Sometime earlier while the girls were in Canterlot, Spike somehow managed to escape from the cavern and made his way to the outside world. After his encounter with Starlight and Trixie, he somehow felt weak from this newly-discovered power that he recently obtained. He had no idea what it was, nor did know how it ended up in the malachite crystal.

"What is this power?" Spike wondered.

He tried prying away at the crystal, but whenever he struggled to pull it off his chest, it hurt him more and made him cough blood.

"I would leave that be if I were you." a voice said.

"What?" Spike asked, startled.

He turned around to see who spoke, but nobody was around. He was becoming more and more frightened when he discovered nopony was there. He was beginning to sweat from this terrifying presence he was starting to feel. Just then, he saw this strange ooze come out of his body and form out of the ground. It made its way into the ground and formed this large puddle in front of Spike. Suddenly, it started to take shape as a shadowy form slowly emerged out of the ground. After it sprouted out of the puddle, it opened its red, glowing eyes and looked at Spike.

"Who are you?" Spike asked, backing away.

"Don't be naive, my poor drake. You know exactly who I am." the creature spoke in this demonic, warped voice.

"Huh? I don't know who you are! What did you do to me!?" Spike shouted.

"I believe that the answer to your little riddle is obvious."

"What?"

"I gave you what you wanted."

Hearing this shocked Spike and started to believe that his mind was playing tricks on him.

"T-This doesn't make any sense! You don't know anything about me! What makes you thi-"

The creature pushed Spike to a wall and held him by his throat.

"Wrong. I know everything about you. Your life, hobbies, memories... even those pathetic pony friends of yours." the creature said.

"They're not my friends! At least not anymore..." Spike responded, albeit choking.

The creature dropped Spike and allowed him to regain his breath.

"It is utterly tragic to see them betray you in such a way when you were trying to mend the conflict between the griffins and the dragons. But what if we made an army joined by the two species?" the creature asked.

"What do you mean?" Spike asked upon getting off the ground.

"What would you say about forming your own kingdom? A kingdom where every creature has an equal opportunity? A kingdom where ponies have no place in our glorious utopia?"

"Why would you do that? It wouldn't be equal if-"

"Think about it. Would anypony ever want to take a dragon that nearly destroyed a relationship between the dragons and the griffins? Would anypony ever take a dragon who was a failed servant of a princess? Would anypony take a dragon that would be more than likely abandoned just because he's the latter?"

"I..."

"It's not too late. If you work with me, every species that you've met will be united as one and the ponies that drew them out of their homes and invaded their territories will feel the wrath of those who wronged us. You know you want this."

"But-"

"Did that marshmallowed pony living in Canterlot do anything to stop you from leaving with that friend of yours? Did she even once spend a day with you when you needed company and when you were suffering alone in darkness? Did she ever take any time away from her throne to spend her time with you when you were still a newborn?"

Hearing this stunned Spike and made him realize what his entire life was spent upon. Every lie after lie that was spewed onto him and whatever time he spent by himself, he remembered all too clearly. It made his entire heart ache upon the realization that he was all alone from the very beginning. He wanted to deny it all, but it was too implausible to turn away at this point. Tears started to pour down his eyes upon finally realizing what he was to his friends. A mere servant whose only purpose was to satisfy his masters.

"Don't cry. We will have our revenge. But the first thing we have to do is put down the bastard who sealed me away in that malachite crystal." the creature said, holding out its hand.

"You want to kill Starswirl?" Spike asked in this chilling tone.

"I want him dead. Along with those damned ponies who sealed me away in that malachite crystal. Now join me. Together, nopony will stand a chance against us."

Now finally understanding what his true calling was, Spike held out his hand towards the creature. The creature gave a devilish smile as he grabbed Spike's hand. Upon doing that, the creature enveloped Spike and the ooze covered him entirely. He started running out of the cave on all fours and made it out with little time to spare. Five hours later, he ran towards Starswirl's house which was protected by two guards in front of the entryway. Starswirl was busy working on a new spell for him to showcase at his next teaching. Just then, he heard a ruckus outside his house.

"Who's there?" Starswirl shouted, glowing his horn.

Just then, Spike came in the doorway, carrying the corpses of the two bodyguards upfront. Upon a closer look, Starswirl finally realized who it was.

"No. How could this- What have you done to him!" Starswirl shouted with anger.

The creature simply chuckled as he grabbed Starswirl's throat and said,

"I did nothing to him. I just merely enlightened him."

"What do you mean?" Starswirl asked.

"It's pointless. After you and the rest of the Pillars are killed, there won't be a pony that will hold a hoof to me."

He proceeded to ruthlessly beat Starswirl to death and mutilated him all over his body. Reaching his final breath, Starswirl said,

"Twilight... will... stop you..."

The creature chuckled maliciously as it turned around as it enveloped Spike and said,

"Not this time..."

It brutally mauled Starswirl and killed him. It grabbed one of the books at Starswirl's table and looked at one of the spells in it. After deciphering it, he made replications of himself as they appeared in front of him.

"Dispose of the pillars and any evidence they could use to destroy me."

The replications nodded and dissolved into puddles to go after the pillars. When the creature was finished, he broke a tube that connects the gas and blew a flame from his mouth, blowing up his entire house along with his books. After that, he grabbed Starswirl's body and dissolved it into the black ooze. Then he started to move, walking towards the Dragon Badlands as he started planning for a war against the ponies.

Author's Notes:

Hello, everybody. If you're all wondering why I deleted the last two chapters, it's because I am working on a project that ties into a story that I am working on with my colleague, Saberking2102. It's just simply too big for one author alone and he is willing to work on it with me. We have big plans for this story and I have no intentions of backing away now. But rest assured, I will be working on my Spike x Celestia stories. I hope you all understand. I thank for this brief update and I will see you all on the other side.