.

Small bursts of purple mist began to regenerate its body almost instantly while it roared. The torso of the creature became wider, the arms thicker and longer, the horns once again grew a bit longer but not thicker, the crest turned blacker, thicker, and pointer all the way down to the tip of the tail, and finally a long, thick penis emerged from the beast’s crotch. The rest of the body remained the same, giving it a more abnormal and unnatural shape than before. It was only a matter of seconds before the body of the beast was completely reformed and ‘improved’, and then it stopped roaring.

Taking her hands off of her ears, Luna picked her urga up ready to fight the beast when it’s long, thick arms were once more covered by purple fire and mist. The monster took a step forward before it halted. It brought both hands to cover its face while bursts of green and purple magic erupted from its chest.

Not wanting to find out what was happening, Luna shot a silver beam of magic at the creature soon followed by a renewed onslaught of attacks coming from all directions. The beast was finally surrounded.

“Cadance, we need the Crystal Heart!” Luna shouted before turning back. She saw Creslin being aided by Shifting Sands while her three bodyguards stood guard, behind them she saw the Bearers and Cadance approaching. And she saw the Crystal Heart her niece was holding. “Oh no…”

“The Crystal Heart… I can’t feel it or hear it’s voice anymore…” Cadance said once she was in front of her aunt. The Princess of Love presented a fractured, pale gray Crystal Heart with little chunks of it already missing.

“What do we do now?” Shifting Sands asked from her position. “A Solar Strike wasn’t enough to destroy it.”

“No,” Creslin said with a rough voice, clearly tired. Yet everyone could feel the dripping hate in her voice. “But it has damaged it. We must continue until the Horned King is no more, no matter the cost!” Creslin punched the ground as she glared at the still unmoving creature.

“Creslin is right. We all came here knowing we might have to give our lives to stop that... thing,” Twilight spat. “We can’t give up now.” Steeling herself, Twilight moved forward. “Girls, it’s our turn to act,” she closed her eyes and she began to glow. Her friends nodded to each other and they too began to glow.

The six friends grabbed their hands forming a chain as their glow intensified. “For Spi--”

A monstrous, echoing snarl cut them off and all six of them looked at the creature.

Cadance gasped and took a step back in horror. On another side of the battlefield, Shining Armor’s mouth went agape.

The creature’s chest was now protected by a chunk of dark crystal while small equally black crystals began to emerge all over his body. The protective purple mist around it now had green mist mixed into it and the mist covering the beast’s arms had changed to an eery, repulsive green. It then roared again, though not as powerful as previous times.

It took Twilight a half a second to realize that her theory was correct and that they were now facing the remnant powers of Sombra. It took her the other half of that second to realize the creature that was parading around in a horrid mockery of her little brother’s body was looking directly at her.

“AAHHHHHHHH!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs at the same time she brought her hands to clutch her head tightly and fall to her knees.

“Twilight!” Her friends yelled as they rushed to help her.

“Twilight!” Cadance kneeled at her side and saw her sister-in-law was crying and she could see small fumes of green coming out of her eyes. “Twilight, it’s just an illusion! Fight it!”

“GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OOOOFF!” One of the saddle arabian bodyguards screamed as he tossed his armor aimlessly and rolled on the ground.

“The hunger… I’m so… hungry… please, kill me!” A mareling while she clenched her stomach tight a few meters to their right.

“NO! I am not your pet!”

“IT BURNS! IT BURNS!”

“Why have you left me?... WHY?”

“It’s over… the caribou won… it’s over…”

“I’ll do anything, please! D-Don’t… I don’t want to--NOOO!”

Luna watched as more and more fell prey to the illusions created by the monster’s dark influence. She bit her lip in frustration to the point she draws blood. Discarding her urga, Luna’s eyes shone white and entered the dream realm to expand her influence all over the battlefield.

Despite feeling the presence of her friends, sister-in-law, and now Luna in the back of her mind, the illusion she was in proved to be strong. She was back in the classroom for ‘Twilight-Cunt Time’ where she saw the ruined, brainwashed version of herself teaching her friends on how to be proper pets.

She knew it wasn’t real. She knew it was merely an illusion. But that didn’t make it any less painful for her to remember those dark days of her life.

“Fight on! Break free and rejoin the battle, brothers, and sisters all! Do not let that monster bring forth the Fall on Equis again!”

In that moment, Luna’s words made her see the real faces of her friends and family, of her students, of all the innocents that would suffer what they had to suffer if they failed. Fear and guilt were quickly replaced by disgust and then by anger and hate. The illusion shattered before her eyes and was replaced by one of Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, herself… and Spike. All seven of them spending a nice evening together. Their last evening.

Twilight opened her eyes and gasped for air, she didn’t hear her friends caring words. Her full attention was on the monster in front of her. The purple mist was once again protecting it as did the dark crystals and the reformed tentacles trying to counterattack. Its white eyes were fixed on her, so when she was pulled up and she glared back, it roared before hitting the ground with both fists creating several dark crystals all around it.

“You alright, Twilight?” Rainbow asked concerned.

“Just peachy,” Twilight wiped away her tears. “Cadance, can you protect Luna while she’s in her trance?”

Cadance nodded. “Leave her safety to me. Creslin, Shifting Sands, stay close to me,” she said before creating a small bubble shield around said, small group.

“Time to use the Rainbow Powers?” Pinkie asked digging her axe on the ground.

“Don’t!” The radiant but tired voice of Celestia called from above a moment before her landing near them. The pristine white princess fell to her knees with ragged breath, damp fur, unmoving mane and tail, and shield and sword laying at her side forgotten. “Not until we are sure that it will be destroyed,” Celestia said in between pants, struggling to keep herself conscious. Numerous rays of light surrounded Celestia before she looked up to see the phoenix flock giving their energy to revitalize her. “Thank you, dearest friends,” Celestia bowed her head to the flock as she rose to her hooves with the help of Applejack and Rarity.

The group of seven mares looked at the creature now waving its large arms around trying to protect itself while more and more dark crystals began to spread around the area. A particularly big one emerged twenty or so meters in front of them with the only difference that this one was covered in purple mist. There was a green gleam of light coming from it for a second before it began to crack and change shape. The seven mares opened their eyes in disbelief when the dark crystal took the shape of the Spike they remembered. Another gleam of green light shone and this time it was Spike himself inspecting his arms and touching his face. He then saw them and smiled widely, tears forming in his eyes.

“Twilight! Girls! Mom!” Spike yelled spreading his arms wide. “Cadance, is that you? It’s been so long since I last saw you guys!” He began to run towards the stunned group.

