Rarity quickly dropped the glowing green gems on the ground, watching as they shattered into pieces. Ordinarily, she would've hated to waste gems of any sort, but this was one time that she was willing to make an exception.
Spike, meanwhile, was eying the portal that Filthy Rich had disappeared through. He wasn't certain where it would lead, but he knew he couldn't just allow Filthy Rich to escape after everything he'd done.
"Spike, don't go in! It's obviously a trap!" Rarity pleaded "Filthy Rich can't hide in there forver, he'll have to come out eventually."
"I can't wait that long, Filthy Rich needs to be brought to justice for what he's done!" Spike said seriously, as he turned his attention to Rarity "And I'm just the dragon to do it!"
"There's no way to talk you out of this, is there?" Rarity asked Spike, who shook his head in response. Rarity sighed. She was still tied to the chair, so there was nothing she could do to stop Spike from chasing after Filthy Rich. But, just as he was about to enter the portal, Rarity called out to him and said "Please, be careful, Spikey-Wikey."
"Thanks for your concern, Rarity," Spike smiled "Now, it's time Filthy Rich finally got what was coming to him!" And with that, he entered the portal, and disappeared into the same virtual world that Filthy Rich currently resided in.
Randolph shut down the portal a moment later. "That portal is going to stay closed until I'm given the order to open it again. If stays open for too long, it could burn out its power source, and shut down forever."
"Please hurry, Spike," Rarity thought anxiously to herself "Filthy Rich is the only one who can bring you both home. And something tells me, he won't go down without a fight."
Spike quickly discovered that the virtual world he was in, was not unlike the real life world of Ponyville. Except for one key detail, every time he touched something or someone, he passed right through as if he were non existant.
"Alright, Filthy Rich, I know you're here somewhere!" Spike shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing in every direction "Hiding won't save you, come out and face me, or I'll comb every inch of this virtual world until I find you! And trust me when I say, you won't like that at all!"
"Oh, I've no intention of hidin' from you, Super Runt!" Filthy Rich taunted from afar "I'll lead you right to my location. But first, I want to make sure that this virtual world hasn't weakened you at all. It wouldn't be any fun beatin' up someone when there's no challenge involved."
"Whatever you throw at me, I can handle it!" Spike proclaimed. Just a few seconds later, a series of rings appeared before him.
"Just fly through those rings, and they'll lead you right to me," Filthy Rich instructed "But you better be quick, they won't last forever. And I ain't givin' you anymore hints."
Spike wasted no time in flying through all of the rings without any difficulty. Even when the rings required him to loop around buildings, or fly over or under obstacles, he made it through.
By the time he had flown through the last ring, he was eager to settle things with Filthy Rich once and for all. "I hope your idea of a challenge is more than just having me fly through rings. That wouldn't even pass for a fun game." Spike taunted.
"Those rings were merely a warm up, now we can get down to the real fight!" Filthy Rich said, as he walked out onto the street of the virtual world, still clad in his egg shaped suit of armor "Let's see whether mind triumphs over muscle, or brawn beats brain!"
"Arrogant as ever," Spike said with a sigh "You can't beat me."
"Shows what you know, now allow me to make the first move!" Filthy Rich shouted, and rushed forward with his suit, hoping to use what little energy he had obtained from the glowing green gems to his advantage.
But much to Filthy Rich's surprise, the power boost made little difference, and the punch he delivered barely did anything.
"Not bad, now let me show you what a punch is suppose to feel like, hope that armor holds up!" Spike declared, before he threw a punch that Filthy Rich was certain would've knocked the wind right out of him, if he weren't wearing the suit.
Filthy Rich recovered, and tried to kick Spike in the chest, but Spike flew up and easily dodged it. Spike then came back down, and delivered a punch that knocked Filthy Rich to the ground.
This process repeated itself for about a minute or two, and in the process, Filthy Rich's suit of armor racked up more and more dents, to the point it where seemed ready to fall apart at any second.
