Chapter 7 - The Dragon's and the Alicorn's Secret
The group had to walk for a while before finding a cave where they could talk about the information they had learned in the last hours. As Garble said, the adult dragons rarely cared about whatever their offspring did, but they were fiercely protective of their territories and would often attack other species, so they couldn't be in the open for long. Luckily, they found a large enough cave and they all got comfortable there; since Garble was the leader of his dragon gang, and the one who knew the most about what Spike was doing (even if not knowing too much, it was still more than the ponies or Mobians could know), he joined the largest group, the ones discussing Spike's actions, while Puff, Fume and Shakes, not knowing or caring that much, stood apart, just with Lyco, Leeta, and Fiona (who was starting to take a liking for the dragons, especially Puff) for company while the others talked.
"Well, now we know what Spike is doing; he and his mentor are collecting the Infinity Stones." Sally commented.
"Yes, but... why? I mean, the Infinity Stones are very powerful, ancient magical gemstones, and you don't gather them just for fun." Twilight pointed out. "And besides, why couldn't Spike just contact us again? It has been almost 10 days since he left, and with his abilities, he can send a letter almost at any point."
"Maybe he and this alicorn buddy of his are just too busy. Ah mean, besides getting the stones, they have been training." Applejack said while looking at Garble. "Yah said that Spike defeated yall even before getting the Power Stone, right?"
"Yeah, he did, and did it almost without breaking a sweat. It was like... fighting an adult dragon." Garble admitted. " And he even had this weird stick that turned into weapons to hit us... and now that I think about it, he wasn't beating me up, it was the coolest fighting I had ever seen, and we dragons get into fights all the time."
"Maybe Spike's trainer is teaching him how to use weaponry to make up for his short size." Lobo commented. "No offense to you ponies, but your lack of hands make it hard for you to use some weapons that us Mobians can use with some training."
"Indeed. I use my magic to do very delicate maneuvers and tasks, but I often needed Spike's help to do delicate, precision stuff in a shorter time. The two of us, working together, could get the work done in less than half the time it would take me on my own." Rarity added. "His hands are a very useful body feature."
Twilight nodded in agreement, more than used to seeing Spike doing complex or tiring chores without using magic. She could see how he would surely master any weapon with some training.
"Still, training or not, I'm still worried about Spike. Also, we need to learn a bit more about the Infinity Stones, and see if there's anything dangerous about using them." Twilight got the nodding agreement of those around her.
"Sonic and I can take you to Canterlot in no time." Rainbow offered.
"Yes, I know, with your speed, I'd be there in a very short time, but I think we all should go there. Even if I'm Princess Celestia's pupil, and she would give me the information willingly if I go alone, we should all go to prove our point and show this is quite an emergency."
While the group continued discussing this, Fiona and the elastic twins played with the dragons, showing them their shape-shifting and stretching abilities. For starters, they inflated themselves like balloons and the dragons, liking this change, started playing with them as if the females were balls or balloons, tossing and bouncing them against the cave's walls.
"Heh, you girls are very funny." Puff commented while still playing with Fiona's balloonish body.
"And this isn't our only trick." Fiona grinned and then, when Puff bounced her again, Fiona morphed in mid-air; a few moments later, she landed on her feet, impressing Puff not just with her agility but with her magnificent muscular body. Fume and Shakes, who were still playing with Leeta and Lyco, stopped for a moment to stare at her as well.
"Whoa, that's a quick workout." Fume then looked back at the elastic twins. "You can do that too?"
"Yep, it's a basic ability when you have our powers." Leeta replied, and then she and Lyco did the same thing Fiona did; Shakes and Fume looked at them completely awestruck, not just because of their change, but because, due to their outfits' design, the twins' abdomens were bare, and therefore their muscular definition much more evident than Fiona's.
"HOOOOOWL!" The three dragons chorused at the view of the three elastic canine gals; Fiona and the twins grinned and couldn't help to blush a bit.
"Great, you guys are already learning our language." Lobo grinned at the dragons, as the large wolf, like everyone at the cave, couldn't help but notice this transformation.
"Well, guess this is all we can do for now." Twilight said. "Now, we better return to Ponyville and get train tickets so we can go to Canterlot as soon as possible."
"You can save some money on my ticket, Twilight. I'll just jog alongside the train the whole time." Sonic grinned.
"Uh... about that..." Garble now looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Don't worry, Garble, we have enough money to pay for your ticket; also for your friends'." Nicole assured him.
"Good, because we dragons have no pony cash, and we didn't bring any jewels with us." Garble sighed. "Still, maybe we should just fly behind the train or something. I don't think the ponies have seats our size."
"Ah, don't worry about that. We just need to get yall some large seats in the back of the carts; mah brother is even bigger than yah, and he can travel quite fine." Applejack told him. "And we ponies are used to travel with other species, so you dragons will not get discriminated."
"If 'discriminated' means 'treated like dirt because we're not ponies', and you really mean it..." Garble arched an eyebrow at the blonde pony.
"Hey, Garble, let me give you a quick lesson here; I might lie once in awhile if I'm setting up a prank; some friends of ours can lie to set up a strategy or a surprise party: but never, EVER, doubt Applejack's word." Rainbow said to Garble, in a friendly yet still firm tone. Applejack smiled a bit at the pegasus' support, and apparently this was enough for Garble too.
"That's nice and all, but what about Vex and Clud? We left them back at the Roost." Puff reminded the other dragons. "And they didn't look so well when I left them."
"Maybe we were a bit too rough with them." Knuckles admitted.
"Why don't we... I don't know... send them a message and tell them to join us half-way to Canterlot?" Warrior suggested.
"The idea is good, aside the little problem of Vex and Clud not knowing how to read at all." Garble groaned. "If we send them a message, they'd probably just eat it, or worse, think it's an insulting letter."
