Mobile Fighter Equus Gundam

by SuperGodzilla2030

Chapters

Prologue- Prelude to Battle
Battle for the Crystal Empire
Rumble in the Pronx! The Match Against Flash Sentry!

Prologue- Prelude to Battle

Long ago when Equestria was starting to experiment with magically advanced technology, there was a war that nearly destroyed the entire planet, but it was saved by a new proposal, to start the Gundam Fight Tournament, a fight between representatives of each nation while piloting machines called Gundams. It proved to be a way to quell the wars with one another. Though the proposal was not perfect, it limited the damage to Equus by a great margin. And limiting the cost of innocent lives on what used to be a peaceful world. But the story of this fight is about the young drake named Spike Drakeson of Neo-Canterlot. He lived with his father, Bahamut, and his step-mother, Princess Celestia. He had many friends who lived in other parts of Neo-Canterlot. They had all gone their own ways to live their own dreams. However, at the moment, Spike found himself in an unknown situation. He was currently standing in an elevator with his eyes closed as he ascended up the capital building of Neo-Canterlot.

‘What do they want me for? I’m sure Shining Armor can handle whatever the issue is.’ Spike thought as he felt the elevator stop before the door opened. He walked out without looking until…

“Spike?”

Spike opened his eyes when he heard his name. He was shocked when he found a blue dragoness and five mares sitting in the room he just walked into. The dragoness was Ember. When dragons and ponies made peace with each other, she and her father, Torch, were made members of the council between nations. She had been studying Gundams to aid her father in preparing Neo-Canterlot with the best way of winning the tournament.

Two of the mares were earth ponies named Pinkie Pie and Applejack. The two lived in a small town on the colony of Neo-Canterlot called Ponyville. Pinkie Pie worked in a bakery that doubled as her home with her employers, the Cakes. And Applejack ran her family farm. However, along with that, Pinkie Pie also studied more cooking and Applejack studied Gundam Mechanics.

There were also two pegasi named Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash worked as part of Neo-Canterlot Cloudsdale’s enforcement task force, the Wonderbolts. But given how she found Gundams awesome, in her words, she began studying how to become a mechanic to one day be part of the Gundam crew for Neo-Canterlot.

Fluttershy, like Applejack and Pinkie, lived in Ponyville as well. She mainly took care of animals as her job. And like the others, she also studied medical training as a nurse on the side.

And the last among them was an alicorn, Princess Twilight. As kids, she and Spike grew up together and viewed each other as family. And though she is a princess, Twilight does do her part to help the community of Ponyville like her friends. It was difficult for her to say goodbye to Spike long ago, but now she was happy and relieved to see him again before her.

“SPIKE!”

Before anyone could say anything, Spike found himself in a tight grip of Pinkie Pie. “Oh Spike! It’s so good to see you again! It’s been so long! Have you gotten taller? What have you been up to? How’s-?”

“Pinkie? How about you let him breathe so he can answer one question first?” Rainbow said with her usual attitude.

Pinkie looked to see Spike was turning blue a bit before she released him. “Oopsie. Sorry Spike.”

“It’s… Okay Pinkie…” He said catching his breath.

“Yeah, so what have you been doing for the past few years Spike?” She asked.

“I’ve been travelling the world, seeing new places and meeting new friends. Otherwise, same old, same old.” Spike shrugs a bit.

“Glad to hear it.” Rainbow Dash said as she hugs him, “I missed you.”

“Same here RD.” He said as he hugged back.

“Just so you know, don’t mention this to other Gundam teams, got it?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah, I got it, so what have you been doing RD?” He asked Rainbow Dash.

“I’ve been studying to be a Gundam Mechanic for a long time. I wanna figure out to help build the best Gundam ever and make my own mark on the tournament,” Rainbow said with a smirk.

“You haven’t changed a bit have you RD?” He said with a smirk as well.

“Nope. And I never will.” She smirks more and pounds her chest with pride.

Spike was then hugged by Fluttershy and Applejack before Twilight approached him and hugged him as tight as she could. “It’s really good to see you Spike. I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too Twi. And Ember. How are things going with your mechanic work?”

“Going okay. Dad is determined to have the perfect Gundam for the tournament.”

“Yeah. By the way, while I am glad to see you all again, what brings you here?”

Twilight scratched her cheek a bit before responding, “We were gonna ask you the same thing.”

“Because I called you all here.”

They all looked to see the door open to reveal a blue ram in a military uniform. Spike had a bit of a hard glare towards the goat as he said, “General Grogar.”

“Spike. Glad you all could make it.”

“What’s this about? Why are we here?” Spike asked with a serious tone.

Grogar cleared his throat, while ignoring Spike’s glare, before speaking, “Because Spike. We need you to fight for Neo-Canterlot as our Gundam fighter.”

This caught everyone by surprise. Twilight then asked, “But I don’t understand. We already have somepony to represent Neo-Canterlot. My brother Shining Armor-.”

“Your brother is a traitor to our nation Princess Twilight!” Grogar said, cutting her off.

“Hold your tongue old goat! You say he is a traitor, but do you think that I should believe you for one second?” Spike glares at Grogar.

“Well… let me show you rather than telling you, you stubborn dragon.” Grogar spat out venomously.

“Okay, show me…” Spike still not trusting what Grogar says.

Grogar then led Spike and the girls to what appeared to be stone statues of his father Bahamut, his stepmother Celestia, and his step aunt Luna.

“What…? What is this? What happened to them?” Spike asked in disbelief.

“Let me tell you from the beginning,” Grogar stated as he stood in front of the statues. “You see Shining Armor was said to be developing a machine, a Gundam, to help repair Equus. It would do so through its three main functions: self-recover, self-replicate, and self-evolve. However, after the Gundam was finished, Shining revealed he had planned to use the Gundam to wipe out all creatures on the planet. Authorities tried to take him in, but he escaped with what we’re now calling the Devil Gundam to the planet. Unfortunately, given how they were the ones to approve his project, the council held your family responsible and sentenced them to this stone statue state. The only way to have them freed is for Shining to be brought in and for Neo-Canterlot to win the tournament.”

Spike couldn’t believe what was before him. He believes Shining Armor wouldn't do something so terrible, but has trouble denying the evidence before him.

“Now do you see what Shining has brought to your family? This is the reason why we want you in the Gundam Fight, to free your stepmother, your father, and your step aunt. Do you understand what I am saying? Shining Armor must be brought in. Or he must be brought down,” Grogar said with utter seriousness.

Spike sighed and said, “Alright… I’ll join the Gundam Fight… But know this, I will find out the truth of this troubling information. Do I make myself clear? I won’t kill Shining Armor, even for all of this, I won’t kill him. But I do promise I’ll bring him in.”

“Alright… do as you wish… but you will bring Shining Armor to justice, is that clear?” He said with great amounts of seriousness.

“I will, whether good or ill, I’ll bring him to justice.” Spike replies to what Grogar says.

“So why exactly are we here Grogar?” Ember asked.

“I brought you girls here because of your skills and professions. You all will act as Spike’s crew. You, Applejack, and Ms. Dash will act as his head mechanics of the Gundam. Princess Twilight will act as your mental health doctor. Ms. Pie as your group’s chef. And Ms. Shy will act as the physical medic of the group.” Grogar said truthfully.

“Heh, first honest answer I got from you all day… I never thought I’d see that happen.” Spike smirks.

“Grr… If your stepmother hadn’t raised you…” Grogar said with a little hatred.

“I’m glad she did, or I would have been your pawn. Though you have convinced me that Shining did something to cause this incident, I will find out the truth myself.” He replied with an intense glare at Grogar.

“Alright… But know this, if you falter in any way during your mission, we will find some creature else to pilot your Gundam. Understand?” He said with utter venom.

“Got it... “ Spike said, still glaring daggers.

“Good,” Grogar said with a snuff. “Now follow me.”

Grogar then began leading the group to what looked to be a hanger where they were astounded by what they found. “Is that...?” Twilight asked.

“Yes,” Grogar said. “It was to be Shining’s. But now, as I said, it’s Spike’s Gundam.”

Before them all, standing building high, was a Gundam. It was mostly white with red and white shoulder cover armor, blue wrist covers, blue and red side shin covers, red claw feet, green eyes, and a blue chest with a green translucent circle in the center. It had sharp claws for hands and a long metallic tail.

Ember looked to the gundam in amazement. “What’s it called?”

“The Shining Dragon Gundam.”

Everyone looked to see a dragon approach them. He had white horns curving down the side of his head and seeing him made Ember smile before hugging him. “Hi dad.”

“Good to see you daughter,” Torch said before shaking Spike’s hand. “Hello. Spike. I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your family.”

“Thank you sir,” Spike said as Torch led them closer to the Gundam. “So this is my Gundam huh?”

“Yes. Your father helped me design it before all of this mess started. I’m sure he’d be proud to have you pilot it,” Torch said before handing a pad of data to Ember. “Ember? Here’s the design schematics to it. You and your mechanics will need to understand it to help Spike.”

“You got it dad.”

“Yeah. No problem. We’ll have these things down in no time,” Rainbow said with her usual confident tone.

“Do not get cocky Rainbow, you have to memorize all of the design schematics or risk a major malfunction.” Torch stated truthfully.

“Alright, alright, geez…” She rolls her eyes.

He sighs being annoyed at the response and he says to his daughter, “I know you will keep her and Applejack in line.”

“Yes dad, don’t worry, I’ll get them into shape.” She sternly glares at both Rainbow Dash and Applejack, causing the two mares to chuckle nervously.

Twilight was looking at the Gundam in astonishment. “Wow. It’s incredible. I can’t wait to see it perform.”

“You’ll see sooner than you think,” Grogar said with his serious tone.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, feeling a little on edge by Grogar’s tone.

“What do you think I mean? Before your traitor of a brother ran off, we weren’t able to test the Shining Dragon Gundam. And we can’t send it out to the tournament without fully testing it.” Grogar said with pure venom.

Spike darkly glared at Grogar, “I don’t know if I trust what you have in mind Grogar. I already told you I won’t kill Shining Armor when I find him.”

“Whatever your concern is. For now, get ready. You’re about to take your first test as a Gundam pilot.”

“What do you have in mind exactly for him to do?” Ember asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Grogar then walked away with a huff.

“Man that guy is a grouch. Might as well call him Grouchgar,” Rainbow said.

“Oh this is so exciting. Spike gets to pilot a gundam for the first time. I can’t wait!” Pinkie said with excitement.

“Don’t get too excited. You don’t know who is going to be Spike’s opponent.” Torch said with seriousness to Pinkie.

“Who is it going to be?” Spike asked.

“I am going to be your opponent.” Grogar said with utter seriousness through a sound speaker.

“What?!” Spike said with great shock.

“Yes I am going to be your opponent Spike. I’ll be remote, mind piloting a dummy gundam to face you as your first opponent.” He said with complete seriousness.

“That… is not going to be easy.”

“But isn’t that unfair?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah. Spike isn’t as experienced as Shining is or as you are. Won’t it be too difficult?” Fluttershy asked.

Grogar was about to respond in his angry tone but Torch cut him off, “That’s the reason Spike should face Grogar. There will be opponents with as much experience, if not more than, Grogar. In order to make sure Spike is ready, facing someone like that will prepare him for what is to come.”

Spike seemed hesitant for a moment but eventually accepted the circumstances. “Alright. I’ll do it.”

“Good,” Grogar said smirking. “Torch. Get Spike into the gundam and have him outside in it. And also get his new crew to their stations.”

Grogar then walked off while Torch reached for one of his console’s buttons and pressed it. They all then watched as the roof above them began opening above the Gundam. “Spike. In your fights on Equus, you’ll be using the Corelander most of the time, but for now, take the elevator up to its cockpit. We’ll walk you through activating the mobile tray system once you’re inside.”

Spike nodded before looking to the girls where Twilight said, “Good luck Spike.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Spike said with a smile before he walked over to the elevator leading up to the gundam’s cockpit. As the elevator rose, he watched as Torch led the others to computers. Soon, he reached the cockpit and looked inside. It looked dark and saw a large ring like device above it. He climbed inside before the hatch shut, and he felt a jolt for a moment. He looked outside to see the Gundam was being raised out of the hanger and above the ground, before the hatch shut. The lights then started coming on before the comlinks came on with Ember asking, “Spike? You inside?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m here,” Spike said as he looked around the inside of the cockpit. “So what do I do now?”

“Just stand in the middle, and be ready. Once the mobile tray system is activated, it won’t be easy getting through it,” Torch said as he spoke through the com as well.

“Ummm okay,” Spike said as he stood below the middle of the mobile tray ring above him. Not long after, it soon started rotating slowly before lowering down towards him as it started covering him in a black like fabric. However, it also made Spike struggle to just stand up as it moved further down. “Ahhhh!!! It feels like it's trying to pull me apart!”

“Spike!” Rainbow said over the com. “Relax. It hurts because you’re trying to fight it. Just calm down and let it flow down.”

