My Little Pony: Zodiac Adventures

The shows My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Jackie Chan Adventures and any characters from either of these are the copyrighted property of their respective owners. Neither of those owners is me.
Hello again everypony! I said I’d get this one out quicker and it took even longer. Haha, I guess I underestimated it a little. School projects and Skyrim probably didn’t help. It begins!

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My Little Pony: Zodiac Adventures
Chapter Two: Monkey

At the base of a large tree in the middle of a town called Ponyville, Spike waved goodbye at the flying carriage being pulled by a pair of pegasus guards on which his adoptive sister Twilight Sparkle rode. After a very sudden letter from the princess arrived summoning her to Canterlot, Twilight had quickly packed a bag and gotten ready to leave. When the carriage arrived, she left Spike in charge of the library and was on her way. He laughed a little to himself, proud of the responsibility he’d been trusted with. “No need to worry about a thing Twilight! Your Number One Assistant can totally handle this!”

“Hoo?”

“Who? Me of course! I’m her Number 1 Assista-…ugh” Spike slapped his hand to his face in frustration. Technically Twilight had left Spike AND Owlowiscious in charge. Although Spike and the bird got along much better than when he’d first shown up there were still problems. Spike was convinced that the bird was much smarter than anyone gave him credit for since it always seemed to pick the best part to chime in to make Spike think someone was questioning him. He glared at the small brown bird as it sat on its little perch and pointed a finger at it. “Twilight may have left us both in charge, but I’m the boss got it? I’m the number ONE assistant and I’ve got my eyes on you.” He warned the bird, wanting to make sure it knew the score here. “Hoo?” Owlowiscious responded back in a way that sounded confused. “Who? You! I’ve got my eye on y-ARGH!” Throwing his arms up in frustration at being caught up in this again, the little purple dragon stormed out of the room.

A few hours had passed since Twilight had left for Canterlot at sunrise, and since then things in the library had really picked up! That is to say they’d had three visitors, the Ponyville Library was never really all that busy. Unless it was for one of Pinkie’s party, only around ten ponies tended to visit on a normal day. By this point Spike was bored out of his mind, not just because it was slow as always but what ponies did come in, Owlowiscious kept beating him to helping! “Flying’s not fair! By the time I even get a ladder, you’ve already gotten the book!” He called out to the bird, pointing at it angrily. In return, the small brown owl merely tilted its head sideways and let out a “hoo?” “Oh forget it…” The bored little dragon walked through the doorway that led to his and Twilight’s room and up to a small chest where he kept some of his things and began to dig around for something to do. Spike managed to amuse himself digging through the chest, it was for all practical purposes his own little hoard and as such was full of things he’d simply found and kept without thinking. If there was one thing Spike found amusing about his bout of greed growth, it was the truly bizarre things he’d tried to collect, some of which had been stuffed in this little chest until it got full. He smiled a little as he pulled out a familiar white hat and placed it on his head, chuckled a little when he pulled out what appeared to be a serving tray, probably from Sugarcube Corner, and stared dumbfounded when he pulled out a small rock with a monkey painted on it. “What in Equestria is this thing supposed to be?” Staring at the little stone, Spike tried to remember where he got it and vaguely remembered having it when everyone came home from the Gala.

“Hello? Is anypony home?”

