Twilight Sparkle knew, from her research and the research of many past prodigal ponies, that there were only two ways to travel back in time. One was a horrible process that would hobble the mind, body, and soul as it flew to the nearest past Climax Point. Indeed, the limitations and disfigurement far outshined any benefits of this method, and so with the exception of high-level research, it was almost never used.
The other way lay in the FriendLiner, and the plan the old purple unicorn was hatching called both into factor.
Throughout time, from recent reports and photographs to the infant days of typesetting, two ponies tended to inexplicably make appearances: a brown pony with an hourglass Cutie Mark and a gray pegasus with weird eyes. Twilight had been one of the few ponies to ever follow the trail these occurrences presented to discovering the train itself. She even kept a pass she had... "acquired" from that little adventure, one of the last she had in Ponyville before it was conquered, and now that pass was about to save Equestria!
The last piece of information she would need to give her mind the greenlight lay in the folder before her. The intelligence in said folder was gathered by none other than Obscured Corporal Eve Stropper, the best S.E.E.U. had to offer. This mole of a mare was very brave, what with her closeness with the enemy forces, but for all the bravery she displayed outside Canterlot, it seemed that she was uncomfortable communicating with friendly forces. Too used to being in hostile territory, under the mask of various disguises, the time to understand friendship would come later, if it ever came at all.
"Poor thing." thought Twilight as she opened the folder. Success! This was the information she hoped was true!
3- FIGHT OR FLIGHT?
Spike could not believe his bad luck. Would he, or would he not, go out and slay that monster, a Hobbler, that was currently causing casualties (of buildings, luckily... so far) out in Ponyville?
"Spike, why are you staring at that belt?"
"Huh?" he quickly, thought futilely, hid the belt behind his back. "What belt? I wasn't looking at a belt! What would I be doing with a dumb belt anyway?"
Twilight was not amused. She lighted her horn and yank the belt out into view. "This belt! Where did you get such a thing? It looks so weird."
"I'm- uh- looking to add pants to my wardrobe!" Spike was sweating; he feared he might be in as much trouble as the town the next instant. To his surprise, Twilight just handed the belt back and returned to- well- library keepup stuff. In a way, Spike felt more hurt by this than how he would have reacted to a stern line about 'not lying' or whatever. After all, his excuse wasn't great at all, and yet she was just letting it slide? He guessed he was now old enough to start weaning away from Twilight, but he felt he should still be worth her time. He looked into the strangely-shaped jewel embedded in the belt buckle again; he wasn't really sure why.
It couldn't quite be explained, but the belt somehow seemed to be urging him to go and save the town. "No, that's silly!" thought Spike. There were no auditory or imagined voices at all, nothing to suggest that the belt was feeding him suggestions! Though he had fantasized about it when he was younger, he was no hero! In fact, if there was a problem in town, Twilight's friends always took care of it! Pinkie Pie would make strange use of instruments to strum the monster to the moon. Fluttershy might come in and lull the monster until it was as harmless as a newborn puppy. Applejack might ride into town and force the monster to leave. Or Rarity, she might... well, Spike wasn't too sure, but not only was she the most beautiful unicorn alive, she had a mind to match her looks, so she'd do something!
But Spike was getting ahead of himself. Looking outside the window, there was no Rarity rushing to the scene, or an Applejack antic, or any of that stuff. The Hobbler was on a rampage and so one was coming to save it. Spike didn't understand this; Twilight's friends would never abandon Ponyville! Why weren't they coming in to save it? Why wasn't Twilight lifting a hoof to save it? Was she expecting him to take a turn being a hero? Was the goal to make Spike take care of a problem for once? Well, that was the explanation the little dragon settled on, as it made the most sense to him. If the town needed Spike to be the hero he had daydreamed about being in happier days, perhaps the time was ripe for him to do it!
Forgoing a verbal message to Twilight that he was leaving the premises (he wasn't too happy to try talking to her at the moment), he slung the belt around his waist and held the pass to the buckle.
---
Meanwhile, the Hobbler outside was furious. His body looked horribly monstrous, not that before he looked much better; those who had told him before that he couldn't be any uglier should have taken a look at him now! Thanks to that darn jaunt through time, he hadn't come back right and so he sought to reshape the town by mangling the surrounding architecture. It made sense to him anyway; it would be a twisted town for a twisted mayor, or if he did a really impressive job, the boss would make him governor of the area!
