G5 Adventures in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run

by ponydog127

Gaining Courage and a New Royal Friend

Allura and Twitch had cornered the two combined groups outside of the palace, and as she took down the Mane 6 and the royal hippogriff sisters, leaving the gang from Bikini Bottom defenseless, all four sea-pony foals decided that it was time to stand up to Allura and proclaimed she wouldn't be hurting them anymore.

But, this remark seemed to trigger some sort of magic inside them, causing them to be possessed by the ocean spirits themselves, and thanks to the foals, SpongeBob and Patrick, Sunny was able to break free from her binds and tried to get Allura to surrender.

However, Allura and Twitch were able to escape with a piece of the star, but that wasn't what mattered. All that mattered now was that they were all safe and sound.

Since Allura was now gone, the ice she had created to bind the sea-ponies to the ground melted, freeing them. “That was something else,” Hitch frowned. “And not in the best way.”

“Hey… are they okay?” Sandy pointed up at the foals, still possessed by the ocean spirits. “They’ve been staring out into the distance for a while.”

“The ocean spirits still must be possessing their bodies… and how and when the ocean spirits chose them, I don’t know. Let me see if I handle this,” Skygrace swam up to the foals, clearing her throat before speaking. “We thank you, ocean spirits, for giving these brave foals the powers they needed. You may go back to your dormant state, and the foals will let you know when they need you again.”

The ocean spirits within the foals’ bodies seem to nod. “As you wish, oh great queen of the hippogriffs.”

Swirls of magic left the foals’ chest and into their cutie marks again, and as they left, the white glow left the foals’ eyes, causing them to groan and fall toward the ground. “Whoa! Tropic!” SpongeBob cried, rushing to catch her. “Quick, guys!” Sunny cried to the others. “Don’t let the foals hit the ground!”

Sunny swam with SpongeBob to catch Arctic, and Zipp caught Arctic and flew her down to Patrick. Hitch created a soft landing pad of bushes for India and Sandy leapt off Izzy’s back to catch Volcano.

And after a moment, Tropic groaned before looking up at Sunny and SpongeBob with tired eyes. “SpongeBob…? Sunny…?” she asked quietly. “What happened?”

“Yeah… I don’t remember much after standing up to Allura,” Volcano agreed as he shook his head. “To put it bluntly,” said Pipp, “you guys were possessed by the ocean spirits, and it helped us take down Allura… until she got away, that is.”

“Wait… the ocean spirits chose us?!” Arctic cried out. “I don’t know whether to be honored, or terrified.”

“These powers will take a lot of concentration and practice to master,” Skygrace told the foals. “But, I’m afraid we don’t have time to discuss all that now.”

“You’re right!” Misty realized. “We need to get out of here before the guards catch up to us!”

Suddenly, Otto pulled up on the strip not too far away, acting as if nothing had happened. “Yo, what’s up?”

“OTTO!!” everyone cheered. “I have a gambling problem,” Otto said cheerfully… just before a guard noticed them. “There they are! Get ‘em!”

“Everyone, get to the boat now!” Sunny urged everyone to keep moving. “Otto!” Plankton cried. “To Bikini Bottom! And step on it!”

“Stepping on it…” Otto began to say just as they began to leap into the boat. “You’re all fired!”

And before the group could realize what happened, Otto had sped off without them, and the group all landed on their rear ends and tails. “Uh-oh… I think the chaos of the casino scrambled Otto’s programming!” Volcano realized. “Uh… among other things.”

“Quick! To the valet!” Mr. Krabs said as the group began to run again, only to be cornered by about 50 guards and about 200 citizens. As the ponies and royal sisters leapt in front of their friends to protect them, everyone witnessed King Poseidon swimming closer to them. “Leaving so soon, kids?”

Gary anxiously meowed, worried that the king was gonna take him again, but Tropic stood in front of him and SpongeBob reassuringly. “Hang on, Gary… we won’t let you go!”

“Tsk, tsk,” scolded King Poseidon. “Rather impolite, don't you think?”

“It was all their idea, sire!” Mr. Krabs pointed toward Sandy and Squidward, causing him to get glared at by those two. “And I…” the king said seriously before he smiled. “...loved it!”

“Wait a second,” Queen Skygrace spoke. “So… you’re not mad at us?”

“No,” King Poseidon chuckled. “ It's been a while since I've enjoyed such toe-tapping entertainment. All is forgiven! And all charges are dropped.”

“HOORAY!!!” everyone began to cheer until King Poseidon stopped them. “On one condition. SpongeBob will return my snail to me without any more shilly-shally.”

However… SpongeBob was immediately confused. “Wait, what?”

“Just hand over the snail,” said the king, “and you can all go free.”