"Not if I deliver the message." Sonic grinned. "Just tell me where to find these two guys, and I'll tell them personally; and then, I'll run out of the Roost before any of the large dragons can get me."
Everyone agreed on this, and after Garble gave Sonic a general description of Vex and Clud, and Warrior and Knuckles told him where they left the unconscious dragons, the blue hedgehog dashed back to the Roost. He returned about 10 minutes later.
"Sonic, what happened? Ten minutes, for you, is like a whole hour for anyone else." Sally pointed out when Sonic returned.
"I found the dragons in no time... but it took me a few minutes to convince them that Garble sent me, and then I had to tell them where to find us." Sonic groaned. "They're gonna wait for us at the train station that's halfway to Canterlot. I also told them to bring a few jewels so they can pay for their ticket."
"Knowing them, they'll eat the jewels before we arrive." Garble rolled his eyes while the other dragons nodded in agreement.
A while later, they were all back to Ponyville. Since this 'rescue mission' took most of the night, it had already been morning when they arrived. Twilight and Rainbow Dash went to the station to buy the tickets while most of the Mobians plus Pinkie Pie played tour guides for the dragons, minus Tails, who joined Rarity in the white unicorn's efforts to calm down Fluttershy, the poor pegasus almost panicking when seeing so many teen dragons at once. The Mobian females stayed at Twilight's place, and Maria and Lupe re-formed themselves by calling back all their clones.
"I still can't believe you became friends with your kidnapper." Amy grinned at Nicole.
"Well, the usual options when you are kidnapped are trying to escape or wait for somebody to rescue you; I decided to come up with a third option and befriend him, even if, admittedly, I had to show him I was no defenseless victim so he could respect me as an equal." Nicole explained. "Once we could talk a bit, and he stopped being a mindless brute, Garble actually proved being a decent enough guy."
"Heh. Somebody has a crush." Maria said in a singing tone. Nicole blushed a bit while Leeta and Lyco gulped and grinned nervously.
"No, no, we don't, I mean, Fume and Shakes are nice dragons but..." The twins stopped talking when noticing everyone was staring at them.
"Maria said no names." Fiona smirked a bit. "Heh, guess dragons are some sort of 'ladies magnet' around here, uh?"
"Indeed: we also noticed you were more than friendly with Puff." Nicole pointed out, causing Fiona to blush slightly.
"Well, what do you know?" Lupe arched an eyebrow. "It seems the only ones in this group that are both single and not feeling attracted to a dragon are Sally and Amy."
Amy chuckled a bit, nodding, while Sally got very silent before sighing and shaking her head.
"No, Lupe: it would only be Amy."
Everyone around Sally, including Pee Wee and Owlicious (the two birds present at the library almost all the time), gave her a silent, surprised stare.
"I think I kinda... like... a dragon..."
"Who."
"Spike. And thanks for making the question, Owlicious." Sally groaned a bit.
"You like Spike?" Amy was surprised but then smiled a bit. "Well... he is a cute little guy."
"Yes, and very smart, and polite, and funny..." Lyco added.
"And with multiple talents." Nicole finished. "And he has been a very helpful and caring friend since we've arrived."
"He's also sweet and gentle." Sally sighed. "And I kinda... learned how to appreciate a dragon's physical appearance... and I can tell, I find him more than just 'cute'. I think he's handsome."
"Awwwwww." Everyone chorused.
"You have to talk with Twilight about this." Lupe told Sally. "After all, she's pretty much Spike's older sister and closest relative."
"You think I should? I mean, Spike isn't around at this time... and Twilight is already too worried about him. I wouldn't want to talk with her about this until Spike is back with us. Besides..." Sally sighed sadly. "We might like this place... in fact, I love it... but the point is, we're still temporary visitors, and we'll leave at some point. Once we find Spike, I don't wanna tell him until I'm ready to do it, and come up with some sort of way to... have a relationship with someone who will be literally at a world of distance."
The others sighed at this, understanding her position, and Nicole and the twins felt a bit sad since this situation probably applied to them as well; right now, they were already feeling a big attraction for Garble and his friends, and if they actually fell in love, it wouldn't be easy to leave Equestria without breaking a lot of hearts. Fiona herself pondered about this, as she was starting to like Puff, and if things worked the same as with Nicole and the twins, she would soon fall for him as well.
Meanwhile, Spike and Adam arrived at the next location; they took the long route here since Spike needed some time to practice with the two stones he already had, and it was important that he was at least skillful enough to show his control to the ones holding the next stones.
"Captain Armor, an alicorn is arriving." One of Canterlot's guards called his superior, Shining Armor, who immediately went to the closest watchtower. There were no scheduled visits from any high rank noble, so any alicorn coming would only do it due to an emergency.
"You're right... and it's not a mare." Shining Armor arched an eyebrow; most of the alicorns were females, and he could only remember an alicorn colt at the moment. "This one must be..."
"Adam, you could have told me that the next stones were here in Canterlot." Spike frowned a bit. "I could have sent a message to Princess Celestia to tell her we're coming."
"I think I forgot; besides, you are holding the map with the stones' locations. You should have noticed that before." Adam grinned a bit when Spike facepalmed. "Relax; I know they'll like receiving us. It has been a while since I visited."
"Guess you're right." Spike sighed while Adam landed and they were immediately approached by the palace's guards; they all looked very respectful of Adam, and a few wide-opened their eyes in surprise when realizing Spike was with him.
"Greetings, Lord Warcolt." Shining Armor approached and saluted him, and after Adam saluted back, the military unicorn finally noticed Spike. "Spike? I didn't know you and Twilight would be coming."
"Neither did I." Spike shrugged and smiled. "Hi to you too, Shining."
"Oh, sorry, Spike. You know me, when I have to do my job..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, formalities before commodities." Spike grinned; Shining and some of the other guards couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"Your sense of humor is famous around here, I see." Adam smirked at Spike.
