Legacy of Dragons and Knights

Chapters

The Start of a Journey
First Battle and First Victory
The New Face
A New Friend and a Ride
Truth
Regret and Rage
The Thief
First Mission
Nothing is Ever Easy
Two Princesses' Mistakes
The Sharpshooter
The Past
The Musician and a Mother's Despair
Consequences and a Old Friend
Seeing an Recent Friend.
The Assiasian Princess, the Warrior Noblewoman, and an old Companion
The Immortal and the Builder
Plans for the Future
The Dark Stone, The Bomber, and The Azure Ghost
A Morning Full of News
Intelligence Gathering
Converging

The Start of a Journey

1st-person P.O.V.

Fire, that is all that I see right now. Ghostly, emerald green fire is burning all around me in what appears to be a basement. I’m looking around frantically for a way out. While the fire can’t hurt me due to my heritage, I don’t want to be inside of this place when it comes crashing down on top of my head. While trying to find an exit, I noticed three small familiar figures lying on the floor. I ran over to them and—once I got a better look at them—noticed how bad of a shape they were in. With those injuries, they needed to get to a hospital quick, but I’m not sure if I can lift them all by myself.

“Hey girls, wake up! We need to get out of here! C’mon girls, wake up!” I cry, trying to awaken them, but to no avail. Then I sense someone behind me. I quickly turn around to see a somewhat familiar figure, one much taller than me, wearing clothes with a few burn marks, and the same twisted murderous grin I remember with a blood stained knife in his hand held in reverse-grip style.

“You?! Why?! Why did you do this to them?!” I said, with smoke pouring out of my mouth; I was ready to rip this monster’s throat out. The man charges me hoping to put the knife in my skull. Too bad I was able to catch his arm mid swing before he got the chance. Our struggle became a contest of strength, where my defeat would mean a knife sticking out of my head. While my adversary's height gives him an advantage in this situation, being a descendent of one of the strongest beings on the planet evened the playing field. Unfortunately, we weren’t getting anywhere; and with this place still on fire, the faster I could get my friends out, the better.

I take in a breath of air and exhale my signature dragon fire in to the man’s chest. The figure back-pedaled trying to put out the fire, dropping the knife in the process. Seeing my chance, I grab the knife, charge full speed at the man that tried to kill me, and shoved the knife as deep as it can go into his heart. I hold the knife in place until he stops moving. I was about to get up and go to my three unconscious friends when suddenly my friend, the man I just killed, the fire and everything else around me faded to black.

I look around and all I see is myself and an endless black void. Out of nowhere seven figures appear in front of me. One of them I somewhat recognize while the others I know like the back of my hand.

“That’s him! That’s the one who killed my husband, tried to kill those girls, and set fire to our house!” one of the figures with a shrill voice screamed and pointed at me. Though I know she wasn’t telling the complete true. I was trying to protect my friends not hurt them, but before I could tell her off the others spoke.

“How could you? How could do something so terrible you monster?!” The normally quiet one out of my six best friends screamed loudly. It felt like a piece of my heart broke when she said 'monster'.

“You are nothing but a murderer, you big meanie!” The usually happy person yelled angrily at me. I felt another piece break off of my heart.

“You bastard! You’re going to pay for hurting my little girl!” A brash voice yelled out over what happen to her newly appointed daughter. Another piece falls.

“And to our little sisters!” A southern voice cried out with the noble figure next to its owner glaring death at me. Two more pieces break off and my heart is on its last legs. I tried to speak, tell them they were wrong, explain what really happened, but no words came out of my mouth no matter how loud I yelled. The final figure walked out to me with a look of pure disgust across her face.

“You have committed an unforgivable crime Spike.” She said in a cold voice. Then suddenly she placed her hand on my chest and pain shoots out through my body. As quickly as it came it was over.

“I have severed your connection to Celestia. By my power as the Princess of Magic, you, Spike the Dragonborn, are banished from Equestria, never to set foot on its soil ever again.” And like that my heart shattered. How could they do this to me? After all the times we shared, all the times I helped them? They believe her over me, their best friend?! I was beyond pissed and crying my eyes out at the same time.

“Now be gone!” The person that was like a sister to commanded; then I was suddenly sent flying through the void, all the while screaming a soundless scream as the darkness engulfs me.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

I yelled as I woke up in a cold sweat with tears in my eyes. Quickly, I looked around to get my bearings. I was up in the tree I tied myself to the night before, with my backpack strapped to my front and the ordinary looking sword—which my brother, Shining Armor, gave me for my 12th birthday along with a book on how to properly use a sword—still in hand. Taking a look at my wristwatch, I saw that it was about seven-thirty in the morning. The reason I decided to spend the night in a tree was because I was currently in none other than the infamous Everfree Forest, a forest filled with many dangerous creatures. I learned from my friend, Zecora, that it is better to sleep high in the trees than on the ground where most of the forest’s predators can get you. I was somewhat confident that my half decent skills with my sword, fire breath, fire-based powers, and natural strength, speed, and endurance that came with being a Dragonborn would be enough to handle most of the things that this forest can throw at me. Nevertheless, I didn’t like the idea of being attacked in my sleep during the middle of the night.

After I untied myself from the tree, repositioned my backpack, and sheathed my sword, I carefully made my way down to the ground with my nightmare still fresh in my mind. So many sensations still lingered within me: the worry I had for the CMC, the adrenaline rush I got from fighting and killing their assailant, the pain and betrayal I felt from being scorned and banished by my so called best friends without even hearing my side of the story, the regret... "NO! I don’t regret killing that psycho! If I didn’t, he would have killed Applebloom, Sweetie, and Scoots," I tell myself. Though I never did learn whether or not they were okay after the incident since nobody would tell me. I hope they are still alive. After making sure the coast was clear, I finally got off the tree and onto solid ground.

I went to a small nearby creek I found the other day to fill up on water before continuing on my journey. Once I got there, I started filling my water bottles with as much of the liquid as they can carry. After I was finished, I look at my reflection. My emerald green hair, that was naturally wild and spikey, was bent, pointing behind me. Deep green eyes with a snake-like pupil looked right back at me with a bit of red from the crying I was doing in my sleep. I am somewhat tanned and in pretty decent shape since for the past year or so I have been trying to get out of the library as much as possible to do some of my own interests. I was also a bit taller than the average 13-year-old which I was happy with since I spent most of my short life shorter than most people in my age group. I’m currently wearing a purple hooded jacket, a green t-shirt, some blue jeans, and some hiking boots I got when I started being more outdoorsy.

After checking myself over, I dug into my pack to bring out my map and compass. It was day two of my banishment and the plan was to get to the other side of this forest, go through the badlands, and into Dragonborn territory. Not much of a plan, but it’s better than nothing. After figuring out where I was and which way I needed to go, I put away my things, strapped my backpack on, unsheathed my sword—just in case I have to use it quickly—and continued on with my journey.

It's times like this I was grateful to Zecora for teaching me how to survive in outdoors for the past 10 months or so, and to Shining for getting my sword and book on how to use it that I still have with me. Though with that thought, I started to think how much I was going to miss them and the rest of my friends. I shook my head to get rid of the depressing thoughts that were trying to work their way into my head and tried to be positive.

‘Well, I’m going to have that life filled with adventure that I always wanted,’ I thought, slightly cheering myself up. ‘Yeah, I can finally learn more about my heritage, my culture, and I might even learn about my real family and parents,’ I happily thought inside my head. I fist pump the hand that wasn’t holding the sword into the air yelling, “Nothing is going to stand in my way now!” Though after around ten steps I slump my shoulders, lowered my head, and let out a deadpanned sigh.

“Annnd I probably just jinxed myself.” I muttered under my breath.

Author's Note

After spending so much time reading stories I decided to try my hand at it. Everyone is going be mostly human with some key aspects from their cartoon forms. With the world having some characteristics or characters from other sources. As for updating I'll try to keep it at least once a week but I'm not making any promises. Tell me what you thing and go easy since it is my first fic.
DARKPHANTOM13 out!.

First Battle and First Victory

1st P.O.V

And I was right. Not even five minutes after I said that phrase three Timberwolves jump out some bushes and blocking my way. You know some people would panic inside of their heads right now, while others would calmly plan out their strategy either for attacking them or getting the heck out of here. But I wasn’t thinking about either of those things. My thought process was more along the lines of ‘DAMN YOU MURPHY, DAMN YOU TO HELL!’

I have my sword in my right hand in front of me and ready to slash at anyone of the three new opponents before me as they spread out a little and I shrug off my backpack. It might be three against one but I was pretty confident in my chances. After Twilight became a princess she needed me less and less and was often out on royal duties most of the time leaving me with a lot of free time. Some of the free time went into practicing my control over my dragon fire. When I was younger I could only get a decent jet of flames when I was annoyed or angry, now I can more or less do it at will while also learning to do few new tricks with my fire. Timberwolves aren’t really wolves. They are really the spirit of dead wolves that possess a bunch of dead branches and twigs, combining them together to make their wolf like bodies attack anything they think they have a chance of beating. Three piles of firewood vs. a walking flamethrower. You do the math.

The timberwolf in the middle was the first to attack and I respond with a strong overhead swing to its head ending it. After seeing its comrade killed (if these things can actually die) the pile of branches on my right begins its charge with the one on my left following its ally’s example. Thankfully I was preparing for something like this. I sent an upward slash to the Timberwolf on my right to knock it away while I open my hand and pointed my palm to the charging wolf on my left. Concentrating a little on my hand a green fireball a little bit bigger than a baseball appears in front of my hand. I waited until it got close enough and when it jump to try and pounce me I send the fireball flying right into its face blowing it up. I quickly turn around to the Timberwolf I hit earlier and saw it just got on its paws. I breathe in deeply and send out a somewhat big bout of dragon fire before it knew what hit him. As I watch the pile of wood burn I hear a twig snap. I turn around saw a fourth Timberwolf that is almost as tall as I am charging right at me and about to take a swipe at me with one of its forepaws. There was no time to dodge it so I put both hands on my sword and try to block it.

I manage to block the attack and my sword is in my left hand, but I am sent flying due to the brute force of the attack. Though the flight didn’t last long and land on my back pretty hard. For a walking pile of wood it has a pretty good hook on it. Before I could stop seeing stars it pounced on me hoping to bite my throat out. But instead of it tasting my flesh and blood I got a good taste of my sword. With my sword blocking its mouth my right hand reach up to grab the side of its head trying to push it off but no such luck. It was time for pouchy here to see one of my other tricks. Focusing on my hands dragon fire comes into existence engulfing them causing my right hand to burn the wood dog’s face. But I forgot that I still have my sword in my left hand. Though instead of melting my sword or something the blade was surrounded by my fire, causing it to burn the Timberwolf’s mouth. It jumps off of me to try to put out the fire that was burning its head. While it was busy doing that I toss a fireball at it knocking it on its side. While it is still down I jump at it and bring my flaming sword down on it severing it neck.

The fire from sword starts to spread through both pieces, turning them both into a pile of ashes. I hear something and I realize that I forgot that these guys can rebuild themselves if there is enough of it to do so. When I turn to the walking tree bark it just finished putting it head together, but it was in for a surprise when it noticed it was the only one left. After looking at me and my flaming sword it ran like hell out here. After waiting for a minute or two to make sure there wasn’t any more surprises I let myself relax. I’m not sure if it’s the adrenaline rush or my Dragonborn instincts kicking in but I can’t seem to get rid of this grin glued on my face. ‘That was fun.’ the thought echo inside my head. I’m not sure whether or not that is a good sign but I will worry about it later.

I realize that both my hand and my sword were still on fire. I’m not even sure how I pulled that off with my sword. Think about stopping the fire in my hand and sword and sure enough the flames die down. I carefully look at my sword to see if there is any damage but there is none. I decided to see if I can do it again. I focus on my fire appearing but engulfing the blade. Ghostly green fire appears on the blade and not burning it from the looks of it. I turn off the fire again thinking that this new trick could be really useful and made a mental note to test it out when I am somewhere safer.

With that in mind I put my backpack I put down earlier and continue on my way. While I was walking I realize something. I just fought my first real fight and won by myself. This was a big confidence boost but I know mustn’t get cocky or something will come along and kill my ass. As I continue to walk I can’t help but think to myself, ‘I wonder kind of adventure is around the corner?’

Author's Note

My first fight scene, tell me what you think. And Spike has just discovered a new power and it is going to grow into something really powerful as the story goes.

The New Face

Spike P.O.V.

I’m sitting in front of the fire keeping an eye on some fish that is cooking in the flames. It has been four days since I was banished for Equestria and all and all things could be a lot worst though I will never say it out loud. The last thing I need it to jinx myself again like the other day. Especially since I had a repeat of the nightmare I had my first night out here last night. I still feel okay and ready to go, but if the nightmares keep coming or get any worse I know that won’t last long.

Earlier today while I was walking on a bank of a river when a large bluish-purple sea serpent, ‘or is it a river serpent?’ appear all of a sudden. I had my sword ready thinking it was going to attack me, but it turns out he wanted to compliment me on my clothes. Apparently the… interesting sea serpent’s name was Steven Magnet, the same one who Twilight and the others meet and helped on their way to get the Elements of Harmony. And I could see why he and Rarity got along so well. After talking to him for a little bit he offered me to give me a ride down river which I accepted. And I got say; he can swim pretty fast for something as big as he is. Steven dropped me off on the side of the river when it got too shallow for him to swim through. He was even nice enough to give me some fish to eat. In return I gave him one of the gemstones I took with me before I left Ponyville as a thank you gift and he seemed pretty happy with it, said something about matching his scales or something. He was pretty unique, but he was a great guy and thanks to him he saved me about a day’s worth of walking.

While waiting for the fish to finish cooking I look at my map again. Thanks to Steven I was able to make a lot of headway, but I still got a day’s worth of walking ahead of me before I get out of this forest and at least another three to four days to reach the nearest town in Dragonborn territory on foot. That’s not taking into account of any problems or obstacles I might run into along the way.

I notice that the fish is done so I dig right in. It’s not up to my usually standards of cooking but beggars can’t be choosers. As soon as I was done with my meal I pack up my stuff and went on my way. About an hour later of no stop walking I can safely say that I am sick of it. Its times like this that make me really wish that I have wings so I could just fly my way to the nearest town. It makes me think back to the dragons’ and dragonborns’ lava pool retreat I took part in a few years ago. While a lot of people from young to old that had wings there were just as many people without them. It could be that a dragonborns got to be born with them or once a certain few reach a certain age they just burst out of our backs. For all I know it could be both.

If I never grow wings I want to at least get me a car or something to get around. It would be so awesome if I can get me a customized motorcycle. Though I wonder if they got them where I am going? While cars, trucks, and the like are not that unusual in Equestria they are not exactly common either. I got to look into those things because either way I officially hate walking.

After another hour of Celestia-damn walking I decided to take a break in a nearby tree. After resting and munching on some wild berries I picked for a couple of minutes I hear something coming from a clearing nearby. I use my vantage point to see what is going on. There was a guy that looks to be about a year older than me with dark brown skin like Zecora and what looks like to be black dreadlocks surround by three manticores, with the one in the middle being normal size with the other two on each side being somewhat smaller. It is probably a parent and its kids trying to get a meal. The keyword being trying. The black haired boy is wielding a two-handed double edge sword and not making it easy for his opponents. I jump down from the tree, leaving my backpack there, and with my sword in hand. I quickly make my way to the edge of the clearing and peek through the bushes so I can have a better idea of what is going on.

Whoever this guy is he is really good with his sword. He is swinging that thing as if it was a stick with a lot of grace, skill, and strength. It’s obvious that he has been training a lot longer in how to use a sword than I have. Even though it is three against one he is attacking, blocking, and counter-attacking with some ease. The only reason he hasn’t beaten these three yet is because every time he is about to land a strong blow on one of them the other two covers for their ally and I can tell he is starting to get tired. Looks like I’m going to have to help him, but I’m going to need a plan.

The biggest manticore is the one giving him the most trouble and its back is facing me, giving me a chance to land a sneak attack. I’m not sure if my fire breath will be enough to kill it in one hit and I might also hit the swordsman. The same thing goes for my fireballs. The best thing to do is to cut off the stinger with my sword since it is the most dangerous part about it and drawing it attention. With the big one busy with me the swordsman should be able to take out the smaller ones without much trouble and then come help with the parent. Granted I don’t know if he would help or if he runs away, leaving me on my own.

I focus on my sword and sure enough it is engulf in my ghostly dragon fire. Mind, body, and weapon ready I charge at the chimera as fast and quietly as I can all the while thinking, 'Here goes nothing.'

Swordsman P.O.V.

“I’ll take a shortcut through the Everfree Forest; it can’t be nearly as bad as the rumors claim it to be.” I sarcastically said under my breath as I dodge another paw swipe and try to counterattack. And for what felt like the hundredth time today one of the manticores stop me with another attack. I swear to god that Murphy is the ultimate asshole and these guys are annoying as hell. I got to think up something quick, I may have a lot of stamina even among earthwalkers, but I’m starting to run out of steam here.

I noticed a kid about a year or so younger than me charging out of the bushes with what appears to be a flaming sword. When he gets close enough he right horizontal fire slash that the biggest manticore’s scorpion tail, cutting it clean off and causing it to roar in pain. The big one quickly turns around to fight the newcomer while the two smaller ones to their heads to see what is going on.

Seeing my chance I thrust my sword into one of the beasts’ neck while its head is still turned, dying a few seconds later. The other beast noticed what happened to its ally and tries to hit me with its stinger. I pull my sword out of the now dead manticore and use a right diagonal swing to knock the attack away. While keeping my momentum I spin my body and unleashing a powerful spinning slash, cutting the beast’s face and ending its life.

I quickly turn to the kid to see how he was doing. From the looks of it the last manticore knocked back a few meter and was charging him now as he got back on his feet. I see the guy swing his sword to the right to prepare to attack but instead of the sword cutting air it sent out a crescent of ghostly green fire at the at the charging beast, hitting it right in its face. And from the looks of it the kid was as just as surprised as I was.

While the oversize furball was trying to put out its flaming face the newcomer got over his surprise, breath in deeply and spit out a fireball the size of a beach ball, hitting the chimera, sending it flying a couple of feet, and landing on its side. ‘Is that guy a dragon blood?’ I wondered. I’ve heard about these guys. Due to them being decedents’ dragons they are really strong, durable, and have fire base powers. Both me and the dragon blood notice the manticore trying get back up. We both charge it with me thrusting into its neck while the kid jumps stabs it in the side with his flaming sword.
After well pull our swords out we watch the fire slowly burn the corpse. Too tired to stand any more I end up falling on my butt. As I was trying to catch my breath I look over to see the guy that helped me out.

The kid looked to be about a year younger than me even though he is a bit taller than average. He was somewhat tanned, had green spikey hair that bends backwards, green eyes with snake like pupils, pointed ears, it looks like he had fangs instead of regular teeth, and claw like nails on his hands. He was wearing a purple hoodie, a green t-shirt, blue jeans, and black hiking boots. While I wasn’t nearly as tired as I am he is still panting from the fight. And oddly enough he had this grin on his face. I’ve seen that kind of grin before. It is usually on someone who loves a good fight.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asks. Snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah, but why did you help me?” I respond. While I am grateful I have to be careful. For all I know he could just want to kill and rob me when my back is turned.

“I saw you were in trouble so I decided to help you.” He said.

“Okay, but why did you help me?” I said, repeating my question.

The kid raises an eyebrow and says “Do I need a reason to help someone?”

Thanks to my…unique childhood I learn how to do many things. Telling whether or not a person is lying is one of them. And I can tell he is being completely honest with me.

“I guess not and thanks.” I say gratefully with a smile on my face.

“No problem. Names Spike, what’s your name?” He asks with a small grin on his face.

I match his grin and say “My name is Mist.”

Author's Note

Mist is not my character. He is a character from a manga called Knights created by Minoru Murao. And it looks like Spike has just learned fire slash.

A New Friend and a Ride

Spike P.O.V.

Mist? I was honestly expecting something similar to Zecora or something but I not going to judge. Up close I can get a good look at him. He is a bit taller than me by two or three inches. He had brown skin, black dreadlock hair that almost went to his shoulders with a few locks in front of his face. He is wearing something that looks like a black hooded cape that stops around his knees, a white shirt with what looks like some type of chain mail under it, some slightly wore cargo jeans, brown boots, and strangely enough, metal shin guards and gauntlets that cover his hands and forearms. All and all he looks like the modern version of a young knight.

“So why are you here doing in the Everfree forest of all places?” Mists ask me.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I say with a smirk on my face “but if you must know I’m going to the other side of the forest to get to dragonborn territory to learn about my heritage and discover my roots.” Which wasn’t technically a lie since that is some of the reasons why I’m heading there in the first place.

Mist gives me a look that says he knows that’s not the whole story, but he shrugs, letting it go for now.

“I’m heading there myself. There is a tournament that is going to take place at a town called Smoldering Pit in about a month and a half from now?” He says with a smirk of his own.

“Tournament?” I ask. That sounds interesting.

“Yeah, the Young Fighters Tournament. It’s a fighting tournament where anyone between the ages of sixteen and twelve can compete. The winner gets a cash prize of 1,000 gil.” He says getting more excited as he talks about it.

“A thousand gil?” I question.

“Yeah, that’s about the equivalent of 10,000 bits.” He explains.

Whoa…that’s a lot of bits. I’m not exactly a greedy person but I can’t help but drool a little at the thought of that much dough. If I win that tournament I wouldn’t have to worry about money for a while. But my chances of winning it are somewhat low since I have been in only three real fights and have about a year of self-training. Then again it would be a go chance to test my skills and see where I stand. It’s not like I got any better idea of what I am going to do once I cross the border. Besides Mist seems like a good guy and it would nice to travel with someone for a change.
“I think I’ll sign up for the tournament as well. Mind if I tag along?” I ask.

He looks at me for a second, than looks up thinking about my proposal. After a few minutes he shrugs his shoulders.
“Why not? It is safer with two people instead of one and it would be nice to talk to someone besides myself.” Mist says nonchalantly as he grabs his duffle bag that was off to the side the entire time.

I tell him to follow me as I head back to the tree where I left my backpack in. As soon as I got it the two of us went on our way. While we are walking we talked about each other. I talked about some of my hobbies and basically some of my dreams to see the world and become an adventurer. Mist tells me that he is more or less a wandering adventurer that wants to become a knight and one of the strongest swords men in the world. His hobbies are training and reading. It reminds me of Twilight. While it does bring back some pretty bad memories I silently pray that he isn’t nearly as bad as she is. This goes on for a few hours and I must admit that Mist was right. It is nice to have someone to talk to. We notice that the sun was going to down and decided to make camp. After a meal of berries, jerky (courtesy of Mist’s stash of food), and water I climb up a tree that will be my bed for the night. My new traveling companion asks my why I’m sleeping in a tree. After explaining he follows my lead and makes himself at home in a nearby tree. We both fall asleep to the noises of the forest.

The Next Day

Like the last two nights I startled awake. That damn nightmare came back for round three. Though for some reason it isn’t quite as bad as the last two times. Not that you will hear me complaining. I glance at my watch and it says 7:33 AM. I look at a nearby tree to see that Mist is waking up as well. After exchanging a ‘good morning’ we gather our stuff and make our way down to ground level, eat some breakfast, and continue on our journey. A couple of hours later we finally made it to the other side of the Celestia-damn Everfree Forest. We decided to stop to eat something while we check where we are. According to our maps Smoldering Pit is two towns over, meaning we will have to pass Dragonville and Ashen Twine to get there. We did the math on how long it would to get there and I practically cry at the results. From the looks of it we will get there in about two weeks on foot to get to our destination. And that’s not taking into account of us doing any sightseeing or getting more supplies.

While I was depressed about all that walking, Mist asks me if I want him to help train me. I told him ‘sure’ since I knew he was more skilled at sword wielding than me and I could use some advice. We gather our swords, put some distance between us, and once he was ready I charge forward, ready to unleash all of my training and skills upon my new sparring partner. Needless to say, I came, I saw, I got my ass kicked. I knew the black haired teen in front of me is good with his sword, but by Celestia, the skill gap between us is a lot bigger than I thought. I can’t even lay a scratch on this guy. After basically half an hour of him knocking me around he says that he wants to see how well we do with hand to hand combat. Luckily for me before I was exiled I took some fighting lessons from Applejack and Rainbow Dash, so I’ll have at least some idea of what I’m doing.

Round two wasn’t as bad a round one. I still got my ass handed to me, but this time he had to work for it and I was even able to land a few hits. After another half hour of me getting a beat down we decided to take a break. As we are resting he tells me about my skills. According to him he says I’m pretty good for someone who was self-taught, I could think on my feet, adaptable, and I am both physically and mentally strong. While I am okay at using ether two-hand style or one hand style, I tend to lean towards the latter which makes sense since it allows me to use my other hand to punch or throw fireballs. He asks me if I was both handed.

Funny story, after years of working as an assistant and writing to the point that my right hand would cramp up at least once a day I learn how to write with my other hand. After I mastered how to write with my left hand it starts to bleed into other things. Either way Mist says will help with my swordplay since I can use either hand.

Mist also asks me about my powers and my fire sword trick and in all honesty I don’t know. Both the flame sword and fire slash were complete accidents and I have never heard of a dragonborn being able to do something like that. I’ve heard mages being able to do something like what I did with magic but not with fire. I will have to ask another dragonborn if I want to learn more about this.

As soon as we were rested we continue on or our journey where we soon found a road that will take us to the nearest town called Dragonville. “I wonder if it is related to Ponyville in some way.” I thought to myself, but I chalk it up to being a coincidence. It was around three in the afternoon when we an old truck with a trailer of what looks like rocks, ore, and metal with the trailer stuck in a ditch, with what looks like a man and his son trying to get the trailer out. Mist and I looked at each other and decided we should help them.

As we got closer we got a better look at the two. The man was about 5’6 feet tall. He was slightly tan, brown eyes, with shaggy black hair, pretty muscular, from the looks of it an earthwalker, and he was wearing a blacksmith’s outfit. (AN: just think the skyrim blacksmith outfit.) What we guess was the man’s son was more interesting looking. While he had the dragonborn eyes, which were blue, and teeth, but he didn’t have pointed ears or claw like nails. The kid appear to about eleven or twelve years old, had dirty blonde hair, slightly lighter skin than the older man. He was wearing a blue shirt collar shirt, jeans, and some white sneakers.

'He must be a Mix I thought to myself.' Mixes are more or less slang for hybrids. They are somewhat rare since even when you have parents that are say a dragonborn and a taurus-blood, their child will usually be one or the other. So it is a bit of a rare sight to see a Mix.

“Hey, do you two need any help?” Mist asks them.

The two turn around to us. After the man gave us a once over look he says “Yeah. We need to get out of this ditch but don’t have the man power. Mind lending us a hand?”

“Sure.” Mist and I say. The man nods at us and tell the kid to get inside the truck and floor it on the man’s signal while the man, Mist, and I get behind the trailer to push it.

“Now!” the shaggy haired man yells. The three of us push with all our might while the young boy in the truck stomps on the gas pedal. It took a minute or two but we were able to get the trailer out of the ditch.

As soon as we did it the boy stops the truck, gets out of it, and walks up to the older man.

The blacksmith looking man pats him the head and say “Good job son.” He turns to us “And thank you two for helping us. My name is Smith Firehammer and this is my son Jack.” He introduces themselves.

“Glad to be of help. My name is Spike and this is Mist.” I say while pointing to the knight in training.

“It’s nice to meet you too. From the looks of it looks like you have some place you want to go. If it is not too far out of the way we can give you a lift if you want.” Smith tells us.

“Yeah, we’re going the sign up for the Young Fighters Tournament in Smoldering Pit. If you can give us a ride we’d be grateful.” Mist explains.

The man’s eyes widen and a smile appears on his face. “That’s where we‘re heading. My family’s home and gunsmith and blacksmith shop are there. You can even stay with us until the tournament is over as long as you two help around the place.”

I’m practically crying tears of joy right now. Not only do we not have to worry about where we will live when re get there for a while, by riding in a truck we will get there in a few days instead of two weeks if we make good time, and most important of all we wouldn’t have to walk all the way there. Faster than Scoots on her scooter Mist and I agreed. We get into the truck, with me and Mist in the backseats of the truck with our packs on the floor and Smith at the wheel with Jack riding shotgun. As we ride along Jack, Mist, and I talk among each other with a comment or two from Smith while Life is a Highway plays on the radio. I can’t help but think what has happen and how I got here. While I have some bitter resentment for my former friends and sister, worry that the CMC didn’t make it, and I’m going to miss my home and friends I can’t help but feel a little happy about my current situation. I fought six dangerous creatures, meet a sea serpent, possibly made a friend with Mist, and we’re going to stay with a gun and blacksmith family while we train and prepare for a fighting tournament.

While this journey had a terrible start but things have gotten a bit better and I can’t wait to see what is around the next bend.

Author's Note

I would like to thank Rainbow Thrasher for helping me with the town names.

And to get this out of the way here is a list for the races that will show up in the story.

Earthwalker-earth ponies, donkeys, zerbras, and etc.
Mages-unicorns
Valkyrie- pegasus
Archangels- alicorns
Dragonborns- dragons
Griffians- griffons
Taurus-bloods- minotaur
Were-Dogs- diamond dogs

Please note that I might make additions as the story goes.

Truth

Twilight P.O.V.

