After waiting one more week, the Equestria Games were about ready to commence. During that time, Twilight had gotten the chance to learn all of the different spells that Aqua knew, many of them more advanced than what Sora, Riku, and Kairi were capable of doing from learning on their own. As she gave trying to cast them a shot, some of the more advanced spells were harder to use, but many of the basic early spells were simple enough. Even with her own alicorn magic added to her spells, they were a lot more powerful than an average Keyblade wielder's magical strength. Although, there was a day where a little incident occurred that drained the alicorn of her magical power: Spike wanted to help Rarity when a puppeteer didn't like the fancy stage she made for him, upsetting her greatly, so he found this ominous book in the old castle's library in the Everfree Forest, which made the unicorn create a lot of havoc by creating random dresses, turning roads to gold, trapping ponies in their homes in crystal, and more under the influence of a spell she subconsciously cast.
He did fix his mistakes, telling Rarity the truth about her helping only making things worse instead of hiding it so she wouldn't get disappointed with him. It took all the alicorn princesses magic just to revert everything back to normal, the dark magic that came from the book, which Spike swallowed, was really powerful. She could barely move after curing Ponyville, let alone use any spells with her mana heavily drained due to Spike's recklessness going into the old castle and giving Rarity a cursed book that could have really warped her mind permanently.
Luckily, she was able to move again before the Equestria Games began, the Ponyville team on the train heading off to the Crystal Empire. Rainbow gave a little speech to the rest of the ponies to do their hardest, while also "subtly" hinting to win a lot of gold medals. Sora and Riku were working on their own warm ups in another car for when the Struggle tournament in the Games will begin after the other events. While they did push-ups, Kairi and Twilight sat on their respective boyfriend's backs for some added weight to push themselves from the ground while Spike, Aqua, and Ventus watched.
"Feeling better after that insane curse that affected Ponyville?" Kairi asked.
"I can move again, but because of a certain little dragon, I don't think I'll be fit enough to continue my training with the other magic spells I have yet to try out." Twilight leered at Spike, the baby dragon letting out a sheepish chuckle. "Of course, it had to be something I loved to do where I have to wait until my mana is fully regenerated."
"What about those Ether things you bought from that weird bear thing outside the library?" Spike asked.
"I drained every single ounce of mana within me, Spike," Twilight lectured. "Even with Ethers, it wouldn't help because it literally takes a lot of time for a unicorn, or alicorn's, mana to be restored when they use it all up when it can cause a pony to pass out mana exhaustion! I needed to naturally rest, which meant no amount of medicine would ever help me recover faster. So, next time you decide to do something, don't go into the Everfree Forest by yourself, and don't look through any books that were hidden in that castle!"
"Didn't that happen to you when that ursa minor came into Ponyville no thanks to Trixie's boasting?" Sora questioned.
"I had barely a pinch of mana left after lulling the ursa minor to sleep," Twilight replied. "I was still awake enough for your Ether to regenerate my magic a little."
"I guess magic from those with a horn in this world don't have the same mana regeneration like we do," Ventus guessed as he leaned against the wall of the train car. "But since you're a Keyblade wielder like us, shouldn't you also have the same ability to just wait it out for a moment?"
"She used her own mana as an alicorn, not Keyblade magic," Aqua answered. "Our magic is a power given by our Keyblades, offering a change in strategy against foes with elemental weaknesses, but unicorn magic is like a life force, though not exactly connected to their life span and end up becoming lethal if they overuse their mana reserves."
"So in short, she used up too much mana in her system and can't do much until she's fully recovered," Riku summarized, switching to using one hoof as he continued his push-up reps. "But, Twilight, you can still summon your Keyblade, right?"
"Yes, but my magic is greatly weakened because of all that hard work we did." Twilight sighed and plopped down on Riku's back, nearly making him hit the ground as he pushed them back up. "Even Cadence had to come and help us."
"At least it was a curse and not darkness." Spike chuckled at his statement, but with the stares he received from the others, his laughter died, looking down at his feet in shame. "I'll just...keep quiet now..."
Eventually, the train arrived in the empire, the city of crystal filled with every sentient creature across Equestria, whether they be fans, athletes, or sellers that provided food or souvenirs from their kingdoms. Ponyville's team of athletes and fans to cheer them on stepped off the train and headed into the Crystal Empire. Spike carried a large trunk with some of his friends' supplies out of the car, dropping it down onto the platform.
"Back once again in the Crystal Empire," Sora said. "Let's hope that there's no-"
"Look! It's Sora!" a crystal pony called out, bringing many of the pegasus's female fanbase in the empire to squeal and rush up to the platform.
"Me and my big mouth." He leapt up and hovered above the mares as they tried to reach out to him, begging for an autograph, a picture, a story to tell, anything to get him to notice them. Ventus laughed at Sora's predicament while Riku and Kairi shook their heads. Aqua seemed a bit skeptical with all the crystal pony mares squealing at his presence, wondering if he wound up leaking any outside information he shouldn't have. "Ladies, please stop! If any of you are trying to ask me to take you on a date, I'm already taken!"
"Are you competing in the Equestria Games!?" one mare asked.
"Yes, but I'm in the Struggle tournament." His answer only excited them more, which didn't help his situation. He looked over at Ventus, who was too busy laughing at his misfortune, suddenly getting an idea to get back at his mocking. "But, if any of you are interested with hanging out with somepony, why don't you get to know my little brother, Ventus? He's a powerful fighter like me, but I'm on a whole other league compared to him."
The mares gasped as the younger mares in the group turned to look at the teen, seeing he did have a close resemblance to Sora. Ventus winced, then screamed in terror as those mares began crowding him, drowning in a circle of females as they tugged at him while he flailed his hooves in panic.
"Sora, I hate you!" Ventus cried out as Sora laughed at him. He tried to pry himself out of the squealing mares around his age, trying to crawl away to safety. "Aqua! Save me!"
"Sorry, Ven. You're on your own," she apologized as she giggled at his predicament.
"Noooooooooo!" he screamed as he was dragged off, the mares pulling him into the kingdom.
While the Keyblade wielders watched Ventus being hauled away, being called the brother of the Warrior of Light by the mares, the Cutie Mark Crusaders approached Spike. "Spike, are ya sure our flag is in there with ya?"
"Of course, Apple Bloom," Spike said. "All your guys' stuff for the games are all in this chest. Your flagpole, Scootaloo's scooter, the portable ramp, all there."
"Are ya absoultely sure?" Apple Bloom asked, getting nudged by Scootaloo to snap her out of her worries.
"Don't freak out, Apple Bloom," she assured. "We'll wow the crowd with our flag carrying routine!"
"It's understandable to be nervous during something very important," Spike said. "Whenever I get scared, I just count to ten. A pretty simple trick, and as soon as I'm done counting, I've calmed down enough to do my part." Just as he was about to pick up the trunk, two stallions wearing the silver armor in the Crystal Empire's Royal Guard ran up to Spike, scooping the surprised dragon up on their backs. "Ahh! Hey! What's going on!?"
"Warrior of Light!" one of the guards said, averting Sora's attention to the stallions dragon-napping Spike. "Princess Cadence requires you and Spike the Brave and Glorious's audience immediately!"
"Uhh, ok?" The two guards left, taking Spike with them, having no idea what was happening as they headed for the castle. "Well, I guess we should head off to the castle. Sorry, ladies, but the Warrior of Light must attend to her Royal Highness's demands!"
