The Legacy of the Z-Fighters
Chapter 3: Homecoming (Part 1)
Previous ChapterNext ChapterSpike groaned as he hefted the harness that was anchored around his shoulders, straining to move the large cart full of gems. His back was screaming in pain at him while his legs felt like they would collapse at any second. The dragon had sweat through his shirt long ago, the damp cloth now showing every scale on his chest and back. Spike dragged the cart of gems through the dirt as he watched Rarity walking in front of him.
"Thank you again, Spikey, for helping me with these gems," she spoke in her elegant voice.
"Anything... for you... Rarity," he managed.
"Really... Spike?" a familiar, higher-pitched voice asked.
Spike knew fully well that Sweetie Belle was also pulling a cart slightly behind him, though hers was not as heavily loaded as his own. He would have liked to look back, just to see if she had dropped any gems so he could get a bit of energy for the long haul.
"Sweetie Belle, don't be rude," Rarity criticized.
"Huh... what... ever."
The three traveled in silence, save for Spike and Sweetie's grunts and pants, as they started to near the line of sight for Ponyville once more.
"See?" Rarity pointed to the town. "Only a little bit further."
As it turned out, they really didn't have much longer to carry the gems, as a fissure erupted beneath the wheels of the cart Sweetie Belle was hauling. She cried in surprise as the harness lifted her into the air as the cart began to sink into the ground. Rarity and Spike turned to see a few paws rise out of the ground and pull the cart down. The unicorn mare rushed over to her sister and began to pull at the harness.
"Let go of her, right now!"
"Give gems, whiny pony!" a voice responded.
Another set of paws shot out of the ground and grabbed Rarity by the mouth and pulled her beneath the surface of the dirt as Sweetie Belle screamed.
"Rarity!"
"Hang on, Sweetie Belle," Spike said as he unfastened his harness.
The dragon rushed over to the filly and began to unfasten her harness as well. As he did, more of the cart was pulled under, the gems spilling out onto the surface.
"Hurry up Spike!" Sweetie Belle cried.
Before the dragon could finish undoing the harness, a fist shot out of the ground and punched him straight in the gut. Spike was frozen in pain as his grip loosened from Sweetie Belle's harness. The fissure erupted even more as the entire cart, Sweetie Belle and all, fell into the pit.
"Spike!" she screamed as a wave of dirt washed over the entrance.
"Gah!" Spike shouted as he sat upright in his bed.
The dragon huffed and puffed as he looked around his room. He was still in bed, thankfully, and was sweating profusely. Spike brought his hands to his face as he sighed tiredly. He'd been having nightmares like that for weeks now, since he had seen Rarity dating that Thunderlane guy. Spike was still furious about that, but felt nothing but guilt every time he had a nightmare like that. Rarity didn't deserve something that terrible to happen to her.
Spike's thoughts drifted back over to Sweetie Belle as he remembered her recent involvements in his life. When he had first seen Rarity and Thunderlane kiss, he stormed off into the Everfree and started punching things, setting bushes on fire, and just raging. She had chased him since the Boutique, and tried to calm him down. It had gotten worse from then on, as he proceeded to yell at her. When he had realized what he had done, she ran off crying.
Again, he remembered that it was weeks ago that had happened.
Spike flopped onto the bed as he examined the recent months of his life. Finally, he had started to grow towards an adult pony build, and had started to gear mentally into what some would consider their teenage years. Granted, he was technically a teenager by pony standards, but considering his bloodline, he was likely still a child in his overall lifespan. Spike glanced over to the clock above his door to see that it was 11:53, and stretched.
After a few minutes of getting ready, Spike had dressed up in a brown tee-shirt and slacks and was prepared to go out and... he hadn't decided on what to do, but he knew that it would just blur by like the past few days usually had.
As he started to walk the halls of the castle he called home, Spike felt his stomach growl in hunger.
"I guess I could get some gems while I'm out," he thought aloud.
His voice echoed in the hallways behind him as he neared the massive doors. He opened one and stepped outside before heading off to Ponyville. If he had looked over to the right, however, he would have noticed a small blur of red and blue.
