Spike, the Brave and Glorious
Spike let out a sigh, feeling bored as he went over some of Twilight's lesson plans while she was off in the middle of training. With things between everyone getting so much busier, there was always something exciting happening. Sometimes, Spike was along for the ride, but most of them were left with him sitting at home, waiting for the others to save the day, or he was in peril with the rest of Ponyville or all of Equestria. He was always Twilight's number one assistant, a part of her family, but he also wanted to play a part in saving the world like the rest of the Mane Six and the wielders from beyond Equestria.
Even the Young Six were considered heroes, stopping Cozy Glow along with Sora when she threatened to destroy all of Equestria's magic beneath the school. They had Keyblades and went off to fight Heartless and Nobodies. He's been around Sora just as long as Twilight, but while Twilight got her own Keyblade from Riku by sheer accident, Smolder was given the special ritual along with her friends from Aqua, and she got her own Keyblade. He even overheard Scootaloo's parents were Key Bearers as well, originally from Equestria but resided in Valhalla, and even they believed SHE had the potential to be a Keyblade wielder if she was old enough. He only went to one world, Twilight Town, and he wanted to go on more adventures, too.
"Ugh...So many outlines," Spike grumbled. "Twilight needs to cut back on making each lesson plan so precise with each subject." Needing a break, he left the papers on the desk and shuffled out of Twilight's office. It had been a couple days since he visited the Dragon Lands with Smolder, Sora, Riku, and Fluttershy to cheer up the dragoness' sensitive brother, who happened to be Garble of all dragons. Though they were on good terms now after the dragon hatching season, he hadn't heard anything from him or Ember about who his parents were. Luckily, Twilight saved a piece of his eggshell, and he was able to give it to Garble to seek out any information from the other dragons, but he was anxious and expected the worst. Groaning, he rubbed his tired eyes, hearing his stomach rumble. "I wonder if there's any sapphires at the castle I can munch on."
As he left the school, he didn't get too far from the entrance until Heartless spawned and surrounded him. Spike panicked, but seeing they were only mere Shadows, he didn't worry for long as he took to the air to avoid them. He could take these weak Heartless on, and he managed to outspeed and overpower a Roc that tried to eat him last year. Watching the Shadows try to jump up to slash at him, he laughed at them, then took in a deep breath to breathe fire on them.
"Got your back, Spike!" Beneath the dragon, a pair of flaming chakrams shot out and incinerated the group of Shadows into puffs of black mist. With his cheeks puffed out, Spike exhaled smoke with an annoyed groan. Fluttering back to the ground with no more Heartless around to attack him, he turned and leered at Lea as he nonchalantly strolled up to him. He levitated his chakrams lazily around him with a cocky smirk. "Too easy. I think the Heartless are finally scared of us for stronger ones to pop up."
"...I could have burned them myself," Spike grumbled.
"Hmm..." Lea dismissed his chakrams in a puff of dying embers, tapping his chin curiously. "Could you have?"
"Yes. I'm not scared of those things anymore," Spike said. "And I've faced even worse threats with the others, too."
"Yeah, I think the Heartless are far worse than a psychotic villain bent on world domination," Lea said.
"Ugh. I'm starting to feel like Hum Drum again," Spike grumbled.
"Hum Drum?" Lea questioned. "Uhh...Oh! Axle's showed me these cool comics with the Power Ponies! Hum Drum's the little colt sidekick!"
"Yeah. That's the one," Spike huffed. "It was bad enough that enchanted Power Ponies crossover with Dissidia Pony Fantasy comic actually made me Hum Drum."
"Uhh, what exactly has you this down in the dumps?" Lea asked.
"I feel like I'm being left out on all the adventures you guys go on," Spike said. "Since Twilight and I moved to Ponyville, there were some dangerous and deadly stuff I was glad I didn't go on. But now, she has two Keyblades, the other girls have one, there's six friendship students who are also Keyblade wielders, with Smolder being the one dragon picked to have one when I've been hanging around you guys longer than she has. I've only been to one world, which was attacked by Heartless and Nobodies, and after I Molted, I could probably take on a small group of Heartless single-handedly."
"Aren't you a bigshot hero in the Crystal Empire?" Lea asked. "You and Sora saved the kingdom from Sombra when he first came back."
"But Sora did all the work. All I did was bring the Crystal Heart safely down from the top of the castle," Spike mumbled.
"Which brought back that powerful barrier that destroyed him, hence the credit goes to you for beating him," Lea reasoned.
"Then there was the Equestria Games a couple years ago where I saved everyone from a falling cloud struck by a stray ice arrow when Nobodies started attacking," Spike added. "I choked when I was tasked to just breathe fire to light the torch to commence the Games, and humiliated myself by trying to sing the national anthem of the winning relay team when I thought it was just the Crystal Empire's anthem."
Startled, Lea gawked at the dragon. "What!? You did something that was actually heroic, and yet you STILL think that's worth nothing to be proud of!?" Spike just shrugged his shoulders, making the unicorn stallion slump over in exasperation. "Little dude, if I did something like that, I'd soak that praise up like a sponge in water."
"Well, I want to do more to help to be part of the team," Spike said. "I've been told by Twilight, Sora, Riku, Rarity, Applejack, basically all of our friends that I matter. That I'm just as important as they are. But I'm not an Element of Harmony! I'm not a Key Bearer! And whenever I do try to help, I cause a problem that makes things worse!"
"Aww, come on. What could you have possibly done that caused any sort of problem?" Lea asked.
"One day, I invited Ember and Thorax to a welcoming party as an ambassador to the dragons and changelings since I became friends with them," Spike started. "I forgot I invited them both on that same day, and I worried that if they saw each other and didn't like each other, I would have started a war between them and their kingdoms. At the same time, I was called by the map to solve a friendship problem, which was in Ponyville, too. So while having Twilight and Starlight keep them apart while I searched for the problem to solve, I wound up irritating Ember and Thorax, they bumped into each other and thought either of them was harrassing me, and I almost ruined my friendships with them because I was afraid they would hate each other at first sight."
"...Oh. I see..." Lea grimaced and let out an awkward hiss through his teeth. "Yeah...Sounded like a problem from lack of awareness to who you were inviting."
"At least it worked out between them," Spike added. "They had problems trying to get their subjects to listen to them, and they learned from each other how to be a little better from how they usually are personality-wise. Ironically, that was what solved it after I apologized for my stupid blunder."
"Yeah. But the good thing out of that is that you helped establish a unity between changelings and dragons." Lea chuckled sheepishly, hoping that would help cheer Spike up, but it only made him feel worse. "...Well, can't be worse than getting two of your friends to fight with each other, right?"
"On my birthdays, I always got a book from Twilight and her family," Spike said, Lea getting a feeling he should have kept his mouth shut. "My first birthday in Ponyville, I got more gifts than I normally do, but most of them were from when I demanded a gift after the first couple were actually genuine. The next day, I wound up having a weird growth spurt and kept taking things without permission to the point where it grew out of control and literally grew into a gigantic, thieving monster. Smolder called it 'Greed-Induced Bigness', and I nearly destroyed all of Ponyville and kidnapped Rarity while constantly taking everything that wasn't nailed down." Lea was speechless, and fully regretted asking as he imagined a giant monster Spike stomping around town and taking everything in town. "So, for my birthdays here on out, I get only one singular present to avoid that again."
"...Ok...Maybe...that is a predicament you have," Lea agreed awkwardly.