Twilight, her friends, Celestia, Cadance, Shifting Sands, Creslin, and many soldiers had tears in their eyes and huge, wide smiles. Most stopped their fighting or dropped their weapons, a couple of Followers even kneeled and started praying to the divine creators for their gift. But a group of certain mares was well beyond elated.

All except one.

“Spikey!” Rarity called moving forward to greet the coming drake, her vision partly blurry with tears, her arms stretched forward towards him. “Y-You’re back! Precious scales, I have miss--”

Her words died in her throat when an arrow flew past her head and embed itself straight into the chest of Spike. The purple dragon with light green underbelly, green spikes, and emerald colored eyes came to a halt three meters in front of Rarity and the rest of the group. He looked down at his chest to see the shaft of an arrow sticking out of his chest.

“W-Why, Fluttershy?” Spike asked with a trembling voice and wide open eyes. His hands shaking as he grasped the shaft.

Incredulous and shocked eyes turned to the yellow pegasus with a pink mane and found her staunch, serious face and glaring eyes while she drew another arrow with her right hand and one more with her right wing.

Before anyone could act, Fluttershy unleashed six more arrows in blinding fast succession; all of the arrows hitting their target. Two arrows hit Spike’s chest, another pierced through the back of his open maw, another hit him in between his eyes, another embedded itself on his throat, and the last one pierced all the way until the tip came out the back of his skull through his left eye.

Spike trembled for a moment, fell to his knees, a gleam of green magic dissipated leaving behind a body made entirely of dark crystal with deadly fangs, a piercing tail, sharp, deadly claws, and nothing more. It then shattered into a pile of shards.

“That was just another illusion: a trick by that monster!” Fluttershy yelled at her friends while she walked in front of the group. “What little of the real Spike there is it’s inside that thing!” Using an arrow, she pointed at the creature. “Everything else is fake!”

The monster roared almost like in defiance of the mare’s declaration and a short wave of purple mist erupted in all directions along with hundreds of tentacles. Most were destroyed by the combined, ceaseless attacks of the allied forces but some were able to touch the scattered dark crystals and they too began to morph.

With shouting orders of their leaders, captains, and other commanding officers, those attacking the monster stepped back to allow the members of the Claw and Crest units to form in front of them in defensive positions along with a few Warladies and Followers to support them. Changeling Mind-Mender were doing their best to help those affected by the illusions of the monster, but despite their’s and Luna’s efforts, more continued to fall.

Some of the morphing dark crystals were destroyed by the allied forces but dozens formed without a problem. Almost every dark crystal had morphed into the figure of a big, armed, angry caribou buck, yet here and there another Spike could be seen. The moment they formed, they attacked whatever was in front of them leaving behind more sprouting dark crystals that also began to morph. The first ones let out an angered warcry or in the case of the Spike shaped ones they roared before colliding with the Scaled Guards, most being shattered instantly while the few surviving ones were soon crowded and destroyed before they could do any damage. Dragons, ursas, minotaurs, buffalo braves, earth ponies, and zebra warriors proving the best suited for such a task.

Flying units not attacking the abomination were busying themselves with targeting dark crystals before they could finish morphing. Some shamans, changelings, and unicorns used their skills to stun, freeze, shatter, and snare the ever increasing numbers of charging dark crystal constructs.

It went on for minutes that felt like ages for the allied forces, but the increasing tide of dark constructs and those falling victim to illusions began to push them back, forcing them to contain them more and more. Still, they fought on bravely and surely, their leaders leading the example by shattering hordes of those constructs

Shifting Sands and her guards seemed to dance around the protective barrier of Cadance destroying any and all incoming constructs with their scimitars.

Celestia flew across the battlefield shattering the heads of any construct she could, especially those in the shape of her son, while the flock of phoenixes melted and shatter any construct fool enough to leap at Celestia.

The Bearers, all six united, moved with grace destroying constructs left and right. Twilight used regular magic pulses from her staff to push them off, while at the same time made constructs explode from within with a blast of magic. Pinkie sliced multiple constructs at a time with each swing of her axe. Applejack took down one after another with her bastard sword. Rainbow used her twin swords to carve her way through any construct foolish enough to get too close to her or her friends. Rarity, fighting with blind zeal and fury, dodged and moved quickly while her special diamond daggers cut through the constructs like they weren’t even there. And Fluttershy showered death upon them with arrows that never missed their target and a quiver that never depleted of arrows thanks to her husband’s doing.

Discord found his magic was doing little to nothing to the constructs, so he instead divided his efforts into bolstering the magical defense of the army, and provide a paw to Luna in the dream to increase her influence over the illusions.

Zhaka, Blood Talons, Sebastian, Rutherford, and Shining Armor formed a defensive perimeter that proved a death sentence to anything that came close to them. The white unicorn proving to be quite ferocious.

Torch, Ember, and a few of their own dragon soldiers busy themselves to provide an unstoppable and mighty bulwark that swept dozens of constructs at a time. More so with the power of the Scepter flowing within them.

Chrysalis was on her own, but thanks to her skill and her scythe she was cutting clean entire groups of charging enemies with each swing of her weapon. While her magic enhanced her attacks and allowed her to blast even more from range.

The monsters were unleashed upon the constructs, the few hydras, bugbears, and cragadiles wreak havoc upon the construct numbers, while the timberwolves, cockatrices, and orthos served to lay off some steam from the front units.

Hundreds of constructs were destroyed each second by the allied forces and yet more and more came crashing against their shields, spears, and swords. It didn’t take long for some of those attacking the creature to refocus their efforts against the growing tide of constructs pushing the army back. In turn, the mist surrounding the beast increased little by little and it soon began to take steps towards the Bearers.

“HOLD THE LINE! Don’t stop attacking that monster!” Big Macintosh shouted to his troops as he crushed another three with his spiked battle hammer. The red stallion knew that if the constructs managed to break their lines, or worse, get pass them, then they would be forced to fight individually; breaking the constant onslaught showering upon the blasted abomination in the center of it all and allowing it to move freely. To make matters worse, there were still many victims falling to the creature’s illusions despite the efforts of Luna, the shamans, and the Mind-Menders. “HOLD!” He shouted again while crushing another two constructs.

Twilight and the rest of the Bearers took full notice of the monster getting closer to them with each of its tremorous steps and rageful roaring. There was a flash of yellow light behind them that went largely unnoticed. Then, they saw the monster come to an abrupt halt before it let out a powerful roar and an eruption of green mist bursting out of his body. Twilight also made quick notice to see it was now looking past them as it began to drip green foam from its maw.

