Part 2 Begin

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Spike screamed at the top of his lungs feeling the cleansing energy of Heart flowing through and out of him. He could feel his scales burning and his muscles being torn apart at the sheer amount of energy escaping from his core. The pain was intense, to the point of making him unable to think or focus on anything beside it; despite that Spike knew this pain was worth it and enduring it was child's play compared to all he had to suffer during the Fall.

A little more pain was nothing in exchange to save those that still could be saved and grant them the chance to take revenge for their own torment. Many would die and many more would probably be driven mad, but it was all worth it. Everything he had done and sacrificed would finally pay up shortly.

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Canterlot Castle--Same time--

“My King!” a caribou guard exclaimed worriedly. “Are you alright!?”

Dainn said nothing and instead pressed his left hand upon his chestplate, the cup he was previously holding forgotten on the ground below. His breathing forced and pained. He looked up to the sky from his spot in the garden balcony and saw his almost invisible barrier crack followed by it shattering into millions of pieces.

“How--” Dainn managed to stammer out before several green beams of energy shot from all around his castle only for them to create and sustain a green barrier around it. He looked in the direction of the Crystal Empire and saw some sort of light coming his way just before the sound of fighting and explosions of magic erupted all around the city.

Ha glared at the barrier as his expression turned into one of pure rage. “Who did this!?” He shouted while purple shadows emerged from his eyes. “Who dares defy my power!?”

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Outside the walls of Canterlot

Chrysalis and her most powerful changelings charged their magic ready to fire a united spell. She had spent the previous days consuming all the love energy she could be given, just like her changelings. The amount they received was something she had never even dared to hope seeing one day previous to the Fall. Still, the corruption of Dainn hanging in the air turned it less powerful than it should but it was enough. She felt stronger than the time of the wedding, but their reserves were limited unlike then not to mention their current numbers were lacking at best. She could only hope Spike’s plan would work.

Her answer came when a scout signaled the sky and she saw the barrier crack and then shatter.

‘Begin the attack!’ She shouted in her mind ordering her subjects around the city to start the assault. At the same time she shot a thick beam of pure energy at the castle from her hidden position followed by the ones made by her subjects.

She focused solely in maintaining the barrier up and strong, meanwhile her soldiers would attack the city with all their might. Spike’s plan seemed to have work. Now she only had to hold on, hope the best for the rest of the attacks around Equestria to be successful, beg for the soon arrival of the reinforcements of Shifting Sands and Blood Talons and most importantly, maybe even the most important part of the plan; the liberation of Discord.

“You better come back soon, Spike,” Chrysalis whispered to herself the moment the faint sounds of battle around the city reached her ears. She then felt an absolutely powerful beam clash against her barrier from the inside making her, and her changeling, double the power put onto the barrier. Her only goal was simple.

Keep Dainn trapped inside the barrier at all costs.

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Somewhere in the Desert

“Creslin, look up to the skies. The barrier has fallen,” a caribou cow told to the leader of the ‘Liberators’.

Looking up Creslin found the words of her sister-in-arms to be true. The barrier shattered into dust right before her eyes. Creslin got up and threw her mask away letting a broad, proud smile adorn her lips. “The time has come. The Mad Tyrant shall be no more! Brothers…. no. Sisters, today we fulfill our promise, we shall aid the one that has made our chance for redemption possible, for Spike!”

“Death to the Mad Tyrant!” the rest of the Liberators shouted in unison.

Creslin reached for her ocarina and began to play the same song she had played during her time with Spike. A few seconds later several tatzlwurm emerged from the ground, ready for the attack and hungry for caribou meat.

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Ruins of the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters

Twilight and the rest of the mane six sat quietly outside the cave that held the Tree of Harmony. The castle was practically empty, except for a few guards and some medics and shamans. Everyone else was out ready to fight what they hoped would mark the end of the Fall. They knew every other camp around Equestria was in similar conditions. And they knew all they could do was wait and hope for the best.

“We should be out there helping,” Rainbow snarked. “We should be fighting.”

“Ah agree with yah, Dash, but Spike made us promise tah stay here,” Applejack said while she checked the razor sharp blades of her stetson. “If he fails….we might just be the last hope fer our home.”

“But Spike won’t fail….right?” Pinkie Pie asked timidly.

“Our Spike will never fail,” Rarity said sure of herself. “His plan will work, he is going to defeat that brute that dares call himself king and make everything right and then all will be like this nightmare never occurred,” silence followed her remark. “And...and Spike will be our cute, adorable and dependable Spikey-Wikey again, right?.....Right?” silence met her again.

“Y-Yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied hesitantly. “No way purple-ass is gonna let us down!” she exclaimed with a bit more sentiment.

“The barrier…..look,” Fluttershy whispered looking to the sky. Her friends looked up seeing that, in fact, the barrier was now falling apart. “Spike...did it,” her lips curled up into a small smile.

“Good luck, Spike,” Twilight said. Meanwhile her friends celebrated and the few guards in the castle shouted in victory. But she knew better. She knew victory was still far from their reach and she had to find a way, any way to help her number one assistant, her little brother in all but blood. There had to be a way, she just had to find it.

A flash of light caught her attention. She turned her head to see the source of the light.

Twilight Sparkle smiled.

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Saddle Arabian Main Camp

“The barrier has fallen, all units mobilize!” Empress Shifting Sands declared.

“At once!” several mares and stallions around her clad in armor said in unison before leaving to lead their troops.

Shifting Sands, clad in a red and golden half-armor, stared in silence while her ground troops made their way inside Equestria, she could see her mounted scouts already storming into the distance and her air units right atop them. Looking down from her spot she saw her main army, roughly three hundred thousand troops in total divided in several companies; each led by one of her trusted generals marching to their destinations ready to help liberate the land of her dear friends.

Meanwhile her armada was already blocking all the ports around Equestria and were now moving towards the Siren’s Pass to destroy any caribou naval power and block any possible reinforcements they could have.

A loud collective roar came from the skies before several dozens of dragons flying towards Equestria, all of them carrying some of the ponies-turned-mercenaries that were outside Equestria when the Fall began. The rest of said mercenaries, including some zebra warriors and shamans, already merged with her armies.

She saw in the distance a faint white light approaching at incredible speed allowing herself to smile.

“Celestia….Luna….I’m here my dear friends. May the divine creators bless Spike and grant us righteous victory.”

Shifting Sands said just before the light reached her and her troops.

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Griffon Frontier with Equestria

“General Sebastian, what was that light?” a griffoness asked the slightly confused general.

“I do not know, but it made us no harm; that is all that matters,” Sebastian answered maintaining his route towards Neighpan and Prance, the two nearest major cities. “Tell lieutenant Marcus to take his troops and scout ahead, we need eyes on Stalliongrad. And while you’re at it, tell sergeant Buckbeak to take his squad and head for the Crystal Empire.”

“By your command,” the griffoness said before flying out to carry on her orders.

Sebastian, the greatest general of the Griffon Empire, trusted advisor and personal friend of King Blood Talons, stared down to the land of Equestria. Knowledge of the events inside the barrier were limited at best for these past years, and what little he knew was thanks only to his king and the insulting and demented letter from Dainn, the caribou king. He didn’t know how bad things could be in Equestria, but if the desperate cries for help from Empress Shifting Sands and the ‘rebel’ forces lead by the changeling queen and Spike The Dragon were anything to go by, he knew he had to help them and prevent the madness of the caribou king from ever reaching his home.

The horrors that awaited him and his troops would prove to be far worse than he ever imagined and at the same time prove him right.

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Manehattan- Private Penthouse-

Discord laid on the ground suffering from a monster headache while the sound of nails against a chalkboard echoed in his ears.

With great effort he rose himself from the cold floor and opened his eyes. At first everything was blurry but by each passing second the images began to make sense. He was in some sort of room, surrounded by what appeared to be guards of some kind. He blinked twice trying to regain his sight when the painful headache turned even worse. Taking his lion paw to his head he rubbed himself trying to ease the pain a little, thankfully his sight did return to him.

The armored figures were indeed guards, but they were not pony guards, they were…...What are they? And why do they look so familiar? Discord asked himself. Soon after that the noise turned into actual sounds and then into words he could understand.

“---glad you’re alright, Lord Discord! The rebels are attacking the city and the barrier fell just moments ago. When that strange light past us you fell to the ground, we feared the worst,” the nearest guard said to him.

“What are--you-- talking about?” Discord said as his headache finally began to subside. He had no idea what the guard meant by that. Looking around a bit he saw a few mares naked on the floor and two more hanging from the ceiling by some ropes, their nether regions exposed for the world to see. Not exactly my thing, I admit. Discord thought before a small pang of pain made him rub his head once more. All I remember is a white light and then the mother of all headaches….but before that everything is black. Darn, how much did I drink? Oh man, I can’t remember anything, it must’ve been a very big, very naughty party! I just hope Fluttershy won’t be mad wi---.

In that instant almost four years of memories came back to him in less than a second. Everything he had done in that time starting from his delusion and slavement up to this very moment and everything in between. Discord’s eyes went as wide as they naturally could and he stood there frozen in place like a statue.

A few seconds later screams of guilt, madness, despair and regret echoed all over the city, effectively silencing the sounds of the starting battle.

“What in the name of Tartarus is going on!?” the commanding guard shouted in desperation.

“I-I don’t know, sir!” another guard answered gripping his warhammer tightly.

Soon enough those screams started being replaced by pure shouts and screams of anger and hate, followed shortly by the calling of warhorns and a renewed and invigorated battle.

“We can worry about that later! We must take lord Discord to a safe place!”

“....Nowhere is safe….” Discord said loudly but not yelling gaining the attention of the present guards. Pure chaotic energy poured out from all over his body. His dragon talon turned into a dark green color and the claws sharpened. The claws of both his griffon hand and lion paw grew and sharpened while his coat turned darker and every hair stood up defying gravity.

Discord turned only his head to face the caribou guards. His fangs had grown and his tongue lolled out of his mouth salivating a green, acid-looking liquid. His expression was unreadable yet it was horrifying; it was like looking into the face of an emotionless demon. And his eyes, wide and unexpressive, shining with an unnatural white-blueish light reflecting an empty void within them. Discord brought his lion paw up pushing his middle finger against his thumb.

“Nowhere is safe…..from my wrath, caribou,” Discord’s expression turned into one of pure madness; his lips forming a curved, deformed smile. “Let’s play, shall we?” his tone calm and neutral, betraying the aura around the draconequus. The guards took a step back in panic, but it was too late. For everyone.

Discord snapped his fingers.

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Outside South Borders of Manehattan

Doctor Oscar Hackett Brian Whooves, or more commonly known simply as ‘Doc’, watched in disbelief as a gigantic purple dome suddenly appeared around the city of Manehattan.

“Great whickering stallions…,” he whispered to himself upon seeing in the distance rebel forces fighting with all their might against caribou soldiers….and they were winning. “Can it be possible? Could this reign of debauchery and perversion finally come to an end?” turning around he looked around his ‘Laboratory’.

His old laboratory, back in Ponyville, had become his safe haven and a place he could call home. A place where he could run his scientific experiments and mathematical equations as much as he desired. But with the arrival of the caribou he was forced to act like he approved the new regime and then thrown into this abomination the caribou dared to call a laboratory; every day filled with tests devoted to come up with new sexual toys, sexual drugs, mind-controlling drugs and other even more depraved methods dedicated only to humiliate and torture females even further.

He was no coward, not by a longshot. But still he decided to play along, to be a Heretic or one of those so called Fakers, to protect his closest and dearest friend and her daughter. A sudden ‘Boom’ of thunder, or something really close to it, travelled across the air making the twelve year old Dinky cry out in surprise and cling to her mother.

“Shhhhh, my dear muffin, everything is going to be alright now.”

Doc turned to face the window again, unable to face Ditzy Doo and her daughter Dinky. He had been forced to do….things he would rather forget about to both mares over the years, all in the name to keep them safe from a much worse fate. And while Ditzy, or ‘Derpy’ like she was usually called, and even Dinky had told him time and time again that they held no grudge or hate against him for his actions, he couldn’t stop feeling like scum ever since he himself put the black collars around their necks.

