Author's Note
Special thanks to all that read this!
Special thanks to Trithtale for editing, you're amazing!
By popular demand, here is a sequel to Just a dent in the plan. Never thought it would be so popular. I'll divide it in two parts because of my work leaves me with little free time and I'm also working in another project.
*OnePunch Man references but not an actual crossover*
I'll defeat you...
Just a Hobby
Twilight, her friends and Discord sat in the dining hall of Canterlot’s castle in relative silence, the guards standing around nearby their only company. They had been sitting there for almost an entire hour after the six mares opened the box the Tree of Harmony had sprouted for them using the objects or ‘Friendship Keys’ they gained through the past weeks. The box was open and they were washed by a new but equally powerful force like the Elements of Harmony. These new ‘Rainbow Powers,’ cheerfully dubbed by Pinkie Pie, felt even more personal and belonging than the Elements themselves.
But that only lasted a few seconds before they disappeared and the box flew out, riding a rainbow until it reached Ponyville, and moments later a castle emerged. They only had time to see the large round stone table surrounded by six thrones each bearing one of their cutie marks and a seventh smaller one with no marks beside Twilight’s throne. After that a guard came in telling them that they would soon be needed in Canterlot. Then Discord snapped his fingers and here they were now.
Twilight took a tentative glance around and found the exact same thing she had from her previous attempts: Silence. Of course Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were talking to each other every now and then, Discord and Fluttershy were pretty much whispering between themselves and Rarity and Applejack remained mostly silent aside from pointing something about the room itself from time to time. Sure, they were speaking but they weren't talking.
She herself couldn’t blame them. How could she when she didn’t have any idea as to what they saw Spike do two hours earlier? She had fought Tirek one-on-one and she knew she was winning but she knew Tirek knew that as well, so he pulled the hostage card to win. She knew she could save her friends from his grasp and beat Tirek into submission...but she wasn’t sure if she could rescue them before Tirek could hurt them. So with her dear friends lives at risk she accepted the deal, Tirek got what he wanted, he gloated and tried to kill them.
And then Spike beats the demonic centaur without even touching him.
Beat him? Spike had Tirek begging to spare his life! How the hay can that even be possible!? Twilight asked herself, her eyes narrowing in thought. A million questions popped in her mind followed by a million answers trying to find any sense of logic to it all, each more ridiculous and farfetched than the last. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how much she dug into her subconscious trying to find something, anything, even the smallest hint of a clue hidden away in her memories that could possibly bring some light into the matter...there wasn’t. She absolutely had no idea and no explanation as to why Spike was able to do what he had done.
“Spike…,” Twilight whispered the name of her little brother, her number one assistant and her best friend.
Suddenly the doors opened revealing a tall, white coated unicorn with arctic blue eyes and curly amber mane and tail wearing a fancy white suit, a red bowtie and a rose adorning the left pouch of his suit. If there was any doubt who this pony was his cutie mark was enough to discern them: a compass rose.
“Prince Blueblood,” Twilight greeted. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?”
Blueblood didn’t immediately reply until he was standing a few hoofsteps in front of the dining table. “The seven of you, follow me and be quiet.”
Twilight was surprised at the tone in his voice. If she didn’t know him better she’d swear he was truly authoritarian, despite his usual rudeness and lack of tact. Before she could say a piece of her mind, Blueblood turned around and began to walk away. Her friends gave her a confused look, clearly having no idea what to do. Breathing out a sigh, Twilight decided to follow the prince despite her better judgment.
“Come on, let’s see what he wants,” Twilight said to her friends. Chairs shifted and soon a series of hoofsteps followed behind her. Twilight and her friends followed Blueblood for a good five minutes until they reached his personal chambers. Using his magic he opened the doors and the view was exactly what expected. The most luxurious sheets and curtains, an oversized bed, an open closet showcasing several costly suits and, of course, an army of brushes, lotions, perfumes and creams standing on an oversized vanity desk and mirror (apparently made out of gold) adorned to the brim with gems and jewels. Not even Celestia had such things. The doors suddenly closing behind the group managed to startle her. “What are you doing?”
“I said be quiet,” Blueblood said before clearing his throat. “Many monsters run amok the land. Dangerous, vile and untamed. I’m the spear of day and the shield of night. Open your gates, for Charmer has returned.”
Not three seconds later the party heard the grinding of gears followed by the luxurious bed being lifted up until it stood at eighty degrees, the floor below the bed split and slid in opposite directions revealing a stone stairway leading to some sort of tunnel.
“Follow me and this time. Be quiet,” Blueblood commanded before stepping down the stairs. Six of the group of seven followed the prince.
Twilight, on the other hoof, hesitated for a moment after seeing a secret passage leading to Celestia knows where open in the room of Blueblood. At this point anything is possible, I think, Twilight thought before following suit.
After reaching the bottom of the stairs the passageway behind her close itself. There was a moment of darkness that was soon replaced by a dim blue light illuminating the incredibly ample passage. The group followed the prince for several minutes until in the distance they began to hear muffled voices; judging by the tones they were having an argument. Half a minute later the group reached the end of the passage and found themselves inside an oval shaped room.
Blueblood casted a spell and instantly the loud muffled voices became clear.
“--upose to do then, let Tirek kill them just like that?” That was clearly the voice of Spike, and he didn’t sound happy.
“That’s not what I mean, Dracone!” And that was Celestia. She sounded furious and it sent a shiver down the spines of the six mares, especially down Twilight’s. She knew Spike’s second name was Dracone, but she herself had rarely used it before; hearing it though in such a tone? *shivers* Pure terror.
“Sister, forgive Us but Our dear nephew is right. If not for his actions Tirek surely would’ve annihilated them,” and that was Luna trying to be the middle voice it seemed.
“Don’t side with him, Luna! We’re lucky his interference didn’t perturbed the Tree or worse!”
“And we’re lucky you’re plans, except this one, have worked every time by pure luck, mom.”
“Don’t you dare talk back to me like that, Dracone!” Celestia shouted using the royal canterlot voice.
I was wrong, now it’s so much worse, Twilight thought forcing her legs not to tremble in fright.
“Then what do you want me to do? Sit back and just watch the next villain come and harm Twilight and the girls or worse? Because I won’t. And what does it matter now? They saw me in action, big deal.”
“Nephew, at the very least please show concern and seriousness about this dire matter!”
“Aunt Luna, can’t you see I am? But it doesn’t change that what I said is the truth. I’m not saying I’m perfect, cause I’m not, I still have nightmares about my rampage. Can you imagine what would’ve happen if I kept my strength? Cause I do.”
“That has nothing to do with this!”
“But it does, we were all lucky my feelings for Rarity never changed. Or that I could receive so many letters when Twilight gave up fighting Discord at once; my belly hurt for weeks by the way. Or that I was able to bring Twilight out of the trance that door put her in, which also put me in a waking nightmare. I swear I was this close from punching Sombra in the face. Or how about----”
“We’ve been through this topic already, Spike,” Celestia said in a more controlled tone. “And you’re right but those were risks we all had to take; I’m not all wise so I can’t foresee every single little thing that can go wrong. Still, that doesn’t excuse you from disobeying my direct orders to let them resolve the problem by themselves.”
“But you also gave me the direct order to protect them at all costs if something went off hoof. Remember why I asked to be an Agent in my free time in the first place, mom? To protect Equestria, to protect you and Twilight and everypony! I know I should've done something else like throw a rock at Tirek or something, but I moved without thinking. And….I’m sorry….but I’m not sorry I did what I did to save them.”
*Sigh*
“We’ll continue this conversation later. For now, go to your room. You’re grounded until I say otherwise,” Celestia said followed by the sound of a teleportation.
“We...We are sorry, nephew.”
“Meh, no biggie, at least mom didn’t ban my comics. You did your best aunt Luna, thanks,” Spike said followed by the sound of a teleportation. Several seconds passed until Spike began to grumble and mumble and walk away if his tiny steps were any indication. Doors opened and then slammed shut.
The party waited for several moments until Fluttershy broke the silence.
“Oh my, I hope Spike and princess Celestia aren’t that mad at each other.”
Twilight barely contained an eye roll. Only Fluttershy could be worried about something like that at a moment like this. Understandable, yes, but still...“What was that all about?” she asked out loud. Twilight truly had no idea what to make out of the whole situation so she turned to the one that looked like did.
“Um, prince Blueblood, what exactly is going on? Why did you lead us here? And why was Spike referring to Celestia and Luna as ‘Mom’ and ‘Aunt’?” Fluttershy asked weakly.
Twilight knew the answer. Ever since their days in early magical kindergarten she knew Celestia had adopted Spike, but actually hearing them refer to each other as such always weirded her out. Seeing that Blueblood ignored her friend she took a step forward. “Blueblood, didn’t you hear her?”
