Part 1 - A Ponyville Wedding
The air was cold, dark, gloomy, depressing. The wind blew sadly by, as if it was depressed to. Not one spark of any happiness lived on in this terrible place. It was another day, well, there was really no day or night here. Always dark and depressing. It was Tartarus. The place where all threats to Equestria were contained. There was no escape. Each prisoner was chained up like a bloodthirsty hound dog. Also, a three-headed horror was guarding the gates. Nobody there seemed to have been able to escape. It happened once and a while, but soon, they were back where they started. Nobody really had the desire, all the courage and want inside them kind of killed off once they were imprisoned. Tirek was one of these prisoners. He hung there in chains, every moment of his life. He had a chance, but he blew it. He almost had it. He thought the Elements of Harmony were gone. But something happened that he was afraid of. Equestria's greatest power, the Rainbow of Light, was unleashed. How? Tirek would always think. The Rainbow of Light was foretold to be powered when the fate of Equestria hangs in the balance. It was said that six mares would be able to activate it. Even Princess Celestia and Luna couldn't wield such a power. Tirek wanted out, but really, there was no way to conquer Equestria. It was safe, forever. Nothing can stop the Rainbow of Light. Right?
GRRR.... Tirek knew that was the guardian of Tartarus, someone was trying to break in. Pff. Nothing could get past him... Tirek then heard a loud electronic sound, followed by a huge explosion. His head turned up. Could it be? Did someone get into Tartarus? Soon, right in front him, was a pony. He was pretty scary. He was a cyborg pony, with one eye glowing red, and a green neck and head, along with a black crazy mane and some sort of black outfit on his body. "Why are you here?" Tirek asked. He wasn't in shape to deal with some nut job that was looking to conquer Equestria. Not that Tirek is exactly like that.
"I'm Titanium, and I'm breaking you out."
Three Years Later...
Twilight Sparkle looked up from her book. Tomorrow was the wedding. Who's wedding you may ask? A wedding between Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry. Twilight had almost forgot about it. She had left certain duties for the wedding for her friends to take care of, while she and Flash spend time together. Flash was coming to her castle in five minutes, and she was dressed in one of Rarity's masterpieces. As Pinkie Pie would say, she was nervousited.
It was going to be the perfect day today. And tomorrow, even better. Twilight couldn't wait for their honeymoon in the Crystal Empire. They would have their own special room and would be treated like royalty. Well, Twilight already was royalty, and Flash sort of was... Who cared. It was going to be amazing. Flash had proposed only six months ago, and Twilight had been counting the days to the wedding. She and Flash were together for three years before he proposed. Three years. Three years with no chaos, no problems, even the Cutie Map hadn't been very active during those years. The last villain Twilight remembered defeating was Grogar. That was when the Spike used the Map of Infinity, a powerful object like the Elements of Harmony, to active a power within him called the Astral Rainbow, and together they defeated Grogar with a little help from his old enemies. Twilight also gained a new city called Tambleon to her kingdom. But that was before Flash and her were an item. That was a while ago.
There wasn't anything wrong with it. Twilight, for one, enjoyed it. No more troublemakers in Equestria? Totally for it. I just seemed weird, almost like it was a plan. Nah, no need to worry. Flash was probably at the door now. Twilight ran down to see him.
~~~~~~~~
"This is gonna be awesome!" A rainbow-maned pony shouted. They were at Town Hall. All five of them. Twilight Sparkle's friends. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity. Oh yea, and Spike, her number one assistant. The rainbow-maned pony was Rainbow Dash, and the friends were working on the best wedding ever for Twilight.
"I hope this one won't get ruined by changelings!" Applejack said, hammering in the last nail for the banner by the entrance of Town Hall reading 'Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry'. The six of them shared a laugh. They had all attended a wedding in Canterlot that was invaded by the changeling army and their queen, Queen Chrysalis. But she was stopped and ended up who knows where.
"Yea. Even if that does happen we can just zap her with Spike's Astral Rainbow." Pinkie imitated.
Spike laughed. "Yea. That was a while ago. I feel like we haven't had any major villains for a long time." He said.
"Do you want to have villains?" Rainbow joked.
"No, I guess not." Spike smiled.
"Then let's get workin" Applejack said.