Celestia's sun is slowly making its way through sky. The few beams of sunlight hit my face through the blinds awaking me. I get up from my bed in my purple pajamas while I stretch my body and rub the sleep from my eyes. I go through my normal morning routine. Brush my teeth, take a shower, and change into my day clothes which include a purple shirt, a dark pink sweater vest, and a purple skirt that went below my knees.

I make my way down stairs all the while yelling "Spike, can you make breakfast? Eggs and pancakes would be nice."

Nothing. Not a single sound. No sounds of someone rushing down the steps. No sounds of someone cooking. No "Sure Twilight.", "Way ahead of you Twi", or "You want anything else Twilight." It took me a few minutes before my memory kicks in. Due to the unspeakable crimes my former assistant has commented I personally exiled him to never be seen again.

Groaning in frustration I make my way to the kitchen to make myself breakfast. When I got their I see the oven's door wide open so anyone in the room could see the black charred identifiable substance that cover the inside it and the pan still inside. My attempt at making dinner last night didn't exactly go according to plan.

I raise my hand and focus on my magic. With it a bowl, a spoon, and container of milk, and a box of cereal float out of their respected places and make my breakfast for the day. As I quietly munch on my cereal I can't help but think back to that fateful day. It has been seven days since Spike murdered John Dark, burn down John's and his wife Jenny's newly bought house down, and attacked and severely injured Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. Just remembering the incident causes rage, disgust, betrayal, and sadness to bubble up inside of me.

Flashback

It was a sunny late spring day. I was at home reading some new additions that came to the library. Spike was out at the time. Though I do not know where he went. For some reason it was been happening a lot lately. He use to stay home to help around the library and always ready to help me if I needed it. Now though he would go out without saying anything and come back Celestia knows when. He has gotten more rebellious and now hates staying inside the library and would spend every day outside if he can help it. He would still do his chores but would complain a lot more if I tell him to clean up after my study sessions or stay in the library. Sometimes he would just ignore me and go about his business. From the way he acts he doesn't even care about being my number one assistant anymore. I even found some books about weapons and fighting under his matrass once. When I confront him about it he just shrugs and says it was something he was interested in. I was really starting to get worried about him.

Out of nowhere I heard someone banging on my door startling me out of my train of thought. Groaning I got up and see what all the noise was about. When I open the door I saw a frantic disheveled Jean Dark. She was a somewhat frail and pale woman that normally wears somewhat old fashion clothes. She and her husband moved to Ponyville about a month ago. The frail woman's husband was a bit stiff and a bit old fashion but for the most a okay guy.

"Hello Jean. Is something the matter?" I questioned, worried about the woman who looked like she was about to fall over any minute now.

"It's Spike! He came to our house and attacked me and went after my husband! I think Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle was with John." She said frantically and out of breathes, showing that she probably ran over here.

My mind came to a complete stop. Spike did that? No, he couldn't have, I told myself. He might had been acting weird for a long time now but he wouldn't just attack somebody, I thought. I snapped myself out of my trance and made my way outside and pass Jean. I collect my magic into my back and purple feathered wings appeared out of my back.

Without a moment to lose, I shoot up to the sky and flew to the Dark family home. While they lived on the outskirts of Ponyville at the speed I was flying to only take about 2.50 minutes for their house to come into view. And it was a horrific sight. The house was burning; smoke was rising into, and covered in ghostly green fire. It was exactly the same as Spike's dragon fire. I landed a couple of feet in front of the time burning house and something that still can't un-see.

A few feet from the front door laid the CMC. All three of the girls were covered with bruises and cuts and all of their clothes were ripped to shreds. Scootaloo had one of her wings broken, Applebloom's arm was broken, and Sweetie left leg was broken. While saw the three were still breathing I knew that we had to get him to hospital. And standing not two feet behind him was Spike who didn't noticed my arrival. His clothes were ripped in some places and he seemed to be panting a bit. And he had a blood covered knife in his hand. I must had been staring at the scene for a while now because Jean with a small crowd of some of Ponyville's citizens had come to onto the scene.

"Where is he, where is John? What did you do to my husband?!" Jean had cried out.

It seemed like at the mere mention of the man’s name it filled Spike with an untold amount of rage and with a deathly calm and cold raged voice he said, "I killed the bastard and left his body to burn in that place."

There were a chorus of gasps and whispers at this new information. Jean in a fit of anger and sadness charged at Spike while the young dragon born was about to swing his knife at her. I was able to stop Jean with my magic while I sent an energy blast at Spike. As soon as it landed he dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes and the still bloody knife rolled out of his hand.

End of Flashback

After that my friends arrived at the scene. I restrained Spike before he woke up while the others took the CMC to get their wounds treated. Spike woke up and I confronted him about what happened. He said that he did killed John Dark and he was the one who started the fire. He tried to same himself with some lie or another but I ignored him. I severed the connection between him and Celestia and for the good of both Ponyville and exiled him. I gave him 30 minutes to gather whatever belongings and personally escort him to the Everfree Forest.

Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were sent to the hospital and while their injuries were server they will pull through. And Jean after what has happened couldn't stay here anymore hurriedly left to her parents place in Seattle. After I was done with my cereal I put the bowl and spoon in the sink and call out "Spike, wash the dishes." And once again, no answer. This is starting to get old. I've been doing this for the past week and I still keep doing it even after I threw away anything that belongs to Spike and didn't take with him.

I sign to myself, deciding to check on Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity who have been in the hospital to keep an eye on the CMC for the past week. I concentrate of my magic and teleport to the hospital's lobby. There I see the three waiting. Applejack is a slightly tall earthwalker with long golden hair tied, freckles, tanned skin, musicaler body and green eyes. She is wearing her usual cowgirl outfit with her signature hat. To Applejack's left sat Rainbow Dash. She is an athletic valkyrie of average height. Like her name her hair had all the colors of the rainbow with light skin, red eyes, and with her usual tight light blue top, shorts, and running shoes. Next to her is the ever proper Rarity. She is a mage that considers herself to be a high class women. She has her hair in her usual elegant curl and wearing a simple white dress with matching high heels.

"Any news on the CMC?" I ask hopefully.

"Yeah, they woke up a few minutes ago. The doctors are looking the over before we can see them." Dash answers with relief in her words.

With relief washing over me I sat next to my three friends. A minute later a nurse comes and tells that we could see the young girls now. When we get to their room I see the three of them awake with bandages dotting across their bodies with one of Scootaloo's wing, Applebloom's arm, and Sweetie's leg in casts. From the look on their face they were beyond happy with tears of joy coming down their faces to see their sisters or in Scootaloo's case her adoptive mother.

Each of my three friends go to their respective family member and begin consoling them.

"Don't worry darling, that horrible monster Spike will never hurt you again." Rarity says gently.

This got all three crusaders' attention with confuse looks on their faces. Sweetie asks Rarity "What are you talking about sis? Spike never hurt us."

Author's Note

I have tried to stop myself from making a cliffhanger but I couldn't resist. And arch angels= alicorns have the ability to summon and unsummon their wings

I'll make sure I'll at least have the next chapter up by the end of the week.

May the darkness be with you.

Regret and Rage

3rd-person P.O.V.

Silence. That is what filled every single inch of the room. It is so quiet that it would make a graveyard on a windless night seem like the loudest party Pinkie has ever hosted.

"W-W-What did you say dear?" Rarity stutters out quietly.

"I said that Spike wasn't the one who hurt us," Sweetie repeated.

"Yeah, why would Spike hurt us anyway?" Scootaloo asks. Once again, with a single sentence, it became deadly quiet. So much so, they could practically hear Fluttershy at her cottage from where they are, and that's saying something. The four older women shared looks of shock and dread while the young ones' faces were currently plastered with looks of confusion.

"Wait, wait... hold on second here! If Spike wasn’t the one who hurt you guys, than who did?" Rainbow asks, prompting looks of fear from the three young girls.

"I-I-It was M-Mr. Dark." Applebloom fearfully stutters out. It looks like the god in charge of awkward silence was in top form today. The amount of dread seems to have doubled within the hearts of four of the six Elements of Harmony in light of this new information.

"Can y'all tell us what happened?" Applejack asks in a gentle and fearful tone. Taking a minute to collect herself, Scootaloo spoke for her friends.

"Well... we decided to go visit Mrs. Dark and help her around the house, hoping we could find our special talents," she says. That would explain why the three were at the Darks' house in the first place. These three would get into all sorts of trouble trying to find that one thing that they were good at. "Mrs. Dark was kind enough to let us help; we talked, had some fun, and tried to help with the chores, but somehow we made a big mess."

"We wouldn't have made a mess if y’all knew how to use a darn laundry machine," Applebloom says with an annoyed tone in her voice.

"They were out of laundry detergent! How were we suppose to know that dish soap wouldn't work?" Sweetie replied, trying to defend Scootaloo and herself. Rolling her eyes, the young valkyrie continues.

"Anyway, after that, Mrs. Dark was helping us clean up the mess we made when Mr. Dark came in, and he was really angry. He muttered about being laid off or something while he was talking, had a glass bottle in his hand, and smelled funny," she says innocently. While that might have confused the younger people in the room, it became as plain as day for the four grown ladies in the room what was wrong. "He started yelling at the four of us. She tried to get us off the hook, but he just pushed her away and said that she should do as she was told and clean up the mess unless she wanted him to teach her another lesson."

With tears starting to well up in her eyes, she continues her story.

"He grabbed us and threw us down to the basement. H-H-H-He s-started to hit us. We begged for him to stop, but then he got a knife and...*sniffle* and..." she didn't finish as tears silently poured from her eyes; the young crusader's friends soon followed suit. At the tale's end, anger and regret surged forth from the Princess of Magic and her friends. Anger at John Dark for doing what he did to the three little ones and regret because they had blamed Spike for what happened and unjustly exiled him.

"So Spike wasn't even there?” Twilight questions, trying to get as many pieces to this puzzle as possible.

"Ye...wait, no, he was there. I remember, just before I passed out from the pain, he broke the basement door open and yelled, 'What's going on here?'" the young mage says, trying to recall what happened.

That is when a realization kicks in. It was easy for them to somewhat fill in the blanks of the story they got from the CMC. Spike had stumbled onto the scene and ended up having to fight and kill John Dark to protect the three young girls, which also explains why the house was covered in Spike's dragonfire.

'Because of our narrow mindedness, we sent Spike away because he had to kill a monster in order to protect these three,' All four thought at the same time.

Rarity put her hands in front of her mouth in horror. Applejack takes off her hat and puts it to her chest in regret and sadness. Rainbow Dash just slumps to the floor with her eyes as wide as dinner plates from her realization. As for Twilight... well, her brain basically shuts down at this point. She realizes that she had banished Spike—someone who had been her assistant, her first friend, and practically her younger brother in all but blood—into the outside world for an incident that, for the most part, showed he was in the right. She even escorted him into the Everfree Forest, probably the most dangerous place in all of Equestria. For all they knew, he could be dead with his remains inside the stomach of one of the forest's many predators.

"What have I done?" Twilight says to herself with tears slowly coming down her face. Without a second thought, she runs out of the hospital and straight for her library. As soon as she closes the front door, she slumps to the ground with the door against her back, crying her eyes out. After about thirty minutes of crying, she gets up and looks around her cold empty library. Nobody around to help with her studies, to talk to, to eat with, to cheer her up, or even to make jokes about her. In a zombie like fashion, the Princess of Magic makes her way up to her room. When she gets there, she looks through an old album on her nightstand. Looking through the pages, she sees no pictures of her dragonborn younger brother and notices that some of the pictures that should have him were cut up. It causes her to remember that she got rid of everything that had to do with Spike the day after he got exiled. This causes her tears to come down even faster.

She hears the front door opening but it barely registers in her mind. A minute later, the door to her room creaks open.

"Twilight, are you in there darling?" a refined voice asks from the other side of the door.

"Yes," Twilight answers weakly. The door opens to reveal Rarity with slightly puffy eyes. She slowly makes her way across the room and takes a seat next to the crying princess. She stays there for a minute to allow her friend to calm down.

"This is quite a pickle we got ourselves in, isn't it?" Rarity asks, trying to lighten the mood a bit. Needless to say it didn't work. "*Sigh* I would like to say that everything is alright, but I would be lying. We all have made a grave mistake when it comes to Spikey Wikey." Rarity grabs Twilight's hand in a comforting gesture.

"But that's all the more reason to make things right." Twilight looks up at Rarity with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Now then, let’s go find Spike so we can apologize and bring him home," Rarity says with a determined look on her face.

Twilight wipes away her tears and gives Rarity a nod with a hopeful and determined look on her face. She grabs her backpack and starts filling it with everything she believes she will need for the search. By the time she is done, the pack looks like it could burst at any second. As she goes down the steps to the library she sees that all of her friends are there with slightly red eyes and determined looks on their faces. This brings great relief and happiness to Twilight, since she now knows that her friends will be right behind her.

"Are you girls ready to go?" Twilight asks her friends.

Before anyone has a chance to answer, a blinding flash appears in the room causing everyone to cover their eyes. As soon as the flash came, it fades revealing Princess Celestia in all her glory. She is wearing her royal attire, a white one-piece dress, and her multicolor hair is swaying in a non-existent wind.

"Hello, my faithful student," Celestia says while taking note that the other elements were there and looked like they were about to go on a trip. "I tried to send you tickets for this year's Grand Gala, but for some reason I can't send them or feel my connection to Spike. Can you please tell me where he is so I can see what is wrong with the connection spell I put on him?"

Looks like the god of awkward silence wasn't quite done with these girls yet. As soon as Celestia finished issuing her request, everyone and everything inside the library fell silent—which wasn't lost on the Princess of the Sun, though she patiently waited for a reply.

"W-W-W-We d-don't know where S-S-Spike is but I know w-what happened to the connection spell on him," Twilight stutters out with her voice full of fear and dread. The look on Celestia's face said to continue so Twilights takes a deep breath to prepare for the possible apocalypse that is about to come.

"I destroyed the connection spell and I exiled him from Equestria about a week ago," Twilight says and prepares herself for her teacher's response. It looked like the awkward silence god was going for a record today, but it didn't last long.

"YOU DID WHAT?!?!" Celestia yells using her Canterlot Shout. Not voice, shout. Not only did it almost destroy the elements' ear drums, but it shatters every glass made object in Ponyville. Her shout even woke up Princess Luna who was sleeping in Canterlot Castle. And it didn't help matters that she is now engulfed in golden flames and her eyes glowing white with power. While everyone is trying to restore their sense of hearing, Celestia takes a moment to calm down. 'Settle down, Celestia. It wouldn't be a good idea to incinerate the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, no matter how tempting the idea is,' she thinks to herself. After everyone got their hearing back, she asks in a neutral tone and her political poker face on, "Twilight, can you please explain what has happened?" As expected of the studious librarian, Twilight goes into great detail on what has happened in the past week.

Thirty minutes of overly detailed explanation later...

"I must say that I am disappointed in all of you," Celestia says with a look of cold rage. "I will send word to my guard to help with the search." This causes some relief to spread through everyone.

"However, if he is dead or hurt to any degree there will be dire consequences," the sun god says; and judging by the tone in her voice, she has every intention of keeping her promise. With that, she teleports back to Canterlot to alert her guard, and silently prays for the safe return of the boy she considers to be her son.

Author's Note

In this chapter I tried my hand at 3rd person and give more of a reason for the comedy tag to be there. So what did you think

The Thief

Spike P.O.V.

I am currently sleeping soundly on a bed for the first time in almost a week and considering that I have been sleeping in tree even this lumpy old mattress is a bit of an improvement. Right now nothing could ruin my good mood.

*Push* "Waah." I yell as I am push off the bed and land face first on the floor. Well, so much for my good mood. As I peel my face of the floor I look around the room and see that my yell has woken up everyone else in the room. Last night we managed to get to Dragonville around ten at night so Jack decided to stay at a motel and spend the day here to spread our legs and hit the road tomorrow morning. Too bad the Motel the blacksmith picked was the roach kind with the room only have one bed. A full grown man, two young teenagers, and a twelve year old sharing one bed tends to make it pretty cramp. Though I am just glad this place have running water so I can finally take a shower because Mist and I were starting to smell a bit ripe. After a much needed shower, brushing our teeth, changing over clothes, and getting some breakfast Mist and I decide to look around the town. We are currently in what looks to be a famers' market and it is glorious. Not only do they have what you would expect from a farmers' market but they have practically every kind of gemstone and crystal their is. They were even giving some free samples.

I while I'm currently in a gemstone fueled daydream with Mist checking the local cuisine when suddenly I hear, "Yo id wa?!?!"

I look around trying to find out where the noise came from but no such luck, so I turn to Mist and ask, "Did you hear that?"

Mist turns to and says "Yeah I think so. Sounded like someone yelling or something, right?"

"Yeah though I couldn't make out what they were saying." I reply. After thinking about it for a minute I shrug it off and we continue walking through town. Looking around I notice that while many of the people here are dragonborns their are a few other races such as earthwalkers, a few mages, even a changeling or two. 'I had heard about small groups of changelings that defected from Chrysialis's reign and had made something along the lines of treaties with some nations other than Equestria. I guess this place is one of them.' While my first encounter with the changeling race wasn't a good one I have really nothing against them. As long as they don't give me any trouble I don't see why I should give them any.

*Crash* The noise came from up ahead. Mist and I see a bunch of familiar looking dragonborns gaining up on a old woman earthwalker merchant. It is the same dragonborns I met during the retreat a few years ago, Garble and his merry band of idiots. And from the looks of it they are still causing trouble. I see Mist about to charge into the fray so I put my hand on his shoulder to stop him.

Mist turns to me and loudly asks "What are you doing? We have to help that old lady."

"I know and I want to help but we can't just rush in their. We need a plan." I answer while trying to come up with a plan of attack when suddenly a hooded figure charges at the three and crashes into them making them fall on their backs. While the three dragonborns is still on the floor the new figure leaps, flips, and spins into the air to a standing position facing the group of idiots.

"Why are you guys picking on a sweet old lady? You fuckers must be pretty weak if your too afraid to pick a fight with anyone stronger." The new challenger says. Getting closer I take a look the new comer. He looks like he is about my age with a slim figure, zipped up blue hoodie, gray cargo pants, and black running shoes. I couldn't see his face due to the beaked hood casting a shadow on his face.

"What did say?!" Garble say angrily as he and his cronies is getting up from the ground.

"Do you have crap in your ears or are you fucker just that dumb? I can speak more slowly if you want." The hooded figure says mocking the three stooges. While I may not be able to see his face I can tell he is enjoying pissing these three off.

"That's it, when I get my hands on you I'm going to fried your ass!" Garble says beyond piss off.

"You'll have to catch me first fuckers!" The guy in the blue hoodie says happily while he makes a run for it, running so fast he makes a dust cloud, with the moron gang chasing after him.

"Come on Spike, that kid might need our help." Mist says joining the chase with me not too far behind.

3rd P.O.V.

The chase has been going on for ten minutes straight, zigzagging through the town, and while the chase-e is breathing a bit hard he could keep this up more a bit linger. The three stooges however is currently huffing and puffing like a old steam engine. It seems like it never occur to these brainless nimrods that they have wings and could have just fly instead of literally running themselves ragged. " They're persistent, I'll give them that. Time to give those dumbasses the slip." The chase-e thinks to himself.

He quickly goes into a corner into an alleyway with the three numbskulls not far behind, but when they get their they he was gone. The only person their was a dirty hobo with tattered clothes sitting on the ground.

"Hey, did you see some dude run by?" Garble harshly asks.

The hobo looks up, nods points towards some nearby forest, and says "Yes, he was running towards Dragontail Woods."

Without so much as a thanks the brainless trio runs towards the woods. As soon as they were out of sight the hobo grins as he stands up. A magic aura centers up his feet, moves up his body, reveling the hooded figure.

"Heh, works every time." He says. He takes out three wallets from his jacket pocket, opens them, and search through their contexts. "Not as much as I expected but overall a pretty decent haul." He walks back to town while taking out the money from the wallets and put it into his pants pocket and throws the wallets into a nearby trash can. As he continue his walk he starts to softly sing to himself.

Though while the pickpocket is singing he was being watch by two figure on top of a nearby house.

"Huh, didn't expect that. He guy must be a changeling." Spike states.

"Yeah, and a smart one to give those guys the slip." Mist says impressed with the tactic the hooded changeling used.

"Maybe but it doesn't take much to trick those idiots."

"You know them?"

"I had a run in with those three a few years back. They maybe big and strong but they're as smart as a doorknob."

When the changeling get far enough they hope down to ground level and make their way back to town.

While the pickpocket is walking through town he notices a commotion going on and see what it is about. He gets closer, just enough for him to hear but far enough that most people wouldn't notice him.

"Somebody please help me. I was attacked by a group of bandits. They took my wife and all my stuff." A man say pleading.

"Damnmit, it must be those bastards again that hold up in that old mansion in Dragontail Woods. They been at it for months now." Another says.

"Yeah but what can we do, we are not fighter and the guard won't be here for another five days." A women says.

"This sounds interesting. I haven't raided a bandit camp in a while and if I'm lucky this could be a big score. And I might as well free that guy's wife while I'm at it." The theif thinks to himself as he walks away to gather more information for his latest heist. Not too far away Mist and Spike here everything and decides to that out the bandits.

"Lets go take those guys out." The knight in training says.

" Don't worry, we will but we need a plan first. Lets gather some info on the woods and the mansion and come up with a plan. We'll leave tonight, take down those bandits, and free that man's wife." The green haired dragonborn says. With that in mind that start talking to the locals to get as much information as possible to plan out their rescue mission, unaware that they are about to get some help from an unexpected source.

Author's Note

The people have spoken and the thief makes his appearance. I always though a changeling with all their powers would be perfect for the roles I have planned for this character and yes this is my own OC. There will be more about him in the next chapter.

First Mission

3rd P.O.V.

In the middle of Dragontail Woods is an abandon mansion. It has been there for so long that nobody remembers how built it or even why it was abandon in the first place. Many have believed that place to be either curse or haunted. Even though it is now home to a group of bandits it is still very eerie, even to those who live there now. Before the bandits got there they laugh at all the rumors and ghosts stories, but after living in the old place for a couple of months they aren't laughing now. Strange noises, unrecognizable familiars appearing and disappearing, and stuff either moving by itself or disappears all together. The only reason these guys stayed there even with all the strange things happing in the first place is due to their boss telling them to stay put. They rather deal with the ghosts than get on their bosses bad side. But tonight is going to be the night where the ghosts come out to play.

Outside at the back of the mansion stood one lone bandit that is currently busy being bored out of his mind. "Man, why did I have to be on guard duty out here. Nothing ever happens back here. Would rather be inside the haunted house, at least than something interesting would happen." As the old saying goes, "ask and you shall receive."

*whoosh* *thuntk* The bandit looks down at his chest and see the handle of a folding pocket knife sticking out of his chest where his heart is. Just as he is about to grab it two more knives come flying from the woods, one hitting his throat while the other lands in his stomach. The bandit leans against the stone wall fence around the building and slumps down breathing his last. A second later the hooded changeling calmly walks to the dead body, takes the knives out of his body, and place his index and middle fingers to the dead man’s forehead. Concentrating his magic on his fingers he starts getting images and memories not his own. After he is done he transforms into the bandit and calmly walks into the mansion through the back gate.

'Good thing I mastered that memory recall and mind reader spells. A year's worth of practice was totally worth it.' The changeling thinks to himself. The memory recall and mind reader spells are very complex spells that each one having unique uses. The mind reading spell allows someone to read somebody's mind and see their memories. It is often used for police interrogations if the person is not cooperating with police. It is meant to be used on living subjects, where the memory recall spell was used on the dead though how much you can get from a corpse is limited to how old it is. The older the body is the less information you can get. As long as the brain is still intact you can get at least some information. The main reason why these spells is not widely used is the fact that if a person is not properly train they could end up destroying a person's minds and all the important information along with it if something goes wrong. Leaving the poor victim a vegetable at the very best.

With the information on the bandits and the layout of the place in mind the theif makes his way inside to get his latest score.

"Man, why did the boss pick this creepy ass place to be our base." One of the bandits complains while he and his companion guard the front entrance.

"Yeah, I think that this entire forest is haunted. It always feels like something is going to come out and kill us." The other man says.

A ways away from the front gate a pair of green snake like eyes watches them from the distance. While dragonborns can see better in the dark than certain races like earthbounds and such it wasn't by a lot. However Spike is a different case. He learned a long time ago from wandering around Canterlot Castle at night that if he concentrates on his eyes he could practically not only see in the dark but he can also see things almost like he is looking through binoculars but not as far. He could see the guards and is about to begin the first phase of the plan.

Spike places his hands in front of his chest with their palms facing each other and concentrates on the space in between his hands. A small, dense, ghostly green fireball the size of a large marble flickers to life. Than it starts to slowly grow, once it got to a certain size it stops. Spike raises his hands and the fireball above his heads and it starts to grow again until it was the size of a beach ball. He takes a second to aim and then throw the flaming ball of death at the front gate and its guards. The guards had seen the fireball being made in the darkness of the forest and first thought it was a will o wisp they have heard about until it grew to an incredible size. They were scared stiff, thinking it was a ghost, and didn't have enough time to jump out the way when it suddenly comes flying towards them. When it goes go there is nothing left of the guards or the front gate except some scorch marks body outlines, rubble, and some melted metal.

Spikes saw everything up to the point where his fireball explodes since he had to turn away from the bright light for a second. As he looks at the damage he has some mixed emotions. While he thankfully find no pleasure in killing people he knew it had to be done. The bandits had killed multiple people that had traveled the nearby roads many times before without remorse. While the mission is mainly to save the woman trap in the building, not to wipe out the bandits that doesn't mean they are going to pull any punches on this mission, even if it means they have to kill a few bandits along the way. 'Sometimes we must kill in order to do the right thing or to protect the ones we care about.' The logical part of his mind tells him reminding him about the incident over a week ago. Pushing the rising emotions to the back of his mind and starts to move to a different location. His job was to attract the bandits’ attention to the front gate while Mist sneaks in from the side and gets the woman out of there. After that move it will take a while for him to recharge and has soon has he is ready he will start taking out as many of the bandits as he can to either buy time or get inside the old building if he manages to take all of them out. 'I just hope Mist will be okay, I may not have a big problem about fighting and killing people should I have to but I don't know if Mist will be okay with it.' Spike thinks to himself worrying for his friend. He notices that some of the bandits are going into the forest to look for whoever done this. Unsheathing his sword he get ready for a tough fight ahead of him.

One the side of the mansion the knight in training makes this way through a open window after making sure the close is clear. He found a large tree with thick branches that went over the stone wall of the building and have been waiting for the signal that Spike mentioned to make his move. He didn't expect a huge explosion of fire and light but it got the bandits attention. 'Going a little overboard aren't you Spike? I just hope you know what you are doing and this plan works.' Mist thinks to himself. In all honesty Spike's plan was the best that could be done between the two of them. His ideas were either charge through the front door or attack at the same time from two different sides. While he is great at fighting and has great instincts he wasn't able to come up with complex plans as fast as Spike could. He draws the enemies out while using the darkness to his advantage to take them out while he goes in from the side. Most of the bandits should be either looking and being taken out by Spike or guarding the outer walls. He sneaks in quietly takes out as many bandits has he can get away with and recuses the woman and sneak her out of there. When they are out of danger he will wait for Spike to call him on the walkie talkie they bought in town when things on his end are done.

With sword in hand the knight in training quietly makes his way through the hallways of the mansion prepare for anything that might come his way.

'What the hell was that noise?' The changeling in disguise thinks to himself as is about to memory recall a bandit he just silently killed. 'Looks like I got some party crasher, but what are they here for? Are they after the bandits, the treasure like me, or are they trying to save that woman? Well whatever, whoever those guys are they just made my job a bit easier.' As he uses his memory recall he ends up getting more than he bargains for. As the information sets in the thief becomes nervous and worried about the information he just got.

'Well shit, that ain't good. I better stop these guys' boss before he does something we will all regret. Though this might be something I can't handle by myself. Maybe I should find those other guys and get them to help me.' With that in mind he starts wandering around the mansion hoping to find the ones attacking the bandits.

Spike P.O.V.

And another bandit goes down. I'm extremely grateful to Zecora for those stealth lessons. Though she originally did it so I can sneak and kill animals to eat, but the same methods apply here. I was just about to take out the last bandit that wondered into the forest but I notice something next to my latest kill. It looked like a blunder buster that you often see in pirate movies and such. It looks like it didn't have any ammo and is in good condition. That is when a crazy idea comes to mind. I could charge my sword with my fire and launch waves of fire from it. Could I do something similar with a gun? With that in mind I grab the weapon and focus my fire on the large gun. I could feel it doing something so I decide to give it a field test. I move to a position where I have a clear shot at the last bandit. I level the gun, concentrate my aim on the back of the man's head, and pull the trigger. I ghostly green fiery bullet shoots out of the gun and hits the man at the left side of his chest leaving a baseball size hole in it. The man was dead before he even fell to the ground.

'Woah.' I think to myself while looking at the damage. 'I can't believe that worked.' Though I have never heard about a dragonborn being able to do something like this. I know there are a few high clans with unique powers like the ice clan or metal clan, but nothing that includes powering weapons. The closest thing I could think of is mage magic, but I am not a mage... or am I? Mixes are not that strange and it is possible for different magic from the parents to combine in some way in their offspring though those cases are much rarer than Mixes themselves. It is something I got to look into. It could be a lead to my parents or my family. I file the thought away for another time. 'I have to focus on the job at hand.' With the last of the bandits outside taken care of I take my new gun in my left hand and my sword on the right I make my way to the mansion as quietly as possible. As I got closer I notice three guards at the remains of the front gate. Three shots were all it took, they were slightly off the mark but they got the job done.