“Special Agent Charmer, present,” Blueblood said making the floor in the middle of the room to open and a rectangular table with eleven seats, five at each of the lengthier sides and one smaller one at the head or bottom of the table, they couldn’t tell. Blueblood walked to the seat bearing a heart and a set of lips below it, he sat on the seat and let out a long, frustrated sigh. “Have any of you ever heard about the Special Anti-Invading-Terrorizing-Aggressive-Monster Agency that works….used to work hard for the protection of Equestria?”
The entire group shook their heads. “What agency?” Applejack asked tilting her head.
“Exactly,” Blueblood answered. “As for your questions: Something you shouldn’t even know about. To bring light into the darkness of your doubts. And because Spike is the adoptive son of Celestia.”
“Tia as a mother? That’d be the day,” Discord mumbled crossing his arms while five mares gasped.
“But that’s not important or relevant right now. What I’m about to tell you is super secret, understood?” Blueblood shot a glare at Discord. “With you I’m taking a risk though, but as I said the Agency is no more so…,” Blueblood lost his serious face and placed a hoof under his chin. “So it doesn’t really matter any more, actually. Forget what I first said then.”
“Why you no good-!” Rainbow begun but Applejack put a foreleg around her back and shook her head. With a huff Rainbow sat on her haunches and cross her forelegs.
“Excuse me, prince Blueblood?” Pinkie asked also sitting on her haunches. “Where are we? I don’t remember seeing this room before.”
“This was the HQ of our Agency, from here eleven Special Agents received their orders to protect Equestria from dangerous monsters by order of princess Celestia,” Blueblood sighed. “From here the safety of Equestria’s citizens was assured in secret,” taking a short lived glance at each seat Blueblood rubbed his temples for a few seconds. “It’s kind of hilarious to think you actually know most of us.”
“How interesting,” Discord droned. “But how is this important again? What about the little doombringer?”
Blueblood glared at the draconequus. “Then listen well to this story. And don’t interrupt me until I’m done, especially you two,” Blueblood pointed at Rarity and Applejack who shared a look of confusion. “Now then, it all started one day eleven years ago.”
------------------------------------------------------------***********************************************
Ten figures sat in silence in their respective seats waiting for something or someone. The silence went on for several minutes until one dare to break it.
“No one going to say anything about the extra seat then? Script, Masquerade, Zorro, Mustache?” the figure with a gruff voice. “Then I say. Why the extra seat?” the owner, a brown big diamond dog with green eyes, said pointing at the seat engraved with a flame symbol. His own seat engraved with the symbol of a dog holding up a detective lens.
“We’ll know once princess Celestia give us our orders, Tracking Traces,” Blueblood replied with mild annoyance.
“Whatever, prince Charmer,” Tracking Traces replied with a growl.
“Settle down you two, we must be happy to get another comrade!” a white unicorn with blue eyes, light brown mane, tail and mustache said cheerfully. “I do hope our mission to be something not too difficult; my oldest daughter is going to participate in a school play and I promised her to go and watch it today,” he ended by putting a metallic bat on the table. His seat engraved with the symbol of a mustache.
“Our duty to Equestria is more important than any school play, Mustache,” a light greenish gray coated mare with a two colored stripe mane and tail and delicate arctic blue eyes said. Her seat engraved by three rolled candies. “I promised my friend Lyra to help move her things to Ponyville today, but duty calls, here I am and you don’t see me whining about it.”
“Pfft, yeah. ‘Friend’,” a screechy sounding voice said. “You should tell her who you really are ‘Bon Bon’ and stop hiding behind that mask.”
“Says the changeling,” Sweetie Drops replied with a smug grin. “At least I don’t hide who I am behind a silly nickname, Masquerade,” she said looking at the changeling. His seat engraved with a festival mask symbol.
“Can we focus, please?” another stallion pleaded. His coat a brilliant gamboge with a trimmed two tone sapphire blue mane and tale and blue cornflower eyes. His seat engraved with a circle split in two symbol. “Who cares if there’s a new agent? We have to prioritize our missions and nothing more until they are completed.”
“Divide is right, it doesn’t matter right now,” a veteran looking, country sounding stallion wearing light green sleeveless shirt, shorts, coat and a matching single feathered hood hat. He had cobalt blue eyes, two tone cereluanish gray mane and tail, a white smooth mustache and beard and amber coat said smiling at the group. His seat engraved with an apple sitting on a rock symbol.
“You’re looking pretty happy today, Young Stride,” a filly, barely a teenager with light golden coat, rose eyes, multi-toned monochromatic mane and tail and wearing a khaki vest said with a serious look on her face. “Any special reason you’d like to share with us?”
“Just that Ah got mahself a new grand niece!” he replied cheerfully.
“It’s so strange to see Young Stride so happy!” another mare with a bubbly albeit a bit nasal tone said before giggling. She had a light mulberry coat and cerise mane, tail and matching eye color . A teenager herself, perhaps five or six years older than Script, shifted from side to side on her seat engraved with a chained lamp symbol. “Any names yet!?”
“Not that Ah know of, Obscure,” Young Stride replied making Obscure giggle madly.
“Oh, oh! How about Berry P-”
“No,” Charmer, or rather Blueblood, interrupted. “If you want to name a filly with that name then have one yourself, Obscure,” Obscure replied by sticking her tongue at him. After his declaration another two minutes of silence passed. “I’m surprised you didn’t say anything, Zorro. Usually you’re the first to open your beak,” no answer came to him as Zorro simply sat silently and remained unmoving.
Mustache, being the one sitting right next to Zorro, leaned to nudge his fellow agent. Receiving no response he nudged him again harder. “He’s asleep.”
“Of course he is,” Blueblood groaned rubbing his templates. Charging his horn he cast a quick spell over to Zorro hitting him in his mask covered face; scorching two or three of his visible light brown feathers.
“Solo comi tres quesadillas!” Zorro, a griffon clad completely in a black cotton-padded outfit including a gaucho and a cape, shrieked stricken out of his sleep. Looking around with his silver eyes for a moment he quickly regained his composure. “Apologies, my friends. It was not my intention to fall asleep as we waited for our hermosa princesa,” out of nowhere Zorro pulled a guitar and struck a note matching the end of his sentence. His baritone voice, mixed with his polite tone and clear spanish accent made his college's roll their eyes.
“Let me guess, you saved another filly last night, right?” Divide teased.
“Not this time, Divide. I spent all night partying with a few amigos,” he played his guitar again. “There was no preciosa señorita in need of rescuing last night,” the rest of the agents rolled their eyes again. “Haha! Glorious occasion, a new fellow agent will join us!” Zorro declared pointing at the still empty seat.
Before Blueblood could point out his irritation, the sound of something shifting made the ten agents seat straight as a magical crystal screen descended from the ceiling. A few seconds later the screen came to a halt and the image of princess Celestia appeared.
All ten of them stood up and did a respectful bow.
“Special Agent Divide, present.”
“Special Agent Obscure, present.”
“Special Agent Tracking Traces, here.”
“Special Agent Charmer, present.”
“Agente Especial Zorro, presente; mi hermosa princesa,” a guitar strum punctuated his greeting.
“Special Agent Script, reporting.”
“Special Agent Young Stride, happy to serve.”
“Special Agent Sweetie Drops, eager to serve.”
“Special Agent Mustache, ready to swing away.”
“Special Agent Masquerade, ready to serve you, my queen.”
“Greetings to you all, my dear agents,” Celestia greeted with her usual motherly, soft tone letting them all know to retake their seats. “I have summoned you here today for two very special reasons. The first is the inclusion of a new Special Agent and the second is a dire situation that befalls our lands with dread,” the image of Celestia retreated to a corner of the screen while several other images appeared, all of them of chained monsters. Several dozens.
“What the hay…,” Obscure said looking at the screen. If the rest of her comrades shared her preoccupation they didn’t show it.
“Before I continue, let me introduce you to your newest companion, Special Agent Ember,” Celestia’s horn glowed for a couple of seconds until a *pang* noise echoed in the room and a small figure appeared a few meters away from the large desk. “Special Agent Ember, please take your seat so we may begin,” Celestia said with a tender smile.
“Coming!” Ember replied eagerly with childlike wonder. Reaching the seat, being bigger than him Ember stared at it unsure of what to do.
“Let me help you, honey,” Celestia said and her horn glowed.
Ember was lift from the floor and then seated on his place at the bottom of the desk. “Thanks mom!” Ember smiled at the Celestia in the screen. The rest of the agents stared at the newest addition for several seconds. “Hi, my name is Spike, nice to meet you!” Spike beamed joyfully.
