The New Bearers

by PioneerofImagination

The Trio of Shadows

After my defeat at the hands of Humanoid for one reason or another I hardly left my bed. Even now as I'm writing this, I couldn't believe that Humanoid was tough even to endure all of my attacks, then take me down with just one of his. The others would come to see how I was feeling, most of all Twilight , actually it was a tie between Twilight and Rarity. Twilight would make some food for me while Rarity would just stay with me if I needed anything. "Thank you for everything," I would say to both of them.

"Oh it's nothing Spikey Wikey," Rarity said with a wave when I said it to both of them at once.

"Yeah with all the stuff you've done lately, this is the least we can do," Twilight added. After a while Twilight left to talk with Cadance and her brother, leaving me alone with Rarity. She came by the bed and gently placed her hoof on my cheek as I was still laying on the bed, which rather made my heart beat a bit faster.

"Spike," Rarity said to me so gently as I looked into her beautiful eyes. "Would you like to come to the gem cave with me? I want to make more dresses with them, and I need a little extra help from my favorite dragon."

"I don't know Rarity, maybe you should ask Twilight, or Princess Cadence. They might be able to handle it better than I could."

"Oh Spikey Wikey don't talk like that, of course you're the best for the job. Why don't you help me with a dress I'm already working on before we go?" Rarity asked me as she batted her beautiful eyes at me, how could I have possibly said no.

***

"So how is he Twily?" Shining Armor asked.

"Well he's gotten out of bed a couple times," Twilight answered before she sighed. "But I can tell he's still depressed."

"Yeah I don't think I can blame him," Shining Armor said. "Humanoid really hurt him."

"Despite his incredible strength, he only punched him once. He should have recovered from that by now," Cadence said.

"No Cadence," Shining Armor said. "Humanoid hurt his pride, that pain isn't going to fade as quickly."

"He's right," Soarin said as he and the other new bearers joined the others. "A warrior's pride is not so easily mended."

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.
"I don't quite understand," Cheerilee said.

"It's a stallion thing," Cheese Sandwich added.

"Regardless of what is to be Spike's fate, there is another matter to deal with before it is too late."

"Eeyup, Humanoid."

"Zecora is right, and so is Big Mac," Cheese Sandwich said. "How did that guy get so strong? I wanted to ask him that at the Crystal Empire, but I was too busy running for my life."

"Even if you weren't, he always has rather hard to figure out," Discord said as he appeared out of nowhere as he usually does.

"Right Discord," Twilight said. "You knew him. What exactly is he?"

"You know, I could never quite figure that out. I just kind of hung out with him because he was strange like me. I also admired his feats of strength."

"We kind of saw that when he overtook the Crystal Empire," Shining Armor said.

"He didn't directly say it," Twilight said. "But he was the one that killed the wendigos, is he strong enough to do something like that on strength alone?"

"I doubt it even for him, though he still has his magic. Somehow he was able to use his magic to mess with other magic."

"What do you mean?" Cheerilee asked.

"He could somehow make it so that the magic of others don't work, or at least not the way it's supposed to."

"He can interfere with the magic of others?" Shining Armor asked. "You mean kind of like how King Sombra made it so our Elements of Harmony couldn't work?"

"Exactly," Discord answered. "That was something Humanoid could do as well."

"Does that mean Humanoid taught him how to do that?" Soarin asked.

"I doubt it, he's not really the teaching type," Discord answered.

"Sheesh," Shining Armor said as he started to pace back and forth. "One question gets answered and two more take its place.
"Yeah I'm getting a headache just trying to make sense of all this," Cheese Sandwich said.

"This is all too much to handle right now," Cheerilee said. "Maybe if we give this problem some space an answer will come to us. Besides, I really want to do something to cheer up poor Spike."

"Yeah," Cheese Sandwich said. "Let's throw him a party, like the one the crystal ponies were about to throw for Spike before Humanoid. Uh never mind, let's try something else."

"How about we bake him a giant cake?" Soarin suggested. "And maybe a pie, not for him but for me. All that stuff in the Crystal Empire really worked up an appetite. Might also be because of all the stress I haven't found the time to eat."

"That happened to me once," Cheese Sandwich said. "Only instead of food it was sleeping. I was working on so many parties I forgot to do that and the next thing I knew, I blacked out and woke up a week later in a hospital."

"Uh, okay," Cheerilee said,

"Actually, I'm pretty hungry too," Shining Armor. "Maybe if we get a bite to eat it'll help us figure something out."

"We can get something to eat at Sugarcube Corner," Cheerilee said. "They always have the sweetest desserts."

"Like pie!" Soarin said as he flew over to Cheerilee. Sheesh what's with him and pie anyway? I mean I like it fine, but personally I'd much prefer a large and crunchy bowl of colorful gemstones. Speaking of which, Soarin went with Cheerilee to Sugarcube Corner while I was out with Rarity who was treating me to several of those delicious said gemstones.

"Are you sure I can have these Rarity? We just started looking for the gems you need." Rarity then placed another gemstone in my mouth while I was sitting by the wall of the cave.

"Oh of course, my dear Spike," she answered. "There's plenty more gems to get in the cave. Besides, I wanted to cheer up my favorite dragon. Do you feel better Spike?"

"Yeah, a little bit," I answered.

"That's good, do you still want to help me get the gems for the dress?"

"Of course, anything for you Rarity," I answered as I stood up.

