//------------------------------//
// The Armored Father 
// Story: The War of Champions 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

Spike roared with rage as he sliced through the air with fury in his eyes and power flowing through his wings, diving straight down at his target standing alone on the top of the flattened mountain top. With a bellow that rocked the very skies, he extended his claws and crashed down upon the metal titan with the full force and fury of his might, shattering the ground upon which the Big Daddy stood and plowing Daddy into the rocks. With another roar Spike leapt back and snarled, shooting smoke out of his nostrils as he awaited his foe to get back up.

With a moan of pain, Bubbles' hand grabbed hold of one of the rocks and he used it as a support to push himself back to his feet.  Spike smirked to see that his armor had been damaged and the Daddy himself seemed hurt. Yet, when Mr. Bubbles turned his head towards Spike, the dragon was surprised to see that all of the Big Daddy's eyes remained green, instead of the red that Black Adam had said Big Daddies would switch to when they were angry.

"What, you're not even a tiny bit angry yet? You think I'm not a threat or something?" Spike asked with some offense in his voice as he stretched his wings once again and began to propel himself off of the ground. He slowly cracked open his maw to allow torrents of green flames to pour out from the sides of his jaw, with the light cast from the fire making his expression look downright menacing. "Let me show you why I am Black Adam's right hand dragon."

In response to Spike's words, Mr. Bubbles held out his left hand and slowly began to walk towards the dragon, letting out low, soft moans as he tried to get closer. Yet the moment Spike saw the Daddy advancing, his jaw snapped open and he unleashed all of his hellish fury upon Mr. Bubbles, consuming him and the rest of the mountain top in green fire. Through the fire Spike could hear the Daddy bellowing in pain, yet within a few moments the Daddy was lost amongst the surging torrent of fire that began to spread down the mountain.

'Alright Spike, time to keep the fire under control,' Spike thought to himself as he quickly began to flap his wings with the force of a small typhoon, extinguishing the fire before it had the chance to truly burn. With the fire extinguished, Spike was able to see the now smoldering body of Mr. Bubbles weakly standing in the center of the mountain top, leaning against his drill for support to keep himself from falling over.

"Now you see the true power I wield. If I were you, I would start fighting as if my life depended on it," Spike advised with a smirk, only for the smirk to turn into a scowl as Mr. Bubbles wiped the soot from his armor and looked up at Spike with eight eyes that were still a bright green. "Are you still looking down on me? You still don't see me as a threat?!" Spike bellowed with his full fury, yet Mr. Bubbles continued to advance with his left hand held out and his drill dangling at his side, never once moving.

Spike bellowed with fury as he quickly spun and swung his muscular tail right into the side of Mr. Bubbles' helmet, knocking the Big Daddy off of his feet and sending him skipping across the mountain top. Bubbles managed to dig his drill into the ground to prevent himself from flying right off the mountain, yet Spike's fury only increased when saw the Daddy turn back towards him with green eyes.

"DAMN YOU!" Spike shrieked with wrath in every word as his tail shot out once again and wrapped itself around Bubbles' body, the magic-fueled muscles within managing to lift the Big Daddy off of his feet with ease. Spike yanked Mr. Bubbles into the air and dragged him in front of the dragon's flaming maw, where he unleashed another storm of green fire onto Mr. Bubbles' face. His dragon nature made his tail immune to his own fire, but he knew that at close range that not even a Big Daddy would be able to take such fire. Spike then snapped his jaw shut to cut off the flames before he lifted the still burning Daddy into the air and slammed him into the stones at his feet, driving the Big Daddy into them with a loud crack.

"Still believe me to be weak now?!" Spike bellowed as he pulled the Big Daddy out of the ground by one of his legs, dangling the man in front of the dragon's narrowed eyes. Yet, the only change that had come to the Big Daddy was that one of his ports was now broken, but even from the broken port Spike, to his increasing fury, could still see the green light. With an earth-rending scream, Spike lifted Bubbles over his head and drove him into the ground with such power that the whole mountain shook, yet Bubbles was only buried in the rock for a moment before Spike lifted him once again and drove him down even further, all the while bellowing at the top of his lungs.