"And I want to make up for all the screwups I made in the past," Spike said. "To start, I want a Keyblade and help you guys fight the Heartless. So give me that ceremony, Lea."
Spike held out his hand, awaiting the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony from the stallion. Lea stared at Spike, blinking in exasperation before he let out an exhausted sigh.
"Look, be a Key Bearer is not as simple as you think it is," Lea said. "It's also incredibly-"
"I KNOW it's dangerous! I can handle it!" Spike exclaimed. "I burnt a Roc after I got my wings, and it tried to eat me!"
"Yeah, impressive, but a giant bird doesn't compare to hundreds of creatures of darkness that can swarm you without warning," Lea argued. "Besides, when the Young Six were chosen as apprentices, they had that unique spark of light in their hearts that made them potential as chosen wielders like we are. I don't even know if the incantation thing will even work."
"Twilight touched Riku's Keyblade, and neither of them saw that kind of potential in her," Spike argued. "Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow got theirs because of their connection with Sora, AND inherited his fighting skills. Hay, Sora got his when he wasn't given any other way when Ven was in his heart. Even you got yours when your Nobody was closely connected with Xion and Sora's Nobody, Roxas, right?"
"Ok, I cannot explain my situation, but despite my Keyblade's appearance years ago, I'm not a master who can just grant one to some random person willy-nilly!" Lea said. "And before you blow a gasket, I don't think the others would give you a shot for the same reasons. And I'm trying not to bring you down more than you're already feeling."
Spike let out a heavy sigh and plopped his rump on the ground with a pout. "It's because I'm still a 'baby dragon' to all of you," he grumbled. "I'm fourteen in pony years."
"Really? Hard to tell," Lea mumbled.
Spike fell on his back and stared at the sky, pondering what he could do to be more helpful than he felt he's been. "If only the Crystal Heart could move freely from the Crystal Empire. It granted me fire breath of light, but only within the vicinity of the barrier. I wish I could just take a piece of it and wear it like Silverstream does with the pe-" In his dejected rambling, Spike's eyes widened and he swiftly sat himself up. "...That's it!"
"Err, what is?" Lea asked
"If I have a piece of the Crystal Heart, I can tap into its power of light whenever I want!" Spike explained. "It's just like the hippogriffs and their enchanted pearl that allows them to transform into seaponies! I can be helpful in fights with you guys!"
"Uhh, would that even work?" Lea questioned. "I heard that little alicorn baby, Flurry Heart, shattered the Crystal Heart with a wail when she was like a few days old. If a single shard is missing, the barrier won't function properly, right?"
"But someone did figure out a way to put it back together with the light of the crystal ponies during her Crystalling," Spike said. "He might know a way to make a nice necklace with some of the Crystal Heart's power in it with another crystal. It's perfect!" Spike giggled gleefully, then flew off as fast as he could to the north toward the Crystal Empire. "Thanks for the pep talk, Lea!"
Lea watched Spike disappear on the horizon, dumbfounded. "...Uhh, this might go bad," he pondered. Biting his hoof, he shifted his gaze left and right, letting out a groan. "I better make sure he doesn't get himself hurt, or else Twilight's gonna pulverize me for putting this crazy idea in his head."
Ignoring taking a train, Spike was fueled with excitement as he flew several long miles toward the city that worshipped him as a hero. He was going to earn that right properly once he was able to harness the Crystal Heart's light in a fancy new accessory and test it on some unlucky Heartless. The Crystal Empire was in sight in the calming northern tundra, sparkling with radiance in the sunlight. Phasing through the barrier, he touched down by the statues of himself and Sora. Spike noticed the statue had changed slightly, adding in his new wings when word seemed to reach about him now being able to fly.
"Look! It's Spike the Brave and Glorious!" From one fan's excitement, the whole crowd of crystal ponies crowded around their little dragon hero.
Among the excited citizens, many crystal pony mares broke their way through the crowd, these ones more excited to see their other hero. "Is the Warrior of Light here, too!?" one of them squealed.
"He's sooooo dreamy," one swooned.
"I WANT HIS BABIES!" another shrieked before passing out in amorous excitement.
"Yeesh. Kairi would not like that," Spike uttered to himself, though it always was funny seeing Sora getting crowded by his many fangirls. "Sorry, ladies! It's just me visiting today!" he announced, disappointing the majority of young mares. "Fear not, for Spike the Brave and Glorious will be more brave and glorious than you've ever seen!"
The thought riled up the crystal ponies, unable to wait to see how Spike could be more heroic than he had for their kingdom. The crowd dispersed from his path as he ran to the castle. Spotting the Crystal Heart underneath the base of the palace, he was going to see if what he theorized will work. The guards greeted him, calling him by his title as they let him through as he made his way to the throne room. As he entered the doors, he was suddenly tackled by a tiny light pink blur, pinning him on his back with a playful giggle.
"Pike!" Flurry squealed.
"Ugh...Hi, Flurry," Spike groaned. He sat up, Flurry hugging her dragon uncle while he carried her, nearly doubling over from being winded. "Whoa. You're getting way too big."
"Spike! What a surprise to see you!" At the other end, Cadence and Shining Armor came over to greet the dragon.
"Where's Twily?" Shining asked.
"It's just me," Spike said. Confused, the royal couple looked at each other, then back at Spike. "I'm actually looking for Sunburst. He's not busy, is he?"
"Not at the moment," Cadence said. "Why are you looking for him? Is Starlight planning a surprise date between the two of them?"
Ignoring the smirk on the alicorn's muzzle, Spike walked over to them while Flurry flapped her wings and hovered around her uncle. "No. I just had a crazy thought that I hope works," he said. "You know how the Crystal Heart gifts my flame breath with light since I became Spike the Brave and Glorious?"
"Yes. But...why mention that?" Shining asked.
"Oh, you know. Since the other girls have Keyblades and everyone's always going off to stop the Heartless and face the Organization, I was hoping I could use the Crystal Heart's power by taking a small bit of it and assisting them in the battles." Spike grinned after explaining his reasons.
Sadly, Shining and Cadence looked at Spike with concern and bewilderment. "...Spike, you do remember what happened to the Crystal Heart when Flurry Heart accidentally broke it into pieces, right?" Shining asked.
Spike's grin wilted into an annoyed frown. "I know that. I wasn't going to just chip off a shard and endanger the Crystal Empire," he said. "That's why I want to know if Sunburst is around. If he figured out how to use the Crystalling and the light from the event to fuse the pieces back together, I think it might work the same way in reverse."
"Transferring light from within the Crystal Heart in another crystal?" Cadence reiterated.
"Yeah! Like how the hippogriffs wear a piece of their pearl to transform into seaponies, I could use the Crystal Heart's power whenever and wherever without being around the kingdom!" Spike said.
"Did you even tell Twilight about this?" Shining Armor asked, further irritating Spike as he frowned.
"Of course not!" he exclaimed. "I know she'd say no! I even asked Lea if I could be a Keyblade wielder and give me that special ceremony thing, but he denied it, and the others would probably say the exact same thing! I want to help fight, too, and not be left on the sidelines!"
"Spike, do you still feel like you're being left out by everyone?" Shining asked. Spike huffed and turned away, the answer obvious. Flurry Heart gently landed on her dragon uncle's head as Shining walked over to him, placing his hoof on his shoulder. "Don't you remember back in Canterlot when Twily and I competed for Sibling Supreme while testing the new security? We always saw you as part of the family."
