Ghost Of Equestria

“The gates are opening!” A creature shouted as he neared the wooden gates that towered over the thousands of creatures who were fighting to regain back their home, what they had lost to the Umbrums.

The weather was getting worse by the seconds and the warrior’s clothing and armour were getting wet from the rain that had started pouring all over them. Spike had his eyes glued to the gates, waiting for it to be opened up by the Umbrums who were undoubtedly waiting to surprise-attack them.

But that was not happening; not today, not after what had happened over the year. They had lost too much to just stop right then and there.

Suddenly, Spike’s grip on his katana became stronger as the gates opened and flaming arrows shot out from them, hitting a few of their allies that cried out in pain from the agonizing flames that burned their coats. Even the dragons seemed mystified by the flames that pierced them.

But they could not dwell on it; they had to focus on their sole purpose of liberating Manehattan.

The Umbrums started to run out of the gates and tried their best to injure and kill the warriors who were fighting for their freedom. Spike blocked an attack from a Umbrum leader who looked to be a warlord from the looks of it by the gold armour she wore.

“Síos!” An Umbrum screamed and all the Umbrums ducked which caused the others to do the same. The arrow pierced the air with its metal that could pierce any creatures’ heart in a matter of seconds.

“You do not fight bad.” The war lady said, her voice is slightly unclear from all the Umbrum language speaking the creature had been speaking for either months or years. Spike didn’t respond, he only continued to block her attacks and looked for an opening to end the battle.

“But you could be better,” She added quickly as she blocked an attack that narrowly missed her throat that had been out in the open for a few quick seconds.

She was taunting him, and it was working.

But it did not work enough so that he would lose focus or balance. He had anticipated this; his ancestor told him that the leaders or smaller platoons or large ones’ usually, tried taunting their enemies into getting angry so they would become predictable.

The only flaw with that plan would be if the creature is unpredictable when angry; then the enemies doing the taunting will become afraid or just give up because they do not wish to push their luck.

Spike heard the clashes of weapons around him, he felt the spirit inside of him guide his blade as if it was a normal training exercise. He felt himself lose control over himself as he blocked the attacks from the war lady with ease, not being surprised by any of her movements; having observed her for quite some time by that point.

When Spike tried to go for a heavy attack, the war lady did the same but they stood like that in place, trying to see who was stronger than the other. Eventually, both of them pushed against one another before they jumped away so they would avoid the clashing.

They ran at each other once more, trying to get the upper hand, but it was not doing any favours; Spike was fighting with vigour and even felt his core muscles being overworked because of how much strength he was using against the war lady, and the Umbrum herself was not faring much better, trying to hold her weapon of choice in place while also trying to stand up from the clashing she had suffered at the claws of Spike. They stared each other down; trying to intimidate each other but it was not doing anything other than making them look like equals that are not able to finish their duel, but Spike did not see the Umbrum as his equal, not until they are free from King Sombra’s curse, and that would not happen because the victims would commit suicide after they realize what it is they had done while being controlled. Spike jumped at the Umbrum who jumped right back at him and they once again fought like wild animals; clashing their weapons at one another, making the sparks come out from the metal. But before the Umbrum could land a finishing blow at Spike; the purple scaled dragon stabbed her in the throat, making the blood gush out of her like a river.

Leaving his allies behind, Spike made his way inside the open gates of the once-grand city. Inside, he saw that many of his allies as well as Umbrums were fighting for the upper hand to end their battles and claim victory. The buildings were dishevelled and destroyed almost beyond repair. There was blood everywhere; soaking the grounds.

Spike looked around and saw that many Umbrums were making their way towards him, weapons ready. He gripped his katana tightly and stared them down. They would not be leaving this land at all. The wind blew against his back, his spirit was lifted.

He blocked an attack from one of them and quickly cut off his arm, which made the Umbrum wail in agony. The other Umbrums were swarming him like bugs but he did not falter. He cut through them every step of the way, he did not look behind him unless if he heard an Umbrum that tried to attack him from behind but he was lucky that a situation like that had not taken place yet.