Suddenly, Spike felt a strange sensation. It was like there was darkness closing in on him. He looked around. All he saw was darkness. A voice soon boomed from all directions.
"Spike!"
Spike looked around. He saw nothing.
"Exactly five days after today, right at this moment, you will be saving the world. You will fail."
Spike spun around once more. "Show yourself!"
"Oh, I don't think you want to see me as much as you think you do, little dragon."
"I bear the Astral Rainbow, and my friends bear the Rainbow of Light! Whoever you are, we can stop you!" Spike yelled.
"Oh? Well guess what? YOU WILL FAIL."
"Oh yeah, who do you think you're messing with, huh?" Spike laughed.
"I don't have to worry, I've already almost done it before."
"What makes you so sure?" Spike felt brave, even if this was some sort of vision.
"Because, my little dragon, I AM THE CATACLYSM!!!"
That was the last Spike heard before everything went black. He now assumed he was shooting back into the real world, this had been a dream, he hoped. But what was that voice back there? Spike thought for sure that Princess Luna controlled dreams, and it didn't seem like she would do something like that in a dream that a little innocent dragon has. No offense.
"SPIKE, WAKE UP!"
Now that's a voice Spike was counting on hearing. Applejack shook Spike a little. He soon began to feel that he was laying flat, on something soft. He looked around, the
environment around him was beginning to become clearer. He noticed that his six friends were all there, even Twilight. Spike thought that she was with Flash the whole day. This must be an emergency, she being here this early, Spike reacted by looked out a window on his left, he was indoors, he now realized, the sun was... setting? Wait, that means... Spike soon noticed there was indeed another pony in the room. A stallion, to be exact. Spike immediately sat up in what he soon realized was Twilight's bed. If it was the end of the day, and Flash was here, and they were all around Spike, which was on Twilight's bed...
Spike gasped. "How long have i been out?"
Applejack glanced out the window. "Bout' nine hours t'be exact, why?" Rainbow slapped her on the shoulder.
"We're all so glad you're okay!" Rainbow smiled, hugging Spike tightly. She soon realized what she was doing, let go, backed off and smiled sheepishly.
"You were actin' all funny, stumblin' around, mumblin' who-knows-what, and the next thing we knew, you passed out. So we brought you here immediately." Applejack explained.
"I- I had some weird... Dream." Spike said.
"Dream?" Twilight stared at him worryingly.
"There was this voice... It said something about the world ending... In five days..."
Flash and Twilight exchanged nervous glances.
"It was probably just a nightmare." Fluttershy said.
"Well, in that case, we'd better all get to bed, big day tomorrow!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"W- What about the decorations, for the wedding?" Spike asked.
"We finished em'!" Applejack smiled.
"Oh..." Spike said, rubbing his head. He watched as the mares left the room one by one to make their way out of the castle. Soon, it was just Twilight, Flash, and himself. Twilight used her magic to slam the bedroom door shut.
"Spike, tell us more about that dream you had." Flash commanded. Twilight was scribbling down a letter.
"Umm... Well, the voice first said my name, and said that in five days, the world would end, and I would fail to save it." Spike started.
"Uh huh, uh huh..." Twilight scribbled down some more writing.
"At at the end of the dream, he said something about he... he was the cataclysm..." Spike continued.
"Spike, send the letter immediatly!" Flash yelled. He knew that word. Spike grabbed the scroll, and blew his magic fire to send it to Celestia.
Meanwhile, In Canterlot...
A terrible storm raged outside Celestia's palace. Hail began knocked at the windows near her throne. A dangerous flash of lightning struck outside. A dark blue alicorn burst into the room. "Sister! Do you know what this means! All three of them are know broken from their spells!" She gasped for air.
"I am aware of that. I have full trust in Princess Twilight and her friends to resolve this problem." Celestia said calmly.
"We do not know who is awakening them!" The alicorn continued. "We think it is..."
"That is impossible!" Celestia said sternly. "He had been taken care of!" A puff of green smoke drifted to Celestia's side and a scroll popped out of it. "This must be her." Celestia said. "I trust she has seen the signs." She rolled open the scroll, and read. She gasped. "LUNA!" She looked up. The blue alicorn who was Luna, was gone. Blackness coated the room.
Celestia... Long time no see...