I quickly make my way into the mansion and as I wander the hallways looking for either Mist or that woman we came to rescue a chill crawls up my spine. There is something off about this place but I can't tell what it is.

"I got a bad feeling about this place." I say to myself. Turn around to a comer and I run into a bandit. Reacting quickly I swing my sword at him in an overhead strike which he blocks with two knives. While in the position I was about level my gun to his chest when the bandits says, "Hold it, I'm on your side." I take a step back while keeping my gun aim at the bandit with my figure on the trigger. The bandit takes a step back as well and a flash of magic appears and standing in the bandits place is the hooded changeling.

"So...what are you doing here? Are you one of these guys?" I ask him still on guard.

"Fuck no. I came here to rob these guys blind and maybe save the woman being kept here. What about you?" The thief asks.

"I'm here to rescue the woman." I reply.

"Good because I could use your help. These guys' boss is up to some bad shit right now and I need your help." He says.

"Sorry, I would say that I do trust you, but I would be lying. How about you show me your face and tell me your name than we can talk." I say. I might not be a lying detector like Applejack but I can usually tell when someone is up to something and seeing this guys face will help with that.

"Sign, fine" He says as he pulls his hood down. He was pretty interesting looking. He has pitch black skin like all changelings, dark blue matted down hair with some of the strands going in front of his face, vampire like teeth that are a bit shorter than the average for the race, and he didn't have compact eyes like most changelings. One eye is blue that looks like the eyes most other races have while the other eye is a greyish green with a snake like pupil similar to the changeling queen herself.

"Better? And my name is Shadow, Shadow Nightingale." He says

"Yeah and the names Spike. So it is going on?" I ask Shadow.

"Well you are probably not going to believe me but...."

Author's Note

Shadow has appears on the scene, Spike learn a new trick, and shit is going down. I hope you guys will like my OC.

May the darkness be with you.

Nothing is Ever Easy

Spike P.O.V.

"Okay let me get this straight," I started "You came here to steal from these guys but you found out that their boss found some kind of dungeon underneath this place and is trying to bring out some kind of evil magic or something to use for his own purposes. With that in mind you want my help stopping whatever this guy has plan. I got everything right?"

Shadow just shrug his shoulders and says "For the most part, yeah."

I think about what I learn and weigh my options. While to most this story would be far fetch but after all the stuff I have seen over the years it wouldn't be the strangest thing that has happen. I can tell he is being honest but I don't know if he will stab me and Mist in the back once everything is said and done. Though I still got this bad feeling and something tells me it is connected to whatever is going on under our feet. The best thing to do is probably to complete the mission Mist and I came here to do and save that woman. After that is taken care of we'll deal with the bandit leader.

"Okay, I'll help you but first you got to take me to where the woman is being held. Once she is safe I'll help you. Deal?" I say firmly.

"That's seems reasonable."

"Lead the way, and remember if you betray me I'll bust a fire ball cape with your ass." I say, making sure I sound calm and dead serious and my new blunder buster is in view.

"I'll keep that in mind." He says nervously. It looks like I got my point across.

We make our way to were the woman is being lock up. We had a few run in with some stray bandits but they were easily taken out with most of them being done in by Shadow's knifes with one's heart meeting my flaming sword after coming out of the bathroom. As we get there I see Mist got their first and was fighting three bandits. He blocks a ax swing and dodges a sword to land a overhead strike across the last bandit's chest. The other two were about to attack but a fire bullet and a few throwing was all it took to take them out.

"About time you got here Spike." Mist says when he sees me. "I was abo...Hey you were that theft we saw in the market. I didn't think you were a Mix." He says now noticing Shadow.

"Is that a problem?" The fanged theft asks with a raised eyebrow.

Mist just shrugs and rests his sword on his shoulder. "Not really. Though I am a bit surprised. Do you need to feed on emotions or you don't?"

" I still need to feed on emotions though I do not need nearly has much as a regular changeling and I get a lot more energy from regular food than the others."

"As interesting as this conversation is we still have work to do." I cut in somewhat regretfully. This is some interesting stuff and I always had an interest in races and cultures different from Equestria. As much as I hate to admit it I guess Twilight rubbed off on me. "You free the woman and I'll get her out of here and the forest. While I take care of her you fill Mist in on what is going on and meet me at the entrance of the mansion. Okay?"

After a "yes" and a "sure" Shadow free the woman and after she says her thanks I escort out of the building and the edge of the woods. After she says her thanks I jog my way back to the mansion hopping that whatever we find in that dungeon is nothing that we can't handle.

Mist P.O.V.

As Spike leaves with the woman the changeling Mix by the name of Shadow Nightingale tells me what he told has told Spike. All in all the story is a bit sketchy but I can tell by looks on his face that he is telling the truth so I will go along for now, but that doesn't mean I won't keep an eye on him and I'm willing to bet that Spike has the same thing in mind.

"So how did you and Spike meet each?" The bluenette asks.

"Well, I was making my way through the Everfree Forest when..."

"Wait, the Everfree Forest? Are you fucking nuts?! I have heard that place is full of dangerous monsters that live there. Only some of the strongest fighter or the dumbest people in the world would make it through there by themselves." He interrupts me. Though I can understand where he is coming from. Many travelers and adventures have heard of the deadly forest in what many consider one of the most peaceful countries on the planet at least once.

"Yeah, I thought it wouldn't be as bad as the rumors say it would be, though I was proven wrong when I had a run in with three, not one, not two, but three manticores. While I was fighting them off Spike jumps in and help me kill those things. After that we decided to go together since we are more or less heading to the same place." I finish.

"And what would that be?"

"The Young Fighters Tournament in Smoldering Pit."

"Really, I'm heading their too!" He says in surprise.

"Really? No offence but you don't look like much of a close range fighter."

"I can hold my own in a face to face fight but none taken. I heard they are trying something new this year and are having different events. If I have heard correctly one of the events is some kind of marksmen contest which I'm entering for the cash prize."

"You’re a pretty greedy person aren't you?" I say with a raised eyebrow.

"I wouldn't say greedy, I like to think of it as making sure I am well off financially." He says with a cocky smirk. I can tell in that aspect he and Spike will get along quite well.

"So why were you and Spike by yourselves?" He asks.

"I can't say for Spike but for me it is to become one of the strongest swordsmen in the world." I reply. There is more to than that. Much more personal, but I don't need to tell him that. I haven't even told Spike yet, though I can tell he is hiding something as well, but it is not my place to force him to tell his story when I don't want to either. "So why are you wandering around by yourself?"

"I've been on my own as far back as I can remember." He says. Is he an orphan, an abandon child maybe? It wouldn't be that far of a stretch in either case but I it not my place to dig deeper. Though it makes me glad my parents were able to raise me for as long as they could.

"I'm sorry about that." I honestly answer.

Shadow just waves his hand. "Don't worry about it. I'm a tough as hell guy born and raise on the streets. I do whatever I want, take whatever I want, say whatever I want, and go whatever I want."

"That would explain why you’re a thief." I mumble to myself.

"Hey, just because I steal doesn't mean I'm a bad guy." 'Really?' I thought to myself. "I have my own principles. Don't steal from the weak or poor. The rich and corrupted is fair game." 'Huh, this guy may have some chivalry in him after all.' I thought to myself. "Besides, the weak and poor usually don't have anything worth stealing and you know what they say about rich bad guys. ”They always have the best stuff."" He says with an evil grin Annd that thought just got shoot down, set on fire, and toss out of a ten story window. He isn't an evil villain but he is defiantly no hero. After that we make idle chit chat while waiting for Spike to come back.

Shadow P.O.V.

I continue talking to Mist while we wait for Spike to get back. So far they seem like some pretty okay guys and are able to hold their own in a fight if the blood on their swords is anything to good by. After seeing these two I think that between the three of us we should be able to handle anything that will be thrown at us. As soon as Spike got back we make our way to the entrance of the dungeon. We make our way to the basement and after moving a shelf to the side to reveal a black iron looking metal door with a strange design.(From here out consider it like one of the Nord Crypts from Skyrim.)

It took a bit of effect but we are able to open and the first thing we notice is the smell. Sweet fucking hell the SMELL! How the hell can the guy stand the smell? I start coughing up my lung after just a quick smell. And it looks like I'm not the only one.

"Sweet Luna, that's bad! What have they been doing down there, dumping their trash and having a farting contest?!" Spike says trying to wave the stink away.

"It smells like a skunk and a pile of shit that got set on fire!" Mist says while he is plugging his nose.

"Agreed but for the greater good we must brave the stink." I say trying to sound heroic.

"Your right. Let’s kick some ass!" The Dragonborn yells as we make our way through the underground place.

We make our way through the place taking in our surrounding. The walls, celling, and floor is made out of some kind of stone and I see a lot of lite candles and torches that look new, probably set up by the bandit leader. At least we can see where we are going. After a few minutes of walking and looking around Spike notices something.

"Hey guys, I don't think that this is a dungeon." Me and Mist stop and look at him. "Think this is a burial tome or something. These weird looking jar are really urns and they are full of gold coins and ashes."

"Then we should expect some coffins or dead bodies?" I ask.

"That would explain the smell." Mist comments with a grimace.

"At least we shouldn't have worry about much while down here." I say as we make our way inside a room with three standing black metal coffins. "It's not the like the dead will get up from their naps and attack us."

As soon as I say that the coffins burst open to reveal three dead bodies. Most of their hair was gone, they look to be around six feet tall, their skin was pale as hell and withered, they are wearing black metal armor and weapons such as swords and weapons that look beyond ancient. And probably due to the power of Murphy their eyes start glowing blue, walk out of their coffins, and grab their weapons and grunt out a growl with their dead vocal cords. (Do I really need to say who these guys are?)

"Z-Z-Zombies?!!" Spike yells

"You got to be fucking kidding me!" I yell in disbelief.

"Nice, real nice." Mist says, giving me a flat look.

"Oh fuck you dude! How was I supposed to know that was going to happen?" I yell. Before Mist could say anything the waking dead begin their attack. As we jump out of the way the three of us ends up with our own dance partners. Mines just happen to be the one wielding a large two handed sword. Just fucking great. As the thing charges at me grab three throwing knifes and throw them at the walking corpse. One lands in his head while the other two ends up in its chest. It stops its charge but it is still standing. 'Okay...that didn't work. Let’s try something a bit stronger.' I quickly focus my magic in my hands and they become engulf with dancing blue lighting and it unleash it on the zombie shit stain zapping him. I keep the power going for about a minute than I stop. The pile of bones stands for a few seconds before it falls to the ground like a brick. I quickly look at the others and see that Spike just stabbed on of the zombies with... is that a flaming sword? Anyway he stabs it with his flaming sword which the thing to catch fire and quickly turn into a pile of ashes. I turn to Mist just in time for me to see decapitate his enemy with a swing of his sword. Right now I like our chances with these two and myself on the same team.

"Well...that was interesting." Mist says will trying to catch his breath.

"That's one way of putting it." Spike mutters.

"Yeah but things coul-" I start.

Spike points his gun at me and says "If you finish that statement I will fucking shoot you." I just nod my head. Besides, it is probably for the best. The last thing we need is us being jinx again.

We make our way through the hallway with Spike in the lead since he is the one with the gun and the fire breathing. After a minute or two of walking I decide to ask him something that I was wondering.

"Hey Spike is that an enchanted sword or something?" A flaming sword is pretty rare in this country due to the small number of mages that live in Dracoheart Kingdom.

"No, it is a regular sword." The Dragonborn says.

"Then how did you do that flaming sword trick?" I ask

"It is just something I learned I could do a week ago. I can do something similar with my new gun. If I focus my fire on it I can shoot fire bullets." He explains.

"Really? I have never heard of a Dragonborn being able to do that."

"You and me both. I think I might be a Mix."

"Wait, you don't know if you’re a full Dragonborn or not?" Mist cuts in.

"No I never knew my parents. My adopted mother took me in when I was about two year old after a travelling slave ring was found and busted in Equestria. The guards tried to find a lead to who my parents are but those guys got me from some bandits who got me from another group of bandits and so on." Spike explains

"Wow that is pretty rough. Though why are you here and not back home?" I can't help but wonder.

"It’s complicated." Spike answers in a tone of voice that says that is all he is going to say.

For a few minutes we continue to walk through the hallways until we enter a hallway that was different than the others. This one had opening in the walls and in most of the slots had a dead body in them. After our last run in with those zombie fuckers we are not taking any chances. Spike takes point at the front with his flaming sword in his right hand with his gun and finger on the trigger on his left. Mist has his sword in both hands flanking the right while I flank the left with some knifes ready to be thrown in one hand with lightning dancing in the palm of my hand on my other hand. As we made our way half way through the corridor we hear some growls.

Time for round two. This time though there are six of these fuckers. And for the most part we are surrounded. Spike make the first move by blasting two of the with his gun before he has to use it and his sword to block an overhead strike of a double handed battleax. Three of the fuckers charge at me and I give each one a healthy dose of lightning for their trouble stunning them for a minute. I check on Mist and see that he is deflecting and deal blowing to two sword wielding zombies, but he doesn't notice one that is coming at him from behind. I quickly charge some lightning into my knives and throw them at the undead asshole. As soon as the knives meet their target the thing gets the shock of his afterlife. Noticing the frying corpse behind Mist pushes the two in front of him back and sends a spinning slash to the one behind him, slicing the zombie in half. I than notice the ones I shock earlier are back and one of them is about to take a swing on me. I jump back to avoid the attack. It makes a small tear in my jacket but luckily it didn't hit any skin.

The thing is about to follow up its attack when I hear Spike say "DUCK!" I did just that and a speeding fire bullet sails over my head and into the zombie chest, creating a pretty big hole and setting it on fire, and fall to the ground permanently dead. I notice the other two charging at me some a gather some wind magic in my hands and send a strong gust of wind at them, blowing them off their feet and to the ground. I gather some lighting and shock them to death. If they can die again. I turn around and see that Mist and Spike just finish off the last two. After that we take a minute to catch our breathes and for me to get my knives from the bodies. Those things cost money you know.

"Hey, I think I know what these things are called." Spike suddenly say, gaining mine and Mist's attention. "I think these things are called Dragurs. I remember reading about them in a few books. The books say that in certain types of burial crypts that they would preserve their dead and have some of them come back to life in order to defend the place from intruders."

"If that is the case wouldn't these things have attacked the bandit boss and those other guys up top the second they set foot in this place?" Mist questions, bring up a good point.

"Maybe whatever magic the fucker is trying to do might have something to with these thing coming back to life." I put my two cent in. "If that is the case we better stop him. And new rule If we see a corpse kill it."

"I don't think we have to do that." Spike starts. "There are still some dead bodies in here and they aren't moving. I think it is only the ones wearing armor and have weapons are the ones we have to worry about." Bringing up a good point.

"Makes sense to me. Besides, less work for us. Now let’s move, the sooner we finish things the sooner we can get out of this undead dump." I say. The others nod and start moving again, deeper into this Dragur infested crypt.

3rd P.O.V.

"Hey Shadow, how did you use that elemental magic?" Spike asks. Elemental magic is a powerful and tricky type of magic to master. Many believe that Mages during ancient times saw how the Valkyries control the wind, water, lightning, and snow for the weather while the Dragonborns usually fire base powers that they decided to try to create magic similar to those races. While elemental magic can be powerful in the right hands it can be really dangerous for both the user and those around them.

"Well, you probably couldn't tell but I'm part Valkyries. I guess due to them being able to control the weather it made the certain elements really easy to use." The Changeling/Valkyrie Mix answers.

"Huh, so that means I might be in the same boat as you are huh?" The green haired Dragonborn says with some humor and a small grin of his face.

"Maybe." Shadow says with a small grin of his own. As our three mismatch heroes make their way they happen to come across a locked chest. And Shadow wouldn't be a good thief if he passes up such an easy score or know how to pick a lock. It only takes a second for him to unlock it and he opens it to find-

"What the hell! Its a bunch of junk." Shadow yells as he reaches in and starts pulling out stuff. First thing is what looks like a small white and red metal ball. He throws it over his shoulder. Next thing he gets is a worn straw hat with a red band. Throws over shoulder. A five sided brown badge of some kind with some kind of skull on it. Toss. A pocket watch with some kind of six pointed star and lion design and the words "Don't forget" and a date scratch on the inside. Throws. A pin with a bird with arrows in one of its talons. Flicks away. A really dented iron helmet with ram like horn. Over the shoulder. A metal pen or something with a blue bulb on the end.

"I'll take that." Spike says a little too quickly.

"Why?" Mist and Shadow asks at the same time.

"I have a friend back in Equestria who had something like this though it looks like it is a different model from the one he had." Spike explains.

"Sure why not. It’s junk anyway." The thief replies. He gives the thing to Spike who puts it in his pocket. (Anyone who can guess all the references I just made will get a happypinkie and a spike.)

As they make their way through the crypt killing a couple of Drugar before they could even get up. At one point they get to a room where the floor is covered with strange tiles on the floor.

"Booby-trap?" Spike asks.

"Booby-trap." Mist says while Shadow takes a rock and throw it on the ground. it hits on tile, nothing happen, though when it rolls into another tile causing fire to burst out of the holes.

"Of course." The blunette says in a flat voice.

"Looks like some titles are safe to cross while others aren't." The knight in training points out.

"Let me find the safe path. I and my clothes are fireproof so I will be okay and Shadow can just fly over the titles." The green haired Dragonborn says. "You do have wings right?"

"Yeah though I usually keep them hidden. I like to have a surprise up my sleeve." Shadow states while revealing his wings. They look like bug wings that are common for Changelings though his wings are longer and look a lot stronger than your average Changeling wings. Probably a side effect from his Valkyrie heritage. He quickly flies into the air and lands on the other side of the room. Spike gives Mist his weapons to hold while he tries to find a safe path. It took some time but Spike was able to find a path for Mist to follow without being burned. The fireproof teen even got to feel a little good getting a basically fire shower.

They continue their path and end up in a room with a lot of cobwebs. The slowly make their way through the room due to the uneasy feeling the three are getting. As they are about make half way through the room a large spider about the size of a bear. And what do our brave heroes do in such a situations? What most people would do, destroy the thing while freaking out. After a lot of zapping, stabbing, slashing, and stomping it is safe to say that the giant spider wasn't going to be coming back any time soon. After pulling themselves together after their little freak out session. They were about to turn into a corner and walk into a long hallway when an arrow barely misses Spikes face. All three back up a step. Spike carefully looks around the corner and sees three Dragurs with bow and arrows at the ready.

"We got a bit of a problem. There are three Dragurs archers ready to turn us into pin cushions." Spike warns his team.

"Can't you shoot them with your gun?" The black haired teen asks.

"No, this thing is basically a shotgun and they are too far away. And I can't get close without taking a few arrows." The Dragonborn replies.

"Same thing with my magic." Shadow points out.

"I think we passed by some shields." Mist mentions.

"That's a good idea. You use two shields and charge at them while Shadow and I follow behind you. Once we get close enough the two of us will take them out. What do you guys think?"

After the other two nod in agreement Mist backtracks and comes back with a shield on each arm. The three brace themselves, waiting for Mist's signal.

"Now!" Mist yells. He charges into the room with the shields up to protect himself with his friends right behind him. The undead archers let loose their arrows but they harmlessly bounce off the shields and as soon as they were close enough Shadow sends a barrage of ice spikes while Spike sends a wave of fire from his sword. Taking out the three archers with ease. After Mist takes the shields off the continue their journey until they arrive at a large door.

"The main chamber must be up ahead." Shadow says.

"And hopefully the bandit leader." Mist comments.

"Feels like the set up for a stage boss." Spike says with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood. "Well, what are we waiting for? Today is a good day to die!"

"Actually today is a bad day to die. Can't we reschedule a week from Tuesday?" Shadow says with a smirk of his own.

"No it’s got to be today. Now let’s kick some ass!" Spike replies. The three opens the door and the see a large chamber with many pillars and lite candles and torches all over the place. At the end of the chamber is a man with his hands in the air and magic around them and an extremely large metal coffin.

"I don't know who you are but you are too late." The man starts. "I have already completed the spell that will awaken my new undead slave. Now arise my warrior. Arise and do my bidding." The coffin becomes engulf in a magic aura. As soon as it fades away it burst open. And steps out is a Dragur with that is over 15 feet tall wearing a long horn helmet, a giant one handed sword in his right, and a massive shield in his left.

"Now go and kill those who would-" He didn't get to since his supposedly undead servant slash him with its sword right down the middle, splitting the man in half. After it was done with its master it turns its sights on our three heroes who are thinking 'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!'

"So got any plans Spike?" Mist asks preparing for the fight of their lives.

"I got a few. While you attack its legs Shadow and I will provide cover fire. Once we get that thing on the ground we gang up on it." Spike says, going over the plan in his head.

"Well it's not like I got any better ideas. Let’s do it." Shadow comments ready for anything. Shadow takes to the air and starts shooting lightning at the undead giant, Spike goes to its left and starts shooting it and sending fire slashes, and Mist charges at the Drugar hoping to take out its legs. Though it is able block most of the long range attacks with its shield and a lot of Mist attacks weren't doing much. After a few minutes of shooting, shocking, cutting, and dodging giant sword swings Mist is finally able to get the thing to a kneeling position. Though the victory is short lived when the deathlord sends a nasty backhand sending the knight in training flying. The thief of the group tries to fly in close to unleash a powerful ice blast but is bash away by the shield. Spike charges to help his friends but the giant sends an upward swing of its sword to him. He tries to block it but he is knock off his feet, sent flying into a pillar, knocking the breath out of him, coughing up a little bit of blood, and destroys his sword. All three are tired for being up for so long and the many fights they already been through, but they know that if they give up now they are done for and they still have things to do in this life. So with great resolve our three heroes get back on their feet and prepare to fight for their lives and their future.

(Some fighting music.)

"Guys, I think I got something that should be able to take that thing out in one move, but it will take time for me to get it ready and I will only have one shot! Keep it busy until I'm done and see if you can't do something about that shield!" Spike yells out to his team while he puts away his gun, throws away his broken sword, and brings his hands in front of to put everything he has in this one gamble. A gamble that if he loses it would mean that both Spike and his new friends would lose their lives. The giant Dragurs was about to make his way to the green haired teen when suddenly battered and pissed off Shadow appears in front of it with a ball of compressed air on each hand.

"Eat this you undead bastard!" Shadow yells as he throws the two wind balls at the giant's face, causing it to take a couple of steps backwards. After the thing shakes off the attack it notices Mist that looks a little rough up with his sword in hand and a determine look on his face.

"Ye knight who seeks glory bear this in mind." Mist starts in with calm and determine tone of voice as he uses one of his gauntleted hands to grab the blade of his sword. "It is to protect the weak that thou arms thyself! Valor in the shield thou carries. Merit in thy stained sword." Mist puts his of hand on the blade of his sword and wields in a reverse positions. "May thee confront thy foe with chivalry in thy heart!! In the name of Mistilteinn I strike at thee!" The zombie warrior answers the challenge with a downward swing of its massive sword send up a large dust cloud. Suddenly Mist leaps out of the dust cloud and jumps up into the air off of a nearby pillar. The Dragur is about to attack Mist while he is still in the air with its sword when Shadow suddenly knocks the sword out of its hand with a basketball size wind ball. While still in the air Mist spins his body and about to land a overhead swing using his sword's guard like a pickax but the Dragur raises his shield to block the blow. Though to everyone's surprise but Mist's the blow causes the shield to shatter almost like glass. The knight in training than uses the moves momentum to flip himself into the air, land on the zombie's head, jump off of it, and land a couple of feet behind it.

The thing is about to turn around when Spike yells out "Hey, you oversized undead piece of shit!" The thing turns its attention back to Spike, giving Mist time to get out of the way. The Dragur turns back to Spike to see him with a fierce look on his face, his arms raise to the air with his palms facing the ceiling, and above them a giant ghostly green fireball the size of a small car. The Dragonborn says in a deathly calm voice. "BURN." And throws the flaming ball of death at the undead zombie, causing it to crash into it and pushes through multiple pillars and into a wall before it explodes causing everyone present to look away and knock them off their feet. When they look back all they see is a melted hole in one of the walls.

music end

Though the victory is short live since the damage to the chamber is causing the ceiling to collapse and one of the rocks that falls from the ceiling blocks the way they came in.

"We need to get out of here, this entire room is coming down!" Mist yells as he drapes Spike's arm over his shoulder since the Dragonborn couldn't walk at the moment due to fact that he put most of his energy into that last massive fire ball.

"I a hallway that leads to another room. Come on!" Shadow points out as he gets Spike's other arm. The two carry their worn out friend into another hallway just before the room collapses. The keep moving until the end up in another room where they rest so they can catch their breath.

"Hey Mist, where did you learn that how to fight like that?" Spike questions. "I have never seen a sword style like that."

"It is an old sword art called Rage Guard. I was used during a time where people usually wear full body armor." Mist answers.

After a minute of silence Spike notices one of the one handed sword the Dragurs uses in the corner of the run. On somewhat shaky legs he makes his way to it and grabs the sword. He gives it a few test swings and sees that he can channel his fire through it without any problems. 'It will have to do until I can get a better replacement for my sword.' Spike thinks to himself. After he puts away his new sword he looks around and sees the Shadow is missing.

"Hey Shadow, where are you?" Spike yells out.

"I'm up the stairs. Come on up." Shadow answers up the flight of stairs at the end of the room. After Mist and Spike walk up the stairs and into the next room to see Shadow holding a heavy looking bag over his shoulder while standing in front of the treasure chest. "This treasure chest is the real deal this time and while I usually take all for myself without you guys I wouldn't have made it nearly has for so as my thanks I'll split it with you. I already got my share and there are some bags next to the chest to carry your shares. The way out is up those stairs" As soon as the Changeling Mix says this he is about to go up the stairs when Mist calls out.

"Wait. Since you’re going to fight that the tournament why don't you come with us?" Mist asks.

"No thanks. I'll get there on my own, but I'll see you at the tournament." Shadow says with a smile.

"Well, I hope you’re ready to get your ass kicked when you do." Spike says with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah. See you guys later." Shadow says with a smirk. And with that he flies up the stairs. As they make their way to the chest and when they open it the two notice a problem with it. It is like any normal chest filled with gold coins, gemstones, and jewelry. The problem with it? The chest is half empty.

"God damnit!" Mist yells out.

"Well we should have seen something like this coming." Spike comments. "Let’s just grab the stuff and go back to the motel. I'm tired and I want to get some sleep." After gather up the leftover treasure into some bags the make their way back to the motel.

2 Hours Later

By the time our two heroes got back to the motel it is around 6:30 A.M. in the morning. The manage to make it inside of their motel room before dropping their bags and falling face first to the floor where they quickly fast to a restful sleep...that lasted about five minutes.

"Wake up boys! Get clean up and dress so we can get some breakfast and hit the road!" Smtih Firehammer yells. The two tired teens groans and looks up at the man who is staring at them with a raise eyebrow. "And what the hell happened to you two?"

The two adventures just glance at each other, look back up at the man, and both say "It is a long story."

Author's Note

This probably the longest yet though don't expect it to be the same for every chapter. So what do you guys think about the music. I'm think about doing something like that for important fights or events.

Two Princesses' Mistakes

Twilight P.O.V.

Dream Sequence

"Spike" I yell out as I run as fast as I could through the Everfree Forest. It's really dark, even for this forest. I could not see more than around 15 feet in any direction, but I continue my run, hoping to find Spike, my assistant, my first and best friend, and my little brother in all but blood so I can hold him, apologize, and beg for his forgiveness, before it is too late. After a minute or two I end up in a clearing with a figure lying down in the middle of it. I make my way to the still figure and as soon as I get a clear view I let out a terrifying scream. Their laying in a puddle of blood, his clothes and body have been peaked at and ripped apart by the predators of the forest, and with a dead look in his eyes is Spike. I stare at the body in front of me in a mix of shock, disbelief, and horror.

"no...No... NO..NO!" I cry to myself as I fall to my knees.

After a few minutes of crying over the death of one of the most important person in my life a hear something in the wind but it doesn't register to my distraught mind and I couldn't make out what it is saying.

"Why?" I hear the voice again but louder and a little more clearly.

"Why?" Look around trying to find the source of the voice but to no avail.

"Why?" The voice sounds like it is coming from everywhere, bouncing off the trees of the forest.

"Why Twilight?" The voice now sounds familiar and it now seems like it is coming Spike's dead body. As I look at it his lifeless eyes suddenly move to meet with my own, causing me to scream in fright.

"Why Twilight? Why did you send me away?" Spike says as he slowly gets up the ground similar to how a zombie would. "After all that we have been througj, all the things I do for you and your friends to make you girls happy, you send me away to my death without even letting me say my side of the story. Why?"

"I-I didn't m-m-mean for t-this to happen Spike." I stutter in guilt and fear.