"That's good too, because I need your strong dragon arms to carry all of the gems." Rarity and I then made our way into the cave and gathered all of the gems Rarity wanted. "Well, I think it's fair to say I got all the gems I'll need to make those dresses absolutely fabulous," Rarity said as we made our way out of the cave.

"If you're the one that's making them, then there's no way the dresses won't be."

"Oh Spike, you flatter me so," Rarity said as I saw her blush a bit.

"No really," I continued. "You're such an amazing pony. You're strong, beautiful, gorgeous even, talented, smart, and even an Element of Harmony. Or were or will be after it's all figured out, still don't know about all that," I said as I scratched the back of my head.

"Yes, that is rather confusing," Rarity agreed with me.

"Anyway," I continued, again. "You're amazing. And, and there's something I want to tell you. Something that I wanted to tell you back at the Crystal Empire, something that I've wanted to tell you for the longest time, since the day I met you."

"Yes Spike," Rarity said as she put her hoof to her chest. Perhaps knowing or at least highly suspecting what I was about to tell her.

"Rarity I, I," I paused as I could hear my own heart beat. "I love you!" I nearly screamed as my confession echoed throughout the cave.

Oh dear, Rarity thought. I, I don't know what to say. "Oh Spike," she said as she placed a hoof to my chin.

"Yes Rarity."

"Please understand, I do care for you a great much. You're always such a wonderful help around the shop or getting gems or anything really. I couldn't ask for a better friend."

Friend? I thought.

"But, you see. You and I are just too different, I mean I'm a pony and you're a dragon and, and well-"

"I get it," I interrupted Rarity as I got her point and couldn't really take much more of it. "I'm sorry Rarity, I shouldn't have shared how I feel about you. I'll, I'll go now," I said as I walked off even more hurt than when Humanoid knocked me out and took over the Crystal Empire.

Oh my beloved little Spikey Wikey, don't go. Please don't go, Rarity thought as I made my way out of the gem cave and back to the crystal castle.

“Spike wai-” Rarity called out before she was cut off and I was too far away to hear her.

***

As I made my way back, Twilight was in the middle of a rather intense conversation with Shining Armor.

"What the heck are we going to do? That Humanoid creature is way too powerful for us to handle, we can't even use the Elements of Harmony because I still can't figure out how to undo what Sombra did to them."

"Take it easy Twily, you're going to wear out the floor."

"I'm sorry I'm just so stressed."

"Cadance and I are the ones that should be stressed. We lost our entire kingdom. I wanted to help Spike fight that guy. When Spike told him all the things that happened to you and your friends and he acted like he didn't even care one bit. I wanted to blast that guy point blank, but Spike beat me to it."

"That might have been for the best, if Spike got knocked out with just one punch, he could have done much much worse to you. No offense."

"None taken," he said calmly. "As much as I didn't want to, retreating was our best option."

"He who turns and runs away can live to fight another day," Zecora said as she entered the room with the rest of the new bearers.

"Yeah exactly," Shining Armor said. "He may have won the battle but we won't win the war." As they talked a little more I made it back and Twilight stopped chatting with the others to check on me.

"Hello Spike, did you have a good time with Rarity at the gem cave?"

"Yeah, listen Twilight, I'm really tired, I think I'm gonna go take another nap."

"Oh okay," Twilight said, showing her concern for me as she usually does but decided to give me my space. After I woke up I thought a bit about Humanoid and after that I turned into my bigger form to do a bit of a workout. I don't usually do that sort of thing. Maybe it was because of everything that I'd been through recently. I thought that if I was stronger I would have stood my ground against him a little more and maybe I could have stopped him. After I did that for a little bit I smelled dinner, which was pretty good timing as that workout worked up an appetite.

Wow that was really clever wordplay and it just came to me out of nowhere.
I changed back into my regular form and looked at a nearby mirror which I couldn't help but admire myself in. "Looking good Spike, looking real good," I said as I flexed my arms a little bit. I made my way down to the kitchen and saw that Cadence and Shining Armor were there as well.

"Oh Spike you got here just in time for dinner, I made your's special," Twilight said as she placed my plate where I sat down.

"Thanks Twilight," I said as I started eating a little bit. "But what's he doing here?"

"Well," Twilight said as she sat next to me. "Since Humanoid took control of the Crystal Empire Cadence and Shining Armor will be needing a place to stay until we can figure out how to get it back. However long that might take."

"So he's staying here in the meantime? Why not, I don't know. Anywhere else?"

"Spike, be nice to Shining Armor," Twilight told me. After dinner Twilight asked me to show Cadance and Shining Armor to their room. Which of course was right next to mine, why can't I get a break?

"Thank you for the help, this castle is rather easy to get lost in." Cadence said to me before entering her new room.

"Yeah thanks Spike," Shining Armor added.

"No problem," I answered as I started to walk off.

"Really I appreciate all you've done, not just today but in general and-"

"Look I know you're trying to be nice but just stop Shining Armor," I interrupted. "It's not going to cheer me up, and you and I are not friends. You made that very clear a long time ago." I then made my way down the hall as Shining Armor stayed there trying to think of something to say, but said nothing. As I continued walking I came across Twilight who as quick as I saw her pulled me into a hug.

"Spike, I now you're upset at yourself-"

"I'm not mad at myself Twilight, I'm mad at Humanoid."

"And you're mad at yourself because you couldn't stop him right?"

"Yes," I answered Twilight after about 10 or 20 seconds of silence, a rather awkward silence.

"We'll figure something out, but stop being so hard on yourself okay?" Twilight asked as she looked at me while pulling away from the hug.
"It's not just Humanoid," I replied.

