One Week Later
Back in Canterlot castle, it’s been a long week for Spike the Dragon. Ever since Twilight took off on another adventure with the girls, he was asked to stay behind to fill in for his friend. Ergo, resuming her responsibilities as Supreme Ruler of Equestria… All of them. So much that the poor dragon slumped along the floor, lying on the desk amongst a stack of numerous paperwork from all over Equestria and beyond. It was an exhausting process, not so much the work itself, but rather this wasn’t the first time he’s ever been left behind to clean up after his friends.
“Stay behind and clean the library, Spike,” Spike sighed, muttering. “Here’s a list of chores, Spike. Do this and that, that and this, this and that, that, that, that, that!!!”
The young dragon ranted on, to no one in particular. Spike slowly approaches the nearby calendar, to check off another day.
“Story of my life. I barely have time to go out and hang with Gabby… Or Discord and Big Mac on our usual Guy’s night.”
With a long heavy sigh, Spike walks off toward his bedroom, completed exhausted after a torturous week of being Supreme Ruler… Or in this case, the ‘substitute’ Supreme Ruler. Finally arriving, he collapsed right onto his bed.
“Twilight and the girls should be back by now! Wish I knew what was taking them so long…”
Feeling extremely tired, Spike eventually closes his eyes hoping for a nice soothing sleep. It was then after a moment he found himself in a starry void. It didn’t take long to realize Spike was in a dream.
“What is this place?” Spike asked, his voice echoing.
“Spike?”
Spike recognized that voice, looking around for a certain lavender alicorn. Even if this were a dream, Spike figured where she is then her friends couldn’t be far.
“Twilight!” Spike called, seeing something. “Twilight! Is that you?”
Spike ran through the starry void until he caught sight of his alicorn friend. But alarmingly enough, he was seeing both Twilight and their friends suddenly dragged into the darkness by an unknown force.
“SPIKE!!!” Twilight cried out, reaching her hoof out. “HELP US!!!”
“TWILIGHT! GIRLS!” Spike shouted.
The little dragon ran after the ponies, but it felt like running on a treadmill getting nowhere close to the end. He could only helplessly watch as his friends were swallowed up by the darkness. Suddenly, shadowy figures lunged out and blinded the young dragon as thousands slowly crept around him. Before long, Spike found himself atop a mountain, surrounded by a sea of clouds. As Spike looked around, his eyes catch a hooded figure looming over him.
“Are you the one called Spike?” The hooded figure asked.
“Y-Y-Yes? That’s me,” Spike answered, shakily. “W-W-Who are you? Where am I? Where are my friends?”
“Your friends are in trouble, little one. There’s no time to waste; save them, before it’s too late!”
“What do you mean? What’s happened to them? Where are my friends?”
“Go to the Cave of Games, to the Mushroom Kingdom. Find the stars; defeat the darkness! Now go… Go… GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The loud shout made Spike close his eyes, surrendering himself to the darkness. The little dragon gasps himself awake, breaking out in a sweat and looks around finding himself back in his bedroom.
“WHOA!” Spike gasped.
Then the little dragon turned toward the window, as somewhere in the horizon Twilight and her friends journeyed to find this ‘Cave of Games’. A look of determination formed on Spike’s face, as the little dragon realized what he needed to do.
The next day, Spike had called for the royal assistant, Raven Inkwell, to delegate many of the responsibilities with some of the Canterlot Elites, including Fancy Pants, in his absence.
Once the matters have been settled, Spike took his leave, following the map of Equestria, into the uncharted West, where he is certain he would find the Cave of Games, to begin his search for Twilight and the others.
The Mushroom Kingdom
Outside the castle, a green dinosaur banged against the door, as if demanding entry. Still, an answer there came none. Suddenly, the creature felt light shimmering off his back, turning his head as a portal appeared from behind him. Before the dinosaur’s very eyes, a little purple dragon emerges through the vortex, which disappeared as quickly as it came.
“Wow, so this is the Mushroom Kingdom?” Spike asked, looking around.
The surroundings before the Dragon’s gaze left him in awe, particularly toward the large castle in front of him.
“There’s the castle; my friends must be in there.”
With a flap of his wings, Spike flew towards the front door, passing the green dinosaur. Curious, the creature watches as the young dragon flew toward the doors, placing his claws along the knobs to turn them. To Spike’s surprise, this proves unsuccessful as neither of the doors would budge open.
