The Reason to Smile

by Onomonopia

An Old Saying About Heroes

It had been a lovely day.

The Cake's bakery had made extra cookies and they had shared some with Spike. Spike had received a letter from Ember telling him about the going on's in the Dragon Kingdom. And finally, he had met up with Gabby to find she had gotten shakes for both of them. Nothing could ruin this day.

And then Sombra appeared in the middle of the sky and unleashed a monster the likes of which Spike had never seen upon the town. Within minutes the town of Ponyville had been set ablaze, numerous buildings had been devastated...and Spike didn't want to think about the other losses.

"Everypony this way! Head for the school!" Spike called out to the running ponies. A few of the ponies that were running for their lives took his advice, heading for the only building in the whole town that still had a magical shield around. Judging from the colors making up the shield, Spike knew that Starlight and Sunburst were there, keeping those inside safe. It was his job to make sure the others made it there.

"Spike!" Spike looked up to see Gabby flying towards him. "I've gotten as many of them towards the school as I can, but that monster and Sombra are on their way here! We need to get going ourselves."

"Okay, let's get going after..." Spike stopped talking when he saw some old mares trying to make their way through the crowd, but were quickly battered aside and thrown to the ground. Spike snarled as he flung open his wings and flew to the ponies side, using his slightly bigger size to protect them from the stampede. "Gabby! Help me get these old mares to the school!"

"Okay!"

Spike and Gabby took off towards the school, with Spike holding two of the mares while Gabby flew one of them. On the way there Spike managed to scoop up a filly that had gotten separated from her and tossed her onto his back. The two of them reached the school to see Trixie and Starlight outside, ushering ponies into the school.

"Spike!" Starlight exclaimed as he and Gabby landed. Trixie took the mares and filly and helped them move into the school. "What's going on out there? What is that...thing?"

"Sombra has returned." Starlight's face went pale at that news. "And he's brought along with him a monster that I've never seen before. All Might called him Monstro. It's as large as an Ursa Minor and hits far harder than one. So many buildings...and lives..."

Gabby placed a hand on Spike's shoulder, giving him a soft smile. "We're getting as many ponies here as we can, but there's too many and Sombra's moving too quickly. It won't be long until he's reached the school. Can your magic keep him out?"

"It...it might be able to for a time," Starlight guessed. "But even I don't know how it will hold up against...a monster...like that..."

Spike and Gabby turned around to see that, walking through the streets of Ponyville, came the monster. Monstro. The monster that All Might had spoken of. And it was heading their way.

"Spike, where is Twilight? Where are the Ambassadors?" Starlight asked Spike.

"They went to a place in the north...to hunt down Sombra," Spike snarled, the pieces falling into place. "He lured them out there. That's why they're not here now. He knew they would go after him and give him time to strike here."

"So they won't be coming," Trixie muttered as she walked up.

"Not for a while, if I had to guess. Knowing Twilight, she and her friends can escape whatever trap Sombra has set up...but whether or not she can get here in time," Starlight sighed. The dark king who was floating above the town turned and looked towards the school, giving Starlight the chills as she could see his smile from here. "Get inside the shield. Even with Sombra's magic and that things power, it should be able to hold until Twilight and the others get here."

"Come on Spike," Gabby said. She and the other ponies headed into the shield, but before Spike entered he stopped to look behind him one last time. At his burning town. At all of the destruction and death. He could feel the fire from there, he could smell the smoke...and he heard the faintest cry for help. And he spread his wings.

"Spike?!" Gabby yelled in fear. "What are you doing?"

"I have to go. It's my home. But more importantly, because I'm the only one here," Spike said. "Twilight and her friends might be who save the day, but I'm the guardian of the princess. I protect what she cares about. And stop those who would seek to harm her."

"But...but...!"

"Don't worry, Twilight will be here soon," Spike said as he gave a shaky thumbs up to the ponies. "All I've got to do is buy time. Luckily for all of us...Sombra hates me."

Spike kicked off the ground and took the sky, flying straight for the king of darkness. Spike watched as Monstro picked up a building and prepared to throw it at him, but Sombra held out a hoof to stop the monster. His smile only grew wider as Spike came to a halt in front of him.