The mares all groaned sadly as they watched him fly off to the castle, slowly dispersing from the station as the others followed. "So, what exactly happened in this kingdom that's got Sora surrounded by everyone?...And by everyone, I mean all the mares around his age, or a few years younger or older than him."
Aqua was given a summary of the events that had transpired in the Crystal Empire when it returned as they walked toward the castle. They even passed by the statues of Spike and Sora made entirely out of crystal, catching his features and Keyblades perfectly. At least he didn't boast about his heroic efforts like others, only focused on protecting the people of the worlds and asking for nothing in return for saving them. And seeing the many shops in the shopping district where the locals sold action figures of their two heroes, they held Spike and Sora in high regard, even though the stallion did do a lot more in terms of fighting.
As they entered the castle, Aqua looked around in awe at the crystal structure, not surprised to see an entire kingdom was made entirely out of the glimmering mineral in the frozen north. "This place is beautiful. And with how abundant this kingdom is with the Crystal Heart's power, it's no wonder these ponies can survive so well in the tundra. I want to study the Crystal Heart at some point and gauge just how strong its light is if it could purify darkness with a powerful barrier."
"I think Maud would probably crack a bigger smile if she saw the Crystal Empire," Kairi said, making everyone laugh as they imagined Maud's reaction if she did show her emotions.
Finding their way to the throne room wasn't hard to navigate for the Mane Six now that they know exactly where everything is in the castle after trying to escort the Equestria Games inspector. They found Cadence with Sora and Spike, though the two heroes of the Crystal Empire were treated like kings as the castle's servants pampered them. Spike seemed fine with the attention as he munched on some gems as he and Sora were being fanned by a couple mares, though the pegasus felt a little awkward with this kind of treatment as a famous hero to a kingdom.
"There you guys are," Cadence said. "I just finished telling Sora and Spike why they were brought here."
"We're going to be in the procession," Spike said after slurping up an emerald that was in his mouth. "And I'm going to light the torch during the opening ceremony."
"And he just saw his statue outside from the balcony while Cadence explained our roles," Sora said. "Spike's starting to grow an ego with all the attention he's getting." The mare fanning him brought the large, elegant fan down to his face, slapping it away from his face as he got up off the sofa he was on. "Ok, I can't handle being treated like this. I don't really deserve being treated like this for saving the kingdom."
"These mares weren't doing anything else to you, were they?" Kairi questioned with a hint of jealousy.
"They were just fanning me," he said. "One of them did try to give me a massage, and her hooves were kind of soft-" Kairi suddenly grabbed Sora's jacket collar with her aura, pulling him harshly toward her with an irate glare. "I'm kidding! Nothing happened! Just being fanned!"
"You'd better be," she warned, giving him a hard punch in the shoulder as she let him go. She then leered at the mares that were pampering him, the servants backing away nervously. "I'm going to be watching every single one of you girls if you all crowd my boyfriend."
"I didn't like the attention," he reasoned. "Spike, however, made it hard for me to get away and insisted I be treated as equally as 'Spike the Brave and Glorious'."
"Sora, relax," Spike assured. "I'm not going to let all this get to my head. Everypony in the Crystal Empire sees us as their heroes. It would be a bit rude not to accept their gracious hospitality."
"The whole point of being a hero is to be humble and not ask for anything as a reward for doing the right thing," Sora explained. "For example, being treated like royalty, having ponies serve you and feed you gems while you lazily lounge on a couch."
As he set his example, Spike was about to be fed a ruby by a mare servant, quickly closing his mouth before the gem was dropped in his maw. "...Uhh, I could use a vacation from being Twilight's number one assistant?" Receiving nothing but silence, Spike sat up as he was given blank stares by every pony in the room. "Well, I really could. Do you guys have any idea how much of a mess Twilight makes when she reads all the books in the library? I have to put every book she drops back on the shelves, I cook her meals, even clean the library and her room. I need a little break every so often, and I don't ask for one that much."
"...I guess that is kind of true," Twilight said. "He does work really hard for me, but I really didn't give him a break since I was...always busy with my studies. I helped raise him ever since I hatched him, and he never once complained about cleaning up after me when he was able to walk and talk." The alicorn knew Spike had looked out for her just as much as she looked out for him, but she never thought she took him for granted. He worked tirelessly to keep their place clean and organized, and with Owlowiscious as her pet helping her in the evenings when Spike got tired, she felt bad after he grew jealous of the owl, thinking she forgot about him completely. She's worked really hard as Celestia's pupil, and now working hard to be a defender of darkness with her Keyblade, and Spike's worked hard to keep her mind straight and organize what she couldn't during that time. "...I guess you can relax a bit more often, Spike. But if you get too spoiled, then we're going to have to change that."
"Got it, Twilight," Spike said. "And don't worry, I won't get that carried away."
He went back to relaxing on his sofa, opening his mouth to be fed the ruby the servant was about to give him earlier. "Too late," Sora said with a chuckle. Up on the balcony, everyone heard heavy panting as Ventus tiredly climbed up over the railing, rolling onto the ground as he laid on his back. His clothing was a mess, his hair was more of a mess than spiky, and his face was covered in kiss marks from the mares that had kidnapped him. "Hey, Ven. How was your welcoming committee?"
"...I...hate...you," Ventus growled. "So...much..."
The next morning, the Equestria Games were about to officially begin. The stadium was packed, the audience unable to wait for the procession to begin as they excitedly chatted about the outcome of the events. Shining Armor was down below, ready to call out all the teams to appear on the field, showing the audience who would be competing for their home, including the teams' flag carriers. Besides Sora and Spike making their way through the stadium to the platform where the spiraling torch laid and Riku down with the rest of Ponyville's team as a competitor, everyone else sat in the stands to watch the procession. Unfortunately for Twilight, as an alicorn princess, she had to sit with Celestia, Luna, and Cadence in their royal booth, sitting down in their marked seats. Even if she wanted to sit with her friends a few rows down, she would have been escorted in the royal booth as soon as possible.
Walking alongside Sora and Spike was Ms. Harshwhinny, making sure the two young heroes played their part and the Equestria Games went along according to plan. "Now, do you two know exactly what you will be doing?"
"Easy, Ms. Harshwhinny," Sora said. "Spike lights the torch, I summon my Keyblade and shoot fireworks at the top when the flames reach the end of the rising spiral when you give us the signal."
"Correct, though I don't know if it's all for show since you don't know magic. But, it's what the princesses want for this year, so I'll go along with the hidden pyrotechnics and illusion spells for your role." Sora let out a small laugh, his magic not really all illusion when she sees the flashy pyrotechnic spell he'll fire.
As they reached the entrance to the balcony, they could hear Shining Armor already announcing the competing teams, each group running out to the center of the large field as their flag carriers lead them out. The last to come out was Ponyville's team, the Cutie Mark Crusaders doing their routine as they carried the flag. The athletes for Ponyville made their way out after the fantastic performance by the three fillies, the fans from Ponyville cheering for their team as they joined the other contenders.
With the teams now out on the field, Ms. Harshwhinny gave Sora and Spike the signal, stomping her hoof down on the ground twice. Sora stepped out and approached his designated spot for his part, the crowd cheering at his presence. Spike, however, was completely still, barely moving an inch as he froze in fright. The Equestria Games inspector growled, giving Spike the signal again.
"Mr. the Dragon, this is the signal," she reminded him. Sora summoned his Keyblade, ready to launch a Firework spell, but as he turned back to Spike, he noticed the dragon had a case of stage fright. "I am giving you the signal now!"
"Spike, that's our cue," Sora said.