He was an ever optimist even in these dark times, but despite the rumors and all the fighting done by the rebels during the past months it never gave him much hope. And now, seeing through his window a bunch of caribou soldiers being butchered by rebel forces, the barrier shatter, the strange white light passing a minute ago and the new dome around Manehattan he allowed himself to smile for the first time in years.

Doc took off his long coat and walked over to Ditzy and Dinky. Upon reaching them the mares looked up to him before her covered them with it while they embraced. Before Doc could move away he felt the mares grab his right hand and slowly pulled him down to kneel beside them. Once he was in reach both mother and daughter pulled him into their embrace.

“Maybe…..maybe we can be a real family now?” Dinky whispered hopeful.

“That sounds nice,” Derpy replied in the same tone.

“.....,” Doc felt hot tears falling down his cheeks. “That’s a crazy idea, Dinky,” he allowed himself to hug the mares close to him, truly enjoying their warmth and presence. “Crazy enough that it might actually work,” Doc said before another round of thunder made itself present through the sky.

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Trottingham Main Plaza

“That’s the moon-bitch! Capture her for the glory of his majesty, King Dainn!” a caribou soldier shouted pointing his lance at the lunar princess.

The soldier was immediately silenced not by the rebels or the princess but instead by five pony soldiers behind him. They dragged him into the ground before stabbing the caribou relentlessly; all the while the stallions shouted obscenities, curses, hexes or simply screamed out their new found rage. Just like practically everyone in the city.

“Free the captive females and localize the foals, evacuate them.”

“As you command!” a group of officers answered in unison before taking their troops to fulfill their orders.

Luna, clad in a purple chitin armor similar to her personal war armor, watched the chaos field that Trottingham had turned into. To the left she saw her soldiers liberating the captive females usually put in the public stocks, some of them still having the energy to fight the caribou once their collar was removed despite their nudity. To the right she saw a group of caribou being overwhelmed by a shower of arrows; behind them diamond dogs dragged others below the ground or hold their ankles tightly allowing others to kill the wretched caribou with ease.

In front of her she saw a large group of previously brainwashed males, most of them ponies, turn against the few caribou among them. The caribou were quickly overpowered by sheer numbers and the fury of their up until now brainwashed slaves. And all around her the screams and sounds of battle rang; the screams for justice and revenge resounding with the same intensity.

Luna flexed her wings, now fully healed but she couldn’t fly as of yet. Instead she settled for spreading them. Some of the previously brainwashed males turned to see her and quickly fell to their knees; most of them begging for forgiveness or crying in desperation.

“Rise! Rise, all of you!” Luna shouted without using her royal voice volume. “Rise against those depraved monsters that had enslaved us and turned us into less than animals! Rise, all of you, sons and daughters of Equestria! Rise against the caribou and against their mad king!” a loud roar made her turn to see at least fifty caribou mounting the abominations they called warbeasts coming out from the main street and into the main plaza.

“Rise against them! Rise, for Equestria!” Luna draw her twin swords and pointed them against the warbeasts. “Rise, for thine princess is with you today!”

“For Equestria!” someone shouted.

“For the princess!” another one shouted.

“Kill them all!” another shouted.

“ATTACK!” Luna shouted before charging against the warbeasts with her personal guards and the crowd she had encouraged behind her.

The warbeasts roared before spitting out a torrent of flames from their maws. Before the fire could reach Luna and her group a blue shimmering barrier appeared in front of the flames making them bounce back confusing the warbeasts. Five seconds later the barrier was gone and with it the flames; replacing it with charging ponies, zebras and three minotaurs.

“Fight on my brothers! Let’s show these damn heretics and their sluts the might of male superiority!”

The caribou and the warbeasts prepared to attack again when out of nowhere something big and heavy landed between their group crushing one caribou and his warbeast.

“What the fuck now!?” the nearest caribou shouted with more anger than surprise. He saw a bulking figure clad in yellow and blue armor rise up. The figure was completely covered by armor, the only thing he could distinguish was a white horn, a pair of cold blue eyes looking at him behind a Windigo shaped mask and a massive, thick sword swinging his way.

The caribou and those around the figure were quickly sliced up in two just as the night princess and her group attacked the ones in the front.

The fight was frantic and messy, the released males and the rebels led by Luna hacked and slashed at the warbeasts trying to reach their caribou masters. Meanwhile the warbeasts crushed one attacker after another with their front legs using their weight; the caribou thrust their spears or used their whips to attack the rebels managing to take down one or two each. And despite their casualties neither side backed down.

The minotaurs charged against a warbeast tackling it down using their combined strength, allowing the princess of the night free pass to decapitate the caribou rider and then pierce the eyes of the warbeast; blinding it and making it spit out fire in anger around managing to hit another two behind it.

Meanwhile the figure clad in armor wracked havoc in between the main force of the warbeasts. For each swing of the heaping piece of iron that disguised itself for a ‘sword’ two or three warbeasts fell. The caribou and the warbeasts however fought back against the armored figured but their attacks proved to be futile; either the armor bounced off their weapons and magic or the fire of the warbeasts didn’t even touch it.

After two agitated minutes the battle was over and the surviving rebels turned to the princess and the figure now standing next to her. Luna looked at the armored figure before seeing a group of forty or so rescued females being cornered at the other side of the plaza by an entire battalion of caribou guards. Luna pointed her blood drenched swords at the new enemy that had, in turn, notice them now, too.

“Fight onward, my fellow ponies and friends. Fight against the caribou! We shall mourn our dead later, but now fight to avenge them!”

“Raaaaaahhh!” all of the presents shouted in unison as they charged at the caribou guards moving into a new formation.

“Good to see you’re enjoying yourself, nephew,” Luna said at the same time Blueblood put his ‘sword’ over his right shoulder.

“I’ve been waiting years for this moment, auntie,” Blueblood replied to Luna seeing their forces charge against the caribou from the front while a platoon of thestrals descended upon them and an entire pack of diamond dogs snatched those they could from below the ground; both surprise attacks absolutely breaking their foes block formation. Looking down he saw the corpses of the fallen from both sides and frowned. “I really fucking hate the caribou, auntie. For every of our own that dies this day I’ll kill twenty of them; they owe us for years of their terror.”

“Worry not, Blueblood, there are plenty of them to take revenge upon,” Luna said walking towards the ongoing battle with her nephew at her side. “But thou shalt find much competition, we also desire retribution for what was done to us.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m glad you’re here, auntie Luna,” Blueblood took his sword with both hands. “You’re a beacon of strength to our people since you were…….you know…”

“A false and unworthy title. We--I was only lucky enough to be immune to their thrall. I spent too much time controlled by the Nightmare; I wish not to be controlled again,” Luna said in a neutral tone despite gripping her swords tighter. “Enough chat, my dear Blueblood, battle and victory awaits us!” she said before running towards the battle.

Blueblood watched Luna leaping over her troops, swirl around in the air and then land somewhere in the midst of the battle followed by three caribou heads flying up for a moment. The regal unicorn prince took a stance ready to charge before looking back seeing in the distance the flag of Equestria held by his other aunt. Celestia was still weak but she desired to help in the fight however she could. Chrysalis knew Celestia was pretty much the symbol of Equestria and her mere presence would bolster up the morale of their troops, and she was right.

Spike argued against Celestia’s wishes for days but in the end he accepted her involvement in the attack under two conditions; first, Celestia would stay close to the fight but only to be seen by others while being guarded at all times and second, if somehow the battle would turn bad for them she had to be evacuated immediately.

He didn’t know who or how Spike was convinced but it didn’t matter, the effect of having both the princess of the sun and the night fighting against the caribou was clear and thanks to whatever Spike had done in the Empire victory was all but assured in Trottingham. Blueblood could only hope the same outcome for the rest of Equestria.

He was about to charge when another battalion of caribou and corrupted males alike entered the plaza from the left side. Behind them he could see several females still wearing their red collars, almost all of them desperately trying to free themselves.

Blueblood snarled angrily, his horn ignited with magic and teleported high above the new enemy. The fight was far from over and he was more than willing to show the caribou what the prim and proper prince was really capable of.

Besides, he thought reappearing in the sky. I have a lot of catching up to do. Soarin is in Cloudsdale, Macintosh is in Canterlot, Yog is doing his special mission and Spike is doing his thing, the prince chuckled while descending upon the ignorant caribou. I wonder who’ll get the biggest kill count.

Blueblood landed.

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Crystal Empire-Below the Crystal Castle- ‘Beacon of the Crystal Cock’-

Spike coughed violently, barely staying up on all fours. He could feel an intense pain coursing inside his entire body alongside with the regenerating energy of the Crystal Heart healing him. After a good thirty seconds or so the pain finally began to ease up and allowed him to not only think straight again but also stand up.

Once he was standing on two legs again he checked his arms and front noticing several cracks running across his scales and many of those same scales missing or being regenerated. He also noticed the Crystal Heart symbol gone and that all he could hear was a strange mix between white noise and static; certainly not something pleasant.

After ten more seconds he began to walk forward, only now noticing the ice on the ground and the white mist around him forming a diameter of eight meters by his best guess. He paid it no further mind and made his way outside; his vision completely functional and his hearing returning to normal since he could now hear some very disrupted whispers.

Stepping outside the mist the scenario that awaited him was enough to shock him momentarily.

He saw several caribou soldiers either running away or trying to fight off crystal pony guards. But there was something rather particular about the crystal ponies, or rather on almost everyone, and that was that they were fighting the caribou like nothing more than rabid animals. Some stallions instead of fighting were freeing captive mares and females to then take away their collars. Allowing those that had enough strength (or hate) to join the fight.

The caribou (and regrettably those that were already completely corrupted) were pushed back and attacked from all sides. Those that tried to flee were soon persecuted and caught by a flock of rage-filled females and quickly beaten to death; even while they were still naked. He saw a caribou raping a crystal pony mare on the ground, shouting while punching her violently. Spike took a step forward to stop the caribou when he saw two stallion guards tackle the caribou before using their short swords to stab him several times.

Suddenly the noise in his ear-fins was gone and it was suddenly replaced by those of screams, shouting, weapons clashing, meat ripping, bones breaking and skin being torn asunder, glass shattering and beams of magic shooting through the air. The stench of blood and other more vile odors also reached his nose making him snarl with joy despite knowing some of that blood belonged to those the caribou managed to kill.

A great tremor caught his attention right before at least thirty caribou, or what was left of them, landed a good ten meters to his right followed by a very familiar unicorn enveloped in his own magic. The stallion looked at his way and instantly charged screaming like a mad demon at the same time. Spike simply took a sidestep allowing Shining Armor to hit his real target; a small group of caribou dragging young colts and fillies away from the battle.

Spike, almost fully healed, watched in awe how Shining Armor rammed himself against the biggest caribou sending him flying a few meters. With his next move he pulled into the air the other six remaining caribou and crushed them without a second thought; their anti-magic armor proving useless against the enraged stallion’s magic power. He then threw the crushed bodies of the caribou together; hurling them at the caribou he had sent flying. The caribou cried out trying to pull himself out from the remains of his brothers only to be stopped by a kick from Shining, sending his head flying to the left.

Shining Armor looked around before launching himself at another, bigger group of caribou giving fight to his guards.

“I’ll let you take care of them, Shining,” Spike whispered feeling himself completely healed up. “This is, after all, your home,” Spike looked up to the window the caribou and Shining Armor had come through and saw Cadance, her form wrapped around a curtain, her eyes filled with tears and looking down at him. His eyes turned white before letting out a mighty roar that both terrified the caribou and the corrupted and invigorated all others.

Spike and Cadance looked at each other for a few more seconds. Cadance blinked twice and her eyes turned white for a moment before the look in her eyes changed from desperation and pain to absolute horror. Covering her mouth with both hands she nodded twice closing her eyes. She heard another great roar; once it ended she reopened her eyes to find that Spike was gone from his previous spot replaced only by a thick line of icy mist pointing to Equestria.

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*Griffon Kingdom - Outskirts of the Capital City Wind Heaven - Court of The Great Tribunal* Present Time.

“Before I continue, I must warn and confess something to you all, my dear judges,” Spike said calmly. “Which would you like to hear first?”

