Spike was in his sleeping quarters in the Crystal Empire, he had traveled back when he had gotten the idea to liberate Manehattan. He would need allies to help him take over the entire city. To his knowledge; the city itself was in ruins with only Umbrum homes visible.

The creatures there are used as slaves and get no breaks from what he has heard from the creatures who fleed from there. The Umbrums steal the food, rob them blind, torture them, and worse. The stories from Manehattan were not as glorious as they used to be.

but that would finally be put to a stop within a few days. Spike had a plan but he would need to scout the area before he could do anything at all. He knew that the cutie mark crusaders, Rumble, and Pipsqueak would be interested in joining him in this liberation.

This was why he contacted them by sending out a Crystal Pony who was one of the best warriors within the Empire, nothing had been able to beat the stallion and some Umbrums would most certainly not be a match for him.

His friends had all but demanded where he had been for the last few weeks which had passed into the new month which no one seemed to know thanks to King Sombra. He had done the right thing; he told them the truth about where he had gone and told them about his grand adventure outside the kingdom.

They had been utterly stunned about what he had told them and inquired further as to why he would show such brutality. He could see their cold judging eyes, but aunt Luna and cousin Cadance were very accepting. They both knew that there was no other way to beating the Umbrums but Celestia was refusing to see reason.

This was another thing Spike had trouble with; his mother seemed by the day go more against him than with him, she looked into his room every five minutes just to see if he was still there. If he wasn’t there, then she sent half of the guards to look for him.

This was brought to an end when he told them that he wanted some privacy than having to tell them where he was going every time. He knew it was his own fault, he had been the one to disappear in the cover of darkness, it truly was no surprise that they would be on edge when he wasn’t there.

Luckily, the Crystal Guards were all on his side even though they could never be vocal about it. They sometimes gave him subtle hints as to where Umbrum war camps were and other places that are believed to have become Umbrum territory which was marked on a map given to him by Cadance.

The princess of the Crystal Empire told Spike that she knew that there was no other way to defeat the Umbrums. King Sombra was breaking all sorts of war rules and committing war crimes that were punishable by death and she knew aunt Celestia would never kill King Sombra.

“She will never be able to see reason,” She concluded, sitting on Spike’s bed and looking into his eyes from where he was standing in the dark corner of the room. “She believes that the way you are going about it is wrong; that you are becoming violent, pony feathers! She even stated that you enjoy it!”

Spike had been incredibly hurt by the statement made by his own mother, he knew that she would have a very hard time accepting the fact that she would not be able to redeem King Sombra—not in this life—but he never would have believed that she would go that far and say that.

It was unrealistic, she was the co-ruler of Equestria, the kingdom that has lived in peace and prosperity for so long that she had forgotten what it’s like to be at war with other kingdoms. Albeit, the kingdom they are fighting is their own to an extent.

But perhaps that was the problem; she may be expected that there would be no wars against Equestria, sticking her nuzzle high up in the air, acting like Equestria never have been at war with the other kingdoms. She maybe wants to forget the wars Equestria to part in, but Spike most certainly would never act like the wars not in any way happened. Auntie Luna even said that it was an idiotic idea because it was not realistic; Equestria has taken part in many kinds of wars in the past both forgotten and remembered that most creatures do not want to think about.

But his mother was not the only creature who believed this.

His sister figure—Twilight Sparkle—believes with his mother firmly, she never stated anything bad about him, but she has shown signs of disgust whenever he is cleaning his sword, specifically him, she never showed those signs when other creatures did it.

It made Spike feel an unfathomable amount of confusion. Why was she like that? Something must have happened for her to turn out that way, otherwise, she would only say that it was too dangerous for him.

But that could be understood in different ways. She could be disgusted by something else, perhaps the fact that there is a prophecy about him that made her feel disgusted that a child is expected to defeat an evil King. But Spike knew the real answer, he just wanted to soothe his emotions the best he could.

He knew that there was no other way though ... killing King Sombra will bring them peace, something that is not always achieved by any good means. He was willing to do it. There was no creature else that could take the job either from their fears or weaknesses.

He was willing to do something that was once frowned upon in the lands of Equestria; murder can never be truly forgiven but if the purposes are right, then the worst repercussions would be a few years in prison. But this was wartime, so he would get away with the murders, never needing to go to prison.

Not that his aunt, cousin, or fans In the Crystal Empire, Yakyakistan, Griffinstone, or the fort would even allow it to happen.

*** *** ***

Hoofshima Neighpan, one year ago.

Spike was wearing the armour the legendary Ghost Of Hoofshima once wore with pride. It made his body look muscular and powerful. His katana was inside of its sheath, holding power that could never be understood by anyone other than the Sakai clan.

He was outside of the house, which looked to have seen better days. There was an onsen where he could relax in the hot water and feel his health become better. It was located in the middle of the woods, some wards had been enchanted over the house so it would not be located by any creature.

The surrounding areas were covered by treelines. He remembered when the house he was living in looked modern in the city, but then his ancestor had made so the house traveled to its origin. He had barely left the house to go shopping, he preferred to train.

He had been made to carry two heavy buckets filled to the brim with water so he could wash the tombstones of his other ancestors like Kazumasa Sakai. He had been educated about the other samurai lords and ladies of the Sakai family as well as the other families from the Shimura family which his ancestor Jin Sakai was the closest related to. Jin Sakai’s mother; Chiyoko Sakai had been a Shimura before she married into the Sakai clan.

His sword-swinging would need improvement and he would need to stabilize his movements. The way he uses the sword was not very impressive, he made constant mistakes and it felt like he was not learning anything but he was. His ancestor knew he was.

Sometimes it is hard to accept to learn something when it feels like you aren’t.

