> Spike's Castle: Sombra's Revenge
>  by L Drkheart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Homecoming and Ghostbusting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike sighed when the train finally stopped and he stepped out opening his arms for the surprise hug that Pinkie and the CMC had undoubtedly planned for his homecoming but when he opened his eyes and looked around he felt a little sad to find no one had come. Even Twilight hadn’t even after him being gone for two weeks for Royal Business. 
“She’s never missed picking me up before… I bet the princess gig is started to affect her scheduling skills. Still, I wouldn’t have minded talking to a friend on my way back, even Trixie and Starlight would have been great.” He grabbed his bags and dragged them along to the Castle of Friendship which took on an ominous feel under the moonlight and fog that had covered Ponyville. 
“And I thought Canterlot was scary at night…” Spike shook his head and walked to the castle doors where he knocked. He waited for a minute before he knocked again harder. “Hey, Twi! Starlight! It’s Spike!” He smiled and opened his arms but the door remained closed. “Hey come on girls! It’s cold out here and I’m hungry!” Still no answer but as Spike beat on the door it opened and he grumbled as he walked in and put his bags down nearby. “You two took your sweet time!”
He turned when there was no answer and found there was nopony around and the entrance hall looked as though his friends had been in the middle of making or taking down a party when they all left. There were balloons and food all ready but another pack of balloons on the ground along with a cake and a banner half hung from the ceiling. 
“G-girls!?” Spike shouted to the darkened castle before he examined the food and found it was cold and crisp. “Been here a while…” He walked over to the pack of balloons on the ground and found it half-open. “Pinkie would never have let balloons stay unblown like this…” He walked over to the banner half that was close to the ground, his name was hoof-painted on it. “They were preparing a party for me…” He rubbed his chin getting a general idea of what had happened. The girls had been preparing a party for him when something had surprised them all. It couldn’t have been Changlings as Thorax had become king and ensured that there were only tiny groups that still followed Chrysalis. Not to mention that if it were Changlings they would have tried to pretend to be the girls. No this was an attack of sorts.
“But who could have surprised beings as powerful as Twilight and Starlight?” He heard something nearby and looked around fearfully. “W-who’s there? Come out!” He jumped in fear when he saw the cake move a bit. He carefully tiptoed to it, reaching out a claw hesitantly. “T-Twilight?” His claw touched the cold frosting of the cake when a blue hand erupted from it and grabbed his wrist trying to pull him closer. “N-no! Help me! Let go!” Spike pulled against the hand and blasted the cake with fire as the hand let go and Spike fell on his rear. He groaned rubbing it when he looked up and yelped at the sight of the creature that was in the remains of the cake.
It was a see-through blue specter dragon that turned to Spike and smirked, flying at him with outstretched claws. Spike covered his head when he heard a strange sound that was reminiscent of a vacuum cleaner. He opened his eyes to see the dragon ghost clawing at the ground trying to get away from the suction power of a strange contraction on a nearby pony’s back. 
“Never fear chap, I got this departed ruffian!” Spike tilted his head trying to recognize the voice but then noticed the dragon coiling its tail to the other end of the pony. 
“Wait! Look out!” The dragon’s tail popped spikes from the tail’s end and cut on of the pony’s legs. He grunted and fell to his front knees allowing the dragon ghost to escape into the ceiling. Spike rushed to the pony and saw him clearly, he was the strange Earth Pony that lived in the old clock tower. “Hey, I know you! You’re that professor pony.”
“Doctor, I am a doctor, not a professor young dragon. Time Turner at your service or preferably Doctor Whooves. It seems like I’m not much of a ghostbuster either. You must take my Specter Sucker and escort me back to my lab!”
“Uhh, okay just never using that name like ever. Where’s your lab and how does that thing work?”  
“The Specter Sucker allows you to suck up ghostly entities when you have paralyzed them with the Flash Light.
“A flashlight?”
