Bravest Alicorn Part2:
“Beth… Beth…”
Twilight’s eyes groggily opened as he heard Wallows whispering voice.
“What?” Beth asked quietly.
“Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?” Wallow asked.
Twilight’s ears perked up at the sound of approaching footsteps, she heard Beth emit a soft, girly squeal. Twilight looked down to see she had wrapped her arms, legs, and even wings around Spike who was gently snoring away. Redness began to enter her cheeks as she sat up in the bed.
Wallow chuckled, “Sorry, but you two where just so adorbs together.”
Beth nodded with a giant smile as her cheeks burned with a luminescent shade of red.
“Uh… alright…” Twilight said. “So…”
“Oh, right!” Wallow said. “Chris has a lead on how to get you two home!”
“And you won’t have to be melted for it to work,” Beth added with a smile.
“Really?!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly. She began to gently nudge the baby dragon that was sleeping next to her. “Spike! Wake up! Chris might have found a way for us to get home!”
“Just… just 10 more minutes,” Spike mumbled out.
“SPIKE!” Twilight shouted.
“Alright, alright, I’m up…” Spike said as he sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes.
Twilight leapt off the bed and landed on her hooves.
“Whoa…” Spike exclaimed as a purple glow enveloped him and Twilight gently floated him onto her back.
“Lead the way!” Twilight said excitedly to Beth and Wallow.
The two humans led Twilight and Spike back into the massive room they had initially arrived at.
“Good morning Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Chris said cheerfully as Twilight entered with Spike on her back. “Good morning Spike.”
Twilight chuckled, “You can just call me Twilight.”
“’Morning Sparkler, ‘morning Spike.” Danny said.
Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes. “Or that…”
“’Sup everyone,” Spike greeted as he stepped off of Twilight’s back and onto his feet.
“Good news,” Chris said, “when I woke up this morning I found a postcard from myself!”
Danny raised an eyebrow at his friend. “How many soft tacos did you have last night, bro?”
Chris stared at Danny and lowered his eyebrows slightly. “I meant my future self, natch.”
Danny’s face lit up, “The Emotion Lord? Radical!”
Twilight looked up at Beth. “Emotion Lord?”
“Chris’s future self can travel back in time and has lots of strange abilities that he uses to help us,” Beth explained.
“Huh…” Twilight answered. She glanced at the purple dragon. “You following all this?”
Spike shrugged. “I’m quickly learning not to question anything.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Pinkie would be proud of you.”
“As cool as it is that The Emotion Lord paid us a visit like some sort of time traveling Santa Claus,” Danny began, “How come Chris’s future self can go back in the past without consequence, but future me has to travel back to smash one of my machines every time I try it?” Danny demanded with a sullen expression on his face.
“You jelly?” Wallow asked with a smirk.
“Totally,” Danny admitted with an angry nod.
“Don’t forget the time your future self melted when he came back,” Beth said.
Danny quickly projectile vomited onto the floor. “HURRCK… Thanks Tezuka,” he said to Beth, “it’d been a while since I beat myself senseless with the ol’ memory erasing device.”
“Dude, I’m pretty that’s just an iron skillet you smash against you skull,” Chris stated.
“Well… it works…” Danny replied as he wiped vomit from his mouth.
“So, what’s the note say?” Twilight asked.
Chris cleared his throat. “It says…”
Everyone but Chris’s eyes shot open wide as an aged, masculine voice began to read the note. “Dear Bravest Warriors, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Spike. I am having a lovely time on the planet of Daisy. The yellow and white flowers provide a lovely contrast to the green fields and red, dimensional transportation gem that can send travelers to any dimension they would like to go to.”
“Wish you were here.”
“E. Lord.”
“Uh… please tell me I wasn’t the only one who heard that…” Twilight said.
“I heard it,” Spike said excitedly, “we can go home!”
Twilight gave an exasperated sigh and shook her head. “Never mind…”
“Hmmm… the planet of Daisy’s, huh?” Wallow said in an unsure tone.
“Huh? What’s up big guy?” Spike asked. “Sounds like an almost literal walk in the park to me.”
“It’s not that simple I’m afraid,” Beth explained. “The planet is ruled by the Duke of Daisy.”
Twilight and Spike exchanged a quick glance then looked back at Beth.
“Some sort of royal flower dude is a problem?” Spike asked.