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Goku smiled widely as he walked along the path that his new family had shown him. On his back was a small bag of things he had taken from his Grandpa's hut. There were a few gi sets Grandpa made him, some pants, a spare set of wristbands, and of course, the four-star Dragon Ball that Grandpa had given to him when he died. In the distance, Goku could see the town called Ponyville, and examined everything he could. So far, it looked very different than the hut he had known for most of his life, seeing as how a large number of the houses below were taller and wider than the hut.
To the East of the town, however, Goku felt a presence that was similar to his own, or Grandpa's. It was fading in and out, and made Goku think of the color green.
"We're almost out, Goku," Twilight said to him. "Are you ready to see your new home?"
Goku nodded.
"I sure am!" he responded. "Do you think we could get something to eat soon, too?"
Trixie chuckled a bit.
"I swear, if we don't let Pinkie meet him, it'll be a crime."
Twilight laughed too.
Goku would have laughed, were he not focusing on that strange sensation in the east.
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Spike had walked through Ponyville aimlessly almost half an hour ago, and was now kicking rocks around the Gem Quarry beyond the town limits. He figured that since there wasn't really anything for him to do in town, he might as well get some gems fresh from the ground. After walking to a certain spot, Spike suddenly felt the urge to dig straight down into the ground. He tried to ignore the feeling, but the more he fought it, the more he felt the need to dig. Sighing in defeat, Spike began to shift aside the dirt around his clawed feet and leaned down to dig.
Dirt began to fly past his face as he clawed through the layers of dirt. After only a few seconds, he found a large ruby, about the size of his middle claw, but tossed it aside as he felt the need to continue digging. Seconds later, he found an emerald the size of his palm. Again, he tossed aside the gem to keep digging, the urge overwhelming his hunger. He tossed aside three more gems of varying sizes, one emerald the size of a bit, another ruby the size of a tooth, and a diamond that was barely a centimeter long.
Spike started to dig with both hands, ignoring the few gems that got in his way as he threw the dirt aside. Now Spike was starting to hear something in his head, something directing him to dig up whatever was in the dirt. After a few more seconds of this, Spike stopped. He reached in and pulled out a massive sapphire, easily bigger than his fist. It was by far, the largest gem he had ever dug up here.
He wasted no time in throwing it aside as he continued to dig.
Soon, the seconds turned to minutes, but before minutes could turn to an hour, Spike froze as he gazed upon something unusual. Beneath the dirt was a pulsating, orange sphere. It was smooth and perfect in its shape, and seemed to have three five-pointed stars that floated about inside of it. Something in the back of his head told Spike to grab it, but not devour it. Instead, when it was in his grasp, he held it before his face and examined it from every angle. The stars inside shifted around, turning to face his gaze perfectly to show all three stars at once.
"What are you?" he asked the orb.
The light inside the orb seemed to blink in response, a green tint overcoming the orb. Spike's eyes widened as he began to see things flashing before his eyes.
Three warriors, each green in skin and wearing loose-fitting robes stared at each other. They held out their hands and held to each other before a light flashed over them. Only one remained, the one with purple clothes and a white cape. Before him was a large group of fighters in white armor, and small blue bugs. He roared before light overtook his hands and spheres of energy collided with every single fighter, obliterating them in a storm of sheer power.
Spike was so enthralled by the displays of might, that he wasn't aware of the three figures that were towering behind him.
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Fume, Clump, and Garble gazed down upon the empty field that had been their source of food for a little more than eight months. They were kicked out of their Clan because of reckless behavior, and weren't allowed anywhere near the Migration as a result. The three had spent their time preying on any ponies they came across, and on occasion, a Griffon.
The Quarry was still an alright place to find some gems, beat up some Dogs, and just blow off steam.
"Can't wait ta chow down that sapphire I've been growing," Clump fantasized aloud.
"Would you shut it," Fume complained, "you've been going on about that stupid thing for the last three hours."
"Anymore talk about that gem, and I'm taking all of it for myself," Garble stated.
"What gives you the right!?" Clump demanded.
"My fist, you numb-skull!"
Garble waved his fist at Clump, who ignored it and stared down at the ground, mouth agape. Garble followed the fat dragon's line of sight and almost dropped his jaw. Sitting in the middle of the Quarry, with a pile of dirt and gems around him, was the little dragon that had gotten them exiled in the first place.
"That little runt!" Garble shouted.
