Author's Notes:

Special thanks to anyone that read this!

*Ambient music if you so choose it would be: Rage of Bahamut* (Begins once the battle starts)

**If someone is willing to edit this chapter for me, you are more than welcome, just send me a PM**

The light of the explosion died down soon after the maddening roar of the monster ended. Twilight and her friends were the first to recover their sight, all six of them looking for the beast. They soon found a pile of dark purple crystals large enough to bury at least a dozen minotaurs, with the center big enough to cover two of them stacked together from hooves to horns without any problems.

Looking around, the Princess of Friendship saw her two nieces laying on the ground not too far away from them. The six mares got up and ran towards the fallen fillies.

"Flurry, Skyla!" Twilight called their names as she knelt at their side. She saw the two of them were holding hands while shards of the Crystal Heart lay below. Twilight and her friends called the names of the fillies again, this time the two sisters opened their eyes making Twilight sigh in relief.

"What the hay were you two thinking!?" Rainbow Dash bellowed. "You shouldn't be here, squirts!"

"S-Sorry, auntie Dash, but uncle Spike asked us to help," Skyla replied as Fluttershy and Pinkie helped her and her sister up.

"S-Spike? My Precious Scales?" Rarity asked no-one in particular. "H-he's alive?"

Flurry shook her head. "We're sorry, auntie Rarity, uncle Spike was living inside the Crystal Heart and made us promise to not tell anyone, not even mommy," the alicorn answered.

A flash of light appeared behind them before a pink alicorn hugged the sisters close.

"M-My babies! My sweet babies!" Cadance said out loud while nuzzling her daughters, tears running down her cheeks. Skyla and Flurry returned the affection with tears forming in their own eyes. "You two have a lot of explaining to do later, little misses!"

Twilight smiled seeing the display for several seconds until she turned to see the pile of dark purple crystals about twenty or so meters in front of her. Looking around she saw soldiers, followers, Warladies, Scaled Guards, and allied forces begin to stand up or come out of the shock the explosion of light caused on all of them. She took a step forward with her friends close by and frowned.

"Can yah feel it, Twi?" Applejack asked standing at her left side.

"Yes, I can feel it, Applejack," Twilight gripped her staff. "This isn't over yet," she said loud enough for her nieces, her sister-in-law, and the soldiers close by to hear her.

"Damn monstrosity, how many lives does it have still!?" Creslin said nearby as she walked over to the group of friends, aided by Shifting Sands and Luna.

Soarin and Yog landed nearby Cadance and her daughters moments before Celestia did, the solar princess surrounded by the Phoenix Squad. Discord appeared next to Fluttershy alongside Blueblood, Big Macintosh, Blood Talons, Sebastian, and Zhaka. Most of the now present had visible injuries; Soarin, Zhaka, and Blood Talons being the most visibly damaged with many wounds, some still bleeding.

"You two are crazy, you know that, right?" Chrysalis said to the young sisters after appearing next to Cadance alongside Shining Armor, who joined his wife in the embrace of their daughters, while the changeling queen held her scythe steady and firm. "How can that thing still be alive after all that?" She asked looking at Twilight.

"I have no idea if I'm being honest. My theory was correct, but how it functions is still up for debate," she charged up her staff. "And we still don't know what else that thing has in store for us."

"Shouldn't we resume the attack?" Chief Thunderhooves asked as he approached the group of leaders followed by some of his shamans, Blue Moon tending to his injured right arm, Rutherford, and the Dragon Lord plus her father, Torch.

"I already am," Twilight replied staring at the pile of crystals. "That thing is still alive and is doing something, I can feel it, what exactly I don't know, but I'm keeping an eye on it," a purple sphere of magic appeared around the entire pile. "And trying to suppress it for the moment."

"That's good and all, but why aren't we attacking that monster instead?" Torch asked crossing his arms.

"You saw what that monster is capable of, Torch. We were barely able to hold it back time and time again, our plans to wear it down didn't work as we hoped, but I can tell we have been 'peeling' away from its strength with each of its transformations," Luna said with some difficulty, she had used too much of her magic and energy in maintaining the shield from its third form and them almost immediately having to combat thousands of illusions and nightmares at the same time, each with brutal intensity. Even with the help of Discord, changeling Mind-Menders, and shamans it had been an excruciatingly hard task even for her. "Now that we have this moment of respite, we must plan what to do."

"I'll gather every still able to fight Scaled Guard--" Blueblood was interrupted when the ground itself began to tremble. "So much for that respite, aunt Luna," he said with venom in his voice, his hands gripping the hilts of his sword tightly, as he turned to face the pile of crystals in the same way everyone else present did.