The judges took a glance at each other a couple of times before Keltu let out a sigh. “The warning.”

“The moment where my sins are to come to light is near,” Spike looked up to the ceiling. “Remember what I said at the beginning of this trial? You know, the part about lollygagging? Though I joked at the time I really mean that is one of my worst crimes. I believe you can come to a conclusion as to why if you have been listening for the past few hours,” a mirthless chortle left his mouth. “My real sins are something far much worse though.”

“Real sins, brother?” the dragon judge asked with concern.

“Oh yes, plenty of those. What I did to the caribou can be labeled as ‘sins’ but for me is more like justice, revenge, retribution or just crimes. And don’t you worry, you’ll hear all about them shortly.”

“And your confession, murderer?” Silveria asked with annoyance.

“Why do you think I agreed to be put in that cell in the first place? Why do you think I gave you my report? Why do you think I proposed and agreed to this bullshit trial?” Spike looked at the Keltu and smiled warmly. “Normally the judges sitting in the Great Tribunal must be the current rulers of the nine most prominent nations in the world, for they have the duty and honor to speak for the entire world in this unique occasion. Said rulers can, however, send the highest justice figure of their own country in their place. Look around you,” Spike spread his arms. “There are only two current rulers here and let’s be honest, Sebastian shouldn’t even be here to begin with. That leaves the six of you as the proof of what I stated before; your rules are nothing more than backstabbing cowards.”

“Why you-”

“I WASN’T FINISHED YOU FILTHY PIECE OF SHIT!” Spike roared at the cervidae judge making the entire room shake and the temperature to drop a few grades. A few seconds later he cleared his throat. “As I was saying. Why do you think you’re here in the first place? And I mean why are you really here,” the judges didn’t respond. “That’s because they’re cowards and are scared of me. They thought I would use the Great Tribunal as a chance to kill them all, that’s why they sent you here. You are their little scapegoats as I am now for everyone else back home, the only difference is that I came willingly,” the crowd began to murmur in between themselves. “Blood Talons is the only one that didn’t come out of shame or guilt, why else would he send his best friend in his regard?” Spike breathed in deeply.

“Funny though... they were right,” the crowd gasped and Shifting Sands, Chrysalis and Sebastian were taken aback. “It was my plan all along to use the Great Tribunal to reunite those six assholes in one spot, just a few feet away from me and in a confined location. Certainly far easier and quicker than hunting them down one by one,” Spike let out a heavy, tired sigh. “Relax, I won’t go after them after we’re done. If I wanted to I would’ve simply left the moment I saw you come out of that door. I gave up on that idea a few days ago. Glad I did, this is….far more pleasurable and I won’t waste time or effort on them, they’re not worth it. Not anymore.”

“After that revelation you expect us to believe you!?” Silveria shouted enraged.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Spike curled his lips into a cocky smile, much to the anger of four of the judges. “You can always try and lock me up; key word being ‘try’.”

“You barbaric, blood thirsty, insolent monster! What makes you think you can threat us in such a way!?” the zebra judge got up slamming the desk with his hands.

Spike turned to face him, his eyes turned white and began to levitate in front of them while a barely noticeable shimmer emerged from the rest of his body. His smile turned into a smug one.

“Tirek is dead. Sombra is dead. Dainn is dead and has no chance to come back again; I made sure of that. Chrysalis is sitting right there. Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Cadance are in Equestria and do I have to remind you they are my mother, aunt, best friend and cousin respectively. Discord is my friend and is not as reasonable as I am. The Element Bearers are my best friends, not to mention one of them is Twilight Sparkle,” Spike landed but the shimmering and his eyes didn’t stop their glow.

“Right now I’m pretty much the second most powerful being in the world and the other top five beings are my relatives, friends or allies. Riddle me this, scum, what makes you think I can’t threat you or do whatever the fuck I want? I could kill you in a second and no one could stop me. But why I don’t do it? Simple, you’re not a caribou or a caribou supporter despite betraying Equestria and the Empire. That betrayal was made out of cowardice, not sympathy. My actions look monstrous to your eyes, and they are, oh yes, they are. But I know all of you are thankful for my actions de-e-e-e-e-ep inside~.”

The zebra judge glared Spike for twenty full seconds until he sat down silently. The rest of the judges were silent as well unable to look his way, except for Silveria whom instead had her eyes shut tight. Spike turned around to face the attending crowd.

“I apologize if my actions so far have caused you to be uncomfortable with my presence; it was not my intention and I want to assure you that I won’t harm you in any way even if you decide to attack me. Because trust me, you’re going to absolutely hate me after I finish if you don’t already,” Spike turned around again to face the judges and sat on his chair and set his gaze on Chrysalis, the changeling queen looked at him and nodded.

“It took me two hours to reach Canterlot. In that time most cities and towns were already under perimeter-control of the rebel forces with the exception of Manehattan that was under the dome of Discord. Appleloosa and the Buffalo Plains under the control of Creslin. Stalliongrad, Vanhoover and Fillydelphia were sadly under caribou control along with a few villages and small settlements. Thankfully they would be soon liberated by the Empress and Sebastian in less than four days meanwhile the dragons, both the ones that came willingly and the mercenaries, hunt down any caribou forces on the fields with the help of changeling mimickers. The saddle arabian armada blocked all available ports.”

Spike closed his eyes. “Canterlot was yet to be taken when I arrived.”

------------------------------------------------------------*********************************************

Canterlot - Two hours later-

“ARRRRGGGG--”

Chrysalis closed her right eye feeling another one of her changelings break the barrier union. She re-opened it just before another mighty beam of magic from Dainn hit the barrier.

This isn’t good, Chrysalis thought feeling yet two more of her changelings break down thanks to the latests attack. That fucker has been at it for two hours without rest, how much power does he have!? She screamed in her mind as yet another beam clashed the barrier.

“Asshole!” Chrysalis shouted feeling the barrier finally starting to shatter and another of her changeling fall. Out of the three hundred changelings, she included, that were tasked to maintain the barrier up only twenty remained. The first hour wasn’t so bad but the sheer amount of power that Dainn launched against it with each attack drained their love reserves far quicker than expected, not to mention the massive mental stress it put after enduring more than an hour of his attacks. The second hour though, that was another story on itself.

The battle on the city was nearly done, just a few places still remained in caribou control but not for long she hoped. The worst came with the newly liberated victims of the caribou, there were too many of them and not enough hands to tend them once the caribou were dealt with and their rage partially subdued.

Chrysalis look up to the barrier knowing that behind it Dainn and the rest of his forces were preparing to crush her and her army. And with the power he had shown so far victory would be his without a doubt. Still, she had to hold on.

“Captain, reunite all available forces and prepare to storm the castle once the barrier--” another beam hit the barrier. “DAMN HIM!” she shouted feeling five of her changelings break down. “Once the barrier falls.”

“Our troops are already gathering near the gateway, your majesty, we are all eager to end this madness,” the changeling captain bowed before buzzing off to fulfill his command.

Another beam clashed against the barrier almost breaking Chrysalis out of her concentration. Chrysalis grunted painfully, the barrier would fall in the next three or four attacks by her predictions. A few seconds later she felt another beam hit the barrier breaking down another seven of her changelings. Almost ten seconds later another beam hit breaking three more of her subjects, now only she and four other remained.

Chrysalis lost part of her concentration when she heard a mighty, powerful and chilling roar all over, around and through her. She felt it, everyling around her felt it and she was sure Dainn and the rest of his wretched caribou inside the castle felt it, too. She felt a cold wind passing right next to her and sighed in relief, finally signaling her changelings to drop the barrier. It would take a few minutes to recover her strength using the last love reserves, then she’d join the final battle. She had fought against this madness for far too long and she would be damned before not being there to see the end of it personally.

---With Spike---

Spike saw the barrier disperse freeing the castle. He roared again and at the same time draw energy from the Heart whilst slowing down. He could see changeling, rebel and liberated troops marching into formations ready to assault the castle. Spike jumped from the edge of a nearby waterfall all the way past the outer walls of the castle thanks to his speed.

The dragon landed with such an impact that he created a crater around him sending pieces of rock and dirt flying all around him. He roared again making the heavy dust cloud that formed around him to disperse. He saw a large group of elite heavy and royal guard caribou standing ground near the entrance of the second inner wall around the castle entrance itself, all of them looking at him with shock and terror due to his roar.

Spike snarled angrily and then breathed a thick stream of orange fire their way. After that Spike turned his focus to the gateway handle and with a single swing of his tail he destroyed it making the bridge fall. Spike roared again whilst changeling and pegasi forces arrived from above the walls and the first wave of his troops marched down the gateway, shouting and crying out either the name of one of the princesses, Chrysalis’s name or even his own. An impressive sight taken into consideration the timberwolves, manticores, orthros and the two tamed hydras among them.

Spike turned around to face the caribou finding his fire dying down and a magic shield in front of them. He crouched down allowing his troops to run past him for a moment before running past them and into the caribou formation.

Spike slammed himself against the spear of a heavy caribou breaking it upon contact with his scales, he grabbed the caribou by his left antler and made him kneel before him. The caribou, too shocked to move or respond in time, focused on the white, empty eyes of the dragon and the strange white light that also emanated from his mouth and scale lines.

“Die, you fucking traitor!” another heavy shouted using his warhammer to hit Spike on the back of his head. The warhammer shattered upon impact but Spike didn’t even flinch; instead Spike smiled.

Using his tail Spike impaled through the stomach of the caribou that hit him, piercing the armor like butter, while he snapped the antler of the one he was currently holding down making him scream in pain. He then used the antler and jammed it in the eyes of the caribou making him cry out in pain even louder. He retrieved his tail and spun around slashing down with his claws and tail all surrounding caribou guards. Once he stopped Spike jumped behind the lines of the caribou letting the rebel soldiers to charge against the caribou and the changelings and pegasi to attack from the sky.

Upon landing he grabbed two caribou guards by their throats and tore them away. He threw their throats to the ground before breathing a thin of green fire from left to right moving his head rapidly. The fire hit those that were not quick enough to dodge it and instantly the flames erupted and consumed them.

At least fifteen caribou guards attacked the dragon at the same time. Their weapons raised and ready to strike him down. Spike snarled angrily and dropped to the ground before using his tail to grab one of them with his tail bringing the caribou to the ground. The other caribou hit Spike at the same time wherever they could only for their weapons to meet the same fate when they hit the scales of the dragon. All of them shattered.

Spike got up from a single movement dragging the caribou he trapped with his tail. Lifting his tail up he allowed the caribou to shout at him once before slamming him against another so hard that the hit created a small shockwave. Spike lifted his new favorite club but only lifted a mangled leg. He suddenly felt himself being tackled down to the ground while a flurry of punches hit him all over his back.

Quickly more and more caribou surrounded him trying to get a piece of him. A few seconds later a massive burst of purple fire made all the caribou above and around the dragon being blown away, except for those that split into several pieces and were burning in agony. Spike stood slowly in the center of a burning crater surrounded by caribou corpses and body parts lifting with his right arm a caribou guard.

“You--You won’t get away w-with your treason, Spike,” the caribou managed to say while kicking the dragon trying to free himself. “Male superiority will not be defeated! O-our glorious king will---”

Spike interrupted the caribou by tightening his grip around the neck and brought him closer to his face.

“I’m not trying to defeat you, oh no, I stopped trying a long, long time ago. I’m going to annihilate you all,” with a single slash from the claws of his free hand he cut the caribou in two without effort letting his lower half to fall to the ground. Looking directly into the eyes of the caribou Spike could see the intense pain he was enduring. Without tearing his sight away from his victim, Spike moved his free hand behind him grabbing another caribou by his head and crushed his skull making crunch noises and splatter around in a gory display.

*GRRRAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOO*

Spike roared madly and loudly in the face of his victim. The light coming out of his body changed from white to blue and ice began to form below him. Spike tossed the upper half of the still living caribou and with a single uppercut slash of his left claws he cut the body into six different parts. He then lunged himself forward against the caribou guards in front of him and began to hack and slash aimlessly at any caribou near him tearing them to shreds.

“Break their lines, slaughter them all!” a pegasus shouted.