Spike gritted his teeth for a moment before taking a deep breath and standing up slowly. He remained calm as the ring continued rotating and moved further down Spike’s body, covering him in a black suit with a red circle on the chest, yellow antennas on his wrists and shoulders, and a blue collar around his neck. “Whooo. Glad that’s over.”

The ring then raised up before opening in the middle and spreading to the walls while multiple screens appeared around him while a computer voice said, “Mobile tray system checking brain waves, blood pressure, pulse, respiration, temperature, metabolism. All green.”

“Alright Spike. You now have full control of the Shining Dragon Gundam through your control suit. Lift your right hand and flex your fingers,” Ember’s voice said.

Spike did as instructed and lifted his right arm, noticing as the Gundam did the same. “Wow. This is incredible.”

“This technology is more advanced than you think Spike, instead of you piloting a standard cockpit with buttons and other controls, this allows you to control the Gundam itself with your claws, feet, tail and your entire body.” Torch said truthfully.

“Enough wasting time, let’s get on with the fight!” Grogar growled.

“That is enough Grogar, he needs to get used to the controls, once he does, you will be able to fight him!” Torch yelled at him.

“What better time to get used to the controls than in a fight?” Grogar stated knowing that he is right.
Soon a mobile suit with a gundam head with ram horns, red upper body armor and blue lower body armor, and center camera eye landed in front of the Shining Dragon Gundam.

Twilight was angered and said, “Grogar! See reason and-!”

“It’s okay Twilight,” Spike said. “He’s right. I need to learn fast and this may be the best, probably the only way to learn fast enough.”

“Spike? Are you sure?” Ember asked.

“I am,” Spike said with determination. “Alright. Grogar. Let’s do this.”

“Good. Now let’s start properly. Gundam Fight! Ready!” Grogar said, getting his puppet into stance.

“GO!” Spike yelled as the Shining Dragon Gundam ran at the puppet.

Grogar’s dummy Gundam tried to make the first hit but Spike’s Gundam deflected the first hit and then Spike’s Gundam landed the first blow intensively. As the dummy Gundam staggered back and regained its composure, it then landed a successful blow on Spike’s Gundam. And then Grogar yells out his main attack, “Rapid Ram Jabs!”

And the dummy Gundam threw a flurry of jabs and punches and it causes Spike to make his Gundam dodge as he thinks, ‘Damn! If the Gundam Fight is this hard, it is going to be challenging!’

Spike then made a charge for Grogar’s gundam, but the dummy gundam was ready. The Shining Dragon Gundam threw a fist, only for Grogar’s to catch its arm before throwing Spike over its shoulder. Spike’s Gundam quickly got back to its feet before Grogar’s began its rapid assault once again. Grogar’s gundam struck with a right cross, followed by a left one, then grabbed the Shining Dragon Gundam by the shoulder before landing a punch to its face with its right fist. The dummy then grabbed Spike’s Gundam’s head before kneeing it in the face three times before kicking it in the chest and pushing it back. Spike looked up just in time to see Grogar’s dummy gundam charging right at him and sent him and his gundam into the air with a double uppercut and then flew above him to send him back to the ground with a tornado axe kick. The others watched in worry as the smoke cleared to show the Shining Dragon Gundam on one knee, barely holding itself up before Grogar’s dummy landed in front of him.

“Is that the best you can do?” Grogar’s voice asked over the dummy gundam’s speaker. “Is that all you have to offer? If so, I might as well make sure you can’t embarrass our colony with these iron horns.”

The dummy gundam’s horns then began glowing red before it reared its head back. “Buster Blast!” Grogar yelled out before he fired a powerful beam right at Spike, who crossed his gundam’s arms in front of him to block the attack, but he still struggled against it.

“If this is all you can do, your family is doomed and Shining Armor will release his weapon all over the world!” Grogar said as he kept on intensifying the blast. Spike gritted his teeth as he kept struggling to hold out against the blast.

“Grogar! That’s enough!” Torch yelled into the coms. “He’s had enough! Stop the fight!”

“Silence!” Grogar responded. “If he can’t do any better than this, he has no right to even go after Shining Armor or attempt to save his family. Let alone take Shining’s place in the Gundam Tournament!”

Spike continued gritting his teeth as he kept listening. “No… I won’t… Lose!”

After he said that, Spike’s hand began glowing a bit with a symbol of a king with magic wands behind him appearing on it. And along with that, the computers began going off, causing Ember to run to it along with the others.

“Ember? What’s going on?” Twilight asked with worry.

“I… I think Spike’s activated one of the Gundam's weapons,” Ember said.

“Grogar…” Spike said as he slowly got his gundam to its feet. “You may have those iron horns… BUT I HAVE THESE GOLDEN TALONS!!!”

Spike then raised his right hand against the blast as, to everyone’s surprise, his hand began to glow green. And along with that, the face cover of his gundam opened.

“He’s done it…” Torch said in disbelief. “He’s managed to activate it.”

“Activate what Mr. Torch?” Fluttershy asked with worry.

“The Shining Dragon Gundam’s main attack.”

“Shining!” Spike said as the booster on the back of his gundam began pushing his hand through the blast as it glowed brighter and brighter.

“CLAW!!!” Spike yelled out as he gripped the dummy gundam’s head with powerful might.

“Arrrrgggghhhh!!!” Spike yelled out. Electricity began to surge from the dummy as Spike’s grip grew tighter until finally, the dummy gundam’s head was crushed completely and destroyed, causing its body to then fall down in defeat. The Shining Dragon Gundam’s face cover then retracted back while its hand returned to normal and let out smoke as it began to cool.

Inside the cockpit, Spike was panting a bit while looking at his hand. “I did it…” Spike said before he clenched his fist shut. “I’ve proven myself. I will find Shining Armor, stop the Devil Gundam, win the Gundam Fight Tournament, and earn my family their freedom!”

The Shining Dragon Gundam stood proud as the others watched in admiration.

“Well done Spike…” Torch said. “Well done. You have proven yourself ready to be our representative Gundam fighter.”

Later that day, Twilight stood in an office inside of the building. On the desk was a name plaque that read “Shining Armor”. Beside it was a picture of her as a little girl. With her was her sister-in-law, Cadence, an alicorn like her with pink fur and a long pink, yellow, and purple mane, and a crystal heart cutie mark on her skirt. Cadence was holding her daughter, Flurry Heart, who was laughing with a tight grip on her mother’s mane, with Cadence holding a forced smile. Along with them was Spike, who was even younger than Twilight at the time. And he was riding on the shoulders of a white unicorn with a blue mane and a blue and pink shield cutie mark on his shirt. She picked up the picture and placed her hand over the stallion as some tears formed in her eyes. “Shining Armor.”

“Hey.”

Twilight looked behind her to see Spike walking in. She turned her gaze back to the picture as Spike walked to her side and looked at the picture himself. “We’re going to find him Twilight. I promise.”

Twilight stared harder at the picture before looking down a bit. “Spike?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you believe what Grogar said? About Shining Armor taking the Devil Gundam to Equus to bring harm to others?”

Twilight waited for Spike’s answer, but after a bit of silence, she turned to Spike who appeared to be deep in thought. “Spike?”

“Twilight,” Spike started before letting out a sigh. “I honestly don’t know what to believe anymore. I know Shining would never try to bring harm to others no matter what, but with what Grogar has said and the state my family is in, it presents a hard counter argument.”

This made Twilight feel nervous. Had Spike lost faith in Shining Armor?

“However,” Spike continued. “There’s one thing I do believe. If Shining Armor did do any of that himself or if something made him do it, I believe there’s still enough good in his heart to break him free and bring him back to us.”

Twilight smiled a bit while some tears of joy ran down her cheeks before she hugged Spike, who returned the embrace. “I really missed you Spike. It’s good to have you back.”

“It’s good to be back Twilight,” Spike said before they broke their hug. “Now come on. Let’s go meet up with the others and get ready to head out.”

“R… Right,” Twilight said looking at the picture one more time. She was about to put it down, but Spike put his hand over hers before she did. “Bring it with us. I don’t think it will hurt.”

Twilight smiled again before holding the picture in her arms as she followed Spike out of the office. They both continued walking until they found the others standing by what appeared to be a shuttle with Torch standing by them as well. “This shuttle will take you down to Equus. The tournament will start tomorrow and your Gundam will arrive by then in its transport carrier.”

“Thanks dad,” Ember said as she stood by the entrance to the shuttle.

“So where’s Grogar?” Spike asked as he looked around.

“He decided he didn’t need to see you off.”

“That’s the first good thing I’ve heard about him all day,” Rainbow said with a huff.

“Oh by the way,” Torch said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper with names of places on it. “This is a list of places where some claim they’ve seen a stallion match Shining Armor’s description. May help give you some clues to finding him. Your first stop will be the Crystal Empire. You’ll be met by Princess Cadence and her daughter, Flurry Heart.”

“That’s good to hear,” Twilight said before something came to mind. “Have you or Grogar told them?”

“No,” Torch said with respect in his eyes. “I believed it’d be better if someone in the family told them.”

“Thank you Torch,” Spike said shaking his hands. “Keep an eye on my dad, mom, and Aunt Luna for me. I don’t trust Grogar enough around them.”

“You have my word Spike. And good luck,” Torch said with a small smile. “Now get going. You don’t have a moment to lose.”

Spike nodded. “Right,” the dragon said before he and the girls loaded up into the shuttle. The shuttle ignited and began taking off, with some of the girls waving goodbye to Torch.

As the shuttle entered outer space to head for the planet of Equus, only one thought was running through Spike’s mind. ‘Dad. Mom. Aunt Luna. I promise. I will find Shining Armor, stop the Devil Gundam, and earn you your freedom from your statue states. I swear I will not fail.’

Battle for the Crystal Empire

The screen is black for a moment before a male kirin with a red suit and an eye patch over his eye appeared sitting in a chair.

“Hello everyone my name is Stalker and I am what you call a Kirin. I am here to tell you about this event known as the Gundam Fight. Long ago, Planet Equus was overpopulated and the technology had advanced to the point where many inhabitants began moving out into space to live in space colonies. To prevent war between colonies, a proposal was made. The Gundam Fight itself. Each colony would send a representative fighter piloting a Gundam to fight in a tournament. The Gundams fight, and they fight, and they fight until only one is left standing to win the rights of leadership for the next four years over all of the other colonies. And this year’s tournament will be starting in what was left of the Crystal Empire. It’s been put into pretty bad shape, nearly destroyed, due a rebellion between two warring dragon tribes, one led by Sludge, who is dishonorable and willing to put people in danger and the other being the now honorable Garble, who leads a tribe that has offered to aid the Crystal Empire in trying to keep the peace and is the representative of the Neo-Bitaly. And his Gundam is known as the legendary Crimson Dragon Gundam, whose power has no rival. But will that change now, we will see today.”

Stalker then stands up, takes his red suit jacket and eyepatch off, and says, “Gundam Fight set! Ready!… GO!”

Chapter 1: Battle For the Crystal Empire

1 year earlier…

“Hey Flurry Heart, you here?” Candance said with concern. She was searching around a rather beaten up playground in worry.

“I’m here mom…” A young voice pops out. Cadence looks to see Flurry Heart walking from behind a jungle gym.

“Oh Flurry! You’re okay!” She comes running and hugging her daughter, “Where were you?! I was worried sick about where you were!”

\“I… I’m sorry mom… I was with some friends…” She said looking down.

“I know you want to spend time with your friends but… there are two dragon tribes that are fighting here. Garble is trying to help us but Sludge is intent on destroying the Crystal Empire. His attack is said to come soon. And I don’t want to risk you getting caught by one of Sludge’s gangsters. Be more careful.” She said with a worried face.

“I-I understand mom, how long until it does happen?” Flurry Heart asks.

“From the reports… 2 days…” Her mother answered with great worry.

“Oh no. There will be a lot of ponies killed if there’s no evacuation.” She said looking scared

“Exactly and it might be sooner… it might be even tomorrow. So that is why I want you safe Flurry…” Cadence said as she rubbed Flurry’s head. Flurry then clung to her mom, hugging her tightly with Cadence gently returning it.

“Mom?”

“Yes Flurry?” Cadence asked, trying to show a little comfort to her daughter.

“I’m scared. What if something really bad happens?” Flurry asked.

“Don’t worry. Don’t forget your father is going to be piloting the Gundam to represent Neo-Canterlot in the tournament this year. Not to mention he did say he had a project that could change the world and help make things peaceful,” Cadence said.

She made Flurry look to her and smiled at her while wiping away some forming tears. “Keep faith in your father that he will help put an end to all of this damage. Okay?”

Flurry sniffed a bit before wiping her eyes and looking to her mother with a small smile of her own. “Okay mom. I will.”

“Good. Now how about we get home and get some food in our bellies?”

Flurry Heart nodded before holding her mother’s hand and following her back home.

Present day

Flurry Heart laid in bed, fast asleep, clinging to a stuffed animal. She was sleeping peacefully when she heard her mother call out to her, “Flurry! Come down here, please!”

“Mom. I’m tired,” said Flurry, still sleepy.

“You have a surprise waiting for you,” Cadence said with a bit of excitement. Flurry sighed before getting up and rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. She made her way out of her room and soon came to the one Cadence was calling her from. “Okay mom. What’s the big su…?”