"It's not," Twilight replied. "Is there something else? Well I mean of course there is otherwise you wouldn't have just said that? What is it?" It was my recent conversation with Rarity, but that's not exactly something you want to tell, anypony.

"I'd rather not talk about it?"

"Is it something about your body? I mean what your recent transformation powers that might be a little hard to deal with or understand."

"It's not really a body problem, well it kind of is but, I really don't want to talk about that right now."

"All right Spike," Twilight said as she pulled me into another hug. "But I'm always here if you want to talk."

"I know, thanks Twilight." Twilight then made her way to her room something about making a few fun activities to do with Princess Cadence and Shining Armor while they were here, I wasn't really listening.

"Maybe I can think of something that Spike and Shining Armor would like to do together, maybe something comic relate-mmph"

***

Not too long after I talked with Twilight I went to bed, I woke up and decided to make myself into the kitchen and eat some special gems I've been saving for a special occasion. I guess having a fatal blow be struck to my ego counts as one. As I made my way there Cadence made her way over to me. "Spike, has Twilight come back from the store?"

"What do you mean?" I asked after a confused pause.

"Well I went to her room to wake her up for breakfast but she wasn't there, then I looked around the castle but couldn't find her. So I just assumed she went to the store or something," Cadence replied. Isn't there a saying about why ponies shouldn't assume?

"Well, I don't know, I haven't seen her today. I just woke up." A moment of silence passed between us as we both started to get the same bad feeling. Cadence bent down and I know exactly why, so I jumped on her back and she flew out of the castle to look for Twilight.

She was nowhere to be found.

"Excuse me," Soarin said as he caught up to Cadence who was in the air looking for Twilight with me still on her back. "Pardon me your majesticness or your graceful highness, your-"

"Cadence," she interrupted. "Just Princess Cadence.”

"Oh okay, have you seen Rainbow Dash by any chance? She's not at her house."

"You gotta be kidding me," I said as I put my claws to my head. "This cannot be happening again!" Soarin and Cadence then looked around for the rest of the "mane 6" as Zecora called them but we could find them either. It was happening again.

Aw nuts I mispelled main I'll have to, oh wait a minute mane 6, that's actually really clever.

Why am I writing this down?

Cadence then made her way to Zecora when I suggested it thinking or hoping no more like praying that she'd know where to find them like she did last time.

"Twilight and her crew are gone, what are we going to do?"

"Wait do doesn't rhyme with gone," Cadence commented.

"But it does rhyme with crew," I said.

"But that's-" I claw gagged Cadence and she nodded figuring out why I did it right away. "Not important right now,” Cadence said when I ungagged her “You're right sorry Spike."

"It's all right. Zecora, do you know how we can find Twilight?"

"I've no info this time around, have they all once again gone out of town?"

"No, Twilight," I said as I put my claws to my head again in panic.

"Don't worry Spike, I'm sure she's all right," Cadence said, trying to get me to calm down. But it wasn't working. Last time this happened I almost lost Twilight.

I refuse to let it happen again.

"I'm more than sure that Twilight and her friends any storm they can weather, but perhaps we should get our group back together."

"Zecora might be right," Cadence said and I agreed so we wasted no time and we flew back into Ponyville where we saw Big Mac and Cheerilee heading to the castle. We came across Soarin again as well in the sky and told him to find Cheese Sandwich. He wasted no time and flew off to do just that while Cadence went down to the castle where we quickly ran into Shining Armor.

"Uh Spike, why are you on my wife's back?" Shining Armor asked.

"Is Princess Cadence offering free rides?" Cheese Sandwich asked. "Can I go next? I've always wanted to ride something that could fly."

"Something is going on though, isn't it?" Cheerilee asked.

"Eeyup," Big Mac answered as he could just tell something was up. Not too long after that Soarin brought up the unfortunate news that all of Twilight's friends were missing as well, not just Rainbow Dash. When he went to find Cheese Sandwich he looked for Twilight’s friends but they were gone.

"You gotta be kidding me," Shining Armor said. "This cannot be happening again."

"Did Twilight go on some sort of adventure again?" Cheese Sandwich asked.

"I think it might be something like that," Soarin answered as he got out a piece of paper. "I found this when I went to the top of Sugarcube Corner, the place was a bit of a mess, like there was some kind of fight."

"Fight?" I asked worried, I jumped off Cadence's back and made my way over to Soarin to read the note. I was half expecting it to be some sort of ransom note, but instead I wasn't quite sure what it was.

Honestly I kind of had no idea.

"What does it say? Cadence asked.

"The dragon mountain?" I answered not sure what that meant.

"Dragon mountain, is that a thing?" Cheese Sandwich asked.

"Nope.”

"Wait a minute," Cheerilee said, getting all of our attention. "I just remembered. A while back, there was a dragon that was taking a nap in a mountain not too far away from here. His snoring was so bad that it caused his smoke to spread all the way to Ponyville, maybe that is what the note is talking about."

"I guess it could be," Cheese Sandwich said.
"At the very least it's worth looking into," Soarin said. We then went outside to go get Zecora but were surprised to see several ponies arriving at the castle to talk about how they also noticed that Twilight's friends had gone missing. Several ponies went to Rarity's shop for a dress, Applejack was supposed to help round up some animals just outside of Ponyville, and Fluttershy had several appointments with the vet. Princess Cadence didn't want to waste any time and decided to talk to the crowd while we went to collect Zecora and head for the mountain.