"Then why did you send me away? I always did everything you ask to me to do no matter what. I clean after your messes, cook your meals, wash your clothes, and run the library, a job that you should be doing." He says while getting more and angrier and slowly limping his way towards me. "I do all of that while you are out with your friends. I am usually left behind to work my hands to the bone while you are out having the time of your life without a single complaint. Did I complain about the long work hours? No. Did I ask for some kind of pay or even an allowance? No. Did I complain whenever you leave me behind to go have fun with your friends, go on adventures, or a party? No! Did I complain that you and your friends went out to the Wonderbolts Airshow while lying to me that you were going on a mission for the princess all the while completely forgetting my birthday? NO! Did I say anything when I prepare your birthday party at the tree house with a homemade cake, presents, and everything and I wait all day and night for you to come home to surprise you to only find out that you celebrated your birthday at Canterlot without telling me, let alone inviting me?! NO!!! And the one time I needed you to trust me, to believe in me you and your friends scorned and betrayed me while you personally exiled me from my home, friends, family, and life just to end up in dead in the Celestia damn forest!"

"I-I... I just.." I stutter while tears pour from my eyes, trying to defend myself but I couldn't. What Spike said was true, right down to the last letter. "I'm sorry." I say quietly but as soon as I say it he lunges at me and starts to slowly strangle me.

"Sorry? Sorry?! Sorry isn't going isn't going to bring me or the life that you took from me back!" He yells with his somewhat dismembered face in a mask of complete and utter hatred and rage. "And if I'm going to burn in hell the least I can do is return the favor." He sudden burst into green flames that quickly consume me as well. I could feel my hair, skin, muscle, blood, and bones melting and burning away. Even my mind and soul is being burn into nothing by the flames. With what is left of my mind I did the only thing I could do right now.

I scream.

End of Dream Sequence

I wake up from my nightmare still screaming. I take a minute to catch my breath until the memories of my nightmare hit me full force, causing tears to fall down my face once again. It has been a few days since Celestia, the guard, my friends, and I have begun our search for Spike. While the guard searches the Everfree Forest the other elements and I ask around town hoping to find a lead to where Spike may go to. We first ask his friends and the CMC but are meeting with some hostility. These were the ones that defended Spike's innocence and a strong dislike to those who thought otherwise. When word reached them of truth behind the matter they were overjoyed, but their dislike for the other town people and the elements grew, even Applebloom, Sweetie, and Scootaloo. While they would like to have nothing to do with us if it meant finding Spike and bringing him back home they were willing to compromise. According to them if Spike wasn't hanging out with his friends, learning how to skateboard from Scootaloo, or making sure the library is in order he has been training himself on how to use the sword he got from Shining Armor, learning to use, build, and fix computers and machines from Ditzy's husband that calls himself Doctor, or learning about medicine, plants, animals, and how to survive in the outdoors from Zecora for about a year. This came as a real surprise. When we ask them why he was doing this they say that he only says is "I can't stay an assistant forever."

That one sentence felt like a knife being twisted in my heart though after my dream I could understand where he is coming from seeing how poorly I treated him. Before I went back home to bed I gave a detailed report of our findings to a guard to give it to Princess Celestia. I get out of my bed, do my usual morning routine, and make my way downstairs. I look around and see the library looking like a disaster zone. I have tried keep the place in order but with everything that is going on I couldn't find the time to do it. I sadly chuckle to myself. 'Spike made running this place look easy.' I think to myself. As I begin trying to get the library back into shape I hope that Princess Celestia brings some good news soon.

Celestia P.O.V.

I sign for what feels like the hundredth time, I'm currently looking over the reports my student and guards have sent me in regards to the search for my son in my private study and it is safe to say it is not going well. It has been little over three days since the search has begun and we still have not found Spike. According to the report Twilight and her friends have sent containing the information they have gathered from Spikes friends while they do not know where he would go in his situation they have confidence that he can take care of himself until he is found. The report also lists the activities that Spike has been doing for the past year and the reason why. I can't help but feel proud of my son by taking steps into becoming his own person and that explains a few things I have notice about his mood.

Over the past few years since I appointed him to become my former student’s assistant I have notice his overall mood over time. At first he was tired yet happy, feeling good after a day of honest work, but over time he became less happy and more tired. Though after both him and Twilight moved to Ponyville I he became happy again. Sadly like before the happiness soon fade over time and instead of being tired I saw him growing lonely and more depressed. Whenever I ask him about his troubles he would put on a mask and say that everything is fine. Thankfully things change after he defeated King Sombra. He was filled with confidence and sees him getting more happy and full of life by the day. I always thought that his life with Twilight and her friends has gotten better but I was sorely mistake. It appears that his happiness was due to the fact that he went out and made friends of his own and follows his own interests.

"Maybe it was a mistake making Spike Twilight's assistant." I sadly say to myself. It was my decision for Spike to work as my former student's assistant as a way for him to know the meaning of hard work, learn alongside Twilight, and to interact with others but it looks like it was a mistake on my part. Instead of the constant love and affection that I hoped him to experience my son has spent a good portion of his time feeling alone and depressed. And thanks to both mine and my former student's mistakes my son is now out there somewhere without anyone to keep him safe and I can't find him. I can feel my sadness, worry, and regret bubbling up side of me.

At least the report my guards have given me is more reassuring. They have found evidence that Spike was at least alive and made it out of the forest. My guards have met a sea serpent by the name of Steven that has met my son and given him a ride downriver. They also found the charred remains of some timberwolves and manticores that has Spike's dragonfire signature on it. It makes me happy that Spike made it out two dangerous situations okay since there wasn't any blood found at either areas and amazed that someone so young was able to do something like that and it look like Spike isn't alone. The manticore remains shows that someone else fought them as well and from the tracks Spike and the newcomer at least traveled together to the other side of the forest. Though that is where the really difficult problems start. From the tracks they found it appears is heading towards the badlands and the Dracoheart Kingdom.

The Dracoheart Kingdom is a neighboring country where Dragonborns make up most of the population. They are divided into four states and each states ruling body is decided through democracy. When I decided to adopt Spike I had to get the four leaders approval which they agreed in the end. And thanks to this it improved the relationship between the two countries, even though it basically went from "we want nothing to do with you" to "you don't mess with us we won't mess with you." I could not just send my guards into the country without raising suspicion and if the current leaders learn that a Dragonborn barely in his teens was banished for a crime he did not commit and for defending himself and others there is a good chance there will be a massive backlash by both the leaders and their people.

I give myself a sad chuckle. Here am I, a princess, one of the leaders of a country, I can control the movements of the sun if I want too, who has an army and almost unlimited resources at my disposal, and yet I can't even find and bring back my own son. I look out the window of my study and I quietly whisper to myself "Please be safe my son."

Author's Note

Maybe I should start doing dreams requests for fanfics, I think I'm pretty good at them. Right now it is the same morning that Spike and Mist just got back from fighting ancient zombies. I originally was planning to make this chapter longer but I'm really busy at the moment and it would be another week before I update so I decided to at least give you guys something.

The Sharpshooter

??? P.O.V.

The scenery is moving past me slower and slower with every second. Or is it me that is moving slower and slower? I think that is the case. Why is my feet not touching the ground? I hearing flapping coming from my back. 'Oh yeah, I'm flying.' I think to myself. I'm so tired I can barely think straight. How long have I been flying? Hours, days, weeks? Where am I? I look down and see a small forest below me. No it doesn't matter, as long as I'm as far from her as possible. So that she won't get hurt. So that she wouldn't have to see what I have become. My vision is getting blurry. Well, blurrier than it was a few minutes ago and the ground is getting closer. It's getting harder to think.

'I...can't.... keep...going.' Is my last thought before the darkness consumes my vision and the feeling of cold water hits my skin.

Spike P.O.V.

I groan to myself as I search through my backpack while inside the moving truck. After basically giving the cliff notes of our adventure last night and getting a lecture about planning better and how to be more careful in dangerous situations Mist and I got ourselves clean up and got ourselves a quick breakfast before the four of us hit the road again. I'm dead tired right now and I really need some sleep but I'm worried that my nightmare will come back. Luckily I have something that should help with that. I bring out my iPod that was my birthday present I got from Cadence. I've learn that if I fall asleep listening to my music I'll get weird dreams and right now I'll take those over my nightmares. I put the earphones in their proper places, chose a random song, and put it on loop as I close my eyes to fall into slumber.

Spike's Dream
(Just pretend the one hitting everyone is Spike, you don't have to watch it, it's more for a laugh than anything, and I don't own the video or the music.)

"Hey Spike, wake up." I hear Mist say to me while shaking my shoulder, causing me to wake up from my dream. In all honesty I was glad he did, I wasn't looking forward to fighting an army of Pikachus, though it was fun punching that Hello Kitty regent. I look at my watch and see that it is two o' clock. Meaning I got around five hours of sleep. Not the recommended eight hours of sleep but it should be enough to get me through the rest of the day. I look towards Mist and he says, "We're stopping here to stretch our legs and cook some lunch."

I nod my head as I put away my iPod as I got out of the truck and stretch my body. As I am doing this I see Jack run up to Mist and I. When he is in front of us he tells us that his father wants us to go into the woods to get some firewood while he checks over our weapons for any damage from last nights adventure. I'm glad that Mr. Firehammer is willing to do so since my replacement sword is really old and I want to keep it and use it as a memento of Mist's and I's first adventure together. We agree and make our way to a nearby woods to start getting firewood.

"That was some crazy adventure we had last night, huh?" Mist says as we walk.

I quietly chuckle to myself. "No kidding. We end up going from rescuing a woman from bandits to teaming up with a Changeling Mix theif, exploring an ancient crypt, and fighting ancient warrior zombies. If someone told me over a week ago that was going to happen to me I would have thought the guy was either crazy or high."

"Don't forget that bear sized spider." Mist mentions as he gives a shudder. "I almost peed myself when I saw that."

"No kidding. Talk about a horror show. I rather fight the zombies than that thing. Speaking of which that last one was really tough." I say getting serious. "We're luckily that the three of us were working together and even then it was close. One wrong mistake and we would have been dead."

"Yeah but that just means that we got to train harder and get stronger." My friend says with a smile. A smile quickly grows on my face as well. I was about to say something when I notice a white rabbit hop out of the bushes. Now in this kind of situation many people would awe at it and say it was cute but the rabbit was different. It had a small horn that sort of looks like a unicorn's horn and had red eyes. I am getting a really bad feeling from this thing and I can tell that Mist is thinking the same thing. After a quick glance with each other we silently decide to slowly walk away from the thing before anything bad happens. We manage to take two steps back when the rabbits eyes start glowing. The thing grows to a size larger than a bear, now has razor sharp claws, and fangs as long as a combat knife. On instinct we try to grab our weapons, but when grabbed nothing but air we remember something important. We left our weapons back with Smith and we are not in an open enough space for me to use my fire powers without accidentally setting this forest on fire.

"Hey Spike," Mist say really quietly in a nervous voice." you got a plan?"

"You could say that." I start as Mist and I take a few steps back. "It's called RUN LIKE HELL!!!" And with that my friend and I hightail it out of there as if Nightmare Moon herself was after us, which in all honesty I would prefer her to that demon from hell. Too bad death bunny is hot on our heels.

Cue the Benny Hill theme

It seems like no matter where we go that hell rabbit is right behind. We climb up the highest tree we could find only for it to somehow be on a branch directly above us. We got into a cave where we run into it while running in the dark. Though it turns out something else was already there and quickly kicked the three of out of its cave. We jump into a huge hole in the ground and we though we were safe after a minute or two but suddenly we are out of the hole and somehow standing on top of death bunny's head. After that we end up running around the forest while pulling off just about every cartoon chase trick in the book. While this is happening I can't help but think, "Did that thing take lessons from Pinkie and why is this happening to us? Is some higher power out there that just loves screwing people over?!"

(In the realm of shadows a phantom of darkness suddenly sneeze as he looks over a list of people for him to screw over.)

20 minutes later
music stops

I have my hands on my knee as I try to catch my breath and Mist isn't doing much better.

"I think we finally lost it." I say while panting heavily.

"Yeah but lets go before it finds us again." Mist says while being out of breath. As we are about to make our way back to camp we notice something in a nearby river. On the bank of the river it looks like an unmoving body. As we rush to the figure we get a better look it. The person is a boy who looks to be around the same age as me. He has blue somewhat spikey and long hair with a black streak that goes down between his eyes. He has a lanky figure with a bit of a baby face to him. He is wearing a blue scarf with a triangle design to it around his neck, wristbands with the same design as the scarf, a silver tank top like shirt, silver pants with tassels at the knees, and black bellbottom shoes giving him a bit of a cowboy look to him. The weird thing about him is the fact that he has four gun on him with two holstered in each leg. The guy looks like he hasn't had anything to eat or drink for a good while now but I can tell that he is still breathing so that's at least a good sign.

"What is this guy doing in the middle of nowhere?" Mist asks while looking around for any clues to what happened to the stranger.

"Don't know but we better take him back with us. We don't want death bunny finding him and tear him apart." We both shudder at the though of that Monster and we quickly grab the unconscious teen and hightail it out of the woods so that we won't have to deal with its demon. We run as fast as we could until we manage to reach the camp to see Smith has already got the campfire going and is cooking lunch while his son Jack watches. Jack is the first to notice us and points us out to his dad.

"About time you two showed up. I was wondering if you gu-" Mr. Firehammer starts but he now notices the unconscious boy we're caring. "By the first, what happen to him."

"We don't know, we found him on the bank of the river and we couldn't just leave him like that." I say as we put him near the campfire while Mist goes to the truck to get a sleeping bag for the blue and black haired kid. " And you better look over his guns. They might be damage from the water." The weapon smith nods and takes his guns to inspect them. Mist comes back with the sleeping bag and we but the conscious teen in it and let him rest.

"Man, this kid has some really nice guns." Smith says has he cleans and inspect them for damage. Mist and I take a better look at the guns and we can see what Smith is talking about. All four are pitch black and look to be custom made revolvers. All four had a really big chambers that went off to the side with two of them going off to the right while the other two went off the left. They all had really long and thick barrels and a mini scarf attach to the butts of the guns. We see the gunsmith push a button on the one of one of them and the barrel and chamber went slant so it can be reloaded. "These things were made for speed, accuracy, and easy reloading. They seem to use slightly larger bullets than the average revolver Don't know why he has four of these though."

(I don't own the item or picture)

After that we decide to eat the food Smith has already made while saving some food for the gun wielding boy for when he wakes up and hoping he can tell us who he is and what happened to him.

The Gunslinger P.O.V.

I'm in a clearing of a forest lying down on my back looking as I up at the sky. I turn my head to the side to the person I love with all my heart. She is beautiful. Her hair is silver and short that stops around her chin. Her eyes is as blue and breath taking as the ocean with a cute mole under corner of each eye. She had skin as soft and smooth that it was like velvet. When I first met her she was a bit of a spoil brat but over time her beauty became both inside and outside. Soon we found love in each other and we couldn't be happier. Than out of nowhere a group of people who I could not see their face jump us and grabbed my love. I tried to fight back but before I could even get up one of them shot me in the heart. Then one of them grabs and tosses me aside where I found myself falling into a dark void. Within it I can feel my heart slowing its beat by the second. 'I can't die. I can't die here, she needs my help.' The thought goes through my mind.

Through the darkness I see a weird glow. It comes closer and I saw what was making it. It looks like a black shroud and hood floating with nobody inside it, but it did have long black claw like hands.(Just think of my avatar) In one of his hands is what looks like a black crystal skull with one of its eyes close. It gives off a really ominous glow and feeling that makes my hair stand on end.

"Do you want to live? Do you want the power to save your love?" The specter asks in a deep and eerie voice.

"Yes." I manage to say.

"Even if it means that you must become one with darkness and death."

"If it means I can save her than yes I will." I say without a second thought and in as a determine voice I can in my situation.

"Very well than." The phantom says calmly before thrusting the skull into my chest. I feel the power, darkness, and an unspeakable evil coursing through my body. Forcing it to change so it can contain its power. I scream in pain that is unlike any other that I had felt before. "Be warn that this power comes with a price. If you are not able to control and command this power it will destroy all the you hold dear."

"Who-urg... are you?" I manage to grunt through the pain. For some reason I could feel him grinning at me even though didn't have a face.

" In every dimension or universe, every change, no matter how grand or small, can be trance back to one moment or event. I'm one of the beings who set up event for change to occur on a grand scale. But the outcome of the change is not for me to decide. Whether you help save this world or help doom it. Whether you become a hero or a monster, it all depends on the choices that you and those around you make." After that he disappears and after a few minutes of agony the pain stops and the darkness recedes. I'm standing in the same clearing as before and the bodies of the people who had attacked the love of my life and I lay died on the ground and looked to have been killed in the most brutal ways possible.

I turn around and see my love leaning against a tree as she looks me in worry, horror, and fear. I try to get close to her, to sooth her, to tell her that everything is okay, that I will never hurt her until a voice rings out in my head.

"kill her." The voice rings out. I froze. 'What? Kill her? Why? Why would I want to do that to the love of my life?' I think to myself.

"Kill her." The voice rings out again only this time stronger than before. I can feel the need, the desire to tear apart whatever is in front of me. 'No! I cant. I won't!'

"KILL HER!" The compulsion keeps growing and growing.

"No I won't!" I feel the power and darkness and gather at my back and pour out of it. With it I take to the skies as fast as I can. I thought I heard my love yell something but I couldn't hear over the wind and this explosion as I fly. Slowly the darkness consumes me once more.

I slowly wake up to find myself looking at the sky. From the position of the sun it looks to be sometime in the afternoon. I look next to me and see a campfire and some people eat. Two of them looked to be around my age. One of them looked has dark skin and black dreadlocks and eyes. Other is more surprising since he has green spiked hair and green snake like eyes. I have heard of people with those kind of features. I think they are called Dragonborns I think. But there aren't any from where I'm from they only live in on the continent that is on the other side ocean of Gunsmoke. I look at the other two and see a kid that looks to be about ten and a man who looks to be a blacksmith. The man notices me and smiles.

"Look who decided to wake up." The man says as he grabs a paper plate and a plastic spoon and gives it to me.

"You look like you need a good meal so eat up." The plate has two hotdogs with baked beans on the side. I suddenly realize how hungry I am and start eating like there is no tomorrow. "Whoa, slow down there kid. Your going to choke on something."

I finish chewing and swallowing the food in my mouth and say with a sheepish smile, "Sorry about that."

Everyone just smiles and the man says, "No problem. You got a name kid?"

"Zero. My name is Zero."

Author's Note

Zero has come to the play and he is not mine. He is a character from a manga called Kurohime. And for those how know him he will have his abilities and his other half will show up later in this story. For those who don't know him here some pics.

The Past

Spike P.O.V.

Zero? That's it? I'm willing to admit that the names in Equestria are pretty unique and more often than not sound like nicknames compare to other names outside the country, but this is the first time I heard a name that is a number. Though I got to admit that it is a cool name. I snap out of my thinking when Smith ask our guest a question that I'm pretty sure that everyone else is wondering the same thing.

"Okay Zero. Mind explaining those found you pass out on the bank of a river?" He asks.

"I don't know. I was trying to umm get away from where I was a few days ago I think and I just kept going and going until I pasted out and ended up... where are we?" He starts than asks. I can tell there's more to his story than he is letting but than again he is almost as much of an open book as Applejack. Though he is being honest about having no idea where he is.

"Your in the Dracoheart Kingdom son." Smith answers and it earns a very surprised look on Zero's face. "Which brings us another question. Where are you from?" That is a good question. From the looks of it Zero is definitely not from around here and his looks, guns, and air around gives you the feeling that he is a gunman from the wild west. I wonder if he is from Appllalsa where Braburn?

"I'm from Gunsmoke." The gunman says in a confuse tone of voice. That is a big surprise but it explains his look. For the most part Gunsmoke is one big desert with most of the population being Earthbounds with a couple of mages where most people there uses guns. I have heard that the mages of Gunsmoke have learned how to combine magic with bullets to give them special powers such as healing, giving a person powers like super strength, and even create monsters. I think they call those kind of people witch gunslingers. But it still doesn't explain how he got here. It is on the other side of the ocean and unless he was on one of those airships from the Magicblade Nation or Vale it would take two weeks by zeppelin and a lot longer by boat.

"If that is the case than how did you get here?" I ask since it doesn't make any sense if he got here on his own. "Did you suddenly sprout wings and fly." I say sarcastically.

"Sort of?" Zero answers with a confuse look on his face. As if he wasn't all that sure himself yet is being truthful. I take a quick glance at Mist and I can tell he thinks he is also telling the truth. If that is the case than is it possible that he is like mom and Luna?

"Are you an Archangel?" I ask. If he is than it is quite huge. How come I never heard of him? Does the princesses know? Was he born an Archangel or is he similar to Twilight and got it from a magical artifact or something?

Zero just looks at his hands with an array of emotions on his face. Confusion, sadness, and...fear? "I...I don't know." From the looks of it it's a bit of a touché subject for him.

Mist looks at Zero and asks, "So, what are you going to do now?"

Zero just looks at the fire with a sad look on his face and says, "I don't know. I don't have any family or a home to go back two."

Mist nods and gives the young gunman a small smile. "How about you come with us. Your kind of like Spike and myself." Mist says while gesturing to me.

"Yeah. We are just two guys trying to make their way through life and trying to find our own paths. And we could always use another friend to join us." I add with a smile on my face.

"What are you two planning on doing?" The blue eyed teen asks with a look of surprise and confusion on his face.

I give a small shrug and say, "We don't have anything concrete planned long term, but we plan to enter the a fighting tournament in the next town over to test our skills and get some prize money. After we'll think of something."

Zero looks back at the fire and appears to be deep in thought. After a minute or two he looks up and says, "It's not like I got anything going right now so okay, I'll join you guys. If your willing to have me."

I smile at our new companion, reach out my hand and say, "Welcome aboard Zero." The young gunman returns the smile and shakes my hand. As I watch Zero shakes Mists hand I wonder what kind of adventures await us and what will Zero bring to this group.

Zero P.O.V.

I look up at the star field sky while laying down on my back. We have decide to stay where we are for the day and continue the ride to Smoldering Pit I think. Spike, Mist, the man named Smith, his son Jack, and myself are laying on the ground sleeping for the night since it would be cramp inside the truck if we all tried to sleep in there. Besides I don't really mind sleeping on the ground. Since I always wondered from one place to another I'm quite use to it. The moment of quiet gives me some time to think about my current situation. I was killed and tossed into a hole where I ended up is some kind of chamber. In that chamber was that crystal skull like object and where that phantom or whatever appeared and told me about the deal. I was than brought back from the dead and used this new found power to save the love of my life but had to leave since I was close to losing my control and from the looks on her face she probably wouldn't want to see me again. I ended up flying across the ocean and ended up in another country where I meet a group of good hearted people and possibly made two new friends. While most people would find this weird I'm not all that fazed by it all. From my past experiences I know for a fact that life has many unexpecting twists, turns, ups, and down.

"People at their core are selfish. They only think of themselves and they will do anything in their power to get ahead of others even if it means cheating, stealing, or even killing others to do so." That is something I believed in when I was young after I saw our mother murdered and my brother and I were taken in by the man who killed her to join his mercenary team taking part in what I thought at the time a mindless war. My brother thought that he was doing us a kindness taking us in but I knew better. The only reason I haven't told my twin what happen is because we had nowhere to go and if I stay close to the man than I will one day get the chance to kill him to avenge our mother. My brother always believed that everyone is capable of kindness and you should always help others who need or deserve it. I always consider to him to be foolish and believed that if he had to chose between my life or his he would choose his in a heartbeat as I have seen many times before in this war. The battles rage when one day I saw my chance to kill that bastard of a man and took it, but my legs end up under some rumble and the enemy was about to attack with long range cannon fire. I thought my time was up until my brother came to help me. Just as he drags me out of the rubble their was an explosion and darkness consume me. When I wake up I see my brother dying and holding me close. I realized that he had shielded me from the blast.

In a mixture of surprise, sadness, loss, and regret I could only ask one thing. "Why?" I said with tears pouring out of my eyes. My brother just smiles at me as if all is right in the world.

"I want you to be safe and if that means my life has to end so your can continue so be it." He said as the light in his eyes slowly fade. "Make sure you take care of yourself and live a happy life." As soon as he said that his breathing stopped and that told me he had left this world. I couldn't believed it. I always thought people only thought of themselves no matter what. But my brother sacrificed himself for me without a second thought. After a minute to collect myself I decided to not let his death be in vain. I took on his guns, beliefs, and his name. Many battle flow by me as I fought to protect and save as many lives as I can. Than one day the fighting stop. It took a little while for it to dawn on me that the war was over. Everyone that was part of the group was either dead or went their separate ways. I ended wondering from place to place with no real direction perfecting my gun skills and helping as many people as I can along the way. During my travels I met the love of my life Kurohime.(A.U. Kurohime= Black Princess)

Like me she was an wondering orphan who had lost her parents during the war. She was basically a witch gunslinger in training and dreamed of becoming the greatest gunslinger in the world. I will admit that when we first met she was a selfish spoiled brat and the main reason I travelled with her was to keep her safe and out of trouble. As we traveled together she grew as a person and became more kind and selfless. We soon fell in love with each other. Though after what happened we must have not meant to be. However even if she doesn't love or even hates me I will always love her and treasure my memories of her and our time together. Maybe if I travel with these guys I can learn how to control my powers and not be overwhelmed by the voice in my head. As I close my eyes I let sleep take a hold of me and Kurohime fills my dreams.

Mist P.O.V.

I see a beautiful dark skinned woman with hair like mine. She is gentle and kind. She teaches me about nature, how to make medicine and potions, and how to heal others. I also see a strong man with white skin and blonde hair. He is proud and determined. He teaches me the way of the sword and that if I want something I would have to either earn or get it with my own two hands. My mother and I leave our old home to come to a quiet town in Equestria to live with my father and together we live a happy life, but it is short live. The town that we reside in is experiencing many problems and the townspeople blame my mother and by extension myself for the problems because the two of us are not from Equestria and different from them. One night in a drunk haze a group of townspeople attack my mother and I while my father is away. They set fire to our house, drag us away from the town, and tie my mother to the post with firewood at her feet. As they hold me down and set fire to the wood my mother looks at me and with a sad regretful smile on her face says, "Remember Mist, always try to find happiness in your life and do what you believe is right."

I watch as my mother slowly burns to death right in front of me as the people around me cheer for her death.

They are about to do the same to me, but that is when my father arrives at the scene. In a fit of rage and the need to protect me my father attacks the mob with a fury greater than any demon. He is about to finish off the last person when the town guard comes and one of them shoots my father while my father is focus on the person in front of him. With his dying breath my father looks at me and with a proud smile say, "Remember my son, live your life to the fullest and on you own terms. And if you want something get it with your own two hands."

I watch as the light from my fathers eyes slowly fade away, signaling my father's departure from this world.

I awake with a start. I quickly look around and see that it is night time and that everyone is sleeping peacefully except for Spike. He looks like he is having a pretty intense dream from the looks of it. It reminds me of my own dream. "God damn it, I thought those dreams finally stop." I say quietly to myself.

It's been a little over four years since the death of my parents and has been a couple of months since I had the dream. It might be one of those things that you don't completely get over. Though I will always remember my parents last words and honor their memory. I have spent the last four years training myself in the style my father taught me before he died. Going from place to place, training and testing my skill so I can be one of the best swordsman in the world. Though it is nice to have friends to be with. I lay back down on the ground and I soon find myself fast asleep.

Spike P.O.V.

I look at the scene in front of me with interest. I watch with a birds eye view what looks to be a battle with a large army of people in armor wielding different weapons fight some kind of dark mage controlling what looks to be a fierce looking undead dragon with green fire and magic spilling out of it.

The battle is fierce with the mage and dragon destroying most of the army that stands against the two. But the army was not about to give up without a fight. The use everything they have to defeat their two enemies, spears, swords, axes, arrow, fire breathes, and fireballs. Showing me that the army is made up of Dragonborns. I wanted to look away from the carnage but I can't avert my eyes. It is like something deep within my very soul is telling that what is happening in front of me is important and I should watch it from beginning to end.

The battle is fierce and the Dragonborns suffer massive causalities, but in the end the remaining ten or so warriors finally kill the mage and defeated the zombie dragon. As the magic the mages used to give the walking corpse life and control over it slowly fades away the dragon looks at the remaining Dragonborns and for the first time speaks.

"Great Warriors," The dragon starts, his deep booming voice echoing across the land. Thou have done a great service by ending the wicked mage's life and freeing me from the wrenched curse placed on me. As a reward I shall give thy the last of my fire and magic and grant thee new powers." The dragon breathes out a gentle wave of ghostly green fire that covers and envelops the warriors before him. As the curse fades away and the dragon's body falls apart the warriors test out there new powers. Their flames turn either ghostly green or blue. Some cover their bodies in their flames, some cover just their arms and create large flaming claws, while a few are doing something similar to teleportation. Soon the scene before slowly fades to black.

I wake up to see that the sun has risen and everybody is slowly waking up. I just sit there on the ground. All the while thinking to myself. 'Was that just a dream? Or was it something else...something from the past?'

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait but life came for a visit and had to deal with it. A little background on some of the characters. Kurohime is not mine and is from the manga Kurohime and for those who know the manga and or characters I will like to answer the question most of you will ask me, Yes Kurohime will meet up with story and be an official character of this story but that won't be for a long time so you will have to wait. For those who don't know her here is a pic of how she is at this point in the story.

And in the next chapter I will introduce a new character to the team. Lets see if you guys can guess who it is and I'll give you a hint. This character is from an anime that's infamous for being bat shit crazy and making little to no sense. And if the anime/manga characters that I already used is anything to go by I prefer the more obscured stuff.