"Well, Lord Warcolt, as you probably know by now, Spike is a personal protegee of Princess Celestia, and he grew up under my little sister's care, so he's basically a little brother to my family, and a well known character here at the palace." Shining explained. "Anyway, your visit is a big surprise. I guess you came to attend some important matter, since you would have announced a social, friendly visit with some anticipation."
"Exactly, Captain; not an immediate emergency, I can assure you." Adam's words relaxed the guards a bit. "It's mostly to get some help at the training of my own protegee."
"You mean..." Shining gave Spike a surprised look.
"In the words of Big Macintosh... E-Yep." Spike nodded. "Just like Princess Celestia and Twilight trained me to be an educated, more-civilized-than-normal dragon, Adam here is training me to be a defender of Equestria... pretty much like you, or Twilight and the girls."
"Interesting... and a very good choice, Lord Warcolt." Shining was now looking back at the alicorn. "Being a dragon, Spike has a potentially extreme longevity, and his physical abilities, as he grows up, will be far superior to most of Equestria's creatures. Plus, I can assure you he's a very trustworthy, loyal little fellow."
"I'm already aware of those qualities, Captain, yet I appreciate your point of view." Adam nodded. "However, even if, as you pointed, Spike will develop impressive capacities as he grows up, we're taking a little... shortcut... so he can be not just as powerful as a full grown dragon, but even more, and in much shorter time."
"How come?"
"We can discuss this inside the palace. Besides, I would like to see the Princesses; it has been a while." Adam said with full honesty. Shining nodded at him and a moment later he personally escorted Adam and Spike inside the palace. After a few moments, a princess arrived, but not Luna or Celestia, but someone much younger.
"Shining, a guard told me an alicorn was coming and..." Cadence smiled when seeing Adam. "Uncle!"
"Cadance!" Adam beamed as well and soon he and the young princess were caressing each other's head. "Just look at you; I've seen mares that get even prettier when they get married, and it seems that's your case."
"Uncle, you and your compliments." Cadence chuckled a bit. "But yes, I love Shining and we're very happy together."
"Hey, Cadence, I know I'm not the tallest guy around, but how come nobody sees me at first glance when Adam is around?" Spike smirked at the princess, and a moment later he was levitated by her magic, as Cadence moved him closer to her and give the little dragon a little kiss on his forehead that made him blush a bit. "Heh... much better."
"Oh, you know I'd never ignore you, Spike. We're practically in-laws." Cadence chuckled a bit. "Twilight came with you, or it's one of your business trips?"
Cadence, as well as practically everyone at the palace, knew that Spike sometimes made quick travels to Canterlot on his own, at times to assist at some important matters, and other times just to deliver some packages or important reports that were just too big or delicate to send via magical fire.
"Training trip." Spike explained.
"Your uncle accepted Spike as his pupil; this little guy is gonna become the next one-dragon-army." Shining informed Cadence. "He's already progressing, I mean, I just noticed Spike is considerably more muscular than last time he came."
Of course, the 'noticeable' part only applied to a well trained soldier like Shining, while most ponies wouldn't realize Spike had really gained some muscle mass, and the way he moved proved his legs were stronger, his reflexes sharper, and he was generally more alert of everything around him even when relaxed.
"And I'm gonna need your Aunts' authorization to provide him with the necessary items." Adam explained. "I might be in charge of training Spike, and I'm the expert when it comes to these items in particular, but due to their potential and applications, I need Celestia and Luna's approval to give Spike the rest of them."
Spike then took out his weapon, and showed it to Shining Armor and Cadence; while the unicorn was impressed by the weapon's design, Cadence gasped a bit when recognizing the Power and Soul Stones.
"Uncle... you know how dangerous these stones are..."
"Cadence, even Love Magic can be dangerous when used wrongly." Adam talked in a relaxed yet still kinda firm way. "The same can be said about almost everything; after all, aren't dragons supposed to be among Equestria's most dangerous, rude, anti-social creatures? And we all know that a proper education, attention and the dragon's own personality and willingness to learn can produce the exact opposite. That's why I'm so sure Spike can handle this responsibility much better than most ponies."
"Uh... care to elaborate?" Shining arched an eyebrow. He was well educated, and one of Equestria's finest soldiers, but he definitely was no Twilight Sparkle and his knowledge of magical artifacts, items and whatever was limited to the little bits he could learn from casual conversations at the palace and some stuff Cadence, Twilight and other unicorns told him at times.
"My niece and Spike will inform you." Adam said before starting to leave the room. "In the meantime, I'll go tell Celestia and Luna; you three have a lot of catching up to do, and I wouldn't mind spending a while with my cousins as a family before we attend this business as royalty."
The matrimony and Spike nodded at Adam, and the moment he left the room, Cadence started telling her husband about the stones while Spike informed them both about his quest to get them all. A while later, Adam returned with Princesses Celestia and Luna; Spike, as usual, greeted them with a light bow, but his wasn't as ceremonious or submissive as most ponies would do with Equestria's rulers, since he obviously shared a very familiar bond with Celestia from his time living in Canterlot and Celestia being the closest he had to family besides Twilight herself.
"Nice to see you again, Spike. I see Adam wasn't exaggerating; you really had become an impressive young male." Celestia smiled kindly at him.
"More than impressive, actually, if you are now destined to become the bearer of the Infinity Stones." Luna added while giving Spike a closer look.
"I just hope I'm up for the task, Your Nocturnal Highness." Spike bowed at her, this time in much more noticeable way. Since the dragon wasn't nearly as close to Luna as he was with Celestia, and considering Luna's past actions and reputation, he was considerably more respectful and formal when addressing her.