"So it seems we have found a clue that will help us figure out just what to do," Zecora said when we came back to her hut. "I should not delay, you might need my help so I cannot stay."

"Uh, about that," Soarin said. "Ever since that whole mess with Sombra, we haven't been able to get the Elements of Harmony to work. Not even once."

"If it means rescuing Twilight, Rarity, and the others I'll fight whatever might have taken them. Even if it's Humanoid." Soarin then flew over to me and gave me a playful bump to my arm.

"That's what I'm talking about," Soarin said, clearly admiring my spirit. "But without the elements we're gonna have to be a bit more careful."

"Yes, a little more stealth and caution perhaps,” Cheerilee suggested.

***

We quickly made our way to the mountain and while we had a few problems here and there, such as walking around what was an avalanche. But it was nothing we couldn't handle. Before long we made it to the top where we were starting to think maybe this was some sort of wild goose chase when suddenly-

"What the heck are we going to do now?" A voice I never heard before called out.

"How should I know?" Another voice which I also never heard before said.

"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one?"

"Heaven knows you act like it all the time," a third voice that surprise surprise I had never heard before said.

"Well what are we going to do with these ponies?" The first one asked and we all jumped a bit as the mane six were indeed taken here. "Can we just put them all back?"

"We can't do that?" The second voice said.

"Why not?" The third asked.
"If we just put them back they'll just tell the other ponies what happened, and actually this might be a good idea. They could tell the ones that actually do have the elements and then we can take them then."

"Actually that could work," the second voice said. The trio of voices continued to speak but we didn't quite hear them as we started talking.

"They want the Elements of Harmony?" Cheerilee asked. "Something really weird is going on here."

"Eeyup."

"Maybe we can offer a trade, the elements for our friends," Cheese Sandwich said. "Actually they're more like acquaintances, except for Pinkie."

"That won't work Cheese, we still can't get these darn things off," Shining Armor said.

"Maybe we can use them to threaten them," Soarin said. "Give us the others back or we'll blast you!"

"That won't work either," Shining Armor said. "They don't work, remember?"

"Yeah, but they don't know that."

"I guess it could work, and I rather like the idea of solving the problem without having to resort to violence," Cheerilee said.

"Well whatever we're going to do we need to figure it out fast, who knows what they might do to our friends," I said.

"Again, they're more like acquaintances, except for Pinkie Pie. But he's still right let's go."

"I want to rescue my sister, but we can't be reckless. We don't even know what we're up against."

"Yeah but we're not gonna stop them just by standing around and talking," I said and I could tell just by looking that they agreed. "Maybe I could sneak in and see what's in there?"

"RIght because that whole stealth mission idea worked well the first time right?" Shining Armor asked and honestly I couldn't tell if he was trying to make a point or if he was just being a smart alec. Sometimes he makes it very hard to tell.

"If you have another idea, I'd love to hear it Shining Armor," I said to him.
"You could both go," Cheerilee suggested, making us both look at her in confusion. "Spike could lead the way since he's small and hard to spot but if he does you could just teleport him out."

"That's actually a rather good idea," Soarin said.

"Eeyup.”

"And while you two are here we can think up a couple other ideas," Cheese Sandwich said.

"Eeyup." After that I made my way into the cave with Shining Armor close behind me, the cave was quite large and surprisingly quiet.

The voices stopped talking.

"I don't like this," I said.

"I know it's quiet, too quiet," Shining Armor replied. We made it deeper and deeper into the cave, carefully looking around every corner. "They should be here if we heard them from outside they must be close."

"Unless they went deeper into the cave," I answered. After a bit more searching and more awkward silence than I'd like to admit we found them, trapped behind some sort of wall that looked like it was made of foot long thick glass, but upon closer inspection was clearly made of some sort of magic. "Rarity, Twilight," I said as I went over to the wall. "You're safe."

"Are you hurt Twiley?"

"No Shining Armor I'm all right, but please tell me you two didn't come here alone."

"We didn't, the rest of our group is just outside the cave, but what happened to you and your friends?"

"Uh can ya'll get us out of here first?" Applejack asked. "It's rather cramped in here."

"I agree," Rarity said. "Don't get me wrong I adore spending time with you all, but a lady needs her alone time."

"Plus there's hardly any space to fly."

"Or throw parties."

"And there are no animals to talk to or hug or hug while talking to them." Shining Armor then teleported out of the cave and as quick as he left he came back with the others, figuring that all of us working together would have a better chance of freeing the others.
"Uh, couldn't you just teleport them out?" Cheerilee asked when the situation was explained.

"Rarity and I tried that, but it didn't work, something is blocking our magic." Big Mac then tried to kick it hoping that the wall would break, but there wasn't even a single scratch.

"That's some tough magic," Cheese Sandwich said.

"Eeyup." Shining Armor then tried to blast the wall with honestly what looked like a pretty powerful beam. But like before it did no good.

"Who or whatever put this wall up is powerful indeed, to free the others it's a plan that we need."

"Zecora's right we need to think of something fast before those who ponynapped you all return," Cheerilee said.

"Who did take you all anyway?" Cheese Sandwich answered.

"Those guys three right behind you," Pinkie Pie answered. Suddenly the others behind the wall noticed as well, my group turned around fast and were quite shocked at what we saw to say the least.

"Hello," the creature on the left side who had the first voice that we heard. "I'm Slapstick."

"What do we have here Satire?" The one on the right said who had the third voice we heard.

"It seems we have some visitors, Mudslinger," the middle one who had the 2nd voice we heard.

