Explosions. That was all the Crystal Creatures could hear. Each one of them hoping that Spike would stop this monster.
The battle grew consistent. Spike and Dark Spike's powers would be equal, but Armak would get thrown around like a toy.
"So my traitorous dad? How shall I dispose of you?" Dark Spike said while walking slowly towards him.
"How am I a traitor?" Armak replied.
Dark Spike chuckled. "Don't you remember all those fun times back when we were destroying Equestria, when we made ponies fear us?"
"Armak's changed now. He's a different stallion."
"I believe that's the truth, er... what should I call you...?"
"Why don't you call me... Darkness."
"Darkness?" Armak and Spike asked at the same time.
Darkness shrugged. "I was made out of Dark Magic."
"Makes sense." Spike pointed out.
Darkness teleported directly in front of Spike. "It does, doesn't it?!" And he attempted a punch.
Spike barely managed to dodge and fired a blast from his palm.
Darkness fired his own blast and the two collided.
Armak teleported from above and fired multiple beams at Darkness.
Darkness mocked Armak and ran to dodge instead of flying. He suddenly teleported behind Armak and released a blast on the dark alicorn's back.
Armak got sent flying away, screaming while doing so.
Spike was about to fly in but stopped when he saw something from the corner of his eye. "Cry-Crystal Shine?!" He looked closer and saw that she was running towards him with worry.
He grew a serious face and teleported to her.
When he suddenly appeared in front of Crystal Shine, she gasped. "Y-You're able to use your magic?!"
"Crystal Shine," Spike ignored her statement. "What are you doing here? It's dangerous!"
"Prince Spike, I have urgent news! Equestria is in great danger!"
"What happened?!"
"There's this being, a centaur by the name of Lord Tirek. With the help of Discord, he stole the magic of ponies and grew strong enough to overpower the alicorns."
Armak, who listened in on the conversation, spoke up, "Tirek?! When I was a just little colt, he was in our history books."
Armak got blasted away by Darkness and he asked, "Interesting. What's the current state of Equestria?"
Crystal Shine, feeling confused by a second Spike, answered. "He currently has the magic of the Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth ponies. The three alicorns transferred their magic to Princess Twilight so Tirek would be unable to get it. He just recently acquired the magic of the Element Bearers excluding Princess Twilight." She explained.
Darkness gave no response, instead, he was in deep thought.
"Wait, how do Pegasi and Earth ponies have magic?" Spike asked.
"Princess Celestia explained how Pegasi have the magic of flight, letting them change the weather and stand on clouds. Earth ponies have the magic of strength, letting them tame the lands to grow food." Crystal Shine said.
"I just had the greatest idea EVER!"
Spike, Armak, and Crystal Shine stared at Darkness, who laughed maniacally.
"Discord said the portal was in that direction didn't he?" He activated his wings and flew fast towards where the gateway was.
"Oh no! Whatever he's planning shouldn't be good."
"Well come on!" Armak flared his wings. "Let's chase after him!" He gave a powerful flap and flew off.
Spike activated his wings and took off as well.
Crystal Shine placed her hands together and prayed.
Tirek sat in front of the cage which held the weak-looking Mane Five, waiting impatiently.
He was much larger. His gray mane and bear were puffier, and the cuffs on his wrists were gone. His horns were longer as well.
Discord abruptly appeared with a flash.
"Where have you been?" Tirek asked as he got up.
"Oh, nothing much. I just had a little chat the dragon and fifth alicorn. They are busy at the moment but will arrive soon."
Tirek huffed. "So these five? Do you think Princess Twilight will do anything for them?"
"If Twilight has magic to give, it will be yours. Soon there won't be a Pegasus, Earth Pony, or Unicorn who will be able to stand up against us."
"Us?" Tirek said with a smirk. "Who said anything about "us"?" He charged his horn.
"You did." Discord said confusedly.