The trembling continued for several seconds making everyone stand up at attention and ready themselves for anything. Twilight's eyes went wide the moment the trembles stopped and her barrier was shattered as if wasn't even there. Everyone then felt a sudden and overwhelming heavy aura erupt from within the pile of purple crystals, most were taken aback while others felt their hearts race fast and hard, fear and fright running in their veins in the presence of such dark power.

Celestia, frowning and gripping her sword tightly, stepped in front of the entire group in time to see the crystals melting away into a disgusting a fuming dark purple slime. She gritted her teeth remembering it was the same kind of slime she had seen before back in the Crystal Empire.

All those looking couldn't help but gasp in horror as the purple slime began to move on itself, forming an amalgam with no coherent or functional shape or form, constantly creating short-lived shapes of arms, legs, heads, and abominable, deformed bodies all over its surface whilst it let out screams, moans, and grunts of both pleasure and agony.

"Behold, the true face of the Sickness," Creslin said astonished at the sight before her.

No one cared or noticed how long it lasted, but as time went on, the slime began to consolidate and take a more unique, solid form.

The unmistakable shape of a caribou.

Many that knew him or had seen him could've sworn it was Dainn, just twice as big. Upon closer look, it was more than obvious that, while baring an extraordinary resemblance, this was another caribou. He had great, proud antlers; and had a set of two large horns growing from each side of his forehead in a similar manner of the monster they had seen before, with the difference these horns were larger, thicker, and darker. The caribou held a permanent smile on his muzzle, had an almost grotesque torso and thick arms filled to the brim with bulging muscles, his stomach showcasing a proud ten-pack.

His legs were also thick and powerful with muscles and his cloven hooves were large enough to squash the head of a pony as if it was a watermelon. In between his legs were two large testicles and a twenty-five-inch long penis; thick with veins and fully erect. The fur and skin of the caribou were completely purple, just like the slime, with some of it dripping thick globs onto the ground. But what remained unchanged were the two lidless, wide open, white eyes.

"I-Is that...?" Shifting Sands asked as she trembled in fear at the sight of the near four-meter tall monstrosity before her.

"Yes. That's the Horned King," Creslin said not with fear but with undying hate and revulsion.

Before their very eyes, however, the monster began to change shape again. It started to shrink down, changed fur and skin for scales, a large, thick, deadly tail grew behind him, the antlers turned into a sharp, pointy crest, his fingers turned slimmer and slightly larger with sharp, deadly claws growing from the tip, too. His teeth became fangs, his muscles died down enough to not be overly grotesque or borderline deformed, his cloven hooves turned into feet along with toes and their own set of claws. His ears turned to fins, and finally, he began to spew purple mist from his mouth with each breath he took. The only things that didn't change were the set of horns, the ever-smiling maw, the wide, white, lidless eyes, and the permanent erection now in the shape of a dragon phallus.

In a matter of seconds, the form of Spike Solaris, minus the extreme deformities, was presented in front of them once more. Unmoving, unfaced, unblinking.

Suddenly and without any warning, the monster let out a powerful roar as he looked directly at the group in front of it followed by a wave of dark, tainted power that made their blood freeze. Its horns lit with purple fire alongside its arms. Another roar followed, this time as the monster looked at the skies above. It spread its arms wide for a few moments before abruptly dropping on all fours and it began to vomit a thick, putrid glob of purple slime on the ground. Once done, it stood up again doing so with unnatural movements.

A sphere of light and magic suddenly came to life above the gathered group of leaders.

The six mares inside the sphere looked down at the monster that was now staring directly at them with those white voids it had for eyes. Six magical beams of different colors were shot directly at the monster from the sphere itself. The beams hit their target in a small explosion of light, followed by the cheering and shouting curses of victory from the thousands of onlookers; cheers that died the moment they saw what had really happened.

The monster stood still as the beams of magic had been stopped by a lavender barrier in the shape of a six-pointed star that surrounded the beast. The sphere of magic surrounded the six mares suspended in the air vanished a few moments later after the beams collapsed. The mares were astonished at what had just happened and how the still very visible barrier around the wretched monster represented. With a flicker from the barrier, it disappeared before the cutie mark of Twilight Sparkle herself appeared in the middle of the monster's forehead.

What followed was even worse as Celestia's cutie mark appeared on the stomach of the beast, and finally the Crystal Heart itself; broken, fractured, and grey, appeared on its chest with a visible green flame trapped in the very center of that broken version of the Crystal Heart.