"YOU!" I screamed out, shocking the others before I transformed and punched the one in the middle as hard as I could. As you could probably guess, I thought they were Humanoid, I was so shocked by seeing three of him or what I thought was the three of him at the time I got confused.

"SATIRE!" The other two called out at the same time as Satire was forced to the other side of the cave.

"Hey you can't do that to my brother!" Slapstick called out. I decided to respond by attacking him next. I gave him a series of punches and while they hit dead on much like Humanoid they didn't seem to be doing much damage. I would have given him more punches but my fist was caught by what I thought was the third one, but instead was me.

Yeah imagine how shocked I was to see that.
"Why don't you pick on somecreature your own size?" The other me asked before he tossed me. I was able to catch myself in the air with my wings and I saw the other me turn into the one that's called Satire. I was about to fly back at those two when I changed back into my regular form all of a sudden.

"What the?" I asked before I fell and hit the ground, or at least would have if Big Mac hadn’t caught me with his back. "Thanks Big Mac."

"No problem Spike."

"That's where you're wrong, big sack," Mudslinger said. "You got a problem and a big one, it's three big ones."

"Yeah, they're us."

"Shut up Slapstick!"

"Well if we're gonna fight I have a little something I've been saving," Cheese Sandwich said as he revealed another one of those large party cannons. I'm pretty sure he has more than one.

"Wait a minute," Slapstick said. "That something isn't little." Cheese Sandwich then got ready to fire the cannon but Slapstick lifted it up before he had the chance to do just that. Cheese tried to fire anyway but he only managed to shoot the walls of the cave. Cheese then got careless and fell off of his cannon and when he fell Slapstick threw the cannon deeper into the cave.

"Wow you are really strong," Cheese couldn't help but admire.

"Thanks, I don't even exercise," Slapstick answered and then suddenly stared at Cheese Sandwich's element. "Huh? Hey Satire, Mudslinger."

"Kind of busy Slapstick," Satire said, who managed to turn into a large dragon that looked rather similar to one I found in a gem cave. Actually he found me but that's not really all that important.

"But I found an Element of Harmony," Slapstick said as he approached Cheese Sandwich and grabbed the Element of Laughter. "Now we can, can," Slapstick stopped when he struggled to remove the element but of course, it wouldn't come off. "How do you get the darn thing off?" Slapstick asked as he swung Cheese Sandwich around more trying to get the element.

"We don't even know?" As Slapstick tried harder Shining Armor, Big Mac, and I fought Satire while Soarin, Cheerilee, and Zecora kept Mudslinger at bay. We only started but Cheerilee already figured out that Mudslinger could somehow interfere with other creatures' magic. I'll have to remember to ask how she figured that out so fast.

Maybe she's a detective in her spare time. Though now that I’m writing this down there was this part I forgot to write down where I tried to help Cheese and got big, but I shrunk several times. So it might have been then.

Anyway she had the idea that her group would keep Mudslinger busy so the rest of us could focus on Satire then help Cheese Sandwich with Slapstick. Satire was changing his form so much I felt like I was fighting Chrysalis. Eventually he turned into me in my transformed state again as the two of us grabbed each other's claws and exchanged fire shots.

"Spike!" Rarity called out as she was still trapped behind the wall. "Leave him alone, I'll rip you to pieces if you hurt one scale on his cute little head!" I then pushed back but Satire was holding his ground.

“That’s not going to be enough,” Satire said as he forced me back and forced me to take a knee.

"You can do it Spike!" Rarity called out as she jumped up a bit and placed her forelegs on the wall. Hearing the most beautiful pony in Equestria root for me gave me the strength I needed to stand up again and push Satire back.

"What's going on?" Satire asked. "Did you suddenly get stronger somehow?"

"Yes I did!" I then got my claws free and blasted Satire head on with my harmony powers that forced him through the cave. After getting rammed through that he changed back to his regular form, out like a light.

"Hey you can't do that to my brother!" Mudslinger called out as he charged past the others and right to me with Slapstick right behind him who was still holding on to Cheese Sandwich.

"Hey and you can't do that to my brother either!"

"Shut up Slapstick!" Mudslinger then forced me to return to my normal and was about to hit me with what looked like a powerful magical blast from his claws, but Shining Armor blasted him back before he had the chance to do just that. Slapstick then grabbed and picked Shining Armor by the mane and horn but I transformed again and grabbed him by his legs making him let go of Shining Armor and Cheese Sandwich who were caught by Soarin who was so fast he managed to catch them both.

"Hey put me down, I can't walk on air, trust me I tried."

"You know something tells me you got a thick head," I told him.

"That's what my brothers say a couple times," he answered.

"That gives me an idea. Twilight you and everypony get away from the wall." They did as I asked and I started to spin him around rapidly.

"Hey what are you doiiiiiiing?" He asked as I let go near the end of his question causing him to fly right at the wall and he crashed right into it. The wall broke into pieces freeing the ponies that were taken, I felt pretty good about myself. Our friends were rescued and all three of the threats were defeated, but before I could really enjoy that I once again went back to my regular form and suddenly coughed out quite a lot of blood.

"Spike!" I heard Rarity yell out before I blacked out.

***

I woke up with my head resting on Rarity's stomach in between her fore and back legs, her head right next to mine. She smiled a smile that melted my heart as she was very happy to see me wake up. I was about to get up but Rarity gently pressed a foreleg on my chest and forced me back down.

