Spike

by Garino

7. Tomato Soup (1-3), part 2

Cemetery, 1:42 AM

Time was passing quickly for the two adventurers. They no longer needed to worry too much about the dangers, as Spike had gotten used to the world. It had defaulted to actually asking one another about their respective worlds. Now, I could tell you all about Spike, but there's nothing about him that you don't already know. Except maybe that time he held a house party when Twilight wasn't around. We will simply say it did not end well.

As for Larry, there was a reason he knew the Cemetery like the back of his hand. Reason? He had heard of it before. Tech and Ronnie knew a bit about here, too, but Larry was more versed with here and the rest of the Media Dimension. They knew the last being who was captured and trapped here. "Truthfully, I didn't think we'd ever be coming back. Guess I was wrong there, too," the ghost commented. What surprised Larry was that everything was exactly as it had been so long ago. All the fly coins, all of the enemies, and even the remotes. Spike smiled at this. It meant they'd be out of here quickly, as long as they kept a level head.

A tombstone trap lay before them now, but Larry dropped through the ground to examine the field. When he came back up, he gave a thumbs-up for safety. Spike dropped through the trap, grabbing on to the background to keep from landing on the Tomato below. With a quick tail-bounce, the enemy disappeared, leaving a handful of fly coins ripe for collecting.

"Over here! Another portal!" Larry said as he motioned to the rippled static. Spike took another deep breath and jumped through, hoping for more amethysts and more chances to rescue everypony.
________________________________________________________________________
Bonus Area?, Unknown Time

Spike expected the bonus area to look like it did last time. Instead, there was something odd about it. Instead of the graveyard look of everything else, it had...a cyber-like feel. The floor was chrome colored, there was a red static portal in front of him, and behind him was a blue static portal. There was a dark laugh that filled the room.

"You didn't think I would leave everything as I did so long ago, now did you?" the voice echoed. "Instead, you've walked right into a dummy area! Oh, don't get me wrong, do well enough, and you can leave with no strings attached. However, if any of my minions get through to that blue static portal, it will make the rest of your tenure here a living nightmare!"

The voice fell silent as the red portal started to get bigger. Monsters of all shapes and sizes started to pour out of it. Spike recognized their features, but...their colors were all wrong. Weren't Frankies supposed to be green, not yellow? And didn't Jeff's chainsaw replace the other hand? When did the Tomatoes become pumpkins? No answers could be given, because no matter what the reason, they all had the same goal: the blue static portal, with the only thing standing between the two being Spike.

The enemies rushed towards the blue portal, completely ignoring Spike. For the yellow Frankies, this led to them being driven back to the red portal, where they were sucked in and destroyed. He then ran to drive the other two back, but to no avail. The monstrous human had already entered the blue portal, and closed it behind him. Spike then noticed the pumpkin bouncing back towards him. He simply dodged it, knowing there was nothing he could do now.

"Oh, so unlucky," the voice cackled. "It seems your troubles are just beginning. But don't worry, you can fix this. Anything that can be broken can usually be fixed. But it may or may not work like it used to. Enjoy the rest of your stay in the cemetery...Spike..." With that, the area disappeared.
________________________________________________________________________
Cemetery, 1:51 AM

Ok, it shouldn't take this long, Larry thought. The bonus area should only last a minute, two minutes tops. So why isn't he back yet? He didn't have to wait long for an answer, as the portal opened, dropping Spike onto the ground. "Finally. What took you so long? Bonus areas aren't supposed to be th-"

"It wasn't a bonus."

"...say that again?"

"It wasn't a bonus. Apparently, someone's been noticing our progress, and now we have these...dummy areas, as he called them."

Larry started to pace. "Dummy areas?" he mumbled. "But there were no such things before. Has he figured out...?"

Spike seemed lost. "Has who figured what out?"

The ghost shook his head. "Never mind that. What did it look like?"

Spike retold Larry everything he remembered about the dummy area. Larry's expression slowly turned from curious to horrified. As the last details were reported, Larry simply nodded. "Then there's no time to waste anymore. If what that voice said is true, then we're in for something even I can't foresee. And for all we know, we may have put Lewis and Fluttershy in danger."

"Right!" Spike yelled in agreement. Then a question came to mind. "But first...how do we get out of here?"

This was one of the only times in recorded history where a ghost successfully performed a face fault.
______________________________________________________________________
"No differences yet. That's a good thing. Ok, coast is clear, you can come on up."

Spike crawled up to the ledge and grabbed the remote. Once again, it disappeared into thin air, but he was used to it by now. So far, nothing had changed. The enemies were still easy to defeat, coin flies (which Spike had counted 32 were in his possession at that moment) were still in their spots, and thankfully, the same could be said for the remote. Another de-rez pool lay before the dragon, but this time, there seemed to be a skull raft waiting to ferry him across. The journey wasn't too long, and the enemies were easily avoided.

At the end, the raft crashed into the side, sinking into the pool. Spike leaped off before any damage could be done to him. The exit was right before them! He rushed to the yellow TV, taking care to avoid the tombstone traps and Helis flying around. But he stopped at the TV. In front of it was a pedestal with a small video tape on top.

"Safe to grab, if you're wondering," Larry commented. Just as Spike thought, as soon as he touched it, the tape disappeared. With all completed, Spike jumped into the exit for the third time. The now-familiar static engulfed the land, and handed Spike the remote to the next area. There wasn't much left to go after this. Will he be able to make it to the end?

Comments

[Garino]

This is where I give the story a bit of an original twist. There were no recolors of enemies in the game, so I decided to take a few liberties and add some. Just how will it affect the story? Well, you'll just have to find out!

(Also, sorry for the wait, writer's block is a bitch)

[MorningDart]

Wow, another update! Seems to me that there are still a lot of chapters incoming. One thing bothers me. Why is this so unpopular? I really can't belive that. Sorry. I really like it, though. Keep up!

~Morning Dart

[Garino]

303060 I'll try. I'm not sure why it's not more noticed, either. But so far, it hasn't gotten any flak. I guess that's a good sign?

[MorningDart]

303072 It sure is! But I think that this fic deserves so much more. That makes me kinda sad.

~Morning Dart