Hero Of Harmony

by MattTOB

[8] On The Road Again

Spike woke up bright and early, at 5:00 AM on the dot. He sighed in bliss; that was one of the best nights of sleep he'd ever had! He may miss Twilight, but the one thing he sure DIDN'T miss was her antics keeping him awake throughout the night.

He followed Captain Eran to a dining hall where he had a quick breakfast (meat had been involved, and although he knew that Fluttershy would never get over it, Spike wasn't about to turn down what they had so graciously served him. Besides, he had to admit, pork tasted rather good). Once they were done, Spike gathered his gear, received some supplies for the journey, and followed the guards to where they said he'd get a ride.

Imagine his shock when he found out that this 'ride' was a horse. A non-sentient, domesticated, full-sized horse.

"What's wrong, Spike?" Nuha could see the uneasiness on his face.

"Do you not know how to ride a horse?" Hamzah guessed, unintentionally making Spike even more uncomfortable.

Spike blushed. "Y-you remember what I said about where I come from, and what the dominant species there is?"

Dead silence fell over the group as realization set in. They blinked, unsure of how to handle this moral dilemma.

Then, Spike thought of something. "Are there any other domesticated animals here?"

---

Half an hour later, Spike and company were riding towards Death Mountain on the back of a goat. Sure, it was still weird for Spike, as goats were also semi-sentient creatures in his world, but it wasn't as weird to him as riding horseback.

And yes, riding Twilight was different, because Twilight could actually give permission, and they were practically siblings.

---

Spike was zoning out, just taking in the landscape, when Hamzah suddenly cried, "Look out!" Spike snapped to attention immediately, looking ahead for whatever he was being warned about.

He was incredibly lucky that the threat whizzed an inch past his head. Spike turned to see it was a strange bat-like creature with one eye, a disproportionately small torso, and two large fangs, and it was trying to ram into Spike as he rode. Spike fumbled for a moment to grab his sword, then smacked the threat when it next made a pass. The bat crumbled to the ground, disappearing in a puff of purple smoke.

"Woah, what was that!?" Spike cried out.

"That was a Keese," Nuha explained. "They're a common, low-level enemy that swoops down to try and bite you."

"How come I haven't seen any of them before?" Spike thought back to yesterday, when he'd gotten lost in Kokiri Forest.

"Well, we led you on a path that was devoid of them," Hamzah explained. "Before that, I dunno; you must've gotten lucky."

Spike nodded, making sure the goat was alright.

Then Nuha called out, "Swarm of Keese at 10 o'clock!"

Spike looked to his left, and was immensely frightened to see a group of ten Keese flying straight for them. Three of them lunged forward, fangs bared, but Spike was able to take them out with a clumsy swing of his sword. Two more lunged when Spike was still in the back swing, nearly knocking the sword out of his grip, but he barely managed to hang on.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the goat. The last five all rammed into Spike's mount together, causing it to tumble sideways and flinging the heroes onto the dirt. Spike winced as he skidded to a stop on the ground, then got up as quickly as he could. The goat was fleeing into the woods, and the remaining seven Keese were all getting ready for another strike.

Spike took the opportunity to grab his shield off his back and redouble his grip on his sword, bracing himself for a fight.

The Keese all lunged at him, and he started flailing his sword around like a madman. Every now and then, it would hit its target, but most of the time, the blade would sail right past them.

"Spike!" Nuha called out, "Focus your attacks on one at a time instead of trying to hit them all at once!"

Spike decided to take Hamzah's advice, and stopped his blind assault. His eyes locked on to one of the Keese, who was readying another lunge. When it did so, Spike swung the sword as hard as he could, sending the bat hurtling away. Another Keese tried to lunge in the opening, but Spike managed to block it with his shield before delivering a counter attack.

Two more Keese lunged forward, and Spike jumped out of the way, but he was hit by a third one, sending him tumbling. Another Keese tried to finish the job, but Spike barely rolled out of the way in time, countering with a jet of fire breath. The three remaining Keese swooped low to the ground in an attempt to knock him off his feet.