"No Spike, don't move," Rarity said. "Zecora needs to give you something before you can get up." Suddenly almost as if on cue Zecora came over with a party cup Cheese Sandwich brought, don't ask me where he was keeping it. She sent Soarin and Rainbow Dash to collect some things she needed and she was able to make them into that drink, again don't ask me how.

"The fighting from here nearly tore you apart, but this will help you with your heart." Zecora then offered me the cup and Rarity helped me drink it before helping me to my feet after a minute.

"You did amazing Spike," Twilight told me. "The way you freed us, you're a real hero Spike," Twilight answered and the rest of her friends backed her up on that.

"Thanks Twilight, I'm just glad you're alright," I said when I saw the rest of my group and made my way over to them with Rarity on my left and Twilight on my right. "Shining Armor."

"Yeah," he replied.

"I just wanted to thank you for blasting Mudslinger before he had the chance to blast me."

"Oh," he said, surprised. Not that I blame him, I think that was the first time I ever said thanks to him. "Your welcome, thanks for helping me when Slapstick tried to attack us. You really had my back."

"Yeah, well you really had mine," I said as he and I actually started to have a moment. But it didn't last long as those three brothers got back up looking like they were ready for a fight. Actually it was just Mudslinger and Satire at first.
Also if you're wondering why we were still there, it was because Zecora thought it best to help me right away with my heart condition. I later asked why they didn't just teleport me to a hospital and Zecora said (in her own way) that my heart problem was an, I can't remember the word but it's like mystery. Meaning that the hospital most likely wouldn't be able to help me. Anyway, Satire and Mudslinger got back ready to fight.

"Get up Slapstick!" Mudslinger called out.

"Oh," Slapstick said as he got up looking like he took no damage whatsoever.

I mean seriously I made him break the wall with his head and he gets up like it's nothing. What is he made of?

"Sorry," Slapstick said after getting up. "I didn't want to get up until I thought of something to help us fight."

"It could take days for you to think of something!"

"Oh honestly, knock it off Mudslinger, you're always sniping at him. These ponies are strong so we're gonna have to work together to take those elements and finally get revenge on Humanoid." Hearing Satire say that shocked every single one of us.

"Wait, you want revenge on Humanoid?" Soarin asked.

"Yeah, why do you know him?" Slapstick asked.

"Yeah, and we want revenge on him too," I answered.

"You do?" Mudslinger asked.

"Yeah, he took over the Crystal Empire and made a fool out of me," I answered again.

"Well he kind of did that to all of us, but yeah Spike especially," Cheese Sandwich said which rather annoyed me.

"Wait, I'm confused," Soarin said. "Why did you need Rainbow Dash and her friends for your revenge?"

"We didn't need them, we needed the Elements of Harmony," Slapstick answered. "But when we took them here they didn't have them. I didn't really like taking ponies against their will, but my brothers said it was the only way we could finally get our revenge."

"Why didn't you just ask for help?" Cheerilee asked. Slapstick then raised one of his claws up but then stopped with his mouth open.
"Why didn't we do that Mudslinger?"

"Why are you asking me? Ask Satire he's supposed to be the smart one?"

"Well we know you aren't the smart one. And you're definitely not the cute one!"

"Am I the cute one?"

"Hang on a minute!" Twilight said which got the attention of the brothers. "I have so many questions right now, but I still need to get Spike some rest as soon as possible so I'm gonna try to cut to the point. Can the Elements of Harmony defeat Humanoid?"

"They can help us beat him," Satire answered.

"Well that's good to hear, or at least it would if it weren't for Sombra," Shining Armor said.

"What do you mean?" Satire asked as he approached Shining Armor.

"Before Humanoid forced everypony out of the Crystal Empire King Sombra tried to take it over as well. He did this weird thing to the Elements of Harmony and they haven't worked since." Mudslinger then approached Shining Armor and looked at his Element of Harmony and suddenly, it came right off.

Once again we were all shocked.

"It's off!" Twilight said. "Mudslinger, how did you do that?"

"This Sombra can do something similar to Humanoid and interfere with magical properties. But I can do that too, so I canceled it out so to speak."

"Can you get mine off too?" Soarin asked as he flew over to Mudslinger. "I think I'm starting to get a rash." Mudslinger then got the elements off of the others and brought their glow back as well.

"Well it looks like this unpleasantness wasn't so unpleasant afterall," Rarity said.

"This trio I was starting to despise, but meeting them is perhaps a blessing in disguise."

"It's so nice to have that element off Big Mac," Cheerilee said.

"Eeyup, Applejack didn't want me to bathe with that on."

"Eww are you serious?"

"Heh heh, nope."

"Thanks so much for getting these off," Cheese Sandwich said.

"All right let's get these elements back to my castle, and Spike into his bed."

"I'm fine, besides I want to hear about your revenge plan on Humanoid."

"You do?" Satire asked.

"Yeah, I want in."

"You do?"

"After everything he did and the harm we caused my friends it's the least I owe him."

"I don't agree with revenge, but we can't let him get away with what he's done," Cheerilee said.

"On that you and I can agree," Mudslinger saind.

"All right and we can talk more about it later, come on Spike maybe I can help Zecora make something else to help with your heart."

"Twilight I'm fine I'm ready for a fight," I said as I transformed again but doing that made me cough up blood again. "Yeah okay let's do your idea," I said as I changed back to my normal form. After that we all left the cave and I got a little rest and during my recovery I talked more with Slapstick, Mudslinger, and Satire.

Before long a plan was made and we made our way to the Crystal Empire.