With that out of the way I would like to thank you guys for the comments, favs, and likes. This story has become more popular faster than I thought I would.

Long with Spike and may the darkness be with you.

The Musician and a Mother's Despair

Third P.O.V.

Normally on a morning as nice as this one, our heroes would be happily clean up their camp. Getting ready to continue on their journey of self-discovery, action, adventure, fortune, and friendship without a single thing standing in their way. Sadly fate, (A.N. or in this case me.), has other plans and lady luck's evil twin brother decided to crank up our heroes bad luck to eleven.

"RRROOOOAAAARRRR!!!" Which is the reason why death bunny is paying our heroes a visit and trying to give them a departing gift in the form of a beat down. Thankfully this time Spike and Mist have their weapons with them and Smith and his son has taken shelter in the truck. Our heroes are more than ready to send the demon rabbit back to hell. Though as the oversized rabbit sends everyone's favorite Dragonborn flying and causes him to land on his back near his friends it becomes quite clear that the fluff ball is no pushover.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Spike curses as his friends help him on his feet while keeping their eyes on their opponent. "It is way too early for this bullshit!" It is close to seven in the morning and the group had woken up ten minutes ago. They are more than a little pissed that they have to fight death bunny right after waking up.

"Yeah!" Mist yells out as they jump out of the way of the demon's charge. Mist goes in for a overhead but is knock back by one of the beast's front claw. "I swear it's like someone has it out for us!"

A few quick shots from Spike's blunder buster has the rabbit hoping high into the air. As it starts descend back to the ground Zero quickly stands in front of Spike and Mist and quicker than their eyes can follow Zero quickly draws two of his guns, shoots the demon while it is still in the air, twirls the guns in his hands, puts them back in their holsters, draws his other two guns and repeats the process. He does this so fast that it looks like he has eight arms instead of two and fires 24 shoots in less than a minute. And every single bullet hits its mark with deadly accuracy causing the giant rabbit to lose his balance and land on his back with a thud.

As Zero quickly reloads his guns, Mist and Spike stare at him with their mouths open from the display of hand eye coordination and skill. Snapping out of his surprise Spike says, "Dude, that was epic! Where did you learn to do that?"

The young gunman glances at his new friends over his shoulders and with a small grin on his face says, "I've had a lot of practice."

"RRROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!!!" Our young heroes quickly turn their attention back to their opponent who is back on his feet and while injured is still more than capable of continuing the fight.

"Though it looks like this thing's skin is really thick. It's going to take more than bullets to take this thing down." The gunslinger says has he finishes reloading his guns.

"Yeah but as long as we fight together we should be able to take that thing down." Mist says as he readies his sword. As the bunny from hell is about to attack our heroes again a roar of a motor from a distance reaches everyone's ears. Looking behind the monster they see someone wearing a white helmet and goggles riding some kind of motorcycle with a bat or something in one of his hands.

"Leave them alone you oversized dust bunny!" The stranger yells, sounding like a boy. He continues his collision course with the rabbit when suddenly he loses control of his ride. The bike and the rider flips on the ground a few times and then the rider is sent flying into the air while his bike crashes into the demon from hell and sending it into the ground. Somehow the bike bounces off the rabbit, spins in the air, and lands near our three heroes on its wheel and the kick stands moving by itself to lock it in place. It turns out the bike is actually a blue moped with storage packs strapped to the sides of the seat. As death bunny gets back on his feet we hear a yell coming from above us. We look up to see the mysterious rider falling to where the rabbit is with his weapon in a overhead position. The strangers swings his weapon down on the rabbits head, causing its head to crash into the ground so hard it makes a small crater. Though the victory doesn't last long death bunny manages to get his head out of the crater than knocks the newcomer into the forest. The demon and our heroes keeps his eyes on the forest, waiting to see whether or not the newcomer is okay until they hear a voice behind Mist, Spike, and Zero. "Man, that thing really sent me flying. Its way stronger than it looks."

The four of them quickly looks behind them to see the rider behind and from the looks of it okay. He looks to be about Spikes age but is a little shorter than him. He is wearing a light blue jacket with a bit of a high collar, brown shorts, and red sneakers. The stranger turns out to be a Valkyrie with brown wings. He still has his weapon in his hand which turns out to be what looks like a yellow v shaped electric guitar with a red bass guitar strapped to his back and in between his wings. He takes off his helmet and goggles and tosses them on his ride, showing his blue eyes and matted down brown hair. The four quickly turn to where the last saw the boy and where he is standing right now, all the while thinking, 'What the hell?!'

"How the hell did you do that?" Spike asks the newcomer.

The newcomer raises his eyebrow and says, "What do you mean?"

"What do you think?! How did you get from over there," Spike points to the forest. "To right behind us without any of us noticing?"

The guitar wielder nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders and with a blank look on his face says, "I have no idea."

Before anyone could say anything death bunny got over its confusing, jumps high into the air and tries to land on the teens. Thankfully our four heroes are able to jump out of the way in time.

As the guitarist lands he quickly holds his guitar like he is about to play and point the tip of the neck at the white demon. Suddenly a ball of yellow electricity shoots out from the tip of the guitar and hit the rabbit, shocking it for a second. Spike and Mist take the opportunity and attack with their swords. The manage to slash the beast a few times but it knocks Mist back with a backhand and a straight punch to Spike sends him skidding a couple of feet and dropping his sword. When the green haired teen stops he takes a quick shot with his gun and manages to hit death bunny right in the eye. As the beast roars in pain Spike yells, "Zero, take out its other eye!"

"Right!" Zero yells out as he quickly draws and shoots his gun so fast that most people would only see a blur. It hits dead center of the giant rabbit's eye, blinding the monster. Now blind the beast jumps back a couple meters away to give it time to try to get its eyesight back in vain. As the monster is doing this Spike drops his gun and focuses his fire into his left fist until a flaming green star slightly large than a basketball is covering it. The mysterious guitarist charges the beast while wielding his guitar like a battle ax. As soon as he gets close enough he sends an upward swing to the monster's jaw, lifting him a few feet off the ground.

"MOVE!!!"

The brown haired teen looks over his shoulder and sees Spike charging full speed with his hand on fire. Getting the idea of what the Dragonborn is going to do the guitarist jumps out of the way. As Spike closes in on his target he puts all of his strength into his arm and sends a fiery punch into the demon rabbit's chest while it is still in the air, sending the beast flying through the air. Seeing his chance Zero uses his famous rapid fire quick draw and unloads every bullet his guns have into the creature's head and chest. The beast land on its stomach with an earth shaking thud. Mist charges in while holding his sword backwards, ready to use his Rage Guard style. As death bunny tries to get up Mist jumps into the air and uses an overhead swing, slamming the guard of the sword right into the monster's skull and brain.

(End of music)

As everyone gathers around the corpse and catches their breaths they give the dead body a few stabs and gunshots to make sure death bunny doesn't pull a "Jason lives". After making sure the rabbit from hell wasn't getting back up Spike turns to the guitarist and says, "Thanks for helping us with this thing."

The newcomer modestly grins and says, "No problem, I just happened to driving nearby. My name is Naota Nandaba."

"Nice to meet you, names Spike."

"I'm Mist."

"And I'm Zero. The ones in the truck are Smith and Jack Firehammer. So, what are you doing way out here?"

Naota just shrugs and explains, "I'm just a drifter looking for some excitement and travelling to new places. Where are you guys heading to and does this sort thing happen to you a lot?"

"Not really but we seem to be a bit of a magnet for trouble. We're more or less in the same boat as you, just a bunch of guys looking for adventure. And we are hitching a ride to a fighting tournament to test our skills and a shot at the cash prizes." Mist answers, interesting Naota.

"Mind if I tag along? I could use the money and from the sound of it I'm going to see a lot of action if I stick with you guys." Naota says, excited at both the thought of travelling with others and the amount of action he might find.

"Sure. The more, the merrier." Zero says with a smile.

Naota smiles as well and says, "Thanks." And suddenly opens a can of soda that appears in his hand out of nowhere and starts drinking it.

While everyone except Naota is wondering where the soda came from Spike decides to ask, "Where did that come from." Pointing to the soda can in the guitarist's hand.

Naota just answers nonchalantly, "I found it. Why, you want one?"

"No thanks, I'm good." Spike answers back while rubbing his temples, wondering whether or not the new team member is messing with them or not. 'I think that this group just got its Pinkie.' "Let get going before any weirder hap-"

Before Spike can finish his sentence they hear the sounds of a rocket and something moving very fast coming towards them. They look down a nearby road to see an old beat up pickup truck with two rockets attach to it. As it speeds past them they could see that it is filled with what looks to be small, white, funny looking, anthro looking rabbits yelling at the top of their lungs. As the out of control vehicle speeds off into the distance Spike, Mist, and Zero have looks on their faces that basically screams 'What the fuck was that?!' while Naota just calmly looks at the scene with a raised eyebrow wondering what was that about. After getting over his shock Spike face palms and says, "Let just go. I've enough of rabbits for one day."

With everyone agrees with him they go to their respective rides and make their way to the next town, all the while wondering what is going to happen next.

Twilight P.O.V.

"WHAT?!!" I yell at the top of my lungs when Celestia told me that she has called out the search. I was called by the Princess of the Sun to meet with her at Canterlot to give me an important update last night. Right now I'm in the Celestia's private conference room with Celestia, Luna, and myself.

"Why did you call off the search if they haven't found Spike yet?!" I yell.

"That is not entirely true." Luna states calmly. "The guards has found evidence that suggest that Spike has managed to make his way out of the forest and into the badlands. We believe that he is making his way into the Dracoheart Kingdom. It wouldn't surprise us if Spike is already there as we speak."

"Then why aren't we looking for him if we know where he might be. We could even have the local officials aid us in the search." I bring up, feeling my frustration slowly building.

"The local officials are the main reason why we can't continue the search." Celestia starts but I interrupt her.

"What do you mean?" I start, unable to control my frustration. "We should be able to continue looking for Spike without any problems and you want us to stop looking for him. He's probably cold and alone. He might be hurt or even dead and you want us to stand around and do nothing!"

"Do you think that I don't know that?!" Celestia yells as she stands up from her seat and slams her hands on the table. Her face is a combination of anger, worry, and sadness. "If I could continuing search for Spike I would be out there looking for him myself, but if I do so it could easily create a massive backlash that harm the nation both in the short and long term! Do you honestly think I like the very idea of my son being out there alone and without any way to make sure that he is okay?! That if I want to avoid an economic downward spiral or bloodshed the only thing I can do is pray every waking minute that Spike is okay and by some miracle that he comes back home?!" After her rant Celestia sits back down in her seat with her hand balled into tight fists. As Luna tried to calm her sister down I see something that surprises me even more that than Celestia's outburst or that she claims that Spike is her son.

Celestia, one of the princesses of Equestria, the god of the sun, is silently crying.

I feel a knife plugging into my stomach at the site knowing that I'm the one who caused it. It takes a minute or two for the scene in front of me and the information I was just given to process. After collecting my thoughts I ask Luna since Celestia is still crying, "Celestia and Spike are mother and son?"

"Yes but they are related not by blood if that is what you asking." Luna answers, though I can tell she is trying to keep any anger she has towards me for making her sister cry out of her voice. "The guards found Spike at a very young age when they dismantled a slavery ring. Celestia had tried to find Spike's birthmother but to no avail. During the search my sister grew quite fond of the little Dragonborn and when the guard couldn't find the mother she took it upon herself to become Spike's mother making him by all rights a prince. It is a well-guarded secret that very few people know."

"Why? Why does it have to be kept a secret?" I ask

"For multiple reasons actually. Many of the noble family are rather racist and if they learn that a Dragonborn is a prince to a country that is made up of mostly Earthbounds, Valkyries, and Mages than it could cause a massive uproar among both them and the population in general. Another reason is that Celestia has many enemies both outside and inside the country. If it is known that Spike is my sister's son her enemies would use him to get to her and she wouldn't be able to live with herself if that happens. And Spike wanted it to be kept a secret. He wanted people to like and befriend him for him, not for his station."

I take a minute for the information to settle. I would have never thought that Spike is such an important person and that he was able to keep such a big secret from me for so long. But that also raises some questions. I ask, "If Spike is Celestia's son than why did she have him become my assistant? And what does she mean by a backlash if the Dracoheart Kingdom finds out?"

"You see Twilight," Celestia starts, finally regaining some of her composure. "when I first decided to adopt Spike I first had the Grand Council of the Dracoheart Kingdom to approve of it. The council was reluctant to do so since when a Dragonborn is being adopted at least one of the guardians is a Dragonborn as well. In the end they approved of it as a sign of good faith between our nations, improving the two nation's overall relationship with each other. If they learn that Spike was exiled for a crime he did not commit and for an incident that he was in the right it could destroy the fragile peace between us and the Dracoheart Kingdom. There is a good chance that they will stop all trades with us and that would be extremely bad for Equestria's production and economy since most of the metal we use to make products and build our buildings and homes come from that country. The worst case scenario is that they declare war on us. No matter who wins the bodies count would be large on both sides." She explains.

She than gives me a look that I never wants it to be directed at me, even in my worst nightmares. A look of disappointment. "As for why I sent Spike to be your assistant I did so he can learn from you and build character so would not end up like my nephew Blueblood. But perhaps it was a mistake to do so."

I feel the knife in my stomach twist when she said that last sentence. I can feel the guilt swell up inside of me. Due to my hasty actions not only have I unjustly exiled Spike but also separated a mother from her child and backed us into a corner where if we take any action it could lead creating hardship for the citizens of Equestria.

"So there is nothing we can do to find him?" I ask. "Maybe Luna can find him through his dreams?"

Luna sadly shakes her head. "I'm sorry but I cannot. While I may hold the power to enter the dreams of our subjects I can only do it best within Equestrian boarders. If I try to enter specific person's dreams it becomes difficult to find the right person and the farther away the person is the harder it becomes. While I will continue my search for Spike through the dreamscape I cannot make any promises as they say."

That snuffs out the last spark of hope I have. From the looks of it the only thing that we can do is to pray and hope that Spike somehow returns back home.

"While we cannot actively search for him I will have my guards on the lookout for any information regarding Spike's condition and whereabouts and if I learn anything of importance I will notify you and so as I can." Celestia explains, giving me a small shimmer of hope.

"Princess Celestia," I start, saying her title since I don't feel worthy enough to say just her name at the moment. "may I please tell my friends this. They should know about this."

Celestia give it a minute of thought and finally says, "Very well, you are allowed to tell your friends. However if you want to tell them everything that is talked about here than you have to promise not to tell anyone the relationship between Spike and myself. Do you understand me?" She says with a stern look on her face.

With a small gulp I answer, "I understand."

"Very good. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a moment to myself." And with a flash of magic she's gone.

I can't help feel like I lost a lot of my former teacher's faith in me and I probably did. As Luna gets up from her seat and makes her way to the door I quietly and sadly mumble to myself "She hates me."

Apparently Luna heard me and says, "My sister does not hate you Twilight. Sadden and disappointed maybe but never hate." And with that she also leaves the room. As sit quietly for a few minute to collect myself. I know that it will take a lot of effort to make this up to Celestia and the best way to do that is to get Spike home and apologize to him, but for now all we can do is wait.

"I'm so sorry Spike. Please be okay." I pray to myself. As I finally leave to pack my thing to get back home to tell the girls the news. Though they will probably be just as surprise as I was when I tell them.

Author's Note

Some action, a new character, and drama with the princesses. I tried to up the comedy and drama in this. Tell me what you think. Naota Nandaba is a character from the anime from Fooly Cooly or FLCL. The next chapter will probably be a short one involving the Main 6 reaction to what Celestia said and the hate they're getting from Spike's fans.

A Spike goes to anyone how can guess where those weird rabbits are from.

Consequences and a Old Friend

Twilight P.O.V.

I just back home about an hour ago and the sun is about to set. After putting away my luggage I called all my friends to have a meeting at the library about what I learned from my meeting with Celestia. We are currently standing around with all the girls’ attention on me.

"So darling, what did Princess Celestia wanted to talk about with you. Did she find Spikey Wikey?" Rarity asks hopefully. That is probably is what is on basically everyone's mind. All of them and those who supported Spike from the very being have been wondering when will Spike be back. It makes what I'm about to say even harder than it already is.

"Sort of-" I start but I'm quickly cut off by the bundle of random energy known as Pinkie in a explosion of confetti.

"YAY! Spike is coming home! This calls for a party! I'll invite all everyone in Ponyville! Wait, Cranky won't be able to go since he'll be out of town. Does he even like cake? I wonder what his favorite flavor is? I should make a gem cake for Spike party. Maybe I should make two cakes since nobody besides Spike eats gem. Maybe a cake filled with cherry chimmichangas-" She would probably continue talking for another ten minutes on one breathe if I didn't use my magic to zip her lips close.

"I'm sorry Pinkie but there's more so I can please finish?" I try to ask nicely. Pinkie rapidly nods her head in agreement. "As I was saying they haven't actually found Spike though they got a pretty good idea of where he is going."

"Then where is the little guy going?" Dash decides to ask.

"All the evidence the Guard had found in the Everfree Forest points to the assumption that Spike is going to the Dracoheart Kingdom and is probably already there by now."

"At least we have a better idea of where we should look for him." Fluttershy quietly comments. "Maybe we can get the guard or police there to help look for Spike. If that is okay with them."

I sadly shake my head. "We can't ask them to look for Spike. As it turns out Celestia was forced to call off the search."

That statement causes a tense silence until all five of my friends scream out as one. "WHAT?!"

"What do ya mean sugarcube? Why ain't Celestia looking for Spike?" Applejack questions.

I let out a sign knowing that the hard part is coming up. "Some of the things I'm about to tell you girls is very important and Celestia wants few people to know. If I tell you girls you all must Pinkie promise to never breathe a word about what I'm about to tell you to anyone. Understand." All my friends nod with serious looks on their face, surprisingly even Pinkie. After all of them go through the motions of the promise I tell them everything that happened in the meeting. The reasons why Celestia can't let the Dracoheart Kingdom government, the fact the Spike is Celestia's adopted son, and what could happen if the Dragonborn homeland finds out what happened to Spike.

This leaves my fellow Elements of Harmony speechless with their eyes wide and their mouths hanging open and in all honesty I can't blame them. The first one to snap out of it is Dash. "Wait, wait, hold on a second here! You’re telling us that Spike, the little squirt, is Celestia’s son! And he is by all rights a prince?!” I simply nod my head as I let my friends absorb the information, creating a strong silence. Rarity is the first one to regain her composure. "Well that might explain a few things."

I raise an eyebrow and ask, "What do you mean Rarity?"

"The other day Sapphire Shores called that she is cancelling her order of ten new outfits for her tour coming up while Fancy Pants has informed me that he'll be dropping some business arrangements the two of us had set up. It turns out that both Sapphire and Fancy are good friends' of Spike from his time in Canterlot and when word about Spike Wikey reached them they were more than displeased." Rarity looks down at her feet with a sad guilty look on her face before she continues. "Apparently the reason Sapphire Shores came to my Boutique in the first place is because Spike recommended my skills and Fancy was so willing to make our business arrangement in the first place was due to all the good things Spike said about me to him. Thankfully Fancy Pants is still willing to do business with me, though it will take time and effort to get back in his good graces. Though it will take a lot longer to get back at Sweetie's good side again. The dear won't even speak a word to me."

"I hear where ya are comin' from. The people who were real close to Spike won't buy any apples if I'm the one selling and Applebloom has been giving me the cold shoulder for a good while now." Applejack slightly flinches for some reason rubs the side of her head. "When I tried to talk to the girl she threw Granny Smith's dentures at me. Dang girl is getting a good arm. Big Mac and Granny have been taking things better than Applebloom but not by much."

Rainbow Dash signs sadly to herself. "Same here. Scoots is pretty piss with me too. She either locks herself in her room or hangs with her friends, for the last two weeks we rarely talk. Not only that but I have been getting a few glares from some of the guys around town. I even got the stink eye from Ditzy." A small shudder rips through her body. "Man, the way she does it is downright creepy."

Now that I think about it I have been getting a few glares, looks, and whispers behind my back around town. "Pinkie, have you and Fluttershy been getting any looks or glares."

Pinkie turns her head down to stare at her feet and her hair slightly deflates. "Sort of. A few people aren't out right mean but they don't want to talk with me for too long. They're usually straight to point whenever I talk to them and go about their business."

Fluttershy also gets a sad look on her face. "Nobody has been giving me any glares but a few people have been avoiding me a bit though."

A moment of silence rings throughout the library. Guilt and the consequences of our action towards Spike weighing down our mind, especially mine, causing me to take a look around the library. Fewer people have been stopping at the library lately though it could be the state it is in instead of my actions specifically. I take a quick look around the library and see that the place looks like Dash flew by. About half the books that aren’t on the shelves are either laying on the floor or stack into unstable towers. The books that actually are on the shelves are all out of order. I can tell that my friends didn't want to sit anywhere due to the mess but didn't want to say anything. While I was able to put away the books I ended up having a study session before my trip and forgot to put away my books. The kitchen is a disaster zone with dishes piling up and uneatable food from my past cooking attempts. And I'm not sure whether or not my eyes are playing tricks on me but I think last week's attempt at making meatloaf just moved. When I packed for my trip to Canterlot the other day I had a tough time finding clothes that hasn't shrunk or wasn't pink from when I tried to do the laundry.

I never knew how much work Spike did around our home. I'm so use to basically studying and spending time with my friends while I leave all the house chores to Spike I don't know how to do any of the tasks I normally assign him. Even if I focus only on the chores by the time I'm done or at least attempt them the day is almost over and usually I'm too tired to do anything else. I wonder how Spike is able to do this practically every single day. To spend his days working away inside with little to no time to himself or spend time with anyone. Once that would be like a dream come true for me, now it would be a nightmare.

The one to break the silence is surprisingly Fluttershy. "So, how is the Crystal Empire taking the news?"

Huh? "What do you mean?"

"Well the Crystalbounds (see what I did there) look up to Spike as their hero, the Crystal Saver, and they were pretty angry that Spike wasn't invited to the Equastrian Games that one time. If they find out that their hero was exiled for something he didn't do they will probably be really mad."

Oh...Oh on. No. No! NO! She's right! How did the princesses and I miss that?! The Crystal Empire practically worships Spike. If they hear about this only Celestia knows what they will do! They could start riots, dethrone Shining and Candace, or even declare war on Equestria! And if the Dracoheart Kingdom learns why they went to war they might join them! Than Equestria will be at war on two sides!

"Yeah and not only that but even if we keep quiet they and the Dragonborns might still hear what happened." Rainbow states. "Spike could end up telling somebody that he was exiled and why while he's there. Word could get around and reach the guys in charge."

"You two are right! I got to inform the princesses of this!" I quickly get a scroll, a quill, and start writing down what was just discussed. "Basically that is all that the princesses told me and they promise that if they learn anything they will tell us. Now if you guys happen to hear anything involving Spike let the rest of us know and inform the princesses." I finish writing my letter, roll it up, place the royal seal on it, and hand it to Rainbow. "Can you please take the letter to the princesses as fast as you can?"

Dash gets a cocky, determine look on her face as she grabs the scroll. "No problem, I'll get it there in ten seconds flat." With that said she runs out the library and takes to the sky, heading straight for Canterlot. As my friends say their goodbyes and take their leave I stand there facing the door I just closed. Many thoughts run through my head but one stands out from the rest. 'This is all my fault.' If I just got all my facts straight, if I waited to for the CMC to wake up and tell me what happened, if I just let Spike tell his side of the story none of this would happen. Spike would still be here, Celestia would know that her son is safe, and Equestria wouldn't be in possible danger. I would be crying right now if I hadn't use up my tears for the moment. I take in a shaky breath as I turn around so I can clean up as much as I can before I turn in for the night, but what I see in front of me causes me to stop mid step.

It turns out I did see the meatloaf move earlier.

Third P.O.V.

As Twilight battles against a new evil, the living meatloaf, she doesn't notice the young looking yellow and orange bird look through the window. The bird has been there since the meeting has started. While a good deal of what has been said made little sense to him what he does understand is the one he seeks is no longer here and the knowledge where he might be. With that in mind he takes to the sky and flies in the direction of the Dracoheart Kingdom with one goal in mind.

To be reunited with his friend and master.

Author's Note

I hope you like this. And remember the one who are truly mad are the ones who are close or good friends to Spike and I feel that Pinkie and Fluttershy are one of those people that is hard to get mad at. And Spike's team new addition is on his way and you all could probably guess how it is.

Seeing an Recent Friend.

Third P.O.V.

The sun is just beginning it ascension through the sky. Signaling the start of a new day for the town. Standing just outside of the entrance to this quaint little town is two cloaked figures. Their disguises gives no way to identify who is under the cloaks other than their about the size of kids that just turned teens. One of the figured turns to the other and asks in a feminine tone, "Are you sure this is the place?"

"Yes." The other figure answers in strong feminine tone. The two of them starts to make their way into town. "From what we had learned from the last town at least the two of the boys who took out those bandits left in this town’s direction. Though I'm not sure if the Changeling Mix is here."

"Don't worry about him. It's probably Shadow Nightingale if I'm right. That guy is almost impossible to find."

"Is he an old friend of yours or perhaps a lover?"

"Yes to the first, no to the second. I met him while I was taking care of some business. Basically I and a squad of my mother’s guards were storming a compound where a small gang was selling captured Changelings into slavery and we met up while he was sneaking around."

"So he was trying to free the Changelings as well?"

"That was half the reason why he was there. The other half was to steal the gang’s money. Anyway like any good changeling he's tough to find at times. If Shadow is in this town than he's either robbing some asshole or flirting with some girls."

"Either way I want to meet at least the other two. If they were able to take out those bandits than the least I could do is thank them for doing such as service. And I'm curious to see what kind of people they are if their around our ages."

"And hopefully their cute."

"Do you have to always be thinking about boys?"

"It’s part of my nature and due to my station I got to find a good and strong suitor. Besides what girl our age doesn't think about having a cute boyfriend unless your..."

"NO! I do not like other women like that! I like men just as much as any other girl. I'm just more careful of who I pick than you."

"Whatever you say now let’s spilt up and find those hunks." The figure who said that makes a sudden turn down a different street while the other figure signs at her partner’s antics and continues along her path.

Spike P.O.V.

It's a nice day out today. It's close to noon, there's a cool breeze without a cloud in the sky as Mist, Zero, Naota, and I are currently in a clearing near town training. We arrived to town late last night and using some of Mist's and my treasure we were able to get a room for the four of us. When we woke up it turns out that Jack had gotten a call this morning about work in town that would take a few days to complete. As soon as we had breakfast Jack and his son left to meet with the client and do some work. Leaving the four of us to do our own thing. So we decided to train and get better acquainted with each other.

First, we had a shooting contest between me, Zero, and Naota with a couple of large rocks in the clearing that Naota had painted bull's eyes on them. And I have no idea where he got the paint from. It turns out that while the yellow electric guitar, a Gibson Flying V, can shoot lighting or electro bolts the red bass guitar, a Gibson EB-0, can shoot fireballs or can be a flamethrower. After a couple of rounds of shooting we soon realize that while Naota and I have more powerful shots and have okay aim when it comes to speed, skill, and accuracy Zero has us beat hands down. Afterward Naota and I ended up having a bit of a fire contest, fire blasts, fire slashes, fire bullets and fireballs galore. While his bass guitar's fire is stronger than regular fire it's not as strong as my dragon fire. Thankfully the clearing is mostly rocks and dirt. I asked him how his guitar works and who made them since I was a bit of a weapons nut. The idea of an everyday object turning out to be a dangerous weapon was an interesting idea. However the guy just shrugs his shoulders and said, "I have no idea." Seeing as that was a dead end I asked where he got them instead. He answered, "A friend of mine pulled the Flying V out my head while I got the EB-0 from my TV robot that I left at home who pulled it out of its screen."

It was then that I decided when I have to deal with anything involving Naota, for the sake of my sanity, to just roll with it.

After I got my brain back in order we decided to do some hand to hand combat sparring. While Zero isn't that strong his arms are insanely fast. It's as if his punches are coming six different places at once. Naota is decent at a fight but I was able to handle him without much trouble. Mist still won against me but I can tell that he had to put more effort into our sparring session than last time. We than decided to have some sword or in Naota's case guitar practice while Zero decided to stay on the side lines since he didn't have any rubber bullets or anything like that on him and it would be too dangerous to use real bullets in a sparring session. Naota was no swordsmen but the guy has some pretty powerful swings for a scrawny looking guy and I still can't even touch Mist. Though I can tell my swordsmanship has gotten better. Then again fighting bandits, ancient undead warriors, and a demon rabbit is a good way to get stronger. Right now Naota is dual wielding his guitars while fighting against Mist with little to no success. Though I'm not focus on them, I am looking at my hand. The memory of that dream is still fresh in my mind. I talked to my friends about and Mist suggested that it was a vision from the past and from the description it was the about my clan's beginnings.