“SÍOS!” A group of Umbrums shouted and in unison shot away arrows towards Spike’s allies who were shouting his name, fighting for him. Spike pulled out his longbow and aimed with precise precision and managed to use three arrows in one pull that killed three Umbrums who did not expect the attack.

The others that were from behind the gates now made their way inside of the city. Some Umbrums ran for it, looking to find their other comrades in hopes of eliminating The Ghost and his army. But there were a few Umbrums who fought to their last dying breath.

“This isn’t over, move towards the gates!” Pipsqueak shouted, panting as he did. Spike looked all over the place until his eyes landed on another gate that was firmly shut, with magic that surrounded the area. That is where King Sombra was hiding, Spike could see a tall structure of a building that must belong to some creature high in power.

There was no one higher than the King.

But the gates suddenly opened and there were suddenly thousands of Umbrums who swarmed the area with their weapons sharp enough to penetrate their armour if they needed to. His allies shouted a war cry and the second wave of the battle began; their swords clashing from the left to the right, the sounds of metal made it’s way over to Spike’s ears and it quickly filled the area where they were fighting. Spike blocked an attack from an Umbrum leader who wielded a spear and they clashed with such ferocity that their battle was taken elsewhere, with the Umbrum moving backwards and Spike moving forward.

Landing a blow proved to be too difficult to the Umbrum but he did still try to slay Spike but that proved to also be too difficult with the force that the dragon fought with. The Umbrum was muttering things under his breath but not enough for Spike to hear what he was saying; not that it would be anything good from the angry sounds emitting from the angry Umbrum.

The world slowed down, the Umbrum moved so slow that Spike felt as though he could kill him easily, but he realized he was as well moving slowly so that was out of the question. He tried stabbing the Umbrum but it proved to be fruitless as the enemy was blocking his attacks as if there was no tomorrow, and it was not an entirely wrong assumption ...

“Tá mé ag dul a mharú samurai duit!” The Umbrum shouted fiercely.

“Good look with that,” Spike responded, blocking an attack from the Umbrum that seemingly came from nowhere. He was getting into his fighting spirit and he was getting agitated from all the blocks the Umbrum was making; proving that the Umbrum was a worthy foe.

Spike did not look around for any moments at all, he did not notice that every creature was watching him while he was fighting the last Umbrum, but then Rumble came running towards Spike his weapon drawn. He jumped ... and landed a devastating blow to the Umbrum who gurgled as the blood came rushing out from his mouth. Spike breathed heavily and looked at Rumble who in turn looked at Spike.

“Are you okay?” Rumble with a worried expression on his face.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Spike replied and got up after he accidentally fell to the ground because of the ferocious attack that came from the Umbrum who must have been studying his movements as they fought.

He looked around and saw that every creature was slightly cheering for the small victory that they had won but it was far from over.

Princess Celestia marched forward with her guards while Luna watched her sister with slight interest. She did not know what her sister was doing, but whatever it was; it would most likely just kill them if they did not think critically about the situation that they had put themselves in.

Some creatures followed the princess while others stood by Spike, like, the Crystal Ponies who worshipped him and believed that he was sent down by a deity to protect them from harm’s way.

Spike looked around and realized that they were in one-third of the city, which meant that King Sombra was at the end of all the walls. But there was something that was troubling the purple dragon; why were there walls inside of the city? It wasn’t as if the prisoners could escape, rather, they were locked from getting in or out unless you knew the secret routes around the city below the sewers. But Spike knew that King Sombra looked everywhere to make sure that no creature would use any sort of secret passageway to escape his clutches.

“Spike?” He looked up and saw Pipsqueak stand before him, bow and arrow ready to fire. “Are you okay? You zoned out for a second there,”

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just; this is one-third of the city, which means that the next part behind those gates are the two-thirds of this city, but what I do not understand is why King Sombra would divide the city like this? I would not believe that he would do it for fun, unless ...” His eyes widened from the realization.