Finally snapping out of it, he shakily approached the ladder and tried to breathe. "O-Ok, Spike. Just...Just calm down. One...two...three..." As Spike looked out at the crowd, he gulped and began hyperventilating, counting the audience instead of just to ten to calm himself. "Thousand...fourteen thousand...twenty thousand!"
"Mr. the Dragon!" Ms. Harshwhinny exclaimed, snapping him away from the audience, but not for long.
He quickly scurried up the ladder, the crystal ponies cheering for Spike the Brave and Glorious as he made his appearance. This only brought back the dragon's anxiety as he struggled to breathe. He tried to take a few deep breaths and breathe out some fire, but the flames he released were weak and didn't spread around the torch. Everyone in the stands could see him struggling, wondering what was wrong with him.
"Uhh, I don't know what's going on," Spike said, a poorly made excuse that didn't get to the irritated mare. "Somepony have a match?"
"You are a fire-breathing dragon," Ms. Harshwhinny reminded Spike. "So breathe fire!"
He tried again several times, only to wind up breathing green embers or nothing at all. Sora could see that Spike was clearly choking, both literally as he tried to breathe fire and mentally as he constantly froze from everyone watching him screw up.
"Spike, take a breath and calm down," Sora ushered, turning to the crowd with a nervous grin. "All you have to do is breathe fire."
"I'm trying, but I can't!" Spike whispered, breathing out again with nothing to give, sweating bullets and choking on his own lungs.
Twilight began to worry as the proceedings for the Equestria Games was stunted by Spike's fright. Cadence sent a couple guards to see what was going on, even though Sora was there with him. She needed to do something to help, and even though her mana was just slightly recovered enough to cast weaker spells like levitation, she was going to use whatever magic she had left inside her to keep him from being humiliated by the crowd. Covering her horn with her hoof, the lavender alicorn strained herself as her aura glowed. She cast a weak Fire spell, setting the spark in the torch where Spike was standing and trying desperately to breathe fire through his panic attack.
As Spike exhaled heavily again, Twilight set off her spell, igniting the torch for him, surprising the baby dragon as the flames wrapped around the swirling spires. Twilight slumped back in her seat, feeling her mana exhaustion come back as she struggled to stay awake to avoid suspicion. Sora and Spike were a little surprised by the red and orange flames that flew up, slowly turning blue from the crystal as the fire sunk back in the chalice. The stallion snapped out of his shock and cast a Firework spell, creating various flaming shapes above the torch with the pyrotechnic magic.
Spike slowly climbed his way down the ladder, his face slightly scorched from the erupting flames that blew up in his face. "Whoa...How'd I do that?"
He looked at Sora, the pegasus shrugging his shoulders, unable to answer how that happened. "Well, better late than never, Mr. the Dragon," Ms. Harshwhinny said. "Any longer and we would have had to delay a few events for tomorrow."
"Let the games begin!" Shining Armor announced, getting the crowd excited as the Equestria Games officially began.
The next few hours flew by as the first of many different events were held in the stadium. The aerial relay race hadn't started yet and will be held tomorrow, which will give Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Bulk Biceps some more time to prepare to race against the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash knows they won't be able to best the greatest of flyers from Cloudsdale, but she wouldn't mind getting a silver. But if Ventus had returned a bit sooner before the qualifying rounds in place of either Fluttershy or Bulk Biceps, maybe they could reach that gold medal.
Once the Equestria Games were done with the events set for today, everyone walked around the city together, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "So, how awesome were we, Rainbow Dash?"
"You did pretty good out there, squirt," Rainbow said to her surrogate sister, ruffling Scootaloo's mane. "Couldn't have done it better myself."
"Yes. You three were great," Twilight complimented the Crusaders, ignoring the migraine she had after draining her mana back down to nearly depleted and suffer from more mana exhaustion. "But what happened to Spike up there?"
"You don't think he had a case of stage fright, did he?" Aqua asked. "It didn't look like he actually blew any fire out when the torch lit up like that. His fire was green, not red."
"You mean someone else lit the torch?" Rainbow asked. "Did Sora do it for him?"
"No, we all could have seen him cast a Fire spell out in the open...And it wasn't magic from a Keyblade that lit it either." Slowly, everyone turned their heads to Twilight, the mare holding her head as a wave of pain threatened to split her brain in half.
Unable to hide it, she sighed as she rubbed her temples to ease the unending headache. "I lit the torch. I didn't want Spike to be embarrassed in front of everypony, so I secretly cast a Fire spell to help him. And I don't regret draining myself so he doesn't feel bad for messing up."
"And you're exhausting yourself more when you were just recovering from fixing Ponyville up from that curse." Riku shook his head. "Twilight, if you try anything like that again, I'll force you down in a bed and Silence you to keep you from using any of your magic."
"Did you even tell him yet?" Rarity asked.
"No," Twilight said with a shake of her head, immediately regretting the action as she made her headache worse. "I'm sure he knows, but I'll have to tell him if he doesn't. He takes pride in what he does for me, and I don't want to take that away from him."
"Well, here comes Sora and Spike now," Ventus called out as the stallion and baby dragon approached them from the stadium's direction. He quickly hid behind Aqua as their presence in the Crystal Empire usually brought about crazy fans from the kingdom. "Are there any mares around them?"
"No, it's just them," Aqua assured, grinning impishly as she pat Ventus on the head. "Maybe you should get to know a girl and go on a date with them?"
"Oh no! Not any of the ponies here in the Crystal Empire!" the teen exclaimed. "What about you, Aqua? You're in your thirties and you've had little contact with anyone for a decade and a half. You should find someone more than me."
"I...I'm not actually interested in finding romance..." Despite Aqua's words, part of her did want to be with her special someone, but with the dangers the darkness had on them all back then and now, she wanted some semblance of peace before settling down.
"Hey, guys," Sora said as he and Spike caught up with them. "That was...a pretty weird start to the Games earlier."
"Yeah. I mean, all of Equestria was watching me, I couldn't light the torch, and I began to feel like a huge failure. But then it just lit up suddenly!" Seeing Spike wasn't at all upset, Twilight was a bit relieved to see he wasn't disappointed to have help. "I didn't even know I could start fires with my own mind!"
The Mane Six and the Crusaders' jaws dropped in utter bafflement to Spike's ridiculous claim, whereas the Keyblade wielders facehooved with the same feeling. Before they could even explain to the baby dragon that it was impossible for one to create fires with their own thoughts, a few crystal ponies approached Sora and Spike with excitement.
"It's the Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious!" a stallion said.
"And Sora, the Warrior of Light!" a mare said. "Can we get your autographs!?"
"Uhh, sure," Sora said as he took the picture of himself and signed his name.
"You two were amazing saving the empire," the mare complimented. "I thought we would have been prisoners to Sombra and be utterly miserable again."
"You know what's more amazing? Watch this!" After Spike signed the picture with him on it, he held it out and stared intensely at it. He was attempting to try to burn it with his mind, which only made him look really silly as he strained his eyes. "Hang on. When I burn this with my mind, I'll sign another one for you."
"Spike, I don't think that's possible," Sora said. He looked back at the others, his friends shifting their eyes to Twilight at his questioning gaze. Now it made sense to him; Twilight had cast a spell to light the torch for Spike after he choked in front of the crowd, and now the sudden burst of flame made him think he had the power to burn things with his brainpower. "Oh boy..."
"Wait, it might burst into flames any minute," Spike said. "Must be a delayed reaction." He brought the autographed picture to his forehead and continued straining his brain. "Ugh...Very delayed. But if I can burn stuff with my mind, then I just might be able to read minds!"
