Spike could barely see inside the dimly lit throne room, but after narrowing his eyes he managed to make out the throne at the end of the hall. Instinctively he walked towards it, and as he did so a pair of parallel torches began to make his path clear. As he walked further towards the throne, more torches ignited until the entire room was lit. Spike could finally see what was sitting on the throne. It was Haki, although, not the Haki Fluttershy and Winslow described.

Her body looked inside-out. Muscle tissue, veins, and bones were all visible on her body. Her skull was without skin, and from her head sprouted bony spines that formed an asymmetrical crown-like structure that jutted upwards in odd ways. Her entire form was twisted and misshapen, one arm was disproportionate to the other, and her two long legs had two different ends. The left leg ended with a skinless hoof, and the right leg ended with a rotting dragon's foot with decaying claws and vile liquid dripping from it.

"I have been waiting for you, Spike." The distorted creature wheezed in a voice somewhat similar to Zecora's.

"Are you Haki?" Spike asked the foul hag.

"I am the one you seek, dragon," Haki growled.

"Why do you look like this?" Spike said as he marvelled at Haki's ghastly figure.

"My spirit distorts the body of those I possess," Haki gurgled, "and it can yield unpredictable results."

"Why do you want Wantthai so badly?" Spike asked Haki.

"Because it was, and always has been my divine right to rule Wantthai!" Haki bellowed; offended by Spike's question. "I was the strongest of my kin!"

"Obviously that wasn't true, otherwise you'd still rule Wantthai today." Spike retorted as a large grin spread across his face.

"How dare you mock me, you loathsome reptile!" Haki screamed as she waved her hand at Spike; sending a wave of red magical energy towards him.

Spike was blown back by the force of the blast, but recovered quickly, and tossed a ball of flame right at Haki's face. The fireball scorched her severely, but within seconds her wound healed over. She screeched and let loose a discharge of bony thorns from her mouth, one of which hit Spike in the shin. Immediately he pulled it out, but blood began oozing from his wound, and his leg tensed up as he felt the pain racing up his spine.

"Foolish lizard, in this realm I am a god!" Haki barked at the injured.

"In this realm, you're also cocky!" Spike joked as he struggled to stand.

Haki roared again, and bone pillars erupted from the floor. Spike dodged with great difficulty; feeling every step as his wound became more and more painful. Spike then hid behind a nearby bone-pillar to tend to his injury. Twilight taught him some basic medical skill before, and he remembered the time she taught him about cauterisation and how it could stop bleeding.

"Here goes nothing Twilight... I hope it doesn't hurt as much as they say it does." Spike whimpered as he began cauterising his wound shut with green flames. "Oh! It does hurt !"

"Come out and face me you, coward!" Haki yelled.

Spike leapt out of cover and shot another fireball out of his hand, but it was diverted by a strong telekinetic force and was redirected towards him instead. Spike was hit in the chest and was launched backwards into a bone pillar that snapped as his body made contact with it. Although the attack was devastating, Spike's adrenaline allowed him to push through the excruciating pain. He shot off like a rocket and tried pummelling Haki, but with a wave of her hand she interrupted his flight path and drove him into another pillar made of muscle fibres. His body was then entangled by the strands of flesh; rendering him immobile.

"You're weak, dragon!" Haki snickered. "You are nothing but a nuisance to me!"

Spike smiled and spat out a ball of fire from his mouth that exploded right in Haki's face. She stepped back and wailed in pain; blindly firing blasts of magic in random directions as she tried to regain her sight. Spike took the opportunity and attempted to strike her in the back, but Haki had feigned her pain; grabbing Spike by the neck and smashing him into the ground. Haki then picked him up and tossed him across the room. Spike rammed through five pillars before losing momentum, and he laid on the ground for a moment before standing once again.

Spike coughed up some blood as he stood up and staggered about as he tried regaining his balance. Haki however, did not want him to make such recoveries, and she blasted the poor dragon back into a nearby wall with a wave of magic force; sending even more bone debris flying across the room. Spike's body was durable to say the least, but Haki's attacks were on a whole new level. Every attack from her felt like falling from a ten story building.

Spike got up again and clutched his aching rib cage. He felt at least four ribs that were broken, and he had massive scars across his face and chest from Haki's crushing blows. Spike powered through the pain. There was a lot more at stake than just his own life. Twilight, Draven, Gin... they're lives were on the line. He couldn't give up, he wouldn't.

Despite all his injuries, Spike attacked with all his might. He head-butted Haki, then grabbed her skull and breathed fire all over her face. The jet of flame melted the flesh of her bones, and with a deafening shriek she threw Spike to the side. This time, she truly was in pain. Spike, however, didn't let her recuperate. He elbowed her in the jaw, kneed her in the chest, and punched her in the throat with his flame-coated fist. Haki retaliated with another blast of magic that imbalanced Spike, and have her an opening.