“Don’t let those damn rebels through until the great Dainn arrives!” a caribou, probably the captain, shouted not to far away from Spike.

“Shhrrrrraaaak!” a changeling shriek in his own language.

After about a minute Spike suddenly stopped and turned his attention back to the castle, uncaring for the fairly even battle between the rebels and the caribou forces. He snarled with absolute fury before charging against the entrance of the castle and with a single punch brought it down. As the pieces of the destroyed doors, Spike saw at least half a company of armored caribou elite brutes using females as shields in the front lines along with any other fully corrupted males and females. He could also see Dainn, high and mighty sitting on his throne with his four sons at his sides, looking at him with a look of absolute shock and unbelief.

“DAINN!” Spike roared the name before charging at said caribou king with all his might and his speed. Spike moved so fast that no one saw him tackle Dainn from his throne, destroying it in the process and scattering the four horns that adorned it. The two of them travelled for a few seconds in the air until they reached the gates leading to the throne room itself; the impact of Dainn’s back upon it didn’t destroy them, instead it cracked a hole in the doors.

Spike made Dainn take the full front of the impact against the ground and at the sametime used his momentum to do a mid flip, grab Dainn by his left arm and throw him with all his might against the marble throne he loved so much only second to his previously destroyed trophy throne. Spike landed two meters after the initial impact using the claws in his feet to anchor himself to the ground before breathing out a massive stream of purple fire towards the destroyed throne.

Suddenly Spike stopped, ducking at the last moment before a hand passed where his neck used to be. Detaching himself from the floor Spike used his tail to support his weight and deliver a double kick to Dainn’s face. The hit connected directly in his face but didn’t sent him flying or shatter his head, instead the impact created a loud *thunk* noise. Dainn grabbed Spike’s right leg, pulled him up and smashed him against the floor

“This childish trick won’t work again on me, insect!” Dainn declared angrily before Spike grabbed his ankles and pressed his claws against his skin. “AAARRRRRGGG!?” Dainn let go of Spike teleporting two meters back before kneeling down to see his own blood dripping from his injuries. Dainn’s hands trembled in shock while his eyes turned to face the rising dragon in front of him. The familiar figure of Spike met him but it was different. First of all his eyes, mouth and scale lines were emitting a blue glow, there was also a cold aura around him and the scales were also darker and the claws bigger and definitely sharp enough to pierce anything; including his own invulnerable coat. The dragon-like creature brought his hands up just enough to admire the stains made by his blood; the creature then smiled widely showcasing several deadly and very sharp looking fangs.

“What the fuck are you?” Dainn asked while a purple mist began to emerge from his eyes.

“Don’t you recognize your own son, Father?” Spike said with a deep, cold, ghostly voice. “I can...finally…,” Spike took a step forward. “Harm you, you sick depraved motherfucker.”

“Spike?” Dainn whispered as he got up, his wounds already healed. “W-what have they done to you, my son?” Dainn asked with great concern taking a step closer to Spike. “What has that insect bitch done to you!?”

“I can make you pay for everything you’ve done,” Spike said uncaring for Dainn’s words. “For everything you forced me to do,” now there was also a bluish mist forming just above the light coming out of his scale lines. Taking a difficult step forward the floor cracked and some of his scales fell off; the sheer amount of energy flowing through and escaping from his entire body was also destroying him from within, not that it seemed to matter to the hate driven dragon. “For everything you did to them.”

Spike slashed down the face of Dainn using both his hands. There was a sudden shock wave and Spike saw with absolute astonishment how Dainn held his arms still by his wrists; a shock that lasted only a second. Spike pulled back bringing Dainn with him and used his feet to hit Dainn square on his stomach. The impact made Dainn grunt for a moment before he spread his wings, pulled up about two meters and then landed against the ground creating several cracks. Dainn planted both of Spike’s arms above his head while using his magic to keep his feet and tail extended and in place.

Spike growled opening his maw and a second later Dainn’s magic shut his maw down rendering the dragon helpless in his grip. Dainn closed the distance between their faces until they were only a few inches apart, the bright, pupiless eyes of the dragon reflecting an infinite amount of hate.

Dainn smiled broadly. “Whatever they have done with you, my son, I can fix and revert. This pathetic ditch effort from the insect bitch herself is....daring, for a slut, but in the end she will fail. I will recover my trophies and she will join them,” a dark purple mist started to come out from his antlers and slowly made its way down to Spike. All the while the dragon struggled and tried with all his might to set himself free.

“You will rejoin my side and then we shall show the world the might of male superiority, together, as father and son! I shall save you from whatever curse you are in, my dear child, my rightful heir,” Spike struggle increased while the mist poured down his face. “And once I fix this little problem no one will ever doubt our power! Although,” Dainn’s expression turned serious and stoic. “I do wonder what power has allowed you to harm me. No matter, I suppose, for that bitch has equipped you with an outstanding power,” the mist began to enter through Spike’s eyes and Spike squirmed like a mad pony. “One that will now serve our goals and no-AAARRRRGGGG!” Dainn shouted in pure agony while using his wings to pull himself away and into the air while he used his hand to hold the base of his antlers.

Opening his eyes he looked down at Spike and saw the power of his great ancestor, The Horned King himself; the ultimate source of truth and a blessing to all, burn into nothingness by a blue flame coming out of Spike.

Spike got up and shot a glare at Dainn, seeing his pained expression and absolute confusion brought him immense joy.

*GRRRAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOO*

Spike roared with all his might before crouching and leap forward against the still stunned caribou king. Spike hit Dainn with both fists against his chestplate sending small pieces of the armor flying around. He then grabbed the antlers of Dainn and pulled at them as hard as he could but aside from a pained grunt from Dainn he achieved nothing more.

“I will never be your slave again, willing or otherwise,” Spike said before he used his fire breath upon Dainn’s face. A thick stream of blue flames creating a pillar of fire that hit the ceiling high above them.

“IT BURNS!” Dainn screamed madly while also igniting his antlers with pure raw magic.

Spike felt a powerful punch in his stomach making him stop his attack followed by a full on magic punch on the back of his head that sent him crashing against the floor. With a swift swing of his tail the dust cloud around Spike disappeared in time to let him see Dainn’s face, a little singed from the fire and looking absolutely furious. Spike also noticed his two hands still attached to Dainn’s antlers quickly turning into crystal-like dust. Bringing up both arms Spike confirmed that his hands were missing from below the wrist but despite the pain the augmented regeneration his current state provided he paid it no mind.

Snarling, Spike ran to the nearest pillar at blinding speed and used his claw feet to climb it without slowing down until he reached the same altitude Dainn was at. Dainn looked at Spike, focused his magic and shot a thick blue magic beam, easily five meters in diameter, at the dragon. Spike jumped to the nearest wall dodging the beam by mere inches; the beam itself destroyed the pillar, the wall about forty meters behind it and whatever it touched until it disappeared in the horizon.

Dainn grunted in annoyance before launching another beam against Spike. The dragon dodged it again by running alongside the wall; his speed saving him from the devastating attack of the caribou king. Spike spit a blue fireball at Dainn, it impacted against an invisible magical shield around Dainn, growling Spike spit another six fireballs at Dainn, these fireballs green in color. Five of the six fireballs hit the shield of Dainn while the sixth went past a little over him impacting on the far wall behind Dainn.

Spike stopped letting the beam of Dainn catch him.

“Spike!” Dainn shouted stopping his attack and looking attentively for any signs of the dragon. He was, however, hit in the back and felt something pierce his skin for a second time. “Son of a--!” Dainn was interrupted by something that spun him in the air around four times before sending him crashing against the rubble that used to be a throne.

“I was never your son!” Spike half roared landing in front of Dainn and before kicking Dainn in the face with enough force to make the caribou king spit a couple drops of blood. “For almost two fucking years,” Spike kicked him again. “I was trying to find a way to kill you!” Spike felt Dainn stop his next kick and in a flash movement Spike used his tail to grab Dainn by his neck, bringing him up and then spun around round-kicking him with his free leg.

“The things you made me do before that!” Spike spun around again, this time hitting Dainn’s face with his tail. “The things I had to do during that time!” Spike punched Dainn with his newly regenerated left hand. “All I have done until now, are your fault, Dainn!” he punched Dainn with his right hand making him spit even more of his blood. “What I did to them, all of them!” Spike punched Dainn in the gut so hard his armor finally shattered. “I WILL KILL YOU, DAINN!”

Spike threw his most powerful punch yet at Dainn’s face but before he could hit him Dainn stopped him with his left hand. His expression was stoic and emotionless.

“Is that so?” Dainn said calmly before punching Spike in the face and sending him all the way to the other side of the room, almost hitting the doors of the room.

Spike got up quickly, practically half of his face disfigured thanks to the powerful hit he had just received. The healing process already fixing the damage done to him followed by its burning pain. Looking to Dainn Spike saw for the first time ever the nude chest of the caribou king.

It can’t be, Spike thought as his face regenerated and his eyes turned back to normal for just a moment.

For Spike saw exactly in the middle of Dainn’s chest, a very familiar red horn engraved in it with several red, purple and green veins pulsating with dark powers around the horn. But what truly horrified him were the four symbols around the horn. The symbols of a magnificent sun, a crescent moon inside a dark cloud, a crystal heart adorned with two golden handles and a lavender six sided star; the four cutie marks of the four alicorn princesses.

Dainn suddenly teleported in front of him and picked Spike up using his magic, Spike struggled against it managing only limited movement.

“It seems that bug bitch managed to remove my blessing from you, my son,” Dainn smiled darkly. “Not to worry I suppose, whatever that strange power is and why it can hurt me will mean nothing once I make you remember who you really are and where you belong,” Dainn stepped closer to Spike. “Whether you want it or not, I’ve already decided it and so it shall be as I say.”

“I….r-r-rather…die….,” Spike managed to mumble out despite his best efforts.

“Don’t worry my son, you will see the light,” Dainn gloated. “Rejoice, Spike, for I shall see that your six pets will return to you,” Spike stopped. “After I’m done with them, of course,” Dainn’s antlers began to emanate the dark purple mist once again when something caught his ear. “What the fuck are rebels doing inside my castle? Those stupid sons of mine, they can’t do anything right without me guiding them.”

It was faint, only the echoes could reach the very depths they were now in, but by the sounds of it his troops were being pushed back meter by bloody meter. He could barely hear screams and curses, deafen by the clashing of weapons, the explosions of magic beams and the roars of several warbeasts and monsters. Returning his attention to Spike he saw the dragon with his disjointed maw open.

Dainn couldn’t even gasp in surprise before a thick stream of blue flames emerged from Spike’s maw. The flames hit his face once again and destroyed the dark purple mist at the same time.

“URRRRRGGGGG!” Dainn backed away from the flames while using his magic to slam Spike against the ground to stop the torrent of flames.

Spike coughed violently the moment he hit the floor but he was able to feel Dainn’s magic hold on him weakened. Wasting no more time Spike roared breaking away and getting back up in time to see Dainn extinguishing the last of his fire. Spike breathed out another torrent of flames at Dainn.

“Enough!” Dainn shouted angrily while his magic caught Spike’s fire and launched up to the already half destroyed ceiling. As the fire hit the ceiling Spike took the moment to run at Dainn using his fire as a cover, delivering a powerful knee hit to Dainn’s right side, right in his lower ribs making the caribou king grunt a little in pain and send him two good meters away.

Spike charged again ignoring his almost broken knee and went to strike Dainn again, this time against his exposed chest. Sadly for him Dainn caught him by his arms and sent him sky high with a magic blast.

“RAAAAAAGGGGH!” Spike roared in pain before hitting the ceiling. The impact wasn’t strong enough to bring the crumbling roof down, thus allowing Spike to cling to it using his right foot claws. Before Spike could counter attack he noticed another beam of magic coming his way. Letting go of the roof he also breathed out a torrent of flames that pushed him away from the magic blast just in time.

This time the magic beam not only destroyed the ceiling but it also managed to hit and destroy a nearby tower and one of the top levels of the castle; sending countless pieces of rubble flying out on all directions, most of them landing somewhere around the city. Now without a ceiling the rays of the sun washed inside the half standing throne room.