"Do not deny me this! I spent five years becoming strong, making myself strong so that when the day came and I was needed to fight for my queen, I would have the power to overcome any foe!" Spike roared with absolute rage in his voice, yet only Bubbles could hear the hints of pain that was buried beneath so much rage. "And yet you refuse to fight me, refuse to give me the battle that I've trained for!" Spike roared as he pulled Mr. Bubbles out of the stone with his claws, dangling the Daddy in front of his face. "If you won't fight me, then you will fall!" He hurled Bubbles into the mountain top once again as he roared this, once again forcing Bubbles to use his drill to prevent himself from falling off.

As Bubbles pushed himself to his feet, he found that his vision was starting to waver, telling him, along with the agonizing pain the racked at his body, that he wasn't going to last much longer in this fight. Yet his eyes still retained their green color and once again he rose and turned to face Spike with neither drill spinning nor plasmids prepared in his left hand. All he did was look up at Spike and let out a low moan as he tried to walk towards the dragon that was four times his size once again.

"Why?" Spike asked with his voice in a low simmer, hiding the rage that boiled within his soul. "Why do you not fight back?! You are supposed to be one of the strongest members of the false champions! You are supposed to be the one who fought Black Adam in his ultimate form to a standstill! So why do you not attack?! Why do just simply keep walking forward?!"

Bubbles response was to moan softly as he continued to advance, holding out his left hand when he got close to Spike. With a snarl Spike took to the sky once again, circling the mountain top as he kept his eyes upon the Big Daddy, who in turn kept turning in place to keep at least one of his many eyes on the dragon. Yet his eyes remained green, never changing to the red that would tell Spike that he was ready to fight. They never even turned yellow, which Spike also knew meant that he was at least on guard. With one last roar Spike descended onto the mountain top once again, his eyes slits as he glared down at the Big Daddy who refused to fight.

"So be it then. I was hoping that today I would finally get a chance to put the power I have been building over these last five years to the test...but if you will not fight, then you will simply fall, and then Adam will be proven right and show that none of you were the chosen champions," Spike said with conviction as he rose to his full height, completely casting the Daddy in shadows. "If you have the will to fight, then either fight now or I shall end this." Spike snarled when the Big Daddy refused to so much as lift his drill, telling Spike his decision.

Spike's answer was to rocket forward in a massive burst of speed and wrap his claws around the Big Daddy, taking the both of them high into the sky. With a roar Spike hurled Mr. Bubbles into the air before lunging after him with claws extended, those same claws raking across the armor of the helpless Big Daddy. Spike spun after striking the Daddy and came back in for another strike, this time striking Bubbles from below in order to keep him in the air longer. Again and again he struck at the Big Daddy, yet Bubbles never once made an effort to defend himself, continuing to infuriate Spike.

"FALL!" Spike roared with finality in his voice while he rocketed past Mr. Bubbles, and he ascended higher into the sky, coming to a stop near the top of the clouds before letting out a roar as he turned and hurled himself back down towards the mountain top. He slammed into Bubbles on the way down, driving his shoulder into the Big Daddy before driving them both into the mountain top with an earth-shaking impact. When the dust settled, Spike found himself sitting on top of Mr. Bubbles, who was laying spread eagle on his back with his eyes barely glowing, but to Spike's dismay he found that those eyes that barely held any life within them were still a faint green.

"Fight...BACK!" Spike bellowed as he pulled a fist back before slamming it into Mr. Bubbles' helmet, making a small dent while also cracking some of the ports. "Why...don't you...fight back?!" Spike roared as he once again drew his fist back before slamming it into Bubbles' helmet once again, further denting it and shattering one of the ports while severely cracking the others. "I'm...going to kill you...and yet...you still...refuse to move! Do you not care for your own life? Am I the problem? You fought Black Adam with all of your might and yet you refuse to so much as lift a finger to defend yourself from me?! Why?! ATTACK ME!!"

Yet, once again all Bubbles did in his response was to moan. It was the weakest moan that Spike had heard out of him in their 'battle', but he had heard it enough times that he was beginning to understand what Bubbles' moan meant. This moan meant 'no'. Spike looked utterly baffled for a moment before he shook his head and held a hand to his face.

"Why do you refuse to fight?! What makes me so different from Black Adam?! What makes me different from the ponies you attacked when you destroyed the Spire, or when you tried to attack us when you first appeared in this land! Answer me!" Spike roared at the Big Daddy, only to receive silence as an answer. The silence ignited his fury once again and he roared as he brought both of his fists back over his head. "Why?! Explain to me?! I don't understand!"

