Dark Spike was pummeling the Princesses with his more malicious attacks and ferocity. Celestia had put a forcefield to protect herself, but he smashed it with ease with a fiery blow from his fist. Luna had tried to use her magic from sleep to offensive attacks but neither proved effective. Cadance and Shining also proved to be no match for their adoptive brother's evil future counterpart.
"This time, I will have my revenge!" Dark Spike said
Dark Spike magically constructed a flaming green rope in his hands and used it on the Princesses. He then threw them in the forcefield with the girls and the other citizens. Only Shining was left.
"Now it's just me and you Prince of the Empire." Dark Spike mocked
"You may be Spike, and he's my brother. But you aren't!" Shining said, ready to fight.
"Then if you wanna get some....please.....put up more of a fight then your wife and her IDIOT of a niece did!!" Dark Spike taunted with a smirk
Shining gritted his teeth with rage and let out and angry cry. He charged at Spike's future self and the two exchanged from physical blows to magic attacks. The trapped ponies watched as Shining fought Dark Spike.
"For a stallion who's leads the Royal Army, your lousy as a soldier." Dark Spike taunted, dodging a magic blast
"At least I'm not the one needs an amulet to survive or fight!" Shining replied with a smirk
Dark Spike scowled and teleported. Shining looked around as Dark Spike was heard saying
"Your right, I do need the amulet, but at least I don't have the hypocrisy or idiocy of an moron like you! That makes me question what Cadance even saw in you!"
Dark Spike appeared behind Shining and kicked him in the flank, knocking him down. He then jumped high in the air in flight. Shining gave an angry frown as he got up and launched magic blasts at Dark Spike. The blasts hit and engulfed Dark Spike and covered him with smoke.
"Is that all you got?!" Shining shouted
"Far from it." A voice behind him said
Shining turned and saw Dark Spike unfazed. Just as he lit his horn. Dark Spike grabbed his horn with his glowing flaming fist.
"AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!" Shining shouted in pain.
"Shining Armor!!!!" Twilight shouted
Dark Spike began to pummel Shining mercilessly. From punches to his stomach to haymakers and kneeing him in the gut. Dark Spike then grabbed Shining in his arms, holding his neck and proceeded to strangle him with his elbows.
"Where's the Tree of Harmony!?!?" Dark Spike demanded to know
"I don't know!" Shining replied
"TELL ME!!!!" Dark Spike responded angrily
"I told you i don't KNOW!!" Shining responded with pain.
Dark Spike only let go of Shining and frustration and threw him in the forcefield. He then looked around in annoyance.
"Spike will be here and he'll deal with you!" Cadance said
"And when he saves us, you'll be sorry you returned you ruffian!" Rarity added
"No he won't, at least not to deal with you lot. Besides I've seen both the Friendship Journal and the hypocrisy you each show me and him. I'm doing the world a favor at best! " Dark Spike added with criticism.
This statement left the ponies shocked and in a way offended, mostly from the way he insulted their Friendship journal and their friendship.
"It's not too late Spike." Starlight said suddenly
"What?" Dark Spike replied
"I understand your angry. You never had a chance to have friendship with the girls, me or anypony else. But please! This will only endanger both you and OUR Spike's path. Both you and i know, I was angry at losing Sunburst and I thought cutie marks were bad. But Twilight helped me realise the meaning of Friendship. Please Spike, you may not be the Spike we know now, but you can be much better." Starlight tried to reason with Dark Spike
However, Dark Spike looked at her and saw the other ponies giving him pleading looks. He only said with disdain.
"Starlight, are you not aware of the fact that Twilight was going to likely not just replace me with you, but the fact that your no better?"
"What?!" Starlight and Twilight said
"You heard me." Dark Spike said
"I never wanted to replace you Spike! Starlight just needed help to see friendship, that's why I made her my protegee." Twilight explained
"And your the first person that helped me regain my friendship with Sunburst Spike! I would never do that to you or her!" Starlight added
"Yeah, and what came next? You both ignored me and abused me all the time! You leave me for friendship missions, make me clean up your messes, act as if I'm some sort of pincushion and always leave me behind while you each have fun and to top it all off, NONE of you, mentioned me in the Friendship Journal! It's always Spike can you clean the shelves while I hang out with the girls, Spike can you clean up the castle while we go on a friendship mission or Spike, me Starlight and the girls are going out can you clean up the messes in all the rooms? If anything, I'm only a tool to you!" Dark Spike spitefully responded
This left the two silent as Dark Spike looked at them, crying a few dark black tears from his red eyes.
"Spike! That's not true! You are our friend! We just didn't have the time!" Twilight said
"No I'm not. In fact if you didn't have time, why did you all do this to me when you did? If anything I'm happy not only when I get to kill you hypocrites but also to show I'm happy that I'm not your friend or even in that stupid journal of yours. Not only that but you all say your the Elements of Harmony, but don't even show their qualities or show their meaning." Dark Spike replied in disgust
This left Twilight speechless as Dark Spike continued. He first went to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
"You two idiots enjoy hurting others and playing pranks on others and being nice but just for your own reasons. You almost kill me, treat me like dirt, act as if I'm inferior since I'm a dragon and I don't have wings. Not to mention for the fact that whenever you have a party or hangout, you either leave me behind or force me to clean up the mess you made. You almost killed me with your stupid antics which makes me question if you were even my friends at all. Loyalty and Laughter, give me a break!" Dark Spike said
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were left stunned as he next went to Rarity and Applejack.
