//------------------------------// // Friend Or Foe? // Story: Season Spike // by Haoryu Changer //------------------------------// The three jumped out the other end of the portal, and they saw the magnificent place known as the Crystal World. "Whoa..." Spike and Armak was amazed. The portal was on top of a little hill made out of red crystal. Surrounding it was crystal grounds, crystal mountains, floating crystal clouds, and a city which looked like it was made out of crystal, all with a variation of colors. Spike tempted not to go berserk and gobble down the place gem by gem. "This must be the Crystal World... Right?" Spike asked while his mouth was watering. Cadence chuckled a bit. "Well, we're not trapped in some room. But there are crystals around us." Cadence said while examining the area. "This is one pretty priso-" Cadence gave Armak a glare. "-I mean world of course!" Armak stuttered. "...Right." Cadence continued to look at their surroundings. A couple moments passed, and they heard a voice from coming from the direction to the city. "Greetings!" They all stared as a crystal creature walking on two legs came towards them. The creature kind of looked like Spike, but didn't have claws, and was a bit taller. It's skin was a light blue, and it's eyes were a darker shade of blue. "Welcome to the Crystal World, as you call it." The creature had a female voice, that echoed throughout the others' ears. It stopped in front of them, and bowed. "Hello. Who are you?" Cadence asked kindly. "M-My apologies Princess! My name is Crystal Shine," She started, while bowing again. "Figures." Spike said bluntly. "And I am one of the higher ranks in this world. I am a rare species known as a humane." She explained. "How do you know me?" Cadence asked. "I shall explain, follow me to the city." The three did as instructed and listened to this humane's story. "We live and survive in this world just as you do, but this world itself is a lower rank than yours' called Equestria." "I see... Can you explain why you know me?" Cadenced asked again politely. Crystal Shine looked up at the glistening sky, making the others do as well. "These "clouds", as you call them, is our source to see into the higher world known as Equestria." "Why do you need to look at our world?" Spike asked. "Good question, Prince." She replied. "But I believe it's just for entertainment, or studies..." "Equestria? Entertaining? I don't see any correlation." Armak said. "Well Armak, Equestria is an exciting place, full with action, adventure, sadness, slice of life, and even funny moments. It's one of the things that brightens this place up." She replied. "This world hardly gets any major disruptions. That is, until the other week..." Cadence and Spike understood what she said, but Armak did not. "What? You had a crystal storm and the crystal power went out?" Armak said as a joke. Spike sighed. Cadence and Crystal Shine gave Armak a glare. "What?" Armak clearly didn't comprehend. "Anyways, we've been watching you all. Not to be creepy..." She said guiltily. "Oh no worries, you did nothing wrong. This can be our little secret." Cadence ensured. "We saw many things. Nightmare Moon, love, Discord, harmony, Cutie Marks, the little ones... Oh, and your wedding!" "You saw that?!" Cadence beamed. "Yes! And a lot of the Crystal Creatures cheered when you and your husband took over the Crystal Empire, and defeated that nasty King Sombra." She said whilst smiling. "We also saw the recent events involving Spike and Armak. Most creatures were extremely angry at all the ponies for treating Spike that way, but they calmed themselves when everything turned alright." They soon entered the city. All Spike and Cadence saw were lots of different creatures running up and bowing. "H-Hey, we don't rule over this world. There's no need for that." Cadence said. "You are like gods to us." Crystal Shine too bowed. "We must have respect." Armak's eyebrows furrowed. "Hey I understand Spike, but I should get respect from you too if Cadence does." He said as he pointed to himself. "You..." Shine looked at Armak coldly. Before he could react, Armak was restrained by two powerful beast-looking creatures. One was white which held Armak's right fore leg, and one was black which held the other. "H-Hey! Unhand me this instant!" "What's going on?" Spike tried to interfere, but more crystal creatures of different kinds blocked him. Not wanting to potentially hurt them, Spike backed off. "Enough of this!" Armak tried to use his magic, but his horn didn't even start to glow. "W-What?" "I believe you just tried to use your magic. Ones like Cadence, who were trapped here before, knows that Equestrian magic is unusable in this world." "The entire world? I thought it was only that one room we got trapped in." Cadence thought to herself. Armak grunted as he struggled to get free. Those beasts had him pinned down good. "Don't just stand there. Help me!" Armak yelled, directing at Spike and Cadence. "What's the big deal, Crystal Shine? Armak did nothing wrong." Spike tried to reason. "Nothing wrong? Nothing wrong?!" Shine yelled, but soon calmed down. "My apologies for harsh words, Prince, but Armak has done enough damage here, even if he didn't physically come here before." She started to explain. "He stole an ancient crystal in the long lost crystal temple, he's used our world as a prison for our beloved princesses, and you're trying to tell me he hasn't done wrong?!" Spike was lost at words to say. A troll looking like creature jumped out from behind Cadence and forced her to eat some purple gems. "Cadence!" Spike yelled worryingly. Once she swallowed, she fell over about to hit the crystal floor. The troll however, caught her before doing so. "Don't worry about her. She's just asleep, that's all." "W-Why?" Spike asked. "A princess should never experience looking at tragic moments, even if it's someone who deserves it." Crystal Shine explained. "What are you going to do to him?" "We are going to lock him up for eternity." She replied. When he heard those words, Armak tried harder to escape the grasp of the two beasts. "Alright fair enough, but Armak has changed. You saw that haven't you? Through the floating Crystals?" Spike asked. "From the time he has stepped through that portal, Armak has done nothing to impress me." Spike thought for a second. "Well... can you give him a test? So you could see that he's changed." Crystal Shine pondered to herself. "Well... I know something he could do. It might not prove that he's changed, but it's a problem we can't handle ourselves." "Name it." Shine sighed. "...There's this crystal creature, up north, which breathes fire and is very strong. It causes havoc all across the northern region, and it will surely make it's way down here soon." She said sadly. Shine soon continued. "If Armak can help defeat it, then we will let him go. Until then, neither of you three will be allowed to leave this place. Do we have a deal?" Spike put out his claw while smiling. "Deal." They shook, and the two beasts released Armak. "Very well. We shall let Cadence rest in the town hall, where she will be watched over by us." "When is she gonna wake up?" "About an hour or two." Shine told. "Okay, we'll wait until she wakes up then-" "Are you really going to send a lady, a princess no less, to do some dirty work?" She asked baffled. "Uh?" Spike grinned sheepishly. "Extra help?" Not sure what her reply would be. "She will stay with us here, as you men fulfill your part of the deal." Spike sighed. "If you say so." "Come on, we don't need her!" Armak said angrily. "Actually, I don't need help at all." Armak said, full of himself. Spike chuckled. "Don't get ahead of yourself there, you don't have magic. Remember?" Armak frowned. "Yeah, yeah." He turned his head away from Spike and crossed his fore legs. "What's so good about being the bearer of dark magic if you can't even use it." He murmured. Spike apparently heard him, and started to giggle. "Well, I wish you good luck Spike. Take care." Crystal Shine said. "Alright. We'll be back until you know it." Spike said. "Farewell." She disregarded. Spike looked at Armak. "Looks like the Spike and Armak team is back together, working again." He said. "I don't think that is something to be happy about..." "Oh come on, lighten up a bit." Armak scoffed. "Let's just get this over with..." The two continued on north, where a short journey lies ahead. Meanwhile in Equestria, things were about to get ugly. Luna flew over to Celestia, who was sitting on her throne, and whispered something to her. Celestia's eyes widened, then returned to normal as she said, "We better call Discord."