***

The Crystal Empire, a once beautiful place that literally shined, but was now all but buried in snow. Humanoid was right in the center of it sleeping right under the Crystal Heart, snoring like a helicopter engine that won't start.

"All right Humanoid it's time to make you pay for all of the misery that you caused not just me, but all of my friends," I called out ready for battle. But to my annoyance he was still sound asleep, so I gave him a very rude awakening by stomping on his stomach as hard as I could. It woke him up and he hit his head on the Crystal Heart which for some reason seemed to hurt him even more than my stomp.

"Oh, you again," Humanoid said as he got back up and rubbed his head. "What did Sunlight almost get herself killed again?" He asked. For reasons I'm sure you understand I punched him as hard as I could, and this time it looked like it hurt.

"It's Twilight," I replied, but I doubt he heard me as my one punch sent him all the way to the other side of the Crystal Empire. Compliments of Mudslinger, turns out he can not only interfere with other creatures' powers, but enhance them too. I was so strong that after that I could pick up a mountain, literally I tried.

Princess Celestia told me never to do that again.

"You got stronger," Humanoid said as he made his way back to where I was. He then tried to knock him out again with his punch but this time I was ready for it. As Satire pointed out, Humanoid is strong but he's slow, if I read his attacks I'll stand a much better chance, and after a few dozen sparring matches with Slapstick I was able to do just that. As well as take a punch a lot better.

Mudslinger enhanced my strength, Satire sharpened my mind, and Slapstick helped me raise my endurance. I was three times stronger than the last time I fought with him. I dodged nearly every attack he threw and the ones that did hit weren't nearly as bad as last time. I hit Humanoid with everything I had and forced him to the ground several times.

"Not just stronger," I said after giving him the beating he deserved. "Faster, tougher, and smarter too."

"From the sound of your voice you've made some new friends," Humanoid said after charging at him and we grabbed each other's claws. He tried to push me back but before long he took a knee, he took both of them actually. Humanoid then looked up and noticed my new necklace also compliments Mudslinger, Satire, and Slapstick with a little help from Zecora and Twilight. It looked a lot like the fire ruby necklace Rarity made only the "ruby" was black. "What's that?"

"A gift to help me beat you," I answered as Humanoid got even weaker and to help with that I blasted him with a harmony beam which would normally mean we won but it just weakened him, I'll explain how that and a few other things work in the next chapter but I wanted to get right to the part of the story where we give Humanoid what for. Humanoid's powers were getting sucked away into the amulet, but he figured that part out not too long after he saw my necklace and jumped back. Suddenly an aura or pure rage surrounded Humanoid and long black spikes popped out of him or rather the ones that were already there got longer and sharper. It was kind of hard to tell, he was spinning around.

"Round 2," Humanoid said as he stopped spinning, sounding rather serious actually. He charged right at me and suddenly he became a much more capable fighter. I was barely able to dodge or counterattack then he grabbed and then threw through about a dozen houses then jumped up before falling from the sky like a ten ton brick, landing right on me.

Yeah that hurt.

"I guess turnabout is fair play huh?" I asked as I tried to get his foot off of my stomach. "Didn't expect you to have a power boost as well."

"I'm full of surprises,"

"Well so are we."

"We?" Humanoid asked when suddenly Cheese Sandwich set off a bunch of party cannons he set up around the castle with Soarin’s help. One of quite a few contingency plans we thought about. Hearing all of those made him made Humanoid once again grab his head looking as if his head was going to split right in half. I used that to force him off of me. I then breathed fire right on him and while he seemed to endure it more, it still hurt him quite a bit.

"There's plenty more where that came from," I said before breathing some more fire, kind of goading him into attacking me. And that's exactly what happened, Humanoid jumped through the fire and tightened his fist so hard I swear I saw blood dripping down his fist. But before he could do that Shining Armor put a magical square between Humanoid and I, and by the way the square was solid magic, unlike the barrier he once put around Canterlot the inside was filled with his magic as well, making for a pretty powerful defense.

So powerful that Humanoid screamed in pain and grabbed his claw like it was broken and Shining Armor used this as an opportunity to blast Humanoid point blank making him land on his back. I took that as an opportunity and fired a beam of my own, another harmony beam that hit Humanoid dead on, weakening him even more.

"I got your back Spike," Shining Armor said as he stood next to me as Humanoid was slowly getting back up.

"And I got yours," I said to him as we were both ready for a fight. Humanoid got back up and stared straight into my soul. Humanoid said as he fired a dark beam up into the sky. But it didn't even leave the Crystal Empire as Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and even Discord were outside making sure that a powerful barrier they put over the Crystal Empire would stay there.

As you can probably tell by now we thought of everything.

"A barrier?" Humanoid asked. "No matter, if I can't use the mountains, I'll use the castle." Suddenly the castle of the Crystal Empire started to move on its own when the beam hit it instead. But before the castle got far Soarin flew in behind him while also getting everypony together. Shining Armor then teleported to join the group and they blasted Humanoid with the Elements of Harmony.

"Direct hit!" Cheese Sandwich said. But like before it didn't finish him off, it just weakened him. But he was still able to fight as he used whatever powers he had left and that wasn't absorbed by the amulet I had to become a giant, breaking the barrier from before. Luna and Celestia tried to keep him contained but he forced his way out pushing both of the princesses back. Luna brought her guards with her who managed to catch her while Discord caught Princess Celestia.

"You okay, your highness?"

"Yes, thank you Discord," Princess Celestia said very grateful.