"...I know, but I'm old enough to go on dangerous stuff and fight with everyone," Spike mumbled.
"And you think you can fight Heartless with your own strength and size?" the stallion asked.
"I scared off a Roc last year and flew circles around it," Spike said.
"And as impressive as that is, I think the Heartless are much more dangerous than a giant, monstrous bird of prey." Spike grumbled and crossed his arms. Shining looked back at Cadence, seeing Spike's plight, though they both knew they didn't want anything bad to happen to him. And if Twilight found out, she would outright refuse, even if there were moments where she believed she would be forced to let Spike go as he was growing up. "Look, I think everypony knows you're old enough to make your own choices. It's hard to realize that when you still look really young. You are smarter than you look, and there have been a lot of things you were able to do to save the day in your own way. All the crystal ponies still talk about the Equestria Games where you took out all those Nobodies when you burned that icicle-covered cloud that dropped into the stadium."
"After I embarrassed myself and looked silly trying to impress everyone," Spike mumbled.
"Well, you're still just a kid," Cadence reminded Spike, joining Shining as she took Flurry off of Spike's head. "Dragons do age a bit differently than ponies. You tend to overthink things and not realize just how crazy things will turn out when you do them. And wanting to fight others sounds a bit on the extreme side."
"Maybe, but I just don't want to feel left out on anything else," Spike said.
"We understand, and Twily and I made sure you didn't while you were still a little baby dragon," Shining assured, giving his youngest adoptive sibling a brotherly hug. "And...if you really feel like it, we can see if Sunburst can test your theory out for you."
"What kind of theory?" At the entrance, the royal family and dragon saw Sunburst waltz inside, bringing a few books with him that were stacked on his back. "Sorry for being late. I couldn't put down what I was reading."
"Spike wants to know if it's possible to transfer some of the light from the Crystal Heart into another crystal so he can use its light and...help the others fend off Heartless," Cadence explained as Spike gazed at the scholar with hope glimmering in his eyes.
"A transfer of power from the main source to a smaller one?" Sunburst paraphrased, fixing his glasses on his snout. "Hmm. I am a little curious about that."
"Really?" Spike asked.
"Yes. I heard that the Crystal Heart has been attuned to your presence, granting you with the power of light when you use your fire breath while within the city's perimeter," Sunburst said. "That light would have probably helped a tiny bit against the Pony of Shadows. However, with how dangerous it might be to go after Heartless with that kind of power, that would leave you open to being targeted by them."
Spike frowned and let out a sigh. "And you're going to tell me you'd rather tell the others my plan, and they're gonna refuse to let you try it so I can be more useful than just a supportive friend on the warm-up bench?"
Sunburst grimaced as he readjusted his glasses again. "...W-Well, it would help to tell them if they're concerned about your safety," the scholar reasoned.
"Which is why the Crystal Heart's light will help me fight back," Spike argued.
Sunburst nervously glanced at the royal couple, both of them wanting Spike to step away from his need to be more useful than he believes he hasn't been. "...Uhh...We can...try one test?"
"Yes!" Spike cheered, Shining and Cadence giving their Crystaller a deadpanned glower. Flurry fluttered around Spike and cheered with him, having no idea what was going on with the older ponies and dragon. "So what do you think we need? The same thing used when you restored the Crystal Heart with the light from the crystal ponies during the Crystalling?"
"I suppose the same method can work in reverse," Sunburst guessed. "There should still be some of those extra crystals from Flurry Heart's Crystalling to fashion into a necklace or a pendant. And I don't think we'll need several powerful unicorns or alicorns to absorb a fraction of the Crystal Heart's light." While he was lost in his tangent, Sunburst gulped when he looked at Cadence. She was disappointed in his lack of a backbone and tell Spike no. "...I-If it's no problem with you, Y-Your Highness?"
Since the damage was already done, Cadence sighed heavily. "...Very well. I'll help," she said. Spike ran up to hug his adoptive sister-in-law, but Cadence stopped him with her magic a few inches before he could hug one of her legs. "But if this idea of yours doesn't work, I want you to drop the idea and understand that you don't need to be as special as Twilight or the others to prove your worth. Plus, we are going to tell the others about this. For your own safety."
"...Alright," Spike reluctantly agreed.
After gathering around the Crystal Heart with one of the pure crystals Rarity hoof-picked for Flurry's Crystalling, Spike couldn't stop himself from trembling with excitement. Sunburst instructed Cadence what to do from what they did to restore the Crystal Heart back from its broken state, but focused more on "borrowing" a small amount of that light within the majestic artifact. Cadence held the crystal in her aura and held it close to the Crystal Heart. Pouring more mana into the spell, the others watched with baited breath as the Crystal Heart began to shimmer slightly. That light soon began to reach out into finely cut crystal and slowly fill it from the bottom to the top. Luckily, the barrier didn't diminish or short out, remaining strong as the light within it seemed to regenerate fairly quickly.
Carefully removing the crystal away from the artifact, everyone gazed at the warm, protective light radiating within it. "So far, so good," Sunburst uttered.
Cadence used her magic to chip a thin hole through the upper portion of the crystal, sliding a crystal chain through the opening to turn it into a giant necklace. "Spike, if this doesn't work as much as you hoped, I don't want you to feel disappointed," Cadence reminded the baby dragon. "In the eyes of the Crystal Empire, you're still a hero to everypony."
"I'm positive this will work," Spike assured, then held his claws out to his new accessory. Cadence sighed, bringing the crystal toward him and clasped the chain around his neck. As the crystal rested against his chest, Spike's excitement slowly dwindled in awe. "Whoa...The light feels...really warm..."
He started to feel entranced, gazing down at his chest at the crystal. "Spike? Spike! You alright?" Snapping out of his stupor, Spike noticed Shining, Cadence, Sunburst, and even Flurry Heart were looking at him with concern. "You conked out for a few minutes there."
"...I did?" Spike mumbled. He looked down at the crystal, but that warm feeling faded and he didn't feel like he was about to zone out. Rubbing his head, Spike remembered what he wanted to do now that he's gotten himself a metaphorical piece of the Crystal Heart on him. "Ok. Let's see if this works outside the barrier."
"You sure you want to do this?" Shining asked. "Something didn't seem right when you seemed to have lost consciousness earlier."
"Probably just a weird effect for the first time, like indigestion after eating several dozen tubs of ice cream," Spike assured.
Spike led the way while the ponies followed. While making their way to the outer perimeter, the group were soon being followed by the curious residents of the Crystal Kingdom. Many who greeted Spike earlier spread the word that their little dragon hero was going to be more brave and glorious than their excited hearts could imagine. The royal couple and scholar overheard the many excited bits of chatter from the crystal ponies about Spike.
"Oh no. I hope this isn't going to end up like the Equestria Games," Cadence mumbled worriedly.
"We can only hope that this was possible to do and his hopes don't come crashing down," Sunburst uttered, beginning to grow concerned if this didn't work out as he thought.
One curious colt ran up to Spike and hopped alongside him. "What are you gonna do, Oh Spike the Brave and Glorious!?" he asked.
"Well, I'm glad you asked." Spike hovered in the air and addressed the massive crowd following them. "As you all know, I, Spike the Brave and Glorious, am blessed by the Crystal Heart with its light!"
"Oh, indeed!" a random stallion said. "As the Crystal Heart's savior, your fire is imbued with the purifying light!"
"It stopped Sombra's awful dark crystals as they threatened to impale you as you bravely climbed down the castle walls!" another mentioned.