"He dug up my sapphire!" Clump accused, pointing to the massive blue gem.
"Hey, you guys ever wonder if pony-raised dragons taste like ponies?" Fume suggested.
"No way, let's just beat him to a pulp!" Clump stated, slamming a fist into his hand.
Garble started the attack by dive-bombing towards the purple dragon.
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Spike watched as the green creature lashed out several punches and kicks that turned the offending parties to dust and occasionally threw a ball of exploding energy. In an instant, the images stopped and the other two figures reappeared. This time, however,they spoke.
"They're closing in fast," the one in the long, white robe spoke.
"Well what are we supposed to do then?" the one with the vest and cloth around his neck asked.
"We take over and fight them off," the one with the purple clothes and cape stated.
"That is a terrible idea!"
"It's either that or we die again! Pick one!"
"Fine, let's just get him out of here and think of something later. Ready?"
The other two nodded before they became three separate lights of green fire, and launched into Spike's form. The dragon felt his muscles scream and his insides burn at the feeling of the souls fusing with his own, and let out a roar.
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"RRRAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!!!" Spike screamed.
In a flash of green light, and what sounded like shattering glass, a fiery green aura erupted around Spike as his form altered slightly. Spike's arms exploded with muscular definition, along with his legs, looking like some kind of work-out enthusiast. His chest beefed up, shifting his scales to make room for the massive pecs that grew instantly, nearly ripping his shirt open.
The force of the sudden energy surge sent the three attacking dragons flying into the ground. Behind Spike, the three-starred orb lost its green glow and fell to the ground.
Spike looked at the three offenders and cracked his knuckles.
"Who's first?" he spoke in a voice that wasn't entirely his own.
Garble was the first to recover, and looked up to see the pumped up dragon looking right at him. With a smirk, Spike spoke again.
"Guess you're up, then."
The red dragon roared in anger, charging the dragon full-tilt with his fist raised high. Spike smiled the whole time, waiting for the attack. As soon as Garble brought his fist down, Spike's right foot shot up and smashed into Garble's jaw. Garble felt it break apart upon impact, and felt himself being launched into the air. Before he got too high, Spike grabbed his tail and pulled him back down to deliver a powerful punch straight into his face. The blow sent the red dragon flying into the dirt, nearly eighty hooves away.
Without even seeing it coming, Spike leaned left to avoid the double axle blow from Fume. Spike spun around and delivered a powerful shot into his gut with his knee. Fume stood still for a few seconds, blood and puke slowly pouring out from his maw before he fell forward into the ground.
Spike looked down to see Clump staring up at him in horror. Clump stumbled backwards as he tried to hold a nervous smile.
"A-alright, b-b-buddy," he stammered, "let's not get h-h-hasty, alright? Why don't we all just c-calm down, and-"
Clump never finished the sentence, as Spike suddenly vanished from view and delivered an elbow strike to the fat dragon's skull, causing him to black out instantly.
Spike stood still for a few seconds before slowly walking over to the three-starred orb and picking it up. He held it in his claws before he suddenly disappeared. This time, however, it was not from his actions, but from another power altogether.
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Goku stopped as he stared out at the empty field that once held the massive power he felt from the forest. He tried searching for the source of the power before a hand came to his shoulder. He looked up to see Trixie standing there, looking at him with concern.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Goku looked back at the field before nodding.
"Yeah," he answered before walking again.
Trixie watched him walk on with a scared look before continuing behind him.
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Spike groaned as he began to stir awake, feeling every single fiber in his body burning. Every muscle, every nerve, every scale felt as if it were burning in the center of the Sun, and were all being stretched like in that one horror movie Pinkie had tricked him into watching.
Unable to try and relax, now more in fear of his situation than anything else, Spike tried to lift himself off of the ground, and found that he was in the middle of a large tile floor. The entire surface was white, save for a few rows of palm and pine trees that were around the edges of the circular platform.
The dragon struggled to move his head, craning his neck to see where he was. When he managed to turn his head, Spike gasped in shock. Behind him was what looked like a small, plain castle with round tops that were yellow. Outside of the buildings were pergolas that had purple fabrics for the top parts. Spike could see the blue sky beyond the building and the edges of the platform he was on, and tried to stand up. Spike found it impossible to stand up, and felt his consciousness slipping. As everything began to turn black, Spike saw the form of something short and quite fat, wearing a large black shirt of some kind with a weird symbol in the middle.
