The Fighting Dragon

by Phantom-Dragon

Dragon Training - Day 7

Author's Note:

The Story Mode has yet to be released. But we got a confirmation from the Mane6 development team that the Prologue and Chapter 1(Arizona) are on the way, with the others following later this year. So that's something.

Also, the team have hired Aaron Stavely, who has been working full-time as the team's coordinator. To those of you who don't know him, he's the YouTuber who made the Spotlight videos for each of the Key Seekers (Well, two of them, to be precise). Here's one of Arizona:

Arizona's Spotlight

Furthermore, with his coordinations, the team are now committed to monthly game updates and monthly devstreams.

https://forums.themsfightinherds.com/index.php?threads/aaron-stavely-joins-mane6.1935/

Dragon's Log - Day 7

I was sent into this alternative world called Fœnum, after a crazy magical mishap, courtesy of Trixie Lulamoon and Starlight Glimmer.

I'm without my friends from Equestria, far, far away, and my only chance of getting home now is the spell book that contains the spell that sent me into this world. Trouble is, it requires a powerful spell caster, kinda like Twilight or Starlight.

Luckily, I'm not alone anymore, because I now have a friend. A strong calf named Arizona, who sort of reminds me of my friend, Applejack back home.

Our missions:

1. Arizona needs to locate the Prophet's Key to save the entire world from the Predators.
2. Me. I need to find some unicorns who can send me back home.
3. I need to learn how to fight good!!!

Spike’s developing fight moves:

Basic:
(Light) Punch
(Medium) Kick
(Heavy) Tail Whip
(Magic) Fire belch

---

Eye of the Tiger

While Starlight, Trixie, and Thorax are desperately searching for an answer in the safety of Equestria, Spike continues with his rigorous training and exercises, in Fœnum, as he felt himself being pushed far beyond his limits.

No longer was he punching and kicking dead trees, but he was now breaking and chopping rocks with his claws and tail.

For his exercises, Spike would do sit-ups and crunches in the mornings and the evenings, straining as he exercised like he's never exercised before, because he never needed to back in Equestria. Sometimes, Arizona would force him down even further in his push-ups, which he would strain to push himself back up against her strong hooves.

Next were the jump ropes. Arizona would tie one end of her rope to a tree, with the other end in her mouth, and with all her might, she would spin the rope, starting off with a slow pace for Spike to jump over, before moving onto a faster pace that the young dragon would have trouble keeping up.

Other times, he would find himself hanging upside down, from a tree branch, by his tail, crunching himself up to touch his knee with his chin, and repeat. Later, both he and Arizona would have another sparring session with Arizona kicking, punching, and stomping her hooves at the little dragon, training his reactions and reflexes to block and counter attacks.

Often times, he manages to block some of her moves, slowly getting the forms down on how to block a low strike, an aerial strike, while struggling on defending himself from a few chain of attacks that can strike him at an unexpected, fluid, and painful level.

"Be strong, Spike!" Arizona would lecture. "Anticipate, Spike! Anticipate! Expect the unexpected!"

"Okay, okay! I'm anticipating, I'm anticipating!" Spike replied, while frantically defending himself from Arizona's fast punches.

"Then stand up and face me-HEY, WHAT'S THAT?!" Spike immediately turned around. "Hi-YAH!!" Arizona shouted, as she stomped her hoof and sent Spike flying off his feet. "What did I just say?"

"You said 'Hey, what's that?'" Spike answered in his defense.

"No, I told you to anticipate! You weren't anticipating! Again!"

With a long despondent sigh, Spike got back up and resumed his sparring with the calf.

---

Lesson: Super jump

Arizona looked up to see a lonely apple, hanging at the end of a branch, at a tall height that seems too out of reach for her.

"Hold on, Ari," Spike panted, as he was about to climb the tree. "I'll get it."

"No need, Spike. I got this," Arizona politely waved off the dragon's offer.

Spike looked curiously at Arizona, watching as she bent down on all four, and with a burst of speed, she kicked herself off the ground, launching herself into the air, and snatched the apple clean off its perch.

Spike could hardly believe his eyes, “Wow, Arizona!” He exclaimed. “You jump good!”

“Thanks Spike. All those works on the prairie pays off, y'know.”

“How do you do that?”

"Believe it or not. It's pretty simple, if ya have strong legs, stronger than a jackrabbit," Arizona lectured. "All ya gotta do is crunch down, and kick with your own two legs real hard. Soon, you'll be launching yourself in the air it's almost as if you're flying!"

"Cool!" With that, Spike tried to repeat the same thing Arizona did, getting down on his legs and claws, bending both his elbows and knees to touch the ground, before with a burst of his own speed, he kicked himself into the air, though not as high as Arizona's jump.

"Hmm, not bad, Spike," Arizona stamped her hoof in applause. "Not bad. And you're only gonna get better."

"Really?!"

"After ya give me 50 laps around this field."

Lesson: Hitstun

"YEE-HAW!!" Arizona shouted, thrusting her leg at Spike, catching him off guard, knocking the wind out of him. The calf held a hoof out to help the young dragon up, “Try not to get hit,” Arizona lectured. “Get hit once, and ya can’t move.”

Lesson: Blockstun

“You block, and your opponent is opened to attack!” Arizona lectured, as she thrusted her front hoof out for a punch, to which Spike managed to block it with a side block, before he counters with a tail whip.

Lesson: Pushblock

“If you can block strong and fast enough, then you can buy yourself some times by pushing your opponents away!” Of course, Spike wasn't strong enough to push Arizona away, even after a successful block.