"And you saved us from those terrifying rubber demons and the falling cloud of sharp ice!" a mare said. "One mighty breath of white flames stopped it and caused it to destroy every last one of the monsters!"
"Yes. But I am only able to use these powers of light from the Crystal Heart if I'm in the kingdom's protective barrier," Spike announced, then held up his crystal to show the citizens of the Empire. "I must spread my brave and gloriousness throughout the land! And with this holding a fragment of the Heart's light, I will do just that!"
As excited as the crowd was, Shining, Cadence, and Sunburst winced. "What the hay is he doing? We don't even know if it'll work, and he's going overboard!" Sunburst exclaimed.
"He's just setting himself up for disappointment by being this overconfident," Shining groaned.
Spike soaked in the praise and flew on ahead. The crystal ponies followed eagerly to see him in action, leaving Shining, Cadence, and Sunburst to try to catch up with the baby dragon before he wound up hurting himself. As they reached the perimeter, Spike flew out a little farther into the chilly tundra. He glanced down at his new necklace, feeling the Crystal Heart's light still present within the smaller crystal. Flurry wanted to play with Spike, but being out in the freezing cold, she whined and flew back to her parents and huddled close to them for warmth.
"Ok. This seems to be far enough away to try this out." Spike landed, crunching his feet in the snow. "Huh. How do I activate you? Do I just breathe fire and focus on it? Or maybe I should touch it and try a flame breath?" While contemplating what to do, he could hear the crystal ponies cheering for him. They wanted to see him unleash holy fire, and he was going to show them some holy fire. Puffing out his chest, Spike took in a deep breath, then blew his dragon fire as hard as he could. He expected the light to enchant his flames, but to his disappointment, they were still green. The crystal ponies stopped cheering, mumbling to each other what happened. "Huh? It...didn't work?"
Spike repeatedly breathed fire, trying every other option he could think of that would make the light work, but it consistently remained green. Shining and Cadence knew this would happen, and even though they tried to tell Spike, they were afraid he was going to hole himself up somewhere to hide in embarrassment.
"Maybe we did need another stronger unicorn or alicorn to ensure there was enough light transferred to that crystal," Sunburst pondered worriedly.
"Or maybe the Crystal Heart's power can only be used within the Crystal Empire," Shining guessed.
After a few more attempts, the heat Spike unleashed melted the snow around him as he panted heavily in exhaustion. "I...I don't get it...Why isn't it working???" Growing frustrated and desperate, he took in one last breath, but as he exhaled, Lea suddenly popped in front of him in a burst of magic. Spike gagged, quickly turning his head as he hacked and coughed up smoke, accidentally swallowing back his flames to avoid burning the dazed stallion. "L-Lea!?"
"N-Nailed teleportation," Lea uttered groggily, his mane a scattered mess compared to his usual spikey style. "Took a few tries when running on foot would take too long, but I did it. Yen Sid, you old fart, eat your heart out."
"What are you doing here?" Spike questioned.
Lea shook the cobwebs out of his head, ignoring the confused residents of the Crystal Empire and faced Spike. "Making sure you didn't accidentally cause too much trouble. Mostly for yourself, but...you are lucky I didn't tell anyone else yet." Lea finally noticed Spike's new necklace, leaning down to get a closer look at it. "...Well, that's...kind of a neat bit of bling. And with the way this is glowing, you got that light from the Crystal Heart in there."
"Yeah...but...it's not working," Spike mumbled. "I don't understand. I thought for sure it worked. I felt the Crystal Heart's light inside...Why is it not working?"
"Maybe your little idea was always going to be a bust," Lea said. Spike wilted and hung his head, severely disappointed. All he wanted to do was find his place among all his friends fighting back against the darkness. Lea gently rubbed the baby dragon's head, though it barely did much to console him. "Come on, kid. It's not the end of the world if you can't be like us."
Spike just sighed, barely acknowledging the stallion. From the crowd, Flurry Heart suddenly began to whine, clinging tightly to Cadence's hooves as she trembled in fear.
"Huh? Flurry? What's the matter, sweetheart?" Cadence asked.
"Bad. Bad," Flurry whimpered, her eyes gazing out around the snow covered fields where Lea and Spike were.
"'Bad'? Is she talking about Lea?" Shining wondered. Before the parents could console the terrified alicorn filly, hundreds of Heartless suddenly appeared around the dragon and Keyblade wielder. Lea gasped, summoning his Keyblade and his chakrams while Spike snapped out of his funk and nervously looked at the numerous Heartless surrounding them. Around them were a numerous variety of Heartless from weak Shadows to a giant Rock Troll among the smaller creatures. "Oh no. THAT kind of bad! Everypony, get back inside the barrier! Now!"
The crystal ponies screamed in panic and ran back to the safety of their kingdom's barrier. Their fear drew the attention of many of the Heartless and chased after them to take their hearts.
"Damn it, not a good time!" Lea lit his chakrams ablaze and sent them flying toward the charging Heartless going after the Crystal Empire's terrified ponies. Leaving a trail of flames, he used his magic to shift their trajectory, making them turn and skim the earth, creating a wall of flames to give the ponies enough time to get back in the safety of the barrier. "Guys! We got a problem! The Crystal Empire's being attacked by Heartless!"
"What? It shouldn't be a problem with the Crystal Heart keeping them out of the kingdom," Lea heard Aqua say through his communicator.
Lea grunted, casting a barrage of Firaga spells to blast away the Heartless while keeping Spike safe. "Well...You won't have time to look at the map when this place is being raided by like a thousand Heartless," Lea said. "And to make matters worse, I think they're attracted to...a small bit of light Spike borrowed from the Crystal Heart."
"WHAT!? What did Spike just do!?" Twilight shrieked, nearly making Lea double over in pain. He couldn't falter with so many Heartless around, and so many lives in peril. "Wait, what about Shining, Cadence, and Flurry Heart!? ARE THEY IN TROUBLE, TOO!?"
"EVERYONE JUST GET UP HERE!" Lea shouted back, feeling like he was going deaf. He tried to divert the Heartless' attention on him, but some were still dead set on going after the crystal ponies. "Damn it! Either the ponies here have light within them that's more powerful than a normal one, or they're going after Flurry Heart because hers is more pure!"
Spike began to panic, breathing his flames at approaching Soldiers. Though he managed to push them back, they didn't stay burned for long.
"Come on, now would be a good time for this stupid thing to work!" Spike exclaimed.
"Forget about the stupid crystal!" Lea shouted. "Get into the barrier!"
"B-But-!" Lea suddenly burst into flames, activating his magic surge as an inferno raged the radius around him.
"MOVE IT BEFORE I THROW YOU THERE MYSELF!" Lea shouted.
Spike gulped, heeding his warning and flew off. With the flames dying out, most of the Heartless had scattered, but there was enough space for Spike to flee into the Crystal Empire for safety. Lea sent his chakrams zipping around him and furiously slashing away at any in his path, trying to get the rest of their attention until the others arrived to assist. Unfortunately, from Lea's first attempt at teleportation to make it here, his magic surge began to die out and he grew exhausted. Suckerpunched by a Large Body, he was sent tumbling back into the middle of a group of Heartless, his head pounding from exhausting his mana, but he wasn't going to lay down and die like this.