The monster simply roared once more creating a golden barrier around itself for a few seconds before breathing out a stream of green fire down at the moving amalgam of purple slime. The flames were consumed by the slime and then it stopped moving. After a few seconds, the slime began to expand and divide itself into at least a dozen and a half parts.

A sudden bolt of magic clashed against an invisible golden barrier before the combined cries of thousands were heard and the onslaught of attacks rained down upon the creature once more: arrows, spears, bolts, lightning bolts, magical bolts and beams, spells of any and all kinds, zebra shamas summoning vines that burned upon contact with the barrier, dragon breathing streams of fire or spitting fireballs, changelings and unicorns picking up rocks and throwing them at the creature with their magic. Every attack was halted or bounced off when it hit the golden barrier, making it shimmer and appear for just a fraction of a second each time.

"What in the name of all that is holy is that monster!?" Blueblood managed to shout, not wanting to believe what he was seeing.

" 'And so my will is eternal and undying. For I am The Horned King. This world shall be mine and those lowly cunts across the sea shall taste the fierce power of my cock. Females are the damnation of us all, and so it is my destiny to rule and tame those beings that are less than animals. For I am The Horned King; savior and God of Male-Kind. All shall bow before me and do as I command following my ideals and example, for they are right, just, and represent the ultimate truth that is Male Superiority.' " Creslin said spitting venom with each word. All of those that heard her knew that declaration by heart. It was carved in every damn household and tome brought from Hraljord and in Hraljord itself. The last recorded moment before the Horned King managed to create 'The Sickness', 'The Corruption', 'The Dark Taint', 'The Enslaving Dark Vision', and many other names it had gained over the years.

The monster roared in defiance to the skies.

"Our Rainbow Powers didn't affect him, Twilight! What the hay was that!?" Rainbow Dash asked now that the six friends were out of their shock and were once more on the ground.

"It is as I feared, then. That monster also has part of my powers and Celestia's, our Rainbow Powers didn't affect him because they sense me in it, and they can't harm me... The Element of Magic." Twilight said glaring at the creature. "The bond between Spike and Celestia is also present, and maybe what little remains of the Crystal Heart, too. At least I don't think there's changeling magic involved."

"How can such a creature be allowed to exist?" Ember asked out loud, also glaring at the creature as she snorted her amethyst-colored fire through her nostrils. "Enough of this," Ember spread her wings and leaped until she was at Celestia's side, the alabaster alicorn looking at the creature with hate and grief at the same time. "SPIKE THE DRAGON!" Ember roared the same as loud as she could. She raised her scepter above her head, a moment later the gem nestled on top of it began to glow intensely. "As your Dragon Lord, I command you to KNEEL!" She shouted as she brought the scepter down.

Impossibly, the monster trembled on the spot for a moment before dropping to a knee. The monster roared in defiance as it stood up once more, looking straight at Ember.

Ember glared at the creature. "I SAID 'KNEEL!'"

Once more the monster dropped to a knee but quickly recovered as it roared in defiance. This time the golden barrier around him started to crack and a few attacks managed to get through it, hitting the monster clean.

Ember took a step forward, her scepter shining brighter than ever. "KNEEL!" She commanded once more.

The monster dropped once more to a knee but this time it didn't only roar back in rage, it stood up and following his latest roar with another one, a brutal burst of green fire exploded from its maw. The golden barrier around it shattered as a powerful shockwave and a layer of green fire pushed back every and all attacks.

Ember was forced to use her wings to protect herself from the counterattack of the beast. Once the shockwave and the veil of fire had passed, she stood proudly once more and raised her scepter again. "I COMMAND YOU TO KN--EERGL!?" She was taken aback when she saw the monster stretch its right arm at her with an open hand just before the Bloodstone Scepter left her grasp in a burst of green fire and reappeared in the grasp of the monster.

The creature roared, enraged, before tossing the scepter to the side with all the force it could muster. It took only a couple of seconds for the scepter to reach the barrier surrounding the Trap Zone. Upon impact, a great shockwave was created followed by that section of the barrier being heavily fractured but not shattered; the overflowing magic of the unicorns, changelings, and shamas working to maintain the barrier made itself present and the damage was fixed almost instantly after.

Ember looked back at the monster and saw it looking directly at her with those white orbs and that perpetual, horrific smile it had. Hers and everyone's eyes went wide, however, when the up until now forgotten globs of slime began to take a solid form.

The first one to take form was that of an old enemy of Equestria and the hated demon Luna had once allowed to take over her body with the false promise of being loved as her sister. Nightmare Moon was now standing in once more, completely nude with a collar around her neck.

