The two stared at each other for a long silent moment, Flurry waiting for him to give her some evil speech or something, instead, he snapped his fingers.
"Friends, can we have a moment?" Without hesitation, all the Diamond dogs save the one who had been acting as his throne marched out of the room Spike waited until the largest one closed the door before smiling at Flurry heart.
"I like them a lot," he said before climbing back into his throne "tho as you've probably noticed I do have a favorite," he gave his throne a pat and she smiled at him before returning to a stone-faced expression, he smiled again weakly for a moment, Flurry stood her ground, keeping a hard expression on her face and Spike turned to Smoke and shot off almost to fast for her eye to follow, as he moved she drew her sword and turned, with a loud clang her sword dug itself into his arm, witch contorted and compressed as the sword pushed into it. "Whoa, Chill kid," Spike said as he took a step back from the sword, Flurry turned to him.
"Listen, Spike, I don't want to fight you..."
"Have a funny way of showing it," he said as he waved his throne off, who had started growling as soon as Flurry had touched the sword. Spike looked down at her before adding "Funny," he repeated.
"Just give me the elements and..." Spike laughed at her.
"Flurry honey,"
"Don't call me..." She tried to say only for Spike to swirl back into gas and shot past her, she turned on the spot and spotted him next to the Goat eyeball. "...that," she finished lamely.
"Flurry honey," Spike said, this time really emphasizing the honey part "This is an adorable display of demanding but is that really why your here?" he taped the crystal ball and images began playing on it and a very familiar voice came from it.
"...probably just off playing with her friends," Twilight said as she looked threw a book doing one thing or another, behind her stood Shining Armor who looked like he was about to have a heart attack,
"Twily I haven't seen her in days, I know she's an adult and can do her own thing now...but I checked around and none of her friends have been seen in days either,"
"They're probably just playing hero again," Twilight responds simply before Spike tapped the ball and it went back to being an eye, he turned to her with a smile.
"Seems your trying to prove something, I wonder tho...are you trying to prove to Twilight you can be the hero...or to yourself?" Flurry gave him a deep frown as he walked down the stairs, stopping in front of her, as he leaned down the shadows that made his body shifted from a solid mass to looking like living fire. She stood her ground and he looked her in the eye and smiled "Or maybe you just miss your uncle?"
"You're not my uncle," Flurry heart said firmly as she gripped the hilt of her sword "You're a mass of hate that consumed him!" Flurry swung down and Spike moved, the sword cracking the floor as she hit it, the dog that acted as Spike's throne whined and put her right paw on the ground, the stairs sunk into the ground and after a moment Flurry was alone in the room, she looked around waiting for Spike to show himself, she quickly pressed an outline in her left arm's armor and a shield in the shape of her fathers Cutie mark formed on it.
"Now, now," his voice said from behind her, she turned on the spot with her sword and shield raised and found nothing, she looked around the empty room, sword ready as he spoke "I'm not gonna fight my niece, tho I must now how you knew about my gathering of the shards of Harmony, Tree, and Elements alike, a black tendril shot from the ground and wrapped around Flurry hearts arm, forcing her to point her sword into the ground, as she attempted to free herself using the shield as a blunt instrument and bashing it against the tendril while pulling on it with her magic Spike appeared holding the Crystal ball.
"Like it?" he asked, tossing it up and down like a toy "use to belong to Grogar, the real one, took a hell of a lot of work to get it but now it's mine," Flurry heart made several noises as she tried to free her arm, taking this as a sign that she didn't care he started pacing the room with the ball, "I also Have Sombra's old Cape, but I didn't really like it, ended up giving it to my Captain of the guards, who you've already met," Spike turned to where the stairs had been as they raised, the Large Diamond Dog who Spike had been using as his throne was now standing with a Large Mace that was almost as Big as Flurries body, the Captain was indeed wearing Sombra's cape, tho a large chunk of the left side was missing, along with a set of Black Armor that the rest of Spike's guards had been wearing, the Diamond dog looked down at Flurry who Spike promptly set free. "Have fun," Spike said with a smile, Flurry looked up and both raised her shield and light her horn as the Large Dog charged.
"I'm not liking the looks of this" Zestar was looking at the castle as Flurry had requested, not too long after she had walked into the building tons of Diamond dogs could be seen running around the castle and the land it was situated around, some seemed to be guarding the doors and windows, most seemed to just be playing or lazing about the castle. "He's got an army guarding his place, we try and rush in and we'll get taken down," Zestar looked back at his friends, Jasper was holding onto Pound, who was shaking so hard he was making Jasper shake. Pumpkin, who had Flurries bracelet on, was trying her hardest to make sense of Peaches map.