"Spike. Spikey Wikey. You," Sombra said. "You've gotten taller since we last met."

"You mean since I last beat you?" Spike snarled.

"If that's what you want to call it. Though I remember all of your friends and the princesses having a hand...pardon me, hoof in my destruction. Forgive me, I've been around humans these last few days," Sombra said.

"Doesn't matter how I did it. I still beat you," Spike spat, literally spiting fire.

"Details. But now I don't see any of those same friends or princesses around to bail you out this time," Sombra whispered, his smile growing larger. "And yet here you are, all alone, prepared to fight me in a battle that you cannot win."

"You say that now, but I've been practicing my fire since the last time we met," Spike replied. "And I think you'll find that I've got-"

Spike barely caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and he whipped to the side, just in time to see a massive, clawed hand come slashing towards him. He rolled out of the way and just barely avoided being hit, only for a blast of dark magic to catch him in the side and send him crashing through a building below.

Spike groaned as he shook his head, getting up to his feet a moment later. The blow had hurt, but it wasn't anything he hadn't taken before. He took off once more and rocketed straight towards Sombra, spewing green fire from his mouth as he approached. Sombra smirked at his attack before transforming into his shadow mist, swerving out of the way of the fire before whipping Spike in the face with a dark tendril.

Spike flew back as he held a hand to his face, not feeling any blood. He gritted his teeth and lunged back in again, spewing more flames as he began to encircle Monstro. He didn't think he could beat Sombra, but he didn't need to win. Buy for time. That was his goal. And if he could slow the monster down, he might be able to buy the time that they needed.

That was until Monstro clapped his hands together with enough force to create a shockwave strong enough to both put out his flames and knock Spike out of the air. The dragon came crashing down to the ground, hitting on his wing hard and crying out in pain as he felt something in it break. Forcing the pain down, Spike pushed himself back up to his feet and swung around to face Sombra. The dark king was sitting on the head on Monstro, smirking down at Spike while dark daggers danced above his head.

"Well that was easy. You gave me such a heroic speech that I thought for sure this was going to be some legendary battle that our children would sing songs about for generations to come. But you buzzed around, blew some smoke and got swatted out of the sky. That's the failure I remember facing."

Spike snarled and inhaled, preparing to fire again. Monstro had other ideas and slammed his foot down next to Spike, shattering the ground beneath him and hurling the dragon back. Spike yelped as he landed on his bad wing, tears clouding his vision as he tried to lift his head.

"And the best part about this is, if you had stayed in that shield like I'm sure...Starblight? Eh, whatever her name suggested, you would might have lived. I mean, I'm sure that her shield is no match for my genius, but it would have bought you time. Probably not enough time until Twilight arrived, but maybe enough time for her to get to watch you die. But instead you're going to die here, alone, with nopony around to see. I almost feel cheated. Eh, what are you going to do? Monstro...kill him."

Monstro let out a bellow as he lunged for Spike, who didn't even have the strength to get up. He closed his eyes and waited for the end, only to snap them back open when he felt feathers brushing his nose. He was being flown through the air, being carried by a single griffon who was pouring everything into her wings to keep them going.

"Gabby?" Spike asked weakly. Once the two were an ample way away from Sombra and outside the town, she crashed into the ground and sent the pair sprawling. "What are you doing here? You should be under the shield, safe and-"

"YOU IDIOT!" Gabby yelled at Spike. "What am I doing out here?! What about you?! You leave me in there, challenge Sombra all by yourself and nearly get killed! What were YOU THINKING?!"

"I...I had to save my town. My friends. My..." Spike muttered. Before he could say anything else, a massive footstep slammed down next to them. The pair looked up to see Sombra and Monstro glaring down at them, Sombra having a smirk on his face.

"Well isn't this sweet. There's somepony...well something that cares for you," Sombra chuckled. "And for you, griffon, you have some courage in order to defy me in order to save him. Can't say it was a smart choice, but hey, that's teenagers for you. Never thinking with their brains. Well, if you wanted to save him so badly..." Monstro lifted his foot over them as Sombra said this. "Then you can die with him."

"Starlight. NOW!" Gabby yelled.