Shining gestured to the rest of the fleeing crystal ponies into the barrier, his wife, child, and their royal Crystaller safe behind the protective light. He heard a yelp, looking out to the panicked crowd to see the same colt Spike talked to earlier having fallen to the ground. He tried to get up, but he kept falling and avoided stepping on one of his hind legs, spraining it while he tried to run away. The stallion ran out to help him, spotting a group of Soldiers coming toward them. Lighting up his horn, he created a shield in his pink aura, pushing back the Heartless.
Just as Shining Armor was about to pick the colt up on his back, he swatted aside by a Satyr, sending both him and the colt tumbling across the snow. "Dada!" Flurry cried out, trying to squirm out of Cadence's hooves to try to save him.
"Flurry, no! It's too dangerous!" the mother said, trying and failing to calm her worried and terrified daughter down.
Shining grunted and stood back up, his eyes widening at the number of Heartless surrounding him and the defenseless colt. He formed a protective barrier around them, sweating nervously. He was barely able to take down Sombra last time. And he didn't have a weapon with him to protect himself or anyone else. The Heartless began to charge and ram into the barrier, making the prince wince as he kept it held up.
Spike panted, weaving around the aerial Heartless chasing after him. He never saw this many Heartless since Flurry accidentally shattered the Crystal Heart. Part of him regrets wanting to help if the Heartless really can spawn with this many in their numbers at one time. He was about to fly through the barrier when he noticed Shining Armor and a fancolt of his in trouble. Shining grunted, struggling to keep his barrier up as it was constantly getting rammed by the many Heartless after them. His older brother was in peril, and he'll never forgive himself if Twilight learns he was killed and turned into a Heartless. It was all his fault, making yet another mistake. Despite his fears, he steeled his resolve, needing to fix this.
He swerved away from the barrier, startling the crystal ponies. "Spike, get back here!" Sunburst shouted. "You can't fight them!"
"I'm not letting anyone die because of me," Spike muttered to himself. While focusing on reaching Shining Armor, the Satyr's horns finally charging with enough force to shatter his barrier and send him reeling with magical backlash, Spike didn't notice the crystal around his neck shimmering brightly. "I'm not letting any one of these ponies get hurt by these monsters!"
Diving down, Spike took in a deep breath as he landed. He then exhaled, which became a menacing dragon's roar as he blew out a massive blast of white flames around him, Shining Armor, and the crystal colt. The Heartless stood no chance as the powerful light evaporated the weaker ones out of existence, the Satyr stumbling back while trying to put out the white flames coating its armored body. Shining and the colt shut their eyes as the bright light from Spike's enchanted dragon breath blinded them, but they could feel the fire begin to swirl around them and close in. The flames were warm as they washed over them, startling them as Shining no longer felt his migraine and the colt's leg wasn't sprained.
Everyone watched in awe as the flames turned into a vortex, closing in on the dragon who made them. The intense light caused the Heartless to freeze and gaze at the massive threat, stunned. Lea slashed the Heartless around him, noticing them no longer focused on trying to kill him.
"The hell are they...?" Looking out to where they were mindlessly staring at, Lea's jaw hung open in awe. "...Holy crap. It actually worked."
As the flames surrounded Spike, they could see his silhouette among the bright light. However, Spike seemed to be much taller than his stout, chubby size. Slowly, the flames licked around his scales as they dispersed, starting from his feet to his head. Standing around the same height as Smolder, if not slightly taller, he was more lean with a bit of muscle to him. Not an ounce of baby dragon fat as he seemed to look more mature. When the flames faded up to his neck, around his torso was a bright blue crystal breastplate that shimmered with a translucent sheen like the crystal ponies when they express the joy within their hearts. His wings grew out more, built for power and speed compared to their small size earlier. His snout grew a slight bit as well, similarly long and pointed out like most of the adult dragons from the Dragon Lands.
Spike opened his eyes, gazing out at the mass of Heartless staring him down. He looked down at himself, surprised by his new body and the crystal armor that appeared. To his shock, while the armor looked heavy and seemed restrictive, it was quite the opposite; it's like he was wearing nothing at all, and the crystal chestplate was able to bend and flex along with his more fit and slender frame.
"What happened to me?" Spike uttered to himself, gasping slightly when he heard his voice. It sounded a bit deeper, but not intimidating like his growth during his greedy phase years ago. "Is that...my voice?"
"Spike?" Turning around, he looked down from his new height, Shining Armor and the crystal colt gazing up at the dragon in awe.
Looking up beyond the barrier, Cadence, Sunburst, Flurry, and the rest of the whole kingdom of crystal ponies gazed at Spike in disbelief. Even Lea was astounded, nearly dropping his Keyblade, but reminding himself he was still surrounded by the equally impressed Heartless, he remained on his guard in case any of them tried to jump him. Spike looked down at himself again, eyeing the crystal hanging from his neck.
"...It...worked?" he uttered in shock. He reached a claw to grasp it, letting out a gasp as his vision faded to white. In brief flashes, Spike saw visions of Sora in his early teens, fighting off Heartless with his own self-taught skills, along with several other techniques he's learned on his first adventure. After seeing them flash through his eyes, Spike blinked, finding himself back in the frozen north, battle experience he never knew he had rushing through him like he's known how to fight for years. "S-Sora? The Crystal Heart...remembered Sora's fighting style?"
"Spike, look out!" Shining shouted.
Looking back, the burnt Satyr snapped out its daze and rushed at the dragon. Spike furrowed his brow and frowned with determination, quickly facing the Heartless minotaur and shot his right hand up. He caught the Heartless' armored head and physically stopped it in its tracks, barely budging from where he stood. The Satyr went slack from the whiplash, its body limp while Spike kept its skull tightly held in his claws. Amazed by his new strength, Spike smirked, feeling extremely confident.
"Let's really test this out," he said, then spun himself around and grunted hard, tossing the unconscious Satyr back into the horde of Heartless. "And to really test this, I'm gonna need a weapon."
Holding his right hand in front of him, Spike inhaled and blew out flames of holy light. As the fire spread in his palm, it began to grow and elongate into the shape of a sword; more specifically, a Keyblade resembling Sora's Kingdom Key. Through the flames flickered like a torch where the teeth ended, it was held a physical form as he gripped the glowing, burning hilt.
"Whoa...Spike the Brave and Glorious is like the Warrior of Light," the colt uttered in amazement. "He's even cooler than ever!"
Spike smirked at the praise, but he didn't let it get to his head. He had a kingdom to save. Several Heartless charged forward and lunged at him, but he slowly brought his new blade back to wind up for a horizontal slash. With a grunt, he swiftly slashed and released a slice made of pure light, cleaving and dissipating them in its greatest weakness. Everyone's jaws dropped in astonishment, even Lea after watching Spike easily slicing down more than a dozen Heartless with one swing.
"Get that kid in the barrier, Shining Armor," Spike said, crouching low with wings flared out. "I've got this under control."
"You sure? You've never-" Before Shining could finish his sentence, Spike suddenly dashed forward faster than they could blink. He rammed through the massive group, smacking those out of his path as he zipped back and forth through the mass of dark creatures. He closed in a large group of them, even pushing back any Heartless that could fly into the center with his tremendous speed. After the seventh or eighth dash, Spike skid to a halt, then flapped his wings and went airborne, flipping over the bundled Heartless, and with a deep breath, he spat out a large fireball that erupted into a massive explosion of holy fire. Not a single one was spared, many hearts from the Emblem Heartless releasing and disappearing into the sky with the new dragon warrior's flames. "...Who the hay is that and what has he done to my little brother?"