~~~~~~~~
Cocka-doodle-doo!
Twilight jumped up from her bed. She had no idea there were roosters here! She looked out the window, and there was a rooster. It gave her a thumbs up. He was holding a sign that said, 'Wedding Today!' Twilight laughed, and got out of her bed. The wedding was in four hours. She was going to meet Rarity at the Carousel Boutique to pick out a wedding dress. While Flash was going to be with her family until the wedding. She woke up Spike to tell him she was headed to Rarity's.
"Yea Yea, just five more minutes..." He groaned.
Twilight just laughed and headed to the door out of the castle. Nothing was going to ruin this day. Nothing. Soon, she was at her destination, and she swung open the door. "Rarity! I'm here!" She called.
"Twilight, darling! You're going to just love what I picked out for you!" Rarity smiled. Twilight was excited. She had no other way to explain her emotions. She had to wait to see Flash until the wedding, and she just couldn't wait until then. She followed Rarity over to the mirror. "Let me get your options, dear, just wait right here. Rarity went upstairs to get the dresses. While she was waiting Twilight looked in the mirror.
"I really hope this wedding turns out." She sighed. "I can't let my best day ever be ruined."
Upstairs, Rarity started humming a tune. "Hm.. Hm.. Hm.. Hm Hmmm..."
-Rarity-
I'm making her perfect dress...
[iDon't want her to look like a mess!
It makes me sad if she's sad,
Oh it just driving mad
I've been working, I've been working,
I hope this will turn out!
-Pinkie-
I hope she'll like this great cake,
It took so long to bake!
I've been at it all day,
I'm eager what she'll say!
I've been working, I've been working,
I hope this will turn out!
-Fluttershy-
My birds are warming their singing,
They're voices pleasantly ringing!
We've been at it so long,
I hope they don't lose their song!
I've been working, I've been working,
I hope this will turn out!
-Rainbow Dash-
I know for sure that I'm awesome,
I hope my slacking won't cost them!
The sky is covered it's not clear,
And I'm the only one here!
I've been working, I've been working,
I hope this turns out!
-Applejack-
We've been workin' our rears,
It ain't as easy as it appears!
We want her wedding to ensue,
That's we're makin' this food!
I've been working, I've been working,
I hope this turns out!
-All-
We've been working, We've been working,
We hope this all turns out!
The wedding was ready. Town Hall was beautiful, a giant banner hung over the entrance, and and in front of the building, a pulpit was set up, the mayor behind it. On the right side of the pulpit, there was Twilight and Flash, dressed in their wedding clothes. On the left side, there was Twilight's other friends, and Spike. In front of the pulpit, the whole town was gathered. The mayor poked the mic.
"Is this thing on?"
A loud deafening screech roared across the crowd. "Oops." After some fiddling around, she got it working.
"Citizens of Ponyville!" She boomed. "We have gathered here today, to celebrate the wedding between Princess Twilight Sparkle and General Flash Sentry." Everyone cheered, taking a glance over to the two. They smiled.
Twilight looked around worryingly. She whispered to Flash, "Flash, the three princesses were supposed to come! They're not here!" Flash shrugged.
"Maybe their just running late."
"I hope..." Twilight sighed. Pinkie jumped to the pulpit to do her speech. Twilight couldn't think straight enough to listen.
The princesses are never late! She thought.
Soon, once everypony was done with their speeches, they would enter Town Hall while Twilight and Flash followed the mayor to get to their place. A sudden thought came to Twilight. Why weren't Cadence and Shining Armor there? No time to think now, the moment was already here.
Before she knew it, the moment she had been waiting for since Flash proposed, was occurring. She was there, in her beautiful wedding gown, with her handsome groom waiting at the end of the aisle. She loved him, and she didn't want this day to be ruined. Flash looked down the aisle to see the love of his life walking towards him. She halted next to Flash. Although she had a veil covering her face, Flash knew it was still just as beautiful underneath, and as he pulled it up, he knew he was right.
As the officiant started to speak, Flash wasn't even listening because he was too busy staring into Twilight's beautiful eyes.
BANG!
The doors to town hall were slammed open. Everypony gasped when they saw who it was.
"The Chief of the Royal Guard!" Somepony shouted.
"Shining?" Twilight gasped.