"Spike...just stop," Sora said, grabbing the picture and giving it and the one he signed back to the couple. "You don't have mind powers. I don't think dragons have the power to burn stuff just by looking at something and thinking it."
"Then how do you explain how I lit the torch in front of everypony in the stadium?" Spike asked, completely oblivious considering he was only a kid, not fully mature, but just enough to seem like an adult or a teenager.
"Because I did it," Twilight admitted after the painful pounding in her head numbed down a little. She could already see the disappointed look on Spike's face, wanting to believe he somehow did light the torch on his own, but it only hid the fact that he screwed up and couldn't do it and someone else did it for him. "I'm sorry, Spike. I cast a Fire spell and lit it for you, but I did it so you wouldn't get embarrassed when you froze up there...You understand, don't you?"
Unfortunately, Spike misunderstood Twilight's words, feeling depressed as he felt like a failure, unable to handle a simple task in front of hundreds of pairs of eyes. "...I...I want to be alone..."
He trudged off down the road to the castle, passing by some more crystal pony fans, not feeling up to giving autographs. Twilight tried to stop him, but another wave of pain struck her head and nearly collapsed, Riku quickly catching her before she fell over.
"Let's just leave him alone for a while, Twilight," Sora said. "I'm sure he understands...At least, I hope so..."
The next morning, the Equestria Games continued with the next event scheduled for the day. However, thanks to Twilight's assistance from afar, the security in the stadium was brought up as ponies walked through the front gates. As the non competitors in the group entered, Kairi, Aqua, and Rarity were stopped by a couple guards.
"Sorry, ladies," one of them said. "I'm going to need you three to step through this gate."
They looked over at the magical gateways leading to the stands and in the athlete locker rooms, the arch glowing a light blue. "Why?"
"After we found traces of magic around the balcony where the torch was lit, we don't want any unicorns using magic to cheat for their team, whether they're competing or watching," he explained. "This gate will disable your magic until you pass by it again upon leaving or when the unicorn security team dispell it. And don't try to cast any spells, because we'll know and escort you out of the stadium."
Having no choice but to follow the guard's security protocol, the mares walked through the gates. They passed by the light blue aura, feeling the dispelling magical spell wrap around them until it reached their horns. The light seeped into their horns, disappearing in a flash.
"Oh boy," Aqua muttered. "I hope this doesn't bite us in the back if something goes wrong."
Rarity, Kairi, and Aqua made their way through the stands to sit with the others in their spot from yesterday, just in time to see the next event, which happened to be the aerial relay race. As the race was underway, down in the entrances to the field of the stadium, Spike fidgeted nervously as he was still troubled by his failure from yesterday. Sora was wrong as he painfully watched the baby dragon freak out, desperate to do something to prove his worth to everyone.
"Uhh, Ms. Harshwhinny?" Spike asked, Ms. Harshwhinny looking over the schedule for the remaining games.
"Yes, Mr. the Dragon. What is it?" she asked.
"Is there anything else I can do for the Games? Something that might...be worthy of the Crystal Empire's admiration?" The mare let out a frustrated sigh.
"You lit the torch! What more is there you want to do?" Spike stammered, trying to find an idea. "Ugh, celebrities. Next thing you know, they'll want to put on a rock concert."
"Hey, Ms. Harshwhinny, I may be a celebrity around Equestria, but I'm not that selfish to pull off anything as ridiculous as that for notoriety," Sora said. He looked back out in the field, watching the rest of the race finish. As it turned out, Cloudsdale made it in first while Ponyville made second, Rainbow just barely passing the finish line with a few tenths of a second behind Spitfire. Bulk Biceps and Fluttershy did a lot better in the qualifying race, shortening their time even with Rainbow Dash picking up the pace. "Boy, that was a close race. Huh, Spike?" Sora looked down at the baby dragon, only to find no sign of him. "Uhh, Spike?"
"Congratulations to all of our medalists!" Shining Armor announced as the first three teams received their medals for the race, the griffon team actually taking third place on the placements with Cloudsdale's and Ponyville's teams. Sora spotted Spike running up to Shining Armor, worried about what the dragon was about to do. "And now, the anthem of-"
"And I shall do the honor of singing!" Spike shouted, interrupting the stallion and surprising most of the audience as they cheered in acceptance.
"Oh no," Sora groaned. "Spike, what are you doing?"
"Spike, what are you doing?" Shining asked Spike, confused with his sudden interruption.
"Well, they just play the music, right?" Spike asked. "I know all the words to the anthem, and I'll sing it loud and proud for the crowd!"
As odd of a request as it was for his surrogate little brother, the crowd's cheering seemed to make his choice for the stallion. "Well, ok then." Shining Armor cleared his throat, going along with this change since the audience wanted it. "And now, the Cloudsdale anthem sung by Spike the Brave and Glorious!"
Spike balked, looking back at Shining in shock and confusion. "W-What!? B-But I thought-"
"They play the anthem of an event for the winners, Spike!" he whispered, now a little concerned with Spike's impatient and determined antics to gaining praise from everyone.
"B-But I don't know the Cloudsdale anthem..." The baby dragon gulped as Shining nervously stepped back, the crowd already anticipating an anthem sung by Spike after making his poorly planned announcement.
The anthem began to play as the crowd hushed. Sora pressed his ears against his head, knowing this was going to end in disaster. Though the song sounded like it was triumphant, showing Cloudsdale's tenacity as a pegasus city where the Wonderbolts were made, but Spike began singing off key and out of the rhythm the song had.
[Spike]
Oh, we're the Wonderbolts and we're super fast
And we're from Cloudsdale which-is-a-part-of-Equestria
That we like best and we're proud and we're fast and we like it because it really has nice trees
Yeah, we love the town because it's so cool and, and we like to fly really fast and everything like that
I kinda wish this was over 'cause it is... n't... yet... over... now.
Oh, we're the Wonderbolts and we're super fast and we're cloud– from Cloudsdale
We like it there 'cause it's really nice and the trees are cool and I hope it is over now
And... it keeps going on, la la la
And we really love the town
So I wish that this... song... was over now.
Over... now.
Over... now.
Silence. Silence was all that filled the stadium. Everyone, except for Pinkie Pie for some odd reason, stared at the utterly embarrassed baby dragon standing in the middle of the stadium. His singing was horrible, and he pretty much insulted Cloudsdale, though it wasn't by all means intentional as he pretty much improvised the lyrics, rather poorly. Even Rainbow Dash, standing beside her idols on the second place pedestal with Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps, was just as appalled as every pegasus that had witnessed this travesty of Cloudsdale's anthem being botched.
"Nailed it!" Pinkie shouted out in the crowd, making Sora facehoof ten times as hard, no one apparently agreeing with her as a foal was crying somewhere in the audience.
"Great," Sora muttered. "Now Spike really humiliated himself in front of everyone..."
He looked up in time to see Spike run off, probably to hide and not show himself in front of the Crystal Empire and everyone present to hear his interpreted anthem for Cloudsdale. Sora left the stadium and chased after him, the Equestria Games continuing even after the awkward song was finished.
Spike fled back to the castle, laying on the sofa in the guest room he stayed in, staring up at the ceiling in misery. He made a fool of himself yet again. He was too scared to light a fire in front of thousands of ponies and other creatures that came to the empire, and he thought he could redeem himself by singing the winning team's anthem after the event. He can't do anything right. He felt like Humdrum in the Power Ponies comics again, but now he really did feel useless. Not just to his friends, but to everyone who saw the stupid performance he put on.