Beth nodded, “Well, he looks like this.” She hit a few keys on a nearby keyboard and a several foot tall holographic projection of a pasty colored, tusked, bipedal creature appeared. The creator’s body was covered by thick rolls of fat and it wore only a button up shirt tied to expose the creature’s midriff and belly button as well as a pair of cut-off jeans that gripped tightly against its jiggling thighs.
Spike cocked an eyebrow at it. “He looks kinda… goofy.”
“Well, he’s actually a lot bigger,” Wallow said as he pointed at the display.
“How big?” Twilight asked.
Beth hit a Button and the holographic display grew up towards the ceiling, filling most the room with holographic rolls of fat.
Danny responded by shooting more of his partially digested breakfast onto the floor.
Spike and Twilight’s jaws unhinged as they stared up at the three story tall monster.
“Oh…” Twilight uttered.
Danny whipped his sleeve over his mouth. “Does he have to dress like that? Talk about inappropriate choice of clothing for a body type.”
“Danny,” Chris said in a chastising tone, “you know you’re not supposed to judge people on how they dress. I mean, how would you feel if everyone judged you when you wore skin tight leotards when you were a kid?”
“Everyone DID judge me for wearing those!” Danny pointed out.
“Uh…” Chris paused briefly as he glanced to the side. “Okay, but two wrongs don’t make a right!” he replied.
“Can I at least judge him for him being an intergalactic crazed genocidal maniac?” Danny asked as he motioned to the holograph.
Chris nodded. “Yes you may.”
“Uh… genawhatal?” Spike asked.
“The Duke of Daisy is an intergalactic war criminal,” Beth explained. “He’s led giant navies full of warships and conquered planet after planet.”
“Yeah,” Danny chimed in, “and he’s completely destroyed a couple just ‘cause… well… just ‘cause.”
“Our parents have fought him a few times, each time ending in a stalemate,” Beth explained.
“So what are you going to do?” Twilight continued.
“We’re going to fly right to his planet and challenge him to a duel to the death,” Danny said as he punched a fist into his palm. “Just like our parents.”
“Well… as suicidal as that sounds,” Chris began as he rubbed his gantlet covered hand over his chin, “he’s never said ‘no’ to a duel…”
“Uh… and your parents are...?” Twilight began.
“Trapped in another dimension for completely unrelated reasons,” Wallow informed.
“Oh…” Twilight replied in a slight sheepish, embarrassed tone.
Beth smiled. “It’s alright. They’ve made contact with us.”
“Yeah, and we even got Beth’s dad back,” Danny said, “of course he’s crazier than a hover hound at a bumper factory.”
“Dude!” Chris exclaimed motioning to Beth. “Uncool!”
“Oops, sorry Beth,” Danny offered.
Beth sighed and shook her head. “It’s alright Danny, I mean… its true…”
“Guys…” Twilight interrupted, “while I appreciate the offer to put yourselves in tremendous personal danger for us, I’m really not comfortable with the idea of people risking their lives on our behalf.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it Twilight,” Chris said as he waved his glove about dismissively, “we do this sorts of stuff all the time!”
“Really?” Twilight asked.
“Well… not quite this level of insane, but I made a promises and I’m not going to back down.”
The other warriors nodded in agreement.
“Just sit tight and we’ll be back with that gem before you know it!” Chris said.
Twilight nodded pensively. “Alright, Spike and hear will wait here for you…”
“What?” Spike said. “What are you talking about?! We should go with them!” He cried as he motioned out to the four humans.
“Spike! You heard them! This is incredibly dangerous,” Twilight pointed out.
“And that has stopped us… exactly when?” Spike asked.
“Danger on Equestria is one thing, but this… beast has apparently destroyed entire planets!” Twilight said.
“Come on, Twilight!” Spike said. “This might be our only chance to get home! And we’ll get to see even more fantastic stuff,” he reasoned. “I can’t believe you’d want to sit on the sidelines here.”
“Spike, I really think we’re out of our depth,” Twilight replied.
Spike cocked an eyebrow. “We routinely face down dangerous magical beings that are out to kill us and our friends, and we’ve saved entire nations and probably Equestria on more than one occasion,” he pointed out flatly. “How is this out of our depths?”
“Uh…” Twilight trailed off. “Alright, you have a point.”
Beth walked over to Twilight and kneeled down, placing a hand on the alicorn’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Twilight. We’ll support whatever you want to do.”
“Come on Twilight!” Spike said. “What’s a little suicidal danger against a chance to see our friends again?”
Twilight considered the baby dragon’s words carefully.
-ooooooo-
“WhoahohohohoYEAH!” Spike explained as he watched the planet below shrink into a tiny dot.
