Walking back to the Crystal Empire was a long journey with little to no breaks for Spike. The Crystal guards stayed in Griffinstone to make sure that the Umbrums don’t reclaim it. His friends separated, intending on doing different things in the lands of Equestria and they invited Spike to come along.

This left Spike wandering back to the Crystal Empire, hoping to catch some rest before he set out for another adventure. He was getting closer, feeling the cold on his scales hinted that way. He took small breathes of cold air, feeling it travel to his lungs and out again.

When he had stayed a few minutes at a survivors camp, he had heard some Griffins speaking about him and his friends. The Griffin explained how Spike had butchered the Umbrums, not leaving them any chances of attacking. This brought hope to the other survivors.

It was something that many other creatures had forgotten; to have hope.

Spike looked up ahead as he walked, his senses on full alert and his claws ready to draw the katana out if needed. He heard some creatures speaking in hushed tones, Spike looked to his right and saw that it was a survivors camp and decided to stay there for a few minutes.

The survivors camp was quite small that fit around fifteen to thirty creatures. There were a few wagons with the other creatures things in them that they had brought with them ranging from food, medicine, water, clothes, anything useful to others that may need it.

The dirt under his feet was hard and a little icy, so Spike treaded carefully to any travelers or other creatures that may sell anything. There was a Trapper who sold hunting equipment and bought things from other creatures as well if needed. Spike bought some arrows and explosive arrows for another time and went to the traveler who sold coloured silk that would dress nicely on Spike’s body if he wore them right.

Spike walked up to the traveler who wore some green cloth in his upper and lower body along with sandals. “Would you like to see what I have?” The traveler asked, hopeful.

“Yes, I would love to see what you have,” Spike said with a smile on his face, showing warmth to the traveler. Certain travelers like the Spike were buying from had different tastes in payment. Travelers had flowers for payment because some flowers in potions can help them travel to places faster or they can make the potions to sell them for a profit later on.

Spike bought some red colours with white flowers on them for an outfit that reminded Spike of his ancestors’ who had many outfits, one of them that stood out was Straw Hat clothing. Spike never asked about why he had mercenary clothing and assumed that his ancestor joined a form of them but Spike knew that it was a lot more complicated than that.

Spike bowed in respect to the traveler who smiled and bowed back. The traveler was a yak and Spike smiled, realizing that the yak must have either heard of his tale or seen it for himself.

Spike turned around to head on his way to the empire when there was a halt in some creature running, Spike glanced up and saw another yak there, looking terrified of something. From the looks of things, the yak was a musician. Spike and the others looked at the yak in concern, wondering what had happened to cause him to run and look as though he saw a demon.

Spike walked up to the yak with firm steps, showing that the yak was safe. The yak, when he saw Spike, bolted towards him and stopped right in front of him, and bowed deeply in respect. This utterly baffled the others as they did not expect this at all. The yak wore white robes that covered his body with hints of grey.

“What happened? Who were you running from?” Spike asked, voice calm but his eyes were one of a raging storm, ready to unleash its wrath on those who hurt innocents. The yak looked up and relaxed a little, he felt safe now that he knew The Ghost was here.

The yak calmed down and motioned for them to sit down. Spike sat down with his legs crossed, and the yak did the same. He was calming his breathing from running so far and so fast. He should have worked on his cardio. He glanced at Spike, his eyes ready to tell his tale.

“Ghost, I met something terrible in Yakyakistan, something that us yaks believed to be an old urban myth, something that only appears in books of mythology, legends, and folktales. But this creature, he was more than real.” The yak began, his voice sounding strained both from running and from fear.

Spike was intrigued by this and motioned for the musician to continue.

*** *** ***

“Long ago in Yakyakistan, there was a war raging between the Dragons and Yaks that caused devastation whenever our creatures fought against one another. This led to the other creatures taking sides in the war and the yaks obliged the help from the Crystal Empire.

“However, there was a yak that believed wholeheartedly that we yaks could win the battle against the dragons and whoever stood with them. His sword was the heaviest among the yaks and whenever he swung it, it was promised destruction that would carve itself in its wake.