"Now you two jerks. You both may have been helpful to me, but you never respected or treated me as equally as you did with other ponies. Rarity, I loved you with all my heart and you always took advantage of me and my feelings. I kinda get helping you with your dress and business, but using me for your own gain and selfish needs is beyond my guess. But I already know I was nothing to you. By the way, Your Just like Blueblood, only ten times more petty if not greedy, but then again what do I know? I'm just a dragon, not a pony." Dark Spike said with rage and scorn
Rarity was left speechless at his statement, especially when he compared her to BLUEBLOOD of all ponies.
"Applejack, I get you value family above all else and would never lie, but you always lie to yourself like that Timberwolf thing I had to deal with. Even when I wanted to hang out or help you, you always treated me as if I was worthless and as if I was some sort of thing and not a person. You even act as if I'm not a person at all or try to lie to me about not being around to either hang out with the girls or for a friendship mission. You could've just told me! When it comes to being honest, your never honest with yourself. Your basically those Flim and Flam ponies with a lower level of respect or trust."
Applejack only looked at Dark Spike with disbelief, not just from his statement but from how he compared her to the two ponies her family was enemies with.
Dark Spike only turned to Fluttershy and said with broken trust and dismay
"Well, looks like the Element of Kindness has always been the Element of Cruelty. You treated me like an savage just because I'm a dragon when that stupid rabbit of yours is borderline psycho! Not only that, but even when I was around, you treated me as if I was an monster compared to the dragons in the Dragon Migration, where you AND the girls made fun of me for not being a real dragon. Well, here I am with wings! I hope it was worth it. And your supposed to be the one who reformed Discord."
Fluttershy only cried in shame at his words as he turned away with betrayal and loss.
All the Ponyville citizens were left either shocked, speechless, horrified or all three. The girls and Starlight only gave looks of guilt and remorse at causing his fate to exist. Even the Princesses and Shining gave looks of shame.
"And by the way, I guess I was right. Friendship is magic. What a joke." Dark Spike further said in disillusioned anger, ironically saying what his younger self said previously.
That was the last word to make the ponies grief get to them. As Dark Spike walked away from the forcefield. Twilight only broke in tears as the girls tried to comfort her.
"Twilight it's ok." Applejack said to her
"That may be Spike soon, but not now" Rainbow Dash added, trying to comfort her
"But that's just it! We caused Spike to be that way because of our own selfishness! He was always there for us, but we were never there for him! It's all my fault! If I hadn't treated him like that all these years, none of this would have ever happened!!" Twilight said in an emotional tone.
"You ain't the only one to blame Twilight." Applejack said
"We're all responsible for ruining Spike's life." Starlight said
"He was right. We may be the Elements of Harmony, but we're also the opposites of them." Pinkie said
"The poor Darling. I'm afraid to say it, but he's not only right. He is doing Equestria a favor by getting rid of us." Rarity said with guilt
"And we didn't even include him in the journal when he's helped us all these years in Ponyville." Fluttershy added in shame
"I believe we too are to blame for neglecting him his whole life, even though we had royal duties, we never once acknowledged him both royally or non-royally." Princess Cadance said
"Plus, even with mom and dad, we never treated him as part of the family, just an creature with no life. The future Spike is right, I am a lousy guard and Prince." Shining said with guilt
"We feel me and our dear sister are also responsible for young Spike's transformation. We had never treated him rightfully all his youth and he was too young to know what our sins really were. Even though we had royal duties, we kept taking advantage of his pure heart and never once showed him how much he meant to us." Princess Luna admitted
"Luna's right, I may have been too caught up in my Royal duties but I never bothered to check up on how he was doing. Or rather what you were doing Twilight. I may be disappointed in you and your friends, but I realize I too am to blame for not looking out for him more or for bothering to be there for him when in Canterlot or in Ponyville. Spike's future self is right, we are all to blame for ruining the meaning of Friendshio, especially with his friendships with us." Princess Celestia said ashamed.
As the ponies spoke to each other in the trapped green forcefield, Dark Spike only looked away from them with a conflicted look and said to himself.
"This is it. My fate and my destiny await to ensure my future."
As Dark Spike thought to himself, an all too familiar voice was heard.
"NOT TODAY!!!"
Dark Spike snapped out of it and said in shock "What the?!?!?!"
The ponies also gave looks of surprise and saw an familiar little dragon flying near.
It was Spike! Spike had arrived to the Castle! He landed in front of Dark Spike and the trapped ponies and said with a smile
"Did you miss me faker?"
Dark Spike only gave a look of fury and his eyes flared red as the two face each other once more.