Shortcut
They followed their new companion a short distance until he stopped in front of a small column. It was about ten, maybe fifteen inches thick and barely five feet tall, taller than them, but nothing to be amazed by, even Big Mac was taller than that.
Kirabo placed one of his hands on the column examining it. His hands, like his feet were covered in black and yellow fur, with his fingers and palm being hairless. Jelani Kirabo, as Spike would call him not knowing if that was his name, his species or a title pulled a sword from beneath his cloak and cut the palm of his hand, before placing it on the column allowing the blood to drip on it.
The blood however, decided, against all logic, to flow upwards, filling every crack with dark red liquid. To Spike that made as much sense as Pinkie Pie.
Twilight had a list, simply called ‘The List’, of things she knew she would never understand any time soon, and Spike knew that if the things on that list were too much for Twilight, the smartest pony he knew, they clearly were too much for him. Almost the entirety of the list, a couple hundred items, referred to something the pink party pony did or said, with Discord being second with several dozens mentions, and the occasional mention of Princess Celestia or alicorns in general. He just added this to his mental version of The List, and maybe he would ask Twi about it later, or just forget about it all together.
Something caught Spikes eye. It was not easy to see, but since he was standing still, to allow the blood to flow onto the column, Spike’s eye could see it. On the the back of his coat was a large black symbol. A large spiral surrounded by little triangles.
“One, two, three, four, five, six...” Spike counted.
A large black spiral surrounded by six, evenly spaced, black triangles all pointing outward. It seemed familiar... very familiar. It took him a minute to sift through his mind to remember where he saw the symbol before, then it hit him, like a stick to the head.
“Zecora! That looks like Zecora’s cutie mark. It is Zecora’s cutie mark. If that really is a cutie mark. Do zebras even have cutie marks?” His mind trailed off for a moment.
He turned his head to look at Zecora’s... at Apple Bloom’s thigh. It was blank, as usual.
“Maybe zebras do not get cutie marks. Either that, or Apple Bloom was even more unlucky than she thought.”
“It is done,” Kirabo said turning towards the two, shedding his sword. Spike took a step back.
In his movement Kirabo opened his coat revealing the rest of his body, it was completely covered in mostly yellow fur, with only a few darken areas. Underneath his cloak he wore a sword belt, with a familiar looking belt buckle, a golden sun with a silver crescent moon inside, its tips pointing up and a five pointed star inside it.
Spike eventually recognised the symbol, living with Twilight meant that he had access to all types of books, not that he was an avid reader or something like that, but Spike still remembered seeing that symbol a lot in drawing and tapestries from old history books, it was an old Equestrian coat of arms, it was THE old Equestrian coat of arms.
That along with the sword meant that Kirabo was a soldier, or that he got the belt and sword from one. The scabbard (the sheath that hold the sword) look different that the ones the Day Guards were using, it was thinner, and the handle did not seem like it could be held by a pony in its mouth, then again, Kirabo was no pony, and he seemed to have no problem holding the sword in his hand.
He had on only one piece of... clothing, a piece of armor that covered its chest and abdomen, and presumably his sides and back, although he could not know for sure since the cape covered most of it. “A cuirass,” Spike thought that it was what it was called, but he wasn’t exactly sure about the name.
It was fairly clean and shiny, except for a marking more or less on the center of his chest, it looked the same as the mark on his cloak, a black spiral with radiating triangles, probably drawn above where his heart stood, or something.
“Come, place your hands on it and we can get going,” Kirabo told the two.
Apple Bloom let out a chuckle as she approached the column.
“Uh, or hooves. Happy now... Adanna?” the last word seemed to make him sick even saying it.
She placed her forelegs hoof on it, touching a small stream of blood, Spike did the same.
“Warm,” he said without even realizing, Apple Bloom just smiled.
“First time?” Kirabo asked.
“First time what?”
“This will be fun,” he said with a smile. Spike seemed to see a hint of childish evil in it. “Brace yourself.”
Spike had barely enough time to hear the question, let alone respond. When Kirabo’s hand touched the the column for a second time Spike vision went black. Pain filled his body, it was somewhat similar to what he felt growing up, only worse, much worse. He felt his entire body being stretched upwards, while his feet still stuck to the ground. Images flashed for a moment before disappearing again, he could have sworn that he could see Canterlot in the distance, but that would have been impossible.
Then everything happened again, this time in reverse, it felt like his whole body was being squished by its own weight. If at first he felt thin like a straw now he felt as flat as a pancake.
Then everything stopped, his sight returned to him, but as he tilted his head backwards he wished it hadn't. All he could see was the face of a ursa, he wanted to scream but quickly found a hand placed in front of his mouth and another at the back of his head, stopping him from screaming, and barely leaving enough room for him to breath.
A growl could be heard, and soon Spike felt the taste of bile and gems. His mouth remain closed courtesy of Kirabo’s hand, so all that should have exited through his mouth found its way through his nose. It was, by no stretch of the imagination a pleasant feeling. Spikes diet consisted mostly of sweets and various gems, along with the occasional fruit or vegetable acompaniament. And as soon as it started spewing out of his nose Kirabo withdrew his hands and Spike fell to the floor losing his breakfast, as well as what remains of last night dinner, vomiting and coughing violently. Whatever it was that brought them here, Spike knew that neither him, nor his stomach wanted to go through that again.
Apple Bloom rushed towards Spike, doing what she could to help him while Kirabo stared at the ursa looking if the noise Spike was making got its attention. Thankfully the creature still slept.