Spike landed on the ground a good couple of meters in front of Dainn. His jaw was healed and his knee almost fully recovered. He growled and snarled before charging against Dainn but before he could hit him Dainn teleported. Less than a second later he felt Dainn grab his tail,a moment later Dainn began to slam Spike against the floor over and over using his tail as some sort of handle.

After the eleventh his Spike roared and cut off his own tail with his right claws, using his elevated momentum to anchor himself to the ground with his left leg; rotating on itself to face Dainn. Stunned for a moment by his action, Dainn was unable to properly react when Spike used his claws to slash his chest. “FUUUUUUU-!” Dainn shouted in pain before he was silenced by a powerful uppercut that sent him flying a couple of meters.

Spike landed harshly on the ground, his left leg, right below the knee, was twisted and broken thanks to his little trick. Not to mention his tail was gone and he had several other injuries and his right arm broken thanks to Dainn’s beating. Unable to move Spike decided to prepare himself for whatever Dainn could throw at him.

Meanwhile Dainn looked at his chest and then to Spike’s left arm and noticed his claws were engulfed in blue fire; the same fire that had managed to hurt him thus far. Dainn’s eyes widened and his mouth slack opened slightly when he noticed something rather peculiar.

“The...Crystal Heart,” Dainn said while the corners of his lips morphed into a dark, greedy smile and began to descend upon Spike.

Spike glanced down to his chest and saw that, in fact, the symbol of the Heart was present and pulsating in his chest. B-But I didn’t summoned it! Spike screamed inside his mind whilst using his left hand and right leg to back away from the approaching caribou king. Looking directly in his chest he noticed that the cutie mark of belonging to Cadance was shimmering just enough for him to actually see it. And thanks to the Heart itself he knew what was happening now, and he also discovered the secret behind Dainn’s overwhelming power.

“THERE’S THE FUCKING BASTARD!” a female voice shouted from afar.

Spike lost his focus on Dainn as he landed a good ten meters in front of him. Spike saw two figures flying towards the caribou king; one from the left and the other from the right. It took him two more seconds to make sense of the two figures. On the right a thestral mare wielding a long two handed battle axe and on the left a changeling wielding two estocs, the two of them wearing black chitin armor. And they were charging against Dainn.

“DON’T-” Spike tried to shout but it was too late.

The mare and the changeling attacked Dainn at the same time from each side; whom had paid them no mind until now. Dainn stopped for a moment, brought up his arms and let their weapons hit his exposed skin; the two estocs and the battle axe shattered upon impact stunning the two attackers. In the blink of an eye Dainn grabbed the changeling by his neck while he hit the back of the mare sending her to the floor at his side. Dainn then turned just enough to face the changeling and fired a beam of magic reducing him to less than ashes; then he turned his attention to the downed mare and shot her a single blast of magic making suffer her the same fate as the changeling.

Dainn returned his attention to Spike and his smile returned while the mist coming from his eyes increased in volume. “You found the power that has eluded me for so long, my dear son. And now I know it was you who destroyed the Amulet.”

Spike, with his leg and arm healed got up but kept backing away, without his tail he couldn’t move fast enough to escape much less attack Dainn. Instead he snarled at Dainn baring his deadly fangs.

“And I finally figured what you did to achieve such power,” Spike smiled cockily. “You stole it all,” Dainn stopped, his smile was replaced by a neutral expression and a frown. “None of that power belongs to you,” Spike snarled again feeling his tail almost completely regenerated.

“IT ALL BELONGS TO ME!” Dainn shouted, his expression one of pure anger, madness and obsession. “I took the power that rightfully belongs to us males, and who better to wield such burden but me!? I control the sun and the moon now! The power of the four alicorn bitches is mine! Discord and Shining Armor are my puppets!” Dainn pounded his chest with his right hand. “The horn of Sombra came to me, it chose me to make the old promise true gifting me with its powers! Soon enough the power of the bug whore will be mine as well,” Dainn teleported in front of Spike making him gasp and grabbed him by the neck before he could move away while his magic held him still.

“And now you have delivered the power of the Crystal Heart to me. Once you see the light again we will dominate everything and all those filthy bitches will learn their proper place under our hooves,” the antlers of Dainn began to emanate the now familiar dark purple mist. Spike struggled with all his might, but it was of no use, Dainn’s hold on him was too strong; he was not going to let him escape his grasp again. The mist touched Spike’s face burning upon contact. “ARRRGGG--” Dainn grunted but didn’t stop, instead he poured even more of his evil taint over Spike.

Spike could feel the dark magic trying to penetrate him and dig deep burrow inside his soul like some horrible, life consuming parasite. Spike gagged and growled as much as he could fighting back against Dainn’s attempt to corrupt him or steal the Heart; either option was equally horrifying to him. They went on for about two minutes with Dainn growing increasingly angrier and angrier with Spike’s resistance.

“See the light, my son!” Dainn half-shouted to Spike’s face. “Accept the truth and together we will bring proper and everlasting order to this world!”

“F--fuggssk y..ye-wwhu,” Spike managed to gurgle out looking at Dainn with absolute hate. Dainn snarled and grunted angrily increasing the amount of energy he was pouring into Spike. There was a sudden explosion behind Dainn and Spike was able to see green like smoke coming from his back. “WHO DARES!?” Dainn glanced behind him without breaking the mist’s contact with Spike. His answer came in the form of a massive green magical blast that hit him square in the face making him stumble to the side.

Spike felt the magical grip around him weaken and while it was not enough to let him move freely it did let him use his favorite appendage.

“AAAARRRGGGG!” Dainn shouted in pain feeling his left arm’s wrist being pierced by something incredibly sharp forcing him to free the neck of Spike.

Spike, free again, let out a torrent of blue flames at Dainn forcing the caribou king to shield himself from the deadly fire.

“ENOUGH!” Dainn screamed while at the same time he created a magic pulse all around himself pushing back Spike’s flames and stopping another blast of green magic coming his way. “This nonsense has gone on for far too long!”

Spike lunged at Dainn through the small dust cloud the pulse created with both of his hands engulfed with blue fire. Dainn turned to face Spike when he heard a deep and loud screech behind him. The caribou king stopped Spike’s assault with his right hand while his left an oversized scythe covered with a deep green magic aura, stopping it an inch before the blade touched his antlers. Dainn’s expression turned into one of pure hatred while his eyes turned from a metallic blue to a dark, unnatural purple color; even more so than the shadows coming out from them.

With a simple spin Dainn threw Spike away, making the dragon crash against a collapsing pillar, and turned his attention to this new attacker finding none other than the changeling queen, Chrysalis, herself wearing a full body blue-chitin armor holding the scythe with both hands and her eyes and curved horn ignited with a green aura. And her expression was one of pure hate. Grunting, Dainn charged a magic beam but before he could fire it something tackled him, or at least tried, hitting him in the chest.

Spike dug his claws as deep as they could go on his chest, focusing on Sombra’s horn. Dainn yelled out in pain firmly resisting Spike’s tackle before Chrysalis shot a beam of magic against his face whilst trying to retrieve her scythe. Spike then bit Dainn’s neck now that he was temporarily blinded by Chrysalis’s attack but his fangs barely penetrated his coat at all. A moment later Dainn punched Spike with his free hand making him free his neck while he used his magic to push back Chrysalis’s beam back.

Chrysalis dodged the rather small attack from Dainn just before he threw her scythe, along with her, across the room and crash against the incredibly virtually undamaged doors. Dainn hit Spike’s stomach with his knee creating a small shock wave and sending the dragon crashing against a pile of rubble. Spreading his wings he flapped them until he was a good four or five meters above ground before shooting another magic beam at Spike.

The beam hit the pile of rubble before something grabbed his ankles and at the same time a blast of magic hit his left wing. Instead of looking down, Dainn did backflip avoiding a torrent of blue flames coming from below and pushing Spike up. The new view allowed him to see Chrysalis coming from above before hitting him in his face with her scythe. Impossibly the scythe didn’t break and instead sent Dainn and Spike crashing down to the floor again.

Dainn suspended himself in the air a few inches before hitting the floor but Spike did hit the ground piercing it with his tail and anchoring himself yet again before smashing Dainn face first against the floor making a small crater around them. Dainn teleported out of his grasp and reappeared behind him before Chrysalis attacked him against; this time Dainn dodged it backing away. Chrysalis, using her wings to keep a slight advantage over Dainn, attacked the caribou king by unleashing a flurry of slashes with her scythe; Dainn dodged every single one of her attacks while he covered his chest with his right hand, she noticed there were was a bit of his blood dribbling down behind his hand.

Spike went on all fours and ran below Chrysalis adding his own claw slashes to attack Dainn’s legs and lower abdomen. All the while Dainn just kept backing away and dodging all their attacks. It went on for about fifteen seconds until Dainn smiled darkly.

Dainn suddenly teleported making both Spike and Chrysalis stop their attacks. Chrysalis landed and Spike got up and pushed their backs against the other; the two of them silently searching for the fucker king.

The familiar *pang* of someone teleporting sound near them.

Thanks to his heightened senses Spike was able to react in time, he moved to the left grabbing Chrysalis by her waist with his tail and pulled her with him. Spike then spun over his spot just enough to get Chrysalis completely out of Dainn’s reach before receiving a devastating punch to the chest creating the biggest and loudest shock wave in their entire fight up until this point.

Chrysalis saw Spike being sent away by Dainn’s attack and a second later crash against a statue of himself, the only thing that was still intact in the throne room followed almost instantly by a massive blast of magic hitting that same spot.

“BASTARD!” Chrysalis shouted, leaped in the air, did six frontal flips in rapid succession making the tip of her scythe hit the floor just enough to create a few sparks. Dainn turned to face the changeling queen, his expression one of stoicness. Quick as a lightning Dainn caught the scythe by its blade with his bare right hand. Chrysalis felt herself unable to move by a powerful magical grasp.

“You managed to escape from my grasp that day; you won’t have such luck this day,” Dainn pulled Chrysalis closer to him ignoring the blood running down his hand. “And while I admit your rebellion has slowed my plans you had no hope of defeating me from the very start, changeslut. I will enjoy breaking you into a proper bitch, whore. Once I’m done with you you’ll be obedient, thankful and eager to please me, your owner; your Master. Just like all other lowly, useless, worthless females in existence will,” Dainn licked his lips seeing Chrysalis struggle against his almighty power in an useless effort to free herself. “But your insolence cannot go unpunished any longer,” the mad caribou said while charging a blast of magic in his antlers.

Dainn released Chrysalis and her scythe right before he shot his magic blast right in her face.

Chrysalis didn’t have enough time to escape or create a magic shield before the blast hit her; thus it sent her flying back against the doors direction. The queen of the changelings hit the ground, hard, only to bounce off and hit the ground again a few meters back. The process repeated itself four more times before she finally came to a loud, unceremonious halt. Half of her armor was in tatters, her left breast exposed to the world, blood dribbling down in most of her exposed parts and her scythe nowhere to be seen. Miraculously, Chrysalis only grunted and screeched in pain before standing up aided by her wings, a moment later Chrysalis fell to her knees panting harshly.

Dainn frowned and his expression turned sour. He took four good steps towards the unmoving Chrysalis before stopping abruptly, turn around and shot a sustained magic beam. The beam clashed against an unending torrent of blue flames creating a powerful gush of wind followed by constant weak shock waves. Both deadly pillars of pure energy shared a similar width and neither of them seemed to gain terrain.

Spike, missing his entire right arm, focused all his attention, rage and power on his attack and by the looks of it so did Dainn if the struggling expression on his was anything to go by. Their struggle lasted for about half a minute until Dainn shouted madly followed by his beam’s width grew enough to practically swallow Spike’s flames. Slowly, Spike’s flames were being pushed back much to his dismay.

Similarly to his struggle against the Crystal Cock, or actually the Alicorn Amulet, Spike roared like never before making everything around him tremble while also creating a floor of ice that turned into fire just a couple of seconds later. His torrent of flames grew enough to match Dainn’s beam in width once more and began to push it back.

“YOU WILL COME BACK TO MY SIDE, SPIKE!” Dainn shouted making his beam grow a little. “MALE SUPERIORITY WILL BE TRIUMPHANT!” Dainn shouted once more but this time his beam of magic not only grew in size by at least a third of its own size, but it also changed from blue to a dark purple tone with black lightnings coming out of the beam every so often.