Sombra had enough time for a single eyebrow to go up before a portal appeared under Monstro's feet, sucking both him and Sombra into it. The pair were gone a moment later, giving Spike a chance to turn to see Starlight standing next to the both of them. She gave them a weak smile before she collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.

"That...was one...big guy," she panted. "Had to use...nearly everything I had...to teleport him away."

"Starlight?" Spike asked. He sat up with a grunt, Gabby moving in to support Spike. "What...where did you teleport him to?"

"Heh, you see that mountain over there?" Starlight asked, pointing towards a large mountain in the distance. "Trapped them under that. Yeah, I'm sure Sombra could escape, but Monstro is going to be stuck down there for a long time. Long enough for Twilight to get back and...and..."

Starlight went silent as she felt the ground beneath her, with enough force to knock all of them onto their backs. They all turned their gaze towards the mountain, the very same mountain that she had trapped Monstro under. The same mountain that was now slightly moving. With what little magic she could muster, Starlight used a sight spell to increase how far she could see. And what she saw turned her soul cold.

Monstro, with the aid of Sombra's magic, was lifting the mountain. And atop his monsters back, Sombra was smiling at her. Darkness wrapped around the mountain as it was lifted, anchoring all of the stone, earth and rock together. Sombra mouthed the words "farewell" to her, before, using all of his and Monstro's power, they hurled the mountain towards where she, Spike and Gabby were sitting.

The three said nothing to one another as the sky went black and the hundreds of thousands of tons came hurtling towards them. Starlight sat down and stared at it. Spike narrowed his eyes and stared up at his oncoming demise. And Gabby sobbed only once, before gently taking Spike's hand in hers. And then the mountain struck. The resulting shockwave and earthquake created from the impact could not be described in mere words. Sombra put it best.

"Well that was freaking awsome," Sombra laughed as he appeared next to the mountain. Monstro landed beside him a moment later while Sombra looked to his side to see that Ponyville was still standing. "Well, you hit Spike, but missed the town. We threw a mountain at this place, how the heck did we miss it? Ah, whatever. Spike's dead, Starblight is dead and now we can take our time killing the rest. But I've really got to be more specific when I..what the?"

Sombra turned to look at the mountain with disbelief, knowing for a fact that the whole mountain had just moved. He slowly began to back away from it, as the whole mountain began to shake and slowly lift off of the ground. "That...that can't be. Starlight can't be lifting it. I know for damn sure that dragon isn't lifting it. So how...how is it...?"

"How is the mountain moving, Sombra? It is simple, villain...it is because..."

"No," Sombra whispered as the mountain was fully lifted off of the ground, revealing the blazing blue eyes of a hero who was, by himself, holding up the entire mountain. A hero who still wore a smile on his face.

"I!"

"Am!"

"HERE!"

Comments

[Diokno44]

I come back to this fic and damn, loads of chapters! Time to read

[Diokno44]

10429796
Yup, and even after, he CAN still go into his muscle form, for like, a few seconds at best.

[Navarone]

2nd round, All Might VS villains!

[Darth Arcaneus]

Incredible Valor + Respectable Muscles = ALL MIGHT

[Norwegian boy]

Lifting a mountain? Sure, why not.

[marcelojj]

"I!"

"Am!"

"HERE!"

I have no words.

[Pete100]

Honestly, when I read the title of the chapter I was expecting all might to give the mane 6 and the princesses some winded speech of encouragement or something.

[Snow Frostfang]

10432419
Yes

[TheDino27]

"I!"

"Am!"

"HERE!"

Oh boy, would you look at the time !

It's ass kicking time !

[Jphyper]

Okay I was wrong. Discord's late to the party, as usual. Some help he is.

[Windbuck]

"I!"

"Am!"

“HERE!"

OK! I’ll say it before Sombra does. How are you here!?

[Black Gai Sensei]

10433108
Niiiiiiccccceee! My Hero Academia is one of my favorites!

[Real Solaris]

"How is the mountain moving, Sombra? It is simple, villain...it is because..."

"No," Sombra whispered as the mountain was fully lifted off of the ground, revealing the blazing blue eyes of a hero who was, by himself, holding up the entire mountain. A hero who still wore a smile on his face.

"I!"

"Am!"

"HERE!"

Now this is just straight up awesome on so many levels