“Unless? Unless what?!” Pipsqueak said, panicking slightly from the lack of response from his friends’ side.

Spike looked at his friend and ally into the eyes and said with a pale face; “Unless he knew we were coming.”

Pipsqueak reeled back from the surprise he just heard, it was as if he had been struck. How could that be? It was not possible, they did everything in their power to not be found! How would King Sombra know this?

“How would he know?!” Pipsqueak demanded.

“I don’t know.” Spike regretfully said. It pained him that he did not have an answer. He should have one, but he didn’t. But then again, perhaps he did know the answer but did not want to reveal it. But ... the world is so dark and gloomy and King Sombra is known for—

“The darkness!” Spike lightly exclaimed and stumbled back into a piece of a wall that had not been burnt or blasted away from the onslaught that his allies had caused.

“The darkness?” Pipsqueak questioned him with a funny face. “What has that got to do with anything?”

“King Sombra is known for travelling through the darkness, not many creatures can detect him apart from Princess Luna but the more darkness there is, the less Princess Luna can detect him because he knows how to hide in plain sight.” Spike quickly explained. “King Sombra has almost every kingdom under his hooves apart from those, outside of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, he most likely set up some magical fields that would make it harder for any creature to detect him. Princess Luna would not stand a chance against him if he decided to attack!”

Before he was finished, Pipsqueak started to gallop in the direction of Princess Luna who was walking towards her sister who was resting alongside the element bearers who were speaking about strategy about how they would possibly infiltrate the second-third of the city.

“Princess Luna!” Pipsqueak shouted as he ran up to his favourite Princess. The Princess of the night turned around and faced her unusual friend and smiled slightly; she was happy to see that the battle had not hurt him badly.

“Pipsqueak, how are you?” She asked, sounding casual as if she did not just fight an entire horde of Umbrums.

“I bring some bad news. Can you detect King Sombra with all this darkness?” Luna felt bewildered by the emphasis of darkness and was about to ask what he meant when her eyes widened ...

She couldn’t ... she couldn’t detect him because of how much darkness there was! He could travel from one place to another in a matter of seconds! He would not even need the teleportation spell-

“Princess?” Pipsqueak asked as he looked at her body language and from the looks of it; she was panicking slightly. But before he could ask anything else, she snapped out of her trance and looked at Pipsqueak.

“Thank you for bringing me this information, Pipsqueak.” She started. Her voice quivered slightly. “I will not lie and tell you that I am not panicking; because that is precisely what I am doing right now. I may see the future, but I had never predicted this ...”

*** *** ***

“Celestia, did you see how Spike just slaughtered those creatures as if they mean nothing? I never believed that I raised a monster.” Twilight said with an edge to her tone that sounded disgusted. She was wearing the princess armour that had been formerly used by Princess Celestia when she and Luna battled their many foes in battles that proved to be difficult.

Pinkie Pie hid it well, but she was close to exploding in Twilight’s face; why could they not see what was necessary? She knew that Spike was not a monster but that he had to do “monstrous” things to be able to save Equestria! Isn’t that was truly mattered in the end?

“Yes, Twilight, I did see it. I never believed that he would ever do such a thing, I only believed that he was being aggressive but not this. Never this.” Celestia looked down to the bloody ground and lifted a hoof to look at all the blood underneath her shoes.

“All this death ... for nothing ...”

