• Published 31st Aug 2020
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The Reason to Smile - Onomonopia

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Keeping Promises

All Might hadn't been to many places in Equerestria, but from the few places he had visited he found the hustle and bustle of Canterlot to be the most comforting to him. The crowded streets, the shops on every corner and pedestrians all moving around him. Made him feel right at home.

Rarity had mentioned a few stores and a massage parlor that she figured would do wonders for his muscles. He had visited the parlor first, as his body was in a constant state of being sore. The mares that worked the place had been both amazed and excited by his body. They loved his muscles (who didn't?), but also were shocked at how many knots his muscles had. They had told him that it was like he hadn't given his muscles a break in weeks. They weren't that far from the truth.

He had been holding his muscle form for nearly his entire stay in Equestria. And while normally his muscle form had no drawbacks, holding it for weeks, with only a short time for breaks, was starting to wear on him. But he took it with a smile. It wouldn't be much longer. The League of Evil were down to just two members now. Chronos, who was a problem, and White Noise...who might be their greatest threat.

Chronos would be Twilight's problem. She had shown All Might that she had a firm grasp on time magic, enough to the point that she would be able to match Chronos time stop. White Noise was his target. With her energy absorption she was a threat to all of the ponies. Physical force was the way to go.

"But Sombra is the trickiest one," All Might muttered. He sipped on the sweet tea that a pony had brought out to him at a cafe, which he had decided to take a moment to rest at. "With his dark magic he has options. With his smoke form my might might...heh...not be able to hit him. And then there is his cunning. I hate cunning villains. They are the most dangerous. Twilight and I may have to work together to bring that foe to justice."

Oh yeah, Sombra's always been a pain." All Might glanced over his shoulder to see Spike and Gabby standing next to him. "Mind if we join you?"

"By all means." Spike pulled out a seat for Gabby, who giggled at Spike, before sitting down across from All Might. "Judging from the lack of a cast on that wing, I take it you have made a full recovery?"

"Recovered and ready for the next round," Spike said. "And from how bad things have gotten since I was taken out of commission, I would say you guys need all the help you can get."

"Excuse me?"

"Pinkie is walking with a small limp, Rainbow Dash is in critical health, Applejack stuck at her side, and Twilight not talking to her friends. The mane six aren't doing so hot and you guys could use a dragon on your side right about now."

"I appreciate your offer Spike, but I believe Twilight and I can handle this," All Might politely declined.

"You're not looking too hot either," Gabby pointed out. All Might had practiced self control ever since he had received his quirk, so aside from turning to look at the griffon he did nothing, though he was impressed that she had noticed. "You seem a bit worn out yourself. You're slumping slightly, your hair doesn't have its luster, and you seem to be oblivious to things going on around you."

"How is that?"

"The fact that you have a piece of paper impaled on your hair and you didn't even notice." All Might reached up and found that indeed there was a piece of paper there. He took it down and glanced at it (it was a flier for a traveling magic act), before crumpling it up and throwing it into the trash.

"I will admit that I am a bit stressed, but trust me when I say that there is no need for you to get involved," All Might said. "There is no need for civilians to get involved. Leave this to the professionals. That is what we are here for."

"If you say so. But as for the reason I am here," Spike continued with a smirk. "I'm here because I believe that I was promised some training once my wing healed. And well, I'm all healed up."

"You are right, young Spike. You have been promised some training and training is what you will receive," All Might agreed. "But this is hardly the place to work out. Citizens don't like it when you sprint like a madman down their streets. And trust me, I've ruined more than a few streets in my time."

"That's okay. I think I've got a spot," Spike said.

==== | V | ====

"It's perfect," All Might said.

"How is this perfect?!" Gabby asked. Ahead of the three was a long stretch of deserted land, with large canyon walls stretching up around them. There were holes in the walls that housed glowing eyes and once All Might had seen a giant, eel looking creature snap out of one of them and gobble up a bird that had gotten too close. "This place is a death trap!"

"Nothing gets your blood pumping like having your life on the line," All Might replied. Gabby glared at him.

"I can attest to that. Now come on Mr. Hero, what are we going to start with? Squating rocks? Lifting rocks? Pulling rocks?" Spike asked All Might.

"Nothing so extreme. Not yet. First we need to build up your stamina," All Might said. Spike raised his eyebrows and All Might gave him a look. "You know what I mean. If you want to get a body like I have, you're going to need to work up to it. So we're going to start with these."