"Everypony, you need to get out of here, now!" He shouted. "The apocalypse is among us!" Everyone laughed. Some stared at Twilight. Shining was embarrasing her so much.
"Shining, heh heh. What are you doing here?" She laughed.
"It told you! The world is at stake! C'mon!" He sputtered.
"Are you, are you trying to ruin my wedding?" Twilight asked. "Because you sure are acting like it!"
"Twily-"
"No! Just because you think I'm still your 'little sister' and you need to protect me, doesn't mean you can ruin my perfect day! What do you see in Flash that's bad, huh? TELL ME!"
Flash pretended to look innocent.
"Twilight, you don't understand, you have to run!"
"No Shining, I'm not going to listen to you anymore. I'm not going to let you ruin my perfect day."
"Twily I'm not-"
Somehow, Twilight felt herself getting angry. She felt the anger overcoming her. She hating Shining right now, why would he dare do such a thing to her?
"H-honey, are you okay?" Flash asked nervously.
Twilight burst with anger. "YOU ARE THE FREAK OF MY LIFE! GET OUT- NOW!" She exploded.
"But-"
"GUARDS, GET HIM OUT OF HERE!" She yelled. The guards looked at her like she was crazy, but still obey her command. Two of them grabbed one of Shining's forehooves.
"Let me go! You don't understand!" Shining yelled.
"And we don't intend to." One of them laughed.
"Twilight, how could you do this?"
That was the moment where she snapped out of it. Wait a minute, why am I doing this, how am I letting my anger get the best of me? That was weird. "Release him!" She mumbled.
"What was that your highness?" One of the guards holding Shining asked.
"I said release him!" She said maybe a little too loud. The guards let go of Shining, who fell on his hooves. "Shining, I-"
CRASH!
Everybody looked over to the wall. A giant gaping hole was there. And standing in it, was-
"TIREK?!?" Twilight shouted.
Everybody ran.
"Jokes on you." Tirek smiled. He sucked in air, and as he did, colored magic exploited from everypony in the room. He began to grow larger. From a small, harmless, hooded creature, he transformed into a maroon, horned terror.
From the other side of town hall, another hole was broken.
"Chrysalis?" Twilight gasped.
"And don't forget, my little friends." She smiled. Changelings were attacking everywhere outside. Twilight gaped at the chaos.
Flash stood in front of Twilight. "I will protect you, my love." He stated bravely. Twilight blushed, but not for long. This was just the beginning.
"Muhaahahaha..."
Twilight recognized that laugh anywhere.
Sombra.
She watched as darkness enclosed on her brother.
"Shining, no!"
"MUHAHAH... The apocalypse... has begun." Sombra laughed.
The last thing Twilight saw was, the glimpse of a green pony, laughing cruelly.
~~~~~~~~
"Twilight. Wake up. It's me, Flash Sentry."
Twilight's eyes fluttered open. I really was Flash. But how was he still alive? Lord Tirek, King Sombra, and Queen Chrysalis were invading Ponyville.
"Flash! I'm so glad your okay!" She jumped up and squeezed him tight.
"After you passed out, we all came here, to Celestia's throne. We brought you with us." He informed.
"Celestia's gone." Rainbow Dash added.
"WHAT?!?!?" Twilight ran to the empty throne. "Wh- wait a minute..." She picked up a small piece of paper laying on the throne. She read it out loud. "Mortuus- 3 33 333." She read.
"What could that mean?" Flash looked at the paper. Suddenly, it engulfed in flames and was soon nothing but ash. "Woah!" Flash jumped.
"Don't worry, I remember what it said, I just don't understand it." Twilight said. She thought over the note in her head. Mortuus. Hmm... Mortuus. 3... 33... 333... Three numbers... hmm... She sat there thinking.
"C'mon ya'll, She needs some time to think." Applejack said.
"THAT'S IT!" Twilight exploded. Everyone jumped. "Those numbers lead us to a section in the library at my castle!" She said. "Division three, aisle thirty-three, section three hundred thirty-three!" She explained.
"Of course!" Pinkie gasped. "I don't really know what she's talking about!" She whispered in Rainbow Dash's ear. Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"But how are we going to get there?" Rainbow asked. "I bet your castle is destroyed by now!'