Tirek encased Discord with his magic. "You've helped me grow strong. You've provided the means by which I can obtain Princess Twilight's magic."
Discord looked back at the Mane Five.
"And now you are no longer of any use to m-"
A rainbow beam cut of Tirek by pushing him away from Discord.
Discord, who fell because Tirek's magic ended, looked to his left to see none other than Twilight with a furious face.
"Twilight!' Her friends yelled in happiness.
Twilight's horn flashed and the cage that held her friends broke.
"I've had enough time to practice with my magic a bit. Are you all okay?" She asked as she walked up to them.
Her friends all said that they were alright and she looked back to see Discord approach her.
"You saved me... Thank you, Twilight." He said with a voice of gratitude.
Twilight smiled. "You're welcome."
"After the way he has betrayed you, you save him? What? Next you are going to call him a "friend"?"
Twilight looked at Tirek who was walking towards them with a stomp to his step with a serious expression. "My brother Spike taught me something. He taught me about forgiveness and that you have to earn it. Discord may have to earn his trust back, but I believe in him." Twilight gave a smirk.
"Your brother? Hmph, I don't care. You are going to give me what I want." He charged his magic between his horns and opened his mouth.
Twilight and Discord acted quickly. With a snap and a purple spark, they teleported everyone out of Tirek's reach.
They all appeared back in Twilight's library, on a high balcony.
The lavender alicorn used a telescope to see Tirek off in the distance, who fired a magma sphere at the Library.
Discord snapped his talon and a huge cannon appeared, making Tirek's magic blast fly into it.
Tirek looked confused.
Discord had a serious look on his face and he said, "Back at you!"
Tirek's magic blast shot out of the cannon and flew towards its original user.
TIrek roared in rage and caught the sphere which pushed him back a bit, eating it soon after. He smiled.
Twilight's wings flared and she teleported above Tirek. She charged her horn and released a huge rainbow beam of magic.
Tirek crossed his arms in front of him and created a magma-colored shield with his magic, protecting him from the beam.
Twilight's beam then made a burst, and it grew bigger.
Even thought Tirek was protecting himself, he got pushed back by the beam. He teleported away right before the beam exploded, and glared at the alicorn.
Twilight glared back.
"Yeah! You show him Twilight!" Rainbow yelled as the others stared at Twilight in awe.
"How does she have so much magic?!" Rarity asked.
"Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadence gave Twilight their alicorn magic so Tirek wouldn't be able to steal it." Discord told.
"So that's why Twilight was flying so fast before."
"It seems that Tirek noticed it as well." Discord pointed out.
Tirek was smiling. "Now I understand what your fellow princesses have done."
Twilight charged her horn, but before she or Tirek was able to do anything Discord appeared behind Tirek and poofed up a huge balloon bat.
"Batter's up!" He yelled as he struck Tirek with the giant balloon bat.
Surprisingly, Tirek got knocked back a good amount of distance. "What?" He said, shocked as he rubbed his cheek.
"Chaos is great isn't it?" Discord said.
Tirek roared with rage and fired a beam at Discord, who just vanished with a flash. He looked around for either Twilight or Discord.
It was then he was hit with two beams from below.
Twilight and Discord stood from below. One firing a rainbow beam, the other firing pure white light.
Tirek screamed and used his hand to push away the two beams. He used his magic to levitate the alicorn and draconequus and threw them away.
They both screamed and soon hit a mountain, cushioned by Twilight's magic.
The next thing they heard was a scream, and they saw a raging Tirek flying towards them.
Discord snapped his talon and a trampoline appeared with a flash in front of them blocking their view from Tirek.
Tirek's eyes widened and he got bounced back by the trampoline and crashed to the ground causing the earth to pile up.
Twilight teleported the two to the ground safely but soon realized their mistake.
A plasma beam cut around the area and Tirek lifted the cutoff ground on top of him. He threw it away with Twilight and Discord standing on it.