The Princess of Friendship sent a powerful burst of energy out of her staff shattering several constructs before she looked back to see what had angered the creature.

Her answer came in two ways at the same time. First, she felt a wave of warmth and tranquility that helped her concentrate better. And the second was the sight of her two nieces, Flurry Heart and Skyla, holding hands while they held the Crystal Heart Cadance had forgotten in the heat of the moment with their free hands. The Crystal Heart itself was shining bright with an intense shifting blue, green, and purple light.

“Flurry, Skyla!? What are you doing he--ARRGG!” Twilight asked before she had to return her focus to a new set of attacking constructs.

Aside from Twilight, almost no one noticed the arrival of the two young princesses of the Crystal Empire, not even their mother. Those that did couldn’t do much to stop whatever they were doing or move them away to safety.

The two twelve-year-old princesses were surrounded by a shimmering blue bubble before they were lifted off the ground. Once they were about three meters above ground, the bubble began to float towards the snarling, mad creature now destroying its own constructs with each loud, dumb step it took trying to get to them.

The Crystal Heart started to spin in front of the sisters, their faces not showing any sort of fear or doubt, just sadness. Tears began to trickle down their cheeks when their eyes began to shine with an intense white light while the Heart’s spinning increased in speed. They came to a halt above the Bearer’s group and both looked down.

“We’re sorry, auntie Twilight,” Skyla said with a sob. Her voice carrying over the noise of battle “We promised uncle Spike to help him if he ever needed us.”

“Uncle Spike called us to stop that thing,” Flurry sobbed. “He said only we could help him.”

“W-What are you talking about!?” Twilight asked back repealing a group of constructs back.

“Flurry, Skyla, get out of here right now!” Rainbow shouted.

“Darlings, get behind us, quick!” Rarity called.

The bubble around the young sisters grew in intensity and size, the border of it destroying any construct or shard that came in contact with it until it too swallowed the Bearers. “Uncle Spike and the Crystal Heart are protecting us. They need our help.” Skyla said again.

The six older mares were stunned by their declaration as they looked up at them.

“Aunties,” Flurry closed her eyes. “Uncle Spike told us the truth.”

“I know grandma Velvet is my mother, auntie Twilight,” Skyla confessed, further stunning the group. “But mom is my mommy, not grandma Velvet.”

“He told us… he told us he’s sorry for everything, aunties,” Flurry said. “And he told us to tell you that-”

“I love you all, girls.” Both sisters said in unison with Spike’s voice.

Before any of the six older mares could do or say anything, their vision was instantly blurry with tears as they saw the bubble expand and the Heart was now spinning faster than ever before.

The monster roared in defiance sending out a huge blast of purple mist and green magic before it took a great leap directly at the two young princesses.

Flurry Heart and Skyla shouted in unison as the Crystal Heart stopped spinning and shot a green, purple, and blue beam of pure energy that hit the monster in the chest.

The abomination was stopped and suspended in the air by the magic beam as it roared and thrashed angrily about. The dark crystals around its body began to shatter and the constructs below stopped before shattering into shards and then turning into less than dust. Cracks of blue and white light began to appear all over the creature’s scales while it did nothing more than roar in pain and fury; his body becoming brighter at brighter by the moment.

Twilight wiped away her tears to see the monster’s horrid face and saw the purple and green mist coming out from its left eye was diminishing quickly. When the mists were finally extinguished, a huge explosion of light accompanied by a roar of pure agony and pain rumbled everywhere in the Trap Zone at the same time.

And then, everything went silent.

Chapter 4 end.

Chapter 5: ...and everyone around you.

The light of the explosion died down soon after the maddening roar of the monster ended. Twilight and her friends were the first to recover their sight, all six of them looking for the beast. They soon found a pile of dark purple crystals large enough to bury at least a dozen minotaurs, with the center big enough to cover two of them stacked together from hooves to horns without any problems.

Looking around, the Princess of Friendship saw her two nieces laying on the ground not too far away from them. The six mares got up and ran towards the fallen fillies.

"Flurry, Skyla!" Twilight called their names as she knelt at their side. She saw the two of them were holding hands while shards of the Crystal Heart lay below. Twilight and her friends called the names of the fillies again, this time the two sisters opened their eyes making Twilight sigh in relief.

"What the hay were you two thinking!?" Rainbow Dash bellowed. "You shouldn't be here, squirts!"

"S-Sorry, auntie Dash, but uncle Spike asked us to help," Skyla replied as Fluttershy and Pinkie helped her and her sister up.

"S-Spike? My Precious Scales?" Rarity asked no-one in particular. "H-he's alive?"

Flurry shook her head. "We're sorry, auntie Rarity, uncle Spike was living inside the Crystal Heart and made us promise to not tell anyone, not even mommy," the alicorn answered.

A flash of light appeared behind them before a pink alicorn hugged the sisters close.

"M-My babies! My sweet babies!" Cadance said out loud while nuzzling her daughters, tears running down her cheeks. Skyla and Flurry returned the affection with tears forming in their own eyes. "You two have a lot of explaining to do later, little misses!"

Twilight smiled seeing the display for several seconds until she turned to see the pile of dark purple crystals about twenty or so meters in front of her. Looking around she saw soldiers, followers, Warladies, Scaled Guards, and allied forces begin to stand up or come out of the shock the explosion of light caused on all of them. She took a step forward with her friends close by and frowned.

"Can yah feel it, Twi?" Applejack asked standing at her left side.

"Yes, I can feel it, Applejack," Twilight gripped her staff. "This isn't over yet," she said loud enough for her nieces, her sister-in-law, and the soldiers close by to hear her.

"Damn monstrosity, how many lives does it have still!?" Creslin said nearby as she walked over to the group of friends, aided by Shifting Sands and Luna.

Soarin and Yog landed nearby Cadance and her daughters moments before Celestia did, the solar princess surrounded by the Phoenix Squad. Discord appeared next to Fluttershy alongside Blueblood, Big Macintosh, Blood Talons, Sebastian, and Zhaka. Most of the now present had visible injuries; Soarin, Zhaka, and Blood Talons being the most visibly damaged with many wounds, some still bleeding.

"You two are crazy, you know that, right?" Chrysalis said to the young sisters after appearing next to Cadance alongside Shining Armor, who joined his wife in the embrace of their daughters, while the changeling queen held her scythe steady and firm. "How can that thing still be alive after all that?" She asked looking at Twilight.

"I have no idea if I'm being honest. My theory was correct, but how it functions is still up for debate," she charged up her staff. "And we still don't know what else that thing has in store for us."