The second one took the form of Discord himself sporting also an ever permanent erection. A third sludge took the form of Celestia in the same condition as the Nightmare Moon lookalike. A fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh took the form of the Element Bearers and that of Princess Cadance and Luna. Another one took the form of Tirek. Another one turned into Sombra. One more turned into Chrysalis. Two more turned into Shining Armor and into a Windigo. Another one turned into Dainn. And lastly, the remaining four globs turned into Pokey Pierce, Caramel Honey Apple, Bulk Biceps, and Thunderlane.

All females lookalikes were nude, the same way as the males, but all had collars around their necks and had overly large breasts, while the males had painfully hard erections. The males, minus Discord, looked mostly normal but they still possessed more muscles all over their bodies. Aside from those differences, all the lookalikes shared the same dark purple exterior with vague, empty white eyes, and disturbing smiles. All of them were standing in front of their creator, unmoving and unblinking just like their master.

"That damn fucking monster!" Soarin cursed with all his might upon seeing the lookalikes, especially of the last four.

The creature roared weakly, almost as it was laughing before the lookalikes sprinted over at the group of leaders in front of them; screaming and spewing purple mist from their mouths as they charged.

"DON'T LET THEM TOUCH YOU!" Discord shouted, snapping his fingers to reinforce his protection on all of the present. "THEY CARRY THE TAINT!" He warned once more before a complete set of armor appeared on him and a candy cane mace on his left arm and a porcupine shield on his right. With another snap of his fingers, the Bloodstone Scepter appeared back in Ember's claws. He then charged against his own lookalike and smashed its head with his mace, but the copy didn't stop, it, in turn, started to lash and hack at Discord.

Blood Talons, Sebastian, Zhaka, and Thunderhooves engaged the copies of Tirek, Luna, and Cadance. Shifting Sands and Creslin engaged the copy of Dainn while Rutherford engaged the copy of the Windigo. Luna had shouted using her Royal Canterlot Voice upon engaging the Nightmare Moon copy with ravenous zeal. Blueblood was engaging the copy of Pokey, Soarin the copy of Thunderlane, Yog the copy of Bulk Biceps, and Big Macintosh the copy of his cousin, Caramel.

Chrysalis was busy engaging her own copy with Celestia doing the same with hers. The Element Bearers were also facing their own copies. Shining and Cadance were tackling on the copy of Sombra while their daughters stood back while they disrupted the copy of Shining Armor, trying to help Blue Moon and a maniacally laughing Grim Night as they fought it head-on.

Meanwhile, the rest of the army resumed their attack upon the monster, interrupting it and bringing it down to the ground as it prepared to join the fray along with the copies it had created. It roared in rage, taking slow, heavy steps towards the battle while the golden barrier protected it. The army began to move in closer to the center now that the monster wasn't attacking them with any sort of beams, mist, fire, tentacles, or constructs of any sort.

The leaders were busy fighting against the copies to do anything else. The constructs weren't as tough as they feared, but they regenerated all damage almost instantly and didn't seem to tire. Their greatest advantage was perhaps the fact that they didn't attack in any other way than melee, but that also put them at a disadvantage as they spread the Corruption and a single blow would mean more than the defeat for each of them.

Twilight pushed her copy away, a dark reminder of what she was forced to turn into during the Fall, a memory that filled with rage and hate to her very core. Her eyes were shining with pure magic as she used her scepter to trap her copy in a bubble of magic, but the construct began to hit it repeatedly causing cracks on it with every hit. She then tossed the copy to the ground breaking it into several pieces. Not a second later the pieces amassed themselves back together and thus charged once more. She let out a loud grunt as she used her magic to push back her copy once more, it desperately trying to reach her. She once again trapped her copy in a bubble shield and looked around.

Fluttershy had her copy mostly under control as she laid arrow after arrow upon it, all of them magically enhanced and proving to be effective against the copy. Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie were supporting each other as they hacked, slashed, and pummeled their copies relentlessly.

Up in the skies, she could see Rainbow, Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis, Soarin, Yog, and Discord were engaged in personal dogfights against the copies; moving and shifting quickly to avoid them while at the same time attacking them.

To her left, she saw Creslin and Shifting Sands, alongside the bodyguards of the Empress, trying their best to vanquish the copy of Dainn. Blueblood and Big Macintosh were shouting and screaming as they fought the copies of Caramel and Pokey. Rutherford was pummeling down the copy of the wretched Windigo.