“What? No!” Zipp cried in anger. “Gary belongs with SpongeBob! You can’t separate them!”

“But… something HAS to be done,” India muttered. “And SpongeBob has to make the final call.”

“It’s okay, SpongeBob,” Sunny put her hoof on his shoulder. “Whatever you decide, we’ll be here to support you.”

SpongeBob was in a rock and a hard place situation, as you can probably tell.

He couldn’t give up Gary… he would miss the little guy too much!

But then again… he couldn’t let himself and his friends suffer in a dungeon either.

What was a yellow sponge in this situation supposed to do?

Suddenly, Sage’s earlier advice rang in SpongeBob’s mind, clear as a bell. “SpongeBob… remember… the courage you seek is inside you. And it will come to you in your hour of need.”

And then... after hearing this advice, SpongeBob realized what Sage was saying-- the courage was inside of him all along... and this was the perfect chance to unleash it. “The courage is inside me!” SpongeBob muttered to himself before bravely stepping forward. “Mr. Poseidon, no. I'm sorry, but I won't do it.”

“Huh?” the others were surprised by SpongeBob standing up to the king, while the king laughed for a second before realizing what SpongeBob said. “What?”

“I love Gary too much, and he loves me,” SpongeBob explained. “If we didn't have each other, we'd be so sad, and well… It wouldn't really matter what you'd do to us.”

Gary meowed and purred against SpongeBob’s side just before turning to all his friends behind him, a grateful smile on his face. “And look. Today, thanks to these amazing friends, my heart feels twice as big as it ever did.”

“SpongeBob, we just helped steer you in the right direction,” Misty said modestly. “It was you who was the real hero.”

“But you guys did help in some way… especially how much you all risked for me, Patrick and the twins,” SpongeBob added. “Flouting the law and defying the mighty king of the sea.”

Angrily, King Poseidon lit his trident and aimed it right at the gang. “Defying… really?”

“I-I wouldn’t say defying the king,” Sandy said nervously, but SpongeBob didn’t seem to be catching on. “Humiliating such king in front of his subjects.”

“Do go on,” said the king, and many voices began to protest and try and clear up what SpongeBob was saying.

“More like… admiring!”

“And totally agreeing!”

“I just came to see Kelpy G!”

“And… ponies?” SpongeBob invited them all forward, where they all stacked their hooves on his hand. “I can’t thank you guys enough for sticking with me all this time… even though I do admit, I did act pretty stupid, and I'm sure you all can find some way to agree.”

“Hey, we weren’t thinking that… all that much,” Pipp said, causing Zipp to nudge her. “But… of course we would stick with you. You’re one of our closest friends.”

“Yeah!” Izzy nodded. “You took Tropic in without a second of doubt! It takes someone with a pretty big heart to welcome a complete stranger into their home.”

“And like Misty said, we just helped you along. You’re the one who’s inspiring all of us right now… just like we helped to inspire you to have the courage to stand up to the legendary King Poseidon,” Hitch nodded. “And know this…” Sunny said, moving a hoof to his heart. “Nothing, and I mean nothing, can take that courage away from you, as long as your friends are nearby.”

SpongeBob smiled and hugged the Mane 6 close, and the others happily watched this. “Poseidon, now you see why no matter what you decide to do, we’re going to be together, and that’s all that matters,” Queen Skygrace spoke up, and Tropic nodded and agreed with the queen's statement. “We’re sure you'd understand if you had friends like these.”

“Friends like these? Wait, what?” King Poseidon lowered his trident in complete surprise. “Of course I have friends like these. I have all kinds of friends! I have buddies, I have besties. I have home-slices, palsy-walsies. It's infinite!”

“What about Allura?” Zipp crossed her hooves. “Was she your friend before she up and left you?”

“Well, uh… s-she… she was more of an acquaintance,” the king said before clearing his throat. “Chancellor! Give us an exact number. The friend count, if you will.”

The chancellor quickly pulled out a clipboard and adjusted his glasses. “Uh, okay, according to your latest polling data, we should get more polling data.”

“What? Give me that!” Poseidon swiped the clipboard, reading the poll results and becoming stunned with how bad they were. “Huh? What about my adoring fans?”

The chancellor shook his head. “Nope.”

“My elite palace guards?”

“Mmm-mmm.”

“What about my personal trainer?”

“Mmm-mmm, mmm-mmm.”

“My therapist?”

“Nada.”

“My tattoo artist?”

“Uh… nope.”

“My tattoo removal artist?”

“No dice.”

In a desperate tone, Poseidon turned to his chancellor, almost pleading. “B-But surely you, my chancellor, my loyal, faithful…?”

However... the chancellor just looked away. “Sorry.”

The Mane 6 gasped at this and looked at one another, just as the sea-pony foals’ ears flattened.