"Shouldn't we resume the attack?" Chief Thunderhooves asked as he approached the group of leaders followed by some of his shamans, Blue Moon tending to his injured right arm, Rutherford, and the Dragon Lord plus her father, Torch.

"I already am," Twilight replied staring at the pile of crystals. "That thing is still alive and is doing something, I can feel it, what exactly I don't know, but I'm keeping an eye on it," a purple sphere of magic appeared around the entire pile. "And trying to suppress it for the moment."

"That's good and all, but why aren't we attacking that monster instead?" Torch asked crossing his arms.

"You saw what that monster is capable of, Torch. We were barely able to hold it back time and time again, our plans to wear it down didn't work as we hoped, but I can tell we have been 'peeling' away from its strength with each of its transformations," Luna said with some difficulty, she had used too much of her magic and energy in maintaining the shield from its third form and them almost immediately having to combat thousands of illusions and nightmares at the same time, each with brutal intensity. Even with the help of Discord, changeling Mind-Menders, and shamans it had been an excruciatingly hard task even for her. "Now that we have this moment of respite, we must plan what to do."

"I'll gather every still able to fight Scaled Guard--" Blueblood was interrupted when the ground itself began to tremble. "So much for that respite, aunt Luna," he said with venom in his voice, his hands gripping the hilts of his sword tightly, as he turned to face the pile of crystals in the same way everyone else present did.

The trembling continued for several seconds making everyone stand up at attention and ready themselves for anything. Twilight's eyes went wide the moment the trembles stopped and her barrier was shattered as if wasn't even there. Everyone then felt a sudden and overwhelming heavy aura erupt from within the pile of purple crystals, most were taken aback while others felt their hearts race fast and hard, fear and fright running in their veins in the presence of such dark power.

Celestia, frowning and gripping her sword tightly, stepped in front of the entire group in time to see the crystals melting away into a disgusting a fuming dark purple slime. She gritted her teeth remembering it was the same kind of slime she had seen before back in the Crystal Empire.

All those looking couldn't help but gasp in horror as the purple slime began to move on itself, forming an amalgam with no coherent or functional shape or form, constantly creating short-lived shapes of arms, legs, heads, and abominable, deformed bodies all over its surface whilst it let out screams, moans, and grunts of both pleasure and agony.

"Behold, the true face of the Sickness," Creslin said astonished at the sight before her.

No one cared or noticed how long it lasted, but as time went on, the slime began to consolidate and take a more unique, solid form.

The unmistakable shape of a caribou.

Many that knew him or had seen him could've sworn it was Dainn, just twice as big. Upon closer look, it was more than obvious that, while baring an extraordinary resemblance, this was another caribou. He had great, proud antlers; and had a set of two large horns growing from each side of his forehead in a similar manner of the monster they had seen before, with the difference these horns were larger, thicker, and darker. The caribou held a permanent smile on his muzzle, had an almost grotesque torso and thick arms filled to the brim with bulging muscles, his stomach showcasing a proud ten-pack.

His legs were also thick and powerful with muscles and his cloven hooves were large enough to squash the head of a pony as if it was a watermelon. In between his legs were two large testicles and a twenty-five-inch long penis; thick with veins and fully erect. The fur and skin of the caribou were completely purple, just like the slime, with some of it dripping thick globs onto the ground. But what remained unchanged were the two lidless, wide open, white eyes.

"I-Is that...?" Shifting Sands asked as she trembled in fear at the sight of the near four-meter tall monstrosity before her.

"Yes. That's the Horned King," Creslin said not with fear but with undying hate and revulsion.

Before their very eyes, however, the monster began to change shape again. It started to shrink down, changed fur and skin for scales, a large, thick, deadly tail grew behind him, the antlers turned into a sharp, pointy crest, his fingers turned slimmer and slightly larger with sharp, deadly claws growing from the tip, too. His teeth became fangs, his muscles died down enough to not be overly grotesque or borderline deformed, his cloven hooves turned into feet along with toes and their own set of claws. His ears turned to fins, and finally, he began to spew purple mist from his mouth with each breath he took. The only things that didn't change were the set of horns, the ever-smiling maw, the wide, white, lidless eyes, and the permanent erection now in the shape of a dragon phallus.

In a matter of seconds, the form of Spike Solaris, minus the extreme deformities, was presented in front of them once more. Unmoving, unfaced, unblinking.

Suddenly and without any warning, the monster let out a powerful roar as he looked directly at the group in front of it followed by a wave of dark, tainted power that made their blood freeze. Its horns lit with purple fire alongside its arms. Another roar followed, this time as the monster looked at the skies above. It spread its arms wide for a few moments before abruptly dropping on all fours and it began to vomit a thick, putrid glob of purple slime on the ground. Once done, it stood up again doing so with unnatural movements.

A sphere of light and magic suddenly came to life above the gathered group of leaders.

The six mares inside the sphere looked down at the monster that was now staring directly at them with those white voids it had for eyes. Six magical beams of different colors were shot directly at the monster from the sphere itself. The beams hit their target in a small explosion of light, followed by the cheering and shouting curses of victory from the thousands of onlookers; cheers that died the moment they saw what had really happened.

The monster stood still as the beams of magic had been stopped by a lavender barrier in the shape of a six-pointed star that surrounded the beast. The sphere of magic surrounded the six mares suspended in the air vanished a few moments later after the beams collapsed. The mares were astonished at what had just happened and how the still very visible barrier around the wretched monster represented. With a flicker from the barrier, it disappeared before the cutie mark of Twilight Sparkle herself appeared in the middle of the monster's forehead.

What followed was even worse as Celestia's cutie mark appeared on the stomach of the beast, and finally the Crystal Heart itself; broken, fractured, and grey, appeared on its chest with a visible green flame trapped in the very center of that broken version of the Crystal Heart.

The monster simply roared once more creating a golden barrier around itself for a few seconds before breathing out a stream of green fire down at the moving amalgam of purple slime. The flames were consumed by the slime and then it stopped moving. After a few seconds, the slime began to expand and divide itself into at least a dozen and a half parts.

A sudden bolt of magic clashed against an invisible golden barrier before the combined cries of thousands were heard and the onslaught of attacks rained down upon the creature once more: arrows, spears, bolts, lightning bolts, magical bolts and beams, spells of any and all kinds, zebra shamas summoning vines that burned upon contact with the barrier, dragon breathing streams of fire or spitting fireballs, changelings and unicorns picking up rocks and throwing them at the creature with their magic. Every attack was halted or bounced off when it hit the golden barrier, making it shimmer and appear for just a fraction of a second each time.