"No problem, I got your back," Discord said as he was holding her wings and back with his arms while Humanoid let out honestly a pretty blood curdling roar. "Hang on a minute," Discord then snapped his fingers and suddenly an anvil the size of the Crystal Empire landed right on Humanoid's head.

After the impact the anvil split clean in half and Discord turned the two halves into bubbles before it could land on the empire and Humanoid shrunk back down to his normal size and collapsed. As he shrunk so much of his magic spread across and past the empire, so much of it that I wasn't able to absorb it. But even after losing all that he was still able to fight, blind with rage he attacked randomly but that didn’t work.

Soarin was too fast for him and Cheese pulled a disappearing act, is he a magician too? Zecora dropped a potion on the ground which made a horrible smell that forced him to back off. Shining Armor put a barrier around himself similar to the spell he used around Canterlot. Humanoid was so weak he couldn’t break the barrier and when he got tired he removed the barrier and blasted him again. Cheerilee grabbed his arm and flipped him so his head got to meet the ground.

“Wow Cheerilee,” Shining Armor said surprised. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“My sister is a professional wrestler,” she answered.

“Are you making that up?” He asked after a pause. “I feel like you're making that up.”

“No really,” she answered. Humanoid then got up but Big Mac jumped off a cannon Cheese brought and double bucked him in the face knocking him to the ground, but he still managed to get back up.

“Time to end this, everypony get back!” They did as I asked and I gave Humanoid the hardest uppercut I could and he flew higher than the top of the Crystal Castle. “Going up,” I said before flying straight up to meet him face to face. “Going down!” I blasted Humanoid point blank with another harmony beam that sent him back to the ground at lightning speed. As I made my way down I sent a concentrated blast of fire that only hit Humanoid and lowered me to the ground slower.

“Wow, I’d hate to be Humanoid right now,” Cheese Sandwich said as Humanoid screamed in pain.

“Eeyup.” I made my way to the ground and stopped my fire and changed back to my regular form then collapsed rather exhausted. Shining Armor rushed to me and helped me sit down which I really appreciated and would make sure to tell him that later. With humanoid defeated we all gathered around him including Satire, Mudslinger, and Slapstick.

"Well well well, I supposed I should have figured you three were involved when I saw that dragon wearing the amulet that was taking my magic."

"Don't act like you're surprised," Satire said. "Considering what you did to us."

"I expect nothing else."

"Well whatever you have to talk about, you can do it after we put you in a special holding cell," Princess Celestia said who also made her way over to us.

"I'm sure Chrysalis and Sombra will love the company," Princess Luna added.

"So that's it, get locked up in a cell and rot?" Humanoid asked.

"It's the least you deserve," Mudslinger.

"Sorry Humanoid," Discord said. "But your mischief went too far, and yes I realize the irony in me saying that."

"I don't think so," Humanoid said right before he made the snow around the Crystal Empire surround him like a tornado, and when the snow settled he was gone.

“Bye,” Slapstick said with a wave.

***

With Humanoid gone the Crystal Ponies were finally able to return home and they were so happy they threw a huge party for me, plus they still wanted to throw me the party they wanted to earlier.

It was a blast.

"Three cheers for the great and honorable Spike the brave and glorious," a crystal pony said and all the others there cheered.

"Thanks everypony," I said as I sat on a party throne. "But you know I couldn't have done any of this without my friends." I then jestured them to come over and they did, even Shining Armor. "I had quite a bit of help from them and others, these ponies though had my back even before Humanoid came along. Well technically we got together because of him, but that's a long story, one I've kind of been thinking about writing actually."

Heh, hint hint.

"But the point is, we're a team, and I couldn't have done it without any of them."

"Wow, thanks Spike," Shining Armor said, really heartwarmed. The others were touched by that as well but him especially. After that they got treated like heroes, but also not forgetting to join in the party. The princesses even joined in the fun as well.

"Um Princess Celestia," Discord said as he approached her kind of out of nowhere. "Would you like to dance?" He asked which quite shocked the others around her. "I know it's sounds weird but it is a party and-"

"I would love to dance with you," Princess Celestia replied and they quickly made it to the dance floor. I didn't see much of that because Rarity took me inside the Crystal Castle not long after I saw that.

"All right Spike, that's enough partying for now you may be a heart hero, but you're still just a little thing. You need rest, especially after such a fight with such a ruffian," Rarity said as she brought me into a bedroom in the Crystal Castle.

"Oh can't I party a little more Rarity? It's not everyday we get a party like this."

"Trust me Spike it's not going to wrap up today."

"Okay, but before I go to sleep Rarity," I said as I wrapped the back of my head. "I want to apologize, about what happened back at the gem ca-" Rarity cut me off by placing her hoof to my mouth.

"Oh Spike, you have nothing to apologize for. If anypony should, it's me. You were opening your heart to me, and it was so of me to turn you away so quickly the way I did. It Many ways Spike you and I are not all that different," Rarity said as our faces got closer and I could see her face turn red a bit.

"We're not?" I asked as I stared deep into those beautiful eyes of her's, they were like a pair of perfect gems stones, everything about her is perfect in my eyes honestly.

"No, we're not. And the truth is Spike, the truth is that I, I," Rarity then leaned down a little bit and placed her lips gently yet passionately on mine. Without hesitation I returned the kiss and like her was gentle yet passionate. We then closed our eyes and got closer pulling each other into a snug and warm embrace neither one of us breaking away from the kiss.

I wouldn't have minded if that moment had lasted forever.