“Hello?” Spike called.
The dragon proceeds to knock on the door loudly, hoping to get an answer… But none would appear.
“HELLO! Anyone there? May I please come in; my friends are in there!”
“Yoshi?”
“Hmm?”
Spike turns around and finally noticed the dinosaur standing before him. In appearance, the dinosaur is green in color, with patches of white along the underside, a large round nose, a row of orange spines along his head, orange shoes, and a saddle-shaped shell on his back.
“Oh, hi there!” Spike greets the dinosaur. “I’m looking for my friends; they’re ponies. Have you seen them?”
In response, the dinosaur cocks his head to the side, as if confused to whom the young dragon was referring to. This seemed to disappoint the dragon, who realized the communication barrier would be a slight issue.
“Oh… I guess you don’t know who they are, huh buddy? Well, believe it or not, they’re ponies. ‘Little’ ponies, specifically, about this tall… Kind of colorful… They’ve also got these markings on their flanks; those are Cutie Marks. Two of them have wings, one has a horn, one has a horn AND wings, and the others are… Normal… Sort of… Have you seen them pass through by any chance?”
In response, the little dinosaur shook his head to the side, as if it was his way of saying ‘no’.
“Darn it!” Spike stomped his foot, frustrated. “Look, I came here because they went missing. And some hooded figure told me to come and look for them… Don’t ask.”
In response, the dinosaur let out a chirp making slight gestures with his claws. Spike looks at the dinosaur closely, realizing the creature was pointing toward the front doors leading to the castle.
“Are you telling me you have friends in there too?” Spike asked.
The little dinosaur nods his head, continuing to make gestures with his claws.
“So, seems we both have friends missing. Wherever they are, that castle must hold the answers. Maybe if we work together, we’ll be able to help each other. After all, that’s what Twilight would say," Again, the dinosaur appeared to be confused. "Who's Twilight? She's one of my friends. You’ll like her. So, what do you say?”
With a loud chirp, the dinosaur nods his head in agreement.
“Awesome! Name’s Spike, Spike the Dragon,” Spike introduced himself. “And you are?”
“Yoshi!” The dinosaur chirps, putting a hand over his chest.
“That’s your name? Yoshi?”
The dinosaur nods, with a happy chirp.
"Great! Nice to meet you, Yoshi!" Spike shook hands with the dinosaur. “So, any idea how we get in?”
“Excuse me!”
The young dragon and dinosaur turn their attention toward the owner of the voice, revealing themselves to be two turtle-like creatures. Both of whom wore goggles, riding in what appears to be a tuft of cloud (Oddly with a face on it), both holding a fishing pole with a single camera attached at the end of the line.
“Are you by chance friends of the magical ponies who arrived in our beautiful mushroom kingdom?” One turtle asked.
“Yes, yes I am,” Spike nodded. “And you are?”
“We are the Lakitu Bros.,” The second turtle answered, enthusiastically. “We’re the cameraman reporters for the Kingdom News Network! And you, my little dragon friend, are the scoop of the century!”
“Please, forgive my brother’s enthusiasm,” The First Lakitu explained, shaking his head. “He’s always had an eye for the big story.”
“Excuse me for having a keen eye for a story,” The second Lakitu huffed. “Anyway, as I was just asking: Your friends, those strange ponies who recently arrived in our kingdom awhile back. It was my understanding you weren’t with them when they arrived. What brings you here? Where are your friends now?”
“Actually, that is why I’m here,” Spike replied. “My friends have been missing for over a week, so I came all the way here from another… Another ‘kingdom’ to find them. You could say a gut feeling told me to come to your castle.”
“Yoshi!” Yoshi chirped.
“Oh yeah. Yoshi also told me some of ‘his’ friends are in the castle too. But… We’re kind of locked outside.”
“The door’s locked huh?” The first Lakitu pondered. “Y’know, come to think of it, I remember seeing a bunny pass by carrying a key in its mouth. Maybe that key could unlock the doors.”
Spike and Yoshi both turned to exchange looks, before Yoshi shrugged in response.
“Well, what choice do we have?” Spike asked, rhetorically. “Where is this rabbit?”
“Last we saw, it was heading into the hedge maze, over there,” The Lakitu Bros. pointed.