As Spike drove his fist down onto Bubble's helmet once again, Bubbles finally understood what was going on.  Spike simply didn't understand, so he was lost and in pain. And now that Mr. Bubbles knew what was causing the dragon pain, he could work on a way to help him.

Spike bellowed once again as he lifted his clenched fists over his head, but just as he swung down a massive explosion of light erupted from Mr. Bubbles. The explosion not only stopped Spike's attack, but the force of the blast also hurled the dragon off of Mr. Bubbles and nearly threw him over the edge of the mountain, where he only caught himself with his wings at the last second. As Spike flew back onto the mountain top, he looked across it to see that Mr. Bubbles was now back on his feet, yet his entire body was covered in gold and silver armor. His eye ports were also completely repaired and divine light shone through them and that, along with the golden shoulder pad with a drill in the center of it, told Spike what Bubbles had done.

"Yes...this is what I've been waiting for! This is the fight that I have wanted all along!" Spike bellowed with a roar before he opened his jaw as far as it could go to unleash all of his magical fire down upon the Big Daddy. Yet to Spike's horror and shock, Bubbles held out a hand and parted the flames to the sides of him as if he were simply redirecting a breeze. Bubbles then began to move forward, walking through the flames as if they were nothing to him, causing Spike to cease his inferno before backing away from the Daddy in surprise.

"I guess Adam wasn't joking when he said that you had achieved a great power," Spike growled before bringing his fist back with a roar. "But I am no longer the weakling that I once was either!" Spike slammed his fist into the radiant gold helmet of the Big Daddy, only to retract it a second later as pain coursed through his bones following a loud crack. Spike snarled in pain as he clutched at his wrist, squinting through the pain to see that Mr. Bubbles remained unmoved by the attack, though the moment Spike had roared in pain the Big Daddy had picked up his pace and moved faster to get to Spike. Before he could reach the dragon, Spike flapped his wings and took to the sky again, floating out of reach of the Daddy as he did his best to suppress the pain.

"Damn it...you've got to be kidding me, it's like punching Adam," Spike growled with pain as he tried to figure out what to do, all the while Mr. Bubbles watched the dragon with all eight of his glowing eyes. 'He's stronger than me now, I can't punch him and my fire breath has no effect...I have no other options, I have to go with my last resort!' The moment he thought this the dragon quickly flew around to the other side of the mountain top and slammed down upon the flat surface, ignoring the pain as he dug his hands and feet into the mountain and spread his wings out. 

Mr. Bubbles had just begun to move towards Spike when he spotted lightning coursing both through the dragon's wings and the dragon himself, causing Spike to glow in a similar way to how Bubbles did. As the dragon began to glow brighter and brighter, the ground began to shake more violently beneath Mr. Bubbles, who looked from the dragon to ground before looking back to Spike. 

"THIS WILL END IT!" Spike bellowed with fury as he opened his maw and unleashed a hell storm of fire and lightning that decimated all that was in its path, carving a trench in the mountain top as the fire and lightning surge consumed the Big Daddy. The light was followed by a massive explosion that rocked the whole land, creating a pillar of energy atop the mountain that took a number of seconds before it vanished. Spike let out a weak sigh before he staggered forward, barely able to support himself. "But...that has to be it. There's...no way he could have..."

All of Spike's remaining will power left him when Mr. Bubbles not only walked out of the billowing cloud of smoke, but also walked out of it without so much as a scratch upon his golden form. Spike stared wide-eyed at the sight for a moment, before his arms gave out and he collapsed to the ground, unable to move as Mr. Bubbles began to walk towards him once again.

"Guess...I should...be careful...for what I wish for," Spike said with one last sigh before he closed his eyes just as Bubbles reached him. "This fight is yours. Go ahead. Finish me." 

Bubbles let out a low moan before he lifted his left hand and filled it with the golden power from his Element. The moment that it was filled with this power he reached forward and placed the hand upon Spike's head. 

Then everything changed.

Spike roared in confusion while he watched as images flashed before his eyes, images that he never remembered yet clearly held a younger version of himself and other foals within them. The image of a time when Bubbles had held up a house to prevent it from falling on top of a filly burned into his mind for a brief moment, before the image shifted with another one of where Bubbles had to dive to the bottom of a harbor to rescue a number of ponies that had been trapped within a recently sunken ship. There was a memory of Bubbles fighting a number of masked humans and another where he fought a creature that looked like him to save another filly. Again and again the images of Bubbles helping out foals burned through Spike's mind, until he came to a number of images that he realized were Bubbles' memories of...him.