“Oh-my-GOODNESS!” Twilight said excitedly as she looked out the same view port.
“And you wanted to stay at the Invisible Hideout,” Spike said with a smirk.
Twilight chuckled, “I have to admit, this experience seems worth the risk.” She stared out into the vast expanse of space. “This is incredible… I can’t believe I was going to miss something like this.”
“Hang tight, dudes!” Chris called out from a seat in front of a massive view window at head of the ship. “It’s about to get real…”
Like Chris, the other Bravest Warriors sat in front of the massive windows as they manned keyboards and glanced at displays and flashing lights in front of them. They all had donned large, grey space suits with large, transparent domes over their heads and colored circles on their chest.
Twilight and Spike turned as Chris pressed a button in front of him.
“Whoaa….” Spike uttered as the stars around them turned into vertical lines and the ship lurched slightly from the acceleration.
“Your dimension has mastered faster than light travel?!” Twilight asked excitedly.
Beth smiled and nodded. “Sure has.”
Twilight shook her head. “I can’t believe how amazing this all is…” she sighed out quietly to herself.
“Oh, come on!” Spike shouted as he motioned out the window, “We’re in space traveling at speeds that are… uh… really fast, and you’re still depressed?!”
Twilight forced a small smile. “You’re right Spike. I’m sure everything will work out.”
“Awww,” Wallow said, “he even gives adorable pep talks.”
“Don’t worry guys,” Danny said, “we’ll just issue a challenge, fly down to the planet,” he said as he held his palm horizontally and rocked it back and forth, “and kick this guy’s butt, and you’ll be home in time for dinner!”
Twilight nodded. “Sure.”
“Eyes forward, gang,” Chris said. “We’re here.”
Chris pressed a button on the counsel in front of him and the white lines around the ships shrink back into stars that peppered the vast expanse of space in addition to gigantic, menacing looking space ships that surrounded a bright, yellowish planet.
As soon as the ship had slowed down, a portion of the window transformed into a screen displaying a grinning, pasty skinned, humanoid with pointed ears, and large tusks that jutted out from his lower jaw.
Twilight and Spike walked farther into the bridge as they stared at the screen in front of them.
“That’s him,” Wallow whispered to Spike and Twilight, “That’s the Duke of Daisy.”
“Bravest Warriors…” The Duke said, practically chortling with sadistic glee has he spoke. “To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure? Don’t tell me you’re all suicidal enough to challenge me to a dual.”
“Well as a matter of fact we are!” Chris said as he pointed an index finger at The Duke.
“Uh… bro?” Danny said as he raised an eyebrow at Chris.
Chris shook his head. “I mean, we’re not… I mean… we DO challenge you… but we’re not suicidal…”
Danny smacked a giant gauntlet against his domed helmet as Beth sighed.
“Smooth Buddy,” Wallow said, “really smooth.”
“Shut up!” Chris said, “How was I supposed to know he’d guess why we’re here?” he cried as he threw his space suit covered arms in the air
The Duke laughed. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Aaahhhh, your parents where always the same! Showing up onto my planet just to receive harsh butt-wuppin’s to get me to stop warring on some sector or another, or to stop me from vaporizing a planet. Nice to see the Flaragorian skinned fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“Dude, just say ‘Space Apples’,” Danny said as he rolled his eyes.
“Aaah, Mr. Vascuez,” The Duke said as he shifted his attention to Danny, “the small talk not doing it for ya? Well maybe”—The screen zoomed out showing The Duke in his full, red tied shirt wearing, short-short sporting glory—“THIS will entertain you!” The Duke turned around and began to gyrate his pelvis around and around, causing his thick rolls of fat to bounce up and down with the motion. He gave his own buns a hard slap as he said, “Yeah! Work it baby!”
Danny made a moist, sickly sound and puffed out his cheeks.
“Danny! Look away,” Wallow cried. “Don’t let him get to you with his jiggly mind games.”
“Twilight,” Spike said as one of his eyes twitched, “what the hay are we looking at?”
“Alright, first:” Twilight began, “language, young dragon. Second: I have no idea…” Twilight said as she stared at the screen.
“Enough talk!” Chris cried. “We’ve come for the dimensional travel gem,” he announced as he pointed an index finger at the Duke.
“Yeah, baby… watch that fat…” the Duke paused and slowly removed his hands from his hips. He turned his head around. “You want to fight to death over that?!”
Chris raised an eyebrow. “Is that a problem?