Suddenly, Obscure step down from her seat and walked up to the young baby dragon. He didn’t look very tall, in fact if he stood up the top of his head would barely pass her chin; minus his green crest of course. They stared at each other's eyes for an entire second before Obscure picked him up, sat him on her back, walked back up to her seat, climb it, sat on her haunches placing Spike in between her legs and hug him tightly against her barrel. “He’s so cute and adowable! I love him and he’s mine now!” Obscure nuzzled him making Celestia, Young Stride, Divide and Masquerade snicker.
The rest of the agents didn’t say anything except for one. Blueblood’s right eye twitched in anger while Obscure kept on nuzzling the young dragon, who was protesting to be ‘handsome’ not cute. Looking to his aunt in the screen he cleared his throat. “Aunt Celestia, if I may?” Celestia looked at him and nodded. “Why is my dear baby cousin here?” he shot another look to Spike before continuing. “And why in the name of you is he wearing that ridiculous thing?”
“It’s my costume, Blue!” Spike replied before Celestia could. “It makes me look cool!” to make a point he freed himself from Obscure’s grasp and jumped to the table striking a fighting pose bringing his fists up. Spike was wearing a tight yellow jumpsuit with a zipper on the front, a black belt with a golden buckle (showcasing in the middle Celestia’s cutie mark), red gloves and boots and a wide white cape that slightly dragged itself on the floor; his tail creating a perch. “You’re weird for not wearing a costume to protect your secret ide-Idindi--.”
“Identity?” Zorro offered.
“Yes, that, thank you,” Spike said, his mouth going agape.
“You’re not even covering your face,” Script pointed out in a mumble.
Spike looked up and down at Zorro. “Wow! Your costume is cooool, you look so awesome!” he said gawking at the black clad griffon. “Like Batstallion, but real!”
Zorro grinned and turned to face the screen. “Mi princesa, I approve of this fine young lad, he knows awesome when he sees it,” he finished giving the dragon a fist bump. “It is decided, from now on, you shall become my pupil!”
“Hey, I saw him first; get your own cute baby dragon, Zorro!”
“I’m not cute, I’m handsome!”
“How old is he exactly?” Mustache asked to Young Stride sitting at his other side.
“Pretty young, more than Script I think,” the stallion replied enjoying the tug of war between Obscure and Zorro over the little dragon while Celestia giggled and laughed contently.
“Can we FOCUS?” Sweetie Drops demanded.
“Focus on tiny baby dragon!” Tracking Traces said grinning like an idiot jumping to Zorro’s side and hugging both Zorro and Spike with one arm and using his other to keep Obscure away. “Welcome to no-pony-agents club! Masquerade, come and join hug!”
“I’m good,” the changeling said smirking.
“Ugggggg!” Sweetie Drops groaned resting her forehead against the desk.
“Why am I surrounded by these idiots?” Script sighed in disappointment.
“Is it wrong of me that I want to hug him, too? Because I want to hug him,” Divide said watching the three-way sandwiching of the dragon.
“Aunt Celestia, can we please proceed?” Blueblood asked to his aunt who was smiling broadly at the display. His words did reach her and with a quick shaking of her head she coughed.
“You’re right, Charmer. Everyone, please retake your seats,” they all obeyed except for Obscure,she took Spike on her forelegs again, blew a raspberry at Zorro and Tracking Traces and sat on her seat holding Spike tightly. Spike didn’t seem to mind though. “Thank you,” Celestia said once again in a serious tone. Closing her eyes for a couple of seconds the eleven Agents waited patiently for their princess and commander.
“Three days ago,” she began reopening her eyes. “There was an outbreak in Tartarus itself, the source coming from within. Monsters and prisoners tried to escape but were thankfully stopped by the mighty Cerberus,” the other images took three-second long turns taking almost the entire screen. All of them were of monsters being retained or fighting a squadron of elite royal guards, monster tamers or even the Wonderbolts. “Sadly, a significant number of monsters managed to escape and are been dealt with as we speak,” there was moment of silence before Celestia took the entire screen and frowned.
“That’s the information my officials know of, but what they do not know is that several S-rank monsters from the depths of Tartarus also escaped,” with that said Divide, Young Stride and Mustache frowned while humming thoughtfully. Charmer, Masquerade, Tracking Traces, Obscure and Sweetie Drops kept on staring the screen. Zorro whistled and strung his guitar. Script narrowed her eyes and Spike stood still looking at empty space.
“I get a feeling the worse is yet to come, yes?” Young Stride asked.
“Correct you are, Young Stride. For there are three prisoners that also managed to escape; including the perpetrator,” With that Celestia’s image once again moved to the corner of the screen while six new darkened images appeared. “These are the monsters in question. First, the Bug Bear,” the image of an oversized, four-armed, bee stinger, insect winged, black, yellow and white colored monstrosity of a bear appeared on screen.
“The Parasprite,” the image of a small, fuzzy, big eyed ball of fur appeared making most of the agents D’awww internally.
“The Growler,” the image of a toad looking, six eyed, green covered slime thing appeared.
“The Farseer,” the image of a tall bipedal, two-armed, blue skinned, two glowing eyed creature appeared.
“The Tatzlwurm,” the image of a long serpentine purple scaled monster with a red mane and pink head appeared.
“And the Bazul,” the image of a round, black scaled, with no visible limbs or eyes and a series of large fangs on its mouth appeared.
“Each and every single one of these monsters must be found, captured and returned to Tartarus if possible,” Celestia’s horn glowed and six blue folders appeared in front of Sweetie Drops, Tracking Traces, Blueblood, Masquerade, Obscure and Divide; one folder for each of them. “Inside is all the information you need regarding your selected target. Make no mistake, if allowed these monsters will kill you and wreak havoc upon Equestria and beyond.”
“Moving on to the prisoners, first we have Lavan,” the image of an overweight, bipedal slimy being appeared. “Dangerous, tyrannical and malevolent. His only ambition is to transform himself into crystal, thus enhancing his power to rule the world and reshape it in his own image,” her horn glowed and three folders, this time red, appeared in front of Young Stride, Zorro and Mustache.
“Next is the ancient treasure hunter whose sole ambition is world domination without any regard for consequences or remorse,” the image of a dog like creature with hands for forelegs, a hand like tail, sapphire bluish fur and elongated face appeared on screen. “His name is Ahuizotl,” Celestia ended and a red folder appeared in front of Script.
“And finally, the instigator himself: Grogar, the Necromancer,” Celestia stayed silent for around ten seconds before continuing. “What little we know about him is only what legends tell. Five thousand years ago he ruled Equis with an iron hoof until he was defeated by my father and mother and sent into the Shadow World. He came back a hundred years later when I was merely eighteen years old and was defeated once again by my parents and sent to the Shadow World once more and hopefully sealing him forever in the deepest pits of Tartarus,” she sighed. “I do not know how powerful he is right now but if we allow him to regain his strength no one will be able to stop him.”
Celestia finished in a such a tone that sent shivers down the spines of her agents. Several uncomfortable seconds of silence later one dared speak up.
“What must we do, my queen?” Masquerade said looking at Celestia.
“Before you start your own missions you are tasked with confronting and stopping Grogar before it's too late using whatever means necessary to do so,” the screen split in two with the right showing a map bearing a wide red ‘X’ on it. “Here, in the ruins of Tambelon, is where Gogar is currently hiding and regaining his powers.”
“My princess, if I may?” Mustache inquired receiving a nod from Celestia. “If this Grogar dude is so dangerous, shouldn’t you confront him personally? I mean, of course we would back you up and everything.”
“I’m afraid I cannot,” Celestia said truthfully. “Grogar’s magic directly counters alicorn magic, the only reason my parents defeated him was because together they had much more magic than him. And I am weaker than any of my parents, if only…,” she stopped herself. “I’m afraid that against this foe, I’m utterly powerless.”
So we’re the only ones capable of stopping Grogar, Blueblood thought grimly seeing the hurt expression on his aunt’s face.
“I may not be able to aid you in battle, my agents, but I am able to help you get to your destination faster. I shall teleport you all as close as I can to the ruins of Tambelon without alerting Grogar of your presence. Be strong and fight bravely, I’m counting on you,” Celestia said igniting her horn.
“We will not fail,” the ten Agents said in unison feeling the magic of their princess coursing through their bodies.
“I wonder what’s for dinner tonight,” Spike said to himself but thanks to the room his voice was loud enough for all of them to hear. “Emerald soup sounds great.”
“AUNTIE DON--”
Was all Blueblood could say before he was teleported along with his fellow agents.
Part 1 end.
Author's Note
Special thanks to all that read this!