To her right, Zhaka, Thunderhooves, Blood Talons, and Sebastian were busy with the copies of Tirek, Luna, and Cadance, the first two holding off the Tirek lookalike. Shining Armor and Cadance were in total control of their battle against the construct of Sombra, but were unable to finish it as it just kept regenerating. Behind her, Blue Moon and Grim Night were holding the copy of her brother back while Flurry and Skyla did their best to aid them with protective shields and magic beams of their own.

Twilight grunted, feeling her latest barrier begin to shatter. She looked at the beast, jaws pressed tight in disgust. At least we have its attention, she mused with sarcasm. She snorted, pushing her copy back as the barrier shattered. These things may not be able to do magic, thankfully, and are as brain-dead as their master, but magic and spells don't work on them. We don't know how to kill them, so far we can only hold them back or contain them for a time, at this rate exhaustion will be our downfall, she thought, angrily casting a glare at the monster slowly making their way towards them. And we still have to find a way to deal with that abomination once and for all! Twilight shouted with everything she could muster as her copy tried once more to reach her.

Twilight prepared to push back her copy once more when it was suddenly engulfed in fire. Her copy stopped and began to thrash on the ground in apparent pain. Taking a step back in confusion, Twilight saw Lord Ember land nearby before breathing out another thick stream of fire at the abominable lookalike, until, finally, it broke down and dissipated into mist. Acting quickly, Twilight used her magic to push back the mist as it faded away quickly. A pained roar caught her attention and saw the monster stop for a moment as it roared in mindless anger.

"Dragons, hear your Dragon Lord! Attack these Tartarus spawned monstrosities with your fire and your ire!" Ember commanded several roars were heard and dragons, both those that had come with her and her father and those from the Scaled Guards, began to aid the leaders against the copies.

One by one the copies began to fall, each one causing the creature to roar in pain as the golden barrier around it weakened. When the last copy, the one of Chrysalis, finally fell, the monster hit the ground creating a crater and a slight tremor before he pointed his horns directly at Twilight and her friends. The fire on its arms, horns, and maw began to split into several tendrils, forming into a ball of purple energy the size of his own head in front of its horns. The monster roared madly; a roar filled with hate, anger, pain, and agony.

Twilight created a barrier around her and her friends a moment before the monster launched the ball of energy it had created. Traveling faster than a speeding pegasus, the ball of energy would've made contact with her shield it not for Celestia appearing in front of them at the last moment. The Solar Princess stopped the ball of energy with her shield before tossing it upwards. It took but a couple of seconds for the ball to reach the barrier, creating a massive explosion that tossed many away or made them fall to the ground from the sheer force of it. The barrier, again, withstood the impact and regenerated, but the shock of the impact made several of their caretakers faint or collapse on the spot.

The monster roared once more as it created another ball of energy, this time three times bigger. Many of the now free leaders that had ranged attacks added their efforts in attacking the monster, cracking its barrier more and more in an attempt to make it stop. Before the barrier could be completely shattered the monster launched its attack, and once more it was stopped by Celestia, but now aided by Twilight, Luna, Flurry Heart, and Skyla, the young sisters adding their magic to their aunt's shield from the ground below. Instead of bouncing the attack again, Celestia teleported her shield alongside the attack out of sight. Several moments later a massive explosion was could be seen high above and beyond the clouds themselves; the shield and the sphere had been sent into orbit where no damage could be done.

The monster in Spike's form roared, pointing its horns for another attack but before the energy could even begin to gather, the golden barrier around was shattered. Seeing his chance, Torch fell upon the monster, delivering a devastating punch to its face and sending it stumbling at least ten meters back. Torch looked at his fist surrounded by white runes, courtesy of Creslin, that did the promised job of protecting him from the corruption.

The monster brought itself up again, ready to attack whatever was on its way when a multitude of fire streams hit him from all directions plus hundreds of attacks coming from the army that had gathered with no other objective than to see its demise. Flashes of golden magic erupted all over its body as each attack hit home, it roaring in never-ending fury and pain. In the midst of the attack, the creature curled itself for several moments until a powerful wave of dark energy, purple mist, fire, and a deafening roar pushed back all attacks and extinguished every flame other than its own. The pegasi, griffons, thestrals, and changelings above were scattered at the force of the attack, most of their clouds destroyed, while those on the ground were forced to crouch in order to stay put.

Celestia stared at the monster and her eyes widened when she saw her cutie mark vanish from the beast's stomach. Once it was completely gone, a golden aura surged through its body before it died out. She heard a mighty warcry and saw Rutherford charge with all his might at the monster, it seemed he had also noticed it and he was not the only one.

