//------------------------------// // Act 0: Ch.5 Spike vs The World // Story: Avengers: Equestria's Mightiest Heroes // by Slam-Manian //------------------------------// Act 0: Avengers Initiative Chapter 5: Spike vs. The World It was a dry, scorching day in the barren desert Neighvada desert. The pavement of the highway that lead into the city was so hot one could cook an egg on it. Although this was true, it didn’t seem to bother the lone figure walking along the shoulder of the road. He wore a dark purple hoodie with matching shorts with a green baseball cap and matching green backpack, walking with his head low, trying to hide his face. His body was relatively tall, about the size of an average stallion, but his overall muscle build was nonexistent as his legs and arms were more lanky than anything else resembling muscle. Despite what his appearance gave off, this kind of heat was nothing for him; he knew he had survived worse. As he continued down the road, the humming of a chariot’s Mana engine caught his ear, but he didn’t let it stop him. The chariot whizzed past him, but he didn’t bat an eye and simply continued onward. He finally stopped when he found himself looking at the base of a pole and when he looked up, he pulled the hat up so he could see the sign above, revealing himself to be an adolescent purple scaled dragon with green spines running along his back. He looked up to read a sign with an array of lights trimmed around it that read “Welcome to wonderful Las Pegasus, Neighvada”. He looked behind him to see if anypony else was coming but saw nopony, so he pulled his hat and hoodie over his head and continued on into the city. He made his way into the city and lucky for him that it was day time and the city’s liveliness only occurred during the night. He needed to do what he needed to do quickly and the less the city was littered with ponies, the better. Keeping his head low and minding his surroundings, he passed by relatively unnoticed, an art form he had tried to perfect in all his years. As he continued down the street, a police chariot came into view. He gave a sharp intake of breath of fear and shock, but quickly controlled himself; he had to control himself. Keeping his head low and continuing forward, the chariot finally coaxed passed him, and he could feel the officer behind the wheel eyeing him. Just keep going, pal. Go find a donut shop or something, just don’t- The young dragon’s thoughts were cut off as the sound the police chariots sirens went off, causing him to stop in his tracks. Without turning, he heard the sound of the police chariot coming to a stop and the sound of the door opening and closing. The dragon gave a snort as green flames escaped his nose and he knew what was coming next . . . running. He then made a mad dash down the street with the police trailing right behind him. The dragon darted down the street, weaving passed what little crowd of ponies lay before him. When he saw a trash can in front of him and he reached it, he threw it down, trying to trip the officer, but he simply jumped over it. Great, out of all the out of shape cops in the world, I run into the one that’s actually in shape, just my luck. The Dragon thought to himself. He continued down the street, his heart rate speeding up with him. He knew he had to ditch this colt fast or things would get worse. He came to a crosswalk when a chariot was starting to pull out into the main road. He quickly leaped over the hood of the chariot, causing the driver to stop in shock as he continued to run. When the driver thought it was clear and made to drive out into the main road, the he quickly stopped as the officer came following after, blocking his path. The officer made his way around the chariot and continued his pursuit, but he lost sight of his target. From behind a dumpster in an alley way, the dragon could hear the officer speaking through his walky-talky, saying, “Suspect is on claw, heading west down Harmon, send back up”. When the officer’s voice faded in the distance, the dragon tried to relax, but his efforts were soon met with a familiar burning in his chest. His muscles went stiff and rigged as he tried to control himself. His eyes began to glow bright emerald green, but he quickly gripped his head and curled his body up as he told himself, “Breathe” repeatedly. He took long, deep breathes, each one managing to do what he needed them to do and slow his heart rate down. After one final breath, the burning ceased and he sighed in relief. He then let out a gasp as the familiar sound of heavy machinery filled his ear fins. He looked around the dumpster to see massive assault tank driving by. The tank was bigger, but much more mobile than the average tank with the tracks standing at an angle, lifting the torrent off the ground to give it better angling. The dragon stifled a growl as he ducked back behind the dumpster. Out, said a low, deep familiar voice from inside his mind. This didn’t surprise him as he turned his head to the side to see a shadow standing against the wall, but he knew it wasn’t his shadow, but the other Dragon’s, the one inside of him. This dragon’s shadow was a form of which anypony would fear. A creature of