Special thanks to Trithtale for editing and proofreading, so go and give him love!
*OnePunch Man references but not an actual crossover*
...with one punch.
Part 2 begins
“....Sooooo, dibs on the baby dragon!” Tracking Traces said breaking a silence that had went on for three entire minutes after their teleportation. The group had waited patiently to see Blueblood blow up but instead he stared at Spike with wide eyes.
“No one is calling dibs on anything!” Blueblood roared in anger, finally uttering a word. “Mustache, Masquerade, let’s combine our magic and teleport Spike back to Equestria,” he said charging up his horn.
“I advise against that idea, Charmer,” Masquerade said sitting on his haunches. “First, we don’t know how far we are from Equestria. Two, we don’t know what creatures may live around these parts. Three, and most importantly, what if we teleport him to Grogar by accident?”
Blueblood turned to face the changeling with death in his eyes. “I am NOT having his blood on my hooves! I have no idea what possessed my aunt to name Spike a Special Agent but I will not be held responsible if he gets himself killed over an accident she made,” he turned to face Spike once again with his horn practically drooling magic excess. “Now do as I say and let’s teleport him!”
“Jeez, he’s your cousin. At least show him some respect,” Divide said hovering a meter or so from the ground. Blueblood neighed angrily at him. “Besides you aren’t in charge here. Protocol sixty six dictates that if three or more of us, Special Agents that is, are sent together on a mission then the strongest and most experienced is to be the leader by default if princess Celestia does not appoint one herself,” his gaze travelled until it set on Young Stride. “So you’re in charge old timer. Young Stride, what do we do?”
“Mmmmmm,” the veteran stallion hummed in deep thought, eyes half open, before walking up to Spike, held in between Obscure, Tracking Traces and Zorro. He stared into Spike’s eyes for several seconds with a neutral, soul piercing stare. “Spike stays.”
“You can NOT be serious,” Blueblood’s left eye twitched.
“Princess Celestia rarely makes mistakes, but Ah know she would never risk the life of anyone willingly without good reason. If Spike is indeed a Special Agent like us then he has every right tah be ‘ere and that also means the princess trusts him, her own adopted son, like she would us. Spike, no, Ember stays,” Young Stride finished giving Spike a nuggy making the young dragon smile.
Blueblood stared at Young Stride for a couple of moments. With a huff his magic stopped flowing. “Fine! But whatever happens to him is on yours hooves, not mine,” staring directly at Spike he only received a smile and a handwave from the dragon. “Now that that’s sorted out, how shall we proceed?”
“If this map is correct,” Script said standing next to Masquerade holding a small map with her wings. “We should be in the outer borders of Tambelon’s ruins; all we have to do is go in that direction,” she pointed to her right. “And we should arrive to the ruins in approximately two hours.”
“Script, Masquerade, yah two will be our eyes in the sky. Zorro, Sweetie Drops, Tracking Traces, go scout ahead and if yah find Grogar don’t go in thinking yah can take him out on yer own; come back tah inform the rest and we’ll take him on tah kick his noggin. Mustache, Divide, Ember yah’ll stay in the center. Charmer guard the left flank. Obscure yah take the right and Ah’ll take head. Move out everypony,” Young Stride ordered and everyone took their positions diligently.
For over twenty minutes their walk remained in relative silence, interrupted only by the sound of the wind, their own hoofsteps and the occasional cough or sneeze. During those minutes they took in the scenery; though it was not much to look at. Grass here, rocks there, several bushes all around, one or two trees over there and some mountains in the horizon. Off in the distance they could see pillars of something but other than that, nothing much.
“This is boring,” Obscure said loud enough for her fellow agents to hear. “Kinda reminds me to our last mission on Zebrica, ya know? The wild plains?”
“Yeah, but don’t you think it’s strange that there are no insects around?” Mustache pointed out holding his bat with his magic. “And is it just me or does the air feel heavy for some reason?”
“Must be Grogar’s doing for sure, the princess did say he is more powerful than her,” Divide pointed out.
“Only in terms of magic, she is far superior in every other regard,” Blueblood added sternly.
“I think the view is nice,” Spike said sitting on Mustache’s back. “A bit chilly but nice.”
“So you can speak after all!” Mustache teased looking back at Spike with a mustache covered smile. “Are you comfortable back there?”
“Yeah, your back is really soft and warm, not like mom’s or Twilight’s but still nice to ride. Thanks for carrying me,” Spike replied without looking at Mustache’s face but instead focusing on the scenery. “I wonder if there are any gems around, I kinda want a snack.”
“You eat gems?” Divide blurted out. He looked at Blueblood receiving an annoyed stare and a crude nod. “Ah right, dragon,” the pegasus scratched the back of his head. “Ember, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”
“I’m nine, my hatchday was two months ago!” Spike replied cheerfully. “It was a lot of fun, mom took me and Twilight to the amusement park. When we got back there was a surprise party, everypony was there, even Blue!”
“I was forced to go,” Blueblood commented loudly.
“I ate lots of cake, there were lots of games and I even got some presents, Shining Armor got me a wood sword, Cadence got me a biiiiiiig jasper and a kiss,” he blushed at that. “Blue got me some chocolate and Twilight got me a book!”
“Sounds like a lot of fun, little one,” Mustache said happy to hear the enthusiasm of a child.
“It was! Hey, you said you had to go to a play, right?”
“Oh, that? I promised my oldest daughter to go and see her school play but it looks like I won’t be able to,” Mustached sighed sadly before looking back at Spike. “Wait a moment, how do you know that? You weren’t there when I said it.”
“I was with mom, you were loud,” Spike replied simply. “What’s the name of your daughter?”
“I actually have two although my youngest little pearl is due in a couple of weeks; her name will be Sweetie Belle and the name of my oldest daughter is Rarity Belle or just ‘Rarity’; she’s fourteen years old and doesn’t really like her second name haha!”
“Twilight is also fourteen!” Spike said cheerfully before he held his chin. “Ah no, next week is her birthday….I forgot I don’t have anything to give her!” Spike said mortified.
“I’m sure you’ll think of something, it sounds like you two are very good friends.”
“He’s actually her assistant, her ‘only friend’ is Shining Armor, her older brother, and my dear sister Cadence was her babysitter,” Blueblood said earning an uncharacteristic glare from Obscure. “It’s the truth.”
“You can be such a pain in the flank, Charmer,” Obscure said with a frown. “He’s just a child...a little cute child!”
“I’m handsome, not cute!” Spike corrected pointing at the mare. Obscure gave him the tongue while giggling madly. “Mustache, tell me how can I grow an awesome mustache like yours, maybe then ponies will stop calling me cute and little.”
“But you are cute and little!” Obscure teased.
“Handsome!” Spike retorted angrily.
“You think my mustache is awesome?”
“Eh? Ah, of course! It’s thick, bushy and stallion-ly,” he said while playing with an imaginary mustache. “‘Why hello fillies, why yes, it is I, Spike and my awesome mustache. What was that? Handsome you say? Oh-ho-ho-ho, you are correct my ladies’.”
Mustache snorted, the magic surrounding his bat faltering a bit. “Well, I’m not one to brag but my dear wife does love my epic stallion mustache, I think she only agreed to marry me thanks to it!”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Mustache, we all know you’re a wonderful stallion and a great husband even without your mustache,” Divide said giving his partner a weak smile before looking at Spike. “You know Shining Armor, right Ember?
“He’s like my big brother,” Spike look Divide up and down a couple of times before crossing his arms. “I think I’ve seen you around the castle.”
“That’s because I’m also a royal guard and I’m in fact under the command of Shining Armor. He doesn’t know I’m a Special Agent so please keep the secret?” Spike merely nodded. “You know, I’ve also seen you running around the castle but I never thought you’d be related to princess Celestia, or anypony for that matter, like that.”
“Please keep that a secret?” Spike smiled at Divide with him returning it a moment later. Silence returned for a couple of minutes in which the little dragon stole several glances at Divide’s flank.
Divide noticed this and sighed before speaking. “My cutie mark isn’t invisible, I’m still a blank flank but that’s okay, I know it will come sooner or later.”
“Sorry,” Spike apologized feeling ashamed.
“Don’t be, I’m not angry, really,” Divide assured nudging the dragon.
“You better not be or I’ll kick your flank around, Divide,” Obscured threatened jokingly.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Obscure,” Divide waved a hoof in dismissal. “Ember, may I ask you a question?”
“You just did but you can ask another,” Spike replied making all his companions, minus Blueblood, chuckle.
“I walked right into that one,” Divide chuckled. “What I want to know is how did you convince the princess to let you be a Special Agent? I don’t doubt her or anything like that, I’m just very curious.”