"Well," it spoke in a nasally voice, peering at him from behind sunglasses, "it's about time someone showed up."
With those words uttered, Spike fell unconscious.
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Goku looked out at the large sprawling town before him, taking in the senses of everything and everypony within. He had calmed his nerves and remembered his Grandpa's teachings as he felt the spirit of the town and its inhabitants. Everypony inside had the calm feeling of peacefulness, compassion, and happiness. Overall, there wasn't much strength that anypony in particular could talk about.
Then, Goku walked into the town's limits, and everypony started to stare. At first, they were simply turning to wave at both members of his new family, then they looked at him and lost their smiles. Goku still smiled back, of course, but for some reason, a few of them wouldn't look at Goku again. A few murmurs passed by, talking about how the Princess might have done something, or something about a tail. The young colt didn't care about what they had to say, however, as he simply felt around the town.
Twilight waved and greeted a few ponies that were passing by, while Trixie seemed to shy away from a few stares, resting a hand on either Goku's shoulder or Twilight's arm. Every now and again, they would pass by a tall pony wearing a suit of gold-colored armor, and they would salute Twilight. She returned the gesture before saying they were dismissed, and walking away. Goku could sense that they had a bit more strength than most of the townsponies, but weren't much to think about in the long run.
Eventually, they stopped at a large building that seemed to be made of some weird material that Goku couldn't place. Its edges were all white and oddly shaped, and there were a bunch of extra bits that made Goku question it this place was finished. Twilight walked up to Trixie and put an arm around her, holding her close as they whispered to each other.
"Are you ready?" Twilight asked Trixie, leaning closely to her.
Trixie swallowed a lump in her throat as she looked down to Goku.
"I know we said we should, but... I don't know. I just, what would they think?" Trixie asked, worry dominating her features.
Twilight leaned closely and pressed their lips together, a faint tint of pink on both of their faces. As Trixie pulled back, she smiled warmly.
"You see, if you did that more, instead of lecturing, we'd get more things done," Trixie commented.
Twilight pushed Trixie back as she giggled.
"Please, you wouldn't pay attention if we did."
They both looked at Goku, embarrassed that they had just done something like that in front of what they hoped would be their future child. Goku, however, acted as though nothing happened.
"So what's going on?" he asked.
Twilight held her hands together before reaching out and placing them on Goku's shoulders. She knelt down to avoid bending over far enough to reveal anything, and talked to Goku.
"Goku, we'd like to introduce you to our friends, but Trixie's a bit nervous. I'd like to ask you something very, very important, and you could say no if you want to. I promise we wouldn't hold it against you if you refused."
"Refused what?" Goku asked, tilting his head a bit.
Twilight breathed in deeply before slowly exhaling.
"Goku... will you, be willing to call Trixie and I... Mom?"
Goku blinked a few times before he reached back to scratch his head.
"Wait, you want me to call both of you Mom?" he asked.
After a moment of silence, Twilight looked back to Trixie. The former showmare nodded. Twilight looked back to Goku and nodded as well.
"We'd like to take you in and be your parents."
Goku stood there, looking up between the two as he thought of what they had asked. Twilight released the colt and stood back up as she spoke.
"I'm sorry if that's too much to ask. You don't have to answer now, and we're not forcing you to. We-"
"Okay!" Goku interrupted happily.
Twilight and Trixie both felt their hearts stop as they heard the colt's response. What made their hearts struggle to remain intact, however, was when Goku came up to both of them, jumped up, and reached around both of them before pulling them in to a hug.
"It's great to meet you, Mom and Mom!" he cheered.
The two mares felt as if their souls were lit by an unseen force, as tears broke forth like a dam bursting and they both wrapped their arms around their new family. Cries of happiness rang from the two newly accepted parents as they shed tears of joy.
The doors to the building burst open as five mares came out and saw the three on the ground. One of them, flying above, spoke up.
"Twilight? Trixie? What's wrong?"
The couple adjusted themselves and released the colt. He turned around to look at the five new mares while Twilight was drying her eyes as she and Trixie held each other tightly.
"G-girls, we'd like you... to meet our son, Goku."
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