Most of the major clans in the Dracoheart Kingdom are usually a product of a dragon with unique powers giving those powers to a Dragonborn or a group of them for either helping the dragon with something immensely important or earned their up most respect. One example is that the founder of the metal clan challenged a metal skinned dragon to a fight and won. In honor of his victory the dragon gave the Dragonborn and all of his decedents’ metal base powers. Those who are from a clan are instantly considered to be part of the upper class no matter who they. And from what Mist had heard when a Dragonborn from a clan reaches a certain age they will get dream visions like the one I had. One of the things I remember seeing in it was some of the things what I believe to be my ancestors could do. Fireportation, fireclaw gauntlets, flame body, all names I came up, were shown at the end of my dream and who knows what else I could do. Right now I'm trying to see if I can make a fireclaw gauntlet. I first start by covering my forearm and hand with my fire, than I try to concentrate on making the flames stronger and denser. The fire can easy enough and it takes a couple of seconds to get the flames how I want them to be. Now is the tricky part, shaping the flames into a claw gauntlet. I focus on the image in my mind, the fire slowly growing and changing its shape and create a large unstable claw above where my real hand should be. I was able to keep it for a couple of seconds before I couldn't hold it anymore and it dissipated. I am out of breathing just from the mental strain of holding it for that long. While I couldn't quite do that trick it does prove that I can do it, all I need to do is practice.

I turn my attention back to the fight to see that the team's knight has beaten the guitarist. No surprise there. As Mist was helping Naota back on his feet he says, "Think that's enough training for now. How about we go back to town and get some lunch."

We all agree and after a 15 minute walk back to town we order some food from a local burger joint. As the four of us sit around telling funny stories and joking around while we eat I can't help but think about my situation. Close to three weeks ago I was exiled from my home, my friends, and my mother by my former sister and her friends and left to fend for myself. Now I have made new friends, I had fought bandits, undead warriors, and a monster rabbit. I even found some treasure so I will not have to worry about money for a while. I discovered some new powers and been given a clue about my family's history. While I may not have a home yet, but with the money I have and some luck it shouldn't be that hard to find me a place. Not exactly the best start of a journey but my situation has gotten better. My train of thought gets off track as a bunch of mini humanoid rabbits on a runaway shopping cart barrel past us.

Maybe I should have talked Discord out of making those things.

"Hey, I see you two are still alive and kicking." The four of us turn our heads to the owner of the voice. Standing in front of us is Mist and I's good friend, or at least good acquaintance, Shadow carrying a tray of food with two girl Dragonborns hanging on to his arms.

"Hey Shadow, it's good to see you again." I say. "And I see that you have been busy since Mist and I last saw you."

"What can I say, I get around. One minute I'm talking to these lovely ladies and the next we're having lunch together. So who is scarf boy and the winged rock star over here." Shadow says as he points to Zero and Naota.

"Oh yeah, let me introduce everyone. Shadow this is Zero and Naota. Guys this is Shadow Nightingale, Mist and I met him while taking out a group of bandits." Naota and Zero greets the Changeling Mix and he returns the gesture.

But it is short lived by the girl hanging on his left arm. "Shadow can't we go, I'm hungry."

Shadow just grins at the girl and says, "Don't worry my sweet," While he says that two large Dragonborn men appears out of nowhere behind him glaring at him without him noticing. "We'll eat our food and get to know each other a little better in a sec. Well, it's nice seeing you two and it's nice meting you Zero and Naota."

"Likewise though you might want to run dude." I mention while pointing behind him. He turns around and sees the men behind him.

"So you little punk, you want to do what with our daughters?" One of the men says deathly. I would have not believe that Changelings could turn pale if I ain't seeing it happen right in front of me.

Shadow turns his head towards us and quickly says, "Well it's been nice seeing you guys, see ya!" He suddenly runs like Nightmare Moon is on his tail with the two men hot on his heel with the two girls following them to try to convince their fathers not to kill the thief. The four of us laugh at the site and continue our meal. I'm sure that Shadow could escape two angry dads if he could sneak into a bandit's hideout. After about 30 minutes we finish our meals. Naota decides to play his guitar as a street performer to make some money and Zero joins him by getting some empty buckets and uses them as drums. It turns out that his quick draw style made him a pretty good drummer. Mist ends up wondering into a book store while I look around town. I'm looking around the streets when I hear a child's scream in the distance. I break into a run in the direction of the scream. While I make my way through the alleyway to my destination I can't help but think 'never a dull moment is there?'

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, I was busy with family matters. Any way the two new figures are going to be important to the story. Won't be officially part of Spike's team they will joining up with them a lot.

The Assiasian Princess, the Warrior Noblewoman, and an old Companion

Shadow P.O.V.

I sign to myself as I take a bite out of a burger while sitting on the roof top of some two story building. I managed to get away from the two dads. Too bad they had to show up when they did, those two girls were cute and the love that was starting to spark up for me would've been a great dessert. Now I have more food than I can stomach and I hate wasting food. As I finish up one of the burgers I hear a familiar voice behind.

"Hey Shadow, long time no see. Mind sharing some of that food with me?" The person asks me. I recognize that voice anywhere.

"Why not? Not like I could finish all this by myself." I reply. The person sits down beside me. A pitch black hand reaches out and grabs one of the two remaining burgers.

"Got run off by a couple of dads again?"

"Yup. How's your mom?"

"Sigh. More or less the same. I finally was able to convince her to try more peaceful routes to help our people. We were able to convince the person currently in charge of this part of Dracoheart and some of the noble families to let some of our people to live and work here. If things go well we can show the world that we aren't soulless monsters that want to drain people dry. We just want to live our lives just like anybody else."

"That may be true but that doesn't mean that everybody will let us. There are those who will hate and despise us for what others of our race has done in the past or just for what we are. That is the same for every race. No matter, discrimination and prejudice will never completely go away."

"That's true but if we can reduce the number of people that hate and mistrust us than we must at least try. For the sake of not only us but for everyone."

"True enough. Any luck with that love substitution drink?"

"It's gotten better. It does its job better but it could be improved. At the moment it's basically a protein shake."

"So you basically mean it is good for you but it's nasty as hell?" My reply earns a chuckle from the cloaked girl.

"More or less."

"So, any reason why a princess is in a town like this?"

"Yes and you’re a part of that reason. You see a friend of mine wants to thank you and the two others that were with you when you three took out those bandits. Do you know whether or not they’re here?"

"Yeah they’re here. I just met them and two friends of theirs a few minutes ago. You would not believe the stuff we had to go through in that place." It takes a few minutes to tell her what happened in the underground crypt. Everything from the booby-traps to the giant zombie that almost wiped the floor with us.

"Well, looks like you've had some interesting adventures. Now, tell me about your two friends. What are their names, what kind of people are they, are they strong, and more importantly are they cute?"

"Heh, I find it ironic that that you often call me a flirt when you're just as bad as me, if not worst. Anyway, their names are Spike, a Dragonborn with green hair and eyes, and Mist, an Earthbound with black hair and brown eyes. They both seem like nice guys but Mist is more serious of the two while Spike is a bit more laid back. They're pretty strong in their own ways. Spike is a decent shot with a gun and is pretty good with a sword and can think on his feet. And I think he might be a Mix since I've seen him do things with his dragon fire that I haven't seen any Dragonborns do but I've seen mages do something similar. Mist is basically a knight or at least a knight in training. The guy is really good with a sword and has good fighting instincts. I can tell that he's been practicing for probably years now. As for the cute part you'll have to see for yourself."

"They sound interesting. Can you take me to them? My friend would love to meet the three of you."

"Sure but who is this friend of yours you keep mentioning and why is she so interested in meeting us."

"You see she is part of one of the noble families in this section of Dracoheart. This family in particular tries to take great care of its lower classes in this section and all of Dracoheart in general. They were about to send guards that they helped funded to take care of the bandits when you and your friends came in and took care of them for her family."

"I don't suppose this 'thank you' involves a lot of money?"

"Sorry but no." I curse under my breath at that answer.

"Fine let’s go find them. They shouldn't be too hard to find?" As we finish off the food we're about to make our way to where we last saw those guy when we hear a scream. I take a quick look at the princess beside me and ask her a silent question. She nods and we both take to the sky with a buzz as we make our way in the direction of the scream. After a minute or so we land on a rooftop in the area where the scream came from. We look down from where we stand to the scene below. There is a group of five kids around my age with swords. The one in the front of the group was a girl in a fancy dress with what looks to be a rapier on her waist. You could practically feel the snooty and obnoxiousness coming off of her from here. The rest were guys, probably just a bunch of punks she paid off. The rest of them have the average two side sword in their hands and just one look on their faces tells me that their just a bunch of bullies.

That group is facing another group of three people. Two of them are young Changelings that don't look older than ten and one person that is wearing a cloak. Probably the friend of my friend. The girl in black is standing protectively of the two kids. This is probably a bunch of bullies thinking that they’re about to teach some kids a lesson about being different. It made my blood boil at the mere thought. Just as I'm about to rain down lightning, frost, and pain on their asses when something caught my eye. I look at an alleyway to see someone running towards them. I grin when I realize who it is. My friend is about to jump down when I put my arm in her way. "Hold up Kevra. It looks like you’re going to see one of my friends in action."

??? P.O.V.

This is a fine predicament I find myself in. I was just making my way through town looking for the group that defeated those bandits when I came across this group attacking two children that couldn't protect themselves. That is why I intervened before the two changelings could get hurt.

"What do you think you’re doing standing in my way?" The leader of the group asks in a screeching voice. She was a pink haired earthbound from the haunting tone and high class look she was a noble that lives in the area. The rest are boys and Dragonborns. From the way the Dragonborns hold their swords and their stances they probably had never swung a sword in their lives while their leader’s weapon is probably just for show.

"I think I'm stopping you from hurting two innocent children." I reply with convection.

The girl in front of me scoffs. "Well those things are far from innocent. They and their family had the audacity to live in the same town as me. My associates and I was just teaching them a lesson."

I could feel my eyebrow twitching at the answer. While I probably sound a bit snobbish for saying so I can't believe that we're in the same social class. "I'm appalled that you, an Earthbound living in a kingdom whose population mostly consists of Dragonborns are doing something like this. Just because they’re different from you. It is no wonder why people who aren't nobles hate us in general. It's people like you that give nobles a bad name."

"WHAT?!" The pink haired girl screeches. "How dare you say that?! I'm a noble; you should be doing as I say."

"I'll never bow down to someone as pathetic as you."

"Have it your way. One of you go over there and teach her a lesson." She orders one of her lackeys. One of the Dragonborns charges me with his sword ready for an overhead swing. I'm about to draw one of my swords that is hidden under my cloak when I hear a loud bang. A green bullet zips out of a nearby alleyway hits the sword the charging Dragonborn is holding. Breaking the blade and knocking it out of his hand. We all look at the alleyway where the shot came from. A figure holding a gun walks out of the shadows' of the alley and into the light. He's a Dragonborn who is a bit taller than me. His skin is tan with green eyes and spiky hair. The new Dragonborn is wearing a purple hooded jacket, a green t-shirt, some blue jeans, and some hiking boots. With the old looking shotgun he also has an old black sword. I will admit that he is kind of cute and from his posture he has been in fights before. He fits the description the woman that was saved gave out of the one who led her back to town. 'I wonder, is he one of the ones I'm looking for.'

"Hey, who are you and what do you think you’re doing?" The so called noble girl ask.

"At the moment helping her protect those two kids and I make it a habit to not give my name to spoiled brats." He points to me calmly as he puts his gun away.

"Don't you know how I am?! I'm Sakura Haruno, member of the Haruno noble family!" The girl yells.

The green haired teen cups his ear and says, "Hey, do you hear that?" A moment of silence rings out as the attacking group tries to hear whatever he is hearing. "It's the sound of me not caring." That joke got basically everyone except the noble girl either laughing or chuckling.

"WHAT?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" The girl screeches. Her yelling is so loud that it left everyone's ears rings.

As the newcomer rubs his ear trying to get his hearing back answers, "I'm someone who doesn't hide behind titles and positions that I didn't earn to make myself feel important. And man you're loud! I didn't know they let banshees be nobles." Okay, even I'll admit that joke is funny. It causes everyone to laugh out loud. I even heard two other laughs coming from the rooftops.

"That's it! You're done for! You there, don't just stand there, take him out." She orders the one who was disarmed. The boy charges the newcomer with his arm drawn back to deliver a punch. The green haired Dragonborn simply sidesteps the attack and gives his attacker a left hook to his cheek. Sending the lackey to the ground knocked out cold.

"Is that the best you got? You're going have to do a lot better than that." He says without a care in the world. The other Dragonborns took that as a challenge charges him. The new arrival just smiles, the kind of smiles that tell everyone that he likes to fight, and draw his own sword with one hand. He sidesteps an overhead swings from one of them, ducks under a diagonal slash from another, and finally blocks a strike from the third. They had a quick test of strength before the green haired teen pushes him off. The three lackeys continue their attacks while the person they are attacking simply danced around their attacks with some effort. He is either dodging or blocking with his sword with one hand, all the while smiling a slightly crazy grin. The green eyed Dragonborn wasn't a master fighter or anything but I can tell he has more experience at fighting than those three put together. This continues for a few minutes with the three henchmen getting tired with the newcomer not even out of breath. "Are you guys new at this? Because you guys really suck. I fought zombies that are faster and stronger than you guys."

In all honesty, I can't tell whether or not he's joking or completely serious. One of them attacks which he counterattacks, knocking the lackey's blade away. He kicks the disarmed boy in the stomach, knocking him back. Another lackey charges him from the side with a hand horizontal slash. He sees this and charges him right back. Incredibly he grabs the henchboy's arm with his free hand mid swing. He grips the boys arm so hard you can hear a crack and drops the blade. He then knees him in his side while still gripping his arm. He then let’s got and delivers a jump kick to the boy's face, knocking him out. The third lackey goes in for a thrust to the new Dragonborn's head. The green eyed teen just moves his head to the side, let’s goes of his weapon in his right hand, and grabs the bully's face. And in an impressive show of force slams the bully's head into the ground. It's safe to say that he wasn't getting up anytime soon. The only ones left are Sakura and one lackey. The last remaining henchboy spits out a fireball at the Dragonborn helping us. The jacket wearing teen counters by picking up his sword and somehow covering the blade in eerie ghostly green fire and using it to slash the air. Creating a wave of fire from his sword. The two collide to make a small explosion and smoke cloud.

"Oh, you want this to be a firefight? Then let’s see what you got!" The two of them glare at each other until they both take in deep breathes and unleash their dragon fires. The lackey's fire is orange while the green haired teen's fire is the same eerie ghostly green that covered his sword. The two flames battle for dominance for a second than the green fire overpowers the red fire. Just before the fire reaches the bully the green eyed teen stops the flow. The brightness of the flame causes the lackey to cover his face. While he was distracted the newcomer charges through the smoke and delivers a haymaker, the knocking the last henchboy out. Sakura looks around in shock, seeing all of her lackeys one the floor knocked out cold. "So princess, got anymore knights you want to throw at the big bad dragon or are you going to run to your castle? Why don't you do everyone a favor and lock yourself in the tower."

This got a chuckle out of the two young changelings behind me who got off the ground when the fighting started. The pink haired banshee didn't like that comment at all. Her face is so red with anger that it's surprising that she isn't exploding like a volcano. She grabs her sword and charges, though she doesn't get far. A streak of red and orange fire flies right in front of her, startling her. The fireball zips around like an angry bee until she runs away, all the while yelling, "I'll get you back for this!"

The fireball stops and hovers in front of the jacket wearing teen to revel that it is a young phoenix. This is quite a surprise. Phoenixes are quite rare in Dracoheart and are very reclusive. It's to the point where if you see one it is a sign of good luck. Why would one appear in town, let alone scare off someone? The other Dragonborn looks at it in confusion but the look is soon replace with recognition. "Peewee? Is that you?"

The bird nods and with a happy caw lands on his shoulder, nuzzles his cheek while he gently pets the bird. I hear the sound of clapping nearby so I turn around and see my friend and a teen changeling that I don't know. The two walks up to us and my friend says, "Well that was an interesting ending."

She than makes her way to the children and make sure he's safe. Noticing the two the Dragonborn looks at the new Changeling and smirks as the bird flies off his shoulder and lands on his head. "Hey Shadow, I see that your still in one piece."

Shadow, I guess, gives a cocky smile and replies, "It's going to take more than two angry dads to catch me Spike." I notice out of the corner of my eye my friend looks up at the Dragonborn in surprise. The male Changeling nods to the young phoenix and asks, "So what's with the bird."

"He's an old friend of mine."

"Cool. Hey do you know where Mist is? These two need to talk to us."

Spike raises an eyebrow and asks, "Yes, why?"

"I'll explain on the way first, we need to take those two kids back home." Spike nods as the five of us start to walk with Kevra holding the two children's hands as they lead us to their home.

Author's Note

Before anyone says anything you have to admit that Sakura was a bitch at the beginning of the show. Two new people shows up. While they won't be officially part of Spike's group they will work together with them and will be really important to Spike in the future. And Peewee is back. He doesn't appear in enough fics so I decided to fix that.

The Immortal and the Builder

Spike P.O.V.

We dropped off the kids at their homes and the kids' parents were really grateful that their children were safe and sound. We're making our way to the book store I saw Mist go into earlier. I notice that almost everyone that we walk past looks at us. Or more specifically, looks at Pee Wee sitting on my shoulder. I turn to my companions and ask, "Why are they looking at Pee Wee like that?"

"Phoenixes are really rare in Dracoheart. It is to the point where it if you see one it means you will get good luck." Shadow answers. "How did you get a phoenix as pet anyway?"

"Long story short Pee Wee's parents got scared off by some jerk Dragonborns so I took care of him for a while before giving him back to his parents." I reach out and gently pet Pee Wee's head. "I guess he decided to come back. And he isn't a pet, he's a friend."

"He must be a good one if he would go to the trouble of tracking you down." Shadow than snickers a little. "But really dude, Pee Wee?"

"Give me a break; I was ten at the time, but maybe I should change his name." I turn my attention to my friend on my shoulder. "What do you think pal?" My feathered friend nods his head. "Okay than how about...Torch?" My old friend lets out a happy cry. "Torch it is then." I say as I pet Torch on his head. I hear two giggles behind me coming from the two cloaked girls if my guess is right. I turn my attention back to Shadow. "So what is going on?"

"Long story short one of them wants to thank you, me, and Mist for taking out those bandits since her family supports the guard in this part of Dracoheart and basically did a noble service." Shadow explains.

"And the other girl?"

"She’s an old friend of mine that is also a friend of the one thanking us and is just along for the ride."

"Do they have names?"

"Of course we do." One of the cloaked figures says. "But we'll hold off on the introductions until we find your friend. Anyway why don't you tell us about yourself big boy."

"Oh sure, you won't even tell me your name but I have tell you everything about myself right this second." I reply sarcastically.

"Yup." I can't see it but she is probably smiling under that hood. I sign to myself in my head, debating whether or not I should tell them about myself. In the end I decide against it. Especially the part about me being banished since one of them is from a big name noble Dragonborn family. I have no idea how she and by extension her family will react to that bit of information. For all I know it could mean a lot of trouble for Equestria. I may have a bone to pick with Twilight and her friends but that doesn't mean that Equestria should pay for their mistakes.

"Fine but there isn't a lot to say about me." I reply, trying to sound casual.

"You mean besides the fact that you’re not from Dracoheart?" It takes all of my willpower to keep walking and make a calm questioning look on my face.

"What do you mean?"

"My friend here and her family are household name in this country. With what I just told you should be able to at least know which family I'm talking about." Thank Celestia that I played so many poker games with my guy friends to the point I know how to keep my poker face on even when I'm sweating bullets in my head. "Plus I'm a Changeling, meaning I can sense emotions. And I can tell you're beyond worried and panicking inside right now." Two thoughts pop into my head as soon as she says that. 'FUCK!' and 'Note to self: never play poker with a Changeling.' The best thing to do at this point is to tell them some of the truth but not all of it.

"It's true that I wasn't raised in Dracoheart. When I was a baby bandits killed my parents and tried to sell me off as a slave or something. Thankfully the slavery ring was a busted and I was adopted. It was only a few weeks ago that I decided to come to Dracoheart to learn about my homeland and maybe learn about my family."

"That's very interesting and I'm sorry for prying."

"No problem." I say, grateful she's dropping the subject. "I don't suppose you could tell me about yourself now?" I'm getting curious what kind of person she is since this is the first full Changeling I've met since the Canterlot Invasion.

"Not going to happen." I can practically feel the smile on her face. For some reason I'm both annoyed and even more curious. I just sign to myself as the cloaked Changeling starts talking to her similarly dressed friend quietly.

"So Spike," Shadow starts, getting my attention. "Anything interesting happened since I last saw you?"

I can't help but grin when I think back on some of the weird stuff that happened the last day or two. "You can say that."

Kerva P.O.V.

"Hey Maya," I whisper, getting my friend's attention. "When we introduce ourselves make sure to leave out I'm a princess."

"Um okay, but why?" Maya asks.

"There is a lot more to Spike's story than he is letting on." I answer, while staring at the boy Dragonborn while he is talking to Shadow. Huh, he has a pretty nice butt.

"You notice it too?"

"Yeah, I will admit that he did a pretty good job keeping his cool. If it wasn't for our upbringing we wouldn't have given his story a second thought." One of the first thing any good noble or royalty is taught is on to tell when someone is lying to you or isn't telling you the whole story and in my case whether or not they have any dark intentions. It's something you'll need to know if you ever have to deal with politics. He was telling the truth, but not all of it. Plus I didn't sense anything dark when he told his story.

"You have an idea of what he is trying to hide?"

"I got a hunch, but I'll have to get some of my people to look into it before I can be certain." But if I'm right than it will raise a lot of questions if he is who I think he is.

"What about your friend?" Sapphire says while motioning her head towards Shadow.

"Don't worry; he knows how to take a hint."

"You seem to putting a lot of effort into a boy you just met. Seeing something you like?" She says the last part in a teasing tone. Decent effort Sapphire but you should know better than to try to tease me.

"You can say that, but I'm more curious than anything. I could ask you the same thing. I saw the way you were looking at him when he was fighting those goons."

"I-I was j-just checking out his fight style!" She stutters. Sometimes she is just too easy.

"Sure keeping telling yourself that." My friend quickly goes quiet, probably due to the huge blush on her face. I motion for her to keep moving as I stop walking. I quietly grab my phone as I press a button for speed dial. While the two boys in front of us talked I put it to my ear I wait for the changeling on the other end to pick up.

"Hello princess," A familiar voice on the other end says, "How can I help you?"

"Hello Dark Sneak, I need you and your team to go to Equestria and see what you can dig up on Twilight Sparkle's Dragonborn assistant. You have twenty-four hours to report back to me and me alone of your findings and for any possible additional orders." I say, making sure he knows that I'm completely serious.

"Understood, my team will leave for Equestria momentary." And with that he hangs up. After I put my phone away I fast walk to catch up with the others. When I manage to catch up I continue to look at Spike as a thought goes through my mind. 'Just what are you trying to hide Spike?'

Meanwhile

Third P.O.V.

A slightly beat up, customized truck with a tarp covering the trunk makes its way to town. There are two boys inside; both appear to be 15 years old. At the wheel is someone who appears to be a Taurus-blood due to the short bull horns coming out of his forehead which is covered median long, unkempt, dirty blonde hair and very light brown skin. He has a slim, muscular build and about average height to him which is odd for his race since they are famous for having very large muscles and being very tall even in their teens. His green eyes express vast intelligence as he focuses on the road and the twitch of his eyebrow showing signs of annoyance. He's wearing durable, gray workman's outfit with worn out sneakers.

The guy next to him is an odd one to be sure. His skin is a shade or two darker than his companion with short, black spiky hair. With pointed ears and a fang sticking out of his mouth from his lower jaw, making it appear that he's a Were-dog. The Were-dog has a very muscular one since he's bulkier than his friend when it comes to their builds' and slightly taller. He is wearing an open black and white striped hoodie, a grey shirt, faded blue jeans, and oddly enough didn't wear any shoes or socks. For some reason He has he has an iron bracelet on each wrist, each one connected to an iron ball and chain that are wrapped around his arms. Strangely enough he has a tattoo over his right eyebrow that says in gothic writing 'No Hope'. What really makes him stand out is that his eye under the tattoo isn't normal. The iris and pupil isn't there, in its place is magic symbols while his other eye is normal with a dark brown iris.

"Are we ther-" The Were-dog starts with a bored look on his face but is cut off by his friend.

"If you say that line one more time Wild I'll push you out of the truck and run you over repeatedly until you are road kill. Your immortality be damned." The Taurus-blood growls out, beyond annoyed.

"Sorry Cid, but I'm bored as hell. There nothing to do but to count trees. Hell, I can't even listen the radio."

"And how’s that my fault? You're the one who broke it."

"That was because it was stuck on that damn polka song." And with that Wild slams his hand on the radio, causing it to start up and playing a polka song.

"Oh hell no! There's no way I'm listening to this again." Wild raises hand to hit the radio again but Cid's hand grabs his wrist.

"Hit my truck again and you're dead meat." Cid growls.

"Fine." Wild says in a huff as he lowers his hand since Cid lets go of it. A few seconds pass with only the music and the sound of the engine filling in the silence between the two. "...Are we there yet?"

Cid's response was a roar of pure rage and frustration.

Author's Note

I bet a lot of you can guess who Wild's father is. For those who don't Wild's father and who I based him off of is Free from Soul Eater. He will be the mage of the group. Cid is a complete OC for the most and the engineer. Anyway sorry for the wait. I really had to push myself when I wrote this. I just wasn't feeling it.

Plans for the Future

Third Person's P.O.V.

Naota and Zero have been street preforming for a while now and have managed to make quite a lot of money, though in Zero's opinion it was mostly because of Naota's expert guitar playing. Naota was just happy Zero managed to keep a decent beat. After a while, the two of them decided to take a break. While Naota went off to get them drinks, Zero stayed behind to keep an eye on their money and Naota's moped. As he sits on a bench, he can't help but think about his situation.

A few days ago he was killed, turned into what he guessed was some kind of dark Archangel, killed his killers, flew away from his love, some how ended up in another country, and was now traveling with a group of friends—mostly made up of boys—around his age that are skilled in combat. While the pain of being away from his love still hurts, Zero admitted that he's pretty happy with his situation. 'It could be a lot worse,' Zero privately thought to himself.

"Hey Zero," Naota says as he flies toward Zero with a soda can in each hand. "Heads up." Naota tosses the gunslinger one of the cans, which he catches with ease. The two sit as they drink their sodas, a comfortable silence hanging between them until Zero decides to learn a bit more about his new friend.

"You're pretty good at playing those guitars of yours Naota. How long have you been playing the guitar?" Zero asks.

"For about a year or so," Naota answers. "You were pretty good at those drums, have you considered taking up drumming?"

"Maybe at one point," Zero says, thinking that having a hobby or something that didn't involve guns would be a nice change of pace. "Although I'd have to find a place to settle down first. I can't exactly carry a drum kit everywhere I go."

"True," The guitar wielder agrees as he takes another sip of his soda. "Hey Zero, what are you going to do after the tournament is over?"

"I...I'm not sure. I can't go back home, and I know next to nothing about anyplace outside the country of Gunsmoke. I guess I'll stay with you and the others for now."

"Same here. After traveling by myself for a couple of months, I could really use the company. Besides, you guys are pretty nice to hang around. Though we're going to need find someway to make a lot of cash. Even if all of us manage to win some money at the tournament, that money and Mist and Spike's treasure isn't going to last forever. And we can't exactly pay for food and stuff with pocket lint."

"We can always take up mercenary work," Zero suggests. Back at Gunsmoke, he often did that kind of work to make enough money to meet both his and his lover's needs.

"Mercenary work?" Naota asks while raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, taking out bandits, fighting monsters, getting and delivering items, being a bodyguard, bounty hunting, treasure hunting, and all kinds of odd jobs. I did that sort of thing every now and then for money back home."

"Well, we did make a good team against that rabbit from hell. Plus Spike and Mist already have some experience in the treasure hunting and bandit departments."

"Yeah, not only could we be able to make enough money to support ourselves, but we'd also be able to help a lot of people in the process." Zero says mostly to himself quietly.

Naota couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at what his friend said. He doesn't mind helping people, but that last part came a bit out of nowhere. From what he witnessed, Zero has a really big heart. "...You're one of those really nice guys who try to help everyone, aren't you?"

To Naota's confusion a rueful smile spreads on the gunslinger's face as he replies, "No, no I'm not, though I do try to be."

That makes Naota even more curious about his friend but decides to let it drop for the moment. "If you say so. How about we go find the others and ask them about this?"

"Sure," Zero agrees.

As the two stand up from the bench and toss their now empty cans into a nearby trash can, what looks to be a barefoot Were-Dog with chains on his arms runs past them yelling, "MOVE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE ROADKILL!!!"

The two watch the guy run like hell for a second before they hear the roar of an engine. The two turn to the direction where the barefoot teen came from and see a speeding truck playing polka music; the driver—a redheaded, Taurus-blood—has an angry and crazed look on his face while laughing like he just escaped from an insane asylum. Acting quickly, the gunslinger jumps behind the bench to get out of the truck's way while the guitarist takes to the skies.

As the mad driver disappears into the distance, the brown Valkyrie lands and yells while flipping the bird, "WATCH THE HELL WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!"

This surprises Zero. Naota has been nothing but calm since he and the others first met him. Getting over his surprise, Zero says, "Well, that came out of nowhere."

"The truck or me yelling?" It appears that Naota noticed the look of surprise on Zero's face.

"Both, you've acted like nothing fazes you since you showed up."

"That's just because I've seen so much crazy shit in my life that almost nothing surprises me anymore. Besides, I've been run over way too many times already and I don't want it to happen again anytime soon."