Sora opened the door to his room, surprising the baby dragon as he sat up, pretending not to be upset. "Spike, you alright?"
"Yeah! Of course!" Spike looked around the room, quickly running up to an empty suitcase and randomly piling clothes in. "I'm just...doing some packing! No idea when we're going to leave the Crystal Empire after the Games are done, right!?"
The pegasus sighed, slowly walking up to the nervous baby dragon. "You're clearly not alright." He gently moved Spike's claws away from the suitcase and sat next to him. "Spike, I know you're feeling a little desperate to try to do something to regain some dignity for yourself, but you're trying a bit too hard."
"...You don't understand," Spike uttered. "I let everypony down...Twice. I froze up when I couldn't light a stupid fire, and now everypony out there probably hates me for messing up the Cloudsdale anthem!"
"Spike, it's not that big of a deal," Sora said. Spike glared at him, regretting to admit that the second embarrassing moment Spike had done was singing a city's song unintentionally degrading. "Ok, the song was...well improvised?"
"It was stupid! I'm a complete idiot!" Spike slammed his head in the pile of clothes, tears running down his cheeks. "I can't show myself in front of everypony after that! I don't even know why I'm a hero to the Crystal Empire! All I did was carry the Crystal Heart down from the castle and give it to Cadence!"
"Spike, that's just as important as me fighting Sombra. Besides, there are moments were someone will think if they make one small mistake, everything falls apart. You just had a bit of stage fright at first, and then...thought it was a good idea to sing in front of...everyone..." Sora wasn't helping make Spike feel better by reminding the dragon of the horrible singing earlier.
"Well, I sure did ruin everything," Spike said with a sniffle. "I'm completely pathetic. You've never let anyone down since you saved your friends, several worlds, and even Equestria whenever somepony evil tries to take over."
"I have let others down before." Spike looked at Sora, staring down at him with pity. "When Riku, Kairi, and I got separated when our home was swallowed by darkness, I thought that I wouldn't be able to see them again. I thought they were gone forever, and I wasn't able to protect Kairi from the Heartless. I feel like I've done that to others so many times: letting Riku down when he thought I was just going to leave him for Donald and Goofy, leaving him trapped in the Realm of Darkness with King Mickey, bowing to Saïx in front of Donald and Goofy to release Kairi, even getting caught by Xehanort in the dream worlds and almost letting him win...
"What I feel the worst about though...is my Anti Form..." Spike did recall Sora tell him about it when Kairi first arrived in Equestria. Everything from how dangerous it was and how the teen wanted to keep it a secret. "Whenever I turn into that Heartless by accident, I was powerless to stop it as it took complete control of me, if only for a short amount of time...It came out a long while ago, when I showed Twilight, the other girls, Donald, and Goofy my Drive Forms...I attacked them against my own will."
"What?" The baby dragon gasped in shock.
"I fought as hard as I could to stop it, telling everyone to stay away from me...but it beat me and I almost killed Kairi." Sora can never forget what he did, the cries of pain he caused, the injuries he inflicted. Even the last time he turned into that monster in the Mirage Arena, it still brought back those horrible thoughts despite being alone when he was furious at Flim and Flam. "The others managed to stop me and knock me out, turning me back to normal. But I remembered everything, and I felt absolutely ashamed being around everyone now that they knew how dangerous I could end up being...I didn't even want to show my face and hide in my Gummi ship for the rest of my life...but Kairi understood that wasn't me.
"I even felt worse when I failed to save Sombra for Luna," Sora continued. "A Keyblade wielder a thousand years ago forced the darkness in his heart to overtake him, and he struggled to fight back until it fully consumed him. I had to find some way to save him, knowing there was a possibility that some of us could come back after losing their hearts and turned into Heartless, but I didn't have enough time before I had to confront him." He held a hoof against his chest, resting it above his heart as the moment came back to him. "He never turned into a Heartless by losing his heart. His darkness took over, his light snuffed out until the Crystal Heart brought it back, if only for a moment...His heart and body had shattered, and after I had to tell the unfortunate news to Luna that her fiance was gone...I let her and Sombra down...Their romance taken away from them by someone's power of darkness back then that I couldn't destroy..."
Spike was still reeling from the fact that Sora almost ended up taking away their friends' lives. He did remember seeing the miserable state the Keyblade wielder was in once they returned from the Crystal Empire after defeating Sombra. He was a wreck and had blamed himself for being unable to save someone who didn't deserve the fate given to them. Spike didn't blame him for messing up with something he couldn't control or save, and Sora didn't blame him for messing up at the opening ceremony or the miserable excuse of a song he sang.
"...Do you still feel helpless after knowing you let everyone down or failed?" Spike asked.
"Sometimes, I do," Sora admitted. He rubbed Spike's head, giving him a reassuring smile. "But we can't let stuff in the past bring us down. What's done is done, and all we can do is try to do better. That's the whole point of making mistakes."
"Even if they're remembered until the end of time?" Spike grumbled.
"And you can't bring yourself down, either." Sora pat the baby dragon on the head and stood up. "If you bring yourself down over something as small as freezing on stage during a performance, you can't disappoint yourself with how badly you did, thinking you'll never be any better. Without you safely delivering the Crystal Heart back, all of us wouldn't be here today. You're as much a hero to this kingdom as I am: I did the hard, physical work by fending Sombra off when the barrier fell, while you did the most by protecting the Crystal Heart, a relic filled with light and brought hope to the crystal ponies and all of Equestria." Sora summoned his Keyblade and stood in the same pose of his statue the crystal ponies made in his image. "True heroes aren't without their flaws, and their greatest flaw is doubting themselves: both mentally and physically. So don't be disappointed in yourself with whatever you felt you did wrong."
Spike let Sora's words sink into him, just like how Riku and Sora both made him feel better when they were trapped in his comic book. He didn't feel like he was worth anything as the sidekick Humdrum, but Sora had other friends who weren't as strong as him who he always relied on and considers no one to always be someone else's sidekick. He admittedly felt embarrassed making a fool out of himself, but he wasn't so sure if he was confident enough to go back to the stadium to watch the rest of the events. But, since they were both considered important the Crystal Empire hosting the Games this year, he had to go back, grabbing a fedora, a jacket, and a pair of black sunglasses in the assorted clothing he randomly grabbed earlier.
"...I don't know if everypony else would feel the same just yet," Spike said, putting on his disguise. Sora found it a little humorous that the baby dragon tried to disguise himself when everyone would know it was him the moment he was seen, but if it meant helping him get back out there, then he kept quiet for his sake. "I'll go, but I don't want to show my face around the stadium just yet."
"Fair enough." Sora dismissed his Keyblade and began heading for the door. "Now, let's go before the final event starts. The Struggle tournament is after that, and I can't be late."
"Right." Spike followed behind the pegasus as they made their way back to the stadium.
"Now it is time for the next event before we end things off with the newly created Struggle tournament!" Shining Armor announced, ponies setting up the field for the next event. "We will now begin the ice archery finals!" The crowd cheered as the best of the Equestria Games was set up. The field had a few targets set up a fair distance away from several sets of bows and quivers filled with dozens of arrows that were made of ice. There were a few ponies wearing uniforms for their home teams approached the bows as soon as the lines were set down, forming lanes for each competitor to keep them focused on their target. "Ice archers, take your positions!"
"Ice archery, huh?" Aqua was already interested in what this sport was about. "How does this event work?"