Blueblood ears perked up at that. “Divide has a point there, how did you become a Special Agent, Spike?”
“I asked mom and she said yes,” Spike answered without hesitating.
“Just...just like that? You mean to tell me you just walked up to my aunt and asked her to be a Special Agent and she agreed just like that!?” Blueblood didn’t shout but his volume did increase considerably. “Why would you even ask her to be one of us to begin with!?”
Spike shrugged. “‘Cause it sounds like fun, I guess.”
Blueblood’s left eye twitched in anger, he was about to say something when he noticed a sharp glare coming from Young Stride. With a heavy huff and a stomp he fought back his rage. “Fine, be that way. Not like I even care anyways.”
The group continued their walk whilst sharing stories about older missions, telling bad jokes or just talking about their regular life, all except for Blueblood whom sent glares and questioning looks at his cousin. I know you’re hiding something, I don’t know what but I’ll find out after we take care of this Grogar, Spike, Blueblood thought trying his best to ignore their pointless talk.
Over an hour later the group came to a halt finally arriving at the entrance of Tambelon’s ruins. Soon after their arrival Script, Masquerade, Zorro and Sweetie Drops joined them.
“Where is Tracking Traces?” Young Stride asked.
“Investigating around the main temple or sanctuary or whatever it is,” Sweetie Drops answered. “No signs of Grogar anywhere else.”
“The coward must be hiding, scared to face us,” Masquerade said cracking his neck relaxingly.
“Listen up youngin’s, Ah know we ain’t very fond of working together but the princess trust us tah take care of the enemy together and kick ‘im into the dirt and back tah Tartarus, am Ah clear?”
“Yes,” all of his fellow agents replied in unison. The group moved in guided by Sweetie Drops and Script until they were in front of the main temple. They could hear a rumbling coming from inside.
“Here comes Tracking Traces,” Script said pointing at a visible bulge of earth coming towards them. A moment or two later Tracking Traces popped out of the ground. “What took you so long?”
“I found the goat, he’s inside,” Tracking Traces explained shaking dirt off of him. “A lot of power coming out, bad idea to go in.”
“We can’t wait for him to come out either, Young Stride, what’s the plan?” Divide asked the veteran stallion.
“There’s no need for that, scum,” a dark, rumbling, masculine and deep voice said from all around the agents making them take defensive stances. “You’ve been searching for me? Here I am,” with that said Grogar himself appeared in the midst of a cloud of dark smoke at the very entrance of the temple.
The picture they all had seen in the folders was intimidating, but seeing him in person was a completely different experience. For starters he wasn’t gigantic; he was barely bigger than the average stallion, his dark blue coat looked oddly smooth, he was bulky but not muscle bound, his legs were wide and strong, his cloven hooves black and sturdy, his horns were large, black and bent into a circle atop his head going behind his ears and ending at each side of his lower jaw. He also had large exposed lower fangs, a trimmed white beard, thin lengthy eyebrows and red blood eyes with no visible pupils. But the most noticeable feature was a red piece of red silk wrapped around his neck suspending a silver colored bell.
“So the daughter of my hated enemies sends her little pets to deal with me? Typical alicorn cowardice,” Grogar said taking a couple of steps forward. Suddenly two bolts of magic, one green and the other pale blue hit the ground an inch away from his right foreleg.
“Don’t move, Grogar, we are here on behalf of my queen, princess Celestia, to capture you no matter the cost,” Masquerade hissed. “You’re under arrest for---”
Masquerade never got to finish his sentence when a giant claw of smoke emerged from beneath grabbing him entirely. The rest of the agents as their comrade was being carried thirty meters above them and then, with a single powerful toss, the claw sent him crashing against the ground in front of them. The impact created a crater and lifted a cloud of dust.
“Insolent insect.”
“MASQUERADE!” Sweetie Drops shouted rushing to help the changeling.
“I’m fine!” Masquerade shouted back using a burst of magic to clear the dust that had formed. He was mostly fine, except for some cuts and a trickle of yellow blood running down his neck. “Caught me off guard,” despite his words he didn’t oppose the help of his fellow agent.
Grogar hummed deeply. “It would seem these particular pets are more...resilient than I thought,” the corners of his lips curved into a smug smile. “You’ll suffice to test the new measure of my power,” several claws of smoke emerged from the ground around him, there were also unblinking eyes among them or in the center of the claws.
The claws lunged for the group but before they could hit their target they all banished into nothing. Grogar, mildly impressed, crooked an eyebrow seeing the old stallion standing on his back legs while his right foreleg was above his head and his left was pointing to him. The stallion suddenly jumped to his left a second before a claw similar to the one that had grabbed Masquerade emerged from the ground. With a swift and graceful twirl in the air Young Stride landed and then hit the ground with his right foreleg.
A shock wave followed the impact and the claw disappeared, in it’s place the ground was now engraved with the symbol of an apple.
“You’ll have tah do better than that tah defeat mah Flowing Apple Way style, Grogar,” Young Stride said retaking his stance. Beside him the rest of his fellow agents took their positions.
Mustache grinned madly tapping the ground with his bat creating small craters with each tap.
Zorro took off his cape, threw his gaucho hat away and draw a rapier strapped to his back.
Masquerade spit blood on the ground before a green magical aura covered his body like a thin second skin.
Tracking Traces howled, his muscles instantly expanding until he was more akin to a minotaur than a diamond dog.
Divide spread his wings allowing hidden knives to emerge and his mane turned spikey.
Sweetie Drops trot in place right next to Masquerade, a focused look on her face.
Script hovered in the air clapping her front hooves repeatedly.
Blueblood was wielding a great broadsword, a shield and armor made entirely of magic, his horn and eyes shining with intensity.
Obscure adopted a pose similar to Young Stride’s, except her forelegs were put in a more defensive position while her back legs never stood still.
Spike jumped off from Mustache’s back and lifted up his tiny fists up to his chest, his expression one of true neutrality.
Grogar chuckled darkly. “Yeeeessss, you will suffice nicely,” several dozens of claws emerged from the ground around him and the agents. “Although I don’t know why is there….wait a second, is that a baby dragon, a whelp?” Grogar asked finally noticing Spike. “It’s bad enough that half of you look like teens but to send a child?” He grinned evilly making Obscure, Mustache, Divide, Zorro and Tracking Traces stand closer to Spike. “I wonder why, I wonder why~.”
An icy silence fell for several seconds until Grogar broke it.
“While I’m not above killing and using useless children I’ll make you all an offer. I won’t harm the whelp and in return you shall fight me with everything you’ve got or you can fight me having to watch the child constantly; your choice.”
Another moment of silence followed suit. This one broken by Spike himself.
“That’s how you want to play? Fiiiiine,” he groaned. “I’ll wait for my turn over there,” he said pointing to a large rock a few meters away from them. Walking up to the rock the claws made a free way until he reached it, Spike climbed the rather large rock with some difficulty and sat down on it. “But you better be strong, overgoat!”
“AHAHAHAHA! Impudent little whelp, I love that attitude!” Grogar said ignoring the unbelieving expressions of his other foes. “Overgoat? HA! That’s the same insult that damn Aurora used all the time: ‘All hail Lord Overgoat’ he used to say,” Grogar hummed deeply while also chuckling at the same time. “Now, where were we?” With a devilish grin the claws extended and attacked the ten remaining agents at the same time.
The claws burst into nothing before they could reach the agents, Grogar’s eyes went wide for a moment before at least three times the previous amount of claws emerged from all around the group creating a dark dome. “It seems I’ll have to play seriously,” Grogar said when the dome disappeared with Young Stride, Obscure, Tracking Traces and Script leading the front charge against him while Masquerade tried to flank him from the right and Blueblood from the left, Divide and Zorro came from above leaving Mustache and Sweetie Drops to attack from the back thanks to Mustache’s concealed teleportation. Grogar shook his head making his bell ring, an instant later an explosion of dark mist and smoke forming claws, eyes and fang filled maws covered the entire area.
The ten agents were pushed back by the massive wave of dark energy. Obscure roared in anger charging forward and kicking away at anything that stood in her way, Mustache swung his bat clearing away almost all of the dark mist in the area giving Obscure a clear way. Masquerade also charged at the barely visible Grogar with all his might while Tracking Traces and Blueblood followed him closely. The rest of the agents were busy fighting off the smoke monstrosities Grogar somehow summoned for the time being.
Obscure was the first to connect delivering a powerful roundhouse kick which Grogar blocked with one of his horns; the force of the impact creating a sonorous shockwave. Grogar grinned letting Masquerade hit him in full only for the changeling to pass through his body and crash against a wall behind the necromancer. Obscure used the impulse she still had left, twirled on her place and delivered another devastating kick at Grogar hitting while Tracking Traces also delivered an equally monstrous punch from the other side; both attacks were blocked, however, by Grogar’s horns.