"What kind of stuff are you talking about, and how many times did you get run over?" Zero asks out of curiosity and concern.

"Don't worry about, it's a long story anyway," Naota waves away his friend's concern. "Now, how about we find the others before something else happens?"

"Sure." And with that, they gather up their stuff and go out in search of their comrades.

The two Dragonborns and Changelings make their way inside a bookstore, the owner allowing Spike's phoenix inside in hopes that by doing so it would grant his store good luck. After a quick look around, they find Mist near the back sitting at a table while reading a book. The four of them take their seats at the table and Shadow notices the book Mist is reading.

The knife throwing Changeling says, "A modern day knight reading a novel about ancient ninjas? There is a joke in there somewhere, I'm just not sure where." This gets the knight's attention as he looks at the people around him.

"Spike, Shadow," He says with a nod to each person in a greeting. He than regards the other people. "phoenix and people I don't know."

"I believe introductions are finally in order," Spike says as he pets the phoenix still sitting on his shoulder. "This is Torch, an old friend of mine."

"It is nice to meet you Torch," Mist greets the bird who replies with a happy chirp. The knight-in-training turns his gaze to the two cloaked figures. "So who are you two?" The two look at each other before they pull their hoods down, revealing two cute girls—much to Mist, Spike, and partly Shadow's surprise.

"I am Sapphire of the Igneous clan." The Dragonborn introduce herself. She has silver hair that is wavy at the end, swept back, long enough to reach her neck with a strand somewhat framing the right side of her face, and showing off her slightly pointed ears. Her skin is a slightly orange tan that seems natural, not fake like those of the nobles and celebrities back in Canterlot in Spike's opinion. Her snake-like eyes are like shinning sapphires, which is probably how she got her name. She has a strong-willed look about her—like that of a fighter—that wasn't missed by the others. The aura she gives out is more like that of a warrior than a noble. However, that did not take away from her beauty. In short, she is a real head-turner that could probably kick your butt if she wanted too.

"I'm Kerva Glasswing Amaryss, just your average Changeling that wants to help her fellow Changelings and help bring peaceful coexistence between us and other races." Kerva says, though she is anything but average. Her hair is straight, greenish-blue with reddish pink highlights, and stops just below her chin. While her skin is the pitch black that is normal for the Changeling race, her skin has a shine to it that Spike couldn't describe. Along with her vampire-like smile and deep, forest-green, slit-like eyes, it gives her a very exotic yet beautiful appearance. Furthermore, she has a mischievous look about her, though they can tell—or in Shadow's case know—that she is dangerous. If Sapphire is a warrior, then Kerva is a assassin, the type of person that can either make your life a living hell, put you in a world of pain, or end your life if you wrong her or those she care about.

The two females looks definitely having an affect on the males at the table. Shadow is used to Kerva's looks, but is eyeing Sapphire.'Damn, she is a real prize.' The Changeling thief thinks to himself. 'I think that Igneous means lava rock or something. If the rest of her is as nice as her face, then she is even hotter.' His thoughts soon turn towards his fellow Changeling. 'Why didn't she tell them that she is a princess? Eh, she probably has a good reason; I'll just roll with it for now.'

Meanwhile, Mist is eyeing the two ladies for a different reason than their attractiveness. 'These two have the look of real fighters, someone who has been taught how to fight since they were young, like me. I feel sorry for who ever fights them and judges them on looks alone; they would probably end up in the hospital.'

Spike on the other hand is currently at war with himself. 'Holy crap, they're beaut-,' he starts thinking to himself with a slight blush before shaking his head, stomping down on his blush and his current line of thought. 'No! No Spike! Don't fall head over heels for someone, especially two of them, just because of a pretty face! Remember what happened with Rarity?!' Over a year ago Spike had given up on her feelings for Rarity after the whole Tenderfoot incident. Spike wasn't angry with her...okay, maybe a little angry, but that went away with time, he was mostly angry at himself. He was angry for spending so much time and effort on someone that wouldn't return his feelings and let his desire for love get the better of him. After he calmed down, he took an oath not to turn into a love-sick puppy ever again. 'You aren't some love-sick idiot Spike, you have to play it cool! I have to get to know them first, learn what kind of people they are, and see if they are interested in me. Once I do, I'll decide whether or not to go after one of them. And if I do choose to date one of them, then I should also have made my decision of which girl by then. That is, if I see them again after this.'

Kerva raises an eyebrow at the emotions she is sensing from the three. Not surprisingly, Shadow is checking out her friend. 'Not if I have anything to say about that,' she thinks to herself. She has nothing against Shadow and considers him a good friend, but he is the last person she wants Sapphire to be with. Considering the Changeling thief has a bad habit of flirting with any girl that's cute, Sapphire would probably kick his tail the second she catches him. Mist, on the other hand, isn't focus on their looks. He is more like a warrior appraising two new warriors he has just met. Spike's reaction interested her the most. Kerva had seen and felt when someone fell in love with someone else at first look and she felt it coming from Spike towards both of them apparently. However, she never felt it so strong before and only for Spike to beat it into the ground. She now feels interest towards herself and her friend coming from the green-haired Dragonborn. 'Well, that's a first. I wonder what happened? Maybe he fell in love at first site before and got burned? This guy gets more interesting by the minute.'

"I'm Mist," Mist finally introduce himself after finishing looking the newcomers over. "It's safe to assume that you already know my friends. Now that the introductions are out of the way, why are you here?"

"And are you seeing anybody?" Shadow quickly asks the female Dragonborn. Spike would have asked the two the same question but decided against it since it would probably be impolite to ask someone he just met. Though his look of curiosity wasn't missed by Kerva.

"My friend Sapphire here wants to thank the three of you for saving that woman and dealing with those bandits. Plus we are both single," She says the last part as she gives a quick wink to Spike, much to his embarrassment. Shadow is about to say something, but Kerva cuts him off. "And don't bother asking Shadow, she isn't your type and you ain't hers." While Shadow would normally be more persistent he would back off since the Changeling Princess is an old friend of his.

"Why does she want to thank us?" Mist asks, trying to get the conversation back on track. "I get that we did a good thing, but it's pretty obvious that you two put a lot of effort in tracking us down like this."

"My family takes great pride into aiding those less fortunate than ourselves and protecting those who cannot protect themselves," Sapphire says with great pride. "My family is the one who helps provide the funding and coordination of the guards in this part of Dracoheart. We were about to send guards to deal with the bandits when word reached us that the three of you went out of your way to not only take out those bandits, but also saved that woman from being held hostage."

"Don't forget the ancient crypt full of zombies," Kerva quickly says.

"Zombies?" The three than explain what they went through during their journey through the crypt to stop the bandit leader from unleashing an undead terror on the world. "Wow, I must admit I'm impressed. Not many would be able to survive such a challenge."

"For a couple of badasses like us it was easy," Shadow says with a cocky look on his face. And it is because of that look Spike couldn't help but knock his feet out from under him.

"You mean like how it was easy for the giant zombie to smack us into the walls?" Spike asks with a smirk on his face. When the Changeling gives him the stink-eye the Dragonborn couldn't help but chuckle.

"Anyway," Kerva starts, getting everyone's attention, "I heard from Shadow that you three are entering the Young Fighters Tournament in Smoldering Pit, right?" The three males nod there head.

"Really?" The silver haired Dragonborn asks. "My family is hosting it and I'm taking part in it myself. Which divisions are you three entering?"

"Actually, we're not sure." Spike admits. "We heard that the tournament will spilt up into different events, but we don't know what they are."

"Well the tournament is divided up into four divisions, each with their own set of rules," Sapphire explains. "First, there is the 'Hand-to-Hand' division where you fight with your bare hands, no weapons, magic, or magical items allowed. Then, there is the 'Weapons' division where you can use any weapon except for guns or any long-range weapon. Next, there is the 'Long-Range' division where contestants use only long-ranged weapons and have a shooting contest. Finally, you have the 'Freestyle' division where there are basically no rules, so long as you don't kill your opponents. The no killing rule also applies to the other divisions as well. Each division has cash prizes for the semi-finalists, finalists, and winners. Overall, the entire tournament takes about a month to complete, a week for each division. Normally, it takes three to five days for each division; the remaining days of the week are used as time off to rest for those who are taking on multiple divisons."

"Wait, why isn't there a magic division?" Shadow asks. After all, it seems like this tournament covers just about everything, plus he would probably stand a good chance of winning the magic division if they have one.

"We use to have a magic division, but there aren't many mages that live in Dracoheart, and most of the ones that do aren't interested in fighting. Each year there would be only a small handful that would even show up, so my family decided to remove that part of the tournament all together. So which divisions are you three going to enter?"

"I'll go with the Weapon and Freestyle divisions." Mist says, deciding to go with his sword wielding prowess and is pretty sure his skill will be enough for him to go up against some of the possible gunslingers and magic users in the Freestyle division.

"Long-Range and Freestyle for me." Shadow answers, also choosing to go with his strengths.

"I think I'll try my hand at all four," Spike says, since his fighting style can fit all four divisions. "Which divisions are you entering Sapphire?"

"I'll be taking part in the Weapon and Freestyle divisions." Sapphire answers.

"How about you Kerva," Spike asks the girl Changeling. "are you joining the tournament?"

"Well at first I was just going to watch, but I think I'll join after all. The Long Range, Weapon, and Freestyle divisions seems perfect for me." Kerva says. Sapphire and Kerva's answers fill Spike with the hope that he now has a chance to get to know the two. "I think it's time for us to head over to our hotel rooms."

"I think right you're right," Sapphire agrees with her friend. "It was nice meeting the three of you."

"Same here." Kerva says as the two get up, pull their hoods up, and head for the door.

"Bye, see you two at the tournament." Spike waves as everyone else says goodbye to the two. After the two leave, the three turn their attention to each other.

"Looks like the competition just got tougher." Mist comments.

"No kidding," Spike agrees than turns his head towards his Changeling friend. "Do you have any idea what we're going up against?"

"Kerva isn't a pushover if that is what you're asking. The last time I saw her, the weapons she used were a pair of daggers, a few throwing knifes, and two Glock 19 handguns. She knows a few long-range spells and knows how to teleport quickly at short distances. She hits fast and is hard to hit in return. As for her friend, your guess is as good as mine. This is the first time I've even heard of her."

"Well, from what we seen she is probably a straight forward fighter and is from a noble clan," Mist mentions, racking his mind for any useful information. "Igneous means lava rock right?"

"I think so," Spike answers. "meaning that she probably has lava-based or fire-based powers."

"Either way, we better up our training if we want to win that tournament." Mist suggests. "Would you mind training with us Shadow?"

"Why not? Considering the last time me and Kerva fought she kicked my ass, I'm going to need all the help I can get."

Meanwhile, in an unknown location.

A hooded figure is looking at an old scroll written in an ancient language within a large tent. Soon another hooded figure enters the tent getting his attention. The figure who just entered the tents says, "We have found the entrance, but it is sealed by a powerful spell. I need your help to remove it."

"Very well," The other figure replies as the two leave the tent, walking through a bandit camp to an uncovered entryway of an ancient crypt . "Any word from our colleague over at the ruins near Dragonville?"

"None. I have sent a few scouts to both the town and the ruins to find out what is happening. So far the reports from the ones in town say that a Dragonborn, an Earthbound, and a Changeling disposed of the bandits we stationed there to save a woman being held hostage there."

"And what of our colleague?"

"Unknown. The three apparently left and a different group is investigating the mansion; they say it was an archeologist from the Crystal Empire," The figure spits out the name like a curse. "and his two young assistants."

"And what of the team sent to the ruins?"

"There hasn't been any word from them for a long time."

"I believe it is best that we assume that those bandits and our colleague are dead. Have your men in town return at once. Once we unseal this ruin I will move my portion of the bandits to locate the ruins near Smoldering Pit."

"Very well. We will need the power resting at both here and there if we want to redeem ourselves and avenge our master."

"And to show our other comrades that we were right choosing this course of action." The two stop in front of the ruins entrance, two large black doors with a glowing seal blocking their way. The figures raises their hands, glowing in a dark aura with wisps of purple smoke coming from their hooded faces. The dark aura surrounds the seal and slowly corrupts it. When the seal is completely corrupted, it shatters like glass. "It is done. My portion of the bandits and myself will leave on the morrow."

"And I will have the remaining bandit investigate the tome. After all, the pawns always go first."

As the two make their way back to their camp, they didn't realize that by unsealing the crypt they also awoke one of the slumbering beings sealed inside the crypt.

???'s P.O.V.

I can feel thine consciousness slowly returning to me, ending the endless dreams. How long have I been asleep? I try to move, but I cannot. 'I remember now, I was imprisoned,' I think to thineself as the memories of how I was left in my current situation slowly return. Though for some reason I cannot recall much else. I focus on thine senses, to find the beings responsible for my awakening. It takes a few minutes but I am able to do so. I sense two dark auras at the entrance with a large number of people nearby with evil in their hearts. 'They must be after either thineself or that monster that still sleeps inside this tome alongside me. I must find a way to free thineself.'

That however proves to be a difficult task. I cannot force thine way out nor can I teleport. I must be freed from the outside, by someone with flames either similar to mine or of our dear friend. There isn't anyone with flames like mine and our friend died before I was sealed away. 'Wait, maybe one of his decedents can help me.' I stretch thine senses as far as I can, going beyond this and beyond the camp at the entrance. I sense a lot of changes to the land since I was imprisoned. As I push my senses to thine limits, I start to give up hope when I finally found who I was looking for. His flames are that of thine friend mixed with the magic of a Mage. I try to reach out to him through the connection between my flames and the flames of the Phantom Fire clan.

"Please. Please come to thine aid and free me."

Spike's P.O.V.

"Please. Please come to thine aid and free me."

I quickly try to find the source of the unfamiliar voice, seeing none I turn to my friends and ask, "Did you guys here that?"

"Hear what?" Shadow asks me.

"It sounded like someone was asking me for help."

"I didn't hear anything," Mist says.

"Me neither." Shadow agrees. Just as I am about to think a bit more about the voice Naota and Zero walk into the store and make their way towards us.

"Nice to see you're still alive dude." Naota says to Shadow as he and Zero take a seat at our table.

"It will take more than a few pissed off dads to do me in." Shadow replies.

"So how did the street performance go?" I ask the two.

"It went pretty well," Zero says. "though it was mostly due to Naota's guitar playing."

"Don't sell yourself short dude, you did pretty well yourself," Naota praises the gunslinger. He turns his attention to Shadow, Mist, and I. "Anyway, the two of us have been thinking and we want to ask you guys something."

"What is it?" I ask.

"What are you guys going to do after the tournament is finished?" Zero asks Mist, Shadow, and I. That is actually a good question. I never really put much thought into it.

"I'll do what I always do: steal from assholes and bastards that deserve it, make a lot of money, and be a ladies' man." Shadow says with a lot of pride. At least the guy is honest.

"I want to fight against strong opponents, to grow stronger, and become one of the greatest swordsmen in the world." Mist says with conviction.

"I'm not sure. I want to grow strong, to realize my potential. I want to find my role in life, my own path, maybe even find out my family heritage and learn who my parents are." I finally say with some thought.

"Well what would you say if we have an idea so we could do most of those things together as a team?" Zero ask. I raise an eyebrow at the question. I look at Shadow and Mist who are just as curious as me. I turn my attention back to Zero and the look on his face is completely serious and is hoping we agree to whatever plan him and Naota have.

"...We're listening."

Author's Note

Wow, this is the longest chapter I've typed up in a while. I would like to thank Starblade.

The two female fighters are finally revealed. When I was trying to imagine what Sapphire would look like is used the character in this trailer I found awhile as her base.

As for Spike reaction I believe that even if/when he gets over Rarity he will still be something of a romantic, just more cautious of who he falls for and hide it better.

I've given a small glimpse of the protagonists in this story along with a the new character I have planned to join the team with a small hint at two more on the wings.

The Dark Stone, The Bomber, and The Azure Ghost

Cid's P.O.V.

The air was starting to cool as the sun begins to set. I had departed my truck and was currently giving my equipment a once over to make sure everything was in working order while ignoring the stares my friend and I are getting. This town is the perfect place to test out my gear and I want to do it while there is still daylight. Everything seems to be in order, now I just need Wild to look over his magical contribution to this project. If everything is good, then it will be time to see if all of our efforts will pay off. Speaking of which, I can hear him getting up now—even with all the groaning he's making and the sounds of bones snapping back into place.

"Will you quit your groaning?" I ask my friend.

"It's a little hard not to when YOU FUCKING RAN ME OVER LIKE FIVE TIMES!!!" Wild yells at me.

I turn to face the guy while raising an eyebrow. "Didn't you say that your father once got run through the chest and head by multiple spears and took the full force of a flamethrower without even flinching?"

"Yeah, but it took hundreds of years for him to get his pain threshold that high!"

"Anyway, can you come over here and check the enchantments?" I ask, deciding that a change of topic is in order.

"Fine," he says with a grunt. He makes his way over to my equipment to make sure his runes and enchantments are in working order. "By the way, I noticed something strange about these two guys we passed when you tried to run me over."

"What about them?"

"One of them was an Archangel." Wild answers all the while looking over my equipment.

That comes as a big surprise as my eyebrows go up. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I can tell from his magic, and this eye hasn't been wrong yet." He says while pointing towards his magic right eye.

"That's odd," I say to myself. What would one of the princesses be doing all the way out here? Wait a minute... "You said the Archangel was a guy?"

"Yup."

"I thought all the known Archangels were women."

"This one isn't known. This guy's magic is completely different compared to the others so he can't be related to one of them or something."

"How is it different?"

"This guy's magic is a lot darker. It was even darker than Nightmare Moon's when she first got free."

An Archangel with a magic aura darker than Nightmare Moon? That can't be good. "Shouldn't we do something? You're being pretty calm about this."

"We don't have too. His aura might be as cold and dark as a grave, but I didn't sense any evil from him like Nightmare Moon."

"Well that is good. Do you think he's with the others?"

"If he was with Celestia we would have heard about it by now and he would probably be in Equestria." He says the Archangel of the Sun's name as if it was a curse. I can understand why with what happened between her, Wild's father, and their race. But he really needs to let it go. It happened hundreds of years ago, and besides, he doesn't even want revenge against her. As far as I know, anyway.

"Wait...you mentioned two guys. What was so special about the other one?"

"The other guy, a Valkyrie with two guitars, was giving off chaos magic."

"What?! I thought only that Discord guy had chaos magic. Are you sure it wasn't him in disguise?"

"The magic this guy was giving off was different compared to Discord's."

"How so?"

"It's kind of hard to put it into words. Discord's magic is always in flux, always changing in different wavelengths with no real pattern. It's as if you can sense that anything that can happen will happen when that kind of magic is involved—as if the rules of reality don't apply to it. But the Valkyrie’s magic is different. His wavelengths aren't nearly as random as Discord's. Plus, that rule breaking feeling isn't nearly as strong. This guy's magic is more focused on pure power. To put it simply, Discord's magic is geared towards creating and changing things while the Valkyrie’s magic is mostly about destroying things with pure strength."

"And let me guess, this guy doesn't give off any bad vibes and you haven't heard about him," I stated.

"Pretty much, though there is something weird about them." He looks over his shoulder and sees the deadpan look I'm giving him. "I mean besides the other stuff. It's the fact that most of the power I senses is sleeping or something, like just beneath the surface. Maybe they haven't unlocked it or something."

"And you saw all that with just a glance? Man that eye of yours is something else."

"I know. My old man might be good with his magic eye, but he never really bothered to see just what his eye could really do. Though it does get to be a pain when people stare at me because of it," Wild says as he steps away from my gear. "By the way, the enchantments and stuff is in working order."

I nod my head and make my way to my equipment. "Oh yeah, the fact that you're always barefooted and have chains on your arms doesn't draw any attention to you," I say sarcasticlly. I look over my gear one last time before I start to put it on. "If you don't like the weird looks, then why not cover up your eye?"

"I tried that by wearing an eyepatch, but I couldn't get use to it. I kept on tripping and bumping into things."

"Why didn't you wear sunglasses or something?"

"...What?"

"If you wear sunglasses nobody would see your eye unless they look at you at the right angle and you could still see just fine."

The guy just stares at me for a minute or two before he starts to repeatedly slam his head against the hood of my truck yelling, "GOD DAMNNIT, I'M SUCH AN IDIOT! I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T THINK OF THAT!"

"Hey quit doing that, your thick skull is going to dent my ride!" I yell at him. 'I still don't get how he can be so smart when it comes to magic and combat but a scatterbrain with everything else.'

"Fine," he says as if he wasn't just slamming his head against my truck like a lunatic. "So why didn't you put the gear engines in your gauntlets?"

"Those things aren't easy to make. It was a pain in the ass just to make two new ones from scratch for the Air Gear Mark II. Besides, gas pressure works just fine for the grapples on the 3-D Maneuver Gear Marks I and II."

"But why would you need to make a Mark II for that anyway. Didn't the old version work just fine?"

"Yeah, but I can't really use them in a fight. The only way for me to fight while using them is to attach blades to the controls and you know how much I suck when it comes to using swords." I answer as I finish putting my equipment on.

"True, you can't use a sword to save your life. The last time you tried you almost cut off your own head. I'm not even sure how that is even possible." Wild comments with a chuckle, much to my annoyance. "Though you do realize that the only reason that your arms won't rip themselves off by using those things is because of my runes taking most of the stress away, right?"

"And that is one of the reasons why I put up with you." I jokingly say with a smirk on my face.

"The fact that you make things interesting is the reason why I put up with you." Wild replies with a smirk of his own. "Anyways, your engines should last around an hour or so since you'll be putting them through their paces and the runes I've placed will not only allow you to glide on any solid surface but will also stick to walls, though doing such uses up some of it's power as well."

"I know, I'll be careful. Besides, you'll be following me just in case something goes wrong and you have to save my butt." I finish putting on my gear. I get into a stance, my shoes roaring to as energy slowly lifts me half an inch of the ground. "Now then...Let's do this!"

(I don't own the music or the video)

I blast forward, skating off the ground as if it was a giant air hockey table. People and scenery zoom past as adrenaline surges through me once again. I keep speeding down the street for about two blocks before I decide to take things up a notch. With a blast of white energy I hop off the street onto a wall of a nearby building. I continue moving forward without losing an once of momentum. When I reach near the end of the wall I blast myself into the air. I flip through the air and land on another wall across the street, catching a brief look of Wild in his other form following me stealthly across the rooftops.

I hop from one wall to another before going up one and make my way to the rooftops. I pull off a massive jump into the air and sent out a grapple wire from the right gauntlet into a nearby chimney. With a twitch of my finger I'm find myself reeling towards it. Using my shoes and momentum, I swing myself around it and onto another building, all the while un-hooking my wire from the chimney and reeling it back into my gauntlet. As I skate, hop, and swing from building to building, I embrace the wind in my hair, the speed, the adrenailne rush, and the feeling as if I was flying. Unlike the rest of my race, I've always been more at home in the air or in high places than on the ground. I know it's silly, but I was never one to give up on something that I wanted. If nature or fate won't get me into the air, then my guts and brains will. While my current inventions can't make me fly like a bird, this is definitely a step in the right direction. At least until I can either get myself a plane or airship, or make one of my own.

People on the ground below look up and gasp as I pass by. Even a group of children tries to keep pace with me only to soon lose sight of me. I soon notice that the sun is close to completely setting. I look around and notice a clocktower, the tallest building in town. With an idea for my last stunt of the day, I use my left gauntlet to swing myself towards the building and onto the street floor. I zip around and over people, merchant stands, and animals. Oddly enough, I pass two people in hooded cloaks. As soon as I was at the foot of the building, I jump onto the wall and skate straight up the tower. As soon as I make my way across the face of the clock, I suddenly slow down and stop all together. When I start to fall, I realize what is going on.

My shoes just ran of power.

Thankfully, my gauntlets are still good to go. I shoot a wire at the top of the clock tower to stop my fall. I slowly propel myself down as if I was rock climbing. Once I'm on the ground, I let out a sigh of relief.

(Music Stops)

I hear clapping to my left. I turn to see the larger, hairier version of my friend concealed in the shadows of the building.

"Nice save there dude," he says in a deeper, more feral voice. He begins to grow smaller, with purple smoke coming from his body, as he makes his way towards me. Once he steps out of the shadows, Wild is back to his usual size.

"I thought you said I would have an hour of power. That was barely over thirty minutes!" I yell at him.

The guy just scratches the back of his head and says, "I might have over shot it a bit. I am only human; I got to have pride in my work."

It takes all of my willpower not to face palm myself; it would be really painful since my gauntlets have claws on them. "Come on, let's get back to the truck."

"So, besides the power giving out too quickly everything else was a success, right?" He asks as we walk side by side.

"Pretty much. Plus the engine gear is still a prototype anyway. I'll probably have to use the Mark I Air Gear for that tournament."

"Good thinking. Though if I win any prize money, I could be persuaded to make a donation," Wild says with a smirk on his face.

I sigh to myself and ask, "What do you want Wild?"

"I want a girlfriend."

"Dude, I'm an inventor, not a miracle worker."

"Oh come on, you always seem to have way better luck with the ladies than I do. Besides I have a legacy to keep going."

"Why doesn't your father do it then?"

"Because he's still married to my mom and she doesn't want any more kids. At least not right now. Besides my father is a one woman man and won't even think about taking another even after she passes away."

3rd-Person P.O.V.

Abandoned Mansion in Dragontail Woods

A tall Earthbound walks out of the old mansion carrying a couple of old weapons in his arms. He's a slightly tall, skinny man with black hair and eyes behind rectangular glasses. His clothes consist of a pair of jeans, a collar shirt, a tie, and a white lab coat.

"These artifacts are quite impressive," the glasses wearing man says. "Too bad that the rest of the tomb was sealed off. Don't you agree Alma?" he asks the person behind him. A young man, appearing to be around sixteen years old, sets out of the building with a dead, withered body wrapped in aged leather over his shoulder. He has wild greyish hair and blue eyes. He's tall for his age, easily around six feet tall. While being on the skinny side, he's stronger than he looks since he can lift the ancient body just fine. With a short sleeved black and yellow jacket, cargo shorts, and red sneakers he stands out when compare to the older man.

"If you say so," Alma says with a shrug. His small frown a contrast against the scientist's happy smile. The two make their way over to a nearby van and truck. The truck driver is sleeping in his seat. “Though it might be for the better since from the look of it, this place was filled with Draugr. You, Alucard, and I could easily take them on, but we probably bring the entire place down on our heads."

"I don't know about me, but you two would probably destroy the place," the man says with a laugh, causing the teen's frown to grow. The two carefully place the items in a specialized carrying unit in the back of the truck.

"Hey guys!" somebody yells, walking up to the two.

"Well speak of the vampire," The archaeologist comments as he sees his other assistant coming towards them.

The person turns out to be another boy that looks to be around fourteen years old. He appears to be a Dark Glider due to his bat like wings growing out of his back, along with his vampire-like fangs that are being shown off in his massive grin, pointed ears, and snake-like eyes. Though for some reason his teeth are longer than the average Dark Glider and his red eyes have a slight unnatural glow to them. Another unusual thing about him is his black hair that goes down to his chin with silver highlight. Not mention his skin was a weird combination of tan and pale. His red trench coat stops just below his knees.With his black shirt, gray pants, and red and black shoes fits his look perfectly. Though what stand out from his outfit are the two large, grey bookbags, the straps crossing each other to form an X on his chest.

"Hey guys, how's the tomb raiding going?" Alucard asks with his usual happy grin.

"Pretty good considering that over half the tomb is caved in," The lab coat wearing man says. "Any luck getting any more information in town."

"Yeah, I found some more bandits sneaking around town. I took care of them."

"And?" Alma presses, hoping for some more information.

Alucard's smile is soon gone with an angry frown in its place. "It's offical, those guys and those ones who attacked us earlier are working for some of Sombra's old henchmen." Silence rings out between the three as looks of anger appears on all of their faces. Alma's anger is the most visiable, his eyes flashing in a neon red. Though it doesn't last long as Alucard's happy smile comes back. "Though I did find out something interesting about the guys who took out both the bandits and maybe one of Sombra's Shadows."

"Really, so who were they?" The glasses wearing man asks.

"Well Seta, apperantly this woman was saved from these guys thanks to a black Earthbound, a blue haired Changeling, and a Dragonborn. And get this, from the Dragonborn's description it might be Spike."

"Spike? You mean the Crystal Savior?" Seta asks.

"That's the one," The red eye teen replies.

"But what is he doing out here and without the Elements of Harmony with him?" Alma asks.

"Maybe he is trying to discover his roots," Alucard suggests with a shrug. "Anyway it looks like two of those bastards are at some ruins past Ashen Twine."

"Right then, let's make sure we find as many artifacts as we can so we can send them to the Crystal Empire and Equestria for examination," Seta says, trying to lift the mood.

"Once we do, we're going to those ruins and destroy those bastards," Alma says with an angry growl. "They are long overdue in joining their master in his fate."

"You got that right," Alucard's smile gets bigger and a crazy and evil look appears on his face. "I can't wait see the looks on their faces when I drink them dry and blow up their corpses."

"Now, now, Alucard," Seta tries to calm the Dark Glider down. "You can't go overboard with your hobby. I still want to examine the ruins there. Now then, let's finish up here, and then we can go."

"Fine." Both Alma and Alucard say as they went back to work.

Spike's P.O.V.