"It's not like regular archery," Rainbow responded. "Instead of aiming for the middle, the archers have to encase the entire target with ice. Those arrows are magically infused with an ice spell, meant to freeze anything that gets struck by it. The first one to freeze every part of the target wins the gold, followed by anypony else for silver and bronze."
"Hmmm...I'd like to give this sport a try myself." As she looked at the competitors as they prepared their first arrow for Shining's signal to begin firing, she did see a couple unicorns, but they used their mouths instead of their magic, or their hooves. "They have to fire the arrows with their mouths? Won't the arrows freeze their mouths?"
"They only freeze when they hit a target, otherwise, if they hit a pony, they'll get a really bad case of frostbite," Rainbow said.
"Huh. Well, I guess there is one small reason to have those dispelling gates running." Aqua looked up at her horn, rubbing the appendage, still feeling the mental block and warning spell placed around it. "Can't have unicorns cheating for a sporting event."
"Ice archers, ready your arrows!" The competitors pulled back on the set up bows for them, aiming for their targets. "Begin!"
They fired and the audience cheered, watching the arrows fly and strike the targets, the ice spreading out in patches around where it struck. While the event took place, Twilight couldn't focus on enjoying the Games as much as her friends. After disappointing Spike and watching his performance "singing" the Cloudsdale anthem, she regretted telling him she helped him and got his hopes up. Now he humiliated himself in front of everypony and ran off. Her headaches were still present, but that pain was nothing compared to the guilt she felt for helping him and crushing his confidence.
Down below at one of the entrances into the field, Sora and Spike arrived just in time to see the ice archery event. As they were walking through the Crystal Empire, Spike's disguise didn't really do much to hide his identity as Sora had predicted from the ponies that spotted them. It was difficult to stay incognito when he was the only dragon in the empire. While the pegasus was given the rundown on what the goal of ice archery was by Spike, Riku came out from the locker rooms, spotting Sora and Spike down by the entrance out into the field.
"Hey, there you two are," he said. When Riku got a better look at Spike, he just stared at the baby dragon blankly at the terrible attempt to disguise himself. "...What's with the getup?"
"I don't want anypony to notice me," Spike simply stated.
"...Right. No one will know it's you under that," Riku sarcastically commented. "So, what happened?"
"Spike just need a little pep talk, and I got him to come back to the stadium," Sora said. "Though, he thinks he's screwed up everything after the opening ceremony and his...interesting musical number."
"'Interesting' sounds more like an understatement..." They continued watching the archers as two of the ponies were getting close to covering the entire target, one of them a pegasus highly renowned as a champion archer from Cloudsdale.
Right as the event was about to end, Sora saw a glint of red light come from on top of one of the spotlights around the stadium. "What the...?" The red light immediately shot down on the field at the speed of light, nearly striking one of the archers as it barely missed a stallion's hoof by inches. The stallion was startled by the sudden shot, stumbling over his quiver and fell over with an arrow readied to fire. He let go by accident, sending the arrow flying high into the sky. Unknown to everyone down below, the arrow struck a cloud high above the stadium, turning the water inside of it into a dangerously sharp projectile that began to slowly fall. Sora recognized that red light; it was a red bullet of energy that was shot by a Nobody called a Sniper, carrying a crossbow that can shoot dangerously swift bullets of energy that home in on their target after stopping, catching their prey off guard. "Oh crap. Riku, we've got company!"
As the crowd wondered what had happened, Nobodies began to appear around the stadium and on the field. The Sniper that attacked from on the spotlight earlier warped down to the field with several others, along with Berserkers, buff Nobodies that carried a large claymore-like hammer, Assassins, Nobodies that sink into the ground and sneak up on their victims, and Dragoons, using their lances to thrust down on their victims after appearing above them within seconds. Everyone began to panic as the archers and officials down below fled from the new creatures that appeared in front of them. The audience tried to flee, only for more Berserkers to block their path, keeping everyone from escaping.
"Nobodies!" Sora and Riku summoned their Keyblades and ran into the field to get rid of them.
"What the heck are Nobodies doing here!?" Kairi exclaimed.
"THOSE are Nobodies!?" Pinkie asked. "How did they get in here!?"
"Yeah! Isn't the Crystal Heart supposed to protect this kingdom from threats!?" Rainbow questioned, gasping as a Dragoon appeared above her.
Ventus flew into it, smacking it with his Keyblade, getting the Nobodies' attention away from the panicked ponies around them. "I don't think it can stop something created out of nothingness! Heartless might not appear, but these things aren't made of darkness!" The Dragoon flew back into the teen, but he countered by summoning a Tornado, sending the Nobody flailing into the magical twister as it was torn apart by the wind until it burst into light. "I'll take care of the ones blocking the exits!"
"Ok!" Ventus flew off and took care of the Berserkers, avoiding getting dived down on by other Dragoons along the way. Kairi and Aqua summoned their Keyblades, but as they expected to hold their weapons with their magic, they dropped to the floor. "Oh no! That magic dampener from those gates!"
"Looks like we're going to have to fight using our mouths," Aqua suggested, picking up her Keyblade in her maw. She spotted a Dragoon diving down on them, aiming her Keyblade to shoot a barrage of Firaga spells at it. But when she tried to cast the spell, nothing came out. "...No." Thinking quickly, Aqua and Kairi dove out of the way before it landed on them. "Damn it! Those magic sealing gates disabled all of our magic, even our Keyblade magic as well!"
"What!?" Kairi tried to fire a spell at the Dragoon, but she couldn't cast anything as well. "Oh, this is really bad!" The Nobody disappeared and reappeared above her, quickly flipping away as it landed, barely getting hit by the shockwave it left behind. "Well, if there's any time for me to learn to hold a weapon in my mouth, it's now or never!"
Resorting only to physical attacks, Kairi and Aqua fended off the Nobodies that came after them, keeping the other mares from getting attacked along with any nearby ponies. The princesses in their booth watched in shock at the new kind of invading foes that were terrorizing the stadium, though their priority was attacking the Keyblade wielders.
"What in Equestria are these monsters!?" Celestia questioned.
"These are not Heartless, otherwise they would not have made it past the barrier around the empire." Behind their seats, an Assassin slowly rose up from the ground as it slithered like a snake.
Twilight saw it approaching Cadence, fighting through her migraine as she summoned her Keyblade. "Cadence, look out!"
The pink alicorn turned around, gasping as she saw the Nobody about to extend its sharply barbed arm at her. Twilight managed to make it in time, parrying its thrusting arm, causing it to recoil and curl into a wheel in its stunned state. She didn't give it any time to recover and slink back into the ground, slashing it repeatedly using the skills she had learned in her training. The Assassin recovered and hid back in the ground, not exactly dead, but inflicted with plenty of damage. She tried to attack its head like it was a shark threatening to eat away at a small boat to get its prey, only for her strikes to fail as it was invulnerable in the ground.
Twilight winced and grabbed her head, another migraine wracking her brain as she struggled to stay focused. Taking its cue, the Assassin shot up from the ground and lunged for her, its chest beginning to glow bright as it was about to pull off a last resort move when it was close to death.
"Twilight!" Celestia, Luna, and Cadence cried out, all three of them, including Twilight, unable to use their magic as they too passed through the magical dampening gates with the other unicorns earlier.
