Spike was walking over to a fort near the Crystal Empire that was under Umbrum control. He had heard about the fort being talked about by other creatures when he had been walking around Yakyakistan.

After defeating the demon, Spike let the yaks know that he had defeated the demon, they could all see the blood that was smeared across him. It was undoubtedly true that he had defeated the Demon of Yakyakistan, and they were so happy that The Ghost was with them again.

Spike had been given a hotel room to stay in and some food despite his insistence that he would pay them. They did not listen to him so they continued with their plans. Spike stayed the night but before bed, he had walked around the kingdom and heard conversations from the other creatures who spoke about a fort that held innocents who were being slaughtered and used as slaves. The purple dragon slept for a few hours and then started making his way to the fort, he knew where it was located because he had seen it at a distance when he and the Crystal Guards were making their way to Griffinstone, they had to be careful to not be seen.

The fort was beside a forest that was said to serve as a shortcut but no creature knew where it led. No creature dared enter the forest even before the invasion. But now, Spike could maybe use it to his advantage. Lure in some Umbrums and slaughter them for what they did to Equestria.

He liked the idea but he would need to use firecrackers as a distraction and he did not have any on him. The Umbrums most likely had some as they carried all sorts of weapons wherever they went. Spike snorted as he thought about it, Umbrums have all the weapons but King Sombra is arrogant, so arrogant that he did not stop to consider the fact that his army may lose in a battle. He just throws more Umbrums his enemies way and expects them to fall.

It greatly infuriated Spike that King Sombra only saw his soldiers as just something he can throw at some creature as if they are replaceable, you can never replace friends and family.

Spike continued onwards to the fort, not stopping to look back. His claws were trembling from the adrenaline rushes he had suffered for the last few days, but he would not change it for anything. He was proud of who he was and who he had become.

For the next few minutes, he walked towards the location, intending on climbing inside somehow and view the place, and start killing of Umbrums. His idea was the same as the last one when it came to liberating war camps, forts, and farms across Equestria.

The fort had ten Umbrum wood tents that were easy to set up but also easy to burn. The fort was an old farm that was known for its berries. That was before the frozen north became that; frozen. It was a village mostly used by pegasi as they gained energy from the berries that the other two tribes did not.

Later, it was frozen over a few thousand years ago and became known as ‘The Frozen North’ and the village was all but forgotten about. The village then became a place for travelers and warriors to better their weapons. Making the swords, bow, and arrow, knives, armour, and other weapons better, sharper.

It has been used by many guards over the years but since the invasion, it was brought to a halt because King Sombra demanded that they only make weapons for him which they refused. In retaliation, King Sombra sent fifty of his soldiers who took over the former fishing village and forced them to cooperate.

Since then, no creature knew what was going on over there. Well, apart from the Umbrums and the ones who were forced to work and live there. But if Spike has the right feeling about the village, if he liberates the fort then the Crystal guards and whoever can fight; will have more weapons in production that will be used to kill off the Umbrums that were terrorizing the innocent across Equestria.

He will be taking the fight to them.

There was not much information else that was known about the fort, but the creatures who lived there were not well known; they did business with Equestria and the Crystal Empire, that was it, the only ones who would know anything about them would be distant relatives, that would be the closest they would be able to know much.

But that fort was not the only place that was occupied by Umbrums, there are tens of war camps and other occupied territories that the Umbrum abused into submission. Ponyville was the best example of that. The town was broken, not just by buildings, by soul and emotions as well.

The creatures there has no enthusiasm at all. This is strange; Ponyville was once the one place in Equestria that was seen as the happiest town in existence. The ponies there knew each other by name and did fun things together, they even welcomed Spike with open hooves but they were not happy with him when he lost control with his greed and that was understandable. He paid for all the repairs and no pony from Ponyville to this day knows how he paid it. Apart from Mayor Mare who had strangely winked at him as if she knew where he got it from. Over time, they forgave Spike and knew that he was still at the time a baby dragon and that it was his first time.

But now; Ponyville could be under attack by Umbrums and they would not even flinch. The attacks were brutal but they did not scream. They did not react to anything, with no emotion on their faces. And it wasn’t the type of “no emotion in politics”, this was no emotion because they lost hope.

In the end, they allow the Umbrums to do what they want because they have no hope, that might have changed slightly now, but they might not truly believe the stories they might’ve heard from the Umbrums. That is if they know and understand their language.

But Ponyville would be the last place that Spike would liberate; Ponyville is the one town in Equestria that holds the entirety of Equestria together, which is why Ponyville is so important, in other creatures eyes it might look like any other town when in reality; that town is the very thing keeping Equestria going.

It was the reason the Summer Sun Celebration happened in Ponyville, it wasn’t a coincidence that the party was held there. Princess Celestia knew that her sister or Nightmare Moon would go to their old castle that is abandoned in the Everfree Forest.