Spike, now clad in the magic suit, took in the ghastly scene. Ponies everywhere were in panic avoiding debris except for one who emerged from a doorway just before it crumbled with the rest of said building; this pony was a unicorn with a mane like- oh no, it was her!
"Took you long enough." Eve's stare could have bored a hole through an unprotected Spike's face.
"How-?" Spike was wondering what she had been doing inside that random building, but Eve used the dreaded zipper spell (a staple of many a unicorn's arsenal, of course) to cut him off.
"Explanations later!" Downtown Ponyville was in ruins and she would probably kill Spike if he dared let the Hobbler take uptown. She levitated Spike to her back and dashed in pursuit of the northbound monster. "Assemble that weapon on the way!"
Spike nodded and began to fiddle around with the weapon pieces clipped to the belt. It was surprisingly intuitive, and the actual challenge came from trying to assemble it while not falling off Eve. At last, he had a sword! Just in time, too, because as the Hobbler stopped to stomp on a house, Eve stopped and bucked Spike off, sending him flying towards the beast. He himself bounced, surprisingly cartoonishly harmlessly, off of the monster's back, but the sword was not so lucky, as it had stuck itself in the Hobbler's bottom. The young dragon sprang up and charged, to try to get his weapon back, but the anger had reached a boiling point on the thrashing Hobbler, and any attempt to get close only resulted in some kind of limb knocking him back a good few yards.
Eve cursed under her breath. Friend-O was cut off from his weapon and as for her, well, she was a spy, not a fighter. When it came to spells she could competently perform, none came to mind as being particularly useful in this situation. Though, at least with the Hobbler unleashing his anger on the armored warrior, property damage had been reduced to "accidental occurrence".
"Help, please!?" Spike was still experiencing bad luck with dealing with the Hobbler. In fact, it was chasing him around while the panicked crowds of ponies began to stop and watch the strange ordeal.
"I don't know, okay!?" came Eve's snappy reply. "This is my first Hobbler, too!"
"What!?" Spike hit the deck, avoiding his bloody sword as the Hobbler chucked it. He started running towards it; at least now he had his weapon again! He charged again, this time making sure the Hobbler would receive a nice flesh wound for the next limb that would try to smack him around. Sure enough, just as planned, his blade struck the arm that reached for him, and the Hobbler emitted a wicked growl. The crowd was fixated.
---
Elsewhere, the FriendLiner was parked, as the Owner was enjoying a plate of hay in the dining car. Sitting across from the pink Hobbler, he was winning the little eating contest they were having. The challenge was to eat as much of the mini hay bale as possible without causing the flag nestled in its center to fall. The pink Hobbler did not get much of the fibers down before her flag fell, but that was to be expected, as the Owner had the advantage of eons of practice. The pink Hobbler was intently studying his eating technique when the growl reached the FriendLiner. The dining car shook and the flag in The Owner's hay fell as a result.
"Woah! What the hay was that?" she shouted in exclamation, which abruptly shifted to playfulness as she nudged the Owner in the side. "Heh heh, get it? Cause we were just eating hay!"
"Yes." the Owner stoically returned his plate to Derpy, not making any attempt of eye contact with the pink one. "I have heard many 'hay' wordplays through the days."
"Miss Eve and Mr. Spike are out there in the growl, aren't they?" Derpy turned to address the friendly Hobbler. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"I dunno, Eve told me to stay right here in the train, I mean, if I went out, she'd be all like 'you stupid, stupid Hobbler, why'd you go out?' and that would not be nice though I guess she wouldn't know if I went into-" She suddenly gasped. Derpy figured it was because she said all that without pause; the Owner could see that something, something important, had occurred to her.
"Go on." he said softly.
"Mr. Owner! I can still go into Spike, right?"
"Your plan is...?"
"Well, supposedly I'm one of these Hobbler things too, so maybe I can go help Spike with like, how to defeat mysel- I mean- the other one because I... would... er..."
She drifted off and the two ponies stared at her, silently urging her to continue.
"I'm sorry." she said at last. "I think I lost my train of thought. But I have to do something!" Even though she only just met the guy, the Owner struck her as being pretty wise, no doubt having gathered wisdom through different times and all. It would make sense; he ran a time-traveling train! That's the kind of guy who would never lose a train of thought... she assumed.