bulking muscle, armor like scales and scorching fire and even though it was a shadow, to the young dragon, the eyes of the shadow glowed the same bright emerald green as his. Let me out, the shadow told him. “No,” the younger dragon said aloud. Belle’s here. Gunning for us; Let me out or get out of here, now. The Shadow told him. “Not yet, not until I finish what I came to do.” The young dragon responded as he reached into his backpack. When he felt the object he was looking for, he pulled it out, revealing a laptop. He crossed his legs and turned it on, trying to compile a mass of information he had gathered. In one open window showed a multitude of faces, most of which he recognized as other individuals that were exposed to raw Mana radiation, such as himself. He minimized that window to enlarge another, showing a picture of what appeared to be a large three dimensional cube standing on one of its ends on a flat platform sitting in the middle of a dark forest. Spike knew this place as the Everfree, a place he feared more than anything. He then minimized the picture and enlarged another picture of the reason for his visit into the city. It was the picture of a dragon with a three foot long neck, long snout with jagged teeth protruding from its maw, two lazy eyes, looking in two different directions, two foot long cone shaped purple horns, a pair of small wings, completely disproportionate to the rest of its massive body and four pairs of legs. “Can you believe that’s a dragon?” Spike asked his shadow. Is that what that is? His shadow responded in a careless tone. “Whatever it is, I need to find him, fast,” Spike muttered to himself as he started typing into his laptop. When he finished, the picture of his target minimized as another picture of a map enlarged itself, beeping as a dot started blinking on the map. “There you are.” He said as he closed his laptop. He quickly put it back in his backpack and checked to make sure the coast was clear before heading back out into the streets. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the same time, elsewhere, down the midtown streets of Las Pegasus. An array of Spike Buster Tanks were roaming down the streets, gathering everpony’s attention and behind the row of tanks was a massive armored truck with mounted rocket launchers atop and a satellite dish. Inside it were a group of unicorn and earth ponies, each stationed at a computer monitor with headsets on, monitoring for their attended target. The only pony standing was a white coated unicorn stallion in a standard military general’s suit covered in medals from his many years of service to his nation. He had a brown short buzzed cut mane and a handlebar mustache. Everypony in his command as well as SHIELD knew him as the stallion that started to Spike Buster Unit since it seemed to be his only obsession in life now; The General Magnum Belle. The General stomped around his mobile base, his anxiety getting the better of him. He knew the scaled menace he was tracking was here, he just had to find him. “Report,” He ordered. “Sir, a local police officer reported a dragon fitting the description was sighted,” An Earth pony responded, meeting his superior’s gaze. “They pursued but lost him.” “It’s him, it has to be; Spike is in Las Pegasus.” The Unicorn said with the utmost confidence, as well as slight paranoia. “Radio the Everfree and tell them to get a containment cell ready.” “Yes, sir, but . . . ,” The soldier stammered. “But what?” The Stallion practically growled. “It’s just that, why would Spike come here? He’s stayed away from populated places for months now; he’s even left the country just to avoid our jurisdiction. Why come back now?” “I don’t know, nor do I care,” Magnum said as he turned back toward the two earth pony’s driving looking out the windshield. “We can get all the answers we want out of him after we’ve captured and locked him away.” Magnum and his forces carried on in search of their target. Magnum could feel he was close, not just in distance. He felt he could end his paranoid pursuit by the end of the day. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fifteen Minutes Later Spike had managed to get to his destination with no interference from the law or any other unwanted pursuers. He now stood just outside a small dinner near the other end of the city. He quickly headed inside and just as he had calculated, his target was here sitting at the counter, eating soup. He certainly wasn’t hard to miss, being the only dragon in the place as well as the biggest, taking up two whole stools, just to sit down. The place wasn’t all that packed with ponies. Strangely enough they paid him and the other dragon no mind and went about their meals like it was normal. If only they knew who just walked in, He thought to himself as he walked over to the counter. He took a seat next to his fellow dragon, taking off his hat, hoodie and backpack as an old earth pony mare waitress came up to him with a notepad and quill in hoof. “What can I get fer yah, sweetie?” She asked politely in a southern accent. “Coffee, please,” “Regular or decaf?” “Definitely decaf,” He stressed. The last thing he or anypony else needed was for him to get jittery. The