"You still have to keep in mind, at all times, that power can corrupt those who aren't ready for the responsibility. I speak from experience, as everypony in this room knows." Luna gave Spike a stern yet apologetic glance. "If you can't handle the power of the Infinity Stones, you know we'd need to retrieve them from you, by force if necessary. And between us... being stuck in the moon for a thousand years is a fate I wouldn't wish to my worst enemy, even less to you."
As harsh as Luna's words sounded, Spike knew why she was lecturing him this way. To this day, ponies still feared Nightmare Moon, and even if they, slowly yet surely, were accepting Princess Luna as a respectable authority figure, the memories of her past actions and the punishment her own sister applied on her weren't likely to be forgotten. If Spike ever lost control of the Infinity Stones, he would need to be stopped as well, and considering the incredible amount of power he'd be bearing, it would be necessary to use very extreme measures, as painful as that would be for all his friends, especially considering they'd be the ones stopping him.
"Princess Luna, if I ever lose control of the Stones' powers, and I become a threat to Equestria and my friends... I know you don't need me to give you permission, but , if the worst comes to happen, I fully agree on you and Princess Celestia using all your power to stop me. I'd rather end as Discord's neighbor, posing as a statue for eternity, than hurting anypony with corrupted power."
Luna's stance changed immediately, becoming more relaxed and even smiling slightly at him. Then, she turned at Celestia and Adam, the three alicorns nodding at each other.
"That's what we wanted to hear, Spike. Adam already told us he considers you're more than capable of handling this responsibility, and I know you since you were hatched, and I agree with him. Luna is the one of us that has the least experience with you at a personal level, and she had to make sure and test your resolve on her own. As you can understand, a magical object as powerful as the Infinity Stones is a big responsibility, and you can only get the rest of them if the three of us agree on letting you continue with your quest." Celestia explained Spike while motioning him to follow her to a nearby window. "The next stone you'll need is the Reality Stone; you can find it in that tower."
Spike looked at the place Celestia was pointing at, and recognized it as the very same tower where they kept the Elements of Harmony. He could see why he'd need permission to access it and get the stone; except for the palace itself, and after the Changelings Invasion, the tower became the most well protected building in all of Canterlot, with such powerful defensive spells that, even with the Power and Soul Stones already under his command, Spike would have problems to get past them unless the Princesses deactivated the tower's magical protection, something Luna, Celestia and Adam himself did right at that moment.
Princesses Luna and Celestia nodded at Shining Armor, who saluted them before shooting a magical beam from his horn and hitting the tower with it. A magical shield covering the tower, that had been invisible until that moment, disappeared almost instantly. After that, the alicorns stood in line, one aside the other, and they shot a triple spell beam at the tower, apparently not doing anything, but soon several noises were heard coming from the tower. Finally, Celestia called Cadence, who finished the job by sending some of her own magic to the tower, covering it in a shiny aura that disappeared after a few moments.
"There. We have deactivated all the defensive spells." Celestia then looked back at Spike. "From Shining Armor's barriers, to several minor and not-so-minor magical traps that can only be safely turned off by alicorn magic, and even a few final locks that Cadence helped us implement in the first place. Now you can enter the tower and get the Reality Stone, Spike. Once you enter the tower, use the stones you already possess, and they'll show you the way to the stone."
Spike, smiling, nodded and bowed at the alicorns, and then surprised everypony but Adam by jumping out of the window and landing right in front of the tower, easily covering several hundred feet as if he had jumped out of his bed. Then, Spike saluted at the guards in front of the tower's door, the last line of defense in case the magical protection failed; the guards, who obviously noticed the alicorns and Shining Armor turning off the tower's magic, saluted him back and opened the door for him.
Once inside, Spike walked right ahead, soon finding the security box where Celestia kept the Elements of Harmony; it now had no magical lock protecting it, but the normal yet strong steel locks and chains covering it would still be a problem for any thief. Spike grinned, happy to see the Elements were so well protected, before using his stones to start searching for the Reality one. Spike concentrated for a few moments, and soon he was covered by an aura coming from both stones; then, this aura emitted a light beam that focused on a wall behind the Elements' box.
Spike approached the wall and, remembering the information he had read on the Infinity Stones' scroll, placed both the Power and the Soul Stones on the wall, pressing hard with both hands. A new aura appeared, this one coming right out of the wall, and the Reality Stone emerged from it. The dragon grinned at Princess Celestia's smarts; she had used both her magic and the stone's to hide it, and nopony would be able to get it out, or even find it, without Celestia turning off her own magical defense and the one searching for the stone having already no less than two Infinity Stones.
Spike grabbed the Reality Stone and, as it had happened with the other two, the little rock's energy invaded his body. Spike could feel how his mind expanded, and his imagination got impossibly enhanced, suddenly having visions of endless possible uses for the Reality Stone.
"Whoa... it's as... if my mind had a mind of its own! I... Sweet Celestia... if this is how Pinkie Pie sees the world, there's no wonder why she's so random all the time! How can somepony focus on THIS reality when his/her mind can see ALL these possibilities and actually has the means to try them?"
Without Spike noticing, his own body was now changing every few seconds; one moment it was just a simple color change, giving him red and blue scales, and the next one he was an anthropomorphic pony the size of Big Macintosh before changing into a three headed version of himself. Eventually, Spike started gaining control of the stone and the random changing stopped, but not before he had a vision much stronger than the others.
"What was that last one about? I saw... some shadow... or creature... it looked like a mix-max combo of several animals..." Spike then gasped and thought out loud. "This stone was tricked! And the one doing it was..."
At the palace, Princess Celestia suddenly felt the very same energy that affected Spike, and she also had the same vision. Being much more experienced with the stones' powers, Celestia's vision was much clearer than Spike's; it showed a powerful, evil spirit messing up with the Reality Stone's powers, to the point activating it would also benefit this spirit. And the only force powerful enough to actually mess with a magical object capable of altering reality was chaos. Pure, wild, evil-oriented chaos.