"What in the name of all that is holy is that monster!?" Blueblood managed to shout, not wanting to believe what he was seeing.

" 'And so my will is eternal and undying. For I am The Horned King. This world shall be mine and those lowly cunts across the sea shall taste the fierce power of my cock. Females are the damnation of us all, and so it is my destiny to rule and tame those beings that are less than animals. For I am The Horned King; savior and God of Male-Kind. All shall bow before me and do as I command following my ideals and example, for they are right, just, and represent the ultimate truth that is Male Superiority.' " Creslin said spitting venom with each word. All of those that heard her knew that declaration by heart. It was carved in every damn household and tome brought from Hraljord and in Hraljord itself. The last recorded moment before the Horned King managed to create 'The Sickness', 'The Corruption', 'The Dark Taint', 'The Enslaving Dark Vision', and many other names it had gained over the years.

The monster roared in defiance to the skies.

"Our Rainbow Powers didn't affect him, Twilight! What the hay was that!?" Rainbow Dash asked now that the six friends were out of their shock and were once more on the ground.

"It is as I feared, then. That monster also has part of my powers and Celestia's, our Rainbow Powers didn't affect him because they sense me in it, and they can't harm me... The Element of Magic." Twilight said glaring at the creature. "The bond between Spike and Celestia is also present, and maybe what little remains of the Crystal Heart, too. At least I don't think there's changeling magic involved."

"How can such a creature be allowed to exist?" Ember asked out loud, also glaring at the creature as she snorted her amethyst-colored fire through her nostrils. "Enough of this," Ember spread her wings and leaped until she was at Celestia's side, the alabaster alicorn looking at the creature with hate and grief at the same time. "SPIKE THE DRAGON!" Ember roared the same as loud as she could. She raised her scepter above her head, a moment later the gem nestled on top of it began to glow intensely. "As your Dragon Lord, I command you to KNEEL!" She shouted as she brought the scepter down.

Impossibly, the monster trembled on the spot for a moment before dropping to a knee. The monster roared in defiance as it stood up once more, looking straight at Ember.

Ember glared at the creature. "I SAID 'KNEEL!'"

Once more the monster dropped to a knee but quickly recovered as it roared in defiance. This time the golden barrier around him started to crack and a few attacks managed to get through it, hitting the monster clean.

Ember took a step forward, her scepter shining brighter than ever. "KNEEL!" She commanded once more.

The monster dropped once more to a knee but this time it didn't only roar back in rage, it stood up and following his latest roar with another one, a brutal burst of green fire exploded from its maw. The golden barrier around it shattered as a powerful shockwave and a layer of green fire pushed back every and all attacks.

Ember was forced to use her wings to protect herself from the counterattack of the beast. Once the shockwave and the veil of fire had passed, she stood proudly once more and raised her scepter again. "I COMMAND YOU TO KN--EERGL!?" She was taken aback when she saw the monster stretch its right arm at her with an open hand just before the Bloodstone Scepter left her grasp in a burst of green fire and reappeared in the grasp of the monster.

The creature roared, enraged, before tossing the scepter to the side with all the force it could muster. It took only a couple of seconds for the scepter to reach the barrier surrounding the Trap Zone. Upon impact, a great shockwave was created followed by that section of the barrier being heavily fractured but not shattered; the overflowing magic of the unicorns, changelings, and shamas working to maintain the barrier made itself present and the damage was fixed almost instantly after.

Ember looked back at the monster and saw it looking directly at her with those white orbs and that perpetual, horrific smile it had. Hers and everyone's eyes went wide, however, when the up until now forgotten globs of slime began to take a solid form.

The first one to take form was that of an old enemy of Equestria and the hated demon Luna had once allowed to take over her body with the false promise of being loved as her sister. Nightmare Moon was now standing in once more, completely nude with a collar around her neck.

The second one took the form of Discord himself sporting also an ever permanent erection. A third sludge took the form of Celestia in the same condition as the Nightmare Moon lookalike. A fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh took the form of the Element Bearers and that of Princess Cadance and Luna. Another one took the form of Tirek. Another one turned into Sombra. One more turned into Chrysalis. Two more turned into Shining Armor and into a Windigo. Another one turned into Dainn. And lastly, the remaining four globs turned into Pokey Pierce, Caramel Honey Apple, Bulk Biceps, and Thunderlane.

All females lookalikes were nude, the same way as the males, but all had collars around their necks and had overly large breasts, while the males had painfully hard erections. The males, minus Discord, looked mostly normal but they still possessed more muscles all over their bodies. Aside from those differences, all the lookalikes shared the same dark purple exterior with vague, empty white eyes, and disturbing smiles. All of them were standing in front of their creator, unmoving and unblinking just like their master.

"That damn fucking monster!" Soarin cursed with all his might upon seeing the lookalikes, especially of the last four.

The creature roared weakly, almost as it was laughing before the lookalikes sprinted over at the group of leaders in front of them; screaming and spewing purple mist from their mouths as they charged.

"DON'T LET THEM TOUCH YOU!" Discord shouted, snapping his fingers to reinforce his protection on all of the present. "THEY CARRY THE TAINT!" He warned once more before a complete set of armor appeared on him and a candy cane mace on his left arm and a porcupine shield on his right. With another snap of his fingers, the Bloodstone Scepter appeared back in Ember's claws. He then charged against his own lookalike and smashed its head with his mace, but the copy didn't stop, it, in turn, started to lash and hack at Discord.

Blood Talons, Sebastian, Zhaka, and Thunderhooves engaged the copies of Tirek, Luna, and Cadance. Shifting Sands and Creslin engaged the copy of Dainn while Rutherford engaged the copy of the Windigo. Luna had shouted using her Royal Canterlot Voice upon engaging the Nightmare Moon copy with ravenous zeal. Blueblood was engaging the copy of Pokey, Soarin the copy of Thunderlane, Yog the copy of Bulk Biceps, and Big Macintosh the copy of his cousin, Caramel.

Chrysalis was busy engaging her own copy with Celestia doing the same with hers. The Element Bearers were also facing their own copies. Shining and Cadance were tackling on the copy of Sombra while their daughters stood back while they disrupted the copy of Shining Armor, trying to help Blue Moon and a maniacally laughing Grim Night as they fought it head-on.

Meanwhile, the rest of the army resumed their attack upon the monster, interrupting it and bringing it down to the ground as it prepared to join the fray along with the copies it had created. It roared in rage, taking slow, heavy steps towards the battle while the golden barrier protected it. The army began to move in closer to the center now that the monster wasn't attacking them with any sort of beams, mist, fire, tentacles, or constructs of any sort.