Spike looked up from the chest suddenly, he recognized that voice! “Yoo hoo! Twilight?” Spike bolted down the small flight of steps from the second floor of the bedroom and to the door, bursting through the door excitedly. Rarity looked a little startled for a moment before recognizing who was there as a door suddenly burst open before giving a warm smile. “Oh! Spikey-wikey! Good to see you! I must say that’s quite the fashion statement you’re making! It really suits you! Hmm…perhaps with a matching … and a red…but what color should the tie be? And….oh!” Rarity gave a somewhat sheepish smile as she realized she’d almost slipped “in the zone” there and what she had levitated up to her was not a roll of fabric as she thought but Twilight’s wooden centerpiece. “My apologies Spikey-Wikey! Is Twilight around dear? I was just dropping by to return this copy of “Sherlock Hooves” Father borrowed before he left on his trip.” Spike blinked himself out of his little daze of staring at her and stood up on the tips of his toes, puffing out his chest and trying to look strong and proud. “Twilight was called away to Canterlot this morning but she left me in charge of the library!” Rarity smiled that same smile that Spike found so beautiful and her horn flared up with magic, her saddlebag opening up and a decent sized hard cover book floated out. Before Spike could even take a step towards it however a brown blur shot past and next thing Spike knew, Owlowiscious was flapping his wings near one of the shelves as he pushed the book into its place with his talons. Since Rarity was present, Spike used every bit of self-control he had to keep from chasing the bird around with a heavy book for stealing his chance to help the most beautiful mare in Equestria.

It had been about an hour since Rarity’s visit and Spike wandered down the roads of Ponyville thinking about some way he might impress her. He’d given up on competing with Owlowiscious in the library, that bird cheats! As he took his walk, eventually reaching the park, Spike imagined the adventures of the brave Sir Spike the Dragonhearted as he fought all manner of fantastic creatures for his fair damsel Lady Rarity. Those were the only kind of fantasies where Spike never had any doubts about winning, because the heroes in the fairytales Twilight used to read to him when he was young always won themselves. Whenever he tried to think of a real way to get Rarity’s affections, he always had to purposely ignore one glaring flaw. Spike sighed as he passed a pony couple sitting on a bench. “In the end, I’m a dragon and Rarity’s a pony…sometimes I wish I was a pony too.” Spike sighed again, but this time, a slowly growing light caught his eye. “Huh? That rock! I didn’t even realize I still had it! What’s it doing?” Spike watched curiously as the small stone lit up, the marking of a monkey on it filling with a bright light. In an instant, Spike was blinded by a bright flash from the stone. He felt somewhat sick as he felt energy flow through him, magic that felt similar to when Twilight had grown a moustache on him, yet different. The nausea and magic passed as suddenly as it came followed immediately by Spike tipping over and hitting the ground face first when the light stopped. For a time, Spike kept attempting to get up and each time he’d lose his balance and tip back over. Noticing a small lake nearby, Spike crawled over on all fours hoping to see what was wrong. When Spike looked into his reflection he was stunned speechless to find a young-looking purple pony with a green and black mane staring back at him.

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Deep in the Everfree Forest, in the ruined remains of The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, Shendu’s mind stirred as he felt a small burst of familiar magic. “At last…! One of the twelve talissmans has revealed itself” The demon sorcerer of fire had claimed this area as the site of his impending resurrection, sending out his Shadow Khan to search for the talismans and chase out or destroy anything that might draw attention to him before he was ready. Shendu had been busy, though bound to a statue the demon sorcerer still had ways of interacting with the world around him. The Shadow Khan, dark spirits that had once been his enforcers, had followed him to this strange land and now acted as his arms, legs, and eyes in this world. The demon dragon had been surprised to find that there were no humans in these lands at all, and that dragons were relatively more plentiful compared to his homeland, he’d been pleased to find that most of his kin were just as susceptible to his control as his former dragon minions. But that was the extent of the good news for Shendu, this strange land practically bled with magic identical to the kind that had been used to keep him asleep for over a millennium. It poured like a flood from two beings in a strange town. To make matters worse, were it chi, it would overwhelmingly positive. It blanketed the magic of his dormant talismans, impeding any attempts Shendu made to find them magically. “Appear before me, my shadow khan!” On command, the shadows in the ruined palace moved quickly along the ground before rising before him into the ninja-like shadow khan. The dark spirits stood quietly at attention before their master, their bodies unmoving, their red eyes unblinking. “The monkey talissman hass activated! Bring it to me, immediately!” The Shadow Khan bowed and disappeared in an instant, the only thought in their mind being to accomplish their master’s orders. Shendu’s red eyes grew dim as the demon dove into his thoughts, all he could do now was be patient, and so he waited and planned.