All Might found a few small rocks and weighed them, smiling before he walked over to Spike. He used some rope that he had borrowed from the princess and tied the rocks to Spike's wrists and ankles. "There we go. That should provide a bit of resistance to get you started."

"Are you kidding me? I can barely feel these," Spike said as he flexed a few times. "See? Easy to move with these things on."

"You say that now, but wait until you've done a few sets or ran a few laps. Then it will feel like you're dragging the weight of the world around," All Might replied. "Trust me. This is how my master did it, this is how I did it and this is how you will do it."

"And then I'll get muscles like you?"

"It will be a start."

"I hope so. Can you imagine how I would look with muscles like yours?" Spike asked as he flexed.

"Oh I can imagine," Gabby teased.

"All right Spike, cardio is the way to go. Take a few laps around this area," All Might instructed. "But stay within my sight. Those eels look like they're looking for a snack and if anything happens to you I will have an angry griffon and princess to deal with."

"If it's so dangerous here, then why did you bring us?" Gabby asked.

"Because nothing inspires you to your true potential like knowing that there is a massive carnivore coming after you," All Might laughed. Gabby glared at him once more. "That's a joke."

"Hmm," Gabby replied. Spike had already started to run, doing laps around the pair of them as they watched. All Might watched the dragon run, but after a bit he cast a glance over at Gabby. She had opened up the pack that she had brought and laid out a blanket, some bandages, a few gemstones and numerous canisters of what All Might assumed was water.

"Those for Spike?" he asked. She nodded but kept her eyes on the dragon. "He's lucky to have you, do you know that?"

"Oh I know it. He's the only one oblivious to that fact," Gabby smirked.

"Stay strong. He'll get it one day," All Might responded. "All right, that is enough for now. Come over here."

"See...nothing to it," Spike panted. All Might smirked, able to tell that the kid was acting tough. To impress him or Gabby, he wasn't sure. Gabby offered Spike some water and he gulped it down.

"Glad to see that you've got so much energy," All Might smiled. "Because that was the warm up."

"Eh?"

"Next is push ups, sit ups, and plenty of squats," All Might said. "I hear that's a great way to get stronger. And since you're feeling so energetic, we'll start now."

"Are you sure you're not a villain?" Spike asked as he got in position to do push ups.

"I'm fairly certain. Now begin."

Spike started doing push ups in rapid succession, getting All Might to nod at Spike's performance. Despite the extra weight Spike pumped them out without any sign of slowing down. Dragons were an entire beast entirely. He would have to make this harder for there to be any effect, but how?

"Heh, I thought you said that these rocks would make this harder. I can keep this up all day," Spike taunted. All Might smirked in response.

"Really? You feel rock solid?"

"Was that a pun?"

"Feel like you can keep this up all day? No chance of your arms giving out or your resolve shaking?" All Might asked.

"None in the slightest," Spike replied.

"Good. Gabby, please lay on Spike's back."

"What?"

Gabby caught on to what All Might was asking and walked over to Spike, smiling at him before hopping onto his back. The dragon gritted his teeth as she settled down, crossing her arms and laying her head next to Spike's. The dragon's speed slowed a bit as he positioned himself so that Gabby wouldn't fall off.

"You doing alright, Spike?" Gabby asked.

"Of course. This is nothing," Spike said.

"Really? I'm not too heavy?"

All Might's eyes snapped open at that and he instinctively began to move to Spike to protect him.

"Not in the slightest. In fact, I barely noticed you were there," Spike replied with a smile and wink to Gabby. All Might let out a sigh and held a hand to his heart. The kid had good survival instincts.

The workout was cut short as Twilight appeared in a flash of violet light, the look on her face telling All Might it was something important.

"All Might, there you are. We've got...a bit of a situation," Twilight said. She then glanced over at Spike, who had stopped mid-pushup with Gabby still on his back. Twilight smiled and winked at Spike before her serious face returned. "Warp Drive appeared in the middle of Canterlot."

"Then what are you doing here? We have to go back and stop him," All Might said.

"See, that's the thing. He didn't come there to fight. In fact, the moment I arrived to meet him...he surrendered," Twilight said. All Might said nothing in reply. "He doesn't want to fight us, in fact...he needs our help."

"Dare I ask what for?" All Might said.

"He said he needs us to protect him. Protect him...from Sombra."