The same nightmare.

The same damn dream.

This nightmare use to fill me with sadness, regret, betrayal, and anger. Now it's just anger with a lot of annoyance. At this point I'm not even scared anymore; it's the fact that this nightmare keeps waking me up without any energy that annoys me. After tonight, I'm sleeping to my music from now on. It might give me weird dreams but anything is better than this constant repeat. I've been falling in this void for a while now, a lot longer than my other nightmares. Suddenly, feel like I've stop falling and I'm standing on something even though there is nothing there. OK, maybe it's not a complete repeat.

"Finally something different," I say into the void with a bored tone. "Well, what are you waiting for? Show me what you got!"

I get my wish as a bonfire of blue flames appears in front of me. I cover my eyes to protect them from the bright light. The flames feel hot even to me, a Dragonborn who could bathe in lava as if it were warm water.

"Please," a voice out of nowhere says. The flames soon die down and in their place is something I didn't expect. It looks like a floating, gothic coffin with two horn-like things coming out from the bottom and spikes sticking out of the top.

"Please, descendant of Amidamaru of the Phantom Fire Clan, hear my plea." The voice rings out again, apparently coming from the coffin. I look closer at it and notice that there is a window near the top and somebody is inside with their head down. I take a step closer to it and the figure suddenly lifts its face to look at me.

The figure looks to be a young boy, possibly around my age. His skin is really pale with some kind of red arrow tattoos on his cheeks. I couldn't see his mouth due to some kind of high collar. He's wearing some kind of red hat that covers his ears with electric blue, spikey hair sticking out of it. His eyes are like that of a zombie, glowing neon green as they stare into my soul.

(Basically this except change the eye color)

"PLEASE, FREE ME FROM MY IMPRISONMENT!!!"

I wake up with a start in the motel room. I see my friends sleeping in different places and positions in the room. I take a moment to calm down and think about my dream.

'Please, help me.' I hear the guy's voice once again, whispering in my head as I feel myself being pulled towards somewhere.

I couldn't help but ask, "What was that about, and who was he?"

Author's Note

I would like to thank Starblade for his editing skills.

As for the 3-D Maneuver Gear (Attack on Titian) and Air Gear (Air Gear), the two are basically the ultimate gear for free running, why not have both. For those who are wondering the Mark Ones are the orginal 3-D Maneuver Gear and Air Gear. The Mark Twos are basically large claws guantlets with 3-D Gear wires and grappling hooks the shoot out above the hand and is controled throught slight movements in the fingers, while the Air Gear ver.2 is bascially Shadow the Hegehog's shoes.

Anyway we have three new characters for the future team.

First we have Alma Tandouji (Sacred Seven), the geoloigist, archaeologist, and one of the powerhouses of the team.

Next we have an OC of mine, The Mad Vampic Bomber, Alucard Jin.

And finally the undead knight, the Flaming Ghost, and Supernatural Expert of the team, Azure Kite (.Hack).

With Seta Noriyasu (Love Hina) as one of the teachers to the team. And before anyone says no I'm not a fan of the show or manga. It was just the manga series I've ever read and was my introduction to anime, borrowed from a friend, and this guy was the only character I liked from the series.

A Morning Full of News

Author's Note

I would like to thank Starblade for his expert editing skills. I would also like to point out that for now on this story will be written in past tense instead of the present tense I've been using. It makes things easier on my part.

I'm also sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to get something out there before I work on a one shot for a contest and my part for a mass collab.

A Morning Full of News

Kerva's P.O.V.

I wake up to the sun's rays on my face. The perfect way to wake up in the morning in my opinion. The fact that I was sleeping on a five star hotel bed didn't hurt either. Once I stretched my body awake, I began my usual morning routine: a morning workout, brushing my teeth, and then taking a quick shower. I had just started to brush my hair in front of a large mirror, while wearing my bathrobe, when I noticed a familiar presence silently appear behind me.

"Hello, Dark Sneak." I said, as I continue to brush my hair.

"Good morning, Princess Kerva," he replied. Dark Sneak is not only our kingdom’s best spy and information gatherer, but he is also my personal bodyguard and teacher. Just about everything I know about stealth and combat and came from him. I also consider him to be my first and oldest friend. He wore a tight, all-black outfit with a hooded cape, a mask that covered his mouth and nose, fingerless gloves, knee high boots, and a leather shirt that had multiple pockets filled with knives. He almost never shows his face to anyone, even me. "I have managed to gather the information you requested," he pulls out a folder from behind his back and hands it to me, "though it is incomplete since it was on such short notice."

"Knowing you Dark, it should be enough for now." I open the folder and look through it. It had the most important and recent information.

According to what Dark discovered, Spike had been recently dismissed as Princess Twilight Sparkle's assistant and banished from Equestria by said princess. He had been accused of the murder of someone called John Dark, causing a fire that burned down John’s home, and attacking three, unconscious young girls. All three girls were either related or close to one of the Elements of Harmony. What got my attention was that there was no investigation or trial. Just the testimony of the John Dark’s wife, Jean Dark.

"Why did no one investigate this, or at least get Spike's side of the story?" I mumbled to myself.

According to the report, he was last seen–by anyone in Equestria–entering the Everfree Forest. That made me do a double take. That forest is practically world renowned for how dangerous it can be due to the vicious flora and fauna that thrive there. Only the strongest, bravest, wisest, or most foolish would even think about going in there. And yet from the looks of it, Spike somehow managed to get through it alive.

'Hmm…looks like Spike can do more than hold his own.'

The day after his banishment, the three girls from the incident awoke in a nearby hospital and told their sides of the story. Based on their testimony, the murder might have actually been a case of ‘defense of others,’ though I couldn't know for sure until I asked Spike for his side of the story. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at what happened next; apparently, once Princess Celestia got wind of what had happened, she pulled out all the stops to find Spike’s whereabouts. She even discovered that Spike was heading for this country.

However, despite figuring out Spike’s destination, they didn't send anyone after him, nor did they ask the Dragonborn council for help finding him once it was clear that he was in Dragonborn Territory. Not only that, but they are putting in a lot of effort to keep Spike's banishment under wraps. I scratched my head in confusion; a lot of things aren't making much sense.

"Looks like there are a few mysteries hanging around you Spike. And I want to solve them." I said to no one in particular. I handed the folder back to Dark Sneak and said, "Thank you for the information, but now I have another assignment for you. I need you to find every bit of information you can dig up regarding Spike. Do you think a week will be enough time?" The spy took a deep bow in response.

"You wound me princess. That is more than enough time for one with my skills." With that said, he disappeared into thin air, leaving me to continue my morning routine while I consider what my next move should be.

The thought of telling Sapphire my current findings crossed my mind, but I decided against it. It's better to have all my facts straight before revealing them, less I cause some huge misunderstanding. For now, I'll see if I can coax some information out of Spike while I wait for Dark Sneak to return.

'I'll go see him just before noon. That should be enough time for him to wake up and get ready for the day and for me to pick out the right outfit to wear.' I thought to myself. After all, possible murderer or not, he's still a cutie; I'll get to interrogate him and impress him at the same time.

________________________________________

Spike's P.O.V.

After waking up from that dream, I decided to tell the others about it. When everyone had gotten dressed, met up with Shadow, and got some breakfast, I told them about my dream.

"So let me get this straight," Shadow prompted, "You had this dream where some guy in a coffin is telling you to come find him and set him free?"

"Pretty much," I replied.

"From the sounds of it, he might know about or have some connection to the Dragonborn side of your family," Naota added.

"Seems like it."

"And ever since you woke up, you have been getting this vague feeling that you should head in a certain direction?" Mist asked.

"Yup, and it won't go away. So what do you guys think?" I asked, turning to look at each of them briefly. "Should I at least see where it leads?"

"Not alone, you're not." Zero said with conviction.

"If this is anything like our last adventure, then we could end up finding a lot of treasure." Shadow mumbles to himself before saying, "Count me in!"

"Sounds interesting." Naota commented.

"Could be a good adventure," Mist says, "but we're going to need more information."

"Right. The feeling is pointing northeast. I say we ask around and find out if there is anything in that direction, and if there is something, find out as much as we can."

"Sounds like a plan," Shadow replies. "Meet back at the motel in two hours?"

Everyone agreed to the meeting time. After breakfast, we split up in order to gather information faster. As I was approaching an old man to ask questions, I felt a hand gently grasp my shoulder. I turned to see the same cloak that Kerva and Sapphire wore the other day. Going by the height and the slender, black hand on my shoulder, I’m guessing it’s the former.

"Kerva?" I ask for confirmation. She nods her head in assent.

"Spike, we need to talk."

"Okay. About what?"

"Your banishment."

Suddenly, my body freezes up; I was utterly shocked by her words. 'She…but…how…?' It took a couple of minutes for my mind to register what was happening, but eventually I managed to snap out of it. I could feel a frown forming on my face.

"Let’s take this somewhere private." She nods her head and follows me. We make our way to an alleyway away from prying eyes and ears. "So I take it you know about me."

"Just the recent stuff. Who you use to be and the reason behind your banishment, that you killed John Dark in order to protect those girls, and that the Elements of Harmony and Princess Celestia are looking for you." I couldn't help, but growl at the mention of my former friends.

"So, they finally figured out I didn't hurt the girls, did they? They’re probably out looking for me so they can have their little errand boy back." At that moment two thoughts occurred to me. "How did you find out about all that? And more importantly, do you know what happened to the three girls I saved?"

"I have my sources and that is all I'm saying on the subject. As for the girls, they are just fine. If I remember correctly, they are already out of the hospital." I couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"Thank Celestia for that. One less thing for me to worry about."

"Speaking of which, do you know why the Princess of the Sun would put so much effort into finding you?" she asks. Thankfully, I've been asked similar questions before, so my response was already on the tip of my tongue.

"Twilight's family may have raised me, but it was Princess Celestia that supported me and gave me an education until I was assigned to be Twilight's assistant." She looks at me carefully as she ponders my answer. I know that look in her eyes fairly well; she was trying to read my facial expressions and body language to see if I was lying. I’ve seen Applejack do that quite a lot; not really surprising since she is both an Apple AND the Element of Honesty. After a couple more moments, she nods her head in acceptance.

"So what are you going to do now?" I raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Your name has been cleared and your banishment has been revoked," Kerva explains. "You can go home if you want."

I took a minute to think it over before realizing that she’s right. I can go back to Equestria now. But now, it’s less a matter of whether or not I can go back, and more a matter of whether or not I want to go back. When my former friends forced me away from the only home I’ve ever known, it deeply hurt me. It’s true that I have other friends in Ponyville–like the Crusaders–but I don’t think I could go back knowing those six traitors are there as well. On the other hand, I don't have to go back to Ponyville; I could go back to Canterlot instead. That way, I could spend more time with my mom. However, I think back on everything I've done since then.

I have fought against different monsters. I made my way through the infamous Everfree Forest. I helped kill a band of bandits and saved someone. I defeated ancient, sword swinging zombies and got some treasure. I single-handedly took on a group of armed bullies with ease, and that's not taking into account all the friends and acquaintances I've made along the way.

I've done more within the last two weeks than I have done in my entire life. And from the looks of it there is plenty more to see and do on the horizon. I’m not just some library assistant, or a princess’ secretary; now I’m the one going on awesome adventures with my friends.

Do I really want to give that all up and go back?

"No," I said. "For a long while now I was always in Twilight’s and the Elements of Harmony's shadows. At first I was okay with that, but after a while it started to get to me. No matter what I did, it would never compare to their accomplishments. I thought I should just do what I can, even if all I could do to help was be a mailbox or errand boy. But after I helped saved the Crystal Empire, I realized that I could be more than that. That I could be the hero, the knight, I’ve always wanted to be."

I noticed she didn't look surprised when I mentioned the Crystal Empire, but she probably already knew about that too.

"It may not have been on the terms I wanted, but I was going to leave Equestria at one point or another. I've done so much already, more than a lot of people could say, and I'm not about to stop now. My former friends might have forced me on this road ahead of schedule, but I'm having the time of my life." I look up at the sky with a smirk on my face as if I'm challenging the world itself. "I want to see just how far my journey will go and where it leads me."

Though now that I think about it, I better make a mental note to find a way to contact my mother and my friends…and my former friends too, I guess. I need to tell them that I’m fine and that they shouldn’t bother looking for me. I don’t want them to worry about me, and I really don’t want them to send an army after me, either.

"Well, I can see you are making the most of this," Kerva states with a tone of approval.

"You better believe it. There’s a brand new adventure waiting around every corner. In fact, I'm in the middle of preparing for one right now!" A sudden idea comes to mind. "You and Sapphire are welcome to come along if you want."

"Hmm, depends. Is it going to be interesting?" she asked with a coy smile.

"Does freeing someone from a floating coffin cloaked in azure fire count as interesting?”

Intelligence Gathering

Spike P.O.V.

After learning the time and place where my friends and I were going to meet up, Kerva went off to find her friend and gather some information of her own. I went around to talk to the local street vendors about any unique or noteworthy things in the direction of where I felt the strange feeling coming from. If they are anything like the vendors in Ponyville, then they are the best people to go to for the latest gossip and rumors.

When it got close to the meeting time, I thought over the information I managed to gather. It turns out that there is an ancient ruin in that direction that has been there long before the town was founded. It hasn't been explored because of the seemingly unbreakable magic seal on the only entrance to the tomb. According to local legend, an evil necromancer was building an undead army to take over the country, but his plans were stopped by two strong, wandering warriors.

How original.

Though this story didn't have a happy ending. Though the warriors succeeded in killing the necromancer, they both met their ends within the ruin. One of them died during the battle with the necromancer and his undead army. The other managed to survive the fight, though he sustained serious injuries; however, while he had stopped to heal himself, a powerful magic seal was placed on the tomb, tragically sealing him inside. With the magical seal in place, the tomb was buried so that the remaining undead would not be able to escape. The ruin has been quiet ever since, the magic seal remaining unbroken since that day. Although, it is said that if anyone should manage to break the seal and disturb the necromancer's resting place, he and his army shall rise up and attempt to take over the land once again.

In addition to the possible danger of facing an undead army, there has also been a large group of suspicious and dangerous looking people seen around the area where the tomb is thought to be buried.

'More and more this is starting to look like a repeat of the mission in Dragontail Woods. Well, I better meet up with the others and see what they've found. From the looks of it, we are probably going to have to go in there with a plan and maybe an itchy trigger finger,' I thought.

After a few minutes of walking, it slowly dawned on me just what my friends and I were about to do...and I was perfectly fine with it. Is this the kind of life I want? Where I would go headlong into danger without some much as battle an eye?

Hell yeah I do!

It sure as hell beats staying behind at the library and doing chores all day.

Third Person P.O.V.

Meanwhile, at the Crystal Empire...

Candace, the Archangel of Love and co-ruler of the Crystal Empire, was making her way through the halls of her castle at a brisk pace. In her hand was a folder. Once she reached her destination, the former princess of Equestria opened the door to her husband's office. There, at his desk looking over some field reports, sat Shining Armor. He looked up from his paperwork and a smile appeared on his face.

"Hey Candace," he greeted cheerfully, but his attitude soon changed once he noticed her stern expression. "Is something wrong?"

"I have a special report from Seto about one of the ruins he was investigating."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain the serious look on your face," Shining points out.

"It mentions someone we both know," Candace emphasized.

It took a few seconds before her husband realized who she was hinting at. A serious look appeared on his face as he raised his hand. A mulberry colored magic aura surrounded it, and with a wave of said hand, the aura spread across the floor, celling, and walls of the room before quickly dissipating from sight. Shining had just placed both a silence spell and a seal spell on the room. No one outside would able to hear anything said from inside the room and no one would be able to enter the room without the caster's permission, so long as the seal spell remained in place. The only way to undo either spell is if the caster does so willingly, or if a stronger magical force overpowers the caster's magic.

"What is in the report?" The former Captain of the Equestria Royal Guard asked.

"According to the report, Seto was able to find one of the tombs hidden in the Dragonborn territory and already sent in a team for analysis. The tomb itself was hidden underneath an abandoned mansion that was being used as a base of sorts for a group of bandits. He also reported that half of the ruin has collapsed and it happened quite recently," Candace explained.

"While that is all interesting, and I will go over the report closely, I do have a question. What does this had to do with Spike?"

"By the time Seto and his assistants got there, the bandits had already been wiped out. When Alucard went to gather information, he learned from a woman who had been taken hostage by the bandits that the they were defeated by three kids. One of which was a Dragonborn that matches Spike's description. The Dragonborn was seen leaving town the next day with group of people, though we do not know where he is headed." The new king consort of the Crystal Empire sighed in relief at the news.

"Well, at least we know he's safe and that he is putting that sword and book of his to good use."

"I still can't believe Twilight did that to Spike," Candace mentioned as an angry look appeared on her face. Her husband shook his head in disappointment at the mention of his sister's actions.

"Twilight may be smart, but she has a habit of jumping the gun and thinking the worst."

"That is still no excuse for her actions. She didn't trust one of the few people that has been by her side since the beginning, and because of that, Spike was forced to leave his friends, family, and his home! Now Celestia, Luna, and the two of us have to keep his exile under wraps so that Equestria won't suffer any consequences for Twilight's mistake."

"I'm not excusing her of anything. She will face the fallout of her actions soon enough, if she isn't already. And I don't think she'll be able to fix it with a simple apology or a letter to the princess this time." Shining decided to get back on topic. "I'll make sure that this information gets to Celestia safely. Is there anything else I should know about?"

"There was more disturbing information in the report. There were signs that one of Sombra's acolytes was at the ruin, and it is highly likely that there are more at the other ruins in the country," Candace explained with a grim expression that was quickly shared by her husband.

Not many people outside of Celestia, Luna, and the citizens of the Crystal Empire knew about the dark acolytes of Sombra. Powerful, cruel magic users that Sombra took under his wing and taught the dark arts. They had helped Sombra banish the Crystal Empire a thousand years ago and had gone missing after his defeat at the hands of the Celestial Sisters. After his second defeat, Princess Luna secretly searched for the group with her Lunar Guard, but couldn't find a single trace of them, much to everyone's worry.

It looks like they had finally surfaced.

"As you can imagine, Alucard and Alma are very eager to track them down and take them out themselves," The Archangel of Love mentions.

"Not surprising, considering what Sombra and his students put them through," Shining replied before an important thought came to mind. "Does Spike know about the acolytes?"

Candace thought it over before answering, "No. I don't think so."

"Then this might be a problem. They might go after Spike if they learn he is in the area since he had a hand in their master's death."

"I'll make sure to tell Seto that if he or any of his assistants run into Spike, then they should warn him and his friends. Meanwhile, I will inform Celestia of the situation and warn the Dragonborn council of the Shadow Acolytes," The pink-and-yellow haired Archangel said.

"And I'll see what I can dig up about the acolytes. There might be something useful we might have missed." When his wife left the room Shinning Armor sighed as he looked out a nearby window.

"Be careful Spike, there is a storm coming and I have a feeling that it is heading your way."

Author's Note

Thanks to Starblade for the editing.

Converging

Spike's P.O.V.

I met up with my friends, with the addition of Kerva and Sapphire, at the motel room. Thankfully, Smith and Jack were out so the room wasn't too cramped. I gave them what information I was able to gather. Mist, Zero, and Naota had heard pretty much the same thing. Fortunately, Shadow, Kerva, and Sapphire were able to discover some specifics.

"I have heard about one of the warriors," Sapphire claimed. "His name was Amidamaru of the Phantom Fire Clan. He was quite a well-known warrior and adventurer during his time."

"Wait. The guy in my dream mentioned that I'm that guy's descendent," I mentioned.

"You mean you’re a member of the Phantom Fire Clan!?" Sapphire yelled, now suddenly an inch away from my face. There was a look of awe and admiration on her face and I swear there were freaking sparkles in her eyes. I could feel my face warming up at the close proximity.

"Apparently..." I manage to say before gathering my wits before they completely left me. "If you know something about them, can you fill me in? The only thing I know about my Dragonborn heritage is that my ancestors gained their powers from a zombie dragon after killing the guy controlling it. Even then, I'm not really sure if the story is true or not."

"Of course," The silver haired Dragonborn replied. She had a familiar look on her face, one that I hoped to never see again. She had the same look Twilight gets when she is about to deliver a lecture. "What you mentioned is, for the most part, correct. The Phantom Fire Clan was a family of wandering mercenaries and adventurers. Even after they gained their powers and their status as a noble clan, they preferred to continue living the life of a warrior, as opposed to the safe and easygoing life of a noble. The problem is that with that mindset, your clan's population had declined over the years, either from the natural dangers that come with the lifestyles of warriors and adventurers, or assassinations from or performed on behalf by people with a grudge against them. Nowadays, the remaining number of members of your family are small and said to be spread throughout the world."

Well, that is a bit depressing. Sure, coming from a family of wandering badasses is pretty sweet. But because of that, we're something of an endangered species. I wonder if I have any family nearby. Maybe I can even find out about my birth parents!

"Do you know if any of my clan members are in Dracoheart?" I asked, hoping against hope. Sadly, there were none to be found.

"Sorry, but I don't know of any Phantom Fire Clan members that have a permanent home here. In fact, as a general rule, most of them don’t have one period. The only one that I've heard that has an actual home anywhere lives in the Kingdom of Lucis, and I have no idea where it is exactly located."

No luck there. It’s starting to look like the only way I'll be meeting anyone even remotely related to me is by running into them by complete accident. And the only known member that is supposedly staying in one spot is on another continent all together. Plus, if what I remember from my mom and the reports sent to Twilight through me are correct, Lucis has been in the middle of a mostly cold war with the Nifheim Empire for the past fifteen years or so and is still going strong. In short, it would probably difficult, if not outright dangerous, to travel there right now. Looks like it is a dead end…for the moment at least.

"Sorry to interrupt," Kerva politely said, "but Shadow and I may have some information on the one who fought alongside this Amidamaru guy, and might also be the one who contacted Spike through his dream.

"Though if we’re being totally honest, it isn't much," Shadow continued. "From what we could find, the guy who helped Amidamaru fight against that necromancer was named Azure Kite. The guy looked like a kid that died, was buried, dug up, and brought back to life. Also, he was supposed to have power over blue flames."

"Yeah, that sounds like him," I replied as I thought back on my dream. "Anything else on him? Like where he came from and stuff?"

"That’s the thing," Kerva answered. "Outside of what Shadow said, there is almost nothing about this Azure Kite. It's like the guy just popped up out of nowhere. Nobody even knows what race he is. The only thing everyone can agree on is that he was a wandering hero, but that's it."

Not much to go on at the moment. I was hoping for some more info on him. I really don't want to end up walking into a big, elaborate trap, especially with my friends right behind me. Though if past experiences has taught me and my former friends anything, it is that stuff like this shouldn't be ignored. A group of bandits have already unsealed the place, thereby awakening an undead mage and his zombie army. Speaking of which…

"I don't suppose you guy learned anything about the necromancer, did you?" I asked the one and a half Changelings. "I'm willing to bet that we're going to have to fight him before all of this is over."

"Not much really," Shadow said with a shrug. "Only thing we got was that the bad guy's name was Rahgot and outside of necromancy he specialized in ice magic."

"In that case, Naota and Spike should be good match against him due to their fire attacks," Zero pointed out.

"I as well, since I have a heat based elemental power," Sapphire volunteered.

"Which is?" I asked out of curiosity.

The noble Dragonborn wore a similar teasing grin that reminded me of a certain Changeling. "That, you will just have to wait and see."

"It's good to know that I'm having a positive influence on you," Kerva said as she hugged her friend.

"Well, I don't know about you being a positive influence," the silver haired girl joked.

"What about the guys hanging around the place?" Naota interrupted. "I don't think they'll just let us walk right into the temple."

"Oh right, almost forgot about them," Mist said as he rubbed his chin in thought. "How about having Shadow and Kerva sneak in and check out the place?"

"Right. You two can see whether or on not we have to use force to get in. And if that is the case, after gathering some intel, the two of you could cause a massive distraction. When that happens, the rest of us could go in and finish them off." I thought up before turning towards the two. "As long as you two are okay with doing this."

"Sure, not like this is the first time I've done something like this," Shadow answered with a shrug.

Kerva had a smirk on her face when she said, "And it's been a while since I've seen some action."

"Okay, then we have a game plan." Mist said as he and rest of us made our way out of the room.

"Yeah, let’s see if Jack will give us a ride," I suggested. "We'll have him stop about half a mile or so from the ruins. From there, we'll go on foot."

"Mind if we hitched a ride with you guys?" Kerva asked as she pointed to Sapphire, Shadow, and herself. "We don't have a ride ourselves, and flying might draw too much attention."

'So Sapphire and Kerva can fly huh?' I thought before mentally storing that piece of information away in my head. It might come in handy for later. "Sure, but Jack drives a truck so some of us might have to ride in the truck bed."

"Then Sapphire and I will ride in the back. I don't like to be in crammed into places if I can help it." Kerva suddenly had a familiar look on her face as she looked towards me. A look I see all the time when Rarity is flirting someone. "Though having you sitting with us in back would make the trip even better," she said with a smile as she lean towards me.

It was difficult to fight down my blush, and I could tell by how the smile on the Changeling's face grew that she could sense my struggle to some degree. While I was leaning away from her, I bumped shoulders with Sapphire, though she didn't move away. In fact, it felt like she was slightly leaning against me.

"While I wouldn't have said it like that," The noble Dragonborn said, while trying to keep a straight face. Though I could see that she too was fighting back a blush, as well as a sly smile that was growing on her face. "I wouldn't mind having your company with us."

"I see that I've been a good influence on you," Kerva said proudly as she wrapped her arm around mine.

"You have indeed been an influence on me," Sapphire commented as she does the same to my other arm. "Though I'm not sure whether or not you've been a good one."

The witty back and forth continued for a while, but I was a bit busy at the time keeping my face from overheating and my mind out of the gutter.

'This is going to be a long ride.'

________________________________________

Third Person P.O.V.

"Are you sure about this Wild?" Cid asked his friend as the two rode in his truck out of the town towards wherever Wild was leading them towards.

"I'm sure man. I've been sensing this since last night," Wild answered. "I couldn't make it out at first, but now I can tell that there are two large magic signatures. Though for some reason their signatures are hazy and muffled. I think they might be sealed or something."

"If they are sealed up, then why are we in such a rush to get there?"

"Because the seal on one of them is showing signs of breaking soon, and not only do I sense dark magic leaking past it, but the thing that’s sealed seems to have the traits of a necromancer."

That last bit of information got Cid's complete attention. Necromancy is considered one of the worst magical arts in existence and is outlawed throughout most of the world. Though it doesn't stop cults and the like, who pop up every now and then, from attempting to use it as they please. Anyone who finds out about one of these groups are expected to report them to the proper authorities or stop them themselves if they have the skills and talent to do so.

"Well, at least this would be a way to combat test my new gauntlets. Though I'll have to stick with the Mark 1 Air Gear for this fight." The blonde engineer said as he thought about the fight ahead with some concern.

Seeing his friend's worry Wild gave him a reassuring pat on the back before saying, "Don't worry about it dude, between your brains and tech and my magic and brawns we can handle anything."

Understanding his friend's attempt at cheering him up, the Taurus-Blood smirks while responding with, "And it's a good thing I'm the brains between the two of us, if it was just you you'll just go charging in at the top of your lungs."

"Hey, I can't help it if I'm immortal and you’re not." The magic user quips back, smiling that he managed to get his friend to feel more at ease. The two continue to bicker back and forth as they made their way towards their destination.

________________________________________

There was a third group that was making its way to the ruins, though they were taking a more rough and rugged route. Especially since this route took them through a forested area. The truck the three passengers were riding in were narrowly dodging trees and the occasional boulder by a hair's width, all the while the occupants were practically tossed around the cabin due to the uneven ground. Surprisingly, only one of them seemed to be genuinely worried.

"Hey Alucard, are we going the right way?" Seto calmly asked the vampire in the passenger seat as if he was on a Sunday drive instead of narrowly missing a boulder and threading the needle through two adjacent trees.

"According to this map, we should be." Alucard assured as he looked over the map in front of his face. He and the others bounced into the air for a second due to a large bump. "If we keep going like this we should reach the ruins in about five minutes."

"Let me see that map." Alucard leaned the map closer towards Seto while the archeologist leaned closer to get a better look, blocking his view of what was in front of him.

"Keep your eyes on what's ahead of you, moron!" Alma yelled from the backseat. He was gripping the seats as hard as he could since he was pretty sure his life was on the line.

"Alucard, you have the map upside down." Seto pointed out, ignoring Alma's yelling.

"Whoops, my bad," the vampire admitted as he turned the map around. Seto looked back toward the road, just in time to dodge another series of trees once again.

"And that's another thing," Alma continued, carrying on with his rant while pointing towards the vampire. "Why did we let him be in charge of the map and directions?! He has absolutely no sense of direction!"

"Because I called shotgun and whoever is in the shotgun position is in charge of the map and directions." Alucard replied as if it was a law of the universe. "Okay Seto, make a hard right here and jump that cliff. That should put us in the tomb's general direction."

"Wait, WHAT?!"

"You got it." Seto said before turning around a boulder and increased their speed towards the aforementioned cliff.

As they sped up and off the cliff, Alma cried out what he thought might be his last words.

"IF I DIE, I'M GOING TO KILL YOUR ASSES FROM THE GRAVE!!!"

Author's Note

Thanks to Starblade for editing this.