“So very weak,” Grogar mocked before his bell ring again and two large claws emerged from his horns and punched the two agents. Another claw emerged from his head and blocked the attack of Blueblood just in time; the claw gripping the magical sword tightly. Grogar quickly turned to the right in time to block an attack from Mustache creating a great shock wave from the impact of his bat against one of his horns. “That’s more like it!” Grogar cheered seeing the baffled expression of Mustache and Blueblood’s. His small victory was cut short thanks to a couple of knives flying towards him. The mist covered Grogar entirely before the knives hit nothing more than air.
Divide dove evading two large claws and with a flap of his wings a flurry of knives pierced through them making the disappear. There was another ring from Grogar’s bell and this time bird like creatures formed from the smoke alongside pony looking figures.
Script, finally able to get rid of the claws attacking her, clapped her front hooves together repeatedly until her hooves started to release sparks. Eight bird creatures attacked her at the same time, she stopped flapping her wings allowing gravity to do it’s job and then began to throw punches in all directions; the birds, claws and eyes that were hit by her punches were instantly set ablaze.
Zorro and Sweetie Drops were back to back slicing and hitting any bird, pony or claw that came their way. Masquerade was up again running amok and buzzing around destroying anything that touched his carapace. Tracking Traces, Obscure and Blueblood were on their own destroying their attackers as they came. Divide was now flying around evading claws while showering them with knives or with an electric punch. Mustache was swinging his bat around devastating the monsters that attacked him. Young Stride was moving left and right with a grace that would put any athlete to shame, each of his attacks destroying his enemies and creating an apple shaped hole before they disappeared.
Where’s Grogar!? Blueblood screamed inside his head while slashing a mist pony and bashing three birds and a claw with his shield. His eyes roaming everywhere they could in search for him. He must’ve realized these creatures won’t do anything to us, so why attack in such a way? He asked himself while cutting down seven creatures with a single stroke. During the attack a quick glance at Mustache gave him the answer. “He’s distracting us!”
“Too late!” Grogar boasted finally reappearing next to Script. The mare noticed and punched him in the face but he wasn’t set ablaze, her eyes widening in surprise. Grogar grinned and then a dark sphere surrounded her. A giant claw emerged and grabbed the sphere, Tracking Traces and Divide screamed angrily and charged at Grogar only to be stopped by a swarm of claws and maws. Blueblood was about to go aid his fellow agent when at least fifty birds opened their beaks and a shower of dark needless descended pinning him down.
The giant claw crushed the sphere and then tossed it against a nearby pillar; both pillar and sphere were destroyed upon the impact. Blueblood watched with wide eyes how Script landed on the ground bloody and squirming in pain.
“Bastard!” Divide shouted coming descending directly on top of Grogar. The demonic goat looked up to see a hundred or so knives flying towards him, he roared scattering the knives away and stopping the charging pegasus with six claws.
The claws smashed Divide against the ground four times before they tossed him away near to Blueblood’s hooves. The pegasus stallion was bloody and one of his wings was bent the wrong way.
“This will be easier than I expected, what a disappointment,” Grogar mockingly lamented before jumping to the side evading the charging changeling. “You again?”
Masquerade screeched loudly before charging again against Grogar. With a smirk Grogar charged back and the two collided with a great head bust. There was a momentary flash of green and once it died down Grogar was left standing while Masquerade lay a couple of meters back on the ground, his horn missing while blood came out in spurts. The changeling, still conscious, held his stump as he fought back the need to scream out in pain, one eye closed as blood covered it.
“This isn’t even worth my--!?” Grogar was interrupted by a quake coming beneath him, a moment later two large hands caught his forelegs and held onto him tightly. His bell rang covering his body with the dark mist before four simultaneous attacks hit him. Mustache struck his back with his bat, Sweetie Drops his neck with both forelegs, Blueblood his head with his magical sword and Obscure his face with a double kick. It took a second before a collective shock wave cleared the smoke around his body. “GGRRRNNNGGG!” Grogar grunted feeling the massive strain of their impacts upon his body. With another ring from his bell his body turned into mist. The agents pulled back much to his confusion.
Before he had time to ponder Zorro appeared and slashed at the mist with blinding speed. Grogar in his mist form groaned before the remaining mist teleported a few meters back. The mist vanished and he was left again standing with a few cuts showing all over his coat. He hit his bell with a foreleg and an army of mist birds, claws, maws, eyes, ponies and now large bulky spectres emerged from the ground.
“Don’t get distracted now, sonny.”
Grogar’s eyes widened hearing the voice of Young Stride coming from behind him. He was about to turn around when something hit him in the stomach sending him airborne. “Grrraaaaaa!”
“Ah said don’t get distracted.”
Grogar’s eyes widened before he felt another hit, twice as powerful, hit him on the back and set him crashing down to the ground. Before he could hit the ground Mustache hit him with all his might right in the stomach. Grogar was thrown towards the temple but he never reached it, a combined kick from Obscure and Sweetie Drops on the back of his head made him crash against the ground creating a large cloud of dust. Finally something else grabbed on to him from below, punched his stomach yet again and delivered a five hit combo all over his torso before being sent crashing against a large rock sitting next to the temple. Tracking Traces howled clearing away the dust cloud.
Blueblood charged striking at his fallen foe with his sword, sadly for him a multitude of claws stopped him. Three large claws emerged from below his hooves hitting his magical armor and sending him back to the remaining agents. “It looks like I was mistaken,” Grogar said standing up. “And that doesn’t happen regularly,” coughing he took a quick glance at the apple shaped bruise in his stomach. “Congratulations,” his bell rang again but unlike before nothing seemed to happen.
What is he going to do now? Blueblood thought never toring his gaze from the necromancer. Script, Divide and Masquerade are already down, he took a quick glance at his defeated fellow agents. Celestia damn it, why isn’t he moving!?
“Enough, goat goes down now!” Tracking Traces yelled submerging. Obscure and Sweetie Drops seemed to have the same idea and charged at the unmoving Grogar.
“I’ll smash his skull in!” Mustache yelled charging as well. Against his better judgment Blueblood also charged backing Mustache up.
“STOP!” Young Stride yelled rushing forward with Zorro behind him. Mustache and Blueblood obeyed but the other three didn’t.
Obscure and Sweetie Drops hit Grogar with all their might while Tracking Traces emerged behind him and hit Grogar with a double hand-hammer. Grogar exploded into a swirling tornado of black mist with eyes, claws, maws and tentacles coming out from every direction. Stunned, the other agents couldn’t help but gawk at the display of power for several seconds until it ended. Grogar was still standing on the same spot yet there were no signs of Obscure, Sweetie Drops and Tracking Traces.
“What have you done with our amigos, monstruo!?” Zorro asked gaining a single smirk from Grogar. Two seconds later three bodies landed around them, Zorro and Blueblood jumped back before seeing the bruised and blood dripping bodies of their fellow agents. They were still conscious but couldn’t do much aside from moaning and darting their eyes around.
Blueblood felt the fire inside him explode and with a mighty warcry teleported behind Grogar. To his momentary surprise Grogar raised a mist sword to block his attack yet he couldn’t block the bash of his shield or the monstrous punch from Young Stride directly in his face. Grogar spat some of his blood due to the impact before an uppercut from Mustache's bat and another punch from Young Stride pummeled him to the ground.
Taking his chance Blueblood struck him again and suddenly his magic disappeared. “What--” was all he could say before a mist tentacle wrapped itself around his barrel and lift him up. From his position he saw Young Stride and Mustache being held back by at least three dozen claws and tentacles as Grogar stood up once again.
Zorro arrived cutting away the tentacles and claws holding Mustache back before a giant claw grabbed him by the tail and tossed him away. Mustache stopped using his magic and instead held the bat with his forehooves and swung with all his might against the necromancer. Grogar, for his part, blocked the attack with one of his horns; the resulting impact created a crater below them, cleared away the mist holding Young Stride down, made small earthquake and the bat shattered in three parts.
Mustache’s mouth went agape before a claw grabbed onto him. Young Stride twirled around delivering another punch to Grogar but it was stopped by one of his own cloven hooves. Before Young Stride could retreat his hoof several tentacles emerged from Grogar’s leg, wrapped around his foreleg before twisting it into an abnormal angle and then reached out for his neck. Meanwhile Blueblood and Mustache tried to use their magic to free themselves to no avail.
“Young Stride!” Mustache shouted seeing the elderly stallion slowly going limp.