Flurry stopped talking when she found what Cadence was excited about. There stood her Aunt Twilight, Spike, and their friends. She let out a happy yell as she ran over and hugged Twilight. “Aunt Twilight! You’re here. It’s great to see you again.”

Twilight rubbed her niece’s head while smiling and returning the hug. “It’s good to see you too Flurry. Wow. You are getting big.”

Cadence smiled at the scene before asking, “So what brings you all here?”

“Because Spike’s competing in the Gundam Tournament as Neo-Canterlot’s representative!” Pinkie said in her usual excited tone.

“Pinkie!” Rainbow said.

“What?”

The pink mare’s statement confused Cadence and Flurry. “What? What’s she talking about?” Cadence asked.

“Yeah. I thought dad was representing Neo-Canterlot. Speaking of, where is dad?” Flurry asked with a little concern.

The two then noticed everyone gained concerned looks before Twilight said, “You two may wanna sit down for what you’re about to hear.”

Half an Hour later…

Cadence and Flurry stared at the group in disbelief. “No… No… It can’t be true. He wouldn’t do that,” Cadence said in disbelief.

“I’m sorry. We’re only telling you what Grogar told us,” Ember said. Spike noticed Flurry was trembling a little after the explanation.

“Flurry? Are you okay?” Spike asked with concern.

“What do you think Spike? I just… I can’t believe my dad would do that…” She said with great sadness.

“It does look bad for Shining… But… I can’t shake the feeling that there is more to what Grogar says but for now, it looks to be true.” Spike said with regret.

“No…” Flurry said, about to start crying. However, she stopped when Spike put a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t lose hope Flurry. Like I said, there’s a chance Grogar hasn’t told us the complete truth. And I believe no matter what happened to Shining, he still has goodness in his heart,” Spike said, smiling at Flurry.

Flurry sniffled a bit before smiling back at the dragon. “Thanks Spike.”

“So Cadence?” Twilight asked, “What’s been going on here in the Crystal Empire lately? Anything new happen?” The others then noticed as Cadence grimaced a little at Twilight’s question.

“Princess Cadence?” Pinkie asked.

“Let’s just say something new has happened here. Just not for the better girls,” Cadence said.

“Princess Cadence? Flurry Heart? Is everything… okay? Spike? Ember? What in Tartarus are you doing here?” A familiar red dragon coming into view.

“Garble?! Is… that you?!” Spike asked in shock.

“Yep. It’s been a while, huh?” Garble said with a soft smile.

“Yeah, it has. Not since we helped you show your true self to other dragons. How’s the poetry hobby coming along?” Spike said as he smiles back.

“Good. But on hold for now. As you can see, my gang and I have been trying to keep the peace from a dragon named Sludge. He’s a despicable dragon and trust me when I say, he is pure evil, do not trust him,” He said with a serious tone and look.

“Yeah. I know him. He tried pulling a trick on me once. Pretended to be my dad all so he could take advantage of my home,” Spike said with a bit of a hard look.

“And I remember banishing him for causing such a problem after getting the peace between dragons and ponies finally done,” Ember said.

Flashback

Ember stood firmly as she was pacing around her throne chamber. She appeared agitated as she waited. Not long after, two dragon guards came in while escorting an older male dragon with light green skin with blue scales from his head running down his back to his tail. He was also wearing torn up pants and a torn up shirt.

“We found Sludge, Dragon Lord Ember,” one of the guards said.

“Good,” Ember said. “Leave us.”

“As you say Dragon Lord,” the guard said before they all walked out.

Sludge scratched his belly a bit before asking, “So what do you want me for? Do you need me to find some food for the place or-?”

“Be quiet,” Ember said in a serious tone that made Sludge shut up along with the glare she gave him. “I have put up with a lot of your shenanigans, Sludge. Stealing from other dragons, being lazy during hunts. But lying about being another dragon’s father just to gain his lifestyle. And to Spike no less.”

“That little runt? Who cares about him? I just did what any other dragon would’ve done.” Sludge said as if were no big deal.

“No they wouldn’t. Dragons have never lied about family since it is one of the few things we do value. And lying to Spike to make him think you were his father instead of Bahamut was an unacceptable action! Especially considering Spike has been working hard with his father to help finalize the peace and alliances between ponies and dragons of our colonies,” Ember said with anger in her voice.

“Whatever,” Sludge said, stretching a little. “Can I go now?”

“Go?” Ember asked. “Yeah. You can go alright. Out of the Dragon Lands.”

“What?” Sludge asked, a bit confused.

Ember took a deep breath to try and calm herself before she spoke, “I’m sorry Sludge. But after your recent, out of line actions, especially to one who’s trying to help our people, you are hereby banished from the Dragon Lands.”

Ember the raised the bloodstone scepter and a spell covered Sludge for a moment. “As soon as your out of the Dragon Lands, that spell will prevent you from returning. It will only vanish from you when or if you realize how out of line your actions have been.”

“You can’t do this!” Sludge said. “I just did what any other dragon would’ve done.”

“That’s where you’re wrong Sludge,” Ember said. “I’m sorry. But you brought this on yourself. Guards!”

Soon, two dragon guards entered the room. “Take Sludge outside of the Dragon Lands and leave him there. And let everyone know that until he is able to return, he is not to be trusted.”

“Yes Dragon Lord Ember,” one of the guards said before they took Sludge by the arms, who began struggling, before dragging him out of the room.

Later outside of the Dragon Lands, the guards threw Sludge to the ground at the edge of the area before flying back in. Sludge tried to follow them, but the spell Ember put on him made it feel like he was flying into a wall every time he tried.

After many failed attempts, Sludge slammed his fist on the invisible wall only blocking him with a glare at the lands he had been banished from. “I’ll get my revenge on you Ember! I’ll make you pay for this one day! I swear it!”

Flashback ends.

“I haven’t seen him since. But from what you’ve said, he hasn’t changed at all,” Ember said.

“What’s he even doing here?” Twilight asked.

“He wants to wipe out all creatures. Ponies, dragons, griffons, you name it. He’s been gathering others who want to join him in causing trouble. That’s one of the reasons the Crystal empire is kind of deserted right now. They’re trying to avoid him as much as possible,” Cadence said with concern.

“That’s one of the reasons me and my gang are here,” said Garble. “While we’re not officially a part of the law here, the authorities have agreed to let us help track him and his goons down. After all, sometimes it takes dragons to find dragons.”

“That’s good that you want to help this place, Garble. If you need any help, just give me a call or whistle,” Spike said with a smile.

They all then heard a sudden growling like noise. They all jumped a bit when they heard it before they looked to Pinkie who smiled and rubbed the back of her head a bit. “Sorry. Guess I got a little hungry on the way here.”

They all chuckled a bit before Cadence spoke, “Garble? Why don’t you take them somewhere to get some food? I’m sure you could use a break yourself?”

“You sure?” Garble asked.

“Of course,” Cadence said. “Things are a bit quiet right now so I doubt it’d hurt if you took a small break yourself.”

“... Alright. I guess I could use a small break,” Garble said before looking at the group. “You guys follow me. I know a great place to get some food.”

“Lead the way dude,” Spike said before Garble began leading them out the door. Once they were gone, Flurry Heart sat down by Cadence.

“Mom?”

“Yes Flurry?”

“Do you think it’s true? Do you think dad did all of those things?” Flurry asked, a bit worried with a small tear in her eye.

Cadence remained silent for a moment before sighing. “To be honest sweetheart. It’s hard to tell what the real story is. But I do know this…”

Cadence carefully wiped the tear from Flurry’s eye before smiling. “Your father is a good stallion, and he would never do anything without a good reason. If something did happen with him, I’m sure it’s because he was trying to do the right thing. Just have faith in him. Like Spike and your Aunt Twilight.”

Flurry sniffled a bit but smiled afterwards. “Okay mom. I will.”

“Good. Now how about we get you a bath?”

Meanwhile, Garble was leading the group through the streets while the group was looking around.

“Wow. Cadence was right,” Rainbow said looking around. “There aren’t many out around this time huh?”

“Not really,” Garble said while he didn’t have to look around. “Sludge has been causing a lot of trouble around here. He’s been making a gang of his own to help him. Any creature who wants to cause trouble. Griffons, ponies, dragons, even yetis. Any of them who want to be bad and do damage.”

“I knew Sludge was trouble. But this overkill.” Spike looked around himself to see vandalization.

They soon arrived at a building with an italian like decor on the outside. “Wow. Fancy looking,” Rainbow said.

“Just wait until you try the food,” Garble said with a small smirk. “Even for us dragons, living in a place like the Crystal Empire, we have plenty of gems to be put in our food.”

However, not long after the building came into sight, they heard a ruckus going on inside followed by a chair being thrown out of the door. They also heard more commotion going on before running to the door.

Inside, a young earth filly with a tan brownish fur coat and a red mane and tail in black shorts and a red shirt with a scissors cutie mark on it was behind a pink earth mare with a yellow mane and tail wearing blue jeans with a white shirt with a sunflower on it, with the older mare standing protectively in front of the filly. Around them, a griffon, a dragon, and a yeti were making a mess of the place.

The griffon knocked another chair back before glaring at the mare. “Okay Sunflower. Now how about I ask you again. You pay us the money for our protection or we keep tearing up your store until we have to turn our sights on you and your little sister there.”

“You’re not gonna touch Babs!” Yelled the mare known as Sunflower. “I won’t pay anything. Especially since you gangsters are the only trouble in the Crystal Empire!”

“Wrong answer sweetheart,” the dragon said before glaring at the two with a smirk. “Looks like-ah!”

The dragon was cut off by Garble putting him in a headlock from behind and pulling him back a bit. “I think you guys have outstayed your welcome at this place.”

The griffon and the yeti turned to Garble before the yeti said, “Well look who it. The princess’s little dragon assistant. You think you can tell us what to do Garble? Well guess what. You’re wrong!”

The yeti made a run at Garble, only to be knocked to the ground by Spike. Spike looked to Garble with a smirk. “Couldn’t let you have all of the fun.”

Garble smirked back before seeing the griffon run at him with a knife in his hand. Garble pushed the dragon to the ground before dodging a left swing of the knife and then dodged a right. He then caught the griffon’s hand and slammed it to his knee, making the griffon drop the knife. The griffon then tried to throw a fist, but Garble kneed him in the stomach before he could and then followed with a right cross that sent the griffon to the ground.

The yeti then picked up a meat cleaver before running at Spike and swinging it around, with Spike dodging each swing easily. Spike eventually caught the yeti’s arm and twisted it behind his back before kicking him to the ground. He turned around to see the dragon making a run at him, and the dragon almost reached him only for a frying pan to be thrown at his face and knocking him back down to the ground. Spike looked over his shoulder to see Ember was the one who threw it and was giving him a thumbs up, which he returned.

Garble then dodged a punch from the griffon again before knocking him into the wall. He then grabbed the griffon by the neck and was about to punch him as hard as he could, only to be stopped by Spike. “What? What’s the deal Spike?”

“They’ve had enough. Let him go and let them get out of here. It’s obvious they know they can’t handle both of us,” Spike said.

Garble seemed hesitant for a moment before letting the griffon go. The griffon slid to the ground before looking up at the two glaring dragons before Garble said, “Beat it.”

The griffon glared back before he and his two friends made their way out of the building as quickly as possible. “This ain’t over Garble!”

The two dragons and their friends watched as the gangsters ran off. After that, the mares and Ember all began entering. “Well… That was something,” Applejack said, as they all looked over the damage.

“Applejack?”

Applejack looked to Sunflower, who seemed happy to see her. “Well howdy cousin Sunflower. It’s been awhile,” Applejack said while sharing a hug with her cousin. She was soon hugged by Sunflower’s sister, Babs soon after. “And you too Babs. Boy you’re getting taller and taller every time I see you.”

“Good to see you cuz,” Babs said before Sunflower looked to Spike and Garble.

“Thank you. Both of you,” Sunflower said.

“No problem,” said Spike.

“So…” Garble started. “What was that all about?”

Sunflower held Babs close before speaking, “Some of Sludge’s lackies. Sludge forced his protection onto my restaurant. Those guys came for money, I refused, and it led to that.”

Garble sighed and rubbed his eyes a bit. “Of course. Once again Sludge is the issue.”

“But that’s over now,” Sunflower said as she smiled to them all. “As a thank you, allow me to cook you all some food. Free of charge.”

“I guess we can allow that,” Ember said with a smile.

“Great,” Sunflower said. “Just give me a moment to get the kitchen cleaned and prepared. In the meantime, have a seat and take a look at our menu.”

Sunflower and Babs walked back into the kitchen while the others sat down. Everyone, except Garble. “Garble?” Spike asked.

“I’m gonna go and tell Cadence about what’s happened. Sooner she knows about this, the sooner something can be done,” Garble said.

“Want me to come with you?” Spike asked.

“Nah,” Garble said holding his hand up. “You guys stick here. Enjoy some food. I should be back quickly.”