Hearing such a thing crushed them… but not as much as it crushed the king’s heart.

The poor king of the sea began to blubber and sob, his tears raining down on the ground. “Apollo, take me now!!!” he wailed. “I don't have any friends!!!!”

As Sunny and the Mane 6 were about to step forward and console the king, a certain sponge beat them to it, smiling warmly. “Well, you got one now!”

“R-Really…?” the king sniffled. “Who is it?”

“It’s me!” SpongeBob said. “I’ll be your friend!”

“And me too!” Tropic excitedly agreed. “I’ve never had a king for a friend before.”

“...and hey, if SpongeBob wants you as a friend, we want you as a friend too,” Sunny added. “Right, ponies?”

“Right!”

“You know it…”

“Sure!”

“Absolutely!”

“Why not?”

Hearing this caused the king to sniffle again. “Do you all mean it?”

“Yes,” SpongeBob said before holding Gary close. “But friends don't kidnap friends' pet snails.”

Gary meowed in agreement just before the king leaned down to show them the wrinkle on his face. “But I need that snail. Look, I have a horrible, disgusting wrinkle.”

“Jumping jellyfish!!” Pipp shrieked. “It’s the size of the Mariana Trench!”

“Huh, really?” Hitch turned to Pipp in surprise, leading SpongeBob to laugh and elbow Pipp’s side. “Pipp is just kidding,” he reassured the king. “Looks don't matter. We don't care about little imperfections. Or even big ones! Just look at Squidward.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Squidward demanded to know, causing Volcano to try and stifle his laughter. “Nothin’ dude… you look great…”

SpongeBob decided to ignore the comments and continued to speak. “What's important is what's inside,” he said. “And I'm sure that Sunny, her friends, the foals and the sisters can agree with me that we know that you can be a fair and kind king to all the creatures of the sea.”

“He's right. We know you have it in you, sir,” Tropic agreed with a soft smile. “If you'd just let your hair down a little.”

“Huh? My hair?” Poseidon questioned before suddenly reaching a thought. “Are you suggesting that I don't need this gorgeous mane of wavy locks?”

“Huh?” Misty blinked. “What’s that supposed to…?”

But before she could finish, the king removed his wig, causing many eyes to widen and many members of the crowd to cheer. “That I don't require this neck clip?”

By removing his neck clip, much of his skin began to sag, prompting more members of the crowd to cheer loudly. “Be gone, perfect shiny teeth!”

The king removed the false teeth from his mouth and threw them right at Squidward, causing Squidward to catch them in his mouth with a growl, and causing Volcano and Izzy to try and cover their laughter with their hooves. “This is so freeing!” King Poseidon declared. “To heck with this chest plate and girdle.”

And then, much to the shock of the crowd, the king revealed his large, bloated belly. “Oh…” Arctic blinked in surprise. “...wow.”

“Too far?” asked the king. “No!” SpongeBob quickly spoke. “Not at all!”

“No,” many guards agreed. “You look great!”

“Oh, thank you! I find this so exhilarating. So… age appropriate,” King Poseidon said before kneeling down to SpongeBob’s level. “SpongeBob, few possess the courage to stand up to a powerful king. You, sir, alongside your friends, are among those few. I salute you.”

That's when Sunny noticed that Sage was watching them from nearby, smiling at how SpongeBob was doing before he rolled out of sight. “You may keep Gary,” the king continued speaking to SpongeBob. “And I wish you many happy years together.”

“Thank you!” Tropic squealed in delight. “Oh, did you hear that, Gare-Bear?” SpongeBob asked his snail, hugging him close, and prompting Gary to meow. That’s when the chancellor approached the king with a golden fur robe. “Uh, your royal robe, Your Highness. It's getting cold out here.”

“Nonsense, chancellor,” said the king joyously. “I’m free!”

“Oh, heh heh…” gulped Riverstream, trying to sound supportive. “You certainly are…”

“And free the snails!”

With the clap of his hands, the king opened the doors to let the snails out of the torture chamber, much to the snails’ happiness. But upon seeing his fellow snails being released, Gary meowed an idea to SpongeBob. “Huh? What’s that?” SpongeBob asked, and Gary repeated the idea. “You wanna take all of the snails home with us?”

Gary meowed again, a smile forming on his face. “That’s actually a great idea!” Sunny realized. “We can throw an adoption party back in Bikini Bottom to get these snails some good homes!”

“We can have snacks, games and music! Which reminds me… Pipp?” Tropic tapped Pipp’s shoulder. “Do you think you can help me and my friends write a song for the party? We want it to be something about friendship… or fin-ship. Get it? Since we’re underwater?”

Pipp giggled at this. “I think we can do that.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” SpongeBob asked. “We have an adoption party to plan!”