Spike and Yoshi turn towards the hedge maze, just to the right, not far from the castle itself.
“Well then, I guess that’s where we’ll go,” Spike declared. “Come on, Yoshi.”
Spike and Yoshi both head towards the hedge maze, with the Lakitu bros. following close behind. Upon arriving at the maze, both Spike and Yoshi look around before they spot a small yellow rabbit, carrying a key in its mouth.
“There’s our rabbit!” Spike pointed, shouting. “Hey!!! Hey, you!!!”
Spotting the two reptiles, the rabbit sprinted away into the maze with a kick of its legs.
“Quick Yoshi! After it!”
Both dinosaur and dragon give chase inside the Hedge Maze, with the Lakitu Bros. watching and broadcasting the whole chase on T.V. Spike and Yoshi ran as fast as they could, but the bunny rabbits hopping put a great distance between them leaving the two huffing and puffing trying to keep up on their short little legs. The rabbit soon came upon a fork in the maze and turned toward the left, Spike and Yoshi silently look toward where the rabbit went and the other path it didn’t take. They face each other silently, point to the two directions, and split up hoping to cut off the rabbit.
Soon it’s an all-out chaotic chase amongst everyone involved as the Lakitu Bros. keep a close watch. All three soon found themselves going through multiple directions and taking various paths through the maze. Comedically, the three ran past each other like something out of a ‘Scooby Doo’ cartoons taking lefts and rights, backwards and forwards, not even noticing they were running past each other. At one point the bunny was lounging on Yoshi’s back as he ran, then was clutching Spike’s tail like skiing, at one-point Spike and Yoshi crashed into each other before recovering and running back the way they came.
At one point, as the rabbit rounded a corner, Yoshi appears right in front of him sending him to a screeching halt. Yoshi prepared himself to catch him, unaware that Spike was sneaking up behind the rabbit to grab him. Then, Yoshi latches out his tongue, the rabbit hops to the side, and the tongue latches onto Spike. Before the little dragon could say anything, the dragon found himself swallowed up by Yoshi and found himself inside the dinosaur’s mouth. Yoshi feels a struggle in his jaws, while the rabbit giggles to himself before hopping away. After a few minutes, Yoshi swallows Spike whole, not realizing what he did.
But next thing we know, he feels a stirring inside him as a giant egg pops out of him. Yoshi turns toward the egg, as it starts to shimmy and shake. The lid of the egg pops off and what Yoshi sees surprises him. Spike emerges from the egg, fortunately not covered in Yolk, and while he doesn’t say a word, he does give Yoshi an annoyed glare. The little dinosaur’s cheeks flush red and he shrugs sheepishly.
Eventually, the rabbit was hopping until he noticed that no one seemed to be following him. Thinking he was in the clear, the rabbit slows down to take a few deep breathes following a lengthy chase through the maze. Little did he know, he feels something wet latch onto him and by the time he realized what happened… The bunny gets dragged off through the hedges. At the end of the maze, Spike emerges as Yoshi comes out with his mouth full while something struggles between his cheeks.
“Aaaaargh! No, don’t eat me!” The rabbit plead. “All I did was tease you a little. C’mon, let me go!”
“I’d be questioning why you’re talking, but I really don’t have time for this,” Spike said, turning to Yoshi. “Okay buddy spit him right out.”
Yoshi did that just that, spitting the rabbit out of his mouth and sent the little furry devil rolling along the grass.
“Aiyeee!!! I thought it was the end for little old me…” The rabbit moaned. “My entire life flashed before my eyes. Talk about scary!”
“We didn’t mean to frighten you little guy,” Spike assured. “We just want the key to get into the castle.”
“Oh, you want the key?” The rabbit asked. “Well, why did you say so? Here. Take the key; it’s just slowing me down.”
With that said, the rabbit hands the key to both the dragon and dinosaur, giving a silent thanks before turning back toward the castle where the real question for their friends would proceed. In the meantime, the Lakitu Bros. had been reporting ‘everything’ that’s been happening.
“Breaking news for all you lovely viewers at home! This is the Lakitu Bros. reporting live! Out of the blue, the Mushroom Kingdom has another visitor from another land! A young dragon who claims to be friends with the ponies has arrived, and he’s already teaming with the local dinosaur, Yoshi, to find their missing friends! Will they prevail and find their friends? And why was Princess Peach’s castle locked up? Only time will tell. This has been the Lakitu Bros.”