Spike sat back down while Garble walked out and flew off. “Alright then. Let’s chow down.”

“Yay!” Pinkie said before looking at her menu.

Meanwhile, with the gangsters, they were running until they came to a building that appeared abandoned on the outside.

“So… Who’s gonna be the one to tell the boss?” The dragon asked.

“Not it!” The griffon yelled.

“He freaks me out,” the yeti said.

“Fine,” the dragon said. “I guess I’ll tell him then.”

The three gulped before entering the building. They saw a lot of creatures, dressed similar to them sitting around doing their own thing as they made their way through the place until they came to a door with plaque that says “Boss” on it. They pushed the door open and walked in to hear the sound of crunching. They approached a desk where the chair was facing away from them. And it was also where they could hear the crunching from. The dragon gulped before asking, “Ummm… Boss?”

The crunching immediately stopped and the chair turned around to show a dragon with light green body scales and blue head and tail scales was eating a bowl of gems. Unlike Spike and Garble, this dragon was far from fit. It was Sludge. And by the looks of it, he hasn’t changed over the years.

He took another handful of gems in his mouth and ate before letting out a loud belch. He wiped some drool off of his mouth before slamming the bowl to the desk before picking up a cup of water. “Yeah? What do you want? Did you get the money from that chef pony?”

“Well...” the dragon started. “Not exactly.”

The three jumped when they heard a breaking sound. They looked to see their boss had crushed and shattered the cup in his hand before he looked to them with a glare. “What?”

“Mr. Sludge. We’re sorry it was just-.”

“You mean to tell me, you ran from an Earth pony and her little brat sister?!”

“But Sludge,” the griffon started. “She wasn’t alone.”

The yeti then said, “Yeah! Garble was there. And he had another dragon with purple and green scales to help him out.”

“I don’t care-! Wait. Did you say he was purple and green?” Sludge asked.

“Yeah,” the griffon said.

“Was anyone with that dragon?” Sludge asked.

“Yeah,” the yeti said, “There were five mares and I think your old Dragon Lord, Ember. And from how he fought, we think he might be a Gundam fighter.”

Sludge remained silent for a moment, worrying the three in front of him. However, their worry became confusion when he started laughing.

“Mr. Sludge?” The dragon asked.

“I don’t believe it. Never thought I’d see Spike again,” Sludge said with a smirk.

“Spike?” The yeti asked.

“Yeah,” Sludge said. “A long time ago, when he was still a young teenager, I almost tricked him into believing I was his father instead of his real one. The dragon who married that Princess Celestia, Bahamut. I almost did until an annoying purple alicorn, some student princess of Celestia’s, got in my way and ruined everything by telling Celestia and Bahamut. They came to the next meeting I made with Spike and exposed everything. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Spike messaged Ember about it and that’s what lead to me being banished from the Dragon Lands by her. So now I can get revenge on Spike and Ember, and get rid of Garble all at the same time.”

“Sludge?” The yeti asked.

“What?”

“Does this mean you’re not mad about us getting the money now?”

Sludge stayed silent for a moment before smirking. “No. No. I’m not.”

“Great,” the dragon said with relief. “I was scared for a second that you’d-.”

“But,” Sludge interrupted. “Only if you do another job. And this time, don’t fail. Because if you do again.”

Sludge picked up a knife from his desk and threw it to where it shot between two of them and struck the wall, emphasizing their punishment if they fail.

“Get the picture?”

The three quickly nodded before coming closer where Sludge began whispering in their ears.

Meanwhile, Spike and the girls were leaving Sunflower’s restaurant. Pinkie Pie licked her muzzle clean before doing the same to her fingers. “Wow. That was some of the best cooking I’ve ever had.”

“Same here,” Applejack said. “I forgot how good Sunflower’s cooking is.”

Twilight was carrying a plate wrapped up. “I hope Cadence and Flurry like the food we bring them.”

“I’m sure they’ll like it just fine, Twilight,” Ember said while doing a bit of stretching.

“It was good,” Fluttershy said in her quiet tone. “Very good.”

Rainbow gave a small belch while she flapped by them with her wings. “I’ll say. I haven’t had food that good since I first started being a Wonderbolt. What did you think Spike?”

Spike remained silent.

“Spike?” Rainbow asked again.

When he didn’t answer a second time, they looked to see him looking at a photo he was carrying. It was a picture of him as a child with Celestia and Bahamut, who’s shoulders he was riding on. And with them was a smiling Luna.

Ember slowed down to stand beside him before looking to him with sympathy. “We’ll get them free Spike. I promise.”

Spike looked to her for a moment before smiling. “You’re right. We will.”

They soon arrived back at the castle and headed for Cadence’s room. Twilight said, “Hey Cadence. We’re back and we brought some-.”

Twilight stopped talking when they all saw what was before them. It even caused Twilight to drop the food she was carrying.

The room was a mess. There was broken glass on the ground from a broken window, a butch of furniture torn apart, broken vases and pictures, and what worried them the most was Cadence was unconscious and Flurry Heart was no where in sight.

Twilight ran over to her and held her up. “Cadence. Cadence wake up!”

Cadence began to stir a little before opening her eyes. “Twilight?”

“Yeah. It’s us,” Twilight said as she helped Cadence up and to a chair.

Spike approached her before asking, “Cadence? What happened here?”

“Sludge… Two of his gangsters,” Cadence said as she fully regained consciousness. “They slammed into the room. A yeti and a griffon. They attacked our home. I tried to take care of them myself while Flurry went to hide in her room but…”

“What about Garble?” Ember asked. “He said he was on his way here when we got to the restaurant earlier.”

Cadence rubbed her head a bit. “I… I remember him arriving right as I blacked out. But after that, I don’t know.”

“Girls!” Pinkie yelled running down, only for once, she was in a panicked state.

“What is it Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked.

“I went upstairs to make sure Flurry was okay. But… SHE’S GONE!!!”

“WHAT!?” All of the others yelled at once.

“Yeah. Her room is torn up and all I found was this,” Pinkie said before pulling out a piece of paper. Twilight quickly took the paper in her magic and looked to it.

“Oh no…” Twilight said as she read over the message.

“What is it Twilight?” Fluttershy asked in concern.

Twilight took a small gulp before reading the message out loud, “It says, ‘Flurry Heart is ours. If you want to see her or Garble again, you must send Spike to meet me in the plaza of the Crystal Empire. If he doesn’t show, the filly will die. Sludge.’ This isn’t good?”

“What do we do?” Rainbow asked.

“I think there’s only one thing to do,” Spike said. “I’m going to the plaza.”

“Spike?” Ember asked. “Is that really wise?”

“Yeah,” Applejack said. “Surely you can tell like the rest of us that no good varmint Sludge is setting a trap.”

Spike sighed before saying, “I know that. But right now I don’t think we have a-.”

“APPLEJACK!!!”

They all turned to see Sunflower running toward them. She stopped to catch her breath while Applejack approached her for support. “Sunflower? What’s up?”

Sunflower was panting as she tried to speak, “The dragon... After you left… He came back… Took her…”

“Took who?” Applejack asked concerned.

Sunflower finally caught her breath but also began crying. “Babs… That dragon took Babs…”

“What!?” Applejack yelled. “That varmint took Babs?”

“Seems like Sludge is serious,” Spike said. “Looks like we don’t have a choice. I have to go meet Sludge at the plaza. It’s the only chance we have to save Babs and Flurry.”

“But Spike-,” Twilight started.

“There’s no other way Twilight,” Spike said. “I don’t like it, but I’m not going to risk Flurry and Babs. But while I’m keeping him occupied, that might give you guys an opening to get them away from Sludge.”

This left them all silent for a moment before Rainbow said, “I hate to say it, but he makes a fair point. Him keeping Sludge’s attention should let us get those fillies out of harm’s way.”

“Then it’s settled. See you when you get there,” Spike said before he took off running out of the room before anyone could stop him.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled, but was unheard. When he was out of sight, Twilight sighed. “I swear. He can be so stubborn sometimes.

Later that day.

Sludge was sitting on an abandoned stairway to a building, munching on a bucket of gems with Flurry and Babs, both tied up and glaring at him.

“What’s your problem man?” Babs asked in a stern tone.

“Simple. Your sister doesn’t pay me the money she owes, she pays for the consequences of her actions,” Sludge said with gems in his mouth.

“You mean for protection that you forced on us you tub of lard?” Babs asked in a smart elek way.

“You little brat!” Sludge said glaring at Babs and smacked her to the side and against the wall with his tail.

“Leave her alone you jerk!” Flurry yelled.

“Or what?” Sludge asked while taking a tight grip on one of Flurry’s wings. He even plucked a feather from her wing and began using it to pick his teeth with.

“Spike’s gonna beat you to a pulp when he gets here,” Flurry said defiantly.

“Don’t bet on it,” Sludge said smirking. “Even when he does show up, like you two, he won’t make it out of here alive.”

Babs sat up and looked to the mark on her cheek from Sludge’s tail. “You sound confident for someone who’s so lazy he can’t fight for himself.”

Sludge glared at the filly as he stood over her. “If you don’t shut your mouth, I’m gonna tear out your tongue you little-.”

“SLUDGE!!!”

Sludge turned his sights around to see Spike flying in before landing and folding his wings. Sludge smirked before saying, “Well hey Spike. How ya been? Been a long time huh?”

“Not long enough Sludge,” Spike said with a bit of venom in his voice.

“Awww,” Sludge said in fake hurt voice. “Are you still mad about when we first met?”

“You mean when you lied to me and tried to convince me you were my real father instead of Bahamut just to take advantage of me and my home? Yeah. I’m still mad!”

“You really need to learn to get over it,” Sludge said before eating more gems.

“Maybe if you hand over the fillies you’ve kidnapped, I might consider going easy on you,” Spike said with a bit of anger.

Sludge remained silent before laughing, some of the gems he was eating were being spat out from this. “Yeah right. You didn’t think I’d just hand them over did you? Boys!”

Not long after, many of Sludge’s gangsters, some being unicorns with magic in their horns and the rest with crossbows, aimed at Spike.

“Open fire boys! Wipe him out!” Sludge yelled out.

All of the unicorns began firing their magic and the rest fired arrows at Spike as he was covered in smoke from the magic blasts.

“SPIKE!!!” Flurry and Babs yelled.

Sludge smirked at the sight of the smoke as his men stopped firing. However, his smirk quickly left when the smoke cleared to show Spike had taken no harm. The magic shots only hit the ground along with some arrows while some of the arrows were caught between Spike’s claws. “What the!? How did you-?!”

Spike grinned as the crest from his fight with Grogar appeared on his right hand again. The sight of it made one of the unicorns to gasp in fear. “Oh man. Boss. That crest! It’s the crest for the King of Sorcery! I’ve heard it used to belong to the unicorn who leads the Supreme Magic Sorcerer School for his magic and fighting skills! I heard rumors that he passed it down a student of his!”

An earth pony turned pale from hearing this. “So wait, are you saying that this dragon is-?”

“Yep,” Spike said before throwing the arrows aside. “I was trained by the unicorn who bears that title. And that’s why I’m not quitting until I get my friends back.”

“This is crazy!” One of the gangsters, a pegasus, yelled before dropping his crossbow. “I didn’t sign up to fight a legend! I’m outta here!”

“Get back here you worthless pony!” Sludge yells at him.

Soon after, his other gangsters took off running as well. Sludge groaned before saying, “Why is good help hard to find these days?”

“SLUDGE! Give Flurry and Babs back or else I’m coming over there and RIPPING your wings off!” Spike yelled out.

Spike’s threat seemed to unfaze Sludge. The larger dragon then smirked laughed a bit.

“What’s so funny?” Spike asked.

“Spike. I may not be a fighter, but I’m smart enough to have a backup plan when it comes to facing one. Let me show you,” Sludge said before snapping his fingers.

This confused Spike until, from the shadows, Garble walked into view. However, Spike noticed he was wearing some kind of helmet with a black mane, eye covers, and red horns on the forehead.

“Garble? What are you doing?” Spike asked.
However, Garble remained silent. This made Spike feel uneasy before he glared at Sludge again. “What have you done to him?”

“I got a little creative,” Sludge said with a smirk. “One of my guys found that helmet hidden around parts of the princess’s castle. After a little research, we found out it was an old controlling helmet from the old ruler of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra. Turns out whoever is forced to wear it can be controlled by who put it on them. Simply put, Garble is now my puppet.”

“You sick bastard!” Spike yelled out.

“Hey. It’s what I do,” Sludge said. “Garble. Get rid of him. And do it with your Crimson Dragon Gundam.”

The controlled Garble simply nodded before suddenly, the ground rumbled a bit and Garble was soon lifted up by a metallic dragon like hand while most of the abandoned building fell to the ground to reveal a Gundam.

Like Spike’s it had a metallic dragon tail and two dragon claw feet. It also had a sheathed axe on its back. The Gundam lifted Garble high enough for Garble to jump into the cockpit. Not long after, the Gundam lifted its foot to stomp on Spike.