“Did the daughter of Aurora and Moonlight tell you my magic counters alicorn magic? Well, the same can be said about any other magic, although it takes a while,” Grogar said smiling smugly. “Don’t get distracted now, old fool,” Grogar whispered, then he squeezed Mustache making him shout in pain for broken ribs and other bones. He then tossed Mustache away followed shortly by Young Stride and then looked up to face Blueblood still trying to set himself free.
Grogar was about to speak when out of nowhere Zorro appeared in front of him and with a swift movement struck Grogar’s bell. Unfortunately his rapier shattered, it took him a moment to realize what had just happened before Grogar hit him sending him back a few meters.
“Fool, my bell is indestructible!” Zorro drew another rapier from his back and stood ready to fight. “Such an arrogant idiot, your comrades are beaten, what can you hope to do on your own against me?” Grogar sighed tiredly looking at the griffon almost with pity. “Can’t you see I’ve won?”
“You will never be victorious,” Zorro said drawing out a whip with his free hand. “You’re just a villano, and like all villanos you shall be derrotado. There will always be alguien dispuesto a pelear against monsters like you,” taking a moment to breathe Zorro stood proudly watching the indifferent look on Grogar’s face. “My name is Alexander, Agente Especial Zorro; humble servant of my hermosa princesa Celestia, and en su honor you shall taste defeat this day, Grogar, El Necromagus.”
With his speech done Zorro spread his wings and with a mighty flap lunged himself at Grogar. Unblinking Grogar put Blueblood between him and Zorro, the griffon hesitated and was unable to notice the dark claw that emerged from beneath him. The claw grabbed him, slammed him against the ground several times and then threw him near where Mustache laid barely conscious. Then Grogar turned Blueblood so he could face him.
“I can feel a hint of alicorn blood in your veins, are you perhaps related to the daughter of Aurora?”
“Buck you to Tartarus,” Blueblood grunted feeling the grip around him get tighter.
“I come from there,” Grogar smirked. “Now that I’m free and that Aurora and Moonlight are gone no one will stop me from retaking what is rightfully mine. I must congratulate you, you put up a decent fight, if you would’ve arrived a day sooner the outcome could’ve been vastly different.”
“Princess Celestia….will find….a...way to stop you,” Blueblood groaned out.
“I highly doubt that,” Grogar replied before tightening his grip around the unicorn as nine other claws emerged and went for the defeated agents. Once he had them all he softly laid them on the ground in a line in front of Spike, whom up to this point never moved an inch from his spot and just stared blankly at the battle. Pushing Blueblood’s face against the dirt Grogar dragged him until the unicorn was laying in front of the little dragon. “See? I kept my promise and the child in unharmed but I promise you that what I did to all of you will be nothing compared to what I’ll do to him if you don’t answer my question.”
Blueblood looked at Spike and then at Grogar. “I’m….I’m her nephew.”
“So Aurora and Moonlight had more than one child? How precious, how quaint, how--”
“Is it my turn yet?” Spike asked interrupting Grogar. The necromancer looked at him with a blank stare.
“Sp-Spike...what...what are you doing?” Mustache said with a pained expression. “Run away….wh-while you can!”
“Can you let them go, please?” Spike asked politely.
Choosing to play along Grogar smirked. “I don’t see why not,” he said releasing the claws from his foes except from Blueblood. Grogar lifted Blueblood a couple of meters up and then slammed him against the ground making the royal unicorn cough out some of his blood, only then did he released him.
“Are you hurt, Blue?”
“Gggahhhh--” Blueblood replied.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Spike said standing up on the rock and brushing away some dust on his suit.
“Listen, whelp, I don’t know what are you playing at but you’re lucky I find you entertaining. Your friends are defeated, whatever the daughter of Aurora has planned for me will be useless and she shall receive the full weight of my revenge; for I, the mighty and all powerful Grogar, condemned to spend thousands of years trapped in Tartarus, will once again rule the world. All lesser creatures will bow before my power and those that oppose me will fall and die in agony. I will bring forth a new era of--
“You’re annoying, shut up,” Spike said in an angry tone. “Why do bad guys always have to monologue and brag out about their plans so much? It’s annoying!” Spike pointed at the stunned Grogar. “I swear it’s worse than Twilight when she’s explaining a new spell she mastered,” Spike shuddered. “Can’t you, like, summarize it in twenty words or less?” Spike cleared his throat. “‘I’m free once again, the world will be mine!’ There, was that so hard, overgoat? Easy, short, simple and to the point!”
The agents and Grogar were left speechless at the blatant disrespect and lack of common sense Spike was displaying. Grogar, of course, felt more insulted than anything.
“No one other than Aurora has ever dared to insult me in such a manner, whelp. You may be amusing but my patience for your insults is running low.”
“I’m just telling the truth; you’re annoying, ugly, a liar, ugly and weak,” Spike crossed his arms. “Also you’re ugly.”
Did Spike just called him weak?….If I survive this aunt Celestia is going to kill me, Blueblood lamented knowing Spike was doing nothing more than edge Grogar for some futile reason.
“You DARE call me, the almighty Grogar, weak!?” he took a step forward. “And for your information I’m considered one of the most handsome males of my species!”
You have got to be kidding me, not another one…..Blueblood thought grimly.
“What your mom says doesn’t count,” Spike retorted.
“Ha ha ha ha!” Young Stride laughed loudly before coughing blood. “It h-hurts when Ah laugh….ha ha ha, classic.”
“SILENCE!” Grogar roared, a mild blush crossing his face. “I was going to let you live, whelp, but you have insulted me for the last time!” With that two claws emerged from either side of Spike to grab him. Spike swat his right hand hitting the claws and instantly they disappeared. “Give me a moment,” Spike said and suddenly vanished. Grogar’s eyes were wide as plates and the next second Spike was back on the same spot. “Done.”
“What did you do?” Grogar asked mildly confused.
“I just moved them over there,” Spike said pointing to his back. Grogar looked past him and saw the ten agents laying safely a few meters away from them. “This is our fight now, not theirs.”
Blueblood was staring at his baby cousin with wide eyes and mouth agape. Wh-what just happened? I was there and now I’m here….and what does he mean by he moved us? Just what the buck is going on? Blueblood asked himself trying to wrap his head around what was going on. A quick look at his comrades revealed they were thinking exactly the same, except for one that was smiling. “W-why are you smiling, Young Stride?”
“Ah don’t know why,” Young Stride coughed. “Ah just know Ember can beat Grogar.”
“How can y-you be so sure?” Blueblood asked seeing Grogar summon hundreds upon hundreds of claws, birds, maws and tentacles while Spike stood unmoving.
“‘Cause ah saw he’s stronger than all of us put together.”
Meanwhile Spike and Grogar stared at each other's eyes for several moments until Spike broke the contact. “Don’t bother, I didn’t use magic,” this statement caused Grogar to crook an eyebrow.
“So you say but I notice a distinct taint of alicorn blood in you, no....more like a brand or a connection.”
“I use my fire to send things to my mom, it works the other way, too.”
“Your mother?”
“Yeah, princess Celestia is my mom,” Grogar stared at him blankly for several seconds. “I’m adopted.”
“Really now?” Grogar smiled evilly. “I was planning to use the prissy unicorn to coerce, Celestia is her name you say?” Spike nodded. “To coerce Celestia into submission but I think her adopted son will be of more use,” Grogar said loud enough for the agents to hear.
“Get out of there, Spike, run!” Blueblood roared as loud as he could.
Spike turned to face them with a bright smile. “Don’t worry, Blue, I’ll finish the overgoat quickly!”
“You insolent runt! I’ll crush you right this instant!”
“Ok,” Spike answered with a neutral, bored expression and tone.
Grogar yelled angrily ringing his bell ordering everything he had summoned attack Spike at the same time from all angles.
Blueblood could only stare helplessly until Spike was completely surrounded by Grogar’s summons. Suddenly they all disappeared followed by a strong gush of wind and the thunderous sound. He could only stare in blank amazement seeing Spike’s hands clapped together.
“Wh--What was that?” Grogar asked seeing that all of his summons were wiped out. He then looked down at the dragon seeing his hands clapped together. He then stared at his eyes and his heart skipped a beat. They were cold and empty, lacking any sympathy or mercy. And then, what he saw was gone, replaced by boredom.
“I’ll defeat you,” Spike raised his right fist up. “With one punch.”
Grogar jumped back and hit his bell several times. “Try to avoid this if you can, whelp!” suddenly a tornado, similar to the one he had used before but five times as powerful, erupted around Spike swallowing him in the process. “I’m Lord Grogar, Ruler of Tambelon, Master of Death and Misery, remember that well you wretched--”
“You’re comfy.”