Twilight looked up, time slowing around her as she saw the Assassin lunge for her, intending to grab her and blow her up along with it. The chain of her Keyblade began to glow, the Element of Loyalty's gem shining brightly. Quickly reacting with her enhanced agility, she grabbed the Nobody's face with a hoof, leapt up, spun it around, and tossed it back into the ground. The Assassin blew up, unleashing a shockwave blast that sent nearby Assassins out of the ground where they hid around the royal booth. Moving faster than any of the princesses could blink, Twilight slashed through the stunned Nobodies, destroying them all before they woke up and tried to do what its other ally attempted.
"Twilight?" Cadence could barely keep track of her sister-in-law as she only saw the shining remains of the Nobodies disappearing before looking at the next.
"How is she moving this fast?" Celestia wondered, surprised to see her ex-student move so fast when she wasn't much of a physically active filly growing up.
A Berserker suddenly appeared in front of Celestia, shocking her as it began to swing its weapon at her. Twilight swiftly flew in front of her mentor, the chain glowing brighter as the Element of Honesty's gem lit up, smacking the heavy claymore out of the Nobody's hand. With another swing, she sent the Berserker flying down the rows of seats, making it slam into a few Dragoons that surrounded Aqua and Kairi, the Nobodies tumbling down the seats and into the arena below.
"Don't...hurt mah...teacher," Twilight growled.
She soon began to pass out as her migraine grew worse, falling on her side and dropping her Keyblade. The chain's light dimmed, its owner too exhausted to stay awake with the painful headaches that came from her drained alicorn mana. Aqua ran up to the royal booth thanks to Twilight's help, leaving Kairi to deal with the rest on her own to check on her.
"Twilight! Are you alright!?" The alicorn groaned, telling the Keyblade Master she was alright and just suffering from her migraine. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Who are you?" Luna asked.
Meeting Celestia and Luna for the first time, Aqua gave them a quick bow, not wanting to be too formal with the danger they were all in. "My name is Aqua, your Highnesses. I'm not sure if Twilight had spoken of me since my arrival several months ago, but I am her teacher to better improve her skills as a Keyblade wielder."
"So, you are Aqua," Celestia said, recognizing the name and description from Twilight's letters about her new teacher.
"I guess she has told you after all." Aqua gripped her Keyblade in her mouth and turned to defend the princesses and her incapacitated apprentice. "You think you can get rid of the dampening spell on me so I can use my magic to better protect you and everyone else?"
"As much as we want to, the security running the stadium are only able to disable the spell," Cadence said. "We even went through it so none of us would be biased on who would win by cheating with magic."
"Great. I guess Kairi and I have to fight the old fashioned way while Sora, Riku, and Ven can use magic." Celestia and Luna looked at each other, never hearing someone named "Ven" before.
Flying past them to take out Berserkers on the other side of the stadium, Ventus went past the princesses, getting only a small glimpse of the lanky pegasus stallion. "Wait, was that Sora?" Down below in the fields, a Sniper took a potshot at one of the princesses, the laser bullet flying straight at them. Sora suddenly appeared in front of them, kicking the bullet back down to the Nobody, teleporting back down to the field as he ricocheted it back and forth through other Nobodies. "No, that was...Then who was-?"
"Sora's down there in the field," Aqua explained, relieved to have that laser shot redirected back down and away from them. "That pegasus that flew by is Ventus...a friend of mine who just woke up not too long ago."
Both princesses were baffled. They looked so similar with their builds, they didn't notice the difference in hair or their clothing. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence looked to where Ventus was, dodge rolling away from a Berserker's claymore before attacking it from behind, using a different method of swordplay than Sora with his smaller Keyblade.
"They look so alike," Luna said.
"I was surprised myself when I saw him climb onto the balcony the other day when everypony arrived," Cadence said.
Down in the arena, Sora and Riku continued taking out the Nobodies on the field, the former highly annoyed at the smarter foes for an attempted quick scope snipe at one of the princesses. "Hey, aim for me! We're the bigger targets!" Sora provoked, teleporting around as he kicked another laser into the group. "Riku, heads up!"
Hearing his friend's warning, Riku jumped up, avoiding the redirected laser shot at a Dragoon, killing it after he did some damage to the teleporting jumpers. "How many of these things are still around!?"
Hearing a Berserker behind him, Riku quickly blocked his weapon, pushed back by the recoil as the Nobody dropped its weapon. Sora noticed and flew straight for it, grabbing it with his hooves and floated in the air. While keeping his grip on the heavy claymore, Sora hovered around, sucking in Nobodies that were around him to pull them in to deal some serious damage to one of their own's weapons. Feeling his grip about to be lost, he began somersaulting, getting higher and higher as he slammed the blade of the Nobody sword into the ones he could gather at once. After getting up high enough, he spun around, twirling the claymore around him, smacking the Nobodies around, destroying them all as he finally let go, the weapon disappearing as he finished.
Spike hid inside the stadium as he watched the Nobodies invade. "Oh my gosh. This is bad. What are these things!?" While trying to avoid being spotted by the new monsters, he looked up at the sky, his jaw dropping as he saw a large cloud as big as the stadium fall. There were sharp, jagged spikes on the now solid piece of fluffy mass, the target of the misfired arrow that one of the archers shot when one of the Snipers tried to hit them. "Oh no! That cloud's going to kill everyone!"
Shining Armor heard Spike's exclamation as he had ran for cover, looking up to see the icy cloud fall toward them. "Quick! Somepony cut the disabling spell!"
"There isn't any time!" one of the security guards shouted, steering clear of the Nobodies focused on Sora and Riku in the field.
After slaying another Berserker, Sora looked up, gasping in horror at the massive cloud of jagged ice falling down on them. He tried to aim his Keyblade at it and melt it with a blast of Firaga, but an Assassin snuck up on the stallion and latched onto him. It self-destructed in a flash of non-elemental light, staggering Sora and distracted him as a Berserker shrunk itself, grabbing the hilt of its weapon as it bounced rapidly toward him. He tried to warn Riku or Ventus about the massive cloud of ice slowly falling toward them, but Riku was busy avoiding the several ricocheting laser bullets from the Snipers, now firing larger and stronger beams as their crossbows grew, and Ventus was too concerned with keeping the ponies in the stands at the many entrances safe from the Berserkers, gliding across the stadium as his body was surrounded in a veil of Fire magic.
Spike looked up at the cloud, no one else able to stop it with Kairi and Aqua's magic sealed and Sora, Riku, and Ventus stuck with their own battles. He had to do something, deciding to do something crazy as he tore off his pointless disguise, running out into the field. Riku slapped the raining Sniper shots away from him, each bullet passing through Nobodies that got in their way, turning to see Spike rushing into the fight.
"Spike, get back!" he warned. "It's too dangerous!"
"Riku, toss me up!" Spike called out as he ran toward the open stallion.
"What?" Riku looked up in confusion, now seeing the sharp, icy storm cloud closing in on them. "Oh man..."
Going along with whatever plan Spike had, Riku grabbed the baby dragon as he got closer. He tossed him up in the air, quickly rearing back on his front legs, and as soon as Spike hit his back hooves, he bucked hard, sending the dragon soaring in the air. Spike took in a deep breath, getting closer to the cloud to melt it with his fire breath. From the palace, the Crystal Heart began to resonate, sending out a small shockwave of light, reaching all the way out to the stadium. Spike's chest began glowing, the same feeling he had when he brought the Crystal Heart down the castle's wall returning to him. He didn't let it bother him as he sucked in more air, his cheeks bulging as he felt something else aside from his fire that fueled inside his heart.