His question would be answered later when things weren't so dire. Shining snatched the colt up in his magic and hurried back to the safety of the barrier. He looked back, watching Spike land, then speed off the continued slicing and ramming through the rest of the Heartless invasion.
Spike made his way toward Lea, the stallion unharmed as the Heartless completely ignored him despite him currently bearing his Keyblade right in front of them. He blew out a stream of fire, and with a firm grip on his fiery Keyblade replica, he spun and unleashed a shockwave of flames, scattering the Heartless as they were burnt in holy fire. Lea flinched as he brought his hooves up to protect himself, even with his own affinity toward fire giving him enough resistance to it, but as the fiery light washed over him, he felt no pain. In fact, his fatigue from his first foray into teleportation was gone. Spike then slid up to the stallion, a cocky smirk on his muzzle.
"You gonna help or watch me be awesome and fight them all by myself?" Spike asked.
Stunned by his cocky demeanor, Lea frowned and glared at Spike. "Excuse me!? Who the hell are you and what have you done to Spike!?" he questioned.
"I am Spike," Spike assured, twirling his weapon and hoisted it over his shoulder, mimicking Sora. "Spike the Brave and Glorious." Lea growled at Spike's new attitude, not paying attention to the threat around them. Spike had, zipping past the stallion and grabbed a Large Body that was about to body slam Lea. Igniting it on fire, Spike then slammed its belly on the ground, then gave it a harsh kick, bowling over and lighting up Heartless it rammed until it burst into a small explosion of light, catching other Heartless in its proximity. "If you want front row seats, I'd suggest finding one near the edge of the barrier. They're filling up really quickly."
Spike faced Lea and blew his flames at him. They swerved and continued flowing behind the stallion, then Spike flapped his wings, sending a powerful gust of wind that blew Lea off his hooves. Lea yelled as he was flung off, the flames he was tailing burning away Heartless in his path. They dispersed as his path was safely clear right as Lea finally hit the ground and tumbled several yards across the snow, sliding right up inside the barrier next to Shining, Cadence, and Sunburst. He sat up, staring dumbfounded with snow clinging to his fur.
"...WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!?" Lea shouted.
"Yeah, this is...weird," Shining agreed.
"Does it only work when Spike's in peril?" Cadence asked Sunburst.
"No. While he was out there with Lea, nothing happened," Sunburst said. "It's like Spike's whole demeanor changed him into somepony else."
"You mean like he's turned into another Sora?" Lea asked. It slowly began to make sense to the royal couple and Crystaller. "He's suddenly cocky and confident, but he can back up his boasting with...skills and attacks he could never do normally..." Lea shook the snow off of him, letting out an exhausted sigh. "I think there's already one too many Soras' now; Roxas, Xion, Vanitas, and now Spike."
A sudden popping sound appeared over them, followed by Lea wheezing as Twilight teleported and dropped down on top of him. "Where's Spike!? What did he do!?"
"Oh. Gee. Thanks for literally dropping in," Lea grunted. Twilight grinned sheepishly, fluttering off of the unicorn stallion as he stood up with a groan. "You didn't bother bringing the whole gang?"
"I'm sorry, but Riku was trying to hold me back and calm me down when my baby brother was in dire peril!" Twilight shouted. "And I couldn't teleport from The Land of Departure to the Crystal Empire because, as I figured out in my panic, it was impossible because of the distance between BOTH WORLDS! I don't have that kind of magical power to do that!"
"Yen Sid was capable of doing it," Lea grumbled.
"I will beg him to tell me how to do just that when I see him again!" Twilight yelled.
"Twily, calm down," Shining said, trying to drag his frantic sister away from Lea as he rubbed his ear from her yelling.
"I AM NOT CALMING DOWN UNTIL SOMEPONY TELLS ME WHERE SPIKE IS!?" As she was on the verge of losing her temper, Shining gently turned Twilight's head out toward the mass of Heartless and pointed to where they were being flung, sliced, and burned to nothingness. As the view became clearer from the defeated Heartless, Twilight gasped, recognizing the purple and green scales of the baby dragon she raised on the one destroying the Heartless. It's like she missed his growth spurt, his actual physical growth and not caused by a temptation that affected his feral instincts. "...Spike?" She was so stunned by his appearance, she blinked and watched him rush through what seemed like endless waves of Heartless from all sides, swinging around a Keyblade made of white flames while incinerating them with the very same fire from within his belly. "...W-Wha...What happened? What did he...?"
"He wanted to help you and the others fight and prove how useful he is," Cadence explained. "So...he came up here to see if we were able to imbue a part of the Crystal Heart's light inside a smaller crystal and use its power beyond the Crystal Empire."
"It failed to work when he went to test it, and in front of the entire kingdom," Sunburst added. "But, one thing I'm starting to notice when he's been given this power from the Crystal Heart is that, whenever everypony is in danger, the light reacts and grants him that fire breath of light. However, what we're seeing him as now...that was unexpected."
"But why would Spike still think he's not important as the rest of us?" Twilight questioned. "There've been so many times he's doubted himself and his worth around us, and we've assured him just as much. If not more."
"He did say he was being left out on all the thrill of adventuring," Lea said. "You and the girls have Keyblades and are going to other worlds. We've got six other teens who are training as Bearers and get to go to other worlds and take on Heartless."
"W-Well, it's dangerous," Twilight reasoned. "I...I just don't want him to get hurt...or worse. I've seen what Heartless do when they kill somepony." The alicorn shivered, feeling sick to her stomach after witnessing it happen before her in the Sombra timeline during Starlight's revenge scheme. "He doesn't need to do all this just to be a part of the group."
"He had a hunch you would refuse, so...here's where we are, and we've got this new version of Spike to deal with," Lea said as he waved his hoof to the decimation of the Heartless invasion, all handled by Spike the Brave and Glorious.
While Spike was dealing with the small fries, the Rock Troll looming in the background decided to step in, rearing back its ax as it approached the dragon. "A Rock Troll!?" Twilight summoned both Harmony and the Keyblade of Magic, not caring what Spike was trying to prove so long as he was safe. "He can't fight something like that!"
She flew off, speeding as fast as she could to rescue her adoptive baby brother. As the ax slammed down on him while Spike was busy wiping out the others, the impact kicking up dust and snow. Twilight faltered as she gasped in horror, dreading the worst as she was too late. When the flurry of scattered snow disappeared, her jaw dropped, finding Spike unharmed, stopping the sharp blade of the giant ax with one hand without any effort.
"Nice ax," Spike calmly said. He gazed up at the giant Heartless, giving it a smirk. "Mind if I give it a whirl?" A quick slice upward into the Rock Troll's hand caused it to roar out in pain, releasing its grip on its weapon. Flipping the ax and grasping the hilt, he tossed it up high, then launched himself skyward. Twilight looked up as she watched him soar high, catching up with the ax he flung with such ease. He unleashed his flame breath on it, coating it in a veil of bright white flames, then grabbed the handle with both hands. "Time for an explosive fire bomb!"
With a hard flap of his wings, Spike dove straight down and picked up speed. With a yell, he began to somersault rapidly, gaining more momentum, his body and the ax turning into a giant meteor of flaming white light. Twilight's pupils shrunk, quickly estimating the sheer size of the explosion Spike would unleash as he made a crash landing to the ground. Her hunch was right as Spike grunted heavily, slamming the ax down hard and releasing a massive explosion of light in a wide radius spanning a few hundred yards from where he stood. The Rock Troll slowly evaporated while the rest of the invading horde just poofed out of existence. Twilight cast a barrier around herself as she was also caught in the blast, but she didn't feel any intense burning temperatures as it harmlessly washed over her barrier.
