Third P.O.V.
Normally on a morning as nice as this one, our heroes would be happily clean up their camp. Getting ready to continue on their journey of self-discovery, action, adventure, fortune, and friendship without a single thing standing in their way. Sadly fate, (A.N. or in this case me.), has other plans and lady luck's evil twin brother decided to crank up our heroes bad luck to eleven.
"RRROOOOAAAARRRR!!!" Which is the reason why death bunny is paying our heroes a visit and trying to give them a departing gift in the form of a beat down. Thankfully this time Spike and Mist have their weapons with them and Smith and his son has taken shelter in the truck. Our heroes are more than ready to send the demon rabbit back to hell. Though as the oversized rabbit sends everyone's favorite Dragonborn flying and causes him to land on his back near his friends it becomes quite clear that the fluff ball is no pushover.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Spike curses as his friends help him on his feet while keeping their eyes on their opponent. "It is way too early for this bullshit!" It is close to seven in the morning and the group had woken up ten minutes ago. They are more than a little pissed that they have to fight death bunny right after waking up.
"Yeah!" Mist yells out as they jump out of the way of the demon's charge. Mist goes in for a overhead but is knock back by one of the beast's front claw. "I swear it's like someone has it out for us!"
A few quick shots from Spike's blunder buster has the rabbit hoping high into the air. As it starts descend back to the ground Zero quickly stands in front of Spike and Mist and quicker than their eyes can follow Zero quickly draws two of his guns, shoots the demon while it is still in the air, twirls the guns in his hands, puts them back in their holsters, draws his other two guns and repeats the process. He does this so fast that it looks like he has eight arms instead of two and fires 24 shoots in less than a minute. And every single bullet hits its mark with deadly accuracy causing the giant rabbit to lose his balance and land on his back with a thud.
As Zero quickly reloads his guns, Mist and Spike stare at him with their mouths open from the display of hand eye coordination and skill. Snapping out of his surprise Spike says, "Dude, that was epic! Where did you learn to do that?"
The young gunman glances at his new friends over his shoulders and with a small grin on his face says, "I've had a lot of practice."
"RRROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!!!" Our young heroes quickly turn their attention back to their opponent who is back on his feet and while injured is still more than capable of continuing the fight.
"Though it looks like this thing's skin is really thick. It's going to take more than bullets to take this thing down." The gunslinger says has he finishes reloading his guns.
"Yeah but as long as we fight together we should be able to take that thing down." Mist says as he readies his sword. As the bunny from hell is about to attack our heroes again a roar of a motor from a distance reaches everyone's ears. Looking behind the monster they see someone wearing a white helmet and goggles riding some kind of motorcycle with a bat or something in one of his hands.
"Leave them alone you oversized dust bunny!" The stranger yells, sounding like a boy. He continues his collision course with the rabbit when suddenly he loses control of his ride. The bike and the rider flips on the ground a few times and then the rider is sent flying into the air while his bike crashes into the demon from hell and sending it into the ground. Somehow the bike bounces off the rabbit, spins in the air, and lands near our three heroes on its wheel and the kick stands moving by itself to lock it in place. It turns out the bike is actually a blue moped with storage packs strapped to the sides of the seat. As death bunny gets back on his feet we hear a yell coming from above us. We look up to see the mysterious rider falling to where the rabbit is with his weapon in a overhead position. The strangers swings his weapon down on the rabbits head, causing its head to crash into the ground so hard it makes a small crater. Though the victory doesn't last long death bunny manages to get his head out of the crater than knocks the newcomer into the forest. The demon and our heroes keeps his eyes on the forest, waiting to see whether or not the newcomer is okay until they hear a voice behind Mist, Spike, and Zero. "Man, that thing really sent me flying. Its way stronger than it looks."