"How is this a map?" She demanded, shaking the child's placemat at her friend "no one knew where this place was, how the heck did you use this children's pre-meal entertainment paper to find herringbone castle,"
"Wait," Jasper said, cutting Peach off "That's what the sign says?"
"My Spanish isn't all that good but I'm pretty sure that's what it says yeah,"
"This better not just be another Discord prank," He muttered irritably.
"He probably thought it meant something else," Pound said shakily "Or just found the word fun to say or look at, like those ponies you see with Japonies words tattoed on their arms, only in this case it would be less permanent."
"Look Pumpkin," Peach said, getting back onto the topic as hand "I may not have my mom's Pinkie sense or my Dad's Cheese scene, but I do have a Peach sense!" She patted her chest "I may not be a party pony, but heck if I ain't the best navigational pony in all Equestria!" Pumpkin screamed in frustration.
"You say that every time and it never explains anything!" Zestar looked back at the castle, laughing at how much like her teacher Pumpkin was when it happened, a beam of Magic shot threw the roof of the castle and exploded like a firework. "Ok guys!" He called "Time to decided! Are we going for the hero path or the calling or mommies and their friend's path?" Everypony saves Pound called back to him.
"Heros!"
"I want my mommy," Pound called threw the hero chant.
"Out voted!" Zestar replied as he pulled his nunchucks off his belt, Pupkin pulled Twin Katanas out, Peach held her bow in her hand and began double-checking how many arrows she had left, Jasper left his War Hammer on his back and cradled Pound like a baby, Pound had two Tonfā's on his belt ready to be pulled out for battle. Zestar turned ready to call the charge and watched as all the Diamond dogs filled into the castle. "Ok, that makes getting to the door a little easier!" he returned his chucks to his belt and lead the charge as magic light up the sky like fireworks, as soon as all 5 of them were on the bridge it started shaking and started moving, they watched in silence as the wooden planks moved forward and brought them to the castle at a much quicker pace than they would have,
"I think we're expected," Jasper said as he placed Pound on the ground, the 5 all drew their weapons and approached the door, which was open in wait, it remained pitch black as they walked in, the halls where dark, then with a bang the door slammed shut, Pumpkin light her horn and looked around, in the light she could see Zestar and Peach taking the front, with Jasper behind her, she looked around for a moment,
"Pound?" she asked, the 4 looked around the silent halls receiving no answer from their friend, "Hand," She said at once, Jasper took held his Hammer in his left hand and put his right on Pumpkins shoulder, Peach put her bow on her back and reached for Zestar, only to find empty darkness where he had been a mere moment before.
"I hate everything about this," She Decided as she reached out for Pumpkin, only to find nothing again, both she and Jasper were now gone. "Why am I last!" She demanded as she started shaking.
"Cause they were both looking at you, would have seen me," A Voice responded behind her, Peach turned just in time for Spike's shadowy hand to grab her by the face, she gave a muffled scream before feeling a harsh wind and hitting the ground, she blinked in the sudden light and looked around, her friends all lay in a confused mess around her, their weapons all piled in a corner, she looked over and saw Flurry standing in a glass jar shaped like a giant oil lamp, she had a very irritated expression on her face and was missing the armor from her left arm. Spike waved at them, sitting on his dog throne who was merrily chomping on a bone.
"Welcome Children!" Spike sang out "To the boss battle! I shall be your murder today," he sat in silence before Pound started crying, "I'm just messing with you," He amended "I ain't about that murdering children act, I have a bad enough rep without doing that,"
"Zestar is the only child here!" Pumpkin snapped back irritably as she got up.
"I am 19!" He snapped back.
"And last time I saw you, you where 7," Spike called back to him "To me, all I see are the children I use to babysit before I went all...bleg,"
"That's a mighty fine word to describe yourself with," Jasper said as Spike smiled at him.
"Oh Jasper, so good to see you,"
"And I always feel bad when I see or think of you," Jasper replied as he thought of his mother.
"I do not blame you, I blame your mother," Spike replied before chewing on one of his fingers "So, the kiddies have come to take the Elemental shards of Harmony home and become heroes?" he looked over at them, "And your plan was literally to just throw Flurry heart at me?" he shook his head "Really?"
"I admit," Flurry heart said from the glass jar "I may have been a little....completely full of myself for a moment," Spike shook his head before standing up.
"Alright listen, I don't wanna fight you, and Pound looks like he's gonna pass out, what say you tell the enticing story as to how, in 12 years, you lot are the only ponies to actually track me down, and I'll treat you lot to a nice refreshing dinner before you parents inevitably track you down and beat my face into the floor," he held his arms up, the group stood in silence for a moment so he added, "I'll even throw in the story on how I became a living shadow, how's that?"
"I can not pass up this opportunity," Pumpkin decided "Alright what do you wanna know?" Spike smiled.
"How about we start....at the Beginning?"