“No, Kirkman,” The Duke replied shaking his head as he turned his body to face the screen, “but the gem only works once and it’s one way…. Wouldn’t you all rather fight to the death over my gigantic space fleet? Or like… one of my black hole creators?”
“Black hole, creators you say?” Danny said raising an interested eyebrow.
“Danny!” Wallow cried.
Danny held up his gantlet covered palms, exposing the red circles on the front. “Naw man, we’re cool.”
“We’ve come for the dimensional travel gem, and we’ll gladly fight you to the death for it,” Beth cried.
“Alright, alright,” The Duke said holding up both his hands, “just… you know… you’re probably going to die. It might as well be over something cool.”
“It’s the gem we want, and the gem we’ll have!” Chris declared.
“Alright, captain hero pants,” The Duke said as he rolled his eyes. He suddenly clenched his massive fists and glowered at the screen. “THEN WE SHALL MEET ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE!”
Wallow lowered his eyelids. “Is the Field of Battle a pristine meadow full of daisies?” he asked dryly.
“Do you have to ask?” The Duke replied. “What better resting place for you all too…”
Beth rolled her eyes. “Here we go.”
“…PUSH UP DAISIES! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Spike cupped his claws around his mouth. “BOOOOOOO!” he shouted at the screen.
“Spike!” Twilight said in a chastising tone. “Stop booing the intergalactic warlord!”
“Heeeelllooooo~!” The Duke said as he focused attention on Twilight and Spike. “Who are these cuties?!”
“Back-off!” Wallow cried. “They’re not part of this.”
“Oh, but they’re totes adorbs! Hey! If I can fight you guys for these two we can fight until the maiming instead of the death!” The Duke said excitedly. “What do you say?!”
“No way!” Beth said. “They’re not involved!”
“We accept your terms!” Twilight declared.
Everybody on the ship turned to stare at Twilight.
The Duke let out a small, girly shriek. “AAAAEEEE! Awesome sauce! Oh this is just… wow! Okay, you all totes have a deal here! I bring the stupid gem and you four bring down those adorable little critters!” With that the screen blinked out.
Danny sighed, “Why’d you have to go and do that?”
“Danny’s right,” Beth said, “you didn’t have to put yourself in danger!”
“Yes I did!” Twilight said. “I can’t have any of you getting killed for us.”
“Oh man,” Wallow cried, “do you have any idea what that maniac will do to you if he gets his sweaty hands on you two?!”
“No, but I know what he was going to do to you four if you didn’t beat him!” Twilight said.
“Sorry guys,” Spike said, “I’m with Twilight. This is our mess and we need to at least share some of the danger.”
“But…” Wallow began to protest
“Forget it man,” Chris said as he rested a gantlet on the large man’s shoulder, “what’s done is done. He smiled. “Besides, we’re going to go down there and kick the Duke’s flabby butt!”
The rest of the warrior shouted enthusiastic cries in reply.
-ooooooo-
“Ready, team?” Chris asked as his large grey and blue boot touched the flower covered soil of the planet just off the ramp.
“Ready!” his team replied.
The group looked across the vast landscape of flowers, gentle sloping hills and the odd rock or boulder that dotted the ground.
The Duke of Daisy stood a few hundred yards away, his giant, three story tall body towering over the field of flora as the yellow sun behind him cast a long, massive shadow towards the Bravest Warrior’s whale shaped ship. In his right hand, he held a giant, plain looking, brown club. His attire remained the same from his chat earlier with the addition of a metal bracer on his left forearm.
The Bravest Warriors all began walking off the ships ramp and towards their opponent.
“Be careful, you guys!” Twilight called out from the ship’s ramp.
“Kick his butt!” Spike called out.
“We will!” Beth shouted back.
Spike looked up at Twilight. “Are we really just going to sit and watch?”
“What do you think we could actually do?” Twilight asked.
Spike shook his head. “I don’t know, but anything is better than just giving up…”
The Duke’s grin widened showing a massive mouth full of yellowed and crooked teeth bookended by his large tusks. “Weapons?” He purred.
Chris raised his gauntlet covered palms as blue energy crackled from the circles on the front. The rest of the team rubbed the colored circles on their chest. A red cat shaped carbine appeared in Beth’s hands; A long, yellow rifle with the head of a dog in front of it appeared in Danny’s hands; and a large, light blue rocket launcher with wings on the side, and an eagle’s face on front appeared in Wallows.