Meanwhile, back with Spike and Yoshi, the former inserted the key into the keyhole of the front door. With a turn and twist of the key, the doors click unlocked, thereby granting access for both Spike and Yoshi to enter and begin their mission to find their friends.
Peach’s Castle
Once they eventually got inside, Spike and Yoshi searched around the interior of the castle.
“Where is everyone?” Spike asked. “This place looks completely deserted!”
“Yoshi!” Yoshi chirped in response, as if voicing his agreement.
The two proceed to search the castle, hoping to find any trace of their missing friends. But then, something else caught Spike’s eye.
“Hey look! There’s someone over there!”
Up ahead, Spike saw what appeared to be a little person, dressed in puffy white trousers, a blue open vest with gold linings, and upon his head it appears to be a large white mushroom-shaped cap with red spots. Spike and Yoshi cautiously approach the person, in case he had hostile intent.
“Hey! Excuse me,” Spike called out. “You got a second?”
“Oh, hello there!” The person greeted, before noticing Yoshi. “Hi Yoshi! Is he with you?”
“Yoshi!” The dinosaur confirmed, nodding.
“I’m Spike,” Spike greeted. “Spike the Dragon.”
“Nice to meet you, Spike,” The creature greeted, shaking hands with Spike. “I’m Toad, are you the same ‘Spike’ whose friends with those ponies?”
“Yes, I am,” Spike nodded. “Do you know where they are?”
“Last I saw them, they were helping Mario and his buddies retrieve the Power Stars from Bowser, after he stole them and trapped the princess, along with us, inside the walls!”
“Mario?” Spike asked. “Who is Mario? And who’s this Bowser?”
“Mario is the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom,” Toad answered. “He and his brother, Luigi, were plumbers from a place called Brooklyn, before they found a warp pipe that took them here, to our Kingdom. After that, they helped us rescue Princess Peach from Bowser, the evil Koopa King, who has been threatening to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom for years! Mario battled and defeated the evil Bowser, saving the Princess the first time around. Since then, Mario and Bowser have been mortal enemies ever since.”
“You don’t say,” Spike pondered. “But what’s this got to do with my friends and Mario going missing?”
“Oh, it was just horrible. Princess Peach invited Mario to come to the castle for cake, when Bowser showed up and stolen our Power Stars. In doing so, he trapped all us Toads inside the castle walls, so we couldn’t escape and ask for help. Then, he locked the Princess somewhere deep in the castle. Now he’s using the magic of the stars to create an evil land of monsters within the castle’s walls and paintings. Mario, his buddies, and your pony friends went into the castle to retrieve the stars, but they haven’t come back since.”
“Yoshi!” Yoshi chirped, frightened.
“That’s awful! We’ve got to save them!” Spike said to Yoshi, who nods in agreement. “Mr. Toad, can you tell us where they went?”
“Last I saw of them, they headed to the room on the left with the painting of the Bob–Ombs!” Toad pointed, panicking. “Ooh, where are they?! Are they taking a nap somewhere? Please Spike, it’s up to you and Yoshi to find them and retrieve the stars! We are all depending on you!”
“We’ll do whatever we can to help!” Spike replied.
“Yoshi!” Yoshi chirped in agreement.
With that, both Yoshi and Spike quickly rushed toward the first room. Upon entering the room, they stood confused as if perplexed to see that their friends were nowhere in sight. Turning to the right, they spotted another Toad.
“Yoshi!” Yoshi called out.
“Yoshi! Mario and the others jumped into that picture!” Toad pointed. “But… They haven’t come back out, despite the castle’s plight!”
“Whoa, hold up!” Spike raised his claws. “They actually ‘jumped’ into that painting? Actually, I really shouldn’t be surprised by this.”
“Who are you?” The Toad asked, noting Spike.
“I’m Spike,” Spike replied. “I’m friends with Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. Speaking of whom, I’m looking for her and our friends. The ponies were just with Mario and his buddies.”
“Oh, well you’re either in luck or unlucky. As I said, they jumped into the painting, along with Mario and the others! If you hurry, you might still catch them.”
“Will do, thanks!”
Turning to Yoshi, the dinosaur and dragon both nod their heads, as they both made a running start. Setting their sights on the painting, they charge forward and dove into the painting, disappearing into its magical work of art.