"You are on Spike's pass. A connection has been made because he sees the help you can provide. This connection will prove beneficial to both parties."
"Huh?" Why did this pony have to speak so funny?
"Test your hunch." This was his fourth sentence to the same person on the same subject during the same conversation. He was flustered as he hadn't gone that far with someone in a very long time, though he did his best to not let it show.
And so the Hobbler thought as she sought to regain her train of thought. There was her hunch, and her goal, to go help Spike (and also, she supposed, Eve). "Aha!" she exclaimed when it returned. "My train of thought is back! Ooh, I've got a party to attend! I'll see you both later!" And then she disappeared.
"Woah." In all her years of traveling through time, Derpy had never seen something quite like that happen. The Owner silently retreated to the engine car.
---
Back in the eye of the "storm", the ponies watching felt that the battle between Spike and the monster could have gone either way. On one hand, he was getting in many hits with his sword. On the other, none of the cuts were particularly deep; they seemed to only further anger the beast (which by now, its anger couldn't be described in limits but more, say, an exponential function) than be causing any harm. "I never remembered the Masked Rider usin' a sword!" shouted a middle-aged audience pony. "Give 'im a good Rider Kick!"
Spike took a split second to decipher the message that stood out amongst all the various noise going on. What in the heck was a Rider Kick? Why was some random bystander being more helpful than Eve? And why did he suddenly feel sandy?
"HELLOOOOOOO, EVERYPONY!" Everyone plugged their ears, and 7 windows broke. "...and guest!" She pointed the sword at the Hobbler.
Eve's eyes widened as she realized what just happened. "Oh no." The pink one was up to something!
"I see you are all gathered here today because someone decided to throw a temper tantrum in the town!" Spike wagged his finger, or rather, she was making Spike wag his finger at the big Hobbler, who had stopped his rampage, due to being partially curious as to why his target was acting so strangely. "What are you doing!?" thought Spike. "I just thought I'd help." he replied, or rather, the Hobbler possessing him made him reply. "The train of thought gave me a hunch, and so, here I am! I have arrived!"
"So what's your plan, 'Masked Rider'?" shouted Eve. "Might as well go with what the onlookers are calling them."
"I have no idea!" shouted the armor-clad hero. The collective sound of jaws dropping peppered the air. She had him puff his chest out and added, "Buuuuuut, unless you're willing to come quietly, Mr. Hobbler, we're about to have ourselves a big bash!" Knowing that their hero was about to get dangerous, the crowd began cheering again, except for one, who exited the scene, as it had finally occurred to somepony to go fetch the police.
Grumbling, the annoyed Hobbler made his position on the proposal clear. "Annoying bug, I will crush you!" Either he didn't possess the quality of eloquence, or perhaps he was just too angry to come up with a better line. No one would ever know which was the case. His deep, gravelly voice sharply contrasted with the high, bubbly voice Spike was currently using.
Possessed!Spike instinctively grabbed the Rider Pass with his right hand, pressed the Friend-O Belt's pink button, and stared up at the hostile Hobbler. "If that's the case, then... let's ride!" He touched the pass to the belt buckle.
LAUGH FORM
Spike's armor was soon accompanied by another set of armor! The pink elements completed overlaying atop his form and even his sword now possessed an aura of vigor to it. The onlookers 'oohed' while Eve was baffled. She hadn't been told about this! The pink Hobbler had young Spike run up to the monster to give it a good, deep strike.
"Let's go, Let's go, LET'S GO!"
4- THE MASKED RIDER RETURNS
A pink-armored, bipedal hero was putting on a show for the ponies of Ponyville. They had an interest in the battle after all, for if this figure, upon whom they bestowed the moniker "Masked Rider", failed to defeat the monster, then family ponies would lose their houses, and the homeless would have their streets littered with the remains of houses! It was a great thing that someone with superpowers came in to intervene.
"Heh, I'm just getting warmed-up!" Slashes, slashes, and more slashes followed from both parties. Amazingly, Spike was displaying some incredible agility. Eve was amazed, as she wouldn't have guessed that the young dragon would be able to dodge attacks with flashy backflips and the like! She would be right of course, as it really was just the Hobbler pushing Spike's body to its limits, but for the moment she was just as much in a trance as the rest of the crowd.