“It’s not for nothing, Princess,” Pinkie said, making the old ruler look at the element bearer of laughter. Her face was blank, looking at the pink mare who looked like she was about to bust a vein any second. “Spike is fighting for the sake of Equestria; sacrificing a lot to make sure that Equestria is free from King Sombra’s wrath and you, you’re just standing there talking about how Spike is such a monster, it is making me sick! Can you not see what it is he is doing for us? He is freeing the Umbrums who have been mind-controlled by King Sombra because he knows that if they were to be free from his spell, then they would grow depressed but not just that; they would commit suicide, knowing that they are the reason so many creatures lost their family members and friends. How would you feel? Being mind-controlled by King Sombra and then finding out that you killed your sister? Would you not feel extreme guilt. Despite others telling you that it wasn’t your fault, that doesn't take away the fact that you technically killed those creatures. Spike is doing them a favour, a favour that you and I both know they would have wanted, and I refuse to take that away from them.” Pinkie finished her ranting and glared at the princess slightly from the frustrations she had with her badmouthing of Spike.

Everypony looked at Pinkie in shock, they did not believe she would blow up in Princess Celestia’s face like that. The Princess herself looked at the Pink mare wide-eyed. The only one who spoke like that to her was Luna and even then, it was highly unusual that it ever happened.

The creatures around them prepared for the other battle, and they could hear the Umbrums on the other side of the wall shouting orders to one another.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Celestia began, the rest of the mane six cringed at the way Celestia said Pinkies’ name. She was in a heap of trouble. “I understand why you feel obligated to protect Spike since, well, there is no creature to defend his honour right now.” Celestia glanced with paranoia as she witnessed a few Crystal Ponies walk close by with their weapons ready and speaking about how Spike is such a great warrior. “... but the way he does things, is not okay, he cannot continue down this path. Because if he does; he will be no better than the Umbrums.”

“No better than the Umbrums?!” Luna shouted a little as she walked up to her sister and the element bearers. They turned to face her, Celestia being surprised that her sister was not taking her side in the debate. Pinkie Pie smiled at princess Luna; knowing the princess of the night could think straight.

“Luna ...” Celestia began.

“Sister ... we are at war! If it would have been any other kingdom or creature, I might have followed the war rules and laws, but this is King Sombra we are talking about! Spike is doing us a favour by killing off the Umbrums, he is doing what is necessary while you were sitting back at the empire, eating cake all day!” Luna was almost shouting by this point.

Every creature turned to look at the commotion and even the Umbrums became silenced at one point but were back at giving orders. The Crystal Ponies heard the bit about Spike and immediately looked towards the two co-rulers of Equestria in confusion.

They better not badmouth their hero!

Celestia looked alarmed by the many creatures who were now looking at them with questioning eyes. She had not intended for her sister to hear that small piece of information about Spike, especially, not the other creatures that were there, because Celestia did know that most of them were there because of The Ghost.

“Luna ... it is all a big misunderstanding ...” Celestia did not look into her sisters’ eyes which made Luna raise a brow at her. If it was all a big misunderstanding; then there should be no problem in explaining it to the other creatures that were present.

Celestia knew what Luna wanted but she would not be able to do it when the Crystal Ponies were nearby.

“Well, speak later, now, we need to open the other side of the gates to get to King Sombra,” Celestia commanded, making most creatures stand at attention while the Crystal Ponies were hesitant.

Meanwhile, Spike was making his way towards his aunt, planning on telling her to try to open the gates while he climbed over to the other side and tried to kill as many Umbrum as possible. Abruptly, there was a sound of an Umbrum blowing into their horn to signal the other Umbrums.

Every creature prepared themselves for battle and rallied up with their friends and allies while Spike ran towards his aunt, preparing for the battle ahead. This was it, the second wave would happen.

“Princess Luna!” Spike shouted and the Princess turned sharply towards her nephew. “I will get over to the other side, but I need you and the others to try to open the gates!”

“On it!” She shouted and ran towards the gates trying to open them as fast as possible. The Crystal Ponies and the other creatures tried to open the gates while Spike used his grappling hook to swing and climb to the top of the gates watchtower that had no other occupants.