The monster saw the mighty yak charge at it. Roaring like the mad beast it was, the creature charged at Rutherford. Not even two steps after initiating the charge, the creature was sent to the ground by another bone crushing punch from Torch straight on the back of its head. The head of the beast hanged loosely for a moment before its neck regenerated in time for Rutherford to hit the monster in the gut with his spiked warhammer. The impact created a small shockwave, the warhammer breaking in the process, but sending the beast back and onto the dirt.

Splitting its back in half, the legs took a solid stance before the upper body joined it a moment later. Before the monster could do something more, a blast of amethyst fire exploded on its face before it was sent flying by a toss from Ember. Once in the air, several white runes appeared around it, holding it in place, while at the same time diminishing the fire spewing out of its horns, arms, and maw. With Creslin's hold, Blood Talons used this chance to strike it with his twin swords, the creature roared as waves of electricity crashed against it with each slash of the griffon king's swords. The monster roared in anger once more followed by a wave of green fire that destroyed the runes holding it in place. Sadly, it was too late to stop Sebastian from impaling it from the back.

The griffon general used his momentum to start spinning like a barrel for several moments before letting go of his spear and sending the monster crashing down to the ground. The monster didn't have the chance to react before Thunderhooves summoned a spirit lighting from his hands, hitting it wide open. The monster managed to stand up once more only to be attacked by Zhaka, in the same manner, he had done before. The lightning-fast attacks of the zebra proved to be too much for the monster to handle... for a time. The monster suddenly grabbed the spear of Zhaka, but unlike last time, the zebra was prepared and let go of the spear at the same time he ducked to allow Shifting Sands the opening she needed to cut off both of its arms in a swift maneuver.

The Empress watched as the arms of the monster latched themselves back to where they belonged almost as fast as she had dismembered them. It wasn't fast enough for the monster to do anything about a pegasus and a changeling diving down on it as they slashed and hacked with relentless abandon, creating injuries with their magic enhanced weapons faster than the monster could regenerate. A hateful roar from the beast pushed Soarin and Yog back, but Blueblood and Big Macintosh joined the fray: the former splitting in half the monster at torso height while the latter mauled its head into a pulp with his giant spiked mace.

The four captains of the Spike Scaled Units moved back to allow Shining Armor to land on top of the beast, crushing its upper half with his protective magical sphere. Cadance showed up next, her lance imbued with her magic, impaling both parts of the monster before they were set on fire by a blue flame. The monster roared in agonizing pain before the two halves managed to reconnect. Cadance tossed it away and Shining Armor slammed against it from below, sending it up high for the second time.

Once in the air, Rainbow Dash tackled it at supersonic speeds, creating a Sonic Rainboom just at the moment of the clash, sending the monster crashing to the ground in a loud and powerful impact that managed to create a crater at the epicenter. The monster roared once more, this time sounding weaker than any previous one before a pillar of green fire erupted from the crater. It ran out of the crater with murderous rage but was almost immediately stopped by the axe of Pinkie Pie as she slashed its legs off. The monster's legs reattached themselves a moment later with it turning to face the pink mare. It opened its maw ready to roar but a magically enhanced lasso grabbed its lower jaw, and with a mighty pull from Applejack, it was ripped off alongside much of its throat, leaving its tongue hanging freely.

The attention of the monster turned to face the farm mare while it regenerated, it took a single step forward when five arrows impaled themselves on the place a heart should be. Looking up it saw Fluttershy in time for two arrows to pierce its eyes, followed by a shower of arrows that skewered the monster without mercy. With its jaw back, the monster roared as purple fire surrounded it incinerating the arrows and aiding its regeneration. It then aimed its horns directly at Fluttershy creating a small sphere of energy before a pure beam of magic snapped its left horn, breaking up the gathering process, and forcing the small sphere of energy to explode on its face.

Once the mist was gone, Skyla and Flurry watched as half of the monster was obliterated but it was quickly regenerating despite their effort. An effort that was not wasted by Twilight. The lavender alicorn focused her magic on her staff, her eyes burning bright with magic. Instead of attacking the monster directly, Twilight created two spheres of magic; one in front and the other at the back of the creature. The monster was mostly regenerated by the time Twilight made the orbs detonate at the same time, the combined shockwaves of the explosions smashing the body of the monster practically into mush.