“Corelander!” Spike yelled out before the corelander of his Gundam came to him and he grabbed onto it before the Crimson Dragon’s Gundam stomped on the ground. Spike stood on top of it as Garble began controlling the Gundam with his control suit and began following Spike. He then began firing at Spike with his Gundam’s vulcan forehead guns, with Spike doing everything he could to dodge the shots. “Oh boy. Garble’s under Sludge’s control and now he’s being forced to attack me with his Gundam. Guess I only have one option.”

Spike then stood up on his corelander and snapped his fingers as he yelled, “Rise Shining Dragon Gundam!”

Instantly, not too far away, a Gundam storage capsule rose from the ground and opened to reveal the Shining Dragon Gundam in a kneeling position before it rose to its feet.

(Based off this but with dragon claws for hands and feet and a metallic dragon tail.)

Spike’s corelander turned to face the back of the Gundam before Spike jumped into it as it shifted to dock with the inside of the robot’s back. Once inside, the mobile tray system activated and moved to get Spike into his control suit before opening in the center and spoke with its computer, “Mobile tray system checking brain waves, blood pressure, pulse, respiration, temperature, metabolism. All green.”

Spike did a few movements to test the Gundam’s responses before facing the Crimson Dragon Gundam. “I really don’t wanna fight you unofficially Garble. But right now, I don’t have a choice.”

The Crimson Dragon Gundam and Shining Dragon Gundam charged at one another and locked hands, both trying to overpower the other. The Crimson Dragon Gundam then reared its head back and headbutted the Shining Dragon Gundam in the forehead before following up with a punch to its chest. The Shining Dragon Gundam then countered by blocking its next punch and pushing it back with a kick before throwing a punch back. The Crimson Dragon Gundam then ducked to evade a kick before tackling the Shining Dragon Gundam into a building. The Crimson Dragon Gundam then held it down while the Shining Dragon Gundam was trying to hold it back.

“Come on Garble! Fight it!” Spike said as he struggled to hold him back. He then ducked to dodge another punch before moving around and grabbed Garble around the waist to lift and slam his Gundam down to the ground. Spike then moved back and drew his Gundam’s beam sword which ignited a pink beam before raising it to block the Crimson Dragon Gundam’s axe. “Garble!”

Garble remained silent before pushing Spike’s sword up with his axe and then spun to slash Spike in the knee with it. Spike felt the pain from it due to his battle suit and he backed up, which gave Garble the opportunity to then kick the Shining Dragon Gundam to the back and hold it against the building.

“That’s it Garble! Kill him! Get rid of him!” Sludge yelled out.

“You’re a sick monster!” Flurry Heart yelled.

“I’m getting tired of listening to you both,” Sludge said before looking at the two and licking his snout. “Watching this fight is making me hungry. And I’m in the mood for a little filly. Let’s see…”

Sludge looked between Babs and Flurry before stopping at Flurry. “I think I’ll start with you. I kinda want to see what magic tastes like.”

Sludge reached over and took Flurry in his grasp with Babs yelling, “Leave her alone you sick freak!”

“Wait your turn brat,” Sludge said before taking a grip on Flurry’s wing. “I’ll start with this as an appetizer.”

“No. Somepony help!” Flurry yelled out as Sludge’s grip on her wing tightened.

Spike could hear the screaming and looked down from his Gundam. “FLURRY!!!”

“And now,” Sludge said. “Let the wing go pop-AAAGGGGHHH!!!”

Before Flurry knew it, a golf club came out of nowhere and smacked Sludge right in the face, resulting in some of his teeth being knocked out and him dropping her.

“Ow! Who did… that?” Sludge asked before he looked to see Applejack beginning to untie Flurry and Babs.

But what made him nervous was seeing Cadance, who held the golf club, and Sunflower holding a mallet. And both were so red, one would mistake their fur color. “Ummmm… Hello?”

“You!” Sunflower said through gritted teeth. “You tore up my restaurant! Demanded money for unwanted protection! Kidnapped my sister! And then planned to eat her?!”

“Wait,” Sludge said holding his hands up defensively. “That was just a joke. I wasn’t going to do so.”

Sludge then looked to see them look at the two fillies and became even more furious when Sunflower saw the bruise on Babs’ cheek and Cadence saw the missing feathers on Flurry’s wings.

Sludge, terrified, spoke again, “Look. Can’t we talk about this?”

“You wanna talk?” Cadence asked with a glare and mad grin. “Okay. We’ll talk. But me and Sunflower plan on talking with these!”

Sludge then watched as the two mares came at him with their weapons while he screamed out loud. Applejack just finished getting the fillies untied just as the others arrived. However, they got there just in time to see the shadows of Cadence and Sunflower beating down on Sludge. Cadence’s club slammed down on his wing while Sunflower’s mallet came down on his tail, making him scream more. With his mouth open, Cadence swung for his face, knocking more of his teeth out before Sunflower hit him in the eye, which likely caused a black eye.

After many minutes of beating, Cadence and Sunflower finally stopped and took a breath while they and the others looked to see the beaten down Sludge, laying barely conscious.

“If you ever come near Flurry again, that’ll be just the beginning Sludge!” Cadence said with venom in her voice.

“The same goes for my restaurant and ESPECIALLY Babs!” Sunflower followed with.

Sludge couldn’t reply. Just lay there trying to stay conscious.

“Mom!”

“Sis!”

Cadence and Sunflower turned around to be embraced by Flurry and Babs, with them returning the embraces. “Thank Celestia your safe Flurry.”

“You too Babs. I don’t think I could handle losing you.”

“I’m fine sis. Thanks to you and Princess Cadence,” Babs said.

This happy moment, however, was interrupted by a loud crash. They all looked up to see Spike was still struggling against Garble.

“Spike!” Ember cried out.

Spike looked down to see the other, relieved to see the two fillies were safe. “Good. That’s one problem fixed.”

Spike then felt his control suit put a lot of pressure on his gut from the Crimson Dragon Gundam striking the Shining Dragon Gundam in the gut. “Now to take care of the other. Wait. The control suits. That gives me an idea.”

The Crimson Dragon Gundam then threw another punch only for the Shining Dragon Gundam to slip behind it to dodge.

“If I can strike his Gundam’s head unit with just the right amount of force, his mobile tray system and control suit should strike the mask with enough force to damage or deactivate it.”

The Crimson Dragon Gundam then turned to face the Shining Dragon Gundam and began rapidly throwing more punches. However, instead of fighting back, Spike began dodging the punches. “That’s it. Just gotta wait for the right moment.”

Spike continued dodging the strikes before pulling back to dodge a right cross and saw the head unit unguarded. “NOW!”

Using the wrist covers’ boosters as extra propulsion, the Shining Dragon Gundam shot its fist forward and struck the Crimson Dragon Gundam right between the eyes. This caused the Crimson Dragon Gundam to stagger back a bit. Inside of its cockpit, the mobile tray system caused the attack to also strike the mask as well. The mask began blinking on the eye covers as Garble held his head a bit.

Spike watched as the Crimson Dragon Gundam held its head for a moment before it seemed to relax. “Garble? You there?”

The Crimson Dragon Gundam looked to him while inside, Garble raised his head and slowly reached for the mask. And instantly, Garble pulled it off before smiling at the Shining Dragon Gundam. “Yeah dude. I’m here. I owe you one Spike.”

“No problem,” Spike said. “However, you can thank me one way.”

“What’s that?”

“By us finishing this as an official Gundam match,” Spike said. “The tournament just started today and I’m itching to have my first official fight. So what do you say?”

Garble remained silent for a moment before smirking himself and taking his fighting stance. “You got it Spike. Gundam Fight! READY!”

“GO!” Spike yelled out as the two charged one another once again. They both collided arms and for a moment before pushing away from each other. Spike threw a kick that was blocked by Garble, who then countered with a punch that Spike blocked as well. Spike countered with a right cross that Garble blocked before throwing a swing of his tail that Spike blocked with his arms before skidding back a little. He then used his boosters to dodge the next barrage of Garble’s attacks.

From the ground, the girls couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Flurry asked, “Wait. Spike got that mask off of Garble. So why are they still fighting?”

“It’s a matter of pride for the sport.”

Everyone turned to Ember as she spoke, “When Garble fought the first time, it was because he wasn’t in control of himself and the match was unofficial. But now that he’s free of that mask, Garble and Spike want to finish it with an official match. Not out of defense, but out of respect for the sport as Gundam fighters.”

Garble then threw a kick that was caught by Spike who tried to trip him, but Garble jumped to dodge it and used his other foot to push himself back again. Spike then charged at Garble again and the Shining Dragon Gundam threw a right cross that the Crimson Dragon Gundam blocked, but the Shining Dragon Gundam then countered by doing a left cyclone back kick that was also blocked but still pushed Garble back. “Not bad Spike. Not bad at all.”

Garble then charged in and gave Spike a body tackle that knocked him to the ground. “But not good enough. Now let’s see if you have what it takes to handle this!”

The Crimson Dragon Gundam’s hands began to glow red as he threw them into the air. “Crimson! Eruptor! BLAST!” Garble yelled as he brought his two fists together in front of the Gundam and fired a powerful red beam from them. The Shining Dragon Gundam crossed its arms to block the attack. The attack was able to push the Gundam further back. “Looks like I win this one Spike.”

“Don’t be so sure Garble!” Garble looked to see the Shining Dragon Gundam getting to its feet and holding back the blast with its hand.

“What the-?”

Spike’s right hand began to glow with his King of Sorcery crest. “This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! Its shining grip tells me to defeat you!”

The Shining Dragon Gundam’s hand began to glow green as it began pushing through the blast with its hand and boosters. “Here I go! SHINING CLAW!!!”

The Shining Dragon Gundam pushed through the blast and eventually took a strong grip on the Crimson Dragon Gundam’s head.

“Wow. This is some kind of power,” Garble said.

“Garble?”

“What?”

“Recite the Gundam Fight Tournament’s two primary rules,” Spike said as his Gundam’s grip forced Garble’s to its knees.

“A pilot must not aim for an opponent’s cockpit,” Garble started. “And as long their Gundam’s head unit isn’t destroyed and disqualified, then the fighter may continue fighting in the tournament for as long as they want.”

“Good,” Spike said with a smile. He then released the Crimson Dragon Gundam’s head before the Shining Dragon Gundam’s hand stopped glowing and let out steam as it began cooling off. This action confused Garble.

“Spike?”

“You fought good and fair Garble,” Spike said. “And I wouldn’t mind facing you again sometime. So for now, I’ll take the victory I have and spare your Gundam’s head.”

Garble was a little surprised but smiled gratefully. “Thanks Spike.”

The girls down on the ground watched with smiles as the match ended with the sun shining down on the two Gundams.

The next morning.

After a bit of sleep, the girls and Spike were preparing to head off. Since the corelander was only built for two, Cadence provided another hover vehicle as a means of transport for the rest. They loaded up their stuff as Sludge was being escorted away by some guards before Spike stopped them for a minute.

“Sludge?”

“What? What do you want?”

Spike then pulled out the picture of Shining Armor they brought with them. “Shining Armor. Princess Cadence’s husband. Have you seen him?”

Sludge took a look at the picture for a moment before looking away. “Of course not. I’d want no business to do with him.”

“I see,” Spike said putting the photo away while the guards took Sludge away. Spike then walked to his crew with Cadence, Flurry, Babs, Sunflower, and Garble.

“Spike,” Sunflower said. “I can’t thank you enough for risking your life to save Babs.”

“Yeah. We owe you one Spike,” Babs said with a smile.

“No problem kid,” Spike said while Garble approached them.

“So where are you guys off to now?” Garble asked.

Twilight was looking over the list of countries. “I think we’ll head to Neo-Amareica next. It’s the closest one.”

“Good idea Twilight,” Applejack said. “I’ve been eager to visit one of the best countries in the world.”

“Yay,” Fluttershy said in her soft voice.
“Yes indeedy,” Pinkie said.

“I wouldn’t mind that myself,” Rainbow said. “Matter of fact I think my old Wonderbolt squad mate Thunderlane is there. I’m sure he won’t mind if we crash with him for a while.”

“Good idea Dash,” Ember said before looking at Spike. “What do you think?”

“Sounds good to me,” Spike said. “Let’s get ready to head out.”

“Hold on,” Cadence said as she and Flurry.

Flurry held up what appeared to be a green headband to Spike, “Mom and I made this for you. We were going to make a red one for daddy, but since you’re fighting in his place, we made it green for you.”

Spike smiled before taking the headband and tying it around his head. Flurry then asked, “Spike? Do you promise to bring dad back to us?”

Spike kneeled down and rubbed Flurry’s head. “I do promise Flurry. And in the meantime just keep believing in him like I said. Okay?”

Flurry smiled and nodded before Cadence hugged Spike. “Be careful out there Spike.”

“I will Cadence,” Spike said before he broke the hug and turned to his crew. “Alright girls. Let’s get going.”

The girls nodded and loaded up the transport while Ember and Spike took the corelander. They waved bye to Cadence and the others as they drove off. While Ember piloted the corelander, Spike sat in the back with the picture of Shining Armor in his hand. ‘Shining. For you and your family, I will find you and get you back to them. I will save you my brother. That’s a promise.’