waitress smiled and walked off, leaving him alone with his target. He glanced at the larger dragon as he sipped his soup, spoonful after spoonful, not paying the purple drake any heed. “Mr. Crackle,” Spike asked the dragon, but he didn’t respond or meet Spike’s gaze. “ ‘Crusher’ Crackle?” Spike asked, but still no response. “I’ve been trying to find you for weeks now and I know SHIELD is looking for you too, but I’m not with them so don’t worry. Despite your appearance, you’re not an easy drake to find,” Spike told him, trying to sound as casual as he could. “I’m here to help you. I’m a friend, my name is . . . Talon.” “And how did you find me, when SHIELD couldn’t, Talon?” The Dragon finally spoke as the waitress brought Spike his coffee and he continued to eat his meal. “Well, because your body is emitting Mana radiation, Mr. Crackle,” Spike said as he took his coffee into his claws, looking at his reflection in the still surface. “I know more about Mana radiation than them. I guess you could call me an expert. I’m probably one of the few alive that could find you. I know all about it; About your record and I know where they took you.” A slight moment of silence fell over them, before Spike broke it to continue. “The Everfree; Located inside the Everfree forest, it’s a super-villain prison that specializes in subjects who have been exposed to radiation, which created monsters; dangerous abominations; most of which were exposed to Mana radiation, such as yourself.” He explained, all the while, Crackle hadn’t stopped eating his meal. “So, I’m asking you to tell me what you know about the Mana experiments. You see, what I’m afraid of is that SHIELD isn’t helping these creatures but instead, trying to make more of them, turn them into weapons. Do you understand?” With his bowl clean, Crackle licked the last of the soup off his spoon, looking at his reflection in the utensil. “It’s funny, you know so much, but you never asked me how I escaped.” Crackle commented and as he did, his green scales started turning silver, matching that same sheen of the spoon in his claw. The silver continued to spread until his scales had the appearance of pure silver, gleaming all around him. Spike’s eyes widened in shock as did the other occupants of the diner; the two dragons stood up, the smaller, trying to keep the larger calm. “No, please, Crackle, calm down,” Spike pleaded as he backed up a few steps. “You’re just sick, you need help, I can help you.” Crackle simply gave a toothy smile as his lazy eyes focused on the purple drake as he advanced on him. Crackle then grabbed Spike by the throat and tossed him out the door. Spike bounced painfully on the ground until he skid to a stop on his stomach with Crackle following leisurely behind him. “One more thing, I know exactly who you are, Talon. I heard a lot about you in the Everfree and I’ve been looking forward to taking you down.” Crackle said as he punched two of his front claws into his palms. Spike pushed himself off the ground, pain wracking his body, causing his heart to speed up. He tried to stop it, but it was too late. The pain was soon replaced as another more familiar burning sensation set it. It quickly spread from his heart to the rest of his body as is eyes started glowing bright emerald and dilated to small pins. He could feel his muscles and bones expanding so rapidly his hoodie exploded off him as his body grew, only leaving his pants that soon became torn shorts attached. His spines quickly sharpened out in to bladed fins and the spade on his tail elongating and growing spikes at the tip. Finally his scales changed from purple to emerald green and his underbelly turning dark purple. When he finally picked himself up, Spike’s form was now towering over Crackle, the former smiling in glee at the monster that most others in the Everfree had faced before him. The monstrous dragon took a deep breath and released a deafening roar that shook the air and the ground around him. In one quick movement, Spike threw a punch with his massive fist right into Crackle’s chest, the initial impact lifting him off the ground. When Spike pushed him off, Crackle went flying across the city. Spike gave a deep audible growl as he jumped off the ground, bounding through the air after his enemy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ten Minutes Later Out in the barren outskirts of the desert, two highly armed, military helicopters were flying high over the landscape to their destination. They had received intel that their target had not only be sighted but was now in the open, facing off against another like himself. There orders were to, upon sight engaged and neutralize the targets. As they flew, they could see two massive figures falling from the sky fast toward the ground. “HB-1 to command, Target is in sight. I repeat, Target is in sight,” The Cowpony pilot relayed over his com-set. “It’s touching down in Monument Valley. We are in route to intercept.” As they grew closer to their target, they could distinctly make out the sound of a Dragon’s roar fill the air, easily overpowering the sound of their own propellers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ At the same time elsewhere, Spike