The watchtower was built from wood and held many assortments of weapons and gun powder from all different weapons they wielded in battle, But Spike had no interest in them as he was only interested in the Umbrums who were standing near the gates. Spike walked out to the edge of the watchtower, crouched, and aimed the blowgun that he had gotten from his ancestor. He aimed it at one of the umbrum and shot a poison dart at one and quickly shot another one. The Umbrum warlord who stood there looked confused by the look in his eyes but he was understandably angry. Spike suddenly jumped from the edge right before he killed the Umbrum, the gates opened; revealing the Princess’ and every creature that was on his side. He then cut the head cleanly off, making the Umbrums who were up ahead run away. “SPIKE!” Princess Celestia shouted in fear. “What are you doing?!”

Spike glanced at her with some irritation. Blood covered him from his reason kill. “Making way for our allies.” His voice was calm, too calm to Celestia’s liking.

“Not like that ... never that ...” She began but before she could continue, the blowhorn went off from the Umbrums again and the soldiers fighting for King Sombra rushed towards them with their weapons ready to slaughter them. But there was a problem, there was a Hwacha that was firing explosive arrows at them, making it rain deadly.

The allies took cover while Spike and Pipsqueak together ran for the Hwacha. The Umbrums were relentless, they tried to attack Spike from two angles, but Spike danced his way through the hits and cut off an arm from one Umbrum and then sliced another, hearing the screams of agony was filling the city.

They continued to move towards the small watchtower where the Hwacha was located, but before they could make it all the way, five or so Umbrums tried to attack them but Spike blocked an attack from one of them and they started to clash their swords in such a dramatic fashion that Spike momentarily forgot what they were supposed to be doing. So he quickly blocked another attack from the one he was clashing with while he used his tanto to slice the throat and then quickly did the same fashion with the other three Umbrums. Pipsqueak on the other hand pulled out his bow and arrow and fired a shot at one of the larger Umbrums who wielded a very large spear and swept an attack that did not succeed. He breathed heavily, and he noticed because his lungs were hurting and his heart was beating very fast. He then released another arrow that landed right in the eye of the Umbrum but it went deep enough that it stabbed a bit of the brain which made the Umbrum drop dead. Pipsqueak then turned his attention to the last Umbrum that was duelling Spike and looked for a split second to be winning but he released another arrow that got the Umbrum in the hip which made the Umbrum scream before Spike sliced the head off cleanly.

“Come on, here’s our chance!” Spike said, rushing towards the tower and climbing up the ladder, Pipsqueak not far behind him.

When Spike reached the top, the two Umbrums who were there were swiftly killed by the claws of Spike and he grabbed the Hwacha with great care as if it was something fragile and Pipsqueak stood to his right as they looked towards the sea of Umbrums who were fighting.

“Fire!” Pipsqueak shouted and Spike fired a wave of explosive arrows at the Umbrums who were caught by surprise from their Hwacha turning on them. But they kept coming, but none of them ran to the tower because they were more concerned with the fact that Spike’s allies were liberating the city, which was one of the strongest holds they had besides Canterlot.

Spike aimed the Hwacha everywhere, firing the arrows that exploded beneath the Umbrums that made them lose their legs, and lives if Spike was lucky. But the explosions were getting overwhelming for both the Umbrums and his allies as they did not want to be blown to pieces, but they needed to move forward if they wanted to claim the city at all.

“Look!” Pipsqueak shouted. Spike looked to where his friend was pointing and saw the Umbrum were running from behind a large building that had lost its other half. Spike fired at them and they were all struck by the explosions in which their allies continued onwards until the Umbrums were out of reach.

“Come on, let’s get to the others,” Spike said. He climbed down the ladder and was quickly followed by Pipsqueak who had his weapons ready if any Umbrums survived the attack but managed to get to cover.

When they were halfway to the others who were battling the Umbrums, Pipsqueak decided to speak up.

“Princess Celestia is wrong for saying that at the gate.” He said, trying to make Spike feel better by what he did.

“She is just like that because she believes that the other creatures will demand a head, but I highly doubt that,” Spike explained but showed no signs that he disagreed.