“No, the Flash Light is one of my inventions that can shoot a powerful beam of light that could illuminate an entire room for a moment and even stop ghosts in their tracks. It also doubles as a flashlight.” Spike fitted the strange backpack to his back and tested out the Flash Light which blinded the doctor. After testing some of the features of the Specter Sucker he noticed something. 
“Hey, this is our vacuum! I etched this picture of a jewel into it because I was bored one day!”
“Sounds like you need a hobby, my scaly friend.”
“Not the point! Why are you here anyway?” 
“I’ll explain on the way, get me to the door at the end of the hallway to the right.” Spike grumbled but began leading the way. “So a few days ago, Miss Sparkle came to me because she believed that her castle was being plagued by a ghostly presence. Her magic was unable to find the presence so to ensure it wasn’t all in her head she went to me as my colleague and close assistant Ditzy Doo had recommended. I set up a temporary lab here in the castle to run some tests and ended being here when the ghosts made there attack.”
“So do we know anything about these ghosts?”
“There are ten major ghosts that have taken your friends but the main ghost that is running all of this took the princess.”
“So I’ll send a message to Princess Celestia to come and help!”
“No! If one of the ghosts possesses the princess we’ll have a villain with the power to destroy Equestria!”
“So what’s the plan?” Before the Doctor could answer the dragon ghost from before was coming back and Spike pushed Hooves into his lab room. Spike ducked as the ghost slashed at his head. He tried to hit the dragon but found his hands going through its body. “That is so gross.” He was backhanded and landed on his feet before the dragon leaped at him and he aimed the Flash Light up. “Got ya!” He turned it up to max power and the ghost wailed in agony before Spike turned on the suction and it clawed at the ground before trying to do the same thing it had done to the doctor. Spike was ready and jumped catching the tail in his vacuum and finally sucking it up. He spun the nozzle and crossed his arms in triumph. 
“Very nice now get in here!” Spike snapped back to reality and ran into the room which had been a small closet but now was a cramped room of technology. “I saw everything from this screen, brilliant fight my friend. You may be just what I need.”
“What do you mean Doc?”
“My friend Ditzy is somewhere in the castle and she has a picture of the ghost causing all this. Find her and bring her back and we’ll be able to start looking for the others.”
“Anything else you can give me?”
“She is somewhere on this first floor I believe. She may very well be in danger I’d exercise caution.” Spike grumbled and began to leave.
“Thanks, Doc.”
> Derpy's Luck is Spike's Problem
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Spike made a promise that if they all survived this he would make Twilight up the castle’s security. First Starlight broke in and stayed there for Celestia knows how long, Changlings managed to replace them after attacking the castle, and now ghosts somehow got in. He racked his brain for any idea of who would do this in the first place. Chrysalis was out as she preferred long and complicated plans while Tirek was more so a brute who wouldn’t care about ghosts and rather attacked them right on. That was when his mind turned to one of his male friends.
“Discord!” The lord of chaos appeared in a bathtub and wearing a shower cap. He was singing a Nightmare Night themed song when looked down at Spike who raised an eyebrow. He covered himself with the shower curtains.”
“It’s rude to peep on people Spike, what would Twilight say? Welcome home by the way.”
“Trust me it’s a sight I wish I could burn from my memory but we don’t have time for this! I don’t know what she’d why don’t we ask her? Oh wait, we can’t! Ghosts have infested the castle!”
“I know this already. They attacked earlier today.”
“And you didn’t stop them?! Fluttershy was captured!” Discord wagged a finger at the young dragon. 
“I had planned to do something but decided I’d take advantage of this situation while helping fix it. I had a plan you see.”
“And what is this “plan”?” Discord pointed at Spike and smiled. 
“You of course! Celestia usually has Twilight deal with problems so I decided to use you seeing that you weren’t captured with the others. I helped the good doctor finish that little gizmo on your back and have tons of sweet upgrades for it.”