Rumble in the Pronx! The Match Against Flash Sentry!

The screen is black for a moment before a spotlight shines onto Stalker, with his eye patch on, sitting in his chair.

“Hello everyone. Stalker here. Here’s a refresher on the history of the Gundam Fight. Long ago, Planet Equus was overpopulated and the technology had advanced to the point where many inhabitants began moving out into space to live in space colonies. To prevent war between colonies, a proposal was made. The Gundam Fight itself. Each colony would send a representative fighter piloting a machine called a Gundam to fight in a tournament. The Gundams fight, and they fight, and they fight until only one is left standing to win the rights of leadership for the next four years over all of the other colonies.”

“Excuse me?”

Stalker stopped talking to see Pinkie appear and hold out Spike and Twilight’s picture of Shining Armor. “Have you seen our friend?”

“Afraid not-.”

“Okay,” Pinkie said before running off again. Stalker looked to the photo before looking forward.

“Well then. Where will the hunt for Shining Armor lead Spike and his friends now? Let’s see. Today’s opponent is the representative fighter of Neo-Amareica, Flash Sentry. Royal Guard turned Gundam fighter. He pilots the mighty Maximizer Guard Gundam. And what kind of surprises lie ahead. Well we’re going to find out.”

Stalker stood up with a microphone and his eyepatch in his hands and said, “Gundam Fight all set! Ready!… GO!”

Chapter 2: Rumble in the Pronx! The Match against Flash Sentry!

(based off of this design)

Drums and horns could be heard playing along with cheers from multiple creatures. The source of their cheers was a Gundam being guided through the city of Manehattan. It was designed and built with a yellow royal guard like helmet along with the standard Gundam V horns on its forehead. It had a blue head sculpt under the helmet. It also had a blue shield with a lightning bolt cutie mark on its chest. It had yellow royal guard armor designed and armor shoulder pads on it. It had red boot designs on its feet and had a blue pegasus tail. And at its sides, were two crossbow like weapons as well as a red corelander in its back. The Gundam was being displayed and escorted by multiple hover carriages.

“Here we have Maximizer Guard Gundam of Neo-America.” An announcer pegasus said into her microphone, “This gundam has been one to speak about.”

“Indeed.” A stallion pegasus said with his own microphone, “In its last battle, the Maximizer Guard defeated its opponent with a single blow strong enough to knock off the head unit, which we all know, lead to its opponent being disqualified.”

“Yes. And who is the one to pilots this machine?” The mare said, “Well that’s obvious. One of the best stallions to ever serve in the Royal Guard. FLASH SENTRY!!!”

On the gundam’s right shoulder stood stallion pegasus with yellow fur, a blue mane and tail. He wore a white shirt with his cutie mark on the center along with a black jacket, and some blue jeans. Flash held up his hand to give a peace sign and this made the creatures cheer even louder. The gundam soon stopped in the middle of a giant buckball field where four girls stood on the platform. Flash smiled down at them and said, “I could never have gotten where I am now without the crew I’m grateful to have. Sunset Shimmer!”

Flash pointed down to one of the mares who was a unicorn. She had a fur color of yellow that was a bit lighter than his. She had a flame colored mane and tail. She wore a black jacket with a purple undershirt with her red and yellow sun cutie mark on the center. She wore a skirt with yellow, orange, and purple stripes on it, and a pair of black boots as she waved to the crowd.

“Adagio Dazzle!” Flash yelled as he pointed at a yellow-goldish hippogriff with long, poofy orange and yellow hair in a purple, spiked headband, wearing a dark purple jacket with spikes on the shoulders, a light purple shirt with dark purple triangles and wearing sparkling purple shorts and black boots. She simply smiled to the crowd.

“Aria Blaze!” Flash yelled out before pointing at another hippogriff. She had light pink skin with long, purple hair with cyan highlights in two ponytails held by star scrunchies. She wore a cyan, fluffy jacket with a purple, white polka dotted shirt, black pants with cyan colored pockets, and purple boots with cyan fluff, like her jacket, on the back of them. She simply looked to the crowd with a small smile and crossed arms.

“And last but not least. Sonata Dusk!” Flash yelled before pointing at the final hippogriff. She had light blue fur along with a blue mane and tail. She wore a pink shirt with polka dots and purple in the middle along with tacos on the center and sides. She also wore pink and purple socks with a pair of tina shoes. She was waving frantically at the crowd.

Flash then raised his right fist into the air before saying, “And with them. I’m going to win this Tournament for my great home of Neo-Amareica!”

Meanwhile at a small diner, a unicorn mare bartender was looking at the TV to see this happening. “Ah. I remember him. Old Flash Sentry. Guess he’s on his way to reaching his dream.”

“You know him, ma’am?”

The mare turned to see Spike sitting at the bar with a drink in his hand. Sitting next to him was Ember, who was looking at her computer while the rest of the group sat at a nearby table. Pinkie was eating a lot of food. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight were have some water while Rainbow was asleep in her chair.

The unicorn smiled at Spike before saying, “Nah. I don’t know him personally. I just remember him when he was a young boy. He was always one to talk about being the best there is. One who wanted to stand up to bullies and become a man to do good things.”

“I see.” Ember said while typing on her computer, “She’s right Spike. He has been a great fighter. I’m looking over his records and for all of the Gundam fights he’s been in, he hasn’t lost once.”

Spike took a sip of his drink before saying, “Wow. He does sound strong. I can see why he’s a gundam fighter.”

“So it would be wise not to underestimate him Spike.” Twilight said, “Shining Armor told me about Flash. He trained Flash himself. And from the letter Shining sent me back then, Flash was one of his best pupils.”

“No wonder then.” Spike said.

“So are you guys here to watch his other match?” A young colt asked, sitting on the bar not too far from them.

“Other match?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah. Turns out the Royal Guard have a special cage match tournament to see who’s improving the most. Flash has been in a hundred of them and won all of his matches.” The colt said.

“Woo.” Applejack said, “Sounds to me like he’s really willing to push himself.”

“Of course he is.” The young colt said, “He wants to make his dream a reality.”

“His dream?” Pinkie asked with a mouth full of food.

“Yeah. When you grow up, if you believe and work hard enough, you can do anything.”

Spike finished listening to the colt before pulling out and looking at his family picture. ‘My dream is to get my family free of this. And there’s a chance this Flash guy might know something. Wait. That gives me an idea.’

“Yeah. When I grow up, I want to be just like him.” The colt said.

“Hey kid?” Spike asked. “When is this match of his?”

“Ummm.” The colt said as he looked at the clock on the wall, “I think it starts in about three hours. Speaking of, I gotta get ready to be there.”

The colt then took off running before Spike pulled out some bits from his pocket and placed them on the counter before getting up and walking to the entrance. “Ember. I think I’ll see you girls back at the hotel later.”

“Where are you going?” Ember asked.

“Just gonna go do some… Sightseeing. Later.” Spike then took off out the door.

However, not long after he did, Twilight gained a somewhat annoyed look and asked “Why do I get the feeling he’s gonna go do something stupid?”

“Come on Twilight, none of us in the group would do anything crazy right now.” Applejack then heard Rainbow snore a little, making her look to the sleeping pegasus with a raised eyebrow as she said, “At least I think most of us wouldn’t.”

“Don’t worry Twilight.” Ember said as she kept typing on the computer, “It’s Spike. Even if he does something crazy, how crazy could it be?”

“I guess you're right.” Twilight said before thinking, ‘But I still can’t shake a sudden bad feeling.’

Meanwhile, Flash sat in a room with fighting tape around his hands. His crew was with him, Sunset and Adagio sitting by his sides and Sonata and Aria standing behind the couch they sat in.

In front of them sat two stallions at a desk, both were dressed in suits. Both appeared to be senators of Neo-America. One had a peach colored, puffy mane and tail with a white coat and wore glasses. His badge said “Svengallop”.

Sitting in the desk was a stallion with a violet coat and silver mane and tail. His badge read “Gladmane”.

Flash was looking at a picture in his hand with a calm expression while Gladmane said, “Now that your fight is beginning soon, we just wish to advise you not to show off too much.”

“Why’s that?” Flash asked before putting a toothpick in his mouth.

“We’ve recently heard that the Gundam Fighter representing Neo-Canterlot is here in Manehattan.” Svengallop said, “He recently fought against the Neo-Bitaly fighter, Garble. And had he not spared his Gundam’s head, Garble likely would’ve been disqualified.”

“I heard about that Flash.” Sonata said, “They say he took the place of Shining Armor, your old mentor’s place in the tournament as Neo-Canterlot’s fighter. You can bet that means he’s a strong fighter.”

Flash looked at the picture of the Gundam fight that took place in the Crystal Empire as he said, “I’ll take your advice into consideration after I’m done with my cage fight tonight. I’d rather focus on it before I focus on anything else.”

“But Flash-.” Svengallop started.

“I said I’ll worry about it when I can!” Flash said, crushing the photo in his hand, “I have another match to get ready for at the moment, so if you don’t mind, me and my crew will take our leave.”

Flash and the girls all gathered and walked out leaving Svengallop and Gladmane frustrated with Svengallop saying, “How he became our nation’s Gundam fighter, I’ll never know.”

“All we can do is wait to see what happens now Svengallop.” Gladmane said.

A few hours later, a large pegasus with stunt wings and wearing fighting tape on his hands while wearing shorts with some dumbbell cutie marks on the sides of them stood in the locker room. He had a duffle bag with “Bulk Biceps” written on it.

However, despite his size, he was a little nervous. “Oh man. Oh man this is the worst. I just started as a royal guard fighter and I get put up against the guy who hasn’t lost a single match yet? Why do I have the worst luck?”

“Hey big guy?”

Bulk turned around to see a guy in a hood, covering his face. “How about you save your first match? I’ll take your spot tonight.”

“But…” Bulk started. “My sponsors. They expect-.”

The hooded figure pulled out a paper and showed it to Bulk. “Don’t worry. I talked to them and got an approval. I’ll be taking your place.”

“Really?” Bulk asked. “You don’t mind taking my spot?”

“Not at all.” The hooded figure said as he pointed at Bulk’s role of fighting tape, “As long as you leave that behind.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Bulk put his stuff in his bag, except his fighting tape and headed to the exit and said, “Good luck.”

Once Bulk Biceps was gone, the hooded figure walked over to the tape and picked it up with his hands, which were claws. “Don’t worry. I won’t need luck.”

Meanwhile, as Rainbow said in the Crystal Empire, the girls were given permission to stay at Rainbow’s friend, Thunderlane’s apartment. And at the moment, the girls were once again doing their own thing. Twilight was reading, Ember and Rainbow were doing a few exercises, and Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack were watching TV.

“98. 99… 100,” Rainbow said doing push ups.

“Not bad Dash,” Ember said. “Now try doing the same with your wings.”

“Challenge accepted Ember,” Rainbow said, doing push ups with her wings.

Twilight continued reading until she looked at the clock.“I wonder where Spike is. He should’ve been back by now.”

“Ah wouldn’t worry too much Twilight.” Applejack bit into an apple as he said, “He’s smart. He’s probably just going to watch that fight to see how Flash fights. You know. Study his opponent.”

“That would be the smart thing to do.” Fluttershy said.

Pinkie was flipping channels until she stopped at one that showed an arena with a caged ring and said, “Speak of the devil. Here’s the fight itself.”

At the arena, the hooded figure stood in the ring waiting while the announcer said, “And for tonight there has been a change of plans. Rather than Bulk Biceps, the opponent tonight is unknown but has legally taken his place. Since we don’t know his real name, we’ll simply refer to him as Mystery.”

Not long after the announcer said that, a stage entrance opened and in came Flash Sentry wearing blue shorts and fighting tape on his hands. With him was Sunset, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, all wearing red leotards. The announcer said, “And now arriving is the champion of the cage fighting, Flash Sentry!”

Flash stood tall with his fists in the air while creatures watching cheered out from the crowds. Even the young colt from the bar was there and cheering for him, “Yeah Flash! Show that guy what a stallion who makes his dream come true can do!”

Flash smiled out to the ground before getting into the caged ring. He looked at the crowd one more time as the announcer began speaking, “And now, let the match begin. Ready? Set. And-.”

“Rrragh!”

Flash turned around to see the one called Mystery run at him and threw an uppercut that knocked him to the ground. Flash’s crew and the audience went silent when he fell onto his back with a groan.

Sonata, angered by that, yelled, “Hey that’s not fair! You cheated!”

Flash rubbed his chin a bit as he stood up before glaring at Mystery and said, “That was a cheap shot. Hope you’re ready to pay for it.”

“Bring it on tough guy.” Mystery said as he put his hands up defensively.

“You asked for it!” Flash said running at Mystery and threw a right cross followed by a left hook. However, Mystery dodged both while Flash continued his assault.

The announcer said, “Wow. It seems Mystery is able to really hold his own against Flash. Despite his record wins, Flash has yet to land a single blow.”

“Little slow are we?” Mystery asked, continuing to dodge Flash’s attacks.

“Shut up!” Flash yelled as he threw a punch.