“Still,” Pipsqueak pressed as he pulled out his bow and arrow. “She can’t expect us to wait idly when she is not doing anything to stop the invasion. Only Princess Luna seems to be doing something about it, but I can understand why she does not do much because she is under princess Celestia’s watchful eye.”

Spike glanced at his friend and wondered what he was on about.

“What are you talking about?” He asked, making pipsqueak look at him in confusion.

“She did not tell you?” He asked, slightly on edge.

“Tell me what?!” Spike asked, getting slightly agitated.

“She disobeyed one of Princess Celestia’s orders which were to get an Umbrum back, alive, but Princess Luna killed them all which made Princess Celestia angry. I do not know what happened, but whatever it was; it has started to make a rift between the two.”

Spike stopped dead in his tracks, not believing what he was hearing. He knew that his mother and aunt did not like each other even after they were reunited, but they never hated each other, and they most certainly never got physical with one another.

But then again, perhaps it was nothing extremely serious, he knew that his aunt was a warrior at heart and is probably just fed up waiting idly for whatever his mother is expecting to happen or planning. His mother is not exactly known for being informative about what she was planning.

“She never told me ...” He finally said as he witnessed the last Umbrum get stabbed through the heart. Pipsqueak looked at the dead Umbrum.

“She probably did not want you to worry about her because of the prophecy and this war.” He reasoned.

“Hopefully, yeah,” Spike said, trying to convince himself more than anything.

The two walked towards Princess Celestia who just in time shouted; “Main six, Luna, Spike, with me!” She commanded as she ran towards the watchtower and Spike ran after her and the main six. When he got to the watchtower, he noticed how a few guards ran towards the third part of the city that had a bridge because it had cracked some time ago.

Spike climbed up the ladder, and saw that his family and friends were there, and ahead was the guards who were running towards the gates, but the Umbrums had it closed but, then they abruptly opened which revealed a Timberwolf who was on fire and had explosive gunpowder on him.

The guards tried to run back, but they were not quick enough. The middle of the bridge exploded along with the guards who had sacrificed their lives for Equestria. Princess Luna, Spike, the main six, and Celestia stood there, stunned by what had happened.

“She sent them to die ...” Luna gritted her teeth as she saw good creatures get killed right in front of her.

“They were honouring their duties as warriors.” Celestia defensively said.

“But they did not have to die,” Spike said, his voice calm as collected. All eyes were on him as they stood on the watchtower, waiting for him to explain. “There is another way—”

“No,” Celestia shut down. “We are not doing it, Spike, that is a murderous pursuit.” She said and climbed down the ladder. The others followed her, along with Spike and Luna.

“How else do you want to win this war? Throw bodies at the Umbrums and hope they give up?” Spike angrily asked which made Celestia grit her teeth.

“We are supposed to fight with honour, not like wild animals as the other kingdoms did once upon a time,” Celestia said which made every creature angry, non-pony and pony alike.

“Honour died on the beach!” Spike said, not realizing that he used the same quote as his ancestor once used.

“While you were sitting eating cake in the empire, I was training to save Equestria while you did nothing!” Spike shouted at the end but he got the shock of his life. He was slapped by his mother. There was a red mark where her hoof had landed and every creature, especially the crystal ponies, gasped in shock.

Realizing what she had done, she tried to mend it. “Spike, no ...” But it was too late.

Spike put up a claw. “Were done ...” He said and walked away from his mother and aunt. The other creatures now exploded in Princess Celestia’s face with what she had done, the crystal ponies shouted how they would mount her head to mend what she had done to their hero.

*** *** ***

A few hours later, he sat by a fire and watched it burn as he heard the other creatures talk about what was wrong with the princess. Some believed that she was stressed and others believed she was possessed, but to Spike, it didn’t matter, because he had asked, a Crystal Pony if she could gather some wolfsbane that would be strong enough to kill.

Spike looked up, and whoever was looking at his face would claim that they saw a spirit inside of him.