The monster was then covered by a thick mantle of purple fire as it regenerated. The monster tried to roar while its body recomposed itself, but it was halted as two things pierced its chest. The first belonging to the scythe of Chrysalis in the front, while from the back the urga of Luna was impaled. The two of them then pulled their weapons at opposing sides, splitting the monster in two once more. A set of purple tentacles tried to attack Luna and Chrysalis, but they dodged the attacks while another form approached the monster fast, cutting through the tentacles like a gardener would cut weed. It didn't take long for Rarity to reach the monster, it was battered and trying to regenerate once more; she glared death upon the creature, eyes filled with tears, before using her speed and momentum to slash the throat of the monster, practically beheading it clean off with her enchanted diamond daggers. She moved away quickly dodging a single tentacle, thankful that Discord's protection allowed her to get that close for a short time.

The monster stood up once more, battered, mauled, and with almost its entire body regenerating from the constant onslaught it had suffered. It roared as best as it could, and although the sound that came out was akin to wheezing and screeching, it was still filled with the same hate, fury, and agony all its previous roars were. The abomination stood up once more before it was tackled by a golden streak.

The monster hit the ground, hard, before a flaming sword was impaled in its chest making it roar back in pain.

Celestia glared at the creature below her before driving her sword deeper. The effect was instantaneous with golden fire erupting from every orifice of the monster, even the ever white eyes were consumed and replaced by two pyres of golden fire. The monster thrashed around, unable to properly fight back against her. That is until the face of the monster began to change before her.

"M-Mommy! It hurts! Why are you hurting me, mommy!?" A young Spike, no older than eight, asked her as he was crying, his face contorted by pure pain, and imploring for mercy with his green emerald eyes.

Celestia's glare intensified, her expression turned downright demonic, she bared her teeth, her eyes lit up with a yellow light, her mane and tail turned into flames, and even her armor hissed at the extreme heat she was emitting. She didn't say anything, she simply yelled with all her might as she twisted her sword and the monster was consumed in flames. For several seconds she remained still, the pained roars of the monster becoming weaker and weaker. From within the flames, two tentacles emerged forcing Celestia to pull her sword back to dodge the attack.

The flames died down soon after, showcasing a heavily burnt Spike that was still regenerating, although at a significantly slower pace. The monster was mostly unmoving, but despite everything, it was still looking directly at those that had attacked it with tremendous fury. The gathered leaders looked on in amazement as Twilight's cutie mark vanished from its forehead.

Before they could continue their attack or do anything else, they noticed the body of the creature begin to bloat at an alarming rate. Purple slime started to pour off from every part of its body, tentacles, arms, legs, heads, tails, breasts, penises, and deformed body parts forming and collapsing by the second from every place the slime was pouring out from.

The main body of the monster collapsed in an explosion, giving place in its stead to the disgusting amalgam they had all seen before, although much, much smaller. Nevertheless, the amalgam shrieked and moaned, panted and screamed at the same time while it produced copies of Spike. Horrid, deformed, mismatched copies of him. The constructs, coming out from the amalgam by the dozens at a time, charged in all directions. Some of the poorly made copies collapsed on their own, but most began to engage the army.

"Push them back!" Someone yelled.

"The monster is weak, now it's our chance!" Another one cheered.

"For Equestria and the Empire!"

"For the Alliance!"

"For Spike!"

"Lightbringer!"

"Long live the Reaper!"

"For the RISE!"

"SPIKE! SPIKE! SPIKE!"

The cheers and shouts of victory were heard all across the army as they, lead by their leaders, drove back the monstrosity and its creations slowly, but surely. Most were tired, some exhausted, others had long since passed out for one reason or another, and others had paid the ultimate price. But they had done it, victory was within their grasp, all they had to do was take it.

A victory that showed itself in the form of a multicolored sphere holding inside six mares.

There was a moment of absolute silence as the orb of magic levitated above the amalgam; the physical manifestation of the Sickness. The Caribou Corruption. The depraved and putrid creation of a mad, power-hungry, misogynistic, sadistic tyrant hundreds of years ago so convinced in his own superiority, so blinded by his immense ego and narcissism that he couldn't accept the existence of anything that did not fit his ideal vision. A being so far gone, so filled with blind hate and jealousy, so sickeningly corrupted by its own ministrations and willing to do anything to achieve his terrible goal that nothing and no one else mattered to him.

This was the ultimate representation of everything Harmony was not.

The six mares inside the multicolored orb hold hands together as they, as one, hearts going to the real Spike, screamed with all their might and hope, sending a rainbow-colored beam at the sickening amalgam.