The first was a memory of Spike when he was a baby dragon and he had needed help, when one of Twilight's experiments had gotten out of control. And within the memory he saw that Mr. Bubbles had helped him to round up the experiment without any reward. The next was a memory of Bubbles getting Spike out of another predicament, this time when he had accidently set fire to a number of trees. But the final memory was the one that was nearly too much for the dragon to handle.

The memory was one where Spike was getting beaten up by a number of teenage dragons, who were far larger than he was and far more mean. Spike had been alone, in the fetal position when Bubbles had come bursting out of the forest to find the dragons standing over the baby dragon. Bubbles had then roared and hurled himself forward, quickly making short work of the three dragons despite their size. 

Bubbles had then gently picked Spike up and tucked him into the crook of his arm, gently moaning to him as he brought the dragon back to wherever he had come from. And the moment Bubbles walked back into the forest, the images came to an end, allowing Spike to open his eyes to find that tears were streaming down them. The tears were not from the memories that he had seen. He was crying because he had been able to feel all of Bubbles' emotions during those memories. And despite the rage and the pain that Bubbles had felt, there was another emotion that had been directed towards the foals...and towards Spike...that had dwarfed all of the others.

That emotion was absolute love, a love that he had not felt in his entire life: The love of a father.

Spike slowly lifted his head to look at the Big Daddy, who was looking at Spike with his head slightly tilted to the side as he awaited to see if Spike was alright or not. Spike slowly sat back (and also realized that his wrist was healed and he felt at one hundred percent) while trying to grasp what had happened, and he tried to process the feeling of love that still coursed through him.

"That...that was your memory, wasn't it?" Spike shakily asked, getting a nod from the Big Daddy in response. "That was you, saving those foals...saving me...wasn't it?" Another nod answered Spike's question, but there were still so many more that Spike needed answered. Yet only one question stood out from all of the others. "So...you knew me in your world...you saved me...protected me...loved me, just as you loved all children...that's why you didn't fight me. Because you still love me...the other 'me', like a son." Bubbles nodded once again, but Spike growled as he turned away.

"But I'm not the Spike you knew! I'm different! I'm..." Spike stopped talking when he felt Bubbles place his hand upon Spike's knee, getting the dragon to turn to see that Bubbles was looking up at him and his divine white eyes were now a bright green. Then Bubbles moved forward and wrapped his arms around the dragon as best he could, before he started to moan what sounded like a song for Spike. Spike looked down at the Big Daddy for a moment before he began to cry, letting all the pain of being alone and unloved for so long out.

Bubbles stood there with his arms wrapped around the dragon as best he could while he listened to Spike bawl his heart out, glad that Spike was finally free of the pain that had hurt him for so long. Bubbles knew that this was not the same Spike that he had protected, or that he had watched grow up from a baby to an adult along with the other children of Ponyville. But he also knew that this Spike was an orphan that had never known his parents and had lost the only pony that had ever cared about him, leaving him alone and unloved. Spike needed somebody to care for him, to let him know that he was loved.

And Mr. Bubbles loved all his little sisters and brothers, no matter what reality they were from.

"So...you guys were telling the truth. You really are here to save the world," Spike realized once he had stopped crying and broken free of the hug, looking down to see Bubbles nod up at him. "Then...I need to get you back to Canterlot. I don't know where the others are or where Adam teleported them, but if you are the chosen champions, then you should all be able to win. Come on, we need to get you back before things get even worse."

Spike wrapped his claws around the Big Daddy before he flapped his massive wings and took to the skies, sailing over the landscape as fast as he could to get back to Canterlot. As they flew the golden light that surrounded Bubbles vanished as his Element returned to its resting place, forcing him to moan in pain as his body returned to a similar state to the one it had been in earlier. But the pain was blocked from his mind as he looked off into the distance and felt...something. He knew not what was the cause of the feeling, but it was the same feeling he got whenever one of his little sisters or brothers were in danger. And they would soon be in danger.

And anyone who tried to endanger his little sisters and brothers was in for a world of hurt.