“But when the war finally stopped after both yaks and dragons decided to call it a truce, and start with peaceful talks, the yak could not allow it to happen. The war had made him famous and many yaks admired his ability to fight, if the war stopped, he would lose the fame and fortune which he had collected.

“Stricken by greed, he set out of Yakyakistan and traveled to a place no creature is certain of and started to learn dark magic. He placed dark magic in his sword making it cleaner and sharper. This made his enemies frightful as he could collect souls with it. as well as allowing his enemies to bleed to death.

“When he returned from his learnings of dark magic, he was not welcome because we had figured out what the sword could do and knew the purpose of it. In rage; he started killing the yaks he had seen as friends and comrades, not stopping until they were all dead.

“After that day, he started to stalk the kingdom of Yakyakistan and never cared if it was a friend or family member, only caring about the fear he struck every yak with. Then abruptly centuries ago, it stopped and he was never seen or heard from again. Yaks believed he had stopped but we were wrong, just a few hours ago, there were dead bodies of yaks the same way he used to do it. Proving that he is stalking the kingdom of Yakyakistan once more.”

*** *** ***

Spike was intrigued by the story he had been told by the musician. It was not normal to hear about legends of Equestria especially legends that never left the other kingdoms. Yakyakistan was proof of that, yaks used to rarely leave their kingdom and if they did, they certainly never spoke about their kingdom, legends, and folktales, that was something that only other yaks knew about, and those who lived there. It also explained why the yaks were quite paranoid about everything — just like dragons — they questioned everything as if they are about to be tricked. Spike never knew the reason before but now he understood, he would have done precisely the same thing.

“Interesting,” Spike spoke up when he noticed that the musician looked at him. “However, what is his name?” Spike noticed under the entire story that the name was never even mentioned, which made Spike even more invested in the story.

The musician looked troubled by the question, his face morphed into one of frustrations and fear. Spike was about to apologize but the musician beat him to it.

“I deeply apologize, I do not know the name, I don’t believe the modern yaks know, Yona and yak guards might know but if they do, they have never said anything for whatever reason.” The musician said, frustrated that he could not give the hero more information as simple as a name.

Spike bowed to him in thanks and left him at the camp, setting out to Yakyakistan instead. But before he was able to leave, the musician stopped him by calling his name. Spike turned around, looking at the musician in the eyes.

“Be careful, that yak is said to be a demon and demons are very strong as well as yaks, mix the two...” The musician did not finish the sentence. He didn’t need to. Spike knew the stakes and knew that if the legend was true, then he knew to expect some strength.

“I know what is at stake, thanks for the warning,” Spike said, bowing and leaving the concerned musician at the camp. The musician himself on the other hand worried for The Ghosts’ safety.

*** *** ***

The harsh cold from the frozen north was never a welcome invitation to Spike as he walked up the path that led to the kingdom known as Yakyakistan. He had liberated the kingdom just weeks ago or maybe a month ago and had been seen by the yaks as a hero for liberating them from their oppression.

Ever since he had saved the cutie mark crusaders, the creatures of Equestria had some creature to look up to. Initially, they had believed it to be a hoax, but when the crusaders were checked so they weren’t Umbrum changelings, they knew it was the truth. The three fillies and Pipsqueak explained what had happened which led to the Crystal Ponies explaining how Spike The Brave And Glorious had returned to liberate them all. From that day onwards, his legend grew there weren’t any creatures who did not know his name, they all heard the stories. They also heard the Umbrum war camps he has liberated along with the liberation of Yakyakistan and Griffinstone, his legend simply grew and their hope skyrocketed.

Spike started walking up the mountain, his blade ready in case the demon would come out to attack him. If the legend was true, then there was a high possibility that the demon was hiding in the mountain forest somewhere, secluded from view and secured by the trees from being seen.

The roads suddenly felt tense, as If something was there, watching him, but he could not pinpoint where he felt it from. His muscles were as tense as they could, and his claws were ready to draw out the katana and slice the demon from hurting more innocent creatures who walked the roads.

Spike was halfway to Yakyakistan when he suddenly heard rattling. He jumped, drawing his katana and ready to fight but there was nothing there ...