Danny cocked an eyebrow as he examined The Duke’s choice of weapon. “Seriously, dude? A club?”
The Duke chuckled. “Of course! I love clubbing!”
“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“SPIKE! Stop heckling the three story tall maniac!”
“What!?” Spike cried as he motioned out to The Duke with claws. “He’s like… not even trying.”
Danny rolled his eyes. “Well, what are we waiting for?”
The Duke smiled. “You may fire when ready.”
“LIGHT HIM UP!” Chris cried.
The Bravest Warriors raised their weapons and leveled them at the Duke. As they did, The Duke raised his bracer covered forearm. Energy beams and projectiles shot from their weapons only to impact harmlessly on a transparent, shimmering wall in front of The Duke.
“Awww, man…” Wallow said. “A hyper shield…”
The Duke’s eyelids lowered as his grin turned malevolent. “My turn…” he said in a grumbly voice. He raised his club vertically and tensed a finger against a button on the handle. Suddenly, the front facing side of the club slid open revealing dozens of weapon barrels that pointed out at the Bravest Warriors.
Chris’s eyes went wide. “RUN FOR COVER!”
The weapons on the club erupted into a thunderstorm of energy blasts that shot out at the human combatants. The Warriors ran for small hills and larger boulders as energy beams cut into the flowery landscape in violent bursts that send singed pedals and clumps of dirt into the air. “AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The Duke laughed maniacally as he continued to discharge hundreds of energy beams at his foes.
From the relative safety of the whale ship’s ramp, Twilight and Sparkle looked onward at the carnage in front of them.
“Still think we should help?” Twilight asked.
Spike’s fearful eyes looked out at the seemingly endless beams of destruction that rained out from The Duke’s club. “Ye…Yeah…” he answered.
“What?! You can’t be serious!” Twilight replied.
“Twilight, they’re risking their lives for us!” Spike said motioning out to the group. “Yes, it’s different and incredibly dangerous. But are you really going to be okay if they lose knowing you did nothing to help?!”
Twilight pursed her lips and looked out into the battlefield.
“COUNTER ATTACK!” Chris called.
From behind a hill, he and Beth leaned out from the edge and fired their own firearms at the Duke, Beth holding her laser kitty carbine in both hands and Chris facing his palms outwards as energy shot from the weapons.
The Duke positioned his bracer in between him and the blasts and the red and blue energy splashed harmlessly against his energy shield.
Wallow poked his head up from behind a rock, raised his eagle shaped rocket launcher, took aim, and fired. A rocket flew through the air and slammed into the Duke’s massive collection of back fat.
The Duke cried out in alarm that quickly gave way to a slightly pained coo. “AHHHHHoooooo….” He turned to Wallow with a smile. “That one had some pepper on it.”
“Uh-oh…” Wallow muttered.
The Duke held his bracer up in between Beth and Chris, allowing the two to continue pelting his shield with energy. “How about you try something with some real kick?” he asked as he pointed his large club at Wallow. He tensed his fingers again and the top of the club suddenly slid away, revealing a large, opening that crackled with yellow energy. The energy quickly coalesced into a massive ball of destruction.
“WALLOW, GET OUT OF THERE!” Beth cried.
‘PHEEEWHOOOOOOOOOO!’
Wallow ran and dove as a wide, energy beam flew from the club and vaporized the rock he was standing behind mere moments ago. The blast carved a deep, smoking trench in the ground as it fired off into the distance.
“Hey, fashion reject!” Danny called as he jumped into view. “Suck grenade!”
The Duke turned and raised his bracer as a metal, spherical object impacted his shimmering shield. Rather than explode, the ball held in place and crackled with energy that shot out along the shield. The Duke’s bracer began to spark and shake violently as small wafts of acrid smoke wafted up from it.
“Alright!” Spike cheered. “Go, Danny!”
The Duke chuckled. “Hehehe… Very clever, Mr. Vascuez,” he leaned down and picked up a large boulder, “but two can play catch.” The Duke through the gigantic rock at Danny with deadly accuracy.
Danny barely had time to utter an “Oh, man…” before the massive stone collided with him, denting his suit, shattering his domed helmet and sending the combat flying.
“DANNY!” Chris called.
“… Let’s go, Spike.” Twilight said.
Spike looked up at Twilight. “You mean it?”
Twilight nodded as she looked out at The Duke with determination writing across her face. “You’re right, out classed or not, we need to do something. I’ll never forgive myself if I just sit here the entire time.”
“That’s my girl!” Spike replied happily.