The four of them quickly looks behind them to see the rider behind and from the looks of it okay. He looks to be about Spikes age but is a little shorter than him. He is wearing a light blue jacket with a bit of a high collar, brown shorts, and red sneakers. The stranger turns out to be a Valkyrie with brown wings. He still has his weapon in his hand which turns out to be what looks like a yellow v shaped electric guitar with a red bass guitar strapped to his back and in between his wings. He takes off his helmet and goggles and tosses them on his ride, showing his blue eyes and matted down brown hair. The four quickly turn to where the last saw the boy and where he is standing right now, all the while thinking, 'What the hell?!'
"How the hell did you do that?" Spike asks the newcomer.
The newcomer raises his eyebrow and says, "What do you mean?"
"What do you think?! How did you get from over there," Spike points to the forest. "To right behind us without any of us noticing?"
The guitar wielder nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders and with a blank look on his face says, "I have no idea."
Before anyone could say anything death bunny got over its confusing, jumps high into the air and tries to land on the teens. Thankfully our four heroes are able to jump out of the way in time.
As the guitarist lands he quickly holds his guitar like he is about to play and point the tip of the neck at the white demon. Suddenly a ball of yellow electricity shoots out from the tip of the guitar and hit the rabbit, shocking it for a second. Spike and Mist take the opportunity and attack with their swords. The manage to slash the beast a few times but it knocks Mist back with a backhand and a straight punch to Spike sends him skidding a couple of feet and dropping his sword. When the green haired teen stops he takes a quick shot with his gun and manages to hit death bunny right in the eye. As the beast roars in pain Spike yells, "Zero, take out its other eye!"
"Right!" Zero yells out as he quickly draws and shoots his gun so fast that most people would only see a blur. It hits dead center of the giant rabbit's eye, blinding the monster. Now blind the beast jumps back a couple meters away to give it time to try to get its eyesight back in vain. As the monster is doing this Spike drops his gun and focuses his fire into his left fist until a flaming green star slightly large than a basketball is covering it. The mysterious guitarist charges the beast while wielding his guitar like a battle ax. As soon as he gets close enough he sends an upward swing to the monster's jaw, lifting him a few feet off the ground.
"MOVE!!!"
The brown haired teen looks over his shoulder and sees Spike charging full speed with his hand on fire. Getting the idea of what the Dragonborn is going to do the guitarist jumps out of the way. As Spike closes in on his target he puts all of his strength into his arm and sends a fiery punch into the demon rabbit's chest while it is still in the air, sending the beast flying through the air. Seeing his chance Zero uses his famous rapid fire quick draw and unloads every bullet his guns have into the creature's head and chest. The beast land on its stomach with an earth shaking thud. Mist charges in while holding his sword backwards, ready to use his Rage Guard style. As death bunny tries to get up Mist jumps into the air and uses an overhead swing, slamming the guard of the sword right into the monster's skull and brain.
(End of music)
As everyone gathers around the corpse and catches their breaths they give the dead body a few stabs and gunshots to make sure death bunny doesn't pull a "Jason lives". After making sure the rabbit from hell wasn't getting back up Spike turns to the guitarist and says, "Thanks for helping us with this thing."
The newcomer modestly grins and says, "No problem, I just happened to driving nearby. My name is Naota Nandaba."
"Nice to meet you, names Spike."
"I'm Mist."
"And I'm Zero. The ones in the truck are Smith and Jack Firehammer. So, what are you doing way out here?"
Naota just shrugs and explains, "I'm just a drifter looking for some excitement and travelling to new places. Where are you guys heading to and does this sort thing happen to you a lot?"
"Not really but we seem to be a bit of a magnet for trouble. We're more or less in the same boat as you, just a bunch of guys looking for adventure. And we are hitching a ride to a fighting tournament to test our skills and a shot at the cash prizes." Mist answers, interesting Naota.
"Mind if I tag along? I could use the money and from the sound of it I'm going to see a lot of action if I stick with you guys." Naota says, excited at both the thought of travelling with others and the amount of action he might find.
"Sure. The more, the merrier." Zero says with a smile.