Haki burst into a flurry of fists; striking Spike again and again as he tried getting back up. Haki then blew him away with a blast of magic so powerful, it melted the fleshy ground beneath his feet. The powerful attack finally brought Spike down for good, and Haki laughed as she approached the battered dragon who laid speechless on the ground; straining himself to stand back up. Haki put her dragon's foot on his chest, pushed down, and snapped some more of Spike's ribs. The young dragon wailed as she pressed down, and he tried lifting her foot off, but it was to no avail.

"I admire your tenacity Spike, but I'm afraid it only prolonged the inevitable." Haki sneered as she twisted her foot. "Once I kill you, I'm going to kill that little alicorn friend of yours, and do you know who she's going to curse when she draws her last breath? Spike Dra-."

A giant torrent of black flames escaped Spike's mouth and enveloped Haki's body. The sorceress flew across the throne room and collided with yet another bone pillar. A large amount of smoke poured out of Spike's mouth and shrouded him; sending Haki into a fit of impatient rage as she shot blasts of magic into the smoke.

"Come out of hiding warrior! At least die with honour!" Haki shouted in her outrage.

As the smoke cleared, Haki could make out an unfamiliar foe on the other end of the room. It was Spike, but his appearance had changed dramatically.

His light scales took on a much darker shade of purple, and his form was a lot lankier than before; his body looking more like a mature dragon. His beige underbelly became dull and grey, and he sprouted two demon-like horns from his head. His jacket was torn away, and the only thing covering him was his tattered black shorts. Spike's previously emerald green eyes were pitch black and devoid of life, and he radiated an aura of dread and dismay.

"Wha-what is this?" Haki gawked at Spike. "What did you do?"

Spike said nothing and vanished out of thin air. In an instant, he appeared behind Haki, who was caught completely off-guard. Spike grabbed her head with one hand and discharged another massive beam of black fire- once again enveloping his foe, and melting her away.

"How can this mortal have so much power? What made him so strong?" Haki thought to herself as Spike pummelled her into the ground with a cold and emotionless expression.

"I will not be beaten by a mere mortal!" Haki screamed as she blasted Spike with everything she had.

Spike was blown back briefly but stood up as soon as he hit the ground. He then waved his hand and cast a magic circle above Haki, who was wide-eyed with disbelief. With a snap of his finger, a tornado of fire emerged from the magic seal and swept up Haki in an inferno of dark flames. Once the spell subsided, Spike began another assault and smashed Haki into another pillar.

Haki was becoming desperate, and in haste, she conjured up a bone sword to impale him with. While she succeeded, it did not do as much damage as she expected. Spike grabbed the sword and pulled it out with little effort, and black blood leaked out of his chest onto the ground before his wound healed over. No effect.

"Rrrgggahh! Die! Die! Die!" Haki hollered as she summoned more and more bone-pillars to impale her foe.

Each bone pillar pierced his body but affected him even less than the sword had. Spike simply smashed the pillars apart with his bare hands and removed each sharp spine from his body like they were nothing but rose-thorns. Spike summoned another magic seal underneath Haki that surrounded her in walls of flame. This was to save himself time for his next attack.

Spike held his hands together as he charged-up one final attack. Four balls of dark flame orbited around him before gathering in his clasped hands. As the attack built the room began to shake around him, and when he outstretched his arms the fire gathered in his palms. The fire surrounding Haki dissipated once Spike's attack reached full power, and Haki's vision was no longer obscured by dark flames.

"Wait, I have seen this power before... this is not the power of a dragon it's-...." Haki's thoughts trailed off as Spike released his attack.

"Dragon-Warlock's Glorious Inferno!" Spike bellowed in a deep, booming voice.

A giant ball of flame was launched from Spike's hands right at Haki, and when it made contact with her a swirling explosion of black fire consumed her body and incinerated her inside and out. As the attack ended, Haki simply sat still and clutched her heart.

"H-how... d-did you?" Haki wheezed as she looked down at her hands that were beginning to disintegrate into ash. "M-my body..."

Spike reached into his pocket and crushed the Stone of Right in his hand, and then the limbo around them began to melt away along with her. Without Haki holding up the limbo, it could no longer sustain itself. As Haki finally melted away she witnessed small lights lift up into the endless black sky.

"M-my souls..." Haki whispered before disappearing entirely.

Spike's body returned to normal, and he fell unconscious soon after being lifted away from the doomed world below by all the small orbs of light. The last thing he remembered was the small voice of a filly similar to one of Mkutanu's personas.

"Thank you, hero..."

Author's Notes:

One Sorcerer down, six to go! As always, I hope you enjoyed! The next arc is coming up soon!