"It would be, if I hadn't have put the protection shield on it!" Twilight smiled. "But it won't last forever. We'd better get there quick before things get real ugly."
"Then let's go!" Flash declared.
"Wait, but how?" Twilight asked. "How did you even get me here in the first place?"
"We took the train. We figured it would be safer here." Rainbow inquired.
"Wait, you took the TRAIN? And no evil villain saw you? How? How much time has passed?!" Twilight asked.
"Shhh... Twilight, darling, you ask too many questions. The important thing is that your conscious again." Rarity said, putting her hoof to Twilight's lip. After Twilight got ahold of herself, she had a plan.
"Well, now that you have me, we can get back in time!" Twilight smiled.
"What do you mean?" Flash asked.
"Duh! She can use her magic to teleport us back!" Pinkie said.
"But your magic isn't that strong..." AJ inquired.
"I've been practicing this for a while, hopefully it'll work..." Twilight said, her horn beginning to glow. "It's gonna take up a lot of magic." Suddenly, several beams shot of her horn in all directions, illuminating the room in a blinding light. Outside, the windows of the castle bursted out with light, shining every which way like wild beacons. Then, like nothing ever happened, the light gradually disappeared until it was no more. The ponies were gone.
~~~~~~~~
"Twilight! Wake up!" A familiar voice echoed in Twilight's ear. She immediately sat up. Pinkie was standing in front of her. She noticed everyone was behind and extremely large boulder. It was then that she realized what was going on.
"The spell! Did it work? It worked! That's funny, last time I tried this-" She stopped, realizing something.
Pinkie cleared her throat loudly. But her voice was that of Rainbow Dash's.
"Uh oh." Twilight squeaked.
"What have you done?" Pinkie- er, Rainbow Dash yelled.
"Uhh..." Twilight heard another familiar voice, for it was that of her husband. She turned to see Rarity. Well, Rarity's body. "This is awkward..." Flash laughed weakly.
"EEEEEEWWWW!!!!" Rarity's voice shrieked. "Applejack, do you even know what the word 'clean' means?!"
"Oooh... shiny!" Pinkie stared down at the golden armor on her stallion body.
"Um- maybe we could work this out in a positive way?" Fluttershy squeaked, not caring much about being in Rainbow Dash's body.
"Jimmeny cricket, Fluttershy! You need tah start working out more! I can barely lift a rock with this body!" Applejack said, looking at herself.
Twilight sat for a second in the middle of all the panic, and she almost forgot about herself. She quickly looked at her body. There, she saw purple. Good old purple. Since she was in her own body, she could likely fix this. "QUIEEET!!!!" She yelled. Everyone froze. "Don't worry, girls. And... Flash." Twilight hadn't come to use the word 'husband' yet. "I can fix this. Just whatever you do, don't panic."
"Easy for you to say darling, but your not the one stuck in this icky mess Applejack calls a body!" Rarity complained.
"Hey!" Applejack said, not offended but, annoyed by Rarity's neat-freak personality. "Now I'm not afraid to get messy..." She said, cracking her hooves.
"Oh, please don't..." Fluttershy said quietly, not wanting Applejack to break something in her body.
"Girls!" Twilight said sternly. "You can complain all you want, but if we don't keep it down, they will hear us!" She gestured behind the boulder which, the girls hadn't noticed yet because of their body-switching. There, just behind that rock, was changelings. Hundreds of them. Twilight's castle was only about 50 yards away from the rock, and the changelings ere violently beating on it like they did to Shining's protection spell at his wedding. Twilight had put an extremely strong protection spell on her castle with the help of shining, but it was invisible and outlined the castle instead of a huge bubble around it.
"C'mon you weaklings! If you can't break this, then what's the point of you living?!" Queen Chrysalis yelled menacingly. The changelings immediately upgraded their effort.
The girls silenced quickly after seeing the changelings, expecting Fluttershy's shrilling scream. Applejack quickly slapped a hoof over her mouth. Fluttershy shakily pointed upward. There, above Twilight's castle, was a cloud. But not just any cloud. This one was the shape of a human torso, with a large puffy bottom spitting out lighting like no other. It had large green glowing eyes, and a oval-shaped purple gem on it's forehead. It laughed destructively, as it's lightning continued to smash onto Twilight's castle. Twilight knew this creature. "Arabus." She whispered.