She had known that Twilight would be the wielder of magic because of her vast knowledge of the many different spells. There had even been spells that Twilight unknowingly had improved. Spike had to pretend he was tired to not draw attention to himself. He knew that Nightmare Moon was his aunt or Princess Luna. Spike was afraid that if he came along, then he would not be overly surprised to see his aunt which in turn would make the other six mares ask him how that came to be.

He would have to answer a lot of questions, and he did not feel very comfortable answering them. The only ones that know in the present were the royal guards from his mothers, aunt, and cousins side as well as Shining Armor because he needs to know since he was the prince of the Crystal Empire.

But Spike suspected that the other know about it.

*** *** ***

When Spike was near the vicinity of the fort, he had tried to find a survivors camp to rest for a few minutes or an hour and found one that was just five minutes away from the fort. He had some rice and vegetables and then had meditated before he planned his mind for battle.

The creatures there saw the symbol he was carrying which was the one the rumored Ghost carried which made them excited, if The Ghost was here, then it meant that he was going to liberate the fort. They were happy that he was there to help them, and every creature beyond.

After Spike had finished with his meditating, he got up to his feet and turned his head to the fort which was five minutes away. Slowly, he walked away from the survivor’s camp, not noticing that the creatures there were silently praying for him.

*** *** ***

The fort was as big as Spike had suspected, ten Umbrum tents had been built with meat — that they had killed and hunted for — hanging to the side of them. There were creatures there who were being used as slaves, getting kicked for falling, or not being finished with a certain task.

It infuriated Spike to no end.

Hitting creatures and using them as slaves are things that make Spike do what he does apart from the duty of the prophecy. Innocents should not have to be subjected to a tyrannical system ruled by a lunatic in power who only wants more power, the more power you have, the more power-hungry that creature becomes.

That is something that every creature knows but never speaks about. It is a silent argument that is never brought up in any form of discussion. Unless it is a situation where it needs to be mentioned but nopony or other creatures look at each other in the eye.

It’s not taboo, but it is not welcomed into discussions either.

Spike was by the wooden wall and started climbing with his iron hooks. He jumped and the hook landed on a tree branch that had a white and red coloured rope around it. He started climbing it, being careful to lower himself in case any Umbrums spotted him which they didn’t.

When he was high enough, he started to lightly swing back and forth. When he had the right momentum, he jumped to the other side, landing on the roof of a tent that was the largest one in the fort. It must belong to a warlord. Only they had the biggest tents.

Spike slowed his breathing and used his dragon hearing to detect movements, he only heard some Umbrums walking and chatting about something nearby but nothing else. He could not hear if there were any Umbrums inside the tent so he decided to see if there were any Umbrums to kill and maybe loot a little from them as well, something he could use to his advantage.

He dropped down to the frozen ground and crouched down, making sure to not make any noise, and moved towards the tent. The tent cover was made from red silk that did not look natural and some marks symbolized King Sombra. His red horn.

Moving inside the tent, Spike was met with no Umbrum nearby. He looked around and saw that there were many souvenirs from around Equestria and beyond. This did not surprise him, he knew that King Sombra was after ruling the entirety of Equestria and taking over the other kingdoms. He was hungry for power and he wanted to show the princess’ that the more kingdoms he take over, the more Umbrums he create which makes his army strong. The plan, from what little Spike could gather, was to make his mother, aunt, and cousin feel intimidated to the point where they would give up or fight until their last breath. That way, King Sombra would look as though nothing could stop him, his power would be “beyond the princess’,”

Spike saw a chest and moved towards it, hoping to find something useful. He opened the chest and picked up some explosive arrows and supplies that he could use for his weapons.

The swordsmiths were good at their work and Spike knew he needed to refresher his katana. He was willing to pay their price.

He crouched down after he had inspected everything and snuck out the same way he came, and climbed back onto the roof of the tent where he saw the Umbrums either patrolling, torturing, drinking, or other things that Spike would rather not think about.

The frozen grounds of the fort had many cracks which Spike suspected was made from the Umbrums to walk easier but if it made any difference remains to be seen. He Watched as a Umbrum walked towards one of the slaves and started beating up the poor mare. That is when Spike sprung into action.

*** *** ***

The mare was clutching her head, trying to not scream from the pain she was enduring, the cold ground did not make the situation any easier when she heard a gurgling sound. She risked a glance and she nearly vomited when she saw a sword sticking out of the Umbrums mouth.

She quickly looked away, not realizing that she had been saved.

*** *** ***

Spike left the body to rot but felt bad that he had left the hurt mare there, he would take care of it later. After he had killed the Umbrum, he had quickly jumped up to the roof of another tent and was scouting the surrounding areas, looking for any creatures who were being beaten by the Umbrums without mercy.

Luckily, the mare was the only one who had to endure such cowardice. He would try to help her later, he did have some medicine, if not, he would just look through the stolen items that the Umbrums had taken.