At a nearby garden, located in the middle of a maze, a large rock statue started moving and cracking. And then, the rocky cover exploded, releasing the large, bizarre creature trapped inside.
"Oh, yes! Somepony finally used the Reality Stone!" Discord laughed loudly. "You didn't see that one coming, huh, Celestia?"
At the same moment, in the train to Canterlot, Pinkie Pie started shaking like crazy... or crazier than usual.
"Whoa. This pony forgot to take a medicine or what?" Garble asked to nopony in particular.
"No, it's her Pinkie Sense. It tells her when something specially bad is about to happen." Rarity explained Garble while Lupe and Twilight tried calming down Pinkie.
"Pinkie, what's wrong?" Twilight, despite not understanding how her 'danger sense' worked, she no longer doubted of its effectiveness.
"A VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY..." Pinkie was stopped by a slight smack on the back of her head, courtesy of Lupe. "Thanks. VERY BAD THING IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN CANTERLOT!"
"Bad? How bad?" Fluttershy gulped.
"Uh... as bad as Discord breaking free and growing the size of a tower." Applejack said, her eyes wide open.
"Whoa... yes, something that bad. How did you know?" Pinkie asked the blonde pony. Applejack then pointed at the train's window, and everyone looked at Canterlot a distance... including Discord, who was now the size of a tower.
"So... that guy is..." Sonic and the rest of the Mobians, despite never facing Discord in the past, had heard about him from the ponies. And none of them was eager to face him again.
"Discord. The Spirit of Chaos. And one of the most dangerous, powerful beings in all of Equestria." Twilight replied without stopping to look at Discord.
"Okay. All those who don't know a thing about Discord... these are the emergency procedures to deal with him." Pinkie, very calmly, took a deep breath before getting histeric. "RUN FOR THE HILLS!"
"I actually agree with the crazy mare." Garble gulped, while the rest of his dragon companions, including Vex and Clud (who had joined the group as planned) nodded in agreement. "Even us, the dragons, know about Discord. And we don't wanna fight anything we can't burn."
"You said it, Garble. Okay, let's get out of here. If we hurry up, we'll be out of Equestria by midnight..." Clud was stopped by Knuckles.
"If this Discord is a Chaos Being, then we're more than suited to deal with him." Knuckles frowned. "I've guarded a Chaos Emerald long enough to know how to do it."
"And besides, the best way to handle Discord is at Canterlot; the Elements of Harmony." Rarity reminded everyone.
"Right. Let's hope we can get there before Discord stops us..." Twilight then got a little grin. "And it seems Princess Celestia is already doing something."
Canterlot was now covered by a huge magical force field, very similar to the ones Shining Armor could create, but this time he was getting the assistance of his wife, Cadence, and Princesses Luna and Celestia.
"Ah. Very nice work, Celestia." Discord laughed while hitting the force field. "Your trick might keep me from spreading my chaos all over Equestria, but it can't stop me forever. And besides, let me remind you that you're not just trapping me here with you; you're trapping yourselves WITH me."
Discord made his point by morphing the Canterlot's buildings into assorted things, from ice cream cones to thorn bushes. The ponies trying to escape or fight him were affected as well, with Discord disappearing the unicorns' horns and the pegasi's wings.
"Oh, this is so much fun. I can't wait to do the same out there." Discord grinned. "And I want to visit Twilight and the girls. I'm sure it will be quite a nice meeting."
"We'll need to cancel it!"
Discord turned to see Adam Warcolt charging at him. With Luna, Cadence and Celestia empowering Shining Armor's shield, Adam was the strongest alicorn available to fight him.
"Mmm... you're not familiar to me, Little Guy." Discord grinned while stretching his claws and arms to try grabbing the flying alicorn. "Still, it's always fun to squish an alicorn. And it will be easier if you can't fly."
Discord snapped his fingers and, at that moment, Adam lost his wings while still over 100 feet over the ground. Adam fell down at great speed, but, right before he could hit the ground, his wings returned and he could stop the fall. Discord was pretty surprised at this.
"How that happened? I'm the one who can do that trick." Discord gasped.
"Well, guess now there's two of us."
Discord turned to see Spike, standing on top of a large building, and realized he had the Reality Stone in his claws.
"Hey, I know you. You're Twilight Sparkle's little pet. Does she know you're playing with important stuff?" Discord smirked at him. "And do you think she'll like to know you released me?"
"Well, if using this stone was what released you, then I'm gonna correct that mistake!" Spike growled at him.
"Little guy, get real. You're nothing but a baby." Discord grinned while using his magic to give Spike an instant dress up; a bonnet, diapers, and a baby bottle. "And yes, the Reality Stone is powerful, but I'm the Spirit of Chaos. Messing up with reality is my specialty, and you don't have the power or the spirit to handle the stone's abilities."
"Oh, trust me, I do." Spike grinned while taking out the Infinity Staff. Discord stopped smiling immediately.
"You... you're using..."
"Yes, I am. And now I have the Power and Soul Stone at my side... it's time to get real." Spike smirked while placing the Reality Stone in the staff. Instantly, the three stones' powers combined, and he got covered in a bright aura; when the aura disappeared, he no longer was wearing the baby outfit but a chest armor, red cape, and the staff had morphed into a large sword, plus he had turned into a much more muscular and taller version of himself.
Discord, angry, tried using his powers on him again, but Spike's sword deflected his energy, and a moment later, Spike was flying, without needing wings, and aiming the sword at Discord's neck. The chaotic being barely avoided the attack, and then teleported away from Spike. Since the magical field restrained his powers, Discord couldn't teleport out of it, so he was still trapped in Canterlot with Spike; Discord was just glad that Spike couldn't use the Elements of Harmony or this fight would already been over.