Hamzah shouted, "Spin attack, now!"

Spike wound up, then spun himself, striking all three Keese with his sword on his way around. The enemies fell to the ground, and with a burst of purple smoke, they were no more.

With the battle finally over, Spike took deep breaths to calm his rapidly beating heart. The fairies fluttered over, landing on his head in what he assumed was a victory hug. "Spike, you did it! You beat your first group of monsters!"

"Yeah," he wiped the sweat from his brow, "That was pretty tough..."

Then something glistening caught his eye. Where one of the Keese had landed, it had left behind a fang.

When Spike picked it up, Nuha said, "And you got one of its fangs! That might come in handy later."

"How so?" Spike asked.

"I dunno, but it might!"

Spike looked at her, then shrugged and stuck it into the item pouch on his belt. "Alright, let's just get back on the—"

He blinked, remembering that the goat had run off during the scuffle. Spike tried to peer into the woods, but couldn't spot it. "Great," he muttered, "I guess we're walking..."

---

Twilight grinned to herself as her horn did the work. "Alright, almost done..."

The other Elements were, once again, standing off to the side, concern writ across their faces. "Uhh, Twilight?" Pinkie began, "This seems like a really bad idea... And if I'M saying that, then..."

Twilight replied in what she thought was a reassuring tone (but actually came off as manic), "Oh, relax, Pinkie; it'll be fine, I know what I'm doing!"

Rainbow grimaced. "Not that I'm questioning your skills, but... Do you, though?"

The unicorn let out a maddened cackle. "Oh, Rainbow Dash, you always were such a kidder!"

She went to argue, but Rarity wordlessly held her back.

Finally, it was done. The scroll dropped out of her magic, and she smiled wickedly. "There, I did it! I've traced his letter to the source, and now, I can finally get him back!"

Fluttershy meekly approached. "Wonderful, Twilight; that's really great. Now, if you don't mind, could you maybe, possibly... Stop acting so crazy?"

Everypony gawked at her forwardness. She may have had two confidence-building lessons recently, but still...

However, those words of passive aggression fell on deaf ears, as Twilight was already enacting Phase 2 of her plan. After a moment of charging up, she recast the spell that'd started this whole debacle, focusing specifically on the location she'd gleaned from Spike's letter.

After a moment, the spell formed, depicting an image of a fancy bedroom. Rarity couldn't help but whistle at the beauty of its decor; the rest were just impressed that Twilight had actually done something productive in her crazed state.

Twilight herself, however, wasn't satisfied. "Where's Spike? Has he already left this place? I've gotta find him!"

She focused a bit more, and the image in the spell shifted. Several locations flashed in quick succession, all evidently from the same world (judging by the omnipresent castle in the distance). These locations varied wildly, from a mountaintop reservoir to a long stone bridge over a large lake.

Then one particular image flashed by. Twilight quickly stopped her search and went back to it, and everypony gasped.

The spell now showed Spike walking down a dirt road, wearing a strange outfit, and accompanied by two glowing balls with wings. He was muttering something under his breath, but the portal didn't let the sound through.

"Well, Ah'll be..." AJ remarked. "Ya found 'im, Twi!"

Twilight was too busy concentrating to be happy; the spell, like last time, was taking a lot of her effort just to maintain. "Quick, get Spike's attention!"

The rest of the group began to shout Spike's name, trying desperately to signal him. But no matter what they did, he didn't notice; it seemed that the viewport didn't allow sound through.

Twilight sighed, "I didn't want it to have to come to this, but... Somepony, jump in!"

"WHAT!?"

Author's Note:

Wow, some actual action! What is this, a Zelda Game or something?

...oh wait.

Comments

[SpikeSmolder fan]

Nice first taste of combat for Spike, too bad about the goat though!

Wasn't expecting Twilight to find him so fast (course she's Twilighting so that's not good), have to question her plan for one of the Mane Five to jump in there!

[Sudrian Engineer]

I hope nobody jumps in. This is Spike's adventure, not theirs

[AllenVth]

Yes! Spike defeated his first monster hoard. Bats, but still a first start for him.