was falling to the ground, holding the ‘Welcome to wonderful Las Pegasus, Neighvada’ sign with Crackle directly beneath him. Spike swung the metal sign, smacking it across Crackle’s muzzle with an audible ‘clink’ upon contact. Spike gave two more swings, but Crackle simply shrugged them off, glaring up at the massive dragon. When Spike went in for another swing, but Crackle managed to duck down and then quickly countered with four consecutive punched to Spike’s stomach before finished with a double uppercut to the face, causing Spike to loosen his grip on his makeshift weapon. Spike quickly recovered and grabbed Crackle by the shoulders, trying to push him down faster into the incoming desert below. The two spun around, grappling each other in midair with Crackle managed to get overhead. He gave Spike two more shots to the face before they inevitably crashed into the ground, shrouding themselves in a massive dust cloud that could’ve been seen from at least a couple miles away. When the dust cleared, a large crater was etched into the ground and Crackle quickly pulled himself out of it, completely covered in his normal set of scales; but the second his clawed hands touched the soft desert soil, they quickly began to absorb the soil. His eyes widened in shock as he saw his hands starting to sag and fall apart as it became like the loose unstable soil around him. He knew his ability allowed him to absorb material and matter and turn himself into whatever he absorbed, but he also knew he had to be careful what he was absorbing. Loose material like sand or dirt could easily crumble and fall apart and he would too if he absorbed it. Looking around for something more solid, he quickly spotted the sign Spike had acquired during their scuffle and crawled over to it. He touched his hand to the blue metal plating on the back of the sign and his scales quickly shifted from the brown soil, to the hard blue metal of the sign. He then stood up and watched his whole body became encased in metal blue scales until a loud thud shook underneath him. Spike loud roar was all that registered as he turned to face his enemy before Spike delivered a solid punch to his chest, knocking Crackle a few feet back with a large fist imprint in his chest. Crackle slid to a stop, grinding his feet into the ground and faced Spike with a wide grin as the imprint in his chest quickly filled out as if Spike hadn’t punched him at all. “Everything they said about you in the Everfree was true,” Crackle chuckled. “You’ve gone soft.” Crackle then pulled up his four fists and concentrated, causing his hands to shift and morph into four massive hammers. Spike growled at him and the two charged each other, the ground shaking with each step they took. When they quickly closed the distance, Crackle swung his two right hammers, slamming them right into Spike’s head. Spike grunted as Crackle delivered a barrage of heavy hits, left and right, not once wanting to let Spike get a moment to counter. Crackle finished his combo by slamming both sets of hammers to each side of Spike’s head, disorientating him and ending it by pulling his hammers underneath Spike and swinging all four up at once, knocking Spike clear in to the air. The massive dragon flipped midair, landing on his chest, but he didn’t stay down. “Is that it?” Crackle asked as Spike groaned and picked himself up, shaking off the pounding in his head. “Are you trying to be some kind of hero? Is that why you brought us all the way out here, to the middle of nowhere, to protect the ponies?” Crackle then charged, slamming Spike a couple more times, sending him fumbling back a few steps. “Well, I got news for you, Spike, those ponies you’re trying to protect; they think you’re more of a monster than me.” Crackle went in for another blow to Spike’s face, but Spike wouldn’t have it. Before the attack connect, Spike caught two of Crackle hammers in his one hand, stopping the attack. Spike growled viciously as he crumbled the hammers in his hand like tin foil and began to push Crackle back. Crackle eyes widened in shock, but before he could do anything, Spike dove in and head-butted him in the face. Spike let go and Crackle’s hammer fists, letting his attack send the lazy-eyed dragon rolling back onto the ground. Spike then gave another powerful roar as he lifted his foot up and slammed it down in to a powerful stomp, causing the earth shaking fissure to form and rocks to rise up from the ground in a linear path, right at Crackle. Before Crackle could recover, one of the rocks rose up, hitting him in his chest and sending him flying into the air. With his metallic weight, Crackle wasn’t airborne for long until gravity kicked in and sent him falling back to the ground. Spike quickly jumped into the air and when Crackle was close, he threw a powerful punch, sending Crackle flying into a rocky mountain side, wedging him into the rock face. Spike landed and watched as Crackle quickly fell loose and fell back to the ground face first. The green behemoth wasn’t going to let Crackle off easy, not yet. With one powerful jump, Spike bounded into the air, landing just a few feet from Crackle who had just stood up. Spike then watch as Crackle’s blue