---

Later, at the end of their trainings for the day, both Spike and Arizona were both sitting on a log, watching the beautiful sunset across the horizon.

"Sure is pretty, don't it?" Arizona asked, while chewing on a piece of grass.

"Sure is," Spike agreed. "It ain't Princess Celestia's, but it's just as beautiful."

Arizona turned to look at Spike, "Ya must really miss your home that badly, huh?" She asked.

"Yeah, I missed it really bad at first. But I think I also like Fœnum just as much," The little dragon smiled. "That is, once we get pass the current predator crisis that's got you all on edge."

"Right, there's that," The calf couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "Y'know Spike. For a dragon, you're really friendly. Uh, not that I have a problem with you as a predator, or anything. I don't mean that as an offense. Please, don't take it personal." The calf panicked.

"I'm not," Spike replied, shaking his head in understanding. "Believe me, back in Equestria, some ponies find it hard to accept me as well. They're always afraid of me, because I can breathe fire, have claws, sharp teeth, and everything."

"So if ponies were afraid of you, then how is it that you're still living with them?"

"Because I've got friends who trust me, and know me better," Spike smiled proudly and nostalgically. "I’ve already told you enough about Applejack, but there’s also Twilight - my very first best friend. She's the pony who hatched me and raised me, as if I was her own flesh and blood. Rainbow Dash, oh what daredevil! She's fast, strong, and an awesome flyer! But she can be a bit reckless sometimes. I blame it on her ego. Pinkie Pie's such an airhead, but a lot of fun. Fluttershy's very nice, but also very quiet. Too quiet. Then there's Rarity~"

At the mention of the unicorn Rarity, Spike finds himself lost in a loving daze as he daydreams about the beautiful, marshmallow white unicorn, "Ooh, she's your girlfriend, or something?" Arizona asked, with a mischievous smirk on her face.

Spike immediately blushed hysterically as he snapped himself out of his trance, "Uh, no, no! It's not like that!" Spike stammered. "I mean, she is my girl, and she is a friend-I mean, she is my friend, and she is a girl, but-"

Spike was interrupted when Arizona suddenly broke down, laughing heartily, "I'm just teasing ya, Spike!" She laughed, to which Spike pouted in embarrassment. "But seriously, I get ya. She's just a friend, who you think is real pretty."

"Uh, yeah," The dragon nodded. "Real pretty."

After the laughter died down, the calf continues, "So these pony friends of yours. How can they trust that you're not planning to eat them or anything?"

In response, Spike looked at Arizona with a weirded look, "What?"

"What? I'm just asking," The calf defended.

"Well, okay," The young dragon pondered, as he looked to see the sun slowly vanishing, then arched his head up to the night sky with the stars coming out. "I don't know the exact lifestyles you've got going here in Fœnum. But back in Equestria, we dragons don't exactly eat meat, let alone ponies. At least, for all I know."

"So what do you eat when you're hungry?"

"I told you. I'm a vegetarian. You can thank Twilight and her folks that. And sometimes, there's nothing sweeter than a pile of gemstones that tastes like rock candies to satisfy my tastebuds!" The dragon licked his chops at the thought of gems.

"Huh. Interesting," Arizona replied, looking intrigued. "You're full of surprises, y'know that, Spike?"

"Thanks. I'd say the same for you," The two both exchanged smiles, before they looked back to see the sun was gone completely, and the moon has climbed at the top of its peak in the sky.

"Well, time to hit the sack, Spike," Arizona yawned, as she rolled out two sleeping bags for both herself and Spike.

The young dragon picked up a pile of firewoods and set them up in a circle of stones, before he works his magic, breathing fire on the woods, igniting a campfire.

"How much further until we're close to the unicorns?" Spike asked.

"For all I know, according to this map," Arizona held up the map in the fire's light. "Could be about a few more days, give or take. If we can survive the journey."

Having his own fair shares of perilous journey, Spike nodded, "Yeah. If we can survive," He repeated nervously, holding the spell book close, while glancing around for any sign of movements.

Comments

[RustDust]

Glad this is continuing.

[Infamous Paradox]

I have kinda forgotten about this or it was probably already answered or have not to clue. But couldn't Spike send a letter through his magical fire breath?

[Wildcard25]

I liked it

[Phantom-Dragon]

9424190
Of course it's continuing. I said this story is put on hold, not canceled. But I'm still waiting for the real McCoy.

[NobodieZ]

Good work.

[Lanceblazer17]

Will we see discord head again?

[Comickook]

Once more, you did a really good job on this chapter. It took a while but was well worth the wait. The exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up are all well done in all the right places. I especially liked the detail of Spike's "move set" as well as his reflecting on his friends back in Equestria with Arizona after finishing his training for the day.

And, yeah, I'm glad we've gotten word of real progress on the game.

[HB_DS2013]

Good to know that we know Spike's moveset. I just know that he'll learn Tianhuo's fighting style mixed in when he meets her.

[Quill Plus Ink]

I get that you wanna follow the ingame lore and all that good stuff to get an accurate depiction of if spike was actually in the game, but whats stopping you from just writing from scratch and editing later? Just a inquiry.

[Starlight Nova]

Why didn't you reply to my comment?

[WhatDidIJustRead]

Hey! There's a Them's Fightin' Herds series tag now!

[Phantom-Dragon]

9786203
Thank you!

[Spikerules64]

I love this story keep up the good work 😊