Mystery dodged the attack by moving around Flash. However, he was surprised when Flash’s punch struck the cage fence and left a big dent in it. “Wow. He is strong.”

Mystery’s shocked state was held for too long as Flash ran at him and struck him in the shoulder that made him fall to the ground and his hood drop off of his face. Flash smirked at his strike before asking, “How’d that feel Mr. Mystery?”

Flash walked a little closer, but when he saw Mystery’s face, he was shocked. “You’re…”

Back at the hotel, the girls were still watching the fight and were shocked as well.

“He didn’t.” Rainbow said.

“Apparently he did.” Applejack said.

“Wow.” Pinkie said, “Talk about a twist.”

“Oh my.” Fluttershy said in worry.

“Twilight?” Ember asked.

“Yep.” Twilight said, “Let’s go.”

The two then took off running out the door.

Back at the arena, Bulk Biceps was watching from the audience and was also shocked. “No way! Is that…?”

“Spike.” Sunset said from outside of the cage.

It was true. The fighter known as Mystery was revealed to be Spike. He stood up to see Flash still shocked and asked, “Guess this is a surprise for you huh?”

“No way.” Flash said, stunned.

Spike felt his shoulder sore before looking at Flash. “Flash Sentry! We’ll have to finish this later! For now, I hereby challenge you to a Gundam match!”

“What?” Flash asked. But before anything could be said, Spike extended his wings and took off flying out of the ring. “Hey! Wait!”

But Spike was out of sight before Flash could do anything to stop him. Flash watched before clenching his fist and struck the cage again out of anger.

Later in his room, Flash struck a punching bag hard enough to strike a hole in it and cause the sand to start pouring out. “I can’t believe it.”

“Flash.” Sunset said, “Maybe you should calm down for a minute.”

“I’m having a hard time doing so, Sunset.” Flash said.

“What’s the big deal?” Aria asked. “It’s not like he got away without taking a hit.”

“It’s not that Aria.” Flash said, “That was Spike Drakeson. The son of Bahamut, and the step son of Princess Celestia. Believe it or not, he inspired me to do what I do now. When I heard rumors about him, I wanted to train myself to be stronger and be ready for any opponent in the Gundam Fight.”

“And that’s why he’s here Flash.” Svengallop said as he and Gladmane came in.

“What are you talking about?” Flash asked.

“We’ve been doing a little more research and it turns out that fighter, Spike, is Neo-Canterlot’s fighter.”

“Now I’ve heard everything.” Flash said.

“Don’t worry Flash,” Gladmane said. “We’ll handle getting rid of him for you. You just say the word and-.”

“No!” Flash said, “He may be an idol of mine, but tonight he made a fool of me. I’m gonna accept his challenge and take him down!”

“Let me handle that Flash.” Sunset said as she held out a bottle of water to him, “Luckily for us, Princess Twilight and I are old friends and I have a feeling she’s a part of Spike’s crew. You just tell me when and where you want the fight to be.”

“Now hold on.” Svengallop said, “Surely Gladmane and I can take care of this Spike. There’s no reason you need to fight him.”

“Svengallop is right.” Gladmane said, “As soon as we find him, we can have an assassin team take care of him. One less competitor to worry about and one more vic-.”

“Don’t meddle in my affairs!” Flash yelled out at the two. “I’m not gonna back out of his challenge like a coward! I’m going to face him in a Gundam fight like a real fighter!”

“Mr. Sentry. Please see reason.” Gladmane said.

“Just shut up.” Flash said, “I didn’t ask for you two to be here. Get out and don’t bother me or my crew until after my match with Spike.”

“You ungrateful-.” Svengallop started but was cut off by Gladmane.

“Very well.” Gladmane said, “All we can say is good luck.”

The two then walked out the door while Flash looked to Sunset and asked, “So you can get everything set up Sunset?”

“You know I can Flash.” Sunset said, “Twilight and I once shared education under Princess Celestia. She and I go way back. And I also know Spike well enough that he’ll agree to when and where to face you.”

“I knew I could count on you Sunset.” Flash said with a smirk, “I’ve been itching for a real Gundam fight. And I know Spike can deliver that.”

Meanwhile, Svengallop and Gladmane had gone to sit in their office. Gladmane sat in his desk while Svengallop paced back and forth in anger. “We both know he doesn’t have the skill to back up what he says. So why are we leaving this to him?”

“We’re not.”

Svengallop then looked to Gladmane with confusion before Gladmane said, “We’re not going to count on Flash any longer. Now we take things into our own hands.”

“So why didn’t we stop him back there?” Svengallop asked.

“Because we still need him to fight on behalf of Neo-Amareica.” Gladmane said, “We can’t do anything to stop him. However, we can do something about Spike with or without him knowing.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Svengallop said with a smirk before asking, “So what’s the plan?”

Meanwhile, Spike was walking slowly through the park. He was gripping his shoulder as he groaned and sat down on a bench while saying, “Damn. I thought he only grazed my shoulder. But apparently he did a lot more. It looks like I underestimated him. If he managed to do that much damage to me with just a small punch, he must be one hell of a Gundam fighter.”

Spike leaned back on the bench, still gripping his shoulder when his resting was interrupted when he heard footsteps. He sat up a bit to see a group of earth ponies approaching him. All were dressed in black suits while pulling out crossbows.

Spike groaned as he stood up and gripped his shoulder. “Great. I’m injured and now I got guys with crossbows coming towards me. Not good odds.”

The stallions stopped a few feet away from before aiming their crossbows at Spike. One of them smirked as he said, “Say goodnight, scale belly.”

Spike glared at the group as they prepared to fire when, right before that happened, lights flashed on and temporarily blinded them. While they couldn’t see, Ember jumped out in front of one and snatched the crossbow from him before knocking him out with a swing of her tail to his face. The other two took aim at her, only for their crossbows to be shot out of their hands by blasts of magic that came from Twilight who said, “I would advise you all to leave our friend alone before Ember here stops going easy on you.”

Ember picked up the unconscious stallion and threw him to the other three. “Now beat it!”

The two stallions took their unconscious companion and left with groans with one yelling, “Let’s get out of here!”

Once the three were out of sight, Ember walked to Spike while Twilight flew to his side. Ember supported him with his arm around her shoulder while Twilight gave a small groan and gave him a small slap to the shoulder and said, “I swear. If you keep this up, you’re gonna end up giving me or one of the girls a heart attack.”

Spike groaned from Twilight’s slap before Ember said, “She barely touched you.”

“Yeah well. Flash Sentry’s strike to my shoulder did more damage than I originally thought it would have.” Spike said, “It feels like he actually knocked it out of place.”

“Serves you right for doing something that stupid.” Twilight said with an annoyed voice.

“Can you get me back to the hotel and have Fluttershy fix me up before you continue lecturing me Twilight?” Spike asked with a groan as his vision became blurry. Despite his efforts, Spike couldn’t prevent himself from passing out.

“If he had stopped talking he might have had some energy to stay awake.” Ember said with a small grin.

“Let’s get him back then.” Twilight said taking his other arm over her shoulder, “Can’t have him sleeping for too long.”

The two then began flying Spike off to their hotel.

Meanwhile, Flash Sentry stood on the balcony of his own rented hotel room. He chewed on a toothpick as he looked out at the sight of the city, lost in his thoughts before he felt his black jacket being put on his shoulders and looked to see it was Adagio as she asked, “What are you doing out here Flash? You always wanna hang out here when it's around night time. Though… Not that I can blame you.”

The two looked into the room to see Sonata and Aria playing poker. Sonata threw down her cards to show she had four aces and yelled, “Ha! I win!”

Sonata reached for her winnings until Aria grabbed her wrist and made cards slide out of her sleeve. “You cheater!”

The two began arguing while Flash and Adagio continued watching them. Adagio did so in annoyance while Flash did in amusement. Flash then looked to the city once again before saying, “Guess I’m just dreaming again.”

“Dreaming?” Adagio asked with curiosity.

“Yeah.” Flash said, watching the lights and cars of the city shine under him, “I guess you can say this is where everything started for me.”

Flashback

A young Flash was running from a group of gangsters with food in his hands. He quickly dodged a swing from one before jumping to dodge another making a grab for him. He looked back to see they were still following him. He quickly made a turn to lose them but he found himself at a dead end. He turned around to see the gangsters had him cornered. He glared at the four as he carefully put the food he had down. One of the gangsters ran at him only for Flash to throw an uppercut and knock him down.

“You little!” Another gangster ran at him only for Flash kicked him in the stomach.

The other two gangsters then charged for him at once only for Flash to jump over them and make them knock heads together and knock each other out. Flash then felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to throw another punch only to be shocked at who stood behind him. It was…

Flashback ends

“Shining Armor.” Flash said, “Growing up wasn’t easy for me. It was hard to make a single bit for some of us. I had to grow up making myself stronger. I had to fight for every morsel of food I could get. Shining Armor saw I had potential and allowed me to go with him to train as a cadet Royal Guard. As I got older and stronger. He gave me the chance to live my dream in the colony of Neo-Amareica and I took it without a second thought. I worked as a Royal Guard for years and eventually the Neo-Amareican government saw what I can do and requested I become their Gundam Fighter for this tournament. And like anyone else!”

Flash extended his wings and threw his fists out in beside him. “I will fulfill the dream for not just myself but for Neo-Amareica!!!”

Adagio watched with a smile while Flash looked out to the city once more. Flash grinned as he said, “Wherever Spike is right now and whatever he plans to do in our match, I say bring. It. On.”

The two then heard more groaning and rumbling in the hotel room causing Adagio to sigh and say, “Shall we break those two up?”

“Guess we have nothing better to do.” Flash chuckled before following Adagio inside.

Back with Spike, he began groaning as he sat up and clenched his head. “Ugh. Where am I?”

“Where do you think?”

Spike looked to see Fluttershy enter the room with a smile. “You’re in your hotel room in Manehatten.”

She said as she sat down in front of him before asking, “And who am I?”

“You’re Fluttershy.” Spike said, confused by the question.

“Good.” Fluttershy said, “That means you don’t have any concussions. Now then.”

Fluttershy then leaned a little closer while carefully holding Spike’s eye open, looking into it before letting go and sitting down. “Good. You don’t seem to have any other injuries.”

Spike groaned a bit as he leaned into his bed and said, “So if I’m to guess, Twilight’s waiting in the other room to finish lecturing m-.” Spike was cut off by Fluttershy popping a pill in his mouth.

“A little medicine to kill the pain and help with your headache.” Fluttershy said with a smile while Spike swallowed the pill, “And as for your question. Yes, she is.”

“You bet I am.”

The two looked to see Twilight entering the room with a stern look which made Spike say, “Here we go.”

Twilight was about to start lecturing Spike, but Fluttershy held her hand up as means of telling her not to be too hard. Twilight took a deep breath before saying, “Spike. I’m not mad. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I was a bit worried because we’re in a place we’re not familiar with. And you picked a fight with Flash before you knew enough about him.”

Spike sighed a little as he got up from his bed and said, “I’m sorry Twilight. You’re right. I didn’t think before I acted.”

Before they could continue, they heard Pinkie say, “Hey guys. We have a visitor.”

The three were surprised and left Spike’s room to find Sunset Shimmer standing in the room with the girls.

“Sunset.” Twilight said as she walked up to her and hugged her, “It’s been so long. How have you been?”

“I’ve been good.” Sunset said as she looked to Spike, “And Spike. It’s good to see you again. You’ve gotten bigger since I saw you when we were kids.”

“Yeah. It has been a long time.” Spike then asked, “So what brings you here, Sunset?”

“I just came by to drop off a message to you from Flash Sentry.” Sunset said, “He accepts your Gundam Fight challenge and he wants you to be ready to meet at Broadway Harbor at a 8:00 sharp tomorrow.”

“8:00, Broadway Harbor.” Ember said, “Got it.”

“Great.” Sunset said, “I better get going.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, “You don’t wanna stay for some tea real quick?”

“No I can’t.” Sunset said, “I have to get back and make sure Maximizer Guard Gundam is ready. One of the responsibilities of being the head mechanic of the team.”

“I know how you feel sister.” Ember said looking over at Applejack and Rainbow who whistled casually.

“Yeah. I’m sure.” Sunset said as she opened the door and left, “Anyways. See ya tomorrow.”

Sunset then walked down the hall a bit until she stopped and a slight glimmer went over her eyes as Svengallop came out in front of her, with him on a cellphone and saying, “Everything went the way we wanted Gladmane.”

“Good.” Gladmane said on the other end, “Unfortunately, our assassin team failed. So it looks like we’ll have to resort to plan B.”

“Not a problem.” Svengallop said, “Besides. Plan B will be a bit more fun.”

The next morning.

The girls were asleep in their respective sleeping places until Twilight woke up and looked to the clock for a moment before turning around and tried to go back asleep. However, after a couple of seconds, Twilight’s eyes shot open and she spun around to see it read 8:00. “Oh no! Girls wake up!”

The girls all started groaning and waking up as Twilight shot up and turned the TV. “We slept in past the starting time of the match! I hope we’re not too late!”