The leaders were busy fighting against the copies to do anything else. The constructs weren't as tough as they feared, but they regenerated all damage almost instantly and didn't seem to tire. Their greatest advantage was perhaps the fact that they didn't attack in any other way than melee, but that also put them at a disadvantage as they spread the Corruption and a single blow would mean more than the defeat for each of them.

Twilight pushed her copy away, a dark reminder of what she was forced to turn into during the Fall, a memory that filled with rage and hate to her very core. Her eyes were shining with pure magic as she used her scepter to trap her copy in a bubble of magic, but the construct began to hit it repeatedly causing cracks on it with every hit. She then tossed the copy to the ground breaking it into several pieces. Not a second later the pieces amassed themselves back together and thus charged once more. She let out a loud grunt as she used her magic to push back her copy once more, it desperately trying to reach her. She once again trapped her copy in a bubble shield and looked around.

Fluttershy had her copy mostly under control as she laid arrow after arrow upon it, all of them magically enhanced and proving to be effective against the copy. Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie were supporting each other as they hacked, slashed, and pummeled their copies relentlessly.

Up in the skies, she could see Rainbow, Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis, Soarin, Yog, and Discord were engaged in personal dogfights against the copies; moving and shifting quickly to avoid them while at the same time attacking them.

To her left, she saw Creslin and Shifting Sands, alongside the bodyguards of the Empress, trying their best to vanquish the copy of Dainn. Blueblood and Big Macintosh were shouting and screaming as they fought the copies of Caramel and Pokey. Rutherford was pummeling down the copy of the wretched Windigo.

To her right, Zhaka, Thunderhooves, Blood Talons, and Sebastian were busy with the copies of Tirek, Luna, and Cadance, the first two holding off the Tirek lookalike. Shining Armor and Cadance were in total control of their battle against the construct of Sombra, but were unable to finish it as it just kept regenerating. Behind her, Blue Moon and Grim Night were holding the copy of her brother back while Flurry and Skyla did their best to aid them with protective shields and magic beams of their own.

Twilight grunted, feeling her latest barrier begin to shatter. She looked at the beast, jaws pressed tight in disgust. At least we have its attention, she mused with sarcasm. She snorted, pushing her copy back as the barrier shattered. These things may not be able to do magic, thankfully, and are as brain-dead as their master, but magic and spells don't work on them. We don't know how to kill them, so far we can only hold them back or contain them for a time, at this rate exhaustion will be our downfall, she thought, angrily casting a glare at the monster slowly making their way towards them. And we still have to find a way to deal with that abomination once and for all! Twilight shouted with everything she could muster as her copy tried once more to reach her.

Twilight prepared to push back her copy once more when it was suddenly engulfed in fire. Her copy stopped and began to thrash on the ground in apparent pain. Taking a step back in confusion, Twilight saw Lord Ember land nearby before breathing out another thick stream of fire at the abominable lookalike, until, finally, it broke down and dissipated into mist. Acting quickly, Twilight used her magic to push back the mist as it faded away quickly. A pained roar caught her attention and saw the monster stop for a moment as it roared in mindless anger.

"Dragons, hear your Dragon Lord! Attack these Tartarus spawned monstrosities with your fire and your ire!" Ember commanded several roars were heard and dragons, both those that had come with her and her father and those from the Scaled Guards, began to aid the leaders against the copies.

One by one the copies began to fall, each one causing the creature to roar in pain as the golden barrier around it weakened. When the last copy, the one of Chrysalis, finally fell, the monster hit the ground creating a crater and a slight tremor before he pointed his horns directly at Twilight and her friends. The fire on its arms, horns, and maw began to split into several tendrils, forming into a ball of purple energy the size of his own head in front of its horns. The monster roared madly; a roar filled with hate, anger, pain, and agony.

Twilight created a barrier around her and her friends a moment before the monster launched the ball of energy it had created. Traveling faster than a speeding pegasus, the ball of energy would've made contact with her shield it not for Celestia appearing in front of them at the last moment. The Solar Princess stopped the ball of energy with her shield before tossing it upwards. It took but a couple of seconds for the ball to reach the barrier, creating a massive explosion that tossed many away or made them fall to the ground from the sheer force of it. The barrier, again, withstood the impact and regenerated, but the shock of the impact made several of their caretakers faint or collapse on the spot.

The monster roared once more as it created another ball of energy, this time three times bigger. Many of the now free leaders that had ranged attacks added their efforts in attacking the monster, cracking its barrier more and more in an attempt to make it stop. Before the barrier could be completely shattered the monster launched its attack, and once more it was stopped by Celestia, but now aided by Twilight, Luna, Flurry Heart, and Skyla, the young sisters adding their magic to their aunt's shield from the ground below. Instead of bouncing the attack again, Celestia teleported her shield alongside the attack out of sight. Several moments later a massive explosion was could be seen high above and beyond the clouds themselves; the shield and the sphere had been sent into orbit where no damage could be done.

The monster in Spike's form roared, pointing its horns for another attack but before the energy could even begin to gather, the golden barrier around was shattered. Seeing his chance, Torch fell upon the monster, delivering a devastating punch to its face and sending it stumbling at least ten meters back. Torch looked at his fist surrounded by white runes, courtesy of Creslin, that did the promised job of protecting him from the corruption.

The monster brought itself up again, ready to attack whatever was on its way when a multitude of fire streams hit him from all directions plus hundreds of attacks coming from the army that had gathered with no other objective than to see its demise. Flashes of golden magic erupted all over its body as each attack hit home, it roaring in never-ending fury and pain. In the midst of the attack, the creature curled itself for several moments until a powerful wave of dark energy, purple mist, fire, and a deafening roar pushed back all attacks and extinguished every flame other than its own. The pegasi, griffons, thestrals, and changelings above were scattered at the force of the attack, most of their clouds destroyed, while those on the ground were forced to crouch in order to stay put.

Celestia stared at the monster and her eyes widened when she saw her cutie mark vanish from the beast's stomach. Once it was completely gone, a golden aura surged through its body before it died out. She heard a mighty warcry and saw Rutherford charge with all his might at the monster, it seemed he had also noticed it and he was not the only one.

The monster saw the mighty yak charge at it. Roaring like the mad beast it was, the creature charged at Rutherford. Not even two steps after initiating the charge, the creature was sent to the ground by another bone crushing punch from Torch straight on the back of its head. The head of the beast hanged loosely for a moment before its neck regenerated in time for Rutherford to hit the monster in the gut with his spiked warhammer. The impact created a small shockwave, the warhammer breaking in the process, but sending the beast back and onto the dirt.