Naota smiles as well and says, "Thanks." And suddenly opens a can of soda that appears in his hand out of nowhere and starts drinking it.
While everyone except Naota is wondering where the soda came from Spike decides to ask, "Where did that come from." Pointing to the soda can in the guitarist's hand.
Naota just answers nonchalantly, "I found it. Why, you want one?"
"No thanks, I'm good." Spike answers back while rubbing his temples, wondering whether or not the new team member is messing with them or not. 'I think that this group just got its Pinkie.' "Let get going before any weirder hap-"
Before Spike can finish his sentence they hear the sounds of a rocket and something moving very fast coming towards them. They look down a nearby road to see an old beat up pickup truck with two rockets attach to it. As it speeds past them they could see that it is filled with what looks to be small, white, funny looking, anthro looking rabbits yelling at the top of their lungs. As the out of control vehicle speeds off into the distance Spike, Mist, and Zero have looks on their faces that basically screams 'What the fuck was that?!' while Naota just calmly looks at the scene with a raised eyebrow wondering what was that about. After getting over his shock Spike face palms and says, "Let just go. I've enough of rabbits for one day."
With everyone agrees with him they go to their respective rides and make their way to the next town, all the while wondering what is going to happen next.
----------------------------------------------------------
Twilight P.O.V.
"WHAT?!!" I yell at the top of my lungs when Celestia told me that she has called out the search. I was called by the Princess of the Sun to meet with her at Canterlot to give me an important update last night. Right now I'm in the Celestia's private conference room with Celestia, Luna, and myself.
"Why did you call off the search if they haven't found Spike yet?!" I yell.
"That is not entirely true." Luna states calmly. "The guards has found evidence that suggest that Spike has managed to make his way out of the forest and into the badlands. We believe that he is making his way into the Dracoheart Kingdom. It wouldn't surprise us if Spike is already there as we speak."
"Then why aren't we looking for him if we know where he might be. We could even have the local officials aid us in the search." I bring up, feeling my frustration slowly building.
"The local officials are the main reason why we can't continue the search." Celestia starts but I interrupt her.
"What do you mean?" I start, unable to control my frustration. "We should be able to continue looking for Spike without any problems and you want us to stop looking for him. He's probably cold and alone. He might be hurt or even dead and you want us to stand around and do nothing!"
"Do you think that I don't know that?!" Celestia yells as she stands up from her seat and slams her hands on the table. Her face is a combination of anger, worry, and sadness. "If I could continuing search for Spike I would be out there looking for him myself, but if I do so it could easily create a massive backlash that harm the nation both in the short and long term! Do you honestly think I like the very idea of my son being out there alone and without any way to make sure that he is okay?! That if I want to avoid an economic downward spiral or bloodshed the only thing I can do is pray every waking minute that Spike is okay and by some miracle that he comes back home?!" After her rant Celestia sits back down in her seat with her hand balled into tight fists. As Luna tried to calm her sister down I see something that surprises me even more that than Celestia's outburst or that she claims that Spike is her son.
Celestia, one of the princesses of Equestria, the god of the sun, is silently crying.
I feel a knife plugging into my stomach at the site knowing that I'm the one who caused it. It takes a minute or two for the scene in front of me and the information I was just given to process. After collecting my thoughts I ask Luna since Celestia is still crying, "Celestia and Spike are mother and son?"
"Yes but they are related not by blood if that is what you asking." Luna answers, though I can tell she is trying to keep any anger she has towards me for making her sister cry out of her voice. "The guards found Spike at a very young age when they dismantled a slavery ring. Celestia had tried to find Spike's birthmother but to no avail. During the search my sister grew quite fond of the little Dragonborn and when the guard couldn't find the mother she took it upon herself to become Spike's mother making him by all rights a prince. It is a well-guarded secret that very few people know."
