After journeying across the land of Equestria for two days, eating and consuming any creature he found in his path, Spike finally made it to the Dragon Badlands, wearing a cloak he found across the land. He walked all the way up to the mountain, seeing dragons as he moved. For him, it didn't really change much since his last visit. He wasn't even fazed by the fact that many of the dragons didn't recognize him. But when they did, they started growling and hissing after seeing him in the corrupting ooze. Just then, Garble appeared right in front of him.

"Hey, buddy! What do you think you're doing here? I haven't seen you around here my entire life. Put your dukes up!" Garble said, raising his fists.

Upon hearing that, Spike lowered the ooze from his body, shocking Garble and every dragon surrounding them.

"Spike?! What the hell's happened to you?!" Garble asked in a bewildered manner.

Spike looked at Garble in a casual manner and gave him a sinister grin.

"I have a present for all of you. I would like you to gather around the lava lakes in two hours." Spike ordered.

"Hey. What makes you think that I'm gonna take orders from the likes of you? You're just a pony-loving-"

Just then, Spike grabbed Garble's finger and proceeded to bend it a little. Garble grunted in agony as his finger was beginning to break.

"Be there..." Spike warned.

He let go of Garble and proceeded to move towards Dragon Lord Ember's throne room. Twenty minutes later, he made his way towards the throne room. But before he went inside, he concealed the black ooze that surrounded him. After he made it to the throne room, he was greeted by Dragon Lord Ember and Torch.

"Hey Spike. How have you been?" Ember asked in a happy tone.

"It's that small dragon who beat the gauntlet of fire! How goes your life, friend?" Torch asked with an enthusiastic tone in his voice.

"I'm fine. Just thought I needed to go for a stroll across the land." Spike said in a casual manner.

"Really? What made you wanna see Equestria?" Ember asked.

"Yes. I would care to hear more about your ventures, my little friend?" Torch said.

Spike took a deep breath and said,

"Twilight threw me out of her castle."

Hearing this shocked both Ember and Torch.

"What?! Why would she do that?!" Torch asked.

Ember remembered fully what happened and explained the entire situation to Torch. Her father was beyond flabbergasted to hear what has happened in Ponyville. He could never have imagined the Princess of Friendship turning her back on anypony that she knew, let alone the dragon that she grew up with.

"I had no idea that Princesses could be so treacherous. Did you know anything about this, Ember?" Torch asked.

"No. I left Ponyville after the Ceremony was finished. Though I had no idea that Twilight would go so far as to kick you out of her castle." Ember answered, looking at Spike.

Spike sighed from the entire ordeal as he recalled what had happened. Then he looked at Ember and said,

"I have an idea on we can get even with those ponies for what they did to us."

"What do you mean?" Ember asked.

"Enlighten us, little dragon." Torch said.

He removed his cloak and revealed the malachite crystal embedded in his chest. They were even more stunned upon seeing this.

"What happened to you, Spike? How did that thing end up stuck in your chest?" Ember asked.

"I may not have a hint on what that malachite crystal is doing in your chest, but something despicable must have carried your mind when it impacted your chest." Torch speculated.

Spike grinned at them both and said,

"This thing gave me some sort of power that I never heard of. Would you like to see?"

They both leaned closer to see what kind of power that Spike possessed. Just then, black ooze started to come out of his body upon activating this power. Torch and Ember backed away at the site of this evil power that has emerged.

"What sorcery is this!?" Torch shouted.

"Yeah! Spike, we need to get that thing out of your chest! It's destroying your mind!" Ember warned.

"I wouldn't dare do that. There's no telling what would happen if this thing got ripped out of me." Spike said in this sinister voice.

Suddenly, this black ooze swarmed into a ball in Spike's hand and he fired it at Ember. Torch stood in the way trying protect Ember, which ended up hitting him. Ember was shocked upon seeing this. Then Spike grabbed her and planted the ooze into her body when she was caught off guard. After the impact, they both got up and started to feel something crawl within their bodies. It felt like insects had went into their bodies as they tried to figure what happened to us.

"What did you do to us!?" Torch roared.

"Is every creature in Equestria this naive? I gave the two of you a gift." the creature said, taking over Spike.

"Who are you and what have you done to Spike?" Ember asked with anger in her voice.

"Ah. Questions, questions. Unfortunately, I have no time for answers. I do, however, have a proposal for the two of you."

"What do you want?" Torch asked.

"I want what you want. Our lands back." the creature answered.

"What?" Ember asked, feeling confused.

"Here's my plan. If you two join us and rally the dragons and all the other species, I will do everything within my power to bring prosperity back to your kind and all others beyond. Everything that the ponies stole from you will be yours."

"But what about us?" Ember asked.

"You two? You still retain your title as Dragon Lord. However, I need your full cooperation and attention if we want to make this dream of ours a reality. Will you serve me as your king?" the creature asked.

The corruption started to sink into Torch and Ember as they heard him. Ember said,

"But how will we rally the other species into joining our cause?"

"There are ways. Five ways."

"We're listening..." Torch said with his eyes now glowing.

After listening in on his plan for an hour, they were intrigued by Spike's plan to build a kingdom where every creature would live as one while the ponies would not be allowed to live among them. They were so giddy that they couldn't wait to fill the entire land of Equestria with Corruption. But then Ember said,

"If you really do plan on taking back our lands across Equestria, then we will serve you as our king."

Both Ember and Torched kneeled to Spike as he gave a menacing grin. After that, the three of them headed to the lava lakes where every dragon was gathered, ready to hear him give a speech about this new kingdom being lead by Spike himself.