The Sickness itself cried out with a million different voices, all crying out in pain as it lashed all sort of limbs in a desperate attempt to save itself. The putrid purple blob of pure vileness began to shrink as part after part of its body was disintegrated into nothing; cleansed away by the pure power of Harmony itself. The torture continued for several moments, every onlooker cheering louder than ever as the Corruption was destroyed before their very eyes. As the amalgam turned smaller by the second, it changed forms just as fast, adopting the shape of caribou, ponies, griffons, zebras, and more; the males looking deformed as ever while the females were chained down and subjugated with collars around their necks.

After what felt like an eternity, the shrieking, moaning, screaming, grunting, and collapsing Sickness slowly transformed to a long-drowned, pained filled roar of pure agony as it adopted the final shape of Spike himself; the creature roaring to the heavens with all its might far surpassing the cries of victory from the gathered army.

"-RRRROOOOOAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Suddenly, the mad roaring changed to a scream of pain. The horns of the creature turned into dust, the crest became rounder, the scales turned brighter, and the purple mist and flames coming out of its body finally stopped.

The rainbow-colored beam lost some of its intensity as the six mares looked down upon the dragon they had missed so dearly and had tried to bring back to them.

"AAAANNNNNOOOOOO! D-DDOOOOON'T SSSTOOOOOOOOP!" The creature, speaking with the voice of Spike yelled at them. A moment later a small, disgusting little dark purple glob of slime engulfed in greenish fire sprouted out from its chest. The glob was caught by the claws of the creature before it could completely leave its chest while at the same time the ruined Crystal Heart on its chest began to vanish, leaving only the green flame from which it had come out from.

Twilight and her friends looked at the creature, its white eyes looking at them with a hint of emotion, begging them to continue what they were doing. Tears formed in their eyes as their attack regained full strength. The six mares watched how the small glob of slime twitched and jerked against the hold of the dragon to no avail. Slowly, the greenish fire surrounding the glob died down. The minuscule amalgam screeched in pain for several seconds before it eventually stopped and was disintegrated into nothing, leaving behind the form of Spike before a final flash of light illuminated the entire area.

A few seconds later the light ended. The soldiers and leaders alike looked on as their sight returned to them with haste. The first thing they saw was a scorching circle in the ground where the Corruption once stood and a thick layer of black dust emerged from it. Above it, an orb of light descended onto the ground before it dispersed revealing the Ascended forms of the Element Bearers for a few seconds before returning to normal.

"It...it is gone... IT IS TRULY GONE!" Creslin was the first to react, shouting to the four winds at the same time she fell to her knees alongside her fellow Liberators. A flood of tears fell from her eyes. "THE SICKNESS IS NO MORE!" She shouted loud and hard, her voice croaked by her raw emotions.

Not a moment later did the cheers, screams, cries, howls, and bawling erupted among the army as they hugged each other, fell to their knees, collapsed, or began to cry their hearts out. It had been done. It was finally over.

Despite the celebrations, the leaders stood close by as relief washed over some and redemption over others. Twilight used her magic to clear away the remaining black dust to reveal a solitary figure standing in the middle of the devastated area. She, alongside her friends, gasped in horror at the sight. Their gasp made their fellow leaders look at what they were looking, most of them having the same reaction as the six mares had.

Zhaka, Blood Talons, Rutherford, and Chrysalis ready their weapons to continue fighting--

"U-Uncle Spike?" Flurry's question made the four of them stop dead in their tracks whilst her sister stood next to her.

Right there in the middle of the scorched area was standing a skeletal version of the Spike they all knew. Most of his scales were gone, he was so thin one could easily see his bones pressed against his exposed, scorched skin, his tail laid limply, and his crest was broken. Only his eyes were unchanged, they were bright, wide, and green as emeralds. He was looking at the lot of them with what could barely pass as a fangless smile.

He rose his right arm up, trembling and weakly until it reached his chest level and gave the entire group a single thumb up. It lasted for a few seconds until Spike closed his eyes and he exhaled one last time with a ghostly satisfied sigh before his body broke apart and turned to ashes. The ashes, carried by an invisible wind, were carried to the remains of the Crystal Heart. The shards turned bright, levitating to meet the ashes dancing in the air above them. The ashes then merged with the shards, they then let out a bright flash of light before revealing a newly restored Crystal Heart. This one being of a light purple coloration with a vivid green flame inside it while it emitted a blue light as it spun around.

It then levitated itself until it reached Cadance, Flurry, and Skyla, resting on top the hands of the pink alicorn. The entire scene lasted less than a minute, yet it had happened in complete silence.

"Let us go home," Celestia said softly, reaching to Cadance and the Crystal Heart resting on her hands.

Chapter 5 end.