The ground he threw crashed but the two who were standing on it flew out of the way safely.
Tirek scream as he smashed the ground with his arms and with an orange glow the ground formed into pillars which blocked Twilight and Discord's way.
Discord poofed up a giant potato masher in his talon and he mashed the pillars down as they engaged.
Tirek released a powerful beam and so did Twilight. Discord snapped his talon and teleported away.
The two beams collided and caused a massive explosion.
When the dust from the explosion cleared, Tirek pushed some of the debris off of him.
Twilight walked up to him and glared. Discord teleported beside Twilight with a flash and crossed his arms with a serious look.
"It appears we are at an impasse."
"It seems." Discord said.
"If only I still had those other five," Tirek whispered to himself.
Discord looked to his right.
"What is it Discord?" Twilight whispered.
"It's... Spike!"
"What? Really?!"
"Yes and... oh no..."
"What is it-"
Tirek screamed and fired a blast at the two.
Discord quickly snapped his talon and teleported them both.
Twilight found herself back at Ponyville. She looked at Discord. "What was that about?"
"No time to explain. Look!" Discord pointed off in the direction.
Twilight squinted her eyes and smiled brightly. "Spike!" She flew towards him.
Discord gasped and teleported in front of Twilight, stopping her. "No!"
Twilight looked worried and asked, "Tell me what's going on."
"That there is Spike's dark personality. He was created when Armak first used his Dark Magic to take control of Spike. He recently used Spike's DNA to create a body for himself."
Twilight looked behind Discord. "And that's... Spike and Armak?!"
Discord looked behind himself and saw the two, he snapped his talon and they teleported behind Spike and Armak with a flash.
"Finally, we caught up to you!" Armak yelled.
"What's going on Spike?"
Spike looked at Twilight and Discord. "Discord! Twilight! That guy over there wants to impersonate me and take over Equestria!" Spike pointed to Darkness.
"He now goes by the name of "Darkness"," Armak explained.
"So now there's two of you Spike?!"
"Basically, he has the same powers as me and even some Dark Magic," He explained.
"Well well well, look who decided to show up. Discord himself and Twilight The Slavedriver."
Twilight tried her best to hold back her tears.
"What do you want?" Discord asked.
"Me? Oh, first I'm going to do what I failed to do the last time I was here." He raised a claw and shot a beam at the library.
Twilight gasped and used her magic to teleport her five friends and Owlowiscious out of the library.
The beam hit the library, destroying it.
The Mane Six, Spike, and Discord all gasped.
"Since Spike himself didn't destroy it, it can't be reversed by a spell like he did last time." Armak thought.
Darkness started to laugh.
Twilight growled and was about to pounce him when they all felt something shaking the ground.
"Oh no, it's Tirek!" Twilight said.
After a few moments, Tirek arrived. He inspected the area. "The fifth alicorn, and the powerful... dragons?"
"It seems we have a visitor." Darkness walked up to Tirek. "Oh great Lord Tirek, I would love to join you and your quest to rule Equestria!"
"What?" Everyone except Tirek yelled.
Tirek laughed. "You have no use to me. But your magic does." He charged his magic and began to inhale.
"I could say the same thing!" Darkness laughed like crazy and flew up to Tirek.
What he did next shocked everyone there, especially Tirek.
He flew into his mouth.
Darkness seemingly crashed into the back of Tirek's throat, telling by the short-lived lump.
After Darkness was seemingly eaten, Tirek started to breathe in and out harshly. He stood there for a second but then suddenly, his eyes glowed yellow very brightly, and the others watched in horror as Tirek grew much larger with orange sparks. Tirek screamed as he grew taller than the trees in the Everfree forest, he then grew taller than Twilight's library before it got destroyed. Spikes appeared at the sides of his horns, and soon he grew bigger than Canterlot Castle.
"Yes!" He yelled demonically.
He then finally stopped growing and looked down at the horrified watchers with a smile. "And now... you're next!"