The voice behind him froze the blood in his veins and the tornado stopped. “Good thing I moved when I did or my suit would be ruined,” looking over his back he saw Spike sitting peacefully on his back while holding his nose in between two fingers. “But you stink.”
Hitting his bell again Grogar teleported away and summoned an army of claws and tentacles against Spike. The dragon merely swatted his hand and the next moment they were all destroyed.
“Th-This cannot be,” Grogar said staring at the dragon. “I never saw you moving!” He shouted at him.
“You said try to avoid it, so I did,” Spike crossed his arms once more. “I don’t want my only suit to be torn on my first day as a Special Agent.”
Grogar was baffled by his answer and let anger take over. Hitting his bell again a titanic version of himself formed behind him, Grogar roared and the titan attacked.
Spike raised a hand in front of him before the titan hit, upon impact the titan stopped and a small shock wave resonated the entire area. Spike pushed the giant Grogar back sending it flying to Celestia knows where.
Grogar could only stare at Spike, dumbfounded and shocked. “How did you that?” Grogar asked with a shaky tone.
“Because I’m strong,” Spike replied picking his left ear-fin. “And you’re weak and a liar.”
Grogar swallowed his anger in favor of finding out what exactly was going on. “How am I weak? And I’m no liar, I hate lies.”
“Then don’t say you’re powerful when you’re not,” Spike explained plainly. “That power comes from the bell, it’s not yours. You’re weak because you didn’t break your back to earn anything, always using that bell to get what you want,” Spike explained.
“Then how can you overcome me so easily? How is it possible that I’m afraid of you? Where does your power come from!?” Grogar yelled letting his anger explode. “HOW ARE YOU SO STRONG!?”
The wind blowing was the only sound that could be heard aside from Grogar’s frantic breathing.
“How am I so strong?” Spike questioned. “You want to know my secret?” The wind blew for several more seconds. “Alright then, I’ll tell you my secret,” Spike closed his eyes. “It took me three years to get this strong,” a couple of seconds later he re-opened his eyes dramatically.
“One hundred royal library dusted bookshelves with each hand!”
“One hundred windows cleaned!”
“Climbing up and down one hundred stairs with a bucket of water in each hand and tail: One hundred times!”
“One hundred letters written!”
“And running around the castle ten times!”
Spike closed his eyes again. “Every. Single. Day.” silence fell all around them, even the wind was absent. Spike crossed his arms but kept one finger up.“Of course that’s not enough, you have to make sure you eat three meals a day. An emerald or a sapphire is okay in the morning, a banana also works fine. But never use magic for comfort, even in summer or winter, to strengthen your mind.”
“In the beginning it isn’t so bad but after a couple of weeks you’ll wish you were dead. You begin to think ‘What’s so wrong with taking one day off?’” Spike re-opened his eyes slowly. “But for me, in order to achieve my goal, I never stopped no matter how tough it got or when I was close from passing out. I kept dusting bookshelves, cleaning windows, carrying buckets of water, writing letters and running around the castle.”
“A year and a half later I noticed something; my scales fell out off and I I became stunted but I had also become stronger!” Spike unfolded his arms and put on a serious face. “I’m this strong because I trained like Tartarus and I never gave up, I changed myself to achieve my goal!” Spike took a step forward. “People like you will never understand; always using the easy way out, that’s why you’ll never get this far, overgoat,” the wind blew once again.
“That’s quite the secret, oh yes, quite a secret,” Grogar said, his voice rumbling with anger. “Are you expecting me to believe such an obvious lie, whelp?” He hit his bell, this time the ringing it made sounded darker and suffocating, like if it was screaming in pain. “I’ll kill you here and now and then I’ll kill your bitch of a mother!” With that said a gargantuan tornado of mist emerged from the beneath his hooves, out of it claws, tentacles, maws, skeletal figures and faces frozen in agony moved towards Spike. Grogar’s eyes were wide with fury and hate, the dragon never moved not even when the tornado reached him. “DO I LOOK WEAK, WHELP!? DOES MY POWER STILL LOOKS FAKE TO YOU, AHH!?”
His answer came with Spike suddenly appearing just inches in front of him. Grogar froze upon seeing that same look on his eyes now also filled by anger and his heavy aura, impossibly more so than his own, dripping with killing intent. He saw his tiny right fist ready to deliver a punch and then he struck his bell, instantly shattering into less than dust. A massive shock wave emerged from his punch clearing a wide clear path on the sky, completely free of clouds stretching as far as the eyesight could see.
An instant later everything was over, the tornado disappeared, Grogar fell to the ground fighting to catch his breath whilst moving away from Spike and the agents frozen in shock.
“My mom is not a female dog,” Spike said walking up to Grogar.
“H-How *pant* my---my bell….my power….gone….how….,” his rambling stopped when Spike tapped his forehead.
“I told you it’ll be over in just one punch, like it always is,” Spike sighed contently. “Hey guys, I got him!” Spike announced dragging Grogar’s body until he reached the ten gawking agents. Spike let go of Grogar, pulled out a parchment from his back, a quill and began to write something on it. “With love, Spike,” he ended before setting it on fire with his breath. “Your fight was amazing! Zorro, you were so cool with that speech and Obscure, oh my gosh, those kicks were so unnggg! Blue, your magic armor, oh your armor, I have to gush about your armor! And Mustache you were here and there with your bat--!”
Suddenly a bright flash of yellow light engulfed them momentarily and then they were gone.
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“And that’s the story,” Blueblood finished. His seven guests were looking at him perplexingly, even Discord.
“Whoa...calling him ‘little doombringer’ was quite fitting then,” Discord said looking a bit pale.
“W-what happened next?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Spike was grounded, he was supposed to beat Grogar before we could fight him; aunt Celestia knew that, while strong, we were no match for Grogar. After that Zorro….well, it no longer matters. Alexander, Apple Strudel and Hondo couldn’t go after Lavan so Spike had to go after him; got back three hours later with a puddle of lava in a jar. Daring healed up quickly and left after Ahuizotl and the rest of us went after our selected targets. The Bug Bear defeated Sweetie Drops and escaped. Doge thought he had captured every parasprite but a few eluded him; Cloudy Quartz Pie managed find a way to control and tame them, thankfully. I captured my target without much trouble. Zzreak was forced to kill his. Berry Punch found her target but let it go stating it only wanted to be free and harm no pony. Flash Sentry subdued his target earning his cutie mark in the process.”
Blueblood sighed heavily. “Grogar was returned to Tartarus and now that he has no power he won’t be able to escape again. As for the agency, we continued operations for four more years until my aunt decided to close it. Most agents are still active today in one way or another except for Hondo, Strudel and Sweetie Drops. I’m surprised Berry Punch actually found a husband and got her little ‘Berry Pinch’,” Blueblood chuckled. “So now you know.”
“Wait a moment,” Twilight said, her mind retreated to its analytic form since the story began. “You never told us what was Spike’s goal, the motive he trained like that,” she wasn’t sure if she believed entirely Blueblood’s story but then again there was no reason to lie, and everything she had seen and heard until now pointed out it was true. “Or why there is a changeling working for Celestia or why the need for so much secrecy or--”
“One answer at a time, Twilight Sparkle, one answer at a time,” Blueblood said smirking. “But about Zzreak, how do you think we were able to get info before the changeling invasion?” The group ‘ooohhh’-ed. “As for Spike well,” Blueblood chuckled. “I’m still having a hard time believing his reason to become so strong. Turns out becoming a Special Agent was just to pass time, kind of like a hobby,” Blueblood chuckled again followed by a slight cough. “Spike was very vague about the details but when he was five years old and you two were playing some bullies came and start calling you names, Spike tried to defend you but they pushed him over and you used your magic to drop them into a fountain.”
“He tried to protect you but in the end you protected him, I guess that didn’t suit him well. Later that same day aunt Celestia told him what his role at your side was going to be, guess he decided to change himself. He trained so hard and became so strong just because he wanted nothing more than to be your number one assistant and your guardian,” Blueblood smiled. “Isn’t that right, little cousin?”
“You’re improving, Blue,” Spike said walking out from the shadows of the tunnel.
“What can I say? I have a great master,” Blueblood bumped his hoof against his fist. “I think it’s time for me to leave,” with that said Blueblood teleported away.
“Ummm, so...yeah, I--” Spike was silenced when a magical aura surrounded him and lifted him up to Twilight.
Twilight then wrapped her forelegs around him and kissed his left cheek. “Thank you, Spike.”
Spike blushed and then felt the nuzzling of five other mares and a soft pat from Discord. Spike closed his eyes enjoying the embrace. “Thank you, you guys.”
Part 2 End.