Spike felt his flames being pushed back once more. This is it, I have no more power to spare and I’m already at my limit; I did my best but it seems that wasn’t nearly enough. Spike thought darkly whilst a few rebel crystal like tears fell from his eyes only to be sent away by the strong winds and shock waves the clashing of the beams created.

Spike chuckled mentally. I’m pathetic and useless and disgraceful and a coward and nothing I ever do seems to work out, huh? Spike thought closing his eyes feeling the beam of Dainn coming close and his fire dwindling down. Everyone…..Mom…..Girls…...I’m….I’m sorry, it seems….it’s up to you now. Spike closed his eyes completely and for a second, just a single solitary second, he accepted his defeat.

An image of himself sleeping and cuddling next to the six mares he called his best friends flashed in his mind; the same he had seen time and time again and had marked itself as his best memory. With a flash that image was replaced by one of him sitting on a throne holding six leashes with his six mare-friends kneeling in front of him; a black Crystal Heart glowing on his chest and Dainn sitting next to him with Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis and Cadance in the same situation. And the two of them were watching an army marching towards the unknown.

Spike’s eyes snapped open and he roared.

*GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOO!*

Spike’s flame beam expanded three times its previous size, virtually swallowing the entirety of Dainn’s magic beam. The flames consumed the magic of Dainn while at the same time pushed back against it.

Dainn saw the flames of Spike push back in defiance against his superior power, the sheer force of the flames pushed him back making his hooves drag back against the floor.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!” Dainn shouted with all his might, his magic beam’s width quadrupling in an instant. The beam, now bigger than the beam of flames from Spike, began to push back before Dainn shouted once again sending an overpowered wave of energy through his beam.

Spike felt the weight, for lack of a better term, of the new wave of energy clashing against his flames before it tore them apart; allowing the beam of Dainn to hit him in full.

“NOOOOOOOO---!” Spike managed to roar out as the beam passed through and around him with ease. The following explosion shook the entire mountain for an instant, also creating a huge and thick cloud of dust from the castle’s stone and marble walls and floors the beam hit.

Spike just laid there in the ground, surrounded by his fading fire, completely motionless. He was still alive and conscious yet he couldn’t move; he had used at least five times over the energy he used back on the Crystal Empire. Most of his scales were gone replaced only by a low bluish light, his two legs were gone and his right arm was still missing. Most of his fangs were gone as did his left eye along with his left ear-fin and almost every one of his back spines. The only thing remotely intact were his left arm and tail; his left hand was only missing his index and middle fingers and his tail the tip.

Without any hold of time or sense over his surroundings, Spike felt something grab him by the neck and pull him up. He forced himself to open his eye whilst his body slowly regenerated. He saw Dainn, panting slowly yet each pant was hard and long.

“You see *pant* my son? Nothing can stand *pant* in the way of male superiority,” Dainn used his free hand to cover his snout for a moment, after a second or two he swallowed and smiled. “Now *pant* come back to me, Spike,” Dainn said before the dark purple mist once again emerged from his antlers.

Spike looked at Dainn and spat on his face. “Y-You won’t...win,” Spike declared. “I-I failed….to...take..*wheezing* ...you down...b-but there are….those...that will….*wheezing*....defeat you…..,” Spike said feeling his fangs recovering and his legs and missing arm regenerating centimeter by centimeter while his scales and back spines grew back.

Dainn didn’t bother to clean away the spit from Spike nor was he showing anger or any emotion aside from a cocky, smug smile. “Your six pets? *pant* They were powerless when I arrived and they *pant* will be powerless after I’m done with them. I have won, my son,” Dainn said as the mist touched Spike’s face. “And you will be at my side soon enough to celebrate!” Dainn said despite the burning sensation the power of Spike held against him. “And this time, I’m not letting you go,” Spike gagged and snarled fighting back against his blessing yet again.

“Neither will we!”

Spike gasped in horror recognizing that voice and by the look on Dainn’s face so did he. The dark purple mist died down as Dainn frowned and several pulsating veins appeared on his forehead.

Dainn turned around to see the dust cloud parting away allowing Spike to see six mares, all of them wearing using the clothes they had earlier in the day. They were holding hands inside a giant bubble of light while their manes and tails were longer, flashier, sparkled and had a multicolored fashion (and in the case of Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy that also applied to their wings). And all six of them were looking at Dainn with nothing short of a death glare before the bubble of light expanded and a swirl of colors surrounded the mares.

Dainn’s mouth went agape for an instant, then he frowned and charged his antlers, ready to telep-- “AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGG!”

Spike, using what little strength he had, cut down Dainn’s right antler with his remaining claws prompting the caribou king to drop him; without his right antler Dainn found himself unable to call upon his magical powers. Upon hitting the ground Spike instantly grabbed Dainn’s right ankle and held on to him tightly keeping him in place and preventing his escape.

“LET GO OF--” Dainn began to say, unable to move or use magic at the moment, when he heard a gentle whistle in the air that sent a cold sensation down his spine; he turned to see the six mares a good ten meters in front of him suddenly disappear behind a curtain of light. “--me?” Dainn whispered, his voice cracked by fear, before a magic white lasso shot out of the bubble of light and attached itself to his chest making him scream in pure agony; giving a burning sensation far worse than the ones Spike had dealt to him thus far.

Then another lasso followed suit, this one blue. Then a purple one, an orange one, a pink one and finally a yellow one attached to his chest in under two seconds. All of them combined into one unique lasso making Dainn suffer a rather unique kind of torment. A few moments later Spike let go of his ankle and Dainn was lifted off from the ground inside a shiny bubble of light.

It went on for several seconds until the bubble of light exploded showering everything with light and dispersing the remaining clouds of dust around them, in it’s place a smoking crater remained were Dainn used to stand and then everything went silent.

Chrysalis, using her retrieved scythe to support herself along with her wings made her way to the descending group of friends. The six mares landed softly and their rainbow powers dissipated. The seven mares watched in silence at the smoking crater for any signs of Dainn. Unfortunately the answer was not the one they were hoping for.

“You DARE...attack your Master!?” Dainn shouted before walking out of the smoking crater. “I will te-teach you some manners, sluts!”

The six mares huddled together closer with Twilight taking the front. Chrysalis frowned and grunted before moving in front of the six mares barely holding up her scythe and charging her horn with whatever magic was still left inside her.

Dainn grunted with each step he took. After a couple of meters he coughed, took three more steps towards them and he fell on his right knee while panting erratically. There was smoke coming out of him, parts of his fur were missing and his chest was completely dark and charred except for Sombra’s horn. Dainn coughed violently before he brought both of his hands to cover his snout. His eyes were open to the point that it seemed they would pop out at any moment and the purple mist coming out of them subdued, his eyes also returned to its original metallic blue color.

Dainn coughed once more before his hands fell down to his sides and a golden ball of light emerged from his mouth quickly followed by a dark blue one, a lavender one and a pink one; when the last one came out Dainn fell forward; only his arms saved him from hitting the floor. The four balls of energy danced in circles above Dainn, all of them sharing a very similar size. Dainn looked up to the balls and tried to reach them with his right hand.

“My…..my rightful...power,” Dainn got up shakily trying to catch the balls that were out of his grasp.

Without warning the pink ball shot itself to the distance disappearing from sight in just a couple of seconds. The golden and dark blue balls followed suit travelling together towards the opposite direction. Finally the lavender ball floated peacefully for three seconds before it shot itself at Twilight and hit her in the chest.

Twilight closed her eyes and her coat began to glow slightly. She inhaled deeply allowing her wings to stretch out, her few missing feathers returning quickly and her horn growing the few inches it had still left to go. Twilight opened her eyes revealing them shining white for a moment before they returned to normal.

“Give me back my power, bitch!” Dainn shouted at Twilight, his expression one of rage and madness.

Twilight was frightened for a moment but soon frowned and charged her horn, no longer hurting and feeling her full power once more. She was about to tell Chrysalis to get out of the way when she noticed something behind Dainn. That something made her and the rest of her friends and even Chrysalis gasp, whether in horror, relief, surprise or all three things at the same time was unknown.

Dainn stopped his advance when he felt an icy chill behind him. Slowly, he turned around to face none other than Spike the Dragon standing on the crater. Or maybe it was some sort of demon that took the flesh and scales of Spike and used them as a suit. The upper half of the body seemed to belong to Spike but the legs were two pillars of blue fire that were somehow solid enough to hold him up. His left arm was covered in a thin layer of blue flames while the right was made of some sort of ice or crystal that burn with that same blue fire. The tail wagged behind him from side to side also covered in a thin layer of blue fire up to the tip, which was made of pure blue fire. His maw was filled with blue fire while he smiled widely showcasing white, burning fangs. And his eyes, the right eye was a shining blue orb while his left was nothing but flames were devoid of any other emotion aside from hate.

But the unnatural glow coming out of the scale lines and the image of the Crystal Heart on his chest confirmed that the creature in front of him had to be Spike.

In the blink of an eye Spike closed the four meters that separated them and punched Dainn with his left hand. Dainn was sent to the ground where he curled up and brought his two hands to cover his injured jaw. Dainn squirmed for a few seconds before he got on all fours and spat out a glob of his own blood along with two of his teeth.

Before he could register what had just happened he felt Spike grab him by his left antler, turn him around with a single motion and then ripped his wings off.

“YYYYYAAAAARRRRGGGG!” Dainn screamed at the top of his lungs as he fell to the ground while trying to reach his newest injuries with his hands in a pathetic attempt to ease the pain. A few seconds later he looked up to Spike holding his wings before he reduced them to less than ashes. Dainn, despite the unbearable pain in his back, rose up on his own accord while the purple mist returned to his eyes. With a battlecry he punched Spike in the face making the dragon face to the right.

Dainn almost instantly pulled back his hand back. The flames had burnt him slightly but that wasn’t his biggest concern. Hitting Spike felt like punching a brick made of steel; puzzled, Dainn stared at the dragon while holding his pained hand.

“Scales as tough as diamonds, remember?” Spike said turning to face Dainn again, his voice carrying a dark, icy, soul wrenching tone. He spit out a flaming fang along with some of his blood.

Dainn took a step back. “No….NO! This can’t be happening!” Dainn punched Spike again sending said dragon to the ground and started to kick him repeatedly. “I’m Dainn, the heir of The Horned King! The king of the caribou! The Alpha Male! The great conqueror! The ultimate--” Dainn was about to kick Spike again when said dragon stopped him by grabbing his leg with his right arm. Dainn yelped feeling both a burning cold and a scorching heat crawl up his leg.

“You are Dainn, the king of a depraved, corrupted race beyond any salvation,” Spike said letting the leg of Dainn go before standing up. Spike then smiled stunning Dainn with fear. Spike lunged for Dainn digging his claws on his sides making Dainn grunt and squirm in pain. They landed on the ground with a loud *thud*, Dainn began to hit Spike wherever he could reach but soon found himself immobilized by the dragon. Spike forced Dainn to look him directly eye to eye before he roared in his face.

Dainn screamed in terror, only now realizing he was at the mercy of the crazed dragon. Spike got up using his tail while bringing Dainn up with him. Dainn struggled, trying to free himself from Spike’s vice grip but it was useless. Spike turned Dainn around holding his arms behind his back, he let go of his right arm only to wrap his left leg around Dainn’s right one and use his right leg to stumble Dainn into a kneeling position. Dainn punched Spike in the face with his free arm, he tried to punch him again but instead of his face he met Spike’s tail before he dragged it down to the side.

Using his free hand Spike grabbed the lower jaw of Dainn and applying a little force Spike forced Dainn to open it wide. Dainn couldn’t move, he was completely incapacitated, his eyes darted in all directions searching for something to help him get out of the mess he was currently in. His search stopped, however, when he heard the dragon gurgling. His eyes darted to focus on the dragon looking up to the blue sky. After around fifteen seconds Spike looked down with blue flames and an intense blue light coming out the sides of his fangs, nostrils and maw. Dainn froze realizing what Spike was about to do.

“You’re Dainn,” Spike said with some difficulty. “And you will taste my light.”