The mountain forest which was to the left of him when he had walked was empty from any life. It was quiet ... uncomfortably quiet. Spike stretched his neck to see further into the forest, attempting to see any outlines of any creatures who might be watching him from a distance, but from what he could see, there were no creatures there.

Spike slowly, with katana in his claws, started walking again to Yakyakistan. He kept glancing into the forest but he never saw any creatures in there, and if there were, they were hiding well. The stone path to the kingdom looked cracked and it was wet as if there had been raining.

Spike stopped in his tracks. wet? He asked himself. There had been no rain that day and the snow had started to melt since King Sombra had taken over, the natural life was practically none-existant but with magic, the animals were still alive luckily.

Spike looked down to his feet and saw something horrific. His shoes were covered in something red, and it certainly was not wine. Using his left claw, Spike stretched his fingers to feel the red on his shoes and sure enough, it was blood. He looked behind him and saw that there was a pool of blood smeared on the ground. It was thick, so the demon must have killed a creature and allowed it to bleed, and then dumped the body elsewhere.

Spike’s anger flared as he thought about it. How some creature can do that as a sport was something he would never understand. It’s one thing being desperate, it is another thing when you’re doing it for fun.

Spike glared at the forest as if it was the forests’ fault. He knew what he had to do, so he did what he knew that he would do; he walked into the forest with his senses on high alert and his katana ready to cut through any creature who would attack him.

The forest had beautiful trees that aligned well with the other counterparts in the area, giving it a scary vibe with the very small fog that was around the area. Nonetheless, Spike moved onwards, looking for the yak who had become a demon by slaughtering those who stood in his way.

It disgusted Spike greatly that some creatures could do things like that, betray those who did nothing wrong to the creature and yet betray them just like that. From the legend, it seemed as though the demon had a taste for blood. He must have had a thirst for it since childhood.

But there is always the possibility of something else as well. “War brings out who we truly are.”

That was something that scared Spike, the statement was correct, those pressuring situations shows a side to a creature that no creature else expects but it is always there. It is not something that is easily taken away.

Spike continued onwards, hearing the crunching on the leaves as he past through the forest. When he was about to turn he heard a voice ahead of him.

“So The Ghost decided to show up!” Spike looked up and saw a yak that was covered in blood, his face was showing glee and not the good kind. Spike knew instantly that this was the demon. The yak had no horns, they were chopped off. There was a scar near his left eye that stretched from the nose. He wore a black cloth that covered his underside. He had a sword in his mouth that was covered in blood and Spike wore that he saw the yak lick it. “I admit, i did not believe you had the guts to show up but you did.”

Spike simply stared at the yak, his claws shaking.

The yak grinned at him and got into a stance that two creatures use when they are going to duel. “I hope you have written your will, because you won’t be leaving this forest alive!” He said, laughing at Spike who still had not said anything.

Wordlessly, Spike got into the dueling stance and waited until the demon would attack first.

The demon shot towards Spike with such speed that it took Spike awhile to comprehend what had happened. Spike managed to block two attacks at him but failed the third one that sent him flying and crashed down into the mud on the ground.

Seeing an opportunity, the demon ran at Spike with full speed but had not anticipated Spike dodging the attempt of being sliced to bits. Spike evaded and jumped up into the air and hit the sword in the demons’ mouth with all his might, forcing the yak to look away because of the force.

Spike managed to stab him once, making the yak howl in pain but it was not enough to take him down. The demon in pure anger started swinging his head left and right, attempting to gut Spike who evaded and blocked several of the hits. The yak suddenly stopped swinging and ran towards Spike and tried to cut off his head but failed and managed to cut a part of a tree instead, making the sword get stuck.

Spike seeing an opportunity, rushed towards the yak and tried to cut him down and succeded. The katana was stuck in the yaks neck and subsequently died from his injuries. Spike stared at the body for a long while, before pulling back his katana and wiping it clean from blood.

The fight ended quickly, too quickly. The yak became arrogant, and Spike did not even know his name. Spike turned around and walked out the way he came from, wondering if the demon was even dead. Nevertheless, the demon was dead. Spike walked out of the forest and decided to head to Yakyakistan to inform them of what transpired.

Author's Note

It wasn’t a long battle but I hope you enjoyed the chapter