"How are you doin' this? You shouldn't be this powerful!" Filthy Rich groaned, as he rose to his hooves "Unless, you've been holdin' back!"
"Guilty as charged," Spike admitted "When I first discovered my powers, I was amazed at what I could do. I could literally move mountains with no effort at all. Practically nothing could hurt me. I felt like I was king of all of Equestria. But I soon realized that my powers were too strong. With my new found powers, it was like I was living in a world made of nothing but foals art supplies. If I used my full power, innocents could be hurt or killed, buildings could crumble to dust. But in this virtual world, I finally have the chance to do what I've never been able to do before. I have this rare opportunity to cut loose, and use all of my powers against your suit. Because I know you can take it, and I know that no one else is in danger."
Filthy Rich didn't reply with words, he just growled like a wild animal, and charged at Spike once again.
Spike shook his head "You never learn, do you?" he said with a shake of his head "Oh well, guess I'll have no choice but to reduce that suit to scrap metal!"
Rarity was waiting anxiously for the portal to turn back on, and Spike to emerge with Filthy Rich beaten and humiliated, ready for jail. In the meantime, she occupied herself with trying to break free from the chair she was tied to.
Suddenly, Rarity felt the ropes holding her in place being loosened. She turned to look, and saw that the one doing so was none other than Diamond Tiara, who had recently become one of Sweetie Belle's friends.
"Sorry about my daddy, I don't know why he's doing stuff like this," Diamond Tiara apologized, as she continued to undo the ropes "I know him, and I know that he wouldn't hurt a fly if he didn't have to."
"I find that hard to believe." Rarity said in a deadpan tone.
"Please, you must understand, Daddy isn't acting like himself," Diamond Tiara pleaded "I overheard him talking with these suspicious figures about how he needs money to silence the higher ups."
"So you're saying, that Filthy Rich is acting the way he is, because of pressure from someone or something else?" Rarity asked, as the last of the ropes holding her prisoner were freed.
Diamond Tiara nodded "And that's exactly why I'm doing this, I'm trying to save my daddy from himself, before he becomes something he's feared he'd end up becoming."
"Well, don't you worry," Rarity smiled, as she got up from the chair, relieved to finally be free "Super Dragon will make sure that your father gets what he deserves, and hopefully some quality jail time will make your father see sense."
Spike decided that enough was enough, he wanted to end this and return to the real world as soon as possible. With that goal in mind, he delivered a punch that was powerful enough to knock Filthy Rich into the air, suit and all.
Spike then flew up, grabbing Filthy Rich while he was still in mid air. "Virtual world or not, a fall from this height would probably kill you," Spike explained, as he carefully flew down towards the ground, controlling his descent "Once I'm low enough, I'll let you fall, and hopefully you'll realize that you can't win. Because I'm getting tired of fighting you, I can sense your heart isn't into this."
"You know nothin', little dragon!" Filthy Rich shouted, even as he was let go, and made an egg shaped crater in the road of the virtual world. Filthy Rich rose a few seconds later, his suit barely holding together. At that point, he took one look at Spike, and realized that he was beaten. "Fine, you win!" he said furiously "I'll tell Randolph to open the portal, but I won't like it!"
"I appreciate that you know when to give up," Spike said with a smile "Maybe I can put in a good word for you at your sentencing, so you'll get a reduced time behind bars," Then, Spike noticed a flashing red button on the chest of Filthy Rich's suit "What is the meaning of this?!" he asked furiously.
Filthy Rich smirked, as he said to Spike "Oh, I suppose it slipped my mind earlier, but this suit is linked to the controls for a set of missiles. One will go to Manehattan, and the other to Los Pegasus. When you were poundin' away at my suit earlier, my hooves might have slipped and started the countdown. Think you can fly fast enough to stop both of them before they impact?"
"You won't get away with this!" Spike vowed "Now hurry up and tell Randolph to open the portal so we can go home!"