"How... *pant* ...can such a small... *wheeze* ...thing do this to me?" The big Hobbler had regained a bit of his sanity, just enough to come to the realization that he was losing this fight.
The pink Hobbler, giving Spike's speech a slight singe, motioned to the many destroyed and partially-destroyed buildings of Ponyville. "That's easy! Nobody breaks the hearts of Ponyville without paying for it!" Jumping up to his head, the beast found that the Masked Rider's sword was dangerously close to his throat. "Now apologize!"
Blinking twice, the bamboozled Hobbler addressed his attacker. "You can't be serious."
The Rider's sword was now pressed up against his flesh. "I am."
"What are you doing!?" shouted Eve. "He's not going to say 'sorry' and become your friend!" How naive was this Hobbler, or Spike, or whoever was doing the talking for Spike at the moment? "He's here to make this town fall! Finish him!"
"Yeah!" The crowd roared. "FINISH HIM! FINISH HIM!"
The pink Rider simply chose to ignore the suggestion, and turned back to facing the beast. Putting on a dangerously quiet voice, she delivered her ultimatum one last time. "Say you're sorry."
Unfortunately, the big Hobbler had taken the opportunity, behind the Masked Rider's back, to put a claw into place, and flicked the small attacker off of him. Calming down a tad had its tactical advantages. The crowd gasped as Spike fell to the ground. His body ached, and Eve was preparing to berate him when the big Hobbler spoke.
"I am taking this town for Grandmaster Vade!" he proclaimed. "My magnificent appearance may have been ruined, but my rewards will be great!" He grabbed the top story off of a nearby hotel, and loomed it over the recovering Rider. "I have NOTHING to be sorry about!"
Luckily for him and the surrounding crowd though, Spike and the Hobbler inside him recovered just in time to, against all laws of physics (not that such things came into play often in Ponyville), use the sword to bat the hotel story back at the jerk. Thus, he and the crowd were saved and the battered Hobbler was now knocked out cold! The crowd was thrilled. Eve allowed herself to feel a little joy at this development. Even the pink Hobbler was celebrating, hopping around in Spike's body, taking in the mirth of the crowd for all it was worth.
Is was then that the police finally arrived. "The monster's over here, officers!" The pony that fetched them pointed. Eve was afraid for a second; after all, Spike didn't exactly have official jurisdiction to be a town warrior or anything like that! Luckily though, they instead moved in towards the big Hobbler, the unicorn police officers using growth spells on their handcuffs to accommodate for the monster's immense size. Eve breathed a sigh of relief.
The sigh of relief was sucked back in as a groan when some of the officers turned to address the still-possessed, still-partying Spike. "Excuse me! We'd like to ask you a few questions."
"What!?"
The crowd began to protest. The more sensible parts of the herd exclaimed that the armored hero had just defeated the monster, and was not one of the monsters. Since they had seen the battle unfold before their eyes, they were sure that this mysterious being (couldn't have been a pony, they could tell he was too bipedal) was a hero, not some gray-area vigilante! As the verbal battle between the crowd and the police waged, Eve reluctantly remained silent. She didn't want Spike to be arrested; he might still be needed if another Hobbler was to attack. Yet, she feared she would get in trouble for not having any ID; she wasn't officially supposed to be here. If only she would have known that Ponyville in this time period was not like that.
The half of the police that were attending to the big Hobbler were sure that he was restrained. Now it should be a simple matter of moving the giant to a prison of some kind and all would be well- actually, even magnified to fit his limbs, the handcuffs snapped as the monster awoke. Instantly, the surrounding officers were smacked around, some ending up sprawled on the street, others now embedded in the neighborhood's remaining walls. The bickering crowds went white and shook in silent terror.
"That's the way it's going to be, huh?" Spike's hand reached for the pass. "What are you doing now?" asked Spike. The pink Hobbler didn't respond, instead having him press the pass atop the belt buckle.
FULL CHARGE
The sword radiated energy as the blade flew off. Swinging the handle, the glowing blade struck the beast. TSSSSSSSSH! Seconds later, the large Hobbler disappeared; a large explosion took his place, blowing back everypony's mane.
Before the crowd's gears turned back to 'cheering mode', the Masked Rider mounted up on Eve and signaled for them to leave. The Hobbler talking through Spike was no longer showing that bubbliness in her voice. "Let's head back."