Chris, Beth, and Wallow raised their weapons.
The Duke tossed them a wicked smirk as he tensed his fingers on his club. Once again, a one of the metal sides slid away revealing dozens of energy weapon barrels that fired, peppering the landscape with deadly energy.
The three warriors dove for cover as another torrent of energy turned their immediate area into a nightmarish whirlwind of burning flowers and crackling ozone.
The Duke pointed his club at Danny’s fallen body. Once again the tip began to glow brightly with violent energy.
“HEY! TALL, FAT, AND UGLY!” Spike called.
“Huh?” The Duke turned just in time for a small rock to hit him right in the eye. “OW! What the heck bro?!”
“Sorry!” Spike shouted as Twilight approached with the baby dragon on her back. “I just wanted to get your attention!”
“I think you scratched my cornea!” The Duke cried as he rubbed at his eye and tried to pick the stone out with his yellow and cracked fingernail.
“I said I was sorry!” Spike replied.
“Uh, Hello, The Duke of Daisy…” Twilight said as she trotted up to the massive giant. “My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“Uhg…” The Duke grunted out as he rubbed his eye. “… have you come to surrender and spare these weaklings from their brutal maiming?”
“Don’t do it, Twilight!” Beth called.
Twilight shook her head. “Not quite, I wanted to try my hand at saving myself.”
“Oh?” The Duke asked as he raised his brow. He erupted in a massive belly laugh. “HAHAHAHAHAHA… What do you think you can do here, little princess?”
Twilight smirked. “I bet I can get you to give up the gem.”
“HAHAHAHA! Oh my! You are a lot of fun! How do suppose you can do that?”
“I’ll limit myself to a single spell out of my collection, I’m sure it’ll be enough to defeat you,” Twilight said confidently.
“What the heck does she think she’s doing?!” Wallow cried.
Chris knitted his brow as he stared at the purple alicorn. “I guess she decided to take her fate into her own hands…”
“Hooves,” Beth corrected.
“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DEFEAT ME?! ENTIRE BATTLE FLEETS HAVE FALLEN BEFORE MY MIGHT! GO AHEAD PRINCESS! DO YOUR WORST!”
Twilight closed her eyes as her horn began to glow purple. “Spike, go get Danny and bring him to the others.”
“Twilight, are you sure…”
Twilight opened her eyes, they too, had begun to glow with the same purple energy as her horn. “I’m sure…GO!”
“AH!” Spike cried as he leapt off the alicorn and ran in a dead sprint towards Danny. Soon, the little dragon reached the fallen human and gathered his ankles up in either arm.
“Wha…what?” Danny said as he groggily came to.
“WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!” Spike cried as he dashed towards the rest of the group, dragging Danny behind him.
Danny’s head bounded up and down over the ground and errant rocks hidden by the flowers. “OW! OWCH, DUDE! What’s the rush?!”
“Believe me,” Spike said, “you do not want to be in front of Twilight right now.”
Danny turned as the purple energy around Twilight’s horn collected into a single, bright point. “OW!” he cried as Spike dragged him over another rock.
“HAHAHAHA! You think a little magic energy beam is enough to take out The Duke of Dai…”
‘ZCHCHCHCOOORoOoOoOoOoORCH!’
A gigantic purple beam shot from Twilight’s horn, the ground shook violently and the flowers in front of her vaporized in an instant as the air exploded in a hurricane of violent, crackling magical energy that engulfed all three stories of the Duke and flew off into the sky.
The giant duke glanced down at his reddened and singed body.
“Betcha you can only do that…”
‘ZCHCHCHCOOORoOoOoOoOoORCH!’
“…Twice.”
‘ZCHCHCHCOOORoOoOoOoOoORCH!’
The muscular monster of a being glanced at its, now, even more burnt and charred body. “So… Uh…” The Duke dipped a burnt and sizzling hand into his cut-off shorts pockets and pulled out a large, glowing, red gem. “Here ya go…” he said holding out the gem.
A purple glow surrounded the gem and floated over to Twilight. “Thanks!” she said sweetly.
The Duke of Daisy nodded. “Imma… Imma gonna go home and scream in agonizing pain under an ice cold shower for the next few hours, I think…”
He turned to the other warriors. “Alright, I know when I’m beat.” He grinned wide, “Not that it matters, you four proved your worthlessness...”
Beth and Chris exchanged irritated glances.
Chris rubbed the light blue circle on his chest and a large, round green bee appeared. “BUMBLE BEE STORM TO THE EYES!”