Spike let out the longest breath he ever made in his life, his green fire turning white as it engulfed the massive cloud covered in sharp shards of ice. The bright light caught everyone's attention, including the Nobodies as they sensed the light that came from the fire. As the light and heat of the flames enshrouded the dangerous cloud, a bright light flashed from inside it until it reached the large ice shards sticking out. The cloud began to evaporate back into a gas, leaving the ice behind as the shards glowed brightly, shooting out from their places and flew out into the stadium. Many of the ponies flinched in surprise, but they were left unharmed as their targets were the threat that had slipped through the barrier in the empire, stabbing through the Nobodies. None were able to escape or avoid getting struck, the shards homing in on the shells of emptiness even as the Assassins hid under the ground or the Snipers and Dragoons teleporting away.
Once the last of the Nobodies were slain into nothingness where they were supposed to exist, the glowing, sharp shards of ice disappeared into flurries of light as they rose and disappeared in the evening sky. With the threat gone, the Keyblade wielders relaxed, amazed at what Spike had done. The purple dragon fell after the shards faded, Sora quickly swooping in and catching him.
"Whoa...Spike, what was that?" Sora asked.
"I...I don't really know," Spike said, holding a claw over his chest, no longer glowing after unleashing the most powerful blast of fire he ever made. "That light, though...The same thing happened when I blew fire at a crystal back on the castle when Sombra attacked...The Crystal Heart...helped me?"
"Looked like it did." As the two heroes of the Crystal Empire looked around the stadium, there was thankfully not much damage to the stands and no one got hurt. Soon, the crowd began to cheer, calling out Spike's name as the crystal ponies proclaimed him as the Great and Noble Spike the Brave and Glorious. "And you saved the empire yet again. Feel proud of yourself for being a nation's hero after that?"
"Eh. I guess so." Spike's answer shocked Sora, nearly dropping the baby dragon.
"You guess!?" he exclaimed. "Spike, I think pulling that off earlier more than made up for what you were feeling before the Games and your singing performance!"
"Well, I saw everyone was in trouble and I was the only one who could stop that cloud," Spike explained. "You guys were too busy fighting, and those weird things wound up surrounding you and put everypony else in danger. I'm a dragon who can breathe fire, and since they weren't paying attention to me, I figured I could take care of the cloud while you took care of those...rubbery monsters. Although, I didn't expect taking them out as well."
"So, does this mean you feel like you redeemed yourself by chancing a life-threatening, suicidal plan after a few small mistakes with performance anxiety?" Spike looked around at the cheering crowd, none of them even the slightest bit dismayed by his earlier screw-ups during the Equestria Games's opening ceremony and "singing" Cloudsdale's anthem after winning the aerial relay. He looked back at Sora with a grin, nodding his head. "Great." Sora hoisted Spike up above his head, having him stand on his forehooves as he presented the audience to their hero. "All hail Spike the Brave and Glorious!"
The cheers grew louder as Spike was put on display. He was a little nervous with all the attention he was getting, but he did just save everyone from both the Nobodies and an ice arrow turning a cloud into a slow moving spike crusher landing on top of the stadium. The heroic dragon posed in the same image his statue was, though he clenched his fist where he would have held a Crystal Heart in his hand, smiling proudly as he let go of his embarrassing mistakes in the past couple days.
Twilight groaned in agony, her head, brain, and horn throbbing in pain as she squinted her eyes open. Realizing she had passed out from her migraine, she sat up, only to increase the pain in and around her cranium, clutching her head, being careful not to move that swiftly the next time she has a skull-cracking headache. As she got her bearings when she could finally open her eyes fully, she wasn't laying in the stadium as she expected. She was laying in a bed in one of the Crystal Empire's guest rooms in the castle, her covers flung off her as she sat up.
"W-What...?" While wondering what had happened when she fell unconscious, Riku walked into her room, carrying a glass of water and some medicine. "Riku? What happened?"
"Relax, Twilight. Everyone's alright." He sat down on the bed, giving the alicorn the glass and medicine. "This should probably help out with your migraine...which you made worse when you fought last night."
"Well, excuse me if my D-Links activated on their own while trying to protect Celestia, Luna, and Cadence," Twilight grumbled, swallowing the pain medicine and downing the entire glass of water. "Apparently, shifting to more physical-based links works even with my magic sealed for the sake of the Games and preventing any cheating...Guess that was my fault for helping Spike."
"You should actually thank him. He surprisingly saved all of us, both from the Nobodies and a cloud of icicles made by that stray ice arrow." Twilight stared at Riku as if he had lost his mind. "Ask everyone else. Not only did he melt the cloud, but he also breathed fire made out of light that he said must have come from the Crystal Heart, sending the sharp shards flying everywhere and eradicating the ambushing shells of living beings."
"...Either your pulling my tail or my headache's gotten worse where I'm hearing the wrong thing." She rubbed her temples, the medicine slowly taking affect as the pain numbed down. Just to tease her, Riku did tug on Twilight's tail a little, making her growl in annoyance. "Stop picking on me, you jerk. I'm already in enough pain as it is."
"If that's adorkable speak for, 'I'm going to punch you until I give you a headache that matches mine,' I'll stop." Twilight let out a frustrated whine as her cheeks turned red, giving Riku a punch in the shoulder. He let out a small laugh and scooched closer to the pouty alicorn, wrapping his hooves around her barrel. Despite being mad at him for teasing her, she leaned into his embrace, feeling him give her a light peck on the cheek, making her blush deepen. "I'm just messing with you, Twilight."
"I know, but stop calling me adorkable," she said, resting her head against his shoulder, snuggling in his hooves as she felt like falling back to sleep. "So, what else did I miss? Did the Games continue?"
"The Struggle tournament was postponed until later tonight," Riku said, gently brushing his hoof along her mane. "There wasn't that much damage to the stadium and no one got hurt, but since the ambush wore Sora and I out and scared the heck out of everyone, Cadence and Shining Armor thought it would be a good idea to give us all a moment to rest until then. Though, for the ice archery, Cloudsdale won it right before the Nobodies attacked."
"I thought so." Twilight yawned, snuggling up to her coltfriend as he laid down, letting her rest her head on his chest.
"Cadence told me how you fought when you protected them. You did pretty well against those Assassins, even though those Nobodies, Berserkers, Dragoons, and Snipers are pretty tough." Twilight nodded her head, knowing she was in way over her head fighting against tougher foes than the Heartless. "Those D-Links are pretty helpful...But, if the last light you need is from you, how can you form a D-Link with yourself?"
"I don't know, and I don't want to think. Head hurts too much." She let out another yawn and curled up beside Riku, keeping her head resting on his chest, feeling his calm heartbeat. "Wake me before the Struggle tournament? I want to see you fight."
"Ok." As Twilight's eyes drooped, Riku gave her a small kiss on the forehead, falling asleep with a content sigh. He gently rubbed her back, watching her sleep as she let out a few light snores as she immediately fell into dream land. Riku rested his head on a pillow, being careful not to move his lover and interrupt her sleep. He stared at the ceiling, feeling a bit guilty for not helping Twilight when most of the Nobodies were down in the stadium field. "Those D-Links are a blessing..." He looked back down at the sleeping alicorn, gently rubbing her ear as she let out a murmur of delight, nuzzling her face against his chest. "Don't get too reckless with using them, even if you can't control which ones will appear to help you...I don't want to lose you, Twilight."
Riku soon began to doze off after watching Twilight for a few minutes, resting his eyes as he held her close. He was going to need the rest so he can face Sora and the other six qualifying competitors, though who he would face depends on where they would be placed in the brackets.