Splitting its back in half, the legs took a solid stance before the upper body joined it a moment later. Before the monster could do something more, a blast of amethyst fire exploded on its face before it was sent flying by a toss from Ember. Once in the air, several white runes appeared around it, holding it in place, while at the same time diminishing the fire spewing out of its horns, arms, and maw. With Creslin's hold, Blood Talons used this chance to strike it with his twin swords, the creature roared as waves of electricity crashed against it with each slash of the griffon king's swords. The monster roared in anger once more followed by a wave of green fire that destroyed the runes holding it in place. Sadly, it was too late to stop Sebastian from impaling it from the back.

The griffon general used his momentum to start spinning like a barrel for several moments before letting go of his spear and sending the monster crashing down to the ground. The monster didn't have the chance to react before Thunderhooves summoned a spirit lighting from his hands, hitting it wide open. The monster managed to stand up once more only to be attacked by Zhaka, in the same manner, he had done before. The lightning-fast attacks of the zebra proved to be too much for the monster to handle... for a time. The monster suddenly grabbed the spear of Zhaka, but unlike last time, the zebra was prepared and let go of the spear at the same time he ducked to allow Shifting Sands the opening she needed to cut off both of its arms in a swift maneuver.

The Empress watched as the arms of the monster latched themselves back to where they belonged almost as fast as she had dismembered them. It wasn't fast enough for the monster to do anything about a pegasus and a changeling diving down on it as they slashed and hacked with relentless abandon, creating injuries with their magic enhanced weapons faster than the monster could regenerate. A hateful roar from the beast pushed Soarin and Yog back, but Blueblood and Big Macintosh joined the fray: the former splitting in half the monster at torso height while the latter mauled its head into a pulp with his giant spiked mace.

The four captains of the Spike Scaled Units moved back to allow Shining Armor to land on top of the beast, crushing its upper half with his protective magical sphere. Cadance showed up next, her lance imbued with her magic, impaling both parts of the monster before they were set on fire by a blue flame. The monster roared in agonizing pain before the two halves managed to reconnect. Cadance tossed it away and Shining Armor slammed against it from below, sending it up high for the second time.

Once in the air, Rainbow Dash tackled it at supersonic speeds, creating a Sonic Rainboom just at the moment of the clash, sending the monster crashing to the ground in a loud and powerful impact that managed to create a crater at the epicenter. The monster roared once more, this time sounding weaker than any previous one before a pillar of green fire erupted from the crater. It ran out of the crater with murderous rage but was almost immediately stopped by the axe of Pinkie Pie as she slashed its legs off. The monster's legs reattached themselves a moment later with it turning to face the pink mare. It opened its maw ready to roar but a magically enhanced lasso grabbed its lower jaw, and with a mighty pull from Applejack, it was ripped off alongside much of its throat, leaving its tongue hanging freely.

The attention of the monster turned to face the farm mare while it regenerated, it took a single step forward when five arrows impaled themselves on the place a heart should be. Looking up it saw Fluttershy in time for two arrows to pierce its eyes, followed by a shower of arrows that skewered the monster without mercy. With its jaw back, the monster roared as purple fire surrounded it incinerating the arrows and aiding its regeneration. It then aimed its horns directly at Fluttershy creating a small sphere of energy before a pure beam of magic snapped its left horn, breaking up the gathering process, and forcing the small sphere of energy to explode on its face.

Once the mist was gone, Skyla and Flurry watched as half of the monster was obliterated but it was quickly regenerating despite their effort. An effort that was not wasted by Twilight. The lavender alicorn focused her magic on her staff, her eyes burning bright with magic. Instead of attacking the monster directly, Twilight created two spheres of magic; one in front and the other at the back of the creature. The monster was mostly regenerated by the time Twilight made the orbs detonate at the same time, the combined shockwaves of the explosions smashing the body of the monster practically into mush.

The monster was then covered by a thick mantle of purple fire as it regenerated. The monster tried to roar while its body recomposed itself, but it was halted as two things pierced its chest. The first belonging to the scythe of Chrysalis in the front, while from the back the urga of Luna was impaled. The two of them then pulled their weapons at opposing sides, splitting the monster in two once more. A set of purple tentacles tried to attack Luna and Chrysalis, but they dodged the attacks while another form approached the monster fast, cutting through the tentacles like a gardener would cut weed. It didn't take long for Rarity to reach the monster, it was battered and trying to regenerate once more; she glared death upon the creature, eyes filled with tears, before using her speed and momentum to slash the throat of the monster, practically beheading it clean off with her enchanted diamond daggers. She moved away quickly dodging a single tentacle, thankful that Discord's protection allowed her to get that close for a short time.

The monster stood up once more, battered, mauled, and with almost its entire body regenerating from the constant onslaught it had suffered. It roared as best as it could, and although the sound that came out was akin to wheezing and screeching, it was still filled with the same hate, fury, and agony all its previous roars were. The abomination stood up once more before it was tackled by a golden streak.

The monster hit the ground, hard, before a flaming sword was impaled in its chest making it roar back in pain.

Celestia glared at the creature below her before driving her sword deeper. The effect was instantaneous with golden fire erupting from every orifice of the monster, even the ever white eyes were consumed and replaced by two pyres of golden fire. The monster thrashed around, unable to properly fight back against her. That is until the face of the monster began to change before her.

"M-Mommy! It hurts! Why are you hurting me, mommy!?" A young Spike, no older than eight, asked her as he was crying, his face contorted by pure pain, and imploring for mercy with his green emerald eyes.

Celestia's glare intensified, her expression turned downright demonic, she bared her teeth, her eyes lit up with a yellow light, her mane and tail turned into flames, and even her armor hissed at the extreme heat she was emitting. She didn't say anything, she simply yelled with all her might as she twisted her sword and the monster was consumed in flames. For several seconds she remained still, the pained roars of the monster becoming weaker and weaker. From within the flames, two tentacles emerged forcing Celestia to pull her sword back to dodge the attack.

The flames died down soon after, showcasing a heavily burnt Spike that was still regenerating, although at a significantly slower pace. The monster was mostly unmoving, but despite everything, it was still looking directly at those that had attacked it with tremendous fury. The gathered leaders looked on in amazement as Twilight's cutie mark vanished from its forehead.

Before they could continue their attack or do anything else, they noticed the body of the creature begin to bloat at an alarming rate. Purple slime started to pour off from every part of its body, tentacles, arms, legs, heads, tails, breasts, penises, and deformed body parts forming and collapsing by the second from every place the slime was pouring out from.