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Spike wasn’t sure how long he’d spent staring at his reflection, but after the initial shock had worn off, Spike had spent quite some time looking at himself. He’d turn his head left, right, up, and down as excitement slowly began to build in him. Spike had become a unicorn colt, his coloring making him greatly resemble Twlight Sparkle, a light purple unicorn with a dark mane that had a bright second color to it. Spike turned to look at the small stone where it had fallen, he wasn’t sure what it was, but it was magical and had turned him into a pony. After having to take a moment to keep himself from trying to get up on his hind legs again, Spike trotted over to the stone and his fallen hat. Spike got the hang of walking on all fours quickly enough, since dragons had to do so too when they grew up, not having claws on the other hand was harder. After some embarrassing first attempts to pick up the small stone with his hooves, Spike had tried to lift the little rock with unicorn magic with practically no success. Having been with Twilight when she studied spells, he knew the theory of how unicorn magic worked but the little dragon turned pony was finding that to not be enough. The stone had, at most, shifted for an instant into the air before falling back, it felt like it was stubbornly refusing to work with his magic. Resigned to having to carry the little rock in his mouth, Spike tried half-heartedly to levitate the hat and was surprised to see it lift off the ground shakily and, after a few dips along the way, deposit itself onto his head. Spike couldn’t help but laugh excitedly to himself. “I can do magic! This is awesome!” He smiled as he reached down and bit onto the little stone, lifting it up with his mouth. He nearly dropped it when he heard a voice call out angrily. “Hey! You there! Just what are you doing out of school at this hour young colt!” Spike turned his head slowly to look at a cream colored pony with a blue and pink mane who was glaring right at him. With the stone in his mouth, Spike couldn’t say anything to keep the angry pony from biting his tail and dragging him away towards Cheerilee’s schoolhouse. “Good little colts and fillies should be in school at this hour!” The pony said through teeth clenched around his tail, Spike mentally made a little quip about talking with your mouth full as he was dragged away.

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Twilight Sparkle hopped off the chariot and waved goodbye as the guard ponies who’d brought her home took to the air. Twilight turned around, deep in thought and headed for her door. Using magic without a second thought, the door opened in front of her and closed after, her saddlebag lifting off her back and drifting over to the desk where she always kept it. “Spike! I’m back from Canterlot!” Twilight called out as she otherwise quietly moved through the library, lost in thought, she stopped just before entering her room though when she noticed that Spike didn’t answer back. “Spike? Are you asleep?” She looked up and around her but the baby dragon was nowhere in sight, after looking around the various rooms and finding only Owlowiscious asleep on his perch, Twilight shook her head, deciding Spike must’ve stepped out for a little while and she’d just missed him. Twilight quietly trotted up to a comfy reading chair and decided to wait there for her number one assistant to come home as she tried to think about where to find these talismans. After half an hour had passed Twilight was starting to get a little anxious but dismissed it as her just being a worrywart. Once it had been two hours, Twilight was having trouble keeping nagging thoughts about how all the other dragons in Equestria had mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind their territories and hoards. By four hours, the door to the library swung ajar, forgotten as the purple mare had galloped out to find her dragon.