"Who?" Rainbow Dash asked, leaning her pink body in to look at the cloud. It was really hard keeping track of who was who.
"No time to tell you now, we need to focus on getting you guys fixed." Twilight said. "Luckily, I think I know a spell that can help." Her horn glowed bright purple. Suddenly, a two large puffy white thingies; which were without a doubt, Arabus' thumb and index finger, enclosed around Twilight's horn like a slight pinch. The purple magic soon disappeared with a quiet tssss like you would hear when you dump a bucket of water onto a campfire. Twilight tried to fire up her horn again to destroy Arabus, but nothing happened. She tried again and again, nothing.
"HAAHHAAHAHA!!!" The evil cloud cackled. "Try as many times as you wish Twilight, but your horn is the equal to a worthless pile of smoking ash!!"
"You'll never get away with this, whatever you villains are trying to do!" Twilight yelled angrily.
"Oh, but we are already halfway done with our mission..." Arabus replied darkly. "CHANGELINGS! SEIZE THEM!" He boomed. The changelings just stood there, looking dumbly at Arabus. One of them spoke. Nobody had really seen a changeling speak before, but it wasn't that exciting. He spoke in a high-pitched, squeaky, cowardly tone.
"Uh, Mr. Big Scary Cloud sir, we... uh- we are only supposed to follow commands given by the Queen." He squeaked. Queen Chrysalis didn't seem to be there.
"YOU INSOLENT FOOLS!!!" Arabus exploded, scaring the living daylight out of the poor changelings. "DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!" "USE YOUR PINT-SIZED BRAINS AND FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU SHOULD DO, SIT THERE LIKE COMPLETE IDIOTS OR HELP ME!!!!!" He screamed, so loud a couple of the changelings flew backwards from the massive winds caused by his voice.
"Y-y-yes your puffyness, w-w-we'll g-g-get the ponies..." The cowardly changeling weazed. "ATTACK!" He yelled at the top of his squeaky lungs. The changelings all advanced.
"Run!" Twilight screamed. And the ponies did, as fast as their mismatched legs could carry them. But the changelings wouldn't have it. Before they knew it, the seven ponies were captured.
Twilight squirmed angrily in between the two changelings that were escorting her to her doom. She looked around, all of her friends were captured too. She tried to use her magic, but a quick reminder of what Arabus had done was given when Twilight's horn wouldn't make even a spark of magic. "This is all my fault girls, we'll find a way out of this!" She called.
"Shut up, pony." The changeling to her left said. The one to her right started laughing. Twilight groaned. They were soon at their destination; Twilight's castle. Thousands of changelings stood around it, and as the ponies were carried in, they cleared a path. The ponies were brought to the entrance of the castle, where there was a clearing. There, stood Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, and Emperor Grogar. There was also one other pony Twilight wasn't familiar with. He as strange. He had a green, metallic-looking coat, and was wearing a black jumpsuit. One of his eyes was glowing bright red.
"Prepare the spells unicorns..." The strange pony said, his voice was strange. It was like a robot with an incredibly deep raspy voice was trying to talk underwater. "This is going to get ugly."
Twilight saw that there were several ponies lined in a perfect circle around her castle. They were all wearing brown archer-like getups. A large cape covered their bodies and hoods covered their faces. As Twilight studied them more, she saw that each of them had a horn sticking out from their dark hood. They were just what the strange pony said. Spell unicorns. Used to perform many spells at once to maximize it's full potential. It was obvious what they were using them for. To break Twilight's protection spell.
"Twilight Velvet Sparkle..." The green pony laughed darkly.
"So you know my name!" Twilight yelled. "That doesn't scare me!"
"Oh, but it does..." The pony's demented voice echoed in Twilight's ear until she couldn't stand it.
"What do you want?" She squeaked.
"One thing..." He giggled. Twilight knew what it was.
"I'll never tell you!" Twilight countered bravely.
"Oh?" He laughed. "Arabus, show the ponies what will happen if they don't tell us how to break this spell..."
Arabus held up his hand. In between his thumb and index finger, was Spike. A shuttering, freaked out Spike. "Dragon... go crunch crunch!" Arabus grinned. Twilight was mortified.
"Spike!" She gasped.
"H-h-help!" Spike screamed.