---
The midday sun shone on Ponyville. The worst was over, though the rest of the day would have to be spent on repairs. It wasn't that bad, though. Ponyville had been through massive property damage before, so the little ponies already had in motion prepared rebuilding plans.
---
Back on the FriendLiner, Spike removed the Friend-O belt. The armor disappeared and the pink Hobbler reappeared in the dining car, no longer inside him. Acting as if that cold-blooded episode had not occurred, the pink one asked Derpy to make her an extra-sugary shake. An exhausted Spike sat next to her. "What was that?" he asked.
"What was what?" replied the Hobbler.
"You suddenly became... very scary!"
"Oh that... I dunno! I guess it's just the way that meanie was all 'OH I AM NOT SORRY BWAHAHA'- but anyway did you have fun?"
"Fun!?" Spike grabbed the strange being by the shoulders. "What was so fun about that?"
"You got to be a hero, Spikey-wikey!" she smiled. This smile grew as Derpy placed the sweet shake before her. She slurped it up in one gulp. Strange thoughts were beginning to enter Spike's head. This kind of behavior was familiar. "I meeh I hel-" She swallowed the contents to continue speaking. "I mean I helped, but it was still quite a ride, wouldn't you say?"
Spike groaned. "I dunno; I'm just tired!" His tiny muscles felt very, very sore. Was this what actually using them was like?
"You'll have to get used to it." quipped Eve. While she was glad that the seemingly benign Hobbler had helped defeat the more malicious one, she was flustered at the pink one's casual attitude and the purple dragon's reluctance. "He'll probably be sending more for us to fight."
"Who will?" Spike, Derpy, and the pink Hobbler asked simultaneously. Now that they thought about it, the unicorn hadn't yet told anyone everything she knew.
"Vade." she replied, not that the answer helped, since none of them knew who Vade was. Realizing this, she added, "I'll tell you later. Spike here looks too tired to be able to remember and I hate repeating myself."
"Way to pin it on me." Spike thought, shooting daggers with his eyes. He was incredibly tired, though. Perhaps it would be better that he hear Eve's explanation when he was more scaley-tailed and bright-eyed.
The FriendLiner stopped again, conveniently a stone's-throw away from Ponyville's library, which, due to its location in the town, had avoided property damage. This was Spike's stop. "Well, I'll see you guys later... I'm going to hit the hay." Slumped, he went to the door.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" The pink Hobbler grinned as Spike blankly looked at her. Was he forgetting something? After a lengthy pause, she decided to help the young dragon out a bit. "It begins with a T~!"
"Oh yeah- uh- thanks- Thank you!" Spike shook his head furiously; he really was quite tired. "Thanks a bunch, Pinkie! See ya!" He left as fast as he could out of embarrassment. He forgot a simple 'thank you'? What a gaffe!
"'Pinkie'?" The previously unmonikered Hobbler tilted her head. "Hmm, that has a nice ring to it, eh, girls?"
"I don't care." Eve breathed, slumping in a seat. Derpy cheerfully nodded.
---
Back in the library, Twilight Sparkle noted to herself that Spike had been gone for quite a while. He was soon coming close to going beyond his allotted time for lunch break. Just as time would have it, the young dragon returned, panting as he came in through the door. He gave a great yawn; he was ready for bed.
"You're finally back, Spike!" exclaimed Twilight. "Hope you didn't get caught up in that chaos outside; I was worried that it would cut into your break too much!"
"Uh huh, uh huh..." Spike wasn't paying much attention as he began dragging himself and the belt upstairs to his quarters.
"I have a feeling we're going to be having a busy afternoon ahead of us, so let's get cracking on sorting the returned books!" She levitated Spike over the pile she was currently sitting in the middle of and handed him a stack. It was then that Spike realized that it was indeed barely after noon! There was still work to do!
"Aaauugh!" he whined as he and Twilight began a sorting session.
tick - - tock - -
Next time: Spike learns a bit about Ponyville's legendary Masked Rider! However, a new, smarter Hobbler has it as his goal to learn about the Masked Rider as well! Frenzied, energetic battling may not be enough to save the day! Can the soft-spoken Hobbler that's been taking Spike's body for a ride really pull through and avenge the razed forest? Never underestimate the unassuming! Next time, remember to KEEP CALM AND MAKE NEW FRIENDS!