“Give em to me!” Discord smirked and spun, appearing in a large black coat which he opened showing a variety of strange items. 
“Hello Stranger, What are you buying?”
“Stranger? Buying?!”
“Course, first I need payment.” Spike blinked as silence reigned between them before Spike exploded on the Draconequus.
“Payment?! To help me save our friends?! Why do you even need bits? You can make them appear out of thin air!” Discord filed his one fang as Spike shouted.
“True but K.K has been getting upset with me counterfeiting money and I wanted to pay Fluttershy rent for all she’s done for me.”
“So you decided to use this incident to get bits out of me.” Spike grumbled and showed a fair amount of money. “This is the allowance my mom gave me.” Discord took the money and counted it while wearing tiny glasses. 
“Hmm… this is enough for the first item.”
“Wait for the first?! What about the rest?! I have no more bits!”
“Those ghosts brought a fair amount of cash with them along with some great treasures. I want you to suck up all that treasure and bring it back to me.”
“Wait why did they do that and why can’t you just collect it all on your own?” Discord shrugged.
“I guess they wanted to be rich once they took over our friend’s bodies and why don’t I collect it all instantly? Simple I want you to do all the work. Ooo this is fun, I see why Tia does it all the time!” Spike grumbled and crossed his arms.
“So what’s this first item?”
“He’ll be waiting at the end of the hall in the study to the left.” With that, Discord vanished with Spike’s comic book money and Spike found himself alone again. 
“H-he?” Spike whispered to himself as he focused back on the mission at hand. His fear returned and he smacked himself as he remembered that his friends needed him right now and it wasn’t a time to be scared. He ran to the study Discord mentioned and prepared his Flash Light in case of a ghost, instead he saw an old friend. 
“Peewee!” The phoenix cawed at his old owner and flew at him, the two sharing a hug. “I missed you! I guess you were the help that Discord brought. Sorry for dragging you into all this buddy but our friends need our help because some ghost have taken the castle! Will you help me get them back?” Peewee didn’t hesitate before nodded and then leaned in close to the dragon. He sniffed him and then turned his back on Spike. “Hey what’s wrong buddy? Do I smell that bad?”
Peewee made a sad noise and turned his head to the sky and Spike snapped realizing what was wrong. “Oooh, you smelled Philomena on me didn’t you? Don’t be jealous Peewee she’s just my mom’s pet.” Peewee tapped his chin with a wing before turning back to Spike and giving him puppy-dog eyes. “W-what? Why the look?” The bird mumbled and Spike’s eyes widened. “Oh my Celestia, you want me to set you up with her don’t you?”
Peewee tried an innocent look but couldn’t pull it off. “Isn’t she too old for you?” Peewee gave him a deadpan look that only meant one thing. 
Funny coming from you.
	“Ouch, that hurts… ugh fine I’ll do it after we save everyone deal?” Peewee nodded and the two spit on their hand/wing and shook on it. “Good now I need you to help me find a friend of mine named Derpy. She’s the one pegasus that used to carry all the letters in the morning remember?” Peewee thought and then nodded before starting to lead the way with Spike following. “You must have seen to her pass by here huh? The Doc told me she hadn’t left too long ago.” Peewee landed and pointed at a door with his wing, it was the last door that Spike expected.
“Umm, are you sure she’s in here?” Peewee ruffled his feathers in offense but Spike petted the bird.  “Sorry for doubting you but it’s just this is the laundry room so I just don’t know why she’d be in here.” A noise on the other side of the door sounded like a bark. Spike pulled out the SS (Suction Sucker) and turned to Peewee. “Stay behind me, we don’t know what’s on the other end.” Peewee nodded and hid behind Spike as the dragon opened the door.