Spike was sitting on his knees, his eyes closed. He looked peaceful, but his mind was a raging storm. A storm that could never be defeated by friendlies or foes. It was not possible. His mind was reflecting on what happened to his mother, she had never been knocked out like that before. Even with Queen Chrysalis’ spell, it had taken a lot of power to defeat her.

“Spike,” A voice from behind said. He did not open his eyes, he did not even smile a little bit. “I know that you are worried for the other members of our family, but you cannot blame yourself for what happened. King Sombra fooled every creature to believe he was dead.”

He hated the fact that his ancestor was yet again; correct as always. “I know, ancestor, but the way he tricked us all ... it never should have happened. It was supposed to be a normal day, yet so many innocent creatures were killed. I saw how the children cried for their parents ... I will have my vengeance.”

Jin smiled. Despite everything his descendent had seen, he was willing to go back and fight for them, he was a true Sakai by blood. “You will have your vengeance, but first, you need to train. Once you finished your training within a few months, then we will go back to Equestria.”

Now, Spike turned to look at the ancestor that sat beside him, his eyes held no emotion as he looked at his ancestor. He could not see a flicker of emotion on his ancestor’s face either. “And kill King Sombra.” Spike looked ahead of him and knew that Jin was smiling at him.

“I made an offering to The Kami.” Spike said, hoping that he impressed his ancestor. Jin turned to look at Spike with an impressed look. “I hope The Kami protects me.”

“They will answer your prayers in many ways.” Jin said, glancing at Spike’s face to see any reaction but finding none. He had trained well.

*** *** ***

Spike was inside of his room in the Crystal Empire and was sharpening his sword. He had received a response that they were all on their way to the empire. The metal clinging from his room could be heard in the hallways and the Crystal Guards were all inwardly grinning like loons, it would mean that their hero was preparing for battle.

Just then, Pipsqueak walked through the hallways and the Crystal Guards did not stop him when he knocked on the door to Spike’s room. The hallways of the palace looked like one from a story told to children. The walls were illuminating the blue with such beauty that the sun and moon could not compare with their light. The ceiling had depictions of The Ghost that Cadance had secretly put up without any creature par from Luna noticing.

“Come in,” Spike responded. His eyes were fixated on the katana that have taken lives for thousands of years. The blade had both Mongol and Umbrum blood smeared across it from the different timelines. In the reflection, Spike swore that he saw his ancestor look back at him with a smile.

Pipsqueak walked inside the room and smiled at Spike. The two enveloped in a hug.

“Oh, man, it has been too long.” Pipsqueak said, his voice showing clear emotion. In response, Spike chuckled.

“It has my friend, it has. The others are yet to arrive, so we have plenty of time to catch up before we have to leave for Manehattan.” It was then they both started talking about their adventures, they spoke about how many Umbrums they had defeated and mentioned the ones they had saved.

Their friendship blossomed like a flower in the summer. Their loyalty to each other is something that would be admired by Rainbow Dash years later.

*** *** ***

Hours went by and the cutie mark crusaders arrived with Rumble who was covered in blood. He looked dazed but he was still standing. He did not look at the others in the room, he simply looked down on the floor, not responding to them or even acknowledging them at all.

Spike watched him with very high curiosity. The way he watched the floor was the same way some creature would do when they had lost some creature they love but there was something else in his body language that he did not recognize. The room felt eternal, the way to Rumble was as if he was on the other side of Equestria but he still made a move towards him.

The others did not know if it was a good idea but they did not stop him.

Rumble showed no emotion, he did not even seem to realize that Spike was looking at him along with the others. He was caught up in his little world that he did not even realize that he was making the others panic for various reasons. One of them was that they found him wandering around without saying anything to any creature.

“Rumble ... “ He did not react to his voice. “What happened?” The question was simple enough, but answering them can sometimes be the most difficult one to answer. Rumble tried to respond, the others saw it, he opened his mouth but no words would come out. His throat was dry and his heart was beating so fast, he believed that it would pop out of his chest but it didn’t.

His armour was protecting him, protecting him from being stabbed, hit with an arrow, but it could not protect him from his emotions. That was the only thing that one could hate about armour; not protecting any creature from their own emotions.

“I ... I saw him.” He first stuttered out, his voice holding a lot of emotions, so much that Spike was not sure which emotion he was feeling. The way he said it sounded like he did something he shouldn’t have. The others looked at Rumble in worry, Pipsqueak glanced at Spike hoping to get answers but when he saw Spike look confused, he knew he wasn’t the only one who was befuddled.

“You saw who?” Scootaloo asked, walking towards him and sitting down beside him. He neither tensed nor acknowledged her, not that they could see if he did either way. At first, they did not believe he would respond to the question, but he did but the answer was not what they had expected.

“I saw him, my brother,” He clarified. “I walked by an Umbrum war camp somewhere near Las Pegasus. I flew up there and I noticed how there was a prisoner there. I liberated the war camp and when I got to the prisoner ... I glanced to my ... right and saw my brothers ... head on a pike ...”

Spike and the others looked at Rumble, horrified by what they had just heard. They knew that the Umbrums did not take any kind of prisoners, but this was the first time that they had heard some creature they know and love actually get tortured from the sounds of the story.

“Was the one who did it in the camp?” Pipsqueak asked, his eyes shimmering with something that none of them had ever seen before, it was frightening, to say the least. Rumble, for the first time since he had come to the palace, looked up and stared dead in the eye at Pipsqueak.

“His name is Timug, he is in Manehattan as we speak. When I heard that We were heading there, I came as quickly as I could.” Spike did not like the tone in Rumbles, voice. It sounded ... demonic.

Author's Note

Hello everypony, I wanted to tell you that I will not be updating this story for the rest of the month, you will have to wait for January of next year, but I will be focusing on some Yule(Christmas) stories. That will hopefully be fun! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!