Beth’s laser kitty carbine transformed into a whip with the face of a cat. “POISONED CAT CLAWS TO THE EYES!”
A green mass of bees swarmed The Duke’s eyes as Beth’s energy cat whip extended the distance towards The Duke’s face. He cried out in pain as his optical organs were assaulted by bee stings and a flurry of angry scratches. “OH, NO! NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEES! AAAAAHHHHH! OH, THEY'RE IN MY EYES! MY EYES! AAAAHHHHH! AAAAAGGHHH!”
Danny chuckled as Spike brought him back to the rest of the group. “Oh man, we just got schooled by a magical, purple, alicorn Princess.”
“Hey,” Spike protested, “I threw the rock!”
Wallow leaned down rested a massive hand on the dragon’s shoulder. “Good job buddy, you exposed The Duke’s weakness…” Wallow paused and added, “… aside from point blank annihilation shot from a unicorn horn, that is.”
Spike beamed.
Twilight trotted up to the group as she floated the red gem next to her.
“You did it!” Beth cried as she rushed up and hugged the alicorn.
“I couldn’t have done it with all your help,” Twilight said as she wrapped an arm around Beth.
Chris placed his gauntlets to either side of his domed helmet. “HAHA! We did it! I can’t believe we took out The Duke!”
“Wow rude,” The Duke said as he stumbled around blindly. “I’m still here, you know…”
“Well done, Bravest Warriors,” an aged voice called out. “You showed that trashy clothes wearing warlord who really keeps a fully stocked spice rack!”
The group turned as an old man with white hair approached in a suit identical to Chris’s, with the exception that he had a pair of white socks pulled up over the boots.
“OH man! The Emotion Lord!” Danny said happily as he held up a fist.
The Emotion Lord gave Danny’s gauntlet covered fist a bump with his own. “What it is, Danny!”
“So you’re the one who gave Chris that note,” Twilight said with a smile. “Thanks! You made it so Spike and I can go home…”
“Aww shucks,” The Emotion Lord replied, “all I did was mail a little post card, all of you did the real work.” He looked at the Bravest Warriors. “I hope you all learned a valuable lesson about judging people… and ponies.”
The four humans nodded.
“Yeah, just because someone looks harmless doesn’t mean they’re not capable of great bravery,” Chris said.
“Or isn’t a walking magical nexus of destructive energy,” Danny added.
The Emotion Lord kneeled down and placed his gauntlet covered hand on Twilight. “Twilight, I hope you learned something as well…”
Twilight nodded and extended a wing, drawing Spike closer to her. “I did! Never lose faith in yourself, no matter how different or daunting the task in front of you seems.”
The Emotion Lord paused “…Well, I was thinking more along the lines of enjoying the time you have, but what the hey? I like yours better and mine sounds a bit hippo-critical given I can time travel.”
“So that’s it?” Spike asked as he glanced at Twilight. “We’re going home?”
Twilight looked up at the smiling faces of the Bravest Warriors and smiled wide, “Actually… I was thinking, ‘Soft Taco Party’.”
The group erupted in a chorus of cheers.
-ooooooo-
“Whouhuahuahhuahuaaa!” Impossibear cried as he held Spike in a tight embrace and tears streamed down his face. “I’ll miss you! You are a rad dude, Spike!”
“I’ll miss you, too, Impossibear,” Spike said as he returned the embrace. “Especially that bodacious stash of yours.”
Impossibear’s lips quivered as he pulled away to face Spike. “I can’t… I’M SO BAD AT GOODBYES!” He cried as he broke the hug and sprinted away.
Twilight shook her head and chuckled, she glanced at a small piece of paper in Spike’s claw. “What’s that for?”
Spike snickered. “You’ll see…”
“Spike!” Catbug called out as he fluttered to the purple dragon. “I heard you were going soon and wanted to give you an extra, special, friendship hug!”
Spike smiled. “Sure, Catbug!”
The light blue cat with the ladybug shell wrapped his stubby arms around Spike as the purple dragon mirrored the embrace.
Catbug snickered as he taped a note that read, ‘Kick me’ on the back of the baby dragon.
Spike sniggered to himself as he also taped a note that read the same on the back of Catbug.
“Bye-bye, friend!” Catbug called as he fluttered away.
Spike waved. “Yep, bye!”
Twilight giggled and removed the note from Spike’s back, crumpling it as she did.
“OW!” Catbug called out from the crowd of dancing creatures. “Who kicked me!?”