Now Spike was the only one that ever really entered the laundry room as Starlight and Twilight would just leave out their wore clothes and he’d wash it for them even if he was sure they could do it with magic. It was rare enough that they ever wore clothes though so Spike found himself only coming in around once a month. It was a simple grey room with no windows or furniture when Spike found it save a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling so he put in a washing machine, dryer, and large carrying basket for sheets when he bothers to clean them usually after a slumber party. 
Right now though the room was in chaos as clothes were everywhere, a ghost mutt was barking and raging around, and Derpy was in the basket with some undergarments on her head. “D-Derpy! What happened?!”
“Umm I had taken a wrong way and ended up here with this nice puppy and we were playing fetch but then I threw his bone somewhere and he got mad. I just don’t know what went wrong!” 
 “Why not just fly?”
“I hurt my wing with one of the Doc’s inventions before this whole mess started.” The dog turned facing Spike and growled as he prepared to attack. Spike sighed and prepared the Specter Sucker. 
“Okay, don’t worry I got this. Hey there pal, we’re similar you and I. I was a dog once, I know how much it sucks to have one of your toys taken.” The two circled each other with the dog’s eyes narrowing at Spike. “But playtime is over.” The dog barked and jumped at Spike who moved to the side and blew some dragon fire on one of the clothes he had been standing on, the dog landing on it and yelping as it burned. “Got ya!” Spike flashed the dog with the light and he started to use the SS but the dog got out from the vortex and tried biting Spike’s face but he used the SS to block the fangs from reaching his face. The dog’s tackle knocked Spike on his back and he used his feet to push the dog into the air where Peewee swept down and headbutted the dog back into the ground. Spike rushed over but then the dog barked with such a strong force that Spike was knocked back. He grunted and looked up as the mutt attacked again but before he struck a Pegasus stood between the two. 
“Stop! This is over puppy! Please no more.” 
“Derpy move!” 
“No, I know what he wants.”  Peewee struggled to hold something and dropped it before he landed on Derpy’s back. The giant thing seemed to be something he had found on a beam above their heads. It was a great bone nearly the size of Spike which the dog looked at and suddenly his chest glowed as he licked Derpy’s face. Spike took his chance and flashed the dog and sucked at the chest where the light was. It sucked the anger and bitterness out of the dog, his appearance changed until a small puppy was all that remained. He yipped happily before he jumped on the bone and slowly the two began to float into the air and vanished.
“W-what happened?”
“He’s gone, you took away all the anger he still had inside and with it gone then he could pass on.”
“So what’s in this thing?”
“The angry form of the puppy, I think the Doc can do something about that. Can you lead me back to him? Thank you also mister bird for finding the bone.”
“How did you even managed to throw that thing up there?” Spike muttered shaking his head and decided that it was like the Pinkie Sense and Discord’s underwear drawer, some things just weren’t meant for mortals to know.
.   .   .
Spike quickly discovered what Discord said was true, bits were everywhere! He even managed to find a sapphire which made his mouth water but as he bit at it, Discord appeared and took it. The dragon sighed but led Derpy back to the Doctor’s Lab where he embraced her. 
“Ahh, you had worried me, my friend! What’s a doctor without his faithful assistant?”
“Sorry Doc I got a bit lost but Spike helped me with the Spector Shot.”
“I thought we agreed with Spector Sucker?”
“No, I told you that name sucks.”
“Oh, I thought that was one of those jokes.” Spike smacked his face and shook his head, he didn’t have time for this.
“Where are my friends?!”
“Hmm? Oh yes, I managed to find one of the ghosts has hoarded themselves up in the Library. You’ll need to find a way in.”
“Thanks for the help… Any news on who is doing this?” The Doctor nodded and typed on his computer which showed a blurry image but slowly it became clear. “No… please not him again…” Green eyes and red pupils stared back at Spike from the monitor. He felt his hands shake with fear or was it something else? Spike had been given credit for Sombra’s defeat at the Empire and while he loved the attention, he never felt like he truly deserved it. This was his chance to prove if he was the hero they believed he was. “Sombra.”