After the light faded, Twilight lowered her magical shield, staring at the snowy fields in bewilderment. She didn't know just how many there were, but Spike wiped every single one of them out. She looked back at where Spike stood, who stood back up after releasing his grip on the fading ax. Twilight landed, dismissing her Keyblades as Spike turned around, standing triumphantly with a satisfied grin on his muzzle. The light from the crystal around his neck began to glow, which spread throughout Spike's body and began to shrink him back down to his normal size.
Spike stumbled, feeling a bit lightheaded once the light disappeared, shaking off the cobwebs as he groaned. "Whoa...That was a rush," he mumbled to himself. Gazing at the Crystal Empire, Spike winced a bit when he noticed Twilight was there, but he was willing to brace whatever punishment he would receive after knowing everyone else was safe. "Uhh...Everypony ok!?"
"ALL HAIL SPIKE THE BRAVE AND GLORIOUS!!!!" The entirety of the Crystal Empire exploded in an uproar of cheers for their dragon hero.
Spike got his answer, grinning sheepishly as he giggled at the amount of praise. He didn't think his idea would work, but it worked, and he never felt so powerful. Shining, Cadence, Sunburst, and Lea ignored the many cheers around them, even Sora's own fanbase of crystal pony mares wanting to swap to showering Spike with their affections after seeing his new, handsome, and courageous form.
"You think Sora's gonna be jealous or relieved these mares are planning to go after Spike now?" Shining asked.
"At least they aren't aware he's already taken and married," Cadence giggled. Despite the cheerful and much safer land of the tundra, she noticed Flurry Heart was still terrified and clinging to her tightly. "It's ok, Flurry. It's still Uncle Spike."
The alicorn baby whined and shook her head. "Big bad," she mumbled.
"Huh? There's more?" Lea looked out at the land, but there wasn't a single Heartless in sight. "Looks safe to me..."
Spike walked over to Twilight, her limbs frozen from the shock she experienced. "Hey, Twilight," he greeted nervously. "...Uhh, you see what I did?"
"...Yes...I saw," Twilight said. "You also scared the hay out of me. Lea told me you were in the middle of all those Heartless!"
"W-Well, I didn't expect to fight any when I wanted to test this," Spike said as she showed Twilight his new accessory. "But it's a smart idea. I mean, you and the others are gone to train or help other worlds. I thought that if I could harness the Crystal Heart's light outside of the Crystal Empire, I can help protect Ponyville or Equestria in your stead."
"And get yourself in trouble because you felt left out again!?" Twilight scolded.
"Look, I get you're mad at me, but I'm old enough to make my own decisions, and this is what I want to do!" Spike argued. "Lea even explained what he knew about Keyblade wielders being chosen before I flew all the way up here to at least give this a shot! You guys don't want more wielders to lose, but there's six more, and they're also students at the school! How many dangerous moments have we all gotten into that doesn't involve Heartless or Nobodies!?"
The sky started to turn dark, which began to startle the crystal ponies. Twilight opened her mouth to further scold Spike, but when she looked behind the baby dragon, her anger quickly turned to absolute terror when she saw a mass of black rise up from the earth. It looked like a head covered in long, wild strands of tendril-like hair with glowing yellow eyes, the rest of its body continuing to rise and reveal its muscular arms and legs, a pair of small, twisted wings on its back, and the center of its chest was hollowed out in a heart shape. While its arms were long, its legs were short with its feet thin and curled.
"S-S-Spike," Twilight nervously called.
"Before we moved to Ponyville, I would have been frightened running into something deadly like a timberwolf, or another adult dragon hiding in the Everfree Forest!" Spike continued. "I may be your assistant, but I'd like to do more to help than just stand on the sidelines and be you guys' support! Even if I can't be a Key Bearer like you, you can see that I was able to take on all those Heartless, alone, without so much as a scratch!"
"Spike," Twilight called out again to get his attention.
"And I fought kind of like Sora, just like you do when you use your Keyblade's powers!" Spike added. "I think it's like that transference thing when the others now have the Keyblades of Harmony! I saw how Sora fought through the Crystal Heart's light, and it's like they're ingrained in my mind while I was the bigger, stronger, and faster dragon I was earlier! I don't know how, but with this, how can you NOT be proud of me for being able to join and fight alongside you!?"
"Spike!" she yelled.
"WHAT!?" Twilight lifted Spike up with her magic and forcefully turned him around. Spike's anger quickly disappeared, spotting the giant feet of a dark-skinned monster looming over them. Slowly, he titled his head up, his pupils shrinking in fright, staring up at a giant Heartless with its yellow eyes staring right back at him. Gulping audibly, Spike suddenly felt less brave and confident in himself. "...Oh...T-That's...not good."
"What in Equestria is that!?" Sunburst exclaimed. "Is that...Is that another Pony of Shadows!?"
"No. Worse; that's a Darkside," Lea uttered.
The Darkside reared his arm back to punch down at the stunned baby dragon and alicorn. Twilight quickly snagged him and leapt back just before it struck the ground. A puddle of darkness formed around its wrist, its fist buried in the ground, and Shadows began to seep out and revive the lost numbers that Spike took out.
"This is bad," Twilight uttered. "This is really, REALLY bad." The Darkside pulled its hand out and rose back up, the Shadows it summoned slowly lurching closer toward them. The Darkside then lowered itself on its knees, the hollowed chest beginning to glow a dark, ominous aura, then thrust its chest out, sending out several dark energy bullets soaring and diving down toward Twilight and Spike. "Spike, get inside the barrier!"
Spike flapped his wings and ran while Twilight called her Keyblades once more and surrounded herself in a barrier. "Ok, maybe this was a bad idea after all!" Spike exclaimed. He looked down at his crystal, grasping it tightly, but nothing happened. "Come on! Work! Need to become Spike the Brave and Glorious again!"
While begging for the light to return, he was too focused on the crystal to notice the Shadows popping up from the ground, then leapt at him. One of them grabbed his feet, dragging him down as he yelped and tumbled into the snow. Turning around, he gasped as the Shadows jumped and tried to dogpile him, only for a Firaga spell to blast them out of existence.
"Spike, get moving!" Lea called out as he raced in with his weapons to assist Twilight.
He ran past Spike, sending his flaming chakrams flying into the Darkside's face. It was barely phased while it continued launching its homing energy beams at Twilight, and as Lea got closer, they homed in on him as well. Spike got back on his feet, torn between sitting and waiting inside the safety of the Crystal Empire or hope his crystal would react again and give him the power to help defeat the Darkside.
"Come on, Crystal Heart! You can't have run out of juice on me!" Spike pleaded. Rising up from the snow, more Shadows appeared in front of him. Panicking, Spike backed away, breathing green flames at the weak Heartless. They didn't even flinched and continued stalking closer in a menacing fashion. "No no no no no! Why isn't it working again!? How do I make it work!?"
One of the Shadows lunged at him, making him jump back and stumble onto his back. He crawled away, panting heavily as he kept losing his footing in his fright. Twilight and Lea were busy avoiding the Darkside's fists and its powerful energy barrages. Spike overheard one of them requesting the others hurry up, but he was so focused on weakly crawling away from the weak Shadows he couldn't beat on his own. Not as the chubby baby dragon he was. The group of Heartless made another leap for Spike as he let out a terrified scream.