“So… I guess this is goodbye…” Beth said as she walked up to Twilight and Spike.
“Awww man,” Wallow uttered as he followed Beth. “Are you sure we can’t convince you guys to stay?”
Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, but we have friends that will miss us and our own world to take care of,” she said with a smile.
Beth nodded. “We understand.” She kneeled down and wrapped her arms around Twilight. “I’ll never forget you Twilight.”
Twilight wrapped her own arm and a wing over Beth. “I’ll never forget you either.”
Wallow leaned down and gathered up Spike in a big bear hug. “I’ll miss you bro!”
“Ooof….” Spike gave Wallow a small smile, “Yeah, I’ll miss you, too, big guy.”
“Oh man, is this a taco party, or some sort of lame hugging party?!” Danny asked as he walked up to the group with Chris.
“Danny!” Beth cried, “Don’t ruin the moment.”
“Chill, Tezuka,” Danny said with a smile. “I was just having a little bit of fun before these two take off.”
Wallow sat Spike down on the ground.
Danny extended his fist downward as he looked at the dragon. “Stay radical, little buddy!”
Spike grinned and bumped Danny’s fist with his claw. “Oh, you know I will! You just keep this place awesome!”
Danny chuckled. “You know it.”
“Twilight?” Chris said as he saluted the purple alicorn. “It was a pleasure and an honor fighting alongside you.”
Twilight hovered up on her wings and wrapped an arm around Chris’s shoulder giving him a small hug, “The pleasure was mine.”
Chris smiled and gave Twilight a quick hug.
“Now,” Twilight said as she lowered herself to ground, “can someone explain to me how this thing works?” she asked as she levitated the red gem into view.
The Bravest Warriors all shifted nervously.
“I KNOW!” Danny’s future self cried as he appeared from behind Wallow with a massive sombrero on his head. “You rub the gem and hold on tight while thinking about the time and place you want to go!”
Twilight’s eyes widened slightly as she stared at the gem. “The time and place…” she murmured. She smiled and wrapped an arm around Spike, pulling him close to her. “Hang on Spike, we’re going home!” She looked up at the warriors and smiled warmly. “Goodbye everyone! Thanks for everything!”
“See ya, bros!” Spike said as he waved enthusiastically.
“Goodbye!” Beth said.
“Audios amigos!” Danny said.
“Take it easy, dudes!” Wallow said.
“Farewell, guys!” Chris said.
Twilight brought the gem up and began rubbing it with her hoof. Spike extended a claw out to it and in a red flash, the pair where gone.
Wallow sighed. “I’m really going to miss those two.”
Danny nodded. “I hear ya. Where are we going to find another flying unicorn that shoots gigantic, warlord frying beams of magic?”
“Awwww… are they gone already?!” Impossibear cried as he ran up to the group. “I was gonna pass out gifts!” he declared as he held up another package with red wires sticking out of the wrapping and a digital counter on the front.
“IMPOSSIBEAR! NO!” Wallow cried.
Chris sighed and rolled his eyes. “Here we go again…”
“Ah, man…” Danny said as he smacked his palm against his forehead.
“I’ll go open a window…” Beth said dryly as she walked away from the group.
-ooooooo-
‘Chzzoo…’
In a red flash, Twilight and Spike appeared in the darkness of the library.
Spike looked around. “It worked!” he exclaimed. “We’re back!”
Twilight put a hoof up to her mouth. “Shhhhh… stay here,” she commanded softly.
“Huh… Twilight?”
Twilight quietly flapped up to the top of the library then back down again with a giant smile. “The gem worked perfectly…” she announced quietly.
“Huh… well, of course it worked. We’re back at the library!”
“We’re back three hours before we left,” Twilight informed.
“What?” Spike exclaimed. “That means…”
Twilight nodded. “Past you and I are still asleep.”
“But… ”
Twilight grinned. “I’m going to get that reading out of the way! Now… I think I’ll find Stonepower’s Encyclopedia of Spells right where it should be…” she mused.
Spike smacked a claw against his face. “You’re your own worst enemy, you know that? This is going to seriously mess up my sleep schedule… I’m going to go find an out of the way place to sleep and make a small bed out of books.”
Twilight nodded. “Oh! One more thing.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “What is it?”
Twilight extended her arms and hugged the dragon in a tight embrace. “Thanks for always being there for me… and believing in me even when I don’t believe in myself.”
Spike paused and wrapped his arms around his friend, “Anytime, Twilight… anytime… or place even.” He added with a grin.
The End