metal scales quickly shifted to the light brown of the mountain they were under. “Idiot, Monster, I can absorb anything I want, including rock.” Spike’s eyes quickly changed from shock to pure joy. He then roared as he bore down at Crackle and threw a punch, shattering both of Crackle’s right arms to dust and pebbles. Crackle gasped in pain as he fumbled back and gripped the space where his arms had once resided. He quickly looked back at Spike and saw that he was giving a toothy grin from ear to ear. “Spike smash rock, Einstein,” Spike told him in a deep, burly voice as he punched the palm of his hand. Spike then slowly advanced as Crackled withdrew away in fear. “Wait, wait, you can’t do this!” Crackle pleaded, before Spike grabbed him by the head, silencing him. Spike then picked him up into the air, before slamming him down into the ground. He then leaned down to his face and said, “Watch me.” But before Spike could make good on his word, he heard something flying through the air; a familiar sound; the sound of a missile flying. He looked up to see and all he had time to do was register that it was indeed a missile he heard before it came down on him and Crackle and exploded on contact with the ground, creating a massive dust cloud. The resulting explosion sent Spike flying out of the cloud, a few fifty yards back. When he finally hit the ground, he rolled onto his back and slid to a stop. Thanks to his tough scales, Spike knew his body could survive such an attack, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less. He groaned as he rubbed his head, before he saw something land a few yards from him and realized it was Crackle or rather Crackle’s head. “Great, there goes my plan for that full body message back in Las Pegasus.” The dismembered dragon head groaned. Spike was a little disturbed by the talking head, but knew he had bigger problems coming his way. He quickly picked himself up and knew only one pony could be out here after him. “Belle,” He growled, baring his teeth. Spike looked off in the distance and saw his least favorite ponies; The Spike Buster Unit, General Belle’s personal army who’s one and only purpose was to destroy him. On ground he had a half dozen of the strange tanks he had seen from the city, the Spike Buster Tanks and overhead were five Hulk Buster Attack Choppers. Spike wasn’t all too concerned about them. His eyes bored passed them to massive armored vehicle in back. He knew that’s where Belle was, getting a front row seat to the carnage he was about to bring. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Inside the Spike Buster Command Vehicle, General Belle stood right behind the driver’s wanting to get a full view of what he was sure to be Spike’s imminent capture. “Sir, your orders?” The Driver asked. “All Spike Buster Unites, open fire!” He shouted with every ounce of power and authority he held. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Having been given their orders, the Spike Buster Tanks opened up a volley of heavy fire. Spike grunted as the shots came in, using his massive fists to punch and deflect just about every shot that came his way, causing them to explode on impact. As a few shots managed to escape him and hit, he knew he couldn’t hold up against fire like that for long and took off into the air. Now that he was airborne, Spike was wide open for the Spike Buster Choppers. They immediately locked onto him and fire a barrage of missiles, two of which managed to hot their mark and knock him out of the sky. Spike grunted as he painfully crashed to the ground, bouncing once from his back and finally onto his stomach. He quickly tried to pull himself up, but was soon hammered by a single Chopper peppering him with what he guessed were armor-piercing bullets that were bouncing off his armor-like scales. He managed to get to his feet, but the stinging of the bullets continued, forcing him to cover his face to try and pinpoint his attacker. The barrage continued, kicking up a dust cloud around Spike. With its target hidden, the Chopper stopped firing, waiting for any sign of movement. A short second later, the pilot wished he kept firing as Spike flew of the dust cloud and latched himself to the nose of the Chopper, slightly cracking the windshield. The Chopper’s aerial instruments quickly sounded as ‘beeps’ and alarms of all kinds went off due to Spike’s extra weight and wresting with the vehicle. The Pilot tried to wrestle control back as he spun the Chopper around, trying to get Spike to let go. Spike then lowered himself underneath the Chopper as he held onto the six-barreled Rocket launcher mounted underneath the Chopper. With one strong pull, Spike ripped the launcher loose and fell back to the ground. He quickly right himself and landed with his feet planted firmly in the ground and the launcher mounting on his shoulder. He looked around and saw three Tanks headed his way. He then grabbed a couple of loose cables from underneath the launched and touched the together, causing one of the rockets to fire and hit one of the tanks, taking it out. He quickly loosed another rocket, taking out another tank, but before he could take out the third, the Chopper from before began to pepper him with bullets again. “Enough with the bullets,” Spike shouted before tossing the launcher at the Chopper like a Frisbee. When the launcher hit the Chopper, the cockpit and propellers were demolished, sending the Chopper spiraling out of control toward the ground, but before it hit, the pilot ejected himself and floated to the ground safely from his parachute. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elsewhere, in the Hulk Buster Command Vehicle, General Belle watched as the same familiar scene began to play out before his eyes as Spike continued to decimate his forces. He slammed his hoof on the dashboard between the Driver and passenger seat shouting, “Keep firing, don’t let him get away.” “General Belle, withdraw your stallions, now,” Sounded a female voice over the radio com-set. “This is a secure military channel, who is this?” Belle demanded. “Who do you think, Daddy Dearest, it’s your superior,” The woman answered in an almost mocking tone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the same time, from a large jet place, bearing the symbol of SHEILD atop it, a unicorn mare with a porcelain white coat and a purple curled mane with a hourglass slender frame, wearing a black jump suit with a pair of purple gauntlets mounted on her two fetlocks and a matching purple belt with an white hourglass in the buckle stood with her right hoof over her head set, speaking to the disgruntled General. “Now, please, if you would be so kind as to back off, SHIELD will handle it from here.” She told him as she disconnected the channel. Beside her sat a pink earth pony mare with a puffy cotton candy mane sat in one of the many empty seats aboard the aircraft. She wore a similar black jump suit like her partner, but hers was sleeveless around her from hooves with a pink arrow on her chest point down on her chest with lines running along the outline of her chest, hips, and legs with rings around her fore hooves. On her back was a purple quiver full of arrows and a collapsible bow sitting at her side. She sat with her fore hooves behind her back with headphones on humming the “Smile song” to herself without a care in the world. “You know Daddy isn’t going to listen.” The Pink mare told her partner. “Not now, Pinkie,” the White mare told her, not wanting to hear anymore of her father. “Aw, c’mon Rarity, you know he’s too stubborn to listen to anypony. It’s all, ‘must capture Spike’, ‘must destroy Spike’, you think he’d get tired of screwing up.” Pinkie said. “Pinkie, dear, we’re on a mission to capture Spike ourselves. Director Armor wants him caught so we’re here to do that. Now can we please focus?” Rarity said as she looked over her gauntlets. “Okey doki loki” Pinkie said as she sat up and pulled her headphones off. “Sweetie, dear, how close are we,” Rarity asked aloud. “Time to Target: Two minutes.” The Pilot said over the intercom. “Ready, Pinkie?” Rarity asked. “Pinkeye is ready to go,” Pinkie cheered as she reached behind her back, clipping her bow to her fetlock mount on her right hoof. When she pulled it in front of her, the collapsible bow assembled itself, ready to fire. “And the Violet Widow is ready as well.” Rarity stated. The two agents felt the ship coming to a stop as the pilot announced, “Target time, one minute.” “Good, when we arrive, open up the bay doors and get clear of the area, Sweetie, things could get rather messy.” “Got it, Sis,” the Pilot said. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elsewhere, back on the ground, Belle watched as Spike was just finishing the last of the Spike Busters. He had destroyed the Choppers and demolished most of the tanks, all but one. The final tank was trying to retreat as it laid down cover fire for itself, but was pointless as Spike jumped into the air only to land on the torrent, crushing it into the ground. The driver quickly got out as Spike then hauled the massive battle tank over his head before tossing it into the last tank he had destroyed, blowing them up together. Before Spike was nothing but smoldering piles of scrap; all his troops, all his weapons, defeated by this one monster. The monitors quickly zoomed in on the purple brute as his face came into focus, Spike turned as if he knew the General was looking right at him. “Don’t think I forgot about you.” He growled. Spike slowly advanced on the Command Vehicle, but before he even took two steps a shadow veiled over him. He looked up to see a jet hovering overhead. Great, more things for me to smash, He thought to himself. As if to answer him, he saw what looked like an arrow fly down and jut into the ground with a line attached to it a few feet in front of him. A moment later, the arrow was followed by two more that struck him in his chest, but didn’t seem to hurt. He then looked back up to see two figures jump from the jet, swinging down the line attached to the first arrow. When they neared the ground, they landed to reveal two mares, a white one and a pink one. “Tick. Tick. Boom.” The Pink one said with a smile. Spike raised an eyebrow just as the arrow heads flashed and exploded in Spike’s face, causing dust cloud to form. “Oh I think we’re gonna have real fun with this one.” Pinkie told her partner.