"Why? Why does it have to be kept a secret?" I ask
"For multiple reasons actually. Many of the noble family are rather racist and if they learn that a Dragonborn is a prince to a country that is made up of mostly Earthbounds, Valkyries, and Mages than it could cause a massive uproar among both them and the population in general. Another reason is that Celestia has many enemies both outside and inside the country. If it is known that Spike is my sister's son her enemies would use him to get to her and she wouldn't be able to live with herself if that happens. And Spike wanted it to be kept a secret. He wanted people to like and befriend him for him, not for his station."
I take a minute for the information to settle. I would have never thought that Spike is such an important person and that he was able to keep such a big secret from me for so long. But that also raises some questions. I ask, "If Spike is Celestia's son than why did she have him become my assistant? And what does she mean by a backlash if the Dracoheart Kingdom finds out?"
"You see Twilight," Celestia starts, finally regaining some of her composure. "when I first decided to adopt Spike I first had the Grand Council of the Dracoheart Kingdom to approve of it. The council was reluctant to do so since when a Dragonborn is being adopted at least one of the guardians is a Dragonborn as well. In the end they approved of it as a sign of good faith between our nations, improving the two nation's overall relationship with each other. If they learn that Spike was exiled for a crime he did not commit and for an incident that he was in the right it could destroy the fragile peace between us and the Dracoheart Kingdom. There is a good chance that they will stop all trades with us and that would be extremely bad for Equestria's production and economy since most of the metal we use to make products and build our buildings and homes come from that country. The worst case scenario is that they declare war on us. No matter who wins the bodies count would be large on both sides." She explains.
She than gives me a look that I never wants it to be directed at me, even in my worst nightmares. A look of disappointment. "As for why I sent Spike to be your assistant I did so he can learn from you and build character so would not end up like my nephew Blueblood. But perhaps it was a mistake to do so."
I feel the knife in my stomach twist when she said that last sentence. I can feel the guilt swell up inside of me. Due to my hasty actions not only have I unjustly exiled Spike but also separated a mother from her child and backed us into a corner where if we take any action it could lead creating hardship for the citizens of Equestria.
"So there is nothing we can do to find him?" I ask. "Maybe Luna can find him through his dreams?"
Luna sadly shakes her head. "I'm sorry but I cannot. While I may hold the power to enter the dreams of our subjects I can only do it best within Equestrian boarders. If I try to enter specific person's dreams it becomes difficult to find the right person and the farther away the person is the harder it becomes. While I will continue my search for Spike through the dreamscape I cannot make any promises as they say."
That snuffs out the last spark of hope I have. From the looks of it the only thing that we can do is to pray and hope that Spike somehow returns back home.
"While we cannot actively search for him I will have my guards on the lookout for any information regarding Spike's condition and whereabouts and if I learn anything of importance I will notify you and so as I can." Celestia explains, giving me a small shimmer of hope.
"Princess Celestia," I start, saying her title since I don't feel worthy enough to say just her name at the moment. "may I please tell my friends this. They should know about this."
Celestia give it a minute of thought and finally says, "Very well, you are allowed to tell your friends. However if you want to tell them everything that is talked about here than you have to promise not to tell anyone the relationship between Spike and myself. Do you understand me?" She says with a stern look on her face.
With a small gulp I answer, "I understand."
"Very good. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a moment to myself." And with a flash of magic she's gone.
I can't help feel like I lost a lot of my former teacher's faith in me and I probably did. As Luna gets up from her seat and makes her way to the door I quietly and sadly mumble to myself "She hates me."
Apparently Luna heard me and says, "My sister does not hate you Twilight. Sadden and disappointed maybe but never hate." And with that she also leaves the room. As sit quietly for a few minute to collect myself. I know that it will take a lot of effort to make this up to Celestia and the best way to do that is to get Spike home and apologize to him, but for now all we can do is wait.
"I'm so sorry Spike. Please be okay." I pray to myself. As I finally leave to pack my thing to get back home to tell the girls the news. Though they will probably be just as surprise as I was when I tell them.