The main body of the monster collapsed in an explosion, giving place in its stead to the disgusting amalgam they had all seen before, although much, much smaller. Nevertheless, the amalgam shrieked and moaned, panted and screamed at the same time while it produced copies of Spike. Horrid, deformed, mismatched copies of him. The constructs, coming out from the amalgam by the dozens at a time, charged in all directions. Some of the poorly made copies collapsed on their own, but most began to engage the army.

"Push them back!" Someone yelled.

"The monster is weak, now it's our chance!" Another one cheered.

"For Equestria and the Empire!"

"For the Alliance!"

"For Spike!"

"Lightbringer!"

"Long live the Reaper!"

"For the RISE!"

"SPIKE! SPIKE! SPIKE!"

The cheers and shouts of victory were heard all across the army as they, lead by their leaders, drove back the monstrosity and its creations slowly, but surely. Most were tired, some exhausted, others had long since passed out for one reason or another, and others had paid the ultimate price. But they had done it, victory was within their grasp, all they had to do was take it.

A victory that showed itself in the form of a multicolored sphere holding inside six mares.

There was a moment of absolute silence as the orb of magic levitated above the amalgam; the physical manifestation of the Sickness. The Caribou Corruption. The depraved and putrid creation of a mad, power-hungry, misogynistic, sadistic tyrant hundreds of years ago so convinced in his own superiority, so blinded by his immense ego and narcissism that he couldn't accept the existence of anything that did not fit his ideal vision. A being so far gone, so filled with blind hate and jealousy, so sickeningly corrupted by its own ministrations and willing to do anything to achieve his terrible goal that nothing and no one else mattered to him.

This was the ultimate representation of everything Harmony was not.

The six mares inside the multicolored orb hold hands together as they, as one, hearts going to the real Spike, screamed with all their might and hope, sending a rainbow-colored beam at the sickening amalgam.

The Sickness itself cried out with a million different voices, all crying out in pain as it lashed all sort of limbs in a desperate attempt to save itself. The putrid purple blob of pure vileness began to shrink as part after part of its body was disintegrated into nothing; cleansed away by the pure power of Harmony itself. The torture continued for several moments, every onlooker cheering louder than ever as the Corruption was destroyed before their very eyes. As the amalgam turned smaller by the second, it changed forms just as fast, adopting the shape of caribou, ponies, griffons, zebras, and more; the males looking deformed as ever while the females were chained down and subjugated with collars around their necks.

After what felt like an eternity, the shrieking, moaning, screaming, grunting, and collapsing Sickness slowly transformed to a long-drowned, pained filled roar of pure agony as it adopted the final shape of Spike himself; the creature roaring to the heavens with all its might far surpassing the cries of victory from the gathered army.

"-RRRROOOOOAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Suddenly, the mad roaring changed to a scream of pain. The horns of the creature turned into dust, the crest became rounder, the scales turned brighter, and the purple mist and flames coming out of its body finally stopped.

The rainbow-colored beam lost some of its intensity as the six mares looked down upon the dragon they had missed so dearly and had tried to bring back to them.

"AAAANNNNNOOOOOO! D-DDOOOOON'T SSSTOOOOOOOOP!" The creature, speaking with the voice of Spike yelled at them. A moment later a small, disgusting little dark purple glob of slime engulfed in greenish fire sprouted out from its chest. The glob was caught by the claws of the creature before it could completely leave its chest while at the same time the ruined Crystal Heart on its chest began to vanish, leaving only the green flame from which it had come out from.

Twilight and her friends looked at the creature, its white eyes looking at them with a hint of emotion, begging them to continue what they were doing. Tears formed in their eyes as their attack regained full strength. The six mares watched how the small glob of slime twitched and jerked against the hold of the dragon to no avail. Slowly, the greenish fire surrounding the glob died down. The minuscule amalgam screeched in pain for several seconds before it eventually stopped and was disintegrated into nothing, leaving behind the form of Spike before a final flash of light illuminated the entire area.

A few seconds later the light ended. The soldiers and leaders alike looked on as their sight returned to them with haste. The first thing they saw was a scorching circle in the ground where the Corruption once stood and a thick layer of black dust emerged from it. Above it, an orb of light descended onto the ground before it dispersed revealing the Ascended forms of the Element Bearers for a few seconds before returning to normal.

"It...it is gone... IT IS TRULY GONE!" Creslin was the first to react, shouting to the four winds at the same time she fell to her knees alongside her fellow Liberators. A flood of tears fell from her eyes. "THE SICKNESS IS NO MORE!" She shouted loud and hard, her voice croaked by her raw emotions.

Not a moment later did the cheers, screams, cries, howls, and bawling erupted among the army as they hugged each other, fell to their knees, collapsed, or began to cry their hearts out. It had been done. It was finally over.

Despite the celebrations, the leaders stood close by as relief washed over some and redemption over others. Twilight used her magic to clear away the remaining black dust to reveal a solitary figure standing in the middle of the devastated area. She, alongside her friends, gasped in horror at the sight. Their gasp made their fellow leaders look at what they were looking, most of them having the same reaction as the six mares had.

Zhaka, Blood Talons, Rutherford, and Chrysalis ready their weapons to continue fighting--

"U-Uncle Spike?" Flurry's question made the four of them stop dead in their tracks whilst her sister stood next to her.

Right there in the middle of the scorched area was standing a skeletal version of the Spike they all knew. Most of his scales were gone, he was so thin one could easily see his bones pressed against his exposed, scorched skin, his tail laid limply, and his crest was broken. Only his eyes were unchanged, they were bright, wide, and green as emeralds. He was looking at the lot of them with what could barely pass as a fangless smile.

He rose his right arm up, trembling and weakly until it reached his chest level and gave the entire group a single thumb up. It lasted for a few seconds until Spike closed his eyes and he exhaled one last time with a ghostly satisfied sigh before his body broke apart and turned to ashes. The ashes, carried by an invisible wind, were carried to the remains of the Crystal Heart. The shards turned bright, levitating to meet the ashes dancing in the air above them. The ashes then merged with the shards, they then let out a bright flash of light before revealing a newly restored Crystal Heart. This one being of a light purple coloration with a vivid green flame inside it while it emitted a blue light as it spun around.

It then levitated itself until it reached Cadance, Flurry, and Skyla, resting on top the hands of the pink alicorn. The entire scene lasted less than a minute, yet it had happened in complete silence.

"Let us go home," Celestia said softly, reaching to Cadance and the Crystal Heart resting on her hands.

Chapter 5 end.

Epilogue

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