"Okay, maybe I can't affect you directly, but I can affect everything around you." Discord appeared several diamond-made walls around Spike, and used them to form a prison for the dragon. Spike broke free almost instantly; and he had chewing something very crunchy.
"The dragons eat diamonds, Genius." Spike charged at Discord again. The villain then stretched his tail to grab Spike, and then morphed the tail into several ones, immobilizing Spike's limbs, head and tail.
"Your sword can't hurt me if you can't move your hands to use it."
"Then, I need extra hands." Spike growled while using the Reality Stone's energies; in a moment, he grew an extra set of arms, and before Discord could immobilize them too, Spike used his new hands to grab the sword and cut the tentacles.
"Didn't see that coming." Discord admitted before appearing a swarm of parasprites. "My own special breed; these eat anything."
"Let's see if they eat fire!" Spike covered himself with his cape, and once the swarm covered him, he made the cape erupt in flames, eliminating all the bugs instantly.
"How can you get so many ideas to use the Reality Stone? You just got it!" Discord growled before summoning assorted items to hit Spike, from anvils and rocks to a giant kitchen sink.
"You read a lot when you work in a library." Spike replied while cutting his way through the many projectiles. "I've read enough adventures stories, and participated in a few real ones myself, to know how to fight anything you throw at me... okay, the giant clown face was a surprise." Spike admitted while dodging exactly that, a large clown face.
While all this happened, Discord started using his powers in a more subtle way. The time he corrupted the Elements of Harmony, he had used telepathy to read their minds and find out their personal weaknesses, and now it was time to do the same with Spike. The villainous creature grinned when finding it.
"I see you're trying to be a hero, but let's be honest here; you're not a pony. You're a dragon. A Beast. A monster, just like me. No wonder Rarity rejected you; and you think that Sally will be any different? Face it, Spike, no girl will ever fall for you because they'll never see you as anything more than a mere monster."
Spike stopped fighting and growled at Discord, and at that moment he was hit in the head by a flying piano. When Spike recovered from the hit, the next thing he saw was Discord holding a giant golf club.
"Fore!"
However, the club never hit Spike, because he morphed it into a... giant number 4.
"Oh. A visual pun. Not bad." Discord growled before ripping the 4. "But that's my thing, not yours!"
"What's the matter, Discord? You don't like it when others mess with Reality?" Spike grinned at him. "And you think you're gonna play with my head just like you did with my friends'? Newsflash..." Spike aimed his sword at Discord and shot him with lightning. "I learn from my mistakes, Discord, and more importantly, I learn from my friends. Twilight told me everything about you, and if I don't pay attention to your manipulations, you can't mess with my head!"
"Stupid dragon... I don't need to manipulate you to change you! Your friend Fluttershy resisted me, and I forced the change on her!"
"Yes, but I have the Infinity Staff, and we already established you can't affect me directly while I'm holding it. But thanks for reminding me about what you did to Fluttershy." Spike growled and then growed up to his adult size, rivaling Discord's. "You said it; we are monsters. And I'm the monster in charge!"
Spike punched Discord with such strength the villain lost his trademark large fang and take him down. The dragon then morphed the sword into a whip, and caught the fang before it hit the ground, then using the fang as a knife to stab Discord's bat-like wing, pinning him to the ground.
"And this monster learned about some spell that can stop you for good from the Reality Stone. Of course, using it would require too much power... And remember what other Stones I have?" Spike grinned while standing over Discord and morphing the staff into a gauntlet, that was now glowing with energy.
"No... you... can't... stop me..." Discord extended his hands to try restraining Spike. "And no force in Equestria can..."
"Except the Elements of Harmony, remember?" Spike said with glowing eyes.
At the train, the Mane Six started glowing as well.
"W-what's going on?" Rainbow Dash gasped.
"I... I don't know... but... this feels..." Twilight then calmed down. "Good."
"Yeah... it's almost like..." Applejack smiled while the others felt more comfortable as well.
"When we use the Elements of Harmony." Fluttershy added.
"But this time... guess someone is using them... by using us... from a distance." Twilight said, surprised. "But... that wouldn't be possible... it can't be... real..."
But of course, with the Reality Stone under Spike's command, and the Power Stone increasing its energies plus the Soul Stone giving Spike a 'direct link' with his friends' spirits, it wasn't impossible. Discord realized it too; Spike was using the Mane Six's energies to get a direct connection with the Elements of Harmony, and now was channeling their power through the Infinity Staff.
"And since we already know the 'statue thing' isn't completely fool proof... Let me try something else." Spike grinned while placing the gauntlet in the middle of Discord's chest.
"N-no-no-no-no-no-no-no...!" Discord sweated cold and struggled to escape, without any success.
"Curse Mark. Power Sealing. Say good-bye to your powers!"
Adam, who had been following the battle as closely as possible, sent a mental message to Celestia, who then made Shining Armor, Cadence and Luna to close the magical shield and, instead of covering all Canterlot, it focused only on Spike and Discord's massive forms. It was a good thing because the energies liberated by the spell Spike applied on Discord could have destroyed a good portion of the city.
A moment later, everything was over. The shield disappeared, and Spike was back to his normal size plus the gauntlet was a staff again. Discord was in front of him, alive but immobile, and much smaller than before; he was barely the same size as Garble.
"What... what did you..." Discord started waking up, and looked at his chest; it had a dragon claw-shaped scar. Discord tried to make it disappear, but it was impossible; in fact, except for the time he was trapped as a statue, he had never felt so powerless.
"You didn't hear what I said, Discord? You have no powers. And the spell I activated will be active until all the magic I used to cast it disappears too; and we both know the Infinity Stones and the Elements of Harmony aren't likely to disappear in like, forever." Spike grinned a bit. "In other words, enjoy being a mortal. Mmm... you'll need someone to teach you how to use the bathroom."