Wasting not another second Spike breathed out a thin yet intensely bright stream of blue fire right through Dainn’s open mouth and down his throat. It only lasted around five seconds, once done Spike let go of Dainn letting him hit the ground without any grace or care.

Dainn squirmed around, his entire body spasming and twitching with intense pain for several seconds, all the while he screamed at the top of his lungs spewing blue flames of his own all around him. Finally Dainn stopped for two full seconds laying on his back before he brought his hands to his chest, convulsed for about ten seconds and the the horn of Sombra turned into smoke along with the pulsating veins that surrounded it.

Spike breathed a blue fire stream at the mist, it burned in the air for a moment or two and then it simply vanished. There was nothing left.

“No…..i...it chose me…..I’m…..I’m the...Alpha Male!” Dainn managed to say from his spot before Spike walked over to him. The flames finally vanished, the Crystal Heart on his chest was nowhere to be seen and the light that emanated from him was gone. Now he stood fully healed and looking like his true self once more. “H-help me…Spike….my...my son,” Dainn mumbled out making Spike the only one that heard him. “P-please,” Dainn begged with tears forming in his eyes.

“.....” Spike didn’t reply and instead grabbed Dainn by his left ankle and began to drag him away. After a couple of meters he turned to face the seven mares that had watched him from the sideline and gifted them with a joyus, Spike-trademark grin.

“If anyone needs me I’ll be in the lowest part of the dungeons playing with the fucker king. Be sure to send kibble and water soon for this bastard to eat! We’ll be down there for a while!” Spike shouted at them before turning around. “OH! And Chrysalis, tell Yog to follow plan C, alright? Alright! Alright? Alright!” Spike shouted while dragging Dainn alongside him.

“As for you, you have no idea of the fun games I have planned just for you, motherfucker. Trust me when I tell you I will be the one enjoying our time together. That reminds me, ----first things we’ll play is-----and then----”

The seven mares simply stood there watching and hearing Spike talking to Dainn while he dragged said caribou king until both were out of sight and hearing range. An entire minute passed with none of them moving or saying anything, they didn’t reacted when the cries of victory over the caribou echoed around the entire city. There was a sudden flash at their left side, the sound and the light finally got them to react.

“WHERE IS HE!?” Discord roared looking around for something. He stopped, however, when his search made him look at the group of mares, his gaze landing on Fluttershy right away. “F-Fluttershy…,” Discord whispered with his rage forgotten in favor of the mare, his wild, beastly appearance fading away in a matter of seconds. “I...I...I’m sorry,” Discord managed to say before looking away. “I---”

“Come,” Fluttershy said warmly extending her right hand to him. “We have, um, much to talk about,” Fluttershy smiled as best as she could at the draconequus.

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*Griffon Kingdom - Outskirts of the Capital City Wind Heaven - Court of The Great Tribunal* Present Time.

“Had I known Dainn was going to kick my scaly ass around so hard I would’ve prepared more, but as you already know time was of the essence,” Spike chuckled. “After that I spent two entire weeks, day and night, torturing Dainn; I never allowed him to get used to the pain and I used my healing powers to patch him up just to start over with a new game; my personal favorite was when I watched his testicles and dick slowly dissolve in acid, he cried and screamed the hardest with that one. Although impaling him and ripping out his eyes, fingernails, ears, teeth, tongue and fingers ever so slowly one by one comes to a close second. Ah, those two weeks passed so quickly!” Spike sighed happily. “Eventually though it was too much for him to handle and he went mad. How mad you ask? Enough to make him worship females while singing the joys of breathing rainbows.”

The entire court room was eerily silent.

“There was no point in going on if the great bastard wasn’t himself anymore, so I decided to finally end him. I set him on fire and watched him be consumed until only ashes remained, then I burned the ashes with my cleansing fire, you know, the blue one? Until those ashes turned to nothing more than dust, THEN I set the entire dungeon section with cleansing fire and finally end it all with a cleansing wave of pure energy straight from the Crystal Heart,” Spike relaxed on his seat and eyed the judges. “Isn’t this the point where you start calling me a monster or something like that?”

The judges finally reacted but didn’t reply.

“Anyway, in those two weeks the Empress, Sebastian and all those that followed them saw first hand what the caribou had done to Equestria and the Empire; the, shall we say, explosive results speak clearly for themselves don’t you think so? The caribou had retreated back to their last stronghold in Equestria; a great fortress built near the shores of the Siren’s Pass with Frost leading them. So, with the caribou dug up in there, Equestria and the Empire retaken, the population secured and the joint forces of Saddle Arabia, The Griffon Empire, Equestria, the changelings, the rebels and Creslin on the march against the caribou that only left a few issues unresolved.”

Spike smirked.

“There were quite a number of caribou prisoners to throw around. That was one the the issues, what to do with them? Weeeeeell~” Spike teased. “Public executions were in order, even the vast majority of the newcomers were okay with it and some of them quite eager to attend them....either to watch or to be the executioners themselves. Then was the issue of the warlords, battlemasters, generals and two of the sons of Dainn that were captured; Rolph and Akios to be precise. Like I said during my report I dragged them into my Fun Room, except for the two idiot princes; I treated Akios like any other bastard yet I made it public for everyone to see. But Rolph? I ate him in front of the remaining prisoners while he was still alive as a very personal payback; I had to force myself to not vomit, they really taste that bad.”

Spike’s expression turned into something hard to read, it was a mix between regret, pain and seriousness.

“Then there was the issue of all those that died during the attack and during the regime of the caribou,” Spike locked gazes with Keltu. “Tell me, how many females older than fifty gave their reports?” Keltu closed his eyes for a moment.

“Less than thirty,” the ursa judge responded.

“And one of those reports belong to Granny Smith, the oldest living mare in Equestria at the moment. But why? Well, you can thank the caribou for that. In their eyes any female over fifty five years is nothing more than garbage, can you guess who the first victims of their regime were?” Spike allowed a few seconds of silence fill in for him before continuing. “It was...hard to keep track over those that were executed and those that were ‘improved’ or ‘modified’ to be fuckable once more. Then how many foals, how many civilians and how many soldiers followed suit,” Spike snarled. “How many were blanked, how many went crazy, how many committed suicide, how many were switched, how many families were destroyed, how many……*sigh*.....How many of our people, our love ones, we lost. All of us.”

Spike snarled again.

“On the other side there was the issue of the foals born during the regime. The thought of just one of them being tainted with that curse like any other caribou was frightening; thankfully, even though so many were born, just under one percent had the taint in them. I made sure of it personally during the following week,” silence once again reigned for about ten seconds. “And about those that were tainted; stallions, mares and foals alike. All we could do was to give them mercy.”

Spike closed his eyes, swallowed and exhaled a pained moan.

“Then there was the issue of the captured female caribou. There were mixed opinions on the matter but in the end we allowed Creslin to decide their fate,” Spike opened his eyes again. “But even so there was still two issues left unresolved,” Spike took a moment to watch each of the other six judges in the eye for a moment. “The few caribou survivors, including those I intentionally let live after witnessing what I did to their brethren in my Fun Room, began to call me ‘The Reaper’, hence the title. But my other title, ‘The Lightbringer’ , it may sound glorious and even heroic, but the truth is that it’s at the same time worse and more sinister than the one the caribou gave me. Kind of appropriate considering what I did to earn it.”

Spike took a glance at Chrysalis, Shifting Sands and Sebastian, the last two trying their best not to look away while Chrysalis held on strong.

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*Ponyville -Castle of Friendship- Three weeks after the defeat of the Caribou*

“Spike, Empress Shifting Sand had just arrived. She asked to speak with you,” Lightning Dust said entering the large tent outside the castle where Spike used as his central command. “What should I tell her?”

“Tell her I’ll be there in a moment, I just need to wrap up things here first,” Spike said without looking at the mare; his full attention glued to his central map.

“Very well,” Lightning Dust replied leaving the tent.

After a few seconds Spike spoke again.

“Are you absolutely sure you got them all, Yog?” Spike asked with a neutral tone.

“Every single one last of them,” Yog replied.

“How many suicides?” Soarin asked angrily.

“Just twelve. All of them committed before we got to them,” the changeling replied making the Soarin hum and huff. “They’re in Canterlot and everything is being prepared as per your instructions, Spike.”

“Good,” Spike replied finally looking away from his map and around the room seeing standing around his map table Yog, Soarin, Blueblood, Creslin, Big Macintosh, Chrysalis and Shining Armor. “What about the Fortress?”

“Celestia, Luna and Sebastian are already there leading the attack. After what happened in Stalliongrad the griffons have been the most eager to kick the caribou out of Equestria once and for all; especially Sebastian,” Soarin replied glaring the last brown flag in the map.

“What about Discord? I haven’t seen him in three days,” Spike asked with concern in his voice.

“He’s been takin’ it pretty hard,” Big Macintosh replied. “After Manehattan he doesn’t want tah talk tah anypony except fer Fluttershy. Ah think they’re helping each other out, Ah even saw her smile fer real this morning.”

Spike nodded before looking at Shining Armor. “And how is the Empire doing, Shining?”

“Better thanks to you and the Saddle Arabian forces. We even got some support coming from the Yaks,” Shining replied with a voice full with resentment. “Cadance is still being treated by the mind-menders, she sent me a letter yesterday saying she’s improving. Me? I just want to make those bastards pay for what they did to us; it’s the least I can do for my own stupidity,” Shining said while his horn sparked with angry, raw magic.

“You’ll get your chance, big bro, you’ll get your chance,” Spike said to Shining offering a weak smile. After Shining returned the gesture Spike turned to face Chrysalis. “How are you holding up?”

“Fine,” Chrysalis replied dryly.

“And the rest of our forces?” Spike asked looking at Blueblood.

“Gathering in Canterlot as we speak and eager to hear your victory speech,” Blueblood answered with a smirk.

“What about you, Creslin, anyone giving you or your sister's any trouble?”

“No,” Creslin replied behind her mask. “They’ve been very nice and cordial with us to tell the truth.”

“Not many would ever trust a caribou after what they’ve done, but you and your group got the worst of it,” Soarin said looking at the cow. “Spike trusts you and after you told us what happened I know I can trust you and,” Soarin extended his right hand to her. “Properly thank you, for retaking Appleloosa and standing beside us in the end.”

Creslin extended her own right arm to grab Soarin’s and shake them. “The honor is all ours, for letting us make amends for our failure.”

“Aiding us to properly understand the runes and help us revert their effects is more than enough,” Blueblood said while Soarin and Creslin ended their shake. “Speaking of that, are you sure you don’t want to be stags again?”

Creslin nodded. “We are sure.”

“Very well then,” Spike said. “Soarin, Blueblood, Mac, go and prepare for departure, we leave in thirty minutes,” the three stallions nodded before leaving the tent. Shining Armor said his goodbyes and left after the other stallion. “Yog, you know what to do.”

“Of course, it will be ready before your arrival,” Yog replied with an eerie grin.

“Creslin?”

“We’ll be on our way and ready to leave by the time you arrive,” Creslin said before leaving the tent.

Once Chrysalis and Spike were alone the changeling queen sighed heavily.

“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Spike?” Chrysalis asked tiredly.

“This isn’t about being sure or not, Chrysalis. I have to do it or risk this ever happening again.”

“Then let me help you, dammit!” Chrysalis said punching the table.

“You know I can’t let you,” Spike said walking up to the mareling, once they were face to face Spike suddenly hugged her. “This is something I have to do, why do you think I didn’t allow the girls, Cadance, Luna and Celestia to join me? Please understand me,” Spike hugged her harder. “And if you do then please, just stand down.”

Chrysalis sighed and hugged Spike back for about half a minute. “Fine,” Chrysalis said ending their hug. “Now go see what Shifting Sands wants.”

Spike nodded and walked outside the tent. To his left the Castle of Friendship stood tall and proud while to his right a group of around thirty saddle arabian warriors wearing beautifully crafted armor, turbans and most of them holding halberds, sabers and a short bow with a quiver of arrows. All of them surrounding a tall pink coated mare with, light blue-silver eyes and a purple like mane and tail while wearing what appeared to be leather or light chainmail armor with three daggers at each of her sides.