Suddenly, up in the clouds, the darkness began to glow with a bright light before they were dispersed by a swift hail of light raining down on the tundra. Starting farther out where the Darkside stood, several loud stabbing sounds rang out as what appeared to be spears made of light struck its back. Twilight and Lea dove out of the incoming attack, watching the Darkside stagger forward and the raining spears continued trailing toward Spike. They struck the Shadows and destroyed them while Spike flinched and curled himself up to feel smaller, avoiding getting impaled by the mysteriously raining spears.
The Darkside stood up and turned to face what struck him, only to be met by something sharp shooting down at blinding speeds right in its forehead. Its head was sent flying back, but then everyone heard a loud roar from the same direction the object that struck it came from, a red blur diving down and kicking it in the same spot it was struck, sending it crashing down hard. The impact shook the land, creating a huge cloud of scattered snow that almost made it seem like the result of an explosion. Through the falling snow, dark mist seeped up and rose into the sky, a sign that the Heartless was slain by whatever dove in so suddenly.
Everyone cautiously watched the snow gently fall as they saw a figure standing in the middle of the dispersed cloud. The crystal ponies thought it was Sora, but in the distance, Sora and the rest of their friends were seen flying in on their gliders, the rest of the Mane Six hitching a ride with them.
"What the hell? Where's the Darkside?" Aqua asked.
"Is everybody else alright?" Sora added.
Twilight and Lea stared silently at their savior as they were revealed. Beside it, sticking out of the ground, was a thin, double-edged blade, but as the newcomer pulled it out with their left hand, it revealed the tip, which had a shape jutting out from the side resembling a dragon's head, the expression it bore calm, yet solemn. The blade was a bright silver, trailing down to the base where it meets the guard and the hilt, the guard taking the shape of a golden harp, and hanging off of the pommel was a chain that bore a unique insignia of an armored dragon. The wielders, who were much closer, gasped in surprise; this mysterious warrior was a Keyblade wielder.
"A Darkside," the warrior growled, a feminine voice filled with malice and rage despite her calm disposition. The outfit she wore obscured most of her body, though they were able to see enough of her to see she was a dragon. Her clothing consisted of a red coat that reached down to her upper thighs, and a red hat that had a long brim that concealed most of her face along with her coat's opened collar. From what they could see of her scales underneath, her legs and hands were a lighter shade of purple, and they could even see her muzzle poking out from the veiled outfit she wore a similar purple. Sticking out through the holes in her hat were a pair of horns, which were oddly shaped like a pair of wings and looked to be more of an accessory to her headgear than her physical anatomy. Her long tail twitched, the upper scales leading up to the spade-shaped tip the same light purple, the spines that trailed down her tail a bright shade of green, and an orange ribbon tied at the end of her tail. And the wings on her back had a bright green membrane, folded neatly against her back. "...A shame I didn't make it suffer before killing it..."
"Jeeze. She already sounds menacing," Lea mumbled under his breath.
Slowly, the wielder turned to face the group, spotting a green, reptilian eye gazing at them in the shadows of her concealed face. "Who are you?" Sora asked.
Her eye glanced at Sora, then slowly judged the other wielders silently before finally dismissing her Keyblade after a few tense moments. "...Freya."
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Knowing the Caribbean passed, now it will be turn for San Fransokyo but at the same time I'm very afraid about the Keyblade War, specially for what everyone knows which is going to happen, the most darkest and saddest moment in the full series of Kingdom Hearts, a fate unable to rewrite.
Oooh, a newcomer, this should be very interesting.
Ok, hold up. When I said we see Spikes mom sooner than expected last chapter… I was not meaning the very next one!! Like holy Celestia! Not to mention we also now know this dragons name & it seems like Spike could either end up in the same situation as Scootaloo did with her parents, or his Mom could end up sticking around Equestria more.
Plus now we get a glimpse of Spike from “the last problem” in his older body as a form. So this is a lot to take in. But for sure is this one crazy rollercoaster ride Codex.
Wait, FREYA?! Holy freaking throne, we got FF IX in the house!
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I was hoping the outfit described in the last chapter would have given it away. Along with the background where she was being introduced, even though it's not really her home within this story as it was in FF IX. And there'll be another FF cameo in the next chapter, though it's not who you'll think it is if you know about the actual Freya in IX.
Also, IX was featured before Freya. WAAAAAY back in the Power Ponies chapter where Sora was in the role of Zidane in Spike's enchanted comic book crossover.
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*facepalms*
Right, forgot about that, lol. And funnily enough, I was wracking my brain for FF characters that were dragon themed, but nothing was popping out for me.
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I mean, technically, she's an anthro rat, but she's also a dragoon, so...Slight iteration to her form for this story.
I have a feeling Spike is going to get scolded so hard after what just happened.
So, Spike finally decides enough is enough and wants to fight the heartless. Good for him and his experiment seems to work for the most part. However, it seems it's still in an experimental stage with how it can't be summoned on his command. I get the feeling Freya is going to help Spike unlock that full power and let him be able to fight with those he loves. Twilight may not want it, but if her friends have keyblades and six students at her school have keyblades, then she must come to grips that Spike is no longer wanting to be on the sideline. He's ready to fight and prove his worth.
I do have to admit that I was surprised it was Freya. I had a feeling, but I thought she was an anthro rat. I didn't think she was part dragon too. My knowledge of FF is rather limited, so apologies if I'm just surprised by her being part dragon.
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Lets not forget how Aqua and the others will react to this, I can imagine Aqua is going to have so many questions of what Spike just did and she would highly advise him to stay away from the Heartless/Nobodies. Also Spike interfered with the Crystal Heart and as a result heartless started to appear out of nowhere. I really hope they realize it wasn't his fault and he was granted permission from Sunburst, Candiace, and Shining to see if it will work even though they gave warnings and concerns to Spike about it not working but he seemed to not take it seriously.
I know Spike doesn't want to feel left out and I understand that he wants to be a wielder himself but what he did there with the Crystal Heart was pretty wreckless. The Crystal Heart was already protected the Crysal Empire from Heartless only when Spike wanted to see if can give him power is when things started to go wrong. Then again I know Twilight Sparkle is already annoyed and disappointed with Spike given what she just saw and the details of what just happened so she would have every right to be upset with Spike for his actions. I am pretty sure the rest of the group would be also.
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Yes, the original Freya in FF9 was an anthro rat. But, throughout this story with some of the FF cameos, I ponified them to add some more memorable characters that could have made a cameo themselves within the KH series. The Power Ponies chapter: Sora, Riku, and Kairi were playing the roles of Zidane(FF9), Cecil(FF4), and Terra(FF6), and they battle a ponied Kefka(FF6). The Struggle tournament, Sora took on a mare who was part of Celestia's more advanced guard, whom I named Celestial Star, nicknamed Celes(FF6). Plus, for this fic, I figured it'd be fitting if an MLP look for Freya would be a dragon, hence her skills as a dragoon, and alter her backstory a bit to keep it as tragic, if not moreso in a KH universe.
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I'm sure the others will not be happy, but when they learn of what Spike could do, it would surprise them that Spike could do such a thing and think his power is emerging. If they try to deny him, it wouldn't go so well as Spike would be convinced they believe he's incapable and infuriate him.
Freya, who I'm sure is Spike's mom, probably sensed this power and decides to help teach Spike how to harness and use it by his will.
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Hi Seb
Now that was a fun read! Excellent job!