"You... you... you..."
"Oh, come on, don't tell me you're gonna get stuck with a 'one word speech' now. Of course, if the only thing you're gonna say is 'You', remind me to introduce you to my friend Owlicious; the only thing he says is 'Who'. You two would make fast friends." Spike smirked at Discord, who really wanted to beat him up... but fainted at that moment. "Good night, Discord. See you tomorrow... or better not."
As all this happened, the damage caused by the battle started repairing by itself, just like it had happened the last time Discord was defeated.
"I really like how things get fixed around here. I wouldn't want to pay for all the damages." Spike chuckled while Adam landed next to him.
"After stopping Discord, I think Celestia would extend you a good line of credit." Adam chuckled. "Well done, Spike. And good idea about using the Elements' energy."
"Well, I know I could have stopped him with just the Stones, but that fight could have destroyed half of Equestria, while the Elements of Harmony, when used right, can defeat him in a split second." Spike shrugged. "I thought about transforming him back to stone, but even with the Infinity Staff, I'm not an Element myself and didn't want to abuse their power, just using them so my own powers could be enough to hurt Discord and cast the spell on him."
"A very wise use of both the Infinity Staff and the Elements of Harmony, Spike." Celestia, Luna, and Cadence (carrying Shining Armor) landed in front of Spike at that moment.
"No more doubts of your capacity to hold such power, Sir Spike." Luna now gave him a respectful nod.
"Sir? Whoa... talk about a promotion." Spike chuckled a bit before smiling at Luna and giving her a little bow.
"Speaking about 'talk', hope you are ready to talk a lot, because you'll need to explain this to Twilight and the others." Shining Armor grinned at Spike.
"Oh, right... I sensed them when I got access to the Element's magic; they're not far from here." Spike sighed. "Think we can power up Discord again, at least for a moment? It sounds easier than explaining EVERYTHING."
Suddenly, Spike, Shining Armor, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Adam heard laughing coming from Discord.
"You may have beaten me little dragon, but it makes little difference, you think you're a hero now, but I stand by what I said, 'no girl will ever fall in love with you because they'll never see you as anything more than a mere monster', for who can ever love a beast, like you?"
"Does this guy ever shut up or what?" Shining Armor groaned.
"You shouldn't be that arrogant now, Discord. In case you hadn't realized, you've lost your powers and you're severely outnumbered." Celestia frowned at Discord while slowly approaching him.
"Well... uh... you see..." Discord then pointed at a distance. "Look, a distraction!"
Everyone but Celestia turned at the direction Discord was pointing, and then the monster dashed away, using his wings to gain height and jump/fly over the nearby buildings.
"He really is desperate." Celestia sighed. "We better catch him now before he hurts somepony or even himself."
"But I thought he no longer had his powers." Shining Armor arched an eyebrow.
"He no longer has his magic, but he's still a creature with the combined abilities of several animals. Not enough to spread grand-scale chaos but still dangerous at a local level." Luna agreed with her sister. Spike nodded at them and used the Infinity Staff to transform himself into his warrior/knight shape again, this time adding a set of large dragon wings to fly after Discord, while Shining Armor used his magic to send a signal to his soldiers, telling them to keep civilians safe while Spike handled Discord. Adam also joined the chase yet keeping himself at a distance from Spike, since he wanted to see how the dragon would manage himself against Discord in a street-level fight.
At that moment, the Mane Six, Mobians and teen dragons finally arrived at Canterlot, at high speed, thanks to Rainbow Dash and Daemon's wings, Sonic's velocity, and Twilight and Fiona's teleportation abilities.
"How come everything ended already?" Rarity asked Twilight.
"I thought we had to be present to use the Elements, but somehow Princess Celestia accessed our energies to use them herself and defeat Discord... but... that didn't feel like her magic." Twilight admitted.
"Maybe it was Luna's?" Rainbow guessed.
"Why don't we ask Spike? He's over there chasing Discord." Pinkie commented casually, making the others to look at the same direction she was pointing. They all gasped at the sight of Spike's muscular, winged shape... especially Sally, who also blushed notably.
"That's Spike?" Garble exclaimed, his jaw almost hitting the ground. "First he beats us up as if we were just a bunch of baby lizards, and now he has wings too? Seriously... what do you ponies do with dragons that live among you?"
"I think we should go ask him." Lupe proposed as she started running to join Spike, the others following after her a moment later... and Sonic running ahead two moments later.
Meanwhile, Discord was trying to find a place to hide or an escape route. No longer having magic, he now had to rely on his cunning and animal abilities.
"Hey, ugly, going somewhere?" Sonic stepped in front of Discord.
"Step aside, Blue Boy, I'm in a hurry." Discord flew above Sonic, who then jumped and grabbed him by the tail.
"Heh, you're telling me about a 'hurry'? No doubt you don't know me." Sonic then dashed and ran over his tail and back before kicking his head from behind, causing Discord to crash land. "Sonic's the name, and speed is my..."
FWOOSH!
"... Whoa!" Sonic barely dodged a flame coming from Discord's mouth.
"Sometimes even 'I' forget I have a dragon head." Discord growled at Sonic. "Let me give you a reminder."
Discord's next attack wasn't even close to touching Sonic because Spike landed in the middle, morphing his skin into a diamond-like substance that resisted the flames perfectly.
"Heh, I look so good I'd eat myself." Spike grinned before turning at Sonic. "Hi, Sonic."
"Hi, Spike. Looking good, bro; you workin out at the gym?" Sonic grinned at him.
"We'll chat later. Let me handle this guy; you stay around to keep civilians away so Discord can't get hostages or hurt anypony else." Spike turned back at Discord while Sonic did as his friend said and kept his distance.