The TV showed Maximizer Guard Gundam standing in a large arena where an announcer said, “And here we are in the Celestia Square Garden, waiting for the Neo-Canterlot fighter who has yet to arrive.”

“Celestia Square Garden!” Rainbow said sitting up, “But Sunset said Broadway Harbor!”

“What in the hay is going on?” Applejack asked.

“Only one way to find out.” Fluttershy said.

“Let’s get dressed and get to that arena.” Ember said.

“Can we get breakfast first?” Pinkie asked as her pink mane puffed into its usual puffiness.

“PINKIE!!!”

“Okay. Okay.” Pinkie said, “It was just a question.”

At the arena, Flash stood cross armed on the shoulder of the Maximizer Guard Gundam while Adagio, Sonata, and Aria stood at the bottom looking around.

“Still no sign of him Flash!” Sonata said.

Flash gripped his arms a bit and gritted his teeth. “Come on Spike. I know you’re not afraid to face me here.”

Meanwhile at the harbors, Spike stood by his corelander as he looked around, confused on why the area was empty. “That’s weird.” Spike said as he looked around, “Sunset said Broadway Harbor, but there’s no sign of Flash.”

“Spike!”

Spike turned around and covered his eyes a little as wind began picking up and was barely able to make out who said his name. “Sunset?”

Descending behind Sunset was a strange helicopter like airship. Sunset smirked as she was soon covered in a green magic to reveal a female changeling with a curved horn and green slimy like hair, who smirked and said, “Nope. Try Chrysalis. And I hope you’re ready Gundam fighter. Because this is going to be your last fight.”

Chrysalis then teleported away with her magic before the airship began firing cannons at Spike, who entered his corelander to evade the shots. Inside of the airship, Gladmane was piloting it with a retrained Sunset in the cockpit behind him with tape covering her mouth.

“You won’t get away that easily!” Gladmane yelled as he began firing more at Spike.

At the arena, the explosions by the shots were being seen by Flash and his crew with him asking, “What’s going on over there? The area over there is uninhabited.”

“Flash Sentry!”

Flash and his girls looked to see Twilight, Ember, and Rainbow were flying towards him while the other three took their group transport.

“What’s the big idea?” Rainbow asked, “Why would you send Spike to the wrong spot for your Gundam Fight?”

“Huh?” Flash asked.

“Yeah!” Pinkie said, “Your girl Sunset Shimmer came by and told us and Spike the fight would be at Broadway Harbor!”

“What are you talking about?” Adagio asked.

They then heard more explosions before looking in the direction they were coming from with Aria saying, “Looks like a battle is going on.”

“I see.” Flash snapped his toothpick before saying, “Gladmane and Svengallop! I told those two not to interfere! Adagio! Sonata! Aria! Get the others there! I’m gonna go on ahead!”

“You got it Flash.” Adagio said while Aria and Sonata nodded.

Flash then entered his Gundam’s cockpit before pulling his jacket off. “Activate the mobile tray system now.”

The Gundam’s cockpit did as he said and put him in a blue control suit with a red colored neck cover and with his cutie mark on the chest of it.

“I’ll meet you there!” Flash said as he made the Maximizer Guard Gundam pull out a hoverboard and took off into the air and headed towards the battle area.

Back at said area, Spike was dodging shots by another airship that was being piloted by Svengallop. “You won’t be getting away from us!”

Spike’s corelander was heading towards the water before Gladmane’s airship appeared in front of him before transforming into an airship mobile suit. “Once we get rid of you, that’ll be one less fighter to worry about facing.” Gladmane said as he made a shoulder cannon take aim at Spike.

From a rooftop, Chrysalis was smirking at the scene going on. “Helping them get rid of that dragon will surely help me become invited to the colony.”

CRASH!!!

Chrysalis looked to see Gladmane’s mobile suit was struck by a right cross from the Maximizer Guard Gundam. “Seems I better take my leave.” Chrysalis said before teleporting off with her magic.

Back with the fight, Spike was surprised by this before Flash said, “I’m here to face off against you Spike. So you might wanna get inside your Gundam so we can start.”

“You got it.” Spike said with a smile before snapping his fingers as he yelled, “Rise Shining Dragon Gundam!”

Not too far off shore, the eyes of a giant alicorn statue began lighting up before crumbling apart to reveal Shining Dragon Gundam underneath. Spike entered his corelander before it shifted and docked with in the Gundam’s back. Inside, the mobile tray system activated and moved to get Spike into his control suit before opening in the center and spoke with its computer, “Mobile tray system checking brain waves, blood pressure, pulse, respiration, temperature, metabolism. All green.”

Spike did a few swings and kicks to do a few test movements with the Gundam before Svengallop’s airship transformed into a mobile suit and moved in. “You worthless dragon! You ruined everything!” Svengallop yelled before firing more cannon shots at the Shining Dragon Gundam. Spike blocked the shots with his arms crossed before dodging more. He then extended his Gundam’s knee boosters to close in on Svengallop’s mobile suit while firing his vulcan head guns as he drew his beam sword. Svengallop tried to strike with his mobile suit throwing a right cross, but Spike dodged it before the Shining Dragon Gundam sliced the mobile suit’s head and cockpit off. The Shining Dragon Gundam then moved a safe distance away before the rest of the body exploded.

“Nice moves Spike.” Flash said with a smirk.

“Flash!”

Flash turned to Gladmane’s mobile suit as it got up with Gladmane asking, “What are you doing? Have you forgotten we’re on your side?”

“Shut up!” Flash said as the Maximizer Guard Gundam put its guard up. It shot its right fist forward where a fist cover flipped over it while it reached to its left side to pick up its crossbow weapon. “You two are an embarrassment to Neo-Amareica! It wasn’t bad enough that you tried to take out my opponent when I wanted to fight him, but you also messed with a member of my crew! You don’t deserve to be a part of the colony!”

“Fine then!” Gladmane yelled out as his mobile suit charged forward. “We’ll get rid of you as well!”

Gladmane began firing cannons at the Maximizer Guard Gundam, only for it to dodge each one before getting up close. “Oh no!” Gladmane yelled as the Gundam closed in.

“Knock! OUT!” Flash yelled as he dealt an uppercut that knocked the mobile suit’s head unit and cockpit off the body before catching it. He then jumped back and blasted the remaining body with the crossbow weapon to finish it with an explosion.

Not long after, both Gundams set the separated cockpits on the ground where Gladmane groaned. However, he yelped when the cockpit opened to show Twilight, Adagio, Ember, Applejack, and Fluttershy. Twilight and Adagio took Sunset and quickly untied her and pulled the tape off of her mouth.

“Ow! A little easier with the tape next time Twilight.” Sunset said.

“Sorry.”

“Good to see you’re safe Sunset.” Adagio said.

Gladmane, seeing they were distracted, was about to make a run for it until he found Fluttershy and Applejack blocking his way.

“Oh. Hello girls. How have you been?” Gladmane asked nervously.

“You messed with our friend Gladmane.” Fluttershy said in a stern voice.

“And that means you messed with us.” Applejack said cracking her knuckles.

With Svengallop, he found himself in a similar situation. He was about to get out of his own cockpit when it was opened by Pinkie, Rainbow, Aria, and Sonata.

“Ummm… I come in peace.” Svengallop said nervously.

“Too bad we don’t.” Rainbow said, cracking her knuckles.

“And this is also for lying to me back then Svengallop.” Pinkie said with a serious face and smile before they began beating down on the stallions.

Back inside of his Gundam, Spike smiled a little at the scene and said, “Guess it’s true what they say. Karma is unforgiving.”

“Hey Spike?”

Spike turned to the Maximizer Guard Gundam as Flash said, “I’m not fond of how things have gone. So this time, let me be the one to challenge you. Do you accept my challenge?”

“I do.” Spike said with a smirk.

“Alright then. Gundam fight standing by!” Flash yelled out as the shoulder pads on his gundam detached.

“What the?” Spike asked as he watched. The shoulder pads shifted into gauntlets and the fist covers folded over the Maximizer Guard Gundam’s fist before the gauntlets attached over them.

“Gundam fight!” Flash yelled as the chest cover of his gundam shot off revealing a chest like design. “Ready!”

“GO!” Spike yelled as the two Gundams charged at each other and collided fists. Spike then threw another punch and Flash dodged it before throwing one of his own that struck Spike in the face. Flash was about to throw another only for Spike to dodge it and retaliate by jumping up and throwing rapid kicks. Flash took a few hits before crossing his arms to block any more coming at him. Flash then threw a left cross that Spike dodged by flipping over him before striking Flash from behind with a kick that pushed the Maximizer Guard Gundam forward a little ways. Flash then turned around just in time to block a punch from Spike before striking him with a right hook and then followed with a left hook. He was about to throw another right hook only for Spike to block it and then counter by grabbing the Maximizer Guard Gundam by the head and hit it in the face with the Shining Dragon Gundam’s knee.

Down at the ground, the girls and Flash’s crew, along with a beaten and knocked out Gladmane and Svengallop, watched with amazement.

“Awesome!” Sonata and Rainbow said.

“Incredible.” Aria followed with.

“I’ll say.” Sunset said, “I can’t believe how strong Spike has gotten over the years. It’s incredible.”

“He’s definitely a strong fighter.” Adagio said with admiration, “One definitely good enough to fight Flash.”

Back with the fight, the Shining Dragon Gundam was pushed back as Maximizer Guard Gundam stood in front of it. Its right fist began to glow white as it reared back.

“Let’s see you handle this Spike. WHIRLWIND FIST!!!” Flash yelled as he threw his right fist forward and from it shot a tornado that collided with Shining Dragon Gundam and pushed it back further.

“Looks like Flash is the winner girls.” Sunset said.

“Don’t be so sure yet Sunset.” Ember said, confusing Sunset and her crewmates.

“She’s right. Look for yourself.” Rainbow said, pointing to the fight. Flash’s crew did as she said and were surprised at what was happening.

The Shining Dragon Gundam was pushing through the wind slowly as its mouth plate opened and lifted its right hand against the wind and began to glow green. “Don’t count me out just yet Flash!”

“What in the world?” Flash asked, shocked.

Spike’s right hand began to glow with his King of Sorcery crest. “This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! Its shining grip tells me to defeat you! Here I go! SHINING! CLAW!!!”

The Shining Dragon Gundam began pushing through the wind with its glowing hand until it collided with the Maximizer Guard Gundam’s glowing gauntlet and electricity began dispersing from the fists.

“What? What’s going on?” Flash asked.

“Flash! I have something to ask you!”

“What is it?!”

On Flash’s monitor, the picture of Shining Armor appeared. “Shining Armor. Have you seen him recently?”

“No.” Flash said as he struggled to hold back Spike’s attack, “I haven’t seen him the past couple of years!”

“I see.” Spike said, “Well then time for this fight to end!”

The Shining Dragon Gundam’s Shining Claw then powered up enough to destroy the Maximizer Guard Gundam’s fist and caused it to fall back.

“NOOOOOO!!!” Flash said as his Gundam fell down against a building in defeat. The Shining Dragon Gundam’s mouth cover folded back in as its hand powered down and smoke came from it from cooling off.

“Spike…” Flash said, “I don’t understand. Why not finish the match by destroying my Gundam’s head and disqualifying me?”

“Because.” Spike said, “You and I were both helped by Shining in the past to get where we are now. And I’d like to see how we can get better to face each other again further on in this tournament.”

Flash was surprised by Spike’s words before smiling, standing up, and holding his arm. “Thanks Spike. I can tell why Shining Armor told me so much about you back then.”

The girls watched as the two Gundams stood proud while smiling.

“You were right Twilight.” Adagio said, “Spike is something else.”

From a rooftop, Chrysalis watched with a glare and said, “Damn it. I was close to getting off of this rock and getting a colony ticket. Oh well. Better luck next time.

Chrysalis then teleported off with her magic.

Later that day, Svengallop and Gladmane were arrested and Spike and the girls were preparing to take their leave. Sunset and Twilight were sharing a hug as Sunset said, “It was good seeing you again Twilight.”

“You too Sunset.” Twilight said, “And after seeing how good of a fighter Flash is, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again sometime down the road.”

“You can bet on it.”

Pinkie and Sonata were exchanging snacks as a means of saying goodbye while Aria fist bumped with Rainbow and Applejack. Adagio was surprised by a hug from Fluttershy, but returned it nonetheless. Ember smiled at this all before looking to Spike and Flash, who shared a fist bump as well.

“See ya around Flash.” Spike said with a grin.

“You bet.” Flash said, “And next time, expect to lose.”

“I was gonna say the same thing.” Spike said as he and the girls loaded up the corelander and group transport again and took off, watching as Flash and his girls waved off to them.

“So Spike?” Ember asked, “What’s next on the plan?”

“We continue searching for Shining Armor and the Devil Gundam.” Spike said as they drove off into the direction of the sun. “Next stop. Neo-Chineigh.”

Author's Note

The reason why I made the Dazzlings Hippogriffs is that there is no fan fics that features them as hippogriffs. And I aim to make it so. And give me your thoughts about it.