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Spike was smiling a little to himself as he quietly trotted back to the library, the sun all but already down. He’d been a little annoyed at first at being dragged off to Ms. Cheerilee’s class, and more so when Cheerilee had assumed he was the colt of a family who’d recently moved to Ponyville and new to the class. However as the day went by he’d found playing with all the young ponies was fun. He’d also learned a lot, such as the story of the founding of Ponyville, and that Spike had absolutely no idea how to use a pencil with his mouth. He’d even had a chance to try out the little rock’s magic, using it to turn into a variety of critters to play pranks on Diamond Tiara and Silverspoon, who’d spent practically every chance they could before then making fun of him and his friends. He’d gotten scolded by Fluttershy however, when he turned into a woodpecker and pecked at Tiara’s head during the fieldtrip which was surprisingly intimidating. Spike was all but outright giggling to himself over how much fun he’d had as he walked home, they’d even given him a saddlebag to carry his school supplies in. He blinked though and looked around hearing someone calling his name, his real one, not the one he’d made up in class. He spotted Twilight running around looking panicked and calling his name. “Twilight! Hey! You’re back! How was Canterlot?” Spike called out as he galloped over. For her part, Twilight Sparkle stopped running around and calling out to Spike for a moment to stare at the strange little unicorn rushing over towards her. “I’m sorry…have we met before? How did you know I’d been to Canterlot today?” The little unicorn colt laughed at that as he came to a stop in front of her. “Oh come on Twi! It’s me! Spike!” Twilight merely blinked at that for a moment before smiling a little. “Oh, I see, I’m sorry. When I was calling out for Spike just now I didn’t mean you. I was calling for my friend, maybe you’ve seen him? He’s a baby dragon, about this big?” With that Twilight raised a hoof to about how Spike’s height, she mentally berated herself when she realized the little colt was the same size. Spike was quiet for a moment watching Twilight before suddenly realizing something and reaching into his saddlepack. Finding the little stone among the various little school supplies, Spike withdrew it, and holding it in his mouth, looked at Twilight for a moment before calling out as best he could. “Change back!” Twilight was blinded by the light that erupted from the little stone but when it cleared, she found herself face to face with the little dragon she was looking for. “SPIKE!” Twilight called out in joy as she pulled Spike close with a hoof and put her head around him, hugging him as best she could. ”Spike! I’ve been looking all over for you! Where have you been? Why were you a pony, how did you do that?!” Spike laughed and patted Twilight’s neck lightly to calm her down. “Sheesh Twi! Calm down.” He took a few steps back before spitting the little stone into his hand and holding it out for her to see. “I found this thing today! It’s got some kinda magic that lets me transform into anything I say!” He said with a big grin. Twilight stared at the little stone curiously in the fading sunlight before realization kicked in. “Spike! Where did you get that?” Spike was confused when Twilight didn’t sound excited or curious, but nervous instead. “We need to get back to the library so I can seal that thing away before it’s too late!” With that, Twilight began to herd the confused little dragon towards the library. Everything was quiet as she walked down the little path with Spike. The sun had gone down and the street was clear, Twilight could see the library not too far away in the darkness. She could see light from the open door pouring out into the night. Just a few blocks away and she could seal the talisman with the spell the princess had taught her and report in the morning about having found one after a good night’s sleep. She and Spike had only gone a few steps when Twilight thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.

Twilight Sparkle was standing in the middle of the street, watching Spike walk ahead of her towards the library. No matter where she looked there was nopony in sight, so why was she so scared? Twilight’s blood was running cold as she took in her surroundings, keenly aware of the cold night air blowing past her. Twilight’s ear twitched slightly as she heard what sounded like something quickly moving through the air. Twilight’s instincts were screaming at her to move, start galloping, grab Spike, and don’t stop and maybe she’d be safe. Her ear twitched again as she heard the sound twice more and Twilight began to slowly trot after Spike. She began to slowly speed up to catch up to him as she was hearing the sound more and more frequently. Twilight finally caught up to Spike when they were halfway to the library and quietly stopped him from walking any further with a light touch. Twilight looked down at the baby dragon once before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again the formerly empty street was now completely filled. At least thirty strange black bipedal creatures now surrounded her and Spike, most in the street, however some were even perched on the roofs of ponies homes. They were all dead silent and seemed to radiate nothing but cold, quiet, danger. They were all watching Twilight and Spike, their bright red eyes unblinking. “Spike…get on my back…” Twilight said quietly to the little baby dragon, who gulped and tore his eyes away from the strange creatures to climb onto her back. Twilight looked back at the strange creatures who continued to stare unblinkingly at them. Twilight began to move, and so did they. Twilight at first tried to charge straight towards the library, head down and horn forward. Two of the ones in front of her leaped away from her charge like she’d hoped, but that plan died quickly when a yell from Spike alerted her, she dug her hooves into the ground and kicked off in a different direction just as three more of the creatures dropped from the sky where she had just been. She ran as quickly as she could into a small alley between two buildings, headed for the next street. She knocked over some barrels as she passed in an attempt to slow the creatures down but when she turned to look found that most either leapt clear over the barrels or actually ran along the walls of the two building after her. Just as she was about to throw another one into the air behind her, she heard Spike call and ducked down just in time to avoid a kick from one of the creatures who had gotten in front of her. Still holding the barrel with her magic, she quickly did the only thing she could think of and slammed it into the creature as hard as she could. The barrel broke and the creature sailed through the air for a distance before crashing through the sign of a nearby shop. In the instant Twilight had stopped, the other creatures were upon her, a hard kick to the side sending her staggering into the street again where the creatures quickly surrounded her. Trying to find something to defend herself, Twilight levitated the remaining planks from the barrel around her. At first she attempted to use them as shields against the rain of punches and kicks that were being thrown at her but the creatures broke through any that she attempted to use as walls. Thinking quickly, Twilight began to use what remained of the boards to smack away any attacks aimed at her and attempt to counterattack. This tactic met with enough success to allow Twilight to break out of the pack of creatures with a buck and start running again. These things were fast and ridiculously agile, but it seemed that in a dead sprint, Twilight was faster than them. It was with this hope slowly building in her heart that she really could out run them that she felt something thin clip her hind leg and begin to wrap around it. Twilight realized it was a rope immediately before she felt a soft tug and her hind legs were pulled together and up behind her. Twilight went head first into the ground before rolling, the impact from the crash sending Spike flying. Twilight was feeling sore all over after that crash and as she attempted to get back up again, her head was roughly forced to the ground. One of the creatures had leapt onto her, holding her down head first with one hand. Twilight watched as it raised a fist up in the air ready to strike, she closed her eyes when the fist began to move. Twilight was a little surprised when she didn’t feel any sudden pain. She could hear someone yelling and she opened her eyes suddenly when she realized it was Spike.

Spike had been thrown a fair distance when Twilight crashed but he’d managed to roll most of the impact off and his hard scales took care of the rest. After a quick shake to clear his head he’d gotten up and tried to find Twilight, looking behind him he’d spotted her on the ground and had begun to run towards her to help her up when one of the creatures descended on her. It dropped onto her and harshly pushed her head down to the ground before raising one fist over her and quickly bringing it down towards her. “NOOOOOOOO!!!!” Spike called out as he ran as fast as he could, he was vaguely aware of holding something in his hand and so he raised it above his head and threw his make-shift weapon with all the strength he had at the creature to try and keep it from hurting Twilight. Spike was honestly surprised however at how the creature reacted, its fist stopped in an instant just above Twilight and it’s head jerked up to stare at him. It suddenly moved its fist away from Twilight and in front of itself, flawlessly catching Spike’s little projectile. Spike recognized it as the little magic stone he’d found just before the creature released Twilight and leapt back away from her, rejoining its group. Spike reached Twilight’s side just in time to watch as the creatures began to quickly disperse, the ones on the rooftops leaping away into the night, and the ones on the ground raised one arm above their heads in a single synchronized motion and threw something down, disappearing in an explosion of blue smoke. Unlike Trixie, there was no sign of them ever having been there when the smoke cleared.

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Shendu was silent as the shadows once more converged in his chamber, his eyes lit up as he looked over the assembled shadow khan. One stepped forward and dropped to a knee, presenting the monkey talisman in its hand before rising and inserting it into a slot on the body of the sealed demon. Shendu growled quietly as he felt familiar power begin to course through him once again. “Excellent work my shadow khan. Soon… I shall live one more!”

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