"Well, Spike, you really look delicious. And since I just remembered I have a dragon head, and dragons eat diamonds..." Discord pounced on Spike, who then morphed again, this time into an energy being; basically, it looked like a dragon made entirely of electricity, giving Discord a very powerful shock.
Discord, having dragon skin as well, survived the shock, but realized he couldn't hurt Spike now, and tried to escape again, but now Spike had morphed into a plant-like dragon, and extended his arms like vines, trapping Discord with relative ease and tying up his muzzle and claws so he couldn't eat or slash his way out. Discord, however, wasn't completely defenseless, and after taking a deep breath, he threw a large flame out of his nostrils, burning some of the vines and escaping Spike's grip.
"This guy is really starting to annoy me." Spike groaned before trying to catch him again. Discord then tried to enter a nearby house, thinking he could probably get a pony as a hostage and use him/her as a living shield, but Sonic stopped him by using his high-speed rolling attack and hitting Discord's side, sending him several feet away.
Discord, not unconscious yet, avoided Spike's next attack, another energy beam, and tried to fly away again, but when he gained some height...
"Hey, Discord, long time no seeing you! Wanna meet a friend?"
Discord looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying above him, and dropping an elastic powered canine over him; Lupe, who was now getting mallet-like hands.
"This is gonna hurt." Discord gulped.
WHACK!
WHAM!
"Nnnngh... I was right..." Discord groaned in pain while rubbing his face and back after receiving two mallet hits at once and crash-landing.
"Spike, grab him before he escapes!" Lupe, who, along with Rainbow, had seen some of the fight from their flying position, turned at Spike, knowing he now had powers that would allow him restrain Discord.
"Grabbing him now... wait... grab... gravity..." Spike got a sly grin. "Why not?"
Spike morphed himself again, this time becoming a huge rock-like creature with a spheric shape.
"Let's see if I learned something from Twilight; gravity is the force that pulls objects down to earth. So... down, Discord!" Spike's eyes started glowing, and then the rest of his body, extending this glow to the ground around him and under Discord's feet.
Discord tried to fly away but he was pulled down by Spike's power, and soon he couldn't even stand up, feeling his limbs as heavy as if they were made of rock. Soon, he couldn't even move his wings, as they became as heavy as the rest of his body.
"No... you... can't... turn me... into a statue... again..."
"I'm not making you into a statue; just making you as heavy as one." Spike grinned. "Now... how am I gonna restrain you this time? Obviously, I can't keep you like this forever."
"Heh, you don't need to restrain someone who's unconscious." Sonic and Rainbow shared a sly smirk and then dashed at top speed against Discord. Spike turned off his gravity power when they got close enough, and a moment later Discord was receiving a quite hard double impact that knocked him out for good.
"That was great, guys!" Spike chuckled before changing back to his 'knight' shape.
"How about you? You were awesome! Like... 200% more awesome than ever!" Rainbow congratulated him. Before Spike could reply, he heard two other voices behind him.
"I really agree with Rainbow."
"Yes, Spike, you were... extremely impressive."
"Twi? Sally?" Spike turned to see the purple unicorn and the elastic princess approaching, and the rest of the group behind them.
"Oh, hi, guys and gals... uh... eh... you... want an explanation, right?" Spike chuckled nervously.
"That would be a nice detail." Twilight smirked at him.
"Well... you see..." Spike paused when seeing Garble and his gang. "Hey, what are those punks doing here?"
"They came with us; and don't change the subject, Young Dragon." Twilight was now getting a frown. "Spike, I understand your reasons to leave, but you have any idea of how worried we all were about you? You have any idea of how worried I WAS!?"
Spike looked down and rub one of his arms while slightly scratching the ground with one foot, the perfect image of a child that is getting lectured by his mother, or, in this case, older sister. It was particularly amusing now that Spike, who had gotten a power level comparable to a highly experienced alicorn or a very strong adult dragon, could still feel intimidated by Twilight.
"I... I'm sorry, Twi... and... yeah, guess I could have told you personally when I left... instead of just sending a letter..." Spike sighed. "But... this was important... this IS important. You just saw it!"
"Yes, I did. And I also felt how somepony (or dragon) used us to control the Elements of Harmony from a distance." Twilight sighed before smiling slightly. "Guess... I can forgive you this time... if you now allow me to congratulate my little brother."
"Permission granted." Spike smiled at her before the dragon and unicorn embraced, everyone else looking at this scene in silence and enjoying it.
"Oh, and by the way, I have a crush on Sally." Spike whispered in Twilight's ear.
"I kinda suspected it." Twilight whispered back.
BONK!
Everyone turned to see Sally, in her muscular form, holding Discord by the collar with one hand while the other formed a large fist.
"Heh... sorry; I saw him trying to get away."
"What's not to love about her?" Spike whispered at Twilight before sighing and smiling at Sally, who couldn't help but blush again.
"This is lovable and all, but can you please explain to us what's going on here?" Tails asked Spike. At that moment, Adam landed in front of the group.
"I think we can discuss that at the palace, after dropping Discord in an adequate prison." Adam then looked at Twilight. "Adam Warcolt; glad to meet you, Miss Sparkle."
"Same here... and I'd like to discuss your idea of taking Spike away without asking for permission first, Sir." Twilight frowned at Adam in a way that actually made Adam to cringe a bit.
"Heh... no wonder Spike was so glad to see you happy, Miss Sparkle. I wouldn't want to get on your bad side."
"Oh, this is gonna get good." Rainbow grinned. "Too bad I didn't bring any popcorn."
"I did." Pinkie Pie, holding two bags of popcorn, a soda, and wearing 3-D glasses, smiled at Rainbow.
Once everyone remembered this was Pinkie Pie and therefore it was better not to overthink this, the group went to the palace, with Adam using his magic to carry the unconscious Discord, and Garble and the other dragons, once again, wondering if all ponies were much tougher than they expected.