Spike looked at her directly in the eyes and she froze for a moment. Spike suddenly realized she surely was Empress Shifting Sands and smiled warmly.

“Empress Shifting Sands, your majesty,” Spike bowed his head before walking up to her. A good two meters before he could reach the group all of her guards prepared to draw their sabers.

“Stand down,” Shifting Sands said and her guards instantly obeyed while also parting letting her a free path to Spike. The Empress smiled and walked towards the dragon. “You’ve grown a lot, Spike,” she said offering him a tender, motherly smile.

“Empress, I welcome you to Ponyville and I personally thank you for aiding us in our war against the caribou,” Spike invited the Empress to walk with him, she accepted and with a movement of her hand her guards walked away.

“Nonsense my dear boy, rather it is I who should be asking forgiveness for not coming to Equestria’s aid sooner.”

Spike chuckled darkly. “My mother, aunt and especially I don’t blame you for it. You came, that’s all that matters. It’s a shame king Blood Talons isn’t here with us.”

Spike and the Empress walked through the camp around the castle with Spike showing her some of the remains of the caribou reign. Shifting Sands took particularly hard their stop at the tent were the Blanked females were while Zecora and other zebra, minotaur and buffalo shamans treated them trying to find a way to reverse the process with the help of a caribou cow wearing a Liberator armor.

They talked and discussed for about ten minutes until they reached an open field with only a handful of guards, two chariots and a few Blood Hunters standing near them.

“Empress, I must leave for Canterlot, you can find Chrysalis in her tent along with the Element Bearers and princess Twilight,” Spike said respectfully.

“I understand, I wish you farewell and if you need anything just ask it of me and I shall concede the best way I can,” Shifting Sands offered watching Spike walking towards the chariots.

“Actually, about that,” Spike stopped turning around to face her. “There is one thing you can do for me, if you agree that is.”

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*Canterlot- Central Plaza- Around one hour later*

“Everything’s ready, Spike,” Yog said while walking alongside Spike and the rest of his friends climbing up the stair of a low stage. “Should we start?”

“Bring the bastards in and drop the front curtains,” Spike ordered. Yog flew away while screeching something out to other changeling soldiers. Two large curtains covering the stage fell down and soon disappeared in a flash of green magic. Spike stood proudly in the middle of the stage with Big Macintosh, Blueblood, Soarin, Shining Armor and around twenty female and male guards and Blood Hunters standing behind and at his sides.

In front of them thousands of soldiers of varying species with males and females mixed together stood with most of them turning to the stage. There were also several clouds hanging around and even a five grades stadium like seatings with pegasi, thestrals, griffons and changelings occupying them. In the back he could see two adult dragons sitting peacefully letting others sit on their heads and shoulders.

“My friends!” Spike said loudly at the same time his eyes turned white. “I have gathered you here today for a very special reason,” there was a collective cheer before Spike continued. “You know who I am and what I did, you know I gave that bastard; that absolute asshole of a king what he deserved!” Spike shouted making the entirety of all the presents, including those standing next to him, shout in approval while cursing and name calling Dainn and the caribou. “We have made the caribou in Equestria and the Empire pay for what they’ve done, for everything we lost…..and everything we still have to lose,” Spike stopped letting the crowd cheer and start calling his name in unison a few times. Spike rose his hands slowly making the crowd go silent.

“Brothers and sisters all, we must not forget those that are worse than the caribou themselves,” Spike’s scale lines began to shine before he turned and waved his right hand from side to side twice before turning to face the crowd again. “We must not forget the traitors that willingly sided with the caribou bastards. Brothers!” the males shouted. “Sisters!” the females shouted. “I give you, the Embracers!” the crowd roared.

In between the cursing and shouting of the crowd several changeling soldiers came down carrying tied, gagged and naked. The males had their insignias engraved into their chests while the few females were only wearing a red collar with a golden ring instead of the usual silver one every other collars had. They also seemed to be very clean and unharmed. Spike gave another signal and the curtains in the back dropped revealing a series of cauldrons big enough to fit three warbeasts at the same time. The changelings carrying the Embracers slowly descended them inside the cauldrons with some of them squirming as much as they could but to no avail.

The cauldrons revealed to be filled with water and also be divided into fifteen sections, each section big enough to fit a pony without problems; all the while the crowd shouted obscenities at them or down right demanded their blood for their treason. When the changelings were done they cast an immobilizing spell on the Embracers allowing only their head to be out of the water. One by one the cauldrons, twenty eight in total, were filled with the Embracers. Most of them were ponies, yes, but there were also zebras, diamond dogs, griffons, donkeys, bulls, buffaloes, minotaurs and even one ursa. Spike was able to identify just a couple of them, mainly because he had the infinite displeasure to make bussiness with them at some point, such as Cherry Jubilee, Flim and Flam, Hoity Toity and Pony Joe. The last one a personal stab in his back, since before the Fall the donut making stallion was a close friend of his...or so he thought.

“Here they are, four hundred and twenty traitors and backstabbing motherless fucktards that sold themselves out to the caribou for personal gain, welcoming the depravity and destruction they brought with them! THEY are worse than the caribou for they accepted them with open arms, and for that they deserve to pay in a way most fitting for what they have done. Their motives doesn’t matter, they lost all rights to defend themselves when they betrayed not only their home but also their friends and families!” the crowd cheered in agreement including his close friends.

Spike turned to face the cauldrons, all his friends and guards stepped aside and then he breathed out a stream of orange fire below the cauldrons. After a few seconds Spike stopped when all the fireplaces below cauldrons were now properly ignited. Now it was only a matter of time. Spike turned to face the crowd again, all of them cheering out loud in approval for their particular method of execution.

Spike rose his hands again, about ten seconds later the crowd went silent enough to allow Spike’s words to be heard clearly. “They don’t deserve to be killed by you, they won’t have that honor. Instead, they will suffer a slow, agonizing death that befits scum such as they,” Spike shouted before he began to levitate and the light emerging from him increased in brightness. “But don’t forget the real enemy is still out there; plotting, planning and readying themselves to try and force us to our knees once more!” Spike growled loudly. “I, for one, will not allow them the chance!” this declaration was enough to confuse most of the crowd.

“As all of you already know princess Celestia, princess Luna and the great general Sebastian Wing Cutter are assaulting their last stronghold in Equestria right this moment. Yet I see that driving out the caribou back into their shithole is not enough. Why should I wait their imminent return when I can go to their own homeland and deliver righteous retribution and justice upon all of them!?” Spike, levitating a good four meters above the stage, looked down to the crowd, everyone looking at him intently. “That’s why, three days from now in the shores near the Siren’s Pass, I shall set sail to Hraljord itself to bring death to the caribou. I will welcome anyone that wishes to join me.”

“BUT, make no mistake, if you join me there will be no going back. I don’t want to take revenge for what they did,” the light coming out from Spike changed from white to blue. “I want to exterminate them until every single caribou in Hraljord is reduced to ashes! I will lead this attack and I will be entirely responsible for it. It shall have no retaliation against any of your countrys or rulers. If any wish to join me bear this in mind; You will answer only to me, you will obey my every command and you will renounce every relationship, oath of allegiance and loyalty for your rulers until the task is done; in return you shall become the hammer of justice that will destroy the caribou once and for all and prevent another Fall from ever happening again!”

Spike finished his speech and descended until he reached the stage once more, with the light radiating from him never diminishing. A wave of whispers resounded all over the crowd for a few seconds until several dozens of changelings began to screech with all their might.

-screeh--shrrrrakkk--shkeerrrr-

The changeling repeated over and over with many more of them joining in until practically every changeling was screeching at once while everyone else looked at them with confusion.

Yog landed at Spike’s right side smiling. “They’re chanting, for you,” Yog began to explain. “They’re calling you ‘Lightbringer’,” Spike turned to see Yog before the changeling stepped forward and shouted. “LIGHTBRINGER! LIGHTBRINGER! LIGHTBRINGER!”

Soon enough the changelings opted follow Yog’s path, promptly encouraging other to follow suit. In the span of thirty seconds the word ‘Lightbringer’ resonated throughout all of Canterlot and beyond.

Spike roared, mighty and powerful, breathing out a thick stream of blue fire to the sky. The two adult dragons present followed suit adding their own mighty roars with Spike’s own.

Forgive me, Spike thought regretfully.

---------------------------------------------------**************************************************

*Griffon Kingdom - Outskirts of the Capital City Wind Heaven - Court of The Great Tribunal* Present Time.

“And that, my dear judges, is how I gained the title of Lightbringer. It is also the moment I committed my gravest sin of all,” Spike said closing his eyes. Silence followed for about fifteen seconds until a snarl caught his attention.

“You manipulated them,” the dragon judge said with a tone of pure revulsion. “You used their collective hate and fear to make them follow you,” he turned to see Chrysalis. “And you knew he was going to.”

Chrysalis simply replied with a dry ‘Yes’.

“The word was spread throughout Equestria and three days later, in the ruins of the last caribou fortress, five hundred thousand brave souls were there waiting for me along with half the Saddle Arabian armada and enough supplies for a million strong army to last three months. Ponies, griffons, saddle arabians, changelings; soldiers, mercenaries, guards, civilians. I welcomed them all. All of them having the same goal in mind. The goal I put in their minds; the annihilation and extermination of the caribou,” Spike sighed heavily. “Yes, I manipulated them like...like ‘he’ did, or something close to it maybe even worse, to get what I wanted,” Spike chuckled darkly.

“Soarin, Yog, Creslin, Blueblood and Shining followed me because I told them my plan before hand and all of them agreed. But Big Macintosh? He followed me for an entirely different reason,” Spike chuckled again. “Not to be a moral guide or something like that. He was trying to, I don’t know, I guess I can say he followed me because he wanted to save at least a little bit of my old self,” Spike voice was cracked while he spoke. “Poor Big Mac,” Spike turn his head from side to side three times before letting out an icy, mirthless laugh. “If only he’d realized there was nothing left to save to begin with.”

“You are nothing but a heartless monster,” Silveria said full of spite.

“That I am,” Spike laughed again. “Before my departure I said my goodbyes to my mom; she...didn’t oppose my decision, she just asked me to spare as many innocents as I could. The girls were also there to say their goodbyes, I lingered a bit with them until Cadance came. She and I had a private talk in which I told her what happened in Solitude and afterward. After I was done she hugged me, I vomited and after cleaning it I set sail to Hraljord,” Spike smiled widely. “And that bit of art all of you already know quite well.”

“Do I regret anything? Yes, but only what I did to my own people. Would I change it if I could? Not a chance,” Spike admitted. “And with that my story concludes, you got the answer you wanted, you know what I did and how I did it and I had a pretty fun time while doing so; showing everyone what an absolute assholes your rulers truly are is a nice bonus soooooo…..any questions?”

The diamond dog judge leaned back. “What happened to the Embracers?”

“Boiled alive, weren’t you paying attention?” Spike’s answer was cold and uncaring. “Only the guards assigned to make sure they wouldn't escape witnessed their full torment; everyone else went off to prepare for the trip to Hraljord or to spread the word. The guards say it took three hours or so before their fur and skin began to peel away from their meat. After they were all dead, I’m not quite sure actually, I think they incinerated the remains.”

The judges exchanged glances for several moments until a yawn was heard.

“Can you please wrap it up already and declare my execution already? I don’t have all day,” Spike said before yawning again.

Keltu stood up followed shortly by the other eight judges and left from the same door they had entered. Spike was left sitting in place without moving much. The minotaur guards never approaching him.

Not ten minutes later the nine judges walked in through the door once more, sat down on their seats and stared at a smug looking Spike.

“Spike Solaris ‘The Dragon’, ‘The Reaper’, ‘The Lightbringer’, we, as standing judges of The Great Tribunal, have decided your sentence and punishment for your numerous crimes,” Keltu said unfolding a parchment.

Spike closed his eyes while his lips formed a little, happy smile.

Chapter 7 part 2 end.

Author's Notes:

Finally, after a long overdue part 2 of the last chapter of Judgment is complete!

Special thanks to all that read, like and enjoy this story!

Special thanks to Ebony Stallion for proofreading and minor editing!

Only the Epilogue is left.