Several carts could back up Spike’s claims as well, the carts had been stolen from villages, cities, towns, anywhere they could find supplies. The carts were placed in many different areas of the fort but there were more of those in other Umbrum occupied territories.

Spike jumped from the tent he was on to another, heading towards a heavy Umbrum area where the soldiers were arguing amongst one another. He glanced down and saw that two Umbrums stood guard, not saying anything. Spike pulled out his katana and tanto, but before he attacked he looked for other Umbrums, but they were facing the other way. Spike dropped down to the first Umbrum, and before the second Umbrum could react, Spike had slit his throat. Spike quickly went inside the tent and saw that there was a Umbrum warlord in there, sleeping. Sneaking up to the Umbrum, Spike cut right through the Umbrums armour, killing the Umbrum warlord instantly.

Spike looked around and grabbed any supplies that were on the small shelves and opened a chest that contained some silk and bamboo. Then he left the tent and climbed onto the roof of it again, scouting the area, being careful not to be seen by the Umbrums.

What amazed Spike was that the Umbrums had not seen their fallen comrades who were dead. They should have noticed them by now, but they didn’t they just did whatever.

He saw three Umbrums who were sitting by a fire, drinking. Spike pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it at the ground and he jumped onto the first one with his katana stabbing him in the abdomen, the second one he cut slit the throat, and the third one he stabbed in the back, and just like that; they were dead.

Before the smoke cleared, Spike rushed up to a tent and climbed to the roof of it. The other Umbrums looked to the location of where the smoke had come from and saw the three dead bodies and then the other two, they started to panic when they saw them.

“Púca!” One of them shouted, dropping his sword and falling to the ground, his face filled with fear. He got up and he started to run away, not even glancing behind him as he left his other two comrades.

The other two were about to blow their horn to signify their comrades’ deaths, Spike shot an arrow at both of their throats. Causing them to choke on their blood as they grabbed the arrows and pulled them out; causing them to bleed and choke even more.

They fell to the ground, gurgling before their souls went to the next life.

Spike walked over to the bodies and checked if they had anything that he could use to his advantage. Checking the bodies, he found some smoke powder that he could use to make a distraction.

Grabbing the smoke powder, he walked away from the bodies and headed to the next location where the Umbrums were causing havoc.

*** *** ***

The Umbrums were eating and drinking with laughter all around them, they were talking about how easy it was to make the fort cooperate with them and how pathetic they were. They knew their King would not accept anything less than success.

But there was one problem that they were all avoiding about talking; The Ghost

Ever since that hero came and liberated Yakyakistan, war camps, Griffinstone, they had been on edge. They were watching over their backs all the time, expecting to see some creature but there was no creature there.

They had received orders from King Sombra to be on high alert for The Ghost and to kill and expendables if needed. But there was only one problem; they did not know what he looked like, they did not even know if it was one creature, for all they knew it could be multiple creatures.

Nonetheless, The Ghost would not dare hurt them, they are the Umbrums! the soldiers of King Sombra!

*** *** ***

Spike watched those Umbrums from a distance, a small scowl on his face as he saw them laughing with each other. They must be talking about their slaves which made Spike angrier than he was before. It took all his willpower to not go over and kill them directly.

He had a few explosive arrows that he could use to kill them from a distance. These were the last of the Umbrums that were still in the fort, the others had either run away or they had been killed. Most of the Umbrums, Spike had noticed, were running away more often.

He did show a few mercy, not because they deserved it, but because he found it slightly cowardly shooting an arrow when the creatures’ back is turned. He did know that they would come again in other groups.

Spike watched as the Umbrums were laughing like hyenas. He pulled out his bow and an explosive arrow, he aimed it right at the camp, in the middle of the four. He felt his breathing slow down and all timed slowed down, the birds that flew overhead which he had not noticed before were chirping. The sky seemed darker, the fort felt tighter.

Spike released the arrow that pierced the air to the frozen ground where it exploded, causing the Umbrums to catch fire and start to scream for their very lives which made the other creatures who were used as slaves, flee the fort, seeing an opportunity.

Spike jumped down and slowly walked over to the four Umbrums who were crawling on the ground, trying to get medicine. Spike stabbed them through the heart, ending their suffering. The creatures who had stayed behind slowly walked out and saw Spike looking over the bodies for anything useful.

They admired the armour he wore, the way he had fought was something that they had only heard in stories believed to be a myth. They had heard about the legendary Ghost who had liberated Yakyakistan and Griffinstone. They had not believed it, but now; they can finally feel some hope.

Spike turned and saw that he had an audience. He smiled at them after he took off his mask that concealed his emotions.

“You are free, but be safe.” He said, taking out a parchment, quill, and ink; writing a quick letter to his mother, letting her know which place he had liberated from Umbrum occupation. The creatures there smiled and for the first time in a long time, they did not feel afraid.

Author's Note

I am doing some side stories so that Spike can gather more allies and so the